"I'm sorry ma'am," the officer replied solemnly, "We were able to catch glimpses of her through several traffic cams and we tracked her phone, both of which led us to the edge of the 14th ward, but she almost completely disappears after that point."
Mrs. Genji collapsed into the wooden chair beneath her, a sudden faint feeling overcoming her. She pinched the bridge of her nose, a headache settling behind her eyes. "How does a nineteen-year-old, who's never even been to the 14th ward mind you, completely disappear?" The mother asked exasperated. Dark circles hung heavy beneath her pained eyes as the light outside the police station began fading.
"We've contacted several police stations in 14th to help with our search, but they're in the same position as us at this point Mrs. Genji," the officer explained to her again, irritation creeping into his voice, "I'm afraid at this point there's nothin' else for you to do except wait for our call and think about why she would've left in the first place… As well as why she'd choose the 14th ward to run off to."
A sudden rage burned through the woman as Mrs. Genji stood up abruptly, chair skidding out behind her as she slammed her fists into the officer's desk. "She's mentally unstable!" The woman snapped at him, spittle flying from her mouth. The woman's steely glare glued the officer's mouth shut as she stood her ground in the middle of the precinct, all eyes turned towards her. "She is mentally unstable," the woman said again, whispering this words this time, tears burning at the corners of her eyes. "I thought that all this time she'd been going to her therapist just about everyday, but come to find out her therapist completely disappeared on her. She hasn't seen him in over a month now…" the woman said trailing off as she slowly slipped back into the chair provided for her. "But," she continued, furiously wiping a stray tear off her face, "I've already told you this, sometimes there just isn't a reason for what she does."
The officer sighed, taking a seat in front of the distraught mother. "I know that you're goin' through a lot right now Mrs. Genji, but there isn't anything more you can do to help us at this point besides think about why she would've willingly disappeared. Ninety percent of cases where someone willing runs off there is almost always a reason for goin' wherever they go, no matter how trivial or insignificant the motive is."
The woman looked up at the man pleadingly, her dark eyes stained with pain. "I know my daughter, and I know that she wouldn't do something like this without good reason, but…" she trailed off, voice trembling ever so slightly, "there's more than just my daughter in that head of hers."
It'd been two weeks since the split had first disappeared with the nineteen year old's body. Slipping through the cracks of the 14th ward so that he could cause havoc among its people.
Blood stained the back most alley ways of the 14th ward, victims' throats torn from their owners by means of the split's glistening teeth. Their corpses left half eaten in the wake of his jaws, sitting there until their discovery by either innocent humans or scavenging ghouls.
Nanashi had found his own role to play, rather than that of the outcast and psychotic split he donned the mask of a ravenous ghoul. There was no pattern to his killings, whether he was hungry or not the bodies would still continue to pile up. They could hate him for his actions, but in the end they could not blame him for what he did.
After all, this was the nature of the ghoul.
This was the nature of Nanashi.
This is the form his freedom had taken.
Yū came to on a park bench, the sun dipping low on the horizon as the night chill began setting in. The girl had finally managed to worm her way through the third split's momentary lapse of control, she'd have an hour at most.
Riaru's bangs invaded the split's vision, tickling the girl's eyelashes before the split swiped them away with annoyed hand. She scowled as best she could up at the dark strands of hair that had begun to hang to low.
Yū sat up then, eyes roaming around the small park that they had found themselves in. Where are we? The split wondered, and what day is it?
She knew that time had passed, just the longer bangs and the clothing change was enough to realize that. The split patted their pockets, looking for their phone, did it fall out? Yū looked around them then, searching the ground for the device, instead her eyes landed on the backpack she had packed earlier. Maybe it's in there? She pulled the bag into her lap, tugging the zipper open as she searched for the phone.
Several wallets lined the top of the backpack's content, totalling seven. Has he been pickpocketing? Yū furrowed their brows, pulling out the top most wallet as she went to inspect it. She pulled the sides apart, the folds opening wetly like genitals.
The split dropped the wallet, fingers coming back stained crimson as she quickly wiped them down their jacket, the red disappearing into the black fabric. Yū glanced around, nerves on edge, as she checked the empty park for witnesses.
She could smell it now, the rich stench of iron invading their sense, their grey eyes flashed back towards the bloody wallet. Yū used their elbow to block the scent before quickly turning away from the sight.
What has he done?
The split threw the rest of the wallets in a nearby garbage bin after reluctantly removing any money that hadn't yet been stained red. Beneath the trophies the girl found a crimson soaked shirt that they had been wearing the when they had originally set out, she left it with the wallets before disappearing down the sidewalk.
