-Day Three-

The next day, I called Matsuda back after he got home from work; first I apologized for hanging up on him and for yelling, admitting to overreacting a little. When he'd accepted that I went on to ask how the arrest of Atashi Rei had gone.

According to Matsuda the arrest had gone smoothly, but the interrogation hadn't. They'd used every trick they knew to find out whether or not the forged IDs had been Rei's handy work, but the man had denied it vehemently, and after he'd called his lawyer, they'd been forced to let him go.

Matsuda said that he didn't think Rei had been a dead end-even though he wouldn't tell me why he felt that way-and that he was frustrated with Aizawa for giving up so easily.

In the meantime, Miyami looked like he was going to be a dead end too. All he did was go to work every day at some big corporation, and then home to his wife and kids every night. The police were running out of leads, and Matsuda said they weren't getting anywhere with recovering whatever information the cop who'd died in the fire had found. I could hear the despair in his voice, and when I made the mistake of asking a second time what would happen in four days he got upset and said he had to leave.

Well, I didn't know what would happen in four days, but I knew it was bad at least-Matsuda's reaction had told me that much-so I decided I might need to take matters into my own hands once again.

I found Atashi Rei's phone number online-it was unlisted in the phonebook-and called him.

A straight-laced old man answered. "Rei Residence. How may I be of service?"

I told him that I was the daughter of a friend of Atashi-san's and that I would like to meet with him and discuss certain…papers. It was sort of a long-shot, but if Rei was really a forger, as Matsuda was sure he was, then maybe he'd believe I wanted to hire him and I'd be able to infiltrate his business.

It took a bit of doing, but I managed to convince the butler to let me talk to Mr. Rei himself; at first, Rei didn't want to listen to anything I had to say, and he kept denying that he was a forger. At last I had to admit that I was Yagami Soichiro's daughter and that seemed to get his attention.

We scheduled to have lunch the very next day—he wanted to have it later in the week, but I remembered that Matsuda and the others were running out of time, so I pushed until he agreed on noon the following day. I was particularly startled when he named the Shinjuku Prince Hotel as the place we'd be meeting, but I didn't show it.

I told him what I'd be wearing, and then we hung up.

So far so good.

-Day Four-

Around eleven, I got dressed up sort of nice and made sure to put Light's tape recorder in my pocket, then I told my mom I was going to my afternoon class, hired a cab and went to the Shinjuku Prince hotel. I met Rei in the lobby and we walked into a hotel restaurant to eat.

"Well, well, Miss Yagami." he grinned at me as we sat down. Something about his mouth reminded me of a piranha's, "You're a very beautiful young lady. Soichiro must be proud."

Instead of telling him my father was dead, I said, "Yes, thank-you."

"Shall we order first, or would you like to get straight to business?"

"I apologize, Rei-san, but I don't think I'll be ordering at all. I'd like to get right down to business."

"Are you sure? You realize this is my treat, don't you?"

"Yes. Thank-you for your generosity-"

"My dear, I'm a generous man." He grinned again, like he was going to eat me.

"I'm sure you are. It's just that I ate before I left. I'd really just like to discuss business."

"Very well then. I hope you don't mind if I order."

I tried to smile cheerfully, "Not at all."

So he waved the waiter over, somewhat rudely, and while he was busy ordering a disgustingly large portion of rich food, I made sure my tape recorder was on. Good thing the atmosphere is quiet. Matsu and the others have to be able to understand what we're saying.

"Miss Yagami, can I order a drink for you?"

To be polite I agreed to lemonade, and then, once the waiter was gone, Rei leaned forward, "Now then, on to business. You say your father is Soichiro Yagami?"

"That's right."

"A good man, Soichiro. How is he?"

"Well." I lied.

"I'm happy to hear that. Now how can I be of assistance to his lovely daughter?"

Thinking about my father made me feel sort of sick, but I kept right on smiling, leaned forward as well to whisper, "I've heard that you're in the business of forging papers."

"Papers? Oh, yes of course. I can forge any legal paper you like—birth certificates, passports, you name it. I can forge it. Is there perhaps a young man? I can whip up a marriage if that's it."

Obviously he was trying to figure out what a girl my age would want with a forger. It hadn't been exactly what I'd had in mind, but it was better than anything I could come up with, so I agreed, "That's exactly right! Wow, you're incredible—you must be really good at your job."

