Chapter 1
Translator: Kuririn
Editor: Janey
8th
There was rainfall this morning.
A solemn and cold winter rain, as if the time for extreme coldness has come.
I wish to live according to ideals.
To conduct one’s ideals, that’s what I work for. Moving forward without fear, without losing interest, without hesitation.
Alas! To chase after the privilege of being able to dream about the future, will I be blessed to faithfully carry out my professional duties?
If you climb a slope near the harbor of Yokohama, there lies the office of the Armed Detective Agency.
It is a reddish-brown brick building. Because it is an old building and the sea breeze is strong, even the drains and telephone poles are rusting. But although the outwards appearance looks doubtful, it is actually solid, that, even when an enemy shoots at it with a machine gun, they won’t be able to land a single damage inside.
Why am I able to confidently say this? It’s because there was someone who had tried.
It’s simply that the Armed Detective Agency houses only the fourth floor; other than that, the other floors have their respective tenants. The first floor is a coffee shop, the second floor is a law firm. The third floor is empty and the fifth floor is a storage room for miscellaneous things. Before payday, I am often indebted to the coffee shop. Whenever troublesome work comes, I would go down to the law firm and beg for help.
I am now getting on the elevator of said building, coming to work.
I get off the elevator and stood in front of the door to the Armed Detective Agency’s office. Written with a brush, a simple Armed Detective Agency was framed and hung from the door.
I looked at my wristwatch. There’s still 40 seconds left until I have to go to work at 8 am.
I have arrived a little too early.
Strict compliance to time is my motto. In the 40 seconds that I have to wait, I opened my notebook and confirmed today’s schedule once more. I looked over the breakfast time once, the departure time from the dormitories once, the waiting time at the red light once, but because I’ve went through them once, I won’t treat these schedules as dead.
While reading the notebook, work flickered across my mind. I fixed my collar and looked at my wristwatch again.
… Well then.
“Good morning.”
I opened the door.
“Ah, Kunikida-kun, morning! Hey, please take a look at this! This is dreadful!”
Dazai suddenly appeared in front of the door. Smiling.
“After a long struggle, I finally did it! Oh, what a wonderful world this is! This is the world after death, the Underworld! It’s just like I imagined it, look at it! Smokes are creeping along the ground, the moonlight stained glass feels familiar, in the western pink sky an elephant is dancing!”
He gestures in exaggeration and dances in front of the office door. What a nuisance.
“Hohohohoho, as expected the The Complete Suicide Manual is a masterpiece! Just by eating the mushrooms growing on the mountain trail behind, I am able to go down such a happy and pleasant road towards suicide! Wonderful! Hoho!”
Dazai’s eyes are not focused. His pupils are twitching.
“P-Please do something, Kunikida-san!” An office worker looked at me with tearful eyes.
I presume, that even before business hours starts, he was already in this state.
I glance at Dazai’s table.
Over there, lying open to a single page, lies the damned ancient book, The Complete Suicide Manual. The title of the page reads ‘Death by Poison – Mushroom’. On the plate beside the book, there’s a slice of bitten fungus.
What’s more, if you pay attention a bit more carefully, there’s a slight difference in color to the one drawn in the book.
“Hey, hey, Kunikida-kun, come on over to the Underworld too! Look, the alcohol are free flow, there’s endless food, and you can smell the pretty ladies all you want!”
“Please help us, Kunikida-san! No matter what we do, he’s still…”
Long story short, the one Dazai consumed was not a deathly poisoned mushroom, but one that must’ve caused hallucinations.
But, that’s the thing.
Every morning, right after I come to work, he would mess up my scheduled order and scheduled actions. If I can’t proceed with my morning plans smoothly in the first place, will I be able to proceed with the rest of the day smoothly? There’s just no way.
Ignoring the twisting and wiggling Dazai and the close to crying employee, I headed towards my own desk.
I placed the bag on the table as usual. Then I turned on the computer. I opened the window as usual.
“Wow! Kunikida-kun, there’s a gigantic sea anemone outside the window! Banana! It’s eating a banana! It’s taking away the white party blowers around us!”
As usual, I poured the coffee into my cup. I scrapped away the useless documents from the day before.
“I get it! I’ll strip; if I strip the viewer’s ratings will go up! It’s not an easy task but let’s strip, then as a change let’s put on full body tights! Everyone wearing tights, going to the bank, then dance the Cossack Dance!”
I check the telegram in the correspondence cabinet as usual. I downed the coffee in one gulp.
“There’s a voice… urgh, he- he’s inside my head! …A small gramps! And he’s whispering to me, to go to Kyoto, there’s an authentic tofu with a unique flavor that I have to tr—-“
I landed a flying kick to the back of Dazai’s head. He crashed to the wall and fainted.
000
From the start.
The day this person who definitely failed the exam with 0 points became my colleague was around 4 days ago.
“New employee?”
That day, I was organizing the work files for the day when I was called into the President’s office.
A new investigator got employed and he wanted me to look after him.
It was unexpected.
Even though working in the Armed Detective Agency is a dangerous job that involves killing and fighting, I’ve never heard of us being short on staff. In this way, I work as an algebra lecturer at a school as my side job twice a week.
Naturally, like the recent ‘Blue Flag Terrorism’ case, or the ‘Serial Disappearance of Yokohama’s Visitors’ case, or the conflict with the illegal organization of the Port Mafia, etc. the cases that requires the help of the Armed Detective Agency have been increasing lately. The requests coming in for our main investigator Ranpo-san will also increase, I am sure. I wonder if the President’s decision was because he already anticipated this.
“I’ll introduce you. Come in.”
After contemplating for a while, the President looks at the door and called out.
“How do you do?”
I look at the man walking in with a smile.
Sand-coloured coat and an open-collared shirt. He was tall and too thin, dark unkempt hair and unmaintained clothing; but despite the disheveled appearance, he had nice features. I was a bit bothered by the white bandages around his neck and wrists.
“Dazai Osamu. Aged 20, nice to meet you.”
20. Same as me.
“Kunikida, if there’s anything you don’t understand, ask me.”
“Ooh! Are you an investigator of the highly appraised Armed Detective Agency? I am impressed!”
The man who goes by the name of Dazai forcefully grasps my hand and shakes it. He swings it exaggeratedly.
At that moment, suddenly – I felt like a cold and sharp light flickered in that man’s eyes. No, it felt like it pierced to the depths of my mind, just like a monk above the clouds –
But in a blink, that saintly look disappears, and Dazai’s face returns to its normal stupid face.
Did I see wrongly? Was it a delusion of the eyes?
“Anyway, Dazai? Why this detective company? This is not some temple where you’ll be accepted if you just beg, you know.”
“About that. I was unemployed, unmotivated, and frequently drunk at a bar. At times I would talk with the uncle beside me and we placed a bet. Whoever wins the drinking contest shall be mediated into a job. I thought it was a joke, but then I won.”
Who the heck is that old man?
“Said person is the Department of Special Force’s Taneda-sensei. Yesterday he came to greet us with a favour.”
The President said with a serious look.
However, the moment Taneda-sensei’s name was said, my breathing stopped.
If we’re talking about the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Department of Special Force’s Taneda, there’s no one who doesn’t know him in this line of business; he’s the executive of the Special Force Unit. His work is managing and regulating all ability users. Even when the President was building the Armed Detective Agency, he often depended on Taneda-sensei’s helpful influence.
No matter what a bigshot the President is, he can’t turn down a person recommended personally by Taneda-sensei.
“I’ll be under you care, senpai.”
I don’t know if he knows about the unrest in my heart or not, but our new employee showed his white teeth while smiling widely.
000
But, no matter if he’s a super important person that was accepted by the leader of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or not, eating a mushroom and flying into a delusional world all on his own first thing in the morning is really annoying.
This is the third day I am partnered with Dazai.
My heart and soul can’t rest for even a moment, work has not progressed even a bit, and calls of complaints keep coming in.
If I keep my eyes off him just for a second, he would jump into a river. When he says he wants to go for a break, he would end up drinking at a bar and come back all drunk. When he says he received a divine revelation, he would randomly go hit on a pretty lady. Calling him a 20-year-old child suits him really well, behaving as he pleases without caring for anyone else, he tore my plans into a thousand pieces.
Having said that, work is still work, a subordinate is still a subordinate. If I go against the President’s instructions and raise my voice after only three days, starting with the President’s trust, I would go against the Armed Detective Agency’s dignity.
“How is he? The new guy?”
At a Go place near the Agency’s office, the President asked while playing Go in a small tatami room.
“A disaster. He’s like a hybrid of the devil, the poltergeist and the god of poverty in one.”
I placed a black Go stone on the cypress Go board. The sound of the stone hitting the board resounds.
“But, well, I will do something about it.”
After work, I would always play Go with the President at this place. Without anyone else around in this Japanese-styled room, sitting across each other beside the Go board.
“This isn’t ending…”
The President placed a white stone on the board and gained the upper hand, leaving me in a dilemma over my right side of the board.
“No. There is Taneda-sensei’s case. But, why did Sensei placed such a man here?”
While talking, I look for a move to play. Maybe I should aim for a kou at the bottom right corner of the board – no, it will become a mountain of barrier for a yosekou. Even if I persevere on the left side, I can’t expand to the middle and it will end. I have no more moves. It looks like it’ll only take a few more moves from the President.
“Taneda-sensei may have a wild personality, but he has discerning eyes when judging people. He might’ve noticed an extraordinary ability in that young man.”
Certainly. As the rumours said about Taneda-sensei, he’s second to none when it comes to judgment. If not, he couldn’t have possibly commanded the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Department of Special Force.
It’s just that – “extraordinary ability”? That guy whose head looks like it’s stuffed with mud?
“I agree with Taneda-sensei. When Dazai took the exam beforehand, he passed with full marks on the spot. That guy is a born winner. To the extent that it is doubtful.”
“What do you mean by… doubtful?”
“I looked up Dazai’s past in the office. However, there’s nothing. It’s completely blank. I asked for help from a friend in the police investigation team, but it is uncanny how nothing shows up. It’s as if there’s someone out there who deliberately erased his past.”
To think that even the police investigation team couldn’t find anything, it is certainly strange.
“Possibly, there’s simply nothing and he has just been idling around all this time?”
“Maybe. Otherwise –“
A few moments passed and a wrinkle showed up in the middle of his forehead, then the President continued.
“Have you asked Dazai about the ability he has?”
“No, not yet.”
Speaking of which, I’ve heard that he’s an ability user, but I’ve never had the chance to ask what it is.
“Dazai’s ability… is the ability to nullify abilities with a touch.”
I am doubting my own ears.
Nullifying. At a glance, it seems like a simple ability that doesn’t hold brilliance, but even among ability users, depending on how it’s used, it is an extraordinary ability that holds the possibility of shutting down other abilities.
My ability is called “Doppo Poetry”, it is an ability where if I write words on a page, tear it and pray silently, the real thing will appear physically. But, if I wrote it on a page larger than my notebook’s size, it won’t appear. It is a generic, superior and often criticized ability. But even so, it does not exceed “convenience”. If there’s something I need, I just have to carry my notebook around, but it is exactly because of that.
But Dazai’s ability is different.
Theoretically, it is expected that rivals cannot use their abilities because of Dazai. Even the world’s strongest ability user will end up being just an average guy in front of Dazai.
It’s not strange if many nations’ ability users’ organizations come together to scout him.
I’ve slowly started accepting what the President had just said.
“In other words… it’s something like this isn’t it? At the place where someone as great as Taneda-sensei goes to drink, a genius ability user just happened to sit beside him, and they just happened to make an agreement together. A man, who with queer words and actions took the exams and passed with full marks. That kind of person, just happened to be unemployed. Then by someone else’s connection, to the Armed Detective Agency that is very impossible to get employed in, he entered instantly without a hitch.
Isn’t that too good to be true?”
“It might just be overthinking. However, the Armed Detective Agency has many connections to the authority and the police. In this line of work, there might be times where we have to conform to state secrets.”
Certainly, if in the case of a criminal organization, this detective company that works together with the police, it is a profitable place to sneak into.
However – is it possible, that Dazai is a spy that sneaked into the Agency?
To the extent that he is able to outwit the outstanding Taneda-sensei?
That Dazai?
“Kunikida. I want to entrust that man’s entrance exam to you.”
I nod my head in agreement. The ‘entrance exam’ the President is talking about is an assessment that the Agency gave to investigators for generations. It’s just like a ‘secret inspection’. If you don’t pass this, you won’t be accepted as a true employee.
“At work, stay close to Dazai, make sure of the genuineness of his spirit. If there ever comes a time where you doubt him as a secret agent, emissary, spy or anything of the sort, fire him without hesitation. Also, more than anything else, if his soul is evil, if there is a time where he shows signs of wickedness –“
From behind the President, he took out a black automatic pistol from a bag he had prepared earlier and handed it over to me.
“…”
I accepted the gun without a word.
Heavy.
