Chapter 190

◇◆◇ (Abigail’s point of view)

police, fire, ambulance.

The sounds of multiple sirens blend and reverberate between buildings.

At night on Fort 88, the smell of smoke wafts thinly into the air and the place is buzzing with commotion.

This is the entrance lobby of a high-rise building.

The road in front of the building was blocked off, polices and firefighters were busily working.

In the midst of such a chaotic scene, Natsuki with a blanket draped over her shoulders sits on a chair looking exhausted and worn out, and next to her, her younger brother Yakumo holds a stuffed spider with no expression.

Standing in front of the girls are Abigail and Inspector Mclaren.

The inspector had been summoned by a “mysterious” phone call about an hour ago and rushed to the scene with little understanding of the situation. And just a few moments after, He had successfully rescued Natsuki and Yakumo from the burning room.

The caller was Abigail.

“That’s what happened …….”

“Are you sure? You saw the scene, correct?”

Mclaren was now in the process of putting together the details of this bizarre incident, using Abigail’s story as a base.

“So the serial killer is …….”

Mclaren muttered and glanced over at Natsuki.

The commotions in the room where the fire took place were winding down, and the kids were beginning to calm down.

Mclaren decided to start asking the two victims about what exactly befell them.

“—- I know you are still nervous, but can you tell me what’s going on?”

Mclaren bent down in front of Natsuki.

“That day, Christmas Eve, you approached a man near Haven. His name was Shigeaki. And you brought him to your room for …. reasons.”

“Yes.”

“When you took Shigeaki back to your room, the place was already covered in blood. The only thing left in the room was a woman tied to the bed. There were no dead bodies, only a large bag was left behind. Its contents were a large quantity of drugs.”

“Yes.”

“Seeing this, you were horrified and tried to leave the room with your younger brother, Yakumo-kun, who was hiding in the study room, but Shigeaki prevented you from leaving. When he was blinded by a large quantity of drugs, he suddenly changed and took Yakumo-kun hostage, threatened you, and took you and your brother back to his room with the drugs. In other words, this building.”

“Yes.”

“You were kidnapped by Shigeaki, who continued to hold you and your younger brother hostage and confined to his room.”

“Yes.”

“You spent a few days there, and Shigeaki, right in front of you, shot a lot of drugs into his arm and eventually overdosed, causing him to go insane.”

“Yes.”

“Shigeaki became completely deranged, indulging in self-harming activities such as peeling his own face and eating his own fingers. Eventually, he finally lost his mind and tried to put his hands on your brother.”

“Yes.”

“When your brother was about to be harmed, you intervened, but you were struck on the head and fell unconscious. The next thing you know, you are in a daze, and you see Shigeaki trying to burn himself to death by pouring fuel all over his body.

“Yes.”

“When you woke up again, the room was already on fire and there was smoke all around you. You couldn’t escape and then I jumped in there – and…”

“Yes.”

woof! Lestrade, the police dog at his feet barked. He was fidgeting and making eye contact with Mclaren, signaling him.

“Now I understand the situation …… thank you.”

Mclaren gave a small nod and a wry smile.

“By the way–“

He cut off once there and looked into Natsuki’s downcast eyes.

“I think we’ve met once before, you and I. Do you remember me?”

Natsuki looked up and stared at Mclaren.

Stroking the police dog’s head, he continued.

“Lestrade has a good nose and a good head. He’s an excellent partner. He seems to remember you. I called out to you in the park, didn’t I? That time you had the stuffed spider doll on your backpack that your brother is holding now. I remember that too.”

She swept her eyes for a moment, locked eyes with Abigail, and then shook her head.

“At the time, I was …… well, I was nervous …….”

“…….”

Prompted to continue silently, Natsuki slumped.

“–I don’t remember much. That time, Shigeaki ordered me to go shopping with a vibrator in my …… vagina ……. that time. I remember a policeman with a dog approached me, but he was toying with me with the remote the whole time, it was very painful, I didn’t know what was happening ……”

“……Why didn’t you talk to me about it then?”

At Mclaren’s gentle tone, Natsuki gnashed her teeth and then opened her mouth.

“……Yakumo was being held hostage, and I was so preoccupied with that. I couldn’t disobey orders. He said he would kill Yakumo if I brought in the police or dropped the vibrator.”

“……”

“So-“

Natsuki hugged her arms and cast her face down. Her shoulders were shaking.

“While I was being captured……. I said I didn’t want to but Shigeaki said he would kill Yakumo if I resisted……. and he was violating me and drugging himself. I was so scared……. He forced himself inside me again and again and again……. He wouldn’t even let me take the pill, what if I had a baby? All these things were going around and around in my head and…….”

A sniffling sound escapes her.

“That’s enough, Inspector.”

Abigail cut off Mclaren with a forceful tone.

“–Oh. I’m sorry I made you talk about the hard stuff. That’s enough. You’ve done a great job on your own with your disabled brother. You are truly an example of a caring and courageous sister. Thank you.”

–This was the tactic that Natsuki and Abigail had agreed upon as a last resort in case things got a little out of hand.

If the sexual harassment is brought up, no sensible inspector could pursue the matter any further.

