Soul of a Fate Gamer

Chapter 16

~X~

~ May 16 - Tokyo Police Headquarters - Noon ~

So... things didn't exactly go according to plan. Merlin gave me my phone back, and I called the person who could sweep the missing person case under the rug. I was going to lay low inside Sojiro's house until that person got here, but Sojiro came home to check on Futaba for some reason and found me.

He tried to find out what happened to me, but I wouldn't say anything. So, he called the police to let them know I'd been found. And for some reason, some uniformed officers took me to police headquarters to talk to Date-san.

Now here I am, in an interview room, with Date-san, who showed up an hour after I arrived.

"Yuki, please tell me what's going on," he tried once again.

I kept quiet. I felt pretty bad doing this to him. I know he wants to help me, and he's gone very out of his way to help Kiryu but... How the heck could I get him involved with the Metaverse business?

Before Date could ask another question, the door opened, and someone came in. It was a man of average height. He had medium-length slicked-back hair that started to grey, and he was wearing a pinstriped charcoal grey suit with a gold and black tie.

...Why does this guy look familiar?

"Commissioner?" Date turned in this seat to face the man. "What are you doing here?"

"Detective, this case is over," the Commissioner ordered.

"What?" Date stood up from his seat in shock.

Just then, Rin Tohsaka entered the room, grabbed me by the arm, and led me out. Date looked like he wanted to say something, but he took one glance at the commissioner and kept quiet. I could tell from the emotions on his face that he was worried for me. He probably has no idea what to make of this and was thinking up all kinds of scenarios.

"Sorry," I mouthed to him, letting my guilt show. Damnit, Merlin. Why'd you have to send me to the Palace in such a way?

...Maybe I could bring him into the loop about the Phantom Thieves one day... But I don't feel confident doing it now.

~X~

Rin led me out of the police headquarters, and it looked like we were walking toward the train station.

"So... Where are we going?" I spoke up. I couldn't stand the silence.

"To my house in Meguro," she replied stoically.

Uh-oh. Her tone doesn't sound good for my well-being. "Your house?"

"It's in my name," she answered in the same tone.

And once again the silence returned.

We took the train to Shibuya Station, we hopped on a train that goes to a station close to the house, then we walked the rest of the way. We walked up to the house and I used my keys to open the door.

We walked in and the first thing that happened was that Zacien tackled me to the ground and started licking my face. Ralts greeted me while sitting on Zacien.

"What the hell?!" Rin shouted. That's the first amount of emotion I'd heard from her all day.

"Hey! Come on! Zacien, stop!" I said while laughing. I kept trying to protect my face, but she was too fast. But that's enough fun. "Seriously, Zacien, I got important things to do."

After a couple more licks Zacien hopped off. I got up and barely had time to stand when a small missile crashed into me and wrapped her arms around me. I was just able to catch my balance.