Nobuyuki
"Alright, come in, make yourself comfortable," I said. "You alright then, no pain?"
I was making a particular point of making sure that my only priority was to make the survivors comfortable as we gathered them into the visitors' room once all the surgeries were done. It was not as if it was a lie-I really wanted them to be at ease. But at the same time, I also wanted to monitor their reactions to being around each other in a more discreet way, to see if there were any clues I could use to direct my questioning. For example, I had already gleaned that Mai was still feeling fragile, as Juro had dropped her off right at the door, and he had waited until she was sitting with Friede before giving me a look and then leaving. Ayuna seemed rather poised, and Takaaki had opted to sit on the floor, tucking his legs underneath a chair and avoiding looking at everyone. But I wasn't fooled that they'd be completely off their guard, no matter how much I wanted them to be comfortable. They hadn't been before, after all.
Eizo, Sadie (escorting Azami) and Ayuna all went to sit on the sofas straight away, but the others hung back. Friede hesitated for a moment, looking to Sadie for a moment.
"Free, come."
"Ahhh…."
Friede threw a wary glance at the two-way window, before then going to perch on the arm of the sofa that Mai and Azami were on. But Eikichi and Takaaki both hesitated, both looking around them suspiciously, though Takaaki made a point of hovering by the door.
"We're being watched." Eikichi declared after a moment.
"You what?" Eizo asked, where he was lounging, fairly relaxed. Or at least, he seemed relaxed. Looking closer, I could see the smile was a little strained, as if he was making an effort to have that expression.
In response, Eikichi pointed over at the two-way window. Eizo pulled a face, and laughed sheepishly.
"But, they left us alone in here, surely it's not a big deal."
"Really?" Ayuna snorted. "It's not a big deal that they're watching us, the way we were watched before?"
"It's like the dance studio." Sadie murmured.
This earnt some nods from the others, though Eikichi continued to glare at the two-way window.
"I'm going to go in there in a minute." Shizuka announced on this side of the glass. "You were right, Kurosawa-san, that they weren't likely to try and get their stories straight. "
"No, they wouldn't." I acknowledged. "But I did expect them to lower their guard a little."
"Haven't they technically had time to 'get their stories straight' anyway." Another detective asked.
"They've been in the company of someone almost all of the time since coming out-us, the doctors, child services, their parents or carers." I pointed out.
"I suppose so…"
"Did the dance studio there have a mirror? Perhaps it was actually a two-way window like this?"
Both Shizuka and I turned to look at the young detective with the cherry-red-dyed hair. Gabriel, I remembered. His eyes were bright with enthusiasm.
"Why do you ask that?"
"It's just because they immediately pegged the window as being a two-way one in which they were being watched, and then Sadie-chan directly compared it to the dance studio. And they've indicated that they're used to being watched."
Shizuka nodded slowly.
"That might be something to look into." She said slowly. "I was under the impression it was all CCTV, but if it wasn't, then that might change things. It's hard to say how, though."
"Ah, I can look into that!" Gabriel suggested eagerly.
"Take Officer Arisato with you."
When they had gone, I turned my attention to the children again.
"Well, of course they're watching us! They're trying to work out what happened." Eizo said. "Right?"
"It doesn't matter." Eikichi cut in, decisively. "They're watching us. We know what it's like, so we have to be careful. Just in case."
His frown deepened, and the others also shifted, looking uncomfortable. Sadie put her arm around Azami, the only one whose reaction had not changed.
"Detective Kurosawa."
I looked to Shizuka, and nodded.
"Let's go."
"Alright," I said. "We figured that it would be a lot easier to give you the information you needed to know now, as a group, and then we and Detective Takamoto here can ask you some questions of our own. How does that sound to you?"
I gestured to the detective I had with me, a colleague from Cold Cases. I had originally planned to have Juro with me, but I'd quickly worked out that that wasn't going to, well, work. Instead, he was going back to the station to try and track down some of the original witnesses whose evidence had gradually helped us to pinpoint the survivors' location.
"That works for us." Ayuna said before anyone else could, voice confident.
I noticed Eikichi glance at her, mouth slightly curled in irritation, before he let out a slight breath and returned his attention to me. Azami too gave her a look, though more wide-eyed in surprise. Indeed, if it wasn't for the fact that she somehow seemed paler than the night before and that she had her hands curled into tight fists on her lap, I would have thought she seemed relatively calm, considering the circumstances. I nodded slowly, and decided to plough on.
