Archive of Our Own

The vast emptiness of space rarely bothers Megumi nowadays. He’s gotten quite used to looking out of a window and seeing nothing but stars and planets and far-off galaxies. People often say that it makes them feel small, that it puts their entire lives into perspective, so to speak.

Megumi never really understood the sentiment.

Even as he walks outside of the Chimera—his breath occasionally fogging up the helmet glass—he lacks the pit in his stomach most people claim to feel when they’re surrounded by nothingness. He’s still attached to his ship, of course—this thing won’t fix itself—but as he looks out at the space around him, he still finds it to be more calming than existential.

It’s infinite in its own right, and there isn’t anything scary about that.

The gravity system in his suit helps, but he’s floated in Zero-G countless times while working on the ship’s outer hull and never once been affected. Space just doesn’t bother him. If anything, it’s nice to remember that there are things out there bigger than yourself.

All of the little mistakes, the things that come back in the silence before slumber, they pale in comparison to the ever-expanding universe.

So, for once, he’s thankful for that reminder.

It makes him feel like less of a failure.

The fix itself is easy. As he walks along the hull, he makes his way to the hangar, where a piece of debris has caught itself and won’t let go. Megumi doesn’t like it when things are on his ship without permission, so he’s halted navigation for now and made his way outside just to get rid of it.

Doing all of this just for an oddly shaped space rock or a floating piece of junk might be ironic in its own way, considering there are two unwanted guests on his ship right now, but he tries not to think about that.

As if right on cue, Kugisaki’s voice crackles over the comms in his suit: “Hey, Fushiguro.”

He sighs.

Guess he’ll have to think about it.

“What is it?” he asks, trying to mask the exhaustion in his tone.

“How much longer is it going to be to get that junk off the ship?”

Megumi presses his lips together, taking a moment, before replying, “I just got to the hangar, and I’m trying to find it now. Why?”

“Just wondering when we’ll get moving again,” she says. “I’m tired of floating through space.”

Irritation flashes for half of a second before he’s able to reel himself in.

It’s been three days since their little excursion on Mars and not once has Kugisaki even hinted at where she wants him to take her. Does she plan to stay on this ship forever?

“Well, I have to find it and then figure out why it’s not letting go,” he explains slowly, barely even caring to cover up the annoyance in his tone. “Then I have to get it off my ship, get back inside, take off this suit, and set navigation back up again. Except, I don’t know where we’re supposed to go, so I guess we’ll float for a little longer.”

She hums. “And at what point do you lose the attitude?”

When you finally get off my ship, he thinks.

“Ask me later, when the only thing keeping me grounded is no longer the gravity system in my spacesuit,” is what he opts to say instead.

He doesn’t get a reply back, so she must be done with the conversation.

Good. He is, too.

In fact, he’s been done with the conversation for about three days now. After the reward given to him from the ISSP, Kugisaki was quick to declare that they “made a good team.” Megumi didn’t pay much attention to it at the time, but now he thinks that she was hinting at a desire to stay aboard the Chimera.

And then there’s Kon, who is—well—a dog.

A really smart data dog, but a dog, nonetheless.

At no point was Megumi prepared for anyone else to join his crew of one, much less an animal, but now he just has two more mouths to feed and a lot less space than he did before. There haven’t been any new bounties either, which only adds to his growing boredom and itching desire to go off on his own.

Fully standing on the hangar’s flight deck, he finally locates the piece of debris that’s attached itself to his ship. Just a few meters from the main gate, caught on one of the rails, is a strange, warped sheet of metal that’s been bent and managed to snag on the Chimera just right. He walks up to the mess, plants his feet firmly on the hull, and starts working to remove it.

Thankfully, the task isn’t as difficult as he thought it would be. Megumi wrenches the debris from his ship and tosses it off into space, watching it spin away for a moment, then he turns around and starts making his way back to the airlock door. Raising his left arm, he opens a panel on the suit sleeve and presses a button to trigger the air cycling system.

Being in this suit is starting to get stuffy. It’s an older model with some scratches and scuffs, and he could definitely afford to replace it if he wanted, but he can’t be bothered. At some point, he’ll have to, unless he wants to risk quick and sudden death, but for now, he just wants to be inside of his ship. Alone.

But it seems wanting is not for him today.

Once he’s out of his suit and fully back inside of the Chimera, Megumi opens the door to reveal Kon yipping at Kugisaki as they play tug-of-war with an old towel. Low growls rumble from the dog’s throat, but there’s a teasing gleam in his eye as he hunches down and tries to pull the fabric from her hands.

Kugisaki simply sits on the couch, lounging, using one hand to keep ahold of the toy while the other one clicks through different channels on the television.

“How was your spacewalk?” she asks, not bothering to look up.

“Quiet,” is all Megumi says.

He makes his way past the scene and down the hall towards his room. The lights shine a soft yellow, slowly brightening as they detect him walking by, and his boots click against the metal floors. The sound lacks that empty, hollow echo he’s gotten used to.

Stuffing his hands inside of his pockets, he strolls leisurely, his eyes tracing along the complex wiring of the ship and pipes leading in and out of the walls. Once inside his quarters, Megumi finds his bed lazily made and a lone lighter sitting on the desk. He takes it as a sign and lights a cigarette without second thought, quick to bring it to his lips.

The smoke burns as it makes its way into his lungs, but he doesn’t care. It’s comforting and relaxing, and for a moment, he sits there with it, almost like he intends to let it consume him, before finally exhaling.

A good ten minutes of blissful isolation passes before a knock interrupts the silence.

