On A Standstill – x06x– A Glass Shaped Heart
A/N: Happy Birthday, A+ Reviewer StarrySkyRin! This chapter is for you! I need to write more prince-ly Umi-chan for your ovaries, so I will do that now. ;3;
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my original character. I'm at episode 80 of Aikatsu. WM is the Masochist of the year.
Special Thanks to Divine Vengeance for seeking divine vengeance towards this cray character and PR-ing this work even if it's already way past her bed time.
"Oh, so this is where you were." A deep voice greeted Umi as she pick up the helmet hanging on her motorbike. It was a nostalgic voice she hadn't heard in a long while. It was a voice she wasn't sure she wanted to hear again.
"Kaimu…" Yellow-gold orbs followed the silhouette of a female as it turned into an appearance. She had short dark blue hair of the same shade. She had slanted green eyes and a knock out figure everyone would die for. Literally die for.
"What's up?" She looked at her with a sinister smile. "I'm back~"
"Why did you come back here?" Umi asked with a frown. She was bad news. Bad, bad news.
She put her hand up to her sides in a 'whatever' gesture. "How's your girl? Is she still alive?"
"Stop going after Eri." Sonoda Umi defended with affirmation. "She's not worth your time."
The sinister smile turned into an angry expression. "… Is it not?"
"… It's not." Umi looked her in the eye.
"Oh." Sonoda Kaimu's mouth turned into an 'O'. "… I see." She turned around and cross her arms behind her head. "I see now. Why didn't I see that earlier? Damn, what a waste of time."
"Kaimu!" Umi gritted her teeth but did not chase after her. She didn't have the will to chase after her. After all, she needed to uphold what she had promised herself to do.
It was not honorable. She was not a person to be looked up too. She was selfish.
"I am so sorry… Nozomi…"
"Sonoda-san." The head maid tapped 18-year-old Umi's shoulder and pointed in the direction of the trees. "Are you sure it really is okay that way?"
Behind the budding flowers of the spring season was Kaimu. Yet again in the span of 5 months, she was onto a new boyfriend.
"As long as she's happy, it's okay," Umi answered with a smile. She clutched the newspaper in her hand and walked inside the traditional Sonoda house and threw it into the trashcan. "It's okay."
Cadet Sonoda Umi saluted to the superintendent of the police, submitting a testimony regarding the Four Leaf Killer that had been killing random men in the span of five months.
"I have a strong hunch that my foster sister, Sonoda Kaimu, may be the killer," Umi spoke word per word as if they weren't affecting her. "I only want you to love me." Kaimu's words directed towards her rang around her ears. These people didn't need to lose their lives because of her.
"Where's your proof, Sonoda?" the superintendent asked. Umi didn't have proof. The murder was clean. The bodies were hidden in mountains, taking time from when they were found to their actual date of death. "Are you still gonna push this? We've investigated her. We know that all these men have dated her at least a while, but they were womanizers. They've dated a lot of women. All of these could be potential suspects."
"They couldn't have dated the same woman in successive months, then get killed the month after." Umi said with conviction. She was sure. She was affirmative.
"Get me your evidence."
Umi looked left and right, the sharp rays of light blinding her eyesight. Her elbow had fallen off the table she was leaning on as she slept in the office. She needed to find evidence on Kaimu before she could get her hands onto Eri. No one needed to die.
It's been 3 days since she met Kaimu again after 8 years. Their investigation about Shinagawa Angela's death wasn't moving in any direction. However she was sure that this time it was her again.
"There's still no proof…" She slapped a hand over her eyes. "Damn it."
A cup of coffee was set in front of her. Umi lifted her head and came face to face with a warm smile that touched her heart. "Here, Umi-chan."
"… Kotori."
"I heard you haven't been going home, so I came here to give you some coffee," Kotori said and fidgeted. "Um, about the other day—"
Umi's eyes shot open, but her phone started vibrating nonstop. "S- Sorry. I'll take this." She walked towards the door, nodding in apology to Kotori who just smiled at her. "Hello?"
"Umi-chan, the transmitter's moving in an odd pattern. I'll send you map feed right now." Hanayo dropped the call and sent an email to Umi's phone.
"Need to go?" Kotori asked her. Umi sadly nodded. "I guess the coffee will get cold then."
"No—I… I'll take it." Umi took the cup of coffee from her desk but her pen accidentally fell, rolling to Kotori's feet. "S- Sorry." She quickly kneeled down to pick it up and put on her desk. "Really, Kotori, thanks for the coffee."
