Chapter Thirty: Observers Come Together
Ichiko Ohya consistently measured the nuances of every situation she found herself in. Beneath her seemingly careless attitude, and her deliberately outdated fashion taste, she was a highly analytical person. It was this mix of diligence and acute attention to detail what earned her reputation as the top freelance journalist in Tokyo. But there was something else to her: a strong, even overbearing sense of curiosity, which led her to unforeseen, but highly rewarding scoops.
Today, she followed in her usual modus operandi, but it was not a scoop what she sought. The things she was about to learn would not see the light of day, and would not boost her clout in the business. She was not doing this for fame, or even for love to her craft. She was doing this for someone she cared about – for a young man called Akira Kurusu.
She barely managed to hide her smirk at the strange turn of events that evening in Crossroads. In pursuing a revelation for a young, bespectacled man with messy hair and bad posture, she was about to interview another bespectacled man with messy hair and even worse posture.
His name was Tomohiro Higashi. On paper, he held a small position in the human resources department of White Pheasant – a company devoted to organic foods, sexual health, and skin care. More importantly, she found him to be the closest link to the company's chairman, Susumu Kamiyama, who went missing under mysterious circumstances. It took Ichiko quite the effort to search past the wall of public relations, and find someone who would talk about the chairman with true honesty. She made it very clear that her line of inquiry would be unconventional. She cast a morsel of suspicion, and somebody took the bait.
Higashi was visibly nervous about the whole affair. It was understandable given how things must look from his perspective. Walking into a joint in Shinjuku that had closed early for the occasion was not the most appealing of activities. On top of that, he was about to have a chat with somebody who appeared to know more than they should about a matter nobody was supposed to know about. For a moment, Ichiko considered buying him a drink if that would put him at ease. But, being a recovering alcoholic, this still put her in too close contact with a vice she struggled hard to kick.
Lala-chan read the situation at once, however, and poured a watered down whiskey for Tomohiro without her friend's involvement. The man thanked her, his voice too quiet for comfort, and quietly sipped his drink until the glass was half empty.
"Thanks for agreeing to meeting with me, Higashi-kun." Ichiko began. "This must all be quite the shock, I imagine, with your boss going MIA, and all." Her approach fell on a very specific tone, slightly aggressive, a little playful, with a subtle hint of concern. "How are you holding up?"
"We've been quite shaken, Ohya-san." He spoke formally, as she anticipated.
"No wonder, but is that the company… or you yourself speaking?" Directness was one of her tools of choice. Headline culture was the norm; precedence of the collective over the individual when it came to people at the helm of grand enterprises. Subverting it was the way to go when unearthing controversial opinions. But today, she was trying to find the kind of thing often relegated to gossip and rumours.
"Both." To her surprise, his answer was quick and doubtless, like a reflex.
"Oh? A loyal employee, I see! That is a good thing, I've looked into Kamiyama-san himself. A man of fine repute…"Ichiko feigned scrolling through notes on her phone. "No PR damage control, no scandals… hah, not even a mistress to speak of. It's not that rare, mind you. But it's nice to see."
Tomohiro stayed quiet. Ohya kept 'reviewing' her notes while discreetly observing his body language. Even the way he kept his silence reminded her of Akira.
"Alright, everything seems to be in order… now, first question. What do you, Tomohiro Higashi, make of Kamiyama-san's many contributions to charity?" She put her phone down, near his field of vision, and made sure to close all applications for him to see. Then she linked her hands under her chin, foregoing all intent of recording his answers.
"Kamiyama-san wants to do something for the world. He believes things can and should be better for everybody."
"Very noble. Have you considered he may be doing this to shine White Pheasant's reputation?"
"Never. Kamiyama-san's cares are genuine." Higashi sounded slightly offended.
"I don't mean to imply anything, Higashi-kun. You know how it is, though. It's a jungle out there. The best entrepreneurs aim for a position of advantage, and everybody loves a hero at the top, after all."
"No. Kamiyama-san is not a hero. He'd never accept being called such. He just… wants to do right."
"Hmm, maybe he wouldn't call himself a hero, but it seems to me you would. Call him a hero, that is."
Tomohiro looked flustered.
"You truly believe in him, don't you? This isn't just loyalty to your employer. I mean, I don't think he personally hired you. There's a pretty huge gap between his position and yours. The way you speak isn't that of a star employee, or a partner. Why is that, Higashi-kun?"
