Chapter 7: Thriller
Akihiko Sanada wasn't that experienced on the romance front, he had to admit. He was too withdrawn, too dedicated to whatever professional label was foisted on him—boxer, cop, both made incredible demands on his time—and the women who were drawn to him weren't that interesting. Sad to say that was true of this woman's friend. Risette. The Risette. Wasn't too often you bumped into an idol at random, not even in a city. There had to be more to Risette if she was friends with this woman, Saki, but he didn't see it in the bar with the giggling and the teasing. Saki seemed different, Saki was different, for reasons other than the ones evident now. She was quiet, she was thoughtful, and everything his friends had said about her was true. She understood people on a much deeper level than regular folks could. And, yeah, she was cute. A bit masculine in her appearance and in her voice, but she was cute, and a damn good kisser. A pity it had to end with—
"What?"
"His remains. I need to get to his remains."
"The hell do you need to do that for?"
"Because...this will sound crazy, but..." She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, then proceeded: "About...eight or nine years ago I met a woman, named Elizabeth, who told me to find everyone the boy had 'bonded' with, and that when I had done so I should find where he rested, to possibly perform a miracle."
"You're right; that does sound crazy." He sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know anyone named Elizabeth."
"I doubt you would. She's from the Velvet Room. I was the only one in my group who could access it. I assume he was the only one in your group who could, too." She rose to her feet. "This makes no sense to you."
"I wouldn't say that..." he said thoughtfully. The part about her needing to get his remains? Yes, that made no sense to him. The Velvet Room, and Minato being the only one who could access it? He remembered that name, remembered breaching the subject with Minato and Aigis, remembered being there, once, when the battle against their despair was done. "All things considered, it's a hard place to forget," he said, standing up and moving in front of her. She stared back at him, confused. "It's a room that looks like an elevator, right?"
"No...it was a limo. There was a man there with a long nose, named Igor. He had an assistant named Margaret. Elizabeth's sister. Elizabeth was there before, but she left."
"Then it looked different for you than it did to us. But the long nosed creep was there, and the woman, too. Elizabeth, I guess. Blonde woman, short hair?"
Saki nodded. "You've been there before?"
"It's a long story. So you're saying this woman Elizabeth told you to go to find his remains?"
"To go where he rests. I think she meant to his remains."
"Right." He reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Ever been to one of those interactive grave sites? They store the remains underneath the building, and all you need to do is use a card to pull them up. There's one in Iwatodai City, run by the Kirijo Group. Mitsuru's company. She let his family store his remains there as a courtesy. I'm calling her now." He pressed the button to pull up her number on speed dail and lifted the phone to his ear. "And by the way," he added, "I'm driving you there, and I'm driving you in handcuffs."
---
He placed the handcuffs on her when they were inside the car. She didn't protest, just sat in the passenger's seat silently, staring at the windshield.
Mitsuru had sounded as confused and appalled as he felt. She caved when he explained this woman was getting her orders from the Velvet Room, though the suspicion was still audible. That was all right. He was suspicious, himself. That's why she was in handcuffs. He doubted she was going to put up much of a fuss—she wasn't, now—but you never know. She could use multiple personae. Perhaps his handcuffs were useless.
He glanced at her occasionally as they drove to the graveyard. She looked pale in the light of the full moon, her hair color (or lack thereof) and dark clothes adding to the pallor. She remained as silent as she had been when the trip began, staring out at the windshield with a sickly-looking serenity. The silence weighed on him. "Look, I'm only doing this as a precaution," he said. "I know strange things can happen. Hell, I've dealt with it being on the force, but you can never be certain about anything. Once we get there and prove you aren't trying to hurt us or steal...I'll let you out of the cuffs, all right?"
She smirked, still staring at the windshield.
"What?" he asked, noticing her expression.
She said nothing, but the bemused (and somewhat fond) smirk remained.
---
Mitsuru was waiting for them in the lobby when they arrived. She had obviously dressed in a rush, her hair loose and disheveled, her face free of make-up and her clothes simple. Akihiko wasn't sure why he was looking back and forth between the two women (or, rather, he had an idea, and thought the truth too frivolous to acknowledge), but noticed Mitsuru was doing this as well, staring at Saki, staring at him, as if she couldn't figure out if one was a threat, as if she couldn't figure out what the other meant to her. "So you said someone from the Velvet Room sent you on this mission," she said, keeping her eyes fixed on Saki, who nodded. "Can we trust her?" she asked Akihiko.
