Makoto Genichiro Sanada

  "Ding-dong——ding-dong——"

  The sound of the doorbell ringing, who has come at this time?

  Although the girl had already prepared herself that the person coming wouldn't be the familiar purple-haired youth, when she opened the door and saw the resolute face of a black-haired youth, she still felt a slight sense of disappointment.

  Where did he go?

  "You, are you a relative of Jing Shi?" The black-haired youth looked at her with caution. His voice was soft, and his gaze towards her was filled with kindness, but the underlying tension and worry were also evident.

  What is he worried about?

  Are relatives also a kind of family?

  "Hmm? Do you have something on your mind?" The girl blinked and looked at him with a puzzled expression.

  It's really too relaxed!

  A suspicious flush flashed across the young man's resolute face.

  Jing City said, the relatives at home have 'male phobia', telling him to be careful, don't scare people. But he had already softened his voice as much as possible, yet she was still startled like a rabbit, so it's really not working?

  "Don't worry, I'm not a bad person. I'm Shinmachi's friend, Sanada Genichiro." As if afraid of scaring her off, Sanada's voice became even softer, and he even went on to list a bunch of trivial things like the foods that Yukimura liked and disliked to prove that he really wasn't a bad person...

  Makoto Sanada... Is he that person who calls every day and talks for a long time?

  The girl tilted her head and looked at the young man in front of her. He still looks quite tender.

  Yes, it's me, sounds like the one on the phone, not an intruder, no need to expel.

  But what did he come here for?

  Lowering her head, she saw something by the boy's feet.

  What ingredients are in curry?

  "This is what Jing Shi asked me to help deliver." The young man explained in a low voice, noticing her gaze. Picking up the ingredients on the ground, he asked again: "Can I come in?"

  The girl nodded and stepped aside to let him in.

  As they brushed past each other, the youth's body carried a hint of sweat that wafted up. In the air, aside from the slightly salty smell of sweat, there was also a faint metallic scent, very light but also very familiar, and it smelled just like him...

  The girl's downcast eyes seemed to flash with something.

  "Slap—" The boy suddenly felt a pain on the back of his hand, and the ingredients he was holding fell to the ground.

  He turned around in astonishment, and the girl standing in front of him was just looking up at him with her head raised, but he only felt a suffocating pressure coming over him, like being in an ice cave, the cold air tightly pressing on every nerve.

  Those black eyes were inorganic black, as if even the strongest light could not penetrate the barrier.

  "Can you tell me the last place you saw him?" Her voice was ethereal, a mournful whisper that sent shivers down his spine. The spring sunlight seemed to have lost its warmth, replaced by an eerie chill that seeped into his bones.

  The last place I saw him... The boy's pupils contracted, and the places he had been to in the morning flashed through his mind, the tennis club, the wound on Kōmura's hand, the series of child abductions...

  "Is it a tennis club?" A soft voice whispered in his ear. The next second, his eyes closed tightly and he fell into the dark abyss, unconscious.