novelVolume 3, Chapter?: Welcome to Zenmetsu Village (2)
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In other words...
Whether they would ever do so or not, they had the option of cutting off one of the highways that acted as Japan's arteries. All the factory had to do was make an announcement saying the road was closed for the next three days or something like that. And this was a junction that stretched in four different directions, leading to different areas across the country. That alone showed how much influence a corporation could have over the country.
"Mister, does that mean everyone who works in the factory drives over the mountains to get to work?"
"Hm? Hmm?"
The middle-aged man fell silent for a moment.
I thought he might have been confused by the supposed runaway girl asking him a question, but it seemed that was not the case.
He lowered his voice before speaking.
"No, it seems about half of the workers live in the dorms on the factory grounds."
"Half? Didn't you say there are more than 8000 in all?"
"It isn't that surprising. Remember the government's new... what was it? The business-oriented low income assistance and favorable treatment system? I think it had to do with providing support related to corporate taxes. Anyway, as I said, the Four Mountains area was bought up for the water and air. The dorms are probably kept as spotlessly clean as the factory. At any rate, there's no chance of a car being stolen from there."
Once the man finished, I politely thanked him and finally brought the rental car toward the exit.
Surprisingly, the sign had only one arrow and it pointed toward the semiconductor factory. Not only was there no other landmark, but it seemed there weren't even any other roads.
I stopped the car in the space at the exit prepared for large trucks to check on their tire chains or freight. It was time we discussed what to do next.
The mystery freak had a curious look on her face.
"I've heard of bayside industrial complexes having the final train stop head to their factory. Only those with employee IDs can get through the ticket gate."
"Yes, but did you see the name of the factory?"
"Kuroyama Electronics Group – Four Mountains Precision Semiconductor Factory."
We exchanged a glance
The mystery freak did not look all that surprised, so she had probably known from the beginning. She had likely discovered it while investigating the legend of Zenmetsu Village. I did not know if the legend surrounding that abandoned village was true, but just because I was a police officer did not mean I would search through the database for information on cases unrelated to the ones I was working on.
"The incident Hasebe Michio was suspected in was at the home of Kuroyama Electronics Group's president, right?"
"Now then, now then. Is this a coincidence or is there a reason behind it?"
I decided to drive over toward the factory in question. The horrible fog was bad enough and then nothing besides the asphalt road was maintained. The entire area was covered by a thick forest. This was nothing simple like a hedge. It was a complete wall of greenery. It was so thick I felt forcing my way through it would leave my entire body scraped up. This sight told me just how much human interference there was in what we commonly thought of as "nature".
You often heard the phrase "humans are a part of earth's nature", but that did not mean humans were kind to the earth and it did not mean nature would unconditionally accept us. To a naked human with no fangs or fur, untouched nature was actually a difficult environment to live in.
"Is this the factory?"
"It's just a wall, so it's hard to say."
Due to the fog, no structure was visible without approaching quite close. A giant wall over five meters tall suddenly appeared alongside the road as we drove along. It was primarily made of thick concrete and the very top had barbed wire installed. Needless to say, it had cameras and sensors as well.
The wall seemed to continue forever.
In all seriousness, we continued for over a kilometer and saw no sign of a gate.
"Is this a military facility or something... ?"
"It looks like a prison, " I said in annoyance
This semiconductor factory supported the technology of Intellectual Villages and received support of its own from the government.
I can understand being more sensitive than average about having your tech leak out, but is it really necessary to take it this far?
As we continued on even longer, we finally came across what looked like a gate. The road in front of it spread out like a bus roundabout, so it was likely the materials shipment entrance rather than the front entrance.
This entrance was not a gate with a bar that lowered across it like at a coin-operated parking lot.
It had a giant double-door gate with metal bars and a row of electrically-operated spikes was located on the ground. Even if a giant truck crashed into it at full speed, I doubted it would break.
"..."
A man in workwear sat in the reception box that was as small as a storage shed. He was watching us expressionlessly.
I continued on at low speed and passed by the gate.
"... There really is nothing. Attacking a police box and stealing a police car would be easier than stealing a car from here."
"But what does that mean?" The mystery freak tilted her head in the passenger seat."The prisoner transport vehicle was toppled over on the highway and Hasebe Michio had disappeared. But this is no place to steal a car."
"Whoever caused him to disappear might have had another scenario in mind."
"Possibly, but isn't the entire premise a bit odd?" The mystery freak raised her index finger."Let's say someone wants Hasebe Michio gone and they have been carefully putting together a plan for this day. If they had thought this through so carefully, would they really attack here? If they attacked somewhere other than Four Mountains Junction – a normal road off the highway perhaps – they would have had more options."
It was not logical.
That meant it was not the work of a professional.
But what did that mean?
The most likely unprofessional possibility was...
"Are you saying the police did not intend to attack here if they intended to attack at all? So was it Hasebe Michio who initiated the escape?"
"Hasebe might have intentionally stopped the prisoner transport vehicle or it might have started with a true accident, but the possibility is there."
"But why? If he did nothing, the odds were really good his request for a retrial would have gone through and he would have been found not guilty. Escaping here will send him back to prison where the death penalty awaits."
"I don't know." The mystery freak sighed."What if the police really did intend to eliminate him and he realized it? If he thought he was going to be killed if he did nothing, he might try to escape from the police."
There were ways of getting down from the highway without passing through the tollgate.
Some of the pillars supporting the highway had staircases installed. They were used for high-speed bus rest stops and emergency evacuation. If he climbed down one of them, he could hide on the surface without anyone realizing it.
But...
Even if Hasebe had escaped the prisoner transport vehicle and made his way to the ground, what would he do then? He would have given the police the justification to shoot him as an escaped death-row inmate and then hidden himself in a thick forest with no witnesses.
Wouldn't he want to quickly obtain a means of transportation and escape far away no matter how risky that might be?
"But, " began the mystery freak.
She was changing the subject.
She was switching over.
"All of our speculation is based on the assumption that Hasebe Michio is completely innocent and the police are desperate to eliminate him."
"Wait. You can't mean..."
"So." She grinned. The mystery freak spoke with the grin of a demon that toyed with people's lives."Let's talk about a simple possibility. What if there is some reason why a retrial would be a problem for Hasebe Michio? If he knew he could not win the retrial, isn't it entirely possible he would have desperately used this chance to escape while being transported?"
Part 11 (Jinnai Shinobu)
The scraping continued.
That noise from the outside wall of the run-down shack approached the single exit.
In that instant, Madoka and I did not head for the door. We instead moved toward the opposite wall.
That wall had never been anything more than thin plywood with galvanized sheet iron for sturdiness and waterproofing. After decades of absorbing moisture, the wood had deteriorated and the iron was so rusted its original color had disappeared. The wall looked like it would break if we so much as touched it.
You could no longer even call it a wall.
"Ora!!" I shouted as I kicked the wall while putting my weight into the blow.
It felt more like kicking wet cardboard than wood. It more tore than broke and a large hole opened in the wall. I first let Madoka pass through before escaping the shack after her.
The previously calm scraping noise suddenly changed.
I still held the gas cylinder the size of a 500 milliliter drink bottle that I had removed from the portable stove, so I threw it back through the hole I had created.
"I hope you're blown to smithereens!!" I shouted.
I heard a sound like grass being trod on from the other side of the small building. The attacker may have frantically jumped out of the way or gotten down on the ground.
Either way, the idiot had judged wrong.
I had thrown that cylinder in, but I had no idea how to ignite it.
It had been a bluff.
And meanwhile...
"Run, Madoka!"
"Please spare me any more trouble that can't be resolved with money!!" shouted Madoka as I grabbed her arm and began to run.
We did not know who this enemy was, what they were armed with, or how many of them there were in all. The legend said the murders were primarily carried out with farm tools such as pitchforks and hoes, but nothing said this attacker had to remain faithful to that. It was possible they even had a hunting shotgun to use when no one was watching.
The one piece of luck was the thick fog surrounding us.
That obstacle prevented anyone from seeing more than a few meters ahead, so projectile accuracy would drop dramatically. Or so I assumed. At any rate, we needed to run as far away as we could so this enemy could not reach within "a few meters" of us. That would be better than sneaking around in search of some kind of shield.
The fog made it difficult to tell where we were or how far we had gone, but I felt as if my hearing had grown sharper in exchange for the poor visibility.
