Chapter 15 - True Monster
Ex walks to the police department with his satul slung over his shoulder. He fixes his suit and tries to fix his hair a little bit to cover up the fact that he’s a mess.
“The only way to find her is to dig deeper.” Ex says to himself. “Kanai was killed by these people...what if her parents were, too?”
Ex walks inside the police station and looks through the files. He grabs Kanai’s personal file and opens it.
Kanai Tokugawa. Her father...Kirua Tokugawa age 38 and her mother Madora Tokugawa age 35 were both killed in a car accident that took place three weeks after the death of their daughter Kanai.
Ex searches through the files to father Kirua’s file and Madora's file. He finds Madora’s first and looks through it. He doesn’t find anything particularly interesting in her file so he moves on to Kirua’s file. When he opens it, he finds some of Kirua’s shady past.
“There’s not a thing on him...that’s questionable.” Ex mutters to himself.
Ex takes Kirua’s and Kanai’s file with him as he walks to Shusuke’s office. Chief Shusuke isn’t in his office which then causes Ex to make the decision on his own.
***
Ex goes to the medical examiner’s office. He walks inside and shows his badge to the secretary.
“What can we help you with today, officer?”
“I need to speak with the doctor that performed the autopsy on Kirua Tokugawa.” Ex says in a monotone voice. “This would’ve been three years ago.”
“Ok, sir. Give me one second.”
“Hurry up. I don’t have a lot of time.”
“I’m doing it as fast as I can. What was the name again, sir?”
“Kirua Tokugawa.” Ex says, annoyed.
The secretary looks up the name on her computer and traces the doctor that did the autopsy.
“It looks like the person that did the autopsy doesn’t work here anymore. He retired last year.”
“What’s his name?”
“Atsushi Iwamoto.”
“This is important police business.” Ex says impatiently. “Is there any way to contact him?”
“I have his phone number.”
Ex sighs in annoyance and exhaustion.
“That’s fine. What’s his number?”
The secretary writes it on a piece of paper and hands it to him. Ex glances at it, folds it and then tucks it into his jacket pocket.
“Tell me what Kirua’s cause of death was.”
“On here, it says that he died upon impact.”
Ex nods and then walks away. He exits the medical examiner’s office and takes out the piece of paper with the phone number on it. He dials it quickly and someone answers surprisingly.
“Hello? Who’s this?” Iwamoto asks.
“My name is Ex. I’m a police officer looking for answers you may have.”
“I need a last name and the specific information you’re wanting to find.”
“Takahashi. It’s better to meet in person.”
“I’m guessing that you’re investigating a previous case.”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I need the autopsy report that was done on Kirua Tokugawa.”
“Can’t you just look it up or find it on record?”
“Let’s just say, I’m not believing the bullshit that they put on record.”
“We can meet at the bakery close to the police station.”
“What time?”
“The sooner the better I’m assuming. I have nothing going on right now.”
“Ok. It won’t take me long to be there.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Alright.”
Ex hangs up the phone and continues walking forward to the police station.
***
Kasumi is chained up and passed out due to exhaustion. Kasumi barely opens her eyes, keeping them trained on the ground. The mouthpiece is back in her mouth, preventing her from talking.
“You better get all the rest you can.” Kanai suggests. Kasumi continues staring down tiredly at the blood-stained cement floor. “They’re coming back. I can hear them.”
Just then, the door to the cement room. Kasumi weakly directs her eyes to see who walked into the room. It is Lucile and two other men.
“It’s sure been a rough few days now, hasn’t it?” Lucile states. Kasumi stays silent and furrows her eyebrows angrily. “We’re going to be...relocating you for this next test. A test of mental will and also some scientific testing that we don’t have to share with you.” Kasumi dejects her eyes to the cement floor, expecting anything. “Get the other restraints in order and an injection on hand in case.”
She orders one of her men to do it. The other one removes Kasumi’s current mouthpiece to replace it with one that isn’t connected to the ceiling. Kasumi doesn’t dare move or say anything. If one were to meet her right now, they would think of her as nothing more than an empty shell.
