This entire situation left a horrible taste in Saihara's mouth, one that would never go away. After successfully managing to locate two of Amami's sisters over the last year and a half that they had been traveling, things had been going extremely well for their mission. The next sister on the list with the most amount of information they had uncovered on thanks to his uncle's connections and networking was Amami Satsuki. However, the more they investigated her whereabouts, bits and pieces of evidence pouring in... It wasn't looking good. Saihara didn't have to say anything for Amami to understand that. It wasn't something that was spoken out loud, but it had been acknowledged nonetheless, creating an uncomfortable mood between them for the past few weeks.
After all, Saihara knew from the beginning. A good amount of missing children that were gone for years -- particularly young girls -- were oftentimes found... well, passed away. The world was cruel place for the young and vulnerable. It was exactly why Saihara had once loathed being a detective. Times like these, those old feelings resurfaced again. Sometimes no good came from knowing the truth, a truth that constricted and crushed any and all forms of hope. Why did he work so tirelessly to expose it? Something so... dark, and cruel. But... Saihara promised himself a long time ago he would never turn his back on the truth. Even if the truth was the worst, like a pill you couldn't swallow. Because knowing the truth let you determine your own path... And even had the power to set you free. Still... Saihara felt truly useless here. He couldn’t save anyone...
He would never forget the way his stomach fell when the truth about Amami's little sister was staring him dead in the face. The results were clear... and he couldn't keep them from Amami, no matter how hard it was to deliver the news. As expected, his suspicions were confirmed by the city that Satsuki-chan had been buried at, and Saihara could do nothing but step away and let Amami privately mourn over her grave. It was hard to accept that things had turned out this way... And even harder to accept that this could potentially not be the last time. After all, nine of his sisters were still missing...
The way back to the hotel they were staying at had been incredibly tense, especially since Saihara couldn't get a read on Amami's expression. Saihara was worried, though. Knowing Amami, he wasn’t thinking right; not at a time like this. As soon as they had arrived to their room, though, Amami was immediately gathering their things, claiming they needed to leave now, that they needed to find the rest of Amami's sisters as soon as possible, and that there was no time to sit around and wait for bad things to happen. Naturally, Saihara couldn't let that happen -- even if it was difficult and uncomfortable saying no to the face of a guy who was clearly in mourning.
"N-No, of course not! That isn't what I'm saying at all. Don’t be so stubborn and just listen to me!” The desperation in his own voice was clear, but Saihara had to stop Amami right now at any cost. He couldn’t afford to worry about whether he was being offensive; he just needed Amami to stop. “I... I can't claim to understand how you're feeling right now, Amami-kun. That'd be impossible for me. But I can say that we've focused so much of our efforts on searching for Satsuki that we don't have any conclusive leads at this point. Going out to search for your sisters when there’s so little to go by would just be... reckless. You and I both know that!”
Saihara could see the clear heartache in Amami's expression, his voice. He looked so pale... and exhausted. Essentially begging Amami to stop acting this way at a delicate time like this felt like he was driving a stake into his own chest, like he was being an insensitive asshole, but he couldn't let Amami do as he pleased without any ideas. He really needed to rest, too. It was hard, but Saihara knew Amami was being irrational due to his grief.
