Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

Chapter Sixty-Three Information Exchange

"Did you find your camera?" Thinking of this, Yuri couldn't help but mention the only thing he was sure was lost last night.

"No, but I have a spare camera, it's right here." The reporter patted his bag. "After all, although it's not the only necessary prop, it's still something I use to make a living, so it's normal to carry it with me."

That's normal, but Yuri didn't hear much sadness in her words.

He didn't know the exact value of the camera, but he figured it wouldn't be cheap. Most people would probably be heartbroken, right? Hmm... maybe he's just incredibly carefree.

The waiter brought the food over, and it looked quite good.

However, it's obvious that such a fast pace must have been prepared in advance; if they had arrived any later, it would have been leftovers.

“Let’s begin then,” Lehwa said after the waiter left. “You said you had something to tell me, what is it?”

Shall we get straight to the point? Yuri liked that; he focused his attention.

“I know the direct cause of the fire,” Yuri said first, watching the other side’s reaction.

Lehwa tried to control her expression, but she was still moved and seemed quite interested in the matter.

She then realized her expression and decided to drop the pretense, directly expressing her interest: "What's the reason? I'm very curious."

“It’s a spirit, or a soul setting things on fire,” Yuri said carefully, worried that the other person wouldn’t understand. “A spirit is a spiritual entity that represents the essence of things. Have you ever seen one?”

“I haven’t seen it with my own eyes, but I’ve heard about it.” The reporter nodded. “It’s the spirit and guardian deity corresponding to the thing itself, right? Throughout history, many supernatural forces have relied on driving spirits and cooperating with spirits to carry out their work.”

...That understanding isn't too problematic. Yuri noticed that the reporter seemed to have left something unsaid, so he waited a while longer.

"However, why would they set fires? Did someone offend them? And the places that were burned don't seem to have anything in common."

Actually, it's the spirits attacking each other, which makes sense, though it doesn't align with the facts. If we interpret it that way, combined with this "indiscriminate attack," it could probably be considered the legendary "revenge of nature"... The spirits are dissatisfied with the industrialization of this world and are preparing to burn it down. Wouldn't it be more appropriate for the treants to do this? After all, fire is also an important part of modernization.

“No, no, at least not according to current indications,” Yuri continued, “It’s because the spirits are devouring each other, you can think of it as a kind of evil spirit—and this evil spirit is related to fire. The reason the attack targets seem random is that the spirits are attached to certain things and not to others, it’s rather random.”

"I understand, thank you for letting me know."

The reporter seemed a bit lost in thought, probably pondering how to use this information.

"Now, please tell me—has the so-called spontaneous combustion phenomenon really stopped?" Yuri wasn't exactly offering free science education.

"Officially, it's said to have stopped, or never even happened. But in reality, it's not only continuing to appear, it's also expanding." Hojo Reie tapped the table lightly. "There's no way to broadcast this news, but everyone's concerned because if it can't be covered up anymore and starts again, everyone wants to be the first to speak out... at least that's what we free people think. Right now, since the bigwigs above want to describe things very scientifically, there's no way to fight them."

“I want to know the location and time of the most recent incident. It’s for good; I plan to end this chaos before it escalates further.” Yuri embellished his intentions… No, that’s exactly what Yuri wanted to do.

By the way, before we end, we should ask which idiot summoned it, but there's no need to tell the reporter in front of us that.

"Hmm... okay, no problem. But if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to know more details. Maybe I can use this to write a big news story—well, actually, it probably won't get published." The reporter spread his hands. "But since it's a good deed, there's no need to be so picky. Let me confirm first, is that really not the story of you summoning it and it getting lost, and then you're in a hurry to catch it back—or something like that?"

After asking the question, the reporter stared intently at Yuri.

"Your imagination is really suited to be a reporter. Why didn't I think of that?" Yuri cried out in his heart, feeling wronged.

Yuri paused for a moment, keeping his critical words to himself, and simply replied, "No, of course not."

"Oh, what a pity..." Seemingly convinced that Yuri wasn't lying, the reporter sighed heavily. "If only it really was you who summoned him."

