Where Have You Been?
Daisuke tugged at his shirt in a fruitless effort to cool himself. The temperatures in Morioh had been slowly rising ever since the start of June, however, as of the last few days, they had dramatically increased. A heat wave that was so brutal it made the trips between home and school every day akin to a perilous journey across a scorching desert.
That trip to the LuckyLand had been the first time Daisuke and his friends had met up outside of school since they had rescued Maki. With the heat wave sapping their energy and will to walk outside more than it was absolutely necessary, and the prospect of Finals in the horizon, they had instead adopted a new routine of studying either together at the library, or by themselves at home. Daisuke didn't even want to imagine how bad the electricity bill would look like with his and Garm's gratuitous use of the fan in his room.
When Ryoji had sent the group a message about Maki being out of the hospital and wanting to meet, it triggered a mixture of emotions on Daisuke: he was both happy for the girl's well-being and eager to talk to her, but also absolutely dreading the idea of leaving the comfort of his room. Thankfully, a cool breeze passed by Luckyland's open food court, which, associated with the parasol's shade, diminished the effects of the punishing heat.
Daisuke lowered his bright blue Lucky Burger cup, taking another look around the table. Tatsuya sat by his side, one hand resting against his face, the other swiping away at his phone. In front of the two boys, Riko distractedly drank from her own cup, as she also seemed to be scouting the food court.
"Hey, sorry I'm late."
Yukino approached the table coming from the escalator at the end of the food court. Over her normal street clothes, she wore a cream and light-blue apron with the LuckyLand logo stitched on the front. She took it off, as she approached the bench, setting it down between herself and Riko, before undoing her ponytail, letting her dark hair fall neatly down, placing the hairband on her wrist.
"Workin' hard?" Daisuke asked, curious, as he followed her movements.
"Have to," she said with a tired look, leaning forward on the table, supporting her head on her palm, "One of our employees got sick, and another, a girl from school, quit her job. So… I've had to fill in some shifts."
"That sucks…" Riko said.
"Nah, it ain't so bad," Yukino smiled, "Oh yeah! Where are the others? Weren't we meeting because of Maki-chan?"
"Ryo says they're on their way," Tatsuya informed them, lifting up his phone to show a text as proof, "I dunno about pretty boy, though."
"Shiro will be late. Told me that we could start without him," Daisuke said, recalling the kendo captain's words, "He says he'll come by soon as he can."
"Figures…" Tatsuya shook his head, "It irks me so bad that he's 'one of us'."
"You know that we have no choice," Riko began tapping on her cup, "I also don't trust him that much, but we wouldn't have been able to save Maki-chan without him."
"I know…" Tatsuya sighed, "Thing is: His Stand's pretty strong and he's smart, so I get that he's useful. But, I can't be the only one that thinks that his sudden appearance was odd."
"You're not," Daisuke assured him, "I'd also like to question him. Garm says he can't be the killer since their presences don't match, but I always feel like he is hiding something from us."
"You haven't talked to me him since that day, Daicchi?" Yukino asked.
"No," he shook his head, "He was sick for a few days, so he didn't come to practice."
"Sick, yeah…" Tatsuya made the 'air quotes' gesture. His expression became much friendlier as he looked away from the table, "Hey, there they are."
Like Yukino had before them, Ryoji and Maki approached the table, coming from the escalator. Ryoji walked in front of the girl, a large smile on his face, as he did a quick wave to Tatsuya, responding to his greeting. Maki, behind him, looked mostly at the ground, being visibly shy. She wore a cute periwinkle dress, with a light pink sash and a lacy white collar, white sheer tights, and shiny black shoes. As she sat next to Riko and in front of Ryoji, she touched her glasses nervously, pushing them further up her face:
"H-Hi."
"Oooh, you don't need to be shy, Maki-chan," Riko said, her tone made it sound like she was speaking to a small child and not to someone only a year her junior, "We're all friends, here."
Maki hesitated for a bit, looking up to Riko only for a brief moment, looking down at the table again. Taking a deep breath, she finally lifted her head up again: "Sorry, senpai. I'm still getting used to this. I was never really social..."
