I had made pretty good progress on this chapter and had hoped to have it up at the beginning of the month but then life happened, including and not limited to getting COVID (I'm fine now though), eye appointment palavers and preparing for moving from a Saturdays role to a full-time role at work (I'll be officially starting full-time work soon! very exciting!). Anyway better late than never right? I hope you enjoy this!

Gabriel

Akio Arisato, Akagi Benbow, Akemi Koizumi, Rieka Amasaki, Mitsuhide Okita, Otsuka Jihara and Ritsuka Nishimiya.

Finally, thanks to a combination of different testimonies, and Kyosuke Munakata unexpectedly sending over all the CCTV footage from the days of the New Hope's Peak tours, we were all finally sure of who had gone missing, and that at least they were together. The next step was trying to work out where they had gone, and trying to retrace their steps, and so I was sitting in the incident room making various phone and video calls. Most of the children's parents had been worried about their children's welfare, and this had been clear even when it had manifested in arrogance and rage.

Akemi Koizumi's parents were different. I had spent the last half an hour on a video call(my fifth attempt at trying to contact them at all) and though they were well aware that they hadn't seen Akemi for a couple of days they were about as un-worried as it was possible to be. They seemed convinced that Akemi was doing this specifically to anger them, and that anger had spilled out to me, going around in circles and circles.

"Since you're making such a fuss, you had best make sure that Akemi comes home promptly!" Hikaru Koizumi said.

"Yes," Meguki Koizumi added. "She's missed three engagements already, and she's not answering her phone! She's seen most of her messages! I know because they're marked as read!"

"Ah, Koizumi-san, what was the most recent message that you've seen marked as read?"

"What?"

The woman's eyes bugged out.

"Why do you need to know? What does that have to do with anything?" she demanded.

"It might give us a clue as to where she's been or what she has been doing. Has she replied to anything at all, or has she just been reading them?"

"She hasn't replied at all, but what does that matter? She's clearly decided that now she's become a Hope's Peak student she doesn't need to put in any effort anymore! It's absolutely maddening, she needs to know she can't just flounce off whenever she feels like it!" Hikaru thundered.

Honestly, if she has run away on purpose I'm not sure I'd blame her. I thought. I tried to let it wash over me, and did my best attempt at a calm smile as I said:

"That is why we need as much information as possible, so that we can get her back quickly and minimise any problems."

"This…well, yes. I suppose the sooner we get her back the easier it will be to clean up any scandal. Her reputation will be ruined if she's gotten mixed up in something dangerous. Our reputation will be ruined if she's done that! We raised a beautiful, smart child-not a delinquent!" Meguki said, wringing her hands. "I don't understand why she has run off!"

Deep breath, Gabe, I told myself. Deep breath. But the rest of the conversation was just as painful, and although I had been given her number and full permission to track her phone, I ended up getting nothing more than the beginnings of a headache and the conviction that next time we needed to deal with Akemi's parents, I was making Evalynn do it. She would surely have words for them, and not enough patience to swallow them with-but it was better her than me, really. Over my career I'd come across terrible parents of all flavours, but they had to be amongst the worst. For people so concerned with reputation, they hadn't even tried to come across as caring. Was this really the effect of fame?

Once I had finished writing up the interview, I left the incident room. I planned to step out and first call Hibiki before then checking in on Juro, to see how he and Mai had been doing. Evalynn had told me they'd gone home together from the hospital, but that was the only update I'd had. But as I made my way to the entrance, I saw two men sitting in the waiting area. One was Taiki Benbow, and the other was a man with dark red hair, whom I'd never met but recognised immediately as Akagi's father. Both were looking down at the floor, shoulders tensed. However, Taiki looked up when I approached.

"Detective," he asked. "Have you found out anything?"

"We're piecing together their movements, but we're sure that Akagi-kun isn't on his own." I told him. "Why don't you go home for now?"

"That's…well, I don't really know what to do with myself. And Tsubasa-kun…"

Akagi's father looked up at me, and then signed: do you know sign language. This was when I remembered that he was mute, though he could still hear. Nonetheless, I replied in both sign and speech to say:

"Only a little bit, sorry."

Tsubasa smiled and nodded, and then took out his phone. He typed something in it, and then a generic male voice with a Tokyo accent came out of the phone:

"That's alright. I'm used to communicating like this, anyway. But do you really think that the same thing that happened to Friede has now happened to my son?"

