Sae waited in the SIU's foyer, the rigged USB Sakura that had passed her earlier that day burning like a hot coal in her pocket. She noted with bitter irony that she was about to do to her boss the exact same thing Makoto had done to her a few months back. The prosecutor would be facing a lot worse than the ire of an older sibling if she got caught in the act, however. Sakura had needed a few hours to prepare a program capable of tearing through government firewalls, so Sae had swung around to Leblanc at lunchtime. The older Sakura shot a suspicious glare her way that made her wince internally as he met up with her daughter, but now was hardly the time to mend that burnt bridge - Sae suspected he'd do a lot more than just glower at her if he knew what she was getting his daughter involved in.
Unfortunately, while Sae had wanted to leave the second the hacker passed her the rigged USB, Sakura justifiably demanded answers.
"Okay, sooooo, what the heck is up?" The orange-haired teen intercepted Sae as she stepped out of Leblanc, tilting her head. "I ain't gonna pretend I'm fantastic with the whole social norms thing, but I'm pretty sure cyberattacking your workplace is one of those things you're definitely not meant to do."
The silver-haired woman winced, conflicted. She didn't feel at all comfortable dragging a child into this mess – Sakura was young, even by the Phantoms' standards - but it would be a good idea if at least one other person was aware of what was going on. Sae and Kurusu would be targeted by Akechi and the Conspiracy instantly if she slipped up. Plus, the prosecutor noted with a twinge of guilt, she'd gotten Sakura partially involved already – ignorance would only protect the girl so much if the SIU went after her.
"It's my boss." Sae sighed. "I've… recently come across some evidence linking him to the perpetrator of the Vanishing Incidents." Sakura's eyes grew to the size of saucers, and the prosecutor quickly interjected. "For all I know, I could be barking up the wrong tree, but for obvious reasons, I need to find out the truth as soon as possible."
Sakura furrowed her brow, lips pursed. "But what if he is balls deep in it? We can't take the Conspiracy down the legal way if the final boss is the top law-guy himself!"
The Quincy winced. The thought had occurred to her, but she'd tried not to dwell on it. While there were plenty of other law enforcement officials unaffiliated with the SIU whose powers rivalled the Director's, they'd scoff if a junior prosecutor attempted to use illicitly obtained evidence to convince them that one of their brethren was corrupt.
"… We can always go to the press, I suppose." Sae pinched the bridge of her nose. God, what a mess. "If the public outcry is great enough they'll be forced to investigate the Director, position be damned."
The hacker didn't look particularly assured by that at all. "Well… gimme a shout when you've finished prepping, yeah?"
With a nod, Sae had left Leblanc, which led the woman to her current position. It wasn't uncharacteristic of her to work in the foyer, so she'd set up camp, positioning herself so both the elevator and the main entrance were in her field of view. The Director wasn't the sort of man to waste energy driving himself around – he had a chauffeur that took him home, and therefore, always left by the front doors as opposed to the employee's car park.
Unfortunately, she'd never really paid attention to her co-worker's individual Reiatsu signatures – the only one of any note was Akechi, and Sae had certainly dropped the ball in that regard – so whenever anyone even vaguely familiar approached her vantage point, she found her head snapping in their direction. Luckily, after waiting five awful, tense hours (where a disgustingly pitiful amount of work was achieved), Sae's patience was finally rewarded. The clock had just turned six when the Director stepped out of the lift.
Sae quickly averted her gaze, careful not to look suspicious, but the man didn't even glance her way as he strode out of the building. She made sure to wait another ten minutes just in case, before slowly stashing her laptop away and plugging her earphones into her phone – she'd probably need both hands for this. Stomach flipping, the prosecutor felt faintly nauseous as she hopped into the empty elevator and pressed the up button. By the time she exited the lift, she was officially a mess. Taking in a deep breath, Sae ignored her sweaty palms and hammering heart in favour of looking around – while there was the odd worker still around, the floor was almost empty. Schooling her expression into something neutral, she strode down the hall with all the confidence of someone who was supposed to be there. When she reached the Director's office, the prosecutor quickly made sure the coast was clear before ducking inside and turning on the lights, careful to close the door behind her.
Sae dialled Sakura, returning her phone to her pocket as she walked to her boss's desk. "I'm here. I just need to put in this USB and remove it once you're done, correct?"
"Yep!" The hacker popped the 'p'. "I'm doing something a lil' bit different this time, so hopefully, you'll be able to make like a hedgehog and roll out of there ASAP!"
Shoving the rigged USB into the Director's computer, Sae woke up his monitor and was immediately greeted by the Windows login screen. "You can crack the password, right?" A note of worry entered her voice.
"Uh, duh? What sort of mid-tier hacker are you taking me for? Sit back and gimme five!"
Sae tapped her foot impatiently as Sakura got to work. While the hacker's estimate of five minutes was probably accurate, she was so anxious, every second felt like an hour. Even busting into the Soul Society itself hadn't been this nerve-racking. The second the girl finally managed to log in, a wave of relief swept through her. Still, they weren't done yet.
"Now what?"
"It's gonna take too long to clone the hard drive, so I'm gonna install a little program of mine that'll open a backdoor into his device instead, meaning I can get in whenever I want. That way, we can get full access to all his dirty little secrets and you don't even have to be in the room."
Sae stood back and nodded as a download popup appeared. "How long will this take?"
"Hmm… a couple of minutes, I'd say? I'll give you a shout when I'm done – once that happens, safely eject the USB, and go go go!"
As she waited for the program to be installed, an idea floated to the surface of Sae's mind. "Will it slow things down on your end if I try searching his PC right now? I doubt I'll find anything, but it'd be better than standing around here doing nothing."
"Sure – as long as you don't mess with the download or touch the USB, you should be all good!"
With Sakura's permission secured, Sae opened up the Director's emails, ignoring the momentary urge to search for her name, and typing in 'Shido Masayoshi' in the search bar instead. She got a couple of hits, but predictably enough, there was nothing incriminating – most of them were about the photo op they'd taken together. Searching for 'Vanishing Incidents' brought up so many results, Sae didn't even bother skimming through them. It was then that a flash of inspiration struck her, and heart racing, she typed in Akechi's name. As she scrolled down though, a wave of frustration ran over her – yet again, nothing looked out of the ordinary.
"Dammit…" Logically, Sae knew it had been a long shot, but that hadn't stopped her from getting her hopes up. She supposed she'd just have to wait a day or two for Sakura to do her work.
It was then though that the teenager chimed up. "Hold on, I think you're onto something. Try searching his outbox instead."
