#akane is like yeah i noticed immediately its kind of hard not to with all the similarities

[ukyou-kuonji]

After Ukyo is finally introduced to Akari she stops Ryoga and is says “Wow, your girlfriend is really nice, considerate, and cute. I really like her and I’m happy for you. By the way though, have you ever noticed that she looks and acts exactly like Ranma in disguise?” And Ryoga is responds “SHE ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT” and Akane is like “no i see it”

[zecretsanta]

FIC:

To: @n-emone

From: @claire-folley

Happy Holidays! I saw Post ZTD Hurt/Comfort Phi & Sigma on your prompt list and I decided to go for it! I haven’t written fanfiction in years, let alone ZE fics (idk how I made it to 8k) so I’m sorry if they’re a little bit OOC,,, Hope you enjoy it nonetheless! I’ll be uploading it to AO3 as well after I give it an actual title so if you’d like keep an eye out for it!

It started with a scream.

Junpei whipped his head around to the source of the sound, where Phi was. Or where she used to be. Where she should have been.

The mission hadn’t gone to plan. Crash Keys had received a tip about an old building on the edge of Khabarovsk being used by Russian government officials to store information on criminals that could pose a threat to the country, and could potentially have files on ones with religious motives. Akane, Phi, and Junpei had all decided to infiltrate the site themselves since Junpei and Phi were a little familiar with reading Russian and Akane’s connection with her brother was strong enough that it was fastest for her to transmit anything they found to Aoi. 

The building may have been old but it certainly wasn’t abandoned, being in a group of three would make moving around discretely a difficult task, so the three of them decided to split up, all of them had coms so communication would be possible and. Instead of simply sneaking in, obtaining any documents they could that could contain information on the Religious Fanatic’s identity, and get out as fast as they could; Junpei had accidentally tripped one of the security alarms while he, Phi, and Akane were separated. When the alarm went off all three switched immediately to Plan B, to get out as fast as possible with what they had and meet up at a different location to figure out what went wrong and what to do next. Junpei had been up on the seventh floor at the time, Phi on the sixth, and Akane on the third, and since all of the elevators had been disabled with the alarm, all three had to rely on the only emergency staircase in the building. Akane had been able to make it out okay, but unfortunately security officers had blocked the stairs on the fourth floor, forcing Junpei and Phi to figure out another way out. The two had met up on floor 5 to discuss a possible plan to distract the guards for just long enough allowing them to escape.

“I really hope this works, it would be better if we had a floor plan for this damn place.”

“While I can’t deny that would help, we’re stuck working with what we have, and what is that?”

“We both have guns for last ditch efforts and worst case scenarios, our coms, the morphogenic field, the thumb drives with what information we were able to get…”

“And not much else, so we should get out of here as soon as we can because they’ve more than likely figured out someone is here.”

“Right.”

“I let Aoi know what’s going on, he told me to stay within the com’s range until you two are out so I can keep him updated or if you need me to go back inside to help.”

“I hope we won’t need that Kanny, but it’s appreciated.”

Little did Junpei know he would be eating his words very soon.

The two ran down hall after hall hoping for another emergency exit or a way to access the fourth floor somewhere as the footsteps of the guards grew louder and louder, eventually finding one thing they had been looking for. A balcony in need of repair set over a sad and unused atrium that was directly above a balcony on the fourth floor. Right when Junpei and Phi were preparing to figure out how to get themselves from the fifth floor balcony to the fourth floor balcony through a gap in an old, worn down, guardrail, they heard the sounds of footsteps stopping and guns being pulled and set to be fired.

Immediately the pair turned around and put their hands where their own guns were concealed, one of the three security guards shouted something in russian to the effect of “stop.” Ready to pull their own guns at any second, Junpei stepped in front of Phi, not because he was bigger, but he had been in similar situations back during his year of detective work and felt he was more prepared to be fired at than Phi was, even after the Nonary and Decision Games presented them both with grim situations. Phi in turn, took a couple steps back, careful not to push on the railing too much out of fear of breaking it if she did. Another command was shouted and they both regretted not learning more Russian dialect in case they didn’t have an interpreter with them, but it was too risky bringing an extra person without experience for a mission where none of them were planning on having small talk at any point with anyone other than themselves. As a result, they both stayed still, eyes still focused on the trio in front of them, blocking off their access back to the hallway. Junpei and Phi both noticed the man on the right slowly moving his own gun away from the two of them and down to the right, why he was doing that, they didn’t know.

Well didn’t know quite yet.

The second after the trigger was pulled there was a scream, Junpei whipped his head around to where Phi was supposed to be, realizing the guard had shot one of the bars keeping the railing attached to the balcony, causing it to break and fall, and subsequently making Phi lose her balance. Being treated with the sight of Phi falling from the fifth floor was more than enough for Junpei to decide to pull out his gun and shoot at the guards. Adrenaline pulsing through his brain made it hard for him to think about anything but getting out of there after finding where Phi had fallen and before he knew it, he was past the guards and on his way to the emergency exit as Akane’s voice came in over his com.

“Junpei? Phi? What happened? I heard a gunshot and a scream over both of your coms before one of them stopped working and more gunshots from the other, I don’t know who’s it was bu-”

“That was Phi’s com that probably broke, I fired the shots, I’m not sure which side of the building its on, but Phi fell from a fifth floor balcony in an atrium, I don’t know what kind of injuries she has but I’m running for the staircase right now so I can check on her.”

A moment of static filled Junpei’s ear as he swung open the door to the staircase.

“Sorry, I was trying to inform Aoi about what’s happening, You said it was an atrium right? I should be able to recognize it from the outside so I’ll see if I can get in from there.”

“Thanks.”

Junpei kept running down the stairs, thankfully without running into more security. For a supposed government facility, there was a small number of security guards, but it made Junpei’s trip down the stairs easier so he didn’t question it too much. Arriving on the ground floor, he made his way to the atrium as Akane’s voice again filled his ear.

“I’m with Phi, she’s unconscious, but she’s breathing. I think there’s a chance she fractured something when she landed, could you help me carry her when you get he-”

Akane wasn’t able to finish her sentence before Junpei burst into the room and over to where his fiancee and Phi were on the ground. Phi was in Akane’s arms and Junpei could see bruising on her face and neck, and her right shoulder noticeably dropped down low compared to her left. Running off for a second to find something that would work as a makeshift splint.

“Aoi is on his way with a car, we’ll still have to walk a bit because he doesn’t want to risk getting too close.”

“Okay, can I borrow your scarf for a second?”

“Oh! Yeah, here.”

They all sat there, not saying anything while Junpei tied a piece of metal around Phi’s back and arm, keeping her shoulder in place as he took Phi from Akane to let her stand up and start walking.

“You know where Aoi is going to be right?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know when he’s going to get there?”

“Not exactly, but he should arrive soon.”

“I sure hope he does.”

Both of them kept walking through a cold russian night, occasionally glancing over at Phi, though nothing was likely to change at this point. They both knew she needed urgent medical attention, brain injuries can do so much damage to a person but it’s impossible to tell how bad an injury is until the patient is scanned, wakes up, and evaluated, but all they could do is wait and hope she’s well enough to pull through while walking to the pick up spot. Aoi was there before they arrived and left the vehicle to help Junpei get Phi into the car safely, while Akane got in the front passenger’s seat. 

Akane had given her brother updates through the morphogenic field as the events played out, so none of them had anything to say or explain as he drove through the woods. The trip consisted of somber silence until Aoi spoke up.

“We’re 18 hours ahead of California right now, seeing as it’s currently 03:22 for us I’d say it’s about 21:22, or 9:22 at night for Diana and Sigma.”

Without saying it directly, they all knew someone was going to have to let the two of them know what happened to their daughter. With Sigma’s familiarity with the human body from his cloning work in a different timeline and Diana being an emergency room nurse, both of them wod figure out pretty quick how serious this was. What none of the people in the car knew however, was how they would handle being so far away from Phi while they knew she was hurt.

-

“Oh the phone! Who’s calling us right now? Is it Phi?”

“Just a second Diana, I’ll answer it.”

Sigma and Diana opted not to join Crash Keys on international missions, but rather help from California, that way they were far less likely to end up in a dangerous situation that could stir up unwanted memories of their deaths in other timelines or make them shift. Phi on the other hand decided immediately to join the international missions, so they haven’t had a whole lot of time to just be a family together with their daughter. Phi did contact them regularly however to give them updates on anything that happened or just to talk and get away from whatever stressful event she or her parents experienced recently. With the difference in time zones however this led to calls at all different times of the day for both parties.

The couple had been on their couch, close to finishing watching a movie together when the phone went off. Even though Sigma would likely come back with the phone, Diana still paused the screen and walked with him anyway. 

“Klim residence, what do you need?”

Sometimes Sigma would show more of his “old-man brain” as Phi liked to call it, through mannerisms like the way he answers the phone.

“Oh Aoi, why are you calling? Usually it’s Akane or Junpei for Crash Keys work.”

Diana couldn’t quite hear the other end of the phone, but the slight concern in Sigma’s voice was enough to make her a little nervous.

“Yeah Diana is here with me.”

Sigma looked towards Diana and explained Aoi was on the line and needed to tell both of them something, but asked for it to be over speaker phone so he wouldn’t have to repeat himself. While neither said anything about the uneasy feelings rising from their stomach, the looks they shot each other as Sigma pressed the button said more than enough.

“Okay, you can start now.”

“Alright, it’s very late for the four of us right now so I may sound a bit tired, but I needed to tell you as soon as possible what happened tonight.”

“What happened?” The uneasy feeling only grew stronger between the two.

“Tonight Akane, Junpei, and Phi tried to see if a government building in Russia had files that could help our search for the Religious Fanatic, but it didn’t quite go to plan and Phi was injured.”

“How… bad… is it?”

“Let me explain what happened. In order to check the files, they had to go inside. The building in question was rarely used for anything aside from storage and is old as fuck, but still had some security.”

“So they broke in.”

“Yeah that’s the first part. Its what happened later that you need to know about. After getting some of the files from their computers an emergency alarm was pulled and they had to leave as quick as they could, Akane got out okay but Junpei and Phi had more issues to deal with since they were on some of the higher floors and security blocked off the only set of stairs in the building.”

“That’s not safe if a fire breaks out though.” Diana was looking more nervous by the second. Aoi taking his sweet time explaining the whole thing rather than getting right to what happened gave her a feeling that it was because something really bad did happen and Aoi wasn’t ready to say exactly what yet. Sigma didn’t look as panicked as his partner, but the expression on his face could tell anyone who knew him that he was terrified.

“Like I said, old building, mostly used for storage, there’s not really enough people there at once for it to be an issue. But back to what I was saying, Junpei and Phi had to figure out how to get around them and that included having to make a noise to get the security guards out of the stairwell while they ran down the halls finding a different route to the stairs without the guards catching them.”

“Was this around when Phi got injured?”

“A bit before that actually, they couldn’t find another hall that led to the stairs, but got cornered on a balcony that was more than a little worse for wear by the security guards at gunpoint. I don’t have full details right now, but one of the guards managed to shoot the rail at just the right point to make it break and she fell off without a chance to grab onto something or balance herself.” Sigma and Diana both froze, looking at each other with dread in their eyes for what they had to ask next. Sigma swallowed and opened his mouth.

“You said earlier that Junpei and Phi were on the upper floors, how long was the fall?”

“The building was 8 floors including the ground floor, she fell from the fifth floor to the ground floor, but Junpei didn’t. She’s being checked out by one of the doctors we were able to get in contact with to see how serious it is.”

“Do you have anything you know for sure that you can tell us?”

“She more than likely shattered her right shoulder and fractured some ribs on impact. She’s also been unconscious since Akane and Junpei got to her so there’s a good chance she might have a traumatic brain injury as well but we won’t know how bad of a TBI it is until she wakes up.” Moments felt like hours for Diana and Sigma while they processed what they had just heard. Slowly, Diana ended up on the verge of tears while Sigma’s hands clenched into fists as he began to speak again.

“Was that all you needed to tell us or is there more?”

“There was one more thing. We might be getting tailed by the government soon and we might have to be on the move again very soon. We’ll take care of her as much as we can but soon it’ll be safer to have Akane or Junpei bring her back to America instead of having to bring her to more possibly dangerous locations and situations while she’s still recovering.”

“So you’re saying she’ll be back in america soon, right? If that’s the case we’re more than happy to let her stay with us for the time being.” The thought of having Phi close again was enough to calm Diana down for a second before all of the worst case scenarios started playing in her head. Being an ER nurse can expose someone to witness more horrific injuries and deaths than any one person ever should.

“I’m sorry, I think I need to excuse myself for a moment.” Diana left, leaving Sigma alone with Aoi on the phone.

“Is Diana okay? I know this isn’t the best news to hear but it was important to make sure you both knew what was happening.”

“Thank you, if possible keep us updated if anything changes, As for Diana, she's… she’s been under a lot of stress recently, she just needs a minute to calm down.”

“Alright, just to let you know now, from our current location to the airport nearest to Irvine, it’s a ten hour flight by jet and we don’t want to risk the flight making her head injury worse. We’re going to make sure she’s well enough to fly before we know for sure when we’ll take her back to California and we don’t know how long that will be.”

“Where are you anyway?”

“Khabarovsk, Russia, it’s an actual city and not a small town so buying medical supplies shouldn’t be an issue if you’re worried about that, but hospitals are out of the question since the last thing we want to do is anything that could result in us getting arrested. I don’t know if they got any pictures of our faces, but three of us did break into a government building so I wouldn’t consider ourselves on the good side of the law.”

“… Just keep Phi safe, please.”

“We will, don’t worry. Tell Diana what I told you, and I’ll call you again unless I make Junpei do it for me.”

“Alright.” The call ended with a beep and Sigma looked down at the phone in his hand to see they spent over 40 minutes on the call. He set it down and went upstairs to try and find Diana. And he did. She was crying in the extra bedroom in their house, there so that when Phi would visit, she would be able to have her own room. Slowly, Sigma walked over and crouched down, putting a hand on her back.

“Aoi will make sure we’re updated on what’s happening with Phi, they need to make sure she’s going to be able to handle being in a plane or a jet before she comes back, but they’re near a city so they’re able to get whatever medical supplies they need for Phi.” Diana acknowledged his presence, but still didn’t seem ready to talk. “I know that you want to be there but you have to wait, I’m sure sh-”

Diana interrupted Sigma but whatever she was trying to say came out in a mix of gasps and sobs, it was impossible to make out any words the first time she tried saying it.

“Its okay Diana, take your time.” Sigma continued to rub her back, both of them were still trying to make sense of everything they heard, but Sigma’s first priority was trying to calm his wife down. She took a couple deep breaths before trying to speak again.

