Shinrei Tantei Yakumo

Chapter 3Volume 11 (first half)

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Shinrei Tantei Yakumo volume 11 - file 03 (first half)

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo novel translation

Volume 11 - Worth of a Spirit

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file 03 - a price to pay

Ever extending darkness—

Spanning across all directions, everything was painted with black.

“Where is this?”

Haruka tried to speak, yet her voice could hardly reach her own ears, consumed by darkness all the same.

Obviously she had no idea where she was, nor how she even got there in the first place.

Within that never ending black, Haruka struggled to even ascertain her own state of being. It almost felt like her body was no more, and only her spirit remained in lingering existence.

Fear suddenly overcame her at the thought.

If a spirit was all that was left of her, that could only mean she was already dead.

“You’re finally awake,” a voice came from the darkness.

She could tell the voice might have originated from in front of her, but however she tried focusing her eyes, all that spread before her was pitch black, she failed to locate the owner of that voice.

“Who are you?” asked Haruka, facing forward.

A small chuckle could be heard.

“Oh? Have you forgotten about me?”

The voice was louder than before. Haruka finally understood who the voice belonged to.

Nanase Miyuki.

Haruka mumbled inside, and fear soon spread across her body, hair standing on end.

Throughout a number of cases, Haruka had bore witness countless times to the cruel, cold-blooded atrocities the woman had committed.

Not stopping at just cruelty, Nanase Miyuki possessed a warped sadistic streak that gave her enjoyment in toying with the hearts of others, taking similar pleasure in watching them suffer as well.

Together with the man with two red eyes, she had pulled the strings behind numerous cases, on top of going after Yakumo.

“You’re the one who locked me up here?”

Truthfully, Haruka wanted to curl and scream right then and there, but doing so would only bring joy to the woman.

Haruka desperately swallowed her fear and spoke towards the darkness where Nanase Miyuki should be.

“I wonder? What do you think?”

In typical Nanase Miyuki fashion, she responded by dodging the question.

“So it really was you—”

“You’re faring better than I imagined. I thought you’d be in much more of a panic.”

In the past, perhaps Haruka would be panicking and crying as the woman had predicted. Yet she had experienced various cases with Yakumo and the others that had built up her tolerance.

Besides, she didn’t want to show her weakness in front of Nanase Miyuki.

If Haruka were to display even a hint of it, she would devour it viciously like a carnivorous beast set out to hunt.

Of course, that wasn’t all.

Nanase Miyuki was a twisted woman who would attain happiness at the sight of others’ suffering. She didn’t want to be the cause of her delight.

“What are you planning to do to me?” Haruka asked whilst clenching the pits of her stomach, careful as to not let her voice waver.

“Who knows? What do you think I’m going to do?”

The position of her voice moved.

Nanase Miyuki seemed capable of seeing despite all this darkness.

“You’re going to lure Yakumo-kun here, are you?” Haruka put the thought in her mind into words.

There was no reason for Nanase Miyuki to go after Haruka directly. So there was no mistaking that she had her eyes on Yakumo.

“My impression of you is completely different from when we first met.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I first saw you, you were so frail your existence didn’t even factor into my line of sight. Whether you were there or not, it wouldn’t make a difference. That was the sort of worthless woman I thought you were.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’m praising you. You’ve really become strong. You held your own will and rationale, and could act. I have no idea whether you had that trait from the start or it was something you had learned—either way, you’ve certainly changed.”

Perhaps her heart would’ve been overjoyed if told that by someone else, yet coming from Nanase Miyuki, those words merely sounded like sarcasm.

“I couldn’t care less about your opinion of me. I want to know what you’re up to,” Haruka said firmly, and a muffled laugh immediately erupted behind her.

Before she realised it, Nanase Miyuki was already behind her. Haruka turned in a hurry, but she couldn’t find the woman’s presence as it was overly dark.

“How daring of you to act defiant. Do you understand the position you’re in?”

Nanase Miyuki’s tone shifted.

The extent of her anger was well conveyed in her voice. To be quickly disturbed when things didn’t go according to plan was another trait of hers.

“I would think I do.”

“Is that really so? I don’t mind in the slightest, putting this game to a stop and killing you immediately.”

Even her threats were no joke.

Nanase Miyuki was surely capable of ending Haruka’s life with no hesitation.

This was a woman accustomed to murder. After all, she had taken the lives of many so far. Thinking about the fact, the fear Haruka had been suppressing resurfaced once again.

Nevertheless, Haruka refused to shut her mouth.

“If you were to kill me, that’d be the same as admitting your defeat, no?”

At the end of her sentence, a ruthless slap landed on Haruka’s left cheek.

Following her temper, Nanase Miyuki must have directed all her strength into it.

The taste of iron spread within Haruka’s mouth. The inside of her mouth appeared to have bled.

“You’re really one detestable woman.”

“Not as bad as you.”

Another strike to her cheek.

“Just so you know. I’m merely keeping you alive for the sake of enjoying this game.”

“You…”

Cutting Haruka’s words, Nanase Miyuki yanked on her hair and pulled it upwards.

The pain left her unable to form words.

“Worry not. Once this game is over, I’m going to kill you straight away,”

Haruka’s neck pulsed like it had been stabbed.

Her eyelids soon grew heavy, and her consciousness melted into the darkness—

Things have gone from bad to worse.

Gotou could only stare blankly at the gathering police presence.

Two days in a row, dead bodies had been discovered in the same area. The police force aside, even the press were sent into an uproar.

The university had to be in equal chaos, handling this entire situation.

“How’d you know its identity?” Gotou asked Yakumo, standing beside him.

Apart from its advanced stages of rot, the body hadn’t possessed anything that could be used as means of identification. Even the police have yet to be able to determine its identity.

Yet at the moment of discovery, Yakumo was quick to state whose corpse it had been.

As if he had known from the start—

“Simple enough. I wasn’t randomly walking there and happened to find a corpse. I was being led.”

Come to think of it, back then Yakumo had begun walking after mumbling, “You…”

Gotou hadn’t seen anything, but Yakumo’s red left eye must have seen the figure of a ghost there.

In that case, Gotou understood what had come next, no explanation needed.

The picture of the woman who had disappeared three years back, sent by Ishii, matched the woman that had been seen as a female ghost by Yakumo.

As there had been a corpse ahead of where the ghost had stood, he’d naturally arrive at the answer.

Perhaps wishing for her body to be discovered, the ghost had appeared before Yakumo.

“Why would she be abandoned all the way out here?” Gotou asked again.

“As I told you earlier, it hadn’t always been there.”

Right.

The box that had contained the corpse had been covered in dirt, which meant it had been buried somewhere previously.

But if that were the case, it only confused him more.

“If the box had been buried elsewhere, who would have purposely dug it out and placed it there, and for what reason?”

“It’s too dangerous to express half-baked guesses at this stage. Though, I do have an idea.”

“What is it?”

“It’s her.”

“Her?”

“Yes. I suspect that this is the work of Nanase Miyuki.”

“Why would she need to do something like that?” Gotou frowned, unable to grasp the meaning.

Wherever the box had been buried previously, it had to cost a great deal of effort to dig it out and relocate it. There had to be a logical reason behind it if she had gone out of her way to do so.

“Probably as part of arranging her game against me,” said Yakumo, messing with his dishevelled hair.

In other words, the object had been for Yakumo to learn of Ikuta Tomoko’s body, as some sort of hint—

An outrageous concept to Gotou, though when it came to Nanase Miyuki, it was entirely plausible of her to have done it.

Besides that—

“Does that mean Ikuta Tomoko was killed by Nanase Miyuki?”

“It’s too early to draw that conclusion. Though, there was no mistaking that she was involved somehow.”

“Well, that’s true. Then, what do we do now?” Gotou asked, right as a figure came running with a panicked expression.

Even in darkness, they could tell at a glance who it was from the way he was running.

“Hey, Ishii,” Gotou greeted as he lifted a hand.

That instant, Ishii fell—

It left an unpleasant impression, as if Gotou had exerted some kind of supernatural power that made Ishii fall.

Ishii was momentarily glued to the ground before he stood back up and hurriedly approached them in panic.

“D-detective Gotou! T-t-t-this is bad!”

“Calm down for a bit!” yelled Gotou, having a go at Ishii’s head.

Without being told, Gotou already understood the direness of the situation. Nothing would get sorted if they panicked.

“S-sorry…” Ishii spoke listlessly.

“Yakumo-kun. Gotou-san.”

Another figure could be seen heading towards them. It was Makoto.

