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Chapter 5 - Gone

The old cliche says that men aren't supposed to cry. And for the most part, he didn't. The last time he really let himself cry was at the funeral, all those years ago. It truly felt like the world itself had shattered that day, and he was slipping through the cracks, falling headfirst into a completely different reality. He learnt to adapt to the uglier world beneath, if nothing else for Gumi's sake. And yet there were still times when lack of forethought left him nursing a new ache and fighting to keep the tears at bay.

On those occasions, he would sit in his room and stare at the wall, feeling a curious sense of detachment from his own rage. It almost felt like he could physically extract it from his body and bury it inside a drawer. Yes! Bury it, drown it, burn it away. Never let anyone know how much it hurt. He tried his very best on that front, in any case. He smiled all the time, no matter what his uncle or aunt ever said or did to him. He watched himself from a distance, nodding in approval of his own performance. A perfect unfolding.

Even now, as he sat in the darkness holding his sobbing sister, Gakupo felt a sliver of himself take a step backwards to better observe the situation. Perhaps there was a limit to the fear one can feel before wearing down the cohesion of their mind. He clearly was losing his sense of time. It felt like hours since Gumi and he were plunged into darkness, flanked by unexplainable attackers. Yet it couldn't be that long. Was the finger that tapped the crystal of his window marking the time, like the hands of a clock? What did it signify?

Tap.

Gakupo smiled when a crazed thought crossed his mind.

Tap.

Maybe the man outside was his anger, and he didn't appreciate being tossed aside so blithely?

Tap.

A voice, so similar to his own, and yet twisted into something completely inhuman, uttered a few unrecognizable words. Gakupo couldn't even tell if it was a language he could identify, not with the beasts hollering and thrashing about in the corridor. The tapping stopped.

Another single word. The noises outside his bedroom door quieted down abruptly.

In the sudden silence, Gumi's sniffling seemed very loud. His own breathing wasn't all that subtle either. If anything, Gakupo felt his airways even more constricted than before, panic rising with the uncertainty of what was happening. Why did they stop? What were they planning to do?

He waited. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Then, the blaring of a siren in the distance. It grew in volume, until it became obvious that the source of the sound was heading in their direction.

Gumi shifted in his arms. "The police…"

"Maybe the neighbors heard what was happening," Gakupo replied. His voice sounded terrible to his ears, strained and dry. But it was his own, even if it felt like his larynx was suddenly dying.

Gumi tried to stand up, but Gakupo grabbed one of her arms. "Don't move the dresser just yet. It might be some kind of trick."

"Like what?" She asked, but Gakupo felt her sit down by his side once more.

"I don't know. Just wait."

The siren became louder and louder until it stopped in front of their home. Then, he could hear the muffled voices of men shouting at the door. They sounded completely normal. Next to him, Gumi moved restlessly. Even without the lights on, he could picture her impatient expression. "Alright. Call out to them, I can't shout like this."

Immediately Gumi jumped to her feet and cried out, "Help! We're in here! Help!"

In contrast, Gakupo remained seated where he was. He leaned his head against the wardrobe and listened with something oddly close to apathy as the police busted down the front door and entered the house. Was he going to pass out? His limbs felt like wool, and his head throbbed terribly. He closed his eyes as he heard what he assumed were the men quickly scanning the rest of the house for threats. Even when the officers began to try to open the bedroom door the only thing he could accomplish was to stop himself from sliding down to the floor.

"What are you doing?!" He heard Gumi yell as she and the officers struggled to get the dresser out of the way. "Help me push!" Her voice broke into a graceless little screech born out of nerves.

I can't, Gakupo wanted to say. But nothing came out of his mouth except a raspy cough. One of the officers managed to angle his flashlight in such a way to illuminate his face through the crack of the door and he groaned, blinded.

"Hold on, kid! We'll get out in no time!"

