Chapter 212 - Superstition 2 {2 Solo} (3-4 Unexpected Developments)
After parking the car in front of Kanehana Station, the two walked several hundred meters and were climbing the stairs leading to the elevated spot where the memorial monument stood, one step at a time. During that time, a dry, cold wind blew continuously, and the journey was made with hunched backs.
Before reaching the top, the brick memorial monument came into view, but it looked no different from when they had visited seven years ago. And after reaching the top of the stairs and turning toward the monument, a strong wind from the Engaru side ahead—that is, a strong north wind—assailed the two. It was a cold wind so biting that both Nishida and Yoshimura shuddered greatly once more.
The two went right beneath the monument, stared intently at the statue modeled after a tako-beya laborer holding a pickaxe, and then closed their eyes and joined their hands in silence. They must have observed a moment of silence for about thirty seconds when suddenly, the sound of music coming from the direction of the stairs reached their ears. They opened their eyes and naturally turned their gaze that way. The song was that "Jinsei Gekijo," and that old man, carrying an ancient radio-cassette player emitting a loud volume, walked toward the two with a vigorous stride after reaching the top of the stairs. Both Nishida and Yoshimura braced themselves slightly after moving a few steps from the front of the monument toward the old man.
"That old man again..." Yoshimura muttered in a tone that was likely audible to the other party, even if it was a small voice, but the old man didn't show any sign of caring, and with a stride that didn't seem like an old man's, he immediately stood right in front of the two who were lined up. Then, after lowering the volume of the radio-cassette player until it was inaudible, he looked back and forth between Nishida's and Yoshimura's faces about twice with a smile.
"You look well. Back in June, was it? Thank you for the towel then." Since it felt somewhat awkward, Nishida took the lead and thanked him for receiving the towel, but the old man didn't react to that.
However, he suddenly patted Nishida's and Yoshimura's shoulders simultaneously with his left and right hands and said,
"Wow, you really did a good job! Both of you are something else! You're the pride of the police!"
Needless to say, neither Nishida nor Yoshimura knew what he was talking about and stood there blankly, but the old man didn't mind at all, went behind the two, raised the volume of the radio-cassette player again in front of the monument, placed it on the ground, and began to join his hands. Watching this, the two didn't even know what to say and just watched blankly for about a minute, but the old man maintained his posture of prayer. It was a scene that piqued their curiosity, but since there was no point in staying forever, Nishida signaled to Yoshimura with his eyes, and they decided to leave the place.
And immediately after they turned their backs to the old man and started walking, the melody of Jinsei Gekijo, which had been playing at a considerable volume until then, suddenly vanished, so they instinctively looked back. Then, the old man had vanished into thin air from before the monument, and the radio-cassette player that had been placed there had also disappeared.
Stunned, Yoshimura immediately went around to the back of the monument to search for the old man. However, naturally, there was no sign or shape of him, and he considered the possibility that he had entered the forest behind the monument, but it wasn't a distance close enough to enter in just those few seconds, and even if he had, there should have been the sound of pushing aside the thick bamboo grass. In other words, the Old Man of Jinsei Gekijo had vanished right before their eyes—no, behind their backs—immediately after they turned away.
"Could this be what they call spiriting away...!? Or a ghost...!? Since it's a place like this, a ghost of a tako-beya laborer?" Yoshimura cried out with a stiff face he usually didn't show as he returned from behind the monument.
"I don't know, but a ghost of a tako-beya laborer with a radio-cassette player is surely impossible given the era, right? However, it's probably not a kind of sudden spiriting away... He was an old man who had been involved in various mysterious things until now..." Nishida also twisted his head while reflecting on the events so far, but in the end, he was left speechless.
They watched the situation for several minutes, but nothing happened, and since it didn't seem like anything would be resolved by waiting, they decided to leave and started walking toward the stairs again. But toward their backs, a sudden gust from the strong north wind blew against them just as when they had arrived. Reflexively, the words "Ugh, cold" escaped both of them at the same time, but they immediately noticed something amiss and looked at each other.
"Hmm? Did something happen?" Nishida himself knew specifically what that feeling of wrongness was, but because it was so absurd, he didn't want to put it into words and confirmed with Yoshimura first. However, Yoshimura also replied,
"...No, it's nothing. Did you notice something, Section Chief?"
So Nishida also obscured his words in the flow, saying, "Me neither..."
"Anyway, on top of being frozen from the cold, having something like this happen has chilled my heart even more, so let's hurry and go soak in the onsen!" Yoshimura urged Nishida, and the two hurried down the stairs and rushed to Kanehana Station where the car was parked.
And in about twenty-five minutes from Kanehana Station, they arrived at Hotel Shochikubai in Onneyu Onsen, and the two immediately enjoyed the free-flowing onsen for the first time in seven years, as it was empty due to the season. Perhaps because they could relax in the onsen, they succeeded in largely erasing the mysterious incident in front of the memorial monument from their memories for the time being.
Having finally been able to warm up to their core, the two entered the Japanese-style restaurant in the hotel and had lunch. Nishida had wild vegetable soba, and Yoshimura had a combination of a Japanese-style hamburger and oshiruko, but as usual, Yoshimura finished eating first.
Afterward, while sipping tea and discussing whether to enter the onsen once more, they noticed the owner, Matsushige, entering the restaurant. He was slightly older than seven years ago, probably in his mid-fifties, but he looked sufficiently younger than that, and overall, they didn't feel much change in his appearance. He must have come to have lunch after finishing some work. And upon entering, he immediately found Nishida and called out,
"Ah! ...Um, Nishida...-san, was it? It's been a long time!"
As expected of a professional in the hospitality business, unlike those on the investigating side, he remembered Nishida well, even though the other party probably hadn't left much of an impression.