Unlike Ishii, Makoto approached them without falling needlessly.

“What on earth actually happened?” She asked, her face full of confusion.

That was understandable of her. Given the number of things unexpectedly occurring one after another like this, one’s mind wouldn’t be able to follow.

The corpse from last night hadn’t been identified, either.

Even Yakumo seemed to wear a puzzled look.

“Perhaps we should sort out the information first,” Yakumo said with a sigh.

That would help, in Gotou’s opinion. Even so, in reality he also felt like he didn’t want it.

They didn’t have much time.

No, rather, they didn’t even have any idea how much time they had left.

“Do we have the luxury to do that? Haruka-chan is…”

“I know that!” Yakumo shouted in anger.

It was unusual of him to make such an obvious display of irritation. That could only be a testament to the degree of his unease.

His anxiety and restlessness over Haruka’s disappearance was incomparable to that of Gotou’s. As if he was being thrown into the middle of a storm.

Amidst all of that, he was trying to reexamine this whole case in a levelheaded way.

They needed to hurry, but they couldn’t afford any mistakes.

“Sorry,” Gotou apologised.

Yakumo drew a deep breath to compose himself.

“Anyway, let’s put everything we know in order, and rebuild our plan.”

No one objected to Yakumo’s suggestion.

As they had the night before, everyone gathered at Yakumo’s hideout, the Movie Research Circle clubroom.

Though, one thing differentiated it from last night.

Haruka wasn’t here with them.

Despite only being short of one person, strangely enough, the once cramped room now felt empty.

Such was the significance of Haruka’s existence.

A sense of loss swirled within Ishii’s heart, as if there was a gaping hole in it.

I shouldn’t be like this, he uttered in his heart to push aside his unpleasant thoughts.

If he felt a loss despite Haruka still being alive, it might end up becoming reality.

Ishii strengthened his emotions and paid attention to Yakumo’s words, now organising the information they had gathered so far.

The investigation had only just begun. Not much was understood at this point, but with the elimination of the spiritual case brought by Gotou and Eishin as an unrelated event, the number of spiritual cases they needed to investigate was brought down to three.

Firstly, the ghost that had appeared before Yakumo.

From Yakumo’s explanation, apparently the ghost had been that of Ikuta Tomoko, who had disappeared three years prior. This was in relation to the documents Ishii had gathered and investigated upon Makoto’s request.

Furthermore, the body that had just been discovered earlier most likely belonged to Ikuta Tomoko.

The second case was the spiritual phenomenon experienced by a woman named Maki, who had reached out to Makoto for assistance.

Yakumo and the others had gone to the woman’s residence to investigate the matter, but he hadn’t been able to confirm the spiritual phenomenon.

Even so, according to Yakumo, they have yet to be able to rule this one out.

Then, one other case—

The spiritual phenomenon Ishii had experienced at the abandoned house.

This was the case that had seen most progress.

The tragedy that had struck the Kawakami family, and the doctor named Kei who disappeared after. Ishii could feel that there was profound darkness obscured behind his disappearance.

Ishii couldn’t help but wonder about the ghost of the young girl haunting that house, that could’ve been Kei’s daughter, Satomi.

Perhaps the girl held knowledge of the truth.

Listening to Yakumo’s explanation like this, Ishii could put his thoughts in order over everything that had happened.

Still, he couldn’t grasp the most important part.

“Um… so what do those three cases have to do with Haruka-chan’s abduction?”

The moment he expressed that question, everyone’s gazes were directed at him.

Having so many pairs of eyes focusing on him made him troubled.

Even so, everyone else should have been questioning the same thing as Ishii. At the very least, neither Gotou nor Makoto should know the answer.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know either…” said Yakumo, holding his head in his hand.

His figure appeared so frail, like it might shatter at the slightest touch.

“I-is that so?”

“Yes. There’s no doubt that Nanase Miyuki was involved in her abduction. She said that this was a game. A game to solve the mystery. As of now, the only mystery before me are all these spiritual cases happening simultaneously…” Yakumo said so, swiping his hair back and staring at the ceiling before sighing.

That behaviour of his was almost like concealing the tears that were about to fall.

“That’s why, I’m taking action with the belief that cracking the mystery of these spiritual cases would lead us to find her. But I might just be wrong,” said Yakumo, gaze still fixed on the ceiling.

“N-no way…”

“I myself have no idea. On top of that, I’m scared…”

“Eh?”

This was the first time he’d heard Yakumo mention being scared.

It took Ishii by surprise.

So even Yakumo feel scared, too—

Just like Ishii, he also lived a life experiencing emotions such as fear, anxiousness, and suffering—

“If my line of thinking had been mistaken… this can’t be undone…”

Yakumo’s wavering heart was well conveyed through the atmosphere.

Oddly enough, the weaker Yakumo became, the fiery resolve within Ishii only grew further.

He was aware of how inappropriate this was, given the timing.

Even so, he could sympathise with Yakumo, who normally maintained his cool and confidence over his words and actions, now feeling scared just like him.

He wasn’t the only one who was scared.

He wasn’t the only one who was terrified.

It should have been something obvious, yet he only realised it now.

Yakumo too could feel uneasy, shaken, and lacking in confidence.

Surely, that was an essential part of being human.

On their own, fear could sometimes lead to their demise. Hence, humans would borrow strength from one another so that they could press forward.

All this time, Ishii had always been helped by Yakumo.

Ishii might not be dependable, but now was his turn to lend his strength.

“Let’s not think about that now. I’m going to act whilst believing in Yakumo-shi,” Ishii said, puffing out his chest.

Makoto covered her mouth and chuckled at the sight of him.

“Right. It’s just as Ishii-san said. Instead of worrying over a possibility that has yet to happen, we should go along the path that’s already opened now,” Makoto spoke in agreement.

“Knowing you, you sure can say something decent every now and then,” Gotou slapped Ishii’s head with a flustered grin.

It left Ishii dumbfounded as to whether he was being scolded or praised.

“Right,” mumbled Yakumo before slapping his cheeks with both hands.

Now facing them once again, Yakumo’s face had a complete transformation, his eyes displaying the strength of his resolve.

“Everyone. Please stick with me for a little while,” Yakumo bowed his head deeply.

“How unlike you. Not just for a little while, I’ll even follow you to the reaches of hell,” Gotou said while laughing.

“Please don’t say something so gross. I don’t want to be with someone like Gotou-san for extended periods of time.”

“What did you say?”

Ishii quickly stood up to hold back Gotou, who was about to strike at Yakumo.

“Let go!”

Gotou shook him off until the back of Ishii’s head banged against the wall.

His eyes were seeing stars from the pain.

“Are you alright?” Makoto asked with a look of concern.

“Yes. I’m fine.”

Ishii borrowed Makoto’s hand to get back on his feet.

Looking at Ishii, Yakumo gave a slight nod.

Ishii didn’t understand the meaning behind that nod, but a slight relief came over him as the air had returned to how it once was.

Once again, Gotou stood in front of the warehouse—

Next to him was Yakumo.

His original objective of coming here with Yakumo had been to investigate the basement. His plans had been thwarted when they had unexpectedly discovered a body in the forest near the warehouse.

They had finally returned here to check the basement, but an unforeseen circumstance had unravelled.

Because of the recently discovered body, security had been heightened. Tapes stating ‘DO NOT CROSS’ covered the perimeter of the warehouse, while two uniformed officers stood guard at the entrance.

Gotou was no longer part of the police force. They would be told to get lost immediately upon walking there.

He had contemplated breaking in with force, but it was honestly difficult given the situation.

If the slightest commotion were to arise, the group of police detectives in the forest ahead would certainly come rushing over.

Should that happen, they’d be deemed suspects and the little time they had would have gone to waste.

They wanted to hurry, but right now they could only wait for Ishii—who was currently negotiating to permit their entry—to return.

“What is Nanase Miyuki trying to do by abducting Haruka-chan?” Gotou expressed the thought that had been bothering him as they waited for Ishii.

That sadistic woman was surely out to wound Yakumo’s mental state.

Still, there were many ways to go about it.

For example, by using direct violence to murder Haruka in front of Yakumo’s eyes.

And yet, Nanase Miyuki had arranged for a complicated game such as this. Gotou couldn’t fathom the reason behind it.

“The one who abducted her probably wasn’t that woman,” Yakumo shook his head slightly.

“What?”

“She told me so on the phone. ‘I didn’t do anything’—she said.”

“Wasn’t she just making excuses?”

“I don’t think so. There was no reason for her to be making excuses.”

Being told that, it was true.

