Vol. 4 Chapter 4.3

Translated by SoundDestiny Edited by Kaepinned

“Thanks for the food!”

“Fumio, tea?”

“No, thanks!”

After dinner, I hurriedly returned to my room and picked up my phone to find a mountain of unread messages.

“……Maybe I made a mistake in giving instructions, huh?”

All the messages were from Ryoko. They were sent one after the other, without selection, as per the instruction to send all the information as soon as it came in.

Reading through them quickly, I found that…

The black van that kidnapped Kurosawa-san was a stolen car, which was found abandoned in the mountains just a short while ago. So far there were no more clues. Forensics was currently investigating. It was thought that they might have changed vehicles, but there were no surveillance cameras in the area and her whereabouts had not been traced since then.

Kasuya was sent home after a brief statement. When Kurosawa-san and I were going home together, Kasuya-kun made a false accusation that I attacked him.

Detective Inomoto, who took the statement, also did not believe the part about me attacking him, but Ryoko, who was disgusted by Kasuya’s testimony, put dirty dish water from the kitchenette in his tea.

[TL: I also don’t know what the author meant by 給湯室のＯＬか , but my ED told me kitchenette is like a small kitchen, where there’re usually just simple appliances like mini fridge, microwave, sink. it can be used during office hour, to reheat their meal, or make a cup of coffee, and yes even gossip/chat with their coworkers]

Detective Inomoto insisted on searching the Kamishima clan’s house, but Inspector Nakamura still refused.

After a quick reading of the message, I summoned the door and moved to the 『Confinement King’s Bedroom』.

“How’s it going?”

“It’s stopped, Devi.”

I had Lili monitor the marker while I went to dinner.

When I looked into the aerial-like image being projected into the air, the red light spot blip on the screen stopped at a point and flickered.

“On the sea?”

“Looks like the inside of a docked ship, Devi.”

With the camera zoomed in, it was not clear where that place was.

When I scaled it down, the flickering blip was a ferry port on the Pacific Ocean side. It seemed to be on the other side of the border between two prefectures.

“That’s a long way off……”

“If she’s on a ship and goes out to sea, it’s a bit tricky, Devi.”

I stared at the aerial footage. Then I pointed something out.

“There’s a museum here that my family and I went to when we were in elementary school..”

Although, it was a few kilometres away from the ferry port, I decided to go there by using『Revisit』.

×××

[Misuzu Kurosawa’s P.O.V]

“Get out!”

The woman sitting in the passenger seat looked back at the back seat. Then, the two men sitting between me opened the door and got out of the car.

“Hurry up!”

I was shouted at and stepped fearfully out of the car.

As soon as I stepped outside, the two men who had gotten off before me grabbed my arms.

He was a large man with a very long, slovenly face and a square-faced man in a shabby suit.

When I got out of the car, I smelled the smell of the sea. I could see a ship in front of me. There was a large container ship with several containers on the deck.

“You’ve got some guts, don’t you? Most people in a situation like this would be in tears by now.”

A woman got out of the passenger seat and looked into my face.

She was dressed in a pastel-coloured tank top, hot trousers and long black sauvage hair, as if she was from a samba country. Was she half-Japanese?　In fact, she looked South American.

“I’m used to being……kidnapped.”

When I responded without a shred of amiability, the woman’s face turned a bit odd for a moment, and then she laughed out loud, [Gyahaha!] Perhaps she thought it was a joke.

“Nee-san, Chen-san is waiting for you. Let’s hand her over quickly”

A nervous-looking young man got out of the driver’s seat and rubbed his stomach as he said this, and the woman tucked her chin toward the men who were holding my arms.

“Let’s go.”

As the samba woman walked out, the men also walked, holding both sides of my hand.

They went up the movable stair ramp to the deck of the ship and went deeper and deeper, weaving between the three tiers of containers stacked on top of each other. When they reached the middle of the deck, a man was waiting for them there.

He was wearing a national uniform and had a loach beard. He was a man with very narrow eyes.

“Aiyah, Aina-san, you are late.”

With that comment, I was convinced that he was Japanese. I didn’t think there was any Chinese person who spoke in such a manga-like manner.

“Shut up! Ochinchin. Where should I throw her?”

“It’s not Ochinchin, it’s Chen, Chen!”

“I don’t care if it’s Ochinchin or Ochinpo! Just tell me what I should do. I want to go home and watch my drama!”

