Chapter Text
Umika looked around the restaurant as the GSPO officers and Noel settled into their seats. Touma was working diligently and stoically behind the counter. Flakey as always, Kairi was nowhere in sight. Umika sighed contently. With all that has happened over the course of the past few weeks, she couldn't help but think how nice and normal everything was.
The door chime ringing brought Umika out of her thoughts as the last member arrived, empty handed as usual.
Umika approached him, "Kairi! Where are the grocer-"
Kairi flicked her forehead, stopping Umika in her tracks. Kairi smirked as he maneuvered around her but then paused. He had caught the eyes of the ever so serious officer Keichiro who had snapped to attention when the door opened. Keichiro parted his lips as if he had something to say but nothing came out. Kairi's good mood visible disappeared as the man quickly ducked his head and disappeared upstairs. Keichiro slumped back into his chair defeated.
Umika frowned. Almost everything was normal. Kairi had been purposely avoiding Keichiro since the Home Gangler. Whenever they were together, the tension was strained. When Umika asked Kairi what was happening between the two of them, Kairi gave her a smile and said,
"He gets on my nerve, yah know?"
Following that, Kairi teased her and changed the subject. She guessed that Keichiro, in his usual straightforward pushiness, had irritated Kairi. She still didn't know what happened and she was worried how this would affect Kairi when they confront the Patrangers as the Lupinrangers.
Umika had brought her concerns to Touma. The cook had told her not to worry. Reminding her of how devoted Kairi was to their dream and he wouldn't let his beef with the police impede their goal. Touma was smart and Umika reluctantly agreed with him though she did worry. Regardless, she was merely an outsider in this situation so the best thing could do was to watch and listen.
"I'm sure he'll come around." Tsukasa said once Kairi had disappeared.
Keichiro sighed. "I'm not so sure. I pushed him too hard."
"Maybe you could try talking to him? I'm sure if you two convey your feelings, you can work it out." Sakuya stated confidently.
Keichiro merely frowned.
Tsukasa took a sip of her drink and said, "Words can be hard, but you'll find a way to convey you message to Kairi. You're too stubborn not to."
Keichiro's lips twitched, threatening to smile. Instead he dug into his meal, mulling over what Tsukasa and Sakuya said.
-NULL-
A soft melody played throughout the GSPO. Not daring to disturb the music, Commander Hilltop, Jim, Sakuya and Tsukasa quietly listened. As the violins and piano tapered off to silence, Keichiro stopped the record player. Taking out the record, he placed it back into its folder.
"That was so pretty." Jim cooed.
"I think that was very appropriate." Tsukasa complimented.
Keichiro inclined his head in response before sitting down. "Thank you commander for letting me get this during work hours."
"Don't worry about it," Hilltop reassured with a smile.
"Bonjour," Noel greeted as he entered the office. "Oh la la, the atmosphere in here is so cheerful."
"Noel-san!" Sakuya grinned. "Keichiro's finally prepared to apologize to Kairi."
Noel smiled. "I'm glad to hear." Strolling over to the commander's desk and handed Hilltop some files. He turned to the three officers. "We should get drinks to celebrate."
"I haven't apologized yet and I'll need to work late tonight. Make up my hours." Keichiro explained.
"More fun for us," Noel suggested to Tsukasa and Sakuya.
"I'll go!" Sakuya said, excitedly raising his hand, "Tsukasa-sempai?"
"I'll go for a bit." Tsukasa smiled softly, leaning back in her chair to look at Keichiro. "Are you sure you'll be fine?"
"I'm fine. I don't want to give myself extra work tomorrow." Keichiro replied. Tsukasa nodded, understanding that Keichiro's mind would be focused on confronting Kairi.
Gathering up her things, Tsukasa met Sakuya and Noel at the door. Wordlessly waving goodbye, the three officers took off to relax for the evening. Hilltop stayed a while longer before he too left for the night, reminding Keichiro to not stay too late. It was just Keichiro and Jim as the clock ticked against the wall. It was getting late into the night when Jim started to droop.
Keichiro handed some files to the robot. "After you put the missing person files away, you should recharge."
