Chapter Thirty-Four: Behind These Bars, The Subject of Scars!
Two weeks had passed then, and they were fairly uneventful. Carla and Mikaru were nearly finished the concert at this point, and only had to do a little more, so they were all of them sitting in his room and listening.
"... So, after that, the Clarinet will float through a segmented arpeggio on the Lydian B scale in triplets, and resolve into a diminished scale to carry it back down. At the same time, the Saxophone will be playing softly along with it, doing an extended version of that scale one fifth up from the B. Instead of triplets, it will move in fourths, and it will resolve on a C5. You get all that?"
Carla nodded, smiling widely as she worked over the last of the notes for that phrase.
"- I think I already see the rhythm here. You want it to be metred in nine for this section, repeating twice before it does two counts of five, and would be pounding?"
He nodded, smiling at her. Hanako was sitting across from him on the floor with Lilly, and Hisao was looking over Mikaru's shoulders and smiling.
"- After that, all that's left is to walk down in sixths for two octaves, then drop a fifth into a soft B major chord, with a suspended 3rd. And... that's it."
She smiled at him, putting the final touches on it and jumping up and down in her seat.
"YES! This is great! Hahahaha!"
She hugged him tightly, then got off of him and looked over all of the work, smiling.
"I... I can't believe it's... it's already over..."
The others got up then, clapping lightly and laughing for them and their success. Mikaru looked over the whole thing, laid out in front of him, song by song. He smiled at it, then turned to Carla and spoke.
"Well... Contractual obligations have been reached. I think... I think it's not enough, though. Carla... Your parents are paying for you here, right?"
She looked at him, her smile disappearing. She nodded a bit, and the others held their breaths.
"... Call them. I want to talk to them."
She nodded at that, feeling her heart start beating fast as she pressed the button on her phone, and heard it ring a few times. After a moment, though, the phone was picked up, and an English voice came over the speaker.
"Carla? How... how are you, dear?"
She caught her breath for a moment, before speaking shakily.
"Hi, Mom. I'm... I'm really good... Mom, is dad with you right now?"
The line was silent for a moment, but her voice sounded in the background.
"Steven! Come downstairs! Carla's on the phone."
After a few more moments, the phone rustled a bit, and a gruff, tired sounding voice came on the other end.
"Hi, honey. You, uh... how's that music thing going?"
She smiled at that, speaking.
"We finished, guys. Can you put it on speaker? My friend wants to talk to you."
The background static diminished then, and Mikaru cleared his throat.
"Hello, there. You're Carla's parents? My name is Michael Souta. I'm the boy that she's been working with."
They heard a bit of ruffling on the other end, and then her father spoke.
"- You're him? Carla's been really excited about what you're doing together. Are you the Canadian boy who moved to Japan about 8 years ago?"
"Yeah, that's me. I wanted to go over something with you guys, if you have the time."
Her mother spoke. Everyone in the room was silent then.
"- Yes, we have some time. What did you want to discuss?"
He smiled then, taking a deep breath and speaking.
"Well, you see, I happen to be a wealthy businessman, who owns the world leading company AttainableTech. I wanted to talk about two things. Firstly, Your daughter Carla has been an immense help to me these past two months, and I think that you should know that I'm crediting her on the work. Her name will be right beside mine when we introduce the piece. Speaking of that, I wanted to let you know that it's being played in Sydney on August 3rd of this year. I'm formally inviting the two of you to come. If you accept, you'll be completely accommodated for the Round Trip and the other fees. Also, though, I know how expensive it is to enroll here. It's probably even worse for you two, because you have to keep her in a foreign place. I'm offering to completely finance the rest of her stay here at Yamaku Academy, as well as reimburse you the full costs of her other fees for staying here that she has accrued over the duration of her tenure."
Nobody spoke. They could barely breath as Mikaru's words went over her, and it was a whole minute before they heard anything. After that, though, the mother came back on the phone. Steven, her father, could be heard crying in the background.
"You – but, that's – Are you serious? You would do that for us?"
He grinned, chuckling a bit.
