Part XXII

"What's the matter Saeba-San?" asked a completely bewildered Miki-san. She couldn't understand a single thing that was going on in the restaurant. First Kaori disappeared, then the attempt on her, and then this present condition. She couldn't understand one bit of it. Ryo came out of the restaurant and started walking towards his own apartment with Miki-San on his heels. The journey was tiring itself without Kaori, but it was devastatingly a hundred times more tiring due to the question that she asked Ryo throughout the way. Ryo kept mum, he didn't say a word. It was better to guess that he was in no mental condition to answer the questions. He didn't even look up, he just walked the path with his head sunk, and hand in his pockets.

Neither Umibozu and Saeko, nor Ryo and Miki came to know about the new magic crew that was to perform in two days on the occasion of Christmas at the large hall in Kabuki-Cho. They were preparing for their final act. The final act was a heart-throb – "A girl jumps from over a hundred feet and vanishes in the air, and then after a series of performances, reappears in the air and lands safely on the ground." The crew comprised 7 male and 4 female workers, with one male as the leader of the crew. "It seems a nice act" thought Tomo-Chan who had a glimpse of their practice while she was returning from an errand sent by the doctor "The man there seems to be quite handsome" she thought and blushed. It was just then that the person she was looking at turned to her. Although she felt an eerie sensation down her spine, she thought that it would be a good decision to let the doctor and most of all Ryo and Kaori-San to know about this. Both the doctor and Tomo-Chan were completely in dark regarding the sudden disappearance of Kaori. "It's been a long time since Ryo and Kaori-Chan went together to attend a festival. Moreover it's Christmas tomorrow. I should better get going before Doc comes searching for me in the streets." She thought. Actually she was happy regarding the sudden relapse and return of Kaori from the year-long coma. So she went to the clinic bouncing with joy.

"What's the matter Tomo-Chan? Why are you so happy today?" asked the old Doc as she entered the clinic. She answered with the details that she had seen on her way back here. "Hmm…… Sounds good. I'll let Kaori know, don't worry about that. Thanks Tomo-Chan" he said, to which the girl replied with a broad grin. The doctor then immediately went out of the clinic in search for The City Hunter and Kaori, leaving Tomo-Chan in charge of the clinic for the time being.

On the other hand, another drama was going on at Ryo's apartment. The so-called female visitor Tachiki Sayuri was in tears and Saeko was trying her utmost to stop her from crying. After sometime, she stopped crying and asked for another glass of water, which was promptly brought to her by Umibozu. As she drank it in a gulp, both Saeko and Umibozu kept mum and looked at the new visitor's face in the hope that she might start talking finally.

After some final sobs, she started her story "I am Tachiki Sayuri. I work as the Editor-in-chief of the Weekly News Magazine published in Japan." Both Saeko and Umibozu were astonished by her words. "What can possibly the relation between Kaori and her?" thought both of them. But by the time, the visitor had already started talking again "Perhaps you're thinking what can possibly be the connection between me and Kaori." Both Umibozu and Saeko nodded in approval to her question. The girl continued "Before telling that I want to tell about my family back when I was just a kid. We were a happy family. My father used to earn for us, and mother would look after the family as goes the fact of any other normal family. The problem started when the company my father used to work for, broke one day. The company went bankrupt and my father was accused of the crime. We fled from our home. It was winter then, because I can still remember the chilly nights when we stayed out in the cold. There were several days when we slept with hunger lurking within us. My father had to prove his innocence, and we wanted food for ourselves. So, after we had stayed out for a month or more, one morning, my sleep was disturbed by the sound of a quarrel between my mother and him. I didn't quite understand the words then; still I remember words like girl……sell…. Money. All I could do then, was to look at both of them, fighting. After sometime, my father left. I have never seen him since then." Saying this, the female visitor stopped with teary eyes. Umibozu and Saeko both had a question going on in the back of their minds. As soon as she finished, Umibozu could hold it no more, and almost blurted it out "What's the connection of this story with Kaori? Where does Kaori fit in this story?" The girl shouted at the top of her lungs "KAORI WAS MY SISTER! WE WERE FOUR PERSONS IN OUR FAMILY: MY MOTHER, MY MOTHER, ME AND KAORI. MY FATHER HAD KAORI IN HIS ARMS, WHEN I SAW HIM FOR THE LAST TIME. KAORI WAS MY YOUNGER SISTER…….." With this, the girl again broke in tears. Now Saeko asked another question "If she was your sister, how come she hasn't ever talked about you till now? How come we know nothing about you?" The girl kept mum for some time, after which she said "Father was taking Kaori to sell her for a good price, but before that he was chased and shot from behind by a policeman. I came to know about it only last year, when I started searching for him and Kaori. I even tried to track the police officer who had shot him, but it was in vain. No one could tell who did it. I didn't give up, but nothing came out of it. Just the last year, I came to know about the police officer; not his name, but that he had a son named Makimura Hideyuki. It was then that I tried heart and soul to track her down. But I never reached her. Kaori always stayed out of my reach, and yet now, I am at her home, still! Anyway, after I reached Shinjuku, I heard an ancient Chinese proverb 'If you write "XYZ, I have no place to go, please help me" on the message board at Shinjuku station, your wish would be granted' and straightaway went for the message board, hoping it to work. And after I had written my message and was coming out of the station, I was run on by some mad man. I went to the hotel I was living in, since I came to Shinjuku and it was there that I found that someone had slipped this in the pocket of my overcoat. I was awake the whole night. I couldn't think of anything, I just locked the door of my room and came here, the first thing today morning."