JE/NEWS- "To Serve and Protect"
Title: To Serve and Protect
Universe: JE/NewS
Theme/Topic: N/A
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing/s: NewS
Warnings/Spoilers: AU DAMMIT. Crack? Stupidity?
Word Count: 3,076
Summary: NewS, except now they fight crime. No really.
Dedication: This was supposed to be Ann’s holiday request fic, and it STARTED off with that intent; but then I kind of got wrapped up in explaining the AU and when I complained to her about it she was super nice and said that any NewS fic I wrote for her was fine, it didn’t need to be one of her requests if I couldn’t do them. But then I started thinking that I would be a COMPLETE BASTARD if I did that. So no, dammit, I will write her something she wants. Which is why I am posting this now-it will thus NOT be in reserve in case I can’t do anything else. In other words, ONCE I PUT THIS UP I WILL HAVE TO WRITE HER SOMETHING SHE ACTUALLY REQUESTED. It works in theory, right?
A/N: I NEVER WRITE AU. Yet JE has got me doing TWO. WTH. But I guess I used to think I’d never write RPF either. SIGH. Also, I don’t know how government agencies work or how they team up individuals blah, blah, blah. No one really cares about the semantics anyway. Also, I blame this solely on my old M7 ATF days and the fact that a stupid passing analogy to Ann on the street can spawn 3,000 words of weirdness from my clearly screwy brain. Please pardon the fact that this reads like complete ass-I still don’t really understand the universe myself. Asdfjk;l it is also 2:40 in the morning (3:40 to my internal clock thanks to Daylight Savings); apologies for the numerous typos that will be scattered throughout.
Disclaimer: No harm is meant by this. As far as I know.
Distribution: Just lemme know.
Director Yamashita looks apprehensive at best when he hears the news; “You’re going to interview my team?” he inquires, cautiously. “About what?”
Sitting beside the team leader, Nishikido is outright suspicious and not nearly as delicate as Yamashita is in his approach. “If this is about the suspension you can shove it…”
“It’s not about the suspension, Nishikido-san. It’s about the return.”
Nishikido’s eyes narrow; the sniper still looks unimpressed. “Who went and made us such good friends that I can believe whatever you say just because you say it?” he growls.
Yamashita holds his hand out in front of his teammate, a gentle gesture and order all at the same time. “Hold on, Ryo-chan. Let’s hear them out, ne?”
Ryo grumbles to himself but concedes and sits back in his chair; crosses his arms. He looks the interlopers over disdainfully.
Yamashita ignores him and turns back to the IA camera crew. “If you want to talk to my men you’re welcome to,” he offers, and purses his lips thoughtfully. “But if they don’t want to talk to you back, no one is going to make them, ne.”
Nishikido looks like he is going to protest such an easy capitulation, but another quick sideways look from his superior is enough to restrain him again (though he still rolls his eyes just to be contrary).
“Our objective is to make note of the reasons behind your team’s success since its return to active duty, Yamashita-san. It’s only for reference in the future, as building more teams like yours from the get go is naturally something we want to accomplish for the good of the agency. We want to study your team so we can figure out how to avoid your…rocky start and reach the level you all are at now more quickly in the future. Preferably in a less…messy way.”
“You can’t just build a team like this from the get go, moron,” Nishikido snaps, bristling. “Shit has to happen first. You have to lose good members and you have to suffer…”
“Ryo-chan, that’s enough, ne. Let them find out for themselves.”
Nishikido takes a deep, shaky breath and runs his hands through his hair. Scoffs. “Right. Whatever.”
Yamashita offers the crew an apologetic look, but no one can tell how sincere it is by the strangely neutral set of his eyes. “Like I said,” he repeats, “You’re welcome to talk to them if they’re willing, ne.”
“Thank you, director.”
“No problem.” Then Yamashita even smiles a little; even flashes everyone an encouraging thumbs up because that’s just the way he is. “Good luck, ne!”
Nishikido snorts. “You’ll need it.”
~~~~~
“You’re the most talented bomb expert in the country at the moment; your teammates have written in their reports that you’ve defused countless explosives in the field with a coolness and composure they don’t normally see from you under regular circumstances. Where do you think this out-of-character calm under such intense pressure comes from?”
