Chapter Text
The intense rain woke Ryoko up at dawn, she had goosebumps. At first she was frustrated with getting so little sleep. Yesterday was a tiring day between studying and everything that had happened. But, after pondering about it for a moment, she decided to make it a good day for herself, seemingly without a reason. Although she didn't feel like going out, Ryoko needed to spend time on something, or else she could get distracted by unwanted thoughts. She needed to spend quality time with herself at some point, no?
Ryoko typically coped with difficult situations by focusing on productivity. Locking herself in her room and grabbing her electric bass with headphones on was what she typically did in hard moments. So that’s what she did. She tried to play a song, “Costumbres Argentinas” by “Los Abuelos de la Nada" a band she admired a lot lately due to her fascination with rock music from all over the world. The song had a beautiful warm sound that helped combat the cold of the season.
At two o'clock she ate with her mom who casually asked if Ryoko had plans for that day.
—Well, Sara is coming here later, is it ok? —Hirose asked.
—Sure, dear. I'm happy that you and Sara are seeing each other —the woman smiled looking at her daughter.
“Happy... If only I could say...” Ryoko looked at the tamagoyaki on her plate. “Not for now.”
—I'm happy too.
Ryoko retreated into her room and was consumed by the humid atmosphere. She knew that she was trying to ignore everything, and wondered if it was the right thing to do. Was she being selfish, naive, or useless by avoiding the situation? She didn't want to know
In a second, Ryoko began to search for information on Asu-naro, the orphanage where Sara had grown up. She told herself before “no more excuses”. In two hours, she discovered that there were four Asu-naro orphanages in Japan, located in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Sapporo, and Ryoko's own city. As she read through articles about the multiple disappearances that had occurred, she found out that the victims were from all around Japan, Nao Egokoro, the other survivor, being from Hiroshima. With a bit of digging, Ryoko found some of Nao's social media accounts, including a private Twitter profile. Despite this setback, she jotted down Nao's username on a note at her desk, sensing that it might come in handy later.
But the moment came when the doorbell rang, Ryoko rushed to the entrance to open it, and there she was...
—Hi, Ryoko —the Sara said with a smile.
—Hi! —Hirose smiled, trying to make the moment seem less serious. Her mom was at home, and she didn't want to appear suspicious— come in.
Both went inside, and Sara greeted Mrs. Hirose. It was a calm interaction, Ryoko's mom asked if they wanted something, Sara got green tea and Ryoko a black coffee. But as soon as they had their drinks, both of them went to Ryoko's bedroom and sat down on the bed. It was time to talk.
—So well, tell me what you wanted to tell me —Ryoko said, sipping the bitter drink.
—Fine... God, where do I start? —Sara took a deep breath and looked at the rain she spoke— When I was kidnapped, some person found Kai Satou’s laptop, who was a dead kidnap victim and my stalker. We searched for information in it, and there were some emails from two people. The first person talked about me as if I was their daughter, with the same distinctive writing style of my dad. The second person was more formal when writing, but in the last email, they made it clear that it apparently also was my dad. —Sara paused to take a sip of the tea, and look down— Ryoko.. Those emails talked about kidnapping everyone, including Joe and me. Also, my supposed dad was okay with Kai stalking me.
Ryoko thought, looking at her reflection in the dark liquid of her cup; it was too twisted to be true— Is it maybe possible that it was someone pretending to be your dad?
—I don't know... I was thinking... —Sara looked at Ryoko with her deep purple eyes— I'm going to check my dad's emails.
—What?! That's really dangerous —Ryoko replied— like, what are you going to do? Search on his computer?!
—Well, yes. Trust me, I'll be careful!
Ryoko held Sara by the shoulders and said— No, this is not about being careful. You are dealing with a potential kidnapper!
—I know, but I can not live like this, not knowing if this is true or not! —Sara expressed her distress with abrupt gestures— I really could go insane like this; I can not ignore everything.
—Insane is the idea of doing this crazy shit. What if he hurts you? —Ryoko looked at Sara's eyes directly.
—Well, I will take the risk.
—No you won't...
—Why?! I can do it!
—'Cause I don't wanna lose you!!! —After Ryoko’s words, the silence clashed for a moment that felt like ages— I lost Joe, not gonna lose you now... I need you safe... —Hirose's voice got shaky, frowning and looking at Sara’s face.
—I... —Sara stopped for a second to observe Ryoko's face of terror, terror of loss— I don't want to die either... But there is no other way. I will take care of me, he won't know.
Ryoko sniffed a bit looking at her side, she knew Sara wasn't going to do what Hirose wanted, that was not going to happen. So she hugged her. If her friend was going to take a dangerous risk, she wanted to hug her before this. To give her a shell, the feeling of Ryoko's warmth evolving Sara’s body. People when they are in hard times sometimes rely on faith to feel in control, Hirose’s faith was that this shell would protect Sara from all the danger. The protection that a flower needs in an intense storm.
—You will do it whatever the cost, doncha...
Sara waited a few seconds to correspond it, hugging her back— I'm going to be fine, don't worry.
Both of them knew the unpredictability of the situation. It’s hard to know how long a storm will last, and if there will be an inundation after it. But it was necessary for Sara to do this. That same day at night the rain turned into a tempest. The plan was to enter her dad's office with a dirty cup and to pretend she was taking to wash the cup that her father always left on his desk. And that's how she did.
With that cup prepared and her phone available, Sara entered that room at the end of the hall. Nobody in the house but Mr. Chidouin was used to going there, it was like an unspoken rule to not go. It smelled like the intense warm woody Frankincense, usually because this was Mr. Chidouins favorite incense smell. The multiple bookshelves that had all types of novels that nobody read, not even Sara’s dad, were surrounded by two spiky plants. And the desk was always a mess, full of papers from weeks ago and other things too, but the important thing at that table was the computer.
Sara went there and turned on the computer, she went directly to the emails. It seemed that there were two mail accounts logged, one with the full name of Mr. Chidouin which Sara checked. Most stuff was normal unrelated mails with multiple people, but just when Sara dug a bit further there it was, the exact same mails with Kai Sara saw before. For a moment the ginger girl went blank... It was true, everything... But there was no time to think, she quickly took a picture of it and then went to the other mail account that was named "Master A.N.". She needed to find the other emails. This account had less emails, so it was easier to find Kai's emails. Sara took the pictures and, just when she was going to close the application, thought twice. This mail seemed more suspicious, to say the least. Just in case she also took the pictures of the other few mails fast.
It was time to go. She rapidly turned off the computer and took the cup to go outside the room. Mr. Chidouin was there, at the other end of the hall. Sara silently panicked for a moment, but she remembered the excuse she made up and re-gained the confidence. Just act natural, as the saying goes... first didn't look too much at Sara, she was wishing for him to not question her coming out of there. She went through the hall and just when Sara crossed with him Mr. Chidouin talked.
—What were you doing there? —he asked with a soft smile, staring.
—You always left this cup here dirty —Sara replied.
—Oh, but I cleaned my cup today.
The noise of the storm outside drowned the hall...
—It's okay —he said, then left the room with a friendly face.