Blinking, Sae clicked on his sent mail tab and repeated her search. Skimming through the list of emails, she paused when she saw one directed to the police commissioner in charge of the local station titled 'Important: Assignment'. Trepidation ran through her as she clicked on the message.
Egawa-san,
Akechi needs to use the underground interrogation room for a special arrest on the 30th of November/1st of December. Make sure the personnel rostered on that day are loyal – I'm thinking Ikeda-san for the senior detective, but I'll leave the rest up to your discretion.
PS: The guard that day shouldn't be anyone too valuable.
Sae froze, the hairs on the back of her neck rising. Special arrest? Loyal? The phrases weren't damning on their own, but when combined with that postscript they painted an awful picture. Her eyes drifted back to the date mentioned, and she let out a horrified gasp as she suddenly connected two-and-two together. Kurusu said Akechi wanted him to turn himself in at the end of November.
She was so transfixed on the screen before her that Sae failed to notice the faint mote of Reiatsu approaching the door until it was too late.
"Sir, are you still here…?" Akechi's voice trailed off as the door creaked open and his eyes landed on Sae.
She stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights. In her defence, Akechi seemed equally as surprised. As silence descended upon them, something subtle shifted in the detective's demeanour. His eyes grew far colder than she'd ever seen as an edge of tension entered his pose. If she'd had any lingering doubts about Kurusu's testimony, they would have been thrown right out of the window then and there.
He must have seen something in her posture too, as Akechi sighed, drawling. "You just don't know when to quit, do you?"
"Transfer everything incriminating you can. Now." Sae ordered Sakura, the hacker's voice cutting off as she yanked out her earphones.
She needed to get Akechi away from here immediately. Sakura's hacking was the last recourse they had to make Shido face justice – Sae couldn't let the detective stop the younger girl, even if it meant leaving evidence that would incriminate herself behind.
"Let's take this outside, Akechi-kun." She spoke imperiously, letting a trace amount of her Reiatsu slip – hopefully, that would be enough to bait him. "We'll attract far too much attention if we continue this discussion here."
Thankfully, it seemed the detective had either fallen for her trap or foolishly deemed her the bigger threat. "That's a funny way of phrasing it." He grinned, smile as sharp as a knife. "But I suppose I understand your reasoning – there's one too many security cameras around here for my liking."
He clawed his hand down through the air, and Sae watched impassively as a Garganta formed. The tunnel was small – she could already see the SIU's roof at the other end. Idly, she wondered if the portal was a trap, intended to close on her the second she entered it. Admittedly, that hardly mattered – while she wasn't the best at navigating the space between worlds, Akechi wasn't the only one capable of opening a Garganta.
Activating her Hirenkyaku, Sae ran through, the Detective Prince following a microsecond behind her. Perhaps he actually did intend on engaging her in a proper gentleman's duel, or perhaps she'd just too fast for his little trick – Sae would never know.
They alighted on opposite ends of the roof, the sky above them almost completely dark as a frigid breeze ruffled their hair, and almost instantly, the moment's truce faded. Flicking out his left wrist, Akechi opened another Garganta that was far smaller than the one he'd made before. A blade Sae immediately identified as a Zanpakutō fell through the pitch-black gap in reality, and the second his hand grasped the sword's hilt, the portal snapped closed. The teenager gave the blade an elegant twirl while an all-too-familiar bird-like white mask started to cover his face, blotting out his brutal sneer.
A pang ran through Sae at the sight, but it was not the rage she expected – instead, it was something far more akin to grief. What a waste – with his intelligence, skill, and charisma, Akechi could have changed the world. If he'd decided to use his powers for good, the detective could have achieved everything the Phantoms had and more. Instead, he'd thrown all that potential away for the sake of petty vengeance.
"You really are a foolish woman, aren't you?" Akechi sneered, mask distorting his voice. "Do you sincerely think you stand a chance against me? I'll kill you, that traitor Kurusu, then the rest of your merry little vigilante band."
"You've always been arrogant, Akechi-kun. No – Akechi. You don't deserve any honorifics." Sae's lip curled in disgust as she took off her Quincy Cross and wrapped it around her wrist, her Heilig Bogen forming in her palm. "I'll give you one warning – this isn't going to go the way you think it is."
"Well now." He grinned. "How about we see if that's true?"
Without another word the detective raced towards her, ready to strike.
…..
After his early morning meeting with Sae, Akira's brain shifted to autopilot. He listlessly hopped on the train to Shujin and sat by its gates until the school opened. The boy had garnered a few odd looks, but Akira felt too numb to care. Now that he'd confessed his sins, the resolve that buoyed him had gone, leaving a deep-seated emptiness in its wake. The day passed by in a blur – his teachers' lectures went in one ear and out the other, and Ushimaru even managed to nail him with a piece of chalk. Ann had approached him during lunch, a smile on her face, but Akira had quickly murmured an excuse before escaping.
He didn't deserve her kindness.
As soon as the final bell rang, Akira was out of Shujin like lightning. By the time he reached the train station though, he realised he didn't know where to go – he didn't want to risk bumping into any of the Phantoms, and the thought of returning to Leblanc sat poorly in his stomach. He was hardly going to get any revision done in this state, and nor did he think he could endure Morgana and Sojiro's inevitable well-meaning enquiries about his day. Eventually, he hopped on a random train to Akihabara and entered the first café he could find.
The frizzy-haired teen was snapped out of his doldrums as a woman wearing a Victorian-style dress and cat ears suddenly walked up to him and greeted him with a meow, and Akira couldn't help but gape. He'd been so out of it he'd walked into a maid café on accident. His embarrassment was quickly flooded away by the seeping numbness that pervaded him, and with a shrug, he ordered a coffee before taking a seat. Thankfully, after a few attempts at cosying up to him, the maids figured out he wasn't there to socialise, and left him alone.
As Akira sipped the lukewarm drink, his mind drifted back to his bakery outing with Akechi, returning to a time when he still thought he was engaged in a battle of wits against an exciting foe, not aiding and abetting a murderer. Only a week had passed since then, but so much had changed. The black-haired teen lowered his cup, not entirely sure if it was the shit coffee or the memory that tasted like bitter arsenic at the back of his throat.
After sitting in the café long enough that even the cutesy maids were starting to get a bit irritated with him, he begrudgingly bit the bullet and returned to Yongen-Jaya. The smell of delicious roast beans tickled his nostrils the second he walked into Leblanc, and Akira gloomily acknowledged he should have just gone there from the start – Sojiro was too busy chatting to some regulars to pay him any heed. Trudging up to his room, he dropped his bag before landing on his bed with a thump. Morgana wasn't there – he'd probably gone to Futaba's place when Akira didn't return home that afternoon.
