Daylight streamed in through the minute crack in the curtains and fell directly onto Wise's tightly shut eyes in the unfortunate way stray sunbeams often do. He groaned as he turned his head away, slowly opening one eyelid at a time, and as the world came flooding in, so too did the unpleasant burning sensations in his contorted limbs. Wise straightened his back and sat up, pulling his aching ribs away from the jutting bed frame they had been stacked against for the past few hours, cursing under his breath the whole way up.

The thick fog of sleep blew away with a waking yawn and filled in the blanks of the previous evening. Realising that he was still holding Miyabi's hand sent a jolt down his spine, urging him to let go and check that he had not spent the night drooling on the pale, slender hand of one of the most powerful women in New Eridu.

Free and clear of any glistening pools, Wise surveyed the room, expecting to find other sleeping forms and finding none. He fished his phone from his pocket and checked for clues. 11:28am. Far later than he usually arose. No wonder he had been left on his lonesome.

The last vestiges of dreamy mist dispersed from his brain as he scanned his messages, settling on Yanagi as his best port of call.

Wise:

Miss Tsukishiro, apologies for oversleeping!

I hope you all rested well

No changes to Miyabi yet, but I'll keep you informed!

He hoisted himself upwards and shook out his arms, politely ignoring the sternly worded complaints coming from his leg muscles on his way up. The shrill ring of the incoming message rattled around his skull like a brick in a dryer. He cursed in the general direction of Belle's room. Wise had kept his phone set to vibrate for so long that he wasn't even sure he remembered how to change the setting, no doubt Belle was messing with him as payback for sleeping in.

Yanagi:

Manager please, you can call me Yanagi. Miss Tsukishiro makes me feel old

Thank you again, if you need anything at all don't hesitate to contact me.

Wise switched his gaze back to Miyabi, quietly willing her to awaken. If it weren't for the obvious bandages and the occasional blip of her monitors, she'd look to all the world as though she were deep in a peaceful, much needed sleep.

She looked different, he thought. The Miyabi with whom Wise had become acquainted always had such a serious and focused look on her face, even on the odd occasions that he had invited her to hang out she retained the same business-like facade. He supposed it was the look of somebody who simply knew what they wanted to do in life and channeled their all into achieving it. But this was something new. Without the weight of consciousness her face softened sweetly into its gentle features. She hadn't looked un-feminine before, but now it became more overt that underneath the pressures of her role she was still, after all was said and done, a young and beautiful woman.

A pang of heartache tugged at Wise's chest, somewhere between irrational guilt for staring in her vulnerable state and a strange longing on her behalf. If there were two things he knew for certain about her it was that she was both remarkably naive and unerringly single-minded, a combination that led him to some conclusions that he felt it quite impolite to speculate about.

An unfamiliar impulse cut through Wise's tangling thoughts, obscure in its origin and powerful in influence. Unfortified against such attacks within 10 minutes of waking, he found himself timidly reaching towards Miyabi's hand once more. Her hands had felt so soft and cool, maybe if he ju-

"Gooooooood morning sleeping beauty!" Belle chirped as she swept through the open doorway. She looked distastefully bright in contrast to the scraggly mess in front of her. She passed him a steaming mug and dropped into the swivelling chair nearby.

"So how did you sleep?" She asked, slyly floating her gaze between the pair. Wise reddened slightly but didn't take the bait.

"Wonderfully, I feel like a new man. Really, you couldn't have woken me up just to get me to move somewhere comfier?"

"We did think about it, sure! But then it looked like you had something more important to do where you were!" The jab was more direct this time, aimed a little lower too. He couldn't let her win like this.

"Where did everybody go, anyway? I'm surprised you didn't at least try to convince Harumasa to stay." Wise countered.

"Hey I said he was cute one time! And that was before we even met them!" Belle shot back. Wise grinned in response.

"Alright alright, if you say so. But you didn't answer, where is everyone?"

