Chapter Twenty-Six:??? (Arrested)

Sonoko's POV

Guns shooting, groans of men, shoes tapping on the ground.

Those are the ones I've been hearing as it hid me to a bush near the backside of the building.

Sato-keiji, Takagi-keiji, Inspector Megure, Inspector Nakamori, and the other police officers were on a thrilling fight...

... And here I am, alone behind the bushes, trying to not get killed by those armed rivals.

"WATCH OUT!" I shouted as I saw one of the police officers almost get shot by ammo in such an extensive range from the opponent's gun.

I saw Takagi-keiji immediately pushed the police officer to the ground and said something I can't understand.

The loud sounds made my shouts barely heard.

I am useless to these kinds of things and act as support by shouting to everyone. Tsk. What a lame position I have.

I am like this every time and I hate it. It was like I'm the only one in the world who's been useless while in the midst of a war.

Probably, if I go on an army, I could be out of their facility right now. How useless right?

Sitting there while shouting things that seemed to be helpful but the truth is, it was just words.

It was not a sword nor daggers that when you let it out, it could kill enemies in less than seconds.

But...

"I DON'T WANT TO BE A COWARD!!!"

I run as fast as I could, get a long stick in hand when I saw one near big trash and slam it down to one of the enemies' forehead.

"A-Ahm... S-Suzuki-san, are you sure you can--"

"I'm fine, Sato-keiji. And if this works well enough as a part of support, I'll take it until the worse case scenarios!"

Haibara's POV

"The enemies have police! Shall we take control of them, Eclipse?" I heard on the device My Lady was holding. Must be one of the guys we have.

"Tsk. That bastard detective will not be able to give up until we all get caught in their traps. Hold them out! I'll take care of the hostages," My Lady shouted.

"Roger that, Eclipse," and the line went dead.

"My Lady, what was happening? And hostages? Who are the hostages?"

I've got so many questions in my mind that it almost confused me like hell.

"Your friends are trying to put you back in your place and to take you away from the organization with the old man right beside you," Hayley said as she puts back the device to the pocket on the right side of her skinny outfit.

She looked at me and gave me the deadliest glare I've ever seen with the smile of a devil.

My palms became wet with sweat as my eyes were almost popped out of its sockets.

She turned to look at me and grinned all over her ears. She suddenly walked towards me with heavy footsteps, clanking of her not-so-tall heels.

"You may have been confused as hell of why I mentioned some friends of yours," she said and as fast as Flash, she is now beside me with a gun in hand.

She touched its cold body to my neck, making me looked up while glancing at her deadly glare.

"So... I might as well give them a little gift as they go here with fast footsteps," she said.

I gulped a lump in my throat as beads of sweat in my forehead starting to fall.

"M-My Lady, what are you doing?" I asked even though I know what she meant by it.

"Going to kill you, of course. What else would be a little gift that could give them such huge, epic emotions?" she said. "Slow, hurtful death would be precisely good but I have not time to waste. I'll just..." Suddenly, the body of the gun disappeared below my chin.

My eyes widened as I felt something touched my left temple.

"Bye-bye, Sherry-chan—or should I say... Ai Haibara..."

My eyes widened as I heard the trigger being pulled and a struck of pain pulsed through my head. My body came numb and all my senses went shut.

As my last light of sight still vibrant, I saw two familiar faces with a shocked expression on their faces as they pulled the old professor to their side.

I smiled and my eyelids went completely shut into the darkness.

Third Person's View

"Tsk! Damn it!" Shinichi shouted and punched the floor as tears fall down to his eyes like a waterfall.

Kazuha and Heiji looked at Shinichi poorly and glanced at their dead friend's body.

Heiji crouched down to his friend's side and put his hand to Shinichi's shoulder. "Kudo..."

"We're too late!" he shouted as he continued to punch his fist to the floor. "If only we were much faster..."

"No," Kazuha cut him off and glanced at the woman beside the dead friend. She gave Eclipse a glare. "We're not late, it just seems to look like it because of your obsessed ex-girlfriend," she continued and slowly pointed her forefinger to the suspect.

But Eclipse just smirks, swirling the gun in her hand. "Well, well, well, don't accuse me this time, dear," Eclipse said and looked at the corpse. "She's done with her job here. Might as well wiped her out easily once her work is finished, right?"

Kazuha clicked her tongue. "You're already becoming a nasty monster," Kazuha said.

"Nasty? Yes. Monster? No. I'm doing what's just right."

"Right for yourself," Kazuha scoffed. "You think it's easy to move on and said, 'Hey! Ai Haibara-chan is dead. Let's just bury her with some flying colors'. Is that what you want to give us, hmm?"

Hayley laughed. "I appreciate your impression but not quite." She puts a hand to her waist and her smirk widened. "My motive is to take Jimmy from all of you," she said and pointed the gun towards the direction of the three. "Now... Hand over Kudo Shinichi to me."

Kazuha scoffed as she rolled her eyes. "Seriously, girl? You're just obsessed and if you're obsessed, you're going to take your obsession into the max by putting all lives in line including yourself."

"Yes. That's what love is. It was not an obsession!" Hayley shouted as she holds the gun with both hands now. "I love him! So, so much that I couldn't even possibly tell what my future holds without him!"

"So, with just a simple wish of yours, all of the members of the organization, police officers including our friends and loved ones fight. Don't you think it's a bit exaggerated to come up this way?" Heiji said as he stood up.