"It's ok, you'll get better at it." Riko made a large, friendly smile that in turn, made Maki do a smaller, much more self-aware smile.
"Oh, I was forgetting myself," the younger girl said, lowering her head towards the rest, "Thank you for rescuing me."
"Hey, no need for thanks," Tatsuya rubbed his nose in a proud manner, "It's our job."
"Yes, well, that is what Ryoji-kun told me," She took a quick glance at the artist in front of her, "He explained to me that you have been saving people that were taken away like I was. That you help them accept their ahm… Shadows?"
"Yeah, Shadows." Daisuke confirmed, "They are the killer's 'murder weapon'. You need to accept your faults to beat them."
"I told Maki about the Otherworld," Ryoji informed them, "But since this one was my first mission, I don't know stuff as well as you, senpai."
"Ryoji-kun also told me about all of you," Maki said, looking more relaxed and more talkative, "He told me you were all good friends of his and good people. He also told me about how I could recognize you."
"Recognize us, eh?" Tatsuya smirked, amused, "Who am I then?"
"You're... Tatsuya-senpai, right?" Maki smiled as Tatsuya nodded, "Ryoji told me Tatsuya-senpai had blond hair and an earring, and talked a lot. He also said that even if he made some off-jokes, he was a good friend."
"Off-jokes...?" Tatsuya scratched behind his head, "Thanks for that Ryo."
"Could be worse," Yukino leaned her head to the side, "Could've said you were a pervert."
"You are the worst, let's be fair" Riko said, nodding along, with fake seriousness.
"You are… Yukino-senpai and Riko-senpai, right?" Maki asked. She looked pleased with herself as they confirmed her guess: "Ryoji-kun said Yukino-senpai joked and laughed a lot, and Riko-senpai loved to tease Tatsuya-senpai."
Riko became very red, very fast, looking quickly at Maki as if she was about to tell her to shut up, when Yukino, sensing her friend in danger, tapped on her shoulder, and quickly swerved the subject away from her:
"What about Daisuke?"
"Oh." Maki looked at Daisuke quickly, looking down at the table afterwards, as if she had become introverted again, "He told me he was the leader. And was very brave, and strong. He's nice, even if he looks kinda scary."
Tatsuya exploded into laughter, surely from a mixture of Maki's description and from Daisuke's very own look of complete befuddlement. Riko did her best to not laugh as well, as people on other tables started to give them weird looks. Ryoji looked white as a ghost, while Yukino just had a silly looking smile, that was hard to read.
"I don't..." He said finally, trying to find words, "I don't look scary. Do I?"
"A tall, lanky dude who only wears black?" Tatsuya teased, "Yeah, sure mate."
"And you have that intense stare too," Yukino added, "Also, when you fight, you always get that psychotic smile."
"Psychotic?" Daisuke made a smile so forced it could cut diamonds.
"Oh! Don't worry about it." She moved her hands as if to wipe away any doubt of ill will, "I think you look really cool when you do it."
Daisuke sighed, but noticed by the corner of his eye that Maki was laughing along. Seeing the bunch of friendly fools they were first hand, was making her slowly, but surely, lose her shyness, making her much more comfortable in the group. He couldn't help but smile, as he noticed it.
"Oh yeah, Maki-chan," Yukino called, after a brief time, getting back on track, "Did the police interrogate you? What did you tell them?"
"Hum… They asked a lot of stuff," Maki touched her small chin, thinking, "But my memory of that day was kinda hazy... They asked me about if I remembered where and when I was kidnapped. And if I remembered anything about who did it."
"And… Do you remember?" Daisuke questioned.
She shook her head. Daisuke lowered his own head. Even if he wasn't truly expecting a breakthrough, it still felt disappointing and frustrating to lack any clue after three rescues. The killer, however he did it, was an expert at removing traces of his presence. Still, he had hoped that, since Maki had been abducted before she even got a preliminary Watch that something new had come up. But it seemed that, once again, the 'Fog Killer' had disappeared into the blasted mist he so loved.
