Mio took the bullet train from Kanazawa to Tokyo Station the next day. From there, she switched to the subway and continued toward her destination, a neighborhood in Tokyo she’d never been to before.
It seemed peaceful enough. There was a large park and a big supermarket, and neatly manicured trees beautifully lined the boulevard. It seemed like a wonderful place for families with children to live.
However…there was something else.
Something was dark about the place. Even when the sun shone, a shadow remained over the neighborhood, as though a roof or lid covered the area.
Of course, when Mio looked up, there wasn’t actually anything there.
After leaving Kusumichi Elementary, Kaname took Mio to an apartment high-rise development near the school.
It’s buildings were very large and stylish. Unlike the usual danchi complexes, flavorless drab structures in rows, these edifices had just the right amount of novelty to their design. A few glassed-in terraces were combined with the concrete texture tastefully. The lettering on the entrances, gates, and buildings was chic, giving the complex the appearance of a fashionable foreign hotel from a movie.
The rent was undoubtedly high. Curiously, Mio found herself hesitating when she and Kaname reached the entrance. She didn’t know why. The place seemed very nice, but she wouldn’t want to live here. Mio knew that she’d never allow herself to stay in this place.
The side of the building was bright with the afternoon sun, but somehow, it seemed dark, just like the neighborhood at large.
“Wait over there for a bit.” Kaname pointed at a park in the middle of the complex. Mio did as instructed, sitting on a bench while Kaname ventured off toward the south side. When Mio saw what he returned with a short while later, she gasped.
It was a carrier for a dog or cat. She stood up and rushed over to him.
“I borrowed this,” he said. “We might need it.”
“Borrowed it? A dog?”
It could’ve been a cat, but she guessed dog based on the size. Sure enough, a little “Hyip!” issued from inside the case. Mio promptly squealed with delight. Her family kept a dog during her elementary school years. The memory of its fluffy fur and excited panting sent a twinge through her chest.
“I think the poor thing’s agitated. Maybe it’s not used to being in the carrier. I feel like this is unfamiliar to it,” Mio said.
“You might be right,” Kaname replied quietly. The constant tapping of nails from within the carrier, like the dog was scrabbling, was concerning.
“Can’t we let it out?” Mio asked.
Kaname hummed to himself. After a moment of consideration, he said, “We can let it out, but there’ll be trouble if it runs away. What about later? Once we get back to the place I’m renting. It’s an indoor dog.”
“The place you’re renting?”
“Yeah. I have a place here. There are lots of rooms, so you can stay, too, if you want.”
Mio had wondered where she’d stay if they were going to be in this area for a while. Kaname had never given Mio the details, and she hadn’t bothered inquiring because she was used to how he did things.
“You’re renting an apartment in this complex? You went to all that trouble for this?”
He must have done it to find “them,” the people he was searching for. Kaname nodded very matter-of-factly. “I’m renting a couple. I asked Misumi Estates, the company that owns it, and they said I can use whichever ones I want.”
“Misumi Estates…?”
That was a major real estate company. Mio saw the name all the time on apartment ads, shopping mall commercials on TV, and so on.
“A couple of them? Like, multiple apartments? When you say ‘lots of rooms,’ you don’t just mean in a single unit? As in, we would stay in separate residences?”
Mio was hesitant to stay in the same unit with a boy her age, even in separate rooms.
“Yes. There are a bunch of empty apartments, so we can use any we like,” Kaname confirmed.
“What’s going on with this place?”
“One of the local wives has gone missing.”
Tap-tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap. The sounds of little dog feet continued from the carrier.
“There’s a couple more people who have died here. I assumed that if I followed their tracks, they’d lead me here,” Kaname stated without batting an eye.