11: Expose Yourself

“GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!” screamed Die.

“Stop being a wuss,” said Kaoru. “It’s just a centipede.”

“I’m being real here. That thing is the devil incarnate,” said Die.

The centipede proceeded to move. Its legs moved in file with one another as it crawled up the restroom wall. The elongated body inched and left some more minuscule footprints.

“If that thing is what crawled out of Toshiya, I’m pretty sure Yamaguchi can find the antidote if we give it to him,” said Kaoru.

“You’re not telling me you’re going to catch it,” said Die shifting away.

The sinister creature shuffled along the wall.

“I still can’t believe he ate the damn thing,” said Die looking as if he were about to vomit.

“He consumed the gu, not the centipede,” corrected Kaoru. “Remember that there are parasites growing in Toshiya. They’ll probably be miniature versions of this guy.”

“Stop it, Kaoru,” grimaced Die.

“Make yourself useful and get some glass cups and something to swat this thing with,” barked Kaoru.

Die dashed out of the restroom mumbling under his breath.

Returning with a dust broom and a whiskey glass, Die flinched when he saw the red creature crawl toward him. He threw the broom at Kaoru.

“Kill it!” Die screeched.

“Kill it? What, no!” argued Kaoru. “We need it alive to make an anti-venom. Didn’t you learn that in biology?”

“Do I look like a scientist to you!”

“Since you have the glass, are you going to catch it?”

Die immediately thrust the glass to Kaoru and retrieved the broom.

Kaoru let out a scowl.

“Well, get going Die,” directed Kaoru.

Die waved the broom at the wall aiming for the creature.

“Don’t kill it!”

“How can I not kill it when I know it wants to kill us?”

He made a sweeping motion at the centipede to lure it towards Kaoru’s direction. The scolopendra gave a threatening hiss at Die.

“These things make sound?!” screamed Die.

“Not that I know of!” Kaoru yelled out equally surprised.

“Clearly this isn’t the normal kind!” Die replied back.

The red creature raced down the wall and across the floor to Die. Die leaped over the pool of blood away from the centipede. It sauntered closer and closer until Die slammed broom onto its body.

“I told you not to kill it!” scolded Kaoru.

“Better safe than sorry,” pouted Die.

He lifted the broom to see that nothing was there.

“Where did it go?” asked Die.

“Don’t look down,” commanded Kaoru.

Already Die’s eyes had betrayed him. The scolopendra was inching towards him along the broom handle. He made a sharp inhale and stared down at his mortal enemy. Die flung the broom to the floor. CLACK! The plastic handle collided with the tiles. The scolopendra squirmed under the broom handle before turning its body over. As soon as it coiled itself, Kaoru cupped the tiny beast in the glass. It hissed as it retaliated against the glass.

Die heaved out a sigh of relief. Mari appeared at the restroom door.

“I heard some loud noise and came to check,” she said. “What is going on?”

“Can you get some tape for us?” requested Kaoru.

Mari caught sight of the centipede and her eyes were nearly popping out from their sockets. She disappeared quickly and returned with a wad of tissues and clear tape. The centipede was now wrapped in its glass prison.

*****

“How did you manage to get this? This would greatly aid us in the search for the antidote,” said Yamaguchi highly impressed.

He held the trapped centipede in his hands before setting it down on the table.

“We will send it to the lab immediately tomorrow morning,” said the doctor.

Yamaguchi glanced at the clock on the wall. It was nearly 3am.

“In a few hours actually.”

“How is Toshiya right now?” Die asked anxiously.

“I can’t give you an exact answer,” replied the doctor. “Normally once you have the poison removed, the patient is cured. We have been monitoring the patient now and the problem is that the parasite is the poison itself. As much as the other toxins have been neutralized, the parasite still remains. It is impossible to use surgery to remove the parasite as it is too risky. It is too dangerous to operate while the parasite has proven to be extremely hostile.

Yamaguchi pulled out some images for Kaoru and Die to inspect.

“This is what we got from the blood test under microscopic magnification.”

The little worm-like creatures were present by the hundreds in the image of Toshiya’s blood test.

“Normally parasites do not show up under most imaging tests. The parasite in the patient’s body however is large enough to be captured through x-ray.”

The following image brought shock to Kaoru and Die’s face. A captured image of a scolopendra identical to the one they caught was coiled in Toshiya’s stomach.

“If you can’t use surgery to remove it, what other options do we have left?” asked Kaoru.

“If we can develop the antidote in time, it should be able to kill all the parasites in the patient’s blood stream including the large one in his stomach,” said Yamaguchi.

Die leaned back into his seat and placed his hands over his face.

“What about Toshiya? How will he fare after the drug is administered?” he asked.

“His body will be weak, but we will secure him with the necessary nutrients and do a blood cleansing.”

“Thank you, sensei,” said Kaoru.

They bid the doctor a temporary farewell and left the hospital office. Turning around the corner, they met with Kyo who was waiting outside Toshiya’s room.

“He’s not very happy,” said Kyo. “I can feel it.”

“He?” asked Kaoru.

“The sorcerer,” said Kyo. “He knows that you have found something out.”

“Of course he would know. A caster is linked to the gu poison as it allows the caster to operate from far distances,” said Kaoru. “We’re getting closer to cracking the case.”

“Not yet,” interrupted Die. “We still don’t know who put the gu in Toshiya’s drink and I think this Benjamin guy feels very suspicious.”

“What makes you say that?” asked Kyo.

“I don’t know. My gut instinct,” replied Die.

