Izkaya

[Later that morning — Ueno District]

The search began quietly.

Marked and unmarked patrol cars rolled into Ueno and the neighboring districts one by one, blending into the waking city.

Officers moved on foot through narrow streets, checking abandoned buildings, internet cafés, capsule hotels — places where someone could disappear without leaving a trace.

It wasn't a manhunt yet.

It was containment.

Nakamura stood near one of the vehicles, watching the teams disperse. He listened to the radio chatter — short, controlled updates, no panic. Exactly how it should be.

Still... something gnawed at him.

He glanced back toward the other police cars, where Kisaragi stood a few steps away, tablet in hand.

She looked composed as ever, but he recognized the signs: the stillness that meant her mind was spinning too fast.
She wasn't convinced.

Suddenly, one of the officers ran up to him.

"Sir, reporting in," the officer said. "No confirmed traces of Miyahara Hideaki in the designated zones."

Nakamura frowned slightly.

"None at all?"

"None," the officer repeated. "We checked abandoned buildings, empty office complexes, warehouses, and several unused capsule hotels. No sign of recent occupation."

He continued, consulting his notes.

"We also reviewed available CCTV footage — public streets, station entrances, nearby commercial areas. Nothing matching him. No hits on facial recognition, no partial matches either."

Nakamura's jaw tightened.

"Hotel registries?" he asked.

"Clean. We spoke with front desk staff, private lodging owners, capsule hotel operators. No one recalls him checking in. Same with building security, night guards, and porters. No sightings, no disturbances."

A brief pause.

"Even the places where people usually disappear into for a night or two — nothing."

Nakamura exhaled slowly through his nose.

'So he didn't run. And he didn't hide where people usually hide. So that means... that he's either somewhere very controlled... or somewhere we're not looking at all.'

He looked back at Kisaragi.

She had stopped pretending to read her tablet.

Nakamura exhaled slowly.

"Alright."

He studied the map on his tablet longer than necessary.

Finally, he closed the screen.

"Inoue," he said at last, lowering his voice. "You're taking over coordination here."

Inoue who stood nearby and was checking his tablet, blinked. "Sir?"

"I'm heading out with Tanaka."

"Where?"

Nakamura picked up his coat.
"Miyahara had to surface somewhere before Pixie. And if there's one place we haven't applied pressure to yet..."

He paused briefly.

"...it's Sekiguchi."

Tanaka who stood next to him frowned. "We've stated it. Oyakata already cleared him before."

"I know." Nakamura's tone stayed even. "That doesn't mean I trust the negative result. It just means nothing obvious turned up."

He cast one more glance toward Kisaragi. She hadn't said a word — but she was listening.

"This isn't an arrest," Nakamura added. "It's a conversation. Preventive. For the sake of the case."

And, unspoken but understood:

'For her peace of mind, too.'

---

Detective Nakamura and Detective Tanaka arrived at Seiji's apartment building.

"We will ask the neighbors first. See if they've got anything important to say before we'll head to Sekiguchi-san." Nakamura stated.

Tanaka nodded and then they both briefly left the car.

They climbed the stairs and began by interviewing Seiji's neighbors.

Nakamura firstly knocked on Mr. Kobayashi's door.

The elderly man, surprised to see two officers, opened the door and invited them in with a wary expression.

Nakamura cleared his throat and showed his badge.
"I'm Detective Officer Nakamura Akira from Tokyo General Police Department. Mr. Kobayashi, we're following up on some events involving your neighbor, Sekiguchi Seiji. Have you seen or heard anything unusual going on near his apartment?"

Mr. Kobayashi rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Sekiguchi-san... Ah yes, the quiet fellow from upstairs. Actually — yes, there was something odd a while back.

It was evening. The day the police showed up around here.

I heard a loud noise on my balcony, like a thud. Gave me a proper scare."

"A thud?" Tanaka asked. "What exactly did you see when you checked it?"

