by Sekina Mayu
Chapter 2
A few days have passed since our last mission to save and protect Dr. Hayama. It doesn’t take that long for us to receive the autopsy report about him. But I feel frustrated when I read it. The report still doesn’t mention anything about the microchip implant he had. I begin to doubt about Dr. Hayama’s statement. But he didn’t look like he was lying to me about this. Maybe the coroners have made a mistake, but that seems unlikely to me.
Another thing that bothers me is Ryu Mikado denying about knowing Satoru Yuuya. He didn’t say who gave them the microchip implant. He only stated that he got it through the illegal mean. We can assume that they may get it from Saburo Matsuda. But based on our investigation, there’s no link between him and the Awatori Group.
“Sis, are you still thinking about our last mission?” Yuuto seems to know what I have in mind. “I can’t stop thinking about it. This mission isn’t as simple as I expected. Even if we’ve already found the answer we seek, it will also lead us to another mystery,” I answer. Yuuto remains silent. He begins to speak up after that. “I agree with that,” he says, “But I also come up with another conclusion. It sounds crazy, so do you want to listen?”
I nod at him. I wonder what kind of conclusions he has. Maybe his findings are a lot different than everyone else in the squad. “Maybe those guys from Awatori Group did meet him. It’s just that, he didn’t introduce himself as Satoru Yuuya. He must have introduced himself using a fake name instead. I won’t be so surprised if it’s true,” Yuuto says to me.
Well, Yuuto’s conclusion makes sense as well. Maybe it’s true that Satoru Yuuya introduced himself using a fake name. So, no one in the group knows who he is. “I think it’s possible. But what about the autopsy report not mentioning anything about the microchip implant? I’d like to think there must be an error from the coroner, but I don’t believe they will do such thing. On top of that, there’s no reason for them to hide it,” I say to him.
Yuuto only sighs when I ask him that. I guess he’s also clueless why the autopsy report doesn’t mention anything about it. “I’d like to think that the microchip implant disappeared, but it sounds too good to be true. I know that it’s possible for the microchip implant to disappear after a certain period of time. But disappeared in a split second? That’s unheard of. Even Dr. Hayama would think it’s impossible if he were still alive.”
Both of us become quiet after that when we notice that our classmates are nearby. It’s better for us not to discuss something like this since none of the incidents have made it to the public. This is a covert mission, anyway. So no one should know about this. Both Yuuto and I need to be careful not to let something confidential slips from our mouth.
“Morning, Touka, Yuuto,” Shiori greets us. Shiori is a friend of mine since we were in the middle school. She’s not just my classmate, but she’s also my best friend. She always comes to our coffee shop whenever she has the time. She’s an idol, so she’s always busy with the rehearsal at the live house after the school is over. Sometimes, she will also bring her friends from the idol group, Machina Twist, to our coffee shop.
She has been with Machina Twist since she passed the audition when we were in the middle school. But now, she finally gets the major debut she’s been waiting for. With her major debut confirmed, it means that she will be graduating from Machina Twist soon. I’m happy to know that her wish has come true. She’s been working so hard to land her first major debut as a talent.
“Are you guys free this weekend? I’ll be performing on the stage with my senior idol, Momoko Sugita. I hope that you can come and see me this weekend.” Shiori looks happy when she invites us to see her performance. “I thought that you don’t have to perform in the live house anymore? What gives?” I ask her.
Yuuto and I are unable to attend her live performance most of the time. It’s because we have to help dad and Hayato in the coffee shop. The coffee shop can be so full of people, especially during the weekend. Sometimes, we’re also involved with other covert missions. That makes it even more impossible for us to attend the live. Of course, she doesn’t even know that we’re PSIA agents. And no one knows about that, not even the school.
“It’s true that I don’t have to perform in the live house anymore,” she says, “But this is my last performance with them. This live is my graduation ceremony to commemorate my departure from Machina Twist. I won’t be performing in the live house anymore after this. Besides, I want to see my fans one last time at the live house. I feel so much closer to them in the live house than in the large venues.”