"Your guess is as good as mine," he replied.
"I have to say, it doesn't make sense that she would want to steal his remains. For what purpose? Ransom?"
"I didn't have that in mind, but you do head the Kirijo Group," said Saki. Mitsuru and Akihiko both looked at her, Mitsuru with irritation, Akihiko with surprise. He had the impression that Saki had sworn off talking.
"And what exactly did you have in mind?" asked Mitsuru.
Saki shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
"This isn't the time for jokes, Seta-san."
"I wasn't joking. About the ransom, I was, but I...I have no idea what's going to happen next. So if you want him to take me to jail, or shoot me, tell him to do it now. Otherwise, please. Take me to his remains. I want this over with as much as you do."
Mitsuru looked between Saki and Akihiko as she had before, this time with apprehension and uncertainty. "Follow me," she said.
---
The urn was placed inside an office of one of this building's administrators. Akihiko still had Saki in handcuffs. She wasn't protesting, and hadn't said anything on the way up, not even when Akihiko had asked her if she was all right. Mitsuru had directed a glance in their direction then, but in the dim light it was hard to read her expression. Saki, on the other hand, kept her eyes on the ground with the same far-away look she had in the car. Her eyes were on the urn, now, the far-away look long gone. Now she just looked afraid. Akihiko had to fight to keep his grip on her arm from doing more than holding her in place. She didn't need his protection. He knew that much based on her abilities, and he could feel the muscle underneath the clothes that made her look so deceptively thin. She might not be a trained professional, but she could break free and kick his ass if she chose to. So she didn't need his protection; but fear wasn't a good look on her.
"What are you going to do?" Mitsuru asked. She was standing behind the desk, arms folded across her chest and hips swayed in one direction. Her usual stance, the one that said she always meant business, but tonight it wasn't as authoritative. She was tired and uncertain and unsure what was going on and how to handle it.
"I have no idea," was Saki's reply. She looked to Akihiko, and he felt his grip slip into that protective, comforting gesture he told himself not to make. Her lips thinned into a concerned line, and she nodded, a gesture that reminded him so much of Minato—a gesture a leader would give to his, her, subordinate, a silent command to let go and let her proceed alone. He looked to Mitsuru, as if she could give him another command, but her face was just as uncertain as before.
He let go of Saki's arm.
She walked forward, hands still in the cuffs, to the desk where the urn was. Akihiko said nothing, but felt his hand move towards his gun. Gingerly, Saki opened the urn, placed the lid on the desk, and stared inside. She had told him she might perform a miracle. What was that? Would Minato pop out of the urn as if the cremation process had been reversed? Unlikely, but unlikelier things had happened. He watched in silence, waiting for her to do more than stare into the urn. He was starting to wonder, again, if she was crazy. Mitsuru was starting to lose her patience. "Well?" she asked. Saki looked up to her. As he was standing behind her, Akihiko could not see her expression.
Without warning, she picked up the urn and dumped its contents on the desk.
Mitsuru and Akihiko both cried out in unison. Saki disregarded them. She touched the remains just briefly, then jumped back, into Akihiko, who had rushed forward to grab her arm. "What the hell...?" He couldn't finish his question, because he caught sight of the desk, the remains...that were moving, morphing, connecting...
"Oh my god."
The process probably took only a few seconds. Watching it felt longer, much longer. They barely registered what they were seeing until the process was complete, and Minato's body was left sprawled out on the desk.
---
Saki sat in the hallway in her unladylike manner, hands dropped between her legs. She stared at the floor, secretly proud of herself. She hadn't had a single thought in the last few minutes, had finally ended the litany of how much she hated hospitals. Now she could focus on falling into an oblivion where the hospital that surrounded her did not exist.
It was daybreak outside. Rise was probably wondering where she was. She sighed, pulling her head back to rest on the wall, feeling tired for the first time during this entire ordeal. She noticed someone sit next to her out the corner of her eye. Akihiko, probably.
"Hey."
Akihiko definitely.
"You all right?"
Saki nodded, once. It could've been a yes, could've been her beating her head against the wall.
"They said he's gonna be fine. Hell, said he doesn't have to stay in the hospital."
"That's good. I hate hospitals." The last part she spat out against her better intentions.
"Heh. Don't we all?" He paused. She looked over to him; he was staring at his hands. "Need a ride back?" he asked, looking up at her. She shook her head.
"You've helped enough already. Don't you need a ride back, too?"
