Disclaimer: I'm so sorry for not updating for awhile. Next Generation is being worked in progress.
Digitailsmo: Really? Damn, now I want to make a story of just the two of them and make it cute.
Please review!
15th December
I was drawn towards Honoka's house. I sat near her for days as she curled up against her wall, worried of me. I knew it didn't give Honoka comfort as she couldn't see or feel me but somehow it got me at ease. Honoka had been isolating herself inside her room since the news. Her grandmother would bring plate of food and drink and pick up the plate with barely touched food albeit the glass would always be empty. She must been drying out when crying so much. Mipple tried to talk to her for few first days, tried to convince her that I was okay and perhaps got lost...somehow. But after the fifth day, she had given up and returned back to her home, although her and Mepple would occasionally come and visit.
Shiho wasn't better, she did the same as Honoka, stayed inside her room and ate little but fiddled with her videos on her PC to take her mind off. I'd caught her praying to God, bargaining something in return for my safety. Shiho wasn't usually religious but she was desperate at that time. On sixth day, she'd gone out and film something with her camera, perhaps an own masterpiece she was making. Or a distraction.
Rina came back to school today, on seventh day, acting as if nothing had happened which confused the students and teachers. All day, she didn't look at my empty table near the window. I caught the teachers talking about her in the lounge before heading back to Honoka that they suspected she was trying to stay strong and use her studies as a distraction. Ideka-sensei tried to convince her to get back home and get some rest but Rina dismissed it, saying she was okay.
I didn't have the courage to visit Fuji-P, I knew he'd be as mess as Honoka, maybe worse.
I took small walk around the city and came across the police station. Curious of the case, I went inside to check on the officers but was shocked when I saw Fuji-P inside, yelling at the woman at the counter.
"Let me talk to him!"
"Sir, please calm down." the woman stood up and tried to touch him for comfort but he jerked away. "You can't ask about the case unless you are relative of Misumi-san."
"I'm her boyfriend!" Fuji-P slammed his hand on the counter as the woman jolted. Three officers approached the scene, one of them was ready with a taser as they approached Fuji-P.
"Sir, please leave the premise." the one with moustache asked calmly while the other two readied themselves for an attack.
"I want to talk to Detective Kudo, please!" The officers looked at each other but one of them raised his hand. "Detective Kudo is in progress of a possible murder case, Honda-san."
"She's not dead!" Fuji-P yelled at top of his lung, his eyes glowing red with anger as tears mixed in-between.
"Are you her relative?" Fuji-P calmed down, hanging his head dejectedly. He wanted to lie, I could see it in him but he was too honest of a man.
"He claims to be her boyfriend." the woman interjected.
"I'm sorry, sir, we can't share any information with-"
"What's going on?" Kudo, in his messy shirt with cigarette hanging from corner of his mouth poked his head out. His eyes had black circles around them and his tie was loosen. I guessed that he must've pulled an all nighter on my case. "I can't concentrate with this racket." he ruffled his messy hair. Before the officers could reply to him, he caught eyes on Fuji-P.
"Oh, you're Misumi-san's boyfriend..." he announced embarrassed. I sighed. No leads, huh detective? He tightened his tie as he approached Fuji-P with his hands in the pockets. Fuji-P looked more calm and not threatened when he came towards him.
"What the hell did the officers did mean by 'murder case'?" Fuji-P asked quickly.
"Just ignore them." Kudo waved his hand dismissively.
"Did you find anything...?" Kudo looked away and placed his cigarette into his portable ashtray.
"No...nothing. I'm so sorry."
"...let me help" Kudo lighted another cigarette, his eyebrow lifted at Fuji-P.
"And how will you help us?"
"Just...please, I want her safe, I feel worthless just sitting at home doing nothing."
"Kid, first of all, you'd need to pass police academy, second, there are search group that you can join." The officers looked at each other uncomfortably. Fuji-P sighed defeated and walked away, his spirits low. Before I tangled with him, I stopped when I heard the officers talk to Kudo when Fuji-P was gone.