"Was the detective who questioned you a woman called Asuka Kuronuma?" Daisuke insisted.
"I think so," she closed one eye, as if making an effort to remember, "I don't remember her name, but I think it might be it. It was a young woman with short hair. She sounded nice, but had gave me scary looks sometimes."
Sounds like her, Daisuke thought.
"Did she talk about Daisuke-kun?" Yukino asked.
Maki shook her head. From her lack of surprise or confusion at the question, Ryoji must have had informed her about Daisuke's own interrogation.
"What about Kyohei Akaashi?" Daisuke questioned.
Maki's response was the same as before. He was as close to knowing who Akaashi was, as when Asuka had, almost off-handedly, asked him about it at the end of their interview. He was itching to ask Shiro about it, but he could almost swear the kendo captain was avoiding him.
"So…" Tatsuya took his hands from behind his head, after a brief moment of silence, "Are you gonna help us? Your Stand could really come in handy for our missions."
Even if Maki had certainly been anticipating the question, actually having to answer it had made her uncomfortable again. She seemed to shrink once more, as she avoided to meet Tatsuya's or anybody else's gaze, shifting side to side on her seat.
"Garm, our dog, says your Stand isn't made for fighting," Yukino informed her, "You wouldn't need to fight yourself. Just support us."
"I know..." Maki said, eyes still fixated on the table, "I felt it for the brief moment Delilah spoke to me, when we forged our bond. I know that you'll actually be the ones that can get hurt but... I'm still scared."
Daisuke looked up at the parasol. It wasn't surprising nor unreasonable. The Shadow World was dangerous, vicious and cruel. He felt a pinch of pain in his side where Shadow Maki had injured him, possibly fatally were it not for Yukino's quick intervention. It was already a hard task for someone like him, with bloodlust and a promise to keep, for someone like Maki, who always shied away from conflict and confronting life's hardships, it was gargantuan. A few more moments of silence passed, as Maki looked at her hands.
"I'll... I'll help."
She raised her head, looking first at Ryoji and then to Daisuke. Nobody dared to speak a word as they saw her expression.
"I was always scared and running to my nan when something bad happened," she said, the words carried both fervour and sadness, "After she..."
"It's ok, Maki-chan..." Riko said, touching her arm.
"After she passed away... I could never feel happy again. I couldn't trust anybody. The person who was always there for me was no longer there..." Her eyes shone, but no tears fell, "Being helpless... I don't want anybody else to feel like I did. I want to help. Anyway I can."
Her voice had trembled a bit: she was scared, how could she not be? But more than that, she was determined. Praise and cheers for her decision came from around the table. As expected, Ryoji in particular was happy for her decision. Remembering a request made by Garm, Daisuke put a pair of large glasses with a light pink frame on top of the table.
"Garm gave me these, in case you joined," Daisuke said, sliding the glasses towards her.
Maki looked at the glasses with curiosity, switching her common pair for the special "Garmcrafted" one. They were much rounder and larger than Daisuke's or Tatsuya's, with thicker frames than Yukino's or Riko's. They seemed to be made to mimic her normal day-to-day pair of glasses. Garm was nothing if not keen on detail. How he managed to make them with his tiny paws and lack of thumbs, however, he would never understand.
"Hum… I can't see very well," she admitted, blinking a few times whilst moving her head around, before switching back to her old glasses, "Do I have to stack both pairs?"
"Garm says that they would work to fix your eyesight as well," he shrugged, "But I suppose they only work on the other side."
"Oh." Maki nodded, looking at her new pair of glasses with a smile, "Well, please tell Garm-chan I really like them, Senpai."
"All righty then…" Tatsuya said adjusting himself on his seat, a big smile creeping into his face, as he changed the subject, "Now that the serious stuff is out of the way, let's get to the good stuff: What are we gonna do for the holidays?"
"The holidays?" Riko repeated with a raised brow, "We still have finals to study for."
"I know, I know!" Tatsuya moved his hands in the air in a rather amusing fashion, "I'm actually trying to study this time, General No-Fun!"
