Changed the summary so it was comparatively more immediate and relevant to chapter one.

I also have a tumblr blog for my fanfics now, too. It contains further information that might cater to your interests, and if you have the time, I'd love to hear from you – your theories, your thoughts, everything. Not that you can't leave them here. If you're curious, the link is on my profile. :)

Beta-read by The 17th Chimera.


Chapter Nine:

The last major earthquake in Neo Domino City occurred four years ago.

From then to the present day, the rate of recovery was tremendous. A skyline that had been a junkyard, a scattered puzzle set with pieces that once consisted of the skyscrapers before, was now a jungle of glass and steel trees reaching toward the sun. No trace of the original destruction remained – not in the Central Hub, the business centre of the opulent metropolis.

Kotori knew Cathy Beaumont. A poorly photocopied article about her had been handed across in a sheaf of other articles intended for disposal, during her first weeks working at Net News. It spoke of how Cathy, at the age of fifteen, the daughter of an incredibly successful billionaire property tycoon, borrowed ten million yen from her father with the intent of building her own empire.

Which led to the question; how exactly did Yuma fit into the life of such a person – a person who was so extraordinary, yet found the ability to welcome a stranger into her home all for the search of a missing friend?

Behind Kotori, the door clicked open. She turned around, and her breath hitched; there was no doubt. No doubt as to the newcomer's identity at all.

Yuma.

There must have been a part of her expecting the Yuma from five years ago. There was something wrong, something beyond wrong at his appearance; at the features once soft now well-defined, at the tense yet weary lines in his stance as he looked about the corridor. Then he spotted her, and he narrowed his eyes—

—and those red irises – once bright and filled with life, the only thing she looked forward to some days – now appeared darker as if they themselves changed colour, and there was a dangerous aura that couldn't have been present but was.

"Akari sent you, didn't she?" he snapped, not even giving her a chance to speak.

Kotori resisted the urge to defend herself; it wasn't the time. "Yuma—"

"Save it," he said, turning to leave. "I don't care."

"Yuma."

He stopped, though he didn't turn around. Spurned, Kotori continued. "Why won't you come back?"

"...I have university courses I have to finish first."

She blinked. "University? What—you left with nothing, how can you go to university?"

"Kotori," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets and stepping around to face her. His expression was acquiescent, and his fatigue never looked stronger. "Do you have anything to say, or should I go and get on with my work?"

Hesitation. Then; "...Why, Yuma?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing this? Don't you know how upset your grandma was when you left all of a sudden and came here on your own—what happened?"

"What makes you think something happened?"

"Don't change the subject. I've been with you for years, I can help you if you let me understand—"

"Shut up! You'll never understand."

"That's not true. I can help."

"If you mean help by walking out on me again."

Kotori took half a step back, close enough to the window behind her that she felt glass pressed against her fingers. "I never—"

"You did, Kotori!" cried Yuma, his eyes now a blazing inferno, and the raising of his voice more involuntary than defined. "I told you, I told you, and you didn't believe me!"

"You—" she gasped; "You're still hung up on 'Astral'?"

Whatever Yuma had been about to reply, he was cut off as soon as he opened his mouth by the sound of another voice talking. "Is everything alright, I heard shouting—"

Cathy's words stopped as soon as she turned the corner and spotted the two.

"Oh," said Cathy. Then she strode forward and placed a hand on Yuma's shoulder before resting her head atop it, and he tensed briefly before relaxing – far more relaxed than he'd been when he'd walked through the door. "You were yelling, is everything alright?"

"Why is she here?" he asked.

The creature slumbering in Kotori's mind gnashed razor-bladed teeth at how her childhood friend neglected to mention her by name, even delivering the question so there was only one intended target despite the amount of effort she put in to tracking him down.

Cathy didn't notice, moving her arms so she was draped over him from behind. "I found her in the foyer looking for you, so I asked if she wanted to come in."

"What gave you that idea?"

"You're friends, right?"

Yuma sent Cathy a look out the corner of his eye. "I told you. Not anymore."

"Looks like I was mistaken," said Cathy. "Then," she added, as she detached herself from Yuma's form and smoothed out her elegant black dress, "I'm sorry for troubling you, Miss Mizuki."

Kotori didn't answer; she was still staring at Yuma, her mind processing words that couldn't have been exchanged.

They weren't friends.

Not anymore.

"Not... anymore?" she whispered. "Yuma, what are you—"

The next few moments happened so quickly they could only be comprehend after they passed.

Yuma's eyes had flashed at something beyond her head, and he'd run forward to push her aside, shouting a rapid "Get down!".

As she'd stumbled and fallen, rammed by the force of his blow, she could barely see a look of distress on his features as he unlocked the latch keeping the window closed and pushed it open, a gust of cold air entering as he did so.

