Warning Tags: Chapter 9
Title: Warning Tags: Chapter 9
Characters: The full Arashi gang (for once!), Ikuta Toma, three members of NEWS, one KAT-TUN, two Kis-My-Ft2 members and off-screen mention of one Kanjani8 (I hope I got them all...)
Rating: PG-13 (some violence due to angry, angry people)
Word Count: 4 968 minus or so words
Disclaimer: Purely fictional, of course. Glaring lapses of logic abound although the little clues I sprinkle about eventually make sense. Not beta'd
Note: Wow...I can't believe it's been eight months since I last updated. I really apologise. Can it be an early MatsuJun birthday chapter?
Summary: Jun and Co. try to track down Tegoshi's whereabouts.
“-un. Jun!”
Someone was tapping him roughly on his shoulder. Forcing his eyes open, Jun barely made out Toma’s features as his fellow detective hovered over him. “Hear me?” Jun nodded slowly, closing his eyelids when Toma slapped him. “Hey, keep them open. Can you tell me what happened?”
Jun swallowed, “I cornered Abe. Our suspect.” Jun began. “Someone shoved me aside and tried to talk nice to him. He pulled out what I thought was a test grenade. I tackled him and Sho-” Jun pushed himself up at once. “Sho!”
Thankfully, he found Sho sitting a few metres away on one of the park benches, alive and seemingly in once piece. “Sho, I’m so sorry, I-”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it,” a familiar voice snapped. Jun turned to follow the voice, noting that it was the man who’d thrown him aside. Lugging a garden hose with him, the man walked over to Sho, prompting him to run his hand under the running water. “Sorry doesn’t make the fact that Sho would have been any less dead if that had been a real grenade.”
“So it really wasn’t a real grenade?” Jun asked, eyeing the angry red colour that Sho’s hand was at the moment. In retrospect, a real grenade probably would have done a lot, lot worse.
“Thankfully no,” Toma confirmed. “It’s as you said, it’s a test grenade that the army uses in live exercises. But how did you know? Do they teach you these extras back home?”
Jun shook his head. “I saw a photograph. One of Kuroki Meisa’s contacts insisted that there had been a break-in at a military storage facility.”
“Kuroki?” The man with the hose repeated, seemingly getting more annoyed by the second. “I was wondering why Murakami was a bit edgy when we met two nights ago. Bastard said nothing of any break-in.” He turned to Toma and Sho. “Did any of you know about it?”
Toma shook his head, “first time I’ve heard of it. Guess nobody got killed?”
“You can’t blame Murakami for not mentioning it,” Sho offered diplomatically. “After all, if the military can’t keep their property out of the hands of criminals, it just doesn’t look well.”
“Fat lot of good his secrecy measures are doing if Kuroki has wind of it,” the man muttered before waving at the paramedics who had arrived. “Let’s get your hand looked at.”
“I’m sure it’s-” Sho cut himself off under the man’s glare. “Paramedics. Absolutely.”
With Sho and the irate man being busy with the paramedics, Jun leaned towards Toma, voice slightly hushed. “Who is that?”
Toma looked surprised. “Didn’t he ask you to join his side for our football friendly?”
“That’s Aiba Masaki?” Jun asked incredulously, studying the profile of the man even as he seemed to hover over Sho worriedly. “The hostage negotiator? I never actually met him, just got a written invitation.”
Toma nodded in Sho and Aiba’s direction. “His football skills are lousy but he is nevertheless one of our top hostage negotiators. He’s also the most laid back and friendly person I know so I should let you know that he seems seriously pissed off with you right now.”
Jun groaned, covering his eyes. He’d been making mistakes one after the next all week since his transfer to Ohno’s unit. Perhaps it really wasn’t for-
“Hey rookie!” Aiba yelled. Jun looked up, wondering what he was going to be blamed for next. “Make sure the paramedics have a look at you too, can’t be too careful.”
“Yes sir,” Jun responded, feeling a little better. Of course, he still had a hell of an apology to give Sho but first things first. He turned back to Toma. “Where’s Abe?”
“Your new friend? Over there.” Toma jerked a thumb at Abe who was handcuffed to a rail under the watch of a person in a soccer outfit. Jun assumed he was one of the members of the police taking part in the soccer friendly for the day. “What did you want him for? Other than being in quite some trouble for hostage taking and endangering our public and police officers, of course.”
“We think he may have had something to do with our dead gangster in the Ishitani Private Clinic garage,” Jun explained, getting up and walking over to Abe, looking down at the man from where he stood. “Where are Ishitani and Tegoshi?”
Abe glared back, spitting on the ground. “Go to hell.” The officer keeping an eye on Abe looked ready to cuff him at the back of his head. “Go ahead,” Abe challenged, turning to stare back at the officer. “I can’t wait to tell my lawyer about the police brutality I suffered.”
Toma rolled his eyes. “I guess this is the problem with working with repeat offenders - they know to lawyer up from the get go. Has anyone informed Kato about this?”
* * *
Shige’s survival instinct kicked in split seconds later, prompting him to ram his elbow backwards, throwing as much force as he could. Surprisingly, his desperate act worked. Surprised by the sudden resistance, his kidnapper let him loose, allowing him to scramble forward for safety. “Wa-wait!” His kidnapper sputtered, “it’s me! It’s me!”
Shige froze, turning around to stare at his would-be kidnapper. It was the doctor at Ishitani Private Clinic. The one who’d offered him a cup of tea. The one Detective Ninomiya had addressed as-
“Kamenashi Kazuya,” the man offered, both palms open and in plain view for Shige to see. “I need to talk to you.”
Shige fumbled for his mobile phone in his pocket, forcing himself to remain calm even as he nearly dropped it. Thankfully, Kamenashi remained rooted to his side of the invisible line. “No, please don’t. Nobody can know I’m here.” Kamenashi was starting to panic.
Shige frowned, “you just tried to chloroform me.” He afforded a glance down, trying to locate Sakurai’s number. He needed to seriously considering putting the man on speed dial.
“What?” Kamenashi sounded confused. “You thought-” He scooped down to pick up the cloth he’d dropped, even as Shige stepped back apprehensively. “Did this smell like chloroform to you?”
Shige looked back at Kamenashi incredulously, somehow managing to find his voice. “Do you seriously expect people to fall for that?”
“It’s not chloroform!” Kamenashi’s outburst only made Shige more nervous. “You don’t remember me, do you?” Shige gave his phone another glance - Sakurai’s number was the next entry on his list…
“You’re the doctor from Ish-”
Kamenashi cut him off. “Before that.” Shige stopped, mid-press. “I’m Tegoshi’s friend.” Shige frowned, prompting Kamenashi to add “from university,” quickly. “We met at that goukon Tegoshi arranged. You protested heavily against being there that evening.”
