The long-term Committee Chairman Matoba of the Social Democratic Party lived in a manor in a residential area about a ten minute walk away from Ikegami Honmonji. The modern, reinforced concrete building behind the vine-covered gateposts stood in stark contrast to the traditional Japanese-style buildings all around it.
While Shimazaki was paying a visit to Ota, a tall man carrying what looked like a slim suitcase stepped out of a black Cedric parked near that gatepost. The man was in excellent shape, but his behavior seemed somehow agitated and anxious. Stepping into the alleyway and slipping behind Matoba's manor, he opened the lid of the suitcase.
Apparently that suitcase was actually a notebook computer.
Typing on the keyboard with uncertain movements, a droplet-like crystal blurred the liquid-crystal display of the machine. Presently the crystal changed into a milky-white liquid, which spilled to the ground by the man's feet and took on the form of an Apep, the minion of Set. Raising its slender head, the Apep took a quick look around before silently disappearing inside the concrete mansion.
Right at that moment, Matoba was taking a nap on the sofabed in the study next to his office. The heavy black bags under his eyes belied his exhaustion, most likely from his nonstop efforts to bring his party together and block the National Secrets Protection Act from being passed. Taking advantage of the fact that the world stage was more and more becoming becoming a war of information, the restrictions in the act clearly indicated that the Liberal Party was veering even further and further to the right. As the Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, that was hard for Matoba to let slide.
A quiet breeze blew into the room through the air conditioner that Matoba had left on. Not even disturbing the sound of that breeze, the snake slipped into the room through the slit under the door. It raised up its head, as if fixating on its prey. Its small red eyes looked all over the slightly snoring, sleeping form of Matoba. Squiggling its body rapidly, the white snake slithered across the floor, effortlessly climbing up the sofabed and diving into the V-neck of Matoba's undershirt, clearly exposed by his unfastened tie.
The next instant, without any hesitation, the pale serpent bit into the exaggeratedly expanding and contracting fat stomach before it. Like a sharp drill, the slender body of the snake tunneled into Matoba's gut. As if he felt no pain whatsoever, Matoba kept sleeping on peacefully.
A minute or so later, Matoba suddenly twisted up away from the sofabed as if a wave of high-voltage electricity was running through him, and his body started to spasm wildly. However, it appeared that the Apep had gained full control of his nervous system, as he soon started snoring again and fell into a deep sleep. Strangely enough, the wound on his stomach had sealed up as if cured by some sort of magic medicine. Only moments later, the light sound of a Cedric driving away could be heard moving away from the front of Matoba's manor.
The next morning, Ota, who had been sleeping like a rock in his office in Nagatacho, was shaken awake by a messenger.
"Is it time for today's plenary session already?" As Ota's sleepy eyes searched for his glasses, the messenger's excited voice interrupted.
"Chairman Matoba of the Social Democratic Party declared his support for the National Secrets Protection Act in a press conference this morning. Congratulations, Chief Secretary. Now the law is as good as passed."
"What!?" As if he had not completely awakened from a dream, Ota shook his head furiously.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Part 2: Chapter 5
On the second floor of the eight-story building next to the official residence of the Nagatacho Council Chairman was the office of one Ota Masaru, Chief Secretary of the Liberal Party. Though it was past one o'clock in the morning, Ota sat on his bed in his private room beyond the office, gripping the receiver of the phone as he had been for over an hour. He had been losing a lot of sleep over whether or not the National Secrets Protection Act was going to pass or not. His bulldog-like jowled face was thick with signs of accumulated fatigue.
"You yourself advocated the importance of passing the National Secrets Protection Act; it would be a waste for you change your mind about it now!" Ota's voice sounded a little rude.
"Now that Committee Chairman Matoba is against the act, I can't go along with it. Try and understand the tight position that I'm in right now." The voice on the other end of the phone was also tired. Judging from the fact that he brought up Committee Chairman Matoba, the speaker was probably a member of the Diet from the Social Democratic Party.
