CHAPTER 9
THE FIRST STRIKE
A/N: People, people, I assure you Tsukasa is fine…for now. Let me put it to you this way…the Hiiragi family's drama and problems have not even begun to start yet. Everything up until now is just the opening act! Thanks for reading and I hope it's still good!
The clock ticked slowly this day. Kagami Hiiragi kept finding herself glancing back at it, anxious for lunchtime to arrive at her first day back at school since her suspension. Ever since she arrived back at the school and walked the hallways, she got a taste of her own medicine when she saw people pointing and talking behind her back. Now she knew how Tsukasa felt after her rape and even after the twin-tailed girl's fight with Tamura-san. On top of that, everyone knew of Tsukasa's brutal attack on Patty-chan and her expulsion from school so nobody knew what to expect next from the Hiiragi family. Either way, the only thing on Kagami's mind was apologizing to Tamura-san when lunch would come.
When the noon bells sounded, the students restructured their desks into larger tables to eat their meals, while Misao and Ayano tried to flag Kagami down to restart their usual social tradition. As their desks were pushed together, Kagami approached them. "Sorry guys, but I have something I need to do over the break."
"What's going on, Hiiragi?" Misao asked with curiosity as she sat down.
As Kagami walked towards the open doorway, she said, "I need to talk to Tamura-san."
Misao and Ayano exchanged looks with each other and Misao quickly pulled out her cell phone again, thinking history was about to repeat itself and was about to warn Tamura-san. It was Ayano however that gently placed her hand on Misao's phone and stopped the eccentric girl from her preemptive strike.
With her usual cheery face and closed eyes, Ayano said, "Now, now. I know Kagami-san and she just wants to apologize to Tamura-san. It's been a rough couple of weeks for everyone in her family, you know, so she just wants to make peace so we can move on."
Misao slowly closed her phone and slipped it back into her skirt pocket. "If you say so. I guess that little blue-haired squirt was right after all. Hiiragi is a tsundere type and her shell is cracking."
Ayano giggled as she began to eat. She suddenly became serious when a thought occurred to her. "Do you think it's possible that Kagami-san is almost willing to take on the role of being the healer now that Tsukasa-san is taking on…well, this role?"
Misao shrugged as she began eating obnoxiously loud through her bites before swallowing and replying. "Anything's possible. I guess we'll know for sure when Hiiragi leaves her cell phone in her pocket on laundry day or forgets her English textbook."
Ayano giggled again and continued to eat with her friend.
In the freshman halls, Hiyori was eating lunch with Minami and Yutaka. Despite continuing their tradition, the three girls were still uncomfortable with everything. Patty-chan was still absent from school recovering from Tsukasa's attack and when Minami described the incident in the nurse's office, it shook everyone to the core. Yutaka even had to fight back her own tears when she saw Patty-chan for the first time after the attack and what Tsukasa had done to her. Even though Tsukasa was the one who was raped and stripped of her innocence, Yutaka couldn't help but feel some of her naivety was lost too when she saw what humans are truly capable of when provoked. It made Yutaka question what she was capable of even if an air-headed, good natured klutz like Tsukasa could succumb to such horrors.
"Run, Tamura-san!" Someone in the class suddenly yelled, grabbing everyone's attention and everyone unexpectedly stood from their seats when they saw Kagami enter the room.
Kagami was expecting such a reaction as she entered and Hiyori abruptly stood along with Minami and Yutaka. Minami shielded Yutaka as the eerie silence fell upon the classroom and all eyes were on the two girls.
Kagami approached and with her eyes trembling with sorrow, she calmly said, "Can we talk outside, please?"
Hiyori was still defensive and didn't know what to expect but something was telling her not to worry. She knew of Tsukasa's expulsion just like everyone else and concluded that the Hiiragi family was on its last leg so Kagami couldn't afford anymore problems. Hiyori slowly nodded and followed Kagami outside the classroom while everyone watched with anticipation of another fight. Some even readied their camera phones as the first fight started and ended so quickly that they didn't have time to exploit it.
When they were outside, everyone listened for the screams and profanity followed by the sounds of physical assault. What they weren't expecting was to see the hard-nosed tsundere to let a tear fall from her eye as she delivered a heart-felt apology to Tamura-san. The two girls began to apologize to each other and their gibber-jabber became an avalanche of white noise as Tamura-san also released a tear.
