*** I hate school... Dx It's kinda distracting me from writing... Oh well, I'll try my best xD ***


Chapter LIII : Insignificant Information

There were a few washing stations at the wall, each with two faucets, one for hot water and the other for cold water. There were 2 different baths on the sento, each with different temperatures, Rin and Meiko were in the warm bath. To Rin's right was a separating wall between the men and women side, it was about 2 meters high. At the wall on the far end room was a large painting of Mount Fuji, it made the bath house less dull and boring.

"How long do we need to stay in the bath?" Rin never visited a bath house before, and she was sure even before her amnesia Rin had never visit a sento before. It was a new experience for her to visit a bath, but Rin felt really bored in there. She couldn't tell what she should do in a bath. All they did so far was washing their hair and body, after that they sat on the bath. Rin couldn't tell how much minutes passed after she went inside the bath, she felt extremely bored. Rin felt really relaxed in the bath, though all she could do was stare to blank space.

"As long as we want to. Don't you think it's relaxing?" Rin admitted, it was relaxing, but it was a bit boring to just sit there and do nothing. "And milk after a bath is amazing, you really should try it. It's a traditional favorite. Sake is nice, but milk feels more refreshing after a bath." Meiko said. ""I can tell that you're bored, let's talk about something, then… Anything interesting happened? I know the case was interesting, but other than that." Rin tried to think of some things, but she couldn't think of anything.

"Not really… I just think the case was the only thing that was interesting ever since I got in Japan." Rin thought.

"Well, what do you think of Japan? Do you think it's a great place? Just tell me everything you like, or you want to know about Japan." Meiko gave Rin a few seconds to think about it. And after those few seconds, Rin thought of something to talk about.

"I… can't wait for the sakura trees to bloom." Rin was glad she found a new topic, at least that way she won't be as bored as she was before.

"You'll be here right? For the hanami festival?" Meiko agreed, she couldn't wait to see the sakura trees bloom as well. She'd never seen it before, after winter ended the villagers couldn't stop talking about the sakura trees.

"What do you do in a 'hanami' festival?" Rin guessed it was something to do with the sakura trees, but she wasn't so sure.

"It's a festival where you watch the sakura trees bloom, you have a picnic under the sakura trees… Drinking sake is a tradition, you know?" It sounded like Meiko was only interested in the sake drinking part, but Rin didn't mind. Everyone have their likes and dislikes. Rin didn't know what sake was, but since Meiko said 'drink' it must be some sort drink.

"Does that mean I have to drink sake as well? What does it taste like?" Rin asked.

"It depends really, some sakes has many flavors, like bananas, melons, flowers, herbs, spices, rice, chestnuts, chocolates, dry grapes, sherry, even caramel sauce. The ones with flavors are quite rare though." Rin guessed sake was some sort of rare juice.

"So… I like sake, is there something you like?"Rin thought of a moment before she answered Meiko's question. The thing she liked the most was reading, but she liked the sound of piano as well.

"I like reading fiction novels… And I like listening to the piano. I'm not good at playing one though." That reminded her of something, about her flashback. She was playing the piano, a song called Fur Elise, and there was someone… A boy who told her to rest. That voice wasn't Len, it was a deep voice. Meiko knew Rin was thinking about something, it looked so obvious that Rin was spacing-out.

"What's wrong?" Meiko asked. She snapped Rin out from her 'mini fantasy'.

"Nothing…" Rin hadn't told anyone about that flashback yet. She wanted to tell Len, but when she thought about it… Why did she want to tell him about it?

"Is there something you're not telling me… not telling us?" It wasn't really anything personal. Maybe it'd be better if she told Meiko about it?

"It's nothing important… I had a small flashback, I was playing a song called Fur Elise in the piano. I'm not sure when it happened, it was just a short flashback." Meiko just remembered that Rin had amnesia. For her to have a flashback, it wasn't something small, it was something big.

"Have you told anyone about it? That might be really useful information, it might help you find your family or something!" Rin doubt it'd help, she played a piano, how could that help find her family or her 'previous' life? "So? Hurry up and tell me!" Rin had no choice but to tell her every detail, every word mentioned in her flashback.


"You know, if you listen closely… You can hear what the girls are talking from their side." Kaito closed his eyes and started to listen. He had his ice cream, and it made him more relaxed in the bath.

"Why do you care about what girls are talking about?" Len thought the bath house was the greatest thing Japan could give to him. No one was there except for himself and Kaito, everyone was probably busy about the Conchita and the victims.

"I need to do something while I'm inside the bath, it's just so boring here. You know it's hard to make you talk, so I rather listen to the girls' conversation." Kaito started to listen to every word the girls were talking. It was fade and sounded so distant from them, but Kaito could understand a bit. He really wished Rin would have a louder voice, though.