"I've done my best to convince Matoba. If that's not enough, then the only thing left for you to is to try and convince him yourself. I'm sure Matoba is not unflappable, so long as you agree to a power share between the two parties." Saying all he was willing to, the speaker hung up.
"Damn!" Slamming the receiver back onto the phone, Ota fell backwards onto the bed and rubbed his eyelids. Taking in a deep breath, his bulging stomach expanded like a frog's.
Right at that moment, there was a knock on the door.
"It's open." Yawning as he spoke, Ota made no effort to turn toward the door. It made a clicking sound as it opened, and a red face with a clearly ingratiating smile poked in through the door.
It was Shimazaki Ryunosuke.
"I don't know what it is you want at this hour, but I'm not exactly in a good mood." Propping himself up on the bed, Ota turned his head toward the man, the bones in his neck popping as he did so.
"There's something that I would like to tell you." Shimazaki's eyes were lit up.
"I'd love to hear another one of your schemes to make more money, but this isn't the time. I've got to get this law passed."
"Trying to score as many points as possible while Chief Secretary so you can be first in line for that juicy Party Chairman position when it next goes vacant, are we?"
"Hmph!" Ota glared at Shimazaki with displeasure in his bulging eyes. But he didn't show any reaction to the man.
"You have nothing to worry about. After all, Comittee Chairman Matoba of the Social Democratic Party is going to switch sides and start supporting the National Secrets Protection Act."
"What did you just say...!?"
Ota bolted upright, and as if to taunt him, Shimazaki remained silent for a while.
"I'm saying that if you leave everything to me, I'll get the Social Democratic Party on your side."
"If this is a joke, it's not very funny. Do you have some sort of plan?" Ota's voice was trembling.
"You yourself advocated the importance of passing the National Secrets Protection Act; it would be a waste for you change your mind about it now!" Ota's voice sounded a little rude.
"Now that Committee Chairman Matoba is against the act, I can't go along with it. Try and understand the tight position that I'm in right now." The voice on the other end of the phone was also tired. Judging from the fact that he brought up Committee Chairman Matoba, the speaker was probably a member of the Diet from the Social Democratic Party.
"I've done my best to convince Matoba. If that's not enough, then the only thing left for you to is to try and convince him yourself. I'm sure Matoba is not unflappable, so long as you agree to a power share between the two parties." Saying all he was willing to, the speaker hung up.
"Damn!" Slamming the receiver back onto the phone, Ota fell backwards onto the bed and rubbed his eyelids. Taking in a deep breath, his bulging stomach expanded like a frog's.
Right at that moment, there was a knock on the door.
"It's open." Yawning as he spoke, Ota made no effort to turn toward the door. It made a clicking sound as it opened, and a red face with a clearly ingratiating smile poked in through the door.
It was Shimazaki Ryunosuke.
"I don't know what it is you want at this hour, but I'm not exactly in a good mood." Propping himself up on the bed, Ota turned his head toward the man, the bones in his neck popping as he did so.
"There's something that I would like to tell you." Shimazaki's eyes were lit up.
"I'd love to hear another one of your schemes to make more money, but this isn't the time. I've got to get this law passed."
"Trying to score as many points as possible while Chief Secretary so you can be first in line for that juicy Party Chairman position when it next goes vacant, are we?"
"Hmph!" Ota glared at Shimazaki with displeasure in his bulging eyes. But he didn't show any reaction to the man.
"You have nothing to worry about. After all, Comittee Chairman Matoba of the Social Democratic Party is going to switch sides and start supporting the National Secrets Protection Act."
"What did you just say...!?"
Ota bolted upright, and as if to taunt him, Shimazaki remained silent for a while.
"I'm saying that if you leave everything to me, I'll get the Social Democratic Party on your side."
