I discovered that Umi-chan is actually pretty hard to write lol - her habit of speaking formally made things a little more difficult for me and I had to keep rewriting her lines. ._. (Umi pls)

For the rest of this fic, I'll make a note at the beginning if a specific song was both my jam for a chapter as well as the title inspiration for the chapter in question.

Chapter Title: Meiro (迷路 lit. Maze) - Kurono Kiria (CV Nanjou Yoshino)

I may or may not be attempting to turn everyone into Jolno fans. But I promise this song is really good and she uses her Eli voice to sing it.

"Family is not defined by 'yours' or 'mine', but by ours. And in this world, more often than not, family means not the people who raised you, but the people you have fought with—a decision not made by blood and accidents, but by choice and responsibility.

I didn't know either Maki or Eli before the first Ceresis attacks. But in the days that followed, a bond began to form, first out of our mutual determination to survive, as we locked ourselves in a small clubroom at the high school we all attended. Maki, to the best of her knowledge, tried to mend our bruises and wounds, and it was Eli who had finally figured out how to get the computer in the room working to call for help, while I did the best I could to keep us alive on the intermittent tap water and scarce food supply that was the only thing available to us.

We stumbled out onto the ruined streets of Tokyo in a daze. In our effort to find our families, none of us could bear to go alone. At my family's home, there were only flames. At Eli's, we found only the still-breathing form of her younger sister.

But it was Maki who truly had it the worst of any of us. When she reached her family mansion, we could hear maniacal laughter coming from within. When we went inside, the broken, silhouetted form of her father greeted us. The words he was saying—none of us wanted to believe what he said was true. It made me sick to realize that he meant every word. When he finally recognized Maki, he tried to kill us all to silence what we had just heard. If the army hadn't shown up when they did, I'm quite certain that none of us would still be alive.

Bleeding, crying, and on our knees, the three of us huddled in the foyer of her family home for what felt like years. But it was then that we swore a wordless oath—it is that kind of trauma that forms a bond that cannot be dissolved or left behind. Even though none of us had families anymore, it was at that moment that we made each other our family." —Sonoda Umi

Umi liked to arrange her days in some semblance of a routine, even though the Ceresis didn't function that way at all. Nonetheless, she was determined to make it happen… one of these days.

Unfortunately for her, her usual morning routine involved "jumping the fence", as it was called, and striding out into the untamed forest that had crept up to reclaim what had once been part of Tokyo. Most people were usually frightened by the occasional screech of a Ceresis, but Umi wasn't most people.

Instead of filling her with fear, the sight of her family home in flames—with none of her family members to be found—had instilled an icy rage in her, a burning desire to see every last Ceresis dead. It was that determination that had driven her forward all these years since, because at the time, she'd had nothing left to fight for. And the only thing Umi had known how to do was fight. She was equally as determined not to let her new family suffer the same fate.

Neither Maki nor Eli had tried to stop her when Umi threw herself into her archery training. That was perhaps what she valued the most about her new family: it was that they both understood her feelings almost as intimately as she did. She remembered the drive they'd all had—the sleepless nights that slipped into restless days before edging into night again in a vicious cycle—the constant reminder that they were still alive.

Senses on ever-vigilant alert, she crept through the undergrowth, wincing when she heard a loud boom in the distance. No doubt it's one of those private military groups again. The sound was sure to attract almost all the Ceresis in the area, and Umi fervently hoped that they knew what they were getting themselves into. Then again, she didn't particularly care if some careless mercenaries got themselves killed—stupidity didn't need to breed and Umi was most certainly not a fan of most mercenaries, despite being a bounty hunter herself.

There was a certain degree of irony there, but at least she worked for herself and maintained a set of standards for herself. Most mercenaries strutted around Tokyo like they owned the place, brandishing their weapons after hours and getting drunk on the streets. It was the precise level of shamelessness that made her bristle.

