It was already dark outside when Hazuki Nagisa and Ryugazaki Rei were heading towards their next patient. Nagisa was driving and Rei was sitting in the passenger's seat, staring out the window.
''Urgh,'' Nagisa huffed, ''I hate being on nightshift.''
''I know. I'm not very fond of nightshifts, either, but complaining about it will not change our situation, Nagisa-kun.'' Rei said and he pushed the red frame of his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.
''Hey, Rei-chan, what do you think our next patient will be like?'' Nagisa wondered, completely ignoring his partner's previous statement. ''What would their unaccomplished dream be?''
''Nagisa-kun, you ask me this every single time we have another patient assigned to us. I do not know. We will have to wait and see, we will know it when we get there.''
Nagisa turned his head towards Rei, his eyes leaving the road in front of them. ''Ehh, Rei-chan, you're no fun at all!'' He whined.
''This has nothing to do with me being fun, just focus on the job ahead of us! Speaking of which, I believe the place should be around here somewhere, so we could arrive at any mo- NAGISA-KUN WATCH THE ROAD! WATCH OUT!''
As soon as Rei started yelling, Nagisa jerked his head to look where he was going, not realising he had been swaying. A squirrel was standing in the middle of the lane, frozen in fear as it saw a car coming closer. When Nagisa noticed the squirrel, it was already too late to hit the brakes and he made a sharp turn to right. Rei was screaming really loudly and before they knew what was going on the car was suddenly halted. The impact caused them to jerk forward, quickly inflating airbags hitting their chests and preventing them from flying through the windshield.
Rei slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the shattered windshield in front of him. Luckily, all the pieces of broken glass were still in their rightful place, instead of raining down on them.
Rei looked over to Nagisa. ''Nagisa-kun? Nagisa-kun, are you alright?''
Nagisa faced Rei as the realisation of what had just happened dawned upon him. ''Oh my god! Are you okay, Rei-chan?''
''I am okay. What about you?''
''Yeah, I'm fine. Only my neck hurts a little.'' Nagisa responded as he rubbed at the sore muscles of his neck.
''The impact of the crash probably caused that. If it doesn't go away within a few days I would advice you to go see a doctor.''
''Yeah, yeah.'' Nagisa waved him off as he opened the car door and stepped outside, slamming the door shut a little harder than necessary.
Rei followed suit, and as soon as he was out of the car, he remembered what was going on. ''Nagisa-kun, what happened? Why did you suddenly turn?''
''There was a squirrel on the road and I tried to evade it.''
Rei walked to the road they had just left. He saw the remains of what he presumed used to be a squirrel splattered across the asphalt.
''You ran over it any way.'' He declared as he went back to their crashed car.
''Ahw, poor squirrel!''
''Forget about the squirrel! Look at the car! This is a company car! How are we going to tell our boss that the car broke because it collided with a tree? How are we going to explain it?''
''Rei-chan, calm down. Everything's fine! I'll just tell him I hit the tree because I was saving a squirrel!''
''YOU KILLED IT EITHER WAY!''
''Well, we don't have to tell him every little detail!'' Nagisa tried to flash Rei an innocent smile, but the other wasn't buying it.
''What if we don't get a replacement? What if they don't trust us with company vehicles anymore? What if they fire us?''
''Relax, Rei-chan! At least no one got hurt.''
''Except for the squirrel.''
''Except for the squirrel.'' Nagisa affirmed.
''Well, your unfortunate collision has one positive side.''
''And that is?''
''We've arrived at our destination. I believe our patient's house is on top of this hill.''
''Great! So after this lovely car crash during our nightshift we get to walk up this entire hill?'' Nagisa said sarcasticly.
''Nagisa-kun, I'm not any happier about this than you are, but this is our job! We have to execute everything perfectly, nightshift or not. Every single patient deserves the best and we deliver nothing but the best!''
''Right, right.''
''Well, if you can gather our equipment then we can get going.''
Nagisa grabbed the equipment from the backseat and he locked the car. He followed Rei, who was leading the way up the hill.
''This is going to be a long night.'' Nagisa mumbled.
They walked through the trees, following the little sand path. They walked up the small stairs until an unidentified object blocked their way.
''What's that?'' Nagisa pointed at the object.
''I don't know, maybe it's their way of preventing intruders from entering private grounds.''
''Like a security system?''
''Well, yes, I suppose.''
''Hmm,'' Nagisa looked around, ''Ah!'' He exclaimed as his picked up a stick. ''We can try poking it with this stick!''
''Wait, Nagisa-kun, I don't think that's a good idea what if we-''
He was interrupted by a plopping sound and the object started to deflate.
''-break it,'' He finished.
''Whatever,'' Nagisa said as he threw the stick away and stepped over the deflated object.
