Then, I set foot in the largest room. A single bed and a cabinet. And also a dresser. At first glance, everything seemed to be provided, but this room also had no sense of being lived in. Aside from the properly laid out futon, all the cosmetics on the dresser were new. No trace of use.
It wasn’t like the people who lived here had left. Rather, it was like no one lived in this house from the very beginning. Only the furniture seemed perfectly decorated, meaning, it was all a camouflage.
If I think about it like that, it’s even more suspicious. Why camouflage? Because looking like a vacant house wasn’t acceptable? Not only was this suspicious, but there was a strong sense of discomfort emanating from the entire room.
Bed, drawers, dresser. I looked closely at the furniture again. Wait a minute! A single bed?
Now that I mention it, the bed is too small for the size of this room. Dresser and drawers. And adding on size of the room, this is most definitely meant to be a couple’s bedroom. However, while decorating it like a such a room, the bed is for one person.
This was the true nature of the discomfort. The size of the bed.
And thus when I got closer to investigate a little more, I discovered something very strange. The legs of the bed were wheeled. Like a chair with casters.
When I tried forcing the bed sideways, my hand was able to push it away very easily. As if it was designed to move sideways. Is the reason why it is a bed for one person also considering the lightness in mind? Haha.
As the bed moved away, on the floor, a bunch of stairs came into view. Looks like the entrance to the basement.
“Hikami-san!”
Perhaps being nearby, she entered the room as soon as I called out. Looking at the passage I found, she began to carefully examine the bottom with her eyes.
“It’s quite suspicious that there’s a hidden basement here… Shall we take a look down there?”
Hikami-san took the sword out of her scabbard and carefully went downstairs, one step at a time. In that case, I also ought to equip myself.
« Would you like to use the Formless Sword? »
Once I clicked the screen, I felt the weight in my hand. This insubstantial sword is a very important item that protects my life.
As I descended down, a raw stench clung to my nostrils. More precisely, it was not like the stench of raw fish. But the reeking stench of blood.
The cement floor in the basement was littered with stains, just like I saw at a cart. What’s more, the stains before me were darker than what I saw back there.
This is definitely dark red. At the center of the floor, was an operating table. Surgical tools scattered around. I headed toward the corner, searching for some other possible clues. Over there, was a facility like a large public bath like you’d see in a bath-house. And undoubtedly, there were dark red stains scattered around here as well. A very chilling sight.
Hikami-san was looking around the opposite side of me, but she suddenly called out to me in a loud voice. Seems like she discovered something.
“Hasegawa-san. I think I’ve got it. It’s organ trafficking. Everything is for removing organs.”
As soon as Hikami-san gave me a hand signal, she quickly climbed up to the stop of the stairs. Organ trafficking… She dashed up so urgently that I didn’t have time to process it.
However, we couldn’t go back to the first floor. Because the room where the passage was located had already been occupied by intense flames. And… the flames spread at high speeds following the liquid flowing down the stairs to the basement. Is that gasoline, perhaps? While protecting against it, I stepped back, but the harsh smoke gradually clouded my consciousness.
And then… the fire spread rapidly to the basement. It was considerably hot. Am I gonna die like this? Is there no other way? I looked around, but there was no other exit.
Just on the verge of being suffocated by the smoke, I hit ‘Load’. Just how many times has it been in this mission alone? Having no other choice, once again, I repeated every single step.
I kissed Hikami-san and ran to the food stall. I can’t avoid the kiss. This is a matter of our mutual feelings. After that, I hurried. Because before, the food stalls had already disappeared, but maybe if I hurry, I might be able to get some clues this time, was the thought.
However, my hopes crumbled all at once. I sprinted, but there was still no food stall there anymore.
I violently breathed and leaned against the wall where the food stall once was.
Let’s try to sort out the situation for the time being.
Hikami-san suddenly mentioned the words ‘organ trafficking’. I don’t know how she came to that conclusion just by looking at the operating room in the basement. Did she find a corpse with its organs pulled out? If so, I feel like some pieces of the puzzle are fitting together.
