Mrr. Tired.
Fun times in this chapter.
Still building up to get to the good stuff, though.
No Momoko with the evil kids in this one.
Gotta make you wait in suspense to see what happens to her.
Got three comments for the last chapter (no Loser, your double post does not count).
FIM-chan is saddened by that. (Though she appreciates the ones that took the time to do it. :3 She loves you. <3)
But she updates anyway, because Loser-chan will probably kill her if she doesn't.
(FIM-chan tried to go on silent author strike but was threatened.
Then she lost internet connection. Computer's out to get her too.)
Sleep now...
Enjoy~
[Chapter Forty-Two -- Bond]“Could you possibly walk a little bit slower?”
“
You could walk
faster.”
“Actually, I can’t. I’m walking pretty fast as it is. It’s not my fault you’ve got longer legs than I do…”
“Perhaps if you had kept up from the beginning you wouldn’t be in this position.”
I scowled at this beast of a girl that I was stuck with for the moment, but there wasn’t much I could do but try my best to struggle along behind her, because without her I’d have been stuck in a very shady part of the city… and, well… I had no trouble believing that if we ran into some lowlife that she’d be able to protect us both.
Still, other than that advantage… I couldn’t see anything else about her that was even remotely likable. So why Momoko could stand to be around her really was beyond me. She was rough and impatient, and not exactly people-friendly. I guess appearance-wise she was okay, but… I wasn’t interested. But then again, I had Maiha to think about, so there wasn’t really any reason
for me to be interested.
My head was still killing me, and I wondered if there was a chance I could pass out along the way. That would have been oh-so-convenient for her… She seemed to give up on keeping ahead of me after a while, though, and slowed down to match my pace, walking quietly beside me.
I actually couldn’t decide whether or not I was glad for that… She was quite a bit taller than I was, and very intimidating. And though she was looking straight ahead the entire time it felt like she had eyes in the side of her head that were focused intently on me and it was kind of… unnerving.
“Relax… I’m not
that frightening.”
I jumped a bit, startled by her voice. Could she read my mind or something?!?
“I’m not scared of you…” I replied in a tone that was a mixture of sharp and shaky—not very menacing at all—attempting to scowl at her again. Strangely, she seemed to be unaffected…
“Sure… Your eyes were getting so wide for a minute there that I wondered if they were gonna pop out or something… And, well… you’re already going to have fun explaining to Momoko what happened, so… I don’t think we need to add that on top of things.”
Ugh, how annoying… I was really glaring at her now, but she still never once actually looked in my direction. So I decided to finally mumble what was on my mind.
“I don’t know how she puts up with you…”
“Really? I was thinking the same thing about you and Maiha.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!?”
“You’re so obnoxious… so young. How old did you say you were again?”
“
Sixteen, thank you very much. I’m not that young and I’m most definitely
not obnoxious!”
“Complete polar opposite of Momoko… are you sure that the two of you are even related?”
“Alright then, let’s list off
your faults, shall we? You’re rude, a little violent, and what’s with the ‘me against the world’ attitude, huh? Definitely does
not fool me. And-”
Maasa stopped suddenly, grabbing my arm to pull me to an abrupt halt and turning me forcefully so that we were facing each other.
“You just don’t like me because you think I’m going to hurt Momoko somehow.”
I scowled. That definitely wasn’t it. I actually hadn’t thought about what was going on between them all that much. Momoko could take very good care of herself, and until she came home upset or crying or something like that, I wasn’t really concerned.
“That’s like saying you don’t like me because you think I’ll hurt Maiha-chan, and we both know that it would be the other way around in that kind of situation.”
“Then what’s your problem?”
“It’d just be nice if you’d treat me a little better, that’s all. I know we don’t know each other well, so you don’t have to like me, and I don’t have to like you. But with the way things are going, it looks like we’ll probably be seeing a lot more of each other, so we might as well build up some sort of tolerance level.”
“You won’t have to worry about that, because as soon as Momoko leaves, I’ll be gone, too.”
That… hit me pretty hard. We glared at each other for a bit before she roughly let go of my arm, stuffing her hands into her jacket pockets and turning to stare off down the street. I kept forgetting that my cousin’s stay here was temporary… that after the performance was over she’d be gone again. I suppose a foolish part of me hoped that somehow there’d be someway that she could stay here. But my apartment was really only meant for one person, and I was pushing it with my landlord by letting her spend just the two weeks in it with me anyway.
The only solution I could really see was if she were to keep dancing again permanently, but… was that something that
she wanted?
I sighed and looked over at Maasa, who had an unreadable expression on her face. I got the feeling that I wasn’t the only one who wanted Momoko to stay… But it made me curious about something…
“What exactly…
is going on between you two?”
“I… don’t really know.”
“What, haven’t you guys talked about it…?”
“Not… really. I’m not sure if I want to, either.”
That surprised me a bit. For a moment, it almost sounded like… maybe she was scared to find out just where their relationship could end up. Maasa didn’t look like the kind of person who would really be afraid of
anything.
“Well, what do you
want it to be?”
She groaned in frustration, narrowing her eyes at me before running a hand through that wild mane of hers.
