OKAY EVERYONE I’VE LOOKED THROUGH EVERYTHING AND FIGURED OUT THE PROBLEM!!!
so, first of all, chapter 3 part 5 didn’t have any tags, so some of you who were looking for the translations through the tags might’ve missed it. I deleted the re-post of ch 3 pt 5 already~ I didn’t know why I didn’t add tags, maybe I forgot? Maybe I was in a rush? I don’t really remember… anyways, I added the tags now!
Also, there were supposed to be TWO updates! ch 3 pt 7-9 and pt 10-12 were supposed to be separate. But in the archive I used to share docs between @vanillue and I, it was titled 7-12 so I didn’t bother checking twice when I uploaded, here’s the missing part between 6 and 10! I also renamed ch 3 pt 7-12 to 10-12!!!
I hope this clears out any confusion ><
We stepped out of the car and stared into the fishing gear store. There’s one hour left until the deadline at sundown. As long as nothing gets in the way, we should be able to remove the bomb in time.
“Are the prospects looking any brighter?”
“It’s simple. We just have to look for a big-sized van that has tinted glass as if it’s trying to hide whatever is inside.”
The company car was parked a bit far away from the store and we proceeded with caution. To protect the bomb, we can’t ignore the possibility that there are people hiding and waiting out of sight.
The fishing gear store looks like it is on holiday today; there are only ten or so cars parked sparsely here and there in the parking lot. No silhouette of a person can be seen at all. To the west, there is a slope that covered the parking lot in its shadow, making it dim everywhere.
If you turn just a little to the back, the group of towering oil tanks can be seen lining up all the way to the harbor. The tanks were not apart to each other by even a hundred meters. If an explosion is to happen in this parking lot, it will definitely make its way to the tanks.
“Kunikida-kun, take a look at that car.”
I looked over to where Dazai was pointing at. Over there, a small white commercial car was parked. On it, the identification number for a rental car business starting with “Wa” can be seen. Even from afar, its windows were clearly tinted. What’s more, even though it looks like there’s no one inside, the rubber part of car tires are bend inwards more so than the other cars. It’s proof that it has carried hundreds of kilograms worth of cargo from afar.
On my notebook, I wrote ‘Wireless electromagnetic wave jammer’. The paper turned into a cellphone-sized electromagnetic wave restraining device.
“Dazai, while moving with caution against booby traps, place this near that car. I am going to check out the surroundings.”
A wave jammer may resemble a cellphone. However, this device interferes with the electromagnetic waves around it and renders any wireless device close to it useless. Its area of effect is a radius of about 5 meters. As long as we place this near the bomb, the criminal won’t be able to activate it from afar.
Holding the wire gun, I search for enemies nearby.
Even though I was alert for enemies, it doesn’t look like there will be an ambush. In exchange, I found cameras hidden behind trees and bushes. One of them was the same type used in the abandoned hospital, the other was smaller and wireless. There’s no mistake that the bombs are placed here.
A sudden voice makes me lift my head up.
—– What was that?
On the other side of the street, a group of people are gathered. It looks like ten or so people are circling whatever is in the middle and observing from a distance. Their restless face washes an unpleasant feeling over me.
Hiding the wire gun, I approached the group of people. I saw the reason for the fuss they were making.
My breath stopped.
Something that wasn’t supposed to be there was there.
Alamta’s dead body.
“Kunikida-kun, I placed the jammer, what do we do next—–“
Dazai, who called out to me from behind my shoulder, stopped talking when he saw it too.
Why?
Why is he dead over here?
Pushing the people aside and going closer, I inspected the body. There were no after death discoloration. His jaws haven’t stiffened yet. His armpits are still holding on to body warmth. Clearly, he’s just been killed not too long ago. Right before we arrived.
What’s more, there are no external wounds on the corpse. It’s impossible to determine the reason for his death based on outwards appearance alone. Instead, small letters are showing up on his skin like freckles.
The numbers ‘00’ are all over his body. What is this? Are they tattoos, or—
“Kunikida-kun, the police force’s explosive disposal unit will arrive anytime soon. Let’s leave this to the professionals and pull back for the time being.” Dazai placed his hand on my shoulder.
“—Understood.”
I looked through Alamta’s belongings, but other than small change and fake licenses, there’s nothing particularly useful.
Leaving the mystery behind, we pushed through the growing crowd of onlookers and left the site of the crime behind us.
000
While driving the company car, I thought to myself.
Why did Alamta had to be killed? To keep his mouth sealed? But how—
“Kunikida-kun, thinking is important, but please don’t drive recklessly, okay?” Dazai sat in the passenger seat and said.
“I know.” I replied while holding on to the steering wheel.
Let’s organize the situation.
On the surface, there are two cases. The Yokohama kidnapping case and the bombing case. The criminals are the taxi driver and Alamta, respectively. Things are clear up until this point.
But behind these two cases, there’s a different aim under the surface. To create a scandal surrounding the Armed Detective Agency. Exposing the failure and damaged done by the detective agency. To accomplish this target, the taxi driver and probably Alamta too were not part of it. It was all the plan of a mastermind who has been using them.
And the name of that mastermind is, ‘The Blue Disciple’.
