(NOTE:For the texting portion of the chapter, some of it is in the middle so it's not to jumbled up.)
Atsushi was spooked when he found out about the picture, it was as if someone had broken into his apartment and took the picture. Though at the same time, That night it was taken there was no one but himself in the apartment. He had made sure all the doors and the windows in his apartment were locked. The morning when he woke up everything was still locked, and nothing was taken nor was the place ransacked. For that matter how did whoever took it, get it in the office, and slipped it between the books that he himself had brought to the office this morning? There were so many questions that he couldn't answer. Dazai asked him yesterday about it, but the other man didn't have a clue as to where or who could have taken the photo.
He showed Akutagawa but the other said that he didn't come into his apartment that night, saying that he was on a late mission, and that was confirmed to be true by Chuuya. There was no one else that he could think of as he walked down the streets for another mission. It was a small one but it was a mission nonetheless. He decided to take it, because being in the stuffy office doing paperwork all day was a bit on the boring side.
He wished that the day would go smoothly, he didn't need anymore trouble than what he'd gotten. On the way to his mission point he looked through the small file that was sent through to the ADA, apparently it was about another kid that went missing the day before. The kid was 4 years old, a girl, and she had the ability to stick to metal. She was dropped off at a daycare center, and when the mother went to pick her up hours later, the girl wasn't in the building. The center wouldn't release the details of the events that day unless an agent of the ADA came by and did an interview with said agent.
The police due to the recent string of missing children, especially ones involving ability users, they decided to hand those cases to the ADA to investigate. Once the ADA had some evidence or leads, they would point the police in the right direction. Someone was either taking those kids, or the parents were somehow involved. After all it wasn't out of the ordinary for kids to disappear in mysterious or suspicious ways under the supervision of the parents or a family member, relative. With a sigh Atsushi treks on, after about 10 minutes in his hurried pace, he makes it to a small daycare center.
He shows his badge at the door, stating what he's there for, and it's then when he's given access to the building. He first meets with the lady over the center, the two sit in a room starting the interview. Atsushi takes out some questions that were already prepared beforehand, the normal questions asked.
"Ok so first off what is your name? What is your duty over this daycare?" Atsushi asked the woman ready with the tape recorder set into the middle of the table, having already pressed the button to record the conversation.
"My name is Tadashi Sakura. I'm the owner of this daycare center, I handle the finances, and care over the kids." Sakura tells him, from the other side of the table, her posture stiff.
"Miss Sakura, where were you and what were you doing yesterday between the hours of 9am to 4pm? Can you tell me who exactly was under the care of the classroom the child was in?"
She clears her throat speaking in a worried tone, "At 8:45 in the morning, I was attending a doctor's appointment, I left my apartment at 7:30. I arrived at the hospital at 8:43, signed in and waited for my name to be called to the back. The doctor called me back around 9:45 because they told me they were short staffed, and that they were really busy in the back. They did the tests they needed to do, blood tests, checked my health, you know the normal stuff. All of that took about 3 hours, once the correct papers were signed, I got out of the hospital at 12:59. Once leaving the hospital I took a lunch break, stopping at a cafe that was 5 miles from the center. It was 1:34 when I arrived at the cafe, I ordered something light, ate my meal and left the cafe at 2:44 in the afternoon. I then left for the center, all I had to do was a few hours of accounting yesterday before going back home. I arrived at the center around 2:55, checked in, made my rounds, then headed to my office. For the remaining time spent in the office, I was doing the finances. The daycare closes at 5, so I was the last one out of the office, closing the place up."
"I see. Though were you informed of the situation? What time was the kid dropped off at the center? Did you have the police come and check out the building before closing it up?" Atsushi asked her, knowing she was leaving some parts of the story out, it didn't all add up.
Sakura looks to the side, her hands clenching together. "Yes I was informed of the situation. We checked every single room in the building, even called out the law to send out a few officers to check the place out, but nothing was found. All the other kids were picked up by their parents before 5 hit. The kid was dropped off at 9:03, she was stationed in classroom 3, and was under the supervision of one of the younger workers that just started here 2 months ago. Her name is Ito Hina, she's 24 years old."
"Were you aware that the kid was an ability user? What about the other kids and miss Hina?"
"Yes to me and the workers. No to the other kids, you see we don't tell the other kids, so there is no bullying in our building. We strive for a safe and welcoming atmosphere. We inform the parents and the kid to not use their ability while inside the building, to not tell others that fact either. That information is only kept between me and the staff, we don't give anyone outside that information unless they have signed a paper handed out upon sign up, like what they do in the schools."
