Chapter Text
Tadaomi really should have been better than this. Really, an experienced agent like him shouldn’t have fallen for the obvious ‘fake invitation’ trick. And, even in a situation where he did, someone in 3-E should have figured out the ruse before they all wound up drugged and kidnapped.
Because, say what you would about Shiro, but after who knows how long of a tenure manipulating that boy, he certainly had the skills to copy Itona’s writing style with a stunning level of accuracy. Such skills that, when each member of 3-E had received a personal message from Itona, asking them to meet up at the old classroom – to talk, to blow off steam, work on some project or a million other excuses – no one had questioned it.
Because why would they? It had been less than a month since the whole class had seen Shiro vanish into the Shield of Earth, right before they’d succeeded in eliminating their ‘target.’ Everyone was so raw, had been leaning on each other so much - between all of that, a request to meet up at the old campus for a heart-to-heart was hardly out of the ordinary.
But, for all of that, Tadaomi still couldn’t stop beating himself up. Not when he woke up strapped down in a stark and distinctly threatening medical facility. Not when Shiro entered, miraculously alive and manically grinning, to gleefully inform him that he was about to witness himself, his students, and the woman he loved being turned into ‘soldiers’ for the mad scientist.
Tadaomi had no idea what made the man deluded enough to think that any of them would ever work for Shiro, let alone what he needed ‘soldiers’ for. But what was clear from this declaration was that Shiro intended to torture him in particular, to give Tadaomi had no choice but to watch, strapped down and behind glass, as each of the people he cared for most in the world was wheeled into a room opposite him, fed into a machine, and pumped full of chemicals and electricity until their bodies shook like rag dolls. Forced to bear witness, Tadaomi screamed himself hoarse at the first few, but after a while, he fell into a numb silence, tears soaking his face as the ‘test subjects’ just kept coming and coming.
The worst part of the sick experiment to watch, though, came at the very end of each session, after each person was removed from that terrible machine. The whole thing was horrific, but this was the worst part because he knew exactly what Shiro was doing.
An injection of anti-matter, right to the back of the neck. He was giving them tentacles.
When he saw that that was the culmination of the procedure, Tadaomi had had to admit, much to his terror, that Shiro just might know what he was doing. They had all seen the mad scientist inject himself with antimatter the night of Koro-sensei’s death, and they knew just how unstable and dangerous that substance was. The fact that it hadn’t blown up, killed him, or driven him insane (well, any more than he already was, since he was clearly still competent enough to operate complex machinery and handle toxic chemicals), left the distinct possibility that he had somehow managed to stabilize the antimatter.
Because there were far easier ways to torture people, ways that didn’t involve doing presumably painful things while the victim was unconscious and that didn’t risk giving the victim immense power if they managed to escape. From a revenge perspective, none of this made sense. Which meant it had to be about something else.
Tadaomi could understand revenge. Could hopefully come up with a plan to escape, if their pain was all Shiro wanted. But this? He’d thought the claim that they’d become ‘soldiers’ was absurd – but, if Shiro could stabilize antimatter … could he have also a way of forcing them to comply? They were already well aware of what Shiro could do with just one former student of the Reaper. What could he do with 29?
Tadaomi had no way to judge how long the first 28 procedures took. They happened one after the other, no breaks in between, so that, by the end, Tadaomi was so strung out emotionally he couldn’t even rightly say how tired his body was.
He didn’t even put up any resistance when Shiro finally came for him, wheeled him to the other side of that glass and strapped him into the machine.
Shiro obviously didn’t bother knocking Tadaomi out and the pain he subjected him to was beyond comprehension. It felt like something was drilling down into his soul, rearranging him on the most basic level. Moments in and he felt like he’d been blown apart and shouldn’t even exist as a single being anymore, but the pain just kept coming.
