Akari was in a hurry to leave her apartment after Rachel had left, the loneliness was too much to bear, she packed her stuff and went to dinner. She ordered coffee and started searching more about Emily and Black Gate Security, she had a gut feeling that somehow Black Gate was involved in her disappearance. The more she researched, the more she realized about the power and influence Black Gate security has over the nation. Akari was so engrossed in researching that she did not realize when Jess came and sat in front of her.

Jess enquired "what are you doing?"

Akari: "Emily's father and brother worked at Black Gate Securities, right?"

Jess: " yup, but why"?

Akari: " do you know at which base they were located, or where her family lives?"

Jess:" I am not sure about their current location, but I remember Emily told me that her house is located in the Cantt area and is quite far from the city. They live at the outskirts of Centuria city."

Akari: "I will have to look into it, it's our only lead."

Jess: "you mean Emily's disappearance has got something to do with Black Gate Securities, does her family is involved in this?"

Akari knew Jess would not be able to take this information rationally and will jump to conclusions, she sighed a bit and then said:

Akari: "Jess I am not sure about it, its just a hunch, but I do feel that I would be able to find something useful there."

Jess:" then I could come with you too."

Akari:" no I prefer to work alone and would not be able to make rational decisions due to your relationship with Emily."

A slight blush spread across Jess's check when Akari mentioned her relationship with Emily. She smiled and said

Jess: "you are good, you figured it out in just one night"

Akari: "it is way too obvious you know. Anyways I will visit Centuria to dig something up, I will update you about the progress on the phone. I should head back and prepare for the trip. I am planning to leave today."

Jess:" okay, I will not interfere with your work, if you need to go alone then go but please keep me posted about any news regarding Emily, I miss her like hell and worried that she might be in danger."

Akari: "do not worry I will find her"

Jess: " Thank you for doing this"

Akari: "Take care Jess, I will be back"

Akari left the dinner and headed to her apartment, she called Ratz, Ratz is a hacker and helps Akari whenever she needs his help. Akari saved him from a drug cartel and ever since then he and Akari bonded and look out for each other. Akari asked Ratz to look into call records and the last location of Emily's mobile phone, she also asked him to find anything about Emily's father and brother.

After reaching her apartment Akari looked up tickets to Centuria and found an evening train, it would take approximately 6 hours to travel there. Akari booked a ticket and started packing her bag for the trip. Since the station was far from her apartment her left as soon as her bag was packed. After boarding on the train, she sat silently and watched across the line of trees and vast wilderness from the window. Centuria holds a special place in Akari's heart, it was in this city she fell in love and lived some of the happiest moments of her life but it was also the same city where she lost everything. Akari always avoided visiting Centuria after that but now she had no choice but to go there and face her demons. Akari sighed when she remembered what happened on her birthday three years ago, this was the city that gave her everything and then took everything back like it never belonged with her from the beginning. Exhaustion finally caught up with Akari and she slowly drifted into sleep. She slept through the entire journey and only woke when the announcement went off regarding the arrival of Centuria. Akari wakes from her slumber and freshens up. She took a cab from outside the station and asked the driver to take her to a nice and economical hotel. The cab driver dropped Akari at a decent looking inn, Akari went in at the reception to inquire about the room but she found the reception empty. She pressed the table bell and waited for someone to appear, even after waiting for a couple of minutes nobody came to the reception, just when Akari turned to leave a person came rushing from the door behind reception and said sorry for not being present at the reception.

Akari was already in a foul mood because of waiting and when she heard the voice of the person addressing her from behind, she could not believe her ears. Akari found herself stunned she was not able to move, she was too shocked to move, out of all the scenarios Akari imagined she never considered meeting her like this. The person came out of the reception and  moved towards Akari while saying:

Person: "Maam I am sorry for the inconvenience, please let me assist you with the luggage and tell you about the rooms. We have... "

Then she too paused when she saw Akari, both Akari and the person made eye contact and stood there in front of reception like time had been frozen. They stood there looking into each other both were too spellbound to speak. Their trance was interrupted when another person emerged from the door and called out Nicole. Nicole was too lost in Akari's eyes to listen, the person again called her out, loudly this time.

Nicole responded this time, she took the luggage from Akari's hand and ask her to follow her.

Nicole: " Maam please follow me to the reception"

Akari was still in shock to respond, she stood there without moving or saying anything. Only when Nicole came back to her after putting her luggage down and tapped her on her shoulder then Akari was able to come back to her senses and uttered Nicole's name softly, like she was afraid to say it out loud and scare Nicole away again.