Notes:
Rin, you're a baka butt. Haru-chan is trying to help! This is Chapter 6, ladies and gentlemen— in which Mikoshiba develops a crush, there are Rin/Rei dynamics, and new evidence prompts Makoto and Haru to dig deeper into the investigation.
Thank you for taking the time to read the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Free!. Any similarities in events or characters living or dead are entirely coincidental.
Enjoy!
"… and that's what you'll be expected to do, starting this afternoon. Are there any questions?"
In the quiet calm of the meeting room in the task force's main building, Mikoshiba and Rei glanced at each other before Rei stuck his hand up.
"Yes?" Haru asked, raising an eyebrow.
"So, this assignment is for us to provide security for Rin and Gou Matsuoka until we catch the Pirate?" Rei asked, pushing his glasses up.
"Precisely. You two are in charge of this assignment. You're not to let either sibling leave your sight, not even for a second, and try to stick together."
"Oh. That's pretty basic."
"But super boring," Mikoshiba said rather despondently. "Stake outs are not as glamorous as TV shows make them out to be."
"We're hunting down a serial killer," Haru said crossly. "There's nothing glamorous about anything going on around here."
"Right you are, Haru-san."
"We'll be heading out with the two of you today, just to get some introductions and rules across. The Shark Matsuoka seems to have something against following instructions, so I'll advise whoever's keeping detail on him to be tactful."
"Er—Haru-san, did you just say 'Shark Matsuoka'?"
"You'll see what I mean," Haru said, waving his team off. "We leave at noon for the Oceans Athletic Complex. Bring something to do."
"Yes, sir!"
It was fortunate that the department was shaping up quite effectively for the inevitable manhunt, but that also meant Haru, Makoto and Nagisa were basically working around the clock. They dragged themselves in at 8 in the morning, zombie-like until the caffeine kicked in an hour later. At work, they poured over various lab reports, studied old case files and tacked up more related news articles onto their bulletin board. Take-out boxes were pushed into the corner of their desks, the coffee pot remained at a constant half-full state, and it was nearly midnight before any of them could head home.
So basically university, but with more murder.
When Haru ducked into his continuously cramped office, it was to see Nagisa and Makoto completely engrossed in yet another file together.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Haru-chan! Forensics just brought this over!" Nagisa exclaimed, leaping up. "It's a huge plot twist!"
"There aren't such things as plot twists in real life," Haru deadpanned.
"The lab did some tests on those homemade Olympic medals we found on Kyo Mizuno's body," Makoto explained, passing the document over, his fingers brushing minutely against Haru's. "Apparently there's something significant about the ink."
"The ink?"
"It would appear that the ink is a very special plant-based type that's typically considered environmentally friendly." Makoto explained. "In the past six years, there is only one place that has distributed a type of pen that uses this ink for personal use."
"And where would that be?"
"The Four Islands University of Arts and Communications," Makoto answered, spinning his laptop around to display the home page for the school. "It's a prestigious institute famous for its artists and writers. In the year of 2007, they changed the type of pens they gave out to graduates to the same one found on the evidence. With this information—"
"We have a time stamp," Haru said, catching on at once.
"Exactly," Makoto nodded, a grin on his face. "The Pirate would have to be a graduate in that school from within the past six years—"
"And if we do the math we can narrow our primary search down to the first two years—"
"Because the killings began in 2009!"
"Exactly!"
They stared at each other in slight awe, the whirlwind of information they'd both come up with hanging in the air.
"Ne, does Haru-chan and Mako-chan read each other's minds?!" Nagisa demanded suddenly, breaking the trance. "That was incredible! You guys are like the perfect team!"
Makoto blushed and Haru felt his stomach flop as he muttered, "Don't be ridiculous, Nagisa."
"It's the truth," the blond exclaimed. "You're like those Western partners: Bonnie and Clyde!"
"I'm pretty sure Bonnie and Clyde were thieves and killers, Nagisa," Makoto chuckled.
