Warm liquid laps at Tae's ankles as the pervasive scent of rust and rot cloys the air. Wiping her blood-slicked hair out of her eyes, ice crawls through the doctor's veins as she stares towards Shibuya. A temple of flesh and bone towers above the city skyscrapers, and from the heavens, a mechanical beast with scarlet wings that eclipse the sun floats down to its throne.
The doctor doesn't get to pay it much heed, though. One of the few remaining citizens in Yongen-Jaya crashes into her back as he flees from a masked angel, and with a yelp, she topples into the river of blood at her feet. Submerged almost instantly, a foul metallic taste fills her mouth as Tae instinctively chokes for air. She attempts to push herself to her feet, but it's as if the river of blood has somehow doubled in the second she's been trapped beneath it. Cold dread grips her as she flails, but no matter how hard she struggles, she fails to reach the air.
As the last remnants of oxygen are depleted from her lungs, the doctor's head pounds as everything goes dark.
…..
The second Tae wakes up she rockets to her feet, stumbles out of her bed, and vomits all over the floor. The doctor spends what feels like the next two hours hyperventilating – even though in all honesty, it's probably more like ten minutes – but apocalypse or not, her breakdown can't last forever. As her panic finally ebbs away, the doctor scans her surroundings. Even the darkness can't obscure the fact that she's in her room, and Tae winces as she sees she's puked all over her dirty laundry (sue her – the floor's as good a basket as any). While her limbs are still shaky and her body drenched with sweat, the familiarity is enough to finally calm her down.
Rubbing her eyes, she stumbles to the kitchen to fetch a bucket and mop. Was that… a nightmare? If so, it was a really fucking vivid one – the doctor thought things like that were reserved for bad acid trips.
Once she finally cleans up the mess she made, Tae switches on her phone – the doctor can tell she isn't getting any more sleep tonight, but she might as well check how much coffee she'll need tomorrow.
A groan escapes her mouth when she sees it's – unsurprisingly – three in the morning, but then her eyes catch on the date, and the doctor blinks. Hold on. That can't be right. No matter how long she stares at the offending number though, it remains unchanged, and a quick Google search confirms her worst fears.
It's the 9th of April, 2016.
You've gotta be pulling my leg.
…..
Tae keeps the clinic closed that day, and takes a nap instead – given it's Saturday, Akira won't be due back until late. That's... assuming he's even in Tokyo yet, anyway. Christ.
Regardless, once the sun finally sets she crawls into Leblanc, still feeling somewhat lobotomised.
Time travel. What the fuck.
Sojiro arches a brow as he sees the doctor's state. "Rough night, doc?"
God, that's the understatement of the century.
Curious, she peers at the barista. He doesn't much look like he's been flung eight months back in time, but for all Tae knows, he's just better at pretending the world didn't end yesterday than she is. Still, Tae's not exactly game bringing that up – if he doesn't remember the future, after all, she'd just look like a nutjob. Instead, the doctor gives him a weak smile.
"Had some bad dreams last night. Deciding it wasn't worth opening up today after… that."
Sojiro doesn't pry, much to her displeasure, instead letting out a grunt before returning to his crosswords.
A solid half an hour passes before the doorbell jingles, and Tae's heart skips a beat as she looks up to see a familiar teen.
… And yet, he looks different. Akira is carrying himself with none of the confidence Tae's used to - the teenager's shoulders curl inwards as he fiddles with his hair, casting nervous glances Sojiro's way.
For a moment, Tae desperately hopes that the change in his demeanour is because Akira isn't sure if Sojiro remembers him or not. As the barista scans him disdainfully, it's all but confirmed the older man doesn't even flinch at his guardian's cold expression though, and as his eyes curiously flick Tae's way, it feels as if a bucket of cold water has been dumped over her head.
There isn't a hint of recognition in his expression at all.
Letting out a weak excuse, she promptly flees Leblanc and locks herself in her clinic. There, Tae's legs give out from under her, and she sinks to the ground. She'd been so confident that if anyone knew what the hell was happening, it would be Akira. Whatever that giant creature at the end of the year was, it had his particular brand of supernatural shenanigans written all over it. And yet, he doesn't remember a thing.
Tae feels oddly hollow as she sits silently on the floor. While she's always been a loner, she's never quite felt so alone.
The doctor has always been more rational than emotional though, and can only freak out about her circumstances for so long. Rising to her feet, Tae walks to her computer and begins to plan.
It quickly dawns on her that there's not much she can do, unfortunately. Given how many bigshots the Phantom Thieves piss off, telling Akira she knows who he is before he's grown to trust her is a bad idea. He's more likely to freak out and run off than listen to her story about time travel. Truthfully, even if he does, Tae's not sure it'll achieve much. The most she knows about Akira's escapades is what she's seen on the news, which isn't much. Well, ignoring the incident in November anyway, and that apparently went as planned. Absolutely none of her Phantom Thieves-related knowledge has anything to do with eldritch entities and bloody rain.
