Dream A Lost Time

Chapter 13 That day I lost you

Short black hair boy was sitting in the school library with blonde hair beside him. His eyes focused on the notebook while his hand was busy solving the equations. Almost all the other seats were occupied by the students, who were busy preparing for upcoming final exams. Small white hand stopped writing after she finally solved the equations and she moved her head towards Rey, "look, I solved this problem." Rey averted his eyes towards her notebook of Kayoko and observed the equation, "that's good, finally you managed to solve at least one equation. Let's move to more difficult equations." Kayoko suggested, "let's take a short break." Rey turned his head towards her and denied without even considering it, "No break, we have just started. we will not take any break until you solve at least ten problems." Kayoko made an innocent face to make him fall for the puppy eyes trap, however she did not get success. Rey replied with a neutral expression, "solve 10 equations and we will take a break. If you don't want me to go to the festival with you, then you can do whatever you want." Kayoko pouted and reluctantly agreed with him, "Okay, I will solve 10 problems." Rey smiled and started working to solve the equation.

While they were both busy talking, a blonde boy noticed them and walked towards them, "what are you guys studying." Rey and Kayoko lifted their heads in unison and looked at the owner of the voice. "Hi Ken, we are studying mathematics." Kayoko replied. "Have you done today?" Rey asked. Ken replied, "I'm almost done for today. So, are you going to the festival?" Rey was about to produce the words from his mouth, but Kayoko cut in and spoke with excitement, "we will." Ken looked at Rey with an envious feeling and thought, "you are so lucky, I wish I had a girlfriend like her."

Rey focused on him with his blue ocean like eyes, it was like he was some kind of mind reader magician or something. He stood up and whispered in his ear, "I know what you are thinking. I am not that much lucky as you are imagining." Those words made Ken wake up into reality. He did not spend much time with them and left shortly, "In my eyes, I guess you are. Okay bye guys, see you tomorrow." Kayoko felt confused and didn't understand what both were talking about, but she waved at Ken with a smile. Rey also said bye with a smile. "Rey, what were you both talking about?" Kayoko asked with a perplexed look on her face. Rey looked in her confused indigo eyes and answered, "It's nothing. Don't worry about that. I will buy you one in the festival if you solve all these problems today." Her confused eyes lit up when he said those words, it was like child get motivated when his parents made a promise to buy a good toy if he gets good marks in the exams, "Oh really," Rey nodded at her and thought, "I did not expect that will motivate her that much, otherwise I would use this strategy from the start." Kayoko found the motivation that she needed and started working hard on the other problems. After studying for an hour, Rey and Kayoko finished their study session. Rey and Kayoko walked out from the library. They were walking from the corridor. "Hey Kayoko, want to drink something?" Rey asked while looking at the vending machine. She nodded and pointed at the drink she wanted. Rey inserted the coins and selected the drinks he wanted. Rey picked up the drink and gave one to Kayoko. They both left the school and reached the traffic lights where they usually parted ways to their homes. Kayoko said, "don't forget your promise, while waving at Rey." Rey nodded at her while making the same gesture at her.

Next day, A girl in a red dress looked at floating white clouds in the blue sky while walking towards her destination. When her long loose blonde hair fluttered with the wind, it was like she was a princess from another world or something. Her smile could explain how happy she was, in contrast her eyes looked painful. "This day will probably be my last day with him," She thought before climbing the stairs and walking in front of the apartment. She lifted her right hand and pressed the button in the corner of the apartment door. Shortly after, a young boy with black hair opened the door, "Hey Kayoko." Her smile was still there on her face like glue, and she greeted him back, "hi, Rey." It was the day of the festival, and Rey agreed to go with Kayoko alone. Rey walked out from his apartment and suggested to her, "shall we go?" Kayoko nodded with her head. "Let me just lock the door," Rey said while locking the door. After locking the door, Rey and Kayoko walked down the stairs to go to the festival. Rey looked at the people who were walking ahead with their partners. Rey felt a little nostalgic by the scene. He lost in his thoughts and started thinking about Kiniko with whom he used to go to the festival, "I wonder, what is she doing here right now?" Rey came back to his senses and looked at the blonde hair girl beside him. Her eyes fixed in one direction; Rey averted his gaze at the direction she was looking at. Rey looked at two couples who were walking ahead of them while holding each other's hand, "why is she staring at them like this? Does she know them or something? wait a minute, does she want me to hold her hand." After running through some questions in his mind, Rey finally concluded, "I am sure, she wants me to hold her hand. Should I, do it? Well, it's not that big a deal. Besides, in the eyes of others, we are a couple. But this is embarrassing." Rey took a glance at Kayoko and then moved his hand towards her hand. His fingers touched her hand, and he gently held her hand. Kayoko felt a gentle grip on his hand and looked at Rey with a flustered expression. Rey's face turned a little red when she looked at him and he said with an embarrassed face, "why are you so shocked? This is what you wanted when you were staring at those couples. If you don't want to." After saying that, Rey tried to lose his grip, but Kayoko shook her head and held his hand, "that's fine." They started walking again while holding hands. "Is he a mind reader?" Kayoko felt happy and embarrassed at the same time while thinking about his sudden actions. They reached the site; it was not new to Rey. However, it was Kayoko's first time to visit the festival in the Old Town. She was so excited and looking all around like a child's first time visiting an amusement park. On the other hand, Rey felt a little sad while recalling his memories with his mom and Kiniko. He looked at the excited blonde girl beside him and thought, "I should not ruin her day." He put a fake smile on his face and suggested to Kayoko, "shall we go to the main site," Kayoko nodded with excitement. They ascended the stairs and walked to the main shrine gate. There were all types of stalls installed like the previous years. "Let's pray first," Rey suggested and released his grip on Kayoko's hand. Kayoko nodded and walked through the crowd to the main shrine building. Kayoko closed her eyes while holding her hands in front of the shrine. Rey was standing next to her while praying. They both prayed and walked to explore the festival. Rey started showing things to her and explained the plan he made. He made the whole plan, so she could enjoy everything in the festival. Rey walked to the food stall and came back after five minutes while holding two bags in his hand. He gave one bag to Kayoko. Kayoko opened the bag, and the salty aroma reached her nose the moment she opened the paper bag. She grabbed one piece of fritter and placed it in her mouth, "it's hot, hot..." Rey looked at her, "Hey, are you alright." She chewed the potato fritter and gave a sign to him that she was alright. Rey blew with his mouth on the next piece to cool it down before eating. Kayoko followed his way and started eating with ease. After being satisfied with the food area, Rey took her into the gaming area, "which game do you want?" Kayoko answered with excitement while looking all around, "all." Rey sighed and pointed at the stall, "let's start with that." Kayoko nodded and they walked to the stall named, "boom balloon." It was a simple activity to shoot the balloon with a rifle. There was no prize in this game. Rey talked with a middle-aged man who was the owner of the stall and paid him to play the game. Rey and Kayoko both got five chances to shoot. Owner gave the gun to Kayoko, and she accepted with a smile. She took her stance and closed her left eye to aim at the small balloon. She pulled the trigger, and the bullet left the barrel and hit the balloon. Balloon popped with a 'Bang' sound. She cheered with happiness and got ready for the next chance. But she was not that lucky at this time and missed the target. Rey looked at her while having small smile, "maybe, you were lucky for the first time." She looked at him, but she did not get angry at him, "I guess, you are right, but this time I will hit the balloon." She aimed again at the target and this time she was successful again to hit her target. In the next two chances, she managed to hit only once. She got 3 points out of 5. It was now Rey's turn, and he grabbed the gun and took a stance. He aimed at his target and pulled the trigger. Bullet ran towards the small balloon wall but did not hit any balloon, "why am I so bad in this?" Rey tried again but failed again. He finally hit the target in fourth chance and managed to get two points out of five. Even though he lost to Kayoko, he did not get disappointed. On the contrary, he enjoyed that little game with her. They both moved to the next stall and started playing the next game.