"I can wait. You still need to finish with your reports and…" His lights flickered, simulating a yawn.
Keichiro patted Jim's shoulder. "I'm almost done and we'll need to you at hundred precent tomorrow."
"Okay."
Taking the files, Jim bowed out and left Keichiro alone in the office. With all distractions gone, Keichiro hunched over and typed out his report as quickly as possible. As determined as Keichiro was, an hour had nearly passed before he was done. Stretching in satisfaction, Keichiro stood up and gathered his things. He was extra mindfully when putting the record into his bag. With his bag tightly secured to him, Keichiro made to shut down the office but paused.
A file was peeking out from under Sakuya's desk. Picking it up, Keichiro opened and examined the contents. As he suspected, the file belonged to one of the missing person cases. It must have fallen out when Sakuya was reviewing his designated files. Most of these missing person cases originate from the serial freezing incident, all of them remained unsolved. Hilltop hoped by going through them today, something new might come to light. Keichiro had missed part of the work when he went to get the record. He had heard the files were piled so high it was like his coworkers were surrounded by mountain ranges of paper. At least, that's how Sakuya described it.
Keichiro stopped before closing the file, the last name catching his eye.
"Yano Shori"
Keichiro frowned, recognizing the name. He moved to the computer and checked for relatives in the database. Pulling up the files on the screen, Keichiro found himself staring at the text reading "Yano Kairi."
Keichiro leaned back, taking in this information. He hadn't known Kairi's brother were among the missing. Knowing this made Keichiro feel worse. He must have really upset Kairi during the Home Ganglar incident. Keichiro cursed his abrasive behavior. He really screwed up. Family and home must be a sensitive subject for Kairi with his brother missing. It's probably why Kairi lives at Jurer's instead of his home. Thinking of Jurer's, something bothered Keichiro. From conversations, Keichiro remembered that Umika, Touma and Kairi all started working and living at Jurer's around the same time.
Recalling which school Umika attended before dropping out, Keichiro compared it to the missing persons list from the incident. Sure enough, Ichinose Shiho from Kohokugaoka Girls High School disappeared just like Kairi's brother. Several witness statements described how the girl was frozen in a block of ice before shattering. One of those statements was from her friend, Umika.
Keichiro dug deeper.
The connection with Touma was little harder to find. Eventually, Keichiro found Touma's name listed as an emergency contact for Ohira Aya. Witness statements put her last sighting in front of a bridal gown shop. Keichiro didn't need to be a detective to infer Touma's relationship with her. Like friend and brother, Touma's fiancé had disappeared without a trace.
A year later from the freezing incidents that claimed their loved ones, Umika, Touma and Kairi all moved into Jurer's together. Keichiro didn't think that could be a coincidence. At the same time, Keichiro admonished himself for further breaking Kairi's trust and privacy. Hadn't those three already faced enough suspicion when Tsukasa suspected them to be the Lupinrangers?
Keichiro turned off the computer. He should respect Kairi, Umika and Touma's right to privacy. Besides, the Lupinrangers' motive was clear collect the Collection Pieces. Keichiro had no idea what would happen is all the pieces were gathered together.
The only insight Keichiro had was from his duel with Noel. Noel wouldn't tell Keichiro what their ultimate goal was, but then again, Keichiro wasn't one for words. In the fight, Noel practically shouted his feelings at Keichiro with his desperation to win the duel. Whatever would happen if the collection was completed, Keichiro understood that Noel wanted it badly. Though Noel makes it a habit to work with the Lupinrangers and tends to scheme behind the GSPO's back, time and time again, Noel has proven to Keichiro that he wants to do the right thing.
No matter what, Keichiro knew that Noel had good intent. That is part of the reason Keichiro would grudgingly work alongside the Lupinrangers. Though they were thieves, Noel had a good judge of character. He wouldn't be working with the Lupinrangers if their motive was malicious. Keichiro had to admit that the Lupinrangers' crimes were mostly related to the thefts of Collection Pieces not in Ganglar possession and evading arrest. They only showed real hostility towards that ice ganglar.
