-Faith, Love, and Forgiveness - Chapter Fourteen: Judas-
Suki-Plex Cinema - The next evening
It didn't take Nana long before she understood the appeal of going out to watch a movie over just watching it at home. Though it was a little crowded, it had an almost casual atmosphere that reminded her of watching TV and sharing snacks with her family at home.
"What do you want from Concessions?"
Their passes didn't include refreshments, but Yuka was happy to pay for them. While waiting in line, Lucy was approached by several men trying to hit on her, but every time they did, she simply told them she already had a boyfriend. This usually ended their attempt at asking her out, but one of them ignored it and persisted anyway.
"I just told you I already had a boyfriend. You're wasting your time."
"Who? This guy? Come on, baby... you can do better than-."
"I'm not your "baby"... Get lost." she rudely interrupted.
Eventually, the man gave up and walked away. Lucy watched him wander off, smiling when Kouta put an arm around her waist.
"You ok?"
The pink-haired girl nodded and leaned against his shoulder. "It's just some asshole hitting on me, Kouta. I'm used to it."
"She better be by now." Yuka teased.
After nearly twenty minutes, they were finally able to go sit down in the theater. Nana had picked a vampire movie called "Underplanet", despite her not knowing what a vampire even was, simply because she thought the female lead was pretty.
"She certainly has a thing for black leather." Kouta remarked. "Though I have no idea why her entire wardrobe is made of it."
"Do you think Nyu would look cute dressed like that?" Mayu innocently asked.
The couple looked at each other and shook their heads, both of them replying "Nope" at the same time.
"I don't think I could wear something so restricting." Lucy remarked.
"It DOES look hard to move around in..." Yuka agreed.
Twenty minutes later
"So vampires live off blood?"
Yuka motioned for her to be quiet, but nodded her head.
"ONLY blood? They can't eat regular food?" she asked, much quieter this time.
"No." Yuka whispered.
Nana shrugged and happily munched on the chocolate chip cookies she got at Concessions. "Those vampires don't know what they're missing..." she whispered.
Lucy smiled in amusement. According to Mayu, she'd been to the movies before, but only as Nyu. From what she'd heard, she seemed to like it, but made a huge mess with her popcorn and screamed bloody murder anytime there was a jumpscare.
As the movie reached the halfway point, Kouta excused himself to the bathroom. Leaving the crowded theater, he made his way to the Cinema's only bathroom, located in the front lobby. When he was finished, he started heading back to the theater, but stopped when he noticed a young woman arguing with an employee at Concessions.
"What do you mean ¥5,200?! The last time I was here it only cost ¥3,500!"
"I'm afraid our prices have gone up. I know it sucks, but I don't set them."
The woman started looking in her purse, but could only scrape up about ¥3000. With a look of pure humiliation, she quietly told him she didn't have enough to afford it.
"Give her what she wants, I'll pay for it."
When she turned around to thank him, she got the surprise of her life.
"Oh, hey there, Miss Arakawa. I haven't seen you in forever."
'Oh my God! It's him! I can't believe it!'
"Yeah, I've... I've had a lot going on, umm...?"
"Kouta."
"Kouta... Konishi?"
"Kurosawa."
"Kurosawa! Right!"
Kouta and Arakawa made small talk as they waited for her order. She needed to find out his address, and racked her brain to figure out a way to get it without appearing suspicious.
"I thought you moved to Kyoto?"
"Nope, I'm still in Kamakura." he replied.
"At those new apartments, right?"
Kouta shook his head. "I'm still living at Kaeda House."
"I thought that was a restaurant?" Arakawa casually remarked. Kouta explained that it USED TO be a restaurant, but wasn't one now.
"Here you go, Miss."
Taking her soda and popcorn, she thanked him for buying them for her. As soon as she got back to the theater, the first thing she did was pull out her cell phone and call Kakuzawa's direct line.
"It's me..." she said after he picked up. "I've found the other witness."