“Last week we lost a patient who tried to kill themself by jumping, he wasn’t much older than Phi.” Diana turned and continued to weep in Sigma’s arms.

-

Aoi was so close to falling asleep, when did he last have a normal sleep schedule? He didn’t know, but he didn’t really think he could have one until they knew for sure everything was okay and 8,000,000,000 people weren’t going to die in a nuclear war. As close as he was to drifting off the slumberland, the knocking on the door was demanding his attention and he begrudgingly went to open it. On the other side was Akane, looking a little more relaxed than before he left to call Sigma and Diana.

“Here to let me know how Phi’s doing? Based by the look on your face things are going a bit better than an hour and a half ago.”

“I am less nervous right now, but I’m still worried. We know for sure she cracked four of her ribs and has a compression fracture on her right scapula. The doctor will return tomorrow with the supplies the stabilize the shoulder blade, so for now it’s in a splint.”

“Better than Junpei’s?”

“Aoi! This is serious, yeah it’s better than Junpei’s, but you think this is a good time to be joking right now?!”

“Yeah, yeah, Sorry, still unconscious I’m guessing?”

“Yes, we were told she was lucky she didn’t have a skull fracture so it’s likely her right shoulder took most of the damage from the fall, but she definitely has some kind of brain injury, without equipment to do scans with and considering she’s still asleep, they couldn’t tell how bad it was.”

“Not surprised. Where’s Junpei? You wanted to be free of him for a minute?” Akane scoffed at the question.

“He’s with Phi, we were asked to make sure she’s monitored at all times to be and prepare for if anything changes.”

“And if she wakes up?”

“She’ll definitely be in a lot of pain, we were given medications to have her take if she wakes up before the doctor comes back.”

“There’s something, else isn’t there.”

“I’m worried about Junpei. During the Nonary game we set up there were timelines where he didn’t react well when people died. It’s a normal reaction to have to that situation, I know, but after that, he went through a very traumatic year before we ended up in the decision game. I’m worried he’s starting to blame himself for what happened to Phi.”

“Well then go talk to him about it.”

“Not right now, I’d wanna make sure there’s nothing super bad happening when I talk with Junpei because I don’t want him to have a reason to avoid talking to me.”

“Fair.”

“How did the call go? Sorry you got left to do that but me and Junpei had to communicate to the doctor about what happened.”

“About as well as you could expect. I couldn’t see their faces, but the tone in their voices made it clear they’re emotionally torn up over this. Diana dipped towards the end of the call so it was just me and Sigma for the last few minutes.”

“Oh.” They stood there for a bit. Thinking about how it’s more than just Phi who needed help right now. Junpei was here with them, but Diana and Sigma were so far away from the daughter they love. The Kurashiki siblings had strong mental walls from the difficulties they faced as children, but even this chipped them a bit. Suddenly, Akane’s phone buzzed from inside her pocket. She pulled it out to see a text from Junpei and opened it.

“I think Phi’s waking up, I haven’t gotten a full response for anything I say to her but she’s definitely in pain.”

Without a word both of them ran for the room down the hall where Phi was. The closer they got, the more they heard soft whimpering coming from the room. Junpei said she was feeling the pain and they could hear it as Aoi grasped the door handle.

He turned it to find Phi on her left side, hand on her right shoulder with her face contorted in pain and tears streaming from her eyes. The bruises more prominent now that they’ve been working their way to the surface for almost two hours. Junpei was next to the cot trying to see what he could do to calm her down.

“Has she said anything yet?” Akane ran for the pills and water bottle on the other side of the room. It was pain killers sure, but it was going to be hard for Phi to take them if she wasn’t fully conscious. Still, they should be ready to give the medication to Phi as soon as possible.

“Not really, I was sitting over there when she started crying. I texted you after getting over here to see if she was waking up. Nothing’s changed since then.” Junpei moved away slightly to give Akane room next to Phi. Moving Phi’s hair out her face with her hand, Akane tried her best to soothe the pain while Phi was asleep as the two other people in the room sat still in silence aside from Phi’s crying, hoping for the best.

“… urts…”

“Phi?” Both Aoi and Junpei drew closer without thinking, while Akane kept her hand on the other girl’s face. All three holding their breaths hoping for the best.

“It… hurts…”

“Phi? Can you hear me?” Akane tried her hardest to not let the fear in her throat come out while she spoke. Slowly, as if barely noticeable, Phi began to open her eyes.

“Yeah, I'm… it…”

“We have pain killers for you to take, do you need help with them?”

A shallow nod from Phi was enough of a que for Akane to ask the boys to help Phi sit up enough to swallow. As they slowly moved her, she winced anytime something touched her shoulder. Akane broke the seal on the water bottle and opened two blisters containing the medication before helping phi get them into her mouth and down with a sip before Aoi and Junpei slowly helped her down back to the cot.

“Damn, this hurts like a bitch.” Phi’s speech was hoarse and quiet, but she was awake and alert somewhat of her surroundings, a good sign no doubt. “What happened?” She asked as the three other people in the room shot each other looks before Junpei raised his voice.

“Phi, what was the last thing you remember? I can explain from there.”

“We were running in the halls trying to find another way to get to the stairs, that’s it.”

“Okay, so um… we didn’t find another way to get to the stairs. We got cornered on a balcony and not long after that, we were both taken off guard and one of the rails broke, and you fell with it.”

“That… would explain a lot- ahh…” Phi winced again and brought her hand up to her head as a wave of pain shot through it.

“The doctor we had look at you said you might have some kind of brain injury but she wasn’t sure how bad it was. The painkillers should kick in soon, but you should rest as much as you can.” Akane slowly began to softly stroke Phi’s face to try and distract her from the pain. Aoi moved to cover her with the blanket again to keep her warm while Junpei moved the painkillers and water back to the other side of the room.

“Do… Diana… and Sigma…”

“I called them already and told them both I’d keep an eye on you and give what updates I can, just focus on getting better for right now.” Aoi response helped Phi relax a bit, at least they wouldn’t be wondering why she wouldn’t be able to call for awhile.

Slowly as the medicine took hold, Phi drifted off to sleep as Akane took the next shift to stay awake and watch Phi.

-

Neither Diana nor Sigma had a restful night’s sleep. Both would wake up at different times of the night, checking their phones for word from Crash Keys on Phi’s condition. Even with their worries, they still had jobs to do, Diana’s shift at the hospital is usually twelve hours long and starts at 6 in the morning, so she needed to be up early anyway. Sigma was never a morning person and worked from home on his own schedule so Diana usually places little notes for him to find when he wakes up after she leaves, something they started doing while the two of them were trapped in the bomb shelter to help keep their spirits up while Diana was pregnant. This morning however she ultimately decided to leave one note before heading out.

“Please let me know if you hear anything about Phi. I’ll check my phone during my breaks to let you know if they tried contacting me through my phone. -D”

When Sigma woke up, Diana had long since left for her shift at the hospital. Her not being there was just an indicator that she would be at work and there wasn’t any reason to worry. Still groggy from his stressful night, Sigma reached for his phone to check the time, then to find two notifications, a text from Diana an hour ago, and an email from Crash Keys two hours ago. His heart rate jumped as his brain registered what he was seeing and didn’t hesitate opening the email first to check it’s contents.

“Phi woke up a little before 5 this morning, our time. She isn’t doing as bad as we feared. She has a concussion and was still very out of it when she woke up and can’t use her right arm right now. The doctor here wants to stabilize her shoulder and keep an eye on her for the next day or two though in case something unexpected happens, after that we’ll work on getting her packed up to fly her out to you guys. Maybe set her up to be checked at Diana’s hospital as soon as you can because she hasn’t had a scan yet and she’s on fentanyl right now to dull the pain from her arm and we only have so much to send over to the US. We haven’t told her that last bit yet because the meds are making her a bit loopy and sleepy. -Tenmyouji" 

Sigma let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding soon after hearing the news. Phi’s okay right now. He thought to himself as he opened the text from Diana.

“I got an email saying Phi’s awake! Hopefully we can see her soon." 

Not wanting to leave his wife on read he sent a small confirmation that he got it too before getting up out of bed. A weight felt like it had been lifted off his shoulders, but wasn’t completely gone. Khabarovsk was at least a 10 hour flight away from Irvine and he didn’t even like being on a plane for half of that. Soon he began thinking about everything that he should make sure is taken care of before Phi comes to stay; her room should be set up so it won’t be too bright or loud while making sure she would be comfortable while her arm heals. They would have to make sure she would be able to be seen at a hospital. Did they have what they needed to make sure she could be seen? How would they explain their relationship to Phi at the hospital?

It was going to be a long day.

-

"So, did you hear about your results or were you too out of it to pay attention?”

“Shut up.”

The whole physical examination flew by for Phi, mostly likely because of the pain medications. A doctor came by after she woke up to figure out how bad her head injury was since they couldn’t tell while she was out. All she wanted to do was sleep off her killer headache but was pretty much limited to sleeping on her left side and stomach because of the split on the right side of her back which made it very hard to get comfortable. Junpei had walked in shortly after the doctor had left to bring her some food to eat so she doesn’t have to take her medications on an empty stomach.

“Didn’t answer my question, but okay. How about this, did you hear about what they’re doing when they come back?”

“They were speaking Russian and I didn’t have the interpreter in here.”

“So no?”

“No.” Junpei put the tray on a nearby table before walking over to Phi’s cot to help her sit up, before going back for her meal. Lacking use of one arm, no less your dominant arm, made a lot of mindless tasks and actions a lot harder.

“So the good news is that it’s most likely a severe concussion, but you’ll be kept an eye on until you’re out of danger of having an aneurysm or hemorrhage.”

“And the arm?”

“Your shoulder blade is still in dozens of tiny pieces so they’re gonna use a bone cement mixture to keep them all together.”

“Bone cement? Doesn’t it have an actual name?”

“Don’t ask me, it’s not my job to remember that stuff. Anyway, you’ll be numbed before they start working on your arm. Can’t guarantee how numb you’ll be though.”

“That all you wanted to tell me?”

“Aoi and Akane are gonna come talk to you after your arm is splinted back up, then you can sleep.”

“Alright.” Phi resigned herself to waiting as she looked down at the tray of food on her lap.

After the doctor had left, Phi was left laying on her stomach trying to sleep as much as she could before the Kurashikis came to talk to her. Apparently it only takes about three days to fully set, but until then she’s going to have to be careful with it and wear a splint. Not that she’d have much reason to move around a bunch anyway with a concussion and several broken ribs. It was incredibly hard for Phi to keep track of time being so tired since she first woke up but it didn’t seem like long since she finished her food and started trying to sleep again before the door opened yet again as this time two people stepped in.

“Still sleeping?”

“Trying to at least,” Phi mumbled as she moved to reposition herself enough with her mobile arm to at least be able to see the siblings as they talked. They stood next to each other with firm looks on their faces. Clearly they knew she wasn’t in immediate danger, but whatever they had to say was serious and Phi began to feel a knot form in her gut.

“You’re not in trouble, what happened was an accident on your part so there won’t be any repercussions for you and Jumpy except for making sure you both know to be more careful from now on.” Akane was the first to speak up, whether or not she had noticed Phi’s unease, Phi couldn’t tell.

“Well we won’t be having you both go on missions for a bit, we’re having Junpei go through some of the data you got and it’ll take a bit, and obviously you’re not in any state to work right now, so I’m just going to cut to the chase.” Aoi’s tone of voice didn’t change at all while he talked. “The tools we need to make hacking into those files faster and easier are all the way back in the states, and you need a safer place to rest and heal up compared to a shelter with minimal facilities as well as being able to visit a hospital without worrying about being recognized for breaking into a government building.”

“So we’re having Jumpy fly you back to America tomorrow.”

It took a few seconds for Phi to register what the pair had said, silently cursing at the fact that with the medications and the concussion, thinking had become an incredibly difficult task.

“I hope you have it planned out more than that." 

"We do!” Akane piped in, Phi wincing with the sudden noise.“Sigma and Diana are living in California, they’re more than willing to let you stay with them for as long as you need to.”

“You talked to them already?”

“We called while you were still out and have been keeping them updated since. It’s been almost a whole day.” Phi stayed quiet and tried to pay attention while Aoi and Akane explained what happened while she was out and their plans for getting her and Junpei across the pacific ocean. After they finished, they left, leaving Phi by herself again. She hadn’t seen her parents since shortly after leaving Dcom, and while she did try and keep in contact over the phone, part of her felt anxious to see them again after being gone for almost a year.

-

It was almost Midnight when Sigma and Diana arrived at the airport. Waiting anxiously by the gate for the small plane Phi and Junpei would be arriving in any minute. Diana was trying her hardest not to nod off, she would usually be in bed by now with all of her early morning shifts, but managed to get the next two weeks off for a “family emergency.” Sigma on the other hand was still awake, it could have been lingering from his college days back when his 22 year old self had been inhabiting his age appropriate body, sure, but it was actually concern for his daughter. They hadn’t had the knowledge of them being parents for a year at that point, but when Phi mentioned she would be joining Crash Keys on their hunt for the fanatic the pair had basically transformed into stereotypical worrisome parents like they had raised Phi her whole life. Eventually it opened and from the other side walked out Junpei escorting a very tired looking Phi in an oversized jacket to accommodate the splint and keep her warm in the cool October air, it took everything in Sigma to not run up and hold her close.

“You both didn’t get too lonely waiting for us did you?” Junpei said walking closer to the couple. Both practically ignored him and instead Sigma went to pick up Phi so she wouldn’t have to walk all the way through the airport to the car while Junpei and Diana handled the bags. It was a small airport which made the walk back to the car a short one, all quiet knowing Phi needed it as much as possible.

Junpei headed out early in the morning without much of a conversation aside from a “good bye,” being picked up by a local member of Crash Keys while Sigma and Diana were still waking up. Phi was still upstairs in her bedroom sleeping as much as she could and Diana would bring her food later on to eat with the pain medication and help her with basic needs and anything else she needed help with before going back to sleep. Thankfully Phi would pretty much eat anything you put in front of her regardless of what it was so they would have to bother her as much as she slept to ask what she would like to eat. This would be their routine for the next couple of weeks while Diana was off from work, occasionally there would be a request or two from Phi, usually it was an extra snack, help readjusting the splint if it slipped out of place, or help with brushing her hair that had grown out it’s red roots since she left with Crash Keys almost a year ago. Eventually Diana would have to go back to work, and unfortunately that would be happening around the time Phi was supposed to wean off the fentanyl and stick to what they could get over the counter to manage her pain, so Sigma would have to take over managing her medication while Diana was away.

