"It's a lamentable fact that if you hadn't forgotten your briefcase, you wouldn't be in love with a minor - which, should I mention is illegal?" Ginoza remarked.

"She's a second-year student," Kougami muttered.

"That doesn't change anything."

"She's really cute!" Sasayama added.

"Still doesn't change anything!"

In short, Kougami felt like hell. More specifically, he felt dizzy, nauseated, as if he hadn't slept in a week, and a throbbing pain at the side of his head. He wondered if Sasayama kicked it.

Goddamn it, Sasayama.

Even with his entire bedroom spinning around him in a jumbled mess of beige and brown, he found himself able to get washed, dressed and out of the apartment for work. His skull was still hammering when he reached the bus stop and swept his pass on the scanner. He wasn't sure if he was even seeing straight when he collapsed on an empty seat.

Goddamn it, Sasayama.

He rested his head on the top of his briefcase, trying to collect some semblance of thought. He couldn't afford to call in sick when his unit still had such an important case to tie up, not to mention they finally managed to find a promising Enforcer candidate which should help pick up the pace.

Perhaps Kougami shouldn't have worked overtime after having spent half the day running after a latent criminal and then take more paperwork to do at home. Still, he was satisfied that he managed to get through an entire report and would be able to bring something fresh for today's meeting. His fingers squeezed the briefcase tighter. He hoped he packed them in order because he was really not in the mindset to organize them anytime soon.

Suddenly a sharp bell noise cut through his daydreaming. He heard a muffled 'hello?' promptly after the noise stopped.

Kougami took the wakeup call to lift his head up and check where he was. Not too far from his stop, apparently. He settled the briefcase next to him and tapped on his computer-watch for a quick general news update: more variations being demanded on hyperoats production, the Minister of Economy announcing his retirement, slight alterations being made in welfare benefits...

He was barely able to take any of it in because of the stupid headache. After the case wraps up, Kougami promised himself a solid good night sleep of eight hours. That sounded nice.

In the corner of his eye, he saw NONA tower growing bigger. Kougami stabbed the STOP button and slowly rose to his feet. He wasn't sure if the bus was just rocking through a series of speed bumps or if he was actually hungover instead.

If it was the latter, it would explain his random urge to deck Sasayama.

He stumbled off the bus and shielded his eyes from the glaring sun, but there was nothing he had that could shield the bone-dry heat which smothered him. It reminded him how much he disliked warm weather.

He might as well blamed that on Sasayama too whilst he's at it.

He hoped the headache would disappear by the time he gives the report to Nobu- wait a minute. Kougami's hands flexed, holding nothing but hot air. Which meant he wasn't holding onto the briefcase.

Suddenly, he didn't care that his brain was pounding with heat and blood- that briefcase contained four hours of work, his wallet and his security pass. He scanned madly across the floor, jerking his head about making the pounding worse. He still didn't care.

It didn't take long for him to deduce that he left the briefcase on the bus, right next to his seat.

"Goddamn it, Sasayama," he grumbled.

And he broke into run.

As usual, Akane woke up to her household's starfish AI, Winfrey. As usual, she went to take a shower and then sit down to take breakfast. What was not usual was that the AI had declared today's 'luck' was that she would run into someone with high compatibility to be her marriage partner.

That was not okay.

"Winfrey! I'm still focusing on school," she chided.

Her mother pulled out a seat next to her. "Actually, you should start paying attention to this, Akane," she insisted. "I'm proud that you're a hardworking student, but you should try dating for fun sometimes."

"I play games for fun, okaa-san," Akane pointed out. "And I do go out with my friends to do 'sociable' things too."

This only earned her a long sigh in response. "Dear, help me out here. At this rate our daughter won't ever get married."

"Don't take her side, otou-san. She's just exaggerating."

Her father poked his head round the door, still fixing on his tie and working a tired smile on his face. "I never take sides, Akane!"

"Oh good, because I'm only seventee-"

"But just so you know, I want grandchildren in the future."

Akane choked on her orange juice. She then left the house ten minutes eary despite her parents' protest. Marriage was a far away alien to her considering she still had zero interest in dating. Even if it was with her favourite gaming-buddy Shuusei-senpai.

Speaking of whom, he hadn't been able to get out of studying much lately. That wasn't surprising since he had Sibyl's career exams to prepare for. She would have to do them as well next year, but it somehow didn't sound as daunting as it should be.

She boarded the bus and brushed her pass across the scanner. There were no seats free so she squeezed in near the back with her hand resting on one of the supporting poles. What Winfrey had reported to her in the morning was slowly ebbing away, there was no way, in her consistent school schedule would she meet a 'new' person who could be her marriage partner. She didn't-

Her commu device began ringing.

Aware she was drawing attention, Akane quickly fumbled inside her bag to fish it out. In a flustered motion, she thumbed over the 'take call' option and pressed the device against her ear.

