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Chapter Text

"Ahem... May I have your attention everyone?"

Tsukishiro Yanagi surveyed the offices of Hollow Special Operations Section Six, perfectly poised in the doorway like a monarch holding court over her domain. A sleek black folder was tucked under her arm.

A chorus of affirmatives greeted her, some (one) considerably less enthusiastic than the others. To the casual observer, the office likely appeared as though a localised storm had torn through it: papers spilled off multiple surfaces, more than one annotated in colourful crayon; weapons lay exposed carelessly in a way that probably constituted a safety hazard; a chair was tipped on its side; and there was an iced-over mug on the floor that also seemed to be spewing a dark purple spiral of steam somehow.

Yanagi - now with almost a year's experience as Deputy Chief of Section Six under her belt - counted herself lucky that she'd caught everyone inside and awake for once.

Judging the attention of her colleagues to be on her, she proceeded with her itinerary.

"We've received a new mission briefing," she announced. "It's from the Hollow Investigative Association. The deviant Companion Hollow known colloquially as 'Hygieia Hollow' has breached containment."

Chief Miyabi swiftly sheathed Tailless and set down her maintenance equipment. Her ears flicked attentively in Yanagi's direction. "Breached containment? How? Were the H.I.A not monitoring it closely?"

Yanagi shook her head. "According to official information, there was a sharp spike of the Ether activity in Hygieia Hollow at around one a.m two days ago. The Hollow was confirmed to have resurged just yesterday."

Harumasa sat upright in his chair, having previously been sprawled back across its length in a slightly precarious manner. His golden eyes narrowed in thought.

"So anything or anyone could have gotten in and out in that timeframe," he surmised. "Assuming you're implying that it wasn't a natural occurrence."

As usual, he'd caught on to her meaning immediately.

"I am," Yanagi confirmed. "Perhaps a lack of personnel available for monitoring exacerbated the Hollow's growth, but the Ether readings for the surge bear a strong resemblance to those from the detonation of an Ether 'bomb' or a similar concentration of Etheric matter. Additionally, records show a security alert out for an H.I.A investigator who had previously been involved in data collection in Hygieia Hollow. There are a few other data points of course, but those are the ones of highest interest."

"I see," Miyabi nodded. "Your theory makes sense, Yanagi."

"As expected of our Intelligence Officer~" Harumasa added with a smirk.

"Nagi is the best! But uhh... which Hollow was this again... ?"
That was Soukaku, who had been apparently drawing the mug in the centre of the room with great concentration up to this point, but could never resist praising Yanagi for whatever the reason.

"It was not too long after you joined us, Soukaku," Yanagi explained. "Do you remember that Hollow with all the plants and—"

"—And that weird-smelling fog!" Soukaku snapped her fingers. Yanagi wasn't sure where she'd picked that habit up from. "I remember now!"

"It's technically classified as 'mist' but yes, you are correct, Soukaku," Yanagi said approvingly.

"Back to the mission briefing: Asaba and myself have been requested to conduct an initial survey on site. Once we have sufficient intelligence on the current situation in the Hollow, Chief Miyabi will be sent in to assist with exterminating as many Ethereals as possible. Soukaku, you will be on call to transport supplies within the Hollow. We will also be attempting to locate any potential saboteurs and retrieve them for questioning. Does anyone have any questions?"

"I have a question, Yanagi."

"Yes Chief, you will unfortunately need to sign off on the operation report at the end of the mission. However, I will take care of compiling the necessary documents for you. Is that acceptable?"

Miyabi nodded gravely. "I suppose so. Like salmon leaping upstream to spawn, we must all sometimes undergo great trials in the pursuit of our goals. Thank you, Yanagi - that was very impressive. No further questions."

Yanagi tried not to appear flustered. Miyabi was always appreciative of everything that she did, even when it was something as simple as anticipating a question, or delivering news that she didn't really want to hear. The Chief was truly an amazing person that way. Although... her analogies were certainly... unique.

"Ooh me! Me!" Soukaku yelled, bouncing up and down with her hand in the air.

"The H.I.A outpost will set aside a quota of field rations for you to snack on, and you can check in with me or Asaba if you need anything extra, Soukaku."

"Yay, you're the best, Nagi!"

"What if I have a question too, Deputy Chief?" Harumasa had a mischievous grin on his face.

Yanagi paused for a moment. Despite Harumasa having a previous adverse response to the environment in Hygieia Hollow, he wouldn't attempt to slack off on this job. On the contrary - according to observations made on five prior occasions - he would likely push himself harder to compensate for it.

"You may submit your sick leave form no more than a day after the operation has concluded, Asaba. You can take a maximum of a week off. Beyond that, I cannot promise anything."

It was more than a little satisfying to catch the surprise in his eyes at the genuine offer, despite her answer likely having nothing to do with whatever scheme he'd been plotting.

Alas, Harumasa recovered quickly.

"Oh?" He gasped melodramatically. "Am I hearing things? Is this what they call 'character development'? Are you finally seeing things my way, Tsukishiro?

"No."

"Huh?!"

"Yanagi, there's no need to tease him," Miyabi interrupted in her typical calm manner. "And Harumasa - there's no shame in allowing your colleagues to support you. Humanity would not exist without people relying on each other, after all."

Harumasa opened and closed his mouth, a rare instance of him truly not having anything to say.

Hoshimi Miyabi was truly an amazing individual.

To add insult to injury, Soukaku darted over to pat him on the knee with crayon-stained fingers.

"It's okay, Harumasamasa," she said brightly. "Nagi will take good care of you!"

Harumasa simply stared at the small hand on his knee, as if unsure of how to react to the touch. Yanagi knew that Soukaku's hands were perpetually warm, like miniature furnaces; almost uncomfortably so. It was the kind of warmth that reminded you that you were alive.

Soukaku's hands were also sometimes sticky though.

Finally, Harumasa let out an embarrassed laugh. "Ouch, you guys don't pull your punches. Fine, fine. I'll behave myself under the Deputy Chief's watchful eyes~"

"Good," Miyabi said with a satisfied nod. "I wish you both luck in your mission and safe return. Oh, and Yanagi, can I skip the–"

"No, Chief."

The next morning saw Yanagi and Harumasa at the entrance to the temporary barricade deployed around Hygieia Hollow. Harumasa still looked half asleep, yawning and rubbing at his eyes as though it was three a.m instead of eight thirty. At least he was on time.

The Defence Force officers at the entrance eventually finished their security checks and waved their transport on through to the temporary base camp that had been set up. As they finally dismounted, Yanagi eyed the mess of hastily-erected tents and shelters consideringly; perhaps she could walk around the camp later and identify key points of interest for future reference.

Prior to the current Hollow disaster, more permanent infrastructure had been constructed around the Hollow to facilitate research into it. Now, most of those structures lay deep inside Hygieia itself. H.I.A staff and the occasional White Star Institute researcher appeared to be the primary inhabitants of the area, wandering around with steaming mugs in hand or frantically ducking in and out of tents.

One of the H.I.A personnel hurried over them, a clipboard in hand. She had prominent dark circles under her eyes and her dark hair was windblown, but she appeared otherwise put together.

"Executive Officers Tsukishiro Yanagi and Asaba Harumasa of Section Six?" she inquired. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to the base camp."

Yanagi immediately took a liking to the no-nonsense approach. Section Six had a fanbase that was constantly growing, and while Yanagi could see the overall benefits to engaging in fan interactions, it tended to get in the way of important work sometimes.

"The pleasure is mine, I'm sure," Yanagi responded. Harumasa, likewise, exchanged a polite greeting. He too had no particular fondness for fans.

"Right, the command tent is this way. Please follow me."

The command tent was a standard white, anti-corruption tent of the sort used in temporary H.I.A depots within Hollows, likely due to its low production cost. Inside was a makeshift table constructed from an upside down wooden crate. The surface of the table was a sea of paperwork and charts, unbroken save for the single desk lamp in the centre.

Five people were huddled around the table, pointing at some of the papers and speaking in low, frantic tones. Two of them wore the uniform of the White Star Institute, and another was a Defence Force representative. The remaining individuals were H.I.A Investigators. None of them seemed to notice the intrusion until the representative who had brought them in cleared her throat.

"The members of Section Six are here," she announced flatly to the room at large, and then turned to Yanagi. "If you'll excuse me, I need to be going now. Good luck with the Hollow... and them." That last part was muttered in an undertone.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Harumasa mumbled under his breath as three pairs of eyes fixed on them, like hunting sharks that had caught the scent of blood. Yanagi had a second to wonder whether the Chief's metaphors were rubbing off on her before they were accosted by excited Investigators on multiple sides.

"Section Six? Thank goodness, our problems are solved! I can finally sleep again!"

"Isn't the great Sword Goddess Hoshimi Miyabi supposed to be here?"

"Can you sign my uniform?!"

"Executive Officers, what are your thoughts on the Hollow? Do you also agree that the unnatural Etheric waveforms are—"

"Please be quiet!" the Defense Force representative said loudly. Yanagi immediately capitalised on the ensuing awkward silence.

"Hello everyone," she said firmly and clearly, in the manner she used when asking Soukaku not to eat food out of roadside bins. "It's nice to meet you all. Thank you for the... warm... welcome, but Executive Officer Asaba and I are here to assist with the Hollow exploration today and our time is limited. Therefore, we would appreciate being able to commence the operation on schedule."

"What the Deputy Chief said," Harumasa added with a casual shrug of his shoulders, and a smile that flashed a hint of sharp canines. He was probably laughing internally at the abashed looks on the agents' faces. Yanagi remained unapologetic. Sometimes, it was best to be very, very direct. Perhaps that was why she didn't attract many of her own fans.

"Ahem, yes, of course," one of the H.I.A investigators finally forced out. Judging by the badge on his uniform, he was the most senior Investigator in the room. "About our intended course of action - myself and one of our research associates from the White Star Institute will join you on your scouting mission. Our task today is to extract Hollow observation data to create an accurate Carrot. Most of the pre-existing data piles are thankfully intact, so we simply need to rendezvous with them to collect the observation data."

"Some of the data piles might have been 'overgrown' so to speak, by Etheric matter, so cleaning them up will also be important," added the researcher who had previously been attempting to ask them about their opinions of the Hollow. "I'll take care of that task, but I can't defend myself if the activity draws Ethereals."

"Understood," acknowledged Yanagi. "I assume we'll initially be working off an obsolete Carrot?"

"That is correct. Hygieia Hollow resurged to only about seventy five percent of its original area, but initial scanning equipment suggested that the terrain has not remained consistent with previously acquired data," the Defence Force representative explained.

"I see. We will remain vigilant throughout our reconnaissance regardless... right, Asaba?"

"Hmm? Oh, of course," said Harumasa brightly, sounding slightly distracted to Yanagi's ear. Her colleague had quietly made his way over to the crate-table while the other personnel were paying attention to Yanagi, and was apparently reading through some of the documents. In the span of a blink, he was back at her side, wearing that carefully crafted grin of his.

"I'm ready to go whenever you are, Deputy Chief~"

Chapter Text

Asaba Harumasa stifled yet another yawn as he escaped the loose ring of H.I.A personnel and associates arrayed around Deputy Chief Tsukishiro. It was pretty hard not to laugh, seeing them all standing there like scolded schoolchildren, but doing that would probably get him told off for tactlessness.

The Lead Investigator - according to the badge clipped to his chest - had finally begun actually talking about the mission parameters for the day. Unfortunately, that was bound to be just normal, boring information about Carrots and observational data piles; Harumasa had been part of enough operations at this point to know the routine.

That terrible excuse for a table, on the other hand, made for a far more interesting target. Harumasa kept half an ear on the conversation as he sidled up to the far side of the crate-table.

At first glance, the papers appeared to be mostly surveillance data records compiled from the White Star Institute's monitoring equipment, Etheric wave readings, or official memos from the H.I.A related to the Hygieia Hollow disaster. He noted that the Ether readings matched Tsukishiro's information from their mission briefing, with a sharp, localised spike around the time of the Hollow resurgence. There also appeared to be previous smaller fluctuations at regular intervals. Perhaps that was something to look into later.

Buried under all the statistical data were some printed documents bearing the H.I.A logo. The phrases "Cooperation request" and "Executive Officer Asaba Harumasa" caught his eye. Oh? That looked like it could be the original request for Section Six's aid submitted to H.A.N.D Headquarters.

Curiosity successfully piqued, he shifted the other papers just enough to allow him access to the rest of the document. It was very dry reading - a lot of standard corporate grovelling dressed up in professional language. Ugh. It was enough to make anyone besides Tsukishiro fall asleep, really. Except... the actually interesting part was that this 'cooperation request' did not mention Tsukishiro Yanagi even once.

Harumasa snuck a glance at Tsukishiro, who was still trapped in conversation with her little band of researchers and investigators. How curious. Did she really not trust him to do his job? Or... was she simply performing her due diligence of following up her leads personally? Tsukishiro liked to keep an eye on anything she deemed important after all.

Ultimately, her reasons didn't particularly matter. Harumasa knew the Deputy Chief's strengths and she knew his. Having both of them on this mission would simply help them achieve their objective that much faster.

...Perhaps when it was over, those dreams he'd been having recently would finally stop.

His wandering gaze paused as it landed on an incongruity amidst the mess of paperwork: a photograph of a man in his late thirties - medium build, light hair, blue eyes, and faded freckles - printed on a Be On The Lookout bulletin. That was an H.I.A-issued uniform, wasn't it?

Tsukishiro calling his name signalled that his little investigation was at an end. Harumasa burned the face and name into his mind in the split second before he darted back to her side, once again positioned to catch any threats from behind. He put up a practiced smile, all relaxed, easy confidence. It had taken some effort to get that one right at first.

"I'm ready to go whenever you are, Deputy Chief," he said.

The H.I.A investigator's name was Ren, and his partner from the White Star Institute was Edward Lark, as Harumasa learned as they approached the Hollow entrance. Both of them seemed to have attached themselves to Tsukishiro like little ducklings trailing after– Well, perhaps it was better not to finish that metaphor, even in the safety of his thoughts.

At any rate, they appeared to be starstruck by the Deputy Chief's incredible competence and were respectfully silent every time she had anything to say. It was, in short, immensely funny to watch. Especially since Harumasa could tell that Tsukishiro felt awkward about the entire thing now that she wasn't being forced to corral half a dozen over-enthusiastic people at once; that was the fourth time she had minutely adjusted her glasses.

Sometimes it surprised Harumasa that Tsukishiro didn't have many civilian fans of her own - the administrative staff at H.A.N.D pretty much revered her as an eldritch god, which didn't count. Then again, Deputy Chief herself didn't seem to mind. Thinking about how pushy and invasive his own fans could be, Harumasa concluded with a wry smile that it was probably for the best.

The official Tsukishiro Yanagi fanclub could stick to three members for now.

"Excuse me, Officers. This is the Fissure we'll be using to enter the Hollow," Ren spoke up, coming to a halt in front of the cordoned-off spatial anomaly. He flashed his badge at the Defence Force soldier stationed there, who lowered his gun and stepped away to allow them access.

Harumasa's smile fell instantly, replaced by forced neutrality. Nervous energy thrummed in his veins. This wasn't the same entry point they'd originally used all those months ago, but something about it felt unsettlingly similar.

He reached for Dark Tide and Dormant Blossom, and stepped towards the Fissure.

"I'll take the vanguard. Deputy Chief, you guard the rear," he ordered. Reconnaissance ops were his element and his orders temporarily outranked Tsukishiro's in the field here. "Ren, Lark, stick with Executive Officer Tsukishiro when we're moving, but get off the field if we need to engage Ethereals. Tsukishiro and I will be our primary fighters. Ren, you'll be our backup and responsible for protecting Lark. Understood?"

"Understood," Tsukishiro said, drawing her naginata. The other two nodded their acknowledgement as well, putting on their protective helmets. Ren carried a standard issue firearm and a W-Engine-enhanced short sword, which would be helpful in a pinch.

"Eh-nu, Ehn-na? (Where should I position myself?)" asked the H.I.A-issued exploration Bangboo that they'd downloaded their available Carrot data onto. Unfortunately, Section Six didn't have its own Bangboo yet, but Chief Miyabi was working on it. Well, Tsukishiro was the one doing most of the actual work as per usual.

"Stick with Researcher Lark," Harumasa decided. The Bangboo was a non-combatant and having their Carrot in a vulnerable position was a bad idea anyway, especially in this particular Hollow. If they got lost, wasting time desperately looking for an exit would come with deadly consequences.

"Eh-nah! (Sure!)"

Harumasa took a deep breath and brought his swords up into position, ready to strike at a moment's notice in case the entrance wasn't secure. "Feel the blades as an extension of yourself," Master's advice echoed in his mind.

"Everyone ready?" he asked, trying for a nonchalant tone and mostly succeeding. "Let's move out."

He took three running steps and plunged into the Fissure.

The typical dizzying, unsteady sensation of entering a Hollow washed over him, mixed with the sharp and unpleasantly familiar scent of disinfectant. And then– blissful calm. 

He opened his eyes and took in the breathtaking environment around him.

The Hygieia Companion Hollow was technically located within the borders of New Eridu, but any resemblance to a city was passing at best. Every surface was covered in lush foliage; vines, grasses, and shrubbery sprouting at physics-defying angles. Only a few patches of asphalt remained to indicate what he was standing on might have been a road at some point. Waxy green trees twisted out of some of the underlying buildings, unhindered by concrete and glass.

Luminous mist wreathed the ground in a haze, muddling the horizon until the sky and the earth blended together into an indistinct grey and white plane.

This was one of the most comprehensive spatial distortions ever recorded in New Eridu's history. Every square inch of plant matter was composed almost entirely of Etheric matter, as was the pale mist. Harumasa thought it was truly unfortunate that something this beautiful was too deadly for most humans to ever witness.

Behind him, the rest of his squad stumbled through the Fissure, save for Tsukishiro, who managed to make walking on grass in heeled shoes look graceful. The other agents looked dumbfounded as they took in the Hollow, eyes as wide as saucers behind their helmets. They had likely never seen this much greenery before in their entire lives.

Harumasa decided to perform a quick survey of their landing point while the others adjusted to the new environment. Assured of a lack of visible threats at melee range, he assembled Dormant Tide and made it a few paces away from the group before almost falling over.

His body felt strangely light. It was so ridiculously easy to draw breath, the strain against his lungs and chest gone like it had never been there in the first place. He took a deep breath and then a second one in succession, relishing in the sensation. The various aches that usually plagued his limbs had settled into soothing numbness. He felt ready to take on a hundred Ethereals.

It was as though he had suddenly grown the wings he had longed for all his life

"Asaba, is something wrong?" Tsukishiro's voice cut through the stillness, despite having spoken softly. Reality hit Harumasa like a splash of icy water, unwelcome, but bracing nonetheless.

This was yet another unique effect of Hygieia Hollow; its healing 'mist', which could cure minor wounds and provide effective pain relief for most ailments.

But like most things related to the Hollows, it was more akin to a calamity than a miracle. The healing power it bestowed came at the price of an exponential increase in Ether corruption rate. Many early explorers of the Hollow had succumbed to Corruptions that they had never seen coming, numb to the deadly Pressure levels until it was too late.

Perhaps more unsettlingly, the mist gradually lulled both human and Ethereal alike into a tranquil, almost euphoric state. Wander too long or too far in the Hollow and... well, a victim would never leave. Nor would they want to, even as corruption swallowed their humanity piece by piece.

Harumasa swallowed heavily, tasting bile in his mouth. There wasn't the slightest sensation of acid burns.

... Right. Tsukishiro was still waiting on his answer.

"All good, Deputy Chief," he responded, forcing his voice to sound light and casual. "Haven't seen any threats in the immediate area. This Hollow is still so weird though. Gives me the creeps."

Tsukishiro's eyes were sharp behind her glasses, as if she was trying to pierce straight through him. Harumasa met her gaze steadily. Eye contact tended to give people a false impression of honesty.

Though, who was he kidding, she probably knew that too.

"It is indeed as strange as on our previous encounters," she said finally, turning to focus on the path ahead instead. "I find it unsettling as well."

"I'd seen surveillance footage of this place," murmured Ren. "But this... this is beyond my wildest expectations. It really doesn't look like a Hollow at all."

"All this foliage is Etheric matter... ? I can hardly believe it," Lark said, his voice also hushed. He plucked a small 'plant' from the ground and watched it disintegrate into Ether dust between his gloved fingers. "Fascinating."

"Stay on guard," Harumasa reminded them, a tad more sharply than he'd intended to sound. "The Ethereals here may not be hostile on sight, but disturb enough Ether and that could change. We also run the risk of encountering new Corrupted, and they certainly wouldn't mind mauling anything that moves."

"That's not to speak of the ambient corruption levels," Tsukishiro added, backing him up. "We will be performing regular checks of everyone's anti-corruption gear at scheduled intervals by the way."

"We wouldn't want anything to happen to you after all~" Harumasa winked, aiming a sickly sweet smile at them.

Perhaps it was cruel to deliberately stir up fear in the rest of their team, but scared was better than dead.

Dubious methods aside, it seemed to have worked. Both Ren and Lark looked significantly more wary and alert to their surroundings. Their accompanying Bangboo, meanwhile, seemed wholly unperturbed by the prospect of Ether corruption. Harumasa hoped it wouldn't get any fantastical ideas about this place either.

"Eh-ne, Nhu-en-na. Ehn-nu-na. (Target data pile HY-2-4 is located ahead. Calculations indicate a fissure to the north that may speed up travel.)"

"We've selected three suitable data piles to collect our observations from," explained Lark, his voice only slightly unsteady. "The Carrot should be able to lead us to them."

"Sounds good," Harumasa said. "I'll scout a distance ahead from here on out and signal if there's any potential danger ahead. Deputy Chief, let me know if the Bangboo recommends any course corrections."

"Understood," Tsukishiro confirmed. "Be careful, Asaba."

"Who do you take me for, Deputy Chief?" Harumasa gasped emphatically. "Of course I'll be careful! Must you wound me so with your lack of faith?"

Tsukishiro rolled her eyes, concerned expression evaporating. Now she just wore a look of mild exasperation.

Good enough.

"That's not what I meant and you know it, " she muttered.

"I was just kidding," Harumasa conceded gracefully. "You're too fun to tease sometimes, Tsukishiro~"

Well, all right, perhaps he was more smug than graceful. He threw her a salute and fled for the nearest overgrown building before she decided to assign him overtime on the spot.

The farther Harumasa got from the rest of the team, the more unsettlingly quiet the Hollow appeared. Not that normal Hollows typically had an abundance of ambient sounds, but at least they also didn't have eerie mist and perfectly green plants like an runaway florist's shop.

The growth on the road actually presented an interesting obstacle to stealth; instead of rustling or bruising when stepped on, the leaves simply crumbled into particles like fragile crystals. Harumasa was used to keeping his footsteps light and silent, but that was surprisingly difficult to pull off here. He'd also worried that it would mean an obvious trail leading right to his position, but when he looked back, the 'plants' were regrowing at a frightening speed, erasing his footsteps as if they'd never been there at all. Well, that was awfully convenient - and disturbing. How on-brand for Hygieia Hollow.

A block and a half down what used to be an industrial estate, Harumasa spotted his first Ethereals: a group of Fauns with leafy vines creeping up their torsos and limbs like shackles. They appeared to be fixated on some kind of golden pebbles scattered on the ground between them, but his approach had gotten their attention. Harumasa tightened his grip on his bow, but despite turning their heads to observe him, none of them attacked. Their movements were languid, as if they'd been drained of all their energy. Harumasa suppressed a shudder.

"Five Ethereals spotted," he said softly into his handheld radio, alerting his team. "Fauns. Non-hostile residents."

"Received," Tsukishiro answered. "Hold position."

It didn't take long for the crunch of footsteps to reach him. Tsukishiro flanked him, her own weapon at the ready. The other agents followed, not quite daring to get as close.

"Hmm... Like last time, they don't appear to be aggressive," Tsukishiro observed. "But perhaps we should clear them out in case they pose a problem later. What do you think, Asaba?"

Harumasa shook his head. "I don't think it's worth it. No, don't look at me like that - it's not because I want to slack off! It's because we don't know if there are more Ethereals nearby. A fight could draw out more trouble–"

"–And the risk isn't worth it, especially with non-combatants to consider," finished Tsukishiro. "Very well, your logic does make sense. All the same, let's give them a wide berth."

They detoured through the skeletal remains of a parking lot, rusting chain link rising out of a sea of vines like the bones of a rib cage.

Lark broke the silence.

"Did you see those Ethereals?" he asked, something like awe in his tone. That was probably a rhetorical question.

"That variety of Ethereal is often quite aggressive and attacks on sight, and yet the mist made them so... docile. If we could just figure out how it works, imagine the possibilities! Ordinary people wouldn't have to fear Ethereals so much. It wouldn't deal with the problem of Hollow formation of course, but investigators or us researchers could at least gather more information safely. We could perhaps even study the anatomy of Ethereals to produce more effective weapons and techniques! Wouldn't it be amazing?" Lark paused after his passionate speech, breath fogging up his bubble helmet slightly.

"That would be immensely helpful," Ren admitted. "Although we still don't know how effective this mist is against higher grade Ether Mutants. If only there was a way to test it on... Dullahans, perhaps? Or Thanatos. Or even Thracians. Although... it would be quite the trick to test something like that in a Hollow, with so many other variables to worry about. The Institute has had access to this place for a while and must have thought of something like that, so maybe there's a reason we haven't heard anything about it."

Both agents looked at Tsukishiro, as if soliciting her approval. Harumasa couldn't help but be amused by that. They really were like little ducklings.

Tsukishiro appeared to be contemplating this information. "I have not heard any information on a potential method for neutralising Ethereals," she said with a frown. Oh, that had to be bothering her - the Deputy Chief liked knowing things. "Whatever research the White Star Institute - and by extension, TOPS - is conducting on the matter is likely classified. I agree that it is an interesting point to look into though."

Lark and Ren looked incredibly pleased with themselves.

Harumasa, on the other hand...

"Hey, we should keep going," he said lightly. "Wouldn't want to spend too long in here and turn into one of those Ethereals, right? Although then, maybe you could offer up yourself for the good of science?"

Ah. He'd definitely said too much there. The agents looked rather horrified at that last idea, and even Tsukishiro was giving him a puzzled look.

He forced an airy laugh. "Just joking of course! You should see your faces~ Though we really do need to get going."

"... Asaba is correct, we shouldn't linger," Tsukishiro said finally.

Lark and Ren exchanged wary glances but expressed their affirmation, and their team continued on towards the elusive Fissure. They definitely thought he was a weirdo now, but Harumasa would take that over... well, the alternative.

They located the Fissure and, subsequently, the data pile with relative ease. No Ethereals came running when they collected the all-important observation data. The navigation to the other two data piles and back was also uneventful, aside from Lark tripping over another of those shiny rocks and Tsukishiro catching himself before he fell face-first into a carpet of Etheric matter.

It left Harumasa with too much time for thinking.

'Neutralising Ethereals' was how the Deputy Chief phrased it. Harumasa had never really thought about it before.

When he pictured finally succumbing to his condition, he figured it would probably be in a Hollow - he'd rather fight to his dying breath than wither away in some hospital bed - so obviously, he'd mutate into an Ethereal. His original plan was to ask Chief Miyabi to put an end to him. It would be fitting, in a way, and relatively safe for everyone around him. No one else would get hurt with Chief there.

But now... perhaps there was another option. If the White Star Institute really did manage to create a substance with the ability to instantly calm rampaging Ethereals, maybe he could continue existing as an Ethereal after all. It wouldn't be 'living', but he could still be of some use even after 'death'. It would be kind of like donating organs for research purposes if you thought about it, right?

And yet... he still couldn't forget the shadow of those long, painful days with needles in his spine and an IV pole looming above him, nor the memories of nights spent hooked up to an oxygen mask, struggling to breathe through his tears. Alone, except for Master, who had eventually abandoned him too. 

How much more alone would he be, when not even he could call himself human?

Harumasa's vision blurred and he sucked in a startled breath. And then a few more. He had been hyperventilating, he realised distantly. Luckily, he was far enough ahead that none of the others could notice. 

How fascinating - his internal self was in complete disarray, but all he could feel on the outside was the cool numbness of mist. His body continued to move towards the Hollow exit, devoid of pain or struggle. Was that what it would be like to exist as an Ethereal here too?

After all, that was what it felt like in his dreams.

Harumasa exhaled and decided that the Fissure ahead was a good enough reason to stop thinking about it for the day. He had at least a little longer to make a choice anyway.

