Ghost Hunt:Volume 5 Chapter 3
Ghost Hunt Volume 5 Chapter 3 ‘Hide and Seek’
(tl/n: I know the title on the front page says 'Hidden Ghost', but the Chinese raw does say 'Hide and Seek'. I'm not too sure which to go with.)
1
“Has anyone seen Suzuki-san? Hey, has no one seen her?” It was Igarashi-sensei who asked us, who were gathered in the dining room, that, with an embarrassed look in the morning.
“It shouldn’t be that she ran home on her own. And there wasn’t anyone who saw her leave. Her luggage is also left in the room. Even her contact lens case is also…”
Yasuhara had Igarashi-sensei seated next to him. He had the servants bring forth a cup of red tea, then placed the red tea in front of Igarashi-sensei.
“Please calm down. Are you a little better? Breathe deeply. Do you take sugar or milk with you tea?”
Igarashi-sensei shook her head.
“Just take a sip. Ok, drink, then breathe deeply. Ok?”
Igarashi followed Yasuhara’s instructions to the letter. She took a deep breath.
“I’m really sorry. I gave in completely to panic…”
“No need to apologize. I understand that you are very worried about Suzuki-san. When did Suzuki-san’s absence start?”
“She wasn’t around when I got up this morning. Due to my advanced age she is always by my side. When I woke up at daybreak, she was still sleeping soundly. Then…”
“About what time was ‘daybreak’?”
Vaguely mumbling to herself, Igrashi-sensei shook her head.
“And what time did you get up?”
“7 am this morning.”
It was now 10 am. She had already disappeared for at least 3 hours.
Yasuhara summoned the head servant, and asked if he had seen Suzuki-san. Including Ohashi-san, not a single servant had seen Suzuki-san. ‘What was the possibility that she had left the mansion?’ was what was put to Ohashi-san.
“Basically, the front door is locked from the inside, and there hasn’t been a scenario where the lock has been opened. I think it’s impossible that she has gone outside.”
“What should we do?”
Igarashi-sensei covered her face with both hands. Yasuhara gently patted sensei’s shoulder.
“If that’s the case, Suzuki-san must be somewhere in this mansion. Perhaps she only got lost, and is daydreaming where she stands now. It’s still too early to consider her missing. In conclusion, let us search a little first.”
Yasuhara said that then turned towards Naru.
“Narumi-kun, is that all right?”
Naru nodded.
Before noon, we shouted Suzuki-san’s name while splitting up to comb the house. Even after playing the tapes recorded the previous night did not show a hint of Suzuki-san. Furthermore, for some unknown reason, the cameras were cut off their power source at 7am this morning. As a result, the night vision cameras were of practically no use in our search for Suzuki-san.
We walked through countless rooms, and even opened things like cabinets to search. Listening closely after shouting for Suzuki-san brought no reply. We couldn’t find her anywhere. Igarashi-sensei and I went to wake the other psychics up, and questioned them about Suzuki-san. Not a single person in the mansion had encountered Suzuki-san.
“I haven’t seen her since the séance.”
This was Minami-san’s reply. Igarashi-sensei grasped his pajamas and refused to let go.
“Can you ask the Professor, Professor Davies? If it’s the Professor, he might know of something…”
Saying that, Igarashi-sensei started frantically searching for something in her shirt pocket.
“Right, I’ve been always carrying this…”
Igarashi-sensei produced a small, cylindrical object from her pocket. That was a contact lens case.
“Take this to the Professor. If it’s the Professor he should know where Suzuki-san is right…?”
Oh yes, the Professor is a clairvoyant – a psychic who, through an object, can read its owners’ past and future.
Minami-san accepted the contact lens case with a grudging expression, and took it towards the Professor who was sitting on his bed looking over. Minami-san handed the case to the Professor, then exchanged a few words with him in English. The Professor shook his head.
“Apparently he can’t see from this type of object.”
Minami-san shrugged.
“If that’s the case… what type of object can he…”
“The Professors’ clairvoyance is limited to items that were worn on the person at the time of disappearance.”
Items that are worn on the person at the time of disappearance… we couldn’t possibly have something like that, unless we were exceptionally lucky!
