Chapter 7

~Momoki~

Well, we were off to a good start. Days had passed of idle chatter in the Wellside staff office. I found myself now excessively acquainted with a significant number of crime detective movies, manga, and anime that I had never known existed—as well all the endings and best parts. All truly spoiled. Thank you Wakashika the walking fanwiki. Alongside that, I had sat various impromptu lectures of the landmarks and rarely spoken of locations and events all over Japan, not limited to Tokyo. In addition to an exhaustive breakdown of pop culture vs historical figures. Both of these between Shiratake and Habutae respectively. The quiet members of my group thus far were Togo and Kokufu, who largely spent their time getting acquainted with the general protocol of the Wellside system. The manual was surprisingly thick, I'd been re-reading it myself, dry as it was. Ideally my goal was to avoid any surprises.

All we wanted to do was get down to the Wellside and see what this machine could really do. But without what the manual called 'building a well' we couldn't. Of course we could run one of the already solved cases. But Chief Hayaseura wasn't in line with that idea, preferring to leave the machine open for an active case the moment our field agents came across a source. So, we waited, wondering if perhaps the wakumusubi was malfunctioning and we'd never get this damn program off the ground.

Wouldn't that be wonderful. I was the head of a doomed from the start program. I stood, about to call a break when my phone rang. I picked it up off my desk to find Hayaseura's name on the screen. "Momoki here."

"I have fantastic news for you. Matsuoka's wakumusubi picked up some cognition particles around the latest crime scene for an ongoing case the police are calling the Face-lifter."

Standing there frozen for a moment, my heart began to race from the excitement. Had I heard him right? "Cognition particles mean a well. Face-lifter huh? That's an interesting moniker."

His voice was the usual pleasant tone. "As I understand it, it was not named lightly. And just for formality sake, I authorize the first well construction of the Kura."

"Thank you, sir. We're on it!" I hung up the phone. All eyes were on me. "We have our first case! Let's get down to the Wellside and fire it up. I can't wait to see this for the first time."

And so it seemed neither could the rest of the crew as they raced out of the room. In the excitement I nearly forgot about the most important part. What good was the Mizuhanome without our pilot?

~Narihisago~

Trees stretched their limbs to the heavens, a bright blue sky with hardly a cloud. From the scent pervading the nippy air it was mid autumn. The trees were turning but had yet to drop their colorful foliage. The light breeze playing with my hair felt wonderful. I tugged my scarf a bit tighter around my neck to keep out the chill. Walking through the woods I smiled, reveling at the beauty all around. My hand caressed the rough trunk of a tree and for a moment I considered climbing up it.

"Daddy … wait for me, I want up-up!"

I knew that voice. I turned into the blinding light of the sun, forced to hold up a hand to block the glare. And yet I still couldn't see her well. She was a mere dark silhouette distorted by the light.

I knelt down, arms wide to catch her. "I'll help you climb up … "

My eyes snapped open. The sight of the white bracelet clamped involuntarily around my wrist slammed me into orientation. This was hardly the woods. Instead I sat with my back to the wall of my cell, on my bed with my knees draw up. Shit, I had been doing this for days on end, every time I fell asleep it happened. My mind dragging me back into memories of those days.

My fist tightened as I curled tighter into a ball. I would never see the outside world again. Nor should a wretched thing like me deserve to. These walls in this cell … this was it for me. For the remainder of my life set apart from the rest of humanity. In my moment of rage induced weakness I had forfeited everything I ever was. Tears stung my eyes as my thoughts wandered relentlessly toward just what I had let go.

"Ahem." The loud clearing of a throat turned my head slowly toward the door. Two guards stood on the outside looking at me expectantly. "Hey you, get over here. Right in front of me. Hands out, palms down."

My heart tried to escape my ribs. I had to get over there—with an obstacle in the way. A cold sweat broke out. First things first I was stiff as hell from how I'd been sitting for days. Second … I'd have to execute my strange method of crossing the cell with an audience. In all this time my anxiety hadn't quelled one bit.

"You deaf or something? I said get over here!"

"Yamane," the other guard remarked, I knew his name was Soma, "he looks like he just woke up. Give him a second."

"Tsh," Yamane folded his arms. "We got a schedule to keep. There isn't time for dicking around."

Against the stiffness I shifted my limbs trying not to wince. Boy had I made things difficult for myself. I couldn't go forward like a normal person, the only possible way to avoid glimpsing the photos was my usual method, as ridiculous as it was. Swallowing my epic load of shame I crawled over the end of the bed.

