Interlude Four: The Daughter Worships Her Father, and…

Happy belated MLK day! And um, whatever other holidays I’ve missed in the meanwhile ^^

Here’s the chapter, to warm your Tuesday morning – thanks again for all the report, and I hope those of you watching DRRR!! are enjoying it ❤

Alcatraz Prison

Cafeteria

“Alright, now how we gonna out of here?”

“…”

At Ladd’s cheerfully whispered question, however, the noodles slowly slid out of Firo’s mouth.

–

One evening had passed since Firo had gouged out Huey’s eye.

In that time, one of Sham’s vessels had told them:

“I’m taking you off this island – I can’t let Huey have any more contact with you.”

But in the morning, they had been merely sent back to their separate cells.

In the cell next to Firo, the Asian vessel called Dragon had told him that Huey’s eye had already been transported out of the prison.

But because Ladd’s cell had been nowhere near them, he hadn’t heard any of this –

Until lunchtime, when the two met once again in the cafeteria.

Physically, the cafeteria was a blank, bare space.

But compared to the rest of prison, it was practically heaven, with the scent of hot soup filling the room with a warm mood.

“Lemme tell you somethin’ Firo. Right now, I’m not a brat with a new toy – no, I’m the king of ’em all! I got a new bug that it’ll be sooo fun to crush. And if I step on it, what kind of color’ll it be? – that’s how I’ve been feeling, and boy, I barely got a wink of sleep ’cause of it.”

“Why are you sharing this now, when people are eating…”

Even as the baby-faced youth expressed his disgust, he continued silently shoveling food into his mouth.

Although it had been several days since Firo and Ladd had eaten together, one thing made this meal decidedly different: Isaac was not there. Before, it’d been said that Isaac was supposed to be released together, but Firo worried whether that had happened safely.

He had a inkling suspicion that Huey, or the person who had wanted Huey’s eye, had already  gotten to Isaac.

And anyways, would Victor even let him go that easily anyway…

Due to unexpected events in New York, there was no way for Isaac to fulfill Victor’s demands.  And right now, Firo had way to guess or know about what had happened. At present, he could only wait and worry about Huey’s next move.

Seeing Firo seem to sigh, Ladd grinned conspiratorially at him.

“Hey, don’t sigh at me, Firo. I’m gonna say it a million times – sighing doesn’t do nothing! Just makes you bored, and boredom’s like poison to me.”

“If you try enough, boredom can be pretty nice, too.”

“Huh – well, when I was twelve, my friends and I used to fool around all the time, just killin’ time. Hell, one time, I even snuck into this place called Nebula and tried to kill the chairman there!”

“…wait, when you say Nebula, do you mean the Nebula?”

Although Firo had been so far tuning out Ladd’s words, this word made him pause.

The corporate giant Nebula – a name not one person in the United States did not know.

Even for those like Firo, who lived in the underworld of the Mafia, it was a name still synonymous with the American dream.

Ladd, however, didn’t seem to think much of the outrageousness of what he had said. Face calm, he continued:

“Ha, yeah – I kinda had a bet with a friend, y’know. Told him, then, “if some guy gets on my nerves, I’ll end him!” And he said, “then what about strutting bastard sitting in that skyscraper? You’d dare to kill him too?” So yeah, I went there.”

“…but I’ve never heard about their chairman being killed in the news.”

“Getting in was no problem, but the chairman was just so boring…killing him woulda been no fun at all. It was like, no matter when he died, it wouldn’t even matter…so I just quietly walk away…”

Seeming to have lost his interest in the topic, Ladd’s words trailed off.

“Oh, my apologies for cutting into your chat.”

With these words, Dragon sat down next to Firo.

Although a friendly smile was on the Asian man’s face, Firo said nothing.

Something flickered over Ladd’s face, but Dragon ignored him as he continued.

“I’ll give you a word of advice to you now.”

“Advice?”

“We’re not going to bother you anymore. Right now, we don’t want to find any more trouble.”

Touching the still-fresh wounds on his face, Sham glanced at Ladd’s face.

For a moment, Firo’s heart pounded with the fear that Ladd would suddenly strike him. However, Ladd seemed to have something else on his mind, and only continued eating as he silently listened to Dragon.

“Huey, however, is another matter…no, that’s not right. It’s Leeza who’s worrying.”

“……”

“Putting it bluntly, that child’s not normal.”

…is this guy really saying this?

Firo couldn’t help but roll his eyes at this.

Right, as if you can speak…

Of course, it was impossible to describe a young girl living in prison as anything but ‘abnormal.’ However, compared to Sham’s existence, that was practically nothing–at least, that was how Firo felt.

