It turned out, there wasn't a lot of information relayed onto Hosen's paper. Except for his name, age, height, speciality, and some personality traits, everything else was left as unknown. No nationality (as expected), no background, nor motivations, meant Inase didn't have much to work with.
"Ha… Where do I even begin?" He sighed, pondering.
This challenging situation would be scary for any normal person, but the less Inase knew about it, the more exciting it was.
Going into the great unknown with a person he had never met, alongside his motives that were left a secret, was already risky enough. Not knowing when that man would stab him in the back to ensure own survival was another thing to worry about.
Every outcome of their joint travels was possible—from forming a great bond to becoming each other's biggest enemy.
But considering the repercussions of their interactions before even meeting his future partner was foolish—Inase's mind was built for action against enemies, not for dwelling on random what-ifs. He discarded the useless thoughts.
"Welp, I'll see how it goes when the guy comes in."
Murmuring, he opened his locker after a three-day absence from the Facility. His comfortable attire remained exactly where he had left it.
"Whatever."
He took off his boots, preparing to change entirely. Next, his shirt—then, finally, everything else as he readied himself for a decontamination shower.
***
Hosen arrived at the facility just half an hour later—though, punctually. He had calculated his travel time precisely and now stood in front of the door.
He heard noises from inside, meaning someone had likely arrived before him to clean the mess. It was supposed to be his private locker room, right? So, no one should be inside, unless it was a janitor, or something...
No matter—he needed to claim his locker anyway.
Time-jumping was no longer just a trial; it was his official job now.
Without stalling further, Hosen swiftly opened the door.
"Ah-"
In the middle of the room, however, he was met with the naked butt of his future partner (and a wannabe janitor) staring straight at him.
"..."
Not to be said more, he didn't dare to make a sound.
An awkward silence passed between them, and three seconds of stunned staring turned out to be far too long to be comfortable.
"Why does everyone keep walking in on me?"
Inase murmured with a furrow of his brow before he turned to the (from his perspective) tresspasser, and spoke with a louder tone, "Do you mind, buddy?", mid-taking off his pants.
"..."
The door closed the moment Hosen stepped out of the room.
"Guess not," Inase answered for the stranger, continuing whatever he was doing in peace.
For the next five silent minutes, the white-haired man stared at the sign on the wall outside.
It was indeed a private locker room, but for time divers. Plural.
"Ugh..."
He supposed he interpreted it wrong—it was a shared space for all agents, not an individual room.
So, what now? Should he wait for the other guy to finish changing? Or, should he go to the medical room in his dirty clothes? But then again, if he did that, it would violate the decontamination regulations. So... he should change first, right?
But if he changes, how long would he have to wait for the other to come out? What if it took forever? He might have to just leave the things inside and take care of the rest later. His doctor's appointment was soon—he couldn't afford to be late...
A swirl of chaotic thoughts rushed through his confused mind before he shook his head, trying to clear it.
Well, he couldn't just stand here clumsily all day, so he swung open the door one more time.
"Oh boy, back at it again, huh!"
The other stood unfazed, naked.
Hosen, however, made sure to avoid any potential eye contact. He did his best not to catch even a glimpse of that man in his peripheral vision, even if it meant walking in with his head turned sharply to the other side.
"I'm just here for the check-up…"
"That's the door to the left. You just passed it."
The blonde didn't seem to be embarrassed at all by the current situation. Not minding the awkwardness in the air, he pointed outside of the room.
Hosen didn't want to waste any more time, so he opened the locker and stored his things. Before he knew it, he was in the infirmary.
There, he saw the entire room cluttered with various materials—dried herbs, chemicals, and scientific equipment—stuffed to the brim with doctor's tools, as well. A mountain of medical tools and medicines scattered across the room had taken up all the available space. It would be quite a surprise if the medic still grasped the position of where everything was.
The mess was so overwhelming that it was hard to tell whether it was a medical room or a research lab.
"I'm here."
Hosen bowed his head while entering.
He found the nurse buried in the papers on the wooden table.
"Hello…?"
Wondering whether that person was still alive, he shook her shoulder.
"Yes, yes, I'm awake!"
The young woman quickly darted up at the slightest touch, seemingly very overworked. Her big, round glasses glinted at him, covering up the dark circles under her eyes. If it wasn't for her high-pitched voice, he would have mistaken her for a panda.