‘The Blue Disciple’ controlled the taxi driver and Alamta to commit crimes. And while free of any crimes, the mastermind was able to cause one heinous acts one after another as if they were not related to each other and attack the detective agency.
This attack by the mastermind is of the highest skill. Why that is so is because the mastermind didn’t give out instructions but instead leave the criminals to commit the crimes willingly. The taxi driver and the bomber too, when they committed the crimes, it was in their own territory and with their own methods. They probably didn’t even know they were being played with.
As long as the mastermind is not shut down, the third case will start anytime soon. There’s no doubt that this time it’s to destroy the detective agency too. However, in this situation where we have so little clues about ‘The Blue Disciple’ can we really make it until the end?
Also, there’s one concern.
In the end, what can we charged ‘The Blue Disciple’ to be guilty with?
The only crimes that ‘The Blue Disciple’ committed were taking secret photos and threat. They didn’t kidnap or bombed anything. Because the crimes were committed by the criminals’ initiative, it’s difficult to prosecute the ‘Blue Disciple’ as the criminal instigator of murder or kidnapping. Do we wait for proof of criminal instructions to appear? But—
At that moment, a call came in. It from the President. I pulled up to the side of the road and pushed the pick-up button on my phone.
“Kunikida? We received contact from the military that we are cooperating with. The taxi driver — had died.”
What—!?
“But he was in a military aircraft in midair.”
“That’s right. In the middle of an inquiry he suddenly started to struggle in pain and died instantly. We don’t know what the cause is, but the numbers ‘00’ appeared throughout his body. — Return to the agency immediately. We are going to investigate this thoroughly.”
The line went off. Inside my brain, questions marks are blowing around violently.
With this, all roads leading to the ‘Blue Disciple’ is gone. Our only lead was the person who taught the taxi driver about organ trading, but with him now dead, it’s impossible.
It’s as if the enemy knew of our every move and is always half a step faster.
The enemy managed to kill Alamta right before we arrived at the scene, and now got rid of the taxi driver along with our very last clue.
Just what kind of person is the enemy? Someone who knows everything about the detective agency and our moved up to the very last detail.
Someone who is currently intervening and controlling everything from the background.
“Kunikida-kun, you’re making a really scary face. Are you okay?”
I don’t even have time to reply to Dazai who was sitting next to me.
How did the enemy receive inside information? How did the enemy manage to be ahead of the detective agency?
Once again the phone rang and my thoughts stopped. It was from Rokuzo.
“Hey glasses, is now a good time?”
“What is it?”
“That… the tracing job for that e-mail you asked me to do…. It’s done.”
“What!?”
We still have that. The threat mail we received was signed by the ‘Blue Disciple’, it also gave out instructions regarding the kidnapping and the bombing. If we can get to the source—
“In conclusion, both e-mails were sent from the same computer. It has a lot of protection, but I somehow managed to get through them all. And well—-“
“Kunikida-kun, who’s that call from?”
Dazai asked from the passenger seat. I pushed my arm out to hold him back.
“Continue.”
“Tracing the e-mail was the job I was asked but explaining it is another matter. That’s why asking me about it is troubling, but if you still want to hear the results—“
“Don’t put on airs. Hurry and up and tell me.”
“Fine, I’ll tell you. That is—“
“The e-mail was sent from the Agency. From that newbie, Dazai’s, computer.”
—————————-What?
My trains of thought froze. The inside of my head went blank.
Impossible. Must be a trap. Dazai was always working right by my side. Always investigating with me—
–Someone who knows everything about the detective agency and our moved up to the very last detail.
–Someone who is currently intervening and controlling everything from the background.
“I’ll call you back.”
I cut the call.
“What was that call about? Judging from your manner of speech, was it Rokuzo?”
“Shut up a little.”
My thoughts were in a riot.
Dazai. Dazai Osamu. A new employee that suddenly showed up in the Agency.
Right after Dazai showed up, a series of crime cases occurred.
—I even asked an intimate friend in the Police Intelligence Bureau to check up on him, but its uncanny how nothing showed up.
—It’s as if right then and there, his past was purposefully erased.
When we were at the abandoned hospital rescuing the victims, the poisonous gas was activated because Dazai touched the lock.
Even so, in the photos that went public, Dazai’s photo was not seen at all.
—This person, just how did he dodged the hidden cameras?
A sly and discreet ‘Blue Disciple’. The mastermind who didn’t get his hands dirty himself.
His sharp thinking skills. His deceiving acting skills towards the embassy receptionist. His knowledge on the organ trading black market.
“Dazai.”
“What?”
“We are going to make a short stop on the way.”
000
I turned the steering wheel and entered a mountain road.
There’s no one here, a lonely road.
I move the car forward and entered an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the mountains.
“What is this?” Dazai asked when he saw the warehouse.
“It’s a warehouse we used to use for jobs. It was where raw materials used in factories were kept, but that company moved overseas and this warehouse was left behind. No one goes near it nowadays. I came here so we can have a private conversation.”
“Hmmm, well I am glad to hear that,” Dazai said flatly.
I stopped the car when we entered the warehouse.
