BRR!! BRR!! A phone shrills twice. BRR!! BRR!! It is picked up.

“Hello?”

Kichiro looks up at the giant billboard.

“HAVE YOU SEEN THESE PEOPLE?”

The missing list. His eyes scan through the names. No. Still no….

His eyes suddenly widen. Yes.

Kichiro pulls his cap lower and zips up his raggedy jacket. He was unsure whether being on that list was a good or bad thing. Yes, he would probably be found, but he had committed a crime. That poor old lady. Who knows, maybe Misha and the little boy are in custody right this second. Maybe they've given themselves up. What if they didn't even make it to Tokyo? What about the kidnappers...

Kichiro walked with a brisk pace back to his headquarters. The bridge full of homeless people. He checked his pocket. A rough day of begging, he only managed to get one cereal bar and a unfinished rice box.

“How’d it go, kid?” said ‘Jerry’, a old homeless man who had been talking with Kichiro since he decided to stay at the bridge.

“Not great. My names out there now.”

“On the missing list? Well, at least someone’s actually looking for you. No one even tried to look for you, did they Katie?” Jerry nodded towards a middle-aged woman with a sunken face and dark eyes.

No response.

“Ah well, one day she’ll talk to me. Anyway’s, you gonna turn yourself in then?”

Kichiro looked down and fiddled with his jacket zipper.

Jerry’s smile stopped for a second.

“You’re kidding, right? Ain’t no way you want to keep living like this.” Jerry shakes his head as he laughs.

“I have no choice. They find me, I’ll just get arrested. My hands are tied, Jerry.” Kichiro sits down and rests his chin on his palm. He was defeated.

Jerry flicked a coin at Kichiro.

Misha looked over at the little boy. They both waited anxiously for someone to enter the room. All around them was glass. A little grey table, along with 3 chairs filled the small room. The door clicked.

A man in police uniform entered, along with a worried looking woman, another man in a suit and a man in a knitted cardigan.

The man in the suit swung two blue chairs into the room, allowing the woman and the man in the cardigan to sit. The man in uniform stood with his arms crossed in the corner of the room. No one had said anything. All that was heard was the beeping of a CCTV camera, the shuffling of feet and the squeaking of chair legs as they edged closer to the table.

The man in the suit placed some sort of recording device on the table and flicked a switch to start the recording.

“21^st of September, 2021. I am Officer Kyonosuke speaking, I am the leading officer for this case. Alongside me I have Prof. Ryotaro Kaoki, professor of Graphic Design at the University of Tokyo and Miyai Watano, mother of the missing suspect.”

Misha’s eyes dart up towards the reserved woman. Kichiro’s mum. She had brown-ish shoulder long hair, with thick red glasses and a wrinkled face. She clutched her handbag tightly. She looked scared.

The Officer looked at Misha, indicating with his eyes that she should introduce herself.

“Misha Nakamura. 1st-year Graphic Design student at the University of Tokyo.”

The officer’s eyes zipped across to the little boy.

The boy sat there, unphased.

A awkward silence filled the room.

The officer glared at the boy.

“J…”

Everyone waited in the room with baited breath, hoping that the boy would muster the courage to speak.

Misha reached out and took the boys' shaking and sweaty hand. The boy looked up at her, his eyes gleaming. Misha nodded at the boy, reassuring him. The boy took a deep breath and with his eyes closed he finally said…

“JUNYA ITORI. SCHOOL OR SOMETHING.”

The sheer volume of Junya’s response took everyone aback.

Junya gripped tightly to Misha’s hand. Misha looked at him with a warm smile. He did good.

After clearing his throat and awkwardly adjusting his tie, the man in the suit continued.

“We are here today to talk about a missing boy by the name of Kichiro Watano, 18, Student with Misha studying Graphic Design at the University of Tokyo. Mr. Watano has been missing for a week as of this recording. He is wanted for questioning over a mugging incident that occurred in Hokkaido in the recent days.”

Junya and Misha sharply glance at each other.

“As for Mr. Junya Itori and Miss Misha Nakamura, they were spotted with Kichiro in Hokkaido as of last week passed. Firstly, were you two involved in the mugging incident of a senior citizen on the 17^th September?”

Junya wriggled in his seat slightly. Misha let out a soft cough.

“No.”, Misha firmly said as she looked at the man in the suit dead in the eyes.

The man started scribbling on his notepad.

“So, you have no relation whatsoever to not only the mugging, but also the disappearance of Kichiro Watano?”

Misha sat and thought for a moment. Should she say something about their kidnapping? About the two men who bought them and kept them in that dreaded house? No, that would only lead to more confusion. Suddenly, an idea came to her head.

“Hokkaido? Ah yes, we went up there on a weekend ski trip however we got a bit lost. A man fitting Kichiro’s description did try to get us to do some stuff with him, but we didn’t get involved. He was a very odd man, definitely not Kichiro. As for where Kichiro is, I have no idea. I last saw him at the bridge near the train station where we agreed to meet after exploring Hokkaido.”

The man in the suit started scribbling on his notepad again. He stopped. He began clicking his ballpoint pen on his stubbly chin.

“Ok, that’s all for now.”, he said as he turned off the recording and got up from his chair.

“You’re free to go. We will definitely be in touch.”