４．Ｓａｔｕｒｄａｙ　Ｍａｒｃｈ　３０，　２０１９

The mountainous area was already sinking into night. The car navigation system was as useless as ever, just repeating nonsense voices. Maruta drove on, carefully comparing the mountain road he remembered with the trees illuminated by the headlights.

"Kira-san, please let me know if I'm going the wrong way."
"Okay, I'm not sure, though." Kira seemed really unsure.
As it is still chilly season, no sound of insects can be heard. The streetlights were gone before they knew it, and the soundless darkness grew thicker and thicker.

The landscape was almost entirely black, but even so, Maruta did not get lost, as this was his third time driving. He stopped the car at the entrance to that rutted path, not turning off the engine.

Kira looked out of the car over Maruta's face. "I see the road is still blocked."
"Yeah," Maruta is unconcerned. "Maybe if there's a hot spring up ahead, there will be no more road closure signs."

Maruta's face floated white in the light of his smartphone. Before Kira could ask, Maruta started in.
"After arriving at the convenience store, it takes about ten minutes to get to the restaurant. From there it took about 20 minutes to get here, roughly 30 minutes total."
Kira looked at Maruta in a daze, not understanding the intent of his words. Maruta continued further.
"We did not order lunch boxes for six people at a restaurant. If we add that, the total of 40 minutes would be reasonable."

"Did you time how long it took Tokyo Spread to leave the shack and come back again?" Kira's face cleared up a bit.
"Right. However, we do not yet know what route they followed on the day of the incident. I'm going to go check that out now. I hope someone witnessed it."
When he finished, Maruta backed the car and turned it around.
"We're going back now?" Kira asked.
"So, do you want to wait until the ghosts come out?"
"Uh, no."

At this time, the two were still in such a good mood that they were unaware of the anomalies in this area. The car drove back toward the city center.


Toward the end of their meal, to the table came the female waitress dressed in plain clothes. She wore a navy blue hoodie and a long skirt, as she would have been in high school without any frills.
She sat in the seat toward which Kira sat, leaving room for one person between him. It was as if an inevitable repulsive force was at work between them.

"Thanks for coming, you're busy." When Maruta said this, she replied with a reserved, "I don't mind."
After a slight expansion of general small talk, such as whether work was already done, Maruta moved the conversation to the main topic.
"I'll ask the same question again, but I heard that Kirvy from Tokyo Spread came here."
"He did." The clerk's voice was not as fluent as it had been during the call nine days earlier. Maruta thought that this is what it would be like to actually meet a girl of her age face to face, but he could no longer be bothered with that.

"Was he alone?"
"Yes."
"Captain and Shaggy weren't there, were they?"
"No."
"Did Kirvy come by car?"
The clerk looked at the ceiling, pondered, and then said. "I don't remember that much."

Maruta changed the question. "Kirvy bought packed lunches for six people, right?"
"Yes."
"With that kind of quantity, how long does it take to make the order?"
Again she thought. "It takes about ten to fifteen minutes."
"So, Kirvy stayed here for about that long at that time."
"I believe he did."
"Did you notice anything else unusual?"
"There were none in particular."

Here, their conversation was cut short. Kira also made no attempt to speak up.

In the midst of the silence, Maruta heard a group of innocent girls from a distant seat say, "Eri, what are you doing?"
The female clerk responded to the voice and shouted back, "I'm being interviewed right now."

Maruta felt that she began to become verbose at this point. The girls, who seemed to be her friends, said, "Eri, you are the culprit, aren't you?", laughing loudly at each other.
Then she replied, "Yes, I hit him with a mop and he died!", laughing in the same tone. Maruta and Kira watched their exchange in silence.

Seeing the female clerk turn around, Maruta said. "I'm sure the locals were baffled by an incident like that."
As Maruta predicted, she gradually began to speak on her own. "They said on the news that Tokyo Spread came that day to take videos of a haunted place. But there is no such place around here."

"Huh?" Maruta and Kira's eyes went wide. Perhaps amused by their surprised reaction, the clerk spoke further.
"In the seventeen years that I have lived in this neighborhood since I was born, I have never heard of any haunted places nearby. The mountain where the incident took place is certainly not popular and lonely. But there are decent settlements where people live. Only bears and wild boars come out. There are no ghosts."

"Let me ask you one thing." Maruta coughed once. "I have heard that there are many suicides deep in the mountains."
"There are none." The clerk went on to say. "Are you talking about the forest at the foot of Mt. Fuji? It is further south. The 'Suicide Forest' is more than 30 kilometers from here. This area has nothing to do with 'Suicide Forest'. Very few people commit suicide in the mountains around here."
When the high school girl said that much, she said, "If we are in this seating area too much, it will not make a good impression on other guests." and then left the table with a light farewell.

Maruta was so shocked that he was speechless for a while.
"There was no such thing as a haunted place."
Maruta was still silent when Kira told him that. In his mind, he reviewed every statement made by the people involved in the case. After it was over, the words spontaneously spilled out of his mouth. "Silva-san was lying."