𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄 - ★彡[ᴋᴀᴍɪꜱᴀᴛᴏ ᴀʏᴀᴛᴏ]彡★

四十 - 40

 The next day I met up with Heizou and Ayato as we discussed the situation. They decided that it would be best if I went into town to talk to Thoma and figure out what was going on with him.

'If he's going to tell anyone, it's definitely you,' Heizou had said. And so I was walking through the streets of Inazuma City, awkwardly shuffling around different shops and stands to pass time until I managed to run into Thoma.

I strolled along the streets for several hours, taking my time to observe the several shops that I passed by. The architecture of the city hadn't changed much but some of my favorite book stores and restaurants no longer existed, which was a disappointment. The beauty of the shining exuberant aesthetics of the area would never truly fade away.

"Miss Shimoda," a snide voice sounded behind me, causing me to turn around with wide eyes.

Great. Wrong brother.

"Hiruko." I didn't make an attempt to hide my disdain after the stunt he had pulled yesterday. "What was with yesterday?"
He eyed me over before letting out a puff of air as a smirk grew on his lips. "I wanted to see what the relationship between you two was, just out of pure curiosity. I used the means necessary to achieve the answer that I longed for."

"Even so, you went a bit overboard," I returned his smirk, "what? Are you planning on–"

"Hiruko, don't run up and away without... me..." Thoma ran toward us, his voice trailing off when he spotted me.

"Ah, I was looking for you."

I strode forward and grabbed Thoma by the wrist, shooting a glare at Hiruko to get him to leave us alone. He nodded his head, giving me the incentive to yank Thoma as quickly as I could into the nearest ally, ignoring his fervent protests behind me.

"Can you explain what's going on here?" I glared at him. "Why did you kidnap Ayaka?"

Thoma's eyes widened for a moment, then he smiled. The same, usual smile. The same smile he had during our leisurely conversations in the past, during the walks we went on, when we had first met... his smile was the same.

"I did it because I'm a bad person," Thoma told me, his voice laced with some sort of agony, "I wanted to kidnap her and make Ayato suffer."

"Why would you want to do that?" I asked him, thoroughly expecting the answer he had given me. I knew that he would most likely try to put himself in the wrong so it was the easiest and best way to just explore his narrative to gather more information.

"I only found it out somewhat recently," Thoma's voice was grim and low. "That Kamisato Ayato was the one who murdered my father."

"I see," I nodded. "Why do you think that?"

Thoma let out a laugh. "Wow, not even a bit of sympathy? That's quite like you, Miss (Y/n)."

"If what you are saying is true, I will pity you. Although we are friends, I refuse to positively acknowledge any of your behavior that is morally unjust as well as wrongly motivated."