I massaged Igarashi-sensei’s – who had covered her face with both hands – shoulders.
Whatever, although saying such is a little insulting to Bou-san, but the Professor is a completely unimpressive person. At the very least he should have taken the case, and tried his best to see for us, couldn’t he? If something that was worn at the time of disappearance could have been easily found, even the police could have done something.
In the end, even after searching into the afternoon, we couldn’t find a trace of Suzuki-san.
Minami-san said:
“She could have fled home after last night’s séance left some frightening memories.”
Mihashi-san said:
“Young people these days all lack a sense of responsibility.”
Although I felt very angry, I couldn’t tell them they were wrong. If that were the case then everything would be fine, was what I thought in my heart. Compared to believing that Suzuki-san had vanished, it would be better to simply believe she was irresponsible.
“… perhaps it could be that way.”
It wasn’t just anyone who said that, but Igarashi-sensei.
“Yeah. Perhaps she’d gone back. Ah, I’ll give her home a call after I get back to check. I really must scold her properly…”
In the end, those words marked a turning point, and brought the search for Suzuki-san to a close.
2
“Is doing this all right?”
Everyone was gathered at the Base, and it was Bou-san who spoke.
“There isn’t any choice either. The fact is that we couldn’t find Suzuki-san too…”
“We could have possibly missed her. Can anyone say for certain that we’ve searched this idiotically huge house completely?”
“How is that possible? Then are you saying that Suzuki-san has hid herself? If that’s not the case, we’ve already shouted for her, at the very least she’d respond a little, right?”
“And there’s the possibility she couldn’t respond to us.”
“Why?”
“This, I don’t know either.”
While Bou-san mumbled to himself, Naru spoke softly.
“Only the case for the contact lenses were left; by her own will she got up and went to a certain place – this point is undisputed. Of course, there’s also the possibility of leaving through the window or some other method…”
… yeah.
“What concerns me are those blank spaces… If there are some entry into those hidden rooms, Suzuki-san may have gotten lost there. Whether it is actually errors in measurement or some other reason, it is better to check it once more.”
We checked last night’s tapes once more, but there weren’t any signs of suspicious activity. Having lost the trail, we could only measure the house once more. This time even the thicknesses of the walls were accurately measured. If this still did not match the diagram, then proper measuring equipment would be needed.
“Where could she have run off to?”
We were currently in a second floor room. Bou-san suddenly asked me this. I was speechless for a moment.
“Suzuki-san?”
While I replied as such, I used a safety pin and knocked on the wall. It was exactly 1 meter from the floor. Drawing a string from the diagonal of the room, Bou-san picked up a compass.
“Aah. Why do you think she would vanish?”
“What do you mean by ‘why’?”
“Did she vanish of her own will, or was she forced to disappear?”
“Haven’t 2 persons already disappeared from this place? Suzuki-san is the third. … As expected this is the good work of spirits. – How many degrees?”
Bou-san measured the angle between the torch-light illuminated compass and the string.
“26°. – That spirit, didn’t it say last night, ‘save me’ or something.”
“… Yeah.”
I drew a diagonal on the diagram, and recorded the angle, while saying, “And there was also, ‘I don’t want to die’. That spirits actually not want to die and what not, really makes one think it strange.”
“Yeah, the supposed spirits could also possibly not know that they are already dead and loiter in this world.”
“He…”
“What I’m concerned about is the discontinuity between the pleading of the spirits to humans for rescue and the action of the spirits that cause people to vanish.”
“That too.”
John, who was measuring the floor with a ruler, nodded somewhere in the darkness.
“Spirits that hope for help basically want to get noticed by others in order to do something. And then, there’re the spirits that are overly impatient and have done something bad. Because hoping for help after calling thus for and summoning people is also normal.”
“Really? What would it do after making people disappear? If there aren’t any people in this house, there wouldn’t be anyone who can help it.”
Yasuhara, who was helping John, who was holding the torch, stood up.
“3.21 meters. – This ‘spirit’, could it possibly take such theoretical actions?”
“This, I can’t say for sure. It’s also common for spirits to lie. But it always feels very strange.”
