Chapter 18 - Truths

Jason silently landed in front of the door of the stalker's apartment with his black face mask on and he had exchanged his dirty clothes for a clean set of clothes. He wore a black denim jacket, worn over a white t-shirt, and paired with black jeans and black boots.

The stalker lived in one of the cheaper areas of the city, as shown by the not so well-maintained doors. From outside, he could hear what seemed to be a music video. He could easily distinguish Ai Hoshino's voice from the others.

'Watching her videos even after mercilessly stabbing her, huh? This guy's an extreme stalker, alright.'

[Well, this is it.] Wheatley hid behind Jason. [The door is positively *oozing* with dark energy. Not as much as Ai Hoshino's, but it's close. As a precaution, I'll stay behind you.]

Jason tried opening the door, but it was locked. He clicked his tongue, getting a pair of bobby pins from the ring and inserting them into the lock.

'It's been a while since I last had to pick a lock. But this one's a cinch.'

Half a second later, the lock clicked.

Jason returned the pins into the ring and opened the door. When the door opened, a long, drawn-out creak echoed through the darkness of the apartment.

Jason closed the door behind him, drowning the apartment in darkness, but he could still see just as well in the dark. The darkness even felt welcoming. 'Lights are off, but I hear some shuffling inside.'

He walked further inside, silently stepping over pieces of trash and litter. The apartment was a complete mess inside, just like the apartment of that old man who managed a convenience store. At least it didn't smell as bad as he thought it would.

As Jason came closer to the room where the sound of the music video came from, he could hear some quiet and deranged muttering as well.

"What am I gonna do? IkilledAiIkilledAiIkilledAiIkilledAi…!"

Jason frowned. 'He's definitely not right in the head.'

Opening the door to the room, which was slightly open, he peeked inside.

The stalker was rocking back and forth in his chair with his hood on while muttering and watching a music video of Ai Hoshino's on a computer. The bright screen was the only source of light, but it also revealed the walls which were completely covered in Ai Hoshino and B-Komachi merchandise. Pictures, wallpapers, CDs, DVDs, Photobooks, the stalker had it all.

This was Jason's first time dealing with an idol's stalker, but he wasn't surprised.

Without anymore delays, Jason entered the room and with one arm, grabbed and lifted the man by his hoodie.

"AHH!" the man shrieked, covering his face with his hand as if it was a barrier that protected him from Jason.

"You…" Jason growled, his voice far deeper than normal. "Who gave you Ai Hoshino's address? Tell me!" He violently shook him.

"Wa — Wh — H-how do you know about that?! H-how?!"

"You don't need to know." His eyes narrowed into a fierce glare.

The stalker could see his eyes somehow glow an icy blue and almost pissed his pants in fear.

"Here's what's going to happen. If you don't tell me how you got her address right this second, I'll break your arm. If you don't tell me even after that, I'll break your other arm and your left leg. I'll give you five seconds. Five."

"I-I don't—"

"Four."

"P-please just let me go."

"Running out of time. Three."

"I-I'll call the police!"

"Two…"

"I-I'm sorry for killing Ai! I'm really sorry!"

"One…"

The stalker finally relented and shouted with a trembling voice, "It was given to me through a letter!" He continued after seeing that the stranger who broke into his house hadn't hurt him. "A-after one of Ai's handshake events, this creepy guy handed me a letter. He was wearing a mask, a pair of sunglasses, and a cap, so I couldn't see his face, but I remember seeing his blonde hair."

"Has he contacted you before?"

"N-no," the stalker hesitantly answered.

'This bastard's lying.'

"Don't you dare lie to me!" Jason roared, slamming him into the wall covered with Ai's pictures. "Tell me the damn truth or so help me, I will break *every* fucking bone in your body!"

The man shrieked and started crying while involuntarily peeing himself. "No! Not that! Not that! Please! I'll tell you everything! I'll tell you everything!" He paused, sniffling. "T-three years ago, he told me about Ai's pregnancy and gave me the name of the hospital she went to through a letter. It's in this rural area in Miyazaki. I went there to check if it was true, and it was. While I was there, I-I pushed the doctor that handled her pregnancy off of a cliff in the mountains. H-his body is probably still there somewhere. After that, I came back. That's all I know! That's all I know!"

'The kids probably don't know about this. It's really starting to look like the kids' father is the one who leaked her address.'

"Where are the letters?"

"I t-threw them away because I was afraid of someone finding them."

Jason let him stew in fear. He seemed to be truthful, and he didn't look like the type of person who could lie through their teeth in a situation like this. But was that all the information he had?

Jason began asking more questions, and the stalker answered them all truthfully, not putting up any further resistance. He then apologized for killing Ai over and over, talking about how he was going to pay the price by killing himself.

