"This is it."
Her heels clicked softly as the two professors stood across the street, taking in the infrastructure as clouds clotted above them.
The lack of sunlight made Graham's body relapse into goosebumps as he adjusted his glasses.
"Yeah, this is the place. At least...according to the articles online." He muttered, glancing at his phone to double-check.
The older woman beside him simply stood there, her eyes dissecting the vicinity before them.
The complex technology decorating the large private estate.
The officers, humans and otherwise, moving in and out of the area.
Her lip twitched involuntarily as she clicked the pen in her pocket.
Click.
Click.
Click.
She took a moment.
Graham only glanced at her as he waited for their next move.
Then the clicking stopped.
Her hands came out of her pockets for the first time since they left campus as she adjusted her glasses and tightened her already fastened ponytail.
"Let's go."
Graham nodded as they moved. "Let's hope she's okay and in one piece."
Juri hummed. "Rather, let's make sure that woman doesn't find her and take a liking to her."
And as they walked in, two people a block away paused at a stop sign.
...
"Wait...was that...?"
Ren sighed as he tapped his headphones, dissolving them into a blue mist. "Why is our Practical Outlet and freshman professor here...?" he grumbled, already half frustrated.
Yui stood there, the crowd streaming around them. "I have no idea."
Her eyes flickered up to the blue-haired man. "You think...maybe they're here for Akira?"
"I dunno."
He groaned as he pulled his hoodie on. "Dammit, James, I swear you owe me big time for this..."
...
46 Minutes Earlier, 11:10 AM.
...
"Clarissa, I'm gonna need Mrs Toyorumi's file."
"I heard you the first time, Hashinada."
A young man, still far too smiley for someone who had left around 3 AM for an emergency surgery, walked through the hospital wards toward the staff room.
He stepped inside, the smell of sanitation left behind the wooden threshold as the scent of freshly baked cake drifted into his senses.
He immediately smiled.
The man eating the cake immediately frowned.
"Steven! My man!"
The cake shifted closer to him.
"No."
"Sharing is caring, brother."
"You took mine last night and left it in the sink!" the short bald man protested.
The blonde stopped listening by the time he opened the drawer for utensils.
Steven literally growled when he stepped closer with that annoyingly bright grin he hated.
"Akashi, I swear, I'll bite you."
"Oh my..." he purred. "Steven, I had no idea you were so feisty."
That threw him off guard.
"Wh-What?! N-No! I didn't mean—"
"Can you two lovebirds please keep it down..." another lad slurred from the corner. "I'm tryin' to catch what little sleep I can..."
Steven's face ran red.
And while he wasn't looking, Akashi stole several unreasonably sized bites of his food.
His eyes gleamed in delight.
"Steven, this is better than last time—"
"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF MY CAKE!!"
"Gay." the lad in the corner commented.
"Thomas, SHUT UP!!"
"Mmm, this is really good, Steve—"
"Nope, that's it. I'm transferring wards." the bald man protested as he walked out.
Akashi laughed as he took another bite of the chocolate confectionery.
Each mouthful punctuated by a genuine hum of delight.
"Tom, you sure you don't want this?"
The sleepy man shook his head, groaning as he stretched.
"I'd rather not. Mrs Toyorumi's surgery last night pretty much spoiled my appetite."
Akashi chuckled.
"You thought that was bad? You should've seen the size of that cyst we removed before you arrived."
He set the plate down, half finished.
"It was HUGE—"
"Thank you, Dr Hashinada." Thomas interrupted, still clearly uncomfortable.
That made the blonde laugh as he leaned fully back in his chair.
"Yeah, sure."
For a small while, nothing else was said.
Thomas scrolled through his phone as he struggled with his hair falling across the screen.
Akashi noticed.
"Thought you said you'd cut your hair this weekend. Still gonna do it?"
"Dunno..." Thomas replied, cheek resting lazily on his knuckles. "Clarissa says she likes me better with my hair like this."
