Hiro let out a large sigh, followed by a few
quick forming tears as he looked up at the ceiling with his eyes
closed. Suguru reacted quickly and jumped out of his chair, running
over to Hiro, mentally preparing to wrap his arms around Hiro and run
away with him, but before he could do anything else, the crowd broke
out, shouting anything that came to their minds as two police
officers came out of hiding and pulled Hiro with them, cuffing him at
the same time. Hiro tried to block out the screams of hate, but some
were said by the voices that he had hoped that would never stoop that
low. Mika was the leader of the pack, and even managed to strike in a
few physical hits to him as he was dragged by. Suguru pushed everyone
out of his mind and made the room appear in slow motion. No one was
talking. Everything was serene. Hiro was slowly leaving him. Slowly
and unwillingly. The redheaded boy looked back at him, as to ask for
help. Not help to break free, but help to be the one to still believe
in him. Hiro didn't want to take any chances on Shuichi. For all
anyone knew, he would change his mind again once the jury nominated
Hiro guilty.
Even though slow motion played in Suguru's head, Hiro would still eventually have to leave out that back door. Unable to stand the room so vacant without his beloved, Suguru left the room in a blinding flash of light, fleeing out of the horrid place that would shut Hiro up forever.
Ignoring the calls from his parents, and the watchful eyes of other guests, he continued on. Feet loudly meeting the waxed and shiny floor, tears finding their way out of his eyes, there was nothing in this world that could stop him...except for a loud yell of his name only from a certain someone.
His steps came to a halt as the pink haired pop star ran to meet up with him.
"He didn't even struggle!" Suguru cried, sinking into Shuichi's arms. "He just willingly went back there without a fight! He didn't do it! I know he didn't!"
"Because he knows he won't progress if he struggles. I've known Hiro long enough to know that. He'll fight harder, but not vocally."
"He's going to be sentenced to death Shindou! And it's partly all your fault for not believing him!"
Shuichi's eyes went wide. "MY fault? Why is it just MY fault? What about everyone else?"
"Everyone else isn't Hiro's best friend!" Suguru said, narrowing his eyes. "You hurt him more than anyone else in that room, I hope you're happy!"
Shuichi was speechless.
"What about all those rehearsals? All those school classes and lunches together? What about when I joined the group? You were mad about that, weren't you? But you stuck with it, because you knew what he meant to you! And if my words aren't getting through your thick skull, then you can just get away from us and go curl up in your little romantic lifestyle with Yuki Eiri!" he spat, spinning on his feet, then preparing to go out back to see if he could see Hiro for at least a few minutes.
"Fujisaki!" Shuichi called after him, but Suguru didn't dare turn around. Shuichi did what he done and now that would remain forever etched in stone.
Suguru didn't look back as he fled down the empty hallway with the dead hopes of seeing his love. Shuichi followed close behind, unknowingly.
Hiro would be thrown away until tomorrow, and then sentenced to death, joining Aizawa.
Suguru was too late; they had already left. Stifling a sob, Suguru turned and sought out comfort to the nearest person he could find, and that was unknowingly Ma-kun. Ma, who was just as upset about this as he was, allowed this source of comfort.
"Suguru!"
Ken and Ma looked over in the direction of Shuichi's voice quickly, also allowing Suguru to notice who he was seeking comfort in the arms of. When he met eye to eye with the blue-eyed man, he immediately went in for the struggle to be released. Before he sought out the comfort, all he noticed was the blond hair and thought it might have been K or maybe even Eiri.
"Murderer!" Suguru screamed, demanding release.
Ma-kun refused to let him leave his grasp. "We have never sided with Tachi on anything! Especially something this drastic! Stop this!"
"Let him go," Shuichi said, coming out of the shadows.
Ma-kun did so.
"We all need to calm down here. Throughout the past few weeks, we've been nothing but nervous wrecks. And yes Suguru, so was I. I know Hiro didn't do it, but I also know Ken and Ma had nothing to do with it either. We need to stick together to bring Hiro out."
"He's going to be sentenced to death tomorrow!" Suguru cried.
Shuichi nodded. "And if I have to, I'll break him out. Ken and Ma, you owe us. On behalf of Tachi's behavior in the past, you owe this to Hiro."
The two nodded slightly in agreement.
"We all owe Hiro. We're the only ones who believe he's innocent. Ken and Ma, has he ever said anything to you at all about this?"
