Retracing Steps : 3 ― Blood and Water
She tilted her head back to examine the large sign above her, eyes scanning over the decorated name on the bar as her fingers played with the material inside her cardigan's pockets. Without a doubt he was inside and from what she could tell was the only person inside. Glancing at her sides one more time and reassuring herself that the streets were empty, she took a step forward and pulled a hand out to push the wooden doors open.
A bell rung from above her and Hiroto ignored it to observe her surroundings, taking in the western and mature look of the bar. The decorations were appealing and whispered a kind of extravagant feel to them. She felt oddly relaxed and took a step forward, turning her attention to the man behind the counter, smiling handsomely at her.
She bowed her head at him in greeting. "It's been a while," Hiroto said.
"You've grown up since middle school, Hiroto." The blonde remarked, never losing the smile on his face. "C'mon, take a seat."
Hiroto moved towards the stools and followed his instruction, sitting across from him with an unreadable expression. The bartender raised a brow at her and picked up a glass. "Anything in particular you wanna drink?" He asked. She crossed her arms on the counter, "I'm underaged."
He chuckled and she sighed, loosening up her stiff shoulders. "Juice is cool."
"As you wish, mademoiselle."
Fushimi grimaced at the drop of sweat that threatened to fall from his forehead. The captain didn't bother putting any air conditioners in any of the other rooms except the common room and his own so it was as if a heatwave was dancing around the dorm. Domyouji was being annoying in the common room so there was no way he was stepping in there.
Hiroto also disappeared and was missing since morning. Where did she even go? She usually stayed at the dorms during her day offs since she had a strong habit of procrastinating her paperwork and would always end up having to do them during her breaks. She really had to get her shit together for once.
"Kya!" A scream broke him out of his thoughts and he quickly made his way to the door, peeking into the hallway to find a frightened Awashima pointing at a spider in fear.
What was wrong with everyone today?
"Is it always this quiet?"
"The boys usually hang around but it seems like they're all out playing right now. Ah, that includes Yata-chan of course."
Kusanagi noticed her shoulders tense at the mention of the red haired male and had to hold down a chuckle. Hiroto, having always been a smart one, instantly looked up and narrowed her eyes at him. "Did you tell him?" She asked him. Kusanagi shook his head. If there was anyone that should tell him about the truth it should be her. He wasn't going to get in between that.
"Anyway, what're you doing here? You've never been the type to just swoop in for a visit." Kusanagi went back to cleaning a glass with a cloth. There wasn't much to do when there weren't any customers.
Hiroto took a sip out of her own glass, "I really would've liked to have avoided coming here, but at this point I have no one else to turn to."
He hummed, urging her to continue.
It was after a couple of seconds of silence that she decided to speak again. "They're getting annoying, Izumo-san. Have they contacted you yet?"
"Hm… I did receive a call the other day about a meetin' of sorts."
"I wanted to come and ask if you could please take the offer into consideration. I know you aren't obligated to listen to me but at this point I really don't know what to do anymore." Kusanagi couldn't help but widen his eyes and pause his movements in shock. It was the first time he had ever heard Hiroto with such a genuine tone in her voice. A desperate plea of sorts that was so foreign it left him dumbstruck.
However, he gathered his thoughts as quickly as possible and gave her a hesitant smile. "Hiroto… you've really grown up, haven't you?"
She bowed her head.
"I'm not sure if I can make a difference but I'll do whatever." He replied softly, placing the glass down gently.
"Thank you, Izumo-san."
She stared blankly at all the employees running around, carrying wooden crates and insects in their hands. Hiroto spotted a familiar brunet running towards her and turned to face him. Hidaka paused mid-jog to greet her with a salute, "Ichinose-san, welcome back!"
The female took another look around her and found Domyouji screaming in a corner. "What's going on?" She asked, watching as Domyouji clutched onto a nearby clansman with tears almost forming from his eyes. "Remember that bust we did a couple of days ago? The one with the illegal dealings? The guy wanted revenge and was sneaking poisonous animals into headquarters. We're just rounding them all up now." Hidaka informed, lifting up the crate in his hands to reveal a vicious looking snake through the air hole.
She gave the animal a look of distaste before nodding at the brunet. Before she could ask where the captain was her ringtone went off in her right pocket. Hidaka promptly bowed before returning to his duties and leaving her alone with her phone.
Hiroto pulled the device out and read with tired eyes the caller id.
"Hiroto? Hiroto. it's me. I think we're close to finding your brother, Hiroto, if you could just―"
"Why can't you just let one of the branch families take over?"
"No! To even suggest that― The Ichinose name will disappear, and I refuse to let the others take over! It has always been the Ichinose family who is in charge, Hiroto."
"For someone who married into the family, you sure are passionate about this, Okaa-san."
"Hiroto… Hiroto, listen to me. You― You can come back and fix things. The only ones that can fix this are you and your brother. Do you understand, Hiroto?"
"…I understand that completely but I refuse. Other then sharing the same surname, I really don't want anything to do with that family."
