Top of the Eighth Inning
Several people were crowded at the game areas for target practice, strikeout practice, and archery. It was an exhilarating scene, typical of a festival.
"Méqué, let"s do that one." Misaki pointed to a sign of one of the stands in the corner.
"What is it?"
"It"s darts." She pulled Méqué"s arm, bringing him towards the stand. "If you win more than three hundred points, you could earn a prize."
After waiting in line, their turn finally came around. They could throw five darts for 500 yen. Méqué paid for it.
Misaki picked up the dart and threw it at the target. However, she had missed. Or more accurately, it did not even hit the target. She made more attempts, but all of them missed.
"Let Méqué do it."
Méqué said and took the last dart from Misaki"s hand. After he closely examined his target, he threw the dart in a fluid motion.
The dart struck in the white and black target, right in the dead center. He received 500 points for it.
"You"re something, mister." The male running the stand had exclaimed. "Take whatever you would like out of these."
The two looked in the area where the prizes were a.s.sorted. There were prizes which would make any child happy such as stuffed toys and toy guns. But Misaki was not interested in those.
"What do you think of this one?" Méqué held a small messenger bag.
"It"s cute." It was very clearly a commodity designed for girls to use. "Méqué, you"ll use something looking like that?"
Méqué shook his head.
"Here," he took the bag and put it around Misaki"s thin neck. "A present."
"You"re going to give this to me?"
"Yeah."
"……Thank you." When she expressed her grat.i.tude, Méqué broke into a pleased smile.
Once they had left the games stands and pa.s.sed under the torii archway, the area became even more immensely crowded. There was a throng of people gathered at the front of a stage. Méqué pointed over to it. "There"s something going on up there."
Men dressed in flashy clothes were coming on and off the stage.
"It"s a magician!" Méqué exclaimed.
He had said he worked as a street performer. Perhaps he got excited whenever he saw a stage due to its relation with his occupation. Méqué pulled Misaki by the arm and steadily pushed forward through the crowd to get a better look at the stage.
There were various events that took place on this stage during Houjoya – from street performances to live bands and dance shows. Right now a magic show was about to begin. They got to the very front, and Méqué watched the stage in excitement.
"Now then, could I have a.s.sistance from someone in the audience?" The middle-aged magician wearing a silk hat was looking through the audience. He then spotted Misaki.
"You there, young miss." The magician stepped off the stage and handed a pen and a piece of paper to Misaki. "Write your favorite number between one and nine on this paper, please."
Misaki did not think over it long, considering it an annoyance she had got picked, and wrote the number one.
"What did you write?"
Misaki held up the piece of paper towards him.
"So it was one." The magician looked around the audience and declared. "Truth is, I had predicted this young girl would write one beforehand."
The magician pulled out a trump card from his breast pocket. It was a spade of ace.
There was an applause from the audience.
"Amazing! He got it!" Méqué voiced in surprise next to her. "Misaki, he read your mind!"
"……How dull. Let"s go."
Misaki turned on her heel while pulling at Méqué"s clothes, trying to get away from the ma.s.s of people around the stage. Méqué took the pen and paper from Misaki and stared at them closely. "Is this a magic pen? Or is this magic paper?"
"It"s a normal pen and normal paper." Misaki gave a small sigh. "That was a beginner"s trick. He had trump cards for all the numbers hidden on his person. If I had written the number two, he probably would have pulled a trump out of his other pocket, right?"
"……Really?" Méqué pouted when Misaki disclosed the secret behind the trick.
"Unlike street performing tricks, magic tricks have misdirections and set up." Misaki tugged the shocked Méqué into the line to visit the shrine. "Come on, let"s worship at the shrine."
"Worship?"
"It means to pray to the G.o.ds."
After a few minutes, their turn had arrived. They threw in small change into the offertory box and clapped their hands.
I wish to always be with Jiro-chan.
Misaki whispered to herself in her mind, eyes closed.
Méqué imitated the same gestures beside her.
They split up to look for Misaki at any place that seemed likely she would go, including parks and libraries, but all were misses. The sun had set, so they all cut their investigation and met back at the detective office.