The teen lay on his bed for god knows how long – it could have been minutes, could have been hours. He was abruptly pulled out of his malaise, however, when footsteps suddenly started pounding up the attic's stairs. Akira sat up just in time to see a panting, wild-eyed Futaba half-tumble into his room. Her hair was ruffled, and as she took a heaving breath in, Akira could feel her feeble Reiatsu pulsing erratically.
"What's wrong?" He rose to his feet, the wave of concern that ran through him instantly quashing his self-pity.
"I-i-it's Sae-san!" She squeaked, still out of breath.
Akira jolted in panic, eyes widening in horror as he remembered his conversation with the prosecutor. Oh god. What has she done?! He raced to his foster sister's side, placing his hands on her shoulder. "Futaba, I need you to tell me everything."
"S-she found out who's behind the Vanishing Incidents, b-but then she discovered that her boss was all pally with him!" The hacker rambled. "W-we didn't know if he was in on it or not, so she borrowed one of my USBs, but then Akechi walked in on her and she told me to keep copying things and hung up, and then both their Reiatsus suddenly ramped up crazy and I don't know what to do!"
"Wait, Akechi?!" Akira hissed, cursing. Goddammit! Out of all the people who had to run into Sae, why did it have to be him?!
Futaba watched him, wide-eyed. "D-d-do you think he's in on it, too? Like, I mean, I know he's suss, but-"
"Oh, he's not just in on it, he's up to his pretty little neck in it!" Akira growled, suppressing his urge to punch something in favour of sweeping a hand through his hair.
"S-so, we need to go rescue Sae-san, right?!" Futaba puffed up, brows furrowed resolutely.
Akira was about to nod, adrenaline reinvigorating him, but the teen paused as his prior conviction ebbed away. "I… I don't know. I mean, what can we actually do, realistically speaking? Akechi's a whole league above us, and Sae's honestly probably a whole league above that too."
"… Are you sure? I know she's meant to be crazy strong, but… Akechi's readings were nuts." Futaba twiddled her fingers, eyes glittering with concern.
Frowning, he mulled over what he knew about their respective powers. Akechi was strong, smart, and vicious – the raw power he packed into his every move overwhelmed Akira consistently. Still… in terms of skills, his abilities were rather simplistic outside of his fucked-up Shikai. Sword fighting, Ceros, and mild regeneration seemed to be the only tricks he had up his sleeve. While the detective was probably Captain level he had no Bankai, and Sae had beat a Captain who did, coming out no worse for the wear. Looking at the prosecutor, she had her archery abilities, hand-to-hand combat skills, Blut, Reishi-absorption, Vollständig, and that wasn't even mentioning the fact that she could also regenerate. In terms of ridiculous powers, she clearly swept him.
It was then though that a record scratched in Akira's mind. Wait. The reason Sae had her regeneration abilities was because she was partially Hollowfied. Meanwhile, Akechi's Zanpakutō hijacked Hollows and drove them into a frenzy. The teenager's stomach lurched. If Bōsō Jiken worked on Sae…
… Akechi would have someone capable of archery, hand-to-hand combat, Blut, Reishi-absorption, Vollständig, and regeneration on his side.
"Actually, y'know what? Change of plans." Akira's voice was strangled as he patted Futaba's shoulder. "I need to get Sae out of there now. Where are they?"
"By the SIU headquarters, I think." With a nod Akira turned away, ready to grab his Substitute Shinigami Badge, when Futaba suddenly pouted. "Woah, don't you dare rush off! I'm coming with you!"
He paused, caught off-guard. "Uh… no offence, but I think you'd be more help back here. Even if you did borrow Ryuji's power suit, you don't have any combat experience, Futaba."
The hacker shook her head, undeterred. "Nuh-uh. You said it yourself, mister – you're not gonna be useful in this fight either!"
Akira opened his mouth, ready to object, before wincing and closing it shut. Technically, it wasn't like Futaba was wrong. His whole plan was to get there, get Sae out of there, and then hide away someplace Akechi couldn't mindfuck either of them.
Futaba must have taken his silence for hesitation as she sighed, frowning. "Look, it's not like I want to come for fun. Sae's left my baby plugged right into the Director's PC – if he finds some strange USB in his desktop and gets suspicious, both our heads are on the chopping block. As brilliant as I am, the cops are gonna have some heat on their side too – I've never seen a hacker with no digital fingerprints, and they'll find mine sooner rather than later. Plus, if they delete my program before we get the data…"
He nodded, mouth drawn into a terse line. "Fine – I'll drop you off on the roof. There are some lockpicks on my desk – Morgana enjoys making them for some reason. Take some of those and do what you need to do while I deal with Akechi."
"Got it!" She nodded, not a trace of hesitation in her eyes. "Operation Save Sae is a go!"
…..
Akechi lunged at Sae, golden eyes glittering with malice as he slashed at her with his Zanpakutō. Reflexively, the prosecutor ducked, but she could feel the sheer force behind his strike even though it missed her by a mile. Sae's Blut Vene might let her take a hit or two, but if she got struck by a blow like that it'd still hurt like a bitch. Lashing out her leg, she snared her opponent's ankle, causing the detective to stumble. He corrected himself quickly, but it gave her just enough time to put some distance between them.
Pointing her Heilig Bogen towards Akechi, she launched a volley of arrows in his direction. The brunet quickly batted them away, his sword moving so fast it was a blur, but several off-purple arrows managed to slip past his guard. As the Reishi constructs bit into his skin, red blood began to spread across his peacoat. While Sae couldn't see Akechi's face behind his mask, the detective's snarl told her all she needed to know. Admittedly, he was probably more annoyed about the damage to his suit than to his body - none of her arrows had hit him anywhere that mattered.
Finally, it seemed Akechi's patience had hit its limit, and his mask cracked open to reveal a vicious maw. Blinding light began to glow in his mouth, and eyes wide, Sae barely managed to scramble out of the way before the detective's Cero blasted through the air, taking out an antenna and half of one of the air vents. The teenager closed the distance between them just as quickly as Sae had made it in the first place, and as he swung his Zanpakutō down at her, she had no choice but to disperse her Heilig Bogen and shield herself with her arms.
Pain exploded in her limbs as Akechi's blade sliced through her Blut Vene and scraped her bones, the sheer force of his strike causing the prosecutor's knees to buckle. Fortunately for her, the detective had never fought a Quincy before. His eyes widened with shock, completely caught off guard - even your average Captain couldn't have taken a blow like that without losing a limb. Sae capitalised on his surprise instantly. Siphoning away as much of his Reishi and Reiatsu as she could without rousing his attention, Sae smashed her right fist into the brunet's face. Unfortunately, she couldn't activate her Blut Arterie unless she wanted Akechi to sever her left arm, but the prosecutor still possessed enough native strength to make his head snap backwards and crack the mask that covered his skin.
