/

Volume 6, Chapter 4: Conclusion@??? Part 18-26




This chapter is updated by wuxiaworld.eu
Part 18 (Jinnai Shinobu)
When I got back home to the thatch-roof house afterschool, I found the Zashiki Warashi in a red yukata, the Yuki Onna, and the Furutsubaki (small) discussing something in front of the TV.
They were covering their eyes with one hand and raising their voices to squeaky helium levels.
“Ehh? Well, he did always seem like the kind of guy who would do something like that.” (Zashiki Warashi)
“Yes, I remember him giving the most disturbing looks to any girls around.” (Yuki Onna)
“Um, why do I have to play along with this?” (Furutsubaki – Small)
That’s really inappropriate, you know!? Even if the fact that you’re joking means you don’t really think my uncle is a murderer!!
The Nekomata was curled up not far away and she sighed while flipping her two tails around.
“They sure are carefree. Does everything on TV seem like some distant world? You do know the people there are no different from us, don’t you?”
“Yeah, but if they’re making that uncle of mine out to be a villain, Tokyo’s gotta be a scary place.”
The talk shows had probably been talking about the same thing nonstop all day. That wasn’t going to help, so I snatched the remote away from them. Ha ha!
“Ah! But I was about to do an impression of the (young housewife) neighbor who was taking out her trash.”
“I’d suggest thinking about when you should stop this if you don’t want to fall victim to my old man’s fist. And there’s a show I want to watch.”
“What would that be?”
“An incredibly inappropriate weather forecast. The weather lady’s embarrassed expression is famous for being super sexy.”
Part 19 (3rd person)
Dong, dong. It is now five o’clock. Up next is Yuuko-san’s evening weather forecast!!
“Hi! This is the super beautiful meteorologist
ahh, it’s so embarrassing when I say it myself
.Randou Yuuko! We’re live from the base of Teikyo Tower as always, kyupin! 
I want to die
 Now, then. The atmospheric pressure this evening will be
”
A young woman with fluffy chestnut hair, a suit, and a tight skirt that gave an overall clean and pure impression forced a smile and waved something like a baton in front of the camera. A ton of onlookers had gathered behind her and were abusing the live broadcast to unfurl banners covered in dirty words until the security guards ran them off. Those jokes bordering on sexual harassment were part of what gave this weather forecast such unusually high ratings.
But it reached an entirely new level today.
First, an idiot held a poster of Yuuko-san’s head pasted on top of a nude model.
Second, a group carrying bags from the rival gyudon chain of the show’s sponsor walked conspicuously behind her.
And third, a detective wanted for murder suddenly ran up and forcefully grabbed the TV camera.
“Eh? Wah! Kyah!? Wh-what is going on!?”
The weather lady panicked, but the detective did not care.
He simply stared into the lens from point-blank range and sent a message to someone with a ferocious smile on his lips.
“Sorry, but I haven’t been caught yet.”
He flashed something like a belt buckle in front of the camera.
“And you weren’t thorough enough, Katagiri-san. I hear Konrin Naraku retrieved this like you hired them to, but do you really have the real one? If you do, then it should have a scratch on it like this. And it should open with the combination 8963
like this. If not, then you only have one of the decoys the professor had prepared.”
The hare on the run stood in front of the camera without running or hiding.
He seemed to be challenging the wolf pursuing him.
“I’m a detective. I’ll do whatever it takes to hunt you down. Even if that means using this to join forces with them. With the search program on this USB memory, I can bring all your dirty deeds to light. I’ll make you pay for framing PSI_ver_RAIN.”
Katagiri Hitsuji was a member of the Restaurant Master, the former leader of the precision machinery industry, and the current leader of cutting-edge agriculture.
To make that switch, he had killed off the dying precision machinery industry while escaping it himself. In a way, he was a traitor.
“Our next stop is the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Once we’re in there, we don’t have to worry about any of your Konrin Naraku men getting to us. We’ll decide how to handle things from there. I’ll have PSI_ver_RAIN testify what actually happened there and I’ll gather all the substantiating evidence we need. And then I’ll use this real buckle to hunt you down, Katagiri Hitsuji-san. No matter what.”
It did not matter if he truly held the real buckle or not.
He just had to cast doubt.
Was the one Katagiri had real? Even if it was, were there any copies? If the real one or a copy reached the Aoandon’s group and was linked to the facility hidden in Nagatacho Station’s shelter, whose secrets would be revealed to the world and how?
