"So," said Kagura, "Now we at least know where Chiyo isn't, right?" Yomi nodded,
"We need to keep tracking this guy down!" Tomo blurted, "We're pretty sure he murdered Kaorin, right" the others nodded, "So he obviously likes cute, young girls and young women, right?" the others nodded again, "So," Tomo continued, "He's probably going to kill Chiyo-Chan if we don't rescue her soon!" Sakaki looked as though she were about to start crying. Yomi acted quickly, double chopping Tomo as she had been doing several times daily,
"Don't talk like that, Tomo!" She cried, "As far as we know, Chiyo-Chan is alive and well! Saying she's dead is as bad as killing her!" Tomo didn't quite understand,
"But you've got to admit, it a possib—"
"Shut up!" cried Yomi and Kagura together,
"Well," Osaka said. Everyone rolled their eyes, this was going to be another of Osaka's crazy ramblings, wasn't it? "Chiyo was being held in that warehouse by the waterfront, right?" Nobody was really listening, but they nodded, "Well," She continued, "Maybe we should go check it out further, I mean, we really only looked in the front." Everyone paused. Did that come from Osaka? She seemed to be getting smarter since she moved away to university, "Who knows?" she said, "There might be some secret room in the back or something full of, like, cats or something!" Sakaki imagined Osaka opening a door and having a thousand cats pouring out onto the floor. She blushed. Yomi, Tomo and Kagura looked disappointed, it was going so well and then she had to go say something absurd like that.
"I agree with Osaka." Said Sakaki,
"About the room full of cats?" Tomo queried. Sakaki shook her head,
"Not about the cats, but about checking it out further. We may be able to find something."
The five of them walked through the warehouse,
"Looks like they cleared out pretty well." Said Tomo, walking into the dining room, "But look at this rug, this is a nice rug." Osaka, meanwhile, was off in the corner, looking at something in her hands,
"What's that?" asked Yomi. Osaka held it up for Yomi to inspect more closely,
"A note." Said Osaka. It was indeed a note, the others gathered and Osaka read it aloud:
"West? That's it? West? Real helpful, Chiyo." Tomo said, exasperatedly. Kagura took the note,
"What's that at the bottom?" she asked to whoever was listening to her thoughts, "i…ki…a…Ikea?"
"Chiyo's being held in Ikea?" asked Tomo. Yomi sighed,
"I'm guessing she's talking about the Ikea storage warehouse on the west side of town." She said, "Wait, the west side of town! We need to get going!"
Meanwhile, Chiyo was in the Ikea warehouse,
"Do you like your new outfit, Neko-Chan?" asked her Master, "It makes you look so adorable." Chiyo smiled weakly. Being scared for your life every day could really tire a girl out. This man had already revealed to her that he had killed Kaorin because she had displeased him so Chiyo was trying extra hard to keep him happy, even though it meant letting him do things that she had sworn she would never speak of,
"Thank you, Master." She said. He had given her a new dress that morning. It was pink and white like the other one but this one was in the style of a French maid; it had a little lace apron and lace trim around the bottom of the skirt and sleeves.
"Be careful, Neko-Chan," Said her Master "You're stepping on your tail." Chiyo gasped and quickly moved her foot to the left, her tail jingled as the bell at the end was released from under Chiyo's weight. Her Master smiled and ran the back of his hand along her cheek, "I'm so glad I have you, Neko-Chan," he said, "None of the others were as obedient or as lovely as you, darling." Chiyo shuddered, trying to keep up the façade of quiet obedience,
"Thank you, Master." She said again. It had been just under a week since she had left the other warehouse and at this point she was sure her friends had not gotten her message. She had resigned herself to her fate of being a cat servant to this pervert.
Sakaki, Yomi, Kagura, Tomo and Osaka sat on the train on the way to the warehouse,
"You don't suppose they moved again." Said Osaka,
"They haven't!" said Kagura, "They're still there, they don't know we're on to them yet."
"Oh." Osaka said, staring blankly out the opposite window.
The five searched the warehouse but found nothing,
"Where are they?" cried Sakaki, overturning a box of bed frames in an uncommon act of rage. Sakaki continued to destroy property in a frantic search for her friend. The others looked on in horror, what had happened to the Sakaki they had known for so long? Finally, Sakaki broke down in tears on the ground,
"Where are they? Where is that son of a bitch?" she cried. Everyone wanted to comfort her, but only Osaka was either brave enough or stupid enough, they couldn't tell which, to approach her.
"It's okay," Osaka said, her face taking on a hardened expression, "We're going to find her. We've got to." Sakaki dried her eyes and looked up at Osaka, she could see that they shared the same goal. Still, it seemed so far away.
"Come on, you two." Said Tomo, "We've got a Chiyo to find!"