Sorry about the delay of this chapter…school's been a real bee-otch.
Sage: This chapter is kind of a filler-wait, no-it is a filler, but it's important to the story. You'll realize that once it comes closer to ending.
Yes, and though I hate to say it, the next chapter is going to be delayed too. I hope to have it out in a few weeks, but I can't make any promises.
Sage: Thank you to those who reviewed last chapter. We really appreciate it your comments!
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Officer Daisuke sighed as he threw the manila file folder down on the desk in front of him. He sat himself down in the black swivel chair and pulled it up to the desk, resting his head in his hands, placing his elbows on the beige desk. He stared at the folder for a moment. It had a stamp on the front, written in large red letter labeled 'CASE FILE'. It was the file he had begun for his case on the runaway, Yugi Motou and it was currently empty. He had collected no evidence while investigating the Motou household that could lead to the boy's whereabouts. All he had was an open window, and a made-up bed. He had some sort of time-frame. Solomon Motou said Yugi went up to his room at around nine last night and that was the last he saw of him.
If that were true, that meant Yugi had to have left somewhere between nine last night, and seven that morning. He had at least a good few hours lead in his trip to whatever destination he was headed towards. He could've left the city a long time ago. Hell, he could've snuck onto a cargo ship and be half-way around the World by now. Daisuke sighed again, gaining the attention of one of his co-workers.
"No luck, Daisuke?" She said with sympathy. She gave him a small smile and walked up towards his desk.
Daisuke groaned and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face with his hands. "It's like the kid just disappeared out of nowhere. There was nothing in his room. Not a map, nothing out of place, other than some missing clothes. It looks more like an alien abduction that a runaway case."
The female officer, Sashimi, sighed. "I'm sorry, Daisuke. But, you never know," she said, trying to cheer up her fellow officer, "most runaways return home themselves."
Daisuke scoffed. "This is different. I just know it. The grandfather was stubborn, and if genetics had anything to do with it, so is Yugi. Besides, there still is the question of why he left. Kids don't just decide to runaway one day, for no reason. He either was running away from something, or to something."
"Maybe he eloped with his girlfriend." Sashimi joked.
Daisuke wanted to slap the girl. She was a rookie, and didn't deserve to be working with him. "Do a background check on Solomon Motou." Daisuke growled, not enjoying how the girl was making fun of the situation. This was a serious business. He knew that kids who ran away were in danger of getting killed or kidnapped. Making jokes about it was not acceptable. If Solomon Motou was hiding something, if he knew more than he was letting on, Daisuke wanted to know now.
"The grandfather?" The female officer questioned, raising an eyebrow. "You think he abused Yugi? I'm sorry, Daisuke, but that theory doesn't make sense. Yugi may not be that big, but surely he could take his own grandfather!"
"I never hinted that the abuse was physical, Sashimi!" Daisuke snapped. "There are many different kinds of abuse: mental, emotional. And just because he could take an old man doesn't mean he would. Maybe he's too kind to push down an old man who's beating him. The point is, Yugi left for a reason. I don't think it was to get attention. Now do what I asked you!"
Sashimi back away, realizing that her co-worker was not in the mood for chit-chat. She bowed her head and muttered and apology before turning around and walking towards her desk.
"And while you're at it," Daisuke added, "put this kid on a suicide watch. Labeled him endangered."
Sashimi looked up from her computer, her eyebrows were scrunched up, as though she had just smelled something awful. "You really think this kid ran away to kill himself?"
"Happens all the time."
"Why?" She questioned. "If someone is going to kill themselves, why do they need to run away to do it?"
"Hell if I know." Daisuke said, his voice was void of any emotion. "God only knows what goes through these kids heads."
"If that is why he ran away, then he's probably already dead." Sashimi said as she typed.
"True." Daisuke said. "And if not, then he's probably going to get killed away from his home. Either way, he's dead." He concluded.
"Here we go."" Sashimi said, pulling up the information she had pulled up on Solomon Motou. "There's not much here." She commented, and began to read aloud, "'Solomon Motou, born October 4, 1940. He used to be an archeologist until about eighteen years ago when he opened the Game Shop.'" She looked up at her boss. "That's all there is."
