[Replies]
@Elo: Takamina to the rescue!
@Shinoki: I suppose you can say that. But the ones that I've met and talked to aren't quite bad, so I guess there are also some cops that aren't bad. (Especially in Blake's level, LOL)
@Yuki88: Indeed Atsumina to the rescue~ Here's the next chapter!
@mayuki_daisuki: Let's just hope our little midget agent doesn't get into too much trouble along with Acchan about helping Mayuyu escape.
@Llyloo: Hai! Cheering on for Mayuyu!
@kahem: Ahhhhh, here's some tissues! *gives tissue*
@gek geki: Forever hating Blake~ And I saw your other comment about my other fiction (Disappearance Season 2)! I'm glad you like it and it's cool to comment on any of my fiction threads about it. It's only on Tumblr, so... It's somewhat hard to comment when you don't have a Tumblr account. You'll have to be patient and see what happens in part 3!
@cisda83: Let's hope Blake gets fired and thrown to jail. And let's also hope that Mayu will be able to save Jurina.
@alexsher99: I'm sure you're not the only one wanting to kill Blake. Let's form a small group and hunt after that man!
@kurogumi: Blake surely is taking things to the extreme...
@qweakb: Police have their own way of getting a criminal...
@Terragen: You haven't missed anything so no worries and Shelby is a private investigator, so he doesn't really work with the police. And the point of view is Mayu, Yuki, Shelby and Takahashi, yes. This fiction is meant to be slightly confusing, but truly Mayu doesn't seem like a killer considering the fact that there is another person testing her limit to saving her daughter. And yeah, the police is hot on her trail so let's hope something good comes out of this.
So... My flash drive decided to be very stubborn and won't let me gain access to my fan fictions I've saved and worked on. Thank the heaven lord I've managed to save the recent fictions I have been working on. Other than that, everything is GONE.
Dear lord, I should've backed them up in more than one flash drive AND on my computer.
Anyway, enough about my complaints, here's the next updated chapter.
Happy Fourth of July by the way!
[Chapter 21]
I couldn’t believe I got out. I just can’t. I still couldn’t let this all register within my brain. Everything was simply happening far too fast for me to even grasp. One moment I was in the police and the next, I just had Yuki drive me right back to my motel room. (Not to mention how awkward the car ride was.)
Sitting on the edge of my bed, I was staring at the television that was hanging up on the corner of the room. It was turned on, showing a news reporter speaking in a monotone voice.
“Less than an hour ago, we heard from the police who have identified the woman thought to be the Origami Killer. Watanabe Mayu, parent of the kidnap victim Watanabe Jurina, is on the run and should be considered armed and dangerous.”
I raised one of my eyebrows in shock at the man in the screen explaining the news. I swore that if I weren’t in as bad shape as of right now and had enough strength to be exaggerating, I would’ve thrown the remote control I had at hand at the screen and break it.
“A police manhunt is now underway and they hope that they will soon be able to announce the apprehension of this dangerous lunatic.”
Before I let the young fellow finish speaking, I flicked off the television. The screen instantly turned black the moment I pressed a single button on the black remote controller. Frustration got into my mind as I threw it on a nearby coffee table. ‘Just what kind of news did they feed these reporters? Dangerous lunatic? Preposterous!’ I groaned out in anger while I let my body lay back down on the comfortable bed mattress. My body instantly sunk into the softness; eyes threatening to shut due to the lack of rest I’ve gotten over the past day.
‘Great. Don’t fall asleep, Mayu. You got to focus on staying awake and saving Jurina.’
I stared at the ceiling up above, trying to keep myself awake. The room was silent and only the sound of the rain coming down upon the land was heard. I exhaled loudly as my mind wandered over to my daughter.
‘Don’t worry Jurina. Your ‘dad’ here is going to get you out alive.’
Just when I was going to lose to a battle against my heavy eyelids, I heard the door to my room open up. As if it were magic, the heaviness I’ve felt from my eyelids disappeared without any trace, keeping me awake. I quickly leapt out of my bed just in time to see who it was that was coming in (accompanied by a minor aching pain from the fast movement).
Kashiwagi Yuki was holding a huge brown paper bag in her hand as she closed the green door shut behind her. Her attention focused on me as she walked over to the only desk within this room. A small frown crossed her face when she immediately knew that I had gotten out of bed. “You know that if you want to rest, you should stay in bed,” she scolded me lightly while gently resting the bag down on top of the desk. I didn’t respond to her scolding, which was followed by a sigh from her direction. “Anyway, I brought some food. I bought the usual food that you liked when we were still… living together, so I hope that’s okay.”
