Emiko's fears vanished when the man in the white suit woke up a few minutes later at one of the parking lots on the main road, his head slightly tilted to the seat she occupied. The girl sighed with a feeling of real relief.
"It's a good thing you're okay... I was worried I'd have to look for a hospital with ER in the middle of the night..." He rubbed his eyes lightly at this statement.
"What was going on there... For a moment I had the impression... As if you wanted to kill us, miss." The girl put a hand over her face, hiding her embarrassment.
"S-sorry." She whispered. "I think I exaggerated..."
"But... you managed to win?" He turned to her, fully awake now.
"Yeah... it looks like it." Completely unexpectedly, the man began to laugh, which seriously surprised her.
"They say that..." He tried to spoke at the same time he was laughing, which came to him with difficulty. "...what... doesn't kill us... makes us stronger... I'll never... forget... this ride today... believe me, miss..." After a while, when he finally managed to calm down a bit, he turned back to her. "As I promised earlier, I will drive you to Frankfurt. Please, switch places with me."
"Are you sure you're all right?" She asked slightly concerned, remembering his recent fright at the mountain pass and all the stress he must have endured during this event.
"At its best." He answered her, then smiled. So they got out of the car and switched places, and after a while they set off on their way.
****
In the morning, when it was slowly getting light and the sun was about to rise, they reached their destination. Although the man was willing to take her to any address she wanted, she politely thanked him for everything and got off the car near the city center. The fact that the driver had deliberately deviated from his route just to help her was, according to her, a too much of his kindness. She didn't want to cause him any more problems.
"Once again, thank you very much for helping me and bringing me here."
"My pleasure." He replied with a smile, taking her suitcase from the backseat. "The ride with you wasn't so much scary as it was fascinating. I've never seen anyone drive a car like this." Emiko yawned slightly from the huge drowsiness accumulating in her since the previous evening, which is why she quickly covered her mouth with her hand.
"I'm glad you didn't have a heart attack or something. Really." The man nodded.
"I'd like to... Wait a second, please!" After that, he ran to the other side of the car and began frantically rummaging for something in the car's compartment. Young Tenma used this brief moment to figure out which way she should go to the memorable hostel... When at that time back then...
Her thoughts were interrupted by the silhouette of a man standing next to her again, who handed her a piece of paper. Emiko looked surprised.
"Here you are," He began, and she took the item in surprise. "this is my phone number. If... if you'd like to talk sometime... or go to a vintage car exhibition, I'd be delighted to go there with you..." He cleared his throat slightly embarrassed and nodded at her, then walked over to the driver's side door. "Goodbye!" He waved one last time before getting into his car and driving away. The girl looked incredulously at the street where he had disappeared around the next corner, and then at the scrap of paper she was holding in her hand. She blinked her eyes.
'As things stand, I need to go to sleep. Too many weird things happened that night... Too... many.'
****
Emiko rented a night in a hostel... where she had slept and lived before; while the Turkish District was on fire. It made her feel like she had suddenly traveled back in time. It was here... on the fateful night of the fire that she met her brother for the first time after arriving in Germany and starting the investigation...
For the first few days, she searched for information about Johan, but soon realized that tracking him was almost impossible in such a big city as Frankfurt. She was also looking for clues related to Franz Bonaparta, who was directly connected to the Red Rose Mansion, and people with connections to General Helmut Wolf. She managed to find out through various sources that one of the people she was looking for was renting a room at the Jahreszeit Hotel. So she decided to go to the place and investigate the situation; at the same time, she was aware of the risk she was taking. If anyone present there exposed her... it could be the end for her.
'...and I can't die because first, I want to... save someone.'
With these thoughts, she passed next tenement houses, walking along the road which at one point intersected with the main railway station of the city. She moved forward with a brisk step, carefully observing the surroundings and the people she passed by.
