Silence Brings Pain: Chapter 20
Disclaimer: I don't own Dead or Alive or any of its characters. I only own this plot.
Enjoy.
Over the next week, Ryu's condition had greatly improved. There is only a thin layer of bandages covering his palms although the large bruise is still on his chest. He can also walk around now despite having to wear a short-sleeved, button-down shirt with all of the buttons undone, for safety measures as his father said. He didn't care if people could see his scars, Ryu already came to accept the scars as something that defined him. He was currently sitting in what looks like a break room, drinking some water and staring out of the window next to him. People in the room were rushing to unknown places, making Ryu think about what could be causing all of the commotion. Closing his eyes, Ryu listened as the voices started to blend together and fill his mind.
A hand suddenly landed on Ryu's shoulder, causing him to open his eyes and see his father. Joe was standing next to his son, a small frown on his face. He seemed to be stressed out and there was a tired expression in his eyes. He shook his head then glanced at his son and spoke. "Walk with me, Ryu."
Ryu knew there was something bothering his father, so he stood up from his chair and followed him. As they strolled down the long hallway, Ryu thought of a list of things that could be wrong. There's a chance he didn't get the approval for interrogation, or the meeting with Miss Douglas didn't turn out well, he thought. Many other ideas were forming, but Ryu was distracted by the brown double-doors his father pushed open. The inside of the room was similar to an office, with a large desk in the middle of the room and a view of the city's skyline behind it. There was a computer on the desk and two chairs were in front of the desk along with a black sofa near the chairs.
A door on the right side of the room was open, and Joe lead Ryu to what could be considered as a conference room. A circular table was close to the back of the room with ten chairs surrounding it. There was another view of the city's skyline, this time on the left side of the room. Ryu didn't notice Shiden sitting in one of the chairs at the table until Joe began speaking.
"Where's Hayate?" Joe questioned, skipping a seat before sitting down. Ryu sat down on the other side as he recalled Hayate not being in the room when he left this morning. Shiden stopped typing on his laptop to glance at Joe before he continued typing.
"He should be on his way here. I sent him to go get us some breakfast," he replied.
"How long will it take for him to get here? We need to talk about this before anything else happens," Joe responded.
"I'm right here," Hayate interrupted. He was holding the door open with his leg while carrying a box in his free hand. Seconds later, a woman with black hair and brown eyes stepped into the room. She quickly thanked Hayate before directing her attention to the two men who were busy opening the box. She rolled her eyes and watched as they each grabbed a donut before she cleared her throat.
"Oh. Good morning, Kokoro," Shiden greeted.
"Good morning, Shiden and Joe. There's a woman here looking for you two," she responded. Joe finished his donut then turned to face Kokoro.
"Do you know her name?" he asked.
"I think she said it was Helena Douglas. She's sitting in the conference room on the first floor."
Ryu and Hayate stopped their conversation when they heard the woman's name. Joe cursed and stood up while Shiden quickly placed all of the papers that were on the table into a neat stack. Both men thanked Kokoro then motioned for Ryu and Hayate to follow them. The group walked over to an elevator, and Shiden pressed the button that would take them to the first floor. It was quiet until Joe decided to say something.
"I thought this meeting was scheduled for sometime later today. I didn't know she would show up early," he commented.
"Same here. Maybe she just wants to get this over with or something," Shiden joined in. The elevator made a ringing sound before the doors opened, so the group stepped out and continued walking to their destination. Joe stopped and opened the door to the conference room, causing the people inside to notice his presence. Ryu was surprised to see Kasumi and her mother sitting with Miss Douglas, but he brushed the thought off as he sat down next to his father.
"Now that formalities are over, I think we should start this meeting," Joe said. "What would you like to discuss, Miss Douglas?"
"I came here to talk about what happened during that school dance. People who had attended the dance told me that they saw Ryu fighting-in the middle of the room-with a security guard. They also say that they've witnessed him dislocate the guard's arm. I was told that Hayate was also seen fighting a few security guards, too. Is any of this information true?" she asked. Ryu and Joe shared a knowing glance before Joe turned back to Miss Douglas.
"That may or may not be true. I am not sure I understand the point you might be trying to make," Joe replied.
"That kind of action is dangerous," she started, "and could hurt a lot of people. That type of behavior makes him a threat to students, teachers, and others at the school. It's almost like he learned how to be a killer!"
