They were just leaving the restaurant when Chihori showed up with Chris.
“Oh, good timing,” she said. “Shall I show you around this deck as I walk the dog?” She crossed the lobby with Chris and proceeded out the door. Chris already seemed completely comfortable with her.
As they walked, they saw a fashionable café, a theater for plays and another for movies, a casino, and all kinds of shops…
At each luxurious facility, Hinata’s jaw dropped even lower.
“I thought this was like a giant floating apartment building, but it’s more like a whole city!” marveled Mayuka.
Chihori nodded. “We have just about everything. See that little art gallery over there? On the deck above it, we have a salon, a clinic, a library, a pool, and a gym. And these aren’t the only restaurants…”
“Do you ever get lost, Chihori?”
“I do! All the time,” she said, laughing. A passing security guard shot her a disapproving look.
She cleared her throat and said, “Why don’t we go up to the twelfth deck, where the kennel is? It’ll be nice to escape the crowd.”
Once they had packed into the elevator, Kobayashi peppered Chihori with questions.
“Who operates the computer at the front desk, and how?”
“I’m still new here, so I don’t know for sure, but I believe they unlock the terminal with a face scanner. Each facility has its own system, though, so only the employee at the front desk can unlock that computer, while those in the restaurant can only unlock the restaurant computers, and so on…”
“That means that only the kennel employees can use the kennel computer, right?” Hinata asked.
Chihori nodded. “I think so. But there has to be someone with access to all of them in order to ensure the whole ship is running smoothly, right? So I assume someone higher up can see and access every system.”
“That makes sense,” said Kobayashi. “Probably chief officers like the captain, the navigator, and the head of each sector…” He put a hand to his chin. “Then how do they handle room service orders?”
“Customers place an order using the phones in their rooms. Then Customer Service sends the message to the relevant department, and ultimately the guest room associate will carry the order to the room. On my end…” She pulled a smartphone out of her uniform jacket pocket. “The order shows up here, so I know what the customer needs right away. Sometimes it’s drinks or food, and sometimes it’s extra pillows, towels, medicine, and so on.”
“So last night, your phone indicated a delivery of four glasses of pomegranate juice intended for our room?”
“Yes, as well as the name of the guest who ordered it. It said ‘Soga’ right on the order…” She swiped through the phone one-handed, then yelped with alarm. “Huh? There’s no history of it! The order’s vanished!”
Hinata and Kobayashi looked at each other.
“Whoever did this keeps erasing and overwriting all the important details!” Mayuka said in a huff. “What a pain.”
Hinata sighed. Who could be doing all of this…?
They’d just lost yet another lead.
When the elevator reached the twelfth deck and they headed outside, the entire group gasped.
They could see nothing but blue sea and sky in every direction, 360 degrees! There wasn’t a single cloud in sight, and the waves were calm. It was like they had been tossed into a massive dome of blue.
Hinata, Mayuka, and even Mito ran to the railing and leaned over it.
“Amazing! I’ve never seen anything like it!” Mayuka shouted, the hem of her dress flapping in the wind. “All I can see is the ocean!”
“All I can see is sky!” Hinata shouted back.
Chris barked and ran in circles, going as far as the leash would allow him.
“You’ve never been anywhere like this, either, have you, Chris?” Mayuka said. She flagged Chris down and gave him a big hug.
Meanwhile, Mito closed her eyes and let the wind envelop her. “The sky, the sea, the wind… It’s all amazing…”
She lifted her face and turned around, then held out her left hand as though holding a violin and mimicked holding a bow with her right. The fingers of her left hand moved through the air quickly and delicately, playing an invisible instrument as the wind whipped her hair.
The only sound was the rush of wind in their ears. But as they watched her graceful motions, they could almost hear the music.
At last, her hands stopped moving, and she let them dangle at her sides. Everyone applauded.
“Bravo!” Kobayashi shouted.
Chihori grinned and asked, “What song was that?”
“It’s called ‘Beautiful Rosemary.’ It’s as bright and pretty as the sky,” Mito answered with satisfaction. However, her face quickly clouded over.
“I really want to play… I think I should ask Mr. Soga after all…”
Moved by the other girl’s expression, Mayuka said, “All right, Mito. I’ll join you, and we can ask him together!”
Hinata, too, was struck by the strength of Mito’s desire. He was about to say, “I’ll go, too,” but Chris chose that exact moment to jump up on his hind legs.
Huh? What is it?
Hinata followed Chris’s gaze and was stunned to see a large dog racing toward them!
The animal’s long, wavy golden fur shook in the breeze. It was Kotarou.
“Woof! Woof!”
Hinata hunched down and hugged Chris to protect him. Moments later, Kotarou leaped on top of them.