This warehouse has four walls and there’s no need to worry about anyone peeping in from outside. If reinforcement comes, I can tell from the sound.
“Get off.”
Dazai got off without saying a word. Before I get off, I opened the pistol’s magazine and checked the bullet rounds.
I opened my notebook, wrote in the page and got off.
“What a really quiet place. You really brought me here to have a private conversation. Well? What are we going to talk about—“
I aimed the pistol at Dazai.
“….What is this pistol for?”
“Why don’t you take a guess?”
“Wait a minute, Kunikida-kun. I thought you hated this kind of jokes?”
“Yeah, I do hate it. If it was a joke.”
“—Someone must’ve said something to you on the phone just now. Whatever that may be I am sure it’s a misunderstanding. If you tell me what that was about, I can explain to you the parts that makes you misunderstand.”
“That’s what I was hoping for.” Still putting a slight pressure on the trigger of the pistol, I asked. “In the beginning, at the abandoned hospital when the victims died… you skillfully dodged the hidden cameras to avoid getting your face taken. Why?”
“So this is about that?” Dazai made a troubled expression. “When we entered the room, I just happened to see where the cameras were installed. Then we immediately found the victims and didn’t had the time to tell you guys. That’s why I was late at pointing it out to you. And that was my fault—“
“Is that so? It wasn’t because you knew where and what the cameras were there for?” I continued. “Secondly, weren’t you the one who suggested we have to go to the Embassy if we want to find the bomber? Why did you think of that one up so fast? Wasn’t it because you knew about Alamta even from before we went?”
“No way, are you serious? You should be complimenting me for that, not use it to doubt me. Are you really doubting me for that right now?”
“About the organ trading syndicate, where did you get that knowledge from?”
“That… I told you, that was at the bar…”
“Tell a more believable lie. Was meeting Taneda-sensei from the Department of Special Forces also a coincidence?”
“Wai… Wait up! Won’t you put the gun down? Then I will talk.”
“Why did the e-mails from the ‘Blue Disciple’ sent from your computer?! Answer me!” I pulled the safety trigger off and yelled.
Hearing my yelling, Dazai’s face became expressionless.
“I see. So the call from Rokuzo was about that? At that age, he really has the skills… He would make an excellent detective.”
Dazai’s voice was flat and his face was emotionless. Nothing.
Come to think of it, Dazai has inhumane features way deep down inside. He’s the reincarnation of an impressionable and charismatic knight that stole hearts of other people with his intelligence and strategy.
Just like the skillful acting Dazai had shown to the attaché at the Embassy, who is to say that the Dazai we’ve been looking at up until now is not acting?
“Explain is words I can understand right now. Or else I’ll shoot.”
“Kunikida-kun, you won’t be able to shoot.” Dazai shook his head. “You are a methodical idealist. You solve all the mysteries and arrest the criminal only after they confess. Judging someone according to the law is part of your ideals. While the truth is still undecided, there’s no way you would kill a suspect in a place like this.”
“There’s no need for law when it comes to the ‘Blue Disciple’.” There’s no sentence for someone who does not kidnap, murder of instigate any of the crimes. “I will shoot. If there is a need to.”
— If his soul is evil, if there is a time where he shows signs of wickedness, you shoot.
Those were the words of the President.
The heavy pistol entrusted in the palm of my hands.
—‘Do the things you should do.’
“Kunikida-kun. Even if I am the ‘Blue Disciple’, and it is ideal to you that the ‘Blue Disciple’ has to be killed as quickly as possible — even so, you cannot shoot me.”
Dazai’s eyes are gleaming with cruelty.
He’s a monster with the lucid intelligence to see through everything.
“Try to recall. The Alamta that was murdered carried nothing more than small change and fake licenses. Well then, where do you think the switch to the bombs are?”
The switch to the bombs is a wireless device.
Without that, the bombing threat can’t happen.
“It’s with the — mastermind who controlled Alamta.”
“That’s right. And if the mastermind knows about the activities of the Agency? If the mastermind knows that we were able to pinpoint the location of the bomb? Do you think they will move it? Won’t it make much more sense to prepare another one somewhere else?”
Just when did Dazai put his hand into the pocket of his coat?
I cannot tell from here whether he’s holding onto something or not in that pocket.
So what he’s saying is the bombs are still around.
And that he can push the button anytime he wants to.
That’s why I won’t be able to shoot.
— How naïve.
“I have already thought that far. Look at this.”
I pulled that thing out of my pocket and placed it on the ground.
“It’s the jammer that was used just now. As long as it is within a 5 meter radius from me, all wireless devices are useless. Even that switch is no exception.”
“Wh—“
Dazai looked shocked.
With my gun still pointing at Dazai, I took his hand out of his pocket. Feeling resistance, I pulled it out.
A fountain pen and a piece of blue cloth.
“Too bad, I couldn’t trick you. It’s just a fountain pen.” Dazai smiled.
If I am not wrong, that was the fountain pen he showed at the Embassy. His beloved one or whatever.
“Any normal human being would’ve believed that. But to deceive your partner that is familiar with your methods, it’s not enough.”
I turned the cap of the fountain pen and pulled it off. When the pen nib was removed, it was not ink, but a thin and long circuited device that showed up.