Finally, Gumi seemed to angle the dresser in such a way as to allow the officers to push it away. A slamming sound and there they were, two dark silhouettes scanning every corner of the room with their flashlights. As soon as they made sure the siblings were the only occupants of the room, one of the men approached Gakupo to help him up. But his legs were as steady as gelatine and immediately buckled under him.

"I'm sorry sir, I-"

"No reason to apologize, kid. I'll just need to—" The officer simply bent down and picked up Gakupo in a fireman's carry. Then he turned towards Gumi. "How about you, can you walk?"

Gumi just nodded, wiping her face.

"That's good, very good." The man said gently. "Let's get you both out of here, come on."

In the meantime, the other man had retreated into the corridor and was speaking in hushed tones into a cell phone. In his disoriented state, Gakupo couldn't quite decipher what the officer was saying.

The officer ended the call and addressed the man carrying Gakupo. "It's confirmed. The techs are on their way."

"What are you talking about?" Gumi asked.

The other man replied amicably. "This is a crime scene now, we need our friends from the laboratory to examine your house for a few days. Do you have any relatives or friends you can stay with?"

"...Luka's house." Gakupo mumbled her address.

"Canopus Circle?" There seemed a hint of surprise in the man's tone, but it was quickly gone by the time he spoke again. "I see. I see."

"Let's move," the other man said curtly. He grabbed Gumi's right forearm and pulled her towards the front door. Her brother heard her gasp, perhaps due to the officer's forceful attitude, perhaps due to the disastrous spectacle of their home.

Gakupo closed his eyes once more, unwilling to see what had become of the rooms that were just starting to become 'theirs´ after years of absence. He only opened them when the officer deposited him in the back seat of their car. With surprise, he realized that it was just a regular model without any separation between the front and back. What's more, now that he could see them in better light conditions, he realized that the men weren't wearing uniforms, just matching dark sport jackets without any logos, white shirts and dress pants.

By his side, Gumi was hugging her backpack and anxiously peering into the darkness outside the windows of the car. She obviously hadn't noticed anything strange about the two adults yet.

At that moment, the more jovial of the two men started the engine. His eyes met Gakupo's in the rear-view mirror and he gave the teen an encouraging smile. "Feeling better?"

"...Kinda." Except for the sinking realization that Gumi and he were trapped inside a moving vehicle with two strangers that might not belong to any law enforcement agency.

"That's good. Just lean back and take it easy."

At that hour, there was barely any traffic to speak of. The car freely raced down the street, turning the surroundings into a blur of sleeping homes and golden streetlights. Inside Gakupo's aching head, the questions just kept piling up. Real police officers would surely show them their badge and ask some questions about the home invaders, but these men seemed in no hurry to do either thing. Instead, they were rushing to drop them off somewhere, without even taking them to a hospital for a check-up… But if they weren't real police officers, who were they? What were they after? Was the car really headed to Luka's house? Gakupo was still getting used to the city, but they seemed to be headed in the right general direction. It could be a mere coincidence, however.

"Are you...like, detectives?" Gumi suddenly asked. "Why don't you wear caps and uniforms?"

The driver laughed. "Fair question. This is called wearing plainclothes, surely you've seen that kind of thing on TV." He seemed unfazed by the girl's question, and his sullen companion didn't even react in any noticeable way.

Gumi nodded, satisfied with the man's answer for the time being. Her brother, on the other hand, attempted to mask his troubled expression by rubbing his forehead. He wasn't sure it was a good idea to keep questioning these men, even though he dearly wished to do so. Ultimately, he decided to wait and see. Maybe he was overthinking things; after all, the men seemed far from hostile. So, although sleep seemed next to impossible given the circumstances, he tried to find a comfortable position to rest his head.

"Use this." Gumi took out a sweater from her backpack and handed it to Gakupo. He thanked her mutedly and placed it under his head as a makeshift pillow.

There was no more conversation until the car finally reached Luka's street. Then, the driver stated to his companion with a grin, "I'd better stay in the car. Keeps things simple, right?" The other man grunted in agreement.