"My dear, I've been doing this a very long time. I forged my first paper for a government official when I was younger than you are."

Wow. This guy is really, really stupid. Is he going to implicate himself in every way possible right now?

"Now then, my dear. Tell me more about these papers you want."

"Oh, of course. You see, I have sort of a…Romeo and Juliet situation."

"Ah, I see. You and your young man aren't allowed to be together."

"Well, not me. My brother."

"Your brother?"

"That's right. He and his girlfriend really, really want to get married, but our parents are being so totally stuck up about it. My brother decided to elope to America with his fiancée, but he was afraid that they might need fake papers, since Dad is the Deputy Director of the NPA and could find them pretty easily."

"Yes. That all makes sense. I see. Then you'll need passports, a wedding liscence and IDs?"

"That's right. You can manage the IDs," I feigned a worried look, "can't you?"

"Naturally, naturally. In fact, my dear Miss Yagami, fake ID work happens to be my specialty."
There. I got him to admit that. If I can just get proof that he's a forger at least the police will have some grounds to base his arrest on, and then they can work on getting him to talk.

"Is that so? How interesting." I giggled, trying to seem as stupid as possible.

"As a matter of fact, I made some very good IDs just the other week."

Just keep talking, blabbermouth. "Really? For what?"

He started to speak, but then frowned, "I'm afraid, Miss Yagami, that I can't share that information. It's to protect the identity of my client. I'm sure you understand."

"Of course I do." I smiled hugely.

"Anyway, I'm sure your papers are much more important." His eyes drifted up and down my figure a moment and lingered on my chest. I realized for the first time that he could see right down my shirt when I was leaning over.

I sat up straight, disgusted. Was it possible he was acting so stupid because he was attracted to me? What a pervy old man.

He smiled, "Forgive me. A man can't help but admire a beautiful woman."

Keep it together, Sayu. You don't want to lose this opportunity. I smiled back, as widely as I could, "I guess I have to accept your compliment, don't I? Well, if it's all the same to you, I'd like to keep our relationship strictly to business."

"That's fine. I'm sure there's some lucky man in your life already anyway."

"No, not at the moment." I kept of the smile and tossed my head so my earrings danced, "but I want to help my brother before I start looking for anyone one for myself."

"That's very noble of you."
"Thank-you."

"In any case, because you're asking me to forge IDs, I hope you brought pictures of both of them."

I nodded. "Yep!" Then I took out the wallet-size photos of Light and Misa, even though I felt horribly guilty for using them. Light, Misa…I'm sorry. It's for the case… "Here they are."

"A handsome couple to be sure. Hm… Raito…" he stared at Misa's picture a little longer, "Misa Amane? But…I heard that she was found dead just a few days ago."

Even though the horrible image of Misa dead on Light's old bed suddenly flashed in my memory, I winked at him, "All part of the plan."

He appeared confused a moment, and then he grinned, "Oh! You were being literal about Romeo and Juliet then, were you? How amusing. Well, I think I'll be able to get a great deal accomplished with these photographs. May I keep them?"

"Yeah." I shrugged in an attempt to hide how much I didn't want to let the pictures go. "I have other copies."

"Thank-you." He tucked both pictures into his pocket, then looked at me, eyes sparkling, "Well, if that's the only request you have, I'd like to discuss payment now."

"Payment. Right."

Right then, the waiter brought our drinks, and we had to wait a minute until he was gone.

"I'm willing to pay whatever's necessary." I said around my straw.

"Yes, well, as much as I like money, that's not what I'm looking for in your case."

A chill sped up my spine, "Then what-"

"Oh, don't worry, it's nothing scandalous-I wouldn't dare hurt Soichiro's daughter-but, uh, since you are the daughter of the Deputy Director, I was hoping I could get you assistance in some police matters."

"What kind of matters?" I couldn't believe this guy really didn't know that my father was dead. He obviously didn't pay much attention to the news. But he seemed up to date with pop culture, seeing how he'd heard about Misa's suicide.

"It's a bit embarrassing, but it seems that my business has been discovered. The police arrested me recently, but they didn't have enough evidence to incarcerate me. However, I fear that if I'm not careful they'll find out sooner or later, and then I really will be thrown in jail. When I found out that you're the deputy director's daughter, I hoped you'd be willing to help me."

Before I could speak, he added, "Understand that if my business is shut down by the police I won't be able to help your brother."

"In that case, I'd be happy to help if I can. But…what can I do?"