“You shoot.”
“Yes.”
If Dazai is implicated in any evil business, it is the role of the detective company to stop that at the coastline.
A person who holds a detective license from the Armed Detective Agency is granted the same authority as the police. With conditions attached, we have permission to carry guns or knives. We can withdraw information from the police. Above all, by the jurisdiction of the investigation, bothering and disturbing the search, falsification of police information, wiring and bugging of important facilities, every wrongdoing is possible. In the worst case, acting as a terrorist and destroying important buildings, taking away the lives of what hundreds and thousands of people, there are no such impossibilities.
The iron automatic pistol feels cold and silent in my hand.
At the bay where the waves softly crash, the moon soaks that figure with light.
I walk along the hustle and bustle of the harbor. The sound of the current rivals the noises of twilight, the moonlight rivals the lamps on the street.
Walking behind me, Dazai bobs along.
Dazai’s mushroom turmoil had continued on for half the day, we can finally do some work.
“Kunikida-kun, that ability you displayed – was it called Doppo Poetry? Show me again sometime.”
“I refuse. Abilities aren’t something to be revealed lightly. And anyway, every time I use my ability, I lose a page of my notebook. This notebook is a limited edition product made by a certain craftsman, who after a long time, only managed to make 100 volumes and even the price is exceptional. As if it could be traded with your gags.”
I look at the watch around my wrist and turned around.
“More importantly, Dazai, walk quicker. We are going to be late for our appointment.”
“Even if you say we’re late, Kunikida-kun, there’s no appointed time to go to the information broker, so it wasn’t really an appointment, isn’t it?”
“No. I told them by phone ‘around 7 pm’.”
“And? It’s exactly 7 right now. If we walk from here, it’ll only take 5 minutes, so there’s no way we can be late.”
“Idiot! If it’s ‘around 7 pm’, then I’ve set my watch from anywhere between 18:59:50 to 19:00:10, these 20 seconds were decided!”
“That kind of time-keeping, only you would do that though…”
I walked while bantering back and forth with Dazai.
By the way, because my wristwatch is synchronized with the standard time to which I get out of bed every morning, the miscalculation in time is less than 1 second.
“Who was it that ate a Happy Mushroom and caused work to not progress for the day? Don’t even think to do that a second time. Even if you do, make sure it’s the poisonous one you eat.”
“Well, it was a happy hour.”
“Are you already fine? Are you not seeing the elephant in the pink sky anymore?”
“Elephant? Don’t be stupid. There’s no way such a thing can fly, right? The one that can fly is the purple coloured paramecium.”
This person is probably already hopeless.
Every time I speak to Dazai, I feel like my own doubts are sounding stupid.
Secret agent? Evil?
The worst thing he could do is probably jump into a railway and throw the train schedule out of order.
Be that as it may, Dazai is just your interesting average incompetent person who speaks simply, it’s enough just to dismiss him. Although it’s just as I wish –
“Dazai, you remember the request we are going to do from now on, right?”
“Exterminating the purple paramecium.”
“…Until just now, I’ve been thinking that you’re talking a bit vaguely, but you’re doing it on purpose, right?”
“Ahaha. It’s that right? The Haunted House Investigation.”
I scowl when he said that without delay and with a smiling face.
Yesterday, I received a request addressed to me on my electronic mail. The content of the letter is as follows.
Dear Sir,
With respect to the Armed Detective Agency, we hope this letter finds you well.
During this opportunity, we would like to make a request to the Armed Detective Agency. We know it is a busy time, but please let us trouble you with this.
To tell the truth, it started with a bizarre phenomenon arising night after night. This is a request for an investigation. In a building that is supposedly not being used by anyone, we can hear eerie groaning voices and whispering sounds. What’s more, there is a faint flickering light coming from the windows; those of us who live nearby have not a moment to relax.
Though we know that this is an ill-mannered request, but we appreciate if we could receive clarification on whether it is a work of mischief or not. And if it is, how it was carried out.
It is nothing more than a little, but we will send a special retaining fee. We will gladly accept the bill.
Furthermore, we wish for the contents of this request to be kept secret, while it is selfish, we request your cooperation.
We pray for everyone’s health and happiness.
Yours Sincerely
Actually, it’s very roundabout. Even though the content of the letter was beating around the bush, the point seems to be “There’s suspicious noises coming from the nearby building, go check for us.”
Right after this letter was delivered to me, said retaining fee arrived at the Agency’s office. After checking the inside and deducting the expected expenses, there’s enough for the retaining fee left.
If it’s like this, there’s no reason to reject. We will conduct the investigation as usual.
However – there’s only one concern.
There is no name of the requester.
Who sent this request, where does this person live, is there any way to contact said person. Everything is unclear. Possibly, this person is purposefully hiding himself, but we can’t report our findings either.
That’s why I, accompanied by Dazai, end up with this difficult task of finding the unnamed person.
“Maybe the person who sent in the request is also an evil ghost waiting for us in the haunted house. And us, the detectives that fall into its trap, will be swallowed in one gulp –“
“You fool. As if there’s a horror story where the ghost can send an e-mail in this world.”
Though, even if the other party is a ghost I won’t be scared… probably.
While we’re talking about useless nonsense, we walk towards the warehouse district by the bay. The cluster of brownish red bricked buildings reflects the moonlight back into the dark and hazy night.
We tread into one of those warehouses that was smaller and older than the rest.
The ceiling is high, the plasters on the walls are peeling off from the sea wind. The smell of spare machine parts and oil, and also the smell of old dust and time are floating around. I pressed the buzzer to the office.
The sound of iron moving across the surface resounds and the chains lifted.
“Enter.”
Sure enough, from the inside, a shrill voice replied.
Behind the many padlocks, I dive into the wide and heavy birch door and entered.
The room is a bit smaller than 20 tatami. On the walls and the floors, electronic machinery are piled up and flickering diodes illuminate the dim room.
The inner center has a clump of computers lined up, and the fans resound like the growls of stray dogs. On the table were four LCD panels, each showing a different picture glowing palely.
“Yo, glasses. Are you doing as the notebook tells you today too?”
“Don’t take advantage of that cocky mouth, information broker. If we circulate that evidence we have in the agency to the right places, you’ll end up living ten years in prison. If that happens your late father will cry.”
“Don’t be talkin ‘bout my dad.”
The information broker that has both his legs resting on top of the table is a 14 year old boy.
Large eyes and cropped head. Whether it is summer or winter, his only choice of clothing is a white sweater. His body might be small, but the glint in his eyes are as sharp as glass fragments.
“More importantly, you’re actually late? How unusual. What, on a date?” He raised his pinky, indicating homosexuality.
“Absolutely not. Dating is only reserved for the girl I am planning to marry. What’s more, in my notebook, the page about my future plans wrote that marriage is in 6 more years.” I said while flipping my notebook open.
“What’s that, glasses? You have a girl you are planning to marry?”
“That is scheduled to happen in 4 more years.”
“Oh, I see…”
The boy’s eyes widens and his jaw falls when I answer him seriously while turning open my notebook.
“Living off ideals and plans, that’s what being an adult is. Watch and learn, young man.”
“Hmm…. I kinda more or less understand Kunikida-kun’s character, but just now was a bit…”
Dazai appeared from the wooden door behind me.
“Hm, a new face. Who?”
“Hi. Introducing myself is obviously not a bad thing to do, but because of the thing Kunikida-kun is going to say next, it’s impossible.”
“Boy, before you ask for someone else’s name, you should give your own first. And Dazai, don’t anticipate my words and actions without my permission.”
“Glasses, you really like the word ‘should’ don’t you… Oh well. My name is Taguchi Rokuzo. 14 years old. My profession is computer hacking.”
“He was caught hacking into the agency’s network. An idiot that was hurled away by me.” I politely commented.
“Enough with that talk. Hey, stop fooling around and hand over the transmission record from that time.”
Three months ago, this Rokuzo brat hacked into the Armed Detective Agency’s information database, there was such a time when the agency fell into such mayhem. Naturally, there’s no way the agency lets their guard down when it comes to cyber defense. The mayhem was settled quickly and a tracing investigation pinned this location.
In the end, this Rokuzo brat screwed up big time, his proof of being a criminal, the transmission record, wasn’t handed to the police and he should’ve accepted it as a condition for him helping out the agency as an information broker in a win-win situation.
“Well, and? Did you find out who the sender of that e-mail was?”
“The way you talk to your work partners is rude, glasses. There’s no way I can do it immediately. Wait a little bit more.”
Just like the boy said, he was entrusted with the job of locating this person without a name. Tracking the source of an e-mail is his special skill, so it shouldn’t be such a difficult case.
“Even without this, I am already busy with the other case – ‘tracing the missing person’. That one came first, right?”
“That’s right.” I consented.
– Serial Disappearance of Yokohama’s Visitors.
A disappearance case where the victims who have no connections to each other at a glance unexpectedly disappeared and didn’t return after. The current number of people missing is 11.
It’s been a month since the investigation team started. The common feature between the victims is very minor, other than the fact that these people are from outside Yokohama and they were walking on their own two feet when they disappeared, there’s nothing else. It’s a searching-a-needle-in-a-haystack level of difficulty to solve.
Rokuzo’s assigned job is to make a log about what the victims were doing right before they disappeared. He was requested to start searching from railway and taxi reports, but it seems like the course of events was not favourable.
“What is that case? This is the first time I heard of it. Tell me in detail.”
Dazai was sticking his nose in, showing signs of interest.
“I’ll tell you later.”
For all that, I lightly denied the topic at hand.
Of course there was a reason for it. I had planned to set the solving of this serial disappearances case aside for Dazai’s entrance exam.
“Hmm, educating new recruits. Glasses, you’ve promoted huh.”
“He’s a pretty obstinate superior; I am troubled, you know.
– Ah, that’s right, Rokuzo was it? You’re a hacker, right? Don’t you have something, like Kunikida’s weakness, or something like his embarrassing hidden photos…?”
“Oi, Dazai! Don’t openly look for blackmail in front of the person!”
“Oh, so you understand, new employee. 1000 yen, 10000 yen, 100000 yen, which deal is good for you?”
“You have such a thing!?”
Wait, wait wait. Calm down.
“Don’t fool around, I don’t have a weakness. The brat is just putting on airs, Dazai, don’t play along.”
“…Hmm.” Dazai looked at me with a gaze full of hidden meanings.
“If you don’t believe me, then whatever. I only sell to customers who believed in me anyway. However, if glasses here pays for everything, I can erase all of the evidence for you.”
“Who would pay!? I don’t have such embarrassing information about me! We are going, Dazai!”
I pulled at the nape of Dazai’s neck and stepped out of the wooden door, leaving the boy’s room behind me.
…111000 yen huh…
At night, not a single person can be seen in the warehouse district.
On the streets of this district, Dazai and I were waiting for the taxi we had reserved earlier.
The lamps of oncoming and going railroad cars pulls elongating rays of light. Yellow-coloured shadows. Like silver ribbons. Diffusing red lights of brake lamps. The white headlights cut out the shadows of the buildings. The nightlights reflected on the cars’ glass windows were like liquid, flowing into the distance in front of one’s eyes.
The sea wind blows the clouds back and forth, the moonlight dropping black and white shadows on the harbour’s road.
“What a pleasant kid.” Dazai said while staring at the night sky.
“Letting the kid meet you was a failure on my part. I should’ve realized that nothing good will come out of it earlier.”
“Senpai, can I ask one question?”
“What?”
“Why are you looking after Rokuzo?”
When I look at Dazai, he has a serious expression.
“I was wondering why you gave him a job. Things like going after missing people, I am sure even the agency can do that much. Even this instance, a conversation than can be done over the phone, you even go out of your way to get here.”
I kept quiet. It’s not an easy question to answer.
“It appeared just a little in the conversation, but does it have to do with the kid’s father?”
I instantly looked at Dazai.
“So I got it right.” Dazai looked at my face and laughed.
“…Rokuzo’s father is an excellent policeman. However, he’s dead.”
Seeing no way out, I begin talking.
”Before, he worked together with the agency in pursuit of a criminal. Some kind of big shot criminal that destroyed facilities that belongs to the country and corporate businesses. No matter how frantically the police chase him down, it’s like they couldn’t get a firm grasp on his whereabouts.”
“And that – is the Blue Flag Terrorism case?”
“That’s right.”
The police and the army were involved, it was a heinous case that shook the country into an uproar.
“At the end of the agency’s pursuit, we were able to succeed in discovering his secret base and reported it to the city police.”
“Well, isn’t that a great accomplishment!” Dazai admires.
“Yes, it certainly was. However, at the time, the army, the public welfare office and the city police were working together, the chain of commands got mixed up and created confusion. Unfortunately, the criminal was able to sense danger because of this and barricaded himself in the secret base. He was carrying a lot of high-level explosives.”
The memories come back. The angry roar of the city police from the telephone receiver. Order to arrest. Order to wait. The inconsistent instructions flying about.