"Back to work, sadly. Like Yanagi said, their suspension is only a fake to throw any snoopers off the scent. Yanagi is still organising all the outgoing work for the higher ups that are aware of the situation. I think she said she has Haru and Soukaku drawing up training plans for the agents picking up their slack."

Wise felt bad for them. It felt like after all they'd been through they deserved some time off, but at least they would be constrained to office work instead of risking the hollows for a while.

He caught a brief peek at himself in the shiny black glass of the monitor behind Belle, looking about as rough as he felt. He tugged at a particularly unruly strand of hair.

"Hey, why don't you go shower and I'll grab you something to eat? 18 has the store on lock, and how are you supposed to look after Miyabi if you can't even look after yourself?"

Wise looked over towards the bathroom and then back down to Miyabi. The idea was too tempting, his whole body felt itchy and slick from having slept in his clothes, and somehow the thought of the chief waking up to an unkempt and reeking Wise felt even worse.

"She'll be okay for 10 minutes! Now go, otherwise I'm going to pass out from being near you and you'll have two unconscious beauties to deal with!" Belle added playfully, standing to strike a dramatic fainting pose as she did so. She swanned gracefully out of the room, keeping up the bit until she was all the way down the stairs.

Wise sighed heavily and took a hefty gulp of his coffee, enjoying the pleasant heat filling his stomach. He moved only a few steps towards the bathroom before stopping, contemplating something. Unconscious or not, changing in the same room Miyabi was resting in felt embarrassing. He turned and opened the nearby lockers, retrieving a set of clothing before continuing on into the bathroom.

He laid his fresh clothes down gently and removed his poor choice of sleep attire, tossing them carelessly onto the already full hamper in the corner as he brushed his teeth. On carefully tuned instinct, he turned the temperature knob way down as he stepped into the shower cubicle and started the water. Over their many years of sharing a bathroom, the number of times he had scalded himself had tapered to a pleasant yearly average of only once or twice. Whatever genes Belle had inherited allowing her to thrive in water that could melt rock had decidedly not been passed to Wise.

The water cascaded down from his ashen hair and glid across his sore muscles, washing away the nights grime and all of his thoughts. Wise supposed it was a common sentiment, but showers were one his favourite parts of the day; the overpowering white noise of water against glass and tile, the thick obscuring mask of steam, the soothing feel of the water, all coming together to wrap him in the comforting embrace of solitude, like he'd been swept up into another world where he needn't worry about anything but his own peaceful existence.

Or at least, that's how it usually went. The second Wise opened his usual honeydew melon scented soap, his peaceful and empty mind snagged the edge of a thought and raced towards it at a relentless pace, like a hurricane catching the sails of a ship stuck in the doldrums.

Honeydew melons.

Miyabi loves melons.

Miyabi is hurt.

Miyabi is under our care.

Miyabiisinmybednextdoorandiwonderifshedlovethesmellofthissoapand-

As his mind plummeted through imagined skies heading faster and faster towards an unpleasant rendezvous with the metaphorical pavement, a sharp knock on the bathroom door supplied a welcome parachute.

"Wise, your food is on your table okay?" Belle said, barely audible through the door and above the water.

Wise wasted no time with the rest of his shower, apprehensive of any further trains of thought that he would not be saved from this time. He emerged in fresh clothes with hair still damp and made a beeline to the promised breakfast. Belle had been kind enough to grab him a couple of sweet pastries, likely a concession for teasing him.

He picked up the plate and shuffled back over to his bedside. The notes the doctor had left lay open on Wise's shelves, where a number of important steps had been circled for him. Taking a bite of a crumbling croissant, Wise carefully checked the numbers on Miyabi's monitors against those jotted down and thrice underlined in the notebook.

He almost didn't hear the quiet groan that escaped from Miyabi's throat, but the tightening flinch of her face was difficult to miss. Wise panicked, suddenly afraid that the first thing she might wake up to was the searing pain of her wounds. He leaned closer in, praying that he was wrong and that he had just imagined the movement in his longing for her to awaken.