When the samba woman ruffled her hair in a troublesome manner, the pseudo-Chinese pointed to one of the containers with a sigh.

“That one.”

Then she turned back to me.

“I’m sorry, little girl, but from here you’re on a nine-day boat trip. I don’t know where they’ll send you but I’m sure there will be water and food on board, so you shouldn’t be too hungry.”

When I heard that there was water and food, I thought to myself that I had become so accustomed to the situation that I was being conscientious.

‘I can’t escape it, can I?’

Before being put on the ship, I looked around, but apart from the ship windows, I could only see the light of the lighthouse in the distance.

Apart from the faint sound of straight muffler exhaust, which sounded like a biker gang, not a single sound could be heard. Naturally, there was no sign of anyone. In this situation, there was almost no chance that help would come even if I cried out.

“Go in there.”

When the big man opened the door of the container, I heard a squeak and women’s sobbing from inside.

There were six women in the container. A small oil lamp was illuminating them. The women were of different ages and in different shapes and sizes. Were they all abducted?

When I entered the container, the door closed and a heavy metallic sound was heard. This probably meant that it could not be opened from the inside.

“Please excuse me…..”

The woman who was sitting in the back of the room with her legs thrown out raised her eyebrows in a suspicious manner.

“I don’t know but you…..seem to be fine.”

“I’m not fine, but I was abducted from another place a while ago, so I’m used to it……”

The women who were inside looked at me all at once when I answered that.

×××

As I opened the door to the wall of the museum using 『Revisit』 , I pulled out my bike, which I had brought in beforehand.

“I’ll leave the navigation to you.”

“Leave it to me, Devi!”

I nodded to Lili, who was floating in the air, and I got on my bike and started riding briskly.

The height of summer was near, and the wind was fresh and warm. I was sweating just from peddling the bike for a little while, sweat dripping under my T-shirt.

A man’s hand reached out to Kurosawa-san. The sound of her crying and screaming was going through my head. Shaking off these bad fantasies, I pedalled frantically.

As this was a redevelopment area on the waterfront, there were hardly any shops or houses within sight, and the huge factory was lit up against the dark sky.

There was no pedestrian traffic, and although it was a large road, cars came and went only sparsely. In the distance, the sound of a biker gang’s straight pipe mufflers echoed loudly.

After driving straight down the main road on the beach for about 30 minutes, we eventually saw a sign with the words and arrows for a ferry terminal.

“Devi, turn at that sign.”

I was now covered in sweat.I didn’t have time to reply, so I did as I was told and made the turn.

To the left and right is a warehouse district, with few streetlights and a dark road. Driving straight through, I saw three cargo ships on the other side of the countless containers.

“Which ship?”

“The one in the middle, Devi.”

When I reached the area of the stacked containers, I was too exhausted to stand up on my bicycle, so I rolled it over as if to throw it down and hid myself behind the containers.

I watched the ship as I regained my ragged breathing.

The windows were lit, but there was no sign of life around the ship. There were no streetlights around, and even if they were watching from the deck, it would be too dark to see us.

“Kurosawa-san…which part of the ship is she in?”

“Probably one of the containers on deck, Devi.”

“Worst case scenario, I’ll just have to go through them”

I stepped out from behind the container and ran towards the ship.

The movable staircase tarps were up. The only way to get in was to use the 『passthrough』and slip over the side of the ship.

But even though the ship was berthing, there was still a considerable distance between the ship and the shore.

“We’ll just have to do it……”

I shouted to Lili as the door appeared to be stuck to the hull.

“Lili! Open the door!”

“Roger that, Devi!”

As Lili floated in the air and opened the door, I took a large running start.

“Oraaaaaaaaaa!!”

I stepped forward as fast as I could and flew through the air with the momentum of the run. Kurosawa-san’s face passed through my mind. If I didn’t reach her, I would drown in the dark sea. But there was no time to be afraid of that.

Just barely, really just barely. I rolled head first into the inside of the door.

“Haa…Haa….Haa….”

I thought I could make it a meter or so with a good run, but it was much shorter than I thought.

“Are you okay, Devi?”

“Um, uhh.. I’m fine, I think”

I activated the 『Periscope』 while breathing heavily and looked through the door in the opposite direction to the one I came in, on the other side of it.

The projection showed a room on board. It was a very long and narrow room.

