Hello. Long time no see. Updated chapter, because I'm slowly getting back the groove of this story. Usual disclaimers, blablabla, hope you enjoy.
-Inaba Municipal Hospital-
"Um, excuse me, miss... have you seen Adachi-san around?"
"Oh, hello, Narukami. Adachi went to visit Dojima-san's room. He looked so worried, you might want to go take a look at that, yourself."
"Okay. Thank you," Yu said, leaving the secretary to her business before he turned around and nodded to the quiet Yosuke. "Let's go."
The two began their walk towards the west ward, Yosuke with his head lower than usual.
"The headache didn't go away, yet...?"
"No..." Yosuke finally spoke. "My head feels so heavy, I feel like keeling over... But I'm okay, I'm not backing down just because of that," he continued, already replying Yu's worry.
Which did not exactly dismiss his concerns. He threw a glance at his partner before he look forward, then lowered his head and put his hands in his pockets.
That corridor surely felt long...
He didn't know if it was the expectation or if he just felt sluggish. With his mind boiling with a million thoughts at once, he wouldn't really be surprised if he took the wrong way to Dojima's room, but the windows in the corridor told him the contrary.
Same frames, same cracked knob on one of them...
Same old. Only bleaker.
Maybe what gave him that feeling of being in the wrong way was the darker, foggy lighting that seeped through the glasses. It was never like that dark at that time of the day.
It was also very quiet, even though Yu knew very well there were people there.
So quiet, it almost felt as if it was abandoned.
But abandoned by whom, if not by the people there?
By faith? By hope? By something higher...?
Nah...
That was just him.
But who knew? Maybe he was just really getting too philosophical over a quiet walk in a hospital.
Or maybe that was just one of the thoughts in his head that have been there this whole time. It was so silent, all he could hear was his and Yosuke's steps. Surely he could hear a few of the countless whispers filling his mind's ears in between the sound of his strangely patient walk.
What was not the same in the corridor, however, was the fact that a doctor was talking to Sayoko near one of the windows, in the middle of the day.
"What's with this fog...? I feel the chill and we don't even have the AC turned on..." Yu heard her say.
"This might be just your imagination. Weather and colors affect your mood, maybe today's just getting to you," the doctor replied.
She just gave the doctor her dismissing smile and looked away, turning towards Yu. Her smile turned a bit more sincere at the sight of him, and he answered her with a nod and a smile of his own. Maybe she was just paying her hours before leaving the hospital...?
Regardless, they continued their walk and eventually reached Dojima's ward. Upon approaching his room, they began hearing voices inside.
"What do you mean that kid died? He just up and hung himself...? Ugh!" Dojima's voice could be heard.
"Look, I know things may seem a bit complicated right now, but rest easy. I got things covered, there were a lot of clues in the scene, don't worry. Just try and get better, okay? The doctor should be here again in a few... me, too, actually. I'll be back."
That was Adachi.
They stood and waited for the door to open and sure enough, the man came out of the room.
Yu could swear the guy stared into his eyes for the briefest of moments before replying. "Oh, hello guys. Came to visit Dojima-san?"
"Yeah, but could we have a talk with you, really quick?"
The detective scratched the back of his head and looked away. "Well, if it's quick... I kinda have stuff to do, so..."
Okay, they had his attention. Where could they begin...?
Yosuke was the one to take the initiative, surprisingly enough. "We've been having some doubts about the deaths before the kidnappings started..."
Adachi actually looked surprised. "Wow... what's that all of a sudden?"
"We are sure that the one behind the kidnappings was Namatame, but we're finding it hard to believe that he killed the two before that..."
"Do you have any clues regarding that yet, Adachi-san?"
"Jeez... you guys sure ask some weird stuff. The police still didn't dismiss Namatame as the doer of those crimes and to be honest, I think the case against him is pretty solid, as well." He then began speaking in a more hushed tone. "Look, I don't know what you guys did, if he ran away, if you hid him somewhere, and I honestly don't wanna know. All that I can say is that we are in pursuit of him because his case is simply too solid to drop."
"Is there really no proof of the involvement of anyone else in the case...?" Yu asked.
"Of course not," Adachi replied. "Can we continue this talk later? I got things to do at the station and I really, really shouldn't be babbling about this. I'm just saying all that because you deserve to know the truth, after all that's happened, so..." He turned to the side and began to walk.
