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"Ngh…stupid…stupid…drawer…"
No matter what Athena did, no matter how hard she pulled, the bottom drawer on the left side of her desk would not open. She'd tried greasing the hinges, kicking at it, bribing it - nothing worked.
There was no one else around to help her either. Phoenix and Trucy had taken Apollo back to the airport and planned to have a "daddy-daughter" afternoon. She'd been left behind to guard the Wright Anything Agency. Which meant that only Charley could see her struggling now.
Pearl had the muscles to rip the drawer open, but she lived half a day away in Kurain. Junie was on vacation with her grandmother. If Athena called Simon, she knew he would just laugh at her and call it a character building exercise.
She tried one last tug, then dialed the number of the other prosecutor under her "Favorites" list of contacts.
"Frohes neues Jahr, Athena."
"Frohes neues Jahr to you too, Prosecutor Bestie." Athena leaned against the evil drawer. "How would you like to start your year off by helping a damsel in distress?"
"Hmm, that depends. Who's the damsel?"
"Me."
"For you, Fraulein, there is no need to ask. Whatever might be troubling you this early in the year?"
His tone was teasing, and though she knew he meant what he said, the whole thing was starting to sound stupid. If she said it out loud, that would only make it worse. "You think you could stop by the office in the next hour or so?"
"I'll be there in ten minutes."
During those ten minutes, Athena renewed her assault on the drawer with the same amount of success. She was gearing up to give it her own version of "the Chords of Steel" treatment when Klavier knocked on the door. "Guten Tag!" He glided inside. "Now, what do you need my help with?"
Athena pouted. "Promise you're not going to laugh."
"I promise."
She pointed to what had quickly become her office arch-nemesis. "Can you help me get this open?"
The jerk had the audacity to break his promise.
"Watch it, Klavier. I can revoke your 'Prosecutor Bestie' nickname privileges at any moment," she warned.
"Well, we can't have that." Grinning, Klavier placed one hand on the top of the metal cabinet and the other on the drawer handle. With one sharp tug, it finally came loose.
Athena pouted. "I was wearing it down when you got here."
"Mmm-hmm." Klavier glanced inside. "What do you even keep in here…?"
The answer was: pretty much everything. That was the "Odds 'n' Ends" drawer, dedicated to preserving everything that she wanted to keep but didn't know where to store. Or maybe more accurately, the place to keep things that she didn't want to throw away just yet.
A phone case given to her by Themis Academy for solving the Means case, which she didn't need, but kept around in case she ever did. An old-timey, special edition candy tin that her favorite chocolate shop was giving away for their 75th anniversary. Free sample editions of magazines that Mr. Wright declined to order. Some souvenirs from their trip to Khura'in that wouldn't fit in her apartment.
"Funny, I expected to see case files," said Klavier. "Last week, I was helping my friend, Prosecutor Winner, with the exact same problem as you. He has files going back to eight years ago and keeps trying to squeeze new ones into the same cabinet. I finally convinced him to get a second cabinet."
It helped to hear that the prodigies over at the Prosecutors' Office had the same troubles as her. It wouldn't stop Mr. Wright and Apollo from teasing Athena over the state of her desk, but it was nice to know regardless. "My case files are over here." Athena tapped the bottom drawer on the right side of her desk with her foot. "But I don't have enough of my own to store yet." She sighed. "One day, Athena. One day."
"Well, this drawer is free, at least." Klavier tested closing and opening it again just to be sure. "Is that all you needed from me?"
"Pretty much. Thanks for your help."
"Let me guess: it's a new year, and you've made a resolution to clean your office." He glanced around the room. "Or, rather, your side of the office."
"Something like that," Athena groaned. The truth was, she barely knew where to start. There wasn't enough room to keep everything, but she couldn't decide what to throw away. And some things, like the Odds 'n' Ends drawer, defied sorting into neat categories.
For the life of her, she'd never understood how Apollo could be so efficient. She needed his help, but he was on his way back to Khura'in now. And it never came up while he was visiting, mostly because she was tired of being teased about her desk.
"Ja, my friends at the Prosecutors' Office are all doing the same thing. That's why I was helping Eustace with his files. Would you like some help?"
His smile was kind; he wasn't judging her. Athena wondered just how bad things were with his colleagues at the Prosecutors' Office.
She perked up. "Yeah! Let's have a cleaning party! I'll go get us some snacks!"
"Won't that make even more of a mess…?" asked Klavier, but Athena was already off and running to the local market.
When she got back, Klavier waited at her untouched desk. "I wasn't about to start without you," he explained. "You know your desk better than I do."
"Thanks." Athena set the snacks and a package of energy drinks on what had once been Apollo's spotless desk. The two of them got to work emptying out the remaining drawers. The meager case files were easy enough to sort through and went right back to where they belonged. That left…everything else.
"Receipts for the Prop Shop?" Klavier held them over the trash.
"Some props I got for Trucy for her magic shows. I'm holding on to them in case she needs to make an exchange."
Klavier flipped through the receipts. "The last one is from six months ago."
"…So, you're saying I don't need to keep them?"
Klavier chuckled. "Ja, I wouldn't think so."
"Fine." Admittedly, there was something satisfying about seeing something go into the trash.
"You've got pay stubs here going back to when you were first hired," he noted.
So she did. "What if I need them some day?"
Again, he chuckled. "Trust me. You don't." Into the trash they went. Klavier switched over to the Odds 'n' Ends drawer. Athena was still going over the various papers and items on her desk without much progress. She'd been able to move things around, but it didn't look much cleaner.
"This candy tin is empty," Klavier noted.
"Yeah, but I love the design. It's a special edition. Look at all the funny-looking guys with moustaches! And the old-school design of their chocolate bar mascot!"
Klavier put it back in the drawer, then moved on to the magazines. "July 2027…August 2027…It's 2029, Athena."
"I know what year it is, Mr. Rock Star Prosecutor," she grumbled.
"You know what your problem is?" he said, with an amused grin. "You don't know how to let go of things."
"Yeah, well…" Athena huffed. Then her eyes fell on something she hadn't moved from her desk: a framed photograph of everyone at the Wright Agency posing outside the courthouse to celebrate Simon's acquittal in the UR-1 incident. And hers, as well. It had taken her seven years to find the truth, but she'd gotten there in the end. "…Sometimes that's not a bad thing."
"No, I suppose not."
"What about you?" she teased. "Don't you have things you want to hold onto?"
Klavier looked up from her drawer. His gaze drifted, and when he spoke, his voice sounded pensive, with the slightest hint of suppressed sadness. "Of course. But if something isn't needed anymore…I have found that I can let go of it quite easily." He shook his head. "Perhaps too easily."
There was definitely some underlying sadness in that last statement. Possibly anger too. Athena couldn't tell. Klavier couldn't always hide his emotions from her - no one ever could - but he was better at it than most. She wondered where that skill came from, and if he even knew he had it.
She gave him her cheeriest smile and threw up a peace sign. "I guess that's why I need your help, huh, Prosecutor Bestie? Auf geht's!"
Klavier laughed. "You really don't let anything keep you down for long, do you, Fraulein? It's very refreshing." He cracked his knuckles. "Let's do this."