The Murder of Shinichi Kudo

[Aeyra 260]

I never go on my DC World account so I thought I might as well here. Since my beta-reader seems to be a little slow, I wanted to give some MSK readers who might be on this website a little peek at chapter 42. Here is the first 'section'. It's about Viura and Snake. BTW, this chapter does have Kaito in it. It's kind of a short section, and I forget if this is the 'edited' version or not. Section two has Kaito in it, and I might as well include my poem preview of Kaito's section. (not rhyming poem I wrote in English class. and it's not really a summary as much as a general overview with only some related portions.)If you haven't read MSK, it's on fanfiction. My penname is Aeyra.

Take-Off

What's it like to be trapped, in a room like a prison?

Where you feel you are in a cage, unable to escape?

Others may feed you words that it's to keep you safer, but your doubts swallowed you up.

You are an eagle, kept on the ground, barred from the sky,

You want to take flight, fly up higher than the moon and the stars,

Fly up towards light where you will be forever free.

Chapter 42

“Good night,” whispered Viura as she snuck up behind Snake, fangs bared. He reached for his knife, but not fast enough. She bit him, tasting the rusty blood, savoring the moment as she heard him cry in pain, fear, surprise… and then fall, his low, shallow breaths breaking apart the silence of the room.

“Why?” he asked, the words hardly audible to even the ears of the hunter. It sent a thrill through her body to see this man desperate, seeing him dying. His words had an edge of loathing, something that didn’t even affect her.

“The boss’s decision, not mine.” She pressed her finger to her pursed lips, winking at him. A pose she had copied off of Vermouth. “Although if it was my decision, this would have happened a long, long, time ago.”

He grabbed the legs of her pants, staring at her with as much hatred as he could muster, which wasn’t much considering his face was filled with pain. This man had been born a killer; he would die as the victim in his sick little game of death. “You bastard,” he wheezed out, his black eyes glittering for the last time. Then, he released his grip, and fell back towards the ground, destined to never rise again.

Viura laughed- these moments were always so pleasurable. Hearing people beg for mercy, wanting to know why she was killing them. There was no thinking about the kill, giving her the opportunity she needed to savor it, every action wired into her. Just like instinct. She was now replacing Snake as head of the search for Pandora section, though she sincerely wondered what the point of that was. The boss had clearly reached immortality, so why did he want it from a blood-red jewel?

His scientists had already healed all of his fatal wounds and given him the gift of eternal life. As far as she was concerned, the boss would never die. Vermouth was granted this too, but somehow she didn’t see the woman on the same god-like level. Maybe it was because Viura’s vision of her was clouded with hate, and the desire to be loved. Maybe it was because the boss loved Vermouth more than her and jealousy was hard to see past.

All her life, she had only wanted to become accepted by her two parents. Cognac had always seemed willing to forgive her for any mistakes, and always pushed her forwards towards the future. Vermouth, on the other hand, was so unforgiving; no mistake went uncharted in her book. She would always try to convince Viura not to do something, not to tread down the path of evil she was strolling on now.

She swore she hated Vermouth above all others, wanted to kill her, wanted to hear her suffer. Then why was it that whenever Vermouth praised her, she felt like she was flying? That when Vermouth said ‘I’m proud of you’ did she feel like she was on top of the world?

Stop thinking about her, Viura. You have a mission to carry out now. Find Pandora, find the Kaitou Kid. She would definitely accomplish more than that lowly, inferior Snake. The ability to succeed was a part of her, and her instinct always led her where she needed to go.

You know what to do, Viura. Use your brain, and you will find the jewel. The boss’s orders came back to her, and she let out a long laugh with nobody to hear but the corpse beside her. But first things first. I should find that boy, Miyazaki Ryuu. Then, I’ll give him eternal slumber too.

[hopes 237]

Hey! You posted it! Nice! I posted mine too with corrections! Nice job!

I LOVE your signature!

[tengaku squared 291]

First of all, I will borrow one of your signature pictures.

Second of all, the story looks fantastic. I'm too lazy to evaluate it properly though...

[Aeyra 260]

First of all, I will borrow one of your signature pictures.

Second of all, the story looks fantastic. I'm too lazy to evaluate it properly though...

