[Maou Fanfic] Another Chance - Chapter 18: Desperation
Pairing: Naruse Ryou x Sakita Shiori
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Shiori was able to stop Naruse and Serizawa from killing each other in the last episode. How would life turn out for the three as they face their past mistakes and create new hope for the future. As fate draws the two enemies together again, can they work together to defeat a demon from the past? Can forgiveness be granted and second chances offered?
Genre: Crime, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery
A/N: Climax of the story!!! This is probably the longest chapter by far. Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 18: Desperation
When your phone starts ringing in the middle of the night, one should expect to receive some bad news, as no normal person would be calling others so late at night. So when Naruse’s phone started to ring at 5 o’clock in the morning, he bolted awake and grabbed it instantly. He stared at the name on his caller ID and gulped. “Serizawa-san?”
“Naruse-san”
“It’s Shiori-san isn’t it?” Naruse asked, guessing from the monotone of the detective’s voice.
“She’s missing.”
Naruse’s heart skipped a beat and his breathing quickened as he took in the news. “Missing? What do you mean missing?”
“One of her guards woke up in the middle of the night to use the washroom and when he walked past her room, he saw that door was wide open. He peeked into her room, and she was not there. He woke up everyone after the discovery and they searched the entire building and the neighbourhood and still couldn’t find her. They even checked her room at the café, but she wasn’t there either. She left her phone and her shoes.”
“Yamano took her.” Naruse stated nonchalantly.
“That’s what we think. Naruse-san we could use your help down here at the station.”
“I’m coming,” he said as he put down his phone and rushed to his washroom.
~~~~~~~~~
It was eerily quiet in the office as Kurata, Nakanishi, Takatsuka, and Serizawa sat at their desks eagerly waiting a call back from the field detectives to update them on the whereabouts of Shiori. Tension hung thickly in the air, as the four officers were lost in their own thoughts and worries. Suddenly the phone rang, and everybody jumped out of their chairs at the alarming sound. Serizawa was the first one to reach the phone, and yelled, “Did you find her?”
“I’m sorry, no.”
Disappointed and annoyed, Serizawa was about to hang up the phone when the Chief’s hand stopped him and reached for it.
“Did you find any traces of her at all?” the Chief spoke with an authoritative tone.
“We asked around and one cab driver said that he saw a man in a black suit drag a girl in a nightgown from the hotel entrance and threw her in the back of a black car before speeding away.”
“Which way?” Nakanishi yelled.
“East.”
“He went east with Shiori-san,” the Chief exclaimed to the rest of the group when he got off the phone.
“East? That’s not a lot of help,” Takatsuka said dejectedly.
“He may be heading to Chiba. He and his family lived there before they were killed in a car accident,” a voice suddenly interrupted.
“Naruse-san! How do you know?” Serizawa asked curiously.
“Hideo used to visit them sometimes. From what I know, Yamano still owns that place,” Naruse stated calmly.
At Hideo’s name, Serizawa cringed but quickly regain his composure. “Let’s go then!”
“Wait!” Naruse shouted.
“What? Why?” Serizawa asked.
“We have to go in prepared. He is expecting us and has probably placed a trap or something in place. He wants to get revenge and will do so at any costs, so we have to assume that there will be dangerous items there.” Naruse explained, looking directly in Serizawa’s eyes.
“Naruse-san is right; we have to have a plan. If we just go barging in, it will not only be dangerous for us, but also for Shiori-san as we do not know where she is or what he has done to her,” Nakanishi added.
At jeopardizing Shiori-san’s safety, Serizawa visibly calmed down. “Okay, but how do we start preparing?”
~~~~~~~~~~~
After five hours of going over all possibilities of things that they can encounter with their confrontation with Yamano, informing the Chiba police of the current status of a kidnapping case, getting their approval to be on Chiba property and to capture the culprit, the group of four were exhausted. Their sleepless nights were slowly beginning to creep up on them and they all realized that they were soon reaching their breaking point. Tensions and emotions were high as they argued and debated on how to approach the situation and as a result, the Chief had to order them all to go outside and get a breath of fresh air before they bit each other’s head off.
When they were calm again, things were done much easier and smoother and by the end of the five hours, everybody just wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep.
“Okay, that’s enough for today. Everybody go home and we will continue tomorrow,” Nakanishi said.
Serizawa and Naruse were about to protest when the Chief held up his hand. “I know you guys are worried about Shiori-san. I am too. But the way that we are now, going to fall over at any second, will not help her. We need to be awake and alert if we want to save her and not exhausted and sluggish. Yamano took her because he knows that you will go and look for her. She is merely the bait as who he really wants is Serizawa, and maybe Naruse too. If we don’t do anything foolish then it is safe to say that Shiori-san will be okay for another day. Go home and sleep and we will meet early in the morning again,” he stated in a commanding tone and everyone knew that there was no room to argue.
~~~~~~~~
Naruse was not happy. After five hours of planning and arguing with the others, his patience was wearing thin and added to that his extreme exhaustion was slowing him down. He didn’t want to sleep, didn’t want to rest when he didn’t know how Shiori was. Didn’t know if she was safe or hurt. But he also knew that what the Chief said was true.
Naruse sighed and went to bed. Please Shiori-san, please stay safe. Wait for me, I’m coming.
