Ayame again. Let me preface this by saying that there are established spoilers for the Record Breaker ending of the Triangulum arc. I am a little more than annoyed that there is no character tag for Miyako here, but whatever. This fic is also being cross-posted on AO3, and is a work in progress. Happy reading.

Disclaimer: disclaimed.

Leave Nothing Behind

Phase 1

Every day for Miyako starts nearly the same. Emphasis on nearly. It's the little differences in her routine that make her thankful for being able to start each new day alive and breathing. She goes to bed the night before, counting all of her blessings that she will be alive to begin anew the day, knowing one day could be her last. It's a methodical and precise mental checklist that somehow gives her peace as she readies herself in the morning.

Alarm goes off at 0430 and out of bed by 0445? Check.

Dressed and headed out the door by 0600? Check.

The goal is to allow herself more time than necessary to get up and dressed because she moves with the grace of a drunken snail in the morning. She has to allot time to tie her hair ribbon properly and she never leaves the house on an empty stomach. If Yamato is home and awake and coherent, then she at least has to greet him before leaving the house. Her brother would most likely be at the kitchen counter, absentmindedly skimming through the latest reports from JP's, or occasionally a newspaper.

Ever since the siblings decided to share the workload as the Chief Director and Co-Director of JP's, Yamato's pacing had become much more leisurely. Not leisurely like some of his lazier subordinates, but a little more lax. His shifts would be ending as her would start, with either Makoto or Hibiki covering the twins when both were out of the main office. They were supposed to, anyway. Yamato liked to be stubborn and stay at the main branch longer than what was necessary.

Miyako had been urging her older brother to rest during the days unless there was some situation where there was a need for all high-ranking officers to be on hand. The plan was that she would cover him in the daylight hours, and when the sun sets, the twins switch. Although she would, on occasion, find him in his office even during the day. Stupid kid. She had been trying to save him from himself for about three months now. Without her interference, Yamato would have run himself into the ground keeping up with all of the D-cases that have been popping up around Japan.

It has been exactly

Three months

Two weeks

Five Days

and approximately 12.5 hours since the Canopus Incident. Even though they regressed the world after his attack, and... time is all screwy technically she's not even sure if three months and some odd days have even passed, but that's when she started marking the dates. She honestly has no idea. At some point, Hibiki asked her to stop keeping track.

Even though they endured all kinds of hell to return the world to the way it was, the demonic plane still remained, despite them now no longer having the Administrator System. Maybe murdering their omnicidal Creator had something to do with it. They'll never know. However, Miyako would take dealing with demons any day over the Administrators. Any day.

At first, those that had survived Polaris' and Canopus' judgment had lamented their poor fate. After all that they have done to survive, and demons were not written out of existence. Fumi Kanno had theorized that perhaps the demons had always existed on this earth, and them undoing the damage that the Administrators have caused would not remove them from existence.

Miyako is fine with it. Miyako, and Saiduq, for that matter, have been reborn as human – rather, in this plane of existence, they have always existed as human. She retains memories of her childhood in the Hotsuin household, where Yamato was always present. She remembers a youth that she had never lived, as his kid twin sister. Miyako doesn't mind, in this world, even though she was raised as the spare heir, she found a place to belong.

When the twins reunite after the regression, Yamato instantly instates her as Co-Director of JP's. He remembers her from before the regression. It's strange, having lived only one life, but having the memories of two distinctly different ones. For Yamato, even more since he's survived multiple regressions. She wonders how he doesn't lose his mind.

JP's still exists as Japan's main defense against the supernatural, and Miyako retains control over the Dragon Stream, so why wouldn't she command JP's in Yamato's place? It's not as if the agents notice, or care for that matter. Yamato gave the most freedom to those who've proven themselves in battle, like Hibiki Kuze and Makoto Sako.

