Mado just stared at him firmly.
The silence was worse than if she'd yelled at him.
Finally she spoke. "Haise, in light of the…erm… situation…I have a new partner for you."
"A…partner…?" Haise repeated.
And out stepped a woman like out of a dream. She was so, so familiar. Long dark hair, sparkling eyes, a wicked smile…
The name was on his lips before he realized he'd spoken. "Rize…?"
The woman stepped out of the darkness at the same moment he moved, pressing the palm of his hand to a place in the middle of his chest. She blinked and her eyes found him. Her body straightened and she looked on the verge of bolting.
"No, don't leave," he heard himself saying.
"It's…nice to meet you…" the woman said. "My name is Sadako."
"I don't need a partner." Haise attempted.
"You don't have a choice after the stunt you pulled." Mado said firmly, leaving the office so they could get acquainted.
"Mado told me you like to read." Sadako smiled. "I do too."
"I know," he said. Then he felt his face flush hot and his body go cold because there was absolutely no reason why he should say such a thing. He had no reason to talk to this new partner at all.
She was staring at him again, with an odd expression on her face. "What did you say?"
"That I must go." Haise turned and moved quickly away into the hallway.
He expected the emotions she had made him feel to fade, to flow from him. But some of Sadako's quiet sadness stayed with him, as did her guilt and, most peculiarly of all, her loneliness stayed with him pooled in a deep, hidden abyss in his soul.
As she exited the office and walked away, Haise stared after Rize's ringer for a long time.