Chapter 13:

Back to the Present (Part 3)

Hunted

Kazama Kazuki

I knew life was unpredictable but this unpredictable? You would want some sort of warning, right? Never would I ever think I would be involved in a crime I only read about on the news. 10 years ago, I accidentally committed a murder, it wasn’t really my fault but still his blood was on my hands, metaphorically speaking though, there wasn’t any blood.

But, the point still stands, I committed a murder, accidentally might I add, hid the body, and got away with it! How many people can say that? I mean I always thought that the first thing I would do in University possibly get drunk and hook up with a stranger, never would I think that I would end up killing someone, let alone that someone being a person I once knew.

But that was 10 years ago, now 10 years later I am back in Tokyo and running my own Pub. After working part-time while I was in university and getting a degree in Marketing, I knew it was something I wanted to do, plus I loved the thrill of working behind a bar, and owning one gave me the freedom to design it however I wanted, plus it was easy money, people loved the atmosphere, it was kid friendly in the morning, and by the time it was the evening you would have teens and young adults who came in to have a good time.

I have to admit though, as fun as it is, I was also jealous, jealous of the small groups that used to come by, jealous of the guys who used to be with their girlfriends, jealous of them having a grand time while I went to my office and contemplated on whether I should take up smoking again or not.

I haven’t smoked, not once in these 10 years, not after… not after she told me not to. The number of times I’ve been itching to grab a cigarette is something I’ve lost count of.

I miss them! I miss them so much. I miss Daisuke, he wasn’t just my best friend but he was like my older brother, I missed talking about life and having drinks with him while we laughed about stuff we did as kids to piss our Mums off. I miss my little sister Emi, and how she used to make me laugh when I didn’t even want to smile, and how she used to call me Kaz-Kaz, no one’s called me that in 10 years.

But I mostly miss Reiko, and how just holding her made my anxiety disappear, how hearing her voice made me smile like some creepy clown, how just having her around made living life 10x easier. Our late-night conversations, falling asleep while being on Facetime, going on dates, drinking coffee on the balcony, I want to do all of that, I swear the day I find the courage to meet her again, I am NEVER letting her go for a second.

I wonder if she’s moved on and if she’s found someone else, it’s been 10 years and a part of me wishes she’s still single, but the other part wouldn’t be as hurt if I did find out she’s with someone. Honestly, I haven’t been with anyone in these 10 years, I’ve tried to move on and I’ve tried to date and, yes there was a minor hook up but before anything could go any further, I stopped it immediately, I couldn’t do that to Reiko. Call me an asshole but it’s the truth.

You may have guessed that I haven’t been in any contact with either of them and only because of Daisuke. It was his fucking idea that we should all lose contact, and while I was strongly against it, I still went ahead with it, and do I regret it, yes, I do, 100%.

Daisuke means well but what he doesn’t realise is that sometimes he’s a fucking idiot! Sometimes I wonder what goes through that head of his, he doesn’t think before he says anything, he doesn’t think before he acts, he just does what he thinks is right and makes us go ahead with it all as well, and of course, you would think we’d have the brain cells to say ‘No, you’re insane!’ but we can’t, we just can’t!

Apart from the fact that I was so lonely and the only thing keeping me company was my pub everything was dandy, up until a few weeks ago when I received an anonymous text message, which I admit did freak me out a bit… okay more like a lot!

I was sitting in my office when my phone pinged, thinking it was a client or supplier I looked at the screen and my eyes widened, and my heartbeat quickened when I read the following;

‘I know what you did 10 years ago’

‘Remember that one eventful Winter afternoon, back in 2011?’

‘I am coming for you’

Did someone see us?

Did we drop something?

What went wrong?

What are we going to do?

These questions have been flooding my mind for weeks, and there is nothing I can do about it because he knows who I am.

He knows where I live.

He knows everything about me, about all of us.

Now we’re all being Hunted.

Before I could react in any other way another message popped up, but this time from another number.