Notes: Oh man, this chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed writing its first half due to the nature of that interaction, but I had a really hard time writing the second. If I'm completely honest, some tears were shed during the creation of this chapter.
"Every year, during Obon, the three of us make the trip down to the Sumida River together, where we join the millions of other inhabitants of Tokyo at the river's mouth to set lanterns afloat in the dark currents of the river and watch as they are washed out into Tokyo Bay, before they disappear over the horizon.
For all the darkness that this city holds—its greed, its violence, and its impossible strive for the things it can never get back, the festival is the one day in every year where I believe we see nothing but the light. Each of the lanterns we place in the river holds the prayers, the memories, but most importantly, the will to live, even after all the tragedy this city has seen.
It is only on this day that I feel like a future built solely upon the foundation of the hopes that we released into the water… is not impossible." —Sonoda Umi
Maki yawned as she walked through the sliding glass door of Emergency with Umi and Kotori. It was barely 0700, but the temperature outside was already rising to indecent levels.
"I'll see you guys later." Umi gave them both a small wave as she turned, her bow and arrows strapped to her back. The bounty hunter had tagged along to see Kotori off, and Maki hid a snigger behind a hand as Kotori clung to Umi's arm for a few more seconds, eventually giving the blue-haired woman a quick peck on the cheek, causing Umi to turn a bright red.
A few moments later, Kotori caught up with her as they walked down the linoleum hallway of the hospital. "I have your rounds list, by the way, Maki-chan," the brunette told her. "Let me go get it from the nursing station."
While Maki busied herself with a cup of coffee from the small stand on the way to Emergency, Kotori returned with her datapad. She ripped open a small packet of artificial sweetener, not in the mood for straight black coffee that morning, and cursed under her breath when her hand missed the rim of the cup, scattering small grains of sugar everywhere.
Stirring her drink with a stir stick, she browsed the names on the datapad as Kotori hurried away to start her shift in Emergency. She had taken all but one sip from her coffee when a name jumped out at her from the datapad's screen: Yazawa. She nearly spat out her mouthful of coffee before she remembered that she wasn't in her laboratory anymore. The image of the abrasive, black-haired woman stood out in her mind's eye as she continued down the hallway.
She had half a mind to go talk to the director and get her rounds list changed, before Maki thought better of it. She gritted her teeth at the thought of even meeting the short woman, especially after their disastrous run-in in the parking lot. I'll just have to suck it up, she told herself angrily.
Stopping by her tiny, cubby-sized office on the third floor to grab her lab coat, she consulted her datapad again. Her first patient was in a ward on the second floor; while it was tempting to wait for the elevator, she decided to walk down the stairs instead despite how unseasonably balmy it was already—it would give her a minute or two more to finish her morning caffeine intake and Maki did not intend to see anyone before she was feeling sufficiently awake.
It was 1030 by the time she allowed herself a small break. She had seen almost a dozen patients already and Maki decided now was an appropriate time for her third coffee before she saw the next name on her list: Yazawa. Hell knows I'll need it if his sister's there. The summer heat generally made her temper shorter than it usually was, but she couldn't place why exactly the black haired woman pissed her off so much; she'd had her fair share of countless difficult patients in the past, but it was like the woman in question knew exactly how to rub her the wrong way.
Her feet dragged as she made her way down to the university hospital's tiny pediatric ward, throwing back the remaining dregs of her coffee before washing her hands with the alcohol rub beside the doors. She tapped her ID card on the electronic lock outside and waited for the doors to unlock before pushing them open. Pulling out her datapad again, out of comfort more than necessity, she navigated her way around several crash carts, a scale, and a broken IV pole until she found the right room.
She paused outside, irritation already itching underneath her skin, before she strode into the room, locating the right bed almost immediately—it was the only one swamped in way too many personal items. Far more than hospital policy allowed, actually, but there was no doubt in Maki's mind that the nurses had absolutely no desire to argue with the caustic older sibling of her patient.