"Kudo, you know that high schooler is dead. This is all a deja vu." Kudo just looked at the entrance where Fuji-P had left as I kept listening it.
"I'm not going to crush his spirits."
"So you will just do it when we find her remains? Fine." Honda scoffed and walked back into the office.
I walked outside the station and looked at where Fuji-P walked. I was about to follow him when I saw Honoka across the street with Chuutaro. Curious, I followed her instead. Honoka wore sunglasses, which made few people turn around to look at her but I understood why. What I didn't understand was how Sanae, her grandmother managed to convince her to take a walk. Well, no one could say no to a grandmother, believe me I've tried.
We've had walked for about an hour when we arrived at the Keiyaki hill; the hill where Genji had hidden my body. I bit my lower lip, my spirits high and hoped that Honoka would find it. But then I remembered that Genji had, to be honest, cleverly hidden the smell of my body with a dead animal. It was as if he had done this before which made me question. Chuutaro dragged Honoka up to the hill, whereas Honoka tried to pull back. Bad memories up there, when we had to fight the Dark Zone during a hot summer two years ago. Chuutaro looked at Honoka and whined then licked her hand as if comforting her. I smiled; Chuutaro had been trying to comfort her for past week I went missing. Honoka smiled softly at him and admitted defeat as she looked into his eyes.
It didn't take long for us to arrive; within two years the place had been transformed into a small park. There were few people around; a couple sitting on a bench flirting with each other (it had reminded me of me and Fuji-P), few adults with their kids sledding down the hill. Chuutaro tugged but Honoka didn't budge, she just stared at the small park before removing her sunglasses.
"Shaved ice cream..." Honoka muttered. I was embarrassed, I had been so mad at Dark Zone for preventing me to get shaved ice cream during a hot summer day. Hey, give me a break, it was hotter than usual!
Without a warning, Chuutaro barked and ran towards a bush, the couple turned their heads with a smile towards him, causing Honoka to loosen her grip on the leash. But what got me built up was had Chuutaro found the smell of the dead animal or my body parts? I couldn't think further when Honoka ran after Chuutaro but stopped when Chuutaro came back with something in his mouth.
"Chuutaro, don't run off like that..." Honoka half-scolded him as he dropped the item on the ground. Honoka kneeled down to take closer look but I widened my eyes from where I stood.
A knee. My knee.
Honoka's eyes widened as well when she saw a scrap on the limb.
"It's just a scrap."
Tears streamed down Honoka's face as she kept staring at it and, without warning, began to wail on top of her lung.
"W-what's going on?!"
"Is she okay?"
"I-is that...a knee?!"
"Someone call the police!"
I placed a hand onto Honoka's shoulder, trying to comfort her while Chuutaro nudged his nose against her. The man from the couple had his finger in his ear in other and a cellphone talking to someone. I couldn't hear what he was saying from Honoka's screaming.
The ambulance and police didn't take too long to arrive at the scene. The police taped the scene of the crime with the knee, untouched, as few of the officers tried to secure a perimeter around it. The detective group took photos of my knee, one took a statement of the witnesses; the man from the couple explained that he saw Chuutaro run off into a bush and had found my knee and pointed at it. I was little creeped out of the police taking photos of my knee, maybe because my whole body is missing or I wasn't used to it.
The ambulance group had taken Honoka in and diagnosed her. Honoka had stopped screaming after they arrived but was now in a frozen state, her pupils blank but tears were still streaming down.
Kudo invaded the crime of the scene and knelt down on the evidence, sighing. "I knew it..." he muttered to himself. "I want this limb bagged and taken to forensic analysis!" he yelled to the police officers. One of the detective group had gloves on and carefully picked up my knee and placed it in a bag while Kudo walked towards Honoka.
"Is she good to give statement?" he asked.