Sleep came almost immediately when Naruse’s head hit the pillow and he was so tired that his brain didn’t even have the energy to create any dreams, for which Naruse was thankful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naruse was in a peaceful white room when he suddenly heard the ring of his cell phone. He bolted awake, afraid that it was Serizawa bringing him bad news again, and quickly picked up.
“Hello?” he said.
“Manaka-san, or should I say Naruse-san, how are you?” the voice on the other end spoke.
Anger rushed through Naruse as he heard the shrill and rough voice.
“Yamano! Where is she?” Naruse barked into the phone.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?,” Yamano said and Naruse knew that he was smirking.
“If anything happens to her, I’m not going to forgive you. I will hunt you down!” Naruse roared.
Yamano chuckled and spoke calmly, “I have no intention of hurting her. I just feel that there are a few things that we need to settle.”
“Me? I thought you wanted Serizawa?” Naruse asked confusedly.
“I do want my revenge on him, but first I have to settle some things with you first. You suddenly backed out of our plan, forced me to become a murderer, and then left me here in Japan alone, while you go and start a new and happy life in America!” Yamano stated in a dangerously low tone.
“What do you want?” Naruse asked.
“Remember my family’s chicken farm, Hideo used to get you to pick him up there. Meet me there in two hours. Oh, and don’t tell the police, especially Serizawa of where you are going. I will know if you do,” Yamano said before he hung up.
Naruse sat silently on his bed as he slowly absorbed Yamano’s words. When Naruse’s foggy brain finally processed what Yamano had just said, he dashed into the bathroom, changed, grabbed his wallet, keys, and phone, and rushed out of his door. He was running out of the entrance when he suddenly remembered his promise to Shiori. He sighed and ran back in. He asked the security guard for a piece of paper, quickly scribbled a few sentences on it and handed it back to him.
“If the police comes to look for me, tell them that I’m going ahead and give them this letter,” Naruse told the security.
The guard eyed the usually calm and composed lawyer with worried eyes but agreed nonetheless.
After getting the security guard to pass on the note to Serizawa, he ran into the parking lot, got his car, and bolted down the streets as he headed to Chiba. Shiori-san I’m coming, just hold on a bit longer!
~~~~~~~
The phone in Nakanishi’s house began to ring and he sleepily reached over to grab it.
“Hello?”
“Chief, we just found out that Yamano’s family also owns a chicken farm that’s pretty far away from their house.”
“What? Is it still in use?” Naruse asked, suddenly wide awake.
“No, it has been closed down since Yamano’s parents died, but there are no records of him selling it.”
So where could he be? Nakanishi thought as he dialed Serizawa’s number.
~~~~~~
“Chief, when are we setting out?” Serizawa said as he sprinted into the office, a half an hour after receiving the call.
“Since there are two possibilities of where Yamano may be, we are going to split into two groups. I suggest you and Naruse be in different groups,” Nakanishi said.
“Where is Naruse-san?” Kurata asked as he dragged his tired feet into the office.
Nakanishi and Serizawa shot each other a look. “I thought you were going to call him,” the Chief said.
“I did. I called for the last 20 minutes but he never picked up,” Serizawa said.
“Maybe he’s still sleeping,” Kurata said as he yawned.
“There is no way he won’t pick up the phone, especially since Shiori-san’s missing and it’s almost time for us to leave for Chiba,” Serizawa answered.
“You don’t think Yamano got him too, do you?” Takatsuka said worryingly as she strolled into the room combing her hair.
Fear flashed in Serizawa’s eyes as he dashed out the door, but suddenly stopped and turned around to look at his team.
“Does anybody know where Naruse-san lives?”
~~~~~
Naruse was speeding down the streets of Chiba as he approached his destination, his heart started to hammer in his chest. A few minutes later, he pulled up to the abandoned chicken farm, his car almost getting stuck in the muddy driveway. In the distance, he was able to see a black car parked outside the entrance of the farm and anger flared in Naruse’s chest as he stalked up to the building, putting on his blank expression.
As he gently opened the door and stepped into the pitch black room, he was met with an awful stench of dried chicken feces and wet hay. He suddenly heard movement behind him as he trudged carefully towards the end of the room, and jumped when the door closed behind him with a bang.
Then he heard a soft mumbling sound and the lights flickered on.
“Naruse-san, how nice of you to join us. I was just telling our guest here that I knew you would come,” a voice said behind him, and Naruse whipped around to come face to face with Yamano.
“Where is she?” he demanded, a stone faced mask covered his features.
“There,” he said and pointed to the other end of the room.
Naruse’s breath caught when he saw Shiori far across at the back wall of the room. She was being dangled from the roof, fifteen feet in the air. In the dim light, Naruse was able to see that her wrists were bleeding from the straps that held her hands together and from her moving around. She was gagged so she wouldn’t be making too much noise, but her eyes were wide and stared concerningly at Naruse. Through her eyes, he knew that she wanted him to leave, to leave her behind and come back with others and not face Yamano alone. I’m not leaving you here, he tried to convey with his eyes. She visibly relaxed a bit but still continued to struggle against her restraints and looked upon the two men with an anxious expression.
Suddenly all emotion drained from Naruse’s face and he turned backed to Yamano, hatred burned in his chest as he stared the other man down. It’s been a long time since Naruse had felt this strong of a hatred for anybody and his past feelings threatened to resurface. He did everything he could to calm himself down and to not just lunge at his former accomplice.
