Edward frowned at Alphonse’s suggestion. “You mean, like, about us cleaning up litter? That’s so boring, it won’t even count as a rumor.”
“No, I was thinking more like helping people through alchemy. It’ll draw attention and add authenticity about us being state alchemists, which will probably convince Scar it’s actually us, and, most importantly, it’ll improve your reputation.”
“My reputation?”
“Yup, your reputation.”
Edward twitched, and Alphonse nodded gravely.
Edward Elric’s infamy was one of the many concerns that had been weighing on them recently. Throughout their travels, the older Elric brother had punched bad guys they encountered, fought chimeras, trespassed into forbidden areas, and caused collateral damage to objects and buildings alike within their vicinity. Word of these incidents had apparently been embellished and spread, resulting in Edward’s reputation crumbling further.
It was to the point that when Edward had given his name at the front desk of this very hotel, a traveler checking in beside them had paled and murmured, “Isn’t that the punk who destroys everything in his wake? The one who doesn’t leave even a single blade of grass behind? I hope not.”
They would have a lot of travel they’d need to do around the country in the future. It was a good idea to build trust now, before things got worse.
“Gotcha. If we gain attention through good deeds, Scar will show himself and my reputation’ll improve.” Edward smiled, satisfied. Sure, this plan would help their future selves out, but it was more likely that the pleasing mental image of himself being admired by the townspeople had convinced him. His sour mood vanished.
“Yup, that’s right.” Alphonse’s armored face couldn’t display emotions, but he was smiling inside.
The truth was, Alphonse wanted to find a solution to Edward’s reputation problem more than Edward did himself.
While Edward was the target of the biases his poor reputation caused, it always fell to Alphonse to clear up the misconceptions. To take the incident at the hotel as an example, Alphonse had been the one to hold Edward back as his brother had shouted, “Who’re you calling a punk?” Alphonse then had to patiently explain to the traveler that it was all a misunderstanding. The man had practically been in tears, desperate to flee to another hotel. Eventually, Alphonse had managed to get the situation under control.
Alphonse was happy to help his brother, but he still wanted to limit the number of migraine-inducing incidents. Improving his brother’s reputation was the best shortcut to that end.
“All right, then let’s dive right in!” Edward exclaimed.
“Yup!” Alphonse nodded along.
The brothers each had their own motives, but they were united in their goal to attract attention through acts of kindness. They unfurled a map of the town, chose their route, then enthusiastically set out from the hotel.
mornings in central were busy—and rowdy. Shortly after sunrise, the streets would fill with commuters on their way to work, and cars would blare their horns as they cut through intersections.
Directly across the street from the city-center hotel was a bakery. The owner of the bakery opened the establishment’s creaking doors, preparing for business.
“Mister, got any croissants?”
“A bread roll, please!”
Several bike-riding children on their way to school swarmed the store from all directions. Unfortunately, they were more interested in seeing what kinds of bread were available than stopping their bikes. With a loud clatter, two of the inattentive children crashed into each other.
“Aah!”
“Ow!”
“Oh, hey there, you all right?” the baker said, leaping forward to help the fallen children. Luckily, the children got away with only minor scrapes, but their two bicycles had tangled together. The front wheels of both were bent out of shape. “Well, looks like you’ll have to get these sent to repair.”
The two children seemed distressed by the baker’s assessment and complained.
“But we were on our way to school!”
“We won’t make it in time!”
That was when, out of nowhere …
“Not to worry!” a loud voice boomed from across the street. The baker and the children simultaneously turned toward the voice. Across the street from them, standing before the hotel’s front entrance, was a boy and a suit of patinaed armor.
“Edward Elric is on the scene!”
The petite boy, with his blond hair pulled back in a braid, dramatically winked at them before crossing the street. His red cloak billowed behind him.
“If you’re ever in need of help, I’m your—whoa, that was close!”
“Ed, look before you cross!”
A passing car honked at the boy skipping across the street, then gave the suit of armor chasing after him a scolding as though Alphonse were his guardian.
“I know that kid.” The baker remembered seeing the odd pair. They had been staying at the hotel for a while now and occasionally dropped in to buy baked goods.
The armored one had a gentle demeanor that didn’t match his appearance and always politely greeted the baker. The red-cloaked young man, on the other hand, looked rather handsome, but both looked and acted testy, so the baker didn’t have nearly as positive an impression of him.
The young man, as he now approached, was beaming as though he’d turned over a new leaf.
“’Scuse me,” he said, trying to sound gentlemanly while stepping in front of the children. He stood before the still-entangled pile of two bicycles on the ground and brought his hands together. He clapped, then brought his hands to the bikes. The moment his palms made contact with the metal, a brilliant light emitted from his hands.
The baker and the children closed their eyes against the light. When they reopened their eyes, the broken bikes were back to normal and lined up neatly in front of the bakery.
“Wow!”
“Was that alchemy?”
As the children cheered, the boy in the red coat passed by the dazed bakery owner and once again clapped his hands together, this time in front of the shop’s door. When the light faded, the broken hinge was fixed.
“Now you’ve got nothing to worry about!” the young man beamed.
“Uh, yeah, thank you.” Faced with such a wide smile, all the baker could do was offer his gratitude, apologizing inwardly to the boy he’d assumed was a brat. “Um, what can we give you in return? How much …”
“I could never! As a state alchemist, there’s no way I could accept payment. Well then, we’ll be off now. Be careful not to crash your bikes again, kiddos!”
With that, the young man suavely flashed a smile at the children, raised a hand in farewell, and ran off with the suit of armor at his side.
“Thanks, mister!” The children called and waved. “Thank you!”
“So that kid was a state alchemist. I had no idea he was so nice.” The bakery owner stood awed at the young man’s actions and smile. Sure, the young man’s cheerfulness had been a tad forced, and there’d been something theatrical about the whole thing, but despite that, both the bakery owner and the children were left with a solid impression that Edward Elric had done a good deed.
“argh, i told them my name too soon back there!” Edward grimaced as they ran, leaving the bakery behind them.
The moment they’d left the hotel with the resolution to help people, they’d witnessed the bicycle accident and Edward had panicked.
“You probably shouldn’t announce yourself from across the street because people might not hear you,” Alphonse agreed as he ran alongside his brother.
“All right, from now on I’ll tell them right before transmuting. I should probably also stick the ‘state alchemist’ title in front of my name, right?” Edward said.
“Good idea. That’ll make it easier for Scar to notice too,” Alphonse responded.
“Also!” Edward continued. “While I’m introducing myself, you should help get everyone pumped! Maybe you could make little flags and wave them next to me or something.”
“Got it. Oh, how about this?”
The two brothers picked up some flyers littering the side of the road and used alchemy to transmute them into fans that could be waved around. They discussed how to improve on them as they continued running toward the crowded main street.
Right then, they heard someone scream “Aah!” from a bookstore a little way ahead of them.
A bookshelf that had been piled too high with books had collapsed. A female employee was wringing her hands while standing in front of the broken shelf, and books were scattered all the way to the front of the store.
“All right, there’s our next target!”
Edward shot toward the store with a burst of speed, sucked in a huge breath, and then—at point-blank range and loud enough that the employee had to plug her ears—bellowed, “State Alchemist Edward Elric is on the scene!”
Then he gave the lady a wink so exaggerated it was practically audible before clapping his hands together.
“You can do it, Ed!”