For a second, she saw a glimpse of Akechi's real eye, which flashed a malevolent red before it was submerged under white chitin again. Pulling back his blade, Akechi seamlessly slipped forward and swung his leg into her stomach. The kick knocked the air from her lungs, but Sae didn't falter. Instead, she quickly grabbed his limb before he could withdraw it, and mustering all of her strength, threw him onto a neighbouring roof.
The teenager smashed into the concrete, kicking up a cloud of dust as he skidded from one end of the roof to the other, but Sae didn't let her guard down. No – she could tell by Akechi's Reiatsu that he'd barely gotten started. The only warning sign she got of his next attack was a momentary hitch in his spiritual energy before a massive spiralling beam of raw red energy blasted out of the debris obscuring him.
Sae's eyes widened in shock. It was a Cero, but it was also so much more at the same time. It twisted and crackled, too much malignant energy filling the blast for it to remain a mere beam. There was no time for her to dodge – instead, Sae covered every inch of her skin with her Blut Vene and absorbed as much of the blast as she could before it struck true.
The first thing she felt was the air rushing past her as she was tossed through the sky like a ragdoll. It was only as Sae smashed down on a rooftop, the air knocked from her lungs, that she felt the pain. Her prosecutor's skin felt like it had been doused with tar and set alight, leaving her every nerve to scream with agony. As the woman coughed, dust and blood filled her heaving lungs. Sae could feel her inner Hollow writhing under her skin, desperate to break into her seldom touched Reiryoku stores and heal the damage inflicted on her body, but gritting her teeth, the prosecutor wrestled it back under control.
Without the power of her Vollständig, she'd never be able to outspeed or overpower Akechi, but at this rate, he'd kill her before she'd gathered anywhere near enough Reishi to activate it. Sae could only see one way out of this mess, and that was to outsmart him. She lay prone on the ground, careful to keep her breaths shallow and her Reiatsu low as if she were at death's door. Meanwhile, the silver-haired woman quickly directed the Reishi she'd stolen from Akechi to her organs and bones, healing what she could while leaving her blistered and burnt skin untouched.
Thankfully, Akechi took the bait. The teen slowly slinked to her side, and as he grew close, she felt his Reiatsu perk up in excitement. At that moment, Sae was actually grateful all her wounds hurt like hell – it meant that she wasn't at all tempted to smirk. Her eyes fluttered open weakly as the cold tip of his blade touched her chin, and she shoved down an instinctive tremor of fear as he angled her head in his direction.
"It's a pity." The detective sighed, voice oddly soft despite the distortion caused by his mask. "A part of me hoped that you'd choose the winning side, but I suppose you've always been just a bit too sentimental." Whatever doubt Akechi was holding quickly faded, however, and his posture straightened as he tilted his head coyly. "Any final words?"
"Yes, actually." She croaked. "Never play poker – you're not particularly good at calling bluffs."
The Quincy batted his Zanpakutō away from her body with enough power to nearly knock it out of Akechi's hands. Reaching out, Sae abandoned subtlety in favour of absorbing every last fragment of Reishi she could. The detective yelped in shock as she ripped a layer of skin off his body, but her counterattack had barely even started. Her Blut Arterie traced red lines across her skin as she finally stopped suppressing her inner Hollow, the beast stitching her skin back together in less than a second.
Akechi raised his blade defensively in an attempt to shield himself from her roundhouse kick, but he shouldn't have bothered. On impact, the boy flew through the air like a soccer ball. Smashing down onto a distant rooftop, he bounced off it like a skipping stone and only came to a halt on the next. Wheezing, the detective staggered to his feet just in time for Sae to flash to his side. She kicked him square in the jaw, and yet again he was sent flying, bones cracking under the force of the blow.
Resummoning her Heilig Bogen, the prosecutor narrowed her eyes to slits as she pointed her bow at her foe. "Licht Regen."
A thousand arrows pierced the sky, streaking through the air like shooting stars. Akechi put up an admirable fight, slashing and hacking at the spears of light that assaulted him, but his injuries had crippled his prodigious speed. The second one of her arrows managed to slip past his defence, it was over. After the first blow, more and more hit the detective until he resembled a pincushion more than a human being.
Once her onslaught finally ended, Akechi's Reiatsu wobbled, and he toppled over with a meaty splat. Careful not to let down her guard, Sae cautiously approached him, Heilig Bogen pointed straight at his head. Landing on the rooftop, she stumbled as a wave of giddiness struck her – while it'd been a necessary evil, she'd burned more energy than she would have liked with that last attack. This was hardly the Soul Society, unfortunately, where a nigh-infinite amount of Reishi was at her disposal.
As she grew near, Akechi stirred, attempting to wrestle himself to his feet even though nearly every inch of his skin was splattered in blood. She couldn't help but arch a brow in begrudging respect when she saw that the deep lacerations lacing his body were already beginning to fade. Still, it was too little too late. The teenager's mask had crumbled away, exposing the burning hatred in his eyes as he glared at her – it was clear Akechi was smart enough to realise who was the winner here, and it wasn't him. Silently, Sae formed two arrows, pointed towards his Saketsu and Hakusui. One strike, and this would be over. A mere second before she let them fly, however, Kuchiki Byakuya's face suddenly flashed into her mind, and for a split second, she froze.
The moment of weakness damned her.
The prosecutor was more irritated than surprised when Akechi lunged forward, tackling her to the ground - she should have known that he'd struggle until his last breath. Sae let her arrows fly loose – one missed her opponent by a mile, but the other gouged a deep furrow into the detective's cheek. Akechi retaliated by punching Sae's face – a blow that did little more than bruise her cheek – and grasped at her throat with his other hand. Her Heilig Bogen faded away as she rolled over, knocking Akechi's hand away as their fight descended into mindless grappling.
Akechi bit her arm – seriously, what the hell – and a wave of frustration ran through Sae. Grabbing his hair, she smashed his head into the pavement. "Give up already! This is over!"
"Never!" He howled, scratching at her face. "I'm not going to lose to anyone, let alone the likes of you!"
It was then that the sound of a gunshot echoed through the air, and pain blossomed in Sae's abdomen. She gawped incredulously as she pressed a hand to the side of her stomach and felt sticky, wet blood. Did he just fucking shoot her?!
"Did you just fucking shoot me?!"
"Oh, get over it – it's hardly the worst thing I've done to you!"