She poked her head around the curtain. Thankfully, the two young teenage girls that had been present last time were nowhere to be seen, though she was met with the irksome crimson gaze of the short, twin-tailed woman almost immediately.
"What do you want?"
The single line was enough to abolish any intention she might've had of being polite.
Maki's fingers twitched, before she remembered she was still holding her datapad in her hand. "I'm a doctor, remember? I'm here to see my patient."
The other woman chuffed, leaning back on her chair. "So get on with it then, Doctor Nishikino," she retaliated, reading the name tag off the left side of her lab coat. She followed Maki's every motion with a sharp scarlet gaze, though by a passing glance, Maki noticed the dark circles underneath her eyelids.
She fingered for the boy's identification band looped around his wrist: Yazawa Cotarou. He was currently asleep, which suited her just fine as she double-checked the incision on his abdomen before moving on to make sure that there wasn't any swelling in his legs. "He's been up and walking?" she asked, making a very genuine attempt to keep her tone neutral.
The short woman crossed her arms. "Of course he has. What, did you think I wasn't gonna listen to the docs on purpose?"
Maki took a very long, deep breath in as she repressed her rising temper. She chose not to comment as she continued to read the notes entered by the boy's surgeon and nurses.
"Hey."
She glanced up sharply at the word, raising an eyebrow, biting down on her tongue before the word 'what' could slip out.
"So when's he gonna get to go home? I mean, I don't see you guys doing much around here that I see he needs to stick around for."
She pretended to consult her notes again out of spite, re-reading the surgeon's post-op report that the boy's kidneys had been severely damaged due to the internal hemorrhage and that he thought the best option was to search for a kidney donor—or two—and progress with dialysis for the time being. She scowled a little as she read the nurses' notes after, because it was evident that nobody had actually bothered to discuss that with the woman in front of her.
"Look," Maki snapped. "He can't go home until we're a hundred percent sure there are no signs of infection. Has anyone discussed what your brother's future treatment plan looks like with you?" She knew what the answer was, but it would look bad on her part if she acted like someone had already held that discussion.
The black haired woman narrowed her eyes. "That's what they said you were here for this morning."
Maki resisted the dire temptation to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Alright," she finally sighed. "Well—"
"Hey, can we not do this here?" The other woman cut her off.
She stared back at her. "What?"
The short woman stood up, not that it made much of a difference in her overall height. "There are other patients here. I don't wanna have this discussion where everyone else can hear us. Don't you have a fancy office where we can talk or something?"
The aggravation that had been slowly building since minute one threatened to snap, before Maki reigned it in. She was on the verge of telling her no, but her strict adherence to hospital policy wouldn't let her—technically, the twin-tailed woman was right, as patient confidentiality was a right all patients and family members had, no matter how bothersome they were.
Briefly, she considered how long a trip to her office would cost her in terms of actually being on time to see all her patients today, but then she weighed it against the possible complaint the woman in front of her could file against her and the hospital; while her record was pristine, she had every intention to keep it that way.
"Fine," she growled at last. "Follow me."
She stalked out of the room, not bothering to look behind her to see if the black haired woman was keeping up, and she took the stairs out of spite. Swiping her ID card at her office door, she half-turned to see that the other woman was right behind her, glaring at her under uneven bangs that clearly hadn't been combed in some time.
Maki pulled out a chair on her way to her desk, rolling it a few feet so that it was positioned in front of her desk before she sat down behind it. Putting her datapad on the table surface, she beckoned once. "Have a seat." She was about to call the woman Yazawa-san, but she pressed her lips together at the last moment, not wanting to make any assumptions in case it was a sensitive topic for the woman in front of her.
"That's Yazawa Nico to you," the other woman snapped as she sat down in the rolling chair, crossing both her arms and legs as she did so. "So what's my brother's treatment plan?"
