Kamisama no Memochou:Volume 6 Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The hospital we were looking was located in a corner of the buildings located in Shinjuku Hyakunincho. The abandoned building was practically devoid of any human traces, and the display board with broken, faulty neon lights were mostly filled with Korean words. It was nearly evening, and entering my ears were the sounds of the people in the pachinko parlors by the roads, with some squabbles in Korean and the exhaust gases echoing. This place was a station away from Shinjuku, yet it felt so different.

“Over here? Really? I don't see a hospital signboard here.”

Tetsu-senpai was the first to get off the car, and said this as he lifted his head up to look at the building.

“Most likely, he's without a license. Of course he can't possibly hang his signoboard out there!”

Major said as he slipped to the side of the building's shutters, and scanned his surroundings before reaching his right arm gently for the keyhole. It felt as though there was a flash between his fingertips before the shutters opened with a clattering sound. Major's a military nut, and also a specialist at gadget creation and illegal intrusion. Amongst us in the NEET detective agency, he's the closest to being a criminal (or I'll say, he is a criminal). It's way too easy for him to unlock the doors of this abandoned building.

Inside the basement carpark was a wagon car covered in blue vinyl sheet, and one could be certain of who the owner was without looking at the license plate. We lifted the sheet to look at the car, and found an entire black stain on the chair of the co-driver seat.

Blood marks. They could be seen on the seat, and the floor leading from the bottom of the car door to the stairs .

I gulped hard.

“We'll stay put here. Go upstairs to look.”

Yondaime said to me, and beside him were a few Hirasaka-gumi members clad in black T-shirts nodding at me. Hiro had already gone for the stairs, and I again lifted my head to look at this building that was covered with black stains on the wall.

Having obtained news of the escaped vehicle from Huang Hong Lei, we immediately deployed Hirasaka-gumi and the network of the many female friends Hiro made, and spent two days to find this place. Of course, locating the doctor would help improve efficency, but the scale of our network was still rather surprising.

“Why choose such a nearby place? Even without us getting involved, if he's hiding here, he'll be found out immediately, right?”

Tetsu-senpai muttered as we went up the stairs. Actually, I was a little curious about that. The place was a ten minute walk from Kabukicho in Shinjuku, and this place was really too dangerous a hiding place for someone trying to hide from the Chinese mafia.

“This place is Korea town, that's why. The Huangs are from Hong Kong, and they probably won't be able to take action too easily, right?”

Hiro said as he walked in front of us.

The reason why we were able to find this place was due to an eyewitness account from a Korean girl Hiro knew. On the night of the incident, a car drove into this building, and on the third floor, that typically didn't have any lights on, there were a few shadows.

The fireproof door on the third floor of the building was tightly shut, and Major spent a lot of work just to unlock it. We entered the pitch dark floor, and immediately scented a whiff of disinfectant. The long and narrow corridor was made even more narrow due to the crude black sofa and the stacked cardboard boxes. Major entered the room first, and came out again.

“Nobody inside at all.”

So, all members of the detective agency entered at the same time.

In front of us was a messy, filthy hospital room,and we couldn't tell where the clinic was, where the bed was, where the toilet was. The fact that there was electricity and potable water available was surprising in itself. The shelves, tables and desks were all covered in dust, but at the basin, there was clearly signs of blood that was washed away recently.

“They dealt with the wounds here, and drove off in another vehicle?”

Tetsu-senpai flipped through what appeared to be a patient log as he asked this.

“That should be the case, right? Now, the problem is, where's the doctor? Did he run away as well?” Major answered as he rummaged all over the tables.

“Narumi, have you contacted the mafia?”

Hiro asked me, and I shook my head.

“No. I want to try finding all the beneficial evidence and hide them, so after a complete search I'll give a call.”

We're only pretending to help the Huangs because we didn't want to help them, and that was why we asked about the escape vehicle. Because of that, I hoped to use that little extra time we had.

“It feels like you've been saying a lot of scary stuff recently, Narumi...”

“Eh? R-really?”

“If the mafia finds out that you're acting on your own like that, you'll definitely be killed.”

“Ah, ye-yeah, but...”

“Don't worry.” Hiro smiled. “I'm the requesting party this time, so I'll bear half of that price.”

“Hiro...” Even if that was a joke, this guy's really kindhearted.