The night before Diana had her first shift back at the hospital she wrote up a schedule for Sigma to follow while she was gone and he followed it to a T. It had been a couple of weeks so her concussion, ribs, and shoulder had time to heal enough that she could start moving around again so long as she kept the splint on, albeit slowly and uncomfortably. Keeping track of time on the other hand hadn’t been a high priority for Phi in combination with the jet lag, sleeping, and pain killers making her thinking process go all over the place. Going off the fentanyl slowly let her start gathering her thoughts again, although not all of them were thoughts she wanted to have.

Sigma knocked on the door gently to let Phi know he was there before opening the door. Phi was on her left side on the bed as usual, her head buried in the pillow, hiding her face.

“I’ve got your dose for today, do you need anything else before I leave?”

Phi lifted her head from the pillow, hair a mess and her eyes red from crying. She didn’t say anything as she used her left arm to sit upright.

“Is something the matter?”

“I guess.” Her voice was hoarse and quiet. Sigma hadn’t heard her talk much in the few weeks since he and Diana brought her home. He moved to sit at the foot of her bed slowly so he wouldn’t jostle the mattress enough to cause Phi more pain.

“Is it anything I can help you with?”

“I don’t know, I’m still trying to process everything.”

“Everything with the accident or…”

“Everything since last Christmas pretty much.” Phi didn’t look at Sigma as she spoke. She hadn’t spent a lot of time with her parents after leaving Dcom before leaving with Junpei and Akane to join Crash Keys on their search. While Sigma and Diana moved in together towards the end of January and had helped each other through nightmares and breakdowns that came as a result of remembering everything that took place inside of the bomb shelter, Phi took any opportunity to keep herself busy and not think about the events of the decision game until she knew everyone was safe.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

Phi nodded, head hanging low as she took a breath.

“I was back inside the incinerator, it turned on and I couldn’t move. I heard you and Diana screaming on the outside, I couldn’t hear myself burning, but I felt all of it.” Sigma listened as Phi’s voice stayed flat as she spoke. The trash-disposal room had been the source of a number of his and Diana’s nightmares. While they knew there was a history where all three of them survived, the other two histories often overshadowed it.

“Have you had any other nightmares I should know about?”

“Well there’s the whole Radical-6 pandemic and being on the moon for a start. I still don’t remember much from the Nonary game, I just have small bits and pieces without the context. The only one that’s really fully clear to me is the one where we were able to get everyone to nine points. On the other hand I still remember so much before I was frozen.”

“Do you mind if I ask what you do remember about the Nonary Game?”

“Tenmyouji and Clover were handcuffed to the sink in the infirmary, K giving Dio some water to drink to determine if it was safe to drink or not after I shoved a spoonful of food in his mouth, Dio holding a moon rock over my head, and then I think you were trying to talk to me in the pressure exchange chamber but I was having a really hard time understanding what you were trying to say.”

“I don’t think you want the details for those timelines quite yet, but I can talk to you about them later if you would like me to.”

“Thanks…” the pair sat there in silence, contemplating, before Sigma opened his mouth.

“It’s not your fault that the virus escaped the facility, we didn’t know that Mira had a vial containing Radical-6 on her and Diana did what she did because she wanted to save you. Besides, not everything that came out of the Decision Game was bad, like you.”

“And Delta. You haven’t said anything about him at all.”

“Well, you know that me and Diana were trapped in the shelter when the two of you were conceived, and the month and a half before that was essentially torture to Diana and myself. Things were a bit better after that, but after we realized she was pregnant, it felt like we had something to keep going for. I didn’t think twice about sending you both in the transporter after you both were born and making sure the time we had with you afterwards was the best we could possibly make it.”

“What timeline did this happen in?”

“It was after you… passed away in the Trash-disposal room. We didn’t know how you had died at the time because of the supposed amnesia drugs.”

“Oh.” The room fell silent once more. This was the first time either of them had really talked openly about their experiences in depth. Sure they had friends in and out of Crash Keys and the SOIS who had an idea of what happened, but it was something else entirely when the other person was right there with you.

“Hey Sigma, could I ask you to do something for me?”

“What is it?”

“Could you give me a hug please? Just be careful about the splint.” Phi slowly turned her body to face Sigma at a more comfortable angle. He moved closer and opened his arms to wrap around his daughter and keep her close, trying his best to not move the splint on her back as she buried her head in his chest.

“I’m not going to turn down a request like that.” She was so small in his arms, not as small as when she was a newborn, but small in the sense that Sigma felt like she’d snap in two if he wasn’t careful. How she managed to go almost ten months without a major incident was a mystery to him.

“Did Diana ever tell you what your birthday was?”

“I don’t think so, I’ve always just had it celebrated in June since that was approximately ten months before my foster parents got me.”

“It’s November 16th. I made a calendar on one of the walls in the lounge and the 24 hour clock on the bracelets helped us tell when a full day went by and I’d mark it off.”

“Any reason you decided to bring that up?”

“Well it’s this Friday, I thought you’d like to know.”

“Wait how long have I been here?” Phi raised her head.

“We picked you up on the 25th of October, and it’s the 13th now, so about three weeks.”

“Huh.” They stayed like that for a few minutes, Sigma not willing to remove his arms from Phi until she moved to free herself, and Phi herself perfectly content with right where she was at that point in time.

“Do you think you could help me with something else?”

“It depends on what that ‘something else’ is, I’d have to find out before I can give you an answer.”

“Could you help me with my hair? I haven’t been able to bleach it since last December and it’s longer than I’d like it to be even though I’ve gotten trims when I could.”

“I only dyed my hair once in highschool and it turned out awful, that was also over 50 years ago for my current consciousness.”

“I can tell you how to do it, we could also try and get Diana to help too.”

“I guess I can do it, you’ll have to wait until you have that splint off first.”

“I guess that’ll work. One last thing, though.” She said as she moved to free herself and sit up straight.

“What is it?”

“Can you show me around your house and what food I can eat? I pretty much only know the route from here to the bathroom and I’m getting a little stir crazy being stuck in here all day.”

“That’s understandable, do you need help standing up?”

“No I’ve got it, just give me a minute.”

-

“I’m home! How’s Phi- oh?”

Diana walked into the living room to be greeted with the sight of Sigma holding a finger to his mouth signalling Diana to be quiet. The TV was playing yet another older movie with the volume low and the brightness dimmed. Phi was sleeping on the couch leaning against her dad with a blanket draped over her lap. Diana took notice and after taking her coat off and setting her bags down, sitting next to her partner to relax for the rest of the evening enjoying the first time her little family had felt complete and safe.

[kermitbread]

[fated.] hananene au oneshot #1

Another hananene oneshot?? yes ;)

[also AO3 link of it is here :D]

"Ahh... I didn't have a single successful pull today..." Nene groaned and lowered her phone to her lap. "I thought for sure I'd get him this time..."

"Still no luck with your idol game?" Aoi leaned over her own desk to look at Nene's screen. "You've got some good pulls though. See, you got a super rare!"

"I've been collecting so many stars for a long time... for it to come to another disappointment!! Ugh!"

Aoi patted on her best friend's shoulder as she went down on her desk and covered her face with her arms. "You really want that unit, huh?"

"Mmhm."

For the past month, Nene had been idly playing a popular male idol-raising game ever since she heard someone from another class talk about it. Being a fan of those kinds of games, it wasn't hard to imagine she didn't dive in straight away.

It had also been her luck that the game itself was an official product of a popular boy's idol group, Galaxy Chasers. No doubt about it Nene was hooked towards their good looks and amazing songs, as she would put it from time to time.

Especially since she had her eyes on a certain member of the group.

"Oh, that's right, Nene-chan! I heard there's a new classmate joining us today!" Aoi interrupted her moping. Nene lifted her head up. She wasn't exactly interested, but she didn't want to look rude towards her best friend.

"A new classmate?"

"Alright class, settle down now!" Their class adviser had finally entered the room, motioning the students to quiet down. All of them returned to their seats, bringing their full attention to the teacher.

"So as a lot of you might know, you'll be having a new classmate coming to this class this year. Some of you might recognize him, but please remember to treat him just as you would with your fellow classmates."

"Recognize him? We haven't even seen him yet, how strange..." Nene whispered to Aoi.

"With that being said, please enter the classroom." The teacher called out to someone outside by the door. Almost immediately, a boy walked inside, taking confident strides.

Nene could have sworn her heart had stopped for a moment.

What... WHAT?!!

She knew she couldn't mistake that choppy black hair and golden eyes. And specifically, that almost smug looking smile of his.

"I'm Amane Yugi. Nice to meet you." He spoke, as if not really noticing the starstruck aura the entire class emitted.

Aoi tugged on Nene's uniform sleeve and whispered, "Hey, Nene-chan, isn't he the idol boy you wanted to get in your game?"

Nene could only nod. "Y-yeah... Don't tell me he's our new classmate?"

"He is! He's a part of Galaxy Chasers, right? The lead singer!" Aoi excitedly piped, her whispering close to become full fledged squealing.

"And, oh, that's right! You have a huge crush on hi—" Nene's face exploded into a giant red mess and she flung her hands towards Aoi's mouth, covering them.

"N-not so loud, Aoi!!"

This wasn't missed by the rest of the class, and Nene sweatdropped at the weird looks given at her. "Yashiro-san, are you alright there?" The teacher asked.

"Um—yeah!! I'm fine!!" She readjusted back to her seat as Aoi recovered herself from the assault, just giggling at her friend's poor attempts at hiding her feelings.

"Alright... well, Yugi-san, you may take a seat next to Aoi-san." The teacher pointed to an empty seat next to the class rep, Akane.

He nodded, and proceeded to walk towards his assigned seat, but not before sparing a glance towards Nene with his signature smile.

And boy, was she super embarrassed indeed.

--

Gosh, Aoi, you didn't have to expose my secrets like that... Nene sulked by the practice garden of the school. She was all alone for a while, since she came to gardening club much earlier than the other members.

Its not as if this is some weird shoujo manga... he doesn't know who I am.

She had developed a crush on Amane since seeing him for the first time perform on stage back when Aoi had invited her to come to their concert with her. His charm, attractive voice, and looks had struck her so much, but what really got to her was the fact his eyes looked like they held so much... wonder.

They reminded her of the moon, oddly enough. The bright, round celestial body that occupied the night sky, which somehow gave her a sense of serenity just by looking at it.

His gaze held that exact same feeling.

...why am I like this? This is so dumb. I have feelings for a guy who's way too out of my league.

She looked at her phone, opening the game. Glaring at the lack of stars for her next gacha, she buried her face into her gloved hands, unfortunately getting dirt all over.

"Ack—I'm so stupid—!!"

"Are you okay?"

At the sound of the familiar voice, Nene froze from where she was sitting, not even noticing the dirt that was still patched on her skin. Amane was standing in front of her, looking worried.

"Y...Yugi-san?" She almost stuttered. Why was he here? He was being flocked around by fans all day, so it was strange to see him all by himself.

"I heard someone shouting. I came to check if someone was in trouble." He knelt down to her level, right next to her. This didn't really calm the erratically beating heart of a now gradually blushing Nene.

He's... he's so close!! "Um... I'm alright. I just had some dirt on my face by accident, that's all." She took off one of the gloves and wiped off the dust on her cheeks.

"Ah." Amane directed his eyes at the plants in front of them. "Are you... part of the gardening club here?"

"Yeah. I'm usually the one in charge of the vegetables since there's not a lot of people in the club." She somehow found her voice, feeling a lot calmer. He hummed at this, but the sound of a push notification alerted him.

He saw Nene's phone, screen open, game still intact. "Oh, Yashiro-san, is that..."

Realization hit, and Nene frantically exited the app before Amane could get a better look. She was now blushing like crazy. "I-I-It was nothing!! Really!!"

He can't know all I do here is try and pull for his super rares!! He'd think I'm a weirdo or biased or something!!  (a /n: smh nene u always biased for him)

He chuckled, and Nene was pretty sure she almost swooned right on the spot. "I know, you were playing our game. It's nice to see a fan playing, though. I appreciate it."

"R-right..." She answered weakly. Trying to change the subject, she asked, "Um, Yugi-san, why did you... decide to come here? To Kamome Academy, I mean."

Amane didn't answer, and for a moment Nene felt like she offended him. "Oh! I'm sorry if I—"

"It's fine. I don't mind." He looked up at the sky, which was now in a blue-orange gradient. "Even though I'm a pretty successful singer, life like that really gets a little too hectic for my taste. So, I wanted to have a balance of peace at least."

"I wanted to feel like a normal kid again. And I just feel like, right here is where I can have that kind of life." He smiled at her, and Nene couldn't help but gaze right into his eyes.

There was that look again.

Amane then laughed, scratching his cheek. "Ahah, I talk too much, huh?"

"No, it's okay." She shook her head with a small smile. "We're classmates, right? You can tell me as much as you'd like."

He stared at her, and that was when Nene felt increasingly self-conscious. Here she was, casually talking to her crush, her crush that doesn't even know her!

"Yeah. Thanks." He lifted a hand and to her surprise, patted her head just like one would do to a little child.

Ah! He's...

"Yugi-san—"

"Amane."

"Eh?" Nene blinked at him, confused.

"Call me Amane. You said it yourself, we're classmates now." The smug look he was widely known for was now across his face, and she tried hard not to falter under his gaze.

"Alright! Then... you can call me Nene. Just not radish legs and we're fine." She added with a slightly solemn tone, now feeling concious about her ankles.

"Aww. I think they're cute." Nene could only jolt with surprise when he suddenly leaned close to her, right next to her ear.

"Besides, they make me want to hug you, Nene-chan~" His voice dropped to a lower octave than usual, making her shiver and stiffen into a state of redness.

That was it. That done it. Nene Yashiro was officially struck down.

Oh, the adventures they were gonna have soon...

[destination-despairing]

so I was toying with this idea I got from a couple tiktok cosplayers and the concept that the remnants of despair tended to take their despair out on their own bodies, the idea being basically that Kazuichi dabbled in drugs pretty hard during his time as a remnant and ends up in pretty bad shape when waking up from the program. I wrote two alternatives and they’re both fairly heavy so mind warnings for drug use and self harm mention, I’m gonna put them both under the cut here

Kazuichi trapped his hands under his arms to make them stop shaking. He was sweating more than usual, and felt a bit dizzy as he listened to Hajime speak.

"Medical care is the most important part," he said. "We all woke up with some problem ke another. Immediately after waking everyone should be taken to me or later if she's available, Mikan, for a physical."

Kazuichi took a shaky breath.

"Next after that is psychological health, therapy should start immediately. Starting with us."