But Yu was quick to reach and take hold of his wrist, with a grip stronger than he intended. He was not supposed to supposed to be aggressive, just yet.
Breathe...
"Hold on just a little longer, Adachi-san," he said, after adjusting his tone.
After he finished his question, he could feel the blood pulsing faster in his wrist, which was the cue for him to lighten his grip a little. After the detective took a breath and turned back around, he looked at the two teenagers.
"What is it," he asked, sounding more flat than usual.
The door opened again. Dojima had come out of the room with his crutches and leaned against the wall to support himself. "What's going on, now?"
"These kids are asking about police business, I'm just trying to keep my mouth shut, here."
"No, I mean why are you two asking about the first two deaths," he asked, turning towards Yu and Yosuke. "I thought only I and... Is this because of Shirogane?" He finished his question.
Because of Shirogane...
Yu had an idea. But first, he needed to set it up.
"You said there are no clues of his innocence of the first two deaths... We are pretty sure that it wasn't him. Nothing adds up... Not his testimony, not his agenda... Not the letters sent to me... Speaking of, where are those? His notebook and his letters, I mean."
"... Yeah, what about those. You did take them to crime lab for examination like I told you, right? So, what are the results?"
Adachi looked away and swallowed dryly. "I, uh..."
"You...?!" He narrowed his gaze at the younger detective.
"I lost them..." he answered, hanging his head.
Dojima visibly grit his teeth and almost dropped his crutches. "You what?! Those were pivotal clues, how the Hell did you lose them?!"
His eyes widened at his boss' already expected outburst. If it wasn't so chilly, Yu could swear he would start sweating bullets any moment. "I-I was, uh... so many papers arrived at my desk lately, I-I couldn't really-"
"Shut up, you...! Ugh!" Clearly losing the little patience he had, Dojima may have busted a few stitches there.
Yosuke didn't react fast enough, but both Yu and Adachi acted quickly at the sight of him doubling over. The effort to help him stand upright again was simultaneous, and the two took the injured man back to his bed, the other following them into the room.
Adachi was the one to call the nurse through the hotline in the room, telling them to come quickly. "Well, the doctor will be here soon. Don't scare me like that again, Dojima-san..." he said with a worried sigh.
... His tone made Yu think for a bit.
Was he really the one behind the murders...? The clues were in his face, but... there was something about his presence...
He felt as if the man could have the world accusing him, if he looked at you with that goofy half smile of his, you'd just say 'nah'.
Really, there was nothing in his posture, nothing in his body language... nothing that pointed to any other attitude under that grin of his. To Yu, he was literally just that.
He couldn't be the one...
But wait.
Wasn't Yu just the same to everyone he met?
Who could tell the boy cleaning the windows in the hospital, who you could see jump at every window that closed with the wind, was really someone who entered TV's to save people with the power of his mind?
Who could tell the kid who spent Sundays talking to old ladies was really the one who smashed a bass on someone's head?
Who could tell the same guy that spent afternoons taking care of the children at the daycare was really the one chosen by Lucifer?
... So to look past the surface, you sometimes had to look into yourself, huh?
Food for thought.
"Thanks for helping, but don't think you're off the hook just yet." His doubts renewed, Yu asked, sterner than before.
The detective turned towards him with a puzzled look. "... Off the hook...?"
"I think we know why you 'lost' those clues." Yosuke spoke, for the first time in a while, more venom in his words than Yu had expected.
"... I just said, there were one too many papers on my desk, and... do you know how big the file for Kubo's incident wa-?"
"Adachi!"
"Gaah, sorry!" Dojima's roar made Adachi jump.
"Cut the act!" Yosuke snapped. All eyes turned to him. "We know it was you!"
Adachi's eyebrow rose and both of his eyes widened, but his mouth didn't open. An expression Yu'd never seen on his face before.
"It was I that what...? I'm not sure I follow..." he looked aside.
"It was you who killed the first two victims!"
"What?!" Both detectives exclaimed before looking at each other.
"We know everything. From how you disappeared with Yamano during your guard shift at the Inn, to how you disappeared with Saki during her questioning!"
"... What the Hell are you talking about...? What are they talking about, Adachi?!" Dojima asked from his bed, sounding more confused than angry, but that's because Yu knew him. Yosuke, for an example, could say that the man was fuming, but that was not his focus at the moment.
