Work Text:
Every quest was supposed to start somewhere.
Terry was burning with rage when he discovered the true cause of Natsuki’s death, a plan for vengeance quickly forming within his mind. It was no “freak accident” that the yakuza broke into his bakery and shoved him in the oven. The first thing Terry thought of, which probably wasn’t the first thing he should have thought of, was to get a weapon. He knew exactly where he kept one, though he never had to use it before until now. It had been a long time since he was at his old school.
Terry expected today to be an ordinary afternoon, dodging the small crowd as the young students were being dismissed. He knew that Tohma was arrested, but after seeing how many police were standing by the school’s locked doors, he was almost afraid to find out why. Terry took out his phone and called the principal.
“Hello?” said the voice on the other end of the line.
“Good afternoon, principal. This is Terr- this is Hiyama Teru. I’m back from St. Defoko’s.”
“Oh, Hiyama! It’s been a while! I didn’t think I’d be hearing from you.”
Terry took a breath. There was a tinge of disappointment in the principal’s voice. “Right, we haven’t talked to each other in a long time. I was hoping to retrieve some things that I left behind.”
“Sorry ‘bout that, the police investigation is still going on. I guess you could ask one of ‘em to escort you, but no promises.”
A full blown investigation? What on earth did Tohma do? “Thank you very much, sir,” Terry said, hanging up immediately after.
Terry approached a bored-looking police officer by the gate, shifting weight between his feet with his hands in his pockets. “Excuse me officer, I used to be a teacher at this school. Could you escort me inside so I can retrieve some personal belongings?” Terry asked. He took out an old ID card to verify himself, but he still felt like he was doing something wrong.
The officer took the card and stared at it blankly. After a few seconds, he gave Terry an approving nod and handed the card back. “Yeah, you can go inside.”
They were allowed inside the school, and another officer quickly ran in behind. Terry, who was far more familiar with the building, led the three of them down the halls. He knew that Tohma wasn’t going to be there, but he absentmindedly took the path he always did to his lab classroom. An officer was already standing outside the door.
“My guy here’s gonna take over now. You’re, uh, dismissed,” the first officer with Terry said. The officer at the door narrowed his eyes for a moment, before walking away. The second one with Terry entered the lab. It sounded like someone was letting out a sigh of relief.
After that, Terry continued down the hall to the stairs. He went up one flight and found classroom 3-2. Until then, everything seemed the same as he remembered it, but when he entered his old classroom, he realized just how long he was away. Another teacher took his place when he started working at St. Defoko’s. Cohorts of students he never had the chance to meet had passed through this room. Shelves were rearranged, new decorations were adorned by different names. Terry wondered how he thought his life was monotonous before.
The officer stood outside the door, checking his phone. Terry reached under the desk and felt around, but nothing was there. He already knew that his desk in the teachers’ office was cleared off and everything there was moved to the back room. Perhaps everything that used to be in this room was also moved there.
“This place is pretty nostalgic,” Terry commented as he walked out the door, quietly sliding it shut behind him.
“Sure is,” the officer replied, not looking up. He quietly clicked his tongue and shoved his phone back into his pocket.
“Let’s go to the night shift room. It’s just past the kitchen.”
They walked down the dead halls again. Any other teacher would have found the absence of children’s laughter and footsteps unnerving. Terry spent too much time in this building to be bothered by the silence. They walked down the stairs, rounded the corner, going past the teachers’ office, elevator, restrooms, and kitchen. The only thing Terry really missed was seeing other teachers in the office on an afternoon like this. He wondered who else came and went while he was gone.
The night shift room was almost exactly as he left it. A 4.5 tatami area of tiled flooring. A small, short table where things from his office desk and classroom were piled by the other staff. A wide window on the far wall covered by flimsy vertical blinds, missing sections and unable to slide anymore. The closet on the left wall where Terry shoved everything else he didn’t bother packing or throwing out when he left. If the police officer wasn’t here with him, he would have wanted to clean it out properly.
Unfortunately, he did have to open it. He slid the right door open just barely enough to see inside, and used his phone to illuminate the contents. There were ordinary things like a rolled up futon, old t-shirts, and a box of broken appliances. There was a flimsy broken rope. There was a large plastic soda bottle filled with shochu. Terry checked everything he could see from that side, looking from the left sliding door too, but he couldn’t find the weapon. He sighed and closed the doors.
He couldn’t see it when he first entered the room, but on the floor behind the table were rolled up posters and a wooden meter stick. He excitedly picked up the meter stick, which was quite a bit heavier than you’d normally expect. On the back, Terry’s Japanese name was carefully carved into it, and laid with shimmering silvery ink. He held the first 15cm of the meter stick and pulled it away from the rest, revealing a blade hidden inside. Gently running a finger over the edge, it was still as sharp as the day he received it.
The police officer loudly groaned behind him. “That dumb bastard! If he doesn’t find the fucking shabu the boss is gonna blame ME for it!” He very nearly threw his phone against the floor when Terry turned around.
“You’re not a police officer, are you?” Terry asked, but he already jumped to conclusions. It was a yakuza, and the mention of “shabu”… Tohma got arrested because the yakuza hid meth in his classroom!
“Yeah, what are you gonna do about it?” the yakuza said tauntingly. “Just get your shit and go, unless you wanna help us search the lab, Mr. Ex-teacher.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it,” Terry said, and unsheathed his blade.