Chapter 53 Every light, casts a shadow
Meanwhile, still on the second floor of District 4's public hospital, but in room 126...
"This is so boring here...without Nao-chan..." Miyubi, that was sitting on a hospital bed, wearing a hospital gown and with her hair down, said as she let out a big sigh.
"I caused so much trouble to both, Nao-chan and Kurokami-kun...I'm such a klutz...I just hope, they're ok..." Miyubi said with a sad tone, as she looked out the window of her room and imagined, what Naoki and Tatsurou were doing right now.
"I'll try to distract myself a bit with some manga...maybe I'll finish up reading, Maid-sama...on which chapter, was I again?" Miyubi said as she looked at her phone that was, on the side bed table and grabbed it, but as she prepared to open up a manga app, Miyubi heard something that made her stop looking at her phone...
"Let go of me, you idiot! Put me down, right this instant!" A very angry and embarrassed voice said from the outside of Miyubi's room.
"Huh? That's, Nao-chan's voice..." As Miyubi said this, the door of the room was opened, and inside came Tatsurou with a stoic expression on, as he princess carried a very embarrassed Naoki, that was holding a bouquet in her arms.
"N-Nao-chan...K-Kurokami-kun?" Miyubi asked with a confused and surprised tone, as she saw this rather strange situation happening in front of her, and a sudden silence filled the room for a brief moment.
"Hi there, Shimaki-san! I thought you were feeling very bored and lonely here, so I brought you some flowers and a very stubborn girl, to keep you some company!" Tatsurou said still with his stoic tone, as he approached Miyubi's bed.
"I see...thanks, Kurokami-kun..." Miyubi said as she placed her hand in front of her mouth, to hold back her laughs.
"So, how are you feeling, Shimaki-san?" Tatsurou asked a bit curious but also worried as he looked at Miyubi.
"I'm alright, thanks..." Miyubi said as she smiled.
"That's good to know..." Tatsurou said as he smiled too, something that didn't last for too long.
"Stop acting, as if I'm not here, Kurokami! And put me down, Immediately!" Naoki said with an angry and embarrassed tone, as she moved her legs and blushed.
"Sure thing, Izumi!" Tatsurou said with a stoic tone, as he placed Naoki on the side of the bed, next to Miyubi.
"Now, if you two would excuse me I have to go take care of a few things..." Tatsurou said as he turned towards the door.
"W-Wait a second! Where do you think you're going? Get back here, Kurokami!" Naoki said with an angry tone as she pointed at Tatsurou, that ignored Naoki as he left the room...
"I hope those two, make up..." Tatsurou thought as he stepped out of Miyubi's room and closed the door, but as he did that, something quite unexpected happened.
"Ku-ro-ka-mi-kun..." A very familiar voice said this to Tatsurou, which made him jolt, upon hearing it.
"E-Emma-san!" Tatsurou said as he looked to his side and saw Emma, that was wearing her usual fancy clothes with a lab coat over them.
"Do you mind telling me, why your carrying patients around?" Emma, asked with an angry tone, as she looked at Tatsurou.
"Wait, wait, I can explain..." Tatsurou said with a scared tone, as he stepped back from Emma and flailed his arms around.
"Oh, you will explain, with details and everything!" Emma said still with her angry tone as she pulled Tatsurou by his cheek.
"Ow...you don't need to pull my cheek, like that!" Tatsurou said as he kept being pulled on his cheek by Emma, towards her office...
And meanwhile, back in Miyubi's room...
"Kurokami!! When I leave the hospital, I'm going to murder you for this!!" Naoki thought, as she got off Miyubi's bed and began placing the bouquet on the vase, that was on top of the bedside desk.
"What is it?" Naoki asked with a curious tone, as she finished placing the bouquet on the vase and looked at Miyubi that was smiling.
"Oh, it's nothing! It's just that, you looked like a cute bride when Kurokami-kun, carried you in here!" Miyubi said with a happy tone, as she smiled again, but Naoki on the other hand, froze up as she heard Miyubi.
