Chapter 4 – Case of Kei Amakura

" Miu, wake up…"

Miu opened her eyes. It was morning already. She was a bit disappointed because the one who woke her up isn't her mom. It was her chestnut haired friend, Yuri.

" Any news about my mom?" Miu asked.

" Sorry, but still there's no report yet from the police… "

" I see…"

" Maybe the will give us news this evening. By the way, why are you sleeping here on the sofa? Last night was a bit cold, wasn't it?" Yuri asked.

Miu nodded as she pulled her blanket. " Yeah… for some reason I couldn't use my room. I don't want to share my room with a man…"

" What do you mean?"

" Well, actually… yesterday I met a spirit of a young man on my room. His name is Kei Amakura. He lost some of his memory, but he seemed to know something about my mother and about Himuro Mansion. He wanted to help me finding my mom, but last night when I returned to my room, he was already asleep, so I decided to sleep outside…" Miu explained.

" Kei Amakura…? I think that name is quite familiar…" Yuri thought for a while.

" Maybe you know his name because he has written some books about spiritual world. Hisoka must have some of his books on her shelf."

" No…" Yuri opened his cabinet and checked her files. " Ah, it's here. About 2 weeks ago, someone gave us a file of a missing person. Hisoka didn't take the case because she couldn't trace memory of his belonging. Here is the file…"

Yuri took a file and showed it to Miu. It was a bundle of document of a missing man. He was last seen around Hikami Mountain when he was doing his research. There was also a photo of a man with short black hair wearing blue traditional Japanese clothes. Based on the file, he was 35 years old. The name is Kei Amakura.

Miu was surprised. The man on the photo looks a bit older than the spirit that she met yesterday. But the face, the hair cut, and the appearance was quite similar to the Kei Amakura that she met.

" What's wrong, Miu? Why do you stare at the photo like that?" Yuri asked.

" Ah, you're right." Miu put the photo back to the file. " Who is the client for this case?"

" Her name is Rei Kurosawa. She is a photographer on the same company…" Yuri thought for a while, " Wait a minute, when the client came, she talked for a while with your mother. I don't know what they were talking about, but 3 days ago, the client came again to give your mother some files…"

" WHAT?!" Miu jumped in surprised. The blanket fell from her knees. " Yuri, please tell me, what file did she gave to my mother?"

Yuri shook her head, " I'm sorry, but I haven't read about the document yet. But maybe the document is still on your mother's room."

" Thank you, Yuri!" Miu stood. " I will check her room now."

" Hey, Miu, I forget to tell you. Breakfast is ready, please come to the dinning room. And also… Please tell Mr. Amakura too, he maybe hungry now. I will prepare his plate, too."

" Wait… do spirit eat human's food too?"

Yuri shrugged and smiled. " Maybe… Since he is sleeping too…"

" Okay, I got it. I will tell him. By the way, Ren and Rui haven't got home, right? There's something that I want to discuss with them."

" Yes, they are. Last night, they stayed all night on the reading room. They might still sleeping right now, but I will tell you when they have woken up…"

As Miu arrived in front of her room, she couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. She admitted that she is not good when communicating with men. Miu took a deep breath before knocking at the door in front of her.

There was no answer. Miu knocked again, but still no answer.

Miu opened the door and peek the room. She could see that Kei was still lying on the bed, but there's something weird. Kei's skin was full of unfamiliar script in red, as if they were painted on his skin. Kei's face looks in pain.

" Kei…?" Miu came closer to Kei. " Are you okay…?"

Suddenly a vision came into Miu's mind.

There's a circle of priests on big hall. They wore full entire ceremonial clothing, but their face couldn't be seen because there are sheet covering their face. Prayers and songs could be heard from them, along way with the chime from their staffs.

The priests circled a man's body on the center. The man's body was full of strange script on the skin. Beside the body, there was a man wearing a scary mask. His mask is just like an angry demon's face.

" We can't use this sacrifice anymore… His spirit is already corrupted. The higan flower will bloom soon, we should find the sacrifice as soon as possible… If not… the curse will spread again… and the calamity will come again…"

Miu came back to the reality again. She felt someone was gripping her hand. It was Kei's. Kei was staring at her, and there was no strange script on his skin again.

" Hinasaki, what's wrong?" Kei asked.

" Ah… nothing…" Miu pulled her hand.

" Really? You looked a bit pale…"

Miu turned her body. " Don't worry about me…"

" Glad to hear that…" Kei tidy up the bed. " Ah, I'm sorry that I use your bed without asking. I was investigating the room, then suddenly I felt very sleepy. However, I found some interesting documents last night…" Kei took an envelope under the pillow.

" What is that?" Miu took and opened the envelope.

There were some documents of research about spiritual places. They were written beautifully with typewriter. There was also a blue covered book, filled with handwriting.

" The document related to your work…?"

" No, they are different. It's my personal stuff. They are reports of my investigations of Mafuyu's case… Even Miku said that he has died in Himuro Mansion, but I believe that he is still alive. That's why I investigate various spiritual places, hoping that I will find a clue …"

" I'm sorry to hear that…"

" My point is, this documents are never published. I wrote them for myself, not for the company. I wonder why the document reach this place…" Kei took the blue-covered book from Miu. " Not only the documents, but also my diary…"

Miu remembered about document that she had. Miu showed the document that Yuri gave to her. " Ah, about that… Maybe that file is here because of this. About 2 weeks ago, a client came here to look for a young man. And the missing young man is… you, Mr. Amakura…"

" W-What…?"

" The client's name is Rei Kurosawa. Hisoka and Yuri had tried to help, but they couldn't trace your memory. While Hisoka wanted reject the case, Rei gave the documents to mother. Maybe that is the reason why the documents end up here…"

" I have been missing… for 2 weeks…?"

" No… more than that, maybe for a month. The client stated that you didn't come to the office for 2 weeks, so that she came here to look for you…" Miu explained as she looked at the documents.

" So what is going to happen to Miku?" Kei stood and walked on circle. " I have to tell Rei to take care of her… But if I call her, how should I explain… She must be angry to me…"

" Miku…?" Miu was wondered as she heard her mother's name.

" No… not your mom…" Kei explained in panic. " It's my cat… It's a calico kitten, and it is very cute… It is still very young… "

Miu giggled.

" What's wrong?"

" You're funny… You're more concern about your cat rather than yourself…" Miu giggled again. " I'm sorry… I will call Ms. Kurosawa and tell her to take care of your cat…"

" You will do that?" Kei looked excited. He took Miu's hand. " Thank you very much!"

Miu's face turned red as she saw Kei on close distance like that. Miu pulled her hand quickly. " You're welcome. By the way, have you read your diary? Perhaps you will find some clue about what happened to you before…"

" Ah… you're right..." Kei nodded as he took the blue-covered book. Suddenly there was a loud growling voice on the room.

" I'm sorry… That's the sound of my stomach…" Kei grinned with a red face.

Miu giggled. " You're a strange spirit… It's the first time that I met a spirit that could feel sleepy and hungry. Even you're a spirit, but I felt like I'm talking to normal person…"

" I don't know what happened to me… but let's do the research after having breakfast. Skipping breakfast is not good for our health. So, how about that?" Kei asked.

" Okay…" Miu smiled. " Let's go to the dinning room. Yuri must have been waiting for us."