Chapter 68: Kishida Masayoshi's New Mission
A designated travel prize? Specifically for a trip to Mie Island?
The coincidence was so glaring, so statistically improbable, that Yomikawa Tsuko’s surprise was genuine. “Was there some kind of lottery promotion running recently? I haven’t heard a single word about it.”
“Well, I’m not sure where Ōkawa entered the drawing, but that guy has always been ridiculously lucky,” the shopkeeper said dismissively, clearly eager to steer the conversation back to more mundane, professional matters. “So, about your after-sales service issue, if you’d like to tell me, I’d be happy to assist you.”
This is… far too much of a coincidence.
Yomikawa’s brow furrowed. And Mie Island… it wasn’t exactly a premier, nationally known tourist destination. Compared to major draws like Okinawa, Hakone, or Mount Fuji, it seemed highly unlikely that the tourism board or local businesses of such a remote island would extend a promotional campaign to a small, landlocked city like theirs, even if some larger corporation was footing the bill.
And for five hundred thousand yen… that was not an insignificant sum. For a man like that Ōkawa, a simple locksmith technician, five hundred thousand yen was probably several months’ salary. How could he possibly be so… fortunate?
Although she had no concrete evidence, Yomikawa felt, with a profound intuitive certainty, that there was something deeply, fundamentally strange about this. She had the unsettling, claustrophobic feeling that all the disparate, chaotic events in her new life were like rivers, all flowing inexorably, as if drawn by some unseen gravitational pull, towards the same dark, mysterious, and increasingly ominous sea: Mie Island.
The club’s new, obsessive topic of discussion was Mie Island.
Kimura’s mysterious disappearance had, through Ōgami’s father, drawn the attention of the police to Mie Island.
And now, even the lowly locksmith she had intended to investigate had, by some bizarre twist of fate, conveniently gone on an all-expenses-paid trip to Mie Island.
Not to mention…
She pursed her lips, cutting off that line of thought for now. “I see. In that case, could I trouble you for Mr. Ōkawa’s contact information, sir?”
“C-contact information?” The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment, a flicker of professional caution in his eyes, but then, perhaps swayed by her polite, earnest demeanor, he nodded. “Just a moment.”
He rummaged around behind the cluttered counter, then found a cheap, promotional flyer, pointing to a number printed on it in bold, black ink. “This is Ōkawa’s mobile number.”
“Thank you for your assistance.”
Taking the flyer, Yomikawa left the small, grimy shop. As she walked back towards the silent, waiting villa, she dialed the number.
“Beep… beep… beep… The number you have dialed is currently unavailable. Please leave a message after the tone…”
This man… what is going on? Could it be that he somehow sensed I was onto him, that he felt the net closing, and ran away beforehand?
But if he was running, why would he run to Mie Island? Could it be that he also knows the ancient legend of Tōkigan, and has, through his own investigations, made some connection? And then, by a sheer, bizarre coincidence…
Returning to the villa, Yomikawa Tsuko took a long, hot shower. She had intended to get back to the tedious but necessary task of fabricating the diary. But for some reason, whenever her mind was quiet, whenever she was not actively focused on a specific task, her thoughts kept returning, with an obsessive, almost magnetic pull, to Ōkawa. This man was a loose end, a dangerous, unknown variable. If she couldn’t deal with him properly, and soon, he could become a very significant problem.
“Good evening, Officer Kishida.” After much deliberation, she dialed Kishida Masayoshi’s number, her voice a smooth, silken purr. “I have a small, private matter I’d like to ask you to investigate for me. I’m sure, for the sake of Kagehara-kun’s diary, and the potential clues it may hold, you wouldn’t refuse me, would you, Officer?”
“You want me to investigate something for you?” Kishida’s voice, on the other end of the line, was filled with a weary surprise. He said a few muffled words to someone beside him, then came back on the line.
“The only things I can conveniently and officially investigate are matters directly related to ongoing criminal cases. How could you possibly have a problem in that particular area that you would need my… professional assistance… with?”
Yomikawa first let out a soft snort, a sound like silk tearing. “If it were a criminal matter, Officer, I would be far better off asking Ōgami-kun for help. Even if he couldn’t solve the problem, at least I’d get to hear an interesting, well-reasoned story.”
Not giving Kishida a chance to retort, she continued, her voice all business now. “I need to know if, approximately ten days ago, there were any lottery promotions or prize drawings held in this city. Specifically, one where one of the grand prizes was a designated travel grant of five hundred thousand yen, for a trip to Mie Island. And if such a promotion did exist, I need to know which company, or organization, sponsored it.”
