On December 25, 1899—
Manabu was getting ready for the evening while watching the news on the television. Though, media wasn't trustworthy nowadays since most news was twisted by powerful people. Only a handful of trusted sources which actually produced edible knowledge were the Global News Section (GNS), National News Section, World Sheets, and a few other handful sources.
Feropia had an economic boost in 1889, which was when Castela made its first payment to Allied-nations, mandated under the 'Treaty of 1871.' Manabu remembered that when he was eight, there were barely any television or access to social media, but by the time he turned thirteen, they had their very own cathode-ray television at their home, and now they are also getting free access to the media through computers.
According to the GNS articles—Before the first payment of Castela under the 'Treaty of 1871,' a water bottle cost 2 Hurks. But after the first payment, the cost of a water bottle went up to cost 24,000 Hurks. In simple words, the economy had collapsed, and unemployment had surged; people were helpless. Feropia once had alliance with Castela, but after the rise of Dictator Nord Deimonko(1807-1871) Feropia broke its alliance with Castela and declared a phony war on Castela during the World War. The reason Feropia declared this phony war, also referred as Bogus war, was a diplomatic strategy to create neutrality with Allied-Nations and avoid harm, or direct involvement in the ongoing World War.
Every nation tries to establish a better image of itself, through rewriting its past and future, controlling media. So they can maintain their image, just as now Manabu was standing before a mirror, trying on different outfits to look genuine and approachable.
Today, this evening, there's a Christmas Event, very close to Manabu's home. So they thought it would be best to share time together. Taiju's parents had arrived back to Christina yesterday, to spend sometime with Taiju. From Mion-Naomi's side Futaba would be joining as well. It seldom felt like a family union this evening.
After much deliberation, he settled on a white sweater and a black long coat. He turned off the television. Slipping on his shoes as he remembered Naomi called this morning saying she and Futaba would be a little busy and late, but Mion would reach there beforehand. "She'll be at the nearby station at Five in the evening." Was all she had said.
Manabu grabbed the keys, combed his white silk hair, pocketed his wallet and inhaler. Twirling the key around his finger, and stepped out.
Manabu was excited since Taiju's parents will be there. It feels like decades since he had last met them; they were busy with their business affairs. He reached a little earlier than he anticipated, and when he reached the station at quarter to four, he spots Mion standing leaning her back to a pillar. She wore a yellow long coat cinched at the waist by a belt and a white scarf matching the snow, her long, light pink hair cascading down her shoulders in silky strands. In winter's embrace, she was gorgeous as lily flowers. And when Mion saw him, she spoke nervously, "You came so early!" in a soft sweet tone while adjusting her hair.
"You too," Manabu replied. He asked where Naomi and Futaba had been, and when would they be meeting them. Mion replied, "Father will come straight from his college programs. Naomi accompanied him. Maybe they'll arrive a little late."
"Is that right?..." Manabu stood beside her, glancing the festive surroundings. The streets were lively, with people and families laughing and enjoying the winter air. So many people, and so cold! Suddenly, something popped into his mind and he couldn't help but to ask before he gets engaged in festival, "Hey, I had a question. Your father, Mr. Futaba—I mean, is he your real father? Like—" it was quite irrational to ask something like this out of nowhere, it completely had no reason to be brought up, even Manabu realized that.
Mion though understood what he meant. "No! No! Actually—I understand the confusion; many people had asked me the same question. He's my—father figure, and an admirable person, but not my biological father. My biological parents were murdered when I was little. Some robbers shot them on streets at late night and took their wallets and jewels, whatever valuable they had. I also had an elder brother, but he died in an accident. His head was crushed."
Manabu felt a pang of sorrow, since he was technically an orphan, too. "I apologise, I should have figured it out. I know how it feels to lose someone close to you."
"It's fine, well—I have some questions to ask too, if you don't mind! So…I've always wondered about your parents. I've only seen your grandmother, but what about them? Did your grandmother ever mention anything about them?"
Manabu sighed and spoke. "I don't know much about my parents either. My grandmother once—told me that my father was a leader, but I never bothered learning more about it. I was just a stupid incurious kid. She mentioned that he loved me the most—'among two of you'—perhaps? Maybe I might have a sister or a brother, as far as I remember."
"A sister!?" Mion blushed. Manabu nodded, "She said—My mom and dad married out of love. And the part I like the most is, my dad didn't want to marry her, for some complicated reasons. Even though they loved each other, he was resisting. But my mom said she'd only marry him and no one else. She didn't care; she'd do whatever it takes to make him her groom, and to become her spouse. Ultimately, leaving my old man no choice."
