A peaceful day passed without incident.
In his office at work, Shimakawa Ryo took a sip of his coffee while looking at his computer monitor.
He generally tried not to think about unnecessary things while working, but whenever he had a spare moment, his son invariably crossed his mind.
"I wonder if Daichi is doing alright..."
He knew he was being overly sentimental, but even though some time had passed since his son left the nest, his worries were endless.
Shimakawa Daichi.
Currently a first-year high school student living alone in Hikarinomiya City.
Why had a boy still in high school left his parents to live alone? The catalyst was the death of Ryo's older brother and his wife last year.
Cause of death: death by fire.
Their house had burned down completely, and they were caught in the blaze.
There were suspicious circumstances surrounding the source of the fire, but both the police and the fire department processed it as an accident.
The only survivor was the couple's only son, Shimakawa Yuya.
Ryo had fully intended to take Yuya in, but for some reason, Yuya himself refused.
Currently, he was renting an apartment using his parents' life insurance money, living alone in his hometown of Hikarinomiya City.
Daichi had adored Yuya since they were young.
And because there were unsettling aspects to the incident, a worried Daichi insisted that he wanted to live alone in Hikarinomiya when he started high school.
Naturally, Ryo opposed the idea.
Along with his wife, Kumiko, he tried to persuade him: "There's no need for you to go out of your way to live in Hikarinomiya," and "What can you even do going there alone?"
Looking back on it now, maybe that was the wrong approach.
The fifteen-year-old boy rebelled against his parents' words, hardening his resolve even further.
Once he got like that, there was no stopping him.
More than anything—Ryo himself was worried about Yuya.
If Yuya refused to leave that city, someone had to be near him.
However, it was difficult to send Ryo's elderly parents, whose health had deteriorated following the death of their son and daughter-in-law.
They had no choice but to rely on Daichi to support him.
Feeling half-pathetic and half-worried, Ryo wasn't enthusiastic about it, but he had no choice but to accept it.
Still, there were parts he couldn't fully swallow.
As a parent, he wanted his son to commute from home at least until he finished high school.
"A child growing up is a lonely thing, isn't it."
The detached house he bought with a mortgage fifteen years ago was a bit too spacious for just the two of them—
He pondered such things.
Taking another sip of coffee, the bitterness spreading through his mouth acted as medicine, cooling his head.
He was in the middle of work; this was no time to be thinking about these things.
Refocusing, Ryo placed his hands on the keyboard.
Just then, a subordinate walked over, his face deathly pale, holding a smartphone in one hand.
"Section Chief Shimakawa."
"What's wrong? You look terrible."
"Your son goes to Hikarinomiya Academy, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, but what about it?"
"Please, look at this."
The screen he presented displayed a news website.
[Breaking News: School vanishes in Hikarinomiya City. Many students and teachers inside missing.]
—His mind went entirely blank.
It was a sentence his brain refused to comprehend.
If it said burned down, he would understand; a fire must have occurred.
But what on earth did vanished mean?
"What the hell is this? What do you mean the school vanished?!"
"I don't know, it seems to only be text for now. But if we search, some photos might have popped up."
At that moment, Ryo's smartphone rang.
An incoming call.
The caller was his wife, Kumiko—recognizing it as an emergency, he answered it right there.
"Kumiko?! Is it true that the school Daichi goes to vanished?!"
『D-Dear! I was just looking online, and... i-it's really gone!』
"What do you mean, gone? I don't understand—"
『It vanished! Without a trace, the school has turned into an empty lot!』
Kumiko's voice was trembling.
Ryo's face went even paler than his subordinate's. His heart pounded violently against his ribs as a cold sweat broke out all over his body.
"Daichi... Daichi...!"
Above all else, he was worried about his son's safety.
He left work early, met up with Kumiko, and decided to head straight for Hikarinomiya City.
◆◆◆
In front of Hikarinomiya Academy—now, about thirty minutes after the incident occurred, various media outlets were beginning to gather in the area.
Ushizawa Kiori, a reporter for a local information magazine, was one of them.
She was an active-looking woman with short hair.
Holding the camera hanging from her neck, she was trying to photograph the now-empty lot where Hikarinomiya Academy used to stand, when another reporter intentionally bumped into her and shoved her aside.
The man glared at Kiori and spat:
"Don't get in the way, you country bumpkin reporter from a weak local paper."
Her stomach tightened painfully at words that were 100% pure malice, but biting back her own timidness, Kiori glared right back.
Refusing to lose, she continued clicking the shutter.
"Who cares if you're from a national paper? My niece, my best friend's sister, and my alma mater just vanished here!"
While grumbling, Kiori desperately captured the scene in her photos.
Her best friend's sister was Inoue Hiiro.
And her niece was Ushizawa Ai.
Kiori had a sister ten years her senior, and Ai was her daughter.
Incidentally, it was through Kiori that the Inoue sisters and Ai became acquainted.
Kiori and Inoue Yoshino had been best friends since high school, and they had remained close right up until the time Yoshino was shot and killed by Ooki.
"And of all places, the one that vanished was that Hikarinomiya Academy. There's no doubt those bastards are involved."
For six years—from Yoshino's death until today—Kiori had been moving in the shadows to expose the darkness of the Kaisei Kyou.
However, a local newspaper rooted in the community wasn't exactly the place to handle such scandalous news.
It would be more accurate to say she was investigating it privately as Yoshino's friend, rather than as a reporter.
But Kiori was confident she knew more about the Kaisei kyou than any other reporter present.
Which was exactly why she also understood that she couldn't make any careless moves.
In the corner of her vision, a familiar pair of faces appeared.
A married couple staring at the ruins of the school building with an awfully joyful expression.
"...Ikuna Yumemi's parents."
Kiori knew who they were.
Yumemi was a student at Hikarinomiya Academy who had disappeared a few months ago, but ultimately, the case was processed as a simple runaway, judged to have no criminal elements.
However, seeing Erika being blamed by the Ikuna couple, and the classmates who had been spotted on the day of the disappearance—there were clearly several unnatural points.
To begin with, even if she had run away, her parents should have tried to bring their daughter back.
But the Ikuna couple showed no signs of doing so.
Coupled with that expression upon seeing this disaster...
"Those two are definitely guilty."
