"Date of birth?" the student repeated.

Kougami blinked several times, as if waking up from a daydream. Her question finally processed along with the fact the (cute) girl in front of him was most definitely still in training school. His headache must've been worse than he had thought.

"16th August," he mumbled. 2084."

He was responded with an approving nod from the student. She slipped the security card back into the briefcase and held it out to him.

"Here you go, Kougami-san."

However, when he reached out to take it off her, her arm laxed a bit and the briefcase dropped. Her attention suddenly switched to his face and her forehead wrinkled into a frown.

"Um, are you okay?" she asked slowly. "You don't look very well..."

It was rare for anyone to show concern for Kougami. In his line of work where there was always a shortage of staff and time, no one had anytime to be coddled. The scrutiny gave him an alien feeling of discomfort, almost making him take a few steps back from the student.

"Should you really be going to work toda-?" she stopped herself from speaking and shook her head. "Sorry, that isn't my business. Have a nice day, Kougami-san."

She lifted the briefcase up again and he took it in his hands. Finally.

"Thanks," he said, probably too gruffly.

He wondered if he should be saying anything more than that but the student had turned her attention to her commu-device for the time. What she saw made her heave a sigh.

Seeing how he was her senior, she politely dipped her head in a short bow and began walking past him, probably to training school.

Kougami too tried to wipe clean from whatever was hammering his skull and turned to the direction of NONA tower. Which also happened to be the direction in which the student was walking at. She quickly noticed that his shadow was following hers but didn't comment on it.

They crossed the bridge without speaking a word to each other, Kougami walking a little behind the student.

Since he was going to be late for work, Kougami would normally jog his way to NONA tower- but the headache was going to force him into collapse any second, and the parched weather was not helping.

Abruptly, the student stopped and spun round to face him. Kougami stopped too in puzzlement.

Her arm pointed at the pharmacy next to them.

"Kougami-san," she addressed him. "You can buy medicine there."

Kougami raised his eyebrows.

His lack of response made Akane a little nervous.

"I know this isn't really my business but you are obviously ill. Headache, fever, or something, but you can't really expect to work with something like that," she insisted as firmly she could. "Please go buy some medicine. You look as if you're about to fall over any second."

Kougami felt as if he was being treated like a sick child. It was sort of humorous- since the student was at least a head shorter than him.

"No time," he rejected, his tone coming out more brusque than he wanted to. "You do realize getting approval of some meds will take half an hour at least with all the papers you have to sign. I'm running late for work as it is, there's no time."

The student didn't give up though. She played with the end of her hair -most likely out of habit- whilst she spent a few seconds thinking. Kougami didn't know why he felt the urge to ruffle it.

"Okay, water," she declared in triumph. Her arm inched a little to the left, directing to the shop next to the pharmacy.

Kougami felt his lip twitch in mild amusement.

"You're a nosy little student, aren't you?" he observed.

This earnt him a slight pink in her cheeks. "I-It's perfectly normal to be concerned with an ill-looking person!" she spluttered.

The urge to ruffle her hair was rising. Dangerously.

"Alright, I'll get myself a drink," he briskly announced. "You run along first, you're going to be late for school."

A sunny smile flooded the student's face which Kougami impulsively returned. Damn, that was scary. Kougami raised his hand to some attempt of a wave and made his way into the small shop.

A blast of cold air welcomed him as he stepped inside. It sobered him up a little and he promptly found the aisle selling cold drinks. As the student requested, he picked up a bottle of water, but paused when he caught sight of a row of canned coffee next to it.

Usually he would have the coffee from the vending machine next to the Unit 1 office, but seeing how the summer heat was ablaze he might as well have it cold.

Kougami dumped the water for the coffee and-

"Kougami-san!"

The coffee almost slipped from his fingers. He jerked his head round and saw a familiar student with a disapproving glare radiating at him.

"You can't have coffee when you're sick!" she lectured. "That'll only dehydrate you more!"

"Student, I thought I told you t-"

"No coffee, just water," she asserted and reached over for the water he had just discarded.

She then held it to his hand, her fingers just brushing ever so faintly against his knuckles. The brief contact sent a jolt up his arm and he instantly pulled his hand away, as if he just stuck it in a fire.

Akane was confused at his reaction but continued to dangle the water bottle in front of him.

A scary girl, indeed.

If anything, Akane would've thought she was terrible at trying to figure out people. Any sort of opinion she would build up on her friends would be completely knocked down by the next week. In fact, it was only yesterday she found out Yuki secretly liked unlicensed music bands.