"Well then," I said. "I think the first concern was whether or not the trackers were active, but all the indications suggest that they were not. It seemed they worked only in tandem with your tablets and the sensors at Shirohata."
"Electro-IDs." Eizo blurted out, before realising himself and blinking.
"Yes, the Electro-IDs." I said, taking the correction in my stride. "So it does seem like their only purpose was to monitor you within that setting."
"So, there's nothing to worry about? Akio, and Sachi?" Mai asked.
"Nothing at all." Takamoto reassured.
"Are we going to suffer any ill effects from having had them in?" Friede asked softly, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.
"No." Takamoto said. "Apart from any stitches that'll need to heal now they've been removed, there won't be and shouldn't be any issues. You were thoroughly examined."
"Yeah, I noticed." Ayuna muttered, still poised, before she posed a question of her own. "Do you have any idea why we had trackers implanted?"
"We were hoping perhaps you could enlighten us. " Takamoto said. "Thinking back on what you experienced, do you see how being tracked might have formed a part of that?"
There was not an immediate response. Instead, everyone exchanged looks, cautious and unsteady. I wondered if they were looking to each other for a signal on what to say or not to say. Except that none of them looked like they were sure, of anything. Certainly, they didn't seem to be gleaning anything at all from each other's expressions, which was strange considering their friendship. Then again, they haven't been in contact, have they….?
"I don't know." Azami eventually confessed. "Apart from maybe whoever was watching us keeping an eye. I seem to remember…."
She paused at this point, and looked to the others uncertainly once again. Eizo bit his lip, but then gave her a smile to encourage her, which then caused alarm to flit over the faces of some of the others.
"There was a particular time 'night time' started…it was 10pm, or something. It just meant that some of the rooms were ….were blocked off, and the showers were turned off too. But once….Akari and I…Akari and I…."
Azami spoke slowly, still looking to the others, but more to Eizo, in between her pauses.
"Take your time, you're doing very well." I interjected when this pause went on for a little longer than the others.
Azami nodded, clasping her hands together and looking down at them again for a moment, before once again looking at Eizo, who smiled at her once again.
"Akari and I…" she tried again. "When we were getting ready to go to bed, we heard the announcement, and then it referred to Jinsai-kun still being in the canteen."
"Oh yeah, I remember that." Takaaki piped up, surprisingly matter-of-fact. "I got locked in there that night, because I didn't leave."
"But you still didn't get to see who came in and resupplied our food." Ayuna said, with a slightly wry tone to her voice, almost smiling. "You were asleep under the table with the remains of cookie dough ice-cream all over your clothes."
"That-" Takaaki opened his mouth, then clamped it shut. "Yes, well. I only wanted midnight ice-cream."
That's a lie. Not one of commission-I was fairly sure that Takaaki had wanted ice-cream for later in the night and that he hadn't paid any regard to this rule. But he was holding something back. I glanced at Takamoto, looked to see if he had picked up on this possibility. Judging by the look he gave back, he had. I'll need to probe that one more deeply, perhaps. Let's see how things go.
"Of course you did." Ayuna said, now shaking her head. "That was what the midnight feast was for, remember?"
"That was fun…." Friede said wistfully. "Despite everything….but it doesn't matter now."
"This midnight feast, did anything happen during it?" I asked, deciding instinctively to focus on this.
"Nothing to do with the trackers." Eikichi responded brusquely.
"No, no, Monobear knew where we were, the next day. Remember?" Eizo said.
"Yes, I do. But nothing happened during the feast, did it?" Eikichi asked, with exaggerated patience.
"No….no, it didn't."
"How long into your captivity did this feast occur?" Takamoto asked.
This gained some blank looks.
"A….maybe a couple of weeks?" Mai eventually offered. "It was still pretty early on…most of us were still alive."
"Most?" Takamoto pressed.
"Can you tell us who was?" I gentled my voice as I made this request.
Once again, the survivors looked at each other. Eventually, Ayuna answered, voice slightly hushed.
"Only Nanakai-kun and Komiya-kun had died at that point."
I nodded at this, and then between us, Takamoto and I asked a few more questions about possible situations during their captivity in which their locations may have been tracked. Most of the information was, to the best of my memory, things we had already gleaned, but there were a few nuggets of information. Most importantly, I felt like I had a slightly better sense of what their experience had been like, since it seemed like the distancing years had allowed them to look back on it a little more distantly, whereas before they'd just come out of it. They had felt too in the thick of it. No wonder, when all indicators were that their privacy had been hideously invaded, and tension had deliberately been increased, for no other apparent reason than simply to keep them on edge. There was something that holding back the full truth, but there was a definite sense that sooner or later, enough pieces would come together that we'd be able to chip away at that wall.