She segued into their lives like she'd always been there. She thought most of them bought into the story that she was a family secret in the event of Yamato's untimely death and she would step up to lead the family in his place, but using his identity. Hibiki then insisted that she live outside of the shadows. Yamato suggested she at least stand by his side as an officer, since Yamato had already been well established as the Chief Director. She'd given up on trying to kick her aniki out of his leadership position. To be honest, sharing the workload was probably the best idea Hibiki had ever had. Yamato would be dead now from the paperwork alone. He should be thankful Miyako even considered assisting him.

Sure enough, aniki was not at the kitchen counter today. Probably never came home nor had plans on coming home. Miyako made a mental note to kick her brother when she next saw him. She sauntered into the kitchen to toast a bagel and pour herself some cereal. Breakfast was quiet for about five minutes before her phone buzzed, loud shrill ringing startling Miyako out of her half-asleep stupor and she spilled some milk on the table.

She picked up the offending object and glares at the caller ID. Speak of the devil. "...Aniki?"

"Do you mind coming in early today?" her brother asked, straight to the point as always, "I'm falling behind on this paperwork and Hibiki wants me to go with him to the Sumida ward."

"Want me to accompany him?"

"No, not really." he replied flatly. She heard paper shuffling in the background. "You are aware of the recent fluctuations in the barrier at the Skytree? I wanted to just send Hibiki by himself to investigate earlier this morning, but a strong demonic pressure has appeared on the radar about an hour ago. Sending him alone to engage it would not be wise. If it's affecting the Dragon Stream, I would need to be present to ensure that the barrier does not fall."

"Yamato..." she sighed, "You are supposed to be off right now." she starts packing her bagel to-go. "I know you want to leave me to cover the paperwork while you and Hibiki go to the Skytree. This is going to be one of these missions that will extend your shift by a half a day, I can just feel it. I can command the Dragon Stream as well as you can. I'll go to Sumida to investigate and if this demon proves to be too much, then I will call you for backup...what have you classed this demon as, anyway?"

"According to the readings, just a B class. Honestly, Hibiki would be just fine on his own. However I've felt the barrier weaken considerably more since its appearance and am joining him with a team of agents only as a precaution, to ensure that nothing else damages the barrier. I would honestly rather you not question me and get here now, I must be going soon but I cannot leave until you arrive."

"Already out the door, brother." she confirmed. He then hung up. Typical Yamato.

She practically jumped out of the car before it had came to a full stop and sprinted towards the Diet Building, her driver instructed to keep the car in front. Her mouth was still chewing on the remnants of bagel she didn't have the time to properly ingest.

If this demon was affecting the Skytree's barrier, this was serious business. Like hell she was going to stand by and push papers. She, too, was a Hotsuin, and had a duty in protecting Japan.

Despite Canopus' defeat, and the fall of the Administrator System, JP's still relied heavily on the towers holding up the barrier created by the Dragon Stream. It was extremely useful in keeping many demonic nasties outside of areas heavily populated by civilians. The Tokyo Skytree, their newest and largest barrier, was especially valuable due to the large population in the city.

She hoped that Yamato would at least wait for her here before departing towards Sumida, so at least they could change hands. Although Miyako had no intention to pick up on where Yamato left off on his paperwork, but at least she could intercept the unit that would be going to Sumida. They wouldn't leave without their commander.

"Morning." she swung open the door to his office with enough force to rattle the frame. Yamato looked up, and appeared rather annoyed.

"You're late." he remarks, rising from his chair to meet her. Hibiki Kuze was inside of the office with him, reclining in a couch seat as if this threat wasn't urgent.

Miyako glances back and forth between her brother and his right-hand man. Her tone was indignant and full of ire. "I thought you needed me here immediately. You sounded like you were halfway out the door when you called. Was I misled to believe this was an urgent matter?"

Yamato shook his head, "It is. And yet..."

"While we were waiting for you to show up, the demon's presence vanished from our radars." Kuze spoke up. He seemed perplexed. "We cannot figure out why or where its gone to. There is no point in tailing the demon if its no longer there."