"What do you need, good sir?"
"A check-up before the mission."
He got straight to the point, not wanting to make other researchers wait for him all day.
"Oh, right. You're new here. Time to check if everything is good before your next mission." She laughed, "You know, haha, procedures and such," then added with a tired voice.
No one would want to witness a time-diver having a heart attack once he came back from the mission.
The nurse was nice enough to finish things quickly.
After taking his blood sample (of an odd color, but that was explained to her earlier). checking his pressure and his heart rate, she patted him on the back with a nod of approval.
"Alright, everything looks fine."
"Thanks."
The man gave a curt nod—it was never too much to be polite.
"Off you go!" With a wave of her hand, she mouthed a clumsy goodbye.
***
"It hurt like hell, didn't it?"
When Hosen passed through the locker room door, Inase was up and joking. Thankfully, he already had proper clothes on, but now it was Hosen's turn to change.
Sighing audibly, he braved himself.
There goes nothing.
As uncomfortable as it was, he couldn't do much about someone so excited to meet a new person, to the point of forgetting how to read the room. What he could do, however, was imagine that no one was present and concentrate only on the task of undressing.
"So, you are my partner."
But just as he took off his coat, the other started with small talk, disrupting his focus.
"..." Not answering, he proceeded ahead.
"How did you become their next test subject?"
However, Inase insisted, asking sarcastically—though they both knew he was talking about time-traveling.
Since that guy didn't want to let it go, Hosen reluctantly indulged him with a conversation.
"I was recruited." He answered simply. "The facility reached out to me after they saw my published papers on the eldritch species, I assume."
And Hosen put a foot in this institute after being invited, thus, he became a third time-traveler by choice. The whole ordeal was very alluring to him—a chance he would never get again.
"Hoh~ On what subject were your papers written? Some kind of groundbreaking theory no one ever thought about?"
Hosen didn't take that man for being curious about science.
"On various topics." He had to think to remember everything. "About the R'lyeh Language, the Incantation reversal, the eldritch anatomy, the time dimension, but… the last one I released was a Color Theory-"
"Wow, that's one pale ass if I've ever seen one. Have you ever seen the sun?" The guy was not listening, though.
The deep conversation was cut short by a sarcastic comment after seeing how light-toned Hosen's skin was.
"..."
Hosen will remember that.
Thus, realizing that boring that dude with any sophisticated topics wouldn't turn out beneficial, he continued changing without another word.
***
"Come on, don't be so stiff!"
Inase roughly slapped the man on his back, making him nearly choke on it.
The two already stood in the portal room, listening to the loud clicking of the keyboard and the timer going off.
"Say something, buddy!" He kept on going. A five-minute conversation and Hosen already had enough. "Are you that nervous? Don't worry too much, you scientists tend to overthink stuff. Everything will turn out well, you'll see!"
"I know how it works. I'm not scared. I've been here before."
"Oh, so you can talk. Here I thought you went all mute on me." Glad it wasn't the case. "But who said anything about being scared? I just asked about being nervous."
With hands behind his head, an evil grin spread on his lips. That nonchalant posture irked the other the wrong way. Catching him using the wrong word was not what he had been used to.
"Ugh-" Hosen was ready to punch that smirk off his face.
"There's one additional thing you need to know." Luckily, the female scientist paid them attention before that could happen. "The jumps are random, so depending on how far back you're going to travel, it needs an appropriate cooldown. The further in the past you land, the longer it will take for us to bring you guys back."
The portal shimmered with otherworldly lights as it opened to the clanking sound bouncing around the walls of the institute.
"02, 03, ready?"
The two took a step forward in response, confident and prepared for whatever was beyond that ethereal glow.
Seeing this, the woman recited the regulations, per tradition.
"The coordinates of your destination are unknown, which signifies that we cannot determine the specific timeline or location of your arrival. Upon arrival, you are to immediately identify any issues present and take swift action to resolve them. It is crucial to remain vigilant and aware of your surroundings, as you may encounter entities with unpredictable capabilities. Forming attachments with individuals from the era you enter is strictly prohibited during your time dive. Additionally, any attempts to alter future events are forbidden. Do you understand?"
"Yes, yes," Inase said while stretching his neck and arms, his usual warm-up exercise before his dive.
"Just one yes is enough." The female's brows wrinkled again. That man didn't take it seriously, it seemed.