Nanase Miyuki was a woman who had committed an act of cruelty to the highest degree. She was sought by the police as a murder suspect.

A woman such as her had no reason to be making excuses. Though if that were the case, Gotou was led to question something else.

“Then, who abducted Haruka-chan?”

“I don’t know. But it is possible that this person had been instigated by Nanase Miyuki to abduct her.”

“Instigated?”

“Yes. That’s how Unkai and Nanase Miyuki operate. Sneaking into the crevices of peoples’ hearts, turning their hopes into desires, and making them commit crimes—”

Hearing Yakumo’s explanation, Gotou’s back shivered.

Come to think of it, cases that had been orchestrated by Nanase Miyuki and the man with two red eyes had largely occurred in this manner.

They wouldn’t get involved directly, instead utilising the dirty method of manipulating and convincing others with words of persuasion.

Similarly in this case, someone might have been instigated by Nanase Miyuki and persuaded to abduct Haruka—

“In other words, we have to find out the identity of the abductor by solving the mystery of the spiritual cases in order to find out her location, right?”

“For Gotou-san’s level, you’re catching on pretty quickly.”

“Shut up.”

The man could still run his mouth even at a time like this.

Perhaps he’d be better off depressed so he’d act more docile—Gotou briefly had that thought, but that wasn’t how he genuinely felt.

“You have an idea on who?” asked Gotou.

Yakumo made a bitter expression. “More or less…”

A complete opposite from earlier, his words became uncertain.

“Something on your mind?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“Anyhow… I feel as if we’re being led.”

“Being led?”

“Yes. I feel as if… I’m being led by that woman…”

“You’re overthinking it.”

“I sure hope so…”

Perhaps Yakumo felt that way as this was concerning Haruka.

Usually, he could proceed straight ahead with confidence, but now he was worried of misstepping, that his strides appear like they were more out of reflex.

In this situation, perhaps it was Gotou’s duty to give his back a push.

“Even if you turned out to be mistaken, we’ll just look for the right step afterwards. For now, focus on moving forward.” Gotou said, placing a hand on Yakumo’s shoulder.

“It’s over for me if I have to be cheered on by Gotou-san,” Yakumo said blatantly.

Gotou had purposely given him a push, yet he acted like this immediately. What an irritating guy.

Moments later, Ishii approached them.

“Apologies for the wait.”

“What took you so long!” Gotou slapped Ishii’s head to take out his frustration.

“S-sorry.”

Ishii had only just cheered everyone on back in the Movie Research Circle clubroom, yet his tendency of apologising immediately hadn’t changed.

“So, how was it?” Yakumo asked, his expression tense.

“Yes. At first they refused to give permission, but thanks to various arrangements from Miyagawa-san, we’re granted permission to enter on condition that I become the supervisor on duty.”

“I see. Thank you very much,” said Yakumo, bowing.

Gotou was starting to get used to seeing Yakumo acting sincerely like this. Strangely enough, he felt like he would have never bothered with Yakumo if he had acted like this from the beginning.

“Anyway, let’s go,” said Gotou.

“Don’t act all cocky despite not contributing anything,” muttered Yakumo.

“What did you say?”

“Did you not hear me? I said, Gotou-san acts all important despite being a useless bear.”

“Bastard! What are you trying to say!”

Getting angry was meaningless.

He understood the fact, yet the fuse of his anger blew in a split second and he grabbed Yakumo’s shirt collar.

“There, there, please calm down,” Ishii came to break up the two.

When things came to this, Gotou’s anger would somehow end up redirecting to Ishii.

“Shut up!” said Gotou, shoving Ishii.

He didn’t mean to put much strength to it, yet Ishii fell down tumbling on the ground.

“Good grief…” Yakumo let out a sigh of disbelief despite being the one who started everything.

Gotou wanted to protest, but decided not to. Either way, they didn’t have time right now.

While they were in the middle of all this, Haruka’s life might be in danger.

“Oi, Ishii. How long are you planning to sleep? Let’s hurry up and go!”

Gotou yelled, and the once lying down Ishii stood up immediately.

Makoto sat on a table next to the window at a twenty-four-seven family restaurant.

She wasn’t here to have dinner.

Though the police hadn’t been able to identify it, according to Yakumo, the newly discovered body belonged to Ikuta Tomoko, who had gone missing three years prior.

If that was true, the spiritual phenomenon the woman had experienced three years back held a significant meaning.

Per Yakumo’s instructions, Makoto had come to listen directly from Nagaoka Momoka, the informant of the case from three years ago.

Makoto had reached out to Momoka and upon expressing her desire to meet up, Momoka had requested her to come to this restaurant. She had said she would drop by after work.

As she waited for Momoka, Makoto read through the information she had gathered through social media.

There were a number of witness accounts claiming they had seen a ghost there. Yet they mostly told stories of Japanese soldiers donning military uniforms and the like; information that lacked credibility.

Everything sounded like made-up stories based on the location’s history.

Besides, could Haruka really be found by doing all this? Her anxiousness had only just emerged, yet she did all she could to bury those thoughts away.

Yakumo had to be far more anxious compared to Makoto. Just like Ishii had said, right now they could only move forward while believing in Yakumo.

“Excuse me. Hijikata-san, yes?”

Lifting her face, Makoto replied, “Yes.”

Next to the table stood a woman in her mid twenties. Her stature was small and thin, and she gave the impression of carrying a certain shadow.

“Momoka-san, right? I’ve been waiting for you. My name is Hijikata Makoto,” Makoto stood up as she gave a greeting. “Please have a seat.”

Having ushered Momoka to sit down, Makoto pressed the call button to get the waiter’s attention and ordered a free-flow drink.

Makoto then asked what drink Momoka would like to have, moving to the drinks corner to get iced coffee for the both of them before returning to her seat.

“Apologies for calling you all the way here,” Makoto began.

With her head lowered, Momoka muttered, “No, not at all.”

She had no idea if Momoka’s personality was actually quiet or she was feeling tense, but Makoto didn’t come here for small talk.

Without further delay, Makoto jumped into the main topic. “Since the other day, I’ve done a lot of research. As you said, Ikuta Tomoko had been reported as missing.”

“Yes…”

“You mentioned that she had faced issues with spiritual phenomena before she had gone missing, but what was it like exactly?”

“Since we went to the warehouse, Tomoko said that she felt like she was being watched by someone.”

“Being watched?”

“Yes. Like she was being observed. On campus or at home, it was as if someone was observing her…” said Momoka with a fearful expression, almost like she was speaking from experience.

She seemed to be a particularly sensitive woman.

“And Tomoko-san thought it was the work of a ghost?” Makoto asked. Momoka lowered her eyebrows, seemingly in confusion. “It’s a little different…”

“No?”

“Tomoko didn’t think it was the work of a ghost. I was the one who said so…”

“What do you mean?”

“As I said in the call, a few days before Tomoko claimed she was being watched, we had gone to that warehouse for a test of courage.”

“But neither of you had seen a ghost there, right?”

“That’s right, but… there have always been rumours that a ghost would show up there, so…”

Momoko’s voice gradually diminished, so the last part of her sentence became inaudible.

She appeared to be tormented by guilt.

Undoubtedly, she had brought up the topic of ghosts to a terrified Tomoko with the intent to scare her.

She had merely done so as a joke. However, Tomoko had gone missing after the fact.

Because of this, Momoka felt responsible. Had Tomoko’s disappearance bore some connection to ghosts, it could have been because she had said something strange. Even if it had been the work of a stalker rather than a ghost, she had gone and created an excuse to neglect proper cautionary measures by mentioning the idea of ghosts.

She must have been blaming herself this entire time.

Perhaps it would be best for Makoto not to bring up the female corpse suspected to be Tomoko that had been discovered in campus, to avoid causing shock whilst that information had yet to be confirmed.

“Was there anything unusual about Tomoko-san before she went missing?”

“I don’t think there was anything in particular…”

“Even the smallest detail is fine. Who she was close with, or perhaps she had bought something new? Anything goes, so please tell me,” Makoto asked, and Momoka made a face as if she’d just remembered something.

Makoto wanted to ask right away, but held herself back.

Urging her out of impatience might prevent her from actually getting valuable information.

“Seems like you remembered something?” Makoto pried gently.

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“She said that she was planning to move.”

“Where did she live previously?”

“In the campus dorms. She complained about being broke even though she had to move out as soon as she graduated. Her parents had passed away and she was a scholarship student, so she couldn’t get assistance and was greatly struggling.”

“Yet she suddenly decided to move?” asked Makoto, and Momoka gave a nod.