“What do you want? Let her go, I’m here without the police, like you wanted,” Naruse whispered, malice and bitterness dripped from his voice.
Yamano seemed to flinch at the deadly look that Naruse was giving him, as he remembered just how dangerous this lawyer can be, but he put on a calm and confident face nonetheless.
“I want to know why you betrayed me and left me here all alone,” Yamano said.
Annoyance flickered in Naruse’s eyes. “You’re telling me that you caused so much trouble, kidnapped Shiori-san, and dragged me all the way out here in the middle of nowhere, so early in the morning, just to ask me a question?” he bellowed, causing Yamano to back away from him.
“I want to know why! Everything was going according to plan, everything was perfect down to the tinniest detail!” he shouted in return. “But then all of a sudden you started to doubt your actions and were reluctant to carry them out. You even released Kasai in the end! Why?”
“I already told you,” Naruse stated calmly, regaining control of his emotions.
“It was because of her isn’t it? She softened you heart, she changed you!” Yamano shouted as he pointed at the girl suspended in the air.
Naruse stared straight into Yamano’s eyes with such force and anger that the younger man had to cower away and stare at the floor. “Along the way I figured something out. I realized that if Hideo was still here, he wouldn’t want us to revenge his death the way we did. He would want us to accept it and try to live happily for him too. He was always such a caring kid, always tried to help those in need, always looked for the good in people; I knew that my little brother would never want us to go down such a dark and destructive road. He would want us to appreciate the goodness in life and try to change all the bad.”
Naruse then looked at Shiori-san with sad eyes. “It was too bad I realized it so late. At that time, I knew I couldn’t go back, couldn’t change all the damage that I had done, but I knew that I could prevent somebody else from getting hurt. That’s why I bailed Kasai out of police custody. I know it wasn’t a lot, but I wanted to help him change, like the way Hideo would have wanted it.”
“My purpose was to revenge Hideo’s innocent death and punish those who weren’t rightfully punished by the law,” Naruse said as he turned to Yamano again. “What was your purpose?”
“Of course it was to avenge Hideo’s death!” he shouted.
“Was it?” Naruse questioned. “Maybe at first it was to help me to seek revenge against those who caused Hideo’s death, but in the end, weren’t you in it for yourself? Didn’t you want me to punish them because they used to bully you in school, that they made your life a living hell?”
“NO!” Yamano shouted as he fell onto the floor, with his head buried in his hands.
~~~~~~~~~~
After twenty minutes of searching through phone books, and contacting anybody that used to know Naruse, Serizawa finally found out where he lived. In the end, Serizawa had to threaten Yoshimoto the photographer with the charge of Obstruction of Justice for lying to them on behalf of Yamano, to get him to admit he knew where the lawyer lived and to write down the address for them. Of course, Nakanishi just arrested him anyways for wasting their time.
A few minutes later, Serizawa and Takatsuka barged into Naruse’s apartment building and dashed immediately to the security guard at the reception desk. They pulled out their badges and demanded to know which suite Naruse is in.
“Ah, Naruse-san told me that you guys would be coming,” the guard told the two out of breath officers.
“Huh?” Takatsuka said.
“Here,” the guard handed Naruse’s note to Serizawa. “Naruse-san rushed out a few hours ago before he turned around and came to me for paper. He then hastily wrote down something and told me to give it to you when you came.”
Serizawa quickly opened the note and saw Naruse’s speedily yet elegant script.
Yamano called. Meet me at his family chicken farm. Chiba
After reading the line a few times, Serizawa thanked the guard and he and his partner ran out the door and sped in the direction of Chiba. Takatsuka called the Chief as they were driving to get everybody on the case to Yamano’s chicken farm.
~~~~~~~~~~
“You betrayed me!” Yamano said after kneeling on the floor for a while. “You left me, just like everybody else!”
He lunged at Naruse, but he moved out of the way in time and Yamano fell on the floor.
“I didn’t plan on that. I was actually planning to die that night after you stabbed me. I went to see Serizawa and wanted him to kill me. I didn’t think that I would still be alive the next morning, so leaving was an impromptu decision,” Naruse informed the irrational man in front of him.
“You should have died rather than leave me!” Yamano shouted as he slowly took a knife out of his pocket.
“You made me into a murderer and the police is looking everywhere for me. If you only followed through with the plan, then Kasai would’ve had to stay in jail and gotten his punishment and therefore I wouldn’t have had to kill him myself! It’s all your fault that I can’t live a normal life anymore!” he hollered, pointing the knife at Naruse.
Tears glistened in Shiori’s eyes when she heard Naruse’s plan to die that dreadful night six months ago and she thanked God that she was able to make it there in time to stop it. She also felt happiness bubble within her from his confirmation that she was the one who was able to bring him out of his dark world and introduce him to goodness once again. That happiness quickly dissipated when she saw Yamano take out a knife and fear gripped her heart once again.
Down below, Naruse was having a sense of déjà vu. He stared at the knife then looked up at Yamano. “You still have a chance. You can still stop and come back into the light, do the right thing!” he urged.
“It’s not easy to forgive and to abandon all the years of hate that you have accumulated, but trust me, once you can let go, you will be much happier,” Naruse told him softly.
~~~~~~~
Serizawa and the others made it to Chiba in record time and were pulling up into the farm’s driveway as Naruse continued to urge Yamano to stop, stalling him to buy time for Serizawa.
