“What is this place…?”
There were papers stuck to every wall. The one in front of us was covered with a huge map of Japan. There were countless photographs, both in black and white and in color, as well as an enormous collection of baffling documents, including everything from academic articles to classic kanbun literature copied onto handmade Japanese paper. It covered every inch of the space. What had we just stumbled into? I had already taken a step inside the room. Miyaki joined me. We wandered into the sea of papers, at a loss for words.
The wall to our right was covered in photographs. Black-and-white images of impoverished, lonely villages at first, then the expressionless faces of villagers, and then close-ups of things like shoulders and knees. Strange star-shaped marks could be seen on the body parts that were in the close-ups. Farther down the wall, beneath these images, were relatively new photographs showing locations such as a port or the lake of a dam.
The wall to the left held text rather than images. Articles cut out from newspapers, and segments copied from books, patchy from repeated duplication. I spotted the words immortal and dream.
“Katagishi.”
Miyaki pointed at the map of Japan. The edges of the map were frayed and rounded, and it was crisscrossed with connecting lines written like blood in red ink. Occasionally, there were also photographs or excerpts stuck to the map with thumbtacks, but the image quality was too poor to tell what any of them were. My eyes landed on one spot that had been circled. Wasn’t that the village Miyaki and I had visited? The one where eyes, ears, and other giant body parts fell from the sky every year? Another red line had been drawn along the coast. That was the village where they worshipped the mermaid. And there, the village submerged beneath the dam.
“They’re incursions…,” I said, the words slipping out of my mouth.
Miyaki nodded. The edge of the map was worn and rounded, as if it had been flipped back repeatedly. I grabbed the edge of the map between my fingers and pulled in one clean go. There was a tearing sound, and a sturdy bookshelf appeared underneath.
Only a single green file folder remained upon the empty shelves. Nothing was written on its surface. A lone photograph fluttered out as I picked the folder up. Miyaki caught the photo in midair.
Six people were visible in the sepia-colored photograph. One man in a white lab coat, three men and women in suits, a man in a military uniform, and one old person in plain clothes. Their names appeared to be written in ballpoint pen on the back.
“Ueda, Umemura, Mihara, Reizei, Miyaki, Tsuga…”
I read the names out loud and glanced at Miyaki.
“Don’t ask me,” she said.
If this had anything to do with Miyaki, she was probably trying to either string me along or throw me off the trail. I nodded, adjusting my grip on the folder. I opened it in trepidation.
THERE ARE STRANGE AND INVIOLABLE GODS IN THIS WORLD. SPIRITS THAT SURPASS HUMAN UNDERSTANDING AND DEFY OUR NOTIONS OF GOOD AND EVIL. BEINGS THAT CREATE FRACTURES IN MUNDANE HUMAN REALITY. WE CALL THESE TERRIFIC CREATURES, AND THE WONDERS THAT THEY BEGET, DIVINE INCURSIONS. THIS RESEARCH IS CARRIED OUT TO PROTECT THE SAFETY AND INTEGRITY OF JAPAN.
This grand statement was all that was written on the first page. Numerous documents followed, sandwiched between the two ends of the folder.
• MULTIPLE SUSPICIOUS SMILING CORPSES. INVESTIGATION INDICATES LOW URGENCY.
• LIGHT APPEARING IN MOUNTAINOUS REGION. LOCALS REPORT SEEING SOMETHING RESEMBLING A WALL. LIKELY (DIVINE INCURSION) THE GOD OF THE ARM OF LIGHT. RESPONSE COMPLETE.
• LOCALS REPORT SEEING GIANT NEAR NEWLY CONSTRUCTED DAM. (DIVINE INCURSION) THE GOD IN THE SUNKEN BOX. URGENCY: LOW.
• CORPSES DISCOVERED WITHOUT INTERNAL ORGANS. (DIVINE INCURSION) THE GOD THAT ATE MEN. LOCALS UNWILLING TO COOPERATE.
• (DIVINE INCURSION) THE CRAWLING GOD. RESPONSE COMPLETE.
• (DIVINE INCURSION) THE GOD IN THE FLAME. RESPONSE COMPLETE.
• (DIVINE INCURSION) THE LONELY GOD. INVESTIGATION SUSPENDED.
