Reconstruction

By: Aviantei

Chapter Fourteen

Rehabilitation

Eri looked up to Hitomi, trying to get a read on the girl's face. For several moments, her expression had been blank, but then she'd spoken the words—ones of recognition of a man, and then Hitomi's face had twisted into a snarl that looked just as much in pain as it did angry.

Eri's mouth went dry, even as the nearby waitress worked on cleaning up the spill over their table. Hitomi's hands were tight fists against the table, but she didn't sit down, even with the stranger nearby. Yata was scowling, though he at least waited until the worker had rushed off in search of a mop to blow his top. "What the hell are you even talking about?"

Hitomi didn't look to Yata, her eyes still following someone outside the window, but she did answer, "I'm talking about the person that fucked over my family." Yata's mouth fell open, unsure of how to answer. Hitomi clenched her fists tighter, and it was only because Eri knew her habits that she managed to catch Hitomi's wrist before she could run off. "Eri, please don't. I can't just let him go when he's right there."

Eri steeled her expression and didn't let go. Unwilling to let go of Hitomi, she clutched onto Mie-chan with her free hand and let the toy speak. "I know this is hard for you, but you won't stand a chance." Not even with her stubbornness. Not even with her capability. "He's not the only SCEPTER4 member there, and you know they'll provide backup, even if you justify yourself."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Yata said, attracting the attention of the other patrons in the restaurant. Eri urged Hitomi to sit back down, and Yata followed suit, though the tension didn't fade from either of their bodies. Even Yata looked serious, his face almost on the level as when they had fought with the SCEPTER4 boy on the rooftop. "You have a connection with the Blues?"

"You're one to talk," Hitomi said, sounding like she was about to spit. Yata grimaced but turned his expression back into a glare soon enough. With her free hand, Eri signed Hitomi's name in scolding. Abashed, the girl looked away and scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, yeah. Look, Misaki-chan, it's complicated. But all this happened a long time ago, so it's really not important."

Yata scoffed. "Don't give me that shit. If it's not important, then why did you look like you were gonna tear out of here about to kick ass?" He hit his fist against the table, forceful enough for Eri to feel the vibrations, but with enough restraint not to cause another ruckus. "I dunno if you've noticed, but I've got a pretty good idea of what it's like when your family gets fucked over. So don't think you can pass off some stupid excuse on me and I'll just believe it." Hitomi glowered at him, her bangs overshadowing her expression. "You can glare at me all you want, but it doesn't change a damn thing. So talk."

"Fuck you."

"What was—"

Eri knocked her knuckles against the table, frowning at both the teens. Hitomi relented first, and Yata coughed instead of continuing his shout, though the fierce look didn't vanish from his eyes. Not wanting to use Mie-chan more than necessary, Eri slipped out of her spot and pointed towards the window, indicating for Hitomi to scoot over. Once Eri had arranged herself so Hitomi couldn't make an escape without causing another mess, Eri released her wrist and began to sign.

'I know this is hard for you, but you can't rush off towards the enemy.' Hitomi's mouth opened, but Eri increased the speed of her signing up a tick, so Hitomi would need to concentrate instead of coming up with a retort. 'Yata-san is also currently our ally. We can't afford to lose the support of HOMRA. So calm down before we lose what little lead we have.'

Hitomi grimaced. "Sorry, Nee-chan."

'Apologize to Yata-san, too.'

Hitomi let out an audible groan, but she gave in and turned to Yata. "Sorry." Fidgeting with one of her earrings, Hitomi glanced back out the window. "You kind of hit a sore spot. I didn't expect to see him around…"

"Yeah, yeah." While Yata didn't outright accept the apology, he didn't argue against it, either, which was fine enough for Eri. With all the stress that had already happened for the day, another argument wouldn't do them any favors. "I still don't know who the hell you're talking about. You have a run-in with the Blues or something?"

Hitomi bit her lip in a rare show of weakness, and Eri waved a hand to catch her sister's attention before signing. 'You don't have to tell him everything, Hitomi-chan. I wouldn't make you do that. Do you want me to give him an answer for you?' Though it had been years, Eri still knew that thinking about back then was still painful for Hitomi, even if she didn't admit it.

"Nah, I'll do it, Nee-chan." Hitomi shook her head and let out a heavy sigh before resting her arm on the table and looking to Yata. "Long story short, when I was a kid, there was a big mess and that man—" her fist clenched tight against the table "—was essentially responsible for me losing my parents. I don't wanna talk about it, okay?"

Yata grimaced and tugged at his beanie. "Sorry," he said, his tone reflecting Hitomi's minimal apology from earlier—but Eri could tell it was still sincere. "Look, I'm never against an excuse to kick a Blue's ass, so if you end up in trouble, I'll help. Hell, I wanna go pick a fight right now. But like Hayatama said, there's a lot of them for just us to go against. So we should just sit tight for now and let Uru-dude find our lead."

