[Replies]
@Llyloo: Here's the next part of the story!
@mayuki_daisuki: Mayu will finally get a chance to save Jurina! And oh my... You're not gonna drown on me! Don't make me be framed for the Origami Killer 2.0 version! (Instead of drowning in rainwater, it's your own tears created by this sad story. xD)
@Chanaline: Ahhhhh, Mayu is most likely going to get herself in danger here... alone...
@kurogumi: I'm sure that Mayu here wants to do anything in order to save Jurina at this point. And yes! It's suppose to be Mayuki (and does end up ruining the tension of whether or not Mayu and Yuki will come back together. xD) so we'll get to see them soon in the future~
@gek geki: First of all, welcome to Jphip! Especially to this fan fiction section of the forum.
Yeah, this fiction isn't quite on the comedic or even happy-go-lucky side.
@alexsher99: I wonder too? Will she save her or fail? What will happen? Many questions that remains to be unanswered. And here's an update!
Hai! I suppose another update doesn't hurt. I'm like half-asleep right now so yeah... (Almost midnight in my area right now)
Anyway, those who are wondering "WHERE DA HELL ISH MEH MAYUKI?!" then it'll occur very soon. (Hint: Two moar chapters!) I bet you're all looking forward to it, neh?
Enjoy reading through this chapter! (and random Shelby moment that we all needed and don't really care about. xD)
[Chapter 11]
Takahashi Minami was climbing up the stairs of an apartment. Each step that she took made an annoying and creepy creaking sound. Outside light shined through the clear window and into the area that she was in. As the agent went up the stairs, right behind her was none other than Lieutenant Blake. As much as she hated him and wanted to just toss him out the nearby window, he was her partner after all. She’s stuck with him the entire ride with this case. Oh how much Minami wished she could partner with someone like Sayaka or Kasai.
The two figures now stood in front of a door. There were the stairs still going upward, but they have reached their designated location. Faced with one of the two doors standing next to each other, Minami gave it a knock on the brown wooden surface. No response from the other side. The agent could feel the glare coming from the lieutenant behind her back. Glancing over her shoulder, she looked at him before knocking at the door once more. Again, no reply.
Giving up, Minami then backed away from the door. “No answer. We’ve wasted our time coming here…” She had her hands on her hips as Blake was seen leaning against the dirty white wall with his arms crossed. He tilted his head to his left just a tad bit. “Maybe we should have a little look inside anyway.”
“There’s nobody home.” Minami wasn’t actually sure whether there was someone or not. Maybe the individual they were looking for was just not answering at all. But Minami wasn’t the kind of person that would go against someone’s will unless it is needed. Blake pushed himself off the wall and slowly approached up to the door. There was a small pause before the sound of a loud crash was heard. It was produced from his foot coming into contact with the surface of the wooden door. It swung violently forward and nearly recoiled back into his face if it weren’t for Minami standing nearby. Blake turned his head to the left so he was able to face the agent. “There is now.”
Minami was stunned at his action while the man went inside. “I’m not sure that’s entirely legal,” she commented out loud, still standing outside. A couple seconds has passed and Blake’s head popped out from the corner of the room. “Call the cops then, sweetie.” Left with no choice, she followed him inside.
Left and right upon entering the house was quite surprising for the two authorities. Crosses and candles that were lit were seen literally everywhere. On top of the counter, the shelves, the drawers, the dining table. Just everywhere. Lights from the candles were the only lights being produced within the house aside from the outside lights in windows that were, well, not really seen in this place (due to the fact that they had cardboard keeping it tightly closed). There was also a haunting and chilling atmosphere that hung in the air, making Minami think about just leaving the room. Especially with the air quality within the room. It was just enough to make her want to open any available window just for some fresh oxygen to be put inside of her poor lungs. But with Blake’s presence here, she didn’t want to back out at all. She’s seen worse.
