Over and Out
They got on the bus and rode all the way down to Tatsuhiro. Okinawa was only a short while away so Seiji wondered why they couldn't stop there. They got off the bus and began to walk down the road to Okinawa when they notice police lights. As they make it down the hill, an officer informs them that a car crashed into the side of the slope and caused a mudslide. Seiji asked if they knew who the driver was. The officer said it was a woman named Avalon Maharishi. He said when they got her body out they found her license and a key. The paramedics noticed a very calm expression on her face. As Seiji began to cry, his friends showed affection while Kazu explained the relationship. The police officer escorted them to a nearby hotel. They were pretty relaxed in the dining room until they hear a scream. A large man with a beard comes out with blood on his body and a woman in his arms. He accidentally runs into Seiji, getting blood all over him. The man explains how he found her but it seemed too weird. As Seiji complained over the amount of blood, a woman with Crimson red hair waltzes in with a smirk, declaring that she will solve this crime. The girl had long hair that she used a very fancy rose bow to tie up. She had a short dress with different shades of blue-green and opals. She also wore skin-toned stockings that awarded her with flawless skin.
"Hello, I'm Lorelei Peters. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance." said Lorelei.
The crowd of people stared at her in the amazement that she can be smiling right now. Who would have thought that a girl, no older than 12, finds an amusement in crime scene investigation. A few people helped the man get the body out of the dining room as Lorelei began to question everyone. Seiji waits unnervingly until she taps him on the shoulder to break the silence.
"Er-Erm! It's your turn! Tell me, where you the past 8 hours?" says Lorelei.
"Uhh…I was in Tonka, trying to get here." said Seiji.
"Prove it. You have no proof that says you weren't here killing this girl with your little friends."
"What! That's absurd!"
"Oh is it? Neither you or your friends could give me a solid alibi. You and your little "posse" are at the top of my suspect list."
Erika finished "interrogating" everyone and speaking to the doctor when she made an announcement.
"Everyone, I have reached a conclusion!" said Lorelei.
Tension rose in the room as everyone shifted their bodies for the worst. Lorelei stood up on the table and rose to her feet with the most astounding paramount. She slowly glanced and smirked over every single face in the room. When she looked at the officers, who were ready to take anyone away, they shuddered. Seiji was especially scared because of the way she interrogated them. She even said herself that they were on top of her list. Was it possible that she could change her mind? Seiji tensed up as his friends gathered around him and joined in hands. The tension was so powerful that everyone was at the mercy of Lorelei's truth. She slowly raised her right hand and formed a point. Her face slowly turned toward Seiji's eyes and she whispered, "Checkmate."
Seiji becomes frozen in place when he sees Lorelei whisper, "Checkmate". He squeezes his friends' hands tighter because he knows the obvious truth. He knows that Lorelei wields their fate over their heads like a cat reaching for a toy. She tantalizingly waits and stares, watching the morose emotions befall their faces. Seiji and his friends are being silently tortured with Lorelei's outstanding evidence. As Seiji watched Lorelei chuckle and giggle under her breath, he sees that she is beginning to remind him of Sono, the evil witch he thought he escaped by coming here. "Could Sono have put this girl up to this?" Seiji thought. No way, she can't possibly be that devious. All of his thoughts were broken when Erika pointed in their direction. Every head turned and looked when she began to speak.
"Seiji Maharishi, Fumi Hiroshima, Kumiko Fuo, and Kazu Nakasaka, you are under arrest for the charge of killing that woman." said Lorelei.
The officers slowly walked toward them and began to handcuff them in order of seat. As the officer asked the names of each of them, Seiji got a thought. Name. Name. How could she have known our names without asking us.
"Wait! We are innocent!" screams Seiji
"Wha-? Don't listen to that fool, take him away!" said Lorelei.
"What is my name!? You read out 4 names but can you pinpoint who the names belong to? I bet not! I didn't hear you ask anyone else their names! Did this girl ask any one of you, your names?!"
The crowd began to shake their heads no when the police officer began to get wind of what Seiji meant. They unhand cuffed them and began to proceed to Lorelei. "Nice job Seiji!" whispered Kumiko. "Shh! Don't say anyone name! Dammit Ku-" said Kazu. He stopped mid-sentence.
"Wait! Wait!" yells Lorelei. She points at Seiji, "Your name is Seiji! The girl next to you is Kumiko! The guy behind you is Kazu, and the girl on his left is Fumi! See!? I know who is who! Arrest them!" said Lorelei.
