It wasn't like Shiori not to take his calls.
"…through here is the new Awakening Lab, it's a lot more efficient than the old one as we put in the last report…" he could hear her talking, the woman in front of him. Her heels were clicking against the newly tiled floor as she walked. He could hear that too. Hatori's sneakers were squeaking, loudly, as he walked. He could hear that too. There was some kind of clanking above his head. He could hear that, too. He could hear everything around him but the vibrating of his phone.
He hadn't heard that sound in some time.
It wasn't like Shiori not to call him back. There were times, of course, when she was too busy to take his calls. She didn't spend her days lounging around by her telephone waiting for him to call, and at first it had seemed normal. He knew her schedule, mostly, and he had made sure to call around a time when she took her lunch…but she may have been working through her lunch…or she may have been more focused on eating than anything else, as tended to happen with her, or maybe he had done something to offend her…
Women were confusing in that way.
"…Awakening potential at least ten fold…" women were complex beings, as complex as men, but in some ways, though, even more so. They had their own language, both verbal and nonverbal, that he had never managed to crack. The woman in front of him was just as foreign as any other…he maybe should have been listening to her…but how could he? How could he focus on anything when the love of his life was…he didn't even know…ignoring him? That was always an option…and the simplest explanation was usually the correct one.
But why would she have been ignoring him.
"That's really interesting, right?" asked Hatori, nudging him. He nodded. He should have been listening. He had spent a fortune on this division, the nineth, the newest one…he couldn't even remember how large that fortune had been. He had always prided himself on his memory, it had been like a steel trap Mother and Father had said, but now…maybe he was getting old. Or maybe he was getting anxious…or maybe he was remembering things too well…remembering his mistakes…
Learning from them.
He had made mistakes in his last marriage, numerous ones. That was why Masami had left…either that or she had her own reasons. He didn't know her, he had never known her, and he would never know her…but he knew himself. He knew that he was not normal when it came to many things, such as affection. Shiori had made sure that he was well aware that he was not the best at giving or receiving affection…and Masami had probably wanted the same….she had never told him so…and it would have been so easy to have just said something…
But Masami…for some reason she had wanted to do things the hard way.
"…difficulties in holding them have been alleviated and escape attempts have been reduced by more than half…." He heard his shoes hitting the ground. Heavy. He tended to walk heavily when something weighed on him…and right now it felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders…or the weight of Shiori. Not that it was that much, of course, and even if it had been he wouldn't have minded. He actually like that roll on her stomach, the one that was visible when she sat…it gave her a quality of softness that he had always loved in women. The women he liked….loved…attached himself to. Masami, when she had been around, had that softness to her too. It had come about after Sho was born, or maybe sometime before, or maybe he couldn't remember…it had only been a recent development, after all, that he could think of her without feeling like someone was trying to rip his organs out through his navel…
Disemboweling would have been preferable to going through this…than having to deal with the barely contained emotions that rolled over him.
"That's really, uh, cool. Yeah, really cool." Said Hatori. He glanced over and nodded. Right now Hatori would have to speak for him. He couldn't speak for himself…he had never been the biggest fan of conversation, at least not with people he wasn't comfortable with, and now…now he didn't even know where his voice was. Every single step he took, every squeak of his shoes, took him one more step away from Shiori…
Or maybe she was the one who had taken steps away from him…that was always an option…
"…add an entire wing if we use prefabricated apartment buildings, though we know you prefer houses. My Division leader was very clear that he wanted your input before going forward with anything not on the original plans." They had stopped walking…this might have been important. His coat shifted as he stopped…wait…had that been his phone? Had it vibrated in that moment and he just hadn't been able to feel it as he moved or hear it over the cacophony of sounds that surrounded him? He had to check.
He knew that he was being rude, but he didn't care.
He was the president and he could…he did have to keep the hearts and minds of the people…well, Shigeko did plenty of that. She was good at that, cultivating loyalty to the family. She just put them in the red to do it…but it worked. Shiori, of course, would have had words with him about this. She would have said that he gave Shigeko too much power, that he spoiled her, that nothing good ever came of such blatant nepotism…the children had always been a point of contention in their relationship…for a woman who didn't want to be a mother to his children she sure did have a lot of opinions on how his children should have been raised…
He would have loved…he could have killed…he would have taken this division down over his head if it meant that he could hear Shiori's voice one more time.
He could have but he didn't, he just stared at his phone like he expected it to do something…he did. Nothing from Shiori. A message from Mukai…he opened it. Fish, her hand pressed to the glass, and what looked like a very soggy piece of bread. Not what he had been waiting for…Shiori would have gotten very angry if she had seen that, her pets were her pride and joy…she had gotten new rice fish. They were fish the size of grains of rice, not fish which ate grains of rice, and…and he knew the distinction, but if she wanted to tell him again then he was all ears. He just wanted to hear her voice, that was all. Even if it was just more fish facts…or to tell him to tell Mukai that fish were not meant to eat bread…or that a piece of bread in their tank would ruin the quality of their water…or that he needed to learn how to raise his children and if she were the one in charge then they would have been better and more respectful….he would have even put her in charge, at this point…he would have done anything for her at this point…but she had told him point blank that she did not want to be stepmother to his children…though she may have changed her mind as people often did…or she may not have meant it in the first place…
Shiori generally said what she meant and meant what she said, but she was still a woman, and women…the whole of womankind was incredibly difficult to understand sometimes…most of the time…right now…
"President Suzuki?" he heard a voice ask. He looked up. He was being watched…he smoothed his aura down as best as he could. He may have been the President but he still had to act in a socially acceptable manner…and ignoring it when he was being spoken too was not at all socially acceptable in any way.
