Chapter Text
Rain turned cobblestones to glassy mirrors as mist curled from roof tops and puddled trembled under streetlights. They reflected a muted gray that overcast the town. Yn and Higuruma stepped forward, her heel and his loafers splashing in shallow puddles.
"Did you hear that?"
Her head looked to her right, then left. The white noise of the rain pattering against the world made it hard to pinpoint other sounds.
Higuruma didn't answer immediately, instead his gaze swept against the mist-choked streets. She learned to not take things men like him do as disrespect. Well, at least not react to them as if it were.
"Nothing," he said. His voice almost drowned out by the storm that she leaned closer. "I just hear rain and wind."
She glanced at him, he kept looking forward. "Wind doesn't sound like a baby crying, does it?"
"I never said that," he muttered.
She roughly cinched poncho tight around her head. Water rolled down her forehead. Working with Higuruma can be unpleasant, he doesn't give much feedback and seem to do his own thing. Even if she is his superior, she didn't want to feel as if she was overreacting and its their first time.
Especially, when he seem to not agree with something she said. Instead of questioning why she is the only one hearing it and not him.
"I'm not saying you didn't hear anything either," he responded, he looked back a little. His umbrella twisting with him. "I'm just saying I did not. We're dealing with a curse, so I'm aware a lot of things aren't going to make sense."
"See," she thought to herself. "Unpleasant."
Yn furrowed her brows in respond. "Yeah, I never said you weren't aware."
He continued looking back at her. His lip slightly pulled up. "Just making myself clear. Misunderstandings can hinder us."
The world around them seem open, yet with many spaces that could contain the uknown. Ponds, forests, open alleys yawning between businesses. Yn turned towards one of those alleys, her eyes fell onto a darkness that did not stretch past a certain point. Still, she could feel the fixation of something smart enough to stay hidden.
It wasn't what they were looking for though.
Higuruma paused, noticing that she had stopped. "Do you see something?" he asked, his unbrella hovering over her as he stood next to her.
Yn shook her head. "Nothing important."
She walked along. Higuruma trailed just a half a step behind her. His warmth emitted against her back. She didn't say anything about the closeness and he remained silent. His head on a swivel as he catalogued the scene for exits, shadows, and lingering cursed energy.
She sighed quietly. She had issued the protocol: no junior officers on high-risk missions without a Grade One or Senior officer present. Yet here she was, helping pick up the slack. A complaint she make to herself almost everyday now. Though, she wasn't sure why Higuruma insisted coming along? He could have dealt with this by himself.
How could she run her division from here? Most of her mission have been with Fushiguro Megumi until today. Worse, she still could not get over the heebie-jeebies feeling—even if it had diminished.
"I really need to find a better way to allocate our resources," she muttered aloud to herself, though she had not meant for Higuruma to hear.
"Maybe the other are—" The rain pouring harder cut him off.
She stopped. He tried to and he bumped against her backside. It was enough to nearly propel her forward. His hand grabbed her arm. Her hand dug into his sleeve to hold herself up.
Her feet lightly dangled as he held her up from hitting the ground. She bit the inside of her cheek. He pulled her up until she was upright on her feet.
"Sorry," he apologized, though not showing it on his face.
Yn still held on to his sleeve. She stepped closer and pulled him closer at the same time. This time she wanted to be sure she heard him over the storm.
"Maybe they are..?" She echoed, her jaw tighten and her nails digging more into his sleeve. His cologne smelled strong against the scent of rice paddies and mud.
Higuruma bend down even closer. "I said maybe they are not as tied up as they claim."
Silence passed between them. Before a truck driving pass interrupted it.
"Maybe they've been dragging doing easier cases. Maybe paperwork padding. Maybe dumping the dangerous ones on anyone who can't, or won't, say no," he continued, but quieter.
She tilted her head back to look into his eyes. "You think that's happening, or you know it is, Officer Higuruma?"
"I did say maybe," he repeated. Is he playing with her?
"Though, I could be wrong. Maybe I'm just projecting. Maybe I'm not working efficiently enough, and that's why I'm not busy enough to stop myself from looking for laziness among others." Higuruma said, as he continued walking and she followed behind him. "There are few things in that divison that is not ran fairly."
Yn exhaled. Even he plays games.
"Then maybe I'm looking for an excuse for my decision if I go looking for these senior who may or may not be doing this," she said.
"Perhaps."
Her heard whirled around. She heard the baby cry again. "Go on ahead of me."
He blinked. "Are you upset with me?"
She pinched her brows together. "If I were, you wouldn't know."
"You're quite easy to read Chief Monroe," he mentioned.
She raised a brow. "Really. Do I seem angry?"
He narrowed his eyes. He definitely could tell she was. "Strangely, no." he said. She kept staring in the direction of the crying, though Higuruma could not hear it. "You can handle it on your own?"
She nodded.
He walked off without another word. She didn't start walking until the scent of his cologne had faded from her nose. His behavior made her uncertain.
And he was right. She was angry. More so pissed actually. Not as much with him though.
