AN: I took artistic…or rather, authoristic liberties with this one. I tend to overanalyze, and thus I notice all of the little holes that aren't mentioned in the series. This little somewhat ooc rendition of Akiko spawned from the question of, 'Where's her mom?' This of course opened up a huge can of worms in my brain, (I know, disgusting right?), and thus forced me to come up with a comprehensive explanation, because the moment I realized that Akiko had, and probably still has, a mother, I wondered what would she be like, etc. I mean really, how would any woman feel if the father of her daughter was more interested in protecting a city than being with her?

and...there really aren't any words. My favorites list is fraught with fanfics that are never updated, even when the authors make promises. I've always thought 'well, I understand, but it's still depressing', and now I've joined their ranks. I have no idea why life has decided to do this to me, but let's just say...I'm seeing a therapist now.

Without further ado, here is the ridiculously overdue update! (it's also ridiculously long, does that make up for anything?) Plus, there's a bonus segment!

Disclaimer: Kamen Rider Double doesn't belong to me. I don't even own the DVDs, they're too expensive.

Spoilers: Episode 1 and Episode 2 That's all really. (There are a hell of a lot of smatterings of speculation that shouldn't be taken to heart in here as well.)

Detective

She's never been to a city with air that tasted so clean. There's an almost thematic surplus of wind chimes and pinwheels everywhere, and the breeze buffets her hair as she walks down the street. The gentle sounds all overlap into a subtle kind of music. She's traveled light, with nothing but a backpack that has only the necessities; tooth brush and tooth paste, shampoo and soap, some extra clothes, a hairbrush, a towel, a pair of new green slippers, and some other random things tucked inside and slung over one shoulder. Two children with school bags walk past her, a bounce to each of their steps.

"Good morning!" they chorus, and Akiko smiles at them.

"Good morning," she replies cheerfully as they trot onwards, presumably towards their school.

It's not a bad place at all, she decides, as she watches them go, it's wonderful even. She doesn't understand why her mother had seemed so adamant about her not coming here. The moment she had received the letter informing her that she was now officially in charge of her father's detective agency, her mother had reacted badly and had practically ordered Akiko not to go. Akiko understands for the most part, this city has always been a sore spot with her mother. Still, it's beautiful.

"I told him, 'That place has no opportunities, no options, and no future for Akiko. There aren't any reputable colleges there, not ones that will guarantee her a good job.' Do you know what he told me? He said 'Fuuto needs a protector.' That was it. He didn't even try to stay." Her mother folded her arms, letting out an unlady-like snort. "He was always too 'cool headed'. Not worth our time anyway." She returns her attention to Akiko. "Don't worry about him Akiko, mother will make sure you never have to see him again."

The most ironic thing about it is that Akiko never went to college anyway, so the point of it all seems a bit lost. Her mother stopped talking about Akiko's father, Fuuto, and really anything related to the divorce a while ago anyways.

Akiko can't help but look at the chiming shops and the smiling people, feeling lighter and peaceful. She wonders if her father was right to stay here

She dismisses the thought. He's a complete stranger to her, so she has no idea what to think about him, in the end. For her, managing her father's building is a potential job, and she wouldn't mind having one outside of serving okonomiyaki at their neighbor's restaurant. That's all. She'll be heading back home after it's been sorted out, and keep track of it from Oosaka. All she has to do is evict the invalid living there without apparent permission.

With this thought in mind, she stops before it, double checking it against her map. The faded sign reads 'Kamome Billiards'. There are more wind ornaments atop the single story building and overall, it's somewhat underwhelming.

"This is the place huh," she thinks aloud, walking up to the door. She notices there's another sign there, an old fashioned looking wooden plaque that reads 'Narumi Detective Agency' in finely printed kanji. Taped to the edge of this is an additional, partially shredded cardboard rectangle. "We'll solve any type of incident, Hard Boiled," she reads aloud.

Well that's weird.