"Buuut?"
Thomas shot him an annoyed look.
Then sighed.
"But it gets in the way of my work." He said, never looking up from his phone. "We're surgeons, Akashi. We can't afford to make any mistakes, especially ones that might jeopardize the lives of our patients."
Akashi nodded, feigning a serious look.
"I understand. Makes sense."
Thomas shook his head.
"You're impossible..."
"And you're too serious. You'll be 60 by the time you're 35."
"I'm almost 52 years old, Ash."
"Ah, right."
Someone walked in.
Baldy.
Akashi immediately lit up.
"The cake was absolutely delicious."
"Shut up." He said, taking his bag.
He stopped by the door.
"Oh, by the way, Clarissa says she's got the files you wanted."
"You clocking out?" Thomas asked, still glued to his phone.
"Yeah, this is me." Steven said. "I'll see y'all next week."
"Later."
"And bring vanilla this time!"
"Screw you!"
Akashi laughed.
"I really like that guy."
"Like...romantically or...?"
The blonde chuckled.
"You're a strange person, Thomas, y'know that?"
"I'm an Essential. Everything about me should be strange to you."
Akashi got up, grabbing two cups and setting them inside the microwave.
The faint sounds of heart monitors and air conditioners drowned beneath the loud hum of the machine.
"Think Clarissa and you can handle each other?"
The dark-haired man didn't answer right away.
Only the microwave occupied the silence.
"I dunno." He finally said, voice barely audible beneath the machine. "I mean...I like her and all, but..." he sighed. "I just...don't know if her parents will like me."
"You're literally a doctor, Tom-boy."
"Don't call me that..."
Ding.
Another faint silence.
"I guess...I just don't know if it's her parents making me hesitate or if it's...her."
The blonde's hands burned under the hot ceramic.
"Hot, hot..."
He stole some teabags that didn't belong to either of them.
"Steven's gonna transfer because of you one day."
"Ahh, he'll never know."
He set another cup beside him.
"Thanks."
"So..." Akashi began. "If it's her you're afraid of, then why not talk to her?"
"I'm not afraid of Clarissa, Ash. I'm just hesitating because of my age..."
"But you're basically the same age as me."
"Physically." He said, scrolling through his phone. "Some people have a problem with those age gaps."
"Well then how old is she?"
"64."
"No wonder she's so grumpy. She's in adult adolescence."
"Adult adoles-where do you come up with these terms?"
Akashi offered a proud grin.
"I make them up on the spot."
Thomas gave him a blank stare.
"You make me grateful I'm not a human being."
They sat there.
Letting the hot beverage melt the tension lingering in their bodies as they allowed the silence to settle.
Every now and then, Akashi's mind drifted to Akira.
How she was.
How she was doing.
A faint smile traced his lips as he thought about the last few days that had passed.
The drink hovered in his hands.
The blonde genuinely felt at ease for the first time...
in a long, long time.
Because for once she'd made a friend.
He remembered it like it was yesterday.
The days she'd stopped coming back home with tears on her face because somewhere along the line...
they became expensive.
The days when she'd have bruises on her arms and neck.
The days when she—
"Hey, Ash..."
"Mhm."
Thomas straightened, his brows furrowing.
"You have a younger sister, right...?"
"Yeah. She's 20 years old." He paused. "I think?"
Thomas passed the phone over to him.
"Read this."
The lad took the phone into his hand.
A beat.
Then his blue eyes dilated.
He nearly dropped the glass as he rushed to his feet.
"Tell Clarissa to hold onto that file until Mr Sugoroshi comes back."
Thomas didn't argue.
He simply nodded.
"Sure."
The blonde ran out of the room, his heart already skipping beats, his mind racing through futures he didn't want.
Because in that single moment, his eyes landed on the one thing he'd been afraid of.
And that one thing had just happened an hour ago.
And to Akashi...
That was an hour too late.