The two truthfully shook their heads. "Nothing at all. After he told Hiro about kidnapping Shuichi, nothing else happened. Nothing could lead up to why he would kill Tohma like that. If you ask me, something had to have happened on Tohma's side as well. Someone was angry with Tohma enough to accomplice Tachi."
"But...who would be angry enough to do that?" Ken asked.
Ma shook his head. "Don't know, but what I do know is that it's someone from NG that we know and are close to..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"This is so unfair," Suguru whispered as they headed back to NG to look at the employees list in Tohma's office to see and remember who may have had a grudge on Tohma. "I know it's not Hiro."
"It doesn't look like anyone around here held a grudge on him. There was Tachi, but that's already taken care of."
Suddenly, Shuichi stood up to his feet at the speed of lightning, catching everyone's attention. "Guys! What if he didn't have an accomplice? What if he went solo?!"
Ma shook his head, hoping Shuichi would come up with something better than that. "There was a second party involved. Tachi wouldn't have the guts to shoot anyone, or kill anyone for that matter. He's all talk."
"Too bad Suguru's parents had to make a hasty strike, otherwise he'd still be here for questioning," Shuichi murmured, taking a seat, looking over the list again, running by Hiro's name and missing his best friend with all his heart.
Suguru shook his head, sniffling back tears. "I can't take this anymore. This is too stressful for me. Why can't the person just come out and admit it?!"
Ken sat Indian style. "You don't know about that, Fujisaki, it could very well be Hiro."
Suguru's eyes went wide, but Shuichi spoke instead.
"It's not. I've known him practically my whole life. He wouldn't."
"That's not what you thought before, Shindou," Ken countered.
"Alright!" Ma shouted in the middle of it, preventing a fight. "Let's not do this right now. We'll start with Fujisaki. Suguru, tell us your side of the story. We need to try and narrow down some suspects here."
Suguru let out a sigh and began. "If anyone should know Tohma, it's me. He was a kind, easygoing man with a generous and prosperous personality. I loved him very much. He was happy with his job, his home, Mika, everything. Never upset at anyone or anything, that's why this bothers me so much. This just came up and bit us all as fast as it arose!"
Ma-kun crossed out Mika's name. "Most hysterical and wife of Tohma. That's enough to eliminate her right there."
"But you never know!" Ken said, jumping in. "When in a sticky spot, wives are most likely to freak out and destroy their husbands before anyone else does!"
Ma-kun frowned deeply at him. "What era are you living in, man?! Mika may be a witch, but she's not a killer. I stand by my decision."
"Who are we left with?" Shuichi asked.
"Everyone we didn't mention yet. We're trying to get rid of the ones that Tohma was around most. K, Sakano, Noriko, Ryuichi..."
"Ryuichi and Tohma has an argument that night," said a familiar voice from the door. Shuichi looked up and was caught by surprise to notice Eiri standing in the doorway, smoking a cigarette, instead of being home after the trial was over. "I know, because Tohma came wining to me on the phone later that night. Had to have been no more than two hours after his death."
Eiri didn't even sound concerned. He entered the room and sat down in an empty chair, continuing puff at the cigarette.
"Yuki...you..." started a dumbfounded Shuichi.
"Are you saying it's Ryuichi?" Ken-chan asked.
"No way!" Shuichi said loudly. "Ryuichi would never EVER do that to Tohma!"
"Then what about K or Sakano?"
"No good," Ma stated.
"Noriko?"
Ma shook his head.
"Come on guys! Give me a break here!" Ken said loudly. "The damn employees list isn't that big!"
"Maybe it was someone we don't know. Ever think about that, Einstein?" Eiri murmured, showing off his glare, not forgetting the time they had their little encounter after Shuichi was raped.
Ma-kun quickly nodded and scratched more names out from the list.
"That leaves...you, Yuki-san."
Eiri threw his cigarette on the floor and stepped on it, finding it kind of funny that he was mentioned when he wasn't even on the employees list to begin with. "Sorry, but I don't get cheap thrills out of killing people, even Seguchi."
"There has to be someone we missed!" Suguru cried out. "Who else knew Tohma?"
"We're talking an endless list there, Fujisaki," Ken said. "Your parents for one, then there's Tatsuha, other employees of the past, the list goes on."
Eiri chuckled when he heard his brother's name. "The little twit's not that stupid."
