章節 136: Like A Yuri Manga
The following morning, Matoi had been called up to Armstrong's office and enjoyed being late with Rin. Partially she took pleasure in making men wait on her rather than the other way around; partially that she took pleasure being in a position where no one could tell her otherwise.
"Rain-On-A-Wedding." he nodded as the two sat across. "Is this the... Japanese student you mentioned?"
"She is. Why did you call me here?"
"I- understand you requested no contracts until April. But, the federal government has requested your four, specifically-"
"I don't care. Give it to the other three. They can either wait for me or give it to them."
Armstrong tried not to frown, hoping for his marriage's sake that Swarm had a better conscience than her. Rin watched as her girlfriend berated him, and felt a little perverse as she took joy in what was likely a distasteful trait of Matoi's. She was assertive and dominant; Rin envied her confidence yet was proud of it. As a female student, and moreso as a Ueno one, she could not imagine speaking to staff in such a way.
"…I'll relay that, then. There was another matter, as well, where... the police were requesting your help in a small investigation. Regarding a host you dealt with the other day."
Matoi opened her mouth, but Rin answered: "Matoi-k- Matoi. I would like to help. Yes?"
Matoi looked to Rin. Somehow it was difficult to decline her; she knew she was emotionally a few years ahead of her girlfriend, which naturally made her sensitive to Rin. "…alright. What county?"
"Stoneland."
"Fine."
Matoi stood up and left with Rin, who took this opportunity to be a little closer with Matoi. Matoi was generally a little stiff with affection, so this was how she preferred things. She sometimes wished her girlfriend had a better sense of romance, or at least knew enough to play at it for *her*.
Yet as they walked out and saw a few other American students, who were likely going to gossip about this later, Rin felt it was all appropriate. She had fantasized about dating a foreigner a bit like Matoi, and why shouldn't they be dating? Rin knew she was the most attractive at Ueno and deserved someone as successful as Urasaria's president. (Partially because there was no chance a woman could be Ueno's.) People generally are what they attract.
An hour later, they met with Stoneland County's chief of police. "About the Revenant you two dealt with the other day." He read Rin's badge, thinking she was Chinese. "At the 7/11?"
"Correct." said Matoi.
"Well, we found him slightly difficult to identify, but we did some work looking into his identity afterwards. Part of a separate, wider investigation regarding hosts with glowing lights on their hands."
"…I don't recall him having any glowing lights."
"No, that's what -- that's why we were checking. Well, anyhow. But where this relates to, we believe, is a call we got from Aqua Apartments a week ago from a woman. She said that someone was at her door and was asking us to come over -- send a student over for her."
"I presume she was murdered."
"You assume correctly. But, our responder thought it was a prank - Urasaria was not contacted - and she's dead. In fairness, I've seen how fast you hosts can kill, and I don't believe we might've saved her -- but still." He passed over a folder to Matoi. "That's some of the information we have, so far. He was our primary suspect, and he happens to turn up killed by you, fortunately or not. Regardless, I understand I'm going long: the two things that would be most helpful for us is to notify Sabrina Sharp's brother that she is dead, see his reaction, and if you could use some of your Urasaria charisma on the landlord of Aqua Apartments for us, that would be greatly appreciated."
Matoi glanced down and flipped one of the pages; she felt Rin wince beside her. "Is that Sabrina's brother?"
"Yes. It isn't a Revenant -- he's been tested. He says it's a rare birth defect that leads to those... eight fingers on his left hand."
Matoi nodded, and set out with Rin to Mr. Sharp's home.
+++
An hour later, the two pulled up to thehis mansion's gate. Matoi showed her badge to the guard in the booth, and noticed the owner had a statue of himself in the hedge garden near the front, without the defect. Matoi came up to the door and knocked at it, which was soon answered by the man himself, his left hand in his pocket.
Matoi showed her badge. "We're here to question you."
"Oh, the student directness to which we are all so accustomed. Come in." He led them inside, to his living room of various vases, lavish furniture and a fireplace. "I intend no disrespect, by the way: I prefer a student's lack of pretense. Might I know the crime of which I have been accused? The Revenant I am suspected to be involved in?"
