Helloooo agaaaaaain!

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I haven't been updating too much. Been doing a lot of stuff, and also I'm nocturnal.
But here is yet another adventure!

Presenting...the main characters of this story:

...and now, a chapter that has nothing to do with them! ...except maybe Ako being pwned again.

PART TEN

There was a silence. It was not a normal silence, nor even an awkward silence that put people to a standstill, but a silence that seemed to paralyze time for more than a minute, spinning out of control in Ako’s mind. Her eyes zipped from each person standing in the interrogation room, a place Ako wanted to dub the room of torture. The size of the room itself was not ordinary, much smaller than Ako had anticipated. She was put in a larger one before it seems. Her eyes settled on each of the faces of who were in the room. She could feel only one thing breaking the time-stopping silence, and that was the one sliver of sweat falling dramatically down her cheek. She gulped.

The men that had brought her here stood outside the door, acting like silver knights guarding a king’s castle. Inside was completely different. It almost seemed like the entire hallways of the building was empty since all the guards and workers were standing here in this tiny room. She couldn’t make out the expression each guard inside had, but she easily knew what they were feeling regardless. If they were all grouped in a bundle, it was because something extremely significant happened, that she could tell.

The scary Captain Tatsumiya, the furious Officer Iincho, the humble Officer Konoe, and the reasonable Officer Oukouchi stood side-by-side. There were others that Ako hadn’t met yet as well. Then there was someone else that intrigued Ako. A girl, with long flowing blonde hair and glasses, was sitting at a chair adjacent from where the officers stood. She was definitely an inmate, but Ako had never seen her before.

 “Close the door.”

The door was gently shut, in stark contrast to the mood ringing around the air inside the room. Ako was shoved onto a chair, from who she couldn’t tell, since she was only allowed to look straight ahead. She suddenly noticed slight movement from the otherwise motionless redhead sprawled near the corner, causing a lump to form in Ako’s throat again. It was Captain Tatsumiya who spoke first.

 “Izumi…you’ve only been here for a short time,” she started, taking a sip from her drink that Ako was unable to identify, “but it seems you’ve stirred up a lot of trouble already…”

The inmate frowned, “…w-what trouble would that be, captain…?”

 “Oh, playing dumb again you little brat—” Officer Iincho was quickly silenced by Captain Tatsumiya, who shook her head. Officer Konoe made a solemn smile.

 “Aha, well. We police folk think you had something to do with that scary head Secchan found earlier today!”

Officer Iincho gritted her teeth, “Which was actually the cause of the pipes bursting! I was completely soaked!”

 “That’s not what’s important here, Iincho,” Officer Oukouchi said, “That was the head of an inmate. Chigusa, her name was, I believe. She was the leader of the Ryōmen Sukuna no Kami gang, which is a rival gang to Mahora.”

 “And we already know about the threat,” Captain Tatsumiya continued.

Ako shook her head, “I d-didn’t even know about the h-head until r-recently…”

 “Yeah!? Well your little stupid gang leader told us that if that gang hurt you in anyway, she threatened that: ‘you’re severed head will be stuffed into a pipe’! That’s a little suspicious, isn’t it!?” Officer Iincho yelled, slamming her hand onto the table.

She actually told the truth? Ako had not expected an inmate, especially a gang leader, to be cooperative with cops, “W-well…they never h-harmed me…at all!”

Officer Iincho stomped around the table, and grabbed Ako by the left arm, “Let’s see then!”

She lifted Ako’s shirt up, and found a bruise on the right side of her stomach. Officer Iincho continued the invasion of Ako’s privacy, almost doing a complete strip search, looking for any wounds that might have dawned on Ako’s body. She found another on Ako’s left thigh, and after finishing the sudden search, the officer looked accomplished.

 “The members of that gang claimed that they did harm you,” the officer smiled, “Now, who should I believe? The mourning members of a leaderless gang or a child-slaying thug like you?”

