[Kei Hada]

"And she said-" Kei wheezed, using the sizzling of the pan in front of him as a distraction. "She said I don't know. And I'm like oh my god, how could all of you lose a 20-foot tall mech?!"

Kei was at his and his partner's new apartment, frying some tofu and vegetables as he regaled in a call with Yaoyao about his classes' shenanigans, the latest being how an automaton was stolen from the lab. Stolen, because he knew it required a pilot to control, and they found it later manned by a first year who wanted a joy ride around the training grounds. He hadn't gotten to that part of the story yet though.

He was complaining about how it took them an hour to find the thing when he heard a knock, and his head turned to the entrance. "Ooh one sec, someone's at the door." Resting his phone against his chest, he shut off the heat on the stove before walking to open the door. "Hi! How can I help y-"

A sharp pain bloomed on Kei's head and his eyes rolled back as he hit the ground, phone clattering out of his hand.

Several barks pierced the air then but it was too late- the door was shut before Jawny could get out, and all Yaoyao would hear now from her end of the line was banging, scratches and whines.

Just like that, he was gone.

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

[attr="class","body"]It’s a late night, and she wishes she was home by now. But her asshat of a boss has left her to clean and close up shop at the tattoo parlor by herself, so there she was. Still… with her baobao in her ear telling stories and laughing that laugh of his, she hadn’t been too mad about it. It‘s her favorite thing in the world, that laugh. But it’d been a long day. For a minute she’s only half listening, half wiping down the last of the seats, a fond little smirk on her face as her baobao complains in her ear about an underclass man and a joyride and a missing mech, when it happens.

She might never forgive herself for that.

It was stupid. She got sloppy. Got complacent, thinking about her sweetheart waiting for her, making dinner in the home they shared, warm and content and entirely their own, and she thought he was safe.

She heard the knock, faint through the receiver, and she did think it was weird for half a second — who the hell would show up unannounced at this hour without calling? None of their friends, knocking what she’s like — but she’d been distracted. Scrubbing at a stubborn ink stain, thinking about getting home. She didn’t tell him to check the peep hole. She didn’t tell him to be careful. She didn’t tell him to be on guard, or to find out who it was before he opened the door, or any of the shit she should’ve said.

But she heard the impact. Sharp and sickening, even through the phone. She heard the fall, and the phone hitting the ground, and she was stupid enough to be confused for the split second before Jawny’s barking and whining came through the phone, the syllable of Kei’s name barely formed on her tongue before the anger rage horror terror sickness realization hit her.

She was out the door and in the air before the cleaning product hit the ground, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the tattoo parlor she’d argued her way into an apprenticeship at was too damn far from the apartment. Stupid, stupid, stupid of her to have been stubborn about the one with the best reputation on their entire side of the city, instead of one in the same neighborhood, or even the same ward.

She was too far, even forgoing the streets to hurl herself through the air on tendrils of darkness swinging through blocks faster than she could count. Too far, and too stupid, and and too damn slow—

And too late.

There’s nothing there, when she gets crashes through the door. Nothing but Jawny, whining at nothing, and a phone on the ground, and empty air, and a hollow, roaring fury in her ears, in her chest, in her head.

The world is silent as lavender hands appear in the air, and pull the phone out of their pocket. It’s quiet as those hands reach for a familiar number, and send out a cry for help.

The scream, though. The scream turned howl turned roar - that shakes the flood. The building. The street. The ground itself. There are shadows everywhere, now, and it’s fitting. What else would you expect, after all, when your world, all at once, has gone dark?

---

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[Ryota Hada]

Ryota was in his own apartment when he received the call. It was incredibly vague but he didn't force an explanation, not when the voice was frantic and he could hear several things shatter through the line. She pleaded for his help and he would give it, no questions asked.

When he arrived, the place was a mess. Furniture broken and pieces of glass and ceramic littering the floor. The fight he expected though was nowhere to be seen which he found odd. All that remained was Yaoyao's curled up form and her and Kei's pet yearning for her attention.

And that's the thing. Where was Kei?

Static filled his ears when they explained what happened.

How could this happen again? Happen to his brother, while he was again too far to stop whoever dared to lay a hand on him. Worse yet, he was alone. No class he was with at the wrong time this time. No other reports made in the building. He had to have been targeted. Ryota's palms nearly bled from how deep he dug his nails in them.

But instead he willed himself to breathe. The anger he was feeling- that wouldn't help them. He was the eldest right now. The one who was supposed to be level-headed. The one who should have the assurances that he'll be brought back home, as well as the answers on how to achieve that. The one he had right now- it was a long shot but it was something.

Ryota knelt down in front of the girl so he could look her in the eye. "Yaoyao. I know you're angry. Asking you not to be is the last thing I would do after what happened. I will however request that you use that anger on those who deserve it most." He offered a hand for her to hopefully take. "Come with me to the agency. Anyone you think would want to help ensure his safety, tell them to come too."

