Kyoko’s nose twitched as she lay in bed, feeling something soft and furry rub against it. Her eyes opened, giving way from darkness to see a Calico cat staring her in the face and meowing. Kyoko reached a hand and scratched behind the cat’s ears.
“Morning, Asami.” Kyoko pulled herself to a sitting position in bed and the cat crawled over her lap. “Yeah, I know. Breakfast.”
Asami hopped off the bed and started walking towards the bedroom door. She stopped and looked back at Kyoko one last time, meowing again.
“I’m coming.” Kyoko’s words were somewhat obscured by the yawn. She stepped out of the bed and slid her feet into slippers resting on the hardwood floor. The sliding door was open just enough for Asami to squeeze through, but Kyoko had to push it open further.
The bedroom was connected to a decent-sized kitchen. Kyoko went to one of the cabinets and took out a a plastic container with Asami’s food. She put some in a bowl and the cat went to work on her meal.
Kyoko went from the kitchen into the living room. Her cigarettes waited on the table along with her phone. She grabbed the pack and lighter, taking a Seven Star and sparking it up. After a few drags, Kyoko picked up her phone next and saw a Line message from Nobu, sent late last night: “Might have a lead. Will explain at the office. Probably coming in a little late.”
She scoffed. Of course he was coming in late. Probably counted on being hung over this morning. Kyoko went back to the kitchen and poured herself some ice coffee, alternating between sips of that and drags on her cigarette while she watched Asami eat her breakfast.
Going over the plan in her head, she knew that Saori was going down to the record company to try and get an audience with Ayano Kuroki. Nobu hopefully had something good to say about Ichikawa. And as for Kyoko, she was still waiting to hear from her contact at the university. But until then, she could pay a visit to Ichikawa’s last-known residence.
After finishing her coffee and cigarette and grabbing a quick shower, Kyoko dressed in jeans and a black, button-down shirt, then pulled her leather jacket over it. Her phone and wallet both went into her pockets and she stared at the TITAN-2500K stun gun, plugged into its charging adapter. It wasn’t likely she’d need that today, so she decided to leave it behind.
She knelt down to give Asami one final scratch and the cat purred in response. Then Kyoko was out the door of her apartment.
The address Saori managed to get for Ichikawa was also in Shinsekai, same as Akane. It made sense to Kyoko—if they were still together after she was fired, of course they’d try to stay in the same area.
Kyoko took the train to Shinsekai and went on foot to find the apartment. She programmed the address into her phone’s GPS and found it fairly easily. Kyoko looked up at the building.
Climbing the steps, Kyoko stopped on the third floor, which was where Ichikawa’s apartment apparently was. Unit 303. Kyoko found the door and pressed the button. She could hear the doorbell ringing on the other side, but no one came to answer. A few more tries to see if anything would work. Nothing.
Kyoko sighed and stepped back. She heard the sound of a door opening and looked to her right. A few doors down, a young man stepped out of his apartment and started walking towards Kyoko. The man briefly glanced at her, then kept moving.
“Excuse me…” Kyoko stepped in front of him and the man stopped. “Do you know the man who lives in this apartment?”
“Ichikawa?” he asked.
Kyoko nodded. “That’s right.”
“Sometimes we’d grab a few beers from the convenience store and hang out on his balcony.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
The man looked down, clearly trying to remember. Then he made eye contact with Kyoko. “Maybe a month ago?”
Around the same time Akane died, thought Kyoko. “Did you know anything about his girlfriend?”
The man narrowed his eyes at her. “Why are you interested in his girlfriend…?”
“I’m his sister.”
“He never mentioned he had a sister.”
“We don’t really get along.” One thing Kyoko was good at was thinking on her feet. “We got into a fight over his girlfriend.”
“Ahh, I understand.” The man gave a knowing nod. “Don’t tell him I said anything, but I’m on your side.”
“You are?”
“Well, yeah. You don’t know how many times Ichikawa got drunk and bitched about her. How she was a little slut giving it away to anyone she wanted.”
“So it was that bad, huh?” asked Kyoko.
The man scoffed. “You don’t know the half of it. I told him to dump the bitch, but he kept saying he loved her.”
She smiled at the man and stepped out of the way. “Thank you for your help.”
“You’re welcome.”
Kyoko watched him until he went to the staircase. Once he disappeared out of sight, she looked around the area and reached into her jacket’s inside pocket. She kept a lock-picking set there for just these situations.
Kyoko tried to avoid using criminal means in her investigation unless absolutely necessary. It was something she made sure to never tell Hashimoto whenever they talked about work.
