Tokyo: Rabbit Officer and Her Evil Partner
Chapter 81 - 3 Welcome Home

Chapter 81: Chapter 3 Welcome Home

The world swallowed her.

Taira Sakurako felt like she was walking through a dark tunnel.

She couldn’t see the end ahead, and occasionally, echoes would reverberate through the tunnel. Someone would tell her to eat, to drink, and the things in her hands would turn into food or cups. She was extremely hungry, unable to resist looking back at the way she came. The outside world was full of traps.

"I caught you! I caught you—"

"Please eat something, I beg you..."

"There’s someone in the cupboard! It’s a child! Emergency responders, where are the emergency responders?!"

"External stimuli causing palpitations, mental breakdown, dissociation..."

"I’m Investigation Officer Kaga Keido; do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

...

She could hear and see, but she couldn’t and didn’t want to respond, as if her soul and body had been separated.

Her soul walked in the tunnel, driven by fear into the depths of darkness; her body, like a protective shell, numbly received the signals from the outside world.

When the stimuli became too intense, the noise too loud, or objects suddenly moved, the whole tunnel began to tremble, shaking violently as if in an earthquake. She curled up in a corner of the tunnel, trembling in tears, waiting for the disaster to subside.

She didn’t want to go back anymore.

She no longer had the courage to return to that horror forest, and there was no longer a place for her outside. She lacked the drive to run and had nothing to chase after.

"Excuse me..."

The sound of the door opening made her turn her head, and through the end of the tunnel, she saw two unfamiliar faces, a man and a woman.

The girl seemed a bit nervous, looked slightly older than her, with her hands behind her back, she earnestly said, "Hello, nice to meet you for the first time, I’m Minamoto Tamako, the patrol police from Sugamo Station front Patrol House, I’m sorry I came late... truly sorry!"

The man scrutinized her, waving a hand in front of her eyes, and nonchalantly said, "She’s like a vegetable, what’s the point of asking anything, it’s better to let her rest."

"I wasn’t planning on asking. I hope she can rally herself!" Minamoto Tamako turned her head, clenched her fist, and said to her, "Hang in there! Don’t be defeated! Even if you have to grind your teeth, do everything you can to get back up!"

The man, irritated, said, "Aren’t you being a bit harsh standing there? What if she finds lying at the bottom quite comfortable?"

Minamoto Tamako pursed her lips and earnestly said, "No way, I know how that feels! Aunt Yukimura would surely not want to see her like this, just as Kawai doesn’t want to see me unhappy! Even though I’m not as eloquent as you, I also don’t know how to describe this feeling, but what’s in people’s hearts can connect us!"

"I don’t believe it. Human grief isn’t shared; maybe she just finds us noisy."

Minamoto Tamako asked back, "Then why did you comfort me back then? Why do you say Kawai’s spirit attached itself to the rabbit officer?"

Having refuted him, Minamoto Tamako snorted lightly, laying at her bedside, continuously telling her encouraging words.

Taira Sakurako felt the tunnel start to shake again, her body trembling with anxiety, her eyes filled with tears, on the verge of breaking down.

Minamoto Tamako quickly shut her mouth, and Fushimi Roku joined in holding his breath, the two of them stiffly froze as if playing red light, green light.

After ten minutes or so, Taira Sakurako gradually calmed down. She lay on the hospital bed, her eyes unfocused, like a lifeless porcelain doll with some freckles painted on her face.

"Let me," Fushimi Roku said.

"Are you for real? Can you do it?" Minamoto Tamako lowered her voice, "It feels like you’re not good at comforting people, don’t make her condition worse."

Fushimi Roku spoke in an unamused tone, "I may not be good at comforting others, but I know what people want to hear. Unlike you, always bringing up the things best left unsaid, constantly pricking your partner’s heart. You should know a stake nailed in leaves holes, and if apologies worked, then why do we need police..."

Minamoto Tamako, hearing this every day, even a fool would have trained magic resistance. She impatiently urged twice, and Fushimi Roku clicked his tongue, thinking he should change his approach next time.

