Chapter 7

CHAPTER III 12th Here at the office, the midnight oil burns until morning. I sit before a solitary light, unable to sleep most of the evening. The countless deaths, the people lost… There is no difference between myself and them. Are we not all born on the same planet, only to ultimately return to the eternal heavens together in death? O divine creator, answer me. “Allow me to begin.” I address the attendants sitting around the table. The agency’s conference room doubles as a drawing room. There are a total of seven workers present—office workers and detectives—and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say these are most of our top members. It’s extremely rare for them to gather like this. I pass out the necessary documents, then explain. “I would like you all to refer to these documents concerning our situation. To summarize, our agency is currently being threatened. Someone has crafted a careful, devious scandal against us.” “Yeah, the agency’s in trouble. We get it. Now get to the point and tell us about the bomb.” One of the attendees speaks up. It’s the agency’s personal physician, Dr. Yosano. “Very well. This is an e-mail I received from the offender. It will help profile the criminal as well, so please make sure to read it.” Dear Sir, I hope everyone at the Armed Detective Agency is doing well. I would first like to extend my deepest gratitude to you all for your support in investigating the abandoned building. Now, I know this is quite sudden, but I am contacting you in hopes of asking you another favor. Only a few moments ago, we set a massive bomb somewhere in town. Therefore, for the safety of the people, I would like for you to promptly find this explosive and dispose of it. Furthermore, this bomb is set to detonate tomorrow at sundown, so I strongly urge that you solve this case before then. This explosive we created is the same type of bomb that robbed the world of over one hundred precious lives during a certain incident in the past. What a horrendous event that was. The everlasting flames and blinding corona made it seem as if the sun itself had fallen out of the sky. The buildings fell one after another while innocent people’s skin melted as they struggled to escape. The ground liquefied, and vehicles were knocked into the buildings like spears. I could describe it only as hell on earth. That is why I beg that your agency makes their best effort to prevent something like that from ever happening in Yokohama. While I understand that this goes without saying, we shall be recording your agency’s efforts just like last time. Please note that if you unfortunately fail to disarm the bomb, we will once again release the footage to the public. With best wishes to you, I pray for your health and success. Yours sincerely, The Azure Apostle “…What kind of sick person writes a thing like that?” Dr. Yosano scoffs. “I completely agree. It is more than evident that this so-called Azure Apostle is the one who recorded the incident at the abandoned hospital and released it to the public to tarnish our agency’s name. And now it appears they are threatening us again.” “So you believe the offender’s objective is to hurt our agency’s reputation?” the president calmly inquires. “Most likely.” The Armed Detective Agency has fought through hell on multiple occasions. You would need an army to take us down in a battle of brute force. However, as long as we are a commercial corporation in the service industry built on the trust of our clients, a scandal like this would make us vulnerable. If the news spreads that we failed to disarm the bomb, and if there is any judicial intervention, then the agency’s reputation will be ruined. We would be driven out of business. “Do you have any idea as to where the bomb is?” “The terrorist insinuated that it’s somewhere that could kill and injure over a hundred people, so we have workers currently searching for possible locations. However, there are countless candidates, such as stations and skyscrapers, so finding the bomb before time runs out could be next to impossible.” “How about we start off by searching for surveillance video cables?” As mentioned in the e-mail, the Azure Apostle would have to record us failing and leak those videos to the public in order to tarnish our reputation. Therefore, they would most likely be using equipment to secretly videotape us just like last time, but… “If the surveillance equipment or wiretaps used the latest batteries, they would be able to record a few days’ worth of footage. They could also be small and shaped like a die or fountain pen, even, and able to wirelessly transmit data up until the explosion destroys them. Realistically speaking, finding the surveillance equipment would prove to be an even more difficult task than finding the bomb. Just in case, I have been asking distributors if they know of anyone purchasing a large number of said devices, but the answers I’ve received so far have been less than ideal.” “Any records of criminals who go by the name Azure Apostle?” “We haven’t found any such records so far.” Azure Apostle. The only difference from the first e-mail is the fact that the client signed off with their name. There has to be a reason for that. All we can say for sure right now is that the Azure Apostle is knowledgeable about explosives and is, for whatever reason, trying to run the agency into the ground. “I’m currently in contact with an affiliate who’s making a list of candidates who specialize in explosives and may have a grudge against the agency.” “Still unable to get in contact with Ranpo?” Dr. Yosano asks. I’m fairly sure the president himself has been keeping in touch with Ranpo… “I spoke with him this morning,” the president replies, crossing his arms. “He said the incident in Kyushu is about to reach a conclusion, so he should be on his way back soon. However, it’s unlikely he will be able to return before sundown.” Ranpo Edogawa is a skill user and the top detective we have at this agency. Assault, kidnapping, murder—no matter the crime, his extraordinary skill, Super Deduction, allows him to reveal the truth. We would have been able to solve this case in no time if he was here…but unfortunately, he is in Kyushu handling another case at the request of a central government official. Ranpo’s investigating a bizarre murder case where a white-haired man supposedly came back from the dead and killed his wife and best friend, so he is not in a situation where he can immediately return to Yokohama.