But there were times when it was necessary. And if the neighbor was right, that meant Yuki Ichikawa could be on the lam. Not to mention what he told her about Yuki’s relationship with Akane. This was starting to look less like a suicide and more like a potential murder.
The lock opened. Kyoko removed the tools and placed them back in the case, then with her handkerchief, turned the handle. She slipped her shoes off in the genkan and placed her sock-covered feet on the hardwood floor.
The apartment was in fairly good shape. Didn’t seem like the den of a drug addict, which meant Yuki may not have been involved in that side of Akane’s life. He had a wall of photographs, much like Akane. Kyoko cast her eyes over them, noting there were more than a few of Yuki and Akane together. Going all the way back to their teenage years—some of the shots showed them standing side-by-side in the same school uniform.
So Yuki and Akane were high school sweethearts… Kyoko thought to herself.
She stepped away from the bulletin board and remained stationary, looking around the living room to see if anything caught her eye. There were some unwashed dishes in the sink, but for a young guy living on his own, that was hardly strange.
Sliding doors made of shoji screen paper connected the living room to the bedroom. With her handkerchief, she slid one of the doors open and stepped inside. Yuki had a twin bed in the center of the room and his closet was open. A clothesrack in there, but several shirts had been knocked down. Next to the bed was a plastic dresser—drawers ajar, a sock hanging over the edge of one. The curtains were open and when she looked outside, she saw laundry hanging out to dry.
Looked like Yuki Ichikawa was in a hurry to get out for some reason.
Kyoko approached the dresser and examined the surface. A cheap clock, cell phone charging cable, air conditioner remote…nothing out of the ordinary.
Before she reached the sliding door, she heard a noise from the genkan. A lock turning. Yuki must not have been as lost as she initially surmised. But getting caught in his apartment would definitely open her up to criminal charges.
Kyoko went to the balcony door and opened it, stepping outside. She slowly and quietly closed the door behind her. The balcony extended across both the living room and bedroom. The curtains in the living room were mostly closed, but open just enough so she could peek inside.
A man turned on the light in the genkan and removed his shoes, then walked onto the hardwood floor. Kyoko tried to get a good look at his face, but was having trouble making him out. Although there were a few things she’d noticed right away. In the pictures she saw, Yuki was clean-shaven, with average-length hair. But this guy, he had a thin beard and his hair was buzzed close to his head.
The strange visitor walked into the bedroom. Kyoko followed across the balcony, pinning herself to the wall separating the two windows. The curtains for this room were wide open, so she had to be extra cautious.
Peering into the room while doing her best to stay out of sight, she saw him reach into his jacket, then place something on the nightstand. The sunlight filtering in through the window reflected off rings lining each finger of his right hand.
Retracting his hand, he turned towards the window. Kyoko slid back out of sight. She held her breath, waiting. It felt like eternity. Already, she started formulating a plan for how to get out of here, if it came to that.
She didn’t have any weapons on her, so that was out. The guy didn’t look too tough, but Kyoko herself had a good deal of martial arts training, so that proved you couldn’t always rely on appearances. Plus, a fight was likely to draw attention—the walls of Japanese apartments were notoriously thin. No doubt sounds of a fight would result in a call to 119. And Kyoko was still guilty of breaking and entering, so good luck explaining that.
No, she had to play it smart.
She risked a look and saw him leave the bedroom. Kyoko moved to the next window and peeked through the opening in the curtains to the living room. He had his phone out and dialed a number. Kyoko pushed the door open slightly to hear what was said as he raised the phone to his ear.
“Yo, Ichikawa. Yeah, I dropped it off. Listen man, did you a solid this time. But I’m not Kuro Neko, so don’t expect frequent home deliveries. Got it?”
He ended the call, sliding the phone in his pocket. Once he walked to the front door, he pulled his shoes on in the genkan. But just as he was about to open the door, he stopped, staring down at something. What was he—?
Kyoko drew in a sharp breath. Her shoes were still in the genkan.
She watched carefully, waiting. He knelt down and picked up one of the shoes, examining the black, leather slip-on.
Instead, she heard a scoff. Followed by, “Damn, Ichikawa. You got some small feet.”
The guy dropped the shoe and left.
Kyoko exhaled.
After a few chu-his, Saori often mocked Kyoko for the androgynous appearance of her shoes. Kyoko always just defended it by saying they’re more comfortable. And now, it looked like she had another reason.
Once he was gone, Kyoko entered the bedroom again. She approached the nightstand to see what he left. Resting on the surface was a plastic baggie with several pills inside. The article Saori showed Kyoko mentioned that Yuki was providing Akane with her drugs.
Looked like the proof was there.