To Be A Dove (TBAS Sequel)

Chapter 8

Even though I was screaming and crying, I smiled, because it was the only thing I could do to let him know I was here with him.
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"Take a seat, Emi." Shinohara spoke as he closed the door to his office. After a gruesome half hour of trying to get Rei to leave Emi for a few minutes, the boy finally accepted, on the condition that he would be allowed to rejoin the girl afterwards.

"I want to talk to you, not as an investigator. Think of me as your father for a few minutes."

Father?

A jagged memory stabbed at Emi's brain, of a body ripped to pieces in her old family home.

Her father. She had been sure that he'd come and save her from Big Madam's grasp. Now all she could see was an image, blurred and torn at the edges, of what could've once been him. Without a face. Without a name. The word Father meant nothing to her.

Despite the storm that broke way into her brain, Emi nodded.

"If you feel uncomfortable at any moment, we can stop." Shinohara warned, right before taking a seat in front of her. There was still a box of donuts miraculously leftover from his conversation with Rei. Shinohara opened it without hesitation, taking one for himself before passing the box to Emi.

The smell hit her senses first. It was so familiar, yet so lost between the crevices of her memory. Her fingers twitched as she took one and brought it to her mouth.

"Emi, do you remember your life before you were brought into the world of ghouls?"

The girl shook her head, allowing her shoulders to drop as she experienced an explosion of flavor atop her tongue, the donut powdering its way from her teeth to her throat.

After years of denial, of broken dreams and shattered hope, she admitted for the first time.

"Big Madam killed both of my parents." Emi said, a hint of unrecognized pain in her voice. "That's all I remember. "

"And she abducted you."

"Yeah," Emi confirmed as she brought another donut to her mouth, sinking further into her seat. "That's where I met Rei."

Shinohara pushed his back forward, leaning his upper body on his elbows that were propped against his knees.

"And the others?"

"Big Madam sold me to Madam A, and that's how I met the others."

Shinohara stayed silent, attempting to conjure worlds where Emi's story aligned. So much had happened during her short lifetime, the older could not begin to form a coherent map of events.

"Did you ever have a clear understanding of your localization?"

Emi wracked her brain for an answer. However, all she could see when she looked back was a thick haze surrounding her memories.

"I was always kept indoors." She sighed, helping herself to a drink that was set on the table. "Madam A would sometimes assign us missions outdoors, but we'd be transported in a van, so I couldn't really see where we were going."

"I understand." Shinohara replied, feeling nowhere close to understanding the girl. However, he was committed to her case, seeing as the girl still had potential of being redirected to the right path.

"I have a question for you." Emi broke the older out of his thoughts, and he immediately noticed the change in the atmosphere around her.

Emi's nails dug crevices into the armrest of her chair, her fingertips turning white from the pressure. Her jaw loostened, eager for words to come out, but her mind had not yet formulated them. The man waited in silence, giving her time to speak.