Yuuto and I look at each other. We understand that this live means a lot to Shiori, but we can’t be so sure if we can attend the live or not. Missions can come at any given moment. And I don’t think we can let it pass only because we want to attend her live. “We’re not sure if we can attend the live,” I say to her, “But we will try to convince dad about this. I’m pretty sure that he’ll be okay with this. After all, you’re also our frequent customer.”
Shiori smiles after I tell her about this. I can tell that she feels disappointed with my answer. Her forced smile is the clue to her disappointment. “It’s okay. I understand that. But I hope that you can come on that day. I don’t know when we’ll see each other again,” she says to us. I’m a bit puzzled with what she says just now, but she only denies it. I have a feeling that she has something important to say to me, but she just feels reluctant to say it.
Seeing this tense atmosphere, Yuuto then begins to lighten her up. This is not Yuuto’s true nature, but I guess that he’s the right person to do it. “Did you say that you’re going to perform together with Momoko Sugita? You mean, THAT Momoko Sugita?” Yuuto asks her. “Yes, it’s THAT Momoko Sugita. I’m so happy to know that I’ll be performing alongside her. It’s always my dream to be able to perform together with her,” Shiori answers.
“Wow, that’s amazing. I hope that we can come and see your performance this weekend. I don’t want to miss this chance to see Momoko Sugita in the flesh,” Yuuto says to her. “I don’t even know that you like her,” I say to him. Yuuto only laughs and doesn’t say anything about it. I’m not sure if Yuuto is just acting up or if he’s just being honest about being Momoko Sugita’s fan. But I’m grateful for what Yuuto does. At least it helps with cheering Shiori.
Even during school, she’s still talking about how excited she is to perform with Momoko Sugita. I know that she has been a fan of Momoko Sugita since we were in the middle school. And that is also the reason why she wants to become an idol so she can perform with her someday. It seems like her dream has come true. And we’re only a few days away until Shiori’s first duet performance with Momoko Sugita.
Seeing how happy Shiori is, I can’t help but just listen to what Shiori is saying. This is the least I can do for supporting her. I feel guilty for not attending her live performance as much as I can before her major debut. This isn’t unusual for someone in her age to get a major debut, especially the idols under Muse Agency. Pretty much everyone who aspires to be an idol will love to be recruited by this talent agency.
After all, idols under Muse Agency receive more opportunities than idols from the other agencies. These idols have a chance to receive the brand endorsement and debuting as an actress and as a recording artist. Of course, most idols will start off with making an appearance in the variety shows. But they can get far in their career if they’re under Muse Agency.
That’s the reason why Muse Agency is one of the well-known talent agencies in Japan. And many superstars who start off as idols usually come from Muse Agency. Momoko Sugita is just one of them. We can say that they will have a better future in their career if they’re under Muse Agency. A lot of people will love to join this talent agency. But as usual, they can’t take that many. Only a few of them made it. And Shiori is one of them.
Despite Muse Agency’s glowing review, I also have heard about nasty rumors about them. It doesn’t have anything to do much with the agency as
a whole. Rather, the rumors are mostly related to Muse Agency founding father, Shinya Fukuyama. I have no idea if it’s true or not, but most of them are rather disturbing.
One of the nasty rumors that I have come across is he always sexually harass the idols. And there is also another nasty rumor where Sayaka Minami’s fans accused him of the cause of her death. I don’t know much about her other than she’s one of the popular idols. She also had a major debut when she was only 16 and became more popular after that. Throughout her career, she received many opportunities including famous brand endorsement.
With such a bright future ahead of her, nobody would ever imagine that she would commit suicide. I remember about the news coverage about her death in the mainstream media. This is when the news about her having a depression made into the headline. And they seemed to think that this may have been the cause of her death. She died when she was hit by a truck.
At that time, the staff was about to send her home after she was done with her treatment. She looked fine when the staff came to fetch her. As she was already inside the car, she suddenly left the car for an unknown reason and rushed off to cross the street. She didn’t even realize that the truck was heading her way, and she got hit by it when she tried to cross the street.
When Shiori told me that she’ll be having a major debut, I can’t help but think about Sayaka Minami. I’m not hoping the same thing will happen to her, but I can’t brush off that something dangerous is coming her way. “Will you be alright once you’ve had your major debut?” I ask her. Shiori looks puzzled because that question seems like it’s out of nowhere.