Just then, Banba received a call. "h.e.l.lo? Banbsan?"
It was Enokida"s voice. He finally got back to them.
"It looks like you tried to call me a few times. Sorry, I didn"t have any battery left after meeting with someone in a hospital." Enokida explained. "So? What"s up? Did something happen?"
"Misaki is missin"."
"Ahhh," Enokida muttered. He seemed to know something regarding her.
"Misaki-chan dropped by where I was yesterday. She wanted me to tell her where Jiro-san was at."
"What time was that at?"
"When I called Jiro-san yesterday, it was at……a little past nine."
Misaki had arrived to his office at around eight thirty the night before. So Misaki must have left there and headed straight to Enokida.
"After that, where did Misaki head off to?"
"I a.s.sume she went after Jiro-san. ……Ah, don"t tell Misaki-chan that I told you this. She forbade me to speak about it."
"Then I need you to find where Misaki is right away."
"I put a transmitter in her pocket when I saw her yesterday. I"ll look into it and track her."
Banba stated his thanks before hanging up.
Jiro looked up at Banba and asked him when he got off the phone. "What did Enokidchan say?"
"Apparently Misaki went to Enokidkun yesterday too. She asked him where you was."
Jiro had a sudden realization, recalling the call he got from Enokida the other night. He had asked him where he was. "Wait. Then that call was-"
"Seems like Misaki forbade Enokidkun to speak."
"And he told her where I was?"
Banba nodded.
Jiro checked his call history. He got a call from Enokida around nine o"clock. He was attacked by the yakuza ten minutes later. If Misaki went by the Smokin" hot then there was a high possibility she had gotten in the mix of that a.s.sault.
"And where is she right now?" Lin asked.
"Enokidkun said he"s gonna look into it, so we gotta wait for him to call back."
Jiro made a deep exhale and held his head. "I didn"t want her to help me with my work so this didn"t happen……"
"It"s the opposite." Banba objected. "It was "cause she wanted to help ya that this happened."
Jiro frowned. "……What do you mean?"
"I reckon" Misaki hated being" left out."
"Left out?" Lin questioned.
"That child has seen more of this world than others have. She"s got a connection with us. She couldn"t get into our circle, but neither could she return to normal life."
Misaki did not belong in neither the underground world that Jiro and Banba belonged to nor the outward world her cla.s.smates were in. She was left living in a small world where she always felt alienated, without anyone who would understand and relate to her by her side.
"She must"ve thought she had to do somethin". Misaki tried to find her place by fully pushin" into our world."
A thought tugged at Jiro"s mind when he heard that. He had naively viewed her actions as part of a child"s rebellious stage. But that was her desperation. Jiro was just desperate to protect her. He was frantic and tried to distance her from all the dangers his life entailed. But this was the result. If Jiro had realized her loneliness sooner, if he had tried to understand her, maybe this would not have happened.
"Get yourself together, Jiro." Banba patted Jiro"s shoulder as he held his head and was turning pale a few times. "You"re a parent; you gotta get yourself together."
At some point, the sky had turned dark. They walked down the street to the parking s.p.a.ce while stuffing their faces full of the crepes they had bought at the food stalls.
It was a fun day. This may have been the first time in Misaki"s life that she had played this much. Misaki had lost herself in the spirit of the festival.
"Houjouya was fun." Méqué stated before turning to her. "Where should we go next?"
Misaki instantly stopped when he asked her that, realizing she had entirely forgot her objective. She was having so much fun she had forgot that the man walking next to her was a serial killer who had kidnapped her. She came to the Houjouya event so she could get away from him. But instead of running away, she ended up hanging out with him.
It was not the festival"s fault. This was the first time Misaki had ever went out with anyone else besides Jiro and the Ramens members. She was so happy, feeling like she had made a friend and a world of her own.
She was reluctant to leave now. Although he was a serial killer, she ended up wanting to hang out with him sometime again.
But she had to get home. She had to get back to Jiro.