“Because of the confusion in instructions, the only detectives that were able to rush towards the location quickly were a mere 5 people. The instructions given to them were breaking in and taking control… But in this kind of society, what can the criminal called the ‘Blue King’ who doesn’t have a part in any special organizations or hold any ability do to 5 people?”
However, the people in the location couldn’t understand everything. They thought there was no other way but to break in from above.
“The result was them driving the criminal to light the explosives. The criminal and the five detectives all died.”
“ –And one of those five men who died was Rokuzo’s father, right?”
“Rozuko’s mother died early and the two of them lived together. He said he had respected his father who was a police officer.”
I clenched my fist.
“At the time, the one who reported the discovery of the secret base, was me.”
At that time, if only I contacted someone with more authority. Or perhaps, if the agency had helped with the break-in.
“It’s as if I was the one who did the murder.”
“That’s not true. No matter how much I think about it, the head of the city police who gave the instructions and the criminal who blasted himself to death was at fault.”
“Maybe. But I am sure the young boy’s opinion begs to differ. Or else he wouldn’t have hacked into the agency in a revenge-like attack.”
Perhaps Rokuzo is bitter towards the agency. I’ve never confirmed it face to face. However–
“Rokuzo’s father is no longer around. Only that is the truth. Someone must watch over him in place of his father, and occasionally discipline him. I just happen to be able to do that. That being the case, the timing is convenient.”
“Kunikida-kun is a romanticist, huh.” Dazai let out a sigh similar to sarcasm.
I’ve never thought of myself as a romanticist, nor do I understand whatever this romance thing is.
However, all my acquaintances tells me, “You’re a romanticist.” I do not understand the reason why.
Even though I keep saying that everything in this world does not follow ideals.
As I think, a taxi stopped in front of us. The driver is waving his hand.
000
Concerning taxi drivers, there are those endowed with a variety of different experiences and knowledge.
Such as being clean, being steady, knowing all kinds of alleyway shortcuts, having the driving skills for being a driver for way too long, or a good young man with a refreshing smile, or those putting the passenger’s will to economize on the meter fare first. There are those that treat each request sensibly, not once interrupting.
Speaking of which, the request I made to this driver is only one.
“Well – it has been a long time, hasn’t it, Inspector Kunikida? Today is a perfect day for detective duties isn’t it? Today’s glasses also suits you well, as I continue my driving work, I became well versed in understanding the merits and demerits of glasses, y’know! Calling it elegance, or calling it the good quality of birth. Inspector Kunikida’s glasses is really excellent! You have my word!”
“I am begging you please shut up a little and drive.”
First and foremost, what does he mean by judging the virtue of the birth of glasses. How stupid – Although I want to know a little bit more about it.
“‘There’s nothing better than a quiet driver’. Have passengers not told you before?”
“Nope, I’ve never been told that, huh. Rather, passengers never talk when I am driving. It’s only me who does all the talking.”
I know what this taxi should be called around town. A deadfall.
Dazai and I rode the taxi we contacted before and headed towards the location of the request. In the darkness that can be seen outside the car window, the illumination in the city streets is little to none, the sparse outline of the forest sweeps the cloudy moonlight and flow it over to the rear.
Of course, we didn’t ride this deadfall of a taxi because we were out of luck. We even purposefully send for it. Why so?
It’s to gather information.
“Dazai, do you remember the Serial Disappearance of Yokohama’s Visitors case that we talked about a while ago?”
“Ah, the one that Rozuko boy was investigating?”
“Yes. There are eleven victims. Out of those eleven, two of them were witnessed by this driver right before they disappeared.”
I pointed to the petite driver in front of me.
“Rather than witness, I only drove them from the harbor to the hotel though. One of them was a lady on holiday, the other one was a businessman on a business trip.”
“And you’re sure they are the people in these photos?”
I took out several sheets of photos from my breast pocket. Either way, we already confirmed with the hotel’s surveillance camera, these are the photos of the missing people. The figure of them walking into the building, checking in at the reception and walk out the next day; there were three kinds.
“Yeap, these are the people without a doubt. Even their clothes are the same as the ones in the pictures. I dropped them off at this hotel.”
“Okay, anyway Kunikida-kun, do you think you can kindly tell me about the case in detail when you are free?”
“…Fine.”
At that place, I begin to roughly describe the case.
About a month ago, a 42 year old man on a business trip to Yokohama suddenly disappeared. After tracing his footsteps, it became clear that he went to the hotel from the harbor and checked in, spent the night then went out to the city the next day. However, he didn’t show up at the business meeting, nor did he return back home. Leaving his things in the hotel room, there’s no telling where his feet guided him to.
The other victims were more or less in the same situation, lone tourists, exhibition participants, and totals to eleven people. Among the missing, they don’t have the same ages, addresses or jobs, only the fact that they came alone to Yokohama is their common point. The police set up investigations to track their footsteps down after they left the hotel, but they came up with nothing. It’s as if they disappeared in a puff of a smoke.
According to the city police, the most possible case is kidnapping. But, in a big city like this, there’s no place where someone can be kidnapped without anyone witnessing. Also, the families were not threatened with ransom, the objective for kidnapping is unclear.
“If it is objective, isn’t there one?”
The quiet Dazai who has been listening up until now, suddenly said that with a clear voice.
“It’s trafficking.”
“What?”
“I’ve been saying, after kidnapping, they were sold. From what I hear, the missing people are all healthy adults, right? Heart, kidney, cornea, lung, liver, pancreas, bone marrow – well, if they were sold in the overseas market with Japanese yen it won’t amount to much, but the body of eleven people is like a mountain of gold already. If it’s the doing of a lone criminal, it would be a fortune.”
“Certainly, the black market have that kind of money circulating – but you know an awful lot about it.”
I thought that for the average person, that kind of knowledge only comes from stories in books and films at most.
“No way, in a bar at the outskirts of the city, I just happened to hear people talk about it.”
What a dubious explanation. It’s like he’s making an excuse.
Well, everything about this man is dubious.
“…If that’s the case, then does the missing people personally beg their buyer, “Please buy my organs?” like that? Purposefully in the middle of a holiday or a business trip?”
“That’s true, it is a little bit unnatural. Well if it’s like that, maybe it’s not organs trafficking, but because of some circumstances they wanted to disappear. And so they asked a professional service to get a new name and family register and bam! They disappeared. Something like that.”
“Even so, if they went to meet these professionals on their own will, then shouldn’t they be seen or at least have some kind of security footage about them left behind?”
“Among these pros there’s at least one that’s a master at disguising, right?”
“Come to think of it, I’ve heard of it, like in the photography industry, there are skills to make a man look exactly like a woman. By whatever means, stuffing the inner part of the cheeks with silk wadding to change the contour of the face, then –“
“No one’s listening to you.” I promptly interrupted the driver’s speech that seems to be developing into a long story.
“Ah, I got it! Look at this picture, the two of them are wearing glasses, right? I found their common point! In other words, this is the Serial Disappearance of Glasses case!”
I look at the photos. Certain the victims in the pictures are both wearing glasses. Black-rimmed and silver-rimmed.
“Well then, Kunikida-kun, it’s your turn!”
“What turn? Among the other nine victims, there were those that were not wearing glasses. You can’t call it a common point.”
From what I can recall, among the nine, four wore glasses, two wore sunglasses and the other three did not wear anything.
“Tsk…. Then there’s no other choice, the other way is for Kunikida-kun to be a decoy. The criminal’s targets are travelers, right? Then Kunikida-kun will wear rubber boots, a backpack, red and green checkered shirt and mountain climbing pants and walk around the streets of Yokohama. Then take pictures of pedestrians with a gigantic camera from one side and ends sentences with ‘zura’.”
“Who would do that!?”
“’Who would do that zura!?’”
“As if such a thing could be called a tactic! Dismissed!”
“Dismissed zura!’”
“Don’t wait for it to happen!”
“Ehh? Then let’s have a naked Kunikida-kun in a silk hat while dashing around the streets in a unicycle, shouting out the type of girl he likes.”
“You changed the objective!”
“Well then, how about Inspector Kunikida in a clown outfit, reading?”
“And you, shut up!”
Damn it, every last one of them!
My anger is slowly rising.
“Dazai! Work a little bit more with earnest! When will you start working seriously!?”
“Ehh? I am always working seriously though.”
If that’s the case, all the more reason for it to be bad.
“Fine, then how about we do this? I promise to be an upright detective soon. I will seriously conduct investigations, inspections, and reasoning. The superior Kunikida-kun will be tongue-tied, and, starting tomorrow, will be able to trust me to work alone without any problems. I will become that kind of excellent man you’ve been thinking of.”
Dazai rattled on a justification, but I can’t trust him at all.
“Just what time is this ‘soon’?”
“Once we get off this taxi.”
Oh.
“For real?”
“Of course. An advocate of suicide does not back down on his words… And in exchange, I want to have something in return.”
See, I know this will happen.
“What is it? If it’s a salary raise or be given an easier job, I refuse, alright?”
“It’s nothing big like that. It’s just that, since just now, there’s something I’ve taken interest in.”
Dazai stared steadily towards the driver. Curiosity glimmered in his eyes.
“…Let me drive.”
“Well then, we’ve arrived in one piece!”
“I won’t ever….. let you drive again…..”
The doors opened and Dazai dashingly stepped out of the taxi while I almost tumbled out.
The taxi driver ended up fainted in the passenger’s seat. He’s probably out cold for the night.
“Hm, you got motion sickness? How unsightly.”
At Dazai’s words, I lightly remembered my urge to kill.
This can’t even be called motion sickness anymore. I stand up, my legs shaking. My sense of balance gone. Just like a newborn deer that just learned to stand up, both arms and legs shaking.
Even the strictest martial arts training is not as exhausting as this.
“Now then, let’s get to work immediately! Because you’ve promised them earlier, let’s do this quickly!”
Since that lecture a while ago, I find it hard to say, “Let me rest!”
“The place mentioned in the request is just right over there, correct? …By the way, Kunikida-kun, are you alright with ghosts and demons and the sort?”
“Ghost…..? As if I could work with the Armed Detective Agency if I am afraid of such things. More than the supernatural, it’s obvious that blades and firearms pose a greater menace.”
“That’s a good thing to hear. At any rate, the place we’re investigating this time is of that kind.”
My eyes moved to where Dazai was pointing at.
Standing still in the recesses of the mountains, a crumbling black building can be seen.
Coloured by the darkness, with signs of death and decay thick in the air, it is an abandoned hospital.
000
Why?
Why are we holding an investigation like this in the middle of the night?
While a person lives, there comes a time when they fall ill. A perfect mentality and body without sickness does not exist. With that as proof, everyone dies in the hospital we are born in. A hospital is just like this world and the next, a boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
Giving way for this abandoned hospital to crumble to dust makes it all the more eerie. The moonlight creeps in from the broken window, casting a ghastly blue shadow on the wreckage, the sluggish pool of water on the floor is a lifeless purple. The spider lilies growing on the front lawn is a venomous red.
“Dark… I can’t see a thing.”
“Isn’t that just a good feeling?”
Walking next to my shuffling feet in the hallways of the abandoned hospital, Dazai overtook me with light steps.
The walls are decomposing, the wires are dangling off the crumbling ceiling. The window sills are disconnected, furnishings and equipment are mostly stolen, and the hospital rooms are reduced to housing worms and insects.
Just who in the world would take a liking to a ruin like this and even break into it.
“The wish of the client is to clarify the true identity of the sounds and light that happens here every night. I don’t know what will appear. Be on your guard.”
“Um…. Of course I understand, but Kunikida-kun, aren’t you a bit too cautious?”
I glared at Dazai.
“What are you saying? To one-sidedly underestimate the enemy is a fool’s barbarism. Just know that to assume the worst and move accordingly is what makes you worthy of being a member of the agency.”
I discreetly cautioned, I stayed closer to the ground in preparation for an unforeseen attack and advanced through the hallway.
“Are you perhaps… scared?”
“I-I-I-I am not scared! Idiot!”
“Then let’s go quickly.”
“Fool, in these sorts of movies, the characters always get carried away and do reckless things, so go ahead and be the scapegoat.”
“What do you mean by ‘these sorts of movies’?”
“Never mind that, just go ahead. I will keep watch from the back.”
“You just don’t want to walk in front… Oh, that’s right, because it is dark it’s no good, how about using a lighter?’
I’ve already thought about that. I really, really want to depend on illumination. But……
“If there’s anyone in this hospital, they might realize we are here because of the light and run away. Let’s move forward with just the moonlight.”
“Haah…”
The two of us move along in the darkness. The building creaked with the strong wind. From somewhere the sound of dripping water can be heard.
What about neighbours around this abandoned hospital? There’s not even a single building around. Only endless forest and vast hills and fields. The raging wind shook the troop of trees and the sound of the rustling leaves resounds.