Gakupo opened one eye tiredly. What did the man mean by that? But there beyond the windshield, just in the threshold of visibility, was Luka's home with its ivy and worn-down steps. The prospect of seeing her eclipsed everything else for a few blessed moments.

The car stopped next to the house and the sullen man jumped out. Gumi made to follow him, but the driver locked the doors once more and turned around in his seat. "Wait a moment, we need to have a little chat."

Gakupo strengthened up, suddenly alert. He and Gumi stared at the smiling man in silence.

"You aren't in any trouble, don't worry," the man reassured them. "I just wanted to ask you to keep the details of what happened tonight a secret until we come to get your statement. You can do that, right?"

"Why?" Gumi asked tilting her head.

"Standard police procedure. That way, the bad guys will think we know less about what's going on, and we can catch them unawares."

"But-"

"We promise," Gakupo cut her off. Gumi gave him an annoyed glance, but when their eyes met her irritation subsided. Even without words, she knew this was somehow important.

"It's a promise!" The man leaned towards the front passenger window. "Too bad we had to wake your friend and her mother up."

Ms. Asakawa was in the doorway, wrapped in a dark dressing gown. Luka was behind her, peeking at the car. The sullen man turned around and gestured with his hand.

"There you go," the driver said and unlocked the passenger doors.

Gumi jumped out, but then stopped and turned towards her brother.

"I'm not sure I can make it up the stairs without help," he stated in response to her questioning look. It was as if the encounter with his doppelgänger had completely drained his limbs of energy. Still, he pushed himself towards the open passenger door and tried to get up. He spent a second or two trying and failing to steady his legs, then Gumi circled his waist with her arms to keep him from falling.

At the sight of this, Luka wormed her way past her mother and the officer and descended the stairs. "Are you ok?!" She was wearing cute pink pajamas that didn't quite match her worried expression. Without waiting for an answer, she wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Lean on me!"

"It's nothing serious," Gakupo said with as light a tone as his sore throat allowed.

"Can you carry him to the second floor? We have a room-" Before Ms. Asakawa could finish, the sullen man grunted in agreement and approached the teens.

And that's how, minutes later, Gakupo found himself in a rather agreeable situation: lying down on Ms. Asakawa's guest bedroom, with Luka sitting next to his pillow. They were alone. Gumi had requested and obtained permission to take a bath before bed and Ms. Asakawa was down in the basement, attempting to unearth Luka's sleeping bag and some of her old clothes for the green-haired girl. The officers were long gone, leaving only a vague promise to call later.

Luka's cheeks were flushed as she leaned over Gakupo and brushed his hair away from his eyes. Her fingers felt cool and light, barely making contact with his skin. The gesture felt intimate yet mysterious, a sensation accentuated by the warm light of the lamp on the nightstand. All Gakupo wanted then was to lie there silently by Luka's side and watch the caramel glimmer of her hair. But the expectant face above his demanded an explanation.

"He came for us while we were having dinner." The words still sounded strained, although his throat felt a bit better. "He had some things with him, the same things that chased you down in the clinic, I'd bet. They got inside the house."

Luka's eyes widened. She leaned down slightly, causing her loose hair to brush against Gakupo's face. "You saw what they are?"

"Not- Not the things. But when we locked ourselves inside my room, he was outside, looking in through the window. Looking right at me."

Luka sucked air.

Gakupo hesitated for a moment before continuing. "I suppose you would've mentioned it by now, but… Did you see anything when he looked at you?"

"Eh?"

"I don't know what it was, some kind of hallucination? It was something about a tower. You were there as well, I think." For whatever reason, now that he was actively trying to recall the visions, the images seemed to burrow in the depths of his brain, eluding him.

Luka shook her head, obviously baffled.