But since the government had rewritten certain aspects of the law since the original Ceresis attacks, it didn't make what they did illegal… unfortunately. Umi supposed neither what she nor Eli did would be considered legal either prior to that law change, but at least the two of them had morals.

The rustle of dead leaves just ahead of her caught her attention, as she spotted movement in the bushes ahead. In the morning light, she spied the tell-tale motions of a Ceresis stumbling through the undergrowth, waving its mutated single arm in the air as it sliced bushes and trees out of the way. Reassured by the weight of the bow in her arms, she raised it.

The namidite-tipped arrow sunk into the side of the Ceresis's head, dropping it like a rock. Umi waited a few seconds to make sure it was dead before striding up to it; she had made that particular mistake in the past and had almost paid dearly for it. If anything, the earful she'd gotten from Maki afterwards made it not worth going through again.

Black market dealers paid a high price for Ceresis parts. Intact ones, that was. Most bounty hunters and mercs liked to make a mess while killing Ceresis, but Umi prided herself on the precision in her aim. She had found that if she shot the Ceresis in the head above a certain point, the namidite's corrosive powers usually left the arms of the Ceresis relatively intact. Certain religious sects believed that the Ceresis had been sent from some higher power—that the devastation of humanity was inevitable. Umi didn't believe in that for a single heartbeat—a God that couldn't protect those who had done absolutely nothing wrong was no better than no God at all—but she knew better than to spout her views in public.

Umi unsheathed her knife, taking special care to put on some heavy-duty gloves before she did so. She knew of a certain dealer who paid a premium for Ceresis claws; while she maintained her personal set of morals while bounty hunting, she wasn't above saying no to free cash.

Carefully removing the large claw from the body of the Ceresis and stowing it in a bag that ensured the Ceresis fluids wouldn't leak out, she muttered a quiet prayer for the soul that the Ceresis had once had. May you rest in peace.

Throwing the bag over her shoulder, satisfied that this particular hunt had gone so well, she set off back towards the walled fence.

More people would have the courage to be bounty hunters if it weren't for the fact that bounty hunters always worked alone. Umi despised private military companies because of the corrupt businessmen that inevitably seemed to own them, and she mistrusted the government almost as much as she hated dishonest corporations, so joining the army was out of the question for her as well, even though all of those options had presented her with an opportunity to exterminate Ceresis.

But being alone suited her just fine. Her archery skills had always been something she'd worked hard to hone, even before the initial Ceresis attacks, and bounty hunting was an outlet that she could put them to use in. Besides, Umi found that hunting partners tended to slow her down.

Passing through the guarded gate of the walled fence, she made her way towards the myriad of ragtag shops that had popped up along the inner boundary of the fence, all pandering towards mercenaries and bounty hunters.

Outside of the well-off areas of the Tokyo District lay the outskirts that bordered the main city that had never been rebuilt unlike central Tokyo. Certain less affluent citizens lived in these outskirts for the non-existent rent in the run-down buildings, but it was mainly inhabited by those who had already been infected by the Edenra virus, but had not turned into Ceresis yet. Because the speed of the viral infection differed between different people, some of the people had been living this way for years, waiting—some with despair, others with anger—for the inevitable end that would come for them eventually.

Tokyo was not a kind place to Edenra victims in general. Virtually all job openings, apartment vacancies, and even schools required a viral exam. Companies did not hire those who had been infected. Even if an afflicted citizen had the money to pay for a residence, they would be turned down by owners. Most, if not all of them, didn't have that kind of money, though, and there was only one place to go on the inside of the fence if you had absolutely nothing to your name.

Because non-infected, relatively well-off citizens didn't pass this way unless they had a very good reason to, there was an almost zero chance of infection from one of the Edenra victims as most of the infected citizens were too afraid to approach private military groups or bounty hunters; nearly all of the latter had absolutely no qualms about putting a bullet or arrow in someone they deemed a threat. Instead, most of the Edenra victims scraped out a meager living in the ruins of what used to part of Tokyo in decrepit apartments with no electricity or running water, or had built shacks and makeshift homes out of the ample construction material left lying around in the wake of ruined buildings.