"We have a lead on where he could possibly be taken."

[𝕐 + 𝕐]

[attr="class","body"]She can barely hear him arrive over the roaring of the blood pounding in her ears. Can’t even react when he does, honestly, because she feels like if she moves from this spot — curled up on the ground like a kicked dog, holding the pieces of herself together with sheer force and her bare hands — she’ll break apart for real, and this time the interior of the apartment won’t be the only thing she takes with her.

It’s Lili, distant enough in that space wreathed in shadows, who finds the strength to explain what’s happened. Lili, lavender wisps wrapped around Yaoyao’s shaking body, who takes over, moves Yaoyao’s own hands to take Ryota’s, and it’s only then she finds the will to speak.

“Gege.” He already knows this but it tumbled out of her anyway. “They took him. Gege, they took him and I wasn’t here, I wasn’t-“

It’s Lili, again, who takes over, forcing air into their lungs, because Yaoyao sure as shit can’t do it. Lili gets Yaoyao’s legs moving, gets her upright, gets their phone into Yaoyao’s shaking hands to respond to Ryota’s directive — anyone you think would want to help ensure his safety, tell them to come too.

With Ryota here, the big brother she never had, the only one she’s ever known, there’s only one other person she can think of. Lili knows it. Lili's sent an explanatory text, has had the number dialed before Yaoyao’s even fully grasped the phone. It rings and rings and rings — “Juju?” Her voice shakes, and then cracks apart, as soon as the call picks up. “Can you - I need you. I need you here. Please.”

Her location is on. It’s been shared with not just Kei, but also Jun since their first year - a safety measure, a ‘just in case’, because the world is shit. Today’s just case in point.

---

Ryota Hada + junsuina

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[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Jun's office was cramped as it normally was, but at the very least she had two different spaces when it came to her craft. The first was where she kept all her tools and did all of her assembling, and the second was for painting. The latter was important as she had an airbrush and she needed the ventilation. She was putting the final touches on a bracer when her phone rang. Probably that one agency again, she thinks, recently having to contend with a firm that was trying to poach her away from Ouros. It was bad practice, in her opinion. As she picked it up and flipped it open, she saw briefly the caller ID: Yao-bear. That was odd, as any shenanigan type things she would just spam her messages with. Or, it was something not super important, she'd just send the message and Jun would get to it whenever. It was rare that she called. As she answered she couldn't even get out a question before Yaoyao spoke. Jun was not a good people person, but she was good at detecting patterns. If something bad had happened to her, that brokenness that she was hearing would be an undercurrent to whatever fury Yaoyao would normally be experiencing in the moment. It wasn't there, at least not detectible by Jun. That only meant one thing, and her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. "Take deep breaths," Jun says, looking around and setting down her brush. The paint containers were thankfully already closed, and the small pools would unfortunately dry up. It didn't matter, there was an emergency. She grabbed her bag, heading out of the office and looking around. "Felix! Something's wrong, clock me out! I'll make up the time another night!" She hated dumping her workload on others, but something was off. She couldn't sit there and fiddle with things. "I'll be a few minutes. What happened?" Jun wasn't going to be able to wait for a bus. While Rising Phoenix was thankfully in Tokyo, she was still some blocks away from Yaoyao and Kei's apartment. 𝕐 + 𝕐,Ryota Hada,

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✿

[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

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I don’t dorm.

I have an apartment off campus close to a particular bullet train that leads into the mountains where my Abuela lives lived. My priorities, more often than not, bring me up there on the weekends. We’re all we have left. Had left. Between that, travel, and newfound work obligations, I have special permissions granted by UAU to take a full time workload with part time attendance.. All non-mandatory classes — seminars, lessons, general education, and the like — are all attended by Dust Bunnies. As long as I keep up a minimum GPA, do not break any laws, or rules of conduct, and show up for midterms and finals of those classes, then I’m able to continue living this lifestyle.

But I'm not the only one.

There's a couple I've taken a particular interest in. I met the shadow in the forest. And as a result, a fox spirit made us privy to the secrets lurking the depths of psyches. There's people she wishes to protect, one of which harboring a terrible secret. A fear, festering in his heart; a fear of himself. 

They, too, live  off campus. Since becoming the man's disciple, I've kept an eye on him. Two, in fact. A pair of rabbits stalks their living quarters. They're observers. Nothing more. There is nothing a pair of rabbits can do to help if something were to go wrong.

Not even when a mysterious figure knocks on the door. Not even when they attack an innocent man and drag him away. The first disappears, and it wakes me up as I'm sleeping  on my Abeula's couch. The second follows Yaoyao to no avail. When Yaoyao screams the second rabbit poofs into a cloud of black smoke.

Someone’s taken Kei Hada.

---

Kei Hada 𝕐 + 𝕐 Ryota Hada junsuina

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