When the Stars Align

Chapter 19

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- (L/N)
< You're probably busy right now, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm getting a ride to your place. I'll be there soon, in the off chance you're still home and not on patrol.

His phone lights up in the dark, a simple text meeting his bleary eyes as he finally reaches the location he'd been looking for. It's an innocent message, she's innocent, he realizes, and with a heavy heart- he doesn't reply. Instead, he turns it off, pockets the device, and trudges forward.

His boots leave behind indents and squelchy sounds, the small bits of dew from early morning untouched, ready to spread and ferment into the earth- breathing in more life. It's serene, but in a haunting way, like a graveyard could usually be.

The crash-sight hadn't changed one bit in the past ten years, if the photo Shouta had in hand was to be truly believed.

Track marks were still perceptible on the concrete and dirt, even after the wear and tear of weather, all of it skidding and leading off from the currently deserted freeway. The tree that had been hit that day was still bent at an odd angle, and he could make out the 'scar' the trunk had obtained, new and paler bark growing from where it had cracked and fallen off.

Shouta found it hard to believe it had been left undiscovered by the public for years. A sight this big? There wasn't even an attempt to straighten things out, start anew, begin fresh once more. The only thing that had been removed, he assumed, was the vehicle that strayed off the road that night. Even then, bits of metal and glass were still embedded into the earth, chunks of now rotting debris that he could feel even through the soles of his boots remaining in place like some twisted decoration.

A final resting place, if you would.

It felt like a crime scene, it was a crime scene, one that had undergone obvious negligence. There was a bigger story here, a bigger picture, yet it had gone ignored this whole time in order to fuel other looming agendas.

Glancing at the photo one last time, Shouta turned over to face Toshinori, the tall blonde joining him last minute, his presence imposing even with his quiet gait. "So, what can you tell me about this place? Why is it so important you bring me here to talk? None of the files seemed to address any of this."

The decrepit man blinked once, before turning away from him and pointing along the road. "A family was driving back from a vacation of sorts, or so it's assumed. They must have swerved for some unknown reason, trying to avoid something, then they ended up crashing. There isn't a bigger story to tell other than it seemed to be a complete accident at the time."

Humming, the black haired male looked between the road and the tree, trying to gauge the speed at which the car had to have been moving at. No normal drive would have been fast enough to have destroyed the vehicle as badly as it had been. "And after? Who found the car?"

"That's the thing that's weird. Nobody reported the car for a good five days. Family was trapped in there for a while. The doors were either crushed beyond repair or the parents weren't fit enough to move. Kids were too young to process and try to make it out either. Speculating at least one child must have died after the impact, but I was never told if my estimate was correct."

Sighing through his nose, Shouta looked away. "That's unfortunate. But almost an entire week? There weren't any earlier reports?"