The Accompanist

Chapter 40: Back Stabbing Innocence

Shiki panicked. He didn't have time to rework the plan. In fact, he reworked it hundreds of times and found his solution to be the best and most logical one there was. Boutarou shouldn't have woken up. He didn't wake up for anything. He even calculated for the possibility of him waking up if Sayaka left his arms. That's why he didn't pull her out of the room to talk to her.

He slowly put his hands on the back of his head, submitting to the monster towering over the bed before him. Boutarou was a good, logical and kindhearted person. But he also knew what happened to kindhearted people when they were pushed to their breaking point. And Boutarou had been pushed. And shoved. And kicked on the ground. He was barely holding it together as it was.

Shiki planned to channel that rage and use it on Mr. Kurata's minions. He knew Boutarou was able to fight without killing, just like Mr. Utsushima and Mr. Umari could. They'd been training him since he was a kid, secretly sending him to dojos after Mr. Umari's disappearance. His Sensei, Konoichiro, had been trained by Mr. Utsushima himself.

But now, he wasn't certain that he could escape the room with his life if he didn't wrack his brain for a solution.

The voice that crackled out of the cell-phone in his hand nearly scared him half to death.

"Boutarou-kun?"

Boutarou flinched, but he didn't make a move to shoot or harm anyone. "Shut it, Sayuri."

"I know it may not sound like the best plan," she said, her voice disgustingly soft to Shiki's ears, "but I think you should trust Shiki and Katsumi."

Something dangerous was reflected in Boutarou's eyes. Something cold. Something unforgiving.

"Sayuri," Shiki hissed, "now is not the time."

"I'm sorry for what I did to you in the practice room," she continued despite Shiki's wishes. "And I know this might be hard for you. But it's either this and you can be free, or you spend the rest of your life running from these guys. Don't you want to finish school? To keep playing piano? To go on dates with your... girlfriend?"

Boutarou's eye twitched. It seemed like she was actually getting through to him. 

"What I'm trying to say is this... I think it would be best if you let her go. And then after my father is arrested and this is all over, you'll be able to spend uninterrupted time together without the threat of someone breathing down your neck. Wouldn't you rather have that then to drag this out for another month? Years? This is your chance."

She had a point. A good point. A point that Shiki wouldn't have been able to get across to him, even if he tried. Clutching the phone like his life depended on it, he looked firmly back at his best friend.

And Boutarou lowered the taser and pepper spray. He looked down at Sayaka. Sayaka looked back up at him.

He slowly got onto his knees, sitting down to be on eyelevel with the ones who were already standing. His gaze serious, he stared at the phone in Shiki's hand. Breathing a deep breath in through his nose, he let it out. "Thirty minutes... Give us thirty minutes alone. And after that, the decision is up to her... But if she says no, I'd rather die beating the crap out of you all then let her go through something like that."

Shiki's cheeks tinged pink. But he ignored his suspected reasoning behind Boutarou's request and lowered his hands from behind his head. "...Okay."

"Won't they just try and run away," mumbled Katsumi.

Mitsuo just smiled. "Nope. In fact, I'd bet money that they're not going to move from that bed."

.  .  .