Chapter Text
The moment that Shizue Kuranushi opened her eyes, she knew it was going to be a day.
Mainly because she could already see her daughter’s underwear tossed in front of her open door.
She groaned and pulled on her bathrobe. Mizuki’s door was open as well. She poked her head in to see Mizuki’s blue hair splayed over the pillows like some kind of shiny octopus, and next to her…
“Aha, nice catch, Zookie,” Boss said in approval as she saw the black-haired woman fast asleep next to her daughter. That explained the tossed underwear. She wondered now if it was actually Mizuki’s.
In any case she picked up the underwear with two fingers and tossed it back into Mizuki’s room before closing the door and proceeding to her bathroom. She was less amused when she saw the white flower petals still covering the inside of her bathtub.
She sighed and pinched her brow before kicking some aside and stepping into the shower. Patchouli shampoo, cinnamon bodywash, ah yes…
Her fingers scraped the bottom of her facescrub jar.
It was going to be a weird day.
---
Shizue stared at her Koorig, daring it to dispense coffee faster. While she did, she heard bare, shuffling footsteps and the bathroom door close. Only one pair for now, though. And it sounded like Mizuki’s. Good.
She took her cup of coffee and poured cereal into a bowl. Shizue Kuranushi and cooking did not mix, though her Mizuki had proven quite good at it.
She felt something soft and small bump against her ankle and looked down to see Mizuki’s disembodied eyeball bumping into her ankle and looking up at her with their big blue eye.
She wondered if Mizuki had revealed that to her fling yet.
She bent, scooped Marco into her hand, and placed them on the counter. “How are you, Marco?”
“My battery is at 100% and I am feeling good!” Marco said cheerfully. “How about you, Grandmama?”
Shizue groaned. “I told you not to call me that.” It made her feel even older than waking up to find that her 24-year-old daughter had been having sex the night before.
Speaking of…
“Hey Marco, who’s that girl she brought home?”
“She met her at Marble last night. Oddly, she has not mentioned her name yet. I searched multiple online databases, but have not found a match in any of them. In short… I don’t know.”
Shizue was not expecting that. Though, to be perfectly fair, Mizuki too was not on any online databases, and the only social media she had was a To-Witter with the handle @kunoichichianonymous. This was because her particular speciality was covert ops, and the easiest way to slip into any alternate identity was to have none to begin with.
Shizue sipped her coffee. “Keep looking. I won’t jump to any conclusions, but we can’t be too careful.”
Mizuki chose that moment to shuffle into the kitchen looking like a one-eyed zombie. Shizue wordlessly pushed a cup of coffee towards her daughter.
“Looks like you had a fun night, Zookie,” Shizue commented.
Mizuki just grunted as she slurped her coffee loudly. She turned, still slurping, and pulled a carton of eggs and a package of sausages out of the fridge.
“Good girl,” Shizue murmured. “Never let a girl go home hungry after fucking her legless.”
“Mama, can you not say it like that?” Mizuki groaned, finally setting her empty cup back in the Koorig for a refill.
“You can’t fool me, Mizuki, I found someone’s underwear in front of my doorway.” Shizue wagged a finger at her. “What’s her name?”
“Ennea.” Mizuki cracked four eggs into the pan. “Met her at Marble last night. Mama seemed to like her.”
Oh, good. Shizue trusted Mama’s judgment.
“Right, good. Well, you know the drill. Treat her good, and if she breaks your heart, she’ll have a whole agency up her ass.” Not that Mizuki couldn’t take good care of herself, but she was sure everyone that loved her at ABIS would want a piece of that action. And Shizue would lead them.
Shizue pulled on her jacket and pressed a kiss to her daughter’s forehead. “See you at work?”
Mizuki shook her head, putting eggs and sausages on two different plates. “Mizuki and I are putting together Kizuna’s birthday party. She was so sick the past couple of months, we want to give her a really good one.”
“Okay, stay safe.” Shizue gave Marco an affectionate one-finger pat before stepping out into the brisk Tokyo morning.
---
“HEY ASSHOLE!” Shizue barked as the dude ahead of her cut her off before she could turn into the Metro PD parking garage. Honestly.
She glanced at the license plate, but she knew before long her head would be too full of other thoughts to remember such a random string of letters and numbers. Not for the first time, a part of her wished she had her own AI-Ball to do things like that for her. She may not spend much time in the field like Date and the Mizukis, but especially considering all the paperwork and HR nightmares she dealt with it would be handy to have an assistant.