Blending in with the other reporters, Kiori stealthily took pictures of the couple.
Then, another woman approached them.
"Is that... Kuragane Erika's mother? The Ikunas blamed Kuragane Erika so much, yet the parents still interact?"
Erika's mother approached the Ikuna couple and called out to them.
Slipping out from the flock of reporters, Kiori approached the three of them unnoticed and strained her ears to listen.
"Ikuna san, is this..."
"Oh, Kuragane san, you came too. Yes, Yumemi did this!"
Yumemi's mother said this while happily hopping up and down.
On the other hand, the expression on Erika's mother's face was dark.
"What about Marin? What happened to Marin?"
"If she possesses true faith, she has surely reached the True World."
Honestly, Kiori had no idea if they were actually holding a coherent conversation.
She knew that phrases like "reaching the True World" and the word "GIraiguu" appeared in their doctrine.
But what exactly those words meant—she hadn't quite grasped yet.
"Kuragane san, why are you making such an anxious face? Oh, perhaps you're worried that the sacrifice might have also reached the True World. It's fine, Giraiguu sama will properly distinguish between them."
"No, I couldn't care less about Erika. It's just..."
"You are still clinging to the material flesh, aren't you."
Yumemi's mother abruptly brought her face close to Erika's mother, her eyes wide open as she spoke.
Erika's mother backed away slightly.
"Giraiguu sama has descended. Soon, Hikarinomiya City—no, this entire world—will be guided into the True World."
"Us too?"
"Of course. Isn't that why you've been accumulating virtue?"
"Yes... I intend to, but..."
"Don't worry. If you have any concerns, we will support you. Oh, right, listen to this, Kuragane san."
"W-What is it?"
"We received a message from headquarters a little while ago. It seems we are going to be made Executives!"
"Why?"
"Isn't it obvious? It's because Yumemi served as the sacrifice."
Kiori couldn't understand.
By "sacrifice," she probably meant Ikuna Yumemi.
But she was supposed to be a runaway.
Yet, Yumemi's mother stated with absolute certainty that she had been offered as a sacrifice.
"Does that couple know where Ikuna Yumemi is? But didn't they tell Kuragane Erika, 'It's your fault our daughter went missing'? Are you telling me they said all that knowing everything?!"
Kiori's expression grew fierce.
Even removing their connection to the Kaisei kyou, it was an unforgivable act as a human being.
Yumemi's father had remained silent the whole time, but far from reprimanding the wives for their conversation, he just stood there smiling pleasantly.
"I'm sure that child was a gift from Giraiguu sama, born to guide us to greater heights."
"That's... wonderful."
"Although, once we go to the True World, titles like Executive won't matter anymore. Still, since we've been given this position, we have to do our best to gather even a few more believers until the destined 'time' comes."
"Ahaha..."
Erika's mother, forcing a wry smile, looked as if her mind was completely elsewhere.
Her head was probably entirely filled with thoughts of Marin.
Marin, who was clearly more exceptional than her parents, possessing talents in every aspect that could easily label her a genius.
A daughter born inheriting the genes of the man she truly loved.
Her mother had no intention of letting her go.
In other words, she didn't blindly believe in the Kaisei kyou to the same extent as the Ikuna couple.
But that, too, stemmed from self-righteous parental desire rather than actual love for her daughter.
Listening to their conversation, Kiori couldn't hide her disgust at the pitch-black "filth" oozing from every single word.
Just then, someone placed a hand with a soft pat on her shoulder.
"Hyaa?!"
Pivoting around in a panic, she saw a man with unkempt hair standing there.
He wore a suit, but had no tie, the buttons on his jacket were undone, and with all the visible wrinkles, he looked oddly sloppy.
Coupled with the light stubble on his chin, his disheveled appearance was only further amplified.
"Oh, it's just you, Renjo san..."
"You shouldn't stare so intently."
"To protect their privacy?"
"Because you don't want those guys to notice you."
The man called Renjo glanced toward the Ikuna couple before quickly averting his eyes.
Feeling somewhat uneasy, Kiori glanced back at the couple as well.
When she did, they were staring fixedly at Kiori with bizarre eyes, not blinking even once.
Goosebumps erupted over her skin.
She hurriedly averted her eyes as well.
"But Ai... my niece is caught up in this..."
"Anyway, we're leaving."
"U-Understood..."
Renjo walked away with quick strides, and Kiori trotted after him.
◆◆◆
Kiori slid into the passenger seat of Renjo's car.
The interior smelled faintly of coffee.
Sitting in the driver's seat, Renjo offered Kiori an unopened can of coffee.
"Want to drink this?"
"I can't drink black coffee."
"What are you, a kid?"
"I'm past 30, so being told that just leaves me not knowing how to react."
"...Right, you're already that age."
Renjo opened a coffee for himself and took a sip.
"You were still in your twenties when we first met, weren't you."
"It was a while after Yoshino died, so I was 27."
"You're getting up there, surprisingly."
"Shall I write an article about a detective sexually harassing me?"
"Give me a break."
"Haa... well, I won't. You're practically the only person I can rely on when it comes to the Kaisei kyou, Renjo san."
Renjo Masayoshi.
A detective belonging to the Hikarinomiya Police Department, and Inoue Yoshino's former boss.
Like Kiori, he had begun pursuing the Kaisei kyou six years ago, triggered by the Inoue Yoshino shooting incident at Hikarinomiya Fantasy Land.
Kiori and Renjo had met five years ago.
Learning that a Kaisei kyou gathering was taking place, Kiori had attempted to infiltrate it, and Renjo had stopped her. That was the start of their interactions.
Renjo was also cooperating with his college friend, Tsumori Takuro, and before long, the three of them had begun sharing information.
However, the Kaisei kyou's presence in Hikarinomiya City was rooted far too deeply.
Fatal information capable of dragging everything out into the light of day was incredibly rare to find.
Yet, among them, Renjo could be said to possess the information "closest" to doing so.
Using his position as a detective, he had managed to obtain information on people who were murdered by the Kaisei kyou but had their deaths covered up as accidents by the police.
However, by the time Renjo obtained the information, the cover-ups were already complete.
Even if they tried to expose it, no evidence remained—meaning there was no real value beyond confirming the fact that "there are people murdered by the Kaisei kyou."