"Yes. I would do that. Carla has been an immense help to me, and an even better friend. It's honestly the least I feel that I should do. If you agree, then I would expect to stop hearing from the Academy, and I would forward that balance to you within the next day. The invitations would come in the mail in the next month, and Carla would fill you in with travel arrangements. So, what do you say?"
Steven came back on the line, sounding a little hoarse, but extremely happy.
"I – Yes, that would... that would... oh my god..."
Lilly was smiling widely at the conversation, whispering to Hanako and Hisao to fill them in. Carla was crying as well, her hand on her mouth and her body completely frozen.
"Great! It's late over here, and I have some things to take care of. Have a pleasant night, you two."
The phone clicked after a few moments, and Carla just slumped forward, crying. Mikaru laughed, getting up and picking up his own phone.
"... Hey, can you please pipe down for a minute? I'm going to order a Pizza."
Carla shot off of the couch then, hugging him from behind and bawling her eyes out. The others just watched, with Hanako standing and putting her hand on Carla's lap, smiling at the whole thing. Mikaru turned around, obviously not having any luck, and nodded to Hisao. He nodded back, and stepped outside to order the food.
"I – I don't – But – Heeeeeehhh – Thank you, so, so much..."
He laughed, hugging her a bit and patting her on the back. After that, she pulled away, sniffling to herself and looking up at him. He pulled Hanako into him then, using his free stub to ruffle her hair.
"Come on, enough of that. Let's watch a movie to Celebrate. How does Death Race sound?"
After that, a week more passed, and then Hanako, Hisao, Lilly and Mikaru were standing at the station. Hanako was holding onto his arm with one hand, and her luggage in the other. Mikaru had his duffel bag emptied, and filled with clothing and necessities instead. He also had his computer, as well as Hanako's, tucked safely under his arm. Hisao had a fair bit of Luggage himself, remembering how last time he went somewhere the clothes he had weren't enough. Lilly had the most of all of them, with two large suitcases and one handbag. However, it was only a touch more than what Mikaru had.
"So Mikaru, Hanako, what are you going to do on the train?"
He smiled, patting his side and speaking.
"I'm in the middle of a heavy job for another company, so I'll be knocking as much of that down as I can. Hanako?"
She looked up at him, speaking.
"I was... going to see if Hisao wanted to play cards..."
Lilly smiled, speaking then.
"I was going to read a book I was almost finished. I guess that leaves Hisao to be completely open, then?"
He nodded, smiling and turning to Hisao.
"- Yup. Whatever game we're playing, Hanako, you're going down!"
She laughed at that, nodding her head.
"We'll... see..."
The train arrived three minutes later. They boarded then, with another two people getting their larger luggage and moving it to the storage area. They found their booth then, and took a seat. Their free bags were in front of them, and Mikaru set to work almost immediately, sliding a little band onto his arm that had a stylus on it. The others looked to their own distractions then, and moved into their own worlds.
As the train ride went on, however, Mikaru started having an unsettling feeling. He couldn't quite place it, so he decided to take a break from concentration for a moment and listen around to his surroundings. An elderly couple were arguing in the back, bickering over some small, petty thing. A few seats up from that, he could hear a child, sniffling a bit after a good tantrum he'd just thrown. His mother was whispering to him, and he couldn't make out what she was saying, so he moved on. Sweeping his attention to the front, he heard a bit of laughter, and paid closer attention to the voice.
"... What? No, really? I can't believe it! You should have said something sooner! I would have gone and seen them if I knew he was in town... No, nothing like that, I swear... I'm a changed man now, honest. Look, you want that car you've been talking about?... Yeah, the English one. No, it's no trouble at all! Anything for you... Hey, I was innocent of that. You know it, right? Come on..."
He looked up a bit, his eyes locking on to the source of the voice.
Brrm-bum...brrm...bum...brrrrmmmmm...buuuummmmp...
It was him. The Butcher. Aragaki. On this train.
He looked down at his work again, his eyes wide as saucers. He didn't know what to do. Not in the slightest. As he thought about it, He felt Lilly's hand slide covertly onto his lap, and he looked up at her. She started mouthing to him subtly in English.
