After a minute of running, Lack-Two slows his pace down a little, knowing that Whi-Two had probably stopped running by now, too.
As he walks, he thinks of the various grunts tha he'd gotten used to tracking down, most, if not all of them, had similar mindsets.
That they would follow their leader, no matter what the world brought down upon them.
It's just that, this time, that mentality was there for a different reason altogether. The most hateful reason of all. A blind trust for someone who she had loved but not seen for two whole years.
Two years wasn't really that long of a time, but for lovers, even a day was an eternity.
It was surely a lot when compared to something like that.
So, she had a connection with N... Was that confirmed? No.
He'd simply been acting and judging according toi his suspicions, he might as well be prejudiced against Whi-Two for reasons he couldn't understand himself.
Yet, even still, a connection with N didn't necessarily mean she had a connection with Team Plasma. It could as well be an obsession with N. But it increases the chances of having the life of a Plasma member.
The probability of being a Team Plasma member, is thus increased by twenty five.
He stops as he rounds a corner, and sees Whi-Two a little in front of him, sweat dripping down the back of her neck as she apprehensively makes way to her room.
It was no use. Even if he did reach for her, it would make her even more unapproachable, and, she would strengthen her guard.
And then?
He didn't think this through, did he? He stops, and lets her disappear into her room. She didn't even look back and forth to check if someone was there, and he was following her all along...
How naive.
With this carelessness, he couldn't really trust her to stay safe, safe in his terms, at least.
He stands in a corner of his hiding spot, and types up a number on his watch.
It rings once, and then a second time, oh my god he didn't have time for this, he thinks, before it finally gets picked up by Looker.
Lack-Two speaks up instantly. "Looker, arrange for surveillance cameras to be placed directly in our suspect's dorm. A girl going by the name of Whi-Two. Brunette, with locks and buns for hair, make no mistake, and be sure she's put under strict observation. For now, make do with cameras, check up her class schedules as well, where she goes, where she eats. All equipment must at least be a few feet from her, so we can see things clearly."
He exhales as he finishes, and knowing the amount of questions he was going to be receiving from the other line, adds, "Save them for later, Looker, you can identify her, can't you? Seeing as you've watched me all along."
Lack-Two gets a grunt of agreement from Looker's side, and nods, before shutting off the call.
Now, to get her away from her room.
~L~
"Go to hang out in the forest? Again?"
He smiles delightfully, his hand still protectively cradling her fingers, as he leads them to their destination.
"You know, Whi-Two..."
She jerks her head, very slightly, to his direction, and he knows he's caught her attention.
"I have to say, I'm really happy...we're becoming very good friends, after all."
She gives him a curious stare, and he notes how she relaxes a bit as she answers.
"I guess we are."
She's still wary though, and after that singing event, she can't really say she trusts him, even a bit. She had no no way of knowing though.
So, if he really wants this...
"I consider you a friend, too." She says, smiling, but being nervous all the same.
The boy's studying her actions, she's sure of it, which is why he seems so surprised with her answer.
And answers there'll be, all of them wrong, because she definitely isn't going to let any one, police-member or not, trail her and know about Lord N.
'Whi-Two will keep her Lord N's secret safe.'
She must be careful though, and act as clueless as she can when it come to Team Plasma, and their ideals. She's been stupid enough to give him too much info through the song, and increased his suspicions.
Now, she'll try to improve and do her best, for Lord N.
~L~
Looker knocks on the glass a couple of times, and when he doesn't see anyone respond, tries to open it, only to find out that it was unlocked all this time.
He grimaces as he enters the room, closing the window behind him with a click, watching as his superior does his homework.
A bunch of rolled up papers are placed in front of Lack-Two's desk, school projects, probably, and a textbook is open right in front, with several of its pages neatly bookmarked. And of course, there's Lack-Two.
Mr. Perfect is multitasking, writing with one of his hands, looking diligently at a piece of paper, while at the same time typing on the keyboard and glancing at the monitor in intervals.
It was crazy, he was surrounded by all sorts of spying equipment, worth hundreds of dollars, and he was doing his tasks at such high speeds.
Looker feels afraid to even make a sound, but he does, anyway.
"I see that you're observing our suspect..."
Truly, his superintendent had gone too far.
Insteaf of hissing like Looker'd expected him to, he smiles, keeping his gaze on the screen.
"Yeah."
'A Team Plasma uniform, right in the middle of her room.' Probability has increased by 40.
Lack-Two swivels on his chair to face Looker, much to his surprise.
"She's coming, apparently she had gone out of her room for some time, so I had plenty of opportunities to zoom in and see her belongings. And now, we'll see."
This is followed by a noise from the speaker, the both of them turn, and see Whi-Two entering her room, the door snaps shut as she closes it quickly.
Lack-Two again places his hands on his keyboard, and enlarges one of the monitors, the one recorder that was cleverly disguised and placed directly in front of her bed.
"Huh, finally~" Whi-Two runs across her room, all the way to where the recorder was (making Looker alarmed because of that), and then plops on her bed.
"That was a long day, but, it was worth it!" She giggles as she pulls out a cardboard box from under her bed, rousing Lack-Two's interest. He leans in to see it, and at the same time, Whi-Two takes out a little notepad, before shoving the box back into its place with her leg.
"So, another letter, sent! He has to reply to this one, Lord N..." She jots something down on one of its pages.
