Chapter 3
The familiar looking person who visited my house is no other than Melissa, behind her Tachibana and Ramirez were standing.
"What's wrong, you aren't going to let us in?" Tachibana is the one who asked me question. Her behaviour seems to be rude but I'm a person that shows hospitality to my visitors, so I gladly welcome them. "Come in..." I let go of the door knob and take a step back to make way for them.
"Sorry for intruding the place..." Melissa speak to me while lowering her head as she take a step inside, Tachibana and Ramirez followed after her. I'm not surprised that they know the location of my house, after all Ramirez dropped me home back in the day.
The three of them sit down on Kotatsu after removing their shoes and slippers. I head into the kitchen and boil some water in kettle along with tea leaves to prepare some tea from everyone. After it boils, I pour the tea into cups and put it on tray. When I'm done with my preparation, I head into kotatsu carrying the tea and give them a cup before taking my seat. The four of us take every corners of the Kotatsu. Melissa is on my left side while Ramirez is in front and Tachibana is on the right.
I grab my own cup and take a sip before asking them a question. "So why are you guys here? I believe I already told you to bring Melissa back to her house...?" I made an momentary pause after asking them and resume speaking without waiting for their answer as if I already know the reason. "But considering you bring her here, it means something happened in her house? Perhaps it involves her parents or relatives..."
Ramirez let out a bitter smile on her face and give me a reply. "Your perception is impressive, Ameguri-kun..."
I averted my gaze away from her and rub the edge of cup with my index finger. "Well, it's too obvious... You aren't someone who abandoned your duty, so I found it odd that she wasn't still at home."
Ramirez pride is her greatest asset which makes me put my absolute trust towards her. She is willing to put her life on the line to protect women against violence or abuse and make sure it's always succeed. Her strong conviction is probably one of the reasons why she was assigned as leader.
Ramirez glance at Melissa with her pitiful eyes. "Yeah, but about that... She doesn't seem to be interested in talking. When I asked her the location of her house, she didn't say a single word and requested to be drop off at the crime scene... As you know we are going to inform her parents about what happened but she isn't willing to cooperate with us." Ramirez respond to me but her explanation doesn't explain why they are here.
I can only guess that Melissa probably requested to see me. I stop thinking because it's pointless to wonder aimlessly when the answer is already in front of me. "I have a vague idea of what's going on but why did you bring her to me? Considering the options you had, why me?" I still don't know the reason why they pick me up, when there are lots of places to put Melissa on guard.
Ramirez take a deep sigh and respond to me. "I don't know... Melissa told us that she wanted to see you..."
I start to remember everything that happened so far and mutter to myself. "Wanted to see me? That's definitely a lie. I just save her and she thank me. That's should be enough. I'm guessing that Melissa wanted something from me. But what is it...?" I take another sip of tea and release a deep sigh. "It's obvious... Melissa runaway from home and doesn't have a place to go. She probably thought that I'm the only one she could rely into since I risk my life to save her from assault." I stop talking to myself and turn my gaze to Ramirez. "I understand the situation..." I responded to her after sorting my thoughts.
Ramirez look at me with a worried expression on her face. "I don't want to say this because we are supposed to do our job but if she isn't willing to cooperate with us can you take care of her? You already know what's going on right, you can see things we can't. Even if we use force to make you confessed I doubt you will tell us anything."
What she stated is actually correct, technically I'm allowed to remain silent and spout lies such as I don't know anything. The question about whether Melissa is telling the truth or not doesn't matter. Since it's only happening inside my head they couldn't do anything about it, as long as Melissa and I refused to talk.
Ramirez grab the cup of tea and drink all of the contents in one go. "Ahhhhhh..." Then she let out a sigh of relief. I didn't serve the tea too hot and only at perfect temperature. "It was good..." She put down the cup of tea and stand up. "Ameguri-kun... Thanks for the tea." Then she called me and lower her head to express her gratitude. Ramirez probably plans to leave the house, so I averted my gaze to her colleague.
Tachibana have a relax expression on her face almost look like a Buddha. She was fascinated by the taste of my tea. "Tachibana, we are leaving..."
Ramirez called Tachibana out which soul is slowly leaving her body comes back and she regained her composure. After realizing that they are going to leave already, she suddenly become disappointed. She glance at Ramirez and ask her a question. "We are leaving already? I wanted to have another cup... Can we stay for a while?" Tachibana probably become addicted to tea. I can't blame her or anything since the tea leaves I used were from the healthy farm.
Anyway, Ramirez only stare at her pitifully and shake her head. She probably wanted to have another cup too.
I stand up and head into the kitchen to get some tea package. After picking up the untouch product, I hand it over to Tachibana. "Here you can have this..."