"Anyway," Haru sighed, "If this is the case, I want the graduating classes of 2007, 2008 and 2009 up ASAP. That's going to be your job," he added to Nagisa. "Makoto and I need to head out to the Sports Complex this afternoon with Mikoshiba and Rei for security detail."
"WHAT?!" Nagisa yelped, slamming his hands down on the table. "You can't make me stay here! I want to see Rei-chan!"
"I can't let you distract him from his job!" Haru retorted. "Every time you two get together you act like you've been separated for years or something!"
"That's because you always keep me here!" Nagisa grumbled, slouching down in his chair. "I'm like a princess, locked away in a tower, and Haru-chan's the mean dragon trying to separate me from my prince!"
"I cannot believe you just made that parallel."
"It's true! Haru-chan hates young love because nobody young loves him!"
"Hey, it is not my fault gross older men like flirting with me!"
"Alright, alright, let's get back to work here," Makoto interrupted in a soothing, pacifying tone. "Nagisa, please look up the graduating rosters from the university? Haru and I will head down to the Sports Complex now, right, Haru?"
"Right," Haru muttered, and grabbed his coat as Nagisa pouted magnificently but swirled around in his chair to get his computer. Just as they were about to leave, the blond suddenly called out, "You need to give to Rei-chan a kiss from me though, Haru-chan!"
"Not on your life!"
Makoto laughed throughout the entire car ride.
They ran into trouble thirty seconds into everybody was introduced.
"No," Rin growled, crossing his arms.
"Excuse me?" Haru asked, eyebrow twitching.
"Is this some kind of joke?" the swimmer demanded. "This is all the security you managed to dig up? This is your best and brightest? All we've got here is Muscles and Glasses!"
"I assure you, Matsuoka-san, that wearing glasses will not hinder any of my abilities as police officer," Rei retorted before Haru could stop him, and the redhead pounced on the officer's words like a shark on its prey.
"The glasses are only the beginning," Rin snapped. "You look more like a school teacher than a cop!"
Rei instantly puffed up like an angry bird, but before Haru could step in and divert the explosion, Gou suddenly charged over and punched Rin in the gut.
"Ow! Gou! What was that for?!"
"I told you to be polite!" Gou said, crossing her arms like an angry mother as Rin scowled. To be honest, it was quite a scary sight because of his abnormally sharp teeth, but Gou glared back just as fiercely.
"Don't you dare, brother," she said before Rin could utter a word. "You promised! And real big brothers don't go back on their promises, right?"
Rin ground his teeth rather alarmingly for a second, but then he deflated with a huff. "Fine," he grumbled. Gou perked up at once, a radiant smile on her face.
"I knew I could trust you!" she said happily before turning to the officers. "Thank you for your help! I hope we'll all get along together!"
Rin took a rather sharp elbow to the side before grunting out, "Yeah…" as well. Haru rolled his eyes.
"So we're settled now? Great. Let's pair off then. Rei, you'll stay with Gou—"
"No!"
"What is it now?!" Haru demanded, rounding on Rin. "You just—"
"Glasses goes with me!" Rin snapped back. "Muscles can look after my sister!"
"Brother—"
"Don't. Argue. With. Me. Not on this one, Gou," Rin said, his tone faintly strangled, and Gou stared at her older brother for a moment before shaking her head.
"Alright, I'll stay with Mikoshiba-san then. Will that be all right with you? Mikoshiba-san?"
The sergeant jumped a little at his name, looking oddly spooked. "O-of course!" he said loudly. Gou smiled.
"Alright then, let's get going," Haru grumbled. Rin grunted and grabbed his things, sulking off towards the direction of the sports facilities while Gou tagged cheerfully along behind him. Feeling a full-blown migraine building up already, Haru turned to his officers, only to find a very strange sight presented before him.
Mikoshiba looked stunned. Rei, for lack of a better word, looked furious.