"There was a murder nearby recently - we'll begin with that. Tell me about yourself."
"There's the directness. Alright. My name is Ronald Daedalus Sharp. This is not a Revenant, but I feel I should show you this before any awkward confrontation ensues." He took his eight-fingered left hand out. "The eight-fingered hand is due to a congenital defect called ulnar dimelia, or mirror hand syndrome. As you can see, I can move the extra fingers, and the reason I have never had it corrected is because it has no detrimental effect on my life, and makes for an interesting conversation piece.
If you require an alibi, I keep detailed flight logs. I will often spend this part of the year traveling around the country, though I sometimes find myself needed in central Africa and the surrounding countries, where my charity BioLife provides clean water to war-stricken areas and education for the same. And I would be remiss if I did not add that, while you might be reminded of Bill Gates and his stunt of drinking purified sewage water -- we prefer to teach them self-sufficiency rather than sell them technological solutions that profit off their destitution."
"And you're clearly very far from Africa now. Have you been there in the past month?"
"I have not. The daily operations typically don't require my involvement. Perhaps at the beginning, but no longer."
"Am I to assume that this mansion was paid for by running a charity you have little involvement in?"
"Given how scam-heavy charities typically are, my living situation is rather modest for the head of one. I hire no personal servants besides a gardener and the guard whom you met, and most of my wealth was made through shrewd investment in African manufacturing. And of course, it isn't little involvement: I often meet with weather donors and fundraise at usual social galas across the country."
"You didn't say you were fundraising - you said you were traveling, as if it was for leisure."
"Perhaps I should have been more specific."
"Another student might call that an inconsistency."
He looked at her for a few seconds, then said: "We could exchange barbs and blows all day, but our taxpayer dollars do not pay for students to ask empty questions of wealthy men, and I suspect I have been too shrewd for you to pull out whatever information you're looking for from me. Might I ask more about this murder?"
"Your sister was found murdered. Sabrina Sharp."
"Ah." He looked off. "Was that all?"
"You seem stoic."
"Stoic? No, she simply wasn't a woman I met with often. I'll correct whoever told you she was my sister - she was my step-sister, and one brought rather late into my life. I barely considered her a step-sister, let alone sister. In fact, had you mentioned her without the murder, I might have assumed a drug overdose or gambling debts."
"Was she involved in either?"
"The drug use, certainly, all those odd artists are. They document their private suffering and fob it off as art. As for gambling, I have no evidence of my claim, but she had once called me up out of the blue, and began to drone on and on about her life. I listened to very little of it. After about 87 'I feel's, she then asked me if I might bail her out of some financial trouble she had run into -- I suspect gambling or other organized crime. My father gave her the handout she desired, and now we see the result of it. In essence, that is most of my family members. They cannot be saved from their worst impulses, and even if they could, I doubt it would be my place to try. You'll find that when you are far more successful than those around you, you feel little duty to anyone but yourself. A hero is defined by their lack of need for others."
"Is that your philosophy?"
"It is. Do you disagree?"
"Not entirely, but it's an odd philosophy for a man who supposedly runs a charity."
"Perhaps it brings me satisfaction to be seen as philanthropic, or I enjoy my work for what it brings me and not necessarily others. It isn't necessarily contradictory to say that others might incidentally benefit in the presence of my actions. Or that I would like to prepare a good legacy before my death."
"What will you care for your legacy then? You'll already be dead."
He laughed, but Matoi stared at him. She knew something was off about him, but what it was she could not guess. It was a trait she had been told by others she possessed; to speak normally of things that shocked or disturbed others. She was less extreme than he was, yet sensed him latching to her every detail just as she was his for later use. Even if he was not behind this murder she suspected he was behind another set of crimes.
As Matoi and Rin left, she had a suspicion of all of him, yet never to the extent of his own reality. The man they had just met was not simply a petty murderer, but someone who had sliced out a sliver of thin immortality from his work in Africa. For forty years Ronald Daedalus Sharp had known the players in Africa's civil wars, and he made it a priority to keep himself abreast of which side he best support, who might be best suited to come to power for the success of his legitimate & otherwise affairs. A charitable organization he had begun with in Africa, yet through it he grew his motivations of power and control.
