Tokyo Detective Chronicles

In the days that followed.

Fushimi made up a random excuse and asked the school for a week's leave.

When the homeroom teacher, Ms. Mizuno, received the call, she sounded somewhat surprised. This student, who usually seemed very healthy, had actually taken such a long sick leave.

But she didn't ask any more questions, only saying, "Get some rest."

Fushimi hung up the phone and looked out the window.

He rented two rooms in a hotel next to the funeral home. The rooms were small, the curtains were drawn, and the light coming in was dim and hazy.

And during the two days that Fushimi stayed here, he kept having strange dreams...

It's been raining for the past few days.

From that day on, Tokyo seemed to enter a long autumn rainy season, with rain falling on and off, the sky always being leaden gray, and the air filled with a damp, musty smell.

The reason he accompanied Hayakawa Chiho to handle the funeral arrangements was, besides his concern that she might do something rash.

Another important point is that the whereabouts of the Buddha statue are unknown, and the only clue and possible breakthrough point at present is Hayakawa Chiho herself.

If the Creation Cult takes any further action, she will be its primary target.

According to information from Kuroda Sousuke and the information broker, mass sacrificial deaths have occurred in various parts of Yingzhou in recent days, distributed across different prefectures and cities.

All the evidence at the scene pointed to a connection with the Creation Cult.

……

The farewell ceremony was held the day after the funeral.

The location is an old funeral home in Katsushika Ward, a wooden building that exudes the scent of incense and old tatami mats. The sign at the entrance is faded, but it is said to have been in business for three generations, and people from the neighborhood come here to bid farewell to their loved ones.

Hayakawa Chiho no longer has any other family members she can rely on.

They didn't have many relatives, and due to a lack of contact over the years, few people came to pay their respects, and even fewer were willing to stay and help...

Therefore, she has to handle everything herself.

But she knew nothing... contacting the funeral home, setting the date, notifying relatives and friends, receiving guests...

Fushimi taught her almost all of these things himself, and he was always busy helping her with them.

After all, it is rather cruel to make a seventeen-year-old girl deal with these things on her own the day after losing her mother.

The sky was overcast, and a fine drizzle fell on the tiles of the funeral home, making a soft, pattering sound.

A portrait of Hoshino Mayumi was displayed in the mourning hall.

She looks younger in the photo than she does now, wearing a white lab coat and giving the camera a gentle smile.

An incense burner and offerings were placed in front of the portrait.

The incense sticks burned, and wisps of smoke rose, appearing particularly ethereal in the dim light.

A group of ordinary monks sat on one side of the mourning hall, striking wooden fish and chanting sutras. Their deep, rhythmic voices echoed in the empty hall.

They were performing a ritual to deliver an empty shell that had already lost its soul.

Not many people came to pay their respects.

Several neighbors dressed in black bowed before the coffin, offered incense, and then said a few words of condolence to Hayakawa Chiho.

She was Hoshino Mayumi's former colleague, and even had a few patients with her...

Their expressions were sorrowful, some even with red eyes. One of the older women held Hayakawa Chiho's hand and spoke for a long time, as if giving her some instructions.

"Your mother is a good doctor..."

"She took good care of us..."

"If you have any difficulties, come to Auntie..."

Hayakawa Chiho simply nodded and bowed politely and mechanically, over and over again.

Fushimi stood in a corner of the mourning hall, watching each person who came in to pay their respects, trying to find traces of the Creation Cult.

But nothing was gained.

After the farewell ceremony, Hayakawa Chiho stood at the door to see the guests off.

She was dressed in black mourning clothes, her face was pale, her expression was blank, and even the slight redness around her eyes, as if she had been crying, was painted on by the mortician.

Until the end of Hoshino Mayumi's funeral, Hayakawa Chiho did not shed a single tear.

"Thank you for coming to see Mom off..."

"Be careful on the road..."

"goodbye……"

The voice was very soft and polite.

Each visitor would pat her on the shoulder, sigh, and then disappear into the rain.

The last person left too.

Only Fushimi and she remained at the entrance of the funeral home.

It's still raining.

Fine raindrops fell on her shoulders and her hair.

She stood there, watching the departing figures, the empty streets, and the gray sky.

Not moving at all.

Fushimi walked to her side and held the umbrella over her head.

"Go inside," he said.

Hayakawa Chiho did not move.

After a long while, she whispered, "Senior."

"Um?"

"Where do you think people go after they die?"

Fushimi remained silent for a few seconds.

"have no idea."

He quickly realized that what he said was somewhat perfunctory. He thought about the situation in Tokoyori and the predicament that Hoshino Mayumi might be facing at this moment... It was clear that he couldn't tell the truth.

"It should be a nice place."

Hayakawa Chiho turned to look at Fushimi and nodded.

Then she turned around and walked back into the mourning hall.

The next few days were still busy.

Fushimi helped contact the crematorium, confirm the time, and handle all sorts of tedious procedures, all while maintaining a perfectly appropriate expression, and helped receive the few visitors who came by...

At the same time, she will ask Hayakawa Chiho to help with whatever she can, so that she won't overthink things.

After the car accident five years ago, he handled his parents' funerals all by himself.

He was thirteen years old then, younger than Hayakawa Chiho is now.

No one helped him, no one told him what to do. He had to find out for himself, ask questions, and run around on his own.

He can't remember how he got through those days.

But those processes, those formalities, and those exhausting, trivial matters left a deep impression on me.

So now, he does it with ease.

Even more so than the indifferent expression on Hayakawa Chiho's face, who followed Fushimi around obliviously, she seemed more like Hoshino Mayumi's child.

Meanwhile, news continued to pour in from the Special Affairs Section.

Seemingly to make up for his subordinates' previous incompetence, Kuroda Sousuke began sending him a daily briefing and personally overseeing the matter.

More mass deaths have occurred in various parts of Yingzhou.

In Osaka, three former members of the Creation Church hanged themselves in their home, leaving behind suicide notes filled with Creation Church prayers.

In Nagoya, five believers committed mass self-immolation in an abandoned building, burning themselves beyond recognition, but a large number of documents related to the Creation Cult were discovered at the scene.

Fukuoka, an entrepreneur who once provided funding to the Creation Church, blinded himself and drowned in his own bathroom.

There's more.

The number is still increasing.

Those remnants of the Creation Cult scattered across various regions, and those former believers who have lived in seclusion for the past twenty years, are dying one after another.

Some were suicides, others were accidents.

Some people died without ever finding the cause of death; they just died inexplicably.

As Fushimi looked at the briefings, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

Was Hoshino Mayumi's death one of them?

……