'Dear Mei. Dearest, sweetest, wonderful Mei.

I'm losing what's left of my mind.'

Tear the page up in little tiny pieces, crumple them up, and throw two of the bits in the trash. Eat the others. Don't want anyone reading it, now; don't want anyone to think you've cracked.

"Right, Togusa?"

But I've already cracked. I'm more than cracked, I'm broken and being held together by bits of glue and pieces of old tape --

'Dear Mei -- remember all those plans we made when Shiori was born? How we talked about how we'd pull the ends together to put her through college?

I lied.'

"Flat out blasphemy right there; Meijiro is sacred, remember?"

"..."

Walk out of "his" workroom (not his, not really, but he's the only who uses it so it's the same thing) and go to the briefing room. No briefing, not today, but some still gather at six o' clock to watch the news.

"Stupid," Batou's saying as Togusa enters. "They're not going to solve anything that way."

"Solve what?" Togusa asks, joining him and Pazu on the couch.

"New Tokyo. They're trying to introduce welfare projects to weed out the rampant depravities."

Togusa laughs. It feels dry and empty coming out of his lungs and he knows what it must sound like -- something terrifying that you're only supposed to hear when you're in the asylum. He supposes that he never left.

'Dear Mei. Sorry to tell you this, but your husband is a complete psychopath.'

"Husbands, you mean," Luipaard says from his cage. "She married both of us."

"...Shut up."

"They won't last two seconds," Togusa snickers. "They're already dead."

Batou grins in agreement while Pazu stretches his legs out. Neither of them is surprised by Togusa's cynical take on New Tokyo. He can say what he wants; he is the one who grew up there, after all.

"It was pretty awful while we lived there, but not nearly as bad as it is now. We kept everyone in line."

"I thought I told you to shut up."

"You shouldn't have left. Even for a woman."

"You still don't like Mei do you? To you, she's only good for breeding."

"Exactly. You should have sex with her more often, it's past time she had another child."

"..."

Pazu says something from Togusa's left that makes Batou laugh. Togusa has missed the joke, and gives them the vague smile that he uses when he covers up for something.

I'm broken, shattered. I might have been something once, but now...

"Stop whining and go somewhere else. I want to talk to you."

Togusa knows better than to try and argue with Luipaard. With a quick, "be right back," he leaves.

"I suppose it's important."

"Don't be a smartass to me, Togusa. I'll punish you for it."

Togusa glowers at nothing and hurries back to "his" (no, not really, not ever) workroom and waits.

The first rustle of cloth makes him turn around. Luipaard stretches languorously under his furious gaze -- first time in a long while since he escaped his cage in Togusa's mind.

"Major's on to us," he says before Togusa can say anything. "You've been clumsy."

"I know that," Togusa snaps. "I'm not blind. She's been trying to get more detail out of my personal history --"

"Won't succeed there, not after you went and wiped the whole damn thing and blamed it on AI malfunctions."

"Yes, but --"

"All I'm saying," Luipaard purrs. "Is that you need to be more careful. So far, it can all be explained with adrenaline."

Togusa stares at his counterpart in frustration, at the face that is identical to his in every way -- except the eyes are scarlet cat-eye pupils (that's what his name means, remember? Luipaard -- Dutch, leopard) that bore into his own. Luipaard snickers quietly and says "If I ever meet the merchant who gave me that name, I'll have to thank him."

"Before you kill him," Togusa says icily.

"Well, of course. No one sees my face." He leans in closer and slips his arms around Togusa waist to pull their bodies flush against each other. "Yours too," he breathes.

"Bastard," Togusa mutters, snuggling closer.

And he forgets that Luipaard is in fact not there at all, forgets that if it were not for their eyes they would be utterly and completely identical. There is only Luipaard's mocking chuckles and the circle of his arms.

'Dear Mei. I'm cheating on you with my other personality. Sorry.

Love, Togusa.'

Luipaard is a fun little shiznit, isn't he?