Day 122

[from Vanishing Point]

As the guard took another step forward, Kiyoko instinctively began to shrink back against the wall of the broom cupboard. As she did so, her foot accidentally kicked a bucket, upsetting it and knocking over the mop that had been inside, sending it clattering hard to the floor. The noise seemed to fill the entire room, deafening her. If that had not given her away, her instinctive gasp of horror upon realizing the situation definitely had. The effeminate guard gasped in response, his reaction merely confirming what she already knew. She had been rumbled. It was over. There was nothing more she could do except stand there, trembling from head to foot, sweat pouring down her face and tears of regret welling up in her eyes as she waited to accept her inevitable fate…

BANG.

***

"I'm concerned," said Cobra, looking down into her mug of tea. "The last I heard from her, there was a guard chasing her. There was a loud bang, and then I haven't heard anything since. I don't think it was a gunshot, but… what if it was? What if she was shot, Kamui?"

Cobra and the detective were currently sat at a low table in the living room, wondering exactly what was happening over at Shinsuke HQ. The cup in her hands was the final result of her tea experiment - she liked her tea strong, and with no milk or sugar. That information no longer seemed important now.

Kamui's face was also concerned, but he was trying to keep calm. "We don't know that yet," he said, "but I have to admit, what you heard - and aren't hearing now - is pretty disturbing. But for now, all we can do is sit here and have faith that she's fine, and she'll get that data back to us."

"And how long are we supposed to do that for?" asked Cobra, getting agitated. "How long are we supposed to just sit and wait while our friend is in that building, captured or even killed? We have to do something!"

Kamui sighed, rubbing his temple. "I know," he said. "But we can't just barge straight in there. We need to think of a plan first, otherwise we'll just get ourselves killed."

Cobra let out an angry sigh. "You're right," she said bitterly. "God dammit. Well… we still can't wait forever. I'll give her until morning, and if she still hasn't come back, or responded or anything, then we go in. Sound fair?"

Kamui nodded. "Yeah. I'll let Hanako know."

***

Hanako, meanwhile, was sitting on the stairs, on the phone to her mother, who naturally was rather concerned that her daughter hadn't come home for almost 48 hours. Hanako was trying her best to reassure her that everything was okay.

"No, really, mom, I'm fine!" she said. "It's just that some stuff happened, and it's kinda bad, so I'm staying with some friends for a while until it all gets sorted out. It's nothing really."

"What kind of stuff?" asked Hanako's mother. "What is it that you're not telling me?"

"I can't tell you what I'm not telling you," said Hanako. "That's why I'm not telling you it."

"But why not?" asked Hanako's mother.

"Let's just say it could get all of you in serious trouble if you got involved," said Hanako. "Please just believe me: I wanna tell you, but I really can't!"

Hanako's mother sighed. "Okay, I'll trust you for now. You're old enough to look after yourself for a while at least. But could you at least tell me where you are, so I can come visit you? I'm sure Tetsuya and your father will want to see you as well."

"Okay, sure. I-"

"COME QUICK, YOU GUYS!" Cobra suddenly bellowed from the living room. "IT'S KIYOKO!"

Hanako, startled, promptly dropped the phone, while Kamui rushed into the living room. Sure enough, there was Kiyoko, staggering up the front drive towards the house. She didn't seem to be hurt, but she was clearly exhausted. As Hanako quickly made her excuses and ended the phone call, Kamui quickly opened the front door for Kiyoko, who staggered inside and slumped straight into Kamui's arms.

"Where have you been, Kiyoko?" asked Cobra. "We were so worried about you, we thought you'd been captured! What happened?"

Kiyoko let out a half-sigh, half-yawn, gazing bleary-eyed at the sofa. "I just wanna sleep…" she mumbled.

"Alright," said Kamui, slowly guiding her over to the sofa. "You've had a long, hard day. You can tell us all about it in the morning. Oh… but did you get the data?"

Kiyoko nodded sleepily, slipped a hand into her pocket, and pulled out the memory stick, which she gave to Kamui. "Thanks," said the detective. "We'll take a look at this in the morning. For now, I think we could all use some rest after today."

Kiyoko nodded again. She climbed onto the sofa, curling up on the seat, and was asleep within seconds. "Let's leave her to rest," said Cobra quietly. "She deserves it, after everything she's done today."

"Why?" asked Hanako, who had remained completely oblivious to all these goings-on. "What happened over at Shinsuke HQ?"

"I'll tell you once we're up in our room," said Cobra. "Let's go."

"Does that mean I get the single bed tonight?" asked Hanako, as the three of them ascended the staircase.

"Sure," said Cobra.

"Yay!" said Hanako excitedly.

"Quiet, you idiot!" hissed Cobra. "Kiyoko's asleep."

"Oh yeah," whispered Hanako sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Well, I'm glad to see that she's safe," said Kamui. "I wonder what actually did happen…"

***

BANG.

Kiyoko flinched instinctively at the noise before realizing it was merely the door of the broom cupboard slamming shut again. As she stood there, bewildered and terrified, she heard the guard's voice coming from the other side of the door. "This floor's clear. Over."

"Are you sure?" came the reply. "Did you check everywhere?"

"Yeah, I checked every inch," said the guard. "She's not on this floor." Kiyoko didn't hear the rest of their conversation, nor the guard's footsteps moving away afterwards, for at that precise moment, she breathed a sigh of relief and fainted, turning visible again as she collapsing to the floor of the broom cupboard with a thump.

It was only a few minutes before Kiyoko regained consciousness. Her immediate thought was to peek through the door of the broom cupboard, to check if it was okay to exit, before realizing that the security team may still be sweeping the building. If they weren't, then the employees may have already started filtering back into the building, and even if they couldn't see her, they could still see the door opening and closing by itself. She couldn't hear any footsteps outside, but she didn't want to take the risk, so she decided to simply remain in the cupboard, quiet as a mouse, until she was absolutely sure that it was safe to exit.

By the time the security search had ended, and the corridor had once more filled up with employees and emptied, it was almost sunset. Kiyoko opened the door a crack and peeked through to confirm that it was safe to leave, then turned invisible again and finally made her way back out into the corridor. As a Shinsuke employee made their way towards the elevator on her way home, Kiyoko followed her, slipping inside the elevator behind her and resting her back against the wall, barely restraining from letting out a sigh of relief as the mechanical doors began to close behind her. She was safe.