Prologue: Aboard
Wednesday, October 16, 2019, 7:40 A.M.
Ryuuzen Yuki was going to kill someone.
It wasn't a sudden thought. He had been carefully planning his revenge for the past ten months.
...There were only eighteen hours left until his plan was put into action.
As the boat rocked beneath his feet, Yuki gazed blankly at the horizon. The strong sea breeze blew against his face, and the water's surface sparkled blindingly in the sunlight.
Even though he was about to take three lives, Yuki was much calmer than he'd been before boarding the boat. Even he found that a surprise.
Holding onto the deck's railing, he closed his eyes, and the annoyingly bright sunlight disappeared, leaving him alone with the sound of the wind and the smell of the sea. The image of the seaside park where he'd often played throughout middle and high school filled Yuki's mind.
The sea breeze in his memory was stagnant, and smelled disgusting. But even so, it made him happy. Because as a child, Yuki had gone there with a familiar face and a familiar cat.
He'd first met Naoko in second grade.
She was a transfer student from Hokuriku who sat next to Yuki. He had been asked to share his textbooks with her until her own were ready.
Despite her quiet, demure appearance, she had been quirky.
While Yuki diligently took notes, Naoko's ballpoint pen would make doodles. That annoyed him, so he doodled on her notebook in return. Soon, they were competing to see who could make the other laugh first, a competition that ended when their homeroom teacher caught them and sent them both to the staff room for a severe scolding.
“Did something funny happen?”
A sudden voice dragged Yuki back to reality.
When he opened his eyes, Mikumo Echika was standing next to him in a floral patterned white resort dress. Apparently, the sound of the boat's motor was loud enough to drown out her footsteps.
She stared quietly out at the sea spread before them as she continued.
“Because you looked like you were laughing.”
He didn't remember the expression he'd had on his face. He'd been so engrossed in chasing those old memories that he'd completely lowered his defenses.
After gently tucking his memories of Naoko back into his heart, Yuki turned to Mikumo and said:
“Sea slugs.”
She frowned.
“Sea slugs?”
“Sea turtles, sea snakes, even umibozu – sea priests – ...They all look exactly like their names, don't they? But sea slugs aren't like that.”
Yuki made a habit of saying incoherent things, and he often brooded over questions and issues that didn't seem useful in everyday life.
However, he understood that a majority of people weren't like that. She would probably get fed up with such pointless talk and leave very soon... in fact, that was what he hoped for.
But what he got instead was an unexpected response. Mikumo had a sad expression on her face.
“I'm surprised, Mr. Ryuuzen. I had no idea you were the sort of person who could lie so easily.”
He stared at Mikumo.
Mikumo was turned to face the sea, so he could only see her in profile.
Her shoulder length hair was blown about by the wind, revealing a fair, handsome face. She stood 170 cm tall, with slender arms and legs.
“...Why do you think I was lying?”
He had intended to convey through his tone that he was disappointed in her. But Mikumo answered with conviction.
“I'm sensitive to lies.”
“That doesn't answer my question.”
“To tell the truth, I don't know why I thought it was a lie either.”
“...Isn't it cruel to accuse someone like that based on nothing but intuition?”
His reply was hesitant. Mikumo bit her lip, deep in thought.
“It isn't intuition. It's hard to explain, but if I had to put it into words, you didn't look like you enjoyed talking about sea slugs.”
Yuki was silent after hearing her answer.
It was true that he'd been trying to end the conversation quickly, and that he hadn't felt anything about the sea slugs he'd brought up. But he'd spoken in the same tone as ever, so there shouldn't have been any way for her to know that.
Despite that, she'd still decided it was a lie. It could have just been a coincidence, or maybe she really was sensitive to lies.
It was only then that Yuki realized that Mikumo could be a danger to his plan.
Perhaps because he'd been looking at her for too long, Mikumo's expression had turned suspicious. Yuki noticed and smiled to cover it up.
“Come to think of it, you and I haven't really talked yet, have we?”