Akechi rolled to his feet, pistol pointed straight at her cranium, and fired again. Sae glowered at him as the bullet pinged off her Blut Vene harmlessly. While she might have been a bit more afraid if it was one of Futaba's custom rigs, she was no human – mundane weaponry was hardly going to cause her any serious harm. Case in point, when the prosecutor stood upwards, the hole in her side was already sealing itself shut. Manifesting her spirit weapon for what was hopefully the last time, she aimed at Akechi's head, but Sae was just a second too late.
"Frenzy, Bōsō Jiken!"
Akechi's Zanpakutō warped, shifting from a katana to an ominously glowing broadsword. Freezing, the hairs on the nape of her neck rose as she remembered what Kurusu had told her about the detective's Shikai. Eyes widening with horror, she let her arrow fly without a moment's hesitation. Akechi simply tipped his head to the side, however, and while a spurt of blood exploded from the side of his neck as it pierced his skin, it didn't take him down.
A hurricane of glowing black energy surrounded his Zanpakutō before dispersing in a blast, tendrils of darkness whipping through the air like wind. The gale ruffled her hair, but seemingly did little else, and a wave of relief crashed into her. Sae had let her guard down too soon, however. A burst of agony exploded in her head, her mind feeling as if it had been cleaved in two. With a yelp, she staggered forward before collapsing to the ground. Sae's vision darkened, before a deep, primal fury began to stir in her.
…..
Akira leapt between the rooftops as he ran towards Chiyoda city, Futaba gripping his shoulders like a vice as he carried the hacker piggyback-style. The cold night air whipped past him as the city lights warped into golden streaks, but he was too hyped on adrenaline to pay the frigid air much heed.
"I-I-I don't think I'm built to travel like this!" Futaba whimpered, teeth clanging together as she jostled around.
"Don't worry – we'll be there soon." If he could have, Akira would have patted her head.
The brief flicker of sympathy he felt for the hacker faded when his attention was snaffled by a cloud of familiar Reiatsu that drifted through the city like an ominous storm. Dismissing all else from his mind, Akira honed in on it. Sifting through the dense fog of Akechi's Reiatsu was no simple task, but eventually, he could detect faint traces of Sae's gunmetal Reiatsu seeping through the miasma. Lips thinning into a narrow line, Akira picked up the pace. The prosecutor's Reiatsu didn't feel particularly agitated, but the fact that he could sense it at all meant that Akechi was making her take him seriously. The chances of Sae avoiding each of his strikes were non-existent, and while he might pass off her regeneration ability as Quincy weirdness (in fact, Akira wasn't entirely sure if Akechi even knew what a Quincy was), if he put two and two together…
As they breached Chiyoda's borders – Futaba shuddering quietly as Akechi's Reiatsu crushed down on them – Akira slowed and cast a Kyokkō. The glittering light draped over them like a veil, and an odd gasp escaped Futaba's throat.
"Huh – that looks super freaky with my goggles."
Akira opened his mouth, ready to reply, when a faint smear of purple streaked through the sky and Akechi's Reiatsu suddenly lurched. His rival spiritual energy then started to rapidly plummet, and Akira's heart skipped a beat – had Sae actually won?! Holding Futaba tight, he launched himself back into Shunpo, shock and bewilderment racing through him as he neared his goal. A part of Akira had always known that was too good to be true, however. While Akechi's Reiatsu didn't rise again, remaining a persistent black smudge, all traces of it were blasted out of the air as Sae's suddenly rocketed skywards with a terrible metallic screech. Futaba wheezed, and as the taste of bloody rust permeated the air, Akira's head snapped towards the top of a nearby tower in horror.
No – we're too late!
Gritting his teeth, Akira braced himself, ready to jump. "If I tell you to do something, do it, okay?" He demanded.
He felt more than saw Futaba nodding her head, and as the hacker replied, there wasn't a single trace of her usual goofiness in her voice. "Got it."
Akira warily approached the top of the SIU's offices, the tension in the air growing thicker and thicker as his skin began to prickle. An ominous, violet glow invisible to the human eye blotted out the starlight, and the Shinigami's muscles tensed as he saw small speckles of dust and stone floating through the air towards the epicentre of Sae's frantically fluctuating Reiatsu.
"… The readings are crazy powerful, but she's not moving." Futaba murmured. "When those other Hollows got frenzied, they immediately went on the warpath. Maybe… maybe she's fighting it off? I mean… s-she's only a bit Hollow, right?"
His frown deepened, but Akira refused to get his hopes up. There could be plenty of other explanations for it. Maybe Akechi was just keeping Sae in place until the Phantoms moved to intercept her. Maybe she'd gotten wounded in their fight and was simply pinned in place. Not that that'd be a bad thing, mind you. If we just need to wait for her to regain her senses, that's fine with me.
As what he assumed was the SIU's rooftop finally entered his vision, Akira slowed, ducking behind the radio antenna of a neighbouring building and poking his head around the side. There was no sign of Akechi, and while Akira felt a twinge of grudging disappointment at that fact, he wasn't surprised – if the detective had any common sense, he would have bailed the second Bōsō Jiken hit Sae. Speaking of the prosecutor, as Akira's eyes landed on her his stomach twisted. While he'd never seen her Vollständig in person, Akira instinctively knew it shouldn't look like this.
The woman was curled in a ball, trembling as her fingertips wrapped tightly around her skull as if she were trying to stop her head from splitting in two. A singular, broken wing of glowing Reishi jutted from one shoulder, while haphazard patches of jagged spikes and chitinous armour ripped through her suit and jutted out of her skin at seemingly random intervals. Clawed tips poked out of her fingers, and Akira could faintly see that a ghost of a mask had formed over her jawbone, warped and jagged like a row of shark's teeth. While Akira knew from the slight purple glow that the deformities were nothing but Reishi constructs, they looked so pale, so solid, it was hard to view them as anything but Hollow bone.
Ignoring Sae's ragged, gasping breaths that were so pained he could hear them all the way from here, he set Futaba down, quashing his rage towards Akechi and focusing on the present. "Any change in her condition?"
Futaba adjusted her goggles, before shaking her head. "No, but I think I might've hit the mark about her fighting it off. I mean, look at her."
As the dark-haired teen examined Makoto's sister, he finally let go of some of the tension knotting his shoulders. After the nightmare the last several days had been, he hadn't wanted to do anything but prepare for the worst, but he'd be a fool if he didn't acknowledge that Futaba had a point – it did seem like Sae was desperately trying to hold herself together, to mixed success. As her Reiatsu spiked again, accompanied by another shuddering gasp, Akira's fists clenched. How long can she keep it up, though?
