The sky is turning into the orange of dusk when I get back to the tourist district.
I look down at my phone as I step out of the taxi (there was no way I was walking back after all that) only to find the screen an unresponsive black.
"Great, the perfect end, to a perfect day" I grumble, kicking a stray stone across the cobbles to vent my frustration.
I look down at myself, clothes bloodied and torn like an extra in a horror movie. Not to mention the way the side of my face throbs from the gash that runs from my jaw to the middle of my cheek. If Tadaomi sees me he'll lock me up for the rest of my life, never mind a day.
"Ughhhhhh" I release an exasperated sigh, turning my face to the sky, letting the gentle breeze soothe the pain in my face.
After all that's happened and all I've learned I was certain I'd have my father's case at the forefront of my mind. That I'd do anything to be back on track and retain my only goal. Yet, as I stepped out of Sakurai's hotel, having made a deal that could bite me in the ass in a huge way—the first image in my head was of Karma, where i left him chasing after that van.
I think of the way he spoke to me in that alleyway, always honest, always direct...nothing like me. He had no reason to even care about my reactions but he seems to have done nothing but care all day. From the moment I sat down on that bus, to the moment we parted ways over the bridge. I remember the way he told us not to split up, yet trusted me when I said we should. And I did nothing but spend that trust by running off to fix my own problems.
My realisation always comes too late.
I look down at my useless phone, wondering if anyone's called me or if they found the girls. I told myself I was trying to help but when it came down to it, I chose myself: again. I've always worked for myself, so I don't know any different, but this is the first time it's ever incited guilt like this inside me.
I see familiar buildings in front of me, the same buildings that surrounded where we'd parked the tour bus. I follow them around to the left, hoping that someone might have some painkillers on them they'd be willing to lend me.
That's when I walk straight into something.
"Ow!" I yelp, clutching my face where the skin threatens to split again and I look up through slightly watering eyes...to see Karma staring down at me.
"Where the fuck have you been?" He demands, advancing on my and prying my hand away from my face by the wrist.
"What happened to you?" He questions, then his eyes move from my face to my clothes...suddenly the amount of blood on them seems worse under the eyes of someone else.
"I've been calling you" He grounds out the words through gritted teeth "it's usually customary to answer"
"It's dead" I hold up my blank phone like it will simmer the anger in his eyes. Normally, I'd have something to say, some defence or reason but this time, I don't want to argue. I don't want to defend myself because the look in his eyes is so complicated, nothing I could say could justify making him look like that.
"Did you find—?"
"Yes" he snaps at me "Yes, we found the girls, Koro-sensei arrived, but you never did"
"I know" I say, straightening up, dusting some loose fabric from my shoulder where my torn blazer hangs.
"Are you going to explain, why?" He gestures around him, as if to emphasise how ludicrous this whole situation is.
"I can—"
"Actually, no, don't talk for a second" He cuts me off, walking up to me with a cold determination in his eyes "Do you know how long I've been waiting here? Do you know how many times I called you?"
YOU ARE READING
To Kill For the Truth (BOOK 1)
Fanfiction~ "That's the problem here. You say you want the truth as if it means the same thing to you as it does to me, but there's a big difference here. I'll kill for the truth" ~ Anri Matsuoka had spent her whole life knowing what she was good at. Killing...
