+ + +
Lina absently stirred her coffee, watching the diamond shapes of the sugar shrink and dissolve in the light blue mug. This was the best coffeehouse in all of Seika, andsne went there far too often. Most of her blood supply was probably comprised of caffeine by now.
A pounding rain was falling, daring anyone to go out into the unnaturally cold water. She glanced over at her light jacket and noted with a grimace it would be inadequate protection.
The soft tinkling of the bells above the door caused Lina's head to snap up in surprise. Few of the house's patrons visited at this late an hour.
A sardonic smile made its way onto her face as she recognized the entrant.
You always manage to find me, Lina mused. If I believed that stuff anymore, I'd say it really was "divine guidance." I wonder why she's looking for me now...
The young, pretty nun made her way over. For once, she was wearing casual clothing, barring the simple head-cover she always wore. "Lina, how nice to see you here," Seira said, smiling openly.
"It isn't as if you didn't know I would be here," Lina murmured, more to herself than Seira. "I know you don't drink coffee," she commented in a slightly more conversational tone, as her former classmate seated herself at the table.
A sleepy-eyed waitress ambled over to them. "May I take your order?" she muttered, slightly irate and trying desperately to stay awake as she spoke.
"An Earl Grey tea, if you will," Seira replied in that demure voice of hers. The waitress nodded and disappeared behind the wide green counter. "I like tea," she informed Lina, somewhat defensively.
"There's a better tea house down the block," Lina offered with a slight frown, uncertain if Seira was already aware of this. She took a sip of her now-lukewarm coffee, setting it down with a shake of her head. "I don't mind you coming though. How have you been?"
"Well enough." Seira paused. "At the hospital... there have been more abandoned children."
Lina nodded, sadness reflected in her light brown eyes. She picked up her jacket, knowing the uniform item alerted others to the fact she was a police officer. It made her noticeable, something she liked less and less as she grew older. Still, it reminded of the humility necessary for honest public service. Suddenly she remembered herself, blinked, and forced herself to make some form of conversation interesting to Seira.
"How is Meimi's little girl doing?"
"You heard?" Seira's face brightened. "She's such a gorgeous child ... looks just like her parents. Meimi asked me to be her godmother."
"I'm sure she is." Lina looked down, embarrassed, her glance focused hard on the scratches covering the table. "What's her name?"
"Lina."
She glanced up, puzzled. "No, what's the child's name?"
"That's it." Seira smiled gently. "Meimi named her after you."
"Well." Lina blinked, startled. "I thought she hated me, for everything, since we were teenagers - because of Asuka, the police chases...."
"She forgave you a long time ago, Lina - you just never forgave yourself." Seira accepted her tea from the waitress, quietly drinking it in anticipation of an answer.
Lina ignored Seira's comment. "They went to live in the States, didn't they? San Francisco, was it?"
"Yes. Everyone in our graduating class did well for themselves. Most surpassed any expectations we set for them... Do you remember Kyoko and Ryoko?" she asked, placing some sugar cubes into her tea. Lina nodded, smiling slightly at the memory of the two hyperactive girls as she'd last seen them.
"The two went into business together - Kyoko designing clothing, Ryoko handling the sales and such. They practically own the fashion industry now and have moved to London."
"That's good," Lina responded, pushing her coffee away. It was cold now, and acrid. "Have you heard from anyone else lately?"
"No." Seira frowned. "A lot of them moved away and lost touch. Although, I was curious, have you heard from Sawatari? He always appeared... close to you."
She chuckled. "Yes. Saruwatari's been following me around as if I were the biggest news story since the 'mysterious thief' incidents when we were fourteen."
Seira politely stifled her laughter. "You still call him that? I haven't heard that nickname in years." "Well, most of the city knows it now," Lina smirked, "after one of his editors decided to quote me verbatim, yelling at him to 'let my precinct do its job.'"
"Hm." Seira abandoned her tea. "You've done well for yourself too. I hear you'll be promoted to chief of your precinct soon."
Lina shrugged modestly. "What tabloid did you read that in?"
"I never said I didn't read Sawatari's newspaper..." Seira stopped mid-quip, choosing to remain silent on the jibe about "Saruwatari" she had believed Lina would enjoy. It wasn't the thread of conversation she'd planned.
Forcing her thoughts into something comprehensible, Seira finally asked the question she had come to ask, something that had been bothering her for a good long while. "You could have gotten a better job, in a bigger city; we all know that." Seira looked Lina in the eye. "Why didn't you?"
Lina repeated her shrug, having thought of this question many times but never having arrived at a truly satisfactory answer. It was one of those questions she habitually avoided because it hit too many raw nerves. "I became attached, I suppose, to this town and its people. Seika is home now. And you too, Sister... why didn't you move to the capital?"
"For the same reason, I suppose - I've always lived here." Seira smiled.
The detective did not return the smile, fingers drumming the aluminum table as she stared blankly out at the darkness covering the small city, broken only by the lightning storm that reflected on the large raindrops falling in the thick summer air.
"Hey, Seira," Lina said suddenly. "I have a request for you..." She stopped, hesitating. "One that I would never ask anyone but family, except I no longer have any."
"Of course, anything," Seira responded immediately.
"When I die, can you be certain I'm buried in St. Paulia's graveyard? By our old school?"
"Why... of course," Seira stammered. "But you're only 27... why are you thinking about..." she stopped in mid-sentence as well, horrified at the implications, "... this now?"
Lina smiled bitterly. "Seika has changed since we were schoolgirls. Back then, all the local police had to worry about were the thefts of a saint." She shook her head. "They don't come quite as altruistic now."
"I don't suppose they would." Seira glanced out the windows as well, seeing the streets devoid of any living soul. "Many good people left this town ... and they didn't come back. It hurt us all."
"Everyone leaves but us." Lina sighed. "Everyone leaves but those who call Seika home even when it's no longer the same."
+ + +
Sawatari sauntered through the doors of precinct A8 and winked at the receptionist. She rolled her eyes and pointed to Lina's door, gesturing to her ringing phone and the blank connections to Lina's.