"Are any of the staff, specifically this Hina girl racist towards ability users? What is her history?" The tiger boy asks, actually interested in what the woman had to say during the interview. "Can only the people that signed the paper be able to pick up the child?"
Sakura nods once more. "Yes, only the people the parents have requested, and have physically come to sign the paper can pick up the child. If the signatures and IDs do not match, we don't allow any information on the child's whereabouts to be leaked to complete strangers, nor are they allowed to come near the child." She sighs "No I do not hire anyone that is racist, sexist, nor has a criminal background to work in the clinic. Especially when they have a history of a sex offender, pedophilia, murder, or other suspicious activities under there names. Hina is an excellent worker, she has shown me complete faith in her ability to care after the children."
"Ok who picked up the child and at what time?"
"I checked the front desk and it said that someone came to pick up the child at 3:44 that afternoon."
Atsushi leans forward, "Who picked up the child? Who is allowed to pick up the child?"
"The grandparents, Aunt, and the husband are allowed to come pick up the child. It was the Aunt that came to pick up the child at that time, the signature and ID matched, so they allowed the child to go with her aunt."
"Ok now why didn't you tell the mother this upon coming to pick up her child at exactly 4? Could you see what kind of car the aunt was driving?" Atsushi asked her once more, trying to piece things together. The way the woman was talking it sounded like she was hiding things, and not being fully truthful. 'Why else would she be dodging around my questions?' He thought to himself.
"We did tell the mother that information. She acted like she was fine yesterday, relieved upon hearing about the aunt, but today we got a report saying the kid had disappeared. The aunt was driving a red minivan. We have cameras all over the parking lot, and in the building you can check those out if they will help."
"We'll have the security guards hand us the footage from 8:30 to at least 6 later when I'm fixing to leave. How frequent does the Aunt pick up the child?" Atsushi asks her, pushing her even further. If he didn't get the answers out of her he would try with the mother of the child.
Sakura shrugs "I don't know, once maybe twice a week. It all depends on if the mother isn't available to pick up the child." She shakes her head "I don't see why this is important."
"Think about this. If the mother had informed the aunt that she wasn't able to pick up the child, the mother wouldn't have shown up at 4 to pick up said child." He collects himself "Your free to go, bring in Hina for her interview, but when we get more information we'll have a second interview with everyone if necessary. Good day, and if you come across any more information," He tells her, pulling out a card from the ADA "Don't hesitate to call the number on this card, it'll get you ahold of one of my associates."
Sakura nods, getting up from her chair and going to the door. Atsushi stops the recording, saving it and starts another one "Interview number 2, with Ito Hina, 24 years old, a female, and works for Sakura the daycare owner." He leaves it running when Hina walks through the door, closing it behind herself, and sitting in the same seat Sakura had just occupied. "So Hina do you like your job at this daycare center? What are your hours and days of work here at this establishment?"
Hina nods setting back in the seat looking relaxed for someone in her situation. "Yeah it's a pretty good job. It's pretty rewarding too. My work days are Wednesday to Sunday, with my days off being Monday and Tuesday. My work hours are 8am to 4pm, though sometimes I'll work an extra hour or come in early for more hours on my paycheck."
"When does the daycare open? How many work at the daycare with you?"
Hina counts on her fingers "Usually 4 work with me. The daycare isn't huge, so there aren't many workers in it."
"How many were there yesterday?" Atsushi asks her, his arms folded in front of him on the table. "What kind of rewards do you like about the job? Does it pay well in your eyes?"
Hina shrugs "It pays decent, not exactly what I would call a good paycheck for looking after all those brats for as long as I do. The rewarding part is the paycheck and the benefits it gives me in insurance, and vacation. At least it's a better job than stocking shelves at the grocery store. Yesterday there was me and 3 other workers, the 4th one called in sick so I had to pick up the fucking slack on her end." The girl sounds pissed, scoffing while she speaks, giving him the 'I don't care' gaze.
"How many kids did you have to look after with the 4th worker out sick?"
Hina rolls her eyes "I had 15 kids in my classroom, and she had 20 kids in her classroom, so I had to look after 35 damn kids for 9 hours." She takes out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket, getting a stick out and lighting it. "I do not get paid enough for that crap."
Atsushi pulls out a pic of the 5 year old girl. "Tell me. Did you have this girl in your classroom yesterday?"
Hina looks at the picture, puffing on her cig, "Yeah she was there, what about her?"