Pressing his lips into a frown, Keichiro remembered his encounter with the Ice Ganglar. Freezing people did not seem outside the realm of his abilities. The personal vendetta against the Ice Ganglar would make sense if Kairi and the others really were the Lupinrangers. The tick of the office clock echoed in the officer's head as his thoughts came to a halt. Keichiro stood in the empty office having come to the realization that he could connect the Jurer's crew to the Lupinrangers by motive.
Thinking through the other cases, things started falling into place. The more Keichiro wanted to find evidence to deny it, the more everything made sense. Noel's relationship with the Lupinrangers and Jurer's crew, Tsukasa suspicion, the occasions when the Lupinrangers were oddly informed about the Patoranger's plans before Noel arrived in Japan, and the times Kairi and friends were injured at the same time the Lupinrangers were.
Everything made to much sense and it infuriated Keichiro.
Keichiro stopped gripping his bag's strap that he didn't realize he was strangling. He strode out of the office. It didn't matter how late it was, Keichiro's plan to confront Kairi had been rescheduled and he had something entirely different to talk about.
-NULL-
Kairi couldn't sleep. Seeing Keichiro early today had really put the thief on edge even after the officer had left. For the rest of the day, Kairi has cursed what a pain the Patrangers have been since the officers had gotten their changers. The Patrangers meddled with everything, Keichiro being the worst offender. That detective had no right to call Kairi out about the importance of family.
Kairi, Noel, Umika and Touma were all work hard to bring back their loved ones. The Patrangers made this task increasingly difficult during the fights, all in the name of protecting the peace and the people. Kairi snorted. He doesn't need to be saved. He was doing just fine on his own.
Kairi finished putting on his Lupinred outfit and grabbed his mask. It was funny. After his brother disappeared, Kairi finally found what he was good at. Now Kairi would use his skills as a thief to save the person that he loves.
Kairi put on his mask and exited out the window. The streets near the restaurant were fairly empty. The night would give him plenty of cover to leave from Jurer's, especially since most people were more focused on returning home and not about what was happening above them. Shooting out the cable, Kairi swung away from Jurer's under the cover of the night.
While the darkness did offer some obscurity to his exit, it didn't protect Kairi the gaze of a certain pedestrian. Seeing Kairi swing off, the pedestrian hastily changed their course to follow.
Running along the rooftops, Kairi made his way to his destination. Jurer had stopped by early in the day to give them a lead on one of the Collection Pieces. The tip wasn't as substantial as other leads, Jurer wasn't even able to photograph the ganglar. The plan had been to canvas the area tomorrow. Kairi didn't see any problem with him investigating tonight, certainly would save them some trouble.
Landing on one of the roofs, Kairi peered down at the warehouse Jurer had told them about. There was no activity outside and the warehouse looked fairly dark. All he could hear was the distant city activity and the sound of rolling waves. Seeing no one around, Kairi figured it would be alright to get a bit closer. Kairi jumped down to a lower rooftop, hoping to see a path he could take to the warehouse. It was odd but Kairi got an uneasy feeling that caused the hairs on the back of his neck rise. That's when he realized someone was behind him.
Whirling around, Kairi aimed his changer at the shadows. Sure enough, a ganglar had tried sneaking up on him.
The ganglar froze in place when Kairi turned. "Dammit."
Kairi smirked. "Trying to get the drop on me, huh? Nice try."
The ganglar took a step back. "Er…"
"I'm here for your treas-"
Kairi gasped as he felt his backside pounded by bullets, stinging with each hit. The attacker must have just spraying the bullets because the rooftop crumbled under his feet. Gravity did the rest, Kairi slammed hard into the ground, knocking the wind out of his chest. Stabbing pain blossomed from the shoulder he landed on. Kairi grunted and rolled off his shoulder. Kairi found himself surrounded by pordermen. With the pordermen, staring down smugly at the thief, was Goche.
"What's this? A pathetic fly's been caught in my web?" Goche gave a haughty laugh.
"Yeah, yeah, you got the drop on me," Kairi grumbled, pushing himself to his feet. "Karma's gonna come back to bit you."