Her eyes becomes moist after witnessing the package of tea. She joyfully accepted my gift and hug it like a child. "You are really giving me this? Thank you..." Tachibana stands up and follow Ramirez outside with satisfied smile on her face. The only people remain inside the house are Melissa and me.
I lock the door and head back to Melissa who is sitting down on Kotatsu. I stare at her face and ask her a question. "What food do you want for dinner?"
"Huh?" Melissa doesn't expect that I'm going to asked her what food she wanted to eat for dinner and got a puzzle look on her face.
"I'm fine with anything..." She replied to me after couple of seconds. I take a deep breath and the expression on my face becomes serious.
"Well, there is no point in holding back now..." The tone of my voice was serious which put her into panic state.
"...eh...?"
I didn't pay attention to her first answer and repeat the same question. "I will ask you again... What do you want to eat for dinner?"
"...I... If possible... I wanted to have some ramen..."
"Ramen huh?" I muttered to myself after hearing her request and continue speaking. "Is there any reason for that?"
"...nothing I just wanted to eat some ramen..." She didn't tell me specific reason. I'm not interested in asking but I will force her to confess later on.
"I see... We will have a ramen for dinner tonight..." I was planning to send someone to buy ingredients and deliver it into my house if I don't have anything usable here but since I have enough for ramen, I disregard my secondary plan and head into the kitchen to cook food for us.
Ingredients
Salted pork
1 lb pork
1 tsp salt
Soup
6 cups water (1.5L)
50g ginger root, sliced
3 cloves garlic, skinned
1 bunch green onions
4 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sake
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
Noodles
9 oz fresh angel hair pasta (225g)
8 cups water (2L)
2 Tbsp baking soda
Topping
boiled egg halves
bean sprouts, blanched briefly
green onions, cut finely
I already have a marinated pork in advance. Usually you will marinated the fold after cooking. However, I do other way around. I figured that if the flavour isn't enough then I can marinate it again.
Anyway, I'm planning to use it to a different food but decided to go for ramen instead since I can't use some pork that I marinated for few minutes in Ramen.
I get the pot and put water, ginger root, garlic, green onions and salted pork. After putting them together I turn on the stove and boil it at high heat.
I waited for the water to boil so that I can skim fat and other floating scums, it's necessary to remove them to have a clean broth. When I finished removing the fats, I cover the pot and reduce the fire to low heat.
Then I spend the remaining time to simmer it for 2 hours. While waiting, I occasionally glance at Melissa who is staring at the Kotatsu while wringing her hands.
After two hours, I let the broth and pork cool completely in pot. Then I strain everything and save the pork.
I get the sharpened butcher knife and slice pork beautifully. This will be used as toppings later on.
I prepare the rest of the toppings such as boiled eggs, blanched bean sprouts, cut green onions.
After in done with toppings, I proceed in making noodles. I have a pasta machine at home, so I don't encounter any troubles cutting the noodles. I added certain grams of salt and amount of wheat floor.
But before cooking it, I settle the broth first. I boil the broth then added soy sauce, sake, salt and sesame oil. Then let it simmer it in low heat.
In boiling water, I added baking soda and pasta. I cook the pasta and strain it. Once I'm done, I divide noodles into two bowls and add soup. Finally, I added the necessary toppings which are boiled eggs, bean sprouts, green onions and sliced pork.
I put the two bowl on small plate and head into kotatsu while carrying it like waiter. Melissa is staring at me as I get closer to her, she seems to be attracted with the delicious smell of ramen.
"Help yourself..." After serving the bowl of ramen, I sit down in front of her and also eat the food. After finishing eating the food, I get the dishes and wash them.
Now it's time for interrogation. She seems to calm down after having my ramen and get back to her usual self. "Tell me the reason why you runaway from home."
I immediately demanded something from Melissa which caught her off guard. But since she came back to her usual self, she realized that it's pointless to hide things because Melissa is trapped in the house with me.
"Uhm... About that..." Melissa was still hesitant to tell me the reason but decided to proceed later on, so I listen to her without missing a single word.
"I see..." She finishes telling me her story. I rub my forehead while in deep thoughts and speak to her again.
"Don't worry about it, I will take care of everything... So you can rest assured." I take a deep sigh and head into the cabinet. I grab the futon and roll it on the floor then I avert my gaze to Melissa.
"I only have one bed but you can used this... I'm going to sleep on Kotatsu instead." I finishes fixing the futon. Melissa seems to be feel bad due to my kindness. But she doesn't have to feel guilty or anything since I'm willing to offer helping hands to those people who needed my help.
"I'm sorry..." The only words come out from her mouth. After hearing her apology, I take a deep sigh and scratches my head.