"Thanks Reika!" he answered cheerily. He was feeling unusually happy that day. His editors, setting a new world record, hadn't argued the entire day. All of his deadlines had been met and the "checkers" were agreeable about staying an hour or so overtime. Everything for the next couple weeks appeared to be set; what reason in the world was there for him not to be happy?
Even these past few days had been going well. Sawatari couldn't help thinking that his genial mood could somehow infect Lina. Maybe this time she would be agreeable and open up to questions that involved more than his mock-pleading requests for another article in his column.
That he was in love with the blonde, shorthaired, blunt and demanding detective, he had stopped doubting quite a while ago. She didn't appear to reciprocate, but he had stopped being bothered by that as well. It wasn't in his nature to be lovesick. Not since his first love had... With a smile he brushed the thoughts away.
Sawatari knocked once and opened Lina's office door in the same movement, setting his trademark slapstick, nearly moronic, smile on his face as he did so. "Hey, how's my favorite subject?" he called out, leaning into the room without entering. He was surprised backwards a step, hands coming off the doorframe quickly. "Ah... Lina?"
The room was stuffed with boxes and stacks of paper; it looked like an accountant's storage room. "Yes?" a muffled voice responded. "Sawatari, what do you want?"
"Well, I'd like a raise, my newspaper to beat its competition, maybe some-"
"Sawatari." Lina straightened from an open cabinet drawer she was leaning over, glaring at him. "Why are you here?"
"I wanted to talk?" Close enough...
"Take this, will you?" Without waiting for a response, Lina shoved a box into his arms, picking up two more and balancing them precariously. "C'mon. Talk, but it better be important."
Sawatari shrugged and followed her out of the office, wondering what he would have to say now. His thoughts were interrupted by the precinct's loud, aging head, a sergeant whose voice made the most tenacious reporter cringe and scurry back to their desk.
"Takamiya! What the hell's that reporter doing here? I said no press leaks, Takamiya! Which one of your crackpot subordinates sold us out now?"
"Sir!" Lina yelped, taking a step backwards. Sawatari frowned. Why does she take that from him? God knows she doesn't from anyone else... "I swear there haven't been any leaks; not even to the tabloids."
"Er, yeah," Sawatari concurred, struggling to keep a hold on the heavy brown box Lina had given him. "I was here to-"
"Then your personal lives are none of my concern," the sergeant snapped. Lina shot a glare to the smirking lieutenant behind him. Damn that Sakibara... I know this means I won't get promoted.
"Well, sir," Sakibara remarked easily, with a self-righteous grin at Lina, "isn't it time we inform the public? Perhaps this is just convenient."
"Yes, yes, of course," the sergeant muttered, frowning. "Takamiya, get a press statement. Give it to him and then have Reika get it to the spokesperson."
"But, sir," Lina interjected, "I'm not-"
"That's an order, lieutenant!"
For a moment, Sawatari saw a familiar angry glint in her eye. Lina was furious at being relegated to a lowly secretary, rather than the competent lieutenant she was. Then it was replaced with the careful neutrality he normally saw her display towards the sergeant. "Very well, sir," she responded.
Lina set the two boxes she was holding down on the floor next to Sakibara's desk; Sawatari imitated. As he followed her back to her office, he let his hand drag lightly across the impudent lieutenant's desk, knocking over a coffee cup.
"Oops," he muttered, not feeling the least bit remorseful for his childish act. That guy bothers me. Behind him, Sakibara became flustered, trying in vain to keep the brown liquid from soaking into paper. He was summarily ignored.
"Take this," Lina said quietly, back in her office as she sat down at her desk. She listlessly gave him a sheaf of papers.
Sawatari skimmed the top sheet, an incident report. Most of the papers were something of the sort, detailing what would be petty thefts at a superficial glance. Then he looked at the locations of the crimes, and the notes written at the bottom of the papers - in Lina's scrawled handwriting, detailing her thoughts.
"Look at the last one." Lina ran her hand through her hair, leaning an elbow on her desk as she flipped through more papers on the once-flat surface now rendered imbalanced by the items scattered on it.
"Tachikawa estate, 'Rose Garden,' and... what?"
"The Kaitou," she remarked dryly, finally looking up. "I'm surprised no one told you about it before. The last two have been extremely high profile. Both took place from last night to early this morning."
Sawatari reflexively reached back to retrieve his cell phone off his belt, only to flinch as he realized he didn't have it with him. If anyone at the office found out after he left late that afternoon, no one would have been able to inform him.
"Her signature's a card like Saint Tail's." Lina tiredly held up a photocopy of it. "But that's where the similarity ends."
"Motive?"
She shrugged, shaking her head as she rose in search of something. "Probably just a need for attention, or pulling off stunts. Doesn't seem like a head-case though."
"Mind giving me anything else? Since I did get here first and all..."
Lina gave him an annoyed look, but reached out for a manila envelope perched on a filing cabinet. It, and the several other envelopes next to it crashed down with her awkward movement, bringing a small stapler with it. She stared at the pile in some confusion, before picking out the one she thought she had been looking for.
"Prints of security footage, some photos and releasable memos," she told him absently, cleaning up the mess she had inadvertently caused. "We have copies."
"Thanks!" Sawatari was denied an answer. Feeling somewhat awkward, he added, "I guess I should get out of here?"
"I have work to do." She glanced at the clock above her, dimly registering that it was almost nine o'clock. Most of the precinct should have cleared out already. "That may be wise."
"Sure, Lina." He stopped on his way out, wondering if he should offer to take her out to lunch, just as a friendly, non-business meeting. She looks like she needs it... "Don't work too hard, okay?"
"Why ever would you need to tell me that?" Lina gave him a rare smile, albeit one tainted with a tired, dejected tinge. It hurt him the way nothing else could. "Good night, Sawatari."
The smile disappeared from her face entirely once he closed the door behind him, and she paused thoughtfully after returning the envelopes and stapler back to their proper places. Lina picked up the phone and dialed, waiting for a response before speaking.
