The Collection - Chapter 14 - FINAL
Keiko was pacing her room. He hadn’t brought Rin back yet. He is taking longer than usual. Much longer.
The hours, or what she thought were hours, ticked by and no still no signs of Rin nor the man.
“What do you think this mean, Shige?”
I don’t know, it’s weird. So he’s never done anything like this before.” It wasn’t a question, but Keiko answered anyway.
“No. And Rin was really scared. I am too. Ever since I got here he never broke the routines. He always followed the order. Why change now?”
“I don’t know.” Said Shige. She was worried too. If what she thought was right…
They heard the man coming. He brought their food, but not Rin. She wanted to ask him, but they had decided that only Yuuko would try to talk to him, so she bit her tongue and said nothing.
She was scared of eating. She knew that whatever he was doing, she would be next.
She took a deep breath and started eating. Nothing happened for the next 4 meals. Still no Rin.
Breakfast time Keiko ate and the now familiar feeling of the drugs kicked in.
“Shige” she said “It’s my turn”
“What? No!”
“It’s a new pattern, right? You have to figure it out and get out.”
“With two people? How can I figure out anything from that?? And how is that going to help you?”
“It was really nice meeting you. Maybe we’ll meet again. Bye”
Keiko wasn’t going to fight it. She closed her eyes maybe/probably for the last time.
“Kei-chan. Kei-chan, please, don’t fall asleep, please.” Shigeko started pounding on the wall.
“Shige? What’s wrong with Kei-chan?” came the voice of Yuuko but Shigeko ignored her.
“Kei-chan, answer me!”
“What is it? Kei chan?” That was Takara.
Shigeko stopped pounding on the wall and fell to her knees. Then she heard the sound of the man coming and started again.
“What are you going to do to her? What did you do with Rin?” Of course the man didn’t answer. He went into the room and took Keiko out.
“Come back. Bring her back!” She kept shouting in vain. The other two girls were shouting too now.
Shigeko felt moisture on her cheeks, she was crying. She would be next and she had no idea how to stop it, how to stop any of it.
And her turn came. She refused to eat but she fell asleep and the man came in, used a needle to drug her and took her. And now only Takara and Yuuko remained.
“He’ll come for me now.” Said Takara. Yuuko said nothing. There was nothing she could say. “But I won’t make it easy. If he wants to take me, he’ll have to fight me.”
Takara said she was strong, but still Yuuko didn’t think she could take the man. She was hungry and tired and no match for him.
Yuuko had tried to talk to him, but nothing.
“Here.” She said giving Takara some of her food. Since it wasn’t her turn, hers wouldn’t be drugged. The man would see it sooner rather than later and drug Yuuko’s food as well.
“Thanks. Everything is so silent.”
“I know.” And then, maybe because there wasn’t anything else to do, Takara started humming a song. It took Yuuko a little while to recognize it through the wall, but in a little while she started singing along. Their voices melted, Takara with a sweet voice and Yuuko doing the high notes, their voices went up and down and by the time the song ended Yuuko heard Takara crying. She tried to fight the tears. She took a deep breath.
“Go to sleep, Takara, I’ll keep watch.”
It took several seconds for Takara to answer.
“No, the first shift is mine. Go to sleep, I’ll wake you up if he comes…. Yuuko?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you. You…. I…”
“I know,” interrupted Yuuko. “Me too.”
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Yuuko woke up to Takahara’s frightened voice.
“Yuuko? Yuuko wake up, he’s coming.”
Yuuko woken instantly and heard his steps.
“Please, don’t take her!” she shouted. He was at her door, he was opening it.
“I’m not gonna make it easy for you.” Yuuko heard Taka scream. She heard struggling and grunts. Then Taka let out a scream, it was desperate, frustrated and frightened at the same time and then nothing.
“Taka? Taka! No no no, please no!” the man was leaving the room. “Bring her back, please bring her back!” but the man was gone and she was alone.
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Yuuko was sitting up on the bed hugging her knees to her chest. She was all cried out by now and she just stared sometimes at the wall, the pink wall, sometimes at the ceiling… the pink ceiling.
He had taken Taka some time ago, a few days counting the times the lights had gone out. She wondered when the man would come and take her. She wandered if he would keep her, and she didn’t know what was worse. She had been eating little, just enough to get the edge off her hunger and she felt weak. She missed Taka, she missed all of them. She even missed Rin’s swearing through the wall.
The man was coming. She looked at her almost untouched food. This was it, she could feel it. She didn’t have it in her to fight him and she hated that but still couldn’t help it.
The man came in. He had a syringe in his hand. Yes, this was it.
“What did you do to them? What are you going to do with me?” She stood up. She wasn’t going to fight him but wasn’t going to cower either. She didn’t expect him to answer since he had ignored her these past days, but she was wrong:
“Would you believe me if I told you I let them go?” he asked.
“Probably not.”
