Kaori swept through the crowds, the frantically chaotic atmosphere bombarding her from every side. Shoulders hit her forcefully, trying to make their way from the scene, as the gunshots rang loudly from her ears. Her eyes darted from spot to spot, trying to push past the torrents of people, her fingers clawing at whoever just to get closer to where she was before. "Yasuhiko-san!" she screamed. "Yasuhiko-!"

She fell hard on the ground, and grunted painfully. Her hands slammed onto the pavement, while the brutal force of their legs attacked her arms. Once more, she stood, steading herself before being dragged along that pointless race with the mobs.

She looked around, hoping desperately that Yasuhiko-san would suddenly pop up somewhere, grab her hand, and lead her out of this mess. Still, she couldn't help but look behind her, wondering just what had become of that once enchanting display.

The tent was already buckling underneath the impact of that police car. There were a few officers emerging from the vehicle, guns in their hands, as they began shouting threateningly for someone to stop, to turn themselves in, to do whatever…else they would go berserk. People were falling to the ground, holding their injured limbs, pleading with their assaulters to not shoot. The candles were setting the entire scene thing on fire, and the dry, winter air simply fanned the flames. Wild bullets shattered the crystal trees, the glass shards spraying everywhere. Models, onlookers, reporters, idols; all were scrambling just to get out of the way, ripping away the clothes Kaori so happily admired just a second ago.

She was about to turn back, when her foot got caught somewhere. She fell again, with that fiery horizon in her sight.

People tripped over her. Their heels smashed into her body, their uncertainty felt with the crushing weight of their toes. She gasped, and tried picking herself up again, only to fall once more. Her pigtails were being stepped on, grounded into the concrete like the troublesome, entombed insects she saw the other day. Couldn't they see her? Was the event really that bad?

Yasuhiko-san, she begged silently.

Hot tears fell from her eyes, her voice built up from somewhere in her throat. Where was he? What was he doing? Was he waiting for her somewhere? Was he calling out to her too?

She felt a hand on her arm then.

It yanked her up to her feet, then led her from the tainted spot she was residing in. She blinked her tears away, the surprise etched on her face. And obediently, she began following that person. "Yasu-" she began, when she looked down at that hand.

Black.

A black glove, with a skull on it.

This wasn't Yasuhiko-san.

Her eyes trailed up to the person saving her. She recognized the light brown hair now racing ahead of her, and the same, humiliating eyes she'd come to hate ever since she got here. He wore a black trench coat, and a silver, choker on his neck with a bat flying behind. She was about to take slap his hand away, when she felt his grip tighten, causing her to wince.

"Come on you dork!" Ken screamed. "Cops are here!"

"W-wha-?"

"What?" he screamed back. "You wanna get buried alive by these losers?"

"…How did you…?" But the question faded with the sounds of footsteps and cries. She turned around, the panic rising in her chest as the realization crammed itself into her thoughts.

The police…the police were shooting at civilians.

Who were they? Did Mr. Saito know about this? Again, she tried to stop, tried to see if there was anything more she could see from the situation, only for Ken to tug sharply at her again. Suddenly, she was at his side, his left arm shoving her waist forward.

"W-wait! What about-?"

"That freak can take care of himself!"

They rounded the corner. Ken allowed her to fall behind again, but kept her hand firmly in his as they fled into the shadows of the buildings. They pulled into one alleyway, only to come running to another street. As the seconds passed by, people started disappearing one by one, until finally, it was just the two students there, racing ahead as if a monster had just come to life from some distant nightmare and were chasing them down. The cries became more and more distant, until finally, Kaori ceased hearing them at all. At last, she threw herself away from his grip and froze, panting heavily.

Ken leaned against an old, run-down office building, his hazy breaths diffusing through the air. Kaori couldn't help but look around at where they were, pondering at the icy darkness surrounding them. Everything looked old; any second now, they'd be reduced to nothing more than dust, wandering from one place to another. Some of the windows were broken, with gang symbols sprawled all over in red paint. There were a few light-posts here and there, which added to the eerie event. "How…how did you-?" she began.