Ako took a deep breath, trying to stare at the officer’s eyes, defying her every word, “They’re lying! I took these blows from someone else!” That was definitely true. Ako had been beaten up in the showers the second day she had arrived, if it weren’t for Yuuna and Ku Fei, she would’ve been in a far worse condition than just a couple of bruises.

 “What she’s saying is true,” Officer Oukouchi said, “She had those bruises before the threat. I know that for certain.”
 
 “Why are you defending such a lowlife—”

She was interrupted, “I’m not defending her. I am merely stating the facts. I do the strip searches for her block daily. I would know.”

 “Still, even if there are no marks, inmate Asakura had stated the word ‘touch’. It could very well be something petty such as bumping into each other accidentally. That would leave no mark, and knowing the inmates, it would be sufficient to go through with such a threat,” Captain Tatsumiya explained.

Ako shook her head once again, “I didn’t even see them all d-day after that!”

 “Denial after denial!” Officer Iincho yelled, “Stop lying to us! Admit you helped your fucking leader chop that inmate’s head off! ADMIT IT!” Her fist smashed straight into Ako’s cheek, as the officer, enraged, took this opportunity to jump the fazed inmate.

As Ako looked up, feeling the obvious pain in her face, she saw the growling officer attempt to pummel her further, but another shadow entered the fray. There was an abrupt ‘thonk’ as the officer fell onto the ground, a bump forming on her head. The gang leader was up. Two officers jumped onto Asakura, throwing her to the ground.

 “Oh. That’s just hilarious. You can hit us, but we can’t hit you,” Asakura said, with a smirk appearing on her face. Despite her abysmal wounds, she still kept her cocky grin smacked onto her face. Officer Iincho got up, not pleased with that.

 “YOU! You were supposed to be asleep and in PAIN!” She yelled and leapt for the redhead, but was taken back by yet another officer, “What is the meaning of this!?”

Captain Tatsumiya narrowed her eyes, “You can be violent later, Iincho. Right now we have to settle some things.”

 “Awww. I was enjoying that,” the mysterious blonde finally spoke up. She had been laughing and grinning the entire time, it disturbed Ako.

 “Shut up you! You’re in trouble as much as they are!” the blonde officer spat.

She replied, “Oh, but I’m not denying anything. I really was guarding that pipe! I had a fun spar with Setsuna-sempai too! Too bad I didn’t get to slice her up!”

 “Secchan’s too strong for you to slice her up!” Officer Konoe said.

The inmate grinned, “Oh. If you don’t mind I would like to prove you wrong, Konoka-sama! Maybe I should eat her instead!”

Ako looked at the inmate strangely, fearing her casual responses to violence. Something was certainly not right about this person, and it looked like Asakura had read her mind.

 “She’s a psychopath. No doubt about it,” the gang leader whispered to Ako, winking. Officer Iincho certainly heard.

 “Oh. And you’re not?” The blonde growled.

 “Me? A psychopath?” Asakura started, continuing to smirk, “What made you think that, Iincho?”

The gang leader was very much stretching Officer Iincho’s temper, “Because you don’t care about ANYTHING!”

 “I certainly don’t care about you.”

 “THAT’S IT!”

The flailing hands of an enraged monster clasped onto the delicate neck of Asakura, who noticed the amount of abuse her neck was enduring these past few days. She felt her air source being cut off, but managed to smash the officer in the shin. Several other cops jumped into to the skirmish to pull them apart.

Captain Tatsumiya crossed her arms, “If you can’t restrain yourself, Iincho. You’ll have to leave.”

 “Hmph.”

The captain reached for something on her belt, “Let’s try a different approach.” She took out a gun and pointed it at Asakura’s face.

 “Sit down.”

Asakura nodded, smiling, “You have the gun!” She took a seat next to Ako.

  “Did you or did you not murder Chigusa Amagasaki?” The gun pressed closer towards the redhead’s face.

 “Let me reply with a question. Would answering with something you do not want to hear result in my head being blown up?” Asakura raised her eyebrows.

