Navigating New Horizons

Everything seemed surreal, as if reality had slipped away. Maybe I was just too stressed inside the base, and this was nothing more than a nightmare my unconscious mind had conjured. If I pinched myself hard enough, perhaps I would wake up.

But I didn’t. I was still standing there, right in front of Yuna’s parents’ urns. This was real.

Juri accompanied me to the cemetery when I mentioned wanting to visit them. She said it had been a while since she paid her respects, and since I was around, she decided to tag along. After offering her greetings, she left me alone in the columbarium room to give me some privacy.

“Hi, Uncle, Auntie. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to visit. I just got my first day off after completing a mission, and I wanted to spend it with you both. Aren’t you proud of me? I’ve been doing well. Life at the base is tough, but I have a great superior, so it’s somewhat bearable. Don’t worry about me.”

I placed the small carnation arrangement into the holder on their niche. Inside, there were a few pictures of them with Yuna, and one of them was with me. We all looked so happy in those photos. How nostalgic. If only we could go back to those times. I would have treasured every moment with them more. I would never have taken it for granted.

As I admired the photos, my gaze landed on Yuna’s necklace, its red rose pendant catching the light. It had been a gift from her mother, and was her most cherished accessory. She never took it off, not even when she showered. So why was it here? Had she intentionally left it behind when she visited? Why would she do that?

I glanced over my shoulder to confirm that no one was nearby in the aisle, and then unlocked the glass door of the niche with the key card Juri had given me. Desperate for any clue about Yuna’s whereabouts, I abandoned my sense of propriety and took the necklace. I remembered Yuna once showing me the tiny family photo she kept inside the pendant’s hidden compartment, but I couldn’t recall how to open it. After some fumbling, I finally managed to pry it open—only to discover a tiny memory card tucked inside, instead of the family photo.

Who even uses a memory card these days? It was the first thought that came to mind, but another quickly followed. What if Yuna kept her secrets here? Maybe she avoided uploading them online so no one else could access them.

“Sorry, Yuna. I will need to borrow this.”

I slipped the memory card into my pocket and carefully returned the necklace to its original place, locking the glass door of the niche afterward. Anything stored on this little piece of thing might hold the answers I’d been searching for—or an entirely new set of questions. Either way, it was my best lead to finding Yuna and stopping her from doing whatever unwise thing she might be planning. I just hoped computer shops still sold memory card readers.

Yuna’s father had only been discharged from the military around a couple of years ago, but thanks to his high rank, he had accumulated a significant amount of leave and spent some precious time with his family. I wondered if that might have played a role in his death. What if Yuna was right? What if the military really was responsible for her parents’ deaths? What if they silenced him to protect a secret they wanted to keep hidden?

If my suspicion was correct, this could lead to a much bigger problem than I imagined. I wasn’t sure if I could handle it. Surviving in the base had already drained all my energy and sanity. But then, Juri’s concerned face flashed in my mind. Yuna’s smile, the one she wore when she made me promise to see her again. Her parents waving at me as they sent me off on enlistment day.

I need to do this for them. I have to.

I debated keeping the memory card with me. That way Yuna would eventually come to reclaim it. However, bringing it into the base was a suicide mission. It should never fall into their hands. Even if I hadn’t seen its content, it was clear that the military must never find out about it. Yuna had gone as far as hiding it inside her parents’ columbarium niche, which only her and Juri could access with their keys.

Juri was someone Yuna trusted enough to keep the memory card within her reach. That meant I could trust her too, and she deserved to know about my discovery.

Back at Juri’s home, I could finally share everything I had found. Bluefort had eyes everywhere on the streets. Staying out of sight was nearly impossible. Even though the memory card sat deep in my pocket, I couldn’t shake the paranoia that they might be able to see through the fabric.

The moment I showed the memory card to Juri, she lectured me for a full ten minutes about how I had disrespected the late Unno couple. She angrily snatched the key card back when I returned it to her, looking as though she regretted giving it to me in the first place. I already felt bad for taking it, and she just rubbed salt in the wound.

“To think that she would hide something like that inside her necklace’s pendant. I always assumed she left it there as a commitment to retrieve it once she’d finished getting her revenge. Do you think she might be right?” Juri’s voice wavered with doubt as she absentmindedly played with the key card in her hand.

We were still in our mourning clothes, sitting in Juri’s living room. Our black outfits stood out against the soft pink couches and beige rug. Kage was sleeping in her lap, oblivious to everything. It was barely lunchtime, and I couldn’t help but wish I could be a cat, sleeping all day like him. This whole situation was stressing me out.

I glared at the memory card, as if it would reveal its content if I stared hard enough. “I don’t know. We need to see what’s inside. I’m still figuring out how to open it safely without risking Bluefort tracing it. Going to an internet cafe is too dangerous, and I don’t have any computers with me.”

“My late husband’s friend was a data analyst during his military days. We can ask for his help.”

“Can we trust him?”

“Sure. He’s an old friend.”

Even though I wasn’t fully convinced, I had no way of opening the memory card outside the base, so my only option was to trust someone else with it. But if the memory card was encrypted—which was most likely—then Juri’s friend would need more time to decode it. And if I couldn’t see the content today, then I would have to wait until my next day off, which I hadn’t earned yet. No one knew when I would get my next mission, or if I would even succeed again.

“Alright then. Let’s visit this friend of yours.” I decided. But just as I was about to get up and change out of Juri's late husband’s black clothes she had lent me, she pushed me back down onto the couch.

“We’re not going anywhere before having lunch. Stay put, young man.” Juri’s short bob bounced as she hurried toward the kitchen to start cooking. I smiled at her enthusiasm and leaned back against the couch, my gaze fixed on the small object in my hand.

The longer I stared at the memory card, the more I wondered if Yuna had deliberately hidden it inside the necklace and left it with her parents’ urns, hoping I would find it. She had told me about the hidden compartment in the pendant only because I was her best friend, so I doubted anyone else knew about it.

What if this was a message Yuna had left behind for me?