Megumi was content to just be here until the end of his cigarette finally burned out, but he doesn’t have the luxury of solitude anymore. Punching a button next to the door, it slides open, revealing Kugisaki with her arms crossed.

“Where are we going now?” she asks.

“Don’t know,” he replies with a shrug. Laying back on his bed, he closes his eyes, letting the cigarette hang from his lips. “There’s no new bounty, so unless you tell me where the hell I can drop you off, we’ve got no destination.”

After a moment of silence, he peels an eye open and realizes that she’s still standing there.

Sighing, he asks, “Where do you want to go? After all, I don’t remember saying you could just stay here after leaving Mars. At what point do I consider you a stowaway and drop you off at the Asteroid Belt?”

“I’m not too keen on returning home,” Kugisaki snaps. “Is that a problem?”

“I’m not keen on having guests,” he bites back, snubbing his cigarette and dropping it into an ashtray. “So, yes. It is.”

Huffing, she rolls her eyes.

“And what’s so bad about having company, Fushiguro? This place could use more…” She looks at him. “Life.”

“The ‘company’ part.”

Clicking her tongue, she steps back from the door and stares at him, waiting.

They glare at one another for a bit until Megumi finally gets the hint and stands up, gesturing for her to lead the way. He hits another button on the other side of the wall as he steps outside of his room, and the door slides shut with a hollow bang. He then follows her back down the hallway.

Annoyance thrums in the base of his chest, curling deep inside of him like a bug in his ear that just won’t go away. He’s spent three days keeping his mouth shut about her over-extended stay, but now he’s ready to have his ship back again.

Whatever argument she’s about to make now, he’s not too interested in hearing it.

Heading towards the navigation room, they pass Kon preparing to nap on the couch. His belly rises and falls with every huff of air, and, occasionally, his legs kick and jerk.

It’s almost pitiful how at home he looks.

Megumi and Kugisaki both walk up to the ship’s main navigation console. She falls back into his chair, leaving him to stand behind her, and messes with something on the computer before flippantly waving her hand at it.

“Just take me here,” she says. Her tone is a lot flatter than it was before—less fiery, more dull.

Megumi looks at the holographic image in front of him, narrowing his eyes, and realizes that it’s planet Earth.

More specifically, it’s a visual of the current Rock Shower Forecast—made to depict where predicted debris will fall to the surface and do the most damage. Its glitchy, static-like image is hard to make out until Kugisaki smacks the console, and it stabilizes.

“Is that your home?” Megumi asks. “Earth?”

She snorts. “Hardly. It’s just where I was born.”

There’s disdain in her voice and tension in her body, and it’s only now that he understands she was calling it her “home” sarcastically earlier.

Kugisaki looks at the hologram like it’s offensive, with her arms crossed and lips curled into a sneer. Megumi doesn’t know much about Earth, other than the basics—it was the origin of human life, the Astral Gate incident made the planet barely habitable, and people don’t often travel back there unless they have to—but he gets the feeling that she would rather die than return to it.

“And you don’t want to go there at all?” Megumi asks, crossing his arms.

Surprisingly, she seems to falter at his question. Her shoulders jump as if she’s flinching, and her gaze immediately averts to the adjacent wall. Whatever past she has there, she’s keeping it close to her chest.

Fine, he supposes. He’d do the same thing.

“I could go back,” she mutters. “I just don’t know if I’m ready yet.”

Well, shit.

Maybe they’re more alike than he thought.

Despite her brash demeanor, Megumi knows a thing or two about running away from home. He’s constantly being followed by a trail of bodies, and they all lead back to Mars. Tharsis, specifically. He’ll be lucky if he never has to step foot in Red Dragon territory again.

Hell, he’ll be lucky if he just manages to not die by their hands.

Pressing his lips together, Megumi struggles to find a response. He knows that, realistically, he can’t just dump her at some random station and then jet back off into space.

Well, he can, but that’s not something he would ever actually do. Still, he never said that she could just stay here.

“So, what was your plan if we hadn’t run into each other?” Megumi asks, pinching the bridge of his nose.

He’s going to regret this.

Kugisaki shrugs. “I don’t know? Find another way off Mars?”

Under his breath, he sighs, “Right.”

Mars is a mirage.

If you’re rich, you’re set. You can go wherever, do whatever, and have whatever. People flock there like flies entering a trap, thinking that their lives will change just because the scenery is different.

Megumi was born on Mars, and growing up there, if there’s one thing he learned, it’s that everything about it is fake. The entire planet is copper coated in gold. Crime happens, people die, and the police may or may not do something about it. There’s a reason why cowboys and bounties are so common.

There is no “finding another way off Mars.”

Kugisaki would have easily been tracked and killed if she hadn’t run into Megumi. And if the White Tiger didn’t take her life for stealing from them, she would have been forever indebted to the syndicate instead.

If she came to Alba to pay for an education, to make something better with her life, well…

She can toss that idea out into space like the hunk of metal Megumi removed from his ship.

“I hope you realize that by taking Kon and leaving Mars, you can never go back Alba as Kugisaki Nobara,” Megumi says. “You know that, right?”

She huffs out a sigh and pulls her legs up to her chest. “I get the idea that this whole ‘runaway thing’ is permanent.”

“It’s not permanent, but you have to be smart.”

“I am smart.”

“You’re not syndicate smart.”

“Oh, but you are?” she challenges, craning her neck to look back at him.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” he says. “You might have worked in that shithole bar, but you don’t know how the White Tiger—or any of the syndicates, for that matter—operates. You made a choice, and it was stupid. Accept that.”

