************GOSH! IVE BEEN WRITING ALL DAY LONG! IT'S REALLY HARD FOR ME TO STOP! I LOVE WRITING SO MUCH BUT TRUST ME YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO LOVE THIS CHAPTER! *************
Eri was piss drunk. The girls had had way too much of a good time at the strip show. Mitako was holding Eri up making sure her friend didn't appear sloppy or easy to take advantage of. Kyoko opened the room door with her room key and she helped Mitako carry Eri over into one of the bedrooms.
"Who's staying with her tonight? You know we have to watch her." Mitako said. She knew her friend would eventually puke and become over emotional when she woke up. Someone had to hold her hair up while she puked her guts out.
"I will." Kyoko volunteered. Kyoko started to change out of her tight red cocktail dress.
"Kk." Mitako was kind of drunk herself. "I'm going to bed so, good night. Call me if you need me." Kyoko nodded. She went into the next room to wash her makeup off and change into her night gown. She then got a cloth and put facial cleanser to wipe Eri's face off. Eri was out. She didn't feel a thing. Kyoko tried to pull Eri's hair back in a ponytail, but, she miserably failed since Eri was laying on her side. Kyoko crawled in bed next to her. She still couldn't believe that she saw Kogami. Mitako and Kyoko decided not to tell Eri. The whole night, Kyoko was way too nervous. She was scared that they would see him. They especially didn't want him to see Eri while she was wasted, which he has seen her before, but, whenever you see an ex you're supposed to look beautiful and graceful. Kyoko closed her eyes and went to sleep.
The next day the girls decided to take a visit to the indoor water park. Eri had a major hangover, but, still decided to go. She didn't puke at all. Surprisingly.
"KOWABONGA!" Kagari yelled as he dived into the heated pool. So far, there was no suspicious activity going on. Kunizuka was checking surveillance, but, it was hard to really find anything. Since Akane had such a sweet charm, she tried to ask people about the missing women, but, nobody really knew anything. Most of the people there were drunk and on vacation. The water splashed Kogami and put his cigarette out.
"Sorry! KO!" Kogami was lying in a beach chair smoking a cigarette. He was in a pair of swim trunks and shirtless. Ginoza was reading a book next to him. The woman stared as the past Kogami. One girl gave Kogami her phone number. He slipped it in his trunk pockets and forgot about it.
"Aren't you the eye candy?" Masaoka said lighting a cigarette as well. Kogami stared at sun peeking through the glass ceiling.
"Yea. I guess." Kogami said with his hand behind his head. He was watching Kagari go down the slide for the 10th time.
"You should join him Ko." Masaoka suggested.
"I'll go down a slide, but, not on the same raft as him. That's kind of gay. Don't you think?"
"Point." Masaoka said exhaling the smoke.
"AW MAN THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN!" Kyoko yelled loudly as she entered the park. Eri's head was ringing from her friend's high pitched voice.
"Kyoko?"
"Sorry Eri." Mitako stopped causing the girls to bump into her. FUCK! She thought. She saw Kogami sitting on a beach chair. Damn it. She had to think of something and very quickly.
"UH! Damn! The park is closed!"
"Huh? Where do you see a sign that says that?" Eri asked.
"Some kid just threw up!" She turned Eri around! Let's just go to the other pool!" She said pushing Eri out of the park. Kyoko had spotted Kogami too and went along with Mitako.
"Oh. Ok." Eri said letting her friends lure her away. The girls made their way to the other side of the park.
Later on the division 1 squad had regrouped for dinner after spending the rest of the day looking for any kinds of clues.
"It's strange. No one here but the staff saw these woman." Kunizuka said. "What's even stranger is that some of the security footage data has been tampered with. Kogami was looking over it and saw what Kunizuka was talking about. He couldn't help but turn his head to glare at the young woman. She cleaned up nicely. She had on a black one shoulder cocktail dress and her hair was down. Akane stared at Kogami because he also cleaned up nicely as well. His hair was pulled back and he had on a very nice suit. Akane thought everyone looked great. She had on a red cocktail dress that puffed out at the bottom a bit. She had these gorgeous diamond stud earrings on with a matching diamond necklace.
