PART I : LETTER

Misato Ito, now 25 years of age, now works at a filing company. She’d finished college nearly a year prior, yet she has already started the next chapter of her life: adulthood. In her workplace, she was the Deputy Section Chief. She had an important role at her job, and she planned to make the most of it. She’d climbed up the company hierarchy and somehow got to a title like Deputy Section Chief with ease. It’d been her greatest achievement. Around the office, she was known as someone who could get anything done in any amount of time. A rumor going around about her is that she rewrote a 7-page proposal in one night. Another was that she dealt with an annoying employee for weeks until they were fired and she eventually took their place. Another rumor is that she finished college nearly a year ago and that she’s already that high up on the hierarchy. That “rumor” was true.

Her adult life was perfect. And dull.

//

One morning, Misato had been interrupted from her work by someone delivering letters to the employees. At her job, letters were allowed to be given out to people who weren’t going home that night and weren’t able to read any mail they got. Since most of it was probably important mail that needed to be seen or replied to right away. While she was working, a neat-looking letter was dropped on her desk. It was pink.

Seeing the pink letter made her think of Taeko Murakami and her love letter.

She hadn’t thought about her for quite some time. In a way, she missed her senior.

Misato grabbed the letter and tore it open with her index fingernail, giving herself a papercut. She ignored the slight pain of the cut until she noticed droplets of blood leaking from her fingernail and onto the letter. Her eyes followed the blood trail.

The note inside the now blood-soaked letter was an invitation.

‘Reunion for the Students of 1977 & Celebrating Taeko Murakami'

Misato froze. Reunion?, she thought. At first, she thought of tossing the note along with the letter into the trash can next to her. She didn’t want to see anyone from her high school years. Hell, she hadn’t thought of anyone from her high school years until now. The memories of Kana and Hinata had faded away along with everything else. Just as Misato was about to throw the note away, a coworker walking by glanced at the letter.

“A reunion?,” the coworker (named Sayaka-san) asked. She was going to insult the employee but she held her tongue. “Yeah,” she said while holding the note. “Miyamura Academy for Girls. Have you heard of it?” Sayaka shook her head. Misato chuckled, thankful for her coworker’s ignorance. The academy was on the news for a month. “Course you haven’t… It’s in Takayama in the Gifu Prefecture. It’s pretty remote.”

“You should totally go!,” Sayaka-san suggested. Misato sighed and sat back down in her office chair, ignoring her coworker. “C’mon, Ito-san… Don’t you wanna see your old friends again?” Sayaka slithered her way into Misato’s cubicle, laying her chin on her superior’s shoulder. “You’d get to relive old memories…”

Pushing Taeko out the window was the only thing Misato could remember vividly. Not the field trips, nor the graduation ceremonies. Creeping up on Taeko before using all of her body weight to make sure her senior fell to her death was engraved in her memory.

Sayaka removed her head from her superior’s shoulder and picked up the letter that sat patiently on her desk. “I really think you should go, Ito-san. It looks like it’d be fun.” Sayaka set the invitation back on her senior’s desk, leaving the cubicle. “I’ve gotta get back to work…Later, senpai!,” Sayaka ran off while waving.

Misato hated the phrase. Yet she waved back.

//

Over the next couple of weeks, Misato became more and more friendly with Sayaka. She'd learned that her underclassman went to the prestigious Homura High School. When the Taeko incident happened, Sayaka was 11 and wasn't interested in the news which is why she'd never heard of the school. Misato had also asked her if she overheard her parents or friends mention the academy, but Sayaka said she hadn't. Misato concluded that they must've mentioned it in passing, but the young Sayaka never took the time to listen in on conversations. 

Three days before the reunion, Misato headed into work after calling in sick the day before. She waved at the guards in front and greeted the receptionist. She'd been feeling cheerier ever since she became friends with Sayaka.

She stepped out of the elevator onto her floor. The air felt...dead. The floor where Misato worked normally wasn't like this. It was always so lively and bright with Sayaka running around trying to get her papers sorted out. That's when Misato noticed--Sayaka wasn't there today. A bit confused, Misato approached an older upperclassman who was printing papers. "Good morning, senpai." The older man looked up from the printer, giving his attention to Misato. "Oh, good morning, Ito-san. Are you feeling better now?," he asked. Misato nodded, smiling. She decided to make light conversation, so it didn't look like she was talking to the man just to know where Sayaka was.

"Oh, and by the way-" she started. "Did Sayaka Minamoto call in sick today? I haven't seen her around the office." The older man's expression changed to one of grief. "You haven't- Oh, right...you weren't here yesterday when they told us." He left the rest of his papers to print and headed towards Sayaka's cubicle. Misato followed.

A slim vase of lilies sat on Sayaka's desk. All of her pictures and small items had been removed, given to her grieving family. Yet Misato still didn't understand. "I-I don't get it...she's not...?"

The older man scratched the back of his head, he didn't know how to tell his underclassman. "They found her murdered in her apartment yesterday morning...she had cuts and bruises all over her...I thought someone had called you but I guess no one had." The man stood with Misato in silence for a moment. All of the workers passed by them, busy with meeting deadlines and reviewing proposals. 

Just when Misato's adult life was getting interested, Sayaka Minamoto dies. 

'You should totally go!'

Sayaka's kind voice echoed in Misato's mind. For her dead colleague's sake, Misato decided to go to the reunion.