Koyama laughs nervously at the question and scratches his head. “I guess,” he begins after a moment of thought, and with an odd sort of warmth in his voice, “that I just always hope for the best.”
Silence.
Then, “Can you please elaborate on what you mean by that?”
Koyama bows his head in apology, sheepish. “I’m sorry…that must have been vague, ne.” He pauses, searches carefully for the right words to make his explanation clearer. “Well… I guess what I mean is; when I am choosing which wire to cut and time is running out; I always think to myself that my teammates are precious to me, ne.”
“Your… teammates are precious to you?”
“Un. So when the bomb is counting down, I pick the wire that I feel is best and think, ‘yappari, this definitely has to be the right one, because that way we can all go out and get yakiniku together afterwards, ne.’ And then I cut it.”
“So you mean…”
He nods. “I just believe that everyone will be okay.”
“So in other words, you really do… just hope for the best.”
He grins lopsidedly, “I have to, ne. If I don’t I’ll get indigestion.”
The IA crew isn’t sure how to respond to that.
Which is fine; Koyama just smiles and patiently pours them each a mug of tea while they think about it.
~~~~~
“You’ve written in numerous reports over the past few years that sometimes you don’t know who you are from who you’re playing, Agent Kato. Do you ever feel that this kind of split in your self-awareness puts your life in danger while working in the field?”
Kato furrows his brow in thought and doesn’t answer right away; instead he thinks about his answer carefully, thoroughly. “Isn’t it better?” he counters after several minutes.
Silence.
Then, “Excuse me?”
“Because while I am working undercover, if I am really being the person I am supposed to be in that world and no one else, it’s more convincing to the bad guys who I’m trying to fool, isn’t it?”
"Well, I suppose that’s true, but…”
“Then I don’t have to worry about being an agent and a bad guy all at the same time that way. I can do my job 100%.”
“But undercover agents like yourself have faced this very problem for decades; do you ever feel like you are losing who you really are under all of this pretense?”
Kato snorts and the look in his eye when he hears the question is vaguely reminiscent of Agent Nishikido’s derisiveness, save for the slight smile on Kato’s face when he does it. But then again it could be nothing more than a fake smile; that’s what undercover agents do best, after all.
“I don’t worry about losing myself,” he says after a moment, calmly. Confidently.
“Why not? Surely playing other people and living out their lives is taxing on your own sense of identity.”
“Well…” His features soften slightly around the edges as he starts to reply, and for a moment it’s like he’s not talking to anyone but himself. Like there aren’t any cameras here or hot lights, like it’s not a small room where he is surrounded by complete strangers who are asking him very personal questions.
For a moment, it’s like he isn’t acting at all.
“I suppose,” he starts, and licks his lips in embarrassment, “that I just don’t worry about it like other people because when I come back here at the end of the day, everyone calls me Shige.”
“Your name.”
“Yes.”
“And that’s enough to…”
He scoffs, eyes the IA crew like he is wondering if they are all very stupid after all. “Do I really need to say it out loud for you?” he asks.
“No. Um… thank you.”
A beat.
“So… is that all?”
“Yes, I think that’s all we need from you, agent.”
“Great…” He bows; moves to leave.
A the moment he emerges from the questioning room, a pair of voices can be heard greeting him cheerfully in the hallway.
“Shige, welcome back, ne!”
~~~~~
“Agent Nishikido…”
“I’m not talking to you people.”
“Please, just a word or two…”
“I shoot people in the head. That’s my job,” he snaps, brusquely. End of story.
The IA crew doesn’t get the hint. “Yes. And until two years ago, it was a job you shared with…”
He slams his hand against the wall before that sentence can be finished. Glares. “I’m leaving before I decide that fighting the urge to punch you isn’t worth the effort,” he says, low in his throat.
And then he walks out of the break room without a backwards glance; the door crashes closed behind him.
That, the crew thinks, had clearly been a threat.
But they follow him anyway; Nishikido is the agent who has had the most drastic change in demeanor since Yamashita’s team was formed, and everyone-especially the administration- wants to know how that is possible, given Nishikido’s particular history of… short-temperedness.
They just don’t see how such a volatile person could have learned to work so well with a team that he had initially despised.
