Chapter 3: Into the Pit (3)

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Swirls' Coffee Shop was oddly creepy at night - and had next to no customers. That was fine, Hitomi mused, as her plan needed no witnesses. She wasn't currently at the Coffee Shop, but rather in a car a few meters away. What was crucial for this plan wasn't necessarily meeting the deranged stalker - no, she merely needed to figure out his identity. Her giant camera lying expertly in her hands was proof of that. 

If Hitomi had the self-awareness to be ashamed, this would be that moment. But she found that she didn't care. Extreme situations required extreme solutions.

Hitomi: 'He's gotten so used to having the upper hand...I wonder how he'll react once he notices she's not there.'

This thought was what kept Hitomi's mood cheery despite being inside a car, hiding. With no air condition and no light, Hitomi had to keep her presence hidden for her job to end well. That way, Ichigo could get her justice. The sick lunatic could be dealt with. And Hitomi could return to her effortless lazy lifestyle. Everybody won. 

Hitomi was patient in her waiting, but at some point, even she got bored. 

Hitomi: 'Just where could that idiot be?' Sure, she was currently displaying anger, but that anger was a facade. Her real emotion was hidden behind it; a thin, oily emotion called fear slithered inside her mind. After all, this stalker was someone who knew intimate details about Ichigo. He knew everything about her. If he was getting fooled this easily, then...

Hitomi's breath hitched. 'Maybe I'm not the mastermind...but rather, the one getting reeled in...!'

Horror dawned.

Just then, the car door slammed open. 'Crap, I didn't lock it!' Her head violently jerked up towards the crazed smile of an unknown man.

The stalker.

'Hck...' Her breath quickened. Involuntarily, her eyes dropped down to her car door...just as the handle fell down broken onto the concrete sidewalk. 

Yes. It wasn't Hitomi who had forgotten to lock her door - but rather, that this man had teared the car door open. Realizing this, she stared at him. First, her look was shock. Then pure confusion, dread, before settling on malice. '

'It was a trap. I was fooled all along.' Hitomi didn't know what was worse. That her plan had failed before it had even begun; or that this vile man, with his overly leering smile, seeming to believe he'd won everything. 

'You.'

'You...'

'YOU!' The moment was only brief; maybe a minute, or less. Yet, Hitomi lunged. 

Gritting her teeth, she went further inside the car - opening the door in the street. Once there, she narrowly missed a kitchen knife lobbed at her. The 'clang' sounded reverbed across the asfalt road; Turning towards the object, taking a brief look at the abandoned street - two people turned to eachother, one in euphoric triumph and another in blind rage. His smile was so annoyingly wide.

"What's wrong? Wasn't this what you wanted? So indecisive," he laughed breathlessly, moving towards her.

She backed up, grabbing a broken bottle and shot him an unimpressed look. He didn't notice; drunk on his victory. He thought he'd won already. This vile thing. That was what pissed her off the most. 

"Did you really think I didn't know? My Ichigo-chan is so pure and chaste, she would never initiate contact," he grinned.

"You wouldn't know that, though. You're not like me. I know everything there is to know about her. Ah, how wonderful Ichigo-hime is! My love! Like an abyss with my name painted across it, mine to explore and learn everything about! Did you hear that, sl*t?" There it was, this stalker's infamous mood swing striked again. "Mine. You hear that? Who are you to console her, you useless speck of dirt."

Hitomi's back went rigid. She turned to him, eyes searching. She was mad.

"So...all this time, you knew she was frightened to death because of you? How...How can you even entertain the idea of romance, then?" Hitomi, in complete disbelief of the situation at hand, struggled to keep her anger in check. Her blood pumped, overwhelming her ears. The fury...it was so potent, she could hardly hear him anymore.

"You've ruined her life. She hates you. And you know that. So why would you ever think you're getting close to her? It will never happen." She stared him, mortified.

"You're...completely delusional." 

"Eh~?", the emotionally unstable man replied, acting as if he didn't carry a knife in his hand, "Don't be stupid! I know that," Furrowing his brows, he smiled sweetly. "But that's the thing, isn't it? She doesn't know who I am. She'll never know. And becaus she doesn't know, that means I can meet her again and again. If one meeting doesn't work, another will. She'll love me, because she's my wife. I decided!" The worst part about it was his calm tone. He spoke as if it was decided already. As if there was nothing wrong with what he was doing, and Ichigo was the weird one for taking so long to come to his side. 