“Well, there! I accept it and feel like an idiot, and now, I’m trapped on a spaceship with a cranky, loner cowboy with a bad attitude,” Kugisaki snaps. “I think that’s punishment enough.”

Suddenly, the fire in her dies, and she sinks into the chair a little before adding, “I don’t have anywhere else to go. Okay?”

Megumi stares at her small frame, hunched on the navigation console’s chair with her knees tucked under her chin. Strands of hair fall from behind her ears, and she keeps her back to him. Still, he doesn’t have to see her face to know the expression she wears. The emptiness in her tone tells him enough.

An incoming transmission call interrupts their conversation, though Megumi is pretty sure that was the end of it. A light flashes a deep red, and the hologram in front of them warps into a box of text with the name Zen’in Maki inside of it.

Interesting.

He doesn’t hear from Maki often, but when he does, it usually means that it has to do with a bounty. Sometimes, very rarely, it might be related to the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate, but that’s a topic they would both rather leave in the past.

“Who’s…?” Kugisaki starts to ask, but Megumi ignores her.

He reaches over her and presses a button, accepting the call. The visual before them shifts into a soundwave, and Maki’s voice can be heard over the speaker. The sound is grainy and a little broken at first—despite his upgraded communication system, he’s still a way’s out from Ganymede—but after some tweaking, she’s able to come through.

“Me—gumi,” she says. “You—there?”

“I answered, didn’t I?” he replies.

“Ha—ha. Funny,” she deadpans. Making some more adjustments on the console, the feed stabilizes. “Listen, Yuuta and I might have found something related to an old bounty of yours.”

He pauses, briefly thinking he might have heard wrong. An old bounty? Megumi never revisits old bounties unless they’ve escaped and a new reward has been posted.

Crossing his arms, he asks, “What are you talking about?”

“Yuuta thinks he might have found someone you were once after,” Maki explains. “He’s never been turned in, and the bounty is still live… Technically. I don’t think most people realize this guy is wanted, and the only reason we figured it out is because there’s another cowboy on Ganymede.”

“Well, who is it?”

“Itadori Yuuji.”

Megumi freezes, and in front of him, he can see Kugisaki tense up, too.

“Yuuta’s been keeping an eye on him—making sure he doesn’t catch wind of anyone on his tail and bolt, but if you want this bounty, you should come here. Quick.”

Then the transmission ends.

Megumi touches down on Ganymede within a day of receiving Maki’s call. It takes him a moment for his eyes to adjust to the scene before him as he steps outside of the Chimera, but he, Kugisaki, and Kon find themselves at one of the major port cities—just south of the island where he and Itadori had first parted ways over a year prior.

Being back here means glimmering light on the water and a perpetual smell of sea salt in the air. Looking out one way reveals the complex and intricate docking designs for commercial fishing trades and a sprawling, towering cityscape. The other way shows an endless ocean for as far as the eye can see, curving over the edge of the horizon and sparkling in the daylight.

Megumi lights a cigarette and starts making his way inland, listening to the sound of his boots along the metal pier. Exhaling, he passes through the smoke and watches Kon bark and bound ahead—tail wagging and tongue lolling out of his mouth. Kugisaki remains at Megumi’s side with a pair of sunglasses on as she takes in their surroundings.

“There’s so much water,” she observes, stopping for a moment to crouch by the edge of the pier. “I mean, I knew this place was mostly water, but, like, wow. Holy shit.”

Right as she starts to dip her hand in, Megumi says, “Yeah, but it’s deceiving. A lot of this water is ice cold.”

As if on cue, her fingers dip past the surface, and she yelps and pulls her hand back, flicking it dry.

“This place used to have a really thick icy crust, but after it was terraformed and the ice melted, people found a huge saltwater ocean beneath it,” he explains, walking ahead. “Now, Ganymede is mostly known for commercial fishing.”

Kugisaki has to jog to catch up with him, but once back at his side, she mutters, “So, there’s no point in visiting a beach here.”

“No, Ganymede has beaches you can go to,” he replies with a shrug. “Heated waters and stuff like that. You just have to know where they’re at.”

“Do you always sound pretentious when explaining things, or is that just a me thing?”

“It’s not my fault I know more about this place than you.”

“So, it’s not just a me thing.”

Huffing, she trudges past him towards Kon, who’s running back and forth along the pier without restraint. He’s probably happy to be off the ship for a bit. Megumi is used to spending days at a time in space, but a breed like Kon wants to sprint.

While the two of them continue to chase each other, Megumi’s gaze drifts towards the port’s end. Standing just before the deck are two figures—one of which is waving at him, while the other remains stationary with their arms crossed.

That’s surely Okkotsu, he thinks, looking at the first person, as it’s hard to imagine Maki as anyone other than the second.

“Megumi!” the waving figure calls.

Yep, that’s Okkotsu.

“It’s good to see you. It’s been a while since you’ve been to Ganymede.”

Walking closer, Megumi offers a polite smile and examines his old friends.

They haven’t changed much. Okkotsu still wears his hair neatly parted, dark strands falling just barely over his eyes. He’s a little taller than Megumi remembers, but not by much, and his smile is as kind as ever. The scar on his forehead has faded more than the last time they saw each other, and there’s also this sort of tired look in his eyes that he’s always seemed to have, though Megumi attributes it to a vague event from his past.

The details of it escape him.

Okkotsu doesn’t like to talk about it much, and Megumi doesn’t bother to ask.

