Murmurs spread through the group of the confused investigators.
“Even if this is all the handiwork of an insider…,” Totoki said with a slightly sterner voice, trying to silence them. “Why would anyone try to do this?”
“To produce results and reap merit, if you ask me. But there’s one more crucial fact that needs to be stated.” Director Schlosser glared at Totoki scornfully. “Investigator Totoki, we know who borrowed this USB from the bureau office. It was registered in your name.”
Echika couldn’t help but shift her gaze to Totoki.
No. That can’t be true.
“Yes, I did borrow a few USBs.” Totoki’s expression didn’t waver. “But I didn’t do anything like this.”
“From the time the TOSTI incident started to this business with the Alliance, you’ve been concerned over your long-running investigation not producing any results. To think you would falsify evidence to boost your career…” Schlosser spat out the words viciously. “I suppose I was in the wrong to apply that much pressure on you, but…it reflects poorly on your character.”
“Director, I would never do something like that.”
“Who did this, then? There is consequential evidence implicating you, and you have a motive. Plus, if you’re indeed behind this, you’d be in the perfect position to leak information to the TFC and get Investigator Hieda abducted.”
“If I was the one who did this, I’d think twice before using equipment that would implicate me. Doesn’t it make more sense to assume someone is trying to incriminate me?” Totoki’s voice was calm but firm. “The Alliance doesn’t want evidence of the thought manipulation system to be discovered. Doesn’t it stand to reason that they would try to get in the bureau’s way?”
Echika was inclined to agree with Totoki—she was devoted to her job, and despite her stoic exterior, she was a woman who truly cared. The Totoki who Echika knew wasn’t the kind of person who would forge evidence to boost her career, much less allow her subordinates to get abducted by the TFC.
Echika had spent her four-year tenure at the bureau watching Totoki from up close. And so she knew—this had to be some kind of setup by the Alliance.
“But if the Alliance really is trying to deceive us, then why would they use your USB?” Schlosser asked, completely suspicious. “It makes no sense. You had Hieda recover your USB so you could get promoted, right? And you used bureau equipment so that even if the forgery was discovered, you’d be able to pin the crime on someone else.”
“That’s fundamentally impossible. How would I even get the USB into Kai’s room?”
“I just told you how. You could have bribed the TFC to help you.”
“Sir, I understand being suspicious, but please, compose yourself.”
Totoki straightened her posture, but Echika couldn’t see her expression from where they were standing. Schlosser, by contrast, maintained his dubious expression. Echika felt her pulse thumping in her throat. Heavy silence hung for a few seconds.
“…Investigator Totoki, I of course don’t want to believe you’re behind this. But while you’re very talented, you have been running into trouble as of late.” The director had no intention of changing his stern attitude. “Especially the matter of Investigator Hieda performing an unauthorized Brain Dive without a warrant last month. You were far too lenient.”
Those words gripped Echika’s heart like a cold fist. She hadn’t expected him to bring that up now.
Echika couldn’t stop herself from speaking up. “Director, Chief Totoki had nothing to do with that. I was acting entirely of my own judgment—”
“I didn’t ask for your sentimental arguments, Investigator.” The director coldly silenced her. “Totoki has a duty to manage her subordinates, and she failed to do so. And on top of that, she went ahead and handed fake evidence over to the analysis team. Do you understand how big of a problem this is?”
“I’ve said this once, and I’ll say it a thousand times—these are false charges,” Totoki repeated. “If you’re going to insist on this so much, feel free to do a Brain Dive on me. That should prove my innocence.”
“We can’t trust the results of a Brain Dive without knowing if you acted alone or had cooperators. An investigator well versed in the nature of Mnemosynes would know how to speak in codes to deceive a Brain Diver.” Schlosser wasn’t wrong, but it felt like a stretch. “We need to inspect the matter thoroughly first. I’m sure you understand that.”
Echika was sure that under Totoki’s direction, they would be able to close in on the truth of the Alliance. Maybe this was why they’d ended up with the rug pulled out from under their feet.