"Well... I looked outside and saw a young man clinging to my balcony. Scared me half to death. He looked panicked — short, messy brown hair, trembling like a leaf. He didn't say anything to me, just froze there. And I had no idea what was happening. First the police car down below, then some kid trying to climb across balconies like it's an action movie!"

"What did you do?" Nakamura asked.

"I stayed in hiding in living room. Then I heard someone's knocking on my front door so I opened them — a bit foolishly, I admit — and that's when Sekiguchi-san came over. He saw I was frightened and told me the police had left. Tried to calm me down."

"Why does Sekiguchi came to you in first place?" Tanaka asked.

"He said he came for that man."

"Did he explain who the man was?" Nakamura asked.

"Yes. He said it was his roommate. Apparently, the guy panicked when he saw the police and tried to escape... by climbing onto my balcony. Not the brightest idea, if you ask me." The old man chuckled nervously.

"A Roommate?" Tanaka asked surprised.

"Well, yes. But I didn't see him before. I think he moved here few months ago."

"I see..." Tanaka said, then added "And... what did you do after?"

"I let Sekiguchi in — he seemed calm and polite. Said he just needed a moment to get his roommate back."

"Did you witness what happened next?"

"Well, I watched him go out to the balcony. The other guy was still hanging on the edge, shouting about how high it was. They argued a bit — well, Sekiguchi stayed calm, but the other one kept yelling profanities and panicking. Then eventually, after a bit of coaxing, the kid jumped down and Seiji caught him. Nearly fell over himself, but he did catch him."

Tanaka raised an eyebrow.
"You're sure about that? He caught him mid-air?"

"Yes! Surprised me too. They just stood there for a second after the fall, like neither of them believed it worked. Then the shorter guy started blabbering about how Sekiguchi would've been dead if he dropped him." Mr. Kobayashi shook his head. "It was all very dramatic."

"Did either of them display any signs of... unusual Magic Ability during that event? Sudden nosebleeds, parts of blood floating around?" Nakamura asked.

"No, not that I noticed. No glowing or floating or anything like that. Just a frightened boy, a grumpy neighbor, and a very awkward jump."

"Did you speak to them afterward?"

"Only briefly. Sekiguchi apologized again, bowed politely. I think he felt bad about the whole thing." The old man crossed his arms. "I may be retired, but I don't want a heart attack because kids these days think balconies are sidewalks."

The detectives nodded, making a note of the mention of Seiji's roommate.

Next, they knocked on the door of the young couple who lived just next to Seiji. A woman answered, holding a toddler in her arms, her husband appearing shortly behind her.

"Good evening, ma'am," said Nakamura, showing his badge. "We're looking into some recent disturbances from certain flats here. Have you noticed anything unusual in the past few months in the area of your apartment building?"

The woman exchanged a look with her husband, then answered,
"Yes, actually. We've heard loud arguments, banging sounds from the apartment next to us... It's been like this for a couple of months now. We thought it was just roommate issues, but it got pretty intense. Once, I almost called the police."

"During these months, were there any suspicious movements from these two roommates?" Tanaka asked.

"The one who's lived there for a while — average height, blonde hair — seemed like he's doing pretty routine moves. Coming for job in mornings, then coming back from it on evening every week." The husband explained.

"It's very hearable through our walls." The wife added.

Husband nodded, then added "But then... During these couple of months ago, we've noticed another guy coming and going. But just that. In various parts of the day. Mostly during weekends, almost never during the week. And when he's out he is usually with the blonde haired one."

"We can hear their voices, talk with each other, some more, some less intense — everyday, I don't know if he is unemployed or what, but... It personally looked quite unusual to me." The wife adjsuted the kid on her arms.

Nakamura nodded, then asked. "Does that other man, showed any signs of unsual Magic Ability? Something... related to blood?"

"Not that I'm aware of..." The man replied "We only hearing them when we come back from work. During evenings."

"I see..." Nakamura rubbed his chin.

"May I ask you one more question?" Tanaka suddenly asked,

"Yes, of course." The wife replied.

"Do you know how the other guy looked like?"

