Our Existence

Ch.19 When The Smoke Clears

A taxi is parked by some warehouses at the harbor. Inside was Kunikida in the passenger seat. Dazai, Atsushi and I were sitting in the back seat.

"Sorry for the last-minute call." Kunikida apologizes to the taxi driver.

"You said on the phone that you've found the culprit of the serial kidnappings. Are you going to go arrest them now?"

"That's right."

"In that case, we should get a move on! What's our destination?"

"Right here, actually."

"Huh?"

"This is where the kidnappings happened, and you're the one behind them. You gassed the victims when they got in your taxi, and then kidnapped them. Wearing a gas mask to protect yourself, of course."

The taxi driver looked nervous. I knew I was right about putting him at the top of my list. I knew something was off about him...like that woman.

"Why would he do that?" Atsushi asks.

"...Shut up." I simply answer.

"That's easy to imagine." Dazai speaks up.

Atsushi still looks like he doesn't get it. I rest my head on Dazai's shoulder as I explain.

"For cargo."

"Cargo?"

"To sell. There's a black market for organ trade in the underworld. He's been selling them on the overseas market since they wouldn't go for an amazing amount in Japanese yen. But he'd still make a fortune if he's doing it alone."

"That's horrible! Wait...how do you know about all this, Shiori."

I smile.

"Before I met you, I had an amazing teacher."

With his eyes close, Dazai smiles when he hears this.

"I'm sure her teacher is very proud of her." he speaks.

"W-Wait, a minute!" the taxi driver speaks up. "If I abducted the victims using this taxi, surely the police, who are tracing the victims, would have picked up on that?"

"No, actually. The police wouldn't have looked twice at this taxi." Kunikida begins to explain. "The reason being that it was the day after the victims disappeared that they were no longer traceable. When you found the right victim, you gassed them and locked them up after taking their clothes and possessions. That's why all of the victims we found at the hospital were in their underwear."

"I see, you wore the clothes you took from them, and impersonated them. Then you checked in at the hotel there were staying at, and made sure you were seen on security cameras. You made sure the victims were the same height and build as you so it would be easier. A lot of them wore hats and glasses as that made things extra easier to impersonate. You know you could fool the police as long as they thought they saw something that looked like the victims on the cameras. The last time they were caught on camera, however, was actually when they had already been kidnapped, am I wrong?" I smirk.

"It was probably even easier for you to kidnap Sasaki Nobuko." Dazai speaks next. "When she fainted at the station, she was put into your taxi by a benevolent bystander who was there at the time. It's quicker than calling an ambulance to the station, after all."

"Your still on about her?" I quietly pout.

Dazai takes one of his arms and wraps in around my waist as he pulls me closer. And in a seductive voice, he whispers in my ear for only me to hear.