The pain in his eyes was raw, and I realised that at some point he had been crying. I chose my words carefully:

"Not necessarily the same thing, as we can't be sure of that. But we have to consider the possibility that it's related. Has anybody talked to you yet? If there's anything that you know about, that Akagi-kun may have told you?"

Tsubasa shook his head, expression becoming more sorrowful.

"Tsubasa-kun hasn't really been talking to Akagi since he came to live with me." Taiki explained. "Things got complicated after my other nephew died."

Tsubasa was typing in his phone quite rapidly, having to backspace a few times, but after a few moments the voice came out of his phone again:

"Friede was afraid that something like what happened to her could happen to Akagi and, for that matter, to Kou. She wanted them both to be safe, but she wasn't good at showing that that was what she meant. That was why all of this time I tried to support her, because I thought if I could show her that we were safe, and that Kou's death was just a tragic accident and not a sign of something worse to come, that she'd thaw out. I knew Akagi would be safe and loved by Taiki-kun, but Friede didn't have anyone who really understood. She is a lot more fragile than she appears and I didn't want her to break completely, but now I think that that was my mistake."

I opened my mouth to say something, but Tsubasa had started typing rapidly again. He seemed to be back-spacing a lot, and paused often to take a breath, but eventually he finished, and rather than press the button to turn the text to speech, he held out the phone to me. I peered at the screen and silently read:

What if she really did hurt him? What if I had made a mistake and now it's too late? I don't know what I should do now. He's still a child, and I'm the adult, the parent. I shouldn't have taken sides. What if it's too late?

I looked up at him, not knowing what to say. Tsubasa was right-he shouldn't have taken the side that he had. There was nothing that I could say that would hide that judgement. I'd seen parents put other adults above their vulnerable children far too many times to ever understand doing such a thing. Yet, it was rare for such a parent to see the errors of their ways, let alone regret it. In the end, I thought a platitude about doing all that we could would be more than enough to cover it without revealing any of my own feelings, but just as I made to do that I heard footsteps and voices, and turned to see that Shizuka was escorting Friede out.

Immediately, Tsubasa stood up, and Friede saw him. The stony expression on her face melted away.

"Tsubasa." She breathed out.

She went towards him, but he took a step back. Friede faltered, then reached out, but Tsubasa shook his head fiercely, and glared at her. Taiki looked between them uncertainly as Friede asked:

"T-Tsubasa? What's wrong?"

Tsubasa immediately started signing furiously, too furious for me to make out any part of what he was saying. Friede signed back, her hands trembling, but I couldn't understand what she was trying to say either. Whatever it was, it only seemed to frustrate Tsubasa more, because his signing got faster. Taiki got up too, looking as uncertain as I felt. For a brief moment, Friede's own signing became furious too and then quite abruptly, she started to yell.

"How can you say that? How can you say that, Tsubasa? You knew, after all. I thought I was safe with you-I thought, I thought…you're my heart, Tsubasa. Please don't do this, please, please don't do this."

Friede burst into noisy, inelegant sobs and Tsubasa faltered for a moment. He outstretched a hand, then shook his head and drew it back. Taiki gawped at him, then sighed and made a move to perfunctorily pat her back. Friede looked up at this, hope raw in her eyes, but that hope fell away when she saw it was Taiki and not Tsubasa.

Tsubasa stared at her, cold but not completely ice. Then he sighed again and started to sign again, something melancholy in the motions. Friede spluttered and gasped, but Tsubasa shook his head with finality.

"I think it might be best for you to take this outsi-"

Tsubasa shook his head, interrupting Shizuka. He then bowed to her, then to me, before turning and leaving abruptly.

"Wait!" Taiki called out.

But Tsubasa did not appear to have heard, and Taiki rubbed his head, before turning to his sister, whose tears had dried, leaving her hollow. Taiki tried to comfort her again, but she shrugged off his hand and also stormed out. I took a few steps forward, but it seemed as if Tsubasa was well out of sight. Indeed, Friede faltered for a moment, before hunching her shoulders as if cold and walking away.

There was a moment of silence, before Taiki turned to me and said:

"I apologise for that."

"There's nothing to apologise for. Do you need to go to Tsubasa-san now?" I asked.

