Résonner

Liu moved through bloodied and frenzied streets in the dark, in silence. His work had trained him for this at least, even if the “zombies” had never been a part of it. He knew about mob mentality and mind control, which was something similar. Whatever. The carnage was nothing he had to worry or care about, as long as it didn’t involve people of importance.

Damn the power going out. He couldn’t get his phone to work in district alpha, in sector one, or sector two. It was only when he slipped past the boundaries of sector three that he picked up a signal, and immediately he started sending out messages. Should his targets be stuck in a powerless sector, a phone call wasn’t going to get through—and it was too time consuming at that.

To: Kid From: Liu Yee get out of your trees and meet me somewhere

He sent more than one more often than not. Better be specific than sorry, not that he put any effort into typing at all.

To: Kid From: Liu Yee are you in sector four

To: Kid From: Liu Yee stay safe or ill kill you myself

His phone lit up with a new message pretty quickly, while there was still power in his sector. Two more messages followed it, and Hibiki opened them quickly.

To: Old Man From: Hibiki Kiryu I'm in four, where are you? I can meet you outside the apartments.

Hibiki hit send and sent a few more messages out to the people he'd befriended in the city, asking if they were okay. He was nervous about going outside without a weapon, so he grabbed a knife from one of the drawers in the kitchen before leaving. It was just a simple butter knife, but it made him feel more secure than he would've if he had nothing at all.

"My day was all right. Work wasn’t exciting. I haven’t been assigned to stalk anyone as boring or unaware as you were, at least. Don’t even try to say you noticed me before you headed out to the bank."

When Liu started speaking, Hibiki didn't focus as carefully as he should have. He half listened to what Liu was saying and half tried to think of a way to say 'help me' without saying 'help me'. He at least paid enough attention to catch Liu calling him boring. "I'm very interesting and I was very aware," he said with a frown, "I noticed you ages before that." That was a lie and Liu would totally know it, but oh well.

"Look, I just..." Hibiki started out, but quickly shut up once he heard the branch he was stepping on crack. It didn't crack all the way through, but just enough to make a noise and make Hibiki very nervous.

"Really. You didn’t seem like a big fan of the outdoors back in Kisaragi," he taunted, only just barely keeping out the detail of ‘I followed you around enough to know’. Hibiki was well aware he’d been stalked back then; he’d called Liu out on it when they first met. "I’m fine. But hey, don’t let me spoil your fun. I can find something else to do if you’re having the time of your life up there." Turning, he raised his hand to give a backwards wave over his shoulder. "See you."

(All right, he probably would. Eventually.)

Passing through sector six’s strange mix of genuine plant life and the usual city amenities led him near the tree his former enemy had decided to climb. Liu wasn’t the first person to pass by, so he wasn’t the one given the sugary-sweet request for help. However, the man that had been the target waved away the request and hurried on his way, leaving the area open for Liu to step in where he’d stood. Spotting Hibiki from there, he smirked.

When he heard a familiar voice, Hibiki looked down again. Liu was the last person he wanted to see right now, unfortunately. This was more than a little humiliating. Liu was his friend, but he still didn't want to have to ask him for help.

—when he thought of the mornings he woke up and expected to find someone beside him, only to feel empty space—

"I see. I heard about that from Nöla. Briefly." It wasn’t really that brief. He just tuned out a short way into the explanation and made an excuse to hang up on her before she finished. He hadn’t needed to know his target’s life story in order to tail him effectively. "I suppose you understand more than it seemed like a few minutes ago."