"She's in -no- state to do so, sir. We need to get her to the hospital." The medic lightly pushed Honoka down onto the stretcher and covered her with sheet. "You can talk to her when she has snapped out of it."
Chuutaro jumped onto the stretcher with the medics scratching their heads. When they tried to remove him, he growled at them.
"That dog was with the girl." One of the adults explained. The medics looked at each other.
"Alright, boy, you can tag along but you'd need to stay outside when we arrive, okay?" Chuutaro barked once.
I snuck inside the ambulance and took a seat where the medics usually sat. When they pushed Honoka inside, I kept staring at her for the whole trip as the sirens blared.
"I'm so sorry...Honoka..." I whispered.
"Na...gisa.."
As they wheeled Honoka inside, Chuutaro jumped out of the vehicle and sat at the emergency entrance. I joined him and gave him a pat. There was nothing I could do while they figure out what was wrong with her. Chuutaro groaned, looking at me. I raised my head high.
"You...can see me, Chuutaro?" Chuutaro barked. I took it as a yes.
"Don't worry, Honoka will be fine." Chuutaro laid onto my lap, although he technically laid on the ground.
Time had gone by so fast, I didn't have the concept of it anymore. An hour felt like five minutes and so on. When I noticed Chuutaro had fallen asleep, I decided to go inside and check the time. Only half an hour had passed. Alright, sometimes time can feel shorter but because I was waiting for Honoka, it felt longer. Just like when I was alive.
Without warning, I saw Sanae run inside. Chuutaro jolted his head up as if sensing her. He stood up and barked at her but she didn't even acknowledged him. Without a second thought I followed her, I just wanted to see what room Honoka was in. As we fast walked past all the rooms, I could see souls of the patients fly upwards as the heart monitor flatlined. Some patients were alone and some had family surrounded around them. I'd consider those lucky.
We stopped at third floor, room 302. Sanae paced around, waiting for the doctor to come outside. Eventually, she sat down, her old bones couldn't handle it anymore.
Within four hours, a doctor stepped out and Sanae stood up immediately. The first thing he did was extending his hand and introduced himself. "Yukishiro-san? I'm Dr. Mori. We found your name in your granddaughter's cellphone."
"H-how is she...is she alright?" Dr. Mori sighed heavily, lifting his glasses and his face sorrowfull.
"I'm afraid your granddaughter suffers from emotional trauma. Question is, did she know anybody who had that knee?"
"Her...friend had gone missing recently." Sanae replied softly as Dr. Mori looked through the papers.
"We will have to wait for the police's conclusion. Meanwhile, we will monitor her. Where are her parents?"
"They are on a business trip but I can ask them to come." Dr. Mori nodded and pointed with his pen. "Payphones are at the entrance. You can come and see her."
After that conversation, Sanae went inside but I went back to Chuutaro. Outside, inside it didn't matter to me but I wanted to give him a companion to be with while we waited. Chuutaro looked at me when I came back but I ruffled his head.
"Chuutaro...can you protect Honoka for me from now on?" I knelt down to his height. Chuutaro tried to lick me but it went through. I ruffled him again and snickered lightly. "Good boy."
I passed the time by visiting my parents. I floated towards my neighborhood and stopped when I saw a police car around the parking spot. People had stopped by to glance at it, even few kids pointed at the car. I floated down and began to walk up to my apartment. Before I stopped by my home, I poked my head into Genji's house; he was frantically rummaging and running around, disposing of something. The items that were on the shelf, displayed as trophies were thrown into garbage bag, although there were some items her decided to keep. One of them was my bracelet.
I walked through my door and noticed there were no extra shoes. I looked around and couldn't see Kudo anywhere but suddenly the doorbell rang behind me and mom rushed to it to open it.
"Kudo-san, do you have news?" Mom sounded desperate. Kudo took his fedora off and placed it near his heart.