"Seira? Is Haneoka Meimi in town?"
+ + +
Sawatari rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, stretching and yawning simultaneously. "Maybe I should take my own advice," he mumbled, thinking of what he had said to Lina about not working so hard. "I now have less than an hour..."
It was just past two in the morning, and the final copy of the paper had to be at the printers by three in order to be done by five and at the stands by six. They were numbers often stretched, as Sawatari's tiny tabloid had a total of fourteen employees to come up with a fifteen-page newspaper. That's why we use so many pictures...
A running joke among the tight-knit group was that they had enough pseudonyms one person could come up with all the fifty-odd articles that went into the paper, and not reuse a name.
"Come on, finish..."
Perhaps talking to himself was not the most mentally sound thing to do after midnight, alone in a dimly lit office, but it kept him awake and generally focused. Whatever works, right?
"Cooperate!" he hissed at the computer, waiting for it to jumble the text and images as the irritating program sometimes did. Although the idea that he would have missed an error in his reformatting emerged in his mind, he decided not to act on it. It was only two added articles, and the rest hadn't been such a nightmare, even though it would take him time to get the disk to the printers...
There was no time to wake up his checkers, the people who would normally go over the formatting and raw text of the paper, even though the unfortunate group of three would often be woken up at odd hours for that purpose. He would have to get into his car and hurry - the printers were on the other side of Seika, in an area he would normally like to avoid walking around in.
With a data CD in hand, he switched off the last lights on the floor and left the building.
+ + +
Meimi chuckled as she set the baby down in her crib, turning to close the curtain after she did so. "Afternoon," she murmured. "Asuka should be home for lunch soon." As his office was so near to their apartment, he would more often than not go home for the meal than eat out.
"Ah, I swear!" Meimi yelped, noticing the baby was still awake and trying to stand up. "Perhaps you are too tenacious, like your namesake... Oh, well..."
Lina, just three weeks shy of a year old, was a precocious child, and caused no end of trouble. She laughed happily as Meimi obligingly picked her up with the intention of letting her skip the nap.
"Didn't work, Keiko!" Meimi called out, walking into the small kitchen-dining area. She sat down at the table, shrugging.
Keiko smirked as she looked up from washing dishes. "Well, it was worth a shot. It always worked with my little sister..."
"Lina isn't Sumire, you know," Meimi remarked with a mock sigh, bouncing Lina on her knee. "If she were, I wouldn't have so much trouble!" Keiko chuckled at the remark as she took a seat across from Meimi, having finished the dishes.
The door opened with a painful squeal, and everyone in the room winced. "I'm home," Asuka greeted, kicking idly at the door. "I'll fix that."
"If I haven't heard that before..." Keiko shook her head, rising. "Thanks for the coffee, Meimi; I'll see you tomorrow." She bobbed her head slightly towards Asuka, then left.
"Why is she here again?" Asuka grumbled, shutting the door. "I don't like that girl." He paused. "I don't think she likes me, either."
"Oh, come on," Meimi chided. "It's summer; she's out of school, and besides, she helps around a lot." "She can't even speak proper Japanese, like her sisters."
"Keiko went to a boarding school; you know that."
Asuka frowned, but let the subject drop. If his wife wanted to have a delinquent young friend, then fine... "Anything new?"
"Nothing much. Say, Asuka, what if we have Seira here for Lina's birthday? It shouldn't be too much trouble, would it?"
"No, that's a good idea, actually. Ask her."
"Oh, this is great," Meimi said happily. "I can finally see her again. She should be able to come, and it would be a lot of fun..." Asuka smiled slightly at Meimi's excitement. That was one thing she'd never lost since they'd met. "Don't you think, Lina?" she cooed, setting Lina down in a playpen. "I'll call her now, if she's still awake...."
"Meimi, isn't that Keiko's?" Asuka gestured to the bag sitting on the table. "I think she left it behind."
"Oh, that she did." Meimi picked it up, frowning. "She can't be much farther than down the block... I'll be right back."
Asuka reached out for the kitchen knife after checking to see if Lina was still in her playpen, setting up the counter to make a sandwich. The phone rang, startling him into letting the small bread knife slip and jam into his index finger.
"Uugh..." he muttered, sucking on the finger while using the other hand to pick up the phone. "Hello?"
On the other end, a much older Lina frowned at the incident that forced her to utilize her poor English. "Hello, I am Lina Takamiya. I want to speak to Meimi; did I..." she fumbled for words, "get the right, ah, number?"
"Oh, Takamiya!" Asuka was surprised but pleased. He switched to speaking in Japanese, a smile on his face. "No, Meimi's not here right now, but she should be back soon. Do you want to leave a message?"
"Asuka Jr.?" Lina dropped into her chair in shock. Of course, they do live in the same apartment... "Is that you? I didn't recognize your voice."
"Yeah, it's me." Asuka made a shushing motion towards Meimi as she returned, the bag still in hand with an annoyed look on her face. "How are you doing?"
"F-fine, I suppose," Lina stammered, feeling awkward and wanting to finish that part of the conversation quickly. "Do you know when Meimi will be back?"
"She's here now," Asuka responded, handing Meimi the phone and mouthing, "Lina." Meimi's eyes widened, but she accepted the phone.
"Takamiya Lina? Yes, hi, it's been so long..."
Asuka returned to making the sandwich, listening with half an ear to Meimi's side of the conversation. "We're fine, you? ... How did you know that? ... Oh... Of course, anything I can do to help... N-no, I never thought about it that way... Do I know... no, I don't. I'll call you if I find or remember anything... Majyu, yes. That's all I remember... I'm sorry. Yes, nice talking to you too. Goodbye."
"What was that about?" Asuka asked, confused. "I can't even remember the last time I talked to her."
"Did you tell her I was Saint Tail?" Meimi was perplexed, and she pushed her short red hair out of her face in a nervous gesture. "I could have sworn she didn't know..."
