Asako takes care of Sagashima. Zaino goes to the police. Sagashima gets excited about the crop circle. Hoshizono invites Kazuo to investigate with him.
Asako takes care of Sagashima.
Zaino goes to the police.
Sagashima gets excited about the crop circle.
Hoshizono invites Kazuo to investigate with him.
They all returned to the administration building and went to the dining room. Yumi and Mikiko, who'd been waiting for them, stood up at the same time.
“How was it? Is he really dead?”
Mikiko looked deeply frightened. Although, since she was wearing so much makeup, her complexion didn't appear to have changed much.
“He is.”
Hoshizono's answer was unusually quiet. From his side, Akane added on.
“He was hit in the head, and when he fell down, the culprit strangled him to make sure.”
She didn't have to go into that much detail... As expected:
“IYAAH!”
Yumi put her hands on her cheeks and let out a deafening scream. Her gestures still seemed a bit coquettish. It may have been that, not having seen the body for herself, she still didn't feel the gravity of the situation.
“I got the first aid kit.”
Zaino appeared, holding a white plastic box. He appeared to have regained his composure and once again moved with his ninja body language.
“Ah, sorry,” said Sagashima.
“Do you want me to do it?” asked Asako.
Zaino handed her the first aid kit. Asako sat Sagashima down and took out some medicine.
“Please, take care of Mr. Sagashima. I will go to the foot of the mountain and contact the police.”
“Eh, why are you going all the way to the foot of the mountain? Just call them.”
Yumi's lips pouted as though she were making fun of him. Perhaps disapproving of her tone, Zaino paused for a moment.
“...I don't have a phone.”
“Eh, you don't?”
“No.”
Zaino's face bore no trace of humor.
“So I'm going to get in the car and report it.”
“Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?” asked Hoshizono.
“Yes, the police will likely have questions, so I think it would be for the best if everyone else stayed here. I'll be coming back either way.”
“The wind is strong out there, so be careful.”
“Yes, I'll have to drive slowly, so I won't be back for a few hours.”
Zaino hurried out to the car.
Soon, they heard the sound of an engine gradually moving away.
“Hey, if he's the murderer...”
Akane sat down in her chair and pulled out a cigarette.
“That means we lost him.”
“Eh, he did it?”
Mikiko's eyes went wide. Akane released a large puff of smoke.
“I'm not saying anything for sure, but he was the person closest to the victim.”
“I see. Ms. Kusabuki and I both met him for the first time yesterday, so in terms of motive, he is the most likely suspect.”
Hoshizono nodded. Yumi looked flustered.
“But we barely knew him at all. We just briefly talked to him at the store, right, Miki?”
“Yeah, yeah, that's right!”
“In that case...”
Hoshizono pointed a finger at the ceiling, pretentious as ever.
“Mr. Zaino is the only one who was close to the victim, and thus, the only one who could have had a motive. Is that what you're trying to say, Ms. Kusabuki?”
“That's what I'm saying.”
Akane declared it as calm as could be.
“Oh no, he was the murderer.”
Yumi's whole body twisted in fear.
“But if he ran away, that's okay, isn't it? The police can go after him later.”
Even though it was a reasonable conclusion, it felt a bit irresponsible.
“That doesn't matter right now!”
Sagashima suddenly cried out.
“Did you all see it? A crop circle!”
For the first time since any of them had seen him, he sounded excited.
“A what?”
Mikiko, in contrast, was just confused.
“A crop circle, it was clearly visible!”
“Crops... what, like rice?” Yumi asked.
“I can't believe you don't know about crop circles.”
Sagashima leaned forward, practically salivating.
“They're UFO landing sites. They leave a circular pattern on the ground, with grass and wheat knocked over in a spiral pattern, or rice and reeds fallen radially from the center. There have even been cases where fallen rice plants were found pressed deep into the soil of the paddies. They're produced by strong pressure from directly above, leaving perfectly circular marks.”
Asako was attempting to wrap a bandage around his left fingertips, although he wasn't making it easy.
“Reports of crop circles can be found in English reports as early as the 1600s, and there have been a huge increase in sightings in recent years. They all result in grass or wheat lying in neat circular shapes.”
“Do things like that really exist?”
Mikiko sounded curious.
“They've been found in snow, as well. Three years ago, a crop circle left in snow was found in Winnipeg, Canada, near a suspected UFO landing base. It was an astonishing sight: a Pleiades Type 4 UFO glowing blue and gold was seen over a snow-covered wheat field in the middle of the night. It descended slowly and rotated just above the ground for a moment for some time before flying off. It was probably collecting samples of either snow or soil. The next morning, the witnesses went to the site and found a circle in the snow about three meters in diameter. This is a well known story among UFO researchers which was published in a prestigious American UFO research journal. I believe this is the same type, but... You saw it, didn't you?”
