It took about ten minutes to walk to the playground.
By the time Garam had made it out of one alley, Chichi had already darted ahead and come back three times.
“Come on!”
“You think I can keep up with you?”
“Then run!”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't want to run.”
Chichi stopped right there and stared intently at Garam.
She looked utterly unable to understand why anyone would choose not to run when they could.
Then she spotted a leaf rolling along the roadside, pushed by the wind.
Her ears perked up.
“…Huh?”
Forgetting that she'd been urging Garam to hurry just moments ago, she lowered herself toward the leaf.
Once.
Twice.
Every time the wind blew, the dry leaf darted away across the road.
Chichi's rear end started wiggling.
“Chichi.”
Boss, who had been walking ahead, called her in a low voice.
Chichi froze.
“Yeah?”
“Work.”
Chichi looked back and forth between the leaf and Boss.
Her disappointment was written all over her face.
“…I know.”
In the end, she gave up on the leaf and followed Boss.
Garam let out a quiet laugh as he watched her.
“Good job holding back.”
“I was going to hold back anyway.”
“What if Boss hadn't called you?”
Chichi didn't answer.
Instead, she walked a little faster.
Boss was several steps ahead of the other two cats.
That didn't mean he was hurrying.
He wasn't frantically turning his head from side to side, either.
He looked like he was simply taking a normal walk through the neighborhood.
But Garam knew better.
When Boss was that quiet, it didn't mean he wasn't looking at anything. If anything, it meant he was taking in all sorts of things.
Garam asked, “See anything?”
“Not yet.”
“Then why do you look so serious?”
Boss didn't answer.
Chichi cut in from beside him.
“I see things too.”
“Like what?”
“Everything.”
“Everything what?”
Chichi glanced rapidly around them.
“There are people, and birds, and bicycles, and a bug over there.”
As she said the last word, her gaze shifted toward the wall.
A tiny flying insect was buzzing in the sunlight.
Chichi lifted one front paw slightly.
Boss said, “Chichi.”
“…I'm not going to catch it.”
Her paw came back down.
Garam swallowed a laugh.
Just then, a familiar voice came from atop the wall.
“You're here.”
A black cat sat in the shadow of the wall.
If not for his golden eyes, they might have walked right past him.
“Goro.”
Garam looked up.
“You got here already?”
“Yeah.”
“You checked the playground?”
“The parts visible from outside.”
Goro slipped silently down from the wall.
“I didn't see the stuffed animal. There are a few kids and two guardians. No caretaker.”
Garam took his phone from his pocket and pulled up the picture the child had given him.
A rabbit stuffed animal made of yellow fabric.
Its right ear was folded over.
A red ribbon was tied around its neck.
It was about the size of two adult palms placed together.
It wouldn't have been especially noticeable if it were hanging from a bag charm, but it was large enough that someone who passed close by might remember it.
“They said the playground was where they thought they last saw it, right?”
Boss gave a short answer.
“Yeah.”
“Let's start by checking here.”
Chichi immediately raised a front paw.
“I'll check everything!”
“Wait.”
“Why?”
“Watch out for people's feet.”
“Okay!”
“And don't follow anything just because it looks interesting.”
Chichi looked at Garam.
“I don't do that.”
Boss and Goro both looked at her at the same time.
Chichi's ears tilted slightly backward.
“…I only do it a little.”
Garam laughed.
“Sure. Go do it just a little.”
Taking that as permission, Chichi excitedly dashed into the playground.
Kkami was already on the job at the playground.
More precisely, he was sitting on a bench while two elementary school kids showered him with compliments.
“He's so pretty.”
“Look at his paws. They look like he's wearing white socks.”
Kkami sat with his front paws neatly together and his tail curled along his side.
Judging by his expression alone, it might have seemed as if he were merely tolerating the humans' unexpected praise, but Garam knew better.
That was the pose Kkami used when he wanted to show off his looks to best advantage.
“Kkami.”
At Garam's call, Kkami only turned his head.
“You're here?”
“What are you doing?”
“Working.”
“Dealing with people.”
It wasn't wrong.
The kids had no intention of leaving the playground while they were busy admiring Kkami.
Garam showed them the screen of his phone.
“Have you seen this stuffed animal before?”
The first child shook their head.
“No.”
