Chapter 9

Seeking Consolation

The sunset cast long shadows over the Kurusu residence as Kasumi approached from the road, having left her friends some time ago on the excuse that she needed to run an errand for new feminine hygiene products. Haru had offered to come along out of the kindness of her heart so she would not be lonely, but Kasumi refused respectfully and made her way to her real destination.

She knocked on the door and was both anxious and relieved when Takuto answered, holding a mug of what she assumed was an alcoholic beverage.

"Oh, hello, Yoshizawa-san," he greeted her with kind surprise. "What can I do for you? Are you out with your friends?" he looked around, seeing no one else with her.

Kasumi herself looked around awkwardly. "No, sir," she started slowly. "I was actually hoping that, uh… well- You're a counselor, aren't you? Akira's talked about that."

"I am," he nodded. "Are you… in need of assistance, Miss?"

"I… would say so?" she said as if asking herself the same question. "May I come in briefly, please? If you're busy, it's totally fine," she quickly added with an anxious smile, trying to be as polite as possible in such a situation. "I understand this is sudden, and probably inappropriate, but I was hoping I could, uh, have a moment of your time? You know, if you're free—"

"Please," he smiled to her, gesturing to seats on the patio to her right, "have a seat. You must be quite frazzled after all you and your friends have been through. I'd be happy to talk with you about it for a bit."

That's… not exactly it…

They sat next to each other in their chairs and Takuto took a short sip of his drink before continuing. "So, Yoshizawa-san – Or may I call you Kasumi?"

"Please," she nodded respectfully.

"Alright, Kasumi, what can I do for you? What's on your mind?"

"Well," she began in a tepid drawl, "you were right, I- uh, we have been through a lot. And there's some things going on I don't quite understand myself. And to be honest, not all of it has to do with the Kamurocho thing. Uh, if it's okay to talk about with you!" she waved her hands in front of her anxiously, her face turning red like her hair.

Takuto chuckled. "Just say whatever's on your mind. I normally charge for these kinds of things, but you helped save my son's life," he said softly, with genuine affirmation, "you deserve it."

"Th-thank you," she stammered as her heartrate finally started to slow. "You see, I've been having a lot of, um, I guess you could call it 'cognitive dissonance' lately," Kasumi said in a smoother voice. "I feel like I've been kind of… pulled in two directions ever since my twin sister, Sumire, died in a car accident."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," Takuto put a hand to his chest. "When did this happen?"

"Almost a year ago. She… actually didn't, like, die in the car. We were walking through Shibuya and a driver careened off the road as were crossing the street on a rainy day. The authorities said the man was misusing some prescription of his and it caused him to temporarily black out as he was driving on a slippery road. My sister noticed it first, pushed me out of the way… I still see the blood splatters every day, her mangled body, her dislocated and flimsy limbs, her caved in skull—"

"Kasumi," he cut her off, "we don't need to dwell on those details."

"You-you're right. Sorry."

"Not at all. Tell me about this 'cognitive dissonance' you've been experiencing."

Kasumi took a moment to collect her thoughts, the process of trying to put them into words proving more difficult than even she had expected. "I… I feel like I'm somehow remembering things wrong. Or there's something wrong with me. The last few months have been a blur, and I have a harder and harder time of putting together any specifics about it. I remember vividly being kidnapped by Kamoshida, which your son saved me from. But before and after that, things are fuzzy. It's like I've been in some kind of dream that I only occasionally wake up from."

"What do you mean by that? Do you have any symptoms that concern you?"

"Sometimes, I… I feel like the things I know aren't right. Or like I'm forgetting something important. After Kamoshida, I remember going off to try and figure things out and do… something. But I don't quite remember what. There was some lady – I think she was reading my fortune or something? And then I can barely remember anything after that for a while, but I do have these lingering feelings about… whatever happened."

"What are these feelings, Kasumi?"

"I feel confused, like I'm not quite myself. And I sometimes dream of this fire; a building is on fire behind me. And sometimes there's a man there, but I don't know what any of this means! It's like I'm going crazy!"

"Calm now, Kasumi," Takuto urged her with a soft voice. "We often experience lapses in memory or feelings of déjà vu and dissonance when we are grieving or traumatized, as you understandably were. It is possible that these false memories you have could be vivid dreams that your mind is having difficulty differentiating from reality. That is more common than you may think, especially when dealing with trauma. Our minds are far more active trying to piece together and process our experiences, especially when we are asleep, and it can become difficult to tell what is real and what may have been a very vivid dream."

