Don't forget to read the first part, or the previous post if you haven't!
[We'll start in the 'realistic' route after the principal shows us the Fox Mound]
There was something bothering me, so I mentioned---
>The fact that the students are still playing Mr. Kokkuri even now.
⬢ >The possibility that the accident 2 years ago wasn't an accident.
>Who was the student playing Mr. Kokkuri with Misa Sakita.
Let's follow the same route for now.
>The possibility that the accident 2 years ago wasn't an accident.
"What if the accident 2 years ago wasn't an accident..."
"Eh!?" Mr. Kogure and the principal stared at me at the same time.
"I'm only speaking hypothetically, but if the accident two years ago involved some kind of artificiality, that could well be the motive for the current incident."
"W-wait a minute, Detective! Are you saying that this case is not a suicide?" The principal asks with a flurried face.
"No, we are investigating this as a suicide case, but we have an obligation to consider all possibilities before resolving the case."
Although I told him that, I don't think it was just a suicide. But there was no need to make a big fuss by telling him, so I kept quiet.
"Principal, sir. Do you know of any students who were close to the late Ms. Misa Sakita?"
"Oh, that would be Nozawa-kun from earlier. He's a {childhood friend} of Ms. Sakita's."
"Otherwise, no one would come to this mound, the one place nobody wants to go near, to pray every day."
"Childhood friend..."
Thus, Shouta Nozawa becomes the first suspect. His motive is to take {revenge} for the murder of his childhood friend.
Of course, this is assuming the incident two years ago was not an accident.
"Were there any other students she was close to? Who were the students Ms. Sakita played Mr. Kokkuri with?"
After a moment's thought, the principal shook his head. "Well..."
I was hoping to grasp something from the accident two years ago, but it can't be helped.
After leaving the Fox Mound, we asked the principal for permission to investigate the school.
"Sir. What are we going to do now?"
"Uhm, let's see..."
After thinking a bit, I chose to---
>Look into Misa Sakita's accident.
>Gather information from the students.
Now, we take the opposite option.
>Look into Misa Sakita's accident.
I can't stop thinking about the accident that happened two years ago. Could this be related in some way to the recent string of suicides?
Or maybe it's just me trying to cling to the more grounded facts we've finally obtained.
"Mr. Kogure. Could you look into the accident that killed Misa Sakita?"
"Yessir! With pleasure!"
[Fade to black]
The Inui Police Department had jurisdiction over the case of Misa Sakita's accident. Mr. Kogure took out his cell phone, called his colleague, briefly explained the gist of the incident, and arranged to have the records from that time examined.
"...He said we'll be able to investigate it ASAP. Please wait a moment until they call me back, sir."
"Thank you, Mr. Kogure."
"By the way, sir. I just remembered something about the accident, have you heard of this story?"
Mr. Kogure, perhaps feeling bored while waiting for a call, started gossiping about something.
"Speaking of accidents, I heard a terrifying story the other day from one of my high school classmates." If it's so scary, why talk about it?
"This is a story that a friend of my classmate actually witnessed..."
[Background turns black]
"A few years ago, somebody jumped into the metro and committed suicide. It was a very crowded morning commute, and my classmate's friend was one of the people there."
"The metro service was temporarily halted and the scene was filled with onlookers who wanted to see what was happening."
"My classmate's friend also went to see it out of curiosity, finding a dismembered man's body lying there."
"And when he looked at the man's head on the platform, the man's head snapped open and said, "Don't look at me"..."
"What do you think, sir? Scary, isn't it?"
"Yeah, well..."
The story itself is a common type of rumor, but when told by a scared person, it sounded pretty creepy.
"I'm sorry, but you're now one of us. It's not very comfortable for me to bear all these scary stories by myself..."
...What. You just wanted to increase my involvement, didn't you? Mr. Kogure really is cowardly.
As if in anticipation of the end of our conversation, Mr. Kogure's cell phone began playing an incoming melody. [It's the same music as from Episode 0, btw]
"...Um...Um...Understood."
"There's a problem, sir. They couldn't find any record of Misa Sakita's accident."
"They couldn't find...?"
"Yes, sir. Either it went missing or someone has already taken it... My uselessness is disgraceful!"
Police records becoming lost isn't something that happens every day.
It's possible that someone else may have taken it out, but it's hard to imagine any detective besides us wanting to dredge up the details of a two-year-old accident.
We were both pondering with a "hmmm" when a tremendous thunderclap rumbled through the air.
[Screen flashes]
When I looked in the direction of the sound, I saw smoke coming from the wooded area where the Fox Mound was located. It was a lightning strike.
Although not the duty of a police officer, we cannot afford to overlook the possibility of a fire.
Mr. Kogure and I nodded to each other and ran back to the Fox Mound as fast as we could.
[Now we return to what's already shown. Let's skip to a certain scene]
Nervously, I---
>Obey her order, "Certainly, my Queen!"
⬢ >Firmly oppose her, "No!"
