Page 51 of Secrets & Sake

With my back aching and eyes bleary, I call it a day. So far, none of the victims are alive, and I’ve gone through fifty out of one hundred victims. There has to be someone who survived, or at the very least, family members of a survivor who can relay their experience to me. There just has to be.

My stomach growls. I need to eat, get some rest, and resume my investigation tomorrow.

I text Raiden, asking if he wants to come over for dinner.

By the time I get off the train, my message has gone unanswered.

Raiden still hasn’t texted me back.

I sent him a text saying good morning, asking if he wanted to have breakfast together somewhere. No response. Not even when I texted him a pic of the bite mark he left on my shoulder. I figured that surely would have gotten a response.

Something’s wrong, and the anxiety makes it hard to focus as I pour over old newspapers. I hope he’s okay. I’m worried I did something wrong, but I can’t think of what it might have been.

I spend most of the day piecing together evidence I’ve already gathered for my story, but around 7 PM, I’m starving and my brain won’t function anymore. Still no damn survivors.

I take the train and seek out the Blue Lotus. It’s packed with people drinking and dancing the stress of the week away. Just like I’d hoped, Ren is behind the bar pouring drinks. She waves at me, smiling brightly. I slide into the last empty seat.

“Hey!” she chirps. “The usual?”

“You know me so well. And some karaage, too.” Fried chicken is the best.

“You got it.” She hands me my Sapporo draft, and I take an eager gulp.

The beer hits my empty stomach like a truck.

“How’re you? Enjoying the weekend?” she shouts over the music.

I shrug. “Sure. Hey, you haven’t seen Raiden, have you?”

Ren’s brow wrinkles. “I haven’t, actually. Not since a couple of days ago.”

“Since the hunt?” I ask, dismayed before I realize what I’ve let slip.

She schools her shocked expression, but it’s too late.

“It’s okay, Ren. I know. Raiden told me everything, and I don’t care. Really.”

Tension tightens her shoulders. “Just a minute!” she barks at a demanding customer, then leans into my space. “You know.”

“I do.”

“How?”

“I sort of followed you guys to the mountains. Then Raiden saw me and… told me everything.”

Ren blows out a breath. “You could have been killed, Hiro. What were you thinking? You’re brave or stupid, I can’t tell which.”

“My old man always said stupid, so let’s go with that.”

Shaking her head, Ren says, “Thanks for being open-minded about it, at least. But you know if anyone in the gang finds out, Namikawa is going to lose his shit, right? This has to stay a secret between you, me, and Raiden.”

A grin tickles my lips. “Cool. I’ve never had friends to keep secrets with.”

Ren chuckles and raises a fist. I bump her, and we laugh, but worry forms a line between her brows. “I don’t like that neither of us have heard from Raiden. He hasn’t been home the last couple of times I’ve knocked on his door.”

My heart sinks. “Do you think something’s happened to him?”

She purses her lips. “The last time he disappeared like this…” She trails off, worry plain in her eyes.

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