"Of course I don't mind.. counting from the time of my death, it was already ten years ago." As he spoke, a contemplative expression appeared on his face, his dark purple eyes drifted slightly, looking as though his thoughts had completely drifted into his memories.
Actually, I don't know the specific details very well either. Perhaps it touched upon a painful memory, as that senior didn't reveal much specific information.
Hara Kenji's expression was somewhat complex; he likely hadn't expected to witness the birth of a tragedy with his own eyes right here. He organized his thoughts and recounted the story he had heard from his senior years ago to Kisaragi Chiyo.
"That's the gist of it.. because there was an undercover mole among the informants, that sting operation ended in a total disaster." The risk level of working in the Narcotics Suppression Division was not small; a total of six police officers were sacrificed during that operation.
Kisaragi Chiyo tapped his fingers on the tabletop, his eyes lowered as his gaze fell upon the photo on the computer screen.
It was a photo of the shrine. In front of the shrine's torii gate, there were two fox stone statues, one on each side. The heads of the foxes were covered with paper masks to signify that their faces could not be looked at directly, the masks were painted with red tomoe patterns.
"Anyway, this is the Dreamscape." There isn't much information about Kitsutama Shrine on the internet; it looks like a small local shrine and isn't particularly famous on a national level; otherwise, the shrine's official account wouldn't have stopped updating for so long.
"Just do whatever you want to do." Even if the reality occurring outside the Dreamscape is something he can no longer change.
"Let's go." Kisaragi Chiyo turned off the computer. Because the internet cafe was poorly managed and served as a venue for gray-market transactions, there was no need to worry about cameras in the booths. Even so, Kisaragi Chiyo carefully checked everything one last time before leaving and used a handkerchief to wipe away any fingerprints she had left behind.
After putting her hat and mask back on, Kisaragi Chiyo pulled a voice recorder from her pocket. This was something she had found inside my bedroom, containing some of my descriptions regarding the hallucinations I had seen. Kisaragi Chiyo listened to it once but found no additional clues.
After finishing deleting the recordings inside, he handed it to Hara Kenji.
“There must be some evidence to convince the police.” Although Kisaragi Chiyo felt that even without the recording, if the police received word from an informant about a possible mole, they might not abandon the operation, but they would at least be on guard.
"I'm leaving it to you." Kisaragi Chiyo patted Hara Kenji on the shoulder, then stepped out first, lowering the brim of her hat. As she left, she did not forget to exchange some coins at the front desk.
*
By the time Hara Kenji emerged, half an hour had passed. Kisaragi Chiyo sat under the streetlight, sipping a cup of hot cocoa. Although he couldn't taste anything—it was basically no different from plain water—that didn't stop his desire to spend money.
"How was it?" Kisaragi Chiyo's gaze fell upon a white moth fluttering under the streetlight. Hara Kenji stepped out from the shadows, smiling, raised the voice recorder in his hand with a hint of pride.
"I've recorded everything." In truth, Hara Kenji was still a bit surprised that such an important matter would be discussed by that mole with the other party in an internet cafe.
But if it hadn't been so careless, Hara Kenji wouldn't have overheard it while passing by.
"That's good." Kisaragi Chiyo took out the coins she had prepared earlier. While buying hot cocoa, she had taken the opportunity to observe her surroundings; the telephone booth at the end of this street had a broken camera that hadn't been repaired since last week.
This happened to be convenient for them.
Even in the Dreamscape, one must still be cautious where caution is required.
"Right." The telephone booth wasn't large to begin with, once Kisaragi Chiyo and Hara Kenji both closed the door and stepped inside, they were practically pressed against each other, but neither of them paid it any mind.
"Do you have that senior's phone number?" Kisaragi Chiyo had originally intended to call the Metropolitan Police Department, but he thought about it and realized that such a call would likely be ignored as a prank. The safest course of action was to call the operational personnel who would be participating in this mission directly.
According to Hara Kenji's account, the operation was scheduled for three in the morning, there were still more than five hours left until that time.
"I remember." Hara Kenji quickly recited a string of numbers. He had an excellent memory; the reason he had chatted with his senior back then was because a mission from their two departments happened to overlap, so for the sake of facilitating future work, Hara Kenji and that senior had exchanged contact information.