If she were to rent a room, not only moving expenses, she’d have to fork out a considerable amount of money for the security deposit and key money.

It would be tough for a university student to scrape up that much funds. That was the reason many continue to live in the same housing complex or apartment they had been staying in since their college days, despite already being a working adult.

“Why did she end up moving abruptly? Do you have any idea?” asked Makoto.

Momoka’s gaze wandered as if tracing her memories, before they travelled upwards suddenly.

The inside of the building was filled with cold air—

Various equipment of unknown purpose were laid out in disarray and cardboards were stacked up next to a wall.

Rather than for storage, this warehouse appeared to be a place to carelessly pile unused junk.

“Ishii. Let’s go,” called Gotou, who went on ahead. Yakumo was also next to him.

“Ah, yes.” Ishii followed the two, yet his steps were heavy.

Truthfully, he wasn’t keen on entering the basement.

Spiritual phenomenon aside, the basement was the very place they had discovered the headless corpse encased in a box. Frankly, he was terrified.

As they moved all the way to the corner of the warehouse, the hole leading down to the basement gaped open.

Most likely, the police had opened it for investigation and had left it that way.

“In any case, let’s go,” Yakumo stepped forward, intending to enter.

“U-um… I’ll wait here,” said Ishii.

Gotou threw him a terrifying glare. “Why?”

“Why, well… I think it’s better to have someone outside be on the lookout,” Ishii tried coming up with an excuse.

Ishii thought it was a pretty good excuse, considering he had just pulled it out of thin air, yet Gotou wasn’t buying it.

“Be on the lookout for what?”

“Well, all sorts of things.”

“That’s why I’m asking, what sort of things?” Gotou pressed his fist on Ishii’s head.

“This time, we received permission to enter under the condition that Ishii-san comes along, right?” Yakumo spoke, interrupting their conversation.

“Y-yes.”

“It would be a problem if it’s later discovered that Ishii-san didn’t enter with us. If that happens, you’re going to be in trouble yourself.”

A precise argument.

He could no longer protest.

“You heard him. Now get going,” Gotou slapped his head.

Like this, there was no more room for him to escape. There seemed to be no other option than to enter the basement.

Yakumo was first to descend the ladder. Gotou was next, and being the last, Ishii’s hands finally met the ladder.

The rusted metal ladder was rough and uncomfortable to the touch.

In addition, an unpleasant stench invaded his nose. Furthermore, the stench grew stronger with every step down the ladder.

As I thought, I really don’t want to go, he thought, and that instant he slipped from the ladder and fell.

His bottom hit against the floor until his eyes welled up from the pain.

“What the hell are you doing? You duffer,” Gotou extended a hand.

“Sorry,” Ishii apologised as he stood up with Gotou’s help. He got himself back together and scanned his surroundings.

The space was so dark that he could hardly make out anything.

No sooner than the thought, a bright light made his vision flash white for a split second.

He blinked several times to adjust his eyes.

As it turned out, Yakumo had switched on the floodlight brought by the police for their investigation.

Now that he could see, Ishii continued observing the room.

One side of the wall has a bookshelf jammed with documents and old books. Another had metal shelves sloppily lined with bottles one would typically see in science labs.

In the middle of the room was an object that was probably an autopsy table.

Words spoke of how this place had used to be a laboratory that belonged to the former Japanese ground forces, the remnants of which seemingly still existed today.

Just what kind of experiments had been carried out back then?

Ishii regretted thinking about it.

They were setting foot at the very place right now. Thinking about it further only fueled his fear.

“That’s the box in question?” Gotou spoke as he walked to one corner of the room.

It was witnessing Gotou’s figure that made the box’s existence known to Ishii. He hadn’t noticed since it was the only corner that was dark, as if concealing the box’s presence.

Perhaps as the police had conducted their investigation, the lid of the box had been left open.

The surface was plastered with countless talismans. Having it covered in such a way, someone must have been adamant to seal its contents from ever leaving.

Following that thought, Ishii felt Hata’s theory that the headless corpse discovered here belonged to the man with two red eyes could be true.

The complete opposite of Ishii, Gotou observed the box without the slightest hint of fear.

He had assumed Yakumo was doing the same, yet he wasn’t looking at the box at all. He had taken out a document from the bookshelf, flipping through its pages before returning it, and repeating the process.

“Oi, Ishii. You check it out as well.” Gotou called to the spaced out Ishii.

“Y-yes,” he replied in reflex, even though he had no clue what exactly needed checking.

Besides, the police had inspected the place. To Ishii, even if they were to investigate now, it was unlikely for them to find any more leads.

“Ishii!” Gotou’s yell reverberated.

He got scolded for standing still and not doing anything.

Ishii replied, “Yes,” and ran in Gotou’s direction. As he hadn’t looked ahead properly, he tripped over the autopsy table.

He tried not to let himself fall, though he still failed to maintain his balance.

Ishii fell forwards whilst hopping over with one leg, crashing against the brick wall.

His forehead took the impact and he crouched over in place.

“What on earth are you on?” Gotou slapped his head.

Thanks to being hit on the sore spot, he began seeing stars.

“Sorry…”

“Ishii-san. No need to force yourself, please rest for a moment.” Yakumo spoke as he took a document.

“Thank you.”

Ishii leaned his back on the brick wall and decided to rest until his pain subsided. Perhaps this was strange coming from himself, but he felt utterly useless at this point in time.

As he exhaled a long sigh, he caught something on the corner of his eye.

In between the gaps of the brick wall.

“If I’m not mistaken, there was something around here…” Ishii stood up and felt around the wall.

There was a spot that felt off from the rest. One of the bricks seemed loose. He pried his fingers into the gaps and one of the bricks eventually rolled out, dropping onto his toes.

“Ouch!” Ishii yelped from the pain and fell sitting down.

He was really getting the short end of the stick today.

“What happened?” asked Yakumo, approaching after he heard the noise.

“A brick fell and hit my foot,” said Ishii, dripping in sweat.

Ishii thought Yakumo was worrying over him, but said man didn’t so much as glance at him, instead looking at something with his face against the wall where the brick had come off.

“Making a ruckus is all you’re good for. How useless,” Gotou exhaled a heavy sigh.

“No. Ishii-san, good work,” said Yakumo.

Ishii had no idea what Yakumo was referring to.

“Good work on what?” asked Ishii.

However, Yakumo gave no reply.

Yakumo shoved his hand into where the brick had used to be and took something out from there. It was an envelope wrapped in plastic.

Presently, Gotou took base in Yakumo’s hideout, the so-called Movie Research Circle clubroom—

Yakumo had been diligently looking through an old notebook since earlier.

Within the envelope Ishii had chanced upon inside the basement brick wall were a number of notebooks and an SD card wrapped in aluminum foil.

They had immediately tried to read said SD card using the laptop Ishii had brought, yet the files inside had appeared to be damaged as it had been unopenable.

That was why, Ishii was amidst bringing it to the police station to restore the data.

Yakumo had made a big deal out of the notebooks and SD card discovery, but Gotou who hadn’t seen its contents couldn’t understand why.

“What’s written there?” asked Gotou, and Yakumo lifted his face.

Yakumo’s eyes had never looked this depressed before.

“Do you recall Doctor Kinoshita’s case?” Yakumo asked in a flat tone.

Hearing the name, Gotou’s heart ached as if it was being crushed.

“Yeah.” He couldn’t possibly forget about that case, even if he wanted to.

The obstetrics and gynaecology doctor, Kinoshita Eiichi. He was the doctor who had assisted Yakumo’s birth, a composed person who earned the trust of his patients.

Yet that Kinoshita had committed a crime so gruesome and painful—

At the time, Gotou had been baffled by Kinoshita’s criminal motive. However, things were slightly different now that Nao was in the picture.

Though he felt like he’d understood what the man had done, it didn’t change his view that it had been an unforgivable act of crime. Still, at least, he now had a clearer idea on the feeling of loss and suffering Kinoshita had to endure.

“Do you remember what Doctor Kinoshita did?”

Gotou nodded firmly.

Kinoshita’s wife had died earlier, so he had been living with just his daughter. Despite this, he had led a modest and happy life with her.

Until one day, it had been taken away from him.

Without warning, his daughter Ayaka had suddenly been murdered.

Having lost his one and only dear family member, it had left Kinoshita all alone.

That was when he had been struck by an idea so sinister and beyond reason.

His daughter’s body may have died, yet her spirit had been alive still. He would be able to resurrect his daughter by transferring her spirit to a different body.

Kinoshita had believed so.

