Chapter Text
———·———
Shuuichi Akai swatted off the mosquito that was stinging the back of his neck.
A few dozen hours ago, he was feeding mosquitoes in a Colombian plantation, the humidity of which was so unbearable and made it so hot that he swore it could vaporise people. Yet a few dozen hours later, there he was, feeding mosquitoes again after flying across the pacific from South America to Japan. Though it was the middle of the day on a bright summer day, Tokyo was too damn hot. He leaned back against the stone pillar inscribed 'Sera' and pressed his back against the cool surface of the wall, finally getting some relief from the heat.
It had been a while since he was last in Tokyo.
After most of the liquors from THAT organisation got bottled and locked up thanks to an excruciatingly long fight, he took on a new job almost straight away and ran off to South America, where, after a few months hiding in the rainforest, he managed to infiltrate the local mafia with the help of an informant in Medellin.
It was another five years before he teamed up with his DEA colleagues to seize the last drug estate of a major drug lord operating throughout Latin America.
He handed the final piece of work over to his colleagues from the other bureau, not caring whether he got the top credit or not. After sleeping fifteen hours straight in an air-conditioned hotel room near Bogota airport, he took the first flight and rushed back to Japan. It was only when he arrived at Masumi’s university that he realised the school was already on holiday. She was not even in the dormitory.
So there he was again, feeding mosquitoes in front of the home address Masumi had registered with the school.
On his way, he stopped by the bank to retrieve his personal items deposited six years ago from the safe. Shuuichi looked around out of habit before stepping into the back seat of the cab, at which he unexpectedly met a familiar gaze.
Shuuichi did not know that Jodie was in Tokyo.
The latter apparently had no knowledge of his whereabouts neither. She was making a phone call in Japanese, glancing only briefly over Shuuichi without ever lingering. It was not surprising, given that they were separated by a wide road, his baseball cap was low brimmed and he wore sunglasses. Plus he was dressed accordingly as he was in South America. But then he saw her slowly pause and stare blankly in his direction, her mouth opening and closing slightly, but no more words was spoken. The two looked at each other from afar across the street, until she broke the still image with a soft smile.
She looked ...... not so bad. She was wearing a warm coloured short sleeve and a knee length leggings of the same colour with a canvas bag over one shoulder, seemingly just dressed for a walk. Her blonde hair had probably grown beyond her shoulders and was combed up into a very perky thin ponytail. She was walking a golden retriever with its mouth wide open, exhaling hot air, followed by a young boy of Japanese descent around eight or nine years old.
The boy waited for a few seconds before gently pulling on the leash she was holding when he saw no movement from the adult. She looked down at the dog running a few steps away, its tail wagging, and followed the child into the dawn light that spread across the street. She remained on the phone, only nodding to him again as she walked by.
The cab drove for a short distance away and stopped at a red light.
Shuuichi Akai sensed a touch of dryness, only after his own heartbeat slowly calming down. That dryness that had begun to spread from his heart along with the blood flow.
The road between them stayed the same. Tokyo hadn’t changed that much after all. Yet there she was, standing from afar, everything so unfamiliar. What a strange sight to witness. Six years had passed by without a hitch, but Shuuichi was suddenly hit hard by the reality that crashed his way, frankly, even a little annoyed.
He took off his sunglasses, shut his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
———·———
Back to feeding the mosquitoes.
Shuuichi Akai took out his phone and looked for the conversation with his little sister. Considering her hot-headed temperament, it seemed that, well, he should have called before coming. The voice chat went through, but no answer. Shuuichi put his phone away, and reached for the cigarettes in his pocket. He had just arrived in Japan and hadn't gotten back into the habit of carrying around a litter box for cigarette butts, so he looked around and spotted the bin across the street. Masumi’s bright and cheerful voice came from that direction right at that moment.
He spotted his sister from a distance, taking a stroll while holding an umbrella leaning over her shoulder with a little kindergartener in her hand, the kid not even her waist high. Shuuichi raised his eyebrows slightly. Could it be that she had gotten involved (again) in some case and had (conveniently) abducted someone else's child for investigation? Or perhaps her business of helping to track down cats and dogs was booming. He put back the cigarettes and called out his little sister's name.