"Damn. We are really getting nowhere with this case. We don't have any leads at all." Kogami said thinking.
"Are you sure these women didn't have a mutual friend or anything?" Ginoza asked sipping on his wine.
"I'm positive. These women have no connections to each other at all. I had Shion spend all night looking for any past relationships, friend s or family members, but nothing shady was found."
"Ok. Let's look at this again." Kogami said pulling up the data on a tablet. We have Kimihiko Itsuwari, 23 years old, Seiko Uryuu 21 years old, Erika Fudo, Miha Waru, Moka Inoue and Junsa Fujio. According to the front desk agent, Moka inoue, Junsa Fujio and Miha Waru all checked in together? Am I correct?" Kunizuka nodded.
"So they had to be staying in the same room. Also, it's weird that these three are friends and three bodies were found in one of those burned down houses. Don't you think?"
"But, forensics haven't confirmed that it's them yet." Kagari said sipping on his soup. "It could honestly be months before identification is made on any of those bodies. Even with the technology that we have today."
"You're right." Kogami agreed.
"Don't you think something else is strange?" Akane said cutting in on the conversation. "It takes about an hour and a half to two to burn an adult human corpse leaving no DNA behind. Even dental DNA would be destroyed. How long was the fires going for until someone called to put them out?"
"Also, the houses are pretty far away from here too. I thought they were a lot closer. So our murderer has to lure the victims away." Masaoka said trying to adjust his bow tie. Kogami was lost in thought.
"Usually when a fire is first reported, it's supposed to take the FD at least 10 minutes to get to the scene. Looking at these reports, the fire department didn't arrive until maybe an hour to two hours later. Tell me that is not strange?" Kogami said still gazing at the reports.
"Actually, that's really strange. It says here that the fire station is exactly 15 minutes north from here." Ginoza said looking at his tablet as well.
"I think I see where you're going with this Ko. You think or perp has to be someone within the fire department."
"Precisely." Kogami responded.
"We should get over to the fire department and have a talk with the dispatchers over there. We also should take a look at all of their call logs. Let's get ready to go."
"What!? We just started eating!" Kagari said enjoying his dinner rolls.
"You'll order room service later. Let's go." Division 1 made their way out of the restaurant.
"Inspector Tsunemori, take Kogami and Masaoka and scan the rooms of the three missing girls who came here together. I'll go with Kagari and Kunizuka to the fire department.
"Yes sir." Ginoza gave the room key over to Akane.
"We will meet back in the room in two hours. Call if you find anything suspicious." With that being said the squad split into two and went on their separate mission.
Masaoka was sitting on the bed watching Akane and Kogami scan the room with the drones. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. Masaoka decided to look under the bed and found a little white card.
"Hey! I think I found something." The elderly man called out.
"What did you find pops?" Kogami said walking over to the old man.
"Someone's business card. Yuu umichika." Masaoka read out loud. Kogami dialed the number on the card. The number was out of service.
"Akane, scan the hotel roster and see if anyone by the name of Yuu Umichika stayed at the hotel recently." Akane looked through the roster of the people who've stayed at the hotel within the past month.
"Yea, this is him." Akane showed the picture of the man to Kogami and Masaoka.
"He's kind of old for girls to leave out with him, don't you think?" Akane was reading his profile.
"It says here he died a year ago."
"So someone is using a deceased person as an alias. This guy has to be young, charming and charismatic for these girls to leave out with him….Shit! Charisma!" Kogami said as something popped into his head. "I have a feeling, I know who is behind this. Makishima."
"Makishima? How can you be sure Ko?"
"Think about the specimen case we just finished. He was a school teacher taking on the alias of a deceased teacher charming the high school girls. He used someone else to do his killing, just like he did in the communfield and in the factory drone murders. He has to be using someone in the fire department who has a high crime coefficient or a clouded hue to do his dirty work." Kogami immediately dialed Ginoza.
"What is it?"
"I have suspicion to believe that this is the work of Makishima."
"Our specimen guy?"
"Yes."
