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I wondered about a wedge... but didn't expect it from you!!! I didn't even know you were awake, you stealth girl you.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the update!
Chapter 44“Hey, young lady, are you all right?”The voice as if out of a dream came muffled to her ears. Her body seemed mobile now, but since she was barely able to hear she dared not open her eyes.
She felt a hand shake her, and a woman spoke up,
“I hear an ambulance on its way. I’m sure they’ll take care of her, officer. Maybe you should check if you can get to anyone else yet?” The voice still seemed garbled to her ears, and her throat tightened that they still didn’t seem to be working right, but she also began to hear a faint siren in the distance.
“There is no one else,” the man she heard first said grimly.
“Just that girl who was strangely unhurt… I think this one was thrown aside from the impact somehow. The kitchen staff who were in the back seem all right as well.”“Are you sure, officer?” the woman asked, panic rising in her voice.
“Maybe you should just check…”Her throat still tight, Saki slowly opened her eyes, unsure if she wanted to see what was going on around her.
“She’s awake!” said another woman who hadn’t spoken yet. “Look!” With opening her eyes and fully adjusting to the world again, her hearing seemed to improve, but everything still sounded as if she were wearing earplugs.
“Just rest easy, Miss,” a police officer said as he knelt beside her. “You’ve been through quite a shock.”
“Officer, I think this is hardly the time to make jokes!” the woman who’d been badgering him said.
The officer blinked and peered up at her. “I didn’t. Ma’am, I don’t make jokes.” From the man’s flat voice, Saki believed him.
“I…” she said finally, a croak from her throat, and attention turned back to her. “I can’t hear very well…”
“It must have been the impact,” the officer said thoughtfully. “A lightning strike is an explosion just like any other.”
A lightning strike…Memory flooded back to her, and her hand grabbed harshly at the officer’s wrist. “Miya…” she said, “Is she okay?”
“She must mean the other young girl,” one of the women said knowingly.
“She’s fine,” the officer said kindly, if still in seriousness. “My partner is interviewing her right now about the incident. Damaging lightning strikes do happen sometimes, but…” He glanced with apprehension up at the others surrounding them, but Saki hardly noticed.
All she cared about was that Miya was safe. Lying back and closing her eyes again, she took a deep, rasping breath that felt like her first one in ages, but then began a hacking coughing fit.
“Careful,” the officer said, patting her shoulder. “You probably still have dust in your lungs. The paramedics are just about here to tend to you and your friend, even if she doesn’t look like she has a scratch on her.” Indeed, the sirens had been increasing in volume the whole time, and just then began slowing to a low growl. “Actually, here they are. Just stay still.”
Doesn’t look like she has a scratch on her? she wondered as she coughed. But Miya was right with her…
“Mo… mo!” she hacked, getting the syllables out, though the bystanders seemed to misinterpret what she was saying.
“Here they come, Miss,” the officer said, and rose as two men dressed in paramedics uniforms took his place beside her.
They kept her prone while conducting a thorough checkout, and attached an oxygen mask to her mouth to help her breathe for the time being. As she began breathing more slowly and lightly into it, her cough almost immediately subsided, for which she was grateful. However, she still couldn’t talk well.
“Mm-mm…” she tried to say, but it took a few minutes for them to let her up and look around.
She stared in shock at the carnage.
The café where she and Momoko had been enjoying their tea just… wasn’t there anymore, except for perhaps the back half of the building visible through doors that were heavily damaged. Paramedics and officers were now picking through the rubble, and she almost became sick when she saw one pull a limp, bloodied arm up out of it.
Turning away from the horrible sight, she peered around at the emergency vehicles surrounding them and the silent crowd that had gathered to watch from even further back. Seeking one of the ambulances, her eyes fixed on Momoko standing before a paramedic in front of its open back doors, seeming to try to fend him off.
If she was the “other girl” the ones who helped her had been talking about, then…
Ripping down her mask, she cried out,
“Where’s Miya?!” before falling into another coughing fit. A paramedic was on her immediately to pull the mask back up to her face.
“I’m sorry, Miss,” the man said gently, if a bit anxiously. “Please, go over and wait by your friend. Someone will take you to the hospital shortly.”
Saki did not want to go to the hospital. She wanted to know what happened to Miya. But as her coughs still continued abating within the mask she knew it was hopeless trying to ask about her now. Instead, her eyes snapped back to the rubble, to the men trying to clear it, to the… bodies… they were now pulling from it. Was one of them Miya? She didn’t know if she could bear to find out.
“Please, Miss,” the paramedic said, a bit more urgently, and helped her up.
She stumbled at first, but then immediately started toward the rescue effort. She barely took a step though before the paramedic, who had now been joined by another, easily diverted her in her weakened state the other direction toward the ambulance. She tried to call out, but again there was nothing she could do, and when she finally tore her eyes from the rubble, she saw she was now nearing Momoko, who had apparently at least gotten herself free from the medical attention.