The child beside them leaned closer to look at the picture.
“I think I have.”
Garam's expression changed.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Where?”
The child pointed farther inside the playground.
“Near the slide over there.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“Do you remember what time?”
The child thought for a moment.
The other child said, “It was before we went to our academy, so around five?”
“Was it lying on the ground then?”
“No.”
Garam paused at the answer.
“Then?”
“A girl was holding it.”
Garam pictured the client.
“About this tall?”
He indicated the height with his hand, and the child nodded.
“Yeah.”
“And she was wearing something like a school gym uniform?”
“That's right.”
It must have been the client.
At least until around five, she had still had the stuffed animal with her.
Garam asked again, “Do you remember if she was still carrying it when she left the playground?”
The child pursed their lips and thought.
“I don't know.”
“That's okay.”
Garam smiled and put his phone away.
“Thanks.”
The children went back to petting Kkami.
As soon as Garam left, Kkami naturally hopped down beneath the bench.
“How'd it go?”
“With what?”
“Me keeping those people occupied.”
“Yeah. It helped.”
Kkami's tail lifted slightly.
“Payment.”
“Already?”
“Getting paid for work is only natural.”
“We're not done yet.”
“That's why I'm mentioning it in advance.”
Garam shook his head.
“Fine.”
That was a sufficient answer for Kkami.
Boss was making a slow circuit around the slide.
When Garam approached, Boss stopped for a moment.
“The kid says the girl still had the stuffed animal around five.”
“Yeah.”
“But they don't remember what happened after that.”
Boss scanned the area again.
Under the slide.
Between the benches.
Along the edge of the flower bed.
The playground entrance.
Garam looked around with him.
Even a scrap of yellow fabric would have stood out, but there was nothing.
A moment later, Chichi popped out from beneath the jungle gym.
“It's not here!”
“You checked everywhere?”
“Yep!”
Chichi immediately ran toward the swings.
A few seconds later—
“Not here either!”
This time, the flower bed.
“Nothing!”
Then beneath the bench.
“Nothing!”
And suddenly, she stopped.
Garam followed her gaze.
A tiny lizard was slipping between the stones in the flower bed.
Chichi's eyes lit up.
Her front paw rose slowly.
Boss said one word.
“Stuffed animal.”
Chichi's paw froze.
“…I know.”
The lizard vanished into the gap between the stones.
Chichi looked terribly disappointed, but she started searching again.
Watching her, Garam asked Boss, “Do you think it was dropped at the playground?”
Boss didn't answer right away.
He walked toward the entrance, scanning the area as he went.
“Don't know.”
Garam looked at him, a little surprised.
Boss was usually quick to make a judgment.
“Why?”
“All we know is that it was last seen here.”
“Yeah.”
“That doesn't mean it was dropped here.”
Garam nodded.
He was right.
The child's memory was only that they thought they had seen it at the playground.
Thanks to the witness they'd just found, all they had confirmed was that the girl still had it around five.
They still didn't know where she'd lost it afterward, somewhere along the way to the market.
Garam took out his phone.
He checked the route the client had described again.
From the playground to the market.
A little over fifteen minutes on foot.
There were two small alleys along the way.
“If it didn't leave from here, we should check the route to the market.”
Boss nodded.
“Yeah.”
Garam called for Chichi.
“Chichi!”
There was no answer.
“…Chichi?”
Kkami looked around.
“She went that way a minute ago.”
Garam's gaze turned toward the playground exit.
Boss turned his head as well.
Then, a moment later, Chichi's voice came from far away.
“Garam!”
Garam sighed first.
“She saw something again, didn't she?”
Boss was already moving.
“Let's go.”
Chichi was in the alley beside the playground.
She was staring down at something in front of the recycling area.
Garam hurried over, slightly out of breath.
“Why'd you suddenly come all the way here?”
Chichi pointed at the ground with a front paw.
“That thing flew away.”
A small plastic wrapper lay on the ground.
Whenever the wind blew, it rustled and shifted a little.
Garam stared at Chichi.
“…You followed that?”
“Yeah.”
“While you were searching?”
“Yeah.”
Kkami arrived belatedly and said, “Of course.”
Chichi bristled.
“But it brought me here!”
“Why?”
“Look at that!”