"Oi, what's gotten into the two of you?" Haru asked, snapping a finger in front of Mikoshiba's wide eyes.
"Is that the Shark Matsuoka you were telling me about?" Rei demanded, almost steaming with anger. "What a rude man! I can't believe I'm saddled with him for the next eight hours!"
"Well, he'll be swimming for at least six hours, so your interaction would probably be limited," Haru shot back. Rei turned his nose up but hurried after the siblings, muttering something that sounded mysteriously like, "Freak with a teeth condition".
"Er, Mikoshiba? Are you alright?" Makoto asked, waving a hand in front of the tall redhead's face.
"She's— she's—" Mikoshiba murmured in a vague whisper.
"She's what?"
"She's so cute!" Mikoshiba burst out, and Haru nearly had to shield his eyes from the sudden brilliant light that seemed to be radiating from his starstruck sergeant. "I've never seen somebody as adorable as Gou in my whole life! And did you see how she just whaled Rin in the gut? Man! What a punch!"
"Are you kidding me right now?" Haru cried exasperatedly. "I can think of eighteen different reasons why you shouldn't think Gou Matsuoka is cute, and the top three involves serial killers, a shark-toothed brother and a boss who is going to tear you a new one if you don't get to your post right now!"
"Sir, yes sir!" Mikoshiba said quickly, and bolted after the others. Haru watched him go, feeling the headache spread. The task force's best and brightest indeed.
"Maa, I don't think I've ever seen you snap like that before," Makoto said gently, placing a companionable hand on the detective's shoulder. Haru flinched minutely at the unexpected contact and the brunet drew back almost at once.
"It's… been a long day," Haru said quietly. "We have to go back to the office and bury ourselves in paperwork after we've checked that those idiots have settled in."
"Are we going to the pool and the gym then?"
"No, there's a viewing balcony we can look through from. They're adults, they'll learn to deal with one another."
"I hope they do," Makoto chuckled, and the two of them made their way down the hall and walked up the stairs in silence. The row of benches viewing area was empty, and through the elegant glass window they could see the complex's ice rink, the fifty-meter pool and the gymnastics area where a multitude of equipment was set up.
After waiting for a while, Gou emerged from the change room with several teammates and quickly took to warming up while Mikoshiba sat down by the wall. By the pool, Rin was taking a quick shower while Rei stomped off to sit in a plastic folding chair next to the pool and pull out paperwork. As they watched, Rin walked up the lane next to Rei and leapt in, sending a wave of water onto the officer. Rei, as it transpired, shrieked and dragged his chair away from the water's edge.
"Well, this is off to a great start," Makoto sighed, tugging wearily at his tie. Haru bit his lip as he watched the knot around the brunet's neck slip loose, revealing a sliver of smooth skin, and he abruptly turned on his heel and started walking away.
"Eh? Haru! Where are you going?"
"Back to the office. We need to work on the files."
"Ah— right, right."
When they finally climbed back into Haru's car, Makoto leaned back into his seat and was quiet for a moment before saying rather suddenly, "Have you got something on your mind, Haru?"
The detective looked over, surprised. "What makes you say that?"
"Well," Makoto said, grinning a little sheepishly. "You still do that thing with your eyebrows when you're thinking a lot."
Haru frowned. "What eyebrow thing?"
"Your left eyebrow dips down more than your right one whenever you're troubled."
"… my eyebrow does no such thing."
"Your eyebrows have been doing that since you were six," Makoto smirked, but then his smile faltered, and Haru felt his headache worsen. They sat awkwardly for a moment before Haru turned and started the ignition.
… Makoto had noticed his eyebrows do that since they were kids?
The fond memories of childhood suddenly seemed to burst forth, involving walking together to primary school every day and swimming in the ocean in the summer and playing cops and robbers by the riverbank— and then they were instantly shut down as Haru jammed his foot down on the gas pedal.