"Yes, yes, yes. Of course." Hosen nodded, following suit with the same answer. Even if it was a must, hearing the same words over and over would get irritating after a while.
"You two…!" They were like two peas in the pod when it came to pissing her off.
"We get it, so just hurry up with it already!" It was Inase who glanced back while approaching the portal.
"Ugh…" The researcher moved the slider and put a hand on a lever, ready at any second, "3… 2… 1…" and pulled it down. "The gate's open!"
"Hell yeah~ Time to sink into whatever horrors await us this time. Let's g-"
But before Inase could finish his sentence, Hosen kicked him with all his might through the portal. A perfect get-back for earlier—the sweet revenge has been successfully exerted.
"Ow, ow, ow! Asshole—!"
Inase cussed out, rubbing his behind after he landed on the other side, on the ground beyond the portal's borders.
Meanwhile, Hosen counted two more seconds before finally stepping through.
***
Since they did not enter at the same time, two seconds of interval turned out to be two hours apart in reality. With so much time passed, Inase had lost the opportunity to get angry by the time Hosen finally appeared, stepping through the portal one foot at a time.
"Hm…"
The man in a white coat scanned the area with an unimpressed expression.
Around him, narrow streets of cobblestones and dirt led to a chain of dilapidated Victorian buildings and crumbling houses, hidden between the jagged cliffs and dark waters of the fog-laden ocean. Along the coast, worn-out warehouses stood in line, their wooden beams weathered through years of exposure to time and tide.
A briny scent of seawater filled the air.
Old ships creaked as they swayed to the rhythm of the waves, like a handful of hazardous cradles made by the devil himself.
A cold breeze carried the cries of seagulls and the clatter of cargo as fishermen in heavy boots loaded their boats—some prepared to haul in the previous night's catch, while others only set out for the evening's work.
Scarce, working women mended torn nets or sold freshly-gutted fish—their hushed voices mingled with the chatter of sailors and dockworkers.
Hosen stood still, deeply lost in his thoughts.
"Landed supposedly in what is a port town, anchored not so far in the past… The humidity volume in the surroundings is very high, and the visibility is highly obscured by dense fog covering the area… The building structure indicates the times of the early twentieth century. From the overall atmosphere, it seems that…"
And he kept mumbling on and on under his breath—all to himself—about various clues and hypotheses his scientific brain was able to come up with.
"Oh, there he is." Even a voice he should recognize with ease didn't break his focus. "Look who decided to arrive late."
If not for Inase, who just appeared at the meeting spot from his town ventures and was now poking at Hosen's cheek, the man would have silently stood frozen in one spot forever.
"Heyyy—?"
It snapped him out of the daze while his partner's finger continued to drill a hole in his squishy flesh, much to his dissatisfaction.
"Is anyone there?"
One smack was enough to keep that man's dirty hand away. Blinking twice to scatter his confusion, Hosen collected his tangled thoughts into a coherent string of words.
"Alright, give me a report."
"Hah, now we're talking."
Shaking his head in exasperation, he continued with what he had found out so far. Two hours alone in this place was enough to get some things done.
"We are in a port town, Rockport, in 1934. We traveled back not too far away, but still over 100 years ago, at least?"
That matched with what Hosen could observe so far.
"I got us a nice room in the nearby inn and found a cozy breakfast place that serves coffee that doesn't taste like shit."
A cozy place, he said, but from his tone, it sounded like nothing more than words of spite, which caused the other to roll his eyes.
"You sure act fast." Methodical.
"Oh, and I got us some clothes." Inase added right after.
To that, Hosen blinked, quite baffled. He was scared to ask, but an urge within him forced him to anyway.
"How did you do that…?"
"Knocked some guys out."
The blonde answered with a proud grin and a shrug as if it was the easiest task done right. It made Hosen sigh exasperatedly instead.
"Do they know?"
He followed by inquiring about the situation he was left to deal with due to his partner's reckless actions—one wrong move and their mission could fail because they bust themselves from their undercover.
Hosen hoped that Inase didn't babble about unnecessary eldritch mysteries to average citizens.
"Of course not, I'm not dumb."
"Oh really, I couldn't tell."
Hosen's tone was serious, not because he intended to make an audacious comment, but because he simply wanted to state the facts based on his initial observations.