"Don't worry about it and just take a rest. If you are concerned about me assaulting you when asleep isn't something I can do." I put her at ease with my words, even though it doesn't have much credibility. But I will still be able to gain trust.
"Well... About that Ameguri-kun..." I interrupted her from speaking.
"You can call me Hayama, after all I'm already calling you Melissa."
"Uhm... I'd heard it from Ramirez-san when Tachibana-san asked her question about you... Ramirez-san told us how you meet each other..." As she speak her eyes keeps averting to my face and the floor.
"I see... Did she told you everything?" I asked just in case. I doubt Ramirez tell her everything, there are things she wanted to keep secret at all cost.
"Uhm... She only told me about the kid..."
"The kid huh...?" I muttered out loud after hearing her response. She is talking about the kid which is a middle schooler that has been kidnapped by rapist called "child predator." I closes my eyes and start to remember what happened year and half ago.
Chapter 3.1
I was wandering around the town, to be precise "I'm hunting someone". It's not proven yet but there are countless rumors about middle schoolers disappearing from the civilize area and being taken to isolate town, the place where I live. I'm skeptical whether it's true or not but I couldn't just ignore it, since they told me that it's happening around here.
Anyway, everytime my school day ends, I'm going on patrol around the isolated town checking every house. I spent 3-4 hours in curfew, hoping that I will encounter the "child predator". My hopes didn't betray me, we meet each other fifth in the afternoon. During that time, he was on process of assaulting someone outside of the house. I get closer to them and speak as I walk.
"Words aren't needed... So you are the rumor child predator..." I pulled out a knife from my pocket and continue speaking. "You will die here..." When my words reaches him, his body stiffened due to shock.
"What!? Who are you? What are you doing here!?" He is on panic state after noticing my presence. Perhaps he didn't expect my sudden arrival, not only fear I can see that he is on state of confusion. However, I'm not going to give him a proper answer. I averted my gaze towards his victim. The child is blindfolded, so she couldn't see what's going on around the surroundings but she could at least hear me.
For now, I diverted my attention away from her and focus it on the wanted man. As I get closer to him, our eyes meet each other which put him frozen on his tracks. He probably foreseen his fate when we made an eye contact.
I hold the knife handle with my index finger and thumb then levitate it above my shoulder. When I'm certain that he is within my range, I strengthen my arm and throw it like a dart targeting his head.
"Wha-" He didn't manage to finish his last word since the sharp dagger penetrate his skull, almost like stabbing a pudding. I approaches them with a plan to retrieve the knife first before helping the victim but the sound of siren interrupted me from taking another step, it's coming from a distance.
"Police...? Why now?" I muttered out loud. When the victim heard me speak, she suddenly put up a struggle which I find weird. It looks like she wanted to say something but since her mouth has been tape so, I couldn't understand it.
However, I eventually realized that she probably wanted to give me a warning about the incoming police officer. "If my speculation is right then, things will become troublesome..." I approaches her and lay her body on the chair. Then I turn my gaze to the corpse of child predator. The soil with grass will hide his blood, so I decided to drag him back on the backyard and hide nearby.
The police mobile arrive at the house, and I observe it from a distance. "This is definitely suspicious..." I speak to myself. I put the victim on a place where she could be seen easily to test my hypothesis about them being accomplice, which turns out to be true.
"Hey, Rio! Are you here?" He call someone out it's probably the name of child predator but didn't receive any reply since I just killed him few minutes ago. He started to think that his friend might be wandering around or not present at all. "Damn it, where did he go. Is he targeting someone again?" He kick the ground in frustration and started to question himself out loud.
"It seems like they know each other. No wonder she gave me a warning earlier. If he found out that I killed his friend then, I might ended up getting frame up... As the prime suspect after he get rid of me." I muttered to myself while hiding on the corner of the house.
"I'm stressed at work due to that damn Ramirez! If I had a chance I'm going to rape and murder her for good! Damn that bitch!" He keep on kicking the ground while cursing someone.
"Who is he talking to? A colleague? Perhaps..." I check the knife on my hands prepared to take him out. "Well it doesn't matter since he will die here..."
After couple of minutes, he stops kicking the ground and turn his attention into the victim. He walk towards her and grab her hair. "Hey, since I'm stress today I guess it's my turn to have some fun with you!" He slam her head on the table and starts to take off his clothes. Since both of her hands are tied he simply hold her wrist and [erap] her aggressively.
I could hear the sound of her voice crying in agony along with table feet hitting the floor but I ignore it for now and focus on my objective, which is eliminating the police officer.
"Hey kid, did you know? Your parents were worried about you. Just earlier they visited our station hoping we have a clue about your whereabouts. I told them it's difficult to investigate since we don't have enough resources, so they stated that they were willing to pay high price just to find you..." He grasp her neck and pull it, then continue speaking. "However, that's impossible after we get tired of you. We will kill you and sent your death body to them... I wonder what kind of reaction they will make after seeing your corpse? Hahahah!" He let out an evil laugh while fantasizing the reaction of victim's parents.