A compact wireless device.
“Is that the switch?”
“……As expected of Kunikida-kun. To be able to see through that far, amazing.”
Dazai’s cold smile.
“I was glad to be your partner.”
I seethed at his words.
“SHUT UP!”
I took aim and shoot once.
The bullet directly hit the floor at his feet, yet his expression didn’t change one bit.
“What’s your goal!? Why did you make that kind of plan and threaten the Detective Agency!? For what reason did you kill the missing people and place the bombs!? You…. You….”
You are so skillful.
To the point where you had no shortcomings as a partner.
“This is the last warning. Tell me everything. Or I’ll shoot.”
Just what kind of person is Dazai?
Just what kind of person is the ‘Blue Disciple’?
He does nothing by himself and let others commit his crimes for him and he kills them. Then he plays the victim.
Kill the criminals—
—Well then, let’s aspire for an ideal world.
—Not by God’s hands. But by the bloodied hands of our imperfect selves.
No way.
I looked at the piece of blue cloth at hand. The one that I took from Dazai’s pocket.
Haven’t I seen the exact same thing before just recently?
—I heard that there was no trace of the Blue King’s corpse.
—Or he might have faked his own death and is currently in hiding.
The identity of the Blue King has long since been revealed. An elite ex-bureaucrat.
But it isn’t impossible that he had asked a professional to change his face and history.
He could’ve done that to fool the military’s analysis team and his fake death, possibly.
—We had Dazai’s past checked by the office. There was nothing. Everything was blank.
It might be Dazai, possibly.
“Are you—- are you that ‘Blue King’? Did you come up with such a grand plan to take revenge on the Detective Agency?”
“Shoot.”
Right now, Dazai’s smile was full of transcendence. There was tranquility behind it.
“It’s you win, Kunikida-kun. Just shoot. I suppose that was the instruction you were given. That is the right thing to do. You have the qualifications to do so.”
“What do you mean by qualifications!?”
“I don’t mind being shot, if it’s by you.”
No. This is not what I wanted to do. I have to hear the truth, the truth from Dazai.
— If his soul is evil, if there is a time where he shows signs of wickedness.
No. I have to make sure of the truth.
— You shoot.
I don’t mind being shot, if it’s by you, he said?
Is that so?
So it’s about that?’
“I understand.”
I steadied the gun and aimed between Dazai’s eyebrows.
I tightened my arms, closed one eye and locked in on the target. At this range, I won’t miss.
“I am going to shoot, Dazai. I will really shoot. I will have you show me you losing your mind at the very last moment.”
Even at my words, Dazai didn’t lose his calmness.
“Shoot.”
Dazai’s words.
There is no longer any hesitation.
I let my forefinger pull the trigger.
A bullet was released from the tip of the gun.
The bullet sliced through the air move forward,
It hit the forehead.
As if it was snapped, Dazai’s head flew towards the back.
With the force, Dazai’s body bent backwards,
It flew in to the air, then—
It fell.
I lower the gun. A thin smoke rose out from the tip of the gun.
“……”
My aim wasn’t off. The bullet hit Dazai right in the middle of his forehead.
There was no way I would’ve missed at that distance.
I pulled the safety back on and after making sure it won’t misfire, I put it back in my breast pocket.
I bend the fountain pen that I took from Dazai that is the switch to the bombs. The device twisted in my hands broke and stopped working.
I have to think of the next step. I walked back to the parked car.
After a few steps, there was an incoming call to my phone. The signal probably recovered after being out of reach from the jammer on the ground.
Emotionlessly, I checked the call screen. It was from the agency.
“Hello.”
It was Yosano-sensei on the other side.
“Is that Kunikida? Something big is happening! The next threat letter from that ‘Blue Disciple’ oaf has arrived! I am going to forward it to you, so take action immediately!”
“But, I am now…”
My phone screen switched to the e-mail application and the phone was cut off halfway.
I operated the phone to show me the received mail. The following letter has been delivered.
Greetings,
I would like to make a third request to your agency.
Today, I have placed an interfering signal on the passenger flight, JA815S that will stopped its engines and controls.
Please remove the device from the passenger flight and secure everyone in it.
Sincerely,
The Blue Disciple
“A… plane?”
With this, it’s the third threat.
More than the kidnapping or the bombing, an attack towards an airplane is much harder to prevent. It is impossible remove a device from an airborne vehicle moving at a high speed. If we are to do so, we need the military’s aircraft. No, even if the military is to get involve, there’s no way to infiltrate the passenger plane.
Stopping the engines and controls of a plane. Just what does that mean?
Even if the passenger plane stops in midair, it will still momentarily be held up by dynamic force. Even so, if the controls don’t work, it won’t avoid falling at high speed and eventually crashing. If it can’t be steered left or right, it will be hard to make it fall into the comparatively safer sea. If it collides with the ground, it’s the end. If there’s no miracle bigger than the creation of the universe itself, everyone will die.
This third threat is impossible to avoid.
There’s only one way to do it.
I look at Dazai.
Dazai on the ground, looking upwards, his eyes closed.
Then I started to meet the collapsed Dazai, his face to the sky, halfway.