Umi made her way into one of the shops that had been set up along the edge of the fence. It was a little ways away from the gate and involved a detour on her part, but she made an effort to remain on good terms with its owner, a former bounty hunter who still pulled out her weapons once in awhile when she felt bored.

Pushing aside the cloth flap at the entrance of the shop, she was greeted by a vibrant shock of orange hair.

Hoshizora Rin was the daughter of one of the most affluent weapons manufacturers in Tokyo. She had been a star track and field runner in high school, and had put that athletic ability to use in arms demonstrations for commercials for the family business. However, she had gotten bored of her role as a mere actress—much to her family's dismay—and had wanted to see action herself. It had been an easy transition for her to become a bounty hunter, but an accident four years ago had left a tendon in her ankle permanently torn, which made it unsafe for her to continue as one. Unfettered by this particular development, she opened up her own shop at the fence, using her knowledge of arms and her particular brand of enthusiasm to attract potential clients. While Umi had no idea who Rin sold the Ceresis parts she purchased often from bounty hunters to—she wasn't even sure if she wanted to know—Rin did have a rather impressive selection of high quality weapons and never turned her down if she wanted a weapon of hers repaired. Besides, she could always count on Rin to buy her bounty prizes, even on a bad day.

"Umi-chan!" The greeting was as bright as ever as Rin put down one of her coveted pet cats in order to greet her at the glass countertop. Today, the selection underneath the transparent glass was a collection of namidite swords. "I see you have a prize for me!"

Umi dropped the bounty bag on the countertop with a loud thump.

Rin put on some gloves before she prised the bag open, grinning at the contents inside. "You never fail to disappoint me, do you, Umi-chan? Unfortunately I don't have anything you'd be interested in at the moment… unless you want to wait a few days for my next shipment? I'll make sure to save your usual for you."

Umi shrugged. "That's fine." Once upon a time, she would've been insistent on being paid right away—in cash. But money was no longer a concern for her—Eli seemed to attract rich businessmen and weapons dealers as clients like a magnet—and if truth was told, she did appreciate the quality of Rin's goods. She could do without a few meals if it meant she could count one hundred percent on the weapons on her back in a fight.

Rin swept the bag off the countertop, carrying it into her backroom. As always, Umi winced a little seeing the still-present limp that the orange-haired young woman walked with. While waiting for Rin to come back, she examined the collection of weapons displayed on the walls: an assortment of bows, guns, and spears. Although Rin couldn't chase after shoplifters anymore, Umi had never seen someone land a throwing knife into a thief's back as fast as she did.

The scrape of a chair against concrete brought her attention back to the orange-haired woman in question. Resting her elbows on her counter, she turned on the small TV in the corner: Rin was one of the few people who lived in Tokyo's outskirts that had the money to pay for reliable electricity and cable.

"Hey Umi-chan, have you heard?"

Umi shot a side glance at the other woman, waiting for her to elaborate. There was no need to ask what because Rin spoke at a pace that was faster than one of her cats chasing catnip. "They think they found the sniper that killed the man at the scramble a few days ago."

This was news to Umi. "Really."

Rin nodded enthusiastically. "It was on the news this morning. A surveillance vid in a nearby grocery store caught him on film."

Umi raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, Hoshizora. A high-profile sniper like that who assassinated someone in broad daylight was careless enough to get caught on video in a grocery store? Forgive me if I don't believe you." She tried not to sound too skeptical.

Rin pouted at her. "Nya don't have to believe me if you don't want to. But if you don't trust the news, who else are you gonna trust? And don't call me Hoshizora!" she added as an outraged afterthought as Umi turned to go. "I thought we were better friends than that, Umi-chan!"