"No criminal record?"
"None. No high school records, traffic tickets, it's," she paused for a moment, trying to find the right words to verbalize what she wanted to say, "it's practically blank!" She sighed and placed her head on her desk for a moment. After a few seconds of thinking, she shot up and looked over at her boss, feeling like a moron. How had she not thought of that sooner? "What about his parents? What information did you get on them?"
"As far as I know, he doesn't have any. It was just the grandfather when I went there. The old man didn't mention them, and I felt it wise I do the same."
"Well, what should we do then? We don't have anything that could help us find Yugi."
"It appears so." Daisuke sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "Why don't you go out to lunch? We can figure out some more stuff later."
"Alright, I guess." Sashimi said hesitantly. She stood up and grabbed her purse. She walked towards the doorway and stopped, looking over her shoulder. "You coming?"
"I think I'm going to pass. I have my lunch here," He motioned to a small lunch box by his feet. "You go ahead."
"Okay." She exited the building, and Daisuke groaned. He picked up the almost-empty case file and let his mind wander, to think about it. If this kid felt that he had to run away to off himself, then he had probably already done it, which meant sending out a dozen police cars to find him was a waste of time and resources. They didn't have anything on the grandfather to suggest he was abusive towards Yugi, so they still had no leads as to why he ran away in the first place. Daisuke doubted the kid knew how to survive in a concrete jungle; if suicide didn't get the kid, then the city would and it would do it soon. So, as he had said before, the kid was dead either way.
Considering these events, Daisuke felt this case would be just a waste of everyone's time. If the kid did manage to survive, then he would most likely would return home in a few days, which would once again reinforce the concept that it would be a waste of everyone's time and resources to try and track down the kid. Daisuke spun around in his computer chair and opened the middle drawer of the filing cabinet behind him. He stuck the folder behind the 'M' tab and slammed it shut. He stared at it for a while. After a few seconds, he had to turn away. He couldn't look at the drawer he had just put the folder in.
He couldn't look at the drawer labeled 'Cold Case'.
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Solomon Motou didn't know what to do or think. His grandson had disappeared almost an entire day ago and he had yet to hear back from the police. The elderly man laid on his bed, on his right side, with his knees drawn to his chest and his hands underneath his pillow. Dried tears stained his cheeks, and the whites of his eyes were dyed a red color. His clothes were wrinkled; he was still wearing the ones he had put on the day Yugi had run away. His stomach growled, but the elder man remained unfazed. He had been listening to it for hours, barely eating anything since the police man had left, since he had discovered his grandson's empty bedroom. Solomon hadn't heard anything from the officer since he left, which only worsened his depression. He felt like they weren't doing anything to find Yugi; he thought that they weren't taking him seriously. They thought Yugi would return on his own in a few days, and while that was a possibility, Solomon found it very unlikely. Yugi was stubborn. Once he had set his mind to something, there was no changing it. He sighed and prayed silently to any deity that may have been listening.
'Please,' even the voice inside his mind was broken, 'let him be safe. Let him be well. Let him come home.'
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Yugi opened his eyes slowly, letting the alley come into focus. His backpack was resting on his chest, the weight of the puzzle was pressing against his skin. Yugi's thoughts ran to the puzzle. He worked best on it when he was upset; somehow it made his concentration better and it cheered him up. Sometimes he could swear that he heard a voice calling to him, pleading to him to continue his work, especially on the days when Yugi was most convinced of giving up.
Sometimes Yugi questioned his own sanity, but he really couldn't help but feel there was more to the Millennium Puzzle then the fact that it was just from Egypt. There was a deeper history behind it that he couldn't yet decipher. He hoped one day he would know all about that history.
