Chasing the Ship

 She got what she needed from Tanizaki's information and Kunikida's research, all that was left was finding the truck that had been used.

Kath sat cross-legged atop the building, typing on her computer with four silvery white threads wrung around her fingers and extended above her, reaching far and wide throughout Yokohama's blue sky. On her screen, footage from her plushies' camera eyes was projected. " I really owe you, Mike," she murmured to herself as she kept checking the videos before her eyes widened.

On one of the tabs, she could see a very similar truck speeding through the street. " That would be my green parrot," she said holding up her pinky to which the said plushie's thread was tied. " Hm, it seems I can extend its reach a bit, let's tail that truck and see what we can figure out from it."

It didn't take her long to find the company owning the truck as soon as she managed to get a good snap of its number plate. Wasting no time at all, she pulled her smartphone and called Tanizaki. " I need you to head to the address I'm about to send you."

" Hanazawa-san, you already found it?! Kenji-kun is still asking around!"

" Welp, I have some tricks up my sleeves," she answered proudly. " However, what matters now is that we get Atsushi-kun back sound and safe."

" Alright. I'm heading out immediately!"

After she mailed him the company's address, she called back her dolls and gathered her stuff before heading back to the agency.

✦ -─────────- ✦

It came to no one's surprise that the whole staff of Karma Transit were cut before Tanizaki could even reach their doorstep. Kath fought to keep her face straight while she imagined Akutagawa slitting their throats one by one to keep them silent. Did he even need to do that?

Yet again, back in the day, he didn't think twice before cutting whoever crossed his path and threatened him.

Kath looked up just as the president stood by Rampo's side and deposited a stack of documents on the table. " It's your turn."

" Do I have to?" The young man complained, rearing back his head on the chair with completely zero interest.

Well, he always refused to take cases he didn't find interesting. Should I maybe bait him with candy and sweets? It always works.

However, before she could make the suggestion, the president already used his own bait. "... I'll give you praise."

Since she had been accepted in this small agency, Kath couldn't remember Rampo ever refusing to do something for the president's praise. It showed just how much he looked up and respected him. The girl had always thought they seemed like a father and son, but kept her thoughts to herself.

After all, she also considered them her family after she had lost enough.

Rampo's eyes went wide as saucers. Clutching his hat over his head, he hopped to his feet with a large grin as he hardly contained his excitement. And then…

I've been looking forward to this since I've returned. Kath leaned over the table as Rampo pulled out his glasses, making a show of flipping them open and putting them on. He stood completely still, but she knew pieces of information were flying before his own eyes as he analyzed them in a matter of seconds.

It took a few moments of utter silence before the man finally spoke. " Hm, I see. Atsushi-kun's location is…" He hit the map behind him hard Kath thought it might fall off.

She squinted her eyes at the point of contact. It was a bit past the bridge of Yokohama, in the middle of the water. " The vessel's traveling at 20 knots towards the open sea. He's still alive… at least for now."

Kath's heart skipped a beat. At least for now. Would Akutagawa actually kill the boy? It seems Rampo believed so. She shook her head to get the image of a screwed Atsushi out of her mind.

The clinging of a key chain beside her was heard and she looked up as Kunikida's hand enclosed on a small key that had been hurled at him. Kath craned her neck to glimpse it and she immediately knew what it was for. A vessel that had once belonged to her grandfather, one she didn't know what to do with and so she had offered to the agency like much of her inheritance.

" Bring him back, no matter what." The president's tone was beyond serious. He didn't seem to expect anything but success from Kunikida at this point and the other man was more than willing to do so.

" Understood." He gripped the key tightly. " I, Kunikida, will now go rescue Nakajima Atsushi!"

Before he made it to the door, Kath bolted behind him. " Wait! I'm coming with you!"

" No, you stay back here. Your ability isn't one suited for fighting plus-"

" I'm going. Period."

Kunikida looked back at Fukuzawa. " President…"

" I've had the president's permission already!" Although she said that, she glanced back at him as though to make sure it was okay. Fukuzawa simply closed his eyes.

" Let her go, Kunikida. Kath is free to do as she sees fit."

" President."

" Thank you very much!" The girl bowed gratefully before they both exited the room.

✦ -─────────- ✦

Not long after, Kath found herself on a boat speeding across the tide waves, splashing drizzles of water in its wake. Kunikida was driving while she sat at the back, fiddling with her plushies.

" What are you doing?"

" Even with Rampo-san's deduction, we might not find the vessel before it gets out of boarders," she stated holding a green parrot plushie aloft, a single thread connecting it to her left pinky. " We need to locate it."

The green plushie fluttered its wings and, defying logic and physics, flew into the sky, the silvery thread trailing after it. " With my threads, I can make it fly. And thanks to the cameras planted in its eyes…" Kath held her smartphone up at Kunikida who managed to sneak a glimpse at it and his eyes widened.

On the screen, he could see the area pictured from above. " Using this trick, you can locate the ship in no time." Kath bobbed her head. " Then I will depend on you, Hanazawa. Let's save the brat before he gets himself killed off."