“You can’t escape now. Even if you pack your bags and escape overseas, the fingers of destruction will still tighten around you. So sit there in front of the TV and enjoy watching your life crumble away.”
After saying everything he had to say, Detective Uchimaku Hayabusa left the camera, slipped past the cowering meteorologist, and escaped through a gap in the onlookers.
Incidentally, the ratings that day ultimately exceeded 30%. For better or for worse, that was apparently a cause of worry for the station.
As Hishigami Enbi watched the broadcast while messing with her computer in her Roppongi secret base, she laughed.
“Not bad, detective.”
What could someone do and change in just thirty seconds or so of stolen airtime? The answer was not much.
But Uchimaku Hayabusa had no reason to use only the truth as a weapon.
Also, the internet was PSI_ver_RAIN’s home turf. She wasn’t going to rely only on that outdated mass media.
“I guess this is PSI_ver_RAIN and not the detective.”
The weather forecast was linked with a social commenting site to display some comments on the edge of the screen. One of those comments alongside Hayabusa’s face said the following:
“Katagiri Hitsuji is a member of the Restaurant Master and a villain who framed PSI_ver_RAIN.”
That alone may have been meaningless and may not have moved anyone’s heart.
But there were more posts afterwards.
“The recent communication disturbances have been caused by Katagiri Hitsuji because he’s afraid of the truth getting out. The elites are threatened by the freedom of the internet.”
No new information was necessary.
Not even PSI_ver_RAIN’s name was needed.
The obvious problems before everyone’s eyes were linked to this incident to increase its topicality. A murder was someone else’s problem and a scandal was a show, but this went beyond that. By linking it to a problem that affected people’s lives directly, it was everyone’s problem.
Or at least, it seemed that way.
The truth of the infrastructure damage did not matter. A viral conspiracy theory was good enough. It did not even need to make a huge commotion. All that mattered was that someone posted it, someone spread it around, and Katagiri Hitsuji himself saw his name popping up in more and more places.
This was the same as Panopticon and The Birth of the Prison. Katagiri Hitsuji had shined bright lights on the people to constantly view them while hidden by those very lights, so he was afraid of having his identity known.
Only doing it on TV might not have been enough.
Only doing it on the internet might not have been enough.
But the more complex structure of internet posts being shown on TV created an opening. The shocking footage of the live broadcast would gather eyes and ears which would then be exposed to the truth. Then, the second wave of attack would begin with nonsense on the internet.
Katagiri Hitsuji himself would bring the two together. A small leak of accurate information would be a problem, but so were lies spreading at an accelerated rate.
If he did not quiet them soon, it would grow beyond the limits of his damage control and his own lies would create a noose around his neck, so the only safe option was to crush the source before that monster of data bared its fangs.
And yet in truth, only five or six people in Japan may have been causing the entire commotion.
“A net idol, hm? That’s pretty scary. I guess the techniques used to make people smile can also be used to set a bad example like this.”
Enbi spoke to herself while making her own preparations.
“Time to help out. I’ll target a few of the popular social networking servers while leaving one major message board alive.”
She made a few clicks.
“And begin the DDoS attack. Once their online services freeze, will that old man start to fear that even more groundless accusations will pop up?”
In the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Department 1 Chief Mezu Gen’s severe look had grown even more deeply wrinkled than usual. A supervisor experienced in field work spoke to him from the side.
“What do you think?”
“Hmph. Most likely a bluff. But he must think that’s fine as long as that VIP takes the bait. And if there is someone behind this, they’re willing to murder a man and bisect his torso to protect themselves. If they were willing to accept a ‘most likely’, they would have stopped before going that far.”
The phone rang. The detective who answered looked on the verge of tears, so Mezu Gen took over and heard a familiar voice.
It was Chief Superintendent Mishima.
“He’s really done it now, hasn’t he?”
“I will contact the personnel department and have him disciplined.”
“No, that’s not how I meant it. You know who the winner is here, don’t you?”
“
But he didn’t go far enough.”
“No. He may have drawn out Katagiri Hitsuji, but I doubt he can finish him off. He’ll have a frustrating experience and then it’ll be all over. Just like what happened to me in the past. 
You too for that matter.”
The man on the phone laughed before continuing.
“So what do you think we should do? Should we do the responsible thing and remain silent or should we bring back our old naivetĂ© and childishly cheer him on? Which do you think would be best?”
In Hachi TV’s office building, Atou Minori was being chewed out by her middle-aged boss after going against the station’s wishes by running a program supporting PSI_ver_RAIN.
