To the End.

Chapter Fifteen

Kazuki glanced over at the empty passenger seat next to him.

It wasn't very hard to shut her up, but it wasn't possible to get rid of her just yet. After all, Shioko wasn't dead. Normally, Kazuki loved the thrill of a kill. He put thought into each one, and every little detail had to be perfect. Shioko's death had already been planned, but with the police snooping around, his plans were ruined. Why did they have to get involved? Why did they have to put their noses in business that didn't include them? Shioko was supposed to die in his most entertaining way to date, but now he had to settle for something less. Much less. And he wasn't thrilled in even the tiniest bit.

His fingers tapped along the steering wheel as he simply sat. He'd long since stopped the car on the side of the road. Fortunately for him, there was no one on that particular road. They were a ways away from the city still, and he had no intentions of moving just yet. Where was he supposed to go? Toward Sakai-shi would just lead him straight into the hands of the police that were probably searching high and low for him --or were they? Was it all just in his head? Was he just making things worse by being paranoid? Had they already infiltrated his home and found any remnants of Naora or Kaneko? What if he missed something? A speck of blood in the attic that could be traced back to either woman or a stray hair. What if something so simple had been missed? And what if that took him down?

He tightened his hands on the wheel briefly, turned on the ignition once more and made a U-turn as he began driving aimlessly once again. Heading back to Osaka was a bad idea, and he wasn't dumb enough to even return to his home prefecture. As far as he was concerned, there was no home to return to; no family, no friends. Just a house that would soon be crawling with policemen and women, and he had to get as far away as he possibly could before they could find him.

But where would he go?

Tokyo was too chaotic for his taste, and what if he was traced back there? What if someone remembered seeing him with Shioko and could point him out?

No.

Too paranoid to return there.

Going east seemed like a better idea. He wasn't sure where he intended to go, but all he knew was that he'd never gone in that direction before. Outside of Osaka and Tokyo, Kazuki had never really done any traveling. Even as a child, his family had only taken him to a few places in the surrounding areas of Sakai-shi. They weren't known for traveling or going on vacations like some families. They usually stayed in Sakai-shi, at least Kazuki did. If he left, there would be no way of finding him.

But a thought suddenly popped into his mind: "The police have my number. Aren't the police capable of tracking a phone?"

He thought back to the many crime shows and documentaries he'd watched. Each one was a new inspiration for him, but he took some other kind of advice as well. There were a few where cell phones had come in handy, in terms of the police. In one episode of a show, Kazuki remembered it particularly because of the boldness of the crime, two men barged into a high school girl's home one morning before school and kidnapped her. The parents were unable to grab the girl, unaware that someone had come to their door. Only a younger brother saw the crime and heard the kidnappers tell them not to call the police. But in the end, the police were still called, and somehow through it all, a cell phone was tracked. What was it they said? Pinged off a tower? Kazuki couldn't remember, but that phone was what ultimately brought down those kidnappers and landed the girl safely back home with her parents.

He didn't want that.

He didn't want Shioko to ever be found, nor did he want himself to be found either.

As much as he didn't want to, there was no choice but to get rid of his phone. It wasn't like the device held anything of any importance. There were no photos of himself with friends or any of the women he had been in contact with. There were no photos to show proof of its owner in any form. All the phone contained were the many songs he enjoyed and a few apps he kept to hold his interest while he was waiting for something. He could always buy a new phone and hope no one ever found a way to contact him, but it'd have to wait.

He continued to drive until he came across a ditch along the side of the road. Among the weeds and wildflowers growing, there was a small body of water, probably from the previous night's rain. It wasn't a lot of water, but it was enough to ruin his phone, or at least he hoped. The car came to a stop long enough for its driver to toss the phone out the window. Without a word or thought, Kazuki continued on with his journey.

What was east? Which prefectures could he hope to run into? Aomori was somewhere around there, wasn't it? The distance would be long, but it was ideal. It would take him further and further away from the police that was looking for him. What were the odds that they'd find him? How would they be able to get into his head enough to know which direction he would go? How could they get into his head anyways without being able to talk to him or just see him? His home would surely give them some details about who he was, but that wouldn't be of any help. Aomori was a place he'd never thought of visiting before, and therefore, he had no connections to it whatsoever.

Taking a deep breath, Kazuki finally smiled.

"I hope you'll enjoy the trip, Shioko." He yelled, leaning his head back some as if the woman was in the backseat and not in the trunk where he had put her unconscious body. "It may be a little uncomfortable in there, but I promise I'll make things better once we're there."