3 Chapter 03: Unexpected Query

Everything seemed quiet, the environment felt cold—thev vibe it's giving reminds her of the two years passed after her sister died.  She suddenly opened her eyes and found inside a familiar messy room, covered with dust and old furnitures. From a distance she could hear someone banging the door to open while shouting for someone to open it up. She turned her head around quickly behind her when she heard the familiar voice yelling. She saw a familiar looking woman, with the color of hair and pair of eyes same as her's. She know this girl completely—she knew this is Helen. Her eyes blew wide in mixed emotions. Tears formed in her eyes and started to roll down on her face. Her sister is alive... Is she dreaming?

The girl stopped from banging the metal door as and turn her head towards Luna to check on her. Worry and fear covered her face. She eyes remained wide as she saw Luna crying. She rushed towards her and embraced her tightly to comfort her. "It's alright. I'll find a way for us get out," she reassured.

Why does this felt like it happened again like two years ago? Like that time, she was trying to stop her tears despite her fear until Helen embraced her and comfort her, talking to her with the same words. She can't believe if what's happening right now is true.

"Stop crying, we can get a way out," said Helen as she rub her sister's back to comfort her. Unlike before, Luna didn't want Helen to let her go. If she pushed her sister back to say she's not crying two years ago, then this time, she'll stay silent and let Luna embrace her as long as she want. But she became disappointed when Helen let go of her and started to find another way to escape from the room. From the corner, she saw a small hole, enough for one person to crawl out and free themselves. Helen rushed towards Luna and grabbed her hand. Luna followed and stopped in front of the hole. "You go first. I'll make sure everything is still safe," said Helen. The brown haired girl froze on what her sister had said. 'Wait...' she thought, 'isn't this the same like what happened before?' she continued, 'Did I went back in time...?'

Suddenly, they heard voices from the outside coming towards the door. Helen quickly pushed Luna to the hole and gestured her to move forward. "Quick, before it's too late," she whispered. Luna was hesitant and she didn't want to leave her sister. If she really went back in time, then she must make sure to keep Helen alive this time. However, her sister already pushed her in which made her no choice but to crawl. She rushed to go out as soon as possible so she could give Helen a way also. But she thought she must move faster when she heard the door kicked open. She then, heard the familiar voices of the male yelling. Luna crawled until she finally got out. She peeked back on the hole to check on Helen. Nervous, she prepared herself to do something with the situation to keep her sister alive. She saw Helen crawling inside the hole, rushing but a hand grabbed her ankle and pulled her back in. She outstretched her hand to reach for Luna and Luna does the same. Thankful that she reached the hand, she started to pull her with all her might to help Helen out, but it ended up worthless because of the man's strong grasp that pulled Helen in. The time susuddenly felt like it slow down, their eyes blew wide in fear, staring at each other.

"It's your fault..."

She heard the voice of Helen whispering to her ear. Helen got completely pulled back inside and saw the hole being blocked by, a furniture. Luna banged the wood, although she knew it was hopeless. She cried while smacking her clenched fist on the wood. She failed to save her sister... She didn't save Helen...

"It's your fault..."

"Luna!" the brown haired girl blinked as she got snapped out of her thoughts and turn back to reality. She found herself inside their office with her teammates, staring at her. "Are you alright?" Antoinette, one of their teammates asked her. She realized everything was just a reminiscence of her past—(but that felt very real.

The girl nodded and forced a smile on her face, embarrassed as well that she caught everyone's attention. Although her teammates doesn't look like convinced, they decided to pretend that they believed her and went back to continue their meeting.

After the work, Luna walked out of their office in a torpid manner. She sighed in exhaustion which made her look haggard and sleepy. All of a sudden Nami jumped onto her back and surprise her—well, that didn't effect.

Nami started to become worried what could be the reason her friend often space out, or sometimes sigh. If she counted the previous sighs Luna heaved earlier, it would almost be like 50 sighes in just half of a day.

"Luna-chan, is there anything that bothers you?" the black headed girl asked. However, no answer came out. The brown headed lady just continued to walk towards the cafeteria to buy her lunch as well as her drinks. Nami followed her. A few seconds later, Luna's phone rang in her pocket. She stare down at them with her eyes covered with dark circles and eyebags, drawing the phone out of her pocket and answered it without checking who's the caller. Instead of answering, she waited for the person to talk first.

Her expectation became true.

"Is this Chizuka Luna?" the voice was male, and it's unfamiliar. This gave Luna a conclusion that she didn't know the caller. She frowned. "Who's this?" she asked.

"I'm an officer from Central Intelligence Detective Agency," replied the person on phone. The girl suddenly froze in surprise.