The deeds of Ronald Sharp are too numerous to list here, but it will suffice for our purpose to say that the man had his fingers in several pies across Africa, ranging from illicit gun smuggling to legitimate charitable work, government advisory to supporting revolutionary militia. Only rarely, and by last resort, were such events concluded by his Revenants. It was precisely this mix of legitimacy which lent him his success, for the old form of colonialism by gun & steel could not suffice alone for the modern world -- debt & loan was needed as well.
Hundreds of thousands of deaths might be attributable to such a man, but what importance is misery when compared to such world-historical civil wars, conquests and rebellions, the victories of illicit Revenants and gunfire to which one-tenths of Africa now owe their government? Such a man is a hero. How many civilians in Africa owe their employment to such a man; arms smugglers, gun manufacturers, government employees, peacekeepers, doctors and morticians to treat the wounded or examine their bodies, their employment all predicated on a man they know not one iota of?
+++
Pulling into one avenue of businesses, Matoi felt Rin kiss her cheek as they passed over a manhole; they heard a rumbling start below, and in the next instant -
"( - out!)" shouted Matoi; the two threw themselves out of the car -
- just in time for one slimecovered fist to launch their vehicle in to the air from below; Matoi & Rin skid & slid for a hundred feet down the road, grunting as they rolled and bleeding as they stood. Matoi saw her car land in another avenue as Rin caught up with her at the road's center, female foe climbing out of the manhole a hundred feet away, body covered in slime with a fire hydrant on the sidewalk left & one shop beyond -
" - Ms. Grey!" she shouted, ooze dripping down her hands and forming longer limbs; her slimehands shot towards the hydrant -
- and ripped it clear out of the ground; geysers of water burst out of the aperture and started to rain, droplets starting to fall over the avenue; Matoi & Rin stepped back -
" - Sekisetsu!" shouted Rin; a red icicle formed in her hand, and as she threw it towards the hydrant's hole -
- every droplet that touched it froze in to red cubes, and as it hit its destination -
- a pane of ice plugged up the hole and blocked the sidewalk's crying as the two started their rush forward, more red ice sprouting out of the road to freeze the slimeinfused rain. Ahead, they saw their foe rushing on to the sidewalk -
- but the next scene was instant.
"Kekkonshiki!" "Sekisetsu!"
Rin tapped Matoi's shoulder as a missile burst out of it; it flew to the sidewalk & ahead of their foe -
- and exploded in a burst of red icicles -
- that froze the sidewalk & their foe's step entirely. Grunting as she thrashed, more slime dripped from her fingers and in to the sidewalk -
- and melted it back in to red water, freeing her as she staggered forward. One costume shop was ahead, and in she rushed; Matoi & Rin caught up, speaking as they came up to the front doors -
"( - my other ice is still frozen.)" said Rin, glancing back to her prior icicles, Matoi nodding beside; "( - it's not property-based.)"
"(It's specific. She's running out of slime - she had to expend some to melt it. Can you stasis her when we're close?)"
Rin nodding, the two stepped, aisles of costumes & vampires flanking them; with no time to waste, they rushed left & along the wall -
- and saw their female foe at the corner ahead, only one arm of goo left as she fled along the back wall. One shelf was at the women's right as they rushed in pursuit -
"( - really?)" laughed Matoi; one missile flew over & to her right -
- and blasted back the tottering shelf at the other end of the store before it could fall like dominoes. Rin laughed at their foe's desperation as they came up to the corner, and as their eyes turned right -
- they saw their female foe on the other end of the store, no option left but fifty feet away, stepping back against the corner. Matoi & Rin started stepping forward, Rin keeping behind Matoi, glad she was shorter than her girlfriend & wondering if she could ever convince Matoi to dress like a biker.
"Kekkonshiki." muttered Matoi, and in the next instant -
- one missile burst out of her shoulder and flew towards the woman; her slimehand extended to catch it -
- but it exploded in a cloud of smoke before she could grab it, and the shockwave blasted her ooze against the wall; frantic with no rest, she swept her hand blindly on the wall, eyes ahead for when Matoi would appear again -
- and found one hand she wasn't expecting touching her own; she shrieked -
" - Sekisetsu!"