“Why are you asking me that?” She asks me. Before I can say anything, she’s quick to guess. “Are you thinking that something like what happened to Sayaka Minami will also happen to me?” Okay, I’ve caught myself red-handed, but I have a valid reason to think that way. I won’t be this worried if she’s under a different talent agency. But this is Muse Agency we’re talking about. Anything bad can happen when you’re in a shady agency like Muse Agency.
Shiori seems mad that I believe in the rumors spread all over the Internet. “I can’t believe it that you would believe all those rumors! Didn’t I tell you that those rumors are not true? Why you still believe that?” I don’t know how to say this to her other than it’s just my gut feeling. Even if I say that, she will insist that I shouldn’t listen to it. I’ve been in a couple of missions already, and it’s always my instinct that saved me from the disaster.
Shiori then begins to search for something in her smart watch. “Take a look at this,” she says to me while showing me a picture collection. I look at the picture collection and notice a picture of her with the rest of the members in Machina Twist. Besides the members of the group, there is also a man who is standing next to her. The man looks like someone in his 60s, smiling at the camera while putting his arm on Shiori’s shoulder.
I’m pretty sure that the man is not Shiori’s dad because Shiori is an orphan. I don’t remember she says anything about being adopted. “Who is this guy?” I ask her. “That’s Shinya Fukuyama. You probably know him as the founder of Muse Agency. He’s also one of the influential figures in the idol industry,” she answers me.
This is the first time I’ve seen him. Despite being an influential figure, he has never made any appearance in the public and the media. People only know about him, but not so much about how he physically looks like. “Do you think someone like him will do such thing?” She asks me just to clarify. I’d like to warn her not to judge him by his appearance, but I don’t think she will ever listen to me if I say it to her.
“Okay, I’m sorry for judging him,” I apologize to her. It’s not my nature to apologize for something that I didn’t do, but I don’t feel like arguing with her. Arguing with her will only make me feel so miserable. So, I’d rather not do anything like that. “When the agency had announced the news about my major debut, he came to visit us at the live house. It was the first time we met him, so we were surprised that he was nice to everyone,” she says to me.
I only nod without saying anything. Shiori then keeps talking about Shinya Fukuyama and how amazing and humble he is to them. I’m pretty sure that Shiori is doing this to convince me that Shinya Fukuyama is a good guy. And the nasty rumors that I’ve heard on the Internet are not true at all. I just nod in agreement because it’s futile to tell her to look from another angle at this point.
After the school is over, I tell Yuuto about the conversation I had with Shiori. He only laughs when he finds out how naïve Shiori is about him. “I find it hard to believe that there is someone out there who doesn’t doubt anything about this old man. Do idols from Muse Agency are like this?” He keeps on laughing about it because it seems funny to him.
“Well, I’m just expressing my concern. I wish that the rumors that I’ve read about Muse Agency in Tako Forum are not true. But how can it be NOT true if their post also includes evidence? Sure, they can disguise those as evidence. But it doesn’t look like something that you can fake and call it evidence,” I say to Yuuto. I begin to open up the forum on my smart watch and show the rumor thread to him.
Yuuto then scrolls through the thread to read the post. There are a lot of posts in the thread. So, Yuuto transfers the link to the thread to his smartwatch instead. He continues to scroll through the thread on his smart watch. It doesn’t even take the whole thread to convince him that they’re not making this up. “You know, those rumors are nasty. But I’m not surprised at all if they’re true. I still find it hard to believe that Shiori can be delusional about this,” Yuuto says to me.
I nod, agreeing with what he says. “I feel like I need to ask dad if he can help me with convincing Shiori about leaving the agency. Sure, my concern seems baseless only because of the rumor. But I just don’t want anything bad happened to her. Those rumors don’t even sound like a joke to me. I have a feeling that something bad will happen to her if she doesn’t leave the agency.”