Laughing quietly, Dragon continued.

“You’ll understand soon. Oh, but since you’re an immortal, I guess you can’t be killed…so worry instead about being killed over and over again.”

“……”

“That child…she’s a strange one. She thinks her father is the entire world. Just as you regard Isaac, the Martillo family, and New York City as your world…for her, all that’s contained in one person, Huey Laforet.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Finishing the last of his spaghetti, Firo asked this. Dragon, however, only smiled at the question.

“Putting it another way, you and I have taken away part of her world. If the eye taken had belonged to…let’s say, Isaac…what would you do then?”

“……”

This question didn’t even merit thought.

However, Firo had only seen Leeza when she was comatose. He felt he had heard her name before, but unable to recall the memory, he pushed it away.

“For a girl like that, who considers her father a god…how then, do you think she would consider someone who stole from him?”

With each word, Dragon seemed to be deliberately making Firo even more uncomfortable.

However, his words were abruptly cut short by Ladd.

“…I think I’ve heard about something like this before.”

“Hmm?”

“When you were talkin’, I kept on thinking she seemed like someone…”

Recollecting, Ladd’s face scrunched for a moment—then, finding what he had searched for, his eyes lit up.

“This girl – she the sister of a gal called Chane?”

“….hahah!  Ahaha ha haha ha! Yes…you’re absolutely correct, it’s just like you said!”

“Wha –?”

Chane….Chane…

Firo felt he had heard that name somewhere. Racking his mind, he searched for it –

Suddenly, the image of his childhood friend flashed through his mind.

Huh?

So then…when I saw that guy the other time, that mute girl who was always at his side…

Suddenly, a shock went through Firo’s body.

They really are alike.

At the time, he had thought she was Claire’s girlfriend, since they seemed so fond of each other. As a result, he’d regarded her approvingly. Now, however, he couldn’t help but see how much she resembled Huey Laforet.

“Wait a minute—I wanna ask about this Chane girl…”

Just as Firo was about to ask for more details, the bell signaling the end of mealtime rang.

Damn…oh, well. His room’s right next to mine anyways – I’ll ask him another time.

Remembering this, Firo swallowed his question for the time being.

Ladd’s reaction, however, was different. As Dragon began walking away with his tableware, he leaned over –

“Hey, you still haven’t given me an answer to last night’s question.”

“Last night?”

“I’m talking about Lua.”

Ladd’s smile was forced, but hearing his words, Dragon’s smile was similarly stiff.

“Ah, well…I have some rather odd news.”

The air around Ladd froze for a moment – but only a moment.

“She’s escaped.”

Smiling bitterly as he shook his head, Dragon added, almost superfluously –

“And Placido Russo…well, he seems to be dead.”

---

The same moment

Lower levels

Special Cell

“….how….?”

In the cavernous cell, echoed a young girl’s scream.

In the innocent sound, one seemed to hear all of misfortune’s despair, doubt, anger, and anxiety in one cry.

“How could it…how could it happen…?”

“Leeza, what is it?”

Perched calmly on his chair, Huey observed as the girl leapt from the bed.

“It appears you’ve just had a nightmare.”

In Huey’s hands, was a copy of a newspaper curiously entitled, “The Daily Days.” Mostly likely brought in by Sham. Currently, its front page was being perused with interest by Huey.

“Da…Daddy…”

Although the words were filled with love, they did not mask the young girl’s despair.

Instead, her expression became only more downcast. Eyes filling with tears, she shook her head and cried –

“I…I…I can’t, I can’t – aaaahhhhhhh –”

“Quiet down, Leeza. It’s nothing to worry about.”

Sensing his daughter’s unusual distress, Huey folded his newspaper away and slowly stepped over to her. Gently reaching his arms around her slender shoulders, he pulled her into a hug.

“I’m here – don’t worry.”

At these unprecedented words, Leeza’s face paled – and with a voice that still teetered on weeping, she said with difficulty –

“Daddy….daddy…I, I – the Mes that are in Chicago – they’ve been taken to some place!”

–

Huey took a moment to consider Leeza’s report.

The distraught girl had curled onto a ball on the bed, but he seemed content to let his daughter stay quiet for a moment.

Like Sham, the consciousness in Leeza dubbed “Hilton” possessed a number of bodies throughout the country. Properly speaking, it wasn’t Leeza’s consciousness, but rather a water that encapsulated her memories and experiences – but seeming no value in distinguishing between the two, Huey simply raised his daughter as Leeza Laforet.

Now, however, a mysterious, black-clad group seemed to be taking Leeza’s vessels in Chicago.