Kairi put his piece into his VS-Changer and shot a spray of bullets to force pordermen back. With the extra space, Kairi transformed into LupinRed. Feeling the power of the Collection surge through him, Kairi could feel the pain dull and his senses heighten.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road." LupinRed ran forward, shooting the pordermen.
Once he was close enough, LupinRed punched the nearest porderman. LupinRed made his way through the pordermen punching, kicking and shooting. Though the Collection Piece gave LupinRed extra power, the damage he had sustained before transforming was seriously impeding his movement. It would be smart to retreat and get Umika and Touma to help him out. Shooting several pordermen to create an opening, LupinRed moved to escape but the ganglar cut him off.
Smacking LupinRed across the face to force him back, the ganglar laughed. "You're not going anywhere!"
LupinRed ducked, avoiding a swing from the ganglar and kicked him in retaliation. "Damn, you're annoying."
With a backhand, LupinRed was sent to the ground. The pordermen surrounded him completely, whaled on the thief. LupinRed broke through kicking and punching, but he sustained a lot of damage from the grunts. He staggered back and then got hit by the ganglar.
LupinRed landed on one knee, clutching his shoulder. "Damn it."
Goche laughed under her breath. "I get wait my for you to be my dear lab rat. Oh, the things I have planned."
"Hate to break it to you, but I'm going nowhere." LupinRed refuted. While he said that, he wasn't entirely sure how he was going to get out of this situation. No matter how good he was, he was completely outnumbered by the ganglar and the henchmen. A war cry sounded from behind LupinRed, bullets sailed over his head and struck several pordermen.
A hand gripped LupinRed's arm roughly and yanked him to his feet.
"Move it!" PatIchigo ordered, pulling LupinRed behind some cover and down an alley.
"Don't let them escape!" Goche screeched.
With the enemy in pursuit, PatIchigo and LupinRed weaved through the warehouses and entered into a fish market. Nobody was around at this time of night but the stalls were still in place. PatIchigo pulled his enemy into one of the stalls and behind a tarp. Taking a moment to catch their breath, they listened for the pordermen. Sure enough, the pordermen chittered in the distance.
LupinRed sucked gulps of air into his burning lungs. He ached all over from being bludgeoned by the stupid pordermen and the cheap shots the ganglar took. But he would never live it down if he was arrested by the officer in this moment. PatIchigo was watching for the ganglar to appear, he should take this opportunity to escape but every muscle in his body screamed with pain. LupinRed wasn't going anywhere.
PatIchigo kneeled down next to him, "They're approaching and fast." PatIchigo studied LupinRed in his slouched position. "Can you move?"
"Of course!" LupinRed bit out and tried to stand. He promptly fell down, grasping at his side.
"You can't fight." PatIchigo stated.
"Tch, like hell I can't." LupinRed snarled. Why did the detective feel the need to be so concerned with his wellbeing? Being a thief is what he was good at. PatIchigo put a hand on his shoulder and forced him to stay down.
"Stop trying to do everything on your own!" PatIchigo snarled back. There was something so raw and emotional in his voice that LupinRed couldn't distinguish and it caught him off guard. In the thief's confused state, PatIchigo pulled out a pair of handcuffs. With two clicks, one cuff went around LupinRed's wrist and the other was attached to a nearby water drainage pipe.
"What's the big idea!" LupinRed hissed as loudly as he dared.
PatIchigo scoffed and cocked his VS-Changer. "I know you can get out of those cuffs. It's just to slow you down while I deal with the ganglers."
LupinRed leaned against the pipe, resigned that he wasn't going anywhere until PatIchigo goes out to fight again. "What are you waiting for then? Enforce the law, Detective-san."
A quiet settled between the two of them, LupinRed couldn't tell what the detective's game was. Keichiro had been so passionate earlier but now he almost seemed… hesitant. He honestly didn't know what to make of him. LupinRed found his free hand full with the bag PatIchigo had been carrying this entire time, it was a mystery to how all the bullets missed such a large square bag.
"Keep this safe." PatIchigo told him.