Madoka tried to look back, but I tugged on her arm to stop her.
We ran.
"Hey, Shinobu-kun. I hear footsteps following us!"
"So? That's no reason for us to stop!!"
We passed by a few of those storage shed-like cabins and made our way outside the village. The sound of footsteps through the grass continued approaching behind us.
I was afraid the tall underbrush and rotting trees would block our path once we left the village, but fortunately only the remnants of the dead and rotten grass remained. There was nothing in our way.
Of course, that also meant there was nothing to protect us from any projectiles.
The importance of the fog only continued to grow.
If this person was armed with a shotgun or crossbow, we could be killed in one shot once the person made it close enough to see us.
"Sh-Shinobu-kun!"
"What!?"
"I... I can't. I'm wearing leather shoes. I can't run anymore."
"I'm wearing leather shoes, too!!"
You're a health fanatic who even pays attention to what water you drink, so why is your physical ability lower than average? Can you even call that being a health fanatic?
I pulled on Madoka's arm as her feet threatened to get tangled up beneath her and half-forcibly made her continue running. Either that proved effective or our pursuer's sense of direction was thrown off by the thick fog because the sound of footsteps behind us gradually seemed to grow quieter.
We were gaining distance.
We might be able to escape.
And with that thought in mind, something suddenly appeared before my eyes.
It seemed to split through the white fog.
"... Eh?" said Madoka in confusion.
I also came to a stop despite the situation.
What we saw was something that should not have been there.
It was a run-down shack that looked more like a storage shed than a house.
This was the abandoned village we had supposedly just left.
It was impossible.
This should not have happened.
Madoka and I had run straight forward without worrying about the consequences. Our route might have curved slightly, but there was absolutely no way we could have made a full U-turn back to our original location.
And yet...
That village was indeed blocking our path ahead.
Zenmetsu Village.
Thirty years ago, a single serial killer had taken the lives of every single villager.
"What happened?" I said out loud."We ran straight away from there! Why is the village right here in front of us!?"
The footsteps of our pursuer once more began growing louder through the fog behind us.
But I ignored that direct threat as the legend Madoka had mentioned replayed in the back of my mind.
Supposedly, groups using Zenmetsu Village for a test of courage would end up dragged into the incident. When they frantically fled the village, it would pursue them by circling around ahead of them and swallow them up.
Part 12 (Uchimaku Hayabusa)
With the extent that large-scale factory went to prevent information on their technology to escape, I doubted I could acquire much information on the goings on inside by chatting with the guards. The guards would have been trained in that regard.
Whether Hasebe Michio had escaped of his own volition or he had been abducted by someone, we did not have much time left.
We could not remain long in a location with little chance of acquiring any information.
But...
"Do you have any other ideas where Hasebe might have gone after disappearing on the highway? There's nothing here but the semiconductor factory."
Yes.
Where else could we go?
Hasebe had to be somewhere, but we had no clues to pursue him with.
"Even in this fog, a man in a neon orange prisoner uniform would stand out walking along the highway. There are also plenty of cameras and sensors installed to detect speeding and traffic jams."
"So is he in Zenmetsu Village?" The mystery freak in the passenger seat was doing something with her smartphone that had no signal."But even if it isn't maintained, this entire basin area is the private property of Kuroyama Electronics Group, right? And the semiconductor factory needs clean water, so they can't have industrial waste dumped here. Don't you think there must be a network of cameras and sensors running throughout this desolate forest even if it doesn't look like it?"
It was certainly a possibility.
However...
"Do you have any actual evidence?"
"This." Enbi lightly shook her smartphone."We suddenly lost our cell phone signal once we left the tunnel. I had thought it was due to the area being undeveloped, but if the entire area is the private property of a corporation, another possibility comes to mind."
"... Artificial jamming?"
"That's a large factory with 8000 people working in it. For that and for the careful management of production amounts to match the fluctuation in currency rates, a high-speed internet connection is a necessity. They can't do their job without phones and the internet. Even if no television or radio signals had originally reached this place, they would have provided it with a proper internet environment when the factory was built. After all, this is a corporation large enough to prepare a highway just for the factory. There's no way they would overlook just this one aspect."
"So is this a means of keeping technical information from leaking out?"
"I don't know if they would set up jammers over such a wide area just for that, though."
"What is the legality of this?"
"Laws related to electro-magnetic signals can be ignored to a certain extent on private property. Company conference rooms and rooms in high class restaurants often have jammers to prevent bugging. The given reason is to ban the use of cell phones, though."
The land contained nothing other than the factory. While tens of thousands of cars would cross the highway each day, they only crossed the junction from one tunnel to another. They would see some interference with their cell phone signal while surrounded by the mountains, but the signal would recover upon exiting the other tunnel. No one would bother investigating it too much.
The highway was even referred to as a private road. The cables for the emergency landline phones on the highway might have been cut as well.
"So the factory secretly constructed a high-speed wired connection that only they can use and have cut off all other forms of communication?"
"That's what... I think anyway." Enbi may have suggested the idea, but she sounded doubtful."But don't the delivery companies contact the distribution center by phone? There are also services that use a GPS in the package to check its status over the internet. If Kuroyama Electronics Group has cut all of that off of their own discretion, I think someone might complain."
They had bought up the entire basin between the mountains and surrounded their factory with tall and thick walls. On top of that, we suspected they were using jammers to create electromagnetic interference and had cameras and sensors set up to search for intruders.
That gave it all an imposing atmosphere.
It was as if they had carefully cut out their own independent territory.
But at the same time...
"If they have a surveillance network like that, the factory's guard room might have data concerning Hasebe Michio. If he didn't go to the factory, he must either be on the highway or in the forest."
"But I doubt they would agree to cooperate. Having security on your personal property is perfectly legal, but it still isn't something they want to reveal if they don't have to. Unlike the West, Japan is sensitive to cameras and a surveillance culture. Also..."
The mystery freak trailed off.
This bothered me.
It bothered me a lot.
After all, that girl was constantly surrounded by death. Hearing her trail off gave me the unpleasant feeling that this was something that knowledge or ignorance of would affect my continued survival.
"What is it, mystery freak?"
"Well..." The mystery freak sighed."If my guesses here are right, doesn't that mean this is a small independent territory created by Kuroyama Electronics Group? There are 8000 workers at the factory and even the people working for the highway insist it's a private road.... And Hasebe Michio was given the death penalty for attacking the house of Kuroyama Electronics Group's president."
"Wait a second. You don't mean... ?"
"We had the Hasebe theory and the police theory, but now another theory has shown itself, detective."
A close look at Enbi's smile showed it was a bit stiff.
She may have been interested in people's deaths, but she of course did not want to be directly involved in it herself.
"What if someone from the Kuroyama Electronics Group took action to take revenge for their leader? What if someone could not allow this prisoner to be found innocent in a retrial? Why did Hasebe disappear in this area that is both difficult to escape from and difficult to camouflage an escape in? Because this is Kuroyama's independent territory. Because this is the area along his transportation route that Kuroyama had the most power in. What if that is the answer?"
The story suddenly grew a lot more suspicious.
In the truly worst case, it was possible all 8000 people working in the factory were the criminals behind it. No, it went beyond that. Four Mountains Junction was a private road owned by Kuroyama Electronics Group. If they closed the road, it would not only affect the highway workers but also slow the distribution of goods throughout the country. I could not even guess how far the effects would spread.
There were plenty of ways around this junction: sea, air, rail, and normal roads. However, the time and cost of taking those routes could not be underestimated. There was a good reason the highways were the country's primary distribution route. In the economic world, there was always a reason an alternate path was not taken.
In other words, this "private road" was a free pass that used the Japanese economy as a shield.
This went well beyond a conspiracy by the higher ups and old members of the regional police.
It was possible help in large or in small had been taken from people across Japan and possibly even foreign corporations in order to eliminate a single man.
"Wait, wait, wait. This reminds me of Zashou Island. Are you saying common sense itself is being distorted here?"
"This land has 8000 soldiers and a thick forest with no one watching, " muttered the mystery freak in shock."Whether they are judging the criminal who killed their president or torturing him for information about the murder, doesn't the Kuroyama Electronics Group theory seem the most dangerous and yet most likely option?"
We had no proof that the corporation had abducted Hasebe Michio.
Even if any existed, it would likely be eliminated as soon as possible.