"Damn, if only we'd brought Makoto here…" Futaba murmured, lip wobbling. "I bet she'd be able to get through to her. M-maybe we should ring her up?"
As she spoke, however, an idea snapped into Akira's mind. While he mainly used Tasogare no Dorobō as a weapon of war, he'd also used his Shikai to save a life, even if only once. "No – that'll take too long. I think I might be able to snap her out of it if I use my Zanpakutō."
A glimmer of surprise crossed Futaba's face, before she nodded, expression resolute. "Good luck, Joker!"
Despite everything, a grin crossed the Shinigami's face as he gave his surrogate sister a casual salute, and walked back out into the open. "Since when have I ever needed luck?"
"Um, all the time? Constantly?"
With one final laugh, Akira slipped into shunpo, and with a flying leap, jumped over to the top of the SIU offices. The second Akira neared, still midair, Sae's eye snapped open and her glazed pupil stared straight at him, despite the cover of his Kyokkō. Flicking out her wrist, a dozen spear-like arrows shot towards him at breakneck speeds. The Shinigami twisted his body, narrowly avoiding them before crashing down on the roof. If Sae – or the dark magic controlling her to be more accurate – hadn't been certain of his location before, the sound he made when he thumped against the ground would have confirmed it.
Akira dismissed the stealth spell – there was no point wasting his energy maintaining it now. Slowly, mechanically, Sae staggered to her feet, and in turn, Akira quickly scrambled upright, heart beating frantically. Silently, he released his Shikai – he was under no illusion that he'd stand a chance against her if they ended up in an actual fight. The prosecutor stepped forward, Reiatsu bearing down on him like a crushing weight before a flash of recognition crossed her eyes.
The woman staggered, gripping her head again as her face scrunched up in pain. "… Grk!"
It was just the opportunity he needed. Readying his grappling hook, Akira shot straight past the prosecutor, flipping into the air before priming his knife. By the time Akechi's curse ensnared her again and Sae whirled around, an ominous growl escaping her, it was too late. Tasogare no Dorobō plunged through Sae's chest, and the teen gritted his teeth as his Shikai immediately hit turbulence. A frenzied, primal rage bled through his blade and back into Akira. He gasped as hatred, rage, and loathing flooded through him, joined by the manic desire to sink his teeth into someone's neck as it was their goddamn turn to feel this awful, unbearable pain...!
Biting his lip, blood trickled down his chin as he snapped back to reality. Pushing through the haze, he eventually breached the cloud of artificial anger. Sae's emotions were murky and obscured, lost amongst the storm, but eventually, he began to feel something real. Fragments of insecurity, stress and jealousy floated into his reach, no more positive than the fury surrounding them, but so much more grounded in reality. Akira dug deeper into Sae's heart, and more and more diamond shards of emotion appeared amidst the rough. There was triumph, a coursing excitement that fluttered in his (her) chest as she won her first trial. A twinge of discomfort as she watched the bruised face of a suspect and felt a glimmer of doubt. A sense of wholeness as she cried into her father's arms, and most importantly, as fragments of a familiar, smiling brunette entered her mind, there was love.
"Remember who you are." He whispered into her soul. "You are not a monster."
As Akira landed deftly on the ground, he retraced his knife with a flick of his wrist, anxiety churning in his stomach as he glanced back at Sae. Did it work?
Thankfully, for the first time in ages, it seemed like Lady Luck was smiling at him. The prosecutor wobbled, a hint of surprise entering her hazy red eyes, and the plumes of dark energy wafting off her swirled before dispersing with an audible snap. The brilliant grin that crossed the teen's face was short-lived, however, as Sae dropped to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.
"Sae-san?!" The teenager yelled, eyes wide as he dashed to the woman's side and grabbed her before she landed flat on her face.
"… Kurusu-kun. I…" She murmured weakly, head resting against his shoulder. Suddenly, the silver-haired woman tensed. "Shit – Akechi…!"
"I know."
Placing her down against the side of a dinged-up ventilation shaft, he quickly examined his friend. Quite frankly, she looked like shit – the Reishi constructs jutting out of Sae's skin had dispersed now that she was free from Akechi's spell, but her skin was still sallow, her suit shredded, and the rings under her eyes were so dark it made her look like she'd pulled half a dozen consecutive all-nighters. Still, he couldn't see any visible injuries on her body, and while her Reiatsu was abysmally low, the Quincy wasn't in the danger zone.
"Give me a second – I'm gonna grab Futaba." Akira only caught a glimpse of the confusion that crossed Sae's face as he shunpoed across the rooftops, grabbed his friend, and quickly shunpoed back.
As he placed the hacker down, she squawked. "Ack! Don't quick-travel me without warning!" Her indignation quickly vanished though as her eyes settled on Sae. "… Are you alright?"
The prosecutor let out a weak huff as Akira bent down by her side and scanned her with some diagnostic Kaidō. "Been better. Why're you…?"
Futaba beamed. "Duh! I'm here to bail you out!"
Akira paused as he sensed a foreign object lodged somewhere between Sae's kidneys and intestines. It took him half a second to identify the shape, and when he did, he couldn't help but rub his eyes. "I'm sorry – did Akechi fucking shoot you?!"
Sae pondered it for a few seconds. "I... think so?" Despite her exhaustion, a scowl crossed her face. "That little prick…!"
Akira pinched his brow. God save me. Ignoring his patient, he turned to Futaba. "I think now's a good time to retrieve that USB – I'll cover you with a Kyokkō. I'm going to need to deal with this."
The Substitute Shinigami grimaced. While he'd healed plenty of wounds, he'd never operated on someone before, and the more he thought about it, the more he realised how woefully unprepared he was. I… guess I could use Tasogare no Dorobō's knife to dig the bullet out, then rely on my Kaidō and Sae's regeneration to patch things up? He shuddered, the mere thought making bile rise up the back of his throat. Remind me to NEVER become a doctor.
Futaba stepped away, but Sae suddenly hissed and grabbed the hacker's leg. "Wait! That's not… I'm not… I'm not important right now. Akechi… you need to stop him!"
Akira blinked. Akechi? He'd assumed the White-Masked Killer had gone off to lick his wounds. "Why, what's he doing?"
"He's… his master…" The prosecutor blinked rapidly, clearly struggling to stay conscious. "He can't reach him."
Cursing, Akira quickly began to bolster her Reiryoku in hopes it'd keep her awake for longer. "Who is it? Who's holding Akechi's leash?"
Futaba suddenly took in a sharp breath. "When we hacked the Director's computer, Sae tried searching for this Shido Masayoshi guy – that has to be him."