So eventually, we decided to let them go, as long as they stayed in Towa City-which it turned out they had been planning to do. I didn't issue any other restriction apart from that-it was definitely far too early to do so. And we needed them to be at ease for now.
"We can organise transport or escorts for you, if you'd like. It might make things easier, especially since by now reporters must have found out you're here." Takamoto said. "So, where do you all need to go?"
"Well, Azami and I-" Eizo started.
"Can they come around to mine?" Mai asked.
Despite myself, I couldn't help but stare at her. That, of all things, was not what I was expecting. The other survivors seemed rather surprised too. Mai reddened and shrugged as she explained.
"Juro's working, of course, the kids are with friends and I'm off work for now so….well, I could make lunch. It'd be nice to properly get to know each other again, while we're here."
"Do you know what, that sounds like a plan to me." Ayuna said. "We're for it."
Friede and Takaaki both nodded hesitantly, with the latter shrugging nonchalantly as well.
"Excuse me, don't decide on my behalf." Eikichi said. "I-"
Eikichi looked at Mai, who had a pleading expression on her face, eyes wide. He sighed and rubbed his face.
"I'll call Shion, but I won't stay for long. I'm not here for this."
"No, no, it doesn't have to be long."
"Yes, that's fine, not a problem. I'll arrange it." I said to Takamoto."If you want to get the other officers and send them back, then we can head off to the next place?"
"Sure." Takamoto said easily.
Takamoto headed off, and I escorted the survivors down. Eizo, Azami, Mai, and Ayuna went in Eizo's car, while Friede, Eikichi and Takaaki went in Friede's, an officer following in an unmarked car.
"If you do remember anything else that might relate to the trackers before we next bring you in, please do contact any of us. Otherwise, we will be seeing you soon and hopefully there will be further developments to share with you as well." I told them before they left.
"Yes, of course." Mai said politely. "Thanks, Nobu-san."
"Not a problem."
I watched as they drove away, then went back into he hospital to meet Takamoto.
…
Shizuka
"Alright then, thank you very much. Goodbye."
I put the phone down and leaned back in my chair. Well, that's at least one thing done, I thought. I was not particularly looking forward to having a press conference, but it was a necessary evil. The press could have a role to play in helping investigations to unfold, and it was of course to be honest and open with the world. On the other hand, there were privacy concerns and one couldn't have everything out there, since then it'd be hard to tell what was relevant, and what wasn't. Leaks had and continued to have catastrophic consequences. But moving away from the generalities, there was so much expectation placed particularly on this investigation. Especially as we had failed the last time.
"I…"
"What is it, Benbow-san?" I asked generally.
Friede blinked, and bit her lip uncertainly before letting out a small sigh.
"If it is alright to ask…why did it take so long for you to find us, Detective?"
The disappointment of the survivors, and of the victims too, was definitely still the most important factor. They expected us as the police to be able to help them, and then we hadn't been able to. Not just in making sure that they'd been safe in the first place, but in seeking justice too. So, if a press conference would be one of the things that would help, then naturally, I'd suck it up.
There was a knock at the door, and I straightened myself up again.
"Come in." I called.
The door opened, and a fresh-faced uniformed officer poked her head around.
"Come in properly." I admonished, though not harshly. "If I wasn't available, I would have said."
"R-right, sorry, Superintendent…."
The officer cautiously stepped in, remaining by the door.
"What is it then?" I asked.
"Oh, ah. Just that Kamiya-san is ready waiting in Special Interview Room B. Officers Yamazaki and Ito are with him."
"Good. You may inform them that I will be there soon."
Tetsuji Kamiya had been at the back of my mind until then, since when Evalynn had bought him in last night, he hadn't been making much sense. He'd been tested to see if he was drunk, but those had come back negative. In any case, it was not so much he was inebriated by alcohol, but by rage. Something about his encounter with Eizo and Azami had enraged him. Hopefully now that he had slept it off, I'd be able to get to the bottom of it. And perhaps talk some sense into him.
Tetsuji stared through the window as slowly, his colleague pulled the sheet away from her face, folding it down carefully. Her face had not been affected by her cause of death, and was thus remarkably unmarked. But nonetheless, she looked unnatural, though those working on her had done a good job at making her presentable for this viewing. It was, of course, hardly a comfort to her parents. Or to me. But it was something.