Maki, on the other hand, is considerably different than the last time Megumi came by. She seems a lot more relaxed at Okkotsu’s side, and her hair is a little bit longer. It’s not by much, only barely reaching her shoulders, but Megumi remembers when it was first cut to her chin—not by choice—and thinks it’s good to see that she’s growing it back. She also seems to be a lot more comfortable with the scars that run down her body and over her face—not in showing them, as she never cared about that, but in having them.

Overall, she looks less stiff and rigid—closer to someone who actually managed to live happily outside of the syndicate.

Well, that makes one of them.

“I’m glad to see that your old trawler is still holding up,” Okkotsu says, pointing back at the Chimera. He then drops his hand to land comfortably at Maki’s waist.

“It’s going to take a lot more damage than what she’s been through to finally take her out,” Megumi comments. He turns back to his ship and shrugs. “As long as I keep up with it, I imagine I’ll have the Chimera for a long time.”

His gaze then slowly drifts to Kugisaki and Kon, still playing on the pier, and he can already feel the pair of eyes on his back.

“And that is…” Okkotsu lets the sentence trail off, clearly hinting at something Megumi does not want to leave up to interpretation.

“A temporary guest,” he finishes, voice stern. “Kon, the dog, is a data dog that she stole from the White Tiger. I told her I’d get her off Mars. Her name is Kugisaki Nobara.”

 “It’s not like you to get roped into syndicate business without a price,” Maki points out. “What’s that about?”

He glares at her. “She pointed a gun at me, and I got five hundred thousand woolongs for turning in the lab guys that illegally bred Kon into a data dog.”

She hums. “Now, that sounds like you.”

Okkotsu huffs out a small laugh and shakes his head. “Well, at least you’ve got some company. You know, being up there all by yourself isn’t great for you.”

“I’m perfectly fine on my own,” Megumi says. “When I need to talk to someone, I’ll go to you.”

“Or Gojo?”

“I don’t go to Gojo unless I have to.”

“He was the best bounty hunter out there,” Okkotsu points out. “You’ll need to turn to him again at some point.”

“I don’t care about being the best,” Megumi counters. “I don’t need to learn from him.”

“Anyway, talking to Gojo isn’t what we called you here for,” Maki interrupts. She glares up at him. “Itadori Yuuji. You’ve heard of him, right? Didn’t you try to go after him last year when the bounty was posted?”

Right to it, huh?

Megumi still hasn’t decided how much he wants to tell these two about his run-in with Itadori last year. He’s never caught a bounty and let them go before, and he doesn’t know how much of the situation they’ll understand.

Maki might get the idea—running from the syndicate and trying to escape to Ganymede. Hell, that’s exactly what she did. If anyone should get it, it would be her, and Okkotsu will just go along with whatever Maki and Megumi think is best, but then it starts to get vulnerable, and Megumi doesn’t like that.

“Let’s talk about this somewhere less open,” he suggests. “You mentioned that there’s another cowboy on Ganymede, and I want to avoid competition as much as possible.”

Maki hums. “Yeah, I understand. Yuuta can continue to keep an eye on Itadori, and you and I can talk about it more.”

The bar Maki chooses is some old hole-in-the-wall type of place. There are more tables than chairs, and the windows are coated in an old layer of dirt. Ganymede is usually nicer than this—a little bit more… beachy—but anyone trying to exchange information knows not to go to the high-end places.

The glass in front of Megumi is a golden liquor—straight, single pour, and halfway through. Maki sips on a glass of ale, the mug already having fogged over in the broken air conditioning, and stares at him quizzically. There’s no one else in the bar, save for the sole bartender that polishes a wine glass with a rag. In the corner, a lone cat naps on one of the tables in the sunlight that shines through the windows.

Taking a swig of his drink, Megumi looks at Maki and says, “Alright. Tell me what you know about this cowboy and Itadori Yuuji.”

What he learns is this:

• Itadori Yuuji was spotted at the north end of this port city by some no-name cowboy two days ago.
• Okkotsu caught wind of Itadori being on Ganymede by proxy of said cowboy coming to him and Maki for bounty information, since they specialize in independent work with the ISSP.
• Giving him a false lead, Okkotsu and Maki decided to contact Megumi in order to give him a head start and claim the bounty.
• Maki estimates that they have about two hours before Itadori Yuuji is at risk of being captured by the other bounty hunter.

“Honestly, I’m surprised anyone even knew Itadori was here or that he had a bounty on him,” Maki says with a shrug. She places her emptied glass on the table, hitting the wood with a thud. “After six months, bounties are usually considered lost in the wind. It’s been over double that time, and he was originally wanted on Mars. How the hell he made it all the way over here is beyond me, but he should have, by all means, escaped.”

“He did,” Megumi finally admits, finishing the last of his drink. “I brought him here.”

Immediately, Maki narrows her eyes at him, a hint of amusement on her face. She looks torn between passing it off as a joke and believing him.

“You crossed paths with Itadori Yuuji?”

“Traveled all the way through hyperspace just to get him to Ganymede.”

The bar falls silent. The cat in the corner continues to nap. The bartender has moved to somewhere in the back, doing inventory or something, leaving them completely alone. Light filters through the dust in the air and streams onto them, and the stale atmosphere suddenly starts feeling a bit more charged than before.

“Why did you let him go?” Maki asks.

And it’s a fair enough question.

Of all the bounties Megumi has chased and captured, he’s only ever let one go. Sure, he’s had failed bounties—people who have died in shootouts, cars that crash the wrong way, a really convenient, really annoying chase that ended at the ISSP station with the fucker practically turning himself in. Megumi was pissed to not get paid that day.