Mion giggled and said, "That's adorable."
"You think so? I thought that too. But I don't know what happened to my mother and father. She stopped talking about them since when I was thirteen." But then Manabu furrowed with slight confusion, "I remember…there was something—I remember she used to say like—" Manabu paused.
"What does she used to—" Mion noticed his expression; his eyes suddenly widened, and eyebrows tilted. The expression resembled disgust or maybe something different than that. Mion started feeling uncomfortable. It was a horrible expression. She jerked his shoulder, "Manabu? Manabu!" but he was not responding to her calls.
'Anyone who isn't with you, is against you. All of em are your enemies, do not forget.' Was all he could hear, in whispers.
'Anyone who is not with you, against you. —are your enemies, do not forget.'
'Any—ayone who is no with you, against you. Thy Are yur ENEmies, do n—not frget.'
'Enyon wo isn't nt with you, against You. ALL your enimes, donot forget.'
'Enyowe wo is'nt with yu, against yu. Al Are enemis, do NOT NOT NOT… forgo…'
Manabu returned to his conscious state. Mion looked concerned, "Manabu, are you feeling well?"
"Oh, I'm fine, I was thinking about…" Manabu forgot...
Suddenly Mion remembered she had planned to confess. She began blushing, lowered her gaze, contemplating whether to confess right here or not. But it felt like now-or-never. She looked around if she could find a place, somewhere suitable to sit first before she confess, and then spotted a coffee shop nearby, "Why not have a coffee while we're waiting for the others!" Manabu agreed, and they entered the cozy, newly opened café with a warm ambiance. A waitress showed them to their seats. Manabu, wondering if the place was new, asked the waitress. The waitress replied, "Oh, yes, it's been eight months. And our customer service is excellent," with a big smile. The place smelled quite nice, and Mion began liking it; this place smelled so wonderful and sweet, it was so calming.
Manabu asked her if she'd like to have something. Mion observed the menu for a while, but gradually said, "Anything you like," continuing to enjoy the sweet smell. Manabu pointed at the menu orders to the waitress. The waitress smiled. "So your order is a couple coffee and two slice of black forest cake. I will be right back!"
After a moment of silence, Mion cleared her throat and asked cautiously, "What do you think about Naomi?" Mion just wanted to make sure of Manabu's feelings about Naomi, but she realized it was too sudden. Manabu crossed his arms and rested back in his chair, asking, "Why?"
Mion replied with awkward laughter. "No reason, I'm just curious, also just trying to engage a conversation."
Manabu thought for a moment, and gave a decent reply, "Naomi is honest and kind. She's the exact reflection of my grandmother." Manabu chuckled after he said it for a particular reason. When asked why, he said, "When I first saw you two as kids, I legit thought you were siblings. You two are always together. Later, when I learned you were not, I was so dumbfounded."
Mion giggled remembering it, she nodded and said, "What are you talking about? We are like actual sisters. She's just the other half of me, and we both together are a whole. Sometimes she does some shitty stuff," she said remembering the night when she persuaded her to accept the deal. "But I just want Naomi to stay with me forever. I've never had anything of my own. I'm an orphan, aren't I?"
Manabu told her to stay by Naomi's side forever, despite anything that happens between them. Mion smiled and said, "It's obvious isn't it?"
The cake and coffee arrived, but the coffee had a heart design decorated with the foam. Mion stared at it, her face heating up. Does Manabu even realize this means love? Wouldn't people think we're a couple? She was anxious, fidgeting with her spoon. Just as she was about to stir and ruin the shape, she hesitated. I don't want to. This looks adorable! Should I do it? Across the room, two girls were chattering and giggling. Mion thought they were gossiping about them; she was so embarrassed she could run away. They think we're lovers, don't they?
"Weren't you going to ask me something? Is something wrong?" Manabu's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Eh! What?" she fumbled, "Yeah! I remembered…What do you think of me? Just in general, maybe…"
"I like you." Manabu said it with such confidence that she misunderstood it; her heart almost stopped just upon hearing that sentence. "You're a great friend, and you've helped me a lot." Just as Manabu completed the sentence, she felt her heart resume beating. She had to say it right now; Naomi or anyone could arrive at any moment. "Wait, Manabu, I'm about to say something which might sound odd, I request you, please, do not laugh. Okay?" "I promise I won't laugh." "You can also ignore it." Mion said.
"Okay?" Manabu lean closer and straighter, he looked seldom exited. Mion surely took a little while to gain courage. Her hands on her thighs, she tried to maintain a decent and feminine posture. "So listen, I am truly in… so in love—" Before she could finish, Mai arrived.
