Chapter 7: Reconciliation.

The car journey was short enough, and soon enough, Reiner turned at an intersection before pointing to a small, rather dated store, barely a few storeys high. It was crowded, yet only the first two floors were devoted to sales.

"Look at that store, it's not very big though."

Alice looked around the store accordingly, quickly seeing someone being jostled at the entrance and falling to the ground. No one gave her a glance, some even stepping on her arms to save a little time. It was at this point that Reiner added, bowing his head slightly.

"It's because of this kind of behavior that I don't trust easily. After all, we're the ones who come first, so it's natural to put others first in an emergency... Even if there's no emergency here, well, that's enough to bring out the true nature of people. Fortunately, not everyone is like them..."

After saying that, he started heading towards Clovis' place again, without turning back to take a last look at the little store. Without even paying more attention to the poor man on the ground than the others.

* * *

Reiner didn't get out of his car until he'd pulled into the parking lot of the building where Clovis lived. The building's architecture was similar to that of his own, although it appeared to be more recent. He and Alice headed for an apartment on the first floor of the building.

Although similar on the outside, the building where Clovis lived was a little larger and newer, and the space was better utilized, allowing for ground-floor living, as well as a more pleasing aesthetic.

Reiner stood in front of the first door on the left and pressed the doorbell, tapping his foot lightly as he came to a stop. The doorbell rang through the apartment for three or four seconds, before footsteps made their way towards the front door. A man in pyjamas opened the door and spoke, a smile spreading across his face.

"Oh Reiner! What are you doing here? It's been a long time since you came to see me... by the way, isn't that the little girl we bought behind you?"

"Yes, it is... we came to see if you were all right, would you let us in?"

Reiner replied with a disappointed look on his face.

Once Clovis had stepped back, letting them inside, Reiner noticed an android sitting inside a charging station in the corner of the living room, in addition to the TV showing a paused series. Reiner then stared at Clovis, saying.

"Well... I guess I was worried for nothing."

"Huh? Were you worried about me? Why?"

Replied a surprised Clovis, while sporting a deliberately unhealthy grin that married perfectly with his snide tone of voice.

"Haven't you seen the news?"

"Yes, I have, but the last time there was a catastrophe, nothing happened... Apart from the wave of looting committed by those screaming about the end of the world in the streets... But I'm sure that's not-"

Just as Clovis was about to finish his sentence, a car alarm sounded, leaving Reiner, Clovis and Alice staring out of the window. They could see a man near an alleyway, dressed in little more than a few torn pieces of cloth, stealing a car with an old hacking quit in the middle of the street.

"You were saying Clovis?"

Reiner declared, taking on the same wry smile Clovis had been able to muster earlier, which left Clovis sighing before saying.

"But... I'm sure there'll be less this time, no need to worry, and now that you're here come and watch this series with me, it's great I purposely took time off work to see the sequel!"

"Ah, it's true you have a job, I'd completely forgotten about it, at the same time you don't really have the head for work.... Besides, why take time off when so many people were at home to follow the news properly today? Even if it's just an excuse..."

"Well, this way I get paid."

Clovis replied as naturally as possible with a confused look, his eyes wide open.

"It's implacable logic..."

Reiner retorted, an exasperated expression taking over his face as he buried his face in his hands, before adding.

"And I'm sorry but I'm not going to watch this show with you, I've still got a couple of things to do."

However, Alice spoke up immediately as Reiner was about to leave.

"We're going to see his brother, are you coming? He was even worried about you, and had insisted on dropping by here first in fact..."

Clovis looked accordingly at Alice with a very surprised expression, before looking at Reiner with a disturbing smile.

"You're pretty close considering how little time has passed."

"Shut up, Clovis, if you keep up this kind of joke I'll put you through a wall before I leave."

Reiner retorted, his face slightly flushed as Clovis looked at him with the same smile, before walking towards the exit and saying.

"You took so much trouble to come, it would be a shame not to come with you, or to let you go like that, I want to see where you are in your little relationship."

Reiner then turned around, taking Clovis' face in his hands before pushing it into a wall, then he looked at Alice, saying.

"Don't worry, he's always been like that...unfortunately...he's just saying that to embarrass us. Besides, when he sees there's something on at least one side, he tends to watch quietly without saying anything. He's not beyond redemption, not yet..."

Then he let out a deep sigh as he looked at Clovis, still inert, though now on the floor, and added.

"Clovis... I know you're faking it. If you don't get up, I'm leaving without you."

Clovis then stood up in a flash, saying.

"You've already done it to me once, not twice!

He ran to catch up with Reiner, who was already almost out the door, while Alice was still in the same place, observing this strange scene, before joining them awkwardly.

In front of the almost heavy silence, broken only by the sound of the car starting up, Reiner switched on the radio, turning it off immediately when he heard the conversations about the few disappearances continuing around the globe. Clovis then took it upon himself to break the silence by asking a few questions about Alice's reactions to his first start-up, in addition to some frivolous conversation to get to know Alice.