“Public opinion of our media is bad enough already, so what were you thinking!? How could you hand them a report that supported a murderer!?”
“I was misappropriating the airwaves. That’s all.”
“Why you
!!”
“Besides, PSI_ver_RAIN is still only a suspect. She hasn’t even been taken into custody or indicted yet. Making your show on the assumption she’s a murderer sounds even more unfair to me. And we did mention both the supporting and non-supporting opinions.”
“You understand, don’t you? If it turns out she’s really the murderer, you’re fired.”
“Right back at you. If it turns out she isn’t the murderer, you’re going to be in trouble. You were all for broadcasting false charges and about a minor girl no less. If it gets out that sloppy reporting job was on your orders, PSI_ver_RAIN will be lifted up to Joan of Arc levels and you’ll be treated like utter trash. There’s no way the station will keep you around.”
“
!!”
“And why did you force through a program like that anyway?”
Atou Minori asked a challenging question.
“Is it possible someone gave an obvious boost to your bank account so you would manipulate public opinion?”
And on the top floor of a high-rise building, an elderly man in Japanese clothing bit his lip like a child. After a wet tearing sound, some blood seeped out.
He struck the phone on the table and yelled with it on speakerphone.
“What is going on!? I thought you had retrieved it!?”
“We did retrieve the buckle. But we never considered the possibility it had been swapped out with a fake. You were the one that told us to destroy it without checking the contents.”
“He used my name! He said ‘Katagiri Hitsuji’ in front of the camera! He mentioned the Restaurant Master that is supposed to control everything while hiding in the shadows of history!! It’s even reached the social networking sites!!”
“Please calm down. You can’t exactly blame us for this.”
Getting the work done as quickly as possible had come back to bite him.
If he still had the buckle around, he could check the data on it to confirm the truth.
“You really can’t tell if that buckle he showed on camera is real or fake!?”
“There is no way of proving it one way or another. I would need it in my hands to check what is on it.”
“
!!”
Katagiri Hitsuji was not a fool. If that detective really had the buckle, he would not need to show it off like that. So it was most likely a bluff. It was like fishing. The detective had thrown some delicious-looking bait into the water and was waiting for a bite. That meant the detective could not do anything if Katagiri Hitsuji did not react. Doing nothing at all was the best course of action.
He knew that. He knew that, he knew that, he knew that!!
But even so, there was a mere 10% chance it was real or a backup copy. Even that small a chance of his destruction was frightening enough, so he could not stop himself from trembling.
“Prepare your men, Konrin Naraku.”
“For what exactly?”
“Attack him and take it from him. I’ll nip even the smallest threat in the bud and I’ll pay whatever it takes!! So hurry up and attack before he arrives at the Metropolitan Police Department!!”
“I must apologize.”
Something unbelievable happened.
That underling from the king of fast food argued back at him with mockery in his voice.
It was like throwing aside the cheap manual and spitting on the customer’s face.
“We are assassins. And no professional will list something they cannot do on their menu.”
“Wha-
?”
“First, all forms of transportation are down at the moment, so we have no way of getting the personnel and weapons there quickly. Second, we only know the general course the target will take. That is too little information to lay an ambush and we cannot put together a surefire attack plan in such a short time. Third, I see little reason to stick with you any longer when you’re already sinking fast.”
“Do you have any idea what you’re saying? I
I am
I am the Restaurant Mas-
!!”
“But by tomorrow, you might have lost that status and might even be behind bars. In fact, killing you to aid my own escape might be the better bet here. There’s sure to be plenty of confusion during your arrest and I doubt they can keep you perfectly guarded at all times.”
Katagiri Hitsuji was left speechless.
If someone on this level was looking down on him, it was proof enough that his empire had fallen.
“We will not act,” continued the king of fast food. “If you wish to protect yourself, go right ahead. I am praying you can greet tomorrow’s sunrise with a smile so that you might continue to purchase our services. Goodbye.”
As his coup de grace of impoliteness, he hung up.
Katagiri Hitsuji hit redial several times, but the other man never picked up.
“
”
The old man’s mind remained blank for a good while.
But he could not just sit around. If no one was going to stop this, the detective with the dubious buckle would reach the Metropolitan Police Department.
“Dammit
”
He placed a hand on and tore at the hair remaining by the old scar on the side of his head, but then he grabbed a small key in his trembling hand and unlocked a drawer on his large business desk.
He pulled out an automatic handgun with forbidden ivory decorating the grip. The domestic firearm used 8mm ammunition which was rare in modern times, so it was more of an antique than a weapon.
