07th March, 2032
05:22
SNA Naval Base, Motoyoshi District, Miyagi, Japan
Sohel and Annabelle got off the ship. The moment they did, a soldier came up to them and saluted. He was wearing a corporal's office uniform. Sohel nodded, and the man dropped his salute and said, "Sir, the car you've wanted has been readied. It's waiting for you in front of the admin building."
Sohel said, "Ok. Let's take a look."
The corporal asked Sohel and Annabelle to follow him and guided them to the admin building. There was a black Alfa Romeo Stelvio parked just outside the admin building's main gate. The corporal pointed to the car and said, "This one, sir."
Sohel asked for the keys from the corporal, and once the corporal gave him the keys, he went and got on the driving seat. After inspecting the car thoroughly, he said, "Hmm. It's good. Ann, get in."
The corporal got a little freaked out and said, "Sir, it would be nice if you met with the admiral once, before you leave."
Sohel replied, "Sorry, corporal, but we're in a hurry."
Before the corporal could say anything more, Sohel drove off.
While driving, Sohel said, "So, a freelance detective and his assistant, huh? What do you think?"
Annabelle replied, "I mean, as long as it works. I don't have any problems with it, I guess."
Sohel chuckled and then asked, "Where was the last killing?"
Annabelle took out a tablet and, after a moment, said, "It was near Toshugo station, Sendai."
"So, Sendai, we go. Can you book a hotel? I need some sleep first or I'm gonna collapse."
"Will do."
06:41
Hotel Green Pacific, Sendai, Miyagi
Sohel stopped the car in front of the hotel, and after handing the keys to a valet, they went inside. They went to the reception desk, and Annabelle asked the receptionist, "Hello. I booked a room here. Could you check? The name's Anna White."
The receptionist replied, "Please wait a moment; I'll take a look."
Sohel and Annabelle moved to one side of the reception desk and started waiting. Sohel was getting a bit dizzy from the lack of slip. Annabelle noticed it and said, "You should've slept on the ship. We could read the documents later."
Sohel replied, "Maybe. But I wanted to learn everything ASAP. I…"
Suddenly someone fell on Sohel, pushing him, and he almost tripped. But he quickly changed his footing and balanced himself. But the person who fell on Sohel didn't get to balance herself, and she fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Sohel quickly turned around and saw Mimi lying on the floor face first. He extended his hand towards her and asked, "Ma'am, are you OK? How did you fall?"
Mimi got up and sat down on the ground as she rubbed her forehead.
She looked up and saw Sohel extending his hand towards her with a concerned look on her face. She also saw Annabelle. She was trying her best to not laugh, but it was spewing out.
Mimi took Sohel's hand and got up. She said, "I'm sorry. I don't wear heels normally, so I lost my balance. Did I hurt you?"
Sohel let go of Mimi's hand and said, "No. I'm okay. But you should be more careful."
Mimi sounded guilty as she said, "Yeah, I'm sorry."
By that time, Lola and Ida had reached them. Lola said, "Mimi, come on. I told you to not wear heels if you can't handle it."
She turned to Sohel and said, "Sir, are you okay? I'm really sorry on my sister's behalf."
Sohel replied, "It's okay. I'm fine."
The receptionist called Annabelle from behind: "Ms. Anna White."
Annabelle turned around and said, "Yeah."
"Two rooms on a corner and together, right?"
"Yes."
"I've checked your booking. Your rooms are room numbers 608 and 609 on the furthest corner on the 6th floor."
Annabelle took the keys with a smile and said, "Thank you."
"Enjoy your stay, ma'am."
Sohel bid farewell to the sisters, and both of them went towards the elevator. Once inside the elevator, Sohel said, "Come to my room after you're done freshening up."
Annabelle looked at Sohel with surprise and asked, "What happened?"
Sohel replied nonchalantly, "I'll tell you in my room. It's not safe talking outside."
Annabelle nodded. The elevator stopped on the 6th floor, and both of them got down. They went to their rooms.
Sohel entered his room and put down his bag. It was a medium-sized room with a big bed straight in front, two bedside tables on both sides of the bed, a set of couches and a tea table in the middle on the left, and a door to the balcony. And finally a dressing room and the washroom on the right. Then he tapped on the side of his glasses two times and said, "ARIA, wake up."
In a moment, ARIA's voice was heard: "At your service, Captain."
