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Day 0
Gengo Office Complex
'Wanna meet up tonight?'
It was an innocent question, no flirtatious undertone, so why did it make her stomach clench to read it? Sango and the others asked her similar questions at least three times a week. Then again, Sango and the others didn't invite her out with the unsaid implication that 'meet up' meant 'have sex'. Kagome toyed with a button on her high collar jacket. She stared at her phone as her insides performed some impressive acrobatics.
There wasn't anything different about this message from any she had received before. It had been two months since she met this guy and he hadn't changed his invitation once. It was always the same four words and question mark. It wouldn't surprise her to learn that he had a draft saved somewhere only for her it was so painfully unchanged. Any other day, she would have responded with one of two answers.
Yes, and they would meet for drinks and conversation before retiring to his place for the night.
No, and he would accept her answer and not bother her for the rest of the day, assuming she was busy with work or friends.
It was actually a great system. Kagome appreciated her partner's understanding nature, and their intimate relations over the past two months had helped with reducing her work-related stress. It had also improved her mood, according to Sota. She was more than eager to continue with the current arrangement.
Except that she was really starting to like this guy.
Kagome froze as that thought crossed her mind. Of course she liked this guy. Why else would she continue to meet him, at least once a week, for two months? He was a nice person, in an unconventional sort of way, he had a twisted sense of humor that made her laugh, and he actually listened to whatever she talked about while they drank. Even remembered most of it later. It didn't hurt that he was also great in bed.
Thinking about him made butterflies take flight in her stomach and something warm curl around her heart. All at once, she was a giddy middle school girl again, chasing after Inuyasha. Yet with that feeling came dread, heavy as steel. She hastily put her phone face down on her desk, unwilling to look at it anymore.
She liked him. Not just in a platonic-but-fucking kind of way either. She really liked him.
She almost wanted to hit herself for being the way that she was. Two months of sex and shallow conversation and she was somehow falling for him.
Why did she always have the worst luck when it came to relationships with men? First there was Inuyasha, who she had lost to Kikyo. Then there was her unconventional relationship with Koga before he'd honored his commitment to Ayame. Her longest relationship was with her college boyfriend and even that hadn't worked out. She was thinking she should give up dating all together.
The invitation came back to her mind and one part of her wanted to say yes, for way more reasons than she could even count right now. The other part of her, the more logical part that she dedicated to her survival, said to ignore it. If she met up with him tonight after this revelation on her feelings she might say or do something stupid. Saying something stupid could end poorly. There was no reason for him to return these sudden feelings. Hell, he would no doubt stop talking to her completely if he knew she'd developed Feelings.
Of course, there was no rule to this arrangement that said feelings were bad.
Kagome frowned at that traitorous thought and pushed her phone away. He wouldn't think anything of it if she didn't respond for a few hours. He understood that she worked a lot and couldn't always respond to his messages right away. That was another reason to like him.
With that unwanted thought Kagome dove right back into her work. She hoped translating a novel from French to Japanese would be enough to distract her.
–
Unnamed Ramen Stand
Sota yawned and stretched his arms over his head as he passed through the open entrance of his high school. It was lunchtime and today he was going to eat off campus with Yata and Fushimi. It was difficult to meet up with them during school hours, since both had decided to forgo high school, but it wasn't impossible. There was a ramen stand around the corner from the school, run by an irritable man called Urameshi. They tended to meet there when his friends could make it in time.
When he rounded the corner both of his middle school friends were there, bickering over something while Urameshi scowled at them. Sota ran over to throw an arm around each boy. There were already three bowls of steaming ramen waiting and he grinned.
"You two are so sweet, buying me lunch." He said as he pulled both close to make them forget whatever they were arguing about. Most likely Fushimi's decision to take the test for SCEPTER4. Yata protested the sudden closeness with a shout and tried to pull away. Fushimi dealt with it, still as a statue. They couldn't be more different.
"We didn't buy you shit, Higurashi!" Yata shouted as Sota released his unnaturally tight hold and took his seat on Yata's other side. Sota pouted at his friends for a moment before fishing some money Kagome had given him out of his pocket. Urameshi nodded, took it, then left the stall to smoke.
"Don't try to use your sister's pout. It doesn't work, and it looks creepy." Fushimi said as he broke his chopsticks and stirred his ramen, pushing the ingredients around until everything was the same color. Yata and Sota gave him horrified looks that he ignored.
Sota snapped his chopsticks and decided to go for his boiled egg first. Yata and Fushimi had been his best friends since their first year of middle school. Even though he had been the only one to go to high school they had stayed close, much to his joy. It helped that they adored his older sister, even if neither were willing to admit it openly. They tended to visit her apartment for all sorts of reasons, both together and alone. Naturally, she treated them as if they'd always been her little brothers and joked that their mother must have had triplets that separated at birth.