"There's no way, I looked like that!" Naoki said with a very embarrassed tone as her face became completely red.
"Oh, Come on, Nao-chan, don't say that!" Miyubi said with a faint angry tone, as she looked at Naoki, that got even more embarrassed.
"I-I'm not cute...stop spouting nonsense..." Naoki said as she looked a bit away from Miyubi.
"I-I'll go back to my room now..." Naoki said still with her embarrassed tone, as she turned to the door, but she was stooped by Miyubi, that got off the bed and grabbed Naoki's arm.
"Wait, Nao-chan! You're not going back to your room after just getting here, right?" As Miyubi asked this, Naoki looked away from her.
"Please...let go of me..." Naoki said with a sad tone, as she kept looking away from Miyubi.
"Come on! What's with the long face? This is very unlike you..." Miyubi asked as she looked at Naoki, that suddenly shook her arm, something that made Miyubi let go of it.
"I said...to let go of me..." Naoki said as she briefly looked at Miyubi then away.
"Nao-chan? What's wrong?" Miyubi asked with a worried tone, as she saw Naoki acting like this.
"Nothings wrong...just leave me alone..." Naoki said as she placed her hand on the door's handle and prepared to leave, but Miyubi wasn't having any of it.
"No! There's definitely, something wrong with you!" Miyubi said with a worried tone, as she wrapped her arms around Naoki's waist.
"I already told you, I'm ok!" Naoki said as she tried to release herself from Miyubi's grasp and get out of the room, but it was also when Miyubi, started to pull Naoki away, from the door.
"I know that your lying! Just stop and talk to me, Nao-chan!" Miyubi said as she kept pulling on Naoki.
"But I don't want to talk!" Naoki said with an angry tone, as she got a firm grip on the door handle.
"Oh, you will talk!" Miyubi said also with an angry tone, as she began to pull Naoki harder...
And then, 6 minutes later, Naoki and Miyubi, were now lying on all fours on the floor and huffing pretty bad...
"My hands hurt..." Naoki said with a tired tone, as she looked at her hands, which were red from gripping the door handle hard.
"Jeez, Nao-chan I thought you would never let go...honestly, you looked like a child refusing to take a bath..." Miyubi said with a tired tone, as she caught her breath.
"I did not...look like that!" Naoki said with an angry tone as she looked at Miyubi and blushed.
"Say, are you ready to talk now?" Miyubi asked with a worried and curious tone, to which Naoki answered, by looking away from her.
"That...does it!" Miyubi said with an angry tone, as she got up and grabbed Naoki's hand.
"W-Wait..." Naoki said with a surprised tone, as she saw Miyubi walking in the direction of the bed and when she got close, Miyubi hugged Naoki from behind while she took a seat on the bed.
"W-What are you...!?" Naoki asked with an embarrassed tone as she looked at Miyubi.
"You either talk to me, right this instant or I'll keep holding you like this forever, without moving!" Miyubi said with an angry tone, as she pouted.
"D-D-Don't go spouting, 1st grader stuff like that!" Naoki said with an embarrassed tone as she tried to get off from Miyubi's grasp again.
"Don't even think about it!" Miyubi said with a determined tone as she closed her eyes and held Naoki really tight...
And then, after some long 30 minutes, Miyubi was still sitting on the bed hugging Naoki from behind, but now they didn't move as a long silence filled the room they were in...
"Hey..." As Naoki was trying to start a conversation, she was interrupted.
"If it is for anything but talking to me, I'm not interested!" Miyubi said with an angry tone as she pouted and held Naoki tight, once more.
"That's what I'm trying to do, here!" Naoki said with an angry tone as she sighed.
"Oh! Ok then...so tell me, Nao-chan, what's wrong?" Miyubi asked as she let go of Naoki.
"Well...I...it's just that I..." Naoki said with a nervous tone, as she turned towards Miyubi and glanced to all sides, to find the best place to start.
"Come on, you know that you don't need to dwell around with me, Nao-chan!" Miyubi said with a reassuring tone, as looked at Naoki.
