Shh, it'll be fine, honeybunch
You got here just in time to see everything fall apart
I'm not upset at all
But it's sad to see that everybody knows
That I've been down in here before and maybe I could want it more
~ Vertigo - Marianas Trench
"Mashiro, would you please step out of the closet?" Rima looked down, avoiding Nagihiko's gaze and stepping out of the closet. She closed the closet door, and turned towards the police.
"Would you like to tell me why you barged into the closet? I was hiding there." She said, her face blank. The officers looked at each other, before one faced Rima to speak.
"A missing persons report was filed today by your mother. Apparently you've been missing from your father's care for the last week or so. Care to answer questions about that?"
"Nah, I'd rather not." Rima stated simply, shrugging her shoulders a bit. The police looked taken aback. Before they could speak, however, Nagihiko jumped into the conversation.
"If you want answers about Rima and why she's here, question her father first, not her." The older officer looked at him suspiciously, and then nodded, gesturing for the other to exit.
After the two teens heard the front door snapping shut tightly, Nagihiko took the small distance to Rima in two long strides, wrapping his arms around her. She squeezed him tightly, sniffling a tiny bit. "What do you think they'll find out?" Nagihiko ran his fingers through her hair, slightly brushing it.
"They could find out everything, or they could only learn a bit of it."
The police drove over to Takeshi's house, hopeful for some answers. Arriving at the house, they got out of the car and went up the front steps of the house. Knocking loudly on the door, Takeshi stumbled to answer the door. He opened the door, reeking of alcohol.
"Mashiro Takeshi?" Takeshi nodded slightly, looking confused. "We've come to ask you some questions regarding your daughter."
"I ain't answerin' no questions 'bout that bitch!" He yelled, slurring all his words together drunkenly.
"Sir, we must ask you a few questions about her." The police forced their way in and closed the front door.
"I TOLD YOU, I AIN'T ANSWERIN' NO QUESTIONS!" He exclaimed, waving his arms everywhere.
"Sir, we apologize, but we have to ask you these questions. Now, when did your daughter first leave?" The taller one asked.
"I dunno, sometime this month, I know tha' much. the beginning of her school's winter break, I think." He answered, sounding annoyed.
"Okay, and do you know why she left?" Thoughts ran through Takeshi's head: he knew exactly why Rima had left, but there was no way that he could tell the police. Even in his drunken state he knew that.
"Might've been teenage rebellion, couldn't tell you for sure." The police wrote his answers down on a notepad.
"Thank you for your time, sir. We'll be back later." The two officers left the house, and drove back to the Fujisaki manor.
Nagi continued to comfort Rima as she spilled out her tears. "Shh, it'll be fine, honeybunch." She lifted her head from his shoulder.
"Who're you to call me 'honeybunch'? I thought we went over this, no weird nicknames or whatever."
"Well, too bad, honeybunch. I'm calling you it anyway." He smirked.
"I'd prefer if you wouldn't. But all that aside, what are we telling the police? I don't want our stories to clash." Rima inquired.
"First things first: are we telling them about the abuse?" Nagi asked, letting go of her and sitting against the bed. Rima joined him, relaxing a bit and letting out a shaky breath.
"I don't know. I want to, but there's no evidence of it. Since I haven't been there, I haven't gotten any new bruises or cuts. There's no way they'd just believe two teenagers, and even with Kukai and his brothers, they still probably would only look into it."
"Good point... But we do still have your hospital bills. It's dated from when you left, and the injuries that the doctor checked out. That'd give us a chance." Nagihiko pointed out. Rima smiled small.
"That'll work for now. I say we tell them, and bring out the hospital bills later though. We'll also have to deal with your mother. She knows I was still in the house now."
"Ah, fuck. I forgot about her knowing." Nagihiko groaned. "I'll deal with her, don't worry. Go call Kukai, I'm going to get some food for us."
Nagihiko got up and walked into the kitchen, meanwhile Rima picked up Nagihiko's cell and called Kukai.
"Hello?" Kukai said into the phone.
"Hey, it's Rima."
"Hey, how're you?"
"Could be better. The police know I'm here, and went to question my father."
"What?! How did they find out?" Kukai exclaimed loudly.
"Missing persons report filed by my mother, I think."
"Okay, so what're you guys gonna do?" He asked, sounding concerned.
"Well, tell them the truth. What else is there to tell?" Rima covered the mouthpiece of the phone as Nagi walked back into the room with food. "What is that?"
"Stirfry. Are you talking to Kukai?" Rima nodded, and Nagi placed the food on the bed. "Gimme the phone, I wanna talk to him" Rima handed over the phone and grabbed a plate of stirfry. Stuffing her face, she listened to one half of the conversation. Nagihiko soon hung up the phone, and grabbed his plate of stirfry.
"So, once the police return to the house, we're going to tell them the truth about why you're here. We do have the hospital bills if we need them, and we also have Kukai and his brothers to back us up." Nagihiko explained.
"What about your mother? What are we going to say to her?" Rima asked, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. Nagihiko groaned, thinking for a moment.
"We'll have to tell her the truth." He picked up his plate, taking Rima's as well and taking them out to the kitchen.
"Nagihiko." His mother said, standing in the doorway. Nagihiko gulped a bit, and faced her.
"Yes, Mother?" Ayameko had a stern look on her face, looking a tad disappointed.
"Did Rima ever leave the house?" She asked.
"Uh, yes. She spent a few nights at Kukai's." Nagihiko answered truthfully.
"But she did continue to stay here, correct?" Nagihiko nodded. "Why didn't you just tell me?"
"... I'm not really sure of that. I guess I was a bit nervous about you sending her back to her father." With that, Nagihiko walked back to his room briskly, not wanting to continue discussing the topic with his mother.
