Chapter Twenty-Eight:
Racing to Hell:
The search continued to lead them to dead-ends. The only
clues the men had were letters supposedly from Hisoka. The only problem was,
they didn't make any sense. The shinigami sat in a diner near the last motel
Hisoka and Jessie may have stayed in. Watari looked at the twenty-three letters
on the table.
"Each one is missing some Kanji," he stated. "I don't
know why yet." Tsuzuki shook his head.
"This isn't his handwriting," he said. The other two
stared at him.
"What?"
"How can you tell?" Tatsumi asked.
"We've been partners for fifteen years," Tsuzuki
explained. "I've seen his penmanship. Besides, I found this in the trash at the
apartment." He reached in his coat and pulled out a draft of a resignation
letter. The other two shinigami had pale looks on their faces when they saw it.
"Tsuzuki-san," Tatsumi started. "You mean he�?" The older
shinigami nodded uncomfortably.
"Yes," he replied sadly. "Why didn't he say anything?"
Tatsumi patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't blame yourself," he whispered.
"But still, I care about him so much. Why didn't I see
how he felt about me before?"
"What will you do when you get Bon back?" Watari asked.
The older shinigami shrugged, feeling unsure.
"I don't know how to face him."
"Well, why don't we find Hisoka first and then see how it
goes from there," Tatsumi said softly. Tsuzuki tried to calm down.
"You're right," he said. Tatsumi turned his attention
back to the letters.
"So if Kurosaki-kun didn't write these letters," he said,
comparing them to the resignation draft, "That would have to mean�" Tsuzuki
turned around, stunned.
"But why would she do that?"
"Maybe something went wrong with her plans," Watari
suggested. They remembered talking to a hippie couple two days ago at another
motel. They described a second couple matching Hisoka and Jessie having a
shouting matching in the hallway.
"If that is true," Watari began. "What is she trying to
tell us?" They looked at the letters again to find more clues. Tsuzuki narrowed
his eyes at the contents at on the table.
"Here are your drinks," a waitress said, handing them
their coffee and tea.
"Thanks."
"Are you gentlemen ready to order?" the waitress asked.
Tsuzuki was about to speak when the secretary put up his hand.
"I'll give you a few more minutes." Tsuzuki tried to
reach out to her as she walked away.
"Tatsumi," he complained. "Why did you wave her away?"
The secretary pushed up his glasses.
"We can't eat until we figure this out," he replied. "No
distractions. We have to get Hisoka back, remember?"
"But I think better with food," Tsuzuki mumbled.
"Did you say something?" Tatsumi asked sharply. The other
shinigami shook his head.
"What if�?" Watari started to say. Tsuzuki and Tatsumi
turned to their attention to him. Watari lifted his head with stern eyes.
"The missing characters are a code," he finished. The
scientist showed them the first letter. "Look here, the Kanji in 'don't follow'
is missing."
"Okay, what about it?" Tsuzuki asked. Watari reached into
his coat and pulled out a pen. He reached over for a napkin and started to
write.
"If we wrote down the missing characters," he explained
as he looked at the second letter on the table. "We'll get an idea of what the
demon girl was saying."
"Good thinking!" Watari finished the coded message in two
minutes. He sat back, unsatisfied with the next puzzle.
"Well?" Tatsumi questioned. Watari shook his head.
"I'm still missing five more Kanji to complete the
message," he explained. "And I went through all of the letters we have here."
The other two shinigami looked at the decoded message.
"Excuse me," a woman's voice interrupted. The men turned
to find the waitress behind them, waiting. Tatsumi raised an eyebrow at her.
"Can we help you?" he asked. The waitress thought about
how to word what she wanted to say.
"Um�" she began. "The manager spotted the three of you
here and told me to give you this." She handed the boys a letter addressed to
them. Tatsumi almost jumped out of his seat.
"Where did you get that?" he demanded.
"A blonde-haired girl left it with the manager around two
this morning," the waitress answered.
"Was she alone?" Tsuzuki asked. The young woman shook her
head.
"She had a boy with her," she said. "Pretty cute too; he
seemed out of it, staring out the window. He didn't even touch his food. Are you
family or something?"
"You could say that," Watari answered, thanking her. The
waitress left the letter on the table, bowed, and walked away. Tatsumi quickly
opened it.
"What does it say?" Tsuzuki asked. The secretary squinted
at the page.
"This doesn't make any sense," he said.
"Give it to me," Watari said, "Is it missing Kanji?"
"In every word."
"I can crack it," the scientist replied.
"Have at it." Watari took the letter and got to work.
This time, it took just a minute to fill in and another to put the message
together. His face went to pale when he read the completely decoded message.
"What's the matter?" Tsuzuki asked. "What does it say?"
The scientist slid the napkin over to the other two shinigami.
Help! Hisoka has spiraled out of control. If this keeps
up, he won't come back from it. Only you can talk sense into him. We are at my
mother's house in the eighth circle of Hell. She is a psychotic, evil,
man-eating bitch. You have to stop her before she turns him into one of her
slaves! I'm so sorry for this.
Jessie
All three shinigami bolted from their seats and raced out
of the diner. Tatsumi left behind a huge tip as thanks.
Meanwhile, Jessie awoke in her bed at her home in the eighth circle of Hell.