"Speaking of nee-san, she wanted to know if you two wanted to come to the apartment this weekend for dinner." Sota told them while slurping some broth. She'd messaged him yesterday with the offer. He had a feeling it had something to do with the guy she was seeing and refused to tell him about.
"Sure! We'll bring the ingredients." Yata accepted enthusiastically, as Sota had expected considering his not-so-small crush. At least now it was only Yata and not him and Fushimi. That had been painful to endure.
"It's been awhile since she invited us over for dinner." Fushimi stated, almost sounding suspicious and a little hurt at the lack of attention. Though it wasn't as if anyone else would be able to tell. It took knowing Fushimi as long as he had to realize the subtle undertones in his voice. They usually came over every other weekend for dinner and movies. Sometimes they stopped by when Kagome had a day off from her work, but lately she had been busy.
"Yeah, she met some guy two months ago and they keep meeting up on the weekends to 'hang out'." Sota told them in disbelief. He was pretty sure she was meeting this guy for sex, even if she would never in her life admit to him that it was the truth. He was suspicious, but there wasn't much he could do when Kagome was so unwilling to talk about it.
"Are they dating?" Yata asked through a mouthful of noodles.
"Nah. I think they just meet up and have sex."
Sota stuffed the last of his noodles in his mouth and it became dead silent in the small ramen stand. Even Urameshi, who had been cleaning up, stopped making noise. Looking up at his friends it surprised him to see both Yata and Fushimi blushing at his blunt confession. Yata he could understand. He could hardly speak to girls. Fushimi didn't have that problem, but he supposed it had something to do with Kagome being the girl in question. The thought of her having sex, or having someone she regularly met up with for sex, must have embarrassed them both. Sota had long since accepted this part of his sister's life. At least it wasn't as bad as her strange relationship with Koga that had died quietly.
"Are you serious?"
Sota almost didn't hear the question over the sound of his own slurping, but he assumed it was Yata. He put down his now empty bowl.
"Yup. He's sorta like an acquaintance-with-benefits." He told them as he handed his bowl to the dumbfounded Urameshi. Sota checked his phone and realized he only had a few minutes before he had to start heading back to the high school. He still wanted to see if Yata and Fushimi wanted to hang out after school was over.
"Isn't the term supposed to be friends-with-benefits?" Fushimi mumbled as he put his partly finished ramen up on the top of the bar.
"Well, yeah. But she hasn't ever called him a friend so..." Sota let the thought trail away from him as they waited for Yata, who was a strangely slow eater, to finish his meal.
"Wait. Do you even know this guy's name?" Yata asked as he shoveled half his boiled egg into his mouth. Fushimi cringed at his manners.
"Now that you mention it..." Sota tried to remember if Kagome had told him her new partner's name, even in passing, but was coming up blank. He knew the guy's number from sneaking through Kagome's phone, so it wouldn't be hard to find out who he was. Their grandfather would even help, being as overprotective as he was.
"Eh. Anyways, do you guys wanna head to the arcade after school?"
Yata gaped at his dismissal of the subject.
"Don't you wanna know more about this guy?!" Yata asked, his protective instincts flaring up at the thought of some stranger spending time with Kagome. It was nice to know that his sister had such dedicated people looking after her.
"He keeps her from getting stressed and occasionally makes her laugh. Can't ask for more right now." Yata frowned and Sota knew he wasn't getting anywhere with his hotheaded friend. "If it makes you feel better, I'll ask my grandfather to look into him. He can figure out who she's meeting with."
Fushimi sighed at the answer, as if it wasn't quite enough but would do for now, and Sota grinned.
"Sooo…arcade?"
Yata didn't answer, occupied with his own thoughts, but Fushimi answered for them as Sota stood to make a break back for the school before the gate closed.
"Yeah, we'll meet you there."
–
Bar HOMRA
The bar was unusually quiet today. Friday afternoons were typically more energetic than this, but Kusanagi couldn't complain. He had a few customers, Mikoto was staying upstairs sleeping, and Totsuka had taken Anna to the park for the day.
Everything was calm. And then trouble came waltzing in.
Said trouble wasn't dressed casually, as he had hoped, but in the blue uniform of the infamous SCEPTER4.
"Seri-chan! Long time no see!"
The woman huffed at his overly casual tone. They'd seen each other not but three days ago when she'd stumbled into him about to have dinner at a ramen stand. He hadn't been successful in convincing her to stay. She sat down at the bar and he noticed that a sword was not attached to her hip and wondered. SCEPTER4 members were to always have their swords on hand. Everyone knew that.