When the crew finds him again he’s in his office but not alone; the team’s computer expert is hugging him tightly, worriedly. Nishikido’s head is buried against the younger agent’s shoulder and his eyes are closed. “Fucking hell, I hate people,” he murmurs to Tegoshi, voice low and pained.
Tegoshi pets his hair gently. “I know.”
The IA team decides-wisely- to leave them be.
But not before making a note about the both of them.
~~~~~
“Well,” Masuda begins thoughtfully when it is his turn, “Mostly I do a lot of the running and jumping type of work, ne.” He grins.
“Yes; your scores on the agency’s physical examinations were exemplary. What we want to know is how you feel your “grunt” work- for lack of better term- contributes to the benefit of the team as a whole.”
Masuda’s smile only brightens somehow; no offense taken at all. “Well, I usually get to go in first ne,” he starts. “That’s important to a team, right? If no one went first then no one would go at all!”
Crickets chirp.
“Er…yes, I suppose you are right about that. But what I mean is… doesn’t it worry you that when your team is in the line of fire, you’re always the first target an enemy might see? Especially given the fact that there used to be two of you, and Agent Kusano was…”
Masuda’s smile finally falters when his former teammate’s name is brought up; he looks sad at the memory, very clearly regretful. “Saa,” he says softly, “that’s why now; I always make sure to go first no matter what, ne.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Masuda looks up, and despite his almost childishly sweet features, there is something deadly serious about his demeanor right now. “I make sure I’m always first so I don’t have to see that kind of thing ever again.”
A beat.
“So you’re saying that if it came down to it, you’d rather be shot yourself than witness any of your teammates getting injured again?”
He nods, resolute. Even smiles again. “Because I know I’m the strongest one out of everyone, ne. Even if I’m hit… I’ll definitely be okay no matter what. I won’t lose to any bullet!”
And to the investigation team, the most surprising part about all of this is that Masuda smiles at them like he really believes every word of what he’s saying.
~~~~~
“Uwah, that’s a really nice camera!”
“Uh, yes. Well. Please have a seat and…no, don’t touch that, it’s…”
“Ah, top of the line, ne! I’m jealous; I can’t afford something like this on a government paycheck.”
He grins and hands the camera back to the operator.
“Can we get started, then?”
“Sure!” The youngest agent takes a seat; he rocks back and forth in his chair a little bit as he eagerly waits for the first question.
“Now… it says in your profile that you have enough skill with computers and other electronics that you were offered a high level position in a software company before you were even finished with high school. Why turn that down and take a dangerous job like this instead?”
The target of the inquiry laughs a bit, bites his bottom lip thoughtfully. “Well, I guess the only way I can answer honestly is to say that I joined this place because I wanted people to need me, ne,” he says, bright eyed and cheerful. “A lot.”
A moment. “And for you, being needed is enough reason to face death on a constant basis, agent Tegoshi?”
He nods. “Un! I thought I was invincible back when I started anyway, ne. Dying wasn’t something I worried about when I joined; I was sure I would survive no matter what.”
“Has your view of yourself changed since the incident two years…”
“Yes,” he agrees quickly, still smiling though there is something incredibly intense in his eyes when he cuts the interviewer off. “I learned a lot. From what happened two years ago, sure. But I learned the most from everyone else after that, ne.” He chuckles again, more ruefully now. “I was so young back when I started. I thought I was the strongest person in the world, ne. I didn’t know then that I was the one who needed everyone else’s strength the most. I was clinging to them without even understanding that I was.”
“So in the end, you leaned on them more than they leaned on you. Was it vexing?”
The hacker nods and looks unfazed by all of these heavy confessions, like somehow, he actually thinks that his secrets won’t go any farther than this room and the people in it at the end of the day.
“Everyone on this team has always watched over me, even when I resented it, ne,” he says, and smiles warmly. When he looks like that he somehow manages to seem impossibly young all over again, despite his five hard years as a field agent since signing on. “I was really annoyed at first, because I didn’t want to be babied, ne. I wasn’t even the youngest! But now, I look back and think it was a good way to learn. Now, now I just want to grow into someone who can give the kind of strength they gave me back to them in return. Not just in helping with the technology, but everything else too, ne. Shooting, fighting, negotiations, undercover-I want to be good at all of it. I’ve changed from who I used to be in that I don’t want to become someone who is needed necessarily, but rather, someone who can be relied on, ne.”