"Pfft, great, and that's you? Who's gonna give you therapy, tough guy?" Fuyuhiko said.

"Uh, no," Hajime was using his usual sass but still had the unsettling blank face and long hair of Kamukura, so it wasn't as funny when he added: "you couldn't pay me to be in more than one remnant mind, I'll stick to my own thanks. Makoto is offering online sessions with therapists briefed on the situation."

"Hey, what about the cottages?" Akane asked. "We should fix those up, right?"

Kazuichi tried to listen, but everything after that became a blur. The "family meeting" ended and he almost didn't notice. Luckily, Akane accidentally brushed against him as she was leaving, bringing him back to the present.

"Kazuichi."

"Wha?!" He jumped a mile at Hajime's sudden presence inches away.

"We need to talk." Hajime's mismatched eyes zeroed in on him, read through his lies and got to his core. He could tell, he started sweating more, wiped at his forehead with a trembling hand.

"Sure," he laughed nervously, following Hajime into the next room.

Hajime went to the desk in the center of the room and opened a drawer. "So. I found these in with your stuff back when Makoto and the others gave it all back."

Kazuichi froze as Hajime pulled out a nondescript black pouch, about as big as his hand.

So that's where they've been.

He reached for it without realizing, eyes widening, and froze when Hajime closed his hand around it.

"You're going through withdrawal," he said.

"I'm just feeling a little under the weather," Kazuichi lied, his eyes following Hajime's hand as they both sat down on either side of the desk.

Hajime opened the pouch, and Kazuichi resisted the urge to just grab it, to scream: "it's none of your business! They're mine and I need them."

Hajime ignored some of the baggies, others he removed some of the contents and started dosing out.

"We don't have any medicine for this sort of thing yet," he said. "I don't think they knew, or they would have had it on hand. So I'm going to have to wean you off."

"T… that's just cruel," Kazuichi whined, biting his lip so hard it bled. "Either I'm taking them and I suck but I feel good, or I don't and I suffer as a good person."

"Addiction isn't black and white like that," Hajime said.

"Of course it is!" Kazuichi snapped, thinking about his childhood home full of beer bottles with the labels peeled off.

"You were in despair," Hajime reminded him. "A lot of us did things to our bodies during that time, and all of us have to heal from them."

He slowly pulled up his sleeve and revealed an array of brutal scars. Kazuichi's eyes widened, wondering when and why Izuru had done that.

"This is how you heal," Hajime said. "I'm not giving you the option, just like I wouldn't give Fuyuhiko the option to keep the necrotic eye if he had wanted to."

Kazuichi's leg bounced, he'd thrown up fifteen minutes ago and he felt sick again already.

"I took more than that…" he said quietly.

"This is how much you get." Hajime pushed the drugs across the desk to him, and Kazuichi waited all of five agonizing and prideful seconds before snatching them up. 

"... thanks." He sniffled, hating it was Hajime of all people who caught him, this amazing guy he looked up to.

Of course, that just meant he really trusted Hajime to look after him.

"Now, while this is mandatory, I'm going to give you the option to tell me whether or not you want me to ask Makoto to provide you with addiction counselors. Don't decide now, come and tell me whenever you're ready."

Kazuichi nodded. "Thanks…"

Hajime's face softened, pushing past the cold Kamukura glare. "I'll stick with you through this, okay? You're my friend. I'm not mad or disappointed. Just… concerned."

Kazuichi wiped at his eyes, unable to stop the silent tears. "M-mhmm."

Hajime reached across the desk, and Kazuichi took his hand, feeling comforted by the human sensation of one hand gently squeezing another.

"M'gonna go take these… before I puke again," he said after awhile. 

"Want me to come with you?" Hajime asked. Kazuichi wondered if Hajime would keep an eye on him anyway, then decided he didn't care. He'd earned that kind of scrutiny, and Hajime had already said he wasn't judging him.

"Yeah, thanks, man."

Hajime hadn’t seen Kazuichi in some time, and the last time he’d seen him he’d been acting strangely. 

He didn’t know what it was, just that the Kazuichi in the real world somehow seemed less reliable and steady than the one in the program. Seemed less quick on his feet, less creative, less loud. 

He knew they’d all gone through hell and there was a recovery period, but he was worried maybe Kazuichi was just stuck like this, and that hurt worse than he thought it would. He missed Kazuichi. 

“Hey, Kaz?” he knocked on the door. “Didn’t see you at breakfast.”

Silence.

“... hey, can I come in?” he asked.

Silence again.

“I’m coming in, put on some pants if you don’t have any,” he joked weakly, just wanting to hear that crybaby screech Kazuichi always broke into when you teased him too hard. 

He opened the door and stepped inside, not seeing Kazuichi at first. Then he looked down and saw the crumpled figure leaning against the wall.

“Kaz!” he ran over, lifting him slightly and patting his cheek. “Kazuichi?”

Kazuichi’s eyes barely opened. “Wha…?”

“What happened?” Hajime asked, voice panicked, his fingers going to Kazuichi’s pulse.

“... huh?” Kazuichi’s head wouldn’t stay up on its own.

“Kazuichi. What happened?”

“... hm?” Kazuichi just seemed confused and lifeless, eyes closing again.

Hajime grabbed him, pulling hard on the part of his mind where Izuru kept their talent as he rushed to the hospital.

The last thing Kazuichi remembered was finally feeling again.

That numb tickle that traveled from behind him into his body, whispered in his ear that he could let go. 

So he had.

He thought maybe someone had talked to him, and as he started to wake he knew it hadn’t been his imagination, because he wasn’t in his room anymore and Hajime was standing at the foot of his bed.

“... Hajime?” he asked, voice hoarse.

“... so, I found these in your room,” Hajime said, opening his hand to reveal the pair of orange prescription bottles long ago filled with a variety of things that weren’t on the label.

Kazuichi felt cold dread take hold of him, both at the idea that Hajime had found him high and that his drugs were confiscated for sure. “Hajime, I-”

“Your heart stopped last night. I had to resuscitate you. Twice.” Hajime hung his head so low Kazuichi couldn’t see his expression. 

“S-shit…” Kazuichi couldn’t stand the thought of Hajime being mad at him. They were friends, he was probably the only friend he had left, because there’s no way the others didn’t know about this, he’d never tried to hide it back when they were all Despair and doing things to their bodies just to feel something in the new numb world they’d encountered. Now Hajime knew too, and he’d leave, and he’d be all alone… “I’m so sorry, Hajime,” Kazuichi felt tears springing to his eyes. “I know I messed up, I know I’m the worst and you must hate me and-”

He paused, because Hajime had lifted his head again and he looked terrified with wide eyes and tears streaming down his cheeks. 

“You scared me, you asshole,” he sobbed, wiping at his eyes pathetically before rushing over and pulling Kazuichi into a hug.

Kazuichi’s own crying only got worse at that. He hugged Hajime back as hard as his weak arms would let him, hiding his face against Hajime’s shoulder and shaking as his friend clung to him like he was afraid he’d slip away.

“I’m sorry…” he repeated himself.

“It’s okay, just don’t scare me again,” Hajime huffed. “I… I can’t lose you.”

“You’re not mad at me?”

“I wouldn’t be mad at you for having the flu or depression, just scared that it was out of my hands,” he said, pulling away and cupping Kazuichi’s face in his hands. “You know I have to do something about this, right?”

“I’ll… I’ll be careful…”

“No, you won’t,” Hajime said, shaking his head knowingly. “So I’m going to be careful now, okay?”

Kazuichi nodded, biting his thumb and trying to stop crying.

Hajime stroked his hair, seeming unable to stop being in contact with him. He wiped Kazuichi’s tears before finally pulling away to wipe his own. 

“This is gonna suck, but you have to let me do it,” he said. “If you fight me on this too hard… if you don’t get better, then I have to tell Makoto and ask him to find you treatment off the island.”

“Yeah, sounds fair.” Kazuichi gritted his teeth and looked down.

“... I’m glad you’re okay,” Hajime said.

“Thank you for making me okay,” Kazuichi said, figuring if he said sorry one more time Hajime might just kick his ass. 

Hajime nodded, and reached over to stroke his hair one last time before leaving to get things ready.

[drink-n-watch]

Hello one and all, it’s once again time for my seasonal dose of adorable underdressed anime fun with Matt! My collaborations with him are my chance to see some shows on the more moe ecchi side of things that I wouldn’t necessarily get around to otherwise so it’s a good way to broaden my horizons. So naturally this season Matt suggested Psycho Pass! I had no objections….

Some more astute readers may know that I (much like a whole lot of anime fans) have a very soft spot for the series. I talk about it a lot and to this day this messy fever dream of a post remains one of my favourites!

But enough about me, Matt what are your thoughts/feelings about the franchise?

Hello Irina, everyone, it’s me. My thoughts on Psycho Pass’s first season? Absolutely excellent, one of my Top 20 anime of all time. Thoughts on the second season? A rushed mess that does a disservice to the events of the previous season.

So season 3… Whenever a beloved series gets a new entry, there’s always a sort of backlash from fans. A weird fear that somehow it can go back in time and change what the original was. It’s counterproductive. Which is probably why Matt warned us on Twitter not to immediately compare it to the original…But Boy did this first episode make that hard! 

There were parallels to the first season Everywhere you looked. The art style is instantly recognizable, and the environments remain almost untouched (aside from the CG but we’ll get back to it). The colour palette is very close, only slightly warmer and the framing and angles are perfectly consistent. The OP was purposefully similar which made the inclusion of that demon-like creature really stand out.

Beyond that though, we saw glimpses of the iconic Syble control room, the dominators in action, Shion back in force (oh hecks yeah) and even just a hint of Akane.  And one of the first scenes was of inspectors Arata and Kei arriving on their very first day at the job, at a rainy crime scene in an opener that directly mirrored season 1’s first episode.

I know you don’t want us to compare the two, Matt, but it certainly seems the show isn’t about to let us forget its roots.

There’s nothing wrong with calling back to things that happened in previous seasons, in-fact they were some of my favourite parts of the episode. The problem is when people dont give a show a fair chance to stand on its own because their too busy holding it up to its predecessors shadow.

There’s something of a deft balancing act done here by making this part sequel and part soft reboot (at least that’s my impression) and I think it pulls off both very well.

To me though, this was an homage, not a rip-off. Tonally, visually and atmospherically it was very reminiscent of Psycho Pass but the character dynamics, faster and grimier corruption storyline set up and quick-fire dialogue are fresh. Not to mention the completely new mind trace gimmick. So far, I like it, but it has the potential of just turning into plot destroying “sci-fi magic”, what do you think?

It’s funny you mention the mind trace “gimmick” because (aside from the visuals) that was my favourite thing about this episode. I don’t know if you’ve seen Bryan Fuller’s ‘Hannibal’ tv series from a few years back but our protagonist in that show has complete empathy which allows him to become other characters which is almost exactly what Arata has (down to the wording) of his trait. So not only was I immediately on board with this but I was excited to see where it would take his character. Oh I vaguely remember it. I was actually thinking of Sherlock myself.

Arata is a light-hearted happy go lucky protagonist. For someone like me, whose favourite character was Kagari, it’s a thrill, but what do you think Matt? And ho do you think audiences will react. It’s a pretty big departure from previous protagonists.

I think a lot of his light-hearted disposition is a coping measure for having to deal with having complete empathy. I enjoyed this kind of protagonist compared to brooding and dour but I still think it’s a bit of a front.

O.k., I’ve avoided it so far but let’s just mention the CG for a bit. I didn’t like it. It wasn’t horrible but the integration was hardly seamless and honestly, it took me out of the moment on several occasions.

Hmm, I have to disagree, I thought it looked wonderful and very dynamic and interesting. I’ve heard streaming things with a lot of small details can look ugly so maybe that was the problem for you? I ~acquired~ a 1080p copy of the episode so maybe that’s why I thought it looked so good? No for me the issue was more that the light and shadow physics where calculated at a very slightly different angle that made the CG pieces sort of stand out in one frame and not the next. Once I noticed I kept on noticing. Also, I disliked the textures but that personal taste. Actually, I got to give it to prime, the quality if their streams are really good!

Overall, here is what I got from the first episode of season 3 of Psycho Pass. The narrative seems to be more action-oriented with hints of humour, rather than dramatic noir. There is a lot more emphasis on tech which leads me to believe we’re going to stray into cyberpunk territory. Political machinations are afoot.

I think it was a necessary change, this felt more like a US crime procedural along the lines of ‘Person of Interest’ so arguably not world’s away from what it was but different enough to feel like it’s carving out its own identity and not resting on everything that it’s previous seasons set up.

There were some red flags. The addition of what seems to amount to incredible psychic powers in Arata is a very tricky narrative element and unless used carefully and sparingly could either render stakes inconsequential or completely undercut and tension in the story. Moreover, the little we saw of the villains did seem a tad too goofball to be taken seriously and, in my experience, this universe really benefits from a strong antagonist.

In the closing scenes, there is a line seemingly spoken by Akane: “We must protect justice even at the cost of a peaceful society”… This was meant as a sort of handoff to a new cast and although a bit heavy-handed still cute. Except that to me, it sort of goes against what Akane stands for and negates some of her most important and powerful character moments (by the way, I’ve seen season 1, the old movie,

Seeing Akane at all was kind of unexpected–the opening monologue and the sort of revelation that she’s still imprisoned (I think that’s what they were going for–its been a while since I watched season 2) hit me harder than I expected.

On the other hand, I pretty much fell head over heels for Mika. Every scene she was in made me smile and glued my eyes to the screen. I always wanted to know more about the tech of Psycho Pass and that seems to be the direction the season is heading in and although we don’t know much about Kei and Arata, I like them both so far.

I like all the characters (both new and returning ones) so far, I quite liked the banter between our two inspectors and their chief–she seems like a pretty understanding woman–hope she doesn’t end up working for the bad guys!

From what I can remember of my very first impressions of the franchise at all, this is pretty much on par. I mean I’m way more excited but I’m bringing that down because a lot is due to fuzzy nostalgia feelings. I didn’t really have any expectations for this episode, all I wanted was a strong narrative and characters set in the familiar future fictional Tokyo of the Psycho Pass universe that I’ve got a lot of fondness for and on that front it absolutely delivered. If I have one complaint it’s that it introduced a lot of characters that didn’t do much (specifically those three mysterious characters who are either politicians or something I’m not quite sure) but there’s still plenty of time to find out what their deal is. All in all, I thought this was an excellent continuation and new beginning for the series.