Saki tried to look a question into the girl’s eyes. Momoko just stared back for a moment, but then finally nodded. “She’s all right…” the girl said quietly. “Well, she’s unharmed at least.”
Saki wanted to ask what the girl meant by that, but decided against removing her oxygen again quite yet. She turned reluctantly to once more cast her eyes sadly over the terrifying scene before them, wondering where Miyabi was in the midst of the disaster. It wasn’t long before they were ushered into the back of the ambulance, and as the rescue effort continued on, they drove away beneath blaring sirens.
…
Saki stared at the white ceiling in the hospital room she occupied. Her parents had been called, though hadn’t arrived yet. Used to being in comfortable control as leader of Berryz Kobo, she felt so helpless right now.
Finally through the silence she heard the door to her room slide open, and glanced up to see Momoko duck quietly in. She quickly pulled her mask down to her chest, able to get by fairly well without it now, and sat up. However, seeing the small girl walk slowly up to her, she altered what she was going to say.
“How are you, Momo?” she asked. “I think I heard someone say you didn’t have a scratch on you…” She had a hope that the girl the officer had been talking about was still Miya, but it was a slim one at this point.
“I’m fine,” Momoko said cheerfully, though Saki knew her well and could tell she almost seemed a little surprised at that fact herself.
Saki nodded, smiling, letting out a light cough. “Are
you okay, Saki-chan?” Momoko asked, worry tinging her voice. “At least your cough seems better.”
“It is,” Saki replied. “The doctors think I might just have some dust aspiration from the… the explosion.” She was silent a moment. “Momo,” she said quietly, not being able to stand it anymore yet trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. “Tell me what happened to Miya.”
Momoko stared into her eyes for a moment before pulling up a chair next to her bed and taking her hand in her own. Saki’s apprehension was heightening every second. “She ran away,” the girl said then, simply.
Saki blinked. “She ran away,” she repeated flatly. “What does that mean?”
“After the lightning hit the café,” Momoko patiently explained, “She and I were the first ones to recover. But then she ran away screaming.”
Saki’s eyes widened. “Why would she…?”
The lightning. The sudden storm on a sunny day. She felt her body tense hard. But…
why?
Her gaze focused on the small girl beside her once again, who was staring back steadily. “Why were
you unhurt?”
She didn’t get an answer though, as the door suddenly opened to admit a nurse frantically trying to fend off two men dressed in long black trench coats. The eyes of the man in front immediately focused on the two girls, and Saki’s breath caught at the hardness she saw in them.
“Please come back later,” the nurse was protesting breathlessly. “She needs her rest. She can still hardly talk much without respiratory distress, and needs to stay under the oxygen while her system clears.” At a glance back at Saki though, and the mask resting uselessly at her chest, her words died out and she just watched as the men stepped into the room and closed the door.
“You’re welcome to stay here and look after her condition,” the man in front said, never taking his eyes from the girls. “But we must insist that we need to talk with these two young ladies as soon as possible.” The nurse just stayed by the door with her hands folded in front of her. As for the other man, he almost seemed a shadow of the other, and kept his eyes mostly down.
“Please,” the speaker said, gesturing to the mask at Saki’s chest, “You must use the oxygen if you’re to get better. For the moment our questions will just be for your friend.”
Saki glared at them for the intrusion, but was also a bit scared as to what it could mean. Still, she knew they and the nurse were right, and placed the mask back over her nose and mouth. She was not going to question Momoko more in front of these people anyway.
For her part, Momoko let go of Saki’s hand and stood, though the man gestured for her to stay seated, so she plopped right back down, peering curiously up at them.
“…Tsugunaga-san, isn’t it?” the man asked, glancing down to a small notepad held in his hand. He barely waited for Momoko’s nod before continuing, “We received a copy of your report to the officer on the scene, but would just like to clarify a few things for ourselves… if you don’t mind?”
Momoko peered from the speaker to the man standing quietly behind, his eyes still downcast. “May I ask who you gentlemen are?” she asked. “You don’t look like officers.”
“We’re special detectives, ma’am,” the man replied. “We’re just trying to get to the bottom of what happened.”
Momoko continued peering curiously up at them. “It was just a lightning strike, wasn’t it? It looked like many other people saw it too.”
“According to your account and those of the other witnesses,” the man said, looking into his notebook again and appearing to ignore her, “There was a scream heard not long after the blast, and then another young girl like yourselves running as fast as she could away from the wreckage. Do you have any idea who she is? Is she perhaps another friend of yours?” He glanced at Saki as he framed his second question.
Saki now turned to peer at Momoko as well, breathing the oxygen easily through the mask. She wondered if the girl would tell them any more than she’d told her. She was also a bit worried about these men, and their questions about Miyabi.
Momoko peered up at them without comment for a long moment, before finally asking casually, “Are you from Section Six? …Or is it Section Five?”
