Blossoms of the Dark Continued

CCXXXII Shouto: Justice

Trigger Warning: 

- mention of kidnapping

- mention of sexual assault

- mention of rape

- mention of death

- some blood

- crude language

- depression

- PTSD hallucinations

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Two days after regaining consciousness did the hospital discharge me.

Seven days since the war.

Seven days since Selene was kidnapped.

My first suspect was the Paranormal Liberation Army. Selene had been a longtime target of theirs. Not to mention, they were already responsible for so many deaths. Morningstar had killed All Might-sensei on U.A. premises. They could have easily abducted her en route, too.

Then Sasaki-san told me something that changed my entire perception of the situation. He told me that three days before the kidnapping, Japan's justice system sent a court summons notice to Hanada-shi. The first hearing was to happen on the 14th of April. And then everything made sense. Hanada-shi's resentment toward Selene began to exponentially rise since January. Her being the sole survivor of murders, him having to name her successor, his collusion with that bastard Miyamoto, our partnership to secretly gather evidence, the three sexual assaults, me getting Selene out of that household forever ... and now this.

Receiving a court notice ... three days later, the abduction of the plaintiff. The timing is too good to have been a coincidence. The summons must have been the final incentive that scumbag needed to destroy Selene.

Sasaki-san believes that Hanada-shi's hand is behind this, and the more I observe Selene's room, the more convincing his theory becomes.

Caution tape barricades the entrance. Whatever I see, it is from the doorway. Broken shards of glass littering the hardwood floor. Some large, some small; some untainted, some spotted with drops of blood. Selene's blood, I remind myself. A toppled over cane. The closest weapon in reach. One that was never able to be wielded. And the ruffles of the bed covers. It's the sight of that messy bed that really cements Hanada-shi's scheming. All three semen samples were found on the covers.

As loathsome as the villains are, they are not rapists. If they were, then they would have taken advantage of her every time she was held hostage. Given that they consistently beat her up, they are not on some significantly higher moral pedestal. But rape is not the villains' tactic; it is Hanada-shi's. Experience has taught me a lesson: murder may be unforgivable, but there is no atonement for rape. It is the lowliest sin of sins. That itself makes him the most depraved being on the planet.

"Shouto," Sasaki-san murmurs from behind me, diverting my attention away from the bedroom to him. "What are you thinking?"

Good question.

I'm not sure whether I know the answer to that myself. My thoughts are a tempest. I cannot pinpoint any one in particular and tell him. My gaze falls on the rest of the dorm rooms on the floor. Most of them have been emptied out by parents of those whose children are deceased. This boarding house is the abode of ghosts now.

I feel like one, too. A ghost with a body but no particular will to live.

Well, I guess there is one.

My body is still battered despite treatment. Recovery Girl told me it would take a few weeks to get off the crutches. So I hobble toward my room on the same floor in the opposite wing. It takes me six tries to insert the card and punch the code in before the door opens. Sasaki-san follows me inside, patiently waiting for me to say something. I make it to my dresser. Slowly, I bend down to open the bottom drawer. It's not easy to crouch and maintain my balance on crutches, but somehow I manage. Is this how Selene perpetually felt with her cane? To think that she doesn't even have her precious keepsake to provide her company ...