Author's Note: I have to admit that I didn't know what I was doing at first. But then I got right into writing this halo. It looks like Chisa is picking up steam in her raise to power. The Dante Killer has a new accomplice. I will have to go more into her later. You are going to have to see. Speaking of the Dante Killer, I am going to have to finish up the Fraud circle of kills. I have three more weeks to do it. There is so much that I have to get in this season. I might start on the next one early because I want it to be so big. Plus, I am still trying to figure out what I want to do for the canon characters' birthdays this year. I already know what I am going to do for the omake this year. I'll work something out. For now, enjoy this week's halo.
Halo Twenty-Six: Chisa:
She went from college dropout to rising politician star. Chisa has the women of Ikebukuro were on her side. How could sensible argue against women wanting to feel safe in the world? There was something about her arguments for equality in Ikebukuro. However, there was one person who was not impressed.
Kitano turned off the TV in his office.
"You don't want to see your daughter's debate?" a man in a fine black suit asked.
"No," Kitano said with a dull expression on his face. "I already know that she's going to win. Why bother sitting back and watching it all play out?"
"You don't seem too thrilled about her career path," he said.
"I hate politicians," Kitano said. "Worked close to one in the eighties. I'm never doing that again." The other man sat down in front of the desk in a sheepish way.
"You wanted to see me?" he asked.
"Why yes," Kitano said. "As you are aware, we are in the final stage of the game. Asato-sensei and I are ready with our end. Nakahara-sensei is ready with her branch. Otomo-sensei is ready on her end." The therapist kept his eyes on him.
"This where you come in," Kitano said. "Hajime-san and Myojin-san are almost ready to start on their end of the project. However, they are going to need some of your medical students to get the ball rolling." The man raised an eyebrow.
"How do they feel about this?" he asked.
"I will have you meet with them today," Kitano said. "Are you free for this afternoon?"
"Yes, sir," the man said.
"Excellent," the therapist said. "I will let you talk to them. I will call them up here now." He picked up the phone on his desk and dialed the number. The man shifted in his seat. Kitano kept an eye on him. He knew this would be a hard sell. Still, this part needed to be done. The therapist got it started. Now, Daichi and Osamu would have to do the rest.
"Hello?" Kitano asked. "Yes, it's me. Hajime-san, are you and Myojin-san busy right now?" He paused for a beat as he listen.
"Good, good," he said. "I have somebody you should meet." Now, the man was leaning forward, trying to listen. Good, he had him reeled back in.
"I will see you in ten minutes," Kitano said. He hung up and turned the man in front of his desk.
"Can I get you anything?" he asked. The man shook his head.
"No thank you," he said.
The Dante Killer had an accomplice.
Imai Yuri used to live like a princess. She had it all—loving family, big beautiful house, a seemingly endless bank account, great grades, and many friends. Everything was going great for her. That was until that files from that damned thumb drive was released to the public.
Yuri tied a deep red ribbon in her hair. She sat alone in her dark bedroom. When was the last time she slept? She was twenty with the face of a fifty-year-old. It wasn't supposed to go like this. She was supposed to be enjoying her youth. It was all that bitch's fault! Well, she was dead now.
She smiled to herself in the mirror.
Good. Yuri might not get her fortune back, but this was going to have to do for now. She reached for her phone beside her.
"Hey mom," she said. "You aren't going to believe this."
Chisa keeps picking up steam. The Ten no Shin'en keeps growing. More and more women keep joining. Even some outside of Ikebukuro are coming to join. Non found it rather unsettling.
She wasn't the only one either.
"There's something off about her," Naomi said as she watched Chisa on the TV. Megumi rolled her eyes.
"She just sounds so fake," she said. She reached over and turned off the TV. Itori sat in the corner with her eyes narrowed at the turned off screen.
"Kitano Chisa," she said aloud. The other two tadpoles looked at her.
"What about her?" Naomi asked. The pregnant tadpole looked at her "sisters".
"I think she's his daughter," she said. It took a moment for them to see what she was saying.
"You can't be serious," Megumi said. She looked over at the TV turned off. All three of them had the same thought. They all looked at each other.
"You don't think she's involved with him… working on us?" Naomi asked.
"God I hope not," Megumi said.
"Maybe… It's not like that?" Itori asked. Naomi and Megumi stared at her. She didn't sound too convinced in her words.
"So how do we deal with her?" Megumi said. The women had no answers.
Meanwhile, Michiko started to get more of her magic back. She discovered this this morning. They were all going to need a place to stay for the time being. Her apartment and Celty and Shinra's apartment were good but they were so far away. This would not do.
Michiko put her hand on the wall in her living room. She closed her eyes and began chanting to herself. A portal opened on the wall. She opened her eyes and walked inside.
It looked like a normal hallway. Michiko looked around as she walked down it. She pressed down on the wall. Hm… They seemed firm enough. Michiko looked from room to room. Each one looked standard. But how long were they going to hold? This portal was going to need more magic.
She made her way down the hallway.
"Hello?" Michiko asked. "Anybody here? Hello?"
"Is that Michiko-san?" she heard in the background. Oh good, she was in the right place.
"Yes! It's me," Michiko said. "Can I speak to Celty-san, please?"
Meanwhile, the police were investigating the murder of Morikawa Kita. How could this happen in the police station? Nakamura rubbed his forehead.
"Who was on shift last night?" he asked. One of the other cops took a moment to think.
"There was me, Matsuda, I think Kuzuhara already went home." The cop dug through his brain for more answers.
"Um… Um…."
"There was that new woman that started her shift," Kuzuhara Ginichirou said. The other cop paused as he tried to remember.
