CHAPTER THREE

Souichi, upon his arrival at the airport had not waited for anyone to let him cross, even though there were those security guards that were running behind him, trying to stop him as he made his way to the tower. He was quick footed and breathing erratically, more from being upset than from being out of breath.

He simply had to know what was going on, and he aimed to hear what the idiots in charge of the airport towers had to say about the latest predicament that flight 103 had fallen into. 'How could they knot absolutely nothing!? Don't they have some kind of tracking device? Damn airport...' he glowered silently as those thoughts ran through his head.

Just before one of the security guards was able to catch a hold of his arm, he crashed the door open to the airport radio room at the top of the tower, startling the people inside.

The security men behind him tried to apologize to the people working inside the radio room as Souichi stomped inside without a smile, his eyes moving over everyone in the room with an angry glint in his eyes.

"Exactly what the hell is going on?"

The radio workers cast a glance at one another, then gazed back at the obviously angry individual whom had just invaded their workspace. Although the guards had caught his arms by then, he seemed to be an unmovable force, as they each shivered from fear at the aura he emitted.

One brave soul, answered his question with another. "Do you mean about the missing airplane?"

Souichi continued to glower, as he grunted, "YES!"

"We don't know that yet yourselves, but rescue helicopters have been sent to search for them, since at the time of turbulence they should have been around a specific latitude and longitude."

Despite hearing that, the angry man was not at all satisfied, "And when do you think they'll find the plane?" His voice was low, but frightening, although the person speaking to him didn't seem to be that scared, perhaps due to the security guards there to make sure nothing got out of hand.

"It may take a couple of hours. As long as the plane didn't sink, or if it did we can only hope that the survivors were able to get out and use the lifeboats."

Souichi's eyes widened for a moment at the word survivors, or the possibility that the plane had sunk and no one had gotten out. He felt a sharp painful jolt, but clenching his teeth together he tried not to think so pessimistically.

"Then, until you know, you wont mind me staying here... will you?" He said that with such a hushed tone that it again sent shivers down the workers spines, even the security guards.

Those in the radio room looked from him to the security guards. "That's not possible. People who don't work in this department, let alone people who don't work here at all are not supposed to be in this room."

Souichi was about to take a step forward and raise his fist, but the security guards stopped him from doing so.

"You can however wait in the waiting area, we'll send a security guard to tell you whats going on... if you need to know whats going on that badly."

Although Souichi was shaking with rage, he whirled around, out of the security guards grip, "Fine! You had better hope however that that plane is found and there are no casualties..." although his main concern was for Morinaga, he was not so cold hearted that he'd wish for others to have died in a crash.

Walking to the area where he'd been directed, he took a seat and noticed the colorless faces of others who were waiting. He didn't think everyone was waiting for their plane to arrive, because some of them seemed quite shaken. Perhaps they were friends and family members of the other passengers whom had been on the same flight as Morinaga.

'Idiot, you'd better be okay.' He tried not to let the fear of the worst get to him, especially not in front of a bunch of other people, even though his eyes were beginning to water. However he did not allow the tears to slip from him, if they did start, he could however use one of the washrooms available.

The waiting however was torturous and one minute seemed like an entire hour and an hour seemed like a lifetime.

Overhead the Captain and the passengers whom had made it safely away from the scene of the crash heard a whirring sound. Lights reflected off the ocean surface as the evening had grown long, no one speaking other than to perhaps calm the young children who remained confused and frightened. There too were a few women and even a man or two who remained quite shaken, in a state of shock, but luckily there were those who tried to keep them calm. It didn't seem as though they would be in need of a sedative and for that the Captain was relieved otherwise it could have complicated matters still further.

Looking up, they saw what had caused the whirring sound and the bright blinding lights. A couple helicopters had spotted them, but neither were large enough to carry everyone to land. The people determined that the pilots of the helicopters, once having found them would send for a rescue boat, however many were needed.

Several hours later, their assumptions were correct as a large rescue boat appeared for them. There were warm blankets and hot cocoa to warm them, even a doctor or two to help those whom had been in to much a state of shock to really realize what was going on and to help anyone else who seemed to notice it.

Once things had calmed down a bit, as they were on there way back to the closest land, the Captain and his crew were asked if everyone was accounted for.

The stewardesses eyes met one each others with a frown, worrying their bottom lip between their teeth even as the Captain spoke.

"No, not everyone is accounted for. We are missing one passenger, who apparently died on impact of the crash."

Mai and her fellow stewardess confirmed this, "Yes, the man was white as a ghost and there was a pool of blood flowing from one side of his head. Then before the Captain could do anything, the plane began to sink." They failed to mention how they had kept the captain from trying to endanger his own life by returning for what was believed to be a corpse.

Their conversation had been caught on tape, recorded live as it was played across news channels, including a television which had been turned to the news where sat the people waiting to hear about flight 103 and its passengers. They could only wonder at that moment which passenger it was whom had been left to go down with the plane.

Only a few moments later, was the name of the passenger revealed as someone had gone around to collect the information on those who had escaped from the crash with nothing more than a few scrapes and bruises.

"The missing passenger, presumed dead on impact appears to be one Morinaga Tetsuhiro."

The was only one pale face which remained in the waiting area where others had gathered as they awaited the news about the passengers of flight 103.