CHAPTER 23
Teruo
Shinji stood slowly, pressing his fingers to his temple in a feeble attempt to make his headache stop. Not only had the former leader of the extractors and a councilor orchestrated a theft of blood seals, but also killed an innocent man to cover their tracks.
This wasn’t the first time the Onmyōryō covered up corruption higher up the chain. His eyes locked with Teruo, who gave him a worried look. Shinji heaved out a long sigh and turned to Mariko.
“Mrs. Kawasaki,” he said. “You’ll need to come with us.”
Tamura flew right into his face. “Don’t arrest her!”
“She’s an accomplice to murder, but that’s not the only reason I need her to come,” Shinji said while Keiko dragged Tamura away from his face.
“The Onmyōryō has been trying to put the seals back on Takeda Fuyumi from the dedicated control room. It’s not working.
You tampered with the seals, didn’t you? ”
Mariko closed her eyes tight. “Yes. I removed them.”
Mr. Tamura gasped and flew closer to his daughter. “Mariko, why…?”
She wrapped her arms around herself, but didn’t answer.
“So right now the seals are still off,” Shinji continued.
“Yes,” Mariko whispered.
“If we take you to Takeda, will you be able to put them back on even if you’re not in the control room?”
She opened her eyes and looked at Shinji. “Yes, I can.”
“Good. Then you’ll join Chief Hayashi and the rest of the detectives to where Takeda was last seen.” He turned to Teruo who nodded in agreement.
“Does she have to go?” Tamura asked. He turned to his daughter. “Can’t the metropolitan police just arrest Fuyumi?”
“We will,” Shinji said. “But we have to stop her powers. Mrs. Kawasaki is the only one who can put the seals without dying. We don’t know what Takeda will do to the rest of us.”
“She won’t kill you,” Mariko insisted.
“How do we know that for sure?” Teruo asked.
“Because she’s doing this for revenge against those who took Hiroshi from us. You’re not responsible.”
“Forgive us if I don’t take your word for it,” Teruo said.
“She is a threat to the entire community of supernaturals. From what I understand, there were rules in place meant to prevent someone with such powers from freely using them outside the castle grounds.” He paused. “You shouldn’t have undone her seals.”
Mariko swallowed hard, her hands trembling. She pushed to her feet, looking from her father to her husband with terrified eyes. Her husband wrapped her protectively in his arms.
“Please, don’t take her,” he begged. “The Onmyōryō will extract her spiritual energy. She’ll die.”
Shinji didn’t know what to tell him. He was right; they could do that. She may not have been the one to directly kill the victims, but she was the one who let Takeda use her powers to exact revenge.
“If you help us capture Takeda, it might help your situation,” Shinji said. “But I cannot guarantee anything since it’s not up to me.”
“Either way,” Teruo added, “Takeda needs to be stopped. I think you know better than all of us how dangerous her powers are.”
The husband turned to Mariko and held her shoulders tight. “Put back the seals, okay? Don’t let Fuyumi drag you down with her. Whatever they ask of you, do it. Okay?”
Mariko let out a breath, her shoulders sagging. “Yes…”
But Tamura flew in between them. “Don’t tell her that! She needs to stay away from those people! The Onmyōryō caused this in the first place.”
“They did, and Fuyumi worsened it!” the husband yelled.
“She took advantage of Mariko’s grief and dragged her into this insane revenge.
” He pointed at Shinji and Teruo. “Did you not hear what they said about the field agents? They didn’t know Hiroshi was innocent.
They were following orders.” He let out a shuddering breath.
“Fuyumi did to them what the leader of the extractors did to Hiroshi…”
Mariko burst into sobs, crumbling in her husband’s arms. He gently caressed her hair, trying to hold in the tears. Tamura pulled away from them and retreated back to Keiko.
“I’m sorry, but we have to go,” Shinji said.
Mariko slowly straightened and dragged herself away from her husband’s arms. She walked toward Teruo, who guided her to the car.
Before entering, she turned toward her husband and father. “Wait for me at the castle, okay?”
Her husband smiled sadly. “Yeah.”
They both looked like they wanted to say more, but neither did, and Mariko climbed into the passenger seat. Tamura was preparing to settle next to her, but Shinji pulled both him and Keiko aside.
“Go ahead and assess the situation,” Shinji said. “Nakagawa gave Teruo the address of where they last saw Takeda.” He showed Keiko the location on his phone. “She’s here in Higashikurume pretty close to the castle.”