"We checked the hue of all of the fire fighters here. They're all in good shape. Everyone's crime coefficient is below 70 as well."
"Of course it would be. Especially after you killed someone."
"You may also want to know that the phone records have been deleted. When a young man noticed the fire from his hotel window he called, but the phone call was redirected to another number. Listen to this." Ginoza began to play an audio file.
"Um! I see fire! I see it! It look like is west of here! From the Marriott. Send someone quickly!"
"We will. Don't worry. Everything will be fine." Kogami, Akane, and Masaoka's eyes widened in disbelief. It was Makishima.
"Looks like you were right Ko." Akane said. Makishima is at it again.
"Gino! How did the fire department officially find out about the fires?"
"Another call was made by a young woman, this time it didn't get intercepted."
"Find the dispatcher who was on duty that night and quickly! That person may be in on it with Makishima." Kogami hung up the phone. "That bastard."
"I'm going to call him!" kyoko said pulling out the card that "Keigo" gave to the trio. Mitako was excited.
"SSSHHH!" Kyoko hissed. The phone was ringing. Suddenly, it stopped.
"Hello?" a familiar voice said to Kyoko.
"Hi! Is this Keigo Fusano!?"
"Yes it is." The white haired man lied.
"Hi! It's Kyoko. Remember from the train ride with me and my two friends Mitako and Eri?"
"Of course! How could I forget such beautiful girls?!"
"Well! We wanted to take you up on your offer to party! Are you throwing tonight?"
"Actually, I am. Would you girls like to swing by?"
"Of course! What's the dress code?" Kyoko asked excited.
"Casual." Keigo replied.
"Kk. No problem. What's the address? Is it in the hotel?"
"No. I own a home not far from the hotel." Keigo gave Kyoko the address.
"How could we get there?"
"Cab is the best way. Do you need the number for the cab as well?"
"Mhm." Kyoko nodded as she took the number down. 'What time should we be there by?"
"Um, soon. Guest are already starting to arrive." Keigo was playing with his switch blade.
"Kk, we will see you soon Keigo! Bye!" Kyoko hung up her phone. Mitako and Kyoko jumped around excited.
"He's so cute!" Kyoko said. "He's bound to have cute friends." Eri was brushing her hair.
"Maybe." Eri said braiding her hair in a side braid.
"Come on! Let's get dressed and go!" The girls quickly got ready to attend the party.
It was an hour until the cab arrived. The girls were waiting downstairs in the lobby. Kyoko was fixing her lipstick and Mitako was spraying perfume on. Eri made sure that her hair was in place. The girls saw the white cab pull up and jumped inside full of laughter. The cab driver was texting when the girls got in.
"Where to ladies?"
"39-1 orihaza road." Kyoko laughed as she took a sip out of a wine bottle she had stashed in her purse.
The cab ride took about 25 minutes. The girls were too busy chatting and laughing to notice.
The cab driver opened the door for the ladies to get out. Mitako paid the driver and he immediately sped off leaving the young girls standing outside standing in front of a big house. Kyoko ran up the stairs and pressed the doorbell. It seemed kind of quiet for a party. Eri didn't like this feeling. It seemed odd that there was no cars parked outside or there was no other cabs. Soon enough a familiar man with white hair opened the door. Kyoko blushed. Eri started to feel weird.
"Ah ladies! Welcome! Please come on in!" Each girl entered the door ready for a good time. The girls looked around the big house. It was dark, but fancy.
"Where is everyone else?" Kyoko started to sound nervous.
"Oh! They'll be here soon." Little did the girls know that "Keigo's" sidekick was boarding up the house.
"Besides…" Keigo said pulling out his switch blade. "We only need each other to have fun." The girls saw
Keigo pull out his blade and they immediately started to panic.
"That's not funny Keigo. Put that away." Kyoko said as if she was about to cry. He then threw the blade
In her direction, but she quickly ducked causing it to be stuck in the wall.
"Oops. I missed." Mitako started to cry. Eri knew it. There was something bad about this guy.
Eri made her way for the front door, but, noticed that it was locked. She started to freak out. Makishima's cell phone started to ring. It was Choe.