"I…probably should yes, but…my sister…she's being punished enough now. Please don't add anything more to that."

"The law is the law, Benbow-san. However, your sister isn't being charged for anything, as we've stablished that she has not had any involvement in your nephew's disappearance." Shizuka interjected.

Taiki lowered his head briefly, and then looked up and said:

"That's something, at least. You'll let me know if anything happens?"

"Yes, of course. Try and rest yourself. It's not good to overextend yourself during such stressful times."

Taiki nodded, and then trudged away. I watched him go, and turned to Shizuka.

"Are we any clearer on where they could have gone?" I asked. "I've not had much luck with…some of the parents."

Shizuka studied my face, and then asked:

"How were Akemi Koizumi's parents?"

The worst, the worst you could imagine and then some. But I fought to keep some semblance of composure as I summarised the conversation. Shizuka scrutinised me, and then said:

"Usually someone concerned with keeping up appearances would do just that. I suppose that their daughter's fame has affected them to such an extent that they feel that their views are the acceptable ones."

"Indeed."

"Do you think we need to consider that as a factor in her disappearance?"

I floundered.

"I mean, I'm sure that she would have been glad to get away, but that wouldn't be the reason for all of them disappearing, would it? Though maybe it could be if they've become close enough for her to confide…"

"When you put it like that, perhaps not." Shizuka conceded. "I get the sense that Akemi Koizumi would have kept such things close to her chest. But we also know that Akagi Benbow has had a troubled homelife too, and Akio Arisato's also been having issues as a result of this investigation."

I nodded, understanding her point:

"That's true. And we know that Akio-kun was troubled enough to leave his school friend and stay with Akagi-kun, though they haven't known each other long. So, it's possible that the boys confided in the rest. So that could have something to do with why they've gone, but not where."

"Let's go to the incident room and see what else has been found." Shizuka said decisively.

We did just that, and the moment we got there a young, uniformed officer leapt up and spoke.

"Superintendent! Detective! We may have a lead on the vehicle that they might be in!"

The officer looked on the desk for a moment before picking up a scrap of paper and holding it out. I took it and saw that there was an address for a 'Kuwata Rentals', a date with question marks next to it and a phone number underneath.

"The online request for tips hasn't come up with much, likely because we've held back that it's likely famous teenagers have gone missing, but anyway, following it a worker from this transport rental company called and said that they're sure that Otsuka Jihara came and rented a minivan from them some days ago. They didn't serve her, but they did watch it happen."

My heartrate sped up as I looked down at the sheet of paper again. A minivan. That would be enough space for seven teenagers to go travelling together, and it suggested a certain level of intention in their disappearance.

Then again, Class 78-B had disappeared in a minivan too.

"Have we got the details of the vehicle?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even.

"No, but apparently the manager will be looking for them and has asked if somebody can come over to collect the details of her rental."

"When was this call?"

"Uh…" the officer checked the time. "An hour, two hours ago thereabouts."

Shizuka nodded, and then asked the room if anything else had been found. A few officers and other detectives spoke up. Most of what they found was further background on the missing teenagers, a few possible sightings from the very discreet call for tips we'd put up that hadn't quite panned out. A few also mentioned rumours about Akemi Koizumi's online silence circulating, and the fact that Rieka Amasaki had been talking less about books and more about the mystery of the Class 78-B case on her video channel and social media, including making allusions to solving it. When this was mentioned, another uniformed officer spoke up.

"Actually, about that…a former colleague called."

This officer looked incredibly awkward and nervous, and I gave them a reassuring smile.

"Go on."

"Matsuo Amasaki. He thinks he might have encouraged his niece to do something reckless. That is, he gave her all his old notes and apparently told her that if she was going to try this, then she needed to have a team around her."

"A former detective thought it was appropriate to give a teenager case notes?"

"Apparently the girl is somewhat of an amateur sleuth when she's not brutally savaging books," the officer said, a little wryly. "And she can be stubborn when she wants to find out something. He thought that it was such a puzzling mystery that she couldn't get herself into any serious trouble with it. He's sent an email with scans of all the materials he had, and that's what's printing now."

Sure enough, one of the printers was going, a small stack of papers already having accumulated. Shizuka walked up to it and picked up that stack, flicking through some of it before then saying.

