A/N: Just a few more chappies to go! Just bear with me a little longer.

Disclaimer: I still don't own any of these characters, not even a minor one.

--Chapter 7: Sakuba--

The next morning, Yako woke up with dark bags under her eyes. If possible, she had slept even worse than the night before, waking up periodically. Each time, she looked around the room, making sure that Neuro wasn't anywhere near her. The 37th time was the charm. Bam! Yako bolted up, only to find that she was on the floor with a halfway on the floor sheet surrounding her. Another look up made her eyes bug out: Her mattress was put on its side (now looming over her) and it was tipping this way! "Nonononono!" She tried to scramble away, but the mattress caught her legs before she could get away completely. There was a squeak when a new weight put itself on the mattress. Yako turned her head and narrowed her eyes; she should have known. "Neuro!"

Speak of the monster, there was Neuro sitting right on top of the mattress. "Why good morning! Sleep well?"

"Of course not," she said testily, "You were here."

"Oh?" Neuro cupped his hands onto her neck and pulled back, forcing Yako's head to bend backwards. "Is there something wrong with me being here, even though it's beneficial," he increased the pull until there was a pop (and a quiet scream from Yako), "for you? That's quite unreasonable."

"Yowowowow! Let go!" Yako pleaded, clawing at the hands.

"No thank you," with that, he completely bent her head back onto the mattress, "Comfortable?"

"Perfectly," she choked out.

Riing! Immediately, Neuro released her. "Hmm, I didn't expect him to crack that fast," Neuro muttered, "I suppose I overestimated him."

Excitedly, Yako felt around the top of the desk until she grabbed her slightly vibrating cell phone. "Hello?"

"Katsuragi Yako, correct?" It wasn't Shirota. The voice was still a man's, and definitely still had that proud touch to it, but it was proud, not pompous.

Very familiar indeed. It took Yako a few seconds to register who it was, and when she did, she would've completely bolted up if there wasn't a mattress on top of her. "Professor Harukawa! I-I'm not going to get kicked out of college because of all the classes I missed, right?" she asked frantically.

Harukawa chuckled. "Not quite, Yako. You're close to that, but not yet."

"Is there any way I can still pass?" She did not want to take the same classes next year; one year of brain abuse was enough.

"Yes, actually, I had called just to talk to you about that. I have some assignments that I'll have to have you do for credit."

"And if I don't do them?"

"Then I'll probably be seeing you next year, won't I?"

Yako's head drooped. "Dang."

"Well then," said Harukawa (who sounded like he was enjoying this just a teeny bit), "Why don't you come by today? I have your work all in order, and I expect them to be done by the end next month."

"And…if I end up in jail?" she asked, almost as a joke.

And he answered in a way that made Yako unsure if it was to be taken seriously, "Don't care. You'll do your work in jail. End of next month, Miss Katsuragi. I'll see in a bit." The flat tone really, really, meant 'end of conversation' in more ways than one.

With a groan, Yako closed her phone and said, "Can you just please get off now?"

"Aww," Neuro said with mock disappointment, "Two big letdowns, first it wasn't Shirota, and now I can't sit on this comfy mattress anymore."

"Get off!"

"Tch," but he complied, although he did get off by using her head as a step.

As Yako proceeded to drag herself from under the mattress, Neuro asked, "Who was that?"

"My professor," she brushed off some of the dust that had gotten on her, "I've got to go to the university to get something, or I fail this year." Yako opened up her closet door and rummaged through before pulling out a white shirt and jeans.

"Well, I don't really think you pathetic brain is quite ready to move on yet."

"Doesn't hurt to try," she said, ignoring him and already headed towards the bathroom. After shutting the door behind her, Yako took a deep breath. "Oh, whoever is in charge of fate," she mentally begged, "PLEASE let Shirota call soon so Neuro will just leave." The reflection in the mirror made her wish for that even more. "I look like a panda," Yako grumbled as she examined the bags under her eyes closer, "Or maybe more like that Eshiya guy. Ugh," she splashed cold water into her face. About 3 days of no sleep equaled eyes that resembled one that had been punched. There was a loud banging sound on the bathroom door.