\Mikaru. Are you all right? What is wrong?\
"... Aragaki..."
She stilled at the name.
\- Here? Right now? On this train?\
"... Yes..."
Lilly frowned, not knowing what to do. She had been listening to the group, and was the only one who picked up on it. So, she tried a different approach.
"... Mikaru... You feel cold. Here, let me..."
She felt up his computer, then moved her hands up to his neck. She then reached around him, putting his hood on him and pulling the drawstrings. After that, she felt his forehead, and spoke quietly.
'... You feel cool. You should sleep, Mikaru. It has been a long day."
He nodded, her hands still on the drawstrings. He then put all of his gear away, tuned to the window, and looked out it. He was completely still, listening to the man as he continued.
"... I hear that place is beautiful this time of year... What? Yeah, I'm headed there right now... Just on business, nothing really important... Yeah, I was just sealing up an old deal I've been working on... No, I shouldn't be too long at all... Yeah, okay. I'll see you. Goodbye."
Mikaru felt his heart grow colder, and he lost focus for the rest of the journey.
Mikaru felt Hanako's hand on his lap, shaking him a bit. He looked over to her, and saw her concerned gaze lingering over him. He smiled, for her sake, and stood up. He kept his head down as he listened for the man's footsteps, hearing him walk off of the Train before lifting it. He then gathered his things, and walked behind the others. Hanako gabbed his arm, and led him towards his luggage. As she did, Mikaru stole a glance at the man, Aragaki, as he checked his things and picked them up, walking away. When the man was gone, he let out the breath he didn't know he was holding, and looked over to Hanako. She was frowning at him.
"Hey, Hanako. Help me with my things?"
She looked between his eyes for another moment before nodding, moving to his bag and lifting the straps. He slid his head under it, and lifted it before reaching out to her, seeing her stop. She turned to him, still frowning, and he moved up to her, putting his stub to her face. She felt it, and nuzzled it a bit, her eyes closing. When she did, he leaned down, capturing her lips in a kiss which dazzled her. He pulled away then, smiling for real. She smiled as well, nodding her head and swallowing.
After that, they decided that a walk was in order. So, they set out. Lilly's house-cottage-thing wasn't all that far away, so they made it in a little over 40 minutes. However, Hisao almost completely gave up when hauling his and Lilly's things, so he had to take over 20 minutes in. When they got there, Lilly looked to Hanako, who moved to the door and unlocked it. They stepped inside, and Lilly spoke.
"There are two rooms here. One will be for Hisao and I. The other will be for Hanako and Mikaru. Hisao, I will take you to our room. Mikaru, could you set your things down for a minute and help us get settled in?"
"- Yeah, Sure..."
He did as they asked, grabbing both of their luggage and carrying it up the stairs with him. He emerged into the room, set the stuff down and spoke.
"Hey, guys? Come down when you have a minute. Hanako and I will be quick."
They nodded at him, and he left. He walked down the stairs, and saw that only his luggage remained. He smiled at that, picking it up and carrying it. He got into the room, and saw that Hanako was staring at the bed, a little transfixed. He walked up behind her then, setting his things down and speaking.
"Hey, Hanako. Something on your mind?"
She turned to him, walking up and putting her hands on his chest. She looked up to him then, speaking.
"Something... something happened on the train, didn't it?"
He nodded at her, beckoning her along with him. They sat down on the couch there, and waited for a moment as Hisao and Lilly came down as well. When they were all seated, Mikaru spoke.
"... The man that did this to me... he's here. He was on the train, and now he's here, in this town."
Hanako gasped a bit, and Hisao was speechless. Lilly was resting her head, as if she were looking down at nothing. After a moment, Hisao spoke.
"... What was he doing? Do you know? Did he notice you?"
Mikaru frowned, speaking quietly.
"I don't... I don't know. I was listening to his phone conversation, but all I got were brief snippets. It sounds like he's... he's been meaning to pay me a visit, though..."