"Hello? Kaori? You don't usually call me at this time," she said, just loud enough over the hum of the bus.

"I know, I know. I only just got up," Kaori replied groggily. "Listen Akane, both my parents are out of the house tonight and they apparently don't feel comfortable knowing I'll be here on my own. Could I use you as a cover up again?"

Akane let out a long sigh which she only just noticed was similar to her mother's. "Instead of us going through some overly complicated lie to make it seem as if you're in my house, why don't you actually come to my house, instead?"

There was the faint noise of boiling water in the background. Kaori had always insisted on two cups of coffee every morning.

"I appreciate the invite, but I much prefer to work at my own house," Kaori explained. "You know how distracted I get when there's other people around me."

The bus lurched forward as it came to a stop, it almost threw Akane into the person standing in front of her. With one hand still holding up her commu-device, and the other dangling her school bag, she had no way of still holding the support pole. So she slipped towards the front of the bus again to find a seat. Luckily for her, a man in a suit just got off.

She happily plonked down and return to her conversation with Kaori.

"It's not like there is any danger of leaving me alone or anything," Kaori carried on with her complaint. "We don't lock the doors anyway since Sibyl takes care of any latent criminals. It's completely safe."

"Kaori, we both know that isn't the reason why your parents are worried," Akane argued. "Your health still isn't very good so they- wait, which stop am I at? Ack! I think I missed the school stop!"

On the other side of the line, Kaori almost spilt her coffee across the table.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Akane!"

"It's not your fault, I wasn't paying attention. Anyway, I'll talk to you at school, bye!"

Akane jumped onto her feet but felt something bump on her arm as she shouldered her bag. She peered over her shoulder and saw a black briefcase crammed next to the seat. Immediately, the memory of the suited man came to mind. She didn't see his face but was sure he was wearing black.

She got off at the next stop with the heavy briefcase replacing the commu-device in her hand. The Welfare Centre was on her way to the training school, and seeing how she was going to be late anyway she felt she had nothing to lose by just dropping it off.

Three steps later she spotted a dark figure running to her direction. She had no idea why she stopped and stared- maybe it was because he appeared to be running at a ridiculous speed, or that he was wearing a black suit.

Then again, it was crazy for her to assume that the suited man who got off a stop earlier was running the past ten minutes just for a briefcase.

Right?

She waited patiently for the suited man to stumble closer until he was only a few metres away from her. He was barely able to speak and spent another minute simply leaning against the bus shelter trying to catch his breath.

Akane continued waiting- because if he was the suited man from earlier, he deserved a few more minutes of her time at least after having to chase his briefcase (up two slopes and across one bridge).

She reached her hand inside said briefcase and found a wallet. Good. It meant she had an ID she could use to confirm who the owner was.

There was no way he was out of shape. Kougami was on a rigorous workout schedule because catching criminals sometimes required more than the endurance to sit through paperwork. When the next wave of spinning buildings danced around him, he just remembered he had a horrible headache.

When he was convinced the pavement wasn't moving beneath him, he pushed away from whatever he was leaning on for support and turned to the blurred person holding his briefcase.

"Kougami Shinya-san, I'm presuming?" a female voice washed over the drumming of blood inside his head.

She was asking him a question. He had to focus. God his head hurt. Goddamn it, Sasayama.

"You do look like the person on this card, but just to make sure, could I ask for your date of birth please?" she inquired.

Kougami finally cleared out his fuzzy vision and saw the girl behind it. She was tiny- with a babyish face and large brown eyes peeking from behind a mushroom-shaped haircut. She was dressed in what looked like a training school uniform, and had his briefcase and security card in her hand.

He barely noticed the briefcase.

He was caught up staring at her and wondering why the first word which came in his jumbled, certainly disoriented mind was 'cute.'

The next few words went something like: oh shit wait, she's in training school.

"Kougami-san?" Akane asked again, tempted to wave her hand in front of his face. She wondered if he was still too tired to speak yet.

She glanced down at his card again where he looked less dazed and ill-looking. The card had Sibyl's logo printed in the corner so she was guessing he worked in the civil service. Cool.

Suddenly, Winfrey came to mind.

Akane almost dropped the card when she remembered the winking starfish foretelling that she would run into someone with high compatibility to be her marriage partner today.

She anxiously raised her head to meet Kougami Shinya's gaze again.

Ehh. No way. He looks a lot older than me, he isn't my future marriage partner.

…

Um, right?

Hi guys. Have a sappy AkaKou story. Hahahaha. Take it.

(HowdidIdo? Anyonehaveanysuggestions? Improvements?)

This story idea belongs to exile-wrath. Thanks a lot for letting me use it and for all the help and encouragement you gave me for this chapter!

Cover art by pineapplefactor on tumblr, the link'll be on my homepage if you want to see it. (Go check out the rest of her PP fanart too, they're adorable and have yummy colours)

Thanks for reading!

Pie