Not even a second later, an object hurtled through, directly through where she was once standing, and Yuma closed and locked the window again.

Then the object unfurled; a tall man rose to his feet. The tailored grey trenchcoat, highlighting a heavyset torso; the powerful shoulders, where an ivory-coloured electronic backpack was wrapped firmly around; and the sinister glare when he glanced toward Yuma standing a metre away, that she could feel as if she were the target of the gaze herself—

—everything about the man was unfamiliar. He was not the kind of everyday person that would be passed in the street; heavy boots and fingerless gloves and a punkish hairstyle swept to a point only affirmed the thought the man wasn't on the right side of the footpath. A punk, a delinquent, or even a gangster.

She never met him before – and could bet that neither Akari nor the rest of his family did either.

In the instant that Kotori glanced toward Cathy, to gauge her reaction to the man's appearance, the man spoke.

"I will be leaving, Tsukumo."

"What—?" exclaimed Yuma, and there was a genuine element of astonished disbelief, so much emotional stability in his voice that hadn't been present when he'd spoken to her, his childhood friend; disbelief all because of the strange, foreign man. "But Kaito—"

"I am leaving. I can no longer trust the Prince's life in your hands; I will find the answer on my own."

Yuma stepped forward. "I can still help." When there was no answer, he continued. "Let me help you, I can still..."

"This is Master Kaito's decision, Tonma," said the backpack—an AI robot?

The man called Kaito didn't react. "Quiet, Orbital-7."

"Understood."

There was a click as one of the utility boxes affixed to the grey trenchcoat was opened, then Kaito threw a folded envelope in Yuma's direction. Yuma caught it easily, and when he unfolded it his eyes widened in... fear?

"This..." he muttered.

"If you insist on helping, you may help this way," said Kaito. "Until then." He turned and bowed stiffly in Cathy's direction, adding, "thank you for your hospitality."

"You're leaving," asked Cathy, and Kotori was startled at the level of seriousness in that search for confirmation.

Kaito nodded. Then, walking toward the window – and Kotori shuffled out of the way without being told, watching Yuma do the same – the man unlocked it, slid it open, before stepping up to the ledge and leaping outside. Rather than landing on the emergency stairs Kotori spotted earlier, the AI robot transformed into a great gilder and he soared away into the distance, lifted by heat currents reflected from the ground.

"...I'm going to my room," said Yuma, before either of the two women had a chance to speak, still staring at the envelope in his hands. "Cathy... Kotori."

As Yuma trudged away without waiting for an answer, Kotori's eyes trailed along his path down the corridor and around the corner...

...and passing an equally silent Cathy as he did so.

Cathy and Kaito. Both people she'd never met, but Yuma somehow befriended despite them being on opposite ends of the spectrum.

"Miss Mizuki?"

Kotori blinked, and turned to Cathy. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry that your reunion didn't turn out the way it should have been," said Cathy. "If I had known, I wouldn't have done anything."

"It's alright," said Kotori, though the creature in her mind growled and snapped as it recalled the purposefully indecent interaction between the two and demanded to know how sorry Cathy truly was. "I didn't mean to intrude."

"Do you have somewhere to stay?"

"A-ah..."

"If not, I wouldn't mind if you took one of my rooms for the night." Cathy smiled, so genuine that the creature was silenced in an instant. "Consider it an apology."

"Alright," Kotori replied, and bowed. "Thank you very much."


When Kotori woke up the next day, Yuma was gone.

There had been no message, no letter, nor any indication other than the closed trapdoor. Kotori had woken up, wandered to the kitchen for some water, only to find Cathy sitting at the counter wearing nothing but a fluffy white robe with hair unclipped and falling in disarray. A steaming cup of milk sat in her hands, something she spent longer nursing than actively drinking.

"He left," she said simply, leaving Kotori as to no doubts on the subject's identity.

Even so, she voiced it out loud for confirmation. "Yuma?"

"Right, nyan." The nyan was tired, tacked on as an afterthought.

"What?" asked Kotori. "Why?"

"I don't know."

"Did he say when he would return?"

"No."

"When does he normally get back?"

"...Miss Mizuki," said Cathy, as she turned to look in Kotori's direction. "He didn't go out. He left."

"L—Left...?"

"He had his bag packed and everything," continued Cathy, looking down at her milk again. "He probably isn't coming back."

"Then do you know where he is?"

Cathy shrugged. "Who knows. How did you sleep?"

"A-ah, alright," said Kotori, thrown by the change in topic. "The building is really nice."

"Really? I'm glad you think so. Minet Towers were my first—they could use some improvement, but they're sentimental."

"I see..." Briefly, Kotori trailed off, then a thought occurred. "Could I ask you something, Miss Beaumont?"

"That depends," said Cathy, and she finally drank a little of her milk. "You can ask, but I might not answer."