Still, it was exactly the right kind of information to give them the "feeling of exposing something."
"Here's some useful info for the young lady who relies on me so much."
"Did you find out that Ai and Hiiro actually skipped school and are playing around somewhere?"
"Hiiro was Yoshino's little sister... come to think of it, she is around high school age now. But sorry, I don't know anything about a kid named Ai."
"You must have at least heard about her from Tsumori san."
"From that guy?"
"The high school girl who's always hanging around Hiiro."
"Ah... the friend who tagged along during our info exchanges? But I don't even know her face."
"I see. Then what is this 'useful info'—"
"A photograph."
"The usual kind? But hold on, before that, there's something I want to confirm."
"Are you asking if this mess is the Kaisei kyou's doing? I can only answer that I don't know."
"There's no other possibility, right? It's obvious just from seeing the Ikuna couple's reaction."
"Well, yeah. I drove a lap around the perimeter, and there were people swarming around who looked like believers. To their understanding, it seems some kind of ritual succeeded."
"And Ikuna Yumemi, who went missing a few months ago, is involved in that."
"She might be—but even if we figure that out, there's nothing we can do about it."
"Are you giving up?"
"It's not like that. Just look at the ruins of that school. Anyone capable of pulling off something that ridiculous is already in the realm of the occult. I don't have silver bullets loaded in my gun, you know."
"That's... certainly true, but."
If this was intentionally done by the Kaisei kyou, three mere humans gathering together would be meaningless.
The enemy possessed enough power to completely erase an entire school.
"If they can erase a school, they might as well just conquer the world while they're at it."
"Exactly. Moreover, if the method they used is occult in nature, trying to 'expose the truth' and make it public... wouldn't really work."
"What should we do, then?"
"For now, want to look at this for a change of pace?"
Renjo slid a photograph over to her.
It showed the corpse of a woman collapsed in a forest.
There was a wound on her head that looked like she had been shot.
"I always wonder, where exactly in the police department do you pull these from?"
"There's a folder only the Chief level can access."
"A Chief who intentionally stores photos of people they've murdered? What a lovely hobby. Wait, does that mean you're hacking in to look at them, Renjo san?"
"It's not that big a deal. Security systems, you see, can be bypassed easily enough if you use physical methods."
"You're surprisingly good with machines considering how you look."
"Is this payback for earlier?"
"Yes, it is."
"Hah. Despite how I look, my family relies on me a lot for this stuff. My wife is terrible with machines."
This is not a conversation to be having in front of a photo of a corpse, Kiori thought.
But that just showed how used the two of them had become to seeing these kinds of pictures.
The Kaisei kyou murdered someone almost every week.
People who were inconvenient to the kyou, sometimes even those from outside the city, were erased and captured in photos like this one.
It seemed they hired—or perhaps trained—specialized hitmen, as their methods were clever and cunning.
Furthermore, because the police and the Kaisei kyou were in cooperation, the chances of these deaths being treated as "homicides" were practically zero.
Then Renjo should just whistleblow.
Then Kiori should just publish it in the newspaper.
One might think that—but the very next week after doing so, they would inevitably die in an "accident."
"If only we had a way to publicly blow the whistle on the Kaisei kyou's existence."
"Aren't you doing that thing, missy?"
"That thing? Oh, social media? It's true I'm in charge of our company's account, but it only has a three-digit follower count, you know?"
"Try harder."
"I am trying my hardest! But it was pretty depressing when a post about my personal lunch got more traction than my actual articles."
"Hey, you've got fans."
"I'm not happy about it."
"But isn't this a chance? This is the first time the Kaisei kyou has caused a disaster so openly and publicly."
"Now that you mention it, yes. They were talking about Giraiguu descending, so perhaps some long-held ambition of theirs was finally fulfilled."
"A God, huh... If such a thing exists."
"Are you going to make a wish?"
"Yeah... for my wife and daughter."
"Did something happen with your family?"
"Ah, I just want to get along better with my wife and daughter."
Looking up at the empty air, Renjo muttered deeply.
Kiori couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Pfft. Could you stop making heartwarming remarks that don't suit your face at all?"
"Who're you calling a yakuza face?"
"I never said that much. Hehe."
"What about you, missy? You're 32 now, right? No talk of marriage?"
"Marriage..."
Kiori's expression instantly clouded over at the question.
It clouded over so severely that the air inside the car felt as if it had suddenly frozen solid.
Renjo let out a small, "I messed up."
"Sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
"No, it's fine. Someone else just told me the exact same thing."
"So it really was the worst possible timing."
"If you feel sorry for me,"
"What do you want?"
"Give me some information about this incident that only the police know."
"...You're a tough one."
"I don't think I can recover otherwise."
"Unfortunately, I don't have any. We seriously haven't grasped even a single clue."
"There are rumors going around online that they used some kind of bomb."
"Impossible. A bomb that perfectly erases only the school buildings and the people inside simply doesn't exist."
"True... Honestly, nobody even understands what happened, do they."
"Exactly as they say: Only God knows."
"If you say this is a good opportunity, maybe taking the plunge and pressing the Cult believers for answers might be an option."
"Don't do anything forceful. You'll get killed."
"Then I'll approach it from a different angle. The woman in the photo you showed me earlier—do you at least know her identity?"
"Just her name."
"Tell me."
Prompted by her, Renjo gave the victim's name.
Kiori jotted it down in her notebook.
"But it's the same as always. Even if you trace the victim, you won't find any connection to the culprit who killed her."
"This time is different. Judging from the timing, she might be involved in the school's disappearance."
"I won't deny the possibility, but."
It was a completely normal occurrence for the Kaisei kyou to murder someone.
Assuming it had a connection to this incident was nothing more than Kiori's wishful thinking.
However, crowds of reporters had long since swarmed Hikarinomiya City.
If she followed the same investigative path as the rest of them, she'd only get the same information.
The Kaisei kyou wasn't careless enough to show their tail in a situation like this.
"Well then, I should get going."
"Are you really fine with just a name?"
"I know her rough age and build. If I cross-reference that with missing persons, I can make a fairly accurate guess."
Renjo was actually in the easiest position to do that himself, but the very act of printing this photo and giving it to Kiori meant he was crossing a highly dangerous bridge.