“I'll just take half of your chopped body then!” I'm an idiot for trusting this guy!

“Speaking of which, how did you know that the girl who should have been dead is still alive?”

Tetsu-senpai asked, I want to know too, and Hiro gave me such an expression. Everyone had been running around over the past two days, so I didn't have the time to explain the details to them.

“It's not that I'm completely certain she's still alive, but,”

I turned to look out of the dim window.

“It's just that Xiao Ling-san definitely lied.”

Back then, what she told us was this,

Hong Lei's fiancee, Huang Xiang Yu was staying in the house of the siblings Huang Hong Lei, Huang Xiao Ling in Shimo-ochiai. However, this marriage was a political marriaged by the Chinese mafia to establish bloodline relationships. In fact, Xiang Yu had another boyfriend, and a few days ago, that boyfriend, the man named Umeda Kouji held a gun and barged into the Shimo-Ochiai resdience. Hanada Masaru, hired as a bodyguard to Xiang Yu, killed them in accident because Xiang Yu got up to protect Umeda Kouji. He then loaded their corpses onto the car and drove off, and these events were witnessed by the helper in the house.

“I heard that too.” Tetsu-senpai nodded.

“But the problem here is that the siblings don't have a helper in their house.”

“Hm?”

“So in fact, the real witness of the incident was Xiao Ling-san. Hong Lei only returned home after receiving Xiao Ling-san's call, so back when the incident happened, she was at home.”

“The why did she have to lie that a helper saw it?”

“Because she's a fan of Ichihara Etsuko?”

“Major, stop interrupting!” This is serious business I'm talking about!

“You really like humor like usual, Vice-Admiral Fujishima. You just shot down this deliberate joke from me with the precision of an M24 sniper rifle.” He's annoying. I guess I shouldn't bother with him.

“As for the reason why Xiao Ling-san would lie, it's still a guess for now...” actually, everything after this was just a guess, “Hanada Masaru killing Xiang Yu might be just Xiao Ling-san lying.”

“Lying? Then, that guy with the slick hair was fooled as well? Tetsu-senpai said as he folded his arms in front of his chest.

“That's likely the case. But Alice is a detective. If Xiao Ling-san has to lie about a witness in front of her, it'll be troublesome if that's to be seen through or suspected. That's why she went ahead to create a fake witness.

“No, but...”

Hiro lifted his head and stared into space.

“But this lie can only work once, right? If her explanation doesn't tally with what her older brother said, it'll be seen through. In fact, you saw through it, Narumi. That person doesn't look stupid, and probably won't be so careless as to believe such words, right?”

“I'm feeling strange about this too. I grabbed my hair messily. “That person's words and actions were really too weird. Even till now, I still can't figure out why she came to look for Alice, and I don't know what she hoped for us at the NEET detective agency to accomplish. She said that she's very close to Hanada Masaru, but she didn't look as though she was worried about him. She heard from us that we wanted to assist in looking for him, and immediatley got us to Hong Lei without hesitation.”

“But Narumi, you can more or less guess the reason for that, right?”

“Hm, I guess.” I really had no confidence at all, and could only look down at my toes.

“As Hiro said, that lie could only work once. I guess this might be what Xiao Ling-san's real objective is? In fact, she remains in contact with Hanada Masaru, and even knows his whereabouts, and assisted him fully. The reason why she came to the office was to let us know what happened, and for us to do whatever we wanted. I guess that's to buy some time? That was a flimsy lie she made, but she got the time she needed. It probably doesn't matter even if everything was seen through now.”

“Buy time? For what?”

“Probably—to get Xiang Yu as far away as possible.”

Hiro remained rooted, Tetsu-senpai's mouth remained ajar, and Major, flipping through the patient log, stopped.

“...Eh? Eh? Erm?”

The first to recover was Hiro.

“So it's the fiancee who escaped willingly?”

“That should be the case. She probably doesn't want to marry Hong Lei, whom she doesn't like anyway, right?”

“Were Masaru-san and that woman Xiao Ling secretly helping?”

Tetsu-senpai asked, and I nodded.

Xiao Ling-san and Hanada Masaru-san collaborated in establishing a lie that Huang Xiang Yu was killed, and other than that reason, I couldn't think of anything else. Xiao Ling-san probably hated such political marriages that were unbefitting of the times. When Hanada Masaru got married with Min-san's mother, he suffered a lot due to the Huangs' pickiness.

