The next morning started with a text message.
I was still in bed, Bobby curled against my legs, when my phone buzzed. Shouko had convinced my parents to get me one after the truck incident, and I'd finally set it up yesterday.
Meeting at the café in 1 hour, Shoya has found the workers.
I sat up, careful not to disturb Bobby, and typed back.
Be there.
Breakfast was quiet. Grandfather read his newspaper while Grandmother fussed over the rice cooker. My parents were still asleep, exhausted from yesterday's family activities. Shouko appeared halfway through my meal, already dressed and ready.
"Goin' out again?" Grandmother asked.
"Yeah. Meeting friends in town. We'll be back for lunch."
"Take Kori with ya. Boy's been cooped up inside too much."
"I was planning to." Shouko grabbed an apple from the counter. "Ready?"
I nodded, finishing my tea quickly.
The walk to town was cold. The temperature had dropped overnight, and the snow crunched under our boots with each step. Shouko's breath came out in white puffs as she talked.
"Shoya ran the construction company through the business registries. Nakamura Construction has been operating in Ogaki for twelve years. Small outfit, three employees total, including the owner."
"Three people?"
"Owner plus two workers. Which matches the photo from the fire." She pulled out her phone, showing me a screenshot. "Nakamura Tetsuo owns the company. He's 54, and the two workers are brothers. Fuyumi Sato, age 34, and Fuyumi Gato, age 29." She scrolled through more information. "Shoya also found that Nakamura Construction does regular work for Gaku Property Management Company. They're listed as preferred contractors on several rental agreements."
"So there's a business connection."
"Exactly. Gaku hires them regularly for renovations and repairs. Which means they know him, work with him, probably have met with him dozens of times over the years."
We reached the café. Inside, Shoya, Miki, and Kazuki were already waiting in the same corner booth as before. The table was covered with papers, printouts, and three laptops.
"Welcome to mission control," Kazuki said with a grin.
"This is what you've been doing all morning?" I asked.
"Since five AM," Shoya confirmed. "Once I identified the company, we started pulling everything we could find. Business records, contractor licenses, tax filings, social media profiles."
Miki pushed a stack of papers toward Shouko. "Nakamura Tetsuo has a clean record. He runs a legitimate business."
"What about the Fuyumi brothers?" Shouko asked.
"More interesting." Shoya pulled up a file on his laptop. "Sato Fuyumi has two arrests. One for a bar fight eight years ago, but the charges dropped, and also one for vandalism six years ago, paid a fine. Nothing major, but it shows a pattern of aggression."
"And the younger brother?"
"Gato Fuyumi is cleaner on paper. No arrests. But..." Miki adjusted her glasses. "I found his social media. He posts a lot about construction work, home renovation tips, that kind of thing. But four years ago, right around the time of the fire, he stopped posting for three weeks. Complete silence."
"Could be a coincidence," I said. "Maybe he was on vacation."
"Maybe. But then he came back and deleted about six months of previous posts. I found cached versions through web archives. The deleted posts included several photos of him and Sato working on rental properties."
Shouko leaned forward. "Which properties?"
"Can't tell. The photos were deleted before I could save them. But the timing is suspicious. Delete old work photos right after a fatal fire?"
"Covering tracks," Shouko murmured. "Removing evidence of which properties they'd worked on."
Kazuki pulled out a hand-drawn map of Ogaki. "Shoya and I went through all of Gaku's properties. He owns fifteen rental units scattered around town. We marked them all here."
The map showed the town layout with red X marks indicating Gaku's properties. They were spread out, with no obvious pattern.
"The house where your mom died isn't marked," I noticed.
"He sold it after the fire, too damaged to repair. But before that, it was one of his rentals." Shouko studied the map. "Do we know if Nakamura Construction worked on any of these properties recently?"
"I called the company," Shoya said. "Pretended to be a tenant asking about renovations. The receptionist said they're currently working on two of Gaku's properties. One near the shrine, one by the old bridge."
"Which means the workers are in town."
"Yeah, but we need to be careful." Shoya's expression turned serious. "If they're connected to the murder, approaching them directly would be stupid. And dangerous."
"We're not approaching them," Shouko said firmly. "We're watching them and building patterns and documenting their movements and who they meet with, especially if they meet with Gaku. If we can photograph them together, document regular meetings, that strengthens the connection."
Miki pulled out a notebook. "I made a schedule. If we split into teams and rotate shifts, we can keep an eye on multiple locations without being obvious."
"Teams?" I asked.
