Friday 1.13 An Interruption

[genuinelie.livejournal.com]

Ran thumbed open his phone on his way up the stairs and almost stopped in his tracks when he saw a missed call alert - from Yohji.

There was no messege.

Which could mean something relatively good but worrying, as in the man called to hear his sweet voice and realized he was being an idiot because he was on a fucking mission.

Or something like he'd tried to phone for help because Ken had gone psycho.

...Stop, he told himself, alarmed at the amount of distrust he realized that signified. It wasn't quite authentic, he would have put up a much stronger argument with Manx's backing if he'd thought it necessary. It didn't help quell his innate protectiveness, however. And that extended to Ken as well - he had no wish for Ken to be injured or to put himself at risk either.

When they got back he resolved to stop playing the ignorant. Whatever his teammates had been keeping from him was no longer just their personal business.

Or even ask Omi, while they're gone.

As soon as Sato leaves, he resolved.

He sent a text to Yohji, feeling like an idiot: "Ok?"

Half of a week. That was it. He had told Yohji this was not a relationship.

...and yet here he was. Texting like Yohji's would-be girlfriend.

There's valid cause for worry. He told himself strongly. A missed phonecall on a mission was not something to dismiss.

Friday 1.14 - Meeting up with Prodigy - Continued

[skyrat13.livejournal.com]

Yohji steadily trailed Ken, trying to keep himself in mission mode and ignoring everything else. He only paused when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and checked to find a text from Ran.

"Ok?"

He felt mildly warmed at the realization that Ran had noticed he called even though he hadn’t left a message. And more so that he was apparently worried. Although rationally, that could only be because he had called while on a mission. Ran was supposed to be worried.

He overcame the temptation to reply back with, “Situation normal, all fucked up.” Ran probably wouldn’t appreciate his sense of humor. No reason to needlessly panic his teammates.

Instead he responded with "Fine."

He left the message on the screen, hesitating over whether or not to add ‘We need to have another talk about Ken.’

In the end he aborted that idea. Again, it would just make Ran worry when nothing could be done yet. What’s more Ken seemed to be rather paranoid that they were talking about him behind his back. Which of course wasn’t unfounded, but no reason to fuel his teammate’s mistrust by leaving traceable evidence that they actually were.

He hated himself even more for thinking about his friend/teammate in such a tactical mindset. He was only fueling the problem…. But what else could he do?

He continued to pause, wanting to add some sort of more personal sign-off. He couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t gushy. Or didn’t use words that he hadn’t actually expressed to Ran verbally yet. At a loss for anything that felt appropriate, he reluctantly hit ‘send’ feeling slightly empty as he did so.

He was anxious for this mission to be over. He wanted to get back to the Koneko. He was even anxious just to meet Prodigy. Speaking to a member of Schwarz actually felt like it might be a relief in comparison to interacting with his own teammate.

How fucked up was that?

“Well….I guess we should start by going into the office and finding out if he’s actually enrolled here? Or do you think we should just hang around outside and hope to intercept him as he leaves?”

Prodigy was just one kid in a crowd of hundreds. There were so many ways this could turn into a dead end.