"Of course." Yu answered.
"Ready for what? What are you three up to? And who is this?" Makoto questioned, raising an eyebrow and looking at the woman by Akechi's side.
"This is Morgana. She's a huge fan of mine and she's offered to help me out in my duties." The teen detective answered.
Makoto looked at the girl, now even more suspicious, which prompted Morgana to speak up.
"Yup! Akechi's a real hero! I look forward to fighting by his side."
Makoto rolled her eyes, her skepticism gone.
"And why are you here?"
"Oh nothing. There was a movie we were going to watch with Narukami-san after school let out, but since it's early, we thought we'd go to an earlier showtime to avoid paying the afternoon fee. Want to come with us?" Akechi asked.
"What movie?" Makoto asked, trying, and failing, to keep her voice even. She was probably hoping it'd be a Yakuza film.
"Night at Grandma's. You know, the newest addition to the Grandma trilogy reboot?"
The mention of the movie caused Makoto's face to go pale.
"D-does Yu-kun… like… those kinds of movies?" She asked in a hushed whisper.
"I'm not really sure. I plan on finding out." Akechi replied in an attempt at whispering that was too loud to be successful, like he was doing it on purpose for comedic effect. Makoto let out a gulp and turned to Yu, her knees starting to shake.
"W-well… alright then. Enjoy the movie! P-please don't tell me the details when you get back." She pleaded as Yu left, hastily closing the door behind him.
"A little tip if you ever want to get Makoto-san to leave you alone; tell her your going to see a horror movie." Akechi informed as they started walking.
"Thanks, I'll be sure to keep it in mind. Now, where are we going?"
"Right this way."
Yu followed Akechi and Morgana out of the apartment and down to the train station. The two boys and girl were pressed rather tightly together, due to the fact that it was the lunchtime rush. Once the doors opened, they were shoved out and had to stumble to get their footing to keep themselves from falling. Akechi continued to lead through the Shibuya Square, all the way up to their destination. Neither noticed through the crowd of people that there was a certain bald, muscled man watching them.
"Akechi. Why are we at a police station?"
"Because you wanted a gun?"
"Ok, but…"
"Narukami-san, I am aware that the authorities may put you on edge, but just trust me on this, alright?"
"Fine. After you, Detective Prince." Yu said with a bow and outstretched arm.
"Very well. Oh, and Morgana, please wait out here."
"Sure thing!" Morgana chirped with a nod.
The two entered the station, and saw a rather fat officer with brown hair slicked back eating donuts at the reception desk. Once he saw the two, he shoved the last 2/3rds of the donut he was eating right into his mouth and sat up. He raised an eyebrow at Yu as the two approached.
"Akechi, who's the rookie?" The fat officer asked, suspicion oozing from his voice.
"Yu Narukami. Narukami-san, this is Junya Kaneshiro."
"Narukami? Well hot damn boy, your old man's a legend here." The officer, now known as Kaneshiro, exclaimed, his mood lightened greatly as he leaned back in his chair.
"He's a legend everywhere in Japan." Yu replied.
"Especially to Akechi-kid here. You know, your old man is the reason our tween detective started his career in the first place." Kaneshiro explained, pointing at Akechi, who felt heat rushing to his cheeks.
"H-He doesn't need to know that!" Akechi shouted a little too loudly.
"Bahahaha! Totally worth seeing the look on your face Akechi-kid. Now, what can I get you? Pistol not working out for ya?" Kaneshiro asked, smiling at Akechi's embarrassment.
"N-No, it's not that. In fact, it's everything I could have hoped for. No, we're here because we need to get Narukami-san here a weapon."
Kaneshiro's face turned grim as he leaned forward.
"Look Akechi." He started, dropping the playful 'kid' and his tone far more serious.
"The reason why I let you skip the paperwork was because I owed you and because you are technically a member of the police. But this kid, even if he is Dojima's, is still a kid. I can't go around handing weapons to high schoolers without the proper identification and paperwork."
"I know. That's why I'm not asking that we give him a real weapon. We simply need a model. And to bypass all that bureaucracy."
"Hmmmm… I could get in big trouble for this ya know. You could too. The director, even that Niijima woman treat you like a pain in the ass when they don't need you. You sure ya wanna risk getting on their bad side?"
"I'm sure."
"Well I'm not. So find someone else." Kaneshiro replied, turning his attention to some paper stacks.
"How much?" Yu asked before the cop could turn his attention away completely.
"What's that now?" Kaneshiro asked, looking out the corner of his eye.
