-Seiya-
"Couldn't you come any faster, Ryou?" Seiya asked with a smirk as he sat on a robot dog, waiting the arrivals to exit the water.
"Oh shut up. This path was hard enough to swim, making me do it by heart in the dark doesn't make it easier." Ryou grunted as he swam to the edge.
"I take it Kaito-sensei is still has tough as nails on you?" Seiya chuckled.
"His Ramen are amazing though, so I have that going for me." Ryou shrugged as he climbed out of the water.
"There are no better Ramen than Japanese Ramen." Seiya grinned.
"Don't tell Mei that, otherwise I get the whole 'but we Chinese invented them' speech." Ryou sighed.
"But we perfected it." Seiya interjected.
"True that." Ryou grinned.
Seiya climbed off the dog and helped Ami out of the water before he took the pod off Ryou's hands in which Ami's and Kakashi's bags were in.
As he put the bags onto the dog, he noticed that Ami was leaning against the walls of the narrow tunnel.
"Are you ok there, Ami?" Seiya asked concerned as he walked up to her.
"I am ok" Ami reassured him. "It just has been a very long time since my last dive." Ami explained her shortness of breath as she took off the air tank.
"I need to get back before Kaito-sensei makes me swim back all the way." Ryou commented as he collected the air tanks from Ami and Kakashi and put them into the diving pod. "You be careful and look after yourselves." He added.
"Thanks for taking us here and send my regards to your father." Kakashi patted Ryou's shoulder
"And say hi to Mei for me." Seiya added before Ryou disappeared into the deep waters again.
"Where are we?" Ami asked Seiya and Kakashi as she looked around.
"At an extended entrance." Seiya snickered. "Please have a seat on a dog." He pointed at another two dogs he had brought with him.
Ami looked uncertain at the big robot dog.
"It can carry up to 300kg and the tunnels here can be pretty tight and low here." Seiya explained as he tied the go bags onto his one and climbed on it.
Kakashi was already sitting on one when Ami timidly followed his example.
Seiya tapped his dog and it started to smoothly walk into the dark tunnel.
"Why is there no lighting here?" Ami asked from behind as her dog automatically followed his.
"We don't want to make it too easy for everyone to find us." Seiya chuckled. "The dogs know where we need to go and have night vision, so just hold on tight and keep your head down. We are going to reach a fast spot here, so please keep your limbs close onto your dogs." Seiya warned before he pressed the turbo button.
-Michiru-
She returned very late to her apartment and was greeted by the gurgling noises her new fish tank made in living room in which she kept the goldfish Haruka had caught. Her aunt's shoes were neatly placed at the step, but no other sounds could be heard, so she must have most likely already have gone to sleep.
Tired Michiru walked into her living room and sat down on the couch, to watch her fish float around in the, still sparsely decorated, tank.
Her mind wandered to Setsuna and she wondered how the other woman was coping with being separated from her lover at work. She knew that Setsuna spent the majority of her time in the office and that Kakashi regularly passed by to drop things off, pick things up or to get advice. Michiru thought back to the first day she did not see the blonde after their mission had ended and the blonde had gotten better, how much she had missed Haruka's presence, how much she longed to just pick up the phone to hear the other's voice. All of that, after just knowing Haruka for such a short period of time, and here was Setsuna, who had spent around a decade around Kakashi. She could not imagine the other person's pain, to have to cut all contact with your lover for the time being, to avoid detection, and to be burdened by additional duties.
Michiru watched how the fish swam around, without a care in the world. She envied them for their freedom within their small confinement. They didn't know that there was any other possible way of life and so they were content with living their life away day by day. Ignorance was bliss.
Michiru missed Haruka's pool and the peace she found in it, every time her emotions were making a mess of her. Yet, she missed the blonde insolent troublemaker more, that caused her emotions to be a mess.
She suddenly she heard how the door of the guest bedroom opened and her aunt came out before Riko walked into the kitchen. Only moments later, she came back with two bottles of cold tea and passed Michiru one.
"Thanks ba-chan" Michiru smiled grateful as she opened the bottle.
"What's with all the sighing?" Riko asked as she sat down next to her niece.
"I am sorry. Did I wake you up?" Michiru asked in return.
"No, I was still working. Time difference to London." Riko explained. "Has work been so bad that you have gone for drinks on a Monday?" Riko sniffed her clothes.
"I didn't have that much to drink, but the girls and I were just discussing recent staff changes." Michiru explained.
"Ah, yea. In this economy nowadays …" Riko nodded understandingly.
