Mei sat frozen in the passenger seat, right beside her was the man who shot her father without a second thought and his fate, as well as hers, hung heavy in her mind. Her only hope to escape was if she somehow got away from Amemiya once he stopped the car or try and jump off the speeding vehicle, which was probably a poor idea considering how fast her kidnapper was blazing through the freeway.
"You're probably wondering why I didn't just shoot you then and there, eh, Aihara?" Amemiya had a devilish smile on his face, he was deranged and looked like he hadn't slept in days. The eyepatch that sat on the eye that Mei previously gouged was doing nothing to help his image. Anyone who saw how he looked like now wouldn't believe he used to be a handsome and well-respected man, "No need to be so cold, Aihara. We were engaged once, remember?"
"That was business." Mei answered cooly, trying not to be too familiar with Amemiya, "Come on. Don't tell me you never had a thing for me?" Mei felt the hair on her neck stand and disgust welled in the pit of her stomach as Amemiya placed his free hand on her thigh, rubbing it. Her throat felt constricted and it became harder to breathe, then without a thought, she forcefully slapped his hand away, enraging the man.
"Tsk," He flicked his tongue in anger, then took his pistol out and pushed it against Mei's temple, "What? You think you're too good for me? Is that it? You see this?!" he removed the eyepatch from his face, revealing the horrifying sight of his eye socket. It looked like it wasn't properly treated and was butchered by what first aid the injury received, "You did this to me!" Amemiya became more violent at each passing second.
"In fact, everything that's wrong in my life is because of you!" A sharp turn caused Mei to slam her head on the window, causing it to bleed but fortunately... or unfortunately, the impact wasn't enough to knock her out. Looking out the window, she realized that Amemiya had taken her to a secluded pier near Tokyo.
"Put these on," her captor demanded as he threw a pair of handcuffs towards the girl, "What are you waiting for? Christmas?" he continued harassing her with his gun, giving Mei little choice but to do as she was told. Once the cuffs were in place, Amemiya ordered Mei to get out of the vehicle and made her walk closer towards the water.
"You know, cutting off the engagement? I would've forgiven but everything after that?" Amemiya shook his head, "No. It's all your fault that Mio ended up like that too." Mei couldn't see Amemiya's face but his voice sounded like a mix of uncontrolled anger and bloodlust, she was slowly starting to fear what he was planning on doing to her.
"I thought a looooooooot about how I'd kill you, you know? I stalked your place but it was just too secure and my face has been all over the wanted posters but even so, I dreamt and fantasized about how I would get revenge on you. Should I kill you like those girls in the news? Gouge those condescending eyes out and cut that venomous tongue off?"
Mei's blood ran cold. The danger that Amemiya presented suddenly multiplied by tenfold, there was now a very real chance that the man she's with is more than just the violent bastard that he was, "Are you saying that you committed those crimes?" she pulled every fiber of her being into calming her voice so as to not show fear. It was good that he decided to walk behind her or her act wouldn't work as cold sweat already started dripping down her face.
"Maybe? Do you want to find out?" He challenged her, "Well, not like you'll live long enough to know. You see Aihara, during the time I was thinking about you, I realized that killing you wouldn't be satisfying, you understand? You're not the type of girl to give into boorish threats on your life. Why I bet even now you're only listening to me because you're buying time and trying to find a way to escape."
"Don't even think about it, by the way, no one is going to hear you nor help you out here," he wasn't lying. Mei looked far and wide around the small pier and found no signs that anyone was there with them. Judging by the road they took, there were also very few cars passing by so running and hoping to hitch a ride would prove to be a great risk.
"Anyway, a few nights ago, I finally found the answer to my questions, 'What scares Aihara Mei?' The answer was so simple. What you feared the most was drowning in your own misery and not meeting expectations. Aihara, you're going to die tonight and you're going to die alone, miserable and a disappointment. Your grandfather will weep you not because he lost his granddaughter but because his carefully groomed third generation heir died. Once he's done with that, he'll remember you only as a disappointment."
"But don't worry. I'm not completely evil, so I'll give you a fighting chance. See, I'm going to push you into the water and watch you fight for your life while your hands are cuffed together. Who knows, you might survive, then I'll start shooting at you with the 14 bullets left in this gun and if you STILL survive that, then congratulations."
"I suggest you do the smart thing, Aihara, and just let the water take your lungs. It's less painful that way but you won't do that, would you? Hilarious how hard you try when you don't even have much of a life to save." Mei looked around, feeling a little desperate at this time. She knew that chances of her surviving this were slim to none, "Stop looking around, Aihara. No one is coming to save a cold-hearted bitch like you."
Back in Tokyo, Yuzu ran as fast as she could towards Kei. She called him as soon as she confirmed that an ambulance was en route to get Sho, hoping that he was still around and that he brought his car today. When Kei replied positively to her inquiries, Yuzu begged Kei to come and meet her nearby and help her with an emergency, "Yuzu, what happened?" he asked as the door to his car flung open and the blonde jumped inside.