Through it all, all Tadaomi could think about was the others. He desperately hoped being unconscious meant they didn’t experience this pain. And he promised himself that, if he survived this, he would find a way to get them out. Even if he had to go through this a thousand times over, he would do everything he could to give those kids a chance to live.
***
“Karasuma-sensei, wake up.” A shake. “Oh god, please, wake up…”
Tadaomi struggled to open his eyes. He didn’t want to go back to the pain. But as he clawed his way back to consciousness, he was surprised. Everything hurt, yes, but it was the familiar sensation of muscle soreness, nothing like the deep, searing pain he’d been subjected to in that machine.
He groaned and raised a hand to his head. Wait, I shouldn’t be able to do that. Shiro had me strapped down.
Disoriented, his eyes fell on the figure standing over him.
“Oh thank god,” the figure said. “Karasuma-sensei, we–”
“Terasaka?” Tadaomi shot up, ignoring the dizziness the motion induced. He grabbed his former student’s shoulders a little desperately. “Are you ok? Where are the others?”
Terasaka nodded. His breath quivered as he said, “…Yeah, I think I’m ok. The others…” He gestured to the room around them, which causing Tadaomi to turn.
He did a quick count and took a calming breath when he saw that all of 3-E was here. About a third of them were still unconscious, and the awake students were freeing the last few from their restraints. In confusion, Tadaomi looked down at the table he’d been lying on – yes, it did look like he’d been restrained. They all had.
So, how did they get out? Was this some further game of Shiro’s?
“Terasaka, how did you get out of the restraints?”
The boy looked down, seemed nervous at the question, if Terasaka could be said to ever look unsure. “The straps on mine must have been defective.”
“You brute forced your way out?”
The boy nodded, still not meeting his eyes. That explanation really didn’t make sense. Shiro was too careful to let a mistake like that slip through, and Tadaomi knew first-hand how strong those bindings were. If there was a way to break them, he certainly would have found it while he’d been forced to watch the entire class get tortured.
But, trap or not, Tadaomi couldn’t really be more on his guard then he already was. And, regardless, they were out, and there were more important things right now.
He swung his legs off the table, making to stand, but his legs spasmed and he almost fell to the floor.
“Karasuma-sensei!” Terasaka grabbed him to keep him from face-planting.
“Terasaka don’t–” Tadaomi was a big man, he could seriously injure the teenager by putting his whole weight on him…
Or he should have, but the 15-year-old was holding him up like it was nothing.
“Terasaka, how…”
The boy wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Can you do anything for the others, Karasuma-sensei?”
Tadaomi blinked and looked more closely at the students scattered around the room. Their behavior was distinctly off. Isogai, always the best in a crisis, was visibly rattled and was standing stock still, flipping his head back and forth like he was watching an invisible conversation play out. Nagisa, never one to back down from anything, was cowering in the corner, curled in on himself, eyes screwed shut and hands pushed against his ears like he was trying to keep out a loud sound. Tadaomi watched Okajima try unsuccessfully several times to get ahold of the door handle, right before Okano ran face first into a wall.
But maybe the most concerning of all, Tadaomi made eye contact with a clearly terrified Karma for a second, just before the boy completely vanished.
Tadaomi let out a strangled cry and made a jerky movement toward where the boy had been, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Spinning around, he saw it was Karma, suddenly behind him and looking desperate.
“Karasuma-sensei, what’s happening??” Karma had never looked more like a scared child than he did right then.
“I don’t…” He took a deep breath and grabbed Karma’s shoulders in reassurance. “Just breathe, it’s going to be ok. I’ll get us out of here, I promise.”
It was probably irresponsible to promise that, but these kids were clearly terrified, and they needed to believe they were going to get out to get calm enough to have any hope of actually doing it.
Karma started to take a deep breath, then seemed to blur for a second, like when Koro-sensei would make doubles. When his form settled again, his face was wet with tears that had clearly been falling down his face for some time.