"What in the actual fu—?"

Soma placed a hand on his shoulder. "Take it easy, he's coming."

"This guy is a total nutcase!"

That stung. But it did little to change my neurotic posture as I edged along my cell.

"Looks like a gecko on a tank wall." Yamane remarked coldly. "Look, we seriously don't have all day. Cut the crap and get over here, now!"

"I don't think he can."

Soma had it right. All the biting comments did was demolish my resolve. Shuffling my feet in nearly a crab walk along the final wall I at last cleared the distance and stood with only the pane between us. I hated how clammy and breathless I was as I lowered my gaze and held my hands out as instructed.

The moment the pane slid back, Yamane slapped the cuffs on my wrists. "Soma, you're in front."

Head down, I shuffled along between them, expecting the path to the interrogation room from a few days ago. But we passed it. Where were we off to? We turned down a different hall and paused in front of a rather hefty metal door which Soma used his access card and a code to open.

If anything could have commanded my gaze that room was it! A vast circular chamber with minimal décor indirectly lit by bright white lights set into the edges of the floor. The walls were concrete without any of the soundproofing panels in my cell. Had I not been in control of myself I might have called out just to hear the acoustics of the chamber itself. Directly opposite the door an immense black metallic chair filled one wall. And not just a chair itself, the device had a system of gears to recline, cables ran from the back and terminated into the floor panel. I suspected some of them fed to an overhead screen mounted on an adjustable lever arm. Curving around both sides of the chair were two sweeping arcs that looked almost like an incomplete orbital ring.

"Holy shit." That left my mouth before I realized it was in my mind.

A hand shoved my shoulder. "Move it."

I staggered forward a few steps. This must be the Mizuhanome's cockpit chamber. And that hulking thing must be the cockpit Momoki had gone on and on about. Shit, why hadn't I listened better to him? Why had I been so damn distracted? Now I was going into this whole thing blind! Looking at it now sent a shudder through my body. Why did it remind me of an execution chair? Something where they'd electrocute prisoners, or give them lethal injections.

My feet put the breaks on. Yamane clearly determined to drag my ass toward it if I didn't comply.

"Hold on a second." Soma spoke into his phone. "We're in the chamber, Sir. But he seems a bit reluctant to get into the cockpit."

A click followed by some static, and then the murmur of several voices talking as one over a hidden speaker system. A familiar one spoke the loudest. "Thank you. Ok, Narihisago remember what I told you earlier?"

Uhhhh no, I was barely listening. But I couldn't exactly say that now. I swallowed, my foot taking an involuntary step backward even as Yamane shoulder checked me. I regretted volunteering for this now. Why had Momoki betrayed me?

"We're all feeling a bit nervous. Just remember it's going to be a lot like what we discussed. I'm trying to remember, you played video games before, right?"

I found my voice and hoped my racing pulse didn't translate to it. "You know I did, with my daughter."

"Great, it's going to be very similar to that. The cockpit will facilitate the VR link, or rather the virtual reality."

That elicited an eye roll from me as I crept closer to the cockpit. "I'm not a Luddite, I know what VR stands for. But I've never done it. Just console games on a TV. This will be different."

"As I said, this is a learning curve for all of us." He sounded so calm.

A new voice came across the speaker. "This will be exciting! None of us have participated in a live run before." Definitively a younger male, probably just out of college—damn it I was already profiling!

I winced at his statement, none-the-less. College age? How old were these guys who would be running this thing? "Momoki, is that supposed to lend me confidence?"

"The process is perfectly safe."

I didn't have the luxury of choice in my position. While the others may be here voluntarily, I more or less had no say now. I had a feeling if I hadn't agreed to come somehow I would have been transferred anyway and the position forced on me. I felt like a damned guinea pig. Slowly, I sat down in the chair. It wasn't rock hard, but the cushioning wasn't plush either. Soma unlocked my cuffs and the guards retreated out the door, closing and locking it behind them. I was alone with this strange device in my new position, and I felt rather vulnerable now. There were no goggles or headphones. How was this going to work? I glanced at the overhead screen with its green writing showing a set of numbers that meant nothing to me. Something else grabbed my attention.

File: Face-lifter. What could that possibly mean?

Yet another voice called out clearly over the speaker, this one female "Director, we have everything online. Ready to commence the first dive at your mark."

I stared at the device surrounding me. Something was missing. "Uh huh. And how do I do this little trick? Where are the controls?"

