Third-person POV
[Flashback to when Rathanak was 11 years old, in a shrine within Yokohama at night…]
Young Rathanak was gazing at the old shrine. It was old, the wood was rotten, and the bells were rusted. And then, when Rathanak was about to leave the place for dinner at home, a wind, not the natural one, blew against him, and something went into him. He had no idea what it was, so he shrugged it off and went down the stairs.
However, halfway through, Rathanak stepped on a discarded soda can, and he slipped and fell down the stairs, tumbling to the ground below. That would have broken one of his arms or struck a blow on his head, but somehow, he survived with no injuries.
Despite being a bit dirty, he went home.
[Flashback to the present…]
Rathanak had that flashback while in a church service, where the sermon was now concluding before the post-sermon prayer. Their home church had a Gothic and Neo-Gothic style of architecture. He and his family were Christian Baptists but had personal tastes in Lutheran and Dutch Reformed church aesthetics. They had been Christians for over 2 generations, mostly on the side of Rathanak's Japanese father, Kiro Murakami. They attended a Lutheran-style church in Yokohama, Japan. The church was associated with a Baptist denomination from the Philippines. It had stained glass with no images of Jesus or the saints, just designs of Japanese and German themes. The crosses above the altar and on the processional were empty. The processional cross was only used during the Lord's Supper and funeral marches. The church had an organ and guitars. They were hymnbooks and Bibles behind the pews and screens for the lyrics, messages, and announcements.
The church also had a traditional wooden elevated pulpit for preaching.
The minister wore modestly, only having a simple vestment in either purple or green above his Sunday clothes.
The Lord's Supper happened every 2 Sundays, as it was a matter of choice in the Baptist denomination. The church also had a choir, and Mai and Rai are members of the choir. Since their parents are in Vietnam for their work, the three siblings are used to attending this church themselves.
Now, today was the second Sunday of the month, so the communion service was presided. Rathanak took the bi-monthly role of carrying the processional cross down the aisle from the altar to the other end of the parish hall and back, followed by two deacons who distributed the communion wafers and small cups of unfermented grape juice. The pipe organ and guitar music provided a grounded experience in the service, and this was coupled by the melodic voices of the church choir.
The service concluded with the minister's words on the Lord's Supper from II Corinthians, and Rathanak and his younger siblings ate the bread and drank the wine with reverence for their God.
After the church service ended at 11:20 a.m., Rathanak accompanied his sisters to their home in the neighbourhood so he could cook lunch for them. He had his surveillance time with Lorenzo on the Black Feathers set by 1 p.m. Once lunch was cooked and eaten, Rathanak changed his clothes into casual ones: a blue and black t-shirt, brown pants, and topped them with a pair of black and dark blue shoes and white socks.
He met up with Lorenzo in a café. Lorenzo had just finished attending mass at a local Catholic parish in Yokohama. They both talked about the current whereabouts of Sora and his men. They only have some tea because they will return by 3:00 p.m. after their surveillance time is over.
And so, they set off to the headquarters of Hashimoto Tech via taxi. There, they went into the lobby. However, Sora and his men happened to have arrived from a business meeting in another firm when Rathanak and Lorenzo were scouring the lobby. Sora immediately recognized them as the duo of students who had been tortured, killed, and dumped into the river 5 days ago.
"Hey…" he growled at them without his gas mask on.
Rathanak's and Lorenzo's spines shivered severely the moment they heard his voice.
Sora's men turned off the safety pins of their assault rifles and shotguns and aimed them at the duo.
Lorenzo was nervous, while Rathanak was not, for he had experienced death more than Lorenzo would guess.
"You two…" Sora approached them with a cigarette in his mouth, "…you two should've been dead by now. How…? How come you two are still alive, huh? Did you guys have a death wish?"
The atmosphere was intense, and the receptionist ducked under the table in fear.