We’re lucky that our house isn’t that far from the school. Well, it’s not really a house, considering that we live above the coffee shop. We’ve been living there since we’ve moved back to Tokyo. Hayato is staying with us while Ms. Chiyo and Mr. Sakakibara are staying at another shophouse. Well, the shophouse doesn’t have a lot of rooms anyway. So, Ms. Chiyo has to stay with Mr. Sakakibara. On top of that, his shop house is spacious too since there’s just two of them.
As soon as we reach home, we begin to help dad and Hayato in the coffee shop. The coffee shop isn’t that busy today, but there are still many customers coming in. We still have customers even until we’re near the closing time. We begin to clean up and get ready to close the coffee shop once our last customer leaves this place.
Just as we thought that no one is coming in, a man comes into the coffee shop. Since the man itself is a foreigner, we think that he may not know that we’re about to close. “I’m sorry, sir. But we’re about to close the coffee shop,” I say to him in English. Even with the intensive English class, my pronunciation is still far from perfect. I do hope that he understands what I say.
Instead of leaving this place, the man sneers at me. “Is this how you treat an important guest like me? Do you have any idea who I am?” I jolt a bit when he scoffs at me. I thought that I’m already polite enough to him. I’m only asking him to leave since we’re already closing the coffee shop. We won’t be able to take any orders since we have cleaned up everything.
“Don’t worry about it, Touka. He’s our guest. I told him to come here when we’re about to close. Sorry, I should have told you,” dad says to me. The man then takes a seat at the counter. Once he already takes a seat, dad begins to serve him a freshly brewed coffee. “Okay, let me introduce him,” dad says to us, “This is Alex Johansson. He’s from CIA, and he’s here to find out about our progress with tracking Satoru Yuuya.”
Dad seems to notice that we don’t know anything about Mr. Johansson. “Sorry, Alex, they’re my children, and they’ve ju
st got involved in this mission. I haven’t told them anything about you yet.” Dad becomes formal to him despite he casually addresses Mr. Johansson like his old friend. I’ve never seen him being formal with anyone, not even to Director Kagami. Hayato then serves him a cup of coffee. He still looks angry at us.
“Oh, so they’re also involved in this mission? I thought that they’re only your employees,” he says to dad as he takes a sip. Mr. Johansson sounds cocky when he talks to dad. Who in the world he thinks he is? His cocky attitude annoys me, but I try not to make a ruckus. After all, this bastard is from CIA. We’d better not mess around with him.
Mr. Johansson smirks at us. He looks more like he’s making fun of us. “I never thought that the PSIA Special Activities Division can be this pathetic. Do you really lack talents that much until up to the point that you need to have high school kids in your squad? You sure are good for nothing,” he says to us. Dad doesn’t even say anything back, but I can tell that dad feels frustrated with his remark.
Without hesitating, both Yuuto and I draw our gun and point at his head. “You’d better watch your mouth, mister,” I say to him in anger. “We won’t hesitate to pull the trigger to shoot you,” Yuuto says to him, “We don’t care about you coming from CIA. But you’d better not mess with us in our own turf.”
Dad only chuckles when he sees our reaction. “They’re right about that, Alex. You’d better not provoking them. I hope that you realize that we have no reason to follow your orders. This is our turf anyway, so you’d better not mess with us. Besides, we know that you can’t fight back because you’re unarmed.” Mr. Johansson cringes, knowing that he’s in the disadvantage position.
“I already told you to watch your mouth, Alex. This is what you get when you’re so full of yourself,” a woman says to him. A woman comes in after witnessing what’s happening inside the coffee shop. Mr. Sakakibara is following her from behind. “Dude, you sure like to mess around with everybody here,” Mr. Sakakibara says to him. They seem to know that Mr. Johansson likes to mess around with everyone in the law enforcement.
Mr. Johansson pushes our guns aside and begins to walk to the entrance. “Heh, fine, you win today, you lousy Japanese. You’d better do what you’re ordered to do.” He leaves the coffee shop after that. That woman sighs after Mr. Johansson leaves the coffee shop. “This guy never seems to learn. Does he have to be cocky with everyone here just because he’s from CIA? He’s getting on my nerve!”
