The wind screamed through the massive steel legs of Tokyo Tower. It smelled like electricity and old, dried blood.
The plaza was a mess of red and blue police lights, flashing in a chaotic rhythm. But right in the middle of the storm, time felt frozen.
Kenji Sano held his breath. The gun in his hands felt impossibly heavy. His wrists were still cuffed in front of him, the metal biting into his skin. He had to lock his elbows just to keep the aim steady.
"You ask about my name." the killer whispered. The wind carried his voice, making it sound louder than it was. "You want to know who holds the knife."
He tilted his head back, resting his cheek against Kaori's trembling hair. It was such a gentle, intimate move that it made Kenji sick to his stomach.
"My name is Jin." the killer said softly.
He let the silence hang there for a second.
"Jin Sato."
The name hit the crowd like a bomb.
Kenji blinked, his brain trying to catch up. Jin Sato.
"Sato?" Manjiro whispered from beside him, lowering his shotgun just an inch. "But... Sato is a common name. There are millions of Satos in Japan."
The police officers started muttering. They looked at the killer, then they looked at Kaori. Dr. Sato.
"It's just a coincidence." a sergeant said. "He's messing with us."
But Kenji looked closely at the killer's face. He looked at the age, it was mid-twenties. He thought about the fire the killer always talked about.
Then, he looked at Kaori.
Kaori had stopped fighting. Her body had gone completely stiff against the killer's chest. Her eyes were full of tears, wide and terrified, staring up at the face of the monster holding her.
Buried memories, fifteen years of ash and nightmares burst out at a time. She saw a boy standing in fire. A big brother who used to hold her hand when they were small. A brother who had vanished into the black smoke and never came out.
"No." Kaori whispered. Her voice sounded like broken glass. "It can't be."
The killer looked down at her. He smiled. For one second, the scary look vanished. He just looked... familiar.
"Hello, Kaori." he said.
A shockwave went through the police line.
"Are you..." Kaori choked. The tears spilled over, washing away the blood on her neck. "Are you my brother?"
The silence was heavy enough to crush bones. Then, Jin Sato laughed. It was sharp, devilish laugh and full of teeth.
"Yeah." Jin laughed. The sound echoed off the cold pavement. "I'm the ghost, Kaori. I'm the boy who didn't burn."
"Jin-nii..." Kaori's was became weak to stand. She collapsed, her whole weight hanging on the arm Jin had wrapped around her neck.
She broke. It was a cry of pure pain. The grief of fifteen years, the hope that he was alive, crashing into the horror of what he had become.
"Why?" she screamed, grabbing his hoodie. "Why are you doing this? We thought you were dead! I mourned you! Mom and Dad... they died saving us!"
"They died screaming." Jin corrected her. His voice was flat, like a dead line.
"But you're alive!" Kaori sobbed. "You survived! Why did you turn into this? Why are you a monster?"
Kenji stood there, paralyzed. The gun felt useless. How could he shoot? He was aiming at the brother of the woman he was trying to save. He was aiming at a ghost.
Jin looked at his sister. He looked at her with pity and disgust.
"You ask why..?" Jin said, looking up at the police, at Kenji, at the Tokyo tower above them. "You think I crawled out of that fire and went to school? You think I went to a nice orphanage?"
He tightened his grip on the knife handle.
"I ran, Kaori. I was ten years old. I watched our parents burn. I watched the police call it an 'accident.' And then I ran into the city."
He pointed the knife toward the bright, glittering skyline of Tokyo beyond the park.
"I saw the real Tokyo." Jin hissed. "I lived in the tunnels. I ate from the garbage. I saw what people really do when they think no one is looking."
"That's no excuse for this!" Kenji shouted, finally finding his voice. "You killed innocent people!"
"Innocent?" Jin laughed again. It was a cruel scary sound. "There are no innocent people in Tokyo, Detective! This city is a sin!"
Jin's eyes burned with a madness that went deep.
"I saw men in suits buy children in the back alleys of Shinjuku." Jin shouted. "I saw mothers leave their babies in lockers to die. I saw the greed, the lust. I saw people step over the dying just to catch a train."
He looked down at Kaori, who was crying uncontrollably against his chest.
"You lived in the light, Kaori. You became a doctor. You put on a white coat and pretended the world makes sense. But I lived in the dark."
"You could have come home!" Kaori screamed. "I would have taken care of you!"
"I didn't want to be taken care of!" Jin roared. "I wanted to punish them!"
He pointed the knife at the severed head of Ichiro Tanaka on the stake behind him.
"Living people in Tokyo are sinners," Jin said, his voice shaking. "they breathe the air of corruption. They deserve to hurt."
"So you became the judge?" Kenji asked, stepping closer. "You appointed yourself God?"
"I appointed myself the Disaster." Jin smiled. "I am the earthquake. I am the tsunami. I am the thing that happens when you let the rot spread too deep."
He pulled Kaori back up, forcing her to stand. She was broken by the truth. Her brother, her big brother who used to protect her was the devil who had terrorized the city for weeks.
"Jin, please." Kaori whispered. "Stop. Just stop. Come back to me."
Jin looked at her. For a split second, Kenji saw a flicker of the ten-year-old boy in his eyes. A flash of hesitation.
"I can't come back, Kaori." Jin said softly. "The boy you knew burned in that fire. I am just the ash that was left behind."
He looked at Kenji. He looked at the gun in Kenji's hand.
"And ash," Jin smiled, "needs to be scattered."
The tension in the plaza spiked. The police raised their weapons again.
Kenji looked at Jin Sato. He saw the madness. He saw the pain. But mostly, he saw a man who had decided long ago that he was already dead.
"Let her go, Jin." Kenji said, his voice steady. "Let her walk away and we end this. Just you and me."
Jin looked at Kenji. He looked at the gun.
"Ending it?" Jin said, thinking it over. "Yes. I have the urge... to see how it ends."
He loosened his grip on Kaori's neck.
"Run, Kaori." Jin whispered.
Kaori froze. She looked at him, confused and terrified.
"Run!" Jin screamed, pushing her violently away from him.
Kaori tripped and fell forward, crashing onto the pavement. She moved away, sobbing, reaching out for Manjiro who grabbed her and pulled her behind the line of police cars.
Jin stood alone in the circle of light. The knife in one hand. The severed head on the stake behind him.
He spread his arms wide, welcoming the bullet.
"Come on, Detective!" Jin shouted, his voice cracking with a crazy joy. "Show me what you can do!!"
Kenji stood up straight. He raised the Sig Sauer.
He looked at the man who had killed Hideo. The man who had torn Reika apart. The man who was Kaori's brother.
And he knew there was no other way, but Jin was held something inside sleeve.
Chapter 34 ends - Wrath?