"You heard me. How much would it take to make it worth the risk?" Yu asked, pulling out all the money his dad had given him before he left and slamming it on the counter.
"Narukami-san!" Akechi gasped.
Kaneshiro smiled.
"Heh. I like you kid, you got guts. Follow me." Kaneshiro ordered, getting out of his chair and taking the money.
"Remember, I'm only going to be selling models. If you want real guns, don't come to me. I ain't getting ya in trouble." He added, getting a key out of his pocket and unlocking a door.
Inside were several boxes that had been opened and emptied. Proudly on display were several weapons, from shotguns, to assault rifles, to grenade launchers. Walking through the armory, Kaneshiro led the three to the back, to a door that read 'Display'. Kaneshiro opened it up. It was far more cluttered and less organized than the armory, but Yu could see just as various weapons as outside.
"We use the ones in here for demonstrations, showing them off to the public, and so on. Now… Pick a gun. Any gun." Kaneshiro suggested with a smirk, delighting in the fact that they shouldn't be doing this.
Yu looked around, testing the grip, weight, and so forth, pretending they were real. The rifles were too bulky for his taste, the shotguns had no finesse, and the grenade launchers would be too heavy for him to carry around all the time. Finally, he saw something, a pistol tucked behind a cardboard box, like it was hiding in order to test him.
"I like this one." Yu said, picking up and examining the gun.
"Wow, good eyes kid. That's a Mauser C96 machine pistol. Not sure what that's doing here though, we're supposed to keep our models up-to-date." Kaneshiro said, scratching his chin.
"How much?"
"Consider this a freebie. But next time, you'll have to pay a pretty penny." Kaneshiro answered, tossing Yu's money back at him. He didn't bother picking up something for Morgana, remembering that her slingshot's pelts hurt just as much as a gun's bullets.
"Alright. In that case, we'll be leaving."
Yu put the pistol in the back of his pants and made sure his shirt covered it. He and Akechi left the police station, and Yu looked around once they were outside. There was no one there, aside from Morgana to walked to them once she noticed. He decided to pull out the pistol and examine it, testing the weight, sights, and grip. Once he was done with his evaluation, he put it in the back of his pants and smiled. Yes, this would do nicely indeed.
"That looks so cool! I can't wait to see how it performs!" Morgana said excitedly.
"What happens now?" Akechi asked, turning to their leader.
"Now, I'd like to visit Shiho, see how she's doing. Along the way, we'll have to brainstorm how we're going to get the other items we need." Yu informed, walking down to the train station.
"Akechi told me about the gadgets. Don't worry about those, I can teach you how to make things like lockpicks and smoke bombs, and what I can't make, my utility belt probably has. That leaves medicine. Any ideas?" Morgana asked as they boarded the train.
"I don't know. But we know that you have healing spells, so we may have to keep you and your power reserved for medic." Yu replied.
"That means you and I will have to do all the fighting." Akechi pointed out.
"True, but we can't risk another member. Especially since there's a chance Kobayakawa could have his hands on their throats."
"Very well Narukami-san. You're the leader."
"Actually… I realized something." Yu began.
"What?"
"Since Shiho's still conscious, it means that she can rat out Kobayakawa."
"True. And since she's had no prior contact with me, or squabbles with the coach, Ushimaru-san will have to take her word as gospel. It'll be enough to get him fired, at least."
"I'm sensing a 'but' in there." Morgana interrupted.
"Kobayakawa has a lot of money. He'll be able to afford a good lawyer, and then there's going to be Morooka's testimony that will, naturally, claim the opposite. He'll get off the hook, and he'll rule Shujin through the shadows."
"And then we're back to square one." Yu sighed dejectedly.
The train doors opened up, and thankfully, lunch time rush had ended. The three stepped out into the open air and made their way to the Tokyo Central Hospital. Like all hospitals, it was clean, with swept floors and tiles, not a speck of dust to be found. It was also busy, both with doctors going about their usual routines, and visitors sitting in various waiting rooms or talking to the reception desk. But inside the pristine waiting room, there was a man arguing with a nurse. The nurse stomped her foot, causing the man to recoil as she screamed at him.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT! I refuse to endanger a patient for your 'medical experiments' you washed up quack!"
"P-please, just-" he pleaded
"The answer is no! Now get the hell out of here before I call security!"
The man hung his head low and turned to leave. He was dressed in a lab coat with a pair of torn cargo pants that were tainted by ketchup, mustard, bleach, and various other stains along with blue polo shirt complimented a loose white tie with a red Caduceus running down it. There was also a name tag attached to the coat. Shoichi Oyamada. Shoichi was a man who had greasy, short, black hair that was just as disheveled as his fully grown beard, which had crumbs of food in it.