- and she fell to the ground as a frozen statue in the next, Rin laughing as she stepped out of the ice-door that she'd used to flank.
"(She's in stasis!)" she shouted, and Matoi walked out of the cloud of smoke ahead, laughing as she saw her.
"(Good.)"
"(Good thing I'm shorter than you. She didn't notice.)" chimed Rin, relevantly. The smoke cleared, and she glanced at her first door of ice she'd made behind Matoi as she fired. "(Is the property damage alright?)"
"(They'll call someone for it.)"
Rin nodded, and she scooped up the ice sculpture. The two went outside to search for Matoi's car, and found it in another avenue, having crushed a modern sportscar, but with few scratches on its own hide.
"(There's a message there.)" muttered Matoi, and a few missiles blasted it back to the road.
"(Isn't it, um, weird that someone would be tracking us so soon?)" said Rin and Matoi shrugged.
"(Slightly - though I'm Urasaria's president. Remember that America has much higher rates of crime than Japan - it's more likely to be a random host than anything organized.)"
"(Mm. Alright.)"
Rin stuffed the other icewoman in the backseat and Matoi drove back to the station. She called up another student to come within two hours to transport her to get her Revenant removed, as the police hadn't recognized her face.
The two went back out to the parking lot with the icewoman in custody. Parked cars flanked them as they walked, and in the next instant -
- they heard an explosion behind; with the speed of light they turned -
- and a pane of red ice formed just in time to block the metal shards flying at them from behind; a few projectiles broke through & sliced their skin as the two stepped back -
- and another car exploded at their left; another exploded at their right -
"( - Fallen Snow!)" shouted Rin; a ring of red ice formed around the two, and in to the frozen barriers went the shards; more explosions shaking the ground, Rin felt something hit their frozen wall -
- which melted it back in to red water; three more explosions and thirty more shards flew towards them -
"( - Fallen Snow -)" she winced, and another ring of red ice kept them safe. At her side, heat grew from Wedding's eyes -
"( - Wedding.)" muttered Matoi; a sweep of lasers disintegrated a hole below -
- and in to the sudden burrow jumped Matoi, Rin blushing as Matoi pulled her tight, landing underneath the asphalt and a pane of ice blocking their entrance above. Wedding's lasers burnt a sizable den for the two as they stood, ground still rocking with explosions above.
"(Is - is this a random host, too?)" chimed Rin, trying to stay focused; Matoi laughed, and as they heard the explosions stop above, the asphalt started to crumble down & towards them -
- but the next scene was instant. Matoi shouted Wedding as she spun; a hundred of missiles burst out of Wedding's shoulders -
- and the hundred explosions hit & blasted right through the underground walls, hundreds more missiles carving & chewing right through hundreds of feet of asphalt, lasers & ice keeping them safe from any further debris as Matoi spun & fired & spun -
- to at last stand in the enormous crater that had been half of the parking lot, Matoi stopping and staggering as the smoke cleared -
- and seeing their male foe on the sidewalk two hundred feet away, shockwaves still setting him off balance, ball of clay in his left hand & right hand against a nearby streetlamp. With no time to waste, the two started rushing towards him, speaking as they ran.
"(Something melted my ice - it must be that clay.)" sighed Rin, relevantly. "(Should I stasis him?)"
"( - go ahead.)" nodded Matoi.
A hundred feet separated them now; they saw him stand straight again -
- but the next scene was instant.
"Sekisetsu!" "Kekkonshiki!"
A pane of red ice formed ahead; a missile flew in to it -
- and blasted it with the strength of a thousand forward, more missiles following after the red shards and blasting them even further forward -
- and the red barrage crucified their foe right to the streetlamp in a burst of blood & torn skin; a horrific shriek erupted from him as the women came fifty feet within range, still in the crater, and as his ball of clay tried to swallow a shard of ice -
" - Sekisetsu!" shouted Rin; she threw a knife of ice forward -
- and the keen end cleaved the man's head clear off his shoulders; Matoi burst in to laughter as it fell -
"( - sorry! Sorry!)" winced Rin, girlfriend cackling beside as they halted -
"( - no - no, it's alright -)" - Matoi laughed - "( - you just -)"
"( - I-I have to work on my aim.)" laughed Rin. "(At, at least your car survived.)" She gestured left, and Matoi's car was still standing over the crater, only vehicle left in the lot.