They played almost every game in the festival. Both had satisfied looks on their faces. "Hey, want to eat some ice cream," Rey asked Kayoko when he noticed the ice cream stall. Kayoko nodded with her head. They both walked to the stall. Rey ordered the owner, "can I please have one vanilla and one strawberry flavor?" That moment, he realized, "Damn it! I forgot, today I am not with Kiniko." He said to the owner, "please wait," and turned to Kayoko, "I am sorry, I did not ask you. which flavor do you want?" Kayoko replied with a small smile., "Strawberries are fine." Owner heard her and asked Rey, "strawberry and vanilla is okay." Rey nodded at him. Rey paid the money and grabbed his ice cream. They both walked to the seating area. "Why did you order strawberries? Is someone else used to come with you to this festival?" Rey's face turned a little pale when those questions entered his ear, "I used to come here with my friend. I just ordered these flavors out of habit. By the way, I told you that I will buy you one thing, did you decide on anything?" Kayoko's attention averted and she shook her head, "not yet." Rey suggested, "let's take a look at the accessory area, I think you could find something over there." Kayoko nodded and walked to the accessory area. Rey and Kayoko stopped in front of the accessory stall. "Do you like anything here," Rey asked Kayoko. Kayoko turned her head towards Rey and replied, "I want you to choose something for me." Rey looked at the items and his eyes met with a crescent moon pendant, "what about this." Kayoko nodded with a smile, "this is pretty." Rey asked again, "Do you like it?" But her answer was the same. Rey bought the crescent moon pendant. Kayoko lifted her head a little and looked at Rey without saying anything. Confused expression appeared on Rey's face when he looked at her, "do you want me to help you wear it?" She blinked which answered his questions. Rey looked all around with an embarrassed face, and he lifted his shaking hand towards her neck while holding the pendant. He circled his hand around her neck underneath her beautiful blonde hair. He locked the chain with his shaking hand and quickly retreated his hands. His face turned a little red. Hanging lights on the poles lit up and illuminated the area after the sun said 'goodbye' for the day. Rey averted her eyes towards Kayoko's happy face. Smile appeared on his face, and he suggested, "let's go, Kayoko. fireworks are going to start." Kayoko nodded and looked at the lights. Mixed feelings of happiness and sadness started flowing through her heart, "only a few minutes left. I have to say goodbye to you. but I have got many happy memories today." She looked at Rey while walking to the fireworks area. Rey sensed her gaze and looked at her, "is something on my face?" Kayoko shook his head, "it's nothing." They reached their destination and after climbing. Crowd gathered to see the fireworks display. In a few seconds, the fireworks show started with the first rocket exploding in the sky with beautiful colors. Everyone's eyes stared at the sky. Every rocket produced 'boom' sounds while shattered into sparkling colors in the sky. Kayoko averted her eyes from the sky to Rey and looked at him. Her beautiful pale indigo eyes turned into so sad, it was like, all her pain and suffering could be read through her eyes. She touched his hand and Rey turned to her direction. Kayoko lifted herself a little to stand on her toes. Her lips instantly reached Rey's lips. Tears started falling from her eyes. It happened so fast that Rey did not react to her action. He felt a soft touch to his lips, and he introduced a new feeling for the first time. It was his first kiss. Rey somehow felt feeling of sadness in that kiss even though he could not look at her eyes. Even firework rockets were still exploding and making noise, but for Rey the world became silent. His all senses became dull. Kayoko unattached herself from him and said while reluctantly parting with him, "goodbye, Rey," before running away from him. Rey froze at that moment when he saw tears in her eyes and his heart ached so much to see her in that state. He felt like his heart shattered into a million pieces. He could not move his body at that time, and the only question running through his mind was, "why, what just happened?" Fireworks were still exploding in the sky, but in Rey's life, one more light was about to disappear. He came to his senses after a second and ran after her, but it was already too late. She already disappeared in the crowd. He tried to look everywhere in the crowd for her, but to no avail. He descended the stairs and ran to the main shrine. He searched every corner of the festival but could not find her anywhere. Last firework rocket exploded in the sky and red, blue, and green painted the sky with sparkling colors. People were cheering with their loved ones. Noise started getting down and all the colors in the sky disappeared after a few seconds. People started heading to their homes. Rey was still looking for Kayoko in the crowd." Very few people left the festival. Rey sat down on the empty bench. His head was down, and he had a confused look on his face while staring at the ground. He kept asking to himself, "why did she leave like that? why..." He did not have any clue about what just happened at the last moment. He heard someone say, "Rey, is it you?" He lifted his head towards the voice and saw a blonde boy and an 8-year-old kid with blonde hair and blue eyes. "It's big brother, Rey," Kid said while licking apple candy in his hand. Rey put on a fake smile and replied while stroking the little kid's hair, "Sam, did you enjoy the festival." Little kid nodded with a smile and pointed at Ken's hand, "I did, and big brother Ken bought a racing car for me." Rey looked at Ken, "Are you heading home?" Ken nodded and asked, "where is Kayoko?" Rey did not know what to answer, because he did not know himself why she left him. He just lied, "Well, she left with her cousin." Ken did not ask more questions. Sam held Rey's hand and said, "let's go together to home, Big brother Rey." Rey nodded and walked home with Ken and Sam. That night, He could not sleep and kept thinking about the last moment he spent with her, "why did she kiss me? why did she leave me...…"

Chapter 14 I want to see you again

"It's not like that I like being alone. It's more painful to lose someone in life than being alone for your whole life."

Next day after the festival, Rey put on his black color uniform after taking shower. His ocean blue eyes turned slightly red due to not sleeping. He walked to his study table and picked up his blue school bag. He walked out from his apartment and locked the door of the apartment. He was walking faster than usual and stopped at the traffic lights. He moved his eyes to the other side of the road in hope to see Kayoko walking from the other side. He waited there for around 10 minutes, but she did not come to that place. "Maybe she already went to school," Rey thought and started walking again to the direction of his school. In a few minutes, he arrived at school and entered the school. He was a little late that day and he ran towards his classroom after entering the entrance gate to the school building. Fortunately, he made it in the classroom in time. His eyes moved towards Kayoko's seat, but he could only see the empty seat without Kayoko, "why is she not her? Maybe she is ill or something? I will check on her after school." He walked to his seat and greeted Ken, "Hey Ken." Ken also greeted him and about to open his mouth to say something, but he saw Miss Yumiko entering the classroom. Rey took his seat and looked at the seat next to him. Miss Yumiko greeted the students and announced something, "Students, I have something to share with you guys. Kayoko had already taken her final exams and she will not be present with us for exam sessions."

"Kayoko, why did she leave early? Did something happen?..." Students started asking all kinds of questions to Miss Yumiko.

One student was silent. He could not make any coherent thoughts in his mind. His mind turned blank and only one word flowed through his mind, "why, why…." Ken turned his head towards Rey and asked, "hey, do you know anything about this?" When he heard, Rey woke up from his stupor. However, he did not have the proper answer to tell. Rey's lips moved and his eyes were a little sad, "I don't know."

Ms. Yumiko spoke to students, "I don't have any answer about why she left. I didn't even know before this morning about this either. The principal informed me about her this morning, so I don't have any idea what's going on with her. Now, it's time to study for exams. Let us start practice…"

Ken did not ask anything else to Rey and started concentrating on study. Rey could not concentrate due to his mind having so many questions. School was over. Rey left the school in a hurry and walked towards Kayoko's house. Rey arrived at Kayoko's house and pressed the doorbell switch. After a few seconds, someone opened the door. Rey looked at the spiky red hair boy with eyeglasses with confusion, "Aren't you from the student council?" Rey knew that person, but he was a little confused to see him in Kayoko's house. "Yes, I am. so, why are you here?" Red hair boy asked. Rey asked him with a perplexed look, "Is this Kayoko's house? I am Rey and I am Kayoko's friend. What relation do you have with her?" Red hair boy replied, "My name is Martin and Kayoko is my cousin. If you are looking for her, then I am sorry, but you can't meet her. She only came to this city for few months and now she already has left this city." Rey's face turned pale, and he felt like he lost someone so important to him. "She left and I can't meet her again…." These are the only words echoing through his head on repeat. Martin asked to him, "anything else I can help you with?" Rey came to his senses and looked at Martin, "thanks, I came here to just see, Kayoko." Martin said goodbye to Rey, "Okey, see you then." Rey nodded at him and started walking to his home. He did not ask any questions about her to Martin about why she left or where she left, because he became depressed while thinking about her. When he was leaving that place, he sensed someone looking at him from the window. He looked up at the window, but no one was there. He continued walking while thinking, "She came into my life without any notice, and she just left like that." He arrived in front of his apartment and unlocked the door. He walked in and placed his blue bag next to his study table. He fell backward on his bed and started thinking, "she does not even tell me why she left, and here I am, thinking about you...."