John, too, nodded.
“0.35 meters. – With regards to spirit matters and the existence of spirits, there are really a lot of theories. However, the spirit believes Suzuki-san is someone who could help it; if we think like that, isn’t there a chance that Suzuki-san could have been brought away because of that?”
I wrote the numbers on the diagram, while saying,
“Didn’t the spirits here say ‘save me’? I think it has always said that. However, until now no one has heard it. Then…”
John clapped his hands.
“‘Ah’, the spirit thinks, ‘this person who heard my words last night, this person can help me.’”
“… this, won’t this hypothesis do?”
“Don’t ask me.”
As we moved to the next room, Yasuhara said,
“How about this? The one who heard the spirits’ voices… or rather, the one who wrote them down, was Suzuki-san, and the one who vanished is also Suzuki-san. For example, the words last night weren’t spoken by spirits, but were written randomly by Suzuki-san, hence she ran away because she was afraid of being exposed.”
“Rejected. If that’s the case how would you explain the words written in blood? And the noises?”
“Ah, yes. Then, what about this? Because Suzuki-san wrote those things on her own accord, the spirits threw a tantrum. Because Suzuki-san was afraid of these, she ran away.”
“Even so this does not explain those words written in blood.”
“… Ah, yes. The probability of that being a prank is minute.”
Yasuhara mumbled to himself while he used the tape measure to measure the floor’s dimensions. Just at that time, John suddenly shouted.
“Wah!”
“What’s up?”
Bou-san shone the torch over there. We saw John, who had apparently fallen over and was frantically pacing around.
“Over here, the ground has sunk down.”
Ai?
Using the torch we looked closely at the place John was pointing to, and saw that beneath the thick layer of dust there was a slight drop.
“What is this?”
Yasuhara gently removed the dust around that area. There was a rectangular cover made of wood. When Yasuhara gently pressed on it, it sank gently a bit more.
“This is already rotten. It’s really lucky that you didn’t fall in.”
While saying that, Yasuhara gently opened the cover.
Beneath the cover we could see a metal ladder, which extended into the darkness beneath.
“… There’s a room beneath.”
Bou-san sprawled at the edge, and shone the torch below.
I looked at the floor plan, relying on the light of John’s torch.
“Isn’t that place near to the wall which we said was strange yesterday? It’s located about at the upper end of that blace.”
“The strange wall… the wall which was 3 meters thick?”
“Yeah.”
Bou-san stared down the hole without moving.
“Is it because there are hidden rooms? It’s because of these that the diagrams do not match.”
“Could it be… that Suzuki-san is here?”
“That shouldn’t be. If she was there should be footprints or signs of movement in the dust.”
“… and there’s that.”
Bou-san nodded with a tense expression.
“Right, let’s go down to take a look. Young man, could I trouble you to illuminate it.”
Handing the torch to Yasuhara, Bou-san climbed down the ladder calmly. He really has courage.
“How’s it? Is there anyone?”
“No, no one. It feels like it’s a very small room.”
Looking from the top, it was a small and narrow room about 3 tatami’s length. Relying on the illumination of the torch, we could see some soft things scattered on the floor.
“… Bou-san, what are those?”
I pointed at the things that were piled into a mountain. Bou-san used the corner of a table (?!) to prod it.
“… I’m not sure, it looks like bedding.”
Bedding? In that type of room?
“The damp is incredible. These floorboards won’t do either. They’re dripping wet.”
While saying that, Bou-san climbed up the ladder. When he got back to the room above, Bou-san held a rag-like item in a hand.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know.”
Bou-san replied while he removed the dust. The strong smell of mould from the narrow room burst forth.
“It’s an overcoat.”
It was a long garment made of thick cloth. It looked, indeed, like an overcoat. Bou-san, who was ruffling through the garment, suddenly stopped.
“There’s a name embroidered here.”
Yasuhara shone the torch on it.
It looked like there was something written on the white cloth on the inside of the collar. The words couldn’t be clearly seen under the light of the torch.
“We can’t see it here. Let’s take it to a brighter place to take a look.”