When they arrived back to the parking s.p.a.ce, Misaki spoke towards Méqué as he walked a few paces ahead of her.
"……Hey, Méqué."
He did not do any harm to her. Misaki knew he was truly a nice person.
And so he should understand if she told him. "I"m sorry……I have to go now."
"Go now?" Méqué was about to jump into the RV when he stopped and tilted his head at her. "Why?"
"Jiro-chan is going to worry about me if I don"t go home now."
"Jiro-chan?"
"He"s my father."
"Your father?"
Misaki quickly added. "Ah, no. He"s my nice dad."
She then walked up to Méqué and squeezed his hand.
"You"ll let me if you"re my friend, right?"
She looked up at his face, staring him in the eye and stated, "please, Méqué, let me go home."
After a few moments of silence, Méqué asked in a small voice. "……Can Méqué see you again?"
"Of course." Misaki nodded strongly. "I promise we will."
Méqué had a sorrowful expression, but he nodded back. "……Okay."
He seemed to have understood. Misaki made a sigh in relief. "Thank you."
Méqué took out a pen and paper from somewhere. They were from the magician earlier.
He wrote something down on the paper and handed it to Misaki, "here you go."
A phone number was written on it. It must be his contact information. "With this, we can see each other again."
"Okay. I"ll definitely give you a call!"
Misaki promised and took the sheet of paper and put it in bag"s pocket he had given her.
"See you later, Méqué. Let"s hang out again sometime!" Misaki waved.
Méqué got in the car. He poked his head out of the driver"s seat and waved back. "See you later, Misaki."
The car sped off.
Misaki continued to wave as the red box car grew smaller into the distance. After waving goodbye to Méqué, Misaki left the parking area. She decided she could take the subway. It would take her at least twenty minutes on foot to get to the Hakozaki shrine station.
After she walked for a few minutes, a car pulled over next to her.
"Sorry miss. Do you have a moment?" A man poked his head out of the window and called out to her. "We"re lost."
They could be bad adults.
Misaki glared at the man, weary. She could see children over his shoulder. There was a boy around elementary school age sleeping in the pa.s.senger"s seat. Perhaps he was his son.
So just a parent and child?
They really seemed to be lost. Misaki let her guard down and took a step towards them. And when she did, the back door had opened; another man lept out at her.
It was so sudden she was slow to react in time. Misaki braced herself, taken by surprise, but the man grabbed her.
"Let me go!"
Misaki yelled.
"Be quiet." The man held Misaki down as she tried to struggle and closed his hand over her mouth.
She could not speak. Misaki desperately resisted in an attempt to break free. As she struggled against him, her bag slipped off her shoulder.
The man easily picked up Misaki and dragged her into the car.
They got a call from Enokida. He told him that when he looked into her movements, she had been wandering around Hakozaki Shrine. And now not far from there, she had suddenly stopped moving.
Jiro and the rest of them got into the car as fast as they could and headed to where she was. However-
"She"s not here."
They did not see Misaki anywhere.
They were at an alley. It was wide enough for one vehicle to pa.s.s through, but with the lack of street lamps it was pitch black. Since it was a little ways off from the festival, not many cars or people pa.s.sed by here.
"Hey, Jiro," Lin spoke up. "Look at this."
He picked up a red bag that was on the ground and handed it to Jiro. It was unfamiliar to him. It was not Misaki"s. However, when they looked inside it, they had found a child"s use cell phone.
"……It"s Misaki"s."
Jiro immediately called Enokida. He changed the settings to speaker so Banba and Lin could listen in on it too. "Misaki wasn"t here. But we found her cell phone fallen on the ground."
That was not all. A half-eaten crepe was also on the ground. It must have been stepped on as its insides were splattered out. When they carefully searched the area they found a redback spider shaped device – it was the transmitter Enokida had planted on her. It had fallen off her person.
Misaki had came to the Houjouya festival. And she was attacked by someone here.
"Can you look at surveillance footage?" Lin asked.
"There aren"t any installed around there." Enokida then added. "But there are cameras on both ends of the road, so the culprit may have been caught on them. Give me a second."