“That’s a lofty goal.”
He grins. “Do you think I can do it? Or is it impossible for someone like me?”
“That’s not for me to say.”
He just beams. “Well, I’ll keep trying my best, ne! I just want to do what’s best for the team, after all.” He pauses, and when he does, his smile somehow sharpens ever so slightly around the edges. “Because I love everyone in this unit, I want them to be happy, ne!”
“Right, that’s very good of you, I suppose.” Pause. “Anyway, I know this might seem off topic for the moment, but I was also wondering if you could also say a few words about your relationship with Agent Nishikido. It seems you two have grown closer after the incident…”
But the question is never finished, because suddenly the power goes out and everything goes black.
“Eh, strange,” Tegoshi marvels, calmly. “I wonder if something’s wrong, ne.” He shakes his head fondly; “Ah, maybe Kei-chan plugged too many surge protectors into his main outlet again, ne. I should go check!”
And before the IA team can answer either way, the sound of a chair sliding backwards and a door opening are heard as Tegoshi leaves the questioning room without even properly excusing himself first.
The moment the door closes; the lights mysteriously come back on.
When they do, the IA member operating the camera blinks. “Eh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“It doesn’t work anymore.” He shakes his camera.
Nothing.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know…”
The crew is left alone in silence.
And what’s worse, Tegoshi doesn’t even bother coming back, either.
~~~~~
“Did you find everything you needed?” Yamashita asks pleasantly, when the IA crew returns to his office later that afternoon.
“Something happened to our equipment. All of the tapes we recorded have been wiped; the camera doesn’t turn on any more.”
Yamashita blinks. “Eh? Maji?” He frowns. “Weird, ne. That’s definitely weird!”
“Does your team have anything to do with this?”
He cocks his head to the side. “Mmmm, what are you asking me, exactly?”
This earns him a glare; “Was this interview tampered with by members of your team, director?” A useless video camera is shaken in his general direction like a reprimand.
He laughs when he sees it. “Eh? That’s pretty impossible, I think! My team has been pretty cooperative with you so far, ne?”
No one can really argue with that; everyone had answered the IA team’s summons pleasantly enough (save for maybe Nishikido), and the camera had been working fine up until the strange power surge from earlier.
“But it’s broken,” they complain, helplessly.
Again, the useless camera is shaken at Yamashita.
“If it’s broken, maybe Tegoshi or Ryo-chan can fix it for you, ne. They’re both pretty good with stuff like that.”
No one is amused by this. “And the tapes?”
The director shrugs. “If the camera is no good then the things it records won’t be good either, won’t they?”
It makes perfect sense to him.
The IA crew however, is not pleased with his overly-simplistic assessment.
But it’s a helpless kind of displeasure at best; no one can say for sure what happened without pointing fingers outright, and that always gets messy in an atmosphere that is already politically charged as is.
So all that the crew can really say is: “We'll be back.”
Yamashita nods. “Jaa, I’ll make sure Koyama has plenty of tea for everyone, ne.”
And with that the IA team storms out of the director’s office, with Yamashita waving after them amiably.
~~~~~
On their way down the corridor, the IA crew nears Nishikido’s office as they approach the elevators at the end of the hall. The sniper’s door is wide open.
And so they just happen to catch Kato and Tegoshi sitting inside the small room with Nishikido; the three agents are drinking hot tea and chatting idly amongst themselves.
“Ah, I guess sometimes I love people too,” Nishikido admits seemingly at random, and leans back in his chair with an extremely self-satisfied aura. “They’re entertaining.”
Tegoshi beams warmly at the older agent while Kato just snorts.
“No you don’t. You hate people all the time.”
“I just hate you all the time.”
Tegoshi just laughs at them both for being silly; he cheerfully asks where they are going for dinner tonight. He feels like sushi.
And as the three of them start to debate about the merits of sushi versus oden versus Korean food on a day like today, Nishikido just happens to catch the eyes of the IA team as they pass by his open doorway.
He smiles at them.
But not in a particularly nice way.