"I'm not General No-Fun!" Riko blasted back, cranky.
"You're General Nofunaga," Yukino quickly jumped in.
"Hey! Just hear me out," Tatsuya pleaded, ignoring the pun entirely, "What I mean is: All of this studying, the homework, the Shadows and that whole mess… It's just tiring me out like nobody's business. So... I just out to relax a bit, yeah? For all of us, as a team, as friends, to go do something together."
"What are you even talking about?" Daisuke asked, scratching his head, "We're together nearly every day."
"Yeah, but I want to do something fun, something we can all remember," Tatsuya continued on, it was if he had been preparing for this for a while, "These are supposed to be the best years of our lives, right? Are we really gonna spend our summer coming to bloody LuckyLand to eat some mediocre burgers?"
"Hey!" Yukino cast him a nasty look, "We have the best burgers in town."
"I can see what Tatsuya-senpai is saying," Ryoji said, talking for the first time in a while, "It's the first real break we've had since the start of the year. Shouldn't we try to have fun, for once?"
"Right?" Tatsuya smirked, "Here's my proposal…"
"Oh boy." Riko held her head with both hands pre-emptively.
"We all get on a train to Nanjo and we go to the beach!"
A moment of awkward silence was held around the table once again.
"The beach…?" Daisuke raised his eyebrow.
"Yes! Think about it, man!" Tatsuya's eyes sparkled in wonderment, "Blue seas! Blue skies! Refreshing watermelons, beach volleyball! No parents, no rules, only us having a blast! Just a day for us to enjoy under the hot summer sun!"
"Yeah, yeah... That's not the thing you care about, is it?" Riko said grumpily, "You won't be looking at the skies or the seas. You just want an excuse to put us in swimsuits."
"What!? No!" If Tatsuya had been cursed to have his nose grow for his lies, it'd reach all the way to S-City and back, "Why must you hurt me with your mean words, Riko?"
"Cuz I still have enough control to not hurt you with my feet." She crossed her arms in a power stance, "You no-good, perv."
"Come on, I mean it!" Tatsuya insisted, looking to the other two boys, "Ryo?"
"Well… I'd enjoy it," Ryoji admitted, even if he avoided meeting Riko's smouldering gaze, "I'd love to get a chance to paint one of the famous Nanjo sunsets. Besides, I think it would be fun to just hang out with all of you."
"All right!" Tatsuya smacked Ryoji too hard on his back, almost knocking him face first into the table, "Daisuke?"
He traded an uncertain look with his blond friend, afterwards looking at the embarrassed out of her life Maki, that was redder than a tomato, Riko who still kept her arms deadly locked, and her nose upwards, and Yukino who looked at him expectantly, even if not all too pleased at Tatsuya's barely hidden play. For a reason unknown to his conscious side, he began to imagine the dark-haired girl in a swimsuit, and couldn't help from hiding the lower half of his reddening face with his hand as he looked away, before mumbling:
"Ah... Yeah, I guess it could be fun."
"See?" Tatsuya smiled triumphantly, "It's a cool idea!"
"Ugh, fine!" Riko threw her hands up. As Tatsuya began to cheer, she raised her hand again, "But you do know that train tickets and watermelon and all that stuff is expensive, right?"
"Of course I do," Tatsuya grinned like his ultimate plan was finally coming together, "We just need to get ourselves part-time jobs and save up the money. Ryoji can sell some of his drawings, you can work at your parent's store, I've already talked about a job at the hospital as a janitor, maybe one of you can work as a tutor or something… Oh! Yukino, didn't you say LuckyLand is hiring?"
"Well yeah, but—"
"Nice, so you and Daisuke or Maki, I dunno, can work there," Tatsuya clapped, bot letting her even finish her sentence.
"Well I see you are in high spirits."
The voice of Shiro Kuronuma arrived just before its owner, as the kendo captain approached the table, coming from the other side of the food court. He carried his school bag on his shoulder, and a tired look on his face, like he had not slept well for the last couple of days. As he sat at the table, next to Daisuke, he looked first and foremost at Maki, smiling at her:
"Are you feeling well, Himekawa-san?" As Maki nodded shyly in response, he closed his eyes and made an even larger smile, "I'm very glad."
