A/N: If anyone cares, the next few chapters should come faster since I actually really want to write them…but this one? Nar, not really.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or this series, if I did, I would…actually, I wouldn't change a thing.
--Chapter 8: Interlude--
The clock ticked on monotonously, not helping at all to help Yako's boredom. As dozens more ticks sounded, she had to wonder: Did this guy ever shut up?
"—and just what were you doing at Shirota's apartment anyways? You could've easily slipped in, killed him, and called the police to throw the suspicion of yourself," the rude police officer from the other day (Usui) rambled on, "You had no reason did you? It was simply the will to kill him that—"
"Look," Yako said, finally sick enough of Usui's never-ending accusations to cut him off, "I went over to Shirota's apartment because he had told me on the phone that he did see someone leaving my father's room, but then he hung up. The only reason I even went there was so that I could convince him to act as a witness for the trial, that's it. If you ask my lawyer, he'll tell you the same thing since he was with me the whole time."
"Where exactly is that lawyer you speak of?"
Yako bit her lip uncomfortably, where was Neuro? Ever since the yesterday (when they had discovered the body), she hadn't seen him. It was actually a bit of a shock to Yako when Neuro hadn't appeared in her room to somehow find a way to both wake her up (with a painful method) and simultaneously harass her. Somehow or another, Yako was now categorizing 'Neuro's harassment' and 'normalcy' more or less the same. "Sometimes, I think I might've become a masochist."
Usui smirked slightly and crossed his arms, "Well," he said as though he was expecting nothing good, "Where is he?"
'Gulp' went Yako's throat. "Err, I haven't seen him today." Her heart twanged: What if he didn't come tomorrow either? What if she would have to stand trial without him? She had no idea what he was thinking; she would be convicted for sure!
"Do you contact number?"
"No." This was bad.
"Address?"
"No." Really bad.
"How about an email?"
"…no," she said ruefully. With each 'no' as an answer, Yako felt that gut instinct in her stomach yell, 'I told you so!' louder and louder.
The officer sitting across from Yako rolled her eyes while Usui leaned into his chair with a smug expression. His not saying anything made Yako believe that he was actually giving himself a mental pat on the back. "One day, I will hurt that guy."
--x--x--x--x--x--
Where was Neuro exactly? Why, he was standing in front of a normal looking house, in a normal looking neighborhood. There were normal looking trees and plants, and normal looking people walking their normal looking dogs. Yes, it was just a normal looking place. Did he live here? Ha! Heck no. He was merely visiting.
When the door opened, there was a pleasant looking woman with a baby cradled in her arms, crying. "Shh, shh, it's alright," the woman crooned gently, "There's no need to cry." Soon, two more children ran up and tugged the apparent mother's shirt.
"Mommy! Big brother just hit me again!" the shorter girl whined.
"I did not!" protested the slightly older looking boy, "I was just trying to get her attention!"
"Now, now, no fighting. Apologize to you sister," the mother added, continuing to rock the small baby.
"But mom!"
"Haha! You're in trouble now!"
"WAAAAH!!"
Soon enough, the entire house seemed to be deluged in sound. The two siblings bickered, the mother tried to speak over the noise, and the baby topped it all off with a shaking cry. As for Neuro, he just there with his goody-two-shoes smile plastered on, observing the scene with apparent amusement.
Finally, the woman snapped. "SHUT UP!" she shouted, her face twisted into something resembling a rabid dog. All talking stopped mid-sentence; even the baby froze with his mouth open in an 'o' shape.
"Yes, ma'am," the siblings muttered before disappearing into their house.
The mother growled quietly, the wild look still on her face. Suddenly, the baby began to cry again. This seemed to turn the mother back into the quiet woman she was before, and she began to rock the baby once again. "I am so sorry," she said sheepishly, "Kids can just be so hard to handle. Shh, shh, don't cry."
"That's quite alright," Neuro replied brightly, "It is probably rude of me to intrude with such little notice."
"No, no, it's fine, it's fine," the women waved a hand of dismissal, "After all, this is rather important if it can help someone be proven innocent. So, what is it that you need to ask me?"
--x--x--x--x--x--
"So there is absolutely no one currently that can give evidence to support your reason for going over that day?"
The 'superior' expression on Usui's face was enough to make mental Yako chuck a brick between his legs. "No," she grinded out.
A smirk, "I knew it."
"No," Yako said, a little more calmly, "I meant 'no' as in your statement was wrong. Mr. Sasazuka was there and he heard the phone call. Just go ask him, and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to tell you what he heard."
That, Yako noted happily, took some of the wind from his overblown sail. But, Usui regained composure within seconds, "Fair enough, I will ask him later. Now, about what Shirota said—" All three occupants in the room turned around when the door opened, letting in the outside world and all it's noise. Ah, it's wonderful noise. Much better than having to hear that Usui guy give you annoying digs.