“Wait until we have the injection close enough to remove the restraints.” Lucile states. Another man came in the room with an injection in hand. “Ok. Blindfold her before you take her out of this room. You understand?”
“Now’s your time, Kasumi. Don’t give up. You can’t lose if you fight.” Sato tells her.
They’ve got me...cornered. I have no other choice…
“Don’t give up, Kasumi. You never know unless you try.”
Please… Kasumi closes her eyes as the men move back her and uncuff her ankles from the floor.
“You have enough power to get out of here.” Kanai says.
You’re right… Kasumi opens her eyes to reveal purple. I do!
As soon as the man unlocks her hands from the chains connected to the wall, Kasumi acts faster than the speed of light, slicing off the man’s head with nothing but brute speed and strength that’s been building in her this whole time. Kasumi takes out her mouth piece and smiles. The man with the injection runs at her, but she dodges and smashes his head brutally against the cement wall, killing him too. Kasumi looks down at the two dead bodies that she caused.
“Impeccable.” Lucile says, amazed.
Kasumi snaps back to her normal self and automatically feels sick to her stomach. She clutches her stomach with her left arm and covers her mouth with her right hand, crying.
“Why...did I do that..?” Kasumi sobs.
Three other men rush into the room, restraining Kasumi as fast as they can. One man restrains Kasumi’s right arm while another restrains her left. The last one blindfolds her. The two men restraining her arms handcuff her hands together in front of her. The man that blindfolded her picks up the mouthpiece that she took out and threw across the room.
“No please! I didn’t mean to! I don’t know what-” The man cuts Kasumi off by shoving the mouthpiece in her mouth.
“Incredible. Let’s get her to point B now shall we?” Lucile orders.
Kasumi continues crying to herself while she’s being directed on where to go.
I killed...I brutally killed those two men…
“You did what you had to do to survive.” Kanai says.
“These people don’t deserve to live.” Sato adds.
No...These people are just doing what they’re told. They don’t deserve to die. Even if they did, what gives me the right to make that decision for them?
“Did you take care of him?” Lucile asks.
Kasumi focuses her hearing on the conversation in front of her.
“We got what we needed from him.” A man says.
“Did you kill him?” Lucile asks.
“No.”
“Ok good. We need him to keep her alive.”
“Aren’t you still in love with him?”
“Listen,” Lucilie starts in a deadly tone. “Don’t you ever say anything like that again? Do you understand? Or I’ll make your life a living hell.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Kasumi hears footsteps walking away from theirs, assuming that it is the man that Lucile was talking to.
“Put her in that chair.” Lucile orders. “Make it to where she cannot get out, do you understand? If she gets free, it’s all of your asses plus mine.”
“Got it.”
Kasumi feels them direct her and then forces her to sit. They cuff her hands and ankles to the chair and lock a metal brace that locks her stomach to the chair. They remove the blindfold. Kasumi looks around, terrified. She sees that it’s a big white room with tile floors. She sees a large table in front of her with sharp tools and one singular chair across from her. The room is brightly lit, causing Kasumi to squint for a little bit before being able to fully adapt her eyes to the light.
“Bring the other one in.” Lucile orders.
Two other people direct a person with a bag on their head to the chair across from Kasumi. He looks familiar, but she shakes it off. They chain him to the chair but use less restraints than they did on Kasumi.
“Remove the bag.” Lucile orders.
Someone removes the bag from this person’s head to reveal...Yoshiro. Kasumi widens her eyes in terror and tries to ferociously free herself. She tries screaming through the mouthpiece to let him go, but she can’t seem to make any noise besides incoherent noises. Yoshiro keeps his eyes shamefully down at the table. There’s a piece of fabric tied inside his mouth to keep him from talking. He dejects his eyes up at Kasumi and flinches at the sight.
“Here’s some food for thought, Kasumi. How do you think we were able to find you so quickly?” Lucile asks.
Kasumi widens her eyes again in terror, crying even more. Kasumi shakes her head and denies what Lucile told her.
“Tell her yourself.” Lucile tells Yoshiro.