Her face tightened again.

And again, this time twice in rapid succession.

As gently as an autumn leaf falling from its tree, Miyabi's eyes flickered open, her bleary gaze latching onto Wise's worried pupils.

"W… Wise…?"

"Ah! Miss Hoshimi! You're awake! Are you okay? Are you in pain?" Wise drew yet closer, all the while worrying over her visible bandages, checking for any wounds that might have reopened through the night.

"Wise…"

"Hold still! Miss Hoshimi, please allow me to administer some pain relief!" He pleaded. Miyabi, just as still as she had been for the last 24 hours, slowly lifted her hand and weakly gripped Wise's sleeve.

"Wise… what is that… sweet smell?"

Wise stammered as his internal monologue struggled to maintain order. Two thoughts were grappling for his focus; first was that Miyabi was finally awake and that he should tend to her in a professional and caring manner. The second, and most troubling, was that her first thought on waking up had been about how pleasant the scent of his soap was.

Before the latter could put his entire sense of reason into a very inappropriate chokehold, it was dashed most savagely by the loud and aggressive rumbling from Miyabi's stomach that followed.

Belle had heard her brother's panicked voice from the store and had sped through serving an unfortunately timed customer, who looked equally panicked at the sudden outburst from above. By the time she had blazed up the stairs and across the hall, she found a wide awake Miyabi, propped up by a deluge of cushions and contentedly snacking on the second half of Wise's breakfast.

Wise himself was perched facing directly away from the snacking fox, looking suspiciously sheepish and fiddling with his phone.

"Miyabi you're awake! How are you feeling?" Belle enquired energetically.

"Oh, Belle, it seems you are here too. Though I'm not too sure where 'here' is exactly."

Despite what would be a worrying sentence for just about anybody else, Miyabi's voice retained its usual cool and steady tone.

"Wise, have you not told her anything? What have you been doing?"

Wise turned an even deeper shade of red as he looked up towards his sister, choosing his words carefully in fear of garnering further questions.

"Sorry Miyabi, I got too excited and wanted to let Yanagi and the others know as soon as possible." Wise stumbled out, holding up his phone screen to show a group chat by the name of "Hoshimi Miyabi Protection Squad", with dozens of quickfire messages scrolling by.

"Bro, seriously? Anyway, you're at Random Play, more specifically in Wise's bedroom." Belle sighed defeatedly.

"Wise's… bedroom?" One of Miyabi's ears flicked as her face remained stationary, seemingly deep in thought. She turned her head to look directly at Wise, who was still trying his hardest not to meet her gaze.

"Wise, your bedroom seems very similar to several hospital suites I have seen. Is it possible that you are unwell and have kept it hidden all this time?"

The innocent if slightly misguided question snapped Wise out of his embarrassment. He swivelled to look at her, a look of puzzlement clear on his face.

"N- wh-" he started. His phone began to ring out before he could spill any more dismembered syllables into the conversation. He glanced at the screen and immediately picked up, retreating out into the hallway and making a mental note to thank Yanagi profusely for providing a graceful escape.

Miyabi's eyes tracked him across the room until her line of sight was obscured by Belle, shaking slightly as she tried and failed to stifle a laugh at her brother's awkwardness.

"Wise is fine Miyabi, this is all for you. You've been unconscious for at least the last 27 hours, and were apparently stuck inside a hollow for several days before that. Section 6 asked us to look after you while you recovered." She explained, watching carefully for any hint of recognition in the thiren's unreadable expression.

"Oh, I see. I'm glad that Wise is well." Came the reply. "I shall be out of your way shortly. Might I ask the whereabouts of my blade?"

Belle stared in disbelief. She had known that Miyabi was a stubborn sort, of course, but this was taking it to a whole new level. Was she completely ignoring her own physical condition on purpose?

