Equality. They are partners now and with that, comes greater responsibility than ever before, and honestly, Yako is deeply determined to impress him.
Regret. It's almost in slow motion...the wide toothy smile that's spreading across Neuro's face just then, and Yako can't help grimacing...because she supposes this impatient client who's yelling at them today, questioning their worth as a legit company will be leaving their office soon...screaming for help.
Fake. When Yako tells Neuro the female store clerk must be lying to them, he actually hesitates, waits for further explanation, and Yako has to remind him that's how humans work, "...They will always tell you one thing, and in most cases, it really means another thing altogether—no one likes to lose the control during a conversation."
Viciousness. Yako figures this was going to be unavoidable right from the start, but still, the reality hits her a little hard when she realizes not only has working with Neuro all these years greatly lowered her tolerance stupidity—she has also picked up his habit of literally smacking people upside the head if they displease her.
Friction. She's unhappy with him again, which confuses Neuro...so he becomes agitated because he's confused and he still can't comprehend that silent fuming stare of hers, or why it affects him in this way.
Obligated. The very first time their current (bad) situation truly requires him to take to her the Underworld...Neuro doesn't smile, or tease her, or anything he normally does, which just end up intimidating her more-so as he demands darkly, "Stay close at all times, Yako, do you understand?"
Bell. Because I don't want to lose my family again: that's what she shouted at him right before this fight with their enraged suspect, and her words are still ringing loudly and clearly in his ears.
Reports. In the headlines he's no longer just Neuro the Assistant, and she's not only Yako the Female Detective...no, today, they are Neuro and Yako, Yako and Neuro...always.
Dash. Citizens herd away from the bomb explosion and Yako recovers her footing as quickly as possible to head towards the tattered remains, calling out his name.
Shock. As soon as the bullet shoots through its target, they stand there linked chest to chest in the aftermath of the big clang, and Yako doesn't know which one of them got the worst of it, or whose blood is dripping to the floor.
Idle. Yako looks up while Neuro hangs off the ceiling deep in his midnight slumber; his typical bizarre features appear surprisingly lenient and passive, lazy even.
Chase. Yako braces her hands on the dashboard as Neuro pulls Godai's new Jeep to screeching halt and then whirls it around, dodging the enemy racing towards them in a packaging truck twice their size.
Pet. Yako presses up against the wall, trying to distance herself from the three-eyed thing that uncurls itself from Neuro's lap and comes stalking towards her on all fours, huffing, fangs showing, and barbed tongue hanging out from its mouth, its saliva oozing to the floor.
Awkward. Once she insists on having tomorrow night off and the demon asks for a good, hard, valid reason as to why she should...Yako is left there standing coy and hesitant, frankly not too sure on how to explain to him that she actually got herself a first real date.
Hurry (inspired by the Big Bang Theory). After Yako urges Neuro to wait inside the Jeep downstairs, she stumbles into the office with her purse slipping down her elbow, wondering what's taking Godai so long to change into the new suit she just bought for him, "—Come on, Godai-san, we're going to be late for the museum's opening ceremony—and Neuro will probably go through that puzzle book I left there with him in thirty seconds!"
Impaired. The minute she wakes up, Yako's feeling parched and dazed, and becomes utterly mortified to notice all the drunken phone calls she made to Neuro while she was out clubbing with Godai and Kanae all night long...and she already knows he'll be in a vengeful mood.
Fossil. He says she has evolved since the first they've first met, and Yako is certainly proud of that, because now she can finally accept her past for what it is and move on to the future with those painful old memories simply falling to dust and bone.
Unearth. Neuro's still hungry—still scrounging for his next meal constantly—and Yako almost pities him, because evidently he cannot see the chain of mysteries tied around everything that they are, together.
Shield. Their backs make contact; Yako can feel his entire hand encircle her wrist from behind, and his grip on her is fairly agonizing then, but she can't care about that right now, for the army's closing on them all sides.
Mark. Neuro receives a blackmail message that's sent to his private e-mail account and it's attached to Yako's latest magazine photoshoot, which has been re-edited to have a big red menacing slash angled down her picture...and he's not quite satisfied.
Untouched. With all his experience, knowledge, and skills in dealing with crime and putting puzzles together, Neuro is still raw and green in the field of sharing tender feelings—he's never been adored by another living being through and through—he's never been held in the arms of someone else who loved him.
Crack. The clatter of thunder mixed in with the beat of the rain upon the glass is nothing compared to the tsunami of emotions raging inside of Yako at this point as devastation hits Japan and the city's washing away before her very eyes...but it's the demon who watches her while this happens, with an uncharacteristic (troubled, worried) look about him since he can see her usual masked composure is breaking again.