END
EDITS PLZ. GOD YES.
Universe: JE/NewS
Theme/Topic: N/A
Rating: PG-13
Character/Pairing/s: NewS
Warnings/Spoilers: AU DAMMIT. Crack? Stupidity?
Word Count: 3,076
Summary: NewS, except now they fight crime. No really.
Dedication: This was supposed to be Ann’s holiday request fic, and it STARTED off with that intent; but then I kind of got wrapped up in explaining the AU and when I complained to her about it she was super nice and said that any NewS fic I wrote for her was fine, it didn’t need to be one of her requests if I couldn’t do them. But then I started thinking that I would be a COMPLETE BASTARD if I did that. So no, dammit, I will write her something she wants. Which is why I am posting this now-it will thus NOT be in reserve in case I can’t do anything else. In other words, ONCE I PUT THIS UP I WILL HAVE TO WRITE HER SOMETHING SHE ACTUALLY REQUESTED. It works in theory, right?
A/N: I NEVER WRITE AU. Yet JE has got me doing TWO. WTH. But I guess I used to think I’d never write RPF either. SIGH. Also, I don’t know how government agencies work or how they team up individuals blah, blah, blah. No one really cares about the semantics anyway. Also, I blame this solely on my old M7 ATF days and the fact that a stupid passing analogy to Ann on the street can spawn 3,000 words of weirdness from my clearly screwy brain. Please pardon the fact that this reads like complete ass-I still don’t really understand the universe myself. Asdfjk;l it is also 2:40 in the morning (3:40 to my internal clock thanks to Daylight Savings); apologies for the numerous typos that will be scattered throughout.
Disclaimer: No harm is meant by this. As far as I know.
Distribution: Just lemme know.
Director Yamashita looks apprehensive at best when he hears the news; “You’re going to interview my team?” he inquires, cautiously. “About what?”
Sitting beside the team leader, Nishikido is outright suspicious and not nearly as delicate as Yamashita is in his approach. “If this is about the suspension you can shove it…”
“It’s not about the suspension, Nishikido-san. It’s about the return.”
Nishikido’s eyes narrow; the sniper still looks unimpressed. “Who went and made us such good friends that I can believe whatever you say just because you say it?” he growls.
Yamashita holds his hand out in front of his teammate, a gentle gesture and order all at the same time. “Hold on, Ryo-chan. Let’s hear them out, ne?”
Ryo grumbles to himself but concedes and sits back in his chair; crosses his arms. He looks the interlopers over disdainfully.
Yamashita ignores him and turns back to the IA camera crew. “If you want to talk to my men you’re welcome to,” he offers, and purses his lips thoughtfully. “But if they don’t want to talk to you back, no one is going to make them, ne.”
Nishikido looks like he is going to protest such an easy capitulation, but another quick sideways look from his superior is enough to restrain him again (though he still rolls his eyes just to be contrary).
“Our objective is to make note of the reasons behind your team’s success since its return to active duty, Yamashita-san. It’s only for reference in the future, as building more teams like yours from the get go is naturally something we want to accomplish for the good of the agency. We want to study your team so we can figure out how to avoid your…rocky start and reach the level you all are at now more quickly in the future. Preferably in a less…messy way.”
“You can’t just build a team like this from the get go, moron,” Nishikido snaps, bristling. “Shit has to happen first. You have to lose good members and you have to suffer…”
“Ryo-chan, that’s enough, ne. Let them find out for themselves.”
Nishikido takes a deep, shaky breath and runs his hands through his hair. Scoffs. “Right. Whatever.”
Yamashita offers the crew an apologetic look, but no one can tell how sincere it is by the strangely neutral set of his eyes. “Like I said,” he repeats, “You’re welcome to talk to them if they’re willing, ne.”
“Thank you, director.”
“No problem.” Then Yamashita even smiles a little; even flashes everyone an encouraging thumbs up because that’s just the way he is. “Good luck, ne!”
Nishikido snorts. “You’ll need it.”
~~~~~
“You’re the most talented bomb expert in the country at the moment; your teammates have written in their reports that you’ve defused countless explosives in the field with a coolness and composure they don’t normally see from you under regular circumstances. Where do you think this out-of-character calm under such intense pressure comes from?”