His stomach growled and Yugi clutched it, wincing. The pain of hunger was tearing at him. Yugi was used to pain, but this one was different. This one was intentional. Yugi knew he had to eat. He placed the puzzle back inside his backpack and pulled out some of his money, pocketing it. He stood and hung the backpack loosely over one shoulder. He glanced briefly out the alley, to the direction the ambulance had gone. He sucked in a mouthful of air and bit his lip. He didn't like ambulances. They reminded him of hospitals, and foreshadowed death. His stomach growled again and Yugi refocused his mind back to the matter at hand. His legs were wobbly, but he managed to stagger out of the alley way, back onto the busy streets of Tokyo. He was swept up by the rush hour crowd, no one even noticed him coming out of the alley. Yugi found himself crushed between a group of workers, each dressed in navy blue suits, event he women. They were carrying brief cases, marching life troops off to war. They carried him off, and Yugi found himself immobile. He couldn't move. The people to his left and right were at his shoulders.
When Yugi saw that they were passing by buildings, he struggled to break free. He wiggled his entire upper body and managed to slip from the grasp of the people. He landed on the dirty Tokyo floor, surrounded by the feet of the average Tokyo citizen. People were stepping over him, no one offering him any assistance. Yugi army crawled his way to the nearby door, doing his best to avoid being trampled. Once he got to the door, there was a small space where no one was walking from him to stand. He shook his entire body, still fazed by what had just happened. He didn't have time to worry too much about it, though. He was okay. A little dirty, but that was the worst of it.
Yugi pressed against the glass doors of the building and entered. He was in some kind of coffee shop. It had a yellow-cream walling, with milk chocolate tiles. About a dozen round tables littered the entire shop. It was a small area, only about one hundred square feet. It wasn't very busy either, which Yugi thought was odd. His stomach growled again and Yugi clutched it consciously. He looked up and walked to the counter where a young-college aged student was at, watching disinterestly at the television that hung above her head. A male anchor was reporting a story about a fire in Kyoto.
"Excuse me?" Yugi said quietly, trying to get her attention. She turned to face him, blowing a bubble with her gum.
"You want to order something?" She said in a tone that revealed she was slightly annoyed.
"Uh, yes." Yugi said, his eyes going to the large menu that hung above the counter. There were a lot of choices and he didn't want to waste this woman's time by reading the entire thing. "A coffee and a muffin."
She began to pound buttons on the cash register. "What kind of muffin?"
"Uh, blueberry?"
"That'll be three-fifty."
Yugi dug into his pocket and pulled out a five-dollar bill, handing it over. She opened the register and gave Yugi the necessary change. She then went into the kitchen and came out with a large, steaming cup of coffee and a medium blue berry muffin.
"Here you go, kid." She said, handing them off. Yugi nodded is thanks and walked over to a vacant table, sitting down. He pulled off a bite of muffin and chewed on it, satisfying his stomach's roar. He took a sip of his coffee. It warmed him up, making the goose bumps he had collected over the previous night go away. He sighed as he watched the brown liquid swirl. Yugi frowned. There was some vanilla in this coffee. He didn't order that. The cashier had made a mistake. He looked up at her. She must have felt him stare because she turned to him and gave him a sympathetic smile. Yugi returned it, although he was still unsure of why.
There was no one in line or in the entire café, so the young cashier walked up to Yugi and sat down in the chair across from him.
"You aren't around here, are you?"
Yugi froze, not knowing what to say. He didn't want her to know he was a runaway. She would call the police and have him returned home, returned back to school, back to his hell.
"W-what?" Yugi tried to laugh. "I've lived here all my life."
"Really?" She said, unconvinced. "Well then tell me, why aren't you in school?"
"I, uh," Yugi's face flushed with frustration. "I dropped out. What about you?" Yugi said angrily when the girl raised an eyebrow at his previous statement. "You look a little young to be working at this time of day."
"It's called night college, sweetie. But then again, I suppose they don't have that in Domino."
Yugi gasped and quickly covered his mouth, only to mentally slap himself. Now she knew for sure that something was up. He sighed and closed his eyes. There was no point in trying to play stupid; she had caught him. She was going to call the cops and have him shipped back.
"H-how did you know?"
She leaned into him and smiled. "You're still wearing your school uniform."
Yugi instinctively looked down and saw his blue school blazer. He groaned, and placed his face into the table.
"It's okay, honey. I won't tell your secret."
Yugi looked up at her, his mouth agape. "You..you won't?"
