Sokudo: Villains Always Win (ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ)

Chapter thirteen | revenge

"Taichi, where is Satou?" Chieko asked again, but Taichi still refused to answer. He continued to avert his gaze, eyes narrowed and clearly annoyed, but for what reason? Chieko was about to ask again, but got cut off when Taichi finally spoke up.

"He left, I tried to stop him or come along but he wouldn't let me and stormed out before I could grab him." He answered in a bitter tone, gritting his teeth. Chieko stared at him puzzled, had Satou stormed off out of frustration? It shouldn't be too surprising due to everything he's been through. The image of a crying Satou being held by back a nurse desperately reaching out to Minji flashed through her mind. She couldn't imagine how he acted afterwards.

"Don't ask me where he went because I have no clue, and I don't really care either." Chieko looked at Taichi with a frown on her lips and sad eyes. He really didn't seem to care where Satou had gone off to, or how he was feeling... but the same couldn't be said for Chieko.

"Do you really have no idea where he could have gone?" She asked him, and he immediately narrowed his eyes at her in response. Shoving his hands into his pockets he let out a huff, he had to at least care for Satou's wellbeing even the tiniest bit.

"I just told you, I don't know. Look, he wasn't crying or anything, he was fine and probably just went back to the warehouse. He's calmed down after... Minji went into surgery, you were right for me to go back and comfort him." He explained, his eyes and the rest of his features softening. Chieko let out a sigh of relief, letting her shoulders fall.

But confusion reappeared in her eyes followed by a frown, eyebrows furrowed she lifted her head to look up at Taichi, given by her expression it was clear that she had questions. "You said Minji recently went into surgery, right? Satou looked absolutely heartbroken when Minji's heart stopped, I don't think he'd want to leave her side after that..."

Taichi rose a brow at her, as if asking 'what are you getting at?' Though remained silent and urged her to go on.

Chieko took a deep breath, lowering her head as her serious expression faltered and disappeared. When she lifted her head, in her eyes was the shine of fear and worry, her lips quivering as she looked at Taichi for help. "I, I'm not quite sure... but I don't think Satou went back to the warehouse."

Taichi's expression had been blank like his old self, but his eyes narrowed and he let out a 'tch'. Out of his pocket, he brought out a sticky-note and showed it to Chieko. Who looked at him confused, before snatching the note from his hand and read what was written. Lifting her head, she gawked at Taichi, eyes wide and her jaw dropped like it had weighed 100 pounds.

Taichi immediately put both his hands up in defence before she could shout questions at him. "Okay, while I admit I know why Satou left, I still have no idea where he went. Hey ─ don't look at me like that!! I didn't want to get you involved okay?! H-hey, where do you think you're going?! Wait up!"

─

The two agreed on leaving the hospital and began a search through the city for Satou. Neither of them had any idea where he could have gone, but most likely he was still somewhere in the city, or so they hoped. As the two walked side by side, silence stood between them and wouldn't budge.

Glancing in Taichi's direction briefly, Chieko decided it was time for the silence to leave. "So... you said he was going to get revenge, which means he's going after the villains," she said, keeping her gaze focused ahead. "But he doesn't know where their hideout is, right?"

There was an unnecessary pause. Stricken with concern, both came to a stop and Chieko turned to face Taichi. "Right...?" She said in an almost pleading tone, praying that the answer was 'no' but that seemed unlikely. Even more as Taichi's silence stretched on.