"Get out now."
"I was just about have fun with them." He said disappointed.
"Leave!"
"Fine. Ok. Ok." He hung up his phone. "I'm sorry ladies, I can't stay and enjoy you guys, but, I will…probably not be seeing you anytime soon." The girls were scared and huddled against each other. They watched as "Keigo" exited out of a side door. Kyoko ran after him to try to get out of the door but, it was locked.
"Come back here! You bastard!" she yelled banging on the door.
"What- what do you think is going to happen?" Eri asked.
"I-I don't know."
"We have to call for help." Kyoko and Mitako pulled out their phones and saw that they had no service.
"SHIT!" Mitako yelled. "Now what?" The girls tried to see if there was window to get out of, but, they were boarded up so well, it looked like there was no window. Kyoko tried kicking down the door, but it was no use. It wouldn't budge. All of a sudden, the girls saw smoke fill the room. They started to freak out. The girls knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to burn them alive. Mitako began to cry.
"Oh my god!" she was sobbing. Eri was numb she couldn't move. All she saw was the room get darker and full of smoke. Soon the flames came. The girls started to scream. Eri couldn't believe that this might be the way that her life would end.
Ginoza was interrogating the dispatcher. He could tell something was up with him. Kunizuka was able to track him down despite his efforts to get rid of any evidence that showed that he was on duty.
"Where are the girls!?" Ginoza asked again this time more angry.
"I don't know! I don't know! My job was only to take them to the houses and make sure that the calls got intercepted that was it!"
"Who gave you this job?"
"I don't know! Some guy with white hair! His name is Keigo! Yea that's it!" The dispatcher's crime coefficient was over 200. Kogami was listening in on the interrogation.
"Why were you helping this guy out? He's a murderer! Did you ever think what was going to happen to your hue?!"
"I needed the money! He was paying a big sum! I'm in so much debt! This job doesn't pay enough! He agreed to pay me as long as I did my part!"
"Damn." Kogami said.
"This Makishima guy is quite the character, eh Ko?" Kogami became angry at the thought of Makishima using others to do his dirty work.
'He's a coward, that's what he is." Soon enough Akane barged into the room the division 1 team was using for interrogation.
"There's another fire! 39-1 orihaza road!"
"What?" Ginoza said in disbelief.
"A cab driver said he dropped three girls off there and on his way back he started to see flames!"
"Damn it!" The whole division 1 team immediately got into the police vehicle and sped there. Ginoza had requested a fire truck and an ambulance. Hopefully it wasn't too late.
The girls were coughing from the harsh smoke and they hardly could see. Eri had passed out from the smoke and wasn't responding.
"What do we do?! She's not moving!" Kyoko was crying. Mitako listened to her friend's heart and could slowly hear that it was giving out.
"DAMN IT! Her heart is giving out! We have to do something quick." Kyoko was crying and becoming exhausted from the smoke. The flames looked like they were coming closer. The girls pulled Eri over to a section of the room that hadn't been covered in flames. Mitako started pounding the walls to see if there was any soft spots. She hit a spot in the wall that seem a bit fragile. She was coughing heavily now.
"Quick! Find something heavy!" Mitako and Kyoko looked around looking for something to throw at the wall. They found a hammer. Mitako picked it up and started pounding the wall with it. Soon enough she heard glass break and wood fall. There was a window, but it had been sealed off so good the girls couldn't tell it was there. Kyoko was beginning to pass out from the smoke inhalation. Mitako could hear fire sirens as well as police sirens. The smoke was becoming too much and she soon started to feel faint. She fell to her knees trying to cover her nose from the smoke.
"COME ON MOVE! MOVE!" The fire chief demanded. They had drones in the air dropping water on the burning house as well as men outside with fire hoses. Division 1 had just arrived and couldn't believe how massive the fire was. Kogami jumped out of the car and saw the there was a broken window on the side. He immediately grabbed a drone bot and demanded the drone to break the wall down.
"Kogami! What the hell are you doing?!" Ginoza yelled at him.