The exit was in a different part of the Hollow, so Harumasa made sure to reconnoitre the area, falling back on muscle memory. Predictably, he didn't detect any threats.

"All clear," he informed Tsukishiro as the rest of the team caught up. 

"Good work today, everyone," the Deputy Chief said with a faint smile. "Let's finish up here for now."

Lark actually cheered a little at that. 

The Fissure was predicted to take them a few kilometres out from their entry point, despite them doing a lot more wandering around inside the Hollow. Although, come to think of it, that was probably on the milder end of the spatial distortions they'd seen today. 

Harumasa had graciously volunteered to let everyone go ahead and clock off for the day while he covered their exit with his long range capabilities. Not even Tsukishiro could argue with that logic. 

It meant that he was almost alone as planned when he stepped out of the Hollow and was immediately rammed by a wave of physical sensation. 

Harumasa doubled over involuntarily, almost losing his footing. The muscles in his arms and legs burned, and a throbbing headache took up residence at the base of his skull. His throat tasted metallic. The pressure around his chest returned, like chains sealing away his wings. It hurt to breathe. 

Having been blissfully freed of pain for around six hours, his body felt like a lead prison now.

A deceptively strong arm looped under both of Harumasa's, steadying him. 

"I sent the agents back to the pick-up point," Tsukishiro Yanagi said softly, leaning a good part of his weight on her. "It's just us."

Harumasa breathed in. And out. Then, with difficulty, he straightened up.

The look of concern and worry on Tsukishiro's face hit him almost as hard as returning to the reality of his fragile body. Harumasa looked away. He should be angry that she was treating him like a delicate child. Mostly, he just wanted to lean further into her warmth. It reminded him of Soukaku's hands on his knee, of Chief Miyabi's voice when she told him to let his team support him. It reminded him of home.

"How are you feeling, Harumasa?" Tsukishiro queried, still in that same soft voice. Something inside Harumasa cracked at the question. He couldn't let his team get any more attached to him. He may have been used to the bitterness of life, but they deserved sweeter things.

Harumasa hid his trembling hands in his pockets and gently disentangled himself from her grasp, trying to affect nonchalance. He distanced himself from the pain in his body, willing a smile on his face.

It was the open, honest grin of a carefree young man. His lips curved gently upwards and his eyes crinkled just the slightest bit. It was a smile he had spent hours upon hours practicing in the mirror, staring into his eyes until his own face seemed alien to him.

"I'm fine, Tsukishiro," Harumasa lied.

Chapter Text

Five days after their initial data-gathering venture into the Hygieia Companion Hollow, Yanagi received an urgent communication from the N.E.P.S Criminal Investigation Special Response Team.

Yanagi hummed contemplatively. The Hollow Affairs Department of Public Security was the most involved in Hollow operations, and thus was a pretty common associate of H.S.O. But the Criminal Investigation teams typically patrolled within the city, looking out for civilian affairs and street crime. Which then begged the question: what business did the recently-promoted Captain Zhu Yuan have with Section Six?

She read the missive and her eyebrows rose involuntarily. Well... that was not good. Presumably, most of the information the Captain was referring to was far too sensitive to discuss over email. Yanagi would have to schedule a meeting. She'd also have to collect information from some contacts on very short notice - first verify, then proceed. It was a good thing that Yanagi didn't have any shifts at the Hollow scheduled at the moment.

"Is something wrong, Yanagi?" Miyabi's calm voice interrupted Yanagi's rapid-fire typing on her laptop.

"Hmm? Oh, just a lead on something, Chief," Yanagi replied, most of her attention still on the computer.

"Is it the Hygieia Hollow case?"

"Yes. Public Security's Special Response Team Captain contacted me about a potential lead. Supposedly, they have an ongoing drug case that registered a match with some keywords from our investigation."

"Special Response? Do you mean Zhu Yuan?" Miyabi's ears sat up straight.

"You know her, Chief?"

That was Harumasa from his side of the office. Yanagi had genuinely thought he was asleep until that very moment. His face no longer held the ghostly pallor that it had once they'd exited the Hollow five days ago, but the dark circles under his eyes made him look tired anyway.

They also made him vaguely resemble a raccoon, but saying that aloud would definitely provoke some dramatics.

Harumasa slid his legs off his desk, apparently giving Miyabi his full attention.

"Zhu Yuan was a classmate of mine. We meet for lunch sometimes. She is a good person," Miyabi answered seriously, although whether that really counted as an explanation was debatable.

Yanagi already knew this information of course - and a fair sight more - from some previous digging into Zhu Yuan, but she nodded along anyway. Miyabi seemed to think this was satisfactory and returned to absently doodling on her paperwork with an air of finality. This was why Yanagi only gave her copies to work on.

"... Right," Harumasa said, dragging his hand down his face in mild exasperation. "Thanks, Chief. So, there are drugs involved now, Tsukishiro? Does it have to do with the mist?"

He turned piercing yellow eyes on her. There was something unreadable in his gaze, something that reminded her of the way he'd talked about volunteering for experiments. Yanagi had a horrible feeling of foreboding in the pit of her stomach.

"I... I'm afraid I don't know yet," she said. "I'm scheduling a meeting to find out."

"Mind if I tag along too? I promise I'll behave myself this time~"

The words were said casually, with a roguish smile, but there was a marksman's intent there. Harumasa was definitely hiding something, but his reasons were as frustratingly abstruse as the rest of him.

Yanagi was beginning to realise that it was a bad sign when Harumasa was interested in extra work, but she didn't have any logical reason for excluding him from the meeting.

"Have you finished your mission reports?" Yanagi asked, affecting sternness.

Harumasa's grin widened enough to accommodate a quick flash of prominent canines. "All done, Deputy Chief~ As a matter of fact, I finished all my work last night. How's that for efficiency, hmm?"

"You really shouldn't stay up so late, even to do paperwork."

Entirely unintentionally, Yanagi found herself gently scolding him. What was she doing? He was a work colleague, not Soukaku. Well, technically, Soukaku was a work colleague now too...

A look of frustration soured Harumasa's expression for a split second before the smile returned in full force.

"Ah, that's a bit hypocritical don't you think? I was just emulating your inspirational example, Tsukishiro! Although... if you don't like it, I can always submit my work late from now on~"

Yanagi sighed, hearing Harumasa's poorly-concealed snicker as she did so.

"Fine, I'll add you on to the meeting, Asaba," Yanagi conceded. "And good work on getting everything done. Your efficiency is admirable."

She wasn't being sarcastic with her praise, although, perhaps sarcasm was expected after Harumasa deliberately tried to wind her up. He certainly seemed taken aback by the genuine compliment.

"Wha– ambush attacks aren't fair, Tsukishiro!"

"Oh? Strange words from an archer specialising in covert operations."

"Hey..."

Yanagi turned back to her laptop, a faint smile on her face. Harumasa's eyes looked just a little brighter now.

Yanagi and Harumasa walked slowly back through the near-deserted H.A.N.D HQ parking lot, accompanied only by the flicker of street lights turning on to combat the gathering dusk. Despite running quite late, the meeting between Section Six and the Criminal Investigation Special Response Team had gone surprisingly well. Yanagi brought herself and Harumasa, and Captain Zhu Yuan was accompanied by her second in command, Officer Qingyi.

Zhu Yuan was professional and obviously willing to cooperate, a refreshing change from the attitude H.A.N.D operatives sometimes received from Public Security. She seemed to genuinely care about the victims of the case, jumping on Yanagi's idea of sharing resources and information in the hopes of dealing with both their situations.

Yanagi could see why Miyabi liked her; she really was a good person. Yanagi could see herself forming an excellent working relationship with the Captain.

Unfortunately, the news they received about the drug case wasn't nearly so pleasant.

Three weeks ago, the Criminal Investigation department had made a drug bust, arresting two dealers and seizing a large quantity of drugs from a disused shipping container in Port Elpis. One of the products was a new street drug called "Incense", which had been making the rounds through several low-income neighbourhoods. It supposedly had long-lasting euphoric effects and was very effective in numbing physical pain.

A woman - thirty five, single, residing with her parents - had once called it a 'miracle cure' for her severe osteoarthritis. She now lay in a medically induced coma in a hospital, unable to even breathe without assistance.

She was among the more fortunate victims.

Another user - twenty three, male, red eyes - had been caught up in a Hollow by accident and instantly mutated into an Ethereal in front of his partner's eyes. It took three Public Security officers to neutralise him, but they couldn't respond fast enough; his partner would never walk again. The man had been perfectly healthy beforehand, aside from his recreational drug use.

There were almost thirty known victims of the drug in total, and not even a third of them could still be called 'alive'.

The Special Response Team had recently gotten some information out of one of the dealers, which was how they discovered that the active compound in Incense was derived from something the White Star Institute had dubbed 'Corrupted Resin'... better known to Yanagi as the inexplicable golden stones they'd encountered within Hygieia. Current research suggested that they were actually a special variety of Etheric matter. It was also hypothesised that they were the source of the mist that enveloped the Hollow.

In the chaos of the Hollow suddenly expanding, Yanagi could concede the possibility of Hollow Raiders or even curious H.I.A investigators coming into contact with a material resembling a semi-precious gemstone and selling it for a bit of profit. However, this drug bust had been almost a month ago.

Apparently, Hygieia Hollow's containment seal wasn't as airtight as they'd all assumed.

Her primary suspect, of course, was their missing H.I.A investigator - Lyell Finch. Harumasa had obtained further proof of his connection to the Hollow during their initial reconnaissance mission, but they lacked decisive proof to link him to either the Ether fluctuations or the drug case. That was still conjecture, and Tsukishiro Yanagi did not act off mere conjecture. Strictly speaking, the man could even have been caught off guard in the Hollow and killed in an obscure location. There were far too many unknowns yet.

"Denny for your thoughts, Tsukishiro?" Harumasa's tone was light, but his expression was serious.

He'd been getting along fairly well with Captain Zhu Yuan and Officer Qingyi earlier, but lapsed into an uncharacteristic sullen silence after the meeting dispersed that had lasted all the way back to Headquarters - no complaints, no sarcastic remarks, no whining about overtime. It was slightly unnerving. Yanagi had been using the time to ponder their potential next moves, but she had no idea what was going through Harumasa's mind.

"Just planning our next steps," she answered slowly. "We need to investigate this drug case, that missing investigator, and those Ether fluctuations you mentioned... It's a lot of ground to cover, even for us, especially while dealing with the Hollow disaster."

Yanagi could already feel the logistical headaches that were about to arise from this.

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to pull my weight this time."

"I'd appreciate that," Yanagi said with a frown. "But don't overdo it."

She looked over at her colleague once again and found him staring into the middle distance, brow furrowed. Something was distracting him again, though there was nothing of note around them besides the facial scanner for their office space.

"What are you thinking about, Asaba?" Yanagi decided to try probing gently, hoping that he might open up. "You've been awfully quiet. Is something the matter?"

At first, the words didn't even seem to register with Harumasa. Yanagi called his name again, this time with more outright concern.

The change from his previous lifeless expression to a wide grin was truly jarring.

"Sorry, sorry, Deputy Chief! Didn't mean to ignore you. I was just thinking... this counts as overtime, right~?"

Yanagi despaired internally. He was deflecting again, expecting her to believe that nothing was wrong just because he said it with a perfect smile - like that day at the Hollow exit, when he'd clearly been in pain but wouldn't admit it to her verbally even for a second.

Why did he trust her to defend his back in a life-and-death situation, but not to show him care or concern? Why did he mix lies with truth until they were all but indistinguishable? Had he ever shown them anything more than a sterilised façade of his real self? There were so many frustrating things she didn't understand about Asaba Harumasa.

Perhaps some of her thoughts showed on her face, because Harumasa's face softened into a familiar gentle smile.

"You don't have to worry about me, Tsukishiro," he said, sincerity clear in his voice. "I won't do anything reckless. No one values myself more than I do after all."

The worst part was that Yanagi almost believed the lie.

It was eleven p.m on a Saturday and Yanagi rubbed at tired eyes, preparing to pack up for the night. No one was waiting up for her at home. Soukaku had been out for dinner at Waterfall Noodles and had proudly reported that she'd brushed her teeth and tucked herself into bed at ten o'clock sharp.

Yanagi normally tried to avoid working weekends when given the opportunity, but they'd had a large influx of intelligence lately and someone had to collate and corroborate it all. She'd come in for an afternoon of work and ended up staying much later than planned. Although... she couldn't bring herself to complain since it was all miraculously related to their current case.

Transport manifests for the seized drugs, ownership records for the shipping container, background checks on the dealers in custody and a half dozen of their associates, and eyewitness accounts of residents from the areas hit by Incense were stacked high on one corner of Yanagi's desk, already checked over and ready to be filed away. The detailed survey data and Etheric waveform readings from Hygieia Hollow lay in a separate pile, ensconced in their own folder.

Yanagi stretched, allowing herself to bask in the sense of satisfaction of a job well done. She'd file the documents in the ongoing case folders, call it a day, and treat herself to some of the frozen red bean buns at home.

The door to the office suddenly slid open and Yanagi caught a flash of yellow and white as Harumasa slipped inside, a manila folder in hand, whistling an unintelligible tune under his breath. He froze when he spotted her rising from her desk.

"Evening, Tsukishiro," he said casually, as if this was a perfectly normal situation. It was not. Seeing Harumasa in the H.A.N.D building after hours on a Saturday was like finding an uneaten slice of melon on Chief Miyabi's desk.

Seeing Harumasa with his shirt faintly streaked with dirt, jacket tossed over one shoulder, and slightly battered black sports bandages wrapping his knuckles was even more improbable.

Before Yanagi could ask any of the dozen questions forming in her thoughts, Harumasa began rambling.

"Figures you'd be here, Deputy Chief! I can't believe you even work on weekends. You really should relax more if you don't want to be grey before thirty," he said in an upbeat tone of voice. "Though, while you're here - I just happened to be in Lumina Square and felt like being a responsible member of Section Six, so I dropped by the N.E.P.S precinct to collect the mass spectrometry results for that street drug. Aren't I a model employee? Here, catch~"

He made as if to toss the documents in his hand to her like a frisbee, and Yanagi was instantly out from behind her desk.

"Don't even think about it," she said sternly, firmly taking the file from his unresisting grip and holding it securely. Harumasa ducked around her with a grin, beelining towards his desk - likely his original destination.

As Harumasa rummaged through his desk drawers, Yanagi turned her attention towards the dossier in her hand. To her surprise, it contained not just N.E.P.S's mass spectrometry data for Incense, but also similar tests on the Corrupted Resin and vegetation from Hygieia, and an accompanying comparative analysis. There was even a gas chromatography report on the Hollow's ubiquitous mist - all on official H.I.A paperwork.

Yanagi looked over at Harumasa, who was now perched on the edge of the workstation, drinking something out of a well-worn flask that smelled exceptionally bitter to her keen senses. Specialist coffee, perhaps?

"There is quite a bit more than just a mass spectrometry report here," Yanagi said. It was probably a pointless statement. It would be unlike Harumasa to simply play courier for unknown documents.

Harumasa waved a hand dismissively. "I noticed. Perhaps Captain Zhu Yuan wanted to make a good impression on you. Either way, isn't more information a good thing?" He put his flask back in his desk, apparently finished with it.

If she could verify its sources, then yes, it was. A quick inquiry to Zhu Yuan in the morning would solve that issue.

Out loud, Yanagi simply said, "Of course it is. Thank you for your hard work in bringing this over."

"Aww, you'll make me blush, Deputy Chief! It was no big deal," Harumasa said, and then yawned widely a second later. Yanagi noticed that the shadows under his eyes had only become deeper with time, more visible past the concealer he used.

"Well, it's way past my bedtime, so I should get going. Don't stay up too late now, Tsukishiro~"

As he spoke, Harumasa shrugged on the other sleeve of his jacket, carefully navigating past Yanagi on his way back out the door. Belatedly, she registered the rusty smears staining the top of his white shirt collar.

"Asaba, wait–!" she called out, but he had gotten far enough to round the corner and either didn't hear her or deliberately didn't respond.

Yanagi contemplated the merits of chasing after him, but eventually, reason prevailed. It was late and he could easily use that as an excuse to slip away again. And anyway, he was less likely to give her a genuine explanation outside of the office than inside. She'd have to wait for a better opportunity.

Yanagi sighed and resumed the task of filling away her work. The dossier of laboratory results alone went into her bag for careful perusal at home tomorrow. Contrary to her colleagues' assumptions, she did know what a work-life balance was.

She switched the lights off as she left, casting the office in darkness once more.

The trip back home was thankfully uneventful. Yanagi stopped at the local 141 Convenience Store to buy a microwave meal for herself, but otherwise proceeded straight to her destination. It was cold out, and being back in the warmth of her house felt heavenly. The shower felt almost like a transcendent experience; hot water carrying away the tension in her shoulders.

The fresh red bean buns waiting on the table were the perfect end to the day, and the... inventive spelling on Soukaku's note provoked a wry smile from her.

Bedtime routine complete, Yanagi headed to her room to check up on Soukaku. Her little oni warrior was a huddle of blue under the blankets, mouth wide open and drooling on a pillow with wild abandon.

Soukaku technically had her own bed, but it was primarily used to house a variety of stuffed toys, (non-perishable) snacks, and weapons once it was clear that she would migrate to Yanagi's room at some point in the night anyway. Oni might have a preference for resting in groups, Yanagi theorised; though this felt like a rude thing to confirm with the other members of the oni tribe for the sake of satiating her curiosity.

On slipping under the blankets, Yanagi was immediately ensnared by warm limbs. She could swear that Soukaku turned into a heat-detecting octopus in her sleep - though whether this was just a personal habit or more instincts was still unclear. Whichever the case, she made for an amazing hot water bottle. Yanagi gave the mass of tousled white hair to her left a quick, affectionate ruffle.

Even being as tired as she was, her mind was still not quite powered off. Thoughts of the drug case and Hygieia Hollow drifted through her mind like the lazy current of a stream. Perhaps she could send off that email to Captain Zhu Yuan now, so that it would potentially receive an answer by morning? Typing up the email on her phone didn't take long, and thankfully, Yanagi's eyelids were satisfyingly heavy by the time she hit 'send'. Her brain had finally gotten the memo too, it seemed.

Just as she was relaxing into the soothing darkness of sleep, her phone vibrated with a notification. Yanagi fumbled for it, drowsiness weighing down her limbs and mind.

It was Zhu Yuan. Apparently Yanagi wasn't the only one working late hours.

"Dear Tsukishiro Yanagi," the message read.

"Good evening. I am glad to hear the report reached you in a timely manner. We have also received the comparative analysis your team sourced from the H.I.A. Thank you for your assistance on this case and may our cooperation continue to bear fruit–"

The rest of the email was the standardised N.E.P.S platitudes and sign off, but something wasn't quite right about what she'd just read. It took her sleep-addled mind two more attempts to understand what was bothering her. Yanagi had never requested a comparative analysis from the H.I.A, much less sent one over to N.E.P.S.

Suddenly, she was wide awake again.

Chapter Text

Inhale.

Hold.

Exhale.

Release.

He made the shot, arrow flying true to collide with a stray Alpeca. The electrical discharge downed the Ethereal before it could spit a second time, and one of the H.I.A investigators finished it off with a shield slam to the head.

Harumasa surveyed the battlefield with sharp eyes, before relaxing and sheathing his bow when he couldn't see any more Ethereals.

"All clear!" he called out. "Take five."

The other two agents cheered. This pair were rookies, relatively speaking, but they'd been doing a pretty good job so far. Their stamina could probably use some work though - their legs were visibly trembling, even if they couldn't feel it just yet.

The navigator Bangboo flopped onto the grass and began making snow angels... or the Etheric matter version of it anyway.

While they rested, Harumasa located their anti-tamper bags and carefully slipped two relatively intact pieces of Corrupted Resin into one, tagging it with a site number. Today's mission was primarily material collection, with the secondary task of destroying any Ethereals that were attracted by the process.

They'd already been to seventeen locations prior to this one, but Harumasa still hadn't felt a trace of fatigue besides the occasional dizzy spell or spotty vision. Those were no big deal though - he could hit a target with his eyes closed. Harumasa was loath to admit it, but the mist in the Hollow had so many benefits in comparison to its easily monitored risks. He could see why TOPS wanted to keep Hygieia Hollow around.

Using it to create experimental drugs for testing on innocent people though... that was unforgivable.

Not that he had any proof of that; it was all circumstantial evidence, past experience, and a hunch. It could easily be argued that Harumasa was falling prey to his existing biases. And even if they did manage to confirm anything, the bigger fish would likely sacrifice the small fry and slip the net. That was the way this world worked, after all.

Harumasa took a slow, measured breath, pushing down the frustration and anger bubbling up to the surface.  Getting the drug off the streets was his number one priority at the moment. Anything beyond that could wait a little while. In the worst case scenario, he could always convince Chief to "accidentally" destroy the Hollow during cleanup.

The sound of crystallised Ether crumbling drew Harumasa's attention. Ah. The H.I.A investigators - Maya Adler and Amano Hayato - appeared to have deemed their break sufficient. They scurried over, enthusiasm undimmed.

"Sir!" said Amano with a smart salute, "Where are we headed next?"

Harumasa offered him a lazy grin. "What did I say about calling me that? Just Asaba is fine. As for work... we just need to photograph the Corrupted Resin formation and then we're done for the day. What a relief, eh?"

"Right, sorry Sir– I mean, Asaba," Amano stuttered.

"I've got the field camera and photo scale markers right here," Adler asserted helpfully. She was the go-getter of the two, though Amano wasn't shy either.

Harumasa stepped back, gesturing at them to have at it. They could also use more experience with general Hollow Exploration work. Training courses didn't beat real world experience.

Over the course of the past week or so of exploration, Harumasa had noted that Corrupted Resin tended to form in loops, spiralling out from a single nexus; the structure looked quite similar to some rock garden designs. Adler took a while to carefully position the camera and fiddle with the settings, but the photographs were clear and professional. In another life, perhaps she could have had a career in fine arts.

"Good work you two," Harumasa said, resisting the urge to pat them over the head like he would Soukaku.

Then he considered that life was too short to miss out on little joys and did it anyway. Their bewildered expressions were hilarious.

"Right, Bangboo, please navigate us to the Hollow exit," Harumasa said, clinging to his straight face for dear life. The Bangboo rolled upright, colourful Ether dust streaming off its rotund body like a diaphanous cape, and pointed them south.

The Fissure leading out of the Hollow wasn't too far off this time. It was located in the bole of a tree, which looked strange, but apparently wasn't all that unusual for this Hollow.

"Don't forget to do your cooldown stretches," Harumasa reminded his team, demonstrating on himself. It had actually been added to the official exit procedures for Hygieia because it was surprisingly effective at mitigating the muscle cramps that immediately plagued returnees. Of course, it didn't help Harumasa much, but it would at least spare the rookies some suffering. As usual, he let the agents go on ahead first and then braced himself for his own exit.

He still almost bit through his lip when he stepped back into the outside world.

His chest flared with pain so sharp that his vision went entirely dark. For a second, Harumasa was convinced that this time, his body really would give up on him. But his mind refused to falter. He held himself upright by sheer force of will, locking his knees so he didn't fall. This was nothing new. Just an ordinary day.

With every breath, the darkness receded. The fire between his ribs dimmed to a manageable level. The golden glow of the sunset warmed his numb fingertips.

The H.I.A investigators were sat on the ground, groaning. Apparently their overworked leg muscles had finally caught up to them.

"Ugh. Every bit of me is sore," Adler gritted out, vigorously massaging her calves.

Amano wasn't doing much better. "How does it feel like this after just four hours?" he asked with a distinct whine to his voice. "Sir Asaba had two back-to-back shifts in there and he looks fine!"

Harumasa slid a hand down his face in feigned exasperation. Mostly, it was to wipe the cold sweat off his face before they noticed.

"For the last time, I am not a knight, Amano," he said dryly. "And you'll get better with practice. This Hollow is much more dangerous than it seems. You should both be proud of yourselves."

He felt a little cheesy saying that, but by the way both agents sat up a little straighter, it was the right call. That didn't mean they managed to actually get to their feet any faster though. It took fifteen or so minutes before they managed to get out of the deserted backyard that they'd landed in.

It was a stroke of luck that their transport had already arrived, because the fatigue of spending eight hours in a Hollow was starting to set in too. His arm and back muscles were incredibly sore. The random bouts of dizziness had returned with a vengeance, making balance a struggle. Harumasa flexed his hands and felt a warm wetness slide under his gloves - he must have accidentally torn open some of the scabs there. It was probably a good thing that he didn't have any shifts at the Hollow tomorrow.

The transport truck was also their dropoff point, so Harumasa gave his team a little instruction in how to submit their evidence, and then got to sit back and watch them do the paperwork for him while they drove back to Lumina Square. Babysitting rookies did have its perks once in a while.

"Thank you for the good work again." The Defence Force soldier who was acting as their point of contact spoke suddenly. Harumasa turned to look at him in curiosity. Ah, he was the one from their first day on the research site.

"Just doing my job. And my team was a great help, of course," Harumasa answered breezily. "How's the research back at base going?"

"The researchers are working on a strategy to allow Lady Hoshimi Miyabi to deploy more effectively," the man said without hesitation. "The material your team collected today will greatly expedite that process. Ah, though I'm sure you're already aware of that, Sir."

"Mmh. Thank you anyway." Harumasa gave the soldier a polite nod and received one back before returning to his thoughts.

It made sense. Chief Miyabi possessed unparalleled destructive force, but the Ethereals in Hygieia tended to be spread out widely across large areas, effectively inhibiting her ability to clear them out quickly. Judging by the way Ethereals appeared to cluster around formations of Corrupted Resin, the researchers were likely aiming to use a large quantity of it to bait them into a trap so that Chief could finish them off in one blow.

That was one of Tsukishiro's theories of course, but it was good to have it confirmed. He'd have to tell her... as soon as he stopped avoiding her and whatever questions she had about the previous night. Perhaps an email would do? But no, he was needed in the office tomorrow morning for another meeting with PubSec about the Incense drug case. He could update her then and with any luck, she'd probably be too busy to ask any follow-up questions.

The sun was not even a memory in the sky by the time they finally pulled up near the H.I.A building in Lumina Square. It was convenient for both investigators, and Harumasa's own apartment wasn't terribly far by metro either. He'd taken his leave of the other agents with as much bravado as he could muster, but the train ride quickly sapped any energy he had left. Every bump and sway seemed to jostle something in his chest and Harumasa dissolved into more than one noisy coughing fit during the journey.

Luckily, it was past the office rush, and he'd found a carriage that was empty, save for two other people who looked as tired as he did, but didn't voice any complaints. It sparked a quiet sense of solidarity in Harumasa; perhaps one weary soul recognised another. Unfortunately, his fellow travellers abandoned him a few stops before his own.

The station closest to Harumasa's apartment was actually several blocks away, which usually wasn't much of an issue. In his current condition, it seemed like several light years away. Every step felt like walking through wet tar - he was pretty sure he was dragging his feet. His vision faded in and out with what would be alarming frequency if he had the energy to worry about it.

About halfway there, he had to stop and rest again a street lamp as another coughing fit overtook him and blood spattered across his gloves. Harumasa stared at the fresh stain for a long moment. Medication. Right. He needed to take that. He straightened up and kept going, one step at a time.

Through some miracle, he reached his apartment, located his keys, and unlocked the door. The cold, dark interior of the building greeted him like the yawning maw of a massive Ethereal. Harumasa shivered a little and shut the door behind him.

From that point onwards, Harumasa's memory was... unreliable. He remembered going to the kitchen for a glass of water to take his night prescription with, and almost tripping over the automatic cat feeder. He did not remember locking his front door.

He remembered standing under a cold shower, willing the frigid water to clear his head. He did not remember undressing.

... He recalled staring blankly at the fractures running through the mirror on his bedroom wall, before remembering that he had accidentally broken it on waking up from a horrifyingly realistic dream two days ago. He'd carefully bound the glass cuts on his knuckles with dark bandages and then used them to punch a violent drug dealer later that evening in search of answers.

Harumasa remembered falling into bed, the mattress and sheets a comforting weight against his skin. He dreamt of turning into a placid Ethereal again, silent and cooperative even as researchers in white coats surrounded him and took him apart to study, piece by piece. Mercifully, that was one of the things he did not remember.

A loud, incessant buzzing from a long way below him dragged Harumasa back to bleak consciousness. He groaned, blindly fumbling around until he managed to grab his phone. What was it doing on the floor? He switched on the screen and winced as the bright light seemed to pierce through his skull.

