Caged Freedom

IBMFGI is ~30 chapters ahead on other platforms that you can find here: https://vidalhernandez.com/ibmfgi

Take a look at my Carrd to find more about me and my works: https://sosin.carrd.co/

Edited by RedPandaChick

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The more Mr. Mochizuki explained his plan, the less I wanted to hear it. My silence made him realize I wasn't buying any of it, yet he insisted.

His smile turned into a frown. "I know it doesn't sound like the smartest thing to do, but I assure you it'll give us more information than if we didn't do it, meaning you'll also get answers to the questions you have."

I glanced at Aya, who stood next to the bed and looked at me pensively. Even though I wanted to do it, it didn't seem like the best thing to do. At the same time, the window to take advantage of her fragile mental state wasn't going to last much longer.

"Do you think you can do it for us?" Mr. Mochizuki asked.

My mind wouldn't stop giving me reasons not to do it the more I thought about it, so I simply stopped thinking about it.

"I will."

Mr. Mochizuki grinned. "Thank you very much, Mr. Miyahara. We'll be listening and recording the conversation the whole time, so you don't have to worry about your security and trying to remember every detail."

I don't know if that makes it better or worse. I would've preferred to do it in private.

He continued, "I'll schedule it in two days. Does that sound good to you?"

"What? No, it must be now."

His smile disappeared. "What do you mean?"

"The more we wait, the more time she'll have to assimilate everything and prepare for the questions. She's smart, she knows I'll be sent by the police. We'll have more honest answers if we attack now."

"I know that, but both of you are in bad shape. I just told you that hers is even worse since she received the shot directly and weakened it for you."

I looked down at the blanket, which covered me from my feet up to my chest. I knew I wasn't going to change his mind by talking, but I wasn't going to change mine either. There was only one way to proceed.

"That's my condition if you want me to do it," I said.

Mr. Mochizuki squeezed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Alright, I'll try to get authorization to do it now, but you have to tell me what happened before that, then I'll call the nurse to make sure there are no problems. Deal?"

"Deal."

He wasted no time asking me to tell him everything that happened.

After I had finished, he started asking questions about more specific things, making me realize I had forgotten to tell many of the details or that I had skipped over them thinking they weren't important. I lost track of how long the interrogation lasted.

Finally, Mr. Mochizuki called a nurse and he arrived at the room in no time. He was hesitant to even ask the doctor if it was okay for me to get out of bed, but after insisting for a while and Mr. Mochizuki explaining it was a critical step, the doctor approved it.

The nurse had to first unstick several sensors spread across my arms and torso which, despite not having cables, weren't meant for long-range usage. Luckily, they were all glued on, and not pinned into my skin.

He then approached one of the corners of the room and grabbed something with wheels, which he promptly unfolded into a wheelchair. I immediately refused to use it.

Although the nurse kept insisting, I wasn't going to change my mind. Eventually, he gave up.

Even though I wasn't lying completely flat on the bed, my strength was non-existent. Aya and the nurse had to help me sit up.

Everyone in the room tried changing my mind about using the wheelchair and I was about to, but I still refused in the end.

I couldn't believe how much one full day asleep had affected me. Only then did I realize I hardly knew anything about what they had done to me during those twenty-four hours.

My legs were jelly as Aya and the nurse helped me walk out of the room. Luckily, Chiharu's room was only two rooms away.

The surprisingly empty hallways made me wonder where everyone was. I had only seen Aya, but she didn't tell me much about the rest of the team.

The more I walked, the less my legs trembled. By the time we reached Chiharu's room, I was confident I could stand on my own. As soon as Aya and the nurse stepped aside, my legs almost gave up, but grabbing the knob of the door in front of me helped me not to fall. It still was somewhat painful, however.

Mr. Mochizuki placed his hand on my shoulder. "Remember, ask what you want to ask; whatever she says will be useful for us, but don't make her upset."

"Got it."

It was going to be impossible not to make her upset, yet I decided not to tell Mr. Mochizuki about it.

His hand lifted off my shoulder. I only had to turn the knob and push the door open to confront Chiharu one last time, so I wasted no time and did it.

The room was identical to mine. However, several cables and even a tube stuck out from underneath the blanket into a small machine next to the bed, which also displayed Chiharu's pulse

Even though Mr. Mochizuki had told me she was in really bad shape, I didn't expect something like this. Seeing her in this state affected me more than I thought it would, especially after everything she had done to us.