"But this doesn't feel like a dream," she protested. "I feel like something happened to me that I'm only now remembering, and it's been giving me discomfort, even panic attacks. I feel like… everything about me is somehow… fake."

"That's not true, Kasumi."

Kasumi shot to her feet, hugging herself. A bird chirped in the tree in their front yard and flew away. Kasumi watched it for a moment, wishing she could be as free to leave and fly away wherever she wished as the bird. Her chest and gut pinched her with jealousy. "I don't know that for sure anymore," she muttered. "Then again, maybe I deserve this… or whatever it was…"

"Kasumi, you know that's not the case," Takuto said more sternly. "No one deserves to have any trauma thrust onto them. Life just… takes and doesn't give back sometimes. But neither you nor your sister deserved what happened to you."

"Right, she especially didn't," Kasumi whispered, her voice shaking. "She deserved to see the world, to go to the Olympics. And somehow, I'm the one that lived, and I've never been nearly as good as her."

"That doesn't mean one or the other deserved to die. Just because your sister might have been better at some things doesn't mean it should have been you in front of that car. It should have been no one, and you know it."

Kasumi nodded, but Takuto could tell she did not truly agree with him. "Thank you," she said. He could not say for sure how genuine her thanks were. "Thank you for talking to me. I know you're right, but… I feel like I need to know what's going on with me."

"You may need further professional help, Kasumi. If you like, I can bring you in for a formal consultation sometime and get you in touch with the proper resources. I have many contacts that have certifications in dealing with your current symptoms of trauma."

"Like memory loss? Questioning of my identity?"

"Yes, that— what?"

Kasumi's eyes quickly widened and her body went stiff. She turned away from Takuto and started walking away. "Th-thank you!" she called back to him over her shoulder. "I'm sorry for being a nuisance; I won't bother you in your home again!"

"Wait, Kasumi!" But she did not respond. She ran away back toward the hotel, still hugging herself. Takuto quickly went to his study and wrote down items in his notebook after calling the Amagi Inn to make sure she had arrived safely. Much to his relief, she did, and Yukiko informed him that nothing seemed to be amiss about her. "Quite the actress, isn't she?" he muttered to himself as he took his notes.

His eyes soon traveled to one of his other notebooks – the one he had filled out with Wakaba regarding cognitive psience. "Could it be…?" he wondered aloud. His eyes narrowed on the notebook as he pondered the idea. "But who could have done such a thing? And how would she have found someone that could alter her conscious perception? There's no way," he shook his head, trying to dash the thought from his mind. He, however, could not.

In his journal, he wrote,

Subject exhibits signs of an enforced change in cognition. The possibility of this being the case is slim, but the symptoms are consistent with known cases. Will take this theory under consideration for the time being.

"Please don't be the case," he said as if praying to some god for her safety. "Who could have possibly done this?"

…

Some time later…

The air was stuffy and dank in the Kamuro P.D. precinct, as if matching the chokingly tense and exhausted atmosphere Yagami entered into. The clock in the breakroom read 11:26 p.m., and after going through the downright impressively messy shitstorm that had been rounding up and processing the Omi Alliance yakuza after the attack on Kamurocho, Yagami was more than ready to fall over standing up. Though it seemed that he was not alone in his exhaustion, as it were, when he saw Sae slumped over at one of the tables, her head resting on her arms on the tabletop.

Hands in his pockets, he casually walked over to her. She did not seem to notice. "Hey," he spoke up. "You asleep, Niijima?"

Sae groaned and stirred but did not lift her head, only mumbling something unintelligible.

"You alright? When's the last time you got some shuteye?"

There was a long pause before she responded, only lifting her hand to rub her head as if nursing a migraine. "Don't remember…" she murmured. "Yesterday… I think?" Sae finally raised her head, giving Yagami a good look at the dark bags under her dreary, forced-open eyes and paling face. "Is it morning yet?"

"Sorry, not yet," Yagami shook his head, purposely trying to take a more casual, friendly tone. "It's not even midnight yet."

Sae dropped her head back onto her arms, burying her face. "Fuckin… why… god… cunts…" she grumbled, with Yagami only catching every couple words.

