[Multi-chapter] The Watches Series: Avidity (10/15)
Title: The Watches Series: Avidity
Authors: syunikiss1990
Beta andreja1989 <-- Thank you so so so much!
Pairing: Matsumiya
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: PG-15
Disclaimer: We own nothing but the plot. Oh, and the club is ours...
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*MASTERPOST*
When Ninomiya returned from the close distance of the group of people under the bridge he looked slightly disturbed and a bit pale. He was back just in time, right after he joined Jun and Sho the small group started to disappear, the people who had gathered walked away one by one, probably to avoid too much suspicion from possible curious eyes. When the Light Watch officer didn’t report anything Jun got impatient and asked him about it in a low voice.
“It seems like Aiba is in direct contact with the leader and the way the others reacted to him gives a high possibility that he is the only one who has contact with the leader. I got some kind of nickname, The Unawares’ Angel.” Jun kept looking at the decreasing group to make sure he would catch the moment their suspect would leave while he listened to Ninomiya.
“The Unawares’ Angel…” He repeated softly, making sure he would remember the name. “Any other clues? What about the information Yuuichiro sold him?” Ninomiya didn’t reply immediately which made Jun tear his eyes away from the bridge to look at him.
“Aiba handed the group a file. They need to dispose someone for him. I think the file was inside the envelope that Yuuichiro gave to Aiba.” Ninomiya said slowly and a bit softer than before which made Jun wonder about it even more. It wasn’t usual for the older man to keep something as crucial like this from him, at least he thought it wouldn’t be like him. True, they still couldn’t really stand each other but he surely wouldn’t keep something like this a secret. Unless…
“Ninomiya, who do they want to dispose of?” Ninomiya looked straight into his eyes, an angry spark lighting in them.
“They need to get rid of me. That Yuuichiro bastard sold them my file!” Jun’s mouth fell open.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they found out something about this investigation, maybe it’s just a stupid coincidence. What I do know is that we have to catch Aiba now before it gets out of hand. If we catch him now he will be red-handed and it will be in our advantage.” The smaller man didn’t wait for his approval but already turned around and started to walk towards the now lonely man under the bridge. Matsumoto shook his head, trying to get it clear while he started to follow his partner. Why was his file sold to this group, what was Ninomiya’s role in all of this? But something else bothered him more. What if there was a mole in the Dark Watch? What if they had indeed found out about the investigation and his file was also sold to this group? Ninomiya was right, they needed to take down this group as quick as they could and arresting Aiba would be a big privilege to catch the leader of the group. As they came closer Aiba, the tall man noticed them too and watched them with mild interest. Suddenly his eyes widened in surprise, probably recognizing the man up front from the photo in the file he had just given away. For a moment it looked like he was planning to escape, looking around a bit disturbed but then he seemed to make up his mind, looking at Jun and Sho who were following Nino closely behind.
“Aiba Masaki?” Ninomiya asked as soon as he was close enough to the man. The taller man shrugged.
“I don’t think you really need to ask do you?” The calmness their suspect had surprised Jun.
“Right, in that case. Light Watch, you are hereby arrested. You may remain silent as everything can and most definitely will be used against you.” Ninomiya grabbed the man by his shoulders and turned him around, reaching for his handcuffs and clicking them shut around Aiba’s wrists.
“On what ground?”
“I don’t think you really need to ask do you?” Ninomiya threw back at him. Aiba smiled but didn’t struggle against the strong hold. It didn’t look like his partner needed much help with Aiba so instead Jun grabbed his phone to call for a car to take them back to the headquarters. While they waited for it to arrive he decided it couldn’t do any harm to ask some questions to the arrested man already.
“Who do you work for? Who is the leader of this gang?” He asked, looking at Aiba who smiled.
“I don’t know. I thought I had the right to remain silent?” Bastard Matsumoto thought, looking into the smiling eyes. He couldn’t find any emotion in them that could possibly give him away, it almost looked like he didn’t even care he was caught. They waited in silence and stayed this way in the car towards the headquarters. At first Matsumoto thought their driver would take them to the office of the Dark Watch, seeing he was a Dark Watch agent, but it turned out he had orders to bring them towards the headquarters of the Border Watch. So far for his triumphant return to the office with the biggest clue in their investigation at his side.
They were leaded by Sho towards the block where the interrogation rooms and cells inside the Border Watch were. This part of the office didn’t look too different from the rest of it, the cells they walked past were just as open as the rest of the building. Matsumoto couldn’t stop the shiver that ran down his spine, not wanting to think about the vulnerable position you would be in when you had to stay inside one of those cells. Walking past it made him suddenly realize he was balancing on the edge with his actions in this investigation, or more precisely, his actions with his partner. He looked at Ninomiya from the corner of his eyes, knowing he could be lucky the smaller man wouldn’t say anything about it as he was in the same position. On the other hand, if anyone ever found out he wouldn’t have to stay inside one of these cells, they would probably be send into the emptiness. Something they had done was unforgivable but maybe that was the reason why it was so tempting? Finally his thoughts were interrupted by Sho stopping in front of a door, opening it and inviting them inside. The interrogation room wasn’t as open as the rest of the office to Matsumoto’s surprise. Only the door had a big window inside it but the rest of the room was closed. At least they would have a little bit privacy during their interrogation.
“So, what now. Good cop, Bad cop?” Aiba asked smiling widely as they sat down at the table, Aiba at one side and Ninomiya and Matsumoto at the other side. Sakurai still didn’t mingle with anything and sat down in a chair in the corner of the room, which was probably placed there for situations like these.
“Who is your boss? Who leads this gang?” Matsumoto asked again, looking at the man on the opposite of the table. Again the man smiled, like there wasn’t any other expression he knew.