Kagami went on to say she was sorry and how she felt so ashamed for taking such drastic actions against Tamura-san and that she never hated her. Hiyori did the exact same thing, only apologizing for making the perverse manga and that she never had a grudge against the Hiiragi family. It ended with the two girls collapsing into each other's arms and holding each other while some watched from the doorways. Yutaka was overjoyed by the sight while Minami held the petite girl close and also smiled for the sense of harmony and peace was restored.
If only it could have lasted longer. A teacher was forced to break up the restoration of friendship and inform Kagami that the principal needed to see her in his office immediately. Not knowing what she had done this time, Kagami and Hiyori buried the hatchet once and for all and left each other on a positive note as the oldest Hiiragi twin navigated through the school until she arrived to face the same principal who had recently expelled her sister. What the twin-tailed girl wasn't expecting was to see her oldest sister Inori standing with him and with a look of absolute despair.
"What's going on?" She asked as she entered the principal's office.
"Mom and dad called. Tsukasa is hurt and she needs a blood transfusion now!" Inori exhaled with growing emotions. "You're the only other person in the family with Type B blood so we need to go to the hospital now!"
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The massive iron doors at the ambulance's entrance to the local hospital violently swung open and three paramedics rushed a gurney into the hallway. One of the paramedics struggled to keep up while holding an IV bottle over the gurney connected to a tube that fed the medical liquid into a large needle stuck in Tsukasa's lifeless body. The other two medics pushed the gurney towards the ER as Miki and Tadao also ran behind their daughter's body.
"Do we still have a pulse?!" One of the paramedics exclaimed.
The second paramedic felt Tsukasa's neck and saw the wounded girl's breath fog the inside of the oxygen mask wrapped around her mouth. "We still have one but it's too weak to keep going much longer. We need the sister's blood now or we'll lose Tsukasa again!"
Tadao restarted his daughter's heart once and he would do it again himself if he had to. Thinking back to when he performed CPR on Tsukasa on the bathroom floor and when he felt her breath enter her mouth and out her nose again, it renewed the gift of life to her. He and Miki were both still devastated that their youngest daughter tried to opt out on them and simply leave her body for them to find. While Tadao was scared, he couldn't help but think how selfish Tsukasa was to do that to them. Miki on the other hand continued to cry as she ran and couldn't see things for what they really were. Tsukasa was still in deep trouble.
The nurses stopped Tadao and Miki at the entrance of the ER as the paramedics plowed through the doors using the gurney and into the possession of the doctors, who were awaiting her arrival. The paramedics did their job at the Hiiragi home by stabilizing the dying girl and patching her wounds long enough to survive the ambulance ride to the hospital. While they had to wait for Kagami's arrival to give blood, the only thing the doctors could do was examine Tsukasa's wound and fix the damaged areas.
Tadao and Miki waited outside in the waiting room for Inori to bring Kagami. It was Miki that called Inori when she was in her college class to first break the news of Tsukasa's condition. When Inori was in class, her phone was on vibrate and she silenced it the first time, but she knew something was wrong when she checked it again five minutes later and saw she had ten missed calls with ten new voicemails, all from her mother.
"What do we do now, Tadao?" Miki asked as she bent over in her chair and covered her face with both hands. "What do we do now?"
With a stern and bitter face, Tadao turned to his wife and hissed, "How should I know? You're the one that knows best for your daughter, not me, remember?"
Miki shot her head up from her hands, showing her leaking mess of a face to her husband and also had a vicious glare on her face. "How dare you! There's no way any of us could've predicted that she was going to do this! She just got out of jail and I thought all she would want was a hot meal and a hot bath!"
"Well she got a hot bath alright!" Tadao screamed back at his wife, drawing attention from others in the waiting room and some shifted away from the feuding couple. "And by the way, you lied to me! You went to the police station and got her out without so much as a phone call and, I'm assuming by writing a check from our joint account without my permission! On top of that, did you ever for one second consider Matsuri, Inori, or Kagami?! Are you so obsessed with Tsukasa that you're willing to sacrifice the safety of your other children?!"
"Tsukasa is still our child too damn it!" Miki cried with her fists clenched and she struggled to keep her balance as her throat scratched and her energy drained. "I gave birth to that child and she needs to be protected just like the rest of our children!"
"I'm just trying to protect you, Miki, and the others!" Tadao screamed again, attracting onlookers from the hallway. "I remember when we first met and I saw what situation you were living in! As I recall, you were in a similar situation as Tsukasa is and I said I would never let you suffer through that again!"