But has Megumi ever just decided not to turn someone in?

No.

Until one year ago.

“I didn’t think he deserved to die,” he confesses.

Maki stares at him as she mulls his words over in her head. He can see the wheels turning behind her eyes—sharp and green and analytical. Just like him, she’s always ready to pick a scene apart. Growing up in the Red Dragon will do that to you.

“Turning him into the ISSP meant turning him into the White Tiger,” he goes on to explain. “You know how they work. They would have killed him the second he was locked behind bars.”

She nods once. Slowly. “And what makes him different from all of the other bounties you’ve turned in before?”

He presses his lips together. “He was good. He is good. When Itadori realized that I was a bounty hunter coming to collect a check, he didn’t even fight me. He said he’d go with me, as long as I fulfilled one request.”

“And what was that?”

“He wanted to see his home one more time.” Gesturing around him, Megumi sighs and lets his arms drop back into his lap.

She continues to stare at him, thinking, before asking, “He’s from here? Ganymede?”

“He grew up here,” he answers. “He had never been in the syndicate. His grandfather raised him, then when he died, the White Tiger picked him up and brought him back to Mars. Their kingpin is his uncle, who needed to prove that he had someone lined up behind him in terms of power, and that someone was Itadori. It’s not like he asked for it.”

At that, Maki groans. “Familial politics is so fucking messy in the syndicates.”

“Us, of all people, should know that.”

She hums.

It’s silent again. Just for a moment. Their liquor has run dry, and neither of them are interested in refills. Megumi’s eyes trace the cracks and splinters in the wooden table they sit at, and his boots scuff against the stone floor. He’s never talked about this with anyone before.

Kugisaki knows. A sharp woman like her, it didn’t take much for her to put together that Megumi never handed Itadori into the police. She poured him a drink and left an entire bottle of scotch out just to say thanks.

But if anyone were to understand this, it would be Maki. They may not see each other much, but they were on Tharsis together. They suffered together, and they both lost people because of it. The syndicates—any of them—are dangerous, and as soon as you show wavering loyalty, for even a second, you might as well be dead to them.

And in most cases, you are.

“So, you brought him to Ganymede, and then you just decided to leave him here?” Maki asks. “Now, what?”

“I don’t fucking know,” Megumi sighs. “I didn’t think anyone would still be looking for him by this point.”

“Thirty million is a lot of woolongs,” she comments.

He huffs. “I know.”

She looks at him, her lips pressed together in a thin line. Sunlight burns in her gaze, and he can tell that she’s reading him, trying to gauge what he’s thinking. Megumi keeps it close to himself—the impulsive urge to go after Itadori—and after a moment, she sighs.

“It’s not like you have any responsibility towards him, though.”

He rolls his jaw. “I know that, too.”

Maki crosses her arms and narrows her eyes. “So, then why do I get the feeling you’re going to do something about it anyway?”

Then he smirks. “Guess it’s because I’m a cowboy. I can’t help but chase after the money.”

Megumi walks next to Kon through the port city streets, trying his best to keep the sunlight out of his eyes. It reflects off tall buildings made of glass and metal, giving the place a sort of nice, futuristic edge. The ocean waters gleam in the distance, stretching endlessly and littered with boats and ships. It’s easy to see why someone would want to spend the rest of their life here. If Megumi had that sort of luxury—a peaceful life—he’d pick this place, too.

To him, however, it almost looks too nice. The grimy, rough aesthetic of Mars is much more familiar. Whether he’s chasing a bounty, trying to buy a cheap drink, or just happening to waltz into the wrong part of town, Megumi doesn’t often see something so open, light, and natural.

Instead, he walks through the city like a ghost. There’s a degree of separation between him and something so mundane. He exists on another plane, in another world—one filled with crime and isolation. The waters of Ganymede are much too clean for him.

Currently, he’s waiting on word from Okkotsu, who’s supposed to be tracking Itadori and finding a good place to corner him. The idea is that he’ll explain the basics of the situation, then Megumi will meet them at a specified location to figure out a plan. Normally, Megumi is the one who finds people, but they need the discretion of someone who’s local to this place, and Okkotsu’s inner connections with the ISSP definitely don’t hurt.

Maki and Kugisaki are also somewhere out in the city. They’re supposed to be following the other bounty hunter and keeping them off of Itadori’s trail. Megumi has no idea how the hell they’re going to do that, but he didn’t bother to get the details. They’re smart, so they’ll figure it out.

Next to him, Kon barks, tail wagging absentmindedly, and when Megumi follows his line of sight, he finds a market. The street is littered with vendors and stands, with people selling anything from food to handmade jewelry.

Raising an eyebrow, he asks, “What, are you hungry or something?”

He barks again, then looks at Megumi, panting.

“I wish you could just talk,” he says.

Another bark.

Then Kon trots off into the market.

Megumi opens his mouth to protest, but he’s too far gone. Great. Now, he has to chase after a dog with human-level intelligence. Again.

It doesn’t help that the market is extremely busy, with passing locals and even more stands set up than he had originally perceived. Megumi has to weave through the crowd, barely keeping the tip of Kon’s tail in sight. He tries to call for him but gets drowned out by the noise, and frustration starts to grow deep within his stomach.

“Damn dog,” he mutters, shoving past another group of people.

Kon’s distant bark tells him that he’s now even further ahead.

Megumi walks along the uneven stone path, scanning his surroundings at every booth he passes. He’s officially lost Kon, which is ridiculous, because Kon is a data dog and should know better than to run off. He can’t even listen for his bark anymore because the market is too crowded. The humming of merged conversation makes it impossible to hear anything at all.