"The first thing I heard was a bell… From a clock, it rang 11 times so it was around 11 PM. Somehow I remembered… there would be a piano competition the next day. I practiced really hard for it, the song I was playing was Fur Elise. I forgot how it sounds, but I remembered it was quite a fast song…"

"She had a flashback?" It was so quiet even Len could hear Rin's voice from the other side. "About a piano?" Len remembered Rin once asked him had Len ever enter a piano competition, right after she woke up from the electric shock.

"Shh… I'm trying to listen!" Kaito whispered to Len. While Kaito listened more to Rin's flashback, Len thought to himself.

'She played the Fur Elise, she had a piano, and knew how to play it, she could count numbers more than 10, she could read, she could write. Why hadn't I thought about it earlier? Rin must come from a wealthy family just like me…' Not many people could read and write like that, and the strongest proof that Rin came from a wealthy family was she could play the piano, she probably owned a piano, and she entered a piano competition. No poor family could afford that, so she must come from a wealthy family. Len couldn't believe he never realized it before.

"After that, someone… stopped me from playing the piano. He reminded me that I had a fever… I'm not sure who he was, but he had a deep voice" Rin continued on.

"A deep voice… You mean like Kaito's?" Meiko guessed.

"No, I doubt it's him." Their voices were different, Rin thought.

"Who knew listening to their conversation would be so… interesting." Kaito commented. Rin and Meiko stopped talking about the flashback, he was no longer 'interested' on what they were talking about. He knew Len would have something interesting to tell him, since he put on that 'face'.

"I can't believe I didn't realize this before, Rin could play the piano, she could read and write, Rin came from a wealthy family!" It had been 4 months, he was shocked that he didn't realize it sooner.

"So what if she came from a wealthy family? You don't need to overreact like that." Kaito didn't understand why that data seemed so important to him, the data seemed like good news to Len.

"You mentioned it to me before, remember? It takes a long time for you to find her family because you need to look everyone's data. I have another favor to ask you. When we arrive back at London, can you look at the noble families? There aren't many, right?" What Len said made sense, it'd take less time to look at the noble families, it'd be easier and simpler to find them.

"Okay, I'll do what I can when we're back in London."


They all went back to the inn, to discuss what to do next. The case wasn't over yet, they still had no idea who that 'man' was, the researcher. Was he somehow connected to the researchers back in London? Where was he now? Why did he left? Because of so many unanswered questions, the case can't be declared as closed.

"Don't you think we should give a name to this guy? Calling him 'that man' is so…. Confusing." Kaito started their discussion. They were all seated with their legs crossed in Len's room. The small trip to the bath house was enough to restore their energy, they were ready to solve some questions.

"Just call him the researcher or the scientist… it doesn't really matter." Meiko admitted, it was confusing to call him 'that man' but there were more confusing questions.

"Then I'll call him the researcher." Kaito made up his mind. "Where should we start?" Kaito thought.

"Who is he, and where is he now, that's what I want to know. Just by knowing the answer to that question, we'd know the answer to all. All we need to do is find him, and ask our questions. You all know that the research papers he left won't help us solve the questions about him." Len said, he knew it was easier said than done. But they all accepted the fact that they couldn't do anything with just the papers.

"That made me realize something… Why did he leave his research papers behind and also his dynamo? I can comprehend the dynamo, it's probably too heavy to carry around, but what about his papers? He left his research and went off somewhere?" Kaito also had a point. The discussion didn't solve questions, it made more questions than before.

"It's probably too troublesome, the papers were hard to carry since there were piles of them… Maybe he'll come back and take it back with him one day." Rin guessed.

"The problem is, when will 'one day' come?" Len responded to Rin's guess, but what she might be true. Maybe 'one day' he'd come back to get the papers. "Anyway, I thought of something. Kaito, you can collect people's data from London. I'm not sure how you get a list of people, but do you think you can do it here in Japan?" Kaito had many ways on how to look for data. One of them was to break inside city hall and open their folder. That was how he got the list of people.

"That depends. Is there some sort of city hall in Enbizaka? A place where people get their information?" Meiko tried her hardest, but her result turned zero.

"No… If you want information, I think you should go to a nearby town, it's not that far, probably a half day's walk." That wasn't a bad idea.

"We have 1 month left in Japan, let's go to that nearby town." Len said. Kaito couldn't collect information in Enbizaka, that town was their only lead.

"Don't you think we should rest? Let's go in 3 days, you know we'll have to handle another mystery on the other town. Just enjoy the time left before our brain explodes from handling another case."