• CONFIRMATION OF GIANT EYE FALLING IN AGRICULTURAL VILLAGE. (DIVINE INCURSION) THE GOD THAT DESCENDS IN PIECES. INVESTIGATION ONGOING.
Some I had never heard of, but most entries listed gods that we had encountered during our investigations.
“What is this…?”
“Was the Silent Voice investigating divine incursions?”
If so, then maybe there was some connection between the fact that incursions had skyrocketed in ’99 and that so many people had disappeared that same year. I flipped the page. The next sheet was blank, but the page after that had writing on it.
POPULATION-RELATED MEASURES.
LARGE SHADOW PRESENT AT MOUNT FUDARAKU. HEREAFTER: (DIVINE INCURSION) THE UNKNOWN GOD. AS PER DISCUSSION, UNIQUE QUALITIES OF SHADOW TO BE TAPPED FOR POPULATION-RELATED MEASURES.
Miyaki and I glanced at each other. I quickly flipped ahead.
POSTRESPONSE RE: THE GOD OF THE ARM OF LIGHT, RESIDENT SAIKO KAWARA COMPLAINED OF HEADACHE AND FEVER. CAUSE DETERMINED TO BE RELATED TO INCURSION. IMPLEMENT POPULATION-RELATED MEASURES.
POSTRESPONSE RE: THE CRAWLING GOD, RESIDENTS MIZUKI MATSUGO AND YUUTO MIKAWA COMPLAINED OF SEEING UNKNOWN FIGURE CRAWLING ALONG TRAIL IN MOUNTAIN. CAUSE DETERMINED TO BE RELATED TO INCURSION. IMPLEMENT POPULATION-RELATED MEASURES.
Those names had been on the missing person list.
FIFTY-CENTIMETER INCREASE IN THE UNKNOWN GOD’S HEIGHT CONFIRMED: AS PER DISCUSSION, DECISION REACHED TO ATTRACT NEW RELIGIOUS GROUP AND ATTENDANT FACILITIES. TARGET GOALS: CONSTRUCT IDOL TO MAINTAIN CONFIDENTIALITY AND PURSUE FURTHER POPULATION-RELATED MEASURES.
BUNROKU SENDA, KIYOUKO KATABIRA: POPULATION-RELATED MEASURES.
All the names that showed up thereafter also matched those on the list of missing people. My hand was shaking too much to go on.
Clearly, the people here had been carrying out research into divine incursions. And as hard as it was to believe, unlike us, the people in that photograph seemed to have even managed to successfully neutralize some gods. However, even after the gods were neutralized, it appeared that some people were still affected. That is, until…
“Where it says ‘population-related measures’…do you think that means they arranged for those people to be erased by the unknown god?”
Miyaki’s voice trembled. It appeared this group’s approach to wrapping up loose ends had been to completely erase the remaining affected people from existence. And then they had lured in that cult, drawing in troubled souls with information about divine incursions in greater droves than ever from all over the country. Misaki had likely been among that number.
“I can’t believe this…”
The folder fell from my hand. Bundles of paper spilled out as it hit the floor. Frantic, messy handwriting, completely unlike the earlier meticulous hand, was scrawled across the fanning papers.
INCREASE IN THE UNKNOWN GOD’S HEIGHT CONFIRMED. AS PER DISCUSSION, POPULATION-RELATED MEASURES TO BE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED.
ADHERENTS CONTINUE TO GATHER ON A DAILY BASIS DESPITE RELIGIOUS GROUP’S DISBANDING.
INCREASE IN THE UNKNOWN GOD’S HEIGHT CONFIRMED. MULTIPLE INSTANCES OF DISAPPEARANCES HAVE OCCURRED WITHOUT OUR KNOWLEDGE.
OFFICIAL INVESTIGATORS HAVE BEEN DISPATCHED TO MOUNT FUDARAKU. ALL ACTIVITIES TO BE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED.
INCREASE IN THE UNKNOWN GOD’S HEIGHT CONFIRMED.
I kicked the bundle of papers with the tip of my shoe. A note that had been frantically scribbled on a scrap of paper in red pen was wedged between the final sheets.
ALL ACTIVITIES TO BE HALTED INDEFINITELY, EFFECTIVE AS OF TODAY.
HUMANITY IS NO MATCH FOR THE GODS.
What the hell happened here?
“Hey, Miyaki…”
But as soon as I turned around, the world was enveloped in soft light.