"You and Shouko are one team. Shoya and I are another. Kazuki floats between us as backup." She showed us the schedule. "We watch the two active construction sites during work hours. We watch Gaku's office when he's there. If either party moves, we follow at a distance and document where they go."
"That's a lot of watching," Kazuki observed.
"Investigation is 90% boring surveillance and 10% actual discovery," Shouko said. "We need to be patient."
"What about equipment?" Shoya asked. "Cameras, recording devices?"
"I've got my phone," Shouko said. "Decent camera, can record video. That's enough for now."
"I can borrow my dad's binoculars," Miki offered. "He uses them for birdwatching."
"Perfect. Anything else we need?"
"Warmth," I said. "If we're standing around outside watching people, we need to stay warm without being obvious."
"Good point. Dress in layers, bring thermoses with hot tea." Shouko made notes. "We blend in. Looks like kids playing in the snow or walking around town. Nothing suspicious."
"When do we start?" Kazuki asked.
"Now." Shouko checked her phone. "Construction crews usually work nine to five. It's already eight thirty. We need to get in position before they start their day."
"Which site do we watch first?" I asked.
"The one near the shrine. It's public, with lots of foot traffic. Easy to blend in." She stood up, gathering papers. "Shoya, you and Miki take the bridge site. Kazuki, you stay mobile. If either team spots something, text the group."
Everyone nodded, and we split up outside the café. Shouko and I headed toward the shrine while the others went to their positions.
"You good with this?" Shouko asked as we walked. "Just standing around watching people for hours?"
"Better than doing nothing."
"True."
The shrine was the same as when we'd visited days ago. The crowd from New Year's had dispersed, leaving only a few elderly locals praying at the main building. The construction site was visible from the shrine courtyard, a two-story house surrounded by scaffolding and tarps.
We positioned ourselves near the donation box, pretending to look at the fortune-telling papers while actually watching the construction site.
A few elderly people moved through the shrine grounds, praying at the main building, tossing coins into the offering box. We blended in, two kids looking at fortunes.
"There," Shouko murmured.
A white truck pulled up to the site at exactly 9:05 AM. The logo on the door read Nakamura Construction in blue letters. Two men got out, both wearing work clothes and tool belts.
The older one was stocky, built like someone who'd done physical labor his whole life. Dark hair, worn face, probably mid-thirties. The younger one was leaner, moved with more energy, late twenties maybe.
"The Fuyumi brothers," Shouko confirmed, pulling out her phone. "Don't look directly at them. Just keep your eyes on the shrine while I photograph."
I studied a fortune paper about good health while Shouko casually raised her phone, angling it to capture the workers as they unloaded equipment from the truck. To anyone watching, she looked like a teenager taking photos of the shrine.
"Got it," she whispered. "Clear photos of both faces, truck logo, and location timestamp. Good evidence."
The brothers worked rigorously, unloading plywood, bags of cement, and tools from the truck bed. They'd clearly done this hundreds of times before.
We watched for twenty minutes. The brothers kept working normally, doing nothing to warrant any suspicion.
An elderly woman walked past us, heading to the shrine's main building. She smiled at us, probably thinking we were making wishes for the new year.
"You two picking fortunes?" she asked kindly.
"Yes, ma'am," I said, playing the polite child.
"Get a good one. The New Year's just started, set your intentions right."
"Thank you. We will."
She shuffled away, leaving us alone again.
"Good cover," Shouko murmured.
The construction site was quiet except for the sound of sawing wood and hammering nails. The brothers worked without talking much, communicating mostly through gestures and nods, when a black sedan pulled up to the site.
Shouko tensed beside me.
Gaku stepped out of the driver's seat.
He was dressed in a business suit, completely out of place at a construction site. He walked over to where the Fuyumi brothers were working and said something. They stopped immediately, setting down their tools.
"They're talking," I said quietly.
"Yeah." Shouko's phone was up again, recording video now. "This is good. This proves they know each other, that Gaku visits the site personally."
The conversation lasted about five minutes. Gaku seemed to be giving instructions, pointing at various parts of the house. The brothers nodded, taking notes.
Except.
"Look at their body language," Shouko whispered.
I focused. Gaku stood close to them, closer than a typical client would. Gato kept glancing around, nervous, and Sato's arms were crossed defensively.
"They're not comfortable," I observed.
"No. They're tense, like they're worried about being seen together." She kept recording. "This doesn't look like a normal business meeting."
Gaku handed something to the older brother. Paper, maybe cash. Hard to tell from this distance, then he got back in his car and drove away.
