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Port Elpis Hollow, 1900 Hours
The sound of rain filled the air, the already dark sky choked by heavy and wet storm clouds. The occasional groaning of steel cables and joints also added their voice to the choir as the wind pushed and pulled on long abandoned shipping containers and dockyard cranes. Perhaps the only mercy the hollow gave was an ever present defuse light akin to smothered moonlight saving the two souls that wandered through it from total darkness.
"What a bummer, Miss Tsukishiro sending us all the way out here" Harumasa complained aloud, walking with a rather laid back look to him for an Hollow Special Operations agent. But that was just how Harumasa was, as casual in a hollow as he was in the office.
"And in all this rain as well! Your super neat hair and uniform will be totally ruined!" Kazuki teased while walking alongside him, a grin appearing on her face as Harumada rolled his eyes. She couldn't help but leave to tease him, it was just in her nature and he was too cute not to.
She looked around the condemned dockyard, any trace of life simply non-existent. Instead the only thing around, besides the lifeless materials of the dock itself of course, were various ether crystals. Big and small, pointed and stout, singular and clustered, the crystals were yet another constant reminder of the nature of the hollow. And equally, a reminder of their real purpose here.
"So exactly what are we supposed to be looking for again?" She asked before kicking a random stone out of bordem while she walked, the wet thud it made just highlighting the question of hers. "Cause so far all we've found are the same old ether crystals as always and like what, four, maybe five random etherals? Doesn't look like anything has happened, it's almost as sleepy as you."
Harumasa shrugged, looking around himself idly. "Something that's "increasing hollow activity in unpredictable ways", that's pretty much all they told us. So very helpful and clear of the higher ups, must have been feeling very kind today." He said, not really able to give much more detail with how little he himself was given. Whether this was because the higher ups were just being needlessly obtuse or they genuinely didn't know either, he wasn't sure and didn't really care either. Regardless, he and Kazuki has to go figure it out.
"Yeah that sounds like them, always so vague-" Kazuki began only be cut off by a sudden scream in the distance. Moments later, cries for help and pleads of me every followed the scream.
Kazuki and Harumasa took a moment to look at each other before bidding and setting off. Harumasa seemed like a blaze of blue and yellow, running and jumping on the wet steel and concrete as if he were a ballerina on a wooden stage. Kazuki as well, despite not having the athletic blessings that Harumasa did, kept up without a problem as well. They made their way through the maze of shipping containers and ether crystals, guided by the ever louder cries. As they made their final approach, both drew their weapons ready for an immediate battle.
Valuating over the final shipping container, the source of the noise and its scene was made clear. A short young blonde woman with a large satchel was being backed into a literal corner by a group of etherals that surrounded her. She tried to fend them off with some sort of pipe, but it was clear she was no fighter and was only doing this in sheer panic and desperation.
Harumasa didn't waste a second longer, calling out to the etherals as he jumped down with his bow drawn, firing an arrow to take out the ethereal closest to the blonde woman before he even hit the ground. Kazuki followed right behind him, dropping down and taking out an etheral with her sheathed sword in one blow.
"Don't worry girlie, we'll get you out of here!" She shouted to the stunned woman before bursting into action. What followed was what could only be described as a scene of violent beauty. Harumasa and Kazuki began to battle the etherals with almost effortless skill, cracking jokes with one another as they felled etheral after etheral. It was more than just two skilled HAND operatives or even proof of Miyabi's understanding of picking the strongest herself for HSO6. It was almost akin to a tango, Harumasa and Kazuki not merely fighting together but almost fighting as one, bouncing off one another as if the two of them were really one. It was a display far greater than any mere cooperative training, something neither spoke of for it need not be said.
Finally, the violent yet beautiful display came to the end as the last etheral fell with a shreik before dissolving back into the hollow. Harumasa and Kazuki were left without so much as a scratch, and the blonde woman looked on with amazement; as if she had bore witness to an intimate display she wasn't meant to see.
Kazuki skipped over to her with a smile, leaning down to offer her a hand. "Come on, a cutie like you shouldn't be on the dirty ground" She said with a wink, the blonde woman blushing at the flirt but taking the hand all the same. She pulled her up and gave her a quick look down, luckily besides some rain soaked clothing she seemed entirely unharmed.
"So, what are you doing here? Somehow I doubt you're with the HIA, right?" Harumasa asked while walking over to her. He clearly wasn't angry or even suspicious, but he was clever enough to know that people don't tend to just wander in this deep inside a hollow for a casual stroll. The blonde woman locked up and seemed scared to tell the truth, but after a few moments of both Kazuki and Harunasa staring her down, she finally relented.