I recall the letter from the client. Just what was ‘us who live nearby’? Extending numerous kilometres from around this building, it’s really not a place where anyone would have had trespassed. Only the likes of foxes and bears live around here.
– Then, just what kind of person is the client?
– This person doesn’t have a name.
– Perhaps, it is a bitter evil spirit.
I thought back on Dazai’s words.
Around us, everything is pure darkness, nothing can be seen. The stray wind seeping through the building’s cracks howls just like a crying woman.
…….
I don’t believe in ghosts. I am a Mathematics teacher, a man of Science who masters Chemistry and Physics.
Things like vengeful spirits taking the forms of living things are vain; fear of the dark is just a made up delusion.
…….
I am not scared. I am not trembling or anything, I am not crying.
“It appeared!”
GYAAAAAAA!
My heart jumped with Dazai’s shout from somewhere in front.
Dazai turned his head, he looked at me with his mouth wide open, looked at the expression on my face, and then slowly smirked.
This damn person….!
“You’re going to be fired, you know!?”
“No way, Kunikida-kun just looked a little nervous, so I wanted to distract you.”
“I don’t give a damn about you anymore!”
I pushed Dazai aside and walked ahead.
Damn, it’s dark. I can’t see anything. Because I cannot see anything, I begin to hallucinate what is in the darkness.
In the empty darkness of the shadows, I can feel someone sighing a long breath.
Dark.
Dark.
No more.
“Doppo Poetry – flashlight!!”
It became bright.
000
After checking around the hospital for a bit, there are certainly some signs that someone had entered.
Some kind of track left behind by someone pulling something with wheels. Footprints from leather boots. Lint from clothes. However, as to whether those are the traces of the criminal who creeps in every night, or just the tracks of thieves who took advantage of the situation, it is not clear.
Our vision was guaranteed by the small flashlight manifested by my ability. But it can’t possibly make up for the thick darkness of the hospital.
It’s literally pitch dark just an inch ahead, if I light the path forward what’s under my feet will fall into deep sea darkness, if I light at my feet what’s in front will be dark like a cave. Even if we move forward gingerly, there is nothing that helps us progress with the search.
“This is definitely an act of mischief. Let’s go home.” Dazai said like he had enough and turned around on his heels.
“Oi, wait up. What happened to ‘I will seriously conduct investigations, inspections, and reasoning’? As if we are worthy enough to be called detectives with just this level. More evidence –“
“There’s no need. Look at this.”
Dazai holds up a dark coloured cord. Both ends are buried in the floor. – Why?
“Is that – wiring?”
If it is, it’s pretty new. It greatly differs from the other power cables in this building decayed by time. It must be installed only these past few months.
“If we follow this wiring –“
Dazai reels the cord and chased it to the end. It is skillfully planted and hidden, but we finally arrived at the end of the cord.
Dazai picked something else up,
“This… is a camera. Someone must have secretly installed it. It’s definitely not just in this location. Oh my, oh my, this person must’ve sent in a fake request to steal shots of Kunikida-kun who’s crying out of fear of ghosts. What a bad man.”
“Hey, I was not crying!”
“That’s right, huh. Being scared just by the dark of an abandoned building, even for an elementary student that’s too much.”
“…………”
“In the first place, the ghosts of a hospital must have no fighting spirit left in them. They died of sickness, right? Let’s say they died because of an accident then they would haunt the place they died. Those kind of ghosts, don’t have the guts to possess people to death either. At most, they only have lingering affections and regrets. Like “I didn’t want to die…” or something. Ahh, no way, no way. The actually managed to die, what a luxury.”
“Dazai…. Oi, well that, just leave it at that…”
Oh… if a vengeful spirit is listening in, what shall we do?
“If they do have a grudge against the living, at the very least it should be something like a very thin woman with pulmonary tuberculosis. Wet hair waving around messily, and with full of vengeance say, “I have a grudge, I envy living things, SAVE ME FROM THIS GLOOMY ABYSS, TAKE ME AWAY FROM THIS PAIN, aa, so much pain, my blood, my bones, my flesh, my insides, AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”
“HEEEEELPPPPPPP!!!!!!!”
The sudden shrill scream of a female voice ringing in the dark makes me so surprised my heart feels like it’s going to jump out of my throat.
But in a moment, as if cold water had drenched me, I calmed down.
That scream just now, belongs to a living person.
“That voice just now…”
“It’s this way! Hurry!”
Without waiting for Dazai, I run down the rotting hallway. In the shortest time possible, I climbed down the staircase and crossed the hallways. I kick up debris as I run towards the source of the scream.
I arrived at the basement. The ceiling had come unstuck and crumbled to the floor below. Kitchenette, Pharmaceutical Management Office, X-ray Room, and the morgue are lined up.
I chase after the voice and dive into the old kitchenette.
Here she is!
From the surface of the water of the wide tank used for laundering clothes, a woman’s right hand is sticking out and she’s struggling desperately!
I rushed over and look into the water, at the bottom the figure of a young lady clad in undergarments can be seen. One hand was handcuffed to a rail below.
Because of the handcuffs, she can’t come up to the surface! She’s being drowned to death!
“What the hell is this –!?”
“We have to break this iron grill!”
Dazai yelled while grasping the grill. Firmly fixed to the tank was a gigantic iron grill that acts as a lid to preventing the lady from escaping.
I grabbed it with both hands and shook it with all my strength. It is also being padlocked, there’s no way it can come off just by brute strength.
My eyes met with the lady in the water. A reddish brown pupil. She opened her eyes as wide as she can, that pupil of hers pleading. Help.
“I am saving you now! Go to the edge of the tank!”
I waved my hands, instructing her to move. Maybe she did realized, the lady had her back pressed to the wall of the tank and shrunk her body.
I took the wire gun out of my waist. I released the safety, and aimed towards the outer wall of the tank.
“Get down, Dazai!”
So it won’t ricochet towards the lady inside, I calculated the angle, then shoot!
The wall that got hit punctured and cracked. It split and the water flowed out.
I aimed towards that crack and did a roundhouse kick!
The revolving power I received crushed the ceramic and mortared wall when my heel made contact. A huge hole formed and water flowed out of it in huge amounts.
“Cough… Cough, cough!”
Water gushed out from the hole, soon the water level was beneath the lady’s face and her breathing resumed like she had lusted for it. Somehow, we seem to have made it in time.
Dazai turned a huge tap and the water stopped flowing.
“Are you alright?” I handed her a handkerchief from within the grills. The lady took it with her still trembling fingers.
“It looked like someone had tried to drown you… did you see who did it?” Dazai asked.
Coughing wildly, the lady who was choking on air finally let out her voice.
“I – was abducted. The day I visited Yokohama for work, suddenly my consciousness disappeared – and before I knew it, I am already here.”
Dazai and I exchanged glances.
000
Working together with Dazai, we broke the grills and the cuffs and saved the lady. The iron grills are padlocked thrice and with no other choice, I used the butt of the wire gun to hit it to break.
“My name is Sasaki Nobuko. I am teaching at a university in Tokyo. When I reached Yokohama, I unexpectedly lost my senses… and before I knew it I am here.”
Miss Sasaki who was dripping wet and blue in the face still managed to explain firmly.
“Sasaki-san, do you know how many days ago since you lost your senses and got abducted, as you have mentioned?”
“I must apologize… I lost my senses, so I can’t say in detail… But speaking from the condition of my body and empty stomach, I don’t think more than two or three days have passed.”
The days the victims of the Serial Disappearance of Yokohama’s Visitors case disappeared was between thirty-five to seven days ago. If what this Miss said is true, then there’s a high possibility that there is a twelfth victim.
“……”
From just now, Dazai has been keeping quiet with his arms folded, vehemently thinking of something.
Miss Sasaki is a black-haired and slightly on the thinner side kind of woman. Her age might be around mine.
Her body was shaking. Was her clothes taken away from her after the abduction, leaving her in meager underwear and undershirt only? Even though she had put on the overcoat Dazai had lent her, in this time of the night, with her dripping half-naked wet body, it’s impossible not to shake.
Shivering in the cold, her hand that’s holding onto my arm, her legs that‘s stretched out on the floor were dreadfully thin. The clothes clinging to her skin drew a seductive curve. Her skin is transiently white, as if one would think it’s transparent.
The wet hair sticking to her nape trickles droplets of water onto her chest. For some reason, with no explanation, I averted my eyes.
“More importantly, there should be more people abducted in the same way as me somewhere in this building! I heard their voices.”
“Wha-?”
Other missing people too? So they were also abducted and confined here?
“I’ll guide you! This way, please.” The lady, while disoriented, stood up and planned to be our guide.
….. However.
“….Wait.” I held out my hand to stop Miss Sasaki.
“Dazai, how do you see this situation?”
“Sasaki-san’s appearance looks erotic.” Dazai said with a serious look.
“Be serious!”
“…. Hmm, we did too much.” Dazai folds his arm and replied once more.
“We came to this abandoned building to investigate the mysterious sounds and light, right? Instead, we discovered the missing victim from the serial disappearance case. These should’ve been two separate, unrelated cases. If we put aside the fact that we are in charge for both cases…. Sasaki-san, when was the last time you saw the criminal?”
“I am really sorry, but I’ve never once seen his face properly… But, when I regained consciousness, the tap to the tank was already running and the water level was already close to my face. Perhaps, the criminal himself turned the tap on around five minutes before I woke up.”
Because she yelled at that time, we heard. It’s just really close timing.
“Then the criminal should’ve been here until about a while ago. I can’t help but think that he had realized we were walking close. If so, then why did he do this?”
“So he panicked upon learning of our presence, or –“
It’s a meticulously planned trap?
But fearing some kind of trap and leaving things like this is out of the question.
In this building, there are missing victims, if there is a chance they are being confined here, then we cannot afford to not save them.
“Thirty-five days have already passed since the first victim disappeared. If he had been confined here since then, it is a matter of his life. Dazai, escort the lady and follow me.”
I held on to my gun and proceeded down the hallway.
After my senses told me to send a report to the police, the place that we reached due to Miss Sasaki’s guidance is the morgue. Corpses are valuables, so to prevent robbery, the door is sturdier than usual. The iron door is locked with a latch. It’s is also suitable to imprison living people in.
After making sure there were no traps, we broke the latch open and rushed in. Crossing both wrists over each other, I aimed the mouth of the gun and the flashlight forwards.
The morgue spans for about ten meters and terrifyingly dark. Most of the things have been either moved out or stolen, the interior is vacant. The only things left are broken bits of a corpse’s stretcher, torn cadaver pouches and installed on the walls are drawers of caskets.
Other than that, there is nothing. The dead nor the living. – No.
Reacting to the light of the flashlight, something within the room moved. I threw the white light of the flashlight towards that direction.
“H…. Help me…”
Someone’s there.
In an iron cage along the wall, there’s a total of four people. Just like Miss Sasaki, everyone’s in simple undergarments.
“Where is this?”
“The yell of the female voice earlier… what happened to it?”
“Calm down. We are here to save you. We already saved the screaming woman. Is anyone hurt?”
“N-no, but, where is this? Why are we here?”
I went closer to confirm the situation. The entrance is on the opposite side; a wire netted cage used to ship off wild beasts nailed into the wall. It seems difficult to take off with the tools we have in hand. The cage itself is made robust, breaking it apart will probably take time.
“It’s an electrical lock terminal, isn’t it?” Dazai sighed and went closer to the front of the cage’s lock and confirmed. “A passcode huh, is it a biological imprint… or some kind of keyword… ‘Open Sesame’! ‘Flash Thunder’! ‘I am sending a lifetime’s worth of disgrace’! Hmm…. It won’t open. Looks like there’s no other choice than to break it.”
The heck was that last one?
“To break it open is probably, somewhere around here like this –“
The moment Dazai reached out to touch the lock terminal, Miss Sasaki yelled like she’s about to snap.
“You can’t, you are not allowed to touch that lock!”
Dazai was surprised and turned around. A red lamp lighted inside the lock terminal.
From above, the sound of something metal drops, the sound of something opening.
Inside the cage, milky white smoke scatters and spreads. The me that instinctively rushed away could feel my eyes and throat hurting like they were being stabbed.
The startled missing people inside the cage shrieked.
“Poison gas!”
Tears sprung due to the intense pain. My vision falters. The world blurs. Just like everything and anything is dancing. Just how much did I inhale? But there’s no way I can abandon the victims. I reach my hand out towards the cage.
“We can’t go closer, it’s already too late!”
Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back. So loud. I have to save them. The victims cannot die.
That’s what’s ideal. That’s how the world should be.
“Kunikida-kun! Hurry!” Dazai’s voice yells from somewhere in the back.
I don’t want to. This is wrong.
“You can’t!”
Miss Sasaki holds me tight and stops me. Why. Why did you stop me? People cannot be allowed to die. In front of my own two eyes, not anyone –
I let Dazai lead me away to leave the room behind me. What was I yelling, I have not the slightest recollection.
The four confined people all died.
