Chapter Text
Aki wakes with a start. His throat is sore and his eyes water at the edges. The young man attempts to catch his breath, placing a hand on his chest to feel the rapidly beating heart slowly start to fall. He fell asleep on his arms again. So he thinks. Aki sits up to find his theory confirmed as soon as his roommate, Denji, opens the door without knocking- something Aki specifically told him not to do- with a bed head the shape of roadkill. His eye bags were more pronounced as he yawned against his hand.
“What the hell, dude?”
“Did I scream," Aka becomes flustered.
“Yeah, obviously,” Denji grumbled.
There is a loud crash and a symphony of meows that follow Denji's sister, Power, to Aki's room. “Did topknot die?”
“No, Power,” Aki answers for himself and looks at the time. 9:13. Oh no. Aki jumps out of his bed and runs into the bathroom without another word to Denji and Power. He quickly brushes his teeth, puts on deodorant, puts his hair in its ‘top knot’ and then leaves to find the two still standing in his doorway. “Guys, I'm late, I need you to move so I can change.”
“What about breakfast,” Denji's eyes widened in horror.
“Yes! Nyako shall starve without it!” Power lifts the heavy cat in her hands as if to prove it.
“You two are grown enough to make your own breakfast! Besides I have to make money to fund your breakfasts so get out,” Aki pushes the two out of the door frame and shuts the door, locking it this time. He gets dressed in his common suit. Even though their job is business casual, he refuses to think about putting an outfit together. He leaves his room with his hands exploring for his wallet, keys and phone. The other two sit in the kitchen arguing over whether the toaster should be put on 2 or 4.
“Hey,” Aki interrupts the argument, “Don’t burn the apartment down while I'm gone. Denji, don’t forget your keys when you go to work. I'll be home later.”
“Aye Aye Captain,” Denji rolls his eyes.
“Topknot,” Power shouts after him. “Nyako needs litter! Stat!”
“Will do,” Aki groans and shuts the door behind him.
The drive to HQ lasts about as long as it usually does, but he still finds himself trying to rush into the building. After all, there was a meeting at 9:30 with none other than Makima. The woman who is his boss’ boss. The woman who owns the entire agency. Yeah, someone actually important. When he gets to his section of the HQ he is met with a familiar face. A woman with black hair cut into a bob and an eyepatch resting over her right eye.
“Well look who lived!” Himeno exclaims while getting up from her desk.
“How can you be so chipper right now,” Aki asks her.
The woman smiles wide and walks beside him to the meeting room. “Well, I took the best hangover cure of all time! Shit had me cured in thirty minutes flat!”
“Right, I forgot your birthday party was last night.”
“How could you forget!? Do you remember our duet?”
“Nope,” he does. They sang ‘a whole new world’ at the karaoke where they had her party. Everyone else had a shit ton of drinks, but Aki who maybe had two beers at most. The curse of being designated driver for all of his life.
“That’s crazy. Who would think the drunk one would remember more.”
“What time is it,” Aki asks as they finally make it to the hallway that leads to the meeting room.
“9:33!”
“Shit,” Aki walks much faster. Himeno whines and attempts to keep up. He opens the door to find everyone already there. His boss, Kurose, who is glaring daggers at him, Kobeni, who is anxiously messing with her shirt sleeve, Kishibe staring at the wall and Makima. Her yellow looking irises land on Aki as if putting the entire Earth on his being. She smiles a very stretched smile and looks to Kishibe who pays her no mind. Aki sits at the table, Himeno following after.
“Well,” Kurose clears his throat, “now that everyone is actually here, we can continue with the discussion.”
Makima nods, “Excellent. Good Morning. There’s been an assassination in Osaka. Takeyama Kento was not a popular man in terms of business dealings, but he was highly profiled with a large margin of fortune under his name.”
Kishibe grunts as he opens the file next to Makima to show a picture of the victim. He’s an older man, grizzled, with black hair slicked back with grease, and a scar across his nose.
“He was visiting an exceptionally good, by the way, sushi restaurant with his girlfriend, Yahui Lan,” Makima begins again as Kishibe pulls another picture of a much younger girl. She has long brown hair and round brown eyes. When Aki looks over to Himeno, he sees her raise her eyebrows and shape her lips into a silent whistle. Aki levels a glare at her and nods along as Makima continues her discussion. “Somehow within 50 yards, his assassin was able to slice Takeyama’s femoral artery. Without him or his girlfriend noticing. He was bleeding for about a minute before he collapsed.”
