Noir

The police station was quiet. It was already late in the afternoon. Mr. Sasaki sat across from another man.

The man looked exhausted.

He was older than him. His hands were tightly clasped together.

Kazuha's father.

Neither of them spoke for a while. A folder sat between them.

On the front was a name.

Kazuha Kurosawa.

Mr. Sasaki opened it.

Photographs, Medical records, death certificate, and cemetery report.

He turned another page, then another.

Kazuha's father finally spoke.

“Did they find anything?”

Mr. Sasaki shook his head.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing at all?”

“The grave was opened.”

His voice became quieter.

“But the coffin was empty.”

Kazuha's father looked down.

“I still can't believe it.”

“Neither can I.”

Mr. Sasaki closed the folder.

“That is why I asked you to come here.”

Kazuha's father looked at him.

“You think Chitose did something?”

Mr. Sasaki immediately shook his head.

“No.”

“Then what?”

Mr. Sasaki leaned back.

“I don't know.”

He looked at the folder again.

“But that's the problem.”

---

Several weeks earlier, the cemetery had been surrounded by police. Reporters stood behind the barricades.

Camera flashes filled the entrance, and a television reporter stood in front of the cemetery gates.

“Police have confirmed that a grave was found open early this morning.”

The reporter held a microphone.

“The grave belonged to a man who died several weeks ago.”

Behind her, police officers moved around the cemetery.

“The circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear.”

A photograph appeared beside the reporter.

A black coffin.

Standing upright, its lid was open.

The reporter continued.

“According to witnesses, the coffin was discovered in an unusual position.”

The photograph changed.

The grave and coffin.

“Not a body has been recovered.”

---

Mr. Sasaki watched the news from his living room.

His hands froze.

The cup of coffee beside him had already gone cold.

He stared at the screen.

The name appeared beneath the photograph.

Kazuha Kurosawa.

His son-in-law.

He immediately reached for his phone.

He called Chitose.

No answer.

Again.

No answer.

He stood up.

He saw the bouquet similar to Chitose's wedding

“Chitose...”

His eyes remained on the television.

There was something else; there should be a witness. The police had found the taxi driver who had dropped Chitose at the cemetery that night.

Mr. Sasaki wrote down the address.

Then he grabbed his coat.

---

The taxi driver sat across from him at a small café.

He looked nervous.

“I already told the police everything.”

Mr. Sasaki nodded.

“I know.”

He placed a photograph on the table.

Chitose was wearing her wedding dress, holding a bouquet

The driver immediately recognized her.

“That woman.”

“Yes.”

“She was my passenger.”

“What do you remember?”

The driver scratched his cheek.

“Honestly?”

“Yes.”

“She was...”

He hesitated.

“Kind of strange.”

Mr. Sasaki waited.

The driver sighed.

“She was wearing a wedding dress.”

“I know.”

“She had a bouquet.”

“I know.”

“And candles.”

Mr. Sasaki's eyes narrowed.

“Candles?”

“Two red candles.”

He nodded.

“And she had this.”

He pointed at the photograph.

There was another object.

"And she was holding a black book back then we met"

Mr. Sasaki stared at it.

“What book?”

“I don't know.”

“You saw it?”

“Yes.”

“What did it look like?”

The driver thought for a moment.

“Black.”

“Anything written on it?”

“No.”

“No title?”

“No.”

“Did she tell you what it was?”

The driver shook his head.

“She was carrying it against her chest the entire time.”

Mr. Sasaki was silent.

The driver continued.

“She asked me to take her to the cemetery.”

“Did she say why?”

“No.”

“What did she say?”

The driver looked embarrassed.

“She asked if she looked okay.”

Mr. Sasaki blinked.

“Okay?”

“Her makeup.”

He stared at the driver.

The driver nodded.

“She checked herself in the window.”

Then he sighed.

“I thought she was getting married there.”

Mr. Sasaki looked at him.

“At the cemetery?”

The driver shrugged.

“I thought maybe it was some kind of...”

He stopped.

“Never mind.”

“What happened after you arrived?”

“She paid me.”

“Then?”

“She got out.”

“With the book?”

“Yes.”

“The candles?”

“Yes.”

“The bouquet?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And the wedding dress?”

The driver looked at him.

“She was still wearing it.”

Mr. Sasaki nodded.

“Then what?”

“She walked toward the cemetery.”

“And you left?”

“Yes, she was scary, you know that.”

The driver suddenly remembered something.

“Oh.”

Mr. Sasaki looked up.

“What?”

“She said something.”

“What did she say?”

The driver looked toward the window.

“She said...”

He frowned.

“I don't remember exactly.”

“Try.”

“She said...”

The driver closed his eyes.

“Kazu-kun.”

Mr. Sasaki's expression changed.

“What else?”

“Something like...”

The driver opened his eyes.

“Wait for me.”

Silence.

Mr. Sasaki looked down at the photograph again.

A black book, she was wearing her wedding dress. Then candles at the cemetery.

It doesn't make any sense.

---

The second phone call came from Kazuha's father.

Mr. Sasaki answered.

“Hello?”

“It's me.”

“I know.”

A pause.

“I heard about the cemetery.”

“So did I.”

“Was Chitose there?”