“Dammit!! Why do I have to rely on something like this!?”
The answer was simple. No matter how much he dressed himself up, he was still just a thug.
Part 20 (Uchimaku Hayabusa)
PSI_ver_RAIN and I left the plaza below Teikyo Tower.
I looked around the area and spotted a riot policeman stepping down from a large police motorcycle to faithfully crack down on a case of illegal parking even during this panic.
Before he got back, I climbed on the motorcycle that still had the key in the ignition.
Hey, this thing’s based on the Falcon Hunter model. I can feel destiny on my side, partner.
After PSI_ver_RAIN sat on the back of the seat and wrapped her arms around my waist, I twisted the grip to open the throttle.
“I’ll be borrowing this.”
“Ah, hey! Wait!”
The roar of the engine drowned out the cry of protest and we quickly took off along the road. There were small-scale traffic jams all over the place, so the motorcycle really came in handy. We could weave in between traffic and the police cars couldn’t give chase even if they noticed us.
“I’m going to use the biggest roads I can so we’ll be as noticeable as possible! It’s to lure out the guy behind all this, but it’ll also increase the risk. I know this isn’t something a police officer should say to a civilian, but prepare yourself!!”
“Didn’t I tell you I don’t care about myself? I’ll help you with anything as long as it will protect the lives of those who believed in me!!”
I checked in the mirror and saw PSI_ver_RAIN desperately trying to hold her hat down behind me. We both yelled over the violent wind as I accelerated further. The police motorcycle was made for car chases, so we passed 100 kph in no time at all.
Yes, yes! This noise, this wind, this vibration, this acceleration! This takes me back to when I was racing around my rural home.
Hairpin Killer Hayabusa is back!!
Then sirens started blaring. Three identical police motorcycles merged in from smaller roads. Some police cars had probably been sent out too, but they were stuck in the traffic jams.
“Attention, suspect!! Slow down at once and park on the curb! We have been given permission to fire on any dangerous criminal carrying a firearm! I said stop, you dirty cop!!”
“Hey, which do you think they are!?”
“If they were with Konrin Naraku, they probably would have started shooting already. Either way, we need to lose them!!”
The bike chase began.
Unlike on a normal road, we made our way forward by weaving between the stopped cars of the traffic jam. I was lucky when there were seventy whole centimeters between cars. I was zooming through at over 100 kph, but it felt like twice that.
“Is the guy behind this really going to show up!?”
“If you’re worried, agitate him even further! Make it so obvious he has to take the bait!!”
“I’m trying!!”
I checked in the side mirror and saw PSI_ver_RAIN holding her hat on her head and operating her mobile glasses with her eyes.
“I’ve been recording all sorts of stuff. Even when you fired your gun to save that swimsuit girl. I’m scattering it across the video sites. Someone wanting to paint us both as villains won’t want it known that you were acting in justified self-defense!!”
“I thought no one would trust videos and posts from you!”
“Things are already changing. It began when you showed your face on TV and the waves of attack began on the internet. No one really cares what’s accurate anymore. Whether it’s inappropriate or not, they’re going to jump at what’s more eye-grabbing and more interesting!”
I started getting a stomachache as the chase continued, but then something odd happened.
Horns started honking all around us. Things seemed to be shifting in our favor and the drivers stuck in the traffic jam seemed to be cheering us on.
Before long, some even opened their windows and shouted angrily out.
“You on the police bikes! Let them through!!”
“They’re going to the Metropolitan Police Department anyway, aren’t they!? Then what’s the point of arresting them? Are you chasing them around so you can take the credit!?”
And finally

“Wow! Look at that! The cars are opening their doors behind us!”
“I’m thankful, but that’s really dangerous!!”
As I had said, we were weaving through the gaps of the cars in the traffic jam, so opening the doors filled those gaps. If they kept doing it, our pursuers couldn’t keep up the chase.
After leaving that small traffic jam, we started down a wide open road.
At the same time, several police cars attacked us without their previous handicap. And they didn’t bother warning us this time. They took advantage of their greater weight by trying to crash into us from the side!
“Dammit! Are there post-apocalyptic mohawked thugs behind the wheels of those things!?”
I slammed on the brakes, letting the cars pass by ahead of us and then started going full throttle once more. The cars shot to the side while working to regain their balance, so we passed right by them.
Teikyo Tower and the Metropolitan Police Department were not that far from each other, but the distance seemed to stretch out infinitely due to the extreme tension.
