I stared at the message on my phone, my mind racing with questions.
Sakura-San needed to talk urgently, but how did she get my number? The uneasy feeling in my gut grew stronger.
I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves, and dialed her number.
All the beautiful feelings that i experienced with Hina seemed to fade away in an instant.
The phone rang twice before she picked up. "Kai, thank goodness you called," Sakura's voice was filled with urgency.
"What's going on, Sakura-San?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.
"I can't explain everything over the phone.
It's about Hina and some information I found. It's critical."
My heart pounded.
More secrets, more mysteries and more preoccupations.
But I needed to know the truth.
"Alright, I think that you're saying all of this because we need to meet in person, right?"
"Oh, what a smart boy you are… Yes. We must." Sakura-San said in a teasing tone.
I sighed.
"Okay, understood. Where should we meet then?" I asked.
"There's a café near the school, the one on Hirakami Street. Can you be there in an hour?" Sakura-San said with a worried tone of voice.
I was surprised by her reply.
I thought that she was going to invite me at her place.
Instead, she was coming all the way here.
"Eh? Didn't you live in the Harunaga district ? And most of all, didn't you say that bad people are searching for you? How are you gonna come here?" I asked in curiosity.
"Every woman has her secrets." She said.
"Just wait form me there in two hours." She added, with a very decisive tone.
"I'll be there," I replied, ending the call.
I quickly changed in more casual clothes, grabbed the letter from the trash, and stuffed it into my bag.
But there were some little problems:
1) Hina could actually see me outside.
2) She could leave school to visit me at home.
3) I was still doing absence because of a fever according to what i told to the teachers.
In other circumstances , I would've said no, but this was an emergency.
"Ah , goodness… why everything to me?" I said while thinking.
I thought about some possible solutions but the better one was to change into another outfit where nobody would've recognized me.
The only thing I could do was wearing a hat , sunglasses and a mask that would've covered my mouth.
Well, wearing a mask could be a solution.
I could also go to school pretending that I was still sick.
"I'm a genius." I said to myself, with a proud tone of voice.
Then, I finished other preparations and in the blink of an eye , two hours were already passed.
Still no response from Hina.
It was a pretty strange behaviour, but I pretended not to care.
The fact that she wasn't responding could be a good thing since I would've ignored her if I was with Sakura.
"It's time…" I said to myself, before reaching the exit of my house.
My mind was a whirlwind of mixed thoughts as I left my apartment and headed towards the café.
As I walked, I couldn't help but think about Hina.
Her absence this morning, the unexpected breakfast, and now this urgent call from Sakura-San.
Everything felt like pieces of a puzzle that were slowly coming together.
When I reached the café, Sakura-San was not there.
There was no one.
That café was usually crowded by students after school.
Not so many people usually come during early morning.
I was about to check the phone to see if Sakura had left a message to me, but in the instant I grabbed it, I heard a whisper.
"Psssst! This way!" The voice said, coming from my left.
I turned my head and saw an old woman in her 50's with white hair and blue eyes staring at me.
"Who is this woman?" I thought, while scratching my right cheek.
"Excuse me, Ma'am, do you need something?" I said, with a cordial tone.
"Idiot… it's me, Sakura." The woman said with a sigh.
My eyes actually widened at her reply.
"S-Sakura-San? How is that p-" I tried to say in surprise, but she stopped me and grabbed my arm.
"Let's talk inside. I have a special room here."
Sakura said, before taking me inside the café.
Once we were inside, the old bartender looked at us and spoke with a friendly tone while cleaning some glasses.
"Welcome! Do you need something?" He asked.
"Hey, Junpei-San, I seriously need two red hot glasses of sparkling red tea." Sakura said with a cold voice.
"Understood." The bartender said before stopping his cleaning and taking a key from his pocket.
Then, he walked near the entrance and locked the door.
He even changed the cartel from "open" to "closed".
After that, he spoke to us.
"Follow me." He said, with a cold voice.
The bartender then made sure to close and obscurate all the windows.
Then, he moved the wall behind his bar counter, revealing a hidden red door.
He opened it and said to us to follow him.
We both nodded and followed him.
I wasn't expecting all of that and I must admit that I was a little bit scared.
When we reached the door, I saw a pile of stairs that lead to a lower level.
We walked down and we found us into a small room.
There was a strange smell.
It smelled… old and a somehow nostalgic.
I took a look around me and saw a big wall with a board on it.
On the board, there were documents, images and a lot of names.
There were also a lot of pieces of journals.
In the middle of the room, a small table with some whiskey, 3 glasses and a pen.
"What is this place…? Where the heck am I?!?" I said to myself.
"Thank you for coming, Kai," Sakura said, her eyes scanning the entire room to make sure that there was no hidden camera or anything like that.
"What's this about, Sakura-San?" I asked, leaning in.
The bartender was silently looking at us.
His face looked pretty gentle and caring.
"Thank you, Junpei-San. You've been a great help for this operation." Sakura-Said with a small bow.
"There's no need to thank me, Sakura-San. I'm willing to do anything to avenge my daughter. So, please, raise your head. " He said.
Sakura raised her head up and smiled.
