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Akira was more tired than he’d been in a while. All that training with Ryuji had pretty much numbed him to any physical exhaustion, but the mixture of a beating, whatever that drug was, and a two hour interrogation left him drained. He was lying in the back seat of Sae Nijima’s car as she drove, street lights occasionally shining into the car and into his eyes.
“Hey,” He said looking up at her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Can you do me a favor?”
“You mean besides getting you out?”
“Yes. Can you take me to my girlfriends house?”
“Your-… What?!” She yelled, nearly swerving them off the road.
“My girlfriends house. Can you take me there? I figure if I’m going to be inside for a while, I might as well spend the night with her before I pretend I’m dead.”
“Where is it?”
“You have my phone?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s under ‘home’ in the GPS.”
“Why is it under home?”
“Because home is where the heart is.”
“That is the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard, yet it fits you so perfectly.” Sae smiled.
“Can we make a stop though? I want to grab some medical supplies.”
“You are pretty beat up. Alright.”
“Here.”
“What?”
“My wallet.” He tossed it up front.
“I couldn’t let you-.”
“I’m paying for it. Besides, I want to get her something and I don’t want you paying for my gift.”
“You are just… Fine.”
——
Sadayo Kawakami was usually up late. As a symptom of her former part time job, she had a hard time going to sleep until late into the night. She usually spent this time grading, but tonight was different. She didn’t have any papers to grade and no work to do, so she decided to relax. Like most “single” women her age, this usually meant winding down in front of the TV with a glass of wine and maybe some ice cream. She went with both.
She had one of her favorite shows queued up, a glass of wine on the table, comfortable clothes on, and was just sitting down with a bowl of her favorite ice cream when someone knocked on her door. She groaned, though it came out more as a growl. How dare someone interrupt one of her few free nights? Who could it even be showing up at her house this late? She stormed to the door and got the answer to her questions with a bright smile and a shocked face.
——
“You have a girlfriend old enough to own her own apartment?” Sae asked as she helped him through the building. He was limping and had one arm slung over her shoulder for support.
“Yup.” Akira said.
“How old is she?”
“Won’t tell me.”
“That old huh?”
“I’m guessing 30.”
“Pretty old for you.”
“I guess.” He said as he knocked on the door.
“You know she could go to jail for this.”
“Our relationship isn’t at that point yet. At best, we kiss. Mostly I come over here and cook for her.”
“You must be just the sweetest.”
The door swung open in a fury, but there was no rage as was expected of the violent action, only a shocked and worried gasp. Sae was shocked to see Sadayo and was more surprised when she realized she what that meant.
“Hey babe!” Akira said with a bright smile, “I got beat up by the cops!”
Both women looked at him like he had two heads. How could he be so casual about something like that?
“Are you okay?” She nearly shouted as she ushered the two inside and shut the door.
“I’ll be fine. I’ve taken far worse. I got you a gift!” He reached into the plastic bag and pulled out her favorite ice cream.
“You… Stopped to get me ice cream?”
“We stopped to get medical supplies and he made me get ice cream.” Sae said.
“What is wrong with you?”
“I figured I should get you something since we won’t be able to see each other for a while.” Akira said sadly.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m going to go. I’ll let him explain everything. You two have a good night.” Sae said after helping him to the couch. She bolted without another word.
“I got picked up for being a phantom thief.”
“Well I can see that!” She yelled, causing him to wince. The bright smile he wore was replaced by a somber one. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. Just… Tell me what’s going on.” She said softly as she sat down next to him.
“Goro Akechi set us up.”
“Detective Akechi is a phantom thief?” She asked, getting the supplies from the bag. Most of it was band aids and gauze with a few packs of disinfecting wipes. She sighed at the display and stood up. “I’ll be right back.”
“Goro is a dirt bag is what he is!” Akira shouted as she left.
“I can hear you without yelling!” She called from the bathroom.
“Oh. Well, he’s not one of us. We knew from the start he wasn’t. And we knew going in it was a set up, but we weren’t expecting so many cops.”
“How many cops are we talking?” She asked as she walked from the bathroom.
“A lot. Like, at least a cool hundred of them. There was a helicopter and at least four swat vans. I’m surprised he managed to get the helicopter into the metaverse.”
“Take these.” She handed him some pills and a glass of water. “You know I don’t understand all your thief speak. But he got real world cops into your otherworld, right?”
“Right. Anyway, I get picked up by the cops so the rest of my team can get away. I actually could’ve gotten away but there were more cops then I was expecting.” He said before drinking the pills down. “Also, getting caught was part of the plan.”
“Why?”
“Huh?”
“Why was getting caught part of the plan?”
“So Goro thinks I’m dead and we can move how we want.”
“Oh.” She was incredulous, but let him continue.
“So I get taken in for interrogation, but before Sae gets there the cops hand cuff me to a chair and beat the shit out of me.” He pulled his hands up to show her the cuff marks, causing her to gasp.
“This is terrible!” She said as she snatched his wrists.
“Ow!”
“Sorry!” She said, quickly letting him go.
“It’s fine. You’ll just have to pay me back.” He smirked.
“And how will I do that?”
“We’ll figure something out.” He leaned in to kiss her, but winced in pain.
“Let me see.” She sighed, annoyed the moment was ruined. That annoyance was replaced by shock at the sight of a shoe print on his stomach. “OH MY GOSH!”
“Right. So I get drugged with truth serum or something, and they wake me up with a bucket of water and a gut kick that knocks the chair over. Then this dude threatens to chop my hands off and kill me if I don’t sign a confession. Anyway, the point of the plan was to make Goro think he killed me. It hinged on me convincing Sae to help, but for the most part everything worked out okay.”