"Use your influence over the police to keep them from investigating me further. Now, I know it sounds like a difficult task, but I'm sure that you'll think of something when you put your mind to it. Just try to direct their attention away from me. At the absolute least, you could simply inform me if and when they ever plan to attempt another arrest so that I can be prepared."

He passed a business card to me, and I looked at it speechlessly. I'd be stupid to act too eager, so I hesitated, "Well, I don't know. I could get in trouble, couldn't I?"

"You're the deputy director's daughter," he sniffed, "I'm sure you'll be fine. Besides, keep in mind that I'm not asking for any money from you. That will be your payment in full."

I picked up the card, "Well, I suppose…"

Rei smiled, then added, "There is one other thing."

I looked up to see a dark, sly look on his face.

"Have you heard of a police officer named Matsuda Touta?"

I barely kept myself from gasping out loud. Matsuda?

"N-no…I don't believe so. Why?"

"Ah, just curious. I heard that he's in charge of the investigation of my business. I thought maybe if you knew him you'd have a better chance of keeping the NPA off of my trail."

"I've never heard of him."

"Hmm." That seemed to bother him, and he interlaced his fingers in front of his face, eyebrows sinking, "Interesting. What about Matsui Taro?"

I thought honestly for a moment, but I didn't know any police who went by that name. "Nope. Not him either."

"He owes me money." Rei explained darkly, and for those few minutes that we sat there, the look on his face really scared me.

We made arrangements to meet later in the week for me to pick up the forged documents; I tried really hard to get him to meet me on Tuesday or Wednesday, but he insisted that it would have to be Thursday if I wanted the papers to be done by then. I figured there was nothing I could do about it. I'd done my best, and now the rest was up to the police.

So I finished my lemonade and left.

All the way home I thought about some of the things Rei had said, and I couldn't quite get the creepy look on his face when he'd asked about Matsuda out of my head. I knew that Matsuda wasn't in charge of investigating Rei-Aizawa was-so was it a misunderstanding and he'd heard wrong, or was he after Matsuda for some other reason?

I didn't even want to think about that creep being interested in Matsuda for any reason. Still, I knew I just had to get the tape to Matsu, and that was that. He could figure it out from there.

I smiled to myself—we were one step closer to figuring all of this out. Maybe it wouldn't get done in four days, but at least it would be over soon.

Matsuda

-Day six-

As I listened to the tape, I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and I was sure that the look of disbelief on my face was growing and growing.

When it was finally over, I looked at Sayu, "Are you crazy?"

We were in my apartment living room on Wednesday evening. I'd been busy all week investigating things with Aizawa and the others—we'd run all over the city, looking for clues about Nishi Yamaguchi, since whatever Izanagi Chiba had known had died with him. The only thing we'd been able to figure out was that he'd been a bartender somewhere in Kabuchiko. That wasn't helpful at all.

Anyway, whether our search had been fruitful or not, I hadn't been able to meet with Sayu at all until today. I'd come home and checked my messages-which I'd neglected to do yesterday-only to find that she'd called half a dozen times, demanding that I reply and saying that it was urgent. I'd called back and she'd come over, bringing her tape with her. The contents of the tape were shocking.

Sayu frowned, "What do you mean? I risked a lot to get this evidence."

"Exactly—that's what I'm saying. You never should have done that!"

"All right, I know that you didn't want me to get involved anymore, but you said yourself that you weren't getting anywhere with Rei just because you didn't have any evidence to implicate him—and now you do. You can arrest him, toast him, figure out whatever you need to figure out, and solve the case."

"But Sayu, don't you get it? How can I do that?"

"Just take it to the station."

"Right, and where am I supposed to tell them I got the tape from? It's obviously you on there—you're going to get in so much trouble if I take this in!"

"It'll be worth it if you catch this guy."

"Maybe—if he has anything to do with our murderer it might be worth it to someone. But he might not have anything to do with the case."

"He admitted to making IDs last week; I think that's a pretty good indication that he's involved."
"Either way, it means jail-time for you. Don't you care?"

"If it means catching Kira or whoever else is behind this then it's worth it to me." She said solemnly.

"But it's not worth it to me." I snapped. I felt tired from working so hard, and even though it wasn't like
me to snap at people I couldn't help it. I grabbed her shoulders, "Sayu, I know that Kira is dead. You're putting way too much on the line for nothing. You can't help Light now, it's too late."

