Chapter Text
“Oh Icchan!~"
Nakamura pranced around his room, his arms raised in the air in celebratory fashion.
"Today’s the day! I swear by the end of this school trip, Hirose and I will be friends! No more staying silent or stumbling over my words. I’m sure there are plenty of good stores in Yokohama where I can buy him a gift that will seal our friendship!"
Nakamura squealed into his pillow. Oh yes, today he would firmly exit the ‘NPC’ and ‘acquaintance’ categories and enter into the ‘genuine friendship’ one!
“And then once we become friends, we can start on the path to becoming LOVERS! Maybe I should treat him out to lunch? NO, that’d be moving too quickly! Giving him a gift is better! What should I get him Icchan? A manga? A keychain? My heart’s just BURSTING at the possibilities, HAHAHAHA-”
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), he was unceremoniously interrupted by a loud banging at his door.
“Damn it, Okuto, you idiot brother! PIPE IT DOWN, or I swear one day I’m going to barge into your room and throw whatever dumb mangas you always read into the trash!”
Nakamura let out an indignant squawk. “Don't you dare Kana! If you do that, I’m just going to start entering your room without your permission!”
Kana didn’t respond, but Nakamura heard her grumbling down the hallway. The nerve of her! If only he properly conveyed the extent of her annoying nature to Hirose…
No, but maybe then he’d just think I’m a bad brother…And then he wouldn’t want to be my friend…
Doubts started swirling in his head. He couldn’t mess today up. He had to be very careful in what he said to Hirose. A slew of wrong words and he could jeopardize his chances at becoming friends! Nakamura approached Icchan’s tank, his hands gripping the dresser.
“What should I do Icchan? I don’t wanna mess up my chances by letting my mouth run wild. But if I stick to being reserved, then I’m never going to get his attention. Especially if Oomori, Takeuchi, and Mukai stick to him like glue during the whole trip. Should I take the risk? Should I try to be outspoken?”
Icchan pressed one of his eight arms onto the glass. It almost looked as though he was trying to reach out in reassurance. Nakamura couldn’t help but smile.
“Haha, you always know how to console me, Icchan. I just need to be confident and approach Hirose when the moment is right. Easier said than done, of course, but I’ll go for it nonetheless! Maybe I should-”
RING RING
“OH CRAP! I need to leave for school now or else I’m gonna miss the trip! I’ll make sure to tell you all about how things go when I come back tonight, Icchan!”
Nakamura quickly packed his backpack and scrambled out of the room. He had to succeed today! He had to come home with good news for Icchan!
Icchan waited for a few minutes before rubbing one of his tentacle arms over his head.
I swear that boy is going to be the death of me…Hirose this, Hirose that…I just hope his pining gets rewarded eventually.
Although Nakamura’s antics frequently made him weary, the octopus couldn’t help but carry fondness for the boy. If it weren’t for Nakamura, he would never have left that boring aquatic display at the corner store. Don’t get him wrong, life inside that display case wasn’t the worst: for one, the tank itself was larger than the one he currently resided in. But there was something about Nakamura’s tank and room that just felt like…home. Nakamura also made sure to properly feed him and clean his tank whenever the first smudge of filth produced itself. Yes, being adopted by the high schooler had been far from the worst thing that could have happened to him.
…It certainly beat being bought by a restaurant owner and becoming tomorrow’s takoyaki special. Then again, the organization he worked for would have never let that happen.
With the trained arms of a creature who had done this time and time before, Icchan lifted the lid of his tank and slowly crawled down the dresser. Unfortunately, the tank entrance to his lair had been out of commission this past week due to repairs (Seriously, how long was it going to take? Goroawase-sensei should really hire another intern). Nakamura had left his door slightly ajar, so the cephalopod squeezed through and made his way over to the bathroom. Thankfully, Nakamura’s sister and parents had already left the house for school and work, respectively. Icchan made his way towards the toilet and plopped himself into the water. He bristled at the sensation of the water.
Thank goodness they cleaned it this morning. That entrance in my tank better get fixed soon; I don’t want to keep pushing my luck.