She then looked at me and grabbed my arm.
"This guy is the key to the succes of our mission, Junpei. His name is Kai Suzuki and he's the boyfriend of my nephew Hina Ishikawa." She said while clinging to me.
I was embarassed, I must admit.
Then, I bowed to show some respect and gratitude to the man.
He gently laughed.
"Raise your head, Suzuki-Kun. My name is Junpei Tanaka, the owner of this café, and most of all, I'm a retired special agent in mission to avenge my daughter who got killed by the Kobayashi's dragon gang." He said, while clenching his fist and then throwing a punch in the wall.
He almost broke it.
"Holy shoot." I thought, scared for my life.
It seemed a totally different person for a second.
"I-I'm pleased to meet you, Tanaka-San." I said, trying not to be scared.
"Just call me Junpei. I hate my surname." He said, with a fatherly tone.
I nodded and thanked him again.
"Thank you, Junpei-San." I said, bowing again.
Then, after our acquaintance, Sakura invited the three of us to sit at the table.
Whe did what she asked and sat down.
After that, Sakura spoke.
She took a deep breath.
"I've been doing some more digging into Hina's past, and I found something that could be dangerous for both of you, Kai. There are people who are looking for her, and they're not the kind you want to mess with."
I felt a chill run down my spine.
She was probably talking about the same people who assaulted me.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Sakura-San slid a folder across the table. "Take a look at this."
I opened the folder and saw photos, documents, and news clippings about various incidents involving a strange girl whose description seemed to match 100% with Hina's appearance.
There were reports of murders, disappearances, and even links to organized crime.
My hands shook as I read through them.
The reports were saying that they found a "strange girl with empty eyes staring at the crime scene doing nothing."
The moment when the police came, the girl was always gone, lost in the shadows, even if she was there seconds before.
The reports talked about the girl by calling her "The ghost girl of death."
Other than that, there also were clinic reports of the victims.
Of all the DNA that they found on them , none of it belonged to the girl.
Instead, every single trace belonged to the ones who got arrested for the murder.
Sakura also showed me other things about some other cases that involved victims killed by the Kobayashi dragon gang.
Every victim killed by them was someone who was in debts.
But the most important part was the fact that every victim had a strange mark on their body, done with a knife.
The mark was the letter "H".
They were probably trying to threaten Hina, or they were trying to hide their identity by saying that "H" was a serial killer who liked to leave his marks on his victims.
The only thing that i was sure about, was that Hina was connected to this gang in some ways.
"Why are you showing me this?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Because I think Hina is trying to protect you by keeping you in the dark. But you need to know the truth if you're going to help her."
I nodded, absorbing the gravity of the situation. "What do we do now?"
Sakura-San leaned in closer. "We need to gather more evidence to clear her name and to understand who is after her. But you have to be careful, Kai. These people are dangerous, and they won't hesitate to harm you to get to her."
The pieces of the puzzle were slowly connecting.
I remembered what detective Saito told me.
He said that Hina had a past of violent behaviors and that she once was in a psychiatric hospital due to her violent nature.
Then, i also remembered that I read something about the letter "H" in Hiro's journal, but I didn't care much about it.
That's why Detective Saito was searching for my help to get to Hina.
He thought that the she was the culprit of those murders and that she was nothing more than a serial killer who liked to leave a mark on her victims.
But deep down I still wanted to believe Hina's innocence.
I swallowed hard, realizing the full extent of the danger we were in.
"I'll do whatever it takes to protect her and find the truth."
Sakura-San nodded.
"We'll need to work together and stay vigilant. For now, keep this information safe and act normal around Hina. We don't want to alarm her or anyone else." She said.
I agreed, feeling a new sense of resolve.
"I showed you all of this to make you realize the danger that we're in. From now on we have to move more carefully. So, please , be careful. And if something happens, tell me immediately, Kai." Sakura said, with a very worried tone of voice.
Then, I remembered that I had to tell Sakura what happened to me.
"Wait a second, Sakura-San". I said , while grabbing the "death letter" that I found when the men assaulted me.
Sakura tilted her head to the side in a curious way.
"What is it, Kai?" She asked.
"Wait a sec-" I said, while showing the letter to her.
"Read this, please." I said, with a cold voice.
Sakura nodded and took the letter from me.
Even Junpei-San, who remained silent the whole time, read it.
After some minutes, I saw Sakura's eyes widening by a lot and her body was trembling.
Junpei , instead, seemed to be filled with anger but he kept remaining silent.
Then, Sakura put the letter away and talked to me.
"Kai, remove your sunglasses and your mask, please." She said with a cold voice.
I remembered about the bruise on my face and I didn't want to show it to her, so I used an excuse.
"Ehm… I'm sorry but I didn't feel well these days… I don't want to-" I tried to say, but she stopped me.
"Do what I said." She said with a cold voice.
Junpei looked at me with a piercing glare.
"Okay…" I said, before removing everything.
At the sight of my bruises, Sakura's eyes widened even more and she got closer to me, taking a better look.
Junpei's angry look turned into a sad one.
"What happened, Kai?" Sakura asked with a very worried tone.
I didn't want to speak… but I had to…