She glared at me, probably not appreciating that last comment, but then she said stiffly, "You don't have to take the tape in if you don't want to, but I think its way too much good information to let it all go to waste."

I looked down at the tape. It was a lot of really good information, and I did feel reluctant to dump it just because Sayu would get in trouble for interfering with the case. Would Aizawa and the others understand? Maybe they could keep her from being put away. Then again, it wasn't exactly up to them. Even if my friends didn't want to get Sayu in trouble we might not be able to protect her.

"Here's what we'll do," I said at last, "I'll go with you tomorrow night and hide nearby and watch you guys make the exchange. I'll even take some pictures. Make sure you disguise yourself a little so you won't be recognized in the photographs. If I take that information in to the police station it should be enough to get Atashi Rei arrested. Then, later, I'll talk to Aizawa about this tape—maybe if I just tell him about it for now we can get a confession from Rei about the other IDs without getting you in trouble."

She smiled at me, but she also looked a little startled, "Wow, Matsu, you thought that all up by yourself. I'm impressed."

I laughed slightly, "I…can think of smart things from time to time."

"What about that other stuff on the tape?"

"What other stuff?"

"Rei asked me about you. He said that you're supposedly in charge of this investigation, but I know that you're not—could he be looking for you for some other reason?"

I thought a moment, and then nodded, "My ID."

"What about it?" She made a worried face.

"When Aizawa and I were first investigating Rei, we…snooped around his house a little. I think I must have dropped my wallet in his yard or something, 'cause I looked all over for it after that day, and I can't find it. I had to get a new ID and license and cancel my credit card and everything. He must have found it and asked to make sure I was really a police officer or something." To her horrified look I added, "Don't worry about it. The worst he could do would be try to sue me for trespassing or something, but he hasn't done that yet, so he must be laying low."

I didn't tell her that I had also lost my fake ID of Matsui Taro along with the real one. The real problem was that if Rei was involved with whoever was behind these killings, and they had put that fake ID on the fake NPA officer who'd been killed at the hotel, then they now knew exactly who I was. I had no idea what they would do to me if that were the case, but assuming the Matsui Taro ID found at the hotel was more than just a coincidence I could be in a lot of trouble.

Sayu seemed dissatisfied. "That's it? That's all you're going to say?"

"Huh? What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know…that's just not very comforting."

I sighed, "Nothing's going to happen to me, Sayu, I promise. So he found my ID—who cares? If you think I should stay out of this because he might try to kill me or something, I'm sorry, but we don't have time to worry about that. We have to pick this guy up as soon as possible and hope that he tells us everything we need to know. We're already going to be too late, but at least if we hurry we might be able to figure this all out before anything too terrible happens."

"And you still won't tell me what's going to happen on Friday?"

"I can't…I don't really know. It's just…it won't be good. That's all I know. Honest."

"Fine. We'll do it your way then. You tag along tomorrow night and collect more evidence. But on Friday I expect a full explanation."

"You'll get one. I promise."

After a second, she grabbed my face between her hands and stared up into my eyes a while, then she leaned up and kissed me briefly on the lips, not even long enough for me to kiss her back, but it was intoxicating.

"I'd better get home."
"Already? You just got here."
Pulling her purse up onto her shoulder, she smiled back at me, "What, you want me to stay the night?"

"What? Oh. No, no, that's not what I meant. I mean, not that I don't want you to…I mean, I wouldn't mind. But only if you wanted to. I just meant…you could stick around a while if you want. We could talk or watch a movie, or just-"

Sayu placed one finger on my lips, "Matsuda, you're sweet." She kissed me again, only longer this time, and I felt the tip of her tongue teasing inside my mouth. I kissed her back, running my hands up her back. Then she released me, all too soon, "But I promised my mother I'd be home early tonight."

"I-I could give you a ride." I suggested.

She giggled, "Maybe another time."

I grinned slowly when I got the insinuation. I guess I just didn't expect something like that from her, maybe because I still thought of her as sweet, innocent, little Sayu Yagami.

Patting my cheek, she turned to go, "I like taking the train. So, I'll see you tomorrow night then, huh?"

"Yeah…okay…see you then…"

Sayu paused at the door, looked over shoulder at me, eyes sparkling, "Good night, Touta…"

It was really rare for anyone to call me by my first name-if anyone wanted to be affectionate they called me Matsu-I really didn't even like my name, but the way Sayu said it, so huskily and full of warmth that I didn't even mind.