He said that as he looked around the cabin. Mikumo looked up and gave a slight nod.
“We had no time to relax.”
The cabin, which had only a moment ago been filled with groans of pain, was now a bit quieter.
Seven people lay on towels on the floor of the cabin. No, Yuki hadn't poisoned them... they were just suffering from seasickness.
“I'm sorry. We all took seasickness medicine, but it seems it didn't work.”
Within an hour of leaving T. Port, they'd passed out one by one, and before they knew it, Yuki and Mikumo were the only ones left standing, other than the captain. They had no choice but to rush around and look after the others.
Now, everyone in the cabin had vomited themselves empty, taken the extra-strength seasickness medication kept on the boat, and were left with nothing to do but endure.
According to the captain, the seas in this area tended to be rough, but today was relatively calm. The boat bobbed gently up and down.
Yuki was fine, but he was surprised that Mikumo, so tall and slender, hadn't so much as changed expression in the entirety of their three hour voyage.
As if she could read his mind, she looked out into the distance and spoke.
“My father rented a small boat. When I was a child, we used to sail around on rough waves together. It's been about fifteen years now, but oddly enough, my body seems to still remember.”
Just when it seemed like she'd start reminiscing, Mikumo fell silent.
Yuki wasn't sure how much of an obstacle she'd be to his plan, so he continued asking her questions.
“Your father was from Kakuriyo Island, right?”
As he said that, he pulled the project materials out of his pack.
The following information on Mikumo was included in the materials.
Originally from Shizuoka Prefecture, she currently lived in Tokyo. After graduating from K.O. University, she got a job at a food company, but three years ago, she made her debut as a singer-songwriter under her real name. She was affiliated with Koga Production, and had released three singles and one album.
And most importantly: she was a descendant of the Mikumo family, who were in charge of the religious rituals of Kakuriyo Island and were influential figures in that community.
She nodded, letting her eyes wander towards their destination.
“My father lived on that island until he was in middle school. I've never set foot on the island myself, but my father often told me stories.”
Beyond her gaze, beyond the horizon, where they couldn't see, lay Kakuriyo Island.
Currently, the location crew, including assistant director Ryuuzen Yuki, were heading towards that remote island. Even if you chartered a private boat from the port in T. Village, it was a nearly four hour trip one way.
The main purpose of their location shoot was to film a special TV program called “World's Mysteries Detective Club”. The broadcast time slot had already been decided, and two months from today, a full two hours would be dedicated to the program.
Their destination was Kakuriyo Island, where the mass murder incident called the “Beast of Kakuriyo Island” occurred in 1974.
Director Unno's plan was to introduce the incident with an appropriate amount of dramatic embellishment, and to structure it as the story of a tragic incident caused by the legend of treasure left behind on the island... It went without saying that the island was itself a treasure for the television industry. It was strange no other station had taken note of it.
Yuki was on the production side, while Mikumo would be in front of the camera.
She would play the role of “The Mysterious Traveler”, the program's host. For a singer to pursue the solution to a mystery that had occurred on the island where she traced her roots was unprecedented, and it seemed like a guaranteed success. It was unique enough to be interesting, but conventional enough to be appealing.
Mikumo was clutching the shooting script, documents, and her smartphone in her hands all at once. She was probably checking on the flow of filming every chance she got, even here on the boat.
She suddenly spoke up in a self-deprecating tone.
“I've never been happy to trace my roots to an island whose name means 'phantom island'. But if it weren't for that, an unpopular singer like me would never have been chosen as the Mysterious Traveler.”
“For the program's lead, you sure say some depressing things.”
“I'm just being honest.”
“Ms. Mikumo, you should have a bit more faith in yourself.”
Those were Yuki's true feelings.
...That said, it was true that he had nothing nice to say about her singing.
Her voice was nice, but her pitch wasn't pleasant to the ear, and her songs couldn't touch anyone's heart. Though she was a beauty, her publicity photos all carried a palpable aura of gloom.
