Chapter 48
[67]
The night sky above Tokyo opened up to release a heavy rain onto Wakaba’s head. The scientist stood outside of the Sakura household, preparing for the worst. She’d snuck all the way back to Yongen Jaya on foot, avoiding contact with everyone out of fear of revealing herself.
She took a deep breath before entering the house, sliding open the door only to find that every light in the house was off.
“Futaba?” She called, trying to find her daughter. “Sojiro?” No response came.
Wakaba ran through the house, searching frantically through every room to find them. Growing evermore concerned, Wakaba ran out of the house to Leblanc in hopes of finding them there,
When she reached the cafe, she could immediately tell it was empty due to the lack of lights on and the closed sign on the door. She entered regardless and searched the kitchen and attic for any sign of them to no avail.
...They knew. They had to know. Why else would they be gone without a trace? This was bad. Wakaba had wanted to tell them the truth, but from what they’d undoubtedly heard about her by now, they must think she’s a monster.
What was there left to do now? It seemed now that she had no one and nothing left in this world. Dark thoughts began to creep back into her mind once more, but before they could advance any further, Wakaba spotted the bright yellow rotary phone on the counter.
Her next move was clear.
Ren Amamiya stood in the police station in his civilian clothes, pacing in front of the counter for someone to speak to him. They weren’t letting him speak to Sojiro or Futaba as he wasn’t technically a member of the family. The lack of communication frustrated him to no end and he considered going in any way just to make sure that they were alright.
Ann had told him that she’d given the Sakura’s what info Ren had on Wakaba, that she was the one behind yesterday’s attacks and the riot earlier today and that she had some kind of weird negative powers. In all honesty, Ren didn’t know much more than they did, but he knew she was dangerous and had to be kept away.
Ren’s worn out red sneakers squeaked as he continued to pace in the lobby when finally a figure stepped out into the room. It was the Detective Queen herself, Naoto Shirogane. As she entered the room to speak to him, he realized that this was the first time in a while that they’d met in person. Her arm was finally out of the sling from Vulture dropping her and he noticed her hair had grown out a bit, now reaching her lower neck.
“Sorry about the wait, we have protocols and forms that need to be filled out before visitors are allowed.” Naoto apologized to Ren.
“It’s fine. How are they?” Ren immediately questioned.
“Confused more than anything, luckily they’re willing to stay here for the time being. However, if they choose to leave, we can’t stop them.”
“That’s good enough, thank you.” Ren said as he followed her to the room the Sakura’s were sitting in.
When they entered the room, Sojiro immediately stood up when he saw Ren. Futaba meanwhile, was sulking in the corner, covered by her large green jacket, staring at her phone.
“Kid! There you are! You want to explain just what the hell is going on? One of your friends comes into the cafe telling us Wakaba is some kind of...super villain and that we need to go into police protection!? You’d better explain yourself right now!” Sojiro demanded.
“Boss...This is kinda hard to explain buuut…” Ren considered telling his guardian the whole truth. “I was there. At the protest in Shinjuku, things started to get crazy and that’s when I saw Wakaba. She looked different, she was glowing and had this sadistic grin, but I saw her face. It was her.”
It wasn’t the truth in its entirety, but it was true. Ren looked up at Sojiro, who had an unreadable expression, before he continued.
“She made the crowd lose it, she caused the riot. I don’t know how but she can manipulate people’s minds. Please Sojiro, I know it’s hard to believe, but please, if you have even the slightest bit of doubt about Wakaba, please stay here where it’s safe.”
Sojiro stared Ren down with his arms crossed, his eyes dead serious. Ren met the expression with his own stare, trying to convey to him that he was telling the truth. Finally Sojiro relented, releasing a sigh before taking a seat.
“Fine kid. We’ll stay the night.”
Ren released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, only to jump in surprise when the door behind him opened. It was another police officer, he turned to Naoto before he spoke.
“Uh Detective? The captain is asking for you in his office.
“In a minute officer.” Naoto dismissed the man.
“Um, he said it’s urgent. Really urgent.” His eyes turned in the direction of Sojiro and Futaba before returning to Naoto.
Picking up on the message immediately, Naoto moved towards the door. Before she exited she turned to Ren.
“Stay here.”
As Naoto exited the room, she walked past the officer who’d retrieved her and made haste towards the captain’s office. When she entered the room, she saw it was (as usual) filled with smoke from the captain’s cigarette.
The police captain sat at his desk with his phone to his ear before he saw Naoto open the door. Upon her entering, he set the phone down and put it on speaker.
“Now I want you to repeat what you said to me earlier ma’am.” The captain’s gruff voice stated.
The voice on the other end sighed before speaking.
“My name is Wakaba Isshiki.” Came a feminine voice on the other end.
“And I’d like to turn myself in...”