Chapter 2: Where I live

“Who…are you?”

This question echoed repeatedly in her mind. With caution, she took a step back, adjusting the door slightly to the left, and discreetly glanced at the number unit written on it to ensure she was at the right place.

[Unit 02-09]

Her confirmation was correct. It was indeed her unit. There was no mistake on her part. Despite the reassurance, Tsui couldn’t shake off the unease that lingered in the air. More questions are appearing in her mind, and with a serious and worried expression, she couldn’t help but blurt out,

“What are you doing in my house?”

The man’s eyes widened in surprise at her question, and he responded,

“Huh, what do you mean your house? I live here.”

“This is Unit 02-09, right?” Tsui sought reassurance from the man.

“Yes, young lady, is there something wrong? Why are you unlocking my door so late in the middle of the night?”

“No, I live here!”

“Well, unless I’m dreaming or something, I’m pretty sure that I don’t have a young girl like you living with me.”

“This is 11th District of Maleron City, Brickho –”

“Yes, yes, 11th District of Maleron City, Brickhouse Apartment, Unit 02-09. I know where I live, you don’t need to recite my address for me.”

The man interrupted Tsui before she could finish.

“I don’t know if this is some kind of joke, but I’ve had a long day and just wants to go back home.”

“Then just go back home, I want to rest as well.”

“But this is where I live!!”

Tsui raised her voice, overwhelmed with anxiety and panic.

Tsui and the man engaged in a heated argument, both adamantly claiming the unit as their own. Growing frustrated with Tsui’s persistence, the man decided to end the dispute by swiftly shutting the door. However, Tsui was determined not to give up and lodged her feet between the door and the frame to prevent it from closing.

“Let go of your feet, young lady! I don’t know who you are, but please stop bothering me! I still have to work tomorrow!”

“But this is where I live!” Tsui retorted, trying to pry open the door with her feet.

“If you’re not going to stop, then I’ll have to call the police!

The man warned, seeing that Tsui paid no heed to his warning. The man reached for his cell phone. He dialed a number and the call connected.

“Hello! I want to report a breaking and entering case. Someone is trying to get into my place forcefully!” The man panicked as he provided the necessary information about his location and the situation to the person on the other end of the call.

The commotion caused by Tsui and the man attracted the attention of their neighbors, prompting some to step out of their units to check out the situation. Within moments of the man's call to the police, law enforcement officers were dispatched and quickly arrived at the scene.

As the man saw the police arriving, a sense of relief was felt by the man, causing him to loosen his grip on the door.

Seizing the opportunity, Tsui sensed the door becoming lighter and quickly used her whole body to pry it open, forcefully shoving herself inside the room.

A familiar sight was what she expected, but to her dismay, it was nowhere to be found. The room’s interior was as she remembered – the same size, the kitchen, and the washroom – but everything else had undergone a complete transformation. The décor, walls, floor, and furniture arrangement had all changed, as if the place had been completely renovated while she was outside.

Confusion and disbelief overwhelmed Tsui as she stepped into what was supposed to be her home. Instead, she found herself in a completely unfamiliar setting. What? How? Where is this? Where’s my home? This isn’t my home. What is happening? Questions raced through her mind, but the shock rendered her speechless.

The police entered the living quarters, Tsui, who was still too stunned to react, remained passive and did not resist her arrest. As the handcuffs tightened around her wrists, Tsui's eyes darted around the room, desperately searching for something, anything, that she could recognize. Yet, nothing in the room seemed familiar to her. The police officer who had handcuffed her escorted Tsui to their patrol car, while his partner stayed behind to question the caller, trying to get a better sense of the situation.

The man recounted and described the incident to the police officer while the officer diligently wrote down the details on his notepad.

“To be clear, before the incident occurred, you were asleep in your room, Mr. Dovin?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“That’s when you heard someone attempting to unlock your unit’s door using the fingerprint lock. After what you presumed were unsuccessful attempts, you heard a female voice yelling in frustration. You then decided to open the door to investigate. Am I summarizing the situation accurately so far?”

“Yes, that is what happened.”

“Then the suspect claimed that the unit actually belongs to her and forcefully attempted to enter?”

“More or less, yes.”

“Thank you for your statement, we have what we need for now.”

“Will she be alright? It may have just been a misunderstanding. She didn’t resist arrest and seemed confused,” Mr. Dovin inquired with a concerning look and voice.

“We cannot determine that until a thorough investigation is conducted. There might be a possibility of narcotic or alcohol involvement. We will keep you updated. But until then, have a good night, Mr. Dovin.”

The police officer continued jotting down a series of numbers, along with his name [Sergeant Luke] on his notepad and handed it to Mr. Dovin.

“If you have any additional information or questions to share in the future, please call this number.”

Sergeant Luke politely tipped his cap to Mr. Dovin before making his way towards the waiting patrol car. With a simple hand signal to his partner, Officer Anderson who looked younger and held a lower rank compared to Sergeant Luke, he walked towards the vehicle and entered it. His partner questioned him about what had he gathered from Mr. Dovin’s statement.

