PART TWO
10 KAMONE
Misa was sitting on a bench near the main row of shops in Kamone, a small town nestled among the mountains outside Fukuchiyama, a city in Kyoto Prefecture. She was wearing a short, blonde wig and glasses, and she was warmly dressed in a thick jacket and jeans, for it was coming to the end of winter. She appeared to be arranging the items in her backpack, but she was actually keeping an eye out for an elderly man whom she knew would be walking by soon.
A middle-aged woman walked past. If someone had looked closely at her, they might have noticed the slightly blank expression on her face. She disappeared inside a nearby convenience store.
The elderly man appeared a few minutes later. He did not seem to notice Misa, but hobbled forward and eventually vanished into the same convenience store.
Misa finished arranging the things in her backpack, then stood up and looked around. It was ten in the morning, and the townspeople were out and about, doing their daily errands. Picking up her backpack, she slung it over her shoulder and walked over to the store.
There were quite a number of shoppers milling around the front of the store, but the rear was empty, save for the old man standing next to the middle-aged woman. There was a store room at the back of the shop where goods were kept, but the door was locked. Misa did not say anything when she saw the old man and the woman, but grasped both by the arms and quickly phased them through the wall into the store room behind. They had chosen that convenience store because it did not possess any CCTV cameras.
Once they had entered the store room, the old man took a piece of paper and a purse out of the woman's bag and gave it to Misa.
"Here's the list," he said, "I told her to write it down. Don't forget to keep the receipts. You remember which shops, don't you?"
Misa nodded. She looked at him, fascinated. Shinsou had brought several disguises along, and although she had already been watching him don them for the past few days, she still felt amazed whenever she saw him at it. He was really good. He had been doing it for years now, and seemed quite nonchalant about it. He was quick when applying the makeup, and he could act the part. Although he was a few inches shy of six feet, he somehow managed to make the old man look shrunken, and everything else was there … the quavering voice, the gait, the facial expressions ...
The woman's name was Fukuda, and she was one of the servants who worked in the Hikari cult house they were monitoring. Shinsou had asked her the time, and had then brainwashed her into entering the convenience store before him. He had then brainwashed all the shoppers at the rear of the store into moving to the front. He was now going to interrogate Fukuda, and he wanted Misa to do the woman's shopping for her so that she would still be able to return to the house at the usual time.
"You've been here previously and done this before, haven't you?" said Misa, curiously, "How did you manage to get into the store room, then?"
"There are several ways," he said, looking around to see if there was a place where he could seat the woman and himself, "I could have picked the lock, or brainwashed the shopkeeper into unlocking the door. I chose to brainwash him into making me a duplicate key, in the end. It was easier."
Misa made her way out of the store with the list. She had initially worried that the shopkeeper might enter the store room to get something and catch Shinsou and the woman there, before she realised that Shinsou could easily solve the matter by brainwashing him.
She managed to buy everything within an hour. Shinsou had been to the town some months ago and had actually interrogated the same woman before. He had already known her habits from that time. She usually came to the town three times a week, frequented the same shops, and bought almost the same items.
Misa handed the bags of shopping to Fukuda, who, at Shinsou's bidding, proceeded to make her way out of the shop and back to the house where she worked. Misa left the shop first and made her way to the car which they had parked in an alley nearby. She waited until Shinsou had joined her, and they then drove back to their camp.
"Nothing new to report," said Shinsou, "Let's hope for something better next week."
Misa nodded. He had already warned her that the assignment might prove fruitless. They could wait for weeks, or months, and come up with nothing. Aizawa had sent two scouts to Kamone to monitor the house for the past few months, and they knew that at most times, it was usually just occupied by a couple of servants. Occasionally there would be visitors. The scouts had informed Aizawa whenever anyone new turned up, but by the time Shinsou managed to make his way there, the visitors would invariably have left.
They had taken over the scouts' camp. It consisted of a small tent hidden in a densely forested area not far from the house. The scouts had also shown them a place where they had hidden their own car, covering it with a tarpaulin and then camouflaging it with snow and branches, and they had followed suit.