"If this is a joke, it's not very funny. Do you have some sort of plan?" Ota's voice was trembling.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Part 2: Chapter 4
Sandwiched in between many computers and electronic instruments, a whiteboard covered in complicated looking mathematical formulae dominated a room in the brand new National Electric Research Laboratories (otherwise known as Electric Labs) building behind Shinjuku Park in Tokyo. Surrounding a desk with a terminal around it, a crimson thaumaturgic circle painted on the ground stood out conspicuously. This was the Demon Banishment Project Room, constructed by Professor Feed on direct request to the Chief Cabinet Secretary. Of course, there was no way that they could officially name the project something like "Demon Banishment," and a placard attached to the door read "New AI Project Room," AI short for "Artificial Intelligence."
A week earlier, late at night, Feed visited Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujita along with Narukawa and the fully-recovered Nakajima. While skirting around Nakajima's own personal culpability in the incident, Feed had explained the details situation to the Secretary--how Nakajima fought with a demon summoned by a computer, and how the incident posed a potential danger for the future.
However, Secretary Fujita's response had been less than accomodating.
"Even coming from a brilliant scientist from MIT as yourself, I can't possibly be expected to believe in demons." Behind his glasses, Fujita's eyes displayed an expression of surprise and confusion.
"Well, at the very least, there are plenty of people in the US government that believe in that possibility." Feed shrugged his shoulders.
"We're low on help already, and I've already appointed our most elite investigator to help you..." Fujita spoke sardonically, barely concealing his irritation.
Narukawa, who had remained silent listening until this point in the conversation, suddenly spoke.
"Nakajima, could you show us Kerberos?"
"Of course."
With deft movements, Nakajima pulled out his handheld computer and his fingers started flying across the keyboard. Fujita's feet, which had been tapping impatiently, stopped instantly as a strange mist started billowing forth from the liquid crystal display. Rapidly the mist condensed into the outline of an otherworldly beast. As a gut-wrenching roar shook the office, Fujita found himself staring into two eyes like flame.
"What is...!?"
"This is a demon, Secretary Fujita. Though this demon is an obedient one, fiercely loyal to his master Nakajima."
Shaken by Kerberos' roar, Fujita waved his hand as if trying to say "OK, I get it!"
The first job of the Demon Banishment Project was to recreate the Demon Summoning Program that had been deleted off of Jusho High's host computer by someone. That itself was easy for Nakajima. Several days later, as Nakajima was going through the nearly complete program line-by-line to check it, Feed called out from behind him.
"How is it compared to the old version?"
"Part of the machine-language subroutines might be different, but for the most part, it should be the same." Nakajima's voice was slightly downcast. It might have been that deep down he no longer wanted to have any more association with demons at all.
"Want to give it a shot?" Stepping into the red thaumaturgic circle painted on the ground with mercuric sulfide-based paint, Feed spoke casually.
"OK."
As the computer started up, a musky odor started to fill the room. A low rumbling filled the brand new building, and cracks shot up the white walls.
"If a demon appears, I'll take care of it." In his right hand, Feed was gripping an ornate cross. Realizing the man's sincerity, Nakajima cast a genuinely friendly smile in his direction for the first time. But the rumbling started to die down, and the musky smell started to thin.
"Is there some sort of mistake in the program?" Nakajima looked at Feed as if searching for an answer.
"I don't think so. From what I've just seen, there's no mistake that a magnetic field suitable for summoning a demon was all set up. It may be that the reason no demon appeared was that it might have appeared in the Assiah world via a different magnetic field."
"There's still some details about the mechanism for demon summoning that I don't really understand yet."
"Unusual words, coming from the genius that was the first to successfully summon a demon via a computer." Feed grinned broadly, but his expression soon turned grave as he looked directly at Nakajima.
"The last demon to appear called himself Set, correct?"
"Yes, that's right."
"While it's too dangerous to try and conjecture the state of affairs in the demon world based on our own knowledge of this one, my theory is that the demon world is like a colloidal conglomeration of countless mini-universes, each centered around a powerful demon. Most likely, with Loki's death, the mini-universe in contact with Japan or Tokyo vanished, and Set's mini-universe entered to take its place. Demon summoning is just opening a contact point between the two worlds at the same time."