“But then anyone of the staff and bartenders could have poisoned Toshiya. We have no proof and no time to do extra sleuthing,” reasoned Kaoru.

“I think we should call it a night. I’m too tired to think right now,” said Die.

*****

Back at the club, Tasuke finished cleaning the mop and placed it in the broom closet. The chairs have been put up and the floors have been wiped clean.

“Mari! I’m going to the basement for a little bit,” called out Tasuke.

“No problem. I’m gonna take the garbage out the back,” Mari replied back.

Tasuke’s steps disappeared downstairs while Mari rounded up the rest of the empty liquor bottles. She placed them in a large crate and lugged it out the back door. The glass clinked against each other as Mari walked. She dropped the crate near the dumpster in the back alley. Some footsteps shuffled along the gravel.

“Oh hey! What are you doing here? I thought you went home already?” Mari said surprised.

“There’s one more deed left to be done,” said the voice. “The voice must be silenced.”

“Wait, you’re not—.”

Mari’s sentence was cut short by a bloodcurdling scream.

The next day, news of Mari’s corpse found in the alley way spread like wildfire linking the hospitalization of bassist T together. Kaoru and Die found themselves summoned by the police.

“I told you! We were with doctor Yamaguchi after we left the club. You can check the hospital footage,” said Kaoru.

“Surely even the club has cameras installed,” added Die.

“Lemme handle this one,” said a voice.

It was the police officer that handled Shinya’s case.

“Hello boys. We meet again,” said the officer. “I have not formally introduced myself. I am Kobayashi.”

“Officer, I swear we had nothing to do with Mari. We only had questions about our band mate,” said Kaoru.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you,” said Kobayashi. “The CCTV footage has captured the both of you talking to Mari before her time of death. Just very shortly after you two gentlemen left, the camera had interference and wasn’t able to record anything except a bunch of static. The hospital footage only captures you at the time of entry. During the period between Mari’s death and your entry into the hospital, you have no alibi to prove your innocence. Unless you know someone that has seen you during this short window of time, both of you are suspects.”

“Kobayashi! We got some new sources!” said an officer.

“Just give me a minute,” said Kobayashi.

He left Kaoru and Die at their seats and talked to the other officer. Their conversation was in hushed whispers and they occasionally shot looks at the seated guitarists. Kobayashi then approached them.

“You guys are free to go.”

“Wait, what? Weren’t we suspects a few minutes ago?” remarked Die.

“There’s some new footage showing a hooded stranger walking towards the direction of the alley way captured by another camera on the street. Unfortunately, it couldn’t record what happened in the alley way due to the angle. I shouldn’t be telling you this yet, but the face under the hood is Stephen Mavros, the man from the FBI’s wanted list,” said Kobayashi in a low voice. “That’s all I can tell you now.”

“This is all too strange,” said Die.

“First the poison, now a murder out of nowhere,” said Kaoru.

He now dropped his voice to a whisper only audible to Die.

“If Mari was murdered, I have a feeling she probably knew something about Toshiya’s incident. Why pick the time right after we left the club?,” said Kaoru.

“I still think this Benjamin fellow has something to do with it. A Dir en grey fan who was recently employed this week of the incident? Doesn’t this all seem a bit fishy?” added Die.

“You are suspecting him to be the root of it all? We have Mavros, the murderer on the loose right now coinciding with this case. Doesn’t that seem fishier?” argued Kaoru.

“But what does Mavros has to do with Toshiya? Was Mavros there when Toshiya was poisoned? This can be two separate cases going on. Maybe Mavros has beef with Mari and Benjamin has a thing against Toshiya,” suggested Die.

“You’re just pulling this all out of thin air,” said Kaoru.

“Whatever. The police are going to question everyone who knows Mari anyways. They’ll probably find something before us. We should go check up on Toshiya.”

*****

At the hospital room, Toshiya was still unconscious. His skin was more ashier than before and the bulge in his stomach didn’t go away. The monitor showed his weakening pulse. Kaoru intercepted the nurse entering the room to ask about Toshiya’s condition.

“He’s been administered more drugs, but his condition has worsened. The lab still hasn’t sent in an antidote and we’re all racing against time now,” she replied.

Kyo appeared alongside her. Clearly she was unable to see him as he passed through the wall into Toshiya’s room. The nurse checked the monitor and recorded the information on her clipboard. Kyo passed through the wall again.

“I can see the black,” Kyo said severely. “He doesn’t have much time left.”

“Damn it. Is there nothing we can do,” said Kaoru with frustration.

“The Reaper is coming soon,” said Kyo.

“Reaper? Like the Grim Reaper?” asked Die.

“He’s coming to collect the souls of the deceased. I’ve been watching the patients who have the shadow of death. The Reaper comes and the patients just go with him,” said Kyo.

“What? This is too bizarre. We can’t let Toshiya walk off with some dude under a cloak,” said Die.

“For the record, he doesn’t have a scythe,” said Kyo.

“The antidote is probably on its way. Is there a way to stall a Reaper?” asked Kaoru.

“No, you can’t stall a Reaper. When your time is done, it’s done,” said Kyo.

“What about you? Did you see the Reaper when you died?” asked Die.

“No. I’m not sure why, but I’m guessing maybe the circumstances were a little different. That might explain why there’s a Limbo or the Veil whatever you like to call it,” said Kyo. “I can’t seem to remember how I got here.”

“All we can do it wait now,” said Kaoru.

*****

BGM: Ware, Tote Yami by Dir en grey

Scary adventures in the club restroom. That should be the subtitle for this chapter. It looked funny in my head. If you think it translated well into text, leave a comment below.

#thedarknesspreys