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"There," Ash leaned backwards, her smile as reassuring as it was uncertain. "I believe I have done all I can for you." 

She sounded a bit bitter about it. 

I looked back at her, seeing that same uncertainty brimming in her eyes, so desperately wanting for a way to be able to do so much more than she had done already.

Yet alas, unless her hair blazed with fire and her name rhymed with 'Lia', there wasn't much else she could do that she hadn't done already, and besides… it wasn't as if her bandaging skills left much to be desired - she did a pretty nice job patching me up.

Now that my wound had been properly tended to, it didn't look as bad as it had before, certainly didn't feel as bad as it had before that's for sure. 

Slowly, I unpropped my leg from the stool, bending it, lowering it, feeling the weight of my foot pressed against the ground - still throbbed, very much still stung - but overall it was a lot more bearable.

So I went all the way. I stood up, straight and tall. Ash briefly panicked, and immediately stood up after me, hands outstretched thinking I'd stumble, but after a short moment had passed, lowered them down again. I wasn't gonna stumble.

That alone was enough to rid the uncertainty in her eyes, stamp away that little sliver of bitterness wafting about. Her lips were free to smile guilt-free, and it definitely looked a lot better when it was that way.

"Thanks, Ash." 

She bowed slightly, and what else could she possibly say except, "You're welcome."

I walked, feeling like a toddler taking his baby steps, slowly making my way to the scene of busywork directly across from me. If I could put one foot over the other then that meant I was done recuperating. 

Meant that I could actually, finally, help out.

I wobbled over to the cluttered desk and placed both hands firmly against a stack of resumes. The same stack which had a hand midway through the process of pulling out a piece from the top only now it couldn't - cause I was in the way.

Irene glanced upwards.

I glanced downwards.

"Time for a break, Irene," I proclaimed, nudging my chin to the now vacant seat beside of an idling Ash, who was curiously poking through the rest of the content inside of the first aid kit. "Go see the nurse at room 1."

She tugged again, this time successful at prying loose a file, which she then proceeded to unfurl. "I'm fine," She simply stated and said nothing more.

By then though, I was already benumbed to all her assurances, every 'I'm fine' just sounds like 'I'm stubborn' and really, that's exactly what she meant by it. 

Thing was, I can be stubborn too.

"Give you and her five minutes to assess the damage, at least," I said, my tone softly appealing to reason. "Haven't once looked at your arm since it happened. Isn't it better to see how bad it is first then move on from there?"

Another stern stare glancing upwards. I knew she wanted to get Jay badly, and I highly doubt she'd even take a moment's reprieve until she finally nabs the bastard with her own hands. 

I think this was her way of reprimanding herself, just as Ash lamented for not being able to do more, I suppose Irene was an even harsher critic on herself for having things play out as they did under her watch. 

And then there was also me - how do you think I was feeling about the entire thing? I'll tell you now, I wasn't pointing the finger of blame at any one of the two… 

Stepping back, it's kinda amusing, really. Somehow, what happened back then was simultaneously everybody's and nobody's fault. 

"If you're not going to do it for you," I said, gently taking the folder from her hand. "Can you at least do it for me?"

I wasn't sure whether or not she'd actually listen finally - especially with that scowl of hers still unblinking and piercing, but then I heard the legs of her chair give a grating squeak, and then a moment later, she was standing… a moment later… she was walking.

Irene wasn't much for smiles, certainly wasn't expecting one from her. But I suppose my own was more than enough for the both of us.

"Appreciate it," I said.

Looks like Nurse Ash has got another patient on her hands. Meanwhile, I guess I'm going to be staring at strangers' names and faces for a while… what joy this will be, I'm sure.

I kinda got the gist of what Irene was trying to do here, during one of the times Howard went to fetch her some more names, she explained it quite briefly… well as brief as you can get with an explanation like that.

When Howard first told us he hadn't a clue who the hell this Jay person was. I assumed magic had done it again - Jay used his dazzling hocus-pocus to scrub himself out of people's memories, he even went through the extra effort of expunging his name from company records.

Turns out, I was only half right. Erasing the entirety of your existence, according to the detective, was apparently a feat too intricate and difficult for one to pull off at such record-speed. It was simply impossible, no matter how skilled a person was, disappearing into literal thin air was just not in the cards… even for a Magus.

So how do you explain it? Why are people going 'Jay who?' at the very mention of his name? 

I asked that, still firm on the belief that Jay really did just snapped himself from existence, thinking there was just no other explanation for it. 

Long story short, there was an explanation for it. 

As stated once before, scrubbing all presence of yourself from people's memories wasn't something you can just do on a whim, it'd simply have taken more time than Jay had in order to conjure such a spell.

So, going by Irene's assumption, the Magus simply opted for the next best thing instead.

He hid his presence. Every memory, every indication, every trace of his existence, he just upped and stuffed it in a place no one would find it. Doing so was quicker, easier, and far more feasible to pull off in the timeframe that he had.

When inquired about the difference between the two, Irene just looked at me as if it was standard magic know-how 101. Well, apologizes for not knowing my abracadabra from my alakazam… I'll try to work on it.

Anyway, difference - disappearing is just you gone… there was nothing anyone can do about that. But hiding… hiding implies that you can be found. Jay can still be found.

All we had to do was look for him.

Apparently, the easiest way to do that was to search through and find a trace of his employment here.

And given the cluttered mess before me now, folders atop of folders, stacked like Jenga soaring high - Irene's search hasn't been all that fruitful... oh boy…

I sat down in her seat, and from the nearest pile in reach, I pulled a folder and promptly begun a search of my own.

Irene explained to me what I was supposed to be looking for here - Jay's employment record was nowhere to be found, but that doesn't mean it didn't exist anymore… it was just hiding in plain sight, in the contents of another.

You can't hide something in nothing, you have to put it in something that already exists. It's confusing, kinda hard to grasp… and really I'm just going with it, but essentially he just disguised his record in the form of someone else's.

I just needed to look for the wolf among sheep's clothing. Find the one record that seems off, out of place… how? Irene said I'll feel it… that I'll know when I found it. This type of magic was like a wooly sweater - you pull one loose strand and everything else would come unraveling.

So just gotta find that loose strand.

That being said though, why was Howard searching along with us? I remembered asking that, thinking she's only keeping him around doing grunt work simply out of spite for him.

I still think that was the case - but Irene claimed he needed to be monitored under close surveillance for the time being. After all, it was him and only him that Jay used as a puppet, who's to say he won't use him again?

Having him cooperate with us, looking through endless files for a non-existent employee was simply a cover story just so she could keep an eye on him.

Now it was my turn to keep an eye on him too… and so far, through quick glances up from my page-flipping, he just looked completely miserable with his place in life. 

Though I suppose if I had to slug through company files not even knowing exactly what the hell was looking for, I wouldn't be all sunshine and roses as well.

Still... a felon as he was, couldn't help but be a little sympathetic to his plight.

"Found him yet?" I asked.

Howard flipped close the folder he was scrounging through. "No…"

Ah well, we'll get there.

Hopefully, we get there.

Hopefully...