"Ah Shuu-ni! Is that really you!”
Masumi was startled. Upon recognising the man, she hurried up to Shuuichi’s side cheerfully. She held the kid along with her and dashed in large steps, dropping the umbrella randomly before jumping up and embracing her big brother, only to be pulled away right afterwards by the arm. Shuuichi ruffled Masumi’s short, sun-kissed hair with rare affection.
"Did you come all this way to see me? Finished with the case?"
“Fortunately we're back early! Why didn't you call me beforehand if you've found your way here already?”
"New haircut? No way Shuu-ni, do you have to insist on wearing a hat even with a bun haircut?”
Shuuichi Akai’s breath halted consciously as he leaned forward slightly and lowered his head, his eyes briefly brushing past the beaming Masumi before settling on the unknown child in the yellow school hat and kindergarten uniform skirt.
“Masumi.”
"Hmm?"
"This kid… Her last name is Sera?"
Shuuichi Akai pointed to the surname embroidered on the child's uniform.
———·———
"Well yeah. Would you like to guess who she belongs to?" Masumi grinned widely with her canine teeth showing, then leaned down to wink at the child.
" ‘Course with those eyes, she sure looks like a Sera, doesn’t she!”
She patted the child gently on the head, directing her attention to the tall guy standing in front of them. The Sera child had just picked up the umbrella from the ground and was reaching out with her little hand to put it away, letting Masumi fiddle with her hair. Yet upon hearing Masumi talk about herself, she gave it a thought before tilting her head up to look at him. Tentatively, as if waiting for his answer. Without the brim of her hat, it was the first time that Shuuichi Akai had ever looked at the Sera child.
It was as if he had been gazed upon like this before.
An indescribable sense of familiarity crept into Shuuichi's mind. It was subtle, like a gentle summer night breeze through the hair of his arm. So subtle that he had barely felt a tickle from some sort of a cat's whiskers when the déjà vu was already fleeting away. With a blink of an eye, he searched his mind and could find no memory of the face before him. The familiarity wasn't unexpected, he supposed, probably from the two pairs of emerald green eyes with contours a bit too similar.
The shape of her face was closer to that of a younger Mary than Masumi, he noticed. The outline of her eyes was not quite defined because of the young age, appearing rounded with childishness, yet it was not difficult to see that the shape was similar to those of European ancestry. However, the colour of this child's irises would probably be considered light in the Sera family. While it was still dark green overall, there was a vague rim of icy blue around the pupil.
As far as he knew, Mary Akai had not yet developed the capability to clone her own sibling. After eliminating successively the possibility of his own younger brother and sister hiding the birth of a child from him, he was left with the only possibility of her being a distant relative. Even for those who are close like the Miyano family he had only known because of Akemi, he would never bother to check out the connections of his related families. If it were that simple, Masumi wouldn't be this vague with her words anyway. He swallowed the answer he had meant to say at the child's attentive gaze.
Before Shuuichi could talk, Masumi straightened up again and took the child's hand, swinging it back and forth. She exchanged a look with the kid.
”Well, you will soon find out when her mother comes anyway.”
Masumi opened the door for them. The child had just finished untying her shoelaces when she was pushed into the bathroom by Masumi, with the latter hopping joyfully from behind, leaving Shuuichi alone to check out his family home. It was a modestly decorated two storey house with what must must have been the state-of-the-art surveillance system inside and out from the MI6. Two bedrooms were occupied by Mary and Masumi, and the remaining one had signs that Shukichi had lived there, with a small, light-coloured suitcase lying on the floor. In addition to a simple gym, there was a separate study with toys ranging from Lego and dolls to remote control cars scattering across the floor. A colourful landscape puzzle was left partly completed on the carpet.
"Wash your hands first! We need to remove the sunscreen from your hands.”
"Do you want to take off your uniform too? You must have been sweating a lot this morning. It stinks!"
"Then Masumi needs to change too."
"Where are your clothes? Why aren't they on the bed?"
"They're on the bed."