Shige continued to stare. What was the man talking about? The last time he’d agreed to attend any of Tegoshi’s crazy goukons was back when he was still a student at uni- Wait. A very vague recollection of an equally anti-social participant sprang to mind. Shige’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration, “wait, you were the ‘Turtle’?” Kamenashi nodded in response to the nickname everyone had used to address him. “Why did you try to kidnap me, then?”
“I wasn’t. I was trying to talk to you.” Kamenashi scanned his surroundings. “In private. I can’t risk being seen doing so.” Shige said nothing, prompting Kamenashi to offer more. “You probably are well aware that not everything is above board at the clinic.” Kamenashi paused, waiting for Shige to nod in confirmation before proceeding. “I am suspecting that Tegoshi ended being caught up when it came to bite Ishitani Ryuichiro in the butt.”
The new revelation that Tegoshi was possibly not being held by gang members, but vengeful patients bent on executing some vigilantism, did little to quell the Shige’s worries. “You think it has to do with the malpractice claims?” Kamenashi nodded. “What do you know about them?”
“Ishitani received several complaints for a number of operations he was in charge of.” Kamenashi paused, as if searching for the right words. “Some of his patients were not happy with his success rate on the operating table.”
“But Ishitani’s ties have always swooped in to get the victims’ families’ to withdraw their grievances.” Shige noted.
“Not everyone,” Kamenashi mumbled. “I overheard Director Ishitani complaining that there were a few families that couldn’t be persuaded to drop charges at all.” He studied Shige carefully. “You must know about them - the victims’ families apparently said that they were approaching the prosecutor’s office.”
“Impossible - I haven’t heard any-” Shige paused as a horrible possibility sank in. Grabbing Kamenashi by the wrist, he pulled him back in the direction of the offices. “Come with me.”
“No!” Kamenashi panicked, pulling away as if Shige was planning to chop his hand off. “I TOLD you, I can’t be seen talking to you. Ishitani has invested and entrusted a lot of secrets with me. They’re not going to just let me turn on them. I risk everything just coming here to speak with you.”
Despite the fear evident in Kamenashi’s eyes, Shige lost his temper. “Then why come to me at all?” He demanded. “Why not keep hiding with your head in the sand pretending that everything is all right with the world when-” He paused, the sick realisation that he was being a hypocrite sinking in. Closing his eyes, Shige took a deep breath.
“Are you all right?” Kamenashi’s asked, concerned. Probably his doctor’s instinct kicking in.
“I’m sorry.” Shige murmured. “I have no right saying what I did.”
“I can’t blame you for being speaking the truth-“ Kamenashi began. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I was not exaggerating when I said that I risk everything. When I was fresh out of medical school, I was approached by Ishitani Private Clinic to join their staff. I had some reservations but they made me an incredible offer that someone carrying debt for years of medical school fees couldn’t quite ignore. I wanted to be out of debt and experienced enough to strike out on my own so I accepted.”
To Shige, it felt so out of place to hear a confession in the parking lot of his office but he was afraid that suggesting a change in location to Kamenashi might make the doctor change his mind about talking. He nodded, prompting Kamenashi to continue. “And then?”
“At first, everything seemed above board although Ishitani Ryuichiro seemed a little…inexperienced when it came to surgery.” Kamenashi explained. “I was called in on several occasions to recover from whatever mistakes he made. I think when the director realised that his son wasn’t as proficient at surgery as he’d hoped, I ended up being called in to operate on unofficial procedures.”
“Such as?”
“Sometimes, individuals with questionable injuries were checked in for surgery.”
Shige raised an eyebrow. “Like gang members with knife and gunshot wounds?”
Kamenashi nodded. “I considered leaving, but then I realised that I had already been at Ishitani for a while. If I switched to another clinic, people would wonder if I was one of those whiny newbies who couldn’t handle pressure. I decided to tough it out, carry out the rest of my term there, at least until I had my required experience. Ishitani, however, didn’t trust me not to leave so he arranged for me to be watched, even at my apartment-”
“Shige!”
Shige turned, seeing Masuda Takahisa walking towards him in his bright uniform. “Massu?” He turned back to Kamenashi, noting that the doctor had ducked behind the pillar. Kamenashi was terrified, as if he truly believed in whatever threats existed if he were seen talking to the assistant prosecutor in the garage. Turning back to Massu, he hurried to intercept his friend, “what brings you here?”
“Were you speaking to someone?” Massu asked, looking over Shige’s shoulder.
“No. I was just running some ideas out vocally.” Shige insisted, even as he tried supplanting his feet to stop Massu from walking closer.
Thankfully, Massu stopped, although the look on his face told Shige that it had very little to do with his scrawny non-existent strength and everything to do with the fact that Massu trusted him. He stared at the pillar where Kamenashi was hiding behind for a few more seconds before turning his attention back to Shige.
“I spoke to Yamashita. You actually care about what happens to us.”
“What are you-” Shige frowned, trying to process the new information. Damn Yamashita for spilling the beans. The last thing he needed was another person in the loop. “Yamashita’s on his own planet most of the time, claiming lurid affairs with sexy French models every second week. Are you really going to take anything he says seriously?” Shige asked defensively.
Massu smiled sadly, “nice try, Shige. I know you are looking into Tegoshi’s disappearance and you’re actually doing something about it. The question is why you feel the need to do it on your own.”
“You know I cannot abuse police re-”
“I wasn’t referring to the police.” Massu interrupted. “I am talking about friends. Me. Koyama. Yamashita. Okay, maybe not Yamashita,” Massu corrected when Shige raised an eyebrow. “You’re not alone, Shige - it’s actually all right to fall back on your friends and rely on them to support you. Let me help with whatever you need to do to find Yuya.”
* * *
Jun studied the interrogation room from behind the one-way mirror, wondering if he was staring at a still-life rather than observing Inspector Ohno Saotshi’s interrogation of one Abe Shinnosuke.
After what seemed to be another ten minutes of silence during which neither Ohno nor Abe spoke, Jun studied his watch before speaking up, “um-”
From next to him, Toma spoke up. “Patience, young Padawan.”
Jun frowned, glancing at Toma sideways. “Did you just quote Star Wars to me? Are you a nerd or something?”
“Takes one to know what a Padawan means, my inexperienced rookie friend,” Toma smirked, taking a sip of his coffee.
“I should be the one in there interrogating Abe,” Jun groused.
“You’re a detective, not Superman,” Sho offered, speaking up for the first time. “Being a detective means that you work as a team. Sometimes, it’s better to let others help out. Sometimes,” Sho paused, holding his gaze. “Sometimes, it’s okay to let go and place your trust in others to get the job done.”