"He did a lot for me." Tomohiro said, after a brief silence. "I mean, not especially for me. He's loyal to all of the people under him. He's looked after us all when others would see just a… mass of people who work for him."
"So the hype is real…" Ohya mused. "It's pretty early still, and we have plenty of time. Why don't you tell me about the things he's done for you and your colleagues?"
She did not truly need to know of the chairman's unsung, laudable exploits, but this was her way of easing him into her territory. She was still only following a hunch. If it proved misguided, this evening would end up merely a dead end with nothing lost. But if she truly was on to something, she would definitely need to earn his trust before going in for the strike.
Tomohiro made good use of the time Ichiko gave him. He expressed himself fully on the things Susumu Kamiyama did for the people, and not only for those working under him. Despite Higashi's candour, he did not pour his heart out like many of Crossroads' regulars often did – something for which Ichiko was very grateful. Yet, every now and then, his voice rose for the briefest moments, hinting at a personal regard for the company's chairman; not as Tomohiro's boss, but as a human being.
The journalist theorised from his words that life for Tomohiro Higashi would be far bleaker thing if not for White Pheasant's leader. The sum of context and testimony confirmed that the reputation around Susumu Kamiyama was a very real thing. This made the following step harder to approach, and all the more baffling to conceive.
"Well, Higashi-kun. I appreciate your testimony. Seems Kamiyama-san really has earned the loyalty of his workers." She allowed herself a blink of heartfelt sincerity. "It's a good thing, you know, working under someone you can really look up to. That's rarer than you'd imagine, you can quote me on that."
She lifted her eyebrows on the pause that followed. A non-verbal manner of saying she knew something did not fit the narrative. Tomohiro's bashful expression confirmed that he also knew. Despite the distance between his and the chairman's positions in the company, Susumu Kamiyama was the closest thing Tomohiro had to a friend. This closeness allowed him to see the man in light, and in the shadow.
"You know what I'm getting at here, don't you? Now, before I ask you more on that, let me just tell you… from what I've looked up, there was no harm at all to speak of. No incidents reported, no damage or grievous harm on the populace. This was a victimless… well, technically yes, a victimless crime. So, uh, clean conscience, you're with me here?"
Tomohiro nodded.
"Over a year ago, Kamiyama-san pulled a very peculiar arrangement. The chain of command on this thing is unbelievably long, you don't even wanna know… but to put it simply, your boss called for the purveyance of electrical service to be cut for a couple of hours in a small town out in the coast." Ichiko picked up her phone, pretending to look through notes on it. "Kawasaki, it seems…"
The bespectacled man said nothing. He looked very uncomfortable.
"Like I said, there was no real consequence to any of this. It's kept under serious wraps, as if it was some huge eyes only kinda thing, but all in all, there's really nothing for me to gain out of bringing this to the light. At most, it may fetch me kudos in some conspiracy theory message board." Ichiko disguised her tension on following the white hare beneath a carefree smile. "But it's still weird. You can deny it if you want, but I get this aura from you - that you think it's weird too." She drew near "A man like Susumu Kamiyama, the man at the top of his market, who earned his position and his people's faith through hard work during rough times, he wouldn't do something like this for no reason at all…"
Tomohiro reached for his glass, and finished what remained of his drink.
"Higashi-kun. Do you know why your boss did that?"
"I don't know…" The words that came out of his mouth were like pained whimper. He looked troubled, and so very different from the young man for whom she was doing this.
"I believe you. But now I have to come clean here. The thing I said about that blackout in Kawasaki, that nobody was affected. That was kind of a lie. I'm not positive on this, but somebody may have been deeply affected by that blackout. I'm talking about a friend of mine, and I owe him a lot of gratitude, just like you do Kamiyama-san. I can't prove a link between this and that, but if there's the chance for some truth, you bet your ass I'll poke and poke until I see it clearly."
Ichiko's mask slid down for an instant.
"You agreed to meet up with me, a sketchy-ass journo, for a reason. You may not know why Kamiyama-san made that call, but you have something you've been wanting to say. I only told you about my friend so you'd be aware. But I don't need to appeal to your conscience any longer, do I?"
Higashi spoke slow and quietly, as if privately unwrapping hearsay before privileged parties. Both Ichiko and Lala-chan listened attentively and refrained from making any interjections.