"Alright, I'll go and call Amamiya-san to confirm what he knows, and Detective Matsu, take Officer-"

Shizuka pointed to the officer who'd told us about the rental place.

"Asamiya."

"Take Officer Asamiya with you to Kuwata Rental."

Asamiya's mouth fell open, and they pointed to themselves. I nodded at them, folding the piece of paper and putting it in my pocket. They scrambled to join me, and we left.

…

Once Asamiya and I were back, we returned to the incident room, where a meeting was promptly called. I let Asamiya share what we had found-namely, confirmation that Otsuka had indeed rented a minivan for a period of a month and all the details of that vehicle. Officers and detectives were immediately tasked with looking at footage of all the major roads and motorways for sightings of the minivan, with an alert being put out for the minivan's registration number as well. Other small bits of evidence made it seem clear that all seven teenagers had been taking an interest in the case of 20 years ago and that more than likely they'd been trying to find out things themselves. Even so, that didn't make it clear where they had gone, or if they had actually found something. It was highly possible, given Rieka had access to old case notes and Otsuka's profession meant she would have to be good at digging into things. Indeed, we knew she had been talking to Tetsuji Kamiya, but Shizuka hadn't been able to reach him.

"I'll be going to talk to Tsukuda-san in a moment, to see if he can help us with that," Shizuka concluded. "But we have to move forward under the assumption that essentially, the two cases are connected. As a result, we need to be looking for, and into, Kazutaka Oomori and his close associates too."

"Are we sure that Kazutaka Oomori is the culprit? It's not as if the survivors ever saw him to know. We just have their word for it." Hirawa asked.

A few of the others in the room nodded at this, or at least straightened up in their seats. Shizuka fixed Hirawa with a steely look and replied:

"Their word for it is more than we have had, and it's a significant enough lead that we would be remiss to not follow it in either case."

"Besides," Evalynn spoke up. "If those kids have been poking around, then the real culprits probably know about it one way or another. From what I've seen, the Amasaki kid's pretty pushy and obnoxious-in a good way, I guess, but still. She and the journalist kid would be enough to ruffle feathers alone but seven of them? Yeah, the culprits have probably figured out what they're doing."

I heard someone mutter how can you be obnoxious in a good way, but people did seem to consider this. Shizuka nodded in approval and then asked:

"Detective Dupont, can you focus on tracking their activities in particular, then? Work with the team tracking the minivan, given that Otsuka Jihara rented that one out. "

"Sure," Evalynn replied. "I'll do that. I might take a closer look at Mitsuhide Okita too, because he's probably the next most 'loud' one."

"That's a good idea too. In any case, the fact that the seven teenagers are known to have been amateurishly investigating what is a very controversial case needs to be taken seriously. The chances that they are in some sort of danger, or will be if we don't find them, have risen."

Before anyone else could argue, Shizuka quickly assigned tasks to the rest of the team and then left, telling us to get her if there was another new break in either case, but particularly with locating the seven teenagers.

I told the others that I needed to step out to call home briefly, and Evalynn said that she wanted to check in on Juro, so we left the room together, and then separated to find places to take our calls. Hibiki was at work, but was on the way home, and the twins were also on their way back from playing with their friends, so the chats were brief but light-hearted. I couldn't promise I'd be home at a particular time, but I said that I'd try to be quick.

When I made my way back, Evalynn was also on her way back.

"Is everything alright with them?" I asked.

"Yeah, all's good. Well, I mean, they're out of their minds with worry but they're together. Looking after each other. Talking, finally. Oh, and cooking, obviously."

My smile matched Evalyn's when she said that.

"Of course they are."

"Arisato's offered to bring some to us," she said. "But I told him not to leave Mai."

"Ooooh, Nobu-kun will be sad to miss out on her cooking."

"Pshh, then he can go and pick food up from them. I have a feeling he'll will offer again, so."

Evalynn shrugged heavily, and then seemed like she was going to say something else when her eyes widened. I gave her a questioning look, and then followed her gaze. We'd just reached the corridor where the incident room was, and Kenichi was marching towards it from the opposite direction to us, looking more than slightly frazzled.

"Tsukuda-san, are you alright?" I called out.

He turned to look at us both, and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up. His other hand was gripping his phone tightly.

"What's up? Is it about the confession?" Evalynn asked.

Kenichi blinked, then shook his head.

