Teruo
“I think you coughed out a lung, Hayashi,” the superintendent said with a sneer. “It’s under your desk. Pick it up.”
Teruo jumped to his feet and bowed. “Good afternoon, sir.” He extinguished his cigarette and remained standing.
What’s he doing here?
The superintendent rarely passed by his inspectors’ offices. Was this visit related to the chaos from this morning Megumi spoke about?
“Smoking is forbidden inside the building,” the superintendent said. “Seems you’re too good for these banal rules, hm?”
“Apologies, sir.” Teruo bowed again, deeper this time, feeling a knot twisting in his stomach. Surely the man hadn’t come all the way here to lecture him on his shitty smoking habits. That was just one of the many things the superintendent tolerated.
Superintendent Yoshida gestured at Teruo to sit down then his attention moved to Shinji—who sported a relaxed smile—and they started a pleasant exchange. Teruo was sure he’d never seen the superintendent speaking in such a gentle manner with anyone. This only helped to prove the superintendent cared about Shinji—enough to threaten Teruo about him. Now their secret relationship felt even heavier on Teruo’s shoulders. If Superintendent Yoshida found out Teruo was sleeping with his protégée… A shiver ran down Teruo’s spine just thinking about it and Shinji’s reassurances did nothing to make Teruo feel better.
“Brought the files you requested,” the superintendent said, placing a few documents on Shinji’s desk.
“Thank you, sir.” Shinji browsed through them then locked eyes with Teruo. “The files for the forensic team and your team of officers,” he explained.
Teruo nodded, impressed about the ease with which Shinji requested—and received—personnel files on such a short notice directly from the superintendent.
“I’m sure it’s none of the officers,” Yoshida spoke to Shinji. “They were tested and none in Hayashi’s team are…” he trailed off, giving Shinji a knowing look.
“Better safe than sorry.”
Superintendent Yoshida sighed. “Yeah, agreed.”
Teruo’s eyes narrowed.Tested?
The superintendent’s gaze moved for a faint second toward Teruo, then he continued, “I can’t say for sure about the medical center, though. Someone else takes care of it.”
Teruo folded his arms. The questions piled up in his head and the wheels started working on these little hints. So, the TMPD—or rather people like Shinji within the police—tested the officers for something which had to do with thereiryokuand the spirits. There was a way for them to figure out if any future officers were like Shinji or not to ensure there weren’t officers running around using the energy without permission.
Wait a fucking second… was I tested too?
Teruo quickly went through all the training and tests he received as a fresh recruit. There had been no wind, no nothing. But since those without powers weren’t allowed to know—as per Shinji’s words—then Teruo couldn’t have noticed it either. If he hadn’t met Shinji and hadn’t pressed him for information, he would’ve probably gone his entire life not knowing. He wasn’t even sure if that would’ve actually been better or not.
With everything that had taken his attention these past days, Teruo just realized that Shinji’sreiryokuwas the only energy he’d ever seen in his life. He couldn’t see or sense anyone else’s—not even the criminal’s. What made Shinji different? And why so suddenly? Something must’ve triggered it and Teruo wondered whether Shinji knew and chose not to tell him. If Shinji did know, Teruo couldn’t blame him for not saying anything. This whole thing kept Teruo between two extremes of terror and fascination, reminding him of his first days as a rookie in homicide.
“The medical center is my main concern,” Shinji said, snapping Teruo out of his thoughts, “since that’s where I saw the ghosts lined up and got attacked.”
“So many spirits in one place is problematic,” the superintendent agreed.
“I’ve already notified them of the situation,” Shinji added, “and requested that whoever has jurisdiction there take care of the ghosts. But I’m not sure how fast they’ll dispatch someone.”
“A day, maybe two. Since no incidents have been reported there, besides your account, they’re probably prioritizing other buildings.”
Superintendent Yoshida spoke about ghosts with such ease as if it was a perfectly normal occurrence. Teruo didn’t think he’d ever hear this man utter the word “spirit” with a straight face. And since the superintendent was so open about it, Teruo guessed that Shinji must’ve told him that Teruo knew about the ghosts.
What was the superintendent’s role? They were all the same kind, obviously. Shinji, Yoshida, the killer too. Maybe even Suzuki and Kojima, if Shinji’s theory proved correct. But…whatthe hell were they?
Teruo cursed himself for not being well-read in this field. He was dumb as a brick when it came to anything spiritual. On the other hand, he wasn’t even sure he could trust what books or the internet said since it was clear that people like Shinji kept themselves hidden.
Were they shamans? That sounded close. Or Shinto priests? Buddhist monks? He didn’t know how shrines and temples operated. The only time he stepped in such places was when Megumi dragged him there forhatsumode—the first visit to a temple or shrine of the New Year. But each trip was a blur of noisy people and snow. He should’ve paid better attention to the shrines instead of breaking his jaws yawning.
From the clues Shinji had thrown here and there, this wasn’t just a one-man thing, but something well-organized. He’d hoped maybe Shinji or the superintendent would have a slip of the tongue during this exchange and give Teruo a name. No chance of that happening though.
“You’re spacing out, Hayashi.” The superintendent turned to him. “Are we boring you?”