With clear intentions Kira starts packing up his bags. He knows it is definitely the right time to end it all, with a one-way ticket. It has been planned and thoroughly examined with nothing left to do.

It is 3 am. There’s grass dust all over the table, some on top of the keyboard even. The door is wide open, smoke detectors are on the floor, and a cracked phone with all its guts taken out right next to the trash can.  

This is it. I am leaving. I have the ticket, my passport is in the bag. Only thing left to do is to walk straight out that door with my backpack. And never look back. I can do this. I should do this. But, what about… No it’s okay. I can figure this out. Nobody knows, it is fine. It’s all in my head.

He steps out the door. Without hesitation, he starts walking briskly down the hall. Hoods up, head down. 

One after another. There you go. It’s about 250 steps till the next left. Good. You can make it past that door. Oh no, who’s that? Don’t look at me.

Keeping his head down Kira keeps his pace down the hall. He walks past room service. Her pace makes him anxious: 

1-2..3-4, 1-2..3-4

She’s marching.

Did they find out? Have I been caught? I need to leave. I have to leave. There is no other way. Remember, I have planned this out, there is no way they will find out. I have my bag. There is no way they will know. Except for… THE DOOR! I left it wide open.

He walks faster. Paranoia is taking over. Pictures are running through his head. It’s all chaos up there. 

The cops! This girl will call the cops. I know it. I have to cross over before she reaches the door. Physically impossible. 

“Hey! I have a quick question.” 

“Yes sir?” 

Think! Think! What can you say to stall her? What’s in plain sight? The ice machine. Yes, the ice machine. 

“I can’t get the ice machine to work. Can you help me?”

“Of course!”

She turns right around. Starts walking towards him, a little startled, a little surprised. Why is this guy suddenly out of his room? Nobody has seen him step out for three weeks. Three weeks! She tries not to judge, fails, and indulges her imagination. She gets to the ice machine. Takes his card, slides it. 

It’s not going to work dear. I need to proceed cautiously while she is engaged here. 

“While you do that, I need to use the restroom. I’ll be right back.”

“Sure. I swear, this was working five minutes ago. I will have it ready, did you want the ice in your bottle?”

“Absolutely,” he gives her a warm smile and hands her the bottle, “Thank you!”

Phew! That was close. Okay, now to just walk to the restroom, and take four hundred twenty seconds in there, and then walk out the second exit. Good going. You’re almost out. Well done, for someone like you to be able to handle that so professionally. Good going Kira. 

He takes exactly that long, and walks out the second exit. Straight out the main doors, and into the parking lot. 

Now find the car. It was 5B, that’s another 252 steps in that direction. Good. You can make it.  There it is.

Blip, Blip The car door unlocks. And we’re out. No turning back now. 

***

Kira can smell freedom, almost. His car picks up gradually…80, 100, 120. Hoods down, head up. He is driving way past the speed limit at this point, everything is just a blur. The blaring music has silenced all his thoughts. 

Let’s get in that plane. 

***

“Murder! Somebody has killed this girl. Hurry there’s a murder!” Hotel Finesse echoes with these words. 

A room service girl stands perfectly still in front of the ice vending machine with a knife straight through her rib cage. Her white shirt has been drenched in blood straight down her mid rib, dripping on the hotel floor. 

It is about 4 am in the morning. The cops arrive as soon as they can. All they know is that there has been a murder at the hotel. This is an unusual case for the locals, so they have already called in the investigation unit. 

“Do you guys have security tapes?” The agent in charge asks the manager of the hotel. 

“Unfortunately, the cameras have been down this past month. There was a glitch. Some issue with the hardware.The replacement is yet to arrive,” replies the manager. 

They start sniffing up the clues, interrogating all workers including the manager himself. Everything in place, nothing suspicious, except for one individual who was missing now. 

Yakunori Kira, a guest with slightly abnormal personality was missing. Kira had been at the hotel for a total of three weeks. He had his room booked online and was scheduled to leave exactly one week later. However, he had definitely already left. His closet and his parking space were both empty.

The only thing that he had left behind, voluntarily or involuntarily, was the credit card that was now covered in the victim’s blood. 

The bell boy reveals that Kira was in fact seen with the victim an hour or so ago. It has to be him. 

“Yakunori…” The agent is talking over the phone. “Yes, pull him aside. I will be right there”.

***

This traffic is horrible. I thought I would have been able to make it with plenty time to spare. It’s already 4.30. Let’s run through this again. Straight through the doors, up the escalator and 84 steps till I’m past the security and into my gate. It’s almost over. Ticket and passport in place…

“Excuse me, sir!” An officer reaches out to take Kira’s passport. “We are going to have to ask you to step aside please” 

What? Why? 

“I am sorry officer! I…My flight is at…I, I’ve just smoked a little…it’s medicinal. I am sober.” Kira pleads. 

“I only stayed at the hotel because they have the easiest security to hack, and a simple smoke detector. I just wanted to smoke in peace. That’s all. That’s not a crime! I’ll never do it again.” 

The officer looks perplexed. “Thank you for the confession sir. But, don’t really care about what you smoked. What we do care about is the murder at Hotel Finesse. The room service girl, with whom you left your credit card is dead. And we need to take you into custody.”