That night, Tomohiro Higashi told them about a strange change that started to occur in the company's chairman. The difference was not as stark as night and day, but one who knew Susumu Kamiyama could suspect something was going on. There were a few subtleties like a sudden feeling of disengagement to the man's usual warmth, and it only became easier to notice in a few days. Higashi had been in White Pheasant's payroll for several years, during which there had been easy and hard times. He knew how Susumu Kamiyama looked and acted during times of duress.
But this was different. It was not stress, nothing that could be chalked to the company's performance, anyway. Things were going well; there was even a possible partnership with Okumura Foods in the horizon. It simply made no sense. The chairman's personal assistant, a woman called Ai Fukuda, had apparently noticed something as well. Hushed word around the company was that she managed to convince the chairman to consult a specialist on work-related mental wellness.
One day, Kamiyama called for an impromptu meeting with all personnel. He spoke before the crowd gathered in White Pheasant's courtyard regarding the specialist's assessment: nothing was wrong with him. He went on to address and dispel the rumours regarding his well-being, and even took the chance to talk about mental issues related to stress from work, and encouraged all of his employees to be very mindful of their own mental well-being as well. Something was evident throughout this event – he truly looked as if nothing was or had ever been wrong with him. He was his usual kind and committed self.
But Tomohiro suspected still. Perhaps this was a façade he put on to keep morale high amongst his employees, because try as he might, Higashi could simply not forget the change. It was subtle, but it had been there. And hiding troubles from the people working under him was something Kamiyama would definitely do. But the young employee knew he would gain nothing from talking about this with his co-workers. The machinery of gossip would merely start again, to no effect.
So one evening, he decided to venture out of his work station, and discreetly make his way to the top floor of the building. Ai Fukuda had gone home for the day, but the chairman was still in his office as he was occasionally wont to do. Tomohiro hesitated to knock on the door, but something strange took place within this brief period.
On hindsight, this hesitation may have saved his life.
He heard Susumu Kamiyama's voice reverberating inside his office in a most peculiar way. He could not precisely make out the words, but the chairman's tone oscillated between anxious and eager. Fearing a bad situation may be occurring, Higashi may have simply turned the doorknob if not for the sound that interjected in the chairman's voice.
Tomohiro paused for a moment. He tried to find a halfway adequate way to describe what it sounded like. The closest thing he could come up with was a pair of massive stone doors, at least a century old, creaking open to a wide maw of a cavern. But even within that long, drawn-out sound, there was a semblance of articulation, like words muffled by a storm. Furthermore, Kamiyama seemed to respond to this impossible sound. And seconds later, he seemed to be having a conversation with the void.
But stranger than the actual sound was what Higashi himself felt as it 'spoke'. It was not pain per se. But every time, he was flooded with a harrowing, sickly sensation, like his own insides were trying to climb out of his mouth. Somehow, Higashi was able to eavesdrop for a couple of minutes more, but he soon brushed his limits and ran away, not caring whether that gave his presence away. That night, in his apartment, he was left with a lingering sensation, like something of his was lost and could never be retrieved again.
Come the morrow, that sensation faded and everything was apparently back to normal. Tomohiro considered the possibility that he merely dreamed this episode. But that was a falsehood he could not believe. For several days after, he stayed after work hours to listen on the other side of the chairman's door. These bizarre exchanges continued, leading up to the day when, according to the gathered information, the Kawasaki blackout took place.
The mental exhaustion from the experience, and from keeping quiet about it for over a year was clear to Ichiko and Lala-chan. Tomohiro's common sense urged him to talk about it, to get the authorities involved, but who would believe him? At one point, he even considered trying to put a request on the PhanSite, but the forum was long defunct. Higashi afforded a sad chuckle on this: he contemplated asking for the Phantom Thieves' help, and Susumu Kamiyama happened to be their outspoken, faithful supporter.
Tomohiro noted that something changed during these 'conversations' after the Kawasaki blackout. Susumu Kamiyama's tone sounded much different while talking to the other 'presence'. The anxiety was apparently gone, and he started sounding more consistently enthusiastic, rapturously so even. The other party started communicating less and less, and with that, Kamiyama's own voice began to distort. Then one night, the conversations between the two ended. Tomohiro guessed this may be the time to quit this habit.