There was a small portable generator outside the tent, and inside there was a small heater, and the laptop and other equipment the scouts had been using to monitor the house. Shinsou and Misa changed out of their disguises, after which the former started replaying that morning's footage to see if they had missed out on anything while interrogating Fukuda, while Misa went off to prepare a simple meal.
"Have a look at this," said Shinsou, suddenly.
Misa came over. Over the past week she had become quite familiar with the people staying in the house, but now there were two men whom she didn't recognise, seated in the parlour.
"They must have dropped by unexpectedly," said Misa, "because that lady didn't mention anything about them when you interviewed her just now, did she?"
They had bugged the parlour, as well. They played the recording, but the men were mostly silent, except that one commented on the architecture of the house a few times.
Shinsou checked the monitors. "They're walking around the grounds now." He began rummaging in one of the bags, and she saw that he was taking out his makeup kit and the recording equipment.
"Are we going over?" asked Misa.
"Yes,"he said, "Just let me change my face a bit, in case I need to take the hood off. If people see a hooded man walking up to them, they tend to scream and run instead of answering, and that makes brainwashing difficult."
He was somehow able to alter the appearance of his face considerably just by applying makeup and wearing different coloured contact lenses and a wig. When he was done, Misa genuinely couldn't recognise him. They put hoods on, so that their faces could not be seen, and started making their way toward the house. Shinsou appreciated how much easier it was to move around with Misa. They were able to make their way rapidly through the trees, phasing, which was much faster and quieter than doing it the normal way, and snowdrifts were easier to navigate.
When they were nearing the house, Misa phased the both of them underground. Shinsou was not too fond of walking underground; he lost a lot of sensation in his body when they were phasing, so the cold did not bother him. But although there was enough air to breathe, it tended to feel stifling after a while.
The Hikari house was built mainly in traditional Japanese style, with most of the rooms having tatami matting and shoji doors. It was extensive, with ten large bedrooms distributed among its two storeys in addition to the parlour and kitchen on the ground floor. There was also a library on the ground floor, with shelves loaded with books, several chairs and tables, and an attached bathroom.
A car was parked outside the house. There was also a single-storey outhouse located separately at one end of the garden which looked as if it might serve any number of purposes, such as a more private meeting room or a spare bedroom.
The house also possessed a basement. Misa had discovered this on the second night, when she had stealthily entered alone to have a look around. The scouts must have missed out on it, for they had never mentioned it to any of them. The basement had several rows of chairs and a raised stage, and looked as if it might serve as an auditorium.
Using their periscopes, they could see the men returning to the house. Hurrying, they managed to catch up with them near the flight of stairs leading to the basement, which was next to the house entrance.
"That beer just now was good," said one of the men, "I don't mind having another."
"Me too,"said the other, "But let's take it downstairs. My legs are getting too stiff to sit on tatami."
"You're only good with your paws," said the first man. He then went off, presumably to the kitchen, while the second proceeded to make his way down the stairs.
Misa phased herself and Shinsou down, and they emerged in one corner of the basement. Now that they were able to conceal themselves behind the chairs, it was easier to observe the man. He had seated himself near the stairs. He was short and broad-chested, and had a mole's head. Instead of hands, he had two large paws.
The other man came down presently, carrying three cans of beer. He looked to be in his fifties, was tall and thin, with hair slicked back, and wore glasses.
"Who's the third beer for?" asked the mole.
"Me," said the tall man. "Two for me, one for you."
"Greedy bastard," said the mole.
The tall man was looking around the basement.
"Concrete and dullness below, art and wood above," he said.
The mole didn't seem very interested. His paws looked awkward but they were deft enough handling the beer can. He took another sip of beer, and gave a small belch.
"I would enjoy fixing up this house," said the tall man, "flooring and roof. Art, Mole, that's what building is about. Blending in with nature. But there's no art in doing all these dull underground warehouses. Even this basement was such a bore to do. Reinforced concrete. But concrete's not so bad if it's used for something traditional, like that castle we did in Shizuoka."
"Anyway, Obsidian's the one who did most of the work on the warehouses, not you, Citadel," said Mole.
"That's why I chose him," said Citadel, "He's almost as brilliant as me, but he doesn't mind all these mundane jobs."