Meanwhile, a group of red lights appeared up ahead.
Several police cars ignored the lane markings, turned their steering wheels to the side on the straight road, and finally forced themselves to a stop while perpendicular to the road. They intended to stop us with their makeshift barricade.
“What are we going to do!?”
“They didn’t have time to build it up properly!! We can slip through the gaps, so hold on! I’m going to turn right then left, so shift your weight with me!”
I didn’t have time to give a detailed explanation of the route.
I opened the throttle to the limit and weaved in a half S-shape to just barely slip through the not-quite-closed barricade of cars arranged like mille-feuille. Afterwards, I heard breaking glass and bending steel behind us as the pursuing police cars slammed into the barricade.
“Ah ha ha.”
PSI_ver_RAIN laughed.
I suddenly realized the grim situation had kept me from seeing a carefree smile on her face.
“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!! We’re running from the police on a stolen police bike with no helmet and we’re even causing accidents!! Is this really the capital of Japan!? I could probably turn this into the PV for a new song!!”
We had lost pursuit for the time being, but more police would reach us as we approached Sakuradamon.
Where would they make their move?
Everything so far had been mere preparation. Our enemy wasn’t going to sit around doing nothing. They had to have a surefire idea of how to finish us off and mock all of our efforts.
“Here they come again. 
!? It’s from above this time!! There’s a helicopter!!”
“Hold on! Whatever they send out, we just have to lose it!!”
Part 21 (3rd person)
Katagiri Hitsuji trembled all alone.
There was no one else to delegate this job to. It was bad enough that his handgun would be found if the police questioned him and searched his possessions, but he also had to walk through the city on foot instead of using a chauffeured limousine.
He swore to himself he would retire from the Restaurant after finishing this job. He already had enough money to live and enjoy himself until the day he died. Continuing his work had only been a matter of pride. He had used the Restaurant as a safety device to ensure his dark past never came to light, but that was on the verge of breaking and the Restaurant itself could easily turn on him now. Since he might very well find himself in handcuffs by the next day, he could hardly worry about pride. He focused on quitting and going somewhere safe.
So

(I’ll settle this once and for all. Even if it means dirtying my own hands, I’ll end this here.)
He had no intelligence network, so he did not even know what route Uchimaku Hayabusa and PSI_ver_RAIN would take to reach the Metropolitan Police Department. At first glance, an ambush seemed impossible, but there was one definite location.
Yes.
Right in front of the Metropolitan Police Department itself.
(I’ll be safe as long as I can crush this. Nothing will ever threaten my lifestyle again. I’ll crush the Aoandon Package no matter what it takes. I’ll crush it!! I won’t let it see the light of day for even an instant!!)
He heard the roaring of an engine.
The uniformed police officer guarding the front entrance shouted “Whoa, he really made it here!? What is with that guy!?” and a bowling ball-like weight pressed down on Katagiri Hitsuji’s stomach. He had always used money to delegate away any dirty jobs, so he had never expected to feel this kind of pressure again.
The detective on a police motorcycle gave a look of both relief and disappointment.
The man may have thought he would be safe if he made it this far, but that was exactly what created an opening.
“Let’s get this started,” muttered Katagiri Hitsuji while reaching into his pocket.
He then rushed over to the materials entrance.
Part 22 (Uchimaku Hayabusa)
Dry gunshots rang out.
I immediately shoved PSI_ver_RAIN from the back of the seat and behind the stopped police motorcycle. That much went well.
But then I felt a scorching sensation and smelled something like rust.
I clenched my teeth to bear with the pain, pulled my own handgun from my pocket, and held it forward. I just had to last ten more seconds. If I could silence this guy, it would all work out. So that was all I had to do!
We exchanged gunfire and our bullets tore at each other’s lives.
I had been firing from the motorcycle, but I finally couldn’t stay upright. The motorcycle and I both collapsed to the side.
As I fell, the buckle fell from my suit pocket.
Sparks flew as one of the old man’s bullets hit the center of the buckle.
PSI_ver_RAIN shouted something while moving the heavy motorcycle to the side and dragging me out from under it.
Then Nakata-san and the rest of the guards out front ran over.
“Freeze!!”
“Possession of a handgun confirmed! 5:20 PM! Moving to arrest criminal!!”
Despite taking several bullets to the limbs and gut, the old man got up under his own power. He was stained with blood here and there, but he was still smiling.
“Let me go. No one can arrest me.”
“What
are you talking about?”
