"Oh, you got roped into this too?" Okazaki asked Sagara Misae as she stood to the side, petting her tomcat as it took up residence in her arms.
"The bunch from the rugby club invited me," she said. "I had some time, so I wanted to hear what it's like."
He pondered this as he saw Tomoyo close in on them.
"Would you be Sagara Misae san," Tomoyo began with a note of excitement, "the dorm parent of the boys' dorm?"
"Yes, I am," Misae replied with a blink.
"I'm Sakagami Tomoyo," she said by way of introduction, hand on her chest and a serious look on her face. "A junior. I'm familiar with the rumors about you. You were a legendary student council president, and you're now working as a dorm parent."
"You're exaggerating," Misae replied with a laugh, waving it off. "It was nothing like that." She addressed her cat. "Right?"
It mewed in agreement.
"I'm aiming to become the student council president as well," Tomoyo said. "May I visit you to ask for advice in the near future?"
"I can't give you much in the way of advice," Misae replied. "If you're okay with that, come anytime you like."
"Misae san!" roared some rugby members from the crowd as one; it appeared that they had forced some of the other students to move out of the way. "We reserved a seat for you!"
"See you," Misae said to Tomoyo before walking off to join the rugby players.
Okazaki watched her go for a moment then looked at Tomoyo.
She turned to him. "You have my gratitude, Okazaki," she confessed with a triumphant smile. "Thank you for inviting me to this recital." She too ran off to join the crowd. "Later," she called behind her.
He shook his head with a small smile. He supposed tracking her down hadn't been wasted effort after all.
"Okazaki san?" a familiar voice called out from a group of new arrivals.
"Sanae san," Okazaki replied evenly as he turned to the source of the voice. She wore a beatific smile, as seemed normal for her. "Akio san," he addressed the smirking man beside her. "How'd you get roped into this?"
"I invited them," Furukawa stated, walking up to them with a smile that matched her mother's.
"Of course," Okazaki replied warily. He still remembered his last visit with them. The thought of the heights of inanity they might reach in a public spot like this admittedly amused him, though he suspected he might end up bearing the brunt of it. He thought about it further and decided it would be worth the price of admission.
"We can't stay away after being invited by our daughter," Akio said.
"We couldn't come for the Founder's Festival," Sanae said as they all took seats in the crowd, "so we wanted to make it today."
Okazaki thought about this.
"Ah, there's Kotomi chan," Furukawa pointed out glibly as the person in question walked toward the impromptu stage.
Kotomi was flanked by the Fujibayashi sisters, and held the violin in her arms protectively.
Furukawa began making her way to the stage.
"She's a cute girl," Sanae enthused.
"Not as cute as our daughter," Akio said confidently.
Okazaki bit back a reply, annoyed at himself for needing to do so.
"Alright," Kyou exclaimed, waving her arms to get everyone's attention. "Thank you all for coming."
"Look, she made me buy these," one of the students from earlier observed, holding a cheap pair of earplugs.
"Me, too," lamented another. "For three hundred yen."
Okazaki sighed and rolled his eyes.
"So you know," Kyou stated as she glared at the crowd, "the earplugs are your last resort. There will be penalties waiting for the spineless wimps who use them early."
Okazaki shook his head at the blatent display of mercantilism even as an amused smile wormed its way onto his face.
"Kotomi chan," added Fujibayashi, "your introduction to everyone."
"...Uh? ...Y-Yes," Kotomi breathed after a moment's confusion.
'She seems nervous,' Okazaki thought to himself. It was endearing, he noted with irritation.
"...Um, my name is Ichinose Kotomi. A senior in Class A. My hobby is reading books. Thank you for coming today." She bowed, and Okazaki blinked. They had been working on more than just her violin skill, it seemed.
"Well said," Kyou declared proudly. "Everyone, a round of applause." There was muted clapping from the crowd.
Okazaki added his own clap.
"What's with the lame clapping?" Kyou growled out. "Give me more noise!" The crowd erupted into loud, if somewhat frightened cheering.
"She's a pretty good MC," Akio said, stroking his chin.
Kotomi handed her violin to Fujibayashi and worked her way onto the bench they had brought out for the event.