The questioner’s eyes widened in apparent shock at her words, and Saki saw the eyes of the man in the back snap up to turn a hawk-eyed stare on her friend. “She’s the recipient,” the man said in a strangely deliberate, fluid voice. Then he turned his eyes on Saki.
“Tell me,” she heard him say, though she blinked. His lips didn’t seem to be moving – he only stared intensely at her.
“This friend of yours here, she was in a bad accident not long ago, wasn’t she? Please, there’s no need to remove the mask. Just put word to your thoughts, and I will hear them.”Saki stared back, dazed, but then found herself thinking,
“Yes… she was…” Then she shook her head, but wished she hadn’t as a sudden headache hit her.
“No… I don’t want to tell you people anything. Where’s Miya?” Her body froze in horror.
How can I be so careless!? I can’t control what I think that closely… How dare he just… just… get into my head like that!She suddenly became aware of other eyes on her, and noticed Momoko staring at her quietly as well, sadness etching her features. Did the girl somehow know what had just happened?
“Miyabi Natsuyaki,” the psychic said calmly, and the other nodded, having gotten over his surprise yet still darting furtive glances at Momoko. Saki wasn’t sure she read him right, but he almost looked… frightened… of her?
“Thank you very much for your time,” the man said, tucking his notebook back into his pocket and seeming to fish into another for something. “We won’t—”
He was cut off though by Momoko abruptly jumping to her feet. “I think it’s time for you to leave,” she said coolly, and Saki barely had time for another thought before the girl tossed a blanket at her head and everything went dark.
She cried out as the blanket fell over her, but reclining and weak as she was in the bed, it took her a moment to manage to throw it off her. In the space of that time she heard shouts from around the room. The nurse screamed, and there was the sound of shattering glass.
When she finally sat up, pulling the blanket off her face and breathing heavily into the mask, she saw Momoko standing at the foot of the bed staring at the large window, which was broken as if something had been thrown through it. There was no sign of the men, but the nurse cowered in the corner in terror.
“Momo…” Saki breathed after ripping the mask off again. “What…?”
“I need to leave now,” Momoko said, turning to her. “Lie back. Act like you’re sleeping. Soon you won’t have anything to worry about.”
“But…” Saki began in protest, her cough preventing her from asking anything further. What in the world had just happened…!?
Then Momoko was at her side, and the girl pushed her gently back to the bed. Weak as she was still she couldn’t resist, and Momoko pulled the mask back up to her face as well. The oxygen was blessed relief, but that wasn’t what she wanted right now.
“Just sleep…” Momoko said soothingly, and Saki saw her turning a knob on the machine that provided her oxygen. Almost immediately, she began to felt drowsiness creep up on her, and within seconds she could hardly keep her eyes open.
“Momo…” she thought, as through her eyelashes she watched the girl walk over to the nurse and crouch next to her, speaking softly to her. The last thing she saw before her eyes closed was Momoko escorting the nurse out of the room, arm-in-arm.
“Miya…” That was her last thought before being claimed by a deep, dreamless sleep.
…
Miyabi glanced anxiously around her as she walked from the Oedo Line station down the street along a path she remembered from long ago. It had only been an hour or so since she’d run from the café, but the time since then had seemed to pass as slow as an age.
After finally coming to herself, she’d huddled in the shadows beneath a rail bridge. It was just too much today; first Risako, and then the café with Saki and Momo. Saki wasn’t supposed to have been there… It was Momo she had come to see. And then there had been the explosion… So much rubble… all the people who must have been buried beneath it… Were they dead? Probably. Had she killed them?
Had she killed Saki?
She felt tears come to her eyes again as she walked down the street. No, the girl had to be all right. She
had to be… Why?
Do I love her? I thought I loved Risako, but then the girl had told her to her face she didn’t. It had to be true then, didn’t it? Saki loves me…
All those people…
Eventually she’d left the bridge and headed to a subway station. At first she didn’t know where she was going, but now, back on this street, she did. What she still wasn’t sure of was what she would do once she got there.
Momoko…
How had the girl survived? She didn’t have a scratch on her. Then again, I was hardly hurt myself.
What is wrong with me? Is it really all about a girl? Two? Three?
Those people…
Eventually she found herself at the front door of a large, nearly windowless building. It was set rather out of the way of the rest of the neighborhood. Pushing at the door, she went inside.
A woman in plain white clothes stood behind a window that was heavily barred. As she stepped up to it, glancing at the door beyond that she remembered exiting through very clearly, the woman looked up at her. Taking in her disheveled, dusty and slightly dirty appearance, and who knew what in her eyes, the woman’s eyes focused seriously onto Miyabi’s own.
“May I help you, Miss?”
“Please…” Miyabi replied, and she felt the beginnings of tears come to her eyes. “Yes…
Help me…”
Topic: Berry Beautiful [Volume 2] (Read 112981 times)