Hanako started looking down at the ground, and Lilly spoke.
"- then maybe... you should find him?"
He looked up to her, a little shocked. She continued then.
"... If his intentions are honest, then the sooner you confront him about this, the sooner you can have peace. If they aren't, well... It's better to meet that head on, then try and run away from it. At least, that's what I think. I don't really perceive any danger in seeing him right now."
Mikaru looked down, thinking about that. After a moment, though, Hisao spoke.
"Maybe Lilly's right, Mikaru. If you can find him before he finds you, if he's looking for trouble, then maybe you can put him in a situation where you are in control, and that would be better suited for you. On the off-chance that he isn't though, her other point stands. It's just better to get this over with now, before it becomes a real problem."
He looked at him for a moment before turning to Hanako, seeing her staring at the ground. She was shaking, terribly.
"... Hanako?"
She reached her arm across to him, latching onto his leg with a vice-grip.
"I... I... I don't... think... I don't... know, if... I don't want you to leave..."
He sighed at that, turning her gaze up to his and nodding at her.
"... You got it, Hanako. I won't leave your side. I promise. You can even wait outside the bathroom for me, if it makes you feel better."
She nodded, and put her head on his chest. She shuddered a bit, and curled into him, almost like a mixture of terror and possessiveness. The others left them then, and stepped outside. Hisao looked over to Lilly, who was looking out at nothing, as usual.
"Hisao... how do you feel about this? Really?"
He put his hand in hers. She accepted the gesture, looking over to him.
"Lilly, I don't know. Mikaru's tough, but what if this guy has a gun or something? If that happened, then I don't know how much good Mikaru's martial arts skills would come to. But... I don't really want to think about that right now. This is supposed to be a vacation, after all. Lilly, what I know is, that Mikaru's not the kind of guy to let his friends be in danger. So, we're not. He'll look out for us, and besides, if this guy really is after him, then he may only really need to get him alone anyhow. I doubt he'd kill three people just to get to one, no matter how rotten he is."
She took a deep breath, then nodded her head.
"You raise a good point, Hisao. This will work out. Let's... lets head inside. I am feeling hungry."
He nodded, leading them in.
Mikaru sat outside then, with Hanako sleeping on his shoulder. He looked out into the fields of wheat, observing the stars in the sky. After a few minutes, he heard gravel shifting in front of him, and saw a man walking towards him. He gently laid Hanako down then, and stood up, walking to meet the man. It was Aragaki.
"... You're bigger than I would have imagined."
Mikaru's arms were down at his sides, looking at the man with an unreadable face. The man continued then, pacing back and forth as he spoke.
"When I heard you had gotten out, I have to admit, I was excited. I'd heard quite a few things about you from my nephew. Although, you might not remember him. Apparently, you shared a cell."
Mikaru's chest tightened as he remembered the boy, speaking for the first time. His voice was quiet, but it was undoubtedly strong.
"... He was a good guy. Helped me make it through. You know what happened to him, though."
Aragaki nodded, looking past him and seeing the girl, lying prone on the ground.
"That's your girlfriend, then? She's a cute girl. You know, I almost didn't come here tonight. I'm glad I did."
Mikaru frowned, speaking.
"... I'm not comfortable with this. I'd like you to leave."
Aragaki sighed, speaking.
"... I'm dying, kid. I don't have too much longer left. I wanted to talk to you. You wouldn't deny a dying man his final wish, would you?"
Mikaru froze at that. He shook his head. The moonlight lit him up well to the old man, and he spoke.
"I know that I shouldn't be here right now. I bet that all you want to do is just move on with your life, like it never happened. But you and I both know that's impossible. I just wanted to explain something to you, while I -"
The man started coughing violently, but he contained the noise behind his hand. He bent over then, breathing deeply through his nose for a moment before standing up again,
"... While I still could. Back then... When I got you locked up for my crime, I didn't have a choice. I was a small fish in a big -"
The man started coughing again, and this time Hanako stirred. Mikaru kept still, though, listening to the man as he heaved.