Umi looked over her shoulder as she pushed aside the burlap curtain that served as a front door. "We are, but not when you believe everything you hear. Let me know when your next shipment comes in."

The news was still on her mind as she strode through the dusty streets of the outskirts, glad for the moment being that the collapsing buildings provided some form of shade against the rising sun. It was possible Rin knew more than she was letting on—the outskirts of Tokyo wasn't exactly the safest place to discuss national security—but since Rin lived there and she didn't, Umi felt a little safer voicing her dissent. But Umi did know someone who would know. In fact, Umi was sure that that particular blonde someone knew more about the incident in question than all of Tokyo's news outlets combined.

She had half a mind to pull out her phone and call Eli, but she resisted the temptation. Most Edenra-afflicted citizens gave bounty hunters a wide berth when one of them passed through the area, but she couldn't be a hundred percent sure that one of them wouldn't risk eavesdropping on one of her conversations.

Umi stopped at the usual make-shift bridge she used to cross back into Tokyo proper. A large man was blocking her way, his bleached blonde hair glinting in the morning sun with a large sword strapped to his back. She grit her teeth together in frustration. Of all the days to run into him…

Satou Fubuki was also a bounty hunter, famous for the amount of Ceresis kills he had to date. His signature weapon was a large sword that was longer than his arm and about twice as wide, and he certainly wasn't afraid to use it. However, his morality could described at best as dubious and Umi wouldn't have been surprised to hear if he was part of one of Tokyo's many gangs, amongst other things. He often laughed at her—mostly for being a woman—and Umi often described him as the bane of her existence.

"Morning, Sonoda," he drawled, leaning on one foot casually.

Umi didn't react, knowing that any reaction she gave to him would only give him fuel for the fire.

He smirked at her. "Back from hunting already? Or did you not find anything this morning?" There was a pause as his voice grew a shade more sinister. "Or maybe you've finally realized that nobody's playing little girl games out there?"

She tried to control her temper—letting Satou Fubuki get a rise out of her was the last way she wanted to start her day. "I'm sure you have better things to do than standing at the bridge all day," she said evenly, trying not to let the irritation that was prickling at her skin show.

"Oh, I do," he replied. "Just thought I'd say hi to you. What… is that illegal now?"

"No. But I wish it was, because the Satou Fubuki I know doesn't just wait at a bridge to say hello."

That was enough to turn his arrogant smirk into a snarl. "You here to pick a fight, Sonoda?"

"No," she snapped coldly. "I'm waiting for you to move out of my way so I can cross."

Satou let out a growl as she stepped past him, but he didn't try to stop her. Most of the time, Satou only made time in his day for Umi to give her crap. The other twenty-five percent of the time…

"Oi, Sonoda! When are you planning to ask Ayase to go out with me?" he called after her.

The shout echoed across the water as Umi left him behind, though it took a considerable amount of her self-control for her to ignore him.

As if Eli would even consider going out with a disgusting creep like you.

The man had met Eli once—incidentally, it had been the time that she had severely underestimated the Ceresis's ability to survive being shot at with an arrow, and she had been recuperating in Rin's store with the young woman fussing over her, cursing under her breath at her own stupidity. Eli and Maki had come looking for her when she hadn't answered their calls on her barely-functioning cellphone, and had the utter misfortune to run into him on the way. Unfortunately, she hadn't been there to warn them not to give him the light of day. According to Maki, it had taken almost all of her energy to stop Eli from making an attempt to kill the man on the spot.

The memory of the incident made Umi almost wish that murder wasn't illegal in Tokyo. While bounty hunters and ordinary citizens alike had been granted the right to carry a weapon at all times in case of a Ceresis attack, it was against the law to use them on a fellow non-infected human. But for people like this…

As she climbed up from the waterfront onto the main streets of Tokyo, her phone buzzed, distracting her from her dark thoughts. She pulled it out to look at the message, then smiled.