Another photo, this time two images of Takeyama’s corpse. The man lays on a street, blood flowing from his pants leg like a small stream. The next photo is of the slice itself. It’s a small cut, very meticulous and clean. Whoever did this was obviously careful with their approach and knew the human anatomy well enough to find those fragile parts and utilize them. Not only that, quietly, uncaught, as far as Aki is concerned. How did an assassin reach Takeyama’s leg without him noticing?
“Cool,” Aki says outloud.
The room is silent for a moment, everyone’s eyes trained on him. Himeno elbows Aki with a look and Aki mumbles a quick apology as he continues to look at the pictures. It’s safe to say that Aki may be a little obsessed with assassins. It stems from childhood, an assassin finding his way into Aki’s childhood home and assassinating his family members, he was outside when it happened and somehow missed it. They found the guy already. Locked him up and sent him to prison for life. Yet, it didn’t satiate Aki’s anger and hatred towards him. His life was completely turned upside down because of him. He never even found the person who hired the man. No one knows who could have done it. So, for Aki, this job became a means of revenge for his family. A way to protect the people from such tragedies as a person with enough money using another to kill their enemies. What Aki didn’t expect to come with this job is his growing obsession and fascination. He hates assassins. He doesn’t want that twisted. Yet, there are times where he is excited to discuss them. Not all of them are created equal. Most assassins are messy, make mistakes, and find quick ways to handle things without someone seeing. Others are trained. Meticulously well thought out and seem to prize themselves on their work. They find strange ways to signature their bodies and share it with the police, waiting to be caught. It’s a game. One that the HQ tends to win but still a fascinating game.
Denji has heard this spiel thousands of times by now and he tends to call Aki a 'creep' about it. Himeno chooses to call him a 'pervert'. Aki just has to know everything about those more meticulous assassins. What makes them tick? Why did they choose this line of work? Did they choose it? And this assassin…they’re new. Someone that not even Makima or Kishibe knows who it could be.
“His girlfriend is the only witness but she fled the scene. They found her here in Hokkaido and needs to be placed under protection while the investigation continues,” Makima’s attention is on the others as she speaks.
Aki leans to his partner, Himeno, who raises a single brow in listening. Aki whispers to her, “Three thousand yen, it was a woman.”
“Pardon,” Makima’s head swivels to Aki and Himeno curiously. Kurose glares at Aki specifically.
“Sorry, nothing,” Aki clears his throat. Makima blinks but seems focused on Aki. A shiver crawls down his spine in response.
“Well, we will be sure to set up her protection,” Himeno saves Aki from embarrassment. “We will send for lets say three guards every 4-6 hours for the time being.”
“Was there CCTV of the incident?” Aki asks Makima.
Kishibe speaks up this time, “No, it was a blind spot.”
“Yes, and I will leave us there,” Makima stands straight, fixing her long coat that seemed too big for her, “She is quite traumatized being the only witness to her boyfriend’s death. I ask you to surround her with as many people as you can to help.” Makima bows in response, the rest of the room doing the same in respect. Kisihbe stands next to her, gathering the photos in the manilla folder. The meeting is over. Yet, Aki wants more. He needs more information about this killer. He knows little about Takeyama, but most business men like him tend to not look very highly at women or people with a smaller frame than them. They care only for big men with large pockets. If that’s true, then the possibility of a female assassin is possible. Something that Aki doesn’t get to see much of.
“I said ‘I bet it was a woman’,” Aki says out loud. Makima and Kishibe stop in their preparations to leave. Makima cocks her head as she waits for Aki to continue. “If he’s attracting younger women as partners…he may not have considered another one being a threat.”
Kishibe looks to Makima, waiting for a response. Makima’s head straightens and she bows her head once more. “Thank you, Hayakawa.” Then they leave. Kobeni sighs as she gathers her papers and starts to head out behind the other two. Kurose holding the door for everyone to pass. Himeno nudges Aki with an evil smirk on her face.
“Ooo, she said your name.”
