Hoshigata-Chou P.D., August 8th, 2005

Incident Report N. XXXX

Location: Hoshigata-Chou, Street X, House N. X

Date/Time: August 6th, around 11 PM

Incident: Murder

Victim: Shiroki Tarou (43)

Cause of Death: Strangling with thick rope

Additional Details:

The victim lived with his wife, Shiroki Meiko (41), and his daughter, Shiroki Mitsune (17).

The person who found the body of the victim was XXX, a friend of the daughter, who knocked on the door. When no one answered, XXX looked through the window and saw the victim, immobile on the kitchen floor. XXX then proceeded to call the police.

When the police entered the house, there was no one but the victim. His wife was at work, with multiple witnesses to attest to the fact. The daughter, however, was supposed to be in the house at the time of the murder. Her whereabouts are still unknown.

Taking into consideration the daughter's disappearance, it raises suspicion on her. As such, Mitsune is currently the top suspect of the crime.

The hypothesis of suicide or accidental death was quickly discarded after investigating the victim's body. There were no external injuries, with exception of the neck, which had marks of approximately 3 cm width around the frontal area, forming a half-circle shape. This indicates that the rope was put around the victim's neck from behind, and then pulled on both ends, resulting in death by strangling. This particular method of death would be nearly impossible to perform on oneself, leading to the conclusion that this incident was a murder.

On the night of the crime, it was raining heavily, so there were many muddy puddles on the ground. Inside the victim's house (specifically from the entrance all the way to the kitchen), the floor was covered in mud. That mud is assumed to have come from the shoes of outsiders (or the daughter herself). They were stepped on and became blurry, making it impossible to identify the exact size or amount of footsteps.

The current theory is that the culprit left and entered the house multiple times to dispose of evidence, reasoned from the missing murder weapon (rope). This murder weapon was identified from the marks on the victim's body and fibers found on the clothes.

After questioning the neighbors, it was revealed that a car left from the direction of the victim's house. It could not have been the family car since it was with the wife. It's theorized that the daughter had an accomplice, with which she escaped after committing the murder. When asked for further details on the car, the neighbors responded by saying that, under the heavy rain, they were unable to identify it, and assumed it was the family car.

When the body was found, the front door of the house was locked, and no keys to the house were found. The parent's room, the storage room, and the daughter's room were all locked as well, and, again, no keys were found. There was nothing unusual in the parent's room or the storage room. However, things were messy and all over the place in the daughter's room. The window was agape in the rain, oddly, and many drawers were open, with their contents scattered on the floor as though someone was searching for something. No suspicious objects were found in the investigation.

Conclusion: After examining all of the details and characteristics of this unusual crime, we were unable to formulate a meaningful theory to explain the events. Considering the scarcity of evidence, this case is, as of the moment of writing, labeled "Unresolved".

June 19th

I slowly opened my eyes... the sunlight peeking out of the curtains hit my face uncomfortably, causing my drowsiness to fade away.

I looked around my messy room. There were some boxes labeled "Mitsune" lying on the floor. One of them was opened, revealing a bunch of books of varied genres.

"I still have some stuff left to organize..."

I said it in a low voice, talking to myself as usual. After leaving my bed, I opened my desk drawer and checked my phone. The date was June 19th, a Sunday. It was around 8:30 AM, an early time for me to wake up on the weekends.

The aroma of my father's coffee penetrated my nostrils, which revealed to me that my parents were in the middle of making breakfast. I entered my new bathroom, that I still wasn't really used to, and brushed my teeth after washing my face. Feeling a little more refreshed, I went downstairs. Like I imagined, my parents were finishing setting up the table for breakfast. Before they could see me coming, I announced in a loud voice:

"Good morning!"

My parents turned around a bit surprised.

My mother responded with a "Good morning". My father gave his characteristic "Morning". I laughed a little, in a cheerful mood. Although the whole situation with the moving had put me down the last week, I felt unusually bright today. It seems my parents noticed that, and my father spoke:

"Come, let's have breakfast together."

I sat on the chair opposite to my parents. Taking a quick peek at the table, I noticed a variety of breakfast items, including coffee, milk, sugar, orange juice, cheese, bread, and others. It made me thankful for having parents like mine, who were always doing their best to give a good life to our family.

"So, what woke you up so early?" Mom asked, wondering what could've made her always lazy daughter wake up in time for breakfast on a Sunday.