...
>Obey her order, "Certainly, my Queen!"
I can't believe Ms. Hitomi had that kind of hobby... But, I can't let a woman be embarrassed. Thinking that everything is an experience, I took a strong step forward.
"Certainly, my {Queen}." Following Ms. Hitomi's words, I knelt with both hands and feet on the floor.
It's a figure that shouldn't be shown to others no matter what happens.
What kind of play will be waiting for me? My heart is racing. [Junya, no]
---Ouch!? This sudden pain came with something weighing on my back.
They were Ms. Hitomi's feet. Not too thick, not too thin, but long and stout. She was trampling on my back right now.
The situation is clear. This is unmistakably that. Am I finally being lured into the unknown world...?
---Ouchouchouch!? More pain and weight hit me.
T-this... doesn't feel good at all! If I get over this pain, will it turn into pleasure...?
"Nice work. Alright, Junya-kun."
The usual Ms. Hitomi stood there. "Huh...? It's already over?"
"Yeah. I was able to get this." There was a single book in her hand.
"What is that?"
"It's the school roster."
Ms. Hitomi just wanted to get a roster from a high place on the bookshelf. So she used me as a platform for that...
I am ashamed of myself for having made the mistake of being so enthralled.
But if you want a platform, you don't need me; you can just use any chair you have around. I rubbed my back and grumbled.
"Junya-kun. If we check this roster, we might find some new facts, don't you think?" It's as she says.
This was no time to play around with silly fantasies. I flipped through the pages of the list Ms. Hitomi handed me, trying to find a clue.
[Back to normal again, let's jump to the stakeout]
The question is whose house to stake out, but we settled on---
>Kamiyama's house.
>Horikawa's house.
>Yamano's house.
Let's do both other options, one at a time.
>Kamiyama's house.
It's been six hours since we began staking out Yuka Kamiyama's house. Stakeouts require a lot more patience than one might think.
If it's a stakeout based on suspicions and circumstantial evidence alone, it requires even more so.
"Sir, do you think Kamiyama will make a move?" Mr. Kogure repeats this question every hour.
"...I don't know."
Her motive is unclear. And there is no evidence against her. However, Kamiyama's obsession with Mr. Kokkuri is not normal.
"By the way, sir, have you heard of this story? A coworker friend of mine personally experienced it when he went on patrol..."
"He was riding in a patrol car with a colleague for a late-night patrol. It's inexcusable, but they decided to take a different route than usual for a change."
"The patrol was about to end without incident. They were only a few minutes away from the police station when all of a sudden there was a screeching noise coming from the radio."
"He checked to see what was going on and found nothing wrong with the radio. Within 30 seconds the noise stopped. After returning to the police station, he talked to an old senior officer, who told him that there had been a family slaughter at that very spot a long time ago..."
"My friend who told this story to me says that a ghost caused the interference. ...That couldn't be true, right!?"
I guess Mr. Kogure brought up this topic so I could refute it too.
I don't want to be untactful and make the ride home awkward, so I'll go along with him here.
"Of course, such a thing..." [Barely hearable static]
"Hiih!!?" Mr. Kogure let out a pitiful shriek at the noise that suddenly came out of the radio.
"I-it's alright, Mr. Kogure. It's just a coincidence." My voice cracked even as I said this.
"Or is there really a ghost prowling around here?" I attempted to control my fear with a joke.
...But that only made Mr. Kogure more frightened.
"P-please stop, sir!" Mr. Kogure covered his ears.
After a while, the radio went silent as usual, and the silence of the night took over once again.
"Mr. Kogure, it looks like it's fixed." I tapped on his shoulder while he was acting like one of the three wise monkeys.
"...H-has it subsided?"
"Yeah, everything's okay again. It looks like it was a temporary malfunction."
Despite my concern and optimistic words, Mr. Kogure seems unconvinced.
"Could it really have been just a malfunction...?" No one answered his words, and the question faded into darkness.
[We get the morning phone call after this]
The question is whose house to stake out, but we settled on---
>Kamiyama's house.
>Horikawa's house.
>Yamano's house.
Next one.
>Yamano's house.
It's been six hours since we began staking out Keiko Yamano's house. Stakeouts require a lot more patience than one might think.
If it's a stakeout based on suspicions and circumstantial evidence alone, it requires even more so.
"Sir, do you think Yamano will make a move?" Mr. Kogure repeats this question every hour.
"...I don't know."
Keiko Yamano, eh...? Her frightened appearance... That wasn't normal.
Perhaps she thinks she's next in line?
"By the way, sir, have you heard of this story? A coworker friend of mine personally experienced it when he went on patrol..."
"He was riding in a patrol car with a colleague for a late-night patrol. It's inexcusable, but they decided to take a different route than usual for a change."
"On the way there, I found a girl strolling in a forest park... or so I should say, but it's a pretty small park, anyway, she was walking aimlessly in there."
