The current time is 5:15 pm. Suga walked out of this man’s house, followed by Nellson, who flew past him and landed near the bicycle. Suga bowed to this man and went to his bicycle. The man went back into the house and closed the door. Suga sat on his bicycle seat, checking his investigation notes on his smartphone.
“I still don’t understand why there are two places named Kagohara. Too bad he wasn’t in the condition to talk about it.”
Nellson nodded.
“However, such a reaction is not normal. That man is clearly frightened of something.”
Suga nodded.
“That’s right. Also, the person who went missing that victim saw were most likely the cause of all of this. We will patrol around the town tonight.”
Nellson nodded; he then flew and stood inside the bicycle basket. Suga pedaled his bicycle away from here. Without them knowing, an old man wearing a shirt, black trousers, a knee-length suit coat, and loafers was watching them with a serious expression from inside a sedan parked not too far from where Suga and Nellson were.
The current time is 5:40 pm. Suga was back at the inn, sitting in the inn’s restaurant, and had ordered a glass of tea he put on the table. Nellson stood on a same long chair beside Suga. Suga skimmed through his investigation documents and the information he had just got. Not long after, an old man in the suit coat who had been watching Suga and Nellson from inside the car before walked into the restaurant. The old man looked around him and found what he was looking for: Suga and Nellson. The old man walked over to them.
“Could you have a moment, Mr. Investigator?”
Suga, who focused on his investigation documents, came to his senses.
“Of course, sir. Please have a seat.”
The man nodded, then sat on the chair in front of Suga.
“So, you investigating the missing persons case in this town?”
Suga was slightly surprised to hear that; his expression changed to astonishment.
“Yes sir, how do you know?”
The old man smirked.
“New face is easy to be recognized here, and you go to the houses of some of the victims. Are you a reporter or something?”
Suga smiled, while showing his ID to this man.
“No, sir. I’m a government investigator.”
The man was surprised.
“Government investigator? Sorry if I didn’t notice immediately.”
Suga putting his ID back.
“No need to apologize, sir; I’m used to it.”
This man nodded; his expression then turned serious.
“I am a retired reporter. I’ve been following similar missing persons cases like this since Kagohara village.”
Suga was surprised.
“Since Kagohara village? Uncle knows something about it?”
The man nodded.
“Right, maybe you don’t know much information because the townspeople are secretive about it?”
Suga nodded. The man continued speaking.
“This town is actually also called the new Kagohara village because most of the residents of this town are transfers from there. A similar case like this happened decades ago in Kagohara village. At that time, I tried to investigate the case but reached a dead end and was forced to stop my investigation until now. When I was at home and saw the missing persons news in this town, I felt that something was wrong and had to act, and I immediately came here. I never thought that after decades had passed, I would see a similar case like that again.”
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Suga’s expression turned curious.
“Well, sir. I would be very happy to have progress in my investigations.”
The man nodded.
“Did you encounter any difficulties in carrying out your investigation?”
Suga nodded.
“Right, when I was digging up information from the townspeople, those who knew something about Kagohara village didn’t want to share the information they knew for some reason.”
The man’s expression turned serious.
“I knew it would be like that.”
This man handed over his investigation documents to Suga; Suga received them in slightly surprised expression.
“Those are my previous investigation documents; maybe they will help you.”
Suga looked at the documents he had just received with a slightly surprised expression.
“Why did Uncle go this far?”
The man smiled.
“I just hope that one day, this case will be solved.”
This old man then excused himself to Suga and left. Suga and Nellson watched the man’s departure for a moment with curious expressions.
Outside the inn, the man wearing the suit coat earlier got back into his car, which he parked in one of the parking slots beside the inn. He leaned back, closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again.
“With this, I no longer have the burden I carried.”
This man started his car, then drove it away from here. While passing through a road at the edge of the forest, this man was surprised when he saw a woman suddenly walking across the street in front of him, causing him to stop his car suddenly. The man looked at the woman walking who wearing a shabby dress, entering the wilderness just like that. The man got out of his car and looked at the forest the woman had passed, and she was now out of sight. This man looked familiar with the woman he had just seen, even if only briefly.
“Big Sister?”
This man looked slightly doubtful. Soon, a woman’s voice sounded like a strong whisper.
“Come here; just a little more, you will be able to finish it. You will be able to find me.”
This man was shocked by what he just heard. But he then took several steps back.
“No, you’re not her....”
This man immediately ran away nervously and almost fell, then got back into his car and closed the car’s door. But just as he was about to step on his car's accelerator pedal, the woman before was standing next to the car’s window. The woman threw her hand at this man, broke through and shattered the car window, and strangled this man strongly. This woman’s face was covered by her long hair, with pale white skin covered in bruises. This man immediately stepped on the accelerator pedal of his car. The car sped forward, and the woman’s grip was released. The man looked in the rearview mirror of his car and saw that the woman was gone. This man continued to drive with his breath short and his neck bruised.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe this is really happening.”
This man accelerated the pace of his car and out of the town area.
Back to the inn’s restaurant. Suga, who had just received the investigation documents from the man earlier, then opened this document, Nellson watched him curiously. Suga read this investigation document:
“Kagohara village, October 1987
Investigation note one.
I am a reporter investigating the disappearance of many Kagohara villagers. It could be said that what the investigators did was pointless; they would never find those people. Fortunately, I had a sister who lived here, and her family told me what they knew. They said that there was something the villagers stopped doing that angered the Kagohara village’s “Guardian gods”, and this calamity happened. It starts from missing people, even to natural disasters that often befall this village. I concluded that if these villagers wanted to be free from all the calamity that had befallen Kagohara village, it would be to do the things that made this Guardian gods not angry. I will investigate it further to find out what it is.”
“Kagohara village, October 1987
Investigation note two.
I heard that the village library and archives housed the information I needed to know: what the villagers were hiding. But unfortunately, the building is locked, and it is unclear who has the key. But I managed to get some kind of fairy tale about this village’s “Guardian gods”, which I got from a village elder:
Long ago, Japan was shrouded in war, which caused many people to try to find shelter. Some of them went to the middle of the forest and met the gods who lived there. They prayed to this gods to protect them. The request was granted, and this gods became their Guardian gods. They built Kagohara village near their Guardian gods and lived in peace. Every year, Kagohara villagers held a “Celebration Festival” to honor the Guardian gods.
Based on that story, it is said that it has something to do with what happened in Kagohara village. Unfortunately, I can't pinpoint exactly what it is without access to the village’s library and archives.”
Nellson looked curious.
“Although these clues are still too broad, they are important.”
Suga nodded.
“Right, it’s just that all this happened in Kagohara village. I don’t know if we can continue the investigation if we don’t go there.”
Nellson nodded. Suga continued talking.
“We’ll try to patrol around the town tonight.”
Suga got up from his long chair, walked out of the restaurant room, and headed to his room; Nellson then flew after Suga.