"Nothing in particular." I answered while chewing on a loaf of bread with a slice of cheese on top. "I just felt like changing my habits a bit."

"I see. I think that's a good thing. Waking up early means you have more time to spend doing the things you want to do." Mom's voice was similar to her 'lecture voice', but there was some kindness in her tone.

"Y'know, I was thinking about going out today." I stated my idea. "To get to know the town and all."

"You're going to do something? Or will you just wander about?" Dad said in a way that would be considered rude by most people, but I had learned that it was just his own way of showing consideration.

"I don't really know anything about the town yet, so I can't do anything by myself." I spoke honestly. Like Dad said, I was probably just going to look around aimlessly.

"I see." His curt response was equivalent to an "okay". Now, I just needed Mom's approval. Knowing her, she'd be more than glad to see me actually get out of the house, considering the shut-in attitude I had back then.

"If you're going to leave, be back by lunch." Mom agreed, with this one simple condition, which I didn't mind.

"Back by lunch, got it!" I said in a bubbly manner.

Finishing my breakfast quickly, I returned to my room. I took a shower, changed into summer clothes, and took another look at my phone. It was almost 9:30, so I'd have around 2 hours to go on my little "exploration".

I stopped a bit, as though waiting for some message from my friends...

But... no message came.

I stuffed my cell phone in one of my pockets, and for the third time only today, I used the stairs. For just an instant, I felt a slight annoyance at my room's placement in the house, but I quickly forgot about that after reaching the bottom of the stairs.

My father was washing the dishes, and Mom wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"I'm leaving. See you guys at lunch." I told Dad.

"Uh-huh." He just nodded and agreed.

After opening the door, I was blasted with even stronger sunlight than the one that woke me up. However, unlike that one, this light felt pleasant and warm.

Our house was located at the end of an alley. It felt slightly unsafe since not a lot of people would be around if anything were to happen, but that was a minor concern.

I walked along the stone-paved road that only covered part of the soil until I reached an asphalt street. It seemed to extend really far, probably being the main street in town. Along this street, there were a bunch of shops and stores. I could see an ice cream parlor, a restaurant, a small supermarket, and other convenient stuff.

However, the building that really caught my attention was one down the street, with a sign saying "Library". Being the avid reader I was, a library was an essential part of my everyday life, so I was glad I could have access to new books here. Just out of curiosity, I headed there and entered the library. It was only about half as big as the city's library, but it was good enough for me. I saw a few books I was interested in, so I stared around for a bit. Eventually, a boy around my age approached me and started talking.

"Do you like this series?" He seemed to have taken an interest in my tastes. Honestly, I thought he was being a tiny bit nosy, but I didn't want to scare off the first person to talk to me.

"Yeah, I like mystery and crime novels. They're nice brain exercise." Getting over my unfriendliness, I answered in an animated tone.

"I think so too! Have you read the classics?"

"Some of them. I like the famous ones, but I also like reading some modern stuff. It's fun seeing what tricks the authors come up with."

"I get what you mean! When you think nothing can surprise you anymore: bam! Something completely unique! It's always fun when that happens."

I giggled at the way he moved his arms in a comical manner.

"So, uh, are you new around here?"

"Yeah, I moved from Shirogane-shi. It's still only my second day in town."

"Oh! I was asking if you were new in the library." He seemed to be taken aback. I guess he wasn't expecting this response. "So that means you don't know much about the places 'round here, huh?"

We both stood there sharing a slightly awkward moment.

Breaking the silence, I spoke:

"My name is Mitsune. Nice to meet you!" I said this having noticed we still hadn't introduced ourselves. He followed suit:

"Nice meeting you. I'm Hisashi." His introduction was energetic. In fact, his entire personality seemed like that. "So, you still don't have a library card, I imagine."

"Yeah. It'd be nice to get one, but I don't think I really have the time."

"Why not? Do you have something to do?"

"I gotta be home by lunch." I told him rather plainly.

He took his phone out of his pocket, looked at it and started talking:

"It's still at ten o'clock. Filling out the papers should take at most an hour. If you really want to, you can do it now. While you do it, I'll be borrowing a book I like."

"You know, I think I'll do that." After saying this, I looked at the counter. I saw two people there. One of them was using a computer, and the other was fiddling on his phone, looking bored.

