Voices in the Aether

"Just in the nick of time, Becca." Midori says with a light chuckle. "Rina was this close to borrowing Katsuri's Invoker."
"Look, work isn't exactly read in on what we're up to. I got here as quick as I could." The American sighs, hanging up her coat. When Himiko is here, things can't be good. And when Hana is on the line, things DEFINITELY aren't good. The Water witch hadn't been able to say anything more than 'something happened' before things got tense.

"Official diagnosis is Youma-induced Cardiac Tamponade." Hana's voice comes across Midori's phone, she's still at the hospital working out the charting involved. "He's stable, but asleep. Hamizuki, I'm rather thankful you managed to pick it up - saved us a lot of trouble. We'll...leave that first bit off the chart."

"Jesus...what even happened?" Rebecca groans, running a hand through her hair.
"Some bitch happened." Rina responds. "Had some shit to say about Masamoto, like she knew him. Black hair, about as long as yours, professional dress but she's loaded. Her watch costs more than Masamoto makes in a year."
"And you know this because, why exactly?" Amelie asks.
"...if you MUST know, my father has one the same model. A few years older, but they last remarkably long."
"Wait, your DAD has one?" Rebecca blinks, surprised. "I mean I knew you were well off, b-"
"Really not the time." Rina shuts up the accountant before she can get any funny ideas. "Back to things that matter, she didn't give a name, but made it sound like we'd know her already. By the way Becky, you're lucky you're so terrible at Keeper Pacts, otherwise Haruka would have killed himself already."
"Wait WHAT?" Rebecca's mind slams on the brakes at that. "Why the hell wo-"
"He told Professor Warren. She's in the loop." Rina repeats with a sigh.
"...No he didn't." Rebecca shoots back. "I would have known if he broke his end of the deal, and he didn't. I'm sure of that." She looks to Himiko, who has an answer before she can even ask the question.
"If she has not been informed, then the Pact can be...altered, to allow for a specific exemption. Not by name, but by status. You will need to be careful." Himiko warns. "I can help you once we are done."

"Back to the REAL problems, who the hell is she and what'd she do?" Midori wonders. "What'd she even say?"
"Typical ex shit. Whining about how little she knew about him, how little she tried, how I'm ruining everything." Rina rolls her eyes. 'Wake up warrior' my ass."
"...Hang on. Was that her exact word? 'warrior?" Ame is sitting up straight, clearly interested.
"Yeah..." Rina meets the rockcaller's gaze with a roll of her eyes. "Okay, what ancient history bullshit do you have for us now?"
"Not that ancient fer once." Amelie purses her lips. "Remember back in June, when Teach...wait, no you prolly wouldn't remember. We kinda...messed with things. But..." The Canadian continues. "He talked about a girl he met in college. Yoshihara Aki, he said. I thin-"
"Yoshihara? Isn't she the one running for the Diet seat?" Hana chirps. The pieces start to come together as Rina's face darkens.

"...'Not when you can vote for her', son of a bitch. He's been carrying this the entire damn time." Rina sums up. "Since before he got Keeper'd, even. This is an OLD wound for him. One that we can't fix."
"Well, we'll hafta, that we will. Because if it's using words like that, you ran into a youma that's takin' the shape of Teach's old ghost." Ame counters. "Not ta mention how we're supposed ta convince HIM of any o' this."
"...don't worry about that. I'll handle it." Rina replies, before glancing over at Midori. "...You've been awful quiet."

"I mean you two seem to have all the pieces." Dori shrugs. "Masa-sensei's not really the kind to talk about all that. I can relate, you know?"
"You know that it looks like you're hiding something, right? We've gone through this."
Midori groans, glancing at Himiko. "Don't worry about it. Trust me - or at least her." Rina doesn't even need to look at the Regional Coordinator to know that whatever is going on has been marked need-to-know, and she emphatically does not. "It's legit. Promise."

"...Okay." Rina says. She doesn't like it, but Midori and certainly Himiko have earned the benefit of the doubt. "Anyone have anything else?" No responses - Himiko and Rebecca have a geas to modify, Amelie has a political campaign to investigate, Midori has...whatever she's got going on, which leaves...
"So what're you doing then, Kate?" She still bristles at that nickname, even if it's Midori using it.
"...I'm going to check in on him. He needs to know what we know, get him up to speed. Plus...I'm not entirely sure it's a good idea for him to be unguarded."
"Good call. I'll leave a service entrance open for you. Clean scrubs in the bottom of the laundry." Hana adds.

Rina nods, before a pang of guilt washes over her. No...she'd understand. Grabbing her phone, she types out a short message.
"Sorry, things are getting crazy. Gonna have to cancel dinner tonight. Rain check?" She sends the text and leans back. Laura will understand - she always does.
"...somedays I wonder how I deserve you." She thinks to no one as rainclouds start to form.