"Nah. I ran away from home once myself. Was running straight back about two blocks later."
Yugi scoffed and stirred his now lukewarm coffee with his finger. The girl watched him quietly, not saying anything for near a full two minutes.
"I'm Amy." She said, looking at him with friendly eyes.
Yugi smiled at her. "Yugi," he said, "Yugi Motou."
"It's nice to meet you, Yugi."
"You made a mistake with my coffee." Yugi said looking down. "You put vanilla in my coffee, but only charged me for a regular one. I need to pay you."
"Honey, it's fifty-cents. I'm pretty sure the shop's not gonna go bankrupt. And, it wasn't a mistake."
Yugi looked up at her, confused.
"You look like you've been through some tough shit. The least I can do is give you some free vanilla in your coffee."
Yugi found himself smiling even wider and he took another sip. She was being kind to him, and that was something Yugi was used too. He hadn't known this girl long, but he was sure she was going to be a good companion during his journey. She said she wasn't going to call the police and Yugi, for some odd reason, trusted her.
He hoped he put his trust in the right person.
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Joey dug through his pocket and pulled out his key, placing it into the lock and turned the tumblers. He pushed the door opened and came home to a normal scene. The light in the apartment living room was turned off, but the television was on, and the volume was cranked up loud. Mister Wheeler was laying spread out on the couch, passed out. A half-empty beer bottle was hanging loosely in his fingers, and the floor was littered with empty ones.
Joey sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He turned off the television. He walked into the kitchen and to the fridge which was nearly empty. He reached for a microwave meal and grabbed a soda. He placed his meal into the microwave after taking it out of its packaging and leaned against the counter, sipping his soda. He had spent two hours scourging the city, looking for any signs of Yugi. He hadn't found anything, and Joey found himself having to give up for the day and make his way back home, to his drunken father.
The microwave beeped and Joey pulled out his chicken nugget meal, staring at it. He ate it without thinking much of it or tasting it, his mind was elsewhere. Tristan hadn't helped him out at all, and Joey was still struggling in deciding weather he really wanted to find Yugi or, if it was as Tristan had said, and he just wanted to ease his guilt. Joey really had no idea, and he didn't know what he was going to do. Domino was a big city, and Joey had only managed to search a small fraction of it in the two hours he searched. Yugi could've left the city, or maybe even the country! He was smart enough.
'Maybe he snuck onto a cargo ship.' Joey thought angrily. 'He could be halfway to America by now, or half a mile down the street.' He ate the last of his dinner and threw away his trash. He carried his soda over to his room, looking with disgust at his drunk of a father. Mister Wheeler was always a big drinker, from what Joey could remember. But it got worse even since his parents divorced and his mother ran off with his sister.
Joey made his mind run off to other things. He didn't want to think about his sister. She had been his best friend, and he hadn't seen or spoken to her in nearly seven years. Joey knew she lived somewhere in Domino, but he had never been able to find her, and his mother would never reveal that location to him for fear of his father coming over and hurting Serenity.
Joey shook his head and took another sip of his soda, letting the caffeine run through his veins even though he was getting ready to go to bed. He went across the living room, stepping over the beer bottles his father let litter the apartment. He was going to have to clean it up eventually, but right now he just wanted to sleep and forget about all his troubles.
His room wasn't great. It had an unmade bed tucked away in the corner and a dresser against the front wall. Dirty clothes were all over the place, covering the floor, scattered on top of his bed, and even hanging down his dresser. It didn't bother him that much, though. He had grown up in a dirty house. He didn't even know what a clean house looked like. Joey finished up the last of his drink and crumpled up the can, tossing it into a wastebasket covered by his bed.
Joey walked over to it and let himself fall flat onto it, not even bothering to take off his school uniform. His thoughts wandered around, concerning his sister, that homework he didn't do, but mostly they were on Yugi, and they were telling him to go and try harder to find him. They sent him the worst possible scenarios, convincing him that Yugi was in trouble, and if he wasn't, he was going to be.
Joey trembled. He didn't want to think about Yugi for a while. He just wanted to sleep and let his problems become non-existent. He wish was granted because within a few moments he was snoring.