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Return to Hinamizawa IV – Conspiracy Chapter

3
Curiosity

The city of Shishibone is our centre of local government. Technically, it's not far from Hinamizawa; but the winding mountain roads make it a long and arduous journey. We go there to visit our cousins every so often. For Kotone, a trip to the city is an amazing treat: just seeing the paved streets and the modern concrete buildings inspires her with such awe that she stands, dumbstruck, and I have to grab her hand and drag her away before someone walks into her. I can't imagine how she'd react if we ever go to visit Miaka in Kyoto. I know I shouldn't be thinking about that, but I can't help it. Miaka is only staying in Hinamizawa for one month. We'll have to make sure we keep in touch. If she wants to, that is. She seems to like us well enough. But I've tried to stay in touch with people before, and I know how it goes. You can't describe the things that really matter to you, the club games, the feelings of triumph and disappointment, the challenges and achivements of everyday life. When put into words, it becomes frozen and lifeless. Over time, you give up trying, and it fizzles out to a few words of "How are you? How are things going?" before even that becomes meaningless and fades into nothing. Just this once, I wish for something more than that.

But anyway. Once I reached Shishibone station, I got a taxi to Uncle Saburou's place, which is a way out in the suburbs. In all, the journey from my home to his took over three hours, and I arrived just after noon.

Sonozaki Saburou is really my great-uncle, the youngest of Grandma Akane's three brothers. He had done well for himself. He had been a Councillor in the Prefectural Assembly, and was now retired to the less peaceful life of the politics of the Sonozaki family. His mansion was smaller than the main manor, but more ornate, with marble columns and gargoyles and architectural features that I didn't know the names for; and unlike our manor, it was his home, built entirely with his own money.

I was let in by the maid, who bowed and asked me if I was joining them for lunch. Uncle Saburou's permission was not necessary: in spite of his age, his wealth and his status in society, I still outranked him within the family. I didn't want to make a show of it, but this was part of the way the family worked, and I couldn't just ignore it. So I accepted the invitation with a confident smile.

She showed me into the dining room, where lunch had just been served. I sat down and greeted everyone. There was Uncle Saburou and Aunt Meiko, and their three children: Toshio with his wife Saya, Chiharu with her husband Junpei, and Karen. I knew all of them well enough that I could settle in and join in the conversation as easily as I would at home.

We did not talk about family business. Karen asked me a few questions about Mother and Aunt Mion; she is always insatiably curious about their doings. But really, this time there wasn't very much to say. Mother had been very busy overseeing the preparations for the Watanagashi festival, and Aunt Mion was keeping to herself, as she always did around that time of year. Watanagashi always reminded her of the guy she had a crush on when they were at school together, who died at the time the festival preparations were going on one year.

Chiharu didn't bother talking to me. I've never really gotten on with her. It's hard to be comfortable around someone who is both so beautiful and so intensely aware of it – unlike Miaka, who is a complete natural. Chiharu seems to regard any male around her as if they should be in love with her, and hardly seems to know what to say to someone who isn't. I sometimes wonder if it isn't all an act to keep Karen in her place.

As for Junpei, he sat there resplendent in his black clothes, light glinting on the curves of his tattoos as they twisted around each other, probing and strangling and stabbing. He acknowledged me with a slight glance; his eyes regarded me, took me in, and moved on. As far as I know, he isn't interested in anything except Chiharu. I wonder what on earth the pair of them are like when they're alone together. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, they're expecting their first baby this winter. Toshio and Saya have two kids already.

Saya is nice. At least she tries to talk to me as a friend would, to show interest in what I get up to – though her ideas of what young people do with their time are a few years out of date. I explained about our club activities and the games I was playing on my PS2 – which led to a long digression as I tried to explain what exactly that was. And, of course, I told her about how we had a new kid in the village and were doing our best to entertain her. That she could understand – though I had to veto her suggestion of bringing Miaka to see them at Shishibone.

After we had eaten, Saburou asked me if there was anything I needed. He was polite, but guarded. He was not particularly pleased to see me, I think, in case my visit meant some family business that he would rather not get involved in; but he has a high regard for Grandma Akane, and I knew that I could count on him if I had to.

This time, though, it was Toshio I wanted to see; so we went up to his office together. He sat down in a swivel chair by the desk, and showed me to a comfortable armchair by the window.

"So, how can I help you?"

I took a deep breath. "I need whatever information you can give me about a girl called Guren Anzu, a waitress at Angel Mort."

Toshio blinked. "Is this one of your love interests?"

"No!" I glared at him.

"Well, then?"

I sighed. The family always have to make things so complicated. How could I explain why I needed to know, when I wasn't really sure myself?

"I think she's in danger," I said. No, that wouldn't do. I had to sound more convinced. "I... or rather, one of my friends heard someone making threats towards her. I'd like the family to keep an eye on her." I kept my eyes half-closed, hoping that Toshio wouldn't be able to read my expression.

"Very well," he said. "Just wait a second."