As his conversation with Makoto about the upcoming election came crashing back into his mind, Akira spluttered, feeling like he'd just been whacked in the back of the head with a frying pan. "Are you serious? Shido Masayoshi?!"
"Uh… yeah?" Futaba blinked, caught off-guard. "Do y'know who he is?"
Akira gave her a terse nod. "He's the top candidate for prime minister, that's who!"
Futaba blanched as the ramifications of that sank in. Meanwhile, Sae pushed herself upright, skin pale. "Leave me. Shido… if Akechi tells him we're onto him, it won't just be the SIU after you, but every intelligence agency in the country. Japan will never be safe for any of us again. You have to intercept him before that happens."
As much as he didn't like the thought of leaving the prosecutor while she was in a state like this, grimly, Akira realised she was right. The SIU was one thing, but if Shido managed to sic the PSIA onto them, some minor memory alteration and the fudging of a few records probably wouldn't be enough to get the Phantoms out of this. That was assuming Urahara's memory replacement devices would even work against Shido and his cronies in the first place – the politician knew about Shinigami after all, and surely had countermeasures against their inventions.
Akira gnawed his lip. New plan – he'd go straight to the Diet Building and hit Shido with his Shikai. It wasn't exactly a good plan, but it wasn't exactly like he had any alternatives. Hopefully, he wasn't quite as much of a monster as Aizen, or simply lacked the power to resist Akira's blade. If Akechi had gotten there first…? Well, that was future Akira's problem.
"Right." He nodded, rising to his feet. "Futaba, keep an eye on Sae-san. I'm going to the Diet building."
The hacker gave him a flat stare. "Sure, buddy. And how exactly do you think you're going to be able to infiltrate it? Ghost magic or not, you're gonna send the government into lockdown if you burst through a window. This ain't a 7-Eleven you're talking about breaking into here."
"Futaba-chan's right." Sae murmured, rubbing her forehead. "Seriously – I'll be fine. Give me half an hour and I'll be back on my feet."
While Akira thought that was an incredibly optimistic estimate, by now, some of the colour had returned to her skin, and the prosecutor was speaking in proper sentences again. Sae still looked utterly exhausted, but Akira wasn't worried that she'd pass away the second he took his eyes off her anymore.
"Fine." He offered his hand to Futaba. "Let's go – we finish this today, one way or the other."
The slightest of smiles crossed Sae's face as they prepared to leave. "… Stay safe, Kurusu-kun."
…..
Uryū had grown so used to Futaba's Arrancar alert systems that he failed to notice the slow build-up of malignant Reiatsu in the air until it was too late. The Quincy was finishing his homework when a flood of malice suddenly burst into existence above Karakura, and his pen jolted in his hand, leaving a dark splotch on his maths textbook.
What the hell was that!?
The high schooler yanked his window open and stared into the night sky. Puncturing the midnight blues was the distinctive jaw-like opening of a Garganta. Waves of Reiatsu emanated from it, utterly eclipsing the usual dribs and drabs he'd sensed from the patrols Aizen sent into the city. Cursing, he snatched up his Gintō and a couple of the other more esoteric Quincy devices he'd stolen from his father, and leapt outside. There was no point getting changed into his new and improved Quincy uniform – he didn't have the time. As the teenager raced across the city, darting alternatively between the city streets and rooftops, Uryū quickly saw he wasn't the only one who'd mobilised.
"Captain Hitsugaya!" He called, and the diminutive Shinigami and his Lieutenant both snapped their heads in his direction. "Do you think this is it?!"
"I'm not sure." The white-haired boy pursed his lips. "It's a lot earlier than we predicted, but we also don't have the luxury to treat this as anything other than the real deal." As if sensing Uryū's thoughts, his blue eyes narrowed. "Contact the Phantoms – even if this is just another ploy, we're going to need all hands on deck."
Nodding, Uryū let the Shinigami take the lead and withdrew his phone. Opening the Phantoms group chat, he frowned as he saw it was oddly quiet. I know Futaba doesn't have full coverage over Karakura, but she managed to sense the other Arrancar invasions – why not this one? As Hitsugaya had said though, he had no time to ponder things over – the fight for Karakura, and by extension, the world, was potentially on their doorstep.
Ginger: Everyone, the Arrancar have invaded Karakura, and Hitsugaya doesn't think this is just another skirmish.
Ginger: I need you, now.
…..
Even though he was shielded by both his Shinigami form and a Kyokkō, as Akira stared up at the National Diet Building he couldn't help but feel intimidated. Large fences patrolled by grim-faced police officers surrounded Japan's political centre, and the tall white pillars of the front doors towered forebodingly like the entrance to an ancient Greek temple in its prime. The teens grew closer, Futaba flinching as they crossed over the boundary line, and an oppressive aura settled over Akira like a pall. Shaking his head, he shrugged it off. There were no deities in this hall – merely arrogant men and the monsters they bred.
"I-is Akechi here?" Futaba stammered, voice barely audible.
Akira nodded. It was faint – Sae really must have done a number on him – but he'd recognise the shifting darkness of his rival's Reiatsu anywhere. "Yeah. Let's go around the side – he's probably expecting Sae-san or I to storm through the front."
Futaba proved her worth immediately. Finding a small iron door likely used by deliverymen or maintenance staff, she walked up to the keypad and cracked it in seconds - Akira felt ridiculous that he'd ever considered leaving her behind. Hurrying inside, they wove through several plain concrete hallways likely reserved for janitors and other 'lesser' workers before they swung open a door, and were suddenly slapped in the face with grandeur. They must have finally entered part of the building visible to the public's eye – the Diet Building's foyer was just as austere as its façade, with a tall, arching roof and dark columns lining carpeted stairs.
The lingering taint of Akechi's Reiatsu grew stronger and stronger as they advanced through the web of halls, Futaba quickly disabling any key-card readers and locks in their way. As they entered a corridor at the far end of the building, Akira froze as he felt his skin tingle and the teen wasn't at all surprised when his spiritual senses were suddenly muffled out. It was almost identical to the sensation he felt when he was in Akechi's Cognitive Psience lab – Shido must have installed anti-Reiatsu technology to hide his connection to the White-Masked Killer on the off-chance there were any spiritually sensitive government workers in the building.
Thankfully, the teenager's Kyokkō was unaffected by the forcefield, but Akira frowned as all traces of Akechi's Reiatsu vanished. Even if his spiritual senses could no longer be relied on though, he wasn't alone.
"Futaba, can you pick up Akechi's readings with your goggles?"
"Yeah – it's a bit scrambled, but I can still see him." She murmured. "He's just around the corner."