"Tell me about it," he agreed to whatever she was mumbling. "What are you waiting on here, anyway? Surely, you've been able to go home by now. Didn't the chief want you to take some time off, anyway?"

She raised her again rubbing her eyes and temples. Sae shook her head side to side for a moment to clear the fog of her own exhausted mind, finally letting her think more coherently. "You hear about how I found Kaneshiro?" she asked, her voice raspy and just as tired as she looked.

"Yeah, I did. This have to do with him?"

"I convinced them to bring him in for questioning, presided over by me."

"Is that wise?" Yagami put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "I mean, I get why they'd wanna question him, and you're a damn good interrogator, but your… personal investment in this is apparent. How'd you swing it?"

"I'm Noble One, some kind of hero," she clarified with ironic pride. "Guess Murakata thought there was some value in that, or that Kuroiwa guy he's palling up with put in a good word, or something else entirely. I was already about to pass out from exhaustion, and I got in the old man's face about it, throwing any sense of judgment to the wind. Remarkably, he agreed."

"Well, I can't fault you for swinging for the fences with that one, but still." Yagami took a seat across from her, groaning with discomfort as his exhausted legs tensed up and became sore now that he finally gave them some reprieve. "Don't you think this might be a bad idea? Anyone else can handle it, and we both knew you have a bone to pick with him."

"I'm questioning him," she snapped back at him. "End of story. I've waited years for this, Yagami; I won't let it slip through my grasp."

"I'm not judging you; I totally get why you would want this. I just hope you've thought this through."

"Not thinking this all the way through is how I got the session with him in the first place. Maybe this can be the first time in my life I try just running with my gut feeling on something, see how it pans out."

Yagami leaned back with his arms crossed, looking to the floor. "You got anyone going in with you?"

"Are you volunteering?"

"Just wanted to know if Ken or Tanimura already had first dibs.

"Ken is off helping out with prisoner transfers, and Tanimura I think actually is taking some time off. He got beat up pretty bad in the attack, though he managed to arrest eight guys on his own. I'd say he deserves it."

"Definitely," Yagami nodded. "Is he doing okay?"

"Nothing some bandages, disinfectants, and bedrest won't fix. He'll be fine."

"Good to hear. I was worried about him. So, that means you have an opening?"

"You don't trust me, Yagami?"

"I just don't think you have any reason to go in alone. Not only is this a guy you've been gunning after for years, but we're all at our wits' end. If you're sure this is the right time, I can go in with you. At least for moral support."

Sae threw him a nasty, exhausted glare, but her face quickly softened as she looked back to the table. "That might be wise," she finally admitted quietly. She rose to her feet with a slight stumble, steadying herself on the table. Yagami noticed, feeling concerned and almost sad over his friend's obviously deteriorating condition, but he knew Niijma well enough to know that this was a matter she was not about to simply let go. "Let's get this over with," she muttered, her voice sounding even more hoarse unobscured by her arms.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," said Yagami, himself having to catch his balance as he got up, feeling like he had been much closer to falling asleep in the chair than had been aware of.

They silently trudged down several halls until they came to the interrogation room holding Kaneshiro. Two police officers stood guard, looking almost as ready to go home as Sae was.

She looked them in the eyes and could tell they already guessed what had brought her to the interrogation room. "Let me pass," she ordered them. "It'll be brief. Yagami will be assisting me. I've already cleared this with the commissioner tonight."

"Uh, we were told to expect you, Ma'am," said the guard on the left. "But we were not aware that Yagami-san had been cleared as well."

"I made that decision," she said with authority. "He will be a valuable asset in the questioning. Unlock the door." The guards looked to each other with concern but submitted to her order. The officer on the right pulled out a key from a chain on his belt and opened the thick, white door. "Thank you," Sae said quickly and marched into the room. Yagami shrugged to the officers and followed her.

Sae immediately felt a hot wrath shoot through her body when she saw the fat bastard sitting in a chair entirely too small for him at a table in the middle of the room. An intrusive thought urged her to use her long nails to tear out his throat and be done with the whole matter, but she repressed it while keeping it in the back of her mind just in case the idea may prove useful. Kaneshiro locked eyes with her, letting her see the welting black eye she had given him, and it filled her with great pride.

"Couldn't stay away, could you?" Kaneshiro asked with a smirk, dried blood staining his chipped teeth.

"We're here to talk," she retorted, taking a seat opposite him. "And more, if necessary."