-Chapter 1 END-
Chapter 1
Translator: Kuririn
Editor: Janey
8th
There was rainfall this morning.
A solemn and cold winter rain, as if the time for extreme coldness has come.
I wish to live according to ideals.
To conduct one’s ideals, that’s what I work for. Moving forward without fear, without losing interest, without hesitation.
Alas! To chase after the privilege of being able to dream about the future, will I be blessed to faithfully carry out my professional duties?
If you climb a slope near the harbor of Yokohama, there lies the office of the Armed Detective Agency.
It is a reddish-brown brick building. Because it is an old building and the sea breeze is strong, even the drains and telephone poles are rusting. But although the outwards appearance looks doubtful, it is actually solid, that, even when an enemy shoots at it with a machine gun, they won’t be able to land a single damage inside.
Why am I able to confidently say this? It’s because there was someone who had tried.
It’s simply that the Armed Detective Agency houses only the fourth floor; other than that, the other floors have their respective tenants. The first floor is a coffee shop, the second floor is a law firm. The third floor is empty and the fifth floor is a storage room for miscellaneous things. Before payday, I am often indebted to the coffee shop. Whenever troublesome work comes, I would go down to the law firm and beg for help.
I am now getting on the elevator of said building, coming to work.
I get off the elevator and stood in front of the door to the Armed Detective Agency’s office. Written with a brush, a simple Armed Detective Agency was framed and hung from the door.
I looked at my wristwatch. There’s still 40 seconds left until I have to go to work at 8 am.
I have arrived a little too early.
Strict compliance to time is my motto. In the 40 seconds that I have to wait, I opened my notebook and confirmed today’s schedule once more. I looked over the breakfast time once, the departure time from the dormitories once, the waiting time at the red light once, but because I’ve went through them once, I won’t treat these schedules as dead.
While reading the notebook, work flickered across my mind. I fixed my collar and looked at my wristwatch again.
… Well then.
“Good morning.”
I opened the door.
“Ah, Kunikida-kun, morning! Hey, please take a look at this! This is dreadful!”
Dazai suddenly appeared in front of the door. Smiling.
“After a long struggle, I finally did it! Oh, what a wonderful world this is! This is the world after death, the Underworld! It’s just like I imagined it, look at it! Smokes are creeping along the ground, the moonlight stained glass feels familiar, in the western pink sky an elephant is dancing!”
He gestures in exaggeration and dances in front of the office door. What a nuisance.
“Hohohohoho, as expected the The Complete Suicide Manual is a masterpiece! Just by eating the mushrooms growing on the mountain trail behind, I am able to go down such a happy and pleasant road towards suicide! Wonderful! Hoho!”
Dazai’s eyes are not focused. His pupils are twitching.
“P-Please do something, Kunikida-san!” An office worker looked at me with tearful eyes.
I presume, that even before business hours starts, he was already in this state.
I glance at Dazai’s table.
Over there, lying open to a single page, lies the damned ancient book, The Complete Suicide Manual. The title of the page reads ‘Death by Poison – Mushroom’. On the plate beside the book, there’s a slice of bitten fungus.
What’s more, if you pay attention a bit more carefully, there’s a slight difference in color to the one drawn in the book.
“Hey, hey, Kunikida-kun, come on over to the Underworld too! Look, the alcohol are free flow, there’s endless food, and you can smell the pretty ladies all you want!”
“Please help us, Kunikida-san! No matter what we do, he’s still…”
Long story short, the one Dazai consumed was not a deathly poisoned mushroom, but one that must’ve caused hallucinations.
But, that’s the thing.
Every morning, right after I come to work, he would mess up my scheduled order and scheduled actions. If I can’t proceed with my morning plans smoothly in the first place, will I be able to proceed with the rest of the day smoothly? There’s just no way.
Ignoring the twisting and wiggling Dazai and the close to crying employee, I headed towards my own desk.
I placed the bag on the table as usual. Then I turned on the computer. I opened the window as usual.
“Wow! Kunikida-kun, there’s a gigantic sea anemone outside the window! Banana! It’s eating a banana! It’s taking away the white party blowers around us!”
As usual, I poured the coffee into my cup. I scrapped away the useless documents from the day before.
“I get it! I’ll strip; if I strip the viewer’s ratings will go up! It’s not an easy task but let’s strip, then as a change let’s put on full body tights! Everyone wearing tights, going to the bank, then dance the Cossack Dance!”
I check the telegram in the correspondence cabinet as usual. I downed the coffee in one gulp.
“There’s a voice… urgh, he- he’s inside my head! …A small gramps! And he’s whispering to me, to go to Kyoto, there’s an authentic tofu with a unique flavor that I have to tr—-“
I landed a flying kick to the back of Dazai’s head. He crashed to the wall and fainted.
000
From the start.
The day this person who definitely failed the exam with 0 points became my colleague was around 4 days ago.
“New employee?”
That day, I was organizing the work files for the day when I was called into the President’s office.
A new investigator got employed and he wanted me to look after him.
It was unexpected.
Even though working in the Armed Detective Agency is a dangerous job that involves killing and fighting, I’ve never heard of us being short on staff. In this way, I work as an algebra lecturer at a school as my side job twice a week.
Naturally, like the recent ‘Blue Flag Terrorism’ case, or the ‘Serial Disappearance of Yokohama’s Visitors’ case, or the conflict with the illegal organization of the Port Mafia, etc. the cases that requires the help of the Armed Detective Agency have been increasing lately. The requests coming in for our main investigator Ranpo-san will also increase, I am sure. I wonder if the President’s decision was because he already anticipated this.
“I’ll introduce you. Come in.”
After contemplating for a while, the President looks at the door and called out.
“How do you do?”
I look at the man walking in with a smile.
Sand-coloured coat and an open-collared shirt. He was tall and too thin, dark unkempt hair and unmaintained clothing; but despite the disheveled appearance, he had nice features. I was a bit bothered by the white bandages around his neck and wrists.
“Dazai Osamu. Aged 20, nice to meet you.”
20. Same as me.
“Kunikida, if there’s anything you don’t understand, ask me.”
“Ooh! Are you an investigator of the highly appraised Armed Detective Agency? I am impressed!”
The man who goes by the name of Dazai forcefully grasps my hand and shakes it. He swings it exaggeratedly.
At that moment, suddenly – I felt like a cold and sharp light flickered in that man’s eyes. No, it felt like it pierced to the depths of my mind, just like a monk above the clouds –
But in a blink, that saintly look disappears, and Dazai’s face returns to its normal stupid face.
Did I see wrongly? Was it a delusion of the eyes?
“Anyway, Dazai? Why this detective company? This is not some temple where you’ll be accepted if you just beg, you know.”
“About that. I was unemployed, unmotivated, and frequently drunk at a bar. At times I would talk with the uncle beside me and we placed a bet. Whoever wins the drinking contest shall be mediated into a job. I thought it was a joke, but then I won.”
Who the heck is that old man?
“Said person is the Department of Special Force’s Taneda-sensei. Yesterday he came to greet us with a favour.”
The President said with a serious look.
However, the moment Taneda-sensei’s name was said, my breathing stopped.
If we’re talking about the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Department of Special Force’s Taneda, there’s no one who doesn’t know him in this line of business; he’s the executive of the Special Force Unit. His work is managing and regulating all ability users. Even when the President was building the Armed Detective Agency, he often depended on Taneda-sensei’s helpful influence.
No matter what a bigshot the President is, he can’t turn down a person recommended personally by Taneda-sensei.
“I’ll be under you care, senpai.”
I don’t know if he knows about the unrest in my heart or not, but our new employee showed his white teeth while smiling widely.
000
But, no matter if he’s a super important person that was accepted by the leader of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or not, eating a mushroom and flying into a delusional world all on his own first thing in the morning is really annoying.
This is the third day I am partnered with Dazai.
My heart and soul can’t rest for even a moment, work has not progressed even a bit, and calls of complaints keep coming in.
If I keep my eyes off him just for a second, he would jump into a river. When he says he wants to go for a break, he would end up drinking at a bar and come back all drunk. When he says he received a divine revelation, he would randomly go hit on a pretty lady. Calling him a 20-year-old child suits him really well, behaving as he pleases without caring for anyone else, he tore my plans into a thousand pieces.
Having said that, work is still work, a subordinate is still a subordinate. If I go against the President’s instructions and raise my voice after only three days, starting with the President’s trust, I would go against the Armed Detective Agency’s dignity.
“How is he? The new guy?”
At a Go place near the Agency’s office, the President asked while playing Go in a small tatami room.
“A disaster. He’s like a hybrid of the devil, the poltergeist and the god of poverty in one.”
I placed a black Go stone on the cypress Go board. The sound of the stone hitting the board resounds.
“But, well, I will do something about it.”
After work, I would always play Go with the President at this place. Without anyone else around in this Japanese-styled room, sitting across each other beside the Go board.
“This isn’t ending…”
The President placed a white stone on the board and gained the upper hand, leaving me in a dilemma over my right side of the board.
“No. There is Taneda-sensei’s case. But, why did Sensei placed such a man here?”
While talking, I look for a move to play. Maybe I should aim for a kou at the bottom right corner of the board – no, it will become a mountain of barrier for a yosekou. Even if I persevere on the left side, I can’t expand to the middle and it will end. I have no more moves. It looks like it’ll only take a few more moves from the President.
“Taneda-sensei may have a wild personality, but he has discerning eyes when judging people. He might’ve noticed an extraordinary ability in that young man.”
Certainly. As the rumours said about Taneda-sensei, he’s second to none when it comes to judgment. If not, he couldn’t have possibly commanded the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Department of Special Force.
It’s just that – “extraordinary ability”? That guy whose head looks like it’s stuffed with mud?
“I agree with Taneda-sensei. When Dazai took the exam beforehand, he passed with full marks on the spot. That guy is a born winner. To the extent that it is doubtful.”
“What do you mean by… doubtful?”
“I looked up Dazai’s past in the office. However, there’s nothing. It’s completely blank. I asked for help from a friend in the police investigation team, but it is uncanny how nothing shows up. It’s as if there’s someone out there who deliberately erased his past.”
To think that even the police investigation team couldn’t find anything, it is certainly strange.
“Possibly, there’s simply nothing and he has just been idling around all this time?”
“Maybe. Otherwise –“
A few moments passed and a wrinkle showed up in the middle of his forehead, then the President continued.
“Have you asked Dazai about the ability he has?”
“No, not yet.”
Speaking of which, I’ve heard that he’s an ability user, but I’ve never had the chance to ask what it is.
“Dazai’s ability… is the ability to nullify abilities with a touch.”
I am doubting my own ears.
Nullifying. At a glance, it seems like a simple ability that doesn’t hold brilliance, but even among ability users, depending on how it’s used, it is an extraordinary ability that holds the possibility of shutting down other abilities.
My ability is called “Doppo Poetry”, it is an ability where if I write words on a page, tear it and pray silently, the real thing will appear physically. But, if I wrote it on a page larger than my notebook’s size, it won’t appear. It is a generic, superior and often criticized ability. But even so, it does not exceed “convenience”. If there’s something I need, I just have to carry my notebook around, but it is exactly because of that.
But Dazai’s ability is different.
Theoretically, it is expected that rivals cannot use their abilities because of Dazai. Even the world’s strongest ability user will end up being just an average guy in front of Dazai.
It’s not strange if many nations’ ability users’ organizations come together to scout him.
I’ve slowly started accepting what the President had just said.
“In other words… it’s something like this isn’t it? At the place where someone as great as Taneda-sensei goes to drink, a genius ability user just happened to sit beside him, and they just happened to make an agreement together. A man, who with queer words and actions took the exams and passed with full marks. That kind of person, just happened to be unemployed. Then by someone else’s connection, to the Armed Detective Agency that is very impossible to get employed in, he entered instantly without a hitch.
Isn’t that too good to be true?”
“It might just be overthinking. However, the Armed Detective Agency has many connections to the authority and the police. In this line of work, there might be times where we have to conform to state secrets.”
Certainly, if in the case of a criminal organization, this detective company that works together with the police, it is a profitable place to sneak into.
However – is it possible, that Dazai is a spy that sneaked into the Agency?
To the extent that he is able to outwit the outstanding Taneda-sensei?
That Dazai?
“Kunikida. I want to entrust that man’s entrance exam to you.”
I nod my head in agreement. The ‘entrance exam’ the President is talking about is an assessment that the Agency gave to investigators for generations. It’s just like a ‘secret inspection’. If you don’t pass this, you won’t be accepted as a true employee.
“At work, stay close to Dazai, make sure of the genuineness of his spirit. If there ever comes a time where you doubt him as a secret agent, emissary, spy or anything of the sort, fire him without hesitation. Also, more than anything else, if his soul is evil, if there is a time where he shows signs of wickedness –“
From behind the President, he took out a black automatic pistol from a bag he had prepared earlier and handed it over to me.
“…”
I accepted the gun without a word.
Heavy.
