Beautiful Disasters- Hawks x OC

Chapter 95

          The next day, Mariko left before Keigo and was one of the first people to arrive at the meeting room. The only other person there was Araya who was staring intently at an unlabeled manila folder that undoubtedly contained the mission's plan.

           She didn't announce her arrival immediately. For a moment, she simply leaned against the doorframe, observing her friend. The dark-haired male's jaw was clenched tightly, and his hands were fisted into his hair. Dark circles rimmed his eyes indicating that he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before.

             Araya was struggling; that much was obvious. He had been just as close to Mineko as Mariko had and too had suffered greatly from her betrayal. Her death had been hard enough the first time, and now he was in charge of the mission; her death fell on his hands this time. It was a burden he didn't know if he was capable of carrying.

             "You didn't sleep much last night, did you?" Mariko asked quietly.

           At the sound of a voice, he immediately straightened his posture and his gaze snapped to her. He quickly put on the persona of a confident commander though that was the last thing he felt then. Seeing that it was just Mariko however, he relaxed and slumped back to his original state. "No. You?"

            Mariko shrugged. Though she hadn't been having nightmares as often since she started sleeping with Keigo, last night her sleep had been plagued with them. The worst memories from her missions replayed in her mind and after being woken up for the third time in a row, she gave up on sleep and resolved to lay in bed until Keigo woke up.

             Araya sighed. "Guess neither of us thought we'd be here again."

            "Yeah I don't know why I thought retirement was supposed to be a permanent thing," she joked.

             He let out a humorless laugh then shook his head. "I'm sorry I dragged you back into this."

           She sighed and slid into the seat next to him. "I should be the one apologizing. None of this would be happening if I had done my job properly last time." Looking at him, she knew she had to do something. "It was my job, so I should be the one to finish it."

            The dark-haired male stared at her with wide eyes. In assassination missions, it was the protocol in the Division for whoever was heading the mission to make the kill. In this case, the responsibility fell on Araya and although he had a bad feeling about her request, the thought of killing the woman who'd practically raised him made him feel much worse.

           "Are you sure about this?" he asked.

           Mariko reached into her purse and pulled out the notebook that she had found in the safehouse. She pushed it towards him, motioning for him to open it.

            "What is this?" he asked as he read the contents.

             "I found that in her study back at the mansion. It's from when she was recovering there," she said. "She wrote this before she disappeared. Before she'd done everything. It was sitting right in front of me. I must've passed by it a hundred times while I was with her and I never bothered to look through it... Araya... this situation wasn't something that couldn't be helped. If I had done my job, we might not be doing any of this at all. I can't let you take responsibility for this. So let me do it."

          He looked at her for a moment, staring into her eyes and searching for a sign of hesitance, that she was doing it just to spare him. She wasn't though, and despite something in her gut telling her that this wasn't the best idea, that she'd suffer for it in some way, she held his gaze with a somber confidence that surprised the both of them. There was no way she was going to let Araya do this.

            He lowered his gaze and nodded. "Thank you," he whispered.

           Mariko nodded and placed a hand over his, squeezing it momentarily. "It'll be over soon," she assured him.

           Araya sighed quietly and the ghost of a smile flickered on his lips. "Aren't I the one who's supposed to be all reassuring and stuff?" he asked.

            "Force of habit," she shrugged, taking her hand back.

          Thetwo sat in silence for a while until the others began to trickle in.