Seasons. After the doors closes, the surrounding atmosphere changes like a fading summer and his voice lowers to its normal pitch, and the question she dreads to hear comes crawling towards her like a wintery frost in the dark, and it suddenly sinks into her bones, leaving her frozen in place... "You still don't fully trust me...do you, Yako?"
Knife. Whether he speaks frankly or he's mocking her with his silly witty insults—either way—sometimes Neuro's words are worse than his deadly traps and they slice right through her.
Extent. Even with two different worlds clashing behind them, there has never been two sole beings so resilient to stand close side by side, leaving no space for falsehoods.
Consume. The human world has yet to disappoint him when it comes to all the various, different delectable choices it leaves for him on its vast menu, and his appetite will never cease.
Havoc. The female victim's breathing grows uneven after Yako tries to hold her head steady across her lap on the floor, and she struggles to stop the bleeding, and Neuro sees the pointless desperation as Yako stares back up at him imploringly with her quivering wet, red fingers, "Please...," she shudders, "Neuro, please, do something...anything, for me!"
Envy. Higuchi always ends up watching Neuro and Yako whenever he's nearby and he marvels at the simple easiness in which Neuro has to approaching the girl...at all the ways Neuro touches her hair, waist, or her arms, pulling her back and forth across the room just because he can, and just Yako simply allows the proximity, like it's completely normal—for Neuro seems to enjoy having the ability to make Yako fidget or flush red in the cheeks with his brief words of either playful banter or actual flattery—and Higuchi, who's only had a profound intimacy with computers of all things, wishes he could be that connected to another person too himself; to act like someone else is his other half, a curial part to his survival—and he knows he is human where Neuro is not—but Neuro is still the one following Yako's every move—so even as Higuchi's arms are folding around Yako right now, who is tenderly thanking him again for all his help today, Neuro's possessive hand quickly appears from the side and he tugs her backwards by the collar with a mocking sneer aimed at Higuchi, ruining his chance to receive that sort of closeness with Yako as well—although, Higuchi soon realizes it doesn't really matter after all, because he notices Yako's eyes weren't going to linger on him for long anyways—she's too busy laughing at Neuro.
Device. The Tool that Neuro summons for her during today's mission—this Evil Pendant—looks delicate and flimsy in the flat of her hand, but it's the clasp itself that looks unique and tightly fastened, buzzing with demon magic, and Yako's unsure how to open it now, so, she turns around and pulls her soft yellow curls off her neck, asking for his assistance—Neuro silently agrees, casually looping the gold chain around the base of her throat, his gloved fingertips slowly brushing against her skin before he steps back suddenly, ordering her to just get on with the job.
Twisted. Internally laughing with ravenous glee of having set yet another successful trap, Neuro attempts to uphold his current guiltless expression, "...Is there a problem over there, Yako?"
Observer. Neuro understands very little of art, or why humans seem to respect it and value it at such high prices, or why they want to indulge in it like it's the most popular social drug anyone can get their hands on; he's much more familiarized with statistics and gathering data, the more practical things in this life—and yet—he cannot stop his eyes from following the firm strokes Yako makes with her pen across the sketch pad her mother gave her as a recent gift, and he thinks she might actually have another hidden talent.
Wave. She leaps off the ledge, hits the water, and the thriving undercurrent takes her, but she's not fearful because it feels familiar and safe, and she used to come here swimming with her parents long before this; she lunges herself back up to break the surface, her hair plastered everywhere over her eyes, "Come in, Neuro! The water's nice today!"
Blooming. They actually take an open job in Scotland during the springtime: but on their downtime, Neuro and Yako discover an abandoned farmhouse sitting alone along the country's lush, green hillside, and Yako walking in her stylish hiking shorts and lacey blue shirt, wanders around corner, aiming for the back garden where she spots possibly the biggest and oldest tree she's ever seen (it's a whole tower of dark bark and large rustling leaves), and she instantly decides to kick off her boots and begins to climb it; Neuro watches in fair amusement below as she weaves herself through those thick winding braches, and she soon glances down, asking him jokingly if he's going to catch her—and in reply, Neuro merely points out that if he's going catch her, she needs to fall first.
Justification. Caught and narrowed in a tight spot, Yako just waits there pouting, trying to appear childlike, meek, and timid while being directly face-to-face with the twin steel barrels shoved up in her face, and this old-fashioned trick seems to work since the criminal does lower his gun a little, taken off guard, and that window of hesitation is all Neuro needs to sneak up on him from behind and snap his neck with a speed she can't quite process, but she permits it to happen—and in truth—Yako feels nothing but sheer primal relief afterwards when the body is rolled aside by Neuro's foot; she exhales and closes the gap between them, hand pressing lightly on his shoulder—it's an odd sense of tranquility that follows, and she can't bring herself to argue against it.