* * *

Once the drive between the two cities was over, where everything was calm and unchanging, they got out of Reiner's car. Instead of stepping forward, however, Reiner laughed as he gazed at the windows of Leo's apartment.

"Alice, look. All his windows are blocked by furniture too, I told you we had time."

The group moved down the hall to the first apartment on the first floor. Reiner then took the initiative of pressing the buzzer for Leo's apartment with a slightly tense air, unmindful of the small staircase behind him leading to the upper floors.

Footsteps could be heard almost immediately, yet the door opened only a few seconds after their stop, showing Leo appearing with a teasing smile as he said.

"It hasn't even been a week yet, but you're already coming? Are you worried, albeit a little belatedly, about your big brother?"

Hearing his brother's ironic tone, Reiner responded by shrugging his shoulders with an exaggerated sigh.

"Me? Worry? No, I got dragged here by Alice, my synthetic, and so in passing I brought the other idiot..."

Reiner turned to point at Clovis, but no one could be seen apart from Alice and an empty space.

"Alice? Did he get away?"

Reiner asked with an almost dazed look, but Alice shook her head and said.

"Take a good look up the stairs."

Reiner then turned to the staircase behind Alice, where he could see a small head visible, the body entirely hidden by the stairs. This made Reiner want to scream.

"You're already chickening out when you haven't even seen it yet? Aren't you the one who was always telling me to go and see him?"

Clovis shyly stepped forward, speaking in an equally shy voice.

"I didn't want to disturb you, so I thought it would be better if I went out the back... and besides, it's normal for you to go and see him, not me, so your argument is invalid."

On hearing the conversation, however, Leo laughed, struggling to get a sentence out.

"You haven't changed a bit since Clovis...Clovis Yark if I remember correctly. Don't worry, I still don't bite. At least not normally."

Clovis relaxed a little when he heard the bad joke, but Reiner seemed surprised, and addressed Leo again.

"How can you remember his last name when even I've forgotten it?"

"You really need to try and improve your memory..."

Leo let out a deep sigh as he said.

"Forgetting the last name of your only friend... We're not going to stay in the corridor forever, are we?"

After Reiner, Clovis and Alice had settled on the room's only remaining sofa, which didn't serve to block one of the apartment's many windows, they looked at the single coffee table in front of him. But before the silence could settle, Leo spoke again, this time staring at Alice.

"Alice, isn't it? So you're my brother's... my brother's synthetic, intriguing."

Alice looked quizzical for a second as she heard the last word, but replied calmly the next second, wearing a smiling expression.

"Yes, that's right, and if you don't mind my asking, how is that intriguing?"

"I imagine you already know this, but Reiner is something of an exception; he regards synthetics or androids, call them what you will, as humans. So he'll always treat them well, even if he doesn't particularly like humans, and would actually treat them like garbage if he treated them like humans precisely... Anyway, because of that I never thought he'd buy a synthetic, but now he comes to my house with a synthetic. Can you see why I found that intriguing now?"

Leo murmured, looking thoughtful.

"When you put it like that..."

"So I'm curious, what's the reason for this group visit?"

he asked, glancing at the three people, his expression radically changed to match his curiosity.

"I was dragged here by force".

Clovis replied, trying to copy Reiner, earning him a light tap on the flank from Reiner.

"I asked Reiner to come here rather than wait in case something unexpected came up."

Alice added, as Reiner nodded at her words after resuming his seat as if he'd done nothing.

"I don't know if I'm supposed to be happy that you took my advice and wanted to bond again, or sad because you probably wouldn't have come if it hadn't been for Alice..."

"I would have come back, but a little later..."

Reiner replied in a low voice. Leo chuckled, speaking with a smile as he appeared to be in a good mood.

"You know, even though it's been a long time since we've seen each other, I still know you very well, little brother. So let's take advantage of the fact that the situation isn't too explosive and have a good time together, just like old times, but with Alice of course, and then we'll do it again later, okay?"

Clovis and Reiner both replied in lively, energetic tones, "YES!", leaving Alice to simply stare at them while wondering why Leo was heading for his kitchen, or why the response from both was so energetic.

Before either Reiner or Clovis could explain it to Alice, Leo returned again, a bottle of alcohol in each hand, and four glasses barely fitting between the bottles and his hands, all the while staring at Clovis, slightly worried. He then placed the bottles and glasses on the table, and spoke up.

"Well, it's not super quality, but it should still do the trick."

Almost instantly after Leo's words, Reiner poured herself a little alcohol before being quickly followed by Clovis. Strangely, Clovis quickly turned red and started coughing, leaving Léo to sigh as he said.

"Clovis, you already can't hold your liquor very well, and you don't like Whisky, so why did you take some?"

"I wanted to see if the taste had changed..."

Clovis replied with difficulty between coughs, letting Leo hand him the other bottle and say.