"No, I didn't." Asuka frowned. "Do you mean she-"
"Of course not, nothing like that." Meimi looked over at the baby Lina, upset. "It's that... there's another kaitou. And... she is me."
+ + +
"Nothing. Damn it." Lina glared at the phone, as if it were the cause of her lack of information. It had been luck sheer that had let her catch Meimi at home, given the time discrepancies, but her former classmate had not been much help.
She winced when she realized what time it was. Past midnight. Lina decided to give up and pick up again the next morning, after she regained the full use of her eyesight, at the very least...
Even Reika was gone when she headed out the door. Only a few graveyard-shift workers were there, most of them cleaning crew. The often-derelict Sakibara, unsurprisingly, was not among those present. The sergeant, however, was.
"Takamiya." He looked disgruntled as he came out of his office, and she steeled herself for a reprimand. "Haven't you left already?"
"No, sir." Lina looked away. I want to go home now...
"You know, you're the reason I can never go home on time." He shook an accusatory finger at her, a harsh gesture for their reserved culture. "It is bad form for a subordinate to attempt to..." he looked disgusted, "usurp their superior."
"That was never my intention. I only want to do my job - well."
The sergeant frowned at her. "Do you know why you were just assigned that kaitou case?"
"Yes, sir."
"You just don't give up, do you?"
Lina paused, wondering what answer would get her in more trouble than the other. To hell with it. "No, sir."
"You'd be a good cop, Takamiya." Some of the annoyance left his face. "If you weren't a woman."
Lina turned and left without a word, trying with little avail to quell her temper. I've always known this would happen... why does it have to be this hard? She stopped walking, already blocks away, when she remembered the reasons for the kaitou case. They will not humiliate me.
+ + +
Seira frowned, staring out the window. She knew Lina would contact her soon, but it was maddening to wait. The new thief... this had appeared completely out of the blue for her. That wasn't supposed to have happened.
Even with Saint Tail "retired," so to speak, her information networks were still there, even if she was no longer of much use. Still, something like this... She had been the one to tell Lina, two or three years ago, about Saint Tail. In a way, Lina had already known, but then she just came to understand the entire story. Seira had, at the time, thought that information would still be of use if she simply brought it to legal channels. She had been generally wrong, of course - some problems, it would seem, still required a vigilante. But the vigilantes no longer existed.
The phone rang.
"Lina?"
The voice on the other end sounded exhausted. "Yes, it's me. You do know why I called?"
"I don't know anything. This came up out of nowhere."
"She's calling herself Saint Tail." Lina's sigh was audible. "And she robbed the museum's star piece."
"The mirror...?"
"Yes. She imitated everything, down to the balloons and gas."
Seira fell silent, shocked.
"I apologize for my rudeness." Lina didn't wait for a response. "I have to go now; I'm sorry."
The nun was left listening to a dial tone.
+ + +
Sawatari jostled his way through the other reporters, ducking out of the way of a news camera. "Kei!" he hissed, gesturing to a mostly isolated corner of the museum.
The diminutive cameraperson followed him, watching Sawatari point towards the epicenter of the crime. Broken glass, still not cleaned up, littered the floor in certain places that the police had done their best to rope off.
"Try to get some angle up; people can't get in the way then."
Kei nodded in acquiescence. "You know best."
Sawatari gave Kei a look. "Not necessary, Kei."
"Well, you were the photographer before me..." Kei offered a smile. "I didn't mean anything by it this time."
"I remember that piece," Sawatari remarked quietly, changing the subject. "I was there when it was stolen by the first Saint Tail."
"Mm-hm."
Light flashed from the camera as Sawatari idly took notes. "The person it was returned to donated it to the museum. That must have been too much lure..."
Sawatari stopped abruptly. If the thief was a copycat, then...
"It was, obviously." Both men turned to look at Lina. "I just wonder how many of them like it there are."
"I thought the mirror was one-of-a-kind," Kei said, looking confused. Lina gave a look to Sawatari, who shrugged as if to say, "he doesn't have to be intelligent."
"She meant how many items that Saint Tail took can be stolen again," Sawatari clarified.
"I have to talk to you later." Lina addressed Sawatari directly. "I'll call whenever is convenient." He frowned.
"Sure. You have my cell number?" She nodded, then left.
"Ooh, friendly with the lieutenant?" Kei teased, skittering away a few feet to take more pictures yet avoid harm.
"You are such a child," Sawatari remarked, crossing his arms. "Such a child..."
+ + +
"Of course, Meimi, I'd love to come." Seira paused. "I'm not so sure I'd be able to get out on such short notice, though... the plane tickets..."
"Oh, don't worry about that," Meimi responded, her voice tinny over the transpacific phone line. "Asuka and I are paying for the tickets. You just need to pack and get out of work."
"I couldn't possibly accept-"
"Seira, come on," Meimi pleaded. "You have to come."
She relented, albeit still reluctant. "You're making this very difficult, you know." Seira laughed quietly. "Yes, I'll come."
"Great!" Meimi was quiet for a moment. "Say... about the thefts..."
I knew you were going to ask about that... "She's calling herself Saint Tail. And she recreated, in a museum, the time you stole the mirror from the auction - last night."
"I don't suppose Lina's doing well with it?" Meimi asked grimly.
"No. But unlike Asuka, she didn't have that particular weakness... Lina knows what she's doing. She'll solve it."
"Saint Tail was never solved," Meimi ventured quietly.
"This..." Seira gestured with her free hand, even knowing Meimi would never see the movement, "Saint Tail is not you. She's not trying to help people - she's a brazen thief. She'll slip up and no one will help her."
"I suppose." Meimi forced herself to stop thinking about it. "We'll call you when we finish with the ticket reservations, okay? Bye."
"Bye."
+ + +
"Yeah!" Erika jumped out of the car, moving almost too quickly for the complaining door. "We did it again!" "Not so loud," Hikaru grumbled. "My ears are still ringing." She shrugged in response, belatedly remembering to snatch the car keys out of Hikaru's hand to open the trunk. With a grunt, Erika yanked out a heavy box overflowing with plastic packing peanuts.
