The nameplate ICHIKAWA was stamped right above the mailbox. Kyoko stared at it, studying the two kanji characters for a few moments before she pushed the doorbell. She checked her watch. It was noon, who knew if anyone was even home? There was a car in the driveway, but when you lived as close to the subway as they did, public transportation was usually a lot easier for a commute.
No answer. She pushed the button again, hearing the doorbell echo inside the house. Kyoko reached into her pocket and looked at the phone Tomiko gave her. The one that belonged to Akane.
The screen was smashed to hell and when Kyoko tried to turn it on, nothing happened. Damaged in the fall, no doubt. As of right now, it was useless. But with any luck, Kyoko hoped the data on it was still intact. There was a chance Akane had something on that phone that could add another piece to the puzzle.
The sound of the door opening drew Kyoko’s attention from the phone. She looked up into the face of a woman around the same age as Tomiko, but far more ragged. Like she’d barely gotten any sleep.
“Mrs. Ichikawa?” asked Kyoko.
“Who are you?” she asked.
Kyoko took out a business card and bowed as she held it out with both hands. “My name is Kyoko Nakamura, I’m a private investigator.”
Mrs. Ichikawa hesitantly took the card and read it. After a moment, she looked up at Kyoko. “What do you want with me?”
“My office called you the other day, we’re looking for your son, Yuki.”
“What do you want with Yuki?”
“I’ve been hired by the Suzukis to look into their daughter’s associations. I understand your son had a relationship with her?”
“Yes. Until she started treating him like he was trash.”
Kyoko tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
“She thought she was so much better than him because of her fame. He’d call her, leave her messages, and she would just ignore him for weeks at a time.”
Seemed odd to Kyoko. If Akane was so detached from the relationship, why wouldn’t she have salvaged her career? All she had to do was break it off with Yuki, then Star Rise would probably find a way to come to some sort of agreement with her.
“Have you heard about what happened to Akane?” asked Kyoko.
Mrs. Ichikawa nodded. “Of course I heard. This may not be the smallest neighborhood, but word still goes around pretty quickly.”
“No one has seen your son since Akane’s death. We’d like to ask him some questions, fill in some blanks about Akane’s life before she died.”
Mrs. Ichikawa scowled, her brows knitting together, and started to pull the door closed. “He doesn’t know anything.”
Kyoko stuck her foot between the door and the frame to keep it open. “Mrs. Ichikawa, perhaps you should let me be the judge of that. All I want is a few minutes of his time to ask him some questions.”
Mrs. Ichikawa shook her head. “You have no right to be here.”
“Just please, if you’ll let me—”
“If you don’t leave my family alone, I’ll call the police!”
Kyoko narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you want to involve the police in this? Potentially, your son may be the last person who saw Akane Suzuki alive. If you want to call the police, they may decide to take a closer look at this supposed suicide.”
The look on Mrs. Ichikawa’s face was one of total fear. There was doubt in Kyoko’s mind that the police would re-open the investigation, but if the threat of that could get Yuki’s mother to cooperate, Kyoko calculated the bluff was worth an attempt.
“Yuki did nothing wrong! He’s a good man! He loved that girl and she threw it back in his face!”
“If he did nothing wrong, then he should sit down with me, answer some questions, and I can cross him off my list.”
Noise came from the back of the house. Kyoko started to move from the front door, but Mrs. Ichikawa grabbed her wrist. Kyoko spun back and saw the woman’s face on the verge of panic. In that instant, Kyoko knew what the sound was.
Yuki was here. And he was trying to run.
The detective pulled hard, yanking her arm free of the mother’s grip. Mrs. Ichikawa shouted after Kyoko as she ran around the side of the house. A sliding backdoor led out to the veranda, and it was open. She heard footsteps echoing in the distance. There was a small gap between homes and Kyoko had to turn sideways to squeeze through, just as he must have.
She emerged onto one of the neighborhood’s side streets and saw a young man with blond hair running ahead of her. Kyoko ran after him, trying to follow the turns he made. Yuki had the advantage—he grew up here, had walked these streets every day to and from school. If Kyoko lost sight of him, she’d be lucky to find him again.