Captain Tatsumiya looked as emotionless as ever, “Perhaps.”

 “Oh. In that case, no, I did not murder that woman. I would like to add my personal opinion and say good riddance.”

 “That does not help your case, Asakura,” Officer Oukouchi said.

Asakura shook her head, “Maybe not, but I’m not lying. Since when have I ever lied to you?”

 “You could be lying right now.”

 “Well maybe you should bother to check out my alibi. I told you, I was with Chiu the entire day.”

 “Inmate Hasegawa said you were not with her late afternoon, which is when we have determined the victim’s time of death.”

 “And when has Chiu ever told you the truth?”

There was a pause, an extremely long pause. Ako almost thought that cracks had started forming on the walls and the people in the room were getting much, much older. She then shook her head, and everything was back to normal.

 “…officers, let’s have a chat outside.”

They all deserted the room, and shut the door gently, once again contrasting the mood in the actual room. Asakura relaxed onto her chair, yawning, “That went well.”

 “…that went well?” Ako could not believe what she was saying.

 “I would think so. Am I dead? No. Am I charged with murder? No. And hopefully I don’t have to use the word ‘yet’, but so far so good, right?”

Ako raised an eyebrow, “But…but…you got beat up! You even fell unconscious! You’ve been here for so long, too!”

 “I’m not invincible. Stuff like that is bound to happen.”

 “…so you really didn’t kill that person…?”

Asakura stared at Ako, “You have doubts about my innocence?”

 “It’s just…I don’t know. It seems too suspicious…”

 “Funny you should say that. Aren’t you claiming to be innocent about your crime too? That seems just a little hypocritical coming from you.”

Ako frowned, “Yeah but…it’s just so…I don’t know…”

 “I looked at your case. The prosecution had substantial evidence against you, and you think I’m guilty without looking at any raw evidence? That’s a pretty poor way of thinking,” Asakura explained.

 “Well…even I’m not sure about my innocence…”

 “…oh?”

Ako looked down at the cold stone floor, staring at her legs hanging there, since the chair was too high for her feet to touch the ground, “I don’t really remember doing anything violent…but at the same time I didn’t remember anything at all.”

 “You mean you didn’t even remember what you were doing at the time the crime happened, so you had no alibi?”

 “None whatsoever…there’s a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I might actually be guilty without even remembering what I did,” a depressing look came across Ako’s face, “and I fear that the most…”

Asakura unexpectedly scuffed up Ako’s hair, chuckling, “Heh. I can see why Yuuna thinks you’re innocent.”

 “…eh?”

 “Innocent…?” The once-silent blonde girl spoke up, seemingly interested at Ako all of the sudden.

 “Shut up Tsukuyomi. This is none of your business.”

The bespectacled girl smiled, “Everything is my business…You should know that about now.”

 “No, your business is ruining Setsuna and Konoka’s relationship. You care about that and I won’t bother you about it. Now shut up,” Asakura was strangely brash, “not that I support it either.”

Tsukuyomi chuckled, pushing up the rim of her glasses, “You don’t support my attempts to slice up Setsuna-sempai? And I thought I knew you, Paparazzi.”

 “Actually, I don’t really care if you do that or not, meaning I don’t support you.”

 “Meaning you don’t oppose me, either. You’ve become soft now…you’re not like who you were before. It’s a shame.”

Asakura raised an eyebrow, half-glaring at the blonde inmate, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

 “You were once one of the most feared inmates around. Even the cops were too scared to take you anywhere. You didn’t care about anything. If anybody messed with you, they’d be beaten up to near-death, or even killed. Then you spared that wimp, the Kid. That was the worst decision you ever made,” Tsukuyomi explained.

 “I have my reasons for sparing her life. Again, it’s none of your business,” Asakura said, turning her head.