To Miki, her husband ripped open an old wound that she tried very hard every day to forget. It angered her so much that she didn't think her next attack on her husband through. "As I recall, Tsukasa was raped in your shrine, Tadao! You're not much of a father or a man if you can't protect your own daughter on your own property so what makes you think you know how to protect me?!"
Tadao glared furiously and gritted his teeth while hyperventilating. Never in his entire marriage, or even in his worst nightmare, did he ever contemplate striking his wife across the face. That all changed with Miki's verbal assault on his manhood and his competency as a father. Did she honestly believe that Tadao didn't care enough about Tsukasa that he would purposely let his guard down so she could become a sex toy for four savages? Whatever was going on in Miki's head, Tadao knew it wasn't the mind of the woman he fell in love with more than twenty years ago and decided to have a big family with. He feared Miki was reverting back to her pre-marriage days, to the days where she too, was a victim, but in a different way.
"We're here!" A new voice called as it arrived in the waiting room.
Tadao and Miki turned and saw Inori and Kagami rush into the hospital's waiting room and the sight of them abruptly extinguished the flames of the married couple's fight. Kagami was already rolling up the sleeve of her uniform, showing she was ready for the nurses to take her blood for her sister. Inori and Kagami were still completely oblivious as to why Tsukasa was in the hospital to begin with but decided not to ask until later. At the moment, a more pressing matter was at hand as Miki took Kagami to the nurse's station for the blood withdraw.
When Kagami and Miki were out of sight, Inori confronted her father. "Dad, what's going on? Mom was screaming over the phone that Tsukasa was hurt and to bring Kagami to the hospital for her blood."
Tadao ran his hand across his head and through his hair as he continued to breathe deep, trying to calm himself after what Miki had the audacity to say. He shook it off for Inori's sake and told her. "Your…your sister tried to commit suicide. She slit her wrist in the bathtub with a razor."
Inori quickly covered her mouth with both hands and presented a look of pure horror as she shook her head. "No…no…that can't be true." She wheezed.
Tadao nodded and quickly hugged his oldest daughter, who also returned the embrace. "It's true, Inori. I found her in the bathtub myself. Your mother bailed her out of jail and she came home and did it there."
Inori quit the hug and pulled back while fishing for her cell phone in her purse. "I should call Matsuri. She should be here, too."
Kagami closed her eyes and suddenly felt the sharp pinch of the needle entering her skin and sliding into her vein. Opening her eyes again, she watched the red liquid of life flow from her arm, through the medical tube, and into a collection pouch with "B" written on the bag. She continued to breathe steadily while still trying to piece together everything that had just happened. Only half an hour ago she was at school and making peace with her friend and now, her sister's life was hanging in the balance. When the procedure was over for Kagami, Miki decided to tell her oldest twin what happened.
Kagami's innards continued to do flips nearly an hour after when her mother told her of her sister's sin. As a miko herself, she knew suicide was a sin, just like in every other religion and this was killing everyone in the family. Still, the only thing they could do was just sit and wait while the doctors continued to work. It was when the clock struck 2:00 pm that Kagami realized the irony in where she and her family were sitting. They were sitting in the same waiting room in the same hospital where they took Tsukasa that fateful New Year's Eve.
A familiar doctor suddenly emerged through the hospital doors to deliver the news to the Hiiragi family. An older doctor with white hair and a white mustache and wrinkles across his aged face walked out with a clipboard. His face was very familiar to the Hiiragi family as he was responsible for birthing all four of Tadao and Miki's daughters.
"Dr. Hirukawa, sir, it's good to see you again," Miki said weakly with an appropriate bow and her family followed her lead.
The elder doctor returned the bow and held the clipboard containing Tsukasa's condition to his eyes. "We should all consider ourselves lucky, Hiiragi family. Tsukasa-san's condition is stable and her body is recovering, thanks to Kagami-san's blood. If Kagami-san would've arrived only ten minutes later, we wouldn't have been able to save Tsukasa-san."
The Hiiragi family began to breathe again and Miki quickly hugged her husband, putting aside their earlier quarrel and Tadao comforted her. Inori patted Kagami on the shoulders and hugged her tight to congratulate her for saving Tsukasa's life. Their celebrations were short-lived however.
"There are still two more issues we need to address. We did lose Tsukasa in the ER when her heart stopped again, but that time it wasn't due to her loss of blood. We discovered that Tsukasa-san is dangerously malnourished and her organs were on the brink of shutting down." Dr. Hirukawa added. "It's clear to us that Tsukasa has developed an eating disorder and we've already inserted feeding tubes into her stomach to reverse the damage."
