Nogami looked around almost everywhere around Shinjuku, but the person she was looking for, was nowhere to be seen. He became absonant after that incident a year ago… Nogami sighed as she returned to her police station in Shinjuku. Its been a long time since the City Hunter did his last job. The crime here seems to have hiked suddenly, and without him, its almost impossible to nab the wrongdoers and punish them for their fault. After that incident his indecency gradually reduced and presently speaking, its come to a perfect stop! Nogami thought in her mind "This is not the Ryo I knew. This is not him…. This can't be him! A Ryo who doesn't go hunting for beautiful girls in his free time, is not like him at all! and now to add up to the problem, Kaori san's…" The thoughts that followed it, sent a shiver though the spine of the Chief of Shinjuku police station. "No, I must find him and tell him the news. Although I don't really know if I will be alive after telling him this, I must tell him still. He has the right." She thought, and bolted off from the police station again, leaving the officer standing beside her, in a bit of astonishment as to the whereabouts of her journey. Umibozu and his wife Miki were talking about the present change in Ryo's mental condition in the Cat's Eye café when suddenly Nogami Saeko barged in. Miki was taken aback, but Umibozu was not even least concerned. It seemed that nowadays, his blindness have sharpened his other senses to their height. He spoke in a reserved tone "What are you doing in my café at this hour of the night, Saeko? I must say that I did not expect you to barge in here like that. What is the matter? Why are you panting? Is everything alright? And where is that idiot? I haven't seen him since the past week. Do you know anything what he is up to?" Saeko sat on one of the chairs in the café in horror. "So he isn't here either. Where are you Saeba Ryo? Just where are you? Damn it. ", she thought to herself. As if in a trance, Umibozu seemed to know exactly what was going on in her mind. He asked "So you do not know where he is either. Am I right?" She could not take any longer. She sat down on the nearby chair, covered her face in the palm of both her hands and said "Kaori San ….. ". The name alone seemed to change the environment astoundingly! Both Umibozu and Miki held sullen expression on their faces, Umibozu's jaw hardened, and his grip on the clay cup he was holding, tightened. Miki affectionately kept her hand on Saeko's head, "Tell us everything", she told. Saeko decided that it was time to tell them something which she had kept from them since about a year, something which is the cause of the present condition of Shinjuku, something which they deserve to know, and above them, the person she was looking for, Saeba Ryo. "Here I am, waiting for you Kaori. I know you can't leave me, I just know. I don't believe what Umibozu, Miki and Saeko say. Please come back to me, please. I will not look at any other woman even if I get a mokkori seeing them, I promise. Now just come back, Kaori. Its been a year since you….", Ryo's thoughts were cut short as he came back from the wonderful land of dreams, to the hard soil of reality. He wiped off the tear and looked at the beautiful sunset from the top floor of the skyscraper. This tower is deserted. No one practically comes here except him. There was a time when this terrace used to be his unofficial home, but that was before Kaori came in his life. He was a vagabond then, alone with his Colt python 0.37 and no one else in the whole world. After he met Kaori, his life changed. His views towards humanity, changed, and so did his behavior. He was alone before, not knowing whom to trust, but after meeting her, he had friends. Friends whom he could rely upon, friends who would sacrifice even themselves for him. Kaori herself was one such friend, but as time passed by, Ryo still don't understand how she fell for Kaori. Kaori was a tomboyish girl in her early twenties when he first saw her in a clinic. Dr. Hanazano's clinic, he still remembers the name. That old doc! After being knocked unconscious getting badly hurt from a fight, he was taken to the clinic by Kaori who found her bleeding on the street. Her brother Hideyuki Makimura was a police officer. Till then Ryo didn't have an identity of his own. Kaori cured him up, and as soon as he was fit enough to walk, he escaped the clinic. He still remembers the sad face of Kaori he saw through the window of the clinic after escaping. Hideyuki was the one who started this City Hunter business which Ryo joined in later as an associate of him. Its aim was to erase crime from Shinjuku. He himself was killed by a gang member of a mafia, but Kaori believed in her brother's morals. She believed that Shinjuku could be a safe place to stay, safe from the mafias and the yakuzas. He brought her here one evening when she was heart-broke hearing the news of Makimura's death. After that evening, she would often come to this terrace and see the sunset with Ryo. She said, "When I am here I feel close to my brother." After Hideyuki's death Kaori moved in with Ryo in Ryo's apartment. Oh what a day it was! Ryo had to do all the shifting, and all she would do was just order him to finish quickly as she had some more works in cue. Ryo's face lit up with a tearful smile as he remembered the days spend with his 'Sugar boy'. Yes, that's what he used to call her. He still remembers how she used to frown on hearing that name. Ryo stands up on his feet and seeing that it was dark, walks towards the lift. "Are you serious?", asked a crimson-faced Umibozu. Enraged as he was, it seemed he is gonna kill Saeko, but he got back his composure. Miki asked with a smiling face and a teary eye "Is this true? Are you telling the truth? But that means Ryo will…", her words were cut short by Umibozu, "You are right Miki san, If Ryo gets to hear this, he is dead. I know him too well. When he can do anything just for his mission, imagine to what extent he can go to, when she is involved." Saeko's eyes darkened with anguish and despair "But where is that Idiot? I need to tell him this so that we get that man who did all this. No one can nab him except Ryo" Umibozu asked in a stone-cold tone "And do you think you will return back alive after he gets to know all this? Do you think you can persuade him not to kill the man? I don't think so. When a person like Ryo can change himself to such an extent that he forgets his mokkori, you should have known that the matter is an extremely serious one. I warn you Saeko not to disclose anything to Ryo now. I will tell him in my way. He won't listen to you. Let me deal with this." Saeko knew that she had no other choice but to accept his offer, so she accepted and got up from the chair and was about to leave when she saw someone enter the café. That physique, that dress, she knew exactly who that is. That is the person she was looking for, the City Hunter Saeba Ryo, also known as Shinjuku's One-Shot-Wolf for his accuracy in shooting. But so astounding a man as Ryo was, he used to be a perfect womanizer, often hitting on girls on the street. It pained her today to see those hollow eyes, even more, when he didn't even try to look at her. He just sat on the chair that was reserved for Kaori San and ordered for Black Kilimanjaro coffee. "Oh man! She still remembers how Kaori used to hat that coffee, and as if this was not enough, he took it black! Only if Kaori was here, she would straightaway hit him with the 1000tn hammer and sent him flying out the door. Only if…", the thoughts stung Saeko herself. It was really painful to see him in such a state. Saeko decided to tell him everything, every information she had gathered so far. Let him be as rough as he wants to be, but after he hears that Kaori san is…" a smile spread across her face and she turned back to face Ryo whose head was sunk in utter sadness and despair. He looked more like a live corpse, brought to life by an exorcist. She was about to blurt it out when she saw Miki looking at her with pleading eyes. Miki waved her head frantically. Saeko understood the sign and left the café. "If Ryo would be in her former self, he would be hard to be avoided." thought Umibozu. He asked Miki to go upstairs and get to bed. Miki obeyed, knowing that her husband is gonna drink with Ryo all the night. Ryo became a nocturnal visitor after Kaori san's…." the thoughts made her sad and she couldn't help but cry seeing a man as Ryo in his present condition. She fell in the arms of Morpheus that night.