“You shoot.”
“Yes.”
If Dazai is implicated in any evil business, it is the role of the detective company to stop that at the coastline.
A person who holds a detective license from the Armed Detective Agency is granted the same authority as the police. With conditions attached, we have permission to carry guns or knives. We can withdraw information from the police. Above all, by the jurisdiction of the investigation, bothering and disturbing the search, falsification of police information, wiring and bugging of important facilities, every wrongdoing is possible. In the worst case, acting as a terrorist and destroying important buildings, taking away the lives of what hundreds and thousands of people, there are no such impossibilities.
The iron automatic pistol feels cold and silent in my hand.
At the bay where the waves softly crash, the moon soaks that figure with light.
I walk along the hustle and bustle of the harbor. The sound of the current rivals the noises of twilight, the moonlight rivals the lamps on the street.
Walking behind me, Dazai bobs along.
Dazai’s mushroom turmoil had continued on for half the day, we can finally do some work.
“Kunikida-kun, that ability you displayed – was it called Doppo Poetry? Show me again sometime.”
“I refuse. Abilities aren’t something to be revealed lightly. And anyway, every time I use my ability, I lose a page of my notebook. This notebook is a limited edition product made by a certain craftsman, who after a long time, only managed to make 100 volumes and even the price is exceptional. As if it could be traded with your gags.”
I look at the watch around my wrist and turned around.
“More importantly, Dazai, walk quicker. We are going to be late for our appointment.”
“Even if you say we’re late, Kunikida-kun, there’s no appointed time to go to the information broker, so it wasn’t really an appointment, isn’t it?”
“No. I told them by phone ‘around 7 pm’.”
“And? It’s exactly 7 right now. If we walk from here, it’ll only take 5 minutes, so there’s no way we can be late.”
“Idiot! If it’s ‘around 7 pm’, then I’ve set my watch from anywhere between 18:59:50 to 19:00:10, these 20 seconds were decided!”
“That kind of time-keeping, only you would do that though…”
I walked while bantering back and forth with Dazai.
By the way, because my wristwatch is synchronized with the standard time to which I get out of bed every morning, the miscalculation in time is less than 1 second.
“Who was it that ate a Happy Mushroom and caused work to not progress for the day? Don’t even think to do that a second time. Even if you do, make sure it’s the poisonous one you eat.”
“Well, it was a happy hour.”
“Are you already fine? Are you not seeing the elephant in the pink sky anymore?”
“Elephant? Don’t be stupid. There’s no way such a thing can fly, right? The one that can fly is the purple coloured paramecium.”
This person is probably already hopeless.
Every time I speak to Dazai, I feel like my own doubts are sounding stupid.
Secret agent? Evil?
The worst thing he could do is probably jump into a railway and throw the train schedule out of order.
Be that as it may, Dazai is just your interesting average incompetent person who speaks simply, it’s enough just to dismiss him. Although it’s just as I wish –
“Dazai, you remember the request we are going to do from now on, right?”
“Exterminating the purple paramecium.”
“…Until just now, I’ve been thinking that you’re talking a bit vaguely, but you’re doing it on purpose, right?”
“Ahaha. It’s that right? The Haunted House Investigation.”
I scowl when he said that without delay and with a smiling face.
Yesterday, I received a request addressed to me on my electronic mail. The content of the letter is as follows.
Dear Sir,
With respect to the Armed Detective Agency, we hope this letter finds you well.
During this opportunity, we would like to make a request to the Armed Detective Agency. We know it is a busy time, but please let us trouble you with this.
To tell the truth, it started with a bizarre phenomenon arising night after night. This is a request for an investigation. In a building that is supposedly not being used by anyone, we can hear eerie groaning voices and whispering sounds. What’s more, there is a faint flickering light coming from the windows; those of us who live nearby have not a moment to relax.
Though we know that this is an ill-mannered request, but we appreciate if we could receive clarification on whether it is a work of mischief or not. And if it is, how it was carried out.
It is nothing more than a little, but we will send a special retaining fee. We will gladly accept the bill.
Furthermore, we wish for the contents of this request to be kept secret, while it is selfish, we request your cooperation.
We pray for everyone’s health and happiness.
Yours Sincerely
Actually, it’s very roundabout. Even though the content of the letter was beating around the bush, the point seems to be “There’s suspicious noises coming from the nearby building, go check for us.”
Right after this letter was delivered to me, said retaining fee arrived at the Agency’s office. After checking the inside and deducting the expected expenses, there’s enough for the retaining fee left.
If it’s like this, there’s no reason to reject. We will conduct the investigation as usual.
However – there’s only one concern.
There is no name of the requester.
Who sent this request, where does this person live, is there any way to contact said person. Everything is unclear. Possibly, this person is purposefully hiding himself, but we can’t report our findings either.
That’s why I, accompanied by Dazai, end up with this difficult task of finding the unnamed person.
“Maybe the person who sent in the request is also an evil ghost waiting for us in the haunted house. And us, the detectives that fall into its trap, will be swallowed in one gulp –“
“You fool. As if there’s a horror story where the ghost can send an e-mail in this world.”
Though, even if the other party is a ghost I won’t be scared… probably.
While we’re talking about useless nonsense, we walk towards the warehouse district by the bay. The cluster of brownish red bricked buildings reflects the moonlight back into the dark and hazy night.
We tread into one of those warehouses that was smaller and older than the rest.
The ceiling is high, the plasters on the walls are peeling off from the sea wind. The smell of spare machine parts and oil, and also the smell of old dust and time are floating around. I pressed the buzzer to the office.
The sound of iron moving across the surface resounds and the chains lifted.
“Enter.”
Sure enough, from the inside, a shrill voice replied.
Behind the many padlocks, I dive into the wide and heavy birch door and entered.
The room is a bit smaller than 20 tatami. On the walls and the floors, electronic machinery are piled up and flickering diodes illuminate the dim room.
The inner center has a clump of computers lined up, and the fans resound like the growls of stray dogs. On the table were four LCD panels, each showing a different picture glowing palely.
“Yo, glasses. Are you doing as the notebook tells you today too?”
“Don’t take advantage of that cocky mouth, information broker. If we circulate that evidence we have in the agency to the right places, you’ll end up living ten years in prison. If that happens your late father will cry.”
“Don’t be talkin ‘bout my dad.”
The information broker that has both his legs resting on top of the table is a 14 year old boy.
Large eyes and cropped head. Whether it is summer or winter, his only choice of clothing is a white sweater. His body might be small, but the glint in his eyes are as sharp as glass fragments.
“More importantly, you’re actually late? How unusual. What, on a date?” He raised his pinky, indicating homosexuality.
“Absolutely not. Dating is only reserved for the girl I am planning to marry. What’s more, in my notebook, the page about my future plans wrote that marriage is in 6 more years.” I said while flipping my notebook open.
“What’s that, glasses? You have a girl you are planning to marry?”
“That is scheduled to happen in 4 more years.”
“Oh, I see…”
The boy’s eyes widens and his jaw falls when I answer him seriously while turning open my notebook.
“Living off ideals and plans, that’s what being an adult is. Watch and learn, young man.”
“Hmm…. I kinda more or less understand Kunikida-kun’s character, but just now was a bit…”
Dazai appeared from the wooden door behind me.
“Hm, a new face. Who?”
“Hi. Introducing myself is obviously not a bad thing to do, but because of the thing Kunikida-kun is going to say next, it’s impossible.”
“Boy, before you ask for someone else’s name, you should give your own first. And Dazai, don’t anticipate my words and actions without my permission.”
“Glasses, you really like the word ‘should’ don’t you… Oh well. My name is Taguchi Rokuzo. 14 years old. My profession is computer hacking.”
“He was caught hacking into the agency’s network. An idiot that was hurled away by me.” I politely commented.
“Enough with that talk. Hey, stop fooling around and hand over the transmission record from that time.”
Three months ago, this Rokuzo brat hacked into the Armed Detective Agency’s information database, there was such a time when the agency fell into such mayhem. Naturally, there’s no way the agency lets their guard down when it comes to cyber defense. The mayhem was settled quickly and a tracing investigation pinned this location.
In the end, this Rokuzo brat screwed up big time, his proof of being a criminal, the transmission record, wasn’t handed to the police and he should’ve accepted it as a condition for him helping out the agency as an information broker in a win-win situation.
“Well, and? Did you find out who the sender of that e-mail was?”
“The way you talk to your work partners is rude, glasses. There’s no way I can do it immediately. Wait a little bit more.”
Just like the boy said, he was entrusted with the job of locating this person without a name. Tracking the source of an e-mail is his special skill, so it shouldn’t be such a difficult case.
“Even without this, I am already busy with the other case – ‘tracing the missing person’. That one came first, right?”
“That’s right.” I consented.
– Serial Disappearance of Yokohama’s Visitors.
A disappearance case where the victims who have no connections to each other at a glance unexpectedly disappeared and didn’t return after. The current number of people missing is 11.
It’s been a month since the investigation team started. The common feature between the victims is very minor, other than the fact that these people are from outside Yokohama and they were walking on their own two feet when they disappeared, there’s nothing else. It’s a searching-a-needle-in-a-haystack level of difficulty to solve.
Rokuzo’s assigned job is to make a log about what the victims were doing right before they disappeared. He was requested to start searching from railway and taxi reports, but it seems like the course of events was not favourable.
“What is that case? This is the first time I heard of it. Tell me in detail.”
Dazai was sticking his nose in, showing signs of interest.
“I’ll tell you later.”
For all that, I lightly denied the topic at hand.
Of course there was a reason for it. I had planned to set the solving of this serial disappearances case aside for Dazai’s entrance exam.
“Hmm, educating new recruits. Glasses, you’ve promoted huh.”
“He’s a pretty obstinate superior; I am troubled, you know.
– Ah, that’s right, Rokuzo was it? You’re a hacker, right? Don’t you have something, like Kunikida’s weakness, or something like his embarrassing hidden photos…?”
“Oi, Dazai! Don’t openly look for blackmail in front of the person!”
“Oh, so you understand, new employee. 1000 yen, 10000 yen, 100000 yen, which deal is good for you?”
“You have such a thing!?”
Wait, wait wait. Calm down.
“Don’t fool around, I don’t have a weakness. The brat is just putting on airs, Dazai, don’t play along.”
“…Hmm.” Dazai looked at me with a gaze full of hidden meanings.
“If you don’t believe me, then whatever. I only sell to customers who believed in me anyway. However, if glasses here pays for everything, I can erase all of the evidence for you.”
“Who would pay!? I don’t have such embarrassing information about me! We are going, Dazai!”
I pulled at the nape of Dazai’s neck and stepped out of the wooden door, leaving the boy’s room behind me.
…111000 yen huh…
At night, not a single person can be seen in the warehouse district.
On the streets of this district, Dazai and I were waiting for the taxi we had reserved earlier.
The lamps of oncoming and going railroad cars pulls elongating rays of light. Yellow-coloured shadows. Like silver ribbons. Diffusing red lights of brake lamps. The white headlights cut out the shadows of the buildings. The nightlights reflected on the cars’ glass windows were like liquid, flowing into the distance in front of one’s eyes.
The sea wind blows the clouds back and forth, the moonlight dropping black and white shadows on the harbour’s road.
“What a pleasant kid.” Dazai said while staring at the night sky.
“Letting the kid meet you was a failure on my part. I should’ve realized that nothing good will come out of it earlier.”
“Senpai, can I ask one question?”
“What?”
“Why are you looking after Rokuzo?”
When I look at Dazai, he has a serious expression.
“I was wondering why you gave him a job. Things like going after missing people, I am sure even the agency can do that much. Even this instance, a conversation than can be done over the phone, you even go out of your way to get here.”
I kept quiet. It’s not an easy question to answer.
“It appeared just a little in the conversation, but does it have to do with the kid’s father?”
I instantly looked at Dazai.
“So I got it right.” Dazai looked at my face and laughed.
“…Rokuzo’s father is an excellent policeman. However, he’s dead.”
Seeing no way out, I begin talking.
”Before, he worked together with the agency in pursuit of a criminal. Some kind of big shot criminal that destroyed facilities that belongs to the country and corporate businesses. No matter how frantically the police chase him down, it’s like they couldn’t get a firm grasp on his whereabouts.”
“And that – is the Blue Flag Terrorism case?”
“That’s right.”
The police and the army were involved, it was a heinous case that shook the country into an uproar.
“At the end of the agency’s pursuit, we were able to succeed in discovering his secret base and reported it to the city police.”
“Well, isn’t that a great accomplishment!” Dazai admires.
“Yes, it certainly was. However, at the time, the army, the public welfare office and the city police were working together, the chain of commands got mixed up and created confusion. Unfortunately, the criminal was able to sense danger because of this and barricaded himself in the secret base. He was carrying a lot of high-level explosives.”
The memories come back. The angry roar of the city police from the telephone receiver. Order to arrest. Order to wait. The inconsistent instructions flying about.