Kasumi gasped as Ryu lifted his arms and leaned forward, but Joe grabbed Ryu's wrist to stop him. Miss Douglas's eyes widened as an angry expression appeared on Joe's face before it was replaced by a blank stare. Ryu placed his hands on the table and tried to calm himself down while Joe continued.
"My son was defending himself. Did any of your little informants tell you that the guard had attacked Ryu first? Or did they only tell you what you needed to know in order to remove my son from the school?" he asked, barely hiding the anger in his voice.
While Miss Douglas struggled to find an answer, Shiden cleared his throat and joined the conversation. "Your lack of response tells us how much you know about what happened. Those guards were after Ryu, and just so you know, my son was helping him. You need to think about who you decided to hire as security before you accuse anyone of resembling a killer."
Miss Douglas didn't say anything, so Shiden sighed and glanced at Joe, who was busy checking to see if Ryu was okay. Joe gave Ryu a thumbs up and whispered something then returned his attention to the conversation. "Who hired those guards for the dance?"
"I did. They worked for a popular company, so I thought I could trust them," she confided. Ayame gasped while Kasumi covered her mouth, both surprised at the answer. Hayate looked out of the nearby window and Ryu began tapping on the table, each boy trying to find a distraction. Joe and Shiden hesitated until Shiden asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
"What is the name of the company?"
Suddenly, a red light started flashing in the room along with an alarm ringing in the halls. Joe and Shiden lead everyone out of the room and to the front of the building. A few minutes later, the lights and the noise ceased, causing the group to stop like the other people who were also going to the entrance.
"What the hell was that?" Joe demanded. There was confusion among the large group of people, but they all grew quiet when they heard Joe's voice. Kokoro then appeared from the other side of the crowd and stood in front of Joe.
"I think it was a glitch in the system, but that's not the weird thing about this situation," she informed.
"What do you mean by that?" he inquired.
"There's a bag near the entrance with your name printed on the side of it," she reported. The crowd slowly backed away, giving Joe a clear view of the bag. It was a medium-sized blue duffle bag with the name 'Joe Hayabusa' printed on the side. Joe raised an eyebrow and turned back to the group.
"That bag is not mine," he announced. Ryu was suspicious about the bag, and the silence only helped make it worse. Shiden was standing in front of Ayame and Hayate, Kasumi was next to Ryu, and Joe was a step or two closer to the bag than everyone else. After a few seconds, Joe tensed and stepped away from the bag.
"Does anyone else hear that?" he implored.
Shiden shook his head and replied, "I don't hear anything, Joe."
A few more seconds passed before Ryu also tensed and looked at the bag. There were was a clicking sound coming from it-he heard two clicks before it stopped for a few seconds, then the process would repeat. The clicks started getting faster, making Ryu snap his fingers to gain his father's attention. Joe turned to Ryu although he paused as the clicks got faster with every second and there was no longer a pause in between them. Both Ryu and Joe's eyes widened once they realized what was inside that bag.
"Everyone move! It's a-"
Suddenly, the bag exploded, and everyone who was in the area was blown away from it. Ryu barely had enough time to to grab Kasumi before he landed on his side with her gripping the front of his shirt. The smell of smoke overwhelmed him and he could tell that a part of the building was on fire. A loud noise was heard when a pillar collapsed along with all of the glass in the area shattering. The smoke slowly began flowing out of the building, giving everyone a little more room to breathe.
Not wanting to risk moving, Ryu kept his eyes closed and continued holding Kasumi to his chest. She was shaking from both fear and shock, so he grabbed one of her hands and squeezed it gently. Minutes later, Ryu opened his eyes after he felt something fall on his arm. The sprinklers were on although Ryu thought that they didn't serve much of a purpose at that point. He sat up and tilted Kasumi's head so she could see him before he started signing.
'Are you okay, Kasumi?'
Slightly squeezing his hand, Kasumi looked down and met his gaze again. "My side hurts a little, but I'll be okay," she paused then continued, "Ryu, you're bleeding."
Ryu lifted his free hand and saw that it was bleeding, he also touched the left side of his face and felt more blood. 'I'll be fine,' he signed, standing up to get a better view of the aftermath.
