Chapter Thirty-One: Decoder:

The shinigami sat in the lobby at Watari looked at the pages in front of him.

"Tsuzuki has her trapped?" he asked. "Could explain why he hasn't been around lately." Hisoka shook his head.

"No!" he blurted out. The other two turned their heads. Hisoka's fists trembled.

"He's not like that!" he cried. "He� He would never do that to her! This has to be someone else pretending to be him and doing all this to her. This has to be! It has to!" Tatsumi put his hand on his shoulder. The young shinigami looked up.

"We know," Tatsumi said in a low voice. Hisoka�s eyes widened.

"Right," Watari said. "So, what's going on?" He looked at the notes.

"An angel, huh?" he asked. "It could be Muraki. He does have motive and the power.�

"What if it isn't?" Tatsumi asked. Hisoka and Watari eyed him.

"I don't know," the secretary said. "It just feels like it."

"Okay," Watari said. "Then who?" He looked at the paper again. "An angel," he mumbled.  "What did Hana-san say the angel looked like?"

"Violet eyes and a black trench coat," Tatsumi replied.

"Anything else?" the scientist asked. Tatsumi shook his head.

"No," he said.

"I see," Watari said. "Hmm�"

"What are you thinking?" Hisoka asked.

"Supposing," he said. "Now, this is just a theory, but what if something happened to Tsuzuki and someone took his form. He then rapes and poisons Anna. Now, he has her trapped in her mind and torturing her."

"Okay," Tatsumi said. "But how?"

"Forced into it?"

"How?"

Watari shrugged. "Blackmail, I don't know."

"But with what?" Tatsumi asked.

"Something to with Anna-san?" Hisoka suggested. The men eyed him as the boy shrugged, defeated.

"Makes sense," he mumbled.

"Okay," Watari said. "But why?"

"Maybe� something's changed in their relationship?" Hisoka suggested.

"Alright," Tatsumi said. "But how?"

"Well, they didn't break up," Hisoka said. "He's been too happy before all of this."

"In any case," Watari cut in. "How we save them both?"

"I could get Anna out, but Tsuzuki's a different matter," Watari said.

"We need to find him first," Tatsumi said.

"But, where is he?" Hisoka asked.

"And how do we get Anna-san out?" Tatsumi asked. The blonde scientist smiled.

"Thought you wouldn't ask!" he said. "Come with me." He stood up and disappeared out of the lobby. Unease filled Hisoka and Tatsumi�s stomachs.

I don't like where this is going, but we have no choice, the secretary thought. Hisoka followed behind. Tatsumi took a breath and did the same.