The only problem is that this is Chapter 42, and it's kind of too far in to truly understand. (for starters, that's a section for an OC...) Also, my writing skills increased quite a bit over my series, so even I don't remember how I wrote such an undetailed chapter one-twenty-ish, I could write them so much better now, but a lack of time prevents it. I hope you'll read it on fanfiction though along with my other fics! (The Leap is a better measurement of just my writing, this had edits from my beta-reader, LostintheDreams.)

[Aeyra 260]

Ta-dah! Sneak peek before it goes on fanfiction probably this weekend or the next! I have my science olympiad competition on monday! Wish me luck! Even if you read it here, please review on fanfiction when it goes up. For people who have no idea what this is, this is chapter 43 of my story 'The Murder of Shinichi Kudo' and you can read it in it's current entirety on either fanfiction.net/~aeyra (my profile page. You can access all of my stories from there) or on bluebelugawhale.blogspot.com which happens to be Mohorocivic-or-Polaris-or Bein B-or-xXceleration or whatever he happens to call himself today's blog. Thank you! Please comment if you like it!

Chapter 43

The womanspoke no words as she approached him slowly, her unhurried footstepscontrasting with the fast-paced racing heartbeats of Ryuu, so much like thebeating of hummingbird wings. Her face was expressionless, and filled with asense of confidence and determination that he couldn’t comprehend. It made himshiver even more, trying to back up into the bed when he came to realize thathe was already leaned up against the headboard.

She bentdown to the boy, still lying on the soft feather mattress, and smiled- a grinthat was enigmatic and sly, a mystery. “A secret makes a woman, woman, but I’lltell you later. It’s a promise,” she answered as a loud knock sounded from thedoor. Voices called from the other side, but they were indistinct and Ryuucouldn’t hear them over the pounding of his heart. Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump! “I’ve got things to do. Just wait herewhile I finish up, ‘kay?” She placed her two fingers to her lips, and winked athim.

Patting himgently on the head, she turned around and retreated towards the door where shehad come from; letting in light for a split second, and then it disappeared,leaving him in near-darkness once more.

What should I do now? thought Ryuu, head spinning withfear. The last time he’d been a situation close to this was the kidnappingincident a few weeks ago, but then he’d had someone tell him how to escape, Ai telling him exactly what to do. Thiswoman had a very similar aura to the one who had hit him in that cold, darkroom, after he’d been kidnapped- what didshe call herself again?- oh right, it was Viura.

He hadn’tseen this new woman’s face through his terror clouded vision and the dimlighting, but he was almost sure it was the same person. Blonde, with piercingeyes- and the same exact feeling- confidence, with a touch of grief and a needfor revenge at the edge of it. However, something felt a little bit off. Nowwhat was it…?

He lay backdown, pulling the blanket off to see his ash-tipped clothes and sneakers. Atleast nobody had changed his clothes. That would have been rather awkward. But,the ash confirmed his nightmare. There really had been a fire, and he had beentaken here.

It couldn’tbe a hospital; it was much too comfortablefor that. There was no sickly medicine smell or the fresh scent of cots; it wasjust a straight, calming perfume, something that reminded him of the colognehis dad would wear to big meetings. At the thought of his dad, tears started towell up in his eyes. What had happened to his parents?

As far as heremembered, they had not mentioned any plans of leaving the house thatafternoon. His mom had said she was going to cook a big welcome-back feast andhis dad was helping her with it. He knew that a fire of that degree andmagnitude was impossible to survive unless you happened to run out the frontdoor the moment it started. The kitchen wasn’t right next to the front door.

He recalledthe gentle fragrance of his mom’s silky blonde hair as she hugged him tight;she was a foreigner and she had given Ryuu her determined green eyes. His dad’seyes were a deep chocolate brown, but they were filled with strength andcourage. He had inherited his raven black hair from his father, along with thespirit of an officer. So many memories, so many things. He prayed with all hisheart that they weren’t dead, and that the woman who had been in this room withhim wasn’t going to kill him; he had felt her aura, and she had definitelymurdered people in the past, but her motives were unreadable.

Ai had saidthat being in their business was dangerous, and he was at risk if he toldanybody. But, he had kept his word! He hadn’t even made a single suggestion tohis parents! Hell, he hadn’t even had time to see them before that fire. Cold,angry, devouring flames, eating away at whatever was left, killing anythinginside. No mercy given, nothing held back, a full-powered onslaught of death.

