A young woman walked into a hospital room. She stared down at the sleeping occupant. The girl was always sleeping. She hadn't woken up the entire time Aya had been in her care. The doctors said that was fine, probably better that way, easier to hide. Less costly than sedation.

“Bah,” she muttered, “I refuse to let you make feel guilty,” she told the comatose girl, “you’re better off here, sleeping,” she rationalised.The businesswoman strode out determinedly, heading for the Police Commissioner.

Youji Kudou stood out on his balcony smoking a cigarette late at night. There were no stars tonight; big clouds had taken control of the sky, making it look purplish grey instead of bluish black. It was two nights after he had gone back to Ken and Birman, wanting to review a bit of information. He had bumped into Manx as he walked in, and knew, just knew that Birman was going to seal those files from him. It was good to know he hadn’t lost his instincts. Fuck, Ken wouldn’t even look him in the eye and Birman had been all business, stating that those higher up had told her it was necessary. Higher up, eh? That was bullshit, unless you considered that, in an extremely non-legal sense, Kritiker and Manx and Persia were higher up, on the political food chain at least.

He sighed inwardly when arms wrapped around him and he flung the butt of the cigarette off the balcony into the city bellow. “Come back to bed,” she cooed in his ear, whoever she was. He had picked her up at a club earlier that night, she was a pretty little thing but that was about it. He followed at her urging, and they walked back to bed. He had a funny feeling this one was going to be a mite difficult to get out in the morning.

Youji sighed as he cradled an ice pack to his bruised cheek.

That woman had packed quite a slap.

He still couldn’t remember her name. Oh well. He closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. What he wouldn’t give to have Asuka back with him, helping him on this case. He could use the assistance and her uncanny ability to look at things in a completely different perspective then he did. Omi had called yesterday, saying that they were having a bit of trouble on the hacking front, that a bunch of things they had found had been false leads. Youji trusted them though, it might take them a while but they would find what they needed to. And then he could happily pay them, even if he didn’t finish the case. Youji didn’t like the two boys having money problems but they had declined any offers of cash, to keep or in a loan. They wanted to do this on their own.

It had been along time since he had been this stumped by a case. She wasn’t dead, he knew that. Besides the fact that Omi and Nagi would have been able to find her if she was, his gut told him she was alive and he had learned to trust that feeling.

He stood up; throwing the ice pack in the sink as he glanced in the mirror to make sure his hair covered the bruise. Quite nicely. He grabbed his keys and was out the door.

Youji drove until he reached an esteemed private high school. Parking his seven, he got out, ignoring the murmur of students at his casual entrance into their perfect little school. A bunch of spoiled little princes and princess for the most part, though he saw a few people who might actually be human. He walked up to the front office and smiled disarmingly at the receptionist, who blushed.

“What can I do for you, Sir?” she asked politely.

“Oh please, call me Youji, sir makes me feel like an old man.” He told her, smile widening a notch as she laughed.

“Alright Youji-San, but then I am Jaisy”

“A lovely name for a lovely lady.” He claimed. God, women were easy to charm. “I was wondering, Jaisy-San, If I could get last year’s yearbook.”

She frowned in confusion at him, “a yearbook from last year?” she echoed, sounding disturbingly like a parrot, “why?”

“Well, you see, I’m a private detective and I’m working on a case. I’d like to see what the life of the person I’m searching for was like. If they were popular, you know, the school gossip.” He winked at her conspiratorially.

“Well…I really shouldn’t…” she said but stopped upon seeing his pleading eyes. Heh heh, the eyes worked every time. “But everyone else breaks the rules all the time, why can’t we, ne?”

“Exactly, and it’s for a good cause.” He said, knowing he’d won.

“Just give me a second and I’ll grab one, they’re in the other room.” He nodded and sat down in one of the comfortable waiting chairs…ah, to be rich. Only the rich had actually comfortable waiting room chairs…He guessed that parents thought that if they had to wait speak to the principal due to their child’s behaviour they had paid enough to be comfortable while they were doing it. She came back a few minutes later, a deep blue book in her hands.

“Thank you so much.” He said, bowing as she handed him the book. He bid her a good day and left, driving back to the apartment. He flipped through, noticing the pictures of Aya in sports teams and a few of her hugging friends. He read Ran’s stats first, as it was easiest to find the graduating section. He had been in the top five of all his classes, had tons of honours and yet in the pictures of him, he didn’t seem particularly happy unless he was with his sister. There was a picture of him with his mother on graduating day but none with his father. Aya had sports awards and had been on student council. It seemed she had been the student’s favourite while Ran had been the teacher’s. He might need to ask some of the students about Aya, Ran's classmates would be too hard to find, but there were always the teachers.

The two siblings were almost complete opposites. Ran Fujimiya was absolutely stunning and exotic while Aya was normal and cute. He seemed a solitary creature, great grades, quiet, had a part-time job at a restaurant. She spent all her time with people, had decent but average grades, was enrolled in almost every extracurricular activity known to man, volunteered a little, and talkative. It seemed they loved each other though.

Ran Fujimiya had been given a scholarship to go to Tokyo University’s business program. That would have made everyone sit up and take notice, the most prestigious university in the country bending over backwards for a banker’s son.

Aya Fujimiya had been immediately taken to the Magic School Bus hospital where she had been treated and then she had disappeared. Ran Fujimiya had been taken in a different ambulance and hadn't even arrived at the hospital.

A thought popped into his head and he frowned slightly. Just who backed Magic School Bus anyway? He closed the yearbook with a snap and picked up the phone, pressing speed-dial. “Moshi, moshi!” Omi answered, oozing happiness.

“Yeah, chibi. I have a question for you. Who backs Magic School Bus?” he asked, getting right to the point.

“Kioshi Industries” Omi answered after a pause. Youji could see the boy chewing his lip, immediately getting over being called ‘chibi’ as he realised this was an important call.

“a.k.a….”

“Kritiker.” He responded, sounding if he wasn’t sure if he should have told Youji that or not.

“Okay, thanks. How are things going by the way?” Youji prodded.

“I might have something, but I won’t jinx it by telling you yet.” Omi laughed, seeming very pleased with himself. Obviously pushing aside any worry he had over Youji knowing that tidbit until later. He would speak to Nagi about it probably, and Nagi would probably speak to Youji about it. All three of them knew that Youji just couldn’t take the other blonde seriously.

“I’ll speak to you later, chibi” he said, the amusement lacing his words hid his thoughts from the boy.

He hung up the phone, thinking, ‘I think it’s time you and I had a little chat Manx, but first it’s time to talk to my employer.’

Youji walked into the business building, noticing the amount of shops on the first floor. Seeing a convenience store where he could get smokes he started to walk towards it when he bumped into someone. He looked down to apologise when he saw who it was. A young achingly beautiful man with an aristocratic nose and chiselled cheekbones, black hair and violet eyes. Besides the black hair…

“Fujimiya Ran…” he whispered and violet eyes widened, lips parted in shock. “What the fuck is going on?” he asked.

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