In Too Deep -CHAP.01--WHR-

  Ryou Kazuya was happy to be back in Japan. Not only had she been living back at her home again for the last week; she was also starting back at her old job today.

  She’d been working at the STN-J for just over a year when she’d been transferred to an overseas case, since her older sister had been an integral part of the witch hunting that had been going on over there. The case had been solved and Ryou had taken a few extra jobs whilst she was over there, happy to be with her sister. She’d eventually gotten a call from the STN-J – who had kept her job open for her, since they were the ones who had referred her overseas in the first place – asking for her return.

  Ryou had been more than happy to oblige. She missed her home life and working at the STN-J. But she knew things were going to be different there this time. The chief inspector Kosaka had already informed her that she’d likely have a different partner than before, since they’d been making some changes within the branch.

  Ryou didn’t mind. She’d gotten to know a few people at the STN-J and as far as she knew, most of them were still working there. She wasn’t particularly bothered over who she got partnered with. She was just happy to be back at her home branch.

  Sure enough, Ryou was assailed by the chief inspector Kosaka the moment she entered the main building of the STN-J. He gave her a brisk ‘welcome back’ before directing her into a nearby office. She was met by two men she’d never seen before.

  “Kazuya, this is our new administrator Katsuki Gozabora and his son, Shinpei,” Kosaka introduced them, not bothering with niceties. “Shinpei runs a preternatural investigative group, which the administrator plans on affiliating with the STN-J.”

  “So you investigate witches?” Ryou asked the younger of the two men uncertainly.

  “Oh, there’s a lot more out there than just witches,” replied Shinpei. He had a distinctly average appearance and maybe wasn’t as old as he looked, but he gave off an aura of being extremely intelligent. “Witch hunting is but a minor chunk of what forces like the STN should be undertaking.”

  “Of course, we’re not going to be starting on this just yet,” added Kosaka hastily. “We’re going to announce the new teams shortly, which you’ll all need to get used to first. We just wanted to give you a heads up of the plans we have for the company.”

  Ryou nodded along enthusiastically. She had a keen interest in anything to do with the paranormal world, so this sounded right up her street. Hunting something other than witches – and something more unknown – made the job sound even more exciting.

  Administrator Gozabora proceeded to give her more of a rundown of what Shinpei’s investigative group involved and encouraged her to come to either of them with any suggestions or questions she’d have in the future.

  “Well, that’s all for now,” announced Kosaka. “Let’s go and find the rest of the team so I can tell you all about the new partnerships you’ll be working in.”

  “I’ve come back at the right time then, haven’t I?” asked Ryou as her and the chief inspector headed down towards the conference room.

  “Well, actually we needed to know we had you coming back before we could really start considering the affiliation with Shinpei’s preternatural investigations,” said Kosaka.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Without including you, we only had three hunters in our team,” explained Kosaka. “Taking on hunts for beings other than witches is bound to be even more dangerous than usual, especially since you won’t be able to rely on Orbo for protection. So we can’t have hunters running off on their own. We needed an even amount of members that we could split into pairs.”

  “So do you reckon two teams of two will be enough to take on these extra cases?” Ryou questioned.

  “For now, it will have to be,” replied Kosaka. “We’re going to look into getting some hunters transferred from other STN branches, but we’ll have to make do until then.”

  They’d finally reached the conference room. Ryou stepped aside, allowing the chief inspector to enter first, then followed him through the door to find a few familiar faces.

  She already knew Miho Karasuma, now team leader, and the technical expert Michael Lee quite well from her time at the STN-J before. She was familiar with Yurika Dójima, a D-class hunter like herself, though she hadn’t had much to do with her. Yurika never seemed to have been in the building much. She didn’t know the other boy who was sat with them.

  “I’m sure most of you remember Ryou Kazuya,” said Kosaka.

  “Welcome back,” Miho greeted Ryou warmly as she sat down beside her.

  “This is one of our newest hunters – Haruto Sakaki,” Kosaka explained to Ryou, indicating the young, dark-haired boy sat next to Michael.

  “Nice to meet you,” Haruto said politely.

  “You too,” replied Ryou.

  “Now, let’s get down to business...” said Kosaka professionally. “I know you’ve all been waiting for me to announce the new teams, so there’s no sense in beating around the bush now that you’re all here.”

  Ryou returned her attention to their chief inspector, impressed by his business-like manner. He seemed to have grown a lot more than when she’d last seen him. Back then, he’d been grouchy, fairly unprofessional and unwilling to take on too much responsibility. But it appeared he’d improved greatly since then. Ryou wondered what had brought about the personality change and couldn’t help thinking about what she must have missed while she’d been working overseas. And what had happened to Amon, their old team leader? Was he even still working here?

  “We’ll start with you, Dójima,” Kosaka continued, addressing the blonde girl directly. “Your parents may be very high up in the company, but now that you’re a full-time hunter, it won’t excuse tardiness any longer.”

  Yurika was known for showing up to the office notoriously late, lazing around the place and ditching work to go shopping. Because her parents had such an important status, she could get away with it. But Kosaka was right – she couldn’t do that when she had the responsibility of being part of a full-time witch hunting team.