"It must work differently for me, whatever this is." Gakupo had suspected this for a while, given that none of the girls that had encountered the man in the grey suit mentioned any headaches either. "If Gumi wasn't there to snap me out of it, I don't know what would've happened. I felt like I was losing my mind."

Luka leaned back, lost in thought. She snapped out of it moments later, adopting a serious expression. "You know what? It's really late and you look awful. Try to sleep, we can talk about this tomorrow."

He chuckled, which wasn't a good idea given the condition of his throat. "Hmm, I do feel like someone ran me over and then stomped on my head for seconds. I have a question before you go, though."

"What's that?"

"Did the officer show any ID to your mom when she opened the door? A badge or something?"

"Yes, of course," Luka narrowed her eyes. "I didn't see it up close, but he had a card inside his wallet. Why?"

"I don't know." There was a chance that he was both overly paranoid and too ignorant of how the police department actually worked, especially when it came to dealing with minors. "Ignore me. I shouldn't be keeping an studious girl like you up so late on a school day, rambling about nonsense."

Luka rose from the bed and strengthened her pajamas for slightly longer than necessary. Finally, she asked, "Would it ruin your image of me if I say I might skip school tomorrow? If you still feel sick in the morning, I mean."

The worry behind her words was evident, and it made him almost too happy for words. Almost. "Luka, nothing you can do could ever ruin my image of you. You took us into your home."

Luka evaded his eyes. "It was the obvious thing to do."

"You said it yourself when we visited your friend. Most people just stand aside and let things happen. Don't undervalue what you're doing."

Luka let out a tiny unintelligible sound, still not looking at him. Gakupo waited patiently. After a moment, Luka gave Gakupo a side glance. "You didn't bring anything else to wear, did you?"

"Honestly, I didn't even think about it, we were out the door in an instant when the officers arrived. The only reason Gumi has her backpack is that it was next to the front door."

Luka tapped her chin with a finger. "Then, you better get out of those clothes so I can put them in the washing machine for tomorrow. I'll get you one of mom's bathrobes." She paused, eyeing him with a indescribable expression. "...I'll be back in a moment."

After some struggle, Gakupo managed to wiggle his way out of his clothes despite his rather uncooperative body. He clumsily folded his shirt and pants and left them at the foot of the bed, then got under the covers. Sadly, his tie and jacket were back home, so he didn't even have a full school uniform. He had no doubts at least one teacher would scold him for showing up to school without them.

"I guess they'll have to deal with it," he muttered. He was pretty sure Macne would be more than willing to raise a fuss about it.

A moment later, he heard Luka's voice coming from outside the room, asking if she could come in. After he gave her the go ahead, she cautiously poked her head inside. She was carrying a fluffy white and pink bathrobe in her hands. "Is this ok?"

"Works for me." Gakupo shrugged, not particularly intimidated by the prospect of looking fabulous. He drowsily watched Luka drape it over the back of a chair and pick up his clothes; his eyelids were already dropping in anticipation of sleep. For a second, they closed and he stepped away from consciousness.

"Good night," he heard Luka say softly, as if from a great distance.

He opened one eye and smiled. "Good night, Luka. Thank you for everything."

"Don't mention it." Luka stared at him for a second or two longer, as if wanting to say or do something. But then she exited the room in silence.

Gakupo was fast asleep a few minutes later.


The alarm let out its unforgiving wail, pulling Luka out of a confusing, but pleasant dream of Gakupo and her living in an inundated city. She groaned and pulled the covers over her head, not quite willing yet to return to reality. Then, she heard a low muttering and shuffling. The alarm quieted down.

Oh, right. Luka sat up and saw Gumi next to her nightstand, scratching herself and looking as alert as a zombie. She was wearing an enormous T-shirt advertising a tourist spot— a gift from one of Ms. Asakawa's colleagues that Luka had never actually worn. Gumi was small enough that it served as a minidress of sorts.

"Good…" Gumi yawned spectacularly. "...Morning." She didn't seem to be in any rush to start the day.