Ugh! I was so close! Why am I so unlucky!? Mion screamed in her thoughts, cussing her fate. She saw them from the opposite side of the street and decided to interrupt the scene just at the worst timing possible.
All of a sudden, Manabu as well as Mai heard someone enunciate, 'Futaba' they immediately turned their faces at the voice. It was from the television inside the café. They were certain they had heard Futaba, only Mion didn't noticed, she wasn't paying attention. There was the old man, sitting at a table, changing the channels continually. Manabu had some bad feelings about something, it was around half past five, and no one arrived yet. So he and Mai decided to reach the old man, they requested him to rewind the channels. The old man wasn't bothered, he rewound channels. Mion was concerned, "Why are you two acting strange?"
Just then the screen displayed a gruesome headline: Teacher and Student Murdered Outside Detens Scholars High School: Mr. Santa's Work?
It was from M-B news reporter as he reads:
"At approximately 5:20 P.M. this evening, a brutal stabbing took place in the children park near DSHSC School, with no major witnesses. The victims are identified as Naomi, a 17-year-old college student, and her father—Professor Futaba, a respected teacher at the DSHSC. Both were stabbed by an unknown culprit, and police found no immediate evidence." Mion's entire body trembled, her eyes widening in disbelief, as tears streamed down her face. By the time, Taiju arrived at the café, alone with his parents. They were only aware of the news just a few minutes ago. Taiju's father was more concerned about what happened. "Manabu! Mr. Futaba and his daughter have been stabbed. We need to get to your college," he said upon entering, and instructed the women to reach back home. Manabu went with Taiju and his father.
64/ A, K.B. Street, Near the Children park—It was nearly half past five when Kenzo arrived at the crime scene. He asked for information they had collected. One of the forensic workers, Sato Machimo, provided him the detail, collected by a profiler: "The male one's name is Futaba, who was stabbed in the heart, causing immediate death, and his daughter, Naomi, was stabbed in her belly twice, and it seemed she had tried to escape but she failed… Apparently, she is alive, but in a very critical condition and has been taken to the hospital."
"They were identified by some teachers of this DSHSC institution, which seemed to have had a training program for teachers, and Futaba was present there."
Kenzo stood by, trying to make sense of this disaster. Nearby, a few officers were chattering and one of them said, "It could be Mr. Santa. There are few cases like this murder where the culprit escapes without leaving any traces. I think it might be possible." Kenzo turned to them with a frustrated expression, "This is a ridiculous theory. This is something local officers like you would say to get fame by the media; there's no evidence that Santa did this. Did anyone even witness anything? How can you just claim it's Santa's murder?"
They apologized and said, "Yes, you're right; there is no evidence to it, and so unfortunately for us—not a single soul witnessed anything. Or maybe they are trying to hide it to not get involved in such a massacre." But just then Investigator Sato found something truly important to the case. "We found the gift near Futaba's desk, inside the staff room. We inquired teachers and workers about it, but they claimed it had to have been put at the place before they had set foot inside the college. Otherwise, there had been none other than them who had brought anything like that."
Kenzo was shocked, "Why would Santa kill them?" he asked. It absolutely made no sense, since Santa killed criminals particularly. "It's ABSURD. There's no way Mr. Santa had done it." Sato argued back, "Why would someone murder a college teacher for no reason? Except if it's a criminal, it would make no sense! You are my superior, and more experienced than I, Mr. Kenzo. You must maintain your composure. What else could possibly be the answer? And also if it's just a regular murder, why would investigator Mr. Kenzo Kashizu arrive? Aren't you suspicious too, that this might lead you to some point?"
Kenzo admitted that he had his reasons for suspicion, but it was just his intuition alone. "But this gift is a tragedy," he said, "because everything we had discovered about Santa would go in vain." Kenzo mistakenly touched the gift box barehanded; the forensic technician exclaimed, "You cannot touch it barehanded!" Kenzo apologized and put on rubber gloves. He examined the box exterior and interior. Inside, he found the same Santa Toy Cart, often left by the Santa Killer. Which was again ABSURD to Kenzo. 'This thing isn't supposed to be here. He left it, must've thought of it beforehand,' Kenzo whispered, rubbing his face, battling a headache. He instructed the officers to look deep into the victims' social backgrounds, if they had enmity with anyone, and track last few callers. If it's actually Santa's doing, the victims HAVE TO BE criminals." Mr. Sato agreed to this, and said that if the girl survives, she can aid their investigation. Kenzo frowned. "I know, but what if she doesn't survive?"
