6-18
The bell rings.
Kawakami raises tired eyes and regards the class. "Alright, that's all for today. Enjoy the weekend."
The students begin to rise and file out of the room, their conversations already turned towards their plans for the next day and a half.
Ann turns in her seat towards Akira. His hand still holds his pencil, but his knuckles are white. The light refracts through the window and across his glasses, so she cannot see his eyes. His lips are pressed together in a thin line. She glances over her shoulder as more students exit the classroom.
"Akira," she whispers.
The sun goes behind a cloud, and a shadow falls across his face. She blinks and leans away from him. There's a hardness in his eyes. She gets the impression that, although he's looking at her, he's not seeing her. She doesn't like it.
"Well," he finally says. "Let's do it."
#
Rin Sugimura paces his room. There is a meal on his desk, untouched. He does not remember who brought it. He does not remember the last time he ate. His thoughts are caught in a loop, circling and circling, screaming in his mind.
Where is she? Where is she?
He doesn't know. He had thought Haru returned to Niijima's, but evidently not. He had thought she'd go back to school, but he's found no trace of her. He couldn't call up her family. If they discovered what he'd done, he would be finished. His family could survive a battle with the Okumuras, but there was no guarantee he would. His father had been clear on this matter.
Where is she?
He needs to find her. Needs to deal with her. If she's dead, he has to confirm it. His phone vibrates from inside his jacket pocket. He's ignored calls for the past few days, but for whatever reason, he reaches in and pulls it out.
An unidentified number has sent him a message. He doesn't recognize it, and his Caller ID offers nothing.
?: I have your fiancé. You want her?
Sugimura stares at the phone, and finds his hands are shaking. Is this real? Is this bullshit?
SUGIMURA: Who is this?
?: Doesn't matter. I'll trade her to you, but it'll cost.
Sugimura grits his teeth and shakes his head.
SUGIMURA: Why should I believe you?
?: You took her from outside her friend's. You knocked her out. Took her to Kaneshiro.
?: You asked him to drug her up.
?: He beat you up in response.
?: Sound familiar?
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Sugimura spits.
?: I'd pay up. Wouldn't be good if what she told me gets out.
Sugimura drops into his chair and forces himself to breathe. Okay. Okay. This is fine. Someone's got her. If all he wants is money, I can give him that. I need to get Haru back so I can shut her up.
SUGIMURA: What do you want?
The reply comes a moment later with a figure. Sugimura balks, but it's not unreasonable.
SUGIMURA: Fine.
?: Good boy. I'll text you an address. Don't even think about involving anyone else.
?: I see anyone else, save for your dipshit driver, the deal is off.
?: Everything will go public.
Sugimura lowers his head until it touches the warm screen of his phone. "Shit," he whispers. He sits up and texts his response.
SUGIMURA: Fine.
?: Good. When you get here, I'll send more instructions.
The address soon follows. Sugimura heads for the garage, sending a message for his driver to get things ready. The meeting is down by the Bay. He has enough time to get to the bank and make the withdrawal, and reach the location before the sun goes down.
#
Akira lowers his burner and shudders. He feels nauseous.
"Well?" Ryuji asks.
"He's on his way," Akira tells him. "Tell everyone to go ahead."
Ryuji takes out his own burner and starts to send the messages.
#
Yusuke stands up from the table, staring at the phone in his hand. "The signal has been sent, Haru," he says. "We must depart."
Haru nods.
Makoto reaches out across the table and takes her hand.
The three sit in a small ramen shop far outside of Shibuya. It is nowhere Sugimura would think to look.
"Haru," Makoto whispers.
Haru grips her hand and squeezes it. "Thank you, Mako-chan. But I've got to go."
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Makoto asks.
Haru releases her hand and takes up the large bag at her feet.
Yusuke frowns. "I apologize, but time is of the essence."
Haru looks up and stares into Makoto's eyes. "I don't know what I'll think of all this tomorrow, Mako-chan." She hefts up the bag and slings it over her shoulder. "But for now, this is what I can do."
Makoto lowers her gaze to the table. "I'm sorry," she says. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you more."
Haru walks around the table, leans down and wraps Makoto in a hug. "Mako-chan, you're the best friend I've ever had. You helped me more than you know. I'm sorry I couldn't return the favor, and I'm sorry things turned out this way."
"I must insist-" Yusuke begins, then stops when he sees the look the two girls give him. "Yes, well, at your leisure then."
Haru steps away from Makoto. "I'll see you soon, Mako-chan. I'll call you tonight."
Makoto nods, and looks to Yusuke. "Take care of her, and good luck."
Yusuke nods, but remains silent. Together, they leave the shop.
#
The car pulls up to the old warehouse, and Sugimura stares out at the broken windows and cracked concrete. I don't like this.
His driver, Fumihiro, turns in his seat and regards him. "Shall I accompany you, sir?" He asks, in a bored tone.
Sugimura scowls. "No. Wait with the car. This won't take long. Hopefully."
"Uh-huh," the man replies. He casts a gaze over at the large satchel Sugimura holds at his size. The payment is inside. Then, he turns back and faces out the front.