"May I join you? I'm sure your companion has his own convenience, but..." When asked that by Matsushige, Nishida showed a slightly grim expression, thinking that it would delay his entry into the onsen. However, since they had plenty of time anyway, he decided to spend about thirty minutes with him as it was a reunion after a long while. As for Yoshimura, although he didn't have direct acquaintance with Matsushige, he knew Matsushige one-sidedly, so he seemed complicated about not being known by the other party. Even so, he couldn't make a sour face and said,
"Yeah, I don't mind, please."
Matsushige was considerate and confirmed with the employee what could be made quickly, ordered Japanese-style fried rice, and it was actually brought to the table in less than ten minutes.
For the time being, Nishida introduced Yoshimura to Matsushige. Meanwhile, Matsushige, while eating his fried rice, skillfully asked what Nishida and the others were doing now, while being careful not to pry too much. Thinking there was no need to hide more than necessary, Nishida explained that he had been working at the Kitami Regional Headquarters since this spring with his partner Yoshimura, and at the same time, he mentioned that Yoshimura had also worked with him at Engaru Station seven years ago and had stayed at this hotel. He also explained that since a big job had reached a stopping point, they happened to have time and had come for a day-trip bath.
"I see... So you're working in Kitami now." After Matsushige said that, he said hesitantly,
"By a big job, do you mean that Oshima Kaiji case that's been a stir lately? Could it be that you and your partner are involved, Nishida-san? I've only seen it on the news, but I heard Oshima is involved in multiple murder cases..."
"Ah... As expected of you, Matsushige-san, you saw right through it... As reported, we thought the case we were investigating seven years ago was somehow related to Oshima, but unfortunately, various things happened and we couldn't close in. I was reassigned here to conduct that investigation again. And we finally got results." Nishida praised Matsushige's intuition and confessed readily.
"I heard Oshima was also involved in the hospital shooting incident where Kitamura-san, who was with you back then, was killed in the line of duty... In that sense, you two have successfully avenged your former colleague, haven't you?"
When the conversation was turned to him again, Nishida replied,
"Well, I suppose it comes to that... We didn't make it in time for the 7th anniversary (6th year) last year, but we were somehow able to report a good result at his grave on his anniversary this year."
"He died at such a young age, and in an unforeseen situation, so he must have had many regrets... However, I'm truly happy that the case was resolved safely. Even so, as expected of the opponent, it seems there were various things... I don't know the details, so I'm sorry for speaking as if I know based on news-level knowledge, but the fact that it took seven years was partly due to those aspects?" Matsushige also seemed to recognize from reports that the investigation had been more difficult due to Oshima's political power.
"I can't say that wasn't a factor, but thinking about it now, I think the complexity of the case background, which we didn't understand at the time, had more of an influence. At the time, I thought the pressure had a greater impact, but now there were many parts where investigative information was lacking or things we misunderstood..."
Since he couldn't explain the details and couldn't talk much to an outsider, Nishida's statement became somewhat non-committal, but the "adult" Matsushige didn't press him that far.
Afterward, they talked about general things and miscellaneous topics while waiting for Matsushige to finish eating, and the conversation turned to the lack of snowfall recently and how the air was dry, making the perceived temperature feel colder. Yoshimura, who hadn't been in the conversation much until then, said,
"I was able to sufficiently warm my body and soul in your onsen, Matsushige-san. Especially since something like that happened today, I'm grateful it worked on the soul part too. We were just talking about whether to go in once more after this."
Then Matsushige asked, "Something like that? Did something happen?"
"This is a problem," Nishida muttered the same thing as Yoshimura. Yoshimura especially seemed to regret saying "something like that" and giving the other party a reason to be curious. Since the necessity to talk about that disappearance arose, they would have to explain something clearly occult-tinged, and both thought it was difficult to talk about as an "adult conversation."
However, Yoshimura didn't have as much aversion to talking about it as Nishida did, and after saying,
"It might be a bit hard to believe, but it's something that really happened just now, so please don't laugh," he began to explain normally what had happened in front of the memorial monument today. Matsushige, who had already finished his fried rice, listened to Yoshimura's "suspicious" story with a smile while sipping tea. Nishida also thought it would be pitiful if Yoshimura wasn't trusted alone, so he supplemented it, including the "connection" from seven years ago. Matsushige probably had a social smile at first, but halfway through, that smile vanished for some reason, and Matsushige began to interject with various questions. And by the time the two finished talking, Matsushige had a quite serious expression.
"What time do you two have to leave here?"
When suddenly asked that, Nishida replied,
"As long as we're back by 4:00, leaving after 3:00 would be plenty. We were just talking about having one more soak now."
In response, Matsushige looked at his watch and said,
"It's 1:30 now... I'm terribly sorry, but could you give up on the bath? Of course, I'll cover the meal, but I want you to come with me for a bit."
The two were perplexed by the sudden request, but Nishida, judging from Matsushige's serious expression that he couldn't flatly refuse, accepted, saying,
"If you go that far..."
Yoshimura made a bit of a face at that time, but he didn't go as far as to interject with a complaint.
"Then, I'm truly sorry, but I'll guide you to my room, so please follow me."
After telling the two that, he left a message for a young female employee saying "Put this table's bill on my tab," and led the two out of the restaurant.
Then, they were guided to the reception set in the president's office, further inside the office located in a recessed part of the first floor of the hotel. While the two were being served tea by a clerk on the sofa, Matsushige was opening cabinets and searching through cardboard boxes on top of the cabinets, but then he muttered to himself,
"Ah, this is it! Finally found it..."
He then came over and sat in front of the two, carrying several thick files. Then, he placed the files he had brought on the table and began to flip through them.