Tsukuyomi suddenly snapped her cuffs off easily, causing the redhead to turn her complete attention to the psychotic inmate. In a flash, Tsukuyomi managed to grab Asakura by the scruff of her shirt, lifting her just barely off the ground. Her grin was one of a madman, and that scared Ako, who stood up and stepped backwards slowly.

 “You’re weak.”

 “That’s a lie.”

The blonde licked her lips, “Then prove it to me.” She shoved Asakura backwards, who was able to keep her balance. The foreign inmate pointed at Ako, “Hit her.”

 “What?”

 “Hit the supposedly ‘innocent’ girl. Hit her with all your strength. In fact, knock her out, maybe even inflict some scars. Anything! Show me you aren’t weak.”

Asakura slowly turned her head to stare at Ako, who was quivering and had backed up into the wall. The fact that the gang leader was not exactly objecting to the eviller girl was scaring her beyond anything imaginable. The pause was almost torture, as Ako waited at what might become of such situation. Why weren’t the guards doing anything about this? She gritted her teeth, almost tearing up.

POW!

The blow came so fast, Ako almost felt like she never expected it. She grabbed her jaw in considerable pain. It was the hardest blow she had ever received so far in this hellhole. The power was indescribable. Asakura really did deliver it with all her strength. Ako managed to look up, her blurry vision clearing up. She had expected to see Asakura about to smack her one again, but now the redhead was instead in a grapple fight with Tsukuyomi.

Ako got up, and felt a wet substance touch her palms. She knew it was blood, but practically kicked herself not to look down at it. She did not feel like fainting at such a crucial moment. The door was thrown open, and it had almost smacked Ako in the head. Several guards jumped onto the ensuing brawl, pepper spray and stun guns in hand. Officer Oukouchi came in and quickly checked on Ako.

 “You might have a broken jaw. Can you say anything?” the officer asked as she took out a towel to press against Ako’s wound.

 “Erv in horigal cain,” Ako managed the say.

 “Konoka, I need your assistance!” Officer Oukouchi called out. The other officer ran in and kneeled down to look at Ako. She looked somewhat worried, “We should get her to the infirmary, quick, Akira!”

Ako managed to look over their shoulders to the fight behind them. She could see pepper spray being applied to the combatants’ faces, but they looked unfazed, almost as if they were used to it. She noticed Asakura’s stun belt attached to her calf activating several times, which was affecting the gang leader slightly, giving Tsukuyomi an advantage in the fight, but otherwise it didn’t do much either. Finally, after another five minutes of struggle, the cops managed to pull the two apart.

 “Whose bright idea was it to interrogate these dangerous crooks together in the same room again?”  

Officer Iincho raised her arm. Every other officer looked at her, “What?”

 “That was stupid.”

 “The other rooms were too dangerous!”

 “We could’ve done it one at a time though!”

 “But that’d take forever!”

 “…never mind, hurry up and get them to the infirmary. Especially the small one,” Captain Tatsumiya ordered.

Ako was being escorted out, but as she saw the towel starting to redden, all of her vision blurred. Officer Oukouchi quickly remembered what had happened last time, and so once again Ako only heard one thing before she passed out.

 “Get me a gurney!”

-

Everything was white, the ceiling, the walls, the door, the bed…everything. The brightness of the shade slightly stung Ako’s eyes as she rubbed it repeatedly with her hands. She could feel a severe soreness coming from her mouth, and she finally sat up, noticing her prison outfit was now white, and that she had an IV stuck into her wrist. Luckily for her, the stream of blood that usually would have been seen was instead behind an opaque tube, probably requested by Officer Oukouchi. That was not what would scare Ako, though.

 “ASAKURA! Ow!” Ako smacked her head into the wall behind her. The fact that she spoke so loudly stretched-out her jaw, causing massive pain as well.

 “You’re finally awake? It’s been a day.”

Ako was stunned that the gang leader was in the same room as her, and she was extremely frightened, “W-w-what are y-ou d-doing h-here…ow!” She grabbed her mouth in pain.