“Besides,” Toma interjected. “You got into a physical tussle with Abe, I don’t think he would be very forthcoming with you.”
“It’s not like the Inspector is making headway in there either,” Jun complained, just as the door to the observation room opened to let Aiba Masaki in.
“I just got off the phone with Murakami,” Aiba explained, taking the seat next to Sho. “Took a while but he now admits that there “may” have been a little break-in at their training facilities last week. Army Intelligence suspects it was an inside job so they want to speak with Abe here. There’re on their way right now to collect him.”
“Hell no,” Jun snapped.
“You make it sound like we have a choice in this matter,” Aiba retorted. “As loathe as I am to let Murakami and his cronies have their way, the military police have more power than we do.”
“But Abe’s our collar!” Jun protested. “Plus he’s the only lead we have on Tegoshi and he hasn’t talked ye-”
He was cut off by knocking on the glass. Whirling around, Jun was surprised to see Ohno facing them, face impassive as usual. “We’re done here.”
Jun could only stare in confusion. “Huh?”
Toma grinned like an idiot, “told you to be patient. If you want answers from a difficult suspect, Ohno’s the man to go to.”
“So what do you have for us?” Sho asked, as Ohno joined them in the room. Aiba scooted over to the side, letting Ohno take a seat at the table.
“He claims that he and Suzuki Hayato were attacked by some gentlemen who disagreed with how they were benefiting from a score. He tried to take Suzuki to Ishitani Clinic for medical assistance.”
“Sounds like he did a pretty shitty job of getting help,” Toma pointed out.
“What about Tegoshi and Ishitani?” Jun asked.
“According to Abe, they were going to see Ishitani. But when they arrived, they narrowly missed being run over by some vehicle. They couldn’t find the good doctor so Suzuki ended up bleeding to death in the parking lot.” Ohno relayed.
“How do we know he’s telling the truth?” Jun asked, not convinced. “The man apparently has a temper of note.”
“He’s admitted to violating the terms of his parole by being involved in some score,” Ohno noted, “I find it unlikely for him to draw the line there. Also, he provided a somewhat descriptive account of the vehicle that had driven off. A black Toyota MasterAce Surf.”
“A Master-” Toma whistled. “Are those things still even allowed to be on the roads?”
“I don’t see why not, my neighbour has one. He swears that it’s part of a premium collection of vintage cars.” Everyone turned to see Nino at the door.
“I thought you were busy with a weekend-long LAN session?” Aiba asked.
“I was, but then I heard about the explosion in the park.” Nino explained. “Is that our bomber slash killer slash kidnapper?” He asked, gesturing to Abe behind the glass.
“If he’s telling the truth, then that’s a negative on your last two counts,” Sho responded. “Let’s assume he is telling the truth - given the fact that Toyota has stopped manufacturing MasterAce Surfs years ago, a black one might not be that difficult to track.”
Ohno nodded. “True, Toma and Nino, head off to the highway monitoring centre, Sho, if I can ask you and Jun-”
Sho interrupted. “I think Jun’s abilities would be more suited for the highway monitoring centre. Let Toma and I handle the registration records.”
Ohno paused briefly before nodding, as if some unspoken agreement passed between the two Inspectors. “Very well. Aiba and I will remain here to process the handing over of Abe to Murakami and the rest of his team. Nino, take Jun with you to centre, Toma, you and Sho run through the records.”
Jun watched as Toma followed Sho out first. “Don’t suppose we’d be so lucky as to find out that Nino’s neighbour has two medical professionals stashed away in his secret room?”
Sho smiled back mirthlessly. “You never know - it wouldn’t be the first time that we are reminded that the people we think we know are the ones most capable of proving us wrong.”
* * *
If his colleagues knew that he was spending Saturday playing arsonist, he was going to land in a lot of serious trouble.
Which was why Massu was currently peering around the corner, wondering why the watch officer hadn’t sprinted over to deal with the small (but totally manageable and controlled) fire he had started as a distraction. Was the man on some toilet break? Did he-
Massu frowned. Was the watch officer seriously tapping away on his mobile phone?!? Sighing, he ran up to the desk, trying to look the part of the wide-eyed and concerned passer-by as much as possible. “Fire!”
The watch officer dropped his phone while leaping to his feet at once. “Wha-where?”
Massu signalled in the direction of where he’d started a little “accidental” fire. “Where’s the fire extinguisher?” The watch officer, Nikaido, according to the nameplate on his breast pocket ran in the direction of a firefighting closet in response, arming himself with an extinguisher and readying himself for action. “Let’s go,” Massu instructed, looking over Nikaido’s shoulder even as Shige hurriedly headed over to Nikaido’s desk, fishing out a set of keys off the board of office keys before disappearing down the corridor of offices.
* * *
Nino frowned, “I would like to know why Sho thought you would be better at this. Frankly, you suck.”
Fujigaya, the officer Jun had met earlier at the park guarding Abe seemed to agree. “Just tell me which feeds you want,” he offered wearily. Jun didn’t blame him. Apparently, he had been called in despite it being his day off.
“We believe the timeframe will be around 22h00 to 02h00 in the evening,” Nino offered.
Fujigaya nodded, taking over the keyboard to access the required data. “Right, a black MasterAce Surf, right?”
“Allegedly.” Nino clarified, “Jun? A moment outside.” Nino waited until the two of them were outside in the passageway before Nino spoke up. “What’s gotten into your head? You’re not normally like this.” Nino frowned, scrutinising Jun. “Are you?”
Jun shook his head. “Sorry, I’m just…” He paused, wondering if Nino and his sarcastic nature wasn’t going to mock him instead. “I’m just worried about having pissed Sho off.”
Nino snorted, crossing his arms. “What are you, a teenage girl? You think that because he doesn’t want to go with you to check vehicle records, he suddenly hates you?”
“It’s my fault that he burnt his ha-“
“And you also attacked him on your first day of work,” Nino threw in, cutting him off. “But that didn’t stop him from working with you despite his workload at Organised Crime. Listen, idiot - as creepy as it sounds, Sakurai Sho doesn’t do angry. Do you know he still insists that he was the one who ran into Eguchi’s knife on the rooftops? The man is generous to a fault.”
“Sorry, detectives?” Both Jun and Nino turned to see Fujigaya at the door. “I think I may have found something.”
* * *
“It was a good thing that you were here,” Nikaido declared gratefully. “Otherwise, I’m not sure what I could have dealt with the fire on my own.”
