Candy

“Police investigation records, number XXXX,”

“Wait, why is the date scratched out?” Fukei asked as the boy flipped over the page.

“I don’t know either,” Goh shook his head. “It was already in this state when I found it. Most names also end up this way. Just keep reading.”

With a simple nod, Fukei continued to glance through the entries in the diary.

“My name is Kidou Shinsuke, a superintendent at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force. I will write my name and occupation in every entry in this log file, as it is a way for me to affirm my identity for my own wellbeing, as well as for whoever is fortunate enough to find these notes to learn the truth.

Recently, the police force had received many files on missing personnel. Every single case had been for a student, ranging from early middle school to high school age. There didn’t seem to be any relation among the missing cases outside of that, however. Even their reasoning and location differ – none of them had the same background; there were those that suffered from an awful upbringing, but there were also those who had only lived a good life. And yet, they just suddenly stopped appearing in their daily lives. Gone, without a trace.

Until today, that is.

Intel had finally found the missing piece of the puzzle – a middle-aged man in a violet suit and shades. In their last showing, every one of these students met this man, then disappeared. This would be my lead to solving this case.

***

Police investigation records, number XXXX,

My name is Kidou Shinsuke, a superintendent at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force.

Surveys had led me to this man’s assumed home, an orphanage called Smile World. There was a high chance this is serving a base of operations for something else, but I needed to get closer for more info.

And as luck would have me, I managed to break in with ease. And to make it even better, I’d managed to make contact with one of the victims.

He was the oldest one among the cases, XXXX. However, when I talked to him, the boy had no recollection of his old name. In fact, he denied every mention of it, and insisted on calling himself ‘Ichigo’. His testimony was that he had always been an orphan living in this facility, and the man is their foster father, caretaker and head of the orphanage, Kageyama Takuto.

I decided to leave things for today, but not before convincing the boy to keep our meeting a secret. At least I have learned valuable information in the name of the perpetrator.

***

Police investigation records, number XXXX,

My name is Kidou Shinsuke, a superintendent at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force.

I’d managed to contact another victim. This time it was a girl, named XXXX in the police files. But similar to the boy, she denied her name, instead calling herself ‘Miko’. But other than that, her testimony matched the boy exactly: according to her words, she had always been an orphan living in this orphanage, under the care of Kageyama.

Another strange thing was that she actually remembered every part of her life that did not involve her family, like what school she went to, what class she was in, … But when I brought up the topic of why she hadn’t turned up to school yet, she merely shook her head and said she had always gone to school all day, and returned at the right time.

***

Police investigation records, number XXXX,

My name is Kidou Shinsuke, a superintendent at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force.

Since the cases all had their original profiles intact, I decided to head to the victim’s schools today.

Unsurprisingly, both schools confirmed that neither had shown up to class. However, I couldn’t reveal their location just yet – that place smelled like big trouble, far from anything civilians could handle. It pained my heart, but I had to keep it a secret from the teachers for now, and followed with my own investigation.

I raised the issue with my superiors at the police force. However, my suggestion of forcefully breaking free the children was disallowed, since clearly their minds were affected by something strange, so much that handling things with force would not only inform the suspect but also make the children fight back at us. With no other choice, I had to continue on my own.

***

Police investigation records, number XXXX,

My name is Kidou Shinsuke, a superintendent at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Force.

Repeated conversations with the victims had made them gain trust towards me. They had been sharing a lot more info about Kageyana – his age of 44, his background as a seemingly benevolent millionaire philanthropist after his success at a medicinal corporation, even his small habits on how he always put his hands in his pockets as he went outside, or how he’d hum a very specific song whenever he was happy or sad.

With this much info, there shouldn’t be any difficulty for me to pinpoint my suspect. Yet, there was still nothing. None of the info the victims provided was true – in fact, it wasn’t even a simple fabrication or a mish-mash of biographies of different people.

There was nothing. Absolutely nothing on the man they called Kageyama.

No records at all. It was as if the man didn’t even exist.

But these are children. They had no reason to be lying, nor were they in the right state of their mind to lie. I needed to find out more.

***

Police investigation records, number XXXX,

My name is Kidou Shinsuke.

I had gained the children’s trust completely. They had no issue inviting me into the house now, and even treated me to some snacks. And these snacks were indeed delicious; I wonder where they bought it from.

However, there was still no sign of Kageyama. When I asked Ichigo, he told me that the man was out on a business trip.

This was finally my chance to act.

***

Police investigation records, number XXXX,

My name is Kidou Shinsuke.

I met a boy today, seemingly running away from home. I’d love to help right away, but I also needed to help the children inside the orphanage…

I decided to bring the boy back to his home. And when I did, it had already turned dark.

I’ll leave the saving until tomorrow. As much as I hate to admit it, those children were still completely fine, and Kageyana was a while away from returning.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow will be my chance.

***

Police investigation records, number XXXX,

My name is Kidou.

The children treated me to some of their home-made candy. The candy was excellent! Better than anything that I had eaten! I thought it would be bad, because I could see the glazed sugar crust, but it was perfectly balanced in taste! It was so good, I could smile all day! And this candy even had a medicinal effect too, seeing how all my backache is gone, and I can run wherever I want!

I must ask them for the recipe tomorrow!

***

Police investigation records, number XXXX,

My name is Kidou.

I told the children I wanted to learn how to make their candy. But they were weird; they said that only fellow children could learn how to make it.

I was disappointed. But then I remembered! I could bring my son! He’d love a new friend!

***

Police investigation records, number XXXX,

We had a great time at their place. And they said they’d bring us more. What great news!

I can’t wait til tomorrow.”

The entries stopped there. What was left of the notebook was a pile of unintelligible pages already soaked and dried from the crimson liquid, crumpling up with the slightest of touch.

“I… I’m sorry,” Fukei lightly pushed the notes back towards Goh. “It must be really hard for you.”

“I… was scared. So, so scared,” the boy’s shoulder shivered. “Imagine, one day your father started smiling at everything. Then he brought you to this place of these weird zombified kids, who didn’t seem to be batting an eye killing people for fun. Your dad died in front of you, and to make matters worse, he…”

Goh couldn’t finish the sentence. The feeling of disgust had already taken a chokehold of the boy, forcing him to vomit out whatever was left in his stomach.

“I haven’t eaten anything in days,” he added. “But those guys have. And from the notes, I think you know why.”

Fukei nodded. “The candy is…”

“A form of mind-control drug. That’s my conclusion from the notes. But that’s not all; they’re also some kind of doping. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Saw?”

“... My dad getting overpowered by a 12-year-old girl. She even jumped as high as this ceiling and twisted his neck apart in one move.”

“Then…” Fukei hesitated. He knew that he was getting into trouble, but not even in his wildest dreams did the boy expect himself going up against superpowered children.

“I know your concern,” Goh nodded, opening another compartment in the drawer. “We’re not fighting empty-handed.”

At the sight of the object in the boy’s hand, Fukei could only gulp, trying his best to swallow his anxiety.

He had heard of this thing. He had seen it on TV, or in the newspaper. But it was the first time he had seen it in real life.

The weight of its metallic body. The bone-chilling coldness of its barrel. The sulfuric smell of its muzzle.

In his hand was a real, functioning gun.