File 8: Promotion to Tokyo

"Thank you all for joining us in this upcoming semester. Freshmen would be integrated into the school and given notice on how things work. Congratulations on passing the entrance exams and we look forward to seeing everyone this spring semester."

The audience clapped while all the students were standing in front of the gymnasium, all in order of their class numbers. Muku was in the middle of the crowd of students, and tried to look for her parents, who were in the corner with the other families. They were clapping along with the speaker.

Akihito was looking towards his daughter, Muku and congratulating her. Ayako was next to him, smiling back. But they could not see Muku due to the sheer crowds of students.

After the ceremony speech was over, everyone started moving around, looking for their families and friends to chat and discuss with. Muku walked towards her parents, Akihito and Ayako, who were waiting for her. They began to walk outside of the gymnasium and check out the rest of the high school.

A Tokyo-based high school.

Muku had managed to pass and get into a public high school in Tokyo.

"Congratulations on making it in, Muku!" Ayako said, while she hugged Muku tightly.

Akihito was beside Ayako as they walked around the school courtyard. Many students were together in groups, exploring the school grounds before they leave. He looked around for a quiet area of the school for a place to take a photo but there were too many people. There weren't many options.

"There's no good place to take a good photo around here," Akihito muttered, scratching his head as one of his arms was holding a camera bag, "Wonder if Muku is fine with a bit of clutter in the background…"

"Aki-kun, you're thinking of taking a commemorative photo?"

Akihito looked back at Ayako in dismay. After the crowds flooded the school outskirts after the ceremony, many families were all over the place chattering away nearby and planning schedules before the new semester began.

"Aya-chan, it's alright," he replied, looking back towards Muku, "It could be right next to the board like last time."

Ayako quietly giggled before patting Akihito on the back.

"Aki-kun, so a similar location like the middle school ceremony photo? Sure, we can walk towards there."

Muku was busy playing with her phone while she waited for her parents to stop talking. She touched one of her legs, feeling the injury. It had healed with surgery and having bandages patched over her legs. She then touched her face, which had a minor hole from the drill. It had also patched up from the surgery and hospital treatment. She let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"I'm fine, Dad," Muku muttered, "Let's get the photo over with…"

The three of them walked towards the entrance sign, where it pointed towards the direction towards the high school entrance ceremony. A small row of cherry blossom trees were around them, creating a calming and pleasant atmosphere. Akihito went up ahead to position his camera and find a good spot to take a photo shoot without too many distractions.

"Move closer to the cherry trees, Muku," Akihito said while showing them their positions, "Aya-chan, you can move a bit closer to the sign."

He adjusted his camera and started to position himself in order to create a perfect shot.

"Say cheese!"

Ayako and Muku positioned themselves near the sign and smiled.

Click. Click. Click.

After a couple shots, a few people were walking past them as they walked around the school gates with their students and families. As Akihito took some more photo shoots, he was offered by a passerby who offered to take the photo so that he could be with his family.

"Do you mind if I could take the photo for you?"

"What?"

"Don't you also want to be in the pictures…as part of a family photo shoot?"

He looked back to see a female stranger looking back at him, offering to take the group photo for him. She seemed to be well dressed and was wearing a formal suit. Maybe her children could be attending the high school too. She seemed generous enough to ask, so he allowed her to.

But before she was about to position herself and set up the camera, Akihito was trying to get her to capture the perfect shot based on the positionings of the cherry trees and the sign next to them.

"Say cheese!"

Click. Click. Click.

She snapped a couple shots at the three of them before returning the camera back to Akihito. He looked over at the photo shots that the lady took before thanking her. After waving goodbye for her help, he put his camera into his bag. Muku and Ayako were looking over the cherry trees, waiting for Akihito to finish checking his belongings so that they can leave the school surroundings and prepare for the new semester.

He smiled back at them, then started to walk towards them.

"I'm coming…"

After a couple weeks, Akihito had gotten the photos he took from the high school ceremony. He was preparing himself for the upcoming secretive meeting, that was going to be held in Tokyo. After making copies of Muku's events into an album, he made a few more copies to keep to himself. One of them was the high school ceremony photo.

"Aki-kun, are you getting ready for the meeting tomorrow?"