Momoki replied. "You don't need to concern yourself with those. We have them."

A rude noise escaped me. "Oh this just keeps getting better. What did I sign up for?"

"Relax, you're the best man for the job."

"Says the commander to the Kamikaze pilot."

"What was that? The mic barely picked that up."

I released a weary sigh "Nothing, Director Momoki."

A single clap of hands and then his declaration, "Alright, inject him."

My eyes shot wide eyed deathly afraid of some needle that I didn't have time to look for. "What?"

I felt nothing.

Instantly my vision blacked out, now it felt like I was being slung shot through space. Out of the darkness strange shapes materialized ... small green cubes floating in structured order, all evenly spaced in columns and rows. The closer I got the more they broke their meticulous order, shifting at seemingly random. Static filled my ears as they flew past me. This was rather … unusual. What was I supposed to gather from all this? The cubes faded into dots arranged in lines to form some broken lattice structure, multi-colors. It almost looked like … circuitry was my best guess, but even that was a bit off. Was there a significance to the colors? The spectrum of light is made up of red, green, and blue … all the colors became visible in shifts, cyan, magenta, and yellow all joined together to make white.

What did tiny dots of light have to do with murder?

A force pulled me faster, accelerating as a broad cyan cross shape filled my field of vision. I couldn't avoid it. Alarmingly I realized I had no limbs to resist with! Whether I liked it or not, I was going in. Swept into the denser light I didn't decelerate. If anything, I went faster, breaking through. I tried to scream, but without lungs that was impossible.

Plunging through, another dark field spread out as white balls of light drifted toward me. I had to concentrate to dredge up what they reminded me of, they were almost cellular in nature, pulsating, shifting as if sound waves or electricity danced against their insides. As swiftly as the fascination consumed my attention one in particular grew alarmingly larger! Directly in front of me!

What was I afraid of? So far I had come through every one of these strange images. Might as well enjoy the ride. Embracing the entrancing spectacle, I let it take me into the sphere with a final burst of speed. It's not like I could stop it. Strange shapes filled my field of vision. Illuminated blobs with arms … they reminded me of something ... like odd DNA molecules. No … another type of structure. There were strands of fine light connecting them. Neurons? Neurons arranged in imperfect lattices? Heh, so this is what it's like to zip through the human mind. Neat.

WHOA!

In a sudden jarring pull I pierced one and came out the other side into a pulsar explosion, or perhaps the big bang on a micro-scale. A great ball with rays of blinding light came in disorganized blue waves in the midst of a great black nothing. Bright and brighter, blinding white.

I couldn't block it out. Blinking seemed to be doing nothing to change the disorienting onslaught—I had no physical eyes or lids to close. Then as suddenly as it started, it all went black.

I opened my eyes and stared up. When had I fallen asleep? I didn't remember lying down and going to sleep. My hand rubbed my temples, I felt a bit nauseous for some reason, like … motion sickness. Slowly I sat up, something tightened around my throat. My other hand was on something soft. I discovered a length of soft yellow fabric. An extra long scarf—around my neck. That was odd. And yet, it felt right. I had a long khaki colored coat with a pair of darker stripes on the cuffs … was that like an officer's military rank or something? No, that didn't seem right. I wasn't an officer, was I? Over a solid black shirt I wore a long button khaki colored shirt. Loose dark shorts with a triangle based geometric design on them over a pair of black leggings and to top it off a set of green and yellow sneakers. Those were rather comfy.

No knowledge of putting any of this on, but it seemed to suit me for some reason.

Me … wait … where was I? And more importantly, I brought a hand up to my face covering one side of it in thought—

Who am I?

~Momoki~

"Successful insertion. He's inside the well. We're receiving our first data stream." Cheering broke out before Togo continued. " … Huh … it looks like … well, strings or chains or something hanging from the ceiling. Is he lying down?"

"Looks like it." I remarked as the scant amount of data digitally materialized in front of me in the holographic ring. This was astonishing. At my side I had a small screen displaying Narihisago in the cockpit, I was currently the only one who could see the real him. He looked as if he were sleeping in the reclined seat, stretched out with his arms on the rests. His vitals had experienced a momentary fluctuation but had settled back to baseline swiftly enough. Remarkable that all that data came from the biochip embedded in his wrist. Everything was working perfectly.

"This is really neat." Wakashika remarked from the ring above, when I glanced up he was taking screen shots and shifting them around his station. "It's like we're seeing through the pilot's eyes. Oh my God, what's with the neo-detective garb? Those are some pretty bizarre threads."