"What took you so long?" Tatsuya asked. His good mood seemingly shot down.
"The same thing that has made me so busy for the last few days," he opened his school bag, drawing from it a dark-blue binder, placing it on the table, moving it towards Daisuke, "Here."
Daisuke traded a look with Shiro before following his gaze towards the binder in front of him. Feeling the looks of burning curiosity from his friends, he opened the binder, finding quite a few pages of what were surely classified police documents. Or, at least, copies of those same documents.
"These are your sister's?" Daisuke asked.
"Indeed," Shiro nodded, "She likes keeping very in-depth documents and reports that she herself produces. There are, of course, things missing, but this was the best I could do, with what time and resources I had."
"That's kinda badass," Riko admitted, even if she seemed conflicted, "But… Ahm… Shiro-kun, isn't that, you know, illegal?"
"Indeed," he nodded, "But if we would have a chance at capturing the suspect, we need every advantage we can get, don't you think?"
Daisuke's mind was almost filtering the conversation out, as his eyes glazed across the different documents, while Tatsuya was leaning over next to him to also try to read them. The first few pages described the murder of Yumeno-senpai, with photos of the crime scene, its location on a town map, and what seemed to be excerpts of the autopsy report. The phrase "cause of death is uncertain" looked to have been signalled with a marker, but it was hard to see in the copy.
The next few pages described the kidnappings, Yukino's was first, with her school picture on the top corner and some personal data on her, later describing what was known of her kidnapping, as well as what seemed to be the official police interrogation. The same style of document was present as well for Ryoji, but Maki's was noticeably incomplete, probably since it was the most recent one, the investigation was still in progress.
After the incomplete report, he found what seemed to be reports on suspects, or, at the very least, persons of interest. He wasn't surprised, but still uneasy about finding his name and his photo in there. He searched for Asuka's notes on him, finding them in her clean and slick handwriting after a transcript of his interrogation. Her first few notes seemed to be on her reflecting on how the victims seemed to be connected to him as well as his criminal past, however, later notes, following the interrogation, mentioned how talking with him had given her new perspective, even if she still maintained that he should be closely monitored, and that she didn't fully trust him.
"My dear sister has taken quite an interest in you," Shiro said with a half-smile, "From what I understood, she was even considering having a plain clothes officer tag you between school and your house. She seems to have mostly dropped that idea, or at least, reformed it."
"What do you mean?" Daisuke asked.
"She might get students to keep tabs on you."
"Huh?" Ryoji looked confused, "She wants spies in the school?"
"Put simply, yes," Shiro nodded, "Maybe they'll do it out of sense of duty, or perhaps for a letter of recommendation. You never know what people might do."
"But Daisuke did nothing wrong!" Yukino rebutted.
"That's not what matters," Shiro shrugged, "At this moment, he looks suspicious. And the only one that suspicion can be lifted is if the real killer is found. And that's on us, isn't it?"
"Yes, on us." Tatsuya repeated, "Don't you think you owe us some answers?"
Shiro stared back at Tatsuya and then took a look around to the others. Finally, he sighed, adjusting himself:
"You're right. I did show up announced and disappeared after the mission," he closed his eyes, nodding, "It's only fair. Ask away."
Tatsuya took a brief moment of consideration before finally asking: "How did you find out about the Watch?"
"I'd heard the rumour before, although I don't remember from where," Shiro said, looking up, thinking, "At first I thought it was ridiculous. Nothing but some silly legend. Still, it peaked my curiosity enough that I did look into it. I saw Yumeno-senpai's final Watch. When she disappeared right afterwards, I knew that there was something very wrong in this town. Worse yet when she was found dead right afterwards."
"Did you get the app then?" Daisuke questioned.
"It did appear then, yes." He nodded, "I did not press it immediately, however. Curiosity might eventually be my downfall, but I'm more cautious than curious. I thought it must have been some sort of virus, so I looked into it instead of actually using it. I found no results in my search."
