Non Ducor, Duco 〈 Mikayuu 〉

❌17-At fault❌

A new criminal spawned in my territory. It happened the day after I had broken up, and I was delivering a package in casual attire for once. Screaming had entered my ears, and I naturally turned my head. A building had set fire, and everyone was fleeing.

I knew almost instantaneously that it was not an accidental fire, so I searched for the culprit with narrowed eyes. On the roof of the bakery, a man stood tall, staring down at me. He had a hand in a pocket of his floor length black coat, flames illuminating the gas mask covering his face, brown hair pushed back on his head. I stood frozen in the street as people ran around me and shoved, eye locked with those hidden beneath the mask. He silently turned, figure disappearing from my view. Package in hand, I ran with the crowd until I had reached my destination, the image of that man burned into my skull.

The new criminal was only the first problem on my gigantic plate.

My work was growing, all because Cecil was no longer able to change my schedule. My boss was the only person able to do so now. Which meant more jobs that earn him money, none of which going to my bank account.

And then there was my ghost.

He floated about how he had defeated me so long ago while we fought over jobs and territory.

"Ah, yes, because the gorgeous Mikaela Shindo has no need to sleep." Yuichiro teased from my phone as I pulled on my last boot. He was actually like able when he wasn't stumbling over his words trying to talk to me.
"Pot, meet kettle. You're still awake." I pointed out, spreading ammo out to my right.
"But I'm making music."

"Then why can I hear cloth rustling?"
"What are you, my mom? That's a white noise you're hearing, Shindo."

I hummed, very doubtful that was the case.
"I'm serious-! Shit," He cursed, a sound of metal hitting the floor reaching my line.
"You alright?" I dubiously asked, loading my sniper rifle.

One, two, three, four, five...

"Yeah." Three clicks sounded with no pause between them, familiar yet alien to me.
"I've gotta go-" I said in unison with Yuichiro. We both apologized.
"So- you have to go?" He asked awkwardly.
"Yeah, I guess you have to, too." I laughed. He laughed with me. We said our farewells, and I headed to work.

"At least I didn't let myself get bested by-"

I cut off the unnaturally deep voice with a knife to his neck.
"You have allowed yourself to be bested by me, actually. What is it... Thirty-seven to eight?" I seethed, pressing the blade gently against the fabric on his neck, hoping to breach skin.

He laughed, a strained and breathless sound mangled by the voice modifier covering his mouth.
"Obviously. You know, we could be friends instead of enemies. Would go a lot smoother-" his own voice was cut off by his weight being lifted as I flipped his body to the floor, leaving him groaning on the floor so I could retrieve the artifact- evidence from a Bonnie and Clyde robbery.

"Ooh, Blue, you're such an asshole. All I wanted was to make amends with you." He laughed, hissing in pain. I shoved the items I was sent after into the sack , glancing over to my Ghost.
And saw the pieces missing from his night vision goggles.

A flare of alarm went off in my head, despite the fact that I didn't particularly care for him.
"Hyacinth, overtake the cameras." I whispered, stalking to my Ghost without further command.
I heard the hum of electricity enter the room, the sound comforting in some way. Hyacinth was now in control of the security cameras.

It made me feel better about what I saw next.
His eyes were pinched shut, as if bracing for impact. Nothing wrong there, you'd think. Except I shouldn't be able to see his eyes. And from his right eye, blood began to seep through the lid.
"Are you alright?" I cautiously asked. Slowly. As if I would break him. Or he would break me.
"Oh, yeah, 'doin just fine. Thought I might pop in at McDonald's and get a burger soon- Blue," he said, breaking off. I thought he was being sarcastic at first.
"Why am I bleeding, and can I scream?" He asked. Too calmly for a situation such as this.
"I advise you to not scream if you don't want to get arrested." He sighed at my answer.

"I know neither of us want to know who the other is," I began, crouching to the floor. I swallowed my pride (and hatred for this cocky bastard), undoing the latches of his night vision goggles.
"For obvious reasons." He chuckled, something else hidden beneath it.
"Precisely. But, I need to look at your eye. Since it is in fact my fault." I mumbled.
"Are you sure? Got any last confessions before the truth's revealed upon this magnificent criminal's identity?" My ghost joked. I applied pressure to his hand.
"It's not just you. In order to properly evaluate your eye I have to take off my own goggles. Besides, I have nothing. I trust you won't spread my identity and I won't spread yours, despite how much I don't trust you in other departments."

"How charming." He mumbled, slapping my hand away.
"I'm fine. Glad to see you're not entirely heartless, but I... Don't want to know who you are yet."

"Can I ask why, if we're not killing ourselves in this moment?" I inquired. The one broken lens still had his eye closed beneath it.
"I have my suspicions, and I don't know what I would do if they were true." He laughed. I clicked my tongue, standing up.

"You can afford the medical treatment, right?"

"Obviously. But I'm not filthy rich. Might have to live a little restricted and work more in the day." He rambled, sitting up.

"Well, bye then." I waved,
Hauling myself out a window.

"I take it back!"

My head popped in again.

"You are heartless." He clarified, looking up at me with one hand beneath his goggles to cover his bleeding eye.

I left once more.

"He's got a point," Hyacinth pointed out as I fled through the streets, tossing the package through an opening window as I passed. I saw someone across the street, immediately ducking behind a corner.
"No he doesn't. How far am I from the complex?"
"A block. If you make a run for it you can be there without being spotted." She informed me lazily. I pushed from the wall, bolting down the street. I heard constant clicks, a signal of her constantly switching between security cameras when I neared and passed.

I made it back safely, albeit with a bruise from tripping over a part of the sidewalk that jutted upwards. I couldn't shake off the feeling that someone was watching me the entire night, moreover.

Cynthia told me it was nothing.

It was the first time I didn't believe something she told me.

✖️
Green Ghost

I threw off the goggles hastily, eye pinched shut against my will to open it. I had known the moment I hit the floor that there was glass in my eye. It just never processed until a few minutes after the impact. I changed into my pajamas quickly, before rushing out the door, car keys in hand.

"What's your story?" The doctor asked with a sigh as he attempted to clean up the blood slathered across my face.
"I broke a stained glass window." I simply said.

Not even to medical professionals could I tell the real story.

Of how I had foolishly allowed Blue to gain an upper hand.

How I held back attacking purely on the theory of who that man was, which led to an injury that would need surgery to repair.

Of how I saw a man, standing in the museum window, wearing a gas mask and a black coat when I hit the floor.

Even with his eyes concealed, I felt them searing into my head like flames.

Or when I had walked into an operating room with my eye shut by dried blood, later that night.

The scene would be cleaned of any blood, I knew as they put me under anesthesia.

No traces of Yuichiro Amane nor the Blue Beast would remain.

Whomever he may be.