“I don’t know…”
“It’s not that complicated a question. How do you feel about Momo-chan?”
“How is
that not complicated?”
“Just answer the question.”
“How ‘bout
you answer it first! How do
you feel about
Maiha?”
I felt a blush spread across my cheeks, and my eyes fell to the ground as a reflex. It didn’t make much sense for her to continue drawing parallels between her relationship and mine, since we were really different people, but… the answer seemed to be much clearer for me than it appeared to be for her.
“I like Maiha. A
lot. Probably more than I really need to. And even though she has her faults… if she were to ask me out I would say yes without hesitation. So see, I have no trouble admitting the way that I feel.
You know exactly what
you’re feeling, but you just can’t get yourself past that mental barrier in order to come out and answer the question the way that I have.”
Maasa had a mildly surprised expression on her face in response to that, but she soon replaced it with another scowl and looked away from me. I allowed myself to grin a little bit. Momoko wasn’t the only one with a talent for reading people…
“Well anyway… I hope you’re able to figure things out for yourself soon enough… Preferably before it’s too late, hm? But if we’re done talking about this, I’d like to get home soon… My head is killing me.”
She nodded quietly at me and we continued to walk in silence for the rest of the way, Maasa in deep contemplation, and I in painful suffering as the consequence to my actions last night.
Ah, Momo-chan~ You’re so lucky to have a cousin like me that’s willing to help give things a little push for you…------------
This part of town gave Nozomi the creeps. It wasn’t often that she or her teammates had to venture so far into the shadier area of the city, but the investigation she and Aibon had been assigned to called for them to do just that. She might have been a little less apprehensive about the job were they dressed like civilians, but she and her partner were in uniform, which meant that they stood out against their rough, decaying surroundings.
“Tell me again, Aibon…” The elder of the two whispered, tagging along close behind her companion and licking her lips nervously as she felt the eyes of a couple of punk kids who were hanging around next to a broken down car follow them dangerously while they walked.
Ai, sensing her partner’s nervousness, grabbed onto the other girl’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze in order to reassure her. She never let go, either.
“It’s just simple routine, Non-chan. We’ll just check out the scene, figure out what went down, and be back in the station before you know it. Piece of cake for you and I.”
“Maybe for you… I’m a little rusty, y’know… Yuko can’t even really afford to send us out anymore because we’ve been so short-handed…”
The younger female smiled at her rather identical friend, stopping to give the other girl a quick peck on the cheek. Nozomi immediately turned a bright shade of red, blinking at her partner in surprise.
“Nobody can figure stuff out like we can, Nono. Plus, it’s like riding a bike, you never forget. I’m sure it’ll still be just as easy for you now as it was back then.”
If you say so, Aibon…The two young women made their way towards the remains of a demolished house, picking a careful path through the pieces of wood and warped metal sticking up out of the earth at dangerous angles. Once they were closer towards the center of the once-dwelling, however, they began to move much slower, examining every inch of the ground below them for any kinds of clues.
Nozomi was the first to spot anything. Her eyes landed on a dark, splotchy stain not too far from her foot, and when her gaze wandered a little farther ahead, there was a trail that lead on ahead and had apparently started outside from a different place than where she and Ai had entered.
“Aibon…”
“Hm?” Instantly, the other girl was at her side, dark eyes widening at the trail. “Ah… I think this is what we’re supposed to be looking for… come on.”
The two of them advanced carefully along the thick blood stains on the ground, coming upon two large lumps of uneven earth that were clear signs something possibly human-sized had been covered under each of them. That’s when Nozomi started to panic just a bit.
“Um, when the report said dead bodies… I thought that it meant that we were going to actually see dead bodies. Not graves… If Yuko wants us to dig these up…”
“No… I don’t think she does… I think we can solve this without having to go to those kind of measures.”
“You won’t be solving anything.”
The duo quickly turned their heads to spot Maimi standing behind them a few yards away, accompanied by Saki on one side and Kanna on the other. Judging by how tense her body language was, the gang leader was terribly angry, but somehow she managed to keep her facial expressions from reflecting that, and instead was staring at the two detectives with just a hint of a warning in her eyes.
Nozomi’s hand went instinctively to the gun nestled in her belt, and Ai watched as Kanna’s hand twitched in a similar way, the younger female’s fingers slipping into her pocket for something that probably
wasn’t a piece of candy.
Before the situation could escalate into something much more dangerous, however, the gang leader turned her head only slightly, giving her subordinate a sharp look out of the corner of her eye, and almost immediately Kanna relaxed, allowing her arm to fall back limply at her side. Ai took that as a sign that the other girls weren’t looking for trouble if it could be avoided, and she carefully put a hand on her partner’s shoulder, watching as Nozomi reluctantly released her grip on the gun handle.
“Ah… you must be Yajima-san.”
“And you must be really, really stupid. Anyone with half a brain knows not to be wandering around in
my territory…” Maimi replied, narrowing her eyes at the two.
Nozomi snorted derisively, crossing her arms.
“Actually, the police don’t really consider you and the kids you take care of much of a threat… food theft and small crimes like that aren’t really high on our list of priorities right now.”