"Misumi-san, can we come inside?" he spoke grimly. Mom invited them inside and yelled for dad to come, which he did might as well had zoomed to us. Dad escorted Kudo and the two police officers to our sofa. "Do you want coffee, Kudo-san?" dad asked during but he shock his head as he placed his fedora on the table.
"I need you two to sit down." Mom and dad, like dogs, sat down without a word as mom held my dad's hand tightly, crushing her wedding ring against his fingers. I positioned myself between them but caught an eye on Ryouta standing in the dark hallway, observing them. I wanted to call him out, perhaps a force of habit or hiding him from the truth.
"One of your daughter's friends found a knee." One of the police officer put gloves on and handed a bag to Kudo while he was talking. He placed it onto the table. Ryouta almost threw up at the sight but kept it in. Mom averted her eyes away from it while dad stared intensely at my knee.
"I'm afraid your daughter is dead."
Mom bent her body down, still holding onto my dad's hand, as she started to wail on top of her lung. It was eerily similar to Honoka's. Dad clenched his other hand onto his knee. I looked over to Ryouta and he was already gone, I followed him.
"Who?! Who did this?!" I heard dad's voice echo the apartment as Ryouta looked into my room.
Ryouta! How many times have I told you to knock!
Ryouta then just walked back into his room, dad's voice still ringing.
"We have no suspects ye-"
"I want that bastard found!" Dad slammed his hand onto the table.
"We're trying, Misumi-kun, you need to be more patience." Mom walked out of the living room and into their bedroom.
"Try harder! I want justice!" Kudo picked up his fedora and the knee from the table, calm, as the officer placed it back into a portable freezer.
"I will leave you to grief." the two police officers followed him outside.
After they left, dad slammed his fist into the wall. I jolted, shocked.
"Nagisa...my baby..."
I left my home. My family was falling apart and it was my fault. Chuutaro jolted his head up when he saw me and I gave weak smile as I sat down next to him.
We sat outside again and waited. I hadn't realized that the sun came up until it crept right through me. I looked at Chuutaro who was sleeping again; he must've been so hungry. I crept inside the entrance and towards the lunch room. There was two nurses, one of them had their attention on the TV while the other had bento (1) and talked nonstop to the occupied nurse but she did reply and took her eyes off of the electronic. While the nurse with bento stood up to get some coffee, I snuck and snatched the beef. I hurried outside as the beef floated with me, an old man had seen me and cleaned his glasses but I was already gone.
When I came back, Chuutaro had woken up. I placed the beef infront of him and he dug in.
"You owe me." I said.
We were interrupted once again when Honoka's parents rushed inside. I blinked. It had been nineteen hours since Honoka was put in hospital and they were in Frankfurt for business trip. I shrugged and walked casually to Honoka's room. When I arrived, Sanae and her parents had already gone inside. I decided to go inside as well and Aya-san was already hugging awoken up Honoka.
"Oh, Honoka, thank goodness you're alright!"
"Can you please not choke her, Yukishiro-san." Dr. Mori looked worried as Aya let her go. "Honoka, do you remember what happened?"
"Last thing I remember...I went to bed."
"You...don't remember taking Chuutaro for a walk?" Dr. Mori pressed on.
"I take Chuutaro for walk everyday?" Dr. Mori became silent and looked at the parents. Honoka turned to them. "Mom, dad, can you drop me by Verone?"
Everyone's face went white, including me.
"H..Honoka...what is the full date?" Dr. Mori broke the silence.
"Uhm...28th April, 2004? (2)" She titled her head, confused.
April...me and Honoka had met in that year but, we didn't meet until-
"Honoka...do you remember Nagisa-san?" Sanae interjected.
"Who?"
1) Bento is the Japanese iteration of a single-portion take-out or home-packed meal.
2) Technically, the first episode of Pretty Cure was 1st February but students don't go to school until April, so I had to change.
Aya and Taro are the names of Honoka's parents, according to the wiki.