“Looks like Nathaniel Williams is a pretty religious guy…” Minami stated as she observed her surroundings. ‘Wow. This place really is giving me the creeps…’
“He’s a God-fearin’ idiot waiting for the end of the world,” Minami heard Blake throw a harsh remark as she examined her surroundings. “We questioned him a few months back because he was causing a disturbance in the park. He was ranting and raving, said he heard voices.” The shorter girl came over to the dining table and leaned down, seeing that there was a bible book with prayer beads resting on top of it. “Got this idea in his sick little head that I was the Anti-Christ and that I’d come to Earth to persecute him. Real twisted…”
‘I think your presence alone would persecute anyone…’ she rolled her eyes. Continuing to observe her surroundings, she couldn’t help but feel chills run down her spine. She walked over to a nearby area in the corner of the room where a group of candles were lit. Bending down, she began examining. ‘The candles are still lit. He should be back soon…’ Getting up from her position, she noticed that there were portraits of Jesus and a model of him on a cross in front of her. Her eyes gazed over the portraits that were hung on the wall. ‘This man really is a religious believer of Jesus. Rare to find someone that dedicated to a religion belief here in Japan…’
Minami moved onto the next room, met with walls covered with writing. All which were quotations from the Bible. Just the way the room was set up is like a haven for an overly religious monk. Still looking around, there was nothing that would interest her or even the case alone. Bathroom had nothing. Cabinets within the rooms had nothing. The kitchen sort of had nothing. The only thing that Minami would note is the amount of medication bottles found. Many of which she hasn’t even seen before in her life and only would show up in the medical textbook once. Her eyes trailed over to the sink and nearly flinched at the sight.
The plates were in the sink. That wasn’t out of the ordinary. However, the only thing that was completely and one hundred percent out of the picture was the substance on the plates and sink. She couldn’t see well in the dark but the smell of metal could be sensed. Along with it was the color red on those objects and equipment. Possibly they could be blood. But whose? Minami didn’t want to figure out and backed away from the sink, scrunching her face in disgust. ‘The guy’s taking a break from reality I could tell… Holing himself up here in this crazy apartment…’ Shaking her head, she walked away from the kitchen and back into the main room.
‘All the signs of a mystical-obsessive neurosis compounded by a persecution complex…’ While Minami walked back and forth, pondering with her thoughts, she heard the front door open. Blake from behind her could be seen rushing towards the entrance way.
An old man wearing a dirty white collared long sleeve shirt and brown vest was seen entering into the house. He had a bag of grocery in one hand and dropped it on the ground. It seems that he noticed something was amiss in his home. “Good timing, Nathaniel,” Blake’s voice boomed behind the poor man’s back. “Just the man we’re looking for…” Minami quickly took this chance to also appear the opposite of where Blake was standing as Nathaniel turned around to face the lieutenant.
“Angels and minsters of grace, defend us…”
“Er.. I’m agent Takahashi Minami, FBI. I’d like to ask you a few questions.” Upon hearing Minami’s voice, the man did another quick to turn so he was able to face both Blake and Minami at the same time.
The man simply stared at Minami. His expression was serious as he spoke. “As God is my witness, I haven’t done anything. I’m innocent.” The tone of his voice and the way he was acting. He was scared. Of course. Suddenly being greeted by a police officer and not to mention an FBI agent is more than enough to unnerve someone. Not to mention a short girl that looks seriously but friendly at the same time. “Relax, nobody’s accusing you of anything. We just want to talk.” Minami hoped to calm down the man, which she was somewhat successful at doing.
Nathaniel had the look on his face that he didn’t like the two figures. But he wasn’t doing anything or making any attempt to run. So Minami began questioning him.
“Why all the crucifixes? Are you afraid of something?”
“The hour is nigh and the wrath of God shall strike men down! I’m preparing for the end of the world.”
There was a pause before Minami began asking the next question. She was forcing her eyebrows to stay put and resist the temptation to raise them up into the air. ‘End of the world? Really. 2012?’
“Nathaniel, do you remember where you were last Tuesday at 4:30 PM?”
“Here. I was here… I was praying all day.”
“Was there anybody with you?”
“No… No, I was alone.”
“Where do you work, Nathaniel? Do you have a job?”
“My sole-occupation is praying to the all-merciful lord for the salvation of humanity.”
“What about the voices, Nathaniel?” Blake’s voice interrupted the flow of their conversation. He was demanding answer from the religious man. “Do you still hear voices?”
No reply from the man. Nathaniel lowered his head, looking at the ground in silence. That ticked off Blake for his approached the man. His tone of voice became dangerous and began accusations. “We know who talks to you, don’t we, Nathaniel? We both know who talks to you.”
Nathaniel was clearly shaken, his voices coming out word by word in a harsh tone. “Don’t… speak… that name!”
“What does he say to you, Nathaniel?”
“Blake, what are you doing?” Minami was trying to interfere into their conversation, hoping to steer the man’s attention away from Blake, who was interrogating him. Sadly, the two men ignored the shorter girl; only focused on each other.
The man shook his head, still looking down on the ground. “I-I can’t talk about it. You mustn’t talk about it…”
“He orders you to go find new prey, doesn’t he?-”
“That’s enough! Leave him alone Blake!”
“-He needs more and more, hm? Am I right, Nathaniel?”
“No…. Nooo. You mustn’t mention him. Please. You’ll bring him here!”
