Chapter 9
Ok...I'm sorry for not updating but, as you may have noticed, I do currently have an awful lot of projects underway.
I apologize, because this chapter is kind of crappy and really short, but promise to try and improve the quality for the upcoming ones, if possible. Hopefully I can start to speed things up, as I know there hasn't really been that much drama lately.
Thank you to all reviewers, followers and favouriters! Especially:
Bristleclaw
Chidsengan
GoldenAngel999
Lethal-Circle
Penpal678910
thatcrazyfangirl111
...and I hope everyone enjoys summer break! :)
Being a police officer was a pretty tough job, Officer Bao reflected as he tapped a pencil against his wrist.
It wasn't that your life was in constant danger. It wasn't the risk, or the tight pay, or the fear you felt while dealing with the most dangerous people in the city. No...it was simply the pure unpleasantry of dealing with the same rotten kind of people every day: spitting drunkards, soiled teenagers, nasty drug dealers who always gave the FU!, and pretty much all the guys you put up with in a car or a cell.
Each day was just dealing with someone who had little or no respect for you. An officer's first day on the job was definitely always his worst.
Though he had to admit, it did have its perks...
"Here." His partner and half-brother, Aguma, slipped into the car, stooping as to avoid hitting his head. Even with his seat tipped back and lowered as far as possible, Aguma's ruffled brown hair brushed the ceiling of the car.
Expertly balancing the two trays of food and beverage he was carrying, Aguma offered a vanilla latte in Bao's direction. "Take it. Otherwise I'm gonna spill," he warned his partner, with a straw clenched between his teeth.
Bao snorted as he removed the tray from Aguma's hands. "I still don't get what gets you all worked over about drinking coffee with a straw."
Aguma shrugged. "If you get one of those frozen hot chocolates from Second Cup, you drink it with a straw. If you get that triple-chocolate drink from Starbucks, you use a straw. People drink smoothies using straws all the time. If-"
"Alright, alright," Bao cut in with a sigh. "Just people don't normally drink coffee with a straw, is all."
Aguma shot him another pointed look. "People don't usually make 'frozen hot chocolate'."
Bao rolled his eyes. "We have hot chocolate for the winter, and have it frozen for the summer. Does that sound fair?"
Aguma snorted. "It's still contradictory. You're calling it 'frozen', but in that case, you can't call it 'hot'."
Bao shrugged. "Beats me. Frozen chocolate just sounds like chocolate ice in a cup." He craned his neck, watching their current target for surveillance. "Hey. Is that him, coming out the subway?"
Aguma stooped to get a better look. "Yeah," he muttered, rolling up the windows. "He's got the same bike and everything."
As Bao flipped through the files he was holding, Aguma cast him a curious glance. "Well...you know I never doubt your instincts, but...why this kid?" He shook his head, seeming almost wistful as he leaned over, observing the files that Bao was inspecting. "I still don't get why we're following him. How's he related to our lead?"
Bao shut the files and spun the key for the ignition. "He is a lead," he insisted, eyes focused on the road. He brushed back his maroon locks. "He's visited the clinic every single day. Wouldn't you call that...suspicious?"
Aguma frowned. Like I said, I'm not doubting you, but...it's just sad." His partner gave a sigh as they slowly inched through the traffic, drumming his fingers against the dashboard. "He's got such a nice life paved ahead of him...it almost seems impossible that he could be caught up in something as...complicated as this."
Meeting his partner's cool brown gaze of inquiry, Bao knew he was right.
"It's just a lead," he reminded him. "With some luck...he might just be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Aguma gave a grunt of disagreement. "With his luck," he put in drily, "probably not." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Besides, how do you intend on getting close on him? For all we know, there's a reasonable explanation for his visits at the clinic...but it doesn't seem like something he'll open up about."
Bao flipped open his phone. "Speaking of which..." He mused, flipping through the records. "I think it's about time I gave someone a call." Ignoring his partner's confused groan, he waited to see if they would pick up.
Masamune had been brooding on the couch when his phone rang.
He'd only just finished eating breakfast, and had been staring at the ceiling in deep thought over his explanation from last night.
He'd burst into the dining room, disrupting the peace and pleasantries of everyone else's dinner, yelling about how he lied and hadn't seen Toby. No one had reacted quite as strongly as he'd thought they would - in fact, half of them hadn't even understood what he was talking about. Once they'd cleared up the issue, however, even then they didn't seem altogether moved. It seemed he'd been overthinking the impact of the issue far more than necessary, since Madouka hadn't even hunted him down for fibbing.
MeiMei interrupted his course of thoughts first, when she passed through the living room. "Hey." She gave him a weak smile. "How'd it go last night?"
Masamune shrugged. "Pretty mellow, actually. Almost no one really seemed to care."
MeiMei rolled her eyes. "Well...don't take it personally, but you are a bit... Insensitive. What you think is a big deal...the others might not find it as such. While you were running around, making a big deal of Toby and Zeo, and thinking it was everyone's biggest issue, well...news flash? It's hardly the gossip of the house, right now."
