Remember Me, Baby.
The Save House

It was almost morning when the car driven by Leon entered the border of Chiba city. An orange gush refracted at the horizon's feet, breaking through the wisps of thin clouds that were quietly marching. The sound of the breaking waves on the beach caught Keiko's attention, but the girl kept pretending to close her eyes. He had fallen asleep several times during the trip, but quickly woke up when the car entered a hollow road or passed a fairly high embankment.

Up ahead, Andrew still continued to focus on the seemingly endless, winding streets along the coast. They only stopped briefly to refuel and stretch the body before returning to drive to a previously agreed place.

Actually Andrew didn't have to go this far. If he follows the original plan, he just needs to continue pretending to know nothing, allowing himself to be interrogated in order to meet face to face with the people who might be behind all this. However, there was now someone who had to be protected by him, someone who meant a lot to him. There was no way he could take the risk and let Sakamoto Keiko be the victim. It won't. He would never let it.

“We're almost there, Captain,” Leon said as the car veered off the trail.

Andrew muttered softly as he looked outside. Ginko trees with yellowish red leaves lined up neatly on the left and right sides of the streets are still empty. The car moved slowly, uphill towards a white house at the top of the cliff. The house stands on its own, with no other buildings in the vicinity, looking like an old, unused building.

“There are no crows around here,” Andrew said as he turned to Leon.

“Yeah, the eagle has returned to its nest,” replied Leon with a big smile.

Andrew's tense body relaxed again. Slowly he put the gun he had held back into the backpack on his lap. He had already tested the young man several times, and it proved that there was nothing for him to worry about. After all, there were no strange movements along the way. The mini-monitor she has always held shows no one has approached or followed since they left Tokyo last night.

Andrew glanced through the rearview mirror and found Keiko's eyes still closed on the back bench. He smiled faintly when he saw the girl still clasping the gun in her hand tightly, even her shoulders looked a little stiff, either from tiredness or from tension. The girl looks fragile and dangerous with her appearance, making Andrew want to protect her even more.

Leon steered the steering wheel toward the yard, then stopped in front of an old white postbox. At a glance, the box is not interesting at all, it looks like an outdated object that is no longer useful. In this modern era, no one sends letters manually, everything is done through gadgets and the internet. So anyone passing by at that place would definitely not think of opening the box and checking its contents.

Andrew immediately got down and approached the box. He opened the lid and reached out to press a combination of numbers and letters on top of the mini keypad. Soon the transparent sheath that became the shield for the save house was exposed, looking like a thin layer of golden-colored hologram that slid to the ground, giving access to people from outside to enter. Andrew pulled his hand quickly and got back in the car.

After feeling safe, Leon immediately re-running the vehicle he was driving entered a fairly spacious yard and stopped in front of the terrace.

“Miss Sakamoto,” call Andrew while looking back, “we have arrived.”

Keiko did not flinch, her eyes closed tightly. After calling several times and Keiko remained unresponsive, Andrew finally opened the car door and got out. He checked inside the backpack and found a series of keys in the front bag pocket.

The sound of “klik” sounded faint when the padlock was open. Andrew removed the object from the iron box, then pressed his index finger on the scanner stored in the iron box. Instantly the lights on the terrace and living room lit brightly or the sound of the front door moving and open.

Andrew jumped two steps at a time and returned to the car. He lowered his head and opened the door in the passenger seat, then took the gun in Keiko's hand and slipped it around his waist. The man raised Keiko's body carefully and brought her into the house.

Leon tailed from behind, but only reached the living room. The young man looked at the contents of the room not too much, there was only a light blue sofa chair and a glass cabinet filled with porcelain displays and some jade.

There were three cream-colored wooden doors in the house. Andrew guessed the two doors in part were the bedroom door, while the back door was for the kitchen. He pushed the front door with his feet and walked in.

As expected, it was the bedroom. Although it looked simple, the room was quite clean and comfortable, it seemed to have just been cleaned. Slowly Andrew laid Keiko's body on the bed and pulled a blanket to cover her body. Seeing that the girl was still fast asleep, Andrew immediately walked out and closed the door carefully.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five ....

Keiko slowly opened her eyes. The delicate leaflets within his chest slowly disappeared. Andrew Roux's scent was still left in the air and anesthetized his senses. The gentle and careful touch of the man made Keiko bristle. He could feel the man's sincerity, no malicious intent or wanting to take a chance when he pretended to be asleep. Or, may the man know that he is just pretending?

Keiko shook her head slowly and opened her footwear. On his tiptoes, he walked towards the window of the room facing the open sea. Because it was on a cliff, the wind was blowing quite hard, hitting the window glass hard. The sound of the crashing waves mingling with the squeals of seagulls hovering over the reef sounded faintly.

Keiko propped up her chin above the hand, staring at the vast expanse of ocean that lay before her. For now, he really did not know what to do.

Strangely his instincts gave the order to believe in Andrew. Even so, he still hesitated a little. They've only met a few times. After all, the man had once blatantly teased her, even if only to joke, but ....

The girl sighed softly. He had absolutely no other choice, so for now .. he could only follow where the current would take him.

***