Again, Minami for the third time tried to stop Blake with a failed attempt. Blake was becoming more demanding, his voice becoming harsher and harsher with each word spat out of his mouth.
“He told you to go and find that kid in the park-”
“Carter, shit, are you out of your mind!?”
“-The voices tormented you all night long. You wanted them to stop, didn’t you, Nathaniel?”
“Stop! Stop, that’s enough!” the poor man begged, his body still shaking at the words being thrown at him. But that didn’t stop Blake at all. Not even lighten the words that exited out. Instead, it just made the situation worse. The lieutenant grabbed the shirt’s collar of Nathaniel and brought their face close to the point their noses were almost touching. His iron grip kept ahold of the collar. “So you obeyed them to make them stop. You took that boy with you and you drowned him, isn’t that right?”
“No. Nooo. Stop! Stop!” His cry of pleas was soon cut off when Blake threw him down on the ground in front of him. A slam was heard resonating in the air when his back came into contact with the hard floor.
“You killed them, didn’t you Nathaniel? Are you gonna confess, you bastard?”
Before Minami knew it, Nathaniel stood up with a gun in his hand. And that gun was aimed at Blake. Reacting quickly, Minami too brought her gun up into the air and pointed it at Nathaniel.
“You are the Anti-Christ,” he uttered as he glared at Blake.
“Put down the gun, Nathaniel!” Minami called out to him, only to no avail.
“I shall dispatch you to your father in Hell! He is the son of Satan! He was sent to Earth to destroy us!”
Blake quickly looked over at Minami while being pointed at blank range. “Shoot, Takahashi! For Christ’s sakes! Shoot!”
From the event that is unfolding at hand, Minami surely is stuck in a bad position. She had a choice whether to shoot the man or not. Whether to have Nathaniel’s life severed or Blake’s. As much as she hated the lieutenant, his life clearly is in danger and she cannot allow that. Not at all. Not a single life to be cut off today. Gritting her teeth together, she hoped to persuade the man to lower his weapon. “You’re not gonna kill the Anti-Christ with a revolver, Nathaniel. He’s much too powerful for that.” Minami knew that no other words would convince this man. This religious man to be precise. Minami was going to speak more when Blake interrupted her.
“Anti-Christ my ass! Get the gun outta my face!”
“Keep calm. Everything is gonna be fine, Nathaniel.”
Nathaniel’s head whipped back and forth rapidly between Minami and Blake. His gun still aimed high and not budging. “Demon, you shall regret confronting the emissary of the Lord! You shall know divine power!”
“Now… gently put the gun down on the floor…” Minami wanted to go on a more gentler approach. Doesn’t seem like anything is working on this guy right now.
“Christ all-powerful, defend us in our battle with the forces of Evil, protect us from the cunning and wiles of the Demon! May God Almighty manifest the power of His Empire and may Divine Power cast Satan and all the other spirits that prowl the world in search of souls into the darkest depths of Hell.”
“Concentrate on my voice, Nathaniel. Listen only to my voice!” She was becoming desperate for the man to stop. “Back away slowly!” It took a couple of seconds before Nathaniel did as he was told. He slowly took a few steps backward, his gun still raised up in the air. Minami next statement then proposed that he drop the gun. “Now drop the gun. Drop it, Nathaniel.” Again, he did as he was told like an obedient child. Maybe it was because Minami had the gun too at blank range with him. Or maybe it was because she was a girl. An FBI agent? A person that didn’t resort to force like Lieutenant Blake here? Who knows.
“Put your hands on your head!” She eyed him carefully as the man brought his two hands up on top of his head. “Turn around!” Once more, he did as he was told. Blake, now safe from any sort of weapon aiming to cut off his lifeline, came up from behind Nathaniel and placed his hands on top of his shoulders; ready to handcuff the religious man and take him away. But something happened. Something that nearly caused Minami to pull the trigger at Nathaniel.
The man quickly whipped around in Blake’s grasp and pulled out an object.
“Motherfucker!!” Blake’s voice exclaimed his surprise and backed away a couple steps rapidly. Minami was just about to pull the trigger in fear of the man pulling out a weapon that would harm Blake. But it wasn’t that at all. Nathaniel simply was holding out a wooden cross in his hand. Holding it out proudly and aimed it at Blake. “In the name of the Lord, I exorcise thee, Satan!”
A pause. A short, but relieving pause. Then a sigh from the agent’s direction. She lowered her gun and watched Blake handcuff the man with a stern expression. “Okay freak, the show is over. You’re under arrest.” After securely getting him in those cuffs, he walked out with the man in his grasp. “Pretty damn cool, under the circumstances,” he added and stopped for a brief second. Blake glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. “I woulda just shot him.”