The brothers watched him leave before returning to work, but their movements were different now. Faster, more urgent. Like they'd been given new instructions.
"We need to follow him," Shouko said.
"Both of us? What about watching the site?"
"The site isn't going anywhere. But Gaku might lead us somewhere interesting." She was already texting the group. "Shoya can cover here. Come on."
We left the shrine, walking quickly but not running. Gaku's car had turned left at the main road. We followed at a distance, staying on the sidewalk, two kids out for a morning walk.
The car drove through town, past the shopping district, toward the area where the property management office was located.
"He's going to work," I said.
"Or maybe he's going somewhere else first."
The car turned into a small parking lot behind a nondescript office building. Gaku got out, locked his car, and entered through the back entrance.
"That's his office," Shouko confirmed, checking her phone. "Yashiro Property Management, on the second floor."
"Now what?"
"Now we wait, see if he leaves again, where he goes next." She found a bench across the street with a clear view of the parking lot.
We sat, and I kept my hands in my pockets, fighting the cold. Shouko sipped from a thermos of tea she'd brought, her eyes never leaving the building.
The street was quiet. Occasionally, cars passed by, and a few pedestrians walked past, bundled in heavy coats. Nobody paid attention to the two kids sitting on a bench.
I watched the office building. It was generic with 4 stories of concrete and glass. Gaku's office was on the second floor, windows visible from our position. I could see movement inside sometimes, shadows passing by the glass, but couldn't make out details.
"What are we looking for exactly?" I asked after the first thirty minutes.
"Patterns. Where he goes, who he meets with, what his routine is." Shouko's breath came out in white puffs as she spoke. "If we know his schedule, we can predict his movements. If we can predict his movements, we can position ourselves to catch him doing something suspicious."
"What if he doesn't do anything suspicious?"
"Everyone does something suspicious eventually. Especially criminals. They get comfortable, make mistakes, break routine." She shifted on the bench, trying to stay warm. "We just need to be patient."
An hour passed.
My legs were cramping from sitting still. "How do real detectives do this?" I asked.
"They have cars and probably better equipment." Shouko smiled slightly. "We're working with what we've got."
Another thirty minutes crawled by.
"What happens if we can't get concrete proof?" I asked.
Shouko was quiet for a moment. "Then at least I'll know. I'll know who killed my mom, even if I can't prove it legally. That's better than nothing."
"Is it?"
"Yeah. Because right now, the not knowing is what hurts. The wondering if I'm wrong, if I'm making connections that aren't there." She looked at me. "Even if we can't prosecute him, I'll have the truth, and that matters.
I understood that. After killing the truck driver, I'd spent weeks wondering if there was another way, if I could have done something different. The uncertainty ate at me worse than the guilt.
"We'll get proof," I said.
"I hope so." She checked her phone. "Shoya says the Fuyumi brothers are still working but it was nothing unusual. Miki photographed them taking a lunch break."
"How much longer do we sit here?"
"Until he leaves."
Fifteen more minutes passed. I was seriously considering suggesting we give up when movement caught my eye.
Then the back door opened, and Gaku emerged, now wearing a casual jacket instead of his suit coat. He got in his car and drove out of the parking lot.
"Go time," Shouko said, standing.
We followed again, this time having to move faster to keep the car in sight. It drove through residential streets, heading toward the edge of town.
"Where's he going?" I asked.
"No idea. But it's not toward any of his properties."
The car pulled up to a small restaurant near the highway. Gaku got out and went inside.
"Meeting someone?" I wondered.
"Let's find out."
We crossed the street and approached the restaurant carefully. The windows were partially covered for privacy, but we could see shapes inside. Shouko peered through a clear section of glass.
"There," she breathed.
Inside, Gaku sat at a booth near the back, across from him sat Sato. They were talking about something, but we couldn't hear anything, though it seemed serious. We watched for another ten minutes before Shouko decided we had enough documentation. We walked back toward town, Shouko's phone full of photos and videos.
"What did we learn?" I asked.
"That Gaku is still actively meeting with the Fuyumi brothers. Those meetings are secretive, and that something is ongoing, not just a four-year-old crime." She scrolled through the photos. "This is good evidence.
"But is it enough, though?" I questioned
"Not yet. But we're building the case piece by piece."
Her phone buzzed, and there were multiple texts from the group.
"Shoya says the Gato left the construction about thirty minutes ago. Miki tracked them to the same restaurant we just left."
"So Sato met with Gaku while Gato kept working alone?"
"Looks like it. They're being careful about being seen together." She typed a response. "Everyone, meet back at the café. We need to share what we learned."