The woman then looks at our direction. “Who are you?” Yuuto asks her while pointing the gun at her. The woman smiles as she answers Yuuto’s question. “I’m your father’s new girlfriend. Don’t tell me that he never tells you anything about me?” I cringe when I listen to her answer. “Stop fooling around. Dad will never be with someone like you,” I say to her in anger while pointing the gun at her.
“Minoru, you sure train them well. They don’t even hesitate to shoot me at all. I can tell right away from the way they gaze at me. Their gaze doesn’t even falter at all. Their hands aren’t even shaking when they’re pointing the gun at me. I can’t believe it that someone this young can be this good,” the woman says to dad.
Mr. Sakakibara sighs when he sees that dad doesn’t even do anything to stop us. “Stop that, Shoko. Otherwise, they’re going to shoot you for real.” He then looks at us. “Put the gun down. She’s not a jerk like Alex.” That woman pouts when Mr. Sakakibara compares her with Mr. Johansson. “How dare you compare me with that jerk? I’m far better than him, you know.” Dad only laughs at us, without saying anything.
Dad then signals Hayato to prepare more coffee. He also signals us to sit down and serves a cup of coffee to us. “Good job, kids. I would have never been able to get rid of Alex if it’s not because of you.” We’re surprised to find out that dad actually praises us. We thought that he’s going to scold us for mistreating Mr. Johansson. “Minoru, you should ask them to apologize to me too,” the woman says to dad while slamming her hand on the counter.
“You deserve to be shot by them. You’re saying something that you shouldn’t say,” Mr. Sakakibara says to her. She seems pissed with Mr. Sakakibara’s remark despite him teasing her. “Now, let me introduce her. Her name is Shoko Mayuzumi. She’s mom’s old friend. And she’s one of the inspectors from Public Security Bureau. Her squad is collaborating with us in this mission.”
We then begin our meeting once Hayato serves coffee to everyone. Ms. Shoko starts talking after she takes a sip. “I’ve already analyzed the recorded footage about Dr. Hayama’s death. To be honest, I won’t deny the possibility it was the microchip implant in his arm that caused him to die. But you won’t believe what I discover.” She pauses for a while and takes another sip.
“According to the autopsy report, there’s no mention of microchip whatsoever, right? To be frank, it’s not that we don’t believe a microchip isn’t capable of killing people. It’s just that, there wasn’t even a sign that they had a microchip implant within their body. That was the reason why the report doesn’t mention anything about the microchip implant. And that was also the reason why we didn’t know what caused them to die in the first place.”
Everyone remains silent until Mr. Sakakibara starts talking. “Do these researchers remove it by force?” Mr. Sakakibara asks her. Ms. Shoko shakes her head. “No, they wouldn’t be able to do that. It won’t be that easy to remove something that is already attached to our flesh. Besides, the microchip implant is way too small for them to remove it by themselves. That would be dangerous to remove it just like that.”
“So, what makes the microchip implant disappeared in the first place?” Dad asks her. “Well, I can’t say for sure since we have no proof. But I can only think that Satoru Yuuya must have included a string of codes. When executed, the microchip implant will self-destruct once it has fulfilled its role. In this case, it disappeared the moment these researchers died,” Ms. Shoko explains.
I clench my fist when I realize where this is going to lead us to. “Does that mean we can’t convict him no matter what?” I ask Ms. Shoko. She nods at me. “I’m afraid, no. In fact, I’m pretty sure that the rest of the murders will follow the same pattern. Dr. Hayama’s death is nothing but to show us how his mind control device works. He was only using Dr. Hayama as a scapegoat.”
Ms. Shoko then continues with her explanation. “We also have done the autopsy on the guys from Awatori Group. Their microchip implants are most likely the same one used in Transhuman Development Project. As expected, there wasn’t a single trace of microchip implant in their bodies as well. At this point, it’s hard to know whether they were telling the truth or not. It doesn’t matter whether they have it or not, it’s a fact that the yakuza groups are already aware of this.”
After listening to what Ms. Shoko’s explanation, I have a feeling that what we’ve seen so far is only a tip of the iceberg. I can’t guess what Satoru Yuuya is planning to do next. But I’m pretty sure that there will be more people who will become his victims. It doesn’t matter what he plans to do. But what we can do for now is to be ready for any unforeseen circumstances.