NOVEL WEB Chapter 2 - The other side of the wall
Manami hears a woman talking... its soothing her and she feels safe.
"Oh youre back Manami?"
"How was school honey?"
"A group project? That sounds fun!"
"And whats up with the girl you were talking about a week ago?"
"That sounds great!" -the sound starts to get further and further
"Im happy for you!"
Suddenly footsteps can be heard.
"Huh? Its your father, honey go back to your room quickly. Ill keep him up"
"Wait... no... come back.... come back.... please.... DONT LEAVE ME" -Manami screams
Manami wakes up, panting and sweating, her eyes widening while looking around. Her grip tightening on the sheet. She wipes the sweat from her forehead and looks at the clock on her left. 3:32
Then she looks to her right, Yukiko is sleeping beside her. She sighs and gets out from the bed.
'A nightmare again huh?' -she thinks and slowly walks to the bathroom
She looks in the mirror, seeing herself makes her shiver. And with that she takes off her clothes and gets under the shower, taking a cold one.
''We can only stay in this motel beacuse our identities werent revealed to the public... and im sure it will stay that way.' -she turns off the shower and steps out
'The question is, where should we head tomorrow?' -while she walks out and opens her bag to pick out clean underwear, jeans, shirt and a hoodie. She dresses up, making sure to hide her body. And gets back in bed, she looks at her clothes that cover her body and she pulls the sheet back on herself.
'This is stupid, i just cant get myself to sleep. And when i finally doozed off a little, then i had a nightmare.' -she sighs
'What was in that nightmare anyway? Everytime i have a nightmare i just forget it when i wake up...'
"Well fuck it i guess" -she says as she closes her eyes. Trying to get some sleep anyway.
Yukiko is laying on the bed, she is not sleeping. Just existing.
Whats on your mind Yukiko?
Yukikos mind is distorted. Shes sitting on the ground, her back against a large wall. There is nothing on the side she is now. There is only Yukiko and the wall.
Yukiko sighs and suddenly she hears "Well fuck it i guess"
"Manami?" -she stands up and steps back, looking at the wall
"Manami are you on the other side?" -she asks, but there is no answer
"Oh... okay then." -she looks down for a little while, thinking
"What is on the other side of the wall? I mean... im curious. Also think i could break trough if i wanted to but... i feel like something is on the other side that should stay there." -she gulps and looks up at the wall
"It wouldnt be a good idea to break trough. That something after the wall is there for a reason. Also i feel safe here like this. But i feel something beyond the wall.... pain? But... also freedom" -she grits her teeth
"And im curious beacuse of that freedom..."
"What should i do?"
___
Yuuji gets home and walks in.
"Hey guys, im home!" -as he closes the door
"Hey dad, works finally done huh?" -Shin says as he comes out from his room
"Yeah champ, it was a long day and got a pretty nasty case. But thats just how a detectives day goes." -as he takes off his shoes
"Ah, and what is that nasty case?" -Shin asks curiously
"Well its..." -takes a big sigh "just a murder case." -scracthes his head
"Ah, i understand. Well anyway, mom made some dinner. I guess you must be hungry." -Shin says
"Absolutely, lets head to the kitchen Shin" -as he smiles
"Hey honey. Mmmm, it smells good in here" -Yuuji says with a smile as he sees his wife Suzume and gives her a kiss
"Well, thats the difference between your cooking and mine." -she giggles
"Ouch that hurt! Buuut i guess youre right" -Yuuji laughs
They all sit down to the table to eat.
"So how was everyones day? How was school today?" -looks at his son
"Well dad, you know how school is. Booooring." -as he takes a bite
"Yeah i understand Shin. To be honest i only liked to go to school beacuse of my friends. So i understand" -He nods
"I think you are just lazy" -Suzume teases him
"Ah sorry, i forgot that you somehow loved school. I wouldnt be suprised if youdbe an alien" -he smiles
"Well, im eating you first then, beacuse of your lame jokes" -Suzume shrugs her shoulders
"Oh please, im looking too good to be eaten" -he shakes his head and grins
"Drop it, you arent fooling anyone darling" -as she sips her drink
The familys dinner feels idyllic as they laugh and enjoy the warm food together. But... a storm is on the way.
___
Morning comes, Kaito and Yuuji head to a noodle bar.
Kaito orders the spiciest noodle there.
"The spiciest?" -he raises his eyebrows and then looks at the cashier "Ill just go with some Yakisoba"
They get back in the car, Yuuji puts his food on the backseat and Kaito sits on the passenger seat.
"Ugh, these noodles are brutal..." -as Kaito eats the noodles
"Kaito, im just saying i wont drive around to find you a toilet" -he shakes his head as he drives the car
"Okay then old man. Ill just do my thing in the car i guess."
"I dare you Kaito. You wont take a shit in a cool detectives car" -he laughs
"This isnt even your car Yuuji." -Kaito says while hes rolling his eyes
___
Manami drags Yukiko out from the Urban Nest Motel and they walk into the alley beside it.
"Yukiko try to move your ass." -Manami stops and looks irritated at Yukiko
"Listen, youre slowing us down. You have to get a hold of yourself!" -she leans in as she spits out whe words in anger
"Please stop..." -Yukiko says with sadness in her voice
"Shut it, just get yourself together. Just a little bit!" -Manamis grip tightens on Yukikos arms...
Suddenly Manami notices a police car coming, so she pulls Yukiko behind a dumpster.
"Fuck, i hope they didnt saw us"
The police car drives slowly...
___
Kaito looks at a motel called "Urban Nest Motel" as Yuuji drives.
"I think we should also check out motels. Those are surely convenient for them." -Kaito says
Kaito leans back.
"Oh also, i forgot to say. We were at the house where the murder happened. I wanted to talk to the woman who found Sukeshis body. But it didnt go well, shes pretty shaken so we couldnt really talk with her. So i guess we have to visit her again later. Poor woman... She must really miss her daughter."-Kaito shakes his head
"Yeah, poor woman. Im a parent too, and i dont know what would i do if i was in the same situation." -Yuuji takes a big sigh and they sit there for a minute in silence. And suddenly Yuuji breaks it.
"Cant wrap my head around all this. What is really happening here? Also, im sure that the family has connection with the higher ups. I know that we have to find out what happened here, beacuse this is our job. But behind everything, the Family is definitely pulling strings. Beacuse someone provided the higher ups with the information and pictures. We didnt even knew that Sukeshi had a daughter. Hell, we didnt even knew how they looked like." -Yuuji sighs
"And the Family wants to find Manami real bad, they even threw out her identity to the police."
"Yeah youre right with that Yuuji, this whole thing is weird. And they only threw out the identites to the police, so its a secret from the public. And lets not forget all the shady bussiness that happened around the family." Kaito yawns as he drinks "Ugh this noodle was spicy"
"Hm... Yeah, a lot of crime and shit is around the Narita Family. But we dont have any evidence about them. I kinda feel like that this is much bigger than we think." -Yuuji says irritated as hes still driving