As if on cue, she hears the rumble of a motorbike from behind her, coming to a stop.

She turns around, and is met with the sight of a young man, a few years older than her sitting astride a flashy looking green and black motorcycle. The paint shines, the gaudy shades apparent. He's wearing white striped shirt with a black vest, and red tie for some reason. He reaches down and takes up his hat from its resting place at his hip, and places it on his head carefully, with a deliberate amount of overworked class.

"Do you have some business with me?" he asks, a hand still touching the brim of his black Windscale fedora with one finger. He isn't old enough to act that serious, Akiko decides, and thinks about saying so. Instead, she asks him,

"What's 'hard boiled'?"

He just looks at her a moment, and then he blinks.

"You don't know?" he asks. Akiko scowls, placing her hands on her hips.

"Would I be asking you if I did?" He's not all that bright, even for a squatter. The man looks disgruntled, but he seems to regain his composure, adjusting his hat again.

"Well, come on inside then," he says. He opens the door, gesturing for her to follow him to the second floor.

The interior of the place, in Akiko's opinion, is relatively boring. Again, it looks too serious, too grown up. The man can't be more than five years older than her; it doesn't suit him. She looks around, taking note of the various hats hanging on the wall. A billiard table is against the wall with a dartboard hanging above it. The desk has an assortment of old fashioned things on top of it, including a typewriter and an ancient telephone. The man walks over to a glass paneled cabinet, opening it and drawing out a novel. The title is in English, which has never been her strong suit.

"Not being swayed, no matter the situation, it's a man-among-men lifestyle." He walks over to the desk chair and sits, swiveling around to face the wall. "That's 'Hard boiled'," he finishes, looking at her, solemn.

Oh well, she doesn't really care. She throws her jacket onto the desk, rummages through her backpack for the paper, and pulls it out triumphantly.

"Well, I'm evicting you, so pack up."

She's never actually seen someone choke on air before, but somehow he does it.

"What?" he demands, rising from his leather seat. Akiko scoffs.

"I'm the new landlady here. You're living here illegally and without permission. I'm kicking you out." The man snatches the registration paper from her, examining it thoroughly. He straightens, giving her a condescending look.

"Well well well, you're an ambitious middle school girl aren't you?" he remarks. "Unfortunately, I can't have you interfering with my work here." Akiko glares.

"I just came here from Osaka, and I already can tell that your 'work' isn't helpful at all, you're just a wannabe detective. And, for your information, I'm twenty years old."

The man stares, looking her over again.

"I don't believe you," he informs her. Akiko throws her hands up in the air.

"Well it's true. I'm Narumi Akiko, I'm the landlady, and you're going to leave, soon, now, go on, pack," she tells him, frustrated. She half expected him to go off on another tangent about detective work and being boiled, but instead, she got a wide eyed stare from him.

"Narumi? You're the boss's daughter?" he asks. There's an emotion in his voice that catches her attention, she can't tell exactly what it is.

"Yeah, I received notice that he's handing over the ownership of this place to me. I came over here to find out why, and to get rid of the squatter who's been hanging around without paying rent for several months," she says. While the man bristles, denying the title as squatter vehemently with his eyes before he calms down, looking away from her and glancing over to the wall with the assorted fedoras hanging off it.

"If you're looking for him…" he trails off. "He's not here."

"He's gone? Why?" she demands. "I didn't hear anything about him leaving."

"Well, he won't be returning for...a while." It sounds like there's something weighing down on his chest, or his throat.

"What do you mean-?" Akiko begins, but is interrupted by the door bell. The man seems perfectly happy with the distraction and goes to answer it. Not knowing what else to do, Akiko finds herself trailing after him.

"Sho-chan," Akiko hears from the door. It occurs to Akiko that the man hasn't actually introduced himself to her formally, she doesn't know his name yet.

"Marina?" the detective wannabe asks. Recognition solidifies. "Marina!"