We brought the over coat to a room facing the outer side of the building. We washed the part of the garment with the label in a nearby washroom. With great difficulty we could finally see the words written in ink on cloth which had changed color.
“Miyama Benevolent Hospital Attached Secured Facility”
“Isn’t that the hospital built 2 generations before?”
He was a great man who even did work in charity.
“Why would this type of thing be in this type of place?”
“Solution 1: That room was used as a rubbish dump for unwanted things.”
Aiyoh, Bou-san had that disdainful look.
“Rejected. Anything else?”
“The patients from that facility lived there in hiding.”
… There were things that appeared like beddings there.
“Why would they live in hiding in such a place?”
“Don’t ask me. Ah, there’s the possibility that room is a sickroom of some sort.”
“I say.”
Although we conjectured like this, of course we didn’t know the truth.
However, we found the existence of the hidden room, and this should also be considered a great feat, right?
3
We returned to base, and reported the whole story of finding the overcoat to Naru. Naru looked extremely disgusted.
“… hidden rooms… that’s a really thorny problem.”
Yeah, that’s my opinion too.
“And the overcoat in question?”
“This one. It’s filthy.”
Naru paid no attention, and received that overcoat with his white hands. He turned up the label on the collar, and then proceeded to ruffle through the pockets and other places. After repeatedly ruffling through it numerous times,
“There’s something here.”
It was in the inner pocket of the coat. Naru pulled out a thin sheet of something.
It looked like a folded up piece of paper. Naru gently opened that battered sheet.
“Hey, see here.”
Bou-san leaned forward.
Although this paper had turned very black, we could still identify it as a paper currency. Naru held it against the window to allow the sunlight to pass through the note.
“There’re words written on it.”
Saying that, Naru handed the note to Bou-san. Bou-san took the note, and looked at it held to the sunlight as Naru had done. I looked on from the side. Quite a few words could have been seen. At first it looked like two lines of text, however only some disjointed words could be seen. From left to right the words that could be identified were, “吧(ba3, used at the end of a sentence, example: OK, right?)、走(zou3, walk)、了(liao3/le4, already)、浦(pu3, beach)、被(bei4, blanket, or indicates done by)、听(ting1, listen)、死(shi3, die)、都(dou1, capital city, or collective, meaning ‘all’, ‘every’)、这(zhe4, this)、来(lai3, come)…” (tl/n: I’ve given the meanings of the common use of the words here. Where joint with other characters, which are, at this point, unseen, different meanings are possible.)
“The meaning is not clear.”
Bou-san and I unconsciously looked face to face.
Naru showed a very dark look.
“… what was the purpose of doing something like this…?”
Who? And for what?
2 of the words left an impression: “死(shi3, die)、都(dou1, capital city, or collective, meaning ‘all’, ‘every’)”.
(tl/n: the characters here are listed from left to right, but in Chinese and Japanese, the writing is traditionally from right to left. If we put the 2 characters that left an impression on Mai together, we get a fragment that could possibly mean “everyone dies”.)
In the remaining time, we frantically continued measuring. Up until the sun set we finished a part of the first storey. Handing the numbers to Lin-san, we went to the Dining Room. When we were gulping down our food, Igarashi-sensei spoke to us.
Sensei appeared to have spent the day worrying about Suzuki-san. She had called Suzuki-san’s Tokyo home, but found that Suzuki-san did not return home, and was currently very worried. Should she make a missing person report to the police now, was what she asked Yasuhara. Yasuhara would be considered very young even in the role of Sensei’s son. The image of Sensei consulting one so young showed her discomfiture, and was somehow heart wrenching.
Seeing Igrashi-sensei like this made me feel bad, so I quietly left the Dining Room and returned to the base myself. At base, Lin-san continued to work in silence.
“Lin-san, I’m done with dinner, do you want to switch shifts?”
Although I asked him like this, he replied,
“No need.”
It was a very cool answer. Really…
I say, if two persons are together but do not speak, the atmosphere would become very tense, so I told Lin-san about Igarashi-sensei’s problem. In response, Lin-san’s replies were very cool. He only nodded in acknowledgement, and didn’t even grunt.