“Strategic cultural property. That designation applies to the seeds of brand-name crops, the methods used to grow them, the industrial art made from them
and the living national treasures that make them. In other words, I am a strategic cultural property. Anything with that designation is considered a national asset and is erased from all official records to keep it secret. Even if those records belong to a murder trial.”
The old man spun his handgun around to draw attention to it.
“So you can’t arrest me even if I show this off. You can’t keep it as evidence when the arrest is determined to have ‘never happened’. You can write up and submit as much paperwork as you want, but I doubt anyone will be sent to trial when the suspect field is blank.”
What he was saying gradually sank in.
Mishima had said the truth behind Nagatacho Station was designated a specially designated secret and a strategic cultural property. By intentionally placing multiple information protection systems on it, no one knew whose jurisdiction it fell under. And he had mentioned the Restaurant Master as someone on the same level.
This was what he had meant.
The old man could be arrested and a trial could be held, but the name field would remain blank. It would all end up in the following scenario: “****** is sentenced to life in prison for the crime of murder. But who is ******?”
He was a living national treasure.
In the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties, the government had promised to provide support in protecting and repairing anything designated an important cultural property. It also required a thorough preservation of the status quo. And that applied to scenery, buildings, works of art, and the individuals known as living national treasures.
With a strategic cultural property, the law probably went a step further and said “no matter what”. It would be problematic if they were abducted by a foreign spy, killed, executed, or otherwise allowed to die. So the government would do whatever it took to maintain the status quo even if that meant overturning any kind of criminal conviction. It was all for the benefit of the nation.
But did he really have that kind of protection?
Hadn’t that entire system been newly created by people like him who worked behind the scenes so they could never be charged with a crime? Hadn’t they made this so they were as untouchable as a deadly Youkai even if they killed someone?
“That’s utter nonsense! Do you really think you’ll get away with doing all that just to protect yourself!?”
“The system may change in the future, but it will be too late to catch me. I don’t care if this creates the greatest scandal of all time as long as I am not actually imprisoned. And as long as they don’t divulge any secrets powerful enough to shake the entire Restaurant structure, the system can easily handle a simple case of firing a gun. But Detective Uchimaku, I will be leaving now. I’ve destroyed the USB memory belt buckle, so there is no chance of the Aoandon’s Package being used now. Not even the slightest chance. As long as I dispose of all the little pieces of evidence while you try to settle your own issues, I can return to my own comfortable life.”
At that moment, the police department’s front entrance opened and Division 1’s chief stepped out. He quickly glanced over the tragic scene and ultimately fixed his eyes on Katagiri Hitsuji.
“Long time no see.”
“What is it? I was just about to leave.”
“So you’re designated a living national treasure and thus a strategic cultural property, are you? And so your name can’t appear on any official paperwork, even for a murder trial?”
“Unfair, isn’t it? But those are the rules of this country.”
“Yes, terribly unfair.”
For some reason, the department chief gave the old man a look of pity.
“Those rules only apply when all of the official paperwork has been submitted and approved by the cabinet at the time. And that means they don’t apply if anything was missed there.”
“Wait
? What are you talking about?”
“The submitted paperwork was reviewed and a slight error was discovered in one of the forms. And thus you were never officially considered a strategic cultural property in the first place. Yes, I just received word from the head of the ruling party.”
“I never
 I never heard anything about that!!”
“Didn’t I just tell you? This country’s rules are terribly unfair. 
Arrest him.”
The one command settled it all.
Like army ants swarming a sugar cube, Nakata-san and the other police officers restrained the old man who had risen to such lonely heights.
What had happened without my knowledge?
I blankly watched the old man’s back as he was handcuffed.
Then the department chief spoke up.
“You need to thank Chief Superintendent Mishima. He made up for everything you lacked. We are limited to only protecting the law and order of Tokyo, so we could never have done it on our own.”
“Mishima-san
did?”
“I have no idea what exactly he did, but we could apparently find out if we used the Aoandon Package to divulge all of Japan’s secret rules. 
But would you really want to know?”
Part 23 (3rd person)
In a National Police Agency office, a man spun like a child in a leather chair.
He sighed quietly while a subordinate reported on their progress over the office phone.
“So it’s over for now, is it?”
“Sounds that way,” someone replied.
A young woman in a tank top and hot pants leaned against the wall with her arms crossed instead of using the sofa meant for guests. These two would normally have never interacted. If they ever saw each other, they should only have tilted their heads and wondered why the other was not dead yet, but the two were unnaturally gathered here.
