Chapter 32:

Secret ( part 1: Infiltration)

The Dusk of Revenge


   After taking down the three top commanders of the Red Claws we took the car the enemy used to arrive and headed toward the Meguro ward to the location pointed in the code.

I shaded my eyes with my hand and looked diagonally up. Half of the rising sun in the east was blocked by the massive wall of the building we were standing before, but even though it was only morning sunlight, I was able to feel some heat touching my skin.

The storm clouds had apparently disappeared with great swiftness. Today's weather was approaching blue skies without a single cloud.

Looking behind us, one could see endless collapsed buildings and ruins whose roofs had been crushed. Slanted utility poles were entangled in wires, as though tracing out complicated patterns like a game of cat's cradle. The hideout was near the entrance gate of the Meguro dome after all.

Luckily this early in the morning, not a single resident could be seen.

“Is it really here?”

“I think it should be right.”

I answered immediately as I leaned down to read a stainless-steel marker reading "NO. 00." My voice sounded a bit cold as usual but that didn’t stop Rin from noticing that I was excited. She stared at me silently as I kept explaining: “According to the code, there should be a manhole nearby. Let's search for it.”

There were all kinds of stuff under foot including aluminium cans and plastic rubbish. Using one's hands to search through them required a certain amount of courage. I used my boots to kick away objects that were moist with morning dew. Presumably due to rotting garbage, warm air rose up from underneath

Timber, mortar, and stuff like rusted nails were scattered all over the ground, making it hard to see the original surface. Even inside the domes people abandoned the buildings that were near the entrance for security reasons. Seeing this scene for the second time was enough for me to understand that the old store that I used to interrogate Karuizawa was abandoned and not destroyed after the explosion of the dome.

Just as I started wondering in surprise whether we’ve mistaken the meaning of the code, I finally found a new-looking manhole in among the rubbish.

“…It became really hard to believe that we’re walking to the enemy’s trap.” Rin said upon seeing it.

“You’ve got a point there! I felt something wasn’t right about this situation from the moment the enemy sent two agents two capture me. I thought it was some kind of mistake or something but after defeating the three commanders and hearing that they were supposed to get some backup I started to feel that someone want me to reach this building.”

“So, it is a trap after all?”

I cut the manhole cover with my sword verifying at the same time if it started working again or not. Luckily it did.

“The possibility of this being a trap is big but think about it for a second. If you were to set a trap, would you send your elite forces alone to fight the enemy knowing that they will lose for sure?”

I shone a flashlight inside. Rusted pipes and the passage seemed to extend left and right.

Tossing down an army case that was filled with weaponry that I found in the car that drove to this point, I mustered my diminishing courage to climb rung by rung down the rusted ladder. Although I was the first to go down, the more I advanced down the manhole to where sunlight did not shine, the more I felt chilling terror as though I was entering a monster's mouth.

“You think the others will join us any time soon?” Rin asked as she started following me.

“I’m not sure… Last time I checked, they were about to enter the dome. That was just before entering the building?”

“What about now?”

“I lost all connection with them when we entered. I can’t even connect with Ai. As I thought before, there’s a jamming system here. I think you should activate your special weapon from now on until we finish the mission.”

Naturally, there was no light inside. Only within the circle of light produced by a Maglite could we still see things.

Hearing weird noises resembling the moans of ghosts, I could only convince myself that they came from wind echoing inside the hollow space.

Rin took the Maglite as she illuminated the passages extending left and right in sequence.

“Towards the centre of the Meguro ward or in the direction we just came from. Which way do we go?”

“What if you had to pick one?”

“The way we just came.”

“Then let's head towards the centre.”

Rin kicked me in the knee.

“I hate you, jerk!”

Seeing Rin pouting angrily, I couldn’t help but smile wryly.

“Anyway, let's go towards the centre and see. If we reach a dead end, we can always go the other way.”

Rin also did not seem like she was angry for real. In the end, she nodded once.

After walking roughly 200m or so, we stopped.

"Dead end... huh?"

A massive wall, roughly a half meter wide, was blocking their path. Illuminated by a flashlight, the black chrome surface gave off a dark sheen.

“Looks like we guessed the wrong direction.”

“No, it's too soon to decide that.”

“Shinji?”

Intending to turn back and leave, Rin turned around again.

Feeling along the cold, smooth surface of the wall, I found a small depression with my fingertips. I pulled my EMP gun and fired at the wall. The light of the laser beam got immediately reflected.

“Is this?”

I looked at Rin who saw the whole thing with a surprised face.

“Magnetite!” I replied as I pointed the light at the small depression.

“Wasn't there a noisy sound resembling whistling just now? It was probably due to wind blowing across this hole...”

“It’s a keyhole! I guess” I interrupted her while pulling my sword to cut the door.

“Let’s get in!”

“Eh?! Is that what you call an infiltration?”

I looked at the direction from which the sound came to see Shuna and the three boys behind us.

“I remember saying that we’re in a bad situation. But that didn’t mean you have to take down the whole terrorist organisation all by yourselves.”

I ignored her and continued walking inside.

“Is this… A research lab?!”

Rin looked surprised just like me then asked: “Where’re we exactly?”

“200 meters away east is the starting point that would make us near the police department and halfway to the ministry of defence…” I answered.

The inside was very dark. A line of ceiling lights gave a faint blue glow like ghost lights, reflected on the silver-grey walls and floor. It felt very similar to a hospital after lights out.

Not a soul in sight. All we could hear was the sound of machinery operating somewhere. The air was filled with the smell of chemicals. The floor was swept very clean, and one could surmise that it had been swept and maintained constantly until recently.

After passing through a large door, we arrived at a locker room. Name plates hanging on the absence board. All of them were turned over, meaning no one had come to work.

I turned to Shuna and asked: “Do you have the list of the members that we defeated last time?”

As she handed me a tablet she was hiding in her coat. I started verifying the names on the list with the names on the board. All the names were there on the list we had except for four.

I was able to know that three of them belonged to the commanders we just defeated.

There was a possibility that we had wiped out the Red Claws in Japan but at the same time, it was very likely that they had abandoned this lab, worried about our investigation.

After entering the office, I became more convinced that the second possibility was the right one.

Scattered all over the floor was ash from hastily burnt paper as well as scraps from the paper shredder. This facility apparently still trusted hard copies in this era and so continued to use them.

It was safe to assume that they knew already that we defeated the top three commanders.

Akira looked at the burnt papers then asked: “Did they abandon this lab?”

“Knowing my goal of investigating here, they’ve probably decided to withdraw from this lab on their own.”

Suppose my speculation was correct, then the truth I was seeking would no longer be here.

But contradicting this voice of reason from mental calculation, an unbelievable presence was reminding me.

It was almost as though someone was suppressing their breath, glancing at me from a dark corner in this facility…