"If I am remembering correctly, the other guy had brown hair, and I think he was shorter."

Nakamura showed to the pair a picture of Hideaki. "Did he looked like that?"

The husband squinted his eyes for better look. The wife looked closely on the face shape, but both shook their heads.

"I'm not sure." The wife replied

"I must say, we didn't pay much attention on that detialed facial features. But I don't think they looked alike..?" Husband added.

With that information, the detectives finally made their way to Seiji's door.

Before knocking, Tanaka looked at Nakamura.
"You think Sekiguchi is hiding something?"

"Could be, based on what neighbors said. That roommate's behavior... It looks like very unusual one." Nakamura replied. "Panicking over police patrol? Going out only during weekends? It looks like someone is trying to look unnoticed. There are two possibilities here.
One, is that this 'roommate' of his has some criminal past... Or two, that maybe it's all just coincidence. Either way, we'll see now."

He knocked.

On the other side of the door, Hideaki was dozing on the couch, curled slightly on his side.

His breathing was shallow, uneven.

The knock echoed — dull, distant.

In his sleep, it twisted into something else.

A thud.

Footsteps.

Someone calling his name — or maybe laughing.

He frowned faintly, lips parting as he muttered something incoherent, a trace of saliva collecting at the corner of his mouth.

"Tch… stop…" he mumbled, shifting slightly.

The sound came again.

Louder.

His fingers twitched, clutching the fabric beneath him — but he didn’t wake.

He mumbled something unintelligible, saliva dampening the pillow under his head.

In the meantime,

'Calm. Polite. Routine lifestyle. Employed. No prior complaints.'

Nakamura thought, as he observed and waited when the door will finally be open.

Tanaka looked at the door once more.

"Quiet."

Nakamura clenched his jaw. After a moment, he glanced at his watch.

"Sekiguchi is at work. That’s confirmed."

"And the roommate?"

A brief pause.

"Either he’s not here…" Nakamura’s eyes shifted to the lock.

"…or he’s exactly where he doesn’t want us to find him."

He stepped back.

"For now. We’ll check what time Sekiguchi gets off work. Then we’ll speak to him face to face."

He looked at the door one last time.

"This isn’t over yet."

---

Some time passed.

The apartment was quiet.

Too quiet.

Hideaki jolted awake with a sharp gasp, his body tensing all at once.

His heart was racing, breath uneven, fingers digging into the couch beneath him as if he’d been falling.

For a second, he didn’t know where he was.

The nightmare clung to him — footsteps, knocking, someone laughing too close to his ear.

He swallowed hard and slowly looked around the living room.

The couch.

The table.

The phone resting on it.

No one was there.

Silence.

He dragged a hand over his face, breathing shakily, forcing himself to slow down.

"It was… just a dream. . ." he muttered, though the words didn’t fully convince him.

He curled in on himself again, eyes fixed on the front door.

Waiting.

For Seiji to come back.

---

Evening fell faster than Seiji had expected.

In the office, the lights were already dimmed, most monitors had gone to sleep, and the hum of the air conditioning sounded almost soothing after a full day of work.

Seiji saved the last commit, closed his laptop, and stretched slightly, rubbing the back of his neck.

'Damn it... Of course that damn nomikai had to be moved to today... If it weren’t for that, I’d be heading home right now, crashing onto the bed and falling asleep... And instead I still have to deal with these people...'

"Seiji."

He looked up.

Ken was standing in the aisle between the desks. No jacket, tie loosened, phone in hand.

"I got a message from the others. The izakaya is already waiting."

"I know, I know..." Seiji grumbled unwillingly. Then he reached for his bag.

"Come on, try to loosen up a bit. I know you don’t like outings like this, but there has to be a first time." Ken added as they slowly started heading toward the hallway doors.

"It’s not even about disliking izakaya outings. It’s about who we’re going with. Iwasaki, Ume, the rest… and the boss."

"Yeah... with them it might be rough. But I bet once you have a beer, it’ll be more bearable." Ken tried to encourage him as best he could.