Iron walls, iron doors. There were two bunk beds on each side of the room and a number of nude pin-ups on the walls. Some were reddish brown and peeling, others were relatively new, but the overall impression of the room was simply messy.

It was probably the crew’s quarters. Fortunately, there was no sign of anyone in the room.

“Good.”

I used the 『Passthrough』 to go down to the crew’s quarters and walked up to the door at the entrance, opened it slightly and looked through to the other side.

On the other side of the door was a passageway with orange lamps casting colour. It was such a narrow passage that two people would have to cross their bodies if they wanted to pass each other.

I strained my ears and did not hear a single footstep. The only sound was a low humming noise that sounded like something from the air-conditioning system.

“What do you call these things……ahh, sneaking missions?”

A mixed feeling of anxiety and excitement. My heart was pounding more and more.

I stepped out into the passageway with all my might. Carefully, so as not to make a sound.

If someone came from the front, I would immediately summon the door and hide. With this image in my mind, I stood on tiptoe and walked softly and gently.

How many sailors were on board this ship now? Ten?　Twenty?　It couldn’t be a hundred, could it? Or were the sailors staying on land until the ship set sail, thus only a few of them remained on board?

Eventually, I ended up at the end of the corridor without meeting anyone. There was a spiral staircase leading to the upper floor.

Looking up, the staircase appears to extend two levels up. If I could get there, I might be able to get to the deck I was aiming for.

I grabbed the handrail and started to climb the stairs carefully.

The noise of my own breathing. My pumping heartbeat. I was too nervous, my hands were sweating badly. No matter how hard I tried to kill the sound of my footsteps, the steel stairs made a high pitched Gan, Gan, Gan .

I was getting impatient, but it was not good to make a sound. I felt as if my heart was growing frayed with impatience.

When they somehow reached the second level, suddenly, from the other side of the corridor, [Wah!] I involuntarily bend down.

‘What’s that……?’

Listening under my breath, I heard the scraping of dishes and voices chatting and laughing. Apparently, somewhere on this level, there was a banquet or something going on.

I regained my composure and started to go up the stairs again.

How much time had passed? When I climbed the stairs, I came to a small room-like area. Looking out of the window, there was a deck with containers stacked on top of each other.

It seemed that I had made it.

“Phew……”

I let out an involuntary breath of relief and stepped onto the deck using the 『Passthrough』.

The smell of the tide tickling my nose. A lukewarm breeze. The deck was stacked with containers, the moonlight casting their shadows on the chemical floor.

There was little light around. The full moon, slightly to the east of mid-sky, looked unusually bright.

“Can you tell which container it is?”

“This way, Devi.”

Lili led me through the containers and I reached the middle of the deck.

Stacked containers. It was like a back alley in an entertainment district, lined with multi-tenant buildings.

“Roughly around here Devi……”

“All right. All I have to do now is search until I find the right one.”

I set up the door so that I could stick it to a container close at hand, activated the 『Periscope』and looked inside the container.

The container was probably going to be repaired and then sold off. The container was full of used washing machines.

The rest was more of the same, one container after another, until finally, on the fifth container…

“There she is!”

─ ─ I found Kurosawa-san.

Under the pale light of an oil lamp, several female figures. Among them, I found the figure of Kurosawa-san sitting with her knees in her arms. She was dressed in her uniform as she was when she was taken away. She did not appear to be injured.

‘Thank God……you’re safe!’

Emotions ran high and I jumped into the container, using the『Passthrough』 without a second thought.

“Kurosawa-san!”

I jumped in suddenly, and the woman inside screamed, [Gyaa!!] Kurosawa-san didn’t scream, but her face turned surprised and she became rigid.

“Fu……Fumio!? Ho,How?”

When she realised that it was me who had jumped in, a look of joy came over her face.

But it was only for a moment.

“That door is……no way……it was you?”

When she realised the presence of the 『Door』 behind me, her expression turned grim.

Of course, I knew this would happen and I was prepared for it. I didn’t want to make excuses. Right now, the more important thing was to get out of here.

“I’ll explain everything later, just get in the door! We’re getting out of here!”

“….the others are fine too, right?”

As I nodded, Kurosawa-san looked back at the other women and raised her voice.

“Those who want to escape, follow me!”

When Kurosawa-san jumped into the door, the other women looked at each other and then rushed into the door ahead of me. After seeing that everyone had finished entering, I too passed through the door and closed it.

The room used for the 『Passthrough』 was in its smallest state in order to shorten the travel distance. In short, it was the initial default state in which no changes had been made.

