"I bring my radiance to you, tonight." (Mayakuro)

Chapter 8: Confound Key

Hikari quickly walks away after she drops off the letter on the office's front doors. Maya was supposedly the one who will "receive it" and present it to the officers, but she was nowhere to be found. Hikari can't even contact her phone! Did that woman really freeze to death when she was on the way to Nana's apartment? She knew her friend was sensitive to the cold and was stubborn enough to not accept help from strangers since she is the General's daughter, a Tendo at that.

She has a feeling that Maya is safe somewhere else, probably warm enough to keep her alive. But now that the officers know Tengoku will go on constant heists, Nana being injured is not the best situation for them. For now, Hikari stopped thinking about trivial things. She has a patient waiting at home.

She turns into another alleyway and slowly fades away with the darkness.

____

Maya slowly stirs awake, feeling suffocated by something thick and soft. She groans, she needed to breathe badly. After a few coughs and struggles of removing the obstruction later, she sights blonde hair all over her neck.

Oh, it was Claudine. A smile crept on the brunette's face. She sits up, supporting her body, facing the woman beside her.

The woman beside her was still sound asleep, her hair going in all directions. Maya remembered their first night sleeping together where she almost ate a handful of Claudine's hair, which made the detective embarrassed and mad at the major for the entire morning. She chuckled quietly at the memory, careful not to wake up her partner. Maya gently caresses the blonde mane, fixing it from its disastrous formation. She loved the detective's hair, how Claudine needed to fix it for hours just to get it right, pushing a black hairband to NOT fix her bangs.

Then she fixates her sight on the sleeping woman's face. From her bangs that are blocking her scrunched-up forehead to her closed eyes that were hiding irises of red hues. With her long eyelashes, Maya envies so much to the light bags under her eyes after sleepless nights of working just to know Tengoku. Down to her cute nose and slightly chubby jaw. But Claudine's lips really captivated the major.

Will she ever get the chance to capture them on her own? Like the feeling of floating and dreaming on all the books she read?

Maybe not. Claudine is such a powerful woman who can stand on her own feet with no one or anything to support her. Maya admired that, that's why she knew Claudine deserved someone who's better than someone who's living double lives like herself.

She stares lovingly at the woman, feeling her heart flutter every second she does. The detective shuffles slowly, opening her eyes to meet the Major's.

Purple to Red.

"Good morning, Saijo-san," Maya smirked as Claudine blushed at seeing the major so close. But she smiled softly, remembering what happened after midnight, tucking the brunette's hair in her ear.

"Good morning to you too, Tendo Maya."

Ah... Tendo Maya is really in love with Claudine.

____

After the intimate moments between the two, the afternoon has passed with Claudine, making tea for her fool of a partner. Maya was in the living room, on a call with Hikari updating her of Nana's status. She was glad that her friend was doing fine after what happened last night, her heavy worries disappeared. She stares at the window, seeing snow gracefully fall to the ground.

"Maya, where are you?" Hikari asks, out of curiosity. She wanted to know how Maya didn't freeze to death outside.

"I'm at Saijo-san's apartment." An evil laugh in the background reached her ears, recognizing it was Kaoruko.