Suddenly another coworker approached them. He lightly patted Ken on the shoulder.

Ken turned around.

"What’s up, Suzuki?"

"Kiminawa-san, listen… this izakaya thing is today, right?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yeah. Today. It was supposed to be next week, but they changed the reservation. According to the boss: 'Since everyone’s still here and not on vacation, why put it off?'" Ken replied.

"Ah, I see..." Suzuki muttered. "Damn, that kinda sucks — I wanted to surprise my wife after work today."

Seiji looked at him with mild curiosity.

Suzuki continued, "A romantic dinner for two… but I guess it’ll have to wait…"

"Looks like it," Ken replied after a moment.

Seiji snorted quietly.

"A romantic dinner replaced with mandatory drinking with the boss… Japanese workplace moment."

Ken let out a quiet laugh, Suzuki gave a crooked smile.

Seiji fell silent for a moment, as if calculating something in his head and sighed.

"Alright. Get it over with, drink one beer, and get back home in one piece."

he said in a tone that left no room for discussion.

A quiet murmur of approval passed through the open space.

When they were on the stairs, Seiji briefly pulled out his phone and instinctively checked his notifications. Nothing new.

'I hope Hideaki doesn’t starve to death at home.'

They exited the office as a group — laughter, conversation, fatigue mixing with post-work relief.

And then Seiji noticed them.

Across the street, partially obscured by a parked car.

Two men.

Too calm. Too observant.

Their gazes met for a brief moment.

Seiji didn’t change his pace. He didn’t slow down. He didn’t speed up.

He just remembered.

"That’s him," Tanaka said quietly, watching the group leaving the building. "Sekiguchi Seiji."

"I see him," Nakamura replied.

He watched Seiji walking in the middle of the group. He wasn’t running. He wasn’t nervously looking around. He was talking to someone beside him, nodding to the boss.

"Nomikai," Tanaka muttered. "Company one."

"I also see the supervisor," Nakamura crossed his arms. "And half the team."

"Want to approach?"

Nakamura was silent for a moment.

Procedurally — he could.

Formally — he had the right.

But this wasn’t a solitary walk home.

"Not here," he said finally. "Not now. It’s a nomikai. Which means it’s a top-down decision."

He narrowed his eyes.

"But that doesn’t mean we let him go."

He took out his phone.

"Check his schedule tomorrow. Work hours. Commute."

"And tonight?"

Nakamura looked once more at the group disappearing into the distance.

"Tonight we observe. And we wait."

He took a step back.

"If he’s clean, he’ll show up on his own."

"And if not?"

Nakamura smiled briefly, without a trace of humor.

"Then he’ll make a mistake. Everyone does, sooner or later."

---

Seiji was already sitting in the izakaya, a mug of beer in front of him, the laughter of his coworkers in the background.

He lifted the vessel to his lips.

The taste was bitter.

Suddenly, he heard Toga’s loud cackle in front of him.

"Hahaha! Oh Suzuki, you really have a sense of humor!" she said, staring at Suzuki with her sly yellow eyes as he sat beside her.

Seiji only sighed quietly and reached for another sip of beer.

Toga noticed it out of the corner of her eye, smiled serpentinely, and with a sudden motion threw an arm around Seiji’s shoulders.

Seiji straightened immediately. He could smell alcohol on her. The woman was completely drunk.

"Ooo, Sekiguchi-san... You finally dragged that stuck-to-the-chair butt of yours away from the desk and came with us to a nomikai!"

Seiji rolled his eyes slightly, then muttered quietly, "Yes, and I’m regretting it more and more..."

Murasaki Ume joined the conversation. "Huh? Regretting it more and more??"

Seiji cursed internally. 'Damn it... Looks like even with alcohol in his system, his Magic Ability works just fine...'

"You’d better take that back, you loser! Saying something like that in the presence of Iwasaki-san!?"