But every now and then, he stood outside the chairman's door, and listened carefully. Susumu Kamiyama had taken to apparently having conversations with himself, as if he were speaking for the two parties. These strange verbal bouts were far easier to hear through the door than the ones before. Sometimes they were long speeches on Kamiyama's personal philosophy, and sometimes they were just ramblings. Often, he alluded to some kind of scheme, which involved somebody 'crossing over', but he never went into much detail on that. Whichever the topic, Tomohiro Higashi noticed that one word became a staple in the vocabulary of those evening sessions.
Benefactor.
[ ]
For a few moments, the only thing in Sadayo Kawakami's head that made any sense was how lovely of an evening this was. Her ears were deaf to the bustling sounds of Shinjuku after sunset; in their stead, she kept remembering a song she was obsessed with during her adolescence.
"The Real Folk Blues" by Mai Yamane and The Seatbelts.
Her mother used to say that jazz always made a comeback during times when it was exciting to be alive. Sadayo was unsure whether this held true, but things were certainly eventful as of late. Springtime laid a cover of violet and red over the sky, giving the city a strange, lonely feel. The people walked the streets, transfixed in their own sense of mundaneness, oblivious to the things unfolding behind closed curtains. She count have counted herself among those people several days ago. And it was only by chance that she got a peek through. And rather than turn away from something that appeared so dark and unpleasant, she chose to stay.
Sadayo was very passionate when actively joining her efforts to the Phantom Thieves' objective. Her heart and mind were so hotly moved to the cause that she rid herself of all doubt the previous night. Only her mood changed come the next day, while her intent remained. But now that she actually sat down with the Thieves, Sojiro Sakura, and Sae Niijima, she realised she might be somewhat out of her depth.
Nobody really pressured her into contributing anything. Functionally, she was only a close witness and moral supporter. That seemed to be enough to help the Phantom Thieves, according to what Makoto's sister suggested. If she understood it well, Sadayo's support literally translated into power on the other side. That sounded bright and hopeful, but the professor could not ignore the contrasting tone during that late night discussion.
Despite their powers, the Phantom Thieves suffered a great defeat in the other side. This made Sadayo wonder if her unyielding support actually sufficed to make a difference. And it made her shudder to think of the menace they were facing, and the consequences, should they fall. It was something so unconceivable, but she knew that word meant little anymore, for good and ill.
Funny, she thought. She decided to go on a stroll to clear the noise out of her head, and now she was staring at everything that was said in LeBlanc all over again. Soon, the evening's wistful melancholy was not enough to kill her unease. She needed something to cool her thoughts, maybe someone to talk to.
Sadayo looked a few stores ahead at one rather colourful establishment. She considered going in and buying some smut, despite the risk of being recognised after the last time she indulged a month ago. She could also maybe go for a drink, but some reason, her place of choice had closed early today. Then again, she could catch a train to Ichigaya and spend the rest of the evening at her usual fishing spot, but it may already be a little late for that.
At that moment when appealing choices seemed few, Sadayo thought to look past the river of faces into a little, unsung spot in Shinjuku. It was out in open, but one would not see it unless they knew where to look. For most people – Sadayo included - that met Chihaya Mifune for the first time, it was truly a matter of chance. After a couple of sessions with the fortune teller, Sadayo understood things had not always been this way. By her own admission, Chihaya used to be more of a con-artist than an actual practitioner of her craft. The teacher presumed there was more to the story, but she did not pry.
Sadayo did not actually expect Chihaya to be here today outside of her regular schedule. And yet she was. Chihaya noticed Sadayo at a glance, but did not greet her until she finished doing a reading for the old woman in front of her. Once she was done, she immediately broke her quiet, mysterious demeanour and greeted Sadayo with loud cheer. Sadayo could not keep her smile hidden; it was virtually impossible to keep a straight face when hearing Chihaya's thick country accent.
"Kawakami! Good to see ya! Come, sit!"
"Hello." Sadayo adjusted the back of her skirt as she sat on the cushion by the makeshift table. "Nice to see you too, Mifune-san. It's actually kind of a surprise. Isn't it your day off?"
"Well… yeah! But, you know, I was feeling kind of… what's the word?"
"Bored?"
"Close, but fancier-sounding. Um, restless? No, listless!"
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah, it's no big deal. I get like this sometimes." A flash of gloom passed over the fortune teller's face. "What about you? What brings you to Shinjuku today?"
