"What?" Akashi asked, trying to confirm what he had heard. "You fought for me?"
"Didn't." She crossed her arms. "But you are not a bad officer, and you're productive and get your job done. Someone like you knows his way through the streets, so of course I would like to have my assets stay."
Akashi tilted his head and looked at her with a smile.
Her eyelid twitched for a second.
"What are you smiling like a fool at?" she yelled.
"If you say please stay, I may stay," he said.
It was no brainer that he would stay. For whatever purpose he was thrown into this world, he knew that the key to survival, or even thriving, was to level up.
He had heard about the Order of the White Lotus before, from this world and from his previous life's world.
It was an organization that didn't do much during the Hundred Year War, according to Bob's opinion.
And in the Legend of Korra, its sole role was restricting the movements of the Avatar and guiding her. Other than that, they protected Republic City and dealt with some criminals.
But aside from that, they weren't very active people and only moved along with the Avatar.
Also, since this world was just a cartoon show he had watched during his younger years, he didn't remember much of it beyond the main events and so on.
If he joined such an organization, the chance to have conflicts with others would be very low.
If he stayed with the police, he would have access to a lot of information and opportunities to fight. He would clash often with the triads and gain a lot of experience points.
"So, you're saying that you are leaving?" she replied, her tone not so gentle.
"Yes." He nodded.
He didn't know why, but he always liked to tease her.
People might think she was intimidating because she screamed all the time.
But she was like a bomb that was easy to defuse.
Just do your job right, obey the orders, and don't take her cranky mood seriously. Unless she was very angry, then stay away.
Though, in front of others, one should act as if they were intimidated.
She sighed. "After all the trouble I went through to get you this job despite you not being a bender, and even promoted you once… but I get it."
He raised his hands. "Okay, you managed to guilt me, so I'm staying."
She paused and gave him a side eye. "Darn brat!" She seemed to realize that he had already made his decision and was just messing with her. "Anyway, get dressed and come to my office." She said, then left his room, closing the door behind her.
Akashi stood up, locked the door, and went to a nearby room where he took a bath. After that, he changed into his policeman attire—a gray-blue uniform with a long coat and a golden star on his chest. Since he wasn't a metalbender, he didn't have to wear armor like the others. But he wasn't the only one. In the police, there were other types of benders: earthbenders who couldn't bend metal, firebenders, waterbenders, and airbenders.
With Akashi turning out to be an airbender, the police department officially had all kinds of benders.
While staring at himself in the bathroom mirror, he had a moment of reflection.
His previous life was gone.
And he had been demoted from detective to officer.
Life is unfair, and double life is double unfair.
But at least he was compensated by gaining some sort of power.
Any man would be happy to trade something for power.
You know, if he could turn into Super Saiyan, he would be willing to lose all of his career and money. So yeah, superpowers in exchange for demotion and other setbacks was not a bad deal.
As for his friends from his previous life, they were mostly leeches and never found when needed… only good to pass time with. As for his family, he had one but lost it since his parents married late. They had him when they were 50 and 45. And as he grew into youth, they died of old age. No siblings. Well, if there was someone he would miss, it would be his girlfriend… or ex-world's girlfriend.
But on the other hand, he was still Akashi. A man with a full life to live.
'I wish I could think that way. Nothing good will come from all the attention I'm going to get.'
'Also, one of the bad things about being Akashi is that I wanted to buy a house so badly in the middle of the city that I accumulated a huge debt thinking the asset would increase in price. Thanks to the bank, I'm paying an extra 60 percent. And if I stop, they will take the house.'
'For the price increase, Korra will mess up everything when she opens the portals to the spirit world. That's some serious information.'
Akashi sighed deeply.
According to the fanfictions he had read, the main characters try their best to keep the timeline as in the original, in order to have an advantage.
But in his case, if he doesn't mess up the timeline, he's screwed.
'Also, what's the point in keeping the timeline the same? It's just an adventure of two girls who got tired of dating the same guy before screwing each other. It's better to pay my debt as fast as possible, gather all the money I can, and buy land and a house in the Fire Nation.'
'With the Earth Queen dying and all, and Kuvira-bitch-something trying to become a conqueror, land prices in the Earth Kingdom would fall to the ground, and food prices would skyrocket. That means other nations' currencies would rise in value, and it would be good to buy land by then.'
'It seems that knowing something or two about the future isn't bad. But for now, I will only care about how to level up. I'm not paranoid, but the law of cause and effect is a universal law. Who would target me? Probably the Red Lotus Order friends or something.'
Akashi shook his head and decided not to overthink. But being unconscious for two days had left him with a lot to process.
He left the medical room in his uniform and headed directly to the chief's office.
On the way, he met other people: his sergeant, lieutenant, and deputy chief. All of them congratulated him in advance for becoming a detective. He just thanked them and hurried on. The police chief gave off serious cranky grandma vibes, and knowing her ex was waiting for him, he didn't want to make her wait any longer.
As he opened the door, he found the chief sitting at her desk with a deep frown on her face.
Next to her was a man who gave off a peaceful vibe. A bald man in Air Nomad monk clothes with an arrow symbol on his forehead.
Anyone who lived in Republic City knew him as a member of the council, an authority second only to the mayor.
Akashi looked between them, the council member and the police chief.
He wondered what his work buddies would think if they knew these two were exes.
But knowing someone here would snitch to the chief if rumors started, he decided to keep it to himself.
"What took you so long?" the police chief, Lin, asked.
'I was thinking about what may or may not happen. Not to mention that I have a double life. I think I had too many shower thoughts today,' Akashi thought.
"I wanted to be at my cleanest state," replied Akashi.
"Do you think we have all day to wait for you?" she screamed.
"Lin…" Tenzin tried to calm her, but she cut him off.
"Call me Chief Beifong," she corrected.
"Chief Beifong, I think you are being too harsh on a guy who just woke up from severe injuries," Tenzin said as he walked toward Akashi, who extended his hand for a handshake.
But Tenzin didn't shake it. Instead, he bowed.
"I'm glad to see the young hero who stopped a drug batch from entering the market and harming our citizens," he said, praising him.
Akashi's first impression of him was that he was a politician. These people never thank people like him when they do a good job. It's only when the job is public and thanking them would be good for their image. Or maybe it was because he appeared to be an airbender all of a sudden.
Akashi faked a smile and replied, "I was just doing my job. It's all thanks to the chief's guidance and planning that I managed to pull that off."
If there is one thing any employee learns, it is how office politics work. Sometimes, you give credit to the boss of your boss. That is how you get promoted and have your paid vacation requests accepted.
Lin rolled her eyes and turned her head. But Akashi saw a small smirk form on her lip, lasting for a second.
"Anyway, I'll get straight to the point since I have a busy schedule," Tenzin began. "Lin has informed me about your rejection to join the Order of the White Lotus, and I must say I was quite disappointed."
"Sure." Akashi nodded, as if it were his concern that someone with arrow instead of hair was disappointed.
"But you're the only airbender that has appeared in the last hundred and forty years besides me and my father. I would like to invite you to join the Air Temple on my island. It won't interfere with your job, and I will help you get vacations when we travel across the world," he offered.