I watched from the side as she took out some freshly made meals and canned drinks from the bag. I caught myself forming a small smile across my face. How long has it been since Yuki did this for me? Buying the food when she was at home and off of work at the hospital while I was working… I miss that moment in my life. I kept on watching her with amusement when she dug her hands deeper into the bag. The sound of the paper bag ruffling around was produced loudly.
Yuki truly had become beautiful. Over the years that we haven’t seen each other, does it really have to be this sort of situation where I got to see Yuki once more? Only if we only met each other in a more reasonable and better situation at hand…
“Any cops?” I asked as she finished taking out all of the food from the bag. To my relief, she shook her head. “No… I think we lost them.”
‘Thank god…’
“That guy at the desk though…” Yuki added after answering my question. My ears perked up to full attention. “He gives me the creeps. I don’t trust him.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle despite the situation at hand. “Don’t worry, Yuki… I wouldn’t let that creepy guy come near you or do anything to you.” I couldn’t blame her for bluntly stating that out loud. I too was slightly crept out when I first saw the man.
My ex-wife in front of me turned her head towards my direction. There was a small, amusing smile seen from her. “I’m glad to hear that then.”
I mentally did a little back flip in happiness when I saw her smile at me once more. The smile that I haven’t seen in so long. The smile that could make all angel drop from the sky and make almost anybody’s heart skip a beat. I gave her another small smile back before it dropped in its usual cyborg feature.
“Neh… Yuki?”
“Hm?”
“Do you… Still hate me… About Ayame?”
Remind me next time to never bring up the past, especially when you had just lost another one of your kids. The older girl in front of me froze in her spot as her gaze tore away from my direction. She focused on the food laying neatly on top of the desk’s surface, staring at it in silence. ‘She still must’ve hate me then after all…’ Right when I was going to apologize to her for bringing it up, she replied to my burning question. And quite a shocking one too.
“Truly I still feel like I could hate you about Ayame’s death. I could hate you and hold a grudge forever, but I know now is not the time. I can’t keep hanging onto the past anymore. Besides…” she lifted her head and looked at me. “Jurina is missing… And although I hate you for losing her to someone that goes around killing innocent children, that’s not going to bring Jurina nor Ayame back to us.”
I wanted to respond back to her. But I can’t. I just can’t. I was speechless. Speechless at her wise words that came flying out of her mouth that’s now closed. I could only blink at her with amazement as she came approaching to my direction. Her right hand reached over to touch my bandaged left hand, eyes instantly becoming sad. “Why are you hurt…?” she muttered under her breath before fixating her eyes to mine.
“Anyway, you’re all over the news report, Mayu. Every cop in the country will be hunting you.” Uh oh. Not the interrogation from Yuki again. I tried to resist rolling my eyes as I ripped my hand away from hers. I turned my back towards her as I sucked in a deep breath. “They say you’re the Origami Killer… Is it true?”
So it seems that Yuki still is confused to whether I am the Origami Killer or not. Even if she did state earlier within the car that she knows I’m not the killer, there were some doubts in her eyes. And truthfully, I truly am unsure if I am the killer himself. Is it… Is my dreams from before telling me something? These blackouts? Though I can relate to them to the accident previously and possibly certain brain condition afterwards, could it mean something about me being a killer?
There was a small pause before I spoke up.
“I… I sometimes have these blackouts. Times where I don’t know what I’m doing… as if I’m someone completely different.” Yuki didn’t seem to interrupt me as she let me explain my thought processor. And so I did continue on. “The only thing I remember afterwards… is the bodies. The bodies in the water.”
“Why are you hurt, Mayu?” Yuki immediately asked another question once I was finished with my explanation. “Why were you in that apartment?”
“I think my other self is testing me. Testing my love for Jurina. She wants to know if I love my daughter enough to save her. That means there’s some part of me that knows where Jurina is. But the only way to find him is to go through these trials.”
“Why can’t you tell that to the police?”
“And tell them what?! That I’m a schizophrenic who drowns her victims and has kidnapped her own daughter?! They’d never let me go and I have to stay free to save our daughter!” I snapped at my ex-wife before my eyes. As much as I wanted the police to cooperate with me, the action of that lieutenant from the police station not too long ago already proved that they weren’t going to be nice to me. Not to mention how crazy my explanation sounds to one’s ears. I already sound like a crazy old geezer. “I have no choice. I’m her only chance.”