"Exaggerated? What is that word meant for my love for him?!"

"Nothing," Heiji answered that made Hayley stilled. "I wanted to tell you that many men were outside waiting for someone like you. You couldn't just steal what others held now, Hayley-san."

"And why not?" Hayley's hands are shaking. Tears starting to form on her eyes. "You can't understand my situation! You have never been to the place I am now!"

"I did, once," Heiji replied making Kazuha looked at him with wide eyes.

"Heiji..." she mumbled but her lips turned into a thin line as she remembered the memory Heiji was talking about.

Kazuha smiled sadly. That time... Huh?

"You still don't know what it feels to be a so-called third-party in a relationship!"

"I was," Heiji replied again. Kazuha's heartbeat so much faster. Heiji's fist clenched. "I was at that time... Jealousy came over me. I never knew I could feel that way until I saw my childhood friend dating another boy. Walking without her to the morning, greetings to each other, funny moments, and those fighting moments with each other... I missed it all. I was so desperate that time to take her back because I knew to myself she was mine at first but... I know I couldn't keep up to the boy he's dating."

Heiji looked down. Both of his fists were now tightly clenched as his eyes were forming fire.

"All of the students in school, even teachers, were approved to their relationship. I could just stare at them. Seeing my childhood friend happy was the best thing I've ever seen in my life even though it's slowly killing me more inside."

"Heiji..." Kazuha mumbled as tears fell down to her cheeks.

"Until one day..."

FLASHBACK:

Heiji and Kazuha came to the same University but they each took different courses to what they've wanted. Heiji took Criminology while Kazuha took Journalism.

As the second year of their college year strikes in, Heiji found out someone had been dating his childhood friend.

Heiji was too desperate for his childhood friend to come back for him. To just make her see that he is the only man that knows her too well.

"Heiji," Kazuha said as the wind blows her hair. A smile on her lips was formed. "I like you but please don't misunderstand it. I'm happy with my life now. Be happy too, okay?"

That made Heiji's heart skipped a beat. He never knew she could be this senseless towards his feelings. She had never seen it-- No, she has seen it but never reciprocate it.

But why? Heiji asked to himself. She said she loved me but why does she acting like she easily moved on?

~~~

"Kazuha!" The brown-haired girl turned around and smiled at the man who called her.

"Ara, ara, if it isn't Taoru-kun?" Kazuha said and walk towards him but then, her eyes widened as she saw another woman being held by Taoru. "Taoru... Who... is she?"

"Kazuha-- No. Toyama-kun, I had a great time being in a relationship with you but... I just can't stand all of your nonsense."

"What are you saying, Taoru-kun? What is it that you don't see me? We've dated for months, right? I'd accepted your love. Why are you going to waste all your efforts?"

"Because I have found my woman, Kazuha."

At that time, Heiji was standing in distance from them, causing him to accidentally saw every bit of the scene.

His fist clenched and looked at the man who breaks Kazuha's heart with fiery eyes. He ran towards them to just comfort Kazuha and lead her away from the bastard Taoru Himichi.

END OF FLASHBACK

"S-So... So you didn't fight for her?! Not even once!" Hayley shouted at Heiji as he finished his story, oblivious to the arrivals. "Do you think that's fair?!"

"Fair of what? There's too much fair to the game of love, Hayley-san. Even though it could hurt you sometimes, lets you down, bring forth some dark feelings inside, it's still a fair game. Don't you think you could also do what I did?"

"B-But..." Hayley bit her lip. Her eyes were bright red. "... WE'RE NOT THE SAME!!!"

"Different but still the same," Heiji said and shrugged off his shoulders. "Well, well... You can't still understand. How poor you are."

Hayley clicked her tongue. Her eyes were shaking. This man was out of his mind, telling stories in this state was unnecessary. She thought.

"Love or hate, regret or forget, forgive or deceive and..." Shinichi suddenly stood up from his knees and looked Hayley straight to her eyes. "...kill or live. There are too many choices to choose your path, Hayley and you still chose all of the bad ones. There's still a chance to walk on light but you kept yourself hidden into the darkness."

Hayley's body was shaking. She can't seem to move. She couldn't understand why she is feeling so horrible to herself. It was like her brain suddenly fight her.

Her gun slipped off her hands as she holds her head while her eyes widened. Her head suddenly strikes with pain and she didn't know-how. She screamed in pain. Her movements were unstable. Her feet stumbled upon the floor so randomly as she turned around a bit crazy to the circular position she moved her own.

"H-Hey, why is she screaming like a madwoman?" Kazuha asked as she looked at Hayley with fear.

Shinichi clicked his tongue. "Something triggered to her brain which causes her to go berserk that way."

Heiji shrugged his shoulders, avoiding the sight. "Well, there's no harm to it. She's just turning crazy like a spinning toy."

Kazuha sighed. "Well, I guess our mission here was over, isn't it?" she said and smiled at the two boys.

Police arrested Hayley and the other members of the organization, including Vermouth and Gin into custody, putting them in jail with the timeline: 'forever'.

After the mission, Shinichi, Heiji, and Kazuha put Ran and Agasa Hakase to a near hospital for a specific check-up while they get Haibara's body to the part of the hospital where a dead body goes.

Forensics were made as they analyze every inch of her body to the max level, checking everything that problems could cause visible unconsciousness except for the gunpowder and the small ammo stuck inside her head.

As they got busy on their moving on, a light formed to a naked girl's eyes, and the first words she speaks of was: "Where... am I?"