  “Based on that, you’ll be paired with Karasuma from now on,” announced Kosaka. “I’m hoping that as team leader, she’ll have the best chance of keeping you in check.”

  Yurika seemed pleased with that decision – she already got on well with Miho. Ryou thought it was a good plan. She’d been working with Miho herself when she’d been at this branch and she knew that she made a professional and very skilled partner.

  “So, Kazuya, you’ll be with Sakaki,” continued Kosaka, almost with a grimace. He didn’t seem too happy about it, more like he was resigned to the decision. Ryou was bewildered. Did that mean Haruto wasn’t a very good hunter? Or maybe it was her who he didn’t think to be skilled enough.

  “Just... try to follow the rules,” Kosaka added grudgingly.

  Ryou knew that was aimed at her, which she found a little unfair. She was generally pretty good at sticking to protocol. Okay, there’d been a couple of times where she’d rushed into things without thinking, but only a couple. Honest.

  “And that’s all I needed to discuss,” concluded Kosaka. “You can all go back to work now. As usual, you’ll be notified when we have cases available.”

  Suitably dismissed, the hunters all rose from their seats and headed back to the main office. Michael took his usual place at the most high-tech computer whilst the others milled about collecting up reports to work on.

  “So where’s Amon?” asked Ryou as they all settled down. “Does he still work here or did he move to another branch?”

  She knew automatically that she’d asked something they’d obviously been hoping she wouldn’t. Miho and Yurika exchanged uneasy glances, whilst the boys pointedly looked in other directions.

  Miho was left to answer her. “Amon’s... gone.”

  “Gone where?” asked Ryou, completely nonplussed. But as she registered Miho’s expression. she finally understood. “But wait... You mean he’s... dead?”

  Nobody answered. Ryou was completely shocked. Why had nobody told her about this? And how could they all seem so blasé about it? Amon had been their team leader. They’d worked alongside him for a long time. Surely that must count for something?

  When there was still no reply from any of them, Ryou slowly turned her attention to the report in front of her, feeling shocked and upset. Not to mention confused. Why didn’t anyone seem to care about Amon? She heard wheels grind along the floor as somebody pushed their chair over towards her and slipped a note onto her desk.

  Ryou turned and gave Haruto a curious glance, but he pointedly kept his back to her. She looked up around the office, but everyone else was now busying themselves with their own work, not paying attention.

  She looked down at the note in front of her. It said, ‘Amon’s not dead. He disappeared.’

  Feeling even more confused and annoyed that she was so clearly out of the loop, Ryou snatched a pen from the stationary unit and scribbled underneath Haruto’s message, ‘What do you mean, he disappeared?’

  She slid it along the desk in front of her new partner, who was still purposely looking away from her. He read the note, however, and added a reply, which he then pushed back towards her.

  ‘It’s for his own protection.’

  Ryou stared down at the note in front of her. Was he saying that Amon had faked his own death? She couldn’t imagine a situation so bad that Amon had needed to bail out that way. But she knew that from everyone’s reactions, it must be true. That was why they were all being so vague about it – it had to be kept a secret.

  ‘Who here knows about it?’ Ryou pushed her reply back along the desk, eagerly anticipating the next one.

  ‘Everybody.’

  Ryou frowned. If everyone at the STN-J knew that Amon wasn’t really dead, then why were they all trying to keep it hushed up? It wasn’t like they were being watched... Or was it?

  She hurriedly scribbled her question down onto the paper. ‘Are we being watched?’

  Haruto’s next reply made her stomach turn unpleasantly. ‘We’ve already been infiltrated once. It could happen again.’

  Ryou felt even more out of the loop. What had she missed while she’d been gone, she thought to herself for what felt like the millionth time. The STN-J had been infiltrated already... What the hell had happened here?

  She flipped the paper over and scrawled out another note on the back. ‘Tell me more.’

  Unfortunately, she got the answer she’d been expecting. ‘Not now.’

  Ryou felt irritated again, but she understood. Whatever had gone down must have been big to have forced Amon into hiding. Too much to put into a simple note. She noticed that Haruto was watching her this time, so she gave him a quick nod before stuffing the note into her pocket. She was going to burn it at the first chance she got.

                                                         *

  Once they were aware that Ryou now understood the situation with Amon, the hunters all took it in turns, whenever they were sure they were safe, to fill her in on what had happened while she’d been gone.

  Apparently, their old administrator Zaizen had turned out to be the enemy. He’d started hunting a fire-wielding witch hunter called Robin, who’d been working alongside Amon, believing her to be a witch since she was a craft-user. He’d had Miho kidnapped for the same reason, as she had the ability to determine details about a person’s death by using a type of clairvoyance.

  During Zaizen’s hunt, he’d also directed an attack against Haruto, for reasons unknown. When the STN-J had rescued Miho, they’d found out that he was commandeering the witches that they’d managed to apprehend by humane means and had been using their blood to try and create a more powerful form of Orbo – a substance the hunters used to protect themselves against the majority of witch’s powers.

