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Chapter 7: Win Some, Lose Some (3/3) ~ Episode 18: Replacement For Now

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The feline heard the sound of the library door opening as he had been hunched over at the front desk, a chunky red panda entered the building. Kiseki looks at the panda and shrugs, "I fell like we've met before...?"

"George Watterson." he nodded his head, "Connor told you about me, probably."

Kiseki nodded back, "Yeah, that's right. Speaking of Connor, where is he? He's been missing work for a couple days now and I'm getting sick of it." the feline asked.

"...You mean you don't know?" George cocked his head.

"Know what?" Kiseki asked.

George took a deep breathe, "You know about what happened to Nick, right?"

Kiseki rolled his eyes, "Of course! I love his books, it's a real problem right now. I hear you and him are good friends."

"Yeah," he sighed, "well, we believe Connor is the reason behind the shooting."

"Are you saying Connor shot Nick?!" Kiseki hissed, is somewhat offense yet terror.

George shook his head, "No, that's impossible. Connor and Nick were playing football at the moment Nick was shot. We found a briefcase where Nick was estimated to have been shot, only a briefcase, including some notes, ammo, and pictures of Connor." he showed him a couple photographs, "The investigation is currently set on him."

"...Dear, fucking, god..." he cursed, his eyes watering in fear, "This is all crazy...!"

"I know," George kicked his foot around, "this is really hard for me, too."

Kiseki frowned, "It'd have to be mostly hard for you!" he reminded the panda, "You and him are childhood friends, are you not?"

"We are..." he sniffed, remembering all those good times they had as kids, "I was wondering, until he came out of questioning, that I could be his replacement?"

Kiseki brightened up, "Oh, sure! You can, for now!" he walked into a closet and pulled out a large t-shirt, "Here, take this!" he handed him a t-shirt that was covered in little patterns of all sorts of colors, mostly black and white. It had the words, "Read. Write. Thrive." on it.

George giggled, "What is this?" he looked at it slightly confused.

"It's a gift," Kiseki blushed softly, "I dunno. I'm just happy you are deciding to help me out! I gave one of these to Connor to wear as uniform, but he hasn't seemed to have wore it at all since his first day." the feline made a sad face.

"I've seen him wear it as a pajama shirt." George smiles, "It's a few sizes to big!"

The feline brightened up again, "Really?!" he jumped in glee, "Alright, good to know! Thank you!"

"Let me try this on..." George was walked by Kiseki into a Break Room for employee's only. He lifted up his current shirt, his gut bouncing around a bit.

Kiseki poked at it, "I like your frame."

George blushed, "Thank you. Proud to have it!" as he finished putting on the shirt, which was difficult, it squeezed tightly around his waist, "Uhm..."

"Few sizes to small!" he laughed, "You are much bigger than I expected!" he pat George's stomach, walking and getting a larger size which fit the red panda perfectly, "There we go!"

"Thank you." George gazed at the shirt in a mirror, smiling, "It looks great!"

Through the day, since George had all this free time without Nick around (which was miserable time), he would be volunteering for the library. Henry's was a great place for reading. Although small, it was cozy. More people were visiting, too, thanks to Nick's new book. He was almost done with it's sequel until the shooting.

George was still doing his business, until something tugged at his tail. He turned to find a little mouse girl, she stopped playing with his tail and stood up straight, looking down at the ground, clearing her throat, "Hello, sir."

"Hi," he smiled, bending down and looking at her, "can I help you at all?"

She nodded her head, "I am trying to return my book, "The Wolf Runs"."

"Oh," he nodded his head back to her, "I see. I'll gladly help you with that." he walked over to a small basket in a corner, "If you ever want to return a book, just put it in this basket. We'll collect the basket and organize them back into the shelves, okay?" he wanted to confirm this lesson learned.

She nodded hear head, "Yes, sir."

"By the way," George smiled, "my name is George. What's your name?"

She continued to stare at her toes and stand straight, "Violet Kleiner, sir." she nodded her head.

"That's a nice name..." he said back to her. "...Where have I heard that name before...?" he thought in his head, he had it on his tongue, but he couldn't make it out...

She smiled, "Thank you, George. I must be going now." she began to walk out the door, "Good day."

"Oh," he smiled, "good day to you-!!" at that instant, he remembered where she came from. Connor told him about what happened after his day volunteering...

He ran outside as their car drove away, "WAIT!!"

But it was too late, they were driving away, until Violet pointed her head out the window screaming, "I'll be back tomorrow!" until she was taken by her hair and lunged back inside the car, as hard as the mother could do so.

Tomorrow...