Ayako interrupted Akihito's train of thought. He was looking back the photo albums that he had brought from Fukui a few months back. They had moved to Tokyo since the special letter arrived to his Fukui home that promoted him towards an unknown sector known as Kura. It was apparently another police sector that was not known publicly and were recruiting members from all over Japan to help their cause.

He looked back towards his wife and tried to smile. Ayako softly touched his face.

"Are you doing alright, Aki-kun? You don't need to push yourself so hard."

Akihito grabbed her hand and touched them back.

"I'm fine, Aya-chan. It's been months since the Face Lifter case, and Muku is doing fine in the new school…"

"I know about that, Aki-kun. We moved to Tokyo since the incident so that the killer would have trouble finding us, right?"

Akihito looked back towards the photographs he was holding and the wall in front of him. He closed his eyes.

"I-I don't know. Momoki and I haven't been able to get any clues so far about the killer that had targeted Muku yet," he said while trying to sound reassuring towards Ayako, "We'll see how this new job goes and I'll find us a way to protect ourselves, Aya-chan."

Then the two of them hugged each other before getting back to business. After Akihito organized the photo albums and put them away, he went back to check up on Ayako and Muku. They were preparing for dinner for tonight. Muku was on the couch playing with her phone.

She looked back at Akihito and let out a sigh. She scratched her head, trying not to be embarrassed. He walked towards her and sat on the couch next to her. Ayako was in the kitchen preparing dinner.

"Dad, are you just worried because I won't be able to see my friends again? It's okay, I have their phone numbers and everything," she muttered while she scrolled through her phone.

She scrolled through a few pictures of her friends who had visited her at the hospital. And another photo of their celebration about getting into the high schools they wanted. Muku was dressed up in party hats and was having cake in some of the photos. Everything seemed to return to normal since the Face Lifter case.

"Plus, I can make new friends here and get to see some places that I wasn't able to back in our old home! I could go check out Tokyo Tower and some cool landmarks around here…"

"That's great, Muku. I was just worried about you…"

"I-I'm fine, Dad. You don't have to worry so much about me. I'm a high schooler now. I'm not a little kid anymore."

Akihito looked back at Muku before hugging her again. He didn't know what to talk about or say. It seemed like Muku was fine, but he felt constantly worried about her for some reason.

After an awkward silence, Akihito got up from the couch before going back to his room. He walked towards the bed and laid down on it. He rubbed his eyes and tried to keep calm. Everything was going well. Everybody was doing fine.

He looked at the ceiling in front of him. There were some security cameras all over the new home. He had tried to install them as quietly as possible, but the noise that the drill made caused Muku to panic. It had reminded her about the Face Lifter, and she did not react well to certain sounds and noises that sounded like drills. After discussing the security camera situation with his wife, Ayako, she hastily accepted for their safety.

But Akihito was unsure if it was the right decision. There was a potential risk of hacking, but since they had moved from their old home, it seemed unlikely that the killer could found them so quickly. But he had some countermeasures in place, just in case.

The next morning, Akihito dressed himself up for the meeting. He wore another suit and tie for the occasion and was preparing his suitcase and documents. Ayako came by the doorway to make sure everything was in place. She went up towards him and went to fix his tie.

"Aki-kun, did you contact Momoki-san about the location of the meeting place?"

"Well, we already planned on meeting together near the train station…I'm sure I won't forget about it Aya-chan."

She suddenly stopped fixing up his tie. Akihito was a bit freaked out by her reaction.

"Are you sure? You haven't been sleeping well lately. Is everything going to be fine?"

Akihito patted Ayako on the shoulder. He just wanted the past incident to be just a memory and let them have a better life in Tokyo. After Ayako finished fixing up his tie, he quickly went to check his coat and his suitcases were in order. But as he was checking in place, something fell out of his coat pocket.

It was the high school ceremony photo. The three of them were posing in front of the camera and were standing near the cherry trees. The sign next to them read: High School Entrance Ceremony.

Ayako slowly took the photo off the ground and gave it back to Akihito.

"You made copies of the photographs just to keep them in your coat? Why didn't you tell me earlier? I could have accidently ruined them while doing the laundry."

He smiled nervously and took the photo, quickly putting it in his coat.