There weren't many people out at this time of night, citizens in the 14th ward evidently took the threat of ghouls here seriously. Yū readjusted their backpack as her heart clenched, it was one of the reasons she had chosen this ward in the first place. Though she had hoped that there would not have been a reason to pick the 14th for such a safeguard as that, but it seemed that Nanashi was not willing to let the split's precaution go to waist.
Street lights flickered on around the girl as Yū made their way down the pavement, flipping their hood up as she turned down a more populated street. Neon signs lit up either side of the split, casting the girl's face in a myriad of kaleidoscopic colors. One store in particular drew her interest, a bright pink neon sign advertising their 24 hour internet café.
She never had found their cell phone.
Yū's hand traveled to the wad of cash that the split had shoved in their jacket pocket, she quickly glanced around the street before pushing open the door.
A quiet bell tone sounded as the split entered the building, the girl's grey eyes scanning the entrance area as she walked towards the front desk. Yū pulled down their hood, eyes continuing to take in the entrance."I just need an hour."
"Name?" the man behind desk asked, his mouth gaping into a yawn.
"Hana Fujita," the split replied as she offered the cashier a tired smile.
Yū let out a relieved sigh. "So we're still in the 14th ward, and as far as I know we haven't been found, which is good news. And as much as I hate to think about, him getting rid of our phone was probably for the best," the split said, sighing as she leaned back in her seat, grey eyes drifting closed in frustration. "I'd completely forgotten about them being able to track us. But, it's been over two weeks." The split pinched the bridge of their nose, spinning around in their office chair as she stared at the pock marked ceiling tiles overhead.
Yū stopped herself from spinning around again, instead sitting up abruptly to stare at the Tokyo map that lit up her computer screen.
She quickly pulled up a new tab, fingers flying over the keyboard as she typed in the site address that she needed to get to. She wouldn't have time to do what Riaru would have wanted… This would have to be enough.
Mrs. Genji sank into a bench just outside of the station, exhaustion seeping into her bones as a cool night breeze blew her greying hair in front of her eyes. The woman leaned back, looking at the dark sky above. She wondered when she last saw the stars, was it when we traveled to the country for mother's funeral? Riaru had been to have been only five or six at the time.
She sighed, sorrow suffocating her heart. If only she had noticed something was wrong with the nineteen-year-old… If only she had called to check in with the doctor… If only she had noticed all those years ago what was happening within her own household…
The woman closed her eyes, brows pinched together as several tears slipped down her cheeks.
She had sworn to herself that she would notice everything that happened within her home from then on out, and yet she continued to miss only the most important things.
The precinct doors slid open beside her, a furious grandmother walking out as she dragged her teenage grandson by the ear towards their car.
Mrs. Genji quickly swiped at her tears as her phone vibrated in her jacket pocket. She pulled it out as the two passed.
"Let go old lady!"
An email notification shined up at her from the small phone screen.
"I'll let go when you learn to obey the law! I won't have any Hayashi becoming gangsters! Not while I'm still livin'! Think of how your mother and father would react!"
She pulled the email up, dark eyes scanning the lines of text.
"It was just a little graffiti," the boy whined.
The woman stood up abruptly, eyes wide as her heart pounded within her chest as the two turned to stare at her. She ignored them as she ran back through the police station doors, gaze pinpointing the detective from before as she stormed towards his desk. The man sat in his seat, hunched over a pile of papers. She slammed the phone down in front of him, his body flinching in surprise.
A frown pulled at the officer's lips as his eyes found Mrs. Genji's.
She jabbed her index finger at the mobile device, the screen faceup as an email lit up the device. The woman's face was fixed with determination as she stared down the officer. "Trace it," she demanded, words just as steely as her gaze.
Dear Mother,
I'm sorry for disappearing like I did, I know you're probably worried and I completely understand, but... I can't tell you where I am, only that I'm safe. I don't know how long we'll be gone, just know that we'll return. Please don't look for us before then, it won't be good for either of us at this point. I'll try to contact you as often as I can to let you know that we're still okay.
I know you probably have a lot of questions as to why we left, but it's a long story that we can't to tell you at this point. We just needed to get away from everything thing for a bit and spend some time with ourselves. We're not in any danger so please enjoy your time alone and think of this as just a vacation that I'm taking.
Merry Christmas and happy New Year,
Love, Riaru
I would just like to quickly apologize to anyone who's been anticipating this chapter, I know that it has been quite a while since I last updated. I started college recently so everything has been rather hectic since the semester began. Plus I signed up for a very demanding creative writing class that has almost completely depleted my creative reservers. I will try to keep up with the amount of chapters I was writing before I started, but if I am unable to please try to be patient, I do plan on seeing this story to the end and I hope that you all plan to as well.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you all next update! ^^