Of course, that would mean sacrificing one of her own eyes to have a tiny person shoved in there instead. And Shizue wasn’t quite sure she was ready for that.
She got out of her car, shouldered her purse, and made her way into the bowels of the Metro PD building. ABIS was, for some reason, deep underground. Probably to keep it even more protected from the general public, or just because that was the least desirable place and ABIS was still somewhat regarded in the Tokyo law scene as a fringe, pseudoscience department since its evidence could not technically be put in court.
Or maybe Metro PD was just homophobic and her agency was fruitier than an orchard. Whatever.
“Heya there, Pewter. What’s the status for today?”
Her left-hand scientist looked up from typing away furiously on a computer. Shizue noticed that he had Tama, in her red eyeball form, sitting on a small port tower next to him.
“All’s quiet on the homefront, so far. I’m performing maintenance on Tama today.”
A window popped up on Pewter’s computer that showed Tama’s human form, an attractive young woman wearing a police hat.
“Ryuki just about overrode my circuits last night doing some VR play, so he had to drop me in here this morning.” Tama said with a smirk.
Pewter just rolled his eyes. “Routine maintenance.”
“Whatever.”
“Okay. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
“Actually, could you stay in here? I need to meet someone for lunch, and I don’t want to leave Tama unattended. She gets destructive when she’s lonely.” Pewter glanced at his phone. Tama huffed.
“You’re not going to a job interview, are you?” Shizue raised an eyebrow as she sat in a chair.
“Of course not! It is.. a man I met.” Shizue could see the faintest traces of blood coloring Pewter’s cheeks. Geez, it really was August, wasn’t it? Good for Pewter, though. He had mourned Renju for so long.
Shizue sighed dramatically. “Okay, go get that dick. I’ll make sure Tama doesn’t fry your PC. But in return you gotta bring me a few names that might want to meet me for lunch, alright?”
“Deal.” Pewter got up and grabbed his briefcase. “I won’t be long. Thank you, Boss.”
Pewter left. Shizue sighed and leaned back in her chair, pulling out her phone. At least it was a good excuse not to actually do any work for a couple of hours.
“What’s Ryuki up to today, Tama?”
“He is helping Mizuki set up that birthday party for Kizuna Chieda. Date is as well.”
“It’ll be quiet today here then.”
“Yeah.” Tama sighed. “I suppose I should be grateful, but I like excitement in my life every now and then.”
“I could do with a little less excitement.” Shizue wrinkled her nose. Being the head of ABIS could be far too much excitement, sometimes.
Shizue sat and played on her phone, exchanging small talk with Tama every now and again. ABIS really was quiet that day; she didn’t even hear the footsteps of other Psyncers or scientists in the hallway. It would have been unnerving if she hadn’t had the company of Tama.
An hour stretched into two, then three. Shizue’s stomach grumbled, so she ordered Goober Eats and it was brought to her by a masked investigator, the first person at ABIS she’d seen other than Pewter.
“Thank you, Kaniza,” Shizue said, accepting her greasy bag of tacos.
“It’s Kagami…” The inspector said in a despairing voice. Shizue shut the door on him.
Tama watched as Shizue opened her bag of tacos and munched on one. “You know, it’s rude to eat in front of someone and not offer them anything.”
“You can’t eat, Tama,” Shizue said pointedly, shoving the last of her taco in her mouth. “What would you even want?”
Tama’s eyes flicked down meaningfully to Shizue’s chest. Shizue sighed.
“Tama, I’m not removing you from that port without Pewter’s go ahead. He probably has some kind of program running on you.”
Shizue polished off her tacos and was sipping on her soda when her phone suddenly dinged. She picked it up, expecting a text from Pewter telling her that his lunch friend had some serious dick game and he wasn’t going to be making it back to work that day.
999-999-9999: We have your daughter.
Shizue choked on her soda.
999-999-9999: In fact, we have your entire agency.
999-999-9999: If you want to see any of them again, come to the Okiura Fishery cold storage warehouse. Alone.
999-999-9999: You have five days. Meanwhile, we will be playing a little game. Every second you dally, another person has a chance to die. When the five days are up, the survivors may escape… or they may all perish.