“You too are really something to be able to continue deducing like that, as if it's the real thing...” Tetsu-senpai seemed to have given up.

“Erm, no, that's.”

“Do you guys really think Narumi's smart now? What he said were all my hypothesis.”

Suddenly, I heard Alice's voice, and literally jolted.

“Ahh, sorry that I didn't mention it to you. I'm connected to the voice channel from the detective agency.”

Major pointed at the mini-device hanging at his waist as he said this. Eh? Th-that means, did Alice hear everything I just said?

“Stop wasting time and get to work. Crafting the truth based on facts is my job, and your jo is to copy everything you see as fact. Also, what was with that explanation, Narumi? Couldn't you have been more orderly with what you said? Your points are as erratic as the mosquitoes in late Autumn flying around, and you even put your hypothesis up front as though it really happened—”

Alice continued to rattle on, but we still had to continue work. The sound of exhaust gases from the cars could be heard outside, followed by some frantic footsteps running up the stairs.

The boors to the clinic was slammed open roughly, and Yondaime barged in.

“Huang Hong Lei found us! They're here!”

Everyone present was startled by those words, and the files, notes and patient records in our hands nearly fell to the floor. I didn't contact them.

I heard the voices of the Hirasaka-gumi members downstairs, and this time, a few of them could be heard running up the stairs. Slamming aside the clinic door and shoving aside Yondaime was Huang Hong Lei, dressed in a greysuit and long coat. The men following behind had either shaved eyebrows or bald heads, and clearly, they were not decent people.

The long narrow eyes under the slick head scanned the room like a Qinglong sword, and stopped the moment they spotted me. Huang Hong Lei took large strides towards me, and I shrank back in fear.

“Hey, wait—”

Tetsu-senpai noticed that something was amiss, and wanted to shield himself in front of me, only for Huang Hong lei to knock him aside with his shoulder as he closed in in my. Sparks seemed to fly in my vision, and my back was slammed into the wall as I was unable to breathe. There was a scorching burn on my face, followed by pain, and my brain finally understood that I was beaten up.

“You bastard!”

Tetsu-senpai yelled, but I hurriedly reached out to stop him.

“Wait, stop, calm down, senpai!”

Something seemed to be busted in my mouthl At first, I felt the taste of blood stinging my mouth. Tetsu-senpai frowned, and I cautiously turned to look at Huang Hong Lei.

“Since you found this place, why didn't you contact me immediately?”

Hong Lei's words seemed to stab deep into my flanks and organs. I could only look away, because there was no point in giving any excuses.

“Hey! Drop everything you have in your hands!”

Hong Lei turned to yell at Major and Hiro, and the latter silently put the info they had in their hands onto the table and shelf respectfully. Hong Lei then turned to me, tilting his head with a stoic look.

“I told you that if I'll kill you if you dare do anything funny, right?”

He grabbed my shoulder.

“Hey!” “You bastard!”

Tetsu-senpai and Yondaime's voices echoed. At this moment, the voice of the girl suddenly came from Major's waist.

“Huang Hong Lei.”

The shoulders under the longcoat reacched. After calling him, Alice started rambling a bunch of words, but I could not understand anything at all. She was (probably) speaking in Chinese.

Alice's voice continued for a while, and the communicator went silent. Hong Lei immediately lifted his head to look at Major.

“...What was that?”

Major leaned on the wall, reaching for the equipment hanging on his waist.

“That's our commander, the NEET detective. She's somewhere else right now, only connected with us through voice.”

Hong Lei frowned.

“Is that the kid hacker Xiao Ling mentioned?”

Major nodded. Hong Lei spoke a few words of Chinese to the communicator, and after a few exchanges, Hong Lei shoved me to the wall, and turned to leave.

“I won't kill you yet. Now scram.”

 

“—You idiots! Do you have to understand only when you're killed?”

We returned to the detective agency;I was caught by Min-san at the emergency staircase, and took a beating from her.

“Didn't I warn you that they're mafia? They'll dig out eyeballs without flinching!”

“Sorry, erm.”

It appeared that Min-san already knew where I came back from, and what I encountered too. I was shaken by her by the collar, and suddenly heard a rattling of the emergency staircase as footsteps came downstairs.