Psycho Pass s3 ep1 – A New Start Hello one and all, it’s once again time for my seasonal dose of adorable underdressed anime fun with…

[thinkanamelater]

Your Mother Should Know (MP100 fanfiction)

Serizawa visits his mom for the first time in many years, Reigen is there to support him, and they find more than they ever expected

Trans character, mention of deadnames

Also on AO3!

“Again, thanks for driving me”

“Don’t mention it” Reigen looked briefly at Serizawa at the seat next to him, deciding not to bring up how they had the exact exchange at least 5 times, all during a roughly 20 minutes’ drive; and parked the car in front of the house Serizawa pointed. “You sure you want me to come with? I can wait here, no problem” A part of him really wanted Serizawa to tell him to wait in the car.

The car ride already felt too… intimate, for him. It was hard to function around Serizawa when his professional role as a boss was clear, when they wore suits and ties; now, in jeans and shirt, when he was just a guy helping out his friend who was meeting with his mother after years… It was so much, it made him dizzy.

He’d do anything for Serizawa, he suspected, but he had no clue how to manage all the trust the other placed on him. If he could have a moment for himself, not having to worry about how weird he acted and if he was being too obvious… well, that’d be just fine.

“Please, come” Was Serizawa’s answer instead, with his gaze was fixed on his own feet as his hand searched the handle of the door.

Solemnly, Reigen nodded.

“Sure, of course”

As soon as they left the car, the house’s door opened and a woman stepped outside: an apron over his clothes, curly black hair tied back, and the warmest smile Reigen had ever seen. Serizawa’s mom, no doubt.

“Katsuya, my boy! Oh, sweetie…” The woman wasted no time in approaching them and engulfed Serizawa’s middle with her arms, burrowing her face against his chest. “My handsome boy…” She continued to mutter as Serizawa returned the hug; awkwardly, but not any less warm because of that.

Reigen turned his face, to give them privacy, but also to give privacy to himself, as he didn’t want them to see the tears that threatened to leave his eyes. He just couldn’t help picturing his own mom calling him “my handsome boy” as well…

“Oh, and you brought Arataka!”

He spun on his heels as soon as he heard it, his perfectly rehearsed smile successfully concealing the confusion of having his name called with such familiarity.

“Mrs. Serizawa, it’s my pleasure to-“

His polite greeting and professional extended hand were promptly ignored, as he was pulled into a hug as well.

“Ah, no, none of that “Mrs.” thing! Just call me Keiko, dear! Oh my, haven’t you grown into a fine looking man yourself?”

Now the confusion made its way into Reigen’s face, and Serizawa noticed it quickly.

“Uh, mom?” He caught her attention and she released Reigen, turning to her son with a wide smile. "“So, uh-“ Serizawa cleared his voice “This is- uh, Reigen… my boss…”

So his plan was to absolutely ignore whatever just happened, huh, Reigen mentally commented to himself, and resumed his previously frustrated handshake. This time, Mrs. Serizawa – Keiko - took his hand with a glint of amusement on her eyes.

“Boss, eh?” She repeated, and her face lit up “So you’re in charge of Katsuya’s office! Oh, to think you’d turn into a successful business man!”

“Um, what do you-“

“Ah, I left the oven on!” Keiko raised her hands to her face in alarm, and turned brusquely. “Good thing I made enough to share with Arataka- let’s hope he still likes my cooking!” Was the last thing she said before stepping into the side, leaving two baffled men at the porch.

“Is she alright?” Reigen had to ask, completely dumbfounded. Why did she keep talking like… she knew him somehow?

Serizawa stared for a few seconds, enough to convince Reigen he had overstepped, and then shrugged and mouthed a weak “I don’t know?”

“I-I mean, she’s uh, she’s very kind!” Reigen tried to backpedal “Very warm… I uh, I definitely can see where you got that from! Haha…” He threw in a forced laugh to hopefully distract the other from his reddening checks. God, he felt so silly, getting like this by just paying Serizawa a little harmless compliment…

“You really think so?”

“Huh?”

“A-ah, I mean, if you… really think I’m… warm…” Serizawa blushed up to his ears, and he couldn’t decide between looking right into Reigen’s eyes, and everywhere but Reigen.

“I-I do. You are. Uh. Warm” Reigen mumbled like hypnotized when Serizawa’s gaze finally settled on him. “A-and kind, too…” He coughed “… anyway, your mom is waiting”

“Oh! Right…” Serizawa took a quick hold of Reigen’s hand, squeezing it before letting it go. “Thank you”

With that, he walked into the home and, at loss of words, Reigen followed him.

Once inside, the inescapable smell of homemade cookies dragged them into the kitchen, where Keiko was bringing another teacup to the table.

“Ah, boys, come take a seat!” She called, and only Reigen did that. Instead, Serizawa subtly approached the oven, reaching out to the baking sheet on top of it, full of recently made cookies; as he was going to get his prize, his hand was smacked away.

“Don’t be naughty, Katsuya” His mom chided him, and Serizawa laughed.

“Sorry, mom, I couldn’t help! They smell so good!”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re just trying to get away with it” Keiko tugged lightly at his hair and smiled “And now for that, you’ll have to wait until Arataka eats to have a cookie. Now go sit down”

This time Serizawa did that, shooting a shy smile to Reigen, who was observing the whole situation in amusement.

True to her words, Keiko brought Reigen a plate full of cookies, watching him with a smile.

“Enjoy them! Ah, this really brings back memories, don’t you think?”

Reigen stopped in the middle of eating, confused again.

“I’m sorry, I don’t really…?”

“You used to come home all the time! Obviously not here, we moved to this house right before Katsuya…” She made an almost imperceptible pause, during which Serizawa went tense “… turned 12” Her mom finished and he visibly relaxed.

Puzzled, Reigen glanced at Serizawa. He attempted to tweak his features into those of a 10 year old boy, attempting to come up with a familiar face, with no success.

He tried once more, this time focusing harder into the man’s face, but soon that proved to be useless as well – mostly because he got too entranced by the strong jawline, the hint of stubble, the tug on his lips as they stretched to call his name…

“Reigen” Serizawa called again, and Reigen went back to reality.

“What?” He blurted out, agitated.

“How much sugar would you like?” Serizawa pointed to the cup of tea already served in front of him. Oh god, he had been staring. And not only Serizawa definitely noticed, but his mom as well. Thankfully, none of them commented on it.

Eventually they got all settled up at the table, and Keiko started asking her son questions about his daily life. Reigen knew they had been talking over the phone a few times; still, Serizawa went into a detailed description of his work and school schedules. Before he finished, his mom gasped and stood up brusquely.

“I had pictures of you guys! Somewhere…” She said, and Reigen looked at her in wonder “Now, where did I put them…”

“Mom. It’s ok” Serizawa sounded strained when he gestured for her to sit down again.

“But you we’re so adorable! Alright, alright, I’ll just search for them later. Oh, remember that one time, as we were preparing your birthday?”

Serizawa pretended to be busy sipping at his tea to avoid answering, but it was clear by the way his cheeks furiously blushed that he did remember that particular event.

“You were so happy because we were throwing you a “boy’s party”, with your robots stuff and all” Serizawa’s mom’s voice wavered slightly, but her smile only grew bigger.

“I remember. It was a nice party” Serizawa said sharply through gritted teeth, and for a moment Reigen mistook his attitude for anger.

“And you were all like “Now that I’m a boy, I can marry Akane-chan, right, mom?””

It was as if all the oxygen was punched out of Reigen’s lungs. It had been so long since he heard that name… He barely registered Keiko was still talking.

“I had to remind you it was Arataka and not Akane at that time, but you didn’t I guess you weren’t paying much attention – with all the emotion of your birthday, and your new name, and we were about to move as well… maybe I should have given you more attention, too…”

Her voice drowned down and, for a moment, the three of them went silent.

Reigen looked at Serizawa in disbelief, but this new information completed the puzzle. Seeing the man hunched over his cup, with his gaze fixed on what was left of his tea and tears twinkling in his eyes, he easily remembered her.

His childhood friend, the funny, intelligent, kind Katsumi who always made up games for the both of them to play, and scolded him when he didn’t want to do his homework. Katsumi was also the first person he came out to, and the memory of her going absolutely ecstatic as he told her that he didn’t care what his mom said, he was a boy and nothing else, always filled him with warmth.

He had wondered so, so many times what have been of her, in all the time he had lost contact… to think the answer was much closer than he ever thought…

“I’m so happy you found each other once more” Keiko added in a weak whisper, and excused herself out of the room.

Reigen and Serizawa immediately searched for each other’s eyes, without speaking a word. It was a lot to take, and they’d probably have to talk about it, sooner or later, but for now they just needed to make sure the other was there.

A couple of minutes later, Keiko was back with a new batch of cookies, and a renewed smile.

From that point, the rest of the evening was a blur for Reigen. He had another tea, ate cookie after cookie only to have something to do with his hands; and just watched in silence at the other two as they exchanged daily anecdotes and recipes, as Serizawa helped his mom with her smartphone and with some heavy boxes, and then as they sat down to talk a bit more.

Eventually Serizawa stood up and said, “Well, mom, maybe you can visit me next time!”, and Reigen took that as his cue to stand up and say goodbye.

The ride back was done in silence, each of them too busy incorporating what they just learnt to talk to each other. Once Reigen parked in front of Serizawa’s place, Serizawa started fidgeting with his hands.

“Hey, uh…” He took a deep breath “Would you like to, uh, hang for a bit longer? Maybe you can stay for tea, o-or…”

“I can’t drink any more tea, Serizawa.” Reigen sighed “I couldn’t stomach it.”

“O-oh, right, then what about-“

“Nothing to do with food. Please.”

Serizawa went silent and stared at his thumbs; and Reigen wondered, not for the first time that day, if he hadn’t spoken out of place. But he had no words to apologize, his brain feeling like it had been deep-fried.

“Reigen” Serizawa called softly and he turned to him, who continued with a too quiet “I’m sorry”

Reigen didn’t have the chance to wonder what exactly he was sorry for, as Serizawa was very quickly, very much in his personal space, taking advantage of his turned head to plant a firm kiss on his surprised face.

He missed his lips by millimeters only.

“Well. That did not work out like I expected” Serizawa had the guts to admit, even when his face had achieved a more intense red color than it had on the entire day. “If you excuse me, I’ll leave the car now and run to my apartment so I can yell at myself”

Reigen found this calmness extremely hilarious, but he couldn’t for the love of god let out any kind of laughter. Instead he stared incredulously at Serizawa, his own face burning hot, unable to make any move as the other man found the door handle.

“Wait!” He finally said, at the same time Serizawa opened the door and was stepping outside. “Wait” He repeated and Serizawa sat back again, tentatively closing the door, and looked at him with embarrassment. “Were you- was it- Did you tried to kiss me since- because of- to make up for the things we learnt today?” Reigen asked once he finished stumbling over his own words.

Fervently, Serizawa shook his head.

“No!” Was his resolute answer, though he still appeared sheepish “I… was already planning to confess to you today… since a few weeks…”

“Well why didn’t you?” Reigen found himself blurting the question, genuinely curious.

“I tried, alright! I tried! I just thought the car was not the best place, so I tried to invite you over, but you didn’t want to so I panicked and-“

Reigen’s loud snort made Serizawa cut his rant, confused at first, but in no time both of them were laughing uncontrollably at themselves.

“Alright, alright.” Reigen conceded when he managed to stop laughing “I’ll stay, you handsome mommy’s boy” He mocked.

“If you insist, you successful business man” Serizawa teased back, and they left the car.

“Hey, Mob. What do you got there?”

Reigen had returned from the street and was curiously watching at Mob, standing in the middle of the office with a paper on his hands.

“Huh? I don’t know, it fell from your desk, Master.” Mob turned the piece of paper around to show him “Who are these kids?”

He was holding a slightly unfocused photograph of two smiling kids mid-hug, not looking at the camera.

“Hm? That’s-” Reigen blinked through the tears that were welling up in his eyes. He had never seen that picture before, but he didn’t hesitate to answer. “That’s… me.” He pointed to the child with blond hair in a polka dot dress “And uh” He made a pause to look at the other kid – a radiant smile being the only thing visible through the dark mess of curly hair -, and to let a few tears to fall as well. “That’s Serizawa. I know! It’s hard to believe, huh? I mean, he looks way older than me! But even he was a child one time, just like all of us! So uh- Oh hey, Serizawa, speaking of the devil!”

Reigen was already sweating when Serizawa walked in, scrutinizing everything with a frown on his face.

“Oh” Serizawa approached Reigen “ H-hey, Arataka, I was searching…” He continued to look around, absentmindedly holding Reigen’s waist with an arm “My mom did find the picture after all, and she sent it to me but I can’t remember where it- O-oh, Shigeo’s right here…” He noted, embarrassed, and let Reigen’s waist go.

Mob, however, was not looking at them – not directly. Facing their direction, he had the picture raised over his eyes’ level, and a shining smile that grew bigger as he slowly lowered the photo.

“Master and Serizawa look as happy right now as they did on this picture” Was his final sentence before handing the picture and turning to do something else, unbothered by the happy-crying mess he had made out of his master.

[shinkanefanatic]

A Broken Fate, a Shinkane one-shot

“All right, Tsunemori-san. For now, just get some rest.”

“Thank you very much.”

Akane’s chocolate colored orbs fell on the young woman clad in a light pink dress and hat. After scanning over the clipboard in her hand, the woman flashed a calm smile at her detective patient before taking her leave.

Now alone, Akane felt free to let out a long winded sigh that had been threatening to escape her for the past hour. Given her current situation, though the nurse had told her to, it was hard for the Inspector to simply relax. For one, it was rare nowadays for Akane to ever just sit and relax. No, her job took up most of her time. When she wasn’t working, she was exercising- training her body so that she would always be prepared no matter what case she had to deal with (this all thanks to a certain Enforcer’s advice from a few years ago). What’s more, though it sounded silly, the brunette had never really spent any time in the hospital until now. Usually, it was one of the others of her division because they had been hurt on a case or some such. The closest Akane had ever gotten to being a patient in a hospital was Shion’s office back at the PSB. Now here she sat with her thoughts, unsure of how to spend her time while she remained in such a place.

Then there was her reason for being here in the first place. That, too, only added to the pressure.

However, things could be far worst. Akane knew that. Despite herself, Tsunemori had kept quite calm regardless of all the stress building up in her, all thanks to the kind nurse from before. For that, she was quite thankful and it lessened her burden quite a bit.

Akane frowned though, knowing there was something else that could help cure her unease much more. Careful not to sit up too far, Akane glanced over at a white clock on the wall above the room’s door. It read 5:32. Her frown worsened.

“He’s late…” The twenty eight year old thought, pursing her lips in concern.

