Chapter Text
Yuma was wrapping up a case, when she found him.
It had been a largely uneventful month for him, the cases he had worked were simple affairs. That didn’t bother him so much, any and all mysteries no matter how small were worth his attention, but the downside to having easier cases was that it left his mind less occupied. More prone to wandering thoughts, they lingered back, to the exact things he was trying to avoid.
He wasn’t ready for them, not yet, and perhaps not ever. It was hypocritical of him, to refuse to face the truth, even when he believed revealing truths was the only avenue towards happiness for the world but—he had to allow himself this small, terrible bit of internal inconsistency.
Because every time he thought of it…he couldn’t quite bear where his mind took him.
To the missing, the lost, and the unfathomable.
It hurt to think about it, what he had regained and lost, of the Chief, his body still shambling around, but his mind so far gone as to make him unrecognizable. Yuma had the feeling that he was responsible for his death, somewhere in his forgotten memories, and the weight of it felt like an impossible thing, chains around his neck, dragging him down.
That was far from the only thing that induced those feelings, Kanai Ward in general throwing his mind into a dark place, as dark as the endless night of that city. But, for now, he refused to linger on anything more. Unable to bear it, he had drowned himself in the world instead, in the endless expanse of unsolved mysteries, new ones forming every day. And that said nothing of past cases, the questions left long without answers, their sheer existence bringing the world further into the dark.
The city he was in now had no rain. During the day, the hot desert sun beat down upon its citizens, a place so precisely different from Kanai Ward that it was easy to forget.
That was, until today, when a figure in a long coat approached him. He had just been exiting the diner owed by his previous client (a woman whose son was missing—he had gotten married without telling her and was living in the next town over). The figure was clearly awaiting him, turning eagerly to face him as he exited the building.
“Yuma,” the figure said, their face entirely enshrouded by the darkness of their hood. The voice was immediately familiar, and the figure was as well, her height exactly the same as he remembered.
“Kurumi,” he responded, voice carefully neutral. He did not want her to know how his heart immediately dropped upon seeing her, upon seeing anything of Kanai Ward. His mind was clicking the pieces into place, her coat, her backpack (larger than it used to be), and the wear on her shoes— she had been looking for him. And, apparently, had enough precautions available to her that it was feasible to travel in daylight. Amaterasu Corporation, hard at work on behalf of the homunculi.
“I was looking for you,” she approached, close enough so he could see her face under the hood, her brilliant smile, although there was a sharpness in her eyes that made him put his guard up. “I mean, I wanted to find you, to travel with you. I’m happy to see you.”
“And I am, as well,” he replied. It was not entirely a lie. As dark as his thoughts turned in her presence, she was still his friend. He tilted his head, though, at her tone, her use of past-tense, “Are you…searching for me for a different reason, now?”
“Um… yes. I’m here to…to ask you to come back with me, to Kanai Ward.”
He blinked. It felt like his heart had spontaneously frozen into a block of ice, barely beating beneath the glassy surface. “…to come back? Why?”
Had something gone wrong? Did some new mystery appear that needed his attention, even though he wasn’t ready to—
Her voice cut off his thoughts, her voice low, “Mr. Kagutsuchi has been murdered.”