"Hurry up, cockroach, I grow tired of waiting," The Monster himself said.

In lightning speed, Yako practically just threw on the clothes and barely even gave her mouth a rinse before bursting out of the door. "I'm out, I'm out!" Regardless of her speed, Yako still received a painful twist of the head from Neuro (followed by him dragging her towards the door).

"Wait!" Yako cried, trying to free herself, "You're not coming too, are you?!"

"What are you talking about, of course I am. How else am I supposed to know when Shirota contacts you?"

"NononononononoNO!" she yelled, pulling the hand from her head even harder.

Neuro lifted Yako and placed her right in front of him. "Eh? Is there a problem?"

"Yes there is! Do you have any idea how much you stand out?! I don't want anymore attention from my colleagues! I just want to slip in and get out of there without anyone noticing!"

"And I stand out how?"

Wow, he really didn't know. "You seriously have no idea, do you?" Yako said flatly, "It's your clothes," she motioned, "You're wearing a bright blue, full suit. No normal person would wear that casually, especially not on an 85 degree day."

"Well then," he grinned and showed his row of filed looking teeth, "I suppose you'll just have to live with that, but if you don't, I would be glad to crush that insignificant brain of your's now."

Yako shook her head weakly, "No that's okay. But…you'll attract so. Much. Attention."

Neuro merely gave her a condescending glare before tossing Yako into the wall by her door and walking towards the corridor. By the time Yako had picked herself up, Neuro was already in her father's room. With just tiny bit of panic, she ran to the door and knocked loudly. "H-hey," there was a smash then the cracking of wood. Yako froze, then snapping out of it, banged on the door until it shook, "What are you doing in there?!"

She was answered by the door slamming into her face. "Ow," Yako rubbed the spot on her nose where the door made contact.

"Any more complaints, maggot?"

After lowering her hand, Yako could see that Neuro had swapped his suit for one of her dad's button up shirts and a pair of less…bright pants. Well, at least he looked more normal. But, "Don't you feel…uncomfortable?"

"I don't see why I would," he replied.

"Because! You're wearing a dead guy's clothes!"

"So?" Neuro shrugged, "I bet you've worn your dead grandfather's socks."

Yako blinked to snap out of her stupor induced by that comment. "What? I really don't—" she took a random peek into her fathers room; the bed was split in two. Yako fell forward and hit the wall with her head. "What did you do…?" she groaned.

His feet forced her head to sink into the wall, "You still have complaints."

Wondering how far she could push her luck, trying to just get back at him a little bit, "Well your triangles still look weird."

Crack. There was now a lovely crack in the wall in the shape of Yako's head. But surprisingly, Neuro still complied and tied up his hair in low ponytail with some hair-tie Yako didn't even know existed. Once she was released (and had time to recover from the head-pain induced dizziness), Yako saw that Neuro (almost) looked like a normal person. Heck, he could've even been taken for someone on campus. Well, he still had two triangles in the front, but Yako knew her luck was already pushed to a breaking point.

--x--x--x--x--x--

Had the ticket seller said that few others had bought tickets for the half hour train ride to Sakuba's city, Yako would've opted to wait until another train came with more people on it. After all, if she stayed in a train for half an hour with Neuro fairly alone, it would result in either: a) verbal abuse b) physical pain c) general lowering of her self esteem of d) all of the above. Stupid 'd' had to be right. Yako cursed whoever made up the 'all of the above' answer. Fortunately, there were a fair amount of passengers, so Yako could take the first train she came to.

The train began to move a few minutes after they had taken their seats, and a silence settled. "Well," Yako thought, "I have zero idea of just exactly who he is…maybe I can get something out of this." Aloud, she said, "So, Neuro, just how did you get to know Godai?"

Neuro gave her a blank stare, "Whatever do you mean?"

"I meant, just how did you get a man with a 6th grade education up to the position of vice president of a huge company?"