Half-tempted to start asking people if they’ve seen a giant dog with black and white fur, Megumi continues walking further into the market. Irritation itches beneath his skin, and there’s still no word on where the hell Itadori could be.

He still can’t place why this matters to him so much, but he chalks it up to the fact that he spent a day and a half getting the fucker to this place, so he’s not going to let some random cowboy come through and kill him anyway.

Another bark catches Megumi’s attention, and he quickly identifies it as Kon. He’s closer now, maybe a few meters away, hidden behind a crowd unknowing pedestrians. Megumi quickly starts making his way through them, moving even faster when Kon yips. It seems like he’s staying in place.

When he finally pushes past the last of the people standing in his way, Megumi finds Kon sitting in front of a man with his tail thumping wildly on the ground. His tongue hangs out, his mouth forming a dog-like smile, and he raises his chin up as the man scratches his fur.

The man himself wears a simple hoodie, one hand tucked away in the shirt’s pocket, the other currently all over Megumi’s dog. It’s hard to see his face, but there’s a soft smile curling on his lips as Kon shakes his head and barks again.

Walking up, Megumi sighs and says, “Sorry. He just ran off, and I couldn’t find him for a moment.”

The man hums. “That’s okay. He’s nice.”

Then he turns to Megumi with a smile, and—

Kon barks, the man’s face falls, and suddenly, everything freezes.

Itadori crouches before him, one hand still resting on Kon’s head, but before Megumi can say anything, he’s back on his feet in a heartbeat.

“You…”

Kon barks again, staring up at Itadori, who takes one look at the dog, one look at Megumi, then turns and sprints away.

Megumi immediately reacts, pulling out his communicator and pressing the button to Okkotsu’s contact. He and Kon start running after Itadori, who’s already so far ahead that it’s hard to believe he’s on foot, but his pace is awkward and slower than normal.

Okkotsu picks up, answering, “Megumi?”

“What the hell?!” Megumi bursts, keeping his gaze locked onto Itadori’s back. “You were supposed to be tracking and cornering!”

“What? I am,” he crackles. “I was by the market, but I lost him.”

Megumi grits his teeth and curses. “Well, I found him! I’m chasing him right now, but the idiot started running. He’s fast.”

“Tell me where he seems to be headed,” Okkotsu says quickly. “I’ll try to cut him off.”

Looking around, everything looks the same. It’s all tall buildings and glass windows, arching metal beams and distant ships. Itadori is still running, and the distance between them only seems to be growing wider. Kon is able to somewhat keep up, but people continue to get in his way.

What the fuck is he supposed to say?

Megumi huffs and looks past Itadori, spotting a patch of green with littered stones and trees. It must be a park or a field of some kind, but it’s too far to tell. Sighing, he says, “I think there’s some nature thing or something up ahead. I don’t know. Itadori is headed that way.”

“That’s a park. I’ll meet you there.”

Dropping the call, Megumi shoves his communicator back into his pocket and starts sprinting even faster. He sidesteps around people, jumps over carts, and dodges cars in the street. Leaving behind the chaos of the inner city, he ignores the angered shouting and honking in his wake, keeping his focus strictly on Kon and Itadori.

Kon has managed to nearly catch up. Now that it’s less crowded, with fewer obstacles in his way, he’s able to run at full speed. His ears are pinned back, and his head remains low. He almost looks like a bullet in the wind, galloping towards their target.

Then Itadori does something stupid.

He looks back.

The man is a fast runner, Megumi will give him that, but that single choice throws his balance off. It doesn’t break his stride, but it slows him down enough to give Kon an advantage. The dog barks, pushing forward, head even lower, and slowly closes the distance between them. Itadori may be fast, but Kon is faster, and in a matter of seconds, the chase ends.

Kon leaps into the air, catching the back of Itadori’s leg with one of his paws. Itadori yelps, tripping, and falls forward, rolling in the grass from the force of the stop. He manages to land upright, disoriented and unsteady, and right when he’s about to break out into another sprint, Megumi catches up and tackles him.

The two of them roll some more as cuts and bruises start to form from the fall. Megumi grits his teeth and closes his eyes, trying not to let any dirt get into them and impair his vision. He keeps his arms firmly wrapped around Itadori, though, practically trapping him in a bear hug until they finally stop.

Panting, Megumi pulls himself to his knees, straddling over Itadori on the ground, and glares down at him. Itadori stares back up, wide-eyed and huffing, before the panic starts to settle in.

He bucks his hips, trying to throw Megumi off of him, and rolls. Megumi grunts and rolls with him, using the momentum to keep their position. They flip over the grass, and right when they land, Itadori goes for Megumi’s right arm. Buckling, Megumi loses balance for a second, but catches himself, wrestling until he’s managed to pin the idiot to the ground.

“Will you fucking stop?” he snaps, gritting his teeth. He’s out of breath, sore, and pretty certain he’s now bleeding. “I’m not trying to fight you!”

To make a point, Kon barks standing over them next to Itadori’s head.

“You’re the cowboy from last year,” Itadori says. He quickly flits his gaze to Kon nervously then looks back at Megumi. “You let me go. Why are you back?”

“If you would stop fucking running, I would tell you,” Megumi sneers. He huffs, pushing himself off until he’s sitting properly in the grass. “I’m not here to turn you in, by the way. So, you can relax.”

His muscles ache, and a quick assessment of his sleeves tells him that he is, in fact, bleeding. He must have rolled over a stone or rock and gotten cut from the force—he doesn’t fucking know.

