Visual Kei

As fate would have it, Umi was at home when we knocked at her door. I inwardly partied a little when she threw open the door, a look of slight, controlled annoyance present on her soft, androgynous features. For a long moment she just stood there, her eyes curiously scanning both me and Miko’s younger sister Emiko, before letting us come inside. The guys sat down by one another. Kiiro’s fangirl followed him and clung to him. I sat beside Shinji on the side furthest away from the little brat.

“Man, I haven’t seen you guys in forever. How are you? Who is this?” Umi asked, gesturing to me. Even her voice was rich and warm for a woman. “I didn’t think you guys had a woman amongst your band.”

“We don’t, she’s a friend. Her name is Alice and she’s from America,” Shinji said, smiling happily. “Right now we’re on a hiatus because there’s something we have to do before we can go back to the writing and playing.”

Umi nodded. Though she feigned nonchalance, I knew she must be curious, perhaps even burning with it. I got the impression that she knew of my involvement in their problems, but she didn’t seem to bear me any ill will. However, she seemed to have little fondness for Emiko, something I sympathized with. “I hope it doesn’t deter you for too much longer. My friends are eager to see you produce some new material.”

“This is a long-term hiatus, unfortunately,” Chino said softly, almost unwillingly.

“I am sorry to hear that. What is the nature of this problem, anyway?”

“Alice needs our help finding some information.” Chino’s gaze shifted toward me, his telepathy softly brushing at my mind as he fed me what to say in case she turned her interrogation on me. “We are looking for Miko, the guitarist of the Visual Kei band Fallacy. You may have remembered them as Exist Trace.”

“Why are you looking for Miko? What could she possibly know that your friend would need?” Umi asked, genuinely curious. “She was always a very shy person. I can’t imagine her having information that would be of use to you, Alice. I am… confused.”

“The details are of little consequence, I’m afraid. We must talk to Miko—that is all we can say. Emiko, here, said that her sister disappeared a few weeks ago without saying where she was going or if she was going with anyone. We thought you may have an idea of where she may be or who she would be with, at least.”

“I don’t know about that, Chino. I may have been friends with Jyo at one point, but Miko was always too shy to open up too much to me. But… I have a few ideas. Have you sought out the other band members?”

“That’s why we came to you. Emiko said she was unable to contact them, not that she would know how to go about it anyway.”

Umi’s brows furrowed as she sat in thought for a moment. “I haven’t spoken to any of them in months. Now you’re saying that Miko’s gone missing… Jyo knows of this, probably,” she mumbled, more to herself than to the rest of us. “I can make some calls and if all else fails, I can give you the address of where they were staying last time I spoke to them.”

“Your help is much appreciated, Umi.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She flipped her cell phone open and dialed a number, holding it to her ear. The ringing was loud and could be clearly heard in the silence of the room. I sneaked a look at Kiiro. His face was a mask of serenity, but I could tell by the tautness of the flesh around his eyes that he was displeased by something having to do with Umi. The specifics of my sudden understanding shocked me. I sat in stunned, contemplative silence, trying to understand what was happening. After several minutes, Umi ended the call and began a new one. We watched in silence for several minutes as she called several different numbers, all of which either rang indefinitely or went immediately to voicemail. “Hm, none of them have answered the phone. Do you think something could be wrong?”

Shinji and Chino shared a look that spoke volumes, though the rest of us could only tell that something was shared and not the nature of the exchange. After a moment, Chino turned toward Umi. “Can we get the address? We’ll check on them for you.”

“Yeah, sure,” Umi said, unable to hide the lack of understanding in her eyes. She produced a small pad of paper with several pages full of addresses and phone numbers and handed it to Chino. “This is everything you could ever need to contact them or at least someone in close relation to them. You don’t have to bring this back, but I’d prefer if it were disposed of… properly… after your search is finished. If there’s anything wrong, tell me, will you?”

“That I promise,” Chino replied with a natural, gentle smile.

“Hey, weren’t you on Kamijo’s guest list for the party last night?” Rei asked. “We didn’t see you there, so we were a little worried. Is everything okay?”

Umi laughed. “Yeah, I was supposed to go, but I had a killer hangover last night. I woke up at noon with the damn thing. Kyo throws some great parties, man.” Emiko made a face.

“Yeah he does!” Rei agreed with a chuckle. “That guy’s crazy.”

“Indeed,” Tsurara said, obviously eager to search for Miko. “But we should be going now.”

“Yes, and I apologize for keeping you.” We filed out the door so quickly and orderly that it seemed almost rude. “Goodbye. It was a pleasure to meet you, Alice. Here is my number. Feel free to text or call me anytime. We’ll party or something.”

“Thank you,” I said, smiling as I tucked the paper with her cell phone number in my pocket. When we were away from the complex, Chino opened the small pad of paper. “Where to?”

His eyes quickly scanned the paper in his fingers. “First, we must try Jyo’s house.”