The door was cracked open about 30 seconds after Aqua rang the doorbell. Only an inch, though, they wouldn't even have noticed if they weren't both paying such close attention. Aqua glanced at Akane as he heard a door on the inside shut, then he pushed the front door fully open and stepped inside. The dimly lit hallway was a strong contrast to the outside world. The sun was replaced by darkness, the noise of the wind replaced by the utter silence of the soundproof penthouse, and the core shaking iciness replaced by a strange and sudden warmth.
After a few seconds, their eyes had adjusted. They found themself standing at one end of a luxurious-looking hallway, each side decorated with the finest pieces of art and history that money can buy. Aqua slowly made his way through the hallway, guarded at any time while shielding Akane, who was walking right behind him. They made their way from door to door, going sure to not leave any fingerprints on the handles.
The first room was a spacious kitchen, equipped with the newest cooking utensils, and a large marble kitchen island in the middle of it. A half wall split the kitchen from the dining room, a massive table in its center with enough chairs to seat an entire football team.
Is this some kind of trap? Is he really trying to lead Akane and me into some cheap trap?
No.
That wouldn't fit him… He might be effective and not sadistic, but I don't think he would just get rid of us without even standing in front of us.
But what is it then? Is this some kind of mind game? Is he intentionally sending us through these rooms? But what could be the reason behind it? It doesn't make sense.
After they made sure that both, kitchen and dining room were void of any suspicious activity, they stepped back into the hallway and moved on to the next door. The next few doors were all wrong, too. One of them was a modern bathroom that was larger than Aqua's room and entirely made out of marble. The toilet was one of the high-tech ones reserved for high society, while the shower looked like it had more settings than anybody could test in a single lifetime. The next was a big office with bookshelves plastered against every wall. A large mahogany desk positioned in the dead center of it. Right behind the desk was a menacing window front that reached from the bottom of the room to the very top of it. The shutters were almost completely closed, probably intentionally to let in barely enough light to create an aesthetic.
By now, they had reached the halfway point of the hallway, to the right another door, and to the left a set of stairs leading to the second floor. Aqua's eyes lit up as he heard a faint struggle coming out of the door he had just placed his ear up against; it sounded like wood scraping against wood. "I think that's the room," he whispered as he slowly pushed the door open.
The room was darker than the other ones, so dark that neither Aqua nor Akane could see anything. They both still made their way forward into the depths of the unknown, while making sure not to make any sounds while listening closely for any movement. The ground beneath their feet changed from the once wooden floor to the feeling of a plastic tarp. All of a sudden, the lights were turned on, which made both back up while they tried to adapt to the new overstimulation of their eyes as fast as possible.
As soon as Aqua's eyes had readjusted, he analyzed the room. The room looked like it was once a living room, but now it resembled a crime scene after the forensic team had been there. The room had a double-height ceiling with a mezzanine walkway, which was accessible from the second floor. Furthermore, there was also another window front on the opposite side of the room, which led out to a balcony. In the center of the room, there was Kana, her body still tied to a wooden chair. She seemed to be uninjured apart from a few minor bruises. Right behind her stood he, Hikaru Kamiki, with both of his hands placed on Kana's shoulders.
Kana raised her hanging head ever so slightly, mixed emotions reflected in her pupils as her gaze landed on Aqua and Akane. She tried to speak, but the only thing that came out was muffled sounds.
Aqua?! Why did you come? I thought I told you to stay away.
Why would you risk yourself and Ruby for me? Damn you, Aqua, why are you so weird? You always hurt me, ignore me, and disappear on me. But afterwards, you're always there for me.
Is this out of pity? Do you think I can't manage on my own? Or is this because you were unable to save Ai? Does coming to save me make you feel better? Does it make you forget your own failure?
No. His motive doesn't matter. He came, even though it's just me. Even though I am not Ai, or Akane, or Ruby. I'm just a failed actress who always ruins everything. But you still came...
"I came here, now let her go... That was our deal." Akane said, trying her best to mimic the way Ruby speaks.
"You know I can not do that, not yet," Kamiki said as he let go of Kana and began to carelessly stroll over to his coffee table, also pushing up against the wall.