Koyama laughs nervously at the question and scratches his head. “I guess,” he begins after a moment of thought, and with an odd sort of warmth in his voice, “that I just always hope for the best.”
Silence.
Then, “Can you please elaborate on what you mean by that?”
Koyama bows his head in apology, sheepish. “I’m sorry…that must have been vague, ne.” He pauses, searches carefully for the right words to make his explanation clearer. “Well… I guess what I mean is; when I am choosing which wire to cut and time is running out; I always think to myself that my teammates are precious to me, ne.”
“Your… teammates are precious to you?”
“Un. So when the bomb is counting down, I pick the wire that I feel is best and think, ‘yappari, this definitely has to be the right one, because that way we can all go out and get yakiniku together afterwards, ne.’ And then I cut it.”
“So you mean…”
He nods. “I just believe that everyone will be okay.”
“So in other words, you really do… just hope for the best.”
He grins lopsidedly, “I have to, ne. If I don’t I’ll get indigestion.”
The IA crew isn’t sure how to respond to that.
Which is fine; Koyama just smiles and patiently pours them each a mug of tea while they think about it.
~~~~~
“You’ve written in numerous reports over the past few years that sometimes you don’t know who you are from who you’re playing, Agent Kato. Do you ever feel that this kind of split in your self-awareness puts your life in danger while working in the field?”
Kato furrows his brow in thought and doesn’t answer right away; instead he thinks about his answer carefully, thoroughly. “Isn’t it better?” he counters after several minutes.
Silence.
Then, “Excuse me?”
“Because while I am working undercover, if I am really being the person I am supposed to be in that world and no one else, it’s more convincing to the bad guys who I’m trying to fool, isn’t it?”
"Well, I suppose that’s true, but…”
“Then I don’t have to worry about being an agent and a bad guy all at the same time that way. I can do my job 100%.”
“But undercover agents like yourself have faced this very problem for decades; do you ever feel like you are losing who you really are under all of this pretense?”
Kato snorts and the look in his eye when he hears the question is vaguely reminiscent of Agent Nishikido’s derisiveness, save for the slight smile on Kato’s face when he does it. But then again it could be nothing more than a fake smile; that’s what undercover agents do best, after all.
“I don’t worry about losing myself,” he says after a moment, calmly. Confidently.
“Why not? Surely playing other people and living out their lives is taxing on your own sense of identity.”
“Well…” His features soften slightly around the edges as he starts to reply, and for a moment it’s like he’s not talking to anyone but himself. Like there aren’t any cameras here or hot lights, like it’s not a small room where he is surrounded by complete strangers who are asking him very personal questions.
For a moment, it’s like he isn’t acting at all.
“I suppose,” he starts, and licks his lips in embarrassment, “that I just don’t worry about it like other people because when I come back here at the end of the day, everyone calls me Shige.”
“Your name.”
“Yes.”
“And that’s enough to…”
He scoffs, eyes the IA crew like he is wondering if they are all very stupid after all. “Do I really need to say it out loud for you?” he asks.
“No. Um… thank you.”
A beat.
“So… is that all?”
“Yes, I think that’s all we need from you, agent.”
“Great…” He bows; moves to leave.
A the moment he emerges from the questioning room, a pair of voices can be heard greeting him cheerfully in the hallway.
“Shige, welcome back, ne!”
~~~~~
“Agent Nishikido…”
“I’m not talking to you people.”
“Please, just a word or two…”
“I shoot people in the head. That’s my job,” he snaps, brusquely. End of story.
The IA crew doesn’t get the hint. “Yes. And until two years ago, it was a job you shared with…”
He slams his hand against the wall before that sentence can be finished. Glares. “I’m leaving before I decide that fighting the urge to punch you isn’t worth the effort,” he says, low in his throat.
And then he walks out of the break room without a backwards glance; the door crashes closed behind him.
That, the crew thinks, had clearly been a threat.
But they follow him anyway; Nishikido is the agent who has had the most drastic change in demeanor since Yamashita’s team was formed, and everyone-especially the administration- wants to know how that is possible, given Nishikido’s particular history of… short-temperedness.
They just don’t see how such a volatile person could have learned to work so well with a team that he had initially despised.