  “So why did they attack you?” Ryou asked Haruto yet again, one night whilst they were out on a hunt. “You’re not a craft-user like Miho or this Robin girl so it makes no sense.”

  “I’ve told you I don’t know,” replied Haruto impatiently. “Come on, Miss Kazuya, we’re a little busy here.”

  “Yeah, okay. And I’ve told you to call me Ryou,” she chastised him.

  Haruto was surprisingly polite and always referred to the older members of the STN-J in a very formal manner. He was a year younger than Ryou, so she was also included in this. But she didn’t like being called ‘Miss’. It made her feel old. So to push aside Haruto’s manners, she’d been trying to persuade him to call her by her first name. Unfortunately, it was taking him a while to grasp that concept and he kept slipping up.

  She’d also learnt why Kosaka had seemed so reluctant to team them together. Haruto could be quite hot-headed and tended to make rash decisions. Far more than Ryou did. But the good side of it was that she made sure she stuck to the rules even more than usual, as she tried to keep her partner from getting into trouble.

  Sure enough, Haruto was more interested in taking action than worrying about the consequences. “The coast seems clear – I’m going in.”

  “Wait a second, Haruto!” protested Ryou, but Haruto had already disappeared into the warehouse. “Oh, for heaven’s sake!”

  She grudgingly followed him inside, keeping her Orbo gun at the ready. A voice buzzed through on her earpiece, making her jump. “Get Haruto to put his com-link on. He’s turned it off again.”

  “I would if I could find him,” Ryou grumbled to Michael, who was sat safe and sound back at the STN-J headquarters.

  Michael was good friends with Haruto, but even he couldn’t keep him in check. He was also the only one besides Ryou who called Haruto by his first name. Ryou had gotten lax on sticking to Japanese customs while she’d been abroad and generally called everyone, apart from the big bosses at work, by their given names.

  Ryou kept to the shadows once she was inside the warehouse. She felt on edge. They’d been given quite a tricky case. Akito Tajiri, the witch they were currently tracking, had the ability to create minor illusions – enough to be able to change his own appearance or even the appearance of someone else.

  Akito was very sly and had found out far too much about the STN. He had even managed to break into the building and steal paperwork on some of the hunters, whilst disguised as Kosaka’s secretary, Hatori. Ryou didn’t like the fact that the enemy was likely to have information on her and her colleagues. They didn’t know all of what had been taken, so it was all just down to guesswork on what he knew about them.

  She heard something crack in her blind spot. She whirled around to find Haruto behind her, gun raised. Relieved, she opened her mouth to comment on how he’d scared her, but nothing happened.

  She couldn’t move her face. It felt like pressure was pushing down on her, paralysing her. What was happening?

  Someone appeared out of the shadows. Haruto didn’t seem to have noticed. Ryou tried to warn him, but she still couldn’t even open her mouth. Then the figure moved into full view and shock shot through Ryou’s body. She was looking at herself.

  For one wild moment, she thought she’d gone crazy. Then she understood. Akito had used his ability to make himself look like her, providing him with a safe disguise. So did that mean he was also using his power on her? Did it involve rendering the person incapable of moving so that they wouldn’t break the illusion?

  Ryou’s stomach turned over as she realised that Haruto’s gun was now pointing in her face. She knew what that meant. Akito had created an illusion to make her to look like him. Haruto thought she was the enemy.

  Orbo bullets were designed to prevent a witch from using their powers. Ryou didn’t know what effect they’d have on a human, but she didn’t want to find out. She was pretty sure it was still going to hurt, witch or not. Still unable to move, she couldn’t even close her eyes. She was forced to stare down the barrel of the gun in pained silence.

  “Do it, Sakaki,” ordered the fake Ryou. It was disturbing to hear her voice coming from someone else. “Before he tries to use his power on us.”

  Ryou felt a scream build up in her throat, that she knew wouldn’t come out, as she watched Haruto’s finger tighten on the trigger. Then, in one abrupt movement, he’d whirled round and shot the fake Ryou beside him.

  Akito’s power lifted instantly and Ryou was suddenly able to move again. She gasped and staggered, the fear still prominent in her chest. Akito was now rolling around on the floor in pain.

  “Sorry, but you gave yourself away,” Haruto told him almost cheerfully, prodding the fallen witch with his boot. “Miss Kazuya has never called me Sakaki. She always calls me by my first name.”

  “You should take a leaf out of my book,” said Ryou ruefully, bristling at the ‘Miss’ comment again. She could feel the panic finally starting to subside. She wasn’t going to get shot – her partner knew better than that.

  “Hey, if I do that now, you might think I’m an imposter and shoot me,” said Haruto with a grin.

  “How about I shoot you every time you call me Miss Kazuya instead?” Ryou suggested helpfully.

  Haruto laughed. “Is this some weird behavioural psychology? Because if it is, I don’t like it.”

  “Tough. I do,” Ryou joked, grinning. “And I always carry an extra handgun with real bullets, so just be grateful I’m not threatening you with that.”