OKAY EVERYONE I’VE LOOKED THROUGH EVERYTHING AND FIGURED OUT THE PROBLEM!!!
so, first of all, chapter 3 part 5 didn’t have any tags, so some of you who were looking for the translations through the tags might’ve missed it. I deleted the re-post of ch 3 pt 5 already~ I didn’t know why I didn’t add tags, maybe I forgot? Maybe I was in a rush? I don’t really remember… anyways, I added the tags now!
Also, there were supposed to be TWO updates! ch 3 pt 7-9 and pt 10-12 were supposed to be separate. But in the archive I used to share docs between @vanillue and I, it was titled 7-12 so I didn’t bother checking twice when I uploaded, here’s the missing part between 6 and 10! I also renamed ch 3 pt 7-12 to 10-12!!!
I hope this clears out any confusion ><
We stepped out of the car and stared into the fishing gear store. There’s one hour left until the deadline at sundown. As long as nothing gets in the way, we should be able to remove the bomb in time.
“Are the prospects looking any brighter?”
“It’s simple. We just have to look for a big-sized van that has tinted glass as if it’s trying to hide whatever is inside.”
The company car was parked a bit far away from the store and we proceeded with caution. To protect the bomb, we can’t ignore the possibility that there are people hiding and waiting out of sight.
The fishing gear store looks like it is on holiday today; there are only ten or so cars parked sparsely here and there in the parking lot. No silhouette of a person can be seen at all. To the west, there is a slope that covered the parking lot in its shadow, making it dim everywhere.
If you turn just a little to the back, the group of towering oil tanks can be seen lining up all the way to the harbor. The tanks were not apart to each other by even a hundred meters. If an explosion is to happen in this parking lot, it will definitely make its way to the tanks.
“Kunikida-kun, take a look at that car.”
I looked over to where Dazai was pointing at. Over there, a small white commercial car was parked. On it, the identification number for a rental car business starting with “Wa” can be seen. Even from afar, its windows were clearly tinted. What’s more, even though it looks like there’s no one inside, the rubber part of car tires are bend inwards more so than the other cars. It’s proof that it has carried hundreds of kilograms worth of cargo from afar.
On my notebook, I wrote ‘Wireless electromagnetic wave jammer’. The paper turned into a cellphone-sized electromagnetic wave restraining device.
“Dazai, while moving with caution against booby traps, place this near that car. I am going to check out the surroundings.”
A wave jammer may resemble a cellphone. However, this device interferes with the electromagnetic waves around it and renders any wireless device close to it useless. Its area of effect is a radius of about 5 meters. As long as we place this near the bomb, the criminal won’t be able to activate it from afar.
Holding the wire gun, I search for enemies nearby.
Even though I was alert for enemies, it doesn’t look like there will be an ambush. In exchange, I found cameras hidden behind trees and bushes. One of them was the same type used in the abandoned hospital, the other was smaller and wireless. There’s no mistake that the bombs are placed here.
A sudden voice makes me lift my head up.
—– What was that?
On the other side of the street, a group of people are gathered. It looks like ten or so people are circling whatever is in the middle and observing from a distance. Their restless face washes an unpleasant feeling over me.
Hiding the wire gun, I approached the group of people. I saw the reason for the fuss they were making.
My breath stopped.
Something that wasn’t supposed to be there was there.
Alamta’s dead body.
“Kunikida-kun, I placed the jammer, what do we do next—–“
Dazai, who called out to me from behind my shoulder, stopped talking when he saw it too.
Why?
Why is he dead over here?
Pushing the people aside and going closer, I inspected the body. There were no after death discoloration. His jaws haven’t stiffened yet. His armpits are still holding on to body warmth. Clearly, he’s just been killed not too long ago. Right before we arrived.
What’s more, there are no external wounds on the corpse. It’s impossible to determine the reason for his death based on outwards appearance alone. Instead, small letters are showing up on his skin like freckles.
The numbers ‘00’ are all over his body. What is this? Are they tattoos, or—
“Kunikida-kun, the police force’s explosive disposal unit will arrive anytime soon. Let’s leave this to the professionals and pull back for the time being.” Dazai placed his hand on my shoulder.
“—Understood.”
I looked through Alamta’s belongings, but other than small change and fake licenses, there’s nothing particularly useful.
Leaving the mystery behind, we pushed through the growing crowd of onlookers and left the site of the crime behind us.
000
While driving the company car, I thought to myself.
Why did Alamta had to be killed? To keep his mouth sealed? But how—
“Kunikida-kun, thinking is important, but please don’t drive recklessly, okay?” Dazai sat in the passenger seat and said.
“I know.” I replied while holding on to the steering wheel.
Let’s organize the situation.
On the surface, there are two cases. The Yokohama kidnapping case and the bombing case. The criminals are the taxi driver and Alamta, respectively. Things are clear up until this point.
But behind these two cases, there’s a different aim under the surface. To create a scandal surrounding the Armed Detective Agency. Exposing the failure and damaged done by the detective agency. To accomplish this target, the taxi driver and probably Alamta too were not part of it. It was all the plan of a mastermind who has been using them.
And the name of that mastermind is, ‘The Blue Disciple’.