Still, when Kougami-san complied to her and went into the shop, she had a nugget of doubt weighing inside of her. It took quite a person to push himself to go to work even if he did look as if he needed a week of sleep. That kind of person probably didn't care too much what he ate or drank in correspondence to him being ill.

Deciding she would only check to see if he was actually buying some water, Akane cautiously approached the wide-panelled windows. Close to it, the suited man fitted a bottle of water back into a shelf and reached for the caffeine section.

She knew it.

Akane rushed through the automatic doors and to the drinks aisle. "Kougami-san!" she hissed. "You can't have coffee when you're sick! That'll only dehydrate you more!"

The guilty look on Kougami-san's face was close to rivalling Shuusei-senpai's when he was caught sneaking a dead rat inside the headmaster's car. (It was honestly a miracle that her senpai wasn't a latent criminal yet.)

"Student, I thought I told you t-"

"No coffee, just water," she interrupted him.

She picked up a water bottle and tried to encourage him to take it. Instead, he flinched away with his expression shifting into what Akane could've guessed as distress. Perhaps she was being a bit too forward.

Gingerly, the suited man accepted the water, carefully trying to not touch her fingers in the process, and returned the coffee can.

"You're going to be late for school," he repeated.

"It's alright. First period is science, and that's my strong point," she assured.

Kougami paid for his water and they both exited the shop together. The atmosphere quickly staled along with the weather because Kougami wasn't a conversation-starter and Akane felt awkward after scolding him like her teachers would.

No seriously, that was kinda embarrassing.

They continued back on their original path, the only noise filling in the silence was Kougami breaking the cap and gulping down his drink. And a long call of 'Akane-chaaaan!' echoing from the distance.

That would be him.

Zooming towards them was a waving figure on a bike. Yes, a real bike. That would him.

It was surprising to see someone use let alone own a bicycle in this day and age. Kougami watched its rider skid to a halt in front of them. He was another training-school student with unruly hair pushed back with some hairclips.

"Akane-chan. Kaori-chan called me because she was worried that you were going to late," he explained breathlessly. "And-"

He spotted Kougami and immediately furrowed his eyebrows. He was probably wondering why Kougami wasn't just passing by like a normal bystander.

"Akane-chan, you know this guy?"

"Just someone on the bus," 'Akane-chan' explained vaguely. "You really didn't need to come and get me, you know. Now you're going to be late for class too, senpai."

"Hanging with you sounds a lot more fun than being stuck in maths."

Akane hopped onto the luggage carrier attached to the back of the seat. Whilst doing so, the senior student spent a few more seconds examining Kougami.

The fact that both students were so casual with Akane snaking an arm round the senior student's waist irked Kougami a little. Really just a little.

He wondered if they were dating- it was the trend for kids their age.

"Good day, Kougami-san," Akane said politely.

Kagari pushed down on the pedal and the two of them sped ahead, leaving Kougami on his sluggish walk.

For some reason, he felt as if he just got dumped.

He blamed Sasayama.

"For the last time senpai, I met him today," Akane exasperated. "No, he didn't say anything suspicious. And he didn't have any weird look in his eye- just half-dead. I think he's got a headache or something."

That of course, did not satisfy Kagari enough.

"Were you two walking together?" he asked.

"We were going the same direction."

"So you were walking together! Now I know why you won't go out with me! Akane-chan has a taste in older me- OW! Don't pull my ear like that! Do you want us to crash?! AAGH! OKAY! I'm sorry!"

Akane patted her senpai's scarlet ear gently. Kagari pestering her about the people she met was nothing new, he was an overly curious person afterall. But the moment the word 'taste' spilt out of his mouth, Winfrey's chirpy prediction blinked in front of her like a danger sign.

Still from what she gathered in her short meeting with Kougami Shinya, he was not compatible to be her future marriage partner. Not only was there a wide gap in age to consider, Kougami didn't seem to feel comfortable around her. He spoke in a constant curt tone and reacted quite badly when she followed him into the convenience store.

Boyfriends and marriage partners wasn't exactly high on her priority list at this point so she didn't feel disappointed. Besides, since Kougami was 25 this year (one quick subtraction made after reading his security card), she guessed that Kougami had already made his own plans to get married.

Still... she wondered what kind of person Kougami would be dati-

"Hey, Akane-chan! You've gone really quiet back there!" Kagari butted in her thoughts.

