"I can be on guard against my enemies, but God deliver me from my friends!"
― Charlotte Brontë, The Letters of Charlotte Brontë
-o-
"Listen, I'm not really that bad."
Shika looked up to watch Isao as he spoke. A heavy cup of tea steamed on the table, untouched and untrusted. Her right had finally been splinted and bandaged that morning, by a man who looked like a tired professor who was paid to be a doctor, too. The arm was rendered essentially useless, pulled against her in a white sling. Kaito purred beside her on the silk-cushioned couch, shedding white hairs on her leg. She, too, did not allow herself to relax too much, and stayed curled in a ball with her feet pulled in.
"Forgive me if I don't believe you." She mumbled, refusing to look directly at him.
"You have a very flawed perception of what I do for a living." Isao said.
Shika didn't dignify him with another response. Instead, she stole furtive glances at him from the corner of her eye. He reminded her of a shark, she decided. His eyes were too far apart on his thin face, his movements were unhurried and fluid, his dark hair was slicked back like a sleazy businessman. The white suit he wore matched almost perfectly with the couch he was sitting on, like he was a part of it. A smirk seemed to tease his face half the time, but everything he did was doused in a sickly sense of danger. Lighting the cigarette, crossing his legs, leaning back. It seemed like at any moment he could erupt, burst apart like a firecracker.
"Well?" His voice drew her thoughts back to the present. "Anything to say?"
After thinking a moment, she said, "Don't you have more important things to do than make small talk with me?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe small talk is the important other thing. Ever think about that?" When Shika didn't offer a response, he continued. "Being in charge of a lot of people is less work than you'd think. Subordinates do most of it for you. I just rake in the profits." He was watching her, face poised at the brink of a leer. "But I didn't just appear at the top, did I? I had to claw my way up here, tooth and nail. Now I can enjoy sitting on top and looking down, instead of the reverse."
Shika watched a fly buzzing at one of the beautiful, silk-curtained windows, hitting the glass pane over and over as it stupidly attempted its escape. "Tooth and nail…"
"Hm? You say something?"
"No. Sorry."
Isao left soon after, twisting his cigarette into the crystal ashtray and buttoning his jacket on the way out. Shika was left in the room, but not alone. One man always remained inside, sitting on a chair next to the door. Sometimes it was Tattoo, sometimes not; they changed shifts halfway through the day. There was another man outside the door. Why they would need such strict security, Shika could not begin to imagine. One of the brutes alone could snap her in half like a toothpick.
Her meals would arrive at noon and six, on the hour. The tray was simply passed to the man inside from the man outside, opening the door to do so with no special ritual or security. The food usually resembled a slightly nicer version of the meals she got in primary school: a small bowl of rice, a couple grilled fish, some type of fruit, and either tea or water. Two days passed in that manner, and she was left with four days remaining until her week was up. She scarcely slept, and when she did, she would wake in a panic.
The only thing Shika ever asked for were newspapers, and she received them. It was her sole comfort. Perhaps even she, trapped as she was, could work. The headlines advertised Kira's new death tolls and all the drama related to Kira every day. Since she wasn't allowed scissors, she used a permanent marker to circle articles referencing Kira or the investigation and for hours each day she could believe she was still helping. The rustling of the paper, the smell of the ink and the sharp odor of the marker, the dragging lines of words and death tolls, they helped keep her grounded. She laid the paper out, folded and drawn on, lines pointing here and there. Maybe, she wondered, the task force was looking over the same newspapers. Maybe Ryuuzaki was.
"Hey, you. Girl." The low voice jarred her from her wandering thoughts. The man on the inside today was Shades, but without the accessory in question his eyes were revealed to be beady and sharp. He sat cross-legged in the corner, baggy camo pants tucked into combat boots.
"Me?"
"You see anyone else?" Shades cocked his head at her, a jerk of his chin in her direction. "What's your name?"
"Shika." She said. "What's yours?"
"Goto. What're you doin'?"
She looked back down at the poorly formed collage of news articles. "I don't know. Keeping track of Kira." She looked up. "Why do you care?"
Goto shrugged his dark shoulders. "I'm bored. Figured I'd make some small talk."
"I see. Do you often talk with people you kidnap?"