"C'mon, Niijima, even I know that the big wigs in the P.D. would never sign off on that."

"They wouldn't, but I doubt they would see it as any great inconvenience if you had to be delivered to prison in a stretcher." Both Kaneshiro and Yagami were lightly impressed at her response. Yagami stood to her side, slightly behind her with his arms crossed, looking down at Kaneshiro with silent judgment.

"Well, let's get this shit over with then," said the fat yakuza. "What do you wanna know? Not that I can even really tell you that much."

"Who orchestrated this attack?" she began. "Can you tell us the names of the Omi Alliance affiliates that organized it?"

Kaneshiro looked to the side, feigning disinterest. "Have all my men not told you yet?"

"They were quickly escorted to prison. You'll be joining them when we deem it appropriate."

"They're already all on the fast track to questioning," Yagami said, though he was not sure on that fact. "We want to make sure all your stories add up. If they don't, then the P.D. and the district justices will actually get angry."

"They aren't already?"

"Trust me, anything you get from us will be a precious mercy compared to whatever Fuji-san and her cohorts will put you through at the stand."

Kaneshiro chuckled, leaning back in the chair, which elicited strained creaks from the shoddy, old metal seat. "Mafuyu Fuji, right? Damn, going to court might be worth it just to see her in real life."

Yagami's nostrils flared and his jaw clenched at such a crass insinuation about his girlfriend. "You pathetic horndogs are her favorite type of criminal filth to chew up and spit out. Whatever the judge might think is a good sentence for you, she'll make sure you get three times that."

"We'll see," he chuckled again, appearing unaffected by Yagami's threats.

Sae was quickly losing the tiny speck of patience she had walked into the room with. "Who organized the attach?" she pressed him. "Who contacted you?"

"Everything was done through go-betweens and third parties, duh!" Kaneshiro spat back. "You really think any of the Kansai yakuza patriarchs are going to do anything in Kanto themselves? If you do, then you are a pathetic excuse for a yakuza huntress, or whatever the city has propped you up as on TV. So, you took down one group of Chinese triad sadists? Big deal. We've been hunting and snuffing those perverse fucks for decades. It's kind of funny seeing the police treat one lucky break with them as a call for celebration and putting you guys on a pedestal."

"That doesn't matter right now," said Sae, her eyes narrowing on Kaneshiro with a deathly glare. "What can you tell us about the preparations for the attack? And anything about any upcoming incursions."

Kaneshiro rolled his eyes with tired annoyance. "You think they told me that much, Niijima? I was on a need-to-know basis, just like everyone else. I'm not Kansai like them, and they like to keep all their 'secret plans' and whatever other bullshit they get up to under wraps, especially if they're talking to anyone from Kanto."

"So you were just another soldier?" Sae's lips pursed. "And here we thought you might have been a coconspirator."

"I was just told to cause some mayhem and let the reinforcements from Kansai do their thing. I did just that."

Yagami added, "You don't seem too bent out of shape about being caught."

"It sure ain't the first time I've been on the inside," he said dismissively. "Probably won't even be the last."

"What makes you say that?" Sae pressed him. "Any more devious plans you've cooked up with your yakuza cronies?"

"We both know this isn't the end of the war between Sakura and Goda, guys. They're gonna be at each other's throats for a while yet, and you'll be stuck cleaning up the mess. Trust me, you'll soon have much bigger problems to deal with than my fat ass taking up another bed behind bars."

"And we will be working closely with the Kansai P.D. to ensure that any petulant squabbles between two old men is resolved as quickly as possible." Sae leaned forward on the table, looking Kaneshiro dead in the eyes. He seemed infuriatingly unphased. "Do you even understand the situation you're in, Kaneshiro?"

"Perfectly," he smirked again, and Sae's fists clenched tighter, which Kaneshiro found thoroughly amusing. "I'll be with my boys when I'm put away. I've always been on good terms with the lowlifes of Kamurocho. So, my guess is that wherever you put me will be much safer and more friendly than this very room, with me having to just put up with this hero bitch eating me with her eyes."

"You fat piece of shit," Sae growled, beginning to lose her composure.

Yagami slammed his hand on the table between Sae and Kaneshiro. "You can play the cocky yakuza all you want, man, but you better get it through that thick flabby head of yours that your ass is grass the moment we step out of this room."

