Chapter 14
The next day, Mai and I went to the office to meet up with everyone. Today we're going to turn in all the information we have on the case to the police. I was starting to feel uneasy but I don't know why. I know we're going to try and get a hold of Ishida-san this Saturday, but I can't help but feel like something bad is going to happen. Mai looks uneasy too. I wonder if me telling Naru that he and Lin shouldn't go by themselves is a bad thing. But I can't take any of it back now; it's too late for that. I just hope when we go, nothing bad will happen. "What's wrong Aki? You seem worried." John asked me as Mai and I arrived. I shook my head.
"It's nothing. I'm just being paranoid." I noticed Naru giving me a look, but he didn't say anything. I'm assuming he's going to want to talk to me about it later. Great... I don't want to tell Naru that I'm worried. He'll end up deciding on just him and Lin going again. But I'm worried that something might happen to them. I mean, I know Lin has said that Naru has good fighting skills and that Lin wasn't bad at fighting either, but they're not bullet proof. Great, now I'm even more worried. Yes, it's better that we go as a group. If Ishida-san had a gun then he couldn't take all of us out.
"Are you sure you're okay, Aki?" Ayako asked me frowning.
"Yes, I'm sure." I said putting on my best smile. Now Lin was giving me a look. Yep, they're definitely going to want to talk to me later on. I inwardly sighed and pulled myself together. "Ne, isn't Yasu supposed to come with us?" I noticed he wasn't in the room.
"Yes, he said he'll meet us there." Lin answered.
"Oh, okay. We better get going because I don't want to be late for picking up my uniform for work." Ayako grinned.
"That's fine, but after you get it, you have to show it to us." I pouted.
"But Ayako, I don't want to get it all wrinkly." She rolled her eyes.
"That's what irons are for." I sighed. There was no getting out of it.
"Oh alright," Monk grinned.
"We would've come in to the café to see you in if you refused." I rolled my eyes.
"Then why do you want to see me in it if you were just going to come into the café to see me?" I swear they can be annoying sometimes... kind of like a family...
"Because we want to see you first!" Masako said smiling. I sighed.
"There's just no winning with you guys is there?"
"Nope!" They all said it at the same time. Naru sighed. I was wondering when he was going to intervene. Where was he earlier!?
"As amusing as this all sounds, we need to get going." Jerk... I thought pouting. Lin noticed this and chuckled.
"Aye sir!" Monk and Mai said grinning.
"Mou~ You guys are so mean!"
"You're so cute~!" Ayako said hugging me. John finally got Ayako to let me go so we could leave.
"Thanks John." I said grinning. He chuckled.
"You're welcome." This time Mai and I both got stuck driving with Ayako.
"So, I have a question." She started as we got on the road.
"What is it?" I asked her warily. I never know with Ayako anymore.
"Do you have anyone in particular that you like?" She asked, winking at me through the rearview mirror.
"No, not particularly." I said feeling relieved. I thought for sure she was going to ask me about earlier. She pouted.
"There has to be someone." I chuckled.
"Sorry, Ayako, but I'm not really interested in having a relationship with someone right now; especially not when Mai is having her own difficulties with Naru." Mai blushed.
"Aki!" Ayako snickered.
"That's true."
"You guys," Mai whined. "Stop it!"
"It's okay Mai, he's just very dense when it comes to other's feelings." I said grinning at her. She sighed.
"Look here, you! Stop teasing me!"
"Oops, she got mad..." Ayako said chuckling.
"I'm sorry Mai." I was sincere about it. "I didn't mean to make you mad." She smiled.
"It's okay, Aki. You're forgiven."
"Hey, what about me?" Ayako asked wide-eyed.
"What about you?" Mai asked indifferently. I laughed at the look on Ayako's face. Mai cracked up laughing. "I'm just kidding Ayako, you're forgiven too." Ayako looked away with a scowl on her face.
"You two are so childish." Hark who's talking, Ayako. I would've said it out loud but that would put Ayako in a bad mood for the rest of the day and I didn't want that. Mai and I shared a look and quietly snickered as Ayako started grumbling to herself. When we all arrived at the police station, Mai and I were still giggling and Ayako was still grumbling to herself.