But nothing could be worse than forcibly investigating Kuroyama Electronics Group and finding nothing. Not only did I not have a warrant, but I had no authority as a police officer because this was not within my jurisdiction. If I climbed the wall and snuck into the factory, I would be guilty of illegal entry. I could even be used as grounds for forcing through the Advanced Technology Disclosure Prevention Bill that had been in the news lately. That would bring permanent shame on me as a police officer who supposedly protected the public order.
On top of that, this was a small independent territory of a single corporation.
If an executive was in a bad mood, it was possible the police would never be called and I would be buried in the forest at the hands of those 8000 soldiers. Four Mountains had a powerful enough foundation to continue on with their peaceful lives even after doing that.
They were extremely suspicious, but they were too big to carelessly try anything against them.
"Now then, now then." Enbi the mystery freak asked a question from the passenger seat."What should we do now, detective?"
Part 13 (Jinnai Shinobu)
We had run across a mystery person in the remains of Zenmetsu Village, run as quickly as we could from the village, and then found the village waiting for us up ahead.
What were we to make of this situation?
"Shinobu-kun, we can't stay still! The footsteps are getting closer!!"
"Dammit!!"
For the moment, we focused on running away from the obvious threat. But was that truly the correct answer? It seemed impossible, but I was afraid we would run and run and run until we found the owner of those footsteps waiting ahead of us as if we had circled around the entire globe.
I ran as if parting the thick fog while still holding Madoka's hand.
We passed by the tilted silhouette of the shack that had been abandoned for decades.
... ?
Wait a second. Is this... ?
"Shinobu-kun!!"
That sudden shout was accompanied by a shove.
I rolled along the wet dead grass. But I did not have time to cry out in protest.
As if slicing through the fog, the pointed end of a rusted farm tool stabbed out.
It was a pitchfork. It was one of those ridiculously large fork-like tools used to carry hay. The handle was meant to be held with both hands, so it was quite long. Specifically, it was about 150 centimeters long. The fork portion made it look more like a strange spear than a farm tool. It looked large enough to kill a human if it stabbed through anywhere on the torso.
Plus, the end was fully covered in rust and the tines were of different lengths because some had broken off partway.
I was certain I would get some strange infection if I was stabbed with it.
I heard some odd breathing that almost sounded like a poorly-made whistle.
The pitchfork was pulled back slowly. The outstretched spring was being contracted in preparation for the next attack.
The tip shook.
It moved from where I had been and turned toward Madoka.
"You bastard!!"
While still lying on the dead grass, I searched around with my right hand. My fingertips found something hard and I threw the rock toward the attacker.
It did not hit. I heard a solid sound as if it had struck a distant wall.
But it had expressed my hostility.
The pitchfork's aim clearly changed. It turned toward me.
I had no intention of doing nothing as I was attacked. By that time, I had forced myself to a standing position with a rolling motion.
"Shinobu-kun! What are you doing!?"
"Shut up! You go hide!!" I shouted.
Now that I had the attacker's attention, I turned my back. I wanted any weapon I could find, so I ran toward a nearby shack.
At first, I had thought the exact same village had circled around in front of us.
But that was not the case.
It had been difficult to tell through the thick fog, but a closer look had shown the details were completely different. Basically, a few small villages of four or five houses were located here and there. We had run straight and travelled from Village A to Village B.
Once you knew how it worked, there was nothing to be afraid of. In fact, I could even take advantage of it.
At any rate, I needed a weapon. I needed something to put me on even footing with that psycho. The attacker had to have acquired that weapon here in Zenmetsu Village. The small cabins had no room to store huge farm tools, and if they had the money or materials to build a storehouse, they would have upgraded their homes.
In that case, the tools would most likely be found leaning up against the outer walls.
"Ah! Found one!!"
A worn-down shovel was leaning up against the wall. It had half-fused with the wall that had grown dark with all the moisture it had absorbed over the years.
Just as I reached out for it, I heard footsteps approaching from behind.
I grabbed the shovel with all my strength and did not hesitate to swing it horizontally using the motion of turning around to face the attacker.
"... ?"
I felt something slip off.
The triangular metal portion made to dig holes had flown right off the handle!
With a sharp whistling breath, the giant fork-like tool attacked from beyond the fog. Instead of another stabbing attack, it was swung down like someone trying to split a watermelon.
I immediately tried to block it by holding the shovel handle up horizontally, but it didn't help.
The handle was so rotten that it was no stronger than wet cardboard, so it broke all too easily. A heavy impact came down on the top of my head.
"Bh.. gbhah!?"
The strike sent me crumbling straight down to the ground. The attacker's pitchfork rotated around. This time, the worn down tip was being stabbed straight toward my face!
But then...
A change came over the attacker who was about to stab down the pitchfork as if leaning down on it.
With a splat, something like wet seaweed fell from the dirty cabin's roof and covered about half of the attacker's head.
However, this was no place to find seaweed.
This seaweed-like substance was writhing around oddly even though no wind was blowing through the area.
It was a bundle of snakes.
Over ten snakes about as thick as a little finger had fallen atop the attacker's head.
"... !!!???"
A biological sense of disgust that had nothing to do with reason ran down my spine.
But the same had to apply to the attacker.
He frantically tried to brush away the group of snakes that had fallen on his head. In his haste, he let go of the pitchfork with one hand.
His focus wavered.
The tip of the pitchfork wavered.
"Go to hell!!"
I threw one broken half of the shovel handle toward the attacker's face. I hit this time, but it did not seem to do much damage.
All I needed was to buy some time.
I frantically stood up and strengthened my grip on the other half of the broken handle.
I had no time for hesitation.
The handle had been rotting to pieces already. I could not stop the attacker by striking with or throwing it.
And so...
I held it with both hands as if it was a knife and immediately stabbed the jagged broken edge of the handle into the attacker's thigh.
"Gyah!?"
I felt a soft sensation.
I did not want to think about whether that came from the rotting handle or the attacker's leg.
"Gh, ghh! Ah, ah, ah!?"
The attacker fell to the side. The small snakes covering the attacker's head scattered in an instant as if slipping in amongst the dead grass. The sight of something stabbing into his leg must have been a shock to the attacker because he used both hands in an attempt to pull the remains of the handle out of his leg.
Yes, he used both of the hands he had been using to hold the pitchfork.
"You bastard..."
When the attacker heard my voice, he seemed to finally catch on to the situation. He realized I had swiped the giant pitchfork he had let go of.
And I was swinging that pitchfork up above my head.
"If you're!! Gonna try to stab people with this!! Don't get so upset!! When someone!! Attacks you back!!!!!!"
I swung it down again and again.
The farm tool was designed like a giant fork, so it would not stab into someone unless thrust straight at them. However, I was essentially beating him with a blunt weapon similar to a wooden sword with a metal weight on the end. It could easily break a bone.
I was able to rationally analyze that in my head, but I could not stop my arms.
I could feel something boiling up in my mind.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"
I let out a great roar.
I could not stand anything. I could not stand how the attacker was curling up and covering his head with his hands as if he was the victim. He had been doing whatever he wanted a minute ago, but this was how he acted once someone attacked back. I decided to continue beating him until his true nature had been fully revealed.
"Shinobu-kun?"
I then heard a familiar voice.
Madoka had come by to check on me. She seemed to be peeking around a corner of the shack.
"Shinobu-kun, wait!! You can't go any further than this! You'll kill him!!"
"Pant!! Pant!!"
My hands were trembling. I was breathing heavily. I stopped swinging down the pitchfork, but my fingers were so stiff with tension and anger that they refused to obey my commands. As if I was waiting for a numb leg to recover, I would have to wait a moment before being able to let go of the pitchfork.
The attacker was curled up in the fetal position.
The person who lay trembling on the ground was a man in his forties or fifties with a beard covering his entire face and wearing clothes that looked like dirty old rags.
"Who are you?"
Pain returned to my head as if it had only just now recalled being struck.
As Madoka helped support my shaky body, I shouted toward the attacker lying on the dead grass.
"Who the hell are you!?"
Part 14 (Uchimaku Hayabusa)
More than twenty years before, Hasebe Michio had been sentenced to death for the crime of killing the president of Kuroyama Electronics Group, but he had disappeared during transport while a retrial was being requested.
He had vanished in the vast private property of the Kuroyama Electronics Group. Although no evidence had been found, it was possible the Kuroyama Electronics Group had abducted him.
