NEKOMATA VI

Difficulty: -

Status: Back to base

The next morning the members who were left to be treated at the hospital took the enigma bus to get to the hotel to pick up the rest of the team. Together, they left for the Japan base in Tokyo.

"Oh? Why is Fuyu-chan sitting in the front row today?" Usually, the seatings don't change. It's Tommy, Timothy, and Yves in the front row. Mark, Fuyu and Johnny in the middle row. Jack, Jay and Dominique in the back row and Harper next to the driver.

"Is it okay if he swaps places with you from now on Tommy?" Yves asked.

"No probs man." Tommy walked into the middle row and sat at the window seat where Fuyu usually sits. Johnny and Mark followed in. After everyone was settled, the bus accelerated and headed for the base.

"Is your arm okay now?" Dominique asked Jack who was sitting silently at the back by himself. He didn't reply, so Dominique asked again, "Hello? Is your arm still bad and your brain not working too?"

"Dom, listen," he had a serious expression, so Dominique crossed his eyebrows in anticipation, "I think something's going on with Fushimi and Fuyu-chan."

"You just knew?" Jay asked as he walked into the row and sat down next to Dominique.

"Well I knew Fuyu-chan has a crush on Fushimi, but Fushimi is acting… kinda weird? He was the one to pull Fuyu-chan to sit next to him. And Fuyu-chan has been acting like a teenager in love all morning. They even slept in the same room last night!!" He informed them in a whispering voice. Jay and Dominique eagerly looked at the couple being gossiped, and it was true, there WAS something different about Yves.

He seemed to be wearing a smirk and even had his arm laid across the back of Fuyu's seat, and Fuyu was all tensed up with his hands on his laps and back straight. This has led to many speculations forming in the trio's brains.

"Well, it's not a problem as long as they behave the same, right?" They sighed while exchanging glances.

The bus slowly left the parking lot and headed out for the four hours long journey to Tokyo. As it was still pretty early in the morning, most of them fell asleep within ten minutes of boarding. Well, all of them except for Fuyu evidently, and surprisingly Dominique.

"Fuyu-chan, hey!" He whispered to him.

"What's up Dom?" He turned his head back to face the speaker.

"Did you tell Fushimi?" Fuyu's face blushed red.

"T– tell him what?" He glanced at Yves' resting face to make sure he couldn't hear.

"Y'know, that you have a cr–"

"No. No no no no," he quickly denied, cutting Dominique off mid-sentence.

"Then what happened between you two?"

"Nothing happened, we just slept together." Exclamation marks rose up on Dominique's face as he shook Jay and Jack awake, "It's not like that! We really just slept!"

"You guys slept together?!" Jay exclaimed a bit too loud. Mark woke up from his slumber and whipped his head around.

"Who slept with who?" Fuyu hid his face in his hands and shrinked into the seat. Great. Now everyone thinks they've fucked.

"What's all this?" Timothy was woken up by the noise too. He looked around as everyone pretended nothing happened, so he chose the most gullible target, "Mark, what happened?"

"What? Nothing happened. No one slept together." He tried to answer as casually as he could, but Mark being Mark, well Timothy now knows something happened to say the least.

"Please try not to get into relationships within the team, I don't want us to break apart because of relationship problems." Harper called from the front of the van. Even Harper had to say something, this wasn't just any normal situation any more.

"Right…" Fuyu replied sadly. This made the awakened people very angry and was regarded as a bad move. They were all secretly supporters of Fuyu confessing. Fuyu wasn't the youngest member of the team, but he sure was treated like one all thanks to his disposition.

Yves, who was the center of discussion, was sound asleep with an eye mask on and earphones in. It's crazy how oblivious such a careful person can be.

After that statement the conversation just sort of ended and everyone went back to sleep, leaving Fuyu with his thoughts.

Harper was right, he shouldn't destroy the team's relationship just because he fell in love with a teammate. Now if they actually got into a relationship (which he highly doubts it) and they soon break up, the team will never be the same. He thought about it for the duration of the ride and ended up dozing in and out of sleep for the next four hours.

When they finally arrived, everyone else was replenished while Fuyu looked like he missed two nights worth of sleep and three meals. Jack quickly noticed and ran up to comfort him.

"Don't worry about it dude, it's just Harper being Harper."

"Yeah, but he's right! God I just don't know what to do… Everyone seems to know but him. I just don't get it!" He complained while they walked into the building.

The base was a tall skyscraper with an underground parking lot. It had many facilities to hold specimens and creatures. It also acted as a sanctuary for temporary keepings of some creatures that may be re-released back into the wild after they have been neutralized.

The building was made of fifty floors, with the top twenty floors being rooms for fighters who have to travel around. Sometimes many disasters are happening in one country at once which requires forces from different units, so there has to be enough space for these people to rest while waiting for the next mission.

The team was transported to the fortieth floor and separated into paired roommates for the stay.

"I'll be with Fuyu-chan." Yves quickly requested, more of like an order, once the elevator opened. Timothy allowed this and paired up with Jack. Jay and Dominique shared a room, Johnny and Mark and Tommy with Harper.

Timothy was called to the Bureau to discuss the results of the latest mission.

As he made his way to the office on the thirty-second floor, he was thinking of a plan to convince the officials that killing the Nekomata was for the best.

Once he arrived at the door of the meeting room, he took a deep breath and scanned his retina to be allowed inside.

"Take a seat, Alpha." The man speaking to him had his back to the door. This was someone Timothy was familiar with. He was the manager of the Alpha branch and always wore a mask to conceal his face. They referred to each other by their officer code.

"Evening to you, Styx."