✦ -─────────- ✦

It didn't take long before one large ship was caught on Kath's screen. Kunikida managed to get closer while Kath kept her parrot flying around. She could soon spot the silhouettes of her friend, Atsushi, and Kyouka among the large container. " That's it! That's our target!"

" Where are you, brat!" Kunikida cried out as he circled the ship.

" It's no use, Ryuu is there. He would not be able to escape like this." Kath's eyes were still focused on her phone. " Unless we get on board and help-"

She was however cut with a loud rumbling as an explosion erupted on the deck, sending swirls of fire and smoke skywards. The ship teetered to the side so slightly. Not long after, Atsushi's silhouette emerged from the smoke covering the deck, crawling on all four.

" Atsushi-kun!"

" Over here, brat! We can't come any closer because of the explosions! Jump!"

Relieved as though he was, Atsushi was reluctant.

" What are you doing? Hurry up!"

Of course he would, Kath thought. He was leaving behind Kyouka. And she doubted that was a pleasant idea.

Even though Kunikida was telling him to give up on Kyouka through gritted teeth and clenched fists, even though every word her teacher said was the truth over and over, her gut had to disagree. 

" Go! Atsushi-kun!" Kath yelled taking Kunikida by her side aback. " You said she liked the crepe, then make sure you buy her more!"

" Hanazawa-san…"

" Hanazawa!"

" She can't be saved… who decided that? Unless we try, we have no way of knowing. Unless we give it our all…" Kath's nails dug into her palm as she balled her hands tightly, leaving the faintest trail of blood to trickle down. " There will be nothing left for us but regret."

Atsushi's frown deepened as he blinked away his tears. " I'm going!"

Kunikida looked from the girl by his side to the boy who threw himself in the middle of the explosions and fire before he made his choice as well. " Run! Run, Atsushi!"

Another eruption, one that sent debris in their direction. Kunikida hopped to the stirring wheel and the boat scooted away from the shards of metals falling into the ocean.

As the smoke subsided ever so slightly, Kath could glimpse Akutagawa and Atsushi fighting back on the deck.

" Getting close will be dangerous," Kunikida told her, keeping his eye on the flaming vessel. " We could be easily buried beneath the teetering containers or get caught in the currents as the ship sinks."

" I will be keeping watch over the deck, if there will seem to be a path of escape I will help them." The girl gritted her teeth, she didn't raise her eyes from the phone as she was speaking, focusing on the battle.

Much to her surprise, Akutagawa and Atsushi seemed to be evenly matched, though Akutagawa was far more experienced with controlling his ability, Atsushi made up with power, speed, and his healing.

The battle seemed to drag forever and she frankly didn't know with whom she should side. On one hand, there was her childhood friend who was willing to cut everything in his way to smithereens and wouldn't mind poring rivers of blood for his purpose. He also seemed to have such deep hatred towards their newest member.

On the other hand, there is her junior Atsushi, who seems to be plunged in misfortune wherever he treads. She cared for him deeply too, for she had tasted misfortune and misery. She reeked of them herself she could tell Atsushi had a great deal of suffering, and so, she couldn't not relate. The boy was kind and unwilling to hurt others, the only reason he was retaliating now was that he was cut and stabbed too many times for her to bother to recall. If anything, she knew he had the right to defend himself and the one girl who was Akutagawa's victim for half a year.

The battle seemed to have ended when Atsushi was pierced by a thorny flower, but the boy kept standing on his feet. At that moment, Kath knew instantly who was going to win that battle. Thus she had to act quickly.

Abandoning her phone to Kunikida, she knelt and fetched an orange fish plushie from her bag, although it wasn't exactly a plushie. It was made of plastic and if you look at it for long enough, you could see mechanical parts tucked inside. One other noticeable thing was that it was rather large.

" Hanazawa, what's that for?"

Kath wrapped one of her silver threads around the fish's neck and plunged it into the water. " A rescue fish."

" Huh?"

" More importantly…" She retrieved her phone just as Atsushi punched Akutagawa in the face, pelting him into the ocean and falling down on the ship himself. " Kyouka-chan is bringing Atsushi-kun over to the side. We should hurry up to catch them."

Wasting no time, Kunikida turned the boat and sped towards the sinking ship, catching Kyouka as she jumped with Atsushi on her back off the deck just as an explosion sounded behind them. They both landed safely on the boat that scooted away and back to Yokohama.

Kunikida chanced one look at them. "You big idiot…" His face broke into a proud smile. " Well done."

Kath heaved a sigh of relief as she checked on them before she looked back at the sinking ship, a thread still extending from her bloodied index finger to the water beneath them. " That rescue fish…" She could feel her teacher's eyes on her even if she didn't turn to face him. " It was for him…"

" Even though I don't intend on interfering with his fight, still I do want him to live…" Was her sole answer. On the screen of her phone, a message she had sent to a certain person could be read. One containing the location of the sinking ship.

Maybe that was for the better, he hurt Kyouka and Atsushi and thus, he got hurt himself. Even if she disliked it, he reaped what he sowed. For now, she was sure he was alive, kept afloat, and led away from the sinking ship by her fish. Even if she cut the connection when she could no longer extend her thread, the mechanism within it would continue moving in the direction she had set. And before long, someone would appear to save him. That was enough for her.

For now…