“No! Dammit, not again! How many times do I have to watch this fucking cut scene?!”

Ash never let one of his days off go to waste. Even with all the errands he needed to do, all the mundane chores he neglected while Masako ran him ragged day after day, he refused to let the big bad live another day when he could use his free time to take him down. Having rushed to get everything done, he’d flung himself on the couch and snatched up his awaiting controller. I need to go buy more potions. If I could stop fucking losing to the boss…!

As he moved to grab his soda, his phone went off. Considering letting it go to voicemail, he groaned. He couldn’t. It’d barely been an hour since he’d left a voicemail for Isao to call him. Leaping over the couch to grab it just in time, he breathed out a sigh of relief. His eyes returned to the figure moving across the screen. “Isao?”

The grumbling voice on the other side of the call confirmed that he was right. “You called. What’d you want?”

“I have a weird question…” Taking a sip of his drink, Ash considered his words. He’d spoken to his parents every day, calling in the evening when he’d be less likely to overhear Kazumi’s irritating voice in the background. They weren’t happy, but it put his mind at ease hearing about the small talk they’d made with the other agents that day and how they were faring in their new apartment. Yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, especially when he found himself questioning some of the names they gave him as they spoke. It wasn’t like he’d written down the list of names Isao had shown him, but he’d swear some of them that his mother and father spoke of hadn’t been on the list. “Did the Protections team change?”

Silence.

Fidgeting with the joystick, Ash paused the game. He curled up in the corner of the couch and picked at the hem of his shorts. At least he hasn’t told me to fuck off yet, he thought, jerking the phone away to stare at the screen and make sure the call hadn’t dropped, but what the hell? Sometime today would be nice, Isao.

Isao sighed. Ash heard a door opening and closing. “I’m afraid to ask why you want to know.”

Twisting to lay across the couch, he let his feet hang over the arm, swinging his legs. Frustration built tension in his limbs, and while he would normally work it out at the training hall, he didn’t exactly have that luxury as he sat in his brightly lit living room. He learned within a few weeks of moving in that his downstairs neighbors didn’t appreciate it when he did his drills at home. Ash frowned. “I’m worried.”

The first time he remembered them having to go under protection was only a year before he went into the academy. It’d been a scary time, the agency rushing to help his parents transfer him out of his school to move with them to an entirely new city. Unable to leave the small apartment that the agency set them up in, it’d been a time of fear and uncertainty. It still haunted him every now and again, though he eventually came to understand the purpose of it. The elevator Isao had, apparently, entered dinged and the whirl of it moving filled the call. Ash shook his head to clear it. “Dad told me there’s a different group with them. What happened to the previous one?”

“Searchlight came to us with concerns about the team.” Isao’s measured voice faltered. He coughed and cleared his throat. “I sent the message up the chain, and I suppose they decided to switch them out.”

“You didn’t make the decision?” Ash tapped a knuckle against his lips when Isao made an affirming noise. They’d gone against protocols more times than he could count, not including the times he did so almost as a habit, but each incident always had a reasonable explanation. Yet, the elder man spoke in such vague terms that it made his stomach churn with nervousness. Waiting until Isao grunted, recognizing the harsh squeal of the hard to open side door of the agency’s main building, Ash pressed his thumb between his eyes to stop the tension forming there. The quiet rush of wind filled the call. “Someone else did. Why? It’s always been you.”

“It’s not the first time it’s happened. Quantum will step in when the rest of us can’t agree on a direction and don’t have time to discuss it. Things of that nature. You know how it goes.” Irritation turned to concern in Isao’s voice. “Everything’s fine, Ashu. It’s not the first time we’ve had to switch teams. Sometimes it can even be safer if we don’t keep the same people involved.”

Ash sat up. Something laid between the lines, something being unsaid, but he resisted the urge to demand more of an explanation. He was stubborn, but the older agent was even more so, honed by decades of experience out in the field. Fighting with him wouldn’t solve anything, something Ash learned the hard way years ago; as frustrating as it was, he had to let it go.

“Could you at least warn me if you plan on changing shit around?” Ash asked, fighting to gather his scattering thoughts. “I don’t trust Searchlight. My parents aren’t comfortable talking in front of him.” He wouldn’t mention how he wasn’t either, though Isao likely knew it, anyway. “And he’s a fucking as-”

“Yes, I’m aware that you and Searchlight would sooner throw each other off the roof than work together.” Isao sighed. “You’re a pain in the ass. If I can, I will. Alright?”

His shoulders tensing, Ash picked at a string on his shirt. “I really don’t like this..”

“I know. Believe me, I’m keeping up with them. Nothing will happen on my watch.”

In all the years he’d known Isao, there’d never been a reason to doubt him. Yet Ash grew uneasy as a nagging feeling pulled at the back of his mind. Isao, ever a man of his word, would never go back on it without a reason; the fact he could only give vague reassurance set his nerves on edge. He didn’t see a point in burdening his commander with it, however, letting his words take on a teasing lilt as he murmured, “Thank you, Isao. You know you’re my favorite, right?”

Isao swore at him, though the faint affection in his voice defanged most of the profanities. “Kiss ass. What’s going on with the Suzukis?”

“I still think it’s ridiculous that I’m working with them, but it actually hasn’t been too bad. I think the kid’s warming up to me, at least.” Getting up to put his phone on the kitchen counter, setting the call to speaker, Ash started making lunch for himself. Masako had been acting like less of a brat toward him. Her sarcastic quips, initially focused on him, started turning toward her less popular peers and the small things that annoyed her throughout the day. He could only take the moments that she confided in him as a small win. “Have you figured out why I got forced into it?” Every day he was with the teenager, he continued to wonder, Why me? The answer Kasamari gave him - that it’d prove good for the agency - didn’t sit right with him. His father verbalized agreement when he spoke to him the night previous.

He didn’t dare ask Suzuki Naoki or Kei, and Masako surely wouldn’t know, even if she’d be willing to answer. The commanders kept the reason behind mission assignments close to their chests, so asking the other agents was pointless. His curiosity burned, and there was nothing he could do about it if Isao couldn’t, or wouldn’t, answer for him.

“You were recommended from what I’m understanding, but no. I don’t know why you in particular. Considering their… attitude, it could be nothing, and they wanted to placate them. Give them quality, and it’ll keep them quiet.” A car door closed. “I’m in the same boat as you. We just need to trust that the decision was made with everyone’s best interests in mind.”

The foreboding feeling remained. Ash shook his head, picking up the sandwich he made to take a bite, barely tasting it. Chewing, he picked at the question lingering at the back of his mind. “Hn. But there’s no end date on it?”

“Correct, though from what I could gather from her father, he’s hoping to only need you for a few more weeks. He speaks highly of you. I wouldn’t rush to get away from them, Ashu. This could be an opportunity for you.”

…I thought that’d been a mistake. Even the most basic missions had estimated end dates. The estimate was usually wrong, but it gave them a benchmark to swap in a new agent for longer, more tedious missions. It helped prevent sloppy mistakes. He’d swapped out a few times in the past, so having no end in sight rekindled the worry that seemed to cover all of his thoughts.

“Oh… well… um. Alright, then. I’ll keep you updated if anything happens with Suzuki-san. Go get your lunch. Thanks again, Isao. You actually are my favorite, you know.”

Ash didn’t miss Isao’s snort of laughter before receiving a dial tone.