‘The Blue Disciple’ controlled the taxi driver and Alamta to commit crimes. And while free of any crimes, the mastermind was able to cause one heinous acts one after another as if they were not related to each other and attack the detective agency.
This attack by the mastermind is of the highest skill. Why that is so is because the mastermind didn’t give out instructions but instead leave the criminals to commit the crimes willingly. The taxi driver and the bomber too, when they committed the crimes, it was in their own territory and with their own methods. They probably didn’t even know they were being played with.
As long as the mastermind is not shut down, the third case will start anytime soon. There’s no doubt that this time it’s to destroy the detective agency too. However, in this situation where we have so little clues about ‘The Blue Disciple’ can we really make it until the end?
Also, there’s one concern.
In the end, what can we charged ‘The Blue Disciple’ to be guilty with?
The only crimes that ‘The Blue Disciple’ committed were taking secret photos and threat. They didn’t kidnap or bombed anything. Because the crimes were committed by the criminals’ initiative, it’s difficult to prosecute the ‘Blue Disciple’ as the criminal instigator of murder or kidnapping. Do we wait for proof of criminal instructions to appear? But—
At that moment, a call came in. It from the President. I pulled up to the side of the road and pushed the pick-up button on my phone.
“Kunikida? We received contact from the military that we are cooperating with. The taxi driver — had died.”
What—!?
“But he was in a military aircraft in midair.”
“That’s right. In the middle of an inquiry he suddenly started to struggle in pain and died instantly. We don’t know what the cause is, but the numbers ‘00’ appeared throughout his body. — Return to the agency immediately. We are going to investigate this thoroughly.”
The line went off. Inside my brain, questions marks are blowing around violently.
With this, all roads leading to the ‘Blue Disciple’ is gone. Our only lead was the person who taught the taxi driver about organ trading, but with him now dead, it’s impossible.
It’s as if the enemy knew of our every move and is always half a step faster.
The enemy managed to kill Alamta right before we arrived at the scene, and now got rid of the taxi driver along with our very last clue.
Just what kind of person is the enemy? Someone who knows everything about the detective agency and our moved up to the very last detail.
Someone who is currently intervening and controlling everything from the background.
“Kunikida-kun, you’re making a really scary face. Are you okay?”
I don’t even have time to reply to Dazai who was sitting next to me.
How did the enemy receive inside information? How did the enemy manage to be ahead of the detective agency?
Once again the phone rang and my thoughts stopped. It was from Rokuzo.
“Hey glasses, is now a good time?”
“What is it?”
“That… the tracing job for that e-mail you asked me to do…. It’s done.”
“What!?”
We still have that. The threat mail we received was signed by the ‘Blue Disciple’, it also gave out instructions regarding the kidnapping and the bombing. If we can get to the source—
“In conclusion, both e-mails were sent from the same computer. It has a lot of protection, but I somehow managed to get through them all. And well—-“
“Kunikida-kun, who’s that call from?”
Dazai asked from the passenger seat. I pushed my arm out to hold him back.
“Continue.”
“Tracing the e-mail was the job I was asked but explaining it is another matter. That’s why asking me about it is troubling, but if you still want to hear the results—“
“Don’t put on airs. Hurry and up and tell me.”
“Fine, I’ll tell you. That is—“
“The e-mail was sent from the Agency. From that newbie, Dazai’s, computer.”
—————————-What?
My trains of thought froze. The inside of my head went blank.
Impossible. Must be a trap. Dazai was always working right by my side. Always investigating with me—
–Someone who knows everything about the detective agency and our moved up to the very last detail.
–Someone who is currently intervening and controlling everything from the background.
“I’ll call you back.”
I cut the call.
“What was that call about? Judging from your manner of speech, was it Rokuzo?”
“Shut up a little.”
My thoughts were in a riot.
Dazai. Dazai Osamu. A new employee that suddenly showed up in the Agency.
Right after Dazai showed up, a series of crime cases occurred.
—I even asked an intimate friend in the Police Intelligence Bureau to check up on him, but its uncanny how nothing showed up.
—It’s as if right then and there, his past was purposefully erased.
When we were at the abandoned hospital rescuing the victims, the poisonous gas was activated because Dazai touched the lock.
Even so, in the photos that went public, Dazai’s photo was not seen at all.
—This person, just how did he dodged the hidden cameras?
A sly and discreet ‘Blue Disciple’. The mastermind who didn’t get his hands dirty himself.
His sharp thinking skills. His deceiving acting skills towards the embassy receptionist. His knowledge on the organ trading black market.
“Dazai.”
“What?”
“We are going to make a short stop on the way.”
000
I turned the steering wheel and entered a mountain road.
There’s no one here, a lonely road.
I move the car forward and entered an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the mountains.
“What is this?” Dazai asked when he saw the warehouse.
“It’s a warehouse we used to use for jobs. It was where raw materials used in factories were kept, but that company moved overseas and this warehouse was left behind. No one goes near it nowadays. I came here so we can have a private conversation.”
“Hmmm, well I am glad to hear that,” Dazai said flatly.
I stopped the car when we entered the warehouse.