Keiko raised a brow. “Bold.”
“She’s got nothing to lose. The homicide unit’s detectives, along with uniformed officers, should already be there. If you find her before them, get back to me quickly.”
“Got it,” Keiko said.
“I’m staying with my daughter,” Tamura spoke.
“I completely understand,” Shinji continued. “But we can’t be two ghosts and one Shinigami inside the car. It’ll affect not just Teruo but Mrs. Kawasaki too. We need to focus on Takeda right now, then you can stay with your daughter at the castle.”
“We’ll do that,” Keiko replied instead. “Come on.” She half-dragged Tamura, and they floated away.
Shinji settled in the driver seat and glanced at Teruo who seemed unsettled. “Are you feeling unwell?”
“I’m alright,” Teruo replied, but his gaze was averted, and Shinji knew he wasn’t being entirely truthful.
Shinji drove back onto the main road and toward where Takeda had been spotted. “I’ll quickly see what the situation is, then leave.”
“Honestly, I don’t like that you’re coming,” Teruo said. “I think you need to sit this one out. If she can kill any supernatural on sight, then you’re putting yourself in danger.”
“I won’t stay long. Promise.”
Teruo sighed, then looked in the rearview mirror. In the back seat, Mariko was quietly crying, her hand covering her mouth.
A shuddering sob wrecked through her body and she muttered: “Oh god… I shouldn’t have…” to herself.
“Tell us the truth,” Teruo said. “Did she force you to undo the seals?”
Mariko wiped her eyes and shook her head.
“Then why help her?” Shinji asked. “You knew what she’s capable of.”
Mariko didn’t answer for a long moment as she wrung her hands in her lap.
“I couldn’t bear with it,” she murmured.
“My brother executed. My father dead from grief. And when they had the nerve to give me money to shut me up, I was overcome with a horrible need to make them pay.” Another sob escaped her.
“When Fuyumi asked me to undo the seals… in my heart… I knew what she intended to do. I didn’t ask but I knew. ”
“She never shared her plan with you?” Teruo inquired.
“No. I just did whatever she told me to do. Take the seals off at the right time. Put them back on. And then she said to just undo them completely. So I removed them.” She leaned back, staring blankly out the window.
“In that moment, it felt like I was getting justice for Hiroshi. I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t care.
” More tears fell down her cheeks and dropped onto her t-shirt. “You wouldn’t understand…”
Shinji’s heart ached as the memory of Haruna’s unjust death resurfaced. The way it was handled had made him contemplate the darkest forms of revenge for nights on end. Twisted ways of making Ueda pay. He swallowed the knot in his throat.
“I understand better than you think,” Shinji said.
Mariko turned her head toward him in confusion, but he didn’t elaborate.
He could feel Teruo’s gaze on him, but he pretended like he didn’t.
Whenever he had these types of thoughts, he felt too ashamed to face Teruo because he could always see right through Shinji’s facade—and there was so much darkness still lingering beneath.
Hands tightening on the steering wheel, Shinji frowned. Why didn’t he want Teruo to see that side of him? What was he afraid of? No matter the circumstances, Teruo had been his anchor, keeping him from drifting off into his vast ocean of grief.
So, why was he so ashamed? Perhaps because he’d been conditioned to feel ashamed for most of his life. But he wanted to be free of that.
At a stoplight, Shinji chanced a glance at Teruo.
Just as he expected, Teruo was still looking at him.
When their eyes met, Teruo smiled gently.
It left Shinji breathless, and his whole body felt lighter.
He was always free to be himself around Teruo, no matter how twisted his past or his thoughts were.
~ * ~
Just a few minutes later, they reached their destination.
The area where Takeda was spotted crawled with officers.
Since moving to Tōkyō, Shinji had never seen so many non-supernaturals in Onmyōryō-controlled neighborhoods, especially so close to the castle.
It seemed they feared Takeda so much, they were willing to step on their pride and count on the Metropolitan Police.
The street that led toward the crime scene was a one-way road packed with cars, so Shinji parked further away. There were still some supernaturals left in the area who were being evacuated by ghosts.
They stepped out and walked the narrow street toward the crime scene.
The more they walked, the more ghosts appeared.
The commissioner had likely called them since Takeda’s powers were useless on them, although the ghosts couldn’t do anything against Takeda either.
Shinji wasn’t too happy with the decision to bring them because their aura was dulling his senses.
Mariko seemed to have noticed the problem as well because she kept turning and frowning, likely trying to locate Takeda and failing.