"Let me take that," Hikaru offered absently, taking the box away from her without listening to Erika's negative response. "You'll break it," he added, as if needed to justify helping his baby sister.
"You're late," an additional voice growled. "You said you would be here an hour ago."
"Chill out," Erika retorted, the manic grin never leaving her face. "The security systems were harder than we expected, and there was traffic. It's not a big deal."
"Do you have the mirror?" the man snapped at them, a scowl on his face.
"Course we do," Erika replied, her expression sobering somewhat. "Do you have the payment?"
Hikaru reluctantly handed the box to one of the man's workers, who fished through the packing peanuts to confirm the mirror was in the box.
"Hmph," the man commented, pleased. "You're certainly better than the real Saint Tail. We can turn a profit off you."
"I am the real Saint Tail," Erika barked. "Who else could have pulled this off?"
"Erika," Hikaru scolded. Don't get him mad, he's dangerous...
"I am the real Saint Tail," she repeated, but she looked uncertain.
"Whatever you want." The man didn't seem to care. "We'll keep in touch. Zhou, we're done here."
Zhou - the worker who had checked the box - nodded, then gestured for someone else to load the box into their van. The small group subsequently drove off.
"I am..." + + + "Hi."
"Hi."
Sawatari waited patiently for Lina to say anything further. It was only six o'clock, the evening after the theft, and he wanted to leave work with everything done. His cell phone was not cooperating.
He'd forgotten to charge it that day, so the batteries were dead. He was forced to stay attached to the AC adaptor while having his conversation.
"I'm sorry," Lina said abruptly. "I can't really seem to remember what I wanted to say."
"That's okay," Sawatari managed to say, wondering if there was an extension cord anywhere about. The short cord was making his neck hurt with the expenditure needed to speak with it.
"What do you think of the case?"
Lina sounded exhausted, as she no doubt was. The case had to be trying her, physically and mentally. Sawatari dimly recalled hearing of how the police department had been stressed during the first Saint Tail thefts - and now, Lina was trapped with the case, with little help from others. If Sakibara is any indication, he mused. Only Lina gets the blame for this humiliating case.
"I think you'll be able to handle it."
Sawatari did believe that, but he didn't think Lina did. His train of thought was interrupted by her harsh laughter.
"I don't need to be patronized, Saruwatari."
"I'm not patronizing you," he responded, fighting the edge creeping into his voice. Does she really think of me as nothing but a clown? "You can do it. Ignore those two idiots - they don't know anything."
Her forced chuckling halted immediately. He wondered, somewhat worried, if she would refuse to speak to him now.
"Thank you."
Sawatari was nearly bowled over by that.
"Thank you," Lina repeated. "I needed that."
"You're welcome." They were both quiet again, Lina out of weariness and Sawatari out of uncertainty. "Lina, how much overtime have you put in this week? Counting from this Sunday."
Her voice carried a tinge of embarrassment. "If today is Wednesday night, then..." She seemed to be mentally tallying the hours. "Something over twenty hours. I'm not sure exactly how long."
Twenty hours! His mind yelped in surprise. He hadn't expected it to be that bad. "How much did you do today?"
"Two hours this morning, one hour for tonight," she replied, sounding puzzled. "Why are you asking me this?"
"Then I'm not letting you work anymore," Sawatari said flatly. His neck was starting to throb now, and that was just enough to make him be assertive. "Come on. It's only six o'clock. We can go eat something."
Lina, on the other end, arched her eyebrows. "Sawatari, are you demanding that I go out with you?
"Uh..." I would have definitely preferred a straight answer. Yes. Straight answers are good. "If you want?"
Lina looked out through her office door, using her free hand to wipe at her bleary eyes. Sakibara looked like he would be leaving soon. The sergeant would probably wait until she was gone, again. He rarely did otherwise.
At this point, she was tired of working. She was tired of fighting "those two idiots." Even the logical side of her wanted to get away, saying that if she took a break tonight and got some sleep, she would be able to function better later.
The less logical side of her found a night out with Sawatari appealing.
"Where do you want to meet?"
+ + +
"Oh, really? What a shame!" Erika pitched her voice much higher than she normally did, exaggerating her words. "Do you have any idea when she'll be back? 'Cause, you know," she added confidentially, "it's very important that I talk to Lina-chan."
The secretary was annoyed already. Erika had been leading her in conversational circles for ten minutes already, waiting for Reika to slip up and tell what Erika wanted to know.
"No, I don't know," Reika said irritably. "She's out on a date and I don't plan to interrupt her."
"Oh, really!" Erika pretended to care. "And she hasn't had the chance to tell me! Really, really. Where did she go?"
"I don't know, the old noodle place?" Reika snapped. "Call her when she gets home." She hung up.
Erika smiled, malice in the expression as she, too, hung up the phone. "Thank you so much, Reika," she remarked to the air. "This is perfect."
+ + +
Lina used her chopsticks to push the noodles around the ceramic bowl, watching the ramen entwine itself around the wooden sticks like so much pale seaweed. The soup itself was a bit spicy for her taste, but she wasn't really there for the food. After more than half an hour of light, non-business related conversation, she finally found herself able to relax and enjoy herself.
I'm having fun, she mused. When was the last time I could say that? She turned her head slightly to watch Sawatari slurp up some of his second - possibly third, as she hadn't been paying attention - bowl of soup. He amazed her with his ability to eat and talk at the same time, without appearing the least bit rude or making himself incomprehensible. It was almost cute.
"Do you starve yourself or something?" he asked, still chewing on another mouthful of noodles, "I mean, you've barely eaten half the bowl."
"No, I just eat slowly." She shrugged, a smile beginning to curve the corners of her mouth. "At least, compared to you - you're a vacuum."
"I'm a growing boy," he responded, a slapstick grin appearing on his face again. "So what if I eat like a wolf? Or," he amended, "a household appliance."
