there's no paradise.

❝ when she was just a girl she expected the world but it flew away from her reach so she ran away in her sleep ❞ ✿ multimuse, private ✿

[qiulong-deactivated20160726]

Given the lead, Liu accepted it without a word. He narrowed his eyes instead. “Is there a reason you’re being so obedient today? I expected you to argue against working with me again. You’re not even fighting against me now, besides to make a joke once or twice.” It wasn’t as if he didn’t appreciate the kid being well-mannered, but the fact that it was this kid being well-mannered than made him suspicious.

“Maybe I should stick a collar around your neck and lead you along on a leash. You’d follow that too, wouldn’t you?” He’d started half-seriously, but the amusement crept into his voice halfway through. He glanced at Hibiki with a smirk, then focused his gaze ahead. Near the entrance, he pulled out his pocket flashlight but refrained from turning it on.

[nichihime]

[ Σ ]—— Okay, that? That was kind of... something he didn’t see coming. Hibiki found himself giving Liu a weird stare, between the surprised and mildly fascinated by how far the old man could actually go with his humor. Was he often this extreme? The young man shook his head, snorting, and shoved one hand into his coat pocket while the other one searched for the flashlight in his bag.

      “You say we’re a team, and then act like I’m supposed to be rebellious or something.” Hibiki retorted, finding some spirit to talk back. He may be working hard to stick with his partner without much of a conflict, but that didn’t automatically make him a carpet Liu could step on. “I’m not a kid anymore, dad,” he added, watching Liu’s face with the corner of his eye.

      “Buuuut, if you try to put a leash on me, I’m gonna bite your hand off.”

[qiulong-deactivated20160726]

Liu snorted once behind the wheel. “There’s a time and place for jokes, and it’s not when someone could get killed.” It wasn’t as if he had no sense of humor; it was that it almost completely dried up during serious moments. When there wasn’t any danger, he lightened up plenty if he wanted to.  “You can take it as a compliment that I’m taking you seriously, or you can ignore it.” 

Within minutes, he’d navigated their way out of the garage and onto the road. “Don’t forget we’re a team,” he responded to the rest, without going into further detail. He and Atsuki had worked together despite differing roles and powers. When they hadn’t, everything seemed to go awry somehow. Losing control of a situation pissed Liu off—because it made him anxious. His partner complex had increased over time in Kisaragi.

Once the hotel was in sight, he parked the car a safe distance away. He didn’t want to alert the Target to their presence too early. “Let’s go,” he said as he got out.

[nichihime]

[ Σ ]—— “There is always a time to loosen up when I’m feeling too tight. It helps me focus.” Hibiki couldn’t help replying his disagreement, viewing it differently when being too serious would probably cause him to get nervous and mess up more often. Maybe the old man would finally loosen up as well thanks to his company. He shifted in his seat to make himself more comfortable, looking at the window. The bracelet tingled as he moved his arm, but he tried to ignore it.

      They really were different. He wondered if they could ever last together. 

      “No need to remind me that. I know.” Hibiki snorted. If they managed to settle down the situation at the hospital that time, they could function again, even depite the different context. Their differences were remarkable, but not so much as to impede their mission. Right?

      He made a noise of affirmation when they got off the car. At least the instructions were simple, and he was going to rely on Liu for the most part. Following behind his partner, he prepared to scan the area for residual shinen if necessary.

[qiulong-deactivated20160726]

Liu returned to his personal room, gathered a few things, and then spent the rest of the time looking up what information he could find about the area they were headed to. There wasn’t much, but anything else would be a waste of his time and lower their chances of success without injury. Not dying—or falling into a coma—were important to him these days.

He arrived a little after Hibiki did. “Good to see you’re on time, son,” he said, a small smirk curling up his lips as he approached. “It’s a decent start.” Next came the maze-like exit to the world above ground, and from there to a garage leading out into the sun.

“It’s close, so I’ll drive us there.” He moved to the driver’s side of a car he’d borrowed for the day. “Don’t expect to see ghosts, by the way. Shinen doesn’t manifest like that under normal circumstances. There’s a target to find, and they’re human. You find them with your Sigma, and I’ll take them down.”

[nichihime]

[ Σ ]—— ... Son. The term rolled in Hibiki’s head like an annoying buzz, driving one of his eyebrows upwards. It took a moment to summon back his attitude. When they headed over to the garage, at first silent, he walked to the passenger side of the car and gave a little snort at the explanation. 

