Chapter 4: Drawing Straws
Watari sat in the board room and leaned back in his chair. Tatsumi was on the other end of the table, staring at him over a stack of papers.
" Do you know why you're here?" He asked calmly.
Watari shrugged. " Not really. Is there a new case you need help on?"
Tatsumi's eyebrow twitched with annoyance, but he bit back a scathing reply.
He gritted his teeth and muttered, " We're here regarding you."
"What for?"
" The chief has asked for me to build a psychological profile for you."
" Interesting. Is this new protocol?"
" ...Something like that," There was an upside to this; at least he didn't have to lie. He didn't know if the man in front of him would cooperate if he knew he was being singled out. Not that the rest of them didn't need it. Maybe he'd make a note of that.
"Lets start off with some easy questions." Tatsumi pushed up his glasses. " How are your eating habits?"
" Fairly healthy," Watari said. "I make sure to get all of the proper nutrients. Unless I'm stuck at work all week."
" Physical?"
" The missions keep me mostly fit. Though I do squats in the lab when I'm waiting out an experiment."
Tatsumi's eye twitched this time. " Okay, now on to emotional. This one is a bit more important, so tell me everything relevant. Does this job satisfy you?"
"Like a fat child in a candy shop."
"What about at home?"
" Decent. I spend a lot of time at work."
Tatsumi took a large breath before the next question. "How do you get along with your co-workers?"
" Quite well, I suppose. We've been getting a lot of new employees lately. Is the division expanding? I wasn't sure that's really in the budget."
" I'm sure the Bureau's finances are handled." Tatsumi snapped. He gritted his teeth as he continued." How exactly is quite well? New employees mean more getting to know people. Any problems with anyone?"
" Nope, everyone gets along well, like we've known each other before."
" Is that so? Are you sure you haven't forgotten anyone?" He stressed the word 'forgotten' and leaned in as he said it.
" You know, a lot of people have been asking me that lately. Is there some sort of joke I'm missing out on? I don't mind pranks, but I feel like I'm waiting for a punch line that never comes."
" I wouldn't know. I don't participate in pranks." Which you should already know.
" You didn't strike me as the type." Watari smirked.
Tatsumi wanted desperately to throw the papers in the air and storm out. His reputation prevented him from doing so, but only barely. It would be much easier to fix his amnesia if he admitted that he had it. Konoe had said not to push it, so he bit his tongue.
"I think that's it for today." He said finally. " We might go over this again next week."
"Okay, even though we have no leads, I think its time that we brainstorm to figure this out."
Residing in the room was a lazy silence. They had been wracking their brains and databases for ideas, and it was getting old. The last week had gone by with the Summons Division focusing on their regular cases. Keeping an eye on Watari and searching databases for information had been split up between them, but not on high priority. Now that it appeared that the effects were not going away, the team members had been called in to report. Tsuzuki heard his stomach rumble through his half closed eyelids.
"Has anyone found anything yet?" Konoe sighed. The lack of information was disheartening.
"Anything?" The silence continued. "Gushoshin? Nothing in the library?" The birds shook their heads in unison.
"It's rare that we come across something like this. Usually if brain damage occurs, the Shinigami's healing abilities sort it out within a matter of hours." The younger of the brothers shook his head. " We even looked through all previous case files on the main system, but nothing popped up. The only other case showing a Shinigami losing their memory didn't detail how it had happened. And they never recovered. "
A worried look passed around the room.
"Tatsumi?"
The secretary pushed up his glasses and stepped forward, brandishing a clipboard. He cleared his face of emotion. He had to keep up appearances, after all.
" I found nothing about Watari's condition, but I have been hearing reports about an energy disturbance in the area. Sound waves that cause small earthquakes, even in Meifu. Some of them have occurred on earth, and it has caused the death of a few humans. No one has seen the cause of them yet, but I think it may be more pressing than a case of mysterious amnesia. However, I do care about the well being of our employees, so I will continue to research."
Tsuzuki could barely hear any of them. The meeting went on around him as he sat with his head on the table. Though he got over the sting of rejection from earlier that week, he still felt the emptiness and boredom, as he had no one to joke with. He was worried about his friend, and nothing anyone was reporting gave him any hope. Would he have to start his friendship over? And what if he mysteriously regained his memory, like in the movies, and forgot everything in between? Then the new memories would be lost. It was this that had kept Tsuzuki from interacting with Watari. His thoughts were interrupted by Konoe barking his name.
"Tsuzuki, pay attention, this is important!" When the Shinigami's head popped up, the chief continued, "This is to be kept secret from Watari. Until we know if there is a connection, or even if this is reversible, we don't want to confuse him. We have enough backed up research projects and paperwork to keep him busy in the meantime. Utter nothing of both of these cases to him."