Hitomi couldn't take it anymore.

"Are you done?" 

"Eh?"

"I asked, are you done. Listening to you going on and on about what you've done is exhausting. What do you think I'll do? Give you a medal? Congratulate you? Do you really think you did something special?" Hitomi's lips quirked into a bitter smile. "Then, what is it? Am I supposed to act surprised, say 'No! You're so scary, Stop~!', hmm? This much was to be expected." The stalker kept his calm, euphoric smile, but the night lamps showed his tight fists. Hitomi's eyes fell on them, before she smirked. "Oh? Does that bother you? That you're completely, unbelievably, mediocre."

He turned away in a huff. Then, he whispered, "I'm not."

"Hm? What was that?"

He roared, "I said I'm not! This disgusting bug! Don't act like you know anything, I'm-"

Hitomi smirked even wider. Got him. "Heh. You're, what? In love? So are 20 others. And at least those people have talked to her before. That's right. You know it well, right? Ichigo is popular. She's lovable, unlike you. Not unlike a star compared to your bug-like status."

To this piece of crap who harrassed Ichigo; who made her feel lower than dirt every day; that genuinely felt no remorse until he destroyed her life - Hitomi felt no sympathy for. He wasn't bad-looking; he was healthy. He was young. If he wanted to, he could pursue a different route and live a happy life. Instead, he elected to demean a girl he liked just so she might like him back. No, using the word 'demean' was far to generous.

He was torturing her, and worse yet, he found it fun.

"So, I want you to understand something, since you don't seem to understand much of anything, hmm?" She cheered in a faux-happy voice. 

Then, Hitomi's smile and positive face morphed into her true face.

Utter apathy and disgust.

"Do you understand the difference between her and you, hmm? You're the scum of society, lower than even dung. Hiding behind your phone like a lustful loser, are you seriously that eager to begin rooming in prison? Hey, asshole. Get a clue. Not just Ichigo, but no woman in the world would ever love you." For a while, no one spoke. Hitomi, who hid the broken bottle, and held her phone close. She'd dialled an emergency number. While hiding her fear was troublesome, she wondered if she could keep that guy at bay long enough for help to arrive. 

Yes, that's right. This whole thing was a stalling maneuver. Hitomi was happy she could get a few of her retorts in, though. 

"Grr...!!"

The effect was almost instanteneous. And these words must have hit home, because gone was his calculating nature, and all that remained was his blind rage. His self-loathing hatred found its next target in her. She knew this, and accepted her fate. But she wasn't dying without defeating him first.

Eyes connected for a brief, inconsequential moment.

They knew it then; they were going to fight.

Veins bulged on his forearms; his steps were quick, then then quickened, then it turned into a full-blown sprint. "Tch...! Talking like you please!" He swung his upper arm, hand shining. The knife. "Die! SHUT UP! What do you know!"

A combination of luck and instincts saved Hitomi from that first initial slash. Instead, it was her car that got the worst of it. Getting away from him, she swerved before throwing her bottle piece at his exposed arm. "Arh!" 

Hitomi knew this was bad. She had no fighting experience to think of - she had taken a brief taekwondo class in 5th grade, but that was the extent of it. Suddenly going against a crazed lunatic, and an enraged one at that?

The guy came closer, intent at punching her - and he got one in. 'Guh...!' The air escaped Hitomi's stomach. Getting one in, the stalker attempted again, thinking he had won.

Thinking quickly, Hitomi collected all her anger and resentment in one last attempt - a final one. She took the crushed bottle from earlier - the one she had hid behind her back - and stabbed the stalker with it. His eyes widened in shock. He went stiff. "I, ugh!" Blood came pouring out of his mouth. As she kept the broken bottle inside the stalker, she couldn't help but feel it was too easy. Her hunches were, unfortunately, almost always right.

Before he could fall completely, a strange numbness emerged from her own back. Then, the Stalker's eyes brightened; he shouted excitedly, "Father!" Hitomi didn't understand. It was supposed to end like this, and yet...she couldn't deny the strange sensation of pain in her lower back. Then, it became too much. She keeled over, falling down onto her knees. Vision getting hazy; she looked down. 