Itadori stares at him skeptically, still laying in the grass, though using his arms to prop himself up. He still looks the same as he did one year ago, with the same stupid pink hair and obvious scars on his face.

It’s like he’s fucking asking to get caught.

“Then what are you doing here?” he asks.

Megumi lets out a dry, tired laugh and says, “You tell me. I get contact on my ship from halfway across the solar system saying that you’ve been spotted on Ganymede and a cowboy is on your ass. I figured you would appreciate the warning.”

At that, Itadori sits up, panicked, and looks around. “What? Are you serious?”

“Would I have bothered with coming back here and chasing you if I wasn’t?” Megumi mutters. “What kind of idiot doesn’t at least try to not stick out when they’re supposed to be in hiding?”

“I did!” he protests. “For a long time, I was laying low. I’m still laying low. I didn’t think anyone would still be after me by this point.”

“Typically, you would have been forgotten by now, but someone’s found you. Why didn’t you change your appearance? You realize that pink hair is obvious, right?”

“I did, but it grew out.”

Pouting, Itadori does another visual sweep of their surroundings, taking in every detail. His gaze lingers on every person in the vicinity, and his body tenses, subconsciously curling into itself as if to make him seem small. He looks like a lost, broken dog.

“Hey, Megumi,” Okkotsu’s voice rings behind them.

Itadori shoots up to his feet in an instant, ready to run again, but Megumi catches his arm. Turning around, he spots Okkotsu jogging their way, wearing a polite, apologetic smile.

“Great fucking job on the tracking and cornering thing,” he snaps.

Throwing his hands up, Okkotsu shrugs. “It was fine until you and your dog chased him off to the park.”

Megumi’s too fucking sore and pissed off to say anything back. Instead, he opts for a grunt and drops Itadori’s arm, who he’s pretty sure won’t bolt. There’s little to no coverage in this area, and the sun beats down on them, its oppressive heat even more suffocating now that they’ve ran the equivalent of five city blocks.

“Who’s this?” Itadori asks, slowly lowering himself back into the grass.

“My contact,” Megumi bites, not bothering to sugarcoat his frustration with the situation. “He helps me with bounties sometimes.”

“Yeah, among other things,” Okkotsu quickly dismisses. “Listen, we should probably get to somewhere safer than this park. We can go back to mine and Maki’s.”

Megumi shakes his head. “No. We go back to my ship. It’s safer.”

“Okay, fine,” he says. “Anything works, as long as it’s not here.”

“How do I know you’re really not going to take me back to Mars?” Itadori looks back and forth between the two of them. “Both of you, plus a dog. This could be a trap.”

Rolling his eyes, Megumi huffs. “Fine, then stay here—”

“Megumi…”

“—I made a choice to save your life, and I don’t regret it, if that’s what you’re asking. But if you want to risk sticking around, be my guest.” He stands, dusting off some of the grass and dirt from his clothes.

Both Okkotsu and Itadori watch him, but he simply pulls out a lighter and his pack and grabs a cigarette.

Lighting it, he takes a drag and blows the smoke up into the air. “I thought you wanted a proper life.”

Footsteps echo down the halls of the Chimera. Megumi and Itadori make their way through the ship, a bit slower than usual—a testimony to their soreness from this afternoon’s scuffle.

That, and Itadori keeps ogling at Megumi’s ship as if he’s never seen it before.

He stops at every open doorway, peeking inside and running his hands along the walls as he passes by. Lights dim and brighten as they walk, and Kon pads happily behind them. For Megumi, being back here is like coming home after a long trip. Even though he was only gone for a few hours, he appreciates the simple familiarity and the rustic image of its metal walls in comparison to the bright blue visuals of Ganymede. All around him, there are soft creaks and groans as it bobs along the water, still tethered to the pier, and all he can think about is getting back out into space and travelling more.

Back in the navigation room, Megumi fires up the main console and brings the Chimera out of stasis. It hums to life beneath him, with different displays showing fuel metrics and radar points. On one of the screens, it shows Okkotsu on the hangar, waiting for Kugisaki and Maki to return. He sits at the edge, his feet dangling over the water, as he looks across the ocean.

“Okay, come on,” Megumi says, standing from his chair. “I just needed to bring the ship out of disengagement.”

Itadori nods and follows him to the living room. He’s quiet the entire time, tense in his movements and the way he holds himself. It seems like he only lets himself relax when he’s cracking a smile at Kon, but then he schools it just as quickly.

Within an hour, he’s back to being the runaway Megumi first encountered on Mars.

“What are we doing here?” Itadori eventually asks, taking a seat on one of the couches. “Did you want to talk or something?”

“I wanted my med kit,” Megumi answers. He walks up to one of the panels in the walls and opens it, revealing a small but comprehensive first aid kit. “You’re bleeding, by the way.”

He looks himself over, finding a dribble of blood coming from behind his ear, and a few cuts on his arms. With a scowl, he replies, “You are, too.”

Humming, Megumi returns to one of the couches and examines his arm more closely. It’s dried, for the most part. He’ll still need to clean and bandage it, but it’ll be able to take care of itself. Itadori, on the other hand, still has open wounds, and that need to be tended to.

“Sit at the edge,” he orders, opening up the kit.

Without word, Itadori obeys, holding out his arms first.

Neither of them speak to one another as Megumi patches him up. The smell of the alcohol wipe stings in his nose, and Itadori flinches from the pain, but they stay where they are, listening to the quiet hum of the ship. It’s a small hush of a moment, fleeting and strained.