"...ah. Of course."

"What is it?"

"Well, I was wondering—did Yuma mention me while he was here?"

"Hmm~" Cathy purred, as the question was mulled over. Then she gestured to the empty stool beside her. "Sit, sit, it's a little awkward with you standing."

As Kotori did so, somewhat uncomfortable amidst the red and white checkerboard walls, at the kitchen counter with all the atmosphere of a confessional, Cathy downed a little more milk as if it were something far stronger and sighed.

"I'd hate to disappoint you," she began, and as always that phrase had a certain mechanical rhyme to Kotori's ears – the kind of sentence said only to mark the worst yet never echoing its intended meaning, "but he barely talked about you at all."

"Oh."

"Don't get me wrong. It wasn't that he didn't talk about you. He just didn't do it often."

"What... do you mean?"

"Miss Mizuki, you didn't have to come all the way out here to try and help him. You're a good friend. I still don't know the full story, but... I think – have you heard that 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'? – I think that's where you two fell through."

Kotori wanted to ask her more, but Cathy rose to her feet and finished the rest of her drink.

"I'm sorry I can't stay longer, I have business to attend to," she said, and placed the empty mug into the sink for later. "Do you need to stay another night?"

"No, it's fine. I sorted things out last night. Um, Miss Beaumont?"

"Cathy. Please."

"Cathy... would you have any idea of where Yuma could be?"

For a moment, Cathy paused, tapping her lower lip. Then she smiled. "Maybe you could try Neo Domino University, I think he mentioned it a while ago."

Kotori bowed, the two women exchanged their thanks, and – with a bottle of water in hand, insisted upon once she remembered her reason for entering the kitchen – she left the house with her luggage trailing behind, intent on leaving it with Fuya in his suite until she returned from her next destination.


She'd asked the main offices, been told that no personal information could be disclosed, spent the better part of an hour walking around the buildings and grounds, but Yuma was nowhere to be found.

For her efforts, she did gain an encounter worth the time spent searching.

"Kotori?"

The voice was more familiar than Fuya's had been, though called from further away in comparison, and she couldn't help but think of how it was the fourth time in two days that someone had recognized her before she recognized them. She turned around, then did a double-take.

"Tetsuo!" she exclaimed, hurrying toward him.

Takeda Tetsuo's unmistakable build remained the same as she remembered it; no longer round as it had been in his teenage years but, through fitness, controlled into a sturdy frame. A game of soccer was underway behind him, none of the players marked into teams though their tactics showed there were two teams on the field, and it was a game Tetsuo departed from with one or two catcalls left in his wake.

"Sorry about that," he muttered once he reached her, scratching the back of his neck. "What are you doing here? I thought you were doing an internship back in Heartland."

"I am," she said. "I'm actually looking for Yuma, Akari and Grandma Haru've been really concerned. Have you seen him?"

"Not today," Tetsuo replied, apologetic. "Though if anyone would know, it's Todoroki."

She blinked. "Todoroki? As in Takashi?"

"Yeah. They do Engineering Advanced together."

"Engineering? Was... was Yuma interested in that before?"

"If he was, he never showed it," replied Tetsuo, a little quickly. The reason became obvious; he lifted an arm and took a step forward, before calling out, "hey, Todoroki! Todoroki!"

As what had to have been an older version of Todoroki stopped in his tracks before jerking in surprise, Kotori wondered how she missed the blue hairstyle that could have been cut from one of their old school photos and pasted into the future. Todoroki adjusted the strap of his bookbag and ran toward the two.

"Tetsuo," he greeted, "and is it... Miss Mizuki?"

Kotori nodded. "Did you just finish class?"

"No, I was in the library. What brings you here?"

"She's looking for Yuma," said Tetsuo. "You seen him?"

"We don't have class until Thursday," said Todoroki, apologetically. "Why?"

"We've been worried about him back in Heartland," answered Kotori.

Todoroki frowned. "Ah."

"...Ah?"

"I've had a bad feeling for a while. Believe me, Kotori. He isn't who you think he is, or who you want him to be. He's been hanging with the wrong crowd – in summation, there's nothing you can do."

"The wrong crowd..." said Kotori. "Do you mean that man called Kaito?"

"Kaito?" asked Tetsuo, glancing across to Todoroki. "Do you know?"

"It wouldn't be any Kaito I'm familiar with, no," came the answer. "But I don't know Yuma very well at all; actually, I was referring to a new roommate of his, Ryoga Kamishiro."

Kotori's mouth moved without her realization. "Kami... shiro?"

The name itself was maleficent, whether the kami stood for god or paper or anything more, flowing off the tongue like icy needles in a biting snowstorm.

"I overheard him saying he went to South Heartland College," Todoroki continued. "You should be careful."

"R—Right."