“I wish we could tie things up this nicely every time.”
“Don’t get cocky now, okay? I know you haven’t forgotten what happened when you tried to create a mass-produced paranormal unit meant to directly judge crimes involving Youkai.”
“I know. And I can never repay the debt I owe to Hyakki Yakou’s previous generation. 
It was my arrogance that led to that husband and wife’s death. And that’s what held this country back by thirty years.”
His face had grown pale and his chair had stopped moving.
“Anyway, this should have settled everything related to that belt buckle. Both the real one retrieved by Katagiri Hitsuji and Konrin Naraku and the fake one prepared by Uchimaku-kun.”
“Yes.”
“In that case
”
Chief Superintendent Mishima grabbed the laptop on top of his desk. Without a change of expression, he threw it at Mai’s face as hard as he could. It slipped right past her face, slammed into the wall, and fell to the floor.
The screen displayed countless error messages, but not even they could hide the fear contained there.
“Why is the deepest portion of Nagatacho Station running? The Aoandon Package is still connected!!”
“I can only think of one possibility.” Mai sounded entirely calm. “Professor Matsukai Hiroshi had already sent the completed search program to the Aoandon via the internet before Konrin Naraku bisected him. The buckle really was just a portable backup, so it isn’t surprising that the main storage lay elsewhere.”
“You mean
?”
“The Aoandon’s group has acquired the entire system of Japan. I don’t know what they’re going to use it for, but they have no real reason to wait any longer.
The Hishigami woman spoke the words befitting that role.
“The countdown has ended. All that’s left is the destruction of this nation.”
Part 24 (Aoandon)
Search Target: Nagatacho Station Data (Deepest Sector)
Search Term: Japanese DNA Standard
Oh, how troublesome.
Facilities with DNA in cold storage sounded like something from a cyberpunk or SF story that you wouldn’t just find lying around, but they were everywhere. They were all over the place. There were obvious ones like police-related facilities, sperm banks, and gene therapy or organ transplant centers, but there were also germ research labs, biometrics development, brand-name rice and cow research, zoos, aquariums, people who wanted to store the DNA of dinosaurs or famous people, and even dubious companies that would store a customer’s DNA to carry them five hundred years into the future.
That made it hard to know where what we wanted was. And a thorough search would eventually give away what we were after, so I had wanted a system to give me the answer right away.
Beginning Search.
Searching

Oh, and a “standard” referred to an actual object that provided a standard definition of something. There was one for the kilogram, the meter, and plenty of other things. This one was for Japanese DNA, so you can guess what that means, right?
They had apparently gotten help from the daughters of esteemed old families to define what exactly a Japanese person is and what genetic sequence that entailed. Of course, there are a number of theories about the origins of the Japanese. There was the indigenous theory, the monophyletic theory, and plenty of others, so that attempt didn’t get very far. They had ultimately taken a few different samples that they thought might be where the Japanese came from and then gathered them together. There were as many samples as there were theories.
And while studying those samples, an interesting theory arose from a different viewpoint entirely.
Have you ever heard of junk DNA? DNA normally refers to the accumulated information that lets children inherit traits of their parents, but 97% of it is junk with no actual hereditary information at all. But it’s still a storage medium and the unnecessary information inside the DNA is still passed down from parent to child. So what’s there? What if a human embryo simply can’t read it and it contains data unrelated to the inheritance of physical traits? For example, what if it has secretly absorbed and recorded information concerning the local land and environment and what if that information had been passed down all this time? Wouldn’t that go beyond those samples? Wouldn’t all of the lives born in Japan be filled with shared information on the land known as Japan? If so, they could achieve their initial goal by decoding that junk DNA and preserving the environmental data built up over generations.
If the many samples all contained a shared junk factor, they would have a sign pinpointing a life born in this land.
It was really only an amusing theory for them, but it was incredibly interesting to the likes of us.
After all, the people of this country didn’t even know the name of their own country. Was it “Nihon” or “Nippon”? And during the Olympics or the World Cup it would transform into “Japan”. To be blunt, I was pretty sure no other country in the entire world had remained in such an undefined state for so long.
That made the Japanese something of an illusion contained in a vaguely-defined category.
It was enough to leave them worried if they didn’t find something to define themselves.
But then what if we got our hands on that Japanese DNA Standard? What if we messed with it as we saw fit?
The answer was simple. Like with a doll curse, the definition of what made someone “Japanese” would be rewritten.