I talked to the one on the phone and requested the forms to get myself a library card. He went to the back and brought a few papers with information for me to fill out. It was all the usual stuff, so I filled it quickly. I didn't know my own address for certain (which was laughable, honestly), and I had to ask for help, but other than that it went smoothly.

When I finished it, I handed the paper to him, and he spoke:

"Your card should be finished in a few days. You can come to pick it up on the 22nd. That would be Wednesday." His voice was tired. I suppose not a lot of people visit a library like this, especially in a small town.

"Thank you." After saying that, I turned around and I saw Hisashi sitting on a chair, reading the book he said he would borrow. I waved at him, but he was so absorbed in his reading that he didn't notice it.

"Hey!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, you're finished? That was even quicker than I expected. So, when are you going to get your card?"

"Wednesday. At least it's not too far from today."

"Yeah. So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm not sure yet. Maybe I'll just look around some more."

"Well, I can show you the park! It's a short walk from here."

"Really? Then let's get going."

After I finished my sentence, Hisashi took out a bookmark from his pocket, placed it in the page of the book and closed it, putting the book under his arm.

"We just go down this street, and we'll be there in five minutes."

We were back to walking on that asphalt street. It really did seem to be the main street in town, lining up stores and relatively tall buildings. All of the houses were located in alleys similar to my house's, with some exceptions here and there. While walking, I checked the time: it was a quarter to eleven. This park would probably be the last place I'd get to see today.

I saw a big green space in the distance. Those were trees. It really was an amazing park. As we got closer to it, I could see dozens of people moving back and forth. It was by far the most crowded place in town I had been yet. I thought about the many parks in my old city. There were a bunch of them, but I never visited any of them.

"So, how's this?" Hisashi asked me.

"It's really nice." I responded while looking around, feeling the cool breeze.

I noticed that right beside the park, there was a tall, large building. It was surrounded by a fence that would be easy to climb. There were letters engraved right above the door: "Nikkou High School". It was a pretty generic name, but it somehow suited the ambiance.

"I think this is the school I'm going to transfer into." I mentioned it loud enough for Hisashi to hear.

"Really? I study there! I mean... almost every high school student in town does, but... Anyways, that's cool. What's your grade?"

"I'm a second year. What about you?"

"Me too! What a coincidence. We might even be in the same class."

"Yeah, that's a possibility." I wouldn't mind having at least one person I knew with me in a new school.

We sat on a big bench, discussing stuff about the school and the town. He told me that the town had just recently reached a population of twenty thousand, which was still little compared to some other cities. He also explained that the town's name was given due to the unusually high rate of shooting stars that could be seen from the town's well-known Hoshiyama Peak. As time just passed without us realizing, it got closer and closer to noon. When I looked around, I saw that most people were leaving, and the park was quickly getting deserted.

"Everyone's going home." I said to Hisashi.

He checked the time using his phone.

"Oh, it's already noon! Time really flew by."

"I should be getting home."

"Me too."

"By the way, I noticed you have a phone. We could exchange numbers, just to be in contact with each other."

"That's a good idea."

I gave him my number, and he gave me his. He was officially the first friend I made in this new town. I was pretty happy with myself for managing to talk to a boy without weirding him out.

"So, I'll go home now. I'll send you a message later!" I spoke while getting up from the bench.

"Got it." He rose from it as well, and we waved our hands as we went our separate ways.

After going back the way we came, I passed by the library from earlier and entered my house's alley. Since it was lunchtime, the houses all seemed to be filled with the scent of delicious food. I knocked on the door before entering, to announce my arrival. The table was already set, and both Mom and Dad had already sat down. I was hungry after walking back and forth, but I really needed to shower. I was sweaty and tired.

"I'll go take a shower really quick. You can start eating without me."

"Don't take too long!" Mom shouted while I was climbing the stairs.

I showered quickly and rushed to have lunch with my parents. When I sat on the chair, both of them were almost done eating. Did I really take so long showering?

While I ate, Mom started talking to me.

"Did you do something interesting?"

"I met a boy, and we talked about the town and stuff."

"Oh, really? What was his name?" Mom said it in a teasing way.

"Hisashi. I met him in the library across the street. Oh, and I also signed some papers, and I'm getting myself a library card. Have to pick it up this Wednesday."

"Wow, you had a busy morning, huh? I'm proud of you. People your age should be going out and making friends."

"I know. Tomorrow, at school, I'm going to make lots of friends." Or, at least, I'll try. No more locking myself in my room every day.