She walks over to her table, and keeps the notepad there in a drawer, before pulling out some clothes from her wardrobe.
"Okay, time to change!"
"Uh." Looker sweat-drops, and after seeing his subordinate blush madly and look away, Lack-Two quickly turns off the screen.
"She seems like an entirely different girl when alone, superintendent."
Lack-Two nods, "She's so nervous when it comes to talking to people, or accidentally revealing a bit of herself, that her feelings mostly come out when she's alone."
"So this is why, you wanted to see her all the time, right?"
"... Not quite." Lack-Two doesn't say anything else, and instead proceeds onto opening the screen again.
"S-sir?"
"I know how long it usually takes a girl to change, Looker." Looker blinks at him, but to his relief, by the time the monitor has opened, Whi-Two is already dressed up in her nightgown.
They both see her let down her hair, and sees how she jumps in excitement as she takes out a little book from yet another drawer.
In it are words, written in that big, childish handwriting that Lack-Two perceives as Whi-Two's.
Lack-Two arches his eyebrows, as she starts reciting the words in it in a singsong voice.
Of course. That song from before couldn't possibly be the only one.
...She had such a good voice.
She closes her eyes and holds the book to her heart, feeling the warmth flood through her body.
"Lord N, I love you so much...you adorable person, I-"
"Love you." Looker gasps, Lack-Two ignores him, still watching for what she was about to do.
And even though Whi-Two wants to remain calm, and not to get her hopes up, so that she wouldn't have to drown in self pity and sadness later on, her smile gets warmer and warmer on its own.
But, similarly, when a certain thought strikes her, a piece of her dies.
What if she was counting too much on what Lord N had said before, what if he hated her now, and never wanted to talk to her again?
Lack-Two gets even more surprised when he sees her blinking back tears.
The emotions are so unsteady.
'It's okay.' She thinks, 'Come on, Whi-Two, find something else, stop worrying please, he doesn't hate you, he'll never hate you!'
She thinks for a moment, and then kneels down to the level of her bed, and takes a doll lying beneathe it.
Looker gasps again, when ne sees the doll has green hair, amd grey eyes, and a noticeably familiar face...
N.
"Oh my god." Lack-Two ignores that, too.
Up to now, all the evidence that he'd found were things related to N: the song, memoirs, gifts that N had probably given her, lying on shelves in her room, but, for all he knew, he still couldn't be entirely sure that she was the Team Plasma member.
The dress was an exception. Everything else, those things, only meant she had an obsession for N.
And moreover, Team Plasma had at one time advertised their motives, they could easily have given away Team Plasma uniforms, same with flyers, amd other accessories that she may have, all for the sake of "Liberation". This excuse itself would be enough to get her out of any sentence, if she worked cautiously.
No, this wouldn't do, and it hardly gave him enough conviction to arrest her, he needed to dig deeper for this case.
He hears a sound, and wills himself to again concentrate om Whi-Two, the deductions could be left for later on.
'The sounds are, weird.' He thinks, as he raises his head to the screen.
He immediately regrets it.
Whi-Two was cuddling the doll that replicated N, running her hands through its hair, and pecking its face.
Lack-Two feels disgusted, and he turns, only to see his subordinate standing very still.
His eyes animated and ridiculously wide.
'Most likely isn't used to the eccentric ways of teenage girls,' Lack-Two affirms in his mind.
~L~
Lack-Two curses N, his dolls, his gifts, whatever else she'd hugged like this, as he clenches his fists.
"So, fun time she's having?" He points a glare at Looker at this.
Whi-Two takes the doll away from her face, feeling slightly awkward, but pleased with herself for coming up with an idea that could make her feel better.
'Uh, that feels weird. I really haven't brushed my lips with anything else before, teehee! I'd rather not do it again though...'
She blushes at the thought of kissing N, for real, like this.
Wait, she shouldn't be having these thoughts, he was her lord, after all.
And what will Lord N think if he knows that her Whi-Two was kissing a figure of himself?
Whi-Two won't do it again, never again, and she'll apologise to her lord for having done this.
Lack-Two exhales, as he watches her stop playing with the glop of green fur. He turns off the screen, after seeing Whi-Two prop her head down on her pillows.
He smiles softly.
'Goodnight, Whi-Two.'
After a moment, Looker opens his mouth, "You know, Lack-Two..."
"I have a feeling you're waiting for something, something that's not related to this by any means, but rather, to Whi-Two."
He looks deeply at Lack-Two, trying to see past his "comfortable" façade, and failing.
"Listen, I'm not an idiot, okay? I saw how you didn't react much, even when she took out things and fangirled over N...the one exception being when she started kissing N," he stops momentarily.
"If you really are looking forward to her outright confessing to something, I'm afraid it won't come." He ends.
Lack-Two smiles, he's been letting Looker speak all along, trying to hear his thoughts.
It wouldn't be justified if he didn't examine and listen to the opinions of his fellow accomplices first...
"It will come, Looker." He finally says, the corner of his lips upturned still.
"... And when it does, I'll be ready to kiss her like she did that puppet."
"You're joking, righ-"
Lack-Two shakes his head.
Looker sighs dejectedly, as he sees his superintendent yawn and make way to bed.
'Superintendent is crazy...'
The supervisions shall go on.
La douleur exquise- The heart-wrenching pain of wanting someone unattainable