Togo came up beside me studying her own tablet screen. "Sir, Getting a thought thread from him … not alarmed, but confused."

I had to smile at the gesture of him covering his face partially. I often wonder if he knew he'd even done that so often in the past as a habit. It almost stole my breath—the first built image of him in the well. There he was, the bright-eyed man I knew from a few years ago, youthful and without the lines grief had etched into his haunted features. Even his hair was the way he had worn it. "Alright, as a matter of record each of you will be assigned as follows: Habutae, human analysis. Shiratake, places and times. Wakashika will make deductions about the murders. Togo and Kokufu with assist with macro-analysis and anything that comes up. Remember, this is a new well with a real murder victim and a real serial killer. The stakes are high. Anything we see here can be critical. This is not a test run. So be vigilant.

Habutae called down, "Interesting, he didn't respond to your voice."

"To the best of my knowledge he cannot hear us."

Wakashika added, "Well, none of the test runs showed the pilots receiving feedback from outside. So it makes sense, they're immersed, cut off in the subconscious snapshot of the killer."

"That may be," Togo glanced at me side wise, "but we can hear him, even his thoughts."

"Correct. In essence he's on his own in there."

"What the hell is going on?" He wasn't thinking that, suddenly he was talking to himself. Even his voice was more vibrant. "Who am I? Shit—no, I have to calm down, I have to get a grip on things. This is weird … but everything has a reason, right?"

Shiratake scratched his head. "Why doesn't he know who he is?"

"I honestly don't know for sure. But Chief Hayaseura did tell me there would be a few quirks with the system and not to be alarmed. Maybe this is one of those."

Habutae shrugged. "Amnesia? Huh, hope that didn't happen to the actual pilot."

That alarmed me. What if it wasn't restricted to inside the well? What if Narihisago just got mind wiped? Oh shit! That wouldn't be good. I had to take a deep breath myself. "I don't think we'd be permitted to use this if that were the case. Let's focus on the task, please." Come on Narihisago, settle in. You can do this. Show me you still have that edge we need.

"Alright, what do we have here? Mirrors. A seemingly endless field of mirrors suspended from the ceiling … uhh what ceiling? I can't even see a ceiling, it just goes on seemingly forever. This isn't even possible. And yet somehow it's still happening." In the holograph he touched one and set it shifting back and forth like a pendulum. Even from our perspective the string vanished into the ether. As I suspected, he stayed there watching the cycle for a few minutes. That was Narihisago, getting caught up in the details.

"Wait … what's that? Is that … someone else?"

Some distance away from him on the holograph a figure appeared. I switched to the screen, seeing all the detail he did in the virtual world. Out of the darkness a figure sat before one of the mirrors facing it. A dark haired young woman in a simple white gown.

He jogged toward her, waving a hand in the air. "Hey! Miss … hello? Do you know what's going on here?"

~Narihisago~

I couldn't believe my luck. I had found someone else in this strange endless hall of mirrors. Even if she was a fair distance away she might have more of a clue than I did what was going on. My sneakers squeaked against the smooth polished flooring as I came up behind her shoulder. Everything was reflective in here. Why? That detail bothered me—deep down in my bones I knew it was important. For some reason my calling had done nothing to stir her. I knelt down and leaned forward—to quite the shock!

I scrambled backward! Her white dress was stained a dark red. The source obvious. She stared lidlessly forward into the mirror. The entire skin of her face had been removed down to the muscle and bone. Her skull morbidly grinned back.

After the momentary shock, an eerie calmness settled over me, as though this were commonplace enough. Curiosity overcame any apprehension and I crept forward studying her missing face. It had been done with a deft hand, as if making a perfect mask of the flesh. But why?

I glimpsed the reflection and my eyes widened. The reflection! It was her face! Her actual face. Bright green eyes stared lifelessly forward out of the mirror back at me and suddenly my mouth moved of its own accord.

"Kaeru." It was like a dam burst and flooded my brain. "I don't know this girl. But I know her name is Kaeru. And by knowing that I know I am Sakaido … I don't know my last name, but that is irrelevant. I am here for a purpose. I am the brilliant detective who must solve Kaeru's murder." I stood firmly, fists at my side, determination in my blood.

Now—this felt right.

~Momoki~

"Sakaido?" Wakashika called out. "Who the hell is Sakaido? You called him something else. Wait, unless Sakaido is his first name?"