They turned off their sirens just before entering the street and when the car stopped, Serizawa quickly turned off the engine and jumped out, racing to the entrance.
Just as he was about to pull the door open, he felt hands grab his arm and pulled him back.
“Wait! I think Naruse-san left us a note again,” the Chief said.
Serizawa turned back and speeded down to Kurata, who was currently clutching a piece of paper in his hand, standing beside Naruse’s car.
“What does the note say?”
He took the piece of paper from his partner and stared at it confusingly. Go through the back door.
“Why does he want us to go through the back door?” Serizawa asked.
“Maybe so we could sneak up on Yamano and catch him off guard so we can arrest him more easily,” Takatsuka suggested.
“Let’s follow Naruse’s plan then,” the Chief announced. “Half of the team will enter the building through the back and the rest of you will stay here in case he gets away. Remember the element of surprise is our advantage, everybody be as quiet as you can!”
~~~~~
“You’re wrong! I was happy when we avenged Hideo’s death together, when we planned all those deviously intelligent murders, crimes that wouldn’t be linked back to us!” Yamano shouted.
He suddenly turned to Shiori and roared, “It’s you, you took everything away from me!”
He ran towards the left wall and Naruse noticed that the end of the rope which held Shiori-san was tied to a pole there. Fear surged through him as he watched Yamano run up to the rope with a knife in his hand.
“Yamano! What are you doing!” Naruse yelled.
“I want you to get a feel of what true loneliness and abandonment is like!” he cried.
To Naruse’s surprise, Yamano dropped his knife and was slowly making his way to a small table beside the pole. When he tried to get closer to the emotionally unstable man, Yamano whipped around, “Don’t come any closer!” and Naruse froze in his tracks.
To Naruse’s horror, Yamano took out a candle and lit it before walking back to the end of the rope. “I want you to feel the pain I felt when everybody, including you abandoned me, the pain when my parents left me. I want you to get a taste of the absolute desperation and hopelessness of losing someone dear to you,” Yamano said as he stared at Naruse, anger, hurt, and pain, flashed in his eyes.
Naruse ran towards the man, but was a second too late as Yamano lit the rope on fire. Naruse watched as the fire slowly crept up closer and closer to the hanging Shiori-san as she began to swing violently, her muffled voice getting louder as she tried to scream.
Naruse tried to reach for the rope but was blocked by Yamano, pride shining in his eyes. At this Naruse’s composure broke. Any hints of regret or guilt for the man disappeared and a fierce sense of hatred, that he had not experienced in so long, suddenly burst to life somewhere deep within him. All Naruse could see was red as he lunged at Yamano and punched him hard across the face, effectively dislocating his jaw.
Yamano fell to the floor, clutching his jaw and stared daggers at Naruse. The enraged ex-lawyer advanced to Yamano as he began to crawl backwards, trying to put as much space between him and Naruse as possible.
Suddenly, a loud bang was heard in the distance, and Naruse knew that the police have arrived. Seconds later, feet shuffled in and commands were being shouted as they saw the burning rope and Shiori tied to the end of it.
“Shiori-san!” Serizawa yelled as a couple of men brought in buckets of water to put out the flame. He was surprised when she didn’t react and saw that she was staring intently at something in front of her. He turned to look in the direction that she was looking in and saw Naruse and Yamano.
He saw blood dripping from Yamano’s mouth as fear shone in his eyes. He couldn’t see Naruse’s face, but something in the man’s posture told him that he was not happy. He rushed up to them and was shocked as he looked at Naruse. The warm eyes that he was used to seeing since Naruse’s return were replaced with a storm of anger and hatred mixed together. His posture was rigid and he was looking at Yamano like a predator to a prey. His lips were pursed together and he was clenching his jaw vigorously. Serizawa knew that Naruse was on the verge of snapping and can attack Yamano again at any moment.
“Naruse-san, Shiori-san’s okay. We can take Yamano in,” Serizawa said softly, hoping not to elicit any violent reactions from his unstable mood.
Naruse didin’t seem to hear him as he continued to stare at the man on the floor with a look that could kill.
After being lowered back onto the floor safety and unbounded, Shiori silently made her way up to the trio in the middle of the room, her worried eyes never leaving Naruse.
She gently placed her hand on his shoulder to not alarm him, and quietly whispered in his ear. “Naruse-san, it’s over now. Let the police handle the rest. Come back to me.”
At her soft touch and gentle voice, Naruse immediately snapped out of his trance and relaxed. Serizawa and Shiori breathed out a sigh of relief at this change in demeanour.
“Let’s get you to the hospital,” Naruse said softly as he turned around to look at Shiori, warmth and love returning to his cold eyes.
The trio turned around and headed back to the rest of the officers when suddenly a voice shouted, “Serizawa watch out!”
Naruse instantly turned to look at the young detective when he saw that Yamano had gotten up and was running straight for Serizawa, knife in hand.
Before any thought could register in his mind, Naruse pushed Serizawa aside and the detective flew back from the force of the impact and slid all the way to the opposite side of the room.
A single gun shot rang and echoed in the empty building and a second later, both Naruse and Yamano dropped to the floor.
The last thing Naruse heard was Shiori calling out his name as the darkness consumed him and he lost consciousness.
