Chapter 1 - Prologue

The crows started following me after the first death.
But maybe... they had always been there. Watching. Waiting.
I just hadn’t noticed.

If only I had known what they meant—what they really meant...

Was it something deep in me?
Something I already understood, but chose to ignore?

Subconscious?
Perhaps.

Or maybe...
It was fate all along.

My name’s Sora Kuroda. I’m 24 years old, and I work at a kōban — a small neighborhood police box nestled in the rural village of Kagehara. Out here, crime isn’t much more than a kid stealing bread or maybe some drunk shouting at a vending machine. Mostly, we help people find lost wallets, give directions, and make our rounds.

About 8 miles north of Kagehara sits Omigawa — a town large enough to have a proper police station.

That’s where the full-time detectives are. Forensic units. Criminal investigators.

Out here, we’re the first response, but for anything serious — say, a murder, the chain of command is clear: we call them. They take over.

My wife Yuki and I moved here from Omigawa a year ago. At the kōban, it’s just the four of us.

Takeda Okabe is the senior officer.

Always grumbling, always chewing on something — rice crackers, dried squid, whatever’s nearby. He hardly leaves his seat behind the desk, but he somehow knows everything that goes on in this village.

Then there’s Arima Saitō.

He’s local, a few years older than me. Calm, thoughtful. We work a lot of the same shifts, so we’ve grown close. I’ve come to rely on him and trust him.

Hayato is the rookie.

Fresh out of the academy, still learning how to tie his belt right. He’s a bit of a goofball… But he’s got passion, and people seem to like him — especially the kids.

I had the morning shift with Hayato. He was covering the western part of the village, and I was headed north.

Yuki was already up when I came downstairs. The rising sun bathed the sky in soft orange, and I caught the smell of miso soup and grilled fish — simple, but warm.

“Yukiiin~ reporting for duty!” Yuki gave a playful salute without turning from the stove, her voice sing-song as the miso soup simmered.

“Jeez, what’s got you up so early?” I muttered, still half-asleep.

“What do you think, genius? Breakfast doesn’t make itself.” she teased.

“Yawn… Ever since we moved here, you’ve been annoyingly energetic.”

“Well of course. I love it here. It’s peaceful.”

We ate in silence. It was a peaceful silence, the kind that comes from feeling at home, just the sound of chopsticks tapping bowls.

When it was time to leave, I laced up my shoes and slung my uniform jacket over one shoulder.

“See you later, Yuki.”

“Have a good day at work, Officer Kuroda,” she called out with a mock salute and a grin.

The air outside had a cool breeze. I rode my bike down the gentle slopes of Kagehara, passing rice paddies, the Irrigation canal, and a woman sweeping leaves outside her shop.

At the kōban, Hayato was already fiddling with the patrol log.

“Sora-san, you’re here!” Hayato called.

“Starting your shift, Hayato-kun?” I replied.

“Yep! Also… uh… Takeda said there’s paperwork for you on the desk.”

“Fantastic.”

I changed into uniform and stepped out for patrol, waving to Hayato on the way. “Don’t trip over a rock or anything.”

“Hey, that was one time!” he called back.

The village was beginning to stir. I nodded to a farmer carrying buckets and greeted a pair of old ladies outside the post office.

That’s when I ran into Hina Mori, a bright 17-year-old who worked at the local family-run store. Yuki and I had grown fond of her. She often called Yuki her “big sister.”

“Uncle Sora! Ohayou! Coming by later to pick up some tofu for big sis Yuki?”

“Yeah, I’ll swing by after my shift. Your dad around?”

“Nope. He went to the memorial site... He’s visiting her.”

Her smile dimmed just a little.

Naoya Mori, her father, was a former detective from Omigawa. I don’t know much about what happened, only that his wife passed away not long after Hina was born. He doesn’t really speak about it.

“I’ll stop by and see him when I can,” she nodded.

We exchanged waves and I moved on, the sun dipping lower behind the hills.

Later into the evening, as I walked past the school, I heard laughter. I turned the corner and there was Hayato again… Clinging awkwardly to a tree branch, kids cheering him on from below.

“C’mon… almost… got it…” he groaned.

I stepped closer and realized what he was after — a calico cat meowing high on a branch.

The kids spotted me.

“Sora! Uncle Hayato’s trying to save Kichi-chan!”

I gave Hayato a long stare.

“Need a hand?”

“S-Sora-san! Uh… yeah… that would be great.”

I crouched down and let him step on my shoulders. With a little wobbling and a lot of muttering, he got the cat down and returned it to the grateful kids.

“Thank you, Uncle Hayato!”

He flashed a proud grin and struck a heroic pose.

Sigh

“Let’s just hope no one calls that in as a rescue operation.”

Hayato and I walked back to the kōban as the last streaks of sunlight bled across the sky.

Hayato was still talking about his daring "tree operation."

"Did you see the look on that cat's face? It was definitely meowing for me to save it."

“You were the one meowing louder than it was,” I said, unlocking the front door of the kōban.

“Hey! It was a tactic to calm it down! That’s what professionals do.”

I sighed. “You’ll be calming your broken leg if you keep climbing trees like that.”

Inside, Takeda-san was exactly where he always was. Slouched behind the front desk, a cigarette hanging from his mouth, and an old magazine spread open like he’d been reading the same page all day.

“You two back?” he muttered, not even glancing up.

“Yeah,” Hayato said, flopping into the chair beside the radio. “Hey, wanna hear about the cat I re-”

“Yeah, no. I frankly don’t care,” Takeda cut him off flatly.

Hayato blinked, mouth still half-open, then slumped further into his seat.

I waved away the smoke as I walked past. “You know you shouldn’t be smoking in here, right?”

Takeda finally glanced up and then shrugged. “Then write me up for it.”

I sighed and trudged to my desk to wrap up my paperwork while the night crept in. Once I had finished my paperwork, I changed out of uniform and said my goodbyes to Hayato.

“See you on Thursday,” I said, waving to Hayato.”

Unlocking my bike, I set off toward Hina-chan’s shop to pick up the promised tofu. Just as I approached, I spotted Naoya Mori stepping out from the shop’s shadow, locking up.

“Ah, Sora,” called Naoya.

“Mr Naoya! Closing up now?”

“Yeah. Oh—here Hina said to give this to you.” He handed over a white plastic bag with tofu in it. “Don't worry, it's on the house.”

“Thank you!”

I continued cycling, but after a few minutes, the bike wobbled beneath me—one of the wheels had gone soft.

Sigh

I dismounted and began wheeling the bike along the narrow road. As I passed the rice fields, something caught my eye.

Someone was standing beneath a tree.

Still. Unmoving. Watching.

I blinked—and they were gone.

“Weird, must've been an animal.”

Upon arriving back home, I locked my bike by the front door and knocked. Yuki soon opened the door, her eyes shining with that familiar warmth.

“Yukiiin~ reporting for duty.” She said with a playful salute.

“I'm a police officer… not a drill sergeant…”

She chuckled, “There’s dinner on the table.”

We ate together as always, but partway through, I heard the sound of wind brushing against the glass door that led to the backyard.

“Wind’s pretty strong tonight.”

“What wind? I don't hear any wind?” Yuki replied.

I brushed it off as her being hard at hearing.