Rubbing my chaffed wrists, I stepped out of the interrogation room and was relieved to see the familiar faces of Doctor Tsunan and Master Kagami. Their expressions were full of concern as they rushed up to me.
'Shun, are you okay? Did they hurt you?' they asked, speaking together.
'No. I'm fine,' I answered, a bit jittery. 'I'm sorry that I disturbed you at this hour. I didn't know whom to call.'
'It's alright,' said the master, on both their parts. 'Fortunately, the kid has admitted having made a fugue.'
My eyes widened at him in shock.
'She's made a fugue?'
The police officers hadn't given me any information, except that I was accused of kidnapping by Gakkuri's parents.
I stared at the floor for a minute, so many questions rising in my mind, confusing me. The most urgent question was: why did she ran away from home? I recalled the things she had told me in the park which had astounded me.
'Where is she?' I asked.
'She's sitting in the entry hall. Her parents have come to fetch her.'
'Thank you,' I said to both of them, clamping my hands around theirs, full of gratitude that they came. I half-ran for the entry hall then, to find Gakkuri.
'Shun, I don't think that it's a good idea,' the master called after me, but I wasn't listening.
When Gakkuri fugued, she had ended up at my door and for me, it meant that for some reason, she felt safe with me. She called me her big sister. I had a responsibility towards her.
I found the kid sitting on a bench found against the side wall in the hall. There were two adults with her, a man and a woman, both in their mid-thirties and finely clothed.
'Why do you do this? Do you like to put me to shame in public? Does it please you to make me pass for a bad mother? Don't you think that I have enough trouble like this?' the woman hissed at Gakkuri, her eyes sparking with fury and indignation, while, the man gritted out at the kid, 'I feed you! I clothe you, and send you to school! Is this how you thank me? Have you no gratitude?!'
The child was clenching at her own dress, her head bowed, eyes lowered and full of tears.
Her parents stopped talking dead as I stepped in in front of them. They stared at me in puzzlement for a minute, before the woman exclaimed, 'You! You are the girl at whose place my daughter had refuged herself, aren't you?!'
Gakkuri's head snapped up at me, and she broke into tears, apologizing frantically to me, 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know that this would happen. I didn't know that you'll be accused of kidnapping and be arrested. I'm terribly sorry. Please, forgive me.'
'Shh, it's okay,' I hushed her down, putting a comforting hand onto her shoulder, as she began to hip-cup.
I looked back at her parents then, who were scowling at me.
'You abuse her psychologically,' I mumbled. I had never noticed any marks or wound on the child which showed physical abuse. 'And it is as bad as physical abuse, if not worse.'
They both took an involuntary step backward, mortified.
'How dare you?' the woman snapped, her expression twisting with anger.
'I'm such an idiot!' I said to myself, filled with melancholy. 'I should have noticed it earlier.'
All the signs had been there since the very beginning. But I had been blind to them. Maybe, it was because my parents had been the best parents one could ever have. The best years of my life were when they had still been alive. I had never known what Gakkuri has known and so, it never crossed my mind that she could be going through something so terrible.
My heart shook when I recalled the incident on the bridge and with a decided tone, I declared, 'Gakkuri isn't going back with you.'
How much I wished that things hadn't gone that far; that Gakkuri could return to her family in peace and all security.
'I think that you've got problems to solve between the two of you, but alone- only the two of you,' I whispered.
Enraged, the woman snarled at me, 'Who the hell do you think you are?'
'Mind your own business! I know who you are!' her husband roared, and I was sure that he was about to strike at me. Just in time, Master Kagami and Doctor Tsunan appeared by my sides, putting a hand down onto my shoulder each in a protective stance, causing the man to stagger backward, intimidated.
'Shun, are you sure about what you're saying?' the master asked and I concluded that they had been there all along and witnessed everything.
I turned to the sobbing child. 'Gakkuri?'
If she decided to remain quiet, neither me nor anyone would be able to do anything for her.
She stared at her parents one long minute with a tortured look, before she lowered her eyes and jumped to her feet, running to hide behind me, clutching at my kimono tightly, as if, never to let go.
'I'm really sorry,' I murmured to her, deeply saddened by her plight.
'Inspector!' Master Kagami called at the uniformed man standing by the counter a small distance away. 'I want to lodge a complaint against Mr and Mrs Saihara for child neglect!'
***
A small while later...
'Thank you for having proposed to take her with you,' I said to Master Kagami as we all came out of the police station into the parking lot.
Normally, it was a close relative who was supposed to take the child in but thanks to the master's influence, Gakkuri had been put under his care until further notice.
I was starting to get to know the master well. He was a kind and easygoing person who truly had great interest and utmost faith in the members of the organization, and when required, he was serious and severe.
I turned to the kid then and bent down to shed her tears. 'Don't worry, Gakkuri. You're going to go with this man. He's very nice, you'll see. He's going to take good care of you. I'll come to see you tomorrow, okay?'
She nodded once and walked away with the master to his car. I watched Kagami Gushiken drive away until the vehicle was no longer in view, hoping that I took the best decision for the girl.
'Come, I'll drive you back home,' Doctor Tsunan told me, and I gave him a small nod, thanking him for his kindness.
It was extremely late in the night and I had no money on me.
Out of nowhere, something flew at me in a blur at that moment, and hit into my chest. Automatically, I caught it and looked down in astonishment to find that it was Kōmori-san.