"I'm not interested in architecture," said Mole. "Are we done here? We frightened the servants, popping up suddenly. I already told you the other day, I'd finished tunnelling to here and Obsidian had done everything up, including the sliding door."
"Well, I'm in charge of the Stone Masons, I still have to check things have been done properly, don't I?" said Citadel, "And I'd wanted to see this charming house at last. Don't complain. You're enjoying the beer, aren't you?"
"I want to get back to my digging," said Mole, "We're behind schedule. It's much harder digging in winter." He deposited his empty beer can on one of the chairs, heaved himself to his feet, and began making his way to one end of the room.
"You're only interested in digging,"said Citadel, dismissively.
Mole lifted a picture that was hanging on the wall, and pressed a button behind it. To Shinsou and Misa's amazement, part of the wall slid open to reveal a tunnel.
"Are you coming?" said Mole.
"I'm finishing my second beer first," said Citadel.
Mole vanished into the blackness of the tunnel, and the wall slid shut behind him.
Before Misa knew what was happening, Shinsou had removed his hood, climbed out from beneath the chairs, and was walking toward Citadel.
"Good afternoon," she heard him saying.
Citadel looked alarmed; he dropped his can of beer.
"Who are you – ?" His face became blank.
Shinsou went over to the wall and pressed the button, so that the tunnel door slid open again. Misa followed, bringing a flashlight along. The tunnel ended in an elevator landing only a few metres down. A button on the wall opened the sliding wall from inside.
"Interesting," said Shinsou, "No one would have guessed it was here." He glanced at Citadel. "We'll make him tell us about it."
"I guess I should have placed a camera here, last week," said Misa, "I'll do it now."
She set up one of Magnetron's tiny, discreet cameras in a corner near the ceiling of the basement, while Shinsou looked around, trying to decide on a good place for the interrogation.
"Here looks about right," he said, going over to a far corner of the room, "You keep an eye on that tunnel door and the basement stairs. If anyone comes, phase us all under the ground."
Misa set up one another camera at the landing above the basement stairs, and also placed a listening device in the tunnel. She then went back to the basement and sat near Shinsou with the monitoring equipment.
Shinsou was questioning Citadel.
"My name is Itsuki Hasegawa," said Citadel, "also called Citadel. I used to be Senior Partner at my family's firm, Hasegawa Architects."
"Isn't that related to Hasegawa Construction that's been in trouble lately?" asked Shinsou.
"That was because a large group of all of us left to join Hikari," said Citadel, "All the top level talent. We left even though we were halfway through many major projects … we didn't care, Hikari specially came and headhunted all of us. The company had to scramble to fill all our posts … they couldn't find anyone as good … there was chaos, safety and building standards lapsed. But that has nothing to do with us any more."
"What job did Hikari enlist you for?" asked Shinsou.
"Building," said Citadel promptly, "We are the Stone Masons, probably the most brilliant builders found anywhere in Japan, perhaps even in the world. We've all been specially headhunted for our Quirks. Architecture, excavation, construction, power generation, roads … we do everything."
"What do you build?" asked Shinsou, looking at him intently.
"Our main work is to build underground complexes for Hikari," said Citadel, "We all have super powers that help us to produce impressive structures in record times. All of us have Quirks that specialise in this field, especially in building underground. We have people who can control and move soil, or shape and mould rock and concrete, and so on."
"What do these underground complexes contain?" asked Shinsou.
"Many things," said Citadel, "Living spaces, laboratories, factories, warehouses. But most of all, weapons storage. There will be explosives, armoured tanks, helicopters … all the armaments of war."
Misa turned from the monitoring equipment to see if Shinsou was feeling as astonished as she was.
"Tanks and helicopters?" said Shinsou, "What for?"
"World War III," said Citadel, "That's right. World War III. The coming Armageddon. Only members of Hikari will survive. That's why we have to recruit everyone, to save them."
Misa saw something on her monitor screen.
"Shinsou-san!" she said sharply, "Someone's coming toward the basement!"
Shinsou hurriedly gathered up the recording equipment, while Misa hastily deposited her monitoring equipment in a bag. Then, placing her hands on Citadel and Shinsou, she phased them all under the ground. She had to allow their heads to remain above ground because the basement floor was made of concrete and it would have been difficult to breathe. Fortunately, the chairs were concealing them.