Massu smiled uneasily, wishing that the younger man didn’t look at him with such gratitude and hero worship in his eyes. He had started the little office fire after all. His eyes kept wandering in the direction of the offices, wondering when Shige was going to return. How long did it take to steal into the chief prosecutor’s offices to find and read supposedly secret documents anyway?
Nikaido followed his eyes down the offices, studying Massu curiously. “Were you here for someone?”
“I-”
He was cut off by another voice. “Nikaido, what’s this I hear about my building on fire?” Massu turned around to see the fuming face of Prosecutor Kimura Takuya striding into the building foyer.
“It’s all under control, sir.” Nikaido offered quickly. “This gentleman here was fortunately here to help me put the fire out.”
Kimura studied Massu intently. “You’re Kato’s friend.”
Understanding dawned on Nikaido’s face. “Oh, so that’s why you keep looking in the direction of the offices.” Massu silently willed Nikaido to shut up, feeling himself wither under Kimura’s gaze. “You don’t have to worry though, I believe Assistant Prosecutor Kato has already left for the day.”
Without another word, Kimura walked past Massu and Nikaido, heading in the direction of his office. Oh crap. “W-wait!” Massu called out desperately, hot on Kimura’s heels. Nikaido followed just as quickly as Kimura moved, undeterred in his mission to reach his office. “I-er…I want to thank you for looking out for Shige this whole time,” he offered desperately, even as Kimura inserted the keys to his office door and yanked the door handle down. “Really, I-”
He paused, mouth agape as Kimura strode into his office and scrutinised it.
“Something wrong, sir?” Nikaido asked nervously, both he and Massu examining the four corners of the swanky office.
Shige was nowhere to be found.
Kimura whirled around, eyes boring into Massu’s. “No. Just a false alarm. I might as well get some work done while I am here. Thank you for your assistance in putting out the fire.”
“Of-of course,” Massu nodded quickly. He was only too glad to leave with Nikaido who led him back to the front desk. It was then, when Massu realised that the spare key to Kimura’s office had been returned to its spot. Massu frowned, even as Nikaido babbled on to say good bye to him.
Where had Shige gone off without saying a word to him?
* * *
To be honest, Toma had given up by the fourth file. Sho on the other hand, was more than focused on the task at hand, perusing through his stack of records in search of the elusive MasterSurf Ace records. Maybe he’d noticed that Toma had stopped working, because Sho stopped and looked up suddenly. “Something bothering you? Other than the fact that we’ve got to go through the non-digitised records, of course.”
Toma offered a rueful smile. “I reckon that Jun and Nino must have found the MasterAce by now.”
Sho returned back to his records, “doubtful - they would have called if they did.”
Should he ask Sho for his input? What if Sho thought he was being paranoid? Still, it didn’t hurt to get a second opinion. “Sho?”
“Hmm?” Sho looked back up from his work, indicating that Toma had his full and undivided attention.
Toma studied his surroundings, lowering his voice. “I need your help confirming something - just to know that I’m not going crazy.”
Sho raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
“I think the serial killer behind the killings of my first set of cases is back. And this time, he’s toying with Jun.”
* * *
Tegoshi studied his handiwork, wincing at it. Definitely not his finest attempt at suturing. But then again, he’d ditched his surgery ambitions shortly after deciding that he hadn’t wanted to be in the same space as Ishitani Ryuichiro and his cronies. Still, it should hold, even if Ishitani had passed out. It figured that the jerk wouldn’t be able to handle what he dished out all the time.
“What are your plans for us?” Tegoshi asked tiredly, turning to his guard. Clearly, their kidnappers were not taking any changes, having handcuffed them both to their respective chairs.
“Don’t talk to me,” the man glowered, looking away.
Discomfort. His guard wasn’t used to the whole kidnapping thing after all. Tegoshi felt a brief ray of hope that he might just be able to talk his way out of this. Or at the very least, get help. “Look, if this is all about him,” he gestured at Ishitani, “then why am I even here? I don’t even like the guy. Do you know what he used to do to me back at university? He and his cronies roughed me up so bad and so often that I ended up switching out of surgery. He ruined my life!” He added, throwing in a touch of stress to his last words.
“Then why were you there at the parking lot that late at night?” Another voice asked. Tegoshi looked up to see the second kidnapper returning.
Tegoshi decided on the truth. “He and his gang of bullies beat me up the previous evening,” he began slowly, noticing that the kidnappers were exchanging looks. “Where else do you think I got these bruises from? At any rate, I wanted to confront him at his work.”
The second kidnapper (and clearly the ringleader) pointed his pistol at Tegoshi, unconvinced. “What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. I hadn’t exactly given it much thought. When I found out that his family clinic was under investigation, I was angry that there were others being victimised by him.” Tegoshi leant forward even as his handcuff pulled him back. “Look, Ishitani will get what he deserves. The police are investigating him - my friend is investigating him.”
“Your friend?” His kidnapper lowered his gun slowly, as if giving some serious consideration to his words.
It gave Tegoshi confidence to continue. “Yes, and he’s trustworthy. He has integrity and is honest to a fault. If he’s investigating, you can be assured that any wrongdoings that the Ishitanis have committed will be punished.”
* * *
“The number you have dialled cannot be reached-”
Shige swore internally as he pressed the hang up button. It was the fourth time he’d tried to reach Sakurai and the fourth time he’d gotten the voice prompt. He stared at the building, feeling his heart hammering in his chest nervously.
If his theory was right, Tegoshi was here, at the mercy of very angry victims determined to take matters into their own hands. Knowing Tegoshi, his absolute belief in Shige’s character might just unknowingly set off what was already a volatile situation, placing him in even greater danger. He couldn’t wait for Sakurai. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the doorbell.
* * *
“Someone at the door,” the first kidnapper noted.
Tegoshi’s current interrogator gestured with his head. “Go see who it is.” Tegoshi’s eyes followed the other man out the door before turning his attention back to his kidnapper. This friend of yours,” he began slowly. “You trust him?”
Tegoshi stared back resolutely. “With my life.”
“What is his name?”
“Kato Shigeaki.”
“Kato?” His kidnapper asked.
Tegoshi wavered a little. Something about the way in which his kidnapper had repeated Shige’s surname seemed a little-
Pain exploded in his head. Tegoshi could barely catch the last of his kidnapper’s words. “-is the whole reason we had to take matters into our own hands!”
“That’s not possible,” Tegoshi growled out. Now he was seriously pissed off. “Shige isn’t that kind of a person. He-”
His angrier kidnapper retracted his arm, ready to deal him another blow to his skull. “Shut up, you stupid-”
Tegoshi refused to flinch this time, yelling back. “YOU’re the stupid-”
Whatever both had to say next were cut off by the sounds of gunshots from outside.