Ah. She was stabbed as well. 

She fell to the floor; only then did she think. 'If...it...wasn't...the Stalker, then...who...?' The sight she saw cleared her vision back up again; pure white, hot rage fueled her. That man, who was currently cleaning his knife, was...

Funikida Kumagorou. Her gentle boss.

Then, a wet substance streamed forth. 'It's really... non-stop...at this rate, I'll...' Die.

Meanwhile, as her body gave up on her, her mind could not comprehend the betrayal. 

Hitomi murmered, "Why...?"

Kumagorou, who usually looked at her with such kindness, was cold as ice. He scoffed, before looking at the stalker.

'Ah, he was there too,' she thought. Lightheadedness had kicked in. 

"More than that, boy. I know you're obsessed for that girl, but why can't you ever clean up your own messes? Making me send out my men, tch."

The stalker didn't mind. "Papa, thank you! With this, I really feel my darling will come closer to me!"

Kumagorou had no patience for him. "Silence." he ordered. "I have no patience for this, boy. It's bad enough that that woman's son is this horrible at taking over the family business. Why can't you just live quietly? Instead of spreading messes like this." He clutched the stalker's jaw in a vice grip. "You will never amount to anything. Least of all a valuable member of the Black Lion Group."

The stalker teared up, pouting. "Papa, don't be like that! It wasn't my fault, really. Everything was due to this putrid woman," he said with vitriol.

"Punish her instead! I know! You can heal her at one of your hospitals and then torture her to your hearts' delight!" he offered. "Besides, torturing her might get me closer to Amamiya-chan! Since her cousin's my hostage." The absolute deranged filth spewing out of his mouth showed no sign of stopping. 

"Papa, really, thank you! Do me this tiny favor, and I'll be out of your hair forever! Me and Ichigo-chwan will probably reside in France or something, living happily to our days' end!" he rambled on, ignoring the way Hitomi's knuckles grew white. Incapacitated as she was, she could only grit her teeth.

'Is this how it ends,' she thought in shock. 'Dying by the hands of a madman, my cousin taken away, and facing this kind of crime with no witnesses...!' Angrier and angrier, she desperately clung to consciousness, but it kept slipping.

'Just a little more...Don't sleep...!'

"Is that all you care about it? Honestly, you're so disappointing." 

A gunshot fired. Then, nothing. For a minute, shock prevailed. 'It...It wasn't enough to stab me, I was shot as well...?'

No. It wasn't Hitomi that was shot.

It was Stalker-san. 

"Father...why?" he rasped as he, too, hit the cold asfalt road.

Kumagorou threw the gun at a henchman. "Because you've failed too many times, it's enough. At this age, I'm clearly able to tell if you'll be useful or not. The mafia need no weak men like yourself," He boomed.

"And to be fair, how am I supposed to entrust you with important tasks if all you ever do is stalk women? You're losing to your lust. It's a shame, really," he mused.

"To think that Kurosaki Ayame's son would be so...pathetic. Truly, it is something no one could have fathomed."

'Kuro...saki?'

He seemed bored of the entire situation. "You, clean this place up. I'm leaving. It's bingo night at the recreational center. Asano-san keeps stealing my pudding, and I never win. But this time, I'll definitely win," he ended as they began to walk away.

Away from Hitomi, who was losing the ability to function. Just like that, her once lovable boss had betrayed her, murdered his son in front of her, and stabbed her as well. 

'It's ending? Just like that? He'll win, and I'll die like this?!' Anger surged in her body like a wildfire. Just then, she heard faint voices in front: 

Voice 1: "Ah, Boss, what about the bodies?"

Voice 2: "Like I care? Toss them in the river if you want. Just be sure to clean up afterwards. And you, check up on that idiot's sweetheart, won't you? I hate loose ends.'  

'Ah...' Frustration curled in her gut, and angry tears emerged. 'Hck...!' Gritting her teeth, Hitomi's body seized before she lost consciousness completely.

It was a battle she lost. Badly. 

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Thank you to all the readers!! I'm very grateful for your comments! This is the last chapter before the plot truly begins, but the beginning isn't unimportant to Hitomi/Rio's internal development. Make no mistake, this moment cuts her deeply, and it will affect her later on as well. Anyway, thank you so much for the kind comments and hearts!! You amazing lot!!