"What?"
Geisha's voice barely managed to carry itself past her lips as she whispered to the crying young woman in her arms.
Her mind hadn't fully caught up to what she'd just been told.
She looked down at Akira.
Slowly raised her hands.
Then gently pulled back, bringing the young woman's attention to her.
Akira's hiccups came out hard, causing a dull ache in her chest as she tried to steady herself.
Geisha brushed a strand of Akira's hair back as she looked at her with an almost confused expression.
"I'm sorry..." she said. "I...I...didn't quite catch that."
That made Akira's chest burn.
Because for a moment...
For one terrifying moment, she genuinely thought...
that Geisha didn't believe her.
It took her a while to push back the emotions spilling out of her.
Then her voice came out, utterly ruined to its core.
"When y-you left the room..." she stuttered. "I-I thought I should be quiet and..."
Her voice tripped again.
This time, Geisha was still trying to process what she was being told, so she didn't rush to interrupt.
Akira kept going anyway.
"...I wanted to wait and...not cause any trouble, so...I was quiet and patient...but that's when..."
As soon as she thought of his name, her pupils flickered in panic as she looked over Geisha's shoulder.
She half expected him to be there.
He wasn't.
That made her chest twist.
"He...looked at me."
Her fingertips brushed over her arms.
"...then he started looking through my clothes and...I could feel his gaze on my body."
Her hands traced over her chest again.
As she did, it clicked for Geisha.
In the elevator...
Her mind replayed it all.
The glossy eyes.
The red flush beneath her skin.
The tremor in her voice.
...the way her hand had instinctively moved to her chest—
"I didn't know what to do." Akira's cries finally broke Geisha's thoughts. "He told me to keep quiet, so I did and I..."
Her body curled inward.
"I didn't wanna get in trouble."
Geisha closed her eyes as a quiet heartbreak settled in her chest.
"Akira..."
"I didn't wanna tell you because he said he wouldn't stop at just looking next time."
That touched a nerve.
"Akira..."
"It's all my fault..."
"Akira."
She looked up.
And immediately regretted it.
"G-Geisha...?"
Her emerald eyes, usually gentle and soft...
demanded Akira's attention.
The hairs on the back of her neck tingled as that familiar unease flooded her system.
Geisha's grip was firmer now.
Much.
Much firmer.
"Do not blame yourself for what happened. Do you understand me?"
Akira's lips parted.
"But he..."
Firmer.
"I said..."
A pen on the table fell to the floor as a faint clatter rippled through the room.
"...no."
A pause.
"Do I make myself clear?"
Akira nodded.
"Good."
Geisha's hand slowly eased off the hybrid's shoulder.
Then, quietly, without turning back, she gestured.
"Come. I told the officers at reception to call for your brother. Hopefully he should be here by now."
Akira's heart skipped a beat.
Akashi.
What...what was she going to say to him?
...
Reception: 12:03 PM.
...
"You missed your lecture."
"Forgive me, ma'am. I...I just needed to check on Akira after what happened yesterday."
Inside a busy reception room, two professors had just found out the reason behind one of their students being persecuted online.
One of them looked worried, his knee bobbing up and down.
The other simply crossed her legs and hid her hands in her pockets.
Ren noticed a faint red stain wither away.
He chose to remain silent.
Meanwhile, the woman beside him was already drinking her third glass of water as she nervously waited for the officer who would give further details about what was happening.
They sat there, the sound of chaos unfolding beyond the barriers as a lazy receptionist sipped another mug of hot coffee.
"Tch. Can't believe you have me skipping school just to come listen to officers wrestling with Shrills."
"Ren, please, not now." Yui said, her mind already reeling with thoughts.
What was happening to Akira?
Was she okay?
Would they hurt her?
Would they detain her?
The more she worried, the more the water jug clinked against the glass table.
Juri's eyes carefully moved over the students in front of her.
A blue-haired Essential who looked thoroughly irritated by being there.
A stressed young woman drinking water like an aquatic creature.
And a young professor to her left who mumbled to himself as he rocked back and forth.
They were all stressed.