Umi had a grand total of four contacts on her phone. One and two were Maki and Eli. Three was Rin. Four was one of the only good things to come as a result of the Ceresis attacks, a single point of light in an otherwise dark world.

She had met Minami Kotori on the streets of Tokyo one day not long after the initial Ceresis attacks; the young woman had been helping an injured girl on the streets. Behind her, unbeknownst to Kotori, a man was in the middle of his transition from a human to a Ceresis—a man she had just helped, not knowing his condition nor how fast he could turn.

Without thinking, Umi had drawn her bow and let the arrow fly. At the time, she didn't have access to namidite arrows, and it had taken her several seconds to realize the reason for the man's unexpected resilience. Quickly pushing aside Kotori and the young girl she had been helping, Umi had almost been injected with the virus herself as she drove an arrow point into the back of the infected man's neck, severing the brain stem.

That had caused him to stop moving as they slowly backed away from him, before the army had swooped in onto the scene.

At the time, Umi had no idea how important Kotori would become in her life.

She found out later that Kotori had been granted early admission into a famous school for the arts, and had been well on her way to becoming a fashion designer before the events of the Ceresis attacks in October 2022. After the devastation that had left only her and her mother as the sole survivors in their family, Kotori had dedicated her efforts into helping the victims of the catastrophe, and enrolled in nursing school.

Now, Kotori was a nurse at the same hospital in which Maki worked as a surgeon, but she had never forgotten the person who had saved her life. Kotori had invited her to a café as a way of thanking her, and the ball had started rolling from there down a very steep incline with no end to it in sight. Umi smiled at the memory of the brown haired young woman bursting into tears when she'd presented her with a ring.

As things were, Umi was also slightly terrified of the list of wedding preparations that Kotori's mother had come up with and had half a mind to elope if even a third of the suggestions on the list in question had any possibility of happening.

She texted Kotori back quickly, wishing her a good shift at the hospital before making her way home.

While the university campus that she lived on provided some degree of security to its residents, Umi would never be completely happy with it—but few things measured up to her rigid standards for security. She scowled a little at the friendly wave of the security guard at the gates who knew her by sight and didn't bother asking for her identification. What if someone was impersonating me? she thought furiously.

Then something Kotori had said to her on one of her recent days off floated to the forefront of her mind. You have to relax a little sometimes, Umi-chan. Umi sighed—she could almost hear the gentle chastise in Kotori's voice. She was loathe to admit that Eli and Maki were right about one thing in particular—that Kotori had been the one positive influence to actually have an effect on her in the aftermath of Tokyo's destruction. She had been so full of fire and self-righteous fury that it had blinded her to almost everything else, and Kotori had been the one to change that.

She heard a colourful selection of swear words before she even reached the basement laboratory. Allowing herself a small, amused smile, Umi typed in her identification and waited for the security system by the door to retina scan her and identify her thumbprint before she walked through it.

Maki was sitting on her favourite revolving chair, waving a fork in the air. What was speared on the fork, Umi didn't want to know—it resembled a purple meatball and she wouldn't have been surprised if it was exactly that.

"Eli locked me out of the apartment again last night," the redhead fumed as she typed on her computer with one hand, still holding onto the fork with the other.

Umi set her bow down on a stainless steel operating table Maki wasn't using. "You mean, you left your keys on the table again."

"Shut up," Maki mumbled through a mouthful of her food. "My autopsy ended early."

"Is that why you're eating an eggplant meatball?" Umi deadpanned at her.

Maki gave her an amethyst glare. "No. Why do I put up with you again?" she asked.

Umi pretended not to hear her, before checking the time on her phone again. "You know, she's probably home by now if you want to go back."

The redhead shook her head as she continued to chew. "We got the body of the guy who was killed at the scramble today from the police department, and they want an autopsy before tomorrow morning so they have something to tell the media. One of the lab techs said it would be here in about half an hour."

