Tokyo: Proving one's position from behind the scenes

The Operations Section's office has moved to a new office.

The new office is located on the basement floor of the main building. It used to be several storage rooms for the archives. After being vacated, they were repainted, and the fluorescent lights were replaced with brighter models, making the light gray walls in the corridor appear glaringly white. The iron doors of the storage rooms were replaced with steel doors with electronic access control, and a hemispherical surveillance camera was installed above the door frame, with a red indicator light flashing every few seconds.

When Director Yamazaki stepped out of the elevator, Naoya Taniguchi was already waiting in the hallway. He was wearing his black leather jacket and had a cigarette tucked behind his ear.

"Director." Naoya Taniguchi nodded slightly.

Yamazaki hummed in agreement, his gaze sweeping over the newly installed steel doors on both sides of the corridor. Each door was labeled with a number, arranged from A-1 to A-6. Next to each door, an acrylic folder hung on the wall, containing the office's usage registration form. The registration form was densely filled with dates and times, the handwriting varying, some neat, some messy.

"How much did the Chief Cabinet Secretary approve?" Naoya Taniguchi asked.

"It'll last you until the year after next," Yamazaki said, "provided you don't use it to buy those things that Americans charge three hundred million dollars apiece."

Naoya Taniguchi took the cigarette off his ear, twirled it between his fingers, and then put it back.

The two walked down the corridor, their military boots and leather shoes making two different pitches of friction sounds on the plastic floor. At the end of the corridor was a steel door that was wider than the others, with a sign that read "Conference Room" and no folders next to it.

The meeting room wasn't large; the long table could seat a dozen or so people. The whiteboard on the wall was spotless, with only the date and a "Report" mark written in one corner. At one end of the long table sat a laptop computer with its screen lit up. Several folders were spread out on the table, their covers bearing the Metropolitan Police Department's insignia and a red "Top Secret" stamp.

Naoya Taniguchi walked to the whiteboard, while Yamazaki No sat down at the other end of the long table and placed his briefcase at his feet.

"Let's start with the medicine."

Naoya Taniguchi opened the top folder.

"All twelve Prometheus-3 missiles have arrived. Three have been transferred to domestic research institutions designated by the Cabinet Office, with the heads signing confidentiality agreements. Research progress will be reported to the Operations Section every two weeks. The remaining nine will all be put into use."

He turned a page.

"Nine people, all survived. After the injection, muscle density increased by an average of about three times, bone hardness increased by about two times, and the conduction speed of the nervous system was significantly improved. In terms of data, they are at the same level as the imperfect awakeners in Yokosuka."

He closed the folder.

"But all of them suffered varying degrees of intellectual impairment. The mildest one could understand complex instructions but was unable to make independent decisions, while the two most severely affected had completely lost their ability to speak and could only react to pain and instructions. None of the nine reached the level of 'Soldier Boy'."

Yamazaki tapped his fingers lightly on the table. "What about Yokosuka?"

"They've gained another Perfect Awakener." Naoya Taniguchi pulled up a document on his laptop, turning the screen to Yamazaki. "Our intelligence indicates he's codenamed 'Black,' a 32-year-old Black male, formerly a Marine Corps reconnaissance soldier. He completed his tactical test seven days after the injection, and his stats are only slightly worse than 'Soldier Boy'."

Naoya Taniguchi turned the laptop back: "Of our nine branches, Yokosuka used about thirty during the same period, and the perfect awakening rate was less than five percent. They have more ethnic groups and a larger sample size, but the variables still haven't been found. The three branches that were handed over to domestic research institutions are mainly focused on achieving replication, but without special items as samples, it will probably be very difficult."

The special items he referred to were the coral and lingzhi mushrooms that were taken by the Americans.

Yamazaki didn't ask any further questions about the medicine. Taniguchi Naoya picked up the second folder and opened it.

"Nobuko Yoshida, over the past week, based on the intelligence we provided, cleared out four yakuza locations, confirming 47 deaths. Her methods were identical each time: high-temperature weapons used for dismemberment, leaving no survivors. Our cleanup team arrived within 40 minutes of her departure, sealing off the area, collecting evidence, clearing the site, and issuing a press release stating 'gas explosion.' Everything is proceeding smoothly so far."

He paused.

"We have not been able to pinpoint her location. In accordance with the previously agreed-upon principles, we will only provide intelligence, without tracking, setting ambushes, or initiating contact; both sides will maintain the status quo."