From that day, Rey's day started becoming lonely. Exams are now over. Rey started spending all day in the apartment. This month he could not even receive any letter from his mom. He started feeling depressed. His ocean blue eyes became dull and empty. He was sitting in his room while looking at the letters that he received from his mother last month, "This month you did not even send me a letter. When will you come back?" He put back the letters into an envelope and placed them on the small bench next to his bed. Doorbell sound entered his ear, ``Ding Ding...." Rey thought while standing up from the bed, "Who could be this." He stood up from the bed and walked out the front door. He opened the door and saw Boy with red spikey hair and green eyes, "Martin, what are you doing here?" Martin looked at Rey's confused face and said, "I want to tell you something. It's about Kayoko." Rey's eyes were staring at Martin in bewilderment, "Kayoko, what is about her? Is she coming back?" Martin answered Rey with a difficult expression, "she has never gone anywhere." Rey's expression changed into anger, and he said, "what the hell did you say, she did not go anywhere? Then why did you lie to me that day?"

"It's because she told me not to tell you that she was still in the Old Town." Martin answered.

"What are you talking about? Why would she do that? I am confused. Tell me the truth." Rey demanded the truth.

Martin's face turned a little sad, "I will tell you everything. Can I come in?"

Rey nodded and they both walked towards the sofa. They both sat down on the sofa and Martin started explaining to Rey, "That Night in the festival. I was at the festival and saw Kayoko running in the crowd. I ran after her and caught up to her. She stopped when I called her name. She looked at me. I felt pain in my chest when I saw her crying. I walked to her and wiped her tears. I asked her, "why was she crying? What happened to her?" She hugged me and started telling me that she wanted to live like a normal girl and fall in love with someone. I knew the reason why she was feeling that way.

Martin looked at Rey with a little sad expression and continued, "She probably had told you that she wanted you to play the role of her boyfriend. However, the truth is, she fell in love with you the day she met with you. When she met you for the second time at the start of winter semester, she was so happy. I did not see her like that before she met you. However, I knew she would be going to hurt much more when she had to decide to leave this place.

Rey was so shocked to hear that all, but he still couldn't understand why she didn't want to tell him that she was leaving until he heard the next most shocking news about her.

When he heard next words from Martin, it was like Rey's whole existence started shaking, "she is sick." In Rey's head, 'sick' started echoing. "Did he just say sick? What does he mean by that?" Rey thought. He felt a bad omen in his heart. He did not want to ask him anymore about that. It was like he knew the answer to what he was going to receive if he would ask. But still, Rey looked at Martin and asked in a trembling voice, "Hey, what do you mean by that she is sick?"

Martin looked at his expression and felt a little happy for Kayoko, because he did not know before how Rey felt about her. Now, when he saw reacting like that when he heard Kayoko was sick. He was convinced that Rey was not pretending to be her fake boyfriend. He also had feelings for her, even though he hadn't realized that yet. Martin said, "she is sick, but it's not life threatening. However, she needs surgery." Rey's expression turned to little ease, however from his tone, it was clear that he was still scared to ask more questions.

Before Rey even opened his mouth to ask more about her illness, Martin continued talking, "She was supposed to be the day after the festival with her parents, however the date for her surgery has been rescheduled. She is leaving today. she told me not to tell you anything, but I am worried about her. She is just convinced herself, if she would go for surgery then something bad is going to happen with her. It's not her illness that I am concerned about, but her own thinking in that way." Martin faced Rey and requested with pleading eyes, "please, go to her. She is going to leave at 3:30pm by train with her parents."

Rey felt all kinds of images in his mind. He recalled the moment that he spent with her. He remembered how he introduced to her on the day of Christmas and next time he met with her at the start of winter semester. He looked at his phone, "it's already around 3pm, I only have half hour to you." Rey looked back at Martin and thanked before jumping out from the sofa, "thanks," He dashed towards the front door and climbed down the stairs while running. He took his bicycle from the parking area and started paddling in a hurry. He crossed the traffic lights while recalling his moments with her. He recalled the moment when Kayoko claimed that Rey was her boyfriend in front of the whole class. More memories of her remembered, the more he became sad. He started paddling in a standing position to increase the bike's speed. His eyes started producing teardrops and ominous clouds surround his heart. He felt like that if he would not see her that day, and he would lose her forever. He reached the train station. He was on the main road, and he was approaching the curve on the main road. Unfortunately, when he was about to take a small turn, his feet slipped from the paddle. He lost his balance and saw a red sedan car coming towards him. But it was too late for him to do anything. He felt like he was facing death at that time, and he was going to die. Fortunately, the car's speed slowed down, however it still hit him. When a car and bicycle collided while producing a 'bang' sound. Rey was thrown away by the impact and rolled down on the ground for a few seconds. Car stopped the moment it collided with Rey. Rey's face was covered with blood and his vision started becoming blurry. He saw two people approaching him. He felt a familiar feeling with both people. A scream entered his ear, "Reyyyyyyyyyy..." He blinked his eyes towards both people and tried to speak, "m, m, Mom… Kin Kk, Kini ko…" His eyes shut down and his whole word turned to dark.

He slowly tried to open his eyes. He blinked several times before completely waking up from his dream. He looked around with his teary eyes and found himself in a familiar place. It was his room where he was currently living in the City of Nirvana. "That's what happened to me that day, wait what happened to Kayoko. I could not see her that day. I have all my memories back now." Rey thought while still busy in recovering from his situation.

Chapter 15 When I met you for the first time…

Charlette was driving her car back to her home. It was the day when Rey and his friends went to Old Town. Rey went to Old Town with his friends, in hope that he would recover his memories, and he could find some clue about that girl. After parking her car, Charlette stepped out from her car and walked to front door of her house. She opened the front door and went straight to her room. There were pictures framed on the wall. She looked at the picture of her son when he was so little, and she started to think back when Rey was so little. "You were so little when I first saw you. look now how much you have grown. Time does fly, huh" Charlette thought to herself while looking at her son's framed photo on the wall.

Charlette started recalling her past life when she looked at hanging photos. She lost in her thoughts and her memories started playing in her mind like videos. She started remembering the day she met with Rey for the first time.

A beautiful young girl with long blonde haired entered in big building. There was nothing special could be seen outside the building. She looked around with her beautiful blue eyes. She walked to the front counter and looked at the man behind the counter. Around 28 years old young man with curly black hair and deep brown eyes noticed her presence. He had a name tag 'Mike' on his white shirt. He looked at pretty girl in front of him in blue jeans and black shirt. He asked her with professional smile, "how can I help you miss?" She replied with beautiful smile painted on her face, "If God exist in this world, don't you think Devil also exist?" Mike did not get confused by the words he heard from beautiful girl in front of him instead he smiled at her, "well, I guess you are right. If God exists, so the Devil." He continued with same professional smile, "Can I have your id please?" Charlette took her id from her wallet and handed to him. Mike received her id card and scanned it. Charlette was a part of "SCF." It was called Special Crime Forces. 'SCF' collaborated with police to help them to special murder cases. Mike gave her id back with one additional single blue card. It was size of debit card. "Please go into room 9A on the first floor". Charlette received the id and blue card, "thanks" and walked towards the stairs. She climbed up the stairs to reach the first floor. She walked in the corridor all the way to room 9A. She stood in front of the door and touched the sensor lock with blue card that Mike gave her. When the blue card touched the senser, small green light flicked on the lock. Charlette entered the room when she got the permission from people inside the room. Charlette got the attention of other officers who were already present in the room. There were already 7 officers present in the room. There were 5 girl as same age as Charlette. Other were two senior male office. Charlette greeted them, "good morning," Middle aged man with average facial features nodded at her and gesture at her to take her seat. He had average looking face with short beard cut and long black hair. He was the chief of the number 18 division, and his name was Yashin. Charlette received nod from other team members, and she seated beside short black hair girl. Another male officer who was present in the meeting stood up on his seat and started walking towards the screen. His rank was only second to Mr. Yashin and his name was Yamehara. He stopped and started speaking, "You all already know why you are here. You all received the details about the case we are going to work on." Everyone nodded at him. Yamehara said, "that's good. as you know, there are already 2 victims, who were killed. We must stop him, before he gets his hand on more innocent person." Every officer became serious and nodded at him. Charlette also did the same. Charlette was recently joined officially in 'SCF' team and that was her first case. She was little nervous at that time but did not show on her face. Yamehara turned on the screen and continued, "in both murder cases, few things were similar. First thing was that killer is only targeting women. In both murder cases, he used the knife to kill his\her victims. Both women used public transport to commute from work to home. From the information, we can deduce that our target is probably someone who is familiar with public transportation. Our plan is to prepare a lure him to catch this criminal. And 5 five of you will play a major role in this case." Charlette and the other officers already reviewed the plan. Yashin stood up and started explaining further to all girls, "every one of you will use this small tracker to show your location, and if you found something suspicious, then you could just press this small red button to alert us. Every one of you will be followed by one senior officer and the officer will track your location with this device. Keep that in mind, don't try to put your life in danger. If you feel anything suspicious, just press this red button to alert your companion…..." he continued the explanation for a half an hour. After explaining everything, he asked them, "if you have any question, you can ask me now." He received some questions from the officers, like timing, group members location etc. He easily answered all those questions. After he answered to all, Chief Yashin encouraged them before finishing the meeting, "I know this mission is dangerous for all of you. For some of you, it is your first mission. Some of you are already experienced. Remember your training, you have done a lot of demanding work to become "SCF" officer. Now you are part of "SCF." Let us make this city a better place for people to live, where people can enjoy their life without any fear. We cannot let the crime rate increase. Let us catch this killer, before he takes more innocent people's lives."

