False Reality

Second Opinion

You knew it the second you set eyes on her.
The real reason Keigo had come back all flustered from meeting his new handler.

The blonde hair, small frame, full pink lips and matching pink wings behind her immediately gave him away. She was pretty, model pretty.
She didn't look like she belonged in the offices of the HSPC by any means.

"Hi! You must be Y/N!" Aoi, Keigo's new handler, greets, reaching for your hand with a tidily manicured hand.

"Hi." You reply, opting to bow your head instead of taking her hand.

She doesn't even get offended, she just carries on smiling, lowering her hand back to her side and she slowly sits herself down, motioning for you to sit down on the opposite side of her desk.

You do, taking note of the more suitable chair for your wings, unlike the seats Rai had in her office that were high-backed and crushed your wings behind you while you were seated.

You suppose she knows how uncomfortable it is to not sit in low backed seats or specialist seats, even with the wing that drags along the floor.

"I've heard a lot about you!" She continues to chat cheerily. "Keigo mentioned that you want to sing! That's really cool. I always wanted to learn an instrument but I never really got the chance."

You blink at the use of Keigo's real name. Rai rarely, if ever, referred to Keigo as his actual name.
She takes your lack of an instant response to continue on.

"What kind of music would you like to do? I really like lo-fi and R&B." She smiles. "I already told Keigo that even though you're not affiliated with the HSPC anymore I'm more than happy to try and use their contacts to help you along."

"Why?" Is your immediate response, disbelief and distrust clear in your voice.

"Because it's nice to be nice." She shrugs, still smiling. "Also... Fuck the Commission."

Your eyes widen.
Rai would never say that.

Aoi seems to find your response amusing because she chuckles, her big brown eyes sparkling with joy at your reaction.
She leans forward with a mischievous look.

"Let's get our money's worth out of them, yeah?" She winks before leaning back.

You aren't sure how to react, because there was no way that a Commission handler would ever say that seriously. This had to be a trick to try and get evidence against you so that the Commission had something solid against you to try and tear you away from Keigo regardless of your new adoption papers.

She waits patiently for a response that you aren't going to give before there's a flicker of recognition behind those friendly brown eyes and then she says a quiet 'ah' before opening a drawer in her desk and getting out a notepad and pen, pushing it towards you with a soft smile.

The gesture is sweet, but you're definitely not going to have anything incriminating written down and in the possession of her.

"I don't need it." You reply finally, pushing it back towards her.

Instead of getting offended or annoyed like Rai almost certainly would have, she just beams at you, leaving the notepad in the center of the desk.

"I'm glad to hear you're doing better with the spells of going non-verbal!" Aoi praises, sounding completely warm and genuine. "I went through a phase of not talking, too. It's tough to get over, but you did it!"

You still don't trust her. There was no way that there was someone normal and nice in charge of Keigo. Not if the Commission had anything to do with it.