He nodded in reply, and as always, Futaba's technology came through. Loud voices echoed down the hallway, and he recognised one of them belonged to the Detective Prince immediately. Akira peered to the right, immediately pushing himself against the wall when he caught sight of his nemesis addressing a bald man in a dark suit. While Akechi had clearly taken the time to swap his outfits after his battle with Sae, it did little to hide how haggard he looked - his normally pristine hair was stringy and matted with dried blood, and his skin was far too pale to be healthy.
"Do you realise exactly what you're asking of me?!" The detective's companion – Akira thought it was safe to assume he was Shido – snapped. "Even I can't order around the PSIA on a whim!"
"Perhaps not, but at the very least we can contact the Director and your allies in the media – if the Phantoms' names and identities are released to the public, they'll be forced into hiding, and that should buy us the time we need to locate and hunt them down while simultaneously discrediting any accusations they make against us." Akechi stated, and while his voice was superficially polite on the surface, Akira could detect a strained edge to it.
Shido snarled, lips curling. "I can't believe this – you assured the Phantoms were not a threat and you had the situation under control!"
As cathartic as it would be to hear Akechi get reamed out by his boss, Akira had more important things to do right now. Ducking back around the corner, he placed his hands on Futaba's shoulders for the second time that evening.
"I'm going in. If I can hit Shido before Akechi notices me, great, but there's a good chance we'll end up fighting. Keep your distance, and if I lose, contact the others." The thought of the Phantoms witnessing Akira's folly burned, but as long as they were safe, it wouldn't matter if they hated him.
Futaba nodded, embracing him in a tight hug. "Knock 'em dead, okay? Well, not dead, but unconscious at the very least!"
Akira laughed. "Here's hoping."
He released his Shikai with a murmur, before slowly slinking down the corridor, knife in hand. Akira kept his step light, and not even a single floorboard creaked under his feet. In the end, though, it turned out to be for naught. Shido noticed him first – the man's head snapped in the Shinigami's direction, and behind his distinctive yellow glasses, his eyes narrowed. Damnit. Akira internally cursed – they were probably equipped with the same Reiatsu sensing technology Futaba's goggles were. Unfortunately, Akechi noticed the fluctuation in his boss' expression instantly, and furrowing his brow, the detective turned around, hand drifting to the Zanpakutō he'd slipped into his belt.
With a shrug, Akira discarded his Kyokkō, smirking. No point in keeping up the ruse. "It's been a while, Akechi. I heard from a little bird that you've been up to some mischief." His rival's lips curled, and the dark-haired teen's savage grin only grew as he trailed a finger down the side of his knife. "And by a little bird, I mean a pissed-off Quincy. Really, now – shooting Sae-san was a bit excessive, don't you think? You're lucky I got here before she did."
The implication he had backup made the detective stiffen instantly, but unlike what he expected, Akira took no joy in it. Now that he could actually see his rival face-to-face, the Shinigami found his anger waning. For the first time ever, Akechi looked exactly like what he was – a dumb kid way over his head who'd unwittingly become the tool of the very same monster he wanted to take down. For the first time in a while, when Akira stared at him, he yet again saw a mirror of himself. The only difference between them was that beneath his swagger, Akira was well aware of all his failings.
"Give it up, Akechi." The frizzy-haired teen sighed. "You've already lost this battle. You're injured, and I'm fresh with help on the way. Take Shido to a police station and turn yourself in – I'm sure you've got enough evidence to hang the both of you. This is the last chance I'm going to give you to end things on your own terms."
"You're bluffing." Akechi's eyes narrowed to slits, but Akira could tell by the stiffness of his shoulders that he wasn't certain about that at all. "Sae-san's still stuck on that rooftop, struggling not to go on a rampage all across Tokyo."
"Hmm. Perhaps." Akira shrugged, drawing closer. "Still, you don't exactly have the greatest track record when it comes to gauging her abilities, do you now?" His eyes flicked over to Shido. "I mean, seriously – not a threat?"
Akira hadn't paid much attention to the politician before that moment, but as he finally examined him, a wave of vertigo struck the teen. There was nothing particularly unusual about the man's appearance – Shido was a perfectly generic middle-aged person. His build was average, his head either bald or shaven, and he wore a trim dark suit that clashed with his oddly bulky gloves. When Akira looked at Shido's features though – the shape of his nose, the ugliness in his eyes – something about them raised every hair on the back of his neck and set his teeth on edge.
I KNOW you. But how?
Akechi stepped forward, snapping Akira's attention away from his benefactor. "I'll admit I underestimated Sae-san, but you, though? I know all your tricks, Kurusu. Even if she is on her way, right now, you're on your own. I'll cut you down, hold my sword against your throat, and see how much Sae-san feels like fighting then."
Akira simply sighed. Dear god, this was pathetic. While the detective had cleaned himself up a bit for Shido, Akira had clearly felt how threadbare his Reiatsu was before he'd slipped under the forcefield. It was impressive that Akechi was still standing – there was no way the detective would last long in a fight.
"Y'know what? Fine." The frizzy-haired teen shook his head. "There's no more point talking anymore. Let's do this."
"Hah! That's the smartest thing you've said all day!" A manic grin slashed through Akechi's face, though as he readied his blade, it was with none of the detective's usual poise.
Both boys summoned their masks and lunged. Akechi charged at Akira like an untamed beast, practically scrambling on all fours to reach his nemesis. Meanwhile, in stark contrast to their last encounter, the dark-haired teen watched his rival dispassionately. How disappointing - Akechi had walked straight into his trap. If he was in his right mind, the detective never would have been so stupid. After all, why would Akira cut down a weapon when he could strike the one who wielded it?
At the very last second, he flicked his arm to the side and threw Tasogare no Dorobō not at Akechi, but straight towards Shido. The detective could do nothing but watch in horror as the blade sailed past him, already committed to his strike. Akechi's Zanpakutō tore a jagged line across Akira's torso, his guard non-existent now that he'd redirected his strike, but while pain flashed through him, Akira remained on his feet. His assessment that the detective was at his limits was correct, and the Shinigami's regeneration and Kaidō would be strong enough to keep him alive and in one piece.
In sharp contrast to Akechi's horror, however, as the knife sailed towards Shido, the politician merely looked disdainful. Almost lazily, he raised a hand, and Akira realised he was wearing gauntlets, not gloves. They glowed with a dark light that burned into his retinas, overtaking his vision as an awful ringing noise entered Akira's head. The triumph glittering in Shido's eyes was the last thing the teenager saw before his vision suddenly cut off like a television without power.
(Akira had forgotten one important fact that evening – Sae wasn't the only one who was part Hollow).