Characters: The full Arashi gang (for once!), Ikuta Toma, three members of NEWS, one KAT-TUN, two Kis-My-Ft2 members and off-screen mention of one Kanjani8 (I hope I got them all...)
Rating: PG-13 (some violence due to angry, angry people)
Word Count: 4 968 minus or so words
Disclaimer: Purely fictional, of course. Glaring lapses of logic abound although the little clues I sprinkle about eventually make sense. Not beta'd
Note: Wow...I can't believe it's been eight months since I last updated. I really apologise. Can it be an early MatsuJun birthday chapter?
Summary: Jun and Co. try to track down Tegoshi's whereabouts.
“-un. Jun!”
Someone was tapping him roughly on his shoulder. Forcing his eyes open, Jun barely made out Toma’s features as his fellow detective hovered over him. “Hear me?” Jun nodded slowly, closing his eyelids when Toma slapped him. “Hey, keep them open. Can you tell me what happened?”
Jun swallowed, “I cornered Abe. Our suspect.” Jun began. “Someone shoved me aside and tried to talk nice to him. He pulled out what I thought was a test grenade. I tackled him and Sho-” Jun pushed himself up at once. “Sho!”
Thankfully, he found Sho sitting a few metres away on one of the park benches, alive and seemingly in once piece. “Sho, I’m so sorry, I-”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it,” a familiar voice snapped. Jun turned to follow the voice, noting that it was the man who’d thrown him aside. Lugging a garden hose with him, the man walked over to Sho, prompting him to run his hand under the running water. “Sorry doesn’t make the fact that Sho would have been any less dead if that had been a real grenade.”
“So it really wasn’t a real grenade?” Jun asked, eyeing the angry red colour that Sho’s hand was at the moment. In retrospect, a real grenade probably would have done a lot, lot worse.
“Thankfully no,” Toma confirmed. “It’s as you said, it’s a test grenade that the army uses in live exercises. But how did you know? Do they teach you these extras back home?”
Jun shook his head. “I saw a photograph. One of Kuroki Meisa’s contacts insisted that there had been a break-in at a military storage facility.”
“Kuroki?” The man with the hose repeated, seemingly getting more annoyed by the second. “I was wondering why Murakami was a bit edgy when we met two nights ago. Bastard said nothing of any break-in.” He turned to Toma and Sho. “Did any of you know about it?”
Toma shook his head, “first time I’ve heard of it. Guess nobody got killed?”
“You can’t blame Murakami for not mentioning it,” Sho offered diplomatically. “After all, if the military can’t keep their property out of the hands of criminals, it just doesn’t look well.”
“Fat lot of good his secrecy measures are doing if Kuroki has wind of it,” the man muttered before waving at the paramedics who had arrived. “Let’s get your hand looked at.”
“I’m sure it’s-” Sho cut himself off under the man’s glare. “Paramedics. Absolutely.”
With Sho and the irate man being busy with the paramedics, Jun leaned towards Toma, voice slightly hushed. “Who is that?”
Toma looked surprised. “Didn’t he ask you to join his side for our football friendly?”
“That’s Aiba Masaki?” Jun asked incredulously, studying the profile of the man even as he seemed to hover over Sho worriedly. “The hostage negotiator? I never actually met him, just got a written invitation.”
Toma nodded in Sho and Aiba’s direction. “His football skills are lousy but he is nevertheless one of our top hostage negotiators. He’s also the most laid back and friendly person I know so I should let you know that he seems seriously pissed off with you right now.”
Jun groaned, covering his eyes. He’d been making mistakes one after the next all week since his transfer to Ohno’s unit. Perhaps it really wasn’t for-
“Hey rookie!” Aiba yelled. Jun looked up, wondering what he was going to be blamed for next. “Make sure the paramedics have a look at you too, can’t be too careful.”
“Yes sir,” Jun responded, feeling a little better. Of course, he still had a hell of an apology to give Sho but first things first. He turned back to Toma. “Where’s Abe?”
“Your new friend? Over there.” Toma jerked a thumb at Abe who was handcuffed to a rail under the watch of a person in a soccer outfit. Jun assumed he was one of the members of the police taking part in the soccer friendly for the day. “What did you want him for? Other than being in quite some trouble for hostage taking and endangering our public and police officers, of course.”
“We think he may have had something to do with our dead gangster in the Ishitani Private Clinic garage,” Jun explained, getting up and walking over to Abe, looking down at the man from where he stood. “Where are Ishitani and Tegoshi?”
Abe glared back, spitting on the ground. “Go to hell.” The officer keeping an eye on Abe looked ready to cuff him at the back of his head. “Go ahead,” Abe challenged, turning to stare back at the officer. “I can’t wait to tell my lawyer about the police brutality I suffered.”
Toma rolled his eyes. “I guess this is the problem with working with repeat offenders - they know to lawyer up from the get go. Has anyone informed Kato about this?”
* * *
Shige’s survival instinct kicked in split seconds later, prompting him to ram his elbow backwards, throwing as much force as he could. Surprisingly, his desperate act worked. Surprised by the sudden resistance, his kidnapper let him loose, allowing him to scramble forward for safety. “Wa-wait!” His kidnapper sputtered, “it’s me! It’s me!”
Shige froze, turning around to stare at his would-be kidnapper. It was the doctor at Ishitani Private Clinic. The one who’d offered him a cup of tea. The one Detective Ninomiya had addressed as-
“Kamenashi Kazuya,” the man offered, both palms open and in plain view for Shige to see. “I need to talk to you.”
Shige fumbled for his mobile phone in his pocket, forcing himself to remain calm even as he nearly dropped it. Thankfully, Kamenashi remained rooted to his side of the invisible line. “No, please don’t. Nobody can know I’m here.” Kamenashi was starting to panic.
Shige frowned, “you just tried to chloroform me.” He afforded a glance down, trying to locate Sakurai’s number. He needed to seriously considering putting the man on speed dial.
“What?” Kamenashi sounded confused. “You thought-” He scooped down to pick up the cloth he’d dropped, even as Shige stepped back apprehensively. “Did this smell like chloroform to you?”
Shige looked back at Kamenashi incredulously, somehow managing to find his voice. “Do you seriously expect people to fall for that?”
“It’s not chloroform!” Kamenashi’s outburst only made Shige more nervous. “You don’t remember me, do you?” Shige gave his phone another glance - Sakurai’s number was the next entry on his list…
“You’re the doctor from Ish-”
Kamenashi cut him off. “Before that.” Shige stopped, mid-press. “I’m Tegoshi’s friend.” Shige frowned, prompting Kamenashi to add “from university,” quickly. “We met at that goukon Tegoshi arranged. You protested heavily against being there that evening.”