The key to this mystery was the surveillance recordings of the security company.
According to the mystery freak's speculation, the communications interference in the Four Mountains basin came from jamming devices. She also theorized a large number of wired cameras and sensors had been secretly installed. If that was true, it could be an important clue to Hasebe Michio's location whether Kuroyama was guilty or not.
Even if the Kuroyama Electronics Group had nothing to do with his disappearance, it was possible the higher ups and old members of the regional police saw him as a nuisance as well. Either way, every second counted.
"But, detective, this is the Kuroyama Electronics Group's independent territory. You have no authority right now, so I doubt anyone will hand over the video recordings if you ask."
"They have absolute control here, but this independent territory is not all that large, " I said while driving the rental car down the road we had come on."Seventy percent of the security companies in the country that specialize in corporations have either their headquarters or Japanese branch office in Tokyo."
"I see. You think you can get the recordings if you go after the Tokyo headquarters? And fortunately, your Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department badge has unrivalled power when used in Tokyo."
"Even if the Kuroyama Electronics Group has the local guards on their side, they might not have influence over everyone at the distant headquarters. And the guards will have no choice but to obey the regulations of their company. The video footage will be sent to a server at their headquarters for storage."
"That means we just need to know exactly what security company to check. But everyone at the gate wore a factory uniform with nothing indicating the security company."
"We need to check the cable that the footage is sent over. Different companies have different standard infrastructure they use. If I have the desk group back at the Metropolitan Police Department check which companies use which cables, we can track them down."
"Do we have to search that entire thick forest?"
"Are you testing me?" I gave a scornful laugh."As the name suggests, Four Mountains is surrounded by mountains. They'll use the tunnels to pass the cables through. The cables will be buried along the shortest route between the factory and the nearest tunnel. That would be the one through Seiryuu Mountain."
We naturally moved from the Four Mountains' center junction as we moved toward the location connecting the outer tunnel and the semiconductor factory.
After a while, the distance from the factory caused the menace of nature to suddenly close in on us.
"... The road is disappearing."
"Let's get out and deal with this quickly. The only people here are with Kuroyama, so nothing good will come of being found investigating the corporation."
I opened the driver's side door and the unpleasantly moist air quickly rushed in. It was fog, but it was not refreshingly cool. It was somehow hot, humid, and moist.
The mystery freak stepped out from the passenger seat, placed her hands on her hips, and looked out across the dried up and rotting forest.
"Wow, this is horrid. This forest is so thick I wouldn't be surprised to find a few inconvenient corpses."
"There's something wrong with you if corpses are the first thing a forest brings to mind."
"If we do find the model number for the cable, what do we do then? We can't use our phones, but don't tell me we will head all the way back to Tokyo."
"The signal is only affected in this basin between the mountains. We only have to pass through the tunnel and leave Four Mountains to use our phones. I will report the situation to my coworkers and then we wait for information at a service area. Once we have a clue concerning Hasebe Michio, we can begin tracking him again."
"I see. In that case, let's use the tunnel through Genbu Heights! The moonlight service area has a pink ice cream that is supposed to grant love between the two who eat it together!!"
"That would be embarrassing to do with a lover, so why would you want to do it with a complete stranger? In fact, I'm still not sure why the two of us have been driving long distances together on the highway."
"So you admit using the highway together like this has been a sign of our love!? In that case, I'm prepared to give you a fan service scene you will never forget!"
Saying anything would only have made it worse, so I ignored her and made my way into the forest.
As I headed deeper while stepping forcefully on the ground, I noticed something odd not even 10 meters in. I crouched down and moved a rotting black object at my feet that might have been humus or organic waste. And then I found it.
Something like a concrete ditch cut across. However, it was not meant for rainwater like a ditch in a residential area. It was a concrete covering prepared to prevent wild animals from digging up or biting through the exposed cables.
The cover was divided into blocked sections about 50 centimeters across. I grabbed one of them and forced it up.
Spider webs and earth had made their way inside, but I spotted a cable as thick as my thumb inside. It was covered in black plastic that had the same string of numbers printed at set intervals.
I took my cell phone from my suit pocket and photographed the cable.
"That should do it. Hey, mystery freak, I have the information we needed. Let's get back to the car. If we pass through the tunnel and stop at the nearest service area..."
I trailed off because something seemed odd.
The mystery freak was not responding.
I turned around and found only the dense forest and thick fog. Enbi had been causing so much noise before, but she was completely gone. I could not even hear her voice.
"Hey... ?"
Is she messing around and trying to surprise me?
With that silly thought in mind, I glanced around.
And then...
A dull impact suddenly ran through the bridge of my nose.
"Bah... !?"
My vision flashed white. All strength left my knees and I crumbled to the ground.
Someone... hit me? And on the nose... ? They were right in front of me!? When and how did they get that close? I didn't even see their face!!
Footsteps through the underbrush circled around.
They circled around behind me.
A slender arm wrapped around my neck from behind. Vise-like strength began strangling me. The flow of blood was cut off more than the flow of air and an intense heat swelled up in my head. From the soft sensation on my back, I could just barely surmise this attacker was female, but that was all the information I had.
My vision spun around.
This was a sign of my thoughts and consciousness leaving due to the lack of blood to my head.
And just before I fully lost consciousness...
"Oh, c'mon. Pass out already. Or are you enjoying my breasts?"
I heard a familiar abusive voice in my ear.
Hishigami Mai... What are... you doing here?
Part 15 (Hishigami Mai)
Honestly.
Searching for Hasebe Michio who had disappeared from the highway? That incident I had picked up over the police radio was likely what they were here for, but Kuroyama Electronics Group had nothing to do with that. I had my own annoying issues to deal with. I couldn't have them messing it all up with their amateurish investigation.
I threw the detective and my little sister in their rental car while they took a carefree nap. For an instant, I seriously considered stripping them both naked and positioning them in an embrace, but I stopped myself at the last second. I was on a job, so it was no time to be having fun.
Instead, I left a memo telling them Kuroyama Electronics Group was the wrong direction and they needed to look into Youkai if they wanted to find Hasebe. I of course added a note that I would physically punish them if they did not burn the memo in the car's ashtray after reading it.
A dull electronic tone sounded.
It came from the radio I had been given by the semiconductor factory. It used a band that could slip through the jamming.
"Hello, hello."
"Do you get it now that you've seen for yourself? No obvious footprints have been left. That's the problem."
The voice belonged to an elderly man who could easily be described as "stern", but he seemed to have some malice following him around. He was like a diligent prisoner who would maintain the guillotine meant to be used on him.... But given the nature of the factory, that might have been more than just a metaphor.
"If you understand, return to the factory. We have mountains of troublesome issues to take care of."
"Understood. I'll be right back."
I had frantically made up an excuse to leave the factory and ensure my sister and the detective did not step on any strange landmines, so I couldn't exactly argue. And it was true we didn't have much time.
I sat in the driver's seat of a small Kuroyama Electronics Group company car. I simply could not get used to electric cars. Without the roar of the engine, I could sometimes forget just how fast I was driving.
However, I did like the beckoning cat bottle cap dolls lined up on the dashboard.
How many of those are there again?
"U-um, " began the small dog sitting obediently in the passenger seat.
Technically, he was a harmless canine Youkai called a Sunekosuri.
"Should you have really left those people like that?"
"I gave them a chance. In a case needing my involvement, this is almost a miracle. If they continue their misguided attack on Kuroyama despite my kindness, there's no saving them. I need to focus on my own job."
"B-but wasn't one of them your sister?"
"Try not to bring that up. The situation is a bit unique when it comes to Hishigami women. Well, just think of my abandoning her as being a form of trust."
I drove along in the electric car for a while longer before speaking once more.
"Sunekosuri, how are you faring?"
"F-fine. I have gotten a bit used to it, but... ugh. This should be a rural area... so why do I feel so bad?"
"This is the opposite of a carefully maintained Intellectual Village. This is made for machines. It's disguised as natural, but it is actually filled with artificial aspects. It's a tough environment for a Youkai like you."
I arrived at the main entrance to the semiconductor factory. I showed the guard my temporary guest ID and slowly drove the car inside the wall.
The atmosphere suddenly changed.
Anyone who saw the inside would likely notice a certain fact. The exceptionally tall outer wall and the barbed wire were not merely meant to stop industrial spies from getting in.
The fog, the air, and everything else were trapped inside this space.
