XIII

Naoto must have been even more worn-out than she had thought. She woke up the next day to see it was well past 10 a.m. The space next to her in bed was empty. She got up too quickly, winced at the pain in her side. She looked down to see blood already starting to seep through the bandages. She should change those first. Naoto made her way over to the small bathroom that was attached to her bedroom. She took a new pack of bandaging out of her first aid kit, as well as a painkiller to cull the headache that had started behind her temples.

Finally opening the door to her living room, Naoto was greeted by the smell of coffee she had been reminiscing about only a few hours before. Rise was sitting at the dining room table, reading something on her phone. Naoto hoped it wasn't about Ide or Oba, but she knew it probably was. Rise looked up when she heard Naoto.

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. How are you?" Naoto answered. Rise looked at her suspiciously for a moment, as if she already knew that Naoto's side still hurt.

"Okay, I guess. I can't really believe all of this is happening."

"Yeah." Naoto didn't know what else to say.

"I, uh, I made some coffee. Let me get you a cup," Rise got up from her seat and disappeared into the kitchen for a few seconds, "I was going to make eggs or something but then I realized that I didn't really know how long you'd be sleeping." She sounded nervous as she handed Naoto her cup. She didn't sit back down, leaving both of them standing in the middle of the living room.

"Thanks. I don't have any eggs anyway." She offered Rise a smile she hoped was reassuring.

"Good. Because I don't really know how to make eggs."

"Still?" Naoto couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, still." Rise joined her for a few moments. After that, they both quietly drank their coffee.

"Sorry, I was harsh on you last night." Rise finally broke the silence.

"It's alright." Naoto offered.

"I think… I don't know. I think I wanted to try and get you angry or something, so you'd tell me what you were feeling. It was a dumb idea. Especially after everything that happened."

"It's alright." Naoto repeated. Rise let out a sad laugh at the short response. Same old Naoto, she could almost hear her think.

"I wasn't lying though, yesterday," Naoto chose her words slowly as she went to put her mug down, "When I said I wasn't better off without you."

"It's okay, Naoto. You don't have t-"

"I've missed you. A lot," Naoto continued, "And then I tried to make myself miss you less. And I made myself believe it. But I think… I think the reason why I haven't come to see you before is because I knew it would prove… everything."

"Naoto, I… ." Rise had set her cup back down on the table, her hand grabbing Naoto's.

"I'm done pretending, Rise. I miss you." Naoto took a step closer to her.

"I'm still the girl who wasn't there when you needed me. When your grandfa-"

"You're also the girl who was always there before. When we were inside the TV, when I was still learning how to be in love, when we came to this city. All of that matters just as much." They locked eyes and Naoto saw the hint of tears growing in Rise's.

"You mean it?" Rise asked as she looked away to the floor. Naoto's hand was on the side of her face then, fingers in her hair, forcing her to look into blue eyes again. Naoto didn't have to say she meant it. Instead, she pressed her lips against Rise's.

Rise melted into the kiss deeper. She placed a hand over Naoto's briefly, before lowering both of her arms to the other girl's waist. She pulled her body closer to the other's as Naoto's hands tangled further into her hair.

It was familiar, Naoto thought, but at the same time it was different than it had been years before. Rise's touch felt less confident, less demanding. Having finally admitted her feelings, though, Naoto wasn't afraid to take what she wanted this time. She moved Rise three steps backward, until her back was against the wall. Naoto finally moved her hands away from her hair, placing them at the small of Rise's back, pulling their hips together. She lifted Rise's shirt enough to run her thumb over the bare skin of her back. Rise let out a small sigh, briefly biting Naoto's bottom lip before breaking off the kiss. She stood there, staring into Naoto's eyes for a while, Naoto looking back, before she took the detective by the hand to lead her back into the bedroom.