"Oh, I'm sorry, senpai," she said, distractedly playing with her hair again. "Thank-you for coming to get me. I'll treat you to an ice-cream some time."

Akane could only see the back of Kagari's head but she could confidently sense his toothy grin emerging.

"Yosha! Ice-cream date with Akane-chan!" he sang out. "Time for a Tokyo Super Fudge with Cinnamon-Apple Almond ice-cream!"

"With chocolate syrup?"

"You know me so well, Akane-chan!"

Unit 1's meeting had began with Kougami. When he arrived at the office, he was greeted with raised eyebrows and a storm of papers.

"You're late," Ginoza snapped. He pushed the papers into Kougami's hands. "We just finished going through Shion's results from the private commu-field we cracked into."

He stiffened a little seeing Kougami's dishevelled appearance and unfocused eyes, but decided to ignore it and continue with the meeting.

Sasayama had a smirk laced on his lips. "To think we'd see the day the workaholic Inspector arrive late for a meeting he set up. It must be hailing fire out there."

"It's a beautiful day outside. No one can blame a man appreciating some fine weather," Masaoka said lightly. "Anyway, Kou. What did you want to tell us?"

Wordlessly, Kougami clicked open his briefcase and passed over a set of files to the rest of his team. Whilst they took the time to read, Kougami crashed into his seat with the cold water bottle pressed to his head.

"Kunizuka Yayoi?" Ginoza studied the latent criminal's details carefully. "You worked overtime just to push up her recommendation to Unit 1?"

"She can help with this case," Kougami explained. "If rebel gangs are gathering in music clubs we might as well get help from someone who knows about them more personally."

Sitting opposite them, Sasayama flicked through other segments of the profile in disinterest.

"Hey, it's nice you found a cute face to lighten up this dump, but how do you know she'll be willing to help?" he argued. "This job takes no shit for an answer and not every latent criminal wants to play Cops and Robbers like the old man here."

Masaoka let out a chuckle.

"I have an easy incentive," Kougami yawned. He drained his water bottle and let his eyes drift to the vending machine. The student's glare flashed in his mind.

Sasayama leaned back on his chair and sighed dramatically.

"So Kougami, you can figure out how to persuade a latent criminal to join the police force. Why can't you persuade the higher-ups to get us a swimming pool?" he inquired.

"Sasayama..." Ginoza warned, lifting his eyes from Kunizuka Yayoi's profile to his co-worker.

"What? It isn't just me, Shion and some of the girls are voting in too, you know, " Sasayama reasoned, holding out his hands in defence. "Swimming's a perfectly great way to beat off stress. Not to mention you get to see all the ladies here in their sexy swimwea-"

The sharp slap of papers hittin the table woke Kougami up. Ginoza's face was laced into a tight frown as he gathered the rest of the sheets to make a neat pile.

"Back to the topic at hand," he growled. "We have a missing person to investigate anyway so we can meet this Kunizuka Yayoi on our way back."

Ginoza then stalked out of the office first to arrange a couple of cars for their outing. Sasayama took his absence as the opportunity to lean across the table and loudly whisper, "I bet you, he'll be able to get that stick out of his ass faster in the water than with his plants."

"A girlfriend would be better," Masaoka added absently.

"Sasayama, we already have an entire sports facility for you to use and flirt with your co-workers," Kougami reminded, also getting out of his seat. "Let's just focus on this case for now- then the rebels. Everything else can come afterwards."

Sasayama threw his arms up in despair. "I hope this new girl is an absolute lunatic. It'll at least make this dump more colourful."

"She's a musician," Masaoka offered.

"That's the wrong kind of lunatic I'm looking for."

"So there's a right kind?" Kougami asked flatly.

He dumped his briefcase next to his workstation. He had only been able to sit down for about five minutes and now they had fieldwork to do. Today was going to be a long day.

He wondered if decking Sasayama would make him feel better.

The entire afternoon floated by with Akane arguing with Kaori. Not the sort of argument which would result to a few days worth of silence, but the sort which was hard to see as an argument in the first place. Or something like that.

"Kaori, come stay at my house," Akane pleaded for the umpteenth time.

A pair of hands rested over Akane's. "Akane, you don't have to worry. I'll put my AI's health monitor on me on max level so if I as much cough it'll call an emergency service," Kaori reassured.

"You can use the spare room, no one will bother you."

"Our landlady lives right across to me. She has the ears of an owl, so if I scream for help, she'll come running in."

