--------------(20)---------------
All three in the room looked shocked at Touya's outburst.
Touya felt as though he was in a race, and time was running out. Outraged and aghast, his voice rose in volume. "Did you even think about what you were doing?" he demanded, heartbroken for Shindou. "You could have ruined-" he stopped.
"What?" Takeshi asked.
Everything. "Nothing," Touya said, horrified at what he had nearly revealed.
Takeshi was frowning. "But you said-"
"Shut up, Ueyama-san," Kuroda snapped, before his lips opened in surprise, as though he had not expected to say that.
"But-"
This time, it was Morita's turn to silence Takeshi, albeit with a look. "Touya-san," he said. "What are you going to do now?"
Touya took a step back, feeling numb, trying not to imagine Shindou's face when he found out. "I don't know..." he muttered, then decided, coldly. "I want to call the police," he said.
"What!"
"They broke into my house," Touya said, ignoring Takeshi's protest. "I think this is a matter for the police."
Morita nodded slowly. "Yes, it is," he said. But he did nothing, as though waiting for Touya to change his mind.
"Touya-sensei," Kuroda said softly, looking at his feet. He did not dare to make it a protest, but his shoulders were slumped as though he was expecting to be punched at any moment.
Looking at him, Touya felt a moment of sympathy, and thought about retracting his words. Maybe Kuroda had simply been alarmed by the death threats. Maybe he had been encouraged by Takeshi to join him. After all, Touya was well aware how persuasive Takeshi could be. And Kuroda was Shindou's pupil, his favoured student--perhaps it was wrong to destroy their relationship. But then what should he tell Shindou...
"Oh, no."
The brittle, forced tones of Takeshi's voice interrupted Touya's thoughts, and he looked up to see Takeshi edging towards the door. There was a bright, ingratiating smile on his face.
"Surely there's no need for that," Takeshi said. "The police? You're kidding, Akira. I know it was wrong of us, but Akira, you're upset. You need to calm down, Akira. There's no need for this. It's just a game."
Touya said, "Stop calling me Akira."
The smile on Takeshi's face disappeared, as though it had been switched off. "You're being irrational," he said. "I'm going to leave now." He turned smartly towards the doorway and walked towards it. Then fell down.
Touya blinked as both Kuroda and Morita extricated themselves from the groaning man on the floor, and stood up, albeit with a few staggering steps. Kuroda, in particular, was gingerly rubbing the shoulder that he had shoved against Takeshi's chest.
"What possessed you to tackle him like that, kid?" Morita asked, raising his voice in annoyance. "I was about to trip him, and you had to crash onto my foot!" He wriggled the appendage a few times. "I guess it isn't broken. Ueyama-san, are you all right?"
Takeshi was trying to get up, and making another attempt for the door.
Touya kept watching the floor, unable to take his eyes off it. "Stop him," he said.
"Yeah, I know, but-" Morita finally saw the items that had fallen out of Takeshi's pocket.
A rolled-up book of kifu, and a paper fan.
-----
Shindou was on his way.
The police had been skeptical at first, but Morita had called in some favours, and they were going with full back-up.
Takeshi had given only the vaguest of directions, and even sparser information, trying to minimize his role, saying that he was only in charge of investigating Sai, and that he couldn't be sure, and he was sure he couldn't possibly be connected with anyone crazy enough to kidnap children, of all things.
The sad thing was, Touya thought, it might even be the truth. Takeshi was brilliant at his job but his ambitions were a little too single-minded. It was a trait that Touya thought he could identify with, once, and they had fitted well together, until they didn't. They had simply drifted apart at the increasing mismatch, until Touya was too busy helping with Shindou's move back to Japan to notice.
Shindou was on his way.
He had been at Isumi's place when Morita called him--Touya didn't know the details, but he was sure it would make a fascinating story, one day--for he had somehow managed to persuade the Honinbou title-holder to be his alibi. Noguchi had met him there, and they were coming together.
The police had wanted to discourage their presence, Touya could tell, whether out of a fear of interference or a distaste for civilians he couldn't tell, but Morita was there to back him up.
"The fan was Shindou's," Morita said, as they drove through dark neighbourhoods, following a nondescript police car.
"Yes."
"But why did Ueyama confess just because you saw that he had the fan as well?"
"It was one thing to steal the kifu--he could put that down to curiosity, even if Shindou had used Sai's name in his comments to the games. But the fan... I remembered something Noguchi had commented once. She said that Shindou acted as though Sai had given him the fan. Then someone stole Shindou's fan."
"You mean-"
"I can't explain why I thought it was him. It was just a vague suspicion: I had always thought he was the one who spied on Shindou telling my father about Sai, at the hospital, but I thought at that time, his reporting instincts got the better of him. But when I saw the fan... maybe he saw something in my expression..."
Morita nodded, accepting that for now. He indicated the turn-off ahead with a nod of his head. "If I remember right, the place should be along that," he said. "I hope we find them."
Touya swallowed, his heart beating.
Shindou was on his way.
-----
Touya entered the now unlocked room, ignoring the police officers in it, his eyes searching. He squinted in the dimness, barely noticing the messy futons on the floor, and the remains of lunchboxes on a low table.
"Haku-niisan!" A small body ran into him, then another, slightly larger one plastered himself to him, muttering "Haku-nii... Touya-san."
Kneeling down, Touya found that his arms were wrapped tightly around two small bodies, even as he looked up at Morita's relieved, amused face.
---------to be continued---------