"Oh, how did you find out about us?" Yukino inquired, "You said that you eavesdropped on us, but why?"
"I did not yet know about his former life," Shiro said, signalling Daisuke with his head, "But something about his attitude and fierceness in kendo practice made me think he was used to fighting 'for real'. As the escaped victims suddenly seemed to all flock to him, my suspicion only worsened. I began to prod him for answers then, try and overhear your group's conversations. I apologize for my rudeness, but you must understand, first and foremost, I wanted to stop the Killer."
The group all traded looks between each other. Shiro seemed to be telling the truth, there didn't seem to be any sort of nervousness in his speech. Either he was being completely factual, or he was an unbelievably skilled liar. To Daisuke's frustration, he couldn't tell which of the two scenarios was the right one.
"I entered the place you call the Shadow World for the first time shortly after Ryoji-san was rescued," He said, continuing even if nobody had yet placed the question, "I had heard you talk about the app as a gate, so I tested it. Suffice it say, my mind was blow away with what I was seeing. And even more once my doppelgänger appeared."
"Your Shadow," Daisuke said, "What was it like?"
"It was quite a sinister encounter," Shiro looked down for a moment, "Much like Maki-san, I too lost someone close to me. My mother died of an illness when I was merely a child. My father never really recovered. He threw himself into his work as a police officer, even at the expense of his well being. In the end, he got himself to deep into a particular case and he was killed."
Daisuke felt a shiver down his spine, a feeling that had certainly been shared by the others, Maki in particular. Even if Shiro still sounded complete calm and pleasant as always, it was obvious that talking about it still pained him. That he had lost someone close to him was not something they had just found out, he had alluded to it before, but to know the full extent of it was heartbreaking. The fact he was so seemingly well off in life after living through that was no short of incredible.
"I've blamed myself for years, for both of them. Lately, I had been able to shut those thoughts somewhere in the back of my head and focus on my studies and on kendo," he said, "Having my Shadow bring them back was... Well it was hard. I rejected it, and it began attacking me. Like Prince, it used a sword to try and cut me. Since I had overheard you talk about it, I had been prepared and brought my own kendo sword as a defensive tool. Of course that it did not work. It beat me up quite a bit."
"How did you beat it, senpai?" Maki asked on the edge of her seat.
"Well... I didn't really. It's not about beating the Shadow, after all," Shiro made a half-smile, "As it was ready to kill me, I remembered my sister and how she was becoming more like my father, always going case after case, seeking to arrest every criminal in the world. I thought to myself that, it was too late to save my parents, but I still had time to save her. That yes, maybe I could've done more. And I was going to do it now. By helping her and stopping the killer."
Shiro paused, taking a deep breath, awaiting for questions that didn't come. Even if some doubts still remained on how or why he had done something, it wasn't particularly easy to follow-up after that. Daisuke was the one to finally talk:
"So... What's our move now?"
Shiro opened his eyes again, making what seemed to be a thankful half-smile, before focusing again, making a gesture for Daisuke to turn the page on the binder. Curious, he nodded, flipping the page to find another report on a person of interest. The picture in the corner was of a young man with a square jaw and a hard eyes. He had medium length black hair that fell in a fringe on his forehead and a small goatee. He had small studs on his ears and even if the picture cut just below the shoulders, it seemed he was wearing the school's uniform. His eyes widened as he read the suspect's name and he pronounced it out loud for the others to hear:
"Kyohei Akaashi."
"That's the guy she asked you about!" Tatsuya said, his curiosity was ablaze.
"Yes," Daisuke nodded, then looked at Shiro: "He's a Budoga student?"
"A third year," He confirmed, "Seems that he is known as a bit of a problem student. Teachers my sister spoke to say he regularly skips class and when he does attend, he seems to not care. Also seems to have a unique relationship with the law, as he has been reported a few times for vandalism and even getting into fights." Shiro paused for a moment: "More importantly: He was the last person that saw Mayoi Yumeno alive."