Suddenly, Yukiko's emotions shifted. From the tears and despair in her eyes, anger flared up, ready to erupt like a volcano. She sharply looked at Tsukauchi, who stood before her, unsure of what to do. He wasn't the kind of person who could offer comfort with words and hoped she would calm down on her own.
"What will happen to Toga?" she asked, her voice barely holding back a scream, and anger burned in her eyes. "If it weren't for that monster, my daughter wouldn't have become a criminal! She's not like that! She couldn't have reached this point on her own! Without... without that creature! She would have been the same sweet girl, striving to be a heroine, not a criminal! Without her, everything could have been different! How could I have allowed them to interact? I could see and feel right away that she was insane!"
Unable to control her emotions, Yukiko began searching for someone to blame for everything that had happened. All the anger and pain that had built up inside her spilled out onto the first person that came to her mind — Toga. She felt that it was she, this person, who was the reason her daughter had gone down this path.
Tsukauchi, hearing Yukiko's words, tried to compose himself but couldn't hide his anxiety. Gathering his strength, he paused for a moment, then quietly but firmly said, "Yukiko, please, calm down. We don't know the full situation! Maybe Toga isn't to blame at all. You're just unable to control your pain and anger and are looking for someone to blame."
Taking a brief pause to choose his words carefully and giving Yukiko time to process, he answered her question with a note of caution:
"Toga will also undergo rehabilitation, and whether they will be together is not for me, you, or Kimika and Toga to decide. That will be a decision made by Nezu and the people working with them. If they see that Toga is to blame in all of this, they certainly won't allow them to be near each other."
He knew that he hadn't spoken entirely truthful words, as he had no knowledge of the full details of Nezu's rehabilitation program for criminals. His assumptions could be far from the truth, but he tried to offer a version that seemed closer to reality.
Yukiko, however, didn't want to hear any justifications. Her anger prevented her from accepting any words from Tsukauchi. She was ready for anything, but not to question her perception of reality. Not believing that her daughter could have chosen this path on her own, she turned back to Tsukauchi.
"How dare you defend this monster?" Her voice grew hoarse with vicious hatred. "It's all her fault! Toga is the cause of everything! If it weren't for her, my daughter wouldn't have become a criminal, wouldn't have gone down this path! She deceived her, manipulated her, and now you're trying to justify her?! Can't you see that she's nothing but a beast in human form?"
Tsukauchi, realizing he couldn't just stand there, took a step toward Yukiko, wanting to calm her down in some way. He saw how her anger burned everything around her, but he didn't know how to help her stop.
"Yukiko, please, calm down..." he began, but she interrupted him, her voice breaking with pain.
"Why is this world like this?" she whispered, her words heavy with despair, her head bowed. "Why is everything so complicated? Why did my daughter become a criminal? I can't understand this... It's just... just horrible..."
Her voice trembled, and unable to hold it in any longer, she began to cry again. This time, the tears flowed freely, mixing pain and guilt, overwhelming her. She took a deep breath, but the words that escaped her sounded like a sigh from a soul that had endured too much.
"I was such a fool..." she said through her tears, her voice trembling with pain and despair. "It's all my fault... Why wasn't I smarter back then? If only I had dared to go to my parents earlier... If I hadn't been afraid of their anger because of my running away from home... But when I finally went to them, I thought they hated me... that they would never help me... But they... they just gave money."
Her voice became sharp, like a flash, and after pausing, she looked at Tsukauchi.
"Without a doubt... they gave money," she continued, her words blending with bitter laughter. "And you know what they asked for in return? Just two simple things... They asked... to see their granddaughter and... for me to work for them... And that's it..."
She took a brief pause, the bitter smile on her face quickly turning into pain. "Kimi... doesn't even know who they are... she has no idea she has grandparents... and that they're some of the richest people in the world... I ruined everything! I forbade them from seeing her... I... I'm the one to blame for everything!"
Kimika was still standing behind the wall, her body trembling more and more, as if it were about to explode from everything that was happening. She couldn't shake the thoughts of what she had done and what had happened. Memories of the murders, the crimes she had committed, came rushing back with full force. Her heart began to beat faster, as if trying to escape her chest, and the pain from these memories felt unbearable.
In her mind, she heard the images of the two people she had taken from this world. Anger, despair, and disappointment mixed together, like a storm tearing through everything in its path.
She felt sympathy for her mother, which began to intertwine with the anger and pain she herself had endured. How could she have been so wrong? How could she have been afraid of those who could help? How could she blame another person? How could she blame Toga, who had been like a friend, a sister, and someone who had always been there in her place?
With each passing second, the feelings of betrayal and anger grew stronger and stronger until Kimika could no longer contain her emotions. She took several decisive steps forward, emerging from her hiding place.
In the heat of her emotions, Kimika decided to use her new technique — the very one she had been preparing as a surprise for Toga, to show that her training hadn't been in vain, and that she was truly growing stronger. All the anger and pain that overwhelmed her gathered into a single point, which exploded in her words.
Clenching her fists and teeth with all her might, she screamed at the top of her lungs: "TIMEFREEZE!"
This word was like thunder, and everything within its radius, enough to affect Tsukauchi and his mother, began to slow down. The air grew denser, and everything around them moved more and more slowly. The entire room was filled with a blue, cold light, and people, furniture — everything, except for her. Only her left eye glowed with this color, and the left corner began to darken before their eyes.
