It was not Toru's first rodeo – finding missing people – since it was his job. But there was something unsettling about the absolute silence in the mountain that kept him on his toes.

Although the sun had just set, the darkness seemed to feel like you were thrown into some kind of a dark room without any hint of light at all, so he decided to turn on the flashlight, and to his surprise, the high-power beam seemed to still not be able to penetrate the dark more than the length of his arms.

He was confused.

Did this mountain always act like this?

He always believed that you have to respect every living thing and they would respect you back, so he always took an extra care of the mountain to appease the guardian deity who resided there – the Fire God, Kagutsuchi.

He remembered that they had a small shrine somewhere in the mountain, and he wondered if anyone took care of the shrine while he was not there, and if this was the act of rebellion from Kagutsuchi because no one took care of the shrine when he was away, when he suddenly saw a dim light in front of him.

He noticed that the light came from a distance away and he  decided to follow the invisible trail to the light, and hoped that it was Kagutsuchi who guided him – and not some other malicious deity.

The walk was slow, as if he was walking in the quicksand and struggling to go out by reaching out to anything he could grasp. But soon after, the light was starting to appear closer and closer, until he was bathed in the warm, familiar glow that enveloped him like he was back in his mother's womb.

Toru closed his eyes to feel the light with his whole senses. It was soft, calming, and reassuring, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that the source of the light was the huge ginkgo tree that glowed bright in front of the Kagutsuchi shrine.

And beside it stood Azusa – who looked at him with a soft gaze.

Toru stopped in his tracks to see the breathtaking view of the woman and the magical tree, and he could not help but wonder where he had seen this view before.

It was like he had many dejavu when he encountered many scenes, especially with Azusa. He had no idea what it meant, but he didn't feel alarmed. All he felt was joy, relief, and happiness?

As he approached her, he noticed that her hair and whole body also glowed bright, like the light was enveloping her and made her look like a goddess.

"Hey." He itched to touch her, but he held back. "How did you get here so fast? No, more like, how did you know that I'm going to be here?" He couldn't help but touch her silky hair.

"Well, I just thought that this is such a remote place for two people to meet in secret, like our young lovers – isn't it?" She smiled and nuzzled her face at his big hand. "And this place is literally at the back of the house." She pointed to some distance away. "There's a shortcut there, and I was walking here when I suddenly saw this glowing ginkgo tree."

Azusa looked at the huge tree, and Toru followed.

The tree was enormous, and it looked like it had been there for centuries – but Toru clearly remembered that the last time he was here, the tree was only half the size, and it was only a few years back. Also, the tree was clearly not as healthy as this one, with its supernaturally glowing feature.

"Also, this is a sacred place. A safe place. Remember that Toru, this is a sacred place where nothing or no one could hurt you."

Toru wondered why Azusa emphasized many times that this place was a safe place. He knew this shrine and the area around it was a sacred place where he always felt safe, especially after the… thing with that woman.

Up until now he still could not stomach saying that person's name, or even remember what she had done to him. Things that were better left unsaid. Even thinking about it after all this time still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Never again.

He remembered that he took his time here, pondering over things and life decisions, before he finally decided to go to the mainland – leaving everything behind and starting anew.

It didn't help with the nightmare though.

The nightmare always came and went, and left him drained afterwards.

When he was starting the police training, he would exhaust himself to the point of passing out before he stopped. It helped with the sleep, since exhaustion caused him to have no dream. Thankfully, the long hour and the gruesome cases helped take his mind off his own demon.

Gradually, he was able to return to his normal self, and started to relax and enjoy life again – yet still he refused to come back to the island.

Not until his last mission before he went back here – which he did not remember at all and it suddenly caused an uneasiness in his gut.

There was a time when he trusted his gut instinct more than anything else, which earned him the position of the Team Leader at such a young age, and the same gut instinct told him – no, screamed at him to be on a full alert ever since he entered the dark forest. They only calmed down after he saw the golden ginkgo tree – and Azusa.

It was strange how the woman he met just barely yesterday could cause him to feel peace instantly. If he didn't know better, he would suspect that she was a witch who bewitched him.

He met his share of gorgeous, smart women, and had the privilege to date them, but nothing came close to this one.

When she said that this was his safe place, he instantly took it as if she was his safe place – as strange as it sounded.

So when she took his hand and squeezed it, and suggested that they call reinforcement to help with the search, he agreed immediately and took out his phone to call his dad.

Only to find that the phone had no bar.

Azusa gave him her phone and he saw that she had full bars.

"Your father is on speed dial 3, Chiori-san 1 and Kenji-san 2." She informed him.

He nodded and dialed 3 – his father – and the line connected immediately, as if his father was waiting for this call.

"Yes, Azusa? I thought you had Toru with you? I didn't expect to be called at this time." He chuckled. "Don't tell me he had… difficulties?" His voice was full of concern, Toru couldn't help but blushed.

"Dad! What are you saying? Jesus!"

"Oh? Toru? Are you calling to brag about your conquest? How was it, son? Mission accomplished?"

"The hell are you talking about? You sound so perverted, Jesus." Toru sighed and Azusa giggled. She could hear the conversation since it was really quiet and the voice carried on. "There's an emergency, dad. Chiori-san asked me to help her to locate Chikara. Apparently he's not coming home or to the gas station and no one could reach him since this afternoon."

Genji became silent immediately.

He knew the implication of this situation, although it might look like a youngster's rebellion – the fact that a similar thing happened many years ago… to his own son.

But the perpetrator had already gone and he would be the first one to know if she entered the island – if she was able to. He knew that not everyone knew about what exactly happened back then, and out of respect for Chiori, he did not press charges ever since they were all still minors.

It was such a dark moment for all of them, thankfully Toru turned out to be a decent man after all. But he did not want the same thing to happen to Chikara. The boy was too naive for his own good and he didn't even know what happened to his sister to suddenly be shipped away like that out of the blue.

But could it be? Would Chiaki be crazy enough to repeat her manic episode just to get Toru back? Especially he expressed his interest in Azusa.

He needed to call the man he asked to keep an eye for Chiaki now, to make sure that this was not her doing. And apparently Toru knew it too.

"I will inform them and meet you at Azusa's house. I have a phone call to make first."