"I looked and they weren't there, did mum put them away in the laundry bag? I'll get another set."
"I'll have the green ones."
Shuuichi Akai took his time to finish his room tour before standing around the corner to study Masumi’s busy figure in and out of the bathroom. He narrowed his eyes, still not quite grasping the vague meaning of Masumi’s words.
When they returned to the living room, Shuuichi had started the kettle and he asked Masumi for the tea bags in the cupboard. The Sera child, who had changed into short sleeves and shorts, broke away from Masumi’s hand and managed to climb onto the sofa by herself. There were no leftovers in the fridge, so Masumi ordered a take-out for Shuuichi, the only one who hadn't eaten lunch. The two siblings briefly exchanged recent news, and Masumi couldn't wait to ask about the undercover operation. Naturally, for those questions he either didn't answer at all or gave an irrelevant reply. In between he would catch a glimpse of the little figure running back and forth from the sofa to the dining table.
Her hair colour was light, not a pale blonde like Mary, but rather a warm yellow, resembling a field of wheat, with a darker shade of brown at the roots. She too had the same curl inherited from Sera's family, with a length barely touching her neck. The few strands that had gotten wet when she had washed her face remained loose on her forehead.
She was also studying him too in secret.
She sat on the sofa with her arms straightened and looked around, next she climbed onto the dining chair and picked up the crayons spreading across half the table to draw with, then she picked up a toy car and slid it around on the coffee table, but Shuuichi Akai could detect her gaze from time to time. It was as if she was scouting for the best spot to observe.
Right after Masumi went to the bathroom, the Sera child came over, her whole body leaning towards the edge of the sofa, her small hands tapping rhythmically on the armrest. She hadn't spoken much to Masumi before, and her expression was indifferent most of the time, unlike the young Masumi who tended to wear tears and laughters on her face. But she didn't seem to be afraid of strangers neither, as she didn't seem rattled or nervous around the not-so-friendly stranger.
"Excuse me, may I ask what your name is."
"Akai Shuuichi." Seeing the child stare at him motionlessly, he repeated, "Akai, last name. Shuu - ichi -, first name."
The child nodded and asked, “May I call you Shuuichi?”
"...... You may.”
" Shuu-ichi?"
"...... Hmm."
Although Shuuichi Akai rarely interacted with children of that age, it was evident that children who had been taught to use the word ‘may I’ had usually learned how to introduce themselves. He suddenly thought back to the conversation he'd had when he’d first met the Shounen Tantei Dan, where the children had addressed him as ‘Mr. Okiya’, and the hmm came very slowly. She finished her question but didn't speak again, looking down silently and playing with her fingers.
"Eh what time is it? Wanna play Mario Cart?"
The child popped her head up and returned a soft yes.
The two went over to the TV and turned on the console, each sitting cross-legged on a seat cushion and ignoring Shuuichi Akai. The child smiled with a shallow dimple at the bottom corner of her mouth, he noticed, a pretty girl with a mesmerising smile, if not a bit too pretty. She seemed to trust Masumi, obviously enjoying her company, and Masumi liked her a lot.
The jet lag that he hadn't had time to get over from flying across the Pacific and the exhaustion of the long journey caught up with him at this point, so he settled into a comfortable position, leaned back on the back of the sofa and gradually closed his eyes.
Someone had returned. Shuuichi Akai opened one eye.
Neither of Masumi nor the kid had heard the sound of the door lock, while the kid's fat turtle on the left half of the screen had only just managed to throw its turtle shell at Masumi’s Princess Peach on the other half of the screen. It wasn't until the door slammed shut, followed by the sound of surveillance system being disarmed that the kid popped her head up.
"Mom?" She pushed up her arms and jumped out of her seat cushion, carrying half the console with her as she dashed towards the entrance, "Mommy!”
Shuuichi Akai tilted his head slightly with his hand on his sleep-stiffened neck, just in time to catch a glimpse of Mary Akai, who was tapping her phone screen rapidly on one hand while picking up the little Sera with the other. He supposed he might be better off remaining asleep. He swallowed.
"Mom ...... my ......?"