Everyone agreed simultaneously, "yes sir."

Meeting finished and all the officers took their leave. All the officers went to their assigned places. all the officers started working on their mission. All the officers have different assigned areas. Officers started working on their assigned tasks. Charlette was already registered to some company close to the company where the second victim used to work. 3 days had passed since they started looking for the killer, but they did not have any luck finding the culprit.

It was the fourth day since Charlette started to work on that mission. Charlette was waiting for the cab in front of large building. Her beautiful long blonde haired was tied as ponytail and her hanging bangs slightly covered her beautiful blue eyes. She had blue jeans with white shirt, and she was carrying black bag in her hand. She looked at the upcoming black cab, she waved her hand at the cab and cab stopped in front of her. She took a glance at the driver before entering the cab. He was a middle-aged man with small mask on his face covering his face. She told the location to driver while entering by the back door of the cab. Driver pressed the accelerate with his right feet and started driving. Few second later, Charlette smelled something in the cab, but she pretended to know nothing. As the smell entered to her nostril, she stopped inhaling. "Is this a sleeping gas," she thought. Her eyes started closing by themselves. She felt like, she was so tired. She could not help but fell on the seat. Driver looked at her in the mirror and evil smile appeared under the mask. Few minutes had passed, and Charlette regained her consciousness back, but pretended to still asleep. She heard him to talking with someone. She slowly moved her hand to her pocket and pressed the button on the tracker. Yamehara was already following them, but he kept his distance from them not to make the culprit suspicious of him. However, he lost track of them due to stuck in traffic, but he still could track them by the tracker. When new sign appeared on the tracking screen, he sped up the car because Charlette alerted him about the danger. Charlette managed to take out a small device from her pocket. It was a special stun gun device which was made for "SCF" officers. Suddenly the cab stopped and Charlette acted quickly and hit the neck of the driver with a stun gun. She caught him off guard and made him unconscious. She hurriedly tied him up with handcuffs while he was unconscious. She stepped out from the cab and looked around the area. She heard his conversation with another person whom he was working with. His assistant also managed to catch one more girl and Charlette did know that they planned to meet in that area. She was so afraid, and she was panting after she barely managed to catch one criminal. Suddenly someone's scream entered in her ears and her heart stopped for a moment. Her body acted without thinking and she ran towards the abandoned building. Shortly after, senior officer Yamehara arrived at the scene. He saw the black cab and stopped his SUV black car. He quickly stepped out from the car and investigated the cab. He was little astonished to see unconscious driver in the car. Meanwhile, Charlette already had reached in the building and heard someone screaming again. Charlette was on the first floor. She held her gun in her hand while slowly ascending the stairs in stealth mode. in few seconds, she reached at the second floor and saw someone running towards the second stairs. She pulled the trigger and shot at him the moment she saw him, but she missed him. She did not see his face but managed to see 'Snake' tattoo on his neck. She quickly approached the women lying against the wall and tried to stop the blood flowing from her stomach. Charlette could not stop her tears from her eyes to see her condition. It was her first case; she did not like to see people hurt. Women was hurt so badly due to stab by the culprit. Charlette quickly called to ambulance while trying to treat her wounds. Yamehara also arrived at the scene and ran to help Charlette to treat the wounded person. The women tried to say something, but she felt difficult to say anything. She lifted her hand to touch Charlette's hand. Charlette looked at her face and understood that she was trying to say something at that time. She had beautiful ocean blue eyes and long black silky hair. Charlette got close to her to hear her, "pl ea se sav e Re y." Women closed her eyes slowly and fell unconscious. Ambulance arrived at that, and they confirmed she was still alive at the time. They put her on the stretcher. Charlette was still confused by her last words, but she soon found what she meant. Charlette was about to leave the place, but she stopped when child's crying sound entered her ears, "oo aa a." She turned around and looked at the direction of the noise. Her legs moved unconsciously when she saw a baby lying on the ground. She ran to him and held him in her arms. Baby stopped crying and looked at Charlette with his ocean blue eyes. Fortunately, baby was not hurt anywhere. Charlette heaved sigh of relief and looked in his eyes. Teardrops started falling from Charlette's eyes. Yamehara who was busy in informing to his boss about the incident, turned back to look at Charlette. He disconnected the phone call and ascended the stairs in hurry when he did not see Charlette. He stopped at the entrance and looked at Charlette who was holding baby in her hands with astonishment, "baby…" Charlette looked at him and said, "This probably her son." Yamehara nodded and said, "You did a good job today. I already informed the situation to chief. Let's see check on her, I hope she make it out from this ordeal." Other officers already arrested the other criminal who wanted to kill Charlette. However, the other was successful to escape. Charlette nodded with her sad eyes and averted her eyes to baby in her arms, who already fell asleep in her arms." She followed Yamehara and descended the stairs. They both got into the car and Yamehara started driving to the hospital. After driving for 10 minutes, they arrived at the hospital. After parking the car, Yamehara and Charlette walked into the hospital. Yamehara walked to reception and asked about the victim while showing his badge to the receptionist, "I am from 'SCF' and there is patient who admit here in around half an hour. How is she doing?" Receptionist started checking the information and answered him, "She is still in the emergency. You can wait in the waiting area; I will call you." Yamehara nodded and walked to the waiting area with Charlette. Baby in Charlette's arms opened his ocean blue eyes and stared at Charlette. He did not have any idea about the cruel reality that his mother was facing at that time. Receptionist called to Yamehara, and he walked to the receptionist, meanwhile Charlette waited in the waiting area. She started playing with Rey. Few minutes later, Yamehara came to the waiting room. He looked at Charlette and Rey with sad eyes. Charlette was still busy in playing with Rey. She lifted her head and looked at Yamehara and asked, "how is she?" Yamehara could not utter a single word. He just shook his head while his eyes still surrounding with sadness. Charlette's face turned pale, and she looked at Rey who was still smiling. She could not stop her tears and thought out loud, "this is all my fault. If I only could arrive there early, then I could save her." Yamehara looked at depressed Charlette and patted her head, "you have done your best. Look at this child if you could not act at that time. Probably, he would not be alive right now." Charlette looked at smiling baby and hugged him while not holding back her tears. Even she went through harsh training, but she was still 20 years old girl. So, she could not stop feeling sad for that child who lost his mother.

Few days later, in the investigation 'SCF' team found that Rey's father had also died a few months ago in a car accident. And his mother was the only one who was taking care of him. When Charlette came to know this, she decided to adopt Rey as her son. Charlette's parents were officers in SCF. They died while carrying a dangerous mission and now Charlette was living alone by herself. From that day, Charlette moved to Old Town, so she could take care of Rey while still working for SCF.