"I know...so I'll be direct...ok?" As Naoki said this, Miyubi nodded with a curious expression on her face.
"Listen...I...I want you to drop out of the Soteria...and to stop hanging around me..." Naoki said with a sad tone, as she looked a bit down.
"I see...wait, what?!" Miyubi asked with a confused tone and expression.
"Nao-chan, tell me this is just, a joke!" Miyubi said with a worried tone as she looked at Naoki.
"This is no joke...I really want you to that..." Naoki said as she kept looking down.
"But...why do you want me, to do that?" Miyubi asked still with her worried tone as she placed her hands on Naoki's shoulders.
"Why? Isn't it obvious? You...you were the only person...that always hanged, around me...you joined the same school as me and you joined the Soteria..." Naoki said as she made a small pause.
"You're...my only friend and I'm grateful to have you as one...but I never wanted you to get hurt...but look at what happened...because of me...you got hurt..." Naoki said with a sad tone, as she began to tear up a bit.
"I don't want to see you like this anymore...so it's better to stay away from me...like that you won't get hurt....you won't have to deal with me and the problems I'm always causing you...so just leave me..." Naoki said as she sobbed and tears began running down her face and a sudden silence filled the room again, that didn't last long as Miyubi hit Naoki with a light chop on her head.
"W-What was that for!?" Naoki asked with a confused but also angry tone, as she placed her hand on the top of her head.
"Nao-chan! I'm really angry and shocked, that you would say something like this!" Miyubi said with an angry tone as she pouted a bit.
"I-I'm just saying and doing this for your own good...why don't you just accept it..." As Naoki said this she was interrupted again.
"I think, I know what's good for me or not! And right now, what's good for me is being your friend and staying in the Soteria!" Miyubi said with a determined tone as he looked at Naoki.
"A-Are you an idiot! Didn't you hear, what I just said?" Naoki asked with an angry tone.
"I did! And I won't accept it! No matter what you tell me!" Miyubi said also with an angry tone.
"What's so hard for you to understand, that I just don't want you to get hurt!" Naoki said as she looked down.
"It's hard to understand because, you're literally asking me, to cut ties with you! And I don't want to do that!" Miyubi said with an angry tone, as she looked at Naoki that became silent as she kept looking down.
"Nao-chan...I'm happy that you're worried about me and that you want to keep me safe...but telling me, to suddenly to get out of your life, just because I got hurt once, is a bit exaggerated, no?" Miyubi asked as she tilted her head a bit.
"I...I just..." As Naoki said this, Miyubi hugged her.
"Nao-chan...I never went to Misaiko nor did I join the Soteria, because you told me to do that, I did all of that because I wanted to...I did that because...I want to be just like you..." As Miyubi said this Naoki opened her eyes wide.
"I...always admired you, ever since the day we met back in grade school...you were small and yet you never let anyone bring you down..." Miyubi said as she made a small pause.
"You always raised your head high and when you told everyone that you wanted to be in the Soteria...and when our classmates laughed, you said "I'll show you all! I can do it!" and now look at you...I just want to see our classmates again and show them, just how strong and far you have come!" Miyubi said with an honest tone, as she smiled.
"Nao-chan, your not just my friend...your also my idol...and I will always follow you...no matter how hard you try, to push me away from you!" Miyubi said with a determined tone as she smiled again and it was in this moment that Naoki began to cry once more as she grabbed Miyubi's hospital gown.
"Miyu...Miyu...I'm so sorry about this..." Naoki said with a sad tone as she buried her face on Miyubi's shoulder.
"It's ok...Nao-chan..." Miyubi said with a recomforting tone, as she head patted Naoki...
And so a while later, Naoki and Miyubi were now sitting side by side on the bed...
"I'm sorry, about what I said earlier, Miyu..." Naoki said with an embarrassed tone, as she cleaned her tears a bit.
"Don't worry about that, it's ok!" Miyubi said as she smiled.
"No! I have to do something! Just ask me anything and I'll do it!" Naoki said with a determined tone, as she placed her hand on her chest.