Aqua and Akane watched in awe as he just poured himself a glass of whiskey before he walked back over to Kana, slowly sipping from it as he did. "You will come here to me, Ruby, and I will let Kana go over to Aqua."
Akane glanced at Aqua in search of any kind of support.
"Why are you doing this? Why are you so obsessed with my sister?" Aqua, who had stayed quiet until now, finally spoke up too.
"You said you loved Ai. So why would you destroy everything she truly loved?" Aqua's voice was calm and collected.
"You got me all wrong son. I am not doing this to destroy anything. It is true, I love Ai. But I also love Ruby. I'm doing this for them." Kamiki's reply was not what Aqua expected.
"Oh yeah? What kind of love is that supposed to be?" Aqua said after a short moment of hesitation.
Kamiki calmly walked back over to the coffee table and picked a shiny knife up from it, its blade already ever so slightly red. "The purest kind of love. The protective love only a parent can feel for their own child," he said. He held the knife up to his face and went over the sharp blade with his thumb. "Look at us, Aqua. Look at what kind of people we are, Ai, You, Nino San, Me. We were all damned, corrupted by the industry. I need to stop Ruby from continuing to walk down this path."
Aqua took a single, determined step towards Kamiki, who had his back turned to him. But before he could take another one, Kamiki spun around and pointed his knife at Aqua from a distance, staying silent, yet signaling him to stop moving.
"That is no form of love. It is control, you want to take her autonomy away. You would take everything she loves away from her," Aqua said.
Kamiki lowered the knife again as Aqua took a step back. Kamiki walked back over to Kana, who was still struggling in the chair, and placed the knife down on a table next to her. "I know that. But it is what needs to be done. Am I right, Aqua? You have done a lot of bad things too for the greater good."
A second too much passed before Aqua responded, his gaze slightly lowered as he finally did. "I get it now. You don't love Ai or Ruby as people, you love their concepts. You love the pure picture you have of them in your mind, and everything that is threatening this picture of them will be eradicated by you."
Aqua raised his head again, his gaze intensely fixated ahead onto Kamiki, who stood just 10 meters in front of him.
"So what? This is the most realistic form of love. Nobody loves the bad side of people, we all want our loved ones to be perfect, even if it's only in our mind." Kamiki picked the knife up as Aqua took another step forward. Akane could only stand and stare. She wanted to interrupt them, but to her it felt as if she could ruin everything.
"No. Love isn't perfect, it can't be, nothing is perfect. Love is when you can look past the flaws, not when you eliminate them systematically," Aqua said.
Kana stopped her struggle and sat perfectly still as she felt the sharp knife gently glide over her forehead. "You love her right? Otherwise you would not have come." Kamiki's knife continued to draw small droplets of blood as he spoke.
"You are the same as me, Aqua… You do not love Kana for who she really is, you love her concept, the child-star who never made it big, but still gives her best everyday while drowning in doubt and self hatred. What if I make it impossible for her? Would you still love her if that persona were no more?"
Kamiki emptied his glass of Whiskey before carefully placing it down on the coffee table next to Kana, the gentle circling stopping alongside it. The artworks Kamiki bought over the past few years were hanging on the wall, perfectly aligned with each other. Some of them looked like modern art, while others seemed to come out of the Renaissance era.
Snow started to fall from the sky. It rapidly covered the top of the surrounding skyscrapers and transformed Tokyo into a white winter wonderland. Some people on the ground were trying to get under cover, others were standing in the open, letting the snow cover them, too.
Kamiki's living room was a strong contrast to the chaotic outside world; everything was clean and even in such a situation, neatly stacked against the walls to make space in the big room, everything except for a single dark stain on the wall.
The room fell eerily quiet all of a sudden. The air around Aqua felt like it was going to crush him as he took a step forward.
The distance between him and Kana - Just a little less than 10 meters - yet it felt like she was unreachable, thousands of miles away. Then, the silence was disrupted, and the world was resumed by a terrific noise. It was the soft yet unmistakable sound of blood trickling onto the plastic tarp.