~~~~~~~~
Please let me know what you think. Next chapter will be the last!
Previous Chapter HERE
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Shiori was able to stop Naruse and Serizawa from killing each other in the last episode. How would life turn out for the three as they face their past mistakes and create new hope for the future. As fate draws the two enemies together again, can they work together to defeat a demon from the past? Can forgiveness be granted and second chances offered?
Genre: Crime, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery
A/N: Climax of the story!!! This is probably the longest chapter by far. Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 18: Desperation
When your phone starts ringing in the middle of the night, one should expect to receive some bad news, as no normal person would be calling others so late at night. So when Naruse’s phone started to ring at 5 o’clock in the morning, he bolted awake and grabbed it instantly. He stared at the name on his caller ID and gulped. “Serizawa-san?”
“Naruse-san”
“It’s Shiori-san isn’t it?” Naruse asked, guessing from the monotone of the detective’s voice.
“She’s missing.”
Naruse’s heart skipped a beat and his breathing quickened as he took in the news. “Missing? What do you mean missing?”
“One of her guards woke up in the middle of the night to use the washroom and when he walked past her room, he saw that door was wide open. He peeked into her room, and she was not there. He woke up everyone after the discovery and they searched the entire building and the neighbourhood and still couldn’t find her. They even checked her room at the café, but she wasn’t there either. She left her phone and her shoes.”
“Yamano took her.” Naruse stated nonchalantly.
“That’s what we think. Naruse-san we could use your help down here at the station.”
“I’m coming,” he said as he put down his phone and rushed to his washroom.
~~~~~~~~~
It was eerily quiet in the office as Kurata, Nakanishi, Takatsuka, and Serizawa sat at their desks eagerly waiting a call back from the field detectives to update them on the whereabouts of Shiori. Tension hung thickly in the air, as the four officers were lost in their own thoughts and worries. Suddenly the phone rang, and everybody jumped out of their chairs at the alarming sound. Serizawa was the first one to reach the phone, and yelled, “Did you find her?”
“I’m sorry, no.”
Disappointed and annoyed, Serizawa was about to hang up the phone when the Chief’s hand stopped him and reached for it.
“Did you find any traces of her at all?” the Chief spoke with an authoritative tone.
“We asked around and one cab driver said that he saw a man in a black suit drag a girl in a nightgown from the hotel entrance and threw her in the back of a black car before speeding away.”
“Which way?” Nakanishi yelled.
“East.”
“He went east with Shiori-san,” the Chief exclaimed to the rest of the group when he got off the phone.
“East? That’s not a lot of help,” Takatsuka said dejectedly.
“He may be heading to Chiba. He and his family lived there before they were killed in a car accident,” a voice suddenly interrupted.
“Naruse-san! How do you know?” Serizawa asked curiously.
“Hideo used to visit them sometimes. From what I know, Yamano still owns that place,” Naruse stated calmly.
At Hideo’s name, Serizawa cringed but quickly regain his composure. “Let’s go then!”
“Wait!” Naruse shouted.
“What? Why?” Serizawa asked.
“We have to go in prepared. He is expecting us and has probably placed a trap or something in place. He wants to get revenge and will do so at any costs, so we have to assume that there will be dangerous items there.” Naruse explained, looking directly in Serizawa’s eyes.
“Naruse-san is right; we have to have a plan. If we just go barging in, it will not only be dangerous for us, but also for Shiori-san as we do not know where she is or what he has done to her,” Nakanishi added.
At jeopardizing Shiori-san’s safety, Serizawa visibly calmed down. “Okay, but how do we start preparing?”
~~~~~~~~~~~
After five hours of going over all possibilities of things that they can encounter with their confrontation with Yamano, informing the Chiba police of the current status of a kidnapping case, getting their approval to be on Chiba property and to capture the culprit, the group of four were exhausted. Their sleepless nights were slowly beginning to creep up on them and they all realized that they were soon reaching their breaking point. Tensions and emotions were high as they argued and debated on how to approach the situation and as a result, the Chief had to order them all to go outside and get a breath of fresh air before they bit each other’s head off.
When they were calm again, things were done much easier and smoother and by the end of the five hours, everybody just wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep.
“Okay, that’s enough for today. Everybody go home and we will continue tomorrow,” Nakanishi said.
Serizawa and Naruse were about to protest when the Chief held up his hand. “I know you guys are worried about Shiori-san. I am too. But the way that we are now, going to fall over at any second, will not help her. We need to be awake and alert if we want to save her and not exhausted and sluggish. Yamano took her because he knows that you will go and look for her. She is merely the bait as who he really wants is Serizawa, and maybe Naruse too. If we don’t do anything foolish then it is safe to say that Shiori-san will be okay for another day. Go home and sleep and we will meet early in the morning again,” he stated in a commanding tone and everyone knew that there was no room to argue.
~~~~~~~~
Naruse was not happy. After five hours of planning and arguing with the others, his patience was wearing thin and added to that his extreme exhaustion was slowing him down. He didn’t want to sleep, didn’t want to rest when he didn’t know how Shiori was. Didn’t know if she was safe or hurt. But he also knew that what the Chief said was true.
Naruse sighed and went to bed. Please Shiori-san, please stay safe. Wait for me, I’m coming.
