Nishijima looked San up and down. "Got yourself shot again?"
"Screw off." San wasn't in the mood for joking. "I'll be fine." She winced as the nurse continued stitching up the wound on her shoulder. "How is everyone else?"
Nishijima sighed uncomfortably. "Kisuragi and Normandy are unhurt. Nakajima will live. Shinozaki wasn't so lucky. I'm sorry, San."
Shaking her head, San stopped to take a breath. At least it wasn't for nothing. "I saved three…"
Nishijima sat down beside her. "What happened, San?"
"Akazawa…" The name was already starting to sound like it didn't belong here. "Nishijima, remember Akazawa was the extra. Always remember that for me."
He blinked, not sure what was being asked of him. "Uh… sure. Aka… zawa?" San nodded. He mulled it over in his head. "Akazawa was the extra. And you want me to remember this for… how long?"
"As long as it takes for me to never forget." The nurse patted her on the shoulder and got up to leave. San looked to Nishijima. "So… now it's back to the investigation, right? Still haven't figured out who done it."
Nishijima shook his head. "Ah, you're determined. Well, all I can say is that I can't help you anymore."
She looked up at him in shock. "You're backing out? Why would you…?"
He held up his hand. "Well, you see, my wife's work is taking her out of the country, and I wanted to go along with her." San pouted. "Now, don't give me that look. I put in a call and the chief is going to do you a favor. You got a brand new shiny partner to help you out. She should be here tomorrow."
San groaned. "Great. Girl cops are so unreasonable."
He coughed, the surprise catching in his throat. "That's an interesting viewpoint, coming from you."
"I think out of everyone, I would know." She stood up. "So where exactly are you going?"
He stood up as well. "New York. I-"
"Bullshit! I always wanted to go to New York, and you're the one who gets to go?"
Laughing, Nishijima shrugged. "Finish up here and you can come join us." He looked at his watch and stopped laughing. "Uh… I need to go. Good luck, San."
He held out his hand, and she shook it. "You too, and have fun in New York, you lucky piece of…" She dropped it there. The handshake ended. "Well… you know. Have fun. Say hello to Minene for me."
He nodded. "I will. See you later, then."
San watched him get in a car and drive away, leaving the previous owner of the car standing there and looking bewildered. It would have been funny, except San wasn't too big on who that other person was. The girl, only a year or two younger than San herself, jogged over to her.
"Detective Natsuko Ooshima. Do you mind bringing me up to speed on the investigation?"
San shook her head. "Give me a break..."
Natsuko shook her head. "Eh... I'm sorry, did I get here at a bad time?"
San sighed. "No, it's fine. You just stay here a moment. I need to go check on those kids."
Leaving her shiny new partner behind, San walked over to where Luke and Junko were waiting. The two teens were still shaken, but seemed to be recovering. She knelt down in front of them, looking up at their faces to see how they were doing. Surprisingly, Luke stayed silent while Junko spoke.
"T-thank you for s-saving us."
Sadly, San looked down at the ground. "I didn't save everyone…"
Junko shook her head. "Michuru was our friend, but… what happened to her wasn't your fault. It was her own fault, and Akazawa's fault. You tried to protect her. You did your best."
San took a moment, taking in a few deep breaths. She looked up to Junko. "Are you going to be alright?"
The pink-haired girl nodded slowly. "This class has already put me through a lot, but yes. I think with time and practice, I might even be able to forget about it all."
San gave a short laugh. "You'd be really lucky…" She looked over to Luke. "How about you? You okay?"
The boy just sat there, silent. His long hair fell over his face, covering his eyes from view.
"Hey, Normandy." He finally looked up at San. She offered a small smile. "Thanks for the save back there. Who knew cutting CDs into saw blades would save the day?"
He just sighed, looking away. "I'm going home."
San nodded. "Alright. It's probably better if you both go home now, actually."
Luke stood up. "I mean… I'm leaving Japan."
Junko gasped. "What? Why?"
The boy shook his head. "My father doesn't want me around this place anymore. He wants me out."
Junko teared up, but she didn't try to stop him when he started walking away. She quickly buried her face in San's chest, crying her eyes out. San sighed, putting her arms around the girl. This wasn't ideal at all, but she had nothing else she needed to be doing at that precise moment. This girl was hurting, and she was looking for comfort.
San patted her on the back. "You'll be okay, kid." Luke hadn't even said goodbye. Just said he was leaving, and then left. "You're not alone, Junko." She called over to her shiny new partner. "Ooshima!"
Natsuko jogged over. "Yes? What do you need?"
San handed Junko over to her. "Make sure she gets home, and take care of her. I need to finish up here."
As the two walked away, San stepped back from it all. The Yomiyama department was taking care of cleaning up the mess. They had only recovered one body, that of Michuru Shinozaki. They'd brought out Sachiko Nakajima first, as she was still alive and needed immediate medical attention. Akazawa, on the other hand, had been left in there. San didn't need to go ask why. They wouldn't know what she was talking about. Only one person died in there.
