Rain fell steadily as Kaito stood in the doorway, his eyes locked onto a red car parked across the street. Something about it felt... familiar. Too familiar. A cold shiver ran down his spine. His heartbeat quickened.
"Why does that car feel like—"
A sharp pain lanced through his head.
Kaito stumbled back, clutching his temple. His vision blurred as flashes of memory—no, visions—rushed into his mind. A street. Screams. The red car. A gunshot. Sayuri falling. A man's voice whispering something he couldn't quite hear. None of it made sense.
Then darkness.
Koji was the first to rush outside. "Kaito!" he shouted, kneeling beside his unconscious body. Rain soaked them both as he tried to rouse him. Kaito didn't respond.
Mrs. Fujimori appeared in the doorway, her hand covering her mouth. "What happened?!"
"He just collapsed," Koji said, lifting Kaito gently. "Help me get him inside."
Together, they brought him into the spare bedroom and laid him on the bed. Kaito's face was pale. His breathing uneven.
"Is he okay?" Mrs. Fujimori asked, concern etched into every wrinkle of her face.
Koji shook his head. "I... I don't know. Maybe he's just exhausted. Or hungry."
But in truth, Koji had seen something else in Kaito's eyes before they closed—fear. Deep, shaking fear.
After making sure Kaito was stable, Koji stepped back outside. The rain continued to fall, now a gentle drizzle. He looked around the street—left, right, up, down—but saw nothing unusual.
Except for the red car.
It hadn't moved.
His brows furrowed. "Why does that car feel out of place...?"
Still uneasy, he returned inside.
Inside Kaito's mind, a dream played out.
He saw Sayuri.
Alive.
Smiling.
Laughing.
But she was talking to someone—someone he didn't recognize. A man, tall and shadowed, his voice muffled. Kaito couldn't make out the words. He tried to move closer, but the dream warped and blurred.
Suddenly, Sayuri turned to him. Her eyes filled with fear.
"Kaito… he's coming."
He jolted awake.
Panting. Sweating. In a bed he didn't recognize.
"Where... am I?" he whispered, blinking at the dim ceiling. His heart pounded like a drum.
He swung his legs over the edge and stood, wobbling slightly. His head throbbed.
He stepped into the hallway and saw Koji talking to Mrs. Fujimori.
"Hey... Koji? What happened?"
Koji turned quickly. "You're awake! You scared us. You collapsed outside."
"I did...?"
Koji nodded. "Yeah, it's been about three hours."
Kaito blinked, confused. "Where's Sayuri's coffin?"
A silence fell over the room.
Koji looked away, his face tight with grief. "She's been buried."
Kaito's chest tightened. "When did that happen?"
"About an hour ago."
Kaito didn't say another word. He rushed past them, stumbling out the door, ignoring the light rain still falling.
He ran.
To the cemetery.
To her grave.
The air smelled of wet grass and sorrow. Kaito stood before the gravestone, the name Sayuri Fujimori etched in bold letters. Fresh flowers lay on the soil.
Tears welled in his eyes. His knees hit the ground.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Sayuri... I should've protected you..."
The wind whispered through the trees, as if responding.
His hands clenched into fists.
"I swear... whoever did this to you, I'll find him. I'll make him pay."
Rain mixed with tears as they slid down his face.
Koji approached silently, placing a hand on Kaito's shoulder. "We're heading out now. You gonna be okay?"
Kaito wiped his eyes, nodding. "Yeah... thanks, Koji. For everything."
"Take care, man."
Koji walked away, joined by the others, and eventually Mrs. Fujimori. One by one, they disappeared into the rain.
Leaving Kaito alone.
He stood there for a few more minutes, staring at the grave. The pain in his chest now felt strangely... heavy. Like more than grief.
Then he turned to walk home.
But halfway down the path, he froze.
The red car.
Parked near the street corner.
Exactly where he remembered it.
His breath caught in his throat.
That car...
Suddenly, the driver's side door swung open.
A man in a black coat stepped out, face shadowed. Without hesitation, he raised a gun and fired.
BANG!
The bullet raced toward Kaito's chest.
But something strange happened.
Kaito's body moved on its own.
He dodged.
Quickly. Instinctively.
The bullet missed.
Kaito's legs moved before he could even think. His body reacted on its own, as if it had been trained for this moment. The rain pelted his skin as his heart raced. He could hear the echo of his own footsteps against the wet pavement as he rolled across the ground and scrambled for cover behind a tree.
The man stared, shocked.
"How the hell did you dodge that? That's... that's impossible!"
Kaito recognized that voice. It was muffled in his dreams, but now—clear.
It was him.
The man from the memory.
The gun raised again. Kaito didn't think. He ran.
His legs moved faster than they ever had. Through the rain. Through the street. Into the alleyways.
Another shot rang out. Then another.
Kaito ducked behind a dumpster, panting, heart racing.
The red car revved its engine and sped away.
Silence.
Only the rain remained.
Kaito's fingers trembled as he touched his chest.
He was still alive.
But nothing made sense.
His heart still thudded in his chest, but his mind was a whirlwind of confusion. How did I dodge that? he thought, his breath shallow. Why was I so fast?
The cold wetness of the rain hitting his skin felt like an anchor, pulling him back to reality. But the strange, unfamiliar surge of power inside him made him question everything he knew about himself.
Kaito asked himself, "Why... did the voice feel like it came from someone close?"
As Kaito crouched behind the dumpster, trying to steady his breath, his eyes scanned the direction the red car had gone. A chill ran through him.
That star on his glove...
It had caught Kaito's attention.
A symbol. A stark, unnatural symbol that seemed to shimmer even through the rain. It was a simple star, but it felt significant—ominous, even. Like something he had seen before, or at least something that had been burned into his memory.
But where?
His mind swirled in confusion, trying to piece together the puzzle. The symbol on the glove, the man's shadowed face, the memories of Sayuri... It was all connected. Somehow. But how?
And why had he been able to dodge the bullet? He had never been this fast. Never reacted like that before. It was as if his body had known what to do, without him even thinking.
The star glowed in his mind. It was a clue. A sign that there was more to all of this than he realized. But it raised more questions than answers.
He couldn't just ignore it.
Kaito stood up slowly, his body still trembling. His heart pounded like a drum in his chest. The man had fled, but he wasn't out of reach. Not yet.
"I'll find you," Kaito whispered to the night. "And I'll find out everything."
He returned home hours later, soaked to the bone, exhausted and shivering.
As he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, only one thought circled his mind:
Sayuri... I will get justice.
The mystery was far from over.