The Kurukawa Legacy

Encounter

"...Jason" Kaitlin muttered.

Jason walked down the bridge towards them. "Just where do you think you're going?" he asked. "As far as I'm concerned," he continued, "innocent members of the Kurukawa family are blacklisted and prohibited from leaving their assigned areas. Which, in your case, was the school."

Atreyu and Kaitlin both remained silent for a few seconds before Kaitlin exclaimed "Just leave us alone! What are you doing out here, anyways?"

"My father, Liam Roberts... his grave," he pointed to his right into the woods, "...is in a cemetery a little further down there. I visit it every Wednesday and Friday. The real question is..." he glared grimly at them, "what are you two doing out here?"

Liam Roberts... so it really is him. Atreyu thought. He sighed. "Jason, this has nothing to do with you."

"Actually," Jason said as he walked right in front of Atreyu and Kaitlin, "you're illegally trying to escape your assigned area and I'm noticing the government." He pulled out his phone and glanced over to Kaitlin while typing in numbers on his phone. "Kaitlin, you stupid b***h, what did you get yourself int-" he got cut short when Atreyu swung his fist and hit Jason on the jawline and he tumbled down onto the grass.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Atreyu exclaimed as he headed to swing at him once more. Jason acted quickly and rolled out of the way. He jumped up and grabbed Atreyu by the throat before throwing him down onto the ground.

"Just as violent as your predecessors, aren't you?" he spit blood onto Atreyu's face, still strangling him. Atreyu struggled, gasping for air but to no avail, Jason's grip was just too tight. Suddenly the grip loosened and Jason fell down limply onto Atreyu. He pushed his body off of him and scurried to his feet.

Behind Jason's body Kaitlin stood with a short but thick branch she picked up nearby. Atreyu looked at her, stunned. "Kaitlin..."

Tears started welling up in her eyes. "How could I have-"

"Kaitlin," Atreyu said again, hugging her, "you saved me."

The flashlights of a car appeared up ahead from the city's side. "Quickly, hide!" Atreyu exclaimed. Atreyu picked up Jason's body and ducked under the small bridge, followed by Kaitlin. Two black cars drove by over the bridge and continued down the wide cobblestone pathway that led to the school. Atreyu noticed the country's flag painted on the sides of both cars.

Oh no... what are they doing here? Atreyu thought, frightened.

"Let's go," he whispered to Kaitlin and dropped the body under the bridge beside the stream.

The two cars pulled up at the iron gates. The security guard walked out towards them and man rolled down the window. "Federal agency," he said and held out a badge for the guard to see. "Grant us access."

The guard inspected closely before nodding and scanning his finger, which opened the gates.

The cars drove in and parked outside the boarding school. Multiple men with suites climbed out and walked into the building. At the reception, a lady looked up surprised.

"H-how can I help?" she muttered.

"Atreyu Kurukawa. Where's his room?"

The receptionist looked through her booklet.

"Um, room 43, but he checked out at 9:47. All boarding school students aren't allowed to be outside any later than 10, which means he's twelve minutes late. Is there a message I can deliver to him once he returns?"

"Dammit." the man said. He turned towards the other seven men. "Search the entire school grounds," he ordered. "I'll go question the security guard."

The men nodded and exited the building before splitting up and going in different directions. This man, who's badge displayed his name as Police Deputy Chief Alexander Gonzalez, headed back to the gates. The guard walked out and greeted him.

"Tell me, did anything suspicious happen within the last half an hour or so?" Alexander asked.

"Not really. It was quiet besides for this one girl that had forgotten her homework." the guard replied.

Alexander thought deeply when he noticed a CCTV camera staring down at their direction, the same direction of the gates. "Where does that camera send it's feed to?"

The guard pointed into the small building, "into a computer right there."

"I want to see the footage of the girl. The time should be around 9:50 or so."

The guard looked hesitant at first, but saw Alexander's badge and decided it's best to cooperate. They walked into the building and towards a big desk, which had papers and a large computer on it. The guard swung open the screen, revealing multiple footage angles from all over the school. He touched the one broadcasting footage of the gate. The footage enlarged and the man typed in the time 9:50 before pressing 'enter'. The screen flashed back to footage of that time. Alexander looked closely. The footage displayed Kaitlin walking back out towards the gates again, but someone could be seen walking behind her: Atreyu. The guard's eyes widened as they watched Kaitlin and Atreyu pull off their plan of escape.

"Dammit!" the security guard shouted as he pulled out his handheld transceiver and started talking into it. "Atreyu Kurukawa has escaped the school at approximately 9:52. All officers get to the cars immediately and meet me at the gate!" In a few minutes both cars had pulled up at the gate and they were on their way again.

So he had help... but by who? Alexander thought to himself when suddenly the car stopped abruptly. In front of them, on the pathway, Jason strolled around dazed, droplets of blood streaming down his face. The officers climbed out. "What happened here?" Alexander exclaimed.

Jason muttered "A-Atreyu..." before collapsing again. Alexander ran and picked up Jason's body.

"He must have a concussion," Alexander said, loading him into one of the cars. "take him to the nearest hospital, I will see if I can track down Atreyu."

"Wait, Deputy Chief, isn't this Jason? Jason Roberts? Son of Liam Roberts?"

Alexander looked closely. "I'll be damned... you're right. Now go and get him to the hospital," he pointed to the men standing consecutively, "you three will come with me."

Alexander opened the door of the driver's side. He stopped before climbing in and glanced back at the officer who will be escorting Jason.

"If by any chance Jason wakes up soon, tell him that we've discovered the identity of his father's killer. Tell him... that Atreyu Kurukawa shall be brought to justice!"