The rights of a childâ¦
One could assert that child rights were about protecting their privacy. In other words, acknowledging a child's rights was about a guardian recognizing that every child had boundaries you could not cross. That was why so many parents knew nothing about their children.
That's probably the correct way, the normal way
, Shizue thought. It was nothing new. Shizue's own parents knew nothing about her. The difference was that parents of the past thought they ought to know everything about their children and pretended to know as much. Everyone used to believe that was the core of parental responsibility.
That meaningless delusion was dead today.
Shizue was about to inquire how the Yabe investigation was going but stopped herself short because there was nothing she could do about it.
Besidesâ¦
Counselors had ever so slightly more information on children than their parents, but it didn't mean they knew the children any better.
Shizue didn't know anything about Yuko Yabe. She saved information on her and organized it for work only.
One could only know oneself.
Noâ¦
Shizue looked at the police department monitor.
This knows everything about everyone.
Humanity had gone from recording history to being recorded by history. No one would remember private citizens, but all of history would be reduced to numbers and signs stored in a place with no address that no one would know about.
Life would be entirely virtual.
Ishida looked at his own monitor.
“I've got a response, finally. From the director. Five staff representatives will join you tomorrow at eleven to resume work. I'll be sending two members well versed in systems operation from my end as well. Your center has sent orders to your monitor, Ms. Fuwa.”
“Excuse me⦔
She pulled out her portable monitor and switched it on. As soon as she opened it, her display was filled with emergency instructions. There were commissions purporting to relieve Shizue of her duties as head of youth data copying. When she pressed accept she then received a notice from the prefectural police that it had been decided that a team of highly skilled administrators would be formed. They would wait for a status report to be submitted immediately.
This must be from memory-hair man
.
Shizue wordlessly sent the work log she'd prepared the night before.
That should be enough.
“Looks like you won't have to do this crap anymore,” Ishida said in a manner not befitting him.
Shizue could obviously not know his intentions in saying such a thing, but she thought he was being sarcastic. “Thanks to you. Now I can go back to doing my regular work.”
“I hear counseling is quite a busy job. You can leave now.”
Now she got it. The formal interview was over. Their conversation was no longer being recorded. That was why his tone had changed.
Ishida stood up. Then turning around as if he'd forgotten something, he stopped his gaze on Kunugi.
“Kunugi.”
“Yes,” Kunugi responded childishly.
“I need to get you another job. I can't just send you back to headquarters. You've already been given one warning. You agreed to an easy job and this is what happens? It's as if none of those lessons had any calculable results.”
“I'm no good at studying,” Kunugi replied.
“That's not good.”
“Does this mean disciplinary action? Even with our staff shortage?”
“Staff means people who serve a purpose, Kunugi. If you were able to produce a report on Yuji Nakamura or Yuko Yabe I wouldn't have to cut you from this, but until I get further instructions, maybe you should just request some personal time off.”
Kunugi nodded once and said he'd
do as you suggest, sir
.
The police logo on his monitor disappeared.
IT WAS HER
first time seeing a real live cat.
Hazuki didn't think it was as cute as it was supposed to be, though it was spry and she couldn't see it very well.
It was rare to see feral cats, even in the city. Almost every household used to own a cat or a dog in the past, but for some reason there weren't any more now. You needed a permit to have a pet animal now. Each household required a confirmation of a specific living environment for the particular species in question, and until the permit was issued, owning a pet animal was not allowed.
Therefore the only people who would keep a domesticated animal for fun were those with means.
Stillâ¦
Hazuki felt it would be vaguely disgusting to have some animal just moving about at will in your house.
Hazuki had an interest in living things. There was a nature preservation area where animals still lived that she'd always wanted to see. They looked so cute on her monitorâbe it in still or moving pictures. But maybe they weren't like that in real life.
“There are dogs too,” Mio said.
“Dogs?”
“Yes. A species called âstray dog.'”
“That's not a species, I don't think.”
“I'm not sure either. I'm weak in the nature department. I have no interest in animals. All I know about are turtles and alligators, maybe. And dinosaurs.”
Hazuki was a little shocked.
This genius truly knew nothing about anything in which she had no interest.
The young genius, completely clueless about the animal kingdom, sat on some scrap wood and shook her head from side to side.
“I wonder if this is another kind of preservation area too.”
“Preservation area?”
“Yeah. When you leave the tacky old stuff as is and preserve it,” Mio said, adding, “The old red-light district is unsanitary. It doesn't clear environmental sanitation standards at all. I think what they want to do is make it more government housing, but the residents won't consent. Though I hear the residents actually want to demolish the area anyway. It's sort of a residential thing. There are all these people without money and a lot of unsavory types. A lot of foreigners, a lot of people without ID cards. So of course there are going to be some cats and dogs.”
Another cat darted to the side of a warped building along the windowsill.
Mio widened her eyes at the cat and said, “
You know?
Look, they have everything out here. All kinds of animals I don't know anything about.”
“What about wolves?”
Why had she said that?
Hazuki doubted herself just as the word came out of her mouth.
“Wolves?” Mio said in a high-pitched voice and made a bewildered face.
The wind blew.
They were in an empty area of Section C.
“Wolves are extinct,” Ayumi said, her voice vibrant.
She was wearing a suit fitted tightly to her body and an industrial-strength vest, a khaki waist bag, large racing shoes. Leaning on a steel frame.
Ayumi was standing.
“Tsuzuki, what kind of person calls out strangers to a place like this?”
“What kind of person actually shows up?” Mio jumped up, excited, and sprang from the scaffold.
“We also got one idiot just watching.”
Mio nodded at Hazuki.