“Investigator Totoki, you are hereby suspended and temporarily dismissed of your position as chief of the Brain Diving Division.”
Director Schlosser’s announcement hung heavy on the investigators. Echika was speechless.
Temporarily dismissed.
That may have been a fair decision, at least until all suspicion around her was lifted. And yet.
For a long while, Totoki remained silent and stared into the director’s eyes, only to suddenly turn on her heels to leave, like she’d run out of energy. She then slipped past her subordinates and left the director’s office without looking back.
This was the first time Echika had ever seen her act like this.
“We’ll prepare for someone to fill in for her quickly, so as to not influence the investigation. The rest of you are dismissed for the day.”
The members of the Special Investigations Unit couldn’t hide their apprehension but did as the director said and left the room. Echika walked out to the corridor, following the despondent herd. The doors closed cruelly behind her. She could hear whispering all around her.
“Chief Totoki couldn’t have done it.”
“This is all a setup from the Alliance.”
“You don’t know that for sure.”
“Totoki did give a lot of reckless orders.”
“I don’t agree.”
Everyone shuffled into the elevator hall while exchanging improper comments. Totoki was nowhere to be found—she was long gone.
“The director’s too stubborn,” she heard Fokine mumble next to her. “I know the thought manipulation system is hard to believe, but doing this…?”
Echika stopped in her tracks. As Fokine walked ahead of her, she looked down at her worn-out shoes. The thought that had crossed her mind earlier sent a shiver down her spine. Totoki would never do this. She knew that for fact.
And yet she couldn’t imagine Kai getting his hands on bureau equipment on his own. Someone in the bureau must have given him a USB with the intention of setting Totoki up.
“This makes it clear.”
Echika looked up at the sound of that voice. Harold was standing right next to her, his gaze fixed on the investigators walking away. And yes, just like he said, it was clear at this point.
“The Alliance planted a mole in the Electrocrime Investigations Bureau.”
She didn’t want to believe it, but this was the only possible conclusion.
✦ ✦ ✦
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a fever like this.
Bigga tossed and turned in her hotel room bed. The lamps were dimmed to a minimum, and the city lights shining in through the window sparkled like the stars. If she could just sit up, she could surely see the treetops of the Parc de la Tête d’Or, which was next to the Interpol building.
Guilt flooded her. She couldn’t believe she needed to take sick leave after insisting on coming to Al Bahah at the expense of her academy courses. And yet—being all alone did give her a modicum of relief.
“What would you say if I told you I guided you into developing feelings for me?”
Whenever she closed her eyes, the image of her conversation with Harold in the camping trailer replayed painfully in her mind. Amicus could not love. She knew that, but she couldn’t just undo the way she felt about him in the blink of an eye. And at the same time, it was clear things couldn’t stay the same.
It was all too much. She couldn’t breathe.
Bigga had never really believed they could become lovers, and Harold must have noticed that. Maybe the emotions burning within her had never really been that intense. Perhaps her love had grown much more ambiguous, to the point where she stopped envying Echika’s relationship with Harold, like a dream within a dream.
The fact that she couldn’t wrap her head around it made her all the more sad.
And yet the fact remained—for the first time in her life, she’d truly admired and yearned for someone, from the bottom of her heart. That alone wasn’t a lie.
Bigga sniffled. Another hot tear spilled from her swollen eyelids. It was a shame, since her pillow had finally dried out. She would cry a lot, then sleep for a long while, and hopefully feel a bit better come morning. She wanted to believe that. She had to believe it.
She reached for the bedside table, looking for a tissue, and then her eyes fell on the nitro-case necklace sitting there. The HSB cartridge glittered in the dim light.
She didn’t want to talk to Totoki about this before she knew for sure. In the end, the only person she could really turn to now was Hansa.
The thought of her childhood friend, who had gone into radio silence with her ever since his confession, crossed her groggy mind.