———·———
“There you are. They did say you were planning to close the deal just recently. Did it hurt this bad your ego that the FBI didn't get the first credit you have to flee back?”
Shuuichi Akai sat up straighter with his face tensed, did not even bother to say hello. He slowly lifted his index finger, and drew an invisible line back and forth between Mary and the girl in her arms, doing his best to restrain his expression from crumbling, of which was a mixture of surprise and embarrassment yet mostly teasing and playfulness.
Mary Akai put her phone away and looked up at the face which seemed to have seen hell and froze for a moment. She gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes as she realised his intentions.
“Ah yes, you've witnessed a medical miracle. You're in your thirties and yet you manage to be the eldest brother of this little one. Grow up Shuuichi.“
Off to the side, Masumi didn't even wait to hear the whole sentence before she nonchalantly fell on the couch, bursting into laughter.
"Side effects of APTX? Hahahahahahaha!"
"Mary, when is mommy coming?" The child let Mary hold her in her arms, her upper arms gently circling Mary’s neck. The two seemed not exactly intimate, but the kid’s movement easily relieved at once Mary of her stern aura at the sight of her eldest son.
"She just called and said she's got a last-minute mission so she won't be able to come today. I'll ask tomorrow."
The child dropped her head with an ‘oh’, without any extra expression, no disappointment or sadness in sight. What happened next made Shuuichi's pupils quake as Mary naturally ruffled the child's blonde hair, tugging at her little ears as her hand fell, and then, almost gently, lowered her head and rubbed it against the kid’s face. She didn't give much of a response in return, however, and she silently broke away from the adult's arms and ran back to sit down in front of the game console. Mary and Masumi exchanged a silent look.
It was only then did Mary Akai had the presence of mind to attend to her nearly petrified eldest son. She slapped the man nonchalantly from behind, and Shuuichi Akai looked up just in time to catch the dagger she shot from her eyes. He coughed awkwardly and followed her to the other side of the living room.
It was a child from one of the relatives, she explained. Mary finally shed some light a few hours after he arrived home. She was temporarily staying with them because of the special nature of her mother’s work.
"So the Akai's aren't the only ones who thrive on special skillsets.” Shuuichi joked.
"Where is the father?" It seemed to be a logical next question.
Marie glanced at him briefly and then at the child, the curls from her forehead slipping down to cover her eyes. She whispered in English instead, "Never in the picture."
Shuuichi Akai raised an eyebrow and asked no further questions. The TV's boisterous game music filled the eerie silence.
"It's time for your nap, kiddo.” Mary raised her eyes to check the time before walking up behind the child and patting her on the shoulder.
"How long are you staying here?”
"Took two weeks of leave."
"Staying in a hotel?" Shuuichi was interrupted before he could answer, "What, for just a few days, do you really think you've come for a sightseeing trip? Shukichi’s room ----"
"The bed must be very comfortable, thank you mother," Shuuichi interrupted hastily, turning around with a well-behaved smile, "I'm going to the hotel right now to pick up my luggage."
———·———
Mary and Masumi hadn't told him the truth, or at least not the whole truth.
There was a thick ring of soap stains underneath the shampoo for kids in the bathroom, and one or two drawings, apparently from art class, taped to the walls were already warped. Clearly it wasn't as simple as a temporary stay. What bothered Shuuichi was that they were so generous in leaving their loopholes uncovered, not even bothering to hide them.
As he walked past Masumi’s room after his shower, the older Sera was holding the younger Sera in her arms with the two sharing a pair of earbuds, holding a tablet and talking on the phone. The younger one called out affectionately to her mother through the screen.
Shuuichi Akai listened to their conversation for a while outside the unlocked door, remembering the chance encounter with Jodie earlier this day.
Didn’t Japan just hit a record low on birth rate. Where did all these children come from. He closed the door.
He retrieved his SIM card from the file folder he'd left in the safe and plugged it in, and six-year worth of app notifications and messages started to come through. He turned off the alert and scrolled the text messages all the way down to a dialog with a last record of six years ago. He stared at the screen without moving, so much so that everything in front of him began to blur until the screen snapped dark.
He pressed the phone back on and chose to exit.