Minami licked her lips and crossed her arms; gun still in her left hand. “A gun isn’t the answer to every problem, Blake.” She wiped away the sweat that was collecting on her forehead with one of her sleeves.
“Heh. Maybe not, but most of the time it helps.”
---------
10:37 AM. During this morning, Shelby was seen driving in his white old fashioned car. The kind of car you would only find back in the 1980s. As he drove through a neighborhood where each house were actually distant from each other at a good amount of space, he slowly approached to his targeted destination. He came upon a small, one story home. Trash can was flipped on its side and the content were spilled out. Not picked up at all by anyone. Shelby drove the car up near the garage and parked it. Quickly stepping out of his car, he slammed the driver’s seat door and examined the house.
The house was the kind of house that wasn’t found in any sort of rich neighborhood. But it wasn’t as poorly done in poorer parts of the district. There was a reason to why he had to stop by inside of the house. A reason that concerns to the case he has at hand about the Origami Killer.
Coughing into his hand, he walked over to the front entrance door. He knocked on it, but found that there was no response. Tried ringing the doorbell and opening it. Not working at all. That prompted him to walk all the way to the back of the house to see if there was a back door. And true, there was one. He approached up to it and to his surprise, was already unlocked. ‘Something feels off,’ he told himself before pushing it forth. Shelby peek his head inside of the house, looking left and right only to find no one. Or sort of. There was the sound of a baby crying echoing throughout the house. “Anybody home?” he called out. “Mrs. Bowles?” Still no answer other than the wails of the baby.
Finally taking a step inside of the house, he closed the door behind him and sighed loudly. Shelby wanted to get rid of the baby’s crying. Not because he hated baby. It was only because he didn’t want them to cry. So going into the living room where furniture, tables and a television were seen, a baby crib sat on the right side of the room. The crying was heard emitting from that location. Coming over, Shelby’s expression softened when he saw the little kid. “Hello, little cutie! You’re looking for your mamma?” The baby simply waved their hands back and forth, still crying. Shelby scanned around his surrounding and found no sight of Mrs. Bowles. He surely knows that this baby belonged to her. So why wasn’t she here, caring for it?
Then he remembered seeing a white note laying on the ground when he entered the house. Telling the baby that he would be right back, he turned around and walked over to the note. Shelby kneel down, his right fingers’ tip brushing against the note. There was a brief note that got straight to the point. Written in neat cursive with a black inked pen.
‘It’s too hard. I can’t stand it anymore. Take care of my baby.’
“Oh, Jesus! Wait a minute,” he muttered under his breath, eyes widening at the situation at hand. “This can’t be good at all. Not good.” Quickly getting up, he immediately noticed multiple beer and wine bottles on top of the coffee table beside the note. ‘God no. She can’t really be doing it.’ Without wasting any precious moment, he quickly traveled through the house. First heading straight towards the nearest room he could find. In one move, he opened the white door only to find a bedroom and another door that could possibly lead to the bathroom. The baby’s crying heard in the background.
“Mrs. Bowles? Mrs. Bowles, are you there?” he questioned with a nervous tone. There was no answer within the bathroom. He’s truly afraid that he might be too late. Not leaving him with any choice, he decided to use brute force to open the door. Shelby used his shoulder, slamming it against the door. Going once, going twice. It took the third try to burst open the door. Stumbling forward, he caught his balance and turned his view over to the bath.
His eyes opened even wider from horror. “Aw shit!” The woman that he was looking for; an American woman that resided here in Japan that he was looking for was in the bath unconscious. Her eyes were closed and head rested against the back of the white bath. She was dressed in a white nightgown, water up to the lower part of her arms. And blood. There was blood seen. Shelby could immediately tell that they were fresh for the blood within the water barely dispersed evenly on both sides of her body.
“Mrs. Bowles! Mrs. Bowles, can you hear me? Wake up!” He lifted her right arm up and saw a huge gash created on her wrist. The gash that only suicidal victims would create in order to cause death upon themselves. “Wake up!” Trying to stay calm despite what was going on, he took a full minute to carry her out of the bathroom. Her wet body dripped of a dark pink-ish color due to the mixture of blood and H20 together. Not bothering to think, he gently placed her down on the nearest bed (supposedly thinking that it is hers). After adjusting and fixing Mrs. Bowles’s body position, he then said, “I’m gonna call an ambulance-“
“No… I… I don’t wanna go to the hospital…. Please….”
Shelby was surprised to find the woman suddenly awake before his eyes. But he understood what she wanted and respected her wish. “You got something ‘round here I can dress this wound with?”
