Chapter 9:

The Chupacabra

Twist


Junnosuke Arai sat next to his sister's hospital bed. His parents had been talking with the men in suits for several days, and he wanted to go back to their house. 
     He turned the page of his manga.
     "Junnosuke." His sister said quietly. 
     He looked up at her. 
     "Don't worry about what that mean old man said about you." Her voice was soft. "I won't let anyone hurt you."
     Rikka gazed pleasantly at her younger brother. 
     "Uh, okay." He shrugged and returned to reading his manga. "Thanks big sis."
     She pinched his cheek.
     "Ow!" He whined, instinctively reaching up to pry her fingers off him, dropping his manga.
     "Take this seriously! Mom and dad have been talking with those people in suits for days!"
     "Yeah, I know!" He pulled away from his older sister and rubbed his cheek. "But they already said that I wasn't gonna get the surgery! There's nothing to worry about!"
     Rikka bit her lip. Junnosuke tilted his head.
     "Right?" He asked, suddenly unsure of himself.
     "That old man sounded so... angry." She said calmly. "He acted like mom and dad were wrong for not having your Twist removed." She looked at him. "But you've never hurt anybody! That old man's all wrong about you!"
     Junnosuke blushed and looked out the hospital room's window as his older sister praised him. 
     Ramon smashed the glass of that window as he burst into the hospital room. 
     Within the next fifteen seconds, he picked up Junnosuke, slung him over his shoulder, and tossed a notebook at Rikka. She caught it with a scream just as Ramon leapt out the window with her brother still in his grasp.
     "Junno!" She lunged out of her hospital bed, trying to snag the old man before he could leave, but she was too slow. 
     The pages of Junnosuke's manga fluttered.
~~~
     Ramon scrambled down the wall of the hospital as fast as he could with the kid over his shoulder. Before the kid could use his Twister powers, Ramon pulled out a rag he'd prepared with chloroform and knocked the kid unconscious. Once the kid was unconscious, he started running away from the hospital with all the might his legs could muster.
     His heart was pounding as he raced through across a busy street and approached an alleyway. He scuttled into it with the kid and took a moment to collect himself.
     He had the kid; now he just needed to find someone who would perform the surgery for him. His mind raced as he forced himself to think harder and faster about what to do next. The darkness of the alleyway crowded around him and clouded his thoughts as he held the kid on his shoulders.
     He needed a place to sleep, and so did the kid.
     He pulled out his phone and looked at it.
     Percy could track him.
     The boy weighed heavily on his shoulders. Ramon looked back and forth between the boy and the phone. His muscles tensed. 
     Maybe there was a way to undo what he'd done. If he talked to Percy and explained everything, he might be able to explain that it'd been an impulse; that he'd never do anything like kidnapping the Arai kid again. 
     Ramon tossed his phone down a sewer grate.
     He stood quiet.
     It was too late to turn back now; if he wanted to save the boy's life, he needed to move quickly. He ran down the dark alleyway and didn't look back. 
     Ramon's footsteps in the darkness rang true.
     He'd waited for nightfall to make his move, and everything had worked. All he needed to do now was follow through. 
     He clambered through alleyways and kept the kid tucked under his poncho, so that anyone who glanced at him might think he was some sort of hunchback. 
     The kid was heavier than he thought he'd be, and after two hours of struggling, Ramon was starting to have difficulty keeping up his pace. 
     But every time he considered stopping, he remembered Nova Scotia, and forced himself to keep going. 
     Hours passed. 
     The moon fell low in the sky, and by the time Ramon couldn't walk another step, he'd managed to drag himself into a moody hotel. He covered the kid with his poncho completely and stepped inside. The staff were extremely hesitant to let him inside, mostly because of his ragged, hunchbacked, and run-down appearance, but once he showed that he was able to pay for a room, they let him in.
     He walked past the lounge and spa directly into his room. Once he was in, he checked to see if there were any cameras in the room. After making sure that there weren't, he finally put the kid down onto the bed. 
     He was still sleeping. 
     Ramon considered what he was doing. Every time he tried to think of why he was wrong, Nova Scotia reappeared in his mind. He stood in a corner of the hotel room and stared balefully at the kid. His head was pounding fiercely; his eyes felt like they were about to burst from pressure.
     He forced his eyes shut, grabbed his head, and started pulling at the strands of black hair on his head.
     He needed to find someone who'd be willing to perform the Twist removal surgery on the kid, and he'd need to find that person soon. 
     Any conventional doctor was out of the question. Ramon bit his lip as he considered something he'd heard about once.
     If he could find someone in organized crime, he might be able to get them to perform the Twist removal surgery, if he had enough money.
     Ramon opened up his wallet, and immediately felt stupid; there was no he had enough money to cover any kind of serious surgery.
     He looked back at the sleeping kid.
     "What am I doing?" He muttered.
~~~
     Percy didn't know what to do. The last six hours had been hell for him. 
     He had been working nonstop to find out where Ramon had gone, but he knew it was worthless to try and track him down using his phone. Ramon was too good for that sort of thing, and in order for Percy to gain access to Tokyo's CCTV footage, he would need to wait at least a few days.
     The British man leaned forward in his chair and crossed his arms.
     "What are you doing, Ramon?" He muttered.