In short, it could be said that he was entrusting the investigation from here on out to Kiori.
Even while warning her it was dangerous, for some reason he never stopped handing over information.
Honestly, Kiori harbored some doubts about Renjo's actions.
But she knew that he deeply regretted Inoue Yoshino's death and carried a strong hatred for the Kaisei kyou.
That was why she could trust him.
"Well then, see you lat—"
Just as Kiori was about to exit the car, Renjo changed his expression and stopped her. "Wait."
His gaze was fixed on his own smartphone resting nearby.
The sleep screen displayed a news headline.
"Did something happen?"
"Fantasy Land got hit too."
"Eh?"
"Hikarinomiya Fantasy Land has also vanished!"
Renjo shouted.
Her eyes wide, Kiori pulled out her own smartphone and opened the news.
"No way... then Tsumori san is!"
"I'm calling him now."
One of their collaborators, Tsumori Takuro, was the director of Hikarinomiya Fantasy Land.
Since it was a weekday, he was naturally working at the park today.
Attempting the call, Renjo clicked his tongue at the automated message stating the phone was out of range.
"Damn it, it won't connect."
"Let's head straight to the scene immediately."
"Yeah—Wait, you go in your own car, missy!"
"Can't you make an exception for a time like this?"
"If my superiors catch me hanging around with a reporter, I'll get chewed out!"
"It's a bit too late for that, but fine. We'll meet over there."
"Yeah, assuming we have the luxury."
The moment Kiori stepped out of the car, Renjo sped off.
She returned to her own car parked a short distance away and headed for Hikarinomiya Fantasy Land.
On the way, she passed by the reporters who had been gathered around the school, and they too seemed thoroughly confused.
"A massive facility like that disappearing... what in the world is going on... There's no way this is a natural phenomenon."
Gripping the steering wheel, Kiori ground her teeth with a grrr.
From the radio news, an announcer's voice reading out the report of the amusement park's disappearance echoed in the car.
"I can't see the Ferris wheel. It really is gone."
Normally, once you reached this road, you should be able to see Fantasy Land's Ferris wheel in the distance.
However, no matter how far she drove, it didn't come into view.
It was a familiar landscape, yet there was an overwhelming sense of wrongness.
"While I was sneaking around investigating in the shadows, Ai, Hiiro, and even Tsumori san got caught up in this. This is no time to be worrying about getting killed; we're getting dragged into it even if we do nothing!"
Frustrated, Kiori pressed down on the accelerator a bit harder than necessary.
◆◆◆
That day, Hikarinomiya City was engulfed in massive chaos.
The fact that an academy and an amusement park had vanished, causing hundreds of people to go missing all at once, was one thing. But baseless rumors began to fly—that it was caused by massive land subsidence, or that it was a new weapon from a certain country—and the people who believed them fled en masse.
Or rather, even without believing them, it was perfectly natural to feel terrified when giant facilities vanished into thin air.
Stores closed temporarily, and public transportation was paralyzed.
Furthermore, the influx of national media and the resulting news coverage drew in onlookers from outside the city and even from other prefectures.
With the sudden spike in foot and vehicle traffic, minor accidents and fights broke out frequently across the city.
The roads were jammed with cars, and the police officers of the Hikarinomiya Department were so overwhelmed responding to the chaos that, in the end, Kiori and Renjo never managed to meet up again.
Meanwhile, the mayor's response to this state of emergency drew attention, but his reaction was sluggish.
Hours had passed since the incident occurred, and while the prefectural governor and national ministers were holding press conferences, the mayor remained locked in his office, refusing to show his face.
Naturally, the media swarmed the city hall, leaving the staff swamped trying to handle them.
Just what was the mayor doing during this extreme crisis?—While the angry shouts of reporters could be heard from outside, the man himself was holding his head in his hands inside the mayor's office.
"Are you still refusing to go out?"
A slender man wearing glasses asked.
Even so, the mayor showed no sign of moving.
"It is exactly as His Eminence the Archbishop commanded. You are my secretary, think of a way to buy some time."
"We are at our limit. The reporters will force their way in shortly."
"That would be better. The police will protect me."
"Is that what you are waiting for?"
"Haa... I simply cannot think of a single method. To cause an incident of that magnitude and then tell me, the mayor, to 'buy time'? Even for the Archbishop, this is far too unreasonable."
"In that case, wouldn't it be fine to defy him? This is a state of emergency. If you continue like this, you will be forced to resign from your position as mayor."
"Don't speak so lightly! Even you know full well what happens to people who defy His Eminence the Archbishop—Setaguchi Hiroshi—in this city!"
The secretary answered without changing his expression.
"They are killed, yes."
"In fact, just the other day, I heard a nurse who noticed a corpse had been swapped was murdered. The police are on their side, and I've even heard they keep hitmen inside the police force."
"You have been saved by that arrangement as well, Mayor."
"Exactly! That is precisely why... I cannot defy him. No matter what it takes, I must see through the orders given to me by His Eminence."
"If so, I believe you should alleviate the citizens' minimum level of dissatisfaction."
"What should I do?"
"We should contact the President of the Hiyami Group and request an affiliated company to conduct a geological survey. We both know this phenomenon is not land subsidence; I believe we must convey that to the citizens in a visible manner."
"Hiyami Gosei, is it... True, it would at least serve as a minor reassurance. I have no choice but to borrow his wisdom."
Saying that, the mayor reached for the phone.
His hands were sweaty.
While he was a better partner than Setaguchi Hiroshi, the mayor preferred not to bow his head to Gosei if possible.
Because later on, he would inevitably be asked for favors concerning city policies, and the mayor himself would be the one bashed for corruption and collusion.
Though, since the very fact that he became mayor in the first place was thanks to the Kaisei kyou, all of those accusations would be nothing but the truth—
"Hello. Yes, it is me. It is good to hear you are doing well, President... Ah, I heard your daughter reached the True World. Congratulations on that."
Sweat seeping into the hand gripping the receiver, the mayor began negotiations with the extremely high-spirited Gosei.
◆◆◆
By the time Kiori made it back to her apartment, the date had already changed.
Exhaustion plain on her face, she opened her mouth the moment the door clicked shut.