“A five hundred thousand yen prize? That’s quite a substantial amount. But…” Kishida thought for a moment, the detective in him automatically processing the data. “Would a business from a place as remote as Mie Island really hold that kind of high-value promotional event in our small, inland city? It seems… highly unlikely. In fact, I doubt the businesses on Mie Island even know our city exists.”
“In any case, I’m leaving the investigation to you, Officer. And it would be best if you could get me the results before the weekend.”
...
“Senpai, was that the Yomikawa girl again?”
Matsushita Makoto watched as Kishida Masayoshi put away his phone with a weary sigh. She came over, her hands clasped behind her back, her tone a carefully controlled mixture of professional curiosity and personal resentment. It seemed to her that Senpai had been in contact with that particular young lady far, far too frequently lately. And she had the distinct and deeply unsettling feeling that something significant, something she was not privy to, had happened between them. Although she felt a little ashamed of herself for viewing a high school girl as a rival, a woman’s sixth sense told her that if she didn’t keep a very, very close eye on her senpai, he might really be snatched away.
“She said she had something she needed my help with,” Kishida Masayoshi said with a wry, tired smile.
“Honestly, even if she is from a rich and powerful family, ordering a police detective around like some kind of personal servant… that’s a bit too spoiled, don’t you think?” Matsushita Makoto grumbled.
“Never mind, let’s not talk about her. In any case, thank you for getting these files for me. It was a big help.”
“Oh, right, I haven’t had a chance to ask yet. Why did you need Kagehara Kenta’s old patient files, Senpai?”
Kishida Masayoshi offered a carefully constructed half-truth. “Kagehara Tetsuya’s whereabouts are currently unknown. We’ve hit a complete dead end in our official investigation. So, my working theory is that someone, somewhere, must be hiding him.”
“And for someone to be willing to help him, knowing that he’s a suspected murderer… if it were one of Kagehara Kenta’s former, and perhaps particularly grateful patients, that would be a plausible and emotionally compelling motive, wouldn’t it?”
Of course, the more important and entirely unspoken reason was that he wanted to know if Yomikawa Tsuko, or any of her immediate family or friends, had ever been treated by Kagehara Kenta. If they had, then her strange, solitary visit to his grave would have, at least, a plausible, if still tenuous reason.
“I see! That’s actually a new and very interesting lead! Let me help you go through these files, Senpai!”
As the two of them were talking, their department chief, a stern, imposing figure, suddenly walked over to their desks.
“Inspector.”
“Good evening, Inspector.”
Kishida and Matsushita immediately stood and bowed.
“Kishida, hand over your current assignments to Matsushita. Headquarters has a new mission for you. And it’s going to require you to travel. It might be for… quite some time.”
“T-travel?” Matsushita Makoto was taken aback. It was very, very rare for a detective from their small, regional precinct to be sent on an extended, out-of-prefecture assignment. Even for cross-prefectural arrests, they would usually return immediately after apprehending the suspect. It was almost unheard of for them to be stationed in another location, since every region had its own police force, its own detectives, to handle local cases.
Kishida Masayoshi was also completely bewildered. “Where am I being sent, sir?”
The inspector, taking a long, slow drag from his cigarette, clapped Kishida on the shoulder, a rare gesture of familiarity. “Well, well, it’s a business trip, yes, but you could also think of it as a… vacation of sorts. I seem to recall you didn’t take your annual leave last year, did you, Kishida? Consider this making up for it. Your destination… is Mie Island.”
Hearing this, Matsushita Makoto’s expression immediately turned to one of profound, almost comical envy. “Eh? You mean that Mie Island? It might not be as famous as Okinawa, but it’s a great place! You’re so lucky, Senpai!”
Remembering his earlier conversation with Suzuki Koji, a sudden, cold dread began to seep into Kishida Masayoshi’s bones. He had a pretty good idea of what his new mission was. He asked, his voice a little strained, “Inspector, am I being assigned to the newly re-established task force for the Mie Island case from twenty-three years ago? But for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to be dispatching personnel from other precincts… I wouldn’t have thought they’d consider our small, regional department.”
Kishida Masayoshi wasn’t actually very keen on going. Just thinking about it, a cold case that had been dormant for twenty-three years… the difficulty of solving it would be immense. And he’d never even heard of the case before today. He’d be going in as a complete rookie, a total outsider. What help could he possibly be?
Compared to that, he was much, much more interested in the secrets that might be hiding in Kagehara Tetsuya’s diary.
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