The next morning, i woke up early.
I didn't rest well since my anxiety was preventing me from sleeping quietly.
As soon as the alarm rang, i had a very fast reaction to turn it off.
I dressed quickly and i grabbed my bag with all the things i needed for the day, but i had the feeling that 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.
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 didn't send 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 to find a picture with my grandparents.
I scrolled trough 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 there also was the risk to encounter her.
So i went back home and called a private taxi.
After 15-20 minutes, my phone ringed with a custom ringtone, indicating that someone arrived.
Then, i walked out from my house and saw the taxi standing right in front of me, like it was waiting.
Without any words, 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 trough 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 at destination.
When I arrived , I thanked the driver and got out from 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 took a look at the time, and saw that the clock was indicating 6:52 AM.
I rushed things so much.
Then, I walked near an info point and asked for information about the tickets and the trains for 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 Harunaga district is about to depart in 15 minutes on binary 12. It won't take much time to arrive. Do you need a ticked?" She asked with a smile.
I nodded.
"Yes , please. I need a ticket." I replied.
Then, the worker gave me a ticket for the train and i paid.
"Thank you, Ma'am." I said with a bow.
"You're welcome. But wait… you have a familiar face." The girl said while taking a better 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 embarassed tone.
"Oh!!! What a surprise!!! Don't you recognize me? It's me, Emi Fujimoto!!" The girl said with a happy tone.
My eyes widened a little after what she said.
"Emi-Chan?! Really? It has been so much 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 transferred in another city and I had no news from her until the moment 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 since a child, with her long blonde hair and grey eyes.
"Haha… yes, you're still pretty, don't worry about that." I said , trying 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 what she said, I felt a glimpse of sadness in my heart.
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 to walk and look around to find binary 12.
After some minutes, I managed to find it and walked towards destination.
"Oh, there it is…" I said while finally saw my train.
I walked close to it and then entered inside and took a seat.
After that, I put my earphones on and put some music…
—When the train arrived at 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 in order 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 some seconds to observe it better.
I then took a look 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 to walk while following some instructions to reach the entrance.
I must admit that I wasn't feeling so well because of my lack of 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 better look at the person and realized that it was a mature woman, maybe in her 40s.
She had black hair tied in a short ponytail and i made her drop her things on the floor.
I immediately picked her things up and gave them back to her.
"Ouch… haha… be careful next time , young boy." She said with a smile, while taking her things back.
The moment when our eyes met, i felt my heart squeezing and a shiver trough all 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 similiar 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 I 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 the station and sat on the first bench that i found.
Then, i took out Hiro's notebook and found some notes about the incident about Harunaga district.
The incident happened inside the station, to be more specific, it happened in a toilet near the cafeteria.
Then, while reading other notes about the incident, i even found out who was the victim.
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 notes said that there were no signs of sexual assault or something similiar.
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 inside the station again.
I made my way to the area where the incident took place.
The area was open to public , but you couldn't access inside the toilet to take a look.
When i finally arrived , i saw a big portrait of this girl on the wall, with lots of flowers on the ground to honor her memory.
This was a very emotional scenery to see and it gave a lot of sad feelings to my heart.
Dying in such a horrible way… I didnt want to imagine the pain of their family.
To respect her memory, i held a minute of silence while looking on the floor to commemorate her memory.
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 to access their databases since this event happened 2 years ago.
Then, by coincidence , i saw a man dressed like he was 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, 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 about what i had to do next.
My mind told me to go inside that toilet to find any some 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 silent, trying not to be suspect.
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 to 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 like this story was directly touching her.
"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 directly arrived at my heard, 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…