Once they were at the end of the chain, they paused to scout for tables. Lamb spotted Puma waving at him from where the man was sitting with his two friends, pointing at some empty seats across the table.

Hermes cast him a wary look, and Lamb sighed resignedly. “... It’s okay. He saved us a spot. I don’t want him to start a commotion.”

“Oh, you’ve finally woken up.” Hermes remarked wryly as they shuffled over. “You’re thinking rationally for the first time this morning.”

“S-Shut up.” Flushing, because he knew Hermes was completely right, Lamb took a seat across from Puma’s dark-haired friend and immediately lowered his head to eat.

As soon as his tongue came into contact with the warm juices of food, Lamb abruptly awoke to his ravaging hunger. Filled with immense appreciation for the crunchy, buttery, and meaty mush inside his mouth, he chewed with vigorous bliss and barely even noticed the curious stares from across the table.

“What was his name again? Lamb?” Cinders was staring at him with a crooked grin. “Damn, he’s actually really cute. I usually prefer someone feminine but I’d be okay with that.”

“Right? That’s what I thought when I first met him, too.” Puma chuckled, then threw his arm over Cinders’ shoulder and pulled him close to murmur. “But it’s his insides that count... if you know what I mean.”

Of course, Puma’s hushed voice had been intentionally loud enough for everyone at the table to hear, and Hermes slammed his box of juice down with a little more force than necessary.

“You wanna shut up now?” Nam asked idly, just as Hermes also declared,

“You’re making me lose my appetite.”

“Aha, hahaha...” Puma pulled away from Cinders and they both laughed blithely, clearly not intimidated – but as Cinders opened his grinning mouth to retort, Nam pushed their cup into his face.

“Cindys, get your big sis a refill.”

“What?” Cinders’ brows scrunched up in protest, but after a moment of glaring at Nam’s nonchalant gaze, he grabbed the cup, stood up, and turned away with an indignant huff. “You’re not really my sister, damnit...”

A little surprised, Lamb felt his gaze drawn to Nam as he chewed his toast. So they were a girl... because of their lean figure and short hair, it was hard to tell. Her dark eyes were coated in a listless glaze, and she looked both relaxed and bored as she pulled out her phone. Reminded of Hermes, Lamb glanced at his friend, then at Puma, who was sipping on his juice and staring brightly at something else in the room.

That dumbass has a friend like this? He wondered about it for a moment before realizing suddenly, Oh shit, she must be a Dispatch Sentinel!

Just as he felt his eyes widen in awe, Cinders returned, slammed a creamy brown drink in front of Nam, and then collapsed back into his chair.

“They even have a milk tea dispenser now.” He cast Nam a glare. “They really give you special treatment, don’t they?”

“Not at all.” A twinkle appeared in Nam’s dark eyes as she lifted her cup with both hands and sipped from it. “It’s 2028. Milk tea dispensers should be everywhere.”

“Your idea of normal is as far from normal as it can possibly be,” Puma said dryly, turning his head as he cast her an idle glance. “I don’t know how you stay so thin with all that cream and sugar you drink.”

“I’m a Dispatch Sentinel,” Nam replied matter-of-factly. “I work. A lot.”

 Cinders scoffed and threw his hands up behind his head. “Pfft, I’m Dispatch too, but I don’t get much work.”

“That’s cause you’re the baby of the team.” Chuckling, Puma lifted a hand and ruffled Cinders’ blonde hair vigorously. Lamb felt a terse pang in his chest as he watched, and he grimaced to himself.

Ugh, stop it. Stop feeling like this.

“I’m not the baby! They’re the babies!” Cinders pointed a finger indignantly at Lamb and Hermes.

Irked, Lamb narrowed his eyes, but before he could blurt out a retort that would make him a new enemy, he caught sight of a strange group entering the room.

The others quickly noticed, too – four very formally-dressed adults, peering at them with curiosity and uncertainty in their eyes. They were being led forward by a woman in Ypsilon’s operator uniform, who was making gestures at people around the room. Lamb saw her lift a hand briefly in their direction.

“A lot of our Sentinels are here today for the retreat – it's a rare treat. Sentinels are our core agents, and the ones that enable a huge part of our security work. Together with our sophisticated risk-assessment AI, Sentinels are able to discreetly monitor and track suspicious activities, with the premise of stopping crime as soon as it arises. This isn’t controversial – we're not predicting the future in any way. Think of it simply as a surveillance system that can react instantly, the moment something goes awry.”