“Shut up,” Aki grumbles and follows the others.
“If you fall in love with her, I will be very mad. We have a deal for the future.”
Ah, yes, the deal Himeno made said that if Aki was thirty and still didn’t have a girlfriend, that she would marry him. One she promised as soon as they met and he started this job. A deal he never agreed to. He chooses to ignore her joke and continue to discuss the assassin.
“I want to meet the witness. She might-”
“Alright, bud, stop you there,” Himeno pats his shoulder. “Your job is to go ahead and get her some security detail. Don’t be a creep.”
“It’s not being a creep!”
“Fine, it’s being perverted,” Himeno laughs.
“Whatever,” Aki grumbles as they pass Kurose.
Kurose glares at the two, “Happy Birthday, Himeno.”
“Oh calm down,” Himeno scoffs and continues out the door with Aki in tow.
━━━━━━━━━━
Time passes and Aki and Kobeni are working on setting the security detail when Himeno enters with a smirk.
“Want to pass me my three thousand yen now, or later?”
“What,” Aki says, dragging his attention from the computer. Kobeni looks between the two curious.
“CCTV was found, it was a man.”
Aki moves his rolling chair so he can face Himeno properly. “What!? They said there was no-”
“Don’t be sore,” she smiles. She looks at Kobeni. “I’m buying you a drink and food with his money!”
Kobeni smiles shyly. “That sounds nice.”
“Did you see the footage?”
“Of course not,” Himeno says, her hand stretched out.
“Then how do you-”
“Akiiiiiiii,” Himeno rolls her neck, “three thousanddddd.”
He groans and covers his face with his hands. Aki reaches into his pocket and pulls out half. “You get the other half when I see it.”
“Sure. Now if you two will excuse me, I need to vomit.”
Kobeni gawks, “Are you okay?”
“Oh yeah, the hangover cure didn’t actually cure, who would have thought?” She says as she leaves the room.
Aki sighs and looks back at his computer. He can’t think straight. Kishibe said there was no footage. A blind spot. The only person who could have seen anything…
Aki gets up from his chair, “Kobeni, I am going to head to the station then home.”
“Oh,” Kobeni looks at her screen, “But we haven’t finished security detail.”
“I’ll make sure the two men already there are well informed. Thanks Kobeni, I owe you. Don’t tell Himeno.” and he leaves while Kobeni flounders through some sentences he can’t hear.
━━━━━━━━━━
The witness, Yahui Lan, speaks only mandarin. She rambles on as she slowly squirms in her hospital bed. She laughs and cries and slurs speech all in a language Aki can’t understand. It doesn’t help that their only translator is an older man who seems just as confused as he is.
“Sorry,” the translator says, “She keeps talking about ducks.”
“Has she said anything about the killer or can she describe them?”
The translator asks her a question in mandarin to which she responds by singing a song. Aki sighs. He’s not going to get anywhere with this. The two security guards stand behind them, the first of many that this poor woman will become accustomed to.
“Okay, well, this was enlightening.” Aki stands up. “Make sure we keep an eye on her. Thank you for your help,” Aki bows to the translator and leaves the room. He fiddles in his pocket for his phone. The recording app was still working- the microphone lit up. It’s illegal, he knows, but he knows someone else who might be able to help.
━━━━━━━━━━
“Detective Power is on the case,” Power shouts. She wears a plaid jacket and a small cap over her head. Denji writes on a piece of paper, probably homework, as he looks up to his sister.
“What’s happening?”
“I’m asking Power to translate something real quick,” Aki says as he finished up dinner. Both of the siblings sit at the kotatsu eager for their meals. Aki made sure to avoid vegetables in Power’s meal just to incentivize her even more. It took a long time to figure out how to bargain with the two idiots, but thankfully he’s much better at it now.
“Now, place your device on the table so that way I, great Detective Power, can solve your case.”
“Dude, is this illegal,” Denji asks as he digs into his meal.
“Don’t worry about it,” Aki responds and plays the tape.
Power listens closely, her eyes shut in thought. Both Denji and Aki watch her closely. “Hmmm, I see,” Power nods along. Aki feels a bit hesitant now that he’s watching her. Power was an orphan from China that did know mandarin for a while, but is now fluent in Japanese. Would she even remember her native tongue that well? “Ah ha!” Power announces and stops the recording. “Flat!”