"It's nothing to worry about, Aya-chan. I-I just wanted something to look that reminded me of our family," he said as he put his hand to his chin, "I also had other photos but they seemed ruined by the weather over the years…"

"Where are the other photos then?"

"In my room. Some of them are copies from Muku's middle school ceremony a couple years back. I was just replacing them with her high school ceremony photo now…"

After explaining to his wife, Akihito prepared to leave for the meeting. He went to change his shoes and took his suitcase and phone. Ayako waved back and still asked him that he still contacted Momoki for directions and their meeting place.

"Aya-chan, you worry too much. Things are finally looking up for our family. I got a promotion, Muku got into a good high school and we moved into a new location. I'm sure it will take a little getting used to, but I hope everything will get better for us…"

Then he shut the door behind him, with Ayako and Muku still inside the house.

"This is Chofu Station. Please take your belongings as you leave. Thank you."

Clank.

Akihito made it to the train station on time and got onto the train. Looking around, he found a couple spots open. He sat down near the train doorway, where many passengers came and left between stations. Looking outside the windowed panel behind him, he thought about the times and struggles of moving into a new city.

He took out his phone out and thought about contacting Momoki. He should be arriving soon in the next few stops. The signal bars were high, showing Tokyo's high signal frequencies and connections were stable. More people started to make the train more crowded as it moved toward every stop.

It was early morning rush hour.

"Dad, are we there yet?"

Akihito was on the train with his family, Muku and Ayako. They were exploring the new area and were stuck on the train with him with the other passengers. Looking outside the train window, he was on call with the moving company who was moving their belongings to the new house. Each of them was carrying a small luggage as well.

"Not yet, Muku. But we're almost there. We should be getting off soon…"

After a couple more stops, they got off the station and walked outside. There were not as crowded and busy as imagined. It was not the bustling busy Tokyo streets but more of a quieter suburban neighborhood. Muku felt a bit displeased but rent in inner Tokyo was expensive than the other areas of the prefecture.

Akihito called a taxi and they went towards their new home. It was another small condo home and was in an apartment building. It wasn't as big as their previous Fukui home, but they had enough for basic living and pricing. A couple blocks away, there was a train station near them.

He quickly took out his camera bag from his luggage and got ready to take a photo. There wasn't much to take apart from the apartment building, so he took a quick shot so that he can remember the new building.

"Again? You took photos of every new home we live in, Dad!"

Muku seemed annoyed by her father's habits. Ayako patted Muku on the back to reassure her that there was nothing wrong with doing it. Afterwards, they got into the new home. It seemed to resemble their old apartment unit in Fukui before they moved into a larger house since the Challenger incident.

Without blinking an eye, Akihito took more shots inside the house before their boxes arrived so that they could move everything in. He was also checking for places that could help him think about installing a security camera around the home.

Not long after moving in, Ayako and Akihito had a private conversation together. They tried to hide from Muku about their plans.

"Aki-kun, you want to install some security cameras up? Why do you want me to ask about that?"

Akihito sighed as he poured himself some tea from the teapot near them. He took some sips before responding.

"Well, I'm kind of unsure about installing it…"

"Why? Is something the matter with the safety measures that you put in place?"

"Aya-chan, I'm just afraid about potential hacking and being watched…"

Ayako took a cup of tea for herself as well and offered to pour some more tea into Akihito's empty cup. He accepted her offer and took another sip.

"We'll see…I just hope Muku won't be home while I install it. Don't want to scare her more than before."

"Aki-kun, you need to rest. No need to overthink too much. Let us take some time to adjust to this place."

"You're probably right. I could use some rest."

The two of them looked back to check if Muku was eavesdropping on them. Thankfully, no one was there. The sun was setting, and they continued drinking tea on the balcony to rest after a week of moving everything in…

"Narihisago?"

Someone seemed to be tapping on my shoulder. Who is that familiar voice?

"Narihisago! It's me, Momoki! Did you fall asleep on the train?"

Akihito opened his eyes to found Momoki touching his shoulders. Rubbing his eyes, he saw that the train had less people than before. He took out his phone to check the time. Thankfully, not much time has passed. He thought he was going to be late again.

He looked up to see Momoki standing beside him. Somehow, he managed to find him in this crowded train.