This seems to be Professor Palamades’s doing, then…

Just as the bespectacled face of his former teacher appeared in Huey’s mind, footsteps sounded in the corridor, and Sham’s silhouette loomed in the doorway.

Not standing on formality, Sham unlocked the door and walked in –

“Master Huey, we have a report.”

These words were given with the utmost calm.

“What is it? Does Rail want you to pass on another message for me to go die?”

Thinking of the message a rebellious Rail had given him shortly before, Huey smiled faintly.

“No – concerning that, I can’t find Rail anywhere now. After the last bombings…the situation in Chicago has forced me to make this special report.”

“And that report is?”

“My vessel in Chicago – it’s been taken by some unknown people.”

Although his news was the same as Leeza’s, it was given with the utmost coolness.

“Sham too?”

Hearing Sham’s emotionless words, Leeza involuntarily lifted her head from the bed.

Because Leeza despised Rail, when news came of his plan to bomb Chicago, she had handed all responsibility over to Sham. Their mutual disappearances, then, could not have been connected to what they were doing in the Chicago.

“Well, if that’s so…it seems we ought to start considering operations in Chicago more seriously.”

There’s no doubt Renee’s involved in this…

But the question is…concerning Sham and Hilton – how did she learn of them?

As far as it was known, only Huey and the other researches at Rhythm were aware of the existence of beings like Sham and Hilton, consciousness who could occupy multiple bodies.        

For Renee to have known about this—had this information come from some source even he, Huey, did not know about.

Or…

As the possibilities flew through his mind, Huey smiled faintly.

“Sham, I have an order for you. I want you to follow plan 23, just as we’ve discussed before. When Victor and the others in New York receive or hear of this news, incapacitate them; make sure they can’t move.”

“Affirmative.”

Hearing Sham’s automatic answer, Huey paused a moment before issuing his next words.

“Before you do, though, please tell him, ‘I apologize things had to end this way. I deeply regret having to do this, Victor.'”

“Affirmative.”

“Also.. ah, yes. Tell him, “I’m sorry to inconvenience you this way…but I can’t you interfering in my affairs with Nebula. So for now, I have to stop your actions from progressing further. He ought to understand, then.”

Envisioning Victor’s helpless gaze, Huey couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

“Although, even if he does understand it, I doubt he’ll be able to accept it…”

“But then again, I doubt that’s there any way he could.”

–

Even as she heard her father’s words to Sham –

Leeza’s mind was already far away.

Now, she had been fully plunged into her own world, where it was impossible to tell where dark ended and light began.

–

How?

How could everything change like this?

Why does Daddy have to figure it out now?

Daddy’s so talented.

Daddy’s so perfect.

Daddy’s so much better than any, any other daddy in the world…

 

It’s so weird.

These past few days…something has changed…changed from how it was supposed to be.

Where? Where did it go wrong?

Just a while ago…just a while ago, everything was fine…

 

Did it start when Daddy’s eyes was taken?

When that Ladd guy beat me up?

When that Graham guy beat us in Chicago?

Before, everything was going so well…

Right now, Daddy and I can’t do anything, can’t go anywhere…

……

 

It’s him.

That guy.

It’s all his fault.

Ever since he got onto this island, everything’s been going wrong.

That guy – everything on this island’s felt wrong since he arrived.

It’s because of him that everything’s been poisoned.

It’s because of him that Daddy doesn’t know what to do.

It’s because of something he must have told Ladd that I was defeated.

He might have even been the one who broke Ladd’s lock.

 

And then, the most most unforgivable part of it –

He hurt Daddy.

He removed Daddy’s left eye.

My daddy who belongs to me – my daddy whose eyes are only on me – those eyes that were only on me, that I only have eyes for –

That guy has taken, ruined, spit on all that.

That guy – he defied Daddy.

That guy – he insulted Daddy.

That guy – he stepped on Daddy’s kindness.

That guy – he rejected Daddy.

That guy – he rejected my world.

Destroyed my world, hurt my Daddy!

So then so then so then then then…

I have to fix it all.

Daddy said that there’s no need to go after him…

But I think, even if some things aren’t necessary, you still have to do them.

Like this. This, now, is what I’ve decided to do.

It’s not enough to take my world back.

I’m going to make him regret all this.

I’m going to kill everyone important to him.

And I’m going to make sure that every wail, every cry—I’m going make sure he hears them all.

Firo Prochainezo.

This guy – I won’t forgive him.

Never, ever, ever.

 

Never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never –

Never!

I won’t stop! Not until I make his life living hell!  

Chapter Five, 1/4