Kaneshiro grinned even wider, beaming with almost frightening confidence. "And here I thought you were Nobles, weren't you? Isn't it a bit out of character to be threatening a citizen so harshly in an interrogation?"

Sae slammed both her fists on the table as she shot to her feet, glowering down at Kaneshiro, who did not react at all. "You may be a 'citizen', but you're definitely no civilian. Whatever master plan you cretins had when you attacked the city obviously failed, since so many of your accomplices were either arrested by us, killed by Sakura, or fled the city. What the hell was the point of this attack, anyway!?"

Kaneshiro chuckled to himself quietly, then let out a haughty guffaw in Sae's face. She felt greater wrath welling within her as he mocked her, the knowledge that this pathetic, sadistic fiend had murdered her father. It could be quick, she thought. Only Yagami would know, and I'm sure I have some way of keeping him quiet if I did… No, I can't. Dad would never want that.

But Dad's not here. Because of him…

"You really think this was just an 'attack', Niijima!?" Kaneshiro shouted at her. "God, you are all so fucking stupid!" He continued to laugh. Yagami looked to Sae to make sure she still had her wits about her. He believed she did, but it was getting more difficult to say for sure with that fiery glare in her eyes. "I promise you, our objective was a complete success! And don't bother asking what it was or what we wanted with it, 'cuz it's not even fucking here anymore! It's already under lock and key back in Kansai! Everything went exactly as they planned!"

Sae bared her teeth as he laughed more and brought her fist back on reflex, losing control of her thoughts and actions for just long enough to prepare her body for the strongest punch of her life. She grunted, a roar welling in her throat as she brought her arm back, but it was caught by Yagami. She looked to him in shock, but her anger did not abate. "Just one," she muttered. Kaneshiro found the situation completely hilarious, mocking her further with laughs and jabs. "For fuck's sake, just give me one."

Yagami raised an eyebrow. She was begging him to let her strike Kaneshiro. He thought for a moment, thinking back on all he knew about her father, his death – everything this man had done to her, and how she had brought him back to the precinct. "You've already had one," he told her, trying to keep her attention on him instead of Kaneshiro.

"I want more." She spoke thoughtlessly; Yagami could tell in her voice and face that she had slipped into single-minded rage, losing control of herself. It would certainly be no great loss nor inconvenience for the police to let her at least rough him up a bit, he knew.

"C'mon!" Kaneshiro interrupted. "I know I've got all the time in the world, but I'm sure you two cunts don't! Stop with the self-righteous bullshit and get it over with already!"

Yagami looked back to their prisoner, but Sae kept her gaze fixated on him. Her eyes continued to silently plead with him as she wrestled within herself over the reality of the situation. She was sure, at least mostly, that her father would never resort to such measures on a prisoner, even one such as Kaneshiro. But he had never been in such a situation before, where all you loved was taken from you because of him. She lost her father to him, her relationship with her sister to him.

And Makoto was off somewhere with the yakuza, either a prisoner or accomplice with them fighting for or against the Sakura Clan and the safety of Japan. And Kaneshiro was sitting her comfortably, mocking them.

"I can't fucking believe this," Kaneshiro said as if mildly annoyed by a bad streak at the casino. "You're supposed to be the Noble Team, the best of the best among the police, right? All I see are a couple of worthless pussies who wouldn't last an hour in the heat of the very war you think you're fighting. Guess daddy raise a little bitch, huh, Niijima?"

Fuck it.

Sae ripped her arm away from Yagami and grabbed Kaneshiro in a flash of motion even the highly skilled martial artist could not keep up with. With both hands holding the side of his hair before he could react, she slammed his head down onto the table, causing a strikingly loud crash in the echo-heavy interrogation room.

"Sae!" Yagami cried out, trying to get a hold of her, but she resisted, grunting and growling like a rabid animal as she repeatedly slammed Kaneshiro's head into the table, staining it with rapidly flowing blood from his mouth and nose. "Sae, snap out of it, dammit!" He grabbed her from behind, trying to lock her arms, but she wriggled against him like a fish in a net, her only verbal response being more wild, high-pitched grunts and cries.

With every slam, scratch, and punch, her soul was alight with validation, her vision clear, her brain swimming with dopamine. Kaneshiro's involuntary cries of pain were a sweet symphony to her ears; she barely even registered the man trying to restrain her, and gloriously failing. He managed to pick her up off the ground as he tried to carry her away, and she screeched like a banshee in protest, kicking her legs and flailing her arms until she pried herself away from him. Sae charged Kaneshiro again, catching a glimpse of fear in his face amidst her wrathful rage, and she hoped that look was similar to the fear her father must have felt when he saw the truck barreling towards her.