She had already been here for a full sixty minutes. Thinking back to it- the moment the detective had arrived, Akane immediately requested a phone. With it, she called her division at work, informing them of the situation. Yayoi Kunizuka had been the one to pick up- sadly, not the person she had wanted to speak to but asked if she’d pass along a message to him instead.

“Both Gino and him are out right now, but I’ll call them right away.” The black haired woman’s voice, though still as calm as it always was, held a hint of comfort in it as she spoke to Akane, “Don’t worry- Knowing him, he’ll fly right through traffic regardless of what gets in his way.”

Akane couldn’t help but smile at the kind assurance of the enforcer. She told her thank you before being taken off to her room, where she’d wait alone with her anxieties.

Yayoi was right. He would show up. Still, Akane couldn’t help her mind from wondering to different possibilities as to why he was running late.

Could there have been some sort of accident? Or perhaps a case that required the entire division to solve. Or worst, could he have gotten badly hurt again? Over the years she had known him, he had been very prone to injuring himself with the most ease. Akane could only pray that wasn’t the case this time.

A pained grunt escaped the short-haired woman while she struggled to get in a position that was even just a little bit more comfortable for her. However, Akane quickly found no way of laying that could help her feel any less worst. It was a few minutes before Akane finally felt the pain subside. Sweat was pouring down her pale face like a waterfall and her breathing was heavy and loud. The feeling had been so intense that the Inspector hadn’t even noticed her hand was gripped with all its might around one of the bars on the side of the bed used as a support. Her knuckles and fingers had numbed up and it took a moment before she finally freed her hand.

Akane coughed as she tried to catch her breath and rested her head into the pillow deeply. The entire world around her felt like it was spinning. It made her stomach nauseous and every part of her exhausted. As she laid there, she brought her arm and laid it over her eyes, shielding her from the bright light of the room.

“I don’t…know how much more…I can-”

“You’re giving up already, Inspector?”

Akane’s eyes shot open as she threw her vision towards the doorway. For a minute she swore she saw a man dressed in a suit with spiky hair standing there, smirking back at her. However, the image of him vanished just as soon as it appeared.

Tsunemori blinked a few times before coming back to reality. Honestly she couldn’t help but laugh, what with her old habit acting up again. Back before he had returned to Japan, Akane remembered her mind playing tricks on this just like now. It also always happened whenever she was feeling upset or anxious. Yet all it took was the sound of his voice or the sight of him, fake though it may be, to give the young detective to keep going, no matter the situation. Today was no different.

The Inspector smiled warmly as she felt some peace of mind return to her thanks to her hand found its way down to the source of the pain and she massaged it as gently as she could.

“I…hope he gets here soon.” Akane thought to herself as she turned her head towards a window and peered out at the cloudy sky outside.

“Give me the wheel.”

“…s’ fine, Gino.”

“…I said…Give me the wheel, god damn it.”

The former inspector Nobuchika Ginoza’s voice hadn’t sounded so stern and angry in years. It used to be a regular thing for him to be constantly on the edge, especially when it came to his best friend who was currently sitting beside him(who was causing him all sorts of stress, almost beyond anything before now). Though over the years and overcoming many trials had helped calm Gino down as a person- today, his old self was swiftly coming back to the surface. And just like back then, the only thing that would calm Gino down would be to take it out on the bastard who was currently swerving in and out of traffic as if he wanted to kill the both of them.

“Kougami.”

“Gino, I told you-”

“STOP THE FUCKING CAR!”

As if a dog heeding his master’s orders, Kou slammed his foot on the brake and pulled over to the side of the road. Before the spiky haired male could say anything, Gino was pushing him out of the driver’s seat and moving over. Once the two switched spots, Gino pulled back into traffic without saying another word.

Now that he had finally taken control of his life again, Ginoza felt his nerves dying down to find some peace at last. However, it didn’t seem to last long, once again thanks to a certain spiky headed bastard beside him.

Before the thirty six year old driver knew what hit him, a loud tapping sound began echoing down from the floor of the car. At first Gino wondered if something was wrong with the vehicle but he soon realized where the annoyance was actually coming from.

Out of some consideration for his friend’s current emotional state, Gino waited a minute before addressing the issue, and in a voice as calm as he could manage too,

“…Kougami.”

Despite the situation, Shinya turned to the man who was like a brother to him, wearing a look as stoic as ever. To anyone else, Kou probably looked calm as could be- not the least bit emotional or tense. No one but Gino who had known him for over 10 years could tell that inside Shinya, a massive storm of worry and panic were swirling around like a mighty hurricane.

“…Yeah?” Just like his voice, Kou spoke as calm as could be. However, Gino could hear the slightest crack in his tone regardless.

“Could you, please, stop…whatever it is you’re doing?”

-taptaptaptap-

“What I’m…doing?” Kougami seemed to have no conscious recollection of the actions his limb was doing. He was like a dog who had an unreachable itch that couldn’t be scratched.

Nobuchika could feel his eyebrow begin to twitch almost in sync with Kou’s twitching foot. After another minute, the short tempered male could take no more,

“ENOUGH, SPIKE-HEAD…!”

That was all it took to put an end to the twitching. Shinya simply blinked as if he were innocent and turned away, scratching his head,

“…Sorry. Didn’t mean to drive you nuts.”

“Story of my life.”

Kougami responded with a sigh and then proceeded to reach into his pocket. After removing a square box, he rolled down the window, removed a white stick from the box in his hand, lit it before bringing it to his lips.

Gino rolled down his own window to ventilate the car further. He never could stand the smell of cigarettes, much less that of the Spinel brand.

“Thought you had finally quit.”

Kougami took a long puff that seemed to last a full three minutes before light smoke sprayed from his lips,

“This kid’s got me on edge, if that weren’t obvious enough already.”

“I suppose that’s understandable.” Gino snorted before smirking in amusement, “This squirt isn’t even here yet and its already making his deadbeat of a father a wreck. Pretty hilarious, when you think about it.”

Kougami couldn’t help but flash a small smile at the remark. Gino had always known how to hit below the belt, but this remark was so true that it hurt.

Years ago, Shinya Kougami would have never dreamed he’d be in the position he was in right now. Especially considering Sibyl labeling him a latent criminal, and all criminal were forbidden from ever having children, much less with a person who had a clear hue. Over the course of the last few years though, Japan had undergone a massive change that no one had ever predicted- a change that, at first, no one even desired. Especially those who took comfort in the brain of their country known as the Sibyl System.

It was a long story, one of which told how Japan had nearly completely fallen; and along with it- its own people. The truth of Sibyl had been revealed and as a result, the system was destroyed. Many people panicked, the very structure of the country crumbled, and some even lost their lives. Too many tragedies had occurred over those past 6 years. At first, change or restoration from the horrors that had befallen the country seemed utterly impossible. However, despite everything that had occurred, in the end- Japan revived their court system of old and brought about a new age of peace, a peace that was true this time and not the lie that Sibyl had spoken of for so long. Those who had been cast aside as criminals were now free to act as the people they were, though some of them did provide a problem. In the midst of all the chaos with Sibyl’s fall, Kougami had returned to Japan to take part in the tragedies that ensued. He was arrested by the reformed PSB at the end of it all.

No one had said a word, not even Akane. Not even as division 1 had watched their former comrade walk off to trial for the crimes of his past. Everyone thought, at the very least, Shinya would get life in prison. However, fate had different plans.

More accurate to say, Akane Tsunemori, the new chief of police, did. She had taken the late Kasei’s place after all that happened and she had quickly proved that the Inspector had every skill to perform her new duties. Not to mention, spectacularly at that.

After settling in, Kougami was approached by the new chief while in his cell, awaiting trial.

All the headstrong woman said was, “Return to being a detective, Kougami.” Her face completely devoid of any emotion.

Before he could even so much as raise an argument, Akane countered him with every part of her being, “Sibyl took latent criminals- people who were too mentally unfit for society and allowed them to reenter it on the pretense they use their talents in helping the police. Though the system has fallen, I will offer you the same plea deal, Shinya Kougami. Because your intelligence is too valuable to rot away in a place like this.”

Her eyes were cold but serious when she looked at him. He had never seen her so…determined before then. It was enough to chill the criminal’s bones to the very core.

“What do you say?”

Kougami responded with a defeated smile before finally giving in. After walking out with her, all the enforcer could say was,

“You really are one hell of a woman, Akane Tsunemori.”

Said woman’s response to this? A simple,

“Welcome back…Kougami.”

Some time later, the two finally got married thus leading the the current chain of events.

“You think you’ll suck at it?”

Kougami, who had been broken from his thoughts of the past, looked at his colleague with an arched brow, “At what?”

Gino’s grass colored orbs shot a look at Shinya and sighed, “Being a father, moron. I’ve tried for all these months and I just can’t picture you with an infant. Rather, you properly caring for one.”

“Guess we’ll both see soon enough.”

“…Yeah.”

Kougami took one last puff on his cigarette before tossing it into his empty can sitting in the cup holder.

“…Hey Gino.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you…”

“No.” Ginoza growled, nodding his head towards the dashboard, “The speed limit is what it is and I’m not gonna kill the both of us just cause you’re in a hurry. Don’t worry, we’ll make it in time.”

Kougami could say nothing more and sat back in his seat, while his mind fought with itself over the state of Akane…and their child.

Hell- That was the only way Akane Tsunemori could describe the current state she was in. Over the course of her career as a detective, she’d broken a few bones; bruised and battered her body; experienced much emotional trauma time and time again. Still, the pain the short haired female was experiencing right now paled in comparison by far. Almost every single part of the Inspector felt filled with a burning hot sting, almost as if she were on fire. But the worst part of it all focused in the lower part, near her abdomen and below. Akane could swear her very insides were getting torn to utter shreds with each tick of the clock.

To make matters worst, time seemed to be passing so much slower than normal. Each second felt like five minutes- and every minute felt like an hour. A full eighty minutes of this had felt like an eternity. Adding to the pot, the pain only grew worst as time went on.

Akane tried to remain strong. Like she had recalled earlier, she had been through so much over the years. Though right now, the pain hurt so much worst than what Tsunemori had dealt with before, it wasn’t just for her own sake that she make it through this. There was another life at stake that was far more important.

Akane had lost many loved ones in her lifetime- too many. And dammit, her’s and Kougami’s child would not add to that list. Even if her entire being was torn apart at the seems, the mother-to-be would make sure her infant arrived safely.

Though her choked moans, Akane turned to the nurse had returned and was currently tending to her. Before she could even get the words out, the nurse seemed to read her patient’s mind and gave an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry, Tsunemori-san. I informed the other nurses and secretary at the front desk to be on the lookout for your husband but so far, nobody fitting his description has arrived.”

Akane tried to smile back and looked down at her swollen bump, her eyes shimmering emotionally.

“…I see.”

The nurse patted Akane’s shoulder before following the other nurses to the doorway,

“We’re going to go fetch the doctor and prepare. For the moment, just try to breath and relax, all right?”

The last part felt like a kick to Akane’s gut, in more ways than one. Doubt filled her mind but the Inspector decided to make an attempt at doing so anyways.

Tsunemori allowed her eyes to shut as she steadied her breathing as calm as she could manage. However, just as some peace of mind was returning to the young mother, the child decided to show its impatience in a very bold way.

Several bolts of agony shot through Akane almost instantly. This time was nothing like the contractions from earlier. No, it was so much very worst. Without even thinking, Akane immediately rolled on her side and took hold of one of the support bars on the bed once again. She squeezed on it as hard as she could, praying it would help alleviate the pain in some way but there was no such luck. As it went on, Akane could swear she was leaving dents in the metal bar but she didn’t care. The discomfort was so great. Just too much. Akane had talked to her mother about giving birth when she first found out she was pregnant and she’d heard stories of how bad it could be, but this…there were no words the Inspector could find to describe how miserable she felt.

Akane could take no more as her cheeks were stained wet with her own tears and sweat. The suffering woman laid there, alone, and dealing with more pain than she ever had in her life. Under the circumstances, all Akane could do now was wish that it would end soon, before she went crazy.

It was then that Akane felt something gently press against her face and run down her cheek as if caressing her. Akane forced her tearful eyes open- her vision falling upon the man she’d be praying desperately for.

His blue eyes that stared at her held the most mix of concern and kindness than she had ever seen him wear in the eight years they had known one another.

Akane couldn’t stop herself from crying in relief as she mumbled his name,

“You finally…showed up…Shinya.”

Kougami’s lips trembled as he tried to speak but the sight of Akane in such evident agony was something he never wanted to see and until now, he was sure she’d never looked so, for lack of a better term, terrible.

In the end, the only thing the latent criminal could think of to say was, “Sorry…for being late.”

Akane shook her head, silently telling him she forgave him,

“I’m…just glad you’re…here.”

Though it had become progressively difficult for Akane to move any part of herself, she somehow managed to find a way to extend her hand to her husband’s face where she rested her palm against his cheek lovingly. Kougami flashed one of his rare smiles that were usually only ever for her before responding with a kiss to her forehead.

Kougami’s hand found its way to the place where their child was making itself known. Upon the slightest touch, Akane’s husband could feel such rapid, strong movements that he knew had to be absolutely awful to experience. His wife had had to deal with the physical strain along as well as the stress and mental exhaustion that came with it, all alone until now. Kougami could feel his mind sinking even further into guilt stronger than he had ever felt before. Though it pained the detective to admit it, Shinya had done many terrible things to the woman who had saved him. Too many things to count. While the list tore him apart inside, his not being with Akane the moment she went into labor was certainly one of his deepest regrets.

Kou brushed some straying hairs from Akane’s eyes. Meanwhile, his other hand massaged her abdomen lovingly.

“If there’s anything I can do, just name it.”

Though her own groans, Akane let out a forced chuckle at her spouse’s consideration. While there wasn’t anything she could ask for at this point now that he had finally arrived, she still appreciated the kind words.

Akane loosened her hand that had been holding tightly onto Kougami’s, “Thank you, but I think I may end up breaking your hand if I keep holding it like this.”

Kou’s lips curled upward at the consideration thrown back at him. Akane was about to have their child and she was more concerned about his hand? Some things would never change, he supposed.

“By all means, if that will make you feel better, then break the hell out of it…Inspector.” Despite his choice of words, Kougami’s voice was barely a whisper but it held such a rare gentle, soothing tone to it. Akane’s cheeks couldn’t help but flush a very faded pink. Though they had been married for a while now, sometimes just to tease her or relive their past, Shinya would call her by that title. To this day, she never once tired of it and she was sure she never would. Especially since there had always been something about the way the serious male had said it, that Akane always found…encouraging.