Umi dropped off the rest of her things in a locker on the wall as Maki dipped her fork into the beaker that she was using as a bowl for her meal. "Speaking of the scramble incident," Maki continued, "you should probably check in with Eli about him."

"I probably should," she agreed.

Turning, she left Maki muttering darkly over the rest of her odd-looking meal about the demands of the university hospital when she had her research to complete.

The short walk from the basement laboratory to their apartment took less than five minutes. Even though she and each of her roommates could more than afford a generous apartment for themselves in relative luxury, they still chose to live together—part of it was due to sheer habit and the comfort that had been born of their earliest days after the Ceresis attacks. Umi had been just starting out as a bounty hunter then, and Maki was still in medical school, furiously burying herself in her textbooks. For awhile, the only source of income came from Eli, who had honed her hacking skills instead of practicing for ballet like her parents had wanted. Even after her sister's accident and the subsequent events that had followed, Eli had refused to entertain the notion that Umi and Maki owed her anything. "We're a family," she had insisted.

Umi had not been able to argue with that.

Even now, after her engagement with Kotori, she still considered the university campus her home. Occasionally, she stayed over at Kotori's to help her with her ailing mother, but the brown-haired young woman had never questioned Umi's choice of residence, knowing her past—it was just another one of the little things Umi appreciated about her.

Besides, Umi mused as she climbed the stairs to the apartment, the location of their residence had never been an important factor. Ever since Maki had been granted the use of the basement laboratory, the three of them had moved anything of importance into the secured underground room. Even if an assailant after sensitive information gained access—by some miracle—to their apartment, he or she would find next to nothing of value in the apartment itself.

The door was unlocked as Umi turned the handle. When she poked her head inside, she spotted Eli sitting at the dining room table with her knees up in a black tank top pulled over skinny jeans, a mug of coffee next to her as she browsed something on her personal laptop. The blonde looked up as Umi let herself in. "Morning," she yawned.

Taking in Eli's appearance and the presence of caffeine—something she normally despised—Umi assumed that she had been up all night again. "Good morning to you too," Umi replied. "Did your job take all night?"

She took in Eli's long, calculated look. While their apartment was generally a safe—if such a word could still apply to anything in their world—place to talk, Umi interpreted her friend's expression to mean that she couldn't discuss it freely where they currently were.

She peered over the blonde's shoulder to look at what was on the laptop screen. Eli had minimized the news stream she was watching and had written something on her notepad app. Umi could feel her heart rate beginning to pound as she read through each line. She had to read it several times to process it completely, trying to internalize the feelings and the odd sense of foreboding that had awoken in her stomach, her original reason for coming to find Eli completely forgotten.

"You… are okay with this?" she asked in a low voice, unsure if it would carry.

The expression in Eli's blue eyes told her everything she needed to know, although Umi would've given almost anything for it not to be the case. "I have to be," was the reply.

The cellphone on the table buzzed as it rang. For a moment, Umi wondered if it was her phone, before she remembered it was in her pocket.

She watched Eli pick it up to look at the number on the screen, before her entire body language changed. Her left arm rigid, the blonde stared at it for a few more seconds before raising it to her ear.

"Who is it?" Umi mouthed at her.

But Eli wasn't paying attention to her as Umi tried to follow the one sided conversation.

"Speaking."

She recognized the tone as Eli's "business" voice, although she detected a small tremor in it. She briefly wondered if the person on the other end of the line was able to pick it up as well. Umi looked up sharply when she head a quiet gasp from Eli, but Eli was staring straight ahead at the screen of her laptop, though Umi very much doubted she was actually looking at anything on it.

"No… I have not." With one hand, Eli typed another message onto the notepad still open on the desktop screen.

Umi frowned, but followed the directions on it and reopened the news stream. Whatever had been broadcasting before on the news channel that Eli had been watching had been interrupted. An official-looking news reporter against a grey background had sidled into the centre of the screen and was reading off a piece of paper. She turned up the volume a little.