"I was just taking a walk. It's a very pretty evening, and I didn't want to spend it cooped inside." This was not a lie in itself, but there was much more to the reason than she felt comfortable telling.
"It really is. Kinda reminds me of home, you know? You city folk don't know what you're missing out on." Chihaya produced a thermos and two plastic cups. She served some her homemade mugicha for the both, having decided to call it a day. "So, did you meet him?"
Sadayo froze for a second.
"Huh!?"
"Did you meet him? Or wait… really Kawakami? Did you forget our last session? I told you that you were soon to meet a handsome stranger! Tall, dark and all that! Did you?"
"U-um, do you mean meeting the guy, or forgetting the last reading?"
"Either?"
"Well…" The teacher felt a little less flustered by now. She realised how on edge she truly was, just by how the question reminded her about the situation with Akira and the rest. In a way, it still did, as the reading proved rather accurate. Sadayo's thoughts momentarily returned to the day before, to the small crowd assembled inside of LeBlanc. Their eyes met for only a moment; after that, she consciously made an effort to avoid looking at him.
Iwai Munehisa did fit the vague description provided by Chihaya - to an extent, at least. He seemed to tilt the scale more on the side of 'dark' than the 'all that', though. Regardless of the imposing first impression, Sadayo felt a little relieved that meeting did not necessarily equate to getting to know him. And yet, she still wondered.
"So?" The seer pried, with an enthusiastic look in her eyes.
"Yeah? Something like that?" Sadayo realised she had been playing with her hair during her short reflection about Iwai Munehisa. She stopped immediately.
"You gotta tell me all about that, Kawakami!" Chihaya was giddy, almost bouncing up and down in her cushion.
"Ha, maybe I will, but later. Right now, let's just talk about something else. It's been a really long day, and I just want to keep my mind off of things."
"Okay, if you say so. You really do look kinda tense, though. Barley does wonders for that, ya know?"
Sadayo and Chihaya began to chat the evening away, talking about all kinds of things, and straying further and further away into trivialities. This accomplished what reading smut, drinking, fishing, or any combination of the three could not: Sadayo's head was clear and light. She did not even care to remember the days when she was a student when she used to meet up with friends and take each day as it came, certain that this brightness of spirit would last forever. In feeling such serenity in the now, Sadayo proved to herself that her teenage self was neither wrong nor naïve to think so.
"So, what do you think of these?" Chihaya pulled out a strange object and put it in front of Sadayo. It was a small figurine of clay, vaguely shaped like a light bulb with bright colours painted on.
"What is that?" The teacher squinted as she picked it up.
"It's a souvenir! Well, not yet. It's just a thing I made yesterday. I was bored as all hell and I thought I might as well put my hands to work. But I'm thinking of making a bunch and sell them as a something of a side hustle. I used to sell some salt stones bullshit back in the day. That eventually turned out poorly, but I'd like to try something new."
"It kinda looks like a…. bear?" The face of the figurine had large eyes and a thin line of a mouth. Its body below the face was red, and its ears and nape were blue. "I don't know why but I'm getting some dirty vibes from this."
"It really does, huh? It's just a prototype thing, really. Between you and I, that salt stone thing was a trick I had to sell as some sort of important artefact that could legit improve your luck. Ugh, I'll tell you about that someday. But I got to thinking, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to sell souvenirs aside from doing tarot readings and palming. Maybe that would get me a bigger clientele even!"
"Maybe. I mean, many people do like to collect trinkets and little things. I know I do. And handmade stuff is starting to become trendy. I think you should do this, just a little less… pervert like."
"Yeah. I do kinda like this little depravate, though." Chihaya passed her fingers over the figurine's surface. "I didn't see it at first, but I do see it now. This really does look like a bear with base instincts, if you get my meaning. But I think that's the beauty of souvenirs. You can kinda give them a meaning of their own. People sell them as a piece of some place, but you add a little more when you buy them because they become part of your trip or experience or whatever."
"Hmm…" Something sparked in Sadayo's head.
"If you think it this way, you don't really need to sell them as lucky artefacts. They become that because you choose to get them, because in some way, these trinkets start mattering to you."
"Eureka." A suddenly wide-eyed Sadayo muttered.
"Eh?"
"Hey, Chihaya! This little pervert looks pretty well made… can you maybe teach me how to make stuff like this?"
