The dressing room across from Cadoc’s belonged to Nero. It was identical in layout to Cadoc’s and smelled even more strongly of meat. Waves of the fulsome odor came streaming out when a woman opened the door for them. Sao had to wonder if she was Nero’s first line of defense, because both he and Rai stopped dead when they saw her. She had a captivating, wing-eyed look, donning a black dress with white frilled gloves and a ribbonned apron. The quintessential parlor maid, sprung straight from a mansions of some vintage romance. Behind her, Nero was sitting on his bench, with another black-frocked maid at the vanity who stirred a cup over a portable heater.

“Police, right? I heard you talking business across the hall.” He gestured at the women. “Does this need to be private, or no?”

“Either, if it’s that easy to hear through the doors,” Rai said. “We’ll still need to speak to your… associates later.”

As a natural hulking, shaggy deterrent, Trae was to keep an eye on the ladies and Cobalt. Sao found himself pent into the room with Nero and Rai, and the unrelenting meaty odor.

“‘Associates’? That was very thoughtful of you, detective. They’re my maids, but that’s no slight on them. They work hard, make everywhere feel like home. Well, the home I had as a boy. The manor - well - I wouldn’t have survived childhood without fine women like them.”

That called for a double take. Nero had never struck Sao as a member of upper society.

Belching, Nero hauled himself off the bench, offering it to his guests. The sweat stains gleamed like polish. The offer was declined. Nero simply shrugged and helped himself to his tea. “Honey and lemon. It always helps settle the stomach after a round - well, I don’t know if that’s a scientific fact. It’s just something I’ve gotten used to. I like getting a little extra snack in with the lemon slice. Goes well with some crackers too, but I don’t have any on me today...”

“Still have room for snacks after that burger marathon?” Rai asked.

“I always have room, detective.”

Perhaps it was the fluorescent lighting of the room, but Nero’s cheeks were considerably less flushed than they had been onstage. The swaying dizziness was gone, and his eyes were sharp, reflected thrice in the threefold mirror.

Rai noticed too. “And if you don’t mind me saying so, you’re looking even better than you did during the match.”

“Thank you. I usually come in feeling under the weather from overnight training, it’s harsh stuff. But there’s nothing like a pile of burgers for a pick-me-up.”

Rai cocked an eyebrow.

“And I tell you, a little lemon does wonders,” Nero lowered the cup. The liquid half drained, Sao saw it was packed more than halfway with lemon. “So what’s all this talk about Cadoc being missing?”

“I guess you’ve heard the gist of it. Some guests thought they saw him being taken from the building. He isn’t in his room. Did you happen to see him or his manager in the past hour or so? Hear anything from their room?”

“Well, I’ve been here the whole time with the ladies, and we didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary. Cadoc and his manager - she’s his sister? - they seem like quiet people. I don’t think I heard them even talk to each other. Although...” A terse expression flitted across Nero’s face, but he smoothed it out quickly. “Are you sure he’s not in the bathroom? The staff bathroom, it’s in the last door on the left.”

“I’ll get someone to check. But he and his manager aren’t responding to calls, and there are no belongings left in his room. It’s like he’s left the area.” Rai scanned Nero’s copious piles of trunks and duffel bags. “Before the match, did you see Cadoc wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt?”

“Detective, please. The last thing we want is more sweat. The only one who’d go so far for their branding is Kep, and he’s - ” Nero sniffled. “He’s not known for being reasonable. Eh, I shouldn’t speak ill of him. The match is over. But no, I didn’t notice Cadoc wearing anything so heavy, though he could easily have brought a change of clothes with him in the morning. I only got a decent look at him during the match and at the pin test, but we didn’t talk.”

“Pin test?”

Nero drew a lazy smile and tapped his exposed arm, still wrapped in a loop of bandage. “Ah - I was thinking you looked like a newbie, when I saw you in the audience. That was you, wasn’t it? Standing off to the side.”

Rai adjusted his gloves and frowned.

“The pin prick test,” Sao explained. “It’s a short public ceremony before the match, the judges and host are there along with all the contestants, maybe a few reporters for witness. They use a light needle gun to draw blood somewhere on the body. The purpose is to-”

“- detect Life Fountains,” Rai finished for him. “If they heal up fast enough to be suspicious, kick them out. Yes, I know what a pin test is.”

“I thought you would.” Sao smiled, apologetic. Nero’s expression wasn’t quite so lax.

“Nero, can I see your arm? Where they pricked you.”

“Is this relevant to the situation with Cadoc?”

Unclenching a fist, Rai inspected his gloved palm. “Not at the moment. I’m just curious.”