"No, that's…that's, well, it's not fine but it's the truth. But forget that, this is about the new disappearances. Kamiya-san. Tetsuji, he's done something stupid, because he thinks he knows where those kids might have gone. So actually, I guess it is connected, because what happened to Kimiko happened in the same place. I mean…"

"Tsukuda-san," I asked gently. "Do you need to sit down, take a breath for a moment?"

"What he's trying to say is, get to the point." Evalynn said.

"H-hey, that's a bit-"

Yes, I knew that this dithering was completely unlike Kenichi, but that was rather the point. He was being unlike himself, which meant something was going on. Somehow though, Evalynn's brusqueness seemed to help, because after blinking again, he seemed to refocus.

"I've just had a voicemail from him." Kenichi said. "I think you know he's been talking to the one who is a journalist. Anyway, apparently, she left him a message to say she'd be away for a while, and from that he thinks he's figured out where they might have gone, and he's decided to go after them."

There were about a million new problems and questions that arose from that. I asked what I thought was probably the most pertinent one, though, half dreading the answer without really knowing why:

"Where does he think they've gone?"

"Shirohata. He thinks they've gone to Shirohata."

…

Eikichi

"Alright, so let me get this clear, Mum."

I wasn't sure just how long I had been on the phone with my mother, but Shion and I hadn't been at our hotel room for long when she had called. I'd sat down at first, but what she had ended up telling me had had me up and pacing the length of the room while Shion sat cross-legged on the bed and frowned at me.

"So what you're telling me is that even though Uncle Yuuichi told you all about the lady he married and divorced-was her name Erica-san?-he never told Dad or you that he had a kid with her? And didn't tell Maiha-san either? And that kid has grown up to become a good enough hacker to get accepted into New Hope's Peak? Oh, and she's Ritsuka Nishimiya, one of the teenagers who has gone missing alongside my ex-classmates sons?"

"Yes, Eikichi," My mum said tiredly. "That is exactly what I'm telling you. We're only just finding this out ourselves, and let's just say your father isn't too impressed with Yuuichi-kun at the moment."

I snorted at that.

"Well, I'm not too impressed with Uncle Yuuichi at the moment either, Mum."

My mum chuckled at that, before sighing.

"Poor Erica-san, she's out of her mind with worry. She works long shifts, being a nurse and all, and she had no idea that young Ritsuka-chan could be in such danger. She knew of course that she'd be going to the tour, and that she'd met some people, and she was pleased because apparently Ritsuka-chan's a quiet thing who keeps to herself. But well, I think I know better than anyone, that as a parent even though you imagine all sorts of horrible things you don't actually think they'll happen. You think that as a parent, if you're just good enough it will be fine."

I stayed silent at that, and my mother sighed.

"I'm sorry, Eikichi. It wasn't fair of me to put that on you. "

"It's fine." I said quickly.

At this point, I felt all talked-out. I didn't want to go into things any more than I already had to. With Shion. With the police. Over and over and over, what I thought was everything and yet wasn't, as it had turned out that I didn't really know what had happened, not really. The unpleasant revelation that had absolutely shattered me lingered in the back of my mind, but I pushed it away. There was time enough for my unravelling. But first I had to untangle all of this.

"It's fine." I repeated, vehemently. "But Mum, I need to ask-why have you told me about Ritsuka?"

"Ah, that, well…Eikichi, we need a favour from you."

"From me?"

"I assume that, when the kids are found, they'll be taken back to Towa, assuming they're out of the city. In that case, you're obviously so much nearer than any of us are-you and Shion-chan both. Could you look after her and bring her back home to us? Erica-san will be coming down to stay with us, you see."

"You want us to look after her? Why?"

"Eikichi, she's your family!"

"Which is all very well, but I don't know her! Would it not be better for her mother to come and get her herself? Surely, if she's been through anything traumatic she'll need he-"

I noticed Shion mouth something frantically at me and I sighed.

"Hold on," I said to my mother. "Just…hold on a moment."

I lowered the phone and looked at Shion.

"What is it?" I half-snapped.

"Eikichi, of course we need to look after your little cousin when she's rescued!"

"She's a teenager, hardly little. Besides, I don't know her."

"So? You know teenagers. Just treat her like one of your pupils…except maybe don't give her an impromptu fencing lesson."

