“Look, I know we can’t do that. We can’t explain why she’s here. It’d be unnatural for us to say we just saw her milling around coincidentally and decided to protect her. We’d been told not to go out and all. If we obeyed the warning how would we have run into her, right?”
“Maybe we take her somewhere else and call the police there?”
“How? Yuko doesn’t have a friggin’ monitor.” Mio scowled.
“She needs to borrow someone’s monitor to get ahold of the police. What about the emergency monitor at the center of town?”
“Someone with amnesia using the emergency monitor? You’d think she’d have used it earlier rather than waiting a week.”
“Then there’s no other way for her to go to the police other than to have them find her. But sending her out alone is too dangerous. It’s no less dangerous if we go with her, and if the police find all of us, it’d be the same as if they came and got her here.”
“Hazuki’s right,” Ayumi said. “In the end, we’re just kids. If we’re thinking about Yuko’s safety, the best solution is to call the police from here and explain everything. But then we’d be completely exposed— Hazuki’s sneaking out, Mio’s hacking, and my being up here at all.”
Yuko’s life couldn’t be exchanged.
Ayumi didn’t say it but Hazuki heard it.
Mio shook her hands through her hair frantically. “Yeah, I mean getting caught is one thing, but isn’t this all really frustrating?”
“I don’t understand. Frustrating?”
“Frustrating, meaning I don’t like the way this feels. Do you understand that?” Mio said. Ayumi said, “No, I still don’t understand.” Hazuki had a feeling she did.
Though it was just a feeling.
Mio rubbed her head with her right hand and then stopped. “Wait a minute!” she said. “I know how we can call the police without actually calling them.”
She looked around at everyone.
“Cheer up!” Mio said. “Okay, we all go to Hazuki’s house.”
“Huh?”
“It’s near here, and it’s in the safe area of Section A, plus no one’s there, and it’s secure as hell. Am I right?”
“You are, but—”
“You guys are no fun.” Mio sighed. “Look. First I’ll jigger the system to let Hazuki back into her house. Then Yuko will kind of wander past the gate of the house. The surveillance camera will catch it and notify the security company. Hazuki will say she was just studying when she looked at the screen, recognized her, and immediately called the emergency line. What do you think?” She looked around, trying to make eye contact with the others.
“The police will come flying to her place,” Mio concluded.
“Is that…okay?” Yuko turned her painfully beseeching look over to Hazuki.
Hazuki nodded.
That should be fine, she thought.
CHAPTER 016
THE TERRIBLE NEWS was delivered on a Wednesday morning.
At the emergency meeting held over the weekend, it had been decided that the communication sessions would temporarily be put on hold. But that did not mean the counselors had no work to do. Though they didn’t have direct access, the counselors had to monitor the surroundings of each child via messaging, and if there appeared to be a problem they would have to resolve it promptly.
Unlike administrators, counselor workloads increased in times of emergency.
What with her having to support Shima—who could not execute her duties due to her cooperation with the investigation—Shizue ended up working at the center three days straight.
She returned home Tuesday afternoon and finally got to bed at two in the morning after taking care of personal affairs that had piled up in the meantime.
However.
Sleep, which could hardly be called pleasant but was nonetheless welcome, was forced to end after a mere five hours.
Shizue received an emergency message. An emergency message replete with alarm.
Yuko Yabe had been discovered.
Not a recovery. A discovery.
Yuko had been killed.
This was terrible.
Shizue took a shower and went to her dresser. She looked horrible. It couldn’t have been the result of fatigue. She looked way worse than Shima did last week.
Why’d you go and die?
It was what Shima had said. There was not a whole lot different between the two now. Shizue didn’t need the words to come out of her mouth for the thought to be visible on her face.
She groomed herself because she had to.
It would have had more impact had she run out of the house without so much as a look in the mirror, but Shizue didn’t like to present herself in that way.
Besides, all the time in the world wouldn’t change the situation she had to confirm. If she were able to resurrect the dead, Shizue might run out barefoot, naked even, but desperate cries wouldn’t bring Yuko Yabe back.
Dead children don’t return.
She thought, though…
That just made her seem like a heartless woman.
Her countenance looked even more horrible than before.
She was a horrible person.
Her instructions were to be at the center as soon as possible, so she left.
Beginning with the area chief’s and continuing with all her associates’ were the faces of idiots, lined up and dazed.
They’d determined at the last convening the general stance the center would take toward the crime. Just because there were now more victims didn’t mean that stance should change. It stood to reason then that they had nothing to say to each other, but then Shizue also thought there had to be something they should be doing.
Eventually Shizue was called into a special meeting room.
There were a number of men who looked like investigators, and Ishida.
“Miss Fuwa,” Ishida voiced as soon as Shizue sat down. “I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you that the situation has gotten worse. I know you provided all the information you had, and we for our part did everything we could, but regardless, let me start by saying sorry.”