Kazuo was staring directly at Kazuo.
“Yeah.”
Kazuo nodded halfheartedly. There was certainly a strange circular pattern in the snow, but that didn't mean there had been a UFO. What Kazuo was concerned about was the nerve of this old man who was so excited to talk about things like this after seeing a murdered body.
“This one's a little smaller, only about a meter across, but I'm sure it was a single seat reconnaissance vehicle. Some crop circles can be as big as 30 meters in diameter, you know. The sight of the grass falling in neat rows on that scale is spectacular. We think it's probably caused by the rotation of the magnetic field created by the UFO's gravity manipulator.”
“But they aren't left by magnets.”
Akane interrupted him, looking bored.
“They're left by pranksters. I read in the newspaper once about a middle school student who was arrested for making crop circles in the middle of the night.”
“That's... Things like that do happen. But it's unscientific to deny the existence of something based on a single event.”
Sagashima looked mortified. He flailed so hard he threw off Asako's bandaging.
“What were those other marks we saw, then? You saw, there was a line extending from the circle. Wasn't that the path someone walked?”
“Ah, that's the channel.”
Sagashima responded immediately.
“A channel is a thin marking protruding from a crop circle. About half of reported crop circles have them. In cases where more than one circle appears, a single channel sometimes runs through them all like a skewer through dango. It's believed they're probably traces of the magnetic field directional indicator at time of departure.”
Akane turned away from the unshakably confident Sagashima and puffed on her cigarette. They would never come to an agreement.
“I'm done, although it's a bit awkward.”
Asako stood up. Sagashima's left hand was completely swathed with bandages, making him look like a mummy.
“No, thank you very much.”
Sagashima bowed to her in thanks.
“So a UFO landed here yesterday?” asked Mikiko.
“Yes, it's too bad we couldn't see it ourselves.”
“What was it doing here?”
“We can't say for sure, but I believe it was probably a cattle mutilation.”
“A cattle what now?” Yumi asked.
Akane waved the tip of her cigarette.
“Wait. What's that noise?”
“What is it?”
Hoshizono put a finger on his chin and tilted his head. Kazuo also started listening carefully. He heard it. It was the sound of a car's engine. But it had been less than 20 minutes since Zaino left; there hadn't been enough time for him to get the police.
Hoshizono went to the window and looked out with an elegant gesture.
“Ah, it is Mr. Zaino.”
“What? But he could be the murderer, couldn't he?”
Yumi sounded afraid.
After a few moments, Zaino stepped back inside. His hair was a mess, probably from the wind.
“I'm sorry, but it's no good.”
Zaino sounded at a loss.
“What's the matter?” asked Hoshizono.
“The road below here is blocked by snow fallen from the mountainside. It may have been the wind, or a minor avalanche, or any number of things. It's impossible to pass. I hit it with my car and almost got stuck.”
Zaino shook his wet cuffs uncomfortably. His pants and shoes were wet and covered in mud. It seemed he'd had a hard time getting his car out of the snow.
“Forgive me, but I'm going to go change.”
Zaino left without waiting for a reply. The others exchanged looks of astonishment.
“We're trapped.”
Mikiko was downcast.
“Looks that way,” said Akane.
“But we have to call the police, don't we?” asked Asako.
“Yes, and as soon as possible,” said Kazuo.
“But we don't have a phone here.” Yumi sounded sulky. “How can we reach them?”
Akane had an answer.
“We'll just gave to go on foot.”
Mikiko was dissatisfied.
“It's a really long way down, and it's super windy. Who's going to walk through that?”
Sagashima suddenly cut in.
“How about skiing?”
“I wonder, do they even have skis here? This is a campground,” said Akane.
Hoshizono snapped his fingers.
“There are villas beneath us, we'll just go and borrow one of their telephones.”
“Wow, Mr. Hoshizono, you're so smart!”
Yumi's cheering was interrupted by the silent return of Zaino.
“Unfortunately, I don't think there will be anyone there this time of year. They are summer homes.”
“Eh, there won't?”
Yumi instantly lost all her cheer. Hoshizono wasn't as quick to give up.
“Even if there's no one there, all we need is the phone. I'm sure they've locked their doors, but given the emergency situation, I'd like to ask everyone to look the other way regarding any trespassing.”
“That won't work either,” Zaino announced as he held his hands over the stove.
“There are no phone lines. As you were informed last night, there are no phone, gas, or water lines in the area. The telephone company can't justify running lines to such a remote area.”