“… now that we’re at it, you’re Chinese.”
I said that bitterly. Lin-san stared at me.
“… So?”
So… with this response even I feel very difficult.
“I always feel, ‘it’s very incredible’, is what I think. (tl/n: come on, think or feel- which?) If you could have told me earlier I would be great –”
Lin-san looked at me with a very cold expression.
“Why?”
“What ‘why’… I don’t say this with any deep meaning…”
I don’t. I only wanted to say so.
“… no warmth at all…”
“I hate the Japanese.”
To be said to be hated by someone all of a sudden, I jumped. I looked blankly at Lin-san.
“… why?”
Why did he make such a general statement of hate?
“Don’t you know what the Japanese did in China previously?”
Wuuu. That is, in the past the Japanese committed all sorts of atrocities. And the adults, till today, still refuse to apologize, and continue to play the fool.
Lin-san continued to show no expression.
“Since I hate the Japanese, I don’t feel happy living surrounded by Japanese.”
… does he need to say it like that?
“I completely understand what you are saying, and I think it should be like this. However, aren’t these things all already past?”
“Excuses like this make one even more unhappy.”
Wuuuu. Japan was indeed in the wrong. As to that, it is forcing entry into someone else’s home, then forcing the people there to do some terrible things. For example, it’s like a vicious bandit. – Despite this,
“However, didn’t China have things like the Mongol Invasion? Europe too, has a history of invading and being invaded; isn’t history repeatedly like that?”
“Therefore the things done by the Japanese can be forgiven?”
“I didn’t say that! A mistake is a mistake! Japan was wrong to invade China. But if a grudge is continued to be borne like this, even Japan has a right to hate. If the world is filled with vengeance, won’t all the countries have to hate each other for eternity?”
Lin-san did not speak.
“I think this type of things have no good. Facts are facts. Japan did a bad thing, this is a fact, and I think is something that we need to remember. However, to hate or detest other people as a result, and to always say this type of words, then wouldn’t we never be able to get along? Wouldn’t that end in a cycle of hate?”
Aaah, that wasn’t said well at all.
“If you say such hateful words to me because you hate me then it can’t be helped. However, I can’t accept it if you hate me simply because I’m Japanese. Was your father or mother killed then? Was it not like that? I think it’s probably something long ago like that. To be constrained by something so long ago, and say that you hate so many people en mass, is foolish behavior. I know that as Japanese, I don’t have the right to say such things. Despite that, for problems between you and me, if you hate me, then I wish you can hate me because of me. I don’t want to be hated for reasons such as me being Japanese, a female or an orphan – these reasons being beyond my own control.”
Wuu, otherwise I would be very sad. But if I were to be asked, why did we start the war, I can only say it was foolishness on my ancestor’s part.
Suddenly, Lin-san let out a laugh.
… ai?!
“… that one…”
“said the same things.”
“Ah?”
“In the past someone told me something similar. I only recalled that.”
Waah, this is but the first time I’ve ever seen Lin-san smile.
“That person, is it Naru?”
“How could it. If it were Naru, he would say a single line, ‘how foolish’.”
If it were Naru, perhaps it would be like that.
“If it was Madoka, it would be trouble once she was made to cry.”
… Aaah, I feel I somehow understand.
“—and that too, I don’t actually dislike you. And I don’t exceptionally hate all Japanese. It’s only the inborn dislike couldn’t be completely diminished.”
“… yeah.”
“I also think that to bring the troubles between countries into an interpersonal problem is a very foolish thing. I’ve said some immature words. But people always have their own personal quirks, this is something you should take note of.”
“… I will try to think on that.”
Lin-san smiled lightly.
“I’ve said some rude words, I’m sorry.”
“… No. I should be the one to apologize.”
What exactly we were apologizing for, I’m not too sure myself.
The world is filled with deep problems. This is such.
4
After everyone finished dinner, we had a meeting at the base. Lin-san produced the floor plan constructed from today’s measurements. It was nearly touching the outer perimeter of the house. However,
“There are still blank spaces.”
Naru pointed at the blue colored blanks on the diagram. Large and small, they totaled 18. The small ones were about 1 tatami’s size; the large ones could be the size of a few rooms.