“Because of the confusion in instructions, the only detectives that were able to rush towards the location quickly were a mere 5 people. The instructions given to them were breaking in and taking control… But in this kind of society, what can the criminal called the ‘Blue King’ who doesn’t have a part in any special organizations or hold any ability do to 5 people?”
However, the people in the location couldn’t understand everything. They thought there was no other way but to break in from above.
“The result was them driving the criminal to light the explosives. The criminal and the five detectives all died.”
“ –And one of those five men who died was Rokuzo’s father, right?”
“Rozuko’s mother died early and the two of them lived together. He said he had respected his father who was a police officer.”
I clenched my fist.
“At the time, the one who reported the discovery of the secret base, was me.”
At that time, if only I contacted someone with more authority. Or perhaps, if the agency had helped with the break-in.
“It’s as if I was the one who did the murder.”
“That’s not true. No matter how much I think about it, the head of the city police who gave the instructions and the criminal who blasted himself to death was at fault.”
“Maybe. But I am sure the young boy’s opinion begs to differ. Or else he wouldn’t have hacked into the agency in a revenge-like attack.”
Perhaps Rokuzo is bitter towards the agency. I’ve never confirmed it face to face. However–
“Rokuzo’s father is no longer around. Only that is the truth. Someone must watch over him in place of his father, and occasionally discipline him. I just happen to be able to do that. That being the case, the timing is convenient.”
“Kunikida-kun is a romanticist, huh.” Dazai let out a sigh similar to sarcasm.
I’ve never thought of myself as a romanticist, nor do I understand whatever this romance thing is.
However, all my acquaintances tells me, “You’re a romanticist.” I do not understand the reason why.
Even though I keep saying that everything in this world does not follow ideals.
As I think, a taxi stopped in front of us. The driver is waving his hand.
000
Concerning taxi drivers, there are those endowed with a variety of different experiences and knowledge.
Such as being clean, being steady, knowing all kinds of alleyway shortcuts, having the driving skills for being a driver for way too long, or a good young man with a refreshing smile, or those putting the passenger’s will to economize on the meter fare first. There are those that treat each request sensibly, not once interrupting.
Speaking of which, the request I made to this driver is only one.
“Well – it has been a long time, hasn’t it, Inspector Kunikida? Today is a perfect day for detective duties isn’t it? Today’s glasses also suits you well, as I continue my driving work, I became well versed in understanding the merits and demerits of glasses, y’know! Calling it elegance, or calling it the good quality of birth. Inspector Kunikida’s glasses is really excellent! You have my word!”
“I am begging you please shut up a little and drive.”
First and foremost, what does he mean by judging the virtue of the birth of glasses. How stupid – Although I want to know a little bit more about it.
“‘There’s nothing better than a quiet driver’. Have passengers not told you before?”
“Nope, I’ve never been told that, huh. Rather, passengers never talk when I am driving. It’s only me who does all the talking.”
I know what this taxi should be called around town. A deadfall.
Dazai and I rode the taxi we contacted before and headed towards the location of the request. In the darkness that can be seen outside the car window, the illumination in the city streets is little to none, the sparse outline of the forest sweeps the cloudy moonlight and flow it over to the rear.
Of course, we didn’t ride this deadfall of a taxi because we were out of luck. We even purposefully send for it. Why so?
It’s to gather information.
“Dazai, do you remember the Serial Disappearance of Yokohama’s Visitors case that we talked about a while ago?”
“Ah, the one that Rozuko boy was investigating?”
“Yes. There are eleven victims. Out of those eleven, two of them were witnessed by this driver right before they disappeared.”
I pointed to the petite driver in front of me.
“Rather than witness, I only drove them from the harbor to the hotel though. One of them was a lady on holiday, the other one was a businessman on a business trip.”
“And you’re sure they are the people in these photos?”
I took out several sheets of photos from my breast pocket. Either way, we already confirmed with the hotel’s surveillance camera, these are the photos of the missing people. The figure of them walking into the building, checking in at the reception and walk out the next day; there were three kinds.
“Yeap, these are the people without a doubt. Even their clothes are the same as the ones in the pictures. I dropped them off at this hotel.”
“Okay, anyway Kunikida-kun, do you think you can kindly tell me about the case in detail when you are free?”
“…Fine.”
At that place, I begin to roughly describe the case.
About a month ago, a 42 year old man on a business trip to Yokohama suddenly disappeared. After tracing his footsteps, it became clear that he went to the hotel from the harbor and checked in, spent the night then went out to the city the next day. However, he didn’t show up at the business meeting, nor did he return back home. Leaving his things in the hotel room, there’s no telling where his feet guided him to.
The other victims were more or less in the same situation, lone tourists, exhibition participants, and totals to eleven people. Among the missing, they don’t have the same ages, addresses or jobs, only the fact that they came alone to Yokohama is their common point. The police set up investigations to track their footsteps down after they left the hotel, but they came up with nothing. It’s as if they disappeared in a puff of a smoke.
According to the city police, the most possible case is kidnapping. But, in a big city like this, there’s no place where someone can be kidnapped without anyone witnessing. Also, the families were not threatened with ransom, the objective for kidnapping is unclear.
“If it is objective, isn’t there one?”
The quiet Dazai who has been listening up until now, suddenly said that with a clear voice.
“It’s trafficking.”
“What?”
“I’ve been saying, after kidnapping, they were sold. From what I hear, the missing people are all healthy adults, right? Heart, kidney, cornea, lung, liver, pancreas, bone marrow – well, if they were sold in the overseas market with Japanese yen it won’t amount to much, but the body of eleven people is like a mountain of gold already. If it’s the doing of a lone criminal, it would be a fortune.”
“Certainly, the black market have that kind of money circulating – but you know an awful lot about it.”
I thought that for the average person, that kind of knowledge only comes from stories in books and films at most.
“No way, in a bar at the outskirts of the city, I just happened to hear people talk about it.”
What a dubious explanation. It’s like he’s making an excuse.
Well, everything about this man is dubious.
“…If that’s the case, then does the missing people personally beg their buyer, “Please buy my organs?” like that? Purposefully in the middle of a holiday or a business trip?”
“That’s true, it is a little bit unnatural. Well if it’s like that, maybe it’s not organs trafficking, but because of some circumstances they wanted to disappear. And so they asked a professional service to get a new name and family register and bam! They disappeared. Something like that.”
“Even so, if they went to meet these professionals on their own will, then shouldn’t they be seen or at least have some kind of security footage about them left behind?”
“Among these pros there’s at least one that’s a master at disguising, right?”
“Come to think of it, I’ve heard of it, like in the photography industry, there are skills to make a man look exactly like a woman. By whatever means, stuffing the inner part of the cheeks with silk wadding to change the contour of the face, then –“
“No one’s listening to you.” I promptly interrupted the driver’s speech that seems to be developing into a long story.
“Ah, I got it! Look at this picture, the two of them are wearing glasses, right? I found their common point! In other words, this is the Serial Disappearance of Glasses case!”
I look at the photos. Certain the victims in the pictures are both wearing glasses. Black-rimmed and silver-rimmed.
“Well then, Kunikida-kun, it’s your turn!”
“What turn? Among the other nine victims, there were those that were not wearing glasses. You can’t call it a common point.”
From what I can recall, among the nine, four wore glasses, two wore sunglasses and the other three did not wear anything.
“Tsk…. Then there’s no other choice, the other way is for Kunikida-kun to be a decoy. The criminal’s targets are travelers, right? Then Kunikida-kun will wear rubber boots, a backpack, red and green checkered shirt and mountain climbing pants and walk around the streets of Yokohama. Then take pictures of pedestrians with a gigantic camera from one side and ends sentences with ‘zura’.”
“Who would do that!?”
“’Who would do that zura!?’”
“As if such a thing could be called a tactic! Dismissed!”
“Dismissed zura!’”
“Don’t wait for it to happen!”
“Ehh? Then let’s have a naked Kunikida-kun in a silk hat while dashing around the streets in a unicycle, shouting out the type of girl he likes.”
“You changed the objective!”
“Well then, how about Inspector Kunikida in a clown outfit, reading?”
“And you, shut up!”
Damn it, every last one of them!
My anger is slowly rising.
“Dazai! Work a little bit more with earnest! When will you start working seriously!?”
“Ehh? I am always working seriously though.”
If that’s the case, all the more reason for it to be bad.
“Fine, then how about we do this? I promise to be an upright detective soon. I will seriously conduct investigations, inspections, and reasoning. The superior Kunikida-kun will be tongue-tied, and, starting tomorrow, will be able to trust me to work alone without any problems. I will become that kind of excellent man you’ve been thinking of.”
Dazai rattled on a justification, but I can’t trust him at all.
“Just what time is this ‘soon’?”
“Once we get off this taxi.”
Oh.
“For real?”
“Of course. An advocate of suicide does not back down on his words… And in exchange, I want to have something in return.”
See, I know this will happen.
“What is it? If it’s a salary raise or be given an easier job, I refuse, alright?”
“It’s nothing big like that. It’s just that, since just now, there’s something I’ve taken interest in.”
Dazai stared steadily towards the driver. Curiosity glimmered in his eyes.
“…Let me drive.”
“Well then, we’ve arrived in one piece!”
“I won’t ever….. let you drive again…..”
The doors opened and Dazai dashingly stepped out of the taxi while I almost tumbled out.
The taxi driver ended up fainted in the passenger’s seat. He’s probably out cold for the night.
“Hm, you got motion sickness? How unsightly.”
At Dazai’s words, I lightly remembered my urge to kill.
This can’t even be called motion sickness anymore. I stand up, my legs shaking. My sense of balance gone. Just like a newborn deer that just learned to stand up, both arms and legs shaking.
Even the strictest martial arts training is not as exhausting as this.
“Now then, let’s get to work immediately! Because you’ve promised them earlier, let’s do this quickly!”
Since that lecture a while ago, I find it hard to say, “Let me rest!”
“The place mentioned in the request is just right over there, correct? …By the way, Kunikida-kun, are you alright with ghosts and demons and the sort?”
“Ghost…..? As if I could work with the Armed Detective Agency if I am afraid of such things. More than the supernatural, it’s obvious that blades and firearms pose a greater menace.”
“That’s a good thing to hear. At any rate, the place we’re investigating this time is of that kind.”
My eyes moved to where Dazai was pointing at.
Standing still in the recesses of the mountains, a crumbling black building can be seen.
Coloured by the darkness, with signs of death and decay thick in the air, it is an abandoned hospital.
000
Why?
Why are we holding an investigation like this in the middle of the night?
While a person lives, there comes a time when they fall ill. A perfect mentality and body without sickness does not exist. With that as proof, everyone dies in the hospital we are born in. A hospital is just like this world and the next, a boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
Giving way for this abandoned hospital to crumble to dust makes it all the more eerie. The moonlight creeps in from the broken window, casting a ghastly blue shadow on the wreckage, the sluggish pool of water on the floor is a lifeless purple. The spider lilies growing on the front lawn is a venomous red.
“Dark… I can’t see a thing.”
“Isn’t that just a good feeling?”
Walking next to my shuffling feet in the hallways of the abandoned hospital, Dazai overtook me with light steps.
The walls are decomposing, the wires are dangling off the crumbling ceiling. The window sills are disconnected, furnishings and equipment are mostly stolen, and the hospital rooms are reduced to housing worms and insects.
Just who in the world would take a liking to a ruin like this and even break into it.
“The wish of the client is to clarify the true identity of the sounds and light that happens here every night. I don’t know what will appear. Be on your guard.”
“Um…. Of course I understand, but Kunikida-kun, aren’t you a bit too cautious?”
I glared at Dazai.
“What are you saying? To one-sidedly underestimate the enemy is a fool’s barbarism. Just know that to assume the worst and move accordingly is what makes you worthy of being a member of the agency.”
I discreetly cautioned, I stayed closer to the ground in preparation for an unforeseen attack and advanced through the hallway.
“Are you perhaps… scared?”
“I-I-I-I am not scared! Idiot!”
“Then let’s go quickly.”
“Fool, in these sorts of movies, the characters always get carried away and do reckless things, so go ahead and be the scapegoat.”
“What do you mean by ‘these sorts of movies’?”
“Never mind that, just go ahead. I will keep watch from the back.”
“You just don’t want to walk in front… Oh, that’s right, because it is dark it’s no good, how about using a lighter?’
I’ve already thought about that. I really, really want to depend on illumination. But……
“If there’s anyone in this hospital, they might realize we are here because of the light and run away. Let’s move forward with just the moonlight.”
“Haah…”
The two of us move along in the darkness. The building creaked with the strong wind. From somewhere the sound of dripping water can be heard.
What about neighbours around this abandoned hospital? There’s not even a single building around. Only endless forest and vast hills and fields. The raging wind shook the troop of trees and the sound of the rustling leaves resounds.