Sleep came almost immediately when Naruse’s head hit the pillow and he was so tired that his brain didn’t even have the energy to create any dreams, for which Naruse was thankful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naruse was in a peaceful white room when he suddenly heard the ring of his cell phone. He bolted awake, afraid that it was Serizawa bringing him bad news again, and quickly picked up.
“Hello?” he said.
“Manaka-san, or should I say Naruse-san, how are you?” the voice on the other end spoke.
Anger rushed through Naruse as he heard the shrill and rough voice.
“Yamano! Where is she?” Naruse barked into the phone.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?,” Yamano said and Naruse knew that he was smirking.
“If anything happens to her, I’m not going to forgive you. I will hunt you down!” Naruse roared.
Yamano chuckled and spoke calmly, “I have no intention of hurting her. I just feel that there are a few things that we need to settle.”
“Me? I thought you wanted Serizawa?” Naruse asked confusedly.
“I do want my revenge on him, but first I have to settle some things with you first. You suddenly backed out of our plan, forced me to become a murderer, and then left me here in Japan alone, while you go and start a new and happy life in America!” Yamano stated in a dangerously low tone.
“What do you want?” Naruse asked.
“Remember my family’s chicken farm, Hideo used to get you to pick him up there. Meet me there in two hours. Oh, and don’t tell the police, especially Serizawa of where you are going. I will know if you do,” Yamano said before he hung up.
Naruse sat silently on his bed as he slowly absorbed Yamano’s words. When Naruse’s foggy brain finally processed what Yamano had just said, he dashed into the bathroom, changed, grabbed his wallet, keys, and phone, and rushed out of his door. He was running out of the entrance when he suddenly remembered his promise to Shiori. He sighed and ran back in. He asked the security guard for a piece of paper, quickly scribbled a few sentences on it and handed it back to him.
“If the police comes to look for me, tell them that I’m going ahead and give them this letter,” Naruse told the security.
The guard eyed the usually calm and composed lawyer with worried eyes but agreed nonetheless.
After getting the security guard to pass on the note to Serizawa, he ran into the parking lot, got his car, and bolted down the streets as he headed to Chiba. Shiori-san I’m coming, just hold on a bit longer!
~~~~~~~
The phone in Nakanishi’s house began to ring and he sleepily reached over to grab it.
“Hello?”
“Chief, we just found out that Yamano’s family also owns a chicken farm that’s pretty far away from their house.”
“What? Is it still in use?” Naruse asked, suddenly wide awake.
“No, it has been closed down since Yamano’s parents died, but there are no records of him selling it.”
So where could he be? Nakanishi thought as he dialed Serizawa’s number.
~~~~~~
“Chief, when are we setting out?” Serizawa said as he sprinted into the office, a half an hour after receiving the call.
“Since there are two possibilities of where Yamano may be, we are going to split into two groups. I suggest you and Naruse be in different groups,” Nakanishi said.
“Where is Naruse-san?” Kurata asked as he dragged his tired feet into the office.
Nakanishi and Serizawa shot each other a look. “I thought you were going to call him,” the Chief said.
“I did. I called for the last 20 minutes but he never picked up,” Serizawa said.
“Maybe he’s still sleeping,” Kurata said as he yawned.
“There is no way he won’t pick up the phone, especially since Shiori-san’s missing and it’s almost time for us to leave for Chiba,” Serizawa answered.
“You don’t think Yamano got him too, do you?” Takatsuka said worryingly as she strolled into the room combing her hair.
Fear flashed in Serizawa’s eyes as he dashed out the door, but suddenly stopped and turned around to look at his team.
“Does anybody know where Naruse-san lives?”
~~~~~
Naruse was speeding down the streets of Chiba as he approached his destination, his heart started to hammer in his chest. A few minutes later, he pulled up to the abandoned chicken farm, his car almost getting stuck in the muddy driveway. In the distance, he was able to see a black car parked outside the entrance of the farm and anger flared in Naruse’s chest as he stalked up to the building, putting on his blank expression.
As he gently opened the door and stepped into the pitch black room, he was met with an awful stench of dried chicken feces and wet hay. He suddenly heard movement behind him as he trudged carefully towards the end of the room, and jumped when the door closed behind him with a bang.
Then he heard a soft mumbling sound and the lights flickered on.
“Naruse-san, how nice of you to join us. I was just telling our guest here that I knew you would come,” a voice said behind him, and Naruse whipped around to come face to face with Yamano.
“Where is she?” he demanded, a stone faced mask covered his features.
“There,” he said and pointed to the other end of the room.
Naruse’s breath caught when he saw Shiori far across at the back wall of the room. She was being dangled from the roof, fifteen feet in the air. In the dim light, Naruse was able to see that her wrists were bleeding from the straps that held her hands together and from her moving around. She was gagged so she wouldn’t be making too much noise, but her eyes were wide and stared concerningly at Naruse. Through her eyes, he knew that she wanted him to leave, to leave her behind and come back with others and not face Yamano alone. I’m not leaving you here, he tried to convey with his eyes. She visibly relaxed a bit but still continued to struggle against her restraints and looked upon the two men with an anxious expression.
Suddenly all emotion drained from Naruse’s face and he turned backed to Yamano, hatred burned in his chest as he stared the other man down. It’s been a long time since Naruse had felt this strong of a hatred for anybody and his past feelings threatened to resurface. He did everything he could to calm himself down and to not just lunge at his former accomplice.