When I entered the stall alone, the ramen I ordered first probably contained a paralytic drug. Fortunately, I spilled it, so I didn’t end up getting drugged. I was also about to get my organs ripped out. I just happened to be lucky. The expression of the obsa-an that suddenly changed just by spilling ramen comes to mind.
However, if so, one question remains.
Why didn’t the ramen I ordered again contain the drug as well? There was no such thing in the yakitori that Hikami-san, who came in later, ordered either. Both of them came out safe. At that time, Hikami-san and I didn’t know each other. I already had my ramen ordered, and Hikami-san came in while she was putting the soup in the bowl.
Maybe, this is it?
If I had eaten first and gotten paralyzed, the person next to me may become suspicious. It is true that it is very unlikely that you’d end up eating food at the same time with someone when you don’t come in as companions. That’s why she didn’t put any medicine in the ramen that was ordered again. Of course, yakitori probably didn’t have any drug for the same reason as well. That’s why the expression of that aunt who missed her prey was so rotten.
After that, if they cut me down as revenge while I was wandering around in the alleyway, it would all make sense. Perhaps I’d have been torn apart and my organs removed. If, by chance, I hadn’t loaded back…
The thought gives me goosebumps.[1] It’s not just about being sliced to death, but also having my organs pulled out.
I wonder what reason she had for not trying to abduct me as soon as I entered the stall?
Well, just seeing that paralytic drugs is being used shows how cautious the organization is. In the unlikely event that you try to use force to incapacitate and abduct someone, if you get caught by someone like Hikami-san, you might get killed.
In the off chance that a mistake occurs and there’s a need to escape, it’s possible that your identity will soon be exposed, so that’s probably why they used a relatively safer approach like using the paralytic drug rather than a surprise attack.
And even though they had a numerical advantage, they didn’t suddenly attack us. Rather, you can see how well-prepared they are just by looking at how managed to reliably handle committing arson in the small gap they found while safely monitoring us. Burning everything is a great way to get rid of the evidence of the corpse on the second floor, the operating room in the basement, and even take care of us.
I was so amazed at the precision that I naturally ended up shaking my head at it.
Unlike when I first went to the food stall independently, the second time was with Hikami-san. Naturally, we ordered the food at the same time.
That’s why we were given the paralytic drug that time. Of course, if you cook and bring in the food at the same time, the probability of the food being eaten at the same time would be very high. They discarded any method that could fail and chose the one that had the highest likelihood of succeeding, even by a small amount.
Given that the operating room was found in the house with the corpse, that politician is probably the mastermind.
In that case, this level of precision is understandable. It’s only natural that he was cautious considering his high social standing. Rather, the fact that the organization is moving even though the mastermind died means that there’s another mastermind behind this. Either that or it’s their death throes.
Of course, Hikami-san would have still killed the politician even without knowing that he was the mastermind behind such a smuggling organization. I’m sure even they felt that everything started to crumble.
That house must have been their operation center itself. An operation center near the food stall where the abductees can be immediately dismantled in a fresh state.
Nothing but the words ‘shitty bastard’ came out of my mouth.
But thanks to that, I was able to assemble the puzzle. Since I know their method, countermeasures are possible.
So, how do I catch them? Having been stabbed, burnt, and killed multiple times in a row, exacting revenge on them is a given.
This time it was hardcore enough to go crazy.
Anyway, I have to fight back. Since I saw the future, I’ll take them by surprise. Accordingly, Hikami-san was also walking toward the food stall. Naturally, I felt the déjà vu. But I feel like I’m forgetting something. Right, the phone should probably ring around this time.
Tiririririri
As expected, the phone rang with a private number. I didn’t answer the phone, intending on later making the excuse that I was sleeping. Rather, I couldn’t afford answering it. I want to hurry back to the house and launch my counterattack.
“Hikami-san! I’m sorry, but let’s go back to that house again. Hurry!”
“Eeh?”