However, several years had passed in between, so he could only hope that the senior's number had remained the same.
Kisaragi Chiyo inserted a coin and dialed the phone. Although she had made a plan, neither of them was actually certain whether the call would go through within a Dreamscape where the general plot was already fixed.
Beep, beep, beep, beep..
In the narrow, quiet space, the sound of dialing seemed to be the only thing that existed. Kisaragi Chiyo lowered her eyes and waited patiently, feeling someone quietly take her hand, which was resting at her side.
Lifting his eyes, he saw Hara Kenji's tightly pursed lips; the other man's brows were furrowed, looking somewhat nervous.
Kisaragi Chiyo said nothing; she simply squeezed his hand gently, offering her lover silent comfort.
The phone rang several times, just when Kisaragi Chiyo thought it would continue until it automatically disconnected, the call was finally answered.
"Hello?" A slightly low voice came from the other end of the line, accompanied by a slight static noise, making the signal sound quite poor.
Good evening, Officer Ikeda.
Ikeda Wataru, the name of that senior from the Narcotics Suppression Division.
Who are you?" Officer Ikeda's voice was filled with obvious confusion. "How did you get my number?
"I don't need insurance or real estate sales, I don't buy stocks or funds either." It seemed that even an officer was plagued by telemarketers.
"I'm not here to sell you anything." Kisaragi Chiyo intentionally lowered her voice, feeling as though her lines at this moment sounded like some kind of mastermind villain.
I am here to inform you of some news.
"A piece of news?" Officer Ikeda let out a short laugh. He likely felt he was being pranked, but the other party had accurately pronounced his name, which was quite different from those bastards who just dialed numbers for fun.
"What kind of information are you trying to provide? If you're having trouble, you should be calling a different emergency line." After all, Officer Ikeda worked in a sensitive department, given the current state of affairs, things were quite tense. Therefore, by the time Kisaragi Chiyo spoke his second sentence, Ikeda had already instructed a colleague to trace the location of the call.
There is a mole among the informants in your operation this time." Kisaragi Chiyo's speech suddenly quickened, as if he had already guessed Ikeda's intention. "Whether you believe it or not, I think you've already started trying to pinpoint my location, haven't you?
I hid a voice recorder behind the phone; the evidence recorded inside should barely be of any help to you, Officer.
"Who are you?" Officer Ikeda asked the same initial question again, his voice stern.
You are truly persistent." Kisaragi Chiyo let out a soft sigh. "If you must have an answer, Officer, you can call me the Ghost Vigilante.
*
After hanging up the phone, Kisaragi Chiyo evacuated the area immediately; he never trusted the police's speed. At least in this regard, if he moved a little slower, he might have been able to enjoy a pork cutlet bowl.
But since Kisaragi Chiyo couldn't taste anything in the Dreamscape, he felt it was better to just let it go.
"Kisaragi, over here." Hara Kenji led Kisaragi Chiyo toward an area without surveillance, setting aside whether or not they had other traces left behind; at the very least, the police likely wouldn't have time to come looking for them right now.
As for what follows, Kisaragi Chiyo felt that once the other party had finished dealing with their mess, he would have long since woken up from the Dreamscape.
The voice recorder naturally contained more than just evidence of the mole; Kenji had also taken the opportunity to record other criminal activities, such as forging documents, fire safety violations, selling alcohol to minors..
He didn't care whether they fell within the Narcotics Suppression Division's jurisdiction or not; in any case, he packed them all in.
A compressed information package—you only realize how useful it is once you use it.
"Another good deed done." Hara Kenji seemed to be in high spirits; on the way back to the apartment, he even had the energy to tell Kisaragi Chiyo some bad jokes.
That's what you call doing something without anyone noticing," Hara Kenji said with a smile, gesturing as he spoke. "That mole probably couldn't wrap his head around how he was caught recording the evidence, even if he racked his brains for it.
There's a mole right next to the mole.
In the past, Kisaragi Chiyo might have found this joke very cold and boring, but perhaps because he is in love now, Hara Kenji, who was telling the joke, seems witty and adorable in her eyes.
Ah, so this is what they call the magic of love?
Kisaragi Chiyo thought to himself, as he saw the person not far ahead, his footsteps suddenly stopped.