“I’d rather not. I don’t want the shift the bandage. The thought of needles and blood throw me off, I get a little nauseous. Part of the reason I’m so hungover when I walk onstage. It’s nothing that a healthy stack of meat and buns can’t cure, but-”

“Alright, alright, maybe some other time. On Cadoc then: do you know anyone who’d want to harm him or his manager? You and him have been eating - uh - professionally for a while now. Does he have any enemies? Ever start any drama?”

With a stifled choke, Nero began to laugh. Sao’s ears stung. Of all his expressions, Nero’s laugh was oddly refined; smooth chuffs of air with a hand primly over the mouth. “Cadoc? You know about the pin test but I guess really are new to our world. Maybe your friend here knows more. Cadoc, stirring any sort of drama...”

“Cadoc is known for speaking little and eating a lot,” Sao said curtly, “but we wouldn’t know of his private life.”

“Far as I could tell, it’s what you see. Like I said, no rowdy conversations with the manager, no trash talk, no fuss, he’s just here to eat big and make money. Alright, he always has a one liner, like today - ‘Don’t call me a hero’.” The imitation fell into another chortle. “They call me the cool one, but Cadoc is both beast and hero of the story. He’s seriously into his work, and you know what, good for him. I like food, but I detest the phone calls and correspondence. He and his manager work so well with sponsors - not just the fact that he always wins, but because he goes out of his way to avoid scandal - that the whole eating scene’s been able to grow. More for the rest of us.”

“So, any enemies?”

Nero threw a hand out at Rai, glancing at Sao. Can you believe this guy? “Anyone who declared themselves an enemy of Cadoc would find themselves castrated. If not by the eaters and fans, then his manager. Why, I heard her giving a piece of her mind to--” Nero stopped.

“Yes?”

“No, it’s nothing. Their business, I shouldn’t-”

“So was it today? Miss North got into an argument?”

“Um.”

“Another tournament?”

“Yes, it would have been a while back...” Nero nervously pulled a piece of lemon from his cup to chew on, as if that would excuse him.

“Please, elaborate. Hang on, I have your stats right here.” Rai pulled off his gloves, and pulled out his phone. Nero, unlike Cobalt, did not flinch to the blue glow. He had become a virtual statue, save for the grinding jaw. “Matches you’ve had with North, let me cross-check. Okay, two. Any of these names look familiar? Was it a competitor? At an interview, maybe the pin test? We can dig up the footage for those - though the identity of Cadoc’s manager isn’t widely known, I mean, my associates are big fans yet didn’t seem aware of it... So did this altercation happen in private? Did you get a room right across from Cadoc and his manager like you have today?”

“I don’t remember.” Nero swallowed. “Look, I don’t think any of us would do anything to Cadoc. Just being here with him is a step up in pay and exposure. It was probably a crazed fan, or maybe some uninformed fool after his prize money. You should be out there looking, if he’s really been taken, before it’s too late.” He turned away, giving full attention to his lemon slices. “You can get my number and such from Mr. Cobalt. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can be much help.”

The triple mirrors betrayed his bold sendoff. Eyes peered up, catching Rai’s in the reflection, then quickly dropped again. Sao had to feel sorry for him - he couldn’t escape.

Rai propped an arm on the door. “Hey Sao, how much do you know about Nero here?”

“Off the top of my head?” Sao forced a laugh to break the mounting silence. “If you need something specific, the man is right here...”

“No, I want to hear what you know. I’m just getting real curious,” Rai levelled the full power of his glare at Nero now. “What’s publicly known about this guy? Grew up with maids. Mister S. Secret surname - rich family?”

“I wasn’t aware of it,” Sao murmured.

“And I don’t think that’s the only thing he’s been hiding,” Rai said.

“What are you hoping to get from me?” Nero was chewing with violent, wet crunches. “I told you, I have no idea where Cadoc is.  This is turning into harassment.”

“I’m not big on needles either,” Rai cut in abruptly. “Do you know why?”

“Huh?” Nero and Sao both responded.

“Life Fountains, even with aura weak as mine, don’t need injections very often. Vaccines are thought to cause volatility and tumors - because it’s always tumors when it comes to LFs - so as a kid, I didn’t get any. So come my teens, when I accidentally cracked a bone for the first time, the sight of the jab they were using for sedatives almost made me cry.” Rai grinned at the fond memory. “You didn’t see the doctor much? Neither did I - well, not in the working capacity. I was just about raised by one, though.”

“Good for you. I didn’t know Life Fountains could be detectives. Anyhow - it was my mother that kept me in, she just wasn’t a believer in the medical system.”

“Same here,” Rai patted two hands to his own chest. Sao could almost see the disingenuity dripping from him. “Mom didn’t care much about anything, that’s why I lived with the doctor. My gramps. And I actually learned a lot about Life Fountains from him, met a lot of them, got to know the different cultures. There are all sorts of branches and variations of aura and tradition. But you know what’s common across the board?” Rai lowered his hands. “Of course, LFs heal up fast. Everyone knows that. The second thing: most of them can eat a ton.”

