Chapter 5: Hello and Goodbye

“Someday I will make it out of here. We all will. Just need to keep trying.” Jin sighed under his breath before disappearing.

She didn’t know how much this would mean until it was too late. A sound whizzed by her head and a loud thud behind the Izakaya that was nearby.

Lin Jie ran behind it back towards the wooded area trying to find anything that could lead her to where Jin was heading. The crowds would not help at all in this situation.

After an hour of searching, Lin Jie decided to wait until tomorrow morning. Lin Jie walked back to the area she left her bike in in a daze. Everything seemed to go by in slow motion.

Once she got into the apartment, her capsule container dinged telling her she needed to make a report. “Report number 21.” Lin Jie just sat there in front of the camera staring at the image of herself. She looked paler and her eyes were emotionless. “Nothing to report. The house showed nothing that wasn’t already in the autopsy reports from next week. I will ask around tomorrow. Hopefully there will be more to tell from the locals.” Lin Jie closed the program and put everything back into the capsule. She searched around her bag and that’s when a huge ass shiver went down her spine.

Lin Jie reached for her backpack and looked for the pin and the letter. She kept looking through it and came up empty. The pin and the last note were not there. She knew the basics of the note, but no one could find it. If they did, time could be altered beyond what she can fix.

“Shit.” Lin Jie didn’t take anything except a small can of pepper spray and her phone and ran out of the small apartment at light speed. She got the bike out of the bike stand and wasted no time in biking all the way back to the abandoned house. Thankfully, the house was near the outskirts of Shinjuku. Bad thing is that Lin Jie chased Jin all the way to the train station, but that was the least of her worries.

“She’s getting too close. Let’s pull her.”

“No. It’s getting interesting.” Lin Jie thought she heard the two voices again, but brushed it off knowing this was more important than two voices in her head.

She made it back to Shinjuku a little under an hour later. Panting and exhausted, Lin Jie looked into the wooded area. It looked comforting, but in a weird way.

“Might as well.” She sighed and ran into the woods looking everywhere for the pin and the letter.

She was almost ten feet away from the abandoned property when she heard a branch break near her. The same man in red stood near the house right outside the gate with a pin in hand. The moon illuminated his silhouette. The pin shined as the look in his eyes seemed ominous.

“Fuck.” Lin Jie said under her breath as he began to pocket the pin. Lin Jie reached for the pepper spray and sprinted out taking the man by surprise and sprayed him directly in the eyes and mouth.

The man coughed vigorously trying to get away from what was sprayed at him, but Lin Jie tackled him and tried to pry the pin out of his fingers. The guy’s face was Asian, but the darkness didn’t help with trying to point out features.

“What the fuck are you doing you little runt?!” Lin Jie proceeded to dig her heel into a very important place and made the man let out a high pitched yell that was silenced by the woods around them. Lin Jie took the pin and the note and ran as far and for as long as she could.

Hearing the footsteps coming for her, Lin Jie ran even faster and broke through the brush right behind a building. Quickly running around it, she found it to be a closed traditional restaurant. She ran behind the pole and used the darkness to shield her figure away from the man that just passed.

“Ah. What are you doing in my shop, young lady?” An old man asked. He looked to be about 75, but his posture made him seem strong for his age. He had a dirty apron wrapped around his waist and he was carrying a few pots into the back to be disposed of properly.

“I’m so sorry. Please forgive my intrusion. I will be on my way.” Lin Jie said through pants. The man shook his head and held up a hand blocking her way from leaving.

“He isn’t gone yet.” Lin Jie looked at the old man completely confused as he just stood there with a small smile holding her back. “Give him an hour, then leave through the kitchen.”

“Why is he following me?” Lin Jie asked, trying to sound innocent. “Why are you helping me?”

“You can’t fool me, child. There is something far greater than what you’re telling me.” Lin Jie sighed, but nodded and walked towards the kitchen. She just had squeezed into one of the corners under two bags of flower when another disturbance came through the front.

“Did an Asian female pass by this place recently?”

“We live in Japan. There are many females that have passed by today. Is there a specific lady that you’re interested in? If there is, I would suggest the red light district.” The old man motioned towards the exit and towards the lit area.

“Don’t get wise with me old man.”

“Learn to treat your elders with respect.” The man said, slapping him. “I should have my way with you. Didn’t your family teach you any better? Get out of my restaurant.” The old man threw a broom at him and kicked him out of the building. A few minutes passed, and the old man came back with a small smile on his face.

“You can leave now. I’m sorry you had to deal with that.” He bowed slightly and motioned towards the back exit.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Ito. Ito Hikaru. Nice to meet you again.”

“Again?” The older man smirked and pushed her out of the store without another word. “Hey, what did you mean, again?” She didn’t get a response, but she looked up to see the sign to the restaurant. ‘海から生まれた. Born from the ocean?’ Lin Jie heard a piece of wood snap and quickly ran back to blend into the trees and found her bike.

“Safe travels, Lin Jie.” Hikaru went back inside and turned the light out.

Looking down at her arm staring at her watch, she realized it was almost 4am. “Yeah, definitely not getting to work until like 12pm.” After another hour bike ride back to the apartment complex, Lin Jie collapsed and fell asleep immediately.

Repetitive clicks could be heard from outside as something crashed, but it wasn’t from this time.

Lin Jie woke up around 1pm. She turned to the window, looking out at the hustle and bustle of the lunch rush in Shinjuku. “I better check the last hint for Japan.

“No, she won’t.” A deeper voice commented. It was different than the times before, but she wasn’t able to think long about it.

“AGH FUCK!” Lin Jie collapsed on the ground clutching her head in pain as an intense throbbing entered her head. “WHAT THE FUCK?! UDEA!!! YOU SAID YOU’D GIVE ME A WARNING!” Lin Jie felt the burning sensation on her left bicep as the symbol started to burn. In a flash of light around her, everything became white. In the apartment, her body was gone and everything she had on it.

Warning: Error. Override system.