"…"

"Besides," Shion said. "It'll be good practice for our child's teenage years."

"Little One's teenage years are ages away." I said, somewhat sourly.

But then I sighed and rubbed my head.

"But you're right. Don't gloat about it, but you're right."

I put the phone to my ear again.

"Alright then, we'll bring her home for you. Don't worry about it."

"Oh Eikichi, thank you!" my mother said. "That will be a big help for us all. I'll be talking to Ritsuka-chan's mother a bit, so is it alright if I pass her your number so she can talk to you too? It might be a while though-she's having a hard time getting time off and shifts rearranged, but she's trying."

"Yes, sure. Give me hers too."

"Yes, yes, sure."

After quite a drawn-out goodbye, I finally hung up and sat back down on the bed quite heavily. I then flopped backwards, quite drained, but almost immediately Shion leaned over me, pulling a face.

"That was tough, huh?"

"That's an understatement, Shion. I have a cousin that I've never met. Why didn't my uncle tell us about her? Why isn't he in her life still? Even if he divorced her mother, he still had an obligation to her!"

I sat up suddenly, as my phone had gone off. I reached for it and saw that my mother had sent me an image. I clicked on it, and a picture of a teenage girl appeared on my screen. It appeared to be a photograph of a photograph-specifically, an official school portrait if the white shirt and beige sweater vest were anything to go by. The girl in it had an unsmiling expression, almost blank, but something thoughtful in the way her amber eyes stared at the camera. Almost suspicious, even. Her hair was the same colour as mine, just a little above shoulder length.

"So, that's her, huh?" Shion commented from over my shoulder.

"Yes, it is."

"I wonder what she's like. I suppose that you can ask her mother though, when she calls."

"Well, I certainly can't ask Uncle Yuuichi." I said contemptuously.

This girl is family. I didn't know her, or know anything about her, not really. She didn't mean anything to me at all. And yet, looking at this photograph of what was a complete stranger I felt something twist in my gut. It was more than the general horror of the situation, general pity that another set of young people had to go through something horrible.

Seven people isn't enough for a killing game, is it? I certainly hoped that it wasn't, for this girl's sake. For Mai's son's, Friede's son's and the other children too. If it wasn't a killing game, then surely there was a better chance of finding them all alive. I looked at the photograph of Ritsuka Nishimiya for another long moment, then stood up. I was feeling twitchy, in a way that made me start to understand why Takaaki's response to everything these days seemed to be flight.

"There isn't anything I can do right now. I think I need to take a walk." I told Shion. "Do you want to come with me?"

…

Takaaki

It had been easier than I'd thought to get down, following the crumpled leaves and snapped branches and the occasional smudged footprint that we'd found. It had felt as though it had taken an eternity, and we'd had to stop every so often, because it had been getting dark and Tetsuji was an old guy with old guy bones. That, and he'd taken photographs of everything and sent them to Kenichi every few seconds. Kenichi. Kimiko's dad. I knew that Kimiko and Moeka had been friends, I didn't realise that their dads had been too. I wondered if it had helped either of them, being able to talk to each other.

But we'd managed to make it down in the end. When we did, we were met with further evidence that the kids had been here. Some of the rotting boards had been spray-painted pink, relatively fresh if the smell had been anything to go by. Others had been smashed in, creating a hole big enough to climb through. Peering in, I could see litter and bird droppings, but they seemed like they'd been here for a great deal longer than the kids had been. Or I assumed so, anyway. They cannot have been here for long, if at all. We had to have arrived on time for them. We had to.

Though the sun was almost gone, as I turned around I caught a glimpse of something bright caught in a tree, and I launched myself at it, shimmying part-way up the trunk until I saw the strip of red material. I grabbed it, rubbed it between my fingers, and then let go and looked at it. I assumed it was a scarf of some sort, tied somewhat haphazardly to the branch. I wondered if that had been done on purpose. I hoped so. I wanted these kids to be clever and resourceful and not helpless.

Then again, we'd been clever and resourceful, hadn't we? At least, all together we hadn't been totally useless. Yet, we'd ended up helpless.

I turned from the tree and walked up to the hole again, pulling away some more of the boards.

"What are you doing that for?" Tetsuji demanded.

"To make it easy for you to get in." I said.

"But-"

"You are literally using a walking stick. Don't worry, I'm going in first."

