“Oh yeah, I know. Everyone at school is talking about it.”
“I’ve heard that Miss Katsuragi is taking time off from school—is that true?”
The girl on the right side said something into the ear of the other girl. Their expressions were quite different from before. In other words, they became extremely cautious.
“We’re in a different class, so…” the girl on the left said and returned my business card. “We were warned not to go babbling.”
“Ah…then could you just tell me which senior class she was in?”
But waving their hands, they walked past me with quick steps.
After that, I used the same method to talk to three other girls, but the results were similar. I found out that Chiharu Katsuragi was in Class 2, but they ran away before I could ask anything else. It seemed the school had anticipated press initiatives and issued strict warnings to the student body.
I could get into trouble if the school found out that I was acting suspiciously in its vicinity. But there was something I just needed to know for certain.
I decided to move to Meguro station. It was a private school, so most of the students probably had to commute by train. I could see at a glance which school they came from by their uniform.
At a convenience store, I quickly spotted a girl. She was tall with long hair and was reading a magazine. I approached her from the side and said, Excuse me.
The girl furrowed her brow as she looked at me. She wasn’t even trying to conceal her suspicion. This one might be impossible, I thought. I decided to drop my earlier tactic.
“I’m someone who’s researching the disappearance of Nissei Automobile’s executive vice president’s daughter. Do you have time to talk?” I said in a low-key, professional tone.
I saw a change in the longhaired girl’s face. She lowered her guard and even looked interested.
“What have you learned about it?” she asked me in turn.
“Well, not much…The police are being stingy.”
“I see.” The girl looked down at the floor.
“Umm, are you and Chiharu…”
“We’re in the same class.”
I nodded broadly. Luck was on my side. I’d somehow manage to achieve my goal.
“Can we talk somewhere quiet? Even five or ten minutes is enough. Oh, this is me.” I showed the same business card as before.
“You’re from a TV station? I don’t think I can tell you anything special, though.”
“That’s okay. You can just tell me about Chiharu.”
She glanced at her cellphone. It seemed she was checking the time. She closed the flip phone with a snap and nodded. “I have half an hour.”
I thanked her.
There was a fast food place next to the convenience store, so we went in there. We sat near a window on the second floor. The girl with long hair had a frozen yogurt. Coffee again for me.
According to her, it seemed Chiharu did start taking time off from school around when Juri had run away from home. The school only said she was sick and didn’t give details about her condition.
“Our homeroom teacher told us she wasn’t feeling well and would be taking time off for a while. I don’t think he knows what kind of illness it is either. Even when I went to ask him later in the staff room, he shook his head saying he didn’t know. I don’t think it was an act.”
“Has your teacher tried contacting Miss Katsuragi’s home?”
“He might have, but they must not have told him. Because the truth is that she’s bedridden from the shock of her sister going missing, right? It would have been hard for her parents to say that. It seems like at that point they were hiding that her sister was gone,” the girl said, scraping at the frozen yogurt with her spoon and eating some. Her pink tongue peeked out of her lips now and then.
“Are you close to Chiharu?”
“I think we’re pretty close. I’ve gone to her house to hang out a few times.”
“Then, have you met Juri before?”
“I haven’t. Actually, this is just the first time I’ve heard of Chiharu having an older sister. She hadn’t said a word about it before. Even when I asked her other friends, they said the same thing. Don’t you think it’s weird? So when I heard her sister was missing, I didn’t know what to make of it. But Chiharu had such a shock from it that she’s bedridden. She must love her big sis.”
I didn’t comment on that. I had my own interpretation, but I didn’t think this girl needed to hear it. “Have you seen Chiharu since she started taking time off?”
“I haven’t. I called wanting to go visit her, but her mom turned me away.”
“Turned you away? What did she say?”
“Chiharu wasn’t home and was recuperating at some facility far away. Even if I went to her house, I wouldn’t be able to see her.”
“Facility…Did you ask where it was?”
With her spoon still in her mouth, the girl shook her head. “I didn’t. It seemed like she didn’t want anyone visiting her, so I lost interest, too.”
I nodded. I could understand the longhaired girl’s reaction.
“Hey, would you have a photo of Chiharu?”
“Of Chiharu? I don’t have one now, but I think I might at home.”
“Where is your house? If I come with you, will you let me see them?”
The girl furrowed her brow again and cast me a suspicious look. “I’m not sure I should be doing that without permission.”
“Just looking at it is enough. I won’t ask you to lend it to me, and I’ll give it back to you on the spot.”
“Then why do you want to see it? Chiharu doesn’t have anything to do with her sister’s disappearance.”
She had a point. It wasn’t like she trusted me. “I’m thinking of meeting with Chiharu. Before doing that, I should find out what she looks like. If I don’t know her face, then I can’t go looking for her.”
I thought it wasn’t a very persuasive answer, but it seemed the longhaired girl accepted it. After nodding, she asked me to wait for a bit, then took out her cellphone.
“What are you doing?”
“One sec.”
She started composing a message. I drank the terrible coffee. When she was done, she looked up and asked, “Is it true that Chiharu’s sister got kidnapped?”
I almost choked. “Who’s been saying that?”
