Kogami's POV
"Mr. Kogami, you and Inspector Tsunemori will pick up Mr. Saiga on your way to see Ms. Otori." The chief ordered. I nodded, looking down at the brown-haired Inspector beside me. She seemed different somehow, harder to read. I didn't doubt her case with Kirito Kamui had hardened her heart as well as sharpened her mind.
We exchanged pleasantries with the chief once more before leaving. The elevator ride was filled with tense silence, as was the walk to the Division 1 office. Akane walked in without hesitation and began speaking.
"Ms. Shimotsuki, Mr. Hinakawa this is Shinya Kogami. He will be working with us on our newest case. I expect you to cooperate fully with him, is that understood?" The girl rolled her eyes but nodded. I could tell she didn't care much for Akane or the Enforcers.
The red-haired boy stood and offered me his hand. "Sho Hinakawa, pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kogami. I've heard a lot about you."
I took his hand and smiled. "Looking forward to working with you." The boy seemed shy and, from the shocked expressions of everyone in the room, he rarely spoke this much. I glanced at his workstation and noticed the bowl of rice and pills. Drug addict, huh? Interesting.
"Ginoza, brief Mr. Hinakawa and Ms. Shimotsuki on the case. The four of you will be going to the warehouse where Ms. Otori was found. I'll have Ms. Karanomori send you the details. Mr. Kogami and I will go down to brief her and then we'll be heading to the mental facility where Ms. Otori is staying after picking up Professor Saiga."
After everyone was clear on their jobs, Akane and I walked out once more, this time headed for where Shion worked. The elevator ride was once more silent and uneventful. As we walked, I watched Akane out of the corner of my eye. Something was definitely off about her, though I couldn't figure out what it was. Suddenly, we stopped right in front of Shion's office.
"I'm sure you have quite a few questions for me, as do I for you, but if you wouldn't mind holding off until the car that would be great," Akane spoke without looking at me. I looked up at her, surprised by her sudden order. I stared at her, too surprised to speak. She looked at me expectantly and I nodded, at a loss. She smiled at me wryly then turned back to the door. "Good." I remained silent as she slid her ID card through the reader at the door.
"Come on in," a familiar voice called. Shion turned around in her chair to welcome Akane. "The chief sent me a message saying you'd be - Kogami?!" I smirked as her chocolate brown eyes widened in shock as she stood. "But - but that's im-impossible," she stammered as she stepped towards me. "I thought you were dead."
I shrugged as I grinned, showing my teeth. "Guess you must be seeing ghosts, then. You really must be crazy," I joked as stepped forward and wrapped her in a bear hug that was entirely unlike us both. After a moment we broke apart and I smiled down at her.
Crack!
I stepped back as I felt the force of her hand against my cheek. I stood there, shocked, as the sound of Shion's slap echoed throughout the room. I put my hand to my cheek and looked at her calmly. "Guess I deserved that," I said evenly, rubbing my cheek. I could barely hear Akane's gasp as Shion struck me once more on the other side of my face. I sighed. "And that." Shion raised her hand once more, but this time I caught it. "I think that's enough, don't you?"
She wrenched herself from my grip angrily. "What the hell, Ko?" Shion growled at me. "Three years, three years, and not a single word from you. Not even a note to let us know you were okay! Do you know what we went through?"
I sighed and lowered my hand. "I couldn't risk contacting you, any of you. Sybil might've considered you a security risk. I didn't want you to be in danger."
"Bullshit!" Shion retorted. "You could've figured something out! We were all so worried about you -"
"Enough," Akane interrupted the blonde-haired woman. She stepped between us and looked directly at Shion. "We have work to do. Did you get the file Chief Kasei sent you?"
Shion nodded and sat back down to her workstation. She typed a few keys and Mariko Otori's file appeared on one of the screens. "This girl is really something. Up until we found her, her Psycho-Pass has never gone above 50. It's almost scary, really."
"The chief said something about her going to America. What exactly happened during that time?" I asked. Something told me the key to this case was found in the time she'd been away.
"Nobody knows. Before she disappeared, Mariko had been a popular girl. She was studying to join the Ministry of Public Welfare like the rest of her family. She attended every party, got straight A's in school, a real high-society gal. Pretty, too. It seems she had everything going for her, till one day she just up and disappeared."
"Do we know why she left?" Akane beat me to asking the question.
Shion shrugged. "The official story was that her family had sent her to study abroad so she could see the world before settling down for good." Here she paused, as if she were deciding whether or not to tell us the rest.
"But?" I prompted.