"Exactly what you heard. It all makes sense after months... Naoto had been suspicious of him since the beginning, but we never believed her. Now all of the clues fall into place.
You see, Naoto had a list of suspects of her own since we knew her. Even I was one of them. With time, it narrowed down to just me, Namatame, our friend Teddie, and you, Adachi-san.
I could see why she doubted me and Teddie, but her case about you was the most detailed. I should have trusted her before... she had searched for all your activities in the police this year, and highlighted a few of them, including the ones Yosuke mentioned. Both victims were not seen exactly after those two incidents."
Adachi looked to be at a loss for words.
Without missing the chance, Yosuke kept the pressure up. "Dojima-san, what did he say to you after he questioned Saki," he asked.
"... He said he sent her home."
"Have you seen her since? Yes, you did, hung from a telephone pole."
Adachi's eyebrow lowered and lowered as he looked dismissively to the side.
"Also, have you heard news of Yamano since Adachi was sent to guard her?"
Dojima's eyes narrowed.
Adachi rolled his own.
"Come on, kids... it's not funny anymore," he said.
... "Huh?"
The detective didn't even turn towards the two to reply. "You say I disappeared with the two of them, and then they appeared hung upside down a few days later. I don't think I need to explain the rest... do you see how stupid this theory is?"
... Yu didn't recall ever hearing Adachi using the word stupid so seriously and openly. In fact, he'd never seen Adachi so... high and mighty.
But then again, the situation they were in was, at the very least, highly uncommon. One may discover new things about people when one accuses them of murder.
The detective finally turned towards them, with a surprisingly consistent poker face. "For one, you say I disappeared with Saki during her questioning, right? How was I supposed to hide her until it was time to hang her? Also, wasn't the cause of death unknown...? I'm not sure I can think of a way to kill a teenage girl with old age, or something. Don't even get me started on Mayumi..."
And then his face lightened up a little with the same concern he showed when he called the nurse. "Look, I know you are desperate because of all that's happened, but... whatever it is that Shirogane gathered... it doesn't hold up in the slightest. Go home, think for a while, take a break, okay. I promise we'll take care of this case." Adachi finished with a smile.
Yu saw Yosuke's face fall a bit.
What the Hell was he giving up for? Adachi was using Dojima-san to guilt trip him and it was working?
How good was he at playing dumb?
With that line of inquiry, no progress would be made that day.
Yu couldn't just let this slip between his fingers like everything else.
He then took a glance at the small TV at Dojima's bedside.
He had to do something.
"I'll show you how he did it," he said, before walking towards Adachi.
"What are you doing?" "Hey, come on, now..." the two older men said in unison as Yu approached.
He forcefully grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards the TV.
"What are you doing, Narukami, stop it!" Adachi yelled as he tried to break free from Yu's grasp.
Following Yu's example, Yosuke broke free from his frustration and went to help push the detective's hand through the TV.
"What the Hell are you two doing, let me go!"
"You two, stop this right now!" Dojima thundered from his bed.
Yu was having trouble keeping his hand stable enough, but with Yosuke's help, it became an easier task. All he had to do was to pull closer...
Closer...
Clooser...
The hand finally touched the screen. Ripples started running across the glass.
Yeah! Just a little more, and...
Adachi used his free hand to push Yosuke's head away, and he eventually broke free. His body free, he twisted and pulled his wrist out of Yu's grip with all of his might, before shoving him forward.
Narukami tumbled and instinctively tried to use the TV as support, but his right arm went entirely through the screen, making him crash his chin against its frame.
Dojima's eyes were already wide when he saw the ripples. His scream of 'What the Hell' echoed through the whole hospital.
Meanwhile, Yosuke recovered and Adachi tried to break into a run out of the room. Furious, Hanamura tried to stop him with a tackle, but the man shouldered him aside and quickly slid the door open.
After breaking from his stun, Yu pulled his arm back and gave chase, almost bumping into the doctor, who was dumbfounded by the running detective scaring the life out of him. Yosuke followed soon after, eventually catching up to his partner.
Adachi ran through the double doors of the west ward first, opening them wide so they would almost slam on the two's faces.