Hitomi's blink of surprise quickly gave way to a smirk (still a fake one, Eri noticed, but not entirely). "Wow, that's pretty smart of you to think things through like that, Misaki-chan. You feeling okay?"

"Is that anyway to talk to someone who just offered to help you?!"

Though it wouldn't make much of a sound, Eri pressed a hand to her lips as she laughed. Yata and Hitomi turned to her at the same time, broken out of their argument with matching confused expressions. Eri took a short moment to compose herself and signed, 'I'm glad that you two are getting so long.'

"Like hell!"

"What did she just say?"

"None of your damn business, Misaki-chan!"

Seamlessly, their bickering escalated again, and Eri let herself smile for a moment as she watched them—though the tense feeling in her gut at the sight of the blue uniformed SCEPTER4 members rushing around outside the window.

Nezuto walked through the halls of the hospital, making sure to look as casual as possible. He'd come in without checking in as a guest, but he had a specially modified PDA to handle situations like that. Even when he crossed paths with some of the harried looking SCEPTER4 members, he continued on as planned, and no one even spared him a glance.

Given his unassuming attire, it wasn't that surprising, and his confident pace kept any hospital staff from thinking he was lost and needed directions. Adjusting his windbreaker, Nezuto followed his instinct, figuring out the best place to go. While we was used to ending up in strange locations because of that, he was still surprised when he exited the stairwell to find a relatively peaceful floor, not a single blue uniform in sight.

He'd been pretty certain SCEPTER4 was there for the same reason Eri and the others were, so he'd been trying to think up some strategy for navigating a nest of them, but it seemed that wasn't necessary.

Welp, I learned ages ago that ignoring where I should go is just asking for trouble, so nothing to it!

Let's get to work.

Humming to himself, Nezuto followed his instinct all the way down one of the halls, stopping before a room. He didn't recognize the name by the door, but the room was where he needed to be, at least for a little bit. Not in front of it, but inside, too. It had been a while since he'd needed to do something so out of nowhere awkward, but Nezuto just hesitated a split second before tapping out a few knocks on the door, gripping onto the handle, and turning it.

"Pardon the intrusion~."

The room was pretty spacious, holding the one bed though it had room enough for two. The curtains were open wide, letting in the sunshine and showing off a nice balance of buildings and sky. The girl occupying the bed had been taking in the sight, but she turned to the door as Nezuto entered. Adorned in a comfortable looking pair of tangerine orange pajamas, her hair was in a bob cut, the dark locks turning to a dyed blonde partway through. Nezuto got the feeling that the coloring was more from the fact that she'd been in that bed for a while, rather than a change of style.

"Hello?" the girl said—far more of a question than an actual greeting. "Um, I don't think we've met before. Are you looking for a certain room?" She smiled, the expression not even seeming faked—kind of surprising since Nezuto was a total stranger. "I don't get much chances to get up and look around on my own, but I do know some of the other patients on this floor. I might be able to help you."

Briefly, Nezuto wondered if that was why his instincts had led him into the room, but that wasn't right. He could tell he was meant to encounter the girl before him, though the reasons were unclear. He'd stopped hoping for answers to accompany suggested actions a long time ago.

So he smiled back, stepping into the room and closing up the door behind him, just in case someone unsavory managed to walk by and caught a glimpse of him. You never knew with SCEPTER4 members in the building. "Would you believe me if I said that destiny brought me here to meet you?" Sure, it sounded like a cheap pickup line, but he was hoping it would break the tension a bit.

The girl giggled, marking his chance attempt as a success. "Well, I'm not in much of a position to turn down company, so I'll let it go." Nezuto sat down in the chair next to the bedside, adjusting the angle so he could talk to the patient face-to-face without having to twist around too much. "But I will let you know that I have a boyfriend already, so no trying to steal me away, alright?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." If he had to guess, the girl was about a decade younger than him anyways—though his face made it difficult for people to guess his age accurately just based on his looks. "Whoever managed to get you as their partner is lucky. So long as you're happy with him, there won't be any need to spirit you away."

"I am happy. He's the best." She flushed from happiness, and Nezuto couldn't help but chuckle. Watching people who were so obviously enamored with someone could be kind of heartwarming. "We've been together for about five years now. It's almost our sixth anniversary!"

"Sounds like a good chance for a date, then. Any chance you get to do something special?"

"I'm not sure yet." The girl said it so simply, but her casualness buried the faint trace of sadness flickering through her eyes. "I suffered some injuries that gave me some pretty nasty nerve damage, so I don't know if I can safely go out between surgeries and stuff. And even if I could, I haven't seen him since I ended up here, so it's tricky to say if he'll be back in time for a date."