It was early in the morning; the sun was just rising in the sky, slowly illuminating the area and flooding it with the glow of its rays. The girl stopped for a moment near the stairs, which led directly to the platforms. She looked towards the station building to check the time on the large clock at the top of it, but she had to cover her eyes with one hand to hide from the sunlight that hurt her eyes mercilessly.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over her figure. A shadow so large that it swallowed her whole for a fraction of a second, then exposed her to the sun again. Emiko narrowed her eyes and casually turned her head around in the direction of the man who passed her at that very moment, because with his passing so close, she felt something extremely strange...
The first thing she noticed was a gray long coat, spreading over his shoulders and unbuttoned in the front. There was hair above... Black, long hair fluttered slightly in the wind, revealing from the side a face with brown eyes, light stubble and the stigma of experienced suffering... In one second she realized the current situation.
Her thoughts immediately rejected the previously chosen route and followed the man... Her legs did the same. The young woman, half-conscious, began to follow his steps, abandoning all common sense altogether. He was taller than her, so his next steps were also large. Unlike him, young Tenma had to move her legs faster so as not to lose sight of him. She wanted to scream... speak in some way to stop him, but...
The crowd of passing people seemed to be watching.
Her every move. Every step she was taking.
The first glance of the old man, making a strange face at the sight of her, managed to bring her to some common sense. The girl looked into his direction, then smiled innocently and continued to follow the man from the railway station, only this time... she began to take her steps carefully so as not to attract anyone's attention. She silently thanked the old man for the warning. What if the man in front of her noticed her himself? His behavior remained unknown to her on the matter.
After walking through a few streets, smaller streets, a cross street, and a large grocery store, they finally arrived at a certain destination.
'Hotel Hellbau...'
Thinking little about it, Emiko entered it right behind the man and followed him to the second floor. There he finally disappeared into room 205, and the young woman leaned her back against the wall and tried her best to calm her breathing. She knew what was coming relentlessly...
Resolutely, she approached the door and knocked on the wooden surface. At the mere sound of her own fingers knocking against the wood, she felt her heart pounding in her chest several times as hard.
Or maybe she shouldn't have...? Maybe... Maybe it would be better if she just held back? Why did she have to knock now...?!
She couldn't finish her thoughts. The door slowly opened, revealing the surprised Japanese's face right in front of her...
****
A moment lasted an eternity, and eternity turned out to be a moment. Brown eyes with real surprise stared into blue irises, whose pupils alternately contracted and expanded, as if they wanted to say much more than the newcomer's lips.
Emiko's heart was beating unnaturally fast and she felt as if it had suddenly risen to her throat. She had so many thoughts running through her mind that she forgot her name for a moment...
"Yes...? How can I help you?" A male's voice spoke up, making her even more terrified. She struggled to swallow the heavy lump in her throat, and then with all the strength she had left, she managed to open her mouth.
"I..."
Emptiness. In an instant, there was a total emptiness in her mind. Unable to cope with the situation in any way, she managed to stutter out only one word.
"お... おにいーちゃん..." (Big... Big brother...)
Pure, fluent Japanese. Just one word managed to make Kenzo Tenma completely stunned. Now he has lost the ability to speak.
Standing in front of him was a short young woman with blue eyes, long brown hair and a look of terror on her face... He knew all too well what that meant. He swallowed, too confused to make any move; his heart started pounding like crazy too. Why... Why here...? Shouldn't she... Shouldn't she be somewhere else? In a completely different place...?
Tears suddenly flowed from the eyes of the two people. They both knew what had to happen before they could even utter any more words. The man stretched out his arm and in one movement hugged his sister, who at this gesture began to sob loudly, and a moment later also tightly embraced him with her arms.
They stood there for a long time, holding each other tight, feeling as if they had to make up for all their time apart in this one moment. All lived in the distance from each other years. All those years they followed one as two units. Now they've finally managed to become a whole...
Finally, after a few... or maybe a dozen or so minutes, they managed to look each other in the eye again. Blue reflected in brown, and brown reflected in blue. His sister's lips parted slightly in the shape of a smile, and his whispered an invitation. So they entered the room. They both knew that once the door closed with them on the other side, all mysteries would be revealed. Doubts will die. They will finally find what they have been looking for for so long. What did they need for so long.
Everything.
