Aki had Hiroko's letter in her hands. "Another letter from my pen pal. I wonder what's going to happen next."

Actually, Aki was looking forward to receiving letters from Hiroko. She still didn't know who Hiroko was, but it was clear that Hiroko was kind enough person to send free medicine for her cold. The medicine helped a little, but she still had not recovered fully. It has been a long time since she had received any gift from anyone, and she was truly grateful.

But Aki couldn't believe the latest letter. Hiroko thought she was an impostor! Aki decided to prove that she was as real a Fujii Itsuki as anyone could be. She would photocopy her driver's license, which had her name, address, and photograph, and send it to Hiroko. She wished that an appropriate reply would come from Hiroko soon.

Shigeru almost dropped to the floor from his stool when he read the revelationary letter from Aki. Hiroko could not believe it. The Aki who had been corresponding with her turned out to be Aki indeed, but not the one she knew. But the thing was still pretty strange : one Aki living at an address which was supposedly demolished.

Shigeru looked at the photocopy of Aki's license. It looked quite authentic. He looked at Hiroko, who was obviously looking sad. Her Aki's dead, for crying out loud! "You're still thinking out Aki's aren't you? All this while you haven't let go of him!" Shigeru was worried about Hiroko, this was the first time she had behaved like this.

"Let's visit Aki," Shigeru suggested, "it's the only way to end this."

"You're serious?"

"Yeah, I cannot bear to see you like this. I have this friend living at Otaru who invited me to his glass factory. I can visit him at the same time. What do you say?"

Hiroko nodded. It was the only thing that could be done.

Continue.