She glared at me and continued. "But it seems there were a few mysterious circumstances surrounding her disappearance. There wasn't any formal announcement made, and not even Mariko's closest friends knew she was leaving. It was like she was here one day and gone the next. Naturally, this lead to all sorts of speculation. Some thought she'd been kidnapped, while others said she had run away. Of course, these were just rumors and eventually Mariko was forgotten. The Otori family claims they haven't spoken to her in years."
Akane nodded. "Alright, well we'll see what we can find out. Forward this file to Ms. Shimotsuki and let us know if anything new comes up." She turned to me. "Let's go." I nodded and followed her out.
"Ko," Shion called just as I reached the door. I turned just in time to catch a large piece of cloth she had thrown at me. As I examined it more closely, I realized it was my old gray coat. I looked up to see her smiling at me. "It's good to have you back." I returned her smile and hurried outside to where Akane was waiting.
"Ready?" she asked. I nodded and together we walked out to the parking lot. "I'll drive." Akane said. I chuckled as I got into the car.
This should be interesting
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
For the first few minutes, I was sure Akane had forgotten her promise to discuss things with me once we got in the car. So it surprised me greatly when she spoke.
"First off, I want to clear the air about my feelings for you," she said calmly, keeping her eyes on the road. "Or rather, my lack thereof." I blinked at her, surprised. I don't what I'd been expecting, but this certainly wasn't it. "I just want you to know that, whatever previous feelings I had for you, they aren't there anymore. And even if they were, it's probably better if neither of us acted on them."
I nodded in agreement. True, maybe I'd had feelings for Akane once - or at least I could have, given more time - but in the last three years, it had become obvious that it never would've worked out between us anyway. "Maybe, in another world, another lifetime, things would have been different." Akane said nothing, but nodded her assent. We drove in silence for a few more minutes before she spoke again.
"What happened to you, Kogami? How did Sybil find you?" I sighed. Even though, I knew the questions were coming, I still didn't want to answer them.
"I never got the chance to run. As soon as I shot Makishima, someone shot me with a Dominator and I blacked out. When I woke up, I was in the custody of Sybil. I've been working cases for them ever since. The rest is classified," I added, even though it was a lie. But reliving the past three years was not a discussion to be had in a car.
However, Akane didn't seem interested in the rest of my story. She was lost in her own thoughts as she stared through the window. For a few minutes she was silent then she spoke again, as if muttering to herself. "They lied to me."
"What?" I asked, confused.
Akane jumped guiltily looking at me. "Nothing," she answered, "just thinking out loud." I nodded and looked out the window as I watched her a bit more from the corner of my eye. She was definitely hiding something, but I couldn't figure out what it was.
Suddenly, she stopped in front of a large white building. I realised this was the facility where Professor Saiga was being held. "Let's go," Akane ordered as she got out of the car. I quickly followed suit and joined her as we walked into the building together.
We remained silent as we passed through the security checkpoints. Akane raised her eyebrows at me when she noticed the scanners weren't picking me up. Actually, it was almost like the drones were refusing to scan me. Shrugging, I smirked at the brown-haired Inspector and mouthed 'classified.' She glared at me before continuing on to the room where I assumed Professor Saiga was being held.
He was sitting at his desk writing something when we walked in. "Inspector Tsunemori," he said as he rose to greet us. "I was told you'd be coming -" Professor Saiga froze when his eyes landed on me. For a moment, we were all silent, but the professor cleared his throat and continued. "Kogami, it's good to see you. It's been a while," the older man stepped forward to shake my hand and smiled at me. I returned his grin as well and gripped his hand firmly. Saiga let me go and looked down at Akane. "Let's go, we've got a suspect to interrogate."
"Did you know Kogami was alive?" Akane asked him as he walked past her towards the door.
Professor Saiga turned and looked at her dead in the eye. "No," he replied seriously. "I didn't know he was alive. But I seriously doubted the probability of Sybil disposing of an asset as valuable as Kogami." He turned to continue walking, but stopped once more. "By the way, I'm glad you stopped smoking, Akane. That stuff'll kill you, you know."
This time it was my turn to raise my eyebrows at the brown-haired woman in front of me. Akane merely smirked and mouthed 'classified' before following Professor Saiga outside.
Hmm, I thought. Inspector Tsunemori is definitely not the same as before... How vexing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hey guys! Sorry about the slow updates, I was hoping to get to it faster, but I've been working on another story that's more of a collaboration with a few of my friends. Hopefully, I'll be able to put that up soon as well. :) Anyways, what do you guys think so far? I think I'll make the next chapter or two alternate between Kogami and Mariko's POVs and then it'll just be mostly Mariko for the rest of the story. Please vote and comment!
~Rias
P.S. If you recognised the fandom reference I slipped into that last line, you are the best person ever. xD