The reactions from Moeka's parents was immediate and visceral. Hanami, standing next to Tetsuji, immediately clapped her hands over her mouth and made a strangled noise, the colour draining from her. Tetsuji, on the other hand, whirled around to me, furiously.
"Let me in there, Detective."
"I can't do that-"
"Why? You don't think I can handle it-this is my job, I've seen worse, I should be in there-"
"This is your daughter." I said briskly. "Your job is to be here."
Tetsuji glared.
"I need to see." He said, half-growling. "I need to see her in person."
"Tetsu-"
Hanami barely managed to finish murmuring her husband's name when he turned on her too.
"Don't tell me that this….this….remoteness is enough for you! Do you think it'd be enough for her? It's already bad enough neither of us could save her!" he admonished before turning back to me. "You'll be able to see me! Let me in."
"So, it's definitely her?" I cut into the tirade.
For a moment, the wind was taken out of his sails as he blinked at me. He seemed to wilt, shoulders drooping, eyes dark with sorrow. Then, his mouth curled into a snarl, and he stepped up again, the sorrow in his eyes now lit up with flashes of anger.
"Of course it's her. You knew that. Everyone here knows that. Now let me in."
"When can we have her?" Hanami asked as Tetsuji continued to rant. "I want to have the funeral for her."
I turned to Hanami, feeling guilty that her expression of grief was easier to deal with than Tetsuji's.
"I can't tell you at this stage, but we are working to make sure it will be as fast as possible for everyone once all identifications had been made."
I did not tell her that they were the one lucky ones, in this regard.
The officer left, and I got up, retrieving a pocket recorder from my drawer. I made sure my papers were in order, and then headed down to Special Interview Room B. On my way, I decided to poke my head into the incident room to see how things were going.
When I got there, there were a couple of officers on the phone, apparently interviewing witnesses, while Juro was busily typing something at one of the computers. It was he who looked up.
"Hello, Detective." I said. "I assume that things are finished at the hospital."
"Yes, all the operations are finished, and they went smoothly. Detectives Kurosawa and Takamoto are interviewing the survivors as a group. Detective Dupont is talking to a relative of Class 78-B's homeroom teacher to try and ascertain where she currently is now-apparently she is somewhat off-grid-and Detective Matsu is trying to glean more information about the medical aspects of the trackers."
"The trackers themselves have been investigated?"
"Yes, they have. The Cyber Crimes department are looking to see if they have anything in their old cases about crimes involving surveillance, and I'm trying to see if there were any murder or abduction cases where the victims may have been tracked. So far I've only managed to find a family annihilation from the early 2010s, where a disconnected camera was left behind. Oh, and also…"
"Tell me."
Juro pulled a face, and explained how a tracker had been lost thanks to the actions of Takaaki Jinsai. I gave myself a moment to process this. I had not yet come to face with the adult Takaaki, but this was not completely surprising to me.
"I'd argue this is a pointless exercise, wouldn't you?"
"Takaaki!" his mother scolded, before looking to me. "I'm so sorry, detective, it's ha-"
I waved off the apology, and met Takaaki's eyes evenly. The comment was laced with defiance, but looking at him, it was not defiance I saw. Not in the way he'd drawn his legs right up to his chest or the messy hair that he hadn't tied in the small ponytail that'd been prominent in all the photographs of him. Not in the way he was biting his lip so ferociously I was surprised it hadn't started bleeding yet.
"What do you mean by that?"
Takaaki gave a shrug, and spoke flatly.
"It doesn't change anything. They're still dead. And if everything you do is supposed to have a purpose, you may as well stop now, because there is no purpose to this. They're not coming back."
It was all too easy to read the subtext in that: I wish they were. Takaaki's mother was also taken aback, and for a moment, we were both silent.
"I assume that the potential consequences of such foolish actions were explained to him." I said eventually.
"Yes, they were. He seemed chastened, in his own way, but for what it is worth there was no ill intent in it. I think he was just freaked out, so to speak, and reacted the only way he could think of."
"No, that seems reasonable to me." I said. "It may be worth probing those motives again should the trackers prove more relevant later, but for now we can let it go. After all, with the exception of Kimiko Tsukuda, we have lost the trackers of the victims, too. Let us just consider his a write-off in a similar manner."
"Yes, Superintendent."