Shige continued to stare. What was the man talking about? The last time he’d agreed to attend any of Tegoshi’s crazy goukons was back when he was still a student at uni- Wait. A very vague recollection of an equally anti-social participant sprang to mind. Shige’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration, “wait, you were the ‘Turtle’?” Kamenashi nodded in response to the nickname everyone had used to address him. “Why did you try to kidnap me, then?”
“I wasn’t. I was trying to talk to you.” Kamenashi scanned his surroundings. “In private. I can’t risk being seen doing so.” Shige said nothing, prompting Kamenashi to offer more. “You probably are well aware that not everything is above board at the clinic.” Kamenashi paused, waiting for Shige to nod in confirmation before proceeding. “I am suspecting that Tegoshi ended being caught up when it came to bite Ishitani Ryuichiro in the butt.”
The new revelation that Tegoshi was possibly not being held by gang members, but vengeful patients bent on executing some vigilantism, did little to quell the Shige’s worries. “You think it has to do with the malpractice claims?” Kamenashi nodded. “What do you know about them?”
“Ishitani received several complaints for a number of operations he was in charge of.” Kamenashi paused, as if searching for the right words. “Some of his patients were not happy with his success rate on the operating table.”
“But Ishitani’s ties have always swooped in to get the victims’ families’ to withdraw their grievances.” Shige noted.
“Not everyone,” Kamenashi mumbled. “I overheard Director Ishitani complaining that there were a few families that couldn’t be persuaded to drop charges at all.” He studied Shige carefully. “You must know about them - the victims’ families apparently said that they were approaching the prosecutor’s office.”
“Impossible - I haven’t heard any-” Shige paused as a horrible possibility sank in. Grabbing Kamenashi by the wrist, he pulled him back in the direction of the offices. “Come with me.”
“No!” Kamenashi panicked, pulling away as if Shige was planning to chop his hand off. “I TOLD you, I can’t be seen talking to you. Ishitani has invested and entrusted a lot of secrets with me. They’re not going to just let me turn on them. I risk everything just coming here to speak with you.”
Despite the fear evident in Kamenashi’s eyes, Shige lost his temper. “Then why come to me at all?” He demanded. “Why not keep hiding with your head in the sand pretending that everything is all right with the world when-” He paused, the sick realisation that he was being a hypocrite sinking in. Closing his eyes, Shige took a deep breath.
“Are you all right?” Kamenashi’s asked, concerned. Probably his doctor’s instinct kicking in.
“I’m sorry.” Shige murmured. “I have no right saying what I did.”
“I can’t blame you for being speaking the truth-“ Kamenashi began. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I was not exaggerating when I said that I risk everything. When I was fresh out of medical school, I was approached by Ishitani Private Clinic to join their staff. I had some reservations but they made me an incredible offer that someone carrying debt for years of medical school fees couldn’t quite ignore. I wanted to be out of debt and experienced enough to strike out on my own so I accepted.”
To Shige, it felt so out of place to hear a confession in the parking lot of his office but he was afraid that suggesting a change in location to Kamenashi might make the doctor change his mind about talking. He nodded, prompting Kamenashi to continue. “And then?”
“At first, everything seemed above board although Ishitani Ryuichiro seemed a little…inexperienced when it came to surgery.” Kamenashi explained. “I was called in on several occasions to recover from whatever mistakes he made. I think when the director realised that his son wasn’t as proficient at surgery as he’d hoped, I ended up being called in to operate on unofficial procedures.”
“Such as?”
“Sometimes, individuals with questionable injuries were checked in for surgery.”
Shige raised an eyebrow. “Like gang members with knife and gunshot wounds?”
Kamenashi nodded. “I considered leaving, but then I realised that I had already been at Ishitani for a while. If I switched to another clinic, people would wonder if I was one of those whiny newbies who couldn’t handle pressure. I decided to tough it out, carry out the rest of my term there, at least until I had my required experience. Ishitani, however, didn’t trust me not to leave so he arranged for me to be watched, even at my apartment-”
“Shige!”
Shige turned, seeing Masuda Takahisa walking towards him in his bright uniform. “Massu?” He turned back to Kamenashi, noting that the doctor had ducked behind the pillar. Kamenashi was terrified, as if he truly believed in whatever threats existed if he were seen talking to the assistant prosecutor in the garage. Turning back to Massu, he hurried to intercept his friend, “what brings you here?”
“Were you speaking to someone?” Massu asked, looking over Shige’s shoulder.
“No. I was just running some ideas out vocally.” Shige insisted, even as he tried supplanting his feet to stop Massu from walking closer.
Thankfully, Massu stopped, although the look on his face told Shige that it had very little to do with his scrawny non-existent strength and everything to do with the fact that Massu trusted him. He stared at the pillar where Kamenashi was hiding behind for a few more seconds before turning his attention back to Shige.
“I spoke to Yamashita. You actually care about what happens to us.”
“What are you-” Shige frowned, trying to process the new information. Damn Yamashita for spilling the beans. The last thing he needed was another person in the loop. “Yamashita’s on his own planet most of the time, claiming lurid affairs with sexy French models every second week. Are you really going to take anything he says seriously?” Shige asked defensively.
Massu smiled sadly, “nice try, Shige. I know you are looking into Tegoshi’s disappearance and you’re actually doing something about it. The question is why you feel the need to do it on your own.”
“You know I cannot abuse police re-”
“I wasn’t referring to the police.” Massu interrupted. “I am talking about friends. Me. Koyama. Yamashita. Okay, maybe not Yamashita,” Massu corrected when Shige raised an eyebrow. “You’re not alone, Shige - it’s actually all right to fall back on your friends and rely on them to support you. Let me help with whatever you need to do to find Yuya.”
* * *
Jun studied the interrogation room from behind the one-way mirror, wondering if he was staring at a still-life rather than observing Inspector Ohno Saotshi’s interrogation of one Abe Shinnosuke.
After what seemed to be another ten minutes of silence during which neither Ohno nor Abe spoke, Jun studied his watch before speaking up, “um-”
From next to him, Toma spoke up. “Patience, young Padawan.”
Jun frowned, glancing at Toma sideways. “Did you just quote Star Wars to me? Are you a nerd or something?”
“Takes one to know what a Padawan means, my inexperienced rookie friend,” Toma smirked, taking a sip of his coffee.
“I should be the one in there interrogating Abe,” Jun groused.
“You’re a detective, not Superman,” Sho offered, speaking up for the first time. “Being a detective means that you work as a team. Sometimes, it’s better to let others help out. Sometimes,” Sho paused, holding his gaze. “Sometimes, it’s okay to let go and place your trust in others to get the job done.”