"Yes, yes, that's all wonderful. Continue." Said Suzuki with a wave of his hand. He didn't know if he had just been given good news or bad, and he didn't really care. He just cared about the phone in his hand. He could feel Hatori watching him. He put his phone back in his pocket and kept walking.
"Um…President Suzuki? Do you need some time to make a decision?" asked the woman in front of him…a choice was needed…he went through the conversation. He mostly remembered bits and pieces of it…disjointed sounds…this wasn't good. He couldn't look indecisive. He couldn't look weak. He couldn't lose the people. He couldn't look the way he felt on the inside.
He had to exorcise his emotions.
"He just needs a minute, it's been a really long flight." Said Hatori quickly, before Suzuki even began to have time to exorcise all the he was feeling…he hated it, feeling. Having emotions at all…he would have been better off if he couldn't feel a thing, positive or negative. He would have been a lot more efficient, that was for sure, though he would have lost some motivation as well…
Maybe if he could just exorcise the negative emotions…but he had no idea how that would even work.
There were no negatives without positives and visa versa. The world revolved, evolved, and devolved completely around opposites. Good could not exist without bad. Love, deep caring, could not exist without the pain that came when the person you cared about most in the world left…or even the pain of knowing that the person you loved was free to leave you at any time…there was an irrational thought. If he had married Shiori then she would have had to stay…but Masami had left and they had been married for years…
All of his thoughts were irrational right now.
"I need rest. We'll continue the tour at a later time. Hatori…Nozomu, come." Said Suzuki with a wave of his hand. Hatori was instantly at his heels…at least he could still count on someone in his life…no, no, no. He couldn't think like that. Shiori was still in his life…she was still someone he could count on…she just wasn't returning his calls right now for whatever reason.
Maybe she needed rest too.
Maybe in time they would both come back to their senses. She did lead a busy life, as she was fond of telling him….though he had no idea what she was busy with. She had told him under no uncertain terms that she found the twenty four hour guard he had put her under to be completely unacceptable and incompatible with their relationship.
He was beginning to regret listening to her.
"Are you ok?" asked Hatori as he caught up. Suzuki shrugged.
"Fine." Said Suzuki, the socially acceptable answer was always the best one. He didn't feel like getting into it right now, everything that he was feeling. He much preferred to exorcise it all. The people around him, for some reason, preferred that he talk about what he was feeling…explain it. The whole thing made no sense…but people had never made much sense to him.
Even the ones that he was closest too.
"Are you sure?" asked Hatori
"Of course I am. My emotions are none of your concern, anyway. I am perfectly capable of doing what needs to be done and I don't need to explain anything to anyone. I just…I just need rest." Said Suzuki. He glanced in Hatori's direction…he was practically running, his sneakers slipping and sliding against the freshly waxed tile floor. Suzuki slowed his gait. He forgot how much smaller Hatori was than him sometimes, how short his legs were…he had been forgetting so many things lately. Maybe he was starting to get old….he wasn't ready. Not yet.
"Alright, alright. I just ask because you seemed pretty out of it back there and you were checking your phone a lot, too, which is kind of unfair since you're always on me about mine." Said Hatori
"That's different. You play on your phone, I have serious work I do…and anyway which one of us is the President?" asked Suzuki
"You are." Said Hatori
"And which one of us is the parent in this situation?" asked Suzuki
"You know you are." Said Hatori
"That's right, so do not question me and what I do…the very important things that I do." Said Suzuki
"I wasn't questioning you, I was just worried. It's not like you to zone out like that…not unless it's serious. Or it's about Fukuda." Said Hatori. Suzuki shook his head, of course this wasn't about Tadashi…and he didn't even care one iota about Tadashi. He was taking care of Sho, last Suzuki checked, and he didn't even know why he checked then…Tadashi was nothing to him now, just a footnote in his life…a failed relationship, and old lover, someone to revisit in the night when he couldn't sleep…he'd replaced Tadashi and…and things were…
Things had been perfect.
"It has nothing to do with Tadashi…with Fukuda, and I would appreciate it if you never mentioned him again. He's nothing to me, Shiori is everything, and it doesn't matter if she…it doesn't matter what she's done. Nothing matters." Said Suzuki. Hatori stopped walking. He had just stopped in the middle of the hallway…a speck of blue in a sea of white….he stood out. He was impeding the flow of foot traffic. He was…he needed to get moving.
Right. Now.