Rei wanted to give Nagisa a lecture on why he should not break other people's belongings, but Nagisa had already continued their little journey.
They walked until the stood in front of a large house near a cliff. The sound of a piano could be heard from outside. Nagisa put the equipment down.
''This should be it.'' Rei said as he looked up.
''Wow,'' Nagisa voiced in amazement, ''This place is pretty neat!''
Rei cleared his throat and knocked twice.
The sound of the piano stopped and muffled voices could be heard. If Rei listened attentively, he could he the voice of a small boy, yelling something along the lines of ''Mom, they're here!''.
The door flew open and Nagisa jumped inside. ''Don't forget the equipment, Rei-chan!''
''I wasn't going to forget!'' Rei yelped offendedly.
Inside the house a woman awaited them. She had long, red hair that matched her eyes. She was fairly short, a few centimeters shorter than Nagisa. A kind smile that was a bit apologetic was painted on her face.
''Thank you for being able to come on such a short notice. My name is Gou.''
''You are welcome, Gou-san. Now, if you'll allow me to introduce us. I'm Dr. Ryugazaki Rei and this is my partner Dr. Hazuki Nagisa. We are from Sigmund Corp., an organization that makes our client's lifelong wish come true, so that they can die without having any regrets about their lives.'' Rei introduced them as he did every single time.
Gou looked as if she didn't understand why Rei gave such an extensive introduction, since she already knew who they worked for and what their job was, considering she was the one who had hired them, but she didn't say anything about it.
''Nice to meet you both.''
''Are you the patient's daughter?'' Rei asked.
''No, no, I simply take care of him. He was actually a friend of my uncle, and that's how I got this job. It's pretty much a never ending job, so Makoto lets us live here. With us I mean, my two sons, Aiichiro and Momotaro and myself.''
''I'm assuming 'Makoto' is our patient?''
''Wait, I thought you said 'he'?''
''I did. Makoto's male.''
Nagisa beamed at this. ''Rei-chan, he's got a girly name just like us!''
Both Rei and Gou chose to ignore Nagisa's comment.
''Makoto's upstairs right now with his medical doctor,'' Gou said as she walked towards the stairs, leading the way.
When they got upstairs, the music started again. Nagisa and Rei assumed that the aforemention children were playing the piano.
They entered the bedroom. Gou was standing in the middle of the room. Against the wall stood a large bed. An old man was lying in the center of the bed. His hair had turned grey, his face was a bit wrinkled and his body was fairly big. He looked like he had been a handsome and strong man when he was younger.
Another man was kneeling at the bedside. Probably the doctor Gou had told them about.
Gou gestured towards the man that was lying in the bed. ''This is Tachibana Makoto, your patient.'' She introduced him.
''Nice to meet you, Mako-chan!'' Nagisa said to Makoto, but the sick man was unconscious.
''Nagisa-kun, please speak to our patient with a little more respect.'' Rei scolded.
Gou chuckled. ''I'm sure he wouldn't have minded.''
''Gou-san, can we set our equipment up somewhere?''
''Oh, of course! Here.'' She pointed at a table with a chair behind it.
Rei put down the equipment on the table. He sat down in the chair and started up the program. Nagisa walked over to the doctor.
''How is he doing?'' He asked.
The doctor shook his head. ''Not so well. I think he's got about a day or two left, at most.''
''Oh, that's plenty of time!'' Nagisa took a few steps in Gou's direction.
''So, what's our big guy's big wish?''
''The moon.''
''What? The moon?''
''The moon,'' She repeated, ''He wants to go to the moon.''
Rei and Nagisa looked at each other confused.
''So, can you do it?''
''It depends.'' ''Of course!'' They said at the same time.
''Which one is it?''
''Of course!'' Nagisa exclaimed again.
''Why don't you tell us a little bit more about Tachibana-san?''
''Uh, I don't really know much. As I mentioned before, I got this job thanks to my uncle. My uncle actually knew him better. According to my uncle, he was a very kind man. He used to work as a firefighter. Two years ago his husband passed away and that's when I started working here. I don't know him that well, since in the two years that I've worked here he barely spoke. He mostly sat behind the piano, playing the same tune over and over again. After he got sicker, he would just lie in his bed all day, just staring off into empty space. I believe that all of that was due to the death of his husband. My uncle told me that they were like soulmates, to the point where they could read each other's minds, and Makoto couldn't get used to life without his husband. His death was so traumatic to Makoto, almost as if he had lost himself that day. That's why I never really got to know him. Therefore, I don't know why he wants to go to the moon.'' Gou explained.
''Ahw, that's so sad!'' Nagisa said, his eyes brimming with tears, ''Poor Mako-chan!''