“Ignoring the small spaces, I’m very concerned about this large empty space.”
That large blank space was at the heart of this mansion. Jutting in and out it formed an ‘L’ shape. Although it’s size couldn’t be accurately determined, from the look of the surrounding rooms it was clearly the size of a few rooms.
Naru took the floor plan for the second floor and made a comparison.
“The second floor hasn’t been accurately measured, so it’s better not to say anything now… it looks like there is that blank space on the second floor too.”
I pulled out the floor plan made from today’s measurements. Indeed, at approximately the same location on the second floor was also a large blank space. Compared to the corresponding part on the first floor, it was probably only half its size. I happened to think to compare the first and second floors’ plans to the thirds, and found out that the third floor was only a part of the house. It covered almost exactly the blank area from above, so I understood that the blank area did not extend into the third floor.
“… Isn’t it a hidden room? If it isn’t then it’s a little too large to imagine.”
Bou-san said.
Indeed, if we were to think that the blank space was created as a result of it being convenient for construction, it would be overly large. The question was how to enter it…
“Isn’t the third floor very suspicious? There’s also entry from the second floor, I think there’s the possibility of gaining access from above.”
Yasuhara spoke.
“But surrounding this blank space there are a lot of strange and weird rooms, furthermore aren’t they more complicated than at other places? Or rather the area surrounding the blank areas are strange areas.”
Just as we were talking like this and randomly comparing the diagrams, ‘knock knock’.
The majority of the members unconsciously stood up. We frantically searched for the source of the sound; it was the window facing the courtyard. A person’s face was plastered to the glass; I couldn’t help starting to get scared. It was really frightening before I understood that there was someone outside the window, and that someone was knocking on the glass.
Naru stood up.
“Madoka.”
Cough cough. Was it Mori-san?
Opening the windo, Mori-san climbed through to enter. What an energetic person.
“How’s it going?”
“Yeah. I wanted to tell you all about the results of the investigation. It’s freezing…”
“How did you come?”
“I rented a car to get nearby, and then I walked over. It’s very cold outside.”
It should be. Because the elevation here is quite high.
Wearing the jacket Naru handed her, Mori-san sat down on a chair. Rubbing her hands together for warmth, she looked like a squirrel, and appeared very pathetic.
“… Why would you do something so dangerous? What would you do if something happened?”
“Ah lah, Naru will come to rescue me right?”
Wu. This person, is unexptectedly so incredible.
“… that.”
Naru’s face was filled with displeasure. Mori-san took out a large notebook from beneath her jacket.
“First is this morning’s incident of calling Suzuki-san’s home.”
He~, so it was all communicated.
“Buses pass regularly along the road beneath this place. And then, I tried asking the bus and car rental companies. I thought that when she left this building, which mode of public transport would she take? Although it’s not impossible to hitchhike.”
Mori-san spoke while she flipped open her notebook.
“The result of my questioning was that there didn’t appear to be any drivers who had seen or met such a person. As expected, Suzuki-san probably never left this building.”
… huh u.
“Regarding this issue, this is all I know. Then about the 2 people who disappeared in this house.”
… he~. So she’s already investigated that.
“The first to disappear was Matsunuma Eiki (松沼英树), 18 years old, unemployed. That happened on the 13th of February. He and 7 friends, 8 in total, came here at night; no news of him has been heard since. Although they came here frequently, it was the first time they did so at night. They planned a test of courage by exploring the mansion, then when they had a feast within one of the rooms, Matsunuma Eiki left the room, apparently to look for a toilet. Following that he never came back.”
Mori-san flipped over a page.
“The missing person report was made a week later. The police who heard of this incident recruited the young people in this area to search for Matsunuga Eiki. Although they separately searched the building and its surrounds, they did not find Matsunuma-kun. Furthermore when they prepared to leave and did a head count, they realized they were missing one person. The missing one was Yoshikawa Masaya (吉川雅也), 21 years old, farmer. Everyone frantically searched the house again; not only did they not find him, because some of the people saw spirits floating through the corridors and created a ruckus, they gave up the search and went back.”
