If I ever felt like doing it, I could indeed smash this planet into smithereens in but a few seconds. Although I understood how scary that could sound, having someone being scared of me for something I haven’t done was a bit hurtful. But with that said, if asked whether I could get along well with a dude who constantly walked around with a button that could activate a bomb capable of blowing Earth up casually shoved into his pocket, the answer would be a resounding NO. So I also kind of understood how Baba felt.
“So in truth, there is nowhere on this entire planet where one can flee to hide from your eyes and your grasp? Is that not the same as you being able to do whatever you want?”
“‘Whatever I want’ sounds a bit...... just saying, I don’t peek at girls in the bath, all right?” Cus I had promised Kaburagi-san. I keep my promises. But as for the time before I promised, well, just a little, maybe? ......Oh get off my back, I’m a guy too.
After that, we continued adding potential candidates to the list while shooting the breeze, eventually settling on a total of around forty locations all over the world, including the ones in Japan.
Although they were supposed to be decoys, we were actually going to make supernatural phenomena occur at those locations, so even those who realized that they were decoys would still be forced to look into them. This would be especially relevant to the foreign intelligence agents who had infiltrated Japan. It made perfect sense that if there was something supernatural happening in their own country, naturally they would prioritize investigating that instead of the supernatural phenomena in Japan. Even if they didn’t all scatter back to their own countries and completely close up shop in Tokyo, this should still put a crack or two in their armor.
Carrying out one event as a decoy to clear the stage for the traitor event...... like, what, seriously. But well, let’s do our best. Time to brute force my way through with telekinesis!
⚔
In the middle of the night on a certain day in autumn, Nanami Okishima had come to the Sea of Trees at the foot of Mt. Fuji to kill herself because of her depressingly unsuccessful foray into the job market.
Her parents had ordered her to study, so she studied reluctantly. They ordered her to practice the piano, so she practiced it reluctantly. Without any particular dream or goal in mind, she floated through high school, then university. And then she stumbled before the challenge of finding a job.
She had above average grades, which meant you could find her name faster starting from the top rather than the bottom. However, there was nothing that she particularly wanted to do. Was she to get herself hired by a random company and then just work there for the rest of her life? Even if it was a job she had no interest in? Or was she going to get married and become a housewife?
Just imagining her options left her locked in fear. Nanami had applied to take the company entrance exam at eight different companies, but every single time, she would fall sick from stress one day before the exam, and thus, she failed them all.
She had lied to her parents that she had gotten hired at a small company. Then, while living off of the savings that she had accumulated during her time at university, she had spent the past six months searching for a job. However, those savings had run out just yesterday. Coming clean to her parents seemed as equally frightening as stepping out into the corporate world with all its terrible reputation of soul-crushing and exploitative companies.
“Yep! A piece of trash like myself really should just die off after all! Let’s go die!” Growing depressed again at the recollection, Nanami proceeded down the wildly overgrown path with a spring in her step and eyes devoid of light.
The rush of being out here at night, her depression, sheer bravado, fear of the dark and cold forest, and the effects of alcohol had all mixed together to plunge her into a rather incomprehensible mental state.
The actual name of the Sea of Trees at the foot of Mt. Fuji is Aokigahara Forest, and it is a primeval forest located northwest of Mt. Fuji. It is famous as a suicide spot. This isn’t restricted to Aokigahara alone, but the things about forests is that all the trees look the same, and so it is extremely easy to become lost. This is all the more true during nighttime, when one can lose one’s bearings from a quick turn and a momentary lapse of attention. Walk 5 minutes, and it would already be impossible to know where you were.
The Sea of Trees was hardly quiet, with insects and rustling leaves working together to raise quite the cacophony. However, that did nothing to help alleviate the eeriness of the forest in any way. Nanami walked on for a whole hour with flashlight and rope in hand, but she had not come across a single person. In exchange, she thought she had spotted what she thought to be bleached bones twice in that time.
“Oh look, doesn’t this tree look just perfect~?!” rejoiced Nanami at finally finding a tree that seemed just right to hang herself from. Her habit of talking to herself had grown worse when she started living by herself.
“Humans~ are born among humans~ but die alone under heaven and earth~ alone and aloof~ in all their vainglory~” Singing cheerfully while her eyes still remained devoid of light, Nanami tied her rope to the tree and gave it a tug to make sure that it would hold. Then she took a swig from the small bottle of alcohol that she had kept in her pocket and raised a cigarette—she had picked up the habit during her hellish days of searching for a job—to her mouth. It was meant to be the very last puff of her life. With a shaking hand, she brought a flame up————and froze.
Nanami had noticed something that seemed to be shining a distance away. It was not starlight. Red in color and wavering unsteadily, it seemed man-made in nature. And it was drawing closer to her. She immediately pressed pause on her exciting one way trip to the next world, chucked her cigarette away and turned off her flashlight, then quickly hid behind a tree before peeking out. After all, she had come here to depart on this journey without tipping anyone off. It would be an enormous waste of all her effort if she was to be spotted and rescued.
Had she bumped into another person who had similarly come here to end their life? Or was it the police or a search party? Nanami tensed her muscles and squinted, remaining fully on guard.
As the light drew closer, it started to increase in number.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six...... more than ten...... She stopped counting after fifty.