"How did you find me so quickly, Momoki? I wasn't able to call you bac- "

But before Akihito could say more, Momoki shushed him. They had to be quieter inside the train, especially since there's a chance to be watched and eavesdropped on. One of the train rules was for mostly silence, so they mostly saw people playing on their phones and listening to the announcements for the next stop. The flashing lights showed the next stop while a route was shown on top of the train car walls.

After a few more stops, Momoki grabbed Akihito's hand and pulled him out of the way to their destination. He dragged along his suitcase and phone as they walked out of the station. They took a few minutes break while they rested on an outdoor seating area.

"Narihisago, I find you through your phone's tracking app. It can tell me where you are," Momoki said, trying to answer Akihito's question, "I guess it was a good idea after all. Don't want you to get lost on the first day of an important meeting in a new city."

"What? You tracked me?"

"You don't remember? Prior to both of us moving here, you asked for help so that we could figure out a route for work and finding a good cheap residential area to live in. I-I also thought you wanted someone to know where you were, just in case of danger."

Akihito slapped his own face and tried to wake himself up from the drowsiness. He really seemed more tired than he had let out. He was trying to hide it from his family as he prepared for the new job.

"Man, I guess I really am tired. Sorry for falling asleep. Didn't want to cause you more trouble again."

"Narihisago, it's fine," Momoki replied, "If I had chosen the wrong train car and timing, I wouldn't been able to find you in time and we would both have been late anyway.."

Momoki tried to laugh it out to calm Akihito down. It seemed to work. After a while, Momoki checked his phone again for the time. He checked the map on his phone and took out a physical map that he printed out.

"Okay, seems like I can probably get both of us there in time. Let's go, Narihisago."

Akihito smiled back and got up from the seating area. They both began to walk towards the meeting location.

"So, Momoki, what was up with the letters that was sent out? For a new sector, they sure seem secretive."

Momoki pondered on while walking before they stopped at a street corner. He looked back at Akihito to give his answer.

"I was suspicious of the letter too, until I got it as well. I still don't understand why the organization would want to choose us over other candidates…"

"So, you believe they're legit? We even moved closer to Tokyo for this new job," Akihito muttered, "I wonder what this Kura organization would want to use our skills for…"

"They will probably tell us at the meeting, Narihisago. But we would get more information once we're actually at the job."

After waiting for a while, they crossed the street and continued walking. Momoki kept checking his phone and the map for directions. They were getting close to the building. A large crowd in front of them were also walking in many directions for work as well.

There was a large building in view.

Once they went towards the building, they paused for a moment before going in. It seemed to be like a skyscraper, with some of the floors covered by blackened windows above them. There seemed to be something secretive and important going on inside.

"Are you ready to go in, Narihisago?"

Akihito nodded and they both went in.

After showing the receptors a copy of the Kura letter at the lobby office, the two of them were led in by security into an elevator. They seemed to be going into a secretive meeting room. Akihito checked his phone to make sure they weren't late. It seemed like they made it in on time.

"Thanks for the help, Momoki. I would have been late without you."

"No problem, Narihisago. Let's see what the Kura sector wants from us."

They arrived at the meeting room. It seemed to be dimly lit, with a couple lights around them so that they can see the seats. A couple people had already arrived beforehand and were waiting for the last few people to show up. A large electric board in front of them, so that they can show their presentation on the new technology. There was a pamphlet and a water bottle in front of each seat.

Akihito and Momoki quickly took a seat near the presentation board and skimmed through the pamphlet.

The new technology was called the Mizuhanome.

A couple people stood up from the presenter's table and presented themselves as part of Kura. One of them came to the front, with his face hidden from the dim lighting inside the room. An assistant on one side of the presentation board was setting up near them.

"Thank you for joining us today. Everyone seated here today have been selected to join this new sector of the police force. We are created as a technology sector and hope to improve catching criminals in this society. Every year, many people are murdered by ruthless killers and we have had trouble capturing them. But today, this new technology can help us fix this!"

Suddenly, the on-screen presentation board showed a photo. It looked like a circular virtual reality machine, with buttons on the side of the panel and a screen in front of it. It was a black and slender looking cockpit, like a futuristic machine.