Sae hoped she could instill in him a fraction of the fear and pain he had forced on her beloved father.

She flipped the table over, flinging it to the side and pummeled Kaneshiro for a few seconds until he fell out of his chair. She was not even entirely sure what to do next, but her reflexes had her ready to pounce on him like a jaguar cornering her prey. But Yagami rushed in from behind and had to nearly tackle her to save Kaneshiro, an act he still felt quite conflicted over. But he knew this was the right thing, even though he had to take a few hard scratches to the shoulders to subdue her.

"Just hold on!" he yelled at her, holding her from behind as she struggled against him.

"YOU COCK-SUCKER!" she screamed at Kaneshiro, still mostly ignoring Yagami. "ROT IN HELL, YOU FAT FUCK!" Kaneshiro wiped what bit of the blood on his face he could as it poured out of his nose, watching the raving madwoman be dragged out the door.

As Yagami pulled her through the door, she finally stopped thrashing against him. Sae stood to her feet, breathing heavily and obviously trying to recompose herself. A part of Yagami wanted to ream and scold her for losing control like that, but he suppressed it, knowing just how much fury she must have been feeling in those brief but nearly deadly moments.

Sae clutched her chest as her breathing became difficult, the overwhelming adrenaline quickly dissipating in her system, and the reality of her actions settling on her like a car was being lowered onto her shoulders. Her vision blurred and her breathing became louder in her head than any now jumbled mess of sound around her. But a scratchy, elderly male voice did manage to pierce through the fog.

"Have fun in there, Niijima?" the voice of Murakata asked her from behind. She whirled around to look at him, terror widening her eyes as she saw her boss taking in her disheveled, panicky form with notable indifference. "My, my, you look about as rough as we all feel."

"S-sir…"

Murakata raised a hand to cut her off. "Don't worry, Niijima, we'll scrub the tapes. Even though that was the most gratifying thing I've seen all day."

"W… what do you mean?" she asked, completely befuddled.

"I had a feeling this would happen. To be honest, I'm surprised our fat friend is still alive in there. I figured that even if we weren't able to get any information out of him, at least this may prove therapeutic for you, Niijima. Was I correct?"

"I… I don't know," she admitted, her hands and legs beginning to shake with anxiety as she tried in vain to understand what was all happening.

"He may be a lout, but he is in quite high standing with the more street-faring yakuza of the area," Murakata explained as casually as when he delegated their morning assignments. "Having him be delivered to the penitentiary already roughed up is a good message for our new jailbirds. And you got some deserved payback, did you not?" Murakata sighed. "I still remember the day your father was taken from us, Niijima. We lost a very good man. One who stood against his kind until the bitter end. An inspiration to us all," he said wistfully. "As lovely as I'm sure that beatdown was for you, I must say that I did gain quite a bit of satisfaction from it too."

Yagami could hardly believe what he was hearing. "Sir, if I may, can we really endorse something like this? I'm speaking no ill of Niijima, but I believe this situation deserves to be approached with more gravity."

"And we certainly will, Yagami. Don't go thinking this is going to be a regular occurrence. Were it any other weekend, you two would be seeing me in my office for a long chat. But these are entirely extraordinary circumstances, boy. And he's just a fat prick in a sea of thugs, upstarts, and terrorists. I believe we can make an exception this once, given the exceptional nature of it all."

"Sir…"

"If you have any further complaints," Murakata continued, "please file a report in writing and we will examine it privately. For now, I will take the liberty of ordering you both return home to rest. You will be called upon when needed, unless you believe you are in need of an escort of any medical assistance, Niijima."

Sae considered it for a moment but knew that she just needed to be alone for a while. "No, sir. That will not be necessary."

"Give me a ring if you change your mind. But for now, go home, both of you. You're obviously both stressed enough as is. Please, just rest. Guards," he addressed the officers behind him, "remove this filth from my building." He waved toward Kaneshiro dismissively, who was still trying to stable himself and wipe the yet pouring blood from his nose and mouth. "I don't want him to infest my precinct with his stench any longer."