Yamazaki nodded. Taniguchi Naoya opened the third folder.

"The catfish in the Arakawa River. The latest underwater sonar imaging shows that it has reached a length of six meters. At least three tunnel-like cavities have appeared in the silt layer at the bottom of the river, ranging from one to two meters in diameter and tens of meters in length. It is preliminarily judged that they were left by it when it was foraging in the silt."

He pulled a printed photo of a sonar image from the folder and handed it over. The photo showed a dark spindle-shaped outline against a gray-white sonar background, with several lighter-colored branches extending from the outline, like a cross-section of tree roots digging into the soil.

"Currently, it has not shown any tendency to actively attack humans. We have suppressed all the sighting reports from night anglers and nearby residents. Occasionally, photos are posted on social media, but we are keeping it within the scope of 'urban legends'."

Yamazaki placed the photos on the table. Taniguchi Naoya picked up the fourth folder.

"At Jiriku-ji Temple in Osaka, after Abbot Maeda declined an invitation from the United States, the reconstruction of the temple was undertaken jointly by the Osaka Prefectural Police and a local construction company. The main hall has been completed, while the monks' quarters and garden are still under construction. The abbot himself has been working on one thing during this time—translating and revising the Buddhist scriptures preserved in the temple."

He turned a page.

"Most of those Buddhist scriptures were handwritten copies, the paper was severely worn out, and many pages were stuck together. The police officer in charge of contacting him asked him if he planned to take on disciples, and his answer was, 'The time is not right yet.'"

"What opportunity?" Yamazaki asked.

He didn't say.

Yamazaki was silent for a few seconds. Taniguchi Naoya picked up the last folder, opened it, and instead of reading it aloud immediately, pushed the entire folder in front of Yamazaki.

"The cult has converted to the Truth Church, headquartered in Chiyoda Ward. Five days ago, the leader was replaced. The original leader was publicly overthrown at a religious ceremony by a follower named Hiroaki Akiyama, a process witnessed by hundreds of followers. During the ceremony, Hiroaki Akiyama demonstrated the ability to manipulate water, using that water to damage the original leader's brain function. The original leader is currently in a state of severe cognitive impairment, which is medically determined to be irreversible."

Yamazaki opened the folder, inside which were several secretly taken photos. In the photos, a bald man in a white robe stood on a podium, his right hand raised, and a stream of almost transparent water flowed from his fingertips. The photos weren't very clear, but the shape of the water flow was captured very clearly—flowing from his fingertips, drawing an arc in the air.

"Akiyama Hiroaki claimed that this power came from a being called 'Dharma Transmission Celestial Venerable.' He overturned the original leader's claim of being an 'alien from the center of the universe' and changed the church's object of worship to 'Dharma Transmission Celestial Venerable.' The power transfer within the church was completed within 24 hours without any bloodshed."

"Our people have already infiltrated the church. A patrol officer who just graduated from police academy last year, with no criminal record and a clean identity, joined the church last month as an ordinary believer. He currently attends missionary activities three times a week and has not been discovered yet. A background check on Hiroaki Akiyama himself is also underway—he is 35 years old, a college graduate, and has had more than a dozen jobs, including real estate agent, insurance salesman, and wedding emcee, but he didn't stay in any of them for long. He joined the Confession of Truth two years ago and is the most eloquent of all the believers."

Yamazaki closed the folder.

"The Celestial Venerable Who Transmits the Dharma".

"Yes," said Naoya Taniguchi. "Like Inari God Miketsuhime, Ryomen Sukuna, and Umibozu, this is another newly appeared supernatural being. However, unlike the previous three, this one is not recorded in the history and mythology of the island nation. It is more like the one from the University of Tokyo."

The folders on the long table were laid out one by one, containing experimental data on the drug, Yoshida Nobuko's action records, printed photos of sonar imaging at the bottom of the Arakawa River, progress reports on the reconstruction of Jirikuji Temple, and candid photos sent back by an undercover agent who had converted to the True cult. The white light of the fluorescent lamp illuminated these things clearly.

Yamazaki's gaze swept across the documents one by one, finally landing on Taniguchi Naoya's face.

"Where is Lady Mikami?"

Naoya Taniguchi pulled the last document out from under the table. This document was thinner than the others, with only two pages, and the cover did not have a red stamp.

"Lord Mikamiko is preparing to go to university."

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