"I was invited!" Ken snapped, a scarlet flush shoving itself across his cheeks. He rubbed the back of his neck, and sighed, resigned by the incident. "My dad's a photographer. He was supposed to take pictures of the models, then pose with the designer. Well, fat chance of that." He then turned pointedly toward her. "I'm not stalking you. I just happened to see you there with the freak. That's all."

Kaori straightened. "He's not a freak."

"Kaori, he's in the yakuza-"

"That doesn't make him a bad person!" she replied irritatingly. "He just doesn't want to get involved!"

Ken's eye twitched. "Kaori, he's killed someone-!"

"Those are just rumors!"

"I'm serious!" he shouted, storming up to her and grabbing her wrist. "Even if they are rumors, there's a lot of truth to them!"

"Like Sotoba, right?"

"This is different Tanaka." he continued on. "Police came and everything."

Kaori glared at him, and took a step back. "You're lying-"

"Don't trust me? Then just ask everyone else! They'll tell you he's actually killed someone! Hell, ask the cop that was chasing you! He did the entire investigation himself!"

Wait.

What?

The frustration came to a grinding halt, and all the anger she felt toward Ken immediately vanished. A cold, cruel thought popped into her mind, as she stared at the seething boy, who continued to pour out evidence of Yasuhiko-san's alleged crimes. His words were muffled, muted by compassionate memories from what it seemed to be some other world. She felt something spill from her eye, which cascaded down her cheek, followed by every emotion she felt at that moment. All the breath in her body was knocked out, while she steadied herself, trying to avoid falling on the ground again.

When Ken looked at her then, he stopped, in the midst of the confusion. "Hey," she started softly, "what cop?"

Ken stared at her, before turning toward her again. "Yuki's dad."

Her mouth was slightly agape, the crushing blow elevating the brokenness in her frame. "What…what are you-?"

Ken looked away. "I…I saw him, before he was leaving. He kept screaming your name, and…and how he was going to bring you justice…or something…like that…" He closed his eyes, and fell silent.

No, not now, especially not now. She took a deep breath, and quickly wiped away her tears. "Did you hear anything else?"

"N-no. Not really. Seriously though, what'd trouble did that…guy bring you?" She could hear the reluctance in his voice, the anger, the confusion of whether or not he should comfort her or hunt Yasuhiko-san down.

But that perception wasn't right; he had nothing to do with this. Kaori fully intended on removing those suspicions.

"It's not like that," she explained. "Mr. Saito…thinks I killed his daughter."

He raised an eye. "You were in the hospital though, weren't you?"

"Y-yeah, I was rescued."

"Shouldn't he be going after your savior then?" he asked, as he let go of Kaori and crossed his arms against his chest.

"I said the same thing," she replied calmly. "He just…won't listen." She clutched her sullied coat tightly, ignoring the red ring around her wrist. "If I could just remember what happened that night, then-"

"That doesn't matter; he shouldn't be chasing you down like this. You do realize that if this gets out, he's gonna have to resign, right?"

Kaori warily gazed up at the boy in front of her. "You're…you're not upset that Yuki's-?"

He scratched his head awkwardly. "I can't say I am. Yuki had a lot of enemies, and no one really liked her much." He groaned then, and shot a tired smile at Kaori. "What? You think I'm the one who did it?"

"I…I don't know." She turned around, and once again examine the entirety of the almost unearthly calmness around her. She rubbed her eyes, and held herself close. All in the span of one night, when she finally caught a glimpse of peace, the dream was dashed aside by the very trouble she caused herself. The newfound friend she accompanied managed to slip from her grasp, and now she was stuck here, with a stalker that persistently kept on with his little, torturous games. No matter what he said, she couldn't bring herself to believe him, even if he help her at one point in time.

Life, as she saw it, had a very dark sense of humor.

"It's all so confusing," she admitted. "As…much as I hate to say it, I kind of expected this to happen."

He stared at her for a little, then took a step forward, and offered her his hand. "We should go."

She kept herself back. "I…I want to go back."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Yasuhiko-san might still be back there," she said. "I'm not just going to leave him there!"

"He can-"

"I don't care."

The two regarded each other evenly. Time seemed to slip from their bodies, with neither backing down from the proposal. At last, Ken sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll take you."

"It…it's fine-"

"I had nothing to do with that," Ken said softly. "Look, I never chased you. I never did any of those things, and I haven't got a clue what you're talking about. And if I did, then I'm sorry."