Tadao remembered seeing his daughter's graphic ribcage hugging her tight body when he lifted her out of the bathtub. She looked like a war refugee and it gutted him emotionally when he performed CPR on her and could only feel bones.
"We had no idea," Miki cried again.
Dr. Hirukawa nodded and knew the Hiiragi family was sincere as he had known them for years. "The second issue is that Tsukasa-san tried to commit suicide and under law, we have to keep her here for at least one twenty-four hour psychiatric watch."
"I agree," Tadao quickly stated.
Hearing this abruptly ended the fragile peace Miki had with her husband and she quickly pushed him away. Her emotions flared again as she protested with the doctor. "She's still a minor and I'm her mother! Only I can grant such an outrageous request!"
"Mom!" Kagami and Inori exclaimed in an attempt to quiet their mother.
"I understand how you feel, Miki-san. However, this is out of my hands. If I allow Tsukasa to leave this hospital now, I will lose my medical license and be subject to criminal law." Dr. Hirukawa said through his aged voice. "I helped you give birth to this girl and I know how you feel. I have a son as you know and I know what it feels like to want to protect them from everything. When I saw Tsukasa for the first time, it was love at first sight for me too. She's a beautiful young woman that was dealt a very unfair set of circumstances that nobody deserves."
Miki found herself nodding with the family doctor and for once decided to concede, at least in a mainstream sense. Was she going to let Tsukasa stay in the hospital? Yes. Was she going to leave the hospital for any reason during that twenty-four hour stretch of time? There was no chance in hell.
Dr. Hirukawa escorted the ailing family into the sleeping Tsukasa's hospital room and they saw her for the first time. Her skin complexion was returning as her sister's blood was restoring her life. The beeps of the medical machinery attached to Tsukasa continued to sound across the room while the youngest Hiiragi twin rested on her bed with an oxygen mask still over her mouth. Her right wrist was wrapped in a thick and specialized cast that not only covered her wound but also kept the veins in her wrist flowing in the right direction as they were deeply severed in the cut. Other tubes were attached to Tsukasa's abdomen that allowed a flow of nutrients into her stomach to help restore her nutrition.
Miki took a familiar seat on Tsukasa's left side and held her undamaged left hand in hers and continued to sob. The Hiiragi family spent the rest of the hospital's official visiting hours with Tsukasa, even though she didn't wake from her slumber. Matsuri joined them later though didn't do the fragile family any favors by displaying her usual masculine attributes in her exhibit of rage. She was still dreadfully concerned for Tsukasa but, like a lot of the Hiiragi family members, was at the end of her rope in dealing with the troubled twin.
By 6:00 pm that night, Miki had to admit that she was starving. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast that morning when she returned to sweeping the shattered china, followed by bailing Tsukasa out, and staying with her for the rest of the day at the hospital. Dr. Hirukawa extended his shift at the hospital that night because he knew something about the bizarre connection between Miki and Tsukasa that was being hid from the rest of the family and he wanted to talk to Tsukasa about it. He was stepping out of professional line to do it, but he cared too much about the Hiiragi family to let them sink like this. Hirukawa was finally able to convince Miki to go to the cafeteria and eat something while he promised to stay with Tsukasa.
When the distraught Hiiragi housewife finally complied, she slowly left the hospital room and Dr. Hirukawa closed the door behind her. No sooner did the door shut, Tsukasa's voice asked, "Is she gone?"
Hirukawa turned and saw Tsukasa was still on her back with her eyes closed and he replied, "Yes she is."
Tsukasa's eyes suddenly shot open again and she slowly sat up and stretched. "Thank god. I don't know how much longer I would've been able to keep up that sleeping act."
"You've been faking it since 3:30, Tsukasa-san. Nearly three hours of that is quite impressive." Hirukawa informed her as he wrote in his clipboard.
"How do you know?" Tsukasa groaned in pain from her healing wrist.
"Your breathing changed at that time from slow and continuous, to deeper and more sporadic." The doctor said and finished writing on the clipboard and placed it aside. He pulled a chair closer to Tsukasa and began his own one-on-one with the youngest Hiiragi twin. "Why would you do such a thing to yourself, Tsukasa-san? You had the cutest wrists."
Tsukasa rested her body back on the bed and turned away. "I don't want to live anymore. I just want to be free from this shit that haunts me every day and every night. And to be free from my crazy family."