Icchan stretched one of his tentacle arms to flush the toilet. Instead of flushing it down, he pushed the knob up. In dizzying fashion, he was swept down into a transparent tube, his flexible body adjusting to the decrease in space. After about a minute, the tube deposited him in his underwater lair. He swam past the small kelp garden and the assortment of anemones and corals. His desk remained as pristine as ever. His notes, files, folders, and other work materials were all carefully organized on the left side. The right side was mostly barren, save for a picture of the Nakamura family all smiling on one of their trips to Narita. The octopus couldn’t help but keep that photo close by. He remembered the puzzled looks they all had on their faces when they realized the picture had gone missing. They’d even scoured Nakamura’s room for it, much to the boy’s dismay. Nakamura had then proceeded to complain to him for an hour straight about how his parents and sister could never respect his privacy.
Oh well, they have so many other pictures from that trip. It won’t hurt them if I keep this one to myself. He rubbed his two front arms together in a mischievous manner. As he recounted fond memories of his time in the Nakamura household, the big screen in front of his desk blared on. Goroawase-sensei had logged on.
“Ah, good morning Agent I. Pleased to see you in such a good mood this morning! Normally you carry an air of exhaustion about you.”
You’d be exhausted too if you had to listen to my owner’s incessant simping every day and night. Icchan crossed his front arms together in annoyance. Why did his boss have to be so damn perceptive?
“Regardless, your mission for today is going to be…let’s just say different from your regular reconnaissance missions.” Icchan narrowed his eyes; he did not like the way his boss phrased that.
“You see, there have been reports from some of our agents that a…pharmacist has been spotted conducting some suspicious activities around the Tokyo Bay Area. More specifically the part of the bay that spills into Yokohama. Suss out whatever shenanigans this supposed pharmacist is up to and put a stop to it if necessary.” Icchan could only give a quick, confused salute before the screen turned dark.
A pharmacist? Is there some secret league of evil pharmacists that’s sprouting up? What the heck kind of mission is this? That’s not to mention that I’ll be patrolling around Yokohama! If Nakamura sees me…no, best not to think of that.
He stared once more at the Nakamura family photo. He just had to be careful is all. He didn’t want this to be the last time he saw that picture (or them). The memory erasing option was always there...but no, he didn't want the Nakamuras to ever be put in that machine.
Swimming towards the cave section of his lair, Icchan made sure to grab the essentials: a brown and black-striped wristband symbolizing his status as an agent, and an electronic watch for communication with Goroawase-sensei if need be. He put them on his right and left front arms, respectively. He snatched his grappling hook off the side of the cave wall; the device was helpful for moving quickly whenever he had to be out of water. Thankfully, O.W.C.A.’s genetic modifications allowed him to swim in freshwater should he ever be required to. However, he still couldn’t physically be out of water for extended periods of time.
Inside the make-shift cave, Icchan plopped himself into an escape tube. Almost immediately, he was whisked away. The series of underground tunnels all went by in a blur as the cephalopod raced towards Tokyo Bay. After a minute or two, the tube plopped him straight into the blue waters of the bay. Icchan’s small submarine was already waiting there. He crawled into the vehicle and set the automatic GPS steering to his destination.
Now to head to Yokohama and see who the hell I’m dealing with.
Unbeknownst to the octopus, a certain teal platypus was receiving a similar briefing on the other side of the globe.
“...we don’t know what in tarnation that man is doing across the Pacific Ocean, so we’re counting on you to figure it out and shut it down.”
Perry gave a firm salute as Major Monogram logged off. He set down his mug of coffee that he’d quickly brewed up in the kitchen. Nighttime missions were rare in and of themselves. But a mission in Japan? Normally, his missions took place in the area he lived in: the Tri-State Area (and the occasional trip to Drusselstein). Were there no agents in Tokyo that could take care of it? Then again, he knew that certain O.W.C.A. divisions were more understaffed than others.
And I suppose this guy is MY nemesis.
The monotreme pressed a button on the side of his desk, and a tunnel emerged right in the centre of his lair. This particular one allowed him to travel all the way to the other side of the globe if need be. He had used it once to receive a mission from Major Monogram, who at the time was in China. (How the organization maintained that tunnel, he had no idea). Perry hopped into the dark tunnel and began his descent into the darkness.
Aside from the faraway location, let’s just hope this mission is normal and gets resolved quickly. I’d rather not give the Flynn-Fletchers any reason to worry.
Thankfully, he’d taken precautions; he’d snuck a log under Ferb’s arm to make the boy still think he was cuddling his pet (Hopefully it worked like it did the first time he tried it).
Little did Perry know that this assignment would turn out to be as far from normal as it could get.