"- In a... big... pond... and I... If I had gotten caught, I would have gotten my family killed. You know what, though? They died anyway. Murdered off like vermin. Every single one of them. You didn't hear about this, since you were locked up, but I -"
He coughed once more, this time falling to his knees. The sight was miserable, even to Mikaru. Hanako sat up then, looking around a little dazed. The man stood up then, and Hanako ran over to him. She turned around in front of him, crushing her face into his chest as she tried to put herself in front of him like a shield.
"- I turned weasel, and – EEEUUGH!"
He coughed again, reaching into his pocket and fumbling for something. He dropped it on the ground, and fell down again, feeling for it desperately. After about 12 seconds of searching, the man raised it to his mouth, and breathed as deeply as he could manage, in a slow, but desperate way.
"- I got them... locked up... but I had... lung cancer, from smoking too much. I read in the papers, though, about a boy with no hands, becoming a billionaire, and had to find out, if..."
He took a deep breath, gurgling in his throat a bit. Mikaru couldn't believe it, but... he was pitying this man. Deeply, truly pitying him.
"... If you turned out all right. My nephew. What did... what did he... die, for?"
Mikaru spoke then, seeing Hanako's eyes snap up to him as he did.
"... He died for a football. A football he never had time for."
The man nodded his head at that, speaking weakly.
"Well... we can't... always... get what we... we want..."
Mikaru held his arm up then, speaking.
"... he liked music, you know."
Aragaki stilled, looking up at him.
"It was our exchange. His knowledge of martial arts, for my knowledge of music. He was... he was getting... he was getting good at it..."
The man seemed to look down then, speaking almost to the ground.
"... A musician... with no hands... a fighter... with no spirit... and an old man, with no lega -"
He started coughing again, unable to find his breath for two minutes, then. Hanako had turned around, looking down at the man. He looked up to them, speaking.
"An old man... with no... leg-a-cy..."
He pushed himself up then, wobbling on his feet a bit.
"... That's... that's what this – this world, is..."
He stopped then, looking down for a bit. Mikaru cleared his throat, speaking quietly to the man.
"Is that... is that all, Mr. Aragaki?"
He looked up, nodding his head.
"... Look at what my legacy is. It's... it's your life. All of it, right up to now. Why... why were you out there, that night?"
Mikaru frowned. He hadn't really expected to be the one answering his questions... but...
"... I got into a fight. With my mum. About... about helping people, who needed it. Like... like she did."
Mr. Aragaki looked away at that, turning on his heel and hobbling away. He was looking weak, incredibly so, and Mikaru spoke to his retreating form.
"- She's alive still, you know. That woman."
Aragaki stopped, turning to him and looking at him. He just shook his head though, and walked away. When he was out of sight, Hanako turned around, looking up to him. He looked down at her for a moment before he fell to his knees, burying his face in her stomach and crying. She held him around the head, stroking it for a while before she went onto her knees in front of him, holding him to her chest. He latched on around her as he wept, completely unable to process what had just happened. She let him cry, though. She had no idea how to really handle this herself, either.
Lilly woke up late the next morning, reaching over beside her and feeling Hisao stir. She blushed as he moved over top of her, kissing her for a moment before pulling away, speaking.
"Good... good morning, Lilly. I need to get up."
She nodded, feeling his weight leave her body and then the bed. She heard rattling beside her, and listened as he took his 17 pills. After he was finished, he moved to his bag, pulling out some stuff before leaving the room. She got up then as well, opting to just move out of the room as she was. She stepped down the stairs, and bumped into someone. Mikaru, she figured, by his size. She briefly wondered what he was doing before her ears perked up, and she heard the TV in the background.
"... in other news, Aragaki Shinji, aged 53, was found dead on a passenger train that departed from Hokkaido late last night. Initial reports and eye-witness accounts claim that he died from his terminal case of lung cancer. We'll have more for you as the story develops."
Mikaru turned around then, seeing Lilly looking into his chest with a strange look. He sighed then, patting her on the shoulder before turning around again. He was making noise in this house, she noticed, as the floorboards creaked slightly when he walked. After a few minutes, Hisao walks down the stairs, and takes her hand. Lilly smiles at the contact, looking to him and speaking.