This time, Chichi pointed beneath a pile of discarded paper.
Garam crouched down.
Between the cardboard boxes and plastic bags, a scrap of red fabric was caught.
It was a small piece, about two finger joints long.
Garam carefully picked it up.
The rabbit stuffed animal in the picture had a red ribbon tied around its neck.
“It looks similar.”
Goro was standing beside Garam before he knew it.
Garam wasn't surprised anymore.
He was gradually getting used to it.
Goro examined the scrap of fabric.
“It wasn't cut.”
“That's what it looks like to me.”
The threads at the end had come loose roughly.
It didn't look like it had been cut with scissors or a knife. It looked as if it had caught on something and been pulled.
Kkami asked, “You think it's from the rabbit?”
Garam didn't answer right away.
The color was similar.
The material also looked quite similar to the one in the picture.
But that wasn't enough to confirm that it was the same ribbon.
“We don't know yet,” Garam said.
“It isn't the only red ribbon in the world.”
Boss scanned the area.
The narrow alley beside the recycling area continued in the direction of the market.
Garam said, “Still, it overlaps with the route.”
“Yeah.”
“They could have come this way from the playground to the market.”
Boss examined the spot where they'd found the ribbon scrap, then checked the surrounding fences and boxes one by one.
“Let's search a little more.”
Goro went behind the recycling area first.
Garam tried to follow, but the space was too narrow.
Goro's black body quickly disappeared between the boxes.
A moment later—
“Here.”
Garam crouched down.
Goro was looking beneath a low metal fence.
A single, very fine yellow thread was caught on the end of the fence.
Garam leaned in for a closer look without touching it.
“Yellow.”
Chichi's eyes widened.
“The rabbit?”
“It could be. Or it might not be.”
Garam looked at the picture on his phone again.
The rabbit in the picture was also made of yellow fabric.
But he couldn't be certain based on a single thread.
Boss seemed to be thinking along the same lines. He didn't head straight for the market, either.
Instead, he spent a long while inspecting the area around the fence.
“It could have rolled this far after falling from the bag.”
Garam said, “Someone could have carried it here, too.”
Goro added, “It could be evidence from something else.”
Chichi tilted her head.
“Then we don't know anything?”
“We know more than nothing.”
Garam placed the ribbon scrap in a small zip-top bag.
“We found a similar trace along the route after the playground.”
Boss looked toward the alley leading to the market.
“We can check that way, too.”
“Yeah.”
Garam nodded.
They still couldn't tell how the stuffed animal had moved.
But it was becoming more likely that it hadn't simply been dropped in some corner of the playground, just as they'd first assumed.
Chichi raised her tail.
“So, the market?”
“The market.”
“I'll go first this time!”
Garam immediately held out a hand.
“Wait.”
Chichi stopped.
“Why?”
“This time, don't wander off halfway through because you see something.”
Chichi looked aggrieved as she glanced at the plastic wrapper.
“But I followed that thing here, and that's how we found this!”
Garam was at a loss for words.
Kkami laughed beside him.
“She isn't wrong.”
Goro quietly added, “Technically.”
Only Boss gave a short reply.
“Still, don't wander off.”
Chichi thought about it for a moment.
“Not even a little?”
“Not even a little.”
“…Fine.”
She answered, but she didn't look very satisfied.
Garam patted Chichi on the head once.
“But if you see something strange, let us know.”
Chichi's ears perked up again.
“Anything?”
“Anything that seems like it might be related to the case.”
“How am I supposed to know that?”
Garam thought for a moment.
“…Just tell us.”
“Okay!”
Chichi perked up immediately.
Garam looked down the alley leading toward the market.
The stuffed animal had still been with the girl around five at the playground.
After that, they had found a red ribbon and a yellow thread along her route.
There was still no guarantee either one belonged to the rabbit.
But they had more than enough reason to check.
“Let's go.”
Boss moved first.
Chichi ran alongside him.
Kkami followed leisurely beside Garam, while Goro faded from sight again at some point.
Garam glanced down at the zip-top bag in his hand.
The yellow rabbit was still nowhere to be found.
But compared to before, the path they needed to search had narrowed a little.
The road from the playground to the market.
Somewhere along it.
There might be another clue waiting for them.
Episode 2: Rabbits Don't Walk — End.