“Besides,” Toma interjected. “You got into a physical tussle with Abe, I don’t think he would be very forthcoming with you.”
“It’s not like the Inspector is making headway in there either,” Jun complained, just as the door to the observation room opened to let Aiba Masaki in.
“I just got off the phone with Murakami,” Aiba explained, taking the seat next to Sho. “Took a while but he now admits that there “may” have been a little break-in at their training facilities last week. Army Intelligence suspects it was an inside job so they want to speak with Abe here. There’re on their way right now to collect him.”
“Hell no,” Jun snapped.
“You make it sound like we have a choice in this matter,” Aiba retorted. “As loathe as I am to let Murakami and his cronies have their way, the military police have more power than we do.”
“But Abe’s our collar!” Jun protested. “Plus he’s the only lead we have on Tegoshi and he hasn’t talked ye-”
He was cut off by knocking on the glass. Whirling around, Jun was surprised to see Ohno facing them, face impassive as usual. “We’re done here.”
Jun could only stare in confusion. “Huh?”
Toma grinned like an idiot, “told you to be patient. If you want answers from a difficult suspect, Ohno’s the man to go to.”
“So what do you have for us?” Sho asked, as Ohno joined them in the room. Aiba scooted over to the side, letting Ohno take a seat at the table.
“He claims that he and Suzuki Hayato were attacked by some gentlemen who disagreed with how they were benefiting from a score. He tried to take Suzuki to Ishitani Clinic for medical assistance.”
“Sounds like he did a pretty shitty job of getting help,” Toma pointed out.
“What about Tegoshi and Ishitani?” Jun asked.
“According to Abe, they were going to see Ishitani. But when they arrived, they narrowly missed being run over by some vehicle. They couldn’t find the good doctor so Suzuki ended up bleeding to death in the parking lot.” Ohno relayed.
“How do we know he’s telling the truth?” Jun asked, not convinced. “The man apparently has a temper of note.”
“He’s admitted to violating the terms of his parole by being involved in some score,” Ohno noted, “I find it unlikely for him to draw the line there. Also, he provided a somewhat descriptive account of the vehicle that had driven off. A black Toyota MasterAce Surf.”
“A Master-” Toma whistled. “Are those things still even allowed to be on the roads?”
“I don’t see why not, my neighbour has one. He swears that it’s part of a premium collection of vintage cars.” Everyone turned to see Nino at the door.
“I thought you were busy with a weekend-long LAN session?” Aiba asked.
“I was, but then I heard about the explosion in the park.” Nino explained. “Is that our bomber slash killer slash kidnapper?” He asked, gesturing to Abe behind the glass.
“If he’s telling the truth, then that’s a negative on your last two counts,” Sho responded. “Let’s assume he is telling the truth - given the fact that Toyota has stopped manufacturing MasterAce Surfs years ago, a black one might not be that difficult to track.”
Ohno nodded. “True, Toma and Nino, head off to the highway monitoring centre, Sho, if I can ask you and Jun-”
Sho interrupted. “I think Jun’s abilities would be more suited for the highway monitoring centre. Let Toma and I handle the registration records.”
Ohno paused briefly before nodding, as if some unspoken agreement passed between the two Inspectors. “Very well. Aiba and I will remain here to process the handing over of Abe to Murakami and the rest of his team. Nino, take Jun with you to centre, Toma, you and Sho run through the records.”
Jun watched as Toma followed Sho out first. “Don’t suppose we’d be so lucky as to find out that Nino’s neighbour has two medical professionals stashed away in his secret room?”
Sho smiled back mirthlessly. “You never know - it wouldn’t be the first time that we are reminded that the people we think we know are the ones most capable of proving us wrong.”
* * *
If his colleagues knew that he was spending Saturday playing arsonist, he was going to land in a lot of serious trouble.
Which was why Massu was currently peering around the corner, wondering why the watch officer hadn’t sprinted over to deal with the small (but totally manageable and controlled) fire he had started as a distraction. Was the man on some toilet break? Did he-
Massu frowned. Was the watch officer seriously tapping away on his mobile phone?!? Sighing, he ran up to the desk, trying to look the part of the wide-eyed and concerned passer-by as much as possible. “Fire!”
The watch officer dropped his phone while leaping to his feet at once. “Wha-where?”
Massu signalled in the direction of where he’d started a little “accidental” fire. “Where’s the fire extinguisher?” The watch officer, Nikaido, according to the nameplate on his breast pocket ran in the direction of a firefighting closet in response, arming himself with an extinguisher and readying himself for action. “Let’s go,” Massu instructed, looking over Nikaido’s shoulder even as Shige hurriedly headed over to Nikaido’s desk, fishing out a set of keys off the board of office keys before disappearing down the corridor of offices.
* * *
Nino frowned, “I would like to know why Sho thought you would be better at this. Frankly, you suck.”
Fujigaya, the officer Jun had met earlier at the park guarding Abe seemed to agree. “Just tell me which feeds you want,” he offered wearily. Jun didn’t blame him. Apparently, he had been called in despite it being his day off.
“We believe the timeframe will be around 22h00 to 02h00 in the evening,” Nino offered.
Fujigaya nodded, taking over the keyboard to access the required data. “Right, a black MasterAce Surf, right?”
“Allegedly.” Nino clarified, “Jun? A moment outside.” Nino waited until the two of them were outside in the passageway before Nino spoke up. “What’s gotten into your head? You’re not normally like this.” Nino frowned, scrutinising Jun. “Are you?”
Jun shook his head. “Sorry, I’m just…” He paused, wondering if Nino and his sarcastic nature wasn’t going to mock him instead. “I’m just worried about having pissed Sho off.”
Nino snorted, crossing his arms. “What are you, a teenage girl? You think that because he doesn’t want to go with you to check vehicle records, he suddenly hates you?”
“It’s my fault that he burnt his ha-“
“And you also attacked him on your first day of work,” Nino threw in, cutting him off. “But that didn’t stop him from working with you despite his workload at Organised Crime. Listen, idiot - as creepy as it sounds, Sakurai Sho doesn’t do angry. Do you know he still insists that he was the one who ran into Eguchi’s knife on the rooftops? The man is generous to a fault.”
“Sorry, detectives?” Both Jun and Nino turned to see Fujigaya at the door. “I think I may have found something.”
* * *
“It was a good thing that you were here,” Nikaido declared gratefully. “Otherwise, I’m not sure what I could have dealt with the fire on my own.”
