Splatoon 2: Into the Light

Epilogue: New Life in Inkopolis

It's been three long months since my last log here. I must say, I never imagined my life to be this way. Agent 3 recovered well and the fever went away within a few days. He offered me a place in his apartment, and later Agent 4—an inkling girl with yellow tentacles—joined us. We worked together to upgrade to a larger apartment with a room for myself and Four, and a separate room for Three to stay in. Neither of the two inklings get along too well, but they weren't in the same room all day all the time.

My injuries were still bothering me, but they were healing. I wanted to jump right into Turf War as soon as I was off my meds, but Agent 3 made me wait a little longer before getting out onto the turf. Probably the sensible thing to do, but I noticed he takes everything a little too seriously, especially patrol. He'll go out to the Valley and the Canyon every other night to patrol and won't come home until long after I've gone to sleep and Four has fallen asleep on the sofa staying up way too late gaming. Ironically, he insists I go to sleep early and rise at the time I see fit, yet he goes to sleep long past midnight and still rises at dawn.

On one of his off days, he took me grocery shopping and we missed the bus home! We had to wait at the bus stop for hours until the next bus arrived. We started chatting to pass the time. We talked until the sun went down.

Eventually that evolved into telling jokes. Perhaps for the first time in a long time, I made him laugh with one of my stupid jokes. Laughter echoed through the evening air.

He had a wonderful smile... and I just had to ruin it by saying something.

"Well... Don't get used to it!"

Famous last words. "S-Something wrong, Three?"

"S-Sorry... I just.. didn't know what to call you. I can't just keep calling you by your codename in public."

"O-Oh.... I wish I could tell you... but I really don't remember what my name was."

Agent 3 paused, as if giving the matter some thought. "How about... Natasha."

"Natasha?"

Agent 3 panicked and started blabbering, but I wasn't paying attention. It might've been the first name he mentioned, but I quite liked it, and it had an easy nickname derived from it.

"I really like that!" I exclaimed.

He seemed relieved.

It then occurred to me. "W-While we're on the topic of names, I don't think I ever caught yours."

"Huh?"

"Your name. I... I don't think you ever told me your name."

"Oh... My name's Alexander."

"Alexander... I think I had a friend or family member with that name... but we always called them Alex."

"I-if it helps you feel more at home, you can call me Alex."

I smiled. "Thanks, Alex."

We sat there for quite some time, and despite my sunburn causing me more pain than necessary, I eventually fell asleep on his shoulder. Agent 4, known as Psyche, told me that when the bus finally arrived and she helped us onto the bus home, it looked like something out of a romance comedy sketch: Alex beet red and me just calmly sleeping on his shoulder, completely oblivious.

Alex locked himself in his room and couldn't look me in the eye for the rest of the evening, even during dinner. Embarrassment was evident on his face, but I decided against asking him to elaborate. That was probably for the best.

Well, I can hear Alex calling for me. He promised we'd go practice basketball today, and I really don't want to be late! I don't know when I'll write next, but I'm sure whatever story I have to tell will be great and well worth all the hard work to make it here.

—Natasha