"Here's the first piece of the day," Kyou announced after Kotomi had ascended.
The younger Fujibayashi handed Kotomi her violin, and Kotomi brought the violin up to play. Furukawa and Fujibayashi started a tempo for Kotomi to play to.
Kotomi's liturgy of oblivion shattered the afternoon like a freight train through a plate glass window. There was wailing and gnashing of teeth as the eardrums of the onlookers succumbed. A street lamp nearby gave in to the onslaught and shattered, raining glass down on the cement.
Sunohara screamed as he ran at Tomoyo in a daze, his plea of "Help me!" doing nothing to save him from a savage series of kicks from Tomoyo.
"What do you think you're doing," Tomoyo yelled over Kotomi's threnody, "taking advantage of the situation?!"
Sunohara landed in a heap, the first casualty of the day.
"Puhi, puhi," said a dazed Botan as it crawled from the bushes, the sound of Kotomi's violin an equal opportunity antagonizer.
"What is this violin?!" cried Misae with her hands pressed tight against her ears as her tomcat made its way to Botan, driven by some inner strength to be there for the ailing animal. It bumped into Botan, also dazed.
"Puhi puhi puhi," lamented Botan.
"Meow," cried the cat weakly.
"Puhi," agreed Botan, and they collapsed synchronously.
"Akio san," Sanae breathed weakly in Akio's arms, eyes unfocused. "I don't think I can last any longer."
"Sanae..." Akio pled. "Hang in there, Sanae." He clutched her to his chest. "Sanae!"
Okazaki massaged his temples. Why did Kotomi's violin make everyone so melodramatic?
-0-
The performance finished to the relief of everyone involved, except for Kotomi whom seemed to be sad that it had ended. The nominal staff of the event walked toward the school grounds exit, with Furukawa and Kotomi well ahead of the rest of the group while Kyou and her younger sister followed a bit behind Okazaki.
"Looks like everything made it through in one piece," Fujibayashi said.
"Although we had fatalities in the audience," Kyou replied.
"You played the last song really well," Furukawa said, not a trace of guile to be found. "My dad said it was good, too."
And, compared to what had come before, it had been good. However, and Okazaki would never say it aloud, it had been a spectacularly low bar.
"He said he hasn't seen a breathtaking stage performance like this in a while," Furukawa continued.
He couldn't help a small smile at the pun. Breathtaking indeed.
"...So glad," Kotomi breathed. "I'm happy."
He smiled wider. Well, it had been worth it, then.
A man in a black trench coat, hat, and sunglasses came out from behind some trees near the exit as they walked. Okazaki narrowed his eyes, smile gone. Whoever he was, he was making a beeline for the two girls in front of him.
Kotomi noticed him and immediately fled behind Furukawa, trembling.
That clinched it for Okazaki. He crouched down.
Kyou blinked. "Huh? Who-"
There were just over twelve meters between Okazaki and the man in the black trench coat. Okazaki leapt forward. 320 kilograms of protective cyborg covered ten meters in under a second. The two remaining meters slowed Okazaki down and put him between the man and Furukawa. The man's eyes widened in shock.
They widened more when Okazaki's right hand wrapped around his neck. He could hear Kotomi murmuring something about the bad guy as she hid behind Furukawa petrified with fear. Okazaki narrowed his eyes and lifted, just a little. Enough that the man touched ground with only his toes.
The urge to just squeeze, to let his hand crush the man's head off his own neck as like toothpaste from a tube was strong, and only restrained by the present company.
"Okazaki san!" exclaimed Furukawa.
The Fujibayashi twins caught up with Okazaki. The younger of the two rushed to Kotomi's aid. Kyou stared at Okazaki with shock, mirrored by the now red faced man whom clawed at Okazaki's arm futilely, seeking respite from Okazaki's mechanical strength.
"Urk," exclaimed the man, whom wore a business suit under his getup.
Okazaki judged him to be in his late forties to early fifties. "Take Kotomi chan home for me, would you?" he requested tonelessly.
"...What are you going to do to him?" Kyou asked, doubtlessly remembering what he had told her in the theater club room. She had remarked that he was talking as if he had killed someone.