“What do the people in the villas do without phone lines?” Yumi asked.
Zaino kept his face expressionless.
“They use their cell phones. As you can see from the view of Chichibu, we're still near the city, so we get signals. It's because they didn't have to worry about inconveniencing anyone that they don't run a landline.”
Akane asked “Girl, where's my cell phone?”
“I'm sorry,” replied Asako, “It's back at the office.”
“Ah, that's right, I told you to do that... I'm sorry.”
Akane bit her lip.
“Hey, Yumi, do you have a cell phone?” asked Mikiko.
“No way, I'm not in high school.”
Apparently cell phones were something high school girls had but college girls didn't. Kazuo grabbed the pager in his pocket. The day before yesterday, it had been given to him by the Culture and Creative Department, but it was of no use to him now.
“But, Mr. Zaino...”
Hoshizono still hadn't given up.
“Perhaps someone left their cell phone at the villa, or there's something else useful. Surely it's at least worth checking?”
But Zaino shook his head.
“It's probably no good. With the clouds this low and the wind this bad, they probably wouldn't get reception anyway.”
“Do you have any skis?”
Sagashima was still on that.
“None,” Zaino responded at once.
Hoshizono frowned.
“Are you saying there's absolutely no way to contact the base of the mountain?”
“I am. We're completely out of options.”
Mikiko was stunned.
“You mean we're trapped?”
“Unfortunately,” came Zaino's answer.
Kazuo couldn't do anything but cross his arms. They had no phones, and the only means of transportation they had, the car, was being blocked. It looked like they had no choice but to go on foot. They were only two hours from the city center, but they couldn't even inform the police about the murder that had occurred right under their noses. They were stuck. What were they, trapped in a bad comedy?
After a moment of silence, Akane spoke.
“I wonder if this is a disaster. We're in a major crisis.”
Her voice was quiet.
“Disaster?” Yumi repeated, surprised.
Indeed, they could call it a disaster. With the warm stove in the room with them, they felt no sense of urgency, but there was no doubt they were in an emergency situation.
“Well, it's no big deal.”
Akane gave a sly smile.
“Girl, I was supposed to hand over the manuscript to Fukuike today, wasn't I?”
“Yes, at 6:00 P.M. He said he'd take it straight to the printer after that.”
Hoshizono smiled.
“Yes, I'm sure the office is aware of my schedule as well.”
“I informed the company I would be back this afternoon as well,” Zaino nodded.
Mikiko looked confused.
“Eh, what do you mean?”
“Everyone was planning on leaving today.”
Akane bit down on her cigarette before continuing.
“If we don't come back, there will be an uproar, especially from that ghastly, gloomy editor waiting for me.”
“Oh, so they'll come for us!”
Yumi sounded like she'd made an enormous discovery.
“That's right. Either the fire brigade will come with snowplows, or else a JSDF helicopter will come pick us up. After all, we're in a disaster.”
At Akane's words, Mikiko breathed a sigh of relief.
“Geez, that scared me! When Ms. Kusabuki said we were in a disaster, my heart started pounding.”
“But I'm sure it'll be tough on us when we get back.”
Akane sounded like she wasn't looking forward to it.
“There's a disaster and even a murder case on top... I'm afraid they'll say 'Ms. Kusabuki, write a romantic romance story set in a snowy mountain lodge and give it some suspense'.”
She spoke in a masculine tone. Asako sighed as well.
“If it's Mr. Tsurugi from Kisouha, you're probably right. He's the sort of man who only cares about what's popular.”
“Girl, note.”
“Ma'am.”
As Asako was running her pen over the notepad she's magically summoned, Yumi spoke.
“Ms. Kusabuki, it must be tough. The TV news and weekly magazines will come after you.”
“Well, I probably won't be able to go outside for a while.”
Hoshizono grinned and turned to Kazuo. That man, in contrast, wanted all the exposure he could get.
Zaino spoke.
“It seems best if we wait until evening. It might be faster to wait for rescue than attempt to force our way down.”
Yumi put a hand on her chin.
“Can't be helped, I guess. We'll just have to wait here until evening.”
Sagashima looked gloomy.
“That's be for the best... I do feel sorry for the president, though.”
Yumi, perhaps thinking the same thing Kazuo had been, scowled at Sagashima, wordlessly conveying “I was deliberately not bringing that up”.
However, since the police wouldn't be there any time soon, the murder was certainly a problem.
Hoshizono casually got up from his chair.
“Kazuo, can you come over here for a moment?”
Kazuo stood up, following the tall, sharp figure as it made its way towards the door.
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