 “Apparently the infirmary is overflowing, probably because of that riot earlier…They put me with you because if they put that bitch Tsukuyomi with you, you’d probably not be awake right now, or ever,” Asakura explained, “Damn it, I want her dead now…”

Ako shuddered, almost in a ball in complete fear. She felt a few tears escape her eyes as she desperately tried to find a way to be further and further away from Asakura, but that was unfortunately not possible. Asakura could tell the girl was frightened, not that it was hard to tell, but still.

Asakura tried to calm the shivering girl down, “It’s alright. I won’t hit you again. Really.”

That did not convince the newcomer, who didn’t even want to look at her. She stayed on the bed, muffling her cries. She shook her head, signalling that nothing was alright. After several minutes, she felt no poundings or anything from the redhead, so she took a peek at the leader, who was sitting by the corner, looking somewhat depressed. Ako finally broke her silence, but spoke softly from her injury, “…w-why…did y-you hit m-me?”

 “I…I don’t really know why.”

 “So…y-you just h-hit me for n-no reason t-then…?”

Asakura turned to look at Ako, glaring, “Don’t jump to conclusions.”

The eyes of the redhead scared Ako, who quickly tried to calm everything down, “I’m s-sorry. I won’t s-say anything then.”

The gang leader sighed, resting her head onto her palms, “If anyone should be sorry, it should be me…”

 “S-so…y-you’re apologizing…?”

 “I said don’t jump to conclusions.”

 “Ah! Sorry!” Ako bowed.

 “I said don’t apologize.”

 “Ah! Sorry again…I mean…er…” Ako just decided to shut her mouth. She could still feel a few tears falling out of her tear-ducts, but she didn’t really bother to stop it this time. It was too much work.

Asakura rolled her eyes as she watched Ako, “You’re too much of a crybaby. I’m surprised you’ve survived so long in here.”

 “Wait…it’s only been four days…! Besides, Yuuna and even you protected me…”

 “I know.”

Ako looked down at the plain and white floor, feeling trapped in this egg shell, “So I guess I’m not g-going to be around for much longer…then?”

 “None of you will at this rate…”

Ako looked up, noticing a melancholy look on Asakura’s face. It looked strange on someone who constantly smirked, as if something really bad must be happening to instil such sadness or this kind of person. Ako started to feel a little sorry for the person she was supposed to fear the most throughout this entire prison.  

The gang leader stared at the ceiling for a while, “My reputation’s gone, and with that the gang will fail. We’ll all be attacked and killed.”

 “Wait…what do you mean?”

 “That stupid blonde was right. If I had killed you in that room we might still be around, but I guess I can’t even do that right either. Sometimes I wonder if she was a curse…”

Ako suddenly found interest, “Who was a curse?”

 “Oh…never mind about that.”

The inmate thought for a little, and she wondered if what she thought was correct. Ako decided to try her luck anyway, “You’re talking about…Sayo…right?”

 “…how did you…?” Asakura looked rather uncomfortable with what Ako had just said.

 “Uhm uh, it’s nothing really. I was just curious and asked her name from someone…I really don’t know anything! Ow! Uh…please don’t hurt me…” Ako cupped her hands together, feeling more fear than ever.

The redhead scratched her head, “Too late to even do that now anyway.” She looked up at the ceiling, suddenly wondering something, “But what if…?”

 “Hm?”

Asakura stood up, fiddling around with her white shirt, “Of course. I feel like an idiot now. It’s so simple…” The redhead leapt onto the bed, right next to Ako, almost scaring her out of her clothes. The redhead suddenly locked Ako’s head under her arm, grinning, “And I request your help, Ako Izumi.”

 “Uhm…does it require danger and…scary things?” Ako shuddered, throwing the covers over her head, and so covering Asakura as well.

The redhead thought for a minute, “Hmmmm…probably…”

 “…can I, uh…decline?”