"No, there wasn't," he said.
"Yes, there was," Ginichirou said. "I passed by her on my way out." The younger cop made a face.
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yes," the older man insisted. Kota turned his attention to him.
"What did this woman look like?" he asked. The older cop took a moment to think.
"Short. She kept her eyes down when I saw her," he said. "I tried to talk to her, but she didn't say anything."
"Anything else?" Nakamura asked. Both Ginichirou and the other cop tried to think.
"She had a bright red ribbon in her hair," Ginichirou said. The other cop perked up.
"Oh yeah, now I remember!" he said. "There was a new girl here! She had her hair tied back in that red ribbon."
"Does this newbie have a name?" Nakamura asked. His colleagues frowned.
"I didn't quite catch her name," Ginichirou admitted. The other cop shook his head. Nakamura threw up his hands. He couldn't believe this.
"Excuse me," someone said. The three cops looked up. One of the lab techs had their hand up.
"I have the CCTV footage from last night," they said. They followed the tech back to the lab. They didn't get much on film. In the footage, they could see the outside of Kita's cell. For five minutes, nothing happened. The lab tech fast forwarded through the irrelevant parts. Finally, a woman in a police uniform walked up to the cell. The men all saw the red ribbon holding her hair back in a ponytail.
"It's her!" Ginichirou said.
"Shhh," Nakamura whispered. The new cop walked up to the cell and stood at the door. She dug into her pocket. She held the key in her hand. The door was unlocked and she went inside. For close to an hour, there was nothing. Everyone sat with bated breath. The lab tech fast forward through the empty footage. Finally, the newbie cop walked back out. Her uniform was covered in blood. She kept her head down as she walked. They still couldn't see her face as walked by. Nakamura turned to the other men.
"Why didn't the alarms go off?" he asked. They didn't have an answer.
Sawako looked at her tablet. Who was left? Falsifiers, alchemists, imposters, counterfeiters, and perjurers. She just finished the sowers of discord. The office lady sat back and took a drink of sake. Now, she had an accomplice on her hands. In truth, she did admit that the girl did have her uses. Still, this couldn't keep going. Sawako frowned as she got lost in thought.
Falsifiers.
She already had the perfect target in mind. In fact, Sawako could do this one herself. She looked up the earliest time to look up when the art gallery opened.
"[What exactly are you asking me again?]" Celty typed on her PDA.
"I need you to help me keep the portal running," Michiko said. "I still don't have all of my magic back. I don't know how long I can how it open myself." She held her hand to her chest.
"I think your shadows can add support," the girl said. "Can you help me?" Celty started typing on her PDA.
"[What do you need?]" she typed. Michiko looked around at the walls.
"They are solid right now, but I don't know how long that will last," she said. "I guess you can start there." Celty's shadows spread out over the hall walls. Michiko felt along the surface. It wouldn't give.
"This is good for now," she said. "Would you like to see the rest of it?"
"[Sure,]" Celty wrote with her shadows.
"Okay," Michiko said. The women walked down the created hall.
Chisa sat down in her chair and took a breath. Who knew that campaigning took so much work? The poll numbers were in her favor. She was quite popular with the women from ages eighteen to sixty. Mostly office ladies and housewives. That was good to know.
"If you keep this up, you will win for sure," Umeka said. Chisa gave her a tired smile. Umeka's people and Sister Rui were quite the help to boost the clan's presence.
However, there was one person who was unimpressed.
"Why can't you be happy for me?" she asked over the phone.
"You know how I feel about politics," Kitano said. Chisa rolled her eyes.
"Would it kill you to congratulate me?" she asked.
"Did you do this for my approval or are you that desperate for my attention?" he asked. Chisa frowned. Why did she even bother?
"What's the matter, mistress?" Umeka asked in present day. Chisa looked over at her. The older woman gave her a sympathetic look.
"Is it your father again?" she asked. The cult leader didn't speak.
"Look, he's not worth you trying to impress him," Umeka said.
"But…" Chisa said. The older woman held up her hand.
"I was like you once," she said. "I wanted my mom to love me. I did everything to keep her happy. I studied hard and went to cram school. I joined clubs at school. I even took violin lessons."
"You played violin?" Chisa asked.
"Yes," Umeka said. She sighed and shook her head.
"The point is, I tried to be the perfect daughter," she said. "But it was never enough. And then one day, I just stopped caring," she said.
"Just like that?"
"Just like that. We haven't really spoken since."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Don't be." Umeka shrugged. "She was kind of a bitch." The cult leader started to perk up.
"Thanks," Chisa said. The older woman pushed her hair from her eyes.
"Glad to have helped," she said. Chisa turned to the mirror and smirked. She remembered what she needed to do.
"Umeka-san, when is the next debate?" she asked. The older woman counted up in her head.
"Three days from now," she said. "You are debating against Kato-san one-on-one." The cult leader felt like she was going to fly away.
"Excellent," she said. She snickered to herself. Chisa broke down into soft laughter. Meanwhile, Saku was gearing up for a holy war they saw was their enemy. Once this election was won, the tadpoles would be taken out next.
December 23rd, 2015.
Zoryn found his way to Michiko's apartment. He walked up and knocked on the door. The Russian man looked up when it opened. Anri stood at the doorway with a puzzled look on her face.
"It's you," she said. She could see his rotten teeth as he broke into a huge grin.
"Hello, dear," he said in his best Japanese. The Saika mother had to look up at the oak tree of a Russian man as he spoke.
"Uh… Mikado-kun isn't here right now," she said.
"That's okay, I'm here to see you," Zoryn said.
"Huh?" the young mother-to-be asked.
"May I come in?" he asked.