A/N: Hello once again! Thanks for the reviews and please keep them coming, I need feedback! [more notes below]

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thursday feb.21

Misao was sitting at her kitchen table, drinking coffee. Yumi. Where was she? Misao had called Shizuoka asylum. Komagata-san's condition hadn't changed. The nurse didn't know if Yumi had called as she did every single night.

What can I do?, Misao asked herself. Inform her disappearance? Call the police and find out if she had had any accident?

A sudden idea made her stop her ramblings. What if Yumi had had an accident in her apartment? What if she had been all this time there, lying unconscious?

It took her five minutes to get some clothes on, get out of her house and catch a taxi.

-..-..-..-

Houji Sadoshima, the receptionist of the building where Yumi lived, had a soft spot for beautiful women. That's why, when he heard the insistent ring and went to open the door, his expression totally morphed into one seductive smile.

He liked what he saw. Long legs, slim body. Long black hair tied forming a plait, with some bangs that were too short to be held back. A heart-shaped face with full rosy lips. He had seen her before, with the one living in the 3B, Yumi Komagata.

"What can I do for you, madam?"

Misao walked past him trying not to let him see her disgust. Yumi had talked about him some times.

"Houji scares me," she had said. "I don't like it one bit, to think that he has a key to my apartment. I found him once inside when I arrived. He invented I don't know what excuse to get out of the situation. He never really stole anything, it's just that lustful expression that creeps me out. But I've got a bolt that I use whenever I'm home and the rent is conveniently low. I'm sure the man is harmless."

Misao got directly to the point.

"I'm worried about Yumi Komagata. We were supposed to meet last night but she didn't come. She doesn't answer the phone. I want to get in her apartment. It might had happened something to her."

"She was fine yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

"No, I'm wrong. I saw her on Tuesday. She came with some bags from the groceries."

"Did you see her get out or come back on Tuesday night?"

"No, I didn't. But, listen, I'm not a doorkeeper, so---"

"Please, I need to see if she's okay up there. You've got the master key, right?"

The lustful smirk reappeared.

"You understand that I never allow anyone in just because they're asking me to let them, right? But I've seen you with Komagata. I know you're friends. You're like her. Classy. Beautiful."

Misao ignored him and started her way up the stairs.

When Misao entered Yumi's apartment, her immediate impression was that everything was in order. With Houji right behind her, she went to the small kitchen, then to her bedroom. Everything was in its proper place.

Yumi's toothbrush and cosmetics were still in the bathroom.

Houji was impatient.

"Everything's fine to me. Are you not satisfied already?"

"No."

Misao went to the living room once more and checked the answering machine. There were 12 calls.

"Uh, I don't know if it's---"

"Listen. Yumi has dissapeared, You understand? Dissapeared. I'm going to listen to these messages to see if I can get a clue where she is. Then I'm going to call the police and ask about the accidents ocurred yesterday. She could lay unconscious in hospital who knows where. You can stay with me or, if you're busy, get out. Do as you like."

Houji shrugged.

"I guess there'll be no problem if I leave you here."

Misao turned her back to him and took out of her bag a paper and a pen. She didn't hear Houji get out because she was already listening to the messages. The first one was from Tuesday afternoon, at 18.45. Someone named Miyauchi Maekawa. Thanks for answering his ad. Could they have dinner together? He'd call back.

Surely, Yumi had already left to meet Souji Okita at 19.00. The following message was from Enishi Yukishiro. "Yumi, I really liked reading about you and I hope you could go out to dinner with me some time this week. If you can, call me tonight." Yukishiro left his telephone number.

The other messages were from Wednesday. They started at nine and were mostly regarding her job. One caught Misao's attention, it was from Koshijirou Katsuhiko. "Komagata-san, I'm most surprised that you didn't come to our meeting today at 10am. Please call right away." That man had called at 11. Then, he called again, and again, each time more irritated. Apart from Misao's messages, there was one from Usui Hanzo himself.

"Yumi, this is Usui Hanzo. What's wrong? My employer is bugging me and blaming me because you didn't show up."

Misao didn't delete the messages. She called the nearest police station.

"I want to report a disappearance." She was told that she had to go to the police station personally. She decided to do that on the way back home.

She wasn't here yesterday morning, Misao thought. She didn't come back during Tuesday night.

The telephone rang. Please let it be Yumi, Misao begged.

"Hello."

"Yumi?" A man's voice.

"No, this is Misao Makimachi. I'm a friend of Yumi's."

"Do you know where I can contact Yumi?"

"Who is it?"

"Usui Hanzo."

He was the one working for the rich family... about the necklace. What was he saying?

"... if you've got any idea as to where Yumi could be, please, tell her that this family will sue her if she doesn't bring the necklace. I know Yumi keeps the jewelry in a safe. Do you happen to know if it is there?"

If the necklace wasn't inside the safe, then it would mean someone mugged her when she was taking it to her employers. If it was there, it would surely mean that something had happened to her. Nothing would have stopped Yumi from delivering that necklace in time.

Misao knew Yumi kept the combination written in her diary.

"I've got the combination. I'll wait till you get here. I don't want to open the safe without witnessses. And if the necklace is here, I want you to give me a written evidence that I gave it to you."