Enokida said, probably so he could work on his computer. After a few minutes, he spoke again, having found a car coming from that alley. "I found a vehicle come out of that alley around the time Misaki"s tracker had stopped moving. I was able to see the plate number clearly on it."
"Who"s car is it?"
Enokida replied. "A man named Kase."
"Who"s that?"
"An employee working for the Mutagawa Group. Bottom of the bottom. He had a past criminal record."
"The Mutagawa Group?"
Jiro felt dizzy. The Mutagawa Group were the ones he had encountered in the bar the other day. So after he had escaped from their grasp, they turned their sights on Misaki. "……It"s my fault."
Banba padded Jiro"s back to comfort him before asking Enokida. "Where was that car headin"?"
"Following the surveillance cameras, it looks like they"re heading east."
"East?" Lin c.o.c.ked his head. "To the man"s home? Or his workplace?"
"Neither of them. Both are in the opposite direction."
"Then where"s that car-"
"It"s heading to a warehouse owned by the Mutakata Group."
Lin muttered.
"What"s the address?"
"I"ll send it to you now."
And Enokida hung up. After a few moments, they got an e-mail from Enokida. The location was attached to the message. When they opened it, a map appeared with the place in question marked.
"Jiro," Banba addressed him. "Let"s get goin"."
Jiro nodded.
"Yes, let"s go." To save his daughter.
Misaki glanced around the area she was in with only her eyes. She was in a vast room with a pile of cardboard boxes stacked along the walls. She was probably in a warehouse.
Misaki curled up into a ball, holding her knees close to herself in the small cage she was in. There were similar large dog cages near her with elementary school boys and girls around the same age as her inside them. Some were sobbing while others were trembling in fear, curled in on themselves. Their anxiety, fear, and loneliness seeped into her, and Misaki shook her head to steady herself.
I have to get it together.
She lightly smacked her cheeks to restore her wits.
I"m not like the other children. I"m not like the children who weep and shake in fear. I"m the daughter of an avenger. This much won"t unhinge me. This is nothing.
She told herself before turning her focus to the situation at hand. What was most important was knowledge. She needed information on her captor and her situation.
Misaki pondered to herself. What was their objective? She thought back to what had happened to her. She was kidnapped by two men on her way back from Houjouya. She then was taken to this warehouse and locked into a cage. There was a slightly dirty blanket in the cage. It must be for her to use to keep warm. No one would provide a blanket to the children they planned to kill. So she was left alive intentionally, at least for the meantime.
Misaki took out one of her hair ties and tossed it away from the cage through the bars, leaving evidence she was here in case something happened to her.
"Yes, everything is proceeding smoothly. There are no issues on are end. We have plenty just in case anything happens."
She heard a man speaking. He was the person who pretended to be lost and asked her for directions. He was talking on the phone at the moment. Misaki strained her ears to eavesdrop the conversation.
"We have the merchandise ready for transport in the warehouse right now. We just have to put them on the truck."
The man then hung up.
After a few minutes, the shutter opened and a truck came inside. A young man showed his face from the driver"s seat. He was familiar to Misaki. He was the one who leapt out of the back seat of the car and caught her.
"Ishiharsan, we got to borrow the truck from the Yamazaki company."
"Alright. Let"s get them on."
"Understood."
So that"s what"s going on, Misaki thought. The man had glanced over to them when he mentioned the term "merchandise." They were the merchandise, meaning their objective was child human trafficking. And the truck was their means of transport. They were going to be put on it soon. They would be brought to another land and be sold somewhere.
If she got put on the truck, that would be the end.
The two men lifted the cages with the children inside them and put them on the load-carrying tray on after the other. One, then two, three, four. Misaki heard the children"s wailing as they were put inside the truck.
Her turn was approaching. There was no time.
Then she had to stall for time.
To follow what Jiro had taught her, she first needed to gain their attention. She had to get their focus on her, even as long as a second, just enough to remain here.
"Hey, mister!"
The man named Ishihara turned to face Misaki when she yelled at him. "……What is it?"
"Mister, are you part of the yakuza?"
