Chapter 204Moment of Wonder

Getting out of the house and choosing how to go was kind of a odd question as well. Part of me just wanted to take her up and fly to Hitori, leaving as little trace as possible. It was a long walk, as far as I could tell, plus it would be easier for others to see us.

Yet, it was still early evening and I had the feeling almost the whole neighborhood would be glued to their television for at least another hour or so.

Opening the front door and looking into the street confirmed this.

Rain and I left through the front door, just pulling it closed behind us and walked away. It was quite a long walk, me taking the longer route because I wanted to avoid streets with too many stores in them, to avoid cameras and other such annoyances. There was no clue if it worked.

Rain's parents would probably not be found for another few days unless we called the police about it. I guess the best way was to call it in on a public payphone that wasn't in view of any cameras. I even made a game of it with Rain to distract her. Extra points for the person who would find the camera first.

It proved surprisingly hard to find one. Any payphone not in view of a window had a separate camera somewhere high up. That made it all the more difficult. Finally though, still far enough from Hitori's home, we found what we were looking for.

I remembered you didn't need money for the emergency number, so I rang it. I only told them I heard strange noises at the address of her parents and hung up before they could ask more. Of course I tried to sound kind of in panic. Not too much as that would be overplaying it, but just enough to sound real.

It wouldn't matter if they believed me or not, they would send someone over, just in case.

Rain followed me silently. Besides our little game she had hardly said a word. Of course she hadn't cried either. Trying to show how brave she was to the world, giving no suspicion to anyone. In a way it was impressive.

I just hoped we weren't attracting too much attention anyway.

We finally arrived, wordlessly, at Hitori's place. I didn't want to go up with Rain, not pull her into my world any more than was needed. Footsteps on the stairs, not Anka's, which surprised me.

Hitori opened the door and smiled at me until he saw my eyes. "What's wrong."

"The girl who was killed..."

Hitori nodded. "Yes?"

I sighed. "Her parents got killed last night."

"What? How?!?"

I sighed sadly. "Torn, it looked like. It was horrible. I called the police from a hidden payphone a while back."

He wanted to hug me, hold me, comfort me, but held himself in when he saw I wasn't quite finished yet. "Come upstairs?"

I shook my head. "No. I can't. I can't take her up there with me."

He frowned. "Who?"

It sounded a bit odd, didn't he see her hiding behind me? "Her sister, Rain. The one from the graveyard."

Then he asked something that completely caught me off guard. It was so strange that I wasn't even sure I understood his question completely. Was it a game, a joke, trying to lighten the mood? Why did he ask this?

His voice filled with nothing but honest worry; "Where is she now?"

"She is right behind me?"

Rain stepped forward from behind me, only then did I realize that Hitori really hadn't seen her until she stepped from behind my coat. At first I thought it was just my coat that had hid her away from his view. She'd been quiet all this time but he should have noticed her feet at the very least. I knew he wouldn't overlook something like that.

The hesitation and surprise in his voice were ever so clear. "Eh, hi. I'm Hitori."

How could he have missed her?

What was going on?