"(It's gone through a lot today.)" laughed Matoi, relevantly. "(Are you still alright to fight?)"
Rin nodded. "(A - a little wounded, but yes. Where are we going next?)"
"(We still need to investigate her apartment.)"
Rin nodded.
The two went back to Matoi's car again. Aqua Apartments was a beachfront property an hour away with six floors. In later years, complexes like these would be gradually worn down in price from rising sea levels, until landlords thinking themselves smart would sell them to another hopeful to make good money from bad decisions. For now, buildings like these were simply the first yuppie line of defense against hurricanes.
Matoi pulled in to the parking lot, and the two went to the lobby. A woman was at the front counter & computer with a door behind her.
"O-Oh shit. You're -- you're Rain-On-A-Wedding."
"Yes. There was a woman murdered here recently -- correct?"
The woman fumbled nervously. "I... I, uh, sorry, um, yes. I mean, there were cops coming around earlier this week and -- and yeah, yes, um."
"And her name was Sabrina Sharp?"
The door opened, and out came a fattened man. "Excuse me, who are you two?"
"It's, um, Urasaria's president."
"Oh, I know exactly who she is."
"Clearly not, or you wouldn't have just asked." said Matoi and Rin giggled.
(If it has not yet been stated; romantic couples tend to act as amplifiers to each other, and the authoritarian tendencies of Matoi & Rin coalesced like two balls of slime.)
"Are you asking around about that woman?" he said.
"I am. What apartment was she in?"
The woman started. "I can look -"
" - oh, don't you start." he said, hand waving her back. "No no no no. I'm the landlord here. Those records are private property."
Matoi ignored him and turned to Rin. "(Rin, as a guest to America, I invite you to ingratiate this man with a few Urasaria manners.)"
Rin nodded, and with one finger reached over and tapped the man to freeze him solid. Matoi cackled as the woman asked if he was dead, and replied: " - no, he's in -"
" - stasis -" laughed Rin -
" - oh, phew." laughed the woman. "Oh my god, he's like that all the time. Ugh. Ok, so, um, you'll vouch for me if I just look up whatever you need, right?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Sabrina Sharp, um... lemme... sorry. Computer is kinda slow."
"Matoi." whispered Rin, tapping her shoulder. "(Boyfriend.)"
"Right." muttered Matoi, nodding. "Do you know if she had a boyfriend? A partner?"
"…um. Dunno, sorry." She smiled like a lemming. "I mean, I'm supposed to check anyone that comes in, but honestly? Most days you could kill someone in front of me and I wouldn't noticed." She glanced at her boss, then back to Matoi. "…um. Anyway. Awkward question incoming, but are you two dating?"
Rin nodded, though she thought it odd anyone would ask. In Japan even straight people were closeted. "Yes."
"Cool. Just noticed that you two kinda got that gal-pal energy, you know. Man, I wish I had a Urasaria girlfriend. … Um. She was in 253, by the way."
"Can you tell who pays for her rent?" said Matoi.
"Um, I don't think she paid for it herself, because I basically never saw her leave. I'm not even sure she has a job. She's a real bohemian type. Or was. Maybe her dad, Richard? She mentioned him a few times, staying at Rook Hospital, I think."
Matoi nodded. "That's useful enough."
"Alrighty. Uh, and..." She gestured to her frozen boss. "Is he just stuck like that forever?"
"I will undo it when we leave." nodded Rin.
"Oh, no, that's fine." she shrugged. "Take him with you if you want."
Matoi laughed, as did Rin a moment later.
"You'll make sure I don't get in trouble for this stuff, right?"
"Contact Urasaria and ask for Matoi Kujo if something comes up." said Matoi.
"Cool beans."
The two came up to apartment 253 and found it unlocked. The police had already taken the obvious evidence out & cleaned the rooms, but they still searched until the sun went below the window. Once or twice their wounds still opened, and with no new evidence, they decided to head back to Urasaria's infirmary & check Rook Hospital tomorrow.
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