Lost & Found - Episode 2 Part 4
Title : Lost & Found
Chapter Title : I Found You
Setting : Hidarime Tantei EYE - Post Special Drama
Summary : What if at the end, Ainosuke's resolve crumbles, leaving him vulnerable in front of his older brother. What will Ainosuke do? And how will Yumeto react to the drastic decision his baby brother had come onto?
Rating : K+
Disclaimer : The characters n original storyline are not mine. Only the changes in plot are :)
Kaito Masaki was panicking. He had tried everything that his mother did when he had a fever and none seemed to work. Instead, his friend seemed to have gotten worse.
Ainosuke-kun had started to mutter a few things some minutes ago, some of which he could barely catch: ‘stop’, ‘don’t leave’, ‘please’, and ‘stay’.
The one that had come up the most though, was ‘niichan’.
And every time that word was uttered, his heart clenched painfully. He felt responsible for all that has happened to Ainosuke-kun. It all ultimately got back to him. His mother did this for his sake, because he was too weak and was useless.
Each time, he shook off the urge to curl up and hide, and forced himself to continue to tend to his feverish friend.
His hand shook from handling the cold water and he could feel fatigue catching up to him. But, he couldn’t give up yet. Not until Ainosuke-kun get a bit better or some help finally came, whichever came first.
Then, it got worse.
Ainosuke-kun started trashing about, limbs struggling weakly against the comforter that he had - with some difficulty - managed to wrap around his friend’s shivering form. The whimpers and wails that were pouring out of Ainosuke-kun’s lips did not help to ease his mind one bit.
So he did the only thing that he could in this type of situation.
He started to bang his fists against the door and screamed his throat raw.
The door was locked and the knob to unlock in from the inside had been busted. No matter how hard he pushed, pulled, kicked, the door remained in place.
That did not deter him this time though. He could only hope that someone out there will hear him.
He went on for minutes, until his hand were red from the many painful impacts against the wood. But still he continued. He would save his friend. He would save Ainosuke-kun. If he had to break his knuckles to do it, then so be it.
So focused he was from his self-appointed task, he did not register at first when there was an answering shouts from the other side of the door.
His knees almost went weak with relief when he realized that he did not imagine that and help was really coming. He was startled though, when he heard his name being shouted.
“Masaki-kun? Masaki-kun, is that you? Just hang on a bit more! Kato-san, the key! Where is the key?!”
His mouth dropped when he heard the feminine voice. He knew that voice!
“Sayama-sensei?!” He exclaimed with disbelief. What was she doing here? And what key was she talking about?
“Yes, yes, it’s me! Just hang on for a bit! Kato-san, the key!”
“It’s here! You are blocking the door, Sayama-sensei! Step aside, please!”
An exasperated voice joined in. This one, though, he didn’t recognize. He didn’t care though, if they were here to get him and Ainosuke-kun out of here, he wouldn’t complain.
He heard the door being unlocked and was forced to step back a few steps to avoid being hit by the door as it swung open. Then he was suddenly smothered to a bone-crushing hug.
“Masaki-kun, you’re alright!”
Just as quickly, he was released and hand was suddenly put onto his forehead and then cheek, checking his temperature.
“Are you, though? Any nausea? Fever? Cold? Dizziness? You are so pale!”
His head was spinning with the pace of the situation and he could do nothing other than blinking at it all.
“It seems that Detective Fukuchi was correct about the kidnapper’s motive of that city tour. Right, Kato-san?”
The new voice made him tilted his head a bit as he stared at the two policemen standing at the door. One of them wearing casual clothes with black coat, while the other was wearing the usual police uniform.
“Thank goodness he was. Finally it is case closed!”
“No, it isn’t, Kato-san. We still haven’t figured out how the money disappeared.”
“Right. There’s that too. How can I forget?”
He sweatdropped at the casualty displayed by the two policemen. He had always envisioned police to be cold hearted individuals with scary faces. But, it seemed that this wasn’t always true.
One of the policemen - Kato-san, if he remembered correctly - fished out a cell phone from his pocket.
“I’ll inform Fukuchi-san that we found Masaki-kun and that we’ll be bringing him to the hospital for check up.”
Hospital?
Only then he realized that he was shaking and his hands were raw from banging the door so hard. But, he wasn’t in that bad of a condition. The one who needed immediate attention was-
He let out a strangle gasp.
“Ainosuke-kun!”
Because he had turned from them to ran back to his friend’s side, he didn’t see how the three adult tense when he yelled the name.
Three pairs of eyes followed him and two of them widened in disbelief while the last one just watched with a hint of both sadness and relief in them. All three hurried after him.
“Masaki-kun, how…”
Masaki turned to see his school nurse looked at Ainosuke-kun in shock. He shook his head.