+ + +
Erika half-listened to the occasional laughter drifting from the counter. The cop and her date were the only ones there, despite the early hour. It was a business section of town - most of its business came from the workers that went there for lunch, or children and teenagers that came from private schools like Paulia. It was also too low-class for anyone looking for a decent place for a dinner-date. Erika wondered briefly why the pair was there, then, but decided it was irrelevant and moved on to her next dilemma. The customary green tea the proprietor would serve them was the obvious place to put a notice. But there was a problem with that.
It was 6:45, a perfect time to serve notice - if she managed to do it within the next ten minutes. If she placed the explosive putty with the paper on the bottom, it would go off whenever the tea was finished, or at least when there was only a little of it left - the putty would react to the colder air. But that would take a while, and the cop could finish the tea faster than the explosives would work.
If she put the notice floating or submerged with different putty, it would blow out the drink with it, potentially burning the person it was intended to inform. That was undesirable. So, what...
Erika could hear the proprietor's footsteps returning from the outside alley. He would not be pleased to see someone having snuck into his kitchen. She looked around, panicked, and decided to abandon any sort of fancy notice. The fear made her careless, and her distinctive shock of white hair fell out of her cap.
Saint Tail is logical, she told herself, calming down. "Here's your tea," she said in a singsong voice, coming out with the small tray and the hand-scrawled bill.
"Thank you," Lina replied, easily snatching the bill before Sawatari could take it.
"So sorry to interrupt your date, Lieutenant Takamiya," Erika added cheekily, disappearing before anyone could comment.
"Lina, what is that?" Sawatari asked, warily pointing to a glob attached to the plastic tray. "Isn't that...?" "Explosives." She frowned. "It doesn't look danger-"
Sawatari had never heard anyone use such vulgarity, and it would have normally been amusing to hear the stern Lina use words so... creatively. If she hadn't been burned, and if there hadn't been a notice from the new Saint Tail.
"Damn, are you alright?" He snatched up a wet towel, that had stopped being warm quite a while ago, and helped her sponge off some of the chemical burn.
"It's nothing," Lina insisted through gritted teeth. "She was careless. That girl..."
"I've never seen her..."
Without a second thought, he jumped over the counter and ran out, with Lina following closely. But the girl was far-gone.
Now, Sawatari was the one making unique use of expletives. Lina had gone back inside, and was picking up her bag and rooting through it.
"7:05 at Seika City Hall. She's going after the statue." She left what she hoped was enough hundred-yen bills on the counter, her arithmetic skills abandoning her as she focused on the more pressing problem of Saint Tail.
"I'm sorry, I know I said no business tonight..."
Sawatari felt the inane need to apologize for the interruption, even though they both knew it was not his mistake that had caused it.
"It's not your fault," she said absently, punching numbers into her cell phone. "But thank you for letting me get away for at least this part of tonight."
The proprietor appeared, bowed, and started to ask if they were all right, who had interrupted...
"We're fine." Sawatari watched Lina bark orders through the small black device; her face taking on an irritated cast and her body tensing to the way it had been before they had left to eat. "Lock your back door next time."
Lina nodded curtly to him, then went out the door at a run.
+ + +
Erika knelt and then lay down, being careful not to make a sound on the metal catwalk. A wrong move could send echoes around the entire mansion, and alert people to where she was. She'd carefully gotten through the outside security systems - simple, really, with enough magnets - and disabled the security systems around the statue she wanted to steal. Now she was just trying to figure out what humans were stationed around.
"I used to live here, remember?"
"Yeah, of course I do."
She leaned a bit farther to watch, keeping her hair out of her face and out of sight. Some red temporary dye came off on her hand.
It's that guy from the restaurant, Erika thought, catching sight of a second blonde head. Wasn't he the reporter...?
"We should have been better staffed." Lina didn't sound angry or upset, just resigned to the fact she couldn't fix the situation.
"It's a bad sign if you have to get a journalist to help, isn't it?"
Sawatari wasn't joking.
"Or if one feels galvanized to help," Lina agreed grimly. She walked to the window, crossing her arms and offering a half-hearted glare to the heavens. Erika scrambled backwards, carefully rising and vaulting onto the roof itself, clinging to the hard slate shingles that cut through her velvet gloves. A few drops of blood went unnoticed on the scarlet fabric.
Erika hissed a soft curse as she realized the first skylight she had used was now guarded from inside, not to mention locked.
"Oh well," she whispered, smirking to herself. "I never much was one for subtlety." Taking care to shield her face, she stood precariously, then jumped forward to crash through the glass.
It was far more painful than she'd expected. The force reverberated through her, and glass shards sliced into her at any given opportunity. Even though it was only a ten-foot drop, and she was expecting it, the shock of it hurt.
The guards around her turned in surprise, and Erika heard calls of "what the hell was that?"
She shoved herself to her feet and broke into a run towards the room holding the statue, throwing smoke bombs behind her.
It was easy enough to charge through the guards and take the statue, setting off ear-splitting alarms in the process. They did more to disorient the guards than her.
Then Erika noticed the red liquid pouring from her burning hand, splashing onto the statue and floor. It would be hard to get out. Hikaru...
"I can do this by myself!" she yelled.
"Erika, listen to me, you can't pull this off alone," Hikaru pleaded.
"Yes I can," Erika snapped. "Saint Tail worked alone. I will too."
"I will too," Erika repeated in the present. Then she snapped her scalding, bleeding fingers.
+ + +
Lina was tired. Her eyes were closed and her hands were braced against her desk in an effort to keep from falling over it, from falling asleep. She refused to take caffeine pills, and had had too much coffee as it was... How was she going to stay awake for the next four hours?
Sawatari had left, presumably to sleep. The immediate search for the thief had been called off after two hours; they couldn't find her. She'd left behind a lot of blood that they hoped to trace, though...
Ugh. She hated the fog that clouded her mind after she went without sleep for too long. It had its biological reasons, of course, but for someone like her it was merely a hindrance that had to be overcome. Lately, the arduous task of doing so was becoming a daily challenge.