"Oh no you won't, and no you may not. It's safe, and that's all you're getting out of me. You're staying right where you are until you've fully healed, or else."

Belle placed her hands on her hips and attempted to look stern. She didn't have a plan for the "or else", nor did she think that any scheme she could come up with would be enough to keep Miyabi against her will. But hey, they were legendary proxies right? She could handle a little improvisation. Probably.

There was no expression of anger or disappointment, not even the hint of a frown on Miyabi's face. She just… stared. Belle felt sure this was somehow the worst outcome.

"Proxy, I appreciate the care you have provided for me, and I will make sure you are duly compensated. However, I am needed to curb the expansion of hollow activity within the city. I cannot be waylaid, it is important that I return to my duty as soon as possible." Miyabi declared as coolly as ever.

Wise stepped back into the room before Belle could retort. He could feel the tense energy in the room.

"That was Ms Tsukishiro, she said that the doctor from yesterday stayed nearby last night and that he should be here soon." He interjected, hoping that the brewing storm might be quelled before it truly began.

"I see. If the doctor clears me to return to duty, will you allow me to leave?" Miyabi perked up slightly at the thought. Whether she was truly oblivious to the state that she was in or she honestly believed she was being held as some sort of prisoner, Wise couldn't tell.

"Miss Hoshimi, I-"

"Okay then, if the doctor says you're well enough to leave, we won't stand in your way. But if he doesn't then you have to stay here and let us look after you for as long as he tells you. Do we have a deal?" Belle proffered with a surprising level of confidence, cutting Wise off once again.

For perhaps the first time, the siblings saw Miyabi look conflicted; her ears drooped slightly, and her usual intense eye contact had fallen instead to the numerous dressings spiderwebbed across her limbs and torso.

"Very well, I accept." Miyabi said slowly. Wise could swear something in her tone felt deflated, as though she knew there was little chance of victory.

"Great! You must be a little overwhelmed, we'll give you some peace until the doctor arrives. Message us on knock knock if you need anything!" Belle sped through the sentence like the words burned in her mouth, clutching at Wise's arm and yanking him hastily towards the door as she did so.

Wise caught sight of Miyabi's confused face as Belle swung the door shut, their eyes meeting for a split second before the gap closed. Before he could even begin to question her, Belle put her finger to her lips and pointed downwards. Wise followed her down the stairs and into the storeroom, where she promptly fell onto the sofa and groaned in relief.

"Ugh could that have been any more awkward? And what happened to you?! Did she wake up to you trying to smooch her or something?" Belle questioned, covering her eyes with the crook of her elbow and kicking her legs.

Wise felt the tension that had been coiling within his chest slip away. Belle had always been the more hotheaded and emotive of the pair, and he frequently wondered what the denizens of the inter-knot would think if they knew one of their most reputable proxies was prone to such childlike abandon.

"Master, despite our proxy activities I would not have believed you to partake in such criminality. Even so, I have prepared a list of several foxholes- excuse me, slip of the tongue, safehouses that you may utilise while evading the NEPS." Fairy chimed in unhelpfully as ever.

"Wata neh! (Wise, you shouldn't do that to Miss Miyabi! She is very kind.)" Eous chirped from the workshop, much to Belle's amusement. Even 06 looked shocked at Wise from its usual perch next to the door.

"What? Of course I didn't do that! And Fairy you don't even have a tongue! It was just a… misunderstanding." Wise spluttered, turning redder every second and wondering if it wasn't too late to strike out on his own in life.

Amongst the throes of her laughter, Belle uncovered her eyes and sat up, pulling a leg into her chest and lifting a suggestive eyebrow at him as she rested her chin on her knee.

"Oh? Is that right? And what other misunderstandings might you have with a pretty girl sleeping in your bed, hmm?" She teased.

"... Anyways, why were you so desperate to bring me down here?" Wise asked, shifting the topic with the kind of subtlety and elegance typically reserved for one of Grace's dozers.