"This is the Mizuhanome cockpit. Named after a Japanese water god, this will let you dive into a killer's subconsciousness. It uses Freud's principles on id, ego and superego, so that you can go into their subconsciousness and lets you find clues to help in police investigations. Who knows what the killers are thinking? Now we can find out."

Someone in the back raised his hand. They went on ask a question.

"So, can anybody go into the cockpit? Or do you need to be tested as a candidate to use it?"

"That's a good question," said the presenter, "So far, we already have candidates for the cockpit. We are unsure about the side effects right now, but there is a place and role for everyone here."

Akihito was feeling drowsy again. The dim lighting in the room wasn't helping and making him feel sleepy. Momoki was next to him, with his arms crossed. He seemed a bit wary of the cockpit.

"Any more questions? Good. Then let me move on."

The presenter then changed the screen, revealing a different photo. It showed some sort of device, which was also colored in black. It looked like some monitor that was used to check metallic objects.

"This device here is called the Wakamusubi. Named after a Japanese harvest god, this object detects cognitive killer particles from the atmosphere and connects it to the Mizuhanome."

Momoki was still thinking to himself, while Akihito was on the desk, trying not to fall asleep. Putting his hand on his chin, he tried to keep himself awake by sipping on the water bottle that they were given.

Momoki looked back at Akihito and tried to tap him awake so that he doesn't look worse in front of the presenter.

"So, we got a water god and a harvest god. Together, they create an abundancy," Momoki muttered quietly to himself, "Wonder if they will show us what the Mizuhanome actually looks like."

"Why is everything so dimly lit? Wish they have given us some coffee instead," Akihito said, while trying to keep himself awake.

The images in front of them seemed blurry and bright in front of a darkened room. It felt like they were watching a movie instead of a presentation. The presenters seemed oblivious to it, muttering on and on about the new technology.

After about an hour of explaining the technicalities of the Mizuhanome, the presenter then started to explain about the main roles for this new technology:

"To operate the machine, we would need a main crew. It would consist of a main chief, who oversees the operating systems with the main staff. The main staff consists of a director, a general analyst, an interpreter, a people analyst and a location analyst. There would be common duties such as bodyguards for the location as well as staff for the Kura prison."

"Kura prison?" Akihito said, rubbing his eyes, "So that means that we would have criminals inside the building."

"Probably to be used to test the machine and see if their cognitive particles show up," Momoki replied back, "We'll have to see how the machine works."

Immediately afterward, they were shown snippets of something strange. It seemed to look like parts of someone's subconsciousness. It looked like a pool of water had sunken into the area. Many places seemed blurred out, as if to prevent the spectator from looking in.

"This," the presenter said while pointing at the board, "…is called a well. You go into someone's id and extract information from their subconsciousness. The staff would help the pilot in determining the clues that are needed to catch the criminals."

Water.

"Water?" Akihito muttered out loud. He looked right at his water bottle in front of him, confused.

"Narihisago, are you okay?" Momoki asked quietly, "I'll get you some coffee once it's break."

Scratching his head, Akihito was unsure where the voice came from. He smiled back at Momoki and nodded that he was fine.

Afterwards, the meeting ended, and they were told their next location. They were allowed a break, so Momoki and Akihito went towards the vending machines to get coffee.

Clank.

The vending machine dropped out some coffee cans. A few coins were being spewed out as change. Momoki grabbed the change and coffee cans and handed one to Akihito, who was leaning against the wall of a building corridor. They were not allowed outside for break due to security reasons, so they were left to look out the window through its darkened screens.

"Thanks for the coffee, Momoki," Akihito said as he opened his can and gulped it down. It felt refreshing compared to the dreary dark room that they were in for hours.

"No problem, Narihisago," Momoki replied as he opened his own can, "We may be able to leave the building soon. They can't keep us in here forever."

"I wonder what roles we would be given once we're adjusting ourselves to Kura. They really didn't specify anything apart from the main staff and a pilot."

Momoki took a sip from his coffee. He looked back a bit skeptic about the sector.

"Narihisago, do you think Asukai-san could be in this sector?"

"Asukai-san? You haven't mentioned her in months. I thought the investigation was on hiatus right now."

"It is. I-I'm just wondering what happened to her."