He went over to the far wall, which was entirely taken up by a series of filing cabinets. After squinting for a while at the labels, he opened one and rustled around until he found the file he wanted.

"Here we are. Guren Anzu, age fifteen, resident in Okinomiya, moved there with her family two years ago. Previous address in Takarazuka. Father, Guren Ichirou, is the manager of the local cinema. Report from her previous school describes her as quiet and studious, with a hobby of collecting memorabilia relating to film stars. No known criminal activities or romantic entanglements."

I persisted. "And no reason why anyone would want her dead?"

Toshio adjusted his glasses. "There's nothing in here," he said. "And if there was anything out of the ordinary about her, it would be in here. From the looks of it, she's just a normal girl, with nothing more in her life than the usual quarrels with her friends, teenage heartbreaks and so forth. Nothing anyone would kill her over."

I had to agree.

"Can I inquire as to the source of your information?"

"Um... that's rather a personal matter," I said.

"Then I'm afraid I can't help."

He half-turned away, as if to suggest that I should leave. I sat for a moment in silence. It was tempting to accept defeat, but I had given up a whole day for this, and I couldn't go back to Miaka with nothing.

Miaka. Now there was a thought.

"Toshio-san," I said slowly, "you have a file on everyone of interest to the Sonozaki family, don't you?"

"Of course."

"Then... what have you got on Teramachi Miaka?"

"The new girl in your village you were telling Saya about?" He smiled, and I knew then that he wasn't going to turn me away. If Miaka was good enough for Saya, she was good enough for him.

I nodded.

"Well, you know that it's very unusual in the first place, to have an outsider staying in Hinamizawa for an extended period. So she's considered a person of special interest, and her file will be in the top-security safe." He crossed over to the side wall, where there was a rather ugly picture of a sailing-boat in a stormy sea; under it, a perfectly blank patch of wall with no sign of a crack or break. Then he touched the wall in a certain place, and a panel opened up, revealing a huge safe with seven wheels holding its lock closed. It wasn't just theft-proof. It was Karen-proof.

I sat back; I could have demanded that Toshio show me how to open the safe, but it was more courteous to show him that I was happy to leave the knowledge in his hands. He span the wheels round, and after a minute or so, the door clanked open. Toshio took out a file and sat down again as he leafed through it.

"That's odd," he said after a while.

"What have you found?"

"Wait there a moment."

Toshio placed the file carefully on his desk, went over to the door, leant out and shouted, "Karen!"

"Yes, brother?" Karen said quietly. She was sitting in the armchair that stood by the bookcase at the back of the room. I hadn't noticed she was there until that moment.

He span round and glared at her. "What are you doing there?"

"Oh, just relaxing," she said with a calm smile. "You know I have no interest in your business, brother. But" – her voice suddenly dropped an octave – "if someone has been making threats against one of the family's employees, that does concern me."

Toshio bit into his lip. "And Teramachi Miaka? What's your interest in her?"

"Never heard of her."

"Then why has her file been tampered with?"

Karen stood up slowly, so that the light seemed to fade from the room as her dark hair swished around her. "Tampered with, brother?"

"There's a page missing. This first page has the details of her hospital treatment in Kyoto, referral to the Irie Clinic, and so forth. Then there's her school record. In between, there should be a page with details of her parents' address and occupation, date and place of adoption, details of birth parents. All that is missing."

"And you assume that it was me."

"When confidential information goes missing, it generally is you."

Karen's face was fixed in a furious scowl. "Brother, as you well know, if I wanted to take anything from the files, I'd make a copy and then put the original back intact, so you'd never notice it had been touched."

"Well, who else could have got into my safe?"

Karen snorted. "I thought, brother, you had that safe installed especially to keep me out. If you're willing to believe I managed to break your latest toy – why couldn't someone else?"

Toshio had no answer to that. After he and Karen had spent a minute glaring at each other, he said, "Well, if you want to make me believe it wasn't you, why don't you get about finding out who it actually was?"

"Certainly," she said coldly. "Let's have a look at this famous file, for a start. Akito-kun, come over here."

"Why are you involving Akito?" Toshio snapped. I don't think he meant to be rude; he was just angry.

Karen sighed. "You really are an idiot sometimes. He is involved. His after-school games club are helping Miaka settle in, in case you weren't paying attention to the conversation, which was quite rude of you, by the way. And if Miaka thinks this Anzu girl is in danger –"

I blinked. "Wait a minute. I never said that Miaka said that –"

"No, but you have now."

I ground my teeth at her. "But how did you guess?"

Karen gave me a gentle smile and touched my shoulder. "Akito-kun, you'll have to learn how to keep secrets if you want to succeed as the head of the Sonozaki family."

"Never mind that," I said hastily. "What does this have to do with the missing file?"

"Well, firstly, if there is someone who wants to murder this girl, and they know that Miaka knows about it, then they would naturally want to silence her as well."