"He's up to something," he said at last, breaking the silence. Makoto looked up, startled.
"Pardon?"
"The Pirate," Haru answered as they pulled up to the intersection. "Something about the Matsuokas doesn't make sense."
"What do you mean?"
"All of the Pirate's targets and victims thus far have been rich people, and there is no denying that the Matsuoka family has money, but neither Gou or Rin spends it recklessly. Most of their funds for competing come from their sponsors anyway, and they have to win in order to get any at all. They train for hours and hours a day for years. There is literally nothing about them that doesn't ooze effort, self-sacrifice and commitment. They're not the typical targets the Pirate hunts."
Makoto tapped his chin, thinking. "I looked up their parents. Both of them work in International Trade. D'you think that just because they make money they're the reason why Rin and Gou are being targeted? Like Nitori?"
"Nitori relied on his father's connections to get into the banking company," Haru countered as they stopped for a red light. "That was publicly known. He got a lot of criticism for it too, and there were a lot of spoof shows that made fun of father and son. But Rin and Gou both made their way into the Olympics and won gold on nothing but training and undeniable talent."
"So, if that's the case… then what is the Pirate's game?" Makoto wondered out loud, and then the car behind them crashed into their bumper with an almighty crunch.
All of the air whooshed out of Haru's lungs as he launched forwards, his seatbelt biting into skin. Next to him, the PI let out a startled yell and threw his hand forward to keep from hitting the glove compartment. There was a sudden blare of horn before a van driving with the green light barreled into the exposed front of Haru's car, clipping his headlight and knocking the vehicle into the thankfully empty lane next to theirs.
"Fuck!" Makoto bit out, holding his wrist, and Haru felt his stomach turn.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt? Is it your wrist?" he demanded, grabbing the brunet's shoulder. "Makoto? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Makoto replied, grimacing as he checked his hand. "Just bent it a bit more than I'm supposed too; nothing an ice pack wouldn't fix."
Haru exhaled unconsciously, relief flooding through him, closely followed by anger. That had been much too close. Without another word he unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind him.
The damage seemed minimal, at least. The headlight was shattered and unsalvageable, the taillight was dented, and the bumper was done in rather badly. All of it would have to be replaced, but at least the car remained in decent shape. Now, to account to the driver.
"Detective Inspector Nanase Haruka," Haru snapped, flashing his ID towards the other driver getting out of his car. "What part of 'stop for a red light' did you not learn in driving school?"
"N-Nanase-san?" the driver stammered, and Haru blinked. The light-haired man looked rather familiar.
"Uh, Asahara, the reporter?" Asahara said shamefacedly, tugging at his sleeve. "I'm really sorry about your car, really, there was something wrong with my breaks."
"As in you didn't know how to use them, or what?" Haru said coldly as Makoto walked up next to him. Asahara waved his hands frantically, looking desperate.
"No! Never! I've had my license since I was sixteen! This is my first accident, I swear! I've never even run a yellow light in my life! It was my breaks, please, officer, I swear."
"I'm going to call traffic patrol," Haru grumbled, digging out his cell phone. "Makoto, call Nagisa and tell him we're going to be late."
"Right," Makoto said. "Are you okay, Haru? Your side got clipped by that van."
"That's why I always wear a seatbelt," Haru replied, dialing for the headquarters as he unconsciously rubbed the sore spot on his chest. Makoto dialed the blond's number and the reporter hung his head, shuffling his insurance papers around in his hand.
In the end, it took about an hour and a half before they exchanged contact information, towed away both cars and gave a detailed report to the officer that arrived. Nagisa had shown up with Amakata in her pink Cube van after everybody had left, shrieking about their health and whether or not they needed to go to the hospital.
In the end, Haru forced them to drop him off at his flat before taking Makoto to a drop-in clinic to get his wrist checked out. The brunet had tried to worm his way out of it, but after being shouted down by a constable, an assistant DI and a detective, he caved and agreed to see a doctor. Somehow, that settled the insistent feeling of unease in Haru's stomach.
