Expeditionary Force
A/N : Not much to say other than...
Disclaimer - Don't own it! :-P
Shu's Apartment Location Tokyo : 1305 hours Saturday November 1 2042
"Inori! This is a really bad idea!" Shu protested. After their rather weighty discussion and a change of clothing into something more appropriate Inori had taken it upon herself to convince Shu to return to his apartment. If for nothing else than to retrieve some of his belongings.
He was currently trailing behind the girl that strode through the outdoor breezeways of the low rent apartment complex without fear or doubt of any kind. "Inori! Wait! They might still be here!" He continued to urge her to take caution. Much to Shu's surprise when they arrived at his front door it was not wrapped in police tape. In fact, there was no evidence of the struggle that had occurred only a few nights before.
Inori was standing in front of the door, also slightly puzzled. She had clearly remembered that the GHQ Anti-Bodies had forced entry into Shu's apartment, she had been observing the entire time prior to taking action and entering the apartment through his bedroom window herself. "It was repaired." She motioned toward the door, indicating the fresh paint on the door.
"Umm... Inori... I really don't think we should be here." Shu was not scared per se more interested in avoiding unnecessary conflict than anything. Inori however, was not having it, she was hellbent on allowing Shu to have something similar to his old life and this would provide ample opportunity to see exactly what GHQ had been up to in the past few days. "Someone is coming." Inori whispered ominously as she ducked into the enclave that led to Shu's apartment.
"Huh!?" Shu, as always was slow to react.
"Shu!? Ouma Shu!" The voice of an elderly woman through the corridor with a shrill sound that pierced the calm of the fall afternoon.
"Oh crap! It's my landlady." Shu whispered to Inori who was still out of sight.
"Should I kill her?" Inori asked plainly.
"What!? No.." Shu motioned for Inori to stay put while he confronted the elderly woman.
Quickly, Shu remembered that this woman had no idea that he had regained his sight. He played the part by turning around aimlessly as if trying to locate the sound of the woman's voice, even though he knew full well she was no more than fifteen feet from him.
"Shu! I've been so worried about you! The police told me that your apartment had been broken into and you were violently beaten." The older woman greeted the boy cheerfully as she pulled Shu into a mothball scented hug.
"Oh..." Shu offered as convincingly as possible.
'Police? What police...? Probably GHQ.' He thought in the back of his mind as the woman continued on.
"I just can't believe it. Why would anyone do something like that to a school teacher!" The woman continued ranting. "I know it's the first, but if you need more time on the rent... ."
"That's very kind Miss Kobayashi." Shu replied softly.
"Don't worry. I know you've had a hard time, people have a tendency to blame you for what happened back then. I don't know why, you were just a boy...You did the best you could." The woman continued her rant as she finally released Shu from her frail grasp. "Oh!" Miss Kobayashi gasped as she caught a glimpse of Inori, who was still lurking around the corner. "Who might you be?"
Inori froze for a moment, she had absolutely no idea how to answer that question. "I'm..." She stammered. "Inori Yuriziha." She finished.
"Are you Shu's –
"Girlfriend." Inori cut her off snappily.
'Girlfriend?' Shu's mind raced, he didn't know why it sounded so odd coming out of Inori's mouth, after all it was such a simple word compared to the actual depth of their relationship. It was so simple that he had never even bothered to qualify their relationship in that sense, oddly, it sounded nice to hear Inori put it that way.
"Oh... How nice for you two! I've never really met any of Shu's friends, but he's a really good boy." The older woman beamed. "She's really cute." Miss Kobayashi said turning slightly to Shu, as if Inori couldn't hear her, and ruffling the boy's hair. "Well... I'll let you two get on with your day. Shu just come visit me whenever you can make that rent payment."
"Sure." Shu added hastily, attempting to end the interaction with his landlady.
Shu stood still with an awkward stiffness while he waited for Miss Kobayashi to make her way down the breezeway and out of sight. Once Shu was content that his landlady was out of earshot, he opened the door to the apartment. Upon entering the unlit domicile he found that the entire unit had been renovated. Gone were the bullet holes that must have decorated all the walls, in fact there were no signs of the struggle that had taken place there. "What an odd day." Shu sighed as he began looking around the apartment for any sign that the struggle a few nights ago had been more than just a figment of his imagination.
"I thought she was nice." Inori interjected in a mild mannered tone.
'Nice? Inori is really acting strangely today.' Shu thought to himself.
"Yeah – but... Don't you think it's a little odd that everything is just like it was before all of this happened?" Shu questioned as he drew an imaginary arc with his arm, indicating to Inori that the apartment was in fine condition, a state far from what it should have been in.
"You said yourself – GHQ would never openly admit to an attempted assassination on a Japanese citizen." Inori used Shu's words against him.