"Lieutenant!"
She ignored the yell. Hopefully they weren't calling for her.
"Lieutenant Takamiya!"
Damn.
"Lieutenant Takamiya, there's a call for you. Someone from the next precinct."
With a resigned sigh, Lina opened her eyes and nodded, picking up the phone handset from her desk and answering with a lethargic "hello?"
"Uh, Lieutenant Takamiya?"
Idiot. Of course it was she. "Yes."
"We, um, found someone you might be interested in..."
Lina's curiosity piqued slightly. Slightly to the level of the way normal people are more interested in sock drawers than lint.
"Yes?"
"She was, er, found collapsed a while away from Seika City Hall, in our district... we put her in the hospital."
"Yes?"
Her voice took on the annoyed edge that normally got people to snap to attention and listen to her orders. She wasn't certain how effective it would be at this hour.
"She was dressed like Saint Tail," the subordinate on the other end of the line blurted. So maybe she was still effective as a zombie. "We haven't identified her yet, though. We were told to watch out for this, so..." He trailed off, still nervous. "We wanted to know if you would like to speak to her?"
"Yes." Lina took note of the fact she had answered with the same word, four times now... "Yes, I would. Would now be a good time?"
"We have guards posted in the room. We don't know if the suspect will be awake."
So. They did think this girl was a suspect. If she was dressed for the part, and collapsed... maybe it was her. It seemed too easy, but maybe it was her.
"I'll be right over.... Seika Memorial? I'll wait until she's awake."
I've been waiting since the beginning, haven't I?
+ + +
Lina leaned against the elevator wall, silently annoyed that the girl had decided to wake up now. The hospital personnel had sent her back home when she first arrived there, but several hours later she had been called back. Details of the early-morning phone call drifted back to her - the girl was up, being restrained and under constant watch; no, she hadn't been identified...
"Lieutenant Takamiya?" A diminutive man was in front of her, holding the elevator door open as Lina stepped out hurriedly. His voice sounded familiar; he must have been the subordinate speaking to her on the phone.
"Yes, that's me." Lina wiped at her eyes quickly, nodding. "Detective, ah...?"
"Tetsuda." He smiled a bit anxiously, and then started to lead her down the hospital corridor. "She's been a bit difficult, and may fit your profile. So far we've kept her locked and under the supervision of two guards."
Lina nodded acquiescently, going through the door Tetsuda subsequently gestured to. Her first reaction was why is she so young?
Erika was bound to the hospital bed by her left wrist and foot. She had a familiar glazed look in her eyes, and Lina mentally cursed the circumstances that required such medication.
The still-exhausted police lieutenant pulled up a chair next to the bed, absently pulling out a notepad and pen as she did so.
"Miss," Lina snapped, intending to get her to pay attention. "Please wake up."
Erika obeyed, sitting up awkwardly with a vaguely frightened expression. "Who're you?"
"Lieutenant Takamiya Lina." She shoved an ID card onto the bedside table. "I assume you know me?"
An air of recognition came over Erika's face. "Uh, yeah." She seemed to catch herself saying something incorrect, then added, "I've seen you on the news."
"What's your name?"
"Erika." She wanted to panic, badly. In the noodle shop, Erika hadn't been at all intimidated, but then, she'd had the option of running. Now there was no such opportunity.
"Erika what? What's your family name?"
"Um..."
"It's a very simple question." Lina looked annoyed. "Answer it."
"Nishihara," Erika said in a rush. What would Saint Tail have done?
"Good."
Lina threw an errant glance toward the chair where the bloody and ripped kaitou costume lay, in a corner of the room. "Where were you when they picked you up? As far as you know."
"Um...." Erika shrugged, trying hard to seem casual. Which was something quite difficult to do when she couldn't even sit up properly, and her head was still spinning. "I dunno. Somewhere near the residential district, I guess?"
"No. You were picked up near City Hall when a worker called in."
"Oh." Erika's flippant reply was unconvincing.
"What were you doing there? Wearing that costume."
"Uh..." Her mind scrambled to come up with a believable response. "Masquerade party," she replied with an embarrassed smile.
"No one from the party saw you leave?"
"Never got there."
"What's the address of the person giving it? And why were they giving it?"
Erika shrugged again, trying not to break down. "I don't really remember. It was a charity thing. My brother..."
"Yes?"
"My brother can vouch for me. You can call him. Nishihara Hikaru."
Lina nodded briskly. "Excuse me. Please don't leave." She exited quickly, locking the door behind her. "Were you successful? She barely said two words to anyone else."
She gave Tetsuda a quizzical look. "More or less. If she is the thief, I should have enough to be able to give the lawyers a case."
Tetsuda nodded. "We sent out the blood samples from the costume last night. We'll have the DNA results back within a few hours - noon, I think. Would you like to have them sent to your office?"
"Yes, certainly." Lina frowned slightly. "I'll be in contact. Thank you - please keep her under close watch. If she is the thief..."
"I understand. Good luck, lieutenant."
+ + +
"You think it's her?"
"I think so. There's nothing to suggest it isn't... except that brother of hers, but his witness can be negated once we get the DNA samples back."
"Whoa." Sawatari dropped into the office chair, startled. "That's great."
"It seems almost too..." Lina turned sharply, glaring at someone she caught watching. Kei, she mentally categorized. That dimwitted photographer...
"Don't mind him," Sawatari said offhandedly, smirking. "He knows his position can be replaced!" The last words were directed at Kei himself - who appropriately ducked back into his cubicle, chagrined.
"You wouldn't, really?" Lina queried. Much as she found Kei annoying, she didn't want him fired.
"Nah." Sawatari's grin widened. "Not for the world - he's too good for me to let him go. But he needs to learn his place every once in a while. Or at least to mind his own business... Anyway, you were saying?" "It seems too easy, really, that she would just be caught like that..."
"She's not Saint Tail, Lina. Saint Tail wasn't bound to be caught." He snickered quietly. "Particularly not with Asuka Jr. on her case."