Maki took a deep breath, taking care not to sigh again before she answered the question in case that was enough to set the woman off. "Your brother's kidneys, quite frankly, are barely functioning due to trauma. The best option right now for him is to find a kidney donor—perhaps two, if we're able. Until then, he'll have to come in a few times each week for dialysis." She tried to keep her tone professional, but the constantly twitching eyelid from the other woman as she spoke made it more difficult than she would've liked.
"What do you mean, if you're able? How come no one's discussed this with me before?"
Maki didn't bother addressing the second question. "Kidney donors aren't easy to come across," she tried to explain. "But he's already on the hospital's donor list—"
"Yeah? Well I don't trust you guys. Who knows if you're even caring for him properly?" Yazawa stood, pointing a finger at her accusingly. "I'll find a donor for him." As if to prove her point, she whipped out a cellphone adorned with altogether too many trinkets from her jacket pocket—the mere sight of it was enough to trigger Maki's gag reflex. Why not buy yourself a jewelry case instead of a phone at that point?
A business card fluttered to the floor, dislodged by the sudden motion, and she caught sight of an audition agency printed in small, neat lettering before it was swept up off the floor swiftly and stuffed out of sight. Suddenly, she remembered where she'd heard the name Yazawa before.
"Wait," she said. "You said your name was Yazawa Nico?"
The twin-tailed woman gave her a dirty look in the middle of dialing a number on her overly-decorated phone. "That's what I said, isn't it?"
Maki swallowed the knot of anger at the back of her throat at her flippant attitude. "Aren't you that idol who recently got signed after years of singing underground?" She had meant the words as an insult, but judging from the way Yazawa's expression had frozen, it was clear that she hadn't taken it that way.
It went against the grain for her to watch news related to any form of entertainment, but political news were scarce after 2400, a time where it wasn't uncommon for her to still be holed up in her laboratory, working on her research. While she liked to work in silence, she had made it a habit of hers to turn on a news stream while taking one of her infrequent breaks. She mostly tuned the voices out during, but occasionally a name here or there would adhere itself to the back of her mind.
Slowly, Yazawa lowered her phone as she turned to continue to stare at her. "You know who I am?"
Maki felt a blush instantly creep up her cheeks. "N-No! I mean," she mumbled when Yazawa gave her a strange look. "I've heard your name on the news before. That's all."
The black haired woman replaced her phone in her jacket pocket as she sat down again after a pause. "Well, at least you're honest," she muttered darkly; Maki wasn't sure if she was meant for her to hear those words or not.
Their eyes met awkwardly for a single heartbeat—amethyst and crimson before Yazawa looked away angrily again. "Fine. We'll do things your way, for now. But if anything goes wrong, you'll be hearing from my agency!" she threatened.
With that, she snatched her purse off the floor of the office and swept out of the room, leaving Maki to stare after her, completely bewildered as to what had triggered the short woman's change of heart so suddenly. W-Was it something I said?
Umi leaned against the now-cool surface of the brick wall that lined the university campus. Though it was past 2200, the heat was stifling as she stood still, sheath of arrows and her bow on her back. Beside her, Eli was playing idly with the earring that dangled off her right ear as she glanced repeatedly at her watch.
Restlessness scratched at her nerves; the driver of the expensive district car tapping his foot against the pavement looked as impatient as she felt. Umi reminded herself to never trust Maki's sense of time again—'five more minutes' had turned into nearly twenty, and she was half-convinced that if the redhead didn't show up soon, the man would drive off without them.
As they had both promised Eli, the two of them would be going with her to Tokyo's outer district, and tonight was the third night in a row that they would be going. Umi had been fervently glad to hear from Eli that Toujou would be simply sending her investigation team to pick them up; not only would it would be a very awkward car ride if Toujou were to accompany them, she also had serious doubts about Maki's ability to control her temper around the district ruler.
The sound of high heels against pavement snapped her out of her thoughts as Maki finally let herself out of the pedestrian gate. She had taken off her lab coat, though she hadn't bothered fixing her usual head of lab-hair.