Lucile takes the fabric out of his mouth and off his head. All Yoshiro could do was stare shamefully down and grit his teeth. A few tears escape his eyes.
“...Kasumi…” Yoshiro cries, regretful.
Lucile goes over to Kasumi and removes her mouthpiece.
“What are your thoughts on that, Kasumi?”
Kasumi stares at Yoshiro with wide eyes. Kasumi stares off at Yoshiro with the look of betrayal.
“But...why..?” Kasumi asks.
“They would’ve killed my family if I didn’t help them...I didn’t know they would kill Sato…” Yoshiro says sadly.
“Let’s stir the pot a little bit more.” Lucile says.
Lucile walks around to where she’s behind Yoshiro who’s still looking down shamefully and unwilling to live with himself.
“Wanna hear something funny?” Lucile asks. “We didn’t kill Sato.”
Yoshiro continues looking down, a few more tears escaping his eyes. “...bullshit…”
Kasumi suddenly grows terrified and looks away, crying softly.
“Kasumi killed Sato.” Lucile says.
Yoshiro darts his eyes up to Kasumi. The look of betrayal on his face is 10 times worse than the one Kasumi had. His body trembles as even more tears escape his eyes.
“Kasumi...is that true..?” Yoshiro asks, doubtful.
Kasumi doesn’t say anything, but rather continues looking away from Yoshiro. “I want to die…”
“Kasumi..?”
“Tell him, Kasumi. He already knows. He’s going to die anyway, just tell him.” Kanai says.
“YES! I KILLED HIM!” Kasumi sobs. “I DIDN’T HAVE CONTROL OF MY POWER AND I KILLED HIM!” Kasumi sobs and looks down sadly. “I...I killed Sato.”
Yoshiro lets in a shaky gasp and then takes a deep, calming yet also shaky breath. Yoshiro looks down as if to collect his thoughts. Kasumi looks up at Yoshiro. Yoshiro then looks up at Kasumi with a big and warm smile with tears flowing from his eyes, clearly pained.
“That’s ok, Kasumi. I forgive you.” Yoshiro says genuinely.
Kasumi is shaken to her core by his kindness. Kasumi stops crying and falls numb. She looks down again.
“Why...how could you forgive a monster like me?”
“That’s because I know you’re not a monster, Kasumi.” He says with a kind smile. “Whatever happened, I know that it’s not your fault and that you didn’t mean to do it. Sato is living in peace now. I may not be able to see him or hear his voice, but I can feel his presence.” Yoshiro takes a deep breath and stops crying. “And that’s enough for me to move on.”
Yoshiro’s body still trembles as a scientist walks into the room.
Why? How could he..?
“Proceed with the test.” Lucile orders.
Lucile leaves the room. Kasumi darts her eyes to look up at Yoshiro who’s staring at the scientist with terrified eyes.
“What are you going to do to him? Please don’t touch him! I’ll do anything you want me to just don’t hurt him!” Kasumi begs.
The scientist grabs a knife and walks over to Yoshiro.
“Wha-What?” Yoshiro’s voice is trembling from fear.
“We’re not going to negotiate. We don’t have time for that.” The scientist says.
“Wait-”!
The scientist, without hesitation, cuts off Yoshiro’s index finger, causing Yoshiro to scream in pain and for Kasumi to flinch and look away. The scientist walks over to Kasumi with Yoshiro still crying and whimpering from the pain that was just inflicted on him.
“Eat up, Kasumi.” The scientist says sadistically.
Kasumi looks away, refusing to do as he says. The scientist forces Kasumi’s head forward and shoves his index finger in her mouth. She sobs and feels herself throw up, but the scientist keeps his hand over her mouth.
“Eat it.” The scientist nods to one of the men behind him and the man holds gasoline and a match above Yoshiro. “Eat it or we’ll burn him alive.”
Kasumi begins crying uncontrollably, unable to say anything or move. Kasumi very reluctantly swallows and shuts her eyes shamefully. After she swallows, the scientist walks over to Yoshiro and cuts off yet another finger, causing Yoshiro to painfully scream.