Kotori nodded at her. "Be careful."
"I will."
"Eri-chan has been moving at an odd speed for a while now. She just rode her car about 20 minutes ago," Hanayo spoke in an earpiece Umi just put on. She replied with a muffled 'Mhm' and finished drinking the contents of coffee before dumping it into the trash bin. "Umi-chan?"
"I got you. I'm on the way." She kicked the starter of her Ducati as it vroomed to the magnificent sound of a well-maintained engine. She folded the stand with her right foot and pulled down her right hand to further anger the machine. Umi put her phone on a space under the key slot for easy access on her phone's GPS. She put on a black helmet and sped out of police department's parking lot.
Blue eyes looked around her car, checking if there was anything important inside it. Eri sighed as she hadn't talked to Nozomi the past few days. She stepped on the clutch and tried the reverse maneuver again.
"You don't play with my brakes like this, whoever you are." She smiled as the car slowed considerably. Flashing lights of what seemed to be a motorbike distracted her eyesight from her rearview mirror. She tried to pull the handbrake. It slowed the car considerably but it wasn't going to stop anytime soon. "This rider isn't Umi."
She looked around the place and noticed that she could make a left turn where she can ram her car into a fountain. As if on cue, Eri made a sharp left turn, followed by her opening her car door after grabbing something from her key's chains. She then jumped off towards the garbage bags for a soft cushion. A bright glint caught the side of her eye, making her quickly roll to the side, barely dodging the sharp knife.
"Who are you!?" Eri shouted at the mask-wearing assailant. She stood up quickly, facing off with the unknown person. "Why do you keep on attacking me!?"
The perpetrator lunged forward at her in an amateur manner. Eri quickly grabbed the arm from the wrist and twisted it behind the aggressor's back. She quickly removed the mask and revealed an 18-year-old man.
Umi immediately parked her motorbike on the side and ran towards the blonde. "Eri! Are you okay?"
"My car isn't, but yeah," she answered and kicked the assailant's leg to make him kneel. "I'll just… handcuff this person and take him to the station."
"Alright." Umi was about to turn her phone off when the young man looked at her. "What?"
"She's not gonna live, you know?" he told her with remorse in his eyes. "She's not gonna see the next sunshine."
"What?" Umi and Eri looked at him. "Explain yourself!"
"She's not gonna live," the male answered and kept on mumbling the same words over and over again. Umi was feeling another sense of déjà vu. This couldn't be right. Everything was perfect.
"Mother, where is Kaimu going?" 19-year-old Umi asked her mother innocently, as if doing that would get her more information on what would happen.
"She's just going to get some help," Mrs. Sonoda answered with a solemn smile. "Hope things would be okay."
Umi nodded. Kaimu was going to be sent into an asylum. They had found all sorts of cult stuff inside her room as well as odd marks on her wrists and arms. It wasn't doing anyone good. But Umi knew that those books were research on how to murder a person.
Those cuts were accidents that happened when her victim's tried to escape her.
Eyes opened slowly. At first it was a blur then everything became clear. Every wall was made of rocks. She tried to move her arm but they were shackled on top of her head, connected to a metal chain from the ceiling. She tried to move her back, but it was on what seemed to be a surgical table positioned vertically. She moved her legs, but they were chained to the ground.
She looked to her left and saw a blue haired female with hair that seemed to be near to Umi's hair color wearing her lab coat. She moved her hands again, making noises. The female turned to look at her. She tried to talk, but her mouth was taped shut.
"Why hello there, pretty stuff," Kaimu spoke in a provocative tone, but more fearful than anything else. "Welcome to my laboratory."
Gold eyes looked into her green eyes. They were the eyes of a murderer.
"Umi-chan, the other transmitter stopped at an old factory about 35km away from you," Hanayo spoke into her earpiece. Umi put her phone on speakerphone. "Who did you give the second transmitter to?"
Umi swallowed and gripped her phone tighter as she looked at the blinking red dot of the second transmitter's location on her phone. It was a recently abandoned operating facility from a hospital that closed last year.
"Kotori. I put it on Kotori."
Kaimu put a long metallic rod into the fire and looked at it forlornly. "Umi-chan's tastes never fail to amaze me."
"Umi-chan?" Kotori wondered. "What does Umi-chan have to do with this?"
"You know, I had fun with Angela. Like, tons and tons of fun, but she fucking wanted to break up with me." Kaimu lifted the metallic rod from the fire. It was a swastika patterned iron rod. "That's a piece of shit, don't you think?"