"- Hisao? When I finish getting ready, would you like to step outside with me for a while? I wanted to show you something."
He kissed her on the cheek then, which she took as a yes. Hanako spoke then, making Lilly turn to listen to her.
"... Mikaru and I made breakfast today... He was a big help..."
She smiled at her friend, nodding.
"- Is that so? If there's any left, I'd like to try some."
She felt Hanako's hand wrap around hers, and she let her lead her into the Kitchen. Once she felt where her counter was, she made her way over to the table, and sat down. She heard a plate slide down in front of her, and Mikaru spoke.
"It's Canadian. I hope you don't mind. I've taken the liberty of cutting it up for you, a bit. There's some 'Dollar Fries' up on top of the plate, three strips of bacon below that to the right, and some toasted bread on the left. Hanako put a bit of butter on it already. Would you like something to drink?"
She nodded, speaking.
"I would like some milk, please."
Hisao sat down in front of her then, speaking.
"This looks awesome, you guys. Thanks for cooking. Hey, did I miss something? You both seem kind of... sombre."
Lilly listened for a moment before Hanako spoke.
"Aragaki... came. Last night. You two were... asleep. Mikaru spoke with him, and... and then he left. He died this morning on the train, of... of lung cancer."
Hisao went silent for a moment before he spoke.
"That's..."
Hisao went silent again, and Lilly then decided to set to the task of eating her food. She felt beside the plate, before a pair of Chopsticks moved before her. She used them to ascertain for herself where it all was, before she grabbed the toast and started eating. As she did, a glass was placed by her right, and then Mikaru spoke.
"I'm... I'm heading upstairs for a while, to... to catch up on some work. Have fun today, you two."
He turned then, and walked off. After a few moments of eating in silence, Hisao spoke.
"So, Lilly... What are we going to do this week?"
She turned to him, speaking.
"I thought that we could go for a walk today. There's a field near here, and..."
She felt Hisao's hand on hers.
"Sounds good, Lilly."
Hisao watched Lilly as she put her fingers out, spinning around a bit as she felt her fingertips brush the tall grass. He smiled at that, walking up to her and standing a few feet from her. She turned to him, taking a few steps and speaking.
"We used to come out here often. I would stay out here for hours, just feeling the grass brushing around me like this."
He nodded, walking to meet her and touching her arms. She walked up to him, and he spoke.
"... It's really beautiful out here. The grass here is dry, and it's tinged brown because of that. Like the colour of sand. The sky is huge out here. You can see for miles, in all directions. The clouds in the sky are billowing right now, but you can still see the vivid blue well. There are trees off in the distance, a little bit from here. They create a circle, almost. Like a box, with rounded corners. The sun is high overhead, and it's casting shadows everywhere. Sometimes, the clouds will pass over the sun, and everything will get slightly darker because of it. You look... well, you look like you fit here, you know? It has this natural beauty to it, with this feeling of safety, and comfort. Even if there aren't any people for miles, you still feel like you're with your best friend, wherever you are."
She smiled at that, bringing her arms up to his shoulders.
"... Are you calling me beautiful?"
He laughed softly at that, bringing her hand up to his cheek and nodding. She felt the motion and smiled widely at it, caressing him softly.
"... Yeah, Lilly. You're really beautiful. I've always felt like that, since the first time we met. Every time I've been with you since, you show me another way that you're beautiful. Sometimes, it's the way that you still manage to look dressed up when you're in your night clothes, sitting on the floor and listening to me enter the room. Sometimes, it's the way your cheeks flush when I say something stupid, or you're scared. Others, it's just the way you hold yourself, with this cautious grace and elegance that I've never seen in anyone else. I... I wish you could see some days, if only to be able to see just how beautiful you really are..."
She slipped her hands from his shoulders, wrapping them around his neck and leaning into him. Her head was facing up at his, and she had a brilliant smile for him.
"It's fine, Hisao... I don't need to see myself to know that. You've told me everything I'd ever need to see..."