The rest of the room was devolving into more and more chaos around them, but Tadaomi kept his attention on the child in front of him. He had to stay calm – clearly, Karma’s distress wasn’t helping with whatever was going on.
It crossed his mind that Karma’s behavior could be explained if he could move at Mach 20. But that wouldn’t account for what any of the others were doing – for all his abilities, Koro-sensei had never been very strong, so his powers wouldn’t explain Terasaka getting out of the restraints, and neither Isogai’s nor Nagisa’s emotional distress looked painful in the way in the way Itona and Kayano had described the tentacles talking to them. Besides, those two had only been able to move their tentacles at Mach 20, not their bodies – and no one was displaying tentacles, nor had they started talking in his head yet.
Whatever the cause, calming Karma down was the first priority. “Hey, hey, just breathe for me, ok?”
His voice sounded a little desperate even to his own ears. His eyes searched the ceiling, trying to find a way to stay calm. If it’s not the tentacles, then what could it be? How much worse is it?
And then his eyes fell on the small window at the top of the door to their room. Beyond that door, Shiro was looking in, appearing as surprised as Tadaomi was at the scene beyond it.
But then the mad scientist met Tadaomi’s eyes, saw the desperate way he was trying to comfort a crying child, and his face broke out into a feral smile.
Pure, unadulterated rage sprung up inside Tadaomi. How far gone was this man, to delight in the suffering of children? In the suffering of Tadaomi’s children?
Something inside Tadaomi snapped.
And the world exploded in white.
***
This time, when Tadaomi woke up, everything was quiet. He sat up from where he’d been lying on the floor, holding his head as the world spun. It felt like every cell in his body was vibrating with energy, like the adrenaline rush you got alongside nausea after getting off a rollercoaster.
Glancing around, he noted several things about his surroundings. First, everyone still seemed to be here – thank god. Second, the majority of the students were still asleep, and the couple that were awake seemed to have abandoned their strange behavior in favor of just staring blankly around them.
Third, the lighting in the room was completely different.
That last might not seem significant, but Tadaomi had been certain Shiro was holding them in an interior room of whatever facility he was using for his experiments. He had seen nothing but florescent lights since they’d been kidnapped. But now, all the lights in their room were out and the golden light of dusk was pouring through the small window in their only door.
Curious and wary, Tadaomi struggled to his feet, wincing at his still-sore muscles and the spinning room, then stumbled over to the door and looked out.
He expected to see one of the stark white hallways Shiro had rolled him down before, maybe a guard or two. What he saw instead utterly baffled him.
It looked like the hallway had been completely demolished, abandoned and given over to the wilderness. The far wall had collapsed in on itself, saplings were sprouting up between the tiles on the floor, and moss hung down from the remaining ceiling. Tadaomi had assumed the facility was underground, but the broken wall gave way to a wild green on a hill overlooking a coastal city, the sun setting straight ahead over the ocean.
Tadaomi tried the door. At the slightest push, it fell outward, hinges entirely rusted through and frame nonexistent. He watched in stunned silence as the window shattered when the door crashed onto the dirty floor.
Tadaomi leaned down, tore a strip of fabric from the bottom of one leg of his pants, and used it to pick up a large piece of glass, before wrapping the fabric around one end. Could never be too prepared. He turned to the several awake students.
“Who feels well enough to walk?”
The kids looked at each other. Kurahashi spoke first. “I feel fine.” Yoshida and Maehara nodded their agreement.
“Alright. The building looks abandoned, but we need to confirm the situation before we make any other moves. He gestured to the broken glass as the kids made their way over. “Pick up the biggest piece you can and wrap it in some fabric. Hold it carefully, even with the fabric, it won’t be like a normal knife handle.”
Hesitantly, they followed his instructions. Then, the group stepped carefully over the rest of the broken glass and into the hallway. As they made their way, checking adjacent rooms and finding them similarly decayed, they heard nothing besides the rustling of the wind in the leaves outside.