"You have to sympathize with the perpetrator. You're trained to deal with this, Kotori, you can do it." Unknowingly, she nodded in empathy to her situation.
"Of course, you would think that! You're a piece of shit too, aren't you!" Kaimu quickly dropped the iron rod into water as it smoked. Without blinking, she slapped Kotori across the face. "That's probably what you do with Umi-chan, isn't it?"
"Umi-chan? I couldn't, there's no such thing—" She shook her head vigorously.
"Oh reaaaalllly?" The green-eyed female asked with a sinister smile. She turned her back to Kotori again and put the iron rod into the smouldering fire again. "Do you think she's gonna come for you?"
Kotori looked at her shackled feet. No one would've known she was here. Umi had her hands full with just caring for Eri. She might… she might not.
"Eri… I… I nee—"
"You can't. We have to wait for back up, Umi." Eri looked at her in reprimand. "You will die in there."
Umi stared at her phone and made a run for her Ducati. Without thinking twice, she put her helmet on and sped up to the location.
"Umi!" Eri sighed and looked at the direction Umi left through. "You looked like you were a vampire who got her mate taken. Are you finally gonna tell her?" she thought with a smile, her hand tightening its grip on a ring she has kept tied to the chain of her car keys. "Don't be too late now."
Sonoda Umi sped through the counter flow of the main road, barely dodging cars. She caught the hospital in sight and noticed a few members of a gang standing guard outside the premise.
She turned the bike to one side, leaving skid marks onto the ground and pulled it upward into a jump. She dropped the heavy motorbike onto the three guards and hopped off her motorcycle. She landed with a forward roll and took out her gun tucked safely in her gun holster positioned behind her jeans.
"Sonoda-san, there's an intruder outside." A male of around 22 intruded into the room where Kotori was being held in.
"Oh, just let her in," Kaimu answered with a smile. She looked at Kotori and grinned. "It must be Umi-chan."
Umi walked around the hospital, staring and pointing guns at men staring and pointing guns at her. She found it odd how they weren't shooting at her. Just… staring. "What are you planning, Kaimu?"
After a while, she tucked her gun into her back, as the men did likewise. "What?" She walked around the large abandoned hospital, following her instincts on wherever they would take her. At the end of the hall was the operating room with its light turned to red.
She quickly ran towards the place and kicked open the door.
"Kotori!" She looked around and saw Kaimu's back, busily doing something on a table. "Kaimu!" She called her name with anger.
"See what I told you?" Kaimu looked at Kotori again and pulled out a 6 inch knife from the table's drawer. "It was Umi-chan."
Kotori moved her arms in protest. She looked at Umi. She tried her best to move, to get her to look at her, just this once. She needed to escape. This woman was dangerous. "Umi-chan…!"
"Kaimu, let her go. You want me, right?" Umi spoke in a serious tone. "Let. Her. Go."
"No. Why would I do that? Do you think I'm crazy? I still haven't had my fun," Kaimu answered nonchalantly. She slowly sliced an inch off the skirt Kotori was wearing, making it shorter and, at the same time, leaving a thin slice on soft white skin.
"Kaimu!" Umi prepared to take out her gun, but two guns were pointed at her head from gang men standing behind her. Her attention was too hung up on Kotori that she didn't notice them. "Damn it."
"Not so fast, Umi-chan. Now drop your gun~" Sonoda Kaimu spoke in a sing-song voice. "I am surprised though. I didn't know you would find her before I had my fun. What a big booboo on my part."
"That's none of your business," Umi answered with a frown. The two men took her gun from her belt and pushed her shoulders downward, making her kneel. "Let her go, Kaimu."
"No~ I'm going to have fun with her." Kaimu smiled and sliced another inch off the skirt. "Right in front of you."
Umi swallowed and gritted her teeth. She needed to do something. She looked at her periphery. This man on her right kept a spare gun on his belt. She could use it to free Kotori. She could shoot the chains and the shackles.
Kotori looked at Umi who was staring back at her. She shook her head. She wanted her to run. But Umi only looked at her. It was calming, Umi's eyes, looking right into her own. They were the most calming thing in her life.
"I had a hard time, you know?" Kaimu started to babble. "I really, really thought it was Blondie." She looked at her knife. "But after talking to you three days ago, things were made clear to me. There might be someone else."
Kotori looked confusingly into Umi's eyes. "No, don't looked confused, Kotori. Focus on me. You have to run."
