Chapter 2

Hoshino fidgeted in her seat, hands idly tugging at her sweater before they were taken in warm, large hands. Yanagi flashed her a comforting smile, and she nodded back in affirmation before fixing her eyes at the faces around her.

Morioka and Enomoto sat across from them and Okazaki lounged idly beside the door. Hoshino had terrible deja-vu from most of her friends sitting around the couches of Yanagi's office. She just wished it was under better circumstance.

Morioka broke the silence. "I'm assuming you all know why you're here." Everyone nodded. X-Day.

"Good then that saves me explaining. I'll cut to the chase. We want you to investigate these X-Day cases. You've done it before and frankly, you did it well. You'll operate exactly how you used too but this time you can use intel from Investigation HQ." Morioka turned his gaze towards Hoshino, who visibly stiffened. "You have access, so it shouldn't be that difficult." He continued, "I don't expect you and Enomoto to continue regular active duty, so we're putting you solely on this case. Don't waste time elsewhere." Morioka then focused on Yanagi. "You're not tied down by the force, but I'm assuming we have your cooperation?" His brow rose in question.

Yanagi nodded almost instantly. "Naturally."

"Okazaki?" Morioka asked, looking in his direction.

Okazaki beamed lazily, "Of course."

"Great, it's settled. I've asked Minigeshi to bring in the case notes we have from the recent incident. He should be here soon."

"Uhm." Hoshino broke in, "I know I was present for the last incident, but I didn't really assist that much… I want to help but are you sure I won't just get in the way?"

Really, the only reason Hoshino was in the case the last time was due to her collar, she had no affiliation with these new incidents so surely, her skills could be put to use elsewhere.

Morioka shook his head. "No. you're on the case. You're a good detective." He stated with finality, yet Hoshino still tried to interrupt but was cut off by a distant and familiar voice that filled Hoshino with bubbling happiness and untameable anger all at once.

"-stupid cat. If you aren't working the case it won't get solved. Regardless if you're collared or not, the key to finding the leader is figuring out who collared you in the first place. Though an idiot, you're useful for that." His flippant words stiffened the air, causing a halting tension as Hoshino snapped her gaze towards the doorway, eyes wide in surprise. She abruptly stood up.

Minigeshi stood behind him carrying the case notes, but Hoshino barely saw him instead she blinked as if determining reality. It was real. Before her stood Sasazuka, with his usual half-smirk that she missed so much. His hair was the same, in fact everything about him was the same. She let out a breath of relief while also growing hot, furious. She didn't know what to do, but instinctively she took a step towards him, watching his flippant demeanour waver slightly in surprise before he resumed his normal conniving expression.

Sasazuka let out a sigh, like he was already exhausted by her, "I see you haven't changed." He stated in his usual tone, were it not for the small hint of relief Hoshino had grown to recognize. She watched his eyes soften slightly and it infuriated her. She didn't know if she wanted to hold him or hit him.

A loud crack rang through the small room. She wanted to hit him.

Hoshino's hand stung and she stomped out of the room, ignoring the shocked expressions and low whistle from Mineo. She needed air.

Sasazuka stood motionless, the side of his cheek throbbing from the impact, his eyes were wide in surprise before he comprehended what occurred.

"Shut up, idiot." He bit towards Mineo before giving a curt "tsk" and turning to the side, sulking away from the group to sit at his computer desk. Almost immediately his attentions were turned to his laptop, his fingers tapping away in blatant frustration. He watched bitterly as Yanagi spring from his seat and out towards the door and he caught himself sulking some more. What is this, jealousy? He thought to himself his eyes narrowing before he 'tsk'd' once more and turned his attentions elsewhere.

Mineo looked around at the awkwardness, Sasazuka had a hurt expression on his face which really confused him. He turned his attention towards Morioka and Minegishi, "I'll take the case notes, maybe it's best if we met up later." They both eagerly agreed before bidding polite goodbyes and heading out.

Okazaki looked on, smiling to himself, thinking he could try stirring the pot just a little. After all, Hoshino was his dear friend and he saw the pain she felt at Sasazuka's disappearance with his own eyes. He'd tried his best to protect her heart, and he was always a sore loser.

He walked up to Sasazuka, who was pretending not to notice him. "Well that certainly didn't go as expected." Okazaki said with a brilliant smile, tilting his head slightly to the side. "Don't worry about Cat too much, Yanagi will talk her down." He empathized Yanagi's name, watching as Sasazuku's hands tightened around the computer mouse.

"Why would I worry about that idiot?" Sasazuka bit out, annoyed.

"Well, why else would you come back?" Okazaki replied, as if it was the simplest thing, mock curiosity lacing his words that caused Takeru to want to barf.

Takeru did not deny it instead asking, "Don't you have somewhere to be?" Sasazuka seethed, finally drawing piercing eyes towards Okazaki who smiled at him in response, but his eyes were cold. Chillingly, so.

"Hm?" Okazaki thought for a moment, drawing his finger to his chin cutely, "I'm supposed to be protecting Miss. Hoshino, but Yanagi can take care of it." He dismissed the suggestion with a blatant, nonchalant wave.

Sasazuka stood up, thoroughly annoyed. "I'm going to the roof." He announced before hastily picking up his laptop and storming out the door. Leaving a smiling Okazaki and a very confused Enomoto in the room.

