"What is that?" Kagome peeked her head over the lid of the enormous cardboard box that Kagura had just thrown onto her apartment floor.
"Things I am gonna need if we want to start to figure out what the weird dudes are up to," Kagura grinned, but at Kikyō's glare, she cleared her throat. "Electronic scraps. My manager likes me. I can fix nearly anything a little old lady throws my way, so he lets me clean the carcasses before they go off to be recycled."
"Clean the carcasses?" Kikyō's nose scrunched up at Kagura's words, but there was no doubt that she was interested.
Kikyō certainly would not be in Kagome's apartment at that moment, shooting the shit with Kagura about scrap electronics, and scribbling in her notebook, if she thought that there was nothing to do, nothing to search for. In the course of only a couple of weeks, Kikyō had gone from demanding that she take down her book to spending her spare time in Kagome's with Kagura, arguing about how one could incite one of the "events."
Kagome, for her part, had started trying to find the instigators: the two men that Kagura described. They stuck with her. She wanted to know these people who seemed to be using her book to make portals materialize in the real world. She wanted to meet them, to ask how they'd done it, and maybe find out why. Did they have reiki, like she and Kikyō did? Were they as fascinated by demons as she was? Did… did they believe her?
But there was more, so much more. When Kagome had pressed, Kagura had conceded that yes, "white" could absolutely have been "silver." It made Kagome's search for the men take on an urgent edge, because now she needed to see them. Desperately. She needed to know if the silver-haired man was the same one from Central Park 10 years ago. She needed to know if he remembered that day as vividly as she remembered that day, if he remembered her. But… Kikyō and Kagura didn't need to know that part.
"Pull out the valuable or useful electronics in defunct computers and junk. 'Clean the carcasses…' Jesus, it's like you've never touched a machine before," Kagura scoffed, which led to Kikyō scowling. "Anyway. Here's a little bit of fun stuff." Kagura motioned proudly over her box of electronic goodies. "So… Doctor, you gonna help me figure out how to turn your math into machines?"
"I… I still am not convinced that they can be turned into machines." Kikyō folded her arms.
Kagome rolled her eyes. She was getting used to this now. Kikyō would fold her arms and scowl and scoff, and Kagura would needle her until she suddenly lost it and yelled back. Kagura always got a strange little smirk on her face. At first, it reminded Kagome of the way Sōta would grin after he successfully riled her up, but Kagura's was… different. There was a playfully earnest glint to it. Like it was… a flirtation. With Kikyō.
When she and Kikyō lived together, Kagome… didn't shy away from bringing people home. It was a fun way to blow off steam after a particularly tough assignment for the newspaper. She wasn't exactly a man-a-night type of woman, but… Kagome did appreciate a hot man pressing her into her mattress. Kikyō hadn't dated anyone in college, Kagome fairly certain. And Kikyō hadn't brought any man—anyone—home to their apartment. Kagome just assumed that Kikyō was highly religious (wrong), or maybe ace (still a possibility?), or extremely private (though keeping something like sex from a roommate would have been extremely difficult). But now, watching the way Kikyō snuck glances at Kagura and the way her cheeks puffed out as Kagura teased, Kagome thought maybe she'd had it all wrong. A lot made sense: Kikyō's caginess about dating, her claim that she was "too busy" for dating, and the assertion that all physics dudes sucked and she never wanted anything to do with them (that one probably had a vein of truth to it…). Kikyō hadn't met the right person, the right woman, back in college, and still seemed to be working through that revelation.
"Welp, sounds like we get to do some experimentation huh?" Kagura waggled her eyebrows, which served to deepen Kikyō's scowl. But Kagome's eyes brightened, because it looked like maybe—maybe Kagura was pressing up against Kikyō's resistance to accepting that part of herself. Though, even as she liked the double-entendre play, there had been direct consequences of Kagura's last experimentation that she needed to put a stop to.
"NOPE. The last time you started messing around with stuff in here, I had to repaint a room," Kagome interjected; the banter between them was cute, but she was not going to support Kagura's further experimentation.
"Oh come on, the fire alarm didn't even go off!" Kagura grumbled, but Kagome's point was taken. "My apartment is the size of a closet. Kikyō—what about you? Could we grab some of that sweet CUNY real estate?"