“Everyone’s secretly talking about it. That she’s actually been kidnapped.”
“I wonder where that rumor came from.”
“I’m not sure. But somehow it’s been spreading. Is it true?”
“The police haven’t announced such a fact. They haven’t told the press, to say the least.”
“Isn’t it that thing? A whatever agreement.”
“Ah, an intermedia agreement? I don’t think so, but the higher-ups might know something.”
“But even if it were a kidnapping, if she hasn’t come home in over ten days…” After saying that much, she cast down her eyes. “Forget it. I’m scared of saying something awful and having it come true.”
I immediately understood what she was trying to say. It wasn’t the kind of thing you wanted happening in real life.
Her cellphone went off.
“Ah, that was fast,” the girl said.
“Huh?”
“Chiharu’s pic. I just asked my friend to send it to me. That friend has a scanner or something, so she scanned a photo of Chiharu and sent it.”
“I see…” Honestly, I was astonished. High school girls had a leg up on your usual businessman when it came to utilizing such tools.
“There you go.” She turned her cellphone towards me. A girl smiled at me from a LCD display that was just a few inches large.
I had foreseen it, but the impact I felt still wasn’t small. Somewhere inside of me, I wanted to disprove my own hypothesis. But what was on the screen made everything fact.
Displayed there was Juri’s face. It was the girl who’d participated i
n a game with me until just days ago.
—
Even after I got back to the company, I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I was in no shape to work, my hands full just organizing my disordered mind.
My theory had been right. The one who had appeared before me wasn’t Juri Katsuragi, but her younger sister Chiharu. Chiharu had run away from home.
What I didn’t understand was from there. Why had she said she was Juri? Was it simply on a whim? If so, why not tell the truth before embarking on a kidnapping game?
There were also too many things about the Katsuragis’ reaction that were odd, starting with the father’s. They must have known since receiving the first letter that the one who had been kidnapped was Chiharu and not Juri. Why hadn’t they pointed out the mistake? Because the culprits mistaking the younger for the older sister didn’t change the fact that their daughter had been kidnapped? Had they decided not to provoke the kidnappers needlessly?
There was just one thing that was clear. The fake Juri, in other words Chiharu Katsuragi, had returned home. She wasn’t missing. The family was telling people that Chiharu was recuperating, so perhaps she was somewhere else, but she seemed to be under the Katsuragis’ protection.
The one who was missing was the real Juri. And I hadn’t ever met that Juri.
Where had Juri Katsuragi disappeared to?
The foreboding words the girl with long hair had uttered came back to me. I shook my head. Whatever might have happened, it wasn’t my doing. The girl I’d dealt with was Chiharu.
—
Another ten days passed. I was still in turmoil. Neither the papers nor the nightly news reported any new developments regarding Juri Katsuragi. My honest wish was for things to stay that way. If I could have, I would have stormed into the Katsuragi residence and yelled at them to let me see Chiharu. I’d grab Katsutoshi Katsuragi by the collar and interrogate him about what on earth he was up to.
I wasn’t getting much sleep. It was morning, but I writhed in my sheets. It was time to rise and shine, but my head felt incredibly heavy. I tried out excuses to take the day off.
But the phone ringing roused me even in that state. It rang without mercy, and I dragged myself out of bed to pick up the receiver.
“Yes, hello.”
“Sakuma? It’s me, Kozuka.”
“Ah, did something happen?”
“Judging by how groggy you sound, I assume you haven’t watched the morning news yet. Try tuning in. Once you get the situation, call me.” With that, he hung up.
Scratching my head, I turned on the TV. A morning news program was playing. The male newscaster was saying something. Juri, I heard, and my eyes opened wide. I turned up the volume.
“This morning, in Yokosuka, the body of what is thought to be a young woman was found. From the fingerprints and other identifiers, it is believed that the woman is Juri Katsuragi, the elder daughter of Mr. Katsutoshi Katsuragi, the executive vice president of Nissei Automobile. She had gone missing about twenty days ago—”
20
Juri Katsuragi’s overnight vigil was being held at a Buddhist temple about fifteen minutes by car from the Katsuragi residence. Many of us at Cyberplan were there to help and to offer incense, me among them. Naturally, people from Nissei Automobile handled greeting people, dealing with the VIPs, and all the other important stuff. We were just acting as guideposts on the streets.
Because it was the vigil of Nissei Automobile’s EVP’s daughter, the temple premises were overflowing with guests making condolence calls. Even though there were five lines for offering incense, people were crowding out into the street. Those of us who had come to help wondered in hushed tones what the next day’s funeral would be like if the vigil was this way.
There was a break in the callers, so we decided to rest in a room in the back. There was sushi and beer, but it wasn’t as though we could wolf down food there. Kozuka instructed us Cyberplanners to limit ourselves to one glass of beer each.
“Mr. Katsuragi looks down, as one might expect,” Sugimoto whispered. “During the incense offering, I took a peek at him, but it’s the first time I’ve seen him this down. He always seems filled with confidence with his head held high.”
“No wonder. His daughter died,” responded another coworker. “And it’s not a normal way to die either.”
