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after all these - what? - years
When Masaoka meets her for the first time and she smiles politely at him, all bright eyes and bushy tail, his insides succumb to an unpleasant lurch. He has seen this innocence before (reflected in green eyes all-too-familiar), carried on his shoulders that staunch optimism - and then watched helplessly as the greenness darkened, clouded with age and betrayal and obscured by volumes of words unsaid.
‘Nice to meet you,’ she says pleasantly. ‘Please take care of me.’
He smiles and returns her greetings with his trademark laid-back cheer, because what else can he do? Some things come only with loss and pain, and god knows he’s lived through several lifetimes’ worth of those.
Fifty years of despair and rupture taught him this: a bright young woman like her on a path as shady as this has only two endings- she will either die foolishly and prematurely (and gloriously, if she’s lucky enough), or she will grow bitter and jaded and then die hating the world. Masaoka gazes up at the gloomy skies, as if in prayer, and wishes with every fibre of his being that he will not live long enough to watch either scenario play out.
when is a monster not a monster? oh - when you love it
When Kagari meets her for the first time he reacts with age-appropriate enthusiasm, even if it earns him a glare from dearest Nobu-chan that can probably freeze the Indian Ocean three times over. Give him a break; between Yayoi the Stone and Shion who still treats him like a baby, anyone with breasts and ovaries is a walking respite, to say nothing of the adorable young lady currently standing in front of him.
‘So, you’re the cutie who’s been assigned to us, huh?’
What he didn’t expect was a genuine - if hesitant - smile, and a greeting of sorts: ‘Hi - hello! I am Akane, please take care of me.’
When she finally turns away from him to answer to Ginoza’s instructions, he lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Kagari wipes the stupid smile off his face and thinks, wonders, tries his hardest to recall the last time someone treated him not with condescension, or fear, or pity, or disgust, but with such normalcy -
Normalcy befitting a human being?
lionheart
When Yayoi meets her for the first time she isn’t impressed, or disgusted, or anything of the sort. The mousy, brown-haired inspector is nothing if not pleasant and polite, but practically nothing else about her stands out - she is truly unremarkable. Yayoi thinks about Rina’s effervescence and Shion’s vivaciousness, about Rina’s spunky blue hair and Shion’s lipstick, an unapologetic and shocking shade of scarlet, and muses somewhat disappointedly to herself - not everyone can be larger than life.
And then this mousy, unremarkable girl shoots Kougami, and all hell breaks loose.
When Akane finally walks away from the crime scene Yayoi looks at her again, properly this time - she gazes at plain brown hair and small hunched shoulders and sees nothing but a tenacious, quiet courage. Yayoi knows with startling certainty that this is a courage she will soon learn to admire and respect, and that Akane will become someone she will follow, willingly, even to the end of her life.
it was just a feeling
When Shion meets her for the first time she resists the urge to squeal and thinks, glee bubbling in her chest, she definitely wants to sleep with this woman, this pitiful child. Everything about her feels too pristine, too bright, too unsullied, and Shion is reminded of her childhood - how she used to leave muddy footprints over pure white fields of snow, to crush the wildflowers in her backyard and then marvel at the fragrance they emitted. It was the only way she could deal with looking at things so impeccable that it hurt.
(Shion wonders if this was what got her into the damned glass prison in the first place - her complete and utter intolerance of all things perfect.)
(Is it envy? Jealousy? Maybe, but there is also something more - )
‘Hello, dear,’ she coos, and when Akane smiles in return she doesn’t hold back her laughter.
we are still beginning
When Ginoza meets her for the first time he takes in the trusting eyes and gentle, childish voice and sizes her up in a heartbeat. The verdict does not bode well for either of them; Ginoza swears inwardly - he signed up as an inspector, not a teacher and definitely not a babysitter. The girl is too soft, too unguarded, too sanguine. There are murderers out there who will eat inspectors like her for breakfast and then still have room for more.
Ginoza is still worrying at the end of their first week - although this time for an entirely different reason. He realises, and this horrifies him more than he admits, that everything about them clashes. Ginoza thinks about her disregard for authority, his cowardice in the face of Sybil, her naive bravery, his weary cautiousness. Their partnership is a recipe for disaster.
And yet. When she speaks he sees remnants of his past self - a self he ditched many years ago for a harder shell and an emptier heart. He watches as she fights, and struggles, and falls - only to repeat the tedious cycle, armed with nothing but youthful optimism and an innate strength that no obstacle has yet to touch. That no obstacle can touch.
Ginoza watches as Akane grows, in ways that worry and infuriate and reassure him all at the same time, and thinks that their difference is one he will allow himself to condone.
like here comes the sun
When Kougami meets her for the first time he assess her for who she is - a young inspector with a gentle heart, reasonable skills, occasionally disastrous decision making abilities and, above everything, a foolish sort of belief that fundamentally eclipses everything about her. He knows this because she is everything he once was, and then possibly more.
Two days later, lying on the cold hospital bed, he will wake up to her standing in front of him, head low and eyes averted. They will engage in a conversation that will not only affirm everything he believed her to be, but also allow him a glimpse of the latent strength she carries, a vast potential unbeknownst to everyone including herself. When he finishes speaking she will thank him with complete sincerity, voice trembling and eyes curiously bright.
He will find this beautiful.