"The woman who picked her up? Was it the girl's aunt?"
"How the hell should I know?! She came at 3:44 telling me that she was told to come pick up the girl, so I matched the ID and the signature thing like we're supposed to, she matched, so I let her go. I don't go around asking who is who, I don't have time nor want to deal with that extra bullshit." Hina told him, now voicing her annoyed anger.
"I thought you liked working with kids, you don't give off that vibe. Do you care that the girl was an ability user?"
"Please, I don't give a cent if a kid is a monkey or a gorilla, as long as I get my paycheck. I only took the job because of the paycheck and benefits. It beat having to deal with crap at the grocery stores, it's exhausting having to pretend to care about the kids on a job like this, I just want to get my hours in and go home." Hina scoffed out once more, and to be honest the way she was talking was pissing him off.
"Does your boss and your co-workers know about your feelings about this job?"
"No they don't, and I intend to keep it that way. So you best keep your mouth shut, or I'll lose this job! I had to go the extra mile to even keep it this far in, I had to take all that extra bullshit to even get in here. Though someone with a job as easy as yours wouldn't understand the struggle." Hina yells at him, her mouth turned up into a sneer.
Atsushi was reporting this lady once he got done with the interviews, he couldn't stand people like her. Pretending to care about someone, when in actuality a kid could be dying or starving to death, and this lady wouldn't care if she wasn't getting paid enough for it. He sure hoped that she wasn't a parent or babysitting other people's kids. She smoked too, in a daycare center where kids were here to be watched, though her attitude was going to land her in some heat if she didn't start acting like someone with a brain or compassion.
"I have a few more questions before you are done, and then the mother can come in for her interview." He looks her dead in the eyes "Do you have a history of babysitting? Where were you when the aunt came to pick up the girl?"
"Duh I was outside on my smoke break, those brats would have been fine for 5 minutes. What am I not allowed to smoke?" She gave him the stink eye. "I have babysitted in the past, but all my clients dropped me, they were being racist and sexist against me."
'Yeah most likely they dropped you because of how you act and talk. You're trying to play the victim card here, but I'm not buying it.' Atsushi thinks to himself, nearly shaking his head at the audacity of this girl. "Ok the last question. Why did you think it was a good idea to leave a classroom full of 35 kids alone, when anything could have happened? Don't you care about this center's reputation?"
Hina actually laughs out "Hell no I don't care, and yeah it was a good idea. Their kids, not monkeys, though can't say the same thing about how ugly those brats looked." She puts out her cig in the ashtray "Now can I go? I got bored of this a long time ago."
Atsushi nods, and it doesn't take long for her to leave the room. He stops the recorder, saving the recording, and pulls out his phone.
To:Tanizaki
From:Atsushi
[Hey it's Atsu. I'm on the case at the daycare, can you do something for me?]
Not even a minute later a text comes through reading:
From:Tanizaki
To:Atsushi
[Yeah what is it?]
From:Atsushi
To:Tanizaki
[There is a girl here by the name of Ito Hina that works here, and she said some very disturbing things on the recording that I'll bring the agency a copy of later. Can you do a background search on her? I'm going to get a report together and make a report to the center and Department of social services on her.]
From:Tanizaki
To:Atsushi
[Sure, I'll get right on it.]
From:Atsushi
To:Tanizaki
[Thanks. Ttyl I got another interview fixing to start.]
Right as he sets down his phone the door opens to a woman that looked to have been bawling her eyes out, she sits down on the chair, as he repeats the clicks the recording button. "Interview 3 in session, with the mother of the missing child." He then turns to her with a look of sorrow on his face. "Mam what is your name? I understand that you're going through a tough time right now, but I need information in order to help you."
"My name is Yamamoto Yua, mother to my daughter Yamamoto Akari. Whatever information I can provide I would love to give, I want my baby back as soon as possible." The mother cries out, pulling tissue from her shirt pocket.
"Ok now what kind of job do you work, and what are your hours?"
"I work a desk job, my hours are from 9:30 to 3:30. Though some days the office is short staffed or busy so we don't get out until 4, 5."
"The daycare has it in the logs that you dropped your daughter off at 9:03 in the morning of yesterday, is that correct?"
Yua nods her head "Yes that is correct. I went to go pick her up like always when I can at 4, but when I got there they told me she had already been picked up by her aunt."
"Did you ever call or inform the aunt to come pick your daughter up yesterday?"