"Good night, Sayu."

I caught her hand just before she went out the door, and squeezed it. Then she was gone.

-Last Day-

I drove to the café in Chiyoda where Sayu was meeting Atashi Rei. I took the best camera I could find and set it up so I'd be able to take good photographs, even though it was getting toward nighttime.

The place was upscale, a place for the upper class to eat for sure, with bright lights and fancy, classical music coming from inside, and Sayu was already there, sitting on the sidewalk, waiting. She was wearing all black, dressed in what looked like some of Light's old clothes, and glancing back and forth nervously.

I cursed under my breath—I'd meant to get there before her so she wouldn't have to sit alone, but I'd had a hard time getting away from work today. It had been the last day we had to investigate, and everyone had been either stressed, worried or angry because we hadn't gotten anywhere at all. Aizawa had organized the others and they were going to go out and investigate more, see if they could get anything on Miyami, but I'd managed to get away. They'd probably be mad at me tomorrow. Until I explained what I'd been doing to Aizawa. He'd take care of everything else.

I pulled up to the café and got out, taking the camera with me, "Hey, sorry I'm late."

"It's all right." She got up, dusting herself off, "I haven't been here very long."

I nodded. "What time is Rei supposed to show?"

"Eight."

"It's like seven thirty now. Why are you so early?"

"That's just how it went."

It was a weird answer, but I didn't push it. "I guess then, I'm going to set up across the street."

"Do you think you'll have a good enough vantage point from there?"

"Yeah, I think so." I looked across the street toward the alley where I'd be sitting. It looked dark and scary, but I tried not to let that bother me. "Just make sure you stand under this street light. And when he gives you the papers, if they're in an envelope, make sure you take them out, and hold them up so that I can get a clear shot of what they are."

"You must have a pretty amazing camera."

I laughed. "Even with the zoom as high as possible I won't be able to show exactly what you have, but they can be blown up later. You'll be okay over here, right?"

Sayu nodded. Then she looked across the street too, "Will you?"

"I'll be fine. Feel free to sit in my car until he shows up."

"Thanks."

I smiled at her, and then started to cross the street. I had to wait for a couple cars, but then, the next thing I knew, I was in the alley, making sure that I couldn't be seen from where Sayu was standing and setting up my tripod. I'd remembered to bring a watch for this operation, so I checked the time. Rei was supposed to be there in just about twenty minutes. I took a deep breath to calm myself, and then sat down with my back against the wall of the building to wait.

It was a cold night, crisp and cloudy, like it might rain again, and the city seemed very still. There wasn't much traffic, and there weren't any people walking down the street. It was Thursday after all, not really the best night for partying. I could smell food from the café, and because I hadn't eaten since lunch I started to feel hungry, had to force myself to focus on something else. Breeze tugged at my hair and I turned my jacket collar up, blew into my hands to warm them up. This had better not take long.

Time passed quickly, maybe because of the anticipation, and soon Rei would be arriving, so I turned back to look across the street. Sayu had gotten in my car and I could hear some music playing from the interior. I checked my watch.

Five til eight. He would definitely be arriving soon.

Ten minutes passed. Any minute now.

Then twenty minutes had gone by. After thirty I really needed to get up and stretch, but I was afraid that he'd pull in at any second and if I weren't ready I might miss it.

By the time forty minutes had passed I was really cold, and I had to pee really bad. I felt really annoyed at Atashi Rei for making Sayu wait so long. What kind of guy did that to a girl? I tried to warm my hands up again—at this rate, I wouldn't even be able to take the stupid pictures because my fingers were numb.

A whole hour passed, and then another twenty minutes, before, finally, Sayu got out of my car and walked across the parking lot until she was standing on the sidewalk. Then she cupped her hands around her mouth and hissed loudly, "Matsuda?"

With a groan, I got to my feet, twisting to pop my back. I felt stiff and sore from sitting there so long. I scanned the parking lot before answering, "Yeah?"

"Come here."

So I picked up my camera and tripod and everything else I'd taken with me and was just about to dash across the street when there was the sudden scream of an engine and the screech of tires burning on the asphalt as a non-descript, white car tore around the corner, sliding into the oncoming lane, then barreled right at me, bright, white headlights blinding me so that I had to raise a hand to shield my face. I heard the loud, terrifying pop of gunfire, the same kind of gunfire that resounded in my head every time I thought of Light. My police training took over, and I dropped the camera and other equipment, screamed for Sayu to run, and sprinted back into the alley, diving down behind a dumpster and covering my head with both arms.