“Yeah… I think so…”
“Okay then. Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
As the lady rested on her own bed, Shelby went back inside of the bathroom. His eyes examined around and caught sight of the cabinet up above the clean, white sink. He came up to it and opened up the cabinet’s door. ‘Let’s see… I need this, and this and this.’ The detective grabbed all of the medical equipment that he needed and rushed over to the wounded woman on the bed. “I’m here for you Susan. You’ll be alright… I’ll take care of you.”
Beginning to take care of her wound, he applied pressure to the huge cut on her wrist. He could hear her stifle a gasp from such sudden force upon the sensitive area. His facial expression darkened as he dressed the wound, worried about her health. “Stay with me, Susan. Susan, do you hear me? Susan, stay with me. Can you hear me? Stay with me, okay?” He wanted to make sure that she doesn’t slip back into her unconscious self or even worse, die on him. “Come on…”
After a short, but agonizingly long for the two figures, event, it was over. Shelby leaned back and observed the fresh white bandage that kept the blood from flowing out any further on Susan’s wrist. Sighing loudly with relief, he looked at her. “There. I’ve done what I can and hopefully that should stop the bleeding. Luckily the wounds aren’t too deep.” Noticing that the young married woman didn’t answer him or even reply back, he stopped speaking for a second.
“Hey…” he placed his left hand on top of her right shoulder. “How are you feeling? Are you okay?”
“…My baby.”
‘Huh?’ He was confused for the moment when she suddenly sat up from the bed, stating her concern about the baby. “My baby needs me.”
Shelby had to push the younger woman gently back down on the bed while getting off the edge of the bed. “Right, you stay there. I’ll take care of the baby for you, Susan, okay?”
“Do you know what to do? With a baby, I mean…”
The private detective couldn’t help but want to chuckle out loud even in a situation like this. Maybe because of his age and stereotypical opinion that he’s a man made her somewhat concerned with caring about a baby. “I’m a private eye. There’s nothing I can’t do.”
“Okay then… Her name is Emily.”
He bobbed his head and flashed a small smile at her direction. “Gotcha.” He left the room and didn’t come back for a good ten minutes, busy caring for the baby. Feeding and changing her diaper to be exact. While he was away, he was taking very good care of the baby. Taking care of Emily till she fell asleep after rocking her back and forth gently. When he returned back, he saw Susan sitting on the edge of the bed. Waiting for him to return. “Thanks for looking after my baby…. I honestly didn’t want to leave her…” While she spoke, Shelby sat by her left side, listening to her story.
“I just couldn’t cope anymore.” A deep breath. “Just… not having Jeremy around… He was such a good boy… Can’t understand why anyone would want to hurt him…”
“Do you take care of this baby on your own? Doesn’t Jeremy’s father live with you anymore?”
“He disappeared… The day after Jeremy… I don’t know what happened to him… Maybe… Maybe he couldn’t take it… Ever since I had to look after Emily all on my own and… I couldn’t do it anymore.”
Shelby’s expression softened and felt sympathetic for her loss. “I understand…. I really do understand… Did your husband say anything before he disappeared? Did he leave a note or something?”
“No… He left the house without a word and… There was just the cellphone.”
“A cellphone?”
“Yeah. I found a cellphone in his dresser. I’m sure it wasn’t his. I’d never seen it before… I tried to turn it on but it didn’t work.”
“Do you still have it?”
“Yes. It’s… It’s in the drawer in the living room. You can have it if you like. I’m sure it’s of more use to you than to me…”
“Do you have any family or anybody to help you?”
“Yeah, my mother… I didn’t want to ask her for anything. We don’t’ really get along. But I guess I’m out of options.”
“Well, look after yourself… and Emily.”
“I will. I promise.”
Then with those last words, he waved her farewell and walked out of the bedroom. As he made his way out, he went straight to the living room and searched through the drawers for the cellphone she has mentioned. Going through a couple of them, he finally found it. In the top drawer of the desk, he saw a cellphone resting alone inside of it. (A cellphone closely similar to Mayu’s) He picked it up with one hand and pressed the center button. It turned on, but there was just static. Shaking it up and down a bit, he made a soft ‘hmmm’ with curiosity. He wonders to himself why the phone was left like this. Guess he’ll have to figure it out during his private time in his office.
Before taking his leave, he came over to Emily’s crib and patted her on the arm. “You take care of your mother, okay?”
Next chapter will focus on Mayu! You do not know how tough it is writing the next chapter...
Topic: How Far Are You Prepared To Go? [Mayuki] - Chapter 25 [Update: 07/16/14] (Read 55530 times)