"So what would happen if two contact points were opened at the same time?"
"The demon would decide which it wanted to appear at. However, there are some examples in medieval records of demon summonings that report that when the difference in strength of the two magnetic fields was great enough, the demon would be pulled to the stronger field, regardless of which it wanted to go to..."
A knock on the door interrupted Feed's explanation. Carrying a stack of thick books, Narukawa closed the door behind him as he approached the two.
"There are about 6,000 computers in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area capable of summoning a demon. Using mass numbers of investigators, this is the number of locations that could be serached out in detail within a month."
Since the project was officially started, while continuing to try and track down Ohara, Narukawa had been investigating places with mid-size or larger computers installed, with an eye out for hardware that would be capable of summoning demons.
"I see. Have you made any headway on finding Ohara?"
"Unfortunately, no. However, there is something I'd like to ask you..." Lowering his voice, Narukawa looked at Feed.
"What is it?"
"Professor, do you know a man named Isma Feed?"
The instant the professor heard the name, Nakajima noticed his expression cloud up.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"We've received a communique from the FBI that Isma has snuck into Japan."
"This is bad. As you know, in the incarnation of a serpent, Set was powerful enough to take on and fight all the Egyptian gods to a standstill single-handedly. If Isma were to join forces with one such as him..."
Without explaining just who Isma was, Feed turned to the window and gazed outside with unfocused eyes.
A week earlier, late at night, Feed visited Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujita along with Narukawa and the fully-recovered Nakajima. While skirting around Nakajima's own personal culpability in the incident, Feed had explained the details situation to the Secretary--how Nakajima fought with a demon summoned by a computer, and how the incident posed a potential danger for the future.
However, Secretary Fujita's response had been less than accomodating.
"Even coming from a brilliant scientist from MIT as yourself, I can't possibly be expected to believe in demons." Behind his glasses, Fujita's eyes displayed an expression of surprise and confusion.
"Well, at the very least, there are plenty of people in the US government that believe in that possibility." Feed shrugged his shoulders.
"We're low on help already, and I've already appointed our most elite investigator to help you..." Fujita spoke sardonically, barely concealing his irritation.
Narukawa, who had remained silent listening until this point in the conversation, suddenly spoke.
"Nakajima, could you show us Kerberos?"
"Of course."
With deft movements, Nakajima pulled out his handheld computer and his fingers started flying across the keyboard. Fujita's feet, which had been tapping impatiently, stopped instantly as a strange mist started billowing forth from the liquid crystal display. Rapidly the mist condensed into the outline of an otherworldly beast. As a gut-wrenching roar shook the office, Fujita found himself staring into two eyes like flame.
"What is...!?"
"This is a demon, Secretary Fujita. Though this demon is an obedient one, fiercely loyal to his master Nakajima."
Shaken by Kerberos' roar, Fujita waved his hand as if trying to say "OK, I get it!"
The first job of the Demon Banishment Project was to recreate the Demon Summoning Program that had been deleted off of Jusho High's host computer by someone. That itself was easy for Nakajima. Several days later, as Nakajima was going through the nearly complete program line-by-line to check it, Feed called out from behind him.
"How is it compared to the old version?"
"Part of the machine-language subroutines might be different, but for the most part, it should be the same." Nakajima's voice was slightly downcast. It might have been that deep down he no longer wanted to have any more association with demons at all.
"Want to give it a shot?" Stepping into the red thaumaturgic circle painted on the ground with mercuric sulfide-based paint, Feed spoke casually.
"OK."
As the computer started up, a musky odor started to fill the room. A low rumbling filled the brand new building, and cracks shot up the white walls.
"If a demon appears, I'll take care of it." In his right hand, Feed was gripping an ornate cross. Realizing the man's sincerity, Nakajima cast a genuinely friendly smile in his direction for the first time. But the rumbling started to die down, and the musky smell started to thin.
"Is there some sort of mistake in the program?" Nakajima looked at Feed as if searching for an answer.