Right now, the PSB officer certainly needed all of the encouragement she could get.

“Still, I’m glad I made it in time. Gino certainly didn’t like my driving on the way over here but it was worth pissing him off to get to you.” Kou leaned over and pressed his lips to his wife’s cheek.

“You know, I was beginning to think you had gotten caught up in something terrible again when you didn’t show up right away. I was pretty worried.”

Kou shook his head in apology, “Actually, I was in the middle of an interrogation when I heard about your call. Nearly had a damn heart attack.”

Akane tried to picture the look on the older man’s face when he had received the news but she just couldn’t picture it. Ever since they had met, Akane knew that when it came to her wellbeing, Kougami was nothing short of a worrywart. It had only become progressively worst the last few months. It was just as Gino had told Kougami in the car. Though their child had not yet arrived, it had probably horrified Kougami more so than anything else before.

“Should have seen Gino’s face though. His was even better than mine.”

Akane playfully hit her lover in the arm, “You know he would definitely punch you if he heard you say that, Shinya.”

Kou nodded, “Yeah, been there and done that. Next time, it may be his prosthetic my face gets a beat down from.” The memory of his getting pounded out on Shambala float was enough to make his cheek begin to hurt again, “It’d hurt a hell of a lot more though.”

As if their child had heard its father’s words, Akane’s entire body suddenly twisted violently and near out of control. The Inspector’s cries echoing every corner of the room.

Almost instantaneously, Kougami shot up from his chair. His face clouded over with absolute horror, the enforcer unsure of what to do.

“Akane…!”

The pain was absolutely unbearable at this point. It was so awful that it was impossible for Akane to even pretend she didn’t feel as bad as she did in front of her husband. Before now, she hadn’t really ever thought of how bad childbirth would be. Years ago, it was something the brunette never even considered, since Sibyl held careful planning on who married who and when they had children. Though she hated the way Sibyl controlled peoples lives, the mother-to-be finally understood why many woman opted to take a special hue-cleansing drug before giving birth. Of course such trauma would cloud anyways mental state. Though her psycho pass was no longer measured by anything, in the back of her mind, Akane felt as though today would be the first time her hue would have ever become cloudy. That was how terrible she felt.

Still, it was just a bit longer. Just a little more and Akane knew her suffering would pay off. Above all else, though she felt past her limit, Akane had to continue for their child’s sake. Her’s and Kougami’s baby was far more important and even if this killed her, Akane swore she’d make sure it was born healthy.

Tsunemori held her stomach carefully as she prayed with all her might,

Please…hang in there for just a bit more.

Akane’s concern must have been more evident than she realized, for a moment later, Kougami was taking her face into his hands. His blue eyes looked more serious than she had ever seen them before.

“Akane, no matter how unbearable the pain gets- no matter how long this takes, I know you can do this.” Kougami ran the tip of his thumb near the corner of the Inspector’s eye, wiping away a few tears, “You hear me?”

Between her gasps for air and pain, Akane nodded slowly and tightened her grip on his hand tighter. Kougami returned the grip and smiled again.

“I’m right here with you…all right, Inspector?”

More tears welled up in the female’s brown eyes as she burned the image of Kou’s kind face into her mind. Akane then shut her eyes and took a deep breath, appearing as if she were in deep thought. When she opened her eyes again, Shinya could see the fierce determination reflecting brightly in them. Relief washed over him, happy to see the side he loved most about her had returned.

The nurses and Kougami assisting Akane in sitting up in proper position for the task at hand. A man wearing a white coat entered right after and proceeded to give instructions to his fellow colleagues. While things were getting finished up, Kougami stood as close to Akane as he could. In his hand was her own, and Kougami stroked it calmly as he stared down at her,

“You ready to do this?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Shinya closed in and took Akane’s lips together with his own for a brief moment. When they separated, Akane was feeling washed over with more energy than she had felt in the past nine months.

“Tsunemori-san, it’s time.”

Akane nodded as Kougami supported her back and helped her sit more forward. The raven haired male looked at his wife one more time and whispered in her ear,

“You can do this, Akane.”

She smiled gently and nodded. The doctor looked his patient right in the eyes,

“Are you ready, Tsunemori?”

“Ready.”

“…oks…ex…austed…”

“doc…sa…fine…”

Everything was completely dark around Akane Tsunemori. So dark that it was hard to make heads or tails where she was or why. Though the young woman was confused, she could hear two very familiar voices talking what seemed like right next to her.

“Doctor said he can release both of them tomorrow.”

“Already? You’re kidding.”

“Don’t panic Gino- I’ll make sure they both get plenty of rest.”

“Damn right you will, otherwise I’ll have an excuse to finally kick your ass like I’ve been wanting to.”

“Still pissed, eh?”

“Shut up.”

Akane’s consciousness returned steadily as the voices beside her grew louder and louder. When she finally realized who the voices belonged to, Akane forced one of her eyes to slowly open. So following, both eyes managed to look up at the two figures standing next to where she laid. It took a moment for the brunette’s sight to adjust due to the bright lighting in the room, but once it did, one of the figures revealed to be her husband while the other, her colleague Ginoza.

While she didn’t make any noise or show any indication that she’d awoken, both men almost immediately noticed her returning to a state of consciousness.

Kou rushed over to the side of the bed as fast as he could. His large hand cupped Akane’s soft cheek carefully,

“Hey there.” His voice was softer and sweeter than normal, matching the gentle Shinya’s gentle features, “How are you feeling? Does anything still hurt?”

Though her body was awake, Akane’s mind had yet to catch up with the rest of her. As such, it took the intelligent female’s brain a moment before it understood the question.

“N-No…I’m fine.” As she choked out a response, Akane realized her voice was exactly that- a choke. It was near impossible for even a mumble to come out. Screaming for a solid three and a half hours had left her poor throat an absolute mess. Not to mention, her mouth seemed to be dryer than any desert in the world.

Kou simply smiled knowingly at his wife before reaching to the table behind him. A bottle of water in hand, Akane was propped up and fed the bottle slowly,

“Think you can drink something?”

Akane nodded and began gulping away at the delicious water that soothed her throat spectacularly. It took but a few seconds before the entire bottle was empty. She drank so fast that it left the Inspector near breathless once finished.

“Better?” Kou chuckled as he wiped a water droplet from the side of Akane’s mouth.

Inspector Tsunemori nodded and returned a bright smile. Soon, Kougami and Akane were staring at each other in a comfortable silence which left their third wheel of the room left to feeling more awkward than he cared to admit.

“I’m still here, you realize.” Gino felt sweat forming on the back of his neck at how uncomfortable he was with the scene before him, “If you two are finished…”

Upon remembering her former boss’ presence, Akane forced herself upward- perhaps a little too far given her current condition,

“Gino, I’m so- AH!” Akane’s body raged at her when she sat too fast. She was swiftly brought crashing back down onto the bed.

Gino’s green orbs grew in size as Kougami took hold of his wife’s shoulder. After making sure she was okay, Kougami helped adjust the bed so Akane could sit somewhat in a better position without her entire lower half screaming at her.

“You need to take it easy, Akane,” The spiky haired detective scolded tenderly while he stroked her forehead, “The doctor said you shouldn’t move around so much right after delivery.”

“I swear to god, she picked up her recklessness from her fool of a husband.” Ginoza furrowed his brows intensely. His prosthetic reached out and gave his friend’s back a hard smack. Kougami twitched in momentary pain before sighing, unable to counter argue.

Ginoza turned his attention back to the Inspector, his expression softening significantly as it always did when it came to Akane, “Anyways, are you sure you’re all right, Tsunemori?” The tall male turned towards a call button on the wall near the door, “Should I call the nurse?”

“No, no, I’m okay.” Akane assured while smiling tiredly, “I’m sorry for worrying both of you. I’ll be more careful.”

“It’s certainly nothing new.” Gino chuckled, recalling all the other times when he had become a worried wreck over her, “Although, thanks to this, I did get to see an amusing side of Kougami. Never seen him act like such a mess in all the time I’ve known him.”

“Glad it was at least entertaining for you, Gino.” Kougami knew that his best friend would never let him live this down, but instead use it as ammo on him the rest of his life. Though considering all the headaches he had put HIM through, Shinya knew it was only fair game at this point.

Akane giggled at the exchange between the two. It had been a while since she had seen the both of them get along so well. Now she felt somewhat grateful about the circumstances that had brought them all here for.

At that moment though, Akane’s mind recalled the very reason for those circumstances that seemed to be missing at the current moment.

Ignoring the warning from her husband earlier, Akane forced herself back up and frantically looked around the room in a desperate search. When she didn’t see what she was looking for, unimaginable panic began to bubble up inside like acid in a witch’s cauldron. That very panic led to a terrible thought arising in Akane that left her far more pale than she was when she had been in labor.

“Akane?” Kougami frowned deeply when he saw her eyes clouded over with terror.

“The baby…” Was all Akane could mumble as tears threatened to spill forth at any moment, “Don’t tell me…”

Shinya walked over to a large clear box-shaped something near the back of the room. After carefully removing a bundle from the inside, Kougami made his way over to his lover’s bed and sat on the side. The enforcer placed a comforting hand over Akane’s, trying to get her to calm down,

“Akane, just take it easy. Everything’s okay.” Kougami proceeded to place the bundle he held into his wife’s arms and pulled back the top, revealing a small face with pink cheeks, “Our son is perfectly fine, see?”

Time seemed to almost freeze the moment the image of her small newborn son reflected brightly in Akane’s hazel eyes. No words or thoughts came to the new mother as she took in every inch of the life she and Kougami had been anxiously waiting for the past nine months to meet. The baby was so incredibly tiny. More tiny than anything she’d ever laid eyes on before. In fact, Akane noticed the child was no more than the size of his father’s palm, at the very most.

On the infant’s hand rested a light blue cap. From underneath, a few small brown strands could be vaguely seen, peering out in spike shaped forms.

Kougami reached for the hat, knowing what he would reveal to Akane would please her to no end,

“You said you hoped he’d take after me- Well, Gino pointed out that his hair is the exact proof.”

The cap came off and many more small spikes flowed out from all around the baby’s head, sticking straight up in an amusing manner.

“Oh…”

Gino covered his mouth, suppressing a laugh at the sight once again, “Of all the things he gets from his father, it’s that ridiculous hairstyle. The poor child will be bullied for years to come.”

“Piss off, Gino.” Kou snorted before turning back to his wife and son. His hand ran through the small creature’s hair, gradually, “He may have my hair but he’s definitely got his mother’s face.”

It was true. Though the baby had his eyes closed, making it impossible for his parents to see what color his eyes were- his face was exactly like Akane’s. From his eye shape, to his nose and mouth. Every feature was like a mirror of his mother.

More tears streamed down Akane’s face as she cradled her child closer to her. Until now she had never known she could feel this happy. For so many years, her heart was torn asunder by Sibyl and her job. Just two years ago, she would have never imagined feeling like this ever. The Inspector swore she would remain cold and unfeeling for the rest of her days but both Kougami and the arrival of the precious creature they had made together seemed to reinvigorate Akane Tsunemori to the very depths of her soul. Like a beautifully warm spring arriving after a far too long, cold and bitter winter.

“Tha…” Though she was choking on her own emotions, Akane cuddled her child closer and let herself collapse into Kougami’s arms where she continued to cry harder than she ever had before, “Thank you…”

“What are you thinking me for?” Kougami’s lips curled upward while he stroked the back of Akane’s head sweetly, “You did all the work- I didn’t do one damn thing.”

“Yo-You did…” Akane hiccuped and held onto her husband tighter, “Without you, Shinya- I would have…gi-given up…a long time ago.”

Kou’s pupils grew small for a moment, his mind taking in her words for what seemed like the longest time. Once the words had processed, a completely new expression painted itself across the normally serious man’s face. Even after knowing him for over ten years, Ginoza was shocked at the look the former rebel was wearing.

Kougami’s face was completely beaming from ear to ear. For a moment, Gino swore he even thought he saw a few tears escape the man he had never ever known to cry once in his life. Shinya held onto Akane as tightly as he could without suffocating their son. The embrace broke and Kougami took Akane’s chin with his thumb. His unusual but incredibly happy features peering down at the woman he loved more than anything else,

“You’re not playing fair,” Kou laughed, kissing his wife on her cheek and then her lips, “…That’s my line, Inspector.”

An hour later, the two new parents were surrounded by their division who had brought all manners of gifts and things for both Akane and the baby. After some questioning from Shion, Kougami and Akane revealed their new son would be named Shinichi, meaning “One truth”.

While the others fawned over the infant, in the corner of the room stood a silent Ginoza and Yayoi.

“It’s a shame that isn’t you over there with her, isn’t it.”

Ginoza nearly tumbled over face first into the floor at the pokerfaced woman’s comment. His green eyes the size of pebbles and his face a cheery red, “W-What the hell are you talking about, Kunizuka?!”

Yayoi frowned back at him for what felt like an eternity to Gino before she let out a sigh and shook her head, as if dismissing what she had just said,

“…I mean, you did have feelings for her. Though you never told her.”

Nobuchika twitched slightly and shook his head, “…Well of course not. After all…"His bold green eyes focused back on the distant Akane who was smiling like the sun over in her bed, “I’m not the one she choose.”

“Do you ever regret it?”

Gino really wanted to let the topic drop to the floor at this point. Not only was it very uncomfortable for him, but now was the absolute worst time for it. It was a good thing the rest of the division were being loud and preventing Kougami and Akane from hearing their conversation.

“What, letting him come back?”

Yayoi looked to the floor, as if she was disappointed, “No, I mean letting Kougami have her.”

“‘Let him have her’…” The male detective waited before choosing his words carefully. In the past day, Nobu had seen something he had never imagined or dreamed of seeing. The two most important people to him had laughed and smiled more happily than he had ever seen them do before. There was no other time he could think of where Gino had seen Akane or Kougami so blissful. The closest his memory could recall was when Sasayama was alive during Kougami’s time as an Inspector or back before Kougami had ever left after Akane had joined division 1.

After Sibyl had basically ripped both Kougami and Akane’s souls out, Gino wasn’t sure if he’d ever see them even hint at a grin ever again. But thankfully, he was proved wrong.

“She was never mine to begin with,” Gino began, his expression softening to one filled with warmth and kindness, “I think, those two were meant to be together from the beginning anyways.”

Yayoi blinked in surprise at the surprising choice of words before she also ended up with a grin of her own, “I never thought I’d hear you speak of things like fate.”