Afterwards—

He had abducted a girl his daughter’s age, murdered her, and had begun the crazy experiment to insert his daughter’s spirit into the girl he had murdered for the sake of resurrecting her.

“My father had an involvement in that case.”

“Right,”

Kinoshita hadn’t come up with the terrifying idea all by himself. Someone had led him into that sort of thinking.

That person had been none other than the man with two red eyes—Unkai.

Come to think of it, Kinoshita’s case might have been how Gotou had come to discover the man’s existence for the first time.

“This is merely a hunch, but I think my father probably died before that case.”

Yakumo said it was his hunch, but he wasn’t the type to bring something up with no basis.

“Why so?”

“Surely you know what my father wanted all this time,”

“Yeah.”

Unkai was already dead. He wandered as a ghost whilst manipulating people with words of persuasion, leading to his involvement in various cases.

His goal was to drive Yakumo into despair, crushing his mental state, before taking over his body.

Turning the body of one’s son into his own was an idea no father should ever have. No, rather, it wasn’t something any human should even come up with.

“Ever since that case, he began stealthily moving about my surroundings. It would make sense to think that he had died shortly before then.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Having passed away and wanting a body, he had made an appearance around Yakumo to incite a string of cases; that had to be it.

Come to think of it, Kinoshita’s case might have happened as an experiment done for the sake of resurrecting the man with two red eyes.

“Sorry. The conversation got sidetracked…” Yakumo put himself to blame.

Right. The original topic had been what was written in the notebook. Still, the current conversation surely wasn’t completely unrelated.

“Then?” Gotou demanded for the continuation.

“The truth is, this notebook described the details of a research on transferring the spirit of a dead person into another living human.”

“What did you say…?”

The conversation arrived at the same conclusion.

Their discussion just now hadn’t steered in another direction for no reason.

“In other words, just like what Kinoshita and the man with two red eyes were attempting..?” Gotou said, and Yakumo nodded.

Gotou now understood the reason behind Yakumo’s darkened eyes. The notebook recorded a demonic research that abandoned all ethics and morality.

“The former Japanese ground forces were the first to think of that method,” Yakumo spoke as he took one notebook.

It looked considerably older compared to the rest. The shape was different as well. Holes were punched into the papers to bind them together with strings.

“You’re telling me that the experiment conducted at that place—”

“Yes. There was other research too, but among them was the research to replace human spirit.”

“Why would they need to research that?”

“They would achieve immortality if spirits could be transferred to another body.”

So that was it. Such a thing must have been desirable among high-ranked military officials of the time. However—

“To think such a thing was still left behind.”

“That basement had gone unnoticed by anyone, left asleep for a long time.”

Indeed, the door leading to the basement had been located somewhere difficult to find.

“But isn’t that place a warehouse?”

“It was only recently that the building was used as a warehouse. Back in the day, there had been a number of research facilities in the area. Now, only two buildings remain: the archival facility on the other side of the road and the building that became a warehouse.”

“Is that so…”

So there was such a history—Gotou now understood.

The row of research facilities must have conducted different experiments in each. Then, the research of replacing human spirits must have taken place in the aforementioned basement.

At the end of the war, most of the buildings had been demolished, and whether by luck or else, only those two buildings were left.

Since one building was being used as an archival facility, and the other a warehouse, the basement’s existence faded into obscurity.

“My father likely has seen this information too. Hence he came up with the idea of snatching away my body.”

Yakumo was probably correct.

Having read the demonic research data, the man with two red eyes tried to put it into practice after his death—

“Did that research succeed?” asked Gotou.

Yakumo shook his head. “No. The research ended with imperfect results.”

“Therefore he’s trying to perfect it?”

“That’s right. To do so however, he needed to pass on the research to someone with a background in medicine.”

“So he took advantage of Kinoshita…”

Gotou now understood all sorts of things.

The man with red eyes hadn’t just influenced Kinoshita to commit heinous crimes. In the end, he had been searching for a way to revive himself.

“Doctor Kinoshita wasn’t the only one,” muttered Yakumo.

“What?”

“Before Doctor Kinoshita, there was another person who researched replacing human spirits after being instigated by my father.”

Yakumo took another notebook this time. Though dirty, compared to the previous notebook, it seemed much more recent.

“Who is it?”

“Don’t you know? You’ll get to the answer naturally by putting together the whole story.”

Hearing Yakumo’s dreary voice, it was as if all the information in Gotou’s head became interconnected at once.

“Kawakami Kei…” Gotou spoke the name, earning a nod from Yakumo.

Kawakami had lost his wife in a traffic accident, and his daughter had been declared brain dead.

Yakumo seemed to think that Kawakami had conducted the same research as Kinoshita to bring back his deceased family.

Gotou similarly thought it was a possibility.

It made sense to think Kawakami had given a heads up to his mother of his disappearance in order to carry out such taboo research. And yet—

“So, what does that have to do with Haruka-chan’s abduction?” asked Gotou.

Yakumo sewed his mouth shut, gritting his teeth.

That expression was telling enough.

Kawakami must have selected Haruka as a replacement body for his daughter or wife. Certainly, Kinoshita had abducted Haruka before for the same reason.

Obviously, Kawakami hadn’t selected her out of coincidence. Without a doubt, he had been led by the man with two red eyes together with Nanase Miyuki.

The ring of a phone interrupted Gotou’s thought.

It was Yakumo’s.

“Hello?” Yakumo picked up.

Based on the voice coming out of the speaker, the person on the other side seemed to be Makoto.

Yakumo listened to her talk, with the occasional response affirming his continued attention. His expression gradually hardened.

“Understood. Thank you very much—” Yakumo ended the call before exhaling a long sigh.

“New information came in?” asked Gotou.

“Yes,” Yakumo nodded. “Apparently Ikuta Tomoko-san and Doctor Kawakami knew each other—”

“What?!”

Ikuta Tomoko was the woman who had disappeared three years ago, and the potential identity of the woman whose body had just been discovered.

“Ikuta Tomoko-san was a student majoring in medicine. Doctor Kawakami had given lectures at the university from time to time.”

“So they were in a student-teacher relationship?”

“That wasn’t all. According to Makoto-san, Doctor Kawakami was said to be helping Tomoko-san look for a place to move into.”

“So they had a personal relationship going on as well…?”

Kawakami had chosen Ikuta Tomoko as a body replacement candidate for his daughter or wife who had passed three years ago, and had approached her.

Yet his research had failed, and Tomoko had lost her life. Out of fear of getting caught, Kawakami had hidden her corpse and had gone into hiding—

Despite all that, Kawakami hadn’t given up. Even then, he had continued the research. Three years later, it finally reached completion.

Then—he had abducted Haruka for his experiment.

All the pieces that used to be scattered finally started coming together.

“Let’s find Doctor Kawakami,” The light in Yakumo’s eyes was restored once more.

Gotou was the same.

Everything they had gone after thus far felt vague. It had left him anxious as to whether Haruka could possibly be found.

Things were different now.

Now that the mystery has been unraveled, it became clear what needed to be done.

The problem was, how on earth could they find Kawakami? Unlike the troubled Gotou, Yakumo’s mouth formed a faint smile.

Is this really alright?

Seeing the girl lying on the bed, feelings of guilt crossed his mind.

The girl was now calm as she had been dosed with sleeping medication, but he had gone through a great deal of trouble transporting her all the way here.

The girl had screamed, squirmed, and struggled with all she could muster.

It must be out of her desire to live.

That may be so, but this was necessary to take back what he had lost. He thought he had convinced himself of the fact, yet his heart still ached.

“You’re wavering—” a voice came from behind him.

The suddenness of it made him jump before turning around.

That woman stood there.

She swept her long hair back, her thin lips contorting into laughter.

Though beautifully proportioned, his heart trembled every time he saw the woman’s face. It was likely out of fear.

Her eyes emanated a cold, powerful determination, one that wasn’t picky over the means to achieve her goal.

“Don’t you wish to take back those that you love?” the woman placed her right hand on his shoulder.

“Well…”

“I know you’re scared. But see, you won’t obtain anything without a sacrifice. Surely you understand,”

He knew without being told.

To acquire something, a worthy price needed to be paid. A price equivalent to what he would receive in return.

He wished to get back the lives of those he loved, and the time he had lost.

And to pay, he had to offer something of equal valuation to that.

However—

What he wanted to do now was to take back a life that had been snatched away for no reason.

To do so, he had to sacrifice the life of another.

He turned towards the girl lying on the bed.

She looked innocent. Had nothing happened, a bright future surely awaited her.