A stone room about the size of a six-tatami-mat room. Looking around it, Kurosawa-san let out a sigh.

“Well…I’m back here again……”

Come to think of it, the room was in this state when I first locked Kurosawa-san in. For her, it must be a very familiar room.

Kurosawa-san made a complicated face. In spite of her, an Onee-san who looked like a cabaret girl asked me a question.

“H, hey, you! What are we going to do from here? You look so calm, but if we don’t get out of here quickly, they’ll come after us!”

It was natural for the girls to be terrified. After all, they were going to run away, but they had only gotten through one door.

“Don’t worry. We’ve already escaped. This room is in another dimension, so no one will be able to follow us.”

“Another dimension……?”

Onee-san’s face instantly turned blank.

I didn’t know how else to explain this room, although I didn’t know if it really was in another dimension.

“All I have to do is open a door somewhere appropriate and get out of here…..”

I said that much and then I pondered.

‘I could put 『Quiet』 and 『Forget Person』on them right now and let them out, but that would be dangerous during this time of night……’

There was no reason to keep them here, but it would be a bad idea for them to wake up in another dangerous situation after they have been rescued.

“In the morning, I will open a door somewhere in front of the station, so for the time being, you will have to put up with us here for the night.”

I said this as I spread out the room and set up the six beds.

The women looked at me in horror as the room changed in real time.

Eventually, after setting up the room for a moment, I turned to Kurosawa-san. I honestly didn’t care about the other women. The problem started here at……

“Then, Kurosawa-san, come with me.”

“….do anything weird and I’ll scratch you.”

Kurosawa-san stared at me with a full sense of discomfort. I left the room with her. I set up a corridor beyond the door and connected the end of it in real time to the 『Confinement King’s Bedroom』.

And as soon as I stepped into the 『Confinement King’s Bedroom』, Kurosawa-san glared at me.

“…. It was you, Fumio. The animal who kidnapped me and raped me as much as he wanted….”

“That’s right.”

“What are you going to do with me?”

“Nothing. I’m not going to do anything. It’s late, so in the morning I’m just going to erase your memory of me and ask you to leave.”

“You expect me to believe that story? Do you think I’m an idiot?”

Kurosawa-san raised his eyebrows in suspicion.

It was inevitable that she would be suspicious, I could only laugh bitterly.

“When I released you from here before, I promised Kurosawa-san that I wouldn’t get involved with you at all in the future. I thought I was keeping my distance……I would appreciate it if you could consider this time as an exception among exceptions. If I wanted to help Kurosawa-san, this is the only way I could think of.”

“You’re trying to deceive me by saying such an auspicious thing, aren’t you!? That’s right. You’re the one who kidnapped the girls from the track and field club too, didn’t you!?”

“Yes, I kidnapped them. After all, some of the girls were trying to threaten Fujiwara-san by taking naked pictures of her. And because I couldn’t figure out who it was, I kidnapped them all and finally found them today. But I’m going to release them tomorrow morning.”

“Are you saying you did it for Mai?”

“No, if anything, I think it’s still for my own sake…… It’s the same with coming to Kurosawa-san’s rescue this time. It was only because you were in trouble.”

For myself – as soon as I said that, I heard Kurosawa-san gasp.

“Oh……well, it’s hard to blame you if you put it like that.”

“Don’t worry, this time I’ll make sure I never go near Kurosawa-san again. I’ll tell Mr Fujiwara, 『I hate Kurosawa-san, so I don’t want to go near her.』 That’s what I’m going to say.”

Then, for some reason, Kurosawa-san showed an air of panic.

“Well, you don’t have to go that far….”

At the very moment she mouthed off, there was a sudden slam and another door opened, different from the one we had come in through.

“Fumio-kun!The one you asked me for the other day… ……huh?”

The person who came was Masaki-chan carrying a large amount of toilet paper rolls. As soon as she caught sight of Kurosawa-san, her face twisted in displeasure.

‘Seriously…….of all times, why is this happening now…’

But whether she noticed her expression or not. Kurosawa-san rushed towards her with a look of great emotion on her face.

“Masaki! You’re safe!”

However, Masaki was also clear in her disgust, and she spoke coldly to Kurosawa-san.

“What are you doing here? You thieving cat!”

“Eh, thief……cat? Wha,what is it? What’s wrong, Masaki……Kya!?”

