The next morning, I woke up early.
I didn't rest well since my anxiety was preventing me from sleeping quietly, leaving me feeling restless and uneasy about the day ahead.
As soon as the alarm rang, I reacted quickly to turn it off.
I dressed quickly and grabbed my bag with everything I needed for the day, but I had the feeling I was forgetting something.
I started wondering, thinking about what I was missing, and then something just snapped.
I forgot to put Hiro's notebook in my bag, a small but important item that might hold clues about the place I was about to visit.
Something about the place that I was about to visit was surely written on it.
Then I grabbed the notebook and put it in my bag.
After that, I took my home keys and walked out of my house, with anxiety levels.
It was around 6 am, and I hadn't sent a message to Hina; otherwise, she'd be worried…
But I forgot that she wanted a photo with my grandparents.
So, before doing something stupid, I checked my phone storage for a picture of my grandparents.
I scrolled through old photos, and luckily, I found one.
It was a photo from four months ago, I was with my grandma outside my house.
We took a friendly photo together.
Then, I saved that photo again to send it to Hina at the right moment.
"Let's go, Kai," I said to myself, with a brave tone of voice.
I felt like a Detective. It was a nice feeling, I must admit.
But then I forgot another thing.
Hina usually walked past my house, so I was worried about running into her, which only added to my growing anxiety about the day.
So I went back home and called a private taxi.
After 15-20 minutes, my phone rang with a custom ringtone, indicating that someone arrived.
Then I walked out of my house and saw the taxi standing right in front of me, like it was waiting.
Without a word, I slowly walked in.
The taxi driver then talked to me in a cold voice:
"Where are we going, boy?" He asked, with a cold and distant tone.
"At the train station, thanks. I already paid you through the application." I replied
He didn't say a word.
He just turned on the engine and then started to drive.
It took 10 minutes to get to the destination.
When I arrived, I thanked the driver and got out of the taxi.
"Thank you, Mr.," I said, with a small bow.
"You're welcome." He said, before going away.
As I arrived at the train station, I felt a surge of anxiety.
I checked the time and saw that the clock read 6:52 AM.
I rushed things so much.
Then I walked over to an info point and asked about tickets and trains to Harunaga Districts.
The girl who worked at the station gently smiled at me and talked in a very formal and friendly tone.
"Oh, well, the train for the Harunaga district is about to depart in 15 minutes on binary 12. It won't take much time to arrive. Do you need a ticket?" She asked with a smile.
I nodded.
"Yes, please. I need a ticket." I replied.
Then the worker gave me a train ticket, and I paid for it.
"Thank you, Ma'am," I said with a bow.
"You're welcome. But wait… You have a familiar face." The girl said as she took a closer look at me.
"Ehm… do I?" I asked, feeling a little bit embarrassed.
The girl mumbled something while inspecting my face.
"Mmm… wait a second. Are you Kai Suzuki?" She said, with a glimpse of surprise in her voice.
I was actually feeling flustered and stupid since I didn't know who this girl was.
"Yes.. It's me… why? Do we know each other?" I said in an embarrassed tone.
"Oh!!! What a surprise!!! Don't you recognize me? It's me, Emi Fujimoto!!" She said with a happy tone of voice.
My eyes widened a little after what she said.
"Emi-Chan?! Really? It has been such a long time!!! And you changed so much!!" I said.
Emi Fujimoto, my first "relationship" and childhood friend.
We grew together until we were 7 years old.
After that, she moved to another city, and I had no news from her until I met her.
"Haha! Yes… I've changed too much. So? How do you find me? Am I pretty like before?" She asked, giving me some puppy eyes.
Well, the girl in front of me was actually beautiful.
Emi has always been a beautiful girl, with long blonde hair and grey eyes.
"Haha… yes, you're still pretty, don't worry about that," I said, trying to be as friendly as possible.
"T-Thank you!!!" She said happily. "Oh… wait a second!!" She added, while grabbing a piece of paper from her pocket.
Then, she wrote something on it and gave it to me.
"This is my contact. Write me when you can!! Let's not lose each other this time!" She said cheerfully.
I took the small paper from her hands and put it in my pocket.
After she handed me her contact, a wave of sadness washed over me, making me feel conflicted about reconnecting.
I wanted to be friends with Emi again, but I couldn't put her at risk because of Hina, so for that moment, I decided not to write her for protection.
"Yeah, I will. But now I must go, thank you, Emi-Chan!!" I said with a bow.
"Haha… I'll wait for you. Bye!" She said.
Then, I started scanning the station, my eyes searching for binary 12, feeling a mix of anticipation and nervousness as I looked around.
After a few minutes, I found it and walked towards the destination.
"Oh, there it is…" I said, after finally seeing my train.
I walked up to it, then entered and took a seat.
After that, I put on my earphones and played some music…
—When the train arrived at the destination—
"The next stop is: Harunaga district." The train manager said through the speakers.
I was lost in my thoughts while listening to some music, and I was almost forgetting to exit the train.
When the train stopped, I immediately stood up from my spot to finally go out.
Then, after a minute, the train stopped, and I walked out, finally finding myself in the Harunaga District.
The station was very, very elegant and Modern, and I remained still for a few seconds to observe it more closely.
I then looked around me and saw how many people there were.