“Narumi!”

I turned back to look, and found a figure dressed in blue pajamas leapt towards me with the light behind her.

“You were beaten? Did you suffer any fracture? Do you need the hospital?”

Alice hugged my waist, and asked with a teary look on her face. I was taken aback, and for some reason, my mind thought of something ridiculous. Hasn't she been running outside for a while recently?

“Alice, ca-calm down! I haven't had any major injuries, just another cracked skin in my mouth.”

“I was careless of our actions! I didn't notice that Huang Hong Lei already knew of our actions! I won't be sending you over to such dangerous places again. Stay inside the ICU obediently for the rest of your life!”

“What are you thinking of my life as!?”

“You two idiots. Now's the time for idle chit-chat, huh?”

Min-san proceeded to exert more crazy strength on us, and hung both Alice and me on her shoulders.

“Woah!” “Wahhh!”

And just like that, we were carried off into the agency, and thrown onto the bed. With Min-san's anger showing no signs of subsiding, Alice and I immediately got to our knees.

“What about the other idiots? Didn't you come back together?”

Min-san went straight to the point and asked that. She clenched her fist as she asked, and I could only pull my head back in as I answered obediently.

“Well, we'll definitely get scolded by you when we return to 'Hanamaru', so Senpai, Major and Hiro went straight home first, and left the job of being scolded to me.”

“I see!” Following that was another punch. The wound in my mouth ached again.

“Master, if you have to beat him up, please beat the stomach! What'll happen if Narumi won't be able to talk again? It'll be troublesome when he has to order full packs of Dr. Pepper!” “There's more troublesome things than that, right?”

“And then? What were you investigating that made Hong Lei rough you up? Was it that you're looking for my dad?”

“Actually, that's right.”

The moment I said it, I instinctively cupped my head. Min-san merely sighed.

“And even if you did find him...what can you do?”

Min-san's voice sounded like water that had accumulated for quite a while, trickling from a crack.

I glanced aside at Alice, and the petite detective nodded. She lifted her head, and said to Min-san.

“Master, actually, Hanada Masaru didn't kill Huang Xiang Yu.”

Min-san widened her eyes slgihtly, and for a moment, was silent. I stared at her face, not daring to gulp for breath.

“Hanada Masaru and Huang Xiao Ling put up an act to get Xiang Yu to escape from the marriage she was unwilling to participate in.”

“...Why did he do such a stupid thing?”

“Because Hanada Masaru's wife too did the same thing when she chose between the Huangs and her love. You should know this better than anyone else, Master.”

Min-san looked aside. I stealthily peeked at Alice's sidelong face. Didn't she tell me not to state my guesses as though they're reality? Now she's concluding everything from the beginning to the end. Is this really alright?

“And then? What can he accomplish by doing this?”

Min-san spat.

“Didn't he betray the Huangs again? He left his job and ran away, didn't he?”

“But Master, at the very least, you don't have to feel guilty over it, and you don't have to let Huang Hong Lei have his way with you.”

“Stop acting like you know what's going on.”

She hissed her voice.

“Do you know why I'm really feeling guilty? It's debt.”

“...Eh? Debt? I exchanged looks with Alice beside me, and saw that she was biting her lips. It appeared she knew nothing, just like us.

“When dad and mom opened 'Hanamaru', they took a loan from a creditor.

“Creditor? What's that?”

“Chinese who came to Japan to develop came together to establish a credit association. When the business first started out, or whenever there was any emergency, they could borrow money from them. I didn't know about this at all. It was only recently that I learned about it from Hong Lei.”

I was inadvertently speechless.

“The one running that credit association is the Huang Coalition, which means that our shop still owes the Huangs money! That bastard went ahead and disappeared while hiding such an important thing!”

Saying of that, and it might be embarrassing for him, but I guess Hanada Masaru vanished and returned to the underworld because the ramen shop hasn't been earning uch money?

“B-but, recently, 'Hanamaru' has been doing well. If you continue on, you should be able to pay back the debt, right?”

“The term had already expired a long time back. The reason why they haven't been asking for money is because my dad has been acting as a boydguard there. That's the main reason why my dad told them not to target me. As long as the Huangs had that intention, they could take back 'Hanamaru' as interest!”