"Ready to go?" the man asked them robotically as she approached them, though privately, Umi thought the man sounded exasperated and exhausted more than anything.
He held the back door of the car open for them as Umi climbed in after Eli, uncomfortably sandwiched between her two friends as the man closed the door after Maki. The car was air conditioned, but the back seat of the narrow limousine had not been built for three people. What no one wanted to do, however, was sit in the front. Anyone associated with the government was enough to make Umi twitch, and she was fairly sure she was not the only person currently sitting in the car that felt that way.
The twenty minute ride to the outer district was mostly silent; Eli was staring out the window with one hand resting on her cheek, and in the darkness, Umi couldn't read her expression nor decipher what she might have been thinking. Maki was fiddling with the hem of her loose shirt, trying to look anywhere except out the window. Umi resisted the temptation to fidget. Her own sheath of arrows was pressed awkwardly against her back because her bow was already uncomfortably balanced on her knees. However, considering where they were going, there was no way she wasn't planning on keeping her weapon at her side at all times.
When the car finally stopped, Umi winced slightly at the sensation of the dust particles that smacked her in the face the moment Maki opened the door—she had forgotten how windy nights could get in the outer districts without the bulk of skyscrapers to hide them from the elements. She turned to watch Eli speak to the man for a few moments before joining them. "We've got an hour or two," she informed her as the two of them watched Maki swat furiously at the hem of her pants, trying to get the dust off of the black material.
Umi checked the tension on her bow as the three of them left the car behind. The climb up the now-familiar incline was interrupted only by the sound of their shoes crunching against loose rock. Vaguely, she remembered coming to this part of Tokyo a few times before the first Ceresis attacks, but for the life of her, Umi could not associate the desolate wasteland that was just on the inner boundary of the fence with the metropolis it has once been.
Once at the top of the small hillside that overlooked the intersection below, Maki picked herself a large piece of rubble to perch on, delicately sitting down on its worn surface as though that would prevent her from getting her shirt dirty.
Umi held her bow in one hand, arrow already loaded in place, though she didn't really expect anyone to actually come near the three of them.
For almost forty-five minutes, there was silence between them. She kept a wary glance over their surroundings, though she would have picked up the sound of footsteps against rough gravel long before anyone approaching became a legitimate threat. Umi felt a slow trickle of frustration build in the region of her stomach. Are Toujou's people sure they saw her here more than once? What if—
Suddenly, fingernails dug into her arm. "Umi." Eli's voice was a hiss. "Is that…"
She looked in the direction that Eli was pointing in. Down below, she could make out the silhouettes of two shadowy figures speaking in a small huddle, but she couldn't see what had made Eli grab her arm until one of them turned slightly, a lock of blonde hair caught in the stiff breeze suddenly illuminated by bright moonlight. Umi could not suppress the gasp that escaped her lips.
There was the crunch of rapid footsteps on gravel and Maki's voice came from just behind them. "Should we just go up to her now?"
Umi pressed her lips into a thin line before she realized that both Eli and Maki were looking at her, expecting a response. R-Right. I suppose I do know the outskirts the best… "No," she decided. "We don't know who she's talking to, or even if that is her. We should at least wait until she's done speaking with whoever that is."
Minutes seemed to tick by in slow-motion as the three of them watched the exchange below. It seemed to take forever for the girl to finish speaking with her companion, but finally, she extended a hand to take something from the second figure, stuffing it out of sight underneath a cloak or a jacket before turning on her heel to walk away. Umi's heart leapt to her throat when she realized the girl was walking up the small incline, straight towards them.
She instinctively seized Eli's upper arm as gravel crunched underneath worn shoes, but Eli had already stepped out in front of the girl's path.
In the brightness of the moonlit night, Umi saw very familiar steel-blue eyes looking back at her underneath the rough fabric of a frayed cloak and messy, straw-coloured bangs.