"Yes, sir," the police said and moved into the interrogation room to quickly, and roughly, detain Kaneshiro, who put up little resistance.

Without another word, Sae quickly excused herself, and Yagami made off after her, catching up to her as they made it back to the lobby. "You okay?" he asked when they were alone.

Sae hugged herself, unable to look at her friend. Her vision was still hazy, stars and colors dancing in her periphery, and her arms throbbed in pain from the recent physical exertion. "I don't think so," she muttered. "I did something terrible, Yagami."

"To a far more terrible person," he added. "Still, I don't know why Murakata even allowed you to interrogate him. It doesn't really add up."

"And I was just as stupid to ask for it in the first place."

"No, no," Yagami shook his head. "You're exhausted, emotional, and got the chance to exact some revenge on a man who wronged you. I'd probably have done the same thing in your shoes."

"But it was a lapse in judgment, nonetheless. I should have seen how bad an idea it was." She paused for a moment, but continued before Yagami could reply. "Did I hurt you?" she asked sorrowfully. "I barely remember much of what happened – it was all a blur. But I know you were trying to restrain me. Did I hurt you, Yagami?"

"Just a couple bruises on my legs. Nothing to worry about," he smirked reassuringly. "You sure can scream when you want to though. I think my ears hurt more than my legs."

"The adrenaline overtook me," she deadpanned, Yagami's attempt at a joke not swaying her at all.

"Right, right," he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Do you need me to escort you home?" he asked in a softer voice. "I'm happy to help if you need it."

Sae finally met his gaze, and he saw that she was trying not to cry. "Thank you, but I think I want to be alone for a while. I just want to… recuperate. I have a lot of things to mull through right now."

"I totally understand. Just… don't do anything rash, okay?"

Sae considered protesting his absurd insinuation that she would do anything "rash" or damaging to herself, but when reflecting on how she actually felt at the moment, she surmised it was not unwise for him to warn against such a possibility. "Okay," she whispered with a nod. "I'll… see you, Yagami."

"See you, Niijima."

Further words were deemed unnecessary by both, and they parted ways, with Sae seeming in much more of a hurry to leave. She was thankful that there were very few people on the road that night, as she constantly felt ready to fall asleep at the wheel, or on the verge of her wracked nerves causing an untimely twitch or spasm and sending her careening into a building or off the interstate. She felt entirely unfocused and addled, barely able to keep her mind on the road as she drove. She was doubly thankful that it was only twice that she came close to hitting the road barriers before reaching her apartment.

When she finally entered her apartment, she collapsed into bed but quickly felt her nerves flaring up again, rendering her unable to rest. The strong cocktail of vodka, cherry juice, something else she forgot immediately upon pouring it and setting it aside, and additional vodka helped somewhat, but not enough to keep her hands from shaking as she held the cup.

Sae watched some mindless realty television on her couch for a while, the intrusive memories of her outburst pushing into her mind less and less gradually over time, until she finally retired to bed, to be comforted by her ever-present, never judging companion in her bedside drawer. Though it still took some time before she could relax enough to focus on her own needs and let herself indulge in her bodily desires.

She had to turn her photo of herself and her family away to clear her head, feeling as if their smiling faces passed harsh judgment on her for her actions, her father and mother looking down on her from Heaven with scorn and disgrace. Sae guessed that they would have if they were still alive, and she would have still been sat down in the kitchen being lectured for her apparent stupidity like she was still a teenager making the slightest attempts at rebelling against the authorities in her life. Perhaps the briefest phase Sae had ever gone through, that was.

She cursed herself for her thoughts and actions, focused on her body, clutched her breast and buried her face in her pillow as she presented herself on all fours to an imaginary lover that began to take shape in her mind. She sorted through the many male, and some female, protagonists of her favorite romance novels and short stories that she would indulge in when she had the chance and energy after work, trying to find a suitable mental match that would provide her the outlet she needed.

And how she cursed herself more when the one that made her walls tighten, her inner thighs slick and wet, and her covered mouth moan was Gork Akechi.

At some point, hugging her naked self under the covers of her bed, sleep finally found her, and she dreamt of her mauling of Kaneshiro twice that night, both times waking her in a feverish sweat. Sae wondered where her sister was now, if she was alright. She wondered the same of Akechi, and it was a while before sleep took her again, though this time she slept far longer, dreamlessly – an indulgent sample of actual rest.

[Reviews are always welcome.]