"We have received an anonymous report this morning that the leader of the Kyoto District, Maeda Yuusuke, has gone missing. The security force of the Kyoto District has already been deployed, and the cabinet of Kyoto asks that all citizens remain calm at this point in time."

She felt her blood run cold. Maeda Yuusuke was one of the few politicians to remain in office after the first Ceresis attacks. He was a progressive man, and if Umi had to pick a politician to like, it would be him. He advocated not for revenge against the Ceresis or rapid expansion, but the security of all the cities' borders before tackling the bigger national problem. A known environmentalist, he had garnered a fair amount of opposition for trying to equalize the incomes between Kyoto's rich and poor. What… is going on?

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that Eli's sudden motion to stand upright startled her. Watching her friend's body language carefully, Umi noted that she was playing with the earring on her right ear again—something she always did when she was trying to make a decision.

"I…"

Whoever Eli was speaking to, Umi did not like at all. It was rare for her to show any sort of hesitation or uncertainty, especially when speaking on the phone to a client, and that was the second time she'd done it in the same phone call. Anxiety—an emotion Umi rarely felt the need to address—was beginning to gnaw at her nerves and she wanted desperately for Eli to put whoever it was on speakers, but she was painfully aware of the fact that had it been safe to do so, the blonde would've done it already.

"Fine. I'll be there." Eli ended the phone call but didn't lower the hand that held the mobile device. Umi noticed that there was a slight tremble in the stiff way she was holding her phone.

Umi resisted the temptation to shake her by the shoulders.

"Who was that?" she hissed.

"That was…" Eli lowered her voice by several decibels and she had to take a step closer to her to hear the name. "Toujou herself."

Umi almost stumbled backwards in surprise before she steadied herself. Toujou-sama? "What did she want?" She almost wanted to ask where Toujou had gotten Eli's personal phone number to begin with, before she remembered who they were talking about.

"She wants me to 'help' her until this crisis… whatever this is, is over," Eli hissed back.

She noticed the emphasis on the word help. "I don't understand," Umi said. "Why you? Does she not have enough people working for her as it is?"

Eli narrowed her eyes. "Clearly, I did my job a little too well last night."

Umi tried to completely process the events of the last ten minutes within the space of several seconds, unease tugging at her nerves. During times like this, she completely trusted her gut instinct, and Umi did not like what her intuition was telling her one bit. "Don't go," she insisted, taking a step towards Eli.

The blonde bit her lip as she stared at the opposite wall, but the emotion in her expression stopped Umi in her tracks. "She… promised me that she would provide all the necessary information and resources for a proper investigation."

Of course she did. For a few seconds, she tried to come up with something to say that wouldn't come out the wrong way. Nothing came to mind. "Can you trust her?" she finally asked, voice subdued.

Eli finally looked at her, the indecision and pain in her eyes closing a fist around Umi's heart. "I don't know," she admitted. "But if there's even a chance that I can get something to work off of…" Her voice trailed off, and she held Umi's gaze for a few heartbeats longer before turning to go.

Umi watched Eli pull on her boots by the door. If it hadn't been for the fact that she knew her and knew what she was about to do, Eli might've looked like any other twenty-something year old young woman about to go out onto the streets of Tokyo.

She strode forward just as Eli was about to leave. Umi didn't often resort to physical touch as a way of conveying her feelings, but impulse drove her forwards as she gently gripped the blonde's shoulder. Eli did not turn around. "Be careful," she warned. She wanted to say more—her instinct for self-preservation screamed that this was a bad idea, but she knew anything she could've said to convey that particular meaning would be no less than an insult.

If you were in her position, you know you would do it too.

"I know," came the reply, before Eli was gone.

Note: Originally, Chapter Three was supposed to be Maki's segment but I looked at my plot-outline again and that particular plan may not work out the way I wanted it to, so the tomato might have to wait a bit for her moment. It'll happen though. Somewhere down the line.