She lifted her head up slightly to see me, then quickly rested it back on the pillow. "They are wasting no time, huh?" she joked in a hoarse voice. "They might be even more heartless than me."

I slowly closed the door behind me, but I had nothing to hold onto to approach the bed. As carefully as possible, I started walking toward her while still talking.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Wasn't your heart perforated?"

My mind went blank for a second. "Not that I know of."

"Well, you're here, so it doesn't seem like it. Mine was, meaning my theory is practically proved."

"Theory?"

"The robot's sensors probably got jumbled up between my heart and your heart when I jumped in front of you, making it shoot in the middle. Our height difference saved us, you know?"

"You didn't send the robot?"

"Why the hell would have I done that? There are cheaper and painless ways to do it."

"Then who sent it?"

"As if I knew. I've stuck my nose in many places I shouldn't have. I would even help the useless cops find who send it; they are the kind of people to be able to murder you even if you are in prison."

Not only did what she said surprise me, but the tranquility with what she did shocked me.

"Aren't you scared?"

"What does it matter now? What's done is done. To be honest, that would even be ideal. I'd prefer to be dead before I have to see my parents' faces again."

Chiharu's pulse had been slowly increasing since I entered the room, but it jumped up significantly the moment she mentioned her parents. However, I wasn't going to let it stop me from asking what I wanted to ask.

"Why?"

"Because they are a pair of filthy hypocrites. They never cared about me, but as soon as I faked my death, they suddenly loved me."

Opposite what I expected, I wasn't too surprised. I wanted to know more about it, but I knew I wasn't getting anything else out of her. On top of that, the number displayed on the projected screen next to the bed had turned yellow. I decided to save her anger for the big question.

Finally, I was standing next to her. I stared down at her and she stared back at me. About to ask the next question, she talked first.

"You're about to ask me why I did what I did, aren't you?"

I took a moment to answer, "I am."

"Come on, Kaito. I know you aren't this stupid."

"Was it for… revenge?"

"Of course, it was."

"As simple as that?"

"As simple as that. Obviously, I had been hacking for a while before I targeted you. I knew I had a talent for computers, but turns out I'm also good at finding vulnerabilities. So, I took advantage of it. I had to since it was the only way to get money."

"No, it wasn't."

"Huh?"

"There are hundreds of ways to make money, you just decided to take the easy route since you are tech-savvy. I don't blame you."

"Are you serious?" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "This is why I hate you. You're so naive and clueless about the world, yet luck is always on your side. Where is my luck, huh? Where's my damn luck?!"

She was almost sitting up on the bed. The number jumped from orange to red in an instant.

"When I found out you were starting a company, I actually felt good for you, but I quickly realized how dumb that was. Why would I feel good for the person that ruined my life? Then I realized how easy it would be to make you suffer as much as I suffered. Now, look at me, stuck in bed before being sentenced to twenty years of prison."

She stopped looking at me and lowered her head. The number began to go down and the color slowly changed back to yellow.

Tears fell down her eyes. "Tell me, Kaito. Isn't karma supposed to be balanced?"

It took several seconds for me to form an answer. "I guess I'm not one to say."

She lay back down and her lips curved up. "Finally, an answer I like."

We remained silent for a long while. She wouldn't even clear her tears away as she kept crying.

I didn't know what to think anymore. I wished I could show her that she was wrong, that there were ways to find a place in life without hurting others, but how was I going to do that when she was right too? I had been extremely lucky to get to where I was, while it had been the complete opposite for her. It wasn't fair to compare.

Even though she deserved to be punished, the thought of life being unfair kept crossing my mind.

I said, "What if…?"

"Don't even start. Twenty years is the minimum I'll get for what I did. We won't see each other in a long while, if ever."

That was the cold truth and the best outcome. Just like her, I felt dumb for feeling bad for the person that had done such terrible things to people close to me. As soon as I saw the situation from the logical side, those feelings were gone.

I turned around to walk to the door, when Chiharu joked, "Aren't you going to say goodbye?"

"Am I supposed to?" I sighed.

"No, I just wanted to make it awkward."

To strike back, I replied, "Goodbye, Chiharu. I hope you learn a lot in prison."

"Screw you," she smirked.

I walked as fast as I could to avoid further awkwardness. Once outside, two nurses entered the room and closed the door.

Aya and Mr. Mochizuki started asking questions, but I asked them to stop. I sat down on the nearby bench and closed my eyes.

Despite the abrupt ending, I had never felt such freedom. It was done. There was no need to worry about Chiharu anymore and there was no time either; I had more important things to worry about.