Karasu no Tengoku

Chapter Twelve: The Crown’s Diamond

“Hideki!!! Hideki!! Are you here???”
“I’m here!! Come upstairs to the third story!!”
(Kaito climbed the stair and saw Hideki and approached him quickly)
“Hideki?!?! Are you alright????”
“Don’t mind me…I’m perfectly fine, the blood is hers…”
“Who…ah, is she??”
“Yeah, she’s the vampire…”
“Oh god…”
(He crouched near the girl and saw her face…)
“Isn’t she??”
“Yeah…she’s the girl from the Russian café on the station…”
“I can’t believe it…”
(Hideki began to stand up and Kaito helped him…)
“I’m fine really…”
“Ok….soo…why did you call me??”
“I want to take her to my house…I want her to confess about who’s controlling her…”
“But it’s broad daylight…I know, hand over your raincoat…”
“You came by car??”
“Yeah…yours…jeje…”
“Well…”
(Kaito covered her with the black raincoat and carried her by the armpits while Hideki did the same by the knees, they went down the staircases carefully and then through the back door into the alley, Kaito’d left the car next the backdoor and they lied down the girl on the back seat, Kaito got on the passenger’s sit and Hideki drove out of Kabuki Chou as quick as he could…)

“Wha…aah!”
(Kaito turned and saw the girl was waking up, and hat the sunlight had suddenly touched her arm but didn’t say anything, Hideki wasn’t that lenient…)
“Stupid! It’s broad daylight…stay under the raincoat otherwise you’ll kill yourself!!”
“Damn it…stupid fox…”
“Fox??”
“Don’t ask…”
(They got to Hideki’s house and they got off the car, Hideki instructed Kaito to hold her down while they went inside, he opened the inner door and they went to the living room, Hideki went up to the attic while Kaito sat on the couch and sat the girl next to him, holding her down until Hideki came back…)
“And what are you??? His bitch??”
(She sneered…)
“Sure…shut up, you’re a fake anyway…”
“A fake?? Just what proof do you hold of that, old snake??”
“Oh…do I seem old to you?? Don’t push your luck; do you think he’s the only one that knows a lot about vampires?? You’re way more stupid than we thought then…”
“Shut your trap!!”
“Oh come on, don’t be so vicious with your captors!!
“Shut up fox!!”
(Hideki was walking down the stairs with a bit of rope and a pair of handcuffs, he went near the girl, he’d not noticed her face, but there was something interesting about her pupils, he ignored it for the time being and grabbed her wrist and put it on one of the cuffs, and then paused for a moment…)
“Kaito…where do you think we should handcuff her to??”
“The plumbing system…”
“But it’s exposed only on the laundry room…”
“Why is that a problem?? It goes QUITE deep underground, you know?”
“Very true…”
(The half dragged her to the laundry room and tied her to the a part of the plumbing system that was exposed near the washing machine, she wouldn’t be able to set herself free, the tubes were made of stainless steel of 10 centimetres of thickness, really, there was no way…but just in case, Hideki tied her hands and feet with the rope and made tight knots for her not to be able to break them…)
“Is all that really necessary??”
“Yes it is…she’s a vampire…a weak and fake one…but still a vampire…”
“Very well…”
“How do you know I’m a fake??”
(Hideki turned to her and sat in front of her…)
“Your pupils…a normal vampire’s pupils are red when they get angry or need blood, and still during the normal state of a vampire, if you look close enough, you will notice a red ring around the iris…you don’t have that…among other things…look…your arm didn’t heal…”
(He turned her arm a bit and heard her complain out of pain…)
“See?? The ray of sunlight that burned you, the wound it left didn’t heal at all…for a real vampire, even if it’s not too powerful or too young, regeneration is an innate characteristic and a natural quality…you don’t have any of them…you’re a fake…who made you??”
“Stupid fox…I’m not telling you…”
“We’ll see, we’ll see…”

(Three days passed, and the girl didn’t say anything, but the body of a fake vampire wears out about 3 times faster than a normal vampire’s one in times of famine, they didn’t leave the house just out of precaution, they ordered take-out, Kaito practically lived there the three days, and then on the 4th day, the girl said something interesting…)
“Fox, snake…I’ll talk…but on one condition…”
“What??”
“If you let me live…I don’t care if you keep me here or anything else, just spare me…”
(Hideki eyed her for a bit and then said…)
“Ok…what do you think Kaito?”
“I can’t say it’s reasonable…but we don’t have much choice either way…”
“Settled then…but if I find that what you’ve told me is not true…I’ll kill you…you’re a fake after all, you’re far more susceptible to the methods for killing a normal vampire than the real thing…”
“I know that!!”
“Well then…what do you have to say??”
“What do you want to know?? Ask all what you want…”
“Very well…first of all, who is controlling you??”
“A man from a drug-dealing organization with headquarters in St. Petersburg…”
“What’s his name??”
“Eiji Sakano…”
(Kaito exchanged glances with Hideki…they were thinking the same…they were on the right path…somehow…)
“So he is Japanese…that I didn’t expect…”
“Do you think I did fox??”
“Whatever…Kaito…do you have questions??”
“Yeah…how did you turn into a vampire??”
“They injected something in my blood and then I passed out, when I woke up I was already turned into one, they told me I slept for an entire week…”
“Oh I see…then…do you know what they injected into you?”
“No…”
“The time we went to Moscow…why did you drug him??”
“I was ordered to…”
“By who??”
“Eiji…he’s been watching you both, you know? He says that you know the location of something he’s been looking for, for ages…”
“Oh he said that?? How convenient of him…Hideki…your turn…”
“Why did you accept turning into a vampire when you didn’t even know what would be of you??”
“Because they offered me eternal youth and life…what girl on her right mind could refuse that?? And besides if it didn’t work, I’ll just die, so it couldn’t get any worst anymore…”
“I don’t agree but who cares…when we were in Moscow, were you already a vampire??”
“Yes…”
“Why did you accept becoming the mercenary of the organization?? You didn’t have anything against those in the bingo book…”
“The pay was good…you may be immortal but money’s still money…”
“Yeah…another thing…why were they in the bingo book?”
“Eiji said that they were people who owed money to the organization or that had leaked information or tricked him or the organization, fraud and things of the like, so they posed a threat to the organization and to him, that’s why…”
(The next question was made by Kaito…)
“Is the name of the organization The Crown’s Diamond??”
“Yes it is…”
“Why did you say that the effect of the drug you put in my coffee hadn’t worn out yet??”
“Because I can see you’re not feeling well, the uneasiness you feel, that’s the effect, it’s triggered only by caffeine, and it can last at least a month…”
“But it’s been more than that since we left Moscow…”
“Then your body began producing it by its own…though I’d never seen that…”
“Is there an antidote??”
“No…it’s not a poison…”
“Whatever…another thing, where can we find Eiji??”
“Oh I don’t think you have to wait…he’ll come to look for you as soon as I’m dead…”
“Really?? Let’s see then…Kaito, take her outside and let her burn to death…”
“NOOO!!! The condition!!! Wait!!! Fox!!!”
“Did you really think we would keep a promise to you???”
“Damn snake…”
“Sorry…that’s just how things are…”
(She didn’t scream at all…she burned down to ashes quietly, like if she’d resigned…Kaito went inside and lied tiredly upon the couch)
“Now what??”
“We’ll have to wait…the case is solved…and the girl’s dead…I guess we’re back to our old case…”
“Oh my god…”
“After all…she said he’ll come to look for us…he might know something useful about Makoto…”
“Yeah…and one more thing…”
“What??”
“Who’s going to clean the mess outside??”
“…”