Hirukawa nodded slowly. "I see. You think your family is crazy, do you?"
Tsukasa turned back to him. "You saw my mother. She's lost her mind."
"And why do you think that is?" Hirukawa asked deeply. "Could it have anything to do with the fact that her youngest daughter was raped and she feels guilty? Could it also have something to do with the fact that her youngest daughter is on a self-destructive path? Could it also have something to do with the fact that her youngest daughter tried to kill herself in her own home?"
Tsukasa glared at him and turned away again. "Go to hell. You don't know me. You could never help me and neither can they. You're just wasting your breath, old man."
"Have you ever tried letting them?"
Tsukasa shook her head violently. "The last time I let someone in my life, I ended up with man-meat penetrating every hole in my body."
Hirukawa closed his eyes and sighed. He knew Tsukasa was saying graphic and outlandish things to keep everyone away from her. He's seen it before in his history as a doctor, which prompted him to give his next speech.
"You know, Tsukasa-san, as you can obviously tell, I'm a very old man and I've worked in this hospital for many years. I helped your mother give birth to your sisters and to you. Your father also performed my son's marriage so I know your family very well." Dr. Hirukawa said and suddenly said something that, at first seemed random. "How familiar are you with baseball, Tsukasa-san?"
Tsukasa turned back again with a puzzled face. "What the hell are you talking about, Hirukawa?"
"You're a smart girl so I'll assume you know the basic 'three strikes and you're out' concept, so that'll allow me to get straight to my point." Dr. Hirukawa said. "I was a little boy when the war with America ended and the soldiers began playing friendship games with local communities around Tokyo. We already had baseball in Japan at that time, but we knew that there was something incredible and telling about the game and how it connected our two nations. We believed that baseball was birthed by the essence of the human soul and the game can even predict our destinies. When I began working at this hospital, I met many people in similar situations as yours, Tsukasa-san. They were good and innocent people until they were dealt a bad hand. But when those innocent souls began to chose a life of self-destruction and angst, that's when their strikes would begin. The first strike would be their first close-call with death, their second strike would be their second close-call with death."
Hirukawa suddenly paused and wondered if Tsukasa was still listening to him as all he could see was the back of her black hair. He tested it by standing and saying. "Good talk. I'll let you get your rest."
As he walked out, Tsukasa's voice suddenly asked, "What happens after the second strike?"
Hirukawa froze and slowly turned back to her. "After the third strike, we believe that person has a divine experience and must make a choice. The gods will show them their entire life again and grant them one more chance on Earth to rekindle their ways if they're sincere, but if they choose not to, three strikes and they're out. They die."
A long pause settled between Hirukawa and Tsukasa until the troubled Hiiragi twin said, "So this is my second strike?"
"I wouldn't say that. The reason you arrived for the first time in this hospital wasn't your fault. However, this second time is, so I believe that this is your first strike, Tsukasa-san. It's just something to think about." Hirukawa added.
Another haunting silence fell upon them for more than a minute until Tsukasa said with her back still turned to the doctor, "Don't let my mom back in here. I don't want to talk to anybody anymore."
Hirukawa, who still had his hand on the doorknob, slowly let go and turned back to her. "I'm not going to keep Miki away from her daughter, Tsukasa-san. Let me ask you something; how much do you truly know about your mother or her past?"
Tsukasa searched her memory and responded, still with her back facing the doctor. "She and my dad have been married for twenty-five years, she chose not to go to college and is a stay-at-home mom, she's not as religious as my dad but still helps with our shrine, she has an older brother who is my uncle and her parents separated when she was little and—"
"Stop right there," Hirukawa commanded and retook his seat next to Tsukasa. "You have an uncle that you haven't seen in years, same with two grandparents on your mother's side. Why is that?"
Tsukasa once again searched her memory and honestly couldn't remember much about her uncle or her grandparents. She remembered one Christmas many years ago when they were considering having Miki's and Tadao's family come together at the shrine for the holiday but it never happened. It was also the same Christmas that Tsukasa received her first miko outfit and when she danced with her father in the Kagura-den.
"I don't know," Tsukasa eventually replied. "I always thought it was because they live in Nagasaki and we live in Saitama. But then again, isn't that normal? Doesn't everyone have parents that leave out details about their life to their kids for one reason or another?"
Hirukawa nodded slowly. "Did you know that your grandfather would hit your grandmother and also hit your mother on a daily basis when she was little?"