Wordlessly, he grabbed her hand, and proceeded to walk back to the chaos.

Why is it always fire?

Natsuno stood there in front of the collapsed tent, as the police officers drew closer and closer toward him. Toma's smell radiated everywhere, and the glassed over looks weren't helping in easing his confirmed suspicions. His dark eyes picked out the details of their uniforms, badges cast aside, as well as the handguns they held tightly in their grasp. They were all terrified; no one knew what was going on.

Natsuno took one step forward, and lunged forward.

That was when they began firing.

A bullet grazed Natsuno's cheek, and another whirred past his face in all its accuracy. He felt one hit his arm, yet he continued through the assault, knowing full well that the panic they managed to incite was now affecting their systems as well. He managed to get behind one of them, and, with one hand, grabbed his throat and broke his neck.

The other three senselessly shot at the jinrou. Natsuno grabbed the man's head and used the corpse as a shield, before tossing it up in the air. The gun barrels followed the body, allowing Natsuno to lunge toward them with perfect ease. His hand pierced the officer's skin, and decapitated him neatly. The other officer charged behind him, and attempted to shoot at his skull. Natsuno simply, swirled behind and stabbed his arm through the man's stomach. He drove his arm upwards, effectively cutting half his body in half. It felt limp to the ground, twitching convulsively at the sudden attack; it stopped only after a few seconds.

Natsuno turned to the doll now shooting at him from afar. He didn't have to dodge any of them; he already knew Saito was a terrible shot. Natsuno narrowed his eyes, as he caught that same, human light, the one Tooru once chased after, seemingly disappeared from his pupils. Slowly, he started walking toward the man, clenching and unclenching his bloody fists.

He stopped a few yards in front of Saito, and stared at him for a while. The officer kept pulling the trigger, but none of those precious bullets were coming out. Still, he kept trying, not understanding how pathetic he looked. Natsuno stuffed his hands in his pockets, and regarded him evenly. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked once again, his stoney demeanor returning.

Saito blinked. "Where is she?" he muttered murderously.

"Who?"

He flinched at Natsuno's icy tone, but he kept his ground, unwavering at what it looked to be…a father's love. "You know her!" he screamed. "Where the hell is she?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!" he cried agonizingly. "Where is Kaori Tanaka?! You were there that day, in the police office! You were there! You were that guy, right?! Her little boyfriend or something?!"

Natsuno caught the familiar grey lines stroked across his hair. In that instant, he looked exactly like his dad, who cared for him earnestly even when Natsuno had risen up, who lay there, in Shimizu's arms, that night, during the hospital's destruction. But Natsuno refused to soften, and instead, shoved his hands in his pocket. "What do you think you're doing?" he repeated in that hypnotic voice of his.

Saito shook his head vigorously. A twisted, heartbroken smile gradually appeared on his face. He threw the gun aside, and pulled out a small, fragile knife from the back of his belt. "Where is she?!" he screamed.

"Calm down!" he shouted.

"No! Where is she?! Where the hell is she?! WHAT'D SHE DO TO MY DAUGHTER YOU FUCKING BASTARD?!"

He started racing forward, the tears streaming from his eyes, not even bothering to look at the corpses of his dead subordinates. He disregarded them completely, the rage overtaking his mind, with the tip shining mercilessly in the bright, orange lights. He kept seeing his father and this guy, intwining in every way possible. What? After he stabbed Natsuno, was he going to invite him into his house for something? Was the man even going to get better, after all of this?

So Natsuno simply closed his eyes, and stepped aside. He tripped Saito, then grabbed his shoulder and crushed it in the palm of his hand. Without hesitation, he drew the man back and stabbed between his shoulder blades, surely but surely making his way through to the human's tainted heart. Natsuno felt its frantic beats, the tiny thing connected by veins, protected by ribs and blood alike. He grabbed with his right hand, and tore it out.

He allowed Saito to crumple to the floor, while crushing the tiny thing in his hand. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw the officer's lifeless eyes looking up at him, with that same malice he knew too well.

Natsuno stared at his victims for a while, and cocked his head a bit.

Funny, how remorseless you become after a while.