"Here, this is Rum, if I remember you don't hate it? Si?"

Hearing this Clovis's eyes became sparkling as Reiner looked at him, speaking softly.

"How can you not even manage to drink a little Whisky when... Wait stop, calm down!"

Reiner then hurriedly took the bottle Clovis was hogging, leaving Leo and Alice stunned on the side.

"Man, how'd you manage to drink half the bottle so fast, without even drinking from the neck?"

Reiner whispered with a stunned expression and voice. But instead of giving him an answer, Clovis collapsed to the floor before burping. A satisfied expression on his face.

Seeing him, Léo breathed a final sigh.

"Well, he's not going to wake up until tomorrow, is he?"

"You're right, it's the same as before, alcohol-wise."

Reiner added, continuing to stare at Clovis. It wasn't until Leo had finished settling Clovis on the sofa that Alice timidly spoke up.

"What are we going to do about Clovis? He doesn't have his car here, since we've brought it with us... "

"Euuuum, you see how to drag a lifeless body?"

Reiner retorted with a gentle smile filled with kindness.

"Carry an unconscious person, you mean...don't you?"

Alice replied with a worried face, while waving her hands in the air.

Reiner then tilted his head then took on a disgusted expression while pointing at Clovis who was drooling on the sofa with a perverse smile, before saying.

"You want me to carry that weirdo?"

Alice laughed involuntarily, but Leo interrupted her laughter with a face slightly reddened by alcohol.

"I wonder what kind of dream he's having..."

"Big brother... you can't hold your liquor like you used to..."

Leo snorted, retorting.

"Bah. Everyone gets older."

"But you haven't even..."

Reiner interrupted his sentence with a deep sigh before pouring himself a large glass of alcohol instead of speaking, while a distant car alarm could be heard.

Seeing this, Alice also poured herself a glass of Whisky, then a glass of Rum to test the different tastes, but didn't really drink much as she wasn't feeling the effects of the alcohol. After she'd finished, Leo asked her.

"Do you always talk so little?"

Alice looked slightly puzzled, then replied thoughtfully, a finger on her bottom lip.

"I don't really know, I think I talk a lot already..."

"If you think so... well, never mind! And let's have some fun! Clovis won't wake up anyway..."

Before the alcohol got the better of them, Reiner, Alice and Leo decided to play a few card games, but poker was directly excluded by Alice without justification. So they played various games together, laughing and having fun. Then, at a certain point, Alice decided to let the two brothers enjoy themselves, and watch from a distance as they chatted together, saying all the things they hadn't been able to say to each other when they were apart.

She seemed relieved that Leo and Reiner hadn't actually grown too far apart, despite the time and conflicts they'd had even before his creation. However, she couldn't help feeling a little overwhelmed by this reunion scene between two brothers, especially as she wasn't even drinking with them, not that she didn't want to. A strange bitterness crept into her mind as a result, though she did her best to ignore it.

As a result, the day passed very quickly, except for Alice who still didn't know where to put herself, remaining on the sidelines voluntarily, listening to the various outside noises that sometimes broke the little calm that could be found in the apartment. However, Reiner and Leo didn't hold their liquor at all, and although things went well at first, they soon became intoxicated.

It wasn't until after eight that Alice got up, greeting Leo as she dragged Clovis and Reiner into the car with the help of Leo, who was still imbued with alcohol, though not as much as his brother, who was still drunk enough to confuse his old car with a spaceship.

It was after a long good-bye due to Reiner's refusal to let go of his brother after hugging him, or even to let go of the empty bottle in his right hand, and the great movements of Clovis who despite his drowsiness prevented Alice from fastening her seatbelt, that the group set off with Alice as driver.

While Reiner enjoyed slapping Clovis on the back of the car, Alice steered to let another car pass, without saying a word about the journey, although her thoughts were focused on just one thing.

[Why is it so hard to drive this old car when I've already got all the theoretical driving knowledge in my database...]

It was after a hectic trip, with Alice locking Reiner in his own car and Reiner screaming at the top of his lungs that he'd been kidnapped, that Alice had to take Clovis home. She said a quick hello to Clovis's synthetics and explained the situation. Yet when Alice returned to the car, all was strangely quiet. Reiner had fallen asleep shirtless in the car. When Alice saw him, she sighed and hung him up for the rest of the journey, mumbling to herself.

"If I'd known it was going to end like this, I wouldn't have let him drink so much...".

Once at her destination, Alice had to put her T-shirt on Reiner to take him out and carry him to bed. But after setting foot in the quiet old apartment, with its ceiling crumbling from old age, Alice slightly regretted not having participated more in this little party.

However, once Reiner had been put to bed, and the apartment door locked, she looked down at her jacket which she removed, keeping only her white T-shirt and blue skirt, before heading into the bathroom with a slight smile on her face, humming a little melody. But once the door was closed, a small laugh cut her humming, before the sound of running water made it disappear completely.