The building seemed like it had been all one level, arranged in a large rectangle. They were making their way down the last leg of it, back to their original hallway, when a bird called and Kurahashi jumped.
Tadaomi turned to her concerned. It wasn’t like her to get freaked out by wildlife. “What is it?”
She looked at him incredulously. “You don’t hear that voice?” The bird called again. “There!”
Tadaomi shook his head slowly, concern mounting. “What’s it’s saying?” The tentacles must be manifesting.
Kurahashi blushed. “I … don’t think I should say. It’s vulgar.”
Tadaomi opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out. That certainly didn’t sound like tentacles. Kurahashi shrunk a little. “Can we go back to the others now?”
Tadaomi nodded. “Yes. Let’s get back.” There wasn’t anything he could do until they were somewhere safe, in any case.
Just then, Maehara tripped over a protruding tile and yelped. Tadaomi reached out reflexively – the boy was holding broken glass, if he fell on it, it could be disastrous – but his help was rendered unnecessary when Maehara stabilized himself by floating in midair.
“Ahh! What?” the boy foundered.
“Here, let me help.” Tadaomi grabbed his shoulders and helped him maneuver back to the ground. That was one of Koro-sensei’s powers, they must be manifesting even though we still look normal?
All three were looking at him, obviously scared. He took a deep breath. “Let’s get back to the others. Whatever’s happening, we’ll get through it together.” They nodded hesitantly and followed him back.
Arriving back in the room, they found almost everyone awake. When she saw them, Irina got up from where she’d been checking on one of the unconscious students and walked over. She put her arm around Tadaomi, but otherwise made no display of affection, her understated demeanor speaking like little else to the direness of their situation.
Tadaomi took a deep breath and addressed the room. “The building is abandoned and surrounded by wilderness on all sides. The woods are thick, so we couldn’t see if there are any nearby structures, unfortunately. It looks like we’re on a hill over a city. Based on the sun, it’s probably about 6pm.”
“What city?” Terasaka demanded.
“We don’t know.” Maehara said. “It’s coastal, but we don’t recognize the skyline.” Tadaomi nodded.
There was a moment of silence, then Okuda voiced what was on their minds. “What now?”
Tadaomi turned to Irina. “How is everyone?”
She grimaced. “Everyone seems mostly ok. I think the others will wake up soon enough. But Karma’s running a pretty high fever. Otherwise…”
“Every time I move it’s like I’m on a high-powered trampoline. I can’t move at all without winding way farther than where I’m trying to step,” Okano said.
“I can’t pick anything up. It’s like things aren’t there when I go to touch them,” Okajima said.
“What did Shiro do to us?” Kayano asked. “I thought he’d inject us with tentacles.”
“He did,” Tadaomi confirmed. “He made me watch. But he also put us in a machine that … I have absolutely no idea what it did.” He sighed. “Kayano, Itona. Do you feel anything like when you had tentacles before?”
“No,” Itona’s tone was sure. He held Tadaomi’s gaze. “I wouldn’t hide it. But I can’t feel them talking to me at all.”
“Me neither,” Kayano confirmed.
“That’s something, at least. Maybe I was wrong, it’s not like I could confirm the contents of what exactly he put in the syringes… Anyway, I think the first thing we need to do is go to the police.”
Okuda spoked up again. “But Karasuma-sensei… what can they… Koro-sensei was the only one who could take tentacles out.” All the kids murmured their echoed fear.
Tadaomi pursed his lips. “I won’t let you become lab rats. I promise.”
“You can’t promise that!” Terasaka’s voice was angry. “They wouldn’t let Koro-sensei live, even if we stabilized him. Why would they let us?”
“I’ll die before I let anyone take more of your childhoods. I know I can’t promise I’ll fix it, but there is nothing I’ll hold back in trying.”
They stared at him silently, a few of them nodding. Then, Isogai spoke in a soft voice. “I can hear all of your voices in my head.” Every eye in the room snapped to him. “We really are freaks now, Karasuma-sensei.”