"Oh, right. I think we need a plan. Not just to get Miyabi to take a break, but to get her to live a little you know?" Belle suggested, dropping into a more serious tone.

"Live a little? What do you mean?"

"C'mon Wise, surely even you've noticed that Miyabi is a little… uh …"

"Master, cross-referencing personal notes on Miss Hoshimi Miyabi's personality with several reputable journals of psychology indicate tha-" Fairy began.

"Fairy! What did we tell you about this?" Belle interrupted, not for the first time that month.

"I believe it was 'surely not all of our associates can be complex psychological edge cases', second assistant."

"Aaaaand?"

"Not to psychoanalyse friends of the Master and second assistant." Fairy conceded. She sounded disappointed at the outcome. Belle sighed deeply.

The front door to Random Play had blasted open, the chill winter winds sweeping all the way through into the darkest corners of the storeroom. The gentle pitter-patter of the opening salvo of a rainstorm fluttered in the background as a gruff older voice mumbled out several apologies and heaved the door closed once again.

Miyabi's doctor inched his way across the shop floor to peek into the storeroom, unwilling to announce himself over the sounds of one of the youngsters arguing with what appeared to be her computer. Peering in and catching the eye of the exasperated brother, he pointed upwards, wordlessly asking permission to ascend to his patient, and received a tired nod in return. With a little more gusto than before, he began towards the makeshift hospital room.

"-esn't matter if you think you could 'help' them, it's rude!" Belle yelled as Wise turned back into the daily argument.

"Belle! Hey, calm down for a minute, the doctor is here. Finish your train of thought, what do you mean about Miyabi?" Wise said calmly, trying to placate the tempestuous rage that Fairy always managed to tease out of Belle.

"What I'm saying is that Miyabi has no life! When was the last time you heard her talk about something other than work, or even take time away outside of when we invite her somewhere?" She explained, still quietly out of breath but no longer as volatile.

Wise took a moment to think about it, but even he had to confess that she was right. No matter what they did, Miyabi always remained sharply focused on the hollow disaster or her own combat capabilities.

"I… suppose you're right. But what are we supposed to do about it? Even if the doctor tells her to stay, I'm not sure how we could convince her to slow down."

The piercing dinging of Wise's phone drew both of their attention. From above them, the dull sound of muffled conversation and the odd shuffling of feet bled through the ceiling. Wise flicked at his screen until he reached Yanagi's messages.

Yanagi:

Manager! My apologies, I couldn't talk him out of it!

Please stay calm, I'm certain his anger is not aimed at you.

I didn't expect him to march straight over when I gave him the address…

Wise:

Wait, who is angry?

Who is coming here?

…Miss Tsukishiro?

A hot, biting sense of anxiety burst to life in his stomach like a solar flare. He sent a startled glance over at Belle, who looked puzzled back at him.

"Wise? What is it? Is something wrong?"

"Emergency protocol. I don't know what but something bad is coming."

Since the close call with Qingyi and Zhu Yuan several weeks ago, Belle and Wise had drawn up plans for situations like this. Belle sprang out of her seat and began shuffling a shelf unit stacked high with boxes of videotapes across the gap behind the sofa and into place against the wall next to their home VR device. Wise quickly placed a few panels over the array of CRTs to the left of Fairy's monitor and pulled a newly installed black curtain along the back of the freshly moved shelves.

The siblings moved to the room's entrance, shutting off the main light as they went. With only the pale glow of the main TV and the little lights of 06's eyes to light the room, a casual observer would have no idea the second half of the space even existed, as long as they didn't pay too much attention or flip the light switch. They closed the door and moved behind the counter, drawing on all of their acting skills to look as though they were deep into other meaningful tasks.

A minute passed.

And another.

Then several more.

Just as Wise started to wonder whether they'd been a touch hasty in their coverup, a booming knock pounded against the back door. Belle's eyes drilled nervously into Wise's back as he slowly paced over to unlock it.

With trembling hands, he pulled the door open.