"Narihisago, I addressed him by his last name. And no it's not, I've never heard Sakaido before." My brow furrowed, this certainly was odd. "Habutae, the girl he called Kaeru is this one of the know victims?" Before he even answered I knew. I nearly gasped at the reflection in the mirror. Kiki Asukai? No—it couldn't be. This wasn't possible. Granted, she'd been missing for a long while, never had turned up. Had this Face-lifter murdered her?

"That's a negative, sir. So she could be an unknown. Or, since this is the subconscious maybe the next one?"

I shook off the shock, had to maintain focus. "Keep an eye out for indications. Shiratake, this look like any place?"

"I have been searching for amusement parks, gallery displays, museums or any places known to have an extensive use of glass. Unfortunately no matches thus far. My guess would be this is some manifestation of an emotional response that bares no resemblance to reality. We are in the subconscious where reality no longer strictly applies."

"Regretfully what I was considering myself. This hall is huge. Hopefully he'll start exploring more of it."

"This is strange." Togo rubbed her chin. "His whole thought process has completely changed. It's hyper-focused."

"Honestly not surprised." He was an amazing detective. Come on Narihisago, you got this!

~Narihisago~

Drops of blood. A trail. I lifted my head and narrowed my gaze. It vanished deeper into the mirrored maze. Who would try to hide in a series of mirrors? Reflections were terrible for concealing things, unless one was a magician with a keen understanding of how to use them to his advantage. Had Kearu been a magician's assistant and killed in an accident?

Certainly not. No accident could have pealed off her face with edges that cleanly. That was done deliberately with a tool. I followed the droplets. Had she died before, during, or after the removal? She'd certainly seemed shocked. I doubted she would have cooperated with it.

The trail vanished into the surface of a mirror, nothing behind it or off to either side. That was weird. A few down the row I spied another figure seated before a mirror gazing into it. Another occupant of this hall? Or another victim?

"Hrm. What's going on he—urck!"

Just as I passed the mirror a shadowy hand reached out from behind and gripped my windpipe, attempting to crush it. I grabbed at the arm, trying to fend off the choke hold but it remained stubbornly and painfully in place, pressing me up against a chest and lifting my kicking feet off the ground.

The sound of an electric blade next to my ear alarmed me. Seconds later it appeared in the corner of my eye, vibrating as it moved in front of my face. The reflection of my shocked expression turning rapidly bluer from lack of air burned into my brain.

Oh fuck! I'm going to die and no one would find Kaeru's killer! I couldn't scream, but the thoughts ran rampant through my brain.

Inch my inch I watched the blade drift upward, crossing my eyes, until it touched the skin of my forehead right below the scalp. A throbbing fire ignited. I couldn't move, couldn't break free as the blood streamed into my eyes. My mouth opened, and the blood drenched fingers slipped enough that a full-throated scream tore from my lungs. The flap of detached skin fell forward as the electric blade continued on its unrelenting path downward pealing my face from my skull.

I was drowning in my own blood, blinded by the agony, and unable to break free from my assailant.

Kaeru … I'm so sorry … I wanted to solve it … I tried …

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh … !"

~Momoki~

I stared in abject horror at the sight. His scream from inside the well penetrated my very core. I wasn't the only one shaken. A series of shocked curses and harsh breathing filled the room. Then … the cries within the well fell silent. In the holographic ring Sakaido's body slumped in a pool of digital blood.

What had I done?

"Momoki … " Togo's breathy voice broke the stupor, "Uhhh it appears that our brilliant detective … has died."

Shiratake gulped. "That never happened in the test dives. What in the hell was that?"

I stuttered, "Eject him … shit, eject him now. Please let him be ok. That shouldn't have happened."

Togo hit the button. "Ejecting now."

A sharp inhale over the speaker from the room below, like a swimmer gasping for air.

Thank God! "Narihisago, speak to—"

"Ahhhhhhh! What the fuck happened? What was that? Oh God … ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

He wasn't listening, wasn't even hearing me. Locked in a panic, I was losing him. I watched on the screen as he scrambled out of the dimly lit cockpit like the thing was on fire and rammed himself into a huddled pile in the fetal position on the floor a fair distance away. His hands obsessed over touching his face. He kept screaming.

"This is not good! Everyone stand-by!" I hit the mute button and killed my window, opening the staircase I dashed down below the Wellside making a beeline for the chamber. I had to calm him down. Only then could I sort out what had just happened.

Who was I kidding … I knew what happened. I had just watched my friend get brutally murdered.