Lina glanced at him curiously. "You knew?"
"Of course I did. I'm not that much of an idiot." Sawatari put on a mock-hurt face that made her laugh. "I suppose you're right. Doesn't make me feel any better about myself, though - in fact, I'm positive I'll be ridiculed by Sakibara anyway..."
"Are you sure some... flattering reporting wouldn't help your case?"
Lina's eyes widened in her surprise. "Why on earth would you do that?"
"Eh..." He shrugged. "I don't like him much." Among other reasons... "Besides, it's the least I could do for your help."
"You would have gotten the stuff from Reika anyway," she responded absently. "You don't owe me anything."
Multiple answers died in his throat. He settled for a tactless approach. "I do. Owe you something, that is." She frowned, staring at the floor with abrupt interest as she changed the subject. "Thanks for your help, by the way. I know I was probably not the best of company these past couple weeks."
Sawatari shrugged. "Can't say I didn't enjoy it..."
Lina's cell phone rang, the shrill noise breaking the already stilted conversation. "Reika? Yeah? Okay... yes; kick that idiot out of the office. I'll be there in ten minutes." She snapped the phone shut and gave him a quasi-apologetic look. "See you."
+ + +
"A-asuka... she says they found her. Maybe."
"You mean Saint Tail?" Asuka called back from the kitchen. He belatedly remembered to lower his voice, as the baby was sleeping.
"Yes." Meimi's eyes scanned over the email again as she began to type a response. "Lina told Seira... they have someone in custody already. They're just waiting for some tests to come back."
"That's, uh, that's good." He walked up behind her, beginning to read over her shoulder. "That's great, in fact. You heard from Takamiya?"
"No, not yet. I guess they'll be calling later. Oh, and Seira's booked for a flight next Thursday. They moved it up; some overcrowding."
"Sou, sou." Asuka was uncertain what to make of the news, his mind still hinged on the Saint Tail incident. "Oh, she is? Okay."
"Wonder what's going on over there..." Meimi grimaced. "Damned time differences. Weren't you going to sleep?"
"Yeah, early start." Asuka scratched his head, still floored.
"I'll wake you up if anyone calls."
+ + +
"Takamiya!"
Lina nearly jumped out of her skin, snapping back to consciousness the moment she heard the sergeant's voice. "Yes, sir?"
She rose automatically, going to her office door quickly. Lina struggled to keep the anxiety from showing in her face as he approached.
"Takamiya. Your DNA results are in." He brusquely handed her the already-opened envelope. "Congratulations."
She snatched the plastic sheets from him, scanning them rapidly. "They... matched..."
"You have your thief, Takamiya." If she hadn't known any better, she would have thought the sergeant was smiling at her. "As I said, congratulations."
"T-thank you, Sergeant..."
"Well, I trust you know I'm leaving on sabbatical, starting this weekend."
Lina blinked. She hadn't known. "Sir?"
"You're in charge of the precinct for that duration. Any other matters will be discussed when I return." "B-but Sergeant!" Sakibara interrupted, sputtering. "I thought..."
"No, you didn't," the sergeant remarked wryly. "Excuse me."
"Congratulations, Lina." Reika came up to her with a wide smile. "You did it."
"Yeah, I guess I did..." Lina turned to look at her secretary, a baffled look on her face. "Thanks."
+ + +
Hikaru frowned, sighing. "I don't really know why she did it. I didn't want this to happen to her."
Lina reached out and hit a mute button, cutting off the conversation to the side office. She, Sawatari, and a warden continued watching through a one-way mirror.
"Kid's doing pretty good." Sawatari leaned closer to the mirror, watching his apprentice journalist carefully. "Kei's baby sister, didn't you know?"
"Hm." Lina leaned against the wall, watching. "Good for the family."
After a beat, he added, "Come on. Let's get out of here early."
She gave him a wary look. "Don't you want to stay and watch? You were muttering before that the girl was going to freak."
"Nonviolent criminal. After Kei took away her coffee Nezumi was fine."
Lina looked doubtful, glancing back at the warden. "You'll be able to get her out later?"
"Sure." The warden had a blank look on his face. "If you wanna leave you can just walk out."
"Let's go," Sawatari repeated, imploring now. She shrugged and decided the argument was pointless, following him out to the parking lot.
The sunshine was refreshing after being trapped indoors for the past hour or so. Lina decided that it was a good idea to get out of the literal prison - Sawatari's likely motive was claustrophobia. The idea of the happy-go-lucky journalist being afraid of enclosed spaces was amusing.
Lina slipped quickly into the driver's seat of the car, being certain that Sawatari had put his seatbelt on and closed the door before leaving the parking lot. The guards, for once, were agreeable and let them pass without stringent security procedures hampering them.
"You want me to drop you off at your apartment or office?" she asked, keeping her eyes focused on the cars and road in front of her.
"Actually, I was thinking we might go to Paulia's."
"You're serious."
"Yeah."
She glanced at him sidelong. "Why? You want to see Seira?"
Sawatari shrugged, trying to seem casual. "The Asukas are in town. Seira suggested we meet there."
Lina nearly braked the car in the middle of the road in shock. She settled for glaring at him before returning most of her attention to driving. "You sprang this on me!" she accused.
"I just found out this morning." Sawatari held his hands palm up, as if trying to defend himself. "They wanted to meet us. Have the kid with them; Seira thought it was a good idea..."
She frowned, feeling her annoyance increase over the unnecessary anger she'd displayed. The irrationality further fueled her temper, and Lina forced herself to calm down and make an attempt at "positive thinking."
"Okay. Let's go."
"World record. They send you to anger-management courses?" His tone was light and teasing.
"Hn."
They probably had sent her to those or something similar. Lina's temperament had decidedly improved over the years. He remembered she could punch pretty hard in secondary school... his jaw started to hurt with remembered pain. Then Sawatari smirked, watching her distracted between driving and wondering what she would say to her old classmates.
She had definitely mellowed out.