"Good morning." Luka eyed the door to her room. "I'm gonna see how Gakupo is doing, ok? You can use the bathroom first."

Gumi grunted her acceptance and set out for the bathroom with the celerity of an iceberg. Luka jumped out of the bed and onto the sleeping bag and inflatable mattress on the floor. It made her room looks much messier and crammed than usual. She stepped around the younger girl and exited her room with unusual energy despite the hour.

Only when she was about to knock on the guest room's door did she pause. If Gakupo was still feeling under the weather, perhaps it was better to just let him sleep a bit longer.

But if he's up for it, I'd rather have him at school with me… There was still plenty she didn't understand, but from their conversation the night before she was certain it was a bad idea to leave Gakupo alone.

Before she could decide on a course of action, the door opened. Gakupo stood there garbed in the fluffy bathrobe, unsuccessfully fighting a particularly bad case of bed hair. After a moment, he gave her a sleepy smile. "Good morning."

"Good morning. How do you feel?"

"Pretty good, actually. The headache is gone." He tried again to comb his hair with his fingers, with predictably mediocre results. Vexingly, Luka realized she felt very tempted to ask Gakupo to let her brush his hair. It would be even better if it was longer, her mind shamelessly supplied. After all, she already had visual evidence of how good he would look with a ponytail.

Gakupo let his hand drop and he asked her in a marginally more alert tone, "Is there something wrong?"

Luka let out a non-committal grunt. There was a small, somewhat awkward pause before she asked, "You are coming to school with me, right?" A second later, Luka remembered Gumi and realized she hadn't even thought of including the younger girl in her question.

"I mean, if you wanna do something else I'm all ears, but yeah, that was the plan," Gakupo replied with his usual easygoing tone.

"Good. We're all going then." Luka eyed her bedroom door. "Though now that I think about it, Gumi is taking too long to get into the bathroom. We have time, but she really should get moving."

Gakupo laughed. "I bet you anything that she went back to sleep."

Luka took a step backwards and gestured for him to check for himself. Gakupo approached her door and quietly turned the knob. Gumi was curled up in Luka's bed, snoring contently as if it were her own. Gakupo shook his head at first with a look of amusement, but gradually his brow furrowed. "What am I going to do, Luka?"

"Huh?"

"I can't protect her from this. We don't even know what this man wants, or why he decided to act now." He closed the door and leaned against the opposite wall. After a sigh, he dropped his gaze and added quietly, "Maybe she'd be safer away from me."

Luka considered the idea. "While we investigate, you mean? I guess she could stay with your family for a while—"

"Not them. No." Gakupo hugged himself as if cold. "There has to be another option." Even without the words themselves, his tone of voice and body language made it completely clear that the option was off the table.

I wonder what happened to make him feel this way about them, Luka thought. But it wasn't the right moment to broach the subject, not yet. Instead, she asked, "What about Miku?"

The suggestion made Gakupo raise his head, eyes shining with a hopeful light. "That's it! I'm sure she'll say yes!"

"Then Gumi can stay with her until we figure this out, and you can stay here with me," Luka concluded, satisfied.

Gakupo stared at her with a hesitant expression. "Are you sure? What if he comes here again? He could be after me."

"We're getting a new security system installed today." When he still looked unconvinced, Luka placed her hands on her hips. "It's better than having you back home alone, unless you're trying to make me worry!"

"I…"

"Please." Luka reached out and grasped one of his hands.

Gakupo's eyes seemed less confident than what Luka would've liked, but finally he gave her a relenting smile. "I was the one that said we'd solve this together, wasn't I?"

"You were," the girl agreed. "And we will."


What with one thing and another, it was fairly close to the start of the school day when Gakupo and Luka walked into their classroom. A few heads turned their way, accompanied by the expected tittering and whispering, only exacerbated by Gakupo's incomplete uniform. Luka surveyed the class with an icy stare and sternly marched towards her chair. Gakupo approached his own desk wishing he could achieve the same level of intimidation.

