3. Investigation.
T: I'm not quite sure when I promised I'd have this chapter up by so, to be safe, I'll apologise for the delay! Warnings and disclaimer remain the same.
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She has been a part of the cult for a full month now and it has become clear to her that the key to solving the investigation was somehow linked to Tetsua Keigo, her enigmatic 'leader'.
It was an opinion that Hijiri shared and, after a weeks worth of fruitless brainstorming, the other had enquired,
"Tetsua-san is in a meeting with Tamaki-san at the moment, one that's going to last at least an hour. That means that his 'private abode' will be unoccupied and it's seems a shame to put such an opportunity to waste, don't you think?"
"I think that tempting…" Having no want to destroy the keen enthusiasm practically radiating off of her partner she stops herself from finishing the thought, a kindness that proves unnecessary for, but a moment later, he enquires, "You're not certain, are you?" His tone and his posture now more sober than it had been previous.
"It seems a little risky." Her partner meets the response with a lopsided grin before responding,
"Sometimes the only way to get anywhere in this world is to take a calculated risk."
"I suppose that's true enough."
"So we're doing it?"
"We're doing it." She responds after a moment's consideration.
Without so much as another word her partner shifts into his spiritual form and, understanding well the need for haste, she follows suit.
It takes them but two minutes to reach the thick oaken door that marks the beginning of Tetsua-san's private domain but a minute more for her partner to pick the lock and free their passage into the space beyond. Unlike the rest of the building there is a traditional style to both the architecture and the furnishings of 'Tetsua-san's territory' which gives it an aged and slightly 'creepy' feel.
"It's most likely better if we split up and explore half the area each." Hijiri remarks as he shifts back into his 'mortal form'
"I agree." She remarks as she follows suit, "I also think that, should either of us find something of relevance, then we should let the other know."
"Otherwise, how about we re-convene in a half hour?"
"Sounds good." She remarks as she glances to her wristwatch and makes a note of the time.
After checking his own watch her partner wishes her good luck and then enters the first room on their left. Whispering well wishes of her own she sets her hand against the first door on the right and, pushing the thing open, steps over the threshold.
The third room that she crosses into is 'poky' at best, the thick tatami on the floor and the dark wood that lines the walls merely helping to emphasise this fact. At the furthest end of the room is pressed an old shrine which has been filled with various trinkets and a line of oil lanterns which are admitting a thin, sweet smelling, haze.
Knelt in front of the alter is a figure dressed in the traditional white silk Ofuda of an Onmyoji and, having no wish to be discovered, she goes to shift, once more, into her spiritual form.
"I would ask that you remain as you are for the power that you are using to change from one state to another is painful to me." There is a soft force behind the calm words that can only be the other's power for, as he utters them, she finds her self unable to change states or even to move her feet.
"I had begun to believe that the bureaux would never find me, that I would go 'unpunished' for my crimes." He remarks after a moment's silence.
"Then you admit that you are the heart of this matter, that you are responsible for the inconsistencies that have been appearing in the Kiseki?"
"That is correct." The tone of his voice does not alter as he speaks this confession and, disgust thick in her heart, she enquires,
"Why would you do such a terrible thing?"
"At first it was because that man took my wife and used her to blackmail me, then Akira-kun set me free from that nightmare and I begun to do it because I had want to…because it was the one way that I felt able to clear my conscience." He pauses a moment and then enquires, "You say that it is a 'terrible thing' that I have done and yet is it not also 'terrible' that innocent people die while people like that man live on?" His manner and his voice now fill of the intensity of one greatly moved by that which they are discussing.
An odd sense of foreboding settling over her stomach, she enquires,
"Who is the individual that you refer to always as 'that man'?"
"He is the one who pushed me onto this path, who is the 'rout' of the corruptive darkness that threatens to engulf me. I knew him always as 'Keigo Shinzo' but Akira-kun later informed me that that name was little more than a cover."
"Then his true name?"
"Muraki Kazutaka."
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T: Next chapter up on Tue. Review??