"Nosey, aren't you?" Neuro commented, "But, that's not exactly a bad thing. Well, if you must know…"

Godai sat weeping on a park bench. "Oh what will I do with my life?!" he cried, "I'm a failure! Math makes me queasy, and ever since the boss died I've been getting soft! So soft that even that Yuki brat could beat me! Damn that company!" After his little speech, his tears overflowed in rivers and all that was heard were strangled gasps. Poor, poor, Godai.

Then, out of no where, Neuro jumped in. "Do not worry, pitiful one! I'll charitably agree to help you with your problem!"

"Oh thank you, thank you!" Godai said, groveling on the floor, bowing to Neuro. And so, with Neuro's genius, they managed to outsmart the company and kick Yuki and brother out to boot! Hahaha, the humiliation for the brothers. They deserved it! Oh right, and then Godai became vice president of the Mochizuki Corporations.

"Remember now," Neuro said, "You'll do me favors when I need them."

"Yes, yes!" Godai shouted happily, "Anything!"

"…and that's the story," concluded Neuro.

Yako merely stared. "You're kidding right?"

"And for what reason would I lie?"

"You can't honestly think that I'd believe Mr. Godai would talk like that, or grovel to you," she pointed a finger emphasis, "right?"

"Well then you obviously don't know thedog that well," Neuro said in a tone that meant 'shut-up-and-stop-questioning-my-authority-or-die'.

Yako rolled her eyes, "Alright, fine. How about…" she paused, who else was she curious about anyways? Oh right, "Higuchi?"

"Okay, it went like this…"

Higuchi sat on a park bench weeping. "Oh what am I going to do with my life?!" he cried—

"Stop! Stop!" Yako yelled, waving her hands in front of her, "I get the point already!"

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because there's no point in me asking if you're not just going to give me an honest answer," Yako grumbled.

"I see, so you're calling me a liar," Neuro said calmly. And then just as calmly, he grabbed Yako by the neck and knee-ed her in the stomach, resulting in a sound that resembled barfing. As Yako twitched in fetal position on the floor, Neuro said, "Don't completely disregard what I said, because there is truth in it."

--x--x--x--x--x--

Yako was relieved to find that the tip Aya gave her worked pretty well: When you wear sunglasses, people don't seem to realize who you are. Neuro on the other hand, was still getting quite a few stares, for what reason, Yako had no idea. But, it was better that people were staring at him than at her.

Of course, even the best of methods weren't full proof. "Yako!" A girl with red tinted hair ran right into her and pulled Yako into a tight hug. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?!" When she released Yako and stepped back to take a full view of her, and nodded, "You haven't lost a bit of weight, good to see you weren't under enough stress that you'd stop eating."

"Hey!" Yako looked herself over, "I'm not fat or anything, Kanae."

Her friend laughed and stuck out her tongue teasingly, "'Course not, your metabolism's higher than anyone else that I know. So, just what are you doing here?"

Yako slumped, "Professor Harukawa's giving me the work required for me to pass," she groaned, "I think his work should be considered mental abuse! It needs to be illegal."

"Oh come on, Yako," Kanae chided, "I've had to bear with it too."

"At least you're smart," she grumbled.

Kanae grinned, and then noticed Neuro standing next to her, apparently looking at an interesting tree, "Yako," she said with a slight hint of mock surprise, "I didn't know you still had time to get yourself a—"

"Lawyer," Yako cut in before her friend could finish.

"What?"

"He's my lawyer," repeated Yako.

"Seriously?" Kanae took a closer examination of Neuro, who was now standing there with an innocent face, one so innocent, that had it not defied the basic laws of the earth, sparkles would be floating around him. "Chose a young one, didn't you?"

"Yeah, and he's—"

"Do not worry, Miss Yako's friend!" Neuro cut in, practically pushing Yako right out of the conversation, "Age is just a number; experience can come from more than just that!"

"Ah, no, no, you misunderstood me," Kanae said waving her hands in front of her, "I just meant that you seemed younger than most!" Then, scooting closer to Yako, giving her a sly look, she whispered, "I don't care what you call him, you did pretty good."