'SCF' tried to get out the information from the criminal they captured, however he did not open his mouth and he committed suicide. At that time, they had only one clue about the other criminal that had a tattoo on his neck. They became more alert and tried to capture the criminal while using different tactics, but the culprit never showed himself. After that incident, no one got killed in that city. After a few years, they closed the case when they could not find the culprit.

Chapter 16 You are my only family

Rain was just stopped, there was still water droplets falling from the drenched green leaves. Sun showed itself after half an hour raining behind the white clouds and sky turned clear. Women in her 30s was sitting on her desk in her room and writing some letters. Her blonde hair was tied with red ribbon as ponytail. Her hand stopped writing and she thought while putting the last letter in the envelope, "rain has stopped. maybe I should cook something." She kept all the letters in the drawer and walked to the window. She looked outside and started admiring the scenery. She looked at some kids playing outside, and she started reminiscent about Rey when he was kid. She was in deep thoughts when someone knocked on the door. She woke up from her stupor, when she familiar voice entered in her ears, "Mom, can I come in?" She moved her beautiful blue eyes towards the door and gave permission to Rey in sweet voice, "It's unlocked, you can come in." Rey opened the door and entered the door. He looked at his mom's smiling face and walked to her. Charlette asked to him with sweet smile on her face, "are you feeling hungry?" Rey shook his head and answered with somewhat sad tone, "not really, mom I want you talk about your work. Do you really have to go?" Charlette replied with teasing smile, "aren't you little old to feel scared to live alone?" Rey's expression was not changed, and he replied, "it's not like that. it's just, I don't want you to go."

Charlette continued to work with SCF. but she never told that to Rey. She had an assignment in another country, which she accepted. It was just for a few months, she had to go to another country to help the other 'SCF' team. Charlette rented an apartment for him to live in, due to escaping prison. There was a criminal who escaped from the prison and Charlette was involved in that case. She had not played that significant role to capture him, but she still could not compromise with her son's safety.

Charlette walked to Rey and hugged him, "I will be gone only for a few months. Don't worry about that, I will be back in a few months. Let's cook something. I am feeling little hungry now." Rey nodded while separating himself from his mother's embrace.

It was 5:45pm. Rey walked with Charlette to the Kitchen. Charlette took some vegies from the refrigerator and started peeling them. "Let me help you with this mom." Rey said while taking over on that task. Charlette started took the pots and started preparing other things to cook food. Rey said while peeling the vegies, "I will miss your cooking, mom." Charlette felt little emotional when she heard. After hearing that, she really did not want to go, however she needed to go to help her fellow officers. So, she kept her emotions in her heart and smiled at Rey, "When I come back, I will make you whatever things want to eat." Rey nodded with smile. It took almost one a half hour them to prepare the dinner. When food was ready. They could not wait to taste the food, and feelings hungrier after inhaling the delicious smell. Charlette served the food for both, and they started eating. After eating dinner, Rey and Charlette did not go to their rooms, instead started talking with each other in balcony. Rey looked at the stary sky while his mom was doing the same. "Look Rey, there is shooting star." Charlette pointed with excitement. Rey took a glance at the sky and then quickly averted his gaze on his mom, who was wishing. "isn't a little childish to believe in these superstitions for her?" Rey questioned to himself while forming big smile on his face. Charlette slowly opened her eyes and looked at Rey, "What did you wish for." Rey shook his head and said with smile, "I could not see the shooting star. If I could wish, I would only for me to become your son for my every single life." Charlette felt warm when she heard her son's words. She hugged him for a second and separated herself while saying, "Thanks. it's already late, you should sleep now." Rey nodded and they both walked to their rooms.

It was early morning. Charlette walked into Rey's room while he was still asleep. She kept the letter on the study table and looked at Rey's sleepy face before she left the room. she slowly closed the door, so she won't disturb him. She took her small suitcase and walked out from the house. There was already someone waiting for her at front gate in car. Charlette looked at short hair women in the car and greeted her, "hi Terry, sorry for the wait." Terry was also a" SCF" officer. She was good friend of her. She wore white shirt with black jeans. She turned her pretty face towards Charlette when she heard her voice, "Hey Charlette, are you ready?" Charlette put the suitcase in the car and entered the car. She took the passenger seat. Terry turned the engine on and started driving. Terry asked to Charlette while driving, "I did not see your son. was not he at home?" Charlette replied to her, "he was still asleep, so I did not wake him up. by the way, how is Tina doing? It's been a while since I have seen her." Terry replied with smile, "she is doing fine. You should come home after you done with this assignment, she would love to see you." Charlette nodded with small smile, "I will, I want to see her again." Time passed in a blink while they were talking. They arrived at the Airport and Terry parked the car. Terry helped Charlette with her stuff. Terry said while separating ways with her, "don't be reckless. Take care of yourself and don't put yourself in any unnecessary danger." Charlette thanked her, "thanks Terry, I won't." After saying goodbye to Terry, Charlette walked into the main gate of the airport. She checked in her luggage and waited for few minutes to get her boarding pass. Her flight was on time, so she did not have to wait for long. It took few hours to reach her to her destination. After taking her luggage, Charlette walked out from the airport, where she met with officer name Jack. He was middle aged man with short black hair. He wore a black professional suit. He greeted Charlette with professional smile, "It's good to see you, Charlette." Charlette greeted back him with professional smile, "Hello officer Jack." Charlette met him few times before and they worked together on some cases. Both walked to the parking and Jack leaded Charlette to his black car. Jack dropped Charlette to her hotel and said goodbye with same professional smile.

The next day, Charlette started working with other members of 'SCF'. In 2 months, Charlette finished almost all her assignments. But one day, someone hacked their computers, and he sent a message to them. All computers were showing the same thing in the office. It was video, in which a person playing a cosplay of joker spoke, "when joker show his face, your time will end with boom." Suddenly something exploded outside with producing sound, "boommmmmmm." All the officers petrified for a moment. It was like someone cast a spell on them and they could not move. After a few seconds, they woke up from their nightmare and looked at each other with scared expressions. They ran outside towards the direction of the explosion. Charlette also followed them. They looked at the burning car in the parking lot in front of the building. It was a little far from the other cars, so the fire did not catch on to the other cars. One of the officers quickly called the Fire brigade. They still had shocking looks on their faces and did not have any idea what just happened. While they were investigating the scene. They went back to the office and started checking the information about the hacker, but to no avail. While they were busy trying to find the culprit, hackers again hacked their computers and video msg started appearing on every screen in the 'SCF" office. Video started with his laughter, "ha, ha, ha, did you like my little gift. That was a little present for all of you. But next time it will be something bigger. I am reasonable person, so I will give you some time and clues before every game we will play. Are you guys ready to face 'Life and Death game'. I will send you the details for our next game. Until then, 'Bye, Bye' and enjoy your rest of the day." It stopped and all the computers and screens turned normal. Everyone's faces were filled with anxiety and tension in the office. Jack was the first one who broke the silence and asked to his colleague, "Ricky, can you chase this guy?" Ricky woke up from his thoughts and started working on his computer, "I am trying…." All the other officers also calmed down and started working.

From that day, Charlette stuck in that case, she supposed went back in 2 or three months. But she spent almost 6 months on that case. 'SCF' teams started more riddles and puzzles from the Joker, and they tried hard every single game of his. Some of them got gravely injured when solving that case. Charlette could not call back to Rey because she was in that case and Joker was targeting family members of 'SCF' team members. She decided not to contact Rey. Finally, they managed to catch the culprit. There were six criminals in that all together. Joker was the main planner and hacker, who managed all the crime activities and planned them. He was trying to avenge his brother who was killed by the 'SCF' officers. He wanted to make them feel in despair and killed them one by one, however he underestimated the 'SCF' and got caught by them.

Finally, after almost six months, Charlette finished that case. She came back to her country. However, she did not go back straight to Old Town. She spent two days in the City of Nirvana to provide all the details to senior officer Yamehara. Yamehara now became the chief of the SCF and Charlette was working under him.