Yes. All of that equipment was also used to keep anyone from escaping.
"As you know, " said the elderly man over the radio as I brought the car around to the parking lot."This looks like a large scale semiconductor factory and it does in fact create and ship out goods, but its true purpose lies elsewhere. This is a facility to imprison anyone who commits a serious breach of the corporation's trust. If someone commits an act of industrial espionage by bringing internal documents out, they will be transferred here."
A breach of trust and industrial espionage, hm?
Does that also apply to employees who recommend making certain internal documents public or the victims of products that accidentally catch fire?
"I have heard it referred to as the corporate prison, but what is its official name?" I asked.
"It has no name. After all, it would be a problem if any records of it remained. That is what kind of place this is. We have the equipment needed and we can even overwrite common sense here."
"Who would have ever thought the nation's leading large scale factory with over 8000 employees is actually mostly automated and can run with only a few SEs?"
"The technology is not all that rare. Factories only remain manned to protect employment and to prevent the few workers actually needed from going insane from loneliness."
In other words, the 8000 workers were completely unnecessary.
Not only did they not touch the production factory's equipment, but they were not even allowed in the same building.
So...
"The facility is made up of 5000 foolish prisoners and 3000 jailers including you, " said the man."No information can be allowed out and a prisoner escaping is out of the question. The prisoners here will die here. No other path is allowed for them."
I see. I see.
However, the cameras and sensors set up throughout the forest seemed to have a different meaning than the high walls and barbed wire. What were they for? They seemed less like a distribution of neatly optimized security and more like they were needlessly setting them up wherever they could. It was as if they could not find something they wanted to find.
I grabbed the radio and opened the car door.
The Sunekosuri hopped out through my door and onto the parking lot.
As I stood on the asphalt, I slammed the door shut and spoke into the radio.
"But you say the prisoners and jailers vanished into thin air at some point."
Simply put, that was the circumstances surrounding the corporate prison.
With the use of the facility's "abilities", capturing Hasebe Michio who the detective and my sister were pursuing might indeed have been simple.
However, we were caught up in our own dangerous problem, so we had more important things to do.
As I walked from the parking lot to a giant structure of the factory, the elderly man and I continued to speak.
"Everyone disappeared leaving just a few prisoners and jailers behind, " he said."I thought it was a mass jailbreak with most of the jailers taken hostage... but it is just too thorough. Also, there is no sign of the locks being broken or anything like that. It is unclear if they were made to vanish by someone else or if they made themselves vanish."
"I see. So you are desperate for a solution."
"This corporate prison is strong. Even if the escaped prisoners testify on the public stage, Kuroyama Electronics Group will not go under. However, crushing even the slightest risk is the best option."
That was not surprising. If you included even the foreign affiliated companies, this was a corporation connected to over 150 thousand people. Any illegal operations they were involved in would be assisted by expert groups, making the structure of it all quite complex.
But if 5000 prisoners escaped and 3000 jailers were sacrificed, that elderly man would not escape blame.
He appeared calm, but he would likely be thrown into the one of those prisoner cells if the situation was not quickly resolved.
And that was why someone like me had been called in.
I had used a fictional ID that only existed online to be mistaken for a "complaint handler" who worked for a company affiliated with Kuroyama and handled any dirty jobs.
"We do not have time to treat you like a guest even if you are a temporary worker. Do your job. Depending on what happens, it is entirely possible you will be thrown into one of these cells in the future. Do not screw this up."
The Sunekosuri at my feet looked up with a worried expression.
Wah hah hah! Are you lonely? Then feel free to rub up against my leg!!
"Then let's handle this in the standard way, " I said."We reveal what exactly occurred, determine who did it, compare that to the balance of power between different groups to guess at their motive, and finally track down where the missing people are."
"If they have left the facility, that alone is grounds for shooting them. We know how to handle the bodies, so you can leave the cleanup to us."
"Understood. By the way, you know what the most likely possibility is, don't you?"
"A Youkai?"
I sighed at that immediate reply.
The young lady of Hyakki Yakou had requested that I investigate the circumstances surrounding Four Mountain's semiconductor factory because they were catching glimpses of something dangerous there.
But the situation I found made me want a bonus.
After all, Hasebe Michio's disappearance meant the problem went beyond the corporate prison.
Now then. What are the conditions behind this strange phenomenon and how far has it spread?
"Okay. I'll start by investigating from that end of things."
What a pain.
If I only needed evidence of a crime, I could just record this conversation and submit it. Why did the prisoners who are the biggest piece of evidence have to vanish into thin air!?
Part 16 (Jinnai Shinobu)
The villagers of the abandoned Zenmetsu Village were rumored to have been slaughtered. Someone there was still trying to harm intruders using farm tools such as a pitchfork.
The man must not have bathed in a long time because his hair and beard were unkempt and his skin was discolored from dark stains.
His clothes were so dirty their original color was impossible to determine and they were so tattered that I could not even imagine what kind of clothes they had originally been.
Who was he?
The man had been balled up after I assaulted him, but when I asked him that, he used his trembling jaw to somehow force out some words.
"... No. It wasn't me."
"Who are you?"
"I... I... I didn't do it!! I didn't do anything! That's why I'm still running. I didn't kill anyone!!"
"I'm asking who you are!!"
The man jumped in fright when I shouted at him with the stolen pitchfork in hand.
I had a feeling Madoka was looking at me with horribly, horribly cold eyes.
I understood why.
I had been chased around a strange village, struck hard on the head, and driven to the verge of death. Being released from that state seemed to be keeping me from controlling my emotions very well. It was like releasing a compressed spring.
On top of that, I now held the weapon I had been so afraid of. Even I could tell this was making me overly bold.
It was not surprising that she was annoyed by my actions.
But I could not let this chance slip by. I would not let myself be dropped into that abyss again.
"... Yokoeda Tadashi."
"Why were you swinging this at us? What are you doing here? Are you the mass murderer from over 30 years ago or are you some psycho copycat camping here?"
"N-no!! It wasn't me! I only live here! I've always lived in this village!!"
"Then what's with this?"
I thrust the rusted tines of the pitchfork in front of Yokoeda's nose and he turned his head as if to look away from something unpleasant.
"I-I needed it for self defense. Given the location, horrible people often come here as a test of courage or something. The worst ones are the drunk ones. I can't rely on the police, so I have to drive them off myself. Come to think of it, what are you doing here?"
"Hey, mister, " cut in Madoka."If you know this place is so dangerous, why are you still living here? The homeless are not meant to pick fruit and hunt boars. In fact, I think they can only survive in a city with a certain level of development."
"... It's necessary." Yokoeda's gaze moved from place to place again and again in order to escape everyone else's gaze."It's necessary. I'm the final survivor of those born here. And staying here in Four Mountains will make them rush things. If that causes them to make a mistake..."
"Who do you mean by 'them'?"
"The Kuroyama Electronics Group." Yokoeda spoke that name quickly. It was as if he were spitting an unpleasant bug out of his mouth as soon as he could."Don't you find it suspicious?... It was after that incident. It all ended thirty years ago in a single night. And immediately after everyone was slaughtered, the Kuroyama Electronics Group moved in. The village was opposed to the semiconductor factory that would suck up so much of the underground water. And then that incident occurred that conveniently got rid of all their opposition."
Madoka and I exchanged a glance.
She looked confused. My expression was probably similar.
Was he speaking of a truth no one was aware of?
Or was this nothing more than the ramblings of a lonely middle-aged man.
I could not determine which it was, but I could feel some strange sort of weight.
"..."
I tried to ask Madoka's opinion, but she was keeping a bit of distance from me. This eccentric beauty of a classmate was glancing over at me. Or more specifically, at the end of the giant pitchfork in my hands.
Well, it is dangerous.
I did not know what the man was getting at, but I felt it was best to let him speak if he wanted to.
He needed to vent.
After all...
I had the advantage because I had the weapon with the longest reach.
However, the man could make a desperate last-ditch attack. If he did that, I was not entirely sure I could stab this giant fork into him without hesitating.
If I succeeded, I would be a murderer.
If I failed, I could be killed by that middle-aged man.
In other words, either result would ruin me.
Yokoeda Tadashi continued speaking without realizing my thoughts.
