Chapter 25:

Reverse Aid

Last Wish


“I want to help Yua,” I declared.

“Myra, I told you before, it’s none of our business,” from the other side of the line came Negai’s voice.

“But aren’t we basically involved now that Yua even told us her motive. Not to mention he hurt you, we have to catch him”

All I heard in reply to my words was a sigh, “Myra, do you remember when I told you that to be truly mature, you have to be a bit childish as well. This is the time. Stop trying too hard. You know, sometimes, you just need to pray. You just need to wish instead of taking matters into your own hands.”

“I remember that and I understand,” I pouted a little at his lecture.

“Then all we can do is pray that may Yua succeed.”

“Yeah, but Yua, like you, is someone who has been looking out for me unconditionally, and she never takes anything in return. So I just want to do something for her, even if only once. And I think this is it.”

“I get how you feel. Why don’t you ask Yua then? If she allows you to help, then I will support you, but if she doesn’t we will back out quietly. Ok?”

“Ok.” I said cheerfully. “I will call her right now.” And I cut the line and dialed Yua’s number. There was ringing for a few seconds before the line connected, “Hello Yua.”

“Hi Myra. Rare of you to call me so late,” from the other end, I heard Yua’s normal cheerful voice.

“(Good. She doesn’t sound depressed.) I just wanted to check on you to see if you were ok.”

“Ahaha. To think that a toddler like you is worrying about me, I must’ve been very unreliable today.”

“I am not a toddler and you are just a human too, right. We all have our bad days.”

“You are right about that. I guess you are not a toddler after all. Little Myra has grown up.”

“So, I wanted to say that if there was any kind of help that I could provide, I would be more than glad.”

“Oh Myra, you love helping people, don’t you? But don’t you think that I need to fight my own battles this time.”

“Yes, and I agree with you, but outside the battlefield, I would be honored to help you.”

“What are you, a knight?” she laughed at my weird wording and my face flushed with embarrassment. “But you are right. I think I should take you up on that offer.”

“Really?!”

“Yup. You see, despite everything I am not that well versed with Tokyo’s layout. So, I think you can help me scout out locations as locals.”

“Yup I would love to.”

“Great. I’ll call you tomorrow, giving you leads on what I have got.”

“Awesome.”

•◇•

The next day Negai and I went to the junkyard to ‘inspect the scene of the crime’ once again. (Even though there had been no crime.) Just as Yua told us, there were spots of blood on the floor there, hinting that the killer might be injured.

“So you see,” Yua’s voice came from the speaker of my phone, “if he is injured, an insanely self revering person like him would get it treated immediately. But the question is, whether he would’ve gone to a hospital or just got himself patched up by some junkies, since that could be done without leaving any record.”

Negai went to thinking after Yua cut the call.

“What do you think?” I asked but he didn’t give any reply. He just took my phone and started typing. “What are you doing?” I just looked at him with wide eyes. I was used to him doing weird things. And they normally had a purpose. But there was always the curiosity of what and how he was doing it.

“The slums it is,” he declared after a few minutes of texting.

“How did you know?” I was very curious now.

“Just some statistics,” his answer did not satisfy my curiosity at all. “Anyway he must have gone to the slums. He had been on the run for many years now and never been identified, much less caught. I don’t think a person like him would go to a place where his record would be kept that could be used against him,” he explained.

“I see,” and then I proceeded to call Yua to tell her about it. There was an easy start to our search since we were in one of the biggest slums junkyard. If he had patched himself here, there should have been a doctor. Turned out there were quite a few who had expertise in injecting people. Though I don’t think there was medicine in the syringes.

“So,” Negai asked a person there, “where do you think I can get some stuff I want,” he made himself sound as shady as possible. The person gave him a creepy smile.

“Well, if you want something, just hit up heck,” he said while covering the side of his mouth with his palm.

“Heck?”

“Yeah, he is the one who brings us information. He can be a little pricey, but he can get anything you want. He should be right there,” he pointed in the direction of a small shed behind the junkyard building.

We knocked on the door and someone peeked from inside. “What do you want?”

“I want to see someone named heck,” Negai said and then he lowered his voice, “I heard he can get me some stuff for the right price.”

“You are at the right place,” and from the small slit in the door, a card got pushed out towards us. “List the things you need. Then I shall name the price.”

I picked the paper and it already had a list of items with prices on it. They were mostly drugs, syringes, spirit and other medical equipment that could be doubled as drug tools.

But antiseptic and bandages were not on the list. There was a section for custom items. Negai wrote down the items. And pushed the card back in.

“What the hell,” heck immediately blew up when he read it. “Are you new here or something? Why would you want such boring items from me? Just get it from one of the warehouses.”

“Warehouses?”

“Gosh you don’t even know that. They are the abandoned factories and buildings around the city. They normally have a lot of items to scavenge. And people stay there all the time. They are like the nurse’s office for us.” he explained before slamming the door shut. “Now don’t bother me.”

“Call Yua.” Negai said instantly. I complied. We had already gotten a big lead. He could’ve easily gone to those warehouses and could be still laying low there.

I reported our investigations to Yua. “I see. I had heard about these warehouses as well, but did not know what they were. But this makes things easier. In fact I have a list of potential warehouses. Let me send it to you. Tell me which one he is most likely to be in.”

Yua cut the call and the next minute we received an email from Yua, listing a few buildings in the area. Negai looked at it and then once again he started typing something. And just like before, “this one,” he came up with that answer. At this point I had given up on seeing what he was doing.

“Let’s go,” I said.

•◇•

We stood outside an ominous looking building that looked like he had not seen the light of day since ages.

“I will head over as soon as possible. Don’t go in there by yourself. It could be dangerous,” is what Yua had said. But it was almost impossible to be patient.

What if this is not the building?

What if he is not here?

What if this is not even a warehouse?

All sorts of uncertainties popped up in my mind. I looked towards Negai and he looked at me. We nodded our heads simultaneously before heading in.

We slowly entered the building. It was dark and hollow from the inside with dust flying everywhere. There was complete silence and no sign of life. There were no supplies like heck told us of either.

“I guess this is not a warehouse,” Negai eased up. And he reassured me too, “Don’t worry no one is in he-” and then all of a sudden the gate behind us shut.

Fear ran through my body, “I think someone is in here, Negai.”

“Impossible,” he gave this weird reply before starting to mumble to himself. “(Unless the intel we received from the very start was manipulated.)”

“What is happening, Negai?” but he had no answer.

He just grabbed my hand. “Myra,” he said, “bear with it,” and I felt a prick at my finger.

“Ow” he had pressed a pin against my finger. And it started to bleed. “What was that for?” As I was about to suck my finger, he stopped me. “Just bear with it. Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe,” he declared in all seriousness.

We had no option but to go forward. We entered a large space. We still could not see anyone.

“Didn’t expect to find someone here, did you?” All of a sudden a voice from behind sent creeps up my spine. And we both turned around, “And definitely not me, did you, Negai?” Yua said with a cold stare and chill voice.

“What is happening?” I was lost.

•◇•◇•◇•

Danny
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