That included herself.
For all she knew, the only student she'd ever pushed beyond her comfort zone since the death of her son was now...
possibly one of the many screams echoing behind that thick metallic wall.
Her eye twitched.
Blood stained her pockets as her jaw tensed.
Ren heard the artery pop.
He still said nothing.
Then—
A particularly agitated man burst through the entrance and rushed toward the receptionist.
"H-Hello! Hi! I'm Akashi Hashinada. I'm here for the young woman with purple hair who was brought in earlier!"
All three of them looked over.
Ren's jaw set.
Yui's eyes widened as she took in the blonde man's worried expression.
"Hashinada...?"
"Look, I'm sorry, sir, but there's nothing I can do about it right now. Least of all if it's something pertaining to that hybrid. For all we know, that thing could be very dangerous—"
Akashi's fist narrowly missed the middle-aged man's face, crashing into the mug instead and sending cheap, hot coffee across the floor.
"THING?!" he screamed. "HOW DARE YOU CALL MY SISTER A THING?!"
A hand yanked him back against the wall, knocking the wind out of him.
"Oi, hands off. You don't assault an officer without serious consequences."
"Oh, spare me the bullshit! You're no officers. You're just cowards hiding behind a badge!"
That earned him a sharp right hook to the jaw.
The blonde stumbled, barely supported by the wall.
The larger officer, dressed in black, chuckled as he glanced at his partner.
"Still wanna talk, tough guy?"
Akashi slowly tried to stand, but that punch was no joke.
"That's enough."
"Huh?"
Juri.
"Tch. Lady, this doesn't concern you—"
"Article A-54, under Essential-Human Law, Subsection 12," she said, her voice cool and even.
"Essential officers are prohibited from directly confronting, assaulting, or detaining human suspects unless there are no human officers within a two-mile vicinity."
Her eyes flickered toward his partner in blue before she slowly adjusted her glasses.
"I'm sure you know how to count."
The officer wanted to respond.
Maybe a retort.
She simply stared at him through those metallic frames.
"Tch. Whatever...yo, let's go..."
Akashi's eyes landed on Juri's coat.
He knew that symbol...
"W-Wait..."
He tried to stand.
This time, Yui caught him.
"Hey...take it easy."
She looked toward Ren, who still hadn't moved from his chair.
She wanted to say something.
She held onto it for later.
Juri looked over her shoulder.
"I take it you're Akira's guardian."
Akashi nodded.
"Yes. I'm...Akashi Hashinada."
He looked around.
The receptionist was gone.
Probably getting another coffee.
A young professor who looked...surprisingly like a younger and both older version of himself.
A tall blue-haired guy staring at nothing.
A woman with metallic glasses whose bloodstained pocket glowed faintly as golden motes drifted from the fabric.
And a young woman he'd never met, helping him stay upright.
Still...
His eyes snapped back to Juri.
"W-Where's my sister? Where is she? What happened?"
Yui's eyes softened as she unconsciously tightened her grip on his side.
"I-I..."
Her voice came out softer than she intended.
"I—"
BUZZ!!
The metallic wall shifted.
Just then, the receptionist returned.
The walls began to lift.
Graham's eyes followed them upward, his mind already racing through everything he wanted to say to the officers.
Yui's heart thudded as the walls rose halfway.
She saw three sets of feet.
One of them was barefoot.
Her eyes widened.
Akashi adjusted his glasses as he stood fully, supporting himself against the wall.
But out of all of them...
Two people reacted the strongest.
They both caught the faint scent of lavender drifting into the room.
One scoffed, pulled out his phone and hid himself behind his blue veil.
The other's hands slipped from her pockets and folded neatly behind her back.
Because she knew that scent very well.
And when the doors finally opened...
Juri's eyes shifted from neutral...
to predatory.
Because it wasn't the hybrid she noticed first.
No.
It was the short woman beside her.
Pristine white clothing.
Faint smudges across one shoulder.
Green eyes.
And a gentle smile that failed to hide the anger simmering beneath.
Juri's jaw tensed as she quietly whispered her name.
"Hoshinoi."