If he were to steal that, it would bring forth fresh hatred.

Would that really be the right thing to do?

Of course, that wasn’t the only problem at hand. The girl surely had parents, too. He would cause the same suffering he felt onto the girl’s parents.

Is that really what I wanted?

As if interrupting his thoughts, the woman’s hand on his shoulder grasped onto him, digging down with nails.

The pain seemingly seized his ability to think.

“Are you making excuses so you can forget the people who have left you?”

“No. I don’t intend to forget them,” he firmly denied.

It would be impossible for him to forget about that day.

Not only that day, he could never forget the happiness and warmth of the time he had spent with them.

“Is that really so?”

“……”

“Earlier, you wanted to forget by pretending to care about other people. You tried to trick yourself by giving up and saying there’s no other way.”

“That… is not the same as forgetting.”

“How is it not the same? If you give up, it would be the same as forgetting them, right?”

“Wrong!”

“In that case, why are you hesitating? Or do you not want to get them back?”

“…….”

“Look ahead,” the woman let go of his shoulder and pointed at the wall.

There stood a wall that had used to be white in color, yet now dirtied and cracked.

“You may not be able to see, but I can,” said the woman.

“See what?”

“Your daughter’s standing there. She’s looking at you with eyes deep in sorrow.”

“Is that… really true?” He began walking with staggered steps towards the wall.

Still, he couldn’t see anything despite approaching it.

He called out to his daughter in despair, yet there was no answer, nor was her figure anywhere to be seen.

He could scream however loud, and the life that had been taken away still wouldn’t return. If only that day—his thoughts were filled with regret over his actions. An endless feeling of guilt invaded him once again.

Why did his daughter’s life have to be lost?

He had received an explanation from the police, but he felt that it had only been all about the culprit’s motive and not why his daughter’s life had been taken.

Perhaps his feelings would’ve gotten lighter if he were to kill the culprit with his own hands. Nevertheless, he couldn’t possibly lay a hand on someone who was behind bars.

Such was the protection given to the culprit, yet the same couldn’t be said for the victims.

It would’ve been better if he had been pitied in the open. Worse, people had badmouthed him behind his back as if he’d done any wrong despite it all being mere speculation.

His daughter’s life was not the only thing that had been seized for no reason by the culprit. The past, the present, and the future; taken away all the same.

Anger, hatred, sadness, all kinds of emotions shook his heart like a storm, before he was swallowed by pitch black feelings of loss.

Hopelessness took over him and he had kneeled over before he could realise.

Tears spilled from his eyes.

Not even he could tell what sort of emotion created those tears. Even so, as he watched his dripping teardrops, a black flame seemed to ignite within his heart.

“I’ll ask you one more time,” said the woman standing right behind him.

“What are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of your loved ones?”

The woman’s question restored his once wavering resolve—

Ishii parked his car in front of the Kawakami residence.

He had talked to the department responsible for restoring the data inside the SD card, and whilst looking into Kawakami Kei’s life, Gotou had contacted him over the phone.

He got out of the car and directed his attention at the Kawakami residence.

A building that stood amidst the darkness sure was scary after all.

That instant, the face of the girl he had seen back then flashed in his mind.

She had smiled so innocently, yet she was no longer in this world. The thought of it darkened his mood.

“What are you spacing out for?” Gotou called out as he walked over.

“Um, Detective Gotou, why here of all places?”

He had rushed over as Gotou had summoned him, yet Ishii still didn’t understand why they had to meet up at the Kawakami residence.

“There’s a possibility that Kawakami is the one who abducted Haruka-chan,” said Gotou.

Ishii couldn’t believe his ears. “What are you saying?” he asked, and Gotou began explaining despite finding it troublesome.

According to him, Kawakami might have abducted Haruka to resurrect his daughter or wife.

Abducting for the sake of resurrection—Ishii’s brain couldn’t put the two together at first.

Still, he came to understand after Gotou brought up Kinoshita’s case.

It had been the first case Ishii had handled with Gotou. A case he couldn’t forget even if he wished.

Kinoshita had also committed a crime out of his fantasy to resurrect his deceased daughter.

Yakumo had analysed that the same thing was happening again.

Having been told that, it could explain why Kawakami had left his daughter in a brain dead state and disappeared.

It made sense to think that Kawakami had been trying to bring back his wife or daughter when he had discussed the topic of death with Hata.

“So, we’re investigating this house one more time to find out Kawakami’s whereabouts?” said Ishii.

Gotou nodded, “That’s right.”

Yakumo and Gotou had come here before to conduct an investigation, but the objective at the time had only been to confirm the spiritual phenomena.

Now, they had returned to examine this house, in search of something that was connected with Kawakami’s location.

“Then, Yakumo-shi is?”

Ishii had assumed they would arrive together, yet he was nowhere in sight.

“That guy is in the middle of reexamining the contents of the notebook Kawakami left behind.”

I see.

Certainly, he might be able to obtain clues hinting at Kawakami’s location by going over his notebook again.

“In that case, let’s go,” Gotou stepped into the yard without hesitation.

“Yes,” replied Ishii who followed suit.

It had been ages since he had an investigation together with Gotou like this. He felt scared of entering the residence earlier, yet now he was overtaken by joy that it extinguished his fear.

He turned on his flashlight and entered the house with Gotou.

“Let’s start with the second floor,” Gotou spoke as he shone a light on the staircase.

“Understood.” Ishii had the same idea.

When he had come here previously, Miyagawa had been the one checking out the second floor, so Ishii had never checked it out before.

Even when Gotou and Yakumo had been here, it appeared that they had only examined the first floor.

Gotou was the first to climb the stairs, with Ishii following him behind.

The steps creaked with each climb, inflating his sense of fear, though he managed to swallow them. Now wasn’t the time to be a coward. Gotou was with him, so there was no need to be afraid.

On the second floor were four rooms in total.

“I’ll start from the front, you check from the back there.”

“Eh?” Ishii blurted spontaneously.

He had thought they’d go around the place together. His fear had shrunk from being with Gotou, but if they needed to split up, his body froze instantly.

“What do you mean, eh? There’s no time. Hurry up,” Gotou hit Ishii on the back, opened the nearest door and immediately went inside.

Ishii stood in place. He couldn’t move his legs to walk. The next second however, the image of Haruka’s face came to his mind.

That’s right. We have to help Haruka.

Like Gotou said, they had no time to spare. Wasting time at a place like this wouldn’t help her.

Before it was too late, whatever it took, they needed to find clues.

Ishii firmed his resolve and walked across the corridor.

He reached out for the doorknob of the room at the end, turning it with sweaty hands. The door creaked once it was pushed.

It’s fine. Don’t be scared. I can do it.

Ishii stepped in whilst convincing himself.

The room turned out to be an office. Next to the window was a desk and a large bookshelf.

This might have been Kawakami Kei’s office.

If there was anything that could point to Kawakami’s whereabouts, this room would be the most suspicious.

With his eyes, Ishii traced the spines of the books lined on the bookshelf whilst illuminating them with a flashlight. All of them were complicated looking medical books.

Next, he examined the desk and its surroundings. He was met with the same results, failing to find any item that could possibly be a clue.

His disappointment was overwhelming as he had hopes, but he couldn’t give up at a time like this.

He motivated himself as he was about to leave the room.

It was then that Ishii felt the uncomfortable sensation as if being watched by someone, that he stopped in his tracks.

Just my feeling, he tried to think that way, to no success however. The presence of someone could be felt on his back.

Ishii gulped until his throat made a sound.

Sweat covered his forehead.

I mustn’t look.

He should pretend not to notice and leave the room. Despite the thought, his head turned automatically as if pulled in the direction.

Not even his scream could leave his body from the shock.

Without him noticing, a girl had already been standing in front of the bookshelf. Without a doubt, she must be Kei’s daughter, Satomi.

Ishii staggered backwards.

He wanted to leave the room right away, but tripped over something and fell backwards, hitting the door in the process.

As a result, the door closed shut with a bam.

“Hey—” called out the girl, Satomi, with a smile.

Don’t be scared.

Satomi had passed away from brain death after the accident. She couldn’t possibly be wandering out of resentment or hatred.

Ishii desperately told himself the fact.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” asked the girl as she slowly pointed at the bookshelf.

“Ishii! What happened?! Are you alright?!” Gotou yelled as he banged on the door. He must have come running upon hearing the door shut loudly.

At once, Satomi’s figure disappeared as if blending into the darkness.

Ishii actually wanted to open the door immediately and jump straight at Gotou, but his curiosity of the shelf the girl had pointed won him over.

