Chapter 16 - Lady Misa Hayashi
Day 183 - 409 students remaining.
As the morning approaches, Shuji leaves his room and heads towards the exit. As he leaves his room, he spots Tsubaki but pretends that he does not see her. Shuji continues to walk towards the exit but passes the dining hall. As he passes the dining hall, he stops in confusion and looks into the dining hall. It’s full of people cheering and eating leftover food from yesterday. Shuji begins to question this as he speaks to himself.
“What? The morning announcement hasn’t even happened yet.”
One of the girls walking past him hears his remark and turns to face him.
“We don’t worry about the morning announcement here. Why would we? We love it here.”
The girl giggles and smiles before turning away and going to sit down with the others in the dining hall. Shuji is standing there perplexed. He begins to think to himself.
‘This place gets stranger by the minute. I need to just ignore it for now. I need to get an appointment with Misa Hayashi today.’
Shuji heads over to the reception desk. The receptionist looks at Shuji with a smile.
“How can I help you today, sir?”
Shuji looks at the receptionist.
“I need an appointment with Misa Hayashi.”
The receptionist thinks for a moment as she holds an expression of contemplation.
“Unfortunately, Misa isn’t seeing anybody today.”
Shuji begins to try to influence the receptionist.
“It really can’t wait. This is an urgent matter.”
The receptionist shrugs her shoulders.
“I’m sorry, I truly am. However, Misa is a busy woman.”
A man comes from behind and begins to speak.
“Actually, I was just here to cancel my morning appointment with Lady Misa. Give this gentleman my spot.”
The receptionist is confused.
“Huh? Well, if you say so. Then, I guess, Misa will see you now. Please head over to her office immediately.”
Shuji turns around to face the man.
“Thanks for that. I owe you one.”
The man waves his hand.
“Don’t worry about it.”
Shuji then begins to head over to where Misa’s office is supposed to be. As he begins to leave, the man smirks.
“You idiot. You’ve fallen right into our trap.”
As Shuji arrives at Misa’s office, the door unlocks. Shuji puts his hand on the doorhandle as he prepares to open it. He takes a deep breath before opening the door and heading into Misa’s office. The room is dark as Misa sits relaxed on an office chair with her legs on the desk in front of her. Misa begins to speak.
“Oh. Who might you be?”
Shuji is quick to respond as the door closes behind him.
“My name is Shuji. I’m the city detective. I’m here to ask you a few questions.”
Misa is intrigued by Shuji. She puts her legs down and begins to pour herself a drink.
“Oh, that’s you. Does Kenro know that you’re skulking around the eastern part of the city?”
Shuji knows to be on guard and is aware that she is going to be very cautious about what she says.
“I have his permission. Does he know about your little kidnapping ring?”
Misa smiles.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I would suggest that you do some research before falsely accusing people.”
Shuji begins to get annoyed. He begins to think.
‘She’s too smart. I can’t get her to outright confess with the information I have. Maybe, I can bluff about what I know.’
Shuji looks at Misa with a serious expression.
“Give it up. I know about it all. There’s a weak link in the organisation. They told me everything.”
Misa’s expression suddenly turns to one of anger.
“Then you know too much. I’m afraid you won’t be leaving this place as a free man. You two, he’s all yours.”
The door opens behind Shuji and two men quickly enter. Shuji turns his head to see that one of the men is the man from earlier.
“You’re the guy from earlier. I should’ve expected a trap.”
The two men smile.
“You might be strong but you’re outnumbered.”
Shuji turns around and a fight breaks out. Shuji is hit in the stomach but strikes on of the men in the head. Shuji gets grabbed by one of the men and kick the other. Whilst this is happening, Misa is relaxing and drinking her drink.
The fight continues and Shuji quickly comes to a realisation.
‘Shit. I’m no superhero. I can’t take them both on.’
Shuji was beginning to get beaten badly when the door suddenly opened again and a bashing sound was heard. Shuji looks to see one of the men knocked out on the floor. He looks at the culprit who stands there with a pipe in her hands.
“Tsubaki!”
Tsubaki begins to speak.
“I won’t let them get you, Shuji. You’re the only hope for this place.”
The other man turns around to face Tsubaki.
“You bitch! You could have killed him.”
The guy prepares to jump at Tsubaki but he is quickly stopped by Shuji, who deals a strike to the man’s face and knocks him out.
Shuji quickly turns his attention to Misa.
“Now, it’s your turn to talk.”
Misa shrug’s her shoulders.
“Why should I tell you anything? You wouldn’t harm someone as defenceless as me, would you?”
Before Shuji could respond, Tsubaki intervenes. She looks at Misa with a cold stare, emphasised by the blood on her face.
“I would.”
Misa looks disgustingly at Tsubaki.
“Fine. What do you want to know?”
Shuji begins his inquisition.
“Tell me what’s really going on with this place?”
Misa responds coldly.
“The purpose of Hayashi House is to ‘sell’ unsuspecting people to a certain person. They take people in the middle of the night and in exchange, I get food and safety from the downers. What happens afterwards, I don’t know.”
Shuji continues to inquire.
“Who? Give me the identity of the person who’s behind this.”
Misa stares angrily at Shuji as she responds.
“If I tell you the name, will you leave Hayashi House for good and take that psycho with you?”
Misa looks at Tsubaki as Shuji nods his head.
“Very well. The man you’re looking for is Jiro. He runs the city prison. That’s where you can find him.”
Shuji begins to think to himself.
‘The city prison is run by the downers. I hope that Kenro isn’t involved in this matter. That would make things a lot more complicated.’
Shuji and Tsubaki leave Hayashi House and begin to walk through the eastern part of the city. Tsubaki has some questions about the plan.
“So, where are we going?”
Shuji thinks about the trouble that Kanna might be in right now.
“We’re going to the location where I made my base on the eastern side of the city. You can stay there as long as you like. However, I’m not taking you to the prison with me. This is something I need to do by myself.”
Tsubaki is a bit confused but nods her head.
“It’s fine. I can see it in your eyes. You just don’t want anything bad to happen to me.”
Shuji nods his head as they both smile.
After a while of walking, they arrive at Shuji’s old hideout. They decide to remain there for the rest of the day. As the night approaches, Shuji continues to think about Ichika and Kanna.
“Tomorrow, I’ll investigate the prison. Just hang on a little while longer.”