She leaned up to him slowly, and he closed the gap. They kissed then, and Hisao's hands moved to her hips. They sat like that, kissing, for a long minute until Lilly pulled back and whispered across his lips.
"Hisao, I... I love you..."
Hisao moved his hand up her back at that, putting it onto her head and pulling it softly against his chest.
"I love you too, Lilly..."
She laughed happily at that, almost crying at the moment. Hisao laughed as well, holding her a little tighter as they stood in the field, listening to the rustling grass being swept up by the wind.
Mikaru had just finished his work. It was the program he had written, to be an auditory interface for use while driving. When the user spoke a preselected word, any music would be turned down, and then they could speak a simple command to direct the car to do something. As well, the interface had built in multimedia functionality, showing things like real-time weather reports, a socket for GPS functionality, Music and other things. It could also do complex things, like parallel parking if you had the correct cameras and sensors on your car. It could recognize your face when you sat in the driver's seat, and adjust things like pedal height, steering wheel position, and mirror settings. Finally, it was capable of contacting emergency services for you, if something happened to you while you were driving or parked.
Hanako walked in then, looking over his shoulder as he sat back and breathed a little.
"Are you... are you finished?"
He looked up to her, smiling and nodding his head.
"- Yes, Hanako. This is the finished program. All I have to do now is contact my engineering team, and see if they've come up with a working design for the pedals. After that, though, I should be completely done."
She smiled, sitting on his lap and looking at all of the lines of code, seeing that it was over 4 Million.
"That's really... really big... What does it... do?"
He smiled, explaining it to her lightly as he moved through the snippets. She was taking a genuine interest in it, as she looked at all of the blocks that controlled it's functions. She also saw that there were 12 other programs in the file, each of them linked to something else.
"What does... what does this... do?"
She pointed at one of the files, and he smiled at that.
"That's the facial recognition software. It's a little something I've been writing up for a long, long time now. I finished it on the train, actually. I took some cues from other software developers, and built other things into it like hue tracking to allow it to get an idea of how hot you were. If you were getting too hot, it could tell one of the other programs, and that program could ask if you were getting too hot. I wrote it so complex because I also wanted this to have more functionality than just for disabled people. I mean, why hold it back, right? It makes it better."
She nodded her head, smiling.
"Do you... do you want to... do something else, now?"
He nodded his head, speaking.
"- Sure. No internet here, and I'm all finished anyway. It's time to enjoy my vacation, with my wonderful, darling, patient girlfriend."
She smiled a bit, kissing him before standing up.
"Let's go downstairs..."
Mikaru, Hanako, Lilly and Hisao were sitting on the couch, relaxing and watching some TV, when a knock was heard at the door. Mikaru stood up then, walking over to it and struggling briefly before the door opened, and he saw Officer Teito standing there, looking up. Mikaru nodded to him, stepping outside and closing it behind him. After a moment, Teito sighed, and spoke.
"Mikaru... What are you doing here?"
He looked down to him, speaking.
"I'm on vacation, Teito. My friends are inside. What's on your mind, sir?"
He looked at him, pulling out his notepad and speaking.
"... I'm here to discuss the recently departed Aragaki Shinji. Can you give me any information about this situation?"
Mikaru nodded, speaking as he crossed his arms.
"Aragaki was following me. He somehow heard that I was taking a short break here, and was on the train with us on the way up. After the day ended, Aragaki approached me here, at this premises. He then proceeded to discuss something with me pertaining to our shared experience in the Trial which sent me to Juvenile Hall for 5 years. He mentioned that he was dying, of lung cancer caused by smoking. My girlfriend, Hanako, was outside with me at the time. She was asleep for half of the conversation, though. After a few minutes of talking about it, Mister Aragaki left, and the timing of it would make it seem that he headed immediately to the station. I didn't follow him. The people in the house could provide an Alibi, were it necessary."
Teito nodded, writing for another few seconds before speaking again.
"During this conversation, were you or your friends under any sort of duress?"
Mikaru shook his head.
