Chapter 4 – In the Heart of the Night
第4章 ― 夜の心にて
In the early hours of the morning, Meyra reached into her bag to review the footage. But it wasn't there. The zipper was slightly open. The camera was gone. Her heart froze in that moment. She quietly cracked open the door. Asami wasn't inside. Asumi was still sound asleep. When she turned back to her room to grab her phone, a message lit up the screen:"Thank you for the footage. You could have stayed ordinary. But now… we're watching you."The game had begun.At the same time, Daiki spotted a masked man approaching Meyra's bag on a different street camera. His eyes widened. "We're too late."
Meyra's eyes went blank. Her lips didn't move, but inside, a storm was raging. You could have lived as someone ordinary... It wasn't just a threat. It was a warning. Her father had been a commander, serving in covert operations for years. Their home had been shaped by military discipline and attention to detail. He once told her, "Trust what your soul feels before your eyes see. Stay calm." She sat at the kitchen table, pretending to be present to the sound of coffee cups clinking. But her mind was fixed only on that photograph. She opened her laptop and revisited some previously backed-up frames. She managed to sharpen a blurry one. Leaning closer, she narrowed her eyes. The man who locked eyes with her through the lens, through the blur, through the corner of her glasses...
Meanwhile, Daiki monitored Meyra's movements from a hidden vantage point in a camera blind spot. Using a stationary drone overlooking the street beside her house, he analyzed the morning activity. He had seen the collar detail of the man who approached her camera bag—a foreign symbol. "This isn't just a random theft," he thought. "That insignia… it appeared in the Zümrüd Operation leaks." When Meyra stepped outside, Daiki instinctively followed. Seeing the determined rhythm in her steps, a flicker of respect crossed his face. She wasn't afraid. On the contrary, she seemed to be tracking something. A memory surfaced in his mind—a little girl, eyes full of focus, gripping a toy bow and aiming at a target her father had set for her—with gravity, with purpose.The little girl was focused intently on the target her father had shown her, gripping a toy bow in her hands. With seriousness. Something... was familiar.Meyra made her way to the lost and found office at the event grounds. Claiming she had "accidentally left" her camera bag there, she sought information. The man behind the counter answered indifferently. "There was only one delivery today. A black camera bag.""Who brought it in?""A young guy. Wearing a long coat."As they spoke, voices rose nearby. The man told Meyra to wait. Knowing every second counted, Meyra calmly used the moment to locate and review the security footage. "How is this possible?"The man who returned the bag was the same person she had photographed at the event. At that moment, a shadow shifted behind her. Just as Meyra was about to leave the room, a voice echoed behind her.失くし物を探してるのか? "Looking for something you've lost?" The voice was familiar—yet unrecognizable. She turned around. A hooded figure stood in the dim light, his face obscured by shadows. He wasn't close, but his eyes were locked on hers. Her heart raced for a moment, and she quickened her pace. From the corner of the building, Daiki watched her silently. But the instant she climbed into a vehicle... the connection was lost. Daiki spoke into his radio: ターケット,消えた. "Target is gone." The sounds of the street seemed to fade away. Daiki's eyes tracked the vehicle's route as tangled thoughts swirled in his mind. The radio signal was lost—someone had used a signal jammer. "Why did they want the camera? What was on that footage? And why her?" He searched for answers in the most blurred corners of his memories. An old photo taken years ago at a children's camp. A girl with long black hair, a small blue hairpin clipped in place... and the same necklace around her neck. Daiki connected to headquarters. "Scan the archive for data code Z-23." A file opened in the background, revealing an old codename: Zümrüd Operation — Code Name: Dawn. Below it, the subtitle read: Photographer Witness — 2009 — Ankara — Field Access Restricted. Under the witness file, a blurred name appeared: "M.... A...." "This many coincidences are too much."
At the same moment, when Meyra opened her eyes, she found herself in a small, dark room. Her head was spinning—but she didn't panic. Inside, she heard her father's voice: "Don't give up." She looked around. On her left wrist, there was a small mark—a device measuring her pulse. So, she was being kept conscious. Their goal wasn't to scare her but to extract information. Or perhaps they had discovered a connection from her past.
Meanwhile, Daiki analyzed security footage from a camera near the street where Meyra had been kidnapped. His eyes caught a small detail: as Meyra climbed into the vehicle, she had dropped a tiny piece of paper. He zoomed in. The writing was nearly erased, but a symbol remained in the corner—a child's drawing.
Two stars. An arrow.He recognized it. At the intelligence center's childhood training camp he'd attended, they had been taught secret messaging using this very symbol. Only the "chosen" knew it. "This girl... she was there. She isn't just a witness—she carries a fragment of off-system memory, and she doesn't even know it." Closing his eyes, he recalled that day..."Daiki-kun! Look, I painted this arrow for you!" A little girl, hair messy but smile bright, holding out a wooden toy bow. He snapped his eyes open, racing against time. Using his special cipher-decoding software, he captured the last signal. A heat map of an underground passage, marking a possible temporary base. He deployed his own drones. With a small device, he sent a cipher-decoding signal and whispered... 待ってろ,メイラ. "Hold on, Meyra."
At the same moment, a real voice echoed in the interrogation room:"You were always like this as a child—brave and determined eyes that never changed. Have you ever wondered how real the people around you truly are, Meyra? This necklace... your arrival in town... It's a pity. You don't know anything."
As Meyra tried to find meaning in those words, her eyes slowly closed. Now it was time for her— to bring the secrets out from the darkness where they were buried...