Third person POV
Hoshi, Bokuto, Saki, Taro, and Sha are a bit fascinated and intrigued by the elderly man's account, and they decided to investigate about the woman's disappearance in the Kita District. They wanted to find out who did it. So, after breakfast, the five of them took a city bus to Kita District in Osaka City to do so. Mariya and the others, meanwhile, remained in the estate doing their own thing. There they saw the scene of the crime: police tape marking the area, and the police were present there, alongside a detective. The missing woman's belongings were in the hands of the police. Many people, mostly random bystanders who had come across, are also present curious about what had happened. The detective, a young, experienced woman named Kioko Kanei, was in charge of the investigation and case.
Then, Hoshi and his group went to her.
"Excuse me, ma'am…" one of them said to her.
Kioko hears that and turned towards them. "Yes? What is it?"
"Does this incident happen last night?" Sha asked her seriously.
"Yes, it did at approximately 10:22 p.m.," replied the female detective.
"Okay, do you know the disappearances of two of the Takada Sake's employees?" Hoshi asked in response.
"Yes, it happened last week, too. Why?"
"I am its current CEO's grandson."
Because of that, Kioko was a bit taken aback by his statement. "Really?"
"Yes, ma'am, he is," Taro replied back.
Then, Kioko understands that and respected Hoshi.
"So, what are you doing here?" she asked him.
"We are here to join in the investigation regarding the disappearance of this young woman in this district," Bokuto responded back.
Saki then nodded in persuasion.
"Okay, do you know about this, too?"
"Well…" Hoshi replied while thinking, "…I suspected that a supernatural entity was behind this."
But Kioko, who said that she doesn't believe in the supernatural, was skeptical. "I'm not sure about that. Perhaps someone smart enough to abduct her with stealth and without leaving any trace."
"Uh…"
"What's with that expression, sir? I don't think the supernatural is relevant anymore."
"But it does!" Taro responded back. "Please let us join in."
"Please, ma'am," Sha added in persuasion, "we may not be experts, but we know how we will do it."
After much thinking and consideration, Kioko decided to allow them to join in the investigation, but on one condition: they must cooperate.
"Yes, we will do our best to cooperate!" Saki responded back strongly and with determination.
Kioko accepted it, and thus, Hoshi and his group are now part of the investigation known as the Kita District Vanishing.
So, all of them went to the scene of the crime. They analyzed carefully for any clues. But since the scene was clean as newly clothes, any clues are hard to find. Because of that, Hoshi began to think, before turning his attention to two CCTVs attached to a wall of a nearby building. Then, his mind suggested that those things might give him and his group a whole picture of what had happened last night. So, he turned to his group and suggested to take a look on the CCTV footage at the said building. His group and Kioko are a bit stunned to hear that suggestion because Hoshi was a bit fast at making suggestions, even though it wasn't the case for him.
"Okay, that might be a good source of what had happened last night," Sha replied with agreement.
Kioko and the others agreed too.
Taro, meanwhile, was a bit more enthusiastic on that possibility.
So, all of them went to the building which owns the said two CCTV cameras to ask the staff for a footage of them at 10:22 p.m. Although the building staff did so, Hoshi was skeptical that the timestamp might be wrong. Then, all of them looked at the footage, and they saw nothing.
"Wait…was 10:22 p.m. was the time the abduction was reported?" Hoshi asked.
"Yes, it was," answered Kioko back.
"Then it might not be the time that incident actually happened."
"Is that so?"
"Yes," Bokuto responded on Hoshi's behalf. "In most cases, both the time of the incident and the time the incident was reported can be different."
"Wow, so smart of you…" the detective replied back.
"I'm just saying that on his behalf."
Then, Taro said to the staff members, "Can you reverse the footage before the abduction took place?"
The staff members did so, and upon doing so, all of them noticed a figure, holding a traditional, Japanese canteen, abducting the woman at 10:14 p.m. last night.
They were stunned, especially Kioko, who wouldn't believe that Hoshi and Bokuto were right.
But who was that figure anyway?