This was crazy. What a trickster Yoshikazu Hara turned out to be.
Mitsuhiro opened the door of the company car parked in the lot, put his bag and the convenience-store shopping bag in the back seat, and sighed in frustration. The guy got away again. He just couldn’t believe it.
Sitting down in the driver’s seat, Mitsuhiro started the engine, letting the cool air from the AC wash over him as he tried to calm himself down. Maybe he had underestimated Yoshikazu Hara after all. He was so unpredictable; he’d be following Mitsuhiro, and then he’d just magically disappear. If he was intentionally trying to confound him, he was really good at it.
But Mitsuhiro could learn from his mistakes. After all, everything had gone well until he entered the East Wing. As soon as he unlocked the door of the soundproof wall around the construction site, the man said, “Whoa, you really are from Shimaoka,” seemingly trusting him completely. It was lunch break, fortunately, and few workers were still on-site, so nobody called out his bag of alcohol.
This time, Mitsuhiro didn’t stop by the office or borrow any equipment. He didn’t want to get attacked with a helmet or flashlight again, for one, but this also saved them a whole lot of time. It was against the rules to walk around the site without a helmet, of course, but even if a worker found them, Mitsuhiro could just say he was from Shimaoka HQ with business at the ritual hall, and he was sure no one would stop him then. Takenaka would probably lecture him about it if he found out, but Mitsuhiro didn’t care about that.
But maybe he should have brought along his own flashlight, at least. Without any site equipment, all he had to rely on was his phone’s flashlight mode. That made for tricky footing, to say nothing of how uneasy it made his companion.
“There’s no electricity here,” Mitsuhiro reassured him after the man kept stopping in his tracks, “but the basement is fully lit.”
Holding the bags in one hand and the cell phone in the other proved to be quite a struggle. He considered handing the plastic bag to the other man, but he couldn’t risk him running off with it, so he had to endure the hassle and keep moving.
Then there was the hallway door with the lock. He had completely forgotten about it. Luckily, it was open as usual, but if it hadn’t been, he would’ve have had to wait for Araki to show up. He should have asked him for the unlock code earlier.
Finally, Mitsuhiro made it to the basement. After assuaging the man, who was starting to freak out a little in the darkness, he carefully walked toward the hole, making sure not to fall in.
His problems began after turning on the light in the hall. He stepped over the ladder lying on the floor, placed all his luggage on it, and turned around. The man was still standing bolt-upright near the entrance. At that moment, he was certain that this painful ordeal was finally over.
But then Yoshikazu Hara ruined all his hard work.
“Here’s the hole. All you have to do is go in here.”
“Which hole?” the man asked, walking straight toward him.
“The big one right in front of you!” Mitsuhiro couldn’t believe the man couldn’t see it. “Don’t fall in!”
“What hole? Huh? Where’s the hole?”
Before Mitsuhiro could wonder if this was a joke or a dementia flare-up, the man walked straight ahead without hesitation…and disappeared. It was like he had been swallowed up by the hole. More like sucked in, really.
There was an unpleasant thud, followed by the sound of something heavy being thrown onto the ground.
“Hey! Are you okay?!”
Mitsuhiro frantically picked up the stepladder by the table and lowered it into the hole. He put his cell phone in his pocket, climbed all the way down, and then took out his phone again and turned on the flashlight.
He walked around the bottom of the wide hole, looking for an undoubtedly limp Yoshikazu Hara, but he was nowhere to be found. The only person there was a man lying face down, shuddering and breathing heavily. To Mitsuhiro, it sounded like snoring.
The can of beer Yoshikazu Hara’d had on him was lying next to the man, but Yoshikazu Hara himself was nowhere to be seen. What was clear was that the man lying here wasn’t Yoshikazu Hara at all. His hair was black, not gray, and he was much shorter.
The Twitter guy!
Mitsuhiro was shocked. Was he still there after Mitsuhiro took his phone the other day? No—maybe he talked to Araki and became his mi-keshi or whatever.
Right now, though, Yoshikazu Hara’s total disappearance was much more of a concern. Mitsuhiro wandered around the bottom of the hole for a while. Then he suddenly looked back at the stepladder.
He got me.
Only then did he realize that the man had escaped. He must’ve climbed back up the ladder while Mitsuhiro was bumbling around searching for him.
He hurriedly climbed back up, phone still in hand.
“Mr. Hara! Yoshikazu Hara!”
The voice echoed. Yoshikazu Hara wasn’t there. He hurriedly pulled the stepladder back up out of the hole, grabbed his bags, and ran to the entrance.
He walked down the passageway, stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and listened carefully. He thought he heard footsteps going upward, but it might’ve been normal construction work, too. He couldn’t be sure.
So Mitsuhiro climbed the stairs, lighting his way with his phone. He couldn’t run—not with all the stuff he was carrying. He was impressed that Yoshikazu Hara could navigate those steps in total darkness.
By the time he returned to the underground construction site, he had completely given up. He couldn’t look around the premises or ask witnesses for help, either—not with alcohol in his possession.
He looked around carefully as he passed through the site, but it was useless. Yoshikazu Hara had disappeared for the second time.
Mitsuhiro leaned against the steering wheel, unable to shake off his sense of futility, when his father spoke up.
Don’t be discouraged. This is another learning experience for you. Yoshikazu Hara was never gonna be an easy opponent. You gotta brace yourself. He might get away more times than this, too.
Are you serious? Give me a break.
Oh, don’t be that way. You’ll beat him in the end. You just have to learn his tricks. Eventually, the time will come when you’ll outsmart Yoshikazu Hara. And not just him. You’ll outsmart your boss, and the site manager, too. C’mon. You can do it. You’ve only just started working today. Go get something to eat and cheer yourself up before you meet Mr. Araki.
“Okay. I’ll do my best, Dad.”
Mitsuhiro replied to him out loud as he drove out of the lot. Navigating a series of one-way streets, he returned to the rail station and stopped in the East Wing’s construction parking lot.
As his father had advised, he had lunch at a ramen place within walking distance, replenishing his motivation and physical strength, then returned to his car and waited for a bit. As he strained his eyes in case Yoshikazu Hara passed by, another car pulled in. Seeing Araki in the driver’s seat, Mitsuhiro got out. Araki parked the car and walked toward Mitsuhiro, bowing his head slightly. Mitsuhiro bowed back.
“Thanks for coming all this way. It’s hot out here. Do you want to talk in the car?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
Mitsuhiro returned to the car, and Araki settled into the passenger seat. Araki didn’t mention any strange smell, so it appeared he had finally eradicated Yoshikazu Hara from the company car. Instead, Araki frowned at what was in the back seat.
“Is that alcohol?”
“I had it ready it in case I found Yoshikazu Hara. I haven’t had any.”