After she dropped Mem-Cho off at her place, Miyako initially drove towards Kana's house, which she had moved into after finishing high school. Kana insisted on staying over at Miyako's house, though.
26th of December, 2 am, Miyako's house
The house was eerily quiet as Kana stood in the kitchen. She tried to be as quiet as possible, so she wouldn't disturb Miyako, who had already gone to bed. Kana was just pouring herself a cup of black coffee when she felt the sudden sensation of someone touching her shoulder. She almost dropped the can as she whipped around. "Aq-" she gasped.
"Oh, it's you," she said as her expression visibly fell.
"You wanna end my career?" Kana teasingly asked after a moment of silence. "Have you ever heard of an actress with ugly scars all over her hands?" She turned back around and continued to pour her cup, this time more carefully.
"No, obviously not…" Ruby exclaimed, her cheeks slightly flushed as Kana's sarcasm went right over her head.
"Kana… You're a real pain, staying over because of god knows what just to make me feel sobby wobby for you," Ruby said.
"Sobby wobby?" Kana asked as she picked her steaming hot cup of coffee up from the counter. "Are those even words?"
"I don't think they are," Ruby admitted as Kana stepped right past her into the dining room as if this were her own place. "But that's beside the point. What's going on?"
"Fine, if that's what it takes to stop you from nagging-"
"I'm not nagging," Ruby interrupted Kana. "I'm concerned… For real"
Kana's gaze fell slightly as she sat down at the dinner table, her eyes set upon her own reflection inside the cup. The cup's her favourite, it is B-Komachi themed, with Ruby posing on the left side, Mem-Cho on the right, and Kana herself right in the middle. "I know, Ruby." Kana took a long sip. "It's Aqua," she admitted after she placed the cup down on the table. "He promised me he would be there, and then he wasn't, and then he didn't text me, and then he is still not here…" She took another even longer sip. "Like, I can't even be mad at him. I wouldn't want to see myself perform either. But, you know, he could've at least told me."
Ruby's heart turned heavy as she heard Kana's quiet voice, combined with her lowered head. Then she smiled, reaching from one ear to the other. "You're worried about Onii-chan? Come on, you know him. He can be a total dickhead, he will turn up here eventually, and then we will ask him where he was. Aight?"
"No, I am not worried. He stood me up without even having the decency to tell me about it. Why would I be worried about him? He can go to hell for all I care." Kana murmured.
"Oh for sure," Ruby mumbled under her breath before clearing her throat. "Okay, thanks for telling me, I'll leave you to it then."
"But if that's the case," Ruby was already halfway out the door, leading into the hallway. "Why don't you just go home then?"
"I can't sleep anyway," Kana said while signaling over to her now-empty cup of coffee. "Might as well wait for him to hear his excuses…"
"You're right, I'll go to sleep anyway, his excuses can wait til tomorrow for me." With that, Ruby fully disappeared into the dark hallway, leaving Kana alone at the dinner table.
...
A few minutes passed; the ticking of the clock on the wall seemed louder than ever before compared to the silence in the rest of the house, until Kana spoke again, "I just really hoped that you meant it this time, that you actually cared... You're just a big fat liar after all..." Her words were directed at herself, quiet to make sure nobody else could hear them. She sat completely still in the dim room for what felt like an eternity. The ticking clock was the only thing that kept her grounded as the minutes went by. Then the gentle tingling sensation in her fingers, which was there all along but turned stronger ever since Ruby had left, took control and made her reach for her phone.
"Maybe I should call him... Just once... to make sure."
26th of December, about 5 am, Miura City
0%. This is what Aqua's black phone screen told him when he tried to check the time.
She grew out her hair just for me… He thought as he looked down at the top of Akane's head. Her hair, which she had been wearing long for the past 2 years, was now back down to shoulder length.
"Can you?" Aqua loudly cleared his throat. "Can you check the time?" Akane stayed pressed against Aqua, while she fidgeted around in her pocket to try and get a hold of her phone. When she finally got her fingers wrapped around it, she just held it up for Aqua to grab. Aqua's eyes had to readjust for a moment before he was able to read the time. "4:47 am," he groaned as the light was still hurting his eyes like the sun would a vampire.
"It is time to go," He said as he stretched his arms towards the sky, followed by a long yawn. "The trains start driving in 13 minutes. We should take the first train back home."
Akane pressed herself even tighter against him before she pulled away and stood up. She, too, threw her arms into the air, stretching herself, while yawning. "Okay, let's go and do this." She enthusiastically took a few steps away from the before she turned back to look at Aqua. "What are you waiting for? We have a bus to catch."
...
It was still dark as they stepped onto the platform; the station was quite deserted; only a few people were waiting alongside them. Both Aqua and Akane kept their heads down to the best of their ability so that they wouldn't get recognized as they bought 2 tickets for the bus leaving in 10 minutes for the Misakiguchi station. They both sat down on a nearby bench, Akane slightly leaning against Aqua as both waited for the bus to arrive. "Aqua, how do you feel about me?" Akane asked after a few minutes of nothing but inaudible conversations in the distance and a bird that just wouldn't stop yapping.
Aqua remained silent for a moment. Then he spoke. "I obviously like you; I mean, you are smart, kind, and a good friend to me—" Akane interrupted him, "Aqua, that's not what I meant."
"I know what you meant..." Aqua replied without missing a beat, "I just don't have an answer to that question."