"Hiroto! Why― Please, please, Hiroto. Your grandparents―"
"Please stop calling me."
"From the looks of things the strain you're probably has the ability to manipulate cyber space," Hiroto's fingers danced along the keyboard, eyes never leaving the data running down the screen, "I bet they weren't really thinking about hiding their tracks since it was pretty easy just finding where they changed stuff."
"What exactly are they changing?" Hidaka asks.
"One sec," Hiroto pulled out another file onto screen before sharing the file across the numerous screens in the lab. "I had initially thought they were gonna make use of the bank accounts these victims had but they were after other things instead." She added, "Honestly, I don't know what the strain is after but I can't recognise a pattern in any of the hackings. Each person that was hacked had nothing in common, well, that's what I believe."
"Tch."
Hiroto peered over her shoulder at the grumpy teen, "Anything you wanna add?"
With a frown in her direction, he shoved his hands into his pockets before exiting the room, followed by his confused subordinates. Hiroto watched them leave and sighed tiredly, shaking her head and returning back to scanning the rest of the data.
"Uh, Ichinose-san, was it really okay to just let them leave?" A worried employee asked beside her, glancing towards the door.
"Ah, well, I'm pretty sure they can figure things out on their own."
"Ichinose-san…"
"Izumo-san?"
Kusanagi smiled softly at her and she quickly bowed her head in acknowledgement. He approached her as she let the basket carrying her groceries sit on the floor. "How're you doing, Hiroto? Eatin' well?" He asked.
"Ah," she glanced around, "yeah."
Kusanagi took notice of her worried expression despite how much she tried to hide it. He waved his hand, "Don't worry 'bout it, I didn't bring the boys."
Hiroto paused and looked back at him, gaze softening at his reassurance and nodded. "Well, seein' as I caught you here, wanna talk? There's a couple of things I need to tell you." Kusanagi jerked his thumb towards the benches sitting outside of the store. Hiroto glanced at her watch before accepting his invitation. She pushed the basket to the side and followed the man out of the store, taking the seat beside him as they faced the busy street. Kusanagi pulled out a cigarette, lighting up before sucking in some air, "Azami-san seems to have been askin' around where he shouldn't be from what they've told me. Askin' around a circle of brokers in the area."
Hiroto's eyes widened in genuine shock, "He― Are you sure, Izumo-san?"
"Seein' as I myself am a broker this kinda information wouldn't escape my ears, Hiroto-chan."
Kusanagi watched as the girl slowly looked down at her hands, small hands shaking in what he believed to be utter shock mixed with a touch of fear. He turned to look back at the road, blowing out a cloud of smoke tiredly. "Izumo-san… I…" Her voice wavered quietly, telling Kusanagi all he needed to know.
He smiled at her, reaching over to pat her head.
"Don't worry 'bout a thing, Hiroto-chan."
"How can you be so sure?" She challenged.
He lightly chopped her head, "Azami-san has never been the type to back down after all."
"Huh?"
"Ah."
"Hiroto?! Hey―! Where the hell have you been?! You weren't answering my calls!"
"Right. Sorry about that. I've been a little busy nowadays."
"Tch. At least send a message back."
"I'll try next time."
"And what're you even doing here? Don't you have school or something?"
"…Well, not really."
"Wow, a day-off? That international school really does whatever it wants, huh."
"Never-mind that. Yata-kun, you should hurry before it gets dark."
"Hah? Whatever, girls are the ones that should be careful! I'll walk you―"
"Ah, don't worry. I'll head there myself."
"Hey―"
"Yata-kun, goodnight."
"Goodnight…?"
She met Awashima in the lobby of the female dorms, holding several letters in her hand. The woman turned to her with a pleasant smile on her face, "Welcome back. A letter came in for you." Hiroto narrowed her eyes at the envelope held out to her before giving the blonde a thanks. She checked the back and found the sender's name missing.
The black haired girl continued to eye the envelope in suspicion before tearing the side gently. She slipped the letter out, throwing the torn envelope into a nearby rubbish bin, flipping the paper open to read.
She almost stopped breathing as every word ran through her mind, every sentence and every paragraph paralysing her in her spot, right in front of her room. Her hands began to shake once again, this time in utter disbelief at the words on the page. Hiroto reminded herself to suck in more air as she looked up at her door, quickly turning the knob and shutting the door closed.
There was no way―
Impossible―
No―
It just didn't make any sense.
It was fake― Someone had to be playing tricks on her. In silent rage she crushed the paper in her fist before throwing it at the screen on her wall.
She was finished with him.
He ruined her and he expects her to actually care. Hilarious!
"Don't fuck around with me!" She screamed at scrunched up paper.
Her brother did not deserve her attention anymore.
a/n: wow k i updated guys. this has been sitting around for ages and i finally got to finishing it (since this chapter was like almost done but i just never finished it). thanks for all the reviews, i love hearing people's thoughts as well as predictions i love it!
sorry for not updating but here it is now ahahaha