It was evening time; Charlette was walking in the town market, where she accidentally met with Kiniko. Charlette looked at the short brown hair girl who was coming out from the convenience store and she called her, "Kiniko…." Kiniko looked at the direction of voice and big smiled appeared on her face. She ran to Charlette and greeted her with excitement, "Hello Aunt Charlette." Charlette said with beautiful smile on her face, "I haven't expected that I would run into you. you have grown so much these last couple of years and become more beautiful." Kiniko blushed a little and asked to Charlette, "Is Rey also with you?" Charlette shook her head and replied, "I came here by myself for my work. He did not come with me." Kiniko felt little disappointed after hearing Charlette. Charlette looked at her disappointment and suggested her, "why don't you come with me to Old Town. Rey would be happy to see you." Kiniko thought for a moment and asked with smiling face, "I want to go, but I have to get permission from my parents." Charlette nodded with smile. They continued their talking and Charlette visited to Kiniko's house. Kiniko and Charlette entered the house. Kiniko called her mom, "Mom, look who came to visit us." Short brown hair woman walked out from the kitchen and looked at Charlette. She called her name with little excitement and shocked face, "Charlette…" Charlette greeted her with smile, "Hi Makino…" Makino greeted her back and looked at the door. Charlette understood what Makino was looking for. "If Rey was here, he would think that Kiniko and her mother so alike." Charlette thought. Charlette said, "Rey is not here with me. he is still in Old Town." Makino looked at Charlette, "oh, he did not come with you. I thought if you are here then he would also be here with you." Makino led them to living room, "I will make some tea." Charlette and Kiniko started catching up with the stuff happened in the last 2 years when they did not meet. After few minutes, Makino also joined them, and she brought tea and snacks with her. That day, Charlette spent all her day at Makino's house. Charlette spent two more days in City of Nirvana before going back to Old Town. Charlette stopped her red sedan in front of Kiniko's house. Kiniko in light green dress walked out from the house followed by her mother Makino in black top and blue jeans. Charlette waved her hand to greet them while still sitting in the car. Kiniko walked into the car and took her seat beside Charlette. After saying goodbye to Makino, Charlette started driving. Kiniko and Charlette had big smiles on their faces. "He will be so surprised to see you again." Charlette said. Kiniko nodded and continued the conversation, "how tall is he now?" All their conversation was just circling around Rey. All the way, they were both laughing and smiling while reminiscent about the past. However, they never thought that their smiles were going to disappear soon. They arrived in the city. Charlette was driving smoothly when she suddenly saw someone on cycle losing balance. Her mind worked on her own that signal her feet to brake the car. Unfortunately, she could not stop the car completely. Car collided with bicycle and person on bicycle rolled on the ground. Charlette and Kiniko froze for a moment when it happened, but they composed themselves and ran out from the car. When Charlette's eyes met with bicycle and her entire body trembled with fear and she screamed while running towards the boy covered with red blood, "Reyyyy…." When Kiniko looked at Charlette's state and screamed Rey's name while following Charlette. Charlette embraced Rey in her arms and looked at his half-opened eyes. Charlette's eyes turn to water fountain, and she was screaming his name. Kiniko's state could not describe similar but worse. Charlette picked him in her arms and ran to her car. Kiniko opened the back door of the car and Charlette put Rey on the back seat. Rey already lost his consciousness. They reached the hospital at time and managed to save his life. Fortunately, the car was slowed down considerably when it hit him, that's why he did not have many major injuries. But he was hit in the head and somehow lost in Comma. He only woke up after one year.

"Ting, Ting" Charlette's phone rang. She woke up from her thoughts and averted her eyes on the phone in her hands. She looked at the context of the message.

Chapter 17 Old friend

Girl with short brown hair was looking at the roof of her room while resting on her bed. She held a soft teddy bear in her arms. "Did it really happen, or was it just a dream?" Kiniko thought to herself. Her face was flushed red while recalling her first kiss with Rey. "He really… and it was my first…" Kiniko thought to herself while touching her lips. Countless new emotions were surging through in her heart. Flurry of questions repeatedly was circling in her mind, "he confessed to me, but I did not give him an answer, what should I do? should I confess to him too? this is so embarrassing." She hid her flushed face again underneath the teddy bear. While she was busy thinking about her future with Rey, the ringing sound of the doorbell entered her ear. She stood up from her bed and a thought popped up in her mind, "who could come this time? Could it be Rey." Her heart started pounding, and she felt nervous thinking about Rey, "what I will do if it is Rey." She walked out from her room with nervous steps and descended the stairs. She walked to the front door and slowly opened the door lock. She pulled the door inward and opened it. She looked at the person in front of her and an astonished expression appeared on her face. Her lips just moved unconsciously, "Kayoko." Kayoko's lips curved upward when Kiniko appeared in front of her, "Hey Kiniko, it's been a while." Kiniko ran to her and hugged her without saying anything, "where have you been? You just suddenly disappeared without telling anything." Kayoko apologized, "I am sorry. it's just something that happened." Kiniko did not listen to her and suggested to her, "let's go inside, we will talk in my room." Kayoko nodded with a smile and followed Kiniko. Kiniko and Kayoko both walked in Kiniko's room and started talking about their past. Kiniko met Kayoko for the first time when she transferred to school in the City of Nirvana. Kiniko was wandering in the school building, and she accidentally walked into the music room. Kiniko opened the door and thought to herself while looking around the musical instruments, "it looked like a music room." She was about to leave, but someone called her, "hey stop, are you a new member." Kiniko looked back at the direction of the voice and saw a blonde-haired girl with beautiful pale indigo eyes. Before Kiniko refuted her words, a blonde girl spoke again, "Hey, what instrument do you like to play." Word stuck in her mouth, and she thought, "me! playing. I don't even know a single thing about music. How could I play something." Kayoko continued without giving any chance to Kiniko, "I made a new song. let me play it for you." Kiniko could not reject her and nodded while thinking, "it's not like I had anything else to do." Kayoko walked to the piano and sat down to play the piano. She placed her fingers on the keyboard. Her fingers started moving on the keyboard. When notes reached Kiniko's ears, she felt like she was in another universe. Her expression was stunned, and she felt so touched with her music. Every single note of that song was a feeling. Kiniko did not know that much about the music, but still, she could feel the emotions in every note. Kayoko's finger stopped with the last note, and she looked at Kiniko who was still in the world of music. Kayoko did not need to ask about her performance. When Kayoko looked into her watery eyes. At that moment, she understood that she was able to reach her heart. After a few seconds, Kiniko came back to reality and looked at Kayoko with astonishing eyes, "how could someone play that good. Was it for real?"

From that day, Kiniko became friends with Kayoko and started learning to play piano from Kayoko. However, after some time Kayoko left the school without telling Kiniko.

Kiniko and Kayoko entered the room and they both sat on the bed. They both started sharing with each other what happened in their life when they were not together. Makino also came back home, and she made some snacks and tea for them. Kayoko asked while taking a sip of tea, "hey, Kiniko what about your childhood friend. Did you meet him?" When her words entered Kiniko's ears. Her face turned red like an apple while Rey's face came to her mind. Kayoko looked at her with interest and teasing smile appeared on her face, "don't tell me, you guys already…" Kayoko was about finished her sentence, however Kiniko hurriedly interrupted her, "don't think unnecessary things, there is nothing happened between us." Kayoko asked with same teasing smile, "then why you are turning so red," Kiniko averted her eyes and understood the meaning behind her words, "it's just, it's just he confessed to me." Kayoko hugged her and said with bright smile, "wasn't that you always wanted?" Kiniko nodded with a smile and asked her while changing the subject, "what about you? you suddenly vanished from this city without even telling me a single thing. Why haven't you told me anything?" Kayoko apologized, "I am sorry. it was just something, I did not want to make you worry about that." she continued explaining what happened to her. She explained about her illness. Kiniko's face turned pale when she heard the whole story from her friend and she asked Kayoko about her health, "are you alright right now?" She never thought in her dream that her friend was going through the hardest time of her life, and she was not even able to stay with her at that time. Kayoko smiled and replied, "I am all well now. my illness has cured, so don't worry about that." Kiniko heaved a sigh of relief and continued talking with her. It was 8 at night when Kayoko left Kiniko's house and took a taxi to get to her hotel. After arriving in her room, she looked in her purse and found out that her diary was missing. She started to recall while rubbing her temple, "where could I forget?" She remembered when Kiniko's mom called Kiniko she started writing in her diary and forgot to put it back into her purse. "I should send a text to Kiniko, and I will get it tomorrow." she thought while unlocking her phone in her hands. Kiniko who was ascending the stairs while reading her text. She walked to her room and looked at the black color diary on her bed and texted back to Kayoko about the diary.

