“Katagishi, are you certain you’ve been here before?”
The expression in Miyaki’s eyes didn’t look doubtful so much as concerned.
“I’m sure.”
I sat down on the faded, light-blue bench, which was leaning against the fence. My memory had felt hazy ever since we arrived here, like some sort of mist was clouding my brain. I had the feeling that I was forgetting something very important. I lit a cigarette, trying to gloss over the indefinable sense of emptiness and panic rising inside me. Miyaki sat down next to me without a word.
“I’m pretty sure I was on my way back to Tokyo after another case two years ago, and Rokuhara told me to swing by here to check up on things along the way. I was pretty new at the time, though, so I guess I would have been tired. That must be why my memory seems so fuzzy,” I said, making up excuses, even though she hadn’t asked.
“That sounds tough. So was Rokuhara working you to the bone even back then?”
“Ever since I married Misaki, actually.”
Miyaki smiled wryly. I smiled back, which helped to alleviate my mounting sense of anxiety.
“Did you come here by yourself last time?”
“No…”
A clump of ash fell from the tip of my cigarette. Searching around for an ashtray, I spotted a rustic, standing red tin ashtray, like the kind you would see in front of a hot springs ryokan. Three cigarette butts were floating in the cola-colored rainwater inside.
“I’m pretty sure I came with two senior officers. A guy from Kansai named Miwasaki, and…a woman? I can’t remember her name right now… Or wait, no, maybe she didn’t come with us after all. We must have parted ways after the first village, because I’m pretty sure it was just me and Miwasaki in the end.”
“I don’t remember ever meeting anyone in our office named Miwasaki.”
“Oh, I guess you wouldn’t know about him, would you? He was a real nice guy and always looked after people, but he ran into some mental health issues. While he was looking into that cult I mentioned earlier. Apparently, he came back here on his own—nothing to do with work. He was put on indefinite leave after that. That must have been before you joined us.”
This information, too, seemed to have disappeared from my head until just this moment, when I said it out loud. I could recall Miwasaki vividly. His gentle manner of speaking and his fine eyes behind his glasses. The way he had looked out for me back when I was new. So then why had I forgotten him?
“And the other agent? The woman…?”
“Missing.”
“That seems important.”
“It happens in this line of work.”
I stubbed my cigarette butt out in the ashtray, which was lurching to the side.
“Are you sure everything in this village is really aboveboard…?”
“Honestly, there was nothing worth mentioning. Not with the village itself, at least. In fact, there was so little of note that I can’t even remember it. That’s all.”
I realized I unconsciously sounded as if I was trying to persuade someone. Miyaki stretched her shoulders, which were stiff from the highway bus we had rode in on, and took a deep breath.
“Well, we haven’t run into any villagers yet, and nothing strange has happened so far. Maybe there really is nothing going on here.”
“That’s true…but there are all those disappearances. And the mysterious lights that kicked everything off. And the cult, of course. There may not be any clear connection between all these things, but there are plenty of apparent leads at least. This is also where Misaki disappeared.”
“Yes, according to the file…”
Miyaki glanced down. A shadow seemed to cross her face. I hopped to my feet quickly to banish the unpleasant atmosphere.
“All right then, let’s start by interviewing some of the locals, like always. We can ask Rokuhara for permission to check out what’s left of the old Silent Voice building after that. We’re gonna have to head down to town, where the people actually live, to borrow a phone anyway.”
“It’s inconvenient, isn’t it? Being out where the means of communication are limited.”
Miyaki pulled out her handheld game console from her briefcase and held it in front of my face.
“This little device is only good for playing games. Don’t you think that’s strange? Wouldn’t it seem far more useful to make something practical, like phones, more portable instead?”
“It’s probably easier to make useless things than it is to make useful ones.”
“Or is it that things like this are only overlooked because they are useless…?” Miyaki muttered nearly under her breath.
I asked her to repeat herself, but she didn’t answer.
“Well then, shall we go?” I said.
Miyaki stood up as well. The head of the giant idol continued to peek out from the top of the tawny mountain. There was no need for directions. At this rate, we would probably be there in no time. While I was staring up at the mountains, however, I felt my toes bump into something that felt less firm than gravel.
I glanced down. A pair of crushed eyeglasses were lying on the ground. It was just the frames; the lenses had fallen out. The sight of the narrow silver rims brought back memories of a gentle pair of eyes. Supposedly, Miwasaki was also being cared for somewhere nearby after his episode. Maybe there really was something going on in this village after all. For a moment, a black mist seemed to hover across my vision.
I chased these stray thoughts away. This was what we were about to investigate.
Farther along, a short distance from the mangled eyeglasses, I spotted something small and triangular also stuck in the mud. A small black ribbon barrette, the kind that a hotel worker might wear, was poking out of the ground; only the metal clasp and a corner of the decorative front was visible. I instinctively took a step closer, but Miyaki’s voice interrupted me, urging me to hurry up. I quickly turned on my heel.