Disclaimer: I do not own POT
Chapter 42: The plan
Sakuno was surprised to see Momoshiro and Oishi at her doorstep with a sheepish grin on his face. She turned to look at Tezuka, he seemed certain of it as he said softly beside her
"I think it is best to put all our problems aside and deal with Orochi first."
"I promise I won't make this awkward…"
Momoshiro seemed determined not to undermine their good will and faith in him to help them. He had failed Ann once before when she needed him, he is not going to do that to Sakuno or anyone else for the matter ever again. He has learnt his lesson.
"We all need to talk."
Tezuka lead everyone back into the main living room where Fuji was chatting amiably with the two ladies while Ann had Akihiko seated on her lap with the dazed look on his face. Once they entered the house, Ann noticeably tensed and it seemed the same with Momoshiro but he kept his chin up and walked towards her. Sakuno seemed worried, but when Tezuka placed a firm hand on her arm did Sakuno look up at Tezuka, she could read his expression.
Let them sort it out.
Momoshiro came right up to Ann and said determined
"I know that you don't really want to see me, and I don't want to cause you distress… but I know that I speak on both of our behalves that we want to help Ryuuzaki, and that only works if we can both try and work to help her. I promise to stay out of your way and try my best not to make you uncomfortable… is that okay?"
The moment between them were spent in silence, it seemed a little bit tense in the room and Oishi even shifted from side to side at the tension. All seemed to be well when Ann opened her mouth
"Yes, I promise to do my part in all this."
With that Inui's voice crackled to life,
"Good to hear that Momoshiro, you are being a man after all."
"Inui!"
Momoshiro leaned onto the table where Inui's voice was coming from, he and Oishi seemed pretty elated to hear from their old friend after such a long time.
"How are you doing lately?"
"Good! I just worked out a beautiful juice formula that you should try! It increases masculinity."
"Is that a side attack on my masculinity Inui?"
"It isn't really, only if I insist you take the juice."
Tezuka at that moment stepped into the conversation naturally
"I think it is more important to get head into this meeting, my cousin has already escaped as it stands."
Sakuno felt her body tremble a little until she felt a comforting arm around her by Ann and Tomoka, not to mention that Akihiko climbed onto Tezuka and so it seems naturally he would hold Akihiko up while he addressed everyone in the room. It made Tezuka seemed impossibly less intimidating.
"Now if my ears weren't playing tricks on my hearing, I'd say I heard you say to the inspector that you are going to be married? Is that part of your plan?"
Tezuka seemed to feel a little uncomfortable but he forged on like a normal champion he was as he answered truthfully
"Yes. If Kaidoh's report on him was not wrong, he thinks that I am stealing his life from him and if he were to hear that Ryuuzaki and myself are engaged, it will most likely cause him to act irrationally."
"…That sounds dangerous though…"
Momoshiro quipped, he sounded concerned and Ann seemed to agree with Momoshiro on that opinion he had just made. She was nodding her head and Tezuka answered with determination.
"He has a focused target, I want him to act as soon as he can so that his plans are not as solid and hard to solve. I want him irrational so that it will be easy to catch him."
"…As I have mentioned with my findings earlier, that every bank account has been paid for and it seems this all happened while your cousin was still in jail. Tezuka, even if you do get him irrational, chances are high, that the person who is helping him will not be wavered by his irrationality. He was able to sit in jail for a couple of years brooding and waiting while his aid looks around for something. There must've been a trigger of some sort for this break out but, whoever this person is, he or she is able to keep him under control for a good amount of years until now."
Added Inui, Fuji at this point added
"I agree that it is true, but I can't discount that Tezuka's plan is actually quite good. Can we increase his levels of irrationality to the point where he won't listen to his partner?"
"That is possible… given the personality and psych-tests done on Orochi is of any indication at all, he is very unstable. He strongly believes that Tezuka is taking everything he is and the concept that he is stealing, which in this case is Ryuuzaki-san. If we are able to make him feel even worse of an idea that she might even marry his arch nemesis, it might trigger him to evolve or devolve depending on how you see it. He might attack violently which is not ideal but at the same time, the work will be sloppy which means it is easier to topple than having him get a meticulous plan together."
Oishi added his two pence after reading the report on Orochi's mental health assessment, Tomoka was worried about the whole idea but when she looked to see Tezuka's determined face, she visibly relaxed. Fuji tapped his chin thoughtfully
"How about we give him a delay, he can't possibly travel out of the country given how everyone is looking for him and the head hunt. So taking her away from the country for a bit might drive him nuts, at the same time provide some time out, so we can flesh it out a bit more."
"Wouldn't that be giving him more time to plan a little more meticulously?"
Inui interjected, but Fuji seemed to ignore Inui and looked at Tezuka asking
"What do you think?"
"I think we could afford to go for a few days and that will drive him insane enough."
TBC...