“Then I guess you’ll have to wait and see what happens to you.”
She hated him at that moment, but he was right, she probably wouldn’t believe anything he said, not after hearing Taka’s struggle and screams.
“Why did you take us? And why do this now?”
He put her head to the side.
“Well you belonged here. You are you. You are Pink.” He said as if it should have been obvious, as if all that nonsense made any sense. “And I can’t keep you because I have something else I need more.”
Yuuko was done asking questions they were getting her nowhere. She looked down to the floor and the man said:
“Turn around.” She hesitated. “I can force you, but I really don’t want to.”
She sighed and did what he asked. One of his arms came around her waist. She felt him kiss her hair and then felt the needle on her neck.
Darkness. That’s all there was. Darkness. Was she dead? No, her head hurt too much. She opened her eyes and it was still dark. She started to panic but then her wyes started to adjust and she saw… a swing? She blinked. Her headache was starting to subside. She sat up, slowly lest she brought the headache back. When the scenery stood still she could see she really was in a park next to the swings and then she saw a figure coming closer. It was followed by two other figures. The first figure started running towards her.
“Yuuko?” She heard it say. The figure reached her; it was a girl about her own age. “Yuuko are you okay?”
Yuuko recognize the voice first.
“T-Taka?” She asked and the girl gave her a huge smile flashing two dimples on her cheek and hugged her. Yuuko hugged her back.
Taka helped her up and helped her support her weight, since she was still a little woozy. The other two figures had reached them by then. They were both smiling. One of them had dark hair the other had a lighter shade and was very tall, she was dressed casually but she looked sophisticated.
The taller one came closer still smiling and hugged her. “I’m so glad you are okay.” She said.
“Kei-chan?” The other woman smiled wider and nodded, then she put her arm around Yuuko’s shoulder and Yuuko felt putting her head on her shoulder was the most natural thing in the world. She looked at the fourth woman. She was close but didn’t attempted to come closer.
“Who are you?” Yuuko asked.
“Shigeko. Kato shigeko.” She answered. Yuuko was the one to go close and hug her.
When she pulled apart the four were crying.
“It’s nice meeting you all.” Yuuko said.
They lead her to one of the benches and gave her el coat.
“You can rest here for a while till you feel better, then we’ll have to go to the police.” Said Shigeko.
“How did you know where to find me? And why isn’t the police already here?”
Taka was the one to answer. “Well, I remembered you told me where he had taken you. You see, he left us all in the place where he took us. As to the police. Well, Rin and Keiko figured that out, but Keiko convinced Rin not to say anything.”
“I figured that if the police was there he would stop releasing the rest of you, or even worse, hurt you.”
“Wait. Where is Rin? Is she? Did he?”
“She’s fine.” Taka said. “She said she needed to get away, that she wanted to move on and to do that, she needed to go away. She is living with friends out of town apparently.”
Yuuko nodded. “I’m so glad you are all alright.” she said and her voice broke. The others were crying too. They all got close and locked in a group hug. They would be alright, they would get over everything and they would still have each other.
Akane was sitting in her kitchen. She hadn’t talked to Tomohisa since she’d left his house. Maybe he didn’t want to see her because she had made him leave his collection. Well, he had done the right thing in the end, she supposed that was good. Still, in spite of everything she missed him so much.
The phone rang. She answered without much hope.
“Hello?”
“Hi.” Her heart started beating faster.
“Tomohisa. How are you?”
“I’m fine.” Tomohisa answered. “Are you busy? Can you come over? Would you mind coming over?” He sounded insecure but she smiled and said: “Of course.”
She arrived at the house and saw Tomohisa sitting outside. She stepped out of the car and went to him. He seemed relieved when he saw her.
“I didn’t know if you would come.” he said.
“Of course I would come back. I missed you.”
“I gave them back.” He said
“I know.”
“I haven’t dismantled the rooms yet, but I will and you can help me figure out what to do with them and…” Akane stopped him from saying more with a kiss.
“We’ll take care of it later, you’ve done enough.”
That was all they said, what else could they say? They just hugged for a long time and then Tomohisa led her inside.
Prologue
The police had no clues. The women couldn’t say much since they had been inside the rooms the whole time and they had been completely drugged when taken outside. So basically the police were looking for a male between 20 and 35. The women had seen a woman once; the police theorize that it might have been one of the first women to go missing, who, due to trauma, might be helping him but that was about it. The case went cold after 5 months with no clues and no new witnesses.
It was six months later and Akane couldn’t believe they were getting married. It wasn’t a big wedding, just a few friends and her family. She was grabbing her small bouquet when she heard a knocking on the door.
“Come in.”
“Is is okay if I come in or is it bad luck?”
Akane laughed. “That’s only for the groom, not the best man.”
Kimura came in and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“You look beautiful. I’m very happy for you two.”
“You should be, you’ve been pushing for this all along.” She said with amusement.
