Johan had to be one of the most handsome men you had ever seen. With blond hair, blue eyes and pale skin, he had all the traits on would consider attractive. It wasn't just on the outside; he was also well-spoken and easy to be around. The air around him was different somehow.

You had hardly spoken to him, and yet he had already left quite an impression on you.

The local life in around München university was still affected by Edmunds Fahren's suicide, but life continued on, whether or not you'd like it to, and eventually the state of things returned to something resembling 'normal'. Schuwald still wouldn't let the students read to him, but slowly, the conversations of Edmund Fahren's suicide began to quiet down. It was as if the world had slowly started to forget him. It was a terrifying change, to think that one could do something like that to themselves, only for their pain and suffering to be forgotten by the rest of the world, but no human can go on relieving their painful memories for their whole life. They would all forget sooner or later. It was the natural process of mourning. Your little group too, no longer spoke of Edmund or his actions.

The group was had actually gotten just a little bigger, with the handsome law student having joined, shortly after having introduced himself to you and Karl. He must have met Lotte at Schuwald's, as they obviously had known each other for a while. Lotte had spoken well of him, he was the only student whom Schuwald had never yelled at. There was no question that this man was on another level, compared to another people his age. But other than that, you had also noticed that your social insecurities rarely flared up around him. Perhaps it was because of the welcoming air around him. Or maybe, it was because his face seemed familiar somehow.

Even though people were slowly forgetting Edmund Fahren, both Karl and Schuwald seemed to be stuck in a ditch. Schuwald would barely touch his due to his loss of his supposed son, and Karl was stuck between telling Schuwald the truth or simply let it remain a secret while Schuwald wasted away.

''Lotte, you can't force him to tell Schuwald the truth. It's his own decision!''

''I know, but Schuwald's health has gotten worse. He barely touches his food these days, and if he keeps it up, he'll be the next one to go.''

The mood did not match the surroundings at all. It was a sunny day, with barely any clouds to be seen, but there was one big, dark imaginary cloud hanging over your heads. Lotte tried to respect Karl's decision, but was obviously failing.

''I just wanted to see what kind of person he is, and I've seen everything I needed to see. Money is everything to that man, he'll never be able to understand how I feel.''

The sidewalk had been rather quiet up till that moment, but it had slowly gotten a bit noisier, as several children came from behind you, flittering around on the sidewalk. But your group was silent. You gave Karl a comforting pat on his arm, ''You have to do what's right for you, Karl. If you don't think he'll understand your feelings, then you shouldn't force yourself, but I must say that if you do not tell him, then you'll never know for sure, but it's your decision.''

Karl remained silent.

Amongst the voices of children, you heard a familiar one; ''I see.'' your trio turned around to face the newcomer, who stood right in the middle of the flock of children, ''If that is the case, then I have an idea.''

The plan would have its consequences if you messed up, but luckily, it had been relatively easy to lock Schuwald's guard in the bathroom, and bring Schuwald out to the car. Schuwald had told Johan, that he had a special place he had visited whenever his life had gone downhill. The plan was to bring him to said place, as a surprise, in order to get him out of his dump.

When you arrived, you couldn't believe your eyes. You were lucky that Schuwald's eyesight was bad; otherwise the plan would have been ruined, you thought, as you gazed upon the barren land. There was no grass, no pond, no trees. There was no nature to be seen, whatsoever.

''I'm... so sorry sir. This place is just a construction site now...'' Karl muttered, looking down at the ground. You could barely hear him.

''You can't hear the wrens? They're singing so beautifully right now. Just listen very carefully.

Johan stood a bit behind your group, gazing over the pit. ''The forest floor is littered with apples.'' He bent down, imitating the motion of picking an apple, before placing his hand over Schuwald's palm, only to remove it to reveal a green apple in the older man's hand.

He moved closer to the edge, ''Come closer, and take a look at this. What a sight.''

You walked over to stand beside him.

He looked into the distance, sparing no glance to the construction site, as he described the non-existent forest in detail. He then turned to you. ''It's beautiful isn't it?'' He asked you.

Turning your head to the large pit, you thought you saw the image of a forest bathed in orange, and then it was gone. ''Yeah, it really is.''

Karl, Lotte and Schuwald walked up to your side. Shuwald took a bite of the apple.

''I see it.'' Tears were streaming down his face, ''I can see the forest!''

Johan didn't need to say anything else. He was incredible. There was no other way to describe him. He knew exactly what to say, and what to do, in order to make Schuwald believe him. Your group had almost messed up the plan, and he had fixed it, just like that. You definitely weren't the only one in awe of his talent.

It was safe to say, that you had managed to cheer up Schuwald.

The invention of the library was one of mankind's best. It had peace and quiet and computers, the exact things you needed in order to conduct your research. The people you were staying with had a computer, but you'd rather not have them question your search history. After all, why would a young woman research the murders of middle-aged couples in Germany? Surely not just for fun.

