Mikado City – Forbidden zone
20:00
'I'm late!'
Mirai Hatohara exclaimed inside her mind as she paced through the empty streets inside the forbidden zone. Rows of abandoned houses at either side of the road painted an eerie picture, a picture of the aftermath of the first invasion. It was something she wouldn't forget for the rest of her life and no amount of Defense Duty would make her accustomed to the sight, to the stage of the trauma she suffered four years ago.
'Am I really doing this?'
Still the sniper doubted herself. Looking directly at the product of the neighborhood, stepping on and through the consequences of this new dimension she was about to jump into. Nothing but silence and darkness left in its wake.
"… I need to do it!"
She whispered to herself while passing by a destroyed house. It was already decided, Hatohara Mirai was going to go through with this, she needed to do this. Her main concern now should be the present, specifically that she was in her normal body.
All of Border's triggers are tracked by the HQ when activated so if she was going to do this highly illegal stunt that she was about to do she could only 'trigger on' moments before passing through the gate. This meant she couldn't fight any neighbors which often show up at unpredictable times and places.
'Careful steps Mirai… Careful steps.'
Hatohara thought while quietly sneaking through a degrading kids playground. She knew the area very well though, a couple of years working for Border made Mirai capable of predicting the best route to prevent any type of confrontation… from this world or the next.
Then the girl stopped.
Right now she was going south of HQ. The street seemed to get darker as the light that illuminates HQ got farther away yet the enormous building was still looming behind her as she took a moment to look at it one last time, the agent stared at the symbol that she bore on her suit for more than two years.
'I'm so sorry everyone…'
Mirai made sure to give everyone she could her goodbyes, they didn't know of course, but some may have noticed that the unassuming sniper was more emotional than usual. Fortunately for her both her squad captain, Masataka, and her pupil, Yuzuru are not the best at people skills and didn't seem to notice anything strange.
"I'm going to miss you all… But I need to do this!"
The girl spoke up towards the building, symbolizing all her friends, her brothers in arms, her mentor, her pupil, her squad and everyone else, however there was one person she couldn't say goodbye to, if she did she wouldn't be able to go through with this.
But unfortunately, her exclamation didn't fall into deaf years.
"It's a beautiful night isn't it Hato-chan?"
A masculine voice rang from above.
'Damn!'
The girl knew exactly who it was, and this was the worst outcome possible.
"Yuichi…"
The boy was sitting on a roof eating his iconic rice crackers while looking up at the moon.
"You came back early."
Hatohara knew Jin very well, so when she found out he was going to be out of town for two weeks she knew it was the perfect time to put her plan into motion. Even if she hid herself from his sight Jin could just look at her closest friends in Border and find out what she was planning so this was a one of a kind chance.
"Kido-san ordered me back."
The agent explained as he jumped down of the house and stood between the girl and her objective.
"A talented elite like myself must always answer the call. No matter the cost."
Normally Jin would say this in a joking manner but this time it was different. His face was serious and his tone was serene.
His eyes pierced through hers.
"Are you going to stop me Yuichi?"
He didn't respond, his eyes still on her. Mirai started to panic inside her mind. There was no way she could defeat him, not only she was a Sniper and he has a Black Trigger the poor girl can't even hurt people!
"Damn it Yuichi I need to do this!"
Mirai yelled at the boy, still standing between her and the darkness of her future.
"Ema will be sad you know?"
His expression didn't change.
"I know he will."
She looked at the ground beneath her.
"Ninomiya-san will be sad too."
His tone still somber.
"He will hate me."
Mirai started shaking.
"It's sad but I need to…!"
"You don't know the consequences! You can die! And the people you are with can die too!"
Yuichi interrupted her, his tone was still collected but he was starting to raise his voice. Hatohara perked her face up, now looking directly at his face. Her face was getting redder by the second.
"So? You know don't you? You always know… So tell me what is going to happen!"
Her voice was starting to crack, the ever calm Mirai Hatohara was coming closer to her wit's end. Jin could only stand there, with his irritating poker face.
"You always do this Yuichi! You go day after day pulling your god damn strings, you are always right and everything that happens is because of you! All you are doing is undermining other people's sacrifices and choices!"
She was trying to hurt him, if her plan was going to go down the drain she could at least have this satisfaction.
"…"
But Jin only stood there, no words, no movements. Just staring at her. There was something wrong but Hatohara didn't seem to grasp it.
"Yuichi…"
Silence crashed through the empty street and neither Jin or Hatohara seemed to want any more of this, the girl started to walk towards the boy seemingly unafraid until they stood shoulder to shoulder, one facing the darkness and the other facing HQ.
"You are not going to physically stop me are you?"
The sniper asked, ever quietly.
"…"
The talented elite refused to answer.
"Tell me why Yuichi."
She asked, ever calmly.
"There are these three people I need to meet..."
He answered, still facing the other way, still expressionless.
"Ha… They must really be important then."
"…"
Mirai affirmed and the boy didn't respond.
"Bye Yuichi, wish me luck."
She was finally able to say her last goodbye. With some relief and a lot of worry Mirai Hatohara began walking towards the rendezvous point, while Jin just stood at his spot.
A few blocks away from him Hatohara started pondering, if Jin would ever regret not stopping her. She quickly turned down the thought, because she knows that for Jin Yuichi there is no regret… There is only failure.
As for Jin, he stood there for a while. While lost in thought he could only whisper:
"Mirai…"
'like always…' He thought.
The string was now pulled.
It was necessary…
~Fin~
Fun fact: Mirai means Future in Japanese, so these two are bound to have a history, specially about our inciting incident.
I normally don't few proud of my writing, but I feel that the idea for this fanfiction is pretty cool.
Hopefully it will spark creativity (Aside from all the gay sex this fanbase loves so much).
Also… 1200 words? Wow!
-E#