"It was a hot summer day. I... no, everyone my age was talking about having a test of courage. We drew lots to see who would take the test and who would try to scare those taking the test. At first, I thought that was what saved me. But they intentionally left me alive. I stood still in a daze for a while after it happened. The next thing I knew, people were saying I had killed everyone. That was the scenario. They killed them in such over-the-top ways with blood flying up to the ceilings to make it look like a crazy killer had done it and to rob my testimony of all credibility."
Madoka must have been thinking anyone who might turn violent was dangerous when there were no police or mediators available. She kept her distance from both Yokoeda Tadashi and me as she frowned and asked a question.
It seemed she was trying to create a safe zone by taking a neutral position.
"Hey. You say 'them', so was there more than one murderer?"
"How many people do you think were needed to surround and annihilate all of the villagers who fled in every direction? At the very least, I saw five or six men wearing masks, but I don't know who they were. That is why I'm staying here to worry Kuroyama Electronics Group. I'm staying right next to them."
At some point, I had withdrawn the pitchfork.
Yokoeda had also sat up on the dead grass and leaned his back against the wall of the shack.
"According to Kuroyama's scenario, I was supposed to be immediately captured and blamed for it all. But that didn't happen, so they quickly changed the outcome. Due to certain circumstances, we had lived a life cut off from the outside world in a village of only a few dozen people. No one would cause an uproar over the village's disappearance. Its disappearance was not a problem for anyone.... They bribed plenty of people to eliminate all information related to the village's existence. The people there became a mere rumor. After all, the village was never on any maps to begin with."
"What... ? And what do you mean by 'certain circumstances'?"
The village's living standards seemed oddly low. It had no asphalt roads, no plumbing, and not even a well. No sign of any public services could be seen.
Even if satellites had not been used for standard public services thirty years before, there had to have been some major "circumstances" for them to not have their name on the map.
Yokoeda remained silent.
It seemed he did not want to talk about that.
When he did speak, it was to forcibly change the subject.
"Despite supposedly destroying the village, one of the villagers is still alive. They would be in trouble if some unwanted information got out. That is why the Kuroyama Electronics Group is even now desperately searching for me. And I have made sure they are. That is why they have set up countless cameras and sensors across the area. They claim it is to ensure the water resources of their private property, though."
Eh?
Kuroyama Electronics Group's private property?
Cameras and sensors?
I could only frown at those terms he so readily used.
This area feels like a monstrous forest that's either rotting or soggy. Does it really have a security network like that in it?
"(Shinobu-kun. I can't tell if this is some great secret or a simple conspiracy theory, )" said Madoka in secretive mode.
I know you need to whisper right now, but don't carelessly approach me, you damn beauty!!
"So I bring in from outside what I need to live and move between the small villages at irregular intervals. If I was only living as a fugitive, I could have gone overseas, but there has to be meaning in my staying here. The only remnants of that incident are here."
... Is that really true?
If this really was the vast private property bought up by a single corporation, they would likely destroy everything that was a nuisance or inconvenient to them. If they crushed the village down to an empty lot, there would be no evidence left and no further investigation could be made. However, they had left the buildings intact with the bloodstains still inside. Was that a sign of their confidence? Were they saying no investigation could find anything?
If Yokoeda's story was true, Kuroyama Electronics Group might have been intentionally leaving some hope for him.
They were giving him a reason to remain fixated on this location. That way he would remain instead of fleeing overseas. They could then secretly capture him and eliminate him.
The worst part was that they did not even need to capture him.
Yokoeda held the only key yet he was wasting his time investigating in the wrong place and growing weaker all the while.
I could not decide whether I should point that out or not.
But then I heard the sound of the dead grass being trod on beyond the fog.
"..."
Madoka, Yokoeda Tadashi, and I all turned silently toward the sound.
The pure white veil cut off our vision as usual, so we could not see what was there.
"Hey, Madoka. Do you think it's the Love King or Nagisa?"
"Don't look for knowledge about our classmates from the lone beauty Madoka-chan."
Despite asking that, I also doubted this was anyone safe.
I gulped and spoke to Yokoeda Tadashi.
"Hey. Is there anyone here besides you?"
I had not turned toward the man as I asked, so I could only hear him gulp and then reply.
"No. There was no one... no one other than me. No, wait. It can't be!!"
We heard the sound again.
It was not coming from just one spot. As if someone was slowly approaching in a line, the sound of the dead grass filled one entire direction.
Was it a group?
"I-it's Kuroyama, " said Yokoeda in a trembling voice."Their troops are here!! I calculated my movements to slip through the gaps in their surveillance network, but what about you two? You two must have left a trail that led them to me!!"
"Hey, wait!!"
I did not have time to call out and stop him.
Yokoeda stood up with his back still pressed against the wall and then ran away. Madoka and I exchanged a glance. Her eyes were of course widened in surprise at this sudden occurrence
All the while, the noise drew closer.
"Wh-what should we do, Shinobu-kun!?"
"..."
Should we run? Where to? Should we oppose them? Oppose who?
Before I could gather my thoughts, the situation progressed.
I ignored Madoka as she tugged on the sleeve of my short sleeve shirt and looked blankly into the fog.
The source of the noise was approaching.
Something was coming this way.
Part 17 (Uchimaku Hayabusa)
"Uuhh..."
I woke up to the sound of myself groaning and found myself in the rental car. For an instant, I thought the attack from before had been a dream, but it seemed reality was not that convenient.
I grimaced when I saw the memo sitting on the dashboard.
It said, "Kuroyama Electronics Group is the wrong direction and you need to look into Youkai if you want to find Hasebe." I was not a handwriting fetishist who could tell who wrote it just by looking at the writing, but I could make a good guess from the note in the corner saying, "If you don't burn this in the ashtray after reading it, I'll punish you☆" I could only think of one person who lived in that old spy movie world.
That was when the mystery freak woke up in the passenger seat.
"Ah!? H-huh? You woke up before me, detective? That means you did all sorts of things to me in my sleep, doesn't it!? But don't worry! I made sure to bring a pregnancy test with me!"
She seemed to still be half asleep, so I held out the memo to wake her up.
Enbi grimaced when she saw the short text left by her sister.
"Wow, so she's involved in this. Does that mean this is bad enough that she's needed to resolve it?"
"This is clearly a sign telling us to quietly leave."
I gave an annoyed sigh before pulling out the car's ashtray as instructed. I balled up the memo and pressed the tip of the cigar lighter against it to light it.
"But she doesn't understand at all. Leaving this note behind is all the more reason we can't just leave!!"
"It's possible she planned for this reaction, but knowing my sister, she wasn't thinking at all."
And so we began discussing the message Mai had left in the parked rental car.
"She said Hasebe's disappearance was related to a Youkai."
"So the people vanishing from the prisoner transport vehicle and police cars was related to a Youkai instead of any humans such as the regional police or Kuroyama Electronics Group? Was it a criminal Package?"
"But would that really be necessary? The police officers were transporting him and Kuroyama owns all this land, so they wouldn't need help from a Youkai. They could have abducted Hasebe on their own."
"Then it was someone other than them?"
"Someone other than... ?"
I trailed off and fell silent.
There was only one possibility.
"Hasebe Michio himself?"
"Well, he was handcuffed, chained to his seat, and being watched. If he was going to escape, it would have been difficult using any normal method."
"But he had no reason to escape. If he had obeyed his instructions, the request for a retrial would have gone through and he would have likely been found not guilty."
"Maybe he suspected an assassin from the regional police or Kuroyama was coming, so he panicked and ran off. Maybe he decided he would not survive until his retrial."
"Packages use the skills of hundreds of people to draw out the power of a Youkai in a useful way. Hasebe couldn't have used one on his own and especially not without planning."
"Then again, " the mystery freak raised her index finger, "We keep talking about Youkai, but we don't even know what kind of Youkai was used. This area has more nature than anyone could ever want, but there's no sense of any Youkai around."
"I don't like Youkai, so I'm thankful for that."
The smell of smoke from burning the memo stung at my nose, so I used the air conditioning vent to drive it away.
"But it is odd that no Youkai has tried anything in a forest this big. Given the way Youkai react to me, I would have expected a transformed Kitsune or Tanuki to approach me."
"Are there really no Youkai here?"
"Or, " I cut in."Has the terrain of the Four Mountains area been modified to increase the influence of a single type of Youkai. That way only the Youkai someone wanted to build into their Package would be able to fully manifest its power."
That was possible in this area.
Kuroyama Electronics Group possessed a vast amount of private property.