Throwing the toilet paper core in her hand at the puzzled Kurosawa-san, Masaki turned her hostile gaze towards her.

“You’re planning to seduce Fumio again, aren’t you!　Isn’t that right!”

“What are you talking about, Masaki…..?”

I hurriedly intervened between the two of them at the sight of Masaki-chan, who looked as if she was about to grab her at any moment.

“Masaki-chan, calm down a little!”

“Because, Fumio-kun! This woman!”

Masaki-chan stomped her feet in a jittery manner.

The next moment, another door opened with a bang.

“Ooouu!　You’re back, Confinement King!　I’ve missed you! I hope you’ll be loving me again tonight, won’t you?”

Tashiro-san came in, wearing a white dress. She came running towards me and clung to my arm tightly. When she noticed Kurosawa-san’s presence, she raised her eyebrows.

“Who are you?”

“And who are you?”

“Fumu, I’m Hatsu Tashiro, the second favoured princess of the Confinement King. So, who are you?”

As soon as she heard the words Second favoured Princess, Kurosawa-san glared at me.

No, I didn’t want her to glare at me there.

“I am Misuzu Kurosawa.”

Then, Tashiro-san tilted her head, [Ehh?].

“I’ve heard that name before…… Oh, I remember now, Lili-dono claimed that was the name of a poor woman who lacked the ability to judge men.”

“HaaaAAAAA?! What are you talking about!”

‘Oops……I somehow thought that might be the case, but ……Tashiro-san is the type of person who can’t read the air very well..’

Kurosawa-san was very upset, but Tashiro-san looked down at her and tucked her chin.

“Because that’s the only way to put it. I’m appalled that you’d put your manipulative misao on a stupid man and wear this best man on your sleeve.”

[TL:操 Misao chastity; fidelity; honour]

“What? The best man? Him? You’re making me laugh. What’s ‘best’ in him, did you see?”

“All of it, you fool!　I’m currently writing a chronological history from Lili-dono, the life and birth of the Confinement King, and the more I learn, the more I’m falling in love with him!”

“Chronology?!”

When I raised my voice unintentionally, Masaki-chan made a face like [I didn’t know there was a way to do that!].

“The timing for this is good. I think you said something about Kasuya, right? I’ve always wanted to see the look on the woman’s face when she chooses such an irrepressible man.”

“You’re really something, aren’t you! Jun-kun is not an irrepressible man!”

When Kurosawa-san raised her voice, Tashiro-san snorted.

“He is a very silly man indeed, anyone would think so after listening to that audio!”

“Audio?”

When Kurosawa-san asked this, Tashiro-san raised her voice into the air.

“Lili-dono, are you there?”

“All of you keep calling Lili too casually, Devi.”

When Lili appeared with a dissatisfied look on her face, Kurosawa-san jumped.

But she didn’t seem that surprised. Even though Lili was floating in the air. Perhaps she had subconsciously become accustomed to Lili’s presence, even if she didn’t remember it.

“I’m sorry, but I want you to play that audio you played for me this morning for this poor woman.”

Lili then looked back and forth between Tashiro-san and Kurosawa-san, and then again at Tashiro-san, with a glazed look in her eyes.

“….. you don’t seem to have many friends, Devi.”

“Suddenly, you’re cursing me out of nowhere?!”

“Isn’t that right, Devi? You’re the type of person who does things that people don’t like without feeling bad about it. Have you ever had a friend stop talking to you all of sudden?”

“Yes, it happens a lot, but so what!”

“It happens a lot…..”

Masaki-chan looked as if she had seen something terrible.

“Think about how people feel, Devi. I feel sorry for Kurosawa-chan if I let her hear that. Kurosawa-chan will be really depressed. Lili doesn’t want to see Kurosawa-chan cry.”

I was convinced that Lili was making a series of comments that were out of character for her.

‘Ah… she must be planning something……’

The audio would be the conversation between Kasuya-kun and his juniors that Lili mentioned. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind letting her hear it. Men could be vain, couldn’t they? I felt it would be too unforgiving for the devil to dig into that.

However, it seemed that for the devil, such things didn’t matter. Tashiro-san must have been in prediction of what would happen..

And if Lili hooked Kurosawa-san like this…

“Haa? Aren’t you an idiot? There’s no way I’m going to cry! I’ll listen to it, so get that audio out of here.”

And so, Kurosawa-san was successfully hooked.

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