"If you do manage to find cases with striking similarities with this one, send the list to me. In the meantime, I'll be in Special Interview B for a while, and then I will be going out to interview Kyosuke Munakata-since the school tours will be long over by then. Should anything urgent come up, I will most likely be contactable by mobile until I get back to the office before the press conference."
"Okay then, Superintendent."
I left Juro and the officers to it, and checking the time to make sure I had not taken too long in my quick stop-off, I headed to where Tetsuji was waiting.
"How has he been?" I asked the two officers.
"A bit grumpy," Ito said with a shrug. "But he wasn't saying much. I guess he's waiting to talk to you or an actual detective."
"I don't think he slept, either." Yamazaki added.
This didn't surprise me. The old police accommodation had never been particularly comfortable, merely functional. It had only been meant for exceptional circumstances when a detective or officer would be better placed staying at the station rather than going home for the night. It was better than a cell though, which I had briefly considered the night before but then decisively abandoned, hoping that it was as fair as my justifications claimed it to be and not just because of an old, deep-buried, almost forgotten sense of solidarity.
"Alright then. If you remain here, but allow me to take the lead."
The two officers nodded, and I stepped into the room, taking a seat on the sofa opposite the one Tetsuji was sitting on. It was a comfortable sofa and he'd certainly settled into it, but his face had settled into a deep scowl, and he was gripping a mug of tea extremely tightly.
"Kamiya-san." I said. "How are you?"
"How, exactly, do you think?" He snapped. "You're not listening to me. No, you just waited an entire night, and now more time is being lost."
"With all due respect, you did not help the process with your behaviour." I said. "You surely know better than this. "
Tetsuji simply glowered at me, and I sighed heavily.
"Assaulting the survivors of this case and trying to insert yourself into the case is not going to speed up the investigation, as much as you may hope it will. It's only going to cause more disruption, and then our energies will be redirected from the investigation to deal with you." I told him, bluntly.
There was a part of me that wanted to remind him that the survivors were victims too, technically speaking. They were alive and breathing, but they had been victims. But they were alive, and now I had a child myself, I could imagine how such a comment could feel like a kick in the teeth. So I did not say anything. Instead, I sighed again.
"I am listening now, though. But before you tell me what you need to, I have to warn you that we may not be as lenient with you if you do something like this again. "
"Yes, yes, I know. I do want you to get on with it."
"So, what is it?" I asked. "Is it something that may have a bearing?"
"Yes? Aren't you going to record it?"
I simply took out my recorder and held it out to him. He nodded, satisfied, and then I set it on the table and turned it on. After going through the usual preliminaries, I asked him:
"What is it you felt the need to tell us so badly that you had to harass two survivors to get our attention?"
"I wasn't harassing them," Tetsuji paused, then shrugged. "Not to get your attention. But they wouldn't give me the time of day, even though they claimed to be friends with Moeka. And then that boy….that boy…."
Tetsuji broke off to cough. I gave him a moment to collect himself before continuing on calmly
"Presumably this is Eizo Amai?"
"Yes!" Tetsuji nodded. "He dared to insinuate that Moeka was a murderer."
….what?
"I'm sorry, could you clarify what you mean?" I said.
"Exactly that! She was murdered herself and he had the absolute gall to suggest that she had murdered Akari Kishinami-one of her friends! Granted, Kimiko was her best friend, but I know she was close with the twins too, and this is Moeka, there's no way-it must be just some sort of diversionary tactic or-"
"Akari Kishinami?" I interrupted before Tetsuji could work himself up again. "He specifically claimed that it was Akari Kishinami who was killed by her?"
I closed my eyes very, very briefly, remembering the old incident board, and the way we had rearranged the photographs as more evidence came in and we were able to better understand the order in which the victims had died. I pictured Moeka's photograph-a separate one of her on her own, since using the one that had Kimiko in it would have confused things-and then recalled the pictures we'd settled on to have either side of her. Sayuri Fujimoto on one side…..and Akari on the other. Then, I opened my eyes and met Tetsuji's full-on. He blinked, taken aback, and nodded.
"Is that all they said?"
"Pretty much. He was shielding the girl, though. I noticed that."
"Alright."
For the sake of procedure, I rounded off the interview in the appropriate way, then stood up.
"I can assure that the comment will be looked into carefully. For now, finish your tea, and I'll let the officers take you back to where you are staying. But, please, do not cause any more trouble, alright?"
All I got from Tetsuji was a grunt, which I knew for now was the best I was going to get. Then, I went back up to the interview room to direct someone to get Eizo and Azami.