"Anything?" Utagawa asked, startling Kikuchihara from his thoughts.
"Not yet," he replied, hoping he sounded as disinterested as he normally did. He was afraid he sounded preoccupied, but to his luck, his teammate hadn't noticed. Instead, Ryo just nodded.
"Alright, let's go check the next street over."
Shiro nodded, but before they could head over, a call came through their headsets.
"Kikuchihara, Utagawa," Kazama said, and the two paused to listen. "I'm heading over to your location now. Wait for me there so we can talk."
"Okay," the two said, and the line went silent.
Ryo began saying something, but Shiro wasn't paying attention. His mind went back to what happened earlier with Shinoda, and a he felt a pang of guilt go through himself again. He didn't want to lie, but he didn't see any other choice. He wasn't so sure about the information he had heard, and he didn't want to cause trouble if what he heard wasn't accurate. After all, why would a Border agent be working with neighbors to cause destruction to his own agency? Especially an A-rank agent. No, especially that A-rank agent. What reasons would he have?
And that's why Shiro had to lie – he was positive he had somehow misunderstood what he had heard from the neighbors. There was no way he would be plotting with the neighbors. No, he wouldn't say anything unless he was sure the information was right.
So basically, he probably would never say anything.
"Kikuchihara?" Utagawa asked, removing the brunette from his thoughts again.
"Huh?" he responded, realizing he missed everything his teammate just said.
Ryo frowned. "I said we should tell Kazama there's nothing here and that we don't think searching out here will produce any information."
Kikuchihara nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."
His teammate frowned. "You alright? You were really zoned out there for a few seconds."
"Huh?" he replied, hoping to sound confused by the statement. "Me? I'm fine, calm down."
Ryo rolled his eyes, a humored smile hinting on his face. He opened his mouth to reply but stopped. Kikuchihara turned to look where his teammate was, and he saw what the latter was looking at; Kazama was off in the distance, quickly making his way toward them. The two began walking toward their leader, meeting him halfway.
"Did you find out any new information?" Soya asked.
Utagawa shook his head. "No, we haven't, and neither have any of the other squads. Kazama-san, if I can be honest, I think we're wasting our time out here. I don't think we're going to find anything out by searching around town. Whoever planned this made sure to leave no evidence behind."
Soya sighed, running his hand through his hair. "No, you're right," he agreed. "I don't know what Kido was hoping to find, but it's obvious there won't be anything out here. Let's return back to base and regroup with the other teams, see if we can come up with anything."
"Ryo replied with an "okay" while Shiro simply nodded. Kazama turned on his heel, and the three began moving back to Border.
When the three entered Border, Soya motioned toward the upstairs lounge. "Let's head up there. I'll tell the other A-rank teams to meet up there when they're all ready."
Utagawa nodded, and Kazama and he began heading upstairs.
"I'll be right there," Shiro said, moving in the opposite direction. "I need to use the bathroom." And before waiting for a response, he walked directly there.
He pushed open the door, and seeing no other agents in there, he went over to the sink. He turned the faucet as cold as it could go and splashed his face with the water. He did this several times, hoping it would help to clear his head, but, not to his surprise, it didn't help. Frustrated, he turned the faucet off and grabbed a paper towel to dry off his face.
"Kikuchihara?" a voice asked behind him, causing the teen to freeze momentarily. However, he quickly recovered, hoping the person hadn't noticed anything. He turned around to see Miwa standing behind him, his face unreadable.
"Hey, Miwa," he said disinterestedly, throwing the paper towel away. He tried to exit the bathroom, but Shuji stopped him.
"Wait," the leader said, pausing momentarily as if hesitating. Shiro stopped, his eyebrow raised in question. Miwa looked away for a moment, then returned his gaze to the other. "Kikuchihara, when you were speaking to Shinoda earlier, you sounded…hesitant."
Shiro's stomach plunged, but he kept his face as straight as possible, not daring to say anything just yet. He waited for Miwa to get his thoughts together before he began speaking again.
"I don't want to accuse you of anything," he continued, "but did you actually hear something that could be of use?"
Damn, Kikuchihara thought, how did he notice that?
"Of course not," he replied, looking directly into Miwa's eyes, guilt filling his entire system with every word. "Why would I lie about that?"
Shuji stared at him without speaking for several moments, causing Shiro to feel extremely uncomfortable. He knows something is going on, he thought, hoping his face still looked neutral and not worried. However, his face must have failed him, because Shuji wouldn't let him go.
"Kikuchihara, if you're covering something up or you have information that could help, you need to let someone know," he said firmly. "You can't cover it up, even if you're involved or you know someone who's involved."
"I'm not involved!" the teen retorted, surprised yet not surprised at the same time that Miwa would come up with an assumption like that.
"Then why are you lying?" he responded with narrowed eyebrows.
Shiro opened his mouth, but no words came out. How could he tell Miwa? If he didn't, that would only look suspicious on his part. But if he did tell, and the information he heard was wrong, it could cause serious problems within Border.
Suddenly, Shuji grabbed the brunette's arm, looking at him fiercely. "If you don't tell me what you're hiding, I'll bring you directly to commander Kido, and you can deal with the consequences he'll give you."
Shiro bit his lip, looking down at the ground. Shit, now I have to tell him.
"Okay, fine, I'll tell you," he said quietly. "But you have to swear you will tell no one about this."
Miwa opened his mouth, about to protest, but the teen cut him off. "Please; you'll understand once I tell you."
The leader hesitated a moment before finally releasing Shiro's arm. "Fine," he relented, taking a step back. "Go ahead."
Kikuchihara paused, thinking over what he was going to say. He bit his lip, hoping Miwa would stay true to his word and not tell anyone. He didn't want to cause any rifts within Border if this information was leaked.
He took a quick breath and began speaking slowly. "I heard some people having a conversation after the explosion," he said quietly. "From how they looked and spoke, I assume they were neighbors. But anyways…" he paused, not daring to look at Miwa for this next part. "Th-they mentioned…an agent here at Border. One of them was explaining to the other they would have to wait for further instructions for the next part of their plan, and these instructions would come from this agent. From how it sounded, the neighbors made it seem as if this agent had organized the attack and is going to organize more in the future."
He looked at Miwa briefly before returning his gaze to the floor. He noticed the shock that now took over Shuji's face, but he continued talking before the other could interject. "I could have heard it wrong," he continued quickly. "They could've known someone was listening, so maybe they were trying to throw us off. Either way, I highly doubt what I heard was correct. There's just no way."
A silence engulfed the room, and Shiro kept his gaze to the floor, fearing how Miwa would react. He waited anxiously for a response from the older.
"Kikuchihara," Miwa responded finally in a deadly serious tone. "Who was the agent they spoke of?"
Shiro closed his eyes, knowing this would come out eventually.
"Tachikawa," he whispered, almost inaudible. "Tachikawa Kei."