Back at the café, we spread out all the evidence we learned, like photos, timestamps, locations, and patterns of movement.
"They met at the construction site at 9:15 AM," Miki read from her notes. "Gaku left at 9:20. Sato left the site at 11:45, they met at the restaurant at 12:00. The Meeting lasted 47 minutes. Sato returned to the construction site at 1:00."
"They planned this," Shoya said.
"Which means they're still working together on something," Shouko said. "Four years after the murder, they're still meeting secretly."
"What could they be planning?" Kazuki asked.
"Maybe nothing, maybe they're just friends." Miki adjusted her glasses. "We're assuming criminal activity, but this could be innocent."
"Secret meetings at highway restaurants between a property owner and his contractors?" Shouko shook her head. "That's not normal business."
"She's right," Shoya agreed. "I work retail. When my boss meets with suppliers, it's in the office or the shop. Not at random restaurants on the edge of town."
"So what's the next step?" I asked.
Shouko studied the evidence spread across the table. "We keep watching and build more evidence. She looked around at her friends. "This takes time, but eventually, the pattern becomes undeniable."
"How long do we watch them?" Miki asked.
"As long as it takes. We already know they killed my mom, now we're proving it with one piece of evidence at a time."
The group agreed to continue surveillance in shifts. We spent the rest of the afternoon organizing the evidence. By evening, when we finally headed back to my grandparents' house, we had something solid. Not enough for prosecution yet, but enough to prove we were on the right track.
As we walked through the quiet streets, Shouko seemed more hopeful.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "For helping with this and for believing in me."
"You don't need to thank me."
"Yeah, I do. Most people would think I'm crazy and obsessed. Making connections that aren't there." She looked up at the darkening sky. "But you just helped with no judgment, and I appreciate that a lot.
"You deserve answers about what happened to your mom."
" Either way, I'm glad you're here."
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
We reached the house as night fell completely. I could hear Grandmother humming and smell dinner cooking. The scent of grilled fish and rice drifted out, making my stomach growl.
We stamped snow off our boots before going inside. Grandmother was in the kitchen, and Grandfather was reading his newspaper at the table like always. My parents sat in the living room, talking quietly.
"There you two are!" Grandmother called. "Dinner's almost ready. Go wash up."
We obeyed, heading to the bathroom. After washing, we gathered at the table. Grandmother had made grilled mackerel, rice, miso soup, and pickled vegetables.
"How was your day?" my mother asked.
"Good," I said. "Walked around town with Shouko and her friends."
"Do anything interesting?"
"Looked at shops mostly. Got hot chocolate at the café."
All technically true, the best lies always were.
"It's good you're making friends," he said instead. "Socializing is important for development."
Shouko barely suppressed a smile at the phrase "making friends" to describe our murder investigation.
Dinner was very filling due to grandmother keep adding food to my bowl, insisting I needed to eat more. Grandfather told stories about the town's history, how things used to be different when he was young.
After dinner, Shouko and I retreated to her room to go over the evidence again. We spread everything out on her bed, organizing photos chronologically.
Bobby followed us, hopping onto the bed and immediately falling asleep on top of a stack of papers.
"Your dog is useless," Shouko observed.
"He's good for morale."
She smiled, scratching behind Bobby's ears. "Fair enough."
We worked through the photos, each one was labeled with a timestamp, location, and relevant details.
"Look at this," she said, pointing to a photo from the construction site. "Gaku's expression when he's talking to the brothers. See how he's smiling? But it doesn't reach his eyes."
I looked closer. She was right. Gaku's mouth smiled, but his eyes were cold.
"He's performing," I observed. "Playing a role."
"Exactly. Like he's pretending to be friendly but is actually threatening them." She pulled up another photo. "And here, at the restaurant. Same thing, smiling while the Fuyumi brother looks terrified."
"What do you think he's threatening them with?"
"Exposure, maybe. Or cutting off their business, or worse, threatening to kill them." She set the phone down.
"You think he's blackmailing them?"
"I think he's maintaining control. They helped him commit murder four years ago; now they're locked in. If they talk, they go down too. So he keeps them close, keeps them compliant."
"And they're stuck."
"Yeah. Unless someone breaks the cycle."
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
We worked for another hour before exhaustion set in. Shouko's eyes kept drooping, and I could barely keep my own open.
"Go to bed," she said, gathering the photos. "We can look at this more tomorrow."
I nodded, too tired to argue.
· · ─ ·✶· ─ · ·
700 Powerstones: Incomplete
900 Powerstones: Incomplete