While Ohara spoke with Nakajima’s mother, Yumiko returned to her house for the first time in ages, only to be greeted by the stench of blood. She stood fixed to the spot, staring at the wet pools of blood in the foyer.
Why...who did this...?
Dropping to the floor, her hands slipped in the lake of blood beneath them. The mangled corpses of her mother, father, and younger brother all lay before her. Perhaps she was paralyzed by the overwhelming shock of emotion, but Yumiko did not shed a tear. Suddenly, the image of a sneering woman's face appeared before her eyes.
"Ohara!" Yumiko's honed supernatural senses had picked up her mother's faint residual energy and amplified it to a clear picture.
"It was you, wasn't it, Ohara!" Yumiko's field of vision reddened, her sorrow turning to rage. When she regained her senses, she found herself walking outside.
"Yumi! When did you get back?" The housewife next door had just come up the stairs, but as she saw the blood dripping from Yumiko's hands, she dropped her shopping bag in shock.
Yumiko didn’t see the woman and passed her by, going down the stairs in a sleepwalker’s daze. Soon afterwards, she heard a piercing scream behind her. Most likely the housewife she had just passed had looked into Yumiko's apartment and seen the bloodbath there. To Yumiko, it all seemed like something that happened in a dream or a far-off world.
Why did I even come to Tokyo? If I had stayed in Sapporo none of this would ever have happened to me... Yumiko saw the roadside trees in Hokkaido, where she had been living three months earlier, superimposed over the lines of gingkoes in front of her.
Nakajima, if only I had never met you...
Yumiko pictured Nakajima's handsome features in her mind. Love, malice, irritation. A whirl of uncontrollable emotion surged through her body. Unable to withstand it, Yumiko squatted down along the side of the road. The moment she thought of Nakajima, tears started flowing uncontrollably. A nearby child looked at her suspiciously, then ran away upon seeing the blood on her clothing.
I've got to find Nakajima.
With heavy footsteps, Yumiko started walking toward the one connection she had left.
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