"Amemiya shot Sho-ojisan and took Mei, we don't have much time. I don't think he's going to let her live. Drive towards the apartment, please." Yuzu quickly typed on her phone, calling Matsuri while Kei cursed and drove as fast as he could, "Matsuri? It's an emergency. Can you scan Mei's location?" Yuzu was different from her usual self, she had gone into a trance and was completely focused on her task.
"What happened?" Matsuri asked through the phone, "Amemiya did." the loud clacking of the keyboard proved that Matsuri had already gotten to work, "Bingo!" the pink-haired girl exclaimed as a faint bleep appeared on her screen, "Yuzu-chan, they're headed out of Tokyo."
"Where to?"
"To the east from the looks of it, give me a sec."
Yuzu bit her lip, she was feeling impatient as she waited for Matsuri to provide a more accurate location for her, 'Stay with me, Mei.' she repeated in her head over and over again until Matsuri finally returned, "They're still moving. I can give you directions but until they stop, I can't give you an exact location."
"Kei, change of plans." Yuzu informed Kei before returning to Matsuri, "All right. We're good, tell me the fastest route."
"Take the xx road and exit through the first left, then make a right near the shopping center." Kei followed the instructions but it didn't take long for them to be met with heavy traffic, "Damn it." Yuzu cursed, prompting Matsuri to ask what was happening, "Heavy traffic. Can you look for an alternate route? We can't back out the way we came."
"Shit. Okay, hold on a sec." Yuzu tapped impatiently on the armrest while waiting for Matsuri to update then but her patience didn't last very long, "Matsuri, can you go a little faster?" There was an obvious hint of anxiousness in her voice, "I'm working as fast as I can, Yuzu-chan. I need to check these routes or I might send you to a dead end. So, can you let me work?"
"Sorry," Yuzu apologized, knowing she was wrong, "I'm just feeling really anxious and agitated right now."
"Whatever, I have your route but you're gonna get some serious apprehensions from the station if you go through it, is that okay?"
"Yes, yes. They can all complain later."
"All right, take the alley on the left. I hope your ride isn't an expensive one."
Weaving through alleyways and streets, Yuzu and Kei found themselves gaining on Mei's location, of course, they ran through a couple of trash piles, metal canisters and whatever else was left in the alleys, "Damn it, Yuzu. Isn't there a less bumpy path to take?" Kei was worried about Mei but his car was also getting quite the beating from going through these 'streets.'
"No, sorry. Can we just focus on the driving? We're going through pedestrian-only lanes and we can't afford to get into an accident."
"You don't have to tell me that! It's my car and my license that's on the line here too, you know?! Why are you even the one chasing after Mei, why aren't we calling the police!?" Yuzu noticed that Kei was becoming a little flustered by what seemed to be 'illogical' actions that they were taking, chasing after Amemiya and Mei by themselves. She remembered that Kei had lost on a fair fist fight against Amemiya and that may have dampened the man's confidence in facing him again.
Knowing that, Yuzu rummaged through her bag and pulled out her detective ID, showing it to Kei, "I'm a detective with the Tokyo Police Department, I was assigned to watch over Mei by my bosses and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Sorry if I hid it from you and dragged you along but I AM the police." Kei glimpsed at her police ID and immediately returned his eyes on the road, "Fine, fine. I get it!"
"Matsuri, did you inform Goro-senpai and Harumin about the incident?"
"Two steps ahead of you, Yuzu-chan. They're already preparing to leave, ETA should be around 15-20 minutes."
"That's too long, we're up against an armed suspect here and you know I can't-" Yuzu kicked herself, she had her gun but she couldn't shoot the god damned thing, "Kei, do you know how to use a gun?" she quickly looked at her best options, "Yes, I took some training but I can't guarantee I'll be able to shoot an actual person." Honestly, even if Kei couldn't hit anything, it was still better than if the blonde used the gun so she quickly handed the pistol over, "Doesn't matter. I'm in your care."
"Yuzu-chan, they've stopped and you're a few minutes away from them. Take the first left that you see down that freeway, you should come up to a small pier. I'm getting Mei-san's signal from there but it looks like they're heading closer to the water."
'Shit, shit, shit. What's he going to do to her?' Yuzu was in utter panic, "Kei, step on it!"
Amemiya poked Mei with the barrel of his gun and urged her to continue walking towards the edge of the pier, "I guess this is goodbye, Aihara." Mei inhaled sharply, composing herself for the remainder of what would be her final moments, "You won't get away with this, Amemiya." Hidden from Mei's sight, Amemiya smirked, "I don't intend to." He whispered into her ear then kicked her off the pier and into the depths of the sea.
Notes:
I've been wanting to write this and the next few chapters for so long. Glad to finally get here. (¯﹃¯*)