However, when Yuki actually met Mikumo, all the negative impressions he had of her were swept away in an instant. She was one of those people who had a charm that just couldn't be conveyed by a still image. It was impossible to avoid being drawn to her eyes, which held both an intelligent sheen and a hidden dark side.
If she took some acting lessons, she'd be a brilliant actress. Thus claimed Producer Kikyo, who'd pushed hard for her as the Mysterious Traveler.
Because Mikumo lacked experience in this type of work, the sponsors and the higher ups at JTV were reluctant. However, Kikyo managed to get all of their approvals. ...Yuki understood now why he'd been so insistent.
Mikumo didn't seem to be listening to Yuki, and suddenly spoke up.
“By the way, on a different subject... 'Ryuuzen' is an awfully rare surname. Is it possible...?”
Yuki hadn't expected the discussion to suddenly veer off in this direction, and was surprised into silence. Mikumo seemed to think she hadn't explained herself well enough, and added more.
“I apologize if I'm wrong. I was just wondering if you have some connection to Ryuuzen Pharmaceuticals.”
Yuki spoke while smoothing his bangs, which had been tousled by a sudden gust of wind.
“It's not like I'm trying to hide it. I'm a Ryuuzen. I suppose I'm from what you'd call the founding family.”
“Then why are you doing such a hard job?”
Yuki deliberately frowned at her direct barrage of questions.
“Is it strange for me to work in TV production?”
“It's not that... I just thought you must have had other options than a job that's so tough you can't even sleep.”
Yuki had been asked this question thousands of times in his life. He gave Mikumo a wry smile.
“Of course I had other options. My brother works at Ryuuzen Pharmaceuticals, just because our parents asked him to. But just the thought of moving on rails laid by someone else makes me shudder.”
“Is a life where you can't predict your own future more enjoyable?”
“Whenever I say that, I get told off for being picky.”
Yuki laughed. Mikumo watched him, then calmly continued on without agreeing or disagreeing.
“My family wasn't wealthy. We were only able to ride the boat because my father borrowed it for work. My father said that the Mikumo family lost everything in the Beast of Kakuriyo Island incident. But then, twelve years ago, my father died of an illness.”
That was too heavy a topic for Yuki. Not knowing how to respond, he fell silent. Meanwhile, Mikumo took her smartphone back out without paying his reaction any mind. They'd left the range of any signals long ago, so she was probably looking for something offline.
“When I accepted this job, I also looked up the incident that happened on Kakuriyo Island. Then, I branched off and read up on other important incidents that took place in the past.”
Mikumo, distracted by her smartphone, dropped her script and documents, so Yuki helped her pick them back up. In the process, he saw a copy of an article from the monthly magazine “Unsolved Mysteries” and reflexively grimaced.
It was a detailed account of the Beast of Kakuriyo Island incident, copies of which had been distributed to the entire staff as location research material. “The Pursuit of Truth” was an ongoing series renowned for the accuracy of its reporting and the new interpretations it came up with of past cases. It was one of Unsolved Mysteries's most popular articles.
However, Yuki had mixed feelings about the article.
The problem was... the author. The article was written by Kamo Touma. A man who, coincidentally, was married to Yuki's cousin Rena.
Yuki acknowledged Kamo's talent as a writer, and he and Rena were close. Despite that... Yuki didn't like him.
Although Kamo was just a writer, he had solved many cases of false accusation, and sometimes showed an eerily sharp edge. Just recently, he'd made headlines after boldly announcing a theory that the culprit of a series of assaults on homeless people that had been taking place in Tokyo for the past five years may have been the same person as the culprit of a series of random street assaults that had been causing a stir in the Kansai region until five years ago.
Especially after he decided on his revenge, Yuki had been avoiding Kamo. While he didn't think his plan would be discovered, he couldn't help but feel safer when he was away from Kamo, who had a somewhat detective-y aura about him.