We could make them into whatever we wanted: the Japanese have horns growing from their head, the Japanese fly through the sky using the wings on their back, the Japanese primarily eat raw slugs, the Japanese are a bunch of perverts who go to work and school in the nude, etc. etc.
Wouldn’t that be fun? Of course it would. It would be the ultimate entertainment brought on by the very catastrophe you wished for yourselves.
Search Complete: Location Confirmed.
Border between Intellectual Village Noukotsu Village and Bozen City. Flower Offering Route 4 at the base of Mt. Boseki. Livestock Research Center. Third Genetic Cold Storage Warehouse.
“Found it☆”
Oh, that’s the mountain where I met Sachi-chan before. And Noukotsu Village, hm? That’s where that boy lives, so I can feel destiny at work here.
It was time to begin and I had no real reason to hesitate.
Get ready, Japanese. Yes, all 150 million of you. I’m about to begin the ultimate performance that you’ve been waiting for amid all this boredom and oppression. So make sure you enjoy it until your very soul drowns in it.
Part 25 (3rd person)
The highest leader of Hyakki Yakou was a girl of about ten. She was known as Hafuri and had arrived at a domestic aircraft factory in Kobe. She wore mourning clothes filled with sorrow. Were they meant as a tribute to the Aoandon’s group, as a demonstration of her intention to personally visit an area of near certain death, or as an outward symbol of her feelings toward the falling archipelago?
“Oh, dear. Where did you hear that from? You’re being completely unreasonable.”
A young man dressed casually in a kimono spoke casually on a wide runway.
He was Hishigami Kyou. Of the Hishigami men, he was third in line to inheriting the family, but the girl in mourning clothes bearing the Hyakki Yakou emblem was not to be outdone.
“I’m sure you know our mobile base was destroyed by the Aoandon’s group. I received word that I could obtain a replacement here at Hishigami Aerospace Industries.”
“If you want to hold such unreasonable business discussions, could you take it to the Toyokawa Group? Their cars keep getting recalled, so I expect they would jump at any request you made.”
“The infrastructure damage has affected them too badly to function.”
Hishigami Kyou shook his head and a note of resignation entered his voice.
“It would be hard to call anything here a product. After the Three Principles on Arms Exports were relaxed, we have been testing the production lines of our new factories to make sure they work properly. You could call these answer sheets, so we did not intend to sell them.”
“But that means no one has claimed them and we have a chance to secretly purchase them.”
“
Is the situation that dire?”
“If you will accept an estimate, the entire concept of Japan as a nation will vanish within approximately 24 hours.”
“Honestly, it can be scary what qualifies as reasonable. Especially when it changes entirely from one second to the next. If that’s the age we live in, I suppose it would be reasonable to sell them to you.”
With a heavy sound, the door to the giant hangar-like factory behind him opened to the left and right. With weak blasts of jet engines, large flying machines exited.
There were six strategic stealth bombers that should not have existed in Japan.
There was also an airborne warning and control aircraft to command them.
“That should suffice for our new base.”
“But due to the short notice, we could not decorate the interior. I doubt it is exactly to your liking. These are nothing more than bare military weapons.”
“Given the situation, that is actually preferable. You can confirm receipt of payment at any time. Oh, and can we take them right away?”
“You really are unreasonable
”
Hafuri ignored him and raised a hand.
A great number of personnel rushed toward their new wings. There was nothing to hide behind on the runway, so it was impossible to tell where they had been hidden.
“Our destination is Noukotsu Village. I wanted to avoid a fight with civilians around, but we have no choice here. We will deploy at once and attack the Aoandon’s group. We must do whatever it takes to prevent the Japanese DNA Standard from falling into their hands!”
Part 26 (Jinnai Shinobu)
It was wrong to my uncle, but the commotion really had felt like something contained to the world inside the TV.
I had believed we were safe and that we only needed to wait for word that everything had ended without major incident.
So when I heard the explosive sound, I immediately shrank back.
“Wh-what the hell!?”
I first looked up to the ceiling and then ran out to the yard.
I saw something unbelievable there.
A group of giant bombers was flying through the sky.
Several fighters flew about to protect them. And instead of just passing by, they were moving at a leisurely pace as if they had chosen the sky above our village as their hunting grounds.
I recalled what the Nekomata had said.
“They sure are carefree. Does everything on TV seem like some distant world? You do know the people there are no different from us, don’t you?”
She was exactly right.
On that day, Noukotsu Village was visited by a catastrophe that could easily be called a war.
Liked it? Take a second to support Novels on Patreon!