He could barely make out the caller ID through his oddly foggy vision: it was Tsukishiro. She didn't often call unless it was important.

"Hello? Asaba? Where are you?" Tsukishiro's clear voice rang out, entirely out of place in his gloomy bedroom.

"Good morning, Tsukishiro... " Harumasa responded blearily. Somehow, the words didn't sound quite right.

There was a long pause on the other end of the line.

"It's one p.m. Are you all right, Asaba?

One p.m? As in, after noon? He'd missed the meeting.

Guilt dropped like a weight into the pit of his stomach and successfully woke him up. Harumasa rolled to his feet, waiting the requisite time for some dizziness to recede.

"Asaba?"

Oh right, she was still on the phone.

"I'm so sorry, Deputy Chief," he said seriously. "I didn't mean to miss the meeting, I swear. Was it cancelled? Could we reschedule?"

Luckily, Tsukishiro Yanagi was as reliable as ever.

"I've already rescheduled it for tomorrow evening. Never mind that, Asaba, are you okay?"

Harumasa was briefly distracted by a twinge from his chest. That's what he got for apparently sleeping in his full uniform, chest guard and all - not that he remembered doing it. He also didn't know why his clothes felt damp.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm on my way in now. Be there in twenty."

She said something else, but Harumasa accidentally hung up in the middle of it, hunting for his medication while simultaneously trying to switch out his shirt for something new, uncreased, and ideally dry. Seriously, why was this room so dark? He should really look into getting new light bulbs.

Almost exactly twenty minutes later, Harumasa was in front of H.A.N.D Headquarters, whistling a jaunty tune. The ride over had been a blur in more ways than one, passing far quicker than his normal commute. It was a pity he couldn't seem to recall which metro he'd taken, but he'd leave that mystery for Future-Harumasa to solve. Maybe that same line could get him back home later.

The ID scanner beeped judgmentally at him as he clocked in, and Harumasa made a face at it. Even non-sentient technology was judging him these days.

"Afternoon, everyone! Sorry I'm late~" he called as he walked into the office, a spring in his step.

'Everyone' consisted of the Deputy Chief, who was working away at her desk as per usual. It figured; the others were all the outdoors type and didn't necessarily enjoy being cooped up in the office. Not to mention, Chief Miyabi was scheduled to be away at the moment anyway, clearing out more Ethereals.

Tsukishiro looked up sharply at his greeting and her expression did... something. She promptly stood up. Harumasa winced internally. There was murder in her eyes.

"Aww, did you miss me that much, Tsukishiro?" he said on habit, and then cursed himself. Provoking her now would probably get him a worse scolding.

"Asaba, what are you doing here?" she demanded. "Didn't I tell you to stay home?"

Panic gripped Harumasa's ribcage in a crushing vise. Was she firing him over missing one meeting? Sure, it was an important meeting that Harumasa was also kicking himself over missing, but wasn't this an overreaction? ...Wait no, only Chief Miyabi could fire him. That probably hadn't been what she'd meant then.

Icy fingers brushed his forehead and Harumasa jerked in surprise. When had Tsukishiro got that close?

"Ouch Tsukishiro, watch it!" he complained with a shudder. "Has all that work been giving you circulatory issues? Maybe you should get some heat packs - your hands are freezing."

Tsukishiro sighed. "My hands aren't cold, Asaba, you're just running a fever."

The 'you idiot' went unspoken for the sake of professionalism, of course.

Wait, a fever? Harumasa patted his own forehead. It felt no different than usual.

"Me? No, see? I'm fine! Your hands are just freakishly cold - don't blame that on me," Harumasa shot back.

Tsukishiro sighed louder.

At that point, Soukaku burst into the room, hands full of colourful snack packaging. "Look Nagi! The nice officers gave me all this stuff – oh, hello Harumasa!"

"Hello, little Soukaku~"

Soukaku frowned at him, her small face scrunched up.

"You smell... not good," she said bluntly. "Like that bird I found on the sidewalk!"

Harumasa raised his eyebrows at her. Wow, that was rude. Sure, he hadn't had much time to wash up, but his clothes were clean and everything.

"Soukaku, please be more careful with your words next time," Yanagi gently chided her... sister? Child? Harumasa didn't have the best idea of what normal family dynamics were like, but even he knew those two weren't remotely close to it. "Why don't we all sit on the couch and discuss this?"

Somehow, Harumasa found himself manhandled onto the break room couch, sandwiched between Tsukishiro and Soukaku.

"Do you remember what I told you about that bird, Soukaku?" Tsukishiro asked over Harumasa's head, completely ignoring him apparently.

"Hmm... Nagi said... Oh, I remember! You said it hurt its wing and couldn't fly, so we needed to take it to a vet to be treated and re-habi-lated? And you said I wasn't allowed to eat it."

"Rehabilitated," Tsukishiro corrected, apparently ignoring that last mildly concerning sentence. How old was Soukaku anyway?

"Yes! That word," Soukaku exclaimed. "Do you mean... we need to take Harumasamasa to the vet to be re-hab-ilita-ted?"

"Wha– excuse me?!" Harumasa interjected indignantly. He was still a human, okay?

Even if that was temporary.

"Not the vet, Soukaku. People are treated by doctors," Tsukishiro answered patiently, completely ignoring his outburst. "But what I was getting at is that Harumasa is sick, like that little bird, so he might smell different to you. Oni have sharper senses than humans, similar to Thirens."

That last part appeared to be clarification for Harumasa's benefit, which he appreciated. Although he still wasn't sure whether that meant he smelled bad or not.

Soukaku, meanwhile, looked like she'd been told that hotpot had been banned in every single restaurant in the city.

"Harumasa's sick?!" she screeched at an earsplitting volume. Harumasa flinched, the blurriness in his vision spiking briefly. "No no no, that's bad! Nagi says that if you're sick, you have to tell someone and rest in bed and drink lots of water and soup. Here, you have to lie down."

The oni girl jumped up energetically and began tugging at Harumasa's sleeves insistently enough that he nearly toppled over straight away.

"Hey, stop that!" he protested, looking at Tsukishiro for help. The faint smirk on her face as she did absolutely nothing only confirmed to Harumasa that she had orchestrated this whole plot.

"Ok, please calm down. I'm lying down now!" Sensing defeat, Harumasa decided to go out on his own terms. He flopped back on the couch, arms folded petulantly.

Soukaku cheered. "I'll go get a blanket!"

She dashed off, leaving Harumasa alone with Tsukishiro. Perfect, a situation that he absolutely wanted to avoid.

"Deputy Chief, if you tell Soukaku you sent me home, I can sneak out of here and come back as soon as she's gone. We've got a lot of work to do, remember? I can do some of your paperwork for you as compensation of course," Harumasa tried, wearing a smile that hopefully conveyed an innocent desire to do - ugh - paperwork. He kept a firm lid on the restlessness that boiled under his skin at the thought of resting while people's lives were at risk.

Unfortunately, his attempt appeared to have backfired. Tsukishiro's expression hardened, no mercy to be found anywhere.

"First of all," she said in an ominously calm voice. "I will not be helping you to escape Soukaku. Secondly, I know more than you think, so consider this a mandated break."

Harumasa looked at her in genuine confusion. His lungs chose that time to complain about their recent mistreatment and he was overcome by an intense coughing spell. He'd already taken his dose of medication for the afternoon, so there was nothing to do but wait it out.

Eventually, the fit subsided, and Harumasa was left feeling too tired and wrung out to even open his eyes. The manic burst of adrenaline he'd been running on since waking up seemed to have faded like a dream, and now he felt every ache in his body - from the hastily patched up injuries on his knuckles, to the muscle strain in his arms from drawing his bow, to the day-old bruise on his side where yet another potential suspect had gotten a good hit in.

If he were in the Hollow, nothing would hurt like this. If –

Harumasa clamped down on that thought far too slowly. Like a butterfly trapped in a glass jar, he could still see it fluttering tantalisingly within its prison. No matter how desperately he wanted it to be free... wait, the butterfly wasn't a good thing in this metaphor. He wanted it to cease existing. He wanted... he didn't know what he wanted anymore. This case was wreaking havoc on his mind.

He dragged his eyes open somehow, searching for an escape from his thoughts. Tsukishiro's face hovered a ways above his own, expressing something that could have been concern, pity, or even anger. It didn't really matter which.

Those feelings were better handed to some other person, one who could enjoy the warmth of being important to someone else. Harumasa always ended up being burned instead. 

Wasn't it messed up to want to subject himself to more painful experiences anyway?

"— messaged me, thanking me for the documents I supposedly sent over." Tsukishiro was talking. Harumasa focused on her voice with some difficulty. 

"And the Hygieia research camp called to ask me if the results you'd requested had proved useful. They had a lot of positive things to say about your help with extra shifts over the past few days."

Harumasa tried to parse the meaning of her words through the haze in his mind. Oh. She did actually know quite a lot. Well, he hadn't expected to hide it from the Deputy Chief forever anyway.

Tsukishiro sighed at whatever she could read on his face, but her tone softened just a little. 

"We'll talk about this later. In the meantime, get some rest."

"... Fine. But I had something to tell you... about the Ethereal extermination plan–"

"It can wait," said Tsukishiro firmly. "Tell me once you wake up. I need to go check on where Soukaku's disappeared to anyway."

Harumasa's eyes had drifted shut again at some point, but he heard her heels click away into the distance, pointedly putting an end to the conversation. 

Well, that was Tsukishiro for you - all ruthless efficiency... and a soft heart underneath. If he wasn't safe in this office, then nowhere was safe. He relaxed and let sleep claim his consciousness.

Yanagi walked over to the kitchenette to get herself a cup of tea in the hopes of staving off her fatigue. The long nights were apparently catching up with her too. She made a mental note to be in bed earlier tonight.

From the sofa behind her, Harumasa made a faint noise of distress and Yanagi looked over in concern. Soukaku had returned eventually with five blankets and a bag of bitter melon candy. Yanagi had bargained her down to the single sky blue blanket that now cocooned Harumasa - supposedly the fluffiest of them all. The rest lay neatly folded over the far end of the couch in case of an 'emergency'. The candies were left on his desk.

Harumasa was frowning deeply in his sleep, brow creased in discomfort. Yanagi checked his forehead with a gentle touch. Still far too warm, she decided, turning back to the sink and counter to make him a cold compress. He shifted restlessly as she withdrew her hand.

By the time she had successfully located an appropriate hand towel, Harumasa had displaced himself even further and was lying almost face down in the sofa cushions. One of his hands had escaped the blanket and dangled off the edge of the couch. That... didn't look particularly comfortable.

Yanagi set aside the damp towel and hesitated before gently gripping Harumasa's shoulder. He didn't stir in the slightest as she manoeuvred him back to a position that was less likely to give him neck pain on waking up.

Yanagi was about to tuck her colleague's hand back under the blanket when something near his glove bumped loosely into her own wrist. She frowned, surprised. A quick check turned up a smooth, metal bracelet and tag, oddly reminiscent of... The realisation hit Yanagi like the sting of an electric current.

It was a medical ID bracelet, often worn by people with chronic illnesses as a way to alert emergency workers to medically significant conditions. The tag faced away from her, but she could trace the ridges of the engraving under her gloved fingertips.

Tsukishiro Yanagi had an almost insatiable hunger for knowledge; whether it was mathematic or literature, whether learned from books or observation - she would devour it all. Unravelling mysteries was almost a casual hobby to her. It was a large part of what made her an excellent Intelligence Officer. Her curiosity was a vice that she had tempered into a virtue.

Yanagi looked at Harumasa's unguarded sleeping form for a long moment, time stretching out as if she'd activated Timeweaver. Then, with infinite care, she smoothed his glove back over the bracelet and tucked the blanket back over it, out of sight of prying eyes. She fetched the cold compress and finally managed to apply it to Harumasa's forehead.

His face relaxed infinitesimally.

Harumasa was undoubtedly a mystery that frequently drove Yanagi to frustration and the occasional sleepless night - but he was also a treasured colleague and friend. Some things were more important than mere curiosity.

Yanagi breathed a sigh and got back to work, tea entirely forgotten.

Chapter Text

Harumasa woke up feeling... well, not great, but significantly less awful at least. His chest still ached with dull pain and his mouth felt bone dry, but at least his vision and mind were clear enough.

He swiftly scanned his surroundings: he was laid out on a couch with light teal cushions, directly opposite a kitchenette with a small array of mugs on the counter. A mix of warm and cold lights glowed comfortingly overhead. It was a familiar environment, aside from the pleasantly soft blue blanket that was tucked around him.

Harumasa moved to sit up and a warm, slightly sticky towel slid off his forehead. Grimacing at the soreness in his upper arms, he pitched the stray cloth into the sink and swung his feet down onto the floor.

The main office space seemed to be deserted, lights set to dim mode. Harumasa checked his phone in a mild panic and was relieved when he saw 19:06 blinking up at him. It was late, but at least it wasn't midnight or something worse. The single mug still planted on the far desk probably should have clued him in as well - Tsukishiro would never leave the building without putting everything back in place.

For a moment, Harumasa genuinely contemplated sneaking out of the office and heading over to one of his target neighbourhoods to tail more potential Incense dealers instead of waiting for Tsukishiro to return. He had definitely been working far too many hours over the past few days, even by regular, non-slacker standards. And he also had vague recollections of doing a lot of rather ridiculous things last night and this morning - had he really showered with his clothes on?! Ugh, he hated doing that.

The point was, even without the Deputy Chief explicitly telling him they needed to talk, Harumasa wasn't stupid enough to think there wouldn't be an eventual reckoning. He was just really, really tempted to avoid it for as long as possible.

He sighed and got up to fetch himself a mug of water, thankfully retaining his balance as he did so. No, he would be responsible this time. It would be rude to let Tsukishiro lose any more hair over him.

He'd finished the first mug and started on a second when the sound of Tsukishiro's heels echoed into the office, followed shortly by the Deputy Chief herself. She immediately glanced towards the couch and did a quick double take at the sight of Harumasa leaning against the sink instead.

"You're awake!" she asked, power walking over to him. "How do you feel?"

Harumasa put his mug down, turning to face her. "Hey, Tsukishiro~ I'm feeling much better actually, thanks to you and little Soukaku."

She began to reach out, but then stopped abruptly, hand hovering in the air between them.

"Ahem. Is it all right if I check your temperature?"

Huh?

"Sure?" Harumasa responded, confused. He wasn't entirely sure why she was asking, since she hadn't exactly hesitated the first time.

The back of her wrist pressed delicately against his temples, and Harumasa silently pretended that the human contact didn't make him feel like a moth that had flown too close to the flame.

After what seemed like an eternity, Tsukishiro withdrew her hand and stepped back to examine him critically. It was the same expression she wore when she was looking at one of the Chief's attempts at an expenses report, and Harumasa fervently hoped that this discussion wouldn't end with him in the paper shredder too.

"Your fever seems to have broken," she said finally. "And you don't look halfway to your own grave any more."

Ouch. Maybe Soukaku's bluntness was the result of nurture as well as nature.

"Ah, surely it wasn't that bad, Deputy Chief–" Harumasa said hastily, but quickly pressed his lips together when she shot him an icy look. Perhaps this was a point better argued later. Much later.

"If you're feeling well enough, let's have that talk we're due," she said stiffly. When Harumasa nodded mutely in acceptance, she herded him over to the meeting room, collecting his partially drunk mug of water and her own on the way. She shut the door behind them, placed the mugs on the table, and took a seat, once again scrutinising him with an unreadable expression.

For the second time in fifteen minutes, Harumasa seriously considered making a run for it. He sat down warily instead.

Then Tsukishiro's shoulders slumped and suddenly, she looked as tired as he felt.

"Asaba," she began. "Do you feel that we, as a team, are untrustworthy?"

Harumasa... was not expecting that.

"I– what– of course you are?" he managed, stumbling on the words in his surprise. "What makes you say that? I mean, don't I trust my dependable teammates in every battle?"

"In battle, yes," she agreed. "In other things... not yet."

He was silent. What was there to say? Arguing with her for the sake of furthering an obvious lie would just be cruel.

She sighed, as if regretting her own powers of perception. That was what it was like when you were cursed to always see past the veil of blissful ignorance, he supposed.

"No matter how I'd like to be the case, I can't convince you to trust us with words alone. Yet... I ask that you keep Chief Miyabi's words in mind: there's no shame in allowing your colleagues to support you. However you feel about us, know that we are always there for you to lean on."

Harumasa swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. By contrast, his eyes felt very wet. Somehow this... quiet understanding was far more difficult to bear than any censure.

The easiest way to end this conversation would be to feign a moment of heartfelt introspection, agree, and change the subject. Harumasa - despite appearances - had never been one to take the easy route.

"You... Weren't you going to tell me off or something?" he pressed, tone rising into something more than a little incredulous. "I went behind your back on a lot of things, only to crash and burn in the end. Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed at my behaviour myself."

"Your behaviour was not an embarrassment," Tsukishiro frowned. "Irresponsible, perhaps, but not embarrassing. Your actions have likely saved more than one life - you should be proud of that."

Her expression suddenly became exponentially more threatening. "Although jeopardising yourself to this degree is an entirely separate matter. Next time, I won't hold Soukaku back."

Harumasa felt a shiver run down his spine.

"I get it, I get it!" he said with alacrity. "No more overtime for me, I promise. But... "

He hesitated. Like Tsukishiro said, he didn't - couldn't - trust her or his other teammates... but maybe a little honesty might not hurt for once.

"This case is important to me," Harumasa finally said quietly. He did not elaborate. He couldn't bring himself to.

"I know," Tsukishiro Yanagi replied simply. "Share your information with me. Working together will be the most efficient way to deal with this problem."

Was it really that easy?

Harumasa hummed contemplatively, both thinking about his next move and disguising the fact that his voice was bound to shake if he spoke just then.

"Asaba?" Tsukishiro sounded a little worried, probably thinking that she hadn't gotten through to him after all.

"Sorry, I was just thinking," he said, relieved when the words came out steady. "How much do you know already?"

For a second it looked like she was going to ask to hear everything from his own mouth, but then she sighed and conceded.

"I'm aware that you've been signing up for extra shifts on the Hygieia Hollow exploration. You used that as leverage to convince the researchers at the base camp to provide you with the composition data for a lot of the Etheric matter in the Hollow, as well as to generate a comparison between that and the spectrometry information from Public Security. Thanks to that, we have conclusive proof of the connection between Hygieia and Incense, along with some other interesting information on the Hollow's properties."

"How did you find out about that one?"

"Captain Zhu Yuan's phrasing when I contacted her to validate the extra information."

"I see~"

Tsukishiro instantly looked like she regretted telling him that. Harumasa gave her an innocent smile. That was useful information for future... escapades.

"The Special Response Team has also been getting a lot of anonymous tips about drug dealers and potential suppliers. I don't suppose you'd have anything to do with that?"

Harumasa shrugged. "Just a bit of recon. I borrowed PubSec's crime prediction algorithm to identify areas with comparative crime rates to where we located the drugs, and then cross referenced those with our list of suspected dealers."

"And then you went after them and anonymously called in their activities. Is that why you looked rather worse for wear on Saturday?"

"Hey, I was just trying to scare them a little into getting careless! It's not my fault that some of them thought I was picking a fight. And it wasn't anything I couldn't handle," Harumasa defended himself. It was true. He didn't like melee combat, but he could deter simple thugs pretty easily.

Admittedly, most of his injuries from those operations could probably have been avoided if he hadn't been running on empty after pulling shifts at the Hollow - which was his fault. The look of disapproval on Tsukishiro's face said that she probably realised that.

"... The rest of my activities were just sourcing some extra data from my own contacts to supplement yours," he finished. "That information is already in your hands."

Tsukishiro nodded. "It was good work. I don't suppose you would mind introducing me to some of these contacts?"

Harumasa definitely wasn't imagining the gleam of interest in her eyes. Of course she'd want to expand her already terrifying intelligence network. He was so relieved that she was on their side. Forget Chief Miyabi, Tsukishiro could probably eradicate all the Hollows herself, given enough time.

"Whatever you need, Deputy Chief," he said with a slightly nervous chuckle.

The aforementioned Deputy Chief picked up her tea and took a delicate sip. "Much appreciated."

It reminded Harumasa how dry his mouth was again, so he took a drink from his own mug. His phone pinged with a notification as he set it down.

"Something important?" Tsukishiro inquired, presumably watching his brow furrow as he scanned his phone.

"A message from one of the informants I mentioned before," Harumasa explained distractedly, copying and sending the information to Public Security's open tip line. "There's a suspected sale occurring within one of our predicted Incense hotspots. I've passed it on to PubSec."

He looked up in time to see the flash of satisfied pride in Tsukishiro's expression. Abruptly, he felt as though he was back in the days of learning archery from Master and had just managed to hit a bullseye.

The context clearly wasn't the same and yet... no one had been proud of Harumasa in a long time.

Sometimes, having emotions was terribly inconvenient.

"I suppose we'll just have to wait for the Special Response Team to get back to us then," Tsukishiro said, breaking the silence. "You should go home and rest in the meantime."

Harumasa didn't even bother protesting. He'd slept away most of the day, but even now he could feel a faint rattle in his lungs and a dull pain in the back of his skull. He really needed to take his night medication. More pertinently though, opposing the idea would definitely end with him being lectured.

"No arguments here," he said wryly, noting the surprised expression on Tsukishiro's face. Yeah, she'd definitely been winding up for a scolding. Harumasa internally congratulated himself on dodging that bullet.

"Good night, Asaba," she said as he stood and stretched gingerly. "Don't forget to eat something too."

"Night, Tsukishiro. Don't stay up too late either~" Harumasa called on his way out of the meeting room.

As he made for the exit, his eyes caught a colourful paper bag sitting right in the middle of his desk. It looked wildly out of place on the generic, pale surface that Harumasa hadn't bothered personalising. He leaned over, gently snagging it between his fingers.

"Those are from Soukaku. She says you like them," Tsukishiro explained, walking into the office after him. "You shouldn't just eat candy though! Have a proper meal too."

Harumasa rolled his eyes. "Yes Deputy Chief, I will."

Wasn't this kind of hypocritical coming from the person who always seemed to be eating red bean buns?

He opened the bag, made pointed eye contact with her, and put one of the sweets in his mouth. His defiant expression faltered. Oh. It was bitter melon-flavoured. How did Soukaku know?

"Take the bag with you," Tsukishiro said quietly. "She'll be thrilled."

It seemed hardly fair that his colleagues could read him so easily. Nodding mutely in agreement, he beat a hasty retreat from the battlefield.

Only out in the corridor, with the bag now carefully deposited in a pocket, did he allow himself a fond smile. Bitter candy did always make life seem a little sweeter.

Harumasa's phone buzzed with a notification.

The sound woke him from his light doze and he sat up quickly, reaching for the device.

[Investigation progress: suspect and related parties detained.]

[Patient visitation request approved. Location - ........]

Harumasa was moving almost before he realised it. It was the first time he'd been in such a hurry to voluntarily visit a hospital.

Tsukishiro was waiting for him just inside the main entrance of the Eridu Memorial Hospital.

Harumasa raised a hand in greeting and forced a light smile. "Hello, Deputy Chief~"

"Morning, Asaba," she said, adjusting her glasses. There was a black folder tucked into the crook of her arm, but otherwise, she looked entirely the same as usual. Perhaps it was just Harumasa's biases then, that made her appear far too vibrant and full of life to really fit into their dreary surroundings.

Harumasa shuddered involuntarily at the thought of any of his teammates looking 'natural' in this hellscape.

"It's quite chilly out right?" Tsukishiro said conversationally.

"What?" Harumasa asked, confused for a second by the non-sequitur before understanding what she'd meant. "Ah I mean yes, I agree! And it's way too early to be out too... Well, let's just get this over with, shall we?"

She regarded him with suspicion for a moment, but quickly fell into step next to him, apparently deciding not to comment.

"Miss Ling is on Floor Two, Ward Four," the Deputy Chief explained. "We've received permission to observe her medical assessment, but I was told it hasn't been a smooth process thus far."

Harumasa said nothing. He could feel his pulse in his fingertips, rapid and more erratic than usual. The smell of bleach clung to the inside of his nostrils, as if he'd shoved one of his blankets over his face.

They passed through a wide atrium with colourful tile murals decorating the walls. Some creative soul had decided that a profusion of natural life that no one had witnessed in years would make for an inspiring piece of art.

Striking red flowers unfurled in precise whorls around feathery green leaves. Shining blue and silver formed the ribbon-like curves of a stream. A perfect circle of yellow - just a shade lighter than Master's headband - represented the sun, its rays rendered as a halo of long, straight tiles. Flocks of delicate white birds, seagulls perhaps, danced in complex spirals against the background.

"What a masterfully crafted mural," Tsukishiro breathed softly, as they finally located the elevator. "I heard that it was the work of a father who lost his only daughter in the aftermath of a Hollow disaster. Her final moments were spent in this hospital. I can't imagine the time and effort it would have taken to make this."

Harumasa wondered how many people were truly happier before they laid eyes on that wretchedly beautiful work. The world was full of irony.

"It's just a fanciful story. I hate to burst your bubble, Deputy Chief, but the tile work is also said to have been commissioned by High Ambitions for some charity drive or another," Harumasa said flatly.

The elevator announced their stop with an upbeat chime and they stepped out onto the second floor.

Tsukishiro merely shrugged. "That rumour reached my ears as well. But I prefer to believe in the former version."

"If that's what you want, go ahead."

She wouldn't be the first of them to admire the idealistic fiction, at any rate.

The conversation had sufficiently distracted Harumasa from his surroundings for a brief period, but his feeling of uneasiness was far more prevalent in Ward Four. Even Tsukishiro looked troubled.

The ward itself was designed to appear calming; the walls were painted in shades of white and mint green, and the furniture in the central nurses' station was also neutrally coloured. The overhead lighting was a warm white that refused to flicker in a thematically appropriate manner.

The on-duty nurse looked up as they approached.

"H.S.O members? How may I help you?" she asked politely.

Tsukishiro opened the folder she'd brought and set it on the desk. A photograph of a young lady with straight, dark hair and orange eyes grinned mischievously up at them. She also appeared to be making a rude gesture at the camera, which they collectively did not acknowledge.

"We've received authorisation to visit one Tara Ling. I'm Tsukishiro Yanagi of Section Six and my colleague here is Asaba Harumasa. Our details should be in your system already."

The nurse typed something into her computer and stared at the monitor for a few minutes. "Yes, everything seems in order. I just need to verify your IDs and you may proceed."

One quick scan of their badges later, they were headed for a painted steel door designated 'Room Ten'. For some reason, Harumasa found himself holding his breath.

Tara Ling was apprehended by Public Security while purchasing drugs from a marked dealer. The dealer was in the Special Response Team's custody at the moment - having been caught with a small quantity of Incense in her possession - but Ling had shown signs of previously ingesting the drug and was sent to the hospital for monitoring. She'd had some prior warnings for public disturbances, but was otherwise an ordinary person.

Nothing happening in that room was ordinary.

The sound of anguished screaming and limbs colliding with objects hit them like a punch to the gut as soon as the door opened. A pair of masked medical personnel were crowded around a hospital bed, frantically securing medical restraints on its resident, while another nurse  withdrew a bloodied syringe.

Someone was swearing in between the rapid-fire talk about vein injury and topical anaesthetic, but Harumasa only had eyes for the patient.

Matted hair tangled wildly around her face, days-old makeup smeared across her cheekbones, and sunken, unfocused eyes - Tara Ling looked like nothing more than a shadow of her lively photograph. She largely resembled a human, aside from the twisted, irregular mass of Ether sunk into the left side of her neck. Her face was contorted into a hideous grimace.

"It hurts!" she wailed between hysterical sobs. "Why does it hurt?!"

She still sounded like a scared young woman.

Harumasa unconsciously took a step forward, and Tsukishiro's hand on his arm brought him to a halt before he could take another. Her fingers trembled slightly where they contacted his shirt.

One of the nurses who had just finished with the restraints began to talk to the girl in a low, soothing voice.

The second staff member turned towards them.

"Officers, this is bad timing," he said grimly. "As you can see, the patient is–"

Ling screamed again, thrashing violently against the padded cuffs.

"Why?! Why did it stop? Why does it hurt?!"

"–Not stable," finished the nurse. "She was quiet before, but the needle triggered a bad reaction. You should come back another time."

"Would sedatives not help?" Tsukishiro asked, concern plain on her face.

The man shook his head, glancing back at where both of his colleagues were now trying to calm Ling down.

"We don't know how the substances in her system will react to sedatives, so topical anaesthesia is the best we can do until we can get some tests done on her. We can't even give her anti-corruption drugs. Please, come back later."