Akane blushed slightly, which went completely unnoticed by Aqua. Then, her ticket out of this awkward situation she had created finally arrived. She jumped up as she saw their bus drive into the lot. Aqua swiftly followed after her, trailing just a few meters behind once more. They sat down in the back of the bus, about 4 rows in front of the last row, while both kept close attention to who entered the bus, you never know. Only when the bus started to drive with just 5 or 6 other people inside, all of them some old people, could Akane finally relax. She leaned against the window of her seat, her cheek pressed against the cold glass, as she was only able to make out the bare minimum of the dark outside world.
The drive was uneventful; Akane looked out of the window while Aqua stared straight ahead. The tires of the old bus squealed as it entered their stop. It was a small, run-down bus stop about half a mile away from their next stop, the train station. Aqua and Akane were the only people to get off here; actually, nobody boarded the bus here either. Now and then, Akane, who was now the one trailing behind, looked over at Aqua's face to try and read his expression. Yet, her attempts at reading his stone-faced expression, while also not being caught at it, stayed frugal. The rest of the way back to Aqua's neighbourhood was just as quiet; neither of them said a single word. But the silence wasn't awkward; it was methodical. They were both able to fully focus on coming up with a new plan while communicating with each other on a level that didn't require any words.
26th of December, 8 am, Tokyo
Aqua and Akane got off their train at the very last stop, a quiet suburban 2-lane platform with no other souls but them present. The path back to Aqua's house isn't particularly long, yet both stayed on high alert as they left the platform. "I came up with a few ideas on how we could go about all of this," Akane said as they left the station, "But I would like to hear your opinion about them."
Aqua didn't respond; he just continued to survey their surroundings. He still hasn't decided if having no other people around them was a good thing when Akane continued.
"Okay, first, we have to get it out of the way, what about the police. Nino would perhaps be willing to make a statement against him," Akane considered.
"Nino might be willing to make a statement against him, but think about it. If Kamiki loses his face he will become even more savage than before… Or even worse, we underestimate his power and not even the police can do anything," Aqua responded.
"I already assumed you'd say that," Akane said while she pulled her noteblock out of her pocket. "What else do we have here?"
The family-owned businesses became less frequent as they distanced themself further from the train station. They were replaced by expensive-looking single-family homes, some of them decked with beautiful front yards.
"What about using someone as bait? I could-" Aqua promptly interrupted Akane's proposal, "Out of Question, I will not use anyone as bait."
"Alright, alright. Geez, you really aren't making this easy for me. You know that, right?" Akane groaned as she turned the small pages of her noteblock in search of any good idea.
"Do you now finally understand why yesterday was my big chance?" Aqua asked.
"I understood that all along," Akane replied with her head slightly hanging. "But do you also understand that I can't just let something like that happen?"
Aqua initially wanted to respond, but he knew that it would lead to absolutely nothing; instead, he just let out a derogatory groan and continued to walk. During the rest of the path to Miyako's house, Akane continued to present her ideas, but none of them satisfied Aqua. Before walking up to the door, both looked around one last time; the streets were just as empty as before. If Kamiki was trailing them, he would've seriously needed some Batman-level stealth capabilities. A gloomy presence hit Aqua as he set foot into his house. The hallway's utter darkness made a cold shiver run down his spine.
Akane carefully remained a few steps behind him while he busted through the door leading into the dining room. The room was clean and tidy, yet almost as dark as the hallway; just a few rays of the rising sun hit the floor in front of Aqua's feet. He took exactly one step before he noticed the shadowy figure sitting at the table. He squinted his eyes to get a better look at who exactly was it that was sitting at the table; it could just be Ruby after all. His tensed muscles relaxed as he recognized the red hair. "Kana, where is Ruby?" he asked with a hint of urgency behind his voice.
Aqua took another step into the room, but froze as soon as Kana spoke. Something inside her voice made his body not listen to his brain anymore. "You missed it," Kana sniffled as she stood up from her chair, her favourite cup clattering onto the floor and spilling all its contents over it. Yet, she paid no mind to it, her eyes only locked onto Aqua as she stopped about three meters in front of him.
Now that she stepped into the dim light that comes through the blinds, Aqua can clearly see her smeared makeup dried onto her cheeks, "108 times…" She whispered. "I called you 108 times," Kana's voice was shaky, "I stayed up all night worrying about you just for you to come back and ask about Ruby? Ruby is asleep; she is safe and sound in her bed."
Aqua didn't reply.
"You missed my last show. I was looking for you the entire time, and you didn't even text me. All my calls went to voicemail... Where were you?" Kana asked with a pain in her voice that a deaf man could hear.
Kana's eyes turned blank as her gaze wandered past Aqua just to land right behind him. "Is this… Did you-" Kana's words trailed off as her mind began to come up with explanations for what this could mean. Every second of Aqua just standing there solidified her beliefs more and more. "You asshole aren't even denying it…" Kana whispered. Her voice wasn't filled with venom or hatred; instead, it sounded lost, as lost as a lone astronaut that drifts through the infinite emptiness of space moments before his imminent death.
"I thought- I mean-" Kana stammered. Then the mask went back up. "I know myself that my performances are subpar compared to Akane's. But keeping me warm while-" Kana gagged.
"You're disgusting," she said as she took one quick step forward. Her hand whistled through the air before it connected with his cheek. The force of it was enough to make Aqua's head forcefully snap to the side.
Aqua's cheek slowly began to turn reddish as Kana looked up at him, her own face red, too. "You can go die or continue to fuck Akane, but leave me alone, I don't care anymore."
With that, Kana stormed out of the door, intentionally bumping into Akane as she passed by her on her way out.