“I don’t know. He was already like this when I woke up and found him lying here. He needed help and fast! His fever is very high and I can’t bring it down!”
He watched as Sayama-sensei put her hand on the unconscious boy’s forehead and flinched at the heat. She bit her lip anxiously, retracting her hand.
“It’s no good. His fever is too high for me to do anything that would help. We’ll have to get him to hospital as soon as possible.”
Both policemen - somewhat pale - nodded and one of them, Kato-san, moved to carry the restless, fevered boy. It was proved to be difficult however, as Ainosuke continued to struggle helplessly, fighting against the hands that tried to calm him down.
“Sayama-sensei, is there anything that you could do?” Kato-san asked hopelessly to the school nurse who shook her head sadly.
“Niichan…”
All four of them stared at the boy who had, in his fevered sleep, uttered the word with plea laced voice.
“He had been calling for his older brother all this time,” Masaki offered his explanation, confused when Sayama-sensei and Kato-san’s faces saddened even further. “What’s wrong?”
“Ainosuke’s older brother died a little over three months ago,” Sayama-sensei quietly explained.
“Oh, I… didn’t know that,” he offered weakly, the guilt he was feeling growing.
“Kato-san, let me try.”
He watched silently as Kato-san stepped aside to allow the other policeman - he never learned his name - to take his previous place right beside the bed.
The man then lifted Ainosuke-kun’s to a sitting position, supporting him with an arm around his shoulder. Ainosuke-kun struggled at first, before seemingly calming down when the policeman started to make soothing sound and rubbed his back gently.
He blinked in astonishment, Sayama-sensei gaped, and Kato-san let out a sound of wonder.
“You’re good, Sakisaka.”
The man - Sakisaka-san - just smiled lightly.
“I have a younger brother,” he replied simply, offering no further explanation and simply heaved the unconscious boy into his arms, letting him to rest his head on his shoulder.
“Alright! We’re heading to hospital, then. Masaki-kun needs to get a check-up as well, I think. I’ll lock the room for the time being until Fukuchi-san sends a team to investigate it further.”
He was then ushered out of the room by his very worried school nurse. Letting out a shaky breath, he let Sayama-sensei to fuss over him. Help had really come and they were no safe.
Now, he could start thinking about his mother’s involvement in these kidnapping cases. And maybe, he should tell the police about it.
xxx
There were many difficult cases that he had faced in his career as a police officer and Detective Fukuchi pride himself to say that few could render him speechless. But this case was definitely one of such rare cases.
This was just ingenious!
The trick with soluble paper and the weird pattern of delivering ransom money. It was so detailed and calculated that even he was stunned for a moment.
His eyebrow furrowed as he watched his subordinate questioning the real suspect, Kaito-san.
He had received a call from Kato earlier, informing him that he had found not only Masaki-kun, but also Ainosuke-kun and they were going to hospital. Apparently, Ainosuke-kun was in a bad condition and Masaki-kun was not so well off either.
As if that wasn’t enough of a news, Kato proceed to tell him that Masaki-kun had wanted to talk to him about the suspect of his kidnapping. The boy then told him about his suspicions, the evidence that he had found and his assumption why his mother had done it.
To say he was surprised was an understatement.
Not many teenagers had the sense of justice to do something like this, fewer was brave enough to actually carry it out. So it was only normal that he admired Masaki-kun for it.
Following the capture of the suspect, he had even more surprise waiting for him.
Kaito-san had crumbled the moment they said that it was her son that made the report of her being possible culprit and surrendered without any hassle. The police managed to get some information from her that confirmed his suspicion.
There was indeed someone else who had planned the whole thing for her. This was the work of that crime planner, the one who had managed to overthrow Kokusho Akira.
Hopefully, the female crime planner would be able to unlock that laptop.
Keeping his face stoic, he peered at his watch. There was still time for him to have a small stop to the hospital before going home today.
xxx
Sayama Hitomi sighed quietly as she smoothed her slumbering student’s hair.
Masaki-kun was declared healthy by the doctor. Well, as healthy as he could be anyway. The stress he had because of the kidnapping and the event following it had caused his condition to deteriorate.
The doctor assured her that he would recover with plenty of rest.
Ainosuke though…
She stood up from the chair beside the bed that she was sitting on and, as quietly as she could, slipped outside and into the room right in front of the one she had just come from.
Opening the door, she could make out a sleeping figure on the bed, limp hand connected to an IV. Two police officers sitting on the chairs at one side of the bed, conversing quietly.
“Still no change?”
The two men turned to look at her. Sakisaka-san smiled slightly, while Kato-san just shook his head before answering her.
“Other than the fact that his fever had reduced slightly, no, there isn’t any. He’s still unconscious. How about Masaki-kun?”
She slipped onto the empty chair beside Kato-san.
“He’s sleeping. Seems like what happened today had wore him out.”