Ishii stood on his feet and ran towards the bookshelf.

“Ishii! Are you alright?”

Gotou opened the door and barged right in.

He should have at least responded, yet Ishii was more drawn to the bookshelf. He searched around the area Satomi had pointed.

Searching through it once more led him to discover something that piqued his interest.

Amidst the rows of medical books that took up most of the bookshelf was a single plastic folder.

Ishii pulled it out of the shelf.

Though it was mere instinct, he sensed that this folder concealed a crucial piece of information.

Yakumo lifted his face from Kawakami’s notebook and sighed—

His mind felt like it had dulled.

Perhaps it was from exhaustion, yet the hastiness to promptly resolve this case seemed to have also impaired his ability to think.

He looked straight across.

Only Yakumo alone was in the room. He understood the fact. Yet for whatever reason, he felt lonely.

What a strange feeling.

He had always been alone in this room.

In fact, he’d feel more troubled if he had to share the same space as other people. Yet for some reason, he suddenly felt lonely now—

This entire time, even if she—Haruka—wasn’t physically here, Yakumo might have felt her presence somewhere in his heart nonetheless.

That was how he had remained composed.

No, that wasn’t it either.

Before meeting her, Yakumo had been living alone in this room. In this bare-bones place with nothing but a table and some chairs, plus a fridge and a sleeping bag—

Not once had he felt lonely that entire time.

And yet—

Once he had learned the warmth of having company, there was no returning to the way things had been. He could feel loneliness because he had come to know the comfort of being with someone.

That was why he couldn’t lose her no matter what.

He had meant to build his resolve, yet it had only put more pressure on him, hindering his ability to think.

Perhaps this entire time Yakumo had been able to confront cases because of her support.

He hadn’t been assisted in a literal sense.

It was simply that with her presence alongside him, Yakumo could concentrate on thinking properly. She had probably become a place for him to take hold and lean on.

It’s no use.

Yakumo applied pressure on the inner corner of his eyes and shook his head.

He was trying to focus on the case, yet his thoughts kept on redirecting to her.

They had faced countless cases and incidents together. Even so, the things that continued making their way into his head weren’t any of those prominent incidents, but rather an insignificant fragment of their ordinary life.

One in which she would come here unannounced, bickering over this and that. She would get irritated by Yakumo’s every word, then laugh.

Mundane days that had flowed its usual course—

It was only now that he learned how those moments were the precious ones, more than anything else.

Never would he have thought that someone’s existence could become this ingrained in his life.

Yakumo scratched his head until he made an even bigger mess of his hair, his eyes returning to the notebook.

Concentrate, he told himself that.

He took a deep breath and rearranged his thoughts.

After reading the contents of Kawakami’s notebook from start to finish, he discovered something that caught his attention.

Kawakami seemed to be a meticulous person; he had written schedules of every single day in detail.

When, where, with whom he had met that day. The location and names of people were also thoroughly written.

Despite that, starting from two weeks prior to the accident, Kawakami had been meeting with a mysterious figure only described as X.

Why had this been the only person referred to with an alphabet letter?

Furthermore, X couldn’t have been an initial of sorts. Perhaps he had wanted to conceal the person’s identity, or he might not even know their name.

Could this person possibly be Unkai or Nanase Miyuki?

There was a decent chance of this being the case.

They had been targeting Kawakami before the accident had occurred and had tried to make him perform dangerous experiments. If that had been true, it would introduce the possibility that the accident that had befell Kawakami’s wife and daughter had been staged.

Had they really gone through the trouble of doing all that?

The sound of his phone ringing interrupted Yakumo’s line of thought. The screen displayed the word ‘restricted’.

Only one person would contact him during such hours using a withheld number.

“Yes,”

Yakumo picked up the call as calmly as possible.

So it indeed was Nanase Miyuki.

“What business do you have?” said Yakumo with a sigh.

Without asking, Yakumo could imagine the sort of purpose this woman would call him for.

That sadism-loving woman must have wanted to make Yakumo suffer. For that motive, she might have intended to make him listen to Haruka’s cries.

Yakumo had picked up despite knowing so for a reason.

If he could steer the conversation well and pry information from Nanase Miyuki, he would be one step closer towards resolving the case.

At the very least, he wanted to confirm Haruka’s safety.

“I’m busy. I don’t have the time to make small talk with you,” Yakumo spoke roughly, but knowing Nanase Miyuki’s personality, she wouldn’t get upset and hang up over the fact.

“Help me? What’s gotten into you now? Didn’t you want to win this game?”

“You talk as if saying that our investigation right now is wrong.”

<You’re quick to catch on. Saves me a lot of trouble,> Nanase Miyuki laughed.

Could it be that we are mistaken in our investigation?

The question briefly came to his mind, but he quickly shoved it away.

Nanase Miyuki’s words shouldn’t be taken as is. She was the kind of woman who could lie as easily as breathing. She must’ve been talking to lead him astray.

She might have intentionally called not because they had been mistaken, but because they had been on the mark, hence attempting to bend them in another direction.

“How exactly are we wrong?”

<I’m not so generous that I’d tell you that. I want an interesting match, not defeat.>

So it was true.

Nanase Miyuki was the one panicking right now.

“In that case, what are you calling for?”

“A hint?”

<That’s right. Firstly, this case is a repeat.>

“A repeat?”

What did she mean by a repeat?

“Water?”

“What do you mean?”

“Right,” Yakumo replied whilst turning the gears in his head.

How should he be receiving those words? One way was to ignore them completely. But perhaps it could really be a hint at something.

No, cut it out.

Nanase Miyuki had merely been spouting irrelevant words in order to trick Yakumo.

<Ah, right. Let me tell you something good.>

“What?”

<She’s still alive.>

Yakumo stood up without realising.

He hurriedly suppressed his voice that was close to escaping. At any rate, he shouldn’t be letting Nanase Miyuki know that his feelings wavered.

“Do you have proof?” Yakumo asked carefully.

Even if pressed further, she likely would have swiftly dodged.

“I find it hard to believe you.”

<Ah, right,> Nanase Miyuki, who was about to hung up, suddenly said, <I forgot to tell you one thing.>

“What?”

<Let’s decide the time limit.>

“Time limit…”

<That’s right. It’s not interesting if this game drags for too long. Let’s see. How about until dawn? During this time of the year, that would be around half past six. You don’t have much time,>

“Wait!” Yakumo yelled, yet the call had been cut.

The time limit had been forcefully decided with no regard for his input. He grew frustrated, yet the situation forced him to adhere to it.

Despite her saying that it would get boring if it got too one-sided, this game gave Nanase Miyuki far too much of an upper hand.

“Damn it…” Yakumo cursed, slamming his fist onto the table right as his phone rang yet again—

Gotou and Ishii left the Kawakami residence carrying the folder Ishii had found—

Their goal was to confirm its contents.

After they had reached their parking spot, Gotou placed the folder on top of the car hood and opened it.

However, he couldn’t see its contents as it was dark.

Ishii immediately took notice, turning on the flashlight over the folder.

“What is this?” Gotou said without realising.

Filed away up front were several sheets of maps.

He took all of them out and flipped them around, yet they weren’t maps of various regions that would create a whole map when put together.

After the maps were photos of building interior and exteriors taken from various angles, stuck onto cardboard for easier viewing and indexed prior to being filed.

Had Kawakami been looking for a place to move?

If that were the case, these had nothing to do with the investigation. Gotou held out his hopes as Ishii had been all fired up as if he’d made a significant discovery, yet he was now disappointed.

“Ah!” Ishii blurted loudly as he jumped.

It happened right next to Gotou’s ear, and made it start ringing.

“Noisy,” Gotou landed a hit on Ishii’s head.

“S-sorry. But this is a significant clue to track Kawakami-san’s location.”

“How so?”

“Take a look. There are circles and numbers on the maps.”

“Yes.”

Indeed, that was true. There were in fact circles on the maps with numbers on top. At a glance, there appeared to be a single place highlighted on every map.

“The numbers on the map and the ones on the photos are correlated.”

“So then what?” asked Gotou.

It was rare for Ishii to scratch his head in frustration. “Do you still not understand up to this point?”

An unusual occurrence for Ishii to sound as if making a fool out of Gotou.

Being responded that way made Gotou equally irritated.

He clicked his tongue. “I asked because I don’t know!”

Normally Ishii would’ve shrunk, but today was different. He threw a sharp look through his silver framed glasses, and snatched the folder from Gotou.

“Take a look at this.”

Ishii took out a piece of map from the folder and shoved it in front of Gotou’s eyes.