Central Intelligence Detective Agency is a well-known Agency in Japan. Instead of them, working for the government like Police Officers and Militaries do, it's the government who works for them in exchange of keeping the country safe, and hide the dark secrets of every town and places. They handle the most difficult task which other peace keepers cannot do and they cover the rumoured situation that would surprise a lot of residence. No one knows where their main building is. Everyone believed they could be hiding underground or hiding somewhere out of country, only leaving some secret spy cameras to monitor the country. If they would call on someone, it's because he or she might have an important business or the agency needs something from them.

Right now, Luna has no idea what could be the reason CIDA called her. Knowing her number is already not surprising once you know it's the agency. But thinking of possible reasons, what do they need something from her?

"A-ah yes Sir," Luna stuttered once she's back from her thoughts. Not knowing that Nami is still behind her, she decided to hide herself instead and wait for what's going to happen next.

"There's something we need to know from you. It's about you sister, Helen," said the voice from the other line. It felt like the time went slow and she wasn't sure of what she heard. Is the CIDA investigating about her sister's death?

"Chizuka-san?"

Luna blinked and opened her mouth to say a word but her mind was blank. She screwed herself to think faster and once she calm herself a bit and found a word to say, she forced a smile as if she knew someone was watching her. "Ye-yes?" she respond unsure.

"Would it be alright to you if we meet at the Swallowtale Cafe?" the voice on the phone asked. Again, Luna didn't know if she her ears were deceiving her or she heard it correctly. Is the man behind the phone serious? She expected him of asking her to meet on a certain place where only few people know, or if possible, ask her to go in their headquarter. But instead, he invited her to meet her up in a butler cafe were most of the teenager girls love to go to be treated like a real lady in mansion. Why would someone from the CIDA ask her to meet on that type of cafe? Or perhaps he thought she's one of them who loves roleplay being a lady in Victorian? No. Central Intelligence Detective Agency is somewhat a serious agency feared by criminals and respected by citizens.

"A-ah, su-sure," she stuttered.

"Alright! When will you be free?" the voice joyfully asked.

"It's my lunch at this moment," she answered.

"Good! Meet me right now at the Swallowtale cafe. I'll be waiting for you here—bye~" the voice suddenly turned hyper and unexpected. The call soon ended and Luna was left standing in the middle of lobby, frozen and not certain to what just happened.

Was the person who just called her really a member of an agency...?

--

"I can't believe we're wasting our time to just to meet up this lady who's involved in the case two years ago," Gin complained while resting his chin on his palm supported by his elbow placed on the table. His eyes locked on a fine silk curtain hanging on the wall. Also tied up to be able to let them see through the outside.

Before this all happened, Gin was previously on his work helping his subordinate, Niito to find out clues about their current case. Until Shinano slammed the door open and invited them to a lunch. With Shinano's small gestures, Niito quickly figured out the cue and happily accepts it. But Gin declined the offer. Shinano is the type of person who won't accept 'no' as an answer, so he pulled Gin alone and told him that it would be quick. Niito also followed but Shinano told him to finish their work alone until he's done.

Now that they arrived to a cafe, Gin was surprised that Shinano brought him to a roleplay restaurant. Moreover, his day got ruined when he knew Shinano tricked him. After the short lunch, he told Gin that he's actually going to meet a woman. At first Gin thought it was one of his flirty activities but Shinano told him the details. The lad didn't agree about bringin back the past that happened two years ago, but he can't stop his friend's so-called 'curiosity'.

He thought the girl already knew about the meeting. He saw Shinano called her and invited her.

'So it's all unplanned,' he thought with a sigh.

Right now, he kept his head down while trying to control his patience. Gin is not the type of person who could wait any longer. He's been inside the cafe for 15 minutes and it felt like it's real. Not any longer, he heard a female voice excusing herself for being rude in front of them. He raised his head, thinking it could be one of the female staffs hiding is now telling them that it's time to go. But he was wrong. He saw a familiar looking brown haired girl standing while forcing a smile despite her obviously sheepishness to a stranger. 'Is she Chizuka Luna?' he asked in his mind.

The girl seemed to also noticed his presence and turn her eyes towards him. The aura became even awkward as the silence between them dominated. But Shinano soon broke the atmosphere.

"Luna-chan! Nice to finally meet you! Come here and sit," Shinano stood up from his seat and gestured Luna to sit in front of them. The girl bowed in gratitude and did sit down in front of them. Luna couldn't help but to stare and examine their appearance. Specially the guy whom she find his voice familiar and concluded that he must be the one who called her. The black headed male doesn't look decent in his image since he's arms and neck were covered in bandages and he has eyebags and dark circles under his eyes. Moreover, his hair looks messy and curly that she doubted if he ever used a comb before. While the brown headed lad looks healthy and muscular unlike the guy beside him who's plainly slender.