"Really? Then I want some special curry when I get discharged!" Miyubi said with a happy tone, as she placed her hands together.
"Heh? Just that?" Naoki asked with a confused tone and expression.
"Yes! Or can't I?" Miyubi asked a bit worried.
"Well...it's just that, I was expecting something more elaborated, after what I asked you to do..." Naoki said as she looked a bit down.
"I don't need anything elaborate! I just want us to keep being friends...but a plate of Aoki-san's curry is also welcome!" Miyubi said as she hugged Naoki.
"I think you like that curry more than you like me..." Naoki said as she let out a sigh.
"Nope, I like the curry, but I love you Nao-chan!" Miyubi said with an honest tone as she kept hugging Naoki, that blushed upon hearing her.
"Your...such a dummy..." Naoki said with an embarrassed tone, as she gave a hug back to Miyubi while she smiled, happy with the thought of being able to be together with Miyubi.
But as this was happening, a bit away from District 4's public hospital, on the center of the District to be precise, in a modern, 5 stories tall greyish building.
A building that was just like all the others, but, this one had a thing that made it stand out, from all the other buildings, and that was, the symbol of the Soteria unit, which was right on top, of its main entrance.
Yes, this building, was the Headquarters of District 4's Soteria unit, and inside it something was about to happen and that something was happening, in its basement...
"Goodness! I never thought we would have so much paperwork to do..." Emiko, that was wearing her usual wool sweater and long high-waist skirt, with a shawl that draped around her shoulders, said as she sighed and walked along, a dimly lighted hallway with various doors.
"It's only normal, Vice-lieutenant Munesuki, after all, it was papers to transfer those teens to a juvenile detention center..." A young woman with long black hair and dark green eyes, that was wearing a business suit, said as she followed Emiko from behind, this woman's name was Shirogane Koharu.
"I know...but say Koharu-chan, about that girl Tetsuyami...Yumi, right? How is she?" Emiko asked with a worried and curious tone, as she looked at Koharu.
"She's doing alright...and as by your request, she is being taken care of, in Misaiko's private hospital..." Koharu said with an informative tone to Emiko.
"Good...please, look for her parents or family, after we're done..." Emiko said as she looked forward.
"Sure, Vice-lieutenant Munesuki..." Koharu, said as she nodded and kept following Emiko...
And then a moment later, Emiko and Koharu were now in front of an old metal door, that had a sign that read, interrogation room...
"Please allow me..." Koharu said as she opened this metal door, that revealed a plain old room, painted in a shade of light blue, that had a wooden table with a chair on each side and a small recording camera on a corner of the wall, that was able to record the whole room.
And in this room, sitting on a chair behind the table, was Raiko, that was still wearing his white gakuran, which was dirty, but two things that stood out, was the white band-aid on his nose and the square handcuffs on his wrists.
"What is the meaning of this? I should be in the hospital!" Raiko said with an angry tone, as he looked at Emiko entering the room with Koharu.
"My, aren't we grumpy?" Emiko said with a joking tone as she got close to the table and pulled a chair to take a seat, as Koharu closed the door.
"You should consider yourself lucky, that we even went, through the trouble of putting a band-aid on you..." Emiko said with a monotonous tone, as she took her seat on the chair facing Raiko, that looked away from her.
"Here, Vice-lieutenant Emiko..." Koharu said as she got close to Emiko and handed her a case file.
"Thanks, Koharu..." Emiko said as grabbed the case file and Koharu stepped back a bit, from Emiko, that took a pair of glasses from her sleeve, and put them on to read the file.
"Let's see, Amasami...Raiko, right? Your 18...a research subject, in the now-defunct, main Esper research facility...you have no parents or closed relatives...so you were staying at an orphanage, ever since you got out of the facility, that orphanage kicked you out 3 years ago, for violent behavior against the staff..." Emiko said as she made a small pause.