“Flat,” Aki and Denji both ask.
“The description of the killer was evil and flat chested! Small tits! Tiny! In all matters of the word.”
“Wait, a woman did it,” Denji gawks. While the two talk, Aki feels a swelling of pride.
“Is that what she said? She confirmed it's a woman?”
“She didn’t say ‘woman’ but she said small tits.”
“Yes,” Aki can’t help the smile on his face. “Thank you, Power. You two eat, I have work to do.”
━━━━━━━━━━
Aki spends the rest of his night staring at older files of female assassins. None which seemed to be “flat chested”. He feels a bit embarrassed looking so closely but it’s important to his work. When he feels stuck, he gets a call from Himeno, no doubt about something stupid. He picks up anyway and answers as he flips through another profile. “Yeah?”
“There was another,” Himeno whispers.
Aki stops his search and focuses on the conversation, “Is it the same one?”
“The theory is that,” Himeno continues to whisper, “Kurose, Makima and Kishibe are discussing it right in front of me. It was some bachelor in Milan this time. Yet, same thing, small cut…but it’s kind of crazy this time.”
“How crazy?”
“Like, he had a hair pin inserted into his eyeball crazy and the pin itself had poison in it.”
“Christ,” Aki says with wide eyes. “And we are assuming its the same person??”
“That is their theory. The reason why is because in the initial attack with Takeyama, there was a small cut possibly done by a pin and the same for this guy in Italy. However the pin was left behind this time. No fingerprints so the guy was wearing gloves. Or wiped them. And the pin had wings on it.”
“Weird,” Aki says as he moves to his laptop to look at the reports he was sent. It had the pictures of the corpse of Takeyama. “What do they want to do?”
“Not sure. Keep an eye still on the girl though. Sounds like she’s our best witness so far.”
Aki wants to tell Himeno about what he found, but he knows she will be pissed when she hears. Hell, Aki could maybe lose his job for bringing such private details to his basically adopted siblings. So he shuts up about it.
“Okay, will do.”
“Talk to you later.”
Himeno hangs up. Aki places his cell on the desk and looks at the photo of Takeyama. He takes his attention specifically to the cut in his leg. Aki debates something for just a moment before grabbing a letter opener he has on the side. He rolls up his pants leg to the point where above his knee was exposed. With a deep breath, he presses the blade to his thigh. It hurts, obviously, but not enough to send Aki spiraling in pain. He puts the letter opener down and watches as blood began to pool in the cut he made. Dark liquid bubbling up in one spot. He takes the injury and opens it more, letting the blood trickle down his thigh. It’s nothing like the picture. Not even close. Yet it feels right. Something about it makes him feel closer to the killer. A knock on his door startles him from his thoughts. He quickly wipes the blood and rolls his pant leg down. “Yeah?”
Power opens the door, a smile on her face, “The greatest detective is ready for another job!”
“I don’t have another one.”
“What!? Just like that,” Power removes her hat, “I am unemployed.”
Aki thinks for a moment. “Actually…I maybe have a job for you.”
Power’s eyes light up and her pointed messy teeth resemble that of a shark. “And just like that, employment once more.”
━━━━━━━━━━
This was so illegal. Aki and Power are going, so to say, ‘undercover’. Power is dressed in a light sweater and jeans, something she barely wears, but wanted to appear more ‘friendly’. Aki was going to have power speak to Yahui Lan under the pretense of Power being her cousin. It was stupid, but no one from his facility should be at the hospital except for some guards they hired from another company. It’s safe. No one should find out that Power lives with Aki. He tells her this as they enter the hospital and reach the front desk.
“We are here to see Yahui Lan. This is her cousin.”
Power dramatically wipes tears from her face. “Yes, I am desperate to see her!”
Aki tries his best to not instantly glare at her over dramatics. The nurse tells them which floor and room and they head into the elevator.
“Pretty good, right,” Power smiles.
“Terrible. Don’t be so dramatic.”
“What!?”
The elevator door opens and they head towards the room. Aki shows his credentials to one of the guards in the hall who nods his head. Power and him catch a nurse leaving the room supposed to be Yahui Lan which makes sense considering the guards piling outside of it. Kobeni may have overdone it slightly. The nurse pauses at the sight of them and shakes her head.