When Naoto woke up for the second time that day, the space next to her was still occupied. She reached out a hand to quickly stop her cellphone's ringing, answering it in hushed tones. She could see that Rise was already starting to wake up as well. Naoto got up anyway, walking to her bathroom on bare feet. She closed the door behind her before she spoke in her usual volume.

"Sorry. You were saying?"

"It's Ikehara. Hatsua Ikehara. We've met once before, I'm not sure if y-"

"I remember." Naoto confirmed. She'd met the woman at the police station a few months earlier.

"Right. I'm taking over for Matsuura for a while, until he gets back on his feet. He told me you've been assisting him on the Fury case."

"That is correct."

"He also told me Ms. Kujikawa was staying at your apartment for now," Naoto made a short noise of confirmation, "Okay. Well, I have information that might interest you both."

"Is it about the blood on the glove?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"It's a match to Toda's. We also found a few of his hairs in the closet. He must have been hiding in there." Naoto had been so tired she hadn't even wondered how the suspect had gotten into Rise's room unnoticed.

"Oh."

"It's more than enough to go on. So I got a warrant out for his arrest."

"Did you find him?"

The other end of the line was silent for a moment.

"No. Sorry. I have most of my people out looking for him right now. We'll find him." The mask Toda had worn when he'd attacked Rise was suddenly clearly visible in Naoto's mind. An uneasy feeling made its way down her spine.

"Good. Will you call me if you find him?"

"Of course. You'll tell Ms. Kujikawa about this?"

"I will."

Naoto ended the conversation before throwing some cold water in her face. There was conclusive evidence that Toda had attacked them last night. Considering his link to the other victims, it seemed more than logical to assume he was behind everything. And he was still free. She hoped that the police would find him quickly, to set Rise's mind at ease at least.

Naoto opened the door to her bedroom to see Rise quickly bound away. The actress sat down on the side of the bed staring at her fingernails as if she hadn't just been listening at the door. Naoto took the few steps between them and sat down next to her.

"You heard?"

"Sorta. Was it…?"

"Evidence points to Toda, yes."

"Did they find him?"

"No. Not yet." Naoto saw how worry instantly flooded over every inch of Rise's face. She grabbed Rise's hand then, locking their fingers together, and the worry lessened.

XIV

Even though her guest had kept her plenty distracted, Naoto didn't feel comfortable just sitting around waiting for Toda to be caught. She set her mind to help the police gather evidence to link each crime to Toda, in hopes that the legal procedure would be quick. The faster Toda was convicted, the less time the media would have to dig around and share details about the lives and deaths of Rise's friends that would make it even harder for her to get some sense of closure.

Naoto had brought her casefiles home from the office. Rise was still expected to be under police protection and this way Naoto could keep her company. So she doesn't go stir-crazy again, Naoto told herself. Though if she was being honest, she'd admit it was because now that she was finally kissing Rise again, it seemed like it would be impossible to stop.

She'd tried to keep Rise away from the files at first, but the former idol was always peeking over her shoulder. Naoto'd seen that coming, so she had left all the photographic evidence at the office. Even if Rise insisted on helping out, she didn't have to see that.

"Your humble sidekick brings you an offering of tea." Rise surprised Naoto the next morning. The detective had woken up early and assumed Rise would still be asleep for quite some time. She'd settled at her desk, reviewing the same reports for the tenth time that week. She was trying to create a timeline, when each murder had been planned and executed, before the voice startled her. She turned around to see Rise carrying two mugs. Rise had found Naoto's old blue cap the day before. Now she was wearing it on top of her still messy hair, and she was not wearing much else. Naoto managed to keep from blushing at the sight of Rise's underwear, but she could already feel her ears turning bright red.

"Maybe my humble sidekick should put on some pants before she starts with her duties."

"I can perform my duties just fine, thank you very much," She placed Naoto's cup down in front of her and then placed a kiss on her lips, "Anything new yet?"

Naoto had been left flustered enough that it took her a full ten seconds before she realized Rise was asking about the investigation.

