Chapter Two: Echo
Deep brown eyes scanned the crowd with disinterest as Hanako entered the arcade.
"Hey Kameyo-chan over here!"
Hanako turned lazily towards the sound of the voice, only to see the familiar face of Kuwabara, Kazuma. she occasionally tutored him in history, since they were in the same class.
Making her way over Hanako's sharp eyes picked up the flash of "YOU LOSE" on the Area 51 screen that Okubo was standing in front of.
She grinned as the high score screen appeared shortly afterwards, revealing a long unchanging line of high scores all attained by Hanako Kameyo herself.
"Kameyo-chan! I didn't know you liked area 51, you're really good at it."
Hanako shrugged, giving Kuwbara a smug grin, before looking at him seriously, "How did you do on your History test?"
"Thanks to you I made a 69% this time," He scratched his head sheepishly, "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been able to come over at the last minute to help me study."
Hanako clapped him on the shoulder, "Awww You would have found some way to pass Kuwabara-san I'm sure of it!"
"Hey me and the guys are gonna head over to my house for a Halo tournament, you can come if you want," He chuckled nervously, "I mean Sis will be there too so..."
Hanako smiled awkwardly, "Maybe another time Kuwabara-san, I'm supposed to meet someone here."
"Oh sure, alright. I guess I'll talk to you later then."
"Yeah give me a call if you need more help studying."
"Sure thing!"
Hanako found a booth in the back of the arcade and slid quietly into the seat. With her back against the wall and her feet swung up onto the seat she observed all of the Saturday afternoon gamers.
For the most part they all seemed to be in groups of four or more, something she had never understood. It seemed to her that people around her all made friends so easily. She would be lying if she said that a part of her didn't long to fit in with a group of people.
Still, she could see that most of the 'friendships' were based solely on facades and lies. She didn't want or need anything like that.
"Quite the crowd of fools today isn't it?"
Brown eyes flicked across the table, meeting glittering bright green ones.
"You look out of place," she muttered, taking in his tailored white suit and well kept blonde hair.
She scowled, as he chuckled at her, "Perhaps..."
Hanako snorted indifferently, crossing her arms and turning her gaze back to the arcade.
"As interesting as this little meeting is Hanako-"
"It's Ms. Kameyo to you, you rat bastard."
He raised an eyebrow, then sighed, "Very well. As I was saying, Ms. Kameyo," he half sneered, "I have a job for you."
Hanako put her feet down and leaned over the table to open the folder he slid over to her.
She raised an eyebrow at the teen in the profile, "Shuichi Minamino? He's barely seventeen, what reason would anyone have to-"
Hanako paused, her eyes catching a pair of names in the profile 'Yoko Kurama' and 'Hikaru Kameyo'.
Rage filled her as she saw the words that strung those names together, 'is also responsible for the brutal slaughter of'.
The man smirked, "Am I to understand that this job is one that interests you?"
Hanako took the folder and stood up, "I'll take it."
"Good luck."
Hanako snorted, "He's gonna need it more than me."