The woman, Marina, is pretty, in a quiet, soft way that Akiko never had any hope of attaining. At first, Akiko thinks she's an old girl friend, because of how familiarly she addresses the detective, but after she watches the two of them talk for a few minutes, she changes her mind, especially when the woman, Marina, brings up her boyfriend's missing person case and 'Sho-chan' doesn't even blink. There really isn't anything there other than the comfortable familiarity.

Akiko silently bets that this Marina only came here because of that friendship. Otherwise, no one would come to this weird agency to ask this equally weird fedora wearing man for help.

Although, the utter conviction in his voice as he swears to Marina that he'll find her boyfriend, Yousuke, no matter what, makes her think otherwise, just a little bit.

So she tags along.

"Who are you anyways?" she asks, following him as he stops by another store, holding up the picture and making small talk with the owner. It's nearly ridiculous, how many people he seems to know in this city. Fuuto isn't too large, but it isn't tiny either. In spite of that, he acts as if he's talked with and knows everyone. Its like the city really is his backyard.

Upon hearing her question, he turns around, tracing a finger along the side of his hat, again.

"Hidari Shotaro," he says. "Private detective, protector of this city. Your father's one and only student."

"Huh," Akiko responds, deadpan and unimpressed. The idea of this overly dramatic Shotaro person spending time with, learning from, and talking to her father stirs up a tiny voice of jealousy deep in the back of her head, but she ignores it.

When he meets up with the police in the middle of a half collapsed tunnel that has a section of the fourth floor of a building crumpled in the middle of it, she has to rethink her opinion of him again. (Well, the seemingly random shouting match he had with that younger police detective fit in with her image of a detective wannabe idiot just fine, but everything else...) The casual way the senior police detective, 'Jin-san', greets Shotaro has Akiko pausing. They clearly know each other, they've worked together before. This senior police detective isn't trying to shoo Shotaro away, he isn't treating Shotaro like a civilian.

So maybe Shotaro isn't an amateur after all, she decides.

Shotaro carefully snaps some photographs, and both he and 'Jin-san' mention something, 'Dopant'. She tries to ask about it, but the two of them are either ignoring her, or they're too absorbed in their discussion to explain anything...which would also involve ignoring her.

Jin-san hands Shotaro info on the case, asking him for help, and it makes Akiko wonder. Has Shotaro really been that instrumental in solving cases? He acts more like he belongs in some cheesy television show, but this Jin-san person is acting as if Shotaro is reliable.

And she still hasn't been able to figure out what 'Dopant' is. She's been wracking her brain, she's never heard of it before.

Shotaro is talking to himself again, looking through the photographs that were in the file Jin-san had handed to him. It's getting kind of annoying, and he's still ignoring her.

So she pulls out one of her green slipper and smacks him across the head with it.

It makes a rather satisfying cracking sound.

"What the-? Ow!"

"Would you stop acting 'cool' and explain?" she demands. "What the heck is a Dopant?" Shotaro rubbed his head, looking at her incredulously.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that violence is wrong?"

Before Akiko can even begin to form a response to that, his phone rings. (a weird model, it looks like a stag beetle.)

"Phillip!" he says, sounding a little too relieved.

Phillip?

A foreign name, unfamiliar and seemingly out of the blue.

"Did you take a look at the picture I sent you?"

She hates listening to only half of a conversation. She leans in closer, trying hear. Shotaro catches on to her instantly, backing away, one arm stretched out in front of him as if to stave off her approach.

"I want to know about the culprit's abilities. Find out which Gaia Memory it is, okay?"

It's so annoying. What did any of that mean?

And then Shotaro stops moving.

"Ah. Never mind."

Akiko falters, perplexed. This Phillip person seems to think the same, to some extent, because Shotaro answers her question of 'why?'

"Because he's here in person, right in front of my eyes."

And this is the point when Akiko realizes that Shotaro's wary gaze is directed some place behind her, towards the tunnel, and she whirls around time to see a, well, a monster, some parts of it a charcoal like darkened crust, glowing orange underneath through the cracks, the air around it shimmering from the heat.