      Really, now. This man always took everything so seriously. Even a little joke could turn into a tirade about how this or that couldn’t be possible for a bunch of reasons that were obvious to anyone who understood the joke itself. Liu Yee was surely an amusing individual.

      “I already figured it would be that way, dad,” he said, with particular focus on the last word. “I was only kidding.” Getting himself into the car, he smirked further at his partner. “It’s all fine. I will do my thing, and you will do yours. I know the trick.”

[qiulong-deactivated20160726]

“In a few hours.” Time to get ready and time to research. He’d only had the time to learn about as much as Hibiki could from that document during his short briefing. “You’re going to be in charge of speaking with Natsuki if she calls with any information. I won’t do it.” Hibiki had probably been around long enough to get a taste of how much those two fought. Liu was wary with Hibiki, but Natsuki was something else.

“When you’re ready, head to the entrance. We’ll meet up to leave then.” He turned to leave the room. He really didn’t know why he’d been chosen to do this, or why the kid wasn’t arguing. 

[nichihime]

[ Σ ]—— “Got it,” he replied quickly, and understandably so. Liu and Natsuki really seemed to be like water and oil from the little he’d seen, and he didn’t find it the least bit surprising. He wondered how many people were able to put up with the old man’s attitude besides Atsuki and himself.

      Not very many, he’d bet. Definitely not.

      He watched Liu leave, and his eyes fell back on the document explaining the mission, his smile fading a little. He wasn’t stupid enough to burst his way through the building like a reckless hero, or at least, he learned better than doing that after his stunt at the school that nearly costed his life. He was going to use all the precautions he knew of, but he feared that wouldn’t be enough, especially with how new his power appeared to him. He’d just have to follow through and try to use it as little as possible. Dragging Liu into danger once again wasn’t an appealing idea at all.

      At the FORT entrance, Hibiki stood, holding the necessary items in a small bag. When Liu came into view, he raised a hand in greeting, smirking as his usual, as if none of the earlier worries made any dent in his cheerful appearance.

      “Ready to go ghost hunting, old man?”

[qiulong-deactivated20160726]

That admission was worth a skeptical gaze. They had worked together before, and well enough. But their history went deeper than that, to a point where they almost killed each other. 

Well, whatever. He knew they could get the job done, even if they had their differences.

“Remember to bring a flashlight, or I’m leaving you in the dark,” Liu warned him, then glanced down at the kid’s wrist. “You can’t rely on that thing to save you. Don’t forget your common sense.”

[nichihime]

[ Σ ]—— He glanced down to where Liu was looking, lightly lifting the hand that held the Galehaut bracelet wrapped around his wrist. The pain he went through to gain its power was still very vivid in his memory; the feelings of regret over diving himself into something that might be larger than he could handle were even worse, but at least he managed to dispell them for the most.

      “I appreciate your concern. I won’t forget to take care of myself.” He snorted lightly, seemingly welcoming the warnings with his usual smug, but he actually was thankful for Liu’s concern. They’d gone throuigh a lot in such a short time, but their rumbling first encounter was far behind him.

      If the two of them became actual partners, he would be almost happy at this point.

      “So, when are we leaving?”

[qiulong-deactivated20160726]

Seeing that face, Liu didn’t want to speak at all. Knitting his eyebrows together, he looked aside at the immaculate wall. FORT seemed too clean, sometimes.

“…You’re supposed to go on a simple mission with me. The Chief made the decision.” Not me. As if to prove it, he held out a document offering instructions for the less experienced member of this “team”.  It could be summarized as “Learn from Liu Yee and don’t die.”

[nichihime]

[ Σ ]—— Fun guy as always. Hibiki tilted his head, hiding his nervousness under a layer of amusement depicted on his face. This was seemingly his first important mission at the FORT, after all. Even though Liu called it ‘simple’, it didn’t look that way if even one of the bigs got involved in it.

      He quickly scrolled his eyes through the document. “A haunted hotel? So surprisingly clichè.” he chuckled a little, then lowered the paper and gazed at his partner for the day, smiling.

      “I’m looking forward to work with you, old man.” He may not be into Liu’s graces, but he seriously did respect him. It was just that he didn’t deem it necessary to show it.

[nichihime]

[ Σ ]------ “Hey. Look what the cat dragged in.”

      “What’s up, old man. Got work for me?”