"So that'd leave us no more choices but to follow our intuition. And we seemingly had found no other clue besides the gift."
By the time Taiju, his father, and Manabu had arrived, they tried to talk to the police, insisting on letting them talk to the superior and permitting them inside. "They are our family members! Let us in! We have to talk to the investigator." They requested the police to allow them inside but they weren't permitted. However, Kenzo saw them concerned, so he reached them and asked questions. What is their relationship with you? Who are you to them? Do they have any enemies? He questioned them thoroughly; they were surrounded by police and people.
Then Kenzo said, "Two policemen will accompany you to your address; they need to speak with your wife and that Mion girl."
"What about Naomi?! And Mr. Futaba?!" Manabu asked. "Everyone is concerned. Would Naomi survive?"
"Look, kid, your friend has been taken to the nearest hospital. We can't do anything, except pray." Kenzo replied to him. Manabu clenched his fists and started biting his nails anxiously. They were all taken to Taiju's flat in the police car, with two policemen accompanying them. On the way, Ben, the policeman in the driving seat, got a phone call. Manabu was anxious about the call, because that policeman's expression and tone of speech changed almost immediately after it. He was sounding so hopeful, and suddenly after the call he seemed to be quiet.
They reached home and Taiju's mom opened the door. The policemen walked inside and calmly took an inquiry. They asked Mion a few questions, and the policemen could tell she wasn't in her right state for an inquiry. After the investigation, Ben said, "One of the elders might have to come with us;" he meant Mr. Hiroshi. And just when they were about to leave, Manabu asked them about the phone call. The police had no speech; he just confirmed Naomi's death and said, "She was taken to the ambulance, even reached the operating theater, but unfortunately, she didn't survive. Time of death: 5:39:30. We are sorry for your loss."
Mion, who had been sobbing until now, began screaming, crying like a baby. Her whole world seemed to fall apart in a few moments. Such a tragedy…
"I'm sorry for your loss once again. Their bodies have been sent for autopsy. Due to the case investigation, both bodies will be thoroughly examined, and you will be informed within the next 24 to 48 hours. After the autopsy, the department will not place any legal hold on the bodies. Therefore, you will be allowed to see them, and you can proceed with the burial. I hope you understand." With those words, the policemen took their leave with Taiju's father taken with them. Mion sobbed in Ms. Hiroshi's arms. "How co—could you, after mother, now y—you two ar—are leaving me behind." Her voice broke as she spoke. "My fa—ther, Naomi, left me!"
Mai tried to hold back tears but eventually broke down, too. Manabu tried to console them, but only he knew what he was going through all this time. Taiju quietly went outside to get a smoke; he also couldn't bear seeing them break like that. Otherwise, the strongest heart could break…
At midnight, around twenty to five—They all stayed the night at Taiju's place. Mion and Mai,
both exhausted from crying, eventually fell asleep in Mr. Hiroshi's lap.
Taiju's father still hadn't returned. Manabu couldn't sleep all night, as well
as Taiju, lying on the sofa, whispered, "Manabu…you awake, right?"
"Yeah," Manabu mumbled.
"I kinda feel weird inside my chest. It
seems like the other, cheerful part of me has disappeared. Can we talk for a
while? My eyes are tired, but I can't sleep." "Me
neither," Manabu replied. They both began talking about their own experiences
and grief. Taiju said he should have cried back when the policemen said Naomi
died, but now he's feeling heavy. "Naomi called me this morning, when I was
dozing. I was so annoyed, but she didn't care…She wouldn't annoy me ever
again, would she?" Taiju began sobbing, "This is so pathetic, it's
so—frustrating. The one who did this, I swear, if I find him, I swear… I will
kill that bastard." Taiju broke; he couldn't hold himself any longer. Watching
him cry, tears welled up in Manabu's eyes. "Curse these tears." he said.
"This isn't Mr. Santa's doing." Taiju said. It was almost so sudden,
Manabu heard him say it, but didn't catch him right. What? Taiju
reminded him, "Santa only kills criminals. Naomi and Futaba weren't criminals,
so the only answer to that question is, that someone mimicked the Santa
killings to hide their appearance. It's a COPYCAT. A total different
scumbag!" Taiju was convinced there was someone else in this case, and it was
more than just a murder. "There's a third figure. Someone who had a proper reason,
to kill them, and he set up it as if Santa did it. But who was it? Why would he
kill them? Why? Who could it be?"
On that very night, Kenzo had gotten the call from the enormous members of Centralised Political Unconventional Security Units…