"...I'm home."
She didn't intend to say it to anyone in particular.
She assumed her roommate would be asleep anyway.
However, surprisingly, she heard footsteps approaching immediately.
"Welcome back. You're earlier than I thought."
A woman with a black middle-bob haircut—perhaps because she was just about to go to bed, she was wearing casual loungewear.
She was Aogara Chihiro.
Kiori's best friend since high school, and someone she had lived with as roommates from their college days up until today.
She had also been close with Inoue Yoshino.
The three of them used to hang out together all the time.
However—
"I guess."
Giving a cold reply, Kiori walked past Chihiro without even making eye contact.
Chihiro wore a slightly sorrowful expression for a moment, but instantly erased it, following Kiori with her usual cool face.
"I have to admit, I was shocked to hear the Academy and Fantasy Land vanished. To think Hiiro chan and Ai chan got caught up in it... I'm worried. Is your sister holding up okay, Kiori?"
"Of course she isn't."
"...I suppose that's true."
Kiori set down her bag and sat deeply into the sofa.
Chihiro headed to the kitchen and asked:
"Want some tea?"
"No. Leave me alone."
"Aren't you being a bit cold?"
"Just go to sleep already. You have an early morning tomorrow, right."
Kiori completely refused to make eye contact.
Then, a faint smile appeared on Chihiro's lips as she said teasingly:
"You're still dragging out what happened last week. All I did was go to a mixer and stay out until morning. Don't you think it's time you acted like an adult?"
"..."
"Say something, why don't you."
"Did you find a good apartment?"
Kiori shifted her gaze to the rental magazine placed on the table and spat out the words coldly.
"It's tough finding one within the city—But did you really want me to leave that badly? This apartment is too big for one person, you know."
"You're the one who said you were moving out first, Chihiro."
"That's true, but..."
"You got a boyfriend, right. Congratulations."
"..."
"Why are you quiet now? You're the one who bragged about it."
"Haa... We aren't kids anymore. We're both 32 now, you know? It's almost too late to start thinking about marriage."
"Right."
"You're at an age where you should be thinking about that stuff too, Kiori."
"I don't have any intention of doing that."
"Like, your job is your lover?"
When Chihiro said that, Kiori glared at her with eyes clearly filled with anger.
That's the first time she's ever directed an emotion like that at me—Chihiro felt a slight wave of panic.
Then, Kiori stood up and approached her.
"Do you hate me that much now?"
"Not really, but."
"Then what is your problem? Is it fun to keep hurting me?"
"O-Oh, you were hurt. I didn't know. But is there any reason to get hurt just because I got a boyfriend?"
"Don't act like you don't know exactly what you're saying!"
"I don't know what you mean. And quite frankly, it's pathetic."
"What is?"
"Dragging out the death of a best friend who died 6 years ago, two women licking each other's wounds. What are two adults past 30 even doing—"
Her face turning bright red, Kiori swung her arm wildly in a fit of rage.
Perhaps thinking she was about to be hit, Chihiro squeezed her eyes shut and shrank back.
However, the pain never came.
Instead, there was the sound of something shattering with a crash.
"Ah..."
Seeing the glass shards scattered on the floor, Chihiro was rendered speechless.
It was a pair of owl figurines.
Meanwhile, without even looking at it, Kiori silently turned her back on Chihiro and walked away.
Grabbing the bag she had left on the sofa, she headed for her own room.
"Hey, Kiori, this is—"
"What?"
"No, um... The thing we bought when we went on that trip together a few years ago..."
"I figured we didn't need it anymore."
"Eh?"
"Why are you surprised? If you're moving out, it's just going to get in your way."
Leaving those words behind, Kiori shut her door with a slam.
Left alone, Chihiro looked down, her shoulders slumping.
"Being 32 and doing this... what am I even doing. Even Yoshino must be laughing at me from the other side... haha..."
She chuckled self-deprecatingly, her shoulders shaking.
Then she crouched down and silently began gathering the broken shards into a pile.
◆◆◆
Entering her room, Kiori leaned her back against the closed door and slid down to sit on the floor.
"...Chihiro, you idiot. Trash. Enemy of all women. Slut. Just drop dead!"
And with tears welling in her eyes, she spewed out all her pent-up resentment toward Chihiro and threw her bag across the room.
After that, she stared blankly at the wall for a while in a daze.
It had been over 10 years since Kiori and Chihiro started rooming together.
During college, Yoshino had lived with them too, but looking back on it now, she felt Yoshino had been being considerate of them.
In short, trying not to get in their way as much as possible.
That was how close the two of them had been since high school. Almost too close.
That's why Kiori had naturally assumed Chihiro liked her, and she figured Chihiro thought the same.
Because they had that certainty, conversely, they felt no need to move forward.
They would remain "roommates" forever, and the two of them would remain "best friends" forever.
Eventually.
Someday.
While thinking that, they turned 26—and just when they felt they needed to finally define their relationship, Yoshino died.
Her death inflicted a grief upon them that was far too deep.
They had absolutely no intention of blaming Yoshino—but the fact that their relationship stalled was undeniably tied to her death.
And before they knew it, time flew by, and 6 years had passed.
Their relationship, which had stopped without moving forward, became distorted before they realized it, and they lost sight of how to proceed straight ahead.
"I hate this... why did things end up like this..."
On top of that, Ai was gone, Tsumori was gone, and the Kaisei kyou was still standing strong exactly where they were.
"I'm just... small fry. Maybe I'm the one who should really just drop dead... right, Yoshino...?"
Kiori hugged her knees and buried her face in them.
Her body felt heavy with exhaustion.
If she let her guard down, she felt like she would lose consciousness instantly.
She hadn't eaten dinner.
She needed to take a shower and take off her makeup.
Even while thinking that, her mind and body completely exhausted, Kiori was no longer able to move—and drifted off to sleep right there.
◆◆◆
The next morning, Kiori jolted awake to the sound of her alarm.
Because she slept in a weird position, her lower back ached and her fatigue hadn't faded at all.
Fortunately, it wasn't so late that she'd miss work, so she'd have time for breakfast and a shower, but because she hadn't removed her makeup, her skin was in the absolute worst condition.
"Why does the worst thing always have to pile on top of the worst thing!"