After confirming her about the diary, Kiniko picked up the diary and found her crescent moon pendant under the diary. "haven't I put this in the case," Kiniko thought while holding the pendant in her hands. She walked towards her study table and kept the black diary on the table then she walked to the closet and opened the small drawer. She picked up the white case from the drawer and opened it. At that moment, a shocked expression appeared on her face. She looked at the identical pendent in the case and then averted her eyes on the other pendent in her hand, "how could there be two of these." Her expression turned darker and sudden thought came to her mind, "is this Kayoko's? Could it be that she forgot this with her diary?" When she was thinking about the owner of the pendent, something came to her mind, "she has pale indigo eyes. it can't be…." She stepped backward and fell on her bed. She remembered while keeping grim expression on her face, "He was searching for a girl with pale indigo eyes." She averted her eyes towards the study table and felt scared. She slowly stood up and approached the study table. She picked up the black diary with trembling hands. She opened the diary and sat down on the chair. She started flipping the pages and stopped when she looked at the title "Time in Old Town." Her whole body shook when she read the title. She felt scared to flip the next page. She was scared that her deduction could be accurate. Her eyes started dwelling tears and she flipped to the next page. She started reading, "I met a boy with blue eyes and black hair…." when she read the description it matched with Rey. The more she was going through the reading, the more her heart was getting crushed by it. Kayoko did not tell her anything about Rey, but when she read her diary. She came to know that her friend and herself were in love with the same person. She read Kayoko's story from her diary and decided to tell Rey, "I will tell Rey about all of this." She made her decision, but still her eyes could not stop tears. After reading her story, Kayoko kept the diary and pendent on the study table and walked to her bed. Her eyes turned red due to shedding tears for a long time. She stared at the roof with her red eyes while still holding that matter in her head. Many thoughts started coming in her mind and she felt herself lost in a dilemma, "what should I do now? should I tell Rey? is he gonna leave me now?" Emotions started running through her eyes in a way of tears. That night was so long for her. She only slept 3 hours that night.

Chapter 18 One Last Time

"Dream only becomes a dream when someone wakes up to reality."

Young man with black hair slowly stood up from his bed. He walked to the window and looked outside at the sky, "how is she doing right now? is she still in Old Town?" After thinking about for a while, he settled his thoughts. Rey walked downstairs to the kitchen where Charlette was making the breakfast, "Morning mom." Charlette greeted him back with smile while averting her eyes towards him, "morning Rey." Rey walked to her and said, "mom, I need to talk with you." Charlette nodded while still working on the gas. "it's about my memories. I got my all memories back." Rey said. When these words entered her ear, she was taken a back and looked at Rey with concern, "are you alright? when did you get your memories back?" Rey answered her, "I am alright, and when I woke up, I just recovered all of my memories." Charlette felt relieved after hearing that and asked, "do you remember everything?" Rey nodded. Charlette asked while still showing concern in her eyes, "I will make an appointment with your doctor." Rey nodded and walked back to his room. After taking shower, Rey ate breakfast with his mother. After eating breakfast, Charlette went out for some work.

It was 10 in the morning. Rey was sitting in his room alone and looking at his phone. Short brown-haired girl was standing in front of Rey's house while carrying a worried expression on her face. She hesitated for a moment. It was like she was going to make a really crucial decision for her life. But finally, she lifted her trembling hand and pressed the doorbell. Doorbell produced a 'ding, ding" sound in the house. When sound entered in Rey's ears, he averted his eyes from the phone. He stood up and climbed down the stairs, "who is at this time?" He approached the door and looked at a short brown girl in black dress, "hey Kiniko, that's good you are here. Come on in, I need to talk with you about something." Kiniko greeted him and followed him. Even Kiniko's tone was a little sad, however Rey did not notice. They both walked to Rey's room. "How come you are here? I was about to call you, then you showed up." Rey asked. "it's just, I need to tell you something too." Kiniko answered in a slightly nervous tone. Rey looked at her with curious eyes and said, "oh, what is it." Kiniko replied, "you go first." Rey nodded and walked to window before opening his mouth, "I got my memories back and I remembered everything now." Kiniko's heart ached, and she froze for a moment, "am I hearing right? Why am I feeling like that. I should be happy for him. but why, why. Isn't that what I always want?" Her hazel eyes fixed on Rey, and she could not take them off. She was feeling like he was going to disappear if she took her eyes off him. Rey turned around and faced Kiniko. Rey looked at her and she was in her own thoughts. Rey called her name, "Kiniko, Kiniko…..." His words entered her ears, and she woke up from her stupor. She looked at Rey, "oh I am sorry. it was so sudden that I just lost in my mind." Rey said, "don't be sorry. it must have surprised you." Kiniko controlled her emotions and put small smile on her face, "are you alright with this sudden change in your condition? When did you get your memories back?" Rey answered with neutral expression, "I am all good. it was at this morning. I was in dream and it kinda felt like real. when I woke this morning then I already recovered my all memories." Kiniko nodded. Rey continued, "by the way, what did you want to tell me?" Kiniko's expression changed a little, and she hesitated before asking, "it's just, do you know girl name 'Kayoko'?" Kiniko still hoped that she and her friend was not in love with same person. Now it was clear that Rey got his memories back, so she brought that question in front of Rey. If Rey was really that person whom Kayoko wrote about in her diary, then he would also know her name. Rey was surprised with that question, and he looked at her perplexed expression, "did I hear wrong, or did she say 'Kayoko'? how did she know her?" After thinking for a moment, Rey replied, "I know her. But how do you know her?" Kiniko's little hope shattered in thousand pieces when she heard the positive answer. A day before when she met with Kayoko, all things were perfectly fine in her life, however when she met with Kayoko then all things took 180 degrees turn and everything changed in her life within just single day. It was like that she was about to achieve first place in race, but unfortunately, she tripped over on something and lost to other player despite reaching to the decisive point. Kiniko looked in Rey's blue eyes. She could tell that how much Kayoko means to him. She started telling him all about how she met Kayoko her for the first time till to the end when she visited her house yesterday. Rey felt relieved when he heard her story and found out that Kayoko was all right. "She came into this city for just few days. I know where she is staying. We can go to meet her if you want." Kiniko said with neutral expression. Rey nodded and started walking towards the door. Suddenly, he stopped and remembered something, and his face turned dark. He turned around and looked at Kiniko. Her usually beautiful glowing eyes were now turned dull. Tears were running down from them like a fountain. Kiniko tried to act tough in front of Rey, however she could not stop her feelings from running down her eyes. When Rey's eyes met with her dull eyes, he felt guilty and pain in his heart. "How could I do this to her? I just promised her yesterday not to forget her ever again. look what I am doing here right now," Rey thought while looking at Kiniko. He ran to her and hugged Kiniko, "I am sorry. I did not want to hurt you." Rey separated himself and looked in her eyes while wiping out her tears, "I am sorry. I haven't forgotten what I said to you yesterday. I meant every single word that I said. I always loved you and I always will. It doesn't matter if I lost my memories, and I was different person and fell for you again." Kiniko looked at Rey with a shocked expression. She was feeling happy and sad at the same time. She was happy because Rey did not forget about her. And she was feeling sad because Kayoko was also in love with Rey, and she was getting in her friend's way. Kiniko asked, "What about Kayoko? how do you feel about her?" Rey hesitated a little before continuing, "I can't settle my feelings. It just all mess in my heart. I don't know what to do and what should I say to you. I don't want to lie to you that's why I'll just tell you the truth. I also have feelings for her." Kiniko was not shocked by the fact that Rey felt the same for Kayoko. She accepted the fact and nodded. After settling things, Rey and Kiniko walked out from his room and descended the stairs to get out from the main door. Rey walked to his bicycle and took it. Kayoko was staying in a hotel, and it was too far to walk. Charlette was not at home, So Rey decided to go there on his bicycle. Rey took position to ride the bike, while Kiniko sat on the back seat. Rey put force on the right paddle to make the bike into motion. When the bike moved a little, Rey lifted his left feet and started paddling with both legs. Bicycle started moving faster, and Kiniko lightly held Rey's t-shirt with her right hand. She stared at Rey's back with her beautiful hazel eyes. She was immersed in her thoughts while Rey slowly stopped the bicycle on the traffic signal. Rey pressed the button on the pole to cross the signal. Kiniko woke up from her stupor. She averted her eyes on the taxi in front of her. She noticed a blonde-haired girl sitting in the taxi. Kiniko instantly recognized the person, and She was about to call the person, unfortunately traffic signal changed, and taxi started moving. Rey also started paddling again. "Kayoko is in that taxi," Kiniko said suddenly. Rey was startled a little then he moved his eyes towards the taxi. Taxi was going in the same direction, however it already made around 50-meter distance between them, so Rey was unable to see who was in that taxi. Rey asked while paddling faster the bicycle to follow the taxi, "are you sure, it is her?" Kiniko confidently nodded and said, "It is Kayoko. However, she looked like she was sleeping." Rey's eyes furrowed and ominous feelings started reaching in his heart, "text to mom, I think there is something wrong with this taxi. He should have taken that left turn to Kayoko's way. Why is he going straight?" Kiniko also felt something amiss, and she quickly unlocked her phone and texted to Charlette about the situation. Rey put full efforts to ride the bicycle as fast as he could. However, he could not match the speed of the taxi. At one point, he completely lost sight of that taxi, he reached the area of abandoned buildings. Sweat started dripping from his forehead and his t-shirt drenched with sweat.