...What's so good about it? Yuri tried to calm himself down. He didn't ask what was so good about it because he had a feeling that the answer would shatter his worldview.

"Anyway, it's for good—so when can you tell me where and when it will happen?" Yuri tried to steer the conversation back on the "right" track.

"Immediately." The reporter took out a stack of papers from his bag, twisted them, and pulled out one. "That's right, this is it—it simply records the time and place of the incident. Don't take it, just copy it or take a picture of it."

Yuri, who had not brought any paper or pen, fell silent.

The environment seemed to fall silent in an instant. Although there were still other people talking and laughing in the distance, the silence after the two stopped talking was very obvious in this corner.

The atmosphere was somewhat awkward. The reporter looked at Yuri with a strange expression, but Yuri, focused on the paper, did not respond.

About thirty seconds later, Hojo Reie couldn't hold back any longer.

"What's wrong? If you don't have paper, pen, or phone, I can lend you some—are you alright?"

Just then, Yuri raised his head again.

"I've already memorized it."

Although it's just a simple method of memorizing by putting the pictures into memory, it can be truly absorbed into memory with just a little distraction.

Of course, if you don't organize your notes for too long, even if you have written them down, it will take a lot of effort to find them when you need them.

By the way, it's satisfying to see other people's surprised expressions... Akemi said it's very offensive and told Yuri not to do this kind of thing so often. She has a good point, so this time Yuri didn't specifically explain the principles behind what ordinary people can't do.

"...Is this also part of a superpower?" the reporter speculated.

"I don't know. This is an ability I've had since I can remember. Although it's far from being able to know everything I observe by heart, I have an exceptionally good memory. If I try to recall something, there's nothing I can't remember."

Although this "since I can remember" is only a matter of one or two months.

“That’s really amazing, so enviable. I wished I had that ability every day when I was in school…” Hojo Rei said this, but she didn’t actually feel any jealousy, at least that’s how Yuri felt.

"By the way, the paper doesn't record the details of the situation, but overall, the incident is getting more and more serious." The reporter pointed to the record. "That's why we flies continue to pay attention. At this rate, I don't think we can suppress it until the end. It will be exposed sooner or later."

"How serious is it?" Yuri felt a sense of unease. Although the names of the events on the paper had given some hints, the names alone were not straightforward enough.

"The most serious one right now is this one." The reporter pointed to the second-to-last incident location... a gas leak and explosion that occurred in a residential building.

According to the reporter, the consequences of the explosion were extremely serious. The house was inhabited by a young man living alone, and the explosion directly resulted in the homeowner's "disappearance."

"It's less a disappearance and more a cold case..." The reporter leaned over Yuri across the table, lowered his voice, and pretended to be mysterious. "The disappearance is just a temporary explanation. It is said that the police found a body here. The physical characteristics described by the neighbors match the characteristics of the body, but the police investigation confirmed that these bodies are not the same person's—but rather the limbs of different people sewn together to form the appearance of a person."

...This sounds strange, not something a simple arsonist would do. No, it's less strange and more grotesque; it's something only a deranged killer would do. Yuri's target wasn't that meticulous. Yuri might believe he would burn corpses, but he completely disbelieved he would do something out of pure morbid curiosity.

"There are also rumors that... these bodies were lying next to an exposed power line, looking as if they were clinging to the wire." The reporter's voice was even softer. "The murderer may have wanted to fake that the victims died from electrocution, but the other traces he left behind don't lead anyone to think in that direction at all."

“Then this is even less like an arson incident from the past,” Yuri felt the matter was going further and further astray. “By the way, you wrote the word ‘heart’ next to this incident. What’s that about?”

"Also, according to rumors, the body's chest cavity was empty, without a heart, but there were charred marks—as if the heart had spontaneously combusted and burned to ashes."

"...This matter is getting more and more complicated," Yuri said, adding that it was essentially an unsolved mystery—there was no explanation other than the killer being mentally ill.

"These should be two separate things. One is an astonishingly deranged killer who sews different parts of multiple corpses together, and then brutally sets the house on fire in the end? I think the situation is that someone brutally murdered the victim, and then the one you're chasing just happened to go by and set the house on fire. — But if you don't think that's believable enough, the other two are also quite serious."