***
Ex meets up with the doctor at the police station. Ex sits criss cross in his office chair, drinking scotch. The doctor walks in and closes the door behind him.
“Ex? Takahashi?”
“Yes. I don’t have a lot of time.”
“Right. What do you wanna know?”
Iwamoto sits down across from Ex behind the desk.
“I need to know everything you found when doing the autopsy for Kiura Tokugawa.”
“Tokugawa?”
“That’s what I said.” Ex says impatiently.
“I did this autopsy solo. I remember because I found something extraordinary. I was silenced by the police to keep it to myself.”
“What did you find?”
“I can’t tell you. I’ll be killed.”
“I can guarantee your safety. Just tell me.”
“Well...I found burn marks up and down Tokugawa’s body. They weren’t from the crash. They looked like brands. Whatever happened, this wasn’t an accident.”
“What did the brand look like?”
“It was a circle with a plus sign over it. There’s a symbol in each of the four divided spaces. I can’t remember what they were.”
“Right. That’s all I needed to know.”
“One more thing...Tokugawa’s fingernails were missing. All of them. Including Madora’s and Kanai’s.”
“Thanks for your time.”
“I hope you find whoever did this.”
Ex gives him a look of recognition before the doctor leaves. The doctor closes the door behind him and then Ex walks home. There’s a clear internal conflict in his head, then he stops. He changes course and walks to Sato’s and Kasumi’s old apartment. He ducks under the caution tape to one of the dead body’s coats. A cop steps in front of Ex, cutting him off.
“What are you doing, sir?” The cop asks.
“I’m an investigator for the police.” Ex states.
“Right. Go on then.”
The cop steps aside, allowing Ex to continue with what he was doing. He finds a logo on the coat of the dead man and tears it off. He then presses on towards his house. He gets to his house, goes inside and shuts the door behind him. He takes out the fabric and the rest of the stuff that he’s gathered today in his satul. He puts the information with the current stuff he’s already scattered across the coffee table. He looks down at all the information and suddenly feels overwhelmed.
“How am I supposed to find her?” Ex runs his fingers through his hair stressfully. “I swear...if I find whoever took her, I’ll kill them.”
Just thinking about it makes Ex so angry. He picks up an empty bottle of scotch, carefully observing it before abruptly throwing the glass against the wall and shattering it.
“FUCK them!” He throws another empty glass scotch bottle against the other wall. “Why do I fucking care?”
Ex with full strength punches his fist straight through his wall. After that, he realizes that he’s never going to find her. And that, for the first time in his entire life, he feels scared for someone. Ex pulls out his fist from the wall and puts his back against the wall while trying to control his breathing. He sinks down to the floor, putting one knee up and weaving his fingers through his hair.
“What...how...why do I feel this way? What the fuck am I supposed to do? I have to find her.” Ex grits his teeth and closes his eyes in frustration. “But how…?”
***
Kasumi is still sitting in the chair. There’s a mixture of blood, throw up and tears trailing all the way from her mouth to her chest. She looks numbed like she’s shut herself off emotionally whilst still being about to cry. Across the table is a mutilated and dead Yoshiro. He’s missing all of his fingers, most of his face, and eye and his stomach is cut open with some of his intestines missing too.
“Kasumi...what did you do?” Sato asks.
Kasumi continues staring off blankly with a terrified look plastered on her face.
“You...ate him…” Kanai states.
Kasumi still continues to stare off terrified of herself. Lucile walks into the room, looking at what’s happened.
“The results?” Lucile asks.
“Nothing yet. We’ll perform this test again next week. We can do this up to a month and if nothing happens, we’ll assume nothing will.”
“Ok.” Lucile walks over to Kasumi who is still staring off with the same exact terrified look. “I’m truly sorry for what we have to do to you. It almost makes me feel bad for you.” Kasumi is unable to speak or move. “Understand that everything that’s being done to you, has to be done.”
Lucile directs her attention back to the scientist.
“Take her back to her cell. Don’t forget to blindfold her.”
“Now…” Kanai starts. Kasumi grits her teeth and shuts her eyes tightly. “Now you’re a true monster.”