Then, I set foot in the largest room. A single bed and a cabinet. And also a dresser. At first glance, everything seemed to be provided, but this room also had no sense of being lived in. Aside from the properly laid out futon, all the cosmetics on the dresser were new. No trace of use.
It wasn’t like the people who lived here had left. Rather, it was like no one lived in this house from the very beginning. Only the furniture seemed perfectly decorated, meaning, it was all a camouflage.
If I think about it like that, it’s even more suspicious. Why camouflage? Because looking like a vacant house wasn’t acceptable? Not only was this suspicious, but there was a strong sense of discomfort emanating from the entire room.
Bed, drawers, dresser. I looked closely at the furniture again. Wait a minute! A single bed?
Now that I mention it, the bed is too small for the size of this room. Dresser and drawers. And adding on size of the room, this is most definitely meant to be a couple’s bedroom. However, while decorating it like a such a room, the bed is for one person.
This was the true nature of the discomfort. The size of the bed.
And thus when I got closer to investigate a little more, I discovered something very strange. The legs of the bed were wheeled. Like a chair with casters.
When I tried forcing the bed sideways, my hand was able to push it away very easily. As if it was designed to move sideways. Is the reason why it is a bed for one person also considering the lightness in mind? Haha.
As the bed moved away, on the floor, a bunch of stairs came into view. Looks like the entrance to the basement.
“Hikami-san!”
Perhaps being nearby, she entered the room as soon as I called out. Looking at the passage I found, she began to carefully examine the bottom with her eyes.
“It’s quite suspicious that there’s a hidden basement here… Shall we take a look down there?”
Hikami-san took the sword out of her scabbard and carefully went downstairs, one step at a time. In that case, I also ought to equip myself.
« Would you like to use the Formless Sword? »
Once I clicked the screen, I felt the weight in my hand. This insubstantial sword is a very important item that protects my life.
As I descended down, a raw stench clung to my nostrils. More precisely, it was not like the stench of raw fish. But the reeking stench of blood.
The cement floor in the basement was littered with stains, just like I saw at a cart. What’s more, the stains before me were darker than what I saw back there.
This is definitely dark red. At the center of the floor, was an operating table. Surgical tools scattered around. I headed toward the corner, searching for some other possible clues. Over there, was a facility like a large public bath like you’d see in a bath-house. And undoubtedly, there were dark red stains scattered around here as well. A very chilling sight.
Hikami-san was looking around the opposite side of me, but she suddenly called out to me in a loud voice. Seems like she discovered something.
“Hasegawa-san. I think I’ve got it. It’s organ trafficking. Everything is for removing organs.”
As soon as Hikami-san gave me a hand signal, she quickly climbed up to the stop of the stairs. Organ trafficking… She dashed up so urgently that I didn’t have time to process it.
However, we couldn’t go back to the first floor. Because the room where the passage was located had already been occupied by intense flames. And… the flames spread at high speeds following the liquid flowing down the stairs to the basement. Is that gasoline, perhaps? While protecting against it, I stepped back, but the harsh smoke gradually clouded my consciousness.
And then… the fire spread rapidly to the basement. It was considerably hot. Am I gonna die like this? Is there no other way? I looked around, but there was no other exit.
Just on the verge of being suffocated by the smoke, I hit ‘Load’. Just how many times has it been in this mission alone? Having no other choice, once again, I repeated every single step.
I kissed Hikami-san and ran to the food stall. I can’t avoid the kiss. This is a matter of our mutual feelings. After that, I hurried. Because before, the food stalls had already disappeared, but maybe if I hurry, I might be able to get some clues this time, was the thought.
However, my hopes crumbled all at once. I sprinted, but there was still no food stall there anymore.
I violently breathed and leaned against the wall where the food stall once was.
Let’s try to sort out the situation for the time being.
Hikami-san suddenly mentioned the words ‘organ trafficking’. I don’t know how she came to that conclusion just by looking at the operating room in the basement. Did she find a corpse with its organs pulled out? If so, I feel like some pieces of the puzzle are fitting together.