999-999-9999: But I can guarantee you that should you not cooperate, you will not see your daughter again.
999-999-9999: Your agency has been a thorn in our side for too long, Ms. Kuranushi.
Tama, who had been watching as the texts arrived on Shizue’s phone, widened her eyes in horror.
“I’m calling Marco and Aiba," she said immediately. “...No answer. They never don’t answer another AI-Ball.”
“Try their cellphones.”
“Trying Date… Mizuki… Bibi… Ryuki… Nothing, they’re all turned off or out of service.” Tama said despairingly.
Shizue got up and stormed out of the room, looking up and down the hallways. So this is why Pewter was so late. Someone… Something… had her agents. HER agents. And HER DAUGHTER.
She stormed back in to find another text, from another unknown number.
888-888-8888: Ms Kuranushi, my daughter is missing. Know anything about that?
Daughter? Shizue frowned. Date’s phone was turned off. Perhaps Kizuna or one of the other girls had been kidnapped as well along with her agents. Still, she doubted Riichi Chieda would have bothered to hide his identity.
Shizue Kuranushi: Who is this?
888-888-8888: That is unimportant. My daughter, Ennea, went home with yours last night. She sent me your number. She hasn’t come home. And I got the same threatening texts you likely did.
Shizue Kuranushi: Yes, my daughter is missing. Are you suggesting we work together?
888-888-8888: No. Not yet.
888-888-8888: Where did they ask you to meet?
“If they do not know, it’s unlikely they’re in league with whoever took Bibi,” Tama commented.
Shizue Kuranushi: The Okiura Fishery cold storage warehouse.
888-888-8888: I see. They told me to go to the abandoned factory.
Shizue Kuranushi: Where all bad things happen.
888-888-8888: Only most.
888-888-8888: In any case. We must both go alone. If I survive my encounter, we may go from there.
888-888-8888: Good luck, Ms. Kuranushi.
Shizue put down her phone and kneaded her brow with her fingers.
“Is there any chance this is a cruel joke?”
“If there was, Ryuki would have picked up,” Tama said mournfully.
Shizue didn’t cry. But she felt tears prick at her eyes that she fought back.
She turned on her heel and scooped Tama out of the port. She squeaked as the window on the computer closed, and her little body formed around the eyeball.
“Come on, Tama. I’m not leaving you here if there really is someone out after ABIS.” Shizue put the surprised AI-Ball into her jacket pocket.
“Where are we going?”
“To see if my daughter really is missing.”
---
“God fucking dammit!”
Shizue slammed her fists on her table. Mizuki’s room was empty. Nothing had been touched since that morning.
This was their last stop; their last hope. She had, of course, had ABIS cordoned off, though none of the missing save Pewter had stepped foot in there to her knowledge. Oddly enough, though they had been working on Kizuna’s party, Kizuna herself, as well as Lien were untouched, currently hiding in a safe house just in case. It was just the ABIS agents, and apparently the mysterious 888 number owner’s daughter, who had been taken. They had checked everywhere, from Matsushita Diner, to the apartment that Date and his Mizuki shared, to Sunfish Pocket, to Yoyagi Park. Nothing.
Tama hopped out of Shizue’s pocket and tried to pat her hand soothingly. “Hey. I am not Aiba, but let us think logically.”
Shizue sat heavily in the chair and looked at the little AI-Ball.
“Now, the practical thing to do would be to call the police, order a missing persons search, and wait here in case she returns, or any of them make it home.”
Shizue just glared at Tama. Tama sighed.
“Of course, that is not what you are going to do. I understand.” Her voice was heavy. Shizue knew, even in the midst of her own panic, that Tama too must be worried sick about Ryuki.
“So, option two. We search for them ourselves.”
“There’s no way I’m letting the idiots at Metro PD search for them, and these fuckers took all my best agents. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no choice.” Shizue got up and poured herself a whiskey and coke. She knocked back half of it before sitting back down. “So far the only leads we have are this text about meeting me at the Okiura Fishery cold storage warehouse, and this 888 person’s daughter, Ennea. I didn’t even think to get a good look at her.”
"Maybe Bibi posted a picture on social media?” Tama suggested.
“No, she only has a To-witter, and she never talks about her personal life on there.” Shizue swirled her whiskey.
“Then maybe this Ennea has social media. Without knowing her last name, it will be difficult, but I will run a search.”
