NUMACHI NO KYUKETSUKI
Chapter 3: "Investigation"
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.


Detective Kinogura met Sailor Uranus in the hall near the front desk of the campus station. When the police detective got a glimpse of Uranus, his face betrayed a scowl before he shoved it behind his "public mask". Uranus had run into the attitude before, but shoved her feelings behind her own "public mask". A confrontation wouldn't get her the information she was looking for.

"Which one were you again?" Kinogura asked. He was thirty-seven, medium height and build with thick black hair. His suit was cheap, but fit him well, and his face hadn't acquired the tired look Uranus could remember seeing on other police officers.

"Sailor Uranus," she responded neutrally. "I don't get as much publicity as some of the others, so it's not surprising that you don't recognize me."

"Uh huh," Kinogura responded. It was going to be like that. "Do you want to step back into one of the interrogation rooms so we can talk in private? I figure you don't want the particulars of this case getting around anymore than I do. And you do kind of attract attention."

"I tried to get the skirt changed to slacks, but they wouldn't go for it," Uranus quipped. It fell flat. "Sure."

Inside one of the interrogation rooms, Kinogura gestured to a seat, then sat down at a table across from her. When Uranus took her seat, he leaned forward.

"So what's the Crown's interest in this case?" he asked. "And does that mean it's more than just a simple missing person?"

Uranus considered her response. "There's been some talk about a demon or yokai or something called Numachi No Kyuketsuki that might be responsible for the disappearance," Uranus told him.

"You believe that?" Kinogura asked.

"Too soon to tell," Uranus responded. "Sure, ninety-five percent of these reports end up being because someone had too little education or too much sake. But we have to check it out in case it ends up being in the other five percent, along with the Ice Giants and the Dream-stealing Circuses." It seemed to satisfy the detective, though he openly still wasn't thrilled by her presence.

"So what have you found?" he asked.

"Nothing concrete either for or against," Uranus said. "That's why I'm here. I want to find out how far you've gotten and if you've turned up anything one way or another."

Kinogura remained silent. He wouldn't look at Uranus and seemed to be debating his next response.

"Hey, we're all on the same side here," Uranus bristled.

"Are we?" the detective said, looking at her now. "I know the directive came down from Tokyo that you Senshi are in charge and that we're supposed to cooperate with you. Maybe that's fine for Tokyo. We usually don't get space aliens in Niigata, so our force and our methods work just fine. We don't need 'Warriors of Love and Justice' taking over."

"Look, I'm not here to put you out of your job," Uranus sighed. "I'm here to find that missing student. As long as she gets found alive and safe, I don't care if you do it or I do. I'm not looking for credit and you don't have to like me. I just want to find that student and whoever or whatever took her."

"Yeah," Kinogura sighed. "OK. According to witnesses, Nobumura left work within a few minutes either side of ten p.m., headed for the bus stop east of the restaurant she worked at. That's the last time anyone saw her - - at least anyone who has come forward."

"You guys got traffic cameras up here?"

"There's a camera at the intersection next to the bus stop," Kinogura informed her. "There's no record of her reaching the bus stop."

"How far away is it from the restaurant?"

"A block and a half," the detective said. "There's a small street between the stop and the restaurant she could have turned down. It's full of student residences mixed with a few private homes. Uniformed officers canvassed the block on both sides. Nobody saw or heard anything and there was nothing suspicious beyond a car with expired tags."

"Gives me a place to start looking," Uranus commented. "Any previous incidents in that area?"

"Just the usual noise complaints, public intoxication and fist fights - - a couple of shoplifting calls," the detective reported. "Nothing that would indicate a sexual predator or a serial murderer."

"And nobody was out at that time?" Uranus asked. "Does this place roll up the streets at ten?"

"A few homeless people sleep in the parking lot of the book store across from the bus stop," Kinogura replied. "We questioned them all, but nobody had any useful information. And yes, we checked their records. The worst thing we found was a couple of them had been jailed in the past for vagrancy or public intoxication." He paused a moment. "You might find this interesting. One of them suggested we look in the fenced off marsh near campus. None of them will go near the place."

"I'll keep that in mind," Uranus nodded. "Anything else?"

"No," Kinogura sighed and his frustration was clear to Uranus. "Somewhere between the restaurant and the bus stop, someone - - or something - - swooped in, snatched her up and disappeared with her. And all we can do right now is keep looking."

"Yeah," Uranus scowled. "Thanks. If I find something out, I'll let you know. Maybe together we can crack this case."

"Uh huh," Kinogura said, rising from his chair. "You know, I almost hope that it's a yokai or something else out of the ordinary. Because I'd hate to think a human could be capable of striking this quickly and this anonymously. Because how safe is anyone then?"


