As they walked back to the car the medical center’s staff rushed to the autopsy room to clean things up. The front desk clerk was pale and shaking. He offered them a small bow then returned his attention to the cleaning crew.
They settled inside the car and Teruo turned on the heating. A few staff members passed through the building’s front yard, leaving in a hurry and Teruo waited for them to round the corner. When they were out of sight, he leaned over the center console and cupped his palms around Shinji’s cheeks, pressing his lips onto Shinji’s cold ones. A surprised gasp escaped Shinji.
“I’ll drain your—” Shinji mumbled.
“I don’t care,” Teruo said and kissed him again.
Shinji moaned and dug his fingers into Teruo’s hair, answering with a hungry, open-mouthed kiss. The chill in Shinji’s body subsided and Teruo felt him warming up in his arms.
“I was scared,” Teruo said, trailing his thumbs over Shinji’s cheeks. “Thought he’d change his mind and slash your throat.”
Shinji smiled. “You didn’t look scared, on the contrary.”
“Can’t let a criminal see my fear.” Teruo smiled back before a dizzy spell hit him and he slumped in his seat, waiting for it to pass.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Teruo said. “It’s not as horrible as it was at Miura Eisuke’s house.” That had felt like he’d died.
“I guess what I use myreiryokufor determines how I affect you. Sometimes you sense when I take your energy and sometimes you don’t. And the worst is when I call spirits.”
“How am I able to do this?” Teruo asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve never met a person like you, who has no spiritual powers, but who can offer healing energy. I asked the superintendent and he doesn’t know either, but he promised he’ll look into it.”
Teruo’s brows rose. “So that’s what you two were hiding.”
Shinji shrugged. “Not hiding, but I couldn’t just drop this on you. I don’t want to scare you.”
“Fair enough. Let me know when you find out,” he said before he could stop himself. Did he really want to find out? The detective in him wanted to pick apart everything Shinji said and analyze it. Another part of him dreaded what the answer would be.
“Of course. But I’ll need you to be patient. The superintendent is researching in secret. We don’t want to alert… the others. They might poke around, find out I told you and it could get me—us—in trouble.”
“Got it,” Teruo said, wondering if theotherswere like the officers who helped him earlier. Perhaps an army of supernaturals?
How many times had there been a supernatural right in front of him and Teruo didn’t even know? They looked so ordinary, but in fact they were people with special powers. Frightening and lethal powers. He’d been kept in the dark about this dangerous world, hidden before his very eyes. If Shinji hadn’t been by his side to explain and help, would he have caught Taniguchi? Probably not. After all, it was Shinji’s presence that had Taniguchi make mistakes which led to his arrest.
Teruo pulled the car out of the parking lot and toward the TMPD where Taniguchi awaited.
~ * ~
Superintendent Yoshida stood at the front desk as they entered. He passed a folder to Teruo, then gestured for the both of them to follow and guided them toward where Taniguchi was being kept for interrogation.
When they arrived, the superintendent stopped in front of the door. “I’ll be the only one supervising,” he said, “since we’re dealing with another kind of criminal. Normally, he wouldn’t be interrogated here, but I made an exception this time. You keep everything to yourself. Understood?”
“Crystal clear, sir,” Teruo said. “Is it safe to go in? He almost—”
“Don’t worry. Special seals have been placed on his body to block his energy. He’s harmless now.”
“Thank you.” Teruo bowed, still finding it surreal to talk with the superintendent about spiritual energy.
The superintendent turned on his heels and entered the adjacent room as Teruo opened the door to the interrogation room. Taniguchi sat in his chair, hands handcuffed to the floor. He didn’t raise his head when Teruo walked inside, Shinji right beside him, nor when the both of them settled down in front of him. His forearm was bandaged and had probably been stitched. The bullet only scratched him as Teruo intended.
“Wanted revenge, didn’t you?” Teruo dove right in. “Guess you got it.”
“Almost,” Taniguchi said, his voice even. “Had a few more on the list. You fucked up my plan.” He threw a glare toward Shinji.
“Yes, quite rude of us.” Teruo shook his head. “How many more?” He opened the folder given by the superintendent and pushed the list of students in front of Taniguchi.