The Scent of Death

Chapter six: "Whatever it takes"

Kaori's disappearance caused confusion and suffering wherever my eyes looked at, and that fact made me realize that she was very loved by a lot of people, which was something I never really noticed before. It was inconceivable for my mind how someone like her could arouse so much concern all around. After all, Yuki and I met the sisters a few weeks ago and sympathized rapidly with the first one, for she was too open and always smiling. On the other hand, Kaori was like a wall of concrete, hard and impossible to overcome. Yuki was patient, unlike me, and took her time to try and understand her. She managed to accomplish that objective of hers with some effort, yet the change was noticeable: both of them could talk like two normal people and I felt cast out.

The sisters mother was in pieces and so was Akane herself. Some relatives appeared too to show their respects and support them. Yuki was anxious and kinda depressed also, making me feel guilty for my lack of emotions. Of course I was concerned and mostly confused, but I didn't know what to feel about Kaori in the first place, in a deeper way. We never built a friendship while we attended to classes, nor after them in the places we all went to take a walk or something like that. We never talked to each other. 

Maybe that was the reason behind my calmness, however cold it made me seem in the outside. Or maybe not. My mind was in other place now, stolen away by a mysterious something that nobody could see. Everybody looked at me as if I was an enigma for being distanced from the common suffering. I tried but couldn't bring myself to show the same amount of pain. Or anything else for that matter.

Not after that night. Nothing else made sense after it.

Several days had passed and there were no clues nor news from Kaori. She left her phone in the house when she went out to drop the bag of thrash at the end of the block around eleven past five minutes -although it wasn't the appropriate time for it. After looking everywhere they could've imagined of, they went directly to report the disappearance at the police station. The mother handed over the basic information such as name, date of birth, address, physical features (height, body type and blood type), how she was dressed and several photographs. Akane cried the whole time while her mother was trying her best to look strong and unbreakable. But her voice tended to betray her most of the talk with the police officers.

As for me, my brain was squeezing itself to understand what I saw. It was Kaori for sure, yet covered in blood stains and pale as porcelain. Then I panicked. A fragment of my life's tape was missing, for then I found myself trapped by my father's arms screaming crazily. I even hit him desperate, my tears all over his shoulder. But he assured to hold me tight, and I don't know why but that got me better. It made me feel a little more secure, so my body buried itself into his arms. My eyes closed as my breath returned to a normal pace slowly.

What was the last time he'd ever hugged me in such a paternal embrace?

Then I lost the count of the days until Yuki remembered me we all needed to return to school, after days of hanging copies of Kaori's photos along with some contact information in every block of the area. We even expanded to other places, reaching even Ueno, Okachimachi and Akihabara. Neither of us could allow ourselves to give up searching after all, so we helped in everything we perceived the chance to do so. Yet, we had to continue our studies and our lives and let the policemen do their jobs, sending them our hopes and trust.

So we went to school as usual, where the empty spot left by Kaori passed unnoticed by most of the people except for our own class. The professors talked about it too in order to spread the news along the students, asking for their help and full predisposition to collaborate if needed. Again, I felt empty and rare. Everybody was fully focused on her and concerned...