"Yamae?" Kisaragi Chiyo tilted her head as she looked at Yamae standing not far ahead. The other woman was dressed in a miko outfit and was being respectfully seen off by a man in a suit.
"Oboshima-san?" Yamae didn't pay any attention to the man flattering her beside her. She turned her head, her amber eyes shining in the dark night, her originally expressionless face lifted into a soft smile.
Yamae walked toward her, quickly arriving right before her eyes.
That sense of familiarity became even stronger when I saw the miko outfit on Yamae.
My familiarity with Yamae Mena is definitely not just because of my friend.
Actually, I should have realized it much sooner. Although Yamae shares some similarities with my close friend, they are truly two completely different people. I shouldn't have subconsciously placed Yamae in the position I had envisioned for her.
Perhaps I could have talked to Yamae about that matter. Looking into her eyes, I suddenly felt a surge of courage, but in the end, I still didn't say it. This was because Yamae's father had arrived; he was responsible for driving Yamae around.
".. Yamae-san." My courage shattered like bubbles, the words on the tip of my tongue naturally shifted into a different topic.
"What's wrong?" Yamae looked at me with a smile.
"Did Yamae and I know each other before?" In my fluster, I casually brought up a topic, but it was indeed a question that had been troubling me.
Especially the more I interacted with her, the stronger that sense of familiarity became.
Where on earth have I seen her before?
Don't you remember?" Yamae's voice remained calm as she looked at me and repeated, "You've forgotten me.
"I'm sorry.." Although I didn't know what I had forgotten, I instinctively felt that I should apologize first.
"It's alright." Yamae smiled again, her smile so soft, perhaps because my expression had brightened up in her presence.
She said very magnanimously and casually, "I forgive you."
"I know you're troubled by something," Yamae said.
"What??" I stammered, my expression one of shock.
"I'll take care of it." Yamae had no intention of answering my confusion. After dropping that out-of-context remark, she waved at me and left with her father.
What did she know? What was she going to solve?
For a moment, I felt as if I were experiencing auditory hallucinations again.
-----------------------
Author's Note: It will probably end in the next chapter.
Thanks to all the little angels for your support, mwah 030
Chapter 124
A crow crashed into the balcony glass, its carcass becoming shriveled; its chest cavity had burst open from the heat, revealing maggots that had grown from rot, white and writhing together in a nauseating mass.
Kisaragi Chiyo covered her mouth and looked away, her complexion appearing quite poor, her eyebrows furrowed tightly, with only her fingertips retaining a hint of color.
Time sped up, looking at that dead bird, Kisaragi Chiyo realized the problem.
Everything seemed to have been put on fast-forward. Kisaragi Chiyo sat on the sofa, eyes closed, rubbing her temples as she thought: he clearly hadn't chosen to skip, yet under the forced plot of the Dreamscape, three days had been forcibly stripped away from him.
So unscrupulous and unreasonable.
During those three days, he could perhaps conduct other investigations; he could choose to visit Kitsutama Shrine and ask Yamae what she actually meant by what she said that night.
Of course, he could also choose to continue stirring up the waters even more. What had happened previously had already proven that calling the police within the Dreamscape was still a viable strategy, so he had plenty of ways and energy to make the police link the two recent murders with the one from four years ago.
Besides that, he could also take advantage of Officer Ikeda. Since he had done him a great favor, what was the harm in asking him to look after me?
Kisaragi Chiyo could clearly do many things, but now these ideas were no longer viable.
What is this? Kisaragi Chiyo was so frustrated she almost laughed. Had the Dreamscape discovered a bug, so it was forcibly patched through this method?
It was as if they were trying to leave me completely isolated and helpless. Not only did my parents send a text message that night saying they were on an urgent business trip and wouldn't be back for a few days, but even the emergency calls wouldn't go through—it was either "please call back later" or "the line is busy." As for the internet and television, they had both failed; should he say that, at least the home's power lines hadn't been cut?
After Hara Kenji finished disposing of the crow's corpse and returned, he saw his sulking lover sitting on the sofa.
"There, there." At this point, it was actually Hara Kenji who was comforting Kisaragi Chiyo.
Cold fingers lightly brushed against his face, then a shadow cast over him from above as Hara Kenji leaned down in front of him, bowing his head and pressing his forehead against his forehead.