"Mr. Usui," Tsukushi, the…big (as in muscular and tall, not fat or anything) police officer from the other day, seemed to be pulling something/someone who was struggling closer to the doorframe, "We caught him."
"Let me go!"
Yako's twitched, that voice couldn't be who she thought it was…right?
"Aha!" Usui bolted up, "We finally caught you," Tsukushi managed to drag whoever it was into view, "Hacker that messed up the police website."
Oh, it was. "It was just a joke!" Higuchi protested, trying to wrench himself away from Tsukushi's hold on his shirt collar.
For the first time, Yako saw Usui turn red. "Joke?! You call it a joke that you put me in a panda suit on my webpage?!"
"I thought it was fitting!" Higuchi retorted, and secretly, Yako thanked him for putting Usui in a panda suit.
"And then the investigation department being turned into a fudoshi shop?!"
"It was April Fool's Day! Give me a break!"
Usui would hear no more, "Take him away Tsukushi!"
"No! Wait!" he caught sight of Yako, "Katsuragi! Help me! Help me!" Higuchi's screams continued to reverberate down the halls even after he had been dragged around the corner.
Jun, who was walking by, stopped and pointed at the direction Higuchi had gone. "Is that the guy that made me the fudoshi sommelier?!" Without waiting for an answer, he sped off after them, "VENGEANCE!!"
Yako put her face into her hands in dismay, what scene he had caused. "So," Usui said to her with an air of disgust, "You actually know another criminal."
"Just. Barely," Yako grumbled. Higuchi, Higuchi, why did you have to show up?
"I'm not surprised," Usui said in a condescending tone, "Trash will always attract more trash, no? They can't help but sympathize with others who commit crimes."
Yako could've swore at him and gave him a nicely aimed kick, but he had a gun, not to mention handcuffs and the right to jail her for assault. Instead, Yako bit her lip to prevent herself from saying things she would've later regretted, and settled for imagining Usui in her mind, begging for mercy. And then Neuro popped up, for once torturing someone that wasn't her. Yes, Usui could scream for rescue, but it was her imagination, and there was not escape from—
"Are you even listening anymore?" he said, cutting her off from her nice vision.
"Silence is the best right now," Yako thought, "Don't say anything."
Usui scoffed, then gave her a look of pure arrogance, "No point in trying to talk to someone so obviously a criminal, there's just no use," he turned, "You're dismissed, I'll visit you a few in jail. Maybe."
The female police officer soon left the room as well. Once Yako was sure they had turned the corner, she swore several times under her breath and stuck up her finger for good measure. That definitely could've gone better. Especially if Higuchi hadn't went and told them that he was acquainted with her.
--x--x--x--x--x--
"What a large house," Neuro commented to himself as he stood at the doorstep of a 3 story, 42 room, mansion, "Much too showy." It actually took a lot for a man who wore clothes as bright he did to say that. To a normal person, the first reaction may be that it was a huge decoration in the shape of a house, instead of a house adorned with decorations. There were more marble pillars and ebony windows with stain-glass tops covering the walls of the mansion than there were rooms. The owners had obviously tried to make it look classy; instead, it resembled more a jumbled mess.
A butler opened the door. "Hello," Neuro said with his best nice-guy face to the aged man, "I am here to see the owners of this grand home about that party they had awhile ago."
"Are you expected?" the butler asked.
"I believe so."
"Please enter, they are in the parlor."
--x--x--x--x--x--
"Err, I'm sorry, Katsuragi," Higuchi said nervously as he glanced over at the girl glowering at the ground, "I didn't think it would make things worse for you…"
Yako tossed him a glare that had made his hair stand straight up, it was frightening enough to quall even yakuza bosses. "Neuro hasn't been a good influence." When Higuchi had finally been released from the room he was being questioned in, Yako had already been waiting right outside. The moment he spotted her, he tried to wave, but she immediately shot him a look that said, "I'll hurt you." Ever since then, she had been following closely behind him, stonily staring at his back as if to imprint a death sentence on it. Using the little bit of nerve he still had, Higuchi asked, "Why don't I make it up to you? I-I'll treat to you whatever you want to eat…"
For the first time, the death-glares eased a bit, "Anything?" Yako asked.
Relieved to have finally been unburdened of the hateful aura, Higuchi nodded fervently.
--x--x--x--x--x--
"Mr. Usui," Torodoki, the female officer said, "That Katsuragi girl, did she really kill her father?"
"We'll see," Usui replied, engrossed in the files laid before him.
"Do you think she did it?"
Usui paused for a moment before answering, "No matter how much the evidence is against her, and how likely she seems to have done it, I think I will still be rather surprised if she is convicted."