"Those girls inside can still be inside!" The drones was doing a pretty good job breaking the wall done. Mitako saw the opening despite her haziness. She crawled to the opening and extended her hand out. She was so weak. Kogami saw her hand.
"We need a medic over here! NOW!" He was able to pull the girl out and was shocked to see who it was. The medic team ran over with another team of fire men. "Mitako?!" She was out of the house. She gasped for fresh air as Kogami pulled her out. The drones continued to break down the walls. Mitako's vision was blurry, but, she knew she was looking at Kogami.
"Kogami…" she weakly. "Please. Kyoko, Eri…They're inside." She said before she passed out. Kogami couldn't think. His mind went blank.
"No." was all he could say. The drones eventually broke through the wall and the firemen was able to pull Kyoko out.
"There's another girl in there!" The fire men yelled. Kogami quickly ran past all of the firemen and made his way through the hole in the wall.
"KOGAMI!" Akane yelled as she watched the enforcer go into the burning house. Despite the water being thrown on the house, the flames were still burning strong. Kogami looked around the hot orange lit house. The roof had started to cave in.
"ERI!?" Kogami yelled. There was no response. He started to cough from the smoke. It was thick and strong. A drone came in spraying water making it clearer for Kogami to see. He soon saw a hand.
"ERI!" He ran toward the girl and quickly picked her up. He tried to shake her to wake up, but she didn't respond. He quickly made his way out of the house before the roof caved completely in. Ginoza, Masaoka, Kunizuka and Kagari watched as the roof fell. They had thought they lost Kogami. Akane's eyes watered. The medics were working on Mitako and Kyoko.
"Kogami…." Akane said as she watched the house continue to burn. Ginoza saw a tall figure in the distance. He saw that Kogami had a girl in his arms. Ginoza ran to meet up with the man to make sure he was ok. When he saw who Kogami had in his arms, he froze.
"No." Ginoza looked at the unconscious Eri. Kogami was checking her heart and her pulse and they were both very faint. The medics quickly ran over to the girl trying to push Kogami away. He didn't want to leave Eri's side.
"You need to stay back so that way we can do our job!" The paramedic yelled at him.
"How is it looking?" The doctor said asked quickly joining his team of medics.
"Not good! She's in really bad shape! Her lungs is full of co2." Kogami couldn't believe it. All this time, Eri was right near him. Ginoza tried to stop Kogami from running over to Eri. He couldn't contain him. Masaoka had to tackle him on the ground just to get him to calm down.
"No..." Akane said. How could this happen?
Kogami was waiting in the ER with Ginoza and the rest of his team. He was nervous. The doctor were doing the best that they could. Mitako and Kyoko were going to be ok. They were sleeping. Kogami stared at the ground. His mind was completely blank. Soon enough the doctor came out and approached the group of enforcers and inspectors. Kogami stood up to talk to the doctor.
"She's in really bad shape. We don't think she's going to make it through the night. We tried everything. I'm terribly sorry."
"What the hell do you mean you tried everything!? You obviously didn't try hard enough!" Kogami said as he grabbed the doctor by his collar.
"KOGAMI! STOP!" Akane said as Masaoka and Kagari pulled the doctor off of him. The doctor bowed in sympathy and soon took his leave. Kogami was angry. He flipped over a whole table unable to control himself. Ginoza had to put Kogami in a head lock so that way he wouldn't have to tranquilize him. His father helped him out. Kogami completely broke down. He couldn't believe that his Eri was being taken away from him. He hated himself for telling her that he never wanted to see her again. Ginoza and Masaoka consoled the man as he sobbed. No one but, Ginoza ever saw Kogami cry. This shook up the whole team. Akane was crying for him.
Kogami was settled down and seemed to be zoned out. Ginoza was sitting beside his friend. He placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Go see her KO." Kogami couldn't move.
"Do you want someone to go with you?" Akane asked. Kogami pushed himself to get up and made his way to Eri's room. Akane and Ginoza followed behind him. Kagari was standing outside the room with Kunizuka. Everyone watched as Kogami entered the room. He looked at the monitor and saw that her heart rate was decreasing. He quickly fell to her bedside and started to cry.