Most of the room was covered in ash and there were pieces of the building all over the place. The ceiling was still intact, but there's a chance that it will fall apart since pieces of it were hanging from the rest. Part of the building was still burning, but the fire department has just arrived on the scene to handle it. Ryu turned around, noticing that Hayate was pulling the partially burned cast off of his arm-dirt and two small cuts covering his face. Shiden was helping Ayame stand up -she seemed to be unharmed while Shiden had a series of scratches covering his right arm.
Ryu's demeanor changed from surprise to worry as he realized that there was one person missing from the area: his father. His eyes shifted to rest of the room, but he still couldn't find him. He was closer to the explosive than anyone else, Ryu thought. What if he...? No, I can't think like that right now.
'I need to find my father,' Ryu signed before he walked away. He checked just about the whole area and still didn't see his father. He was trying to keep himself calm, but that plan was failing with every moment of disappointment when he didn't find his father. Ryu walked by a room with a large window next to the door, noticing that the window was broken in an odd way. After coming closer to the window, he looked inside the room and saw a figure lying down on top of a broken table.
With wide eyes and shaking hands, Ryu pushed the door open and rushed to the person's body. The person turned out to be Joe, who had burns covering most of his arms along with multiple small cuts on the right side of his face. Coughing, Joe stared at Ryu then asked, "Are you alright, Ryu?"
Ryu nodded and signed, 'Do not stress your voice, father. Let's get out of here.'
Joe weakly chuckled before going into another coughing fit, so Ryu gently placed one of Joe's arms over his shoulders, making sure he didn't touch the burned skin. Ryu shifted to adjust his father then left the room and trudged back to the front of the building. As he got closer, he noticed all of the people being put on gurneys and Shiden was explaining what happened to some guy. Both men stopped talking when Shiden moved to help carry Joe while the man went to search for more medical help.
The man quickly returned with three medics behind him. Shiden and Ryu brought Joe to a nearby bench then gave the medics some space to do their job. Another medic came to Ryu and asked him to sit down on the other side of the room so she could take a look at him. Ryu reluctantly sat down, allowing her to unwrap the gauze on his hand. He flinched when he saw how the stitches in his palm had reopened and struggled with keeping his hand still in order for her to fix it. He also had to get stitches on the left side of his forehead, but he didn't care since he was more worried about his father than anything else.
He thanked the medic and walked away once he realized that the medics were done helping his father. There was gauze wrapped around both of Joe's arms and the cuts on his face weren't bleeding anymore. Joe didn't say anything while he watched Shiden sit down between him and Ayame, who was also sitting next to Kasumi and Hayate. It was quiet for a while until Joe coughed then started speaking.
"I'm going to go through with the interrogation," he announced. That statement was enough to gain everyone's attention, causing them to stare at Joe wearily.
"You can't interrogate someone without clearance, Joe. That's against protocol," Shiden claimed.
"Screw protocol," Joe exclaimed while standing up to face Shiden. "Look at what just happened!"
"I see it. Do not let your personal feelings-"
"Personal? This has been personal ever since those people chose to ruin my son's life! Now they basically want to kill everyone else by leaving an explosive here! Open your damn eyes, Shiden, they are after more than one person now. We need to find a way to stop H.W.R.N while we still can," Joe interrupted angrily.
A couple of minutes passed while neither man said anything else, and Ryu was getting nervous about the silence. It has been a while since Ryu saw his father angry-he should have known that even his father's patience had a limit. Ryu watched as his father frowned and turned to walk away.
"Joe," Shiden called. Joe stopped walking and turned to face Shiden, who stood up and took another glance at his surroundings.
"I'm coming with you," Shiden declared. He faced his wife and continued, "I need both you and Kasumi to go home for now-Hayate will stay here with me. If anything happens, don't hesitate to call me."
As Kasumi and Ayame prepared to leave, Shiden and Hayate went to stand where Joe was although Ryu remained in his spot. He was unsure about what was going to happen from here, and there were some things that he still hasn't figured out. A pair of arms suddenly wrapped around him, and somehow Ryu already knew that Kasumi was the person hugging him. I should tell her now, he thought while he hugged her back. Before he could lean back, he was surprised by the kiss Kasumi had placed on his cheek. She stepped back with a blush and turned to walk away although Ryu gently grabbed her wrist, placed a hand on her cheek, then leaned in to kiss her.
It didn't last long, but there were more things said in that kiss than words could have counted for.
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