“Pushing? No, just giving a little nudge here and there. But seriously, I’m so happy and a little relieved.”
“Relieved?” she asked with a frown.
“Yes. I’ve been watching Yamashita-kun for a while and I was worried about him, always so serious and dethatched. But when he met you… He is still a loner in a way, but I can see he is happy. That is all you, you know.”
“No, not all me. He’s done a lot to change.” Kimura had no idea how much.
“Well, anyway,” he said going back to his lighter self. “I expect you two to name your first child after me after all I did for you.”
“What? I thought your payment was being best men!”
“That was for sending Yamashita to your apartment. This is for pushing… nudging for this wedding. Okay, you guys didn’t need much of a push but I did get you guys the rings.”
Yeah, before Tomohisa had even proposed, thought Akane. After that Kimura left before she could answer.
Then her father came and walked her down the aisle to where an extremely edible Tomohisa waited for her with a huge smile.
They decided to go to a little seaside town for their honeymoon. Neither of them was crazy about big cities and they stayed at this beautiful hotel with the most wonderful view. They would stay up late on the beach talking with their arms around each other
“Do you wish you never gave them back?” She asked one of those. It was the first time they talked about them since she came to his house all those months before. The rooms were still intact, they hadn’t figure out what to do with them and they’d been too busy.
Yamashita put his cheek against her hair and thought about her questions. “I do think about them sometimes, but you were right, they weren’t mine to take. And I’m happy with you so no, I don’t wish that.”
She moved so she was facing him: “Are you sure?”
Yamashita looked right back into her eyes and said: “Yes. I love you.” Then he kissed her and as usual that ended any effective conversation.
They only had a couple more days before they had to go back. That day he woke up and the bed was empty. He looked around and he saw her standing by the window and looking out. He got closer and put his arms around her.
“What do you want to do today?” he asked.
“Mmhh, I don’t know. If we stay here you wear my favorite look.” She answered waggling her eye brows.
He laughed. “When we get back home I can wear that look whenever you want but we should see a bit more of the surrounding villages. We have to have photos to show for our trip.”
“That’s probably a good idea. Okay, where can we go?”
They decided to go to a small village a few kilometers from where they were staying. It was amazing. They bought some crafts from the local people and went into every open building or site. There were a few other tourists taking photos. They walked around holding hands. They finally arrived at a temple. It seemed open and they decided to go in.
They were already inside when they realized that there was a funeral inside, even though there seemed to be only one woman present. She was dressed in black and with her back to them.
“Are you here for the funeral?” They turned around and they saw the monk who had asked the question.
“No. We are sorry to interrupt.” Yamashita said in a muted voice, he didn’t want to disturb the mourner who hadn’t seemed to have notice them. “We are in our honeymoon and we are sightseeing. We didn’t realize there was a funeral going on.” The little man nodded with a sigh.
“Yes, I understand. There aren’t many people here. You see the woman who died was not well liked. The whole family wasn’t. They are said to be witches. I know it might sound silly for you but people here are still very superstitious. Therefore, only her granddaughter is here. Poor girl. She is disliked as well so she has no friends to support her in this time of need.” Yamashita thought that the monk was a bit talkative, well being a man of god didn’t prevent you from being a bit of a gossip. But the man seemed to be good natured so Yamashita let him go on. “And to make things worse, her grandmother was the only family she got left. Such a sweet and smart girl too, it’s a shame she most probably have to leave the town to have any kind of life.” Then the man seemed to catch himself, a bit too late thought Yamashita with amusement. “I’m so sorry. You must think I’m a big old gossip… I admit that I am a little. One must always admit to one’s flaws. But I’m sorry I’m talking like this, and you said it’s your honey moon, well if you want to come back tomorrow I’ll be happy to show you the temple.”
“We are leaving in a few days so I don’t think we’ll be coming back to the village, but thank you.” Said Akane. At that moment the woman mourning got up from her knees and turned around. Yamashita saw her. She was pretty, tall and had shiny long hair and she would look good in…
No, no. He was not going back to that. He hadn’t lied, it was enough to have Akane, he didn’t need anything else. He closed his eyes and turned around.
“Thank you again. We won’t take anymore of your time.” He said.
“You are most welcome.” Yamashita took Akane by the small of her back and led her out. At their backs he heard the priest say: “Yes, Keina-chan, I’ll be right there, dear.”
He would be okay as soon as he left the temple. She tighten his grip on Akane, he needed to feel her close. He started walking faster.
“Tomohisa?” Akane said.
“What is it Akane?” he asked, but didn’t stop walking.
Then, she stopped him waited until he looked at her and said: “She would look good in Purple, ne?”
CH01 - CH02 - CH03 - CH04 - CH05 - CH06 - CH07 - CH08 - CH09 - CH10 - CH11 - CH12 - CH13
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I hope you guys liked it!!
I was going to split it in 1 more chapter, but this chapter would've ended up too short, so I just decided to post it all.