“Funny seeing you two again so soon.”

Kep poured them each a glass of water from a plastic bottle. It was the largest bottle of brand-name water Sao had ever seen. Its heft made Kep and everything else in the room seem miniaturized in comparison - except for the stack of identically huge water bottles piled against the wall.

“Did you manage to find Cadoc?” 

“Not yet,” Rai said.

“Optimistic. I like that. You’ll find him yet.” Kep set down the bottle with a thump. “And Nero? Did he have much else to say, or is he still dealing with the aftermath?”

“He’s currently under observation.”

“Aha.”

Kep settled into a bruised armchair. It was difficult to tell if he was happy to see them or not. He did not seem in any rush to kick them out, but there was something unwanting, stale, innately off about the room. It wasn’t just the wall of water bottles. Their seats were the only furniture in a large open living space - aside from a television set flat against the wall, a rickety dining table in the back and some large cardboard boxes. Everything was wedged into sunless corners, as if some overwhelming invisible force occupied the center of the rooom.  

Sao strolled the perimeter. At first glance, the boxes suggested that Kep was in the process of moving, but peering inside he saw they were empty, and coated with dust. There was a thin layer of dust on everything but the water bottles. The house had been in this state for a while.

“Are you interested in how Basil’s doing too?” Rai offered.

“Of course - but I’m almost afraid to ask. There was some news coverage, before his surgery… or something. He’s still in hospital. Isn’t he?”

“Yes, he is.”

“Looking better?”

“That information isn’t public yet. But he is alive.”

“So...” Kep scratched the arm of his chair. “Do the doctors know what caused it?”

“Is it strange for a professional to become so ill after eating so much?” Rai folded his hands and leaned forward. Kep had no space to back away. “Yesterday was the first time I ever watched a competitive eating match the whole way through, so I don’t know much about the game. Help me out here if I’m wrong. Do burgers usually slash up the throat if you eat too many?”

Kep was unblinking. Sao had to wonder if he’d been expecting this.

“And the kind of toxins you get when you eat too much - serious business, isn’t it? What are they feeding those cattle that end up on our plates? Kidney damage, heart failure, not to mention the effect on the stomach.”

Kep inspected the fingernail he was using the poke at the armrest. Rai had gradually shifted forward as he spoke, sliding off his chair.

“He's not keeping food down, they're talking about putting a tube down his throat. Then it will be over, won't it? A guy's career completely ruined, at the semifinal of all times. And he just recovered from last year's surgery. It's almost like some curse decided to double down for the big moment, and -”

“It was a reaction to some dangerous additions to his food.” Sao said. “Glass shards and a compound used in rat poison.”

He’d hoped to bring relief, defuse the bomb or at least shift it. But Kep only scrunched his brow, his face swimming in shadows.

Rai settled back in his seat. “The burgers were sabotaged, and it was nasty stuff. Not all of them, but I’m guessing a few grams of poison is more than enough. And when you’re shoveling them down by the kilo, who’d notice in the heat of the moment? You’re not going to taste it. This stuff, zinc phosphide - some people say it even smells like garlic up close.” Rai’s glare doubled down. “I’m guessing the tainted food was at the bottom of the pile, so it was eaten in the latter half. Perhaps Cadoc and Nero reached it, during that supposed ‘choke chain reaction’ when there were ten minutes on the clock? Near the end of the match, everyone’s tired and numb and barely chewing, that’s also the perfect time to power down some shattered glass, all the better to cut you when it’s vomited back up...”

“The damage is quite severe,” Sao added wearily. “And the way it was executed doesn’t look like an accident in meat processing.”

“So somebody tried to ruin the match. What does this have to do with me?”

Sao wasn’t sure he could answer that one civilly, so he let Rai continue.

“One of the reasons Nero is a free man now, in spite of his own infractions, is because he helped direct us toward the answer.”

“And he pointed you to me.”