"Emiko... what... are you doing here? You... I... What I am saying..." The man couldn't put together a single sentence correctly. And it wasn't because of the emptiness in his mind, no, on the contrary - too many questions were swirling around in his head.
"Onii-chan..." She gently took his larger hand in hers, trying to reassure him as she saw how much her arrival affected his well-being. "I had to... I had to arrive... I knew I didn't want to regret anything..." There was silence in the room for a few seconds.
"You do not regret?" Kenzo finally spoke up.
"No." She smiled softly at him, squeezing his hand a little tighter.
"Emiko... How much do you know? How much do you know... about the matter that the police is looking for me?" The girl lowered her head slightly and bit her lip. She knew she had to tell him everything, everything, including...
At that moment, she felt her stomach clench in pain. If her brother finds out what she's been through so far... What will he think of her? That she couldn't trust him and reveal her arrival sooner? That she had risked her life and might have caused a catastrophe that he probably couldn't forgive himself for the rest of his life? She released his hand from hers and silently walked over to the armchair, sitting on its edge. Kenzo felt gravely concerned.
"Emiko?" The girl put her hands clenched into fists on her knees and tried to control their shivering.
"I... know everything... about Nina... Johan... Dieter... doctor Reichwein and Gillen... about Prague... and about that..." Here she paused for a moment, trying to suppress in her heart an uncontrollable sobs. "...that the Monster is waiting for the scenery of doomsday..."
Kenzo Tenma stood there, completely stunned. He couldn't quite understand how his sister knew that...
The rising awareness burst into his mind like lightning, cutting brutally through absolutely everything. In an instant he realized what her words meant. He jumped up and immediately ran to her, then knelt by the armchair, grabbing her hands. He looked up. Her eyes told him everything... about all the suffering she had endured. With real horror, the man remembered a certain event... An event from a year ago, in Munich, in a dark alley at late in the evening... When he heard screams while walking down the street, and then he saved a certain girl from an unknown man... whose comrades she had defeated just a moment earlier...
A wave of remorse washed over him. How could... How could he not recognize his sister back then? His only, beloved sister?! How could he let her go and go back to the hell she was sure to live through...? How could he not see who she really was? He let her disappear into the next alleys... despite the inexplicable warmth and closeness he felt inside of him back then!
"Emiko... If I, in this alley back then..." She looked at him with slightly sad eyes.
"No... if I had the courage... back then in Frankfurt..." Kenzo looked at her surprised.
"What are you talking about, Emiko?" The girl looked to the side, unable to meet his eyes.
"During the fire... I was there... in the Turkish district..." Kenzo's hands began to tremble, she could clearly feel it because he was still holding her hands.
"That means you..."
"...I searched for the truth on my own. I wanted... no." The girl grabbed his fingers and looked into his eyes. "...I still want to save you, Onii-chan. You're innocent, I'm sure of it. I was from the beginning, and this whole investigation only confirmed it. Besides..." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly to find some inner peace. "I'm not the only one who wants to save you, and not only you..." Kenzo was surprised.
"What do you... mean by that?" The young woman sat in silence for a moment, then gathered up her courage.
"I want to save Johan."
Five words. Just five words made Emiko's brother wonder if they were true... Her eyes, however, stared straight into his own, there was no doubt in them at all. So they were telling the truth, but... Why? Why does she want to save a demon he has to kill from the start? After all, that's the only way he can end it... The demon won't listen to anyone, he has no bonds, no family... He doesn't have a name...
"Emiko... I don't know what happened... Why do you want to do this, but..." The girl got up from the armchair and knelt right next to her brother, then snuggled into him and squeezed his hands again.
"Because I..."
****
Telling all the events of the last two and a half years left Emiko's brother, for the next minutes and then the hours that passed, alternately feel the genuine bewilderment, terror, helplessness and disbelief. His sister had managed to discover everything on her own... to find out everything he discovered himself...
Apart from that...
Here his stomach clenched in even more terror and agony.
She found out about Johan. She met Johan. Johan... talked to her... lived with her... He promised her...