Mclaren had also asked Yakumo, but was completely ignored. When Abigail explained that he had a disability with savant syndrome, he was convinced, although he didn’t seem to understand it.

“–But to think that this man was really a perpetrator of many missing person cases…….”

Mclaren looked down at the snuff film of evidence in his hand and sighed with emotion.

Abigail’s justification for calling the inspector was this.

She was interested in a mysterious entity called Nostradamus-kun, who was active on the message boards because his predictions had an accuracy rate that could not be explained by logic.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

So, when she followed his posts, she noticed a hidden message in the latest prophecy.

The content of the message described a girl who is being kidnapped and violated right now, and she is in an urgent situation. A beast will appear and save her. And then a beast will appear and save the girl.

-yes, the posts on the board.

The post is what she had asked Natsuki to write beforehand. It is only natural that it would match the situation.

While Abigail called Mclaren to report the incident, Natsuki burned Shigeaki’s corpse with fuel she had prepared, erasing the evidence entirely with flames.

Natsuki and Yakumo were also caught up in the flames, quite a risky move, but they were unhurt thanks to Mclaren who jumped into the flames himself and rescued the kids. Mclaren’s courageous action was something that even Abigail did not expect.

Shigeaki had already been taken care of by Diamond’s poison when Gevaudan left the room. Abigail’s guess is that Gevaudan was trying to keep Natsuki’s hands clean.

–Abigail understands that once Gevaudan sees someone as an enemy, he will show no mercy, but sometimes he will reveal his compassionate side.

When Abigail catches a glimpse of these human emotions, she suddenly feels a sense of connection with him.

This is how Mclaren, who had been called in on an unusual report of a prophecy on an Internet message board, stood in front of the building that Abigail had located for him. He was skeptical at first but then he looked up to see fire rising from the upper floors of the building.

He decided that there was no time to wait for the firefighters, so he rushed alone to the room where the fire was taking place.

When he burst through the door and rushed in, he saw Shigeaki in the living room, already charred and burned to a crisp.

Mclaren searched for survivors amidst the unpleasant smell of burning human flesh and thick, hazardous fumes, without regard for his own safety. He found an dungeon room in the back. There, he found Natsuki and Yakumo, writhing in the room with their hands and feet tied behind their backs.

What’s more, the evidence of multiple cases of missing persons was also found in the same room.

–This is the plot that Abigail had scripted.

“…… But how could you work that out from a message board post like this? Are you some kind of witch or something?”

Mclaren said admiringly.

However, Abigail did not miss the faint tinge of suspicion in his voice.

“I’ve been researching on alien technology, Inspector”

She began with a gesture that reminded him of something.

“I often pay attention to occult stuff. Even rumors that seem a tad silly are nothing compared to alien technology until you take them seriously.”

She counts her fingers one at a time.

“UMA…… ghosts…… fairies…… magic …… other dimensions ….. concepts that were once fantasy are now a reality. To understand the alien world, you need imagination. Even fairy tales from the past can give us clues. There are so many things that logic can’t explain.”

Abigail gave a small chuckle at the end.

“Well, it’s just an intuition of a researcher who has been dealing with aliens for many years.”

“An intuition, huh?”

Mclaren muttered and then growled softly.

The word “intuition” seemed to resonate well with the veteran detective’s heartstrings.

“–One thing I don’t understand is a large amount of drugs. I’m pretty sure those were robbed from the gang’s office.”

“That’s right.” said Abigail.

“The problem is, why was it in Natsuki’s room in the first place? Who in the world carried it there. Who murdered the gang in her room?”

“Well, Isn’t that means the person that attack the gang also broke into Natsuki-chan’s room?”

“Ummm …….”

Mclaren groans, putting his hand to his chin.

“Do you have more questions?” Abigail narrowed her eyes a little.

“Yeah…. Actually it was the ‘Noah’, we found the same thing in the bodily fluids left in Natsuki’s room. So Noah who slaughtered Sean and the other Alpha soldiers was also in Natsuki’s room. That would also mean that Noah was the one who crashed the gang’s office and took a large number of drugs. In other words, the whole series of events that happened on Christmas Eve was all Noah’s doing.”

“Well, Isn’t it Bigfoot time, Inspector?”

Suddenly, a voice came from behind and Mclaren sighed with a huff.

“Big sis, when did you become friends with the inspector? I’d like to join you, too.”

“Eugene.”

“Well, that’s all right. But, Captain, do you think it’s okay if I publish my theory about Bigfoot?”

“You can’t be serious.”

“But what if that’s true?”

Abigail said, and Mclaren looked at her and sighed “Oh, for goodness sake.”

“Don’t tell me you’re pushing this occult article as well?”

Abigail shrugged her shoulders and Eugene let out a small puff.

“Captain, there is a long history of UMAs suddenly appearing in the city, There was once one in 89. We think it’s because of its proximity to alien territory.”

“—-For reference Abigail, I’d like to share your keen intuition on this topic.”

After some pause, Mclaren asked.

“If Bigfoot really is in 88, what do you think his purpose is?”

“He seems to be obsessed with drugs. I suppose that might be Bigfoot’s favorite food.”

“Oh! That’s a new theory, Big sis!”

Mclaren sighed heavily and covered his eyes with his hands.