"Run a scan for spyware in the room."
Sohel started looking around as ARIA scanned. A few minutes later, ARIA said, "No abnormal radio waves detected."
Sohel smiled and murmured, "Nice."
He took off his gloves and coat and put them on a wall hanger. He then got into the washroom and washed his face. Just as he got out of the washroom, someone knocked on the door.
Annabelle's voice came from the other side: "Sahil, it's me."
Sohel went ahead and opened the door. As Annabelle got in, he looked in the corridor to see if anyone saw anything and then closed the door as he found no one.
Annabelle went and sat down on a couch as she asked, "So? What happened?"
Sohel went and sat down on the other side of the table before her and said, "That girl, the one who bumped into me. She's suspicious."
Annabelle's eyes lit up with intrigue as she said, "What? How do you know?"
"No normal girl would have a knife strapped to her thigh under her skirt."
Annabelle playfully teased Sohel. She said, "Eww. Didn't know you had the habit of looking under girl's skirts."
Sohel didn't laugh or retaliate like Annabelle had expected. He just said, "Ann, can we focus?"
Annabelle felt disappointed. But she said, "OK. What do you want to do about them then?"
"Nothing for now. It doesn't matter who they are if they aren't involved in our case. Just be wary of them."
"Understood. What will you do now?"
Sohel stretched his body as he said, "There's a lot to do, but for now, I'm gonna go sink in that bed. Or I'm gonna collapse."
Annabelle got up and said, "I better leave then. I'm pretty sleepy too."
Sohel got up too and said, "Let's meet at the reception at 13:00."
"You got it."
Same Time
At the reception
As Sohel and Annabelle got on the elevator, Lola went to the reception desk and said, "We had booked three rooms in the name of Lola Yu. Can you check?"
"Give me a moment, ma'am."
The receptionist was relatively quick this time, as she soon said, "Miss Yu? "I've checked your bookings. Your rooms are 605, 606 and 607 on the 6th floor. Here are the keys."
Lola took the keys and thanked the receptionist with a generous smile on her face. The three of them then got on the elevator.
In the elevator, Lola said, "Meet me in my room after freshening up."
Ida and Mimi nodded silently.
Their room was similar to Sohel's. After they washed their faces, all three of them got together in Lola's room.
They sat down on the couch, and Ida asked, "So? Is this meeting to discuss our next course of action?"
Lola replied, "No. It's about the two we met at the reception."
Mimi asked, "Hmm? What about them?"
Lola replied, "The man you bumped into—he's not normal. Maybe both of them aren't."
"And what made you think that?" Ida asked.
"The way the man quickly changed his footing to stay on his feet, it wasn't normal. He has to be trained in some sort of martial arts. Also, his glasses. His eyes were perfect. No abnormal pupil dilatation or any other visible defects. But still he was wearing those glasses."
Ida said, "Now that you mention it, yeah, that girl was wearing the same type of glasses too."
Lola said, "Lotus, can you look into it for me? See if you can find anything about them in that database. What do they do, where they're from? Everything."
Ida smiled as she said, "Will be done soon. Just give me a few hours."
Lola again said, "Cook, I want you to set up some sort of meeting between us and them."
"Easy. How does lunch sound?"
"Pretty nice. Can you do it?"
"Of course. A child's play for me."
****************
As Annabelle got out of Sohel's room, she found Mimi and Ida getting out of another room.
Annabelle smiled at them and was gonna enter her room while Mimi interrupted her. She said, "Wow. We're on the same floor too. It must be fate."
She extended her hands and said, "I'm Mimi Yu, a chef at a private restaurant in the Philippines. Here on vacation with my sisters."
Annabelle felt a little awkward talking to her just after her talk with Sohel, but she played it cool and shook her hand as she replied, "Hello. Anna White. I'm a private detective. Here on vacation too."
"Nice… I have an idea. Let's have lunch together. All five of us. It would be fun."
Annabelle hesitated, but she couldn't get herself to say no as Mimi was looking at her with a genuine smile on her face. She replied with an awkward smile, "Uhm.. Okay."
Mimi looked overjoyed as she said, "Nice. We'll be waiting for you in the restaurant at 01:30 PM."
"Hmm. Okay." Annabelle didn't give Mimi a chance to say anything more and quickly went to her room.
As Mimi and Ida were going towards their rooms, Ida said, "Good job, Cook. Let's see if we can use them."