"I don't think so. From what I've just seen, there's no mistake that a magnetic field suitable for summoning a demon was all set up. It may be that the reason no demon appeared was that it might have appeared in the Assiah world via a different magnetic field."
"There's still some details about the mechanism for demon summoning that I don't really understand yet."
"Unusual words, coming from the genius that was the first to successfully summon a demon via a computer." Feed grinned broadly, but his expression soon turned grave as he looked directly at Nakajima.
"The last demon to appear called himself Set, correct?"
"Yes, that's right."
"While it's too dangerous to try and conjecture the state of affairs in the demon world based on our own knowledge of this one, my theory is that the demon world is like a colloidal conglomeration of countless mini-universes, each centered around a powerful demon. Most likely, with Loki's death, the mini-universe in contact with Japan or Tokyo vanished, and Set's mini-universe entered to take its place. Demon summoning is just opening a contact point between the two worlds at the same time."
"So what would happen if two contact points were opened at the same time?"
"The demon would decide which it wanted to appear at. However, there are some examples in medieval records of demon summonings that report that when the difference in strength of the two magnetic fields was great enough, the demon would be pulled to the stronger field, regardless of which it wanted to go to..."
A knock on the door interrupted Feed's explanation. Carrying a stack of thick books, Narukawa closed the door behind him as he approached the two.
"There are about 6,000 computers in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area capable of summoning a demon. Using mass numbers of investigators, this is the number of locations that could be serached out in detail within a month."
Since the project was officially started, while continuing to try and track down Ohara, Narukawa had been investigating places with mid-size or larger computers installed, with an eye out for hardware that would be capable of summoning demons.
"I see. Have you made any headway on finding Ohara?"
"Unfortunately, no. However, there is something I'd like to ask you..." Lowering his voice, Narukawa looked at Feed.
"What is it?"
"Professor, do you know a man named Isma Feed?"
The instant the professor heard the name, Nakajima noticed his expression cloud up.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"We've received a communique from the FBI that Isma has snuck into Japan."
"This is bad. As you know, in the incarnation of a serpent, Set was powerful enough to take on and fight all the Egyptian gods to a standstill single-handedly. If Isma were to join forces with one such as him..."
Without explaining just who Isma was, Feed turned to the window and gazed outside with unfocused eyes.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Part 2: Chapter 3
August 1st, midnight.
The underground storage room seemed somewhat small now, with the huge supercomputer that had now been installed there. Isma had been making large improvements in the demon summoning program that Ohara had stolen. Of course, he also had the skills of the software engineers under Shimazaki's control at his beck and call. Still, materializing the "digital" Set had proved to be more difficult than expected.
"Saint, how is it going? Has there been any progress?" Shimazaki's voice sounded somewhat impatient.
"This program is has too many defects in it! Summoning a demon is a two step process; first you need to create a magnetic field in which to call it forth, and then you can help give it a form. However this program completes the process in a confusing and complicated way!"
"But wasn't the demon called Loki able to take a body using that program?"
"Set is a lot more powerful than Loki. The amount of data that needs to be processed is gigantic in comparison. Furthermore, if you try to run the program straight-up, low-ranking demons get their data mixed up with Set, making it even more difficult to give him a form. I'm trying to add my own improvements to handle the data more efficiently, but it's not enough to give Set a body yet. Anyhow, to start with, I'm going to try to separate and materialize those low-ranking demons first."
Sitting in the middle of the Solomon Hexagram, Isma started to type on the keyboard. The magnetic tape started clacking as the reels began to spin, and the display started flashing wildly. Soon, a musky smell filled the room.
"Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh." As the low voice sounded, a milky white droplet formed on the display.
"Oh, at last!" Not moving an inch, Isma and Shimazaki gazed at the screen. As the condensation increased until it seemed to cover the screen, it slid off onto the floor. Two tiny white snakes, small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand, started to slither across the ground. As Shimazaki started to bend toward them, an expression of suspicion on his face, Isma yelled at him.
"Don't get near them! If you value your life, that is!"
