#laimoa

Moa loves Riku, right? He's a guy, as well as one of the most important people in her life, so clearly it has to be love. That's what her friends in high school had told her anyway, after asking her about the boy she was sometimes seen with. They all had boyfriends, so it is only natural for Moa to like boys as well, isn't it?

But Riku doesn't make Moa's chest feel tight and doesn't make her stomach weird, like an ant's nest. Laiha does. She had interpreted this feeling as jealousy at first. Laiha is always around Riku, and all that. And Moa is in love with him, so she has to hate Laiha for taking him away from her.

The turning point comes when, one day, Moa finds herself daydreaming about Laiha's muscular body, her beautiful eyes, her soft-looking lips, her sharp tongue… The realization makes Moa feel hot and cold all over, her face flushed in embarrassment.

She has never really fantasized about someone this way, with the exception of perhaps famous athletes, which is probably normal - She stops her train of thought there, her phone ringing tirelessly as she rushes to pick it up. It’s work.

Being part of the Alien Investigation Bureau, it's her job to discreetly investigate extra-terrestrial crime in the city, not that it's rampant - humans commit several times as many crimes, of course - so Moa finds her job to be not nearly as taxing as what she imagines police work to be like. The general concern with alien crime on earth, is that humans will take these few incidents to represent the entirety of every extra-terrestrial society combined, when in reality quite the opposite is the case.

So, she is on her way to one of those missions when she comes across Laiha out of nowhere and of course Moa has to say hello, because that’s common courtesy, but she finds herself stuttering helplessly instead.

Laiha looks confused, one brow raised, her beautiful eyes squinting just a little bit. She is rightfully confused, Moa is the type to chatter endlessly, like a waterfall. This is clearly so unlike her. So Moa gets out her phone and points to it, her hands shaking. “I gotta go! My superior is calling!” She shouts and bolts off, surprisingly fast for someone in a suit skirt, Laiha notes.

Laiha stifles a snicker. “Her phone wasn’t even ringing.”

Well, that was quite embarrassing, Moa thinks, her heart-rate at an all-time high. She’s leaning against a wall, breathing heavily as she tries to calm herself down. It’s all fine, she tells herself, and realizes that her main concern is with Laiha’s impression of her. Which is odd, isn’t it? Quite odd. “What if she thinks I’m weird…” Moa says to the wall she’s propped up against. The wall doesn't answer. But then again, why does it even matter if Laiha thinks she’s weird? Not that Moa is never concerned about how other people think of her, but never this much. And she’s never failed so spectacularly at simply greeting an acquaintance. Moa is quite sociable overall, she rarely has trouble speaking to anyone, so why-

“Aizaki.”

Moa freezes. Mr. Zena’s voice. She slowly turns her head, immediately reminded of her original objective. She has a job to do. Oh god. She’s late. And where even is this place. She must’ve gotten lost. Oh no.

“Mr. Zena.” She says, clearly a bit intimidated by his sudden appearance, but not at all surprised that he managed to find her.

“You’re just on time.” He says, stone-faced as usual. He is so hard to read.

“No, no, I’m like ten minutes late! I’m so sorry Mr. Zena! I’m really so sorry!” She bows rapidly.

“I know, I was being sarcastic.” He is so hard to read.

“Fortunately, we still have more than enough time.”

Moa can feel herself relax a little. “The first good news of the day…” She murmurs. Zena points to their AIB car. “Let’s go.”

They arrive at a worn out and abandoned industrial building, weeds covering the ground and even some of the walls. All the windows are smashed, as is usual for these kinds of places. Behind the building, Moa can see the sun setting slowly, tinting everything orange. She is used to situations like this, in theory, but it’s still a little intimidating each time. She runs the facts through her head to prepare. According to intel from an informant, a group of rogue Dadas has their hideout here. They’ve committed various minor offenses from littering to petty theft, with their worst crime reportedly being the abduction of a pet cat, the disappearance of which was reported to the police a few days ago.