Nagisa turned to their patient. ''Don't worry, Mako-chan, we'll definitely get you to the moon!''
Rei cleared his throat. ''And how are we supposed to do that without any clue on why he wants to go there? Without a clear motive or reason I'm not sure we can successfully pull this off.''
''I'm not sure if it will help but.. I suppose you could take a look around the house and see if you can gather more information. Makoto signed for you, so I think he wouldn't mind,'' Gou offered.
''Okay!'' Nagisa strolled over to Rei. ''So, is detective Rei-chan on the case?''
''Actually, Nagisa-kun, I would prefer to stay here to ready the equipment. You can take a look around if you want, but remember that you are at work right now. Your antics or schemes would be highly inappropriate and not appreciated right now, so please refrain from that kind of behaviour. You are a professional.''
''Right, I get it!'' Nagisa huffed as he walked away from Rei.
''My children can show you around. They're probably downstairs at the piano.''
''Wait!'' The doctor called Nagisa back.
''What?''
''I got something for you.'' The doctor handed him something.
''What's this?''
''It's a remote heart monitor. It'll keep you updated on Tachibana-san's status.''
''Awesome, thanks!'' Nagisa put the monitor away and he walked downstairs.
Downstairs at the piano Nagisa found two children. One of the boys had straight, silver hair and big, light blue eyes, the other boy had orange hair with slight waves and smaller yellow eyes.
''Are you Ai-chan and Momo-chan?''
The boy with the orange hair turned to him with a wide grin. ''Yep! Who are you?''
''I'm Nagisa. Your mom told me you could show me around the house.''
''Of course we can!''
''Momo-kun, is that really a good idea? It's Tachibana-san's house.'' The other boy, Aiichiro, spoke.
''It's fine, Ai! Mom told Nagisacchi that he could.''
''O-Okay.'' Aiichiro stuttered shyly.
''Great!'' Nagisa said as the children stood up. ''So, where do we start?''
''Oh! I know! There's this weird room in the basement!'' Momotaro beamed.
''I don't like that room..'' Aiichiro said anxiously.
''Weird room?''
''It's locked though, so we would need the keys. I believe the old man kept the keys in a book in the study.''
''Alright, let's find the keys, then. Where's the study?''
''I'll show you!'' Momotaro trotted towards a door, Aiichiro following closely.
The little boy opened the door and led them inside.
''This is it! The keys are hidden in the thickest book on the upper shelf!''
Nagisa walked towards the bookshelf, searching for the thickest book.
''Ha! Found it!'' He exclaimed. He opened the book and found a key inside. ''Yay, I got it!''
He went back to the kids. ''So, the basement's next, right?''
''Yup! We can open the weird room now!''
''Are you sure this is a good idea? The room is locked for a reason.'' Aiichiro objected.
''It's okay, Ai-chan! I'll just take a look inside, that's it.''
Aiichiro still wasn't convinced, but he wouldn't dare to forbid this stranger from entering. This adult stranger, that is.
''Up to the basement!'' Momotaro yelped as he raised his fist in the air.
Walking down the stairs was sort of a challenge, since it was very dark.
When they were standing in the basement, Momotaro spoke. ''Here we are! Now we only need to turn on the lights.''
Nagisa shuffled around until he found the switch. ''Got it!'' He laughed as the lights flickered on.
''There's the weird room.'' Momotaro pointed at the door. ''I'm not going in! That room creeps me out!''
''Me neither!'' Aiichiro muttered.
Nagisa shrugged and got the key ready, unlocking the door.
He entered the room. The only light coming from the rest of the basement, so he couldn't see the entire room, but what he could see left him speechless. He honestly didn't know what he was expecting when the children had mentioned a weird room, but it wasn't this.
He looked around for any source of light and flipped another switch. The room lit up and revealed it's secrets.
If you would take a good look around it would seem like a normal storage room, a few boxes here and there, save for the fact that the room was filled with paper cranes. They were everywhere. Everywhere. Nagisa wasn't that good in math, but he guessed that there had to be at least one hundred.
His jaw had dropped and he scanned the rest of the room. Something else caught his eye. On top of one of the boxes sat a plush dolphin. The dolphin was blue with white. It seemed old, but it looked like it had been taken care of with utmost concern and treated with love.
Nagisa's interest was piqued and he decided to take the plush toy with him. It looked like it might be important.
Nagisa switched the light off and returned to Aiichiro and Momotaro.
''Did you see it?''
''What do you know about all those paper cranes?''
''Nothing!'' Aiichiro yelled.
''We were told not to go in there. But there's more of them actually!''
''Really? Where?''
''Inside the abandoned lighthouse! It's just beneath the cliff. Do you want to go there? I got the keys!''
''Alright! Let's go to the lighthouse!''
