deciphered

enigma's secret III

Suna spent the rest of his day sitting in the room of his cheap hostel, sitting atop his simple futon mattress on the floor, staring intensely at the rest of his father's file encompassed within the darkness. He researched further into his father's profile, discovering much more than he expected.

His father's address was not far from the hostel he was staying at, so he planned to visit soon while still in Tokyo. He lived in the small family neighborhood of Naritahigashi within Suginami City, a town over from the edge of Shinjuku. It was only a subway ride away from the north end of Shibuya, so Suna sought out the next morning to head over.

With his father's address put into his GPS, Suna made the quick journey over to the neighborhood of Naritahigashi. It was around the afternoon on a Saturday, hoping he would be home to answer. Suna fiddled with his hands in his pockets the whole subway ride there, anxious about finally meeting his father again in over ten years.

He walked the rest of the way there, taking in the experience of exploring through a suburban Tokyo neighborhood. Compared to the poorest parts of Nagoya, Tokyo was absolutely sterile—not a single piece of litter was to be seen. The flora was blooming on the sides of houses while the streets were kept clean and smooth for residential use. Everything was maintained accordingly—even the families walking and biking along the sidewalks.

Soon, Suna reached the house designated to the address he had on file. There was a car parked on the side of the entrance, indicating there was at least someone home. It was two stories high on the corner of the street, built with white clay and cement on the exterior. Unfortunately, there weren't any family name plates on the outside of the house, only the house number.

Suna hesitantly walked up to the front entrance, stopping in place at the porch. He took one deep breath before lifting his arm up, knocking three times on the door loud and clear. Suna took two steps back, anxiously waiting for someone to answer.

All of a sudden, Suna heard small footsteps approaching the front entrance—it sounded like a quiet pitter-patter of feet running across the hardwood floor. Once the door unlocked, a small boy no older than four years old wearing bright blue overalls peeked his head out to look up at him. They locked eyes for a moment with Suna noticing the boy also had the same brown hair and light green colored eyes as him and his father.

"Who are you?" The boy articulated in a high-pitched voice, squinting his eyes up at Suna. He held a fox plush toy tightly in his hands, wrapping his arm around the neck while leaving the body dangling on the floor. "Why do you look like my daddy? Are you my uncle?"

Suna was left agape, utterly shocked at the small child answering the door to this house. Other than the obvious questions about where his guardians are, Suna primarily wondered why this boy looked eerily similar to him and his sister. He shared the same general facial features—the same eye color, eye shape, eyebrows—even the same nose. This kid was basically a carbon copy of him.

Amidst the confusion, a woman suddenly popped out behind the child, scooping him up in her arms. She had a worried look on her face while she scolded the boy, mumbling to him that he shouldn't be opening doors to strangers and to let the adults answer next time.

The woman turned to Suna with a sheepish smile on her face, bowing her head down to him. "My deepest apologies for my son, I told him to wait for me to answer the door."

Suna surrendered his hands up, shaking them anxiously while he told the woman it wasn't a problem for him. "Oh that's okay, ma'am. Your son wasn't causing much trouble for me."

The woman smiled while keeping the boy sitting at her hip, quietly sucking his thumb with the fox plushie tight around his arm. "What brings you here?"