First Boyfriend (Part Two)

In the dimly lit office, with only the desk lamp next to him for light, Koji had assumed he was alone. Hiroshi's sudden arrival caught him off guard, causing him to fumble the cell phone in his hand as he whirled around in his chair to discover who was standing behind him. His reaction made Hiroshi laugh. As he watched the wave of relief wash over his young subordinate, Hiroshi casually settled into the chair next to him, ready to begin their conversation. 

Glancing at Koji's partially eaten bento lunch, he playfully asked, "Did someone make this for you?" Koji blushed and nodded in agreement as Hiroshi commented, "Having someone who expresses their love by making a bento for you is truly heartwarming." "Have you eaten senpai?" Koji inquires. "Ah, I bought a pre-packaged loaf from the nearby convenience store after completing my rounds. "I don't have anyone who will prepare a bento lunch for me," Hiroshi smiles. That was the thing about Hiroshi; he looked like a big, raucous bear at first and was very intimidating. But as you got to know him, it became clear that he was nothing more than a giant teddy bear. Always grinning and joking. Koji thought he was a likeable fellow, especially when he wasn't up to his usual tricks.

In an effort to divert attention from Hiroshi being alone, Koji struck up a conversation. "Seemingly, it's shaping up to be yet another uneventful evening," he began. "It appears that things can become quite monotonous in this place. "Not always," Hiroshi added, leaning back in his chair. "Every now and then, the red distress light illuminates the night, casting its ee-ee-ee-erie glow."

Koji turns to look over his shoulder to find the exact location Hiroshi was indicating. On the wall behind him stood an alarm box with its unlit red light  on top, a sentinel of impending urgency. Beside it stood the red emergency phone. "Every apartment in the senior assisted living facility was equipped with an emergency button," Hiroshi explained. “In the event that the seniors find themselves in a predicament, unable to reach the phone, they will simply press the button situated within their unit. The alarm is linked straight to a monitoring center, ensuring continuous surveillance. When the distress signal is received, the red phone will ring and we will be informed as to where the call is coming from. Our task is to arrive there as quickly as possible.” Upon hearing those words, Koji pivoted once more, his gaze fixated on the unit mounted on the wall.

"How often have you answered the call of a red light," Koji asked. "Once," Hiroshi replied. "Only once?" Koji smirked. "Yes, there was an elderly man who lived alone on the fourth floor; he suffered a stroke and subsequently died.” In his last fleeting moments, he gathered every ounce of strength to stretch out his hand toward the alarm button, a tragic and desperate plea for help. But we got there too late."

Just as Koji is silently digesting his senpai's words, the red light suddenly starts to flash. It's his turn to go investigate, Hiroshi informs him. As the red phone rings, Koji discovers that the call originates from the fourth floor of the nearby senior facility. To be precise, the distress signal is coming from apartment 49.

Hiroshi guffaws as he hears the details. "Apartment 49? That is the apartment where the old man who passed away once lived," he tells Koji. It's currently empty. It seems likely that a wandering creature found its way inside. You should definitely take a look!"

"Are you sure it is empty?" Koji asks. "Of course it is, no one wants to rent an apartment where a death has occurred." Trusting his senpai's words, Koji takes his time putting on his hard hat and retrieving a flashlight from the cabinet. "I'm off," he says as he walks outside and gets into his car.

As Koji makes the short drive from the office to the senior apartments, Hiroshi's words resonate in his mind, weaving a tapestry of thoughts and reflections. "The old man passed away...he passed away...he passed away. Alas, we were unable to reach him before it was too late. We were unable to reach him.”

Koji's car glides to a stop before the towering six-story senior apartment complex. The night has settled in, wrapping the world in a cloak of darkness, as the majority of the seniors have drifted off to sleep. Koji emerges from the vehicle, moving deliberately towards the entrance of the lobby. His gaze sweeps the surroundings, taking in the scene before him.

As he steps through the door and traverses the vacant lobby toward the elevators, an unsettling silence engulfs him. With a sense of urgency, he presses the up button time and again, yet the elevator remains stubbornly anchored on the sixth floor. Instead, he climbs the stairs to the fourth floor, unwilling to waste any more time.

With a swift leap, he bounds up the stairs, two at a time, and bursts through the stairwell door onto the fourth floor. As he steps into the elongated corridor shrouded in shadows, a solitary red light pulsates steadily on the wall beside the door, casting an eerie glow in the stillness.

With a hint of breathlessness from his hurried ascent, he adjusts the hard hat perched atop his head and pulls out his flashlight, ready to illuminate the path ahead. In an instant, his eyes fall upon a shadowy figure, small and dark, poised in the hallway ahead of him. He narrows his gaze, striving to discern the elusive silhouette, yet the shadowy figure remains just beyond his grasp. With a flick of his flashlight, he casts a beam into the shadows, revealing a pair of eyes that glimmer back at him from the depths of the night. Koji recoils in surprise. With a sharp hiss, it darts away from him, disappearing into the shadows. Ah, a black cat, is it? How did it find its way in here, Koji wonders. Was it truly the cat that triggered the alarm, just as Hiroshi had claimed?

With the beam of the flashlight dancing along the walls of the narrow hallway, he meticulously scans each door, seeking the elusive apartment numbers that are hidden in the darkness. At the end of the hall, he stands before the door of apartment 49, a threshold to untold tales waiting to unfold.

Standing motionless in front of the door, his eyes are drawn to an unexpected sight—a name tag, boldly affixed to the wall beside the door. Koji lifts his flashlight, illuminating the tag to reveal the name inscribed upon it. "Yamamoto." Could that be the name of the man who died in this apartment? Hiroshi didn’t mention the man’s name did he?

With a tightness in his throat, Koji softly raps on the door. "Hello, is anyone home?" he inquires, his voice echoing in the stillness, not truly anticipating an answer. “Hello, I am Koji Omura, from the security office. We received a call for help from this unit. Are you alright?"

With no answer, Koji reaches for the doorknob, only to find, to his astonishment, that the door is not locked. With a measured pace, he steps into the apartment, his flashlight cutting through the shadows of the hallway. Upon entering the kitchen area, he is taken aback to discover that the apartment is furnished. Isn't it supposed to be vacant and cleaned up after the last occupant passed away?

He pivots, casting his gaze across the living room. In that moment, he discovers a television set and a cozy couch. Upon the small wooden table, a newspaper lies neatly folded, while a coffee cup sits, half-filled with the remnants of cold coffee. With a keen eye, he meticulously surveys the apartment, driven by an unwavering resolve to uncover the hidden distress button and the identity of the one who activated it.

With a gentle nudge, he slides the door open and steps into the bedroom. Right there! The flashing red light. He slowly approaches the wall where it is affixed, his flashlight illuminating the search for the button which activated the distress signal. As expected, it is mounted on the wall, just three feet above the floor.

With one hand gripping the flashlight, Koji stretches out his arm to press the button. In an instant, he finds himself paralyzed, as a skeletal hand emerges from the depths of darkness, seizing his outstretched arm with an unyielding grip.

 (To be continued)