"Excellent! What is his location?"
"I don't know the street address, but he's living in an old restaurant called "Kaeda House".
"Are you sure that's the right name?"
When she confirmed it was, the line went silent for a few seconds. Then, Kakuzawa's voice came back and informed her he'd found the address.
"I'll have him picked up tomorrow afternoon. You'll need to lure him outside."
"What?! Why?! You got his address, just send security after him!"
"That would attract far too much attention. You've got to lure him out, understand?"
"Yes, Sir..."
"Good. We'll notify you when the team's in position."
"Sir... um... y-you don't plan to harm him, do you?"
"That depends on what he knows. Either way, it's nothing for you to be concerned with."
After several moments, she quietly asked if he was going to keep his end of their deal.
"I will, yes... though I might be in the mood for a... "debriefing"... before you go."
The scientist shuddered in revulsion, but didn't protest. If she had to be Kakuzawa's plaything one last time, fine. She was getting out of there tomorrow anyway, so her best option was to just go along with it.
"I understand. Goodnight."
Arakawa hung up and sighed. She tried to just push the thought of was she was doing out of her mind, but found that the more she tried, the harder it became.
'I wonder if this is how Judas felt right before he betrayed Jesus...'
A fitting comparison, seeing as how they were both eating food provided by the person they were about to fuck over for personal gain.
Back in the Underplanet theater, Kouta quietly told Yuka who he'd just run into.
"I thought she moved?" Yuka whispered.
"Yeah, she thought the same thing about me."
"Why would she think that?" Yuka asked in confusion.
Kouta shrugged, and the incident was quickly forgotten.
When the movie was over, the five Kaeda House residents boarded the bus home, blissfully unaware that their lives were all about to be turned upside down. When Arakawa returned to her hotel room, she packed what few belongings she had and went to bed, trying not to think about what was going to happen tomorrow. She had planned to tear up the confession, but changed her mind. By the time anyone found it, she'd be rich and on her way out of the country.
Though she was happy to finally be leaving that hell-hole of an Institute behind, she already knew she was going to hate herself for the rest of her life.
Kaeda House - The next afternoon
When Arakawa knocked on their door, it was opened by a beautiful, pink-haired girl wearing a black, pleated knee-length skirt with a five-button, off-white, short-sleeve top. It was a bit tight-fitting, and had about a centimeter of pink lace bordering the neckline.
"Can I help you?"
Arakawa didn't even notice the horns and unusual hair and eye colors, probably because she was staring at the ground.
"Um... I'm sorry to bother you, but is Kouta here?"
Lucy raised an eyebrow, but told her to wait there for a moment. A minute or two later, the Diclonius returned with her boyfriend.
Despite having plenty of experience with Diclonii, it didn't seem to register that one of them was literally standing right in front of her.
"Miss Arakawa? Is something wrong?"
"Actually, yeah... I really hate to show up so unexpectedly, but do you know how to change a tire? One of mine had a blowout, and I tried to do it myself, but I don't really know what I'm doing, so... could you help me? My car's only a couple of blocks from here."
"Sure." he replied. When he asked Lucy if she wanted to come with him, the scientist nearly had an anxiety attack. The presence of another person would only make this already sketchy situation even worse.
"I can't, I'm helping Yuka cook dinner."
Arakawa had to really struggle not to make her relief obvious.
"It's OK. I'll be back soon." he replied. The couple kissed and went their separate ways; Lucy back inside, and Kouta down the street with the mousey lab assistant.
When she walked back inside, she made a quick bathroom run before going back to helping Yuka.
"Who was at the door?"
"Some girl wanting to see Kouta." Lucy answered.
Yuka grinned teasingly at the pink-haired girl. "Oh? Usually, this is the part where girlfriends are supposed to get jealous."
The Diclonius giggled and shook her head. "It was some Arakawa woman... It seemed like he knew her."