“You’re her only chance?” Yuki’s eyes sadden when she saw me bob my head. “Even I can’t help you or her?”
I bobbed my head again in response. “This is something… That only I can do… Even if I did tell you, what good would that come out of it? Anyway, when Jurina’s out of danger, I’ll turn myself in but not until then.”
Her hand was felt grabbing my uninjured hand. My other hand was soon taken gently by her other hand. I turned my head around to face her. Easily I could see her pair of eyes becoming watery, but not a single tear shed from it. When our eyes were connected, deep within I just wanted to cry and break down. Cry and be comforted by the older girl. But I kept firm and didn’t show my sensitive side to Yuki. At least for now.
“You can’t keep going like this. You’re destroying yourself, Mayu…” Yuki whispered in a small voice. Her hands gently squeezed my hands. “I don’t want to lose you…”
“Finding Jurina is the only thing that matters,” I flatly responded back. I lowered my head, staring at the ground beneath our feet. I felt so responsible for the disappearance of Jurina and I knew that Yuki before me probably had already formed her feelings once more for her ex-husband. I could tell. I could tell that she didn’t want to lose me as much as she hated me before. But now is not the time to think about me. Our daughter has gone missing and I’m the only person able to save our Jurina.
“There has to be another way… A way that you can save not only Jurina but the Watanabe Mayu I know.”
“You don’t understand. Time is running out. Jurina will be dead in a few hours. I have no choice!” I slid my hands out of Yuki’s grasp. My heart ached when I tore my hands away from the only person I could turn to. I raised my eyes and saw Yuki herself expressed being pained for my rejection of her help and even advice. This only made my heart ache even more. Motioning my left hand to shoo her away, I said my final statement to the older girl. “Please Yuki… leave. There is nothing more you can do for me. If you want to help me, leave. Leave me to do this on my own…”
I could tell that Yuki wanted to argue back. Wanted to just slap me across the face to make me realize the reality of the situation. The reality that I have help and remind me that in my little fantasy world my mind had created, this won’t end well if I continue to push onward till the very end. Biting the bottom of my lip, I almost regret every little word I had utter to Yuki about doing this alone when she backed away from me. Not a single word nor sound came out of her mouth as she slowly, almost as if time had slowed between the two of us, walked out of the room.
“I’m sorry, Yuki…”
The door clicked shut as I muttered my apology at the same time. I knew Yuki wasn’t able to hear what I had just said earlier. But right now, it’s time for me to focus on the next trial. The next trial that will bring me one step closer to saving Jurina.
Without wasting any precious time, I hastily hobbled my way over to the desk. Gently pushing aside the food items that I will be digging in soon, the shoe box still stood on top of the table. Using both of my hands to take off the lid, I dug out a brown, bear origami. I knew the drill since it was the fourth one and unfolded them as quickly as possible. The thick paper was heard to crumple while the shape of the bear reverted back to being merely a square paper.
‘ARE YOU PREPARED TO KILL SOMEONE TO SAVE YOUR DAUGHTER?’
My eyes widen as the name of the individual along with the address to their house was noted on the paper. Additional note was made right below the basic information. And when I read the notes, I swore that if I did not have a stable balance, I would’ve fell backward in fear and horror. My heart beat quickened in succession once more as I trembled.
‘Kill him. Send a picture. Get your reward.’
I hesitantly glanced over at the box and noticed the gun that I had left behind after noticing it had no use to me from the first trial. I finally figured out why the gun was there. It was merely there for me to kill someone that I have absolutely no idea nor connection. Many thoughts ran through my mind.
‘Am I… willing to kill someone to… save Jurina?’ There’s a fine line between doing the trials and risking my life with killing someone for the sake of another life. I would definitely become a murderer if I killed someone innocent. Or even if it were a criminal, I couldn’t just barge into his house and go all gun hectic at the poor person. A murderer is still a murderer regardless of who or what that individual is. But considering the circumstances right now… I know I don’t have a choice. So am I willing to kill for the sake of my daughter’s whereabouts or should I just quit and move on to the next and final trial? But this is one of my few chances to gaining one more clue to where Jurina might be. My eyebrows scrunched as I slowly seated myself within the chair. ‘What am I supposed to do now?’