"Only the cute ones." He winked at her, but there was, weirdly, no malice or ill intent in his demeanor. It didn't seem like he was about to get up and assault her, which Shika realized he was more than capable of doing.
Shika smiled, an unhappy smile that pulled her eyebrows in. "Thank you. I appreciate it."
"Been wantin' to ask, though. What's that on your arm?" Goto pointed with only a hand, his arms crossed over his chest.
She looked down at her forearm, where the smudged remains of Ryuuzaki's phone number had seeped in to her skin. "A phone number."
"No shit. Whose?"
Taking a moment, she quietly said, "Someone important to me."
Goto nodded. "I get it, I get it. Well, sucks you'll never see 'em again."
Shika looked up at him. "My father could always pay his debt. Do you think it's hopeless?"
"Hell yeah, I do." He scoffed. "Listen, I know you probably don't deserve this. Who does, right? But a debt's a debt. Some people will do whatever they gotta to feel like they're in control, ya know?"
"I thought you were…" Shika attempted to phrase her question. "You don't like Isao?"
"He's one of those guys where the ends always justify the means. I don't hate the guy. I just work for him."
She looked down, thinking briefly of Ryuuzaki. "I understand."
The door to the parlor opened, and Isao himself entered, flanked by two bodyguards. "Good afternoon, my dear. How have you been?"
Shika got to her feet, his sudden appearance planting a pit of dread in her stomach. "I'm fine."
"Good, good to hear, because you're about to get a lot worse." Waving a finger at her, the bodyguards moved forward. One was holding a bit of rope, which he used to brusquely tie her hands together in front of her, her left wrist pulled tight against the stiff cast on her right arm. Without a word, Isao turned and left, leading the bodyguards out with Shika in tow like a cow to the slaughter.
"Where are you taking me?" She found herself asking, although logic told her to keep her mouth shut. "It hasn't been a week yet!"
"No, it hasn't. But it's been a few days, and I must admit I'm a little annoyed at that father of yours. Not a word, would you believe it?" Isao spoke over his shoulder slightly as they walked. There was something different about his clothes; a large hunting knife was in a holster at his hip, and he gave it a pat to indicate its presence to her. "Well, if it's any consolation, this won't be but a short field trip. Lucky for you, we've only got one hand to pick from!"
-o-
Something was bothering L.
He couldn't quite place what it was. At first he had thought it was just anxiety from the Kira case, sneaking up like a predator, but no, that wasn't it. The case had been going as well as it could in recent days, and he wasn't particularly bothered by it any more than usual. Then he had hypothesized it was the opposite, that he was getting restless from boredom and lack of activity. But no, no. He kept busy by investigating the case at all hours, and when not doing that he was at Tōō University.
That was when the solution hit him, and it was so clear that he was disappointed in himself that he'd missed it: Shizuka had gone missing.
Yes, at first it hadn't occurred to him that she didn't show up to the hotel after that day in the rain. 'A few minutes', she had said, and declined a ride back to the room. Her hair and her clothes stuck close to her body, and she jogged out into the rain. Thinking of the recent emergence of the second Kira and the subsequent back-and-forth transmissions, he hadn't realized until much later that she had never come to the hotel that day, or the next.
Reason told him no; there were plenty of reasons why she would have decided against coming. After the next day, however, and the day after that, L's intuition overrode his reason. Something was wrong.
His suspicions were confirmed when he took a short day visit to his "school", where he secretly, quietly hoped he would find her beaming at him like she was apt to do, cheeks dimpling and flyaway hairs giving her a frazzled, carelessly sleepless look. It was a useless hope, he knew. It was a hunch…but his hunches were not often wrong.
Instead, he encountered someone familiar, but not who he was looking for. One could spot her a mile away, with such bright skirts and extravagant make-up. Ryuuzaki approached her, fortunately walking the opposite direction in the flow of student traffic so he could slip out in front of her and wait for her to approach.
"Uh, hello," He raised a hand to her. "You're…Shizuka's friend, yes?"
"Yeah," The girl sniffed, and raised an embroidered handkerchief to her nose. "Oh, I remember you. You're that coworker she likes. Do you want something?"
"I was wondering if you've seen Shizuka, as she hasn't been in to work recently. Perhaps you know where she is?"
