DISC A

Strong scent of smoke. Souji Seta put down his last piece of 'medication' to the ashtray. As the fire burned out, he blew off smoke from his mouth.

The light turned green. The gray haired man removed the handbrake, shifting to the first gear before following the rest of the car leaving the intersection.

The manager went hell-bent on keeping him work overnight and so he did. Thirty one hours and… eleven minutes. Souji can't help but smirked. Should he put that on his resume? Pfft.

Souji steered his car to the side before turning inside the parking lot. Buckling down the seat-belt, he grabbed his coat and snatched his keys on the dashboard. The dampness of the basement greeted him when he exited the vehicle. At least, I'm gonna a good sleep until tomorrow. He thought to himself, entering the lift.

Tenth floor. The gray haired man sighed, dragging his legs to room 1029. It's the corner near the emergency staircase. He scoffed, seeing a bunch of people wearing a uniform in front of his door. Police Force. Was he hallucinating already?

"Excuse me, Seta Souji?"

"Yes?" Souji cleared his dry throat.

"You are under suspicion of murder, please come with us to the station."

Souji could see the dark bags under his gray eyes from his reflection on the window. He'd love to sleep on his way to the station, but his mind was occupied with the news he heard earlier. The manager's dead, murdered. And he's one of the suspect.

Lack of sleep could generate hallucination. He wondered if this was all just his and he's actually wasted in the basement. Or it could be the murderer after all. The sleep deprived employee murdered his own boss after the boss overworked him. Souji scoffed. That's one clichéd headline. And he's not that cranky… or was he?

Well, this is something.

Long hours of interrogation made him carve for smoke. He fished out a pack of cigarette from his shirt pocket. It's empty. He let out a wry smile, throwing off the pack into the air.

"Here, take mine."

Souji glared at the pack of cigarettes, mentally drooling for it. He looked up to see a middle aged man. His dark hair was balding and he kept his scruffy beard unshaved. The man seemed bulky, or this could be just his hallucination. His attire was a lot similar with Souji. The classic shirt and dark pants for corporate workers.

Who's this man? What did he want? Why can't he just leave him alone? Those questions cleared up fast when he realized this man was offering him a free smoke. To hell who he's. "Thanks." Souji said as he put the stress-reliever in between his mouth and lighted it.

"You look like crap, Seta-san."

The gray haired man exhaled, blowing off steam of nicotine. "Sorry, I didn't get your name." he cleared his throat again.

"It's me, Yurizawa Wabe. From human resource. Man, the manager really overworked you."

Some guy from the same office. Souji scoffed when realized this man's in the same boat as his.

"Who knew this kinda thing would happen? I mean…"

Souji refused to listen at that point. He excused himself to the toilet, putting of his cigarette on the nearest trash can. The gray haired man thought he could actually snapped if he heard more.

Forty one hours and counting. The second interrogation was about to begin. And how he'd love to just write down his answers on a paper and be done with it.

Once again he was escorted to the cubical room. Hands now cuffed. Apparently the evidence went strongly pointing toward his guilt. He let his forehead fell to the cold metal table. 'Steeling' his mind… pfftt, what's with the lame joke, brain?

The door letting out a crank noises, hurting his ears. Souji straightened up his back, intensely glaring at the figure who's going to torture his psyche. And he couldn't make anything out of his vision. Souji calmly regaining his composure as his eyes adjusted itself.

"I never thought we would meet again in this circumstances, senpai."

Souji focused his gray eyes when the interrogator addressed him as senpai. And he'd heard this voice before. "Who…. are you?"

Bitter smile formed on his lips.

A woman in her early twenties sat across him. Anxious and rage written on her curvaceous features. The glare from her dark blue eyes was piercing. She put down her distinctive blue cap on the table, showing off her disheveled, blue hair hung loosely above her shoulder. Her white shirt has the collar unbuttoned, exposing her sweaty collarbone. Apparently this room was quite hot, now that he gave it thought.

"Ah, Naoto. It's nice to see you again."

"I can't say I agree with you, senpai. You're caught in the middle of a murder case as one of the main suspect." Naoto let out sigh when Souji only relaxed his back on the chair. "Please tell me only the truth. I can't let our personal relationship ruin my judgment."

"I know." Souji cleared his throat.

It's downpour outside. Apparently he's still trapped in the strings. He found no sign of whatshisname from human resource around anymore. The evidences were pointing on him and two other guys he couldn't care less.

Souji relentlessly tapping his feet against the floor. Forty eight hours and still counting. Two days. He had no idea being sleepless for two days could make him like this. They said there's one more process he had to go before they decided who's who.

Maybe, it's him after all.

Heavy footsteps closing in. Souji forced his head up to see who's in such a hurry. A man was running off from the interrogation room direction. A Runner? But his sprint was heavy-handed. Souji focused his eyes, seeing the guards were all face down on the ground. It was when the man ran past him that he realized he's actually a runner.

Souji sprinted like mad closing the gap between them. Now, he didn't remember what time was this, but this station's sure as hell as empty as Inaba Police station. Shrugging off the train of memories that's about to run on his mind, Souji jumped off and tackled the runner to the ground.

This runner resisted well. Souji had to receive half dozen of clean hits to the face to keep him down. Thankfully the rest of the force caught on what's the ruckus about and finished his job.

The gray haired man dragging his feet to the main road. He let himself soaked in the rain and his dried blood under his mouth naturally washed away. He's finally been declared innocent.

Sky was dark. Souji was waiting on the sidewalk for the sight of a cab. What a weekend… he thought to himself. Thirty hours work and twenty more hours as a murder suspect. He might actually want to put this into his resume.

"Souji-senpai!"

Souji's mind snapped awake. He looked down to his side to find Naoto, holding up an umbrella for him. "How are you still that short?" he murmured.

"I apologize for my behavior back there. I should've trust you're innocent."

Souji tried to talk, but only groans came out. He let out a smile and took the umbrella from her.

"No, let me hold that for yo…" Naoto trailed off as Souji raised his hand high, "That is not funny, senpai."

A chuckle escaped his lips as she actually jumped to reach the umbrella.

"Very well," she sighed, adjusting her cap, "we'll do it your way."

This kind of thing had happened, hadn't it? When they're in high school. Right, that one time where he's out eating Aiya's special afterschool. Souji mused. It's hard to believe that was seven years ago.

He wondered if she's still…

A/N :

nothing much to say other than this story won't be longer than 5k words.

thanks for reading.