Half-furious, Kiori got ready for the day.
Chihiro, a nurse, had already left for work.
Having finished all her preparations, Kiori was putting on her shoes to head to work—when she suddenly noticed.
A strange object was placed on the shelf in the entryway.
It was the owl figurine Kiori had broken yesterday.
The broken shards had been clumsily glued back together.
Honestly, it was so poorly done it was hard to even recognize it as an owl anymore.
『Owls are considered good luck, so they're used in weddings and stuff, right?』
『Should we buy them for me and you, then?』
『Eh...?』
『Hehe, why not? Even if it's just for the mood, right?』
Suddenly, the conversation from the trip where they bought it flashed through her mind.
Back then, she never thought their relationship would become as cold as it was now.
Placing a hand on the repaired figurine, Kiori bit her lip.
"What for... what are you trying to accomplish by doing this... If you want to leave, you shouldn't do these half-hearted things!"
She grabbed it and swung her arm back as hard as she could.
However—she couldn't smash it against the floor.
Instead, a single tear rolled down her cheek.
"What is this... this is the worst. What am I supposed to do if my makeup gets ruined in the morning...!"
Kiori returned the figurine to its original place, wiped her tears with her hand, and swung the door open harder than necessary, leaving the apartment as if taking out her anger on it.
◆◆◆
For a little less than a week after that, the situation remained in a deadlock.
There were zero clues regarding the missing people, let alone the vanished buildings.
No matter how much the experts analyzed it, the cause remained unknown.
Meanwhile, the mayor stubbornly continued to refuse external intervention, and he was criticized daily on national news broadcasts.
Naturally, the citizens wouldn't stay silent either; protesters surrounded city hall and chanted slogans.
Even so, the mayor insisted on resolving the problem purely on a city level, and the only entities allowed to get involved were the Hiyami Group—meaning, corporations under the thumb of the Kaisei kyou.
While the Kaisei kyou's name still almost never appeared in the media, people noticing their existence began to pop up here and there on the internet.
That also influenced the photo Renjo had shown Kiori.
"The corpse of this man. He's young, but he's wearing clothes you don't usually see in Hikarinomiya," Kiori noted.
"Spot on. Apparently, he was a streamer dealing in urban legends. He sneaked into the city to investigate the Kaisei kyou, and then—"
"He was murdered? But unlike the usual victims, he isn't a resident of Hikarinomiya City, and he has a decent level of fame. Killing someone like that will only make the uproar bigger."
"Exactly."
A sloppy crime, unlike their usual methods.
Originally being a streamer dealing in the urban legend genre, his death was covered by several niche online media outlets, and various conspiracy theories flew around.
Among them was the theory that it was the work of an assassin hired by the Kaisei kyou—an opinion that was actually 100% correct.
Kiori thought to herself:
The Kaisei kyou's methods are getting sloppy.
Furthermore, what the Ikuna couple had predicted wasn't happening.
According to them, the entire world was supposed to be swallowed by the "True World" soon and disappear.
Yet, even now, nearly a week later, the situation remained completely unchanged.
"The Kaisei kyou might be panicking."
"Because nothing is happening like they thought it would, huh."
"If so, doesn't that make this the perfect chance to investigate?"
"Did you figure out anything about the woman in the photo from before?"
"That was... it seems the victim was a nurse at Hikarinomiya Hospital."
"You managed to dig that far?"
"I need to go to the hospital to investigate, so it's on hold for now."
"Didn't you say your friend works there?"
The friend she meant was Chihiro.
Normally, she would have already asked her for information, but right now, she just couldn't do that.
"That's true, but. Due to some circumstances, I'm investigating a different angle right now."
"What different angle?"
"The Shimakawa couple."
"Shimakawa?"
"It seems their son, Shimakawa Daichi, and their nephew, Shimakawa Yuya, were both caught in the Academy's disappearance. They're currently staying at a hotel in the city."
Kiori had already made contact with the Shimakawa couple.
With many reporters stationed in Hikarinomiya City, the parents of the students involved in the incident were all utterly sick of being interviewed.
However, perhaps because the Shimakawas had come all the way from the Kansai region, the reporters hadn't really noticed them, and they had willingly accepted Kiori's interview.
"I see, parents of a vanished student—but there are just far too many of them. I'd bet the vast majority were just caught in the crossfire. I've never heard any rumors about the students of that academy being Kaisei kyou believers, after all."
"Even if they aren't all believers, it's confirmed that there are a few believers mixed in among them. The prime example is the daughter of the Hiyami Group, Hiyami Ruka."
"The story goes that the construction company building Kaisei kyou facilities is always the Hiyami Group, right?"
"Plus, I'm concerned about a man named Setaguchi Ataru, who works there as a teacher."
"Setaguchi, huh..."
"Yes, Setaguchi."
"I've heard that name a few times at gatherings."
"He's called a Bishop and is revered by the believers, so he's likely a big shot. I don't know if Setaguchi Ataru is the man himself or a relative of his, but—"
"You're saying that since he's a teacher there, there's a possibility the entire school is connected to the Kaisei kyou?"
"Thinking about it that way makes a lot of things line up."
Kiori opened her notepad and relayed its contents to Renjo.
"The nephew of the Shimakawa couple I just mentioned, Shimakawa Yuya, lost his parents in a fire. It happened last year. Regarding that, it seems he told the Shimakawa couple something concerning."
"Like what?"
"That he 'didn't want to get them involved.'"
Renjo's expression hardened.
That was not a phrase one would say if the fire was merely an accident.
"The fire was processed as an accident, but there is a possibility it was intentional arson by the Kaisei kyou. Actually, when I talked to an acquaintance from Shimakawa Yuya's middle school days, they said he was severely bullied at school. I even got a testimony saying they saw a student who participated in that bullying near the scene of the fire. If we dig deeper here, we might finally obtain the fatal evidence we've wanted: 'The Kaisei kyou was directly involved in a murder.'"
"Couldn't it just be arson resulting from bullying escalating?"
"If so, there's no reason to cover it up. If the academy, or the teachers, are part of the Kaisei kyou, isn't it possible they made the bullying students do it?"
The fact that it was covered up—that was the greatest evidence of the Kaisei Cult's involvement.