Overall they don’t really compare to other crime groups Moa has encountered in her work so far. In fact, she’s willing to say they’re more like a group of teenage delinquents. Though they would probably have her head for that. Dadas tend to be very particular and methodical about their random acts of criminal activity, as far as she knows. Intentional chaos, as Mr. Zena had once called it.

So, everything goes fine at first. They check their surroundings, find the Dadas, make sure they’re unarmed, that all of the members are accounted for and wait for the right moment to strike. Everything should go smoothly.

Moa and Zena are getting their guns ready, taking slow steps towards where the Dadas are sitting and chatting, and- And… And suddenly there’s a large log in Moa’s way. A log that she notices far too late. So, crying out in surprise, she falls face-forward onto a pile of rocks. She can hear loud voices and the shuffling of feet, then her vision goes dark.

She wakes up again on the backseats of the car, her head covered in bandages. She groans, rubbing her forehead. “Guh… My head…” It feels like her brain is trying to escape her skull, forcefully pressing against the bone. It takes her a second to remember what had happened. “Oh no.” She sits up rapidly, much to her head’s dismay. She hisses and closes her eyes, the pain shooting through her temples. To top it all off, she’s also feeling extremely dizzy.

“Aizaki?” Zena’s voice comes from the driver’s seat. Moa just kind of grunts in response, feeling too sluggish to speak.

“I’m driving you to the hospital.”

Moa nods, even though Zena can’t see her. “W-what about…The…”

“They got away.”

Moa grits her teeth. “I keep-… I keep…” She can’t help but tear up. “You could’ve… Left me…” She says without thinking.

“You’re more important.”

Moa can’t follow those words up with anything. Zena doesn’t lie. Zena is more responsible than her.

Riku visits her in the hospital with a bag of sweets. With Laiha apparently deciding to tag along as well, and Moa has never felt more embarrassed before. “I had no idea that being an insurance salesperson was such a dangerous profession…” Says Riku, concern in his voice.

“Riku… It’s just a minor concussion… And I just stumbled over a log of wood. Also - I’m getting discharged tomorrow…”

She dares not to meet Laiha’s eyes, fearing the awkwardness of it.

“Still - thank you for visiting me…” She holds up the bag of sweets. “I do love sweets."

Riku smiles, gesturing to the side. “Laiha helped pick them out!” Moa could swear that she could see Laiha elbowing Riku in the side from the corner of her eye.

She nods and turns to Laiha, awkwardly, and smiles. “Thank you, Laiha.”

Laiha looks a bit surprised. “…Sure.”

Moa melts just a little bit.

And she realizes that Riku's presence does not make her heart jump, or her palms sweaty. Laiha's does.

After getting released from the hospital again, Moa is fired up. Sure, she’s supposed to rest for a few more days, as strenuous activity could have negative consequences, but this isn’t the time to be worrying about minor things. The Dada delinquents are still on the loose, and it’s Moa’s fault. She’s not allowed to go back to work, at least not officially, so…

“That’s a horrible idea. Genuinely.” Laiha’s words bring tears to Moa’s eyes. “Maybe you hit your head harder than they thought?” She adds and takes another sip from her mango lassi.

“Laihaaa…” Moa cries. “You’re my only hope!! I need to catch them… It’s all my fault that they got away!”

“Listen, it’s not my job to take care of things like this. It’s-”

“…Mine…” Moa sighs and slumps back into her chair, her iced coffee untouched. She’s pouting.

Taking another sip from her mango lassi, Laiha musters Moa with an almost judgemental look. “Why are you asking me anyway? I thought you don’t like me.”

Moa sits up straight again. “That’s right! Wait I mean, I don’t not like you… Anyway you’re the strongest person I know. With the exception of Zena, but I obviously can’t ask him!”

Laiha raises both brows. “What about Riku.”

“First of all, he doesn’t know about AIB… Second of all…” Moa averts her eyes.

Laiha sighs and nods. “True. He can’t even lift 50 kilos.”

“…and you can!?” Moa’s eyes go wide and she finds herself staring at Laiha’s biceps. Again.