"The Gaia Memory is Magma," Shotaro finishes, and then he's grabbing hold of Akiko's arm, telling her to run.

Somehow, Shotaro has all the gadgets of a tv show special agent, because they're now hanging from a building from a tether connected to his watch, the reeling mechanism lowering them down to the ground slowly. The concrete down below is still glowing, scarred forever.

"What was that thing?" Akiko is breathless. "Just what is up with this town?"

"I told you, if you value your life, you should go back home," Shotaro says sounding almost smug.

So annoying. Akiko decides the ground is close enough, and elbows her very much not so gallant idiot detective rescuer in the stomach, dropping down, narrowly missing a patch of scorched pavement. Ignoring his shouts of protest, she takes off running, back to the detective agency.

She is officially done with being nice.

Not that she had come with the intention of being nice in the first place anyways, but that's besides the point. She is pissed, she's going to kick the stupid detective out, and she's now dumping all of his belongings into boxes.

It occurs to her that she is now doing his packing for him, but the thought of being able to boot him out sooner than later is more attractive than the thought of making him do it himself. He can worry about the condition of his stupid wall pictures and fedoras later-

And that section of wall is actually a door.

She pauses, looking it over. It's rather unassuming, with all the hats on it, it doesn't look like anything other than a hat display in an alcove in the wall. The knob is subtly placed. She prods it, and decides that nothing, not even the unspoken moral code of privacy will stop her from satisfying her curiosity now. And besides, she's the landlady, privacy does not exist for the people living in her building.

So she throws the door open.

Inside is what looks like a garage, yellow railings, elevated metal grate floors, and walls covered with white boards writing scrawled across each one, everything illuminated by a slightly blue tinted light. Muttering echoes throughout the entire room, a male voice, soft and quiet.

"...volcanoes erupt frequently within Japan due to more aggressive interaction between the tectonic plates, number of intersecting fault lines is..."

More squeaking noises, of dry erase marker against white board. Footsteps, metallic, pacing back and forth. The radio is on as well.

He looks closer to her age than Shotaro does anyways, but more slender. His clothes are completely different too, they certainly look more comfortable than the button down shirt, tie and vest combination Shotaro is sporting, part of his hair is pinned back with barrettes. He's busily flipping through a book, reading aloud from it no doubt.

"Um, excuse me?" Akiko asks.

He stops muttering, stops writing, and turns towards her. His eyes scan over her for a couple of seconds.

Then he turns back to the white boards, writing again.

"Would you mind not interrupting me?" The request is too straightforward to be polite, but his tone of voice is too bland to be rude. It's somewhere in between, Akiko is puzzled.

"Huh?"

"'Silicon dioxide' gives rise to 150,870 corresponding results," he murmurs. "Of those, I have finished reading 142,650..."

She has now met two people today who seem to enjoy talking to themselves. At least Shotaro is easier to understand though.

It's then that Akiko notices that the book he's 'reading' from, is completely blank.

Blank.

She tries to make sense of it, and quickly decides that she really can't.

"Hey, could it be that you're Phillip?" she calls instead. He doesn't stop writing this time. "That wannabe detective's partner?"

"Narumi Akiko," he replies, still scrawling out some other statistics.

"Eh?"

Now he's walking over to another whiteboard that has more space on it to write.

"I have read through all of the information relating to you. Nothing of interest." He pauses, before stepping up onto a stool in order to reach on of the higher white boards. "Hurry up and return to that Osaka or whatever city."

"Whatever?" Akiko echoes. "You don't know about Osaka?" She supposes that's not any stranger than a big magma monster, but still. She ponders it. "I mean, at the very least, it's more well known than Fuuto. Like, takoyaki, and-"

He freezes.