When he finally unlocked his door and walked into his apartment, he threw his jacket over his chair and pitched forwards onto the bed, brain too full of half-formed thoughts and heart still too worried about Makoto to do anything other than sleep.
The narrow strip of pavement tucked between two towering buildings was uneven and damp from the rainstorm that swept through the city just hours before. Gravel crunched like bones beneath his feet as he ran, coattails flapping behind him like the wings of a bird. His breath came up in smoke and the cold air made his lungs hurt with its stale sharpness.
The shadow of the criminal was an erratic, flailing shape that slithered on and off the walls as the man ran, crashing into garbage cans and other objects scattered in the backstreet. He picked up his pace, heart pumping madly in his chest.
It was time they ended this.
Up ahead, there was a sudden roar of anger and desperation, followed by the loud clanging noise of metal on metal. He slowed his pace to a halting jog as he recognized the sound of a trapped man. Their suspect would not be going anywhere now. He slid his hand into his coat and pulled his gun from his holster, releasing the safety as he rounded the corner and raised the weapon.
"Freeze! Get down on your knees and put hands behind your head!"
Shu Ishiguro was clawing at the gate, yanking at it and throwing his head back and forth like a man possessed. The man kicked at it before growling, "Here to arrest me, detective?"
Haru narrowed his eyes and leveled his gun. "I'm not going to repeat myself. Get down now or I will shoot you, Ishiguro."
Ishiguro turned, his hair matted and greasy. He was still wearing the yellow polo shirt from the telemarketing company beneath a heavy grey coat. "You can't do that, detective. There are laws against shooting an innocent man."
"There's nothing innocent about you," Haru said coldly. "Get. Down. Now."
"You think I'm the killer," Ishiguro whispered, rubbing his shaking hands together. His eyes darted frantically, never settling for longer than a second. "But I'm not, detective, and you know this."
"I'm warning you—"
"You're smart, detective! You weren't fooled by my claims or fake messages! I'd love to kill somebody, oh yes I would, but you know that I'm a man living on borrowed time. Me! Sickly, diseased Shu! You know I can barely lift a shopping bag, let along beat down and hold a man underwater until he drowns. You're chasing the wrong person, and you know it!"
His mind was whirring, his throat tightening— he did know this. He'd come so far, only to reach yet another infuriating dead end. Ishiguro dropped his hands, and one of them crawled towards his pocket—
"Hands up!" Haru shouted, and Ishiguro bolted. His fingers squeezed the trigger just as the criminal crashed headfirst into him, knocking them into the wall. He'd missed; the bullet ricocheted somewhere and Ishiguro was scrambling like a rat trying to escape a trap. He grabbed the man's collar, dragging him back, and Ishiguro's hand made it into his pocket.
He didn't hear the gunshot so much as he felt it: the volume of the world suddenly imploded into silence, as though he'd fallen into water. His legs felt very weak, and he was falling forwards, pitching towards the ground.
The sound of guns, the red hot pain in his lower abdomen—
"Oi! Nanase! Keep your eyes open Nanase! You're going to be okay! Help! Somebody get help!"
His vision swimming, his breaths uneven—
"Officer down! Officer down!"
Blood. Pain.
Fear.
"Nanase! Haru! HARU!"
He sat bolt upright in his bed, ears ringing and inhaling air like a drowning man. Haru clutched his stomach desperately, fingers clawing into his skin hard enough to leave a mark. He could feel his shirt sticking to his back and his hair plastered to his forehead, and there were about a hundred things going through his mind.
It was a dream. He had a dream about the day he got shot. Two years later, and he still couldn't forget it. The phantom pain in his abdomen was slowly easing away, but for a moment he'd been so sure the bullet had been lodged in his stomach again, making his head spin and his head hurt. Flopping bonelessly back onto the bed, Haru exhaled shakily, pushing his bangs back.