“Obviously.” Laiha’s muscles flex a little bit, perhaps subconsciously.

Moa turns red, and finally takes a sip of her iced coffee.

They meet up at night at a big tree just outside of town. Through some prior investigating, Moa has found out about the Dada delinquents’ new hiding place. An abandoned house in the woods, a few yards from here.

Moa almost cries when Laiha actually turns up at the specified time, originally unsure if the other was really willing to go through with this or not. She takes Laiha’s hands into hers and thanks her, from the bottom of her heart. Laiha sighs, though she’s wearing a smile on her face regardless. “We haven’t even started yet.”

“Right!” Moa lets go of Laiha’s hands and excitedly grabs a piece of paper from her pocket. On it was a drawing of sorts, a few lines of text and a bunch of arrows.

“Basically, the plan is as follows…”

-

“…And then you want me to call the AIB? I thought you’re one of them.”

Moa shakes her head. “I mean, I am, but… I am off-duty…” She points to her bandaged forehead. “In fact, what I am doing is pretty illegal. If they were to find out… -”

“You’d be out of a job.” Laiha sighs and rubs her temples. “Then, isn’t this a really bad idea?”

“Yes, but… But… But…” Moa is flailing her arms around, hoping it’ll get her point across. “It’s because of me! The other day a parrot was reported missing - I know it has to have been their work, and it’s all because I went and got myself injured!” The wound stings.

Laiha clicks her tongue. “Okay - I get it already.” She grabs a flashlight from her bag, “Let’s go.”

Moa beams, overjoyed, and takes out her own flashlight from her cargo pants. She shuffles closer to Laiha and grabs hold of her arm, only to get a slightly sour look in response.

"What! I don't want either of us to get lost… Who knows what's lurking in the woods at night! Boars, bears, tanuki… Kaiju?!"

"…Kaiju?"

“…You never know.”

"Alright, alright. Whatever. Let's go already."

Moa nods, smiling widely.

They have to take an untrodden path, as anything else may expose them to the Dadas prematurely. So every step they take is calculated, lest they step on dry wood and make too loud a noise. Or worse, stumble over something. Never again , Moa tells herself.

At some point, they'd switched over to simply holding hands, for practical reasons of course.

Moa is trying her hardest not to jump a little whenever a small animal rushes past them, or a crow screams from atop a tree. Her grip around Laiha's hand briefly tightens each time though.

Twenty minutes have passed by the time they finally see the abandoned house, soft light shining from its windows. They can hear loud chattering coming from the inside, it sounded almost like a fight, but when it comes to Dada aliens it could really be anything.

Moa clenches her fist in determination. “Don’t worry, Asahi-chan and Tsuru-chan, we’re coming to save you.” She whispers, her fist shaking a little.

“What?” Laiha raises a brow in confusion.

“Oh, that’s what the parrot and the cat are called… You know, the ones these bastards abducted? Didn’t I tell you…?”

Laiha sighs. “I remember it distantly…”

Moa unintentionally raises her voice a little bit. “I can’t believe you forg-” Her mouth is covered by Laiha’s hand instantly. “ Moa .” She whispers sharply, agitation in her voice, and nervously looks over to the house.

Moa’s eyes widen and she nods, shrinking into herself. “Sorry…” Her voice is almost inaudible. “We should get this over with.”

Nothing goes wrong this time. Laiha and Moa overwhelm the group easily, knocking some of them out, simply disarming others and tying them all up in a neat circle. It’s over in a second, their resistance being lacking at best. Only one of them gives them some trouble, knocking down Moa and delivering a considerable blow to Laiha’s head. Considerable, but not enough to knock her out by any means. She returns the favor tenfold, making him lose consciousness immediately.

Now, with all the Dada aliens tied up, they have a chance to really look around. It’s a mess, to put it nicely, trash and contraband littered on the floor. Everything, from paper plates to TVs, was to be found here. Most of it taken apart or at least thoroughly inspected. And - one room over - the kidnapped pets, alive and well.

