"Alright Mizuki, you can come on out." The Psync machine's visor was removed, allowing Mizuki and Aiba back into the real world. It was her first Psync, a test on Pewter (which was maybe something of a mistake, she did not need to see even silhouettes of Daddy and Pewter together) to make sure both she and Aiba would be compatible not just in day to day life, but with ABIS too. She looked up at Boss, who had made the announcement, and gave her a wave. "Come up to the office, we'll give you a debrief while the sleepyhead over there wakes up."
Mizuki nodded, running up the stairs and into the briefing room, where she smiled at Boss. "How'd I do? Am I ready to go into the heads of some real baddies now."
Boss smiled and nodded. "I think so. Aiba?"
"Your performance in the Somnium was admirable. Finished well within the six minute deadline with no desire to continue to push that limit. The information was received and Mizuki quickly exited." Aiba's assessment of Mizuki's performance, though positive, felt off. There were certain notes of fondness and dismay in it. Aiba was assessing her based on the Psyncing capabilities of somebody she missed...they both missed.
Still, neither of them could focus on that right now. She relayed the information to Boss, who clapped her hands together. "That settles it then. Starting today, Special Agent Mizuki Date: You are officially an agent for ABIS."
Mizuki smirked. Being the youngest member of ABIS was definitely a moment of pride, but there had been more to it than that.
Placing Aiba in her temporarily had been the obvious decision since she'd lost her eye in the explosion six years ago, but it was always to be temporary. Aiba was property of ABIS, not him, and so when the need arose if she couldn't become a member of ABIS, her AI-Ball and companion would've needed to be placed with a new agent.
She wasn't going to let them take Aiba. With him gone, she was all she had left of him.
Still, Mizuki brushed those feelings of grief to the side. Six years was a long time to miss somebody, and there were other things to celebrate today. "I'll be sure not to let you down, Boss."
"We'll see when we get our first real Psync. Just because you handled the test Somnium well doesn't mean you'll handle the real thing." That was sobering. Boss put a hand on Mizuki's shoulder and smiled at her. "Still, you did do great. Both Aiba and I agreed. Take the night off, go celebrate with friends or go find a boy to spend it with. There will be plenty of cases for tomorrow that you can take to finally help take the pressure off Ryuki."
"I may spend it celebrating, but I'm not spending it with a boy." Mizuki crossed her arms, causing Boss to laugh. "Not unless Ota counts as one."
"Ota does not count as a boy in the way that Boss is implying."
"You haven't changed one bit, have you," Boss said after her laughter stopped. "Date would be proud."
Boss had meant it as praise, but at the mention of his name, it felt as though ice had begun to run through Mizuki's veins.
"I'll see you at work tomorrow." Boss waved, not noticing Mizuki's dampened mood, and returned to the Psync room floor, likely to inform Pewter of the good news of their new agent, leaving Mizuki alone in the office.
"Come on Aiba, let's go." Mizuki started to walk out.
"Alright," Aiba said, though Mizuki hadn't needed to wait for her approval on their leave either. It wasn't like Aiba could stop her from walking out the door of ABIS.
They were quiet most of the journey back to the Date residence. Earlier, Mizuki had planned on heading to Matsushita Diner and celebrating with Ota, Mame, Iris, and Kizzy, but with the reminder of her loss, she didn't really have any plans of hanging out with them, even to celebrate. She would just end up bringing down the mood.
Once she arrived in the door, she sat down on the couch. On the racks, his clothes still sat next to hers, and she could still see the drool stain on the cushion from when he'd decided that she should have the bed and spent the next four years sleeping on the couch.
She thought of how excited he'd been when he'd mentioned moving in with Iris and her mom, how he'd get to have a real bed and Mizuki would be able to share a room with her best friend and how their little family would finally live under the same roof.
It had only been a few weeks before the explosion. Both Teacher and the old man had wanted to take it slow. Now he was gone for six years and they'd never have that chance.
"Mizuki. I notice your mood has dropped considerably since we left ABIS. Are you alright?" Aiba asked.
Mizuki grabbed her Adorabbit, holding it in her arms. "I'm fine."
"That is a lie."
"It's nothing Aiba." Except it was everything. She was becoming a full fledged member of ABIS and he, who should've been there with her congratulating her as she received her AI-Ball with her license to Psync, wasn't there. He could never be there.
"It's because Boss mentioned Date, isn't it?" There was a sadness coloring Aiba's tone as she talked about him. There always was. "You miss him."
"I don't miss him." Mizuki hugged Adorabbit tighter, burying her face in his head while she lied. "That idiot. Mom and Daddy died and then just a few months later...how could I miss somebody so stupidly inconsiderate." She wouldn't cry. She had done so well in not crying over what happened to him because he couldn't be dead. She couldn't accept that her other dad was gone too, even now.
"So do I." Mizuki looked up and saw Aiba's holographic form next to her. Though Aiba couldn't really touch her, her hand was pressed to Mizuki's back, pantomiming a reassuring half hug. "Date was my partner for five years, and one of my closest friends."
"I know." She'd lived with Aiba the whole time and hadn't even known it. She would've never known it were it not for that creep Saito and his attempt to ruin his life. "If this is you trying to make me feel better, it's not going to work."
"I just want you to know it's okay to miss Date too." Aiba looked out the window. Mizuki had known that she'd missed him, but watching Aiba's distant gaze had her curious. "He could be a big idiot, a sex crazed, porn addicted maniac, but he cared about us. For every dumb thing he did he always wanted to do what he could to protect us."
Mizuki didn't answer right away, sensing Aiba's own grief. It was difficult to find the words when both of them were grieving the same man who had had such a large influence on their lives.
"The last thing I said to him was when I teased him about being with Ryuki," Mizuki finally said. "He might've died in that explosion and the last thing I said to him wasn't 'I love you' or 'Hey, stay safe, this could be dangerous.' It was me making fun of him for having a good relationship with a friend."
And maybe that was the core of her regret. She hadn't been able to ensure that he knew she cared.
"As you know, the Wadjet system was offline for maintenance those few days. I hadn't been able to save any backups to the cloud for most of that time," Aiba said. "My last memories of Date were me yelling at him for using me to watch porn, and then running off."
Mizuki had known that Aiba didn't have any backups from the time she had been away from him, but hearing that stung more than she could've ever expected. Through the neurolink, she could feel Aiba's grief. She wasn't the only one who the last thing she would've said to him was something she regretted. "Aiba..."
"When I died in the chemical plant, Date made sure that the last thing I heard was how much I mattered to him, and I can't even verify if I did the same." Aiba lifted her projected hand off of Mizuki, putting both her hands on her lap. "But neither of us could've known that would be the last time we'd see him again."
"I know. Do you think he knew, when he...?"
"I'm sure he did," Aiba said.
Mizuki nodded, putting her head back on Adorabbit as she hugged the plush toy a little tighter, but with her heart a little lighter. "Thank you, Aiba."
Aiba smiled at Mizuki before her holographic image vanished. "Would you like me to call Iris? See if she'd be willing to get a celebration ready?"
"I probably should at least let all of my friends know, and it would be a good idea to help me get my mind off things for now. This is supposed to be a good night, after all."
The reminder that not everybody important to her would be able to celebrate with them still stung, but one day, she'd find the answers, she'd get the creep who caused them both this pain behind bars as a Psyncer.
And then maybe on that day, thinking about Date would get a little bit easier.