To be as Elusive as a Dream

03

"Wake up. I gotta get to work on time and your accident adds 15 minutes to my commute. Not only that, we're picking up a friend and her kids."

Tatsuya creaked open an eyelid. He was used to waking up earlier so Katsuya wouldn't see him enter the building, so this was unpleasant.

"Mhmmmm..."

Katsuya ripped the blankets off of him. "Come on. I made muffins and they're getting cold."

Tatsuya heaved a sigh and sat up. "I still have no idea why you would willingly wake up super early just to bake muffins."

Rubbing his eyes, he slid out of bed and stumbled into the shower. He turned the water to hot and let it wake him up. After a quick towel attack on his hair and a speedy change from his pajamas into his jumpsuit, he was ready to greet the world.

"So who's this friend?" he asked, grabbing a warm banana muffin from the plate on the counter. He took a bite. "You aren't exactly the best at flirting, so she's not a fling. Coworker?"

Katsuya nodded, Tatsuya's insult going right over his head. "Yep. She's a reporter who frequently drops by for interviews and statements and such."

Tatsuya laughed a bit. Agent Bunny, a reporter? She was known to be dead accurate with her bullets, and an excellent interrogator. At least the interrogation part fit.

He finished the muffin and washed it down with a glass of milk. "I'm going to start the car. Don't dawdle." Katsuya instructed.

Tatsuya waved him off and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He slid a recording device in his pocket, brushed his hair, and put his trusty lighter in his pocket.

He looked in the mirror. A young man stared back, but it wasn't exactly him. The boy-a doppelganger maybe-looked sadder, downtrodden. He had a black tattoo on his arm, but Tatsuya couldn't identify it before the doppelganger disappeared and left him to his own reflection.

He sighed. He'd figure out why that occasionally happened one of these days.

He slid into the passenger seat of the car, frowning at his brother's choice of music. "This sounds like something a grandma would listen to."

Katsuya looked over his shoulder and backed out of the driveway. "It's my car, my rules."

Tatsuya rolled his eyes and changed the station. Katsuya glared but didn't change it back. They drove for several minutes without speaking to each other, only bothering to once they pulled up to Agent Bunny's home. Or, quite possibly, a cover home.

Bunny left the house dressed in an odd disguise. Shoulder length black hair, a tan and brown suit-jacket combo with pink hearts on the boobs, and leather knee-length boots. She slid in the back smoothly.

"Good morning!" She chirped. Her voice was higher than what he'd ever heard. "Thank you so much for driving me today. My life's currently a wreck, with house renovations and all."

Katsuya smiled. "No problem, Mrs. Amano. And your children are at your ex-husband's house currently?"

She nodded, popping a piece of gum in her mouth. "They're cuties. I'd say they take after me, but they look more like my husband than anything."

Katsuya didn't ask anymore questions, and Tatsuya didn't dare let Bunny look at his face. It would be too dangerous.

They turned into a poorer part of Sumaru, where trash littered the streets and homeless people sleeping in various places was much more common. "What's the address again?"

"80273 N. Agastya Lane." She smiled. "I'll go in and grab them."

He slowed his car in front of a building made of worn brick. Old toys littered the sidewalk and steps up to the large building, either long forgotten or played with too frequently to properly work anymore. Bunny jumped out of the car and ran inside.