She wondered why the guy was here along with a psychopath-looking lad covered with  bandage. He thought perhaps he's a friend of him, and assumed that the guy was really from 'that' agency — she hope.

"You must be confused why we invited you all of a sudden," said Shinano; he already included about Helen. Luna didn't say any word and only nodded as response. Shinano smiled and withdraw something from his pocket inside his beige coat. He showed his ID as a proof of membership in CIDA while introducing himself. "I'm Shinano Jin, but you can call me Jin," he said, closing his ID after he introduced himself and put it back to his pocket. "And this is my friend, Gin Roselcov, he's also a member of CIDA," he added.

Luna was silent but she's already surprised inside her head, knowing the guy she met was also a member of a known agency.

"We already met," Gin spoke dullishly. They turn their attention to him.

"Really? Where?" Shinano turn his head back to Luna.

"Hunny Bunny," the brown headed lad retorted. Shinano raised his eyebrows and saw Luna nodded her head.

"Oh! So you two met at the headquarter." Gin almost rise up from his seat when Shinano just revealed a secret. The name Hunny Bunny and their toy company was just a cover to hide their headquarter. No one knows yet like what they always hear in rumors. But he didn't expect Shinano would carelessly spill something to a stranger. The black haired male chuckled and seemed like happy to what he did. His friend wanted to choke him but he's only refraining himself. He didn't want to look violent in front of a stranger.

"Well, she'll be involve with us until the case closes so..." Shinano shrugged his shoulders. Luna almost forgot why she went hear. Good thing the black headed lad mentioned a word that reminded her. Before the two could start an ado, she spoke out to start their meeting purpose.

"Um, the meeting—" she cutted her words, don't know what to say next. This always happens when you're not confident enough to talk to strangers.

Shinano was quickly reminded and froze. Then he smiled as he snapped his fingers and left his index pointing the ceiling. "That's right!" he exclaimed. He took something from the seat next and showed a folder and placed them on the table as he slipped them towards Luna. The girl took the folder and opened it. Then she saw familiar pictures.

"Do you know that place?" Shinano asked. Gin was silent beside him, watching query beginning to process. The brown headed girl nodded her head. "This is the abandoned asylum in Nagoya," she answered. Shinano nodded. He watched the girl scanning the pictures and move to another photo. "Do you know that one?" there showed a shrine gate. The girl again nodded. "It's Atsuta shrine in Nagoya," she answered. Shinano nodded. "Can you tell me what happened their two years ago?" he asked.

Luna paused as she heaved a soft sigh. She wanted to answer but she didn't know when to start. She couldn't even detail the memory already, but she must try her best to cooperate. Once some memory refreshed in her mind, she opened her mout to speak.

"I was going home from work," she started. When she was about to say something, but Shinano spoke. "Were you alone that time?" he wanted some detailed information. The girl shooked her head and looked back down to the picture. "I was with my sister, Helen," she answered. "We always walked home together since we're in the same work," she continued.

"What work?"

"Call Center Agent."

Shinano nodded and gestured her to continue.

"Everything there was fine—until a black van stopped in front of us and grabbed us in," she continued.

"Did you get the plate number?" Jin asked. Silence soon entered their area which is a sign that the girl didn't know the plate number. She just shook her head slowly. Shinano already expected this, but he still feel like he needed to ask in case his expectation might go wrong. But it seems like he's right. The black headed lad only nodded and once again gestured her to continue.

"There were guys with their faces covered with mask. They covered our nose with cloth that smelled like something unpleasant —"

"That was chloroform," Gin spoke. The girl nodded although she didn't know what's it called and continued her story. "And we that's all I can remember since I lost conscious because of the medicine," she stated. Shinano nodded while finishing taking notes to his parchment until he's done. He already gathered information, but it was not enough. He still needs to know what happened at the abandoned asylum.

"What about here?" he pointed the picture beside the image of shrine gate. The girl followed what he pointed and saw the picture of an abandoned asylum. Then what she saw in her mind earlier flashes back.

"That was where we were locked in," she said. Shinano nodded and took note of a new information. "Can you tell us what happened there?"

Again, silence came back and dominated the atmosphere. Luna wanted to talk about it, but—

"I can't remember anything there," she lied. The memory of that past always gives her headache. She didn't want to remember such scene because after that, the memory of her family blaming her about her sister's death will follow—which could give her another feeling of burden.