"No." Kikyō's voice grew stern. "My colleagues already think that I'm a diversity hire. I'm not inviting my two ghost-hunting friends to work in my non-existent lab space…"
"Aw she called us friends!" Kagura's words made Kikyō's cheeks puff out again.
Kagome hadn't missed the admission, either. Kikyō had just acknowledged that they were all friends! Kagome… well, Kagome was way happier about that than she let on. If she had known that all she had to do to get Kikyō back in her life was go behind her back and publish their book about demons, she would have done it a long time ago!
Or maybe she could have just called her and asked her to coffee to catch up.
But publishing Demons Among Us! was a lot more fun. And it was a good revenue stream (well, more of a trickle...).
"Y—you know what I mean," Kikyō huffed, but neither missed the little curl to the edge of her lips. "I'm a theorist. They don't give us lab space. So… even if I was willing, there's not much I can do."
"Aw damn!" Kagura moaned, pawing at the box of electronics in the box in front of her. "How the hell am I gonna find out if my zappy zapper works?"
"Zappy… zapper?" Kagome and Kikyō asked Kagura in unison.
"Yeah, basically it—" Kagura started, only to be abruptly interrupted by a loud and clear knock on the door.
"Hold that thought…" Kagome called, jogging toward her door.
Even though she hadn't known Kagura long, words like "zappy zapper" were usually followed by both extremely interesting and extremely dangerous demonstrations of Kagura's… engineering genius. Mad genius, but genius.
Kagome opened the door to find an unfamiliar woman staring back at her. The woman had long, straight brunette hair that was held back in a low ponytail. Her large eyes were dark brown, nearly the color of black coffee. She wore a black leather jacket and a pair of forest green slacks. While her face was soft, with apple cheeks and full lips, she wore an expression of stone, one that looked unnatural on her face. Whoever she was, it was clear that she had come to Kagome's doorstep with a goal.
"Can… I help you?" Kagome asked, trying to break the woman's intensity.
"Are you Kagome Higurashi?" the woman demanded with such authority Kagome took a step backward.
"Who's askin'?" Kagome challenged, which only served to make the stern woman's scowl deepen.
"I'm Offi—Sango Tajiyama," the woman stuttered, changing her words mid-sentence. "I saw the articles that you wrote for Musashi World News, and I have some questions."
"Do… do I need a lawyer?" Kagome folded her arms, because now that the woman had spoken, now she'd almost let 'officer' slip out of her mouth, Kagome could feel it: the authoritative aura that came from her. Whoever else this Sango Tajiyama was, she was definitely a cop.
"N—no," Sango stuttered, the stern look on her face finally dropping, shifting into a mild panic. "I… I saw something. On the Upper West Side. That looked exactly like the video in that article you posted."
Now this is interesting, Kagome thought.
Another event? In a completely different part of the city? When had it happened? What had Sango seen? Did Sango have a video of the event? Did she see anything suspicious? And was there yet another creature that emerged from the portal? Did she see the silver-haired man? Kagome nearly invited Sango in without probing further, but… luckily her 'I know my rights' brain kicked in.
"So let me just… understand what is going on here. For myself." Kagome tuned into Sango's face. She might have been a journalist for a rag, but she could usually catch people's involuntary reactions to things as long as she paid close enough attention, and she wanted to test Sango's sincerity. "You're not here as NYPD. You're here because… you saw a portal open that looked like the article, and you wanted to talk to me about it?"
"Y—yes," Sango answered, and Kagome could tell that she was assessing her right back. Suddenly, Sango's face changed, as if she'd made a decision. "I'm… I'm on a leave of absence. My precinct—uh—thought I was seeing things or making something up. But I know what I saw. And your article made me think that you might be able to tell me what the hell is going on."
Sango's words and face told Kagome everything she needed to know. Sango was at her door because Sango didn't have anywhere else to go. And instead of trying to throw authority around or lie or even just obfuscate, Sango had chosen to tell Kagome the truth. To lay it out there: Sango had seen a portal open, and the NYPD hadn't believed her when she spoke up.
"Come on in," Kagome smiled, moving her body out of the doorway, "and tell us everything."
Sango's face brightened up at Kagome's invitation, but then her eyes narrowed once more, "Us?"