'Hey, little one,' I cooed, caressing its head tenderly. 'You were anxious about me so you followed me, ne?'
The small animal stared up at my face and I could almost read relief in its eyes.
'Sorry for having made you panic.'
A few minutes after I was seated in Doctor Tsunan's car, the latter asked me, 'How were your parents?'
I glanced at him, surprised that he asked such a personal question.
'Well, they were tender, warm, joyous, and above all, deeply in love with each other,' I replied, shyly, gazing out of the windshield.
Thinking of the time when they were still alive always brought a smile on my lips.
'How did they meet?'
'Oh, their first encounter was quite… uncommon.' I chuckled.
He cocked an eyebrow up in interest.
'In fact, my mom had intruded the Shutsuki residence...'
*Flashback*
24 years ago…
A small breeze was blowing that night and the sky was absolutely clear. No sound could be heard other than the leaves ruffling in the wind and the fishes jumping in the pond in the lawn.
Kazuya Shutsuki paused under the veranda to appreciate the calmness. But his peaceful moment was soon disrupted by voices on the side of the house and he went to see what the whole commotion was all about.
'Stop it, please! You're hurting me!' he heard a soft female voice cry and he accelerated his pace.
Rounding the corner, his eyes fell onto a girl of around eighteen, with long dark hair, and dressed in a kimono, the girl being in the capture of three of the guards.
'What's going on here?' he demanded.
The girl quit struggling, her eyes zeroing onto the redheaded twenty-one years old young man standing there, her expression full of distress.
'Kazuya-sama, we've caught her stealing herbs in the store!' declared one of the guards.
'I promise that I'm not a thief!' she told the redhead, desperately. 'I live in the village. I need these medicinal herbs for my mother. She's terribly sick and these herbs are the only thing that can attenuate her pain a little. But your clan has collected all the herbs in the village and the environ. I came here three consecutive days in the hope that someone will accept to sell me some, but I have been refused. Thus, in an act of desperation, I decided to intrude myself here to take some, even if it doesn't make me proud of myself. I've left some money on the spot.'
Her expression turned awkward then as she remembered the way she had gotten herself caught. She found it hard to admit even to herself. 'I had a sleep bout though and fell asleep in the store. That's when the guards caught me.'
Kazuya Shutsuki's eyes landed onto the small box of herbs in one of the guards hands and the money the latter seemed to have confiscated from the girl.
'Let go of her!' he ordered and the guards opened their mouths to protest but then seemed to think better and obeyed.
'Is it true what she's saying?'
They understood his question immediately.
The three men exchanged awkward looks, hesitating to answer, but then one of them finally admitted, 'Well, the commerce of these herbs is working well in neighboring towns, so...'
'From now on, I'll be responsible of the collect of herbs. It's out of the question that the clan prospers in the detriment of the villagers. They have priority. We'll take only the necessary amount. I'll inform Chichi-ue of this decision myself.'
'Understood!' the guards said, getting down onto one of their knees in reverence.
Kazuya walked up to them and they handed over to him the box of herb and money.
'You may leave!' he told them and they obeyed without discussion.
He turned towards the girl then and bowed down in front of her, saying, 'I present you my sincerest apologies on the part of my clan. I promise you and the villagers that this will never happen again. Here you are!'
Still bowing, he held out the box of herbs and the money back to the girl. He lifted his head to look at her only when the latter took the objects from him.
He found her smiling.
Straightening up, he inquired, 'What's your forename?'
'My name is Sakurahime. Nice to meet you.'
She bowed at him in greeting and he panicked for a second, before he bowed down too, his cheeks taking a similar shade of red.
'Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't present myself officially. My name is Kazuya.'
***
'I've inherited the red hair of my dad and the features of my mom, along with her narcolepsy,' I said. 'As for my grandparents, like you might already know, I've never known them.'
I explained, 'When my dad has asked my mom in marriage, the clan has opposed itself to their union because she's not a Shutsuki. Thus, my dad has disowned his clan and married my mom. They left to settle elsewhere after that- in the village of Konishi, where I grew up. No one came when my parents died. As for my maternal grand-parents, my grand-mother had become a widow at a very young age and the latter died of illness shortly after my mom and dad had met.'
'How did your parents… die?'
I looked away then, my expression falling a bit.
'My dad got bitten by a venomous snake. And when my mom intervened, she got bitten too.'
'I'm terribly sorry,' he said, looking towards me, and I gave him a poor smile, before I asked, 'And you, your parents?'
'My mom's name was Suna. She was gentle, gracious and soft-spoken. My dad- Sōjun- was the complete opposite. They were in the same high school. And they went to the university together. They were deeply complice and got along well. When my dad completed his studies in medicine, he became a private doctor at the organization, after my grand-father, and he asked my mom in marriage. They formed a beautiful couple.'
In the dim light of the car, I saw a small smile appear on his lips, before he continued, 'He was a Hitachiin and not her, but fortunately, the laws of my clan are less strict on this matter. My grand-father had a special affection for her.'
He sighed then.
'I was eighteen when they died in a road accident. They were returning from a congress and they took a route in the mountains. Their vehicle got hit by a bus which brakes had failed. It was raining heavily that day and the road was slippery. Their car had made several rolls before it crashed down a ravine. They died on the spot, as well as, all the people who were in the bus.'
My heart clenched and I whispered, 'I'm sorry.'
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Chichi-ue – "Father"