Tsukauchi and Yukiko, hearing the cry of the one they had long waited for, for different reasons, tried to turn their gazes toward her. But their movements became incredibly slow, as if they were submerged in some thick liquid.
Yukiko, not understanding what was happening, still with tears in her eyes, tried to grasp what had occurred, while Tsukauchi, on the other hand, instantly understood. As he had suspected, Kimika was Tokima, and what was worse — she had developed a new ability.
They couldn't utter a single word. Every word that left their mouths shattered into pieces, as if it were slowly dissolving into the air, creating only vague and disconnected sounds.
"You... you accuse Toga? How dare you... HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE HER?" Kimika screamed, her fists tightening more and more, blood beginning to drip from them.
"How could you?! She was the only one who supported me when I was alone! When you couldn't support me! Every time you weren't home, when you were at work, she was there! And you? You went to work, but for what? So in the end you just went to my grandparents, whom I didn't even know because of you, just to take money? You didn't even let them see me, you forbid them from being part of my life! And what if… what if you hadn't done that? They would've helped on the same day, they would've given money for my father that very day!" — With these words, full of rage, she punched the wall, leaving a large crack on its surface.
"I became a criminal... for my father, for you! Because I saw how hard it was for you! I gave up my dreams, my principles, I went against everything for us! I trained relentlessly, feeling my body ache every moment, but I kept going! I took on missions, got injuries... bruises... cuts... fractures — all to help! And you? You just went to your parents and simply asked for money, and they, without hesitation, gave it to you?! And for that, they only asked to visit me, like all grandparents can, except mine because of you, and asked you to work in their company? And that's it? Nothing more?"
Kimika looked at her mother, her heart constricting with pain and anger. Tears streamed down her face, but in her eyes, there was hatred that burned her from the inside. "I robbed, I hurt people, I became a criminal! But I did all of that for us! And you, you were just too afraid to ask them for help from the very first day?! But I wasn't afraid! Didn't I suffer every day? If you had just asked them for money from the beginning, I wouldn't have become a criminal! Our family wouldn't have been destroyed!"
She took a deep breath and, laughing loudly, her throat tearing from the fury, added: "I killed two people... That director who was responsible for everything, and that criminal who almost killed Dad... I did it for revenge! And now... NOW ALL OF THIS TURNS OUT... POINTLESS?! All my victims... all my pain... was it all just because you were afraid of your parents?"
The anger and hatred burning in Kimika's heart grew stronger with each passing moment. Her eyes darkened: her left eye took on a deep blue hue, while her right became a dark red. She could feel everything inside her burning, her heart pounding wildly, and every word she spoke became heavy and venomous.
Suddenly, holding her breath, she coughed, and a dark, black substance flew from her mouth, leaving a stain on the floor. But she didn't even glance at it. In her eyes, there was only one focus — her anger toward her mother.
"This... this is all your fault!" Her voice was filled with pain and rage. "It's all because of you! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have become a criminal, I wouldn't have suffered every day and risked my life — if it weren't for you! I... I HATE YOU!"
After those words, Kimika realized what she had done. All the hatred, all the pain she had poured onto her mother, now echoed painfully in her heart. Her body trembled, and her eyes filled with tears. With fear and despair, she looked at her mother, seeing her broken gaze and tears.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." she whispered, filled with pain and despair. Unable to bear it any longer, with fear in her heart, she ran out of the house, leaving everything behind. As she fled, her time freeze lost its power.
Yukiko, sensing she could move normally again, with tears in her eyes, was ready to chase after her daughter. She wanted to apologize, feeling the bitter truth strike her hard — everything Kimika had said was true. She... she was the one to blame for everything that had happened in their family.
Tsukauchi, seeing Yukiko about to run after Kimika, quickly grabbed her by the arm. His face was both stern and full of sympathy.
"You won't be able to catch her or change anything now," he said calmly but firmly. "Please, calm down. We'll find her and help, but we need to act correctly. I have to call the heroes. The situation has become more complicated, Yukiko. She killed two people, and her emotional state is dangerous. We have to stop her before it's too late."
Tsukauchi had already reached for his phone to make the call, but Yukiko, her eyes filled with despair, swiftly snatched it from his hands. Her gaze burned with determination.
"NO!" she screamed, her voice trembling with pain and tears. "Even if Kimika hates me, I love her! I won't let you hurt her!"
With those words, she threw the phone onto the floor with all her strength, shattering it into pieces. Her body trembled from the overwhelming emotions flooding her.
Unable to hold herself together any longer, Yukiko dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around herself. She cried uncontrollably, feeling as though her world was falling apart. Her sobs, full of pain, echoed in the silence of the house, which now seemed empty and cold.
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Well... everything's bad... damns... I want to add that you must remember that Kimika's emotional state was horrible when she came home. After all, she did kill two people... She was very emotionally fragile and sensitive, and only small triggers led to what we have now.
Sorry if anyone is disappointed with what happened in these chapters. I'm ready to understand all the angry comments! But it is what it is... Thank you for reading this message!
Want to see the continuation even faster than the next day? Or perhaps you want even more chapters? Head over to my Patreon — it's all there! But don't worry, sooner or later, it will be here too! patreon.com/Zoi4erom
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