Sugimura sits there, and finds he doesn't want to leave the car. If only they'd come out to meet him, they could undertake the transaction here.
His phone vibrates. He snatches it up and reads the message.
?: I see you. Get out of the car and come inside.
?: Alone.
Sugimura takes a deep breath. This is fine, he tells himself. Just do this one little thing, and then everything can go back to normal.
Maybe not normal. He'll have to deal with Haru. He can't have her telling people what he tried to do.
We're close to the Bay. I could just dump her.
He takes another deep breath, opens the door, and slides out. The satchel, he keeps tucked underneath his arm.
SUGIMURA: Where do I go, once I get inside?
?: I'll let you know.
Sugimura shakes his head and starts towards the door. This is a mistake, his brain screams at him. This is nuts. Get back in the car and go!
He doesn't.
Sugimura pushes open the front door and steps inside. It takes his eyes a moment to adjust to the dark. The strong smell of dusts wafts up his nose and he scrunches up his face.
His phone vibrates.
?: Head straight, and go to the back of the building.
Sugimura sets off across the warehouse floor. He's not sure what used to be kept here, but the ceiling is high and dusk creeps in through the windows. There's nothing in the building now, save for a few broken pallets and pieces of piping stacked in scattered piles between columns.
He sets out deeper into the building.
#
Akira crouches behind the low wall, peering over at the car. "Come on," he whispers. "Come on."
Finally, he sees Morgana appear from the shadow beneath the vehicle. The cat stands on his hind legs and waves his paw through the air.
"Okay," Akira says. He turns back to the other Phantom Thieves, who lay low alongside him. They're all dressed in black, formless and bulky clothes. "Morgana's finished."
The cat had slipped beneath the car the moment Sugimura had stepped inside the building. The driver hadn't kept the car running, and so wouldn't realize the car had been messed with.
Akira checks his burner. He's received another message from Sugimura.
SUGIMURA: What is this? I'm near the back of the building.
Akira sends another text.
?: There's a chair along the wall. There's a phone there. Pick it up.
Akira slides his burner back into his pocket. "Alright, we're almost set."
Ann reaches out a grips his sleeve. "This is our last chance, Akira. Sure you want to go through with this?"
Akira runs his eyes over the group. All of them, crouched down beneath the wall, dressed in black, their eyes on him. They all look scared. He meets Haru's gaze. She swallows, and gives a small nod.
Akira pulls out a new burner, and takes a deep breath.
"Here we go," he says, and hits SEND.
#
"Another phone?" Sugimura asks the darkness. "Why?"
He hears a small vibration to his left, near a door that leads to a stairwell. He approaches, and finds a chair propped up against the wall, just like the message said there would be.
Set on the chair is a cheap little phone, flashing with a new message icon.
"What the hell is this?"
He picks it up from the chair and flips it open.
He reads, and his eyes widen.
?: Rin Sugimura, we knw abt u. We knw wat u have done. Wat u tried 2 do. We will steal ur desires and u will confess ur sins. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
"Wh-what?" Sugimura asks. He drops the phone. It clatters on the ground. "What the hell is this?"
Phantom Thieves of Hearts? That's real? They're real? They're here?
Sugimura hears a footstep behind him and he starts to turn. He doesn't make it.
An arm wraps itself around his throat and yanks him back, off balance. A cloth wet with something is places over his mouth and nose. In a panic, he inhales.
He screams into the hand, realizing what's happening, and a muffled sound echoes out into the warehouse, along with the noise of his scrabbling feet as he tries to get away.
Then, he sees and hears nothing.
#
Iwai lowers Sugimura's body to the floor. He takes his hand away from the kid's face and feels for breath.
Still there.
Good. Least he didn't suffocate.
He stands and peers down at his victim. He'd never heard of Rin Sugimura until Akira mentioned him. The son of some politician, and a real shitbag.
Rin Sugimura, according to Akira, was harassing and antagonizing a dear friend of his. Akira had something on him - exactly what, he had refused to say - and was going to blackmail the guy into bringing enough money so his friend could move away.
The story had been flimsy, at best, but Iwai had listened because Akira had promised to help him with whatever he needed.
This wasn't the first time Iwai had done something like this, and God willing it would be his last, but it was clear Akira was going to fuck it up without him. And Iwai needed Akira's help with Kaneshiro.
Only, something about the whole thing didn't add up.
First off, this plan relied on him, a lot.
Iwai had to knock out Sugimura, take the payment, and stick around long enough to make sure he didn't come to.
Akira would 'send a signal' when the coast was clear, and then Iwai was free to leave.
And through all this, Iwai had kept his mouth shut.
He looks at the phone, face down on the ground alongside Sugimura. Akira had told him not to attack Sugimura until after he had read whatever message was on the burner.
He'd been told it was a final jab from the girl. A kind of 'fuck off and farewell,' thing.
Akira had, in his own roundabout way, asked him not to read the message. Which told Iwai that he absolutely should. "You've got a lot to learn, kid," Iwai says, and reaches a gloved hand out to take up the phone.
He reads the message.
"Holy shit."