Yu was curious with what that nurse meant by 'medical trails', and made a mental bookmark to ask the nurse about it. Apparently, Morgana also noticed, as she nudged Yu with her elbow and whispered to him.
"Be sure to keep that guy in mind. He could be willing to give us some drugs."
Yu nodded, hoping no one else heard that. Now, it was time to see how Shiho was doing. After figuring out what her room number was, they went upward and found a doctor talking to a couple, presumably Shiho's parents.
"How bad is it?" the woman asked.
"Thankfully, this rape was intended more to traumatize than actual sexual pleasure. Tests show that it was done anally and orally, so she won't have to worry about a surprise in nine months. As for the physical damage, she has a few cracked bones, but nothing is broken. She'll have pain walking, but none of it seems to be permanent, but the bruises will take time to heal, and I highly advise against any strenuous activities, like volleyball. Given a few weeks in here, she'll be right as rain."
"Thank god." The man sighed, relief heavy in his voice.
"She's conscious right now. Her friends are in there already."
"We would like to talk to her, if that's alright." Yu requested.
"Hmmm? Who are you two?" The doctor asked.
"We are also friends of hers. Goro Akechi, Yu Narukami, and Morgana Carmen." Akechi introduced with a small bow.
"I see. I still need to talk to her parents to fill out the required paperwork and finer details, but you two can head on inside." The doctor permitted.
The two simply nodded as they head in. Shiho was lying in bed, talking to Ann and Ryuji. All three looked at the new arrivals and each giving a smile when their eyes drifted to Yu. Ryuji gave a wave from his chair.
"Yo. Glad to see ya. We were wondering when you'd show up. Who's the chick?" Ryuji asked, eyeing Morgana up and down.
"This is the woman who helped me get back home." Shiho explained.
"Really? You helped her get back Morgana?" Yu asked.
"Yea. Why wouldn't I? She's a fellow human."
Morgana then gave the most over-exaggerated wink possible. Everyone but Shiho expressed some form of discomfort. The bedridden student continued.
"I was stumbling through an alleyway, constantly falling to the ground, struggling to support myself on the walls, when this woman came up to me. And her very next words were… 'excuse me, but could you get out of the way?"
There was a brief chuckle from everyone except Morgana.
"What's so funny? She was in my way."
"As you can see, Morgana-san isn't from around here." Akechi replied with a nervous grin.
"Anyway, once she saw how injured I was, she offered to help, and took me all the way back to my house. I asked her what her name was, she gave it, and now we're here."
"Wow, that was awfully nice of you Morgana. Thanks for helping her." Ann thanked.
"What were you doing at that time Morgana-san?" Akechi asked.
"Oh, mostly exploring. This is my first time in the waking wor-" Morgana started, but was soon cut off by Akechi placing his hand on her mouth. Ann, Ryuji, and Shiho gave the two questioning looks before Yu spoke up.
"In any event, I'm glad to see you're alright Shiho." Yu said, trying to change the subject.
"Yea. Thanks for stopping me. I'm so sorry for worrying all of you." Shiho apologized.
"Don't apologize. You're safe now, and all's well that ends well, right?" Yu replied.
"Speaking of ends, hopefully, Ushimaru-sensei will come by to check up on her. And when he does, that boxing coach is as good as gone." Ann declared, pumping her fist into the air, a smirk forming with her mouth.
"It'll get him fired, but I'm afraid one testimony won't be enough against Morooka's."
"What about the other students? If they testify about Kobayakawa's blackmail and abuse, then it'll have to get him at least some time in prison." Shiho retorted.
"That's… hmm. I never thought about that. And if Sae-san is heading up the case, and worries about Makoto-san…yes. Yes, I think that will do nicely. If we can get all of the members of my former teams to talk, Sae-san will be able to get him locked up for a substantial time." Akechi muttered to himself, a grin starting to form.
"Hell yea! Then count me in! That asshole is going down!" Ryuji cheered with a cheeky grin. But as if those were magic words, Yu's phone chimed. Pulling it out, his eyes almost popped out, color vanished from his face, and his skin prickled as he read the message.
"Yu-kun? What's wrong?" Shiho asked.
"I got a text from an unknown number. It says 'if you don't want your guardian to see this, you'll tell Shiho to not implicate Kobayakawa'. It's a picture of me and Akechi."
