Manila, Philippines
Across the sea, a more pleasant scene unfolded a week prior to Anzen Ritsuko's kidnapping.
It was the last day of the school year, it was the first day of summer break, it was the noisiest of times, it was the most peaceful of times, it was the time of fun for students, it was the time of stress for janitors and parents.
In the heart of Manila, at Primo High School, the students all burst from their classrooms with an explosion of noise and crowded into the halls at the pointed hour of four in the afternoon.
A young man of above-average height dramatically gasped, as if fighting for air, as he squeezed through the flood of people. Yun Dacheng made his way out of the crowd with a pop and, as was his habit to do, scratched his short black hair. How his fingers never got entangled in or stabbed by his messy, spiky hair was widely considered to be one of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries by the school population.
He looked back at the crowd he escaped from and remembered he was waiting for someone.
"Yuhua!" he yelled.
"Coming!" A softer voice replied, and a pretty young girl made her way out of the crowd.
Dacheng walked towards her.
"Yuhua! Hello!" He waved with a goofy, carefree smile.
"Dacheng, you can't just call for me like that. It's embarrassing."
Shan Yuhua chided Dacheng with a small pout and lightly poked his arm.
Dacheng stopped smiling and scratched his head again.
"Sorry," he looked his childhood friend in the eyes and apologized to her.
"It's OK." Yuhua smiled. She grabbed Dacheng's hand, and the two exited the school gates.
They walked back towards the condominium where they both lived, nestled between warehouses and corporate skyscrapers.
As they walked, the childhood friends began to chitchat.
"So, you're going to Japan for your summer vacation?" Yuhua asked.
"Yup." Dacheng smiled. "Can't wait to see a ninja museum with my parents!"
As the two conversed, they reached the elevator.
"Oh…" Yuhua looked somewhat crestfallen.
"But don't worry!" Dacheng, noticing her face, quickly added as he pressed the button for the fifteenth floor. "I'm sure Uncle Anders and Aunt Yulia will take you somewhere nice too!"
"I'll miss you though…" Yuhua suddenly grabbed Dacheng's arm.
"Um…" Dacheng blushed and stammered. "W-w-when I get back, I'll tell you all about our trip! I'll bring some rice crackers too!"
Yuhua lightheartedly laughed.
"Pinky promise?" She stuck out her pinky finger.
"Pinky promise." Dacheng linked her finger with his.
"See ya later!"
The two smiled at each other and parted ways. One turned to the left walkway, the other to the right.
Dacheng returned to his family's condominium unit. Soft music and slurred song lyrics came from Mang Cruz's unit to the left, while the chatter of middle-aged gossip echoed from Auntie Ling's house to the right.
Dacheng's family's apartment was medium-sized, similar in layout to all the others in the building. Each room was filled with mementos and family photos, time capsules of years gone by, but the whole apartment was still neat and orderly. To Dacheng, who had grown up in it all his life, it was crowded but not constricting. But now that his parents weren't around very often, it felt a lot bigger and emptier.
Dacheng quietly changed out of his school uniform and into a tank top and shorts. He made his way to the big bedroom he and his parents shared. A king-sized bed and a normal-sized bed lay beside each other, one for his parents, the other for Dacheng himself.
A ninja figurine and a half-open book were placed precariously on the edge of a nightstand next to Dacheng's bed. Dacheng grabbed the book, nearly knocking over the figurine. Thankfully, he caught it with his other hand.
"Oh, thank goodness," Dacheng sighed with relief. "I saved you, Hanzō!"
After seeing the figurine at a local toy store, Dacheng had begged his parents for weeks on end to get it for him, so he considered it quite valuable.
He fished a pack of crackers out from under his pillow and sat on his bed, then began to read the book about ninjas.
It was a book that detailed the history of ninjas during Japan's Warring States period, like Hattori Hanzō, who served under Tokugawa Ieyasu, the third great unifier of Japan.
The sound of the doorbell ringing brought Dacheng back to reality, and he went to answer the door. His face lit up when he saw who had arrived.
"Mom, Dad!"
His father and his mother had returned from their jobs.
For Dacheng, the list of people important to him had always included his parents, Yuhua, and himself.
His father, Yun Deming, was a tall and swarthy man in his early forties. An architect by trade, he believed in the traditional values of hard work and discipline.
His mother, Zhuang Yunli, was a plump woman a year or so older than her husband but an inch shorter. She worked as the head of purchasing at a pharmaceutical company. She could be strict or soft towards her only son, depending on whether or not he was in the wrong.
These were the people with whom Dacheng had spent all fifteen years of his life. They were the only ones besides Yuhua he could truly respect.
"Cheng-er, how was your day?" Dacheng's mother asked as they put the plates on the dinner table together.
"It was great, Mom," Dacheng said. "What about you guys, how was work?"
"Busy as usual." Dacheng's father sighed, rubbing his shoulders. Dacheng's mother nodded in agreement.
"But we finally get to go on vacation as a family." She said with a smile, and the mood was lifted. The family sat down for a simple yet delicious dinner that they all worked together to prepare.
As the family had dinner, they chatted and laughed. Dacheng helped do the dishes with his parents when they were done.
It was hard to sleep that night. Everyone was excited for the vacation soon to come.