Whether the utter silence that pressed down on them like a black hole lasted only a brief heartbeat or several lifetimes, she couldn't be sure.
The cerulean stare flipped from blank surprise to rage in a single blink. "What… are you doing here?"
Umi could not associate that tone, colder than antarctic winter, with the girl who had once offered her red beans as a drink, not knowing it wasn't a beverage. The memory had never felt so distant, as though it had been created centuries ago, from someone else's lifetime. Her fingers tightened involuntarily on the handle of her bow, but there was nothing to shoot at. This was not an enemy she could fight—and Umi didn't think she could remember ever feeling so helpless before.
"Alisa…" Eli's voice was barely audible; she had her hand over her mouth.
"Why are you here?" There was a slight tremor in the younger Ayase's voice now as she faced them, sweeping the hood of the cloak off an unkempt head of blonde hair. "Why are you bothering, after all this time?"
Eli did not answer her, nor did Umi expect her to, as she both saw and felt her tense just beside her.
"You show up, after all this time… for what?" Alisa accused them, the tremble in her slight shoulders visible even in the moonlight underneath the fabric of her cloak. "What is there for you—all of you—to possibly do here?" For the first time, her voice cracked, a quiver of familiar vulnerability that tugged at the faint memories from nearly a decade ago as she continued. "Did any of you even try to find out what happened four years ago? Or were you all just trying to avoid me because of what happened? Is that it? It is because you're all scared of me because of what I've become?"
Umi felt horrifyingly numb as the words rained down like blows—but if she was feeling this way, then she couldn't imagine how they were affecting the young woman beside her.
There was the scuffle of shoes on rock as Maki stalked forward, aggressively bristling and rigid with anger as she took a few steps towards Alisa. "Are you shitting me? Do you even know—"
Clarity seized her blank mind for a single moment as Umi strode forward and gripped the back of Maki's shirt before the redhead could continue, dragging her backward a few steps. Maki spun around, fury and anguish blazing in her lilac gaze as she wrenched the back of her shirt out of Umi's grip. "What? Don't stop me, Umi! Are you going to just stand there and let her—"
Her breath shallow and rapid, as though she'd run a marathon, Umi grasped Maki's elbow again, jerking her head in Eli's direction to stop the redhead's tirade in its tracks. Maki opened her mouth heatedly again as if to argue, but closed it when she processed the expression on Eli's face, allowing Umi to pull her to a distance to where they couldn't hear what Alisa was saying anymore.
Maki made no more efforts to free herself from her grip, but she still turned her head angrily in her direction when she finally stopped. The uncharacteristically husky quality to her voice spoke volumes to Umi about how much Alisa's words had affected her—had affected them all. "How can you just stand here and let her say all that, Umi? She cast a helpless glance back in Eli's direction. "She doesn't know…" Maki trailed off.
Pain seized her heart like an icy fist as Umi forced herself to meet the redhead's gaze. "Because she doesn't know. That's the answer. It's not… this isn't up to us to tell her. You know that." Her fingers unconsciously tightened on Maki's sleeve as the rumble of a car's engine interrupted the remainder of what she wanted to say, but could not find words for.
Both of them whipped around at the sound—it was a car very much like the one that Toujou had commissioned to bring them to Tokyo's outskirts to begin with, and Umi narrowed her eyes when the unmistakeable figure of Tokyo's head of state stepped out delicately, brushing dark violet bangs back in the wind. W-What is she doing here?
Caught between some form of awe and disbelief, she could only gape at the purple-haired woman, who had spotted the three of them and began walking purposefully in their direction, flanked by two bodyguards. Umi stared at the district ruler as she approached, too stunned by her appearance to force her body into making some semblance of a proper greeting, but Toujou was not looking at either her or Maki as she stopped some distance away from them.