They had to slow down their run a bit to not get hit by the swinging doors, but didn't lose sight of the detective as he passed by the front desk, going towards the east ward door.
Looking for a quick escape, he almost smirked when he saw one of the elevators with its door open. He quickly entered and pressed the button repeatedly to the third floor. The door was almost closed when he saw the kids. Narukami banged on the door once after it closed, but it was too late.
The two panted hard. Things just became a bit more difficult. Which floor would he leave at?
"Yosuke, check the second floor while I go to the third one. Quick, let's take the stairs!" He ordered. Yosuke nodded and followed the plan. They took the stairs and parted ways at the second floor while Yu kept going up.
Upon reaching the third floor, he caught a glimpse of Adachi rounding the corner.
... But that was...
Regardless, he gave chase, and when he made the same turn, he heard a door slam closed.
Why there...?
Following the sound, he ran and opened the door to Namatame's room...
Only to find ripples on the room's big screen.
He rushed and put his head inside of the TV, fully intending to jump in.
...
"You don't!" Chie snapped at Yosuke. "You don't know shit about how I feel... We're going to save Yukiko, and that's final!"
Yu could swear he heard her voice quiver as she spoke.
That somehow made him feel her resolve more than if she just said her line without stuttering.
That wasn't even anger...
He just couldn't say no to that. "Okay, but stay close to us," he replied.
And her face lightened up as she turned towards him. She was seemed happy to be given the chance to save her friend, but that didn't ease his worries in the slightest.
"Hah... I'll be fine. My reflexes are second to none," she tried to reassure him.
It didn't work.
...
...
Chie looked up at the huge castle. It's towers were so high, they could touch the black and red sky.
But she wasn't afraid of no castle. She was going to save Yukiko, no matter what. "I'm going on ahead," she said, without looking back at the two.
"Chie!" Yu and Yosuke yelled in unison as they rushed in behind her, Teddie following not very shortly behind.
...
...
"Dude... we're all dead worried, and we all wanna save her, but... we need a break, man. Who's gonna save her if we just keel ove-"
Yosuke was interrupted by a fist flying at his face. Already tired, he wasn't fast enough to dodge it and was sent staggering back. "What the Hell, man!"
"Who else can save her?! Will you own up if she stays here for too long?! Who knows, we might be too late already! She's up there with a serial killer, for god's sake and you're just thinking about yourself?!" Yu thundered.
How dare he be so egotistic when there lives on the freaking line?!
It made his skin crawl...
His disgust mixed with his anger twisted his face in a way he could not describe. He literally wanted to spit on Yosuke's face for even proposing that.
No one in the group had the energy to reply back to him.
"Huh?!" He continued with gritted teeth after seeing that Yosuke had no response. "Are you gonna bring her back if she dies?!"
No one spoke.
Just then he could look at everyone's faces.
They were exhausted. Not even Kanji could hold his chair up properly...
He felt his knees give out underneath him.
What was he doing...?
He ran a hand through his hair, then down his face before supporting himself with his hands on his knees.
"... Look guys, I'm sorry..." he said before outright falling back on his behind. He almost wanted to cry.
The thought of losing someone scared him.
They were what made him be. Losing any one of them meant losing a part of him... His power, his purpose... his everything.
... Even when protecting them, he was still thinking about himself.
Now who was the egotistic one?
It made his skin crawl...
More than that, it left a bitter taste in his mouth.
What made him raise his head once more was Yukiko's embrace. "Let's call it a day, guys," he heard her say as she helped him to his feet.
Yu halted.
It was like his vision widened back to its usual 180 degrees of reach. That shock made him aware of the things around him once more.
And that made him see the fog before him. He was staring into a void and couldn't see past anything. He never saw a fog so thick.
Was he about to jump in there... by himself?
What if there was no way out?
Would he survive? What would his back up plan be?
Who would end the case, if he failed?
Regardless... for the time being, he reached the end of the line.
He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and speed dialed Yosuke's number.
"Found him?!"
"Yeah... he's in the TV at Namatame's room." He just said before hanging up.
... Huh...
Yu was just glad Yosuke followed his bluff, back there. Thank God he was right...
Lucifer. He meant Lucifer.
So, that was the chapter. Hope you enjoyed, review box below, even though no one's gonna touch it, Raidou the 16th, I approve this message. *thumbs up* Peace.