"What's up with her?" Monk asked as Ayako pushed her way past him. I grinned.
"Mai and I were just teasing her a little, weren't we Mai?" Mai just giggled. Naru gave her a weird look. Hm? Is he finally noticing how cute she is?
"What are you three just standing around for? Let's go," Of course not. I thought sighing as he turned around and followed the others into the police station.
"I thought he was really," Monk said shaking his head.
"Believe me, Monk, I thought so too,"
"Huh?" Mai asked confused.
"Don't worry about it, little missy." Monk said patting her on the head.
"Let's get in there before Naru has a conniption." I muttered as he glared at us from inside the glass doors.
"I sense a dark aura coming from him." Monk said teasingly. I couldn't help but laugh.
"M-Monk s-stop it! My sides are killing me." I held my sides because they really were hurting. He grinned.
"Sorry, Sorry," Naru sighed for the millionth time this morning as we finally got inside. Naru and Lin went up to the front desk.
"We're here to see Detective Fujiwara."
"Ah, yes, he's waiting in the first room on the left." Naru nodded and we all followed him into the room.
"I'm glad you could all make it." Surprisingly, Yasu was already in there having some tea.
"When did you get here, Yasu?" Mai asked him curiously.
"Twenty minutes ago. I found some more things on Ishida-san that I wanted to discuss with Detective Fujiwara and everyone else." He said seriously. We all took a seat and introduced ourselves before Lin gave the papers to Detective Fujiwara.
"These are," Detective Fujiwara said in shock. "Where did you find these?"
"We found them at a park not too far from the school." Naru answered easily. I guess if he told Detective Fujiwara that Shichirou told me about those papers then the detective would take this as a joke. "We were taking a break there and spotted the manila envelope they were in."
"Do you still have that envelope?"
"Yes, it's right here." Lin handed Detective Fujiwara the envelope.
"Good, I'm going to need all of your fingerprints so that when we scan this for fingerprints, yours won't get mixed in." We all nodded our consent. "Good, now then, tell me how this all began." So Naru started with how Ichirou-san contacted him and going over what we did up until the point where the student had died. This is where Detective Fujiwara interrupted him. "So you're telling me, you, Miss Haru, and Miss Taniyama went into the gym and found the student hanging from the raptures?"
"Yes sir."
"Okay, what did you do after seeing the body?" Mai looked like she was going to be sick, so I started rubbing her back in hopes to comfort her.
"I told Miss Haru and Mai to go get Ishida-san and Hideyoshi-san and waited outside the gym for them to come back."
"Okay, Miss Haru and Miss Taniyama, tell me what happened when you went to get Ishida-san and Hideyoshi-san." Since I knew Mai wouldn't be able to talk, I started telling him.
"We went to the office and found Ishida-san and Hideyoshi-san in their offices and I called out to them, telling them to hurry to the gym. Hideyoshi-san got on the intercom and dismissed all the students and Ishida-san called the police and then the four of us went back to the gym. Naru showed them what happened and after the police arrived we were questioned and then we were free to go." Detective Fujiwara nodded.
"Thank you for your testimony. Mr. Shibuya, please continue." Naru then told the detective how Ichirou-san still wanted us to continue our investigation after meeting him in person for the first time and how cold he seemed towards the fact that one of his students had just died. Detective Fujiwara lifted his eyebrows at this but didn't say anything. After going over everything that the detective would actually believe, Naru became silent. "Do you still have that video footage of what happened to that student?"
"Yes, we have it in our van."
"Would you mind if I looked at that?"
"No, go ahead." He won't like what he's going to see... that's if he believes it anyways.
"Thank you. Now Mr. Yasuhara, I believe you said you had some information you wanted to share with us? I won't ask how you obtained it." Yasu chuckled.
"That's much appreciated, Detective Fujiwara." You know, now that I think about it, Yasu is a pretty scary guy. If you got on the wrong foot with him, he could dig up some dirt on you and use it against you.