"- No, sir. While I wasn't entirely comfortable with the situation, Mister Aragaki maintained a distance of at least 9 feet at all times, on his own volition. At one point, I had asked him to leave, but he started talking then anyhow, stating that he would like to talk to me before he passed."
Teito nodded, speaking once more.
"Aside from that, do you know if anyone around here, other than yourself, would have had a motive to kill him?"
Mikaru frowned, speaking slowly.
"... Well, aside from a supposed motive from myself, I wouldn't really be sure. He mentioned in our discussion that he had no surviving heirs, and that he had been involved in work as an informant of some sort involved in taking down some sort of criminal ring. Apart from that, I'm not too sure."
Teito nodded, putting his notepad away and speaking.
"... How are you holding up, Mikaru? That couldn't have been easy for you."
Mikaru nodded, sitting on the ground against the wall. Teito took a seat beside him, looking out at the fields of tall grass and the trees.
"It was... I was terrified. If it were just myself, I would have been fine, but my friends were there, as well. When he walked up to us, and started talking, he mentioned that he thought my girlfriend was cute. I... I could hardly breathe..."
Teito nodded, speaking.
"I understand that, Mikaru. What about before this, though? I haven't heard from you since you started at Yamaku."
Mikaru smiled, speaking softly.
"Well, it's going very well. I was a musician, as you know, and I recently just finished writing my first real music in 6 years. It was... amazing. It's being unveiled in Sydney, Australia during August. My girlfriend, Hanako, is amazing. That boy, Hisao, from the other car by the gate? We kept on hanging out after that. He's my best friend. Probably the best friend I've ever had. I also went to Tokyo, and saw my mum. Saw my uncle too, somewhere else. I'm working on a deal right now, with some motor company to start getting into the Automotive industry."
Teito nodded his head at that, smiling.
"- Of course you are. You've been busy, Mikaru. Can I count on seeing you later?"
He smiled, nodding his head.
"- Of course, Teito. You took me in when I didn't have anyone else. You got me into Yamaku. You're like family to me. I think I actually want to take you and the misses to dinner, if you'd let me."
Teito grinned, standing up. He offered his hand to Mikaru then, helping him to his feet.
"That sounds good, Mikaru. We'd be delighted to come. She's pregnant, by the way."
Mikaru smiled, patting him lightly on the shoulder and speaking.
"Congratulations, sir. Anyway, I better get inside before the others start to fret. Have a good day, officer."
He nodded, tipping his hat before walking back to his car and pulling away. He stepped inside then, smiling at the others.
"- hey, do we have any plans tomorrow? I was hoping to head into Hokkaido proper, and meet up with an old friend. I wanted to treat us all to dinner."
Lilly smiled at that.
"That sounds like fun, Mikaru. We should go. Hisao?"
Hisao spoke then, smiling.
"That does sound like fun. Who are we meeting?"
Mikaru chuckled, speaking.
"- You remember the man that drove me here, Hisao? Officer Teito?"
Hisao laughed a bit, remembering that incident all to well.
"Him? Yeah, sure I do. One of the biggest scares of my life, maybe second to getting confessed to."
Lilly turned to him, frowning. Mikaru chuckled, deciding to fill her in.
"- Oh, you missed that. Lilly, Hanako hates bears, of all shapes, sizes and colours. A long time ago, I used to smoke, and Hisao had his first heart attack when a girl confessed to him."
She looked a little shocked for a moment, before she spoke.
"Well... I've never kissed a boy before I kissed Hisao..."
They laughed softly at that, and Mikaru spoke up, making Lilly blush.
"- A boy? Does that mean that you've kissed a girl before?"
She nodded a bit, and Hisao chuckled mirthfully.
"Man... I would pay to see that today..."
She slapped him on the chest at that, and all of them laughed a bit. Lilly was embarrassed, but she took it in stride. The rest of the evening went on uneventfully, as the four of them swapped secrets and stories happily.
End of Chapter Thirty-One: Behind These Bars, The Subject of Scars!
Next Time! Chapter Thirty-Two: Behind These Bars, Absolution!