“So, what’d you got?”

Sergeant Luke passed the notepad containing the written statement to his partner as he spoke.

"My guess is that the suspect attended some sort of costume party and got heavily intoxicated or high," Sergeant Luke said to his partner.

“Look at that weird-ass outfit she's wearing, and it's all messed up too.”

“She might have stumbled into a drain or something. Clearly, she's not in her right mind and probably went to the wrong apartment, thinking it was hers."

During the drive to the police station, Sergeant Luke and his partner engaged in a conversation, discussing their observations, and speculating about Tsui's situation. As they arrived at the station, they escorted Tsui inside to begin the booking process. With professionalism, they patted her down, removing any personal belongings from her possession. Among her belongings, they found only a crumpled and folded comic con pamphlet. Carefully handling the pamphlet, Sergeant Luke decided to take it to the evidence room for safekeeping and potential clues about Tsui's identity.

“Alright, I’ll take her belongings to the evidence room to be stored and see what comes with her fingerprints.”

Meanwhile, Officer Anderson took charge of the booking process. He started on by asking for Tsui’s personal information.

“Ma’am, mind telling us your name first?”

Calm and composed, Tsui provided her name.

“Agawa. Tsui Agawa.”

“Agawa, Tsui. Quite an uncommon name you got there. You a…foreigner? Where you live?”

“No, I’m not a foreigner. I live in this city, on 11th District, Brickhouse Apartment, Unit 02-09.”

Noting down the details on his notepad, Officer Anderson recorded all relevant information to aid in identifying Tsui. Once the formalities were complete, he arranged for her mugshot to be taken. Following the booking process, Tsui was temporarily detained in an interrogation room while the police continued their investigation.

Officer Anderson completed his part of the process and then went to check in with Sergeant Luke in the forensic analysis laboratory.

“Anything coming up from your side, sergeant?”

Officer Anderson asked, as he entered the laboratory.

“Still scanning, what about yours?”

“Not much to go on really, other than the suspect’s name and address. Suspect’s name is Tsui Agawa. Tsui being the first name and Agawa the last.”

“Hmm, quite an uncommon name around here. And her address?”

“Right where we caught her, sir.”

“How did the suspect react?”

“She was calm, answered every question the best way she could.”

[Beep] [Beep]

The quick beeping sound produced by the fingerprint analysis machine drew both Sergeant Luke and Officer Anderson's attention. Sergeant Luke turned his gaze back to the machine's screen.

“Alright, it’s done scanning, let’s see…”

Officer Anderson placed his hand on the table to steady himself and leaned forward to get a closer look at the screen too.

“Fingerprint not found in database?”

Both Sergeant Luke and Officer Anderson were both confused by the unexpected outcome. Sergeant Luke finding the result odd, decided to run the fingerprint through the system again.

“I’ll try to run it again.”

As the machine diligently scanned the fingerprint through its extensive database, several minutes ticked by.

[Beep] [Beep]

The machine once again displayed the same outcome, Sergeant Anderson, a seasoned police officer with years of experience, remained composed. While such failures in fingerprint identification were rare, they were not unheard of in his line of work. With a professional demeanor, he calmly instructed Officer Luke on the next steps to take.

“No worries, this happens once in a long while. You got the suspect’s mugshot taken, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright, run her mugshot through the facial recognition system and report back to me when anything comes up from it. I will head over to my desk to check with her name, Tsui Agawa, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

In the interrogation room, Tsui sat quietly, her wrists secured by handcuffs to a metal bar on the table. Her eyes remained fixed on the tabletop as she tried to gather her thoughts and recall the events that had transpired since she left her house for the comic con event. Time seemed to stretch on, as roughly 30 minutes had passed since Officer Anderson left her alone detained in the room.

Finally, the door creaked opened, and both Sergeant Luke and Officer Anderson entered, taking their seats on the other end of the table, facing Tsui. Sergeant Luke let out a visible sigh and started to talk to Tsui.

“Do you want to tell us something more about yourself, Miss Agawa?”

“What…do you want to know?”

“Anything about you, really, other than your name and address that you’ve already told us.”

“I don't...know what else to tell you, other than I was returning from a comic con event and was on my way back to home. I took the path to the 11th District in Sunnyvale Park.”

“Okay, you were returning from a comic con event, was it from this one?”

Sergeant Luke slid a transparent, airtight plastic bag across the table, containing the pamphlet that they had taken from Tsui.

“Yes, that one.”

“Okay, that would explain the outfit you are wearing, please continue.”

“But I can’t remember what happened when I was on my way back, I think…I passed out.”

“It’s okay, ma’am. We are trying to help you, so please provide us any information that may be of us the best way you can, don’t spare any details.”

Tsui nodded, attempting to recollect her memories and piece together what had happened.