But if that was the case...
"This is bad... I thought this case was centered on Hasebe Michio, but the actual structure may be different."
"Are you saying this was not an attempt to abduct Hasebe Michio? Are you saying a Package with some special effect just so happened to affect Hasebe?"
I turned the key in the rental car.
The engine turned on, I moved the shift lever, and stepped on the accelerator.
"We will never find an answer at this rate. Let's leave Four Mountains for the moment. We need to pass through the tunnel and stop at a service area where we can use our phones."
"Detective, are you going to pass that cable model number to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department?"
"That's part of it, but I also want to know what kinds of Youkai live in the Four Mountains area. This Package is using some part of a Youkai's nature. If we know what kind of Youkai that is, we might be able to determine how Hasebe disappeared and where he might be."
Part 18 (Hishigami Mai)
Now then. Time to check on the semiconductor factory.
On the jailer side, the only people left other than me were two guards each from the main entrance and the materials shipment entrance as well as the elderly supervisor. That was a total of five.
On the prisoner side, only a teenage girl and an older woman who looked like she was being forced to perform hard labor in her fifties. That was a total of two.
With so few people, it was unbelievable that there had originally been 8000.
It was even more surprising that the factory continued to run without slowing.
The vast semiconductor factory known as a corporate prison was divided into a factory block and a dorm block. The dorm block was a complete decoy. The prisoners were actually contained in the prison block which was fully contained underground.
The supervisor named Itou gestured down the hallway with his chin.
"Do you want to take a peek?"
"Later, if I have a chance, " I said, gently turning down his offer.
There was something I had to do before going along with their cruelty.
Itou must have been more nervous than he let on because he sounded irritated as he continued speaking.
"I cannot believe you actually brought that Youkai here."
The Sunekosuri jumped in fright, but I did not mind.
"The police use dogs in airports. Creatures that look at the world from a different viewpoint can be convenient. Youkai testimony may not be valid evidence in a trial, but that does not matter in this business."
"Hmph. I do not like irregularities like that. And it seems a Youkai is involved in this incident as well."
As the supervisor of 8000 people using a sturdy plan and security system, he would naturally dislike Youkai that could be like loopholes in a treasure chest. Not that I cared what he thought.
"If you insist, I can leave him outside, but it might make it take longer to resolve this. Do you have the time for that?"
"... Do as you wish, " spat out Itou in true annoyance.
I leaned up against the wall in the smoking space of the factory grounds and mentioned what we had to do first.
"What matters most are the people. We need to gather everyone in one place."
"What are you saying? Do you want us to release the remaining prisoners? They are negative existences to Kuroyama."
"Unfortunately, I don't think that matters anymore."
"?"
"We were thinking about the basic structure of this all wrong." I poked at the Sunekosuri's sulking cheek with my boot because he had stopped wagging his tail."I have a question for you. Which would be easier: causing over 8000 jailers and prisoners to disappear without a trace or to deceive just the few of us?"
"You can't mean..."
"I do. It is easier to assume we are the ones trapped by whatever is going on. I couldn't tell you if this is a dream, an illusion, the past, the future, a parallel world, or a miniature world, though."
Whatever the trick was, if the person in control of this "place" was in here with us, it would be best for everyone to monitor everyone else to keep them from taking action.
It was possible the culprit was someone else and therefore outside of this "place", but if so, we would need to prove it and determine who it was we had to fight.
Itou lightly clicked his tongue.
"A Youkai, hm?"
"Any ideas what kind it might be?"
"This corporate prison is not a health resort that makes use of nature. We camouflaged it as a high tech semiconductor factory to repel any interference of that sort. But it seems someone bypassed that in some way."
Itou's gaze turned toward the Sunekosuri.
It seemed he really did not like that canine Youkai's presence.
"Understood. We will search for the person behind this. If your theory is correct, this is a very serious problem."
Itou turned around and disappeared down the hallway with a regulated pace.
Finally, the Sunekosuri spoke up.
"C-can we really allow this!? This goes beyond a violation of human rights. They're forcibly locking up whistleblowers, the losers of conflicts between factions, and consumer groups!!"
"Why are you getting so worked up, Sunekosuri-chan? This is a large scale factory with a dorm intended to support low income workers. That's what the official documents say. Even if you photographed the prison block with a net-connected camera, it's possible no one would be caught."
The system behind it had originally been created to prevent the country's deindustrialization, but it had more recently been used to provide jobs to the rapidly-increasing numbers of domestic hikikomori to counteract the rise of labor costs in emerging nations. Many had hoped it would help decrease the amount of money spent on welfare, but as you can see, it ended up being completely misused.
"Humans are made so they cannot withstand truly doing nothing. But the general public is not aware of this fact. They will think those people 'have it easy' or are 'lazy'."
The harshest treatment in a prison was solitary confinement.
At first glance, a private room one did not have to share with a fellow prisoner might sound convenient, but after spending five to ten days doing nothing, having no one to speak to, and sitting in a small, dark room, the human mind would easily raise the white flag.
Prison sentences could come with hard labor requirements or not, but most of those without the requirement would be unable to withstand doing nothing and request work of their own free will.
Then again, this was all something you could never truly understand until you had been locked up yourself. That was why it could pass without suspicion on paper.
"According to the prison block's secret manual, the prisoners are usually locked in their private cells and not allowed to do anything. Only the most well behaved of the prisoners are allowed to clean the facility or are given free time in the decoy dorm block. This is done as camouflage so dust does not pile up in the rooms and they look lived in.... If you get down to it, that's all this place is. This is not a gloomy facility where prisoners are tortured or executed. It is maintained so that everyone has clothing, food, and shelter, they are given opportunities to work and earn money, and an effort is made to keep their ties to society from being severed."
While they were all paid salaries in the official data, the prisoners never had a chance to spend that money and none of them even knew the bank account number it was transferred into.
If the prisoners who did not have to do anything and therefore "had it easy" felt cornered by the situation and committed suicide, the corporation was not responsible in the slightest. They had built up a foundation that allowed that excuse to be made. It was quite well constructed.
"How can you say that about a horrible facility with a suicide rate of over 85%!?"
"But the rest of the world does nothing about it. They just sigh and wonder how entitled these people must have been to give up when they were supported so comfortably with the people's tax money and were allowed to laze around in an air conditioned room all day."
"That may be the false impression being given to the general public, but isn't that why we were sent here!?"
"Come on now. Hyakki Yakou asked me to investigate the situation in Four Mountains' semiconductor factory. If necessary, someone will make a decision once they receive my report.... But this corporate prison is being run by human hands alone, so it might not be in Hyakki Yakou's jurisdiction."
"How can you say that when you are an embodiment of unrestrained violence? With your skill, you could easily crush these villains."
"But it is you and the rest of Hyakki Yakou who prevent the occult from being used so chaotically. Don't forget that."
My radio then emitted an electronic tone.
It was from Itou, the supervisor from before. It seemed he had succeeded in gathering all the members who were left in the corporate prison... or more accurately, who had been taken from the real corporate prison.
I walked to the indicated location along with the Sunekosuri.
It seemed to be an employee cafeteria primarily meant for the jailers. Some beckoning cat bottle cap dolls were located here as well.
Who's the one who collects those?
The space contained a few long tables and folding chairs. At one end, a few men and women wearing identical workwear were gathered.
Itou Takeru: age 65, male, jailer, and the head jailer who supervised the prison block.
Yamada Ken: age 35, male, jailer, and guard for the materials shipment gate.
Sakai Haruka: age 33, female, jailer, and guard for the main gate.
Kurumaya Nozomi: age 24, female, jailer, and guard for the outdoor factory areas plus head of hard labor management.
Tanishita Hajime: age 41, male, jailer, and monitor room worker sent from the Royal Security Company.
Suzukawa Izumi: age 17, female, prisoner #0899, and sentenced to a 202 year imprisonment.
Gogan Sakura: age 50, female, prisoner #1807, and sentenced to a 150 year imprisonment.
Every single one of them was wearing the unfashionable factory work uniform, so they showed no real individuality. Then again, I was wearing the same thing.
I did think something was wrong when the Sunekosuri stood out the most, though.
Unsurprisingly, we could not hold a friendly conversation.
Suzukawa and Gogan, the two prisoners, were glancing over toward the employee cafeteria's exit.