Because Lorelei heard Kumiko call Seiji by his name and Kazu by his name, she knew who the first two were. No person would name their daughter Kazu, or their son Fumi so she deduced from there. The officers made their way to them and handcuffed them once more. The girls began to cry while Kazu and Seiji lowered their heads in shame. They were escorted to the police car and were ridden down to the jail house. They had the ability to call one person that they wanted to and needed to call the right person. They decided that Seiji would use their call. Seiji picked up the phone and dialed the Hiroshima residence. No one answered so he tried calling the village, no one answered the phone saying, "Hello, Sono Kazumi speaking?"
When Seiji hears Sono's voice on the other side of the line, he froze. He wrapped his hand around the lower half of the phone so Sono couldn't hear, and asked for Kazu. Kazu comes over and Seiji explains that Sono picked up the phone. Kazu stands there for a moment while Seiji listens to Sono say "Hello? Hello?" Kazu picks up the phone and begins to talk to her.
"Sono? It's Kazu...Yeah...I need you to put your father on the phone...Why not!?...C'mon!...This is really important Sono and if you do not comply...What do you mean what business do I have with your father!? He's the village chief...Sono! S-Sono?" says Kazu.
Kazu calls out to Sono, who stops responding. His friends watch as Kazu's expression changes through a range of emotions. Angry, defeated, hopeful, then defeated again. Kazu slowly walked back to the cell when his friends gaze at him with puzzled expressions. "W-What happened? Did you get to talk to the village chief," asked Kumiko.
"No, well, yeah. I talked to him and he said that we are here on our own," said Kazu.
"What!? How are we supposed to get out!? Did you tell him that we were just accused of murder!?"
"Of course I did! C'mon, give me some credit. I tried my best to reason with him."
"This is your entire fault Seiji," said Fumi.
"What? Mine," said Seiji. "How is it mine?"
"It was your idea to come out here. You're the one who that bumped into that bloody guy. If it weren't for you, we'd all be home right now, sipping tea. I hate you, Seiji Maharishi."
"Now is no time to be getting angry at each other. We need to stay together and work out our problems," said Kumiko.
"And since when did you become so 'high and mighty'? You're always complaining about something. You should be the last one talking," said Kazu.
"Stop it guys," says Seiji. "We need to figure a way out…Kumiko. Do you think you can pick this lock? Don't think that I'm expecting you to."
"Well," starts Kumiko. "I think so. Let me use my hair pick."
For about 5 minutes, Kumiko tries to unhook the lock and escape, to no avail.
"I don't think I can get it." says Kumiko.
"Try harder!" says Fumi.
Kumiko continues to try to open the lock. When she finally unhitches the lock, the group runs for the door. Seiji strategically takes the keys that were luckily placed on a nearby desk.
"No! The door won't open!" yells Fumi. "Damn it! What are we gonna do!?"
"Don't worry," says Seiji. "I've got the keys. Open the door."
Kumiko takes the keys to unlock the door, but after a while she complains that it just will not open.
"Uh oh, look guys." says Kazu.
The group turns to see a security lock on the side of the door. They need that to make the door open. Kazu and Seiji bang at the door constantly but nothing seems to happen.
Fumi begins to play with the security lock in very peculiar way. She takes Kumiko's hair pin and slides it under the lock. It falls off almost immediately and the door unlocks.
The kids dashed out of the door into the courtyard until the security lights began to flash and the sirens blared. They ran as fast as they could towards the gate, which they all quickly scaled in a matter of seconds. As they ran through a lush part of the forest, Seiji notices a cave not far behind.
"This way!" yells Seiji as he motions to the cave's outskirts.
They continue to run as they noticed flashlights after them. This event nostalgically reminded them of when they were being chased in the forest. Kazu hoped that this time, no one would fall. That was ironic to what happened next.
They reached the cave and they all got in except for Kumiko. She fell in a different way. Fumi runs up to a limp Kumiko, lying on the ground and twitching. Fumi screams when she notices the bullet lodged in Kumiko's back. The boys pulled Fumi back, afraid of their location in the cave being found.
They hear what sounds like talking mixed in with the steady drip of water on the cave walls. The temperature in the cave seemed to be constantly dropping. Hypothermia would soon set in. The kids huddled together to try to save what warmth was left in their body.
Seiji hears a voice asking him questions. 'Do you want to be saved?' 'Do you want to go home?' 'You have no home, right?' 'I could be your home, right?' 'Wish for it! I will take you home!' said the voice.
Seiji shook his head in compliance with the voice. He wondered if he was the only one who could hear it, but the cold was so bone-chilling that he could no longer process thoughts at all. He began to shudder extremely hard as he thought he was going to die.