Looking at Kiori's eyes burning with a sense of duty, Renjo sighed.
"You've been investigating quite a bit, completely ignoring my warnings."
"Fortunately, I'm not dead yet. I did get a threatening letter, though."
Saying that, Kiori pulled an envelope out of her bag.
Inside was a letter hinting at her murder.
Seeing it, Renjo's color changed.
"Missy, I'm telling you this for your own good. Stop the investigation immediately and leave Hikarinomiya ."
"I decline."
"You'll die."
"I know."
"You should know this isn't a joke."
"Of course."
"...You're acting strange, missy. Don't tell me something happened that made you desperate?"
"Maybe. But it's the perfect timing to put my life on the line."
Kiori floated a smile.
Renjo was not blind to the danger residing in that smile.
But on the other hand—he also knew that someone who had reached this point wouldn't listen to the warnings of others.
No, to begin with, someone concerned with self-preservation would never even consider investigating the Kaisei kyou to avenge Yoshino.
"Whatever I say... you aren't going to listen, are you."
"If that was going to stop me, I would have chickened out when you showed me those photos ages ago."
"That's right... a normal person would get terrified and back off if they saw a corpse like that."
"When you first showed me that photo, you were testing me, weren't you, Renjo san."
"...I wonder. I can't even remember now."
Renjo stared at the scenery outside the windshield, as if casting his thoughts to distant memories.
They were in a park parking lot.
Watching a parent and child play in the distance, was he thinking of his own wife and daughter?
Even so, he looked strangely melancholic, Kiori thought.
"Anyway, I plan to wash Shimakawa Yuya's background while continuing to talk with the Shimakawa couple."
"Well, good luck. Just don't neglect your actual job."
"Normally, the editor-in-chief would yell at me if I wandered around like this, but right now all attention is on the academy. I can actually move around surprisingly freely."
"That's good to hear."
They exchanged final greetings, and Kiori exited the car.
As the door closed and he was left alone, Renjo watched her drive away in her own car and floated a faint smile on his lips.
"So bright... living people are so bright. Unlike a dead man like me. Haha."
◆◆◆
Movement finally occurred at Hikarinomiya Academy the day after Kiori and Renjo exchanged information.
Exactly one week after the Academy and Fantasy Land vanished.
Suddenly, a massive hole opened in the mid-air where the school building used to stand.
Kiori found out about it at work, while updating the official social media account she was in charge of.
Faster than the news, a local resident had photographed the anomaly and posted it online.
Rushing to the window and looking toward the academy, she saw a massive hole truly gaping there.
"What in the world is happening..."
The other employees noticed as well, and everyone was glued to the window.
Amidst that, Kiori dashed out of the office ahead of everyone else.
"I'm heading to the scene!"
She heard voices trying to stop her from behind, but pretending not to hear them, she ran out of the building and hopped into her car.
By the time Kiori arrived at the scene, a massive crowd of people had already surrounded the academy.
That said, fences had been erected to prevent entry onto the grounds, and since the hole was open in the sky directly above the center of the lot, there were dozens of meters of distance.
While people stared at the "hole" holding their breath from a slight distance—a further anomaly occurred.
Rubble, seemingly parts of the school building, began to fall one by one.
"Did the academy come back? But looking at that..."
The reinforced concrete building had been shattered into pieces.
There was no way the people inside could have survived.
As if to prove that, blood was stuck to the rubble falling one after another.
Amidst the countless clicking of camera shutters, the screams of parents who had come to see the situation began to mix in.
Kiori was, if anything, someone on their side.
She no longer felt any desire to hold her camera.
Before long, not only blood-stained rubble, but things resembling chunks of meat began to fall with sickening thuds, and some people collapsed to the ground crying.
Because parts of school uniforms were attached to the chunks of meat, and it was visible even from a distance.
"Ai... Hiiro...!"
Grief. Terror. Despair. Excitement.
In that space where various human emotions mingled, the stench of rot drifting from the corpses mixed in, and Kiori felt a violent nausea.
It couldn't be helped that the stench was so strong; they weren't just decomposing bodies, they were the remains of zombies.
She hurriedly turned her back on the academy and fled the area.
Moving to a place with fewer people, she stood rooted to the spot and caught her breath.
"Haa... Haa... W-What is this... why did this have to happen...!"
The people who vanished couldn't possibly be safe.
Even though her brain recognized that, it never truly felt real until the corpses actually appeared.
In other words, that "reality" was currently surging up from the very bottom of her stomach.
It was different from seeing a photo.
Accompanied by the far too vivid reality of the "stench of rot."
The screams, the shutter clicks, the angry roars, the wet splats of meat hitting the ground.
Even from a distance, she could hear them clearly.
By this point, the chunks of meat falling down no longer even retained a human shape.
"Is that... what a God... does...? As if... as if something like that could ever be forgiven...!"
Her mind was a chaotic mess.
She couldn't even tell if it was anger or terror.
Were these words just her acting tough? Or was it fury?
Contrary to her heating heart, her body was freezing.
Her face was pale, and a cold sweat broke out thickly across her back.
It was no longer a situation where she could properly conduct an interview.
In the end, after resting her body for a while, Kiori returned to the company.
◆◆◆
Kiori's condition didn't recover for the rest of the day, and she returned home at the end of her shift while her coworkers worried about her.
Knowing full well she wasn't at 100%, the moment she got home she changed into her loungewear and sank into the sofa.
Naturally, Chihiro hadn't returned yet.
With such a massive number of corpses appearing, it was doubtful she'd even be able to come home today.
Turning on the TV, the events that occurred at Hikarinomiya Academy were naturally being broadcast.
Obviously, they couldn't just broadcast that grotesque scenery as it was, so the videos shown cut off right before the corpses began falling—but just seeing that caused the scene to flash back in her mind, making Kiori feel sick.
『Currently, many bodies are being carried out from the scene. According to officials, over a hundred victims have already been confirmed. Furthermore, regarding the rubble that appeared at Hikarinomiya Academy, it has been determined that the vast majority corresponds to the first floor of the school building. In response to this incident, the Mayor of Hikarinomiya City held a press conference and announced the decision to accept the deployment of the Self-Defense Forces following a request from the national government. The JSDF has already arrived and is participating in the rubble removal and body recovery operations.』(TL Note: JSDF full form is Japan Self Defence Force)
『Have the identities of the bodies been confirmed?』
『Yes, while there appear to be individuals confirmed as students from their clothing, the severe decomposition and damage have prevented definitive identification thus far. Additionally, a large number of bodies that have been reduced to skeletons over time, as well as bodies that do not appear to be Japanese, have also been discovered.』
In the end, following this incident, the mayor had no choice but to accept the JSDF.
