Aqua gets up and looks around the room. His eyes land on Akane, who is sitting in silence, leaned against the wall, her legs drawn to her chest.
He walks over and sits down next to her, the silence between them streched.
"Why are you sitting here, all on your own? Are you not happy that we won?"
Aqua turns his head slightly right, looking at Akane, who is still staring ahead at a slight downward angle.
"This doesn't feel like a victory. I know I should probably be thankful that he is gone while you're still here… But Kana was hurt. And it all happened because my plan didn't work as I expected. It's my fault."
Aqua shifts his gaze forward, matching hers.
"No… Kamiki only hurt her because of my words."
He pushes himself up and steps in front of Akane, offering her a hand.
"Come on get up, we still have to get rid of his body, we can figure things out afterwards."
Akane hesitantly grabs Aqua's hand and lets him pull her to her feet.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right."
They walk over to Ruby and Kana. Ruby has propped Kana upright against the chair, doing her best to check the wound.
"Ruby… should I look at it? It might not be as bad-"
Aqua tries to kneel down next to Ruby, but she positions herself right in between Kana and him.
"I think you've done enough for today, Aqua. I will take her to the hospital, to have it looked at by a trustworthy doctor."
Aqua remains knelt down for a moment before getting back up and taking a step back.
"Good idea… Just make sure not to slip up about what actually happened here. And… be careful."
Ruby stands up and helps Kana to her feet. Kana leans on her as they walk towards the door. After a few steps, they stop, and Ruby reaches her hand out towards Aqua.
"My phone, give it back."
Aqua reaches into his pocket and pulls out her phone, handing it over without saying another word. Ruby turns and leaves with Kana.
A few moments pass in silence before Akane and Aqua hear the front door close.
"Aqua, we have no time to lose. Let's clean this mess up and think about a way to dispose of a dead body in the middle of downtown Tokyo."
She eyes Kamiki's corpse; his skin is already losing color.
"You are right, this is not over yet, we will have to do this right. It would be a catastrophe if the police would find out what went down here."
Aqua joins her, also looking down at Kamiki's corpse.
"Just hiding him is not an option. The police would turn this place upside down if someone with Kamiki's profile went missing. We need to get him out of Tokyo. For that we would need a car, preferably a boat too."
The sun outside starts to set on the horizon as Aqua and Akane, who have found medical gloves in the bathroom and stuffed their bloody shoes into an open trash bag, start to carefully clean up around the house, wiping away every trace of them ever being here.
They start off with the surrounding rooms, leaving the living room for last, only entering it after being certain the rest of the house is clean.
"I think I know of somebody who could help. Can I have your phone, Akane?"
Aqua takes Akane's phone and unlocks it before dialing a number. It rings four times before someone finally picks up.
???: "Who's there?"
Aqua: "It is me, Aqua. I have a problem here, and thought you might be able to help me."
???: "I don't really have time. But what kind of problem are you talking about?"
Aqua: "It's Kamiki… He is dead, but I have no way to dispose of his body."
???: "… What?… You're joking right?... No you're not the type. But why? I thought-"
Aqua: "Well there were complications, It ha-"
???: "-I can't help you with that. I can't risk our image because of this… I'm sorry."
Aqua: "Are you serious Ichigo? I thought you wanted this too."
Ichigo: "I did… Once upon a time at least. But I changed. Don't misunderstand me, I miss Ai just as much as you do. But I can't just risk Ichigo Productions and every person we have signed because of Revenge."
Aqua: "… This was not revenge for Ai… He tried to kill Ruby… there was no other way, I was ready to let him go, let him go for what he did to mom. But I will not sit here and let him do it again, not to Ruby."
Ichigo: "I understand what you mean, bu-"
Aqua: "You do not understand a thing… I called you because I thought you, of all people could understand, understand why I would not want it to happen again. But I guess I was wrong."
Ichigo: "Aqua, you don't understand, just think about Ruby's career, if we get involved it could be over for her."
Aqua: "No Ichigo, you don't understand. If they convict me for this it will be over for her too. "
Ichigo: "I can't believe it. You actually murdered him? Ai wouldn't have wanted any of this."
Aqua: "I know that myself… I know that Ai would not have wanted any of this… But I also know that Ai would have done the exact same thing in my position, even if she would not want to do it."
Ichigo: "…"
Aqua: "In your situation on the other hand… Ai would have definitely risked her own career to save Ruby's."
Ichigo: "…"
Aqua: "I don't need much from you, you will just have to come to the address I text you with a car. Then Akane and I will load him up, we are going to drive to the docks, get on your boat, and dump him in the pacific."
Ichigo "… I will help you, for Ai's sake, because… I did what I did back when Ai died. But that's the first and last time, afterwards we're done."
Aqua: "Perfect. I will text you the rest of the details later. Goodbye."
Ichigo: "Goodbye… and be careful."
Aqua hangs up and hands Akane's phone back to her.
"You did well, Aqua. I totally thought he would just hang up, but you totally got him."
Akane and Aqua walk over to Kamiki's body. He is lying in a pool of blood by now. His skin is completely pale. Not a single ray of sunshine peeks through the blinds anymore.
"Okay, now the worst part. I saw plastic trash bags in the kitchen earlier, but there is no way we can fit his entire body into one of them."
Aqua notices Akane shifting uncomfortably next to him.
"Akane, if this is too much for you. I can do this alone, I really mean it this time. I know my way around this sort of thing."
Akane stops shifting, looking at Aqua with a puzzled expression for a second before smiling again.
"I can't let you do that."
Aqua sighs as they walk to his kitchen, grabbing the necessary tools.
"Akane, I would be more efficient alone. Just let me do it. Alright?"
Akane remains silent as they walk back to Kamiki's corpse. A wave of nausea coming over her as the scene re-enters her sight.
"I- I appreciate it."
She slowly makes her way to the other side of the room occasionally looking back at Aqua, questioning if this was the right thing to do. After a moment she too starts working, pulling off the plastic wrap from the walls and putting it into the trash bags.
Aqua picks up the knife with his right hand while locating the exact location of the shoulder joint. When he finally finds the joint, he starts cutting. First, he cuts through the skin, and then through the muscle. He continues by cutting through tendons and ligaments while moving around the joint capsule in circular movements.
After cleanly severing all the tissue around the ball and socket joint, he pulls off the first arm.
He repeats the process with the left arm before moving on to the legs. Unbeknownst to him, Akane stopped cleaning and was watching him from across the room.
He works on the legs in the same way, cutting first through the different layers of tissue between the pelvis and femur before popping the joint out of the socket.
When she sees he's done with the limbs, she quickly resumes cleaning, not wanting Aqua to notice that she was spying on him.
Aqua moves on to the head, kneeling above Kamiki's head as he places the knife to his throat. The severed arms and legs barely bled — Kamiki's body was drained of any blood.
What am I doing here? I became a doctor to save lives, not to take them. Yet here I am, using my knowledge to dispose of a corpse. But should I really cut his head off? Wouldn't that be a bit much? No. I cannot do it, I just have to fit him into the bag like this.