The cat - Tsuru - is cowering in a corner, presumably startled by the loud noises. A few cat toys are strewn across the room.

Asahi the parrot is calmly sitting in it’s cage, it’s colorful feathers fluffed up and it’s eyes half-lidded. It must have been asleep.

Moa sighs in relief, the mess in the other room having briefly made her imagine the worst. She's unbelievably glad they're both fine. "We're lucky the cat didn't eat that bird, you know." Laiha says, leaning against a wall.

Moa nods and bends down to pick up one of the toys. She walks over to the cat - not too close, but close enough - and wiggles the toy around.

"Hey Tsuru-chan… Check out this cute mouse. You wanna come get it? You wanna come catch it?" Tsuru just stares, her eyes darting back and forth between the moving toy and Moa.

Laiha watches the display fondly, her head throbbing a little bit from the earlier beating. It will surely swell, but it's not like this is the first time this has happened to her. She can deal.

Things could've easily turned out far worse, they clearly got lucky.

Tsuru is now chasing after the toy, instinct and playfulness winning over her initial suspicions and fear. Then she catches it in mid-air and lets herself fall onto her back, toy in mouth. This makes both Moa and Laiha chuckle. They watch as Tsuru bites and claws and kicks at the toy in the most adorable manner.

Then Moa remembers what they came here for and she abruptly gets up, startling Tsuru a bit.

She walks over to Laiha and pulls a bit of a sad face. "We have to go." Laiha nods. "I'll call in at the AIB."

After finishing the anonymous call to the AIB while standing outside the house, Laiha looks over at Moa. "You ready?" She asks, holding out her hand for the other to take. Moa nods happily and accepts the offer.

-

"'…after an anonymous call to the headquarters of the AIB, a few agents were sent over to check out the the place reported to be housing criminals. Inside, they came across the group of Dada aliens responsible for a few cases of theft, trespassing, loitering and pet kidnapping. They were all tied together and sitting in the center of a large collection of contraband. Some of them were found to be unconscious, those who weren't refused to speak, and still do. In a back room they found, alive and well, a cat as well as a parrot. Both confirmed to be pets that were reported as missing this month.'" Moa reads from her smartphone.

"Why does your superior write like a news reporter?"

Moa laughs. "I think it's all the reference he has."

Laiha and Moa are at that café again, Laiha getting her usual mango lassi, and Moa her favorite iced coffee.

Moa continues. "'We believe this to be an act of unnecessary vigilante justice committed by humans…'"

Laiha rolls her eyes.

"'but, as the group of criminals decided against pressing charges, we probably won't pursue the matter any further.' And then he tells me not to overexert myself, that I'm still healing… I'm fine! My head only hurts four times a day now!"

"He's right, you know. All that critical thinking isn't good if you're recovering from a concussion."

Moa frowns. "Anyway, do you think he knows?"

"Yeah." Laiha says with a slight smile. "Definitely."

Then Moa invites Laiha to her house, and to Moa's surprise she actually says yes.

They mostly sit around and watch samurai movies while eating spaghetti and drinking mango lassi they made together. It's nice and relaxed and… Familial. But Moa still feels her heart jump when their hands brush against each other on accident, when Laiha just so much as looks at Moa, or when Moa finds herself staring, or when Laiha nods off on Moa's shoulder while they’re sitting on the couch… Laiha is so beautiful. Her eyelashes, her soft skin, her silky hair… When Laiha smiles at Moa, the sun rises at night.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Moa is head over heels.

Laiha wakes up and tiredly rubs her eyes, her head resting on something comfortable. It takes her a moment to realize the position she's in. Her heartbeat quickens, and she realizes that she doesn’t want to move away.

So instead she moves closer to Moa, who looks at her now, her face clearly flushed.

A smile on her lips, Laiha takes hold of Moa's hand, interlacing their fingers. Both of their hands are sweaty and it almost feels a little gross, but most of all it feels right . Maybe cheesy romcoms are right about some things in life.

Laiha allows herself to drift back to sleep again, her head still comfortably resting on Moa's shoulder.