Reminder. It's moments like these when Yako recalls exactly how deep Neuro's roots are embedded into her soul by now, and after when they come out another burning wreck alive and victorious, and she looses sight of him between Kanae happily clutching her at the elbow and a chuckling Godai yanking her against his ribs into a clumsy brotherly-like hug—the reunion feels off—it unnerves her when Neuro is not in her physical reach, however, as soon as Neuro shows up at the office a day later perfectly healed and restored, Yako's whole again too.
Physical. It's sunny and a bit breezy this afternoon, and now they're in the park discussing the nature of this crime as usual while the police do their rounds of clearing the area of witnesses; though as a strong gust of warm air sweeps over them, Yako instinctively runs her fingers through Neuro's bangs, pushing them back into place and she doesn't even seem to care that's unlike something they'd usually do for each other.
Grey. Getting kidnapped is a part of the job, she reminds herself, and it's not as if this is the worst thing that's ever happened to them...although, her and Godai are sealed tightly in this concrete storage unit in the middle of—somewhere—waiting for Neuro to locate them, and it's been three days at the very least; and they're tired and sweaty and they go scavenging around the iron shelves like stray cats under the pale morning light shining through the ceiling window for tools, for food, for anything that may help ensure their survival until then.
Fire. She flourishes to gleam like a candle in the night, and her smile illuminates the room, but it turns out that the passion she has for this world and for its people burns even brighter still; she is the beacon they all see from miles away.
Irreplaceable. If Troy wasn't there, the office wouldn't be the office, and if Godai wasn't Godai they wouldn't be the quirky trio Modern Japan adores so much, and if Neuro wasn't the demon he's always been, where would she even be today otherwise?
Extravagant. Yako straightens her grown-out hair for the occasion, Neuro ties his back, and the vibrant colors stitched into their chosen kimonos light up in the dark under the festival's fireworks booming into the sky.
Defeat. Their rivals—these undead soldiers on the outside—go on moaning, gnawing, and snarling, banging on the shed doors and Yako's body can only offer Neuro so much extra weight to hold them out now that he's low on magic; then the two of them share one long plain silent look before he nods, and together they retreat, the doors fall open, and in no time there is a wild fleet of hands reaching for them as they start to climb up and up and up.
Weakness. Wherever Yako finds her strength, there is still fault in it, because without him really realizing it, Neuro himself has become both sides of that same coin for her—he encourages her to thrive everyday, but she constantly fears losing him as well.
Elevator. They are driven into the back wall of the shaft after all the by-passers come piling in, and once the doors signal they're about to close, everyone's pretty much shoulder to shoulder, and Yako has to maneuver herself sideways to offer the others more space and she ends up facing the demon directly; she can feel his steady breaths flutter right against her forehead the whole ride up.
Innate. Her doe brown eyes seem to glow, but not in really a mystical manner like his tend to do...no, that curious, spirited light in her gaze is just there, naturally alight, become alive, and whenever she steals a moment to look straight at him, something in his chest stirs.
Poison. Whether it's her temperamental moods, or her humanity, or her womanly hormones overall, Neuro's not quite sure which one it is today that makes her behave this way—glaring at him, acting very catty and venomous, refusing to acknowledge he's right there—like she's better than him in some way, or like she understands something he can't and she's tired of it—so, he's at another lost at how to relate to her, how to fix her, how to get his normal Yako back—and the more he tries to redeem himself, the more she's unimpressed with his efforts, and this bewildering vicious cycle is enough to even wear him down even beyond getting sleep that night.
Wings. Yako doesn't have the time to counter the enemy's attack herself, therefore, she's already falling off the edge of the bluffs with a strained and wounded Neuro, and together, they come crashing down upon the rocky earth below...then very groggily...she tries to untangle herself from the heavy cocoon of colorful feathers bent protectively around them, groaning and head pulsing, "...Neuro?"
Temptation. He's in that form again...that horrid looking-beast, crouching before her, a large horned mass of yellow, blue, and violet, and Yako can't really resist the urge to reach out then to stroke her fingertips over the smooth curve of his beak...and thankfully, he doesn't snap back.
Age. Math and numbers are a part of everyone everyday life: no one can ever do anything without counting something else, or keeping track of their time, or tally something up, and Yako is hardly the exception to this...therefore, as the years continue to pass her by, she starts to wonder what her mortality rate personally means to him and what's going to happen to them later on.
Paradox. By not feeling very little himself, he makes her feel everything from sorrow to annoyance, to satisfaction to anguish, from fury to joy, all the way back to approval and contentment—but there is also a silent sort of love for his companionship beneath it all as well, even if he doesn't know how to recognize it.
Rhythm. Their bond has a precise pattern and a certain tempo to which just the two of them can truly navigate.