Chapter Text
Tokyo – 5:35 p.m.
Months of hard work had finally paid off. Ever since Aqua had broken up with her, the girl had searched for a way to stop her ex-boyfriend. Less from killing his father and more from sacrificing himself for it. Kamiki Hikaru had still been a minor when he instigated the murder of Aqua’s mother and wouldn’t get sentenced to prison even if Akane found solid proof. So, she had researched Kamiki’s life to see if she could find other dirt on him. From all she knew of him, she had considered it possible for him to have had other victims. But she had been unsure whether or not she was wasting her time. She never met the man, and footage of him was scarce. She couldn’t reconstruct his thought patterns as she could with Ai, Aqua or her many roles as an actress.
But eventually, she struck gold: The disappearance of Katayose Yura. He had been one of the last people to see her and one of the few who knew where she had been going. Akane managed to gather solid evidence against him, enough to prove his guilt.
During her investigations, she also concluded that there had to be an accomplice. The identity of which was easy enough to deduce, but proof was hard to find. It took a lot of time and effort to find enough evidence against both to be conclusive, but she managed it.
It was yesterday that Akane had finally presented all of this proof to the police, and she just got a call this very morning confirming that Kamiki and his partner had been detained, though news of it would probably not spread before tomorrow at the earliest.
But she didn’t do this alone. Without the connections and business insight of Saito Ichigo, she probably would have never been able to come this far. It was he, too, who first suspected a member of the old B-Komachi, Nino, to be the other person they were looking for.
She had been surprised at first just how easy it had been to convince him to help her. Akane had thought he would take the first opportunity to find out the identity of Ai’s murderer and kill him on the spot. But two things had changed, which helped her.
For one, Aqua had tricked him into returning to his old agency. He had cut all ties to his family and friends to enact revenge, but having all the responsibility again made him hesitant to be this reckless. He had something to lose again.
And the second reason was Aqua himself. Ichigo had lived under the illusion that he could live for revenge while his former family could move on. But once he had realised just how messed up Aqua was, how consumed by his own revenge, the man was overcome with guilt. He had never been there for the children of the person he always saw as a daughter. And seeing Aqua go down the same self-destructive path he was on had served as a wake-up call for him.
He had never been the foster father to Ai’s children he could and should have been... like his ex-wife was. But confronted with the reality of the situation, his thirst for revenge wavered for the first time in 15 years.
And so, Akane had offered him a deal. He was to help her try to resolve the situation, lending her his knowledge, his expertise and his connections, all without raising a finger against Ai’s murderer, against Aqua’s and Ruby’s father. But if her plan were to fail, he would be free to take revenge on him, as long as he also were to take the fall for Aqua and Akane. She wasn’t keen on sacrificing him for Aqua, but if worse came to worst, it was a trade she was willing to make.
Ichigo himself would also rather not involve another child in this, nor did he think the murderer should get away with something as comfortable as prison, but he had little choice. Apart from Aqua, Akane was the only one who knew the identity of the twins’ father, whom Ichigo was aware of. But most of all: He wanted to save Aqua; he wanted to spare his family further grief. And if that meant letting the murderers live, then so be it. He could not make up for all the years he ran from his responsibilities – nor was he under any such illusions – but if he had any say in the matter, he would not allow himself nor anyone else to cause his family this kind of pain again.
But Ichigo wasn’t the only one who had to come to terms with this outcome. Aqua had to as well. Piece by piece, the two of them had told the people in Aqua’s inner circle about his mental state and his planned murder-suicide. Aqua would not be easily discouraged from his plan, so the goal was to prepare the people closest to him to support him when the time came, no matter how much he would try to push them away.
Akane wanted nothing more than to be there for him herself, but she had no doubt in her mind that once she foiled his plan, he would never want to see her again. She had already basically backstabbed him before when she had tried to keep his father's identity – the very fact that he wasn’t dead, like her then-boyfriend still thought – hidden from him. Furthermore, she had tried to deal with Kamiki behind Aqua’s back. It had all been a massive mistake, as all it did was erode the trust between them, leading to their break-up after he had found out everything and stopped her. She wanted to make things right, to save the boy she still loved. Even if it would only make him hate her. She had accepted that the people who would be there for Aqua afterwards would be Ruby and Kana. She had to let him go, impossible as it seemed to accept.