"I've heard enough..." I muttered to myself and take a deep sigh. "The world is dirty..." After whispering those words, I show myself behind the corner. Now I'm facing his unguarded back, I levitate my hand along with dagger and aim the back of his head.
"Shack!" When my dagger hit his head, it generates a strange sound. Anyway, I did it in splendid way which make his body fall on the ground. I approaches them and seperate the victim's body into the police. I remove the dagger from back of his head and cut the ties that restricting the child. "Sorry, I wanted to help you as soon as possible but I didn't expect the police officer and suspects to be partner's in crime. But thanks to your warning, I started to have a vague idea what's going on..." I speak to her as I set her free.
She didn't say a word and just hug me tightly while holding back her tears. I pull out the phone out of my pocket and call the police hotline. The town might be isolated but the signal is still working fine.
I just let her hug me tightly. After realizing that I called the police, she look at me with terrified expression on her face. She probably didn't trust them anymore. I couldn't blame her though, one of the person who assaulted her was police officer.
"Don't worry, I am here. I will make sure that you will meet your parents. If the police officer I call turns out to be criminals then I will protect you even if it cost me my life..." I pat her head gently to give her some comfort. Then I take off my school jacket and give it to her. "For a child to experience this... I guess that's how the world works. As long as man exist then... No even woman assault the same kind I couldn't be bias here..." I stop talking to myself and just keep an eye on corpse of the police officer.
Chapter 3.2
I told them to bring sixth police officers including women and threaten them if they didn't do as I say then it will be too late... It's merely a threat but if they didn't do it, I will publicize everything that happened here to everyone and the people will starts to lost trust to public service, only if...
After waiting for ten minutes, the police officer I requested arrives. They spotted me carrying the slim body of the victim. She is unconscious due to tiredness, so I let her take a proper rest on my arms. They head out of the police mobile and immediately rushes into me. I stretches my index finger and put it on my lips indicating I demand silence.
I slowly stand up and head into the police car, then I gently lay her down in the back seat. After that I approaches the police officer and explained what happened without missing single detail. However, I hide some things that must keep hidden.
"I see, so what makes you bring here?" They asked me for the reason why I'm here. I already made some preparation in advance for that.
I turn my back towards them and look up at the sky. "Actually, I'm searching for a place where I can commit suicide... And happen to find out that a child is being rape then I decided to help her..." Technically speaking what I told them is the truth. I'm searching for a place (where child predator is hiding) where I can commit suicide (it's also true I'm searching for a place where I can rest) and happen to find them by coincidence (well I'm searching for them, so encounter is unavoidable) and decided to help her (which is my objective).
"Anyway, you are surprisingly calm despite murdering someone... Why is that?" A question to analyze me psychologically, such a thing doesn't have any effect on me.
"People die... No one is an exception. Sometimes in life you will encounter a heavy decision, life or death? In state of dilemma what Am I going to choose? In order to save someone, someone must die. It's unavoidable, so there's nothing I could really do about it... If I can save someone's life by commiting suicide, I will gladly do it." I told them what I think and they decided to accept it.
"Anyway, my name is Ramirez. I'm quite move by your actions. You didn't hesitate despite being in life and death situation. I live my life protecting woman against harrassment or any form of abuse... Your judgement is commendable and worthy of praise." She introduced herself and reaches her hand towards me, offering a hand shake.
"Thank you for that, my name is Ameguri Hayama... If she asked for it kindly tell that." I shake her hand for few seconds and let her go.
"Would you take my offer to drive you home? I'm sorry but after finding out that you are going to commit suice there is no way I'm letting you do it... Afterall you are a hero." It seems like she is going to insist, so I came up with a beautiful rebuttal to change her mind.
"After witnessing what just happened. I feel like I have a purpose... I think I accomplish something big..." I speak what's inside my mind. Then, head into the police car accepting her offer. As we walk, I glance at the car where the child sleeps(actually it's not appropriate to call her a child. If I were to guess she is probably a year younger than me. Anyway, with my direction she drive me to my house.
I open my eyes and stop remembering the past. "I wonder where is she now..." I muttered out loud and Melissa seems to heard me.
"Are you worried about her?" Her face is full of curiosity when I turn my gaze at her.
I take a deep sigh before giving my reply. "Yes, I'm thinking if she still manage to live a normal life despite all of that... I left her my name but we wouldn't probably see each other again." I disregard the thoughts and ask her a question. "Anyway, do you want me to help you?" A question that she wanted to hear from me. Question that will give her a new hope to start over again.