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Thursday, 11:10 AM
Two figures emerged from the rainy outdoor weather and into a shop. A workshop for clocks and type writers to be precise. Shelby and Itano entered through the front door, which was followed by a small greeting of the golden, rusty bell above their head ringing. They were greeted with an old, but warm, atmosphere as they came into the main room. All of the coldness and icky wetness thanks to the rain outside all vanished the moment they took one step in. Left and right they glanced, all sorts of clocks were seen. Big and small, some hanging and some were in glass cased. Others were standing proudly in the corner, showing off their complex exterior designs. Then there were some glass case holding the type writers that were considered famous ages ago before technology upgraded a few notches.
They weren’t here to examine the clocks and type writers and buy them though. Shelby knew the reason why he had to come here. He was here for an old friend that built this very shop in Japan.
“Manfred!” Shelby called out as he walked forward with Itano following right behind him. The so-called ‘Manfred’ is Shelby’s friend dating back long ago. He was like a mentor and someone to respect up to. The private investigator continue to call out for his friend. “Manfred? Anybody home?”
Not a single answer responded back to his calls. Shelby glanced over at the counter and saw that no one was at the cashier counter. He shot a look over at Itano and saw that she wandered off to observe and study a few of the clocks hanging on the wall. So while Itano observed one of the many clocks with her hand cupping the bottom of her chin, Shelby went to the back of the shop.
It didn’t take long to find Manfred; an old man in his late 70s sitting at his desk with the bright white lamp light turned on. Dressed in a white buttoned t-shirt accompanied by a gray vest, the old man raised his right hand up to adjust his glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose. Plenty of his hair strands had already turned into the color of white with very few gray seen here and there. Over his shoulder, one could see that he was working on fixing a small clock. Screws and small parts were scattered around on his desk. A screwdriver at one hand, he was about to pick up the brown base of the clock with the other when Shelby decided to grab his attention. Placing his hand gently on top of Manfred’s left shoulder, he gave it a pat.
“Hi there, Manfred.”
The older man stopped for a brief moment. All actions looked as though someone had just pressed the pause button on Manfred. Slowly he turned his head towards Shelby’s direction. When he saw the younger fellow, the pair of eyes squinted at the sight of Shelby.
“Who is it?” he asked in a slightly raspy voice.
“Scott. Scott Shelby. Do you remember me?”
Manfred ceased working on his clock any further and placed all of the equipment down on his desk. Then fully turning his entire body around in his chair to see the private detective, he cleared his throat.
“Scott? Scott… yes of course… Scott! It’s good to see you!” he exclaimed with happiness when he finally remembered his friend who was now standing before him. “How long has it been?”
The detective shrugged his shoulders while answering his question. “Oh, about ten years I guess.”
“At my age, time means nothing anymore, haha… I repair clocks but I try to forget about time. But anyway, how about you? Are you still with the police?”
“Oh… no. I quit actually. I’m a private investigator now.”
When Itano came up right beside Shelby, he closed his eyes with a chuckle before reopening them. Motioning his hand towards Itano, he then explained to Manfred who this young lady was. “This is Itano. She’s, er… She’s a friend of mine.”
“Yoroshiku onegaishimasu,” Itano waved one of her hands in the air followed by a bow of her head for politeness. This action seem to have given the older man a good impression of her. Smiling gently as the wrinkles on his faces were shown clearly. “Hello young lady. Yoroshiku.”
Then turning his attention back to Shelby, he took his time rising out of his chair. “Well, this calls for a celebration! I’ve just the thing to get it started… Wait there, my friend. I’m sure I saw a bottle of scotch around here somewhere…” With that said, both of the figures saw the older man disappear into the main room. Itano and Shelby shot a glance at each other before shrugging their shoulders and following right after Manfred. But as they went with him, the phone from the shop started ringing. This stopped the private investigator in his track. Shelby soon found out that it was the phone located on the cashier counter that was producing these noise.
“Ah, do an old man a favor, would you Scott?” Manfred’s voice was heard. “Tell them to call back this afternoon.”
“Sure, no problem,” Shelby reassured to Manfred as he hastily reached towards the phone. It was old style and had the cables connected from the phone to the dialing machine itself. In one motion, the private investigator was now placing the phone close to his right ear. “Hello? Yes, this is Manfred’s. He’s not available right now… Could you call back later this afternoon? Thanks.”