The above incident involved a child playing when a prayer bead hanging from their wrist suddenly caught fire, causing burns to both hands. The child's right hand, which attempted to shake the bead off, was in relatively good condition, but the left hand, still wrapped in the bead, was severely injured and may even require amputation. The current tentative explanation is that the bead was of poor quality and coated with oil, which generated static electricity, ultimately igniting the bead, etc.

The next story is about someone preparing to park in a parking lot when suddenly the old car in front of them exploded. Not only did it explode, but it also flew up and hit the roof of his car, causing him to be caught off guard and suffer a shard of glass in his face, requiring emergency medical attention. The current tentative explanation is that the old car in front was leaking oil, etc.

"Your explanations came pretty quickly, and they seem quite reasonable." That was roughly Yuri's assessment. "How did you know these were part of the 'spontaneous combustion' incident?"

"I don't know, I'm not sure." The reporter's response was unexpected. "I just picked out the content that I felt shouldn't be there, and these are the ones that are left. Whether they can be used depends on how things develop."

That's a really good mindset.

In short, although this matter was not entirely satisfactory, it was still very helpful.

The next thing to do is to quickly visit these locations before too much time has passed, as there might still be some traces left behind.

It's time to leave.

Yuri prepared to get up and leave, leaving behind a polite remark: "Thank you very much for your help. I'll contact you if there are any new developments. Is there anything I can help you with?"—that was the original plan.

"...Hmm...If that's the case, I have something I'd like to ask you for help with. Of course, there's no rush; we can talk about it after you've finished dealing with this matter." Hojo Reie seemed to have thought of something and made a new suggestion.

It's too late to say now that I was just being polite—fortunately, the other party said they weren't in a hurry, so I can listen to their explanation first.

"What is it? Could you tell me beforehand?" Yuri thought that if there was nothing wrong with the matter, there was no need to refuse. At least, there was no need to refuse on the spot. The atmosphere of cooperating with reporters was quite good, and there was no reason to deliberately break this harmonious atmosphere.

“I want to secretly investigate why this news was covered up. That vampire shouldn’t do this unless it’s related to him—but I don’t know how he could be involved in this unless he wants to create a big news story… And if he wants to create a big news story, then covering it up really makes no sense.” Hojo Reie spread her hands. “So I think someone outsider is putting pressure on him.”

Vampire? Yuri heard the key word.

"What vampire? Which vampire?" He immediately pressed for answers regarding the key words.

"No, no, no, you misunderstood. Actually, this is what I call a newspaper editor-in-chief and boss I know. It doesn't mean he's really a vampire. He's called a vampire because he's stingy, well-maintained, and doesn't like being in the light." The reporter seemed to think this wouldn't help to lessen the man's suspicion, so he quickly added, "But we have seen him in the sunlight, although only for a few minutes."

Ah, I see. Yuri realized he might be overreacting.

"—Speaking of which, vampires really exist? How many vampires do you know?" The reporter quickly reacted, "You seem so nervous, you must know something, right?"

Oh no, I should have been more tactful when asking the question.

"Hmm... vampires really do exist, but I don't know a single one." Yuri wasn't lying; he truly didn't know a single one. Can meeting someone after death really be considered knowing them?

"Are there other supernatural beings?"

"—I'll tell you next time!"

Yuri fled in panic, running away in a hurry.

Chapter Sixty-Four: On-Site Analysis

Yuri broke away from the reporters and went out onto the street.

Having obtained the new information, the next step is to quickly scan the previous location to confirm it.

By simply overlaying the known locations with the map in his mind, Yuri discovered that the site of the incident did indeed show a tendency to move in one direction. And this direction did indeed align with (one) the direction of the spiritual veins.

If that were all, it would be great news, but there's also a strange side to it.

That is, when it reached the last two locations, it suddenly deviated: starting from the third from the bottom, it suddenly left the route of the spiritual vein at a sharp 90-degree angle and went to the second from the bottom, and then moved parallel to the spiritual vein to the first from the bottom.