Okazaki hadn't denied it. He sighed.
"That depends," Okazaki admitted. "Please. Go." The group was silent behind him for a few moments as they looked from Okazaki and the man, to each other, the deathly seriousness of the situation becoming more apparent with each second. He could see Kyou nod after a few seconds.
"Tomoya," Kyou called to him. "...I hope you know what you're doing."
"I do," Okazaki said.
They walked away with Kotomi in tow, the frequent glances from each of them as they left the scene staying Okazaki's hand that much longer. When he could no longer see them, he let the man down. The man panted for a few moments.
"You," he coughed. "You have the wrong idea."
"Walk with me, old man," Okazaki commanded, slipping a hand into his school uniform. The movie business had made the sound of a gun being cocked ubiquitous; even though he didn't have a gun on his person in the traditional sense, he could still simulate the sound by swapping an Allen Wrench for a larger one in the toolbox that was his hand.
The effect on the man as he did so was obvious; behind the sunglasses the man's eyes had widened again.
-0-
Okazaki regarded the man as they walked. He seemed... Harmless. Nebbish, even. The sort of person that wouldn't hurt a fly. Outward appearances were deceiving of course; he knew that he himself looked reasonably inoffensive, but was capable of great evils. And the reaction that Kotomi had to him was one that only someone whom had been deeply traumatized could have.
He suspected child molestation, which would likely lead to a summary execution on his part, damn the consequences. Having spared him this long however, he wouldn't do so without being sure.
He led the man into the middle of the city. There were people on the street, but at that hour the afternoon rush had already happened, and the evening rush had yet to occur. One could have a frank discussion and not have to worry too much about being overheard. More importantly, it was an open area, which was perfect for added... Insurance.
"Sit," Okazaki commanded as he motioned with his free hand to a bench in front of the town square plaza. The man, whom looked more confused than frightened at this point, did as he was told as he rubbed the growing bruise on his neck.
"Green apartment building, roof. Mitsui Garden Hotel, third floor, last window to the right. McDonalds, roof," Okazaki stated quietly.
The man looked at each in turn, and each time saw a figure appear as if out of thin air, each holding something that looked to be some sort of weapon. They waved at him as he looked on and disappeared again. The man gulped, wide eyed and jaw clenched.
Okazaki removed his hand from his jacket and sat down beside the man. "You are being watched," he said in a quiet, emotionless voice. "If you move from that seat, you will find your life expectancy can be measured in seconds. If I don't like the answers to your questions, the same applies. If you lie to me, I will know and again, it will have detrimental effects on your continued ability to draw air. Do I make myself clear?"
"...Perfectly," the man replied with a tremor in his voice.
"Good," Okazaki said. "Let's proceed then. State your name and occupation."
"...Shusaku Yonai, administrator at Riken Accelerator Research Facility," he replied.
Okazaki frowned and looked the name up on the internet in his head. The name and the face matched. On a hunch, he dug a little further, cross referencing 'Ichinose' with the results and finding that Yonai and Kotomi's parents had worked together on a number of projects. He'd been an assistant at that time however; it seemed he had risen considerably in the ranks since then.
"Interesting," Okazaki said. "I suppose you play Go then?"
Yonai's eye twitched irritatedly to complement his fearful expression.
Okazaki suspected he had struck a nerve, and he allowed himself a small smirk. "You worked with Kotomi's parents, I note."
Yonai blinked in surprise at that, and regarded Okazaki with a raised eyebrow.
"You look surprised," Okazaki said with a small smile. "Don't be. As I said, I will know if you lie to me. The 'how' is not important, just accept that I will."
Yonai looked down at his hands as he pondered that.
Okazaki continued. "I suppose that explains how you know her. However, it doesn't explain why she addressed you as a bad guy."
Yonai looked down at the ground at hearing this, a morose frown on his face. "...I guess that's what we still are to her," he mused sadly.
"Explain," Okazaki commanded.
"...Alright," Yonai relented with a sigh. He appeared to think for a few seconds before he responded again. "...As you say, we worked with the Ichinose family at Riken. On a personal level, the Ichinoses were good friends, and I knew Kotomi kun from when she was little. You probably already know, but they made me her godfather."
