Chapter 1

Reunion

"Phew, shopping day is always so tiring," I thought to myself when I walked home from the supermarket. I looked at my wristwatch, it's 17.00. Well, not so late. I could get home early today. With a grocery bag on each hand, I'm thinking of what meal would I make for dinner. Since started high school, I had left the comfort of my countryside home and live in an apartment in the city by myself, so all house work had been my job. It's not so bad, I'm living alone, afterall.

I had left the commercial district and were walking down the sidewalk by a small playground when I saw a figure walking from the opposite direction. From the look of the hair and clothes, it's a woman. She had white hair and dark skin, a pretty strange combination. Her clothes were so skimpy, only some kind of patterned bikini top, hot pants, stockings, and boots, clothes that suit a prostitutes. "What are you thinking? You don't even know her. Don't be such a judgmental," silently I scold myself.

When she walked closer, my mind told me that something was wrong. Her face showed some kind of sadness, her body looked like someone ill, I can see it. She definitely looked unhealthy, it's the more reason I decided to ignore her. I shift my step a little to the left, so that she would walk pass by me far to the right.

Suddenly, my eyes opened wide in shock. So strong that my body stopped its walking involuntarily. I paid real attention to her face. I've seen her somewhere, but where? When? At first she didn't notice I was looking at her, but after I stopped, she realised my gaze. She turned her head to face me, eyes to eyes, and stopped. Her face expression changed from sadness to curiosity. Just then I realised a shocking revelation. She was Yoshida-san, my ex-classmate, but very much had changed. Her once light skin had turned dark. Her clothes too, they weren't Yoshida-san-like at all. Most had changed, except her face and her eyes. I know them well as I liked to see her face in the classroom, back then, way back then before she stopped coming to school.

We just stood there for a moment. She shifted her gaze towards my highschool uniform, then suddenly her face changed into terror, like seeing a monster that had haunted her for years. She turned around and started to run away from me. "Hey, wait!" I called out to her, but she didn't stop her intention to escape. She had distanced herself from me for about 7 meters when I realized I'm losing her. Instinctively I called out her name, even though it's hardly believable that it's really her, "Yoshida-san!" Hearing the magic word, she stopped abruptly. As she changed into a standstill state, so did I. She was probably astonished hearing that name, while I was surprised too that the name really stopped her.

I carefully walked towards her and said her name again with more calmness than before, "Yoshida-san. It's you, right?" She turned her face towards me, still with scared look on her face. I should pick my words carefully, "do you remember me?"

She started to talk, "i-it's been a while since someone c-called me by that name. W-who are you?" I realized my words got through her.

"I'm Akagi. Akagi Horuto, remember? We were in the same class," I said the words that might make her remember me.

"Akagi?" Still sporting a puzzled look on her face, she made me fidget to find a way to explain to her.

I took off my glasses, waved it with my right hand and tried my best smile, "I'm the glasses guy sitting on the left, second row, hehe." Her face became less worried, but still wore the defense stance, hugging her breasts closer to her. Her face change really showed that she was indeed Yoshida Saki, the one girl I once had a crush on.

"Y-you're not... one of them?" That question startled me.

"Huh, what? One of them? What do you mean?" She didn't answer. She's just looking at me while I thought of what she meant.

"Uh, nevermind. What do you want from me?" She caught me off guard with that question. What did I want from her?

"Eh, no, uh, I mean, where have you been? You suddenly stopped coming to class. Umm, everyone worried about you."

Unsatisfied with my answer, she spat, "not your business." Her words were sharp, it made me flinch.

"Eh, ok. Fine." Observing her closely like this made my curious, does she really turn towards the underground world, illegall business, prostitution? Like the rumors at that time just before her disappearance? It would be so sad if it's true.