Kyoko saw him head towards the main street, Minato-dori. Six lanes of traffic to cross, with a divider separating the opposing lanes. And the cars were moving through those lanes at a fast clip.
Yuki stopped when he reached Minato-dori and Kyoko slowed her pursuit. Surely, he wouldn’t risk his life to run across while cars were racing through.
A look at Kyoko. The two made eye contact and then Yuki took another look at the busy street. He darted into traffic.
“Shit!” Kyoko ran after him.
Cars honked and swerved to avoid the young man running through the three lanes. He jumped over the grass on the divider and made another attempt to run past.
Kyoko followed him, holding up her hands to try and get the approaching vehicles to slow down. Horns and angry curses were thrown at her. She made it to the divider and saw Yuki already on the sidewalk.
Her legs pumped. A car came at her, the driver trying to slow down while laying his hand on the horn. Kyoko couldn’t get out of the way in time, so instead she rolled across the hood. The driver shouted at her through the open window, but she ignored him and ran to the sidewalk.
Looking to her left, she saw Yuki running down the sidewalk along Minato-dori. Kyoko had an idea of where he was going. Instead of chasing after him, she went straight down one of the smaller streets.
The roads around this block formed a kind of triangle, and as Kyoko circled, she was on another street heading back towards Minato-dori. An overhead walking bridge enabled pedestrians to safely and easily enter the Asahiobashi subway station.
Sure enough, Kyoko’s theory paid off. She made it to the steps leading up to the bridge just as Yuki came around the bend. He saw her running towards him and instead of trying to beat her to the bridge, he crossed the street.
“Oh you little bastard…” Kyoko pumped her legs harder, following him across the lanes. This was slightly less treacherous than crossing Minato-dori, but still no picnic.
Yuki scrambled, running through the bike racks. He banged into a few of them and tried to throw some into Kyoko’s path. She slowed down a little, but still managed to keep up.
They ran across the crosswalk, entering Yahataya Park. Steps led up to the front entrance of the Osaka Pool. Yuki darted up the steps and once he reached the top, he turned right.
Kyoko followed and she saw an entrance for Asahiobashi up ahead. He was going to try and lose her in the commuter crowd. She couldn’t let that happen.
People were already moving through the corridor leading to the station. The congestion forced them both to slow down. Yuki was ahead of her and Kyoko could keep tabs on him by his hair color.
They moved down into the subway station, Kyoko pushing past commuters and trying to reach him before he could get to the subway. She took out her phone—the case held her rail card if she needed to get past the gate. And she assumed Yuki had one as well, otherwise he wouldn’t risk going into the station when he’d have to purchase a ticket in advance.
Craning her neck as much as she could, Kyoko could still see him heading towards the automatic ticket gate. So, he was going to try and escape on the train. He went past the gate. Kyoko pushed through, trying to close the distance. When she approached the gate, she tapped her card to the sensor and the small doors parted, allowing her to pass.
Announcements came over the PA system. Kyoko looked around, trying to catch sight of him. After a moment, she finally saw his hair. Except he wasn’t heading to the train platform. No, he was heading towards one of the other exits.
Try to lose her in the crowd, make her think he’d escaped on a train. You had to give it to him—it wasn’t a bad plan by any stretch. But Kyoko wouldn’t let him get away that easy.
“Thief!” she shouted.
People stopped in their tracks, looking at the source of the cry. When they saw Kyoko, they could see her pointing. Commuters moved out of the path of her finger, which was pointed directly at Yuki. Even he’d stopped and turned to see what the commotion was.
Then he made a break for the gate. Kyoko ran after him, continuing to shout, “Thief!” Most of the people parted for him, and Kyoko cursed them for their unwillingness to get involved.
Yuki approached the gate and touched his card to the sensor. As soon as it parted, he ran into the path of two station security guards. He turned around, seeing if he could run the other way.
But Kyoko was there already, passing through the ticket gate. The guards restrained him and Kyoko came closer, smiling down at him.
“Nice try,” she said.