Chapter Forty-seven
Shinjuku
August 7, 2006. Ancient Era
Shinjuku, Tokyo. Japan.
"Benu!"
The afternoon was falling over Shinjuku, as Hebe Bender, with a handbag and a camera and dressed in a white shirt-dress, hurried through the bustling streets, accompanied by a policeman. The setting sun tinged the skyscrapers with golden hues, but the anguish in her heart knew no warmth in those moments.
Near the imposing twin-towered Metropolitan Building, Hebe and the policeman scanned the surroundings with anxious glances. People hurried past, but Benu was not among them. Hebe's eyes scanned every nook and cranny of the surrounding buildings and gardens, but the play of shadows seemed to hide any trace of her young son.
Although Hebe was tempted to search the Metropolitan Building, the policeman reminded her that security there was tight. A missing child would have been noticed immediately, and that ruled out that option. Her efforts were focused on the surroundings, among the crowd that came and went, like a jigsaw puzzle that refused to complete itself.
She and her son had arrived in Japan two weeks ago and had spent the first week visiting Kyoto, then Kanagawa and now they had begun the third week of their vacation to finish in Kanto. She had taken her son Benu to many places and today it was Shinjuku's turn.
They had explored many parts of the city during the day, including the Botanical Park where they spent a good part of the day and had lunch together. It had been a beautiful summer day and there was the Tanabata festival that night as well, where she hoped to end the day. But Benu was not with her at the time.
She had only been distracted for a moment, taking pictures of some sculptures when, as she turned around, Benu had disappeared. She had barely called out to him, raising her voice a little, when a policeman had approached her to ask what was going on. Fortunately Hebe's Japanese was good enough to make him understand what had happened. And in the last ten minutes she and the policeman had been searching the surrounding area, asking for help from the building security to see if the boy was on any of the security cameras in the vicinity.
With a heavy heart, Hebe and the policeman decided to head for the nearby park, the last hope of finding her missing son.
Benu, oblivious to his mother's anguish, was in the quiet park behind the Metropolitan Building, but it was the adjacent park his mother had headed to. The waterfalls, illuminated by the last rays of the sun, captured his attention, like a magical spectacle in the midst of the urban bustle.
With eyes full of wonder, Benu approached the water's edge to get a closer look at the falls. The coolness of the spray in the air and the soothing sound of the water created an enchanting scene. However, Benu was not alone in his observation.
In the distance, two girls were walking in his direction, conversing quietly, their words barely audible. Curiosity piqued Benu and instead of approaching the falls, he decided to hide in the nearby bushes, near a small hydrangea garden, to listen to their conversation. He had thought that it would be his mother with one of the friends he had in Tokyo and with whom he had met in the last few days, if so he could give her a scare by coming out from the bushes.
But no, those two girls were complete strangers. One of them was almost as tall as his mother, but with long straight black hair and dark glasses, the other was rather young, small in stature and with incredibly long and somewhat messy silver hair. She looked too young to be an old woman so, perhaps the color was dyed or was simply an oddity.
The two girls were dressed casually for a hot day but, while the tall woman wore a white one-piece shirt dress, similar to his mother's dress, the silver-haired girl wore shorts and a cream-colored T-shirt.
"Well, I guess we can retire to rest for today," the dark-haired woman said. "Tomorrow we have more surveillance. It's going to be a hive of activity in this place."
"It's not every day there's a meeting between the government and our side," said the silver-haired woman. Now that he could see her better she had green eyes, unusual for a Japanese woman.
"Don't put it that way. Vampires only have one side, theirs."
"You say it like they're all bad."
"Well, they're not. But they really are cocky. On the other hand, how do you think they amassed a fortune for so long to form conglomerates, while you guys had to live in hiding?"
"Dark Events isn't like they make it easy for us. Humans in the know think we're to blame for that," the silver-haired girl argued.
"Who knows. What are Dark Events to begin with?"
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"Don't ask me, I only got here two years ago."
Benu crouched down further, his eyes narrowed as he tried to understand what they were talking about, but his Japanese was null, so he could only listen. Benu, still hidden in the bushes, listened attentively to the words of the two girls but, suddenly, the sound of a branch crunching under his feet gave away his position. The girls, alerted, turned their gazes to where Benu was hiding. He had been discovered and slowly rose from his hiding place. One of them, the silver-haired one, with a warm smile approached the boy.
"Hey there. Are you lost, little one?" she asked gently, as she crouched down to be at his height. Then she took a good look at him and asked the same question but in English.
Benu, eyes wide open, nodded shyly. The excitement of his clandestine adventure was mixed with a touch of nervousness at being discovered.
"Oh, don't worry. We're here to help. My name is Mai, and this is Miho. What's your name?"