It was all beyond the limits of reasoning. The elder Tenma's chest was heavy with guilt, torn between killing the Monster and giving him the chance Emiko wholeheartedly wanted and wanting to send her back to Japan safe and sound immediately. Only there she could have been safe before, but now... now that the Monster had formed his own bond with her... Only he, only her brother, could save her.
"Emiko... I have to finish this, do you understand?" Kenzo began to stroke the sobbing girl's head. "No one else... can die anymore... Too many have already died..." His sister forcefully denied with her head. "Emiko..."
"What if..." She lifted her eyes and looked at him with an inner plea. "What if someone kill the Monster... inside of him? He... Johan... he is suffering too!" Kenzo with sad eyes, slightly lowered his eyelids and gently tightened his hug around her figure.
"Monster... I brought him back to life. It's me... There's only one way to end this..." His words were cruel and cut straight into her heart, but they were also painfully true. After all, Johan himself had promised her that after all of this he would take his own life... The girl hadn't been able to come to terms with it so far. It's not like that... It can't just end like this...
Even though she had tried so many things, done so many things... she still couldn't stop the requiem coming for her soul, bathed in the light of the waning moon...
****
From then on, Emiko lived in a hotel with her brother. The two of them, even without talking about anything, were silent support for each other. Finally, they stopped feeling an acute emptiness; their connection meant that even in such a bad situation, they were able to find a real home.
Due to the ongoing experiment from the Red Rose Mansion, a few days after meeting his sister, Kenzo Tenma set out for the Jahreszeit Hotel to find Petr Čapek and investigate a suspicious case. Besides, they'd both heard strange rumors. The information that the Devil had a pupil... Kenzo had heard it directly from a man named Martin who had been associated with Eva Heinemann for a while, and Emiko had heard it in a bar... which was definitely not a place where decent people went on basic.
At first, it was Emiko who wanted to go there; after all, she had had this plan in mind before she even met her brother... but he wouldn't go along with it. Such infiltration could have far-reaching and very dangerous consequences. So he made her promise to let him go alone and wait for his return. Emiko, of course, didn't want to agree. She knew Kenzo had escaped from prison three months earlier and the police were looking for him... But she had no choice. He didn't want to let her go or take her with him.
"Emiko... I promise you I'll be back. I didn't meet you after all these years to let myself get hurt. Please... trust your big brother. I want to protect you..."
She finally agreed. She didn't want to cause him any more trouble...
****
In the spacious waiting room of the exclusive Jahreszeit hotel, few people passed through the waiting room. At one of the tables near the window, an Asian man in a gray coat was sitting on a sofa, reading a newspaper vehemently... or so it seemed to other people staying there.
At one point, the man turned his head slightly, peeking out from behind the newspaper and looking towards the elevator that was opening at that moment. Four men stepped out, one of whom he recognized Baby and the other was Petr Čapek.
Without thinking more, he got up from his seat and followed them towards the door. Petr Čapek got into the car, followed by the three men behind him and drove off together in an unknown direction. Right behind them, a taxi pulled up to the door of the hotel. He opened the back door and turned to the driver.
"Please, follow this car."
However, he didn't manage to get inside the car. Literally at the same time, police cars drove up from both sides and policemen got out of them. Kenzo immediately took off running, heading towards the road to get out of sight as quick as possible. The first car whose driver saw him entering the road, stopped with a screech of tires. The Japanese doctor quickly headed down a side street and ran straight ahead, hearing footsteps approaching behind him and the shouts of running policemen.
His heart was pounding like crazy. After all, he promised... He promised Emiko that he would come back safe and sound! He couldn't get caught... not now... Not when his sister was here...
At a frantic pace, he crossed the second side street, trying at all costs to get even further away... Return to the hotel, to his beloved little sister.
As he ran into the next street, chaos reigned for a second; the screech of tires mixed with a loud thud, and then... There was a complete silence, mixed with darkness.
That day, Emiko never lived to see him come back home.
_____________________________________
Author's Note:
Omg, writing this part when Kenzo and Emiko are finally meeting each other had given me so much emotions... I mean, even my heart was beating fast at that time!
PS. Funny note
Someone: *is flirting with Emiko*
Emiko: "NANI?"