"Nozomu, move. Now. Stop acting like a child." Said Suzuki
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to. I just started to freak out and…and it's fine." Said Hatori
"If it's truly fine then you need to keep moving." Said Suzuki. Hatori nodded and began walking…honestly. He was like a child sometimes…and Suzuki was in no mood to deal with a child. He was being enough of a child for both of them right now…clingy, like a toddler…not that he'd ever clung to Mother…and he'd always made an effort not to cling to his partners…nobody liked that.
And he didn't like himself, either, when he was like that.
"I'm moving, I'm moving, I'm just worried…but I can fix it. Whatever Shiori did to you I can fix…fuck! She seemed so cool, I mean she was always kind bit…kind of mean, but you really liked her and I kind of liked her, but not in a weird way, and-" said Hatori. He would have gone on and on if Suzuki hadn't covered his mouth. He'd heard enough. Hatori could fix this, that was what mattered. He stopped walking, Hatori's aura jumped out against his…he was still so anxious. Why did he always have to be so anxious all the time?
It wasn't like Suzuki was going to hurt him, it wasn't like he had ever pushed Suzuki to that point.
"I'm going to uncover your mouth and when you do I want you to find out why Shiori hasn't returned any of my calls or messages…and you're going to stop cursing, too. You're my son now, you not only represent Claw but the Suzuki family its self, and I can't have you speaking in that way. If I had wanted people to think badly of our family I would have brought Sho along." Said Suzuki as he uncovered Hatori's mouth.
"But Sho's not so…um…right! Let me see…maybe she turned her phone off or something…" said Hatori as he pulled his phone out from his pocket. His aura practically dove into it…always an odd thing to witness. He watched as Hatori's very essence was poured out into his phone, out into the air around them, through the walls…it was such an odd thing to feel…but it was going to be worth it once he found out what had gone wrong…it could have been such a simple thing, too. Her phone may have been off, or dead, or she might have accidentally dropped it in the bath again, or she might have lost it on her way home or even just forgotten it on her desk…she did like to get bubble tea when she was out on her lunches, though he had never understood it.
Once Hatori got her on the phone, of course, she could explain everything to him.
"Well her phone isn't off…but I don't think it's on her. I followed the GPS and it's in an alley really far from where she lives or works, there aren't even any Chinese restaurants near her…it's weird…" said Hatori. Suzuki could see his aura now, and so could everyone around him…not good. He should not have been losing control like this…he should…there was a reasonable explanation for this. She may have lost it…though she was a creature of habit and…and phone disposal was pretty standard when he acquired an asset….
Shiori was not an asset to be acquired.
"You're saying that she...,misplaced her phone?" asked Suzuki, trying to keep calm. She was not an asset to be acquired, which meant that her phone had been stolen…or misplaced…or maybe a bird had made off with it, he didn't know. He just knew that he had to stay calm unless he wanted the ninth division to go the way of the eighth.
"Maybe…but this is kind of suspicious…I'm checking the security cameras at her job and she didn't show up at all…and she didn't pass through the ones on the way to her house last night, either. The Family Mart, the ramen place, the tea place…she didn't go her usual route…" said Hatori. The hallways did shake that time. He could hear something dripping…he'd burst a pipe. This place had costed a fortune and he was already destroying it…that didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Nothing but finding Shiori…
He never should have left her unguarded.
"I want every single available man on this. Now." said Suzuki, forcing his emotions deep down within the confines of his body. This was…he could handle this. He had numerous and powerful enemies, though they'd been quiet lately, but that…that never lasted. He expected another attempt on his life, to be shot at, or another letter bomb even…but this…this went beyond…this was his fault for listening to her. Once he got her back she would live under constant guard and observation no matter what her wishes were…he wasn't going to let this happen to her…
He wasn't going to let this happen again.
"But what about-" said Hatori
"I said now. Summon a plane, too. We're going back to Japan. This instant. We're going to find Shiori." Said Suzuki
"But if you give me some time then I can at least rule out-" said Hatori
"No! Nozomu, there is no time, now do as I say! The last thing that I need is another disobedient disappointment of a son!" said Suzuki, grabbing him by the shoulders. Hatori swallowed and nodded.
"S-sure thing, Dad, of course." Said Hatori. Suzuki let him go. He immediately looked down at his phone and dove right into it. Good. This was…this was under control. This whole situation was under control. He was going to save Shiori. This was…this was not going to…this was not going to end up the way it had with Masami. Her phone had been abandoned, too, but in the house…her things had been…he would have Shiori's house searched.
He would have all of Osaka searched.
No, the nation of Japan…and then the world, if he had to. He was going to turn it upside down and turn it right side up again if it meant that he could see Shiori again. He was going to save her, he was going to find her, he was going to save her…and she needed to be saved. She needed him. She had not left on her own…she couldn't have. She loved him…and he loved her, too. He could even admit that…she wanted him to admit that. She had asked him to and a woman who wanted a man to say that was not…was not one that was inclined to leave. She wanted to be with him, she wanted to be married to him, and….and she had been telling the truth. He believed her and…and something had happened…and he would save her.
He would save the woman he loved….who loved him.