Halfway through his sentence, Ling's constant shrieking choked off into quiet, wheezing sobs. She'd finally hit her physical limit.

"What did I do wrong?" she pleaded in a cracked whisper. "I just wanted to be happy."

Tears glittering faintly with Ether streaked down her face. The image burned itself into Harumasa's memory. Tsukishiro gave him an unreadable look before turning back to the nurse.

"I think we'll do that," she said softly.

Just like that, their 'visitation' of Tara Ling was over.

"Asaba, you... "

Harumasa shoved his hands into his pockets, considering his words.

"Tsukishiro. I... I'm not okay," he said honestly. "I need a minute to myself. Meet you downstairs."

He didn't wait for her reply.

Somehow, he found himself back in front of the mural, which was miraculously free of onlookers. The red of the tiles looked almost like fresh blood to his eyes.

What was wrong with all those people? They had family. They were healthy. They had so much life ahead of them.

Why then, did they freely choose to accept the very fate that he tried so desperately to escape? Why did they hand over their dennies and beg and scrape for something that was killing him every day?

Harumasa choked on a laugh - it came out sounding like a sob. Didn't he deserve to choose too? Was he not worth even that?

"Breathe, Harumasa," a familiar gentle voice whispered in his mind. It could have been Tsukishiro, Chief, Soukaku, or Master. It could have been all of them.

Harumasa breathed. The dark haze started to recede from his vision, one deep inhale and exhale at a time.

He knew... things weren't always that simple. Some of the victims of the drug had chronic conditions, like him, and just wanted to be free of the pain. Some of them were like Tara Ling, insatiably searching for happiness. Even those who had chosen to take the drug with flippant disregard for the risks... well, not even they deserved their eventual fate. This situation was unfair to all of them, except of course, to the people who created it in the first place.

It was a pity that all the rationality in the world wouldn't wash the bitter taste from his mouth.

"Asaba?" Tsukishiro's voice was low and serious. "Are you feeling any better?"

Harumasa turned to face her. It was easier than looking at the mural again.

"A little. Thanks for worrying about me, Deputy Chief. And I'm sorry for freaking out on you."

She sighed. "You don't need to apologise. I was... shocked too."

A smile tugged at the corner of Harumasa's mouth. "Oh? I didn't realise you could inflict attribute anomalies on yourself."

"I'll inflict one on you if you keep talking," Tsukishiro sniped back. "But that's not the point. I meant to say that I've just received a message from Captain Zhu Yuan."

Harumasa straightened, his focus snapping back to the case. "Do they have a lead?"

There was something more than a little smug in Tsukishiro's smile.

"They got the name of a primary supply contact out of the dealer. Look."

Harumasa leaned over to look at her phone. That was the message from Zhu Yuan, received five minutes ago. And the contact... it was the missing H.I.A investigator, Lyell Finch.

Chapter Text

Yanagi had always thought of journeys as a sort of liminal space - a frozen slice of time between a departure and an arrival. There was something inexplicably peaceful about them, even in the face of a looming calamity; an opportunity for her to take a breath and collect herself.

The slightly stale air inside the HAND armoured transport wasn't quite as refreshing as the evening breeze on her walk back home, but nonetheless, it was a good place for quiet reflection. Yanagi's eyes strayed towards the person sitting diagonally opposite to her.

Harumasa was slouched in his seat, elbows on knees and head bowed. His shoulders hunched forward almost defensively. His gaze was trained on the floor, soft and unfocused.

He was quiet again.

Yanagi couldn't blame him. She'd been informed that Miss Tara Ling's behaviour was rather uncooperative and erratic, but what they'd seen had been far beyond any expectations she could have had. The girl had an emaciated appearance similar to that of people experiencing starvation, and the marks of Ether corruption on her body. Hopefully she was still treatable with anti-corruption serum.

Of course, what stood out to them was the frenzy she had flown into during the medical assessment. Despite the violence in her movements, Yanagi had only heard pain and fear in her voice - a desperate plea to escape her reality. Most likely, she had been experiencing aggressive withdrawal from the drug she'd been taking.

Yanagi had seen a lot of suffering in her life, but it never got any easier. Nor did she want it to. Without her empathy and reason, what would be the difference between her and a Dopplegänger Ethereal?

But Harumasa had taken it much harder than she had. The moment he stepped into the room, his face had drained of all colour. He stared at Ling as though he couldn't look away - as if she would disappear if he took his eyes off her. For a minute, Yanagi had even wondered if she was someone he knew.

But then she had put a hand on Harumasa's arm and found him trembling all over, strongly enough to translate to her own fingers. His pupils were dilated with a fear that mirrored Ling's own. Yanagi had felt shaken seeing him like that. She was relieved for the chance to get them both out into the reception area again, especially when Harumasa immediately lost some of the tension in his shoulders.

And in that moment, he hadn't lied to her.

Perhaps he was vague with his explanations, or only stated the obvious, or refused to let anyone see his wounds until it was far too late, but Yanagi had received a glimpse into the depths of Harumasa's distrust of people. Someone close to him had clearly hurt him very badly in the past. Or maybe, he'd never had anyone close to him at all. So his language of unspoken words and small gestures... well, it was enough for her.

Besides, she could relish the challenge of unravelling those little mysteries for as long as it took Harumasa to realise that Section Six wasn't going anywhere.

Her calm restored, Yanagi was almost disappointed when their truck halted. Journeys really were excellent backdrops for thought.

"Asaba, we're here," she said, quickly checking the small window above her to confirm her theory. The travel time and direction had seemed about right too.

"Hmm?" Harumasa startled. "Oh, thanks for the heads up, Deputy Chief." He sat up and stretched in a way that made his spine click.

A minute later, their destination became much more obvious when the rear door slid open, framing a vista of white tents, slightly muddy asphalt, and a swarm of researchers and investigators. Harumasa was out of the transport in a flash and Yanagi followed more sedately, rolling her neck to get any kinks out.

They were immediately joined by the base camp's Lead Investigator, Ren. Judging by the sheen of sweat on his face, they might have arrived at a bad time.

"Oh, thank goodness!" he exclaimed with a slightly manic smile. "That was quick. I've just sent out the aid request."

... Or perhaps it wasn't a bad time after all. Yanagi looked at Ren with some consternation.

"Aid request?" she asked out loud, absently adjusting her glasses. "Unfortunately, we haven't received any such requests. Our arrival pertains to some other business. But as we are already here, what appears to be the issue? Perhaps we can help each other out."

She tactfully didn't bring up page ninety seven of the H.I.A Investigator's Manual, which stated that Executive Officers of H.A.N.D could commandeer their aid during investigations and emergency situations.

Ren wilted slightly, although this seemed to be more a consequence of discovering that H.S.O personnel could not teleport. Well, not most of them anyway.

"O–Oh. I see," he said, before clearing his throat and standing at attention. "I'll accept your gracious offer then, and do my utmost to help you out, Miss Tsukishiro."

For some reason, he looked at her with a hopeful gleam in his eye after his proclamation. It took Yanagi a moment to realise he was searching for her approval. Well, his stance wasn't Defence Force material, but she supposed his words were adequately professional. She gave him a nod and his entire face brightened.

Behind her, Harumasa poorly disguised a snicker as a cough. Yanagi shot him a pointed look over her shoulder.

"Executive Officer Asaba, if you aren't feeling well–"

"I'm fine, Deputy Chief!" Harumasa said with alacrity, palms raised in surrender. "Must have just been the dust."

"Hmm that's a relief," Yanagi responded, satisfied. She didn't need to point out that it had rained not long ago, so moisture still hung in the air.

"You're merciless as ever, Tsukishiro," her colleague mumbled under his breath. Yanagi let the remark go with the frigid silence it deserved, but she had to hide a smile too.

Harumasa had admitted that this case was important to him for personal reasons, and Yanagi wasn't going to just bar him from it. She was glad that he noticed she was attempting to bring the atmosphere between them back to normal with a joke, rather than assuming ill of her. Maybe he did have some trust in her after all.

Ren cleared his throat again. Yanagi refocused in an instant.

"Oh, my apologies," she said slightly awkwardly, "Please feel free to explain the current issue."

The investigator gestured towards the command tent. "I'll explain as we go. Two hours ago, three of our team entered the Hollow, with orders to move Corrupted Resin to a strategic location. Ah, the plan was to–"

Yanagi waved him off. "I'm aware of the plan. It involves concentrating the effects of Corrupted Resin to bait larger quantities of Ethereals, yes?" Harumasa had emailed her about it late last night.

Ren nodded, looking impressed. "You really do know everything, Miss Tsukishiro."

Before Yanagi could disabuse him of the idea, he continued speaking: "Approximately twenty minutes ago, we received a distress signal from one of the emergency evacuation points in the Hollow near the mission site. The agents do not appear to be in immediate danger, but they will require backup. Our monitoring personnel have also reported spikes in Hygieia Hollow's Ether readings. They suspect the presence of a powerful Ethereal."

Yanagi pondered this information. None of that sounded good. Depending on the strength of this potential Ethereal, they likely would have to call the Chief in... who had finished her shift in the Hollow two hours ago and was probably training back at Headquarters now. They'd need time to transport her to the camp.

"I'd like to see those Ethereal readings, and a record of the emergency signal if you have it," she said.

Conveniently, they had just reached the command tent.

"Of course! Right this way," Ren responded with enthusiasm, accidentally clipping one of the tent poles on his way in. Briefly alone outside, Yanagi and Harumasa shared a look.

"I'll contact Chief now and leave a message on our whereabouts. High grade Ethereals are her specialty, after all," Yanagi said in an undertone.

"Oh? You don't have faith in our abilities as Hoshimi Miyabi's handpicked employees~?"

Harumasa's response seemed as carefree as ever, but his smirk was quick to fade.

"Something's not right about this situation. Why not perform the test run while Chief was on site? And those weird Ether fluctuations... We could use a Void Hunter up our sleeves."

Yanagi nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking. I'll do my best to compare the new Ether readings to our pre-existing information, but it will have to be from memory, I'm afraid."

"If you can't do it, I doubt anyone can," Harumasa said with a casual shrug, and walked past her into the command tent. Yanagi, caught off guard by the matter-of-fact tone in his voice, took an extra moment to remember that she should be sending a message to Miyabi.

She gave the Chief a call and explained the situation as concisely as possible. As expected, Miyabi had been training and wouldn't be able to make it on site for at least an hour, but she immediately began preparations for departure and requested that Yanagi keep her updated for as long as possible. Satisfied, Yanagi ducked into the command tent herself.

Ren was in the middle of rummaging through the horribly messy surface of his makeshift desk. Harumasa - as swift as always - was already examining what Yanagi assumed to be the transcript recovered from the emergency evacuation beacon. His brow was furrowed in concentration.

"Ah here! I've found the Ether readings too."

With a triumphant flourish, Ren offered her a series of graphs that likely would have been incomprehensible to anyone who hadn't taken a course on Ether Physics. To Yanagi, it looked like the new fluctuations in the graph lay somewhere between the previously observed minor waves and the large spike of Ether activity that had caused the resurgence of the Hollow. Actually, it was closer to that higher end. How curious.

"So this peak indicates the presence of a strong Ethereal?" Yanagi asked.

Ren nodded. "Yes. Or a cluster of regular Ethereals with increased activity."

"How was that determined?"

"Oh, well." The investigator absently rubbed the edges of his badge. "It's based on previous activity logs of the White Star Institute's research into the Hollow. Obtaining research samples occasionally caused disturbances of the resident Ethereals, leading to some fluctuations in the data. Of course, I'm no expert. This is mainly information I've gathered from working with some of our research partners like Edward and—"

He paused there abruptly. An uncharacteristically bitter expression crossed his face. "—And a few others," he finished in a muted tone.

Well, that was certainly interesting.

"... I see," Yanagi said. "Which of your agents are currently on the field then?"

"Amano Hayato, Maya Adler, and Edward Lark, accompanied by a standard H.I.A exploration Bangboo."

If Yanagi hadn't been facing him, she wouldn't have seen the sharp flash of concern in Harumasa's eyes as he looked up. It was quickly hidden under a troublemaking smile.

"By the way," he piped up, almost lazily, "are you the one in charge of resource allocation in this camp?"

"What? Er... no," Ren said, clearly still distracted by whatever he'd been thinking about. "Our Logistics Manager, Phineus is. He's responsible for personnel assignment too."

"Is he new to the job?"

Ren seemed to take umbrage at that. "New? Of course not! He has many years of experience in his role. In fact, he was my own mentor. I wouldn't be where I am today without him."

"Oh, sorry~ I didn't mean to offend," said Harumasa, with a level of insincerity that even a toddler could grasp. "It's just that, I was wondering why an experienced Logistics Manager would assign two rookie agents and a non-combatant to set up a risky experimental plan. Doesn't seem very efficient."

He clicked his tongue disapprovingly. Yanagi could almost see the veins pulsing in Ren's forehead as this latest remark wiped away any trace of malaise in his expression. The man was fairly bristling with indignation.

"That–! You shouldn't look down on Adler and Amano either. They were top scorers in the H.I.A training programs and are excellent trainees. Both Master Phineus and I agree that they are up to the task."

"I'm just making observations here," Harumasa retorted swiftly. "Perhaps your Master Phineus would care to explain his actions himself?"

"He is a very busy man," Ren responded frigidly. "I can leave him a message asking him to get in contact with you later, but frankly, I don't think that's necessary."

"I'm sure you wouldn't—"

"All right, let's all calm down," Yanagi interrupted Harumasa's next sentence. "Asaba, that's enough," –For now, anyway – "Lead Investigator Ren, I apologise on behalf of my colleague for his tactless words. I am sure he did not mean any insult to you or your mentor."

That was a bold-faced lie of course. Harumasa's words were precisely tailored to elicit an emotional reaction, and Yanagi had already grasped the intentions behind them. However, unduly aggravating the suspect would sour relations with the Hygieia base camp.

... Which was probably why he'd left the role of 'good cop' to her specifically.

As expected, Ren's anger appeared to thaw at her placation. For good measure, Yanagi aimed a visibly stern look at Harumasa. He met her glare for a long moment, before dipping his head slightly.

"I... apologise too, Lead Investigator," Harumasa said, tone soft and contrite. "I've worked with Amano and Adler before and they're good agents. I was just concerned for their safety. If the Deputy Chief trusts Mr. Phineus's judgement, then I will too."

Ren squinted suspiciously at Harumasa, but his placid expression did not waver. If the investigator hadn't seen through Harumasa's earlier ruses, he wouldn't catch this one either. Eventually, he seemed to accept the 'truth' in front of him.

"Fine. Your apology is accepted," he said shortly. "Executive Officer Asaba, Phineus is an excellent Logistics Manager with organisational skills almost on par with Miss Tsukishiro's. He's worked with the H.I.A for years and has an eye for picking up on people's talents and bringing them to their fullest potential."

His tone softened gradually until there was even a hint of a smile on his face. "He has always encouraged me and every one of his trainees. I... I didn't think I had what it took to head a research camp, but he supported me and look where I am now. I owe him a lot."

If it hadn't been painfully clear before, it was now obvious that Ren had a strong emotional attachment to this 'Phineus'. That was... unfortunate.

"I understand," Harumasa said with unexpected gravitas. "I had a similar mentor in my life as well."

Yanagi's curiosity was piqued once again. Harumasa had mentioned having a "Master" when he was younger, but beyond that, they were in the dark. She listened intently, but whatever Harumasa might have said next was interrupted by a frantic H.I.A investigator almost sprinting into the tent.

"What—" began Ren sharply, before he noticed the sheet of paper clutched in her hand. "Is that another message from the S.O.S Beacon?"

The woman nodded frantically and handed her delivery over to the Lead Investigator, apparently too winded to speak.

Ren took one look at the contents of the transcript and made a sound like he'd been punched in the gut. His hands shook violently. Yanagi plucked the transcript out of his grasp before he could drop it and he did not resist.

The message was short and to the point:

[Danger. Corrupted-type Ethereal located. Immediate assistance required. It's Finch.]

Beside her, Ren had turned as pale as a ghost.

Chapter Text

"There's... there's something wrong with the transmission. There has to be. It can't be Lyell - that's impossible."

It took about a minute for Ren to find his voice again. It was quiet and shaky.

"What's 'impossible' about it?" Harumasa asked, his tone razor sharp. "He's missing, right? He could simply have gotten lost and been corrupted over time. That's what happened to most of the civilians in the Hollow expansion radius."

"I know that!" Ren sounded agitated now. "There's just no way he could be in the Hollow!"

He dissolved into muttering under his breath, the words far too fragmented to be intelligible. The H.I.A investigator who had bought him the transcript looked increasingly distressed.

Yanagi stepped forward and gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Time is moving onwards, Ren. Your agents are in danger. We can help you, but you need to give us more information," she said calmly. The words seemed to anchor him a little.

"I... Yes. You're right." Ren took a few consecutive deep breaths. "Lyell– I mean, Finch – was temporarily suspended from work two days before the Hygieia disaster occurred. He was supposed to be at home, taking some time to cool off. He shouldn't have been anywhere near the Hollow."

Surprised silence greeted this proclamation. Yanagi had a plethora of new questions, beginning of course, with the suspicious timing of Finch being off work.

"What was he suspended for?" Harumasa asked with a frown, crossing his arms.

Ren matched his expression, unsurprisingly still wary of Harumasa's intentions. "I was told that his last solo mission into Hygieia took a toll on his mental health, so he was put on mandated leave."

"By your Logistics Manager, I'm guessing."

"Phineus knew Lyell's capabilities better than anyone," the Lead Investigator said defensively. "We were investigative partners, but Lyell was always better at Hollow exploration, so he was regularly deployed on his own too."

"If Phineus thought he needed the break, I'm sure it was for a good reason," he finished stoutly.

Solo missions into the Hollow? Yanagi exchanged glances with Harumasa. Not only was that against standard protocol - as per page forty six of the H.I.A Investigators' Manual - it was also an excellent opportunity for clandestine operations. And should one such operation fail... there would only be a single target for the cleanup crew.

Yanagi strongly suspected that Lyell Finch hadn't ended up in that Hollow of his own free will.

However, while the whereabouts of their suspicious Logistics Manager were important, there were more pressing matters at the moment.

"Thank you for the information," Yanagi said. "Lyell Finch is involved in another investigation we're handling, so we'll need to conduct more questioning later. For now, rescuing your agents from the Hollow is more important."

Ren looked stunned. "Involved in one of your investigations?! What do you mean?"

Harumasa tutted playfully, already reaching for his weapon. "That would be telling~"

Yanagi barely resisted rolling her eyes at his wink. "What my colleague means is that we cannot provide details on an active investigation. I hope you understand. In the meantime, please cooperate with our current mission."

"Hey there," Harumasa said, now addressing the other investigator in the room, whose cheeks flushed at his gleaming smile. "You're Sarika, right? Would you mind getting us an exploration Bangboo and a spare agent with medic certification as soon as possible - pretty please?"

"R–right away, sir!" Sarika squeaked, whirling around towards the tent flaps with purpose.

"Just the Bangboo, Sarika," Ren said suddenly, his voice raised to catch her attention. "I volunteer myself for the rescue expedition."

Both Yanagi and Harumasa turned their eyes on him.

"I have a medic certification," he clarified. "And I'm one of the more experienced agents in our camp."

There was a steely set to Ren's features - he seemed to have made up his mind about something. Yanagi looked at Harumasa instead, and they had a rapid and entirely silent conversation. Harumasa nodded at her; they were in agreement.

"You may join us," Yanagi said, "provided that you act solely in a support capacity."

Was he directly involved in the Incense case? Most likely not. However, that did not mean that they could trust him, given his loyalty to their current primary suspect.

Ren didn't look entirely pleased with that, but made no comment aside from a single nod. The other H.I.A investigator, Sarika, scuttled out of the tent just as quickly as she had entered it.

A grim silence descended on the command tent. Yanagi extended Uro Tsuki, confirming the combat-readiness of the retractable naginata. Across from her, Harumasa was sharpening his blades with quick, efficient motions. His expression was coldly intent, but he flashed her a distracted smile when he noticed her glance. Ren fidgeted awkwardly, his bravado seemingly depleted for the time being. Eventually, he excused himself to gather a medical supply kit.

All they could do now... was wait.

Hygieia Hollow looked much the same as when Yanagi had first entered it; a lush green environment akin to the forests described in books about the old civilisation. The ground was thick with stems and leaves that crumbled into Ether dust underfoot. Ribbons of luminous mist floated along the ground, limiting visibility past a certain point. Deathly silence reigned with an iron fist.

The profusion of vines a few meters above them instead of the hazy grey sky indicated that they were indoors somewhere. Light streamed in through cracked and empty window frames, as well as through several concerningly large holes in the ceiling.

According to their Bangboo, the Fissure had dropped them off in Sector HY-6-3. Their target zone was two sectors to the east.

It might have just been Yanagi's unease, but the airborne Etheric matter appeared to be slightly denser than on her previous missions. It had an astringent tang akin to disinfectant that was near impossible to ignore. This was actually something that Soukaku had complained about in the past too - her keen senses synergised poorly with the mist. Either way, the environmental conditions were suboptimal for spotting threats well ahead of time; not to mention, it would prove a rough battleground for a distance fighter like Harumasa.

Speaking of Harumasa, he seemed to have acclimated well to the Hollow. His posture was confident and alert as he scanned the surrounding area for enemies and safe paths. He seemed lighter here somehow. Yanagi had a theory that the Hollow's healing effects might be easing the symptoms of his mysterious condition - but those thoughts would remain private. It wasn't affecting Harumasa's performance in the field, so it was up to him to disclose any personal information.

However... it seemed unfair that someone should feel more alive in the midst of a lethal battlefield than in the safety of their home. This too, Yanagi kept to herself.

"Area clear, Deputy Chief," Harumasa reported back. "Visibility is lower than usual though."

So she had been correct. Harumasa had spent enough time - too much time, really - in Hygieia Hollow to be a credible judge of the situation.

"Could it be because we are inside a building?" Yanagi postulated.

Harumasa shook his head. "They're not usually this bad. It might be a side effect of the Ethereal baiting plan."

Yanagi raised an eyebrow. "For it to have such a strong effect on the environment this far away... "

It seemed exceedingly implausible.

"The mission briefing called for ten batches of Corrupted Resin to be transported to Sector HY-6-8," Ren explained quietly. "They had specially lined containers to prevent the Resin from attracting Ethereals during transit. It was supposed to be a relatively safe operation."

Yanagi didn't bother pointing out the obvious flaw in that plan: that they would have needed to perform a quick extraction after reaching their destination and opening the shielded receptacles. That should certainly not have been left to rookie agents alone. Harumasa seemed to barely refrain from commenting himself. Something had clearly gone wrong, and they could only be grateful that all members of the exploration team were still alive.

Their journey through the Hollow began with an uncomfortable silence.

Harumasa took the lead, scouting ahead through the hallways and rooms of what had likely been an office building at some point. From the state of disrepair of the structure, it was obvious that they were in one of the more central areas of the Hollow, rather than one only recently subjected to Ether Corruption. Ren was in the middle of their formation, with Yanagi following close behind him. Their footsteps echoed oddly in the dilapidated corridors and meeting rooms.

The firearm sitting in Ren's hip holster did nothing to make Yanagi feel better about their situation. Disarming him would have put him in inexcusable danger - but at the same time, if he decided to stab them in the back, his first, less-than-figurative target would be Harumasa. Was Yanagi fast enough to stop a bullet? She gripped her blade harder. The what-ifs didn't matter; she would keep Harumasa safe by any means necessary.

Their luck held out though. Harumasa reported all-clears until they found an overgrown fire escape back out on to street level, a more tactically advantageous setting. Yanagi hadn't sensed anyone following them either, and Ren seemed to be more preoccupied with his own thoughts over the weapons on his belt.

In fact, their first sign of trouble came almost halfway through the next sector, HY-6-4, when Harumasa radioed an advance warning. A cluster of Arlaunes dotted the road ahead of them, pulsating gently. Their petals were stark red against the pale green vines that entangled their main bodies. Great. This variety was resistant to electricity, which made Ren with his fire-attributed weapons a better match for them.

Yanagi didn't get a chance to suggest a detour - the moment they got within visible range, every single Ethereal in the area fixated on them. The sound of shrill screeching echoed off the nearby buildings, oddly muffled by the profusion of vegetation.

Without hesitation, she extended Uro Tsuki and closed the distance between her and them in the blink of an eye.

Her blade stabbed the first one in the centre of its corolla, and she whirled to slash a second as it futilely attempted to close its petals. A precise, earth-shattering strike from the haft of the naginata cracked through another Ethereal. Shimmering Ether dust exploded into the air around her. The hiss of electro quivers echoed in her ears as Harumasa felled yet another Arlaune.

It seemed like these Ethereals were weak enough not to pose too much of a threat to them. Yanagi glanced to her right as she withdrew Uro Tsuki from shattered remains, Ether trailing from its blade. Flames reflected off Ren's face and roared off his shortsword as he delivered a finishing blow - he was breathing hard, but otherwise didn't appear to be having trouble either. Good.

Between the three of them, the fight didn't last long.

Yanagi retracted her weapon, crouching down to pick up the crumbling remains of a vine. It looked surprisingly robust against her fingers, like a particularly healthy plant stem.

"What do you suppose they are?" Harumasa asked, taking a knee beside her. He reached past the Ethereal remains on the ground to retrieve an arrow.

"Some sort of growth generated by the Hollow, clearly," Yanagi answered, thinking it over. "I suspect it might have parasitic properties, considering how weak those Arlaunes were even with our attribute disadvantage."

The Etheric matter in her hand dissolved into dust with a fragile crunching sound. She stood up and brushed off the seams of her gloves

"Great. Parasitic vines. Why not?" Harumasa muttered in response. He didn't seem terribly pleased, which Yanagi could understand. If these Ethereals were being drained of their vitality, what or where was it all going to?

"Eh-nha. Wata-ne-en." (Hollow Activity increase detected ahead. Proceed with caution.)

Ren looked at the navigation Bangboo apprehensively. It looked back at him with unblinking green eyes.

"Thank you for the warning," Yanagi told the Bangboo, gently patting its head, and then addressed the rest of the team. "We should keep moving."

They kept moving.

A few more fights were scattered along their route, but the Ethereals were similarly weak. All of them appeared to host leafy vines, lending credence to Yanagi's theory. Perhaps just as concerningly, they hadn't caught a single glimpse of the "strong" Ethereal that was lurking in the area, even as they finally located the transmission station that housed the emergency evacuation point.

Ren had a keycode that let them bypass the armed lock on the door, which saved them a good deal of trouble on entry. The station itself was a relatively small building that was reinforced with anti-corruption materials. It was the last point of return for any H.I.A investigators unfortunate enough to stray so far into the Hollow. Hopefully, it was also where they'd find their missing exploration team - preferably still breathing.

The door swung open with an eerie screech, revealing the muzzle of a firearm, aimed straight at them. Holding said firearm was the pale-faced, but undoubtedly alive Edward Lark, of the White Star Institute.

For a moment, Yanagi thought that Lark might actually shoot them out of sheer nerves.

It took a long time for him to lower the gun. His hands were shaking, and his white coat was ripped in several places. He smelled faintly of blood.

"Thank... thank the gods you're here," he said. His voice was equally unsteady. "I knew you'd come." Which of them he was talking to was unclear.

"Edward, are you injured?" Ren asked. He took several steps towards his colleague, seemingly jolted out of his own frozen state. Yanagi and Harumasa followed, re-arming the door lock behind them.

The researcher shook his head. "I had some superficial scratches, but they've already healed." He was probably just in shock then. "It's not me you need to worry about."

"Where are Investigators Amano and Adler?" Harumasa asked. His tone gave nothing away, but his entire body was tense.

"Over here!" a feminine voice answered. An H.I.A investigator with light brown hair and a retractable sword in hand raised her head above one of the half-walls to Yanagi's left. There was a battered camera slung around her neck.

"Mr. Ren! And Mr. Asaba too? I'm so glad to see you!"

The delight in her voice seemed to surprise even Harumasa, although he recovered as quickly as always.

"Good to see you too, Investigator," he responded with a pleased grin. "I hope we're not too late to the party~" He punctuated that statement with a wink, which seemed to make Adler relax even further.

"Not quite, Sir," she said. "Amano's back here by the way."

Judging by his non-appearance, Amano might have been the reason they were trapped in the transmission station waiting for emergency assistance. Ren and Harumasa made straight for the wall. Yanagi followed at a more sedate pace, noting the slight droop to Harumasa's shoulders; he really had been worried about those agents.

