I’m Suzu, 35. Today is my daughter Aira’s 11th birthday, and my husband Kenji (also 35) and I had planned to meet at a restaurant at 6 p.m. Kenji plays on a local community basketball team, so his schedule for the day was: game → team party → dinner with us. But around 4:30 p.m., he texted me saying, “Heading over now,” and after that, all contact stopped. Even thirty minutes past our meeting time, I still couldn’t reach him. Growing more and more anxious, I decided to go home, thinking maybe someone had left a message on our home phone.
While I couldn’t reach my husband, my mind kept imagining the worst possibilities. But neither my cellphone nor the home phone received any calls from anyone. Since one of Kenji’s basketball teammates lives nearby, I went to check with him—apparently Kenji was at the first party, but after that, no one knew where he went. Even when I called the police, they couldn’t give me any information about him.
It was supposed to be a fun day celebrating Aira’s birthday… how did it turn into this? All we could do was pray for Kenji’s safety.