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The first thing Hisako thinks is, my dad’s dead.
It’s the obvious conclusion to jump to. She feels him die, and she can tell it’s a close relative, not quite as overwhelming as when her mother died, but close. So she calls her dad.
He answers, even though it’s barely morning his time.
“You’re alive,” she says, relieved and baffled, and then, “Who died?”
“Someone died?” he says.
She switches to her laptop to talk to him while he calls all their relatives on the phone. Her father goes down the list, getting in touch with people Hisako hasn’t even heard of, let alone met.
It doesn’t make sense that it’s some distant relation. She barely noticed when her grandmother’s cousin died, the feeling still there, but not nearly so strong.
“I don’t have any siblings I don’t know about, do I?” Hisako asks. Her dad is not amused by that suggestion.
Someone knocks on her door. Hisako ignores it.
“Hisako,” Someone says, “Have you heard from Logan today?”
“I’m in the middle of something,” Hisako says.
“Logan’s missing, and he isn’t answering coms. Just let us know if you hear anything, okay?”
“Sure, sure,” Hisako says.
There’s a beat where it doesn’t land. Several long moments where she keeps thinking about distant relatives, keeps spinning out obscure, implausible theories. The knowing doesn’t come as an epiphany, it creeps up on her, slowly and all at once, like shadows at sunset.
Logan’s dead.
Her hands feel disconnected from her body. She tells her dad, “You can stop bothering everyone. I know who it is.” She shuts the computer before he answers.
It’s not like everyone just takes her word for it. Obviously they keep looking for Logan, and obviously Hisako expects them to, wants them to. But she knows, Hisako knows. He’s become a part of her, and he is hers, spiritually proven, fact. Logan was her family, and neither of them knew. He will be a part of her, the fabric of her legacy, forever, and he will never know.
Logan is family, and he is dead.