“What do you want? Let her go, I’m here without the police, like you wanted,” Naruse whispered, malice and bitterness dripped from his voice.
Yamano seemed to flinch at the deadly look that Naruse was giving him, as he remembered just how dangerous this lawyer can be, but he put on a calm and confident face nonetheless.
“I want to know why you betrayed me and left me here all alone,” Yamano said.
Annoyance flickered in Naruse’s eyes. “You’re telling me that you caused so much trouble, kidnapped Shiori-san, and dragged me all the way out here in the middle of nowhere, so early in the morning, just to ask me a question?” he bellowed, causing Yamano to back away from him.
“I want to know why! Everything was going according to plan, everything was perfect down to the tinniest detail!” he shouted in return. “But then all of a sudden you started to doubt your actions and were reluctant to carry them out. You even released Kasai in the end! Why?”
“I already told you,” Naruse stated calmly, regaining control of his emotions.
“It was because of her isn’t it? She softened you heart, she changed you!” Yamano shouted as he pointed at the girl suspended in the air.
Naruse stared straight into Yamano’s eyes with such force and anger that the younger man had to cower away and stare at the floor. “Along the way I figured something out. I realized that if Hideo was still here, he wouldn’t want us to revenge his death the way we did. He would want us to accept it and try to live happily for him too. He was always such a caring kid, always tried to help those in need, always looked for the good in people; I knew that my little brother would never want us to go down such a dark and destructive road. He would want us to appreciate the goodness in life and try to change all the bad.”
Naruse then looked at Shiori-san with sad eyes. “It was too bad I realized it so late. At that time, I knew I couldn’t go back, couldn’t change all the damage that I had done, but I knew that I could prevent somebody else from getting hurt. That’s why I bailed Kasai out of police custody. I know it wasn’t a lot, but I wanted to help him change, like the way Hideo would have wanted it.”
“My purpose was to revenge Hideo’s innocent death and punish those who weren’t rightfully punished by the law,” Naruse said as he turned to Yamano again. “What was your purpose?”
“Of course it was to avenge Hideo’s death!” he shouted.
“Was it?” Naruse questioned. “Maybe at first it was to help me to seek revenge against those who caused Hideo’s death, but in the end, weren’t you in it for yourself? Didn’t you want me to punish them because they used to bully you in school, that they made your life a living hell?”
“NO!” Yamano shouted as he fell onto the floor, with his head buried in his hands.
~~~~~~~~~~
After twenty minutes of searching through phone books, and contacting anybody that used to know Naruse, Serizawa finally found out where he lived. In the end, Serizawa had to threaten Yoshimoto the photographer with the charge of Obstruction of Justice for lying to them on behalf of Yamano, to get him to admit he knew where the lawyer lived and to write down the address for them. Of course, Nakanishi just arrested him anyways for wasting their time.
A few minutes later, Serizawa and Takatsuka barged into Naruse’s apartment building and dashed immediately to the security guard at the reception desk. They pulled out their badges and demanded to know which suite Naruse is in.
“Ah, Naruse-san told me that you guys would be coming,” the guard told the two out of breath officers.
“Huh?” Takatsuka said.
“Here,” the guard handed Naruse’s note to Serizawa. “Naruse-san rushed out a few hours ago before he turned around and came to me for paper. He then hastily wrote down something and told me to give it to you when you came.”
Serizawa quickly opened the note and saw Naruse’s speedily yet elegant script.
Yamano called. Meet me at his family chicken farm. Chiba
After reading the line a few times, Serizawa thanked the guard and he and his partner ran out the door and sped in the direction of Chiba. Takatsuka called the Chief as they were driving to get everybody on the case to Yamano’s chicken farm.
~~~~~~~~~~
“You betrayed me!” Yamano said after kneeling on the floor for a while. “You left me, just like everybody else!”
He lunged at Naruse, but he moved out of the way in time and Yamano fell on the floor.
“I didn’t plan on that. I was actually planning to die that night after you stabbed me. I went to see Serizawa and wanted him to kill me. I didn’t think that I would still be alive the next morning, so leaving was an impromptu decision,” Naruse informed the irrational man in front of him.
“You should have died rather than leave me!” Yamano shouted as he slowly took a knife out of his pocket.
“You made me into a murderer and the police is looking everywhere for me. If you only followed through with the plan, then Kasai would’ve had to stay in jail and gotten his punishment and therefore I wouldn’t have had to kill him myself! It’s all your fault that I can’t live a normal life anymore!” he hollered, pointing the knife at Naruse.
Tears glistened in Shiori’s eyes when she heard Naruse’s plan to die that dreadful night six months ago and she thanked God that she was able to make it there in time to stop it. She also felt happiness bubble within her from his confirmation that she was the one who was able to bring him out of his dark world and introduce him to goodness once again. That happiness quickly dissipated when she saw Yamano take out a knife and fear gripped her heart once again.
Down below, Naruse was having a sense of déjà vu. He stared at the knife then looked up at Yamano. “You still have a chance. You can still stop and come back into the light, do the right thing!” he urged.
“It’s not easy to forgive and to abandon all the years of hate that you have accumulated, but trust me, once you can let go, you will be much happier,” Naruse told him softly.
~~~~~~~
Serizawa and the others made it to Chiba in record time and were pulling up into the farm’s driveway as Naruse continued to urge Yamano to stop, stalling him to buy time for Serizawa.