Hearing this, Seiji was already bracing himself for another beating from them. There was nothing new about it. The same faces, the same tone, the same certainty that they could do whatever they wanted. The boss had just gone to the restroom, which gave them the perfect moment to do it, and if things turned physical, the blame could always be pinned on the alcohol.

'Typical...'

Seiji thought, when suddenly—

A sake cup appeared in front of his face.

Murasaki was staring at him, half-hostile, half-intense.

"Drink, you dense non-magical." he grunted.

"W-what??" Seiji couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

"Drink! I said drink!! Unless you want to face another wave of criticism from us tomorrow morning, huh!?"

Seiji didn’t protest. If it would give him even a moment of peace at work, he was willing to suck up to them a little.

Ken moved closer and whispered, "Seiji, you know you don’t have to do this."

Seiji looked at him and then sighed. "If it means those two will leave me alone, I’m willing to take the risk."

"But—" Ken started, but didn’t finish, because Seiji had already taken a sip of sake. He shook slightly, then took a deep breath.

Murasaki and Toga grinned widely.

"Well... you’ve finally gotten smarter, Sekiguchi," Toga added, picking up a large mug of beer herself and taking several gulps at once.

"And you, Kiminawa-san," Murasaki turned to Ken, "say one more time that he doesn’t have to do it, and I swear I’ll smash your face in tomorrow after work! You hear me!?"

Ken swallowed and nodded slowly. "Y-yeah..."

Toga glanced once at Ken, then at Seiji.

"Sekiguchi-san..." she spoke in a low voice. Then her hands began to glow faintly. Seiji felt that familiar, disgusting sensation — as if someone were looking under his skin.

Her Magic Ability — the ability to see the body temperature of other people. The only drawback? She could only do it during the evening and nighttime hours.

Toga snorted with a half-laugh.

"You’re warm... But..." She shoved another sake cup toward him. "...not warm enough. This is a fucking nomikai... You’re supposed to have fun, you small fry... Or tomorrow, I won’t show you any mercy..."

Seiji clenched his teeth.

A pause.

And that heavy, tense air hanging over them, growing thicker with every minute he stayed there with them.

Suddenly, Toga stood up from the table and boomed with loud laughter. "Hahahaha!! And now, my dears, who wants to hear a joke??" And together with Murasaki, she returned to the other people from the office, leaving Seiji and Ken alone.

Seiji sighed, and more to steady himself than anything else, picked up the cup and took a second sip of sake.

'Never again...'  he added in his thoughts.

---

Seiji was heading back to the train. The noise of the izakaya, the laughter and voices, still echoed in his ears.

There was a faint flush on his face.

"Damn... I definitely drank too much..."

He glanced at his watch. It was well past midnight.

"But... at least I’m sure that I’ll have some peace at work tomorrow..."

A moment later, the night train pulled into the station.

Seiji got into the carriage.

After some time, he arrived at Ueno Station.

He made his way up to his door. He fumbled with the key, unlocked it clumsily, opened all the additional locks, then cracked the door open slightly and stepped inside.

He closed the door quietly, almost silently.

The apartment was dim.

He paused for a moment in the doorway, not taking off his shoes yet.

From the bathroom, a faint steam still lingered — warm and damp, carrying the scent of soap. Someone had bathed recently.

The alcoholic buzz of the izakaya still throbbed in his ears — laughter, voices, hollow jokes.

Here, there was only silence.

He took off his shoes, set his bag aside, and stepped closer.

His gaze instinctively drifted toward the living room.

Hideaki was asleep on the couch.

He was already in his pajamas, curled into a ball under a blanket, knees drawn up to his chest.

He was breathing shallowly, but evenly.

One hand stuck out from under the blanket, loosely clenched.

On the table beside him stood an empty plate. A few grains of rice clung to the edge.

'Onigiri,'  Seiji thought. 'Or at least something that was meant to be.'

He adjusted the blanket over Hideaki more carefully, making sure not to wake him.

Hideaki shifted slightly, murmured something unintelligible — and sank back into sleep.

Seiji straightened up slowly.

'It’s not good. But it’s stable. At least for today.'