CHAPTER 2

  Takeuchi stepped into the court hall and found a number of people waiting for him inside. The judge, alongside his fellow colleagues, were already seated. He turned around and saw his uncle, who had stepped in place of his sick mother, already present, and he stared at Takeuchi like he had just seen the devil himself. Takeuchi merely shrugged it off.

  “No. 1441C, Renske Takeuchi, and his witness, Miss Hanako Tachibana, please come forward.”

  Takeuchi and Hanako moved to the center of the building and sat down. Takeuchi decided to speak first. “Your Honor-”

  “There’s no need for you to say anything else, Mr. Rensuke”, the judge said, cutting Takeuchi off. “We are the ones that brought you here after all. Your case is a rather absurd one, wanting to find someone whose body has already been buried and whose will-”

  “I’ll politely ask you to stop right there”, a man from the audience stood up and said, to Takeuchi’s shock.

  The Judge frowned and adjusted his glasses. “Who are you, and what makes you so bold that you can question the court?” The man did not answer, and just stood up and began walking. He went straight to the Judge and told him, “I know where and when the will was produced, and that shitty piece of paper definitely isn’t it. Now, why don’t you listen to what the kid has to say, then you can begin all this crap?”, the man said with all the disrespect he could gather.

  “Are you saying that the evidence in this court is false?”

  Again, the man didn’t answer, and just went down until he was at the exit. Then he turned to the judge, “Even you don’t need me to tell you that that paper was forged. If you ask me, I think that whatever happened to him, the suspect is right here, waiting for this kid to be wrongly executed. Isn’t that right, Takeuchi?”, the man winked.

  Takeuchi was surprised that the man knew his name, and had chosen to defend him in court.

  “Well, we’ve all heard the babbling of this guy, so what do we do with them?”

  “Your Honor, if I may”. Takeuchi stood up and spoke. “I need time. Time to find him. Time to prove that he isn’t dead. That’s all I need, and I hope that the court can grant me that”. He then sat down.

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  The Judge looked at him for a long time. Then he laughed. Laughed. Long and hard. “I can’t believe it. You want to prove that a dead man is alive?”

  Takeuchi swallowed hard. “I know it sounds impossible, but I can do it.”

  “Fine then. I’ll give you one month to find him If you don’t, you and your buddy, Kakerou, was it? You’ll both be sentenced to death by the firing squad. And I’ll personally see to it myself that both of you, especially that Kakerou character, are killed. Court dismissed.”, the Judge shouted angrily. “Oh, and one more thing”.

  “Good luck”.

  With that statement, the Judge and his fellow judges left the court hall and everyone began to leave.

  “Wait”

  The Judge stopped in his tracks, and looked at him. “What is it?”

  “What about Kakerou?”

  “That monster remains with us. Unless of course you don’t mind keeping him company”, he said and left.

  ***

  Wednesday 14th March, Year 20**. 1700 Hours.

  “Wow, What a day! I’m so exhausted”, Hanako said as they came out of the hall.

  “Y’know, you basically just sat there, doing nothing the entire time.” Takeuchi retorted, as he walked out.

  “Are you okay? You look exhausted.”

  Takeuchi looked up at her. “OF COURSE I’M EXHAUSTED. WHY WOULDN’T I BE WHEN I HAVE A LOT OF WORK TO DO WITHIN THE NEXT MONTH? I hate working for so long”, he sighed.

  “Well maybe you shouldn’t have put so much work into it.”. Hanako sat on a bench, thinking. “Come to think of it, it feels rather strange that the Judge agreed so easily”. “You act like you want me to stay in jail”, Takeuchi whined.

  Just then a car pulled up and parked right by them. A man came out, and both Takeuchi and Hanako recognized him.

  “Reo!”

  Hanako ran to meet her elder brother, Reo Tachibana, and gladly told him the good news.

  “Well of course I’m aware”, He said, rather pleased with himself for making Hanako happy. “It’d be hard not to when you’re whining everyday about him”. “R-R-Reo!”, Hanako said with a red face. Takeuchi was surprised, as he hadn’t expected Hanako to go that far. “Uhm… thanks, I guess.”

  Hanako was speechless. “D-Don’t go get a big head dummy. I only did that because it was the right thing to do. N-Nothing more”, she nervously said.

  “Well then, shall we get going?” Reo said and gestured towards the car. They entered and off they went to Hanako’s house.

  ***

  1900 Hours.

  Hanako and Reo watched in shock as Takeuchi ate and ate and ate, like he hadn’t eaten food in years. “Man, this is good Hey, are you guys gonna have any?”

  “No, thanks. I’m good.”, Reo said.

  “Well, I’ll expect no less from you. Anyways, we need to start searching for your dad, so I think we-”

  “Ugh! Can’t it wait till tomorrow? I’m so exhausted right now.”

  “What!? You wanted to find him so badly. Why the sudden change of mind?”

  “I don’t know, maybe it’s because I’M EXHAUSTED!! But I guess hard workers like you guys won’t get it. Anyways, I’m going to bed. Good night.”

  And with that, Takeuchi went to the nearest room he could find and fell fast asleep on the bed, shoes and all. Reo sighed. “That’s a very lazy friend you’ve got there Hanako-sis. Where do you get your choices from?”

  “S-Stop that!” Hanako retorted. “It’s more annoying because he went to my room of all places. Why couldn’t he be any more considerate?”