I did just that and found myself sitting on the floor for a moment, looking around me. It seemed as if this place was a classroom, but I wasn't sure which one. Not that it mattered, really. It was just one on the ground floor, that was what mattered. Still, in the nearly non-existent light, I strained my eyes as I looked around, trying to remember stepping foot into this particular room, wondering what I had done in it and who I had been with. Then, a white ray of light interrupted my reverie and I took the point it was making and got up somewhat reluctantly.

Tetsuji immediately shoved a torch at me.

"Here, I have another. I am going to messa-"

Tetsuji trailed off and stared at his phone. I peered over his shoulder. It took me a moment to realise that he had no signal.

"Did you have a signal, back then."

"We didn't even have phones. They were taken from us."

I had taken out my own phone and, holding it out, I first walked to the door of the classroom and into the corridor. Almost immediately, I remembered running along these corridors, as if once my bedroom door had been opened the room had literally ejected me out, as though it was not a room but one of those circus cannon things. Only slowing because I didn't have the energy to run that fast anyway, and because there was no point in running. That day, the one I was thinking of, going faster wouldn't have changed a thing.

I wouldn't have been able to do anything, even if I hadn't been trapped in my room that day.

I held my phone out, confirming that I still had no signal, then went back into the classroom and to the hole in the boards and stuck my phone out of that. Sure enough, a few bars sprang up. I withdrew my arm and looked at Tetsuji.

"So I think this place is a signal dead zone."

"Just the building? Not the general area? Oh well. Come on, let's go."

I stared at him, and he rolled his eyes.

"To where they could be."

Of course, I had no idea where that could be. There were so many possibilities, but even so, I began moving. How much freewill this was, I didn't know, but it didn't matter. I imagined Teiichi in front of me, leading the way, still murmuring things about how it was probably best if I didn't see it, that it was better for me to remember her as she had been. Words that hadn't and still didn't really make sense to me, though I guess Teiichi had just been trying his best. And, looking back on it now, I suppose he'd had some sort of point. Yes, I wasn't her twin, but I suppose I could have ended up somewhat like Azami had been after seeing hers dead.

Though perhaps I did end up like her anyway. Underneath the ability to speak and move still, I think I was more like her than I ever realised.

I followed the ghosts of past-me and past-Teiichi along corridors and around corners and then found what I was looking for. The door was hanging off of its hinges, and inside was completely bare. There was even a hole in the floor where the sink had been ripped out. But there were still dark stains on the floor and now, as past-Teiichi and past-me faded away I saw her. Blond hair. Comfortable cardigan. Sprawled across the floor. Her ghost, nowhere to be found. Dead bodies couldn't be ghosts, even when they were hallucinations. She was here, still. Didn't matter that she was buried (or re-buried now, I guessed), she was here. Here and gone.

"What is this? They're not in here. Come on, let's go."

I said nothing as I stared down at her, the way I had twenty years ago. Tetsuji tugged at my arm.

"What is this place?" he demanded.

"A bathroom."

"One of the ones fitted up with the stolen units?"

"Mmmm."

"Alright, fine. But why are you standing here?"

Tetsuji's voice clambered up irritably, but I ignored him, sticking my hands in my pockets. How could he not see it? How could he not see her? But he didn't, clearly he didn't, because he repeated his question, grumbled a bit before trying to drag me away. I dug my heels in and reluctantly looked at him.

"Come on. What're you here for if you're just going to-"

"This is where she was killed."

Still, it didn't seem to sink in for him, and he snapped:

"Who?"

"Kimiko."

Tetsuji's mouth snapped shut, and he looked down at the floor. There was a silence for a long time, and then he gruffly asked:

"What about Moeka?"

I gulped. I didn't have to ask what he meant by that, as a new set of memories flooded my mind at the question. Moeka's death was part of the very truth that we had been trying to hide for all this time. We had given up on that now, of course, but still. I could not go back to that, I just couldn't. But of course, I was going to, wasn't I? That was why I was here. And I knew that she'd want me to go, too.

"Alright, I'll show you."

Tetsuji nodded, cleared his throat, and made a gesture indicating I should go ahead. I stepped out of the bathroom and waited for him to exit too before I led the way. But before I did that, I took one last look in the space that had once been in the bathroom.

And though she was no longer there, she was still gone.