Mr. Sasaki didn't answer immediately.

“Yes.”

Kazuha's father became quiet.

“She went there?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I don't know.”

“She knew something?”

“I don't know.”

Another silence.

Then Kazuha's father spoke.

“I want to see you.”

---

They met the next day.

Neither man knew exactly what they were looking for, but both knew something was wrong.

Mr. Sasaki placed the driver's statement on the table.

Kazuha's father read it; his eyes stopped at one line.

The passenger was carrying an unidentified black book.

He looked up.

“What is this?”

“I don't know.”

“Did Chitose have it before?”

“I've never seen it.”

“Have you asked her?”

“Not yet.”

Kazuha's father lowered the paper.

“Why did she go to the cemetery?”

“I don't know.”

“And why was she wearing her wedding dress?”

“I don't know.”

“And the candles?”

“I don't know.”

He looked at Mr. Sasaki.

“You're her father.”

“I know.”

“You must know something.”

Mr. Sasaki's expression hardened.

“If I knew, I wouldn't be sitting here.”

The two men stared at each other.

Then Kazuha's father looked away.

“Sorry.”

“It's fine.”

Mr. Sasaki opened another folder.

“There is something else.”

He pulled out a photograph.

The cemetery, the grave, and the coffin.

Kazuha's father stared at it.

“I've seen this.”

“Look carefully.”

He pointed.

“The coffin wasn't lying down.”

Kazuha's father frowned.

“So?”

“Coffins are supposed to be inside the grave.”

“Yes.”

“This one was standing, that's scary.”

Silence.

Mr. Sasaki pointed toward the photograph.

“And the lid was open.”

Kazuha's father slowly understood.

“You think someone opened it.”

“Yes.”

“And took the body.”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“I don't know.”

“Why?”

“I don't know. I already searched my daughter's apartment; it was so embarrassing. Because it's my own daughter, and I didn't find anything.”

Kazuha's father clenched his fist.

“My son's body disappeared.”

Mr. Sasaki nodded.

“I'm sure, I don't want to leave it unsolved.”

“And nobody saw anything?”

“Apparently not.”

“That is impossible.”

“I know.”

---

That evening, Mr. Sasaki returned to the station.

He pulled up the cemetery security footage.

Most of it was useless.

Empty paths.

Trees moving in the wind.

A few cars are passing outside.

Then a taxi.

Mr. Sasaki paused the video.

He zoomed in.

The taxi stopped near the cemetery entrance.

The rear door opened.

A woman stepped out.

Wearing a wedding dress, holding a bouquet, two candles, and a black book against her chest, it was Chitose.

Mr. Sasaki stared at the screen.

She walked toward the cemetery.

The taxi drove away.

Nothing else happened.

He continued watching.

Minutes later, nothing happens.

The screen flickered as soon as Chitose opened the book

Mr. Sasaki frowned.

He rewound the footage.

The same thing.

A brief distortion.

Then Chitose was gone.

Not walking away nor leaving the cemetery.

She saw just gone the bouquet was on the ground the coffin was upright.

He stared at the screen.

“What...?”

He rewound it.

Nothing.

He called the technician.

“Can you check this?”

The technician came over.

“What happened?”

“Look.”

The technician watched the footage.

He frowned.

“Camera malfunction?”

“Maybe.”

“It's only a few seconds.”

“Can you recover it?”

“I'll try... But I'm not sure it wasn't corrupted.”

Mr. Sasaki stared at the screen.

He remembered the driver's statement.

The black book, the wedding dress, and the candles.

Then he remembered something else.

Kazuha's death.

He opened the case file and checked the time the cemetery footage was taken.

Then, there is a photograph of the empty coffin and a bouquet on the ground.

His expression became serious.

“These things are connected, but I don't have concrete evidence."

---

The phone rang.

Mr. Sasaki answered.

“Hello?”

It was Kazuha's father.

“I found something.”

Mr. Sasaki straightened.

“What?”

“I was looking through Kazuha's things.”

“And?”

“There was a photograph.”

“What photograph?”

“The wedding.”

Mr. Sasaki waited.

“There was something strange in the background.”

“What?”

“I'll send it to you.”

A message arrived.

Mr. Sasaki opened the photograph.

It was their wedding reception.

Everyone was smiling.

Chitose was beside Kazuha.

Her hand was holding his.

The timestamp was visible.

3:47 p.m.

Mr. Sasaki zoomed in.

Then his expression changed.

Kazuha's father spoke through the phone.

“Do you see it?”

Mr. Sasaki stared.

“Yes.”

Behind Kazuha—

A person was standing.

Someone who shouldn't have been there.

Someone neither of them recognized.

And in that person's hand is a small body brand near the thumb, an open palm, with all fingers touching except the pinky finger, which is slightly separated from the other three fingers; the thumb is lower than the others.

The person carrying a black book.

---

Outside the station

A news report was playing on television.

“The investigation into the disappearance of Kazuha Kurosawa's body continues...”

Chitose slowly turned toward the sound.

Her eyes widened.

Her husband was dead, and his body had disappeared.

And somehow—

The Grimoire was there before she received it.

---

Outside the station

A news report was playing on television.

“The investigation into the disappearance of Kazuha Kurosawa's body continues...”