"What are these puny little snakes?" Shimazaki asked, clear dissatisfaction in his voice.
"They are Apeps, venomous serpents that serve Set."
"What kind of power could little snakes like these possibly have?"
"Apeps enter into the bodies of humans, dissolve their spinal cords with their poison and then replace it with their own bodies, becoming the victim's nervous system and controlling them completely."
"I-is that so...?" Shimazaki gulped and took a step backward.
"Apeps are like receivers that Set can use to control humans from a long distance. Depending on how one used them, they could be more useful than any kind of raw power, no matter how great..." His eyes mere slits, as if looking at precious jewels, Isma watched the two small squiggling vipers.
On the second floor of the same manor, Ohara was in a room about 15 square meters with no other furniture but a bed. Opening the curtains of the window, she saw the moon reflected in the water amongst the reeds of the swamp. Facing the moon, Ohara whispered.
"Loki...."
Ohara had no home to return to. According to the report from one of Shimazaki's underlings, they were investigating her house in connection with the incident at Jusho high.
Nobody knows the truth. No, even if someone told them, they'd never believe it.
As if in response to her call, the embryo inside her moved around.
Does a fetus less than three months old like this usually kick this much? I might be giving birth to a child with an unfathomable amount of power. Since it's Loki's child, I'm sure it'll be beautiful....
Closing the curtains and moving away from the window, Ohara sat down on the bed. Sitting alone at night like this always made her thoughts turn to Loki.
It's hard to believe that just a few months ago I was hoping to get married like a normal person. Loki, where did you go...
Her intuition told her that the demon she loved was dead. However, she did not want to admit it. She couldn't possibly believe that anyone in the world could replace Loki.
Nakajima, Shirasagi, if you still live, I'll make you suffer just like I have!
Ohara bit her lip until it bled. Though she had not noticed when it happened, green scales had started to grow on the back of her hand. At some point, demonic power had started to flow through Ohara's own body.
The underground storage room seemed somewhat small now, with the huge supercomputer that had now been installed there. Isma had been making large improvements in the demon summoning program that Ohara had stolen. Of course, he also had the skills of the software engineers under Shimazaki's control at his beck and call. Still, materializing the "digital" Set had proved to be more difficult than expected.
"Saint, how is it going? Has there been any progress?" Shimazaki's voice sounded somewhat impatient.
"This program is has too many defects in it! Summoning a demon is a two step process; first you need to create a magnetic field in which to call it forth, and then you can help give it a form. However this program completes the process in a confusing and complicated way!"
"But wasn't the demon called Loki able to take a body using that program?"
"Set is a lot more powerful than Loki. The amount of data that needs to be processed is gigantic in comparison. Furthermore, if you try to run the program straight-up, low-ranking demons get their data mixed up with Set, making it even more difficult to give him a form. I'm trying to add my own improvements to handle the data more efficiently, but it's not enough to give Set a body yet. Anyhow, to start with, I'm going to try to separate and materialize those low-ranking demons first."
Sitting in the middle of the Solomon Hexagram, Isma started to type on the keyboard. The magnetic tape started clacking as the reels began to spin, and the display started flashing wildly. Soon, a musky smell filled the room.
"Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh." As the low voice sounded, a milky white droplet formed on the display.
"Oh, at last!" Not moving an inch, Isma and Shimazaki gazed at the screen. As the condensation increased until it seemed to cover the screen, it slid off onto the floor. Two tiny white snakes, small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand, started to slither across the ground. As Shimazaki started to bend toward them, an expression of suspicion on his face, Isma yelled at him.
"Don't get near them! If you value your life, that is!"
"What are these puny little snakes?" Shimazaki asked, clear dissatisfaction in his voice.
"They are Apeps, venomous serpents that serve Set."
"What kind of power could little snakes like these possibly have?"
"Apeps enter into the bodies of humans, dissolve their spinal cords with their poison and then replace it with their own bodies, becoming the victim's nervous system and controlling them completely."
