Chapter 9: 09 Unreal City, Part Two

In the past Tsuyoshi had noticed the almost unnatural steadiness of Dr Yeoh's hands, but one day without coffee and she shook like a leaf in the wind.

"I can't fucking work like this," she said, smoking a cigarette and drinking whisky from a mug.

"Good thing you don't have to because nobody's getting hurt."

"They will. It's always only a matter of time." She said it in a way that suggested she might be the cause if people didn't get hurt fast enough.

So it was on that ominous note that he left her in her office, and went to find Angharad. He found her sitting on the rooftop of the hospital, frantically writing notes in a pale purple notebook with a sparkly, metallic pen. Between her and Dr Yeoh, he seemed destined to be surrounded by women writing in notebooks.

"The barrier, really?" he asked.

"Oh, hey, Tsuyoshi," she said, as she looked up from her writing. Her hand went slack and she smiled, just a little.

"Did you find out anything useful yet?"

"Not really. I mean, like, there was stuff that could maybe be useful if we found out other stuff that makes it useful? But it doesn't feel like real clues yet. You know what I mean?"

"Not in the least." He sat next to her and looked out over the buildings and the small signs of life going in and out of them. In the distance he saw what he was pretty sure was Zelko trying to flirt with Gemma and Mac again. He wished he had something to throw. "Do you know what you're doing, trying to investigate?"

"Not really but, like, I know tech, kind of. I mean, because I grew up in a tech company. And Jin seems to know stuff."

"That boy is very strange. Two months ago, he called you a precious bundle I had to protect, as if you were some kind of shiny prize."

She made a sound almost like a snort of laughter, but snorting was ugly and of course, she could never do anything so un-pretty. "You think all straight people are strange, so that doesn't really mean anything."

"Well, aren't they?"

"Sure. I mean, I don't understand heterosexuality, either. But maybe everyone where Jin's from is like that. I guess they were just at war, so that might make people strange about protecting stuff."

He looked off in the distance again, at Zelko's long stride and imposing posture. He only looked that cool from distance.

"Maybe. But I think you can protect yourself."

"I have a better idea. We can promise to protect each other, and that way neither of us has to pretend to be too strong for that."

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If anyone else suggested Tsuyoshi might need protecting from something, he'd make them suffer. Zelko would only say it if he wanted to get hit. But Angharad was sweet and well meaning; he wanted her to keep her positive illusions of him as long as she possibly could. He thought of the way he and Zelko had fought in the rubble of someone else's hopes, and knew it couldn't be long. "All right, then. Protect me from bad style choices, and I'll protect you from Neo."

"It's a deal," she said, then smiled like the sunrise.

He pushed her hair behind her ear, and thought, my dear, who's going to protect you from me?

*

He caught up with Zelko later, when Angharad was busy with her investigation attempts.

"She and Jin have decided to call this place Zapville, apparently, just to have something to call it," Tsuyoshi said.

"Zapville," Zelko said, and scowled. "That sounds stupid."

"I find it funny."

Zelko put his hands behind his head, and leaned back in his chair. "You spend a lot of time with this kid."

"She's only three years younger than me, baby. It's not exactly strange." As ever, terms of endearment coming from his mouth sounded like the precursor to a fight. He looked Zelko over. Was he going to give him one?

But Zelko dragged his hands down, scoffed, and looked away. "She's a nice girl."

"Are you jealous for some reason? Because that would be, how should I put this? Really stupid."

Zelko shoved his chair back. "Never going to happen."

So Tsuyoshi shoved his own back, and stood, too. "Because while I'm having a normal friendship, you're off flirting with whatever girl catches your eye, like you don't remember that I own you."

"Hey," Zelko said, and grabbed him by the arm. "You and me against the world, remember?"

Zelko looked at him with that same uncomfortably sincere look he'd had three months before. Tsuyoshi wasn't really fond of sincerity but he had no defences against Zelko. That was fine as long as he didn't try to let anyone else in. Just one person was allowed to see him for who he really was.

He grabbed Zelko's hand to remove it from his arm, only to hold it in both of his. "I remember."

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