I recall the letter from the client. Just what was ‘us who live nearby’? Extending numerous kilometres from around this building, it’s really not a place where anyone would have had trespassed. Only the likes of foxes and bears live around here.
– Then, just what kind of person is the client?
– This person doesn’t have a name.
– Perhaps, it is a bitter evil spirit.
I thought back on Dazai’s words.
Around us, everything is pure darkness, nothing can be seen. The stray wind seeping through the building’s cracks howls just like a crying woman.
…….
I don’t believe in ghosts. I am a Mathematics teacher, a man of Science who masters Chemistry and Physics.
Things like vengeful spirits taking the forms of living things are vain; fear of the dark is just a made up delusion.
…….
I am not scared. I am not trembling or anything, I am not crying.
“It appeared!”
GYAAAAAAA!
My heart jumped with Dazai’s shout from somewhere in front.
Dazai turned his head, he looked at me with his mouth wide open, looked at the expression on my face, and then slowly smirked.
This damn person….!
“You’re going to be fired, you know!?”
“No way, Kunikida-kun just looked a little nervous, so I wanted to distract you.”
“I don’t give a damn about you anymore!”
I pushed Dazai aside and walked ahead.
Damn, it’s dark. I can’t see anything. Because I cannot see anything, I begin to hallucinate what is in the darkness.
In the empty darkness of the shadows, I can feel someone sighing a long breath.
Dark.
Dark.
No more.
“Doppo Poetry – flashlight!!”
It became bright.
000
After checking around the hospital for a bit, there are certainly some signs that someone had entered.
Some kind of track left behind by someone pulling something with wheels. Footprints from leather boots. Lint from clothes. However, as to whether those are the traces of the criminal who creeps in every night, or just the tracks of thieves who took advantage of the situation, it is not clear.
Our vision was guaranteed by the small flashlight manifested by my ability. But it can’t possibly make up for the thick darkness of the hospital.
It’s literally pitch dark just an inch ahead, if I light the path forward what’s under my feet will fall into deep sea darkness, if I light at my feet what’s in front will be dark like a cave. Even if we move forward gingerly, there is nothing that helps us progress with the search.
“This is definitely an act of mischief. Let’s go home.” Dazai said like he had enough and turned around on his heels.
“Oi, wait up. What happened to ‘I will seriously conduct investigations, inspections, and reasoning’? As if we are worthy enough to be called detectives with just this level. More evidence –“
“There’s no need. Look at this.”
Dazai holds up a dark coloured cord. Both ends are buried in the floor. – Why?
“Is that – wiring?”
If it is, it’s pretty new. It greatly differs from the other power cables in this building decayed by time. It must be installed only these past few months.
“If we follow this wiring –“
Dazai reels the cord and chased it to the end. It is skillfully planted and hidden, but we finally arrived at the end of the cord.
Dazai picked something else up,
“This… is a camera. Someone must have secretly installed it. It’s definitely not just in this location. Oh my, oh my, this person must’ve sent in a fake request to steal shots of Kunikida-kun who’s crying out of fear of ghosts. What a bad man.”
“Hey, I was not crying!”
“That’s right, huh. Being scared just by the dark of an abandoned building, even for an elementary student that’s too much.”
“…………”
“In the first place, the ghosts of a hospital must have no fighting spirit left in them. They died of sickness, right? Let’s say they died because of an accident then they would haunt the place they died. Those kind of ghosts, don’t have the guts to possess people to death either. At most, they only have lingering affections and regrets. Like “I didn’t want to die…” or something. Ahh, no way, no way. The actually managed to die, what a luxury.”
“Dazai…. Oi, well that, just leave it at that…”
Oh… if a vengeful spirit is listening in, what shall we do?
“If they do have a grudge against the living, at the very least it should be something like a very thin woman with pulmonary tuberculosis. Wet hair waving around messily, and with full of vengeance say, “I have a grudge, I envy living things, SAVE ME FROM THIS GLOOMY ABYSS, TAKE ME AWAY FROM THIS PAIN, aa, so much pain, my blood, my bones, my flesh, my insides, AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”
“HEEEEELPPPPPPP!!!!!!!”
The sudden shrill scream of a female voice ringing in the dark makes me so surprised my heart feels like it’s going to jump out of my throat.
But in a moment, as if cold water had drenched me, I calmed down.
That scream just now, belongs to a living person.
“That voice just now…”
“It’s this way! Hurry!”
Without waiting for Dazai, I run down the rotting hallway. In the shortest time possible, I climbed down the staircase and crossed the hallways. I kick up debris as I run towards the source of the scream.
I arrived at the basement. The ceiling had come unstuck and crumbled to the floor below. Kitchenette, Pharmaceutical Management Office, X-ray Room, and the morgue are lined up.
I chase after the voice and dive into the old kitchenette.
Here she is!
From the surface of the water of the wide tank used for laundering clothes, a woman’s right hand is sticking out and she’s struggling desperately!
I rushed over and look into the water, at the bottom the figure of a young lady clad in undergarments can be seen. One hand was handcuffed to a rail below.
Because of the handcuffs, she can’t come up to the surface! She’s being drowned to death!
“What the hell is this –!?”
“We have to break this iron grill!”
Dazai yelled while grasping the grill. Firmly fixed to the tank was a gigantic iron grill that acts as a lid to preventing the lady from escaping.
I grabbed it with both hands and shook it with all my strength. It is also being padlocked, there’s no way it can come off just by brute strength.
My eyes met with the lady in the water. A reddish brown pupil. She opened her eyes as wide as she can, that pupil of hers pleading. Help.
“I am saving you now! Go to the edge of the tank!”
I waved my hands, instructing her to move. Maybe she did realized, the lady had her back pressed to the wall of the tank and shrunk her body.
I took the wire gun out of my waist. I released the safety, and aimed towards the outer wall of the tank.
“Get down, Dazai!”
So it won’t ricochet towards the lady inside, I calculated the angle, then shoot!
The wall that got hit punctured and cracked. It split and the water flowed out.
I aimed towards that crack and did a roundhouse kick!
The revolving power I received crushed the ceramic and mortared wall when my heel made contact. A huge hole formed and water flowed out of it in huge amounts.
“Cough… Cough, cough!”
Water gushed out from the hole, soon the water level was beneath the lady’s face and her breathing resumed like she had lusted for it. Somehow, we seem to have made it in time.
Dazai turned a huge tap and the water stopped flowing.
“Are you alright?” I handed her a handkerchief from within the grills. The lady took it with her still trembling fingers.
“It looked like someone had tried to drown you… did you see who did it?” Dazai asked.
Coughing wildly, the lady who was choking on air finally let out her voice.
“I – was abducted. The day I visited Yokohama for work, suddenly my consciousness disappeared – and before I knew it, I am already here.”
Dazai and I exchanged glances.
000
Working together with Dazai, we broke the grills and the cuffs and saved the lady. The iron grills are padlocked thrice and with no other choice, I used the butt of the wire gun to hit it to break.
“My name is Sasaki Nobuko. I am teaching at a university in Tokyo. When I reached Yokohama, I unexpectedly lost my senses… and before I knew it I am here.”
Miss Sasaki who was dripping wet and blue in the face still managed to explain firmly.
“Sasaki-san, do you know how many days ago since you lost your senses and got abducted, as you have mentioned?”
“I must apologize… I lost my senses, so I can’t say in detail… But speaking from the condition of my body and empty stomach, I don’t think more than two or three days have passed.”
The days the victims of the Serial Disappearance of Yokohama’s Visitors case disappeared was between thirty-five to seven days ago. If what this Miss said is true, then there’s a high possibility that there is a twelfth victim.
“……”
From just now, Dazai has been keeping quiet with his arms folded, vehemently thinking of something.
Miss Sasaki is a black-haired and slightly on the thinner side kind of woman. Her age might be around mine.
Her body was shaking. Was her clothes taken away from her after the abduction, leaving her in meager underwear and undershirt only? Even though she had put on the overcoat Dazai had lent her, in this time of the night, with her dripping half-naked wet body, it’s impossible not to shake.
Shivering in the cold, her hand that’s holding onto my arm, her legs that‘s stretched out on the floor were dreadfully thin. The clothes clinging to her skin drew a seductive curve. Her skin is transiently white, as if one would think it’s transparent.
The wet hair sticking to her nape trickles droplets of water onto her chest. For some reason, with no explanation, I averted my eyes.
“More importantly, there should be more people abducted in the same way as me somewhere in this building! I heard their voices.”
“Wha-?”
Other missing people too? So they were also abducted and confined here?
“I’ll guide you! This way, please.” The lady, while disoriented, stood up and planned to be our guide.
….. However.
“….Wait.” I held out my hand to stop Miss Sasaki.
“Dazai, how do you see this situation?”
“Sasaki-san’s appearance looks erotic.” Dazai said with a serious look.
“Be serious!”
“…. Hmm, we did too much.” Dazai folds his arm and replied once more.
“We came to this abandoned building to investigate the mysterious sounds and light, right? Instead, we discovered the missing victim from the serial disappearance case. These should’ve been two separate, unrelated cases. If we put aside the fact that we are in charge for both cases…. Sasaki-san, when was the last time you saw the criminal?”
“I am really sorry, but I’ve never once seen his face properly… But, when I regained consciousness, the tap to the tank was already running and the water level was already close to my face. Perhaps, the criminal himself turned the tap on around five minutes before I woke up.”
Because she yelled at that time, we heard. It’s just really close timing.
“Then the criminal should’ve been here until about a while ago. I can’t help but think that he had realized we were walking close. If so, then why did he do this?”
“So he panicked upon learning of our presence, or –“
It’s a meticulously planned trap?
But fearing some kind of trap and leaving things like this is out of the question.
In this building, there are missing victims, if there is a chance they are being confined here, then we cannot afford to not save them.
“Thirty-five days have already passed since the first victim disappeared. If he had been confined here since then, it is a matter of his life. Dazai, escort the lady and follow me.”
I held on to my gun and proceeded down the hallway.
After my senses told me to send a report to the police, the place that we reached due to Miss Sasaki’s guidance is the morgue. Corpses are valuables, so to prevent robbery, the door is sturdier than usual. The iron door is locked with a latch. It’s is also suitable to imprison living people in.
After making sure there were no traps, we broke the latch open and rushed in. Crossing both wrists over each other, I aimed the mouth of the gun and the flashlight forwards.
The morgue spans for about ten meters and terrifyingly dark. Most of the things have been either moved out or stolen, the interior is vacant. The only things left are broken bits of a corpse’s stretcher, torn cadaver pouches and installed on the walls are drawers of caskets.
Other than that, there is nothing. The dead nor the living. – No.
Reacting to the light of the flashlight, something within the room moved. I threw the white light of the flashlight towards that direction.
“H…. Help me…”
Someone’s there.
In an iron cage along the wall, there’s a total of four people. Just like Miss Sasaki, everyone’s in simple undergarments.
“Where is this?”
“The yell of the female voice earlier… what happened to it?”
“Calm down. We are here to save you. We already saved the screaming woman. Is anyone hurt?”
“N-no, but, where is this? Why are we here?”
I went closer to confirm the situation. The entrance is on the opposite side; a wire netted cage used to ship off wild beasts nailed into the wall. It seems difficult to take off with the tools we have in hand. The cage itself is made robust, breaking it apart will probably take time.
“It’s an electrical lock terminal, isn’t it?” Dazai sighed and went closer to the front of the cage’s lock and confirmed. “A passcode huh, is it a biological imprint… or some kind of keyword… ‘Open Sesame’! ‘Flash Thunder’! ‘I am sending a lifetime’s worth of disgrace’! Hmm…. It won’t open. Looks like there’s no other choice than to break it.”
The heck was that last one?
“To break it open is probably, somewhere around here like this –“
The moment Dazai reached out to touch the lock terminal, Miss Sasaki yelled like she’s about to snap.
“You can’t, you are not allowed to touch that lock!”
Dazai was surprised and turned around. A red lamp lighted inside the lock terminal.
From above, the sound of something metal drops, the sound of something opening.
Inside the cage, milky white smoke scatters and spreads. The me that instinctively rushed away could feel my eyes and throat hurting like they were being stabbed.
The startled missing people inside the cage shrieked.
“Poison gas!”
Tears sprung due to the intense pain. My vision falters. The world blurs. Just like everything and anything is dancing. Just how much did I inhale? But there’s no way I can abandon the victims. I reach my hand out towards the cage.
“We can’t go closer, it’s already too late!”
Someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back. So loud. I have to save them. The victims cannot die.
That’s what’s ideal. That’s how the world should be.
“Kunikida-kun! Hurry!” Dazai’s voice yells from somewhere in the back.
I don’t want to. This is wrong.
“You can’t!”
Miss Sasaki holds me tight and stops me. Why. Why did you stop me? People cannot be allowed to die. In front of my own two eyes, not anyone –
I let Dazai lead me away to leave the room behind me. What was I yelling, I have not the slightest recollection.
The four confined people all died.
-Chapter 1 END-