Usui was going. As soon as Misao hung up, she called Houji so that he witnessed everything as well.

Usui was in the cab that was taking him to Yumi's apartment. Misao Makimachi seemed pretty smart. She mustn't suspect anything. When Usui got out of the car, he saw Houji Sadoshima waiting for him and cursed himself. He didn't want two witnesses.

Usui turned his back to Misao while she opened the safe with the proper combination that she had memorised so that nobody knew where Yumi had the written numbers. Smart girl.

"I want to write down everything we find inside the safe."

"Let me give you everything. I'll describe the things while you write everything down."

Misao doubted, but nodded nonetheless. He was also a jewelry designer, for crying out loud..! She didn't need to mistrust him.

Usui looked over his shoulder and noticed that Houji was looking around the place to see if he could find an ashtray. It was the perfect moment.

He slipped a little box while taking out other precious stones that Yumi kept there.

"Ah, here's the necklace. Beautiful, isn't it?"

Misao imagined Yumi working on it, sitting on the chair in front of her desk, like when they studied together. Where could Yumi intentionally go, knowing that she still hadn't delivered the necklace?

Intentionally, nowhere.

They continued registering the rest of the jewelry.

"The necklace is here, but a little box containing diamonds that I gave Yumi is missing. They were worth a quarter of a million dollars."

-..-..-..-

Misao exited the building with Usui.

"I'll go to the police station."

"Yes. I'll go take this necklace to my employer. If we get no news about Yumi, I'll call the insurance company to report the missing diamonds."

Misao entered the police station. When she reported what had happened, the officer told her:

"We cannot accept this report just because a grown woman dissappears for a day or two. It would be violating the freedom of circulation. What we can do is check recent accidents if you could give me an accurate description."

Nervous, Misao described her friend. 1.68 mts, thin, brown-haired, green eyes, 24 years.

"Ah, wait, I have her photo in my wallet."

The officer looked at it and then gave it back.

"A beautiful woman." He gave her his card and she gave him hers. "We'll keep in touch."

-..-..-..-

Tsubaki Yamamoto slowly drank her coffee. Chou hadn't been there last night. Again. When he had those late meetings he slept in a hotel room near his office. He got mad when she called him there.

During Tuesday night, Eiji played that basketball game. He was the one that, in the last minute, shot; his team won because of him. His father wasn't there. The nanny couldn't go and so she wasn't there either.

"Let's see if we can call your father and tell him the great news. This could be called an 'emergency'." She had said. But Chou Sawagejo was not registered there. There was no occupied conference room. The suite Chou's company booked for their staff was empty.

Eiji noticed that. That night, he cried.

My husband doesn't love me or his kids for that matter, Tsubaki thought. When did I started being so untidy that it didn't matter anymore if I looked nice or not to him?

The answer wasn't difficult. Two years before, when she was pregnant. Both called a nanny. And Tsubaki was sure Chou had had an affair with her.

Why didn't I tell him something? She thought. Because I still loved him? Because I hated to admit that my father was right?

Tsubaki had once read an article about professional women that followed one's husband and controlled them. They also dealed with divorces.

Tsubaki dialed the telephone number.

"I think my husband is seeing another woman. I want the divorce and I want to know every one of his activities."

-..-..-..-

The road was dark. The place was almost hidden behind the trees, away from curious eyes. He had bought it some years ago. A gift.

The house was pretty old, but it was comfortable. The basement had a big freezer. It didn't have any food inside. When necessary, Katsuhiro placed the girls' bodies there, until he digged their tombs. There was also a table, and over it, ten boxes containing shoes and sandals. There were only two left to decorate.

When he wanted to get away from everything, he went there, in the middle of the woods, and danced.

He had installed and hid a videotaping device so that he could revive every delicious moment. Then, he started to take the girls there, one by one. Yumi was the eigth girl that died there. But she wouldn't join the others in the woods surrounding the house. That night, he would take out Yumi's body. He had decided exactly where he would leave her.

Once he took out Yumi's body from the freezer, he danced one more time and then kissed her lips the way he had kissed Tomoe.

Everything had started with Tomoe, seven years before, on March 13. It would be March 13 in a couple of weeks. Before that, he would bring Misao and everything would have finished.

He noticed that Yumi's shirt was getting wet. He had to take her to the city. As he moved Yumi's body so that he could turn off the stereo, he didn't realized that a golden ring with a "Y" imprinted on it slipped from one of Yumi's frozen fingers. He didn't heard the tinkling noise it made once it fell. The ring remained on the floor, semi hidden under the flinges of the carpet.

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A/N: Okay..! Now we're talking. Everything is getting complicated from here. Sorry it's getting a bit angsty, but that's just the way it is.

I'm sorry I'm not updating as frequently, but... what else could be the excuse? Busy life..! _

Review and give me you opinion about this..! =)

And speaking of which, since I heard I can't post the review responses, I'll just thank gaby (hyatt for taking the time to write a few lines (and since you left a question, I'll just ignore for now the new 'policy'... ::shhh:: *whispers* actually Kaoru and her ex are going to talk to each other in the next chap, I promise =P).

I repeat, people, I wish I had some feedback..! Please please review..! Till later..!