Jason shut him off with a nerve pinch at the base of his neck, knocking him out with the side-effect of erasing his short-term memory. This way, he won't remember everything that had just happened in the past few minutes.

Jason dropped him to the ground and wiped his gloved hands. "That takes care of him. Wheatley, start extracting his energy." Wheatley materialized and hesitantly began to extract, tendrils of pitch black energy connecting him to the stalker. "Time to see if there's anything left in this cluttered room."

Jason searched high and low for the letters and any other form of evidence he could find, but ended up with nothing. Just merchandise upon merchandise of Ai Hoshino or B Komachi.

'How much of his money did he spend on merchandise?!' Jason frustratedly finished his search of the room and started investigating the computer.

The search on the computer turned out to be useless as well because all it had were downloaded videos, pictures, and music, all featuring Ai Hoshino in some form.

"Doesn't look like he has anything else I could use. Nothing at all," Jason muttered to himself. He turned towards Wheatley. "How long is the extraction going to take? Don't tell me it's going to be as long as Saki's…"

[What? No, no, no. I've gotten a hang of extracting energy now, thanks to that day and a half long killing spree you went on. It will still take a couple of minutes, though.]

"I see. I'll wait, then."

Jason began searching on his phone for the hospital where Ai conceived her children, as well as the doctor the stalker killed. The information he gave about the hospital was true, but there was no information on the doctor named Gorou Amemiya except for the fact that he went missing three years ago, which also validates what the stalker said about killing the doctor that took care of Ai.

Since the doctor's body is in the mountains, there was a high likelihood that the wildlife would've already taken care of it, leaving little chance for someone to find the complete carcass.

[The extraction is complete! Can we leave now? This room is so… strange. Are there a lot of obsessed humans like him?]

"Good job on the extraction. And yes, there are a lot more humans out there that are just like him. Some are even worse."

[That's… depressing.]

"I agree. But you recorded our conversation, right?" Wheatley's body nodded in confirmation. "Transfer his murder confession onto a USB and place it on his back. Label it as 'Murder Evidence.'"

Jason had mentally ordered Wheatley to use his recording function to record their full conversation. He had done it with almost every criminal he caught or killed.

Wheatley followed and created a black USB with the label of "Murder Evidence" on both sides. With a mechanical arm made out of solid light, he stuck it on the stalker's upper back with tape while also placing a piece of paper below it. On the paper was a large, visible arrow pointing up.

Jason nodded. "Good job. I've called the police and they'll be here in a few minutes. Let's go."

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Ai Hoshino 3rd Person POV:

The sterile scent of disinfectant filled her nostrils as she slowly regained consciousness. The sound of machines beeped steadily in the background, and the gentle hum of voices could be heard from beyond the thin, pale green curtains surrounding her bed.

Her eyelids fluttered, and she tried to speak, but her throat was dry, and her words came out as a hoarse whisper. A nurse appeared at her bedside, smiling kindly as she offered her a glass of water.

Ai Hoshino's memory slowly returned as she sipped the cool liquid, and she realized with a jolt that she was in a hospital. Panic rose within her, and she grabbed the nurse's hand.

"W-where is my family?"

The nurse patted her hand comfortingly. "Please calm down. Your family is just outside the door. I'll call them inside, now that you're awake."

The nurse left, and she waited on her bed. Her hand rose to her slightly aching stomach, covered by the pink patient gown they had switched her dress with.

'It doesn't hurt that much anymore.'

The last thing she remembered was asking Jason-san to take care of her children. She could still imagine his gentle blue eyes and how his soothing words slowly lulled her to sleep. Or was it the anaesthesia? She couldn't tell.

But most important of all, were Ruby and Aqua okay? As she waited for the nurse, the worry inside her grew.

A series of shouts then interrupted her train of thought, and she turned her head, only to see two heads of blonde hair rushing in her direction and jumping onto the bed like excited rabbits. Behind them, the president and his wife, Miyako, followed.

Ai caught them in her embrace.

"Mama!"

"Ai!"

Ai lovingly held her two children, who hugged her back with as just as much love, but with tears and snot mixed in.

'I love them with all my heart, and it's not a lie.'

"You really made us worry, Ai," the president said with a furrowed brow. "If that Jason guy wasn't there — Ow! What'd you do *that* for?"

Miyako had slapped the back of her husband's head before crossing her arms. "Can't you see they're having a moment?"

The president then blinked owlishly behind his sunglasses and chuckled with a wry smile. "Sorry about that. We'll talk about it later, then."

"Ruby. Aqua." Ai nuzzled their cheeks, whispering, "Mama's okay now. There's no need for you to worry, but are you two okay?"