"Arakawa?" Yuka asked in surprise. "What did she want?"
"She said her car had a flat tire and needed help changing it."
Yuka's change of expression immediately made Lucy nervous.
"Arakawa doesn't HAVE a car. She doesn't even have a license."
"How do you know that?" the Diclonius asked.
"Arakawa's license was revoked after she was diagnosed with narcolepsy. I remember her bitching about it right before she disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Lucy asked.
"She was Professor Kakuzawa's lab assistant at the University until right before you left Kaeda House. After that, she kind of just vanished. Then last night, Kouta said he ran into her while we were at the movies."
Hearing this only made Lucy's growing dread even worse.
"How did she even know where you live?"
Yuka paused, scratching her head in confusion.
"You know? That's a good questi- Hey! Nyu! Where are you going?!"
Her yelling alerted Nana and Mayu, and both girls came running.
With Yuka and the others right behind her, Lucy ran into the street yelling Kouta's name.
"Try calling him!" Mayu suggested.
As Yuka tried calling, only Nana seemed to notice that a helicopter had just taken off. Kouta's smartphone rang several times, and when he finally answered, all she could hear was a loud rush of wind as the aircraft passed overhead.
"Did he answer?" Lucy asked.
"I don't know... I couldn't hear anything!"
"Hey!" Nana yelled. "That's the helicopter the Institute used to fly me to Kamakura!"
"Seriously?! How can you be sure?!" Mayu asked.
The Sipelit pointed to the D.R.I. insignia on the rear of the aircraft. As the helicopter changed course, the girls saw something fall and hit the pavement not far away. When they ran to it, they made a gut-wrenching discovery.
"That's Kouta's cell phone!" Yuka gasped.
Without even thinking, Lucy reached out with her vectors and seized the landing gear before the pilot had time to climb out of reach. Inside the copter, red interior lights began to flash as an audible alert began sounding.
"What's happening?!" Arakawa yelled.
"I don't know! We're losing altitude!"
The helicopter shuddered violently as the alarms continued blaring. On the ground, Nana was desperately pleading for the older Diclonius to let go.
"Lucy, you gotta stop! If that thing crashes, it will KILL Kouta!"
"She's right! Listen to her! Please!" Yuka begged.
Just when Nana thought she was going to have to physically stop her, Lucy let go and dropped to her knees as she started to cry. Inside the helicopter, the alarms suddenly went silent, and the flashing lights ceased. The pilot climbed higher, and in seconds, the aircraft disappeared.
"Where are they taking him?!" Mayu asked as Yuka tried to calm a hysterically sobbing Lucy.
"Probably to the Institute. It's not far, but it's on an island." Nana replied.
Mayu took Yuka's phone and called the only person she could think of that could help...
Kamakura Beach - Thirty minutes later
"HELL NO!"
"But Bando...!"
In desperation, Mayu had called the gruff mercenary, claiming that she needed an enormous favor, but didn't say what until he actually showed up.
He was... well... "less than enthusiastic" when he found out.
"But Bando!" Nuthin'! This is the kinda shit you have police for!"
"They're not gonna believe us! Even if they do, by then, it'll be too late!" Mayu argued.
"Me and the Institute didn't really part on the best terms, kid. Besides, this isn't like breakin' into your high school. These people got guns and security out the ass! You're never gonna get in there!"
"We have to try!" Yuka replied. "Kouta's going to DIE if we don't!"
"Look, I-"
Before he finished his sentence, Lucy cut him off by desperately clutching his arm.
"Please... I'm begging you... please..."
For a moment, he found himself lost for words. Seeing someone as ruthlessly lethal as her crying and pleading was more than a little shocking, to say the least.
"...Do you really love this guy that much?"
Lucy just looked up at him, nodding as tears continued falling from her eyes.
"He's everything to me... I can't lose him now, he's all I have. Bando, please..."
He looked down and sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I just know I'm gonna regret this shit..."