The number of discovered corpses numbered in the hundreds.
The Hikarinomiya police and fire departments simply lacked the capacity to process that number while simultaneously clearing the rubble.
"Not Japanese, reduced to skeletons... I don't understand anything. To begin with, does a body even decompose that much after only a week...?"
Lying on the sofa, fighting nausea, Kiori couldn't take her eyes off the news.
A massive number of discovered corpses—were Ai and Hiiro included among them?
Were her sister and brother-in-law holding up?
Were the members of the Kaisei kyou laughing as they watched this result?
All sorts of thoughts crossed her mind.
But right now, she had her hands full just trying to get her own health back in order.
She had no stamina left to take action for anything else.
"Ahh... how pathetic. After making such a bold declaration to Renjo san..."
Saying she was putting her life on the line, that she was fine even if she died.
Yet she was shivering this much just thinking about the unconfirmed deaths of Ai and Hiiro.
It's easy to talk a big game.
If she were to actually face her own death, she'd undoubtedly break down far worse than she was now and beg for her life.
"But it can't be helped, it's completely beyond my imagination. To actually kill that many people..."
They were insane from the start, but this time they had crossed the line into absolute madness.
She was thoroughly crushed, to the point where she didn't even have the energy to argue that this wasn't an opponent a single reporter could handle.
As she lay there exhausted, recognizing her own powerlessness, the news announcer spoke up with a frantic, 『We have breaking news.』
『One survivor has been discovered in the rubble of Hikarinomiya Academy. They have already been transported from the scene to a local hospital and are currently receiving treatment.』
Kiori unintentionally muttered, "No way..." and sat up.
How could there be a survivor in such a hopeless situation?
Perhaps, just maybe, it was Ai or Hiiro.
And since they were transported to a local hospital—it was almost certainly the hospital where Chihiro worked.
Kiori's gaze fell on her smartphone.
Should she contact her?
No, it's impossible. She must be incredibly busy right now, and more importantly, for the current her to ask Chihiro for a favor... she just couldn't—
Kiori let out a massive sigh and hung her head.
"I shouldn't push myself forward when I can't even take care of myself..."
The identity of the survivor would be revealed soon anyway.
She just had to wait.
Even if Kiori didn't push herself to the limit, it wasn't going to slow the world down.
With such a flashy number of casualties, the Kaisei kyou couldn't remain an underground secret organization forever.
That's right. Even without Kiori.
The world.
Chihiro.
Maybe nothing would change at all.
"I hate this... I'm just thinking infinitely negative thoughts. Forget it, I'm going to sleep."
At times like this, there was no way to recover other than sleeping.
Kiori lay back down on the sofa and closed her eyes.
Then, at a timing so perfect it was as if someone had been watching her, her smartphone rang.
She sat up again and couldn't help but glare at the screen.
"...From Chihiro?"
It was an incoming call from someone she never expected.
Yes, a regular phone call.
Not an app-based call, but a direct line.
Sensing the urgency, Kiori crushed her hesitation and pressed the answer button.
"Hello."
"Ah, you picked up. Kiori, are you still at work?"
"No, I'm home."
"You sound down. Are you okay?"
"Don't worry about me. More importantly, what is it? Aren't you busy over there?"
"Ah... yeah."
Chihiro sounded so depressed that Kiori wanted to say, You're the one who sounds down. Frustrated, Kiori ground her back teeth with a grrr.
Even though Chihiro was the one who pushed her away first, why was she showing her such weak emotions now?
"I'm busy, so I thought it had to be now."
"What does?"
"A survivor was brought in. I found out the name... and I thought maybe you'd want to know, Kiori."
"Of course I want to know, but—I can't hear it from you."
"...Does that mean"
"Why are you doing this? Are you trying to score points with me?"
"No, that's not what I—!"
"If so, then stop it. It's annoying."
"...!"
"Besides, there are people who know we live together. If I know the survivor's name before anyone else, I'll be the prime suspect. I can't use that for an article."
"Ah... right."
"..."
"..."
An awkward silence fell.
What is she trying to do, seriously? Kiori felt a strong inner resentment.
"Um..."
"I can hear people sounding busy in the background. Don't you need to get back?"
"Yeah, but."
"...Did you have something else you wanted to say?"
"Next time... when we have some time to relax,"
"Yeah."
"I want to talk. About us, um, moving forward."
What are you saying at a time like this—she wanted to say.
But knowing that replying like that would only widen the rift, Kiori firmly held it back.
Then, chewing over Chihiro's words, she understood.
Perhaps that was the first time in a while she had spoken "calmly."
In the end, because she hadn't understood Chihiro's intentions, Kiori's emotions had been thrown into turmoil.
No, there was also the possibility that she'd just be forced to listen to the romantic details of her new relationship and end up feeling even more depressed—but if they were going to part ways, then that too was a necessary step.
"Haah... okay, let's talk. Properly, face-to-face."
"Thank you."
"When we do, I'm going to get thoroughly mad at you too."
"Hehe, that's scary. Also, you said you couldn't use it... but just in case, do you want to know?"
"The survivor's name? Of course I want to know."
"Then I'll tell you."
In a brighter voice than when she first answered the call, Chihiro announced it.
"Shimakawa Daichi."
A name Kiori knew.
"Shimakawa..."
"I'll be happy if this helps you with whatever it is you're doing. Ah, sorry, I really have to get back now. See you later."
"Ah, yeah, see you later."
The call abruptly cut off.
Kiori placed her smartphone on the table, lay back down on the sofa, and narrowed her eyes.
"The Shimakawa couple's son... is alive."
It wasn't Ai or Hiiro.
But their bodies hadn't been found either.
And this news arriving exactly when she was planning to investigate Shimakawa Yuya.
Kiori couldn't help but feel something akin to destiny in this turn of events.
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