Shining Light

Chapter 5

Uran waved as the car left, Kagome nestled in the passenger seat with “Akira” driving him home safe.

Akira. Inspector Akira Kobayashi. Uran had heard plenty about him from a number of sources. He seemed to be quite involved in Orange lately. She’d dug up quite a few things about him while investigating them for Icarus and for Shirou. The officers had been more than happy to give her details on information not related to the police’s involvement with Orange - getting what she actually wanted had been a little harder.

It was a shame. Ladies Nine wasn’t particularly interested in scandals about the local police at the minute. No one in Tokyo wanted the latest scoop on which officer was open to cheating on his wife.

Just her luck that she’d run into the mistress completely by chance. Maybe she’d be able to hold it over his head for some information about Orange. But it seemed to be a fairly open secret, so best not to get her hopes up about that.

“Ah, Shirou, did you know Kagome is dating a police officer?” Uran flopped down onto the couch, dropping her camera empty down beside her. It would be a while before the photos were developed, and what better use of her time was there than to bother Shirou for a little.

Shirou snorted, joining her with a cup of coffee.

“Geez, not even offering me one,” Uran grumbled.
“Go to a cafe if you want some. So, he got with that officer of his after all?”
“So you knew?”
“That cop had been drooling over him the entire shoot. The entire park knew.”

Uran clicked her tongue.

“Must be nice though,” she sighed. “Getting a sugar daddy like that.”

Shirou picked up the newspaper, acting like he ever read the damn thing. He probably only actually picked it up to make sure she hadn’t been sneaking in any of his pictures again.

“I always thought it would be nice to have a sweet guy that made a lot of money. I could have my wages as spending money, and he pays for a nice apartment. Pays the bills. Maybe has a photo studio.”
“You’ll have to wait a while before he’s making that kind of money,” Shirou said, not looking up from the paper.

Dense little fucker. He was lucky people liked fucking stupid.

“A plain guy like Kagome gets all the luck, huh? Kobayashi would probably buy him a decent place. A cabin in the woods for them to speak off to without his wife catching them.

“It’s not fair. Some people can just fuck their way into the lap of luxury.”
“Don’t say it like that!” Shirou snapped. Ah, he was cute when he got all flustered.
“Well, he did. He must have a decent dick under all that after all. Though I wouldn’t be shocked if Inspector Kobayashi was into the small types. Ah, if only he was into girls, I could fuck some information out of him.”
“Will you shut up!”
“Why? Are you getting jealous?”
“Why would I be jealous? I’m sick of hearing about that bastard Kagome!”
“Eh? A little guy like that’s got you all wound up?”

Shirou threw the newspaper down on the table, grumbling and crossing his arms.

“All that damn information I worked so hard to get, that bastard destroyed it.”
“Eh? The stuff on Orange?”
“Right. I tried to show him it and he tossed it out the window like it was garbage!”
“Really,” Uran said, nodding and picking up Shirou’s coffee cup to take a sip. “Doesn’t that mean he was most likely trying to cover for his boyfriend?”
“Probably. I need to make sure he doesn’t- hey, where did you get that?”
“Brought it in with me.”
“Like Hell you did!”
“Wow, Shirou, first you won’t make me coffee; now, you won’t let me drink the coffee I have. You really just can’t let a girl have anything.”

“Uran,” Juurou called across the desk, making her look up from what she was scribbling on her notepad. She hadn’t been listening to the meeting at all. “Did you get any information on Orange?”
“Yeah. I managed to get information on two of their current higher ups. Isshiki Suzu has been working with them. He used to be a drag queen, so he knows a lot of people from those areas. He’s been a bit divisive. Lot of kaiju really like him, but a lot have grudges against him. He’s been keeping out the spotlight for Orange. He probably won’t be that interested in fighting us.”

That was a lie. She’d heard how Isshiki talked about Icarus.

Shirou. Be grateful.

“The other is assistant inspector Akira Kobayashi. He’s the representative for the police force, but he seems to have gotten highly involved with Orange. He’s even been campaigning for them and says they’re the true voice for kaiju equality. Doesn’t have a high opinion of Icarus. He’s called us terrorists, causing trouble where we shouldn’t. He’s been saying that he’d get rid of Icarus and other heroes.

“He has a wife and child, neither of which are kaiju. His kid thinks he’s a jerk, and his wife could only be polite. Everyone knows he’s cheating on her, has a boytoy on the side. Shoutarou Kagome, he’s-”

Before she could continue, both Akira and Shin both stood up, staring at her with their mouths hanging open.

“Kagom-” Shin started.
“He’s not!” Akira cut him off, slamming his hands on the table.

Everyone turned to stare at Akira. Even Juurou had raised an eyebrow at the outburst.

Akira just looked at them all, his face red, unblinking like he was scared something would happen if he did. It took him a few minutes to relax, taking his hands off the table.

Only to storm up the stairs and out the door.

“Senpai!” Shin called after him, but none of them actually moved.

Hm. So, it was like that, was it?

Maybe there was a way she could get some information out of inspector Kobayashi after all.