She walked in the direction of the crying while she reached in the waistband of her skirt. A cellphone grasped in her palm, and she dialed the CCD building.
The receptionist answered, she recognized her voice.
"It's Chief Monroe. Patch me to Officer Gojo Satoru."
"Of course, Chief Monroe," she said in a light voice.
The line beeped as it played something akin to elevator music. She continued following the sound. The line rang while she was staring at the same alleyway she was looking into earlier. The faint, weak cry continued.
"Hello?" Gojo answered. His voice was groggy and low, but it didn't pull her attention away from the crying.
It got louder like wailing. It ricochet in her head, she slightly groaned.
"What do you hear?" she asked, she held her phone at the alleyway.
Then she brought her phone back to her ears. Gojo yawned, "Only rain, a car in the back ground...uh a cat attacking a mouse, and you breathing."
"No baby crying?" she asked, expecting he would hear it too.
"No?" he asked in confusion. "Why you're asking?"
"You're in bed, I assume?" she said, not really wanting to give him any information on the case.
He yawned again. "No, napping in the car. Don't tell the Chief," he joked. "I wish you would call me late at night while I'm in bed."
Yn did not respond as she stepped into the alley. Gojo seeming to realized she wasn't going to respond. "You need me for anything else, babe?"
"Watch your mouth," she casually corrected him. Her feet kicked a bag filled with crushed cans from her path.
She squinted. A baby, maybe about a few months old kicking in the center. It coughed and sputtered up water as rain poured over it. Their tiny ribs trembled underneath her as she found herself hovering over them.
Yn gently lifted them into her arms. Nothing but cold skin and a soaked pamper against her chest.
"You're taking the week off," she ordered, holding the baby tightly against her body to give them her warmth. They finally calmed their crying into a coo.
"Nah," he hummed out, not realizing it was an order. "I get bored. Also—wait, you babysittin'?
Yn hummed as she tilted his head in thought. She wondered why he was able to hear it now.
"No," she said, as if it was just an inconvenience. "Just someone kids. It's a trap though."
"A trap?" His voice lifted in amusement.
"Need help?"
Her eyes followed a grotesque humanoid curse spilling out of the walls. It hands aiming for her stomach as it slowly reached for her.
"Mmm...no. Believe it or not, I am pretty strong," she said to him.
Noticing she was looking at it, the curse lunged at her. Her hand shot out. A crushing grasp around its throat. She yanked it from the wall too quick that it crumbled inwards.
"Damn," she muttered, as she looked at the inside of a florist shop.
Gojo's voice still called out to her. Her phone had dropped by her feet. She looked at the curse again. It nail dug into the skin of her arm.
"Yeah, like I said," she sighed. "It isn't what we're looking for."
She slammed it into the opposite wall. Once, twice, three times. The wet thuds of its smash flesh sync the vein that pulsed on her forehead. She kept going until it was nothing but a split cantaloupe in her palm.
Overkill.
The cursed folded in on itself. Skull caved in, but it was just black sludge spilling out over her arm. She wiped her hand on her poncho. Then she picked the phone back up.
"Hello?"
Gojo laughed. "That sounds nasty."
The other wall crumbled a bit. She could almost see the inside of a restaurant. She groaned knowing she would have to file more paperwork. Probably, costing these people money because they would have to close for reconstruction.
"You're off for the week, Gojo. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you," she demanded, her grip tight around the phone.
He didn't answer for a few seconds.
"Okay," he simply said. "I'll come back next Thursday."
"Even better."
Click. She hung up the phone.
Yn looked back down at the baby. Some of the sludge spilled onto their forehead. She wiped it off with it sleep, before pressing the baby under the poncho.
"We gonna have to regroup with Higuruma," She spoke to the infant in a high-pitched baby talk voice. Her feet dragged across the pavement out into the open again.
"He called me 'babe'?" she mentioned aloud. "Gojo, please, don't play with me like this."
•••
Yn eventually found Higuruma standing near a small bright. Mountains loomed beyond a narrow path that lead upwards into it. She approached him. He was frozen, not in a panic or daydream. Just observing.
"I found a baby," she said, lifting the baby up on her chest slightly. "The curse...it lured me. It lures women, I think."
"There." He was barely audible, but he pointed.
Her eyes followed his finger to a woman. She wore a sundress and leaned against the railing. Her floral fabric stuck against her body. No umbrella. No coat.
"She's been standing there for a while," he added, his voice dropped. "Too long to just be thinking."
Yn inhaled. "Think she's going to jump?"
His foot slid forward, just slightly. She guessed he did think she was going to. She already knew what he'd try next to: rush, intercept, save. Even if the distance was cruel.
Another coo cut through the air. Not from the baby in her arm. It was coming from near the woman by the bridge.
Y/N screamed.
"SHE'S GOING TO THROW THE BABY OFF THE BRIDGE!"
Higuruma's eyes snapped open. He seemed to hear that. He shook his head. "No."
The woman raised a small wrapped bundle above her head. Higuruma launched forward. His umbrella fell behind him on the ground. She held the baby with both her arms wrapped around them.