"So I found out whoever it was. It was soooo hard to dig through," Kaimu said and traced a finger on the knife, injuring herself. "You kept her from me."
"Yes. I did," Umi answered her with conviction. "As long as you existed in this world, I would've kept it all hidden."
"All hidden? What?" Kaimu started laughing. "THAT YOU LO—"
"SHUT UP!" Umi quickly pivoted and elbowed the man to her right straight in the stomach. She pulled out the gun from his belt, unlocked the safety, and shot the shackles on Kotori's left hand. She shot and aimed for Kotori's other shackle, but a gang man's knee connected with her arm, making the bullet miss.
Umi dodged an incoming kick from the man by ducking, but Kaimu came lunging at her with a knife slicing her left bicep. Umi rolled onto the ground and grabbed a nearby rock. She threw it at the man, hitting him on the head. She jumped from the ground and lunged at his chest, knocking him out. Right at the same time, searing pain soared through her left shoulder.
She fell forward onto her knees as her arm bled. She looked over her right shoulder and watched Kaimu smile at her.
"You don't know how long I've waited to kill you, Umi-chan." She walked closer to her. Umi remained in her position. Kaimu kicked her on the right abdomen, sending her to the ground rolling. Umi ended up just below Kotori's feet. She coughed a little bit of blood, but she looked at Kotori with a smile.
"What are you smiling at, you piece of shit!?" Kaimu walked angrily at Umi and stepped on her left shoulder, making a gush of blood smear the cemented ground. Umi let out a loud cry of pain, her right arm trying its best to lift the leg stepping on her. "I've loved you alllll my life, but you said I was just a sister to you. I loved you so much that I want to kill you now, hehehe." She pointed the gun at Umi's face.
"Kaimu, stop." Umi grunted as she tried to lift the foot on her shoulder. "Kaimu!"
Kaimu's grip onto the gun's trigger was tight. She would pull it. She definitely would. "I love you, Umi-cha—"
As if on cue, the loud bang of a gun silenced the whole room. The bullet grazed Umi's ear as Kaimu dropped dead to the ground.
Rin, Hanayo, medics and a few more policemen stormed into the room as Eri looked in awe, gun in hand, smoke coming out of it.
"Kotori-nya!" Rin rushed over to Kotori and unshackled her hands and feet. "I'm glad you're okay!"
"Umi-chan!" As if failing to see anyone else before her, Kotori rushed towards Umi's side and touched her cheek. "Umi-chan! Umi-chan?"
"Yeah… yeah, I'm… fine." Umi closed and opened her eyes. Everything was getting blurry. "I'm… I'm glad you're safe… Kotori."
"Umi-chan!" Kotori cradled her face in her hands as never ending tears flowed from her eyes. "Umi-chan! Umi-chan, you have to stay awake! You can't close your eyes!"
"I'm… sorry…"
Nico opened the door to the bar and looked at the counter. There was no bartender in sight. It was still early in the afternoon and the bar wasn't open to customers yet, so she expected that. She scanned the place for a sign of the red-haired bartender.
Her eyesight settled on the hair on the table at the farthest corner of the place. Her head was resting on top of folded arms resting on the table. There were a few glasses beside her. Nico frowned and walked, stomping over to the table.
"Maki," she spoke firmly. She shook her shoulder.
"What?" came the disgruntled reply. Nico winced at the smell of alcohol from her mouth.
"You smell like liquor."
"Who cares?"
Nico sighed then sat beside her. "What's wrong?"
"Whatever," Maki answered, waving one hand at her as if signaling for her to go away.
Against her will, Nico took Maki's arm and put it around her shoulder. "I'll take you home. Let's go."
"Go awaaaay." Maki pushed her, teary violet eyes stabbing her emotions. "I can't go home."
"Maki—" The red headed female removed her arm from her shoulder and grabbed a bottle of rum from the ground.
She drank it in one swig. In another, and a third—
"Stop!"
"No!" Maki pushed her away. "Let me be." Violet eyes stared at the bottle of rum.
"Maki—"
"It may be my last, anyway." She took one last swig and stood up. She set the bottle on the table.
Then she walked out the door.
(A Glass Shaped Heart/END)
A/N: Wassap with dat Maki-chan!?
P.S. Also, I apologize if it feels a little rushed. I'm brain dead and I wanted this chapter out as soon as possible before I forget it. There were a lot of things I wanted to execute with this chapter, but bah, who knows, I kept on changing my mind as I write. LOLOLOL Hmm, I also do not think that this was the best outcome for this chapter but... let's see. :D