 “Yes, you have two options. You can accept, or you can decline and I’ll crack your neck in half. Sounds fair, right?” Asakura smiled, “I’d hate to threaten you…but I’ve been threatening people my entire life…so really…I don’t hate to threaten you.”

Ako gulped, staring at the redhead who almost looked maniacal at this point. Ako started to struggle a little, but it seemed like the gang leader had fused her arm around Ako’s neck. She frowned, almost about to cry. She felt as the redhead’s grip started tightening around her delicate neck, causing Ako to actually struggle more.

 “…what are you doing under those covers!?” a voice came from outside the door.

Asakura heard the voice clearly, but did not let go, “This isn’t just for me Izumi. This is for everybody, like your beloved Yuuna. Do it for her at least.” Her ‘reassuring’ message did not seem to ease her grip around Ako’s neck, as the struggling continued, but harder.

 “Ahhh…aghh…eeh…” Ako cried softly from shuffling around so much. She finally gave in, feeling exhausted with trying to break free, which didn’t help her jaw very much.

 “AAA! OKAY! OKAY! OW! JUST STOP!”

The gang leader smirked, “Thought you’d come through…”

 “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UNDER THOSE COVERS!?”

Asakura finally took the blanket off, and noticed that her shirt was half pulled off because Ako had tried to rid of Asakura by pulling her off of her. The kicks from Ako managed to rearrange her pants as well…

 “DID YOU DO WHAT I THINK YOU DID!?” It was Setsuna, absolutely gawking. She was standing next to Officer Konoe, who was speechless at the moment.

The redhead raised her eyebrow, looking at Setsuna strangely, “What’s with you, Setsuna?”

 “Y-y-y-you…had y-your way with Izumi! Didn’t y-y-y-you!?”

Officer Konoe started chuckling, “Ako-chan must be very popular around here. I heard she was with Yuuna ALL WET AND NAKED a few days ago!”

 “O-ojou-sama! H-how do you know s-such…i-inappropriate…t-things!?”

 “Aw, Secchan! Of course I know of such things! We did that last Tuesday remem—”

Setsuna suddenly blurted out, “Uhh, uhhh…y-you must be delusional! We w-went u-um…u-uh APPLE-PICKING last Tuesday!”

 “No, silly Secchan! We went apple-picking last Wednesday! Silly forgettable Secchan! Besides, I thought we were supposed to keep your not-really-an-inmate secret a deep dark secret so you can protect me among the dangerous criminals! Silly Secchan forgot again!”

There was a massive face-palm that led to the not-really-an-inmate inmate, who was red as the apples they picked last Wednesday, as she dragged the officer away from the infirmary cell, trying to make sure her beloved Ojou-sama did not reveal anything else embarrassing about Setsuna’s life. So far she has been failing to do that. In reality, no one really cared about it because they all knew she was not-really-an-inmate, and that her relationship with Officer Konoe was incredibly obvious.

Asakura watched them run off, shrugging, “She never seems to realize that everybody knows already…does she?”

The redhead heard the sobs of a wrongly accused inmate behind her, and she turned around to look at Ako. The girl was not attempting to stop her cries, but just letting them flow out. She couldn’t be bothered to stop them, for she was too hurt to even care if Asakura would attempt to stop that. She looked helpess and alone, sharing a cell with who she decided really was a psychopath.

Something hit the redhead that day, whether it was some sort of phase, or maybe even a miracle, no one knew, or perhaps someone did. She kneeled down in front of the crying girl, and hugged her. Ako’s eyes widened, her tears stilled.

 “…w-what…are y-you…d-doing…?”

The gang leader felt her eyes getting damp, “Please don’t cry like that…you look exactly like Sayo…when she…cries…”

As the redhead surprisingly rested her head onto Ako’s shoulder, softly crying herself, the inmate finally realized what was wrong with the redhead she had feared so much. The inmate that she thought was the devil herself, eviller than everything she had imagined, and a psychopath, but she really wasn’t one.

She was human.

And she was mourning.

END OF PART TEN

My looooooooooooooove~