“Fate, huh.” Gino glanced through the crowd of his friends and at the bundle that both Akane and Kougami were playing with and loving on. Shinya was having his finger grabbed by the baby’s hand while Akane watched. Suddenly, the baby’s body jolted as he let out a small sneeze. Both the Inspector and enforcer looked at each other for a moment before looking back at their son with an incredibly passionate and tender stare. Akane used a tissue to wipe the baby’s nose while Kougami held up a jellyfish plushie they had bought for him.

Yayoi looked back at Gino one more time as she came to a realization of her own. It wasn’t just Kougami and Akane who had been saved from their heartache of the past, but the man standing beside her as well. Ginoza started slowly over to his division. As he walked, he looked over his shoulder and smiled brightly,

“To those two, fate was just no match.”

Eight years ago, a brand new naive Inspector and seemingly cold Enforcer met for the first time. Fate had intended the two’s relationship never be anything but a flame destined to burn out in the winds that blew throughout society and Japan. However, just as Nobuchika Ginoza had said-

To Akane Tsunemori and Shinya Kougami, fate never stood a chance.

Author’s comments: Oh MY GOD, did this take forever. I haven’t wrote a single fic in so long and I’m so very out of practice but I pray to god, you guys liked it, even if only a bit. I’m so very sorry if things repeat or if it’s out of character (my worst fear x.x). This idea was something my heart just really wish would happen but I know a series like Psycho Pass would never do it so I took matters into my own hands. What did you guys think? Please review!

I may also be getting back to my last Psycho Pass fic too (the one I never finished x.x). I’m feeling unusually inspired thanks to this so please, let me know if anyone wants to see more of my PP writing, especially for the best ship out there 3

Thanks so much for reading :) It means so much

[komahinasecretexchange]

Title: Side Hope: Aftermath

Author: @deliriousgummi

Rating/ Warnings: T for mention of things in game and DR3 Side: Despair

For: @pearltoroses

Prompt: Set after DR3 Hope Arc where they just kind of talk about despair

Author’s note: Hey! I apologise for how late this is! Komahina is my ultimate OTP so I hope I did it justice :). I took ‘despair’ in the prompt as the events that took place in the game. I really enjoyed writing this so i hope you’ll like reading this too. Thanks for reading! :D

The summer heat still hung in the air despite being mostly washed out by the serenity of the night. A peaceful atmosphere drifted through, leaving the brown haired teen with a sense of calm. The pale yellow orb glowed in the starry night above, radiating its soft light upon the quarterdeck. Hinata laid back on a makeshift bed – just a bench covered with a piece of cloth – , soaking in the constant sounds of the whirring fan and the lapping waves.

He made no sign of movement, just the occasional rise and fall of the chest as he gazed up blankly at the ceiling. His mind stayed empty other than the reviewing and replaying of past events, letting them pass by with no particular thought. It was rather strange to remain in this happy dreamlike ending after everything, almost too perfect. He let out a sigh; he of all people should know nothing horribly tragic would occur. Just as he was swinging his legs to the side about to return to the cabin, the faint tap of footsteps alerted him to another’s presence.

“Hm? You’re still awake out here?”

Hinata changed to a sitting position, turning to face his new companion with a warm smile.  “And you? We’re only reaching Jabberwock Island by dawn, Komaeda.”

A brief chuckle reverberated through the air before settling back to its usual raspy voice that Hinata so became fond of, “True, sleep is something we’ve all been lacking. May I sit?”

“Yeah. Come on, there’s plenty of room on the bench.”

The messy, white-haired teen beamed, his smile reaching his eyes signalling its genuity. He leaned against the wall, taking Hinata’s right as the other scooted over to give him more space. The two stared at the nothing in front of them, indulging in the placidity that was so hard to obtain nowadays.

Hinata turned his head yet again, this time fixing his eyes on the steadily ticking clock situated on the paper white wall, rocking in turn with the ship.

tick

“So why are you awake anyway?” He started. Might as well begin their inevitable conversation and enjoy his friend’s company while it lasted.

“Ah, I was just cleaning. Since I couldn’t sleep I thought I should just clean up. I do have experience in that regard after all.”

“Hm, this place is becoming a bit of a sty. Though I did mention earlier we were arriving in the morning, it wouldn’t do to leave this place so dirty. When was the last time we mopped the decks? The party?”

“Yeah,” Komaeda stated, returning a light-hearted smile. “So what about you? Can’t sleep? Such brilliant hopes like you should get adequate rest.”

Hinata nodded, unable to find the energy to dissuade another of Komaeda’s rambles. He thought back to Hope’s Peak Academy and the events that transpired there. He thought back to his time as Kamukura and the scientist’s excited murmurs. He thought back to the Steering Committee and the nameless student council and Junko. He thought back to despair, hope, his fascination, his boredom, everything and the galaga clip…

“Do you want to head to the deck? There’s a pretty nice view right now.” The auburn haired boy took a look at Komaeda’s grey-green optics, noticing their underlying concern.

“Sure.”

tock

Komaeda wasn’t kidding about the view. Millions of sparkling stars shone bright in the seemingly endless abyss of night, shades of purples and blues and blacks gleaming through the clouds. It was the simple depiction of nocturne.

They took a seat on the ground, feeling the ruffle of plastic fake grass.

Hinata sucked in a breath, “Can we talk?” He paused, bracing himself for all the memories he carefully hid  behind lock and key. “About the killing game that is.”

Komaeda stared at him, most likely in puzzlement though he couldn’t pinpoint the exact emotion, “Are you sure?”

He couldn’t exactly blame the other for his hesitation. There has not been a night where he himself have not woken up in cold sweat, the events of the past flashing vividly in his mind, haunting him from their grave. He had to remind himself: they all experienced this. If anything, Komaeda was the most numb to this, given his past experiences that Hinata determined as the truth. Giving him a nod, he began his talking, “I need to. If not, I would never be able to move past it.”

“Shall I start then?” Hinata gave a sign of approval as Komaeda proceeded, “I must say it’s still a shock that I wasn’t killed that day at the party. I planned everything to become a stepping stone to hope but I guess I’m just trash.”

“Don’t talk like that.” Hinata sighed as Komaeda gave a slight laugh. He would be unable to stop his self loathing but he could at least try. “You know you really are headstrong. I wish you would be able to see the good in you that I do.”

At that, Komaeda gave a blank stare.

“Anyway, I really wish you didn’t plan that murder. You have no idea how heartbreaking it was for us to see Toga- I mean Sagishi like that…” Stumbling across his words, Hinata made a mental note to not call his classmate that. It was a habit he had yet to correct and while Imposter was still unwilling to share his name, it was at least a sign that trust was slowly growing between them as he now refused to don his masks. The name still had negative implications but they would bridge the gap. They surely would.

“Haha, yeah. I will let you know that you cannot change my beliefs but please do know I will never endanger anyone here again. Moving past that, Monokuma’s punishment for Teruteru was really cruel… To turn such a brilliant hope’s talent against himself, it really is despairing.”

Hinata winced, recalling the painful screams that echoed through the screen as he saw his friend go through inexplicable torture. It was there and then that he was reminded of the cruel reality that awaited them at that island. But now after that simulation, they are now each other’s pillars of support, slowly building up each other and be their source of comfort.

We will always be there for each other

tick

“The motive that Monokuma prepared for the second trial really was a low blow. I can never forgive Junko for that. Such despair like that is unforgivable.”

The reminder of that trial still exists in the form of Fuyuhiko’s scar across his eye though it was obtained from a previous, different event. It was difficult to remember that the cause was something else however, They all still blame themselves for it; it’s so painfully evident in their eyes.

“Yeah. And to learn that Twilight Syndrome was actually real. That really hurt Fuyuhiko and Peko and Mahiru.” And our whole class too by extension. Hinata continued, afraid of the sudden influx of images that will surface in his mind when he stops, “I was actually growing closer to Natsumi during that time. She really was a great friend even if others didn’t see it. It definitely would help if she stopped bullying and picking on Mahiru and Sato, I wish she did in fact but… her desire to be with her big brother. I have to say she was one of the influences in my decision to turn to Kamukura. And I can’t say I was ever close to Sato but her devotion to Mahiru was undeniable. It’s just wishful thinking but there are days where I just hope they were both still alive and breathing and living here with us.”

It wasn’t just them. Hinata dearly missed his family despite their terrible decision to let him sign on for the project. He missed that he would never again see their faces and kind smiles as they led him through the harsh depths of reality.

None of them would ever. Not Akane and her seven siblings, not Ibuki and her ex bandmates, not Sonia and her beloved subjects, not Gundham and his mother, not Souda and his parents, not anyone…

“You know, it really is hard to recall Hiyoko’s reaction to Mahiru’s death. It’s also really heartbreaking for the execution too,” Hinata carried on speaking, desperate to change the topic, even to one that might be equally bad. Komaeda offered a look of understanding and silence to allow him to vent. “When we reach the island, let’s offer them all a shrine. Taking after Hiyoko’s idea, that may be the best way for us to grieve and remember them.”

“That is a wonderful idea. I’m sure the others will appreciate it dearly.”

“Don’t forget about your parents and dog too. We need to make one for them too.”

Komaeda stared, stunned and shocked. Slowly, he gave a small laugh, expressing all of his gratefulness and muttered, “Thank you.”

They might be gone physically from this world but they will still remain in Class 77’s hearts and minds. Forever.

tock

“Actually, you were quite sick during the Despair Disease weren’t you. I mean your current illnesses probably made it worst. What was it again? Stage 3 malignant lymphoma and frontotemporal dementia?”

“You’re right. I’m surprised you remembered that, especially since I told you that it was a lie. That’s quite a bit of trust that you are willing to place in trash like me.”

“I told you to quit that. You never listen to do,” Hinata mumbled, shaking his head as he started again in a louder tone of voice, “I really am glad you’re better now. It was quite a scare.”  

“I apologise for that.” Komaeda provided a carefree smile, though it was immediately noticeable to someone close that it hid sadness deep underneath.

“You know you can talk to me right? Even anyone here. We told that to Mikan and that applies to you too.”

“This much be such amazing luck that you’re taking such interest in me. I can’t begin to imagine the bad luck that will befall me later.” He tugged at his jacket and pulled it closer, an action that did not go unnoticed by his partner and spoke again before he could object, “Mikan is a surprisingly good actress when it comes to it. Well, that could be debated by the despair she was under.”

Hinata nodded; no one had really suspected her of the brutal murders of Hiyoko and Ibuki before the trial. It added onto the hopelessness with the sudden disruption of Hiyoko’s and Fuyuhiko’s working towards a change of attitude towards the group plus the the interruption of Ibuki’s concert. It added on to Nekomaru’s presence in the hospital, in the battle of life and death and the appearance of the Despair Disease.

“Thinking back on it, that’s where we first learnt about Junko. Or at least alerted to her existence,” Hinata hummed. Komaeda only nodded in response, clearly deep in his own mind.

It hurt to think of Mikan’s ranting, to learn that their friend, no, their whole class was capable of such terrible deeds after Junko’s brainwashing. It could be said that wasn’t and was them.

But… that is their past. The future is what they look to for a better them. The future is why they keep walking despite all the pain. The future is… where they are now.

tick

“Nekomaru’s and Gundham’s trial, huh?” Komaeda put up a hand to his chin, hand brushing against his off-white hair strands.

“That had been one of the bigger shocks in my opinion. Murder directly conflicted with Gundham’s morals at the island,” his thoughts immediately flew to the animal breeder, the bicoloured haired teen’s chuunibyou nature masking a kind soul for both humans and animals alike. “I’m glad his Four Dark Devas of destruction are still safe, multiplied even.”

“And Nekomaru is back to his regular state too. I can’t say that I ever got used to his robotic form. It was just downright strange.”

“You got that right.”

Hinata reflected back to each of their awakenings. They were all out of order from the killings, dependent on the victim's’ mental state and how they died. Gundham and Nekomaru were quite close to each other in terms of when they woke: Gundham first, celebrated by being surrounded by his animal partners and Souda’s thankful sigh and Sonia’s tears of relief and Nekomaru about two people after, accompanied by Akane’s immediate declaration of a challenge as a sign of a weight being pulled from her shoulders. They all had their closest somebody’s back to them.

Recovery would be slow but it is definitely there.

tock

“If there was a ranking of how shit these trials were, the fifth one has to be at the top. You don’t know how hard it was…”

“I apologise but I cannot say that I regret my decision. I simply did what I thought would best fit the situation. At that time, Chiaki really was the only hope left there,” Komaeda said, a small but understanding smile lingering on his face.

“You really are a weird enigma. To be honest I’m not sure if I should but I forgive you. That’s what I want at least,” Hinata uttered, soft but powerful words echoing it’s meaning. “One thing I regret though, is not getting to know Chiaki further.”

He had no idea why he mumbled that but he needs to get it out, to let someone know.

“She.. she was practically my guiding light before I met all of you. Before all of this bullshit ever happened in the first place. I miss playing games with her, getting to know her. In the simulation even, she kept guiding me. She was probably my closest friend there after you stopped talking with me and being friends with me. And in both lifes, I pretty much condemned her to death…”

Komaeda glanced, a worried look plastered on his face. His hand hung in midair, probably unsure whether stopping or letting it continue was the best choice. Hinata paid no heed to it and continued.

“When I was Izuru, I let everything happen. I never stopped Junko or protect all of you. I just… watched her bleed out in front of me. And even as myself, even if it was forced, I had to pick her as the culprit. I just watched again, watched her be crushed by that by that stupid bear!”

At this point, small teardrops started dripping down from his eyes. They fell onto his clenched hands, blending in with the sweat that had started to gather. At this point, he didn’t care. He just needed to cry.

“I’m sorry… I don’t exactly know how to respond in this situation. I think maybe this would help though.”

Before he could understand Komaeda’s words, Hinata was pulled into an embrace. He felt the comforting warmth of his companion. He leaned in, desperate to find support from within his close friend, burying his face in the cotton of the now soaked t-shirt.

“Thank you,” Hinata managed to get those words out under his increasing sobs. Komaeda’s hands delicately caressed the side of his face and that action continued until the the other raised his head and muttered.

“Let me ask of you one more request.”

Hinata pressed his lips against Komaeda’s smooth one. He could taste the vague taste of mint, most likely from his toothpaste, as he eased in, taking in a sense of both solace and pleasure.

As he was satisfied getting what he wanted, he pulled away, leaving Komaeda with a stunned look and a inscrutable stare.

Then, Komaeda laughed. It was full with joy and so genuine.

“I really do love the hope within you from the bottom of my heart,” he beamed, twinkling with such a brightness.

The two of them moved closer to each other, enjoying the company of the other as the seagulls start calling in a rhythmic beat. A sweetened honey atmosphere rested over the two, covering them like a blanket of security.

tick

“We’re here.”