EGOiST (Ayato K x OC)

Part 14

The two exchanged a look of confusion as if to ask, 'Who could that be?' Ayato walked to the door casually, although scowling. He opened it widely, standing front of it so that if whoever it was wanted to come inside, they would have to go through him.

"Huh?" Ayato grunted as the familiar white-haired man stood significantly taller than him. "Why're you here?"

Tatara's narrow red irises flicked towards Anri before focusing on Ayato once again. "Come out here. We need to speak privately." He stated demandingly.

"Why can't Anri hear? She's in Aogiri now."

"She's not an executive like you. Besides, you two seem to be getting too close."

The bluenette clicked his tongue. "That's something coming from the one who organized us living together. And I'm positive she's trustworthy, so it shouldn't matter that she's here."

"Do as you're told." Tatara ordered.

The younger boy sighed deeply and turned back to the girl, almost as though he was seeking her approval.

So, she just smiled forcefully and lied, "I don't really care. Go ahead."

Ayato followed the superior out of the door, closing it behind him. However, Anri was left with an unsettling feeling. Despite her encouragement, she quietly waited at the door, pressing her ear to the white wood to listen.

"You two have gotten close." Tatara observed again in a more hushed voice.

"We live together, what would you expect?" Ayato sneered bitterly.

"She's made you soft."

"Not really." He defended, although he knew it to be true.

"I've never heard you seek approval from anyone." The white-haired man glanced towards the door again. "You just asked for hers."

"No. I was just concerned for how she would take us talking privately." Ayato huffed.

"That was seeking her approval."

"Whatever." He scoffed. "Why did you need to talk to me?"

Tatara pulled a voice recorder from one of the inside pockets of his coat. Without a word, he played it.

The device emitted a fuzzy noise as if it was muffled as it recorded. A wet cough was heard as a closer voice grunted, "Say it."

Ayato's eyes widened in surprise as he recognized the voice as belonging to the scum that terrorized Anri.

A few almost silent moments passed as the boy listened to the recording with a rapidly pounding heart.

Anri's voice then said, through a muddled throat and surely tears, "I-I'll... join."

The recording ended there. Ayato swallowed deeply as he frantically tried to come up with a way to get her out of the mess she was in. He replayed the previous night when she repeatedly told him that whatever she said or did, she was forced. But he knew it would take a lot to get the superiors to believe them.

"Were you aware of this?" Tatara asked threateningly.

"Sort of." Ayato sighed.

"That's not an appropriate answer."

"I know bits of what happened. I'm the one who saved her from that situation, and you can clearly hear that she was in pain in the recording, so you can assume she had been forced." The boy explained.

"How are you so sure?" The older man narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Ayato sighed and folded his arms over his chest. "Of everyone in Aogiri, I'm the one who knows her best. We have no freaking reason to not trust her. She was attacked last night, and that's it. She has no intent to betray us." He then returned the glare and scowled. "Where the hell did you get that recording anyway? I killed that guy myself."