Disappointed, she nixes her idea to tell Akira the truth. Instead, Tae figures that the best thing she can do is simply be there for him. Judging by the way the teenager was acting earlier… he doesn't have a single ally in Tokyo. Not yet, anyway. Given there's still a month to go before the Phantom Thieves are formed, and two before Sojiro finally starts cutting him some slack, Tae reckons a friendly face will do him far more good than warnings of a looming apocalypse.
...
In the Velvet Room, Yaldaboath sneezes.
…..
Two days later, Tae looks across Leblanc's counter and sees Akira. Poor kid – he looks like a sheep thrown into a wolf's den. Little wonder Sojiro isn't letting him touch the coffee machine yet. Still, while he's here, Tae might as well take advantage of it.
It's easy enough to start small talk with the teen – he's a bit nervous at first, but once it becomes clear Sojiro won't snap at him for chatting to the customers, some of the tension leaves Akira's shoulders. Tae finds out that the kid's already made a friend – which is likely code word for a fellow Phantom Thief – though most of the teachers don't like him much. The doctor grimaces at that – didn't the Thieves' first target sexually and physically abuse students…?
Shuddering, she brushes that out of her mind – at the very least, she knows the bastard faces justice soon. Instead, Tae watches Akira appraisingly.
"Say… you're in good health, aren't you?" She fishes.
Akira simply nods.
"Excellent. You see, I'm looking for some guinea pigs…" The teenager blanches, and Tae quickly backpedals. "… I mean, assistants for a medical trial of mine. Relax – it's all very above board. The medicine is safe – I just need evidence of that." The doctor winks. "I promise to make it worth your time."
Sadly, while Tae still remembers the composition of the medicine she developed to cure Crawford-Ende's, her research notes weren't punted back in time with her and alas, she can hardly administer medication to Miwa without proof that it both works and is safe. As tedious as it's going to be performing her clinical trials again, it's not like Tae doesn't have time to kill right now - she's still a good several months away from her clinic's revival. Plus, she might as well give Akira an actual excuse for getting dodgy medications off her, instead of his 'exams' bullshit.
As she passes him her business card, Akira swallows. "… I'll think about it."
To her absolute lack of surprise, the teenager rocks up to her clinic several days later, his bag oddly squirmy. How cute – he must have adopted his pet already. While the Phantom Thief is clearly apprehensive about the clinical trial, after he skulls down a vial of medicine and nothing happens, he slowly begins to relax. Gathering his nerves, Akira calmly asks her about her so-called 'super drug'. Tae can't help but roll her eyes – she misses the absence of bogus rumours following her almost as much as she misses people actually coming to her clinic – but after giving him a warning about safe drug use, she relents. Unlike last April, Tae grants him full access to her wares, a discount already applied. He still can't afford anything more than a handful of Takemedics, but it's clear from the smile on his face that it's enough.
…..
As the weeks pass by, Tae finds herself spending an inordinate amount of time in Leblanc. She normally only has several appointments a day, and truthfully, the doctor is currently more invested in making sure Akira's in one piece than she is in her career. Thankfully, May has barely started when Kamoshida's change of heart finally hits the news.
It's a few days later - unbeknownst to her at the time - that Tae's new status quo shifts.
The doctor is sipping on her favourite dark brew while Akira and Sojiro bicker about dishes when Leblanc's doorbell jingles. Tae idly glances to the side as a woman walks into the café, before doing a double take. Damn. She's hot. Silver hair with the slightest wave cascades down her shoulders, and between her elegant, form-fitting suit and dark turtleneck, she's wearing a Tae-approved amount of black.
Alas, it's barely nine in the morning – not exactly an ideal time to be flirting with cute women. Not to mention those professional types tend to look down on Tae anyway. On the bright side, at least her arrival interrupted Sojiro and Akira's argument – Tae does not need to deal with two of her favourite men getting into a catfight before she's even opened her clinic.
As the silver-haired woman sits down before ordering the house blend, the news drones on in the background. Tae listens to it, frowning. It's yet another report on the train accident last month - it seems the press has finally connected the incident to the psychotic breakdowns. Sojiro and the woman chatter for a bit about the accident, the latter clearly having doubts that the breakdowns are purely coincidence as she talks about just how strange they are. When the barista goes off to prepare her coffee, the woman starts chatting to Akira instead. Tae zones out - it's just typical small talk - until she hears the nameKamoshida, and snaps straight back to reality.