"I'm sorry." He sobbed. "I'm so sorry! I was only trying to protect you! I didn't mean what I said!" Kogami had Eri's hand in his. He hated to see her all tubed up. It broke him even more. He continued to cry at her bedside until Masaoka went to pick him up. Kogami stepped out of the room angrily punching walls.
It was 3:05 and the doctors were ready to pull Eri off of the vent. Kogami watched as the doctors made their way to her room. He couldn't go in there. He felt that if he went in there and watched her die, he would lose it completely.
"Doctor Furihara!" A nurse yelled! "Please! Come Quick!" Kogami's heart stopped. Ginoza and Akane stood as they watched the doctors flood Eri's room.
"Ms. Renson! Please stay in bed!" One doctor yelled.
"What happened?!" Another doctor yelled.
"Her vitals went back to normal, so I took the tube out!"
"Did we give you permission?!" Dr. Furihara yelled. Two doctors were examining the Machine and couldn't believe it. The co2 was gone from Eri's lungs. Her vitals did go back to normal.
"Ms. Renson! Please lay back down."
"No!" Eri said faintly. "Where is Kyoko and Mitako!? She was fighting with the doctors. Kogami and Ginoza ran into the room to see what was going on and they couldn't even believe it. Eri was standing giving the doctors a run for their money.
"Let me go! I want to see my friends!" Eri said kicking one doctor.
"You will! But you need to rest! You just woke up! Please Ms. Renson. This isn't good for your body!" Eri was struggling to get out of the doctors arms. Kogami slowly walked over to Eri in disbelief. Eri saw a pair of black dress shoes stand before her. This caused her to stop kicking. She looked up and her heart stopped. It had been 2 years since she last saw Kogami and there she was acting a fool. The two stared at each other for a long time.
"It's ok. You could let her go." Ginoza said assuring the doctors that everything was going to be ok. Akane, Masaoka and Kunizuka were watching from the window. They couldn't even believe that Eri was standing. Eri stared at Kogami not sure why he was there. She backed away slowly. She saw that Kogami's eyes were watering and he soon began to cry. He grabbed the girl and pulled her in a tight embrace. Eri was confused. Why was he there? All of a sudden feeling started to come back, feelings that she thought she had gotten rid of. She instinctively hugged Kogami back.
"Kogami?" Eri asked. Her voice was a little harsh from the tube that was down her throat. Her eyes started to water and it wasn't long until she began to cry with the man she still loved. This brought the whole division 1 to tears. Ginoza had to take off his glasses. Kunizuka and Akane were sobbing as well as Kagari. Masaoka eyes were watering, but he couldn't hold them back anymore. He let them fall. After all this time, the love the two had for each other was still strong. It could be felt throughout the room. The doctors stared finally figuring out what was going on.
"Ms. Renson. This is the man who saved your life. He ran in the house and pulled you out. If you stayed in there a minute longer, you would've…." Dr. Furihara said as he picked up his stethoscope. "You would've died. We certainly didn't expect you to be standing right now either. This is truly a miracle. Remarkable!" The doctor said with such Joy. Eri looked at Kogami.
"You ran in a burning house, to save me?" Her eyes welled up with tears again. Kogami nodded. Eri placed her hands on Kogami's face. She smiled. "I didn't think that we would meet again like this. It seems that I'm always the damsel in distress." Tears strolled down Eri's brown cheeks. Kogami pulled Eri in close and kissed her deeply. The whole room awed at the sight of the two lovers. Kagari broke down in tear completely.
"Don't look at me Kunizuka!" He yelled. "I just have a really big bug in my eye!" he lied. Kunizuka was crying.
"So do I." She joked.
After 2 years, Kogami had the woman he loved in his arms again. He couldn't even believe it. It felt like he had a nightmare that turned into a wonderful dream. Sasayama and pops were right. Things happen for a reason. Everything that happened within the last 3 years finally led up to this moment. Two lovers destined to meet again one day.
****WELL WHAT DID YOU GUYS THINK! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! I HOPE I DIDN"T MAKE ANYONE CRY! **********