Her colleague nodded at her knowingly.
“With what happened today, I’m not surprised. He’s been through a lot. This boy, though,” Kato-san averted his gaze back to the boy in the bed, “had probably gone through more than what Masaki-kun did. Fukuchi-san would want to question him once he woke up.”
“True that,” she sighed.
“Not immediately, though. I’m quite sure that Fukuchi-san was not that cruel,” Sakisaka-san reasoned out.
There was a rather dangerous glint in his eyes, she realized. It was gone in a flash though, so she passed it up as a trick of light playing with her vision.
“One question, though,” he continued. The other two turned to look at Sakisaka-san, who stared back. “Where is he going to live? If I remember correctly, he is an orphan? And that his brother had died a few months ago?”
She blinked repeatedly. She hadn’t thought of that.
“I... don’t know. Kato-san?”
The police officer put his chin in his hand in thought.
“Now that you mention it… We collected Ainosuke-kun’s belonging from his apartment right after he was kidnapped.”
Seeing the raised eyebrow he got from her, he elaborated.
“We, Ohuchi-san and I, went to inform the landlord about Ainosuke-kun’s disappearance and the man said that he wouldn’t keep Ainosuke-kun’s things there if he wasn’t paid, something about renting the room to other people. So, I don’t think Ainosuke-kun can stay there anymore. ”
There was that glint again in Sakisaka-san’s narrowing eyes. She shook her head, trying to focus back on the topic at hand.
“So, Ainosuke’s things are in the police station?”
Kato-san shook his head.
“No, no. They are in my apartment. Ohuchi-san and I figured that it was easier that way to return it to him when he’s back. No casualties and all that.”
“Back to the problem,” Sakisaka-san interrupted swiftly before the conversation could divert again. “Where would he be staying then?”
“Well, for the moment he would have to stay here,” Kato-san reasoned. “Once he’s well enough, I’ll help him look for a place to stay.”
Both Sakisaka-san and her nodded at his answer. It seemed that it was indeed the best solution for now. She would also help with whatever she could, so it would be alright.
Her smile faltered when she remembered something, though.
“The 2 million yen!”
She exclaimed, horrified, standing up from her chair. The two men stared at her as if she had grown an extra head.
“What are you on about now, Sayama-sensei?” Kato-san asked, bewildered.
“2 million yes, Kato-san! Ainosuke received 2 million yes from his brother just before his death. Where is it now?”
“He what?” Kato-san exclaimed with equal fervent. He also stood up and started to pace around in the small hospital room. “There’s no money when Ohuchi-san and I packed Ainosuke-kun’s things. Unless, Ainosuke-kun hid it somewhere so no one could find it. I hope he didn’t hide it in one of the fixture in his old apartment, though. Someone would have found it by now if he did. Alright, let’s go Sayama-sensei.”
“Eeh? Where to?”
It seemed that her feet has a mind of their own though, for she found herself following her friend.
“My apartment. We’re going to search and find that money. Sakisaka, stay here and inform me when there’s a change in either of the boys’ condition, alright? Thanks!”
She barely had time to give the other policeman an apologetic look before running after the panicking police officer.
Although, she did catch a glimpse of his amused expression.
xxx
Yumeto chuckled as he watched the duo left the room in hurry. He reached out a hand to caress his brother’s hair gently.
“They shouldn’t have worried.”
He smiled when his brother unconsciously leaned into his hand.
“It was very obvious where you put the money, right, Ainosuke? You always put your money inside an envelope. Then, you’ll hide by bundling it up with dad’s old scarf. I’ve always told you that it wasn’t very safe, though. But when did you ever listen to me?”
A sigh escaped his lips as he continued to caress his brother’s hair.
How Ainosuke had managed to get himself a high fever is beyond him. It wasn’t that serious of an illness too. The doctor had said that it probably caused by prolonged exposure to humid and cold weather.
Well, Yoshida did mention that they were caught in the rain when they went shopping. But, it was only for a short while and Yoshida ushered his brother to shower right after.
The last time Ainosuke got this bad of a fever was when the kid was 12 or so. He had come back to their home to Ainosuke running around under the rain.
To say he was furious was an understatement.
Thankfully, that problem had been solved with some medication and him constantly stay at Ainosuke’s side, practically coddling him for days. He had to ask for a permission to miss his work during that time.
Now, he didn’t have the luxury to that anymore. So hospital would have to suffice.
He smiled and planted a kiss on his brother’s forehead, free to show a little bit of affection with no one around.
“Get well soon, little brother.”
k59: hey there^^~! as promised, here's the next chapter to LnF.. this is for compensation for the long wait n for yet another long wait after this.. my exam is in 2 weeks, so i don't think i'll be able to write anymore until it ends.. well, that said, hope you're enjoying this update XD..