Meanwhile, Charlette was about to start her car when she received Kiniko's message. She looked at the content of the message and she was taken a back. Only one thing came her mind when she read her message, "it can't be." She hurriedly texted back to Kiniko. Her hands were shaking, "It could be dangerous, don't do anything I'll call to police." Charlette remembered the first case, in which she was introduced. She started the engine and started driving towards the area where Kiniko and Rey was going.

Kiniko spotted the taxi in front of the abandoned building and shouted, "Rey, look there is that taxi." Rey looked at the taxi and changed his direction towards the building. Rey through the bike on the ground. He and Kiniko looked in the taxi, however it was empty. Rey looked at the abandoned building and dashed towards it. Suddenly, Kiniko received texted from Charlette when she read it. She felt scared and shouted at Rey, "Rey…..." Her voice did not even reach in his ears, and he was already entered into the building. Even he was exhausted, but he did not stop running. Kiniko followed him, but she was little far from him. Rey climbed the stairs in hurry and his eyes met with the white-haired old man who was about to stab unconscious blonde hair girl. Rey gathered all his strength and pushed the old man. Old man fell on the ground and knife fell from his hands. Rey looked at the blonde hair girl and his eyes become little sad. Rey heaved a sigh of relief when he examined the condition of blonde hair girl. Kiniko also arrived at the site and looked at the unconscious blonde girl on the chair. She hurried and started untying her hands and then looked at Rey. Rey averted his eyes to the old man who was about to retrieve his knife. Due to his old age, old man was too weak to quickly react to the situation. On the other hand, Rey was a lot younger than him, and his reacting speed was way faster than him, however he was not in his full-strength due to his accident. Both have their own weaknesses. When Rey saw the old man's action, he quickly dashed and kicked the knife. Old man looked at young man and started struggling with him. While they were both struggling with each other, Kiniko already untied Kayoko and started to wake her up. Kayoko slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was little blurry, and she looked at the figure in front of her. She blinked few times and her vision started clearing up and she recognized the person in front of her, "Kiniko." While she was about to fully awake, a two gunshot sounds instantly entered in her ears and she suddenly moved her eyes towards the direction of the sound. Kayoko's face turned pale when she looked at the person. Kiniko's face turned pale as well. And she became a statue in an instant and could not move a single step.

Old man fell onto his knees and blood started gushing out from his abdomen and he looked at the young boy with black hair with a pale face before closing his eyes.

Charlette was already arrived at the location and when she heard gunshot then she rushed towards the building.

Kiniko and Kayoko was facing Rey's back. Rey slowly turned around to face the girls and smiled at them. However, Kiniko and Kayoko's vision turned dark when they saw his state. Blood was spurting from close to his heart. They both shouted, "Reyyyyyyyyyy...." And dashed towards him. They were not the only one who were looking at them. There was also a third person, who shouts simultaneously with them. Rey was about to fall on the ground; however, he was saved by Kiniko, Kayoko and Charlette. Rey's vision started turning dark and he looked at Charlette. He looked at the figures around him and coughed a mouthful blood while trying to talk, "I'm so rr y, Kayoko. I co uld not meet you that d ay." He coughed another mouthful of blood while looking in Kayoko's eyes. Seeing him in that state, raining of tears falling from the trio's eyes and they said simultaneously, "don't speak." Rey shook his head and continued, "I am hap py that you are alright." Rey realized that he did not have much time left, so he moved his head towards short brown-haired girl and continued speaking in his shaking voice, "tha nks for al ways being with me, Ki ni ko." He smiled while recalling his memories with her. Kiniko could not help but crying more when she saw his weak smile. She felt like her heart was being crushed by something intangible object. Rey turned to his mom with smiling face. Charlette's world was crumbling in every second. Inside in her heart, she could not feel anything but pain. It was so strong that she was petrified at that moment. Rey said in trembling voice, "mom, I always wa nted to tell you, but I could not s ay it. I lo ve you, If I ev er born again, I want you to be your son again in my ne xt life. He opened his lips; however, his soul left his body before even he could complete his last words, "Mo...." Time stopped for the trio when Rey took his last breath. Only screams could be heard from the building. At one point, Charlette'eyes met with the old man who was lying on the ground. Her body shuttered when she found that he was the same person who killed Rey's mother. Charlette felt like she lost her entire world. Rey was the only person in her life and now he was dead. Kiniko and Kayoko condition was the same as Charlette. They screamed his name simultaneously, "Reyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...."

Young boy was lying on his bed, and he was in a deep sleep. He suddenly woke from his dream. There was a figure standing next to his bed. She was a beautiful young woman with blonde haired and blue eyes. He could tell from her that she ran to his room out of concern. He asked her, "Mom, did something happen?" Beautiful woman replied, "it's just I had a bad dream. just forget about that, you just get ready for your school. I will make breakfast." Young boy had a bizarre look on his face when he heard his mom's words. "She had a dream too. Did we have the same dream?" He thought. However, he did not say anything to her and nodded to her suggestion. Young boy was Rey who woke up from a bizarre dream in which he had died. He could not tell if that dream was a dream or reality. Rey was now in her final year. After eating breakfast, he took his blue school band and looked at the specs box on the table, "I forgot these." He took out his specs and wore them on his face. He descended the stairs and opened the front door; however, he was stunned when he met with the site in front of him. There were two girls standing in front of the door. Their faces were pale, like they had lost their souls. One of them was a short brown hair girl with hazel eyes and one was wavy blonde hair with pale indigo eyes. When they looked at the young boy, they felt like their souls came to life. Rey asked, "what are you two doing here?" Both girls looked at each other and said simultaneously, "I thought we could walk to school together." Even Rey could tell they were lying, despite that he nodded and walked with them.

Few years later, a 28 years man was sitting in his room. He was working on his book. He was writing a character's dialogue, "This is not your fault. Do you know who is the worst criminal in this world? It's not who killed people or kidnapped children. The worst criminal is someone who can control people's life just to entertain other. he could create criminals and heroes by himself. He doesn't get punished, instead he gets an award for doing all these things. You are just an unlucky character who happens to be played as a villain and I am lucky to play as a hero. This is all too it in this life. Writers create characters like us to entertain others. In my eyes, the writer is the worst criminal in this world, because he creates worlds full of people in pain and suffering. And sometimes people refer to these criminals as so-called gods."

Rey was still working on his book when two small hands approached from both of his sides. He gently touched his hands and looked to his right side at a cute little girl with short brown hair and blue eyes and then he turned to the other side and looked at a blonde hair little boy with ocean blue eyes. Both kids said simultaneously in childish tones, "papa, play with us." Rey nodded at them. He looked at his book and closed the book which reveals the title on his front page, "why my all lies start in April." Rey held both children in his arms and about to go out when suddenly two beautiful women entered the room. They were Kiniko and Kayoko who were now mature women and they both married to Rey. Rey looked at them and thought to himself, "I could not figure it out until now. Was that a dream or reality? Sometimes I feel like I am also a character in this life and someone else has already drafted my story."