Well, that was concerning. This really was something different from antimatter – or, at least, different from any application the Ministry of Defense was aware of.
But still.
“You’re not freaks. Not any more than Koro-sensei was, anyway.”
Irina spoke up then. “If the octopus could be a freak, and still be the best damn teacher in the world, then don’t sell yourselves short. Since when does E class give up? We might not have a straightforward path, but we’ll find a way. Make it if we have to.”
There were murmurs of agreement, and that seemed to mollify them a bit.
Tadaomi took a deep breath. “I still think going to the police is the best bet. We need to get you back to your families, I’m sure we’ve all been reported missing by now. I promise I’ll be careful not to reveal too much about what Shiro did until I talk to someone we can trust, ok?” There were murmurs of general agreement. “Alright, good. Everyone stay here, I’m going to go try and find a police station.”
As expected, the protests were immediate, but Tadaomi held up a hand. “I know you all want to come. But we don’t have any shoes, we barely have clothes, and we’d have to get down a mountain. Okajima and Kayano, you’re both allergic to bees, and you’re out of your minds if you think I’d let you walk through a forest at dusk without an epi-pen. Besides, some of you just told me that you can’t even move after what Shiro did. And Karma doesn’t look to be waking up anytime soon. There’s no way we can move the whole group.”
“But that doesn’t mean you have to go alone!” Nagisa protested.
Tadaomi shook his head. “The bigger the group we send down the mountain, the more attention we draw. We don’t want Shiro to find us while we’re making our escape. One person alone has the best chance of going undetected. With the rest of you staying here, those of you who are feeling well enough can protect the group better if he does come for you or if you’re forced to make an escape with everyone.”
“Karasuma’s right,” Irina said. “Besides, we should try and get a handle on all the … things … that are happening to us if we want to try and hide them.”
“Right. If we decide it’s best to hide them, we can’t do that if some of you can’t walk.” Everyone nodded, though several didn’t look too pleased about it. “Alright. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
He looked at Irina. “Maybe send a group to scout a nearby location. If I’m not back by morning, it would be good to get the group somewhere Shiro doesn’t know about before doing anything else.” She nodded, squeezed his side, then let him go. One of his favorite things about Irina was that the way she’d come to understand the understated way he expressed affection. He’d had to learn to get over his shyness and state his feelings plainly, but he’d also found that, as long as she knew that he cared in no uncertain terms, she really didn’t need grand gestures to prove it – his constant presence and unwavering trust spoke more to her than all the vapid things she could easily manipulate out of creepy old men. So, he nodded to her, and she understood how much he cared just from the fact that he trusted her so completely to take care of the kids they both loved so much.
Tadaomi turned to go. Kurahashi ran up and gave him a hug and he chuckled to himself. It was good that some things never changed. “Be safe, Karasuma-sensei!”
He ruffled her hair. “I will, little knife.”
***
Getting down the mountain was not an easy task. It was made all the worse by the fact that it normally wouldn’t have been very challenging at all – Tadaomi had to keep reminding himself to step carefully to minimize the damage to his feet, while every instinct in his body was screaming at him to hurry as the sun went down. The last leg of the journey was particularly perilous, as he was barely able to see anything, between the foliage and the cloudy night.
But Tadaomi wasn’t a trained government agent for nothing, and he made it. When he stumbled out onto a highway, he turned in the direction he saw the most lights – hopefully, that way was farther down the mountain and into the city.
He was so worried about trying to stay on the non-existent shoulder of this deserted, thin mountain highway that he almost missed the huge billboard. When he did look at it, seemed like an advertisement for a high school (since when did high schools need to advertise?) and read: “Go to Yuuei for a Truly Plus Ultra Education! #1 Hero Program in the Country, Right in Your Own Backyard!” It showed a photo of some superhero Tadaomoi didn’t recognize, flexing and looking impressive.