More gunfire, loud and destructive like a war zone, hitting the trashcans and the walls and the fire escape above my head. But I stayed perfectly still, biting my lip, eyes closed, praying that I wouldn't be hit. The shots seemed to go on for forever, and then I heard the cries of voices and the howling of dogs. Lights in the apartments above me came on. The gunfire stopped, the tires squealed again, and the sound of the car engine got further and further away until it was gone.

For a few moments, I lay there, not moving a muscle, listening for signs of danger. When I heard nothing, I sat up on my knees, terrified that Sayu had been kidnapped while I'd been huddling in the dark like a frightened child. "Sayu!"

"Matsuda!" I saw her running toward me, a crowd of people behind her, milling around the café parking lot, trying to figure out what had happened.

Sayu hit me hard, falling to her knees and flinging her arms around my chest. She buried her face in my shoulder and started to cry at once. "Matsuda! Oh my God, I thought they hit you—I was sure that you were dead!"

Out of instinct, I stroked her hair with my shaking hand and held onto her tightly, my whole body trembling like a leaf in the wind. "I-I'm okay. Are you?"

She just nodded, still sobbing. Other people were starting to gather around. Several of them were on their cell phones.

"Sayu. Sayu…it's okay. I'm all right. Just calm down."

Sayu pulled away and stared into my face with large, tear-filled eyes. "Calm down? How can I calm down? Oh my God, Matsuda, you're bleeding!" She swiped at my forehead, and her finger came back red with my blood. I touched the spot myself, and then I realized that both my palms were bleeding too, and so was one knee where my jeans had ripped. I looked down and saw that I was sitting in a pile of broken glass. My right palm still had a sliver of it lodged in the fat part of my thumb. "I'm okay."

She shook her head, "I can't believe this. I'm calling Aizawa and the others." She reached for her cell phone.

"No," I grabbed her hand, careful not to get blood on her clothes, "No, it's okay. I'm fine. I promise."

"You idiot!" She snapped. "Someone just tried to kill you!"

"I-I know that, Sayu, but if the others come here…you'll be in trouble for interfering with the investigation."

She shook her head in disgust, "You're so stupid, Matsuda."

"Excuse me." an older man with glasses and a mustache approached. For a second I thought it was Watari, "I'm a doctor. I'm just here to make sure you're okay, son. Does anything hurt?"

"No. I'm sure I'm fine." For some reason I wasn't even scared. "Thanks."

"Well, just so you know, the police have been contacted, and so have the paramedics. They'll be here soon. Why don't you both come back across the street to the café? Just in case."

He offered his hand and I took it, then we walked back across the street, Sayu still clinging to me and sobbing fiercely. Before I realized it, she was on the phone.

"Sayu." I hissed.

"Aizawa? It's me, Sayu."

"Sayu, don't get him over here."

"Yes, I'm all right, but…but Matsuda…"

"Dammit, Sayu, don't scare him."

"No, he's fine…but…someone tried to kill him. Just now. Right. Chiyoda." She gave him an address, just a blur of numbers to me, and then she said goodbye, looked at me, "He'll be here soon."

"Great." I muttered.

Everyone in the café had come out by now, including the manager and the wait staff. They made me sit down and promised over and over that the police and ambulance were on their way and that I should just try to remain calm.

I'd never felt so calm in my life. I felt totally desensitized to the fact that someone had just attempted to take my life. As I waited for the ambulance, I pulled the glass out of my hand and the blood ran even richer. Then I looked up at Sayu, who was hovering over me like a worried mother. I wondered where my mother was right then and what she'd think if she knew that her youngest son had almost died.

"What were you calling me over for?" I asked Sayu.

"What?" She wiped at her eyes.

"Before the…shooting…you called me over. What did you want?"

"Matsuda, I don't think that's important right now."

"But it is. Please tell me."

She sighed, "I was going to tell you that Rei had just called and told me he couldn't make it and that we'd have to reschedule our meeting for later."

So that was how it was. Had he known I was going to be here? Maybe he had tried to kill me himself—that would make sense if he had my IDs. Real and fake.

I couldn't believe I'd been stupid enough to lose my wallet. From the look of things, it had almost cost me my life.