A Hero is Never Alone
Chapter 1: Mystery Solved
There were too many things wrong with the scene being made before Satoru's bright blue eyes: a possible killer hiding inside an ice rink, Misato running to the bathroom by herself and Gaku Yashiro just so happened to come to the ice rink during all of this commotion? This made too many theories circulate around the boy's head and increased the already large fear inside his heart. Was Yashiro the killer? Then again, he said he'd come to support Hamada and the school at the hockey championships so maybe that's all there was to it? Not willing to let the chance of saving Misato slip by because of his suspicions, Satoru quickly ran to the bathroom.
Checking for anybody suspicious, Satoru approached the ladies room like a smooth and quiet cat sneaking towards a rat. He then crept through the door and silently walked into the "forbidden zone". Despite being a 29-year-old man inside the body of an eleven-year-old boy who knew whatever he was doing would get him into SO much trouble especially when it no doubt involves his mother, Satoru wanted to leave no stone unturned and so observed the toilet door locks. Only one said 'OCCUPIED', resulting in three empty toilets that he could hide in.
As long as he stayed here, Misato would be safe. The thought gave the boy some relief as he chose the toilet closest to the entrance. Leaving the door open for a little gap to form and see through, Satoru stood there, keeping watch of the entrance. His ears picked up some of the things Misato was saying to herself, things like her stomach not feeling good or how she was gonna miss Hamada playing. But then Misato started talking about her so-called 'friends'. "Stupid A-ko, calling me a weirdo. She's the one who won't stop talking about her gross feet," Misato blabbed on. "And B-ko making me her servant for a week? What the hell? Ever since that dork Satoru had yelled at me, nothing's been going right for me."
Satoru's right eyelid twiched at response to the 'dork' comment but instantly forgot about it after Misato continued her rant. "But I guess that makes sense. After all, Satoru and that Kayo loser are pretty much a couple, through and through. So if anybody teases one of them, the other will bite back," said Misato with a sad smile on her face. "I wonder how that must be like. Two people who can talk to each other, hold hands and share secrets. Seriously, the two must have it all."
As Satoru listened, he remembered how he was back before the last two Revivals. Back when he wasn't outspoken and loud, leaping into the fray as he was now. Alone and quiet, trying his best to get his manga work serialized and lived his days without much passion. He doesn't exactly know why he was like that but, seeing it after saving three people's lives and on the way to save three others', it seemed too different to his current self. The lifestyle he had was almost pessimistic aside from the occasional Revivals and that still didn't lift the mood most of the time or change his mindset for that matter. That was because he didn't have a reason then, a purpose to save those people other than the excuse of doing the 'right thing'.
But what did it mean, doing the 'right thing'? Just saving their lives was enough of a reason, postponing their inevitable demise? Most people would say 'yes' but Satoru has already been through that stage before and moved on from it. Now, what was his reason? Saving his own skin was too cowardly and acting in the name of justice was too arrogant. Either one didn't fit his personality nor his actions.
Something sparked inside the boy's mind. Maybe the reason is because I want people have their lives, the boy thought, go however THEY want, no matter what fate said. It seemed simple enough but, for the man who travelled through time, the reason resonated with his spirit more than anything in this world.
This must be what's different now: his reason for fighting. Satoru's heart swelled with pride, knowing what he must do. Confident, the young man thought up a new plan:
First, he would save Misato.
Second, keep the kidnapping away from the middle school.
Third, solve the mystery and have the culprit locked up for life.
Finally, say his last goodbyes and return to his time.
The sound of rushing water brought him out of his thoughts. Misato was finished in the toilet and started cleaning her fingers. Trinkling down from the tap, splashes of water echoed inside the room, reminding Satoru of the tight situation he's in. Thankfully, no-one entered inside and it's just the two of them. Now that he thought about it, the boy realized how creepy this scene was. Watching out for an intruder when he already is one.
When the echo of water splashes grew silent, nothing was heard aside from Misato using the paper roll, tearing out the paper and folded the pieces into little squares. Satoru waited, listening to her footsteps as she left through the entrance. After another couple of seconds, Satoru surveyed the area and pulled out a pen that his mother gave him, in case some girl wanted his "phone number".
He began to think everyone liked teasing him about his love life. First it was his mother, then it was Airi and now most of his friends had done it too. Sometimes, he'd wish he would suddenly become deaf so he wouldn't hear any of it but he knew somehow they'd still find a way to tease him about it.
Ignoring the humorous intent, the pen served a very impotant purpose. Ripping a slip of paper out from the roll, Satoru quickly wrote on the paper like there was no tomorrow and neatly folded it so nobody would see the ink. He then dashed out of the bathroom and out the entrance. Looking to his right, the boy saw Misato's small figure as she crossed corners.
He called out to her, "Misato! Stop!"
Her back was rigid and stuck in place, showing her williness to comply and listen.