When the crew finds him again he’s in his office but not alone; the team’s computer expert is hugging him tightly, worriedly. Nishikido’s head is buried against the younger agent’s shoulder and his eyes are closed. “Fucking hell, I hate people,” he murmurs to Tegoshi, voice low and pained.
Tegoshi pets his hair gently. “I know.”
The IA team decides-wisely- to leave them be.
But not before making a note about the both of them.
~~~~~
“Well,” Masuda begins thoughtfully when it is his turn, “Mostly I do a lot of the running and jumping type of work, ne.” He grins.
“Yes; your scores on the agency’s physical examinations were exemplary. What we want to know is how you feel your “grunt” work- for lack of better term- contributes to the benefit of the team as a whole.”
Masuda’s smile only brightens somehow; no offense taken at all. “Well, I usually get to go in first ne,” he starts. “That’s important to a team, right? If no one went first then no one would go at all!”
Crickets chirp.
“Er…yes, I suppose you are right about that. But what I mean is… doesn’t it worry you that when your team is in the line of fire, you’re always the first target an enemy might see? Especially given the fact that there used to be two of you, and Agent Kusano was…”
Masuda’s smile finally falters when his former teammate’s name is brought up; he looks sad at the memory, very clearly regretful. “Saa,” he says softly, “that’s why now; I always make sure to go first no matter what, ne.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Masuda looks up, and despite his almost childishly sweet features, there is something deadly serious about his demeanor right now. “I make sure I’m always first so I don’t have to see that kind of thing ever again.”
A beat.
“So you’re saying that if it came down to it, you’d rather be shot yourself than witness any of your teammates getting injured again?”
He nods, resolute. Even smiles again. “Because I know I’m the strongest one out of everyone, ne. Even if I’m hit… I’ll definitely be okay no matter what. I won’t lose to any bullet!”
And to the investigation team, the most surprising part about all of this is that Masuda smiles at them like he really believes every word of what he’s saying.
~~~~~
“Uwah, that’s a really nice camera!”
“Uh, yes. Well. Please have a seat and…no, don’t touch that, it’s…”
“Ah, top of the line, ne! I’m jealous; I can’t afford something like this on a government paycheck.”
He grins and hands the camera back to the operator.
“Can we get started, then?”
“Sure!” The youngest agent takes a seat; he rocks back and forth in his chair a little bit as he eagerly waits for the first question.
“Now… it says in your profile that you have enough skill with computers and other electronics that you were offered a high level position in a software company before you were even finished with high school. Why turn that down and take a dangerous job like this instead?”
The target of the inquiry laughs a bit, bites his bottom lip thoughtfully. “Well, I guess the only way I can answer honestly is to say that I joined this place because I wanted people to need me, ne,” he says, bright eyed and cheerful. “A lot.”
A moment. “And for you, being needed is enough reason to face death on a constant basis, agent Tegoshi?”
He nods. “Un! I thought I was invincible back when I started anyway, ne. Dying wasn’t something I worried about when I joined; I was sure I would survive no matter what.”
“Has your view of yourself changed since the incident two years…”
“Yes,” he agrees quickly, still smiling though there is something incredibly intense in his eyes when he cuts the interviewer off. “I learned a lot. From what happened two years ago, sure. But I learned the most from everyone else after that, ne.” He chuckles again, more ruefully now. “I was so young back when I started. I thought I was the strongest person in the world, ne. I didn’t know then that I was the one who needed everyone else’s strength the most. I was clinging to them without even understanding that I was.”
“So in the end, you leaned on them more than they leaned on you. Was it vexing?”
The hacker nods and looks unfazed by all of these heavy confessions, like somehow, he actually thinks that his secrets won’t go any farther than this room and the people in it at the end of the day.
“Everyone on this team has always watched over me, even when I resented it, ne,” he says, and smiles warmly. When he looks like that he somehow manages to seem impossibly young all over again, despite his five hard years as a field agent since signing on. “I was really annoyed at first, because I didn’t want to be babied, ne. I wasn’t even the youngest! But now, I look back and think it was a good way to learn. Now, now I just want to grow into someone who can give the kind of strength they gave me back to them in return. Not just in helping with the technology, but everything else too, ne. Shooting, fighting, negotiations, undercover-I want to be good at all of it. I’ve changed from who I used to be in that I don’t want to become someone who is needed necessarily, but rather, someone who can be relied on, ne.”
