Author's Note: Who is Akiyama Yumi? I have been sitting on this idea for quite some time now. There is another idea that I had been sitting on for quite some time as well. The part with Emilia just came to me last night. But I love how it turned out. This is also a first for the Wonderland history. Two kills of characters at once. (Okay, not quite. There were the twins from the Blue Squares that I killed off. But detalis, details.) I have an idea for what I might do to Shingen after this. Speaking of which, the season finale is next week. I already know how it's going to go and I am itching to get started. For now, enjoy this week's halo.
Halo Twenty-Eight: Yumi:
The following message was found in the Dollars chatroom on December 19th, 2015.
"My name is Akiyama Yumi. I am from the future but I do not know where I am at the moment. I don't have much time. I am going to say this before I get disconnected. Please do not vote for Kitano Chisa. It's only going to lead to disaster for the country. Under her reign, Hell is a paradise compared to how things are now. She is a monster. I've lost friends. She took away the man I loved. Millions will die because of her. If you vote her in office, Japan will be doomed. You will kill us all! Please! I am begging you! I don't care who you vote for! Vote for anyone else! Just don't vote for her!"
Sachie sat at the computer with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.
"Maybe it's just a setback?" one of the women asked.
"Setback?! This is a fucking disaster!" Umeka shouted.
"Maybe it's just some troll on the internet," Mami said. The other woman looked at her, frowning.
"Either way, we're going to have to deal with trolls and whack jobs left and right!" she said. "This is bad. Really bad." Sachie scrolled through the comments. Already, the wheels were turning in her head.
"We can spin this," she said. Umeka and Mami looked up. Sachie kept her eyes on the screen.
"We could use the troll angle. We can say that this is done by one of our political rivals," she said.
"But why can't prove that it is," the third woman said.
"We can't prove it isn't either," Sachie said.
"What about the troll?" Umeka asked.
"We don't do anything to them," the second-in-command said. The small group of women looked at her.
"There is a little saying that goes 'don't feed the trolls'," Sachie said. "We're going to let this cool for a bit before we give a response." The woman turned around to her fellow sisters.
"We have to play this smart," she said. "How does that sound?" Sachie directed that question over to Chisa who sat on the couch lost in thought.
"Akiyama Yumi," she mumbled to herself. Her flock held their eyes on her.
"Mistress?" Sachie asked. The cult leader looked up.
"Hm?" she asked. She saw the women frowning at her.
"Something on your mind?" Sachie asked. The cult leader shook her head.
"Nothing; just thought I heard that name somewhere," Chisa said. "I just can't place where." Sachie and the other women looked at each other for a moment.
"So how are we going to deal with this recording?" Chisa asked. "Any ideas?" She was going to have to look into who Yumi was later.
Zoryn logged in on the Dollars Chatroom.
Nowhere Man is Online
Already, he had a private message from Taro Tanaka. Zoryn smirked to himself. What did his old comrade had to say now? He clicked on the message app.
Taro Tanaka: What the hell did you say to Anri-chan?!
Nowhere Man: Nothing. I might have let it slip that she died before.
Taro Tanaka: Why would you do that?!
Nowhere Man: She was going to remember one way or another. Don't tell me you were going to keep that little fact from her.
Taro Tanaka: You upset her!
Nowhere Man: So you were keeping it from her. Not good, comrade.
Taro Tanaka: Never speak to my girlfriend again! You come near her again, I will call the police. I don't care if I have to go to a phone booth. I don't care what you think about them. Stay from my girlfriend!
Nowhere Man: Fine. I get the message.
Taro Tanaka: How did you even get on this site anyway? Who gave you the password?
Nowhere Man: I have my ways.
Taro Tanaka: I will have you banned.
Nowhere Man: Whatever you say, comrade. Whatever you say.
Nowhere Man has Logged Off
Yumi's audio was making the rounds. It's been played and downloaded many times. People started to have questions about it. Theories started to build up in the coming days. Was this real? Or was this a hoax? Was it a clever troll? Who was Akiyama Yumi? To a select handful, that name sounded so familiar. They can't seem to place where, however. Celty looked at the Dollars chatroom log. She too remembered the name but couldn't attach anything else to it. The dullahan opened the private chat.
Setton: Shingo, I am going to need you to look up something for me.
It would appear that Shinra had the same idea as Celty. He already plugged in Yumi's name. It didn't take him long to find her name at Tokyo University.
"Heh. There you are," Shinra said. It looked like Akiyama Yumi was a real person. Was she the same Yumi from the message? Did she even know what was going on? The doctor turned to his girlfriend.
"I think I found Yumi," he said.
"[Huh? Where?]" Celty typed. Shinra turned back to his computer screen.
"She might go to Todai," he said. He might have found her. Now the question was how was he going to find her.
There is another body. This one was found in the middle of an abandoned warehouse. Someone sat the corpse up in a metal folding chair. The head and the hands were missing. They were dressed up like Orihara Izaya. There was no ID to go by. It was a homeless man who found the people. Nakamura stood over the body and shook his head. He already knew where this was going to head.
"How long will it take to get results from DNA?" Nakamura asked. One CSI shrugged and shook their head. The detective frowned. How many more bodies would it take before they caught a break?
"This was supposed to be the imposters circle, right?" he asked. Nakamura then paused as he backtracked the circles of Hell in his head. His brain came up to the Fraud circle. Seducers, flatters, simoniacs, sorcerers, hypocrites, counsellors of fraud, sowers of discord, falsifiers, imposters…
That didn't sound right.
