deciphered

enigma's secret II

Osaka Prefecture — Winter, four years ago

"Don't even bother trying to contact him," Suna's mother scolded, wincing at the thought of her son wanting to see her estranged ex-husband, let alone desiring to reconcile their relationship after a decade of abandonment. "He's nothing but a coward, a piece of shit. You know exactly what he did to our family, he betrayed all of us."

Suna sighed while pushing a piece of grilled chicken on his plate with his chopsticks, resting his head upon his palm. He knew this would have been her reaction; and he was beginning to regret even asking for her help in the first place.

His mother, once beaming full of sunshine and radiant energy, was now filled with resentment and hatred for his father suddenly disappearing and abandoning his family. She had any right to be this way, but her disdain has lasted for a decade with the same passion of hate for him since day one. Suna would have thought already that she might have forgiven and forgotten the past, but unfortunately she was the type to hold strong grudges.

His sister was no different. She was only a baby when he left, which only made her become estranged from him as well. Suna was sure she didn't even remember what their father looked like as he's never once tried to visit the both of them in the decade he had been absent. While being raised only by Suna's mother, by default, she had no interest in forming a relationship with him either.

Though Suna on the other hand had different intentions. He planned to see his father once more, wishing to rekindle their relationship. To his mother and sister, his desire seemed out of place, especially after what he did to them—but despite their opposition, Suna was now an adult that could make his own decisions.

After all these years, he still had no way of contacting him. His mother refused to help, proclaiming over and over that it would be a huge mistake he would be making bringing that man back into his life. Regardless of her opinions, she genuinely could not help in regards to where one could find the man; she was just as clueless as he was.

Though, there was only one piece of evidence Suna could rely upon—each year, close to the end of January, a check for one million yen always arrived at their residence. His mother never knew who sent them, and even tried to ask the bank if it was a counterfeit. Yet, the checks never bounced back, and each year, she deposited them accordingly.

She tried calling the place that sent them, asking why they were giving her money and if it was truly meant for her—for three consecutive years, they gave her the same answer: it was a proxy service that didn't disclose their clients. After that, she stopped calling and accepted the checks whenever they came; she usually took Suna and his sister out to eat at a nice place for his birthday.

Once Suna was old enough to know what was going on, he had a suspicion it was coming from his father. Although the checks were nowhere near the amount to financially sustain two kids for the whole year, it was still enough evidence to assume it was child support. Suna did a little bit of research and found the amount on the check was just a little over the required amount needed to financially support two children for a full year in Japan. Granted, it was the national minimum, but nonetheless, the numbers added up.

On Suna's 19th birthday, right before his mother deposited the check, he made sure to write down the name of the proxy service that was sending his family the money. It went by the name of Schweiden Adlers Inc, a seemingly foreign-operated proxy for Japanese businesses. Its headquarters were out in Tokyo, which was a long way from Nagoya—nonetheless, Suna was going out on a journey to investigate.

While on the phone with the proxy company, he was told to meet with a man named Utsui; nothing more than just a last name, presumably. During their phone call, Utsui was frequently dismissing Suna's inquiry about the source of where the money was being sent from, almost like he didn't want someone near him to hear their conversation. All he told Suna was to meet him at the Scheiden Adlers Inc building where his office was located, and he promised he would help him.