Phillip has rewritten the contents of nearly all the white boards, babbling about takoyaki, it's origins, it's rise in popularity, the percentages of annual sales, and Akiko can't follow anything else. Three quarters of the words that spill from Phillip's mouth make absolutely no sense to her. Some of it is in a foreign language. She has no idea how on earth he could know so much about takoyaki, and yet it sounds as if he's learning all of this for the first time. He paces, walking between the white boards as if possessed, scribbling and muttering and there is something seriously off about this guy.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

She's almost happy to hear Shotaro's voice, at least now she can turn to him for help in the face of this, this weirdness.

"Ah, Shotaro," Phillip exclaims, cheerfully. "This girl is amazing. It's a fascinating new subject." He turns, looking both eager and childish. "You have'nt heard of it have you, this food called 'takoyaki!"

Shotaro is staring blankly. Then he turns, looking at the walls.

"Takoyaki. Kobe. Broth. There are 3,543,280 search results," Phillip continues, as if he's reading off the figures from his empty book. "A novel way of eating."

And now Shotaro's gaze snaps back to Akiko.

"Now you've done it," he says indignantly. "You've gone and sidetracked him!"

"What's up with this guy?" she almost wails. She's tried to stop him and talk to him at least five times now, but nothing seems to work. She's hesitant to smack him across the head with her slipper, mainly because it's hardly warranted, and- "I just mentioned takoyaki, that's all, and then he just," she trails off, gesturing to the room. There's really no other way to describe it, considering she has absolutely no idea what is going on.

Shotaro makes a frustrated noise, turning away.

"We can't follow up on this Dopant case if he's researching takoyaki instead."

He isn't placing any of the blame on Phillip, as if it's some fact of life and is perfectly normal. Akiko would very much like to ask him about this brand of 'normal', but she decides to let that slide for now.

"There's that word again, Dopant," she prods him in the chest irritably. "Will you just tell me what it is already?"

And of course it all makes sense, really. Flashdrives. This city has magic- well, Gaia Memory flashdrives in it, ones that people can use to transform into monsters. She can't exactly laugh at it and tell him how ridiculous that is, because, as he points out, she's seen it herself, but still...

Now Akiko is wondering if her mother knew about this. Maybe this is the reason why her mother hates Fuuto so much. It would make sense. Because it's really weird.

"...akashiyaki? Kobe takoyaki? Tamago yaki? Comparisons drawn between..."

and Phillip is still 'researching'.

Shotaro lets out a long, suffering sigh, and sits down in a chair.

"Wait, if there's such a dangerous guy running around town, then why-."

"There's no helping it when he's like this," Shotaro says tiredly. Phillip wanders over to another white board and adds another line of information, with various dates and there's actually as recipe somewhere, plotted out in diagram form step by step. "We'll just have to wait it out."

Apparently Shotaro has had to 'wait it out' many times, because he has the blankets, the pillows, and a couch sitting right there off to the side.

It's morning when Phillip snaps his book shut and turns to Shotaro, not looking worse for wear at all for some odd (and slightly infuriating) reason.

"I've researched everything about takoyaki." Akiko wonders if coffee runs through Phillip's veins. There is no other explanation for how awake he looks right now. His voice isn't even hoarse, which is a feat in and of itself considering how he'd been talking to himself nonstop for hours.

Akiko blinks the sleep out of her eyes, feeling a crick in her neck out tenderly with her hand. Shotaro looks somewhat tired, but otherwise seems to have taken the somewhat sleepless night in stride.

"All right. Hurry up and go back to the Library," he yawns. Phillip nods, not seeming to realize that he's kept the both of them waiting all night and then some. Akiko is starting to suspect that he doesn't comprehend that it's a bad thing.

And then Phillip stands, settling into perfect posture, feet together. He drops the dry erase marker, still holding onto the book in one hand, his other sweeps outwards. His eyes are closed.

"Starting look up," Phillip says, eyes still closed, completely motionless. "The Memory is: Magma."

"Wha-" she tries to ask. Shotaro shushes her.