"Okay okay you're right I'm not with the HIA but I swear I'm not doing anything bad!" She quickly spat out, her voice shaky with fear at having gotten out of the fire just to land right into the frying pan. Kazuki raised up her hands in a show of good faith, saying "Woah cutie it's okay, we're not PubSec alright? We just want to know what ya have been up to here, promise." Harumasa gave a nod of agreement which seemed to help ease the woman's worries.
"I was just looking for stuff to sell here is all," the blonde woman began to explain, calming down somewhat as she did so, "because like there's loads of stuff here no one claims but is still good, so why not take it and sell it? It'd just rot otherwise. But then this massive freaky looking etheral appeared out of no where, and I had to run!"
At the mention of a freaky looking etheral, Harumasa's eyebrows raised. "A freaky looking etheral? Where did you run into that?" He smoothly asked, realizing right away that was probably the source of the reported hollow abnormalities. Kazuki clocked this also, and gave the woman a reassuring smile to make it clear they weren't asking her this to incriminate her. "Over there, just by one of the old cranes" She said while pointing over the shipping containers in the distance.
"Thanks for the info! I'd get going if I were you since we'll be checking that out, but don't worry, we're not PubSec so we won't bother you about this, plus you're way too cute to just arrest!" Kazuki said with a wink. The blonde woman thanked them and ran off with a slight blush on her face, Kazuki feeling particularly smug about her flirting abilities. Harumasa just rolled his eyes with a smile before they both set off.
With their excellent navigation abilities, it didn't take them long to reach the ethereal. And sure enough, they found what they were looking for. Right there wandering in circles around the dockyard crane was a massive ethereal. It had an appearance that could best be described as a cross between a crocodile and a chimpanzee, with unstable ether energy pouring off it like a smoldering tree.
"Looks like we found our guy" Harumasa remarked as he looked over at the ethereal, drawing his arrows to the ready.
"Not very pretty, I'd call that a swipe left" Kazuki joked while drawing her own sword, readying to drop the sheath at a moment's notice.
Withn a long bow draw, Harumasa unleashed the arrows and hit a direct strike on the ethereal's eyes; or at least the closest thing an ethereal could have to a eye. The ethereal stagger back with a roar in anger and pain. The ether around it began to get excited and wild, but that did nothing to deter Harumasa or Kazuki. They charged the etheral and began to battle it, dodging it's strikes while delivering their own.
However as the battle kept dragging on, it was clear that they needed more to take it down. Even worse, Harumasa was visibly starting to strain under the ether activity and ether particles in the air. Strong as he was, his E.A.R.S. was always a concerned and that was just as true now. Seeing this, before Harunass could even attempt to stop her, Kazuki decided to resort to her most powerful move.
The sword was drawn from it's sheath, and Kazuki instantly felt the power flowing through her. She charged the ethereal and delivered devastating blow after devastating blow, the power of one hundred soldiers in a single sword. Yet that power was not without its cost, Kazuki feeling her heart grow tight and weak while the warmth on her body seemed to vanish into nothingness. With a final fatal blow, the ethereal came crashing down and soon after began to dissolve away. The ether in the area began to stabilize and settle, with a perfect mission success.
Yet Kazuki wasn't celebrating. She sheathed her sword just before her strength finally gave. She fell to the ground, only saved from outright smashing into it by Harumasa catching her just in time.
"Kazuki! I told you, don't use that sword!" Harunasa scolded her while carrying her out of the hollow, the worry on his face and in his voice clear. Kazuki let out a small cough and laugh, teasing back to him, "Sorry, but I can't let your pretty face get all corrupted, so I had to."
"I'm serious! You got way too much ahead of you to have some sword steal it all!" He shot back to her. She deflated a bit, realizing just how much she had worried him. But she couldn't say she wouldn't have done it again.
"You do as well, every day with you is more important to me than the world." She said softly but with an unbreakable conviction. She knew his condition, that him living to even 30 would be a small miracle. She knew there was nothing she could do to change that short of a real life deus ex machina. But that didn't change the fact ever day mattered to her, and trading some future days of hers to give him some days now is a trade she'd always make.
Harumasa seemed ready to snap back but simply sighed, unable to bring himself to yell at her anymore. The hollow exit was just in front of them and just before he carried her through it, he told her "Then I'll have to make sure you're with my every day."
Kazuki was too tired to respond but held him tighter as they passed from the hollow into Port Elpis.
She didn't know what the future would hold, how much or how little of her future she even had left. But as long as she could be with Harumasa she wouldn't be worried if it was 100 years or 1 year. It'd be worth every moment of it. And as Harumasa held her in turn, he seemed to have come to same conclusion.