Would ithave happened if he hadn’t walked back home? If he had stayed at the hospital alittle longer? Was it possibly his fault? Pleasedon’t let it be that way! Kaa-chan! Tou-chan! Please don’t tell me you’re dead!he prayed silently, bowing down his head in fervor.

A slightrustle from the corner alerted him to the woman’s return, and she walked up tohim, smiling painfully as if she had just heard some bad news. Her mouthopened, and she spoke, but not the words he had wanted to hear. “I’m JodieStarling from the F.B.I. We’re here to protect you.”

Surprisemuch?

******************************************

Somewhere ina different place, a different woman was talking to a different boy. Where youask? Beika Central Hospital.

“Where didyou come from?” asked Kaito, hostility and fear in his blue eyes as he staredat the platinum blonde woman standing at the edge of his cot. She was silentand still, a feline quality to her, looking like she was ready to pounce onhim.

She staredat him seductively, red irises glowing with something indefinable- what couldit be? He tried to figure out what emotion was behind those bloody red orbsthat scared him to absolute death, but the only word he could come up with was powerful.

“My dearKaito-kun, I couldn’t help but hear your argument with- what was that girl’sname again? - Aoko, was it?” She avoided his question, throwing her own intothe spotlight and causing him to be greatly confused. How would this strangerknow about Aoko? About the argument? It was nearly impossible to hear what wasgoing on inside the room when the door was closed, and the only people there hadbeen the usual posse. Heiji, Kazuha, Ran, Hakuba, and Aoko- no Ai.

“Who areyou? What do you want?” His tone implied ‘Get out of here before I kill you’but it was obvious he had neither the strength- nor the courage to do so. Hisvoice was quavering as he stared at her, looking like a bird locked into theeyes of a snake, terrified, but unable to look away. Hypnotized.

“My name isViura, but feel free to call me anything.” She smiled, hiding her fangs behindher lips, winking at him so for a moment she looked like a normal teenager,cheerful, definitely not evil. “I’m here to help you, Kaito-kun. I can get youout of here for good.”

“I’m leavingin three days anyways. I don’t need youto get out.” It was easy to detect the doubt behind his wavering speech, theurge to fall captive into Viura’s eyes, drawing him deeper and deeper into amysterious new place, a true enigma….

Suddenly, hejerked his head around; trying to make sure he didn’t stare into those crimsonorbs, not wanting be sucked into their depths. Something told him he shouldn’tlook no matter what; make sure he wasn’t tricked by those rose-colored eyes, tohold his ground.

“Don’t belike that, Kaito-kun.” She made sure to repeat his name, putting more and morehoney into her voice as she continued. It had been a while since she had lastused her hypnosis abilities, but they were sure working well. It wouldn’t belong before the boy cracked. She chuckled mentally. The fun hadn’t even startedyet. “I only want to help you. You want freedom right? Freedom like that Aigirl suggested?”

She hadmeant to kill the little girl when she walked by, vulnerable and an easy target,but realized if they noticed Ai was missing, it would cause them to be evenmore protective of her real target, Kaito. Standing a whole corridor away,using a listening bug she had attached near the room, she heard their banterabout ‘going outside’ and ‘don’t leave this room’ giving her all the tools sheneeded to seduce the boy into her hands.

After themain fire of the dispute was over, she proceeded to her next goal, theassassination of Miyazaki Ryuu. She had snuck into his house, taking note ofthe voices and scent which told her how many people were in the building. Twoadults- and one young boy. Smiling, she poured the gasoline on the ground anddropped the match.

An explosionimmediately erupted from where she was standing and she skillfully avoided theplume of flame that threatened to singe off her already short hair, tinted aunique strawberry pink that the inferno made all the more vivid. She heard thescreams as the fiery tongues made their way into the kitchen where the familywas, and the desperate shoving of chairs as they started to run, much too late,towards the front door, which, unfortunately for them, was quite far from thekitchen. It was a very large house.

A second blastemanated through the building, and she knew that the blaze had found thegas-fueled stove. It was over, her job was done. Skipping out of the house, thefire licked her feet and fire-proof suit, but it felt like a pleasant sauna,warm and comfortable. Not the burning inferno of hell she had made it.

She had leftwell before the fire trucks arrived, knowing that no matter what they did,there was no way they could bring the dead back to life. Her mission hadsucceeded; not even all the luck in the world could protect that dragon twice.Especially not from her.