Miyako bristled, but her reply was quick, "While that is problematic, I do not think I am at fault. You could have left without me, honestly. What makes this paperwork so extra special that it requires a Hotsuin to be beside it at all times?"

Her aniki just waved a manila folder in front of her face, and she snatched it out of his hands. "You're going to need to read that in its entirety. It's a summation of all of these reports I have before me." Yamato explains, motioning towards the tall stacks of paper piled up on his desk. "That summary doesn't contain it in detail as these reports here do, however I'm afraid you won't have time to read them all. I am only about halfway through these myself. I've been condensing the most important details in that one report you have in your hands."

"I've read a few of them myself." The bunny hoodie-clad teen piped up, sounding proud of his meager accomplishment – actually, that is an accomplishment for him.

"If time is of the essence, aniki, then can you give me the TL;DR version?"

He sighed. "You will still need to read that folder at least before you head over to the Sumida Ward, but that documents nearly all of the recorded instances of the barrier fluctuations, as well as the time stamps, frequency, and the intensity of the fluctuations. The first couple pages are what Hibiki had thrown together after we marked that demonic presence."

"Wait... I can go with you?" she asked.

"Not yet. Hibiki and I are going to go ahead and scout the area, see if there is any damage in the immediate area. We are taking about four men with us, so it's a small team but in the event that the situation escalates, then our two best combatants are in the field with them." Yamato motioned to the papers again, "I want you and Kanno to continue to sort through these reports. From what I can recall, these fluctuations seem to be random, but I've only looked at the last few days in depth."

"These spots in the barrier's power have been occurring for several weeks, correct?" Miyako waited for his confirmation, then continued, "You want to know if we can detect a pattern over a longer span of time?"

"Any information that you and Kanno can glean would be of great use to us." Yamato reached for his trench coat and Hibiki rose out of his chair, ready to leave, "I've spent enough time here, Miyako. We must head over to the Skytree. I'm giving you until 1100 hours, then you and Kanno can head over to the Sumida Ward to take our place."

"Will you call me if there is a change in plans, brother?"

Yamato was heading out the door, but Kuze replied for him with a thumbs-up.

Miyako had enlisted the assistance of Fumi and Otome Yanagiya, and together the three of them had completed reading through and sorting all of the reports on Yamato's desk and compiled them into a smaller, still thick but more succinct, single stack of papers. Fumi complained about how cumbersome it was for someone to sit through and read them and candidly expressed that she needed to digitize this for future use (since they may have to add to it eventually) but they had no time. They had only completed the task with 40 minutes to spare.

And to their horror, Fumi had unearthed even more reported instances of the Skytree's barrier fluctuation, some of them dating back several months. She surmised that there may have been more, but again, they had no time to look.

Through their combined efforts, they did discover a pattern. "To be honest, I am mildly disappointed that Yamato didn't catch this when he was reading these last night." Miyako states, "Even in the past week, it's obvious that the majority of these fluctuations have occurred at either dusk or dawn."

"They seem to have been increasing in frequency as well." Fumi pondered, "Chief, if you would allow me to hypothesize for a moment... Perhaps the increasing rate in fluctuations has something to do with our demon suspect's proximity to the Skytree?"

"That is one possibility, yes." Miyako mused.

"Continuing on that train of thought, the Chief did note that we had only detected the demonic presence. No one has actually laid eyes on the demon yet. So whether or not its actually in the vicinity of the Skytree is something we've yet to confirm. I mean, that is why we are pouring through these reports. Preemptive countermeasures and whatnot." Fumi rambled, "Our suspect will show itself soon enough."

"...You think so?" Otome spoke up.

"I do!" Fumi confirmed, "It's only a matter of time. Speaking of time, we should join the boys at Sumida. Don't want to hog all this good information to ourselves, do we?"

"I highly doubt aniki can work with this." Miyako stated, "It's mid-morning. We may not see anything again until this evening."

She would never know just how wrong she was.