Kaito was already on his seat, fiddling with his mobile. But as soon as Gakupo moved the chair to sit down, his blue-haired classmate raised his head and grinned. "Hey! What's with the casual look?"

"Hello." Gakupo plopped down and rested his elbows on the desk. "Can I go for the tired phrase and say it's a long story?"

"Sure, but I don't think that's gonna work with Samuels or Macne."

Gakupo shrugged. Luka's mom had offered to write down an explanation of last night's events in case any teachers took offense at the state of his wardrobe, but since she wasn't his guardian he doubted it would make a difference.

"And Luka didn't nag you about it? You're a bad influence, man." Kaito laughed.

Gakupo spared a glance to the side, wondering if Luka was listening in. Instead, he found the girl looking towards the door, practically oozing indignation. He followed her gaze and saw Yohio rushing towards his seat at the last second before their math teacher walked in.

I'm pretty sure half of the fun for Yohio and the others is to get a reaction out of Luka, Gakupo thought as the teacher began to call the roll. If they find out we're gonna live together for a while, it's only going to fuel the gossip. Not that it really mattered to him: Gakupo was more than prepared to ignore them until they grew bored. Whether Luka was ready to do the same was another matter entirely.

Math class passed as swiftly as it could be expected to, which wasn't swift at all. But finally the chime for first break sounded. Yohio immediately jumped to his feet and almost ran into the teacher's back in his hurry to exit the classroom. Luka rose almost as quickly, but seemed to mentally reconsider the idea of pursuing the blonde boy before taking two steps.

Gakupo walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Maybe we should forget about him?"

Luka eyed him with a frown, but finally made a gesture with her hands, indicating her surrender. "Fine. But if I catch him spying on us again…," she trailed off ominously.

Gakupo smiled, honestly impressed at how threatening Luka could look. It helped tremendously that he wasn't the current target of her wrath, so he was free to admire the intensity of her eyes. Beautiful.

The girl seemed to calm down somewhat in response to his reaction. She looked downwards and played with a lock of pink hair. "This is giving me a headache, I think I need some air." She approached the window and Gakupo gladly followed her, then leaned next to her on the sill.

For a minute or two neither spoke, content as they were to feel the breeze and each other's close presence. Then, Gakupo noticed Yohio on the grounds below, as the boy ran towards the fence encircling the school. Oddly enough, he wasn't headed for the main entrance, where a few people were posted selling treats as usual. His destination was to the left, towards a nicely shaded spot near the corner of the property. A couple of evergreen trees and some bushes were planted in a squarish shape, partially hiding the view of the street beyond them.

There was a splotch of color there, at the other side of the metal bars. Someone was waiting for Yohio.

"What is it?" Luka asked when she noticed Gakupo craning his neck. She followed her gaze just in time to see Yohio stop by the fence and begin a conversation with whoever was there. "Oh."

"Can you tell who he's talking to?" There was something familiar about that figure, but Gakupo couldn't exactly place it.

"No idea." The corners of her mouth curved upwards. "He might have some secrets of his own. The difference between us being, I'm not that eager to stick my nose in someone else's business."

"And that makes you a hundred times better in my book." Without thinking, Gakupo put his arm around her shoulders. A second later, she captured his hand, making sure he couldn't pull it away.

They stayed like that, without moving, for the rest of the break.


Several days passed. The police appeared to have no hurry in their investigation; there were no calls and no indication that it was okay for the siblings to return to their home.

Fortunately, Miku was more than glad to have Gumi over for as long as necessary. Perhaps the teal-haired girl felt suffocated in her isolating bubble of luxury or her shyness made her feel attracted towards her more outgoing and spontaneous friend. Whatever the reason, her affection was clear. Gumi reciprocated in her own, not particularly self-reflective way, with energy and cheer.