"… He confessed his crimes like he was a completely different person, supposedly. And it happened all of a sudden one day." The woman rubs her chin. "Can a person's mental state really change so easily?"
Spluttering, Tae hacks out her coffee all over the counter. She used the exact same phrasing when talking about the breakdown earlier. Ignoring Sojiro's protests, the doctor whirls to face the other customer, jaw hanging wide open. "I'm sorry – are you seriously saying you think the Phantom Thieves and the psychotic breakdowns are connected?!"
Akira, who'd managed to sneak halfway out of the door by then, suddenly freezes in his tracks. Meanwhile, the silver-haired woman finally notices Tae.
Instead of the judgement she expected to see in her eyes, they instead glitter in interest. "I'm surprised you followed my line of logic. After all, changing hearts… it's something out of a fairy tale. Most people aren't taking it seriously."
"I'm full of surprises." Tae instinctively snarks.
Oddly enough, she receives back-up in the form of Akira, whose interest in Leblanc's mysterious customer has suddenly skyrocketed. "Doctor Takemi's brilliant." He gives her a subtle nod. "She's probably the smartest woman I know."
"A little charmer, aren't you?" Tae affectionally rolls her eyes, but can't help but feel a bit chuffed. It seems being the only adult willing to cut Akira some slack right now had really made her rise in his estimates.
Sojiro, meanwhile, gives the frizzy-haired teen the stink eye. "Don't you have things to do?"
Akira nods rapidly before scurrying off, accepting the dismissal for what it is.
The woman's attention quickly turns back to Tae now that she's the only member of her captive audience. "So, you're a doctor…? I suppose that explains the coat. I'm surprised you can get away with wearing those shoes though."
Some of the tension flees Tae's shoulders. While the woman's voice is blunt, the doctor gets the impression she just sounds like that. Compared to some of the comments Tae's gotten over the years about her wardrobe, she's being positively friendly.
"It's one of the perks of being your own boss - I can wear what I want." Tae shrugs, earning a sigh from her fellow customer.
"Your own boss, huh…? You're rather lucky."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but it's not that great." Sojiro passes the woman her coffee. "You still have to deal with people, for one."
Before the conversation can get too derailed, Tae quickly steers it back to what she – and by extension, Akira – is truly interested in. Namely, how the hell the silver-haired woman came to that conclusion.
"Going back to the Phantom Thieves, why on earth do you think Kamoshida has anything to do with the psychotic breakdowns?" Tae wrinkles her nose. "I suppose they do both involve sudden changes of behaviour, but it's a bit of a stretch."
At the same time, a trickle of doubt runs down the doctor's spine. While she knows Akira doesn't –couldn't– have anything to do with the latter, now that she thinks about it, there are some pretty stark similarities, aren't there? Plus, it would explain how he managed to figure out Shido was the mastermind of the incidents if the untraceable psychotic breakdowns have something to do with how he changes hearts.
The woman sips her coffee, giving Tae an even stare. "Why are you so certain they don't?"
It's a good question, and unfortunately, I'm-friends-with-their-leader isn't an acceptable answer. Still, it's not like Tae's opinions are unfounded, even looking at the scant knowledge of the Phantom Thieves people currently have.
"Firstly, there's the timing." Tae lifts a finger. "The psychotic breakdowns have been going on for a while now, but this is the first time any so-called change of heart has popped up. Secondly, there's the target." She can't help but scowl. "Kamoshida's a scumbag, but as you said, most of the psychotic breakdown victims are just… normal. Finally, there's the calling card. Only Kamoshida's gotten one of those."
The woman opens her mouth, ready to reply, when Sojiro suddenly shakes his head. "Getting a bit too into this, aren't you? It's probably just some stupid prank."
Tae exchanges a side-eye with the other woman, and for once, they're clearly on the same side. It would take a lot more than an outlandish threat to get a man like Kamoshida to crack. Before they can get back to their discussion though, the woman's phone suddenly pings. As she scans the screen, she scowls, suddenly downing the rest of her coffee in one swig.
"I've got to go." She states, and something in Tae's stomach plummets. The woman turns around, but much to the doctor's surprise, she glances back at her, giving her an odd look. Reaching into her wallet, the woman withdraws a card before passing it to Tae. "This was an interesting discussion. I wouldn't mind resuming it sometime. My number, if you're interested."
Tae's brows rise to the ceiling as she processes the woman's words, because holy shit, what, but before she can muster a response, the woman's already out of the door.
Looking down at the sleek black card in her hand, the first thing Tae' notices is the woman's name – Niijima Sae. Huh. They rhyme. The second thing Tae notices though is what's written underneath it – namely, Public Prosecutor's Department.
The doctor's stomach flips as cold sweat beads at her brow. Oh boy. What the hell has she just gotten herself into?