He yawned as everyone filed out of the board room. So they were keeping secrets now. He was dreading looking through the medical journals again. His stomach was protesting loudly. He had just remembered the sweets Hisoka had brought him that morning. Maybe if he slipped into the break room, no one would notice. This improved his mood greatly. He was moving gleefully down the hallway when he ran headfirst into someone.
"Hello, Tzuzuki-san!" Tsuzuki looked up into the cheerful, bi-speckled face of none other than Watari Yutaka.
"oh, um...hi," he said uncertainly. He hadn't expected this.
"Where did everyone go, I have something to show Konoe."
"Uh..." Don't say board meeting about you, no top secret cases " I don't know, I think they went to lunch." Watari raised an eyebrow. Tsuzuki shrugged, and Watari's face fell.
"People have been acting so weird lately. Did something happen? "
"No, no! Nothing happened!" Tsuzuki stuttered, "Nothing at all."
It felt weird to lie to his best friend. I have to get out of here. Tsuzuki slid past the scientist with a mumbled "see you later," and flitted behind the break room door and closed it.
That was close.
It took him a bit to calm down. Nobody was in danger, but nothing felt right. The friendship that he had valued deeply was gone. Like it never happened. Tsuzuki wanted to be angry, but without a cause, there was nothing to be angry at. At least when Muraki was involved, he had something to focus on. Things were out in the open, and he knew he could do something. Now, it was just confusion, and going about his day like nothing was wrong. It felt strange, and he hated it.
Tsuzuki rummaged around in the fridge for the cinnamon roll. It was behind a bundled bento, and some takeout that smelled funky. He pulled it out and popped it into the microwave. As he waited, he wondered if things would ever go back to normal.
On his way back to his desk , Tsuzuki heard a harsh tone down the hall. He stopped in his tracks and peeked around the side. The voice was Tatsumi's, and he was practically unhinged. He had Watari up against the wall, gesturing violently.
" Don't you understand what happened? We've been through things together! We're part of a team! We've almost died together! You have to remember something!" Tatsumi was out of breath, his heart and head pounding, trying to keep was always calm. But this had been gnawing at him for more than a week, and he was starting to lose control.
Please, say you remember me...
He couldn't help himself. He drew his fingers up to the younger man's chin, guiding those amber eyes to meet his.
As soon as Tatsumi touched his chin, a sharp pain shot through Watari's head, and he backed away, his hands covering his face and eyes.
"Watari!" Tatsumi was alarmed, and reached out a hand, concerned for the other man, but Watari merely shook his head, wincing at the pain.
"I'm fine," he insisted."Look, I don't know what your problem is, but my brain is just fine. I don't need your remarks about how I should get it looked at every damn day. You're the one who's crazy. Get out of my face." Tatsumi's heart sunk into his stomach at the look on Watari's usually cheerful face.
Watari pushed past him, shaking his head.
Before he knew what he was doing, his hand was grasping at Watari's lab coat and pulling him back towards him. He desperately pressed his lips against the scientist's.
Suddenly, a rumbling sound filled their ears and the building shook violently.
Tatsumi! Get everyone under cover! This could be trouble!" Konoe's voice thundered down the hall. The two men stared at each other, frozen.
Why did I just do that? Tatsumi was shaking. If the building was under attack, they should be finding cover. But all he could do was stand there, transfixed at the emotion on Watari's face. He was searching for recognition. Something, anything.
Watari could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he walked chastely down the hall and turned the corner. In addition to the painful throbbing, his mind was also buzzing with wonder.
When the new guy had touched him, his mind flashed with pictures of him. A murderous glint, and annoyed expression, and one of sadness. These scenes were like bits of a movie, or a photo album with missing pictures. But there was another one. The last image was a softer, gentler Tatsumi. It was rare to see that. Tatsumi had shown this to Tsuzuki often enough, but Watari had seen that smile only once.
Watari blinked. What?Where in the world didn't these strange thoughts come from? Tatsumi was new, there was no way he could have "remembered" that. There was only one good explanation for this: Watari was losing his mind.
A hand pulled him down the hallway and under a door frame. He remembered that the building was shaking, and there was a buzzing sound pulsing in the air. He looked to his right to see Tsuzuki covering his head.
"Hisoka! Are you hurt?" Tsuzuki yelled out, once the shaking stopped.
A faraway voice responded, " I'm fine!"
" Is anybody hurt?" Terazuma passed them in the hallway. They nodded, and he moved on.
" What the hell was that?" he asked Tsuzuki.
" An earthquake?"
Oh my gosh, it's been YEARS since I've updated. I'm so sorry. Thank you for sticking with me all this time. I really want to finish this fic. I'm determined!