Gakupo was also faring quite well. It was a bit bothersome to go without his things, but Ms. Asakawa had stepped in with her usual largesse to make sure he had toiletries and spare clothes. Needless to say, he felt a small pang of sadness from time to time when he thought of his parent's home going unattended once more. Gakupo could easily picture the remains of the dinner he never finished rotting on the table, but what about the rest of the house? How hard would it be to clean and fix everything? How many irreplaceable mementos were lying now in pieces in the corridor and living room? He now regretted closing his eyes when the officer carried him to the car that night. At least he'd know.

But his worry often retreated to the back of his mind, buried under a surprising sense of contentment. He had felt as an unwanted guest for so long at his uncle's house that it was almost frightening how welcomed he felt now. Ms. Asakawa was flighty and almost childlike at times, but accepting and good-humored. And Luka?

What was a good way to describe what he felt when their eyes met each morning? When he glanced at her in class, just to see her profile? When she followed him into the guest room one afternoon and haltingly asked him to hug her?

It was too much, too all-consuming. Luka was pale roses and ivory, and faraway oceans full of secrets. A cold star spreading her light across the cosmos, as unknowable as the black void between galaxies. And yet, she was also the calm, smart girl sitting next to him studying physics. The warm girl guiding him by the hand towards a private spot in the school grounds. She was a regular girl, she was everything, she was blinding. Her light seared his eyes, and he could no longer see the cracks of the world.

The cracks were still there, of course. And beyond them, all the hateful things waiting in the dark.

One evening, Luka and Gakupo were studying together in her room. Low instrumental music played on her phone, complementing the subdued scratching of their pencils and the occasional comment or question.

"What did you get on this one?" Gakupo pointed to the fourth exercise on a long list of equations.

"32."

"32? Wha-? Did I forget a minus sign somewhere?" He studied his work sheet with a frown.

"Or maybe I did," Luka said charitably, though pretty convinced she had the right answer. Gakupo had a bad tendency to skip steps while working on problems, which sometimes ended on disaster. She, on the other hand, was proudly fastidious when it came to writing down every part of the solution. "Let me see what the book says," she added while grabbing her textbook.

She was still looking for the answer when the door opened and Ms. Asakawa stood on the threshold, phone in hand. "Sachiko just called me." In contrast to her usual demeanor, her tone of voice was subdued. Luka eyed her with suspicion. Her mother only spoke like that when she didn't want to alarm her, which naturally ended up having the opposite effect.

"Is something the matter?" Gakupo asked innocently.

For a second, Ms. Asakawa studied him, clearly having some internal debate. "Did Gumi call you, by any chance?"

"I left my phone back home," Gakupo replied shaking his head. "She has Luka's number in case of emergency, but…" He eyed the device on the bed, still playing music.

Luka took her phone and checked it, just in case. No messages, just as she expected. She communicated this to her mother.

Again, Ms. Asakawa seemed to have trouble deciding what to say. Finally, Gakupo asked, "What did Miss Sachiko say?"

"The girls are missing." Apparently, the woman abruptly decided that the direct approach was the best. She raced through the rest of the explanation, "Sachiko left Gumi and Miku in the greenhouse having tea. When she went to get them for dinner a couple hours later, they were gone. She searched for them all over the property, then went outside to the street, but couldn't find them. She was hoping you knew something."

Gakupo turned white as the papers before him. He rose to his feet as if pulled by a wire, dropping the pencil and worksheets to the ground. His mouth moved forming a syllable, but no sound came out.

Luka stood up as well, stomach churning. But she managed to ask, "Did she call the police?"

Her mother gave her an odd look. "Yes, they sent a squad car." Her eyes fixed on Gakupo's deathly pale face next. "At first, the officers suggested that maybe the girls snuck out to have fun. And when Sachiko reminded them that Gumi had already been attacked at her home, they didn't know what she was talking about."

"W-What?"

"No one in the precinct has ever heard of you, your sister, or any recent incident at Pyrgi Street. They have no idea who those men that came to your house are."