「Yukimura-sama.」Kaito startled awake from half-sleep by the man's voice. Head-detective Kazuya was a large man, direct and to the point with no nonsense to spare – and so the urgency in his voice worried him.

「Did you find them?」He asked, scrambling to get up and face the man. Whatever hopes he had were swiftly extinguished by the dour expression he got in return. His voice had awoken Suzume, who turned with the very same hopefulness. She grasped at his upper arm seeing the detective's solemn face, as if she was about to fall the same way her heart had.

「We recovered a videotape addressed to you, Yukimura-sama,」Kazuya nodded at him, and him alone. 「There are demands, that they want you to meet.」

His heart had dropped before, but those words dragged it down into agonising depths.

「What are they? Are the boys okay? Show me!」He demanded agitatedly, growling the words even though the man before him was at least a head taller, if not more. Suzume clung to his arm, and he knew that she would not let go, nor let herself be removed.

Kazuya lifted up a hand, unfazed by his outburst.

「It may be difficult to watch. We would not want to cause anymore grief.」At the last words, the man looked directly at Suzume, as if the warning was meant especially for her.

「Stop with the riddles. What are they doing to our boys? Tell me,- TELL ME!」He grabbed the detective's waistcoat with both hands, ready to beat answers out of him. He had to know – not knowing made his mind consider the very worst. Things no parent should even have to imagine. Kazuya grabbed his shoulders and held him back.

「Sir, you have to calm down.」

He was aware that attacking the detective would do no good, but it was so alluring to let all his rage out. To ram his fists into a human imagining it was the person who did this. If he could, he'd kill them all. He'd strangle the very final breaths out of each of them, so he could feel those vile heartbeats cease beneath his fingertips.

But that wasn't this man. And it wouldn't help him to resist – it wouldn't help them if he hurt the one man in charge of finding Hibiki and Hayate. So he nodded, and released his grip. Still he kept his head down.

「Just show us. Whatever it is, we need to know.」He took a deep breath and looked up at the detective, his eyes pleading.

The man nodded sternly, fixing his tie and recomposing himself before continuing.

「We will show you, but if at any moment you wish not to continue, you can leave the room.」The words were directed at Suzume again, and Kaito could feel a silent disdain from her. Still he worried, not knowing what it was they had done to his boys that even a detective would warn them.

The very least he could do was see. Share some part of whatever suffering came their way, just so he would know. And when all of this was over, they would be able to understand. Protect them, and prevent anything like this from ever happening again.

He'd give anything to make sure nobody would ever dare lay a finger on his sons again. Whatever the demand, he would make sure to get them back.

A grainy, low resolution video from a handheld recorder played on the television, but he could not believe the images they showed. It felt like a film, one that mimicked a reality that couldn't be true. That he didn't want to be true – that was too cruel to be true.

Three masked men took turns torturing the small, bound child. Hayate. Every scream, every plea cut through his soul. Intended to break him into paying. An amount nobody would ever be able to pay in their wildest dreams.

Three billion yen.

It worked. He would have. If he could. If he had that money he would have put it up to the television and begged them to take it. But the number he was worth was not the number he could conjure up. Not immediately.

His mind raced through all the investments, parts of companies he could sell. Business partners and friends and family that he could call to gather so much money. None of it would be immediate. He wasn't even sure if there was any bank or institution that could hand him that much money in cash, like the masked men so clearly shouted for over the screams of his son.

They took a sick joy in all of it. Laughing with manic delight over the pain they caused. Agitated. As if it was a contest between them. Shouting their demands like wicked, deranged Oni.

Were aroused by it.

One man undid his belt, spurred on by the other two. He bent over the small figure. Over Hayate.

「No! No no no! NO!」Suzume screamed. The words dissolved into anguished cries.

A nearby police officer had the soundness of mind to immediately stop the recording.

It went quiet, for all but Suzume's sobbing. His own too.

「I'm sorry Birdy. I'm so sorry...」He whispered as he held her close, not sure what else he could say or do.