"W-what?!" Yako spluttered, "Kanae!"

For the rest of the way, Kanae stayed with them until they reached Professor Harukawa's research lab area. Or, at least an area that led to that area. When Yako entered the room, the professor's 3 assistants were working away, but he himself was no where to be seen. "Professor Harukawa?"

"Shh!" the female assistant motioned for her to come closer.

Taking the hint, Yako whispered, "Where's the professor?"

"He's in there," she pointed to the door leading to the basement; Harukawa's lab.

Kanae rolled her eyes, "Again?"

"Yup, he's been in there since this morning."

"What did I tell you!" Kanae said to Yako with slight triumph.

All three assistants shushed her. "What are you here for?" one of the male assistants asked.

"W-well, the professor told me to come gets some work, so I…"

"Right, right," the female assistant went to drawer and pulled out a stack of papers 3 inches thick, each one criss-crossed with tiny words, "The professor left this for you."

Yako's gaped openly,"All of it?!"

"Shh!"

"That's what the professor said."

Kanae laughed evilly, "Have fun, Yako."

--x--x--x--x--x--

"I hate the professor so much right now," a peeved Yako grumbled as she waved goodbye to Kanae.

"Even such a small amount of simple work makes you complain?" Neuro asked, with genuine surprise.

"Small?!" Yako burst out and shoved the pile into his face, showing him the tiny black font, "You call this a small amount?!"

"Yes."

"Ugh," she drooped her head, "It's pointless trying to talk to you." The campus was now fairly empty, since most of the students had already gone to class or lecture, with only a few stragglers running for their lives with half-tied shoes and bed heads. Ah yes, how Yako missed running for her life to a lecture with tossed on clothes and shoes slipping off. "And I'll do it again," she firmly told herself, "Well, maybe I won't be late next time." Even the train station was fairly empty, save for moderate sized line in front of the ticket booth. One that wouldn't take hours, but even so, Yako would have preferred that all the people she had to wait behind suddenly remember that they had something else to do and run somewhere else.

"Oi, Yako," when she turned around, Yako saw Sasazuka, still with the same dead-pan expression he always had on. Only this time, he had that young man, Jun she believed, tagging along like a puppy trotting after its owner. Slightly strange, considering that it was a grown man.

"Err, hey, Mr. Sasazuka," Yako said half-heartedly, still staring at the puppy look Jun was giving Sasazuka.

Sasazuka noticed the look, and gave Jun a whack in the face. "So what exactly brings you here?"

The girl groaned and showed Sasazuka the pile of papers. "You?"

"There was a theft case in a house not far from here, so we came to check it out," he drew from hi cigarette.

"That's right!" Jun piped, "So don't you try anything fun—" Thwack. "Ow!" he covered his nose. From behind Yako, Neuro gave Jun a small glare.

"Ignore him," said Sasazuka.

"Oh, don't worry, I will," Yako replied very cheerfully, almost a bit too cheerfully.

"Hey!" Once again, Jun was cut off, this time, by the ringing of Yako's cellphone.

The voice that was on was the one that Neuro had expected; Shirota. "Katsuragi!" he half-shouted anxiously. It was pretty loud, loud enough at least that Yako held the phone away from her ear and could still hear him. "I admit it! I-I admit it!" Shirota said shakily, "The reason I went to your father's apartment that night wasn't because of noise, it was because I saw someone coming out!"

The four people (for Jun was quite curious) huddled close to the phone stood rigid for a second, absorbing the news. Well, except for Neuro, who just stood there with a smug smirk on his face. The first person to move was Sasazuka. He appeared to have snapped, his face slightly red, and mouth drawn in an angry frown, for most people it would've appeared to be merely annoyed, for Sasazuka, it meant he was beyond furious. "What?!" he yelled into the phone, "Why the hell didn't you tell people that earlier?!" Shirota gave a short gasp of surprise and then hung up. Sasazuka blinked, but then his face returned to it's normal dead-pan way, "Sorry. Yako. I might've scared him off."

"No, no, it's fine," Yako said dismissively.

