"Let me get this straight." An older gentleman sits opposite Arima, his hands folded as he stares into the all-day waffle below him. They sat in a small diner with no one else around, the lights starting to dim from outside. "You destroyed a bridge that costed tax payer's money, stole and totaled a stranger's car, and caused blood to explode all over a main city intersection."
Arima wasn't even paying attention to the man, instead stuffing his face full of pancakes. "Yeah, oh and I lost my license." He wolfed down another pancake, taking a shot of straight maple syrup to push it down. He pats himself on the chest aggressively as he swallows it whole.
"Arima. Look." The man sighs as he puts his hands down, picking up the form with his gloved hands. "You can't be reckless or they're not going to give you a new license. Forever." He wore a familiar pair of pink sunglasses.
"Yeah, I know, Glasses." Arima picked up the glass of orange juice and unhinged his jaw, drinking the entire cup in one mouthful.
"They're only allowing you to become a Poacher because of those conditions you signed. You fail to stay within those boundaries and you'll be poached yourself, understood?" There was a shift in the mood.
Arima slowly puts down his drink. "I do." He places it gently on the table.
"With that being said, I've got some new information." Glasses start cutting away at his now soggy waffle. "It's about your family."
"What is it?" Arima nearly jumps at him, lunging from his seat. "Did you find them?" Arima sticks his face in front of Glasses'.
"No." He places his hand on Arima's face and pushes him back. "But we've been able to get some information about the Axolotl Chimera." Glasses stop eating. "You're one of the CAGE's biggest risks, you know that?"
"I do." Arima looks at Glasses as he smiles awkwardly. He looks back at this empty plate, his smile smiling back at him through the reflection of the maple syrup. "Where is this Axolotl?"
"To put simply," Glasses takes off his glasses and folds them, placing them on the table. "We've got jack shit on that asshole." He chuckles as he shows his neon purple eyes. A glistening, vibrant purple that pierced through the bleak atmosphere of the diner. They shimmered like freshly washed grapes, glistening in the lights. "We just know he's alive. And that's a big step forward."
"Then we should do something about it, shouldn't we?" Arima suggests. "If that chimera can produce hybrids like me, just think about what else it can create! The Organisation is going to have thousands of little me's running around!"
"Don't be rash." Glasses quickly shut him down. "Not only does that sound like a nightmare, but unlike the well-documented Chimeras, we don't know much about the Axolotl chimera. Having been encased in ice for thousands of years will do that." Glasses take out a pack of cigarettes, along with a lighter as the clouds slowly turn darker.
Arima places his cheek on his palm, tilting to the left as he shifts his body weight onto his arm. "Well, we're still going to have to find it."
"We do." Glasses sighs as he opens the pack, taking out a cigarette. He taps it on the table and lights it with the lighter, a yellowish ember erupting from the tip of the lighter. "This meals on me."
"Thanks!" Arima smiles, fully knowing he only ordered so much because it wasn't him picking it up.
"You should go home and get some rest. Burning, being cut in half, and falling from the sky with a dead owl can't be good for your health." Glasses look at his body, completely unscathed. "Mental health."
"It's okay. I'm okay." Arima says as he slowly gets up from the table. "I'm used to the pain. It doesn't bother me much." He giggles as he picks up his jacket from the corner of the table. "I'm gonna go now before I get guilty that you're paying for me."
"I pay everything for you already." He places the cigarette on his lips.
Before Glasses could even exhale, Arima had a foot out of the door. "Exactly why I'm leaving now!" He shot finger guns at him and mouthed an explosion as he walked into the streets.
Glasses sighs as he places his hand down on the table, the cigarette sitting on the edge of his lips. "Poor kid." A voice speaks out of nowhere.
"Maki, what'd I say about eavesdropping." Glasses was unsurprised as if he knew of her presence from the very beginning.
"It's not eavesdropping, it's corporate business. Take it easy Urahara." A veil of darkness appears from the shadows of the diner, only his table being illuminated by a singular hanging lamp. "You don't want to get hiccups do you?" From the shadows emerged a beautiful lady with long black hair. She wore black lipstick with a mole on the upper left side of her lips. Her eyes were large and bulbous, her nose sleek and slender. She wore a modest dress that covered her body entirely but accentuated her figure.
The most glaring feature of her however were her eyes. Giant slits that replaced her eyelids. "Now that he's becoming a real man, a real poacher, you're starting to regret it. Aren't you?"
Arima walked the streets of Tokyo alone, the bustling city lights illuminating his way home. His feet tapped on the tiles of the floor as cars whizzed past him. People walked past him, completely ignorant of who he truly was.
"That boy you saved 10 years ago, the boy you kept a secret from CAGE." Arima entered his apartment building, entering the elevator and pressing the 11th floor. "The boy you risked your job, your status, and your life for." Arima stood in front of his apartment door, fumbling with the keys to open the door.
"Don't talk about him." Urahara states with a blank face.
"You know exactly where that primal chimera lies don't you?" Maki giggles to herself sinisterly. "That boy is the Axolotl Chimera." Arima stands in front of his ceiling window in his giant empty apartment. He looks down on the entirety of Tokyo as he sees his reflection.
"You're scared Urahara. You're scared of what he'll become if he gets too strong. If he goes rogue, the deaths will be under your name." Arima sees a deformed chimera in the reflection. Nothing resembling a human nor a chimera, a creature much different. Although his face looked human, he didn't feel like one.
"Enough." Urahara shuts down the conversation. "As far as CAGE is concerned, he's a human. He's a hybrid." Urahara crushes the cigarette in his hands. The cigarette wasn't enough to calm him down.
"Whatever you say Urahara." Maki tilts her head and looks at Urahara. "I'll be in Beijing from the 9th onwards, and I won't be back for two weeks. I've got a favor to ask for you."
"What is it?" Urahara looks up at Maki, his head nearly on the table.
"I've got a new understudy. Her name's Mai." Maki says as she slides Urahara a card. "This is a copy of her license. When I'm gone in Beijing, I want you to pair her and Arima together to run some errands."
"Why should I?"
"Because I'm the only one who knows your secret." Maki smiles innocently. "Let's hope that gamble you took ten years ago to save that child will come to fruition."
"Sly bitch." Urahara takes Maki up on her request as if he had a choice. He slides the card into his jacket pocket. "Are we done?"
"Yes." Maki stands up, her long dress falling on her as she stands up. Urahara starts making his way out of the diner because Maki interrupts him. "One more thing."
"Yeah?" Urahara turns his head back to Maki. His long, dirty blonde-white hair covered his eyes.
"China just finished their research on the correlation between Human and Chimera DNA. They've found a way to create hybruds on a commercial scale, all from a small vial." Maki winks.
"That's why you're going to Beijing," Urahara looks at Maki with a hint of disgust. "CAGE uses hybrids to ensure the civillian's security, not to monetise them. Your priorities aren't aligned with CAGE's goals."
"They might not be." Maki walks past Urahara completely. "But neither are yours." Maki walks out of the door. "You used to be so full of life and laughter. Where did it all go?" The bells jingling as Urahara is left alone in the diner all by himself. Surrounded only by the darkness and the sound of people working in the back, closing the diner up.