Chapter 24

Preparations

"So, all I have to do is go there and bring the envelope with me?" Akane asked, while Shinya explained what he planned with Masaoka.

"Yes, the old man said he would arrange someone to deliver the envelopes. Since you have a clear Psycho-Pass and were careful enough to ask for a health absence, no one can report you…" Kougami finished. He had to give that to her, she was damn smart in that aspect... until someone started to distrust her long absence...

"See? You're lucky I came here, if you had to go there, you would have to choose secondary routes or even the sewers to walk freely…" Akane rejoiced, wrinkling her nose at the image of the self-composed Kougami Shinya in the middle of that dark and oppressive space.

He rolled his eyes at her reasoning, but smiled nonetheless.

"At least we still have someone inside the Bureau to help us…" Akane said and finally decided to try the mission Kougami gave her that morning: ready herself to shoot an old fashion gun.

It was strange for her to feel the cold metal of the revolver. It was not the first time she grabbed an old gun like that, and that coldness only brought the painful memories of those moments when she thought that Shinya was dead. However, she swallowed that soul wrecking feeling and put her head in the game, memorizing how to load the gun and repeating it over and over, until the movements were ingrained inside her mind and she could do it with a barely conscious thought.

And so, for the next weeks Akane would walk to the destined place, always finding new information about Makishima, from his job as a teacher to some connection with individuals arrested during the riots. Kougami was directed into knowing how true the story he told them was and Masaoka was doing all he could to find any trace of the old scientist and his son. Until now, nothing notorious happened…

In that Monday morning, the spring was already in bloom, the sakura trees coloring with their pink spectrum the streets and the sky.

Tsunemori Akane was walking with an envelope carefully tucked inside her bag, something telling her that today was the day. They were tired of waiting, their patient running thin, but she refused losing hope… that and open the envelope by herself…

"I'm home…" she announced, closing the door behind her and locking it. She couldn't suppress the smile that those words brought her. It was like they were a normal couple with normal issues like bills, jobs and where to go in the next vacation and not some kind of fugitives stalking a madman to kill him. Those words made her hopeful.

Kougami's voice answered from the kitchen, muffled probably by some kind of food.

"Did you open it?" he asked, already knowing the answer, and Tsunemori shook her head. She never opens it alone.

Shinya put the coffee mug and the pie he was eating, a week old pie, but still tasty nonetheless, down and grabbed the envelope the woman was extending towards him. She could see his suppressed excitement while ripping it open and taking the sheets from inside. His eyes roamed quickly through the written words, with Akane grabbing his mug and taking a sip.

"I know where he is…" Kougami said suddenly, and Akane spit the coffee, coughing in surprise. He clapped her back, helping her expelling all the liquid from her airways.

"Where?" she asked, still feeling her throat raw from the exertion.

"Masaoka was able of finding an old record of Makishima's house… For some time now I've been thinking he probably returned to his house. It makes sense, it's where his observatory exam took place, where all the things that made him who he is happened, from his mother's to his father's actions…" Kougami explained and Tsunemori scowled.

"Why didn't you tell me about that theory?" she asked and he sighed.

"I didn't want you distracted from your training…" he explained and she rolled her eyes. Her training… like her ballistic expertise were that bad… she could shoot a target with no problem, the hard part was the feeling the gun brought, the churning of her stomach every time she grabbed it, and the flashes that kept popping in her mind from Shinya's fall and Makishima's face hovering.

"When are we going?" she asked, biting the pie while Shinya drank the rest of the coffee.

"You are not coming…" he answered simply, turning his back on her and opening the water tap to clean the mug.

"What?" Akane replied, feeling the fury rise inside of her. He had to be kidding!

"I thought about this… It's better if you don't go… If things turn out badly you can return to the Bureau, but if go you with me, your name will be connected irrevocably with my actions…" Kougami said, without turning around from the sink. Tsunemori could see his knuckles whitening from his strong grip around the basin and walking forward let her hand fall over his and squeezed his fingers.

"I made a promise to myself the moment I crossed that threshold: I would go with you to the end of the world, I would never leave your side, I would protect you and bring you back, and as sure as hell, I will do that exact thing!" Akane proclaimed and the man finally turned to face her. "You are no longer alone… Those walls you built around you… They don't work with me, I can see your soul, and it is beautiful… I love you, Kougami Shinya, and I want to end my days with you by my side, even if those days are just tomorrow and the day after that… But don't worry, I don't have intentions of losing so easily… We are going to find him and… everything will turn into an old memory of a dark past…" Akane said, her hand still around Shinya's.

The man looked at her like it was the first time he really saw her. Like until now, his perception of her was marred by a veil that kept him from seeing all of her being.

"I love you Tsunemori Akane…" he whispered, feeling a tug at his throat while saying those words. They were true, but they were also insignificant if they died in two days, a love story ending in tragedy. Just like something from a Shakespeare's play. He couldn't bear the thought of her death…

"Okay…" he whispered in a resigned tone. "We will go in two days… just enough time to prepare everything…" he said and kissing her temple, left the kitchen towards the basement.

Akane saw him go. His muscular back hidden inside a large t-shirt, so different from his normal formal shirts and jackets, but with the same tense posture she learned to love, in silence, during their work. She sighed, a sad smile tugging at her lips, while his words echoed inside her mind.

"I know you better than you think…" she whispered to herself, while reading the file sent by Masaoka-san and then taking the route towards their bedroom. Without realizing, her back adopted the same tense posture as Kougami's, like they had the weight of the world hanging over them.