The Accompanist

Chapter 24: Butterflies

This chapter is from 4 perspectives... There was probably a better way to write this, but I'm not sure what it would be. If you think of a way to rearrange the events, let me know!

Shiki grumbled in pain as he sat up. It was the middle of the night. He was in his own room, his own bed, a hole through his shoulder. It wasn't the first time he'd gotten shot, but it didn't change the fact that it hurt. Bad. Even with Mr. Sadowski's special numbing medicine. And he wasn't falling asleep anytime soon.

With a groan and a sigh, he pulled himself to his feet and walked down the stairs.

The blood from the day before was almost cleaned up, but the remaining red stains on the marble took away his apatite for a snack. There was one guy in the basement, trapped for information purposes. And since he didn't see his dad in the foyer, he was likely starting his interrogation... Either that or asleep.

If it wasn't for Mr. Yaketsuko, there would have been a lot more casualties. Isuke's dad was a pro among pros. He slipped into the room unnoticed, killed a few guys, got Shiki out of the way, then pressed the button on the wall that gunned the rest of the men down. And just like that, he went along his merry way to make sure Sayaka was safe.

Shiki wondered how he could smile after killing several people. Seeing people dead in front of him never made Shiki smile. It always left him with a feeling of guilt and remorse. What if those people had families? Wives? Children?

It was no use thinking about it now.

With a yawn, he opened the secret panel in the wall pushed open the door, descending the steps to the completely white room. But when he finally reached the bottom, a man was staring at him with a look of horrified shock and a cellphone.

Shiki had a gun. The man did not.

So, he walked up to his crouched figure and held out his hand. "Where'd you get that?"

"I-I just--"

"Answer the question." He pressed the barrel to his head.

"...The floor."

Shiki raised and eyebrow and took the phone from the man. It was Sayaka's. And there was a notification from an unknown number.

Thankfully, he had seen Boutarou enter the passcode and took note to memorize it just in case something happened. He disregarded the man who had likely been tortured already and walked up the stairs. With ease, he unlocked her cracked phone. And what he saw was a message that made his brows knit in disbelief.

Don't call this number. I stole some random dude at a convenience store's phone. My cruddy old man is going after your accompanist's. I'm taking a gamble and telling you about it. Make sure that blonde idiot's family is out of the house by 6am tomorrow morning, or they'll have a rather rude awakening.

Cruddy old man... It had to be someone who had Sayaka's number memorized. But it wasn't Boutarou. It wasn't Mrs. Umari. And that could only mean that it was... Katsumi.

Shiki checked the time. It was 4am. Why... Why would Katsumi go so far as to leak the information? Was it a trap?

There were several options.

If it was real, Katsumi must have had some sort of motive... Maybe Katsumi fell for Sayaka. If that was the case, he would try to take her. Not warn her. And his goal would be to separate her from Boutarou.

If they had access to some technology wizard, the notice could easily be a trap... There was always one way to confirm.

Shiki pressed the call button on the number. Three rings later, there was a deep, tired voice on the other end of the line.