1 Chapter 1: tragedy

Inside the city of Pace, famous for its walls and security, and in one of the suburbs there is a small house for a family.

With the sunlight shining and the alarm clock ringing, the high school boy woke up with his pale face and unruly black hair..

"Come on, Kotaro, stop being lazy and get up and get ready to go to school," said a tender voice with some reprimands of a woman in her thirties. This was Kotaro's mother, Mrs. Shamak, who was known for her kindness and beauty.

"Good morning." Kotaro saluted after he came out of his room and washed his face, then put on his school uniform and sat with his mother in front of the kitchen table to eat breakfast. After finishing, Kotaro got up and left: "Mom I will leave, see you in the evening."

"Okay, I'll pass by you when you're done since I have a client near the school," replied the mother with a smile.

Ms. Shamak works as a women's haircut for just a few dollars.

Kotaro left, heading towards the school, meeting on his way a girl of his age with long pink hair and green eyes full of radiance adorning her white face: "Hello Kotaro, how are you?" The girl rushed towards Kotaro and saluted.

"Hi, Akina". A second later, a third person joined with his naive personality and his circular glasses and organized for the two. This was Ryota, who he and Akina are the only friends of Kotaro and the closest people to him after his mother. He got to know Akina in elementary school, and their friendship continued until today, and she admires Kotaru, and Ryota met him in junior high while he was being harassed by his classmates. Kotaru worked to defend him and then Ryota asked him to become friends.

Since they became friends, the three of them agreed to meet every day by the river to go to school together.

"Let's go before we're late," Akina said. Classes are supposed to start at nine, but since the three live on the outskirts of the city, especially Kotaro, who lives in a house up the hill and it is about half an hour's walk from the nearest school, they meet earlier to avoid being late.

The three walked to the school, passing by the city buildings and houses that were decorated with sakura trees along the way, highlighting an atmosphere of calm and comfort, making every student love to go to school just to see this scene every day.

After everyone arrived and the bell rang, school lessons began. Kotaro Shamak, Akina Dalvi and Ryota Hakari, the three of them are 16-year-old high school students in the first year and belong to the same class, and Ryota is the smartest among them with his glasses that reflect that.

"Good morning everyone. As I told you yesterday, you now have an exam of the end of the year in English language." The professor entered, announcing the start of the exam.

"Hello guys, how are you doing?" After the exam ended, Ryota asked.

"It's a bit difficult, how about you?" Kotaro and Akina replied together.

"Very easy." Ryota smiled proudly.

"Easy!...well, as expected of you," Akina surprises.

"Okay okay, no need to think about the exam now Akina, we'll get through it somehow so let's go eat lunch, the teacher is waiting for us." Kotaro was uninterested and walked towards the restaurant.

As time passed and evening came, the bell rang at five, announcing the end of school lessons and the departure of everyone to their homes.

"Hey Kotaro, won't you accompany us on the way back?" Akina frowned after seeing Kotaro not walk back with them.

"No, go alone. I'll be back today with my mom," Kotaro replied.

"Okay, see you tomorrow," Ryota said

"Yes"

Kotaro came out of high school and sat on one of the public benches waiting for his mother. Preoccupied with observing everyone who passes in front of him, including women, children and businessmen, time passed quickly without realizing, and it was six o'clock.

"Why are you so late?" Kotaro asked worriedly but quickly guessed that maybe another customer called her and she would come a little late, things like this happen, "It's okay, I'll go home and wait for her to come back." Kotaro thought and decided to go home.

Kotaro arrived half an hour after leaving. He entered the house and then went to his room, took off his school uniform and put on a black winter shirt and summer shorts colored blue, after that he decided to do his homework until his mother came back and had dinner.

After two and a half hours passed, Kotaro became anxious and began to sweat from his face, "It's nine o'clock and you still haven't come, damn where are you mom?".

Kotaro was impatient and went out to look for his mother. He first went to the customers' places that she decided to visit today, where Mrs. Shamak was organized in her work and always wrote down the addresses and names of the customers who called her today, and so Kotaro knew where to look..

"Knock, knock, knock." the door of one of the city's houses has been opened

"Who came at this time?" a woman's voice spoke from inside the house.

"Hello….. Mrs.Mirai." Kotaro responded, panting from fatigue. A woman about the same age as Mrs. Shamak came out. "Ah, Kotaro, how are you…" She was one of Mrs. Shamak's friends and knew her son, but before she finished speaking. Kotaro interrupted, "Did my mom come here today?"

"Yes, why…" The lady exclaimed after Kotaro left immediately.

Kotaro then proceeded to ask everyone who visited his mother today, and all of them told him that she passed by them today, but knowing that did not calm his anxiety, but he became paler and more desperate. And then he went looking at the places that she could mean, and every place that he can think of, but it's hard to look alone for something in such a big city.

Raindrops began to fall and accelerate on Kotaro's face, which made him more tired, and he collapsed in front of the street of the neighboring neighborhood.

This was followed by drowsiness, which caused him to fall asleep.

As the rainy night ended without any trace of Mrs. Shamak, morning came and Kotaro woke up and found himself wet and sleeping on the street. He was surprised at first, but soon remembered what happened last night with drops of tears falling from his eyes..

"Right, she might have come back after I left the house or this morning, it must be so, or else what would have happened to my mother" Kotaro returned home, hoping to find his mother there.

"Mom, are you here?" Kotaro called to his mother. After entering the house, he searched the kitchen in her room, but to no avail, Mrs. Shamak did not return.

"The issue has become very serious, my mother has never been away from home for this long. I should call the police," Kotaro thought.

Far from Kotaro's house and inside the high school, the teacher was calling the students' names "Ryota Hakari".

"Yes," Ryota replied.

"Kotaro Shamak," "….." No one answered, "Kotaro Shamak," the professor called back.

"It is strange, Kotaro has never been absent before. I wonder if something happened to him," the professor guessed, then added, "Ryota, Akina, you are the closest in class to him. Do you know what happened to him?"

"No, professor, yesterday we were together and he looked well" Ryota was also surprised by Kotaro's absence, as this morning he did not come to the usual meeting place either.

"Yeah, he was active as usual and everything was fine," Akina said.

"Okay, don't worry, tomorrow will definitely come." The teacher stopped his question and started explaining the lesson.

In the meantime, Kotaro arrived at the nearest police station to him, because the city was big. there were many stations as well. He climbed the stairs and entered the station. As soon as he saw one of the policemen, he called him and told him what happened, giving him a picture of Mrs. Shamak to help them search. The man then summoned a total of thirty police officers and ordered them initiates the search process.

"Don't worry boy, I promise we'll find your mother," the policeman patted Kotaro's shoulder, comforting him.

"Yes," Kotaro cried.

Policemen continued to search for Mrs. Shamak inside the city and on the borders of the walls, hanging pictures of her in the streets and the shops.

After two and a half hours everyone returned to the center with their expressions bearing heartbreaking looks and pale faces, Kotaro saw it and quickly asked one of them: "What's there, don't tell me you didn't find it"".

"No, we found it inside the cemetery, but…" the policeman stopped and continued: "You'd better see it for yourself than I would explain to you."

The police dispersed to make way for Kotaro, and what he saw was a black plastic bag locked in with someone's body in it.