The three of them continued standing for a few awkward moments, not sure what to add to the conversation. Todoroki must have sensed her distress, as he began to talk again.

"You must remember to analyse this logically, Miss Mizuki," he said. "It is completely possible that Yuma only came into contact with these two men recently. Did you see him interact with either of them?"

Kotori nodded.

"Then," and here Todoroki lifted a finger to emphasise his point, "it is only an issue of analysing how they interacted. It is simple from there to summate the level of influence these people have had on Yuma's wellbeing."

"I can still help." Desperation. "Let me help you, I can still..."

"Does this help at all, Miss Mizuki?"

"Y-Yes," said Kotori, nodding slowly. "I should—I should go. I... have a flight to catch."

Tetsuo nodded in return, though his expression remained grim. "Sorry about everything, Kotori. Thanks for dropping by."

"I'm glad," added Todoroki, "that I could be of service."


In a dining room fit for twenty, the two remaining residents left on the tenth floor sat on either side of the grand, sturdy table, facing one another. They were not eating – in fact, nothing sat before them other than a glass of chilled milk and a glass of water, the two merely knowing such a meeting was inevitable and needed to be resolved.

"There's something I've been wondering for a while," said Ryoga, looking across idly.

"Oh?" prompted Cathy.

"There are too many coincidences around you."

"Really? Of what sort?"

"Too many to be an accident."

Cathy shrugged. "Accidents all happen by chance."

"And if there is no chance?"

Briefly, Cathy frowned. Ryoga continued.

"You are never present when Tsukumo, I or Tenjo were together and discussing. If you would be, you always made an excuse to leave."

"Are you bugging my house?"

"No."

"Then how are you so sure?"

"Tsukumo has no classes on today, yet you suggested Neo Domino University. And with his income completely relying upon yourself, there are no benefits to his leaving, nor means for him to do so. He would have needed to go through you in order to leave at all."

There was no response at first, and though Cathy had a hand over her eyes and the other clenched into a fist on the tabletop, she didn't give any indication of responding further.

Then, she said: "You realize you're challenging me at business, Kamishiro." Ryoga remained silent, especially at the formal designation of his name, and she slowly lifted her head to face him, eyes clouded. "Are you going to continue?"

"Personal is personal," answered Ryoga. "If it is not personal, it is business. There's a difference."

"There's no difference," Cathy shot back. "And now, you have your business."

Ryoga nodded stiffly. He hadn't gone in looking for sympathy.

"You still haven't addressed my point, Kamishiro," added Cathy. "How is this all related?"

"Everything links back to you."

"Only circumstantial."

"I certainly haven't been in every meeting and checked for your presence, but from those I know and those I've heard secondhand information on, there emerges a pattern that links back to you. What I want is simple: I have reason to believe you know about what Tsukumo is doing, and I want to know."

Cathy watched him for a moment, one finger tapping at her bottom lip. Then she shook her head, faintly amused.

"Kamishiro," she said, "you raise some good points, but that's not how you make a deal. There is no structure, you lack a certain adaptability, and there's a vital flaw in your theory."

"Vital flaw?"

"If I always make an excuse to leave the room when you begin talking, how should I know what goes on inside?"

Ryoga flinched.

"I respect your privacy, so I don't eavesdrop," she continued. "That's why I leave. Yuma's been through a lot of trouble, so if I can help him I try to help him."

"You could be lying."

"All this time – to you, to Yuma, to Kaito, even to that Kotori, I have never lied."

Ryoga did not reply. He shook through self-anger, at completely compromising his own position for little gain of his own, and despite the muscles twitching in his face he kept his mouth closed and his limbs restrained and he did not reply in any shape or form.

Then, keeping the tightest of controls over his person, he rose from his seat and inclined his head.

"...Thank you for your hospitality."

"You're welcome," replied Cathy, cheerfully, as if his pride had never been hurt. "You're leaving?"

"Yes."

"I'll walk you out."

Ryoga knelt down for the backpack resting atop the floor. "It's fine."

Nevertheless, Cathy walked with him until they reached the second-storey overhang.

"Kamishiro," she said. He had his back turned to her and didn't turn around again, but stopped to show he was listening. "You're really smart, you know? Just don't challenge people until you've got more than a bluff you happened to overhear."

Ryoga descended the staircase to the lower floor, leaving no reply. And as he opened the door, and the heavy bell resting atop the edge was disturbed, ringing its resonant chime, he slipped out without a second word to avoid the soft pattering of feline footsteps heading his way. As the cats and kittens frolicked on the lower level, batting playfully and – as they were trained – remaining there for someone to appear, Cathy turned and leant backwards against the railing.

Blue cerulean walls greeted her, and aside, they formed the mouth of a hallway leading to a series of rooms; rooms silent and empty.

She sighed and closed her eyes.

"Alone again, eh?"


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