Considering what happened the last time she said something in Phillip's presence without thinking, she decides to listen to Shotaro this time. Shotaro walks over to Phillip.

"I want to know where he's going to attack next," he says, circling around his stationary partner. "The first keyword is 'Togawa Yosuke'."

A moment passes.

"That cut down a lot of the results."

"Well, it's because it's a person," Shotaro remarks. "The second keyword is 'Windscale', the company he was fired from." He takes up the series of photographs from the file he'd received from Jin-san. "Next, this series of characters: WS-09K-097T."

Another pause.

"Entering the tag's product number. Good idea," Phillip says. He's flipping through the pages of his empty book again.

At some point, Akiko missed the opportunity to ask 'What the hell is going on here', because now Shotaro is running out, to this 'Windscale Kazetani branch'. He says 'Let's go, Phillip' as if they're going together even though Phillip doesn't move at all, doesn't even take a step towards the door.

"You're not going?" Akiko asks. Phillip smiles at her.

"I am. The two of us are one detective after all."

And of course, that meant that Phillip was going to just stand there, leaning against the wall, 'reading'.

Akiko has settled down, made herself comfortable, and started munching on the rice crackers she'd brought with her for the trip. Nothing else to do anyways, and she's hesitant to ask Phillip any more questions, in case he has another manic researching episode.

She looks up when he starts chuckling, in time to see a belt materialize around his waist, out of thin air. (She's wondering when she'll reach the point when she won't be surprised anymore.)

Then Phillip raises his arm, a green- a Gaia Memory(?) held between his fingers.

(Apparently, that point isn't coming anytime soon.)

He slots the flashdrive-Memory, into the belt. Akiko watches, her eyes riveted to him. But...

nothing happens.

Then he topples over, slamming into the floor in a dead faint.

She doesn't move for a moment, blinking, before she remembers herself and hurries down, calling

"Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Obviously, she gets no response, but it's worth a shot, how else is she supposed to figure out why he's passed out in the first place? She kneels beside him, pats him on the shoulder, shakes him, pokes him. Nothing. Eventually, she resorts to fanning him. Either this boy has an incredibly frail constitution, which she highly doubts, after seeing him do nothing but research and pace around for hours and hours, or there's more weirdness going on.

And then the walls start to close in, literally, and Akiko is inside a tank.

She's got several bumps and bruises from being tossed around inside it, with a half green half black monster battling the orange magma monster-Dopant, and then a giant walking T-rex head, displayed on the screen inside the death trap of a vehicle.

If she were a lesser person, she'd throw up her hands and yell that this city is not worth all this trouble. She doesn't mean it anyways, but she would very much like to get a proper explanation sooner than later.

So yes, Akiko is ruffled and bothered, and yes, she's demanding an explanation of the weird tank and the half and half monster. Phillip is standing off to the side, 'reading' still, and Shotaro is looking severely miffed at her rantings, the radio is playing in the background.

"'Half and half monster' you say," he repeats, taking offense. "That isn't a monster, it's Double."

And that definitely illuminates everything, of course it does, really, everything's so clear now except for the fact that it isn't. And is he getting all ruffled and defensive about it anyways? But before she can ask anything else, Shotaro strides over to the radio, cranking the volume up higher.

Togawa Yousuke, Marina's boyfriend, is dead.

Phillip is unfazed, remarking in a bland voice that it seems like an accomplice with a different memory silenced him.

Shotaro is quiet for a moment, before he picks up the phone and dials.

Akiko tries to imagine what it would be like to tell your childhood friend that her boyfriend has been found dead, the boyfriend that you had promised to find for her, and finds that she can't.

Shotaro comes back from investigating another lead with a bloodied lip, and a bruised cheek bone, waving off Akiko's questions, muttering something about getting ambushed and then he's asking Phillip to go back into the Library.

Which, apparently is a source of data about every single thing on the planet, which is all inside Phillip's mind, according to Shotaro.