"Actually, yes. Ikehara sent me an email. They've finally been able to speak with Oba's girlfriend."

"Tomoko? Is she okay?"

"Yes. She's home from the hospital already. Do you know her well?"

"No, not really. But she seems really nice."

"I was thinking I would go speak to her today. See if she remembers anything about that night. Maybe she can identify Toda; she could be a really useful witness."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"I don't think the officers outside my front door will let you."

Rise made a grumpy noise. She lowered the cap down over her eyes like Naoto used to. She tried to mimic how Naoto had sounded when they first met.

"Surely, there must be some task that might require my vast talents."

"There is." Naoto said before lifting the cap off of Rise's head and placing it on her own.

"There is?"

"You," Naoto gestured at her telephone, "get to call Kanji."

Rise's eyes went wide.

"To tell him about the case?"

"Well, yes. And to tell him about us."

"So, there's… an 'us' again?" Naoto nodded and before she knew what was happening Rise had grabbed her by the shirt, pulling her in for a long kiss. The motion had sent her cap falling to the ground.

"I should probably go soon." She said before continuing with the kiss. It was Rise who finally pulled back, hands still holding Naoto's collar.

"Do I get to call the others too?"

"Call whoever you want. But really, call Kanji first. If he finds out he wasn't the first to know I'll never hear the end of it."

Naoto got ready to leave. Just as she was walking out the door, she could see Rise studying the timeline.

It was already getting dark when Naoto was driving back home that night. She had stayed out way longer than she'd expected. Oba's girlfriend, Ichikawa Tomoko, had presented her with an intriguing new piece to her puzzle. The girl had been suspicious of her at first, but had let her into her apartment after only a brief introduction.

"You're still looking into Kenji's death?" She was sitting on her couch, Naoto seated in a chair across from her. Naoto made a mental note of the surroundings, the curtains were closed, all the light in the space came from a single desk lamp.

"I'm trying to figure out what happened exactly, yes. I was hoping you might remember something from that night. Any details would be a great help."

"I don't really… remember anything. They say I was drugged but I don't know when or how."

"That's alright. What do you remember from before that?"

"I uh… I don't know. Me and Kenji were at the party and I was drinking and sort of lost track of him for a bit. I remember talking to this other guy, but I… I can't remember who. I think I sorta knew him. I must have, right. I think I knew everyone there except for the cop that Rise brought. Anyway, after that, it gets a bit blurry. I don't know, maybe I was already drugged by then? Or maybe I was just drunk? I vaguely recall walking up the stairs-"

"Was Kenji with you then?"

"I don't think so. I think he came up later or he was already there."

"And then?"

"That's… that's it. After that I woke up in the hospital and they told me Kenji's dead."

"Thank you, Ms. Ichikawa, I'm sure there's something here we can u-"

"He's not dead, detective." The girl interrupted Naoto.

"Pardon?"

"I don't think Kenji's dead." She said it with a certainty that made Naoto feel uneasy, she'd seen the burning body with her own eyes after all.

"Why do you think that?"

"He… ," the girl seemed to hesitate for a moment, "Look, I know I should have told the police about this when it happened. But I'd only just gotten back home and I was still trying to wrap my head around everything." She spoke as she reached out to the laptop sitting on the table between them.

"That's alright. Do you want to tell me now?"

"When I got home this morning I uh… ," she opened the laptop's disc drive and took out a disc, "I found this in the mail. It's from Kenji."

"Can I see it?"

"Yeah. I guess you should." She slid the laptop towards Naoto. Naoto paused.

"I don't have to watch it here, I could take it back to the station."

"Could you… I dunno, could you watch it here and then, like, you can tell the police about it. I… He meant it for me, I don't want everyone to see."

"Of course." She put the disc back into the drive, a video started playing almost instantly. It showed Kenji, behind the wheel of a moving car, he must have filmed it with his cellphone stuck in a holder against the windshield.