This warehouse has four walls and there’s no need to worry about anyone peeping in from outside. If reinforcement comes, I can tell from the sound.
“Get off.”
Dazai got off without saying a word. Before I get off, I opened the pistol’s magazine and checked the bullet rounds.
I opened my notebook, wrote in the page and got off.
“What a really quiet place. You really brought me here to have a private conversation. Well? What are we going to talk about—“
I aimed the pistol at Dazai.
“….What is this pistol for?”
“Why don’t you take a guess?”
“Wait a minute, Kunikida-kun. I thought you hated this kind of jokes?”
“Yeah, I do hate it. If it was a joke.”
“—Someone must’ve said something to you on the phone just now. Whatever that may be I am sure it’s a misunderstanding. If you tell me what that was about, I can explain to you the parts that makes you misunderstand.”
“That’s what I was hoping for.” Still putting a slight pressure on the trigger of the pistol, I asked. “In the beginning, at the abandoned hospital when the victims died… you skillfully dodged the hidden cameras to avoid getting your face taken. Why?”
“So this is about that?” Dazai made a troubled expression. “When we entered the room, I just happened to see where the cameras were installed. Then we immediately found the victims and didn’t had the time to tell you guys. That’s why I was late at pointing it out to you. And that was my fault—“
“Is that so? It wasn’t because you knew where and what the cameras were there for?” I continued. “Secondly, weren’t you the one who suggested we have to go to the Embassy if we want to find the bomber? Why did you think of that one up so fast? Wasn’t it because you knew about Alamta even from before we went?”
“No way, are you serious? You should be complimenting me for that, not use it to doubt me. Are you really doubting me for that right now?”
“About the organ trading syndicate, where did you get that knowledge from?”
“That… I told you, that was at the bar…”
“Tell a more believable lie. Was meeting Taneda-sensei from the Department of Special Forces also a coincidence?”
“Wai… Wait up! Won’t you put the gun down? Then I will talk.”
“Why did the e-mails from the ‘Blue Disciple’ sent from your computer?! Answer me!” I pulled the safety trigger off and yelled.
Hearing my yelling, Dazai’s face became expressionless.
“I see. So the call from Rokuzo was about that? At that age, he really has the skills… He would make an excellent detective.”
Dazai’s voice was flat and his face was emotionless. Nothing.
Come to think of it, Dazai has inhumane features way deep down inside. He’s the reincarnation of an impressionable and charismatic knight that stole hearts of other people with his intelligence and strategy.
Just like the skillful acting Dazai had shown to the attaché at the Embassy, who is to say that the Dazai we’ve been looking at up until now is not acting?
“Explain is words I can understand right now. Or else I’ll shoot.”
“Kunikida-kun, you won’t be able to shoot.” Dazai shook his head. “You are a methodical idealist. You solve all the mysteries and arrest the criminal only after they confess. Judging someone according to the law is part of your ideals. While the truth is still undecided, there’s no way you would kill a suspect in a place like this.”
“There’s no need for law when it comes to the ‘Blue Disciple’.” There’s no sentence for someone who does not kidnap, murder of instigate any of the crimes. “I will shoot. If there is a need to.”
— If his soul is evil, if there is a time where he shows signs of wickedness, you shoot.
Those were the words of the President.
The heavy pistol entrusted in the palm of my hands.
—‘Do the things you should do.’
“Kunikida-kun. Even if I am the ‘Blue Disciple’, and it is ideal to you that the ‘Blue Disciple’ has to be killed as quickly as possible — even so, you cannot shoot me.”
Dazai’s eyes are gleaming with cruelty.
He’s a monster with the lucid intelligence to see through everything.
“Try to recall. The Alamta that was murdered carried nothing more than small change and fake licenses. Well then, where do you think the switch to the bombs are?”
The switch to the bombs is a wireless device.
Without that, the bombing threat can’t happen.
“It’s with the — mastermind who controlled Alamta.”
“That’s right. And if the mastermind knows about the activities of the Agency? If the mastermind knows that we were able to pinpoint the location of the bomb? Do you think they will move it? Won’t it make much more sense to prepare another one somewhere else?”
Just when did Dazai put his hand into the pocket of his coat?
I cannot tell from here whether he’s holding onto something or not in that pocket.
So what he’s saying is the bombs are still around.
And that he can push the button anytime he wants to.
That’s why I won’t be able to shoot.
— How naïve.
“I have already thought that far. Look at this.”
I pulled that thing out of my pocket and placed it on the ground.
“It’s the jammer that was used just now. As long as it is within a 5 meter radius from me, all wireless devices are useless. Even that switch is no exception.”
“Wh—“
Dazai looked shocked.
With my gun still pointing at Dazai, I took his hand out of his pocket. Feeling resistance, I pulled it out.
A fountain pen and a piece of blue cloth.
“Too bad, I couldn’t trick you. It’s just a fountain pen.” Dazai smiled.
If I am not wrong, that was the fountain pen he showed at the Embassy. His beloved one or whatever.
“Any normal human being would’ve believed that. But to deceive your partner that is familiar with your methods, it’s not enough.”
I turned the cap of the fountain pen and pulled it off. When the pen nib was removed, it was not ink, but a thin and long circuited device that showed up.