This intrigued LupinRed a bit as he fiddled with the thread handle. He wondered what could be in the bag. It was flat so that limited it be some sort of document but it was such an awkward size. Maybe he could prod Keichiro into giving him more information.
LupinRed said in a teasing tone. "What's this? Something valuable? You sure you want to trust a thief with your treasure?"
Kairi could imagine Keichiro pressing his lips in anger as he said. "I just want you to look after it. Do you have to go around stealing everything!? You damn thief. Tch….." Keichiro spoke again but his words had no heat behind them. "It's yours. But not yet. I'm going to do this properly, face to face."
"Eh?" LupinRed didn't know why but he felt extremely uneasy by this. Even though they had their helmets on, it was like Keichiro was making direct eye contact with him. Between that and the unwavering conviction in PatIchigo's voice, LupinRed knew that something wasn't right.
Without saying anything else, PatIchigo stood up and rushed out into the open. LupinRed stayed pressed up against the pipe as the pordermen cried out and chased after the detective. The sounds of battle quickly arose. As skilled as he was, LupinRed's fingers fumbled as he tried to pick the lock. Finally - taking way longer than LupinRed would have liked - he was free. Before he snuck away, LupinRed remembered the bag. After debating for a second, he took it along with him. Moving through the shadows, LupinRed positioned himself so he could observe without being seen.
Within a short time, PatIchigo had completely decimated the pordermen forces. LupinRed sat back and watched as PatIchigo steamrolled into the pordermen with his normal fiery zeal. But with concentrating so much on offense, PatIchigo had left himself open for the enemies to attack. Now that he was finishing off the lost couple of pordermen, his fatigue was beginning to show. Continuing on as he was, PatIchigo would hit his limit which would be ideal for LupinRed's escape since he wasn't doing so well either.
The last porderman cried out and slammed its sword into PatIchigo's shoulder. PatIchigo grunted but drove the porderman back and punched it so hard it exploded. The man's chest heaved as he tried to control his breathing. PatIchigo didn't get to recover when Goche struck, striking at the detective with deadly precision. Each strike made PatIchigo stumble back until he was forced down to one knee. With the damage he's sustained, PatIchigo lost control of his transformation.
Goche placed a hand on her hip. "You've really spoiled my plans."
"Yo-you," Keichiro glared up at the gangler, "Will be brought to justice."
"No…" Goche said thoughtfully. "But you will do—"
"Keichiro!" PatSango shouted as she and PatNigo arrived at the scene. Both aimed their VS-Changer at the gangler. Goche pulled Keichiro back to his feet, holding him up as a body shield.
"Careful what your next move is." Goche warned. Both officers tensed but made no move to attack.
Unbeknownst to the others, LupinRed's hand darted to his gun but then he froze.
Satisfied that neither PatSango nor PatNigo would risk their comrade's life Goche chuckled to herself. The space behind her rippled, catching Keichiro's attention, signaling a distortion had opened to the Ganglar's world. As Goche pulled him through the distortion, Keichiro's wide eyes looked over to his teammates.
"Sempai!" PatNigo yelled. As soon as the distortion appeared, they were running. Desperately trying to reach him before it was too late but they were too far away. Keichiro gripped the red Trigger Machine, he knew evil forces couldn't get their hands on the Collection Piece.
"SAKUYA!" Though his arm was pinned by Goche, Keichiro used his pure strength to push enough space between them for him to flick the Trigger Machine away from the distortion. The little red car clattered across the pavement.
The distortion disappeared, whisking Keichiro away.
Silence settled over the docks as the three remaining occupants tried to process what happened. PatNigo stood over where his sempai had stood moments before. The weight of reality settled over him and he fell to his knees. He looked to PatSango with a frantic look in his eyes, questioning how this could have happened.
PatSango swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to speak but the words never came out. There were no words for them to express the defeat and loss they felt. In their shaken states, neither of them noticed a lone thief slink off into the darkness of the night.
On October 24th, at 2:14 AM, Asaka Keichiro was declared missing in action.
Wasn't that a roller coaster of a chapter?
If you want to know what happens next, like and review. I appreciate it!
-DigitalGuardian