Amano Hayato was laid out on a makeshift stretcher on the floor, a backpack propped under his head like a pillow. The legs of his uniform pants were heavily stained with dirt and Ether, and the fabric along one had been neatly sliced open to accommodate a splint and field dressing. Deep grey eyes ringed with dark circles blinked up at them.

"It's good to see you Mr. Ren, Sir Asaba... and Lady Tsukishiro," Amano greeted them. He was surprisingly serene for someone with a probably-broken shin, although his pale face took a slightly greener tinge as he spoke.

"Save your breath, Hayato!" Adler scolded him, poking him gently between the eyebrows. "Amano tripped and broke his leg when we were running from that big Ethereal. The Hollow mist has been slowly healing him and he claims he doesn't feel any pain but, well..."

"I do get a little nauseous and dizzy sometimes," Amano explained with a grimace.

"He's experiencing early-stage Ether corruption," Lark said. He still didn't look quite present in the moment and his gaze was miles away. "The healing is accelerating his Pressure buildup. He needs anti-corruption serum and an evacuation from this Hollow."

"Let me have a look," Ren said firmly, kneeling down next to his subordinate.

Yanagi wasn't a medical professional, but she'd had some training, so she could tell that Ren did know what he was doing as he gently palpated Amano's leg. Eventually, he shifted to withdraw an autoinjector filled with anti-corruption serum from his kit bag, jabbing it confidently and precisely into Amano's thigh. Harumasa and Adler kept up a stream of distracting chatter throughout the process, drawing the injured investigator's attention. Lark simply leaned against a wall and stared off into space.

Observing Ren like this, it was clear that this was his element. For all the faults he may have had as an Investigator or a leader, it was obvious that he cared for his people.

The examination didn't take particularly long, but Amano looked significantly recovered from his Ether corruption by the end of it. His face was no longer vaguely green at least. Ren stood up, massaging his knees a little to restore circulation. That was when Lark decided to speak.

"We found something you need to see, Ren," he said, pushing himself off the wall. His tone was ominous, a complete shift from the excitable demeanour that Yanagi had observed during their first meeting. Ren immediately looked concerned. Even the rookie Investigators grew quiet and serious at his pronouncement.

Adler gently lifted the camera from around her neck and offered it to the Lead Investigator.

"We found a recording device in the sector we were sent to plant Corrupted Resin in," she explained. "We used the camera to play the chip in it and well... "

"We believe the sound of the recording is what drew the Ethereal, rather than the Resin," Amano said, pushing himself onto his elbows with a wince. "It was far too strong and fast for us to fight, so we were forced to retreat."

Interesting. That would mean the contents of the recording were enough to suggest a connection between this powerful Ethereal and the missing investigator, Lyell Finch. By the looks of it, Ren was putting those pieces together too. He took the camera with unsteady hands and switched it on.

The recording began with a low hum of noise that resolved into footsteps, combined with the rustle of some variety of stiff material. It was audio-only, but the sounds were relatively crisp and contained minimal artifacts. The previous owner of the chip had clearly not spared any expense on the device.

There was a short pause in the recording before a man spoke with a tired, raspy sort of tone:

"Lyell, I've told you not to barge in here unannounced. I'm still a superior officer."

A younger male voice answered him, this one sounding breathless and irate at the same time. "So you keep telling me. Look, we have bigger problems than that. That Corrupted Resin node you sent me to scout? It's unquestionably massive, but there's something lurking under there. I messed with some of the Resin and a swarm of Ethereals almost tore me apart! It's not a good idea to mine there."

By inference, that would be Lyell Finch then. He had a slightly rough manner of speech typically observed in Outer Ring natives.

The original speaker scoffed. "It's the biggest deposit that we've discovered so far - it's common sense that Ethereals would flock to it. That simply makes the mining process a little more complicated. We'll just have to put in a commission for some heavy hitters."

"You're dragging more people into this?! Aren't our existing mines enough?"

"The demand for Incense has skyrocketed recently - the fruits of your labour, I suppose. But our current rate of supply will quickly become inadequate. With the new mine, our profit margins will increase exponentially!"

Greed. What an inglorious motivation.

The recorder picked up on Finch's slow inhale and exhale as he apparently attempted to restore his composure.

"I think we're doing too much too fast. Someone's going to notice the mining operation eventually... someone who isn't as easily bought as I was. And the side effects of the drug are beginning to show up in the news - all those deaths and mutations... They haven't linked it to us yet, but it's only a matter of time."

Finch sounded almost pleading towards the end. Empathy? It was too late for that, unfortunately. It seemed the other speaker had the same thoughts as Yanagi, because there was a mocking sneer in his next words.

"Regret? It's a little late for that don't you think? Don't tell me you had any fanciful delusions about the blood money you were bathing in? And as for people stumbling on our operation; we have powerful backers. Who are you afraid of? Or... is it someone you're afraid for?"

"Leave Ren out of this, Phineus," Finch snapped. "He's better than this. He deserves better."

"That's up to him, isn't it?" Phineus responded silkily. He had the advantage now, and he knew it. "Ren will come around - he trusts me."

"More fool him." Finch's tone was quietly bitter. "If you drag him into the operation, I'll expose this whole mess. I don't care what happens to me. I was running on borrowed time anyway."

There was a longer pause. Yanagi could sense the tension under the gentle crackling of the audio.

"I see your shifts in the Hollow have been tough on you," Phineus said finally. The menace in his voice was poorly contained. "Why don't you take a few days off to recover? I'm afraid I must insist."

The recording ended in the middle of Finch's response, which consisted primarily of extremely unprofessional language. Ren looked aghast and the other Investigators were both grimacing - despite having presumably heard the audio before - but Lark wasn't done yet.

"Play the next one," he insisted, apparently unconcerned about Ren's fragile state of mind.

Yanagi was beginning to understand why Lark looked as unmoored as he did, though. The revelation of a trusted authority figure and colleague conspiring to produce a horrifying drug was not an easy one to accept. And if he had put together the timeline of the recording, the researcher might have also recognised the correlation between Phineus's operation and the recent Hollow disaster. It certainly wasn't a difficult picture to assemble for Yanagi, as this new evidence matched all the pieces in her possession.

She looked in Harumasa's direction to confirm that they were on the same page, only to find him staring at Ren instead. His face was impassive, the blank mask a nigh impenetrable shield around his true emotions. For a moment, he looked incredibly alone.

A sharp burst of static distracted Yanagi before she could reach out to him, and Harumasa's attention immediately focused back on the camera in Ren's hands. Yanagi followed his example.

The second recording had started — but it was quickly apparent that the device's input mechanism had been damaged somehow. The sound quality had deteriorated, with frequent distortions in the audio. Even Yanagi's sharp hearing couldn't make out some of the words.

"... stop moving ..."

"What a moron... we ... "

"... awake..."

"Where... am I?"

That last voice was familiar - it was Finch. His words were slurred, almost as if half asleep. They were also clearer than the unknown number of people with him, presumably since the recording device was attached to his person.

"... you recognise ... Hollow?" 

"Hygieia?" Finch groaned out, sounding pained. "What are you doing... How... "

"Boss's orders." One of the other voices suddenly increased in clarity, as if they had leaned closer to the recording device. "We shoot you up with this stuff and discard ... You can turn ... Ethereals."

Ren gasped in a sharp breath at the stranger's jeering and held it as the background noise spiked abruptly. Yanagi caught footsteps and the deep rumble of a fissure; the thugs were entering the Hollow with their captive.

The next seven and a half minutes of the recording were filled with miscellaneous sounds of movement and pain as Finch was dragged to some prearranged point in the Hollow, heedless of whatever injuries he had sustained. Ren had resumed breathing again, but every inhale was quick and shallow, matching Finch's own.

Just as Yanagi was about to suggest switching off the device to give them all a break, near silence claimed the recording once again. Only a faint crackling sound was audible, like that of rapidly growing Ether crystals.

And then Finch's voice filtered back in, weak and distorted and thick with tears.

"Ren... I'm... sor... "

His final words were strangled by the roar of a newborn Ethereal. 

The recording - mercifully - ended there.

Chapter Text

"Three... Two... One... Now."

Following Tsukishiro's count, Harumasa and Adler lifted Amano up between them, setting him upright. He swayed momentarily, discomfort crossing his face, before he tentatively set his weight onto his healthy leg. Even though he wouldn't have felt any actual 'pain' within the Hollow, Harumasa knew that injuries here came with their own variety of phantom sensation. It wasn't a pleasant feeling by any means.

It was definitely inadvisable to move a patient with a broken leg like this, but between Hygieia's healing atmosphere and the danger of Ethereals and insidious Corruption, escaping as quickly as possible with maximum mobility was the lesser evil. They'd also heavily padded the splint around Amano's leg to reduce the likelihood of turning the clean break into complex fractures if they ran into a fight.

"Your turn, Lark," Harumasa said, nodding at the researcher. He had calmed down a little after showing Ren the recordings, but Harumasa wasn't entirely sure that he wouldn't bolt at the first sign of trouble.

Then again, maybe that was an uncharitable assessment. Lark had chosen to be the first line of defense in the transmission station. It didn't particularly matter that he had been so eager to pass on his burden of knowledge to someone else.

Pleasantly unaware of Harumasa's doubts, Lark slipped his arm around the back of Amano's torso. In a matter of seconds, he and Harumasa switched places. Now the researcher was the one supporting Amano. Luckily, they'd been quick enough that the injured agent's balance hadn't been overly disrupted.

"How are you feeling, Amano?" Tsukishiro inquired gently. "Any discomfort?"

The rookie agent gingerly tested his balance and winced. "No pain, Ma'am, but it feels... very strange. I believe I'll be able to walk on it for a little while at least."

"I commend your bravery," Tsukishiro said with a reassuring smile, before turning to their Bangboo. "Calculate the shortest path out of the Hollow please. Factor in a moderate accessibility requirement."

She seemed entirely oblivious to the excited little nudging war that occurred between Amano and Adler at the praise, but Harumasa could tell from the faint flush to her cheeks that she was just too embarrassed to acknowledge it.

"Eh-na... Wata-nhe. Eh-nu-na." (Calculating route... The fastest path to the Hollow exit is through Sector HY-6-8. Warning: this zone has previously shown trends of high Ether activity.)

"We'll have to take our chances, unfortunately." The Deputy Chief adjusted her glasses and extended her naginata. "Begin navigation."

The Bangboo's route ran through several dilapidated buildings, largely due to some kind of massive structural damage to the main roads. Harumasa caught a glimpse through a window; long stretches of the road had fragmented into large, jagged chunks, a sight more befitting the icebergs he had seen in a documentary on the Old Civilisation than solid ground.

Not even the innocuous carpet of greenery over it all could disguise the sheer scale of the destruction. Calling it "structural damage" was an understatement. Harumasa hoped they wouldn't run into whatever was responsible for that.

The journey indoors wasn't particularly easy either. The buildings were in slightly better shape overall, but they had also clearly received the fallout of the damage outside. Many of the floors were slanted, missing, or were blocked by collapsed walls and ceilings. It was a workout that wouldn't have been out of place in a H.A.N.D. physical assessment.

Harumasa scouted the entrance and exit to the next building over - both thankfully intact this time - before doubling back two corridors and one room to check on the main squad. Tsukishiro and Ren seemed fine, as expected, but Amano was quiet and sluggish. His face was very pale and he clearly had his jaw clenched with every step he took.

"All clear ahead," Harumasa reported, exchanging significant looks with Tsukishiro.

"Understood," she said, catching his meaning. "Let's take a quick rest for gear checks."

Amano heaved a faint sigh of relief as he was lowered carefully to the ground and Adler looked gratefully towards Tsukishiro as she sat next to her partner. Meanwhile, Lark had flopped down too, panting heavily. As a researcher with the White Star Institute, this was probably a lot more exercise than he was used to.

Harumasa started towards their supply bags, intending to pass some water around, but Tsukishiro caught up to him quickly.

"You should take a break too," she said. "You've been covering more ground than anyone else."

Harumasa waved the concern aside. "I'm fine, Deputy Chief. We should be close to Sector HY-6-8 now - I'll rest when we get out of the Hollow."

Tsukishiro stared him down wordlessly.

... All right, maybe a short break wouldn't hurt. Why did she have to be so terrifying?

While Tsukishiro made rounds to test everyone's gear with a portable Pressure detector, Harumasa grabbed a bottle of water and sat down a fair way off from the other agents, next to Ren. He took a quick gulp himself and then offered the rest to the lead investigator.

Ren didn't seem particularly interested in drinking, but he took the bottle and had a mouthful. Then he proceeded to stare silently across the room at the curtain of leafy vines that stretched across a good half of the wall, as if his gaze could pierce the shadows behind them. Whatever was going through his head likely wasn't pleasant.

For a moment, Harumasa considered talking to him. It wasn't as if this was an unfamiliar situation. But looking at the tense line of the man's jaw and hearing his stiff swallow, the words stuck in his throat.

What would Ren do, now that his master had been exposed for the reprehensible person he was? Would he spend long nights questioning which side of him was real and which wasn't? Would he despair over his own worth, wondering if he'd ever be enough for someone?

Or would he vow to accept things for what they were, but never let anyone in that close again?

As for Finch's fate, Harumasa wasn't going to think about it too hard. The man had met an unfortunate end; though perhaps a fitting one for his crimes.

Would Asaba Harumasa's final breaths be recorded anywhere? Would anyone care enough to miss him, to shed tears over him...?

Would his end be just as disgusting and pitiful and—

He wasn't thinking about it at all, no.

"Investigator Ren. How is your gear faring?" Tsukishiro's voice startled both Harumasa and Ren slightly.

Ren cleared his throat before answering.

"Nothing seems broken or unstable, Miss Tsukishiro."

"Good. Your colleagues' equipment has obviously received more damage, but it's nothing too serious besides Amano. He may be able to hold out for about an hour before his corruption symptoms intensify." Tsukishiro remained as professional as ever as she updated them on the situation.

"We shouldn't be too far from HY-6-8 now," Harumasa volunteered. "With any luck, we'll be clocking out in time for a very late lunch."

He painted a brazen smile on his face as he hopped to his feet. "Though as elite agents, I'm sure we won't need luck."

Ren didn't quite manage to hide the incredulity on his face at the audacity in that statement. Harumasa was very familiar with that expression - it was better than despair or hopelessness after all.

"Oh, and by the way, would you mind giving me a moment with our Lead Investigator here?" Harumasa added cheerily.

Tsukishiro gave him a sharp look, likely warning him not to wind Ren up too much again, but she did walk back towards the rest of their party without hesitation. Ren looked thoroughly wary now, but he stood up anyway.

"Is there something... you wanted to say to me?" he asked, his voice rough and a little unsteady. He seemed to be braced for some kind of verbal blow.

Harumasa gave him a pleasant smile.

"Do you remember when I said that I had a mentor like yours?" he began, his tone light. "Well, I just thought I'd dispense a little wisdom - as your senior, of course~ No matter what happens, the choices you make now are your own. So... don't think too hard about what other people want you to do, all right?"

Harumasa patted him on the shoulder and swiftly made an about turn towards the exit, saluting the other agents on his way. Adler and Amano waved back in response, though the gesture was understandably more muted in Amano's case. Tsukishiro just sighed in the face of his antics.

He turned back just once, catching sight of Ren standing in place, examining the half-full water bottle in his hands with a thoughtful light in his eyes. Harumasa closed his hands around the handles of his blades, hard enough to hide their trembling. Perhaps it had been worth talking to him after all.

According to the Bangboo, their escape route ran through the streets for two hundred metres, and then into another building on the left. Harumasa was most of the way through scouting out and placing markers on the most solid path along the road when his radio crackled.

"It's Tsukishiro." The Deputy Chief sounded concerned. "We have a problem. Our navigation is compromised."

That... was really not good.

"Acknowledged," he responded. "I'm returning to the squad."

The navigation Bangboo was slumped over, muttering gibberish when Harumasa met back up with the rest of the team with all possible haste. Its visual display blinked a red error message. Ren and Adler were supporting Amano now; Lark was crouched over the Bangboo, muttering under his breath.

"... Don't understand. I can't find any hardware errors."

"So it's software related?" Tsukishiro asked. "Oh, there you are, Asaba."

Harumasa raised a hand in greeting. "What's the situation, Deputy Chief?"

"We'd just made it out of the building when the Bangboo announced that we had reached Sector HY-6-8 and stopped working near immediately. It also mentioned high Ether Activity in the vicinity," Tsukishiro summarised.

"It's most likely a software error, yes," interjected Lark. "I'd have to run a diagnostic scan and do a system reset to fix the problem though..."

He hesitated there. Tsukishiro came to his rescue.

"In the worst case scenario, we can follow the previous navigation details. Asaba, how far ahead have you scouted?"

"It's not quite to the building yet, but I've got a relatively clear path marked up to approximately three quarters of the way there."

"Good work," Tsukishiro said with an approving nod. "If we keep the pace up, we can regroup—"

She paused mid-sentence, drawing her naginata in a sharp, smooth motion. A second later, a deep, raspy bellow echoed out across the road.

Adler, Amano, and Lark instantly tensed. Lark's face drained of all its colour, nearly matching the white of his uniform.

"That's... That's him! It's Finch!" he gasped. Amano nodded in agreement, eyes wide.

From the opposite side of the road, the Ethereal in question lumbered into view, ribbons of mist streaming off its form.

It had an appearance similar to that of a Fossor, with a hunched, muscular torso and disproportionately large wrists, although it was far more heavily armoured than normal. The area where its core would be was protected by an opaque dome - strongly reminiscent of the bubble helmets worn by H.I.A Investigators. Jagged, knife-like claws looked to be its primary weapons.

Leafy vines trailed off its shoulders and wrapped around its torso - a common characteristic of Hygieia Hollow's Ether Mutants. However, this Ethereal was very clearly a Corrupted. There was something uniquely recognisable about the distorted traces of humanity, like the echoes of a lingering, silent scream.

So, this was what Finch had become in the end...

"Red Ether markings... If this is a Fossor variant, I believe it might be weak to fire, with no particular resistances," Tsukishiro said softly. Her expression, surprisingly, wasn't horrified or disgusted. She only seemed... sad.

Was she feeling sympathy for the monster before them? Or was it just general regret that the situation had to come to this? Tsukishiro always did have a soft heart.

Ren looked stricken.

The crunch of Etheric matter was loud as Ethereal-Finch stepped forward, shifting its head as if scanning its environment. Then it froze in place, locking its gaze on their party.

The veins of Ether around its arms began to glow brighter.

"Run," Harumasa said softly, nocking an arrow. "I'll cover you."

Tsukishiro gave him a grim nod and firmly nudged Lark, who was still kneeling on the ground. "Let's get going. Follow the X markers on the road."

Lark stumbled to his feet and awkwardly broke into a run. Amano and the two supporting him started moving too, although Ren kept casting glances back at the Ethereal, as if trying to memorise its appearance.

"We'll be waiting for you, Executive Officer Asaba. I trust you'll return soon." With that, Tsukishiro fell into formation, leaving Harumasa to his careful vigil.

The Ethereal had been making constant low growls that gradually increased in intensity, but as the main body of the squad disappeared behind an almost vertical chunk of asphalt and vegetation, it finally lunged.

Harumasa fired without hesitation, straight at the head of the monster. The arrow clanged sharply against its 'helmet' and the Ethereal stopped in its tracks, turning slightly to face him. It didn't seem hurt, although that hadn't necessarily been the intention behind the shot.

Good. Now to keep its attention.

Harumasa reset his shooting stance and launched five arrows in quick succession. They bit deep into the cracks in the Ethereal's armour and it let out a ferocious screech, charging at him with intent.

He danced aside as those wickedly sharp claws reached for him, tossing out a handful of electro quivers. He'd conserve them if he had teammates to back him up, but there was no use being stingy with them now. The crackle and snap of electricity sang alongside his bowstring as he ducked around the Ethereal and sunk another arrow into its vulnerable back.

The incensed roar that followed his attack told Harumasa that Ethereal-Finch must have felt some brief sensation of pain despite Hygieia's mist. It swung around much faster than Harumasa had anticipated and closed the distance between them. He dodged and whirled around consecutive slashes that threatened to rip him in half, then retaliated by snapping apart Dormant Tide to carve up its side.

He managed to score a deep gash through its tough armour and into the softer tissue below, but unexpectedly, the Ethereal didn't so much as stumble. It simply lashed out again with its claws, grinding a stray section of asphalt into pieces.

Harumasa immediately dashed back out of range, reassembling his bow as he went.

Something wasn't right. He couldn't stun or apply anomalies to foes as easily as his colleagues, but that was a decent amount of damage that the Ethereal had just taken. He should have at least Shocked it by now.

Then, before his eyes, vibrant green leaves and stems sprouted from the gash he'd cut in the Ethereal's armour, filling in the gap until it looked solid enough to take another hit. Was the Hollow actively healing it?

Harumasa frowned. Well that was just rude. And concerning.

He quickly swung himself up onto a tall, scrub-covered boulder - clear of the sea of mist below - and rained down more arrows upon the Ethereal. They whistled through the air, discharging strong electric shocks on contact. He watched as more vines grew from the new wounds, blending into the monster's uneven body.

So... taking it down by himself was probably inadvisable, if possible at all. Harumasa wet his lips in consideration, observing the Ethereal as it clumsily grabbed at the arrows sprouting from its hide, leaving self-inflicted cuts behind.

He could still lure it away.

Metre by metre, weaving around debris and hopping from one precarious foothold to the next, Harumasa enticed the Ethereal down the main road - away from his team. Sweat trickled from his hairline and dampened his headband and his shirt stuck unpleasantly to his skin, but his arms and back didn't ache in the slightest. They probably would when they finally got out of the Hollow.

Unfortunately, Ethereal-Finch didn't seem to tire either. And between it and Harumasa, he didn't want to find out which of them would survive a serious injury.

Harumasa was just scrambling onto what might once have been a car - but was now just a metal skeleton overgrown by thick moss - when the Ethereal paused in its single-minded chase. Not even a rapid burst of arrows to its flank would move it.

He disassembled his bow, prepared to step into melee range should the monster insist on backtracking. Thankfully, it appeared to simply be focused on a random office building. On closer inspection, mist seemed to pour out of the shattered windows and destroyed entryway instead of swirling evenly around them.

It likely hosted a Corrupted Resin formation, he realised. Corrupted human or not, Ethereal-Finch wasn't immune to its allure.

This called for a change of plans. Harumasa rolled off the roof of the dilapidated automobile, and crouched quietly out of sight behind it. He watched with bated breath as the Ethereal took slow, lumbering steps and finally dropped on all fours to squeeze itself into the building. Concrete and foliage crumbled in its wake, but the sound of footsteps eventually receded enough that Harumasa couldn't hear them anymore.

All right then. Maybe that problem had taken care of itself for now. He allowed himself a quick laugh of surprise, before sprinting back off towards the rendezvous point; only stopping to pick up stray arrows. Unless something had gone horribly wrong, he should have bought enough time for everyone to have made it to relative safety.

"Asaba here," he breathed into his radio, as coherently as possible while traversing a structurally unsound surface at top speed. "The Ethereal is... occupied for now. I'm headed back. What's your status?"

There was a momentary crackle of static on the other end of the line before the Deputy Chief's voice came through, missing just the slightest bit of her usual composure.

"This is Tsukishiro. Good work. We're camped in the target building - all squad members secure."

"Appreciate the update, Deputy Chief. See you guys soon~"

It was a relief to know that no one had been seriously injured on the journey there, especially as the street was nearly impassable on the last stretch with how torn up it was. Harumasa occasionally caught sight of dark, bottomless rifts that were barely visible through the pale layers of mist. They looked like hungry, gaping maws; one wrong step, and they'd swallow an unwitting person without hesitation.

Harumasa had been mentally keeping track of this progress to the rendezvous point - judging distance with only his eyes was his bread and butter, after all - but it turned out that Tsukishiro had helpfully snagged one of his little X markers to place at the entrance. He paused in front of it, panting a little from the workout.

It was a clinic. Harumasa stared at the almost entirely overgrown cross outside, its red paint chipped and fading, and wondered whether he'd really been cursed somehow to always end up back at the hospital.

If that wasn't unsettling enough, he immediately noticed a change in the mist inside the clinic; it now reached just above his knees, almost entirely obscuring the carpet of vegetation on the floor. Even the quiet, rhythmic crunch of the rapidly disintegrating and regrowing Etheric matter as he walked through the foyer was muted.

None of the lights were working, but the river of mist around his feet glowed an eerie white. The vines webbing across the ceiling tiles also pulsed intermittently, bright green flecks of Ether lighting up like fireflies in the gloom.

Two-thirds of the way through his cautious stalk across the reception area, a graceful figure stepped out of an adjacent corridor with a distinct clicking sound, bladed weapon in hand.

Relief hit Harumasa like one of his own arrows, piercing deep into his chest. It was Tsukishiro.

She looked a little dishevelled, but her eyes were bright behind her glasses. She didn't have any visible injuries, beyond the occasional gritty smudge on her skin and clothes - dirt, not blood.

Harumasa raised his bow in greeting. "Hey, Tsukishiro!"

"Good to see you, Asaba," she replied warmly, doing her own scan of his appearance. Seemingly satisfied, she retracted her blade and gestured at him to walk with her. "What happened to the Ethereal?"

"Distracted by a Corrupted Resin formation," Harumasa explained, turning into the corridor leading to... the pharmacy apparently. "Hopefully it should stay put for a while. But... something's not right about that Ethereal."

"Do you mean how unusually aggressive it is for a Corrupted that was Etherialized over a week ago?"

Harumasa grimaced. "Well yes... and no. When I fought it, the Hollow seemed to be actively healing it. Every one of its wounds were filled in by that Ether plant stuff. And it feels pain on impact, but I don't think it can be stunned or shocked."

Tsukishiro looked at him sharply before turning back to their path, wary of missteps. As they passed yet another door sealed shut by thick vines, her lips pursed in contemplation.

"A unique healing mechanism... " she murmured. "Perhaps it is an interaction between the Incense that was introduced into his system and the Hollow itself?"

"Seems possible," Harumasa agreed. "What a pain though. I'm definitely requesting overtime pay for this, Deputy Chief."

"Hmm... We'll see about that."

"That's just mean, Tsukishiro—"

A sudden gasp came from up ahead, just past the end of the corridor, and both of them were immediately back on high alert.

Harumasa almost sprinted into the next room, only to be met with the three HIA investigators standing - or leaning, in Amano's case - in a loose ring around Lark. The researcher was just getting to his feet himself, dusting off his blue gloves.

The Bangboo they were all looking intently at made gratifying recalibration noises.

"Ehn-na. Wata-na. (Recalculating: Hollow Exit located twenty metres above. Fissure detected.)"

"It works!" Adler whisper-screamed in delight, crouching down to give the Bangboo an aggressive hug. Lark's shoulders slumped in relief and so did Harumasa's, somewhat less dramatically.

"You're back, Sir Asaba!"

Evidently, Amano had noticed his arrival. Adler cheered. Even Ren and Lark looked surprisingly relieved.

"Hello, everyone! Miss me?" Harumasa winked playfully at them.

"Everyone was worried about you, Mr. Asaba," Adler said with a sunny smile. "We're glad you're all right."

Harumasa was fairly certain that she was exaggerating, but he tried to assuage her concerns anyway.

"Ah it was no big deal. I'm a lot tougher than I look, you know~ Although... "

Harumasa's projected bravado diminished as he quickly described the situation with Ethereal-Finch, and so did the general mood of the room.

"It might be best to leave as soon as possible," he finished. "It's a good thing that our Carrot is functional again."

Tsukishiro cleared her throat from behind him. "Indeed. Good work on fixing the Bangboo, Lark. Did you diagnose the cause of the crash?"

Lark flexed his hands restlessly, rubbing his thumb in circles over his index finger. More anxious behaviour.

"About that... The crash report was due to an infinite loop generated in one of the Bangboo's navigational plugins. The condition to trigger the loop was linked to the Carrot data; whenever the Bangboo reached a particular location on the map, it would activate the programming and overload its navigation system. According to the system changelogs, the error code was distributed and deployed across multiple Bangboo units roughly two weeks ago."

Harumasa blinked at the barrage of technical language. Tsukishiro looked similarly blank.

"What he's saying, is that someone deliberately set a trap to prevent anyone from entering and then escaping Sector HY-6-8," Ren summarised. His expression was dour - probably because there was really only one party who was likely to be responsible for deliberately tampering with the base camp's resources.

"We... never reached this sector with our Bangboo," Adler said slowly. "It was destroyed in our encounter with that Ethereal back in Sector HY-6-7."