When I entered the stall alone, the ramen I ordered first probably contained a paralytic drug. Fortunately, I spilled it, so I didn’t end up getting drugged. I was also about to get my organs ripped out. I just happened to be lucky. The expression of the obsa-an that suddenly changed just by spilling ramen comes to mind.
However, if so, one question remains.
Why didn’t the ramen I ordered again contain the drug as well? There was no such thing in the yakitori that Hikami-san, who came in later, ordered either. Both of them came out safe. At that time, Hikami-san and I didn’t know each other. I already had my ramen ordered, and Hikami-san came in while she was putting the soup in the bowl.
Maybe, this is it?
If I had eaten first and gotten paralyzed, the person next to me may become suspicious. It is true that it is very unlikely that you’d end up eating food at the same time with someone when you don’t come in as companions. That’s why she didn’t put any medicine in the ramen that was ordered again. Of course, yakitori probably didn’t have any drug for the same reason as well. That’s why the expression of that aunt who missed her prey was so rotten.
After that, if they cut me down as revenge while I was wandering around in the alleyway, it would all make sense. Perhaps I’d have been torn apart and my organs removed. If, by chance, I hadn’t loaded back…
The thought gives me goosebumps.[1] It’s not just about being sliced to death, but also having my organs pulled out.
I wonder what reason she had for not trying to abduct me as soon as I entered the stall?
Well, just seeing that paralytic drugs is being used shows how cautious the organization is. In the unlikely event that you try to use force to incapacitate and abduct someone, if you get caught by someone like Hikami-san, you might get killed.
In the off chance that a mistake occurs and there’s a need to escape, it’s possible that your identity will soon be exposed, so that’s probably why they used a relatively safer approach like using the paralytic drug rather than a surprise attack.
And even though they had a numerical advantage, they didn’t suddenly attack us. Rather, you can see how well-prepared they are just by looking at how managed to reliably handle committing arson in the small gap they found while safely monitoring us. Burning everything is a great way to get rid of the evidence of the corpse on the second floor, the operating room in the basement, and even take care of us.
I was so amazed at the precision that I naturally ended up shaking my head at it.
Unlike when I first went to the food stall independently, the second time was with Hikami-san. Naturally, we ordered the food at the same time.
That’s why we were given the paralytic drug that time. Of course, if you cook and bring in the food at the same time, the probability of the food being eaten at the same time would be very high. They discarded any method that could fail and chose the one that had the highest likelihood of succeeding, even by a small amount.
Given that the operating room was found in the house with the corpse, that politician is probably the mastermind.
In that case, this level of precision is understandable. It’s only natural that he was cautious considering his high social standing. Rather, the fact that the organization is moving even though the mastermind died means that there’s another mastermind behind this. Either that or it’s their death throes.
Of course, Hikami-san would have still killed the politician even without knowing that he was the mastermind behind such a smuggling organization. I’m sure even they felt that everything started to crumble.
That house must have been their operation center itself. An operation center near the food stall where the abductees can be immediately dismantled in a fresh state.
Nothing but the words ‘shitty bastard’ came out of my mouth.
But thanks to that, I was able to assemble the puzzle. Since I know their method, countermeasures are possible.
So, how do I catch them? Having been stabbed, burnt, and killed multiple times in a row, exacting revenge on them is a given.
This time it was hardcore enough to go crazy.
Anyway, I have to fight back. Since I saw the future, I’ll take them by surprise. Accordingly, Hikami-san was also walking toward the food stall. Naturally, I felt the déjà vu. But I feel like I’m forgetting something. Right, the phone should probably ring around this time.
Tiririririri
As expected, the phone rang with a private number. I didn’t answer the phone, intending on later making the excuse that I was sleeping. Rather, I couldn’t afford answering it. I want to hurry back to the house and launch my counterattack.
“Hikami-san! I’m sorry, but let’s go back to that house again. Hurry!”
“Eeh?”