Hero program? Are they trying to entice kids who like superheroes? But why wouldn’t they advertise what their program actually prepares them for?
He shook his head perplexed, but as he made his way into the city, he was treated to more billboards with superheroes advertising just about everything imaginable – exercise wear, restaurants, furniture, anything. Why were all those companies using the exact same marketing strategy? And why were there so many different superheroes involved? He had yet to see one he even recognized, and he didn’t think he was that out of touch with popular culture. He’d taught middle school for a year after all.
Even weirder, he passed several superhero cosplayers. And not only did their costumes look incredibly involved for cosplay, some of them had fans running up to them to ask for autographs. Then there were others who weren’t dressed as heroes, but were … weird. He passed a few people with strangely colored skin, and several with other oddities, like extra limbs or horns. Maybe this city had a lot of a lot of superhero cons or something?
People gave him strange looks as he walked through the streets, and understandably so. He was barefoot, dirty, and not doing a great job at concealing his makeshift glass knife under his shirt (he knew it made him look suspicious, but he didn’t want to get rid of the weapon until he knew he was safe). He probably looked like he’d just escaped from a mental hospital. Because of that, he had a hard time approaching anyone to ask for directions and wound up just wondering for a while.
Eventually, one of the cosplayers approached him and asked if he needed help. This ‘hero’ was a tall, tan, buff woman with bunny ears and a very revealing jumpsuit. The ears must have been incredibly advanced animatronics, they moved like real animal ears.
And she was really committed to the hero bit. When he told her he was looking for the nearest police station, she insisted on accompanying him. Fortunately, it wasn’t far, or he might have insisted on going himself. On the way, she kept asking questions, clearly looking for him to tell her more about his situation, but he dodged these as best he could.
When they got there, she held the door open for him and then followed him inside. He was just trying to figure out a tactful way to thank her that also would encourage her to leave him to the real professionals, when the attendant at the front desk waved at her.
“Miruko! How’s it going?”
The cosplayer walked up to the desk and leaned casually against it. “Oh, you know. Same old, same old. Pretty quiet night. Not that I’m complaining!” She laughed, ears twitching, then gestured to Tadaomi. “Found this gent wandering the streets. He asked me to take him to the nearest police station but seemed a bit reluctant to say why.” She didn’t say the last meanly, more like a playful jab, but her eyes were sharp and searching.
Tadaomi approached the desk, trying to keep his posture as no-nonsense and dignified as possible. The hard part here would be convincing these people that he wasn’t an escaped mental patient, but actually a kidnapped government agent, and he hoped his comportment could put him on the way to achieving that.
He glanced at the rabbit-hero-cosplayer but, since she didn’t look to be leaving any time soon, decided that he’d rather let her hear the broad strokes of his situation than try and win a confrontation right now, especially since she seemed to be friends with this officer. He turned back to the policeman. “Evening officer. My name is Tadaomi Karasuma. I’m a senior agent with the Ministry of Defense. Myself and my team were recently the victims of a kidnapping by an enemy of the state. He was holding us in a facility near here but seems to have abandoned it. Several of my team are unwell, so I came into the city to alert my superiors of my whereabouts and to get help.” The officer did not seem to be buying it. “If I could speak to your commanding officer, they might have access to a database where my credentials could be authenticated. Unfortunately, my captor took my identification.”
The man nodded tentatively, clearly deciding to humor him – his demeanor was not that of someone who believed there were multiple kidnapped people nearby, injured and in danger. “Sure… How about I take down your basic information to start?” Tadaomi nodded. It was better than nothing. “Tadaomi Karsuma, you said?”
“Karasuma.”
The man nodded, jotting it down on some form. “Date of birth?”
“August 15, 1988.”
The man’s pen froze and when he looked back at Tadaomi, he seemed angry. “Ok, guy, this is a police station. We do not have the resources to spend on practical jokes.”