We talked some more about my morning, as I excitedly told her the things I saw.

After our conversation ended, I went back to my room. I saw the boxes still there. I wanted to rest this afternoon, but I knew that if I were to rest even a bit, I wouldn't want to clean my room, even though Mom told me to yesterday.

Tired, I opened the boxes and put its contents on the floor. I then separated them by type. Books, clothes, personal possessions, and all sorts of things I brought with me. It took me a while to find a place for everything, but I managed to do it somehow. Finally, I was allowed to rest. I lied down on the bed. Suddenly, my phone beeped with my favorite ringtone. It was a message from Hisashi.

"What's up?" – It was just these two words. Personally, I would never start a conversation like that, not even by phone. Then again, my "politeness" might be what made me unable to make lasting friends. After thinking about all this stuff, I decided to type back.

"Just finished cleaning my room. And you?"

"I was reading that book. Should've been finishing my homework, though."

"What sort of homework is it? Maybe I can help you."

"It's a math homework. Something about equations. Wouldn't want to bother you with that."

"Do you not like math?"

"I don't dislike it. But I honestly prefer physics. Astronomy, to be even more exact."

"I see. Well, I guess I like all subjects in their own way."

"Don't you have something you like even more than normal?"

"Maybe biology and things like that. I'd like being a doctor when I grow up."

"That's a difficult dream, but with enough studying, I'm sure you can do it."

"Yeah. Changing subject a bit, which class are you in? At school, I mean."

"Class 2-C. Why do you ask?"

"Just wanted to check. I'll ask my mom later which class I'm in."

"Cool. By the way, do you already have something planned for tomorrow after school?"

"Not really."

"Then we can see some more of the town. There's a cafe I always go to, and I could show you the place. The coffee there is really good."

"I'd be glad to go."

"Then it's settled. I guess I'll go do my homework."

"Sure. Talk to you later."

That was the last message we sent. I checked the time. It was almost two in the afternoon. I could rest for a few hours like I planned to. And so, I put my head on the pillow, closed my eyes, and slept. I had a dream where I was surrounded by friends, admired by everyone in the class. They all laughed at my jokes, and everyone talked to me like a close friend. It was an amazing dream.

When I woke up, it was already five thirty. The bright sun had been replaced by a soft rain. It was a bit chilly, even inside the house. I left my room and went downstairs. Dad was watching TV while Mom organized some papers on the dining room table. I sat on a chair across from Mom.

"Hi. Were you sleeping?" Mom asked.

"Yeah. I was kinda tired after this morning."

"Are you thirsty? I could ask your dad to make some tea."

"I'm fine, thanks. I just wanted to ask one thing."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember the class I'm in?"

"Umm... it was... Class C, I think. Nikkou High School. I heard good things about it."

"Class C?"

"Yeah. I'm fairly certain the lady I talked to said you would join Class C."

"Thanks!" I was excited. Luckily, I had been placed in the same class as Hisashi. That alone made things a hundred times easier.

After ending the ending the conversation, Mom returned to her document organizing. It seemed to be something important, so I felt a tinge of regret at bothering her just to ask this.

I sat on the sofa beside Dad. He was watching some sort of cooking show, and focusing intently on everything the chef said and did.

"So you have to cut the pork like this? Oh, I didn't know you could add this to the sauce! Those onions really do look beautiful..." He was talking to himself in a way very similar to how I did. Maybe that's where I got it from.

After at least ten minutes of me sitting there, he noticed and spoke:

"Oh, hi. Do you want something? Want me to change the channel?"

"No, no. I was just passing time here. There's not much to do in this rain."

"Okay." He was happy that he could continue watching his program in peace. Truthfully, I did want to change the channel, but doing it when Dad was already here before me would be super rude. Instead, I just forced myself to watch the chef's master cooking tips, even though my cooking skills were almost zero.

Eventually, Dad stood up and went to the kitchen. He would probably make dinner now. Unusually, he was always the one to cook at home.

I wondered what today's dinner would be, and changed the channel to some sort of game show program.

After eating dinner, I went back to my room and prepared myself mentally for the next day. I already had plans with Hisashi, but that wouldn't stop me from feeling anxious. Would I truly be able to make new friends there like I hoped? It all depended on me. As the sound of the rain softly hitting the window continued, I closed my eyes, letting myself enter the realm of sleep.