Keywords: Windscale, Feather, and Woman.

Akiko wonders if having all that information in his head is the reason why Phillip can write out Marina's name without even reacting, without changing his expression. He writes out the name of Shotaro's childhood friend just like any fact, any line of numbers. It doesn't seem to make any difference to him.

Facts come together, and really, when they put it all together, it makes so much sense, it seems so obvious, even if it is unfair.

"Shall I predict what happens next?" Phillip inquires, replacing the cap on his dry erase marker, turning away from the white board. "You will act under your naive presumptions, and the evil criminal will try to kill you."

It makes sense. It does. It makes sense to Shotaro too, Akiko can see the grimace that flickers across the detective's face.

"She is completely under the influence of the Gaia Memory. She may even start to devour you," Phillip remarks, seeming almost amused.

Granted, Akiko can't feel very sympathetic, because Marina has already killed a man, but-

"Even so, I still want to believe in her," Shotaro says, defiant.

"The only proper course of action is to finish her," Phillip replies.

Shotaro shifts, exhaling.

"Well, looks like we're of different opinions then," he says, lightly, obviously trying to play the seriousness of it down, something that Phillip either ignores, or doesn't pick up on.

"It's strange," he persists. "'A man of iron who acts without being swayed by his emotions', isn't that the 'hard-boiled' style you so favor?" He turns away, dismissively. "It would seem you are more akin to a undercooked egg. 'Half-boiled'."

Akiko can see it happening, even if Phillip only turns around in time just to see the punch. It sends him staggering backwards into the desk.

Shotaro takes out the three flash drives, purple, steel, and blue - (he has Gaia Memories on him too?) from his vest, and slams them down onto the desk beside Phillip. Then he walks out, without a word.

Akiko watches him leave. Once the door shuts behind him, she turns back to Phillip who gets back to his feet slowly, touching a hand to his face, looking perplexed.

"Are you okay?" she asks, hurrying over to him. Phillip, his fingers still prodding the soon to be bruise, looks at her.

"Mm, I am all right."

Watching him, it occurs to Akiko that this person has absolutely no idea that what he just said was upsetting.

Does that even count as being insensitive if he doesn't understand?

She doesn't stay to answer her own question. She follows after Shotaro instead.

Which is a bad idea, and she's made painfully aware of this when all the explosions and such begin, but she can hardly be blamed for being concerned, can she?

This is when she sees the T-Rex Dopant, Marina, for the first time, and the initial thought that cross her mind is

Oh wow, she really could eat us.

and the homicidal woman even says as much. In a very creepy way. Before letting out a roar that Akiko swears nearly ruptures her ear drums. It certainly is powerful enough to shake the foundations of the buildings around them, strong enough to knock loose some debris that are about to crush Shotaro and-

That same tank comes barreling past Akiko, screeching across the street, and ramming the chunks of potentially lethal building before skidding to a stop beside Shotaro. The hatch opens, and Phillip climbs out, making his way over to Shotaro, who, still kneeling on the ground, looks in the other direction, wincing.

"What is it now?" he asks, not sounding exactly sulky, but Akiko can't think of any other word that fits.

"I did quite a bit of thinking, and I still couldn't find an answer," Phillip replies. "Why did you hit me?" He comes to a stop in front of Shotaro, and extends his hand.

Shotaro looks up at him, and then he gives an almost fondly exasperated sigh, before he takes the hand, allowing Phillip to help him to his feet.

-and just like that, they've made up. Either it's a guy thing, or it's a detective thing. It doesn't really matter, Akiko can't help but feel happy for them.

and then the two of them transform into the half and half monster- Double. Phillip crumples to the ground, and then Shotaro transforms, only, it's also Phillip, because Phillip, as Double, asks Akiko to take care of his body, but it's Shotaro, because-

She gives up. Common sense is kicked out the window, and she just, goes with it.

...She'll have to make a new sign for the detective agency though.