“I think he must have been prepared for it, but of course it must be a shock to hear it for real.”
“Of course. Honestly, I thought maybe she’d already been killed, but when I actually saw the news, I was shocked, too.”
“I wonder what kind of person the culprit is.”
“Same here. Did he kill her knowing she was the daughter of Nissei’s EVP?”
“Who knows? They aren’t sharing any details with us,” Sugimoto said. He glanced around and covered his mouth with his hand. “Apparently, this girl Juri who got killed wasn’t the child of his current wife.”
“Oh, that, I heard that too.”
“Plus, she wasn’t by his first wife.”
“Huh, then whose child was she?”
“His mistress. He took her in and raised her.”
“Wow, Mr. Katsuragi, of all people.”
“It might be because I know that, but his wife doesn’t seem half as crushed as Mr. Katsuragi. The troublesome child from his old flame died, so maybe she’s sighing with relief.”
At his words, my colleagues who’d been listening to Sugimoto let a chuckle slip. Kozuka didn’t miss that.
“No unnecessary chatter. We’re not the only people here.”
Scolded, Sugimoto and the others ducked their heads.
I was a little surprised that they knew a little about the secret of Juri’s birth. I’d assumed it was the Katsuragi family’s biggest secret. Even the daytime shows were glossing over that part. The dynamic—fearing the wrath of a leading sponsor—was at work for the time being. But if Sugimoto and the others had heard about it, that meant the information had leaked from somewhere. Even Katsutoshi Katsuragi couldn’t pull over the iron curtain once we were dealing with a dead body.
At any rate, I was stuck on Sugimoto’s last line. Indeed, Juri’s death must have streamlined the Katsuragis’ complicated situation. Of course, how the Katsuragis themselves saw it was a mystery.
Chiharu Katsuragi, the fake Juri, hadn’t made an appearance at the vigil. No explanation was given for this, but they must have told relatives and close friends that she wasn’t handling the shock well. She was even skipping school, so it wasn’t as though that explanation wasn’t persuasive.
However, I suspected there was a different reason Chiharu hadn’t shown herself. In short, she didn’t want to see me. What I might say to her scared her.
Katsutoshi Katsuragi, or rather, the Katsuragi family was hiding something. And they were plotting. That was something I didn’t doubt.
Juri Katsuragi’s remains had been on a hill on the Miura Peninsula. A local resident had found her buried in the ground. Despite the advanced state of decay, from a partial fingerprint, her dental impression, and so on, it became clear that she was the missing Juri.
It was judged to be a murder based on the traces of a sharp object piercing her heart and causing massive blood loss. Some of her clothes had been removed and they couldn’t find her personal belongings.
The place where her remains had been unearthed was something I couldn’t help thinking about. Wasn’t it that spot? I’d been invited by Juri, no, Chiharu to that hill where you could see the stars so well. The news didn’t give the precise location, but I felt it couldn’t be anywhere but there.
If that was the case, then why had Juri’s remains been there? Why had Chiharu wanted to go to that place with me?
It was right when I was finishing my beer. I felt someone’s presence and looked to the side. Katsutoshi Katsuragi was standing at the entrance. He was staring.
When I turned to look at him, he averted his gaze. Then he came inside. Everyone in the room had noticed by th
en and was beginning to sit up straight.
“Ah, as you were. Please make yourselves comfortable. Please.” With a restraining gesture, Katsutoshi Katsuragi looked around the room. Then he bowed. “Thank you for everything regarding my daughter. I truly am sorry for causing you trouble at such a busy time for your work. The police have promised to do whatever they can to apprehend the culprit. That day isn’t far away, I trust. However, what has to do with my daughter has to do with my daughter and is a private matter of the Katsuragi household when all is said and done. The daily work of Nissei Automobile and its business partners absolutely cannot be obstructed by what has happened. Please, everyone continue with your various plans, without undue concern. I intend to resume work as quickly as possible as well. Thank you very much for today.”
Katsutoshi Katsuragi bowed his head deeply once again.
Returning a bow like everyone else, I thought about Katsuragi’s earlier gaze. He had been looking in my direction. No, without a doubt, he had been looking at me.
—
That night, accessing the internet and reading a flash news headline, I couldn’t but gasp.
“Juri Katsuragi Actually Kidnapped,” it said. I double-clicked with my trembling fingers.
According to a police spokesman, the disappearance of Nissei Automobile EVP Katsutoshi Katsuragi’s first-born daughter, Juri, who was recently found dead, was in fact a kidnapping. The culprit had contacted the family shortly after her disappearance, but Mr. Katsuragi had refrained from notifying the police to avoid endangering his daughter. The ransom was paid, and a police investigation was launched, but the facts were withheld from the public for the sake of Juri’s wellbeing—
I was dumbfounded in front of the computer screen for some time. Katsutoshi Katsuragi really hadn’t notified the police. That meant those feints meant for our opponents, the police, during that elaborate ransom exchange were all for nothing.
Why had Katsuragi not told the police? The talk of keeping his daughter safe just wasn’t credible. Juri and Chiharu changing places, Juri getting murdered—all of it had to be connected.
The Name of the Game Is a Kidnapping Page 19