Unfortunately, your research had not bore fruit. When you finally had found something that could have helped your case along, the trail went cold. Two officers had quit their jobs relatively soon after the day Nina's parent's were murdered. Then it turned out that both of these officers had been killed* which left you with nothing, once again. You had stayed in München for a while now, and you felt yourself getting more and more restless with each day that passed. You felt useless, and because of that, your negative thoughts had only grown stronger and stronger over the last couple of days, often leaving you awake during the nights, contemplating whether you could actually ever hope to help Nina, or if you should just give up and obey Nina's orders for you to go home.

You shook your head lightly. No, you couldn't. The question had passed your mind many times, but the answer was always the same. Yet, even if your mind wanted to continue, you were not sure if your body could keep up. The bags under your eyes and the paleness of your skin had caused Lotte to ask about your wellbeing several times, your answer always being that you were just a little bit sick. Nothing to worry about. She had accepted this explanation, but had ordered you to stay away from work until you had recovered. Instead of doing the logical thing and using your free time to rest, you spent it doing research.

You blinked just a bit too slowly, and suddenly, your eyelids felt unbelievably heavy. Resting your face on your hand, you dozed off for a little while, before someone placed their hand on your shoulder, and shook it gently. ''Mm, let me sleep....'' You mumbled, trying to swat the hand away.

''I don't reckon that sleeping in a chair will be good for you.''

You groggily opened your eyes, your surroundings blurry until your eyes focused on the person hovering over you, at your side.

''I heard from Lotte that you were sick, and she told you to go home. I'm curious as to why you are sitting here, when you should be resting at home.'' Johan said with a soft smile. You rubbed your eyes, before stretching your arms over your head. Your back felt sore from having been bent over the table for so long.

''I know, I know, but it's honestly nothing serious. She didn't have to send me home.''

''These,'' he cupped your face with one hand and rubbed his thumb under your eyebag, ''beg to differ.''

His touch brought a small blush to your face. You grabbed his hand and moved it away from your face, letting out a sigh of defeat. ''Fine! I'll go home and sleep.'' You went to turn off the computer when you remembered that your research had been up on the screen for the whole time, meaning that Johan could easily have seen it. You looked at him, but he had turned to look at a bookcase, which gave you time to close down the computer and grab your bag.

''I'll see you later then, Johan''

''Why don't I walk you home?'' he said, as he caught up to you. You gave him a confused look.

''The reason I'm at the library was because I wanted to pick up a book for you, since you're sick. I saw this book a while ago, and I thought you might be interested.'' He showed you the book he had picked. ''Aimée & Jaguar**''. Huh, you felt like you had heard that title before.

''That's really nice of you. Also that you're walking me home, even though you really don't have to.''

''I want to. I've really only talked to you while Lotte and Karl were present as well, but I've wanted to talk to you one-on-one for a while now.'' He admitted. You could feel your cheeks burning again.

He was right. You had never talked with one another without anyone else being present. You could definitely feel the difference. You usually preferred to be in a group, as it would lessen the focus on you, but this didn't feel too bad. As you wandered the streets of Munich on your way to the place you were staying at, the conversation flowed easily. You had never been able to do that; every conversation had been overshadowed by you, yelling at your brain to come up with something to talk about.

Just as you waited for the light to turn green, you made the mistake of looking down the street, where you saw someone, whom you had wished to never meet again. There were no cars, so you took the chance and grabbed onto Johan's sleeve before dragging him across the street.

''Is something the matter?'' he asked, while you dragged him further away. You offered him no answer.

''Would you like to come in and have a cup of tea or something?''

''Sure, I would love to.''

Your family members were at work, leaving the house empty, unfortunately. You couldn't ignore what had just happened, and there was no one here to change the subject for you. He would probably ask about it sooner or later. Your hands shook slightly, as you placed the kettle on the stove. You thought of Mila. The strong, confident Mila, who was everything you wanted to be. Maybe you could tell him.

''Here you go. And here's sugar and milk if you would like some.'' You said, as you placed the things on the table.

''Thank you.''

''Um...''

''Yes?''

You gripped your mug, as you stared down at the brown tea.

''Sorry for dragging you like that back there. I just... I saw someone I didn't want to talk to, and I panicked.'' You let out a shaky sigh, as you scratched your arm. ''It's a long story...''

Johan laid out his hand on the table, offering it to you.

''We've got time.''

You grabbed it and took a deep breath.

____________________________________________________

* It is revealed in Another Monster (a sort of sequel novel to Monster, released by Naoki Urasawa) that Nina did not manage to save detective Müller, after he had been shot.
**This book was also seen in chapter 3. It is a book from 1943, about the story of two women who are attracted to each other.