Suddenly, Suguru got to his feet in an uproar. "Well the hell with this, this is totally useless."
"Where you going?" Shuichi asked as Suguru bolted to the door.
"Going to see Hiro!" he said, then slammed the door behind him.
On the way out, tears couldn't help but come to his eyes again. The conversation in the room was frustrating. No one was on Tohma's bad side. Everyone loved the man! He had no enemies.
"Oh god Tohma, if only you could be here right now."
Even though slow motion played in Suguru's head, Hiro would still eventually have to leave out that back door. Unable to stand the room so vacant without his beloved, Suguru left the room in a blinding flash of light, fleeing out of the horrid place that would shut Hiro up forever.
Ignoring the calls from his parents, and the watchful eyes of other guests, he continued on. Feet loudly meeting the waxed and shiny floor, tears finding their way out of his eyes, there was nothing in this world that could stop him...except for a loud yell of his name only from a certain someone.
His steps came to a halt as the pink haired pop star ran to meet up with him.
"He didn't even struggle!" Suguru cried, sinking into Shuichi's arms. "He just willingly went back there without a fight! He didn't do it! I know he didn't!"
"Because he knows he won't progress if he struggles. I've known Hiro long enough to know that. He'll fight harder, but not vocally."
"He's going to be sentenced to death Shindou! And it's partly all your fault for not believing him!"
Shuichi's eyes went wide. "MY fault? Why is it just MY fault? What about everyone else?"
"Everyone else isn't Hiro's best friend!" Suguru said, narrowing his eyes. "You hurt him more than anyone else in that room, I hope you're happy!"
Shuichi was speechless.
"What about all those rehearsals? All those school classes and lunches together? What about when I joined the group? You were mad about that, weren't you? But you stuck with it, because you knew what he meant to you! And if my words aren't getting through your thick skull, then you can just get away from us and go curl up in your little romantic lifestyle with Yuki Eiri!" he spat, spinning on his feet, then preparing to go out back to see if he could see Hiro for at least a few minutes.
"Fujisaki!" Shuichi called after him, but Suguru didn't dare turn around. Shuichi did what he done and now that would remain forever etched in stone.
Suguru didn't look back as he fled down the empty hallway with the dead hopes of seeing his love. Shuichi followed close behind, unknowingly.
Hiro would be thrown away until tomorrow, and then sentenced to death, joining Aizawa.
Suguru was too late; they had already left. Stifling a sob, Suguru turned and sought out comfort to the nearest person he could find, and that was unknowingly Ma-kun. Ma, who was just as upset about this as he was, allowed this source of comfort.
"Suguru!"
Ken and Ma looked over in the direction of Shuichi's voice quickly, also allowing Suguru to notice who he was seeking comfort in the arms of. When he met eye to eye with the blue-eyed man, he immediately went in for the struggle to be released. Before he sought out the comfort, all he noticed was the blond hair and thought it might have been K or maybe even Eiri.
"Murderer!" Suguru screamed, demanding release.
Ma-kun refused to let him leave his grasp. "We have never sided with Tachi on anything! Especially something this drastic! Stop this!"
"Let him go," Shuichi said, coming out of the shadows.
Ma-kun did so.
"We all need to calm down here. Throughout the past few weeks, we've been nothing but nervous wrecks. And yes Suguru, so was I. I know Hiro didn't do it, but I also know Ken and Ma had nothing to do with it either. We need to stick together to bring Hiro out."
"He's going to be sentenced to death tomorrow!" Suguru cried.
Shuichi nodded. "And if I have to, I'll break him out. Ken and Ma, you owe us. On behalf of Tachi's behavior in the past, you owe this to Hiro."
The two nodded slightly in agreement.
"We all owe Hiro. We're the only ones who believe he's innocent. Ken and Ma, has he ever said anything to you at all about this?"
The two truthfully shook their heads. "Nothing at all. After he told Hiro about kidnapping Shuichi, nothing else happened. Nothing could lead up to why he would kill Tohma like that. If you ask me, something had to have happened on Tohma's side as well. Someone was angry with Tohma enough to accomplice Tachi."
"But...who would be angry enough to do that?" Ken asked.
Ma shook his head. "Don't know, but what I do know is that it's someone from NG that we know and are close to..."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"This is so unfair," Suguru whispered as they headed back to NG to look at the employees list in Tohma's office to see and remember who may have had a grudge on Tohma. "I know it's not Hiro."