Tsukasa's eyes nearly shot out of her head upon hearing the revelation. She nearly spun around in shock but still remained firm.
"That's right, Tsukasa-san. Your mother grew up in a very abusive household. Your uncle was constantly in and out of jail for one reason or another whether it was theft, assault, joyriding, soliciting prostitutes, you name it." Hirukawa added in his aging voice. "Your mother never knew what true love felt like until she met your father and when she had you and your sisters. When you were arrested for that domestic dispute, it gutted your mother mentally and she couldn't stand to have another family member in jail or have a repeat of her childhood, so she went to extreme measures to get the bail money for you. Your mother in a way still blames herself for being a victim and believes that she was to blame for her abuse, so she thinks she's stopping history from repeating itself."
Tsukasa remained silent with her back still turned. "Why are you telling me all of this? Are you my goddamn shrink now?"
Hirukawa shook his head. "I know it's unorthodox and unprofessional of me, but I see what your behavior is doing to your family, Tsukasa-san. You may have been raped and you may be a victim in this madness, but you're creating more victims as well. I care deeply about you and your family and it pains me to see you do this to yourself. I should also ask…why were you taking LSD?"
Tsukasa's eyes went big again and her heart pounded, which Hirukawa saw in the heart-rate monitor's excessive beeping on the screen, making it a perfect lie-detector test as he continued. "When we were about to do the blood transfusion, your blood work came back positive for LSD, among others including marijuana and three different types of narcotics."
Tsukasa glared with the back of her head still facing her old doctor. "Guess it goes without saying that you're not going to write any kind of prescription for me."
Hirukawa huffed. "You're right, but only because I cannot write a prescription for rationality."
This angered the youngest Hiiragi twin and she quickly turned to face him with a piercing glare. "You think you're so smart, don't you."
"I guess you could say that. The Medical Board also thought so, which I guess explains why they decided to give me a medical license and let me keep it for nearly forty years." Hirukawa sharply replied and Tsukasa turned away again as the elder doctor stood to leave again. "Your mother should be back soon. I'll tell her you're awake."
As Dr. Hirukawa stood and was about to leave the room, Tsukasa spoke again. "Did my mom tell you what she did to get the bail money for me?"
Hearing the question froze the doctor again in his steps and he stood with his back still facing Tsukasa, though she wasn't looking at him either. He sighed again only more deeply and replied, "You're mother loves you very much, Tsukasa. She loves you so much that she's willing to sacrifice her marriage to your father if it comes to that, even go to jail for you. If I were you, I would do your part and shape up before you arrive back at this hospital with your second strike."
With that, Dr. Hirukawa shuffled out of the room, leaving only Tsukasa, the beeping medical equipment her only company.
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Back at the Hiiragi household, dead silence plagued the family as they finished eating dinner. Inori and Matsuri worked together in the kitchen to clean the dishes, Kagami sat upstairs in her room doing her homework, while Tadao still sat at the dinner table, trapped in deep thought. His mind was a whirlpool of thoughts regarding the ongoing family strife. He thought about the fight he had with Miki back at the hospital, Tsukasa's condition, Miki's past, but something else was bothering him.
Before dinner, he had paged through the family checkbook and tried to find the missing check that Miki used to bail Tsukasa out. It never existed. Miki never used a check to spring Tsukasa, nor did she withdraw a single yen from the family's bank account. He checked his online banking account to also confirm and it showed that not a single cent of the family's treasure left the vault. Miki got the money from somewhere else…but where?
His concentration was suddenly broken when the phone rang and he allowed his daughters to keep working as he stood and answered it. "Hiiragi residence."
"Hello may I speak with Hiiragi Tadao, please?" A voice asked on the other side.
"Speaking." Tadao replied.
"Good evening, sir. This is Detective Maniwa calling, I'm the officer in charge with the arson investigation of your shrine." The policeman said.
"Yes, Detective Maniwa, it's good to hear from you again." Tadao said and sat down. Hearing the policeman's name caught the attention of Inori and Matsuri as they stopped cleaning and turned to their father as he spoke again. "Did you find out who is responsible for burning the shrine down?"
"Actually, sir, I'm calling with regards to another issue." Detective Maniwa said. "It regards your daughter's rapists. The ones who are still at large."
Tadao leaned forward in anticipation. "You found them?"
Silence was on the other end until Detective Maniwa spoke again. "Yes, we did. We found their bodies hanging from a bridge just outside of town. They're dead, sir."