Right after giving the customer on the other line his thanks, he hung up the phone. Clicking it right back to where it was before, he glanced over at Manfred’s direction. On his right, he saw Manfred pouring some scotch into a small glass of cup. Shelby didn’t waste any time coming over to his friend’s side as he stood across Manfred. The glass case standing in between the two figures, they got their drinks once Manfred screwed the cap back on to the bottle of scotch.
“Well, to old friends!” Manfred cheerfully proclaimed out loud as both he and Shelby clicked their glass cup together. A ringing sound was produced when the surface of the two glasses came into contact. Retracting their glasses back to the holder, they both in unison drank the content with one tilt of the cup at their mouth. As Shelby continue to take his time drinking the scotch, Manfred walked over to where Itano was standing.
The other girl was observing and smiling at a piece of equipment. It was a small, wooden box that had a golden designed logo at the lid. Itano had already lifted the lid up and inside of it was seen to be a small figure of a ballerina. The figure’s arms were high above her head; the two hands connecting with each other as her head was proudly lifted up high for everyone. One of her legs were bent and had the foot touching her other leg. Manfred smiled when he saw how curious the young lady was at one of the many crafts here in his shop.
“Do you like it?” he asked in a gentle voice as Itano turned her attention towards the old man. She widen her smile when her eyes met with his. “Yes, it’s beautiful.”
“It’s a Stradelli, crafted in Venice in the 18th century. It’s one of my favorite pieces.” There was a small chuckle coming from his direction before glancing over his shoulder to Shelby. “Tell me Scott, what brings you back after all these years?”
“I’d like you to have a look at an envelope.” With that said, the private investigator pulled out the envelope from inside his brown coat. Manfred, along with Itano, walked towards the other man. He retrieved the object. “I thought maybe you could tell me about the typewriter that was used to type the address on it.”
“Hmm, let’s have a look. Could you pass me the, er… magnifying glass from behind the counter, please? My eyes are beginning to fail me…”
“Oh sure, I’ll get it.”
A few seconds later, Manfred is now intensely staring at the typed address on the envelope. His magnifying glass zoomed in and out a few times to adjust his preferred viewing.
“Now let’s see what this envelope has to say for itself…” he mumbled just loud enough for the other two figures to hear him. “A Royal 5. Er… Yes, the shape of the t’s and the f’s is typical of that model. Produced between 1907 and 1924. Yes, no doubt about it, it’s a Royal 5.”
“These typewriters… are they rare?”
“No, they are fairly common. I’d say many folks have one gathering dust in an attic or in their cellar…”
“Do you keep a record of all your clients?”
“Oh yes indeed. Well at least the ones who pay…”
“Any chance I could get a peek at that?”
“Yes, of course. I keep my account books in the office. If you’re not in a hurry, I have a list of all the clients who ever bought a Royal 5 or had one repaired.”
Shelby smiled at hearing what Manfred had just told him. This should be the next leading clue to who the killer really is hopefully. Or at the very least, who typed down these addresses and sent them out to the parents. “Yeah. That would really help us out.”
“Delighted to help. Give me two minutes and I’ll be right back with the list.”
And with that said, Manfred had already disappeared in the main room, heading in the back room for the requested list. Now that he was gone, Itano approached up to Shelby and questioned him from her own curiosity. “You think the killer’s been here?”
“If he has a 1920s typewriter, he may have needed Manfred’s services to get it fixed. We’ll know when we get the list.” The detective placed one of his hands up his face, covering the bottom portion as a low hum left his closed mouth. ‘The killer’s name might be in Manfred’s papers.’
Soon he saw Itano walk back to observing the musical box from earlier. Picking it up again, the Japanese girl smiled at the gentle, soft tone the box was playing. He could easily imagine the mechanics of little metal picks running through the patterned wheels inside of it. Producing such a gentle melody could make just about anyone relax with ease despite the situation at hand.
A few minutes had already passed by that soon extended to nearly ten minutes. Shelby began to have suspicion to why his friend is taking so long. ‘Been a while since Manfred went into his office. I should take a look.’ And following his thoughts, he wandered into the back of the shop. When he entered upon the back, he heard the caller from the other side of the phone nearby speaking loudly through the receiver.
“Manfred!” Shelby called out to the old fellow. But when he glanced right at the phone and down at the rugged ground, he was startled out of his wits. Jerking backward with fear, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Hello? Hello? Your call is logged, sir. A police car will be there in a few minutes.”