"I-is that so...?" Shimazaki gulped and took a step backward.
"Apeps are like receivers that Set can use to control humans from a long distance. Depending on how one used them, they could be more useful than any kind of raw power, no matter how great..." His eyes mere slits, as if looking at precious jewels, Isma watched the two small squiggling vipers.
On the second floor of the same manor, Ohara was in a room about 15 square meters with no other furniture but a bed. Opening the curtains of the window, she saw the moon reflected in the water amongst the reeds of the swamp. Facing the moon, Ohara whispered.
"Loki...."
Ohara had no home to return to. According to the report from one of Shimazaki's underlings, they were investigating her house in connection with the incident at Jusho high.
Nobody knows the truth. No, even if someone told them, they'd never believe it.
As if in response to her call, the embryo inside her moved around.
Does a fetus less than three months old like this usually kick this much? I might be giving birth to a child with an unfathomable amount of power. Since it's Loki's child, I'm sure it'll be beautiful....
Closing the curtains and moving away from the window, Ohara sat down on the bed. Sitting alone at night like this always made her thoughts turn to Loki.
It's hard to believe that just a few months ago I was hoping to get married like a normal person. Loki, where did you go...
Her intuition told her that the demon she loved was dead. However, she did not want to admit it. She couldn't possibly believe that anyone in the world could replace Loki.
Nakajima, Shirasagi, if you still live, I'll make you suffer just like I have!
Ohara bit her lip until it bled. Though she had not noticed when it happened, green scales had started to grow on the back of her hand. At some point, demonic power had started to flow through Ohara's own body.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Part 2: Chapter 2
After returning to the material world from Izanami's burial chamber, Nakajima had visibly weakened, and under the protection of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, he had been admitted to Kuniritsu-Musashino Hospital, where Charles Feed had questioned him.
"I think that just about covers all that happened, Dr. Feed." Sitting up in bed, Nakajima spoke in a tired voice before going silent. His face was as handsome as usual, but his gaze seemed somewhat empty.
Sitting across from Nakajima, Feed got a sense of what was going on. Part of his psyche is refusing to awaken. He probably doesn't want to face the fact that the demon he summoned killed all of his classmates.
"I don't really know what to say...if only I was in America when you first summoned the demon and contacted Craft, this never would have happened. However, that doesn't change the fact that you have commited a grave crime. Whether or not the law can do anything about it, though..." Feed looked over at Narukawa, who was sitting in a corner of the room, listening intently.
"It's be tough to establish any proof of instigation of murder. About all he could be charged with is misuse of a computer."
Caught by Feed's gaze as he looked at Nakajima's profile, Narukawa gave a somewhat forced legal interpretation of the situation.
Something seemed strange about Nakajima; Narukawa felt a strange sense, like as if he had run into a lover or long-lost relative that he had been separated from ages ago. At first he thought that he had just been stricken by the boy's looks, but as time passed, he realized that this was something different, like an bizarrely unnatural feeling of nostalgia.
I can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure I've met this boy somewhere...
However, no matter how hard he racked his brains, Narukawa could not think of another moment where had ever seen Nakajima before.
"I would never have expected a genius capable of summoning demons with a computer would be born here in Japan..." Feed's murmuring broke Narukawa's strange sense of deja-vu.
"I think it's less a matter of my ability and more that the conditions in the city of Tokyo are good for summoning demons. I'm sure there are many programs written on the same concept overseas, but I've never heard of an example of any of them working." Nakajima's words were cool and collected, as if he was speaking of someone else.
"On that note, where is the critical demon summoning program now?"
"It should be on Jusho High's host computer..."
"What was the filename?"
"It's DEMON."
Feed and Narukawa looked at each other. Nakajima understood the meaning of their glance instantly.
"Someone deleted it, didn't they?"
"Who besides you would have been able to do that?"
"Ohara, I bet."
As Nakajima responded, Narukawa interrupted into the conversation.
"I will get right on finding Ohara. I'm not saying that I believe everything that Nakajima is saying, but it definitely seems that Ohara holds the key to this puzzle."
