𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐌𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄? (𝗵. 𝗮𝗸𝗶) ✓

22

Hanasaki had worked at Public Safety for almost five years. Naturally, she'd learnt to deal with a lot of different situations that came with the job. A few examples being coworkers arguing, uncooperative buddies, and of course the slight challenge of facing off against supernatural monsters several dozen times her own size. But one thing she was yet to educate herself on was how to cope with a fellow Hunter brandishing a weapon at the rest of her team.

Which is why when faced with the sight of Kobeni poised to charge, she took a healthy step backwards to make it clear that she was not taking responsibility for the situation.

For a few interminable moments, everyone stood motionless. Even Kobeni's panicked spasms seemed to have frozen her stiff, this along with her greyish complexion giving her the appearance of one of Medusa's victims. Suddenly, uttering a horrible scream, she rushed forward, the tip of the knife pointed directly towards Denji's chest. Denji himself had taken up a defensive stance, fists raised, with Aki hovering behind him like a rather tired-looking bodyguard. But his appearance was meant to fool — as soon as she came within a foot of him, Aki brought his leg up and sent the blade flying with a well-aimed kick. Its point embedded itself in the wall right next to Power, who didn't even care to flinch. Before Kobeni had time to react with more than a frightened squeak, Himeno caught her from the other side. A sharp elbow to the gut drove all the wind out of her. A choked splutter, and the rookie dropped the ground with a dull thud, landing spread-eagled on her stomach as the lights switched off upstairs and her limbs went limp as a ragdoll's.

Silence. Then, laughter. Roaring, howling, screeching laughter ricocheted down the hallway, raucous and shameless and sickening. The many faces of the Devil all had their jaws unhinged, the skin around their eyeless sockets squeezed up in gruesome sneers. But Hanasaki could not pull her gaze away from the girl on the floor, her eyes still wide open, blank and faraway, streaks of tears, mucus and saliva trailing down her face to the carpet. Her tongue quickly felt too hot and sour behind her teeth, like a hunk of metal.

"Oh, shut up," Himeno snapped at the foul thing, the slight break in her voice betraying her apparent remorselessness at knocking Kobeni out. "Aki, can't you end this by swallowing it with your Fox?"

He considered it, then raised his right hand and made the calling sign. His middle and ring fingers pressed against his thumbpad, while his index and pinkie remained pointed at the ceiling. The gesture always reminded Hanasaki of the shadow hand puppets she'd made in the light of her bedroom lamp when she was younger. She didn't like to dwell on that memory for long.

Instead, she decided to look at his lips as they formed around the single word that would summon his contracted Devil. "Kon."

Then came another pregnant pause. Aki stood expectantly, still holding his hand forward like an unreturned handshake, but the furrow of his brow told them help wasn't coming.

"No Fox... I had a feeling that would happen. This place is completely cut off from the outside after all."

Himeno glanced at him with her non-covered eye worriedly. "And your Fox's body is in Kyoto..."

The three superiors lingered in front of the Devil doubtfully, its laughter now muted only to be replaced with the constant churning of its innards. A few moments later, Aki and Himeno both turned their heads to Hanasaki, who was loitering slightly behind them. Of course, she didn't quite know why, even when Himeno shot a pointed look at her wrist, but then:

Ahem, sweetie? Earth to Hanasaki, please and thank you...

The annoyance brought about by hearing Time's voice was a rather unpleasant wake-up call, but it did its job. "Oh, uh. No. I can't really do anything. I can't rewind time, only stop it. Sorry."