A compact wireless device.
“Is that the switch?”
“……As expected of Kunikida-kun. To be able to see through that far, amazing.”
Dazai’s cold smile.
“I was glad to be your partner.”
I seethed at his words.
“SHUT UP!”
I took aim and shoot once.
The bullet directly hit the floor at his feet, yet his expression didn’t change one bit.
“What’s your goal!? Why did you make that kind of plan and threaten the Detective Agency!? For what reason did you kill the missing people and place the bombs!? You…. You….”
You are so skillful.
To the point where you had no shortcomings as a partner.
“This is the last warning. Tell me everything. Or I’ll shoot.”
Just what kind of person is Dazai?
Just what kind of person is the ‘Blue Disciple’?
He does nothing by himself and let others commit his crimes for him and he kills them. Then he plays the victim.
Kill the criminals—
—Well then, let’s aspire for an ideal world.
—Not by God’s hands. But by the bloodied hands of our imperfect selves.
No way.
I looked at the piece of blue cloth at hand. The one that I took from Dazai’s pocket.
Haven’t I seen the exact same thing before just recently?
—I heard that there was no trace of the Blue King’s corpse.
—Or he might have faked his own death and is currently in hiding.
The identity of the Blue King has long since been revealed. An elite ex-bureaucrat.
But it isn’t impossible that he had asked a professional to change his face and history.
He could’ve done that to fool the military’s analysis team and his fake death, possibly.
—We had Dazai’s past checked by the office. There was nothing. Everything was blank.
It might be Dazai, possibly.
“Are you—- are you that ‘Blue King’? Did you come up with such a grand plan to take revenge on the Detective Agency?”
“Shoot.”
Right now, Dazai’s smile was full of transcendence. There was tranquility behind it.
“It’s you win, Kunikida-kun. Just shoot. I suppose that was the instruction you were given. That is the right thing to do. You have the qualifications to do so.”
“What do you mean by qualifications!?”
“I don’t mind being shot, if it’s by you.”
No. This is not what I wanted to do. I have to hear the truth, the truth from Dazai.
— If his soul is evil, if there is a time where he shows signs of wickedness.
No. I have to make sure of the truth.
— You shoot.
I don’t mind being shot, if it’s by you, he said?
Is that so?
So it’s about that?’
“I understand.”
I steadied the gun and aimed between Dazai’s eyebrows.
I tightened my arms, closed one eye and locked in on the target. At this range, I won’t miss.
“I am going to shoot, Dazai. I will really shoot. I will have you show me you losing your mind at the very last moment.”
Even at my words, Dazai didn’t lose his calmness.
“Shoot.”
Dazai’s words.
There is no longer any hesitation.
I let my forefinger pull the trigger.
A bullet was released from the tip of the gun.
The bullet sliced through the air move forward,
It hit the forehead.
As if it was snapped, Dazai’s head flew towards the back.
With the force, Dazai’s body bent backwards,
It flew in to the air, then—
It fell.
I lower the gun. A thin smoke rose out from the tip of the gun.
“……”
My aim wasn’t off. The bullet hit Dazai right in the middle of his forehead.
There was no way I would’ve missed at that distance.
I pulled the safety back on and after making sure it won’t misfire, I put it back in my breast pocket.
I bend the fountain pen that I took from Dazai that is the switch to the bombs. The device twisted in my hands broke and stopped working.
I have to think of the next step. I walked back to the parked car.
After a few steps, there was an incoming call to my phone. The signal probably recovered after being out of reach from the jammer on the ground.
Emotionlessly, I checked the call screen. It was from the agency.
“Hello.”
It was Yosano-sensei on the other side.
“Is that Kunikida? Something big is happening! The next threat letter from that ‘Blue Disciple’ oaf has arrived! I am going to forward it to you, so take action immediately!”
“But, I am now…”
My phone screen switched to the e-mail application and the phone was cut off halfway.
I operated the phone to show me the received mail. The following letter has been delivered.
Greetings,
I would like to make a third request to your agency.
Today, I have placed an interfering signal on the passenger flight, JA815S that will stopped its engines and controls.
Please remove the device from the passenger flight and secure everyone in it.
Sincerely,
The Blue Disciple
“A… plane?”
With this, it’s the third threat.
More than the kidnapping or the bombing, an attack towards an airplane is much harder to prevent. It is impossible remove a device from an airborne vehicle moving at a high speed. If we are to do so, we need the military’s aircraft. No, even if the military is to get involve, there’s no way to infiltrate the passenger plane.
Stopping the engines and controls of a plane. Just what does that mean?
Even if the passenger plane stops in midair, it will still momentarily be held up by dynamic force. Even so, if the controls don’t work, it won’t avoid falling at high speed and eventually crashing. If it can’t be steered left or right, it will be hard to make it fall into the comparatively safer sea. If it collides with the ground, it’s the end. If there’s no miracle bigger than the creation of the universe itself, everyone will die.
This third threat is impossible to avoid.
There’s only one way to do it.
I look at Dazai.
Dazai on the ground, looking upwards, his eyes closed.
Then I started to meet the collapsed Dazai, his face to the sky, halfway.
