Chapter Text
“Hey!”
“I think you’ve had quite enough young lady,” Tanaka says with a soft smile.
Chinatsu reaches back for her coffee.
“I have more work to do,” she says. “The reports from South America mean planning and another cult or criminal empire after the Forest and—”
“And you have a cot in your private office,” Tanaka says. “Have you taken a break at all, since…”
He trails off. Naturally. He must miss Natsumi too.
Chinatsu sighs.
“I made my own promises to her,” she says. “Unlike Kadoya , I won’t break them. I’ll stop the Forest for her, if nothing else.”
“You’re going to collapse,” Tanaka says. “Even your brother—”
“My brother was a terrible man,” Chinatsu says. “Don’t compare me to him.”
“He could still collapse after too much work,” Tanaka says. “I had to drag him back to a cot just like yours.”
Chinatsu looks away.
“Just give me my coffee and go,” she says. “I have work to do. It feels like everyone knows my every move, now.”
“I’m taking the coffee,” Tanaka says. “But I’ll go.”
It’s not like she isn’t aware. Her friends have tried to drag her out, even though it’s clear they all miss Natsumi nearly as much. Even Sato, who was willing to die by her hand, was friends with her longer than Chinatsu, is handling it… somewhat better.
It’s just Chinatsu.
Chinatsu who can never let go.
Natsumi was the love of her life, even if it wasn’t meant to be. She can’t handle grieving her twice less than a year after she finally won.
“You should have just taken my offer,” says her brother.
“Shut up,” she growls.
He’s been following her ever since the news. She doesn’t know if he's a ghost or a hallucination, and, quite frankly, she doesn’t care.
She’s so tired, but the nightmares are worse.
“You could have had her, even the whole World,” her brother continues, nonetheless. “You could have saved her.”
“Just because she was hurt,” Chinatsu says. “Just because I hated him… she made her choices.”
“So did the Beat Rider subjects,” he replies. “A shame. I was almost done with the Gen 2 Drivers… if only you had not been so selfish—”
Chinatsu burst up.
“You—”
A knock on the door, and her brother disappears.
“Come in!” Chinatsu calls.
In comes her secretary, Akatsuki Yoko. Holding a cup of…
“I noticed Tanaka-San had taken your coffee,” she says, walking over to set it on Chinatsu’s desk. “I’m done with the files, by the way. Should be sorted.”
Akatsuki is an angel , Chinatsu thinks.
Incredibly competent and utterly beautiful, Akatsuki has been Chinatsu’s one point of sanity between the inexplicable security breach and the all-consuming grief.
“Thank you, Akatsuki-San,” she says formally. The coffee itself is her favorite can. Much better than the machine Sato and Aoyagi have made a game out of hiding from her.
They think they’re clever. Or nice.
They’re neither.
“They have a point, you know,” Akatsuki says, sitting on the front of Chinatsu’s desk. “You look exhausted, Kureshima-San.”
“No rest for the wicked,” Chinatsu replies, without missing a beat. “Any luck on the security breach?”
Akatsuki sighs.
“Unfortunately, no,” she says. “I can go through the background checks and security logs again, but I doubt we’ll find anything.”
Chinatsu nods.
“I do feel bad for asking Sakata to check the Italy situation,” she says. “But there’s a war on every front. Humanity marches on. Emphasis on march.”
“Well, at least you have me, now,” Akatsuki says. “And some meddlesome friends.”
“Would you believe we all met in a so called dropout club?” Chinatsu asks.
“No, that sounds about right,” Akatsuki says. “My sister was a bit of a delinquent. Before…”
She trails off, face falling. Chinatsu waits a moment to see if she’ll collect her thoughts or needs help.
“Before what?” She asks when that moment passes. Akatsuki shakes he head.
“Don’t worry,” she says. “My sister died years ago.”
“Oh.”
“So what I’m saying,” Akatsuki says. “Is I get it. But you will eventually need to rest if you want to fix what Yggdrasil broke.”
There’s something… off about Akatsuki’s tone, Chinatsu thinks, but she can’t tell what. Almost… accusatory.
“…Maybe I should take a day or two off,” she says.
Akatsuki smiles.
“Good,” she says. “It’s about time you head home.”
Chinatsu is so tired, in fact, that she gets very hit by a new unfamiliar Rider before her, on her way home. An unfamiliar Rider who managed to jump out and crash her motorcycle . One who knocks her Kachidoki Lockseed away from her, even. She glares, stumbling to her feet from the crash and the exhaustion.
“You must be the spy,” she says. The Rider says nothing. Their red armor…
Wait.
Even her brother destroyed the Apple Lockseeds. She has to act quickly if she even wants this Rider alive to question!
Budou!
…a shield is a terrible matchup to a gun. Chinatsu tries to keep her shots smart, but this Rider is just as stubborn.
And the Forest vines reaching through tiny Cracks don’t help.
Kiwi!
…giant slicers are much better.
The first time she got this Lockseed as a teen, she was terrible with it. Nearly sliced Hase’s arm off.
That was many years ago. Now the playing field begins to even…
But oh, she’s so tired. She’s not at her strongest and fading fast. She does her best, but her slicers bounce from the other’s shield. And eventually are knocked from her hands.
The other Rider kicks her Lockseed from her, knocking her to the ground. Chinatsu tries to get up, but the apple Rider is faster, dropping on top of her. Chinatsu is utterly pinned underneath them.
The sword is poised to stab through her, and then…
The Rider just stops.
What… Chinatsu thinks. But before anything can happen, the other Rider is knocked from where they are kneeled on top of her.
“Chinatsu!”
…Tanaka?
The world goes black.