Not wanting to get involved further, I tried to leave her, "well, I'm sorry for stopping you. Bye." She didn't answer. I just left her be. My brain might accepted the reality, but my heart still resisted it. Is it really the Yoshida-san I knew? How could she changed that much. Did her parents quarrel, and that made her stressed out? Speaking about parents, I remembered something. Days after Yoshida-san disappeared, her parents, no, her mother came to school to look for her. I remembered each of our classmates was called to the principal room to be questioned one by one with her mother. At that time I had heard some of the rumors that Yoshida-san were selling her body to some boys in our school, and I hardly believed it. She might be popular, but she didn't look like someone who would be stupid enough to mess around with men. I just thought some of the students just bullied her, spread the rumors, until she really disappeared. When I was asked in the principal room, I just said that Yoshida-san might just be harassed by other students. When they asked by who, I answered I just heard some rumor. Her mother looked so mortified. In the end, nothing could be concluded from the investigation. I decided there were two possibilities: the rumor was false or the ones involved had successfully covered the issue. Either way, Yoshida-san was still missing. It's been about a year since then.

"What the hell!"

I should have just said to her that her parents were looking for her. I assumed she hadn't met her parents. I had walked for about 5 minutes from the spot I met her. She couldn't have gone too far. I should tell her that. It's the least I could do. I turned around to get back to that place and find her when I saw her walked the same direction as I did earlier, only a few meters behind. Now facing me, she suddenly became scared, like a thief been caught stealing, looking around for a way to run.

"You were following me?" I said what came to my mind first.

"No, noooo..." she ran away from me, picking up speed, tried to escape once again.

I dropped my grocery bags to catch up to her, then grabbed her by the arm, "Yoshida-san, what's wrong with you!? Are you cr..." I stopped my sentence halfway, not wanting to upset her more. She shaked her arms roughly to try to get off my grip. "Calm down. I'm not gonna hurt you."

After some seconds of futile struggle, she stopped shaking her arm. "If you need help, just tell me." Still looked so scared, she turned to face me. As soon as I released my grip, the tense on her face faded. Seemed like she finally trust me.

"I had nowhere to go, no one to return to. I don't know where I should be going. Let me follow you and settle near your place." I can't hide my saddened look. My eyes started to tear. At the moment I don't know what to say or do. Is it true that she had no one else? What about her parents? Then suddenly I erased that thought from my mind. She might not want to hear about her parents anymore. They might be the source of her problems.

"How about having dinner in my house? I'm cooking tonight," I just couldn't left her be by herself, could I?

Her face filled with disbelieve, but also lightened up a bit, but turned into worried look again, "your house? Can I really go to your house? What about your parents, brothers, sisters?"

"Don't worry, I'm living by myself. My family are in the countryside. Well, to be specific, it's not a house, but a small apartment."

"Can I really...?"

"Oh come on. It's getting late. You wouldn't want to spend the night outside, would you?"

"U-uh, ok. Thank you, erm... what's your name again?"

"It's Akagi, but you can call me Horuto if you want."

"Oh right. Thank you Akagi-san" Wait. Was it just me or did she really blush? Ah, nevermind. I tried to be as friendly as I could be, giving her my best smile, at least it's the best smile I could give.

It's almost 18.00 when we arrived. The neighborhood was already dark with only some streetlamps to help guide our path home. I tried to sneak her to my apartment, not wanting to alert the scary landlady. don't get me wrong, she had been nice to me, but I heard she got so angry when one of the tenants brought a girl inside. I ascended the stairs and quickly got inside, followed by Yoshida-san. After closing the door, I turned on the lamps and gestured Yoshida-san to come to the kitchen-living room. Getting near Yoshida-san in better lightings and closer proximity, I realized how dirty and smelly she was. When was the last time she took a shower anyway?

Not wanting to sound rude, I tried to get her into the shower, "Uh, Yoshida-san, you must be tired from walking around the city. I'll make the dinner right away. You can take a shower while waiting for the dinner getting ready. The shower is in there, near the entrance." I pointed towards the door near the entrance.

"Umm, can I lie down for a bit. I'm so exhausted."

"Eh, um, ok. Sure. It's your choice. You can lie down anywhere you want." I retreated, not wanting to upset her. My attempt to get her into the shower failed. I just hoped she wouldn't dirty the furniture much.

I proceeded with the ingredients inside the plastic bags to the kitchen. I started preparing the utensils and washed the vegetables. I turned to see where Yoshida-san were, but then realized she was nowhere in the living room, not on the couch nor the kitchen counter. Only one place where she could have gone.

The bedroom.

To be continued...