“Why would I joke about my birthday?”
The officer huffed. “Hell if I know. But if you aren’t interested in telling the truth, you can leave. You clearly aren’t in need of any real help.”
Tadaomi was getting a little desperate now. He absolutely was in need of help and he had no idea why this man wasn’t taking him seriously, reacting so badly when he’d barely said anything. “No, I really need help. I’m telling the truth, I assure you!”
The officer was nodding to Miruko at this point, looking like he wanted her to throw him out, when a man in a suit interjected, “What seems to be the problem here?”
The officer rolled his eyes. “Just some jokester, detective. Seems a bit old for such a stupid prank, but he’s insisting he was born in 1988.”
“I was!” Tadaomi said, a little desperately.
The detective’s eyes narrowed. “And what brings you to our station this evening?” Tadaomi repeated what he’d told the officer at the desk and the man’s eyebrows tweaked up a little, as if in surprise.
Then he nodded and turned to the others. “Well, he’s not lying at least. I can take it from here, Officer.”
They looked surprised, but didn’t object as the man lead Tadaomi deeper into the station. “I’m Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi. It’s nice to meet you, agent.” It was clear from how he said it he still didn’t really believe Tadaomi – though why he’d stick up for him in light of that, Tadaomi couldn’t guess.
He returned the gesture in any case. “Likewise.” Then his attention was pulled to an officer in the bullpen who looked very much like a human-sized cat. What the hell…
The detective gestured Tadaomi into a side room, and he followed, putting cat-related questions out of his mind. Strange cosplayers could wait – his kids were in danger.
He took a seat across from the detective. The room was small, but comfortable – not an interrogation cell, but more like a small conference room, complete with tv monitor and coffee machine.
“Now, why don’t you give me some more details about your situation.”
Tadaomi nodded. “I work for the Ministry of Defense, like I said. Last year, I was on assignment as part of Japan’s response to the Reaper threat. This recent kidnapping is connected to that case – something like settling a score, you could say. It’s certainly why we were targeted, in any case.” Dancing around revealing the strange occurrences with his kids made being specific difficult, to say nothing of how Shiro’s existence was entirely classified. “I obviously don’t have identification on me, but I can give you my employee number if you have access to any databases where it might be. Myself and the others were probably reported missing too, but I’m … well, I’m not really sure where we are, so I’m not sure if you can access those cases.”
“Where were you kidnapped from?”
“Kunugigaoka.” The detective nodded, then pulled a laptop out of his bag and proceeded to look something up.
After a moment, a noise that could only indicate an error played and the detective jerked back in surprise, real concern finally making an appearance on his face.
“It says here that all information about that kidnapping case is highly classified. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get anything at all…”
Tadaomi sighed. That wasn’t surprising, but it was inconvenient. Hopefully the detective would at least believe Tadaomi now…
Entirely unprompted, the TV fizzled to life. Tsukauchi turned around in surprise to look at it, but that reaction had nothing on Tadaomi’s face when Ritsu appeared, looking like an adult woman in her twenties.
“Karasuma-sensei! It’s so good to see you!”
“Ritsu… How…”
Tsukauchi jumped up so fast, he knocked his chair over and bowed low. “AIFA-sama!”
But Ritsu ignored both of their reactions. “Are the others with you? Are they safe?”
Tadaomi nodded, still stunned. “Yes. They’re all back at the facility where Shiro was holding us, although it looks like he just abandoned it for some reason. Everyone’s ok, as far as I can tell. I mean, Karma had a fever when I left, I think…”
Ritsu looked close to happy tears and Tsukauchi was just staring back and forth between the two of them, shocked.
“We’ll get them out, get them safe, I promise.”
“We… Ritsu, what are you doing here? Since when do you hack into police stations?”
Ritsu suddenly looked very sad. “Karasuma-sensei… I’m not really sure how to tell you this… But I haven’t seen anyone from 3-E in 232 years.”