"Betrayal was inevitable then, whether we discovered that audio log or not," Amano added, disgust curling his upper lip.

There was a moment of grim silence.

"We need to move quickly then," Tsukishiro said finally, pushing her glasses up decisively. "But be cautious. We don't know if the plugin error was the only attempt at sabotage. The mapping data itself being faulty could be a potential secondary trap. And this area is unstable - we don't want to be trapped here."

Yikes. Harumasa sincerely hoped that Phineus really wasn't as devious as Tsukishiro, because they didn't have much choice beyond trusting the Bangboo's directions.

Twenty metres above them meant that they needed to use a crumbling flight of stairs, which seemed to be largely held together by vegetative Etheric matter... what could be seen of it through the mist, anyway. It was a tense journey - for Amano especially. Even if he didn't feel the pain now, he'd need medical attention as soon as he was out of the Hollow to ensure that there wouldn't be any complications.

The Bangboo indicated a left turn into their destination with a series of cheerful grunts, and they were faced with a normal clinic door - which was also abnormally covered in plants, hanging off its hinges, and needed to be kicked in for access. A barely visible sign on a nearby wall featured the characters for 'blood' on its surface. This was most likely a phlebotomy room - although it felt more like a portent of danger.

Both the mist and the foliage grew thicker in the disused blood testing room. The shapes of examination tables and upturned chairs were barely distinguishable from wildly overgrown shrubbery, and the walls bulged with strange, twisting shapes. Despite the ambient lighting, Harumasa could still only see a few metres in front of him. This... would definitely be the perfect place for an ambush.

But the room seemed empty and still, aside from the faint, regular tremor in the air that was probably caused by the pulsating purple fissure ahead of them. It had a magnetic effect on all of them, freezing them in their tracks with the irresistible lure of escape.

Harumasa took a deep breath - in and out. With any luck, this was the real exit. If not... well, they'd keep going until they found it.

"I'll go through first," Ren offered. "We can prepare some kind of rope system to identify whether the environment ahead is safe—"

The ominous screech of tearing concrete echoed into the room, interrupting him.

That was the only warning they received before Ethereal-Finch exploded through the side wall with the force of a train, almost taking Ren's head off. Harumasa shoved him down at the very last second and they both went rolling out of the way.

The navigation Bangboo wasn't quite so lucky; the Ethereal caught it at an angle, and there was what could only be described as a moist, crunching sound as the top third of its body was pulverised. It was most certainly non-functional now, if not entirely unrecoverable. Harumasa felt a pang of regret as he regained his feet.

"No, no, no, no—" There was a clear expanse of white around Lark's irises as he stumbled away from the scene. "Why is it here?!"

He sunk into himself, finally entirely overwhelmed by the situation. Great.

The Ethereal, apparently realising that the Bangboo wasn't its intended prey, withdrew back into the thick mist behind the broken wall.

"What's the plan, Deputy Chief?" Harumasa asked, taking a moment to scan the room for the rest of the team - all more or less in one piece - before coming up on Tsukishiro's left. He was careful to avoid the business end of her naginata.

"You're better in close quarters. I'll hold it off here and you evacuate the others," Tsukishiro ordered. She tilted her head, listening for some cue only she could hear before darting off, as swift as a strike of lightning. The mist swallowed her form in moments.

The clash of metal against Ethereal claws rang out, the sound muffled and distant through the wall. Harumasa quickly moved to see to the other agents.

Amano and Adler looked panicked, clinging to each other in a desperate attempt to keep upright. Harumasa wasted no time in slipping his shoulder under Amano's, offering extra support to get them moving. There was no longer any time for safety checks - they'd just have to trust their luck.

In a quick movement, Harumasa retrieved a card from his jacket and slid it into Adler's pocket.

"As soon as you get out of the Hollow, keep an eye on each other's conditions," he instructed, keeping his voice calm. "It's going to be pretty rough, but I have faith in your abilities. Call the number on that card as soon as you can and tell them that you need an emergency evac. Understood?"

They both nodded, expressions torn between fear and determination, and Harumasa stepped away to let them stumble through the fissure.

Lark was still hunched over in place like an abandoned sock-puppet. If reality was a hotel, he'd have absconded via the balcony and left his luggage at the checkout counter. He didn't resist as Harumasa grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him to his feet.

Between one blink and the next, the Ethereal appeared behind them again, massive claws swinging down to catch Lark in the back. Ren leaped forward to parry the hit and his knees nearly buckled under the sheer force of the attack.

A thunderous crack resounded through the room; Tsukishiro had taken the opportunity to stab the Ethereal through the helmet from behind. Bits of concrete crunched under her heels from the impact of her landing.

Unfortunately, it seemed to consider this just a minor inconvenience. A profusion of leaves sprouted from inside the cracked dome of its head, sealing over the damage in seconds. It didn't so much as flinch.

The benefit of Tsukishiro's attack was that Ethereal-Finch refocused on her, entirely ignoring Ren now. She zig-zagged away with all the swiftness of electric current, and it gave chase, disappearing into the fog away from the rest of the group.

Harumasa saw his chance and all but shoved Lark through the fissure. He'd apologise for the manhandling later. Maybe. Then he turned to Ren.

"You evacuate too," Harumasa said. "We'll take care of the Ethereal."

Ren's face screwed up on the other side of his protective helmet. "But I can fight—"

Harumasa didn't point out the way he was panting heavily, or that his arms were trembling after just one clash with the Ethereal. He didn't think Ren would care.

"You're needed out there," he reasoned instead. "Those three aren't in any state to protect themselves."

... The primary danger outside being Phineus and whomever else he was working with, of course.

Was it cruel to stop Ren from fighting his murderous friend-turned-Ethereal, only to use him as a shield against his treacherous mentor immediately afterwards? Yes, undoubtedly.

If he remained in the Hollow, his chances of survival were low; he would likely never have to confront Phineus and the reality of what he'd done. Ren knew this on some level. If he decided to stay, Harumasa wouldn't stop him.

But everyone deserved a helping hand sometimes.

Harumasa leaned in close, ensuring that the audio input ports on Ren's gear would pick up his words clearly over the muffled noise of the battlefield. His own distorted reflection stretched across the surface of Ren's helmet; for a moment, it felt almost like he was speaking to that "self" too.

"Do you want to die as a victim betrayed by his closest allies? Or do you want your life to have meaning?"

For a moment, Ren was as still and silent as stone; only the shiver of his body with every breath proved beyond a doubt that he was alive. Then tears welled in his eyes, as if his emotions had finally caught up to him.

"I... I'll protect them," he vowed, voice hoarse with unspoken feelings.

Harumasa gave him a sharp nod.

"Take this with you."

He swiftly gathered up the remains of the navigation Bangboo, bundled them in his jacket, and thrust the whole package into Ren's arms, ignoring the disturbing sounds it made. Perhaps there might be some hope for it too.

Ren seemed to understand the sentiment and took off running without complaint. His head was held high with new resolve. Harumasa spared a moment to watch him disappear into the fissure.

Then he turned back to the battle, chasing the crackle and ring of electrified steel.

He found Tsukishiro at the apex of the stairs, using the high ground to aim her strikes at the Ethereal's more vulnerable head. New growth painted wide stretches of its shoulders and torso a verdant green.

"Evacuation complete," Harumasa reported, firing a shot past the arc of her blade. It sunk into one of Ethereal-Finch's soft joints and discharged a high voltage shock.

The monster descended into a violent frenzy of attacks, cutting into the material of the staircase like butter. The entire structure groaned and crumbled inwards, sending the Ethereal plummeting down into the pharmacy.

It hit the ground with an almighty crash of stone and glass, and an ear-splitting screech. Harumasa tossed a few electro quivers after it to keep it busy.

"You were right, by the way," Tsukishiro said, her breathing strained from fighting. She glanced down quickly at the thrashing form of the Ethereal. "It doesn't seem to be affected by disorder either."

"Let's go," Harumasa said in response. That sounded like an excellent reason to retreat now and come back later.

"We'll stand a much better chance with Chief's level of raw force," Tsukishiro mused. Thankfully, she seemed to be in agreement. "Section Six, strategic retreat."

"There's just the two of us here, Deputy Chief," Harumasa said with a laugh. If Chief Miyabi were here, she would have called that a "cool line" or something similar.

Tsukishiro rolled her eyes at him, but there was a fond smile on her face. "Would you rather I said 'half of Section Six'?"

Harumasa was about to counter with a snarky response, when the entire building shook.

"What—?!"

"The building is collapsing - look out!"

Tsukishiro pulled him away from the destroyed stairs before he could stumble over the edge, grabbing his arm with an iron grip. Great cracks opened up in the floor right in front of their eyes. The walls and ceiling shuddered, and chunks of rubble rained down like unseasonable hail.

Harumasa made a desperate lunge for the room with the exit - Tsukishiro right behind him - but the doorway had already crumbled into a precarious pile of rubble. The violet glow of the fissure seemed to mock them from between the cracks.

Then, with a deafening roar, the ground under their feet collapsed entirely, replaced by yawning darkness. Tsukishiro's grip on his wrist slipped away.

They fell.

Chapter Text

Regaining consciousness in the middle of a Hollow was definitely against most medical advice, but Harumasa was uncomfortably familiar with the feeling. The reek of disinfectant that surrounded him was unfortunately another fairly typical scenario too.

Nothing hurt though. And the vibrant green vines that rose up around him, cradling his body, were almost pleasant to look at. As far as post-battle awakenings went, he'd give it a three star rating out of five.

When the clinic collapsed under them, Harumasa had instinctively tucked and rolled, aiming to land safely on his feet like he had done many times before. But he'd gotten entangled in a stray cluster of plant matter... and then a chunk of debris slammed him square across the chest, knocking him entirely off balance. At some point between then and now, he'd hit something else and blacked out.

Considering the scale of damage to the infrastructure, whatever pit had opened up under the building and the roads had been a long time coming - but at least the ground seemed stable for the moment. The vines still wrapped around him obscured his vision to some degree, but Harumasa could tell that he was in some kind of cave. A dirt wall curved up around the far edge of his vision and there was soil and rock below him, almost entirely unobscured by the ubiquitous mist. The area seemed quiet enough, but that could change in an instant.

It was time for his first order of business. Harumasa rolled onto his side, far enough that he could grab the handles of one of his blades. The locking mechanism was tricky to work around, but eventually, he had Dormant Blossom in his hand.

He carefully extracted himself from the cage of vines onto firmer ground, slicing apart the thicker stems with his sword. Unlike the brittle vegetation in the rest of the Hollow, these vines didn't crumble immediately. Instead, they hung loose like frayed electrical cables, dripping liquid, iridescent Ether like blood.

All the jostling it had taken to get back on his feet hadn't sat well with his body. Even though there was no pain to speak of, Harumasa could distantly feel the sickening sensation of bone grinding inside his chest. If something wasn't at least fractured in there, he'd treat Soukaku to hotpot later.

Tsukishiro was lying face down in her own loose tangle of plants a few metres away, completely limp. The nauseated feeling migrated to the pit of Harumasa's stomach.

He sheathed his blade and picked his way over to her as quickly as he dared, wary of loose rubble.

"Deputy Chief? Tsukishiro?" he called, voice hushed. There was no response.

" ... Yanagi?"

She didn't stir until he gently patted her shoulder. Her low murmur as she lifted her head sent a flare of relief through him. Her hair was barely clinging to its braid and her glasses bore a distinct crack through one of the lenses, distorting the view of the iris behind it.

"Harumasa?" The Deputy Chief's voice sounded groggy as she squinted up at him. She got her hands beneath her and began to push herself up. There were several small abrasions on her skin that were slowly sealing over. "Are you—"

She promptly leaned over the edge of her vine-bed and threw up.

She was kind enough to face away from where Harumasa was standing, although they'd both gotten a lot worse on them before. He was quick to hold her bangs back for her, employing his free hand to stop her from tipping forward.

Perhaps weirdly, they'd been in a similar situation before; although their current predicament was slightly more serious than karaoke night gone wrong.

Tsukishiro eventually seemed to regain her equilibrium and accepted a handkerchief to wipe her mouth with. She sat stiffly, both hands clutching the foliage around her for balance.

"How do you feel, Deputy Chief?" Harumasa asked quietly.

"... Dizzy. Everything is un... unstable. Blurry. Ears ringing." Her words were clipped and slightly slurred - not a good sign. Harumasa shifted to examine her face, relieved when he didn't see any inequality in her pupils or fluid leaks from her nose.

"I'm going to touch your head now, ok? Tell me if anything hurts."

She only blinked at him in response, but voiced no complaints as Harumasa slowly and gently probed her scalp. Her hair was warm and slightly damp with sweat.

Tsukishiro made a soft hiss of discomfort as his fingers brushed a swelling on the side of her head. Ah. As expected, she'd sustained a head injury. The lump wasn't very large in diameter, but even mild damage to the brain could be extremely dangerous. The dried blood that flaked onto his fingers was concerning too.

"You might have a concussion, Tsukishiro," Harumasa decided, deftly finger-combing her hair back into its loose braid for her. He had to pick out the shattered pieces of her earpiece first. "You should rest. I'll get us out of here."

Tsukishiro's fuzzy look of gratitude instantly morphed into a stubborn grimace. So that was clearly a lost cause.

"Where... are we... ?" she asked with slightly more force in her tone, though thankfully not attempting to look around yet. Harumasa dutifully scanned the area in her stead. Admittedly, he should - and normally would - have done that immediately, but he'd had more pressing concerns until now.

True to Harumasa's quick initial observation and general common sense, they appeared to be underground, in some kind of very large cavern. High walls of densely-packed dirt and stone rose behind them, curving until they disappeared into the soft shadows at the opposite end of the space. The mist was surprisingly thin down here, allowing for a decent field of vision. It probably wouldn't be a stretch to assume that they were in an almost perfectly round cavity.

Unexpectedly though, the 'roof' of the cavern had crumbled in, exposing a wide circle of greyish white sky. It was bright enough to cast a beam of light into the centre of the pit, illuminating it almost to the level of the surface. If he squinted, he could vaguely make out the shapes of leaves and hanging vines spilling over from high above.

This was a sinkhole. Harumasa had heard of similar collapses before - although the last one had been far off the coast of Port Elpis. He might almost be marvelling at the sight... if they weren't literally held captive by it. And also trapped in the middle of Hygieia Hollow.

A ring of rubble and dirt sloped down from the walls of the sinkhole, like a beach of urban debris; Harumasa spotted several fragments of tile, large chunks of concrete, and metal beams from the clinic. Veins of Ether glittered and pulsed around and between them, breaking up the dimness of the ground with flashes of colour.

But the most eye-catching part of the cavern was the sea of shining yellow flowers that grew beyond that border, stretching out as far as the eye could see. The light falling upon them gilded their upturned petals with pure, shimmering gold. It was as if the very stars had fallen from the heavens to rest in hell's basement.

There was also what looked like a lone, dying tree in the very centre of the field, but its silhouette was oddly blurry. He'd need a closer look... not that he thought it was a particularly good idea. Aside from the occasional shift in rubble, the immediate environment was deathly silent.

Harumasa was instantly twice as wary of the things that might be lurking down here.

He relayed his information back to Tsukishiro as concisely as possible, hoping that it didn't overwhelm her. Her eyelids fluttered a few times, apparently trying to process his report.

Then she spoke. "Help me... stand up."

"Wha— Tsukishiro, that's a terrible idea! You know the recommendations for concussions are an immediate hospital trip and light exercise at the most!"

Harumasa hoped that he sounded as appalled as he felt. Her sentences may have gotten more coherent, but her brain was clearly still scrambled. Tsukishiro turned her head to glare as if she could read his mind - although in her current state it was really more of a petulant scowl.

"Asaba... I'll give you... more paperwork."

"Tempting offer, but no thanks," Harumasa responded drily.

Realising that he probably wouldn't be swayed by the threat of paperwork, or the lack thereof, she planted her feet on the ground and stood up in a single, almost graceful motion. The key word being 'almost'. She immediately clutched at her head, tilting alarmingly off balance.

Harumasa was there in an instant, stabilising her with a hand around her torso and a muffled curse. They exchanged equally annoyed looks - well, once Tsukishiro had recovered anyway.

"Would it kill you to be a bit less difficult, Deputy Chief?" he complained between gritted teeth.

"I was about to... say the same. When did you... take your medicine last?"

"Please worry about yourself first. Which of us can actually stand up straight right now?" Harumasa countered, although he did sneak a look at the clock hands on Tsukishiro's naginata. Annoyingly, it was indeed past time for his afternoon medication. How did she even know that?

The Deputy Chief ignored his very valid point in favour of drawing the aforementioned weapon with her off hand and shakily driving it a few inches into the ground. She leaned heavily against it, using it as a cane. It was surprisingly effective at allowing her to stand without Harumasa's aid, so he cautiously let go and stepped away.

Tsukishiro gave him a little wobbly smirk. He rolled his eyes in response, but secretly, he was relieved. She seemed to be bouncing back to normal fairly quickly.

"Medicine," she reminded him.

Harumasa sighed pointedly, but dutifully reached for his medicine case. Luck - or more likely, the reinforced material that it was made of - had left his collection of pills in perfect condition. Which was a good thing, considering the way his vision dissolved in and out of static for the second time since he'd woken up in the sinkhole.

He knew that the nature of the emergency mission had let the Deputy Chief overlook the fact that he'd made himself sick from overworking just a day ago, but his body was certainly reminding him now. If he concentrated, he could feel the faint tremors running through his limbs like an electric current.

Harumasa swallowed the pills dry. Hopefully, they'd keep him going a little longer.

Tsukishiro made a face at him, which turned into a surprisingly blunt kind of curiosity.

"Do you have anything... for dizziness?" she asked. It was most certainly a question she wouldn't have asked entirely sober, which meant that her judgement was still compromised to some degree.

Harumasa scanned his medicine case quickly. Truthfully, he had so many kinds in there that it may well have just slipped his mind. Then again, vertigo was one of those symptoms that quickly fell by the wayside when the treatments for it conflicted with the myriad other medications that actually kept him alive and - more or less - functional.

"Sorry, no." As he'd guessed, he had no over-the-counter drugs on him at all. "I have some prescription painkillers, but they're the sort that'll knock you out if you're not used to them."

They'd also be entirely redundant in this particular Hollow. He really should start keeping normal emergency medicine on him - even just for civilians, if not his teammates.

Tsukishiro shrugged, apparently unbothered by his lack of preparation.

"It's fine. We need to... investigate the area first."

"We need to get out of here," he objected.

"And we will. But this... is an excellent opportunity... to collect more information," she pointed out.

Harumasa scowled. She was right. None of the scouting missions into Hygieia had ever turned up anything like this region. At least some of that was Phineus's handiwork, but Hygieia's level of spatial distortion was high enough that they might never have stumbled across the sinkhole anyway. Something about it felt important, as if the Hollow itself was holding its breath.

"Fine." He capitulated. "But if we need to fight, you take care of rear support. I'll be the primary combatant."

Close combat wasn't his specialty, but they didn't have many options.

"And don't use your W-Engine," Harumasa went on sternly, "unless it's a last resort. Let's not find out what it'll do to you in this state."

Tsukishiro shot him a look. It would've been terrifying, had she not been slightly cross-eyed from the probable concussion. Or maybe it was because of the damage to her glasses.

He shrugged. "What? Chief will have my head if you don't escape with all your smarts intact. Actually, no, we'd all be doomed. I'd seriously quit and join Section Five if I had to do all that paperwork~"

"Don't even... joke about that. If you defected to Section Five... I'd let Soukaku at you. No mercy." The Deputy Chief's tone was fearsome, but the tension in her face had dissipated.

Harumasa was all too familiar with being treated like glass because of physical infirmity, and it was rarely a pleasant feeling. Sweet red bean buns suited Tsukishiro better than the bitter medicine he'd gotten used to.

"Ahem. We should get moving," he said, shelving the topic quickly in case she had actually been serious with the threat.

He took a few tentative steps away from their landing point, testing both his own capability for movement and Tsukishiro's. His breathing didn't seem impeded - likely due to the anaesthetic mist - but that didn't mean he didn't have to be careful. A punctured lung sounded like a really bad idea. Tsukishiro followed his example, shakily at first, but then with more confidence.

With cautious steps, they made it down to the edge of the inexplicable flower field, picking their way around stray chunks of rubble from collapsed buildings. There was more light here, pouring from the hole in the ground above; details were easier to pick out.

The flowers came up to their knees, each with five gently curling petals shot through with streaks and spots of Ether. A prominent ring of pale stamens rose from their centres. They looked similar to the lilies that Tsukishiro often arranged to be sent for H.S.O funerals - except these were a brilliant, ethereal yellow in hue; a celebration of life instead of death.

The tree that grew in the centre of the field, by contrast, looked a single moment from rotting away entirely.

Unlike every other Etheric 'plant' in Hygieia, this one stood out for not having a single leaf. Its branches were a sickly beige colour, twisting and tangled beyond comprehension. Its trunk was stunted; ravaged by necrotic holes, knots, and bulging white scars - as if it had been brutalised by the elements and had somehow persisted through the storm at the cost of permanent disfigurement.

It was also... moving. The previous blurriness that Harumasa had registered was the result of slow, pulsing movements in the bark of the tree. The patterns in the wood rippled and writhed, like a nest of eels or snakes. Harumasa couldn't help the shudder that ran through his body; there was something incredibly uncanny about it that ran far deeper than just appearance.

Tsukishiro looked equally disturbed as she gazed upon the thing that looked like a tree. This wasn't anything like a Corrupted being. It was something that had never been alive in the first place. The gods themselves would have struck down this abomination if they could.

"Is that... an Ether Mutant?"

Harumasa's voice was more hushed than he had intended.

Tsukishiro shook her head slightly and winced immediately. "I'm... not sure."

They exchanged glances, holding a wordless conversation. That 'tree' could be the key to the mysteries of Hygieia Hollow. There was really no question about investigating further, even if Harumasa would rather do anything else. Paperwork was beginning to seem more appealing by the second.

A careful inspection of the flowers revealed nothing amiss - they remained innocuous and perfect as Harumasa and Tsukishiro waded through them. Stems crunched under their feet but didn't dissolve.

The pseudo-tree didn't get any less disturbing as they got closer. Harumasa caught the flickering of faint light under the layers of ever-shifting bark, like pure Ether was flowing through some mimicry of a vascular system. More strangely though, translucent golden stones were piled up around its roots, gradually disappearing under the carpet of flowers in a familiar spiralling pattern.

"A Corrupted Resin formation?" Tsukishiro murmured aloud, halting a few metres from the unruly mess of branches. Some of them were twitching faintly.

"A big one too," Harumasa agreed. If Corrupted Resin really was the source of Hygieia's anaesthetic mist, then why was there barely any of it down here? The most logical answer was that it had something to do with that tree.

"Deputy Chief, I—"

Harumasa stopped short as he felt the ground shake. Invisible trails rippled and flexed under his feet. His bow was in his hands in a matter of seconds as he hastily backed away. Tsukishiro did the same next to him, stumbling only slightly.

The Corrupted Resin at the base of the tree shifted, spilling outwards towards them with a sound like dennies pouring out of a bag. A large mass began to rise up from the centre of the formation, barely a step away from the trunk of the mysterious tree. It was somewhere between humanoid and plant, with four clawed limbs and foliage draping across its form like a cape. Its 'head' was smooth and round, interrupted only by a single cluster of dark green leaves, where Tsukishiro had struck a powerful blow.

It was Finch's Ethereal form.

Tsukishiro took a sharp breath next to him. "They can travel through the Resin formations?"

That would certainly explain a lot of things. But... Ethereal-Finch raised its head, focusing directly on them. Its veins glowed brighter.

"I think that's about to be the least of our worries."

Then the grating crunch of Etheric matter resounded across the field like a gunshot.

In the space between one blink and the next, a dozen branches and roots protruded through various parts of the Ethereal, effectively impaling it. The tree had moved so fast that Harumasa had barely seen it.

Ethereal-Finch made a sound horrifyingly close to a human scream.

Harumasa could only watch in stunned silence as the tree stretched out more unidentifiable tendrils, almost embracing Finch, drawing him back into itself. Furious roars and screeches vibrated through Harumasa's body as Ethereal and tree twisted into one another, the predator becoming unwitting prey. There was a primal savagery in the way branches distended around muscle and bark melted into armoured plates; an intimacy in the way that trailing vines met scars and gaping wounds. Ether flowed from exposed veins inside the tree and dripped down Finch's helmet like iridescent tears.

The false tree folded in on itself, extinguishing the sounds of the desperate Ethereal. All that remained of both entities was a desaturated, oblong mass that resembled nothing more than a massive cocoon spun from tree bark and twigs.

The entire process had taken less than two minutes.

"We're retreating. Now," the Deputy Chief said in a low voice. Harumasa briefly admired the fact that she managed to sound in control of the situation somehow. "Make for the far wall. If it hasn't collapsed recently, it might hold a stable escape route."

Without a navigation Bangboo, there was no way they'd find their way out of the Hollow, but at least they'd be away from immediate danger. Harumasa didn't hesitate to comply with the order. They made haste for the opposite end of the cavern, Tsukishiro moving as fast as she dared, and Harumasa keeping pace.

They were halfway to their destination when a sharp cracking sound echoed through the air. Harumasa glanced back. His eyes widened. A jagged gash had split the mass of Etheric matter along its dorsal surface, and a huge clawed fist was reaching out of it, like the germinating shoot of some kind of nightmare seed.

And then the cocoon exploded into pieces.

If Harumasa had thought fighting Ethereal-Finch was an exercise in futility, the thing that had grown out of its corpse was several magnitudes worse.

It now resembled a Corrupted Fiend more closely than a Fossor, with a powerful torso and limbs reinforced with tough armour and draped with curtains of greenery. The claws were similar - long, razor sharp, and heavy enough to bludgeon or slice at will - but the distinctive helmet-like head was gone. Concentric wreaths of foliage floated in its place, dotted with colourful blooms of pure Ether and framed by antler-like boughs. Jagged branches loomed behind it like skeletal wings, the ends lying slack on the ground.

Any traces of Lyell Finch had been entirely wiped away. This was a true monster.

The Ethereal roared, lashing the whip-like tips of its wings. Several flowers disintegrated in clouds of yellow pollen from the force. Harumasa reloaded and launched an electromagnetically enhanced piercing shot. It whistled through the air with deadly purpose, faster than the eye could see.

The arrow struck true in the meat of the creature's legs with a fierce buzz. The Ethereal didn't even flinch. Instead, a cluster of leaves sprouted from the impact point, dislodging the arrow. There were many similar patches across its body at this point.

The monster lunged for him with frightening speed, and Harumasa was forced to dodge, dodge, and dodge again. Parrying would probably shatter both his arms. Those sharp claws dug deep into the dirt behind him.

Now inside the Ethereal's space, he fired a shot into the well of a kneecap and switched to melee combat forms. Dark Tide and Dormant Blossom bit deep into the parasitised Ethereal's back.

A well-timed slash from Tsukishiro stopped the branches from taking his head off. Steel cracked against Etheric matter and Harumasa darted out of range, setting up electro quivers in his wake.

A rapid-fire burst of arrows to draw its attention.

An enhanced shot.

He detonated the electro quivers and dashed in to slash under the Ethereal's guard. Tsukishiro stuck to supporting attacks, enabling his hit-and-run tactics with her anomaly generation.

The sinkhole was alive with the hum of electricity as he and Tsukishiro attacked it with enough force to vaporise most Ethereals. And yet, it seemed almost completely unfazed. The only evidence of their relentless onslaught was the ever-growing carpet of greenery across the Ethereal's monochrome flesh.

The only bit of luck on their side was that the monster seemed to constantly forget that it was no longer confined to the shape and range of a tree. It moved rarely, often lashing out and thrashing in place. Only when sufficiently provoked did it move at lightning speed, claws outstretched to gouge or bludgeon. Unfortunately, it also objected to any attempts at escape, lunging to cut them off if they moved beyond a certain radius.

Harumasa winced as his vision blurred yet again. His condition was deteriorating... but they only needed to hold on until backup reached them. Chief Miyabi was on her way - it was simply a matter of time.

They would make it through this.

As if hearing his thoughts somehow, the parasitised Ethereal abruptly changed tactics. With a dry, crackling sound, its 'wings' plunged themselves into the ground like the roots of some demonic plant, tethering the creature to the spot. The rings that made up its face bloomed even more profusely. Something dark and devoid of light took shape in their centre - a core.

Harumasa had enough experience to be on high alert instead of rushing towards the perceived opportunity.