Okazaki nodded in spite of not knowing the fact.
Yonai smiled a small, sad smile. "I was part of a team working with the Ichinose family at the time. They were working on a proof based on results from our experimentation at Riken. You see, what we can observe isn't the only universe. There is a realm that was shed and sealed away while this world was taking form. The hidden world. The Ichinoses were the first to find evidence of such a world. Or to be precise, they supposedly had."
"But then there was the crash," Okazaki said.
"That's right," Yonai said with a nod. "The Ichinoses were brilliant scientists. But they were also old fashioned. They did all of their papers by hand."
"Hm, so," Okazaki interrupted, "When the plane went down, their work went down with them. Am I following this correctly?"
"Just so," Yonai stated. "We thought perhaps there was a copy of the paper in the Ichinose residence. We went to retrieve it..." He paused and sighed. "You probably already know, but it was on Kotomi's birthday when the crash happened. They had promised to be there for her birthday, but due to an unexpected change in scheduling, the conference where they were to present their findings took place just after her birthday. The only flight that was available was the one that crashed." He shook his head. "I had thought that she would know what had happened. She had a housemaid that would have found out and explained. But the housemaid was ill at the time, so she never found out. Not until I had to tell her, had to explain it to her that her parents had died."
Okazaki frowned at that. It might explain why Kotomi seemed so afraid of Yonai. To hear news from someone like that at that age...
Yonai paused and sighed before continuing on in a tired voice. "I also asked about the paper. I found out later from her housemaid that she blamed me for taking her parents away. She also blamed the paper itself. I'm not sure of the details, but when we found her later on, she had set fire to... Something that would look to a child very much like a paper. There never was an extra copy however. Her parents had told us how she wanted a teddy bear for her birthday, and the paper she had burnt was a teddy bear catalog."
They were both silent after that.
Okazaki observed Yonai for any trace of guile, but could find none. He sighed. "Fair enough," he said at last. "In that event I must apologize for my treatment of you."
"I suppose I can't blame you for it," Yonai admitted with a sigh as he rubbed his neck. "It must have looked very suspicious."
"Exceedingly," Okazaki said with a shrug.
Yonai looked in the directions of Okazaki's covers.
"Oh yes," Okazaki said. "Don't worry about them. You're free to go."
Yonai sighed again and sunk back into the bench. "Ah, right." He rubbed his eyes. "...I have to ask though... Who are you? And what are your interests in Kotomi?"
"Me?" Okazaki replied innocently. "You would feel better not knowing who I am, honestly. As for my interests in Kotomi..." He paused, and allowed himself a sad smile. "She is my friend. And I will do what I can to protect her. As it so happens, that is quite a bit."
"I see," Yonai said after a few moments thought. "Will you pass on a message for me, then?"
"That depends on the message," Okazaki replied. "What is it?"
"Simply this," Yonai said. "I don't expect you to forgive us, but we still regret what happened that day."
"Hm." Okazaki regarded Yonai with suspiciously narrowed eyes for a moment then sighed. "Very well."
"I thank you for that," Yonai replied as he stood up. "I bid you a good day."
"Fare thee well," Okazaki replied in English.
-0-
Okazaki sat there in silence after Yonai left. The day darkened and turned to night, and still he sat. He watched the evening rush come and go, simply waiting. When midnight passed and still no police arrived, he figured that Yonai had not reported the incident and stood up. It was just as well, he decided.
Having the police involved would have likely complicated future matters, even if he could circumvent them to a degree. He shook his head. It had been a foolish risk to interrogate Yonai so openly though. He was still making mistakes like that when angered; he would have thought he would have learned not to by now. He had gotten lucky this time. He doubted he would again. With that in mind, he walked home to rest for the night.
-0-0-0-0-0-
A note from the author:
I'd like to apologize for my relative slowness in updating to this chapter, but I can't say I'll be any better in the near future because with college having started back up, things are going to ramp up very quickly and I probably won't have much time to write. I won't be leaving this to drift however, but it will probably be about a month before I update again.
I'll try to make it worth the wait.