Despite himself, Nezuto frowned. "He really hasn't stopped by at all? I hope he has a good reason for it." Was the boyfriend some scumbag who'd run off and he was supposed to be with the girl to help her get over some douchebag? Mundane, but it wouldn't have been the first time his instinct had sent him off on something like that.

The girl noticed Nezuto's expression, but she didn't rush to react like someone in an unhealthy relationship would. "Well, if you ask me, he probably hasn't come by because of my mom. She doesn't like the fact that I'm together with someone who didn't go to high school. Like it's any of her business." With hands on her hips and a pout on her lips, the girl held her pose for a moment before slipping back into her easygoing smile. "He's a good boyfriend. He wouldn't go missing unless he had a reason, so I trust him."

"Well, since you have such a high opinion of him, I won't go ahead and protest too much. You look like a young lady who can make the right decisions on your own." Pleased by the complement, the girl beamed. Nezuto considered the thought that had crossed his mind and, urged on by his unmoving instinct, decided to follow through on it. "If you don't mind me bragging, though, I'm pretty good at finding things that have gone missing. Maybe I could keep an eye out for him…?"

"Would you?" Oh, forget every other expression she'd given before; the girl's face lit up with pure enthusiasm, and she leaned forward so fast that Nezuto could see the tick of a wince from straining something she probably wasn't supposed to. "Even if he can't come visit me because there's trouble, it's okay. But if you could find him and let me know how he's doing…? Oh, of course, a picture!"

Though he expected the girl to pull out a cellphone, she instead reached over onto the bedside table and pulled out a wallet, popping it open to reveal an accordion reel of photographs. As they spilled out, Nezuto caught several glimpses of the girl with her hair in different styles (usually dyed), along with the common feature of a young man about her age with a nervous but happy smile on his face.

"May I?" Nezuto asked, and the girl proffered the wallet. He let her keep a hold on it but tugged on the chain of pictures to get a better look. Based on their clothes and appearances, the two had known each other for quite a while. Aside from her face taking on a more mature shape, the girl hadn't changed too much, though her fashion sense always was. The boy beside her fell into that tricky category of "plain but still kinda cute," with his close cropped dark hair and plain fashion. Sometimes, the smile on his face was nervous, but the adoration in his eyes was beyond obvious.

Yeah, I don't see a guy like that running off without a reason. So maybe it's family issues, or…

"Is something wrong?" the girl asked, and Nezuto realized he had been frowning. With all the jobs he'd been involved with, he was becoming less strict with maintaining his expressions.

In a snap, he smiled again and shook his head. "No, sorry. I was just thinking it must be hard for you, being here and not able to look for someone you care about when he's gone missing." He looked over the pictures one more time, committing the image of the boy to memory, then offered the end of the phot accordion back. "But I come across a lot of people. If I hear or see anything about him, I'll be sure to let you know, okay?"

As if handling a real person and not just images, the girl worked on folding the line of pictures back into her wallet. "Thank you. I appreciate it." She gave the most recent photo on top a long look, and Nezuto tried to think of something encouraging to say, but his attention shifted elsewhere as his instinct reformed and redirected.

You have what you need, his instinct told him. You can move on from this place now. There are other places to be, things to find.

No, it was more urgent than that, Nezuto realized. According to his instinct, he should have already been out the door. Trying not to alert the girl in the hospital anymore than he already had, Nezuto stood up and dipped into a bow. "Well I'll do my best to bring back something interesting for you, ojou-chan. You can expect some sort of word from me when I do." If nothing else, Nezuto could find the boy and send word through him.

They exchanged quick farewells, and Nezuto tried not to make it obvious he was making a hasty retreat. According to his instinct, he needed to be out of there two minutes ago—which would have been damn nice to know he had a time limit before heading in. Shoving his hands into his pockets, Nezuto tried to keep his casual gait as he headed towards the stairwell, going over where to find the clues that Eri and the others needed for whatever mess they were getting into—

A large hand landed on his shoulder.

A trill of recognition went through his instinct.

A familiar voice spoke:

"I'm pretty sure you know you're not supposed to be here, Urumana."

The weather alone was enough to make the day gorgeous, between the sunshine and the occasional breeze passing by. The figure standing on the rooftop sucked in a breath, taking a moment to appreciate the scenery of the rooftops, so distant from the hubbub of people below. He didn't so much as shiver as another gust of winter wind passed by, tossing about his wavy violet hair and long black jacket. In fact, he smiled, anticipating what was about to come.

Looking down on Shizume City General Hospital, Mishakuji Yukari drew his sword.

[Author's Notes]

And here's the part where I try my best to integrate some of the Missing Kings characters in the framework I built for this fic beforehand. First up, Mishakuji!

This update is here to both celebrate my fanfic anniversary and to wish everyone happy holidays and best of luck in 2020! I'll see you some more in the new year with the next chapter. Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[12.26.2019]