"Miss Yako is quite right!" Neuro chirped, playing his nice guy role to the fullest, "Now that Mr. Shirota has snapped to a point that he would confess, we can simply just pay him a visit."

Sasazuka nodded, "Hang on," and then ran to the front of the line. A few people murmured a few complaints, but the ticket holder handed him a few tickets once he showed her his badge and told her that he was supposedly 'in a hurry to get to the next crime scene, or else the criminal will get away'. When he returned, the tickets were for about 20 minutes later. "Sorry, the tickets for the next train were already sold out, this was the best I could get."

"20 minutes is fine, Mr. Sasazuka."

"Now, I have to go, because I really do have another crime scene I need to get to," he gave a wave and started to walk away. Jun trailed behind until Sasazuka asked, "What are you doing?"

"Following you to the next crime scene, sir!"

"Yeah," he handed Jun another ticket, "You're going to a different one, remember what Usui said?"

"Who cares what that guy says! I want to—wah! Come back!" But Mr. Sasazuka was already walking away.

--x--x--x--x--x--

"You knew that was going to happen," Yako said to Neuro as they waited for the train.

"Hmm," was his short reply. He seemed to be more interested in the people going on the first train heading back.

"So why couldn't you just force it out of him in the first place?"

"You really are a simpleton, aren't you cockroach? Think about it, I made him think that we had him as a prime suspect, and that we had some 'evidence' for it. That's what made him confess, his fear that he was going to be the one jailed. If I just went and kept asking him, what do you think he would've thought?"

After a pause, Yako answered, "He would've seen through the trick, and realize that he wasn't our prime suspect because we asked him too much."

"Precisely! It may take longer, but the method of using his imagination against him is more surefire," Neuro stood picked Yako up by the scruff of her shirt, "Now come, I believe the train is here."

--x--x--x--x--x--

The train seemed to move slowly, much too slowly, for Yako's needs. She was much too excited. Finally, there was a solid evidence for her case, a witness that could testify. Grudgingly, Yako told herself that she would have to thank Neuro. Neuro. The same guy who had been terrorizing her for the nearly the whole of the past week. The same guy who didn't need any more ego boosts. Pure joy.

When the train finally came to a halt, Yako burst from her seat and practically ran out, bumping into several other passengers in the process, but she ignored everything. Neuro walked along not far behind. The train station was only a few minutes run away from her apartment complex, a fact that Yako was fully grateful for then. She collided with more people on her way, even with a middle aged woman who cleaned for both apartment complexes as she ran up the stairs. "In a hurry aren't you?" the woman commented.

Surprisingly, Neuro was only a few steps behind her, despite the fact that he was walking, not running. They were there now, in front of Shirota's door. Yako knocked.

No answer.

She knocked again, louder.

Stillness.

"This is too familiar," Yako thought nervously, "It can't be, not again."

Neuro pushed her aside and turned the doorknob, it was locked. So instead, he kneeled down and did something to the lock, and before long, the door was unlocked. When the door opened, there was still silence. "Mr. Shirota!?"

No answer.

The house was very still. "Perhaps no one is home," she told herself, "Yes, that's it." One door was closed, the door leading to Shirota's room. "The house is empty." Yako opened the door. A feeling of numbness came over Yako once again. It was replay of that night again.

A sea of blood, dying the walls red. Trails of the liquid were streaming down the walls, some darker already. Some dried already. The room was messy, something that Yako knew was unnatural for a someone that fastidious. They were signs of struggle. And once again, Yako saw it. A scream began to work it's way up her throat, but froze before it came out. Neuro surveyed the whole room coolly. Just how, Yako did not know. Kitchen knives were used once again, this time, his own. And just like last time, there was a body lying in the sea of red. The only difference was, this time, the body wasn't her fathers. The body belonged to someone that she wished dead several times. But, not anymore.

The body was Shirota's.

--x--x--x--x--x--

A/N: So, why did this chapter take so long? Well…I was drawing, and the drawing still isn't done! Hahaha…ha. Sorry.