But even so, there was one time... on orders from his superior, Yuki had talked to Kamo in his capacity as a writer. Of course, it was all for the sake of the location shoot's preliminary research. They'd chatted a bit, made copies of some old photos, nothing untoward at all... and yet, by the time he'd left, Yuki had been exhausted.
Mikumo thanked Yuki as she took back her scripts and materials, then handed him her smartphone. The ebook app was open, and a different magazine, one with a much more gossipy tone than Unsolved Mysteries, was displayed.
The moment he saw it, Yuki knew what she wanted to talk about.
“...That's the magazine from two months ago that had an article about 'the Deadly Tragedy of Shino', right?”
“Yes. 45 years ago, many people, including my grandmother, lost their lives on that island. Your family was also caught up in a horrific incident, wasn't it?”
What she said was an undeniable truth.
In 1960, a mass murder took place at a villa in Shino, claiming several lives, including Yuki's great-grandfather. The incident had been covered in all the newspapers of the time, and even now, sixty years later, it still cast a long shadow over the Ryuuzen clan.
Normally he would have felt indignant at the insensitivity of someone bringing the subject up out of simple curiosity, but this was different.
Perhaps Mikumo had also been living a life bound by the tragedy that had occurred in the past. If that was the case, then she and Yuki may have been similar people.
Yuki spoke, remembering when he had been six years old.
“When I was a child, my grandmother told me about the Deadly Tragedy of Shino. I was so sad and afraid... I felt like the world was falling apart. I cried all night long.”
That said, he still didn't know the details of the incident.
For some reason, neither the survivors of the tragedy nor Yuki's grandmother, Fumino, had told him much. When he was in middle school, he'd begun to suspect that they were all hiding something from him, but as he grew older, he lost interest in things like that.
Even so, the existence of the Deadly Tragedy of Shino tormented Yuki. ...No matter what he said, the fact was that what he wanted to do wasn't that different from the Deadly Tragedy of Shino. Yuki's thoughts were the same as the culprit who'd caused that tragedy. He, too, was plotting a perfect crime that would allow him to escape the consequences of his actions, all in the name of revenge.
Without any way of knowing what Yuki was thinking, Mikumo looked at him defenselessly and softly said:
“It's the same for me. When I first heard about the incident that had taken place on Kakuriyo Island, I burst into tears and ran away in the middle of the story. What my father had told me was just so terrifying.”
Yuki understood her feelings perfectly. But what she said next was different. “When I believed that story, I was sure I would never set foot on Kakuriyo Island as long as I lived.”
That was a somewhat cold thing to say... The Mikumo standing before him didn't look scared. Yuki was suspicious.
“Hmm, so you don't believe the story your father told you now?”
“My father must have exaggerated it as a ghost story for children. He must have had a grand old time, frightening me like that. Isn't that a terrible thing to do to your own child?”
“Or... he could have been telling the truth.”
Yuki was serious, but Mikumo practically glared a hole through him.
“Oh, come on! You have no idea how absurd his story was. He was just saying things.”
“It doesn't matter what he said. After the Deadly Tragedy of Shino, the Ryuuzen clan changed their family motto.”
Mikumo looked confused as he suddenly leapt ahead in the story.
“Your family motto?”
“Yes. 'This world is full of wonders. Anything can happen, even the impossible.' Or something like that.”
The moment she heard it, Mikumo's shoulders began shaking with laughter.
“What's with that? That's the sort of slogan you'd hear from a high school occult club.”
“Don't laugh. ...I interpret it as meaning that even if something happens to you that's beyond the bounds of common sense, you should try to remain flexible and avoid dismissing things out of hand.”
“So no matter how impossible something seems, you should give it a fair assessment?”
“Exactly.”
He hadn't said anything that bothersome, but for some reason, Mikumo fell into a silent sulk. It seemed he'd accidentally stepped on a landmine.
She wouldn't say anything, so Yuki had nothing to do but look out towards their destination.
“Oh, I can see Kakuriyo Island from here.”
A small dot had appeared on the horizon.
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