Michiru closed her cell phone and headed east from the Chinese restaurant. Haruka had just passed on everything she had learned from the police. Earlier she had talked to Artemis back in Tokyo. He had run a computer check on the area for anything unusual. Since 1945, there had been no recorded instances of any unusual sightings, no unusual recordings of radiation, energy, volcanic, seismic, radar or sonic levels, and nothing unusual beyond the persistent legend of Numachi No Kyuketsuki. Several attempts to develop the land had been made and abandoned over the years due unspecified problems with the work crews.

He reported that area had experienced twelve missing persons reports, with eight of them resolved. Two of the missing persons had turned up dead: one in 2002 and one in 1991. No killer had been found. Michiru asked for a file on both cases to be transmitted to her.

At the street between the restaurant and the bus stop, Michiru turned north and began leisurely walking down the street. As she walked, she would snap photos of houses, yards, trees and anything else she deemed significant. The wind blew at her skirt, occasionally giving someone who might be watching her a glimpse of leg. Once the breeze tugged at the sun hat she wore, forcing her to reach for it before it blew away.

"Hey, Miss!" a youthful voice yelled at her. "Take our picture!"

Michiru turned and saw three young men standing by the entrance to an apartment building. They were dressed in sweat shirts and shorts and looked just past twenty. Smirking, Michiru turned the camera to them and aimed. Immediately the youths struck flamboyant poses. She snapped a picture. They took it as an invitation to come over.

"Did you get our good sides?" one asked. He had a fair build, brown hair and glasses.

"You don't have one, Akuda!" mocked the second. He was more stocky with close-cut black hair. Michiru turned the camera and showed them the image stored on the memory card.

"Are we going to be in the paper?" asked the third. He had nice hair and a pleasant face, but seemed gangling and awkward.

"I don't work for the papers," Michiru told them. "I'm just collecting photographs. The most interesting ones will be published in a book I'm planning."

"For real?" asked Akuda, the one with glasses. "Are you an artist?"

"Are you famous?" asked the burly one.

"Some people think of me that way," Michiru smiled.

"Who are you?"

"Michiru Kaioh?" Michiru responded. No immediate recognition came.

"Hey!" the burly one said suddenly. "You're the girlfriend of Haruka Tenoh, the Formula 1 driver!"

"Wow, you are famous!" exclaimed the gangling one.

"Yes . . ." Michiru nodded stiffly.

"We thought you were with the press," he continued. "They've been all over the place the last couple of days, ever since that one girl disappeared."

"I think I heard something about that," Michiru nodded. "What happened?"

"Nobody knows," Akuda spoke up. "She just vanished one night."

"Did any of you know her?" They all shook their heads. "Well, that's certainly alarming news. Do things like that happen around here a lot?"

"No," Akuda shook his head. "Campus is usually pretty safe. I mean, we get our share of suspicious characters because a lot of people think college students are easy marks."

"Mainly because a lot of them are," the gangling one spoke up.

"There's things to watch out for, but nothing like this has happened in a long time."

"How long ago?" Michiru asked.

"I don't know," shrugged Akuda. "Ten or fifteen years ago, at least."

"Yeah, the only really bad thing that's happened around here was the Ice Giants," the burly one added. "And that happened everywhere. Niigata's a pretty nice place, except for the humidity. I'm glad I came here."

"It'll probably end up that she ran off with her boyfriend or something," the gangling one ventured. "You know women." Michiru's eyebrow raised, but she said nothing.

"Maybe she got into an accident or something," offered the burly one. "She could be laying in a hospital hurt and nobody knows her name and neither does she."

"That's the soap opera you watched last week," Akuda scowled.

"Are there places that could be that dangerous around here?" Michiru asked innocently.

"Like old wells or condemned buildings?" the burly one asked. "Not that I know of. Land is pretty scarce in this end of the city and it doesn't sit unused."

"Well, there's the marsh," the gangling one added.

The other two looked at him disapprovingly.

"That's where that silly legend exists, isn't it?" Michiru queried. "What was the name of it?"

"Numachi No Kyuketsuki," he nodded. "Nobody wants to believe in it. But something's in there."

"You've seen it?"

"Well," he grimaced, "no. But you never see any birds or animals in there. And an undisturbed wetland like that is going to have wildlife. It's weird."

"You're weird, Mamatsuchi!" frowned the burly one. "Nobody believes in marsh vampires except weird-o's and little kids! Don't pay any attention to him, Ma'am."

"Well it would make a great picture," Michiru said for effect. "But if you think it's dangerous . . ."

"It's probably nothing," Akuda surmised. "But the locals all avoid the place, so maybe it would be a good idea to do that, too."

"All right," Michiru smiled. "Well, you three must have finals to study for, so I'll be on my way."

"Let us know if you print our picture!" the burly one said. Michiru gave them a smile and a wave as she walked off.

"Man, it's such a shame that someone who looks like that is into girls," she heard Mamatsuchi say as she walked off. It passed off her back, because Michiru was too busy taking pictures and turning over the information she'd learned in her mind.