A moment later, verdant tendrils shot up from between the flowers, latching onto him with a tenacious grip. Harumasa was faster though, slicing through the Etheric matter before it could trap him in place. All around the battlefield, golden flowers churned like the waves of an actual raging sea.

A sharp exclamation alerted Harumasa to the grasses and vines entangling Tsukishiro's legs. By some miracle, she was still on her feet; she had been fighting admirably well, but her balance was a weak point.

Harumasa sighted and shot, sending three arrows whistling through the air one after the other. They struck true, deep in the sessile Ethereal's 'roots'. It screeched and the sound reverberated through his very bones.

The Deputy Chief took the opening and cut herself free right before the Ethereal retracted its roots. It lunged for her with those terrible claws and she dashed away at an impossible speed. A sound like thunder cracked in her wake - a tell-tale sign that she had been forced to use Timeweaver after all. Harumasa gritted his teeth. Who knew what damage overclocking her perception had done to her?

Tsukishiro materialised at his side, stumbling to a halt. Her glasses had cracked even further, unable to withstand the speed of her movements. She listed to one side, leaning heavily on her naginata. They couldn't afford to drag this battle out much longer.

The monster landed at her previous position with an annoyed roar, its wings writhing in preparation for a second assault. This time, however, the flowers around them began to rattle and glow ominously as the Ethereal's roots reached deep into the ground.

Harumasa had a second to shield his face with an arm before a chain of flowers detonated like mines. Plumes of suffocating yellow dust exploded into the air with a chorus of muffled pops.

Despite his best efforts, Harumasa's throat burned. He doubled over to cough, feeling as though his lungs were trying to escape his chest. His ribs didn't take too kindly to that either, protesting with the nauseating scrape of bone against bone. A long string of bloody drool joined the rapidly regenerating Etheric matter on the ground. He had enough presence of mind to wipe it off with his black glove.

"Asaba... " Tsukishiro's voice was weak, her grasp on his shoulder lacking its usual firmness. She appeared to be trying to tug him to safety, but unless they managed to scale the walls or miraculously find a tunnel to the surface near immediately, there would be no escape.

Panting heavily, Harumasa managed to look up at her. Her eyes were dull and still didn't quite focus on him. A trickle of blood slid down from her nose to her chin, overlaying an existing trail; she didn't seem cognisant of it. She definitely should have been on bed rest somewhere safe, not in the middle of a dangerous fight. He probably wasn't much better off either.

The parasitised Ethereal let out an almost questioning bellow from further past them, drawing their attention. Nearly half its form had been replaced by foliage, but it still looked almost serene as its roots writhed like a serpentine web, sinking farther into the ground.

Harumasa had a second to feel extremely annoyed by that. Then more flowers erupted all around them, smothering the cavern in a haze of deadly Etheric pollen.

The air turned heavy in his lungs.

Each shallow inhale and exhale took on a thin, grating wheeze.

Through the ringing in his ears, he could hear Tsukishiro coughing harshly next to him. Harumasa couldn't even manage to draw in enough air for that.

Every single stolen breath was a monumental fight of its own, in a war that he was slowly losing. Even worse was the feeling of cold numbness creeping up on him, the combination of Hygieia's mist and a lack of oxygen urging him to give up - to lie down and let his body succumb to the Hollow.

—To give in to that promise of painless bliss and scientific profit.

But Harumasa had never been one to take the easy path. Stubbornly, inch by inch, he raised his longbow and drew back the string into firing position. His heartbeat was loud in his ears. Even when his arms trembled with weakness and frigid fingers closed around his heart, his feet remained planted in that familiar stance. The arrow brushed his cheek lightly, awaiting a breath that would never come.

And then suddenly, the sensation of cold swelled around him. Wind burst into the cavern, sharp and biting, with a howl like a primal hunting cry.

Harumasa felt it all the way down to his bones, cutting through the soothing, suffocating numbness. The chill he had experienced before was but a pale imitation of this wintery might.

He was grinning widely enough to make his jaw ache, he realised. It wasn't a charming expression by any means - in fact, if anyone were to see him, they'd probably assume he was a lunatic. The blood on his teeth certainly wouldn't help. But there was no reason to be concerned with an imaginary audience.

Chief Miyabi was here.

The last thing Harumasa remembered seeing was a delicate snowflake fluttering down to rest on his cheek.

Void Hunters, the HIA, and PubSec: Young Talent to be Reckoned With!
[New Eridu City News, Morning Issue]

Earlier this week, Void Hunter Hoshimi Miyabi and her team at Section Six brought down the Hygieia Companion Hollow in collaboration with some of the H.I.A's talented new Investigators. This comes right on the heels of PubSec's recent crackdown on illegal street drugs, headed by Criminal Investigation Team Captain Zhu Yuan - another rising star and "friend" of Hoshimi Miyabi herself. Evidence has suggested a link between the two cases, but citizens can rest assured that the perpetrators have been arrested and the future of New Eridu shines brighter than ever.

The HIA and PubSec have released notices about ongoing investigations, and updates may be expected in future. The H.S.O.S.6 offices were unavailable for comment at this time.

Chapter Text

The original monitoring station constructed at the perimeter of Hygieia Hollow looked considerably different to the last time Yanagi had seen it, a month or so before the recent disaster. It was, of course, constructed similarly to other H.I.A research facilities; stark, utilitarian - essentially a more concrete version of the base camp. But... its prolonged exposure to a deviant Hollow had not been kind to it.

Even under the watery sunlight of an overcast day, the scars that Hygieia left behind were painfully obvious. Layers of paint and concrete had eroded in spite of their anti-corruption coatings, leaving behind derelict ruins. Not even the access roads in what had been the lowest activity areas of the Hollow had been spared. It was no wonder that the H.I.A had decided to demolish the facility entirely, especially now that it was obsolete.

At her side, Harumasa gave a low whistle as he beheld the destruction.

"I knew the Hollow was dangerous, but I can't say I expected this," he commented. "Imagine what those plants were doing to the Ethereals."

To the Ethereals that were once residents of this area, he did not say.

"My theory is that the vegetative matter generated by Hygieia might have been so quick to recover because it consumed the physical resources in its immediate vicinity," Yanagi offered. "It seems like the most likely option with how extensive the damage is."

Harumasa raised a brow, clearly wondering how much time she'd spent turning that problem over in her mind. Unfortunately for him, Yanagi wasn't about to admit anything.

"Seems as good a shot as any," he finally said.

Of course, she only had her own primary data to draw from, so any conclusions she could make would be biased to some degree...

"I'm not even surprised she figured it out. Miss Tsukishiro is really smart."

The third voice entering the discussion belonged to none other than Maya Adler, one of the three agents they'd rescued from Hygieia Hollow. Relief at seeing her alive and well warred with faint embarrassment at her words.

"Ahem," Yanagi said, delicately clearing her throat. "It's good to see you, Miss Adler."

"Hey there, Investigator~"

Harumasa's casual wave and smile were quickly matched by Adler's enthusiastic greeting.

"Hello, Mr. Asaba! Hayato wanted to be here to see you again too, but this place... isn't exactly wheelchair-accessible anymore."

"That's all right," Harumasa assured her. "I'm glad to hear he's on the mend." His cheery grin had faded into something softer and warmer; Yanagi doubted he'd even realised it. Adler's smile dropped too though, turning serious instead.

"Well, from both of us," she began, "thank you... for saving our lives. We'd never have escaped that Hollow if it weren't for you coming to rescue us and holding the Ethereal off."

Yanagi wasn't quite sure what to make of the genuine gratitude in the rookie investigator's eyes. She was well-versed in delivering press statements and sound bites, yes, but those were scripted. She didn't have a rehearsed line for dealing with the spark that flared deep within her ribcage, a gentle warmth like that of a freshly-baked red bean bun.

It wasn't that she didn't understand the impact of Section Six's actions to protect New Eridu either. On the contrary, improving the lives of citizens and eradicating evil was - and had always been - a duty that Yanagi was proud to uphold. It was simply rare for those citizens to actually thank her, of all people.

It felt... nice.

"You, Amano, and Lark... you held out until help arrived. You saved yourself too," Harumasa's voice was gentle. "Don't forget that."

Adler looked down. Her hands flexed, forming fists for a moment. Ah. Harumasa really did excel at understanding people, didn't he?

"I keep wondering; if I'd just been strong enough to protect all of us, or smart enough to notice that our Bangboo had been tampered with, then—" She sounded frustrated and ashamed. "Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful to you. I just..."

"Wish you didn't have to rely on someone else's strength to escape? Unfortunately, you'll need to get used to that feeling."

Perhaps Harumasa's words would appear harsh to the casual observer, but they reflected the reality of the situation. No matter how competent the individual, all it took was one misstep. Overconfidence was one of the deadliest traps in a Hollow.

"Asaba is correct. No agent is expected to do everything by themselves," Yanagi explained. "Even the average Hollow is dangerous and unpredictable - solo exploration is not recommended for a reason. Your team sent out an emergency signal warning us of the danger and sheltered in place. It was excellent work."

"But Mr. Ren said you both got hurt—"

"In this world, it's only a matter of time before the Hollows take something from you," Harumasa interrupted calmly. "You survived. Your team survived. That's what's important. And as long as you're alive, you can work to change things for yourself, right?"

For someone who claimed to prefer slacking off, Harumasa could be very passionate about things in his own particular manner.

By the way Adler took a deep breath and lifted her head, he seemed to have successfully gotten through to her. There was a determined gleam in her eyes.

"I'll... try to remember that," she said. "And in the meantime, I'll work hard to become someone even H.S.O's Section Six can rely on."

Harumasa made a face, apparently appalled at the idea of work.

"There's no need to put in that much effort. Besides, even our Chief Miyabi needs help sometimes, right, Tsukishiro?" Harumasa said, a conspiratorial grin on his face.

Yanagi sighed, remembering Miyabi's efforts to be helpful by writing the Hygieia Hollow operation report by herself. Three hours later, Yanagi had taken over the report with extreme prejudice, and Miyabi had been reassigned to acquiring snacks and working on her 'training to avoid drawing on controlled documents'.

"That's true. Chief... is about as bad as Soukaku when it comes to paperwork."

Adler's eyes were wide. "No way..." she whispered. Harumasa gave her a playful wink.

"It has to be our secret though~" 

"Right!" the investigator saluted crisply. "I'll take this information to my grave!"

"Oh... I'm supposed to take you to see Mr. Ren, by the way," she added sheepishly a beat later. "I'm sorry for getting distracted."

All things considered, that had been a necessary discussion, so Yanagi didn't mind waving it off. Besides, Harumasa was likely overjoyed by the delay - they were still technically on medical leave so all of their time here would be subject to overtime pay.

The site supervisor's office was in one of the larger buildings, up two flights of stairs with only mildly questionable structural integrity. Worksite lamps were placed strategically, illuminating paths out of sight of any windows - no doubt making up for the damaged lighting systems. Brittle concrete crunched under their shoes in an eerily familiar manner.

Adler kept up a cheery stream of conversation with them along the way, pointing out various landmarks and colleagues of hers. She wasn't quite as chipper as she had been pretending to be earlier, but there was an ease to her posture now that hadn't been there before.

Once again, Yanagi felt a sense of quiet satisfaction at how capable the members of Section Six were.

"By the way, whose phone number did you give us, Mr. Asaba?" Adler's sudden shift in tone from general excitement to curiosity drew Yanagi's attention back to the conversation. It wasn't the best sign that she hadn't even noticed her mind drift away - perhaps the ongoing medical leave was a good thing after all.

"Phone number? I'm not sure I follow~"

Yanagi darted a glance at her colleague to find him making a suspiciously innocent face.

"Yes, the one on the card you gave me as well left the Hollow," Adler elaborated. "When I dialled it, a kid answered the phone. I... thought you might have given us the wrong number for a moment. But then we got a really rapid emergency response team and an armed escort too?"

"Oh, that." Harumasa yawned. "It was just one of Soukaku's direct phone lines."

"One of what—"

"Don't worry about it~ We wouldn't want to be late to see your boss, now would we?"

Harumasa gestured in front of him where, two doors down, a sign read 'Logistics Manager." The nameplate holder on the door was empty.

Adler's expression cycled through several iterations of surprise.

"How did you know? That's not even his office."

There were multiple tells actually: the hand trolley with a couple of new boxes on it; the fresh footprints in the dust leading to the room - the pattern likely from a man's shoe; the slightly ajar door. That was all circumstantial evidence of course; the actual proof was the faint sound of someone speaking inside the office. The cadence of the voice was unmistakably Ren's. Identifying something like that was child's play for an experienced soldier.

Or a reconnaissance specialist.

Although Harumasa's only response was to wink and put a finger to his lips. Yanagi suppressed an exasperated - but unfortunately amused - sigh.

The conversation inside the room came to a decisive halt; considering the one-sidedness of it, Yanagi assumed Ren had been taking a phone call.

"That seems to be our cue," Yanagi told Harumasa. "Miss Adler, it was nice seeing you again. Please convey our regards to Mr Amano."

"Likewise~ Oh, and pass on what we discussed earlier to him too, would you?"

Adler grinned brightly. "Will do, Lady Tsukishiro, Sir Asaba! I hope we get a chance to meet again sometime. We can take a commemorative photo with all of us then!"

As the investigator walked away with a bounce in her step - one that was perhaps a little forced - Harumasa's lazy wave faltered. His expression turned more somber.

"A chance to meet again, hmm? I hope we get to see that day too..." he murmured quietly. The words felt like they held a deeper meaning to him, but Yanagi didn't pry. She doubted she'd get any form of clear answer anyway.

Instead, she took a deep breath and knocked crisply on the door.

"... Come in!" called Ren's voice, a few seconds later.

Yanagi took a final look at Harumasa - whose face had settled into an impenetrable blankness - and stepped into the room.

Aside from the structural damage that persisted even here, Phineus's former office was fairly typical in layout, with a single shattered window, a large table, and the remains of chairs, shelves, and electronics neatly sorted into piles. A few sealed crates were stacked in the near corner, and an open one sat on the aforementioned table, next to a small lamp.

Taking the time to set Phineus's possessions and workspace to rights when the building was demolished... was it duty or sentiment that drove Ren to see to the task himself?

Speaking of Ren, he had just made his way out from behind the desk. The powerful work light that illuminated the back of the room outlined him in stark white and cast his face in shadow, save from the reflected light off his uniform. He looked like an image captured in an old photograph, frozen forever in a single moment of time.

Then he switched on the table lamp and everything was suddenly washed with warm, Ether-fueled light.

"Officer Tsukishiro. Officer Asaba," Ren's tone was mostly level, but there was an undercurrent of nervousness in it. Before either Yanagi or Harumasa could respond, he placed his hands on his thighs and bowed to them.

It wasn't perfect. His back wasn't entirely straight and his hands shifted awkwardly; he clearly hadn't had much practice. But there was no mistaking the sincerity in the gesture.

"Thank you," he said simply.

For the second time that day, Tsukishiro felt the unfamiliar sensation of pride and embarrassment warming her from the inside out.

"That's not necessary, Lead Investigator," she said softly. "We were all doing our jobs."

Ren straightened up with an almost mechanical stiffness. "Some might argue that I didn't do mine as well as I should have. Mas— Mr. Phineus and my own investigative partner were undeniable instigators of the Hollow resurgence. If I—"

"Wow~ Did you get that bow out of an etiquette guide? I haven't seen anyone besides stuffy old men practice that these days."

Ren immediately looked flustered by Harumasa's flippant interruption.

"You— ! So what if I did?" he demanded indignantly.

"You should really chill out more~" Harumasa continued with a casual shrug. "Worrying about things you're not responsible for is basically doing mental overtime. Do you want to get grey hairs like—" Yanagi shot him a glare "— like that C.E.O of Vision Corp? Don't give me that look Tsukishiro, I didn't have anyone else in mind!"

"I should hope so," she said, maintaining her stern expression. "Or you'll be the one doing mental overtime on sorting Soukaku's delivery logs."

"Please spare me, Deputy Chief..."

"Ahem." Ren cleared his throat, apparently having calmed down. Perhaps he'd finally understood Harumasa's point. "I apologise for getting carried away. I requested a meeting today to update you on the current status of the H.I.A's internal investigation... and the White Star Institute's research into Hygieia Hollow."

"What?" asked Harumasa sharply. "But the Hollow's gone, right?"

"Oh. Yes," Ren clarified, "sorry for the confusion. They've simply used Lady Hoshimi and Miss Tsukishiro's accounts of the high Ether activity zone to formulate some theories."

"Whew, that's a relief~ You scared me there for a minute!" Harumasa replied with a laugh.

Without warning, it turned into a hacking cough, followed quickly by a wince. He brought a hand up to brace against his chest, as if trying to hold himself upright by sheer physical force.

"Asaba—"

He waved her off, taking slow, measured breaths. Eventually, he relaxed his shoulders and let his arm fall slack again .

"All good," he rasped. Yanagi raised an eyebrow at the blatant lie.

Ren looked twice as guilty as before. It wasn't hard to guess why just two accounts of the Hollow's sinkhole had been available for analysis.

"Hey, you don't have to look so serious," Harumasa groused. "The doctors cleared me for discharge and light activity. I'll just go home and take a nice long nap after this~"

"I... won't take up too much of your time then," Ren said, suddenly resolute again. "Based on the accounts of the sinkhole under zone HY-6-8, the White Star Institute has theorised that the Ethereal you discovered in the area was a unique type of Ether Mutant with parasitic tendencies - though whether its nature influenced the spatial distortions in the Hollow or vice versa is still being debated. Everything we currently know about it has been recorded under the code name 'Asklepios', but it seems that Hoshimi Miyabi managed to successfully destroy it."

"Asklepios..." Yanagi murmured, sounding out the name. It seemed fitting. "Any relation to Nineveh?"

Ren frowned. "Not that I'm aware of. However... the similarities are undeniable. Particularly in terms of their behaviour in combat, as well as the potential link between Nineveh's 'swarm' and Asklepios's 'patients' - they both seemed to establish some kind of hive mind network. I think it's been conclusively established that Nineveh is considerably stronger though."

It was Yanagi's turn to frown now. "One day... Nineveh too, will fall to our blades. Enemies of Section Six must not be suffered to live. We will eradicate all evil from this world."

"Deputy Chief, please stop being so terrifying," Harumasa told her flatly. "You're scaring our investigator friend here."

Oh. Yanagi would have thought Harumasa was joking about her being 'scary' as usual, but Ren did actually look like he'd offered to pay for Soukaku's lunch and just caught sight of the bill.

"... My apologies," she said awkwardly. "Please continue."

"R— Right. Well, Asklepios appeared to have been collecting Ether energy by essentially absorbing materials from inside the Hollow radius, presumably generating vegetation as a means to do so."

"I was correct then. It does explain the erosion of the environment here," Yanagi mused aloud, trying not to sound too smug. "I assume that was what triggered the sinkhole's collapse?"

"It's likely, yes. However, this absorption process was largely passive until the recent Hollow resurgence. The Institute strongly suspects that the primary cause of the change was a disruption to Asklepios's dormant form. Our internal investigations revealed that a large quantity of Ether-based mining explosives were deployed without authorisation within the HY-6-8 zone around that time."

"Phineus." Harumasa's tone made it clear that it wasn't a question.

Ren sighed heavily. "... Yes. As much as I didn't want to believe it... the evidence is overwhelming." His voice grew quiet and subdued. "It didn't take long for his façade to fall apart after PubSec took him into custody. According to him, the entire extermination mission was an attempt to cover up the evidence of his illegal Ether mining activities. Edward, Hayato, Adler... they were all expendable to him. How ironic."

His expression twisted into a kind of helpless anger. "I spent so long thinking that he was someone to look up to, when in reality, I never really knew him at all. Lyell was right: I was a fool for seeing only what I wanted to see."

Yanagi thought of the betrayals she had witnessed; rebels putting bullets in the skulls of their former Defence Force comrades, commanding officers who treated war as a market and lives as currency, people hurting other people for any justifiable cause... perhaps it was an unavoidable aspect of humanity. Even so—

"Blind trust is dangerous," Yanagi said. "But the true folly lies with the ones who repay trust with cruelty. Don't let yourself pay for their sins. Humanity would not exist without people relying on each other, after all."

"Not everyone is as strong as you, Miss Tsukishiro," Ren said eventually. The corner of his mouth tilted, giving the impression of a smile. "But I'll try not to."

Harumasa finally spoke up, face entirely blank in a way that put Yanagi on edge. "Where is Phineus now?"

It was an immediate red flag when Ren went still.

"... That was the other reason I requested you here today. Phineus suffered a heart attack while in transit from his holding cell to a courthouse. He's... dead."

"What?"

Yanagi immediately glanced at her colleague. His expression was equally grim. She looked back at Ren.

"Did he have any pre-existing health issues?"

"High blood pressure, yes. But he had it well managed. Said it was part of the job," Ren responded, solidifying her suspicions. "Nothing like this."

His entire face twitched, like he was trying very hard to maintain his mask of composure - he succeeded, barely. "You figured it out just now, didn't you, Officer Asaba. Before I told you."

Harumasa dipped his head. "Your voice gave you away when you started talking about him." He paused, letting unspoken words hang in the air. "And it's not exactly a surprise. This kind of situation is unfortunately common."

It was too common — enough that Yanagi cursed herself for not considering this possibility until it was too late. Phineus might have been a long-standing logistics manager, but he was just one person. Establishing an entire illegal Ether mining operation, developing a street drug with reasonably delayed side effects, and forming a distribution network? That required serious manpower and funding. It wasn't even close to being a one-man operation - or even two, if you counted Finch's involvement.

Who stood the most to gain from experimenting with a groundbreaking drug that might take years to gain approval for ethical testing? And why had she been stupid enough to ignore the likely event that they'd want to tie off any loose ends?

Her spiral of frustration and self-deprecation was unceremoniously interrupted by Harumasa's elbow gently bumping hers.

"Don't beat yourself up about it too much, Tsukishiro," he said quietly. "You were recovering from a head injury and you're not omniscient, no matter how often you make it seem like you are. We can't change what happened - but we can adapt our strategy."

He was right. Yanagi took several deep breaths to regain her calm and Harumasa withdrew back into his own space. Ren was watching them with an oddly pensive gleam in his eyes.

The heavy silence was broken by a soft knock on the door.

Yanagi nodded in response to Ren's inquiring look, but before he could call out, the door creaked open. A small, round face poked around the corner, pixelated green eyes glowing like little flashlights.

Ren sighed. "Linnet, knocking was very good, but please wait for me to answer the door first next time."

"Ehn-na. (Sorry, Master Ren)," the Bangboo replied. It didn't move from its position, wedged halfway between the office and the hallway. Its rabbit-like ears wobbled with some unknowable emotion.

"... You can come in," Ren added after an awkward twenty seconds of waiting.

The Bangboo practically launched itself across the room with enthusiasm. It latched on to Ren's leg in the blink of an eye, and peered up at them inquisitively.

"Wata-nhe? (Visitors? Welcome.)"

'Linnet' appeared to be a standard-issue H.I.A exploration Bangboo, save for the addition of a little badge that read 'Assistant Lead Investigator'.

"Who's this little guy?" Harumasa asked with a laugh, crouching down to wave at the Bangboo. It waved back a little hesitantly. It was, admittedly rather adorable - although not even close to Soukaku's level of course.

Ren cleared his throat, sounding a little embarrassed. It was hard to tell under the lighting, but his skin also looked a little flushed.

"This is Linnet. It's the Bangboo that you entrusted to me when we were evacuating the Hollow, Officer Asaba. By the way, I'm sorry about your jacket - I'm not sure what happened to it."

Harumasa's eyes briefly went wide with surprise, but he was quick to wave off the apology regardless. "Well now, that's an unexpected bit of good news~"

Yanagi didn't know exactly what had transpired when Harumasa was in charge of the evacuation, but she'd seen the Bangboo get ripped almost in half. It was indeed quite unexpected that it had been salvageable after all.

Ren actually laughed when she voiced this thought to him.

"I thought so too, but Edward knew this repair guy on Sixth Street," he explained. "Though, it's not quite the same as before. Something went wrong with its logic core and it got very attached to me as its 'rescuer'. And well... I've decided to train it as an assistant. It's a quick learner."

Yanagi caught his fond look down at the Bangboo and did not bring up the possibility of formatting its memory bank.

"How is Mr. Lark?" she asked instead.

"He's on leave at the moment," Ren said. "He still needs some time to recover - from the stress of everything. Lyell... was his friend too."

"Speaking of Lyell, the audio log we found was examined and determined to be genuine. It simplified some things - like the investigation into Phineus - but complicated a whole lot of others. He was always supposed to be the competent one but... he ended up leaving me one hell of a mess to sort though."

The lead investigator heaved a sigh. "Once I was cleared of suspicion, the Special Response team filled me in on the basics of their drug case. Lyell has a little sister, they said. She's fourteen and has a rare immune disorder that seems to have flared up recently. All the money he made went towards her treatments."

Ren's fists clenched. He looked as though he wanted to be angry but what fuel he had was already burned down to cold ashes. Yanagi had seen that look on many grieving soldiers. On the faces of their bereaved families.

Linnet made a gentle rumbling sound. It held up its stubby limbs and Ren lifted it into his arms almost absently. The synthetic purring came out muffled against his uniform, but did not abate. The harsh lines of Ren's jaw softened just a touch.

"I... I don't understand," Ren confessed quietly. "If he'd just told me, I would have helped. We saved each other's lives countless times in the field - what was one more time off it? Why did he have to resort to ruining so many other people instead? And now... I'll never get the chance to understand."

He bowed his head and Yanagi looked away. She could at least give him the space to vent his emotions with some dignity.

Her eyes met Harumasa's as he presumably did the same thing. For once, he didn't capitalise on the opportunity to strike up a conversation through eye rolls and vague hand gestures. He simply looked tired.

Yanagi didn't believe he would ever resort to hurting people just to achieve his own ends like Finch - but at the same time, she had a sudden moment of awareness that Harumasa, with his habit of holding them all at arms' length, might just disappear without warning one day too.

At some point, he had become more than just a colleague; all of Section Six had. And she refused to lose any of them.

The morning after their visit to the H.I.A monitoring station dawned bright and cloudless. Yanagi took a sip of her coffee, savouring the taste and the warm sunshine on her face. Out on the water, a line of buoys rocked gently with each swell of the tide. Even the ocean seemed calm and unhurried.

The sound of waves lapping the quay and the distant cry of seagulls were unfamiliar sounds to her, but pleasant nonetheless. As was the strong aroma of brine and fries on the wind. It was indeed a nice place to escape to once in a while - though certainly not as often as some people would prefer.

Speaking of frequent escapees, her ears caught the quiet scuff of footsteps on metal stairs. She allowed herself a brief smirk of victory, revelling in the feeling of a successful ambush.

"Tsukishiro?!"

Harumasa's squawk of surprise was truly as delightful as she had predicted.

"Asaba. What a coincidence," Yanagi said, not bothering to hide the smugness in her voice.

As quick-witted as ever, Harumasa recovered his composure in a matter of seconds. He stepped through the doorway to join her on the parapet, using one hand to push the door shut with a hollow clang. His other hand was occupied by a familiar, slightly battered flask.

"... What exactly are you doing here?" Harumasa asked, resting his elbows on the railing next to her. "I didn't realise you visited Torchlit Lighthouse too. You do realise this is a restricted area, right, Deputy Chief?"

She was aware of that, yes.

"Mr. McDunn let me up. I told him I was waiting for you," Yanagi explained succinctly. She had introduced herself as a friend of Harumasa's, and well... it hadn't taken much convincing beyond proving that. The lighthouse keeper seemed to have a soft spot for him.

Harumasa groaned dramatically. "That old man certainly likes to meddle. What's the point of escaping work if he's going to help it hunt me down?" he whined.

His eyes crinkled at the corners though, so it couldn't have been much of a betrayal.

"Ahem. At any rate, I had some free time, so thought I'd come and see this place... since it came so highly recommended by my colleagues."

"Wow, you really are that bored," Harumasa surmised, a wry note in his voice. "I take it little Soukaku is still on the warpath?"

Yanagi's expression probably said it all. Yesterday aside, the past few weeks had been an entirely different sort of trial to their last mission in Hygieia Hollow.

Chief Miyabi had indeed been dropped into the Hollow just in the nick of time. The parasitic Ethereal tree, no matter how powerful, was reduced to kindling in the face of the sheer amount of force that a Void Hunter was capable of. Yanagi had managed to remain awake until an air ambulance could reach them, but she'd lapsed into unconsciousness shortly after and woken up in the hospital. The doctors had diagnosed her with a concussion and an ankle sprain, but kept her for observation for a few days, as her symptoms had been exacerbated by the fight.