Kagome closed the door behind Sango and walked toward her living room, smirking at Kikyō and Kagura, who were standing awkwardly in the living room staring at the guest.
"Officer Sango Tajiyama? Meet Dr. Kikyō Sekimuro." Kagome emphasized the 'officer', but pointed to Kikyō, who seemed to have an invisible string holding her body up from how stiff she was, then pointed at Kagura, who somehow seemed to be leaning against an invisible wall in an attempt to appear casual. "And Kagura Arashi." Kagome then turned back to Sango. "We're working together to try to figure out who is opening these portals, and how."
"I recognize the name Sekimuro…" Sango eyed Kikyō appraisingly. "You're the co-author of Demons Among Us!, correct?"
"Look you have a fan!" Kagura exclaimed, which seemed to stiffen Kikyō even more, if that was possible.
"More… when I found the article and found your name, I… investigated you," Sango answered. "I have not yet read the book, but I have one on order. My bookshop has promised it will be in tomorrow."
"You could have just gotten the e-book," Kagome suggested.
"I like supporting my local businesses. Amazon is the reason that the small shops are going under," Sango answered back. "Anyway… do you believe that the people responsible for these phenomena are using your book in such a way?"
"Hell yeah they are," Kagura huffed. "The white-haired dude and Wormtongue were definitely running around with a machine on their back. And as soon as I get my hands on the silicone insulators I need, I am gonna be able to make one from your damn book."
Kikyō's eyes bugged out at just how… open Kagura was being with information. In front of a cop.
"Does your book explain how to make these devices?" Sango's voice was now shrewd.
"No! Of course not!" Kikyō huffed. "It was a stupid college hobby that… that I had no intention of publishing!"
"Brah—weird portal things are opening randomly throughout the city and you're mad that you wrote a book that helps explain things?" Kagura grumbled. "You didn't write here is an instruction guide on how to make a transdimensional portal that happens to link to the demon realm if you just glue shit the right way… but here we are. Your theories are good, and an engineer with a good enough brain and some spare time could figure it out…"
"Was the event that you reported on in Musashi World News the first?" Sango asked, her attention on Kagome.
"Yes, it was," Kagome answered; she'd scoured the internet after the creepy baby incident, but there was nothing similar.
The only thing that had any connection was a memory: her memory. The tingle and the silver hair. Kagome had not stopped thinking about that day near the park since Kagura had told them about the man with the silver hair. It haunted her. She'd never been so grateful that Kagura had used the term white hair instead of silver, because she wasn't ready to talk again about the fact that finding the people making the portals was personal, because of the silver-haired man.
"Well I look forward to reading the book," Sango said. "Now… would you like me to tell you about what I witnessed?"
"Hell yes!" Kagura answered, then bounced over to one of Kagome's chairs.
"Do you mind if I record?" Kagome asked, pulling out her phone. She didn't want to miss a single word of Sango's story.
"Are you going to publish it in your tabloid?" Sango challenged, the shrewdness back in her voice.
"N—no. No I won't," Kagome answered. Having a cop verify that one of their outlandish stories was true would have been a treasure trove for the paper, but… Kagome needed to hear what Sango had to say far more than she needed to give Musashi World News the story. Whatever was happening was bigger than her job.
"Okay. Then you can record," Sango answered. "But… if these events have been happening, and you're working on ways to emulate these things, then I want to be heavily involved."
"Is that an order officer?" Kagome sneered, catching Sango off-guard.
"No," Sango scowled back, "I saw something potentially dangerous trying to crawl out of a black hole in the sky. And I know that whoever it was that opened that … portal … is going to try again somewhere else." Sango sighed. "You're… you're the only people who take this seriously, so… looks like if I want to do something and stop these events from happening, I need to team up with you." Then, Sango leaned in a little bit closer. "And if you want to keep investigating, you are going to need me. Because I know the location of the next portal."
Sango was shrewd in keeping the critical detail—that she thought she knew the location of the next portal—to herself until that moment, to make sure that she would get to be involved. Kagome had to give her credit.
"Well well well," Kagura grinned, "looks like we've assembled quite the team of demon hunters!"
"Demon hunters, huh?" Kagome mused. "I can get behind that." She then pressed record on her phone. "Now, Sango, please tell us everything."