"I didn't come here to exchange pleasantries, Kusanagi-san."
"That's a shame. Can I get you a drink?"
Seri frowned and Kusanagi grinned. It was a familiar dance at this point and Kusanagi enjoyed it. Whether or not Seri did was up for debate.
"I'm here to ask about a recent event that happened nearby." She told him curtly and it felt like the air was sucked out of the room as the few customers quieted immediately. Kusanagi frowned as the playful atmosphere died with a sharp edge. He knew exactly what she was talking about and he couldn't even make a clever quip about it. It would be wrong.
"Whadaya want to know?" He asked as he tried to distract himself with cleaning glasses. This was going to be an unpleasant conversation, but he would do what he could to help SCEPTER4 this time.
"Did you know the victim or the perpetrator?" Seri asked with that cold, distant tone he had come to realize she only used to keep some distance. Kusanagi felt his throat tighten at the question. Perpetrator? It felt wrong to call her that.
"The wife, Hana, came by once a week to drink coffee and read a book." Every Thursday had been like clockwork for Hana. Come in, get a window seat, cup of black coffee, had it refilled three times, then she would leave with a smile and a thank you. She was a good woman, always had a kind word for everyone. She'd once told him about her family that she loved more than anything. She had been a regular, so it was hard to believe that she'd done something so horrible.
"Did she ever mention a reason to be mad at her husband?"
"Nah. She could only talk about how supportive and wonderful he was. Nice guy, from what I heard."
Seri huffed in a soft manner at his answer and shifted in her seat. She wasn't getting the answers that she wanted and it showed.
"Did she ever seem unstable to you?"
"The exact opposite. She was a woman that had it together."
It was strange, in a disturbing way, to think that she'd torn her husband limb from limb with no provocation. It wasn't even the violence that disturbed him, it was the way she did it. Hana was a delicate thing, rail thin and unable to carry more than two bags of groceries. Yet, somehow, she'd been able to tear apart a grown man with her bare hands. She'd scared the responders to the scene enough that they'd shot her on sight.
Seri frowned at his answers and he knew why. They didn't point to any logical reason Hana might have snapped and done what she did. He wished he could have given his pretty SCEPTER4 lieutenant the answers that she wanted, or needed, but he hadn't any idea where to start. She sighed and got off her seat, seeing that questioning him was going nowhere fast. There was hesitation in her movements. While he might have hoped it was a desire to spend time with him that caused it, he knew it was something else.
"Is anyone in HOMRA sick?" She asked, somewhat randomly, with an uncertain look on her face. Almost as if she didn't know if it was a question she wanted to ask. It confused him why she would, but she clearly knew something that he didn't. But this had nothing to do with the Hana incident, right?
"Not that I know of..."
Seri bit her lip and Kusanagi knew that it was serious. She never did anything to show how worried she was. Seri was the heartless woman. She was always to have a calm, unflappable exterior. There was nothing that could get to her, or even make her composure waver. Yet, something was.
"Seri? What's going on?" Kusanagi asked quietly, not wanting to bring anymore attention to Seri than he had to. He knew she wouldn't like people seeing her even a little vulnerable.
Seri looked at him, conflicted, and shook her head.
"I don't know Kusanagi." She told him before looking away. Despite the guilty action, he knew that she wasn't lying to him. She had never lied to him before and he knew that she never would. Seri was many things, but she was not a liar. It wasn't her style.
"Just...stay safe." Seri said before leaving the bar in a hurry. He almost didn't have time to utter a thanks before she was gone. Some part of him, a part that he didn't want to listen to, wondered if he was going to see her again. He hoped that he would.
For now, he should probably close up the bar and go wake up Mikoto. They needed to talk about this odd visit.
–
Iyashi Apartments
Kikyo frowned as she looked over the expenses she'd racked up over the past month. Or rather, the expenses that she and Inuyasha had racked up. She didn't ever regret getting together with her childhood crush. She loved living with him, but sometimes he drove her right up a wall. His unwillingness to get a job, as she'd tried convince him to do before, was just the tip of an angry iceberg.
His ridiculous spending was the base of it.
From spending days at arcades to buying new stuff for the apartment they didn't need. He had even been eating out almost every day for lunch and dinner, and it seemed there was no end to his new spending habits. Even asking Kagome, who had been an unwitting accomplice by letting Inuyasha pay for her lunch, hadn't put much of a damper on the spending. She was working all the time, spending every day at the hospital, and he was funneling most of her paychecks down the drain. She knew it wasn't his fault for the most part. After his brother had chased him out of the family business he hadn't been too motivated. But that wasn't a good excuse. Not anymore.
