Disclaimer: I do not own Psycho-Pass, nor its characters. They rightfully belong to their creators.
Finally free from the drowsiness and the chronic noises of the monitors, Akane bowed in gratitude to the medical practitioner, "Thank you for your care."
"You are most welcome. It was most certainly nice to see you recover quickly." The doctor, clad in the color of pristine snow, smiled as he scrawled his unreadable signature onto the electronic release forms. "Take care, Miss. Tsunemori."
Akane inclined her body again, gathered her belongings, and left the bleach-stained room. She was happy to finally leave the thoroughly cleansed sanatorium. Although, she didn't want to display her giddiness and appear too frazzled to the nurses who pushed people in their squeaky wheelchairs, so she exhaled and plastered on a calm expression and headed for the lounge down below.
As she reached the grand staircase, the sunlight pour through the glass atrium above. The brightness made the whole floor less tenebrous. Individuals were plotted across the polished tier and chattered among themselves.
She looked up, the weather was indeed congenial compared to the last time she went out on her duty. No raindrops pounded angrily against the roof or frightening flashes lit up in the gray, rolling clouds. With a contented sigh, she moved down and towards the exit as the wrapped up bouquets crinkled in her arms.
"Looks like you need help there, Miss Inspector." Someone had spoken to her, and they sounded very amused.
"Mr. Kougami?" Akane perked up as soon as she heard familiar connotations of his voice, and peered over the large, sweet-smelling petals.
The man was leaning his back against a marble pillar and looked down at the petite woman carrying an assortment of flowers. Then he shifted away from his place and liberated her from the seemingly-enormous bouquets that were secured in her arms.
Akane hugged the only couple of them left then looked up to him coyly. She saw that he smiled softly.
Just seeing his smile alone, she was so sure her face was as vividly red as the roses she grasped in her tiny hands. In a sad attempt to evade his gaze, she distracted herself by inhaling the saccharine fragrances that the roses and tulips gave off. Her dark brown eyes glued themselves onto the granite floor and started at their reflections.
"Thank you," she simpered and spoke in a soft voice, "I must ask, how come you're here?"
"I just wanted to drop by. Doc told us you would be released today. Gino is here as well. He's speaking with someone right now." Kougami jerked his thumb in the direction of the other fellow inspector who was a few feet away from them.
Ginoza was wearing a solemn expression; his lenses glistened underneath the light. The person who he was talking with was a woman. The woman's eyes seemed puffy, outside of her irises reddened from crying.
Despite her teary appearance, she was quite beautiful. Akane stared at her in wonder. Golden, curled tendrils pooled around her moon-pale shoulders, and she wore an expensive dress, possibly made of smooth silk. Glittering sequins were stuck to the navy blue fabric, and it fell to her knees.
Her heart-shaped face tired as her lower lip quivered as she tried to choke back her ugly sobs. The woman could have been mistaken as a porcelain doll by the way she looked at Ginoza with her wide, aquamarine eyes. Managing to break her stare, Akane inquired curiously, "Who is she?"
"That's Minvera Carsons. Some big star from overseas. She performed in some movies. Apart from having an illicit relationship with Takeshi, she was probably here for a contract deal, I'll bet."
"What? But in Takeshi's profile, it didn't mention any of him being in a relationship with another woman, and that he had a wife."
"We only found out recently that Carsons was last seen with Takeshi before he was killed. Only a handful of witnesses knew about the affair Takeshi was having on his wife. It was kept hush-hush only until now."
"That's terrible," Akane frowned, "So all of this was kept as a secret?"
"Takeshi wanted to protect his reputation so he bribed people to keep them from selling stories to the tabloids. While you were recovering, we have placed them under arrest for bribery, fraud, and among other charges."
"I see..." Akane demurred as the quietly weeping women departed, and then Ginoza joined them.
Unsmiling, he grunted, "Miss. Tsunemori, I see you are well."
"Yes, Mr. Nobuchika." Akane responded dourly and felt stiffed under his calculating, perusing eyes. She didn't want to say much to her senior officer and only mimicked his somber mien.
In comparison, she was much more comfortable with Kougami rather than Ginoza. It may be true Akane had disliked the enforcer at first, but now that they have worked more together, they begun to understand each other at a more profound level.
However, when she was with Ginoza, it always seemed like he could pick at every single flaw she had, meanwhile, Kougami was more laidback and didn't exactly nag her about her views of life. Her being too conscious and tightlipped made her queasy.
"Now that Akane's here. We should get going," Kougami interjected.
Thank you. Akane flashed her unvoiced words in her eyes to Kougami's. She knew that Kougami had rescued her from her relentless supervisor.
Ginoza breathed a soft "hmmph" before he verbally agreed, "Alright, let's go."
Then they left, the female inspector stayed close to Kougami as she felt more secure besides him.
After an hour leaving the hospital, Akane had arrived with the other two to their workplace. The petite inspector had insisted that she needed to return so she could catch up on her paperworks that were left idle for several days. Unfortunately, her plans did not go as she expected. Instead of making her way to complete her assignments as soon as possible, she was smothered by Shion's hugs when she wondered into the office space with the enforcer.
Kougami moved past the hugging couple, still holding the bouquets that were as large as his broad shoulders. He only shook his head in exasperation. Everyone was definitely glad to see Akane back at the office as they greeted her with a pat on her back or a hug.
"Akane, did you like the flowers I got you?" Shion purred as she tightened her iron-like hug around Akane.
"Yes! Thank you!" Akane grinned up to her, though she didn't recall which bouquet among the many others she had received from the blonde technician. "That was very kind of you."
"I thought the daisies suited you since they're as adorable as you are," she pinched the younger woman's cheek, grinning.
"Shion..." Yayoi was sitting at her desk as she sighed. She was watching her girlfriend continue to stifle Akane with airtight hugs that seemed to squeeze the very life out of her. "You're going to have Akane wind up in the hospital again if you don't stop doing that."
Shion hearing Yayoi's rebuke, she had stepped away and smirked, "I'm just happy to see Akane-chan is well."
Akane smiled softly back and lifted a hand to fix her ruffled bangs. Regardless of their status in society, she felt relieved to find out she was really good hands. Even though the people she often tasked with were labeled latent criminals, they were still human in her eyes, and she would hope that one day the society wouldn't judge them so harshly.
Finally released from the technician's hugs, Kougami and Shion then offered to help to fix up the bouquets as decorations for her desk, and Akane happily accepted. So they did.
Turning to front of her desk that was now exploding with ebullient verdure, she arranged the viridscent stalks gently in a purple vase, the lightly colored petals tickling her skin like little cherubs' kisses. They had managed to get most of the flowers into the several vases that were placed upon the glassy surface.
Then Kougami sat in his own chair and observed her. The corner of his lips were twitching as he fought back a smile that was straining to spring into life. He was indeed relieved to see Akane had recovered quickly, and he was secretly happy to be able to work with her again.