"Riko-ba-chan, have you ever had an office romance?" Michiru asked her aunt offhandedly.
"Why this sudden question? Are you in love with someone at work?" Riko chuckled.
"No, I am just curious." Michiru answered.
"I had my fair share of romance at the office and around work." Riko admitted easily.
"How come you never settled?" Michiru asked curiously.
"Not the right time, right place, right person. The usual." Riko shrugged.
"Is there ever a right time or a right place?" Michiru asked absent minded.
"No, but I am sure there is a right person." Riko snickered.
-Ami-
They arrived half an hour later under the Tenoh-tower, after riding through a maze of tunnels and pathways. Ami noticed, robotic humanoids and dogs guarded various section of their path and that some spots were so low that even while lying flat on the robotic dog, that it was still a tight fit.
Taiki was waiting for them, with a deep frown etched on his face, as they emerged out of the tunnel system.
"Unbelievable, I thought I made it clear that there won't be any direct communication with outside." Taiki scolded Seiya, as he emerged first.
"Calm down Taiki, we took Kaito's gate and I brought a gift." Kakashi defended the black haired man.
Ami got off her ride and bowed.
"I am sorry Ami; I didn't mean to get loud." Taiki rubbed his temples.
"You look pretty stressed Taiki." Ami noted.
"Yea, there was an incident in the clinic." Taiki sighed.
"Anything I could help with?" Ami offered.
"I need to re-authorise your access first and I need to unlock the guest quarters." Taiki explained. "But if you if you like, you can either rest on the clinic floor or in the communal area first. I think these two will have exhausted you already enough for now." Taiki added with a sigh.
"The clinic is fine." Ami informed him and Seiya passed Ami her bag.
Taiki just nodded silently and they walked towards the elevators.
On the clinic floor, Taiki and Ami left the elevators while Kakashi and Seiya proceeded to the office floor.
"What happened here earlier?" Ami asked tentatively as she looked around and saw that most machines in the laboratory were up and running.
"Hmmm, just follow me." Taiki went ahead to the back where Haruka was sleeping, hooked up to various machines, while Kakyuu slept next to her on a chair.
"Kakyuu has stopped sleeping in the bed since she couldn't react fast enough, in her opinion, the last time when Haruka was on a verge of a heart attack." Taiki explained as he looked through the window.
-Michiru-
Makoto and her had worked all morning intensively and had hit a wall in their research. To find out why Zhao was actually there and what kind of man he actually was, they retraced his last couple of days of life and found absolutely nothing. He was a ghost the last 5 days of his life. As they wanted to find out what happened to his family, a similar picture presented itself. One day his wife was bringing his daughters to school, the next she was simply gone and their apartment was cleared.
"I think we should call it a day." Makoto suggested, as she was still suffering a mild hangover and sleep deprivation from the night before.
"I guess you are right. We still have some time to go and it doesn't seem like we will find out more today than all the nothing we have found out so far." Michiru sighed.
They both left the agency and went their separate ways. The day was still long Michiru didn't feel like going home yet, since she didn't want her aunt to question her work ethics. She looked at her watch and noticed that Hotaru would be soon coming out of her Kindergarten. Looking forward to see the little girl again, she made her way to the Kindergarten.
She was still very early when she arrived at the Kindergarten and waited outside when she suddenly heard her name being called.
"Michiru-mama, over here, over here!" Hotaru called form the side of the building.
The kids where playing outside on the small playground and Hotaru was wearing her cute yellow sunhat when Michiru was walking over to her.
"I thought I come by and say hello." Michiru explained her presence.
"Did something happen to Mable and Dipper?" Hotaru asked concerned while referring to the Goldfish Michiru was taking care of for the little girl.
"No, no, they are fine." Michiru reassured Hotaru.
"Hotaru-chan, is that your new mom?" a little boy next to Hotaru asked the little girl.
"Yes, Daisuke-chan" Hotaru nodded proudly.
"She is really pretty." Daisuke whispered to Hotaru.
"I know." Hotaru grinned. "And she makes awesome French Toast." Hotaru informed her companion.
"Oh" Daisuke seemed impressed.
"Michiru-mama, are you here for tea Tuesday?" Hotaru asked curiously.
"Tea Tuesday?" Michiru asked surprised in return.
"Kids, come back here." The Kindergarten teacher called.
"Wait there Michiru-mama, I will be right out." Hotaru quickly said before she re-joined her class.
"Ok." Michiru smiled and waved towards Hotaru.
Michiru was just about to sit down on a small bench, to wait for Hotaru, when she spotted Yumi and Shinobu coming her way.