Thus far, things had gone well. Kamiki and Nino were already neutralised, so the only thing left was to ease Aqua into the situation; to let the reality of him being free sink in. It was going to be crucial to frame things properly.
That was when the doorbell rang.
Repeatedly and insistently.
Akane didn’t expect anyone today and was curious about who it was. She was shocked when she saw a very out-of-breath Ruby through the door’s spyhole. She had a bad feeling.
Between ragged breaths, Ruby blurted out the words:
“Please... you have to help us...”
Trying to calm the girl down, Akane took a step closer and laid her hand on Ruby’s shoulder:
“Take some deep breaths. Then tell me what’s wrong.”
Ruby didn’t take the time to catch her breath though, and almost coughed up:
“Onii-chan... I can’t find my brother.”
Akane's heart almost stopped at her words. With wide eyes, she realised it could only mean one thing.
After catching her breath a bit, the blond girl continued:
“He found out what we were planning, he yelled at us. Then he just ran away.”
Akane’s mind was already racing, but she needed more information:
“How many hours ago was that; and in what direction did he run?”
Ruby went quiet for a few seconds, but to Akane, it didn’t seem like she was trying to remember; she was simply delaying having to answer. Even more dread built up in her chest until Ruby finally said:
“It happened the day before yesterday. In the late morning. I don’t know which direction he went after leaving...”
Akane froze. This was bad. By now, he could be anywhere. Not quite able to repress her bewilderment, she asked:
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?!?”
Ruby could not dare to look her in the eyes as she stammered:
“We all knew you were busy dealing with my father. We thought once my brother calmed down somewhat and returned, we could take care of him...”
Ruby’s eyes started to tear up; she tried to keep a steady voice as best she could, but sobs made their way into her continued explanation:
“When he didn’t come back that evening, we thought he just needed more time. But when he didn’t come home yesterday either...
We searched everywhere we could think of today, but I just have no idea where he could be anymore... Please, Akane, you have to help us!”
Akane was hugging Ruby by now, trying to comfort and calm her. She guided Aqua’s sister into her room and offered her something to drink.
While Ruby was busy calming down, Akane started to brainstorm. The fact of the matter was: Aqua was immensely suicidal. His deep self-hatred was fuelled by feelings of guilt, and he considered avenging his mother his reason for living. Having taken away said reason, it was obvious why he hadn’t returned yet...
But if he had killed himself the day he figured it out..., wouldn’t his body have been found already? Feeling betrayed or not, he wouldn’t want to keep his family guessing about this sort of thing... Meaning he couldn’t bring himself to do it. At least not on the first day. In that case, Aqua would want to find a place where he can take his time to muster his resolve, yet it also needed to be a place where his family would find him eventually. Among some other places, the cliffside he always liked to go to was the most likely place. He could be in a nearby hotel or-
Ruby:
“I was thinking he could hide in Takachiho, but I don’t even know where to start looking there...”, she said with a concerned voice, yet with some hesitation.
Akane looked somewhat perplexed: “Why there? I admit I briefly considered it, but there are many more likely places.”
Instead of answering, Ruby just fidgeted in her chair. A few times, she tried to start saying something, but the words never left her mouth. The hesitation in her previous statement wasn’t uncertainty, as Akane first thought. It was something Ruby knew but didn’t want to share.
Akane got closer to the girl in front of her and spoke with a calm voice:
“Ruby-chan. I think I can find your brother. But in order to do so, I need to know as much as possible. I promise I will keep your secret, no matter what it is.”
Ruby replied quietly but with confidence:
“You won’t believe me, even if I do...”
Akane:
“Please, Ruby-chan. I promise I will take it seriously. You can trust me.”
Ruby nodded silently and, after some hesitation, began to speak:
“Have you ever thought, ‘What if I were a celebrity’s child?’ ‘What if I was born with both looks and connections?’?” Akane didn’t quite know if she was supposed to answer that, but before she could, Ruby continued:
“I thought about it a lot. Until about 17 years ago... when it suddenly became reality.”
Akane's eyes widened as Ruby proceeded without looking up:
“Both Onii-chan and I already died once... and found ourselves reborn as Hoshino Ai’s children. I died at the age of 12 in the Hospital in Takachiho, having been abandoned by both my parents due to my incurable sickness. I was reborn about 4 years later. And Onii-chan was-”
Akane:
“Gorou Amamiya...”, she said without a hint of emotion in her voice.