My breath stopped, as it so often did at the casual way Karen spoke of death. It was the main reason why, no matter how well we got on, it was impossible to like her. But when she spoke of Miaka like that – well, it may have been an irrational reaction, but I almost felt I hated her, as if she herself were the mysterious enemy.

"You're going much too fast," said Toshio. "I've seen no evidence that there's any kind of conspiracy to commit murder going on at all. It's so typical of you, Karen – ever since you came back from your ninja training, you were seeing conspiracies everywhere. I don't know, maybe you were just desperate for your training to be of some use. Well, I'm sorry to break it to you, but there just isn't much call for ninjas in the modern world."

"And yet you have a bodyguard –"

"That's different," Toshio snapped. "How many times do I have to explain this to you? We have guns and bodyguards so that everyone knows the Sonozakis are not to be messed with. And the result is that people leave us in peace. I know you're itching for all kinds of mad adventures, but such things just don't happen nowadays."

"Then who do you think broke into your safe, brother?"

They faced each other, both with hands on their hips, staring each other down as if trying to see which of them could glare the other into the floor.

"I remain to be convinced that it wasn't you," said Toshio.

Karen sighed. "Brother, there's a bit more to this than you seem to realise." He raised his eyebrows, but she pressed on. "What I said just now – that if I wanted that information, I'd take a copy and not the original – that would apply equally well to anyone. Someone broke into that safe and removed a page from a particular document without any of us knowing – that takes intelligence and planning. They had to have the wit to think of copying the document. The only reason they would remove it entirely is if they didn't want us to know what was in it."

Toshio and I both stared at her in stunned silence.

"How do you make that out?" he said at last.

"And how could they even have known I was going to come here?" I said. "If I hadn't asked about that file, it would have just stayed in the safe and no-one would ever have looked at it."

"Well, did you tell anyone you were coming here?" said Karen.

"Only Miaka. I had to," I added hastily, seeing that Karen was giving me a look. "She was desperate. She was going out of her mind with worry about this Anzu girl. I had to let her see that I was doing something."

"And would Miaka have told anyone?"

I sighed.

"Well, she's probably told the rest of the games club – it isn't exactly a secret. But surely, the burglary couldn't have been this morning, not with the whole family at home..."

"No, it couldn't," Toshio snapped. "Though I still refuse to believe there has been a burglary at all. This house has a lot more security than just the safe."

"Then perhaps we should be looking for someone within the family," said Karen.

"I'm glad we agree on that much at least," said Toshio. "And I think I know exactly where to look."

"Oh, not this again," said Karen. "You can go on suspecting me as long as you like – I'm going to look for the real traitor."

"Traitor?" Toshio said with contempt. "You're making far too much of this. Okay, if you're right then someone got past our security, and that's worrying, but at least all they were interested in was this girl's details. It's probably just one of her classmates in Kyoto who has a crush on her."

It was my turn to snap. I don't know how it happened; it just came out of nowhere.

"How can you think such a thing?" I said, rounding on him. "There must be something deeper going on, and someone doesn't want us to get to the truth of it."

Karen gave me an appreciative smile. It was quite unnerving.

"Well, maybe," Toshio said wearily. "I tell you what. Instead of standing here arguing in circles, why don't you two go and find out who this mysterious intruder was?"

"Exactly what I was about to suggest," said Karen. "Akito-kun, a few words with you in private."

We left the room together and headed back along the corridor. When we bumped into Uncle Saburou, I bowed and thanked him for his hospitality, and he smiled gravely and said I was welcome at any time. Karen took me to the door, and we walked slowly down the drive together.

"Do you have any plans?" she said after a while.

"Plans?"

"For investigating."

I grimaced. "I don't really know what to do, Karen-chan," I said. "Besides, I have school this week, and we're busy getting ready for the Watanagashi festival..."

"Exactly," said Karen. "That's what you can do."

"What do you mean?"

"Cousin Shion is overseeing the preparations for Watanagashi, isn't she?"

"Of course."

"And she's at the centre of what goes on in Hinamizawa. This involves her in some way, you can count on that."

"Karen! That's my mother you're talking about, you know!"

She laughed. "Hey now, I didn't say that she was the enemy. It might someone plotting against her, or against the family."

"Yes – and where does that get us?"

Karen's voice dropped to an ominous whisper. "I want you to observe, Akito-kun," she said. "You and your friends have a privileged position at the centre of events. And you're children. You can observe without being observed. Watch everything that happens, and don't let a single detail escape you, You never know what may turn out to be a vital clue."

"You want me to spy on my mother?"

"Not on her," Karen said impatiently. "On what's going on in Hinamizawa. On what everyone is doing – Mion, Rika-sama, Irie-sensei, that old fool Yanagida, even your friends. The more we know, the easier it will be to put it together and work out what it all means. Do you understand?"

I took a deep breath. "I understand."

"Good," she said with a grin. "Then you've taken the first step to becoming a ninja. I congratulate you."

We had reached the gate out onto the road by this time. I turned round to ask Karen what she meant, but she had vanished like a petal in the wind.