"You should probably give up that idea, " I pointed out in order to nip that problem in the bud."Most likely, the ones trapped by some technique are us and not the other 8000. If you escape outside the facility right now, what do you plan to do next? That would be like returning to your normal life with some strange hypnotism in your head. You would have no idea what might cause your destruction."
"But this is the perfect chance for them if they were the ones behind this."
The one who said that was Yamada, a coward desperate to look intimidating so his opponent would not try to pick a fight with him. Not that that mattered.
Yamada-chi glared back and forth between the two prisoners Suzukawa Izumi and Gogan Sakura.
"They trapped us in whatever this is so they can get outside while the security network isn't functioning! That makes this simple. If we kill the source, we'll be sent back to where we came from!!"
"What if we need a cancellation key only the person who did this knows? We might be stuck living out the rest of our life spans in this empty world devoid of any other human life."
"Gh, " groaned the cowardly Yamada Ken before falling silent.
Kurumaya Nozomi, another of the jailers, looked over at me nervously.
"I-I think there is someone... even more suspicious than the prisoners. In fact, I don't see how... how the prisoners could assemble a Youkai's power into a Package while being so strictly monitored."
"Who do you think is suspicious?" urged Itou the supervisor.
Kurumaya's shoulders jumped slightly and her wandering gaze turned back toward me.
Sakai Haruka, a female jailer with heavy makeup, held her hands together and raised her index finger.
"Hah hahn. That's a good point. This bizarre phenomenon occurred once you two arrived. I suppose the outsiders would be the most suspicious."
"We do agree you should suspect us as much as anyone, " I said gently before continuing in a sharp tone."But if I did this, would I really suggest having everyone gather here? If I had the prisoners left in solitary confinement and another bizarre phenomenon occurred during our strategy meeting, don't you think suspicion would turn toward the prisoners?"
"You intentionally didn't do that so you could use that fact to turn suspicion away from you!!"
"An excellent point!!"
Sakai had tried to use that to press me even further, but my sudden announcement left her confused.
I ignored that woman in her thirties with gaudy makeup and quickly continued speaking.
"Whoever is behind this large scale plan will be after something more than causing a small panic. There has to be something else coming that they are truly after. With that in mind, why were we chosen? Can you think of any common factors between us?"
"Now that you mention it, " said the male jailor Tanishita Hajime as he nervously toyed with his glasses."It would have been simpler if it was almost entirely jailers or prisoners, but there are a few of each. And our posts and positions are all different. I can't think of any common factor."
"Yes, yes. And to drive that home, the Sunekosuri and I are outsiders."
There was also the fact that my sister and the detective were here too, but that was a secret.
To be honest, there was a possibility the core of this phenomenon was outside the corporate prison, but it would be best to search through the strictly guarded prison while my guest ID was valid.
"..."
Naturally, the jailer group controlled the conversation and Suzukawa Izumi and Gogan Sakura of the prisoner group both remained silent. They were drinking cold water from a water server in one corner of the employee cafeteria. It was one of those things with an upside down tank about the size of a daruma doll and a faucet attached. It had an incredibly vague label saying "Clean Water from Near Kyushu".
Hm?
But why is there a water server here in Four Mountains?
It bothered me a bit, but I had to focus on the conversation.
"It is unclear who the culprit was trying to make vanish. It's possible they wanted to make themselves vanish. However, they included people clearly unrelated to their ultimate goal. Why is that?"
"What do you mean by that?" asked Itou with a frown.
The nervous-looking jailer Kurumaya Nozomi continued by saying, "Wh-what if the people near the target happened to be swallowed up as well?"
"Even though the jailers here are from different posts and positions and the prisoners can't leave their cells? Even though this group would never have gathered in one place like this otherwise?" I shrugged."In fact, if you could freely choose any target, why not make only yourself disappear? That would give you the freedom to move wherever you wanted in the factory or even outside it. But the culprit didn't do that. They involved others. Why?"
This was not simply a prisoner's jailbreak plan.
The jailers had no reason to mess with the security of the corporate prison. Any prison held the risk of the workers being killed in a riot.
Unless of course, a jailer wanted to kill another jailer or a jailer wanted to elope with a prisoner they had fallen in love with.
"The culprit needed to include some kind of target in this as well as themselves. Normally, just involving themselves and the target would be the simplest method. However, that would give away who caused it right away. In that case, they would need to mix in a few outsiders to hide themselves."
"Is that why it's a mix of jailers and prisoners and why we're all from different posts?"
I nodded toward the cowardly Yamada-kun.
We were the padding characters in a mystery novel. With the Sunekosuri and me, there were nine people. That was just about the perfect number. Everyone looked suspicious and the number was low enough that you could recall all of the characters' faces without going over a list.
"With a Youkai Package, hundreds of people work together to assemble a single criminal system. However, both the jailers and prisoners had enough people to pull that off. The preparations could have been made here in this semiconductor factory... in this corporate prison." I spread my arms."But as an outsider, I do not have detailed information on the inside of the prison and I would not notice any small changes. For example, I do not know what kinds of Youkai exist in this area. How about we discuss that sort of thing in search of a clue? C'mon, even simple rumors are enough."
Itou Takeru, Yamada Ken, Sakai Haruka, Kurumaya Nozomi, Tanishita Hajime, Suzukawa Izumi, and Gogan Sakura exchanged glances. However, there was no trust in their eyes. They were staring at each other with suspicion deep in their hearts.
"I don't know anything about Youkai. Are you sure it wasn't something brought in from somewhere else?"
"I-I've never looked in the forest, though."
The jailers cautiously spoke up, but the prisoners remained silent. That was not surprising. The ones who did not want to draw closer to everyone else were the prisoners who had been oppressed before. Plus, I was continuing to play the role of a jailer. They did not want to do what I said.
But that was a problem.
"What about you two?"
"What? Do you two know something?"
"I..."
It happened just as the high school aged girl prisoner began speaking.
With no warning, the sole of Yamada Ken's shoe suddenly jammed directly into the girl's solar plexus.
"G-geh!! Cough cough... !!"
"Don't mumble and hide shit from us! Who do you think you are!?"
As Suzukawa Izumi fell to her knees and held her stomach with both hands, Coward-kun went in for another kick.
The other prisoner suddenly cut in.
"Wait! Didn't you hear her start to say something!?"
"Then why didn't she say it from the beginning instead of trying to hide it!? If we tell you to show us everything your hiding, it's your job to show us everything down to your asshole! That goes for you too, you old bitch. Who do you think you're talking to!? If you do anything to upset me, I might just break both your legs!!"
... Ahh ahh, does he not understand the situation here?
If the culprit was one of us, it was entirely possible the game master behind it all could be one of the prisoners. Mystery novels were my sister's territory, but the culprit would often commit a murder not in the original plan if things grew inconvenient.
And even if the culprit was one of the jailers, the odds were not all that low that they would decide to kill the person causing trouble for the prisoners to divert suspicion away from themselves. That would send everyone's suspicion toward the prisoners.
Sunekosuri-chan.
Stop letting out that rare growl toward that lame coward over there.
He's probably the first to die even if we do nothing.
"I-I know..." began Suzukawa Izumi while faintly breathing and being held in Gogan Sakura's arms."I know of a rumor passed between the prisoners about a fr-free pass. I don't know what it is, but it seems there's a special category of the well-behaved prisoners who are chosen to go above ground to clean. If they return by assembly time, they are free to leave the factory grounds."
"Don't make shit up!!"
I held out a hand to calm down the "badass" Yamada-chan who was about to grow violent again.
"What about you?" I asked the prisoner in her fifties.
"I have heard of the free pass."
"Even though you are all in solitary confinement?"
"It is possible to speak with the other prisoners while cleaning outdoors. That refreshing feeling is one of the reasons that periodically acquiring the ticket for cleaning duty is the difference between living on and being driven to suicide." Gogan Sakura turned a blatantly hostile look toward Yamada."But I do not know if it actually exists or not. It might be a rumor the jailers tell to toy with the prisoners or it might be a lie one prisoner made up to take advantage of another."
In a corporate prison without money or stores, I saw little reason for fraud.
Or...
Perhaps without any money, something else held value in this prison.
When I asked, Itou Takeru the head jailer sighed in annoyance
"I have occasionally heard of alcohol showing up. Both those selling it and those buying it are 'dealt with' as soon as it is found."
"That isn't too uncommon."
| ← Ch. 18 | Ch. 20 → |