“Whatever. I don’t really care how much of a threat you guys
think we are… what I want to know is what the hell you’re doing here, snooping around the graves of people who were my friends.”
Upon hearing the tone in Maimi’s voice, Ai shot her partner a warning glance that said she was pushing it and stepped forward to take care of asking the questions.
“It’s part of our job to investigate civilian deaths… if there’s a murder, we have to learn all we can about it in order to make sure that other lives aren’t at risk of being taken, too.”
“Riiiiiiight. And it has nothing to do with the fact that the Miracle’s back in town?”
Ai grinned. “Well, I don’t know, you tell me. These were your friends… I’m sure you’d know how they died, hm? Perhaps for a little information, you could get us to leave and then we’d all be happy.”
The gang leader frowned, eyeing the older female warily.
“I don’t trust people like you. For police, you sure do a shitty job of keeping this city safe.”
“Well, with your help maybe we could be one step closer to getting rid of a big problem.”
“Do it yourself. I don’t owe you anything.”
Ai sighed, shrugging her shoulders a bit. “Well, I guess Non-chan and I don’t have much of a choice other than to take you in…” She nodded at her partner, who had her gun out and ready before any of the others could react. “See, as it is now, you’re obstructing justice by refusing to cooperate, and so I have to treat you and those two behind you just like any other suspects.”
Maimi bristled at that, and yet held her hands out to keep Saki and Kanna from moving forward. Knives and fists were no match for guns…
“So if I tell you what happened, you’ll leave us alone?”
“I can’t really guarantee that… but what I can tell you is that if you help us out, you can be sure that you and your girls won’t be at any risk of being thrown in jail tonight.”
“…Tell me what I have to do.”
-------------
Finally… After an hour or so of listening to ‘Are we getting close?’ and ‘I think I’m gonna throw up…’, we had made it to Sugaya’s apartment. I was so happy about it, that if I didn’t have to keep up my image of being cool and all, I might have bent down to kiss the sidewalk in front of the complex.
But… I also wasn’t so sure what Momoko would think about something like that. I was sure she probably wasn’t the jealous type, but you never know~
“Do you want to come in?”
I blinked, turning to face Sugaya, who was smiling at me in that adorably annoying way that I wasn’t even barely tolerant of yet. I had almost forgotten all about her while celebrating the joys of making it to the apartment. Almost. She wasn’t someone you could exactly ignore.
“Uh… What?”
“Do. You. Want. To. Come. In? Momo-chan would love to see you, I’m sure.”
I thought really long and hard about that for a moment. On the one hand, I really
was dying to see Momoko again. On the other, Sugaya would be there with us, which didn’t really amount to a lot of privacy as far as I could tell. Still… the urge to be in that calming presence again outweighed how opposed I was to the idea of being around Sugaya any longer than I had to be.
“Sure… if it’s okay with you, anyway.”
She rolled her eyes and nodded at me, motioning for me to follow her as she walked inside the building. We made our way up the stairs slowly, as the kid seemed to still be dealing with this beast of a hangover and was a little wobbly where climbing was concerned. Though, it could have been worse… at least she
was walking…
Somehow we managed to finally get into the apartment, though, and to say that I was disappointed to discover that it was devoid of the person I was anxious to see was… an
understatement.
Sugaya seemed to be equally dismayed, and she walked over to the table beside the bed, leaning over to pick up a little note that was stuck to the alarm clock. She seemed to be having some trouble deciphering what was written on it, and after a moment of watching her struggle, I groaned, snatching it out of her hands in order to read it aloud.
“Rii-chan…
Apparently you ran off at the amusement park and are now missing… So I’m out looking for you. If you get back before I do, don’t go anywhere, okay? I’ll be fine, and if I don’t have any luck I’ll come back before sundown. Hopefully I’ll have found you or you’ll have returned by then. I’m serious, though, if you read this and leave to come looking for me I’ll strangle you. So just stay put.
Love, Momoko.”I frowned, reading over the note again silently before looking over at Sugaya, who didn’t seem to really know what to think. She had a pretty guilty look on her face, though.
“I hope I didn’t worry her too much… She doesn’t even know her way around… I hope she’s okay…”
To be honest, I was hoping the same thing, since this city wasn’t exactly the safest place to be, and I actually wanted to leave right then to go out and bring Momoko back. But… I figured that she wouldn’t exactly be pleased with me were I to leave Sugaya alone, and I knew that if I tried to leave, the other girl would want to come with me.
Well… on the bright side… Momoko’s got enough common sense to keep herself out of trouble, right…?“What should we do?” Sugaya asked me, those big eyes of hers flooded with worry. Were I not immune to such charms, that kind of face probably could have gotten me to do anything.
“We’ll wait until she comes back. It’s what she wants you to do, right? And… since I’m not entirely sure I trust you to keep from running off, I’m going to stick around too.”
The kid bit her lip anxiously, but she didn’t seem like she was going to try and argue with me. That, and I think she was kind of glad that I wasn’t going to leave her alone by herself, either. I sighed inwardly.
Several more hours of endless fun with Sugaya. Oh boy.“So, uh… wanna watch some TV, then?”