"She seemed to be a runaway, so he immediately took her into custody and asked her some questions, but she didn't utter a word, only nodding or shaking her head from side to side..."
"They reluctantly put the girl in the back of the police car and took her back to the police station."
"But just as they were about to arrive at the police station, he looked in the rearview mirror and saw that the girl had vanished..." [Zoom into the girl before the background fades away]
"Later, they searched the area around the park, worried about the girl... and found her slaughtered body."
"Sir... This is story is a lie, right!? Right!? My friend's just trying to scare me, isn't he!?"
I guess Mr. Kogure brought up this story so I could deny it too.
I don't want to be untactful and make the ride home awkward, so I'll go along with him here.
"Isn't that kind of urban legend very common? I've heard one myself. A passenger that should be riding a taxi disappears before the driver knows it... or something."
I reassured Mr. Kogure by adding, "It's a well-known story, you know. Maybe the one you heard was a different version of it."
"T-then, it's really true, isn't it!!?" Oy, where did that come from?
"N-no, um, well, Mr. Kogure..." He covered his ears and went into his shell, not even listening to my follow-up.
"Oh, brother. Wasn't this meant to be a stake-out?" I muttered to myself in-between sighs.
[Now, we'll jump sideways, we'll still be at the stakeout but on the other route]
I ask him about---
>Kamiyama's savage transformation.
>The true reason for the suicides.
Time for another file flood.
>The true reason for the suicides.
"Hey, Brother. Did those girls who committed suicide really commit suicide?"
I inquired, despite thinking the wording was strange.
"Are you asking me if those women really died of their own volition?"
"Yeah... Ms. Hitomi swore in the name of all coroners that there was no doubt it was suicide, but still."
I don't want to doubt Ms. Hitomi's judgment, but I couldn't believe that those dead girls had taken their lives of their own volition.
"If Hitomi said that, then medically speaking, it definitely was suicide, so I'm not going to comment on it."
"You're expecting me to have a different take on things, aren't you?" I nodded silently.
"Alright then. It's said that fox-possession is a manifestation of {extra-sensory perception} or ESP."
I prepared myself, but then an incredibly shocking statement suddenly appeared.
"Fox-possession is a state of mental instability, and through it, one may be able to exhibit psychic powers."
"Yasumori Negishi, of "Earmuffs" fame, witnessed a fox-possessed woman displaying clairvoyant powers."
"There have been instances in the past of foxes controlling humans by invading their minds."
"Controlling humans...?" Isn't that just perfect for this case?
"Koukan Shiba's, a scholar of Western sciences, "Notes from the Shunba Tower (Shunbarou-hikki)" mentions a fox that manipulated a person."
" 'Naught but a fox's spirit may enter a man's body, humans, as we are, cannot attain this technique.' In other words, an ordinary human being could never compete with the spiritual power of a fox."
But, just because someone says we can't match up to them, doesn't mean we'll just give up with a "Yes, I see." It's our job to do something about it.
After that, the folklorist Suimei Kirisaki's lecture continued for a while.
[And that's all of them, quite a lot, but not enough for a post. So, let me show you a small preview]
[In handwritten Kanji]
The insect-loving daughter does not appear to Man so much as a woman or as a demon.
I saw it. Hidden in the park's bushes...
A boy was playing alone. She came there, that woman...
"Let's go." The woman held out her hand to the boy.
"Let's go, together." The boy joined hands with the woman...
No, no, no. You can't go.
At that moment, I ended up seeing it... That person's eyes...
Those eyes... Scarlet red... just like blood...
"IS SOMEONE THERE?"
Metropolitan Police Department Unofficial Case Record A-11
"Oni"
Hospitals at dusk are so calm they bring me ear pain...
I stared at my leg. The white cast, which had only just been set, was already scribbled on everywhere.
At first, I believed it was just an ordinary kidnapping, but... I think back to the case that put me in this position.
Hardly a good memory, but an experience I will never forget.
I only had been working in the Police History Archival Office for a little more than 10 days.
My first case ended up with me being hospitalized with a broken leg.
Still, in that situation, I would say it's fortunate that I only suffered a broken bone. If it had been any worse, I might have lost my life.
Once discharged from the hospital, I'll be busy with reports and write-ups regarding this incident.
Before reaching that point, this might be a good time to clear my head.
In the past few days, I've been exposed to many things. Envy, jealousy, hatred, and various other negative emotions that human beings possess. I've learned that the smallest misalignment can pull people into darkness.
And, a little bit of hope... I was saddled with all of them, but my hand was not big enough.
When I close my eyes in this way, I can recall it vividly. What I saw that night...
That... that was, definitely...
[Fade to black]
Let's end here, but how about I tell you some of the stuff that'll happen next part too? We'll see the first interaction between the boys and Inspector Indou, learning a bit about the Archival Office in the process, then we meet another member of the First Investigative Division, as friendly as the previous one. I don't want to show too much, so I think this should be enough.
Well, see you next time!