Shelby didn’t understand why a police car was going to come in at the moment let alone the person at the other line seems to be like an emergency call. But never mind that, his friend is dead. Dead and lying flat on his back on the ground. Blood pooled from behind his head, soaking the collar of the man’s shirt. The detective’s face scrunched in fear and anger at the situation that slapped across his face. He had to do something.
“I need to know who you are, sir. Sir? Hello?” Shelby did not hesitate to come over to the phone and click it back shut where it originally belonged. The female’s voice was now cut off, prompting silence in the area around him. Then bending down, he checked Manfred’s vital on his neck. “Oh my god!” he whispered loudly when he realized that his friend really is dead. ‘Who… Who could’ve done this to my friend?!’
Shock overcame all of his senses, dumbfounded at what was going on. He got back up on his two feet and backed away slowly from the scene. His eyes were still fixated at his friend’s dead body. Heart was beating rapidly against his chest. All of his limbs were stuck in place as though someone had hot glued them to the floor and in spot.
“Scott?” He didn’t bother to turn his head, but from the corner of his vision he saw Itano Tomomi coming to the back room. Just when she was about to ask him how long Manfred was taking, she instantly gasped when her eyes trailed upon the dead body. “Oh-Oh my God!” Her hands flew up to her face to cover her mouth, unable to hide the shock.
Shelby regained his senses when he noticed Itano running over to the same phone he had just placed back not too long ago. He was shocked when he saw the other girl pick up the device.
“What are you doing?” he whispered harshly at her as she was about to press the emergency number.
“I’m calling the police.”
The private investigator shook his head and had one hand pinching the bridge of his nose. His eyes were closed while he reasoned with Itano.
“The killer has already called the police. I think he wants us to be his scapegoats. We’ve got to get the hell out of here.”
He reopened his eyes to see Itano place down the phone, listening to him. She frowned at his statement.
“What do you mean? We have nothing to do with his death. We were just here when it happened.”
“Look, we’re running out of time to find Watanabe Jurina. The last thing we need is 24 hours in a police station explaining this whole thing.”
It looked like he convinced her well for she bobbed her head slowly in agreement. “Well… So what do we do then?”
‘That’s… one good question I have yet to know how to answer.’ Shelby swore that if this wasn’t such a serious predicament they were in, he could easily imagine a sweat drop forming at the corner of his forehead. Scrunching his eyebrows together till his forehead had creases, he mumbled a few incoherent words. He turned around, facing his back at Itano. Shelby was in deep into his thought. Just what was he going to do in a situation like this? The police will be coming in a matter of minutes and most likely they will be taken to the station as suspects despite them not doing anything wrong. A long exhale left his barley parted lips as he turned his attention back to Itano. His right hand cupped the bottom half of his face as his other hand motioned to the girl. “Watch the front door. I’ll get rid of our fingerprints from everything we touched since we came in.”
With that said, Shelby was seen to pull out a clean, white cloth from the right pocket of his brown coat. Glancing over at Itano, he warned her, “We better work fast. The police are gonna be here any minute.”
The other girl quickly bent down to grab one of the account books before she got to the front of the shop. The detective merely blinked and sighed out loud at her actions. ‘She really is willing to go after the killer no matter what…’ Then refocusing his mind at the situation at hand, he rushed over to the phone and wiped off any traces of fingerprints the two figures have on the device.
The white cloth smoothly went around the white device, erasing all evidence of their presence. Before he ran off to the main room, he stopped to take one last look at his friend. His expression saddened for a split second. “I’m sorry, Manfred,” he whispered in a low voice.
When he arrived, Shelby immediately went over to where he and his friend had a drink. Cleaning the cup and the edges of where their mouths came into contact. The bottle of scotch and magnifying glass too were being wiped down as much as possible. Shelby also rushed over to the other phone, trying to clean it up as fast as possible. He knew he didn’t have much time and he had to act fast. Cleaning all of what both he and Itano touched; the music box, the counter, the surface of the glass case. While cleaning them, he tried to be as careful as possible to not leave even more traces of his presence.
“Scott? Are we going to be here any longer?” He heard Itano call out to him as he hastily went through the entire shop. “The police will be here any second…”
“I’m almost finished,” he responded back to her as he double checked all of the item and equipment in the shop.