Massu smiled uneasily, wishing that the younger man didn’t look at him with such gratitude and hero worship in his eyes. He had started the little office fire after all. His eyes kept wandering in the direction of the offices, wondering when Shige was going to return. How long did it take to steal into the chief prosecutor’s offices to find and read supposedly secret documents anyway?
Nikaido followed his eyes down the offices, studying Massu curiously. “Were you here for someone?”
“I-”
He was cut off by another voice. “Nikaido, what’s this I hear about my building on fire?” Massu turned around to see the fuming face of Prosecutor Kimura Takuya striding into the building foyer.
“It’s all under control, sir.” Nikaido offered quickly. “This gentleman here was fortunately here to help me put the fire out.”
Kimura studied Massu intently. “You’re Kato’s friend.”
Understanding dawned on Nikaido’s face. “Oh, so that’s why you keep looking in the direction of the offices.” Massu silently willed Nikaido to shut up, feeling himself wither under Kimura’s gaze. “You don’t have to worry though, I believe Assistant Prosecutor Kato has already left for the day.”
Without another word, Kimura walked past Massu and Nikaido, heading in the direction of his office. Oh crap. “W-wait!” Massu called out desperately, hot on Kimura’s heels. Nikaido followed just as quickly as Kimura moved, undeterred in his mission to reach his office. “I-er…I want to thank you for looking out for Shige this whole time,” he offered desperately, even as Kimura inserted the keys to his office door and yanked the door handle down. “Really, I-”
He paused, mouth agape as Kimura strode into his office and scrutinised it.
“Something wrong, sir?” Nikaido asked nervously, both he and Massu examining the four corners of the swanky office.
Shige was nowhere to be found.
Kimura whirled around, eyes boring into Massu’s. “No. Just a false alarm. I might as well get some work done while I am here. Thank you for your assistance in putting out the fire.”
“Of-of course,” Massu nodded quickly. He was only too glad to leave with Nikaido who led him back to the front desk. It was then, when Massu realised that the spare key to Kimura’s office had been returned to its spot. Massu frowned, even as Nikaido babbled on to say good bye to him.
Where had Shige gone off without saying a word to him?
* * *
To be honest, Toma had given up by the fourth file. Sho on the other hand, was more than focused on the task at hand, perusing through his stack of records in search of the elusive MasterSurf Ace records. Maybe he’d noticed that Toma had stopped working, because Sho stopped and looked up suddenly. “Something bothering you? Other than the fact that we’ve got to go through the non-digitised records, of course.”
Toma offered a rueful smile. “I reckon that Jun and Nino must have found the MasterAce by now.”
Sho returned back to his records, “doubtful - they would have called if they did.”
Should he ask Sho for his input? What if Sho thought he was being paranoid? Still, it didn’t hurt to get a second opinion. “Sho?”
“Hmm?” Sho looked back up from his work, indicating that Toma had his full and undivided attention.
Toma studied his surroundings, lowering his voice. “I need your help confirming something - just to know that I’m not going crazy.”
Sho raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
“I think the serial killer behind the killings of my first set of cases is back. And this time, he’s toying with Jun.”
* * *
Tegoshi studied his handiwork, wincing at it. Definitely not his finest attempt at suturing. But then again, he’d ditched his surgery ambitions shortly after deciding that he hadn’t wanted to be in the same space as Ishitani Ryuichiro and his cronies. Still, it should hold, even if Ishitani had passed out. It figured that the jerk wouldn’t be able to handle what he dished out all the time.
“What are your plans for us?” Tegoshi asked tiredly, turning to his guard. Clearly, their kidnappers were not taking any changes, having handcuffed them both to their respective chairs.
“Don’t talk to me,” the man glowered, looking away.
Discomfort. His guard wasn’t used to the whole kidnapping thing after all. Tegoshi felt a brief ray of hope that he might just be able to talk his way out of this. Or at the very least, get help. “Look, if this is all about him,” he gestured at Ishitani, “then why am I even here? I don’t even like the guy. Do you know what he used to do to me back at university? He and his cronies roughed me up so bad and so often that I ended up switching out of surgery. He ruined my life!” He added, throwing in a touch of stress to his last words.
“Then why were you there at the parking lot that late at night?” Another voice asked. Tegoshi looked up to see the second kidnapper returning.
Tegoshi decided on the truth. “He and his gang of bullies beat me up the previous evening,” he began slowly, noticing that the kidnappers were exchanging looks. “Where else do you think I got these bruises from? At any rate, I wanted to confront him at his work.”
The second kidnapper (and clearly the ringleader) pointed his pistol at Tegoshi, unconvinced. “What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. I hadn’t exactly given it much thought. When I found out that his family clinic was under investigation, I was angry that there were others being victimised by him.” Tegoshi leant forward even as his handcuff pulled him back. “Look, Ishitani will get what he deserves. The police are investigating him - my friend is investigating him.”
“Your friend?” His kidnapper lowered his gun slowly, as if giving some serious consideration to his words.
It gave Tegoshi confidence to continue. “Yes, and he’s trustworthy. He has integrity and is honest to a fault. If he’s investigating, you can be assured that any wrongdoings that the Ishitanis have committed will be punished.”
* * *
“The number you have dialled cannot be reached-”
Shige swore internally as he pressed the hang up button. It was the fourth time he’d tried to reach Sakurai and the fourth time he’d gotten the voice prompt. He stared at the building, feeling his heart hammering in his chest nervously.
If his theory was right, Tegoshi was here, at the mercy of very angry victims determined to take matters into their own hands. Knowing Tegoshi, his absolute belief in Shige’s character might just unknowingly set off what was already a volatile situation, placing him in even greater danger. He couldn’t wait for Sakurai. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the doorbell.
* * *
“Someone at the door,” the first kidnapper noted.
Tegoshi’s current interrogator gestured with his head. “Go see who it is.” Tegoshi’s eyes followed the other man out the door before turning his attention back to his kidnapper. This friend of yours,” he began slowly. “You trust him?”
Tegoshi stared back resolutely. “With my life.”
“What is his name?”
“Kato Shigeaki.”
“Kato?” His kidnapper asked.
Tegoshi wavered a little. Something about the way in which his kidnapper had repeated Shige’s surname seemed a little-
Pain exploded in his head. Tegoshi could barely catch the last of his kidnapper’s words. “-is the whole reason we had to take matters into our own hands!”
“That’s not possible,” Tegoshi growled out. Now he was seriously pissed off. “Shige isn’t that kind of a person. He-”
His angrier kidnapper retracted his arm, ready to deal him another blow to his skull. “Shut up, you stupid-”
Tegoshi refused to flinch this time, yelling back. “YOU’re the stupid-”
Whatever both had to say next were cut off by the sounds of gunshots from outside.