It felt like something happened around the third-to-last spot.

Once the route is explained clearly, we should be able to find our target.

Yuri was determined to go and see it anyway, and he decided that the key point he needed to pay special attention to this time was what was so special about the last few points.

Ideally, you should find out what caused the arsonist to "have to" deflect the fire, so that you can use the specific reason to deal with the arsonist.

With a clear address and the "shaking ghost" technique, finding it became quite easy—at least much easier than before.

Having visited the previous locations, the reporter said he had done some analysis, and it seems he wasn't lying. He confirmed without a doubt that there was a familiar spiritual aura (very faint) at each of these locations.

Encouraged, Yuri quickly moved on to the next position.

At the starting point of the shift, in the small green space where the prayer beads caught fire, Yuri discovered something different—a new, weaker aura.

The two kinds of spiritual energy were mixed together, making it difficult to distinguish one from the other.

Based on the statement that "spiritual mist is the trace left by a spirit after exercising its abilities," there must have been a confrontation between two spirits here. Although the difference between the spiritual mists was not small, the fact that they left their own traces alone was enough to surpass most of the previously harmed spirits.

Yuri mentally sent an obituary to the unknown spirit, observed three seconds of silence, and then continued searching for other clues.

He actually found a bead that was half-burnt black, which looked like part of the "spontaneously combusted" Buddhist prayer beads.

The bead had fallen into a small ditch, and Yuri would never have found it if he hadn't relied on his senses instead of optics.

I don't know what it's for, but there's still some kind of spiritual energy on it, so I'll just take it for now.

This is the target's work; next, the residential building where the gas exploded.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Yuri arrived at the house, where the furniture had been mostly destroyed in the explosion.

There were still police officers on duty at the entrance, but they had become lax, as it was already late at night. They were talking casually that if nothing happened overnight, they wouldn't need to keep watch there anymore.

Everything that needed to be done has been done, but we can't be sure what will happen yet, so we've left someone to keep an eye on things.

They seemed exhausted, so Yuri didn't disturb their rest and simply transformed into his spirit form and entered the room.

At the same time, a question arose in my mind.

Yuri had spent two months in the city and witnessed quite a few crime scenes. If there was nothing of interest at the scene, and no eyewitnesses who were highly likely to be identified as the murderers, the police would usually leave quickly—after all, there were so many things to do, and not enough manpower to cover everything up.

So what kept these two policemen up all night keeping an eye on the place? The investigation inside should have stopped by now.

The moment Yuri stepped into the house, filled with doubt, a twisted feeling, difficult to describe, washed over him. Something new again, something Yuri had never seen before, and he became more alert.

A quick glance around revealed that the police had already taken the body away, which relieved Yuri but also left him with a sense of regret... He was still a little stressed about the possible gruesome scenes, but if he could obtain information directly from the body, he might be able to learn a lot of key details at once.

Since the body is no longer at the scene, there's no point in thinking about it anymore.

Starting the investigation from the beginning, the records indicated that this was a gas explosion, so the ignition point must have come from the kitchen. Yuri quickly entered the kitchen.

All the appliances in the kitchen were out, and the most shocking thing was the gas stove itself, which looked half-melted. Perhaps it was the effect of the sudden high temperature. Yuri simulated the fire after the gas leak in his mind and didn't find any major problems, at least not in his imagination.

The damage to the other rooms was relatively uniform, with no significant differences. The blast wave swept through the flames, burning them evenly but not completely. Not much was left for observation. To ensure safety, firefighters ventilated and watered the rooms after shutting off the gas pipes, further damaging the already severely damaged environment.

However, the living room—specifically, the one marked with white lines, where the victim collapsed—didn't have much furniture, so neither the fire nor the water had much of an impact on it.

Even the ground wasn't charred. You see, in other places, burning furniture would always scorch the ground.

...Something seems off.

...Yuri concentrated, stood beside the white line, and observed carefully.

The surrounding area was completely filled with "new" spiritual energy; there wasn't a trace of the familiar spiritual energy. The arsonist's spiritual energy had left no trace here.