"I need to give you something," said Satoru, handing out the piece of paper. "Could you turn around, please?"
Misato hesitated but shook it off, slowly moving to face him but, once she did, gave him a mean glare. Her spiteful dark-brown eyes bored holes into his blue eyes. She definitely hated him, that much wasn't hard to tell.
He held his hand out, moving it up for Misato to take the folded paper. It was only after she took it from him, Satoru continued speaking, "If anything happens, show this to my friends." His eyes turned fierce as he maintained eye contact with her. Her eyes became less spiteful and turned confused. Misato nodded anyways, feeling this was more important than she initially imagined.
Satoru smiled gently and walked away, turning his back towards her. When Satoru was out of sight, a mischievious smile formed on the girl's lips. Curiosity getting the best of her, Misato unfolded the paper in no time and began reading. Slowly her lips turned from a sneaky smirk to a confused frown and then her lips parted with her eyes wide from shock. She read the words on the paper outloud, "'I'M GOING TO BE KIDNAPPED. IMMEDIATELY CALL THE POLICE AND DON'T TELL MR. YASHIRO.'"
Lifting her eyes up from the paper, Misato went to confront Satoru about the paper's meaning but frozed before she crossed corners when she heard his voice. And heard whose name Satoru called out.
"Mr. Yashiro! So happy to see you. Were you looking for something?"
Despite her silent pleas, another voice replied which was no doubt her teacher's. "Ah, Satoru," said Yashiro with a lollipop in his mouth. "No, I was just taking a breather. What are you doing here?"
"I came because I was worried Misato might be abducted. I've noticed she's been by herself lately and I decided to help her out."
"Hmm. Not sure I'm okay with you not telling me about this, especially since you're all by yourself," grumbled Yashiro, chewing on his lollipop harder than he was earlier. "Did you see anyone unusual, maybe doing something weird?"
Satoru paused, thinking about Misato hearing all of this. This was his chance, a way to warn her of Yashiro's strange behaviour that's been troubling the boy ever since he saw the teacher's collection of lollipops. Where would he get that many? And why? An older, childless man buying lollipops all for himself and he's not going to give any of the lollipops to his students? Far too suspicious.
"No, not at all. But I'm confused. What am I looking for? I mean, the only people who know about the kidnapper are us. We haven't called the police, too." Satoru was hoping Misato could understand what he's saying. Little did he know, Misato was already long gone, filled with disbelief at the revelation.
At that moment, Satoru could hear the loud sound of a car's engine starting, with Yashiro being very surprised. The expression on the teacher matched a man whose patience has reached its limit, similar to the face he made when Hinazuki came to school with darkish purple bruises located on her legs and neck. He seemed truly furious.
"The kidnapper's getting away! Come on, Satoru!" With that order, Yashiro quickly ran outside.
This wasn't supposed to happen. Now having second thoughts, the boy was stunned by Yashiro's grim expression, never expecting the man to make a face like that. Why was he chasing after the car? Isn't he the killer? Actually, was there any proof comfirming he was? Everything the boy came up with was all based on his own feelings. Maybe it was paranoia getting to him? The suprise worn off as soon as it appeared, knowing it wasn't time to be shocked by any of this.
And so, the boy followed soon after, taking a ride in Yashiro's car. Distracted by his concerns, Satoru didn't think as to why a teacher would ever tell his own student to follow after a criminal.
Some time after...
Whilst the chase was on, daylight dwindled and darkness covered the sky. It was 30 minutes after they left the ice rink and it doesn't look like the culprit would be stopping anytime soon.
Satoru felt the car seat rumble and jolt in rhythm to his racing heartbeats. But it was Yashiro's constant finger tapping keeping Satoru on edge. There was no pattern to it, sometimes he would tap twice, thrice and four times and switch over. The last time he did it was also the last time Satoru was inside this car. This made Satoru very worried as it made him feel uneasy around the teacher.
The driveway up ahead was connected to a tunnel, which confused Satoru. The tunnel itself led to a nearby city despite Satoru's theory of the killer living nearby his victims. If the killer really lived in the nearby city, why come to the park where Hinazuki usually resides in? Who would be so determined to kill, they'd come to a small town like this one?
Entering the tunnel, Satoru looked to Yashiro, expecting reassurance from the man as he usually provided. Instead, Satoru had something far worse. The calm face wasn't there, only a small, ominous smirk appeared. But the eyes, the eyes were terrifying. Maybe it was a reflection of the streetlights but the eyes seemed to glow bright red. Bloody red, that is.
"Little Satoru." Even his voice sounded different. Full of restrained anger as if he tried holding everything inside but was beginning to explode. "Do you know why the kidnapper kept failing?"
"It's because the rat who kept ruining his plans was right under his nose the entire time."
Without a second to spare, Satoru Fujinuma knew he was undoubtably fucked.