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/42dd80f9-5ac6-42d5-8ccc-bcea020b6152/dgw9biq-5c2a8b8e-0135-4d72-bed6-09dcb1311549.jpg/v1/fit/w_828,h_1170,q_70,strp/nevermore_enygma_vol_4_chapter_47_by_hasegawakein_dgw9biq-414w-2x.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTY4NCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzQyZGQ4MGY5LTVhYzYtNDJkNS04Y2NjLWJjZWEwMjBiNjE1MlwvZGd3OWJpcS01YzJhOGI4ZS0wMTM1LTRkNzItYmVkNi0wOWRjYjEzMTE1NDkuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTExOTEifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.yLgS5I_j-rou8N46HISJ3Ua310jzyZKbceh1k5uRMIA [https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/42dd80f9-5ac6-42d5-8ccc-bcea020b6152/dgw9biq-5c2a8b8e-0135-4d72-bed6-09dcb1311549.jpg/v1/fit/w_828,h_1170,q_70,strp/nevermore_enygma_vol_4_chapter_47_by_hasegawakein_dgw9biq-414w-2x.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTY4NCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzQyZGQ4MGY5LTVhYzYtNDJkNS04Y2NjLWJjZWEwMjBiNjE1MlwvZGd3OWJpcS01YzJhOGI4ZS0wMTM1LTRkNzItYmVkNi0wOWRjYjEzMTE1NDkuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTExOTEifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.yLgS5I_j-rou8N46HISJ3Ua310jzyZKbceh1k5uRMIA]
The boy answered shyly, "Benu." Mai and Miho exchanged complicit glances, before Mai spoke softly to him.
"Benu, would you like to tell us what you were doing hiding in the bushes? It's not a allowed to play nears the flowers. Where are your parents?"
With a mixture of shyness and excitement, Benu shared that he was looking for the falls and hid when he saw them coming, thinking it was his mother and a friend. The girls exchanged meaningful glances, as if they had discovered an unexpected little explorer.
Something caught Benu's attention in the girl named Mai, though perhaps he had seen wrong.
"Benu, do you want us to look for your mom?"
Benu nodded enthusiastically, confident in Mai and Miho's kindness. The little boy was carried away by the curiosity and kindness of the two girls. However, a strange feeling lingered in his childish mind, as if something about them didn't quite fit.
Hebe, was frantically moving around the park and its surroundings. Worry drew lines of anxiety on her face. It was then that, through the crowd, she spotted her son standing next to the two girls.
"Benu!" exclaimed Hebe with relief, running towards him.
Mai and Miho smiled and politely stepped aside to make room for the mother and son reunion. Hebe, hugging Benu, thanked the two girls effusively for their help.
"Thank you for taking care of him, how can I thank you?"
Mai replied with a gentle smile, "No need, we just found him hiding in the bushes. We're glad to see you together again."
"What were you doing hiding?" Hebe asked.
"I was playing," Benu replied, somewhat sulkily.
Hebe sighed in relief and turned her eyes back to the two girls. "Thank you very much, again."
"It's nothing."
"Well, shall we go?" Hebe asked and Benu, nodded and they both said goodbye to the girls, but not before turning to thank them again.
However, as they said their goodbyes, Benu couldn't help but notice that Mai and Miho's gazes were somewhat intense, as if they held secrets they didn't share.
As Hebe and Benu walked away, the two girls melted back into the crowd. Benu, with his curious little eyes, could not shake the feeling that Mai and Miho were more than just passersby. His childlike intuition vibrated with a perception that went beyond the ordinary.
On the other hand, it was the first time in his life he had ever seen someone with pointed ears like that.
The black-haired girl had normal ears. But the silver-haired girl had pointed ears that she hid with her messy hair.
As mother and son got lost in the backstreets of Shinjuku, Mai and Miho exchanged knowing glances. A whisper on the wind, barely audible, echoed in the afternoon "I was scared for a moment I thought it was a goblin spy," declared Miho.
"It was just a child. Don't be so fussy," Mai scolded her.
"Why didn't you use your antennae to detect him?"
"Are you nuts? Too much noise at this hour, I'd get a headache later."
"Miss! Wait!" Mai and Miho turned around. The one who had called them was the policeman who had accompanied Hebe on the search. "Thank you for your cooperation."
"You're welcome," Miho said. "Ready for tomorrow Kii?"
The policeman nodded. "We appreciate the cooperation from the magic sector to make the meeting go smoothly."
"Don't be like that, we're just a small detective agency."
"Any help is welcome. Tomorrow members of the Whispers team will be arriving to help with surveillance as well," the policeman said.
"Whispers?" Mai asked.
"Oh, those from the private sector. I guess the vampires hired them," Miho replied.
"Who are they?
"A group that has specialized in protecting feys for a few years now. They operate mostly in Europe, but there are rumors that they're expanding."
The policeman nodded, smiling. "Well, having the great psychic detective, Sagara Miho, here I guess that won't be necessary."
Miho looked at him, blushing. "Stop that already, Kii. My skills aren't what they were ten years ago. Now we have to rely on girls like her, meat and fresh blood." Miho patted Mai's head and ruffled her silver hair, laughing afterwards.
Mai pouted. "Leave my head alone."
Miho let go of her head, but slowly her smile wiped from her lips as she looked at the hotel near the Metropolitan Building. "I really hope nothing happens tomorrow."