While she spoke, Mori-san retrieved a few mini tapes from her pocket, and scattered them on the tabletop.
“These are recordings from witnesses. The fact is, not a hint was found in here.”
“… so that’s what happened.”
“And then,”
Saying that, Mori-san hugged her elbows and looked at her notebook.
“Regarding the owners of this house. The one who built this house was Miyama Kaneyuki. For generations, the Miyama family was rich and powerful in Suwa (the region). Kaneyuki was the eldest son; at 16 he became the head of the Miyama family. At that time income was practically limited to that from farmers. This place is apparently the location of the Miyama family’s mountain villa. When Kaneyuki was 18, he went to Europe for a tour. He returned at age 20. Apparently, after he came back he immediately changed this place into a western villa. That happened in 1877.”
Mori-san flipped over a page.
“From that time onwards, up until his death from kidney disease in 1910 he always lived here. It should be said that he wasn’t good with getting along with other people, because besides leaving a few times on trips, he was always closed in here. He let his wife live in the city residence, but he himself hardly every went back. And despite his dabbling in charity, overall he has never appeared to be a society man.”
This was really surprising. I always thought that this Mr Kaneyuki was a great person who treated the ones around him very well. Could it be he was unexpectedly a shy person?
“Madam,”
Bou-san spoke to Madoka-san, who had stopped for a breath.
“Don’t call me ‘Madam’. I’m not such an old fashioned person.”
“Then Miss.”
“Yes~ (heart)”
“Didn’t Mr Miyama own a hospital called ‘Miyama Benevolent Hospital’?”
Mori-san flipped through her notebook to search.
“Yes. Miyama Benevolent Hospital. Located at the edge of the city, it was an extremely large hospital.”
“What about a secured facility in the vicinity of the hospital?”
“There was one. You do know quite a bit. Patient’s family members, or recovering patients who do not stay in the hospital, and people who have recovered but have difficulty in their daily living – it was a relatively large facility which accepted these types of people.”
While she said that, a complicated expression showed on Mori-san’s face.
“There were quite a number of assistants there. Apparently it was a place with excellent service. Admission into the facility was free of charge. Meals were also free. Apparently they also distributed necessities to those they did not admit. As long as one lived in that facility, one need not worry about clothing, food or lodging.”
Oooh, how gracious.
“People who could work apparently helped with the cleaning of the Hospital, and logistics etc. Although half of Miyama’s fortune was lost due to the Panic of 1907, before that, this facility had already consumed a significant portion of the fortune.”
That overcoat belonged to someone at that facility. I’m afraid it was a rationed overcoat. However, why would this overcoat be at that type of place? And then, there’s the paper note with words written on it. It definitely wasn’t a rich person who would wear that rationed overcoat. Yet what exactly was written on that note?
“There were also hospices and orphanages, a center for tuberculosis sufferers etc. In the end, in Meiji 41 (1908), Mr Miyama started giving up of various industries one by one. When Kaneyuki died, besides farmland and forests, there was practically nothing left.”
Hu, this should be what they call charitable poverty. Still it’s quite queer.
“Kaneyuki’s eldest son was Hiroyuki. Besides giving this building various strange renovations, Hiroyuki’s history is comparatively normal. I’ve brought the detailed histories of his and Kaneyuki’s along.”
Mori-san handed the notes sandwiched in her notebook to Naru.
“Tomorrow it’s regarding the characters of this father and son. I feel that this needs in-depth investigation.”
Mori-san said that with a school teacher’s tone; Naru looked clearly unpleased.
“Madoka, this is very dangerous. It will do to make a call, don’t come near this place.”
Mori-san tilted her head.
“But isn’t meeting face to face better?”
“In any case do not come here.”
Being told off so severely by Naru, Mori-san nodded.
“Yes, yes.”
Somehow it was a tone used to humor a child.
Lin-san used the car to send Mori-san back. When we were discussing this strange philanthropist, Lin-san returned through the window, and then we discussed it in greater detail. It was 11 when the meeting adjourned and we returned to our own rooms. – Then that night, Atsugi Hideo-san vanished.
Work in Progress.
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