The Accompanist

Chapter 21: Overflowing Feelings

Sorry, this chapter is the length of two. I didn't realize how long it became after all of the edits...

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Boutarou followed his father down the campus sidewalk, thoughts swirling through his head, anger stabbing his fingernails into his palm. They were dismissing his need to talk. His need for an explanation. They were chatting about old times.

This was normal. They were used to this. This... Whatever the heck this was. Mrs. Umari was laughing and holding her husband's arm without a care in the world. His dad was making jokes back and forth with Mr. Umari, insulting him and asking how prison was. And worst of all...

People just got shot. And hurt. In front of him. He'd seen it in movies, but he couldn't deny that his shaky hands weren't a result of his muscle soreness.

"So that's it, huh," he said, interrupting his father before he could call Mr. Umari a useless prisoner again. "We're just going to walk away from a gunfight with people passed out and bleeding in a school office... And you're all going to talk about what's for dinner?"

"Boutarou..." His father stepped back and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "It might be hard to believe, but this has been our life since we graduated college... Since we were practically your age. Don't think too hard about it. It's not something you should get involved in."

"People just died in front of me!"

"We didn't kill them," said Mrs. Umari, a smile on her face. "We just wounded them. Someone will come along and fix them up."

"Someone will come along?? What if another student finds them??"

Mr. Umari sighed. "Calm down. Those guys had backup banging on the doors. If our intel is correct, those weren't even any of the important members of the organization... Just some outsiders who are dedicated to taking your father down for a cash reward. And after seeing how beat up they were, their lackies aren't going to chase after us."

So people wanted to kill his father... For money. They were willing to risk everything for cash. These types of people really existed. And his father was involved with them. Boutarou himself was now involved with them. And those were the people... he had to... No. He was going to protect Sayaka from.

"That being said," Mr. Umari continued, "Where is my daughter? I heard she's with Shiki, which is never a good sign... But if Shiki's injured and you're not with her, she'd better be in a safe place."

He shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket and kicked a rock. His daughter. Saying it so casually, as if nothing was wrong. Then again, in this situation, he wasn't really the bad guy. Mrs. Umari was. "She's in an internet café, asleep."

"Asleep? At this time of the day?" Mrs. Umari put her hand on her chin. "That doesn't sound very much like Sayaka..."

"You..." He wanted to lash out at them for not knowing about Katsumi. For not paying any attention to her. For letting it get to this point. But then again, he knew how stubborn Sayaka was. He was the person closest to her, and he wouldn't have known anything if Sayuri didn't bring him to that concert. And maybe, just like how he didn't want his family to know about his panic attacks, it was something Sayaka herself didn't want them to know about.

Shiki also must've withheld the information about Katsumi... So he decided to be brief.

"We gave her sleeping meds so she wouldn't freak out."

"As long as she's safe." Mr. Umari was the first to respond. "I'm going to go check on the Nakagawa's situation."

Boutarou gritted his teeth. "You're... not going to go see her?"