I sighed weakly, and collapsed onto the bed. I just felt that I had no strength to continue kneeling.

“In other words...Min-san, you can only let the Huangs do as they please/”

“Why do you say that?”

Min-san shrugged.

“What do you mean letting the Huangs do as they please? Hong Lei hasn't asked for anything that outrageous. I just need to dress formally and have a meal with grandpa's generation! Since I have a debt with them, I should help them that much at least, right?”

“No, but that Hong Lei's actually—”

“Using this as an excuse to force me into marriage is just your own nonsense, right? Hong Lei hasn't said that!”

Of course. If the plan went well, he could marry her. It would be too early to tell her that.

“So stop being a busybody here!”

Min-san said these words, and was about to leave the office, only to be called by me.

“What now?'

“Ehh, well.”

I clasped my hands together, and seperated them, cautiously picking my words.

“Just in case...if Huang Hong Lei really plans to marry you, what do you intend to do?”

Again, Min-san turned her face away and bit her lips, showing...quite an adorable face. Was she really being bashful?

“How would I know? Who'll really think of such wild guesses anyway?”

Min-san's back vanished outside the door of the agency, and I slumped onto the bed as though my shoulders were weighed down by the cold air of the air conditioning. Alice, who kept silent beside me till this point, sighed.

“It's rare to see you being quiet for so long.”

“Looks like I still can't imitate you.”

Alice curled her legs, her chin leaned on her thighs as she said weakly.

“Imitating me?”

“Right? The 'story'.”

“Oh, just now?”

What was Hanada Masaru trying to accomplish? And was Huang Xiang Yu really alive? These two weren't confirmed facts, but Alice told her as though they were truth.

They were not lies, but neither were they truths. One they, they would become a certain thing's—mold, a mold of reality, happiness and despair. Alice called it a 'story', a fragile dream that would break apart upon contact from the tip of a rake. It was no different from the things a graverobbing detective would be unable to deal with.

“Once it comes out from my mouth, that story would just be a lie nobody can really laugh at. It's really strange. What's the difference between you and me saying a story?”

“Uh? Nothing?”

In fact, I really didn't get what Alice was trying to imply, so I could only give vague, casual replies.

“Maybe it's because, I don't have a future in me, I guess?”

I was shocked. No future?

“A story needs an ending before it can be recited, but I can't write out that last page. Do you know? Actually, I don't really have any hope on what Master would do. I simply have an unmatched thirst for the truth, the water from the sea of curiosity that could kill if I continued drinking. For this world, I'll probably forever be a reader...”

Alice continued to stare at my backhand that was holding down the besheet. The air conditioning continued to breathe. It appeared that she was waiting for this foolish detective assistant to start talking, like before.

“So, I'm thinking, well, can I think of that, right?”

The shoulders under the blue pajamas shook slightly, and a few strands of hair drooped upon them.

“Back then, I was so terrified of being beaten up by Master, but now I'm being so boastful now, am I not?'

“Ah, erm.”

“Well, whatever. I have an endless curiosity, and this is Hiro's request. I don't care how much beating you take, but we need to proceed with the investigation. We got to the scene first, and there are a few useful bits of information we obtained.”

“Really? We were chased out by Hong Lei after not too long. We practically found nothing there, you know?”

Alice turned around to face the monitors behind her, and began tapping at the keyboard.

“First, the obvious facts—the escape vehicle was certainly there, which means that Hanada Masaru once hid at that place. The hospital phone still works, and I can begin tracking the records from here.”

I see. A phone can reveal the location, so it's not good to use for escape. A fixed family phone wouldn't have such issues however. It can be used to contact and make preparations for escape.

“Who exactly is that doctor anyway?”

“A Korean called Choi, and if I may guess, a doctor without a license. It's just a rumor, but I heard that he handles some indecent work.”

“Indecent work?”

“Wounds that can't be openly dealt with, like gunshot wounds, abortion, falsification of patient recrods...and even dealing with corpses.”

I inadvertently frowned.

“He's also someone of the underworld, and probably someone Hanada Masaru knew when he was a mercenary. Anyway, his whereabouts now are unknown. It's said that he's often not at home, and intel states that the last time he was seen at home was during the weekend.”

“This guy...I guess it's better for those mafia guys to look for him, right?”

It's a little strange to say such words now, but things seem to be perilous all around. Alice nodded stoically.