Her phone rang. Flicking it open, she answered. "San Watanabe. Who's speaking?"
"San! It's Mei Misaki! I know where the person who killed Reiko Mikami is hiding!"
"Wha- Misaki? What are you talking about? What happened to you? Your house was destroyed and you went missing!"
Mei's voice came back urgently. "It was Kazue Satou. She's the one who took me. She set my house on fire and kidnapped me, and now I'm stuck in this place with no way out. San, something crazy is going on here!"
San took a deep breath. "Okay, hold up. What's going on? Tell me everything you know."
Mei took a breath on the other end of the line. "I'm in a phone booth on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. I managed to get away, but they're going to catch me. She is coming for me."
"Listen, I need you to calm down. If you tell me where you are and who has you, I can come and get you." With any luck, Mei would start making sense any time now.
No such luck. "This place is haunted. I... I never thought I'd see somewhere so close to the land of the dead. This is it. There are spirits wandering the streets in this valley. Thousands of them! And then there's her... San, something horrible is happening here, and it's connected to us."
That last bit clicked with San. "What do you mean? Something connected to the curse of class three?"
"I think so. Places like this town and that class, they are half in the land of the dead, and so both the living and the dead are free to wander here. These spirits are restless, though. There are people here, doing things the spirits don't like. Desecrating their resting place. Kazue Satou is working with them."
None of this sounded good, but how believable it was was dubious at best. "Alright, well, tell me where you are so I can come and get you. I can deal with Kazue."
"She's not the only one. They have a whole organization working in secret facilities under the town. They have a virtual army. But then there's another woman in charge of the army. She's a scientist, and she's totally insane. She experiments on all the people they abduct. I think she was going to do the same to me... The ghosts shouldn't give us any trouble, as long as you're here to help them. But the shrine maiden might not like more people coming. I don't know about her. There's something else here too... I don't know what it is, but it's not Human. ...It's following me."
San surprised some of the people around her by shouting into the phone. "Damn it, Misaki! Where are you?"
"They're coming. They found me. San, come and get me out of here. There's someone else... the killer you're looking for. Reiko Mikami's murderer is here. I have to go. I don't know where I am. Find me, San. You know how." She hung up.
San stared at her phone in disbelief. "What the hell? She... she didn't even tell me where she was!" In a sudden bout of frustration, she almost threw the phone away, but stopped when the thought struck her. "I know how. I can trace the call."
Putting the phone in her pocket, she headed back into the school building. It took her only a minute to find the school records and track down Junko's home address, and then she was off. It took only about half an hour to reach the place, a small house along Akatsukicho. She remembered a boy she had a crush on once lived on the street, so it was easy to remember where the street was.
Marching up to the door, past Natsuko's car, she knocked twice. Natsuko answered. "Ah, Detective Watanabe. I was about to call you."
San skirted around her, then turned and held up her phone. "I got a call that I need traced. Can you do it?"
Natsuko took the phone. "Well, there's caller identification..."
San shook her head. "I need to know where it is."
"That... could be harder." Natsuko smiled. "A couple minutes."
San patted her shoulder. "Good. I'm going to check on Junko. Let me know when you're done." Natsuko nodded and headed back out to her car. San found Junko in the next room, sitting on a couch with her head in her hands. She had long since stopped crying, now just wallowing in her misery. San sat down beside her.
Slowly, Junko looked up at her. "It... it's not like I don't have other friends. I have better friends. ...I'll get over it."
San shrugged. "Maybe you will, maybe you won't. He's still alive. You're still alive. Maybe you'll meet again some day." She nudged the girl with her shoulder. "If you want, I can be your friend."
Junko blinked at her in surprise. "What... do you mean?"
San leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. "...A friend of mine is in trouble. I need to go help her, but once I'm done I'll come back here. I don't know exactly what I could do around here, but I could... you know... be there for you. Like, if you need someone to talk to, or anything like that."
Junko smiled a bit. "I'd like that." They were silent for a minute or two, until Junko let out a long sigh. "I think I'll be alright."
Putting her hand on the top of the girl's head, San stood up and patted her. "You'll make it through. I have to go now."
She left before Junko could say anything more, heading out to Natsuko's car. She opened the passenger door and got in, then looked to the woman in the driver's seat. Natsuko held out the San's phone, offering it back.
San took the phone and pocketed it. "Where are we going?"
Natsuko eyed her shoulder. "We should be going to the hospital. They patched you up, but you still got shot. You shouldn't be rushing into a fight like this."
Their eyes locked on each other. "What makes you think there will be a fight?"
Natsuko sighed. "The last call this phone received came from a lone payphone outside a quarantined village in the Gifu prefecture. It's a ghost town, called Hinamizawa."
Author's note: Nothing is as simple as it initially looks. I hope you enjoyed the ride so far, and I hope you're ready for the ride ahead. This is where it gets wild.