“Good.” Shizue drained the last of her drink. An idea was starting to form in her head. An idea that might help let her live through this meeting at the cold storage warehouse… But a horrible idea nonetheless.
She didn’t voice it yet. “Tama, did you try to trace the two unknown numbers?”
Tama nodded. “Yes, but no dice.”
“Where were the last pings on Mizuki and the others’ cellphones?”
“Yoyagi Park, all of them in the same area. Metro PD has already canvassed the area, no evidence was found. No blood, no sign of a scuffle. They did find a porn magazine half hidden behind a tree, but…”
Shizue sighed heavily. So Date likely had tried to put up a fight. If there was little damage to the surroundings, though, that meant the Mizukis had probably been subdued before they could, and without Tama, Ryuki was probably easily overpowered. And as far as she knew, this Ennea was only human, a civilian.
“None of this points us to who might have done this. Gods only know how many enemies we may have. For all I know, this is one of Date’s flings come back to haunt us all.”
“True, but it is worth noting the sheer volume of effort it would have taken to restrain and subdue all of them, particularly the Mizukis, and with Date and Ryuki both being grown men. If I had to guess there had to have been many people involved in taking them down. Or an elaborate trap.” Tama stared intently at Shizue.
Are you actually thinking of going to this meeting at the cold storage warehouse?”
“I don’t have a choice, do I?” And Shizue hated it. She was supposed to be the one that controlled the blackmail. It was one reason she outwardly kept the fact that Bibi was her daughter on the need-to-know. “If I don’t, if there’s even a chance they might kill Mizuki…”
"But they could also kill you. You cannot go alone.”
“I must… but I won't be alone.” Shizue looked intently at Tama. “Tama, I need to ask a favor of you, as my last remaining agent, and my friend.”
Tama looked skeptical.
“I need you in my eye socket. I need the full extent of your capabilities.”
Whatever Tama had expected, it wasn’t that. Her shocked emote showed on her iris.
“But, Boss… you still have both your eyes!”
“I know… they’re easy to pull out, though, right?”
“Well, yes, but if you sever them completely, like you must to install my receptor… It will be difficult, or impossible depending on the time elapsed, to reverse.”
“I’ll just ask Pewter to make me an AI-Ball too. I could use an assistant.” Shizue shrugged. "Until then, eyepatches are in at ABIS."
“May I remind you that Pewter is also missing? It is possible to install a receptor without a surgery, but it is much more risky…”
“Tama. You would risk everything to get Ryuki back, wouldn’t you?”
Tama was silent for a moment.
“An eye is a small price to pay to get my daughter back.”
Tama sighed. “Alright. But. We do need to do this at ABIS. The proper tools are there, as well as my receptor.”
“Let’s go.” Shizue was glad that Tama could not sense the flips her stomach was doing as she scooped the AI-Ball up and left.
---
They returned to the room where Pewter had been performing maintenance on Tama that morning.
“My receptor is in that port that Pewter had me sitting on. Once your eyesocket is empty, all you need to do is put it in there, and I can guide the nanowires to link to your optic nerve. It’s a graceless solution but… Pewter anticipated such need.”
Shizue found a scalpel in a drawer and paused. She was really going to do this. Shizue Kuranushi had done some damn stupid things in her life, but rather obviously, she had managed to keep all of her body parts. Unlike half of her agency.
She almost envied Date and Mizuki, and she definitely envied Ryuki, with the comfort of unconsciousness protecting him from feeling the pain of losing his eye. This was altogether different.
“Wait. Before you do anything. I can administer a local anesthetic, just hold me up to your left eye.”
Shizue set down the scalpel and lifted Tama in her cupped hands, up to her left eye. Tama sucked her body back into her eyeball and extended a needle, which pierced Shizue’s brow. It took all of her considerable willpower not to flinch, but as she felt her eye area go numb…
“It’s time.”
A few seconds later, Shizue Kuranushi’s left, warm brown eye was staring up at her from a pan of ice.
In its place was Tama.
Suddenly, Shizue truly understood what her Psyncers experienced; she had a new, tiny person in her head. She was one she was familiar with, of course, but having Tama so close to her thoughts, was strange and yet…
She put her eye in the medical grade freezer that Pewter had and turned decisively.
“Let’s go save our idiots.”