Fukuda was coming down the stairs to check on Citadel and Mole. She saw Mole's discarded beer can on the chair and Citadel's spilled beer, and began cleaning it up.
Swift footsteps could suddenly be heard, and the tunnel door slid open. Misa saw that the tunnel was now dimly lit. A man whom she didn't recognise came out.
"Where is Hasegawa-san?" he asked, seeing the servant.
"I don't know, Hatano-san," she said, bowing respectfully, "I think he has gone back together with Masuda-san. They left their empty beer cans here." She held a can up.
"Well, we've been waiting for him for a while, there's supposed to be a meeting," said the man, "Never mind, then." And he turned and hurried back into the tunnel.
Misa waited till Fukuda had returned upstairs, and then phased them all out. Shinsou, with a resigned look on his face, released Citadel and told him to go back down the tunnel and attend his meeting. When he had gone, they looked at each other.
"Well, it's too bad, we were getting somewhere," said Shinsou, "We'll have to try finding him again and resuming the interview. Let's follow him down the tunnel, shall we?"
"Perhaps we should wait until night," said Misa, nervously.
"They're having a meeting now," said Shinsou, "I hope that means there'll be fewer people coming down the tunnel. And you can phase us into the tunnel wall if anyone comes."
They went in. Citadel must have switched off any lights there were, for it was dark. They came to the elevator landing. Shinsou's flashlight illuminated another door beside the elevator doors which, when opened, revealed the top of a flight of stairs.
"I think we can take the elevator," said Shinsou, "You can phase us out just before we reach the bottom, in case there are people there."
The elevator had only two buttons, the upper one marked "G" and the lower one "B". Shinsou pressed "B" and the elevator began moving down. It continued descending for quite a while, and then, as it began to slow, Misa grasped Shinsou by the arm and phased them through the wall.
She phased them down right next to the elevator, and when she heard the doors open, stopped. There was silence, and then she cautiously poked a periscope out. She then phased the both of them out, and Shinsou found they were standing in darkness.
He brought the flashlight out. A tunnel stretched before them, disappearing into the distance. They set off down it, and he switched the flashlight off, in case someone coming from the opposite direction saw them. Mole, for instance, certainly appeared to have no qualms about moving about in darkness.
They stumbled along in the darkness for what seemed a long time. Eventually, they collided into what seemed to be a wall. They had reached the end of the tunnel. Shinsou switched on his flashlight, and it illuminated a door.
Misa selected a periscope and cautiously phased it through the door, and looked out.
"I'll phase us through," she said, "and you can see for yourself."
They moved through the door, and Shinsou gave a small gasp.
They were standing in a vast, underground cavern. It was man-made, for the floor and walls were regular and not natural. Above them, the ceiling was not visible in darkness. There were dim lights scattered at intervals around, hardly penetrating the gloom. There were no people around, but in the distance they saw that it was much more brightly-lit, and the sounds of construction work emanated from there.
"That looks like another door at the other end, in the direction of the bright lights," said Shinsou, "Shall we have a look?"
They skirted round the perimeter of the cavern, so that Misa could phase them into the wall if anyone came. As they approached, they saw that it was similar to the setup back at the Hikari basement, where there was not only a door but also an elevator next to it.
Misa poked a periscope through the door, but all was in darkness. Shinsou cautiously opened it, and they saw the beginnings of a flight of stairs.
"If these lead to the top of the cavern, I don't think I want to climb so many stairs," he said, "Let's try the elevator again."
The elevator again had only two buttons, and this time Shinsou pressed "G". They moved upward for a while, and then, as the elevator began to slow, Misa grasped Shinsou by the arm and phased them through the wall.
They poked their periscopes out of the ground to have a look, and then Misa phased them up. They rose up above the surface, and spontaneously took their hoods off and smiled at each other. After the long walk in the tunnel in pitch blackness, and the lengthy trek around the edge of the cavern in gloom, the darkness had now fallen away, and they saw the afternoon sun, its light glowing warm on the surrounding snow, and in front of them a mountainside covered with a winter wonderland of snow-covered firs.