"Ah?" Ishihara"s eyes widened. "What did you say just now?"
"You"re part of the yakuza, right? Ishiharsan."
"Why do you know my name?"
"That"s what the other guy called you."
Ishihara seemed to have lost interest for a moment and had muttered, "you got good ears." He turned away from Misaki while blowing out smoke.
"This is human trafficking, isn"t it?"
At that, Ishihara whipped back around. He fully turned to face Misaki, eyes wide.
I got him. Success.
Misaki smirked.
Ishihara"s complexion drastically changed.
Bottom of the Eighth Inning
"This is human trafficking, isn"t it?"
Those words he never expected to hear from a child struck him in his core.
"……What did you say?"
Ishihara was taken aback.
It was exactly as she stated; they were doing human trafficking. They were going to put the children on a ship and send them overseas to their client. They had repliminished the number of children they had lost as well. They were able to fix their situation for the plan to go smoothly.
This was beyond Ishihara"s expectations. A child who knew of their organization"s secret was smiling in front of him. Ishihara instantly felt impatience take hold and he grew anxious.
Did I mess up somewhere?
He thought back on his actions up until now. No, there should not have been any problem.
Then why does she know? Who is this kid?
Imagining one unexplained scenario after the other, he began to get irritated.
"So I am right," the girl grinned up at him when he fell silent.
Although she was kidnapped, she did not show an ounce of fear. This child was not normal.
"……Why would a d.a.m.n kid like you know that?"
"Oh, I wonder."
The girl gave him a suggestive look unfitting of a child.
What an unsettling kid.
People feared the unknown. And Ishihara could not handle not knowing the truth. The time for the trade was approaching, but he could care less at the moment. He could not think of anything else but the desire to uncover this child"s background.
Ishihara walked over to the girl and kicked her cage. There was a loud metallic clang.
"Don"t you look down on me, you f.u.c.king kid."
Kase hastily called out to him. "Wait, Ishiharsan. What will happen if you damaged the merchandise!?"
"This one isn"t going to be merchandise."
Ishihara talked back in a growl.
"Leave this kid behind."
"Eh?"
"We have six already. There"s no issue if we lose one."
"That"s true, but……But where are you going to take her?"
"That"s a thought." Ishihara contemplated. He did not want his superior to know an unexpected situation took place. He could not bring her in to the organization. "I"ll take her to my house."
No matter how much he had yelled at his son or how much his son had wailed when he hit him, he never got any complaints. Noise level was not an issue at his home.
"I"ll leave the rest to you. That hitman is going to be here soon. Meet up with him and bring the merchandise to the ship." Ishihara pointed at the children with his chin. "I"m going to make this kid tell me everything."
"It wasn"t the stupid mask guy!"
When Saruwatari called Nitta up and yelled at him, Nitta feigned ignorance. "Eh? What are you talking about?"
"The hitman I"m a.s.signed to kill! It"s not the stupid mask guy!"
Sanjou told him it was a clown. Although the Niwaka Samurai had an extraordinary look, he would not disguise himself as a clown.
"I never once said it was going to be the Niwaka Samurai." Saruwatari hear Nitta"s laughter. "You just a.s.sumed, Sarucchi."
s.h.i.t, Saruwatari cursed and hung up. He wanted to smash the device against the ground, but he managed to stop himself before he nearly did. He put his cell phone back in his pocket as he looked up at the building in front of him.
Saruwatari went to the location provided to him at the time the Mutagawa Group wanted. There was a transport truck parked in front of the warehouse.
"……You"re finally here." A young man poked his face out of the driver"s seat and pointed to the pa.s.senger"s seat with his thumb. "Get in."
"Don"t give me directions." Saruwatari tutted. "I"ll kill you."
Once he got in the pa.s.senger"s seat, they took off. The young man was called Kase. He was a lackey in the lowest position in the Mutagawa Group.
"We can never expect when the enemy will attack," Kase then commented profoundly. "So don"t let your guard down, hitman."
"I believe I told you to not order me around."
Saruwatari warded him of as he put on his seat belt.