Ending the Omnipotence Paradox

Chapter 20

It took nearly a year for him to be able to see her face again; she had denied every single one of his visitation requests at first and then his team was sent on an undercover mission in Taiwan for longer than he would have liked. By the time he'd returned, his initial fury over her actions had mostly abated - sure, he was still upset with the rash, solitary decisions she'd made to land herself in confinement, but curiosity in regards to her motives quickly won out over any anger he felt toward the situation.
The first time he visited, he was taken aback by the hollow look in her normally bright eyes; nausea threatening to overtake him at the frenzied injustice he felt as they exchanged small talk. Later that day, he'd beaten two sparring drones so badly that Hanashiro had threatened to bill him for the damages and Gino forced him to go out for an after work drink, which quickly became nearly a daily occurrence between the two friends.
Since then though, they'd fallen into a steady rhythm - him flying in from Dejima to visit her every Sunday morning after having dinner with his mother the previous evening in Kanagawa; the only exception being when the SAD was on assignment. And even then, she was almost guaranteed to receive a lengthy letter before he left with the normal routine resuming upon his eventual return.
It continued like this for too long, with almost three years passing as she awaited Sibyl's judgment for her crimes. There wasn't much they hadn't talked about at that point, save for some things that were better left unsaid in the monitored visitation area, but standing next her now, with bars no longer separating them, left him frustratingly speechless.
Neither of them were exactly sure what had caused her unexpected release and subsequent assignment as the Bureau's first ever ‘Statutory Enforcer’, but they were both sure her meeting with the newly minted Chief Homura later that day would provide more insight into the situation. Not that Kogami wanted to be indebted to her once potential fiancé for much of anything, but to whatever had brought her smiling visage back into his daily life, he breathed a sigh of relieved gratitude.
It had taken a bit more pulling of strings than he usually cared for to be the one granted access to pick her up from Tokorozawa that morning, with both Homura and Shimotsuki expressing their obvious displeasure at Hanashiro’ insistent request. And he sure as hell wasn't looking forward to the favors he'd have to comply with now that he was on the hook to both the PSB and his own boss for it. But at that moment, as he handed her the latte she'd ordered from a small kiosk they'd walked to after grabbing a bite to eat at a quaint ramen house nearby, Kogami found he would have done just about anything to make sure he was the first one she saw when she walked through those prison doors.
She wrapped her dainty hands around the take-out cup, eyelids fluttering shut as she took a slow, gingerly sip of the warm liquid. With a small sigh, the corners of her lips turned up into a contented smile before she looked up again, noticing him watching her face in earnest.
“What?” She asked with a small laugh in her voice as she moved to wipe at her lip uncertainly. “Don't look at me that way - this is the first cup of coffee I've had in years that I didn't have to brew myself.”
He chuckled lightly at himself, not quite willing to admit that he had been awestruck by the simple enjoyment that first sip of caffeine gave her.
“Sorry, I’m just… glad you like it. You never know when trying a new vendor,” he qualified, looking away bashfully as he took a sip of his coffee.
“I honestly think this is the most I've ever heard you use that word,” she pointed out to his confusion. “Stop apologizing, Shinya.”
Right. That happened. Sure, it took some time, but slowly the names they used to address each other had changed - her now always Akane and him always Shinya. He'd been the one to use her given name in conversation first and thinking back, he really couldn't believe it had taken them so long to drop the honorifics. But now…? The comfort shared between them made any such formalities seem stilted and pretentious, with neither looking forward to how things would revert back with her impending return to government work.
She smiled as if she could read his mind, and hell, maybe she could after all this time. He good-naturedly scoffed at himself, trying to avoid giving another needless apology, as she had reassured him the words were numerous times over the last couple of years.
It was never about saying the words as much as it was about being honest with each other, she had told him then; the memory of the warmth that showed in her caramel colored eyes soothing to him even now.
A companionable silence settled between them as they enjoyed their beverages, a light breeze swirling cherry blossom petals around as they meandered through the public park. Save for the occasional passersby and handful of businessmen looking for a quiet place to have lunch, they were practically the only ones making use of the arboretum at this time of day.
“I still can't believe this is actually happening,” she admitted wistfully, taking in the crisp spring landscape. “If someone would have told me, even just yesterday, that I would be out of confinement, walking through a park, and having coffee with you, I would have told them they needed to have their psycho-pass checked.”
