Chapter 3 – Funeral / Haruka's interrogation
Disclaimer: see chapter 1
Author's notes: Readers and concerned reviewers need not fear discontinuation of this story; I fully expect to finish this story. It may take a year, or two to get to the conclusion, but you will eventually know who the killer is. To clarify, this story is set after the 11th book, so I don't know any extra characters beyond that. Onwards with the show!
Naru's funeral had to be the most messed up thing Haruka had ever seen.
Keitaro cried non-stop the entire time and kept hugging the closed casket.
Kitsumi was nursing her concussion and sorrow by drowning in alcohol. Apparently she had blindly run out of the coroner the moment that she saw Naru's corpse and slipped while everybody else was trying to comprehend Naru's death.
Motoko was wearing a black, surprisingly form fitting gi. She was trying to pry Keitaro off of Naru's coffin when she wasn't crying into his shoulder.
Poor little Shinobi was bawling her little eyes out as she rocked herself on the pew.
Mutsumi was just sitting there in shock next to Tama-chan, silently crying just staring at the coffin. Every time she fainted she would collapse on Shinobi, who always kept roughly shoving her upright.
Kanako was trying to soothe little Su by stroking her back and whisper calming words and glancing at Keitaro with an indecisive look.
Su just continued to cry and flail face down, a melancholic parody of a temper tantrum. Her tears making an ever widening puddle on the carpet.
Sarah was having trouble keeping her bile down, every time she looked at the closed casket she was reminded of the gore she saw at the morgue.
Naru's family kept their distance, not sure if it was safe to approach the hysterical mourners.
Then there's me, just observing from the entrance of the church. I couldn't even bring myself to comfort my own nephew, not with Maklie's questioning still ringing guilt anytime she thought about it.
--- Yesterday, at the police station ---
The interrogation room looked more similar to an unused office than the cliché that Haruka was expecting. The single bright light threw shadows all over the walls. Detective Maklie sat across from her with the bagged gun aside him. He started out innocently enough.
"Now, tell me the last time you were aware of where the pistol was."
"The last time I saw it was yesterday afternoon when I did a monthly cleaning on it."
Maklie seemed to get a little exasperated with that answer, "On the file it said that your excuse for having it was for historic purposes, not for self defense. Seeing that it's an old WWII antique I may still see it that way."
Haruka became quite defensive and wary at the, accusing tone he held, "Your point is?"
"Nothing, nothing." He replied with a dismissive gesture, "Getting onto something else, are you familiar with the name Naru Narusegawa?"
"Yes, why do you ask? Did something-"
"Just tell me your relation to her." Maklie abruptly cut in.
She felt rather slighted by his continued brashness, but she let it slid because he's a police detective, "Naru happens to be a good friend."
"Go on, and tell me the details."
"I met her about five years ago when she moved into the Hinata Dormitory. She was the newest girl there and the most interested in her academics. She was always in her room studying but she managed to become close friends with everyone there and have all the seniors call to ask her out. When Keitaro came they gradually became a couple and they both managed to get into Tokyo University together."
"So not something that you would empty over a hundred rounds of ammunition into her face." He replied in a calm, serious tome and an intense look in his eyes.
Haruka was absolutely stunned at what he said and sobbed out, "Naru's dead! Oh my…" something clicked in her head and in a guarded tone she said, "Wait a minute, you can't possibly think I had something to do with it."
"I can quite easily believe you had something to do with it because it's your gun, but let us for a moment assume that you didn't do the deed. You were the one that brought the gun into Japan. You were the one that took responsibility for it. If you didn't do it then at the very least you could be charged with criminal negligence!" he said with serious conviction.
To placate her raging emotions, she pulled out a cigarette but Maklie interrupted her before she lit a match, "This is a non-smoking room."
She steeled herself and said through gritted teeth, "Did you call me down here to just throw accusations at me?"
"No, not quite, mostly to get some answers." he replied "The answer I need now is as to where you were at about 7:00pm yesterday." He kept maintaining a calm scrutiny of her, trying to gain some insight of her.
"I was working at my teahouse."
"Your shop was closed before that, it says so right on the front of it."
Haruka became a little jittery at that observation and in a weary voice said, "There was this customer that wouldn't leave and kept buying drinks."
"And the name of the customer is?"
"How should I know? I never asked! Are you trying to make me the scapegoat for her death? I. Did. Not. Kill. Her!" Her voice becoming strained and panicky, the feeling that Maklie was trying to corner her.
"Then name someone that you think did it."
She made a huff in frustration and said, "It was probably that freak Kanako that-"
Maklie cut her off again, "Don't tell me who you want to have done it, tell me who else knew where your gun was."
Haruka became stunned when she realized what she just said and replied in a less animated tone, "Shinobu, about four years ago she had found it while cleaning the house. She seemed, concerned about it but I didn't move it."
--- Back to the Present, at the funeral ---
Haruka snapped out of her flashback and saw that they were now about to lower Naru's coffin into her grave. Keitaro was still gripping the coffin, much to the dismay of the Hinata girls who were all trying to pull him off.
Whatever indignation she had felt over the interrogation had evaporated when the funeral started. The thoughts that went through her head when the girls successfully pried him off were, 'I wish I could comfort my mental wreck of a nephew, he'll probably just get angry at me for the same reasons the detective did. Maklie was completely flabbergasted when his boss thanked me for staying after hours that day to serve him drinks. Maklie almost seemed, enraged that I wasn't the killer.'
--- That evening after the funeral, at the Hinata Inn ---
The Hinata residents had made their way back to the place, Haruka had left earlier. It was a rather melancholy air that surrounded them. Suddenly Kitsumi had an idea, she gathered everyone at the table and fill shot glasses in front of them. Su, Shinobu, and Sarah instead having apple juice instead of the sake that was in front of everyone else.
The bewildered, confused stares on her prompted Kitsumi to respond, "I was thinking of holding a wake in her honor." She shakily raised her glass as she began, "Naru Narusegawa, a good friend and a great scholar. I have known her for years; she was always committed, almost obsessive to being the best. Not exactly comfortable with close relationships she tried to keep people at a distance. Nevertheless she was always there for those she cared about. I never really had the chance to truly thank her for that. To Naru, who will miss dearly." At the conclusion they chugged down their drinks.
The entire night they drank and reminisced over their loss.
To be continued…
To the readers and hopefully reviewers, I tried a different scene change technique that I did in chapter two. In that chapter I tried to put in extra spaces to signify a scene change, much to my indignation the extra spaces were dropped. Also any indentions that were put in were also automatically dropped for some reason.
Updates will still be erratic. I'm always appreciative of constructive feedback.