“Nero has competed with you before. Another ‘cursed’ match of yours where a number of competitors were mysteriously, violently sick a few minutes after the end of the match.”

“That curse business looks good on tabloids, but I don’t know why you’re bringing it up here in complete sincerity.” Basil sighed. “If you check my records, I compete almost exclusively in meat contests. The food’s heavy, and as you suspect, there can be chemical buildup. Getting sick afterward is fairly common - even I feel woozy once I step offstage, as you may have noticed yesterday. And again, as you say: Basil’s case is unusual. Nobody ever had to be hospitalized.”

“You’ve been keeping track.”

“With all the rumors floating around, I thought it would help to have the facts on hand. In case it ever came to a full accusation.” 

“Were you hoping it would?” Rai tilted his head at Kep’s beatific smile. “You seem to be enjoying this.”

“I’m just finding it funny how you’re pursuing the whole curse claim. I admitted to attempted bribery, but that’s all I’ve got. If only I could tell you where Cadoc went, pull him out of a back closet somewhere - I would, believe me. And if I knew of some overworked aide thought it funny to sneak poison into...” The corners of Kep’s mouth twitched, he looked at his feet. “There’s nothing more to say. I only want to help, but I-”

“You almost did.” 

“Excuse me?”

“Let’s talk about yesterday.” Rai took a small sip of water, saving the rest. Preparing for a long stay. “You got to the convention at about 7 in the morning.”

“Well, I know Nero didn’t tell you that. He didn’t get in until much later.” Kep threw his head back, his laugh like a thresher. “Is it really so bad to check in early? Look around this place. I don’t have much to do around here, might as well go where the action is. It’s been downright depressing, sitting in this house with nothing but water and salad and sickness.” His tone grew soft. “Since the divorce, it’s just been an empty house, I haven’t had the-”

“Let's not get into that aspect of your personal life just yet,” Rai said, inexplicably shooting a glare at Sao. “But I am interested in your relationship with the judges and technicians. The staff at the semifinals were seniors, all of them had extensive time in the field. And you’ve been eating competitively for a while. You said yourself, you’re familiar with the regulars among the staff. You find them sympathetic. Even if you did conspire to some kind of scale tampering, you’d turn yourself in rather than admit that a technician did it. Strange words from a guy who happily plays a villain.”

The breathy chuckle again. Eery time Kep laughed, it sounded like great effort. “This is competitive eating, detective, not wrestling or boxing or whatever it is you’re thinking of. I’m not so invested in the act that I’m living and breathing evil offstage. The media are hardly interested in my life--”

“Of course you’re not evil. We were just surprised you'd take a valiant stance so quickly. But it's true, the staff think you’re a very decent person. Over the years, they’ve learned you really do care about them. A couple of interviewees said they felt sorry for you, coming into events alone and early, looking desperate for companionship. They trust you to hang around, trust you alone with the food as they run around preparing for the event. And they trust you wouldn’t do anything to actually incriminate them.”

Kep said nothing. But when Rai stood, Kep flattened into his dilapidated cushions, trapping himself against the limp chair.

“You would have had plenty of time to mess with the scales,” Rai said. “But they were using Chimera tech that day, and that stuff wouldn’t be broken easily. Even if you managed it, in comparison to the poisoning of the food, it’s a null point.” Rai paced to the window, blocking perhaps the only source of light to the room. “The food was delivered ready-made, but they had to stack it onto the trays before serving - prepared in a truck outside. There were 100 burgers per person, or thereabouts, and 6 people scheduled to work on them. Short staffed, and overworked, as you know. Since Cadoc and Nero ran into the ‘choke point’ near the end, I’m going to guess that the burger-prep crew got one or two layers stacked, and had to run out to handle some calls, or the pre-show contestants. And they left you unattended.” Rai’s eyes in his silhouette were sunken in darkness, with only pinpricks of red in their centers, like a devil's. “Glass and poison. It was prepared. It was no accident.”