“Everything worked out okay? They brutalized you!” She said angrily.
“It’s about what I was expecting, really.” He said, ignoring the pain as he shrugged to the best of his ability.
“What do you mean?”
“This is par for the course. They didn’t rough me up this bad, but there was verbal abuse and a sock full of oranges the first time I got arrested.”
“Sock full of oranges?” Sadayo asked, obviously confused.
“Doesn’t leave bruises and still hurts like hell.”
She was immediately sorry she asked.
“The cops beat you with a sock full of oranges?”
“Yup. The justice system in this country as a whole is pretty fucked. Just in general we have one of the worst justice systems in the world. Which I guess is part of why I do what I do. Cops can get away with most things, and don’t get me started on actual trials.”
Sadayo couldn’t keep talking. The casual way he spoke about the terrible things that had been done to him were too much to bare. Instead, she opted to treat his wounds, but that had her nearly in tears. His injuries weren’t too severe, but every little grunt of pain or pull away from her touch hit her hard. When she was finally done he was more bandages than skin.
“I’m a mummy!” He said.
Sadayo snorted and brought her hand to her face to stop the laughter. She looked down at her bowl of melted ice cream and sighed. She couldn’t help but think about how abrasive and anti-social he’d been when he first came to her. Even for most of her stint as Becky the Maid he was either dismissive or outright hostile at times. As they got closer over the course of her working for him, she got to see more and more of what he was truly like. She felt herself tear up again thinking about how such a sweet kid was so hostile most of the time.
Getting up without a word, she rinsed the bowl and made a new one. She handed it to him as she sat down with the ice cream he’d brought her.
“It’s because of my parents.” Akira said after a few seconds.
“What?” Sadayo asked, shocked by him offering up information.
“I could tell you were wondering how I ended up the way I was when I first started at Shujin. It’s because of my parents. Well, mostly.”
“Aren’t your parents dead?”
A small mischievous but faintly sad grin crossed his face. “I lied about that. I said they were dead, because they were, are, dead to me. They were the first people to turn on me when I got arrested. They treated me like I was a plague upon their household. Like I was the worst son they could’ve had. For helping someone. I got perfect grades and did as they said no question, then I help someone and get in trouble for it and they can’t even stick with me. I was treated like a prisoner in the house I grew up in for months before they decided to wash their hands of me after the trial.”
Sadayo could hear the mounting anger and resentment in his voice, even if it didn’t show on his face. She could tell they hurt him deeply.
“They spent months treating me like a liar and a demon and get rid of me. They only talked to me when they absolutely had to, and left me out in the cold. Then, after months of no contact, they suddenly start calling me. I had no interest in talking to them, so I ignored all their calls. So they started calling the shop. Sojiro tells me why they suddenly start calling, and I didn’t know whether to laugh or be angry. The woman who lied to get me convicted showed up at their house to apologize. She apparently told them the story of what happened and now they feel bad. The most I’ve talked to them since was when my friends found out they weren’t dead and I told my mother to drown in sorrow.”
Sadayo was silent. The boy was tense and his eyes were focused on the table in a glare.
“The worst part is I didn’t even want any of this. I just wanted to have a normal school life, but because I went out of my way to be a good person I get thrown away like garbage. No good deed goes unpunished, that’s definitely for sure. I didn’t want to be a phantom thief, I didn’t ask for this power. I just wanted to go about my business. After that fuck face Kamoshida I wanted to be done with it, but the others wanted to keep going. I was violently opposed to the idea. For this exact reason. But I let them convince me and here we are. The sad thing is, I sometimes think about what I could’ve done differently. How I ended up on this path and how I could’ve avoided it keeps me up at night. And every time, every single time without fail, I can’t see it playing out any differently. There was no way to avoid what happened. I would make the same choice, even knowing this is what it came to. Even through all the pain, I wouldn’t change a god damned thing if it meant I was helping people. And sometimes, I hate myself for it. I hate that I can’t not help someone when I know I have the means to.”
Sadayo was silent. He’d never been this open before. She’d noticed him soften up as they spent more time together, but never like this. She didn’t know what to say, so she hugged him. It was slow, but he relaxed and leaned into her.
“The fact that you want to help is just a testament to how good of a person you truly are. I love you for who you are, and I wouldn’t change a thing about you. Everything will be okay, Akira. It’s not your fault.” She said softly as she stroked his hair. And suddenly, for the first time since she’d met him, he cried. She’d seen him get beaten within an inch of his life and come out of it with the same collected demeanor as he went in. She’d seen him go through so much pain and strife and never let it get to him, yet here he was now, crying into her shirt like nothing else mattered. She held him tightly until the tremors stopped, stroking his hair gently.
“I’m…” He sniffled as he pulled away, “I’m sorry. And I got your shirt messy.” His eyes were red, but he looked better than ever, like that was what he really needed.
“It’s fine. I don’t mind. You help me with so much, I can at least offer a shoulder to cry on. Literally.” She smirked as he laughed at her joke. “Besides, what are girlfriends for?”
“Love and support?”
“Exactly! Now, I’ll be right back with a blanket and a new shirt, so you wait right here.”
Akira looked down at his bowl. The ice cream was half melted, but it didn’t matter. She shrugged and started eating it. Sadayo came back in a tank top and short as apposed to her long pajama pants. It was obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra and he was having a hard time pulling his eyes away from her.
“Lay down.” She ordered. He didn’t question her, laying down on the couch as she spread the blanket over him. He was surprised by her crawling under it with him.
“Comfortable?” She asked, looking over her shoulder at him.
“Yeah.”
“Good! We’re going to be here a while.”
She turned on a movie and they drifted off to sleep.