There had been a lot of speculation around what had happened before the rest of his team arrived at the alleyway because Haru had never truly told anybody what happened. Nagisa, for one, thought he'd been shot for calling Ishiguro out as a liar. Mikoshiba and Rei thought it was an unfortunate case of not reacting fast enough.
All of them were wrong. He'd simply chased the wrong lead and paid a price for it.
He rolled over onto his back and sighed, staring up at the ceiling. It was the first time in his whole career that he'd made such a terrible mistake. In addition, waking up in the hospital a day later with IV drips stuck into his arm and high on morphine didn't help ease the anger, self-hate, and humiliation. He'd been the one to get shot, and he couldn't even take down a sick man less than eight feet in front of him. God, he felt pathetic.
Without warning, his phone rings shrilly.
Jumping violently, Haru momentarily fumbled for the device in the dark before quickly unlocking his mobile.
"Detective Inspector Nanase," he rasped.
"Haru! You need to get up now!"
"Sasabe? What's going on?"
"The Pirate," the Commander said, and Haru felt his insides go cold.
"Impossible," he spluttered. "Rin and Gou have two overnight details on them right now, there's no possible way they could be attacked—"
"It's not Gou or Rin!" Sasabe said hurriedly. "They're safe. It's another body; they found it on 4th Street and Parkway fifteen minutes ago. You need to see this, Haru."
His feet had already hit the ground, stumbling towards his bathroom.
"I'll be there in ten."
"Hurry," Sasabe said, and hung up. Haru spashed water on his face and attempted to make himself presentable at the unholy hour of 2 am before scrambling to dig his badge and car keys out from his bedside drawer.
And then, on nothing more than a whim and fading dream in his mind, he opened his gun safe for the first time in two years.
When he arrived at the scene after a nerve-wracking twenty minute ride in a taxi, the first thing Haru steps into is a puddle of vomit.
"What the—"
"Haru!"
Sasabe was waving him over from behind the yellow tape, his reflective vest flashing from the spinning lights on the cars. Weaving between the various officers, traffic control and forensics scientists already on scene, he ducked under the tape and joined the Commander.
"Where is the body?"
"Around the corner," Sasabe directed, walking so fast Haru nearly tripped as he tried to catch up. He'd never seen his boss so stressed before. "A security guard found her just as he arrived for duty, behind the main building."
They rounded the corner where three business offices were positioned around a neatly paved courtyard. In the middle was a massive model ship, made of artistically twisted metal, sitting in a fountain. And there, on the ship's prow was the body of a woman, naked, and strung up as a figurehead one might see on a pirate ship. Her face was beaten near unrecognizable, wires strung through her arms, sides and legs, suspending the body against the metal bars. Her torso was torn open and her bloody innards were spilling on into the fountain, where the waters were stained a murky red.
"What the hell," Haru spluttered, unconsciously tightening his hands into fists at the sight of such a grotesque scene. "What is this— what is he playing at?"
"I was hoping you'd tell me," Sasabe said.
"This isn't normal, even for the Pirate. He's never gone off like this before. Why would—"
"Haru! Sasabe!"
It was Makoto and Nagisa, both with bedheads worse than Haru's, and Makoto's right wrist was bandaged. They hurried over only to come to a shuddering stop when they saw the Pirate's handiwork.
"Oh my god," Makoto choked out, his eyes widening, and Nagisa went white.
"H-Haru-chan? This isn't the Pirate, is it?"
"At this point I'm hoping it's the Pirate," Haru growled through gritted teeth. "Because if we have another serial killer in Iwatobi I am going to kick something."
"Nanase-san?" There was a forensics scientist heading towards them, looking grim. "There's something you should see."
"And it keeps getting better," Haru groaned, running a hand through his tangled bangs before he was handed something carefully tucked away in a plastic evidence bag. Makoto, Nagisa and Sasabe all crowded around him.