“Well,” Kogami qualified with a chuckle. “As amusing as it would be to see that happen, I'm glad the current situation is reality.”
She glanced over at him briefly before quickly averting her gaze, the skin of her cheeks turning a shade of pale pink that he hadn’t seen in much too long; slightly baffling him at how the reaction made his pulse unexpectedly stutter.
"You know, in all the talks we’ve had about your time abroad,” she segued clumsily as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "You never told me what it was that Hanashiro ultimately said to you that made you come back to Japan.”
He lifted his cup to his mouth and finished off the dark liquid, mulling over how to answer her inquiry. Speeding up a bit, he indicated toward a trash receptacle about twenty feet ahead before walking over to it and disposing of the cup; his fingers suddenly itching for a cigarette to replace the caffeine.
“That's because she wasn’t the one to convince me,” he refuted gently as he moved back toward her. She stopped mid-stride, her head tilting up at him as her eyebrows knit together quizzically. He didn't stop until he was right in front of her, his chest nearly touching hers; her sharp intake of breath as his hand settled on her waist causing him to smirk involuntarily.
“I… I'm not sure what you mean,” she responded hesitantly, her wide eyes looking up at him through her dark lashes.
He brought his other hand up to gently caress the side of her face, a dusting of pink coloring the pale skin of her cheeks once again as her eyes seemed to grow impossibly larger. He should have cared that they were in public; that they were on borrowed time; that he once again hadn't asked before invading her personal space. But she didn't move to stop his advances, the surprised tension in her body soon relaxing into his hold and quickly transforming the air around them with her wanton assent. Her gaze dipped to his lips as she briefly hesitated, her jaw quivering slightly under his touch.
“Shinya… you shouldn't do this,” she breathed unconvincingly. “I'm an Enforcer now and being near me could put you in too much danger…”
“Why don't you let me be the judge of that?” He posited softly as he finished closing the space between them, his thumb grazing over her skin as his hand inched down to grasp the side of her neck, fingers splaying into her hair as she melted into his embrace.
Their lips had barely touched when a shrill ring cut through their impending reverie, coming from the communicator on Kogami's wrist. He gave a sharp, incredulous scoff as her facial features scrunched in disappointment; his eyes staying on her as he pulled back to blindly answer the call.
“Yeah?” He acknowledged gruffly, the aggravation clear in his tone, causing Akane to fix an admonishing stare on him before wrapping her arms around herself with a shiver he doubted was from the cool March breeze.
“My apologies for interrupting, Agent Kogami,” came the clearly unrepentant voice of her new boss; Akane's eyes widening a bit at the man's seeming omniscience. “But it's time Miss Tsunemori gets back to headquarters.”
“Watching people through street scanners without their knowledge is hardly morally sound, Chief,” Kogami complained as his attention locked on a device a few yards away from where they stood.
“I don't think I need to remind you who gave you the clearance to be the one to pick her up in the first place, Kogami.” His eyes snapped over to Akane, who quickly averted her gaze from his in mortification at Shizuka's controlling words as she backed away from him, causing an involuntary sense of indignation to well within him.
“Don't talk about her like she-” he started to argue before the woman in question spoke up.
“It's fine, Kogami,” she interrupted his defense, her jaw tense as she balled her hands to reel in her defiant reaction. “Shizuka’s right, we should probably get going.”
Kogami didn’t bother saying anything else to the unapologetically cruel man on the other end of the call before disconnecting from the unwanted connection; his attention honing in on the unsettling detachment that had formed in the eyes of the woman across the small space as she deliberately closed herself off from him.
“Akane…” he whispered, the anguish in his voice painfully undeniable. She glanced away, shaking her head defeatedly as her shoulders slumped, both fully aware of the sudden change in how she addressed him.
Unsure of how to console her or if she would even humor any olive branch he extended, he slipped his hands into the pockets of his dark jacket; his jaw ticking in agitated disappointment.
“I guess that's our cue to leave, then.”
The heavy silence that passed between them seemed to last forever; the words he wished they could say to each other lost in the inevitability that was their current reality. She moved first, him stuck in place as she ghosted by him, heading back in the direction they came. With an all-too familiar melancholy settling over him, he sighed heavily before turning on his heel and stalking after her to the car.