As the group passed through the room and left from the back door, most people disregarded them. But Hermes, who had been glaring at them with uncharacteristic bitterness, muttered darkly once they had left.

“Listen to her, trying to explain it like it’s something that makes sense. Bet they only see a bunch of freaky kids and nerdy secretaries.” He scoffed and looked away to grab his drink. “Seeing them here makes me sick.”

“Whoah, someone’s edgy.” Cinders blinked at him in surprise, then turned to Puma. “I didn’t know your boyfriend stuck around someone like that. Poor guy’s already got you to deal with.”

“Heh, right?” Puma chuckled smugly. “They stick to each other so much I could barely get any alone time with him. It’s cute, though.”

Distracted from his concern for Hermes, Lamb glanced over with a scowl, about to remind them that he’d dumped Puma months ago when the room’s chatter suddenly faded.

… What now?

Even more people had stopped what they were doing to look. Expecting simply a larger group of visitors, Lamb followed their gazes to the back door, but saw that a strange figure had entered the room.

Wearing painfully obvious blue striped pajama pants and a thin grey long-sleeved shirt, the man’s back was sprawled with ridiculously long strands of pure white hair. Apparently oblivious to the stares, he was comfortably making himself coffee. Soon after, a young woman with shoulder-length brown hair entered through the same door, and he glanced over at her with a hoarse rasp.

“Why are there so many people?”

They were too far for Lamb to see the woman’s face properly, but her voice was wry when she replied.

“Are you serious?”

By now, the stares had begun to shift, and their voices became muffled by the chatter again. Tearing his own gaze away, Lamb asked curiously, “Who’s the gramps?”

Hermes turned his head abruptly, brows raised in one of his most condescending looks yet as he demanded sharply, “Hah?”

Nam, Puma, and Cinders were staring at him with wide eyes, too. Lowering his head to the table in intimidation, Lamb stammered, “T-The gramps that just came in, with the long white hair, who’s tall and...” He glanced over again to get a better look, and felt his voice trail off slowly as he caught a glimpse of the broad, muscular back beneath the man’s white hair. “... Weirdly buff... oh, I see, that’s not a gramps.”

As soon as he’d uttered his realization out loud, the white-haired man turned, and despite himself Lamb felt shock lurch through his chest. Instead of a face, there was only a sheet of black metal – they were completely masked. No lips, no brows, no eyes, just... darkness.

A sudden bang shook the table and Lamb jumped with a startled huff. Cinders and Puma had doubled over laughing and were pounding their fists on the table. Even Nam was staring at him with a crooked smile.

“G... Gramps...!” Cinders wheezed incredulously between guffaws. “Oh, man...! I’m gonna die...!”

“Agh... fuck...” Puma only managed to spare enough breath to half-coherently curse.

“That’s a good one,” Nam mused. “Lamb, was it? I’ll tell him about you.”

Heat flaring over his entire face, Lamb turned to Hermes for help. “W-Who is that?! Why did everyone stop to stare?!”

Slowly, Hermes lifted a heavy hand to his shoulder and lowered his head in a long, defeated sigh. “Lamb... you... I’m very worried about you...” But as Lamb was about to burst out spluttering curses, he heard his friend’s solemn voice enter his head.

<That’s the Generation Zero... Codename Messiah.>

“Oh...” Quieting, Lamb lifted his gaze and to glance at the white-haired man again. Generation Zero... Ypsilon’s first Sentinel.... “What happened to his face?” He knew it was insensitive, but still, Lamb couldn’t help but ask in a hushed voice.

Cinders was still giggling shrilly and Puma was wiping tears off his face, but Nam was kind enough to reply. She shrugged, dark eyes shifting towards the white-haired man, too.

“Who knows.”

“Well, he’s the first success.” Hermes pointed out. “But he’s probably not the first attempt. We’re all Generation One’s, not Zero’s, for a reason. Maybe it got messed up during surgery.”

“Damn...” Eyes growing round in pity, Lamb blinked at the man, and felt a shiver as their metallic head turned towards him. Drawn into the inhuman sheen of the man’s mask, Lamb stared until Hermes’s voice spoke up dryly in his head.

<You’re being REAL obvious, mate.>

Blinking awake with a start, Lamb hurriedly lowered his gaze. He ended up putting his entire head on the table, and as he pressed his cheek against the cold surface of the table, he felt his heartbeat rushing through his face. Codename Messiah... the first Sentinel... recalling the man’s empty face again, Lamb closed his eyes with a shudder of excitement.

Guess I’m not the only imperfect Sentinel...