Dabbing daintily at her eyes, the Lolita said, "No, I haven't! Isn't it awful? Oh, she's not picking up any of my calls at all. I was going to visit her apartment today if I didn't hear anything."
"Mm, thank you."
"Sure. Well," She tucked her handkerchief away. "Sorry I couldn't help. See you around."
With a little wave, the young woman trotted off. Ryuuzaki watched after her for a moment, until she went around a corner. He put his hands in his pockets and looked up at the trees, still molting their cherry petals like the feathers of huge birds. "Hm."
-o-
The parlor room was dark and cool. Night had fallen, and the savory, honeyed light of lamps on tables, and one overhead electric chandelier, lit the room. The tray of food she normally received at six still sat on the coffee table, scarcely picked at. On the third night of her absence, Shika was curled up into the stiff, unyielding couch, weeping. It was the first time she had cried without the help of a night terror in years. Both arms pulled in close to her, she rested her forehead on the polished wooden arm and sobbed quietly. It was ugly, sniffling, shaking and shuddering by herself. Hatred and fear boiled in a vile combination in her chest, left bottled and unspoken, suppressed by even greater pain.
The heavy brass handle of the door clicked as it was opened. Goto was the inside man again, and he looked over his shoulder to mutter to the outside man. Shika held her breath, nearly frozen as she waited for what she expected to be a death sentence. A few more mumbled words were exchanged, and the door fell shut with another heavy click.
Goto stood from his chair and walked over to her, boots thumping on the carpeted floor. "Here. It's for you."
She shakily lifted her head, mouth trembling. A mobile phone was held out to her, flipped open to indicate a call was already happening. "This won't count as my one phone call, right?"
"No, you're allowed to answer this one. Straight from the big man. Now take it already."
Shika reached up to accept the phone with her left hand, and spent a moment trying to fit the phone comfortably in her palm, which was clumpy and mitten-like with gauze and bandaging. A noticeable gap took the place where her pinky finger used to be. Hoping against all hope, she prayed to hear Ryuuzaki's voice. He spoke in a pretty expressionless monotone, but at the moment it would have sounded like heaven to her. Anyone from the task force would have been a relief; even Matsuda. In her gut, though, she knew it to be wrong, and she thought back to her last conversation with Ryuuzaki, about intuition. Maybe he was on to something.
"H-Hello?"
"Essyyyy," Chihiro whined. "Why did you leave without telling me? Jeez, just one phone call would have been nice!"
Shika wiped her eyes and tried to keep her voice from hitching. "Sorry. I'm…um..."
"Oh, I know where you are! Why do you think I called? Gosh." She huffed. "What's that dolt doing now? I swear, if he hurts you, he's gonna get it!"
"He definitely hurt me. It's not your fault, just don't get involved, please."
"That's it! I've had it with him! I..." She sniffed, paused, and sneezed. "Ugh! My allergies are hideous this year. My nose is running non-stop and my eyes won't stop watering! It's so annoying, I spend so long on my eyeliner, you know, and it gets smeared in, like, five seconds."
"I know." Despite herself, Shika managed a small, chap-lipped smile.
"Oh, by the way, your boyfriend or boss or whoever he is was asking about you today. Honestly, he's so creepy…he just stared at me until I walked past so he could ask if I'd seen you."
"Oh…he did?" She was surprised he had even noticed she was gone. Most of the work she did was by computer anyway…she had never imagined he would go asking about her personally. There was really no predicting him.
"Yeah, I told him I didn't know. 'Cause, I mean, I didn't know at the time, you know? Then I went to your house to check it out, and some stuff was messed up like there was a struggle…like, the latch on the window was busted. So I was thinking, hey, maybe, just maybe, her deadbeat dad got her into trouble again. And what do you know!" Her tone became a hint more solemn. "Seriously, though, Essy. If Isao did anything major, that's it. Straight to the cops. I don't care, I'll turn him in like that."
"I...I think I'm okay." Shika said. Her hand throbbed, and she glanced warily at Goto, who was watching her in return.
"I'll take your word for it. Just try and get home safe, Essy, okay? Boy, he's a piece of work, all right."
"Yeah. I guess that's big brothers for you."
-o-
-Wow, this chapter is long overdue. I apologize profusely for the wait, real life is getting in the way left and right!
-Things are a little crazy in the story right now, try and bear with me!