"Get out of the way, don’t get in the way."

Fushimi Roku brushed past Minamoto Tamako, half-squatted by Taira Sakurako’s bedside. He pulled a camcorder from his pocket, turned on the power switch, and a familiar electronic start-up sound played, finally moving Taira Sakurako’s expression.

He tapped open a video file, turned the screen around, and started playing from the beginning.

Minamoto Tamako subconsciously exclaimed, ’you actually hid evidence,’ Fushimi Roku turned back to glare at her, and she silently closed her mouth, planning to confront him later.

Taira Sakurako’s eyes finally found focus, her gaze falling on the screen.

The camcorder was a cheap one, the image slightly blurry, the tone a pale blue, like a dreamy past. She saw her own profile, intently carving a mask.

...

...

In the tunnel, she was mesmerized.

From afar came Yukimura Aoi’s questioning voice, ’are you doing magic? Why can these masks be exchanged for money?’, she heard herself reply: ’I am crafting with all my heart; through these masks, you can see my joys and sorrows’... Her smiling face solidified on the Noh Mask, and the peace and happiness of the past lingered in her heart.

She instinctively stepped back.

In an instant, vines grew rampant, thorns sprang up, and ghostly apparitions charged at her, she screamed, stumbling backward.

Clap.

Someone gently supported her back.

At the end of the tunnel, there was a bright spot of light. Amidst shaking images, Yukimura Aoi finally appeared with a smiling face. Her voice seemed to come from ahead, yet also sounded behind her: "Hey, Sakurako, are you afraid?"

The person behind her pushed Taira Sakurako step by step forward, tears streaming like a spring, unable to resist the force leading her toward the light. Vines ensnarled her arms, thorns pricked her feet, and the specters continued their uproar.

Her father’s ferocious face loomed before her, shouting ’why don’t you just die’, ’it’s because of you we divorced’, ’you’re a burden to this family’... Nagashima Takeshi’s distorted body clawed at her hair, with a sinister grin saying ’the weak should stay weak’, ’you’re born to please me’...

The person behind her covered her ears, and Taira Sakurako began to run, her little feet stepping forward, constantly running, running towards that point of light. This world had many terrifying things, but Yukimura Aoi was still waiting for her, waiting for her to come home...

With a resounding thud, she fell to the ground.

A shadow dangled upside down in the tunnel, it was her own shadow.

"Don’t go back," she heard herself say, "Aoi is already dead, you can’t change anything, it will only increase the suffering."

"No..." Taira Sakurako sobbed.

"No one ever cared about you, everything you’ve done has been in vain. You might as well turn around, walk down this dark tunnel, all the way to the deepest place... It’s quiet there, without pain or sadness..."

Endless darkness engulfed her, like being drained of all strength, she couldn’t stand anymore.

...

...

"Didn’t you tell me a ghost story yesterday? Aren’t you afraid of those things?"

"Not afraid."

"Why?"

"A single person would be afraid, two people, not so much."

"What if I turn into a ghost? I’ll eat you when I’m hungry!"

"Still not afraid."

"Why?"

"You’ll protect me. Right?"

"Yes, if I die, I’ll become your guardian spirit."

In the darkness, someone helped her up, she heard a familiar whisper beside her ear: "So, for my sake, run, Sakurako."

Taira Sakurako wailed aloud, stumbling to her feet, and desperately sank her teeth to run fiercely, leaving a trail of bloody footprints in the tunnel.

"Sakurako, Sakurako, run forward, don’t look back."

The thorns couldn’t hinder her steps, vines could no longer hold her body, ghostly figures dissipated like smoke, and the dot of light in front of her grew larger and larger. That dreamlike warm light finally shone on her face.

...

Taira Sakurako’s eyelashes trembled slightly, she slowly raised her head, the camcorder was showing a video of Yukimura Aoi kneeling at the entrance.

"Welcome home, Sakurako."