Soukaku had been terribly distraught, often hovering at her bedside with watery eyes or offering snacks and blankets at the slightest hint of discomfort. She'd been staying with Miyabi for the duration of Yanagi's hospital visit, but had visited every day - and then later, when Yanagi was discharged, Soukaku had diligently followed the doctors' instructions in caring for her.

Perhaps a little too diligently. In stark contrast to her average twelve hour workday - disregarding overtime or in-Hollow operations, that is - Yanagi had been confined to short walks around her apartment, a few hours of screen time, the sleep schedule of a five-year-old, and a strict ban on any "complicated work". It was just recently that she'd been allowed to escape the radius of her home, and even then, she typically had a little blue chaperone.

Yanagi was incredibly proud of how sweet and caring Soukaku was growing up to be. How many other guardians could claim to have raised such an adorable child? Surely not many, and even then, she was confident that she could defeat any of the challengers.

She was also possibly going insane from boredom, but that was a separate matter.

Harumasa though... Yanagi darted a quick glance at him out of the corner of her eye. He looked more relaxed now, eyes closed and head tilted back like he was planning on floating away with the breeze. Only the slight rigidness in his posture, and the hint of white bandages under his loose shirt gave away the fact that he was still recovering from broken ribs.

He'd been unconscious for nearly two weeks.

Half of that time had been spent in the intensive care unit, hooked up to a ventilator, heart monitor, and a web of tubing and wires. Yanagi had been cleared to see him on a solitary occasion, by virtue of being his workplace emergency contact.

For once, Harumasa had looked as frail as he constantly claimed to be. He'd been as pale as the sheets smoothed over his still body, dwarfed by the equipment surrounding him. Even now, the lingering effects took a toll on him - yesterday's incident had demonstrated as much. The Ether "pollen" from those lily-like flowers had proven significantly more deadly to him than it had to Yanagi.

Did he have anyone else who worried about him?

The fresh scent of the ocean breeze seemed to sour as familiar doubts crept into her thoughts. What exactly was the difference between her and Phineus, when they both sent their 'friends' into danger?

Harumasa himself had admitted that Hygieia Hollow had an adverse effect on his health. Yanagi had seen some of the aftereffects for herself. And yet, she had still made the conscious decision to assign him to the rescue operation with her - because there were people in danger and she hadn't been sure if she could manage it on her own.

Could she really claim to be protecting her teammates if her job title was all it took to weigh their lives against others'?

"Overthinking again, Tsukishiro?" Harumasa's tone was teasing, but gentle. "At this rate, you'll go grey even faster."

Yanagi wondered if she was just that easy to read, or if it was simply a talent of Harumasa's. The answer likely lay somewhere between the two options.

A gust of wind tugged playfully at her hair, and she absently tucked a few escaping strands behind her ears. She had asked Harumasa for his honesty - it seemed only fair that she returned the favour. 

"I was just wondering... whether Phineus felt the same as I did, sending my colleagues to face death."

Despite voicing the thought, Yanagi didn't quite have the courage to face Harumasa. Instead, she looked down at her hands, resting on the weathered railings in front of her; they appeared wholly unremarkable, with a faint writer's callus and slightly ragged nails; disposable coffee cup clutched a little too tightly in one fist. They could have belonged to just about any office worker. 

It felt disingenuous that they weren't stained crimson with all the blood she'd spilt.

"... The logic behind your question is flawed, Tsukishiro," Harumasa said finally. "Whether it's Chief, Soukaku, or myself - we've all chosen this path for our own reasons. We know the risks. And Hoshimi Miyabi herself trusts you to guide her blade: are you trying to say you don't agree with her judgement? Do you really think we're that weak?"

"No, of course not! But I—"

"Then trust that our collective skills will bring us victory, no matter the conditions—" Harumasa shrugged, seemingly unbothered "—problem solved. Besides, it's not as if Phineus would have been willing to include himself in any of the Hollow explorations unprompted. Or to risk a concussion accompanying his agents on a dangerous rescue mission~"

Yanagi's face felt warm. She hadn't thought that Harumasa knew about her... interference with his initial survey mission, but his sly tone said otherwise.

"That was a bit embarrassing," she said with an awkward smile, diverting attention to the less mortifying of the two situations. "I don't remember half of the fight." 

"Fighting with a concussion isn't embarrassing, it's just very reckless," Harumasa quipped back. "And a little impressive. Don't do it again though, Deputy Chief. I've said it before, but we need your brain in one piece."

"... I'll try not to make it a habit."

Yanagi's recollection of the fight and the things that came after were particularly fuzzy and indistinct. That wasn't a lie. But she also didn't want to mention the few painfully clear memories that had stuck with her.

The reek of decay surrounding the parasitic tree Ethereal and the sound of Finch's screams as he was consumed. 

Overwhelming relief at seeing the azure glow of Miyabi's foxfire reduce bright golden pollen to ashes.

Harumasa's face, twisted with pain as his consciousness abandoned him the instant the Hollow collapsed. The harsh rasp of his breathing, akin to the warning rattle of a deadly serpent. The scent of the blood that streaked over his lips and chin mixing with that of dissolving Ether.

Sometimes, Yanagi wished she truly had the ability to forget.

As if somehow reading her mind, Harumasa snorted quietly. "Comparing yourself to Phineus? As if. Unlike that vulture, you don't know the meaning of turning a blind eye." 

Yanagi finally found a quick, genuine laugh within her. 

"Was that a compliment?"

Her colleague only smirked in response; a lopsided, imperfect expression. He returned his gaze to the horizon, where the ocean beyond the piers stretched far into the distance.

His body may have been battered, but with the wind in his hair and the sun on his face, Harumasa's eyes gleamed brighter than a thousand stars. It seemed that Yanagi had been wrong - Hygieia Hollow wasn't the only place that made him feel alive after all.

If that thought brought a smile to her face, neither of them remarked upon it.

Chapter Text

Harumasa drifted back into wakefulness to the almost soothing beeping of a heart monitor, a bone-deep ache in his chest, and the sensation of warm hands carding through his hair. It took him back to the days of learning archery and eating strawberry shortcake, of cold wires and tubes and a dozen different needles under his skin.

The incongruity here was that Harumasa was no longer that naïve child who had confused warmth with love. And Master had long since abandoned the pretense too. So why... ?

The heart monitor quickened its rhythm, sensing his muddled alarm. In response, the fingers in his hair stilled, gently tucking one last strand behind his ear before lifting away.

Harumasa chased their path with hazy determination, pulling his consciousness up from the mire of chemically-induced sleep. His eyes fluttered open.

A familiar face greeted him then, skewed at an unfamiliar angle. Pale skin, dark hair, and eyes the colour of fresh blood... that was decidedly not his master. A pointed ear twitched sharply at the edges of his perception.

"Are you really awake this time, Harumasa?" Hoshimi Miyabi asked. The bland curiosity in her elegant voice felt more like she was asking whether he wanted sugar with his tea.

Awake? That was debatable. This scenario was so bizarre that he wouldn't be surprised if it was a particularly vivid dream.

"Mmfgh," Harumasa responded intelligently. His mouth felt like it was filled with sand and antiseptic. There was something uncomfortable and plastic sitting in the back of his throat, tugging lightly on the inside of his nasal cavity. He swallowed - painfully - and made a second attempt.

"Hnh... 'ief... ? Wha' re you...d' ng... "

That probably met the loosest possible definition for an improvement, but by some miracle, Chief Miyabi actually understood him. Possibly via the same mechanism she used to communicate with the cats around Lumina Square; which was to say - shameless guesswork.

"What was I doing? I was composing a haiku by your bedside," she said. There was no change in her calm expression as she reached behind her and manifested a plastic cup with a straw.

She pressed it to his lips with practiced efficiency and held it there as he took slow, careful sips, grimacing as he felt exactly how tender his throat was.

"Your hair is quite soft by the way," she added casually.

The second miracle of the day ensured that Harumasa somehow didn't choke on his water after hearing that.

"Chief... Are you... trying to kill me?" he rasped.

Miyabi tilted her head, withdrawing the cup in a smooth motion. "Did I do something wrong? You seemed to be having a nightmare earlier. My mother used to calm me this way when I was a child, so I thought it might bring you some comfort as well. My apologies if I overstepped."

He'd been having nightmares? Harumasa didn't remember dreaming of anything, but a cold weight seemed to drop into the pit of his stomach at the thought of Chief Miyabi, of all people, seeing him like that. Seeing his weaknesses, laid out neatly in a thin hospital gown.

And maybe he was a little annoyed too. He hadn't spent so much effort on distancing himself from his colleagues for them to feel comfortable with such casual tactility. First Tsukishiro and now Chief. Would Soukaku be bear-hugging him next or something?

But... the faint frown on the Chief's face and the near-imperceptible droop to her ears made it hard to be upset at her.

Harumasa sighed and then suppressed a groan as the fire smouldering in his chest flared sharply.

"It's... it's fine," he said, attempting to keep a blank face. He didn't know how successful it was; his focus kept drifting, enough to make all his expressions feel like they were crumbling around the edges. Useless. "You were trying to help."

Miyabi's frown grew fractionally deeper, as though she was stuck on the final line of her haiku. Eventually, she seemed to accept his weak assurance.

"You should rest a little longer," she said. Her brow was still lightly furrowed. "You fractured three ribs and experienced respiratory complications due to high levels of Ether particle exposure."

Right. That would explain the hospital. He'd been on a mission in... Hygieia. They'd gotten caught in a sinkhole collapse. They—"

Adrenaline surged in Harumasa's veins. The sound of his heartbeat was suddenly loud in his ears.

"Tsukishiro!" he exclaimed, making the terrible mistake of trying to sit up.

His ribs immediately protested, loudly and intensely. It felt like he'd been stabbed... and then kicked in the chest for good measure. Harumasa could only flop back pathetically onto the bed, and breathe shallowly, waiting for the pain to pass.

It took several minutes - or was it hours? - for him to be cognisant of Miyabi hovering at the edge of his bed, clearly one movement away from pressing the call button.

"I'm fine!" he hissed, his expression warning her against doing anything hasty. Hopefully. "Deputy Chief—"

"Yanagi is safe. She has been recovering at home for a while now. The H.I.A investigators you rescued have also been treated."

Safe.

Tsukishiro was safe. The rescue mission had succeeded.

All the tension went out of Harumasa's body. He felt an abrupt, almost irresistible urge to close his eyes and go back to sleep. He deliberately ignored it.

The Chief has sat back down again, apparently satisfied that he wasn't about to experience sudden heart failure. The insistent beeping of the heart monitor slowed down a little. Thankfully, it hadn't been rapid enough to register an alert.

"Your pain medication may have worn off," she observed. Her voice was almost as calm as usual. Her eyes were fixed intently on his, as if eyeing an oddly shaped slice of melon on her plate. "I can call the doctors if you would like assistance."

"Not yet," Harumasa said. The pain had been a surprise but it wasn't the worst he'd experienced. The doctors had probably managed to access his medical records and found his usual prescription if they were giving him "pain medication" in the first place.

"How long was I out?" he asked.

"Approximately two weeks," Miyabi answered without hesitation. "You were in the intensive care unit for nearly a week before being transferred to a private room reserved for HAND operatives."

He appreciated her candour. And her restraint. Tsukishiro would already have summoned a swarm of nurses and scolded him thrice over.

Two weeks wasn't great, but Harumasa didn't dwell on it. It was practically a footnote in the records of his hospital visits after all. It didn't matter that the thought of losing more time made nausea crawl up his throat; that was probably just discomfort from the nasogastric tube.

"And... the Hollow?"

"Eliminated, along with that aberrant Ethereal."

Hygieia Hollow was gone.

His first feeling was relief. There would be no more resurgences, no more strangely docile Corrupted, no more innocent lives ruined by that horrifying drug.

It felt freeing and damning all at once.

It was like standing at a crossroads and watching his choices crumble and turn to impassable rubble. It didn't matter that the roads had been choked with thorns or wreathed in sweet poison; without them, only the path forward remained - rough, obscured, and bitterly cold. Maybe he had always been destined for a solitary death after all, a pointless end to a life of pointless suffering.

He lifted a hand slowly and carefully. The IV line taped to it was unpleasantly familiar. Fading scars on his knuckles glistened silver under the sterile lighting. The Hollow was gone and he was still here, a little more fractured and fragile than before. What would happen when he finally shattered beyond repair?

The pain in his chest felt sharper than ever.

"Please forgive me one more time, Harumasa," said Chief Miyabi abruptly. With no further warning there were gentle fingers in his hair again.

"Chief—" Harumasa made an aborted protest at the touch. His voice came out more choked than he had expected.

Her hands were almost painfully warm. It was difficult to focus on anything beyond the sensation of them stroking through his hair, echoing the memory of older, larger hands doing the same many years ago. If this was the flame, then he was the moth that would quietly and willingly be consumed by it.

"It soothed your nightmare earlier," Miyabi said into the silence, like a child confessing a secret.

Harumasa only exhaled as deeply as his injuries would allow and tried to ignore the stinging in his eyes.

"Haah... You're always doing what you want, Chief. I can't win a fight... with a Void Hunter." It wasn't an argument.

He received a soft hum in response. For all her social obliviousness, Chief Miyabi was far too perceptive about some things. Maybe it was all that fancy poetry.

Time always seemed meaningless in hospital rooms, so it could have been minutes or hours before Miyabi deemed her mission complete and stood up; a rustle of fabric and the faint creak of stiff joints accompanied the motion.

Harumasa jolted slightly at the loss of contact, suddenly aware that he had been more than half asleep. A vague recollection of sinking into a sea of golden flowers flashed through his mind and he shivered involuntarily. Apparently the dreams hadn't stopped - they'd simply discovered new material to draw on.

"Chief... " he murmured, stopping her in her tracks several steps from his bedside. "Could you send some flowers to my room? Don't worry about the cost... I'll pay you back."

Miyabi turned around, face barely visible out of the corner of his eye. There was something foreboding about her expression.

"Aw, come on~" Harumasa cajoled. "Don't you think a guy like me... deserves something nice?" He pulled on his most innocent smile, the one that had accidentally caused a mass panic amongst his fans once - and been expertly weaponised on several subsequent occasions.

She remained unmoved. Her eyes seemed to pierce straight through him, slicing open his innermost thoughts with a single strike. He felt his composure unravel a little further under the intensity of her scrutiny.

"Yes," she agreed. "I will bring you a fruit bouquet when the doctors approve it. I imagine Yanagi and Soukaku would like to help too."

"Ah, that's not what I—"

Harumasa didn't get much of a chance to protest. Chief Miyabi swept out of his line of sight with a quick nod and the swiftness of a winter storm. The door shut with a decisive click.

He dropped the mask and sighed. She had most definitely seen through his request. It looked like he'd have to buy some when he got home later - if Tsukishiro didn't hear about it first. Well, at least Soukaku would enjoy picking out the contents of an edible arrangement.

With Miyabi gone, the hospital room felt significantly colder. Poetic irony at its finest, really. Harumasa would have laughed if he didn't feel so awful.

... Two weeks, Chief had said.

Tsukishiro had looked terrible the last time he'd seen her, but if she was at home, it couldn't be that bad, right? Soukaku would probably have been beside herself regardless. Harumasa didn't really understand what their dynamic was, legally speaking, but it was painfully obvious that they were family.

And Miyabi... She had saved them from that monstrous tree Ethereal and presumably destroyed the Hollow in the process. She'd made a dramatic entrance as always - like the protagonist of an action film with a ridiculous special effects budget - but Harumasa didn't remember anything beyond that. Had she been injured too? He should have asked.

She was a Void Hunter of course, but she wasn't as indestructible as people assumed; she'd gotten a paper cut a month ago and challenged the offending report to a duel. Naturally, that match had ended with Tsukishiro almost sentencing both parties to the paper shredder.

It was probably a little pathetic that Harumasa was already feeling sentimental about his teammates' absence. Maybe the painkillers hadn't entirely worn off yet.

Somewhere down the line, his colleagues had gone from strangers he kept at arm's length to... something else. Something that reminded him of melon slices, red bean buns, and hotpot on dark nights; of archery and scouting missions with overlapping voices in his earpiece.

Something that felt a lot like having the wind in his hair and the sun on his face.

Harumasa's mouth twitched into a wry smile, the first one that didn't threaten to fray at the edges. He didn't fight the embrace of sleep this time.

Chapter Text

Soukaku's day began a little earlier than usual, with a pot of rice porridge bubbling on the stove. The comforting scent of cooked rice wafted up as she carefully stirred the porridge. On cue, her stomach growled.

Going by her new routine though, there was still a bit of time before she could eat. That was fine. She didn't need to catch the train to work today. Besides, hunger was something of a constant companion to her anyway; her stomach wouldn't mind if she dealt with it later.

With a final flourish of her wooden spoon for good measure, Soukaku switched the stove off and covered the pot so its contents wouldn't lose their heat. She didn't mind cold porridge, but warm was better because it felt like a hug from the inside. Also, Nagi had taught her that it was rude to serve cold food to other people.

Soukaku made a detour to the fridge to grab some green onion, the jar of pickled plum, and a red bean bun. Hmm... on second thought... She picked up another bun. Two wouldn't hurt, right?

It didn't take very long to slice the toppings and portion them out alongside the porridge into their respective bowls. That part felt more familiar; Nagi usually let her help with picking toppings or side dishes and setting the table when she cooked. Of course, it had taken a while before Soukaku realised that people in New Eridu didn't usually have to use willow bark or dandelion leaves to make the food last longer but... Nagi had patiently eaten them all the same.

The bowls went on a tray with a spoon and some paper towels, next to the plate of red bean buns. Soukaku surveyed her work and nodded in satisfaction. It looked quite a lot like the porridge that Nagi made for her whenever she was sick, though this portion was a lot smaller.

It was a quick trip over to Nagi's room, where the sound of slow, rhythmic pacing was clearly audible to her sharp ears. Soukaku knocked once on the door and waited; Chief told her it was 'good manners' to knock but Harumasa said that knocking too many times was a hassle, so now she was more than a little confused. In any case, the footsteps halted with haste.

"Soukaku?" Nagi's voice called from inside. "You can come in."

Nagi was sitting on their bed when she entered the room. She was dressed in soft, casual clothes and her hair was loosely braided; Soukaku had helped with both of those things today because small, delicate movements were still difficult for Nagi. Something tightened in Soukaku's chest at the memory of the frustrated look on her face.

"Oh! Is that breakfast?" Nagi's voice reminded her that she was here on a mission. Soukaku nodded vigorously, setting the tray down on the bedside table. Nagi's eyes widened a little.

"Okayu? And... red bean buns. Did you make this, Soukaku?"

"Ye— yeah. I remember you said it was good for sick people, so..."

Soukaku wasn't a quiet person by nature, but she did her best to keep her voice as small as possible, because loud sounds were bad for con-cus-son patients.

Nagi's expression was unreadable. She kept looking at Soukaku, as if she was trying to find the answers to a really difficult word puzzle somewhere on her face - except that couldn't be right because Nagi could solve word puzzles so much better than her.

Soukaku looked away, feeling suddenly nervous. What if Nagi didn't like it? What if she had to go back to the hospital and leave Soukaku all alone again? What if she didn't come back this time?

Her tail twined around one leg, its weight familiar and comforting.

"It looks delicious," Nagi said finally. She was looking at the bowls now. "Good work, Soukaku. Have you eaten?"

In response, her stomach rumbled again.

"Not yet," she admitted, tapping her fingers together. "I just finished making the porridge."

For whatever reason, it felt like she'd been caught doing something wrong.

"I'm grateful for the meal, but I can wait - so please eat first next time," Nagi said, a little awkwardly. Soukaku got the impression that her tail would be drooping a bit, though she didn't understand why. Sick people were supposed to rest and be taken care of, weren't they?

Nagi laughed quietly and Soukaku realised that she'd wondered that last part out loud.

"I... suppose I did say that. You're right, Soukaku. I just feel a little... disappointed that I can't take care of you like I usually do," Nagi admitted. "Adults are responsible for children's welfare, not the other way around."

"But I want to help!" Soukaku insisted. "You don't need to leave me with Chief again - I can take care of myself and you."

Nagi went very still for a second.

"You shouldn't have to do that. You're my responsibility," she said. Soukaku's tail whipped in agitation at the frustration in her voice. Was Nagi mad at her? Why? She could handle herself! She fought in Hollows all the time and faced lots of horrible Ethereals - didn't Nagi trust her with this?

... Was it because she hadn't managed to save her from the Hollow after all?

Soukaku's eyes prickled. Suddenly, she desperately wanted a hug from Nagi. Or to run and hide in the kitchen next to the bag of rice — anything that would make the icy void in her chest disappear.

"You don't understand," she said. To her horror, the words came out unevenly. Nagi immediately looked like she was going to cry too.

"Soukaku—"

The doorbell rang, making them both jump.

"That must be Chief Miyabi," Nagi said slowly, not meeting her eyes. "I asked her to drop by today."

Soukaku took a deep breath. The room smelled like cooked rice and her sister; it made her feel a little better.

"I'll get it."

The quick trip to the front door helped her mood too - it was sort of like the "strategic retreats" their team had to perform once in a while... except this time the "mission" seemed a lot harder than beating up strong Ethereals that mobbed them from all directions. Maybe backup would make a difference in this scenario too?

Soukaku cautiously peered through the peephole in the door, spotted a familiar pair of tall ears, and all but flung the door open in favour of hugging Chief Miyabi.

"Boss! You're here!"

Chief didn't hug back - probably because she was carrying grocery bags in both hands - but Soukaku heard the air shift as she nodded.

"It's good to see you, Soukaku," she said. Her voice was gentle and unhurried as usual, like the first flakes of snow drifting down from the clouds. The cold was another constant companion to Soukaku of course, but it was one she no longer had to fear.

Hugging Miyabi reminded her of the days she had spent away from Nagi though, wandering through a home that wasn't hers, nagged by a sense of unease and half-buried memories. A shiver went down her spine. Soukaku stiffened and pulled away, switching her focus to the bags and the faint jumble of smells surrounding them.

"D... Did you bring snacks?"

Her stomach, daunted by neither battle nor emotional turmoil, growled with renewed enthusiasm. Chief held out a handful of bags in response.

"Yes," she said. "I brought melon, red bean buns, and a lot of snacks. Oh, and electrolyte drinks too. My father sends his regards by the way - he says the house was much livelier when you were visiting."

"Oh. Thanks... ? " Soukaku didn't really know how to respond to that. Instead, she took the proffered snacks and beckoned Miyabi inside. Soukaku had tried very hard to stay out of trouble while Nagi was sick, so she had only run into Chief's father on a few occasions outside of mealtimes. He never said very much to her though... Usually, he only gently patted her head and slipped her melon candies. A lot of melon candies. Apparently that meant he liked her.

"You should visit us again sometime — with Yanagi. Father gets lonely sometimes and always appreciates good company," Miyabi continued, changing into a spare pair of indoor slippers while balancing the remainder of the groceries with effortless grace. Soukaku mimicked the pose to see how it felt.

"I'll ask Nagi!" she chirped. His strangeness aside, she liked Mr. Souichirou. He was kind, like Chief Miyabi. Though Nagi would probably overthink the invitation a lot because he was famous or something. "She's in her room."

Chief nodded, trailing after her serenely to the kitchen to drop the bags off before heading to Nagi's room.

"It smells good in there," she commented offhandedly.

Warmth stirred in Soukaku's chest. She did that, all on her own. "I made rice porridge."

"Oh? Good job."

A small but deceptively powerful hand ruffled her hair, and she couldn't stop her tail from wiggling in satisfaction.

"It's nice to create things for once, isn't it?"

Soukaku tilted her head. How did Chief always know what she was thinking... ? But Miyabi was clearly already back in mission-mode, likely having heard Nagi's voice calling from the room. She knocked three times on the door before entering, which Soukaku filed away for later. Was that the correct amount for politeness? Harumasa was probably being silly again then.

"Yanagi, I've brought the things you asked for. How are you feeling?" Soukaku heard the Chief ask. She cautiously poked her head around the doorway and saw Nagi's eyes quickly track the movement before looking away again. That awful, twisting feeling in her stomach stirred like an Ethereal in the depths of a Hollow.

"I'm doing much better, Chief," Nagi responded smoothly. "Thank you for stopping by, and sorry for the trouble."

"There's no need to apologise," Miyabi said firmly. "It's the least I can do. And... we're off duty, so you don't have to call me "Chief" all the time. That goes for you too, Soukaku."

Soukaku giggled at that. Silly Chief — it was the meaning that was important, not the words. But if that was what she wanted...

 "Right... " Nagi said quietly. "Thank you, Miyabi."

A tall fox ear flicked, pleased, though Chief's face remained as inscrutable as ever.

"Harumasa woke up yesterday, by the way. He seemed to be in some pain but he was cognisant enough to speak clearly. He asked about you, Yanagi."

Masamasa was awake? That was great news! He was injured and sick too - or that's what they all said. Soukaku hadn't been allowed to see him. It must have been serious though, if he was in the hospital and Nagi was at home. The idea made her shiver a little.

In her memories, Harumasa was always cracking weird jokes or complaining about work whenever he wasn't napping at his desk like a strangely-shaped cat. He played tricks on her, got scolded by Nagi a lot, and slacked off with Miyabi. He fed her tasty snacks and gave her paper to draw on - though the latter sometimes had big words like "risk assessment" or "expenditure report" or the Section Five logo printed on the back.

He was an adult like Nagi and - maybe - Chief Miyabi. But... sometimes, she saw him looking at her and Nagi with a sad expression on his face, his eyes far away like he was searching for something he had lost.

He was probably lonely in the hospital by himself, Soukaku decided. She'd bring him a whole lot of bitter melon candy when they finally let her visit.

"That's... that's good to hear," Nagi said. Her voice was even quieter now, and the corners of her mouth were tilted down. She didn't look happy at all. Actually, it looked more like —

"Do you also feel guilty because you couldn't save Harumasa?"

Nagi froze, like a rabbit that had just found itself between the teeth of a fox, and Soukaku wished she could take back her question. She didn't want Nagi to look at her that way; like she was something to be afraid of.

"That's..." she began weakly, before dropping her gaze to the half-empty breakfast dishes on the bedside table. She flinched and took a deep breath like she was preparing for a kata in training. The action seemed to steady her.

"Soukaku, why don't you sit down?" she said, a new strength in her tone. Tail flicking anxiously, Soukaku inched around Chief Miyabi - who seemed to be paying very close attention to the shadows cast by the wall lamp - and sat next to Nagi on the bed. Immediately, a cool hand was on her own.

Nagi had long, pale fingers like the big, dressed-up puppets in clothing stores, so different from Soukaku's small blue ones, but still very strong from all her hard work. These were the hands that fed her tasty snacks whenever she was hungry, guided her banner in combat training, and held her close at night. Nagi wasn't her sister, but that was what family did, wasn't it?

Then, what was wrong with Soukaku taking care of her family too?

A second hand rested lightly on her head, in the sweet spot between her horns. Soukaku stayed quiet, leaning into the touch.

"Oh, Soukaku... You've grown up so much, haven't you?" Nagi said in a soft, affectionate voice. "You're so sweet and considerate, but... I want to be a person you can lean on for just a little longer. In my duty to you at least, I refuse to fail."

Duty.

It wasn't a word she saw often in her copybooks, nor had she heard it in any of the TV shows about human emotion, but for Nagi and Sister, this was just how they said they loved something — enough to fight, starve, and bleed for it.

Soukaku held out her arms and Nagi swept her into a hug. The comforting scent of her sister cocooned her, intertwined with the familiar gentle warmth of a human, and Soukaku burrowed deeper into the embrace. It felt like safety, like trust. Like family. The cold gnawing at her insides calmed, seemingly satiated... for a while at least.

"Be it triumphs or losses, Section Six acts as a single sword," Chief Miyabi said into the silence. She was still examining the dancing shadows. "The harvest of this operation belongs to us all, both good and bad. I'm sure Harumasa would agree as well."

The words hung in the air like a sharpened blade, ready to purge evil from the world. Above her, Nagi exhaled quietly, and the limbs bracketing Soukaku tightened a fraction.

Soukaku still didn't really get why Nagi insisted on taking all the responsibility on herself, nor why the sister in her memories had done the same thing. If it wasn't about trust, then what could it possibly be? Maybe she wasn't grown up enough yet to understand.

Maybe she didn't want to understand, if it meant doing everything alone.

But... for the moment, they were both leaning on each other. That was enough for her.