Of Light and Shadow: Life After Sibyl

Chapter 6

Life is about choices. Some we regret, some we're proud of. Some will haunt us forever. The message: we are what we chose to be.

– Graham Brown

"Young master!"

Kogami stopped short at the gate and turned back to see Hashimoto hurrying down the drive. The gravel crunched noisily under his shoes. The older man was huffing and puffing as he broke into a light jog to catch up with him. Upon reaching him, Hashimoto bent at the waist, hands on his knees, panting.

"Are you okay? You shouldn't have run." Kogami scolded him gently.

Hashimoto waved him off and passed him an earpiece he'd slipped from his pocket.

Frowning in confusion, Kogami accepted it and inserted the device in his ear canal. He did not expect to hear a female voice on the other end. "Hello, brother."

"Chizuko?"

"The one and only. Look, don't listen to dad. He's still got a major stick up his butt." Her snappy attitude, drew a quiet laugh from him. 

"It's good to hear your voice. I know it's been a while." He couldn't imagine what life had been like for her since he'd been labeled a latent criminal. Between the prejudice against anyone related to latent criminals and parents with little interest in parenting, her life couldn't have been easy. Another wave of guilt washed over him. He hadn't been there to protect her. He'd no doubt the source of much misery for her.

"No kidding. I've missed you." She paused a beat before continuing. "There's a lot we need to talk about and this is not going to cut it. Meet me at the park one block over in 20 minutes."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" He didn't want Chizuko to incur more of their father's wrath.

"Don't be stupid. Of course, I'm sure."  Chizuko replied, off-handedly. 

Her confident assurance placated some of the unease he felt agreeing to her plans. "Alright. I'll meet you there." He removed the earpiece and handed it back to Hashimoto. 

The old man smiled. "Ms. Chizuko has become quite resourceful."

Kogami didn't miss the note of pride in the man's voice. He too was pleased that his sister seemed so competent and capable considering the environment in which they had grown up. "That's good. Life doesn't always play fair." 

He was about to bow to the older man and head for the park Chizuko mentioned, when Hashimoto stepped forward and pulled him into a hug. Kogami stiffened, not knowing what to do at first. Slowly, his body relaxed and he returned the hug.

"Take care of yourself." Hashimoto muttered quietly as he released him. 

***

The entirety of Division 1 silently endured the oppressive heat of the artificial summer in their office. Suit jackets had been dispensed with, ties had been removed, and shirt sleeves had been rolled up. The HVAC system was still not working and seemed determined to drown them all in their own sweat. A repair company had been contacted, but couldn't be there until the end of the week. In the meantime, they were sweltering. 

Akane fanned herself with a sheaf of papers as she briefed the team on the latest developments. Shimotsuki and Kunizuka were still investigating the identities of the other remains in evidence. So far they hadn't had any luck. It was likely some of the members of the Fujiwara had been unregistered children born in poverty. If that was the case, it was going to be difficult to trace their identities. 

Despite those difficulties, Hinakawa had managed to identify Nishikawa's last known whereabouts based on Yamagashi's statement. His last known location had been the warehouse district. A street scanner caught him moving in the general direction of what they assumed was one of the Fujiwara warehouses near the bay. According to the shipping data they'd managed to scrape together, the Fujiwara should have been receiving a shipment of materials for their clothing business at that very warehouse.