Seducers, flatters, simoniacs, sorcerers, hypocrites, counsellors of fraud, sowers of discord, falsifiers, imposters… Seducers, flatters, simoniacs, sorcerers, hypocrites, counsellors of fraud, sowers of discord, falsifiers, imposters…
Nakamura's eyes grew wide.
"They skipped alchemy!" he exclaimed. As if on cue, his phone rang.
"Hello?" he asked. The call didn't last long before he turned and ran out of the warehouse.
"Nakamura-san?" the CSI asked. He was already too far gone ahead.
-Twelve Hours Earlier-
The Dante Killer couldn't be two places at once. It was a good thing she still had her little accomplice.
Emilia wasn't supposed to be alone last night. She was supposed to have a lab tech going with her. However, the lab tech called at the last minute.
"I'm so sorry," they said. "I am going to be running late. Go ahead without me."
"Okay. Call me when you get here," Emilia said. She used her keycard to get into the building. There weren't many people in the lab that night. The lab researcher hadn't planned to stay all night. Just some quick research and she could go home.
However, someone else was in the building with her. A person in a black and red goat mask peeked around the corner. They watched as Emilia turned on the lights in the lab. Good, she was alone. It would've been better if it was her husband. Still, it would be just as delightful. The person pulled out their phone and started recording.
Emilia set down her bag and opened it up. She was looking around for a pen when the lights cut off. The lab researcher looked up.
"Hello?" she asked. "Hello?" Emilia walked over to the call button. She froze when she heard footsteps coming down the hall. She reached for her phone and tried to open the emergency call app. Emilia tried to breath heavily to calm down. There had to be someone in the building who noticed that something was wrong. That's it. She could contact somebody in the building and find out what was going on. Emilia pressed the button.
"Hello? Is anybody still out there?" she asked. "Hello? Can you hear me out there? Hello? Hello?" There was no answer on the other line.
"Hello? Is anybody there? Hello? Hello?" Emilia asked. She tried to keep herself calm. No one said anything about a power outage tonight. Surely, it was going to be fixed up sure enough. Right?
Suddenly, a faint hissing noise caught her ear. Emilia turned toward the vents overhead. A sinking feeling formed in the pit of her stomach. A horrible smell filled the room. The lab researcher covered her nose and mouth. She frantically tried to press the button for the intercom. Despite covering her nose and mouth with her shirt, Emilia broke down in a coughing fit. Her eyes teared up as they felt like they were burning. She reached out and tried to open the door. The woman mashed the buttons for the code repeatedly but nothing happened. She could feel her throat closing up.
Meanwhile, the person in the black and red goat mask walked down the hall with their phone up in their hand. They walked up to the window for the best view in the house. There was a creeping smile under the mask.
Emilia lay huddled on the ground struggling to breathe. Blood was now running down her cheeks. She started chuckling to herself. Her chest started to ache.
"Darling? Darling? Is that you?" she wheezed out. The lab researcher reached out to nothing in particular. Her hand dropped to her floor. She struggled to breathe seconds more before she expired.
Emilia's body would not be found until hours later.
Oh and the other body was later identified as Nakura. It took days but they managed to do it. Nakamura rubbed his forehead at his desk. The Dante Killer was picking up the pace with their kills. But one person couldn't be at two places at once. He had to go with Ockham's razor with these two cases.
The Dante Killer had an accomplice now.
On December twentieth, Chisa made her address on YouTube. She looked somber and serious in her black pant suit against a white wall.
"Good morning, Ikebukuro," she said. "My name is Kitano Chisa. I am currently running for city council. A couple of days ago, there was an audio file made to destroy my image. My team did their research and it turns out to be a hoax. That's right. This is nothing but a big hoax used to smear my campaign. We do not know who is behind this. We don't know if this Akiyama Yumi was involved in this in some way. We don't even know if she is a real person or not. Now, my campaign and I aren't naming any names. We're not accusing anyone of anything. There might be suspicions for the other candidates. We don't have proof and this is just speculation. But to whoever did this, you know who you are. You aren't in trouble. We just…"
Chisa pushed her bangs from her eyes.
"I don't know what we want," she said. "Just turn yourself in. Thank you. That is all." Chisa bowed and turned off the camera.
Meanwhile, Shingo, Shinra, and Celty made progress in their search for Yumi. The doctor had been quieter lately. Celty put her hand on his shoulder.
"[There, there. The police are looking into her murder,]" she typed. Shrina shook his head.
"I'm fine," he said. "It's Dad you should be worried about." The couple didn't say a word. Shingen now saw this as a war. They both had the uncomfortable feeling of how that one was going to play out. They just needed to get in there before…
"Found her!" Shingo said. The couple looked up.
"Behold," the tadpole boy said. He moved aside to show them the screen. Shinra leaned in for a look.
"Akihabara?" he asked.
"That's right!" Shingo said. "She lives in a machiya with two other girls. I can give you the address if you like." The couple had nervous looks on their faces. He wasn't even using his full power right now either. That proud boyish face made everyone a bit nervous.
"[Okay… So what are you going to do now?]" Celty typed. "[You can't just walk up to her and say, 'Hey, did you make an audio recording about Kitano-san?' What do you plan to do here?]" Shinra and Shingo sat there, thinking. Once again, Celty had a point. They just had to know the truth. They just had to track her down and talk to her.
Someone already beat them to the punch.
December 23rd, 2015.
There was a knock on the old machiya house in Akihabara. A young woman slid open the door.
"Yes?" she asked.
"Are you Akiyama Yumi?" someone asked. The woman gave her visitor a puzzled look.
"Yes… why do you ask?" she asked.