Hoshino felt the prickle of tears against her eyes and a familiar heartache swell in her chest. Why did he come back? She thought to herself. She'd be lying if she said she didn't miss him, but why did it take a crisis for him to come back. How long has he been here? Why didn't he say anything? Does he still have feelings for me? Hoshino's mind swirled as she tried to focus on her breathing. That's when he heard the the faint taps of shoes behind her and felt warm arms encircle around her.

"It's ok." Yanagi whispered into her ear, it was soothing and calming. She turned around and melted into his embrace as faint, hot tears trickled down her cheeks. "It's ok." Yanagi repeated, holding her tight to his chest. He hated seeing her upset, especially over another. He knew this reunion would come eventually, and he vowed to himself to protect her.

I'm here. He held her until her tears stopped before holding her hand and leading her back inside.

Hoshino pretended to look over the case notes when Sasazuka arrived back inside. She purposefully avoided his eye contact and didn't move until he was settled in his seat and she heard the soft tink of his keyboard.

"What do you think?" Yanagi asked her, scrutinizing her expression when she finally put down the folder.

She was more confident in her investigation abilities now, no longer being the rookie she was. So it was for the good of the case and partly to show off that she no longer needed Sasazuka that she spoke with confidence. "Well," She tipped her finger to her chin in thought, baiting the team before continuing, "considering this is the first incident this time there's no linkages between cases we can find. But using the incidents from 2 years ago I don't think there's any notable linkages either, aside from the overall goal of rebirth."

"Why do you think that?" Mineo interjected, apparently, he was under the assumption it was all the same.

"This incident is different. There's no coins, no roman numerals, and they didn't bait us to race against the clock and arrive on time to save him. The murder was much more hostile, the man was killed blatantly on air, and they gave no details as to why. Aside from being a sinner. It's a lot vaguer than the last incidents… 2 years, ago each recording always had a sort of 'lesson', like the revenge plot against police, stalking, bullying, etc…" Hoshino trailed off a little, thinking. "Before I continue, what do we know about the priest?" Hoshino asked to the group.

"Found in an abandoned apartment complex. You're right that there were no trademarks to tie it to an X-day incident aside from the recording. The victim was Hiro Toshi, a well known catholic priest. He has no known records on file, and was generally well liked. Except, when I dug into his other records its noted that he transferred between churches quite a bit, though there was no explanation why." Sasazuka cut in in a monotone, devoid of emotion and presenting only facts.

Hoshino fed off his timely response to engrossed in her line of thought to dismiss him, "right, so we know that there's something suspicious – possibly the sin that was mentioned. So it seems that this recording wants us to investigate into the 'sin' specifically. Why was this man targeted?" Hoshino thought to herself a moment before stating with confidence. "I think it's a test. He's baiting us to uncover the truth."

"Yeah but, if it doesn't have any of the trademarks, can we be sure it's even x-day, it could be a copycat." Mineo piped up.

"No. It's not." Hoshino retorted rather abruptly causing the others to look her direction in curiosity. She got a sudden chill, leaving goosebumps on her arms.

"Why?"

"The voice is the same." Hoshino nodded to herself. "This is definitely a test. It's a game to him now, we uncovered Adonis before so he's challenging us to do it again. This time I don't have a collar, but he's still using us… except it's civilians lives on the line, not mine." Hoshino's theory drifted off into sadness, the urgency of the situation weighing down her words.

Yanagi nodded solemnly and placed a hand on hers in comfort before turning to the group, "I agree. The sole motive here isn't revenge anymore. It's pride. This is definitely a game now… And we can't do anything but play along for now."

Hoshino spoke again, but this time in a small whisper that the rest of the group had to strain to hear. "I think there's something else."

"What?" Mineo asked, brow furrowed as he tried to wrap his head around everything.

"I don't have any facts or evidence yet, but last time there were multiple assailants, working like puppets and multiple leaders – which we disbanded. I doubt the leaders would be ok with acting on pride alone and willing the risk of getting caught for it. It also goes against their beliefs of justice. So… I don't really think this is Adonis anymore. I think this is a sole operation." She paused for a minute to let that idea sink in.

"We are after one person this time. It's got to be this Zero person, and it's got to be the same person that collared me." Hoshino had a pained look on her face at the realization and spoke shakily. "So… I'm still a target… and the lives at stake are even bigger." A chill raked her body momentarily.

Hoshino heard the crinkling of a bag before she smelt the sweet smell of sugar, she looked up to see a donut, held out in front of her. Takeru's arm was outstretched towards her, his face looking away, blushing slightly.

"I think you're right." He muttered surprisingly without malice, and then shook the donut a little to get her to take it. "Here."

A peace offering.

After a moment of consideration, Hoshino took the donut and nodded in thanks.

Sasazuka let out a breath he didn't realize he'd held. "Don't think you're any less stupid for figuring that out. Stupid cat." He stated, watching her nibble on the donut. He didn't try and hide the relief in his voice from her. The others wouldn't pick up on it anyways.

"Where's mine?" Mineo broke in, ruining the moment.

"You didn't do anything, idiot. None for you." Sasazuka snapped back, grinning smugly.

"Who are you calling idiot, seaweed head?" Mineo retorted, rising from his seat in anger.

"Enough. Both of you." Yanagi cut in and Hoshino couldn't help but smirk at the familiarity of the situation. A smirk that both Yanagi and Takeru caught – causing them to feel a rush of relief.

"Hoshino, I agree with your theory. You're pretty cut out for detective work. Let's work off that and dig into the priest a little more. Here's the plan…" Yanagi began, sinking into the details with the group like the past 2 years hadn't existed.