He also didn't mean to come off as malicious in any way, but the wording, even though he hadn't realized it, wasn't the greatest of his strengths. His sharp tongue had never helped him before with socializing.
Gasp
Although Inase's mouth was wide open at the burn he had just received, he then smoothly transitioned to a more lighthearted conversation, brushing off the harsh jabs at his persona with ease.
"Is someone still angry about what I said earlier, perhaps?"
"I'll kick you again."
The scientist crossed his arms after his eyebrow twitched.
"How scary~"
A frustrated breath ended their back-and-forth.
***
A faint scent of tobacco lingered in the air, tickling the noses of those who entered the local pub. Stepping through the inviting doorway, they found themselves in a world far from the usual boring everyday.
Inside, dim lighting from art deco sconces cast warm shadows over polished wooden tables and spotless bar tops.
Behind the counter, rows of neatly arranged bottles shimmered with colorful reflections, offering a taste of the era's favorite cocktails and martinis.
An abused jukebox stood alone in the corner, playing jazzy tunes, though its melodies were often drowned out by cheerful cackles and the crackling sound of an old TV broadcasting an intense football match in black and white.
The TV, clearly an older model, remained untouched—no one cared enough to replace it. Out in the countryside, a single collective screen was enough to bring the whole town together for a game or two.
Looking further, the glossy tables were occupied by men in flat caps or cheap fedoras and women in simple dresses, all seeking a brief escape from the hardships of the Great Depression.
The pub buzzed with solidarity in the face of struggle, mixed with a hint of defiance and echoing laughter—a refuge for those seeking to forget their struggles, if only for a short while. Conversations drifted between nostalgic tales of the past and worries about the future.
That was the place Inase and Hosen had entered. By night, fishermen gathered for hot meals and lively music, making it the perfect spot to gather information for their investigation.
To lessen his suspicious presence, Hosen pulled a hoodie over his head and tried to act as naturally as possible.
"I don't think anyone would notice." Inase chuckled, seeing how cautious the guy was. "The bar is pretty dark overall, and townies are too drunk to care."
"It's better to be safe than sorry."
The two approached the bar and sat on the stiff, high stools, ordering light drinks to soften the mood. Inase had already placed a dollar bill on the table in advance.
"Where did you get the money from?"
It concerned Hosen since they didn't have any when they arrived.
"Came in a bundle with the costume package." Inase's answer was tinted with nonchalance.
Though soon after, their chitchat was cut short by a random stranger inviting himself to the seat beside them.
"You look new here, fellas." A thick 1930s accent heavily coated his tongue. "We gettin' quite a few of ya, eh."
"That we are." Inase didn't waste time getting into the social circle, while Hosen inconspicuously lowered his hood over his forehead. "Lookin' good, sir."
"You bet." The man patted his beer belly with satisfaction, his low-frequency laughter was contagious enough to bring smiles to the eavesdroppers sitting nearby.
He looked like a friendly gentleman who was well-known for drinking in the pub until dawn—a frequent customer. Even now, he had one too many glasses of alcohol in his system already.
"Name's Richard, but everyone calls me Dick."
"Nice to meet ya." Inase pointed at himself. "I'm Will." And then at Hosen. "This is Bill. We're brothers."
"Hoho, you don't look alike, but I'm gonna assume you have different mothers." Said Dick lightheartedly—to which Inase smiled, letting him get to conclusions in hopes he'd entertain this logic on his own.
It didn't take long for the man to let out a sound hiccup and change the topic entirely.
"Ah, nothing beats a well-deserved, cold pint of beer after three days at the sea!" His content expression left nothing more to imagine.
"Don't overdo it. Not again, sire. You still have to walk back home on your own two legs."
A short comment from a bartender sent the surrounding few into a fit of roaring cackles—they all remembered the last time they all had to carry that man to a cart and pull him right under the front door of his house.
"No need, I'm a changed man now."
"Is that so?"
Dick waved them off with a scoff as he looked at the TV screen, he raised his second mug with cheers.
Shouts of joy filled the building after the team ace scored a fate-changing goal during the last minute. The man, too, was visibly overjoyed that the football club he rooted for had won, thanks to an exciting miracle. They had been the underdogs of the event for the entire match, chasing after unachievable, but that unreachable goal had come true in the very end.
"Let's go! Did you see that? What a great goal!"