"No I didn't. The last time I contacted her to come pick her up was last week on a Thursday because I was stuck at work in a late meeting. When the staff told me about that, I was relieved in a way, like maybe she picked her up to take her to the zoo or something, as a surprise. But when I called her just to be sure, what she told me sent my core to a freeze." Yua told him.
"What did the aunt have to say?"
"The aunt told me that she was stuck at home sick with pneumonia. That she hadn't been outside in a few days, and that she had someone come to her apartment to bring her what she needed so she didn't get any sicker. She wasn't the one to pick up my daughter, I know it."
"You have down that so the grandparents and your husband could come pick her up? Do any of them ever pick her up?" Atsushi asked her, his arms folded into themselves.
"Rarely. The grandparents lost their car about a year ago, and live in a home for the elderly. They don't get to go out much anymore. My husband and I aren't together anymore, we're in the middle of a divorce, but he lives in Ikebukuro right now, he moved there 5 months ago. It's only me and the aunt that still are able to come pick her up, and live close enough to do so."
"What kind of vehicle does the aunt drive? That you drive?" Atsushi asked, ready for the make it or break it moment.
"I drive a small blue toyota truck. The aunt drives a white honda. Why is that important?"
"One of the workers that was over the classroom for your daughter told me that the aunt had picked up your daughter at 3:44, and that aunt was driving a red minivan. The worker said that the ID and signature matched, so they let the girl go with the person." Atsushi informed her, watching the mother's face morph into that of horror.
"No, no, no! That's not possible, she was sick yesterday, and she has never owned a red minivan! None of the people that I have down on that paper have ever owned a red minivan."
"Does anyone around those people own one?"
"No not that I know of. Do they have any footage of the woman that took my baby girl yesterday?" Yua asked him in a pleading manner.
"The security is going to send the footage with me as I leave back to the agency. We'll look through it, and call you back in when we find it." He takes her hands "Trust me, were going to try our hardest to find your daughter, and alive, to bring back to you. Though no promises can be made, only hoping and praying can be done right now outside of investigating the case."
"Thank you so much! I'm a wreck without her! I can't eat, I can't sleep, I feel I have to do something!" She squeezes his hands, as she asks "Is the session done or do you have more to ask me?"
"No that's all for now." He hands her the same card that he did Sakura. "If you have any more information, don't hesitate to call that number and you'll be linked to my associates."
The woman nods "Yes I will. I'll leave you to it, and please try to give me regular updates on the investigation." She told him standing up from her chair. She leaves after a few more words, while Atsushi stops the recording, saves, and stashes the recorder in his pocket.
He walks out of the room, checking the time on his watch, he was in that room for only an hour at most, but it felt so much longer. With a sigh he checks his messages to see that he got a message from an unknown number. There was an image attached to it. Getting out of the daycare, and out on the street he decides to finally check the message.
He sucks in a breath when an image of a red minivan is seen in a parking lot, though there is nothing around it to indicate where it's located. The message underneath read:
From:Mysteryland
To:Tiger Boy
[Found it, hopefully! Did you get my cutesy card from your desk? I took it especially for you!]
From:Tiger Boy
To:Mysteryland
[Who the hell are u? What do you want from me?]
From:Mysteryland
To:Tiger Boy
[Hm never pegged you to be so rude. You should appreciate me looking out for you, you never know who's watching. :) Come on I found the red van you were looking for, and I know where the kid is at. I can tell you, but I don't feel like it.]
From:Tiger Boy
To:Mysteryland
[Are you pulling my leg rn? I don't appreciate this joke you're pulling, it's not funny.]
The messages stop coming, as he awaits the next message, his mind and body buzzing with this person on the other line. He had no idea who it was, but he needed to know if it was real or not, he needed to find this kid before something bad happened. When he hears a ping, he quickly opens the message to see a photo was attached.
From:Mysteryland
To:Tiger Boy
*Attached photo of a girl sitting on a bed, a plushie in her arms*
[Who said I was joking? Doesn't she look so adorable? She just woke up, and she's loving where she's at. But you wound me thinking I would joke about having a missing child with me. She is very much with me, but for how much longer will she be breathing?]
From:Tiger Boy
To:Mysteryland
[Don't do anything to that child! Please her mother wants her back, you're hurting a mother right now! How can you be so heartless?]
From:Mysteryland
To:Tiger Boy
[Everyone dies in this world, so one child won't make a difference. I find you interesting though, so I'm going to continue watching you my little Tiger. X) Kudo's!]
Atsushi wastes no time sprinting down the road to the ADA to have the number traced, he didn't know if this was real or not, but he didn't want to wait to find out.