B is for Bonus drabble and:

Blame

After Narumi Sokichi died, Shotaro is the one to call his wife to tell her.

She doesn't take it well.

Shotaro can hardly argue with her, so he just stands there, alone in the detective agency with the phone pressed to his ear, eyes staring dead ahead as he listens to her scream at him about how he doesn't deserve any of what her husband has given him, that Sokichi isn't and never was his father, just because Narumi Sokichi had left all of his money to Shotaro doesn't make Shotaro anything more than some upstart wannabe detective, freeloading, ungrateful. She shrieks that it's Shotaro's fault that her husband had died.

Shotaro vaguely wonders-

How did you know?

Because it's true.

She calls again, on the wedding anniversary. She has calmed down considerably, but she isn't any less bitter. She repeats many of the things she had said before, but this time her words are more coherent, more organized, and the points she makes seem sharper and they sting a lot more.

Somehow, the phone line gets disconnected on Shotaro's birthday. It's the first time Phillip has ever gone out of his way to do something like that on Shotaro's behalf. It's the first time Phillip has ever gone out of his way to do anything, in fact. It would have made Shotaro much happier if he weren't busy trying not to remember all the birthdays that his teacher had celebrated with him, quietly, in a manly, gruff way, but there had always been a hand on his shoulder, and a smile.

none of that now, never again, and all that's left is silence, and Phillip. Phillip who watches him with eyes that don't comprehend the emotions, but they understand the facts.

That's why, Phillip doesn't offer any comfort, but he does get rid of the phone.

And then, one day, after Akiko's settled in, the phone rings again, and Shotaro's been expecting it. Phillip is in the garage, studying the anatomy of the chameleon.

But Akiko isn't, and Akiko is the one to answer it, before Shotaro can move. He sits completely still, eyes widened, hand still partially outstretched. Akiko is oblivious.

"Hello, this is Narumi Detective Agency, how can I-. Mom!"

there's a pause.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm the landlady here now, mom. I've got responsibilities," she says.

another pause.

"What?" now Akiko's sounding annoyed. "He left it for me, I'm not going to just get rid of it." Shotaro tries not the lean forwards, and he does his best to try and pretend that he's not listening, even picks up a book and opens it to a random page, but he strains his ears all the same, trying to hear.

He can't make out the words, but her mother sounds angry.

"Mom," Akiko interrupts, brow furrowed. "You're overreacting-. What?"

More shouting. Akiko looks perplexed, and Shotaro catches her looking over to him for a second, a gaze that Shotaro does not meet, and makes an admirable show of looking engrossed in the novel he's chosen as his camouflage. Akiko turns away again, keeping her eyes fixed on the wall, and makes several noises of placation, agreement, trying to get another word in, but the volume of her mother's voice increases. Akiko starts drumming her fingers on Shotaro's-, his teacher's desk. She's looking more and more irritated.

Finally, she's gritting her teeth, she kicks the desk. Normally, Shotaro would protest at this abuse, and indeed, he opens his mouth to object, but Akiko's yelling now, huffing and irritable.

"Mom, he may seem like an idiot, but he's a good detective, he's trying his best, he's saving lives, and he's a good person. I'm not going to kick him out just because you said so!"

and with that, she slams the phone down, making a frustrated noise.

Shotaro flips a page, as casually as he can, and clears his throat.

"That, uh, what was that about?" he asks, and his voice wavers, crap. He slumps his shoulders a little, but still can't seem to look at his 'landlady'.

"That...was my mom," Akiko responds, sounding just as uncertain as him. "Um, well, she's-, Fuuto's a sore spot for her, so... She's just being ridiculous."

Finally, Shotaro plucks up the resolve to look at her.

Her arms are folded across her chest, and her face is pink.

"And your book is upside down," she mutters, before stomping out of the room.

and so it is, and was, and damn it he's not doing so well with the hard boiled thing today but-

He allows himself a smile.

and Akiko's mother doesn't call back again.