Ruby looked up at Akane, eyes widened in disbelief:
“How do you...”
Akane:
“Aqua-kun told me a lot about him when we were in Takachiho. A lot more than he should have known about someone who has been dead for longer than he has been alive. Even if this person was Ai’s attending physician. Everything about this Doctor seemed strangely important to Aqua-kun.”
Ruby, almost tearing up again:
“So... you believe me?” she said, not quite daring to hope for it.
Akane:
“It beggars belief, don’t get me wrong, but if I just assume it to be the truth, everything I didn’t understand about Aqua suddenly starts clicking into place.” Her eyes were wide open, seemingly staring into nothingness.
Abruptly, she stood up and walked to the wall next to her PC. A lot of notes of a man Ruby didn’t know but could guess the identity of were pasted to it. As soon as Akane was in range, she began to frantically remove all those notes, carelessly tossing them on the ground. As soon as she was done, she picked up a pen and some fresh sticky notes and started writing all kinds of stuff on them, before pasting them on the now-free wall. After a few minutes, she asked Ruby to tell her everything she knew about Gorou. Ruby didn’t hesitate anymore and gave her all the information she had.
Tokyo – 7:13 p.m.
After she was eventually out of stuff to write, Akane turned to Ruby:
“I think I can find him now. But I need a bit of time. It’s already pretty late, so it’s better we continue to look for him tomorrow.”
Ruby didn’t like having to wait, but she had to acknowledge pressuring Akane would achieve nothing except slowing her down. She quietly said:
“I’m counting on you, Akane-chan...”
Akane looked at her with a serious expression:
“I won’t let you down. I will find him.”
After Ruby took her leave, Akane was free to do her preparations. Her mother was home by now, and after explaining the situation, Akane asked her if she could quickly prepare some food she could take with her. She then called her manager, telling him she wanted to take 3 days off. He had helped her a lot over the years, and she trusted him. They agreed to simply call it a ‘family emergency’. Akane felt a bit bad knowing it would cause trouble, but her manager assured her that no one would doubt her. Her reputation as a relentlessly hard worker had earned the respect of basically everyone she worked with. No one would ask questions. No one would blame her for causing a bit of trouble.
The next thing she did was to check how to get to Miyazaki and from there to Takachiho. He was there. Without a shadow of a doubt. She only told Ruby that she needed time to think in order to prevent her from tagging along. She believed that Aqua was still alive... but she couldn’t be certain. The last thing she wanted was to find another corpse alongside her...
She was sure Ruby wouldn’t recover from that this time...
But getting there tonight proved to be an unrealistic hope. Checking the Flights towards Miyazaki, even the earliest one wouldn’t arrive before noon tomorrow. And she still had to get to Gorou’s old house from there...
Mostly still lost in her thoughts, she quietly said to herself with a hint of resignation:
“I guess the night train it is...”
While the train obviously took longer, it would arrive a few hours earlier. But she still had some time until she had to be at the station, which she used to pack a big bag with all sorts of stuff she could need.
After taking a taxi to the station and getting onto the train, she went over different scenarios in her head, trying to figure out how to best approach him depending on his mental state when she would find him. She also double- and triple-checked if there were any other things she would need tomorrow since she had the chance to buy a few things at the transfer. Lastly, she went over different places he could be if she turned out to be wrong, and while she had some ideas, the more she thought, the surer she got that Takachiho was the right spot.
A few hours of sleep later, Akane started typing to several people, explaining that she went to Takachiho while the others should check out various locations.
Ruby's was tasked to visit hotels near the cliffside Aqua liked to be alone at. She should simply claim her brother was expecting her and ask which room he was in. Since she could prove that she is his sister, the hotels could be tricked into answering whether he was there or not. It was unlikely that he was, but if Akane was wrong, it would still be the second most likely option. Ichigo was to monitor the cliffside itself, in case he appeared there. Kana and Mem were to check some other, less likely places he could hide in, while Miyako had to manage the agency.
Akane felt bad since all this was mainly to keep Ruby busy and away from Miyazaki, but she just couldn’t bring herself to take Ruby with her. Not given what she could find.
While waiting for the transfer, she bought something to eat as well as a magazine that caught her eye, though she couldn’t manage to focus on it. The closer she came to Miyazaki, the more she feared she might already be too late.