Only thingwas, there was part of her that denied she had actually killed Miyazaki Ryuu.This whining, doubtful, annoying part of her that said she had failed. Howcould she have? What she heard and smelled clearly confirmed the presence of twoadults (his parents) and him, the boy. Why the heck would there be another kidin his house at FREAKING dinnertime?

Maybe they had brought another boyover for a ‘playdate’ or whatever they call it now? What if he had a friend,then it could easily explain it. Just because you never had a friend doesn’t mean the possibility doesn’t exist. Youhave to make sure, Viura. She hated her inside voice that reminded her ofVermouth even though they sounded completely different. It was probably thefact that they were almost always talking trash about her.

She hid hernow constantly conflicting emotions about herself and Vermouth behind awell-developed Poker Face, still smiling at Kaito, luring him into her eyes, herbeing, letting him sink…

“Can youreally give me freedom?” he asked, hope in his voice. It was the response shehad been waiting for; she had unlocked the tightly sealed gate.

“Quiteeasily. But I won’t be able to take you back. I wouldn’t want to. Not back tothose liars.” Now the true deception began, starting the ruse she would implantin his head.

“Who are youtalking about?” he inquired, eyes filled with confusion, suspicion- desire. “Are you talking about myfriends?”

“They’rejust trying to trick you, Kaito-kun.” Okay,Viura. Don’t break eye contact, and make sure to keep it smooth, realistic.Even if he forgot everything, this kid isn’t stupid. “Don’t you rememberme? I’m your best friend, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen you. I missedyou so much.”

“I don’trecall ever seeing you before. I remember seeing my friends though. I canremember Aoko.” He narrowed his eyes as he skeptically scanned her face for ahint of pretense, but he couldn’t find anything, only blatant honesty thatraised his doubts even higher.

“She trickedyou into thinking those things. That sneaky witch.” She put the perfect mixtureof emotions into her voice, hatred, disbelief, and disgust. It was done withsuch perfection that Kaito was starting to feel himself falling in step withher words, believing them despite his intent to look beyond them.

“Where did Iknow you from?” he asked, curious to learn more about this new, alluring,friend of his.

“You workedwith me in the Black Organization. We’re not the bad guys she said we were;we’re trying to save the world. They just want you on their side. Trust me;they’re not here to help you.” She shook her head solemnly, trying to get herpoint across.

“How do Iknow whether or not I can trust you?” His face suddenly filled itself with furyas he retaliated, letting out his fear, like a cornered animal. “How do I know who to believe?”

“You don’t,and that’s the problem, Kaito-kun.” She sounded crestfallen, as if truly beatendown by a friend. “I wish I could help you, but if you don’t want it, then Iguess I can’t.”

She’s giving me a choice? he thought wonderingly. Even Aoko didn’t do that… “Before weleave for good, can you just let me go outside for a while? Please?”

“You’regoing with me? Really, Kaito-kun?” Her features suddenly lit up with delight,while on the inside she was laughing deviously. If Kaito hadn’t chosen to come with her, she’d have been forced to useharsher tactics, more than just plain hypnosis and seduction.

“Yeah, I’msick of this place.”

*******************************************************

“I feel likesomething’s wrong,” murmured Ran to Kazuha and Aoko. They were having asleepover in Shinichi’s house, and Heiji was with Hakuba in his room. “Whatabout you guys?”

“I don’tfeel anything.” Kazuha stretched luxuriously, yawning as she extended her armsabove her head. She was tired, but not quite ready to go to sleep yet. She wasmuch too tense for that. Aoko and Kaito’s fight had shaken them all.

“I think Iknow what you’re talking about, Ran-chan,” Aoko said, staring out the window atthe half-moon, shrouded slightly by the dark clouds. “I can’t tell exactly whatit is, but it makes me think of Kaito.”

She thought their discussion was over.He seemed content enough after she had shot him down, and she hugged him to lethim know it was all right. She hadn’t expected him to explode on her.

“I don’t want this!” he screamed,pushing her off. His blue eyes were filled with a fire she hadn’t seen in whatfelt like absolutely forever, something that was pure determination and a traceof loathing. “I want to go outside! I don’t want to be trapped in here! I hatethis frickin’ place!”

“Kaito!” she gasped, taken aback byhis sudden outburst. “I thought I promised you that you can leave this placesoon!”

“How can I believe you?” hechallenged, hopping off of the bed. “You’ve said the same thing for the pastfew weeks! I took one step out of this room with Ai, and you kicked her out. Doyou really know what’s best for me? If you do, then tell me why you think thatway!”