Shinano nodded, he understood. He closed his parchment and slipped it in his pocket. Then he showed a smile on his face like serious atmosphere wasn't there.

"You must be hungry...? You know that sweets can help you ease your feeling," he said. Then a butler uniformed staff came with a push cart with only a cake and tea displayed. The butler moved them on the table on Luna's side and poured a Jasmine tea on her fine ceramic cup. She bowed to thank the staff.

"Please enjoy your cake and tea," the butler (staff) bowed and went back with his pushcart. Leaving the three back to their business. Luna thanked for the food and started to take her bite. Drinking tea isn't her thing, so she just have to ignore it for now and try it later.

On the first bite, she enjoyed the taste and already forgot about the atmosphere. She endulged herself and started to express how sweet it is to herself. She even forgot the people in front of her, watching her eating.

Shinano felt envy watching the girl enjoying her cake—which reminds him that he haven't eat anything yet from the start. He heard his stomach growling and can't help but to stare at the girl eating. He checked his wallet so he could order for himself also. But he realized the money he paid for the girl's cake was his last penny.

He found himself hopeless, and crouched down in despair. He haven't eat anything yet and he just used his last money for the stranger.

"Gin-chan can you join me in your bill if you order?" Shinano asked, almost like suggesting his friend to order and join him. He hoped the lad will show his kind heart and let feed him with but it's just his hope. The brown headed male only turn his head to him with a sullen look and said: "Don't let me order and pay it for you. I already ate my lunch earlier with Niito so I don't need one," he said. Shinano felt his heart crushed. 'I guess I'll have to starve for one day,' he thought.

Luckily Luna noticed them and realized the action. She suddenly felt embarrassed for letting someone pay for her cake with his last penny. The girl took out her wallet from her pocket and asked Jin how much he paid for the cake. But the guy declined.

"Please. It is rude of me to let you starve because of me," Luna insisted. Actually, Shinano wanted to tell her how much he payed. But he wanted to act like 'the-nice-guy' since she acknowledge him as a member of a known agency. But his stomach growl once again. He had no choice but to give up.

"It's worth ¥15,000," he said. The girl gapped when she heard the price. With just a slice of strawberry cake he spent ¥15,000?

The girl checked her wallet and she was lucky she brought enough money with her. She can pay his ¥15,000.

She took out the exact amount of money from her wallet and gave it the black headed lad. She then, thanked him. Shinano didn't know if he should be shy, or thankful. Perhaps both.

He quickly called for one of the staffs and oordered their cheapest cake. He doesn't care anymore what it will taste. All he want is to fill his stomach.

–·–

After that, they all went out of the cafe with a smile on their face. The deep talk earlier doesn't seem like it happened. Luna found out that Shinano was unexpectedly a nice guy, and weird at the same time. She finds her funny, peculiar, mischievous and mysterious. But despite that, his approach is not heavy. Gin was someone who's stubborn and serious. But he's only like that to his friend for reasons. She understand it. She also finds him earnest and hardworking since she heard him never stop complaing about going out because he still has his work to be done.

Also, she didn't want to believe these two were from an amazing agency. They seemed to have an ado as always—almost like all the time and would cause a trouble thanks to Shinano. She guessed she discovered alot today.

"Thanks for the cooperation, Luna-chan," said Shinano. Luna bowed and nodded and thanked as well for inviting her.

"We would inform you if we found something about Helen and her death right away," Shinano added.

"Please do. There are so many questions I can't answer and I wanted to find it out as well," said Luna.

"But first, don't let anyone know about our headquarter," Gin spoke and turn his eyes to Shinano with a glare. The girl smiled and nodded.

"I will," she reassured. After that, they both depart from each other. Luna called for a taxi and asked to bring her back to ACA (Arts and Crafts Association). While the boys just walked towards their building since it's not far from the cafe.

Shinano can't hold back his smile and his friend noticed this. "What's with that curve on your lips?" he asked. Shinano hummed before he spoke, "Luna-chan is so like Helen-chan," he said, "they're both pretty. Good thing Luna-chan survives, or else I wouldn't meet a beautiful lady like her," he added.

"Stop flirting and just focus on finishing this case. You should be abandoning this now but instead you draw it back," Gin complained. The black headed lad shrugged his shoulders, "It can't be help. Your subordinate is curious – and I am curious as well."

Gin instead just shook his head and sighed.

Meanwhile, Luna was still inside the taxi, waiting for the arrival. She felt joy when she knew the agency were investigating her sister's death. At least there could be an answer that might fill her question and lessen her feeling of guilt. But why are they investigating the past? She forgot to ask that.