Almost as if switching places with Narukawa as he opened the door to the room, Nakajima's mother looked in.
"Mr. Feed, it's been longer than an hour. Akemi is still not well. Could I possibly ask you to come back some other time?"
Feed shook his head and spoke resolutely. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Nakajima, but for your own son's sake, it's important that I finish my conversation with him."
"Mom, it's OK." With her son's insistence, Nakajima's mother left with an air of disapproval, but even after she left, her silhouette in the frosted glass showed that she was trying to listen in on the conversation.
Smiling bitterly, Feed spoke in a low voice directly into Nakajima's ear.
"You'll work together with me, right?"
"Yes...of course."
"So, where do you think we should start from?"
"...Hmm. I think the best thing to do to start would be to rewrite the demon summoning program." As Nakajima whispered, there was a sort of blankness in his expression.
"I think that just about covers all that happened, Dr. Feed." Sitting up in bed, Nakajima spoke in a tired voice before going silent. His face was as handsome as usual, but his gaze seemed somewhat empty.
Sitting across from Nakajima, Feed got a sense of what was going on. Part of his psyche is refusing to awaken. He probably doesn't want to face the fact that the demon he summoned killed all of his classmates.
"I don't really know what to say...if only I was in America when you first summoned the demon and contacted Craft, this never would have happened. However, that doesn't change the fact that you have commited a grave crime. Whether or not the law can do anything about it, though..." Feed looked over at Narukawa, who was sitting in a corner of the room, listening intently.
"It's be tough to establish any proof of instigation of murder. About all he could be charged with is misuse of a computer."
Caught by Feed's gaze as he looked at Nakajima's profile, Narukawa gave a somewhat forced legal interpretation of the situation.
Something seemed strange about Nakajima; Narukawa felt a strange sense, like as if he had run into a lover or long-lost relative that he had been separated from ages ago. At first he thought that he had just been stricken by the boy's looks, but as time passed, he realized that this was something different, like an bizarrely unnatural feeling of nostalgia.
I can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure I've met this boy somewhere...
However, no matter how hard he racked his brains, Narukawa could not think of another moment where had ever seen Nakajima before.
"I would never have expected a genius capable of summoning demons with a computer would be born here in Japan..." Feed's murmuring broke Narukawa's strange sense of deja-vu.
"I think it's less a matter of my ability and more that the conditions in the city of Tokyo are good for summoning demons. I'm sure there are many programs written on the same concept overseas, but I've never heard of an example of any of them working." Nakajima's words were cool and collected, as if he was speaking of someone else.
"On that note, where is the critical demon summoning program now?"
"It should be on Jusho High's host computer..."
"What was the filename?"
"It's DEMON."
Feed and Narukawa looked at each other. Nakajima understood the meaning of their glance instantly.
"Someone deleted it, didn't they?"
"Who besides you would have been able to do that?"
"Ohara, I bet."
As Nakajima responded, Narukawa interrupted into the conversation.
"I will get right on finding Ohara. I'm not saying that I believe everything that Nakajima is saying, but it definitely seems that Ohara holds the key to this puzzle."
Almost as if switching places with Narukawa as he opened the door to the room, Nakajima's mother looked in.
"Mr. Feed, it's been longer than an hour. Akemi is still not well. Could I possibly ask you to come back some other time?"
Feed shook his head and spoke resolutely. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Nakajima, but for your own son's sake, it's important that I finish my conversation with him."
"Mom, it's OK." With her son's insistence, Nakajima's mother left with an air of disapproval, but even after she left, her silhouette in the frosted glass showed that she was trying to listen in on the conversation.
Smiling bitterly, Feed spoke in a low voice directly into Nakajima's ear.
"You'll work together with me, right?"
"Yes...of course."
"So, where do you think we should start from?"
"...Hmm. I think the best thing to do to start would be to rewrite the demon summoning program." As Nakajima whispered, there was a sort of blankness in his expression.
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