At eight p.m., the lights in the book store on the west part of campus went out. Within minutes, people began to congregate in the parking lot. Several tents went up in the back of the lot, near the loading dock.

Haruka Tenoh watched all of this from the bus stop. Satisfied, she looked around the rest of the area. The bus stop was well lit and she saw the traffic cam mounted by the traffic signal. The entire street was well lit. The woman glanced down toward the Chinese restaurant. The stretch between the restaurant and the stop was less well lit, and the residential street between them was just as bad. The area wasn't pitch black, but there were placed for predators to hide. Haruka's time on the streets told her that.

Finishing, she crossed the street and walked over toward the tents. There was a half dozen men, all homeless and either down on their luck or unwilling to take advantage of Japan's shelters. Several of them eyed her suspiciously as she approached.

"What you want?" one of them said when Haruka got within ten feet. He was about forty-five with shabby clothes, shabby stubble on his face and mild defiance in his eyes. The others were a mix of ages, some as young as twenty-four and one in his sixties.

"Just want to ask a few questions, if that's OK," Haruka replied calmly.

"You another cop?" he sneered. "If this is about the girl that disappeared, they already asked their questions."

"But did they ask the right ones?" Haruka shot back. "I'm no cop. Just someone who wants to find Nobumura-San safe and sound."

"Like we told the cops, we don't know nothing," he grumbled. "Now push off. I need my beauty sleep."

"Will two thousand yen change somebody's mind?" Haruka asked. And she slipped a pair of thousand yen notes out of her jeans.

"That depends," grinned the shabby man. "What if I just go over there and take it?"

"You can try," Haruka replied stonily.

The scruffy man sized Haruka up. They glared at each other for several moments. Haruka judged that he thought she was a man and it probably helped dissuade him. Finally he smiled, revealing misshapen teeth.

"OK, you win," he grinned. "Numachi No Kyuketsuki got her. I saw it myself. It grew out of a shadow, grabbed the girl from behind and dragged her back into the shadow kicking and screaming! That's the last anyone ever saw of her." He held out his hand. "Now give me my money."

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you?" Haruka smirked cynically.

The man scowled, then spit on the ground and climbed into one of the tents. Several of the others followed suit. Haruka sighed, then turned and began walking away. But a noise behind her betrayed soft footsteps. Haruka turned and found the twenty-four year old cautiously approaching, his worn athletic shoes concealing his approach. Seeing that Haruka was aware of him, the man stopped. He had black hair and a face that had been attractive once, but was fading due to neglect.

"Something you just thought of?" Haruka asked as a challenge.

"I," he began, fear strangling his words. Haruka couldn't tell if her was afraid of her or afraid of betraying a confidence. "The woman you're looking for. I saw her."

"Yeah?"

"I did! I swear I did!"

"Where?"

"Over there," and he pointed to the street running between the bus stop and the restaurant. "It was two nights ago. It was dark and the moon was up in the sky, so it was probably ten or ten thirty. I was up, um, taking a leak, and I saw her walking down the street. I noticed her because I thought she looked kind of pretty. Of course now-a-days just about any woman looks pretty. It's been so long . . ."

"About where did you see her?" Haruka prodded.

"Over there. She was just getting ready to cross the street. And I looked away." He swallowed. "And when I looked back, she was gone. It was just a few seconds."

"What, did she get dragged into a shadow?" scowled Haruka.

"No!" he exclaimed. "Well, I don't know. I don't know what happened. It's just she was there, I looked away, and when I looked back she was gone." He looked down. "And I wasn't high that night. I didn't have enough money to score anything. So I was clear-headed. Well, as clear-headed as I've been in a while."

"You didn't see anyone else? Any cars or vehicles, anybody else walking on the street?"

"Nothing. It was just her. She didn't act like anyone was following her. I don't know what got her. That's all I know." And he glanced at the two thousand yen.

"This is straight?" Haruka asked.

"It's all I know," he replied earnestly. "I hope you find her. I'm not that far gone."

After a moment, Haruka handed the notes to him. He took the money and gave her an embarrassed little bow.

"Word of advice?" Haruka offered. "Use that to buy a hot meal instead of a score."

"I'll try," the man replied and slunk off, quickly concealing the money from his sleeping companions. Haruka turned and stared at the corner. There was enough concealment and shadow in that particular spot that someone could hide and ambush her.

Or some thing.

Slowly ambling toward the corner, Haruka pulled her cell phone out and called Michiru. At that moment, she was of a mind to ask Michiru to ask Rei if there were such things as demons who pulled people into shadows.

"Haruka?" Michiru answered and Haruka could hear the agitation in her voice.

"What's up?"

"Junko's last class ended at six, didn't it?"

"Yeah. Why? Isn't she home?"

"No."

A cold dread flooded over the sandy blonde's body.

Continued in Chapter 4