Rima was on his phone, talking to someone. "Who you talking to, honeybunch?" He asked her. Covering the speaker, Rima told him that it was Amu. Nagihiko took the phone from Rima's grasp and started to talk to Amu.
"Hey Amu, whatcha up to?" Nagihiko casually conversed, while pushing Rima away from him.
"Nagihiko! I haven't talked to you in ages! Now, how long have you known about Rima?" Amu interrogated.
"Uh, I dunno. A month maybe? I had my suspicions before that though." Nagihiko said, looking at Rima to see if the time frame was right.
"Did everyone know before me?!" Amu shrieked, being heard past the phone. Nagihiko put her on speaker, and laid the phone on the bed.
"No, not everyone. Kukai and his brothers are the only others that even know." Nagihiko said to her calmly.
"Oh, well that makes me feel better." Amu said, sounding so sarcastic Rima actually cringed.
"Well, if you had been in town, and didn't have parents living in your house, maybe we would've reconsidered." Rima replied, sounding annoyed. Amu shouldn't be complaining, she was thinking. There was no need for her to even get involved with this whole thing, but Rima did want her best friend with her in this.
"Oh well. Whatever. Anyway, what do you two plan on telling the police?" She inquired, wondering how they were going to get out of it.
"Well, we haven't really decided it in stone but we do plan on telling the police about the abuse for sure. I mean, we're telling the truth. We're just hoping our case will make more sense than her drunk dad." Nagi said, rolling his eyes at the last part. Just after that, they heard the bell from the front door, and soon after, the sound of them being led to the bedroom. Rima quickly hung up on Amu, and moved over next to Nagi.
The officers barged in, an stood in the doorway for a second before announcing their presence. "Hello, we're here to ask you a few questions concerning Rima Mashiro."
"Well, which of us are you talking to? There's two of us in this room." Rima said, smirking small. The officer who had spoke looked at his partner.
"The one with long hair." The other one said. Rima and Nagihiko both laughed, being able to tell that the officer was joking. "But seriously, the one with dark hair first."
Nagihiko looked up at the officers, waiting for them to start questioning. "Without Mashiro in the room, if you would."
"Oh! Okay, Rima, go... somewhere." Rima looked at him with bewilderment.
"Do you think I know where somewhere is in this house?"
"Go to the music room." Nagihiko suggested, and Rima got up and left the room. She couldn't quite remember where the room was, but it couldn't be that hard to find. "Alright, so shoot. What is it you want to know?"
"How long have you known Mashiro Rima?"
"A few years."
"And how long has she been staying at your house?"
"Since winter break started. But she's also been staying at our friend Kukai's house."
"Okay, and why has she been staying here and there?"
"Because her father is a drunk divorced man who was treating his beautiful daughter like shit. He abused her for four years. Tell me that wouldn't lead you to running away."
"Trust me, it would. Now, why didn't you just alert the authorities or social services about this abuse?"
"Couldn't tell you, ask Rima that one. Next question please."
"Why was her staying here a secret?"
"How do you know that it was a secret?"
"We've already asked your mother questions, Fujisaki."
"Oh, well we were scared that after my mother found her the first time, that she would send her back to her house, so we devised a master plan of her switching between here and Kukai's house. Not so master after now, of course."
"Clearly not. Alright, that's the last of it. Could you go bring Mashiro in here, please?" Nagihiko nodded, and opened the door to find Rima standing there.
"Walk out." Nagi whispered, and followed her out of the room to down the hall. "Why were you eavesdropping, Rima?"
"Because." Nagi gave her a look, and Rima sighed. "I couldn't find the music room, so I found my way back here. I didn't hear any of your answers though."
"Even if you did, I don't really care. Now, let's head back to the room." They quickly walked back to the room and sat on the bed.
"Could we ask Mashiro the questions alone?" One of the officers asked.
"Why? I've already answered my questions, hers are going to end up matching up to mine." Nagi pointed out, to which the officers realised made sense, and started the questioning.
"How long have you been staying here, Mashiro?"
"Since break started."
"And why did you choose to stay here?"
"Well, he was the first one I told, and he offered, and even though I don't really like him, it was better than my house. Also, I've been staying at Kukai's house as well."
"Alright, and what exactly was it that you told him?" Rima took a deep breath, and shakily let it out.
"Well, two years ago, my parents got a divorce and at the time, my father was rather responsible and wasn't known for doing anything bad as far as everyone knew. But at that point my father had been occasionally abusing me and it got worse after the divorce. The days leading up to the break I had been given a beating worse than usual, and Nagihiko already had his suspicions about something, and I guess that kind of confirmed it."
"Why didn't you alert the authorities or social services?"
"Because I didn't want to get involved with anyone like that."
"Alright, thank you for your time. Could you please tell us the address of this Kukai person please?"
"Could we phone him first, to let you know that you're coming?" The police nodded, and Rima called him as Nagihiko gave the address. A few minutes later, the officers were out of the house, and on their way to Kukai's.
The two teenagers are then left in the room, but soon hear knocking on the door, and Ayameko enters. "Hello mother. You've met Rima, haven't you?"
"Why did she continue to stay here?" She asked, frowning.
"She had no where else to go, Mother. Her father abused her."
"Why not tell the police?"
"Because I didn't want them to know." Rima stated, joining the conversation.
"Well, that makes no sense. When in distress, you should always go to the authorities."
"Well it doesn't matter because they're clearly involved now. So, I'm going to go see Amu, Nagihiko, you know her number, call if you need me." And with that, Rima was putting on her coat and boots and walking off to Amu's through the front door.
okay you may attack if you feel like it but i mean yeah
i left all of you on a cliffhanger and i'm sorry for that
i have nothing prepared for my defense, so