Or handle unreasonable amounts of coffee, Sao thought - but he stayed quiet. Interjecting now was as appealing as leaping before a moving truck.

“That’s why they can’t compete in competitive eating, right? No indigestion, manipulatable metabolism. Releasing waste as aura, aura varieties that break down matter - and more that hasn’t been reported or uncovered yet - living a lifetime or two or three with all those advantages, plus their appetites get trained up to insane levels by habit.” Rai was not smiling anymore. “How could honest human competitors hope to match?”

“So it comes to this?” Nero stood. “You could have said it earlier. You’re accusing me of cheating, in some ridiculously... roundabout way.”

Rai moved up to face him. “Is that how you see it?”

“Oh, were you directing that spiel at him?” Nero jerked his head toward Sao. “I don’t know what you’re trying to get out of me, but this is not only nonsense, but completely unfounded.”

“I have reason as long as I don’t see the proof otherwise.”

“I passed the pin test, detective, and as I told you, needles-”

“Then it will be easy for you to prove me wrong. Take off the bandage.”

It may have been easy, but nobody moved. Sao knew Rai would not rip the thing off himself, risk suspension over something that looked largely irrelevant. Even he had to wonder what Rai’s point was, how he’d tie it back to the case, but a burning realization was gripping the pit of his stomach - whether Cadoc was in the picture or not, Nero wasn’t going to get out unscathed.

“Nero,” Sao said quietly. “I’m not qualified to speak of LF biological matters, but I’ve met Rai’s guardian. He’s one of the oldest in the city. He’s a mentor to most of the Life Fountains to pass through Central and keeps records of their business, in lieu of lawsuits and such. What I mean is,” Sao huddled his arms together and leaned close; the look of a conspirator. “If a Life Fountain happened to be taken in by a wealthy family, that seems exceptional, and likely to be on file. If - I’m speculating too - if something were uncovered, I’m sure the news would stay confidential, but if this becomes a police matter, we will need as much information about witnesses as possible, and it may be seen by-” he let Nero infer how many eyes that would mean regardless.

Nero was having trouble facing him. Sao shuffled closer. With one step, he felt the scales tilt.

“Once that happens, I don’t know what your mother was hiding you from, or how your father is, but they’ll have to be brought out, and then...”

Wheezing out all the air he had been holding in, Nero dropped onto bench, bouncing once on its unforgiving vinyl padding and gave the bandage a hard yank, and held his arm up for inspection. There was a ring of sweat, but not a blemish to the skin. 

Sao sighed.

“Do you parents know what you do?” Rai asked.

“Mom, no, she’s not around anymore. Dad, I don’t know, we don’t talk much. He’s where I get it from. The Life Fountain stuff,” Nero twirled a hand, waving off specifics. “Silvestris. That was my mom’s family name, and the company. They did shipping or something, I don’t know, I was only five or six when she passed away. Cancer - not Life Fountain tumors, but, you know. She died young. The whole company sank just about the second she left us.” 

Nero stared at the ceiling. 

“Full control over Silvestris was handed to my dad, and of course, he crashed the damn thing. Bankruptcy in record time. All he wanted to do was eat and sleep. And eat some more. Well, we lost the money, the house, the maids, two drivers, six dogs, and, wouldn’t you know it, the food. The last one was what my dad cared about. The last time we saw our huge kitchen, emptied out and gutted the day we moved out, he cried so hard - much harder than when mom died. We moved to a public lot, partly funded by mom’s estranged family - funny, they didn’t know I existed until after her death. She always kept me indoors, and I guess she didn’t want people to know…”

His voice faded, and recovered once his thoughts had moved elsewhere. It occurred to Sao that Nero was good at suppressing more than copious amounts of food. 

“Of course, all the funds we got went to more and more food. I had tutoring when mom was alive, but the lessons had stopped so long ago, I was more or less an imbecile until my teens, when child services removed me. Dad went into hiding, the family cut me off. The councillors never learned what I was, and I wasn't quite prepared to explain it myself. So on paper, I became a blank slate - a  human one. The appetite was written off as bad habit. And there you have it.” Nero shrugged. “The magnificent origin.”

Sao felt he had to look away, at least for a moment, but he could tell Rai was not so touched. “What’s your aura like?”

Nero tugged his lip down with a hooked finger. “Fluid form. You could call it magic spit, it’s nothing of note unless I decide to put a little oomph in.”

“Easy to hide,” Rai said. 

