Page 30 of Pandion

“Have you seen Kagesawa?”

“No.”

“He’s not at home, and I can’t get through the link.” What if there was nothing wrong with the connection? In tandem with Harumine’s creeping panic, the regret he’d taught Kagesawa the proper way to dampen increased by the minute.

Takazaki didn’t seem the type to resort to empty words of comfort, so he was clearly struggling to find some now. “When did you last see him?”

“I had an errand to run at seven, so sometime before I left. Maybe he’s at the pub or visiting someone?”

“He wouldn’t go alone. He also never visits anyone without being invited first. At least almost never.” Despite the late hour, Takazaki grabbed his coat and started putting on his shoes. “Did he seem upset at all when you left? Like he might want to do something stupid?”

“No, he was fine. I thought everything was… fine.” Harumine tried to recall if there had been any signs that Kagesawa might want to harm himself.

“And there were no signs of struggle?” Takazaki confirmed, made sure he had his keys and closed the door behind him.

“No. I don’t even know where to look.” Sharing a link these past few weeks had given Harumine the false impression that he knew Kagesawa better than he did.

Ah damn. If he hadn’t dallied, would he have run into the man on his way home?Kagesawa? Where are you?

“Let’s take a look around the neighbourhood first. Maybe he’s jogging at the park and forgot to let you know. You know how stuff slips his mind,” Takazaki suggested.

Yes, Kagesawa was a little forgetful, but enough to walk off and forget he was dampening the link?

The apartment felt incredibly empty and lifeless the next day without Kagesawa making a mess in it. Harumine had looked for him until somewhat past midnight before giving up. Takazaki had kept him company most of the way, but he’d had work the next day. Thankfully, today was not a workday for Harumine, and he had a few more days over the weekend to figure out how to deal with that whole issue.

Was he supposed to file a missing person’s report? When? Would that be of any use? If Kagesawa had meant to disappear and didn’t want to be found, he probably wouldn’t appreciate Harumine alerting the authorities.

What did it matter if he didn’t appreciate it? That damn douche canoe had left without leaving a note! Them having rushed into such an intimate relationship because of the damn link was screwing with Harumine’s perception, and he had to remind himself yet again that they weren’t actually all that close. It was just a work thing.

But what if Kagesawa had left against his will? Harumine retracted the descriptive part of his earlier inner statement and continued pacing around the living room.

Who else could he contact for help? A friend?

What friend. His laugh was hollow. He’d dedicated the last seven years to his studies. He’d had acquaintances, some even close enough to call friends, but not one of them was worth calling for help. As for his family, they lived up north in the sticks, and the most they could do was give farming advice or possibly a few superficial words of encouragement.

Harumine sat down on the sofa. All he could hear was himself breathing.

Chapter 12

After going through the neighbours and the neighbourhood, Harumine resorted to invasion of privacy to find anyone worth contacting from the mess of Kagesawa’s desk and his files. If he could have been sure Kagesawa was OK and that he’d left on his own free will, Harumine wouldn’t have bothered, but there had been no note. What if he was in trouble and depended on Harumine to find him? Had he disappeared the same way, for the same reason as his third link?

Kagesawa hadn’t saved any contact information for his past links, but Harumine did some digging to get in touch with as many of them as possible.

The last four were a complete bust. Their reactions were essentially the same: barely polite indifference. Hashimoto-san was willing to meet briefly, if only to say he hadn’t had a reason to keep in touch, but was wondering how Kagesawa was doing. He spent a good fifteen minutes reminiscing about some dock work they’d done together, and while his drawl over shipyard robotics was mind-numbing to listen to, at least he had a mild interest in Kagesawa’s well-being and promised to keep an eye out and let Harumine know if he heard or saw something. It probably wouldn’t amount to much, though, since the man was nearly blind of old age.

The third link was nowhere to be found and the second one didn’t even remember Kagesawa. Having run out of options, Harumine wondered if there was any way to safely meet with Shimizu to at least make sure the man had nothing to do with this disappearance.

As far as people who might hold a grudge, Shimizu Takuya was high on the list. Getting a hold of him was a touch tricky, though. He was serving a limited-contact sentence confined to his district, and seeing him required a special permit. It was a slap-on-the-wrist–type of punishment for something that had left Kagesawa with significant emotional trauma, but unfortunately that didn’t mean it was easy to circumvent. Harumine had to pull some strings to arrange a short moment together with the man.

In person, Shimizu didn’t seem at all unpleasant. On the contrary, he appeared amiable, friendly even. He received Harumine at a small cafe at the edge of his district with a designated officer keeping an eye on things from a distance.

“I understand you had some questions for me regarding Kagesawa Tsuyoshi. How is the rascal doing these days?”

“Fine, I suppose,” Harumine replied, unsure how to approach the subject.

“What did you want to know? Is he giving you trouble?” Shimizu sipped his coffee, carefree, like none of his current situation had anything to do with what had happened with his last link. It was like the resentment wasn’t even there.

“No, not as such.”

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