Ishida lowered his head.
The investigators lined up behind him also all bowed.
“I appreciate your apologies but I have no way to respond, since from the beginning stages of the investigation you made it clear my opinions as a counselor were totally impertinent. If you’re going to go on about placing responsibility, I should be declared the victim.”
“I’m apologizing knowing all of that full well. If the victim’s survivors find a problem with this case, it will initially be directed toward you. In that sense…I am expressing regret in the fact that it didn’t matter how much time we had; we were unable to prevent this tragedy from taking place.”
He was talking in circles.
“So is there something I can do? I’ve submitted all the data on the children, even more information on the victim since she was missing. If there’s anything else…”
“It’s as you say,” Ishida said. “But isn’t there something you’re neglecting to tell us?”
“What would that be?” Shizue answered unphased.
Ishida was expressionless. Shizue didn’t typically like exuberant people, but in this case it was Ishida’s metallic composure she found loathsome.
“Last week after our interrogation, you went to Hinako Sakura’s residence, did you not?”
“I did.”
They had been following her.
It could be Kunugi had told them about this.
Actually, his timing had seemed too good at the time. He’d made up some convenient excuse about having been on patrol or something, but he could have been following her.
“According to her family you were not there in your capacity as a counselor.”
“It was a private matter.”
“Meaning? If you don’t mind, could you please tell us what you talked about?”
“I asked her about divinations. Mi
ss Sakura gave me a whole lecture.”
There was no point in hiding this information. It was half true.
Ishida’s thin lips curled, and he tapped at his monitor screen with a fingertip.
“A counselor listening to a lecture by a child.”
“Is that odd?”
“Not odd. I gather you’ve been lectured by other children in your charge before. However…”
Ishida stopped to look at the portable big-screen monitor.
“I can’t imagine you had a personal interest in divination. Nothing in our records indicates you had any interest in the occult before. What’s more, you don’t strike me personally as someone who would believe in such superstitions—that’s to say, you seem more like someone who’d reject those ideas.”
“People are known to change, officer.”
“You mean you suddenly took up an interest?”
Shizue asked is that not allowed? and Ishida said of course it is.
“Well, Hinako Sakura’s testimony corroborates your story. I’m sure there are no problems.”
“You interrogated Sakura?”
“We still are.”
“She has nothing to do with this.”
“We’ll be the judge of that,” Ishida said. “Actually, she is the very last person to have spoken directly to the victim. It was after the medical exam last month, but of course, you already knew that. There were several communication sessions afterward but she didn’t speak to anyone off-session.”
“It is not uncommon for children to refrain from any vocal communication with others. That’s precisely why we have them attend these communication labs.”
“Well, well.” Ishida sat up. “Our records indicate Yuko Yabe was precisely not one of those kinds of children. She didn’t meet with people privately, but you wrote in your notes yourself that she was very enthusiastic about talking to others during the labs.”
What an asshole.
“There’s nothing too out of the ordinary in the data we received for that month, but we looked a little deeper into it and discovered that for the month leading up to her disappearance she became uncharacteristically quiet. What do you have to say about that?” Ishida asked.
To be honest, she hadn’t even noticed.
As far as Shizue was concerned, Yuko Yabe hadn’t exhibited any noticeable behavior at all.
She replied honestly.
“Is that so?” Ishida smartly withdrew. “Well, I suppose there are things even a counselor wouldn’t notice. I guess there’s nothing we can say about this.”
Ishida looked directly at Shizue. “Oh, I didn’t mean for that to imply any deficit in your counseling abilities. You are an excellent counselor. It’s just that we hear about children who aren’t able to open up. I’m sure they’ve got to be a handful for you. We just discovered this bit of information after a careful reading of the data you provided us, but with that many children in your care I suppose it would be impossible to know everything.”
“It has nothing to do with the number of children I counsel. It’s not as if I were watching over more children than the law allows. If you’re wondering why I didn’t notice this change in the child’s behavior it’s because of my inattention to her.”
“No need to get defensive. I want to say this again, but we hold your services as a counselor in very high esteem. If you didn’t notice it, we think it’s safe to assume there was nothing to be noticed. We thought maybe she had a medical situation, but she received Triple-A health status on her medical exam. No diseases or ailments. Her late communication deficit might just be incidental.”
“Incidental?”
“An incidentally poorly placed bug as they say in divinations. That could happen to anyone.”
Something was wrong.
Shizue knew it.
“However…”
At last there was what came after. Shizue turned away from Ishida’s plastic-looking face.
“Well, I mean even a gifted counselor such as yourself can’t be expected to grasp every single thing a child is going through. Just as we as police officers can’t possibly grasp every single aspect of a criminal. There are some things only other children know. Isn’t that right?”