"We can even watch a movie after. Shuusei-senpai downloaded that new Akemi Homura film you wanted to see."

"Provided my AI doesn't think she's trying to rob me."

"He did it legally- I think."

Yuki rolled her eyes. "Okaaay. How about I go to Kaori's house and Akane can report Shuusei-senpai to the police?"

It at least took a weight off Akane's chest knowing Yuki would be there to keep Kaori company. She left school in a better mood and leaned inside the school bus shelter. She happened to live in one of the areas less crowded by teenagers her age and more older people- in fact, she was the only one who took her particular bus.

On time as always, it rumbled to a stop in front of her and she swept her pass on her scanner, as she climbed inside.

As she pressed deeper into the vehicle, a familiar suited man came to view.

Their eyes locked.

Both of them looked as if they were about to say something but waited for the other to go first. When they finally figured out why neither of them were speaking, they also figured that they had been staring at each other for too long to be considered casual.

Akane bowed her head a little. "Hello."

Kougami nodded back.

An elderly man lifted himself out of the seat in front of them, and shuffled to the exit before it left the school stop. Kougami and Akane exchanged looks again and being mirroring each other as they motioned to the now empty chair.

"Take it," Kougami offered.

"It's okay, I'm getting off in just a few more stops," Akane declined. "Please, you can have it."

"I'm not an old man. I won't die standing on my feet."

Akane curled her lip. "Actually, I think you would. Please sit down."

The arched eyebrow gave the impression he was a little offended.

"I meant the 'die standing on your feet' part- not the 'old man,'" Akane gabbled apologetically. "You still don't look well, Kougami-san."

Apparently, Akane sucked at talking to adults.

Apparently, Kougami didn't know kids very well.

He didn't expect such stubborn spirit from students- or perhaps he just didn't talk to kids often enough. He surrendered and sunk into the seat, resting his briefcase next to his arm.

"You did that last time and you forgot your briefcase," Akane pointed out, unable to resist a smile.

"I'm sure some kind student will pick it up for me so I can come running after it later," he responded with a straight face.

Akane bursted out laughing but quickly hid it behind a hand after noticing she was attracting attention from the rest of the bus. Whilst she was still recovering, the bus abruptly stopped and Akane stumbled to the side.

In an instant, Kougami snatched her arm and steadied her.

The jolt sparked again but not as dramatic as last time. It made him uneasy since he couldn't remember the last time he engaged in physical contact which didn't involve knocking someone out.

When the student had regained her footing, he let go. There was still a lingering tingle in his fingers which he got rid of by clenching his hand into a fist.

"Thank-you," Akane said.

Kougami shrugged his shoulders casually.

"Do you always get the bus at this time?" she sharply changed the topic.

"No, I work in shifts which are all over the place."

"What's your job, Kougami-san?"

"Police."

His answer lit interest in Akane's face and she prodded him with a list of spontaneous questions related to the job. Like 'how often do you catch a latent criminal?' and 'crime scenes are like puzzles, right?' or 'is it still possible to fake an ID in this era?' All of which Kougami evaded for private reasons, but he did let himself explain about psycho-hazards. Such information wouldn't be a violation of the rules as an Inspector or affect her Hue in any way.

She would occasionally nod in the middle of his brief lesson, encouraging him to go into more details with a smile and small questions.

"I see, then what if..."

"Oh, that makes sense! But how about..."

"Then why does..."

Whilst answering with equal enthusiasm, he abruptly remembered that after his Sibyl career test, one of the options he could have taken was 'teacher.' It wasn't as if he regretted joining the MWPSB but compared to his current job, teaching might have actually been fun.

It was only then did time suddenly blur so quickly and Akane eventually saw her neighbourhood colouring through the windows. She stabbed the STOP button and began to make a polite bow again only to have Kougami wave it off.

"You can stop that, I'm not your teacher or anything," he muttered.

Two seconds later he realized he implied they'll meet again.

"Well, bye then. Thank-you for telling me about psycho-hazards, that was an interesting topic!" Akane left with a smile and hopped off the vehicle. "And I hope your headache gets better."

Kougami had forgotten all about his headache- but it hadn't hurt since he started talking to the student...

"...looks like drinking water does help."

And after that, Kougami chugs down water every day like it's no one's business. Screw the coffee.

Sorry guys, I made a mistake with Akane's age. Since high-school in Japan starts a new grade in April, and the time of this story is roughly around July, Akane's b-day (1st April) has already gone by so she's 17.

Thanks for reading!

Pie