“That’s a lofty goal.”
He grins. “Do you think I can do it? Or is it impossible for someone like me?”
“That’s not for me to say.”
He just beams. “Well, I’ll keep trying my best, ne! I just want to do what’s best for the team, after all.” He pauses, and when he does, his smile somehow sharpens ever so slightly around the edges. “Because I love everyone in this unit, I want them to be happy, ne!”
“Right, that’s very good of you, I suppose.” Pause. “Anyway, I know this might seem off topic for the moment, but I was also wondering if you could also say a few words about your relationship with Agent Nishikido. It seems you two have grown closer after the incident…”
But the question is never finished, because suddenly the power goes out and everything goes black.
“Eh, strange,” Tegoshi marvels, calmly. “I wonder if something’s wrong, ne.” He shakes his head fondly; “Ah, maybe Kei-chan plugged too many surge protectors into his main outlet again, ne. I should go check!”
And before the IA team can answer either way, the sound of a chair sliding backwards and a door opening are heard as Tegoshi leaves the questioning room without even properly excusing himself first.
The moment the door closes; the lights mysteriously come back on.
When they do, the IA member operating the camera blinks. “Eh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“It doesn’t work anymore.” He shakes his camera.
Nothing.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know…”
The crew is left alone in silence.
And what’s worse, Tegoshi doesn’t even bother coming back, either.
~~~~~
“Did you find everything you needed?” Yamashita asks pleasantly, when the IA crew returns to his office later that afternoon.
“Something happened to our equipment. All of the tapes we recorded have been wiped; the camera doesn’t turn on any more.”
Yamashita blinks. “Eh? Maji?” He frowns. “Weird, ne. That’s definitely weird!”
“Does your team have anything to do with this?”
He cocks his head to the side. “Mmmm, what are you asking me, exactly?”
This earns him a glare; “Was this interview tampered with by members of your team, director?” A useless video camera is shaken in his general direction like a reprimand.
He laughs when he sees it. “Eh? That’s pretty impossible, I think! My team has been pretty cooperative with you so far, ne?”
No one can really argue with that; everyone had answered the IA team’s summons pleasantly enough (save for maybe Nishikido), and the camera had been working fine up until the strange power surge from earlier.
“But it’s broken,” they complain, helplessly.
Again, the useless camera is shaken at Yamashita.
“If it’s broken, maybe Tegoshi or Ryo-chan can fix it for you, ne. They’re both pretty good with stuff like that.”
No one is amused by this. “And the tapes?”
The director shrugs. “If the camera is no good then the things it records won’t be good either, won’t they?”
It makes perfect sense to him.
The IA crew however, is not pleased with his overly-simplistic assessment.
But it’s a helpless kind of displeasure at best; no one can say for sure what happened without pointing fingers outright, and that always gets messy in an atmosphere that is already politically charged as is.
So all that the crew can really say is: “We'll be back.”
Yamashita nods. “Jaa, I’ll make sure Koyama has plenty of tea for everyone, ne.”
And with that the IA team storms out of the director’s office, with Yamashita waving after them amiably.
~~~~~
On their way down the corridor, the IA crew nears Nishikido’s office as they approach the elevators at the end of the hall. The sniper’s door is wide open.
And so they just happen to catch Kato and Tegoshi sitting inside the small room with Nishikido; the three agents are drinking hot tea and chatting idly amongst themselves.
“Ah, I guess sometimes I love people too,” Nishikido admits seemingly at random, and leans back in his chair with an extremely self-satisfied aura. “They’re entertaining.”
Tegoshi beams warmly at the older agent while Kato just snorts.
“No you don’t. You hate people all the time.”
“I just hate you all the time.”
Tegoshi just laughs at them both for being silly; he cheerfully asks where they are going for dinner tonight. He feels like sushi.
And as the three of them start to debate about the merits of sushi versus oden versus Korean food on a day like today, Nishikido just happens to catch the eyes of the IA team as they pass by his open doorway.
He smiles at them.
But not in a particularly nice way.
END
EDITS PLZ. GOD YES.