There was a message scrawled on what appeared to be a sheet of parchment paper.
You're searching in the wrong direction again, Detective Inspector.
"You have got to be kidding me," Haru said quietly.
"Haru? What does this mean?"
"This murder was nothing but a statement," Haru growled. "The Pirate's messing with us."
"Why—"
A sudden buzz in his pocket startled him, and Haru frowned and dug out his phone.
"Haru? Are you okay?" Makoto asked, his eyebrows pinched.
There was a text. A sudden feeling of dread curling in his stomach, and Haru unlocked his phone as everybody suddenly crowded around him.
[Unknown Number: 267 890 3345] Did you find my message, Detective Inspector?
"Son of a—"
"He's texting you?!"
"He's watching us," Haru spluttered. "He's here!"
Sasabe was already walking off towards the police cruisers. "I need people on the ground and rooftops now! Search the next two blocks! Quickly!"
The phone buzzed again.
[Unknown Number: 267 890 3345] Are you surprised? You won't find me though, Haru-san. The game can't end this quickly.
Gritting his teeth, Haru forced himself to type out a respond.
How did you get this number?
The Pirate answered at once.
[Unknown Number: 267 890 3345] That's a spoiler, Haru-san. Are you sure you didn't get hit in the head in that accident two years ago? You used to be quicker than this.
And you used to be a little saner.
[Unknown Number: 267 890 3345] Well, we can't all get what we want, can we? But you should think about the message I left you. This has always been just between you and me. Don't get cocky.
Maybe it's you who should consider that advice.
[Unknown Number: 267 890 3345] It's been lovely chatting, but I really must go. Things to do, people to kill. Let's see if you can keep up. Here's a hint: the phone I'm using belonged to that lovely masterpiece on the ship monument. Should save you some trouble trying to trace my texts. Until next time.
"He is twisted," Makoto said quietly, the underlying anger seeping out with every syllable.
"There's no use searching now," Haru bit out in frustration, angrily stashing his mobile back into his coat pocket. "He'll be long gone, and the next thing we know more bodies are going to show up and—"
"That's not going to happen," Makoto interrupted, his voice firm. "We're not going to let that happen, Haru. We're going to find him, and we're going to stop him."
There was a rare sort of anger in Makoto's voice that generally wasn't associated with the rather gentle brown-haired man, and Haru couldn't help but feel a spark of hope. Despite everything, perhaps Makoto was actually a person he could depend on.
"Yes," he said, voice steady. "We will."
Makoto nodded and clapped a hand on Haru's shoulder, warm and anchoring, before waving for Nagisa to head over to talk to Sasabe. Haru watched them go, his mind going a mile a minute. The Pirate was taking everything to a whole new level, and if he wasn't careful in enough, he could lose this time.
Permanently.
Another buzz brought him from his thoughts, and with a quick glance in Sasabe, Makoto and Nagisa's direction he unlocked his phone again to find one more message.
[Unknown Number: 267 890 3345] By the way, your private investigator is a rather handsome man. It would be a shame if something were to happen to him, wouldn't it?
A cold ball of fear and the burning feeling of rage instantly curled in Haru's stomach as he typed out his next reply furiously.
Don't. You. Dare.
[Unknown Number: 267 890 3345] You better catch up then, Haru-san, because if you can't find a way to catch me, no one will.
There were no more texts after that.
Notes: Okay I actually wasn't expecting the last threat from the Pirate to happen my hands literally just started typing and my brain started thinking and I've just plot twist-ed myself— is that possible? Ahhh, what have I done~
… I wonder if Makoto's going to survive this now, ho ho ho.
Also: I might be a little later than usual updating Chapter 7, because my tests and assignments are starting to pile in now that school's kicked into high gear, and my midterms are in less than two weeks away! So I'll be studying during this time :') Please be patient with me!
Thank you for taking the time to read!
Love,
Laurie