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Koharu stared out the window of the gravmobile, lifting her visors to her eyes again. Or, her one good eye, at least.

Yep, she thought. Carpe Avenue, Block five, apartment number three-hundred.

“You sure you’ll be alright here, ma’am?” the driver asked.

She nodded, opening the door. “Yeah. Have a good day.”

She slammed the door shut, and the gravmobile revved away, leaving her alone in the silence of the dark road. She walked up the flight of stairs to the door of the building, hand pausing over the number pad beside the double sliding doors.

She took a deep breath. “Come on, Koharu,” she muttered. “Just try.”

She typed in the number to the pad, and a ringtone beeped on the other side. Each second stretching to the max. Each beep twisting that knot in her stomach tighter.

She pressed her fist against her forehead, and someone picked up.

“Hello?”

She paused. “Hi.”

“Hello, who is this?”

She paused again.

“Hello?” the woman asked.

She leaned her hand against the wall, banging her head against it. “Is this uh… is this Missus Hoshizora?”

“Yes…” the woman said.

Koharu froze, the sides of her head pulsing as she straightened.

“And who are you?” the woman asked.

“I…” Koharu said, biting her lip. “It’s Koharu.”

There was a long silence. And the line cut. Koharu turned, standing on the edge of the steps with her hands in her pockets. A couple of minutes later, the doors behind her slid open, and slow footsteps clacked towards her.

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. The woman behind her placed her hands over her mouth. Her green eyes welled with tears, her curly, grey and black hair swaying as a breeze swept between them.

“Koharu?” the woman asked.

Koharu lowered her head, and the woman rushed to her. She threw her arms around her, burying her face in Koharu’s shoulder.

“My baby,” she said, gripping her in a hug that drained the resistance out of her. “My baby girl. My baby girl!”

She pulled back, holding Koharu’s face in her hands as she smiled. “You’re… you’ve grown!” she shouted, laughing.

Koharu smiled, her throat tensing as tears formed in her eyes.

“Mum?” she whispered.

No, something told her. It can’t be. Your parents are dead, or in a Cypher prison somewhere.

Her mother placed a trembling hand to the side of Koharu’s face, tears rolling down her narrow cheeks.

“I can’t believe it,” she said, taking a step back with her hand against her forehead. “You’re… you just… you’re an adult.”

Koharu sputtered a laugh, wiping the tears from her face. “Yeah, twelve years will do that to you.”

“Where have you been?” she asked, placing a hand over her mouth. “Your brother?”

“He’s alive. Still an asshole, unfortunately,” Koharu said wryly.

Her mother pressed a hand against her chest, sighing with relief.

“And dad?” Koharu asked.

Her mother reached forward, grabbing her by the arm. “He’s inside. We gotta go see him, cos he won’t believe me if I say it.”

Koharu giggled, following her inside the building, up an elevator, and to their front door. It was a simple, white door, the number three-hundred displayed on a digital tab.

Her mother placed a hand over her mouth, and gestured at the door with her eyebrows. Just like she did when Koharu was a kid.

Koharu raised a hand to the door, pausing again. As if it would make a difference now. She knocked, and a sigh came from inside.

“Did you forget your keycard again, Alondra,” a man said.

The door opened, and the man froze. He stared at Koharu, his mouth agape as he glanced at her mother, then back at her.

“Hi, dad,” Koharu said, her lip trembling.

The man stumbled backwards, pressing his fist against his forehead.

“Koharu?”

She nodded, laughing as tears flooded her eyes.

He threw his arms around her, and she burst into tears as they sank to their knees.

“It’s me, dad,” she said, tears soaking his shoulder.

“My girl,” he said, his tears warm against her back as he clung to her. “My little girl… you’re so big!”

She laughed, reaching an arm out to her mother. She squeezed in, and the three sat on the floor together.

Koharu’s heart raced in her chest, her stomach swirling with the urge to be sick. It was almost too good to be true. Like she was going to open her eyes any moment and be in a Cypher, or in a hospital bed diagnosed with Ether-psychosis.

Who knows? She thought. Maybe you’re already dead.

But it didn’t fade. It didn’t turn dark. It didn’t end with someone walking away and never looking back.

Her father stood up, holding her hands to help her rise. “Come, you look like you haven’t eaten since you left to get here.”

Her stomach growled, the scent of her mother’s cooking pulling her back in time. She smiled as she walked inside the small apartment, her mother taking her hood from off her shoulders.

“Is your brother going to visit, too?” she asked.

Koharu nodded. “Once I tell him, I’m sure he will.”

Her eyes drifted across the lounge, settling on a butsudan on the far wall. Her parents fell silent as she stepped towards its open doors, a trail of incense smoke rising from the small altar. A holo-frame of a young girl stood beside it. A young girl with the most beautiful dimples and a toothy grin that lit up a room even when she was the smallest person in it. She brushed her fingertips against the girl’s cheek, that wide smile making her lip tremble.

Rin.

She sniffed, eyes narrowing at the blue-glass star hanging around the holo-frame. The exact same necklace and gem she wore in the Ethergeist.

All of it, out in the open. The reason for their crime displayed for all to see. Her mother placed a hand on her shoulder.

“We never forgot, Koharu,” she said.

She nodded, wiping her eye with her kinetic sleeve, green light rippling down it.

“Neither did I,” she whispered.

Now there’s one more person they have to kill to make us forget.

She smiled, sniffling as her mother rested her head against Koharu’s shoulder.

There’s about to be many more, Ace.