He scratched the back of his head. "I guess I do," he said with a laugh. She offered a very weak, tired grin. He'd probably take the train if he didn't ride back with her. Either way, once they separated they'd probably never see each other again, unless he became a patient. A shame.
"Another thing," said Akihiko. "Minato, he...he really wants to speak to you. Can you do that before you leave?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Ah, you wanna do that now or..."
She stood up. "Take me to him."
---
They were right: for all that he had been dead for over a decade, he was looking remarkably healthy. Dissheveled, yes. She supposed that's how you looked when you came out of an urn. "Hi," she said, crossing over to the side of his bed with a small smile. It wasn't returned. She took no offense.
"You're the one I told to get up, aren't you?" he said. She blinked out of surprise.
"...yes. That was me." Beat. "And I thank you for that."
"And you're the one who revived me."
"I'm not sure I can take credit for that."
"It was Elizabeth's idea, wasn't it?" He seemed sad. She frowned, but nodded.
"You knew her."
Minato nodded. "I think that she...I'm not sure why, but I think that she..."
Saki reached out for one of his hands. "Whatever she did, she did for you. Just like you did for me."
"I never put myself in your place." He stared down to their hands, and she felt something sink into her stomach: a realization that she had not considered before. If Minato no longer was the seal...
"Hey, listen." She extended her other hand, covering both theirs. "I told you she did this for you. So you could live. I knew her sister. She told me about you, said her sister had left the Velvet Room to save you. That she would do the same for me if necessary. I guess they know, for all we sacrificed, it wasn't fair to ask us to sacrifice our lives."
"But I chose to be the seal. I chose to die."
"And Elizabeth chose to save you."
Minato lifted his gaze to hers. He had been holding back tears. Saki couldn't even begin to comprehend what he was going through. Extreme survivor's guilt? Was he angry and thinking Elizabeth had invalidated all he had done? Analyzing him was useless. All she had was sympathy. "I'm sorry you lost your friend," she said, "but I think she did what she did so you could finally know what it was like to live."
And as Saki looked at him in earnest, pressing his hand between both of hers, she had to wonder: would anyone on this Earth do that for her?
---
Minato had gone with Saki because Saki had little history with him. She hadn't been his friend, hadn't been his lover. There would be no awkward tension between her and Minato, no regrets that would color the way she treated him. Of course, Minato was not entirely free from the supervision of his old friends, or, rather, an old friend, but that was a detail Yosuke didn't need to know. And it was over.
She was feeling tipsy. Yosuke had cleared one glass. She stared at him indirectly, wondering how long it would take for him to get drunk. She kicked back the rest of her glass, her third of the night, certain Yosuke appreciated the lull in conversation. He had spent it ruminating over what she had said. She could see his mind working to comprehend it, see him trying to think of something to say. All he came up with was, "Just...wow." He fell into silence again, then asked, "Why didn't you tell Naoto?"
"Because I don't want to get arrested."
"That Sanada guy—I mean, Akihiko. He didn't arrest you, did he?"
"He's not Naoto Shirogane," Saki said, looking away from Yosuke, staring at her watch. She sighed. It was late. "I should go home." She reached for the bottle she had been drinking, shooting Yosuke a concerned look. "I'd appreciate if you kept this private."
Yosuke nodded. "You got it."
"You promise?"
He leaned forward, extending his hand, placing it on top of hers. "Yeah, I promise," he said. That would have been her cue to leave, to offer him a smile before she got up and walked away, but the simple gesture made moving impossible. Her eyes were locked on his, and she had to ask herself just what was she here for again? To tell him about Minato? Suddenly, too suddenly, she pulled her hand away, toppling the bottle over. Thank goodness the top was secured. She grabbed the bottle neck again, pushed her seat back and rose to her feet, rubbing her forehead. Yosuke followed suit, standing up and looking awkward for all she could tell through the hand obscuring part of her view.
"I'll see you later, okay?" she said quickly.
"Yeah."
She grinned, still rubbing her forehead, and let him open the door for her on the way out. She took a decent sip from the bottle once she stood outside the building. But damn, it had been a long year, what with adopting an undead teenager and falling in love with his old upperclassman. And it was over, all because of the man she had left up in his apartment wondering what that awkward moment was about. So many exes had their theories about her and Yosuke Hanamura, Akihiko Sanada included. Maybe they had a point, as much as she didn't want to admit it. Problem was, after the year she had, if she didn't figure out how she felt about Yosuke, she'd be damned for life.
She didn't want to be hung up on two men instead of one.