"Tomoko, honey, I'm so sorry," he sounded distressed, scared and on the verge of crying, "I had to do it, babe. He would have… he would have come for me next. I had to run. Izanagi, he's… I don't know. He's stronger than any of us, I didn't see it before. He'd planned it like this, Tomo. It was all planned like this and I just went along with it. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm safe. Don't look for me." After that the image went to black.

After convincing Ichikawa that the video might be important to the investigation, Naoto took it to the lab. There, they told her that this particular disc was in fact created after Oba's death, but that that didn't necessarily mean that the video on the disc was just as recent. There was really no way of telling when it had been recorded.

Naoto brought her new evidence to Ikehara. The temporary chief of police didn't seem too perturbed by the news, but promised to look into it. Naoto still felt compelled to follow through, though, and called the coroner. Dr. Ozawa had been fired after police found out he had been bought off on Seki's autopsy. The new coroner, Dr. Kawata, spoke with a calm and astute tone that Naoto immediately appreciated.

"I was wondering if I could ask you some questions on your examination of Oba Kenji."

"Hm. Well, you can ask me. I can't give you many answers yet though, I'm afraid."

"Can you tell me what you do know for certain, then?"

"The cause of death. But I assume you would have already come to that conclusion on your own."

"Yes, I'm not really asking about that."

"Mind steering me in the right direction then?

"I was wondering if… if you had a clear identification on the body yet." There was a silence on Dr. Kawata's end of the line for a moment.

"Short answer, no."

"Do you have a longer answer?"

"Yes, I was actually planning on bringing this up with Ikehara later. I suppose there's no harm in telling you. Basically, the body is impossible to identify with any level of certainty we would find acceptable. Identifying bodies with this degree of burn damage is already challenging. This case, however… We couldn't find any dental records of Mr. Oba to compare to the body's. They didn't match any others we have on file either, but it's a sloppy system that looks for those matches at best. And other than the teeth, there's nothing really left. I can say for certain that the body's dimensions match those that we have on file for Oba. Roughly the same height. The weight, adjusted for the damages of course, seems to match up decently as well. Then, given the manner in which the body was discovered… I'd say it's probably Oba, but I will not be putting it in the report as a 100% match."

The conversation had not given Naoto the closure she had hoped for, but there was not much she could do with the information. She considered digging deeper. If Oba was indeed still alive, it would complicate the case quite a bit. But the time she would need to spend on finding him would take her away from gathering evidence against Toda. Toda was the most logical suspect here. And as much as she wanted to follow through on a more complex path, everyone else around her pressed on with the belief that Oba was dead. Think horse, not zebra, Naoto reminded herself one more time as she pulled into her parking space.

Still, her mind kept thinking about the zebra the rest of the night. Rise had noticed the detective was going through her trademark thought process during dinner. She'd offered to watch a movie in the bedroom so Naoto could work, but the detective insisted they'd watch one together. Naoto didn't register much of it, however, as infinite different possibilities flashed through her mind. Oba faked his own death, but then who was burned alive? Did Toda force him to make that tape, to get people of his trail? Why did Oba mention Izanagi?

"Rise-san?" The actress tore her gaze away from the screen.

"In the Fury movies, is there a character linked to Izanagi?" Rise poked Naoto in the ribs softly.

"Where you thinking about Souji?" Naoto caught her fingers.

"No. I was just wondering about the case."

"Right. Uhm, well… ," Rise thought for a moment, "There wasn't really anyone linked to any other kami except for the four furies. Izanagi does appear though. The first two movies just mention him briefly as the Great God. But then in Apocalypse he shows up at the end, when Ide's character died her eight dead, and he takes her with him to rule beside him."

"Who was the actor that played him?"

"No one. That was all done by CGI. We had to talk to a tennis ball on a stick." Rise said as her gaze was pulled back to the television screen, the main character just got shot. Naoto waited for the clamor to calm down a bit before asking her final question that night.

"Did Kenji have a stunt double?"

"Yeah, of course. We all did."