The other teenagers sat solemnly onthe bench beside the wall, watching the fight unfold right in front of them,unable to do anything to stop the two former best friends from starting all-outnuclear warfare. Ran made a move as if she was about to stand up, but Hakubapulled her back down. “It’s probably for the best to let them duke it outthemselves. It’s their problem, not ours, not even if we want it to be.”

“But-“ she protested, then she calmeddown, listening to Shinichi.

Ran, he said. Hakuba’s right, this is theirfight. Don’t interfere. They need to decide this for themselves. He heard her small squeak of dissent, butshe settled back onto the crowded bench, putting her hands over her ears so shewouldn’t have to hear the arguing. It made her think of when her parentsseparated. A painful memory she never wanted to revisit.

Curses, insults, heated cries flewacross the room, from Aoko to Kaito, Kaito to Aoko, and then silence, as bothof them stopped, staring each other angrily in the eye. It was far from aconclusion, but it was the end of round one of which Aoko had won at a bittercost.

Kaito refused to even go within twofeet of her, causing her to cry and beg. With an arrogant, rude ‘hmph!’ hehopped back onto the cot and faced the wall, wishing that there was a windowinstead of cold hard concrete to look at.

Crying, Aoko walked back towards Ranand Kazuha’s comforting hugs that were half-filled with sympathy. All of themwere split between Aoko and Kaito’s decisions, between freedom and safety. Whichwas the better choice? Not even the high school geniuses Shinichi, Heiji, andHakuba could figure it out.

All of them fervently hoped theywould never have to make that choice. Except Shinichi, who wouldn’t even havethe chance to decide. I almost wish I could, he thought,with only Ran to hear. It would at least mean I was still living.

The phonestarted ringing from downstairs, a distant, impatient call. None of thembothered to get up, knowing that one of the boys would get there first anyways.

“I got it!”cried Hakuba and Heiji at the same time, placing their hands, light and dark,onto the receiver.

“I got herefirst you know!” said Heiji, a playful, semi-angry frown on his face.

“So what?”scoffed Hakuba, arrogance dancing around in his icy blue eyes. “It’s not likeit really matters.”

“Then takeyour stinking hand of the phone!” cried Heiji, trying to pick it up. “It mightbe something important!”

“I’ll takeit then!” Hakuba pulled the telephone out of Heiji’s grasp, picking it up witha formal voice, sounding as if he was using his foreign accent. “Hello, this isthe Kudo residence.”

“I usuallyanswer the phone with, ‘This is Heiji speaking’,” protested Heiji, crossing hisarms in annoyance.

“Thatdoesn’t really apply here, does it?” questioned Hakuba. “You have to be politewhile talking on the phone. This still is Kudo-kun’s house, and if it’s nothis, then it’s his parents.” He held put a finger to his lips to tell thedark-skinned teen to shut up, and listened intently. “Mm-hm, mm-hm… WHAT?! WHATDID YOU SAY?!”

“Oy,Hakuba!” Heiji shook Hakuba furiously when he didn’t respond, the manners thatthe blond had been spouting about no longer applying based on the shouting thatwas done into the receiver. Something was really wrong. “What happened? Tellme!”

Hakuba’sface whitened, contrasting with his honey-blonde hair, eyes frozen in shock.“Okay, I understand. Give us about half an hour. Thank you.” Shaking, he putdown the phone.

“We heardyou screaming, Hakuba-kun!” panted Aoko, who had sprinted down the stairsfollowed by the other two girls. “Did something happen?”

“It-it’sKuroba-kun. He’s not in his room, and he’s not in the surrounding corridors oranything! His door was found unlocked, as well as nearby emergency exit. Theythink he escaped.” He looked at Aoko’s devastated face, waiting for the barrageof insults that he had become so used to.

“Kaito,” shewhispered, nearly inaudible, lips forming the name several times more, silentas she took in the news. “Are you sure about this?”

“Positive.The doctor wants us to go over right away; he says there’s something that weneed to see.” He walked towards the coat stand where his thick leather jacketwas hanged. “What’re you waiting for? We can’t let anything happen toKuroba-kun!”

They stoodstill for a few moments more, shell-shocked. Then Ran jolted to her senses andfollowed Hakuba’s lead. “Call a taxi; it can be hard to flag one down from thisstreet. They don’t come very often.”