--x--x--x--x--x--
Needless to say, Higuchi rued his words about treating Yako to a meal nearly the instant they arrived at the restaurant. It was quiet expensive, but he didn't mind much at first, after all, hacking did get you quite a bit of money, especially if you were good at it. But then, she ordered everything on the menu…with triple helpings of everything. It became a spectacle for everyone else at the restaurant as they watched nearly all the waiters tripping over each other, trying to deliver plates after plates of food to one table. The strange thing was, (to the other guests watching anyways) as fast as the food arrived, Yako finished it, often even faster. Higuchi himself was doing a quaint little spasm dance, with half chewed food choking him in his throat. Never did he think she could eat that much. Even the chefs, all fourteen of them, had trouble keeping up with Yako's appetite.
Only one thought crossed through Higuchi the entire time he watched, "No mercy at all."
Finally, after what seemed like hours, and it was probably on one at most, Yako patted her mouth clean and set down her fork and knife. He sighed; it was at long last over. Many people were now crowded around good viewpoints, some not even here to eat. Other guests had eaten very slowly so that they could've stayed longer to watch Yako pile her weight in food down her stomach. Their food was cold now.
"Well," Higuchi said nervously, "I guess it's time to ask for the bill." He was not anticipating seeing the amount he would need to pay.
A waiter walk towards them, and just as Higuchi was about to ask for the check, the waiter said in a slightly frightened tone, "Th-the d-d-dessert m-menu, m-miss."
"Oh, good!" Yako pumped her hands in the air, "I love dessert."
Higuchi's heart sank. "Impossible," he muttered, his entire mind now in stupor, "You still have room?"
"Oh, I have more than enough," Yako said ominously, and then, right on cue, her stomach growled for more food, "Much more than enough."
There was silence, except for the breathing sounds of the hyperventilating waiter. Then, someone broke the silence. It was guest, who was in the act of putting a piece of steak into her mouth, but was now frozen and had dropped it. "Yokai."
Another guest whispered quietly to his wife, "I bet she might even eat humans if we don't feed her."
The spectators (now around 100) all held their breath, waiting to hear what Yako would order. It was almost like a show-down between two cowboys in those Wild West shows, except it was a glaring contest, with the male practically cowering before the girl.
Yako finally uttered the words, "Every dessert on the menu," the crowds gasped, "And double it." Higuchi thought he would pass out.
--x--x--x--x--x--
Andrew Sixson sighed as he reclined deeper into his sofa. What a trial it had been today. A guy who killed because he thought people weren't 'one with the furniture' enough. Wacko's like that guy made him seriously consider finding a more…normal job. Funny though, most people might think that being a judge was considered 'normal'. "Time to take another look at tomorrow's case," he thought to himself.
He opened the folder, and a picture of an average looking girl with short, blonde hair beamed at him. Andrew shook his head: Could this girl really have killed? Well, considering all the crazy people in the world, the smiling visage might all be a cover-up for all he knew. Though, the brutality of the murder seemed a bit over the top…
"No!"he though firmly, "I must judge carefully, no matter how innocent the girl may look." Andrew tossed away the folder and buried his face in his hands. It really was difficult at times to be a judge; a person's life was practically dangling on a string in front of you daily. And then, you had a choice: to cut the string and let the person's life plummet, or pull them back up. What if it was the wrong choice though? What if the person was innocent; and he had just condemned them to a life of despair? Or what if they were guilty, and yet he had set them free…
It wasn't going to be an effortless decision, but he would just have to make the best one he could. After all, Andrew did not want a repeat of what had happened a few years ago…
--x--x--x--x--x--
Neuro left the mansion with a satisfied smirk on his face. It had been rather problematic, trying to get the couple to testify for a trial. Upper-class arrogance was always causing trouble, though once he had drilled it through their thick skulls (that had more mass than their brain) that testifying might get them into the newspapers headlines as part of the reason an innocent girl was miraculously proven not guilty, the couple caved in quite quickly. Those types of minds weren't hard to manipulate. He hadn't been able to 'play' a bit with Yako today, something he found just a little disappointing. Neuro shrugged, oh well, he would give her a double dose tomorrow, the cockroach at least owed him that much…
--x--x--x--x--x--
When Yako and Higuchi at long last left the restaurant, Higuchi was down to 200 yen for funding. In other words, nearly dead broke. The spectators gave them a hearty goodbye as well as applause.
The one slightly good thing that came out of his near-bankruptness? Yako didn't seem mad at him anymore. Hooray. "Well," he thought, trying to make the silver lining as thick as possible, "At least she seems happy."
Happy. Indeed Yako was that, plus at ease. A truly full stomach always did give her a warm feeling. And most of all, Yako wasn't nervous about the trial anymore. Somehow, she felt almost certain it would all end up right. A taxi stopped for her to get in. Higuchi had decided to walk home.
"See ya, Katsuragi," he waved slightly, with a depressed look on his face.
"Bye, Mr. Higuchi, and thanks for the meal! I'll pay you back someday!"
Just a trace of a smile crept onto his face, "Sure, sure."
The taxi started moving again, and Yako leaned back.
Yes, it would be alright.
--x--x--x--x--x--
A/N: And will it be okay? Just who killed who? It'll be over soon, I swear.