In the year since they’ve last seen each other, they’ve both grown. At the same time, it’s like no time has passed at all, and they’re exactly the same. Megumi is still going after bounties, and Itadori is still on the run. There’s this strange, charged feeling that grows between them—a brief touch of a shared passed converging into the now.

When Megumi has to move to the wound behind his ear, he’s close to Itadori. So close, in fact, that every breath taken can be felt on his skin. His gaze remains fixed, working diligently to stop the bleeding and clean the cut, but he can’t help but think about easy that was. To cut Itadori Yuuji. To hurt him.

A man on borrowed time helping a man on borrowed time.

Every breath Itadori takes is because he owes it to Megumi.

“Thanks,” Itadori murmurs.

“Don’t sweat it,” Megumi replies.

The man hums and stares off into the distance in a sort of detached-like state. It’s hard to read what’s going on in his mind, but he wears it on his face instead. This is a man who has little to no hope left—who has lost so much and is still losing more. He can’t even live in the place where he grew up, and the world is too cruel to let him die in peace.

The rest of his years will be spent desperately clinging to what he has if he continues like this.

“I feel like I owe you.”

“Well, you don’t.”

“How can I not?” he asks. “This is the second time you’ve stuck your neck out for me.”

At that, Megumi snorts and turns back to the med kit, fishing out a clean bandage. “Not like I was doing anything. I was drifting through space when Maki and Okkotsu called me.”

Itadori huffs, then he leans back and looks him in the eye. “Well, you didn’t have to come here, though. So, why did you?”

Shrugging, he shakes his head. “It was the right thing to do.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have to save me.”

“You’re right. I don’t.”

“You don’t have to be a hero either.”

“I’m not a hero.”

It comes out a bit colder than Megumi means for it to be.

They both pause, with Itadori’s eyes flickering across Megumi’s face. The way he’s looking at him now is much like the way Maki reads a situation or a person, but there’s something off. Maki looks for observable facts, but with Itadori, it’s like he’s looking for something deeper.

And that’s much more vulnerable.

“I’m just a bounty hunter,” Megumi huffs, slamming the lid of the med kit shut. “I still have a code, though.”

At that, Itadori lets out a soft sigh and looks up at the ceiling. “Oh, yeah? And what’s that?”

“Good people don’t deserve to die,” he murmurs, placing a bandage over the cut. “I’m not going to sit around and let that happen.”

Again.

That last word clings to his tongue and buries itself in his throat.

“Sounds pretty heroic to me,” Itadori says. “Saving people.”

“I don’t save people,” he corrects. “I don’t care if I have to kill someone. I don’t care about handing over a bounty for a quick buck either.”

Megumi isn’t a hero, and he certainly isn’t good.

Good people don’t make the selfish choices he did. Good people don’t leave bodies behind. Good people do good things, and Megumi has a lifetime of bad waiting to haunt him.

“I’m here to see through a choice I made one year ago, and that’s it.”

“And then what?” Itadori crosses his arms and stares at him. “You drop me off somewhere else? And if another cowboy comes after me, you’ll come back? How does that work?”

“I don’t fucking know.”

“And what if I wanted to stay on Ganymede? Take my chances with the guy your buddies are tracking down?”

“Then stay here. I don’t care. It’s your choice.”

He hums. “And what if I want to join your crew?”

Megumi bristles.

Tension and anger, annoyance and frustration, all surge through his veins. He had forgotten just how much Itadori liked to talk. He had forgotten how open he was, too. Is. The way he lays his heart out—honest about his home, about his desires—is unlike anything else he’s ever encountered.

With Itadori, he hates it.

The way he gets under his skin and stays there like bug or virus, he’s an infection that’s planted itself in the back of Megumi’s mind, and it’s been growing there for over a year.

“I don’t have a crew.”

Clicking his tongue, Itadori huffs. “You have a dog, and I can tell someone else lives here, too. I saw it when we walked through.”

“That’s temporary,” Megumi says. “I didn’t ask for a dog, and I didn’t ask for a roommate. And I’m not asking now.”

“Fine. Then take me somewhere and leave me there.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Itadori, quit hogging the fucking couch!” Kugisaki barks, attempting to shove the larger man away.

The man doesn’t budge, of course, and he remains sprawled out, with one leg draped over the back, and his head hanging off the armrest. It’s likely he’s still aching from the scuffle drom earlier—his body tense and face twisted in discomfort.

“There’s an entirely separate couch, Kugisaki,” Itadori says. He gestures to the second sofa for good measure.
“What’s so wrong about sitting there?”

“Kon’s sleeping on it, and he drools.” She crosses her arms. “I’m not sitting there.”

“Then go to your room. I don’t know.”

“Don’t tell me what to fucking do.”

Megumi stands in hallway to the kitchen, closing his eyes and sighing.

The ship is a lot more crowded now. All three dormitories are occupied, and they have a dog the size of a child that roams around, too.

It’s been three weeks since Megumi and Kugisaki flew to Ganymede at Maki and Okkotsu’s request, and in those three weeks, the Chimera has become livelier than ever. It’s a strange change—going from its dark, empty halls to something much lighter and certainly louder—but it at least curbs the boredom.

Megumi is getting used to it. Slowly.

He’s had to go through one hell of an adjustment.

Itadori and Kugisaki continue to bicker at one another, their voices raising to a point where they startle Kon awake. Now barking, the overlapping noise starts to blend into itself, creating a cacophony of dispute.

Silence is surely a thing of the past.

“Fushiguro,” Kugisaki calls. “There’s a new bounty.”

But maybe he minds it a little less.