The only thing he'd spent money on recently that she could endorse was a trip to a clinic. But even that seemed wasteful in her mind. She could take care of him well enough with her medical training. If it had been something more serious she could recommend a doctor. Either way, she could have diagnosed him.
Sighing, she tossed her expenses onto the living room table. This was getting out of hand and she was stopping it now. For a moment she thought of Kagome and wondered how she would handle this situation. While she was only a friend to Inuyasha he tended to listen to her more than anyone else. They had an interesting relationship and Kikyo was willing to admit it always made her a little uneasy. Inuyasha had told her a million times they were only friends, but at one time Kagome had been her rival for his affections.
She quickly tossed those thoughts from her mind. They would do her no good in the conversation to come that was sure to become an argument. She would handle this her way and Inuyasha would listen to her.
–
Mihashira Tower
Daikaku didn't know what to do. This was the fifth report he'd read about the infection. His people had recently quarantined it in a small neighborhood in Tokyo. They had done it covertly, as everything his Usagi did was, so no one knew that it had happened. But the infection itself was proving to be tricky. He had the best scientists in the country, and even the world in some cases, and none of them could figure out what exactly had infected the area.
It might be a virus, or a new bacteria, or a parasite, or it might even be something they had never seen before. It was a mystery that spread through blood contact and sent victims into a mindless rage he'd never seen before. The strength victims showed was terrifying and unnatural. Even the weakest could tear a man apart with this infection coursing through their veins.
No one had been able to find a way to save the infected. No way to stop it once it had started taking a person over. Even their attempts at immunization had proved fruitless. It was a death sentence to contract this infection.
He tried not to think about any of his family getting this infection. He might only have his daughter and two grandchildren left, but he was unwilling to have any of them suffer under this disturbing infection. Last he had heard his daughter was in Okinawa visiting her sister-in-law, so she was more safe. However, his grandchildren were still in Tokyo. He should call them tonight, to make sure they were still okay.
With that thought he switched over to his email and opened a draft he'd been working on since the quarantine. It was a compilation of everything they'd learned about the infection, along with all the precautions suggested to use against infected individuals. It was a dark email and he didn't want to send it, but it needed to be ready. Just in case.
Adding the meager amount of new information they'd gathered to the draft he hoped this would be the last time he saw it. Of course, he had thought the same thing the last three times. He hoped he would get to delete it soon.
His door slammed open and one of his Usagi, a man named Goro, rushed in with a panicked look on his face. It was the only reason he allowed such an unprofessional entrance. It made his stomach churn in some way that was more than uncomfortable. He thought of his family again.
"There's been an incident in Akihabara. The infection was detected in a shopping center!"
Panic immediately coursed through him and it almost felt like an adrenaline rush. He abandoned his computer with orders rushing through his mind. If he worked fast they could contain the situation before it spread to the rest of Tokyo. Akihabara was far enough away from his grandchildren. He knew he could keep it away from them.
"We need to -"
Mihashira Tower shook suddenly, cutting him off. Rushing to a window he peered down to see some kind of gas pouring through the streets at the base of the tower. People inside the cloud were dropping like flies. It was horrifying to see so close to his headquarters, but he knew that the tower was safe. With bulletproof glass and doors that sealed the environment off when closed the only way in was through the ventilation system, and that was at the top of the tower.
"Lock down the tower. Now. Then contact Munakata-san and inform him to do the same with the SCEPTER4 barracks."
Goro ran from the room before he could even finish the sentence. Daikaku returned to his computer and the unsent email. Tacking on one last sentence, he hit the send button and frowned. He knew that she would be alright if she had the correct information. He hoped that she was watching her email right now. He tried to tell himself the same thing as he left the room to begin organizing efforts to quarantine the area. She would survive. He knew it.
After all, she was his granddaughter.
–
Gengo Office Complex
Kagome was working hard and studiously ignoring her phone when her email pinged. Her grandfather's name popped into the corner of the screen. It was somewhat rare for her to receive an email from her grandfather, especially considering he preferred phone calls, but it wasn't unheard of. Usually he wanted her opinion on something or he wanted to commission her for some translation work. She always thought it was adorable that he had a team of trained translators, but came to her for all his translation work.
With a giggle at her grandfather's hidden softness Kagome opened her email. Then she stopped dead upon reading the subject line.
Her phone emitted a high-pitched whine associated with emergencies.
Kagome felt her blood run cold.
READ NOW. STAY SAFE.
