The Boy With The Blank Stare: Future

Chapter Fourteen: It's Better This Way

Saihara's POV:

Three weeks.

That was how long I gave my Uncle to respond to my messages, how long it took till I finally disregarded all notions of hospitality and manners and boarded a train heading directly to the district.

Three weeks since I heard the news of Kiibo's death.

I didn't care anymore, my research and investigation kept leading me back to the same conclusion. How this information could lead even someone with no prior detective training to what truly happened that day to question the order and matter behind that day.

It was low-hanging fruit, and my Uncle chose to ignore it.

He chose to instead hide, hide away from whatever the truth was. The truth may be even Ouma didn't know the entirety of it. That brought me my slight hesitation, that the answers I seek might be so horrifying or cruel I would pray and beg for a lie to take shelter under.

But as tempting as hiding from that truth may be...Ouma had faced the truth. Ouma, who was rumored to be a master of lies didn't tell me a lie of how his friends fell to despair and plunged their hearts to the ocean in seek of an escape.

He didn't shy away from the grim reality that a town hated him for long past actions, he didn't hide his despair, but showed it to anyone who would spare a passing glance.

If he could take a direct hit from such a cruel world, then I would bear that burden with him.

My Father didn't even object when I asked him for a flight back to the city, instead, he just passed me already purchased tickets for a roundabout trip. He already knew what I was planning, and he didn't object only advising which public transportation services to take till I got back to the district along with some money in case things went wrong.

His rare amount of kindness and understanding wasn't even enough to distract me from the case anymore.

I walked down the street trying not to get any attention, occasionally I spotted a glance of a former classmate and would hide in alleys or cover my face with the same black hat I used in my childhood as I approached my Uncle and Aunt home.

The home was once so welcoming, it promised me a sanctuary from the destruction and wrath of a father who was never satisfied, a chance to finally escape the constant pressures of being the heir to the agency.

Now the house was cold and imposing as all its once pristine features became muddled. The plants outside the house looked dead and decayed, and the paint dull and lifeless. The very things I wished for long ago might have been my undoing had I stayed.

Maybe I too would have hidden away even longer from the truth.

Instead, I knocked on the door and waited.

The door opened, and behind it was my aunt. Her long dark red hair was messy and she was wearing her bathrobe with a coffee in hand as she looked at me surprised.

"Shuichi? What the hell are you doing here this early?" She asked, "it's twelve" I corrected, "yeah too fucking early, looking for your Uncle?" She asked. I was surprised she didn't question how or why I even flew here but I guess she had decided to just run with the flow of life now.

"Yeah, is he here?" I asked deciding, wisely, not to question my aunt's sleeping patterns. "Yeah lazy son of a bitch is upstairs...he got a bit worked up when your father took you away" she admitted.

"He's not treating you bad still is he?" She asked with genuine concern, "no, thankfully, he and I have been getting along actually" I told her with slight excitement.