He was about to announce that they were ready to leave when he immediately noticed that he forgot the most important trace: The door. The private investigator signaled the young lady to wait for a brief second as he wipe down the handle of the door. Once he was complete, he backed away and nodded to Itano. “We’re done.”
“You got all of the prints?”
“I got what I got. It should be enough to prevent them from finding us.” Pushing the door open carefully, he motioned the other girl to quickly move fast after him. “Let’s go.”
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The two figures were now sitting inside of Shelby’s car. Driving through the street with rain splashing upon the vehicle thanks to the terrible weather up above. One could see the windswippers working as hard as possible to provide the driver a clear viewing of the road up ahead. With Itano sitting on the passenger seat, she glanced over at the man near her.
“Where are we going?”
There was a deep exhale coming from Shelby’s direction before he answered her question. “I’m taking you home. This is getting way too dangerous.”
“No way! We’re partners, remember? We had a deal!”
The detective knew that he was going to be instantly argued against about letting Itano go. He honestly didn't want to endanger this girl's life. His close friend is now murdered from possibly the Origami Killer himself and could possibly target either one of them. Especially Itano Tomomi due to the fact she's the one of the victim's mother. Taking in another deep breath, he tried to argue back with reasoning.
“This isn’t a game, Itano. Manfred was murdered because he knew the identity of the killer. He was 10 feet away for Christ’s sake! I can’t take a chance on the killer getting that close to you again…”
“I’m not a child. I know what I have to do. I want to find my son’s killer and you’re not going to stop me.”
“You’re gonna be a good girl, you’re gonna go home and let me get on with my investigation!
“Stop the car.”
He was surprised at the sudden request coming from the young lady. “What?”
“Stop the fucking car! If you’re not gonna help me find the bastard who killed my Johnny, I’ll do it on my own.”
And so he did. Shelby pulled the car over to the left and was soon finding himself sitting alone in the car. Outside of the heavy rain, he saw Itano standing alone. She was in front of the car; just staring down at the ground. The private investigator grumbled a bit under his breath as he watched the mother from inside his car. ‘It’s all my fault… I should’ve never let her come with me… And she’s as stubborn as a mule…’
Shelby sat inside of his car for a few more minutes before he decided what he was going to do.
“I’m such an idiot… I better catch up with her. I can’t just leave her like that. She’d do anything to find the guy who killed her son.”
With that thought in mind, he unbuckled his seat belt and pushed open the door on his side. Taking one step out of his warm car, he was met instantly with cold rain pounding against his body. Sound of the rain slamming against the pavement beneath his feet was heard loudly produced. Shelby hesitated for a split moment before approaching to the other girl.
“Itano Tomomi!” he called out for her as he came up from behind. Itano didn’t answer back right away but rather was muttering to herself. “I miss him… I miss him so much… I’d do anything to hold him once again in my arms…” The voice that came out of her mouth shocked him. It was cracked and sounded as though she wanted to give up all hopes. He saw her hugging herself. Her body was trembling and he predicted that she was crying silently.
Feeling guilty of what he had yelled at her earlier, he placed one hand on top of her shoulder. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have talked to you like that. It’s just that… I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt…” Itano turned around slowly and saw a comforting man before her eyes. A comforting middle age man that didn’t want to see her get hurt. Wiping away the tears with the back of her hand, she let him lead her back into the car. The both of them knew that they had to work together in order to bring down this killer and find him.
“Do you… want to find a place to grab a bite?” Shelby softly spoke to Itano as he helped her get into the car. Holding the door for her, he saw Itano seat herself in his vehicle. There was a small pause before she nodded her head in a slow motion. “There’s a place…. Where we can eat,” she looked up at him. Shelby raised one of his eyebrows at her direction.
“And where would that be then, Itano?”
“I have a really close friend… Kasai Tomomi… She owns a small café shop. It’s not too far from here.”
The detective thought for a bit. Then a small smile crossed his face as he gently clicked the door shut. Running over to the driver’s side, he opened the door and slammed it shut. He looked over at Itano. Then surprising her, he gave the young lady a pat on the head. A pat on the head as though she was a daughter to him.
“I’ll take you there then.”
I believe we shall see what Mayu is up to in the fourth trial and what our Yukirin can do in order to help Mayu up in the next chapter.
Topic: How Far Are You Prepared To Go? [Mayuki] - Chapter 25 [Update: 07/16/14] (Read 83863 times)