A lot of people.
Well… I wasn't used to it since my hometown wasn't this big and crowded.
Then I started walking, following instructions to reach the entrance.
I must admit that I wasn't feeling so well because I hadn't been sleeping, so I was pretty distracted.
During my walk, I bumped into someone by accident.
"Oh!!! I'm sorry!!" I said to the person.
Then I took a closer look at the person and realized it was a mature woman, maybe in her 40s.
She had black hair tied back in a short ponytail, and I made her drop her things on the floor.
I immediately picked up her things and gave them back to her.
"Ouch… haha… be careful next time, young boy." She said with a smile as she took her things back.
The moment our eyes met, I felt my heart squeeze, and a shiver run through my spine.
I remained stunned in my place, feeling strange.
My eyes were locked on her.
I felt like I already knew this woman.
"Mmm, excuse me, boy… are you feeling okay?" She said, with a confused tone of voice, while getting closer to me.
Then, I snapped back to reality and shook my head.
"S-Sorry, Ma'am… It's that… you look similar to someone I know. Heh… sorry!!" I said with an embarrassed tone. "Excuse me, but I have to go away, sorry!" I said with a bow, before rapidly walking away.
"Hey!! Wait!!" The woman tried to stop me, but instincts told me to stay away from her as much as possible, so I pretended not to hear her voice and kept walking.
After some minutes of walking, I was almost at the exit.
I kept looking around me.
The place was bustling with commuters, but I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching me.
I glanced around, my eyes darting from face to face, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
After some minutes, I finally walked out of the station and sat on the first bench that I found.
Then I took out Hiro's notebook and found some notes on the incident in Harunaga district.
The incident happened inside the station, specifically in a toilet near the cafeteria.
Then, while reading other notes about the incident, I even found out who the victim was.
She was a girl, and her name was "Rina Kobayashi".
They found her body in the toilet, full of stabs and injuries.
Apparently, her face was totally disfigured, her eyes pulled out, but that wasn't the cause of death.
That girl died from bleeding.
Other than that, Hiro's notes said that there were no signs of sexual assault or something similar.
Her ex-boyfriend was arrested for the murder since they found his nails and DNA on her body.
Then I closed Hiro's notes and walked back into the station again.
I made my way to the area where the incident took place.
The area was open to the public, but you couldn't access the inside of the toilet to take a look.
When I finally arrived, I saw a large portrait of this girl on the wall, with lots of flowers on the ground to honor her memory.
This was a very emotional scene to see, and it left me with a lot of sadness.
Dying in such a horrible way… I didn't want to imagine the pain of their family.
To respect her memory, I observed a minute of silence, looking at the floor.
It was quieter there, away from the main flow of people.
I then took out Hiro's notebook and started jotting down details on the white pages, trying to piece together the events of that night.
The station's security cameras might have captured something useful, but accessing them would be a challenge.
And the hardest part was accessing their databases, since this event happened 2 years ago.
Then, by coincidence, I saw a man dressed as if he were working here.
And in fact, I saw him taking some things for cleaning.
Maybe he knew something.
Accessing the footage would've been a great solution, but it was illegal and very risky.
"Excuse me," I said to a nearby station attendant, a middle-aged man with a kind face.
"I was wondering if there were any security cameras in this area," I asked.
He looked at me curiously. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm doing a project on urban safety," I lied smoothly. "I'm trying to understand how well different areas are monitored."
He nodded, seemingly convinced.
"Yes, there are cameras, but they belong to the station management. You'd need special permission to access the footage." He replied with a kind smile.
I thanked him and walked away, feeling a mix of frustration and determination.
Getting that footage was crucial.
As I pondered my next move, my phone buzzed.
I immediately went on alert since I forgot to send Hina the picture.
Luckily, there was a message from Hana.
"Hey Kai, are you okay? Haven't heard from you in a while. Let's catch up soon!"
Hana... My heart ached at the thought of dragging her into this mess.
But she was one of my closest friends, and I needed her support.
I decided to meet her later, but for now, I had to stay focused.
Then I started wondering what I had to do next.
My mind told me to go inside that toilet to find any clues, but I could get arrested since there were so many cameras.
So, while thinking, I remained close to the small altar of the girl.
But suddenly, I felt a presence behind me.
I kept looking at the photo in silence, trying not to be suspicious.
Then, I heard a voice coming from my left.
"What a tragic end to a beautiful and good girl like her, right? Such a tragedy…" the voice said.
It was a familiar voice, and her tone was almost a broken whisper.
Then I turned my head toward the source of the sound, and my eyes widened a bit in surprise.
It was the woman whom I bumped into when I arrived.
She was smiling at me with a very sad look, almost as if this story were touching her directly.
"Yeah… I know this story…" I replied to her. "It's so tragic… she looked like a very beautiful and gentle girl…" I said, with a glimpse of sadness.
"You're right… It's a tragedy… but not all stories can be told, boy." She said with a very cold whisper.
Her voice was sharper than a knife and struck my heart like a missile.
"What do you mean, Ma'am?" I asked, trying not to sound afraid.
"I can't tell you here." She said, smiling.
Then she introduced herself.
"My name is Sakura Ishikawa," she said, while offering me her hand for a shake.
"Ishikawa…" I thought.
That was Hina's surname…