"Your also a dropout of District 4's Private Esper institute, something that happened quite recently...that was helped, thanks to violent behavior towards staff members...and the students..." Emiko said with a monotonous tone, as she read some of the information of the file, out loud.
"And color me surprised, this isn't your first detention...it's your 10th one...with all the other 9 being made, for starting unauthorized speeches against Magic-users across District 4...while this last one, was for having attacked and hurt various Magic-users around District 4, for the past 3 months...but that, you already know..."
Emiko said as she adjusted her glasses and flipped one of the pages of the file while she read what was in it, out loud, and Raiko just kept looking away from her.
"Honestly, this is quite the shame...you were such a good student...why suddenly turn out like this?" Emiko asked with a curious tone, as she placed the case file on the table and took her glasses off.
"Why? Can't you see why, I turned like this?" Raiko asked with a calm tone, that turned into anger.
"It's because of you...damn Magic-users!" Raiko said as he looked at Emiko, that was putting her glasses back inside her sleeve.
"You all think you can do, whatever you want just because there are more of you than us Espers? Don't give me that kind of crap! We should be the ones on top, our abilities are far superior and stronger! We don't even need crap like those Magic circles or enchantments...you make us your little guinea pigs, when it should be you, to be tested and played with!"
Raiko said with an angry tone as he kept looking at Emiko, that became silent, but not for long.
"And is that it? Is that the reason, as to, why you did all of this? Quite stupid, if you ask me..." Emiko said as she tilted her head a bit.
"Stupid...you call, wanting to get revenge, for what those Magic-users did to me and avenging everyone, that went through the same thing, Stupid?" Raiko said with a rage-filled tone and Emiko just looked at him for a bit, in silence again as she crossed her arms.
"Yes, I call it stupid, because the only thing I see, is an idiot that wants to get revenge and nothing more, on behalf of people that never asked him to do anything in the first place..." Emiko said with a faint angry tone, that made Raiko silent.
"Let me tell you something...there's a lot of people, that went through a lot more than you did, and that have scars that are far worse and deeper than the one you have...and yet I do not see them going out of they're way, to hurt innocent people, that had nothing to do with what happened with them!"
Emiko said as she made a small pause and looked at Raiko's scar for a moment.
"And you know why, those people don't go out of their way to do that? Because they know that most Magic-users are good people and that going after innocent people for revenge is idiotic and it won't change a thing, nor erase all the pain they went through..." Emiko said as she looked a bit down.
"They all know...just how terrible and painful those experiments can be, but that isn't a reason that justifies, going after Magic-users that never did anything wrong...and if they use that reason to do that...then they're not better than the people who did that to them!" Emiko said with an angry tone as she looked at Raiko and slammed her fist on the table, scaring him a bit.
"Your nothing more, than a joke, that makes everyone that went through the pain of being a research subject look bad...you should be ashamed of yourself for doing that..." Emiko said as she regained her composure a bit and silence filled the room again.
"Me? Ashamed? I'm not ashamed of anything and I'll never be! You're just spouting nonsense! What do you even know about me or anyone that went through research?" Raiko asked with an angry tone as he glared at Emiko that looked at him in silence.
"Mark my words! I will get out of jail one day, and when that happens, I'll continue to pursue my goal of wiping out all of you magic-users from this island! And I'll start by murdering Kurokami and that girl that came with him, to kick off things right!"
Raiko said with an angry tone as he looked up at the ceiling and laughed like a maniac, something that made Emiko's eyes open wide as if something dormant awakened inside her, upon hearing Raiko's words.
"I see, so you plan on doing jail time, then instead of learning from your mistakes, you will do everything all over again, starting with the murder of the people that stooped you...I see..." Emiko said with a monotonous tone as she looked at Koharu, that walked in the direction of the camera.
"What...are you doing?" Raiko asked with a curious tone as he saw Koharu turning the camera off.
"Oh! That? Don't worry, it's just something that's a bit in the way, you know?" Emiko said with a calm and soft tone, as she got up from the chair and placed her hand on top of Raiko's head, and suddenly without any warning, Emiko slammed his head against the table with such force, that it cracked a bit upon impact.