Shu knew them to be true, after the failed fourth apocalypse GHQ had come under heavy investigation by the United Nations and other foreign powers. In fact they were all but disbanded. They no longer had the power to act without reproach however they clearly were still exercising quite a few underhanded dealings, judging from the events of the past week alone.
"It's not just that..." Shu sounded worried. "...It's like they just want me to get comfortable. Like they are leaving us alone on purpose." Shu had spent much of his adult life reviewing the events leading up to Inori's death, obsessing over specifics attempting to determine the root cause that allowed all the pieces to fall into place. The one constant he had always been able to pick out was that GHQ always would let a situation play out without their involvement and act only when it suited them. This left him wondering what scenario they were letting play out now. "I don't trust it."
"Shu..." Inori moved closer to him, finally wrapping her arms around his waist. "You can't fight something you can't see." She once again turned his words against him as she rested her cheek on his shoulder. "You should enjoy peace while you have it."
"But..." Shu grumbled. "I hate doing nothing and just waiting."
"So stop waiting... Just live." She added reassuringly.
'Strange indeed.' Shu noted again. "I... So... Girlfriend huh?" He changed the subject realizing that arguing was futile, she was right, despite the fact that Shu didn't like it. He couldn't fight something he couldn't see.
"Am I not your girlfriend Shu?" Inori questioned sadly.
"Well , I mean I just never thought about it that way." Shu replied awkwardly, hoping he hadn't injured her feelings with what was meant as a playful taunt.
"Oh. Isn't that what normal people would call it?" She asked as she let the boy out of her arms to explore the rest of his apartment.
"I guess... But we're not exactly, you know, normal." Shu laughed as he headed into his bedroom.
Inori didn't answer. Instead she began looking around Shu's apartment. She had lived with him before, but that was under Haruka's roof. She had a strange curiosity to explore how Shu lived when he was on his own. To her dismay she didn't find anything interesting, in fact Shu owned next to nothing. "Shu... Is anything missing?"
"Nope, looks like everything is here." He responded from the bedroom closet.
"But... There is nothing..." She sounded sad as she set her eyes on the red and white cane that was leaning in the corner of the small living room.
'He needed this because of me...' She thought to herself.
" I don't have much, didn't really have use for anything." He replied awkwardly.
"Oh." She continued into the kitchen and began searching through the drawers, nothing interesting, only cutlery.
"Found it!" Shu exclaimed from the bedroom.
"Found what?" Inori asked as she made her way to see whatever it was that Shu had discovered. "... Your phone." She did not understand the significance, a new phone was relatively inexpensive, why would Shu be so intent on retrieving this.
"Yep." Shu replied happily.
"Why not just replace it, isn't this the same one you had when we first met?" She asked staring at the antiquated device.
'It wasn't even top of the line technology when he had first gotten it, why was he so interested in holding on to it?' She wondered.
"I have some important stuff on here." Shu replied, quickly stuffing the phone in his pocket.
"Can I see it?" Inori asked bashfully engaging his eyes with her own.
"Um.. You wouldn't find it interesting." Shu stammered, slightly embarrassed.
"How do you know?" She reached for his arm, his hand was still buried in his pocket with the phone. "Let me see."
"Inori! It's personal." Shu recoiled turning his hip so that the arm and phone would be out of reach of the girl.
"Okay. I won't ask again." She pouted.
'When did this happen, she never would have acted like this.' Shu thought. 'I guess I'll just let her see it.' He took her hand and gently placed the phone in it. "Here. Go ahead, I have to go the restroom." He said as he moved into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.
Inori quickly began looking through the phone. The saved numbers yielded nothing. Only entries for Haruka, Tsugumi, Ayase, Souta as well as an entry labeled work. The last call placed was to Ayase six months prior.
No text messages, not surprising. No saved voice mail. No saved pictures, again not surprising. Then she made her way to the saved media folder, eight songs, all hers. "Shu..."
'Was he...Alone?' She wondered.
"Happy?" Shu asked from behind Inori. She hadn't heard the toilet flush, and didn't realize he was standing there. "Can I have it back now please."
"Nobody called." Inori responded blankly, it didn't make sense, it was all she could muster at the moment.
"That's typical." Shu responded as he took the phone and put it back in his pocket.
Inori watched the boy for a moment. "Shu... My songs... You still listened to them?" She asked, her voice full of emotion, not sadness, not happiness, something in between.
Shu sighed heavily, his back was still facing her. "It's the only way I could hear your voice."
She hung her head, had he really suffered that much in her absence? "Shu.." She made her way over to him standing just inches from him. "I'm here now..." She offered timidly. Her heart felt heavy in her chest as it beat faster with every passing second.
"Inori I..." He pulled her closer, his cheeks were flushed.
A loud buzzing and stiff vibration came from Shu's pocket startling him momentarily. "My phone is ringing?" He added awkwardly.
'Shu.. You what!? Please finish that...' The girl's mind was screaming.
"Hello?" He answered the phone.