Masamune blinked, considering her words. "Yeah," he admitted at last, "that was probably it." He gave her a crooked smile. "Did you manage to...sort things out last night?"
MeiMei's eyes softened. "Yes. He already knew. I wasn't surprised. Once he started getting really upset, the others just had to tell him."
Masamune was quiet. "I'm sorry about that, MeiMei."
"Me, too. But we have plenty to be happy for, Masamune."
He smiled weakly. "Yeah. I guess. You should eat, MeiMei." He turned, but she wasn't about to let him off that easy.
"Hey. Don't give up, Masamune."
He froze, somewhat awkwardly for a few minutes, but it relaxed into a reassured smile, far from what he felt. "Yeah. Don't you give up either."
The Chinese girl shot him a dry smile before slinking off into the dining room. He could hear Madouka, greeting her delightedly at the table.
In his lap, Masamune's phone rang. Lazily, he pressed the green button and held it up to his ear with a yawn. "Hello?"
"Hey. This is Bao. The friendly cop?"
Masamune took ten seconds to remember. "Oh, hey, the one from the police station! What's up?"
For a moment, he was worried that Zeo had decided to press charges for the scene at the hospital, but instead he received news of something much better.
"I got you your friend's number...the one you were fighting with. I can text it to you. Think you could reason with him on the phone?"
"Sure thing." Masamune paused before hanging up, looking to answer a question that was starting to bother him. "Oh yeah. Bao, how come you're helping me so much?"
"Aside from the fact that we're in similar situations?"
"Oh come on," Masamune said exasperatedly. "Admit it. If you saw a family exactly like yours, squabbling over inheritance, you still wouldn't get this involved, would you?"
Bao was silent for a moment before responding. "No, I guess not. Well...you might not like this answer so much, but I feel sorry for you Masamune."
Masamune sighed. "I could only wish you were the first of many."
"There's no lineups for throwing pity parties." That much was true, Masamune reflected. "But mainly...just call it a policeman's instinct. I feel like you'll need me."
"Need you?" Masamune repeated. "Why?"
"Beats me. Maybe we'll find out."
"Find out what?"
"Haha. Don't try to be smart. It doesn't suit you. My number should be on the caller ID. Write it down if you need me. If my police status really doesn't charm you, just think of it as a favour from one New Yorker to another."
"Sure thing. Thanks, again."
"Anytime, Masamune. We should get together for drinks sometime."
Masamune hung up, deep in thought. Zeo's phone number...he hadn't thought of that. Thinking back to the conversation he had in the car with MeiMei, this meant he could apologize for the whole mess. Sort things out without punching each other in the face.
A soft smile spread over his face at that thought. Whether the punching or sorting, he wasn't sure. But all he needed was a little but of diplomacy with his friend, and maybe he'd forgive him. Let him see Toby.
Following Bao's advice, Masamune checked the display for his number and quickly jotted it down on a sticky note.
Hope was tunnelling his vision as he immediately began dialling the number Bao sent him. His fingers almost shook as the phone rang...and went straight to the operator's voice, droning on about how the person wasn't picking up.
Masamune wasn't going to give up so easily. Licking his lips, he tried again... And the tones died down as someone picked up the phone.
Masamune was too scared to speak, half-convinced that if Zeo recognized his voice, he would hang up on him immediately.
But instead, a more boyish, kinder voice answered - a voice he hadn't heard in years. A voice that he was convinced he might never see again.
"Hello?"
He had to break the barriers that had constricted his throat to force his voice through. "Toby?"
Zeo had forgotten his phone at the hospital.
Upon noticing, Toby had hidden it in his drawer to ensure that the nurses wouldn't confiscate it - he understood there were strict regulations to ensure the patient's own safety, but Toby was just about as good as healed. Besides, he didn't want to trouble Zeo with going downstairs and hunting for his phone in the Lost & Found; no, much easier to give it back to him in person.
He'd waited all morning, however, and there was still no sign of his friend's arrival. Just when he was about to turn on the TV, the phone rang from inside the drawer.
Toby's first instinct was to turn it off and avoid getting in trouble, but he relaxed when he realized that no one had come running to hunt down the source of the noise. The phone rattled as it vibrated faintly against the wood, shaking uncontrollably at each vibe.
Closing his eyes, Toby hoped that the noise would simply vanish, but the ringing persisted. Annoyed, he pulled the phone out the drawer. The number wasn't listed in Zeo's contacts, nor did he recognize it.
As soon as it had started, the ringing stopped. Toby held his breath for a minute or two, wondering if the ringing would go on, but the phone remained silent and dead in his palm. Satisfied, Toby placed the device delicately in the drawer.
RING! RING!
He could have screamed when the cell phone went off, his hand only an inch away from it. Seething, he snatched it up and read the number; the same one as last time. His finger hovered over the green button, wondering if he ought to take the call. At last, he punched in the button on the screen to pick up.
"Hello?"
The voice he heard next almost made his heart stop.
"Toby?"
Meh...not my best...let me know what you'd like to see.