Akechi looked over Yu's shoulder and grimaced. On Yu's phone was a picture of him holding his newest gun, Akechi and Morgana by his side.
"It's blackmail material. On Narukami-san." Akechi said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"H-how bad is it?" Ann asked.
"Bad. Very, very, bad. Worse, Morgana-san and I are in this as well. If Sae-san sees this, forget throwing you out, she'll turn you in straight to the police. I'll lose my job, and Morgana-san will most likely be put in jail as well."
All the joy and excitement evaporated like rain on lava as the news set in. Ryuji punched a wall, Ann clenched her hands into fists, and Shiho rubbed her eyes with her hand. They were so close, but a simple mistake landed them right back to where they started. Yu noticed how quiet they were.
"Aren't you going to ask what it is?"
"Kobayakawa taught us what happens to people when we pry too deeply. Besides, we're better off not knowing, considering that Kobayakawa has us on a leash too. If Akechi-senpai says it's that bad, I believe it." Ann answered, her fists now trembling.
There was a knock on the door and in stepped a big-boned man with square glasses, suspenders, and a plain button up shirt with a red tie.
"Hello Suzui-san, I hope that you are well, considering the circumstances." A stern voice boomed.
"P-principle Ushimaru? You here early." Akechi sputtered out, flabbergasted.
"I came here to check up on Suzui-san. I also intend to find out who did this to her. Are you in a condition to talk about it?"
Shiho looked at Yu. She had a decision to make.
If she told Ushimaru about Kobayakawa, she would be able to at least get him fired, but it would also mean that she'd condemn Yu and Morgana, the two people who saved her life. If she kept quiet, Kobayakawa would be free, and would milk the blackmail material for all it's worth, and the end result would probably be the same for the teen who was on probation. Maybe Yu was better off if he got turned in now. With all that in mind, she made her decision.
"I-I… no sir. I am not. And I don't think I will be until a few more days."
"I see. In that case, please get well. If you change mind, please don't hesitate to talk to either me or Akechi, alright?"
"I will sir, thank you."
"Alright, here's my number, should you wish to talk." Ushimaru explained, handing her a slip of paper with numbers written on it.
"If there's nothing else, I'll leave you be."
With that, Ushimaru walked out, and Shiho shot Akechi an apologetic look. The doctor ushered everyone out; their time was up. The four made their way to an obscure area of the hospital lobby to talk. Ryuji and Ann turned to Akechi and Yu, the fragrance of victory turned into the stench of defeat too quickly.
"Damnit! We were so effin' close to nailing that bastard!" Ryuji yelled.
"Hush Ryuji! There are other people here. But… he is right. I don't think we'll ever get a better chance at removing Kobayakawa." Ann said
"How did that happen? Did Kobayakawa follow us?" Morgana asked.
"He must have. If it was Futaba, she'd probably sit and wait for us to make our move, and only act at the last possible minute. Kobayakawa probably sent her the picture and gave her orders to contact us with the threat. Text her back, let her know the message is received. Kobayakawa will want proof, or else he'll hurt her."
"What happens now?" Yu asked as he did as instructed.
"Now, we all head home. There's nothing else to do here." Akechi answered, giving a curt nod to his classmates, which they returned.
The others left, but Yu went back to Shiho's room. By now, the doctors had done what they needed to do, and Yu was able to slip in behind their backs. Shiho was in blissful sleep, but Yu could tell that they had to administer something to make it that way. There was no way she would be at peace given everything that's happened to her. Yu remembered the cute girl with a pink hairband that seemed so meek and humble outside of volleyball, and he turned her into this: a broken shell of a human being that would probably need therapy for the rest of her life. He had to make this right. Pulling out his phone, he pulled out his phone and dialed Akechi's number.
"Hello Narukami-san. Is there something wrong?"
"Hey Akechi. Just wanted you to know where and when to meet for our backup plan."
"Involving Kobayakawa?"
"Yes. I figured since we couldn't talk about it in front of Ann and Ryuji, we might as well talk over the phone. Anyway. Tomorrow, after school, meet me at the alleyway. Also, send Morgana to the Niijima apartment in a few hours so she can teach me how to make gadgets."
"Understood. In the meantime, I'll start to get in shape. We'll have to be at our best in order to win this war."
"Alright. See you then."
Yu hung up turned to the sleeping Shiho.
"I'll make this right. I promise." He whispered, having no idea that Shiho was awake through the whole thing.
Getting out of her room, he began to track down the nurse from before, he decided to try and track down that Shoichi Oyamada.