“The choke point,” Sao said, feeling like an echo of some larger entity. “Early in the round, there was an upset at your table. You had a slow start, but after that incident, you steadied, came in above poor Basil in the end. Did you manage to locate the tainted food from your tray in that time? If you couldn’t see the poison, I suppose you’d be looking for glass. In that scuffle you had time to drag them into the jacket of yours that was lying on the ground - the warmest day in three months, and only you wore a jacket in.” He smiled, but quickly turned stern. Both expressions felt too callous. “You really are a talented actor, Mr. Albert.”

And in a fine display of his skill, Kep simply nodded and said, “Thank you. And you are a pair of fine storytellers. I’m not sure what to make of this.”

“Right,” Rai said. “Why would you bring up bribery and sabotage, but suggest scale fixing instead of the poison?”

“Because I didn’t know.”

“Because you chickened out.” Rai had become a shadow against the blue glare of the window. “You were proud that someone finally caught onto you, but at the last second, you had us fight for the nonsensical scale-tampering hint. Was it because our reaction to Nero being a Life Fountain wasn’t enough for you?”

“I have nothing against him.”

“Take it back a second. You care about the people you work with. I don’t think that’s a lie. You didn’t want to throw anyone under the bus. And okay, maybe Nero didn’t factor into it. You just panicked at the last second when the possibility of murder, Basil being seriously hurt, came up. But why in the world would you feed rat poison to people and expect them to be fine?” Rai clapped his gloves together. “Because you weren’t expecting to compete with people.”

For the first time, Kep’s face went blank. But it was a careful, sturdy blankness. Like a shell, closing off. Still, knowing it was a shell at all meant it would open sometime.

“How long has this been going on for?”

No response.

“How long have you been trying to expose Life Fountains in competitive eating? And how long has the system been failing to notice, failing you and the other fair, human players who are getting their stomachs wrecked in the process?”

Kep’s mouth opened. For air, maybe.

Rai stepped away from the window, returning to his natural greyish complexion. “Nero knew it was you, because as a cheater himself, he realized he was being targeted. Nero's been a pill-popper and big eater his whole life. So when he felt sick, he knew something was wrong. But he stayed quiet to keep his career secure - what if someone asked how he got through spiked food so smoothly? - incidentally keeping your tactics a secret in the process. Kind of like how you decided to keep silent about your discovery, because pointing out how Life Fountains survived your tricks would have taken you down in the process, for doing the contaminating. However… when Nero saw the effect of the glass and poison on Basil, he knew it had gone to far. He kept the evidence in that trash bucket of his, and gave us his thoughts. Now he’s helping us weed out the rest of the illicit Life Fountains, to make sure people like you don’t have to--”

“Great. Wonderful. All I do, and Life Fountains win again. Let’s just forget all the harm they’ve done.”

Rai folded his arms and watched Kep stand, limp as a scarecrow, and stride over to the window to look at his dismal little lawn. “I sometimes wonder how I got here. Eating isn’t the most beautiful job in the world. But that’s not why she left.” Sao took a moment to realize he was talking about his wife again. “It was the losing. And how was I supposed to win against those monsters?”

Though his arms stiffened at monsters, Rai remained where he was.

“Have you looked at the history of the sport? The stars of today eat almost twice as much, on average, as they did ten years ago. Either there were some insane mutations at work, or they were getting ahead by… unnatural means. The pin test was never reliable, the consistency of halfbreeds makes a true test just about impossible.” 

Rai twitched again.

“We’re relying on them to police themselves, and you can imagine how that goes. Not to be prejudicial, but it’s in medical journals - LFs are notoriously poor at self control. And when they’re lying their way into a domain that explicitly bans them - well, call me old fashioned, or call me a square - in traditional terms we’d call it cheating.” Kep continued to inspect his lawn. “I started off safe - sleeping pills, bones fragments or pepper flakes. Difficult to see the reaction, even on humans. Human professional eaters aren’t LF-level but do have strong stomachs. And of course, I couldn’t sneak something in every match, but it got easier over time, with practice, as with all things. Not easier on the humans, but seeing those immortal blowhards bumbling around with a solid block of laxatives in their system, I could be sure.”