"I have to admit...after everything that's happened, I don't know if your an idiot or if you're just insane, for telling a Soteria agent that when you get out of jail, you will do the same things all over again and that you will murder people...that I happen to know..."
Emiko said this with a voice, that wasn't her usual sweet and mother like one, no, the voice that said this to Raiko was a deep and raspy one that was devoid of any emotion, but anger.
"I guess, you're just insane..." Emiko said as she took her hand off Raiko's head.
"Y-You can't do this kind of thing...I-I still have rights!" Raiko said with a pained and scared tone, as he lifted his head a bit.
"Rights, you?" Emiko asked with an angry tone, as she grabbed Raiko's head once more and slammed it against the table again, this time breaking it in half.
"Your quite the funny one! After everything you said and done, you start spouting things like "I have rights" funny, you know..." Emiko said still with this angry tone as she let go of Raiko's head and saw him fall to the ground on top of the broken table.
"I'll let you in on a little secret, ok?" Emiko said as she leaned a bit forward.
"The moment you enter in one of these interrogation rooms with no windows, in the basement of the Soteria headquarters...there are no rights, that protect you..." Emiko said as she smiled a bit, Raiko became scared and panicked upon hearing this.
"W-Wait...I..." As Raiko tried to talk, he was interrupted by Emiko that grabbed his head again.
"Let me guess? You're going to say that, you were joking? Or will you say that you won't do the things you just said and be a good boy?" Emiko asked as she lifted Raiko and threw him against a wall with such strength that upon impact, Raiko let out a pain-filled scream, Emiko then slowly approached Raiko, as he fell to the ground after hitting the wall.
"Please...don't kill me..." Raiko said as he struggled to breathe.
"I'm not going to kill you...I'm just going to make sure, you regret your actions, really bad..." Emiko said as she was finally in front of Raiko that upon seeing her, screamed for help, something that made Emiko smile.
"It's pointless to scream, the walls are soundproof and there isn't anyone but us here..." Emiko said as she placed her hand on Raiko's mouth and lifted him up.
"Well then, I welcome you...to the shadow, of the Soteria unit!" Emiko said as she placed Raiko against the wall, and soon enough the last thing that was heard from Raiko was a muffled scream...
And then, one hour and a half later...
"Now this was quite the workout..." Emiko said with her usual, cute and mother like voice, as she stretched a bit.
"Thanks for holding my shawl, Koharu-chan..." Emiko said as she saw Koharu coming close to her, holding the folded shawl in her hands.
"Don't mention it Vice-lieutenant..." Koharu said as she handed Emiko her shawl back.
"But I have to admit, didn't you went a bit too far today?" Koharu asked Emiko, as she glanced around the room, that looked as if a war broke out inside of it, the chairs and the table reduced to pieces, the walls and the ceiling cracked, with large chunks of concrete missing from them, and Raiko was lying on the floor beaten up black and blue, he looked so bad that if it wasn't for him breathing, one would assume that he was dead.
"He's lucky I didn't kill him...after he hurt one of my students and then threatened to murder them..." Emiko said as she grabbed her shawl and placed it on her shoulders.
"True...so what will we do with him, now?" Koharu asked with a curious tone as she looked at Raiko then at Emiko, that made her way towards the door.
"Well, he'll go to prison of course...and he will stay there forever...after I finish my special report..." Emiko said as she got close to the door and placed her hand on the handle.
"Koharu-chan? Would you be a dear and prepare me, those report papers?" Emiko asked as she grabbed the doors handle.
"Sure, I'll pre-fill them with the usual..." Koharu said as she nodded and with that Emiko opened the door and left, the interrogation room.
"Hmm, I still have some time left..." Emiko said as she pulled her sleeve to check the time on her wristwatch that she wore upside-down.
"I'll go buy some, get well and good job gifts for Naoki-chan, Miyubi-chan, and Taturou-chan...oh! And some lollipops, I'm running out of those!" Emiko said with a happy tone, as she walked down the hallway smiling...