Yuna and Airi - Dead Logic

December 8, 2023

The morning fog took longer to disappear that day. Cold wave of winds were blowing. It took a two-hour bus ride to reach their destination. The third house on their list stood at the edge of the block, its garden showing signs of recent care. A contrast to the grief weighing inside.

Utaro adjusted his scarf, rubbing his gloved hands together before knocking gently on the door.

A man in his early forties came, looked at the door hole and answered. His eyes were mixed with sleeplessness, yet he managed to nod politely. "Yes, how can I help?"

Utaro stepped forward with a soft nod and showed his badge, "We are private detectives working in the case."

"Umm I don't recall hiring any private dete..."

Utaro stopped the man by saying, "Oh yes, you haven't. Actually the the first house hired us and the clues we got are leading to this house so..."

"The police already investigated here!" The man replied with a cold tone.

"The police and we are separate," Utaro said while showing the man an envelop from his bag. The envelop contained the riddles they got before.

The man's name was Mintaro Hirako. His movements were slow, as if each limb carried an invisible weight. The house had the unmistakable silence. Inside, framed photos of a woman with a warm smile was just hanging, dusty in all angle.

Shuhi offered a sympathetic nod and quietly slipped away toward the children's room. Her role, unspoken between the two of them, was to search for clues.

"And who is that girl?" The man asked.

"Oh, she is my part time partner only in this case. Don't judge her by her looks, she has talent." Utaro replied.

Shuhi overheard what Utaro just told.

"Part time partner? In short, PTP? You got no better excuse? Huh?" Shuhi muttered.

She didn't like how Utaro introduced her even though what he said about her was true. In fact, Utaro at first didn't want to bring Shuhi into his investigation but seeing her usefulness and stubbornness, he agreed.

Utaro sat across from Mintaro in the living room. Steam came out from a cup of untouched tea on the table.

"We are sorry for your loss, Mr.Hirako. I know it's hard for you," Utaro began gently, "but please compromise with us. I'd like to ask you a few things about your wife, if that's alright."

Mintaro's fingers became tight while holding ceramic mug. "She didn't deserve this," he said with bitted voice. "She was a good woman. Always thinking about the kids first. Even when things were hard." Mintaro said while eyes fixed on a spot on the floor.

Utaro nodded slowly, creating a silence before continuing. "Was she involved in anything unusual recently? Something that might've made her uneasy? Anyone new around?"

Mintaro shook his head, then paused. "No I wouldn't say anything unusual but...

"But?"

"Sometimes, she used to act weird alone. Like a habit of her.

"Weird means how exactly?"

"She'd been... distant. Not like cold. Just... distracted. Always looking at her phone. Often talking nonsense to herself. But she wouldn't tell me what it was about. Said it was nothing."

Utaro could remember a familiar rhythm.

*People always say 'nothing' when it means 'something.'*

---

Meanwhile, Shuhi crouched on the carpeted floor of a pastel-painted room. There were two girls, Yuna (10) and Airi (5).

Seeing the two little girl made her heart tight.

"Now the problem, I don't know how to talk to kids whose mother is murdered." Shuhi said in her head.

She bent down on her knees a little to match straight eye contact with them.

"Do you remember the last time you saw Mommy?" Shuhi asked gently.

Yuna nodded, clutching a plush fox tightly. "She was crying in the kitchen."

"Did she say anything?"

"She said... she was scared of the man with the stick." Airi piped up, with a tiny voice.

Shuhi blinked. "Stick? What kind of stick?"

Airi tilted her head. "Like... a magic stick. Like a wand. He came in the mirror."

Yuna frowned. "That's not real!"

"It is! Mommy was scared!" Airi insisted.

Shuhi offered a soft smile and hugged them a little to make them calm, "No no, it's okay, both of you. You're helping a lot."

"So, where is the mirror?" Shuhi asked after letting them go.

The girls led her to the hallway. A tall, silver-framed mirror was attached with the wall. It seemed nothing unusual. But as Shuhi leaned in, her reflection was not looking right. A slight delay. Not enough to notice if you weren't looking. Her hand reached forward.

"This house doesn't feel right. We are dealing with supernaturals now?"

She pulled out her phone, taking a photo of the mirror before inspecting the edges. No hidden compartments, no signs of tampering. But something grabbed her attention.

From behind her, Yuna spoke up again.

"Mom used to whisper to the mirror. At night. I heard her."

Shuhi turned slowly. "What did she say?"

"She said... 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake it up.'"

---

Back in the living room, Utaro pressed gently. "Did she have any new friends? Anyone online maybe?"

Mintaro nodded slowly. "She was part of some Facebook group. I don't know the name. She never told me. But I saw it once. The logo was a cracked eye."

"Did she ever say anything... strange before she died?"

Mintaro looked up, and for a second, Utaro saw real fear flicker behind those tired eyes.

"She said they were watching. That she saw something she shouldn't have. She locked her phone in a drawer and refused to open it again. Said it was cursed. I thought it was her same old nonsense imagination spiking up."

---

Shuhi returned, her expression unreadable. Utaro stood. "We need to see her phone."

Mintaro hesitated, then stood and led them to the bedroom. From a locked drawer in the bedside table, he handed over the device. It was off. The screen cracked. When Utaro turned it on, it buzzed violently, then displayed a single error:

**"System Overridden."**

"It's corrupted," Utaro said.

"Or overwritten," Shuhi replied. "Most probably by something external."

He pocketed the device. "We'll have our tech team look into this."

Utaro asked Mintaro one last thing, "The description you gave of her nature, it's not normal no matter how you look at it. You never questioned her? I mean, most people in your case wouldn't take ignorance as an answer."

"I asked her multiple times. Told her to quit whatever bad habit she had. It was no use. She once gave me a reason that doing so lightened her loneliness. Since it didn't bother me, I didn't press her much." Mintaro replied.

Before leaving, Utaro turned to Mintaro. "Thank you. We'll do everything we can."

Mintaro didn't respond. He only looked toward the mirror in the hallway.

"She used to talk to it," he whispered. "I thought it was just her fantasies. But maybe... maybe she wasn't crazy."

---

Later That Afternoon – Police Vehicle could be seen on the road. Maybe involved in some other cases.

Utaro said slowly. "Magic sticks and mirrors. Huh, kids get scared easy."

Shuhi didn't laugh. Her eyes were on her phone, replaying the photo she took. Frame by frame.

"Look at this," she said. "In one of the frames... there's a shadow behind me. And no one else was in the hallway."

Utaro was completely stunned after watching this. "Could've been a lighting artifact."

"Maybe. But... I believe the girls. Kids don't lie. The mirror's not normal."

He glanced at her. "You think someone's using the mirrors to... what? Spy on people?"

"Or something is using them." Shuhi said.

Utaro wanted to dismiss it. Badly. But he couldn't ignore the chill he felt. Shuhi could clearly see it. She also didn't mean to wake it up.

"And what about the phone? Why didn't the police seize that at first? it could be a very important clue." Shuhi asked, genuinely curious.

"They did. But that was another phone. Turned out, Mintaro's wife owned two phones. Even he didn't know that. He just stumbled upon it recently." Utaro explained.

Shuhi nodded after understanding the truth but still had the worry of the mirror.

Another clue. Another riddle. And the calendar killer was still out there, watching from the shadows.

Chapter 5 - Yuna and Airi