Ayumi looked down at Hazuki's feet.
Ayumi said nothing but stared down Mio.
“Yesterday is yesterday. You barged into someone's house. Now, less than a day later you call people out in the morning. You're an anachronism. Not even adults do stupid shit like this.”
“C'mon, it's not that bad,” Mio said, looking up at a stick building in the haze. “Aren't you bored?”
“I'm not like you, Tsuzuki.”
“Then why'd you come?”
Mio turned around and stood directly in front of Ayumi, arresting her line of sight.
“You came because you wanted to, no? Am I wrong?”
“I came because I was called.”
“Hmph.”
Mio crossed her arms.
“Why're you playing it off? If you didn't like being called out, you could have just ignored me. I'm just a minor. I have no authority over anyone. Even if I were a cop, I have no power other than to ask you to come voluntarily. Whether you came or not was up to you entirely. If I were you and I was put off by something someone said, I'd definitely ignore it.
“Definitely,” she repeated.
“And?”
“And?! You come and then blame other people for making you come? That's not fair. Look, even Makino's enjoying herself. Aren't you, Makino?”
Hazuki had gotten excited when she was called. Her blood coursed faster. Her vision blurred; it felt like she was going blind all of a sudden.
Her field of vision contracted.
Two days ago Hazuki had been the ringleader.
You could say it was her actions that had led to this situation.
Mio finding a strange object in her room and determining that it was evidence left by intruders, then thinking to bring it directly to the culprits, had all been triggered by Hazuki's aberrant actions.
Ayumi turned her eyes away from everything and said, “Tsuzuki. You're like an extinct species yourself.”
Mio was left speechless for a moment, then said under her breath,
Take it easy.
“So what did you want with me?”
“Why didn't you ask in the first place?” Mio said, scrunching up her face. “I went to Yabe's after that.”
“You went out there? You're
really
bored. You're like the demon of surprise house visits.”
“I had no choice. There weren't cops, and I didn't want to go to three houses in one day either. Only perverts do that. But she doesn't have a terminal.”
“She went offline?”
“Not offline. Like, she didn't have a monitor. It probably broke. Short of smashing the machine itself, a terminal is supposed to be able to connect, even when the power is out. But her terminal wouldn't connect at all. That's why I went over. I had no choice. But she wasn't there. It was vacant.”
“You went at that hour?”
“She hasn't been back. Since three nights ago.”
“Since the night of the attack?”
“Yeah. Isn't that suspect? I got to her place after nine. The only people who go out at that hour are criminals and weirdos.”
“People like you and me,” Ayumi joked. Mio ignored her.
“Well, if I'm to believe your story, Yabe was violated by someone, and there's a murderer out loose in the city. I figured she might have run off to somewhere safe. But then⦔
The two girls both turned their heads toward Hazuki.
“W-what?”
“What do you mean, what? You said yourself you saw Yabe near my house.”
“I did, but⦔ Hazuki gave Ayumi a petrified look. “She was really there,” Ayumi said.
“She's the one who told us where you live.”
“That's the first weird thing. I don't think she's ever been to the old red-light district.”
“I don't know.”
“I do. I was raised here. It's a horrible neighborhood.”
Mio looked around at her surroundings. Hazuki also broadened her scope. The alien nature of the scene flew right at her eyes.
“Weird, right?” Mio said. Hazuki didn't know if it was weird. Perhaps because Hazuki was quiet, Ayumi said, “This isn't exactly a suitable place for a minor if they think they're in physical danger, is it?” She sounded unperturbed.
“Right, of course,” Mio said, incredulous.
“Section C, of all places. Wouldn't you normally go to the center? What kind of kid who's been violently attacked one night runs and hides in an ancient red-light district full of murderers the next? Also, if the center knew her monitor was broken, they would do something about it. They'd come in thirty seconds to give her a replacement.”
“Maybe. So?”
“The adults don't know anything.”
Don't they?
It wasn't just the adults. Kids wouldn't know anything about other people either. No one wanted to know and no one wanted to be known. So no one knew anything about anyone else. They weren't bothered by not knowing. They weren't bothered by not being known. Moreoverâ¦
They actually hated being known.
“I wanted to know what happened,” Mio said. “So I tried to get some data from her monitor.”
“That's a crime.”
“Right. Private information piracy. Illegal residential entry, sensitive protective data falsificationâall misdemeanors really. I'm a misdemeanor girl. But you've got an illegal building and unpermitted animals. Doves.”
Doves. Last night, they hadn't come back.
Hazuki had wanted to see those birds dance back to Ayumi's rooftop.
“Those were wild doves that just took up residence on my roof.”
“That's still a violation, no doubt. Well, I don't care either way. Anyway, when I checked her data it was just as I'd expected. Fuwa had been there at 5:20 pm. If a counselor came checking on a vacant house, it means the center itself didn't apprehend Yuko Yabe. Fuwa probably came over in a hurry after realizing something was wrong two days after the fact, but that means the center has no idea whether Yabe was attacked or not.”
“What about her guardians?”
“They were gone too. They'd been gone for three days when I checked. What's more, there were two kids who came to visitâYuji Nakamura and Hinako Sakura.”
“Sakura? You mean that funeral girl?”
“Funeral? Ha ha ha. Come to think of it she's always wearing that funeral outfit under her center uniform.” Mio laughed, satisfied.
Hazuki wasn't sure whom they were talking about. Should she tell them as much? It sounded like they were talking about someone who was in their group.
“Weird, right?” Mio stopped giggling and made a serious face. She looked at Hazuki and repeated, “Weird, right?”
“Do people usually see that many visitors?”
“Probably.”