Akihito patted Momoki on the back. He knew that he had worried over Kiki since her disappearance and their failure to get anywhere had impacted his health for a while. Afterwards, they started chatting about their own adjustments to living in Tokyo and their arrangements.

Akihito pulled out the high school ceremony photo out of his coat.

"Oh, Muku-chan got into a Tokyo high school? Congratulations, Narihisago!"

"Isn't it great? This photo replaced the middle school ceremony one I had before."

Momoki put his hand to his chin and looked closer on the photo that Akihito was holding in front of him.

"She sure grew taller compared to last time. Do you have the other photo to compare?"

Akihito felt nervous on the answer. He had put the older and damaged photos somewhere else than the new ones he made ever since he came to Tokyo. Shaking his head, he gestured that he didn't have the photo with him.

"No worries about it, Narihisago," Momoki muttered, "I was simply curious because usually you would have an older photo of Muku-chan to compare with and show to others apart from me."

Not long after, they could leave the building and were given the location of the Kura building. It happened to be in Chofu, Tokyo. It happened to be at least thirty minutes away from their current location, by train.

"Man, and after all the mess of getting here in the first place," Akihito complained, while he read the documents on the Kura sector, "Guess everything is expensive in Tokyo."

"It sure is, compared to Fukui," Momoki replied, "Let's see what Kura has to offer for us. There has to be a reason why we got selected and promoted here."

The sun began to set, and everything turned dark and dim. Akihito was back at his home, looking over the photos in his room. After he waved at his friend, Momoki, goodbye, they went back towards their Tokyo home. Muku was in the living room, playing video games, while Ayako was preparing dinner for them.

Momoki had mentioned to him about his middle school ceremony photo earlier that day. Akihito got up and went to look for the picture. It happened to be inside the ruined photo box, where many damaged photos were kept as a keepsake rather than something to look at. He fumbled through the damaged photographs to find the photo.

It was a bloodied torn up photo.

Ripped from the Challenger fight two years ago. The blood had damaged the photograph and caused it to stain brown over time.

Knock. Knock.

Ayako came into the room to check up on Akihito, wondering what he was doing inside his room. She looked around to find him looking over the photographs again. But the room seemed a bit too dim for him to see.

"Aki-kun, what are you doing there in the dark?"

Akihito gestured back to Ayako that he was fine and that he had some lamps around him to see. He didn't want to damage the photographs in the room with too much lighting.

"It's nothing, Aya-chan. You can go back to making dinner. I just didn't want to bother you and Muku while we are adjusting ourselves to living here."

"That's alright, Aki-kun. So, what do you want to drink? Aren't you thirsty?"

Water.

"Water…"

Akihito quickly closed his mouth. He had spoken without thinking again.

"Just water? Don't you want something fancier? Like some tea or juice?"

Akihito waved his hands at Ayako to show that he was just joking around. He scratched his head and looked away from her in embarrassment. What is that voice?

"N-No, I was just joking around. I'll just have some green tea."

Ayako then closed the door to get him some hot green tea to drink while he went back to sulk over the photographs inside his room. Akihito closed his eyes and wondered what was going on with his head.

Ever since he came to Tokyo, the dreams have increased. But there was nothing too serious about it so far.

What does the ghost girl want from me?

Later that night, Akihito went to sleep with his wife, Ayako in bed. He had tried to make her not worry about him, so he hadn't been telling her anything about the dreams. He closed his eyes and hoped for the dreams to have an explanation.

Any explanation.

But so far, nothing.

Water.

Drip.

Drip. Drip.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

The sound of the water droplets was getting to him. Then he suddenly like he was in the air before he plunged into the sea. Water was getting into his lungs. His nose. Everywhere.

I opened my eyes and found myself underwater. Everything looked blurry, as I was underneath the water's surface. Everything seemed cloudy and red, as if the water were tainted with blood. I struggled to breath and move, but no air or voice came out.

The ghost girl was above me, looking down at my struggling body. Her white dress and long black hair were the only visible marks that I could see. I couldn't see her eyes, let alone her face. Everything was already blurry from the water but made worse with her face.

She had no face. It was just blurred out as before.

With every ounce of my strength, I try to let out a word to reach her. In one quiet voice that seems to be more of a whisper I said:

"Who are you?"

But the girl didn't say anything.