Ships in the Night
They must've realized it the moment they saw each other; that long before they had ever met, this destiny awaited them.
His smile was easy—comfortable, even.
"Akane."
She wondered when she became 'Akane' instead of 'Inspector Tsunemori'.
"Kogami Shinya, you are under arrest for the murder of Makishima Shogo."
Sibyl was speaking to her through the Dominator. Crime Coefficient is over 200. He is a target for enforcement action. Masaoka-san was right; eventually, Sibyl just became background noise. Akane couldn't hear her over the pounding of her own heart, or his voice echoing in the alleyway.
"I guess we didn't meet as ordinary humans after all."
She could barely see his smile past her own blurring eyes. Her hands were trembling. Did that mean her Dominator was shaking too? She'd never be able to shoot him clearly if her hands weren't steady. But maybe that was a blessing in disguise.
A footstep sounded in the silence, and Akane blearily registered the hazy image of her former subordinate getting larger. He was walking towards her.
"Don't move!" Akane shouted desperately, beginning to shrink into herself. Her hands tightened on her Dominator, but her finger refused to squeeze the trigger. She told herself she wouldn't let him get any closer. If he got any closer, she would… she would—
What would she do?
A shadow hovered over her, and her arms jerked in surprise when the nozzle of her Dominator pressed against a white shirt. A large, callused hand wrapped around the barrel of the Dominator, and Kogami Shinya's forehead rested against hers.
(She wouldn't let him go free. No matter what he said to try to convince her otherwise, he had to pay for his crimes. Even if he begged, cajoled, bargained, or raged—none of it would change her mind!)
His breath smelled like Spinel cigarettes.
"Carry out your justice, Akane."
They were not like ships passing in the night.
The Dominator hit the ground with a dull thud. It blinked at her with its blue lights, and she saw her tears splashing onto it. Her fingers clenched at his white shirt, and it was wet where she buried her face into his chest.
"Kogami-san," she heard herself say desperately, with a hint of longing. A warm hand rested on her head, and it killed her how happy she felt in this moment. He was here, and he was with her, and somehow nothing else mattered.
(Ginoza-san once expressed his concerns to her about how fanatically she had taken to searching for him. Akane brushed his concerns aside. She only wanted to find him and bring him to justice, she said. She knew he was out there; it would be wrong for her to just let him go free.)
But now… now it wasn't about justice.
(Ginoza-san gave her this look akin to pity. She ignored it.)
"I have to arrest you… I can't… I have to—"
"I know." He brushed her tears away.
"But I don't want to," Akane said, shaking her head. "I don't want to."
I don't want to.
Maybe that was the hardest thing for her to grasp. Regardless of what she felt to be right or wrong, regardless of what she accepted as right or wrong, Kogami Shinya managed to cause conflict between what she knew she had to do, and what she wanted to do. And what she wanted… was him.
She reached up, grasping at the back of his neck and pulling him down to press her lips desperately to his. Was this their destiny? Would she spend her life chasing after his shadows, stealing what small moments she could?
"I'm sorry," he said when they parted. His hand was on the back of her head, coiled in the short locks of her hair. She pretended she wasn't listening and kissed him again. Just for now, she told herself. Just for now…
The Dominator lay between them, lights still blinking. Could Sybil see her? She hated that she was close enough to taste him but Sybil still lay between them, an insurmountable obstacle contained in a single piece of scrap iron.