“Humans aren’t so pure that they can be easily grasped.”
“Exactly.” Ishida closed his monitor. “And that’s precisely why you went to see Hinako Sakura, isn’t it? That is how I understood it. That’s the kind of person you are. You weren’t going to be content to sit back and watch nothing be done about Yuko Yabe’s disappearance. You knew Sakura was the last person Miss Yabe spoke to, and you wanted the information Sakura had, that only Sakura could have. Am I wrong? You said it was a private matter, but it was an action you took based on your duties as a counselor.”
“That’s…your own interpretation,” Shizue said. “You can infer all you want, but I can’t tell you more than the honest truth. Besides, even if you’re right, haven’t you already interrogated Sakura?”
“Like I said we still are. It’s just…she won’t answer any of our questions.”
“Won’t answer? What do you mean?”
“Sakura definitely spoke with the victim, but she said she’s forgotten what about. She tells us it was probably nothing important. We just have a hard time believing that. According to the data we have on her, she has an incredible memory. We’re pretty sure she remembers what happened a little over a month ago. Besides, unlike the victim, Hinako Sakura actually did not have many interactions with other children. Her real contact with Yabe would have been exceptional. Unforgettable, even.”
Hinako was hiding something. The fact that Yuko had been worried about the illness she had.
“That may be, but…if that’s what she said, that must be what happened,” Shizue responded.
If she didn’t want to talk, Shizue wasn’t going to make her.
Least of all to Ishida.
Besides, she was sure Hinako Sakura had nothing to do with the murder.
“What about it then, did you hear anything?” Ishida sat up.
“As I said before, I went to Sakura to ask about divinations. I didn’t hear anything. Aren’t you guys supposed to be experts at getting information out of people?”
“If we’re experts at interrogation, then you’re the pro at figuring out children.” Ishida intensified his glare.
“Any clues at all?”
“None.”
“More importantly, could you tell me about how Yuko Yabe’s body was discovered? I just received word this morning and haven’t heard any specifics since then.”
“Ahh,” Ishida said. He pulled up his monitor again.
“Yuko Yabe’s body…was in Section C…on the east side. She was discovered there. It was this morning, no, closer to last night, that she was found. Four fifty am. She was discovered by a patrolman local to the area; he was there looking for another missing child, that Yuji Nakamura. The corpse was in a savaged state. You can think of it being in the same state we found Asumi Aikawa.”
She didn’t want to think of it at all.
“Estimated time of death is somewhere up to thirty hours before the discovery. We’re still performing the autopsy, so we won’t know any more till it’s completed. It’s possible she was murdered late Monday night.”
At the very least, she wasn’t killed immediately after her disappearance.
“You have no idea where she was while she was missing?”
“No. However, we think she was wearing the same clothes she was last seen in.”
“Based on what? You have eyewitnesses from the day of her disappearance?”
“No. We don’t have eyewitnesses from the day of her disappearance. That’s why I can’t say for certain, but we deduced that she hadn’t changed clothes from looking at the wardrobe her parents had at the house. According to them, there is only one outfit missing, and it’s the one she was found wearing.”
She’d been wearing the same clothes for over a week.
“The chemical composition on clothing is altered whenever it is cleaned. We determined from a test of a swatch of her clothing that she’d had her clothes cleaned approximately five days before she died. Meaning while she was missing.”
“She had her clothes cleaned while she was missing?”
“I don’t know if we should call it ‘missing’ anymore. It’s more like she was hiding,” Ishida said.
“You think she was in danger and hid herself?”
“Her parents were gone and all…”
“But wouldn’t she go to the police for protection in that situation? Or at least the center, where I…”
No.
Yuko wouldn’t have felt she could trust Shizue.
“Did you find her monitor?” Shizue asked.
“We didn’t find her personal mobile monitor. She had her ID card on her, but it wasn’t used once during her disappearance. You would need to use an ID card at some point just for the cleaning, but we don’t know anything more about that.”
“What about her personal communication log?”
Only counselors were privy to that information.
“With her parents’ approval we were able to look into that as well. There is absolutely no record of communication.”
“None? No communication sent or received?”
“Nothing personal.”
Was it possible for there not to be any communication whatsoever? Knowing Yuko, that seemed especially implausible.
“The suspect…”
Yuji Nakamura.
“Okay, then what about this Nakamura then?”
“We haven’t been able to trace him. There’s this thing with the Kawabata boy too. It’s a very dangerous situation. We’re putting all our energy into this investigation.”
“Are you saying you’ve changed your search status for him from likely culprit to possible victim?”
“I’ve said this several times now, but we never had any evidence confirming his guilt. He’s a person of great interest, but in keeping with what you said yourself, we are treating him as a potential victim in this investigation. Besides…”
Ishida peered back as if to confirm the presence of the investigators standing behind him.
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