“True enough.” Nero eyed Rai’s hands, but refrained from commenting. “With a little extra focus, and some careful chewing, it can dissolve most organic matter that’s been crushed into small enough pieces. Nothing dangerous to humans, not too corrosive...”

“That would be significantly harder to hide, I imagine.”

“It’s not especially useful in healing, either. It does keep me from getting an upset stomach, but it also breaks down ordinary food a little too fast. Makes the taste a little powdery, everything ends up feeling insubstantial. That’s why my family has such an appetite. I’m nowhere near my dad’s level, but I get the cravings sometimes.” Nero smiled blandly. “When I signed my first contract, I was desperate. No job, no friends, failing out of school. It was some roast duck tournament, I remember. Whole birds. I found out that I could handle bones and skewers pretty well. And people actually liked what I was doing, for once. When I got more involved, I found that at a bunch of grocery chains, competitive eaters get vouchers and tax deductions. Just say you need the food for training. It was a dream come true. I even got in touch with Dad again, and hired some ladies - they don’t know about this yet, but I promise -”

“So, the test.”

Nero appeared dazed, then annoyed his reverie was swept out of the way so easily. “What about it?”

“You, beating the pin test.” Rai smiled, just a bit lighter than he had been previously. “I got pinned in the past, for college sports. I actually passed as human - only my hands heal quickly and they usually poke the upper arm - but naturally, I still got banned by the team’s bitching and moaning. Point is, the test has always been bunk - I’ll bet there are hundreds of other ways to beat it - what was yours?”

“Nothing special. Just a load of blood thinners. Pharmacy meds are weak, so I take as much as I can immediately before the test, to keep from scabbing up too quick. They watch you for about fifteen seconds, and I always ask to be wrapped up first. Fear of blood, you see.”

“Aha.”

“I wasn’t lying about the blood. But of course, it’s the blood thinner that really makes me lightheaded.” Nero clicked his tongue. “The rest of the performance is the Life Fountain powers at work. That’s all there is.”

Sao felt he could finally breathe again. Despite his career being cracked open and strewn about, Nero had regained his composure too. He took another lemon. “Well, with these paper walls I guess I’m saying goodbye to competitive eating. Nice while it lasted.”

Rai hesitated. “The LF Foundation works to support people like you. I’ll put you in touch with the doctor-”

“No need, I think this work’s actually taught me a lot about handling myself, how to find deals and keep people off my back - for a time. If I need to hand over the money, I’ll survive, or maybe I’ll use it on lawyers. It’ll just be another learning experience.” Nero stood. “Here, let me open that for you.”

He opened the door to Cobalt, the maids, and Trae’s quivering faces. Yet, Nero was as cool as his reputation had set him out to be.

“By the way,” Nero said softly, “since I’m about to be cast out of the world of eating, I guess there’s no point in maintaining good relations. The one Miss North was arguing with in her room - it was Mr. Kep from down the hall. I will confirm it was about an hour before the match began. Kep is an interesting one. I always suspected… but I haven’t had too many contests with him, and I’ve never been good at working with evidence, as you have noticed. But today...”

Peering across the hall, through the open door to the floor of Cadoc’s room, strewn with tissue, Nero nodded, and ran for his own trash can. “See what you think of this after talking to him. Maybe you’ll find this useful.”

An ominous slosh issued from the can, and in the winds of the hallway, the most pungent smell yet began to rise from the top. Rai peered in, blanched, and backed away several feet. “We’ll… get forensics.” 

Sao was ushered out.

“I hope you find him, detective,” Nero called, stepping aside for his returning maids. “And I hope my story was useful to you in some way. Be in touch.”

As Cobalt led them to the further rooms of the hall, Rai turned back several times. Trae had requested to wait at the doors back to the main hall, so he could think things over.

“I don’t think Trae liked Nero’s story,” Rai said. Trae had wedged into a corner, fiddling with the ends of his sleeves.

“Nero is one of the Central eating world’s idols. It must come as a huge shock.” Sao found himself twisting his own cuffs. “Do you think Nero is linked to what happened to Cadoc?”

“Not really.”

Sao let his arms down. “His life’s been turned upside down because of us.”

“Right. But he knowingly broke the rules for years on end,” Rai said in a low voice. “I don’t think he’s a complete scumbag, but it pissed me off thinking he was cheating his way to fun and free food while people like Trae, who could wreck him if they were so inclined, are instead stuck watching him do what they wish they could do, hearing all the while that he’s so cool, great and skilled. It was blatantly unfair. Nero knows it. Guess he’s got that much going for him.”

Rai hurried to catch up with Cobalt. Sao smiled as he watched Rai’s back. The eyes peeking around the lounge room door followed brightly, as if they were thinking the same thing.

“For Trae, I see, I see.” 

“Get a grip,” Rai hissed. Cobalt started to knock on Kep’s door.