The hole was filled with an alarming number of lumps. They were torn to bits and shapeless, so at first I didn’t know what they were, just black and red lumps.
Trying to ignore the stench, I bent down, looking closer.
Jaws, tails, and collars—dogs. Beneath the torn fur and flesh, maggots wriggled. There was layer after layer of lumps piled up in the hole. All of them had once had life and frolicked about beneath the sun. It was a strange feeling, the lure of death and destruction.
The hole was filled with rot and stench. Staring down into it, I found myself remembering images of World War II. The hole of death had a lot in common with those images.
I stood up and looked around. Like Sakura had said, there was nothing here but grass: the pointed tips of the grass against the red light of the setting sun and the flies buzzing around them like black specks. The flies must have thought me a friend, as they kept crashing into my uniform and cheeks. Everything was tinted red by the fading sunlight.
When Sakura told me about her discovery, I’d immediately guessed there was a connection between the hole and the pet kidnappings. I figured there was a strong possibility that the place she’d found was the place I’d been looking for.
I sent her home alone and headed for the bridge. I took the concrete stairs from the end of the bridge down to the riverbank and there found the clearing in the sea of grass. There was a cloud of flies a short distance away.
I looked down into the hole at my feet. Marble and Pavlov were among these corpses.
I turned away from the hole, leaving the bridge, and I went home, waiting for night to fall.
When the clock showed ten, I put a knife in my pocket and emerged from my room.
Sakura was still in shock from seeing those dead animals, and she was sprawled out on the sofa in the living room. When I passed in front of her, heading for the front door, my mother looked up from her TV show, asking where I was going. When I answered, “The convenience store,” Sakura muttered, “The midnight convenience store warrior!”
I returned to the space under the bridge. It was Friday, so there was a strong chance the kidnapper would show.
As I walked, I tried to imagine what someone who killed animals for fun would be like. I could almost picture the kidnapper tossing the dead dogs into the hole.
If I could, I wanted to watch the killer work. I was curious about the kind of ritual that preceded the disposal of the corpses.
Things that were merciless and cruel always captivated me. The conversations my classmates enjoyed and the warm words I exchanged with my family never really resonated with me. They were just static, like a radio that wasn’t tuned properly.
At night, the river turned black, like a universe without stars but spread across the ground. The lights on the bridge barely managed to illuminate the water. There were no signs of anyone else around, so the kidnapper must not have arrived yet.
I cautiously descended the stairs and went into the grass. As I pushed my way through it, I remembered what Morino and I had said on the phone before I left the house.
“I’m going to see someone who likes dogs. Do you want to come?”
“I’d love to, but I have so much homework.”
“There wasn’t any homework.”
“My mother’s illness took a turn for the worse. She’s at death’s door.”
“No need to force an excuse. If you’re afraid of dogs, I won’t insist,” I said, and I got a response well beyond what I had expected.
“W-what are you talking about? Afraid of dogs? Don’t be silly! I’m not afraid of those things!”
She’d sounded earnest—not the kind of person who was fun to tease. I apologized and, for the sake of her pride, hung up pretending not to know the truth.
Now I hid myself in the grass.
My knees on the ground, I pulled a digital camera from my pocket. The lights on the bridge above were the only illumination, so it was questionable whether I’d be able to capture anything. I opened up the aperture and set the shutter speed to the slowest setting, trying to get an image without resorting to using the flash. If I used the flash, the kidnapper would know I was there, and I hoped to avoid that.
I did not intend to report the dog killer to the police, preferring to keep the kidnapper unaware of my existence. It was a rule of mine not to get involved. I was a third party, just watching from the sidelines. If I didn’t report the criminal, more pets would be kidnapped, and more people would be sad and would cry, but that did not bother me at all. I was that kind of person.
From where I was hiding, I could see the stairs leading down from the bridge and the clearing. I figured the kidnapper would cross the clearing on the way to the hole, and that was my chance to get a photograph.
The river carried massive amounts of water downstream. Hidden in the grass, I could hear the water moving past. I remember how black the river surface had been. It was a very quiet image.
A chilly wind blew past, rustling the grass around me. One blade poked me in the cheek.
When my watch showed twelve, a shadowy figure appeared on the bridge above. As it came down the stairs, I lowered my head, breathing quietly to keep my presence a secret.
The shadow reached the bottom of the stairs and vanished into the grass. The faint light spilling over the edge of the bridge was just enough to let me make out the swaying grass as the figure pushed its way through before emerging into the clearing. The figure had been hidden in shadow as it came down the stairs—but in the clearing, I could see it clearly.
Emerging from the grass was a girl with a dog. The girl was very short, with hair down to her shoulders. She was very thin. The dog was a golden retriever. It was the same girl and dog that had passed us when I’d been out with Morino.
A smaller dog was in the girl’s arms. The dog was struggling and whining, but the girl was used to holding dogs, so she didn’t drop it.
I got the camera ready.
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