MISPER

Ready

''What do we do now, boss?'' Misaki asked Natsume as they were all standing in the bigger office of the police station, where they had meetings and discussed cases. She was in front of a board with photos and clues written on it, thinking hard of a solution. Natsume and Tsubasa were sitting on the table behind, deep in thought, while the other men were standing behind, taking notes.

''We know it's Persona. We have enough for him to get a life sentence. But…''

Natsume nodded. ''We have no clues of where he is now and where he's taking the women… So we found several bodies of women on different locations. The photos in his flat were a big help and that map.'' Since they had found Persona's flat, the police had had much to do. They composed several research groups that studied the photos and maps and predicted where female bodies could be.

They had found several ones.

There were burned corpses, buried under the ground in forests outside the city. It was a huge area and they had already send other groups to search for more. They had seven skeletons in their autopsy. And the last results showed that these females gave birth to babies before they died. They had died a horrible death. For one, their faces were smashed, several bones broken, and their lower part cut apart. After Persona, and maybe someone else, too, handled that, they burned them.

Where the babies were, no one knew.

And why in the world would someone do something like that to young mothers, Natsume had no idea. It was so disgusting that even he had a hard time to think about it. The other day, they were all having a look at the skeletons, the doctor explaining to them what supposedly happened to these women.

''Broken jaw and nose – most probably caused by a stick; also broken fingers – most probably because she tried to defend herself; and then the most interesting part…'' the doctor explained, moving around the illuminated table with the skeleton. Inspector Natsume, Misaki and Tsubasa followed. They had been in the autopsy, getting the real picture of what had happened to these people.

''You see this area stomach, uterus, and vagina. I'm guessing but… While she was giving birth, he must have pushed something in, in order to open her up more. It was most probably a small stick, and it injured her pubic hole. This caused a lot of pain, of which she most probably fainted and would eventually die if he or them had not beat her up and burned her body.'' Doctor Serina Yamada explained coolly, without looking up from the skeleton. She glanced at other skeletons and sighed. ''All of them suffered something similar.''

The others were silent, taking in the information. And they discussed this matter now in the meeting office. They were still a little sick from all the information, but at least they knew now what had happened.

Still… There was this question of why…

''We need Yuka Sakura's statement. She must know everything.'' Tsubasa commented, playing with a pencil. ''How does she feel? It's been almost two weeks…''

''I'll visit her today and try to get something out of her. I think her daughter is already talking with her.'' Natsume replied, standing up. ''Call team D and ask for results. I'll be back in a few hours.'' He grabbed his keys and phone and walked out. The others went to work.

As he arrived at the hospital and walked towards Yuka's room, his men were still standing in front of the door. He nodded in greeting and knocked on the door. He walked in and two women looked at him; Mikan and Yuka. She seemed all right.

''Hello.'' Natsume greeted politely and stopped in front of the bed. Mikan smiled weakly at him, greeting him, while Yuka nodded. The two doctors nodded politely and walked out.

''Hello, Miss Sakura. I'm Inspector Natsume Hyuuga. I'm investigating your case.'' He started, then went on it a little slower. ''How do you feel, miss?'' he asked, also glancing at Mikan. The girl watched him for a moment, then looked at her mother.

''I'm all right. More or less.'' She spoke up, her voice still hoarse. ''I still have nightmares, but… I think I will make it.'' Of course she will, she is Mikan Sakura's mother. Both women were the strongest people Natsume had ever met.

''Should I get you something to drink, eat?''

''No need. I'm ready to talk.''

Natsume blinked at her, glanced at Mikan again who held her mother's hands and glanced at him too, and sat down on the chair on the other side of the bed. He pulled out his recorder, notebook and pen, and looked at her.

''Whenever you're ready.''