They turned off their sirens just before entering the street and when the car stopped, Serizawa quickly turned off the engine and jumped out, racing to the entrance.
Just as he was about to pull the door open, he felt hands grab his arm and pulled him back.
“Wait! I think Naruse-san left us a note again,” the Chief said.
Serizawa turned back and speeded down to Kurata, who was currently clutching a piece of paper in his hand, standing beside Naruse’s car.
“What does the note say?”
He took the piece of paper from his partner and stared at it confusingly. Go through the back door.
“Why does he want us to go through the back door?” Serizawa asked.
“Maybe so we could sneak up on Yamano and catch him off guard so we can arrest him more easily,” Takatsuka suggested.
“Let’s follow Naruse’s plan then,” the Chief announced. “Half of the team will enter the building through the back and the rest of you will stay here in case he gets away. Remember the element of surprise is our advantage, everybody be as quiet as you can!”
~~~~~
“You’re wrong! I was happy when we avenged Hideo’s death together, when we planned all those deviously intelligent murders, crimes that wouldn’t be linked back to us!” Yamano shouted.
He suddenly turned to Shiori and roared, “It’s you, you took everything away from me!”
He ran towards the left wall and Naruse noticed that the end of the rope which held Shiori-san was tied to a pole there. Fear surged through him as he watched Yamano run up to the rope with a knife in his hand.
“Yamano! What are you doing!” Naruse yelled.
“I want you to get a feel of what true loneliness and abandonment is like!” he cried.
To Naruse’s surprise, Yamano dropped his knife and was slowly making his way to a small table beside the pole. When he tried to get closer to the emotionally unstable man, Yamano whipped around, “Don’t come any closer!” and Naruse froze in his tracks.
To Naruse’s horror, Yamano took out a candle and lit it before walking back to the end of the rope. “I want you to feel the pain I felt when everybody, including you abandoned me, the pain when my parents left me. I want you to get a taste of the absolute desperation and hopelessness of losing someone dear to you,” Yamano said as he stared at Naruse, anger, hurt, and pain, flashed in his eyes.
Naruse ran towards the man, but was a second too late as Yamano lit the rope on fire. Naruse watched as the fire slowly crept up closer and closer to the hanging Shiori-san as she began to swing violently, her muffled voice getting louder as she tried to scream.
Naruse tried to reach for the rope but was blocked by Yamano, pride shining in his eyes. At this Naruse’s composure broke. Any hints of regret or guilt for the man disappeared and a fierce sense of hatred, that he had not experienced in so long, suddenly burst to life somewhere deep within him. All Naruse could see was red as he lunged at Yamano and punched him hard across the face, effectively dislocating his jaw.
Yamano fell to the floor, clutching his jaw and stared daggers at Naruse. The enraged ex-lawyer advanced to Yamano as he began to crawl backwards, trying to put as much space between him and Naruse as possible.
Suddenly, a loud bang was heard in the distance, and Naruse knew that the police have arrived. Seconds later, feet shuffled in and commands were being shouted as they saw the burning rope and Shiori tied to the end of it.
“Shiori-san!” Serizawa yelled as a couple of men brought in buckets of water to put out the flame. He was surprised when she didn’t react and saw that she was staring intently at something in front of her. He turned to look in the direction that she was looking in and saw Naruse and Yamano.
He saw blood dripping from Yamano’s mouth as fear shone in his eyes. He couldn’t see Naruse’s face, but something in the man’s posture told him that he was not happy. He rushed up to them and was shocked as he looked at Naruse. The warm eyes that he was used to seeing since Naruse’s return were replaced with a storm of anger and hatred mixed together. His posture was rigid and he was looking at Yamano like a predator to a prey. His lips were pursed together and he was clenching his jaw vigorously. Serizawa knew that Naruse was on the verge of snapping and can attack Yamano again at any moment.
“Naruse-san, Shiori-san’s okay. We can take Yamano in,” Serizawa said softly, hoping not to elicit any violent reactions from his unstable mood.
Naruse didin’t seem to hear him as he continued to stare at the man on the floor with a look that could kill.
After being lowered back onto the floor safety and unbounded, Shiori silently made her way up to the trio in the middle of the room, her worried eyes never leaving Naruse.
She gently placed her hand on his shoulder to not alarm him, and quietly whispered in his ear. “Naruse-san, it’s over now. Let the police handle the rest. Come back to me.”
At her soft touch and gentle voice, Naruse immediately snapped out of his trance and relaxed. Serizawa and Shiori breathed out a sigh of relief at this change in demeanour.
“Let’s get you to the hospital,” Naruse said softly as he turned around to look at Shiori, warmth and love returning to his cold eyes.
The trio turned around and headed back to the rest of the officers when suddenly a voice shouted, “Serizawa watch out!”
Naruse instantly turned to look at the young detective when he saw that Yamano had gotten up and was running straight for Serizawa, knife in hand.
Before any thought could register in his mind, Naruse pushed Serizawa aside and the detective flew back from the force of the impact and slid all the way to the opposite side of the room.
A single gun shot rang and echoed in the empty building and a second later, both Naruse and Yamano dropped to the floor.
The last thing Naruse heard was Shiori calling out his name as the darkness consumed him and he lost consciousness.
~~~~~~~~
Please let me know what you think. Next chapter will be the last!
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