With a jolt, Umi realized that Toujou was staring at Eli. Her amber eyes widened as she read the emotion in her emerald gaze: a combination of pity and regret. There was something else in the other woman's expression, but she didn't have the time to work out what it was before there was a sharp intake of breath from Maki, and she suddenly swept past her in Toujou's direction. Umi raised her free arm to stop her, but her gesture was completely ignored by the redhead as she strode toward the district leader.
Umi chased after her in a hurry, unsure of what Maki was up to now and unwilling to know if she wanted to find out; she cast a cursory, pathetic glance back in Eli's direction before she caught up with her friend.
"What are you doing here?" There was absolutely no trace of respect in Maki's voice as she confronted the violet-haired woman, hands balled into fists at her side. Umi caught the eye of Toujou's two bodyguards, and knew that there was a fine line between where Maki was now and the point where they would see fit to intervene.
Toujou looked away from Eli before giving Maki the same smile Umi had always seen her wear during televised senate meetings and media conferences. "Dr. Nishikino, I presume?" Her voice was serenely composed, a stark contrast to the bitter disdain in Maki's words.
She ignored the question. "I asked you what you're doing here."
Umi resisted the dire temptation to clamp her hand over Maki's mouth before the redhead got them both arrested.
The corner of Toujou's mouth twitched in what might have been amusement. "I believe I sponsored this meeting? I think that that allows me the privilege to see how it progresses."
Maki let out a low growl. "I'm sure you have better things to do than to come out here in the middle of the night just to see what's up."
Toujou did not answer as her gaze slid past the redhead, back to where Eli was still standing, frozen, on the dirt path a few feet away from the smaller figure of her younger sister. Umi watched the expression in the violet-haired woman's eyes soften as she returned to watching the blonde; she furrowed her brows in confusion as she observed the silent, one-way interaction. Why does she care so much?
Loose pebbles were ground underneath high heels as Maki squared her shoulders in front of the district ruler, looking from her back to Eli more than once, as if to confirm what she was seeing. "I know what's going on here," she snarled in a low voice, abandoning all pretense of civility as she pointed a finger at Toujou to punctuate her statement. "I don't give a crap about who you are." She took a long breath in through her nose before she continued. "If you hurt her, I swear to god, I'll make you pay."
Toujou looked down at the redhead as though her words had been nothing more than innocuous entertainment to her, the small, knowing smile on her face widening by the tiniest margins as she narrowed her eyes. "Oh my. You're a troublesome one… aren't you, Dr. Nishikino?" She neatly tucked a loose strand of dark hair behind her right ear with a gloved hand. "But are you sure you want to trouble yourself with worrying about me at the moment? I think there are more important people right now that deserve your concern, do they not?"
Umi could almost see the anger threatening to explode out of Maki as she spluttered something incoherent before movement below them distracted her. Alisa had pushed past her older sister, giving the three of them standing above her a furious look as she swiped angrily at her chin with a hand. She passed them on her way down a different path that led back into the heart of the ruined buildings below, breaking into a run when she reached a fallen lamppost before she disappeared into the darkness.
Leaving Maki behind, Umi hesitantly made her way back to Eli. She tried to keep her footsteps light and unobtrusive, but the rough path carved out by explosives and fallen rubble made it difficult. Eli was standing perfectly still—like she'd become a statue carved of ice. One of her hands was clenched into a tight fist that made her knuckles stand out even in the dim shadow of night.
When she put her hand on Eli's shoulder, it wasn't even immediately obvious that the blonde even heard her approach. Umi swallowed, the back of her throat suddenly a ball of sandpaper as she tried to clear it unsuccessfully.
"Eli." Even to herself, her voice sounded tenuous at best. Instinct demanded that she ask Eli if she was okay, before Umi realized how wildly inappropriate that was. Can she be okay? Is it even possible for her to be okay after this?
For several long, agonizing minutes, Eli did not reply. When she finally turned to look at Umi, her face was like a mask, emotionless features etched into her pale skin. She quickly brushed her other hand against her face before she spoke in a hoarse, defeated voice, turning around to return the way they'd come from.
"Let's go."