“What we investigated about this doctor won't be as much as what the Huang Coalition knows, so it will be wiser for us to begin investigating in other areas. Besides, I still have a foolish assistant who barges in without thinking of any possible dangers...”

I inadvertently lowered my head.

“Leaving that aside, the second important point is that there's blood on the co-passenger seat only.”

“So...what does that mean?”

“I saw, your brain is more hollow than three degrees of vacuum! Can't you just think for youself?”

“Okay...erm.”

I sat on the bed, and folded my arms.

“At the very least, I can be certain that Xiao Ling-san was lying when she said 'Hanada Masaru killed them both'.”

“Right. That's the first place. There isn't a dummy in the world who would put a corpse, or even two into the co-passenger seat. Thinking more about it, there should be 2 people on that car.

“Why?”

“Assuming that there's 3 people on the car, and one of them is wounded, would anyone let the wounded sit in the co-passenger seat?”

“Ah...yeah, I guess.”

And also, Huang Xiang Yu and that thug whose name I forgot are lovers. If they both got onto the car, and one of them was wounded, they would both be in the back seat, right? There's a need to stop the bleeding or obvious. However, the co-passenger seat's the only one with blood on it, so this excludes the fact htat there were any more than two people riding in the car.

“But there's something I really can't believe about this guess.”

“Eh?”

“Even if there's only the wounded and the driver, it's more logical to put the wounded in the back seat. With that much blood flowing out, someone might find out about them in their middle of the ride. Furthermore, it was because he put the wounded at the co-passenger seat of the car that the lie was seen through...”

“Hm, that makes sense.”

I put my hand at my chin, pondering for a while.

“Is it possible that there were actually three people on the car, but they just pretended that there were two instead?”

“What's the point of pretending that much? On the night of the incident, the nearby residents heard the growls of a young man, so there should be someone barging in. Was it really that thug called Umeda Kouji? What happened affter that? We don't know about that.”

“Uu...”

What exactly happened on that night? This doubt became the knot on our theories.

“Looks like we can only get Huang Xiao Ling to tell us. At this point, she should be willing to tell us a few things.”

“Will she really tell us? That person doesn't trust us at all.”

“That woman has no choice but to tell us the truth now, right? Huang Hong Lei already has the information we found.”

“Ah...”

I see. Huang Hong Lei isn't as stupid as me. He probably would have immediately realized that Xiao Ling-san was lying, just as Alice did.

“So...why did she lie anyway? To hide the fact that Xiang Yu's still alive and make sure nobody looks for her?”

“That's the motive I thought of immediately.”

“But if Hong Lei knew that Xiang Yu isn't dead, he'll send in all his men to track her down, right?”

“That's why Huang Xiao Ling really believes that her brother would help her let Huang Xiang Yu escape.”

“Eh? Ehhhh?”

What does that mean? That Huang Hong Lei would help Huang Xiang Yu to escape? Wasn't she his fiancee—

“...Ah!”

“I see.

Hong Lei had been aiming for Min-san all this while. The actual fiancee got killed—that situation was the perfect outcome for Hong Lei.

Thus, he would help out.

In other words, Xiao Ling-san's lie was just to bluff the old men of the Huangs? Their parents and granddad and such?

“That's just the 'story' in your heart, right?”

Alice turned back to look at me before I knew it, smiling at me.

“...What?”

“Then let's have it take shape now. See, she came to look for us now.”

Alice said as she pointed at the surveillance monitors placed by the bedside. One of them showed a woman wearing a light-colored coat, standing at the entrace of 'Hanamaru' on the first floor. From the dark night, she entered through the curtains, and into the gentle light, showing her face. It was Xiao Ling-san.

She came over to us, so that meant that she was willing to tell us the truth? In that case, we finally had a chance to move forward.

A while after Xiao Ling-san vanished from the monitor, Alice suddenly remembered something as she turned her head around abruptly.

“Narumi, go welcome the guest!”

“Welcome? Why? You never did so before.”

“Hurry up and go!”

I got kicked off the bed. I left the agency, and peered back to look. Alice took out a set of clothing from the hill of dolls. Oh, I see. She wanted to change her clothes and avoid having Xiao Ling-san nag at her for wearing pajamas? The problem's that she only had mourning clothes and Japanese clothing. What would she do?