Chapter 37

'Those guys who were following is earlier when we're in public...Seems like there's someone who hired some people to stalk us.' Ryota thought to himself.

"Captain."

"I already know, Ryota, someone was trying to spy on us and getting information on our current whereabouts."

"What do you think should we do right now? Should we tell the others?"

"No, that won't be necessary yet...Unless they try to stalk us again."

'Although they did manage to stalk us in public areas, they couldn't keep an eye on us with our feints. It was too easy to evade them since it was decently crowded today, so it was only lucky...No I think they were clumsy because they underestimated us.' Raiden thought to himself.

Earlier...

'those two guys...They've been following us for a while now, have the others noticed it?'

Raiden looks back to see that everyone has noticed that someone has been following them for a while except Shou who was pretending but already knows that someone was following them.

'Seems like the newbie doesn't know it yet, but that's fine, he might be able to follow our lead with noticing it himself.'

Everyone went into a nearby mall. Their stalkers followed sooner, only to lose sight of them once they entered.

What actually happened is after they got inside, they waited for a moment and as the stalkers walked through the entrance, they also walked through the entrance again at the same time as the stalkers did. Not knowing that they have fallen for their feint trick.

'Shit...Where did they go? How come they just disappeared!?' The stalker thought to himself. 'Those monsters... It's as if they're playing with us.'

Afterward, Shou asked them why they kept taking detours and going around circles at times to cover up his true persona. But eventually, everyone told Shou that someone was spying on them since it won't benefit them on keeping it to themselves and Shou acted to be surprised in response.

The next morning, Everyone went out to swim on the beach again, this time with Hotaru.

"Hey uh, thanks for helping me back then, if you weren't there at that time, I would've stood there in fear without doing a single thing or saying anything. Really, I really thank you."

"Don't worry about it too much, I didn't do much you know? But I'm glad you got over them."

Then out of nowhere, a sudden gush of water hit the both of them.

"What are you guys doing? You guys aren't even having fun on the beach." Said Yuichi.

"Oh, you're on, Yuichi. I'm going to take you down." Shou replied.

"Like hell, you're going to defeat me in a water fight."

"We'll see about that, Hehe."

"You'll regret it later."

"...What are those two doing..." Eiko asked. "And you, why do you have a ducky floater with you!? Aren't you too old for that!? Ryota."

"I can't swim well ok?!"

"Well, you should've taken swimming lessons back when you were younger, dumbass."

"Whatever..." Ryota sulked.

everyone enjoyed themselves playing on the beach, splashing around, doing water fights, and playing volleyball till sunset.

Dusk settled and no one was stalking them so they headed back to their cottage with no issues.

"All right everyone see you all tomorrow." Said Raiden as he heads to his room to sleep.

"Goodnight everyone." Said Ryota.

"Mhm," Eiko replied while she uses her phone.

"Goodnight." Yuichi and Shou replied.

"Goodnight older brother," Hotaru answered.

"Goodnight," Shou replied happily.

The next morning arrived and now they were all packing their things, preparing to leave.

"Hey kid, have you seen Hotaru this morning?" Eiko asks.

"No, I haven't seen her this morning," Shou replied.

"That's strange..."

Ryota looked around in Hotaru's room to find her window was forced open.

"I think I know what happened to Hotaru..."

When Shou realizes that she was kidnapped of some sort. He could only think of one person who could do this; Hotaru's father.

"Fucking bastard!" Shou's eyes were filled with rage, the whole room was filled with his killing intent that it sends shivers down their spine.

"Sorry guys, but we'll have to do something else real quick." Said Shou.

"It's fine, we were going to help you out anyway. So who do you think it is?" Yuichi replied.

"I think I already know who it is, Do any of you guys conveniently know where Hotaru's childhood house is?"

"Ah, She told it to you huh? Well, I do know where it is but I haven't seen it in person so I'm not sure." Eiko responded.

"That's good enough."

Meanwhile...

Hotaru was tied up in a chair, unconscious. She slowly wakes up to realize what was going on, from what it looks like a basement that was lit up with only a single bulb on the stairs leading up to a closed door to her left.

'What happened? Did I get kidnapped while I was sleeping?...No I remember...I went out to a vending machine because for some fucking reason Ryota drank all of the drinks I saved... And then I got kidnapped there but who...' Hotaru thought to herself.

"It's all your fault." She heard a voice coming from on top of the stairs... It was her father "You should've been obedient to your father and listened, But you didn't and because of that I had no choice."

"Scumbag."

"You dare talk to your father like that?! I am your father!" He said as he slaps her on the face.

"No, You're just a piece of shit! You're no father!"

"You brat!" He tries to slap her again but his wife managed to block it by getting herself hit instead. "You... Didn't I tell you to stay out of my way?"

He kicks her stomach, pushing her away. He tries again but He forgot to tie Hotaru's legs, so she uses that advantage and kicked his shin, almost breaking it.

"ARGH! You fucking bitch!"

He strikes her stomach with his foot with great force, pushing the chair off its balance, Causing Hotaru to cough up rapidly in pain.

"Gahh!!!"

"That's what you get for kicking me."

"Bitch! You're not going to get away with this you fucking asshole!"

"As if your friends are going to save you now, They were just pretending to be friends with you, They're just going to abandon you once they find no use of you, just watch."

"We'll see about that," Hotaru replied.

Meanwhile, everyone else was running up a hill, away from the sea where there are a lot of smaller houses and apartments. Hotaru could be in any of these small buildings.

"Let's ask everyone in the neighborhood, One by one, and don't forget to look at their reaction when you mention Hotaru, who knows what rumors they've heard about her before."

"Roger, Captain!" Said, everyone.

'Hang in there Hotaru, We'll find you!' Everyone thought to themselves.