“After I woke up, I found myself lying on the bushes. My clothes were all dirtied and ruined, on my way back, I found a washroom, so I went in there to wash my face and hands. Nothing unusual happened after that until I was back at my place, I tried to unlock my door with the fingerprint lock, but it just wouldn’t recognize mine. So I kept trying until I realized someone unlock the door from inside –”

“And it led to you forcefully entering the place after the man refused to let you in, is that correct?”

“Bu – but I live there, I mean, who wouldn’t panic if they find a stranger living in their house, right?”

“You don’t appear to be lying, Miss Agawa. I’ll be frank with you, initially, we had our suspicion, thinking you might be under the influence of narcotics or alcohol, which could have caused confusion. But we ran tests, and you came out clean, ruling out that possibility. However, what we are still trying to understand, is who you are.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“We ran your fingerprints, your face, and name through the system. Apparently, Tsui Agawa does not exist. We searched your belongings and all we found is this pamphlet, none of anything that could help us to identify you. So we are hoping that maybe you can tell us something about yourself.”

“Does my past help? I was raised in a pretty normal family, my parents’ names are…”

Tsui came to a sudden stop, her mind struggling to recall her parents’ names. It was on the tip of her tongue; she knew them, but at that moment, she couldn’t bring their names to her thoughts. Both Sergeant Luke and Officer Luke were waiting for Tsui to finish her sentence, each holding their notepad in the hands, prepared to write down any information that might be useful.

“Their names, Miss Agawa?”

“I…I can’t remember.”

Sergeant Luke, noticing Tsui's visible distress, decided to shift the focus and ease her anxiety by changing the topic of conversation.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, Miss Agawa. How about your school, any school that you’ve studied in?”

“Yes, school! I graduated from my high school, it’s…”

Once more, Tsui was plagued by that frustrating sensation of grasping at memories that remained just out of reach. It felt as though she had recollected something, only to have it slip away from her grasp moments later. Her memory was a jumble of missing pieces. Names. Locations. Faces. These were details that she couldn’t remember no matter how hard she tried.

“I…I can’t remember…why…it feels like my memories are in pieces. I can’t remember their names…”

Tsui was tensed up, and her hands clutched her head in frustration. The police officers, seeing how Tsui seemed to struggle to recall her own history, slowly stood up from their seats, and walked out of the room.

“So what do we do, sir? You think she has a case of amnesia, knocked her head on something maybe?”

“We’ve checked her, there weren’t any visible wounds on her, and she was behaving fine until we asked her anything related to her past.”

“Then how should we handle this?”

Sergeant Luke stood with his arms crossed, deep in thought, contemplating their next course of action.

“Let’s try… checking the system again. Maybe something will turn up.”

"But sir, we've already tried everything else."

"Just do it, I have a hunch something might turn up."

Officer Anderson, showing respect for his superior's decision, promptly complied with the order without further hesitation. He proceeded to re-run Tsui's fingerprints, facial data, and name through the system once again.

Another several hours had passed-by, Tsui had been sitting in the room alone. Her hands tightly clutching her head, desperately trying to remember any details that might help the police to identify her. She was deep in thoughts, until the entrance of the police officers broke her focus.

“We’ve identified you, Miss Agawa. It seems there was a glitch with the machine, and it couldn’t analyze your details properly.”

“Your name is Tsui Agawa, born and raised in Canada. Your parents are originally from Japan but have obtained their permanent resident status here.”

Sergeant Luke explained, handing Tsui the printed documents for her to read. The printed documents had all her detailed information from it. Ranging from her age, her address to the schools she had studied in and graduated from and even her past employments.

“So…I don’t live at 11th District, but the 9th instead?”

“It seems this was just a case of misunderstanding and confusion. We will consider this a minor public disturbance, so we won’t be detaining you. Just be more careful next time.”

The police officers then unlocked her handcuffs and escorted her to the exit of the police station.

“Take care of yourself, Miss Agawa. I would recommend visiting the hospital for a check-up, as you seem to be experiencing some memory loss.”

Sergeant Luke bid farewell to Tsui with a wave, while Tsui reciprocated with a thankful bow for their assistance. After Tsui had left the station, Officer Anderson struck up a casual conversation with Sergeant Luke.

“So her parents are from Japan, that’s quite a distance from their home.”

Sergeant Luke listened as they walked back to their desk,

“Hey, you think girls from Japan all looked that like that? Not gonna lie, that girl was a real beauty.”

“All right, that’s enough, Anderson. We’ve still got a report to write.”

“Okay okay.” Officer Anderson chuckled.

Tsui walked on the street, looking at the map and documents that were given to her by the police.

“So that’s where I live, Unit 02-09, The Summit at 9th District.”

Following the map, Tsui hurriedly jogged to her home address. All that was on her mind for now was, she had not yet taken a bath ever since she woke up from the bushes covered in dirt and leaves.

Little did Tsui know, a figure stood atop a tall building, its back sprouted with a pair of dark wings. Intently, it locked its gaze on Tsui as she jogged her way back home.