「Stop them,- please stop them... stop this!」

「I will,- I will. I'll get them back.」He said as he rocked her back and forth in his arms. Even when he didn't know how.

Kaito stood bent over his desk, penning down numbers and figures as fast as he could. He had checked ways he could reclaim money, ways to get cash as fast as possible to fill in the demands. Every possible person he could, he had sent out to call banks and gather money, to free up stocks and investments. Even then it would be several days before it had been transferred and freed up – even the most exploitative contracts would take days to sign.

If he could gather money from further away places, he stood a chance to get it within twenty-four hours. His mother had liquid funds, and he could send people to Tokyo to gather money from the largest banks. It could work; it could be enough to bargain with.

「Mother.」He pleaded the very moment the line went over. 「Mother,- the kidnappers. They want... if you send money over we may be able to pay them tomorrow.」The words stumbled out one after another. He hadn't slept, he hadn't eaten – but he was elated by the possibility that he could set his boys free soon.

「Kaito. Have you not thought this through?」His mother's voice came through, and for a moment his elation faltered. He ran his hand through his hair and grasped it as he looked over all the figures again.

「No I,- I can make three billion. Close to it, but enough,- they wouldn't know.」

「That is not what I meant.」The frigid tone of her voice scared him. He grasped his hair and felt tears well up, like they hadn't since he was a child. 「Why would you be so stupid as negotiate with kidnappers? Think for once, Kaito. What use would they have for your boys when you pay them? None. Only the risk of being captured.」

「But,- I,- they're torturing them mother. They're,-」He couldn't even say the things that he had seen happen to them. While he tried to hold back tears, he felt his whole body curl inwards in desperation. 「Mother, please... please.」

「Absolutely not. You are being played for a fool, and clearly it is working. The police will find your sons, and put a stop to this. But not if you give in to these criminals and their demands.」

「I can't leave them there mother. The things they are doing,-」He wasn't even sure who he was trying to convince anymore, her, or himself. Everything she said made him feel like a child, naive and shortsighted. Even when he had just commanded his people to gather up a fortune.

「You will have to be patient, and not let your fear get the better of you. Do not make a fool of yourself in front of everyone, by showing them that you can be manipulated by threats. Be a leader, stand tall, show pride in these difficult times. Or go and beg if you must, but not from my estate, and not over the back of your father's reputation.」

A harsh click indicated the end of the conversation. For a moment Kaito sank down to his knees, hoping somehow for a change of heart. To hear the line go over and she would apologise and help him – but then that woman wouldn't be his mother.

Whatever he did she would have her way. If he continued she could hold it over him, if he did what she said she would be right. Even when he'd vowed never to let himself be treated again; to distance himself to the point where her existence was a bearable nuisance. She still ran her shadowy games.

I'm not your puppet! I'm not a child anymore,- you fucking,-!

He grabbed the telephone and ripped it out, tossing it through the room. It wasn't enough. Nothing he did was enough.

In fury he threw his desk over. Equipment banged on the floor. Papers flew. He let out a low, guttural scream and pushed it again. The wooden furniture slammed against the wall. He didn't care. Nothing mattered anymore.

He had sworn to be a better parent. He wanted to be a good parent, to care and keep them safe. From the moment he had seen those eyes open he had dedicated himself to making them happy.

And he'd failed.

With both hands in his hair he sank down onto his knees, amidst the havoc he had wrought on his office. He couldn't even sob. Sobbing was for the weak, anger was for the weak. Feeling anything was for the weak – but he was aimless without their direction.

Perhaps his mother was right. Perhaps he wasn't meant to lead. Wasn't capable of protecting, and guiding, or even of keeping things safe.

Wide eyed he fell to the floor, his nose touching the ground and his hands tangled in his hair as he apologised.

He kept apologising, even when people pulled him off of the floor by his elbows and shoulders. He only apologised more when he saw Birdy's face, even though she talked sweetly to him.

He'd failed them all.