As soon they left the tunnel, Yashiro spun the driving wheel, forcing the car off the driveway and drove onto the sidewalk where he hits an old man. The old man flipped upward on the vehicle, leaving a huge, blood-covered crack on the windshield and rolled across the roof. The teacher continued driving, this time towards a frozen lake.
Satoru gasped as he tried unbuckling his seatbelt to no end. "Hopefully, his life insurance covered car accidents," said Yashiro with a dark chuckle.
"You bastard! You are crazy!"
"No. The one who is crazy is the one who tried to solve this case by himself, nothing to save him." Yashiro slowed the car down to a couple miles per hour and let go of the wheel. "There's no use in fixing that buckle. That is stuck for a reason."
Still struggling, Satoru quickly understood, "That's why you had all of those lollipops. You left chewed bits inside and had them melted."
"That is true, although I really do enjoy biting into them. Don't you?" Mocking the boy, Yashiro unbuckled his own seatbelt. Slowly pulling off his gloves, Yashiro leaned in and grabbed the boy's face, caressing it gently. "So smooth, like silk. Despite that disgusting look you're giving me, everything about you fascinates me. It makes your death all the more interesting to watch."
Satoru tried to bite the man's hand off but Yashiro pulled back just in time. "Yikes. That determination really is scary." Stepping out of the slowly moving car, Yashiro cooly walked away.
Terrified, Satoru did everything he could to get out: unbuckling the seatbelt, opening his door, checking the glove box for anything helpful and kicking the window. But they all failed. Turns out the child safety lock was on, bringing a whole new meaning to the word "irony". The glove box only had sleeping tablets and he wasn't strong enough to break the window.
Frustrated at the predicament, the boy screamed wildly, crying out for help.
No-one came.
Then he cried out for Kenya, Kazu, Kayo and even Misato.
No-one came.
He cried out for Airi.
...
"Mom..." The boy cried. Hot, wet tears dripped down from his eyes to his cheeks. He didn't care how ridiculous he was acting. He just wanted to be saved.
"Wait, Mom... She gave me a–" Satoru gasped. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his pen. "This has to work."
Holding the seatbelt buckle steady, Satoru hit the stuck button with his pen a couple of times. Another few more times, the seatbelt loosened and showed some progress. Finally, after two more hits, the boy was free! Unfortunately, the car had began falling into the lake. When the car dropped, Satoru braced himself for impact.
Feeling his entire world turning upside down, Satoru was floating inside the car for a few seconds. Then gravity came back to his world and pushed him down hard into the glove box. The airbag suddenly exploded out above the box and moved the boy back into his seat. Hitting his head on the glove box gave Satoru a concussion and was on the verge of fainting.
However, the icy, cold water underneath wouldn't give the poor boy a break and, after breaking the cracked windshield, flooded the inside of the vehicle. Between the harsh, cold water engulfing his body and the flaming hot headache practically burning his brain, Satoru felt like he was in Hell.
But before he'd lose the strength to fight, flashes of his memories rapidly appeared in his mind. The drowning boy couldn't make any thought about the memories but a few flashes repeated inside. They were memories of his mother, Airi and Kayo. Each one of them was smiling in every flash.
But then they changed.
Flashes of his mother's corpse, lying inside a pool of her own blood. With a knife digging deep inside her back, tearing her lung open and filling it with her blood. Her dead eyes left open.
Flashes of Airi crying out to Satoru as he's being taken by the police. Saying she screwed up and that she was truly sorry. The young girl's bloodshot eyes with tears running down her face had constantly appeared into his mind.
And then, as the strangest out of all of them, flashes of Kayo crying at the sight of her breakfast. Satoru didn't know why she cried at the time but the look on her face and her struggle to speak coherently made him realized how truly depressing her life was. It was at that moment that Satoru decided he would make her life better.
His eyes opened wide after remembering his reason for fighting: "I want people to have their own lives go however they want, no matter what fate said."
Using every little bit of energy he had left, Satoru opened the driver's door and quickly swam out of the lake. Getting his head out of the water gave him air to breathe in but also made his brain feel frozen and yet squishy, similar to a slushy. Using the amazing skills of the doggy-paddle style to swim across the lake, the boy crawled albeit sluggishly onto shore.
Shivering and deathly pale, the boy also had a massive headache and was barely half-conscious. The winter wind and snowfall made it worse for the poor child.
Nearly fainting, Satoru suddenly woke up after he was picked up from the collar by Yashiro who was PISSED. Maybe because of the water almost drowning him, causing the boy to hallucinate, Yashiro's eyes becoming fiery red all of a sudden and the heavy shadow that covered his face made him seem less human and more demonic-like.
"How are you still alive?!" Yashiro growled with monsterous ferocity and muderous intent.
All Satoru could say before he'd passed out was, "I saw your future."
No longer having the strength to control his anything, the boy's body went limp and his eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness. Before his eyes rolled back however, he could've sworn he saw blue and red lights flashing from a distance.
THE END