“No press-”
“No, I’m Hayakawa Aki, a part of the special division covering her case. I was doing the security detailing. This is, Lan’s cousin, she wanted to see her.”
The nurse smiles, “Oh! Of course, dear. Hold on let me finish her up and I will be sure to let you see her.” The nurse turns back around and enters the room.
Power sits on the seat next to one of the guards and looks at Aki. “Mmm we should have bought flowers or chocolate!”
Aki ponders the idea. Yeah, they actually probably should have. It was at least a kind thing to do. “I will try to find something. I have to use the bathroom. Don’t. Move.”
Power makes a ‘pssh’ sound as Aki leaves for the bathroom. He opens the door and finds two stalls, one in use and the other blocked due to maintenance.
“Great,” Aki grumbles and stands at the mirror. He decides to mess with his hair in the meanwhile. He has his topknot still up but it was a bit messy from the day's use and movement. He takes off the band and lets his hair fall down to cup his face. It’s gotten slightly longer, almost to his shoulders. He pushes back strands from his eyes as the open stall behind him flushes. He runs his fingers through his hair and starts to pull it back again. The door opens to a red headed man who stands at the other sink. He’s short, very short, and his hair was long almost down to his lower back. It was a wild mess too, strands poking out every which way. He wore a janitorial suit, and starts washing his hands. Aki goes back to focusing on his hair. He lets it drop again before trying to pull it back up. The painstaking process of doing a ponytail with short hair.
He feels eyes burning on him and turns to find the shorter man staring at him. Man? Aki is scared for a moment as he thinks they might be a woman, but he honestly can’t tell. Whoever they were, they had a long nose and soft pink lips. Their eyelashes are long and cover their bright amber eyes. They stare at Aki, in a weird entranced state. Aki blinks.
“Are you okay?”
Without a word, the person walks past Aki and to the door. Aki stares at where they once stood, curiosity flooding his mind. He goes to look in the mirror and the person with a voice slightly heavy but airy in it’s tone says, “Wear it down.”
Aki looks to the person he has a feeling is a man. They bow and leave the bathroom. Aki blinks, looks at himself, and decides, sure, why not? He leaves his hair down and ties the band around his wrist. He enters the stall to use the bathroom.
Once he leaves, his phone rings again. Himeno. “What,” Aki asks, hoping the sounds of the hospital didn’t break through.
“You were right.” Himeno says. “I hate to say it, but you were right.”
“Right about what?”
“There was no CCTV. Kurose lied.”
Aki felt his heart hammer. There was no CCTV…that could mean-
“Keep the girl safe?”
“Will do,” Aki says as he hangs up. He stares at himself in the mirror, black hair framing his face. He pushes it back slightly so it’s behind his ears and washes his hands. When he leaves, feeling more triumphant than he should, he notices the sound of the hospital phone ringing and no nurse watching the front desk. His smile fades slightly but he looks around to find another person…no one. It’s quiet. He rounds the corner to the hall where Yahui Lan’s room is and stops in his tracks. His jaw drops. On the linoleum floor lay two feet covered in leather shoes. Aki approaches and finds the feet surrounded by blood. Then it hits him, Power is gone and it wasn’t just one but two, three, four, every person in Yahui Lan’s room was bleeding or dead. Five guards, down. The nurse, a giant bleeding wound on her chest and to his immense horror Yahui Lan was choking in her bed, blood flowing from her neck.
“Fuck! No, no, no, no,” Aki runs over to her, covering her wound with his hands. She coughs on her blood, her eyes trained as she squeaks in mandarin. “It’s okay! It’s okay! Somebody help! Help me!” He presses the emergency button with his blood covered hands and then looks back to her.
“We will save you. It’s okay. Please, stay with us. Please!”
Yahui Lan’s mouth bubbles with blood, her eyes growing distant and her struggle lessening. It’s when her head feels like dead weight that Aki begins to cry out.
“No! Fuck! Help! Someone help!” He turns to find his Power standing in the doorway, her eyes wide and candy bars in her hands. She looks up at Aki in horror and despite everything- his body no longer felt ice cold.
Aki was so fired.