Looking at that map, Gotou understood everything.

Couldn’t be helped that Ishii grew frustrated. Due to his impatience, apparently Gotou hadn’t examined the maps thoroughly.

It was a map of the Meisei University area. And there was a circle with the number 1 on the problematic warehouse.

Kawakami had probably made this document to select the prospective locations for his experiment to resurrect his daughter.

Then, the basement in said warehouse had now been emptied.

Most likely, Kawakami had gone into hiding in a different place from this document and continued his experiment.

“I’m contacting Yakumo.”

“Understood.”

Gotou took out his phone from his pocket and called Yakumo, while Ishii arranged the maps on the car hood, muttering to himself.

<Yes,>

Yakumo picked up after three incoming calls.

“We found a clue,” Gotou exclaimed, hardly containing his enthusiasm.

<What sort of clue?> Yakumo promptly replied.

The usual Yakumo would have complained about his loud voice or his manner of speaking over the call, yet right now Yakumo must have been in such a hurry that he didn’t have the time for that.

“We discovered a folder in Kawakami Kei’s office.”

“There are maps and photos inside.”

Indeed, nothing was conveyed from his explanation just now.

He couldn’t blame Yakumo as he sounded quite panicked as well. Gotou took deep breaths to calm his nerves, before explaining everything to Yakumo in order, including the analysis made by Ishii.

Yakumo’s voice was in higher spirits after hearing Gotou’s explanation.

Despite already knowing that Kawakami Kei was the culprit behind Haruka’s abduction, they had next to no lead in searching for his whereabouts.

Hence, finding that folder at a time like this meant a lot.

“We’ll be able to find Haruka-chan by searching through all the places marked on the maps.”

“Oi. How many?” Gotou asked Ishii, who was looking over the maps.

“Eight locations,” he replied right away.

“He said there are eight locations.”

<Eight locations—that’s a lot.> Yakumo sighed.

“What’s wrong?”

“What?!”

<She gave us a time limit. If we can’t find her before half past six in the morning…> Yakumo left the end of his sentence unfinished.

Then Haruka would be killed—that had to be the meaning.

Gotou glanced at his watch. It wasn’t long until midnight. Only six and a half hours left.

It was too soon to give up.

“Ishii. Think of an efficient route. We have to search in all the places within six and a half hours,” said Gotou.

Ishii’s expression tensed. “I-Impossible.”

“Nothing’s impossible. We have to do it.”

“These maps covered other prefectures too. The furthest location is in Nagano. We won’t be able to search them all.”

Depending on which part of Nagano, just travelling there would take two to three hours one way. They’d exhaust all their time just for a round trip.

No, not yet.

Even if they’re located in other prefectures, he should be able to ask the police to lend their assistance. The same goes for other places. They could cover all grounds by splitting the work.

<Gotou-san.> called Yakumo from the other end of the line.

“According to Ishii, the locations are spread all over.”

<Yes. I heard.>

In that case, this speeds things up.

“We’ll split the work and search them all.”

<Hold on a moment,> Yakumo stopped him.

“Ha?”

“Water?”

<Yes. Aside from setting the time limit, Nanase Miyuki also gave out a clue to solve the case.>

“And that clue is water—”

<Yes.>

Gotou let Ishii know what Yakumo had told.

“Ah!” Ishii, who had been closely observing the map, shouted out loud.

“Got any?”

“Yes. There is only one location that has to do with water.”

As soon as Gotou stated the fact to Yakumo, he responded firmly, “Let’s rendezvous at once and head there.”

They might be able to save Haruka—such a hope grew bigger within Gotou.

A call from Maki came into Makoto’s phone when the clock nearly struck midnight.

Makoto had asked her to reach out, should anything happen. Therefore, being contacted at this hour gave her a terrible premonition.

<Please help…> said Maki the moment Makoto picked up the call.

Her voice was trembling so pitifully. She seemed to be crying.

“What’s wrong?” asked Makoto, keeping her voice as composed as possible. She shouldn’t get swayed by Maki’s emotions.

“It appeared? You mean the ghost?”

<Yes…>

When Makoto had brought Yakumo there, Yakumo hadn’t been able to confirm the presence of a ghost.

They had decided to monitor the situation, yet it turned out that the ghost had appeared now.

“Where did it appear?”

“Where are you right now, Maki-san?”

Makoto sharpened her ears and picked up a few noises. She might have left the room.

“Alright. I’ll head over right away, so wait for me there,” Makoto said before ending the call.

Presently she was at the office, but if she were to ask the taxi to ramp up speed, she should be able to reach there in five minutes. Makoto prepared to leave whilst contacting Yakumo.

Even so, the call didn’t go through as his number was busy.

Couldn’t be helped. Exiting the office building, Makoto stepped into the taxi parked in front, and stated her destination.

On the way there, she tried to call Yakumo one more time, yet the number was still busy.

Yakumo was entirely occupied in the search for Haruka. He must be in the middle of speaking with Gotou or Ishii about the case.

It wasn’t certain whether Maki had really seen a ghost. She could’ve mistaken a shadow for one out of fear.

Makoto couldn’t be disturbing Yakumo over a mere misunderstanding.

Perhaps it would be best for her to confirm it first, and only contact Yakumo if necessary.

With that, Makoto changed her mind.

As she got off the taxi in front of the apartment building, Maki ran approaching, having waited for her.

“What should I do… I’m scared…” Maki spoke in a hurry.

She seemed to be in a state of confusion. She didn’t have any shoes on and was barefooted; it just showed how panicked she was.

“Calm down. It’s alright. First, take a deep breath,” encouraged Makoto.

After a small nod, Maki slowly took a deep breath.

“You mentioned that the ghost appeared in your room?” Makoto asked after Maki had calmed down.

“Yes. When I was going to sleep, the ghost stood next to my bed. I got scared and rushed out of the room…”

She must have contacted Makoto shortly after.

“Okay. Firstly, let’s go to your room to confirm it,” said Makoto as she walked towards the entrance, yet Maki didn’t move at all whilst holding onto Makoto’s arm.

Even without saying, it was clearly conveyed that she didn’t want to go.

Dragging Maki who was in this state with her would only make her panic and impaired Makoto’s ability to assess the situation properly.

“I understand. You can wait here. I’ll go there by myself, so could you lend me the key?” Makoto suggested, and Maki handed over her key with no complaints.

The circumstance that forced her to go alone caused her fear to emerge, but Makoto took a few deep breaths and hardened her resolve.

She unlocked the automated entrance door, went past it into the elevator, and ascended to the fourth floor where Maki’s room was located.

Makoto halted her steps once she arrived in front of the door.

Her palms became sweaty.

As it turned out, she was scared of entering a place that might be haunted alone.

Yakumo had often spoken of how ghosts were clusters of emotions of the deceased, incapable of exerting physical influence.

Makoto felt his theory was on the mark, yet even if they were unable to hurt her physically, there remained the possibility of her getting possessed.

After all, Makoto had had the experience of being possessed once.

The terror she felt at the time couldn’t easily be rid of. Even until now, it had remained, engrained deeply into her mind.

Nevertheless, it was thanks to that case that she had been able to meet Ishii and Yakumo.

Back then, Ishii had said to the possessed Makoto, “It’s alright—”

To Makoto, those words had become a pillar supporting her heart.

Thinking of it now, perhaps her interest towards Ishii had begun ever since then.

Makoto became flustered after unintentionally remembering the past, and laughed bitterly.

Either way, she needed to confirm if there really was a ghost in this room—

As Maki had left in a hurry, the door wasn’t locked. Makoto turned the doorknob and carefully pulled it open.

The lights were out, so the inside of the room was dark.

She slowly stepped into the deathly silent room.

No one was there.

The curtains swayed back and forth.

The window was slightly ajar, and wind blew from there.

Based on its position, it was right within Maki’s line of sight if she had been lying on the bed. Perhaps she had mixed up this curtain for a ghost.

Makoto decided to turn the lights on and confirm one more time, before informing Maki that she could rest assured now.

When Makoto reached out to the light switch, wind blew past her back.

As if someone had gone past—

No. It was just her feeling. A lot had happened and she became oversensitive.

Makoto slowly turned, intending to calm herself down.

“……”

Her voice wouldn’t come out.

Standing there was a man.

She could immediately tell that the man was no living human, but a deceased spirit. Not that she had a solid basis for it. Still, her instinct told her so.

She didn’t scream as she didn’t sense any malice from the male ghost.

The man radiated feelings of sorrow and loss.

Not to mention Makoto had seen this man before—

( second half )