Of course, he was directing his words at Inase, vividly shaking his shoulder with uncontained excitement.
"That reminds me, the Detroit Lions lost the World Series recently… My son loves them, so I hoped to see him jump in glee if they won, but he became depressed for three days straight instead." The man chuckled. "It's so easy to see what's on his mind."
"I bet when he grows up, he will become a great player himself."
"He wants to!" Pride filled his chest. "It's his dream. However, he still doesn't know how hard he has to work to get to the top. He's five; let's give him some time."
A sigh of contentment turned out to be a sigh of reminiscence instead.
"I hope he will work for his dream. It's a part of the fun, you know, the path of struggle before it comes true. Watchin' my children smile afterward is one of my biggest blessings."
"You have more?" Inase inquired, allowing the conversation to continue.
"A daughter, but she's still too young to walk. She's learning, though." The smile that the man gave them was that of a loving father. "My wife is tending to her at home."
He showed an openable pendant around his neck. Upon opening it, he slipped out a paper folded in four and unwrapped it before Inase like a secret message.
"Look how cute she is, my little angel."
The black-and-white photo showed a little girl in her mother's arms with the lightest blonde-colored hair curling softly on top of her nearly bald head. She didn't have teeth yet, but her smile was as bright as the sun.
"Indeed, she's adorable-"
A faint jab of Hosen's elbow to Inase's side sent him flinching back on the right track.
Right, we were supposed to gather information.
"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask, are there any weird or suspicious things that have been happening around this town?"
"Weird things? Hmm…"
It took the man a few moments to come up with a satisfying answer.
"Not that I know of, unfortunately. I've been at the sea for the most part." He shook his head. "We're a small fishermen's town. The food might be scarce in the urban areas, but we're self-sufficient. We live from fishing at the sea..."
Then, it suddenly dawned on him.
"However, we've been having poor harvests lately. We never had that problem before. Not only are we catching small and deformed specimens instead of the usual big hauls, but also sometimes we don't catch anything at all. They just don't be lookin' right."
"I've seen fish being sold at the docks, though." Hosen had to voice his observations since his logical brain could never pass by a discrepancy.
"Aye, those? We keep what we catch and take only when we need it. Fishes are only best when they're fresh, so we stock our catch in water containers for the future days. But, now? If you've seen our catch, fella, you'd be concerned, too. Nothing for six days straight!"
"..." The hooded man had nothing to add.
"Hardships in fishing, eh?" Inase's tone was coated with a deep understanding of the situation.
"No doubt. It hadn't happened once during the twenty years I've been workin', but now it happens almost every day." Dick nodded slowly, confirming his own story. "Also, if we speak of suspicious people, there is that detective loiterin' around and snoopin' where he shouldn't be… He's so unsettling."
"That one, you don't have to worry about too much." The blonde cut himself in.
"You've talked to him?" Bewildered, he blinked a few times.
"I met him earlier. He's not that bad of a guy, just a bit of an eccentric."
"Bah! An eccentric." The man shook his head. "People from big cities be like that…"
"He's here for a case." Inase tried to explain, but Dick waved him off.
"Right, right. Enough about the dark topics, pal. Let's have fun and drink!"
A pub was open for people to enjoy drunk, jolly times, after all, not for the somber chitchats that brought reality to the table.
Two big pints were slid on the table by the bartender, who used enough strength to stop them perfectly in front of Hosen and Inase, respectively, filled to the brim with cold, golden beverage and a white, voluptuous foam spilling out.
"It's on me." He raised his own to the ceiling.
Hosen stared at it suspiciously, but the blonde bumped his shoulder and whispered,
"Shut up and drink. No complaining allowed."
When he turned back to the friendly individual, his attitude turned one-eighty; he clinked the two cups together with a cheerful glee of his teeth.
"Thank you, friend. I will gulp it down to the last drop."
"That's the spirit!" The middle-aged, jolly man was thrilled to finally find himself a worthy comrade to keep up with his celebrative drinking calls. "You too, pal. Drink up!"
He darted his chin at Hosen, who was still hesitant to have any. The hooded man didn't have a choice but to succumb to the pressure.
"Bottoms up!"
The cold beer of the past, brewed by hand, having the prickliness of the bubbles mixed with the sourness on the tongue and a bitter aftertaste, turned out so much better than anything they could drink in their own timeline.