He finally turned to Rai, both only gave him the briefest look.

“I did manage to wrangle some cash out of a few of the stupider ones, who didn’t ask how I knew. But I doubt it made a dent in the long run. The frontrunners, like Nero, they’re careful. They hide, and ask questions.” Kep sighed. “In the process, I got to know some of the staff very well. It started off as a means to an end, a way to get at the food, but I did feel bad for them, working for a system that has turned into an utter disgrace.”

“Despite the direction it went,” Sao said, “and where you took it, the sport was your life. You intended to do it one better.”

“I shouldn’t have ever tried. I don’t know what I was hoping to save. It isn’t our world anymore.”

That was directed at Sao alone. Kep pointedly had his back to Rai. 

Sao dipped his head. “I don’t think it ever was, Mr. Albert. And it’s true, there were plenty others at fault. Something was wrong, and you were upset. It is absurd that nobody saw what was amiss, and as a frequent watcher of eating myself, I feel partially to blame. You... shouldn’t regret your initial reasons.”

Kep snorted. “And you called me a great actor.” Having enough of Sao, he swiveled back to Rai. “Hear that? Now this is a guy who’s crazy suspicious.” 

Rai had the expression of a rock. “There’s no evidence of him poisoning anybody.”

“Okay, okay. God, detective, first it’s duty on the weekends, now home calls - do you ever take a break?” Kep went limp against a wall, heaving out his final words. “Alright. I started off hoping to expose the cheats, but in the end, I clearly lost my point. I competed to see who I could catch, even if the discovery wouldn’t go anywhere. I assumed everyone who made it to the Semis must have been Life Fountains in some shape or form. I made a mistake. Should have had more faith in humanity, something like that.” He almost managed to smile again. “I did come close to telling you everything. But yes, it was kind of a disappointment that Nero’s reveal was taken so nicely. I suppose it’s too late for me to get one up on him now.”

“Unfortunately.”

“Basil. I am truly sorry. I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to help him now, but if I can...”

“We’ll see how he decides to proceed once he’s better.” Rai paused. “Or how his family take it in the meantime. For now I think it’s best you lay low. Police will be around for a  statement from you, just to get any information on record regarding the other case...”

“Right. Cadoc… I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help there, too. I mean it. The whole altercation in his room - that part was true. His sister would confirm it. And the cameras. I was just trying to rile him up - see if he’d make an ally in my feud with Nero. He didn’t take it, as you know. He didn’t need anything from me. After the match, I really didn’t see them. I only hope the burgers didn’t…”

Rai fidgeted with his gloves. “Whatever happened, the point is we can’t find him. Actually, one more question about Cadoc...”

“Ah. Something Nero couldn’t tell you?”

Coy smile back in place, ready to show his worth, Kep may as well have been receiving his round of applause.

“I don’t think Nero knew Cadoc too well. He wasn't the kind to go and socialize with the crew and competitors. But you...”

“Say no more.” Kep repositioned himself, so the light of the window fell at a more flattering angle. One could sense the voices he must have been hearing: Lights, camera, action. “It might just be regret talking, in case I did cause some harm to come to him... but I always felt that he was one of the good ones. Not a Life Fountain, I mean. He might have had some other trick going on, but I was fairly sure of the LF part, at least.”

“What made you so sure?”

“That pretty little sister of his.” Kep snickered. His teeth were very white, and in the sun, in his colorless, lifeless room, his entire being seemed to take on the matte of pearl. Substance formed and hardened from joyless irritation, Sao thought. Yet, it was hard to look away. “I’ve seen a lot of Life Fountains, researched them - sought them out even - on this long, stupid crusade. You see an illicit mommy or daddy, sometimes a grandpa, but - maybe I’m crazy  - I’ve never seen a Life Fountain in this city with a sibling.”