"It doesn't look like anyone around here held a grudge on him. There was Tachi, but that's already taken care of."
Suddenly, Shuichi stood up to his feet at the speed of lightning, catching everyone's attention. "Guys! What if he didn't have an accomplice? What if he went solo?!"
Ma shook his head, hoping Shuichi would come up with something better than that. "There was a second party involved. Tachi wouldn't have the guts to shoot anyone, or kill anyone for that matter. He's all talk."
"Too bad Suguru's parents had to make a hasty strike, otherwise he'd still be here for questioning," Shuichi murmured, taking a seat, looking over the list again, running by Hiro's name and missing his best friend with all his heart.
Suguru shook his head, sniffling back tears. "I can't take this anymore. This is too stressful for me. Why can't the person just come out and admit it?!"
Ken sat Indian style. "You don't know about that, Fujisaki, it could very well be Hiro."
Suguru's eyes went wide, but Shuichi spoke instead.
"It's not. I've known him practically my whole life. He wouldn't."
"That's not what you thought before, Shindou," Ken countered.
"Alright!" Ma shouted in the middle of it, preventing a fight. "Let's not do this right now. We'll start with Fujisaki. Suguru, tell us your side of the story. We need to try and narrow down some suspects here."
Suguru let out a sigh and began. "If anyone should know Tohma, it's me. He was a kind, easygoing man with a generous and prosperous personality. I loved him very much. He was happy with his job, his home, Mika, everything. Never upset at anyone or anything, that's why this bothers me so much. This just came up and bit us all as fast as it arose!"
Ma-kun crossed out Mika's name. "Most hysterical and wife of Tohma. That's enough to eliminate her right there."
"But you never know!" Ken said, jumping in. "When in a sticky spot, wives are most likely to freak out and destroy their husbands before anyone else does!"
Ma-kun frowned deeply at him. "What era are you living in, man?! Mika may be a witch, but she's not a killer. I stand by my decision."
"Who are we left with?" Shuichi asked.
"Everyone we didn't mention yet. We're trying to get rid of the ones that Tohma was around most. K, Sakano, Noriko, Ryuichi..."
"Ryuichi and Tohma has an argument that night," said a familiar voice from the door. Shuichi looked up and was caught by surprise to notice Eiri standing in the doorway, smoking a cigarette, instead of being home after the trial was over. "I know, because Tohma came wining to me on the phone later that night. Had to have been no more than two hours after his death."
Eiri didn't even sound concerned. He entered the room and sat down in an empty chair, continuing puff at the cigarette.
"Yuki...you..." started a dumbfounded Shuichi.
"Are you saying it's Ryuichi?" Ken-chan asked.
"No way!" Shuichi said loudly. "Ryuichi would never EVER do that to Tohma!"
"Then what about K or Sakano?"
"No good," Ma stated.
"Noriko?"
Ma shook his head.
"Come on guys! Give me a break here!" Ken said loudly. "The damn employees list isn't that big!"
"Maybe it was someone we don't know. Ever think about that, Einstein?" Eiri murmured, showing off his glare, not forgetting the time they had their little encounter after Shuichi was raped.
Ma-kun quickly nodded and scratched more names out from the list.
"That leaves...you, Yuki-san."
Eiri threw his cigarette on the floor and stepped on it, finding it kind of funny that he was mentioned when he wasn't even on the employees list to begin with. "Sorry, but I don't get cheap thrills out of killing people, even Seguchi."
"There has to be someone we missed!" Suguru cried out. "Who else knew Tohma?"
"We're talking an endless list there, Fujisaki," Ken said. "Your parents for one, then there's Tatsuha, other employees of the past, the list goes on."
Eiri chuckled when he heard his brother's name. "The little twit's not that stupid."
Suddenly, Suguru got to his feet in an uproar. "Well the hell with this, this is totally useless."
"Where you going?" Shuichi asked as Suguru bolted to the door.
"Going to see Hiro!" he said, then slammed the door behind him.
On the way out, tears couldn't help but come to his eyes again. The conversation in the room was frustrating. No one was on Tohma's bad side. Everyone loved the man! He had no enemies.
"Oh god Tohma, if only you could be here right now."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I just can't stop writing this! I know who did it and I'm trying to collect little clues as I go along, but I will give you a hint: it WAS someone in the courtroom associated with Tohma in a close manner but it wasn't Hiro. That much I will say.