They both wiped their tears hurriedly wiped their tears away.

"Mm!" Ruby enthusiastically nodded her head. "We're super okay! It was you who we worried about most."

Aqua merely nodded his head in agreement while holding her hand.

"Thank goodness." Ai smiled, tilting her head. "But where is Jason-san? Isn't he with you?"

"Nope." Ruby shook her head and pouted. "He's cool, but he's a meanie. He immediately left us to find that stalker when the ambulance came."

"Jason-san left because he wanted to find the stalker and gather evidence. Also told us he used to be a private investigator in America," Aqua interjected. "He gave us his phone number and I still have it. He said that we could text him the hospital's address and he'll visit."

Ruby crossed her arms. "He promised!"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." The president joined in. "This guy's practically a stranger. I mean, he saved you, but he already knows about the twins and might also live right next to you, which makes him dangerous for you and your career."

Ai blinked in surprise at that and covered her mouth excitedly. "He's our neighbour?"

"He *might* be your neighbour. Key word, *might*," Satou corrected. "Aqua said that the guy was looking for a place to move into and was inspecting the condo next to yours, which is why he happened to be close by and heard the stalker screaming."

"That still means he'll be our neighbour, right?"

"I don't know. Maybe? Aqua didn't really say anything about him confirming it."

"Oh," she still smiled, but she was slightly disappointed inside. "How was he? Ruby. Aqua."

"He's really tall! Really, really handsome, too!" Ruby exaggeratingly waved her hands with a smile on her face. "Even when he crouched, he was still taller than us by a lot! I thought Jason-san was a supermodel at first because of how tall and good-looking he is, but he was actually a doctor before and, like brother said, he used to work as a private investigator!"

Ai Hoshino wowed in amazement and smiled as Ruby began describing what happened when she was unconscious, including how Aqua "overreacted" and attempted to protect her from Jason. Ai giggled when Aqua turned away in embarrassment with a red hue in his cheeks.

"And… and…" Ruby tilted her head. "He's really kind too! He gave me lots of head pats!"

"Oh, really?" Ai was becoming more sure that her judgement about him was right. "Did Jason-san ask or say anything about me?"

"Umm…" Ruby put a finger to her cheek and narrowed her eyes in thought.

"He doesn't seem to know about you," Aqua calmly answered. "Jason-san is a foreigner, so he probably isn't that invested in Japanese idols. If he was, he'd react or say something about us, but none of those happened. Maybe he doesn't even know about Japanese idols."

Ruby nodded her head proudly, as if she was the one who answered.

"Really? The more I hear about him, the more I want to meet him in person properly." Ai smiled and turned towards the president and his wife. "Could you send him the hospital's address? I'd like to thank him in person."

The president and his wife shared a look before they both reluctantly nodded. "Fine. He *did* save your life, and he knows about Aqua and Ruby, so I guess it's better if we talk to him in person."

Aqua handed the piece of paper with Jason-san's number to the president, who brought out his phone and entered the number.

"Miyako-san," Ai called, and Miyako turned to her. "What happened to the dome concert?"

Miyako sighed. "As you would expect, it's cancelled. After we received the call from Aqua, we immediately notified the police and the organizers of the situation. But don't worry about that for now and focus on your recovery. It's really a miracle that you're alive, you know? You know what the emergency responders said? They said you lost liters of blood and should've died from the blood loss alone. Your cut abdominal aorta could have also killed you. The doctor said that less than half of the people with a ruptured aorta survive, and whatever Jason-san did to treat you is something he'd never seen before. He said that for some reason, your abdominal aorta is almost fully healed, which is impossible, according to him."

"See? Jason-san is amazing!" Ruby jumped on the bed in excitement.

"Honestly, I think the doctor had wanted to meet Jason-san in person more than us with how amazed he was." Miyako chuckled while shaking her head.

They wouldn't believe her even if she told them the truth that Jason-san might have superpowers. Ai could still remember how the strangely glowing green pill suddenly appeared in the air and fell on his hand. When she consumed it, she had immediately felt rejuvenated and could feel her condition getting better in real time. Even after that, he had made a breathing mask appear out of thin air in the same way.

Ai held her hands to her chest. 'Jason-san saved my life. So it's only appropriate that I keep his secret in return.'

The president turned back around and pocketed his phone. "I got a reply from Jason-san. He said he's on his way."

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Author's Note:

Here's another one. I'm going to release another chapter later tonight. It's currently the morning as I type this.

Also, I've read the feedback in the previous chapter and I'm going to be speeding up the story's pacing since readers seem to find it slow.

If you're curious about the nerve strikes and nerve pinches, search 'Martial Arts Skill' in the subreddit BatmanMegaRT. You'll find them there.

As always, thanks for reading!