The whole night had passed while the four of them slept…
Hinata looked at the vast open sea through the glass door, then turned to Chihori. He was petrified.
We were supposed to get off the ship last night, but we’re still here.
The sun was already high in the sky, and the ship was out in the Pacific, cruising toward Russia…
“Wh-why…?” He looked pleadingly to Chihori for help, trying desperately to make sense of it all.
She looked lost for an explanation as well and simply stared back at him.
“I—I came up here last night to take you all off the ship, but no matter how many times I pressed the button, there was no response. I went back down to look in the lobby, and one of the crew members told me that you had already left…”
“B-but we’re still here…”
“Y-yes, I can see that. How did this happen?!” she wailed.
Behind her, a woman in a black apron asked in English, “Chihori, are you okay? What happened?”
“W-wait a minute, Hinata. Just stay here for now. I’ll go and check with the front desk!”
She quickly pushed the other woman back out of the room and left with her. Their loud, arguing voices moved down the hallway and out of earshot.
Hinata took a deep breath, then lunged toward the wheelchair. “Mr. Kobayashi, Mr. Kobayashi! Wake up! We’re in trouble!”
Kobayashi groaned and lolled his head. His eyes opened very slowly.
“H-Hinata…?”
“That’s right! Wake up!”
Kobayashi put a hand to his head. Hinata moved to the bed and shook both Mayuka and Mito.
“Mayuka! Mito! Wake up! Open your eyes!!”
Both girls murmured quietly and eventually woke up.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “How do you feel?”
Hinata reached into the little refrigerator next to the desk and pulled out three bottles of mineral water. He shoved them at the others, who were still struggling to regain consciousness.
“Drink some water and wake yourselves up! We’re in big trouble. The boat’s in the middle of the ocean!”
Kobayashi was the first to recover. He quickly gulped down the water and slapped his cheeks. “Hmm, what happened? I feel like I got a good night’s rest…”
“We all slept a little too well. We’re out in the Pacific. We never got off the boat!”
“Huh?!” He rolled his wheelchair to the glass door, where his mouth fell open.
Mayuka sat up in bed and stared at the glass, her eyes wide. “Wh-what on earth…?”
“How did this happen? All I remember is feeling sleepy, and then…” Mito took a gulp of water, ran a hand through her hair, and stood up.
Mayuka was pressing the plastic bottle to her forehead to cool herself down.
“The pomegranate juice…,” Kobayashi murmured, glancing at the table. “We all drank it together, didn’t we?”
He was right. They’d had one last toast and shared the strikingly red juice. But there was nothing on the table now—not a single drop of liquid.
“D-does that mean what I think it does?” asked Hinata.
He held his breath. He knew what Kobayashi was thinking. Had the juice contained some kind of drug that put them to sleep? Was that why everyone had passed out so quickly?
Ah, Chris!
“That’s right! I need to go get Chris…”
He was rushing for the door when Mito’s scream split the air.
“The Stradivarius is gone!!”
Huh?
Mito was staring dumbfounded at the open violin case on the desk. Hinata and Mayuka hurried over. The case was empty. There was nothing inside!