“Got it.”Hakuba whipped out his cell and started dialing the keys, letting out theirlittle musical beeps. “I would liketo request a taxi to Beika District 2-chome, 21-banchi, please. Okay, we’ll bewaiting. Thank you.” He turned around to look at the others. “It’ll be here infive minutes, ten minutes tops.”

Aokofidgeted nervously as she put on her coat, looking as if she were about tothrow up from fear and guilt. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have been so mad atKaito; if anything happens to him, I’ll-“

“Nothing’shappened to him yet, Aoko-chan,” assured Kazuha, secretly thinking about whenshe had thought Heiji had gone missing. “Maybe he’s just sulking and hiding ina corner somewhere. He’ll be fine; he can take care of himself even without hismemory.”

She nodded,tears falling down her face, singeing her skin as it rolled down. Kazuha’swords meant nothing to her. Why did Ihave to be so darn harsh? Maybe if I had just listened for a while, maybe if Ihadn’t been so damn stubborn this wouldn’t have happened!

“Could youget yourself to the hospital right now, Ai-chan?” Ran was talking on her cell phone,explaining the situation to a sleepy Ai. “I’m sorry for waking you up, but it’simportant. Please?”

It must havebeen a yes, because Ran was smiling in a half-hearted way as she ended thecall. “If he’s hiding, Ai-chan probably has the best chance of calling him outright now. She was on his side.”

“I thought Iknew what was best for him. Funny how an elementary-schooler beat me there, isn’tit?” Aoko murmured, voice cracking.

“She’s had alot of experience with things like this; maybe even worse things.” Heijistarted walking out the open door, waving at a bright yellow car. “Taxi’s here,let’s go!”

*********************************

“You haven’tbeen able to find him yet?” cried Aoko in disbelief as she burst into the room,shouting at the doctors. “How?” They had gathered into Kaito’s empty room,staring at the floor, avoiding Aoko’s harsh glares. One of them approached herwarily, swallowing before he spoke.

“We’ve triedsearching most of the wings, but we didn’t see him anywhere. And I think itmight have been-“ The doctor mumbled something indecipherable. Heiji strainedhis ears to hear, but he couldn’t even make it out.

“What was that?”she asked, an accusing tone in her voice. “What do you think it might havebeen?”

“Akidnapping,” a nurse answered for the incoherent doctor. “Somebody left a noteon the bed. Here it is.”

The rest ofthem gathered around Aoko as she read the note, realizing quickly that it wasKaito’s handwriting she was reading. A beautiful messyscrawl that she could recognize anywhere.

I’m not really sure what to doanymore and I don’t know even what the truth is. Someone came in to pick me up,someone I think I can trust. I don’t know if I can trust any of you after whathappened today, and I don’t want to face it again. Viura said you were alllying to me and I listened to her. I’m leaving to go with her. If this is thewrong choice, then sorry to you all, but I don’t think it is. Send the littlegirl Ai my regards; she’s the only one who thought like I did.

Kuroba Kaito

Or is it Bordeaux?

Aoko’s kneesgave in, and her tears smeared the messy inked handwriting as she cried intoher hands, feeling the full effect of her mistake. She felt somebody tap her onthe shoulder, but she didn’t react, preferring to sniffle alone.

“The ink isstill smudging, and it’s a kind I recognize.” Heiji rubbed his finger againstthe paper, his detective instincts taking over. “It hasn’t been over an hoursince he wrote this, we might still be able to find him; it would be impossiblefor him to have gone very far.”

“Viura,”whispered Ai, who had just arrived, wearing a coat and striped pajamasunderneath. She hadn’t had time to change when Ran’s desperate call woke herout of deep slumber. “I recognize that name.” Her face blanched with fear, andher eyes stared straight forwards, remembering those fearful blood red irises. Viura. A woman who was part of- No, thiscould not be happening.

“Wait,Ai-chan, do you mean-“exclaimed Ran, remembering how Ai had explained thecamping incident to them, the phantom bomber who had disappeared. A youngwoman, slightly older than a teenager, with a wicked smile, short strawberry-tintedblonde hair, snake fangs...

With herface as pale as the snow lying on the ground outside, she spoke, her voicequavering, eyes staring at the ground. “He’s been taken by the Organization.”

Is the cliffhanger epic enough? I know chelsea already knows what's going to happen, but don't tell! Thank you for reading!