“I told you I don’t know and even if I knew I wouldn’t tell you so you can just as well stop asking.” Matsumoto took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. If he wouldn’t have been inside the Border Watch office right now, watched closely by that damn Gray one, he would probably have lost it. But right now he couldn’t do anything else than just ask and try to sound as threatening as possible.
“Let’s try something else then. What information did Yuuichiro sell to you?”
“I don’t know who that man is. I didn’t buy anything.” Next to him Ninomiya was close to losing his calmness too. Looking like he could burst any moment he slammed his face on the table, staring at their suspect intensely.
“Don’t lie! What was inside those envelopes, except for my file from the last time?”
“What envelopes?” Ninomiya jumped on his feet and wanted to grab the taller man by his shirt but Sakurai choose that moment to interrupt.
“Ninomiya stop it! No harm shall be done to him, not as long as we have enough proof. And even if we have enough, it wouldn’t be up to you to do anything to him.” The Light Watch officer cursed but sat down again.
“What information do you have?” He asked again through his clenched teeth.
“I have no information at all.” This time both Ninomiya and Jun jumped on their feet, eyes gleaming with anger. Why didn’t this stupid man say anything? It was clear he had something to do with everything, he was even caught red-handed but he still didn’t give any information away. If only they could use some different interrogation techniques which would make him talk…
“I think that’s enough for today. I’ll take him to his cell, you two get some rest. We can continue tomorrow.” Sakurai probably realized they wouldn’t get anything out of this man right now and knew it wouldn’t be long before one of them would cross a line set up inside the Border Watch. There was nothing they could do about it at this moment, after a good night sleep they would probably have a much clearer mind to do the interrogation with.
***
“What are you doing in this group?” Ninomiya asked while Aiba looked at him with a fake dumb expression.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. What are you trying to do?” Ninomiya continued. For this time he and Jun had made an agreement. Ninomiya would do the talking first, if the two of them would start talking or yelling at the same time it might give a situation they wanted to avoid. At first Jun had wanted to do the talking but Ninomiya had eventually convinced him to let him start, since he did have the most experience between the two of them.
“I have no idea.”
“Then why are you in this gang?” Aiba shrugged and stayed silent. For a while nobody in the room said anything. Their suspect just kept darting his eyes between Ninomiya and Jun but didn’t look frightened at all.
“Look Aiba-san, I’ll be honest with you. We know you are not the main brain behind all of this, you are just a fugleman right? A messenger boy? If you give us a name or important information it will be in your favor in a possible upcoming trial. Especially if that is your only role in this case.” Aiba shrugged and shook his head.
“I told you before, I don’t know. And I can’t tell the things I do know, I promised not to.” The answer surprised Jun. It was a bit more informative that the answers they had yesterday but at the same time it didn’t say anything at all. The only thing that was pretty clear now, was the fact that this man wouldn’t give them an answer just like that. They would need to break him and he had a feeling that would be a lot harder than they would expect. For a moment he met Ninomiya’s eyes, seeing the man reached the same conclusion and together they stood up. Without a word they walked out of the room, leaving their suspect behind together with the Border Watch officer who surprisingly didn’t follow them.
“What now?”
“Break him, that’s clear. Maybe he won’t know much but I’m sure he must know something. The place of a next meeting, a way to find the head of this group if necessary.” Ninomiya looked at the wall their suspect was behind, as if he was trying to find the answer written on it.
“What do you suggest?” Matsumoto asked, still looking at the smaller man. A bit surprised the other turned his face away from the wall.
“That’s a first time, you are asking for a suggestion from me.”
“Shut up, it’s not about that right now! We need to focus and break him as soon as possible. If we can’t get anything out of him we are as close at solving the case as when we started it.” Ninomiya nodded slightly, a mischievous smile lingering on his face but at the same time his eyes looked at something far away. They had to break this man, they both had their own possible options to do so but the damn place they were at the moment made everything a lot harder. With Sho’s breath at their necks, they couldn’t go as far as they would have liked to go, but there had to be a way.
“We have to keep pushing him. Take it as far as we can every time until that Gray one will interrupt when he won’t agree with our methods. It is a bit risky but I feel like it’s our only chance.” It didn’t take the two of them long before they could reach a full agreement. They would take turns on trying to break the tall man, he surely would tell something at some point.
They couldn’t be more wrong. No matter how hard they tried, no matter what methods they used, they couldn’t break into their suspects mind. It was almost like the man had managed to completely lock everything inside, the promise which had been made with the person they were looking for as the lock for it. At the fifth day after they had taken Aiba to the office it was Ninomiya again who tried to get information out of him, clearly with no use again. Matsumoto had sat down next to their third partner, keeping himself from interfering too much when suddenly he heard another soft voice between Aiba’s and Ninomiya’s.
“He’s perfect…” The older man softly muttered, probably not realizing he was saying it out loud. When Matsumoto looked aside he noticed Sho’s expression had changed into an interested one. He couldn’t help to wonder what might have caused this, as the older man normally was watching over them with indifference.
“What do you mean?” Matsumoto blurted out, startling Sho lightly. The older man looked at him a bit thoughtfully.
“I think he has a locked mind. You probably don’t really know what that means but you won’t be able to break him. He would be a perfect vessel…” Matsumoto didn’t really catch the last part as the realization that Sho was probably right that they couldn’t break Aiba’s mind hit him quite hard. If they couldn’t break him they would have no lead to catch on to, they would probably have to start all over again. He realized the room had turned silent and looked at Ninomiya, who probably saw the shocked look on his face and by the looks of it he was reaching the same conclusion.
Now what? He thought, even though it wouldn’t surprise him if he said those words out loud.