Chapter 123: The Late-Night Diner (2/3)

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This was a diner that opened only late at night. Its menu consisted solely of braised meat and liquor, yet as long as the ingredients were available, customers could order anything they wished. After a full day of work, all kinds of people came here to cast off their weariness, chat about amusing stories or their troubles, and savor the bittersweet flavors of life.

In a deserted village lane, Saki Shiratori and Makoto Ito arrived outside a traditional Japanese diner. Drawing a deep breath, they nervously slid open the wooden door.

“Welcome. I’m sorry, but we have rather a lot of customers tonight. There’s only one seat left over here.” A middle-aged woman who looked like a housewife came out of the kitchen with an apologetic smile and ushered Makoto and Saki to their seats.

“Oh? This place looks perfectly normal. It certainly doesn’t look like the scene of a murder and dismemberment. Could that phone call really have been a prank?” A strange look flickered through Saki’s eyes. She had expected to encounter a horrifying murder and dismemberment case in this diner, and had been terribly on edge. Yet nothing at all seemed to have happened here. It was simply an entirely ordinary country diner.

By now, every seat in the small diner was occupied. Almost all the patrons were native villagers. Several bottles of sake and a large bowl of steaming braised meat sat on every table as people chatted about family affairs and savored the many flavors of life.

“Ma’am, we’re police officers from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. We just received a report of a murder. Have you noticed anything unusual here, or seen anyone suspicious?”

Saki’s nervousness eased slightly, and she instinctively pulled out her notebook to record the details of the case.

But the middle-aged woman running the diner acted as though she had not heard a word. Cheerfully wiping the greasy table, she beckoned them to sit down.

“You must be hungry after coming all the way from Tokyo. Here, try some of my braised meat. It’s country cooking, but I promise it tastes very good.”

As she spoke, the woman waddled into the kitchen, her plump waist swaying from side to side, and returned with two large bowls of braised meat.

“Officer Ito, what do we do now?” Unable to refuse the woman’s hospitality, Saki found herself growing hungry at the enticing aroma.

“We’ll sit down for now and see what happens. That phone call probably wasn’t merely a prank. Someone must have deliberately lured us to this diner.”

“Then what exactly is her purpose?”

“We don’t know yet.”

Makoto did not touch the liquor. There was something deeply strange about this diner, though he could not say precisely what felt wrong.

Minute by minute, time passed. The diners seemed to be in high spirits and showed no intention of leaving. Their clamorous voices filled the late-night diner, and Saki gradually frowned as she sensed something amiss.

At that moment, Makoto steadied his breathing and pricked up his ears, carefully listening to the conversation among several young men drinking at the neighboring table.

“Kazuya, I heard you found a pretty good job in Tokyo. Come on, tell us what kind of work it is. Does it pay well?” asked a slender young man with fair skin, his face filled with envy and curiosity.

The boy called Kazuya thought for a moment, then answered seriously, “The pay is fairly good. I suppose you could call it work in the service industry. The more customers who come in, the more generous the commissions.”

“Does your job put you in contact with pretty girls?”

“Hmm. I do meet plenty of women through work, but most of them are considerably older than I am,” Kazuya said honestly.

Hearing this, the friends drinking with him looked even more envious.

“I actually prefer older women. They’re mature, sexy, and know how to take care of people. Older women are the best!” exclaimed a blond young man sitting beside Kazuya, his face flushed with excitement.

Just then, Saki suddenly leaned toward Makoto and asked curiously, “Officer Ito, what kind of girl do you like?”

Makoto’s formidable combat ability and cold side during their earlier battle had left a deep impression on Saki, and she found herself unable to suppress her curiosity about him.

Makoto rolled his eyes speechlessly. Was this really the time to ask such a pointless question?

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When Saki saw that Makoto was ignoring her, she seemed to think of something too embarrassing to say. Her limpid eyes widened in surprise, and she covered her lips coyly.

“Don’t tell me you like cute boys?”

Crack.

Makoto’s wrist jerked, and in a moment of lost control, his fingers punched five dark holes straight through the teacup.

Who would have thought that Saki, who looked as pure as a white lotus, was actually a fujoshi?

Hmph. She saw perversion everywhere she looked.

Noticing the murderous look in Makoto’s eyes, Saki obediently fell silent. Yet a mischievous glint remained in her eyes, like that of a little fox up to no good.

“You don’t understand. The women I meet through work aren’t merely a little older than me. They’re from an entirely older generation…” Kazuya took a sip of sake and spoke with a bitter smile.

The blond and fair-haired young men stared blankly at the bitter expression on Kazuya’s face, unable to understand what had happened.

“Kazuya, what exactly is your job?”

“To be honest, I work as a male host at a nightclub in Tokyo.”

“A male host?”

The atmosphere around the table became extremely awkward.

“Hey, hey, my job is only to drink and chat with wealthy older ladies. I don’t do anything inappropriate,” Kazuya hurriedly explained when he saw their expressions.

So that was it. The other young men at the table looked disappointed.

“Kazuya, is your club hiring? You know, the kind that offers shameful services…” The blond young man shot him a meaningful look, clearly very interested in the profession.

Saki’s pretty face flushed red. Like an ostrich, she lowered her head and sipped water from her teacup.

She looked exactly like a child insisting that she was too young to hear any of this.

Just then, Makoto set down his teacup and casually wandered over to them.

“So Officer Ito is interested in that shameful profession too? Men really are all scoundrels,” Saki muttered inwardly.

The group grew wary when they saw the unfamiliar man approaching.

“I’m a police officer from Tokyo, investigating a case. I’d like to ask you a few questions.” As he spoke, Makoto pulled an identification card from his pocket and waved it briefly before their eyes, demonstrating his identity.

“Makoto Ito, police officer?”

“…”

“To be honest, we only just got back from Tokyo ourselves. We don’t know very much about what’s been happening in the village,” Kazuya said nervously, afraid of saying the wrong thing.

“That’s fine. It’s only a few simple questions.” Makoto gathered his thoughts, then asked, “Do you know Old Man Yamada, who lives alone in that old house on the southern edge of the village?”

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Kazuya thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, though Grandfather Yamada has a strange temper, and very few people in the village have much contact with him. Every night, he comes to this diner for a bowl of braised meat and a few drinks. I saw him here just last night. He doesn’t seem to have come today.”

A chill ran through Saki. Old Man Yamada had clearly been dead for more than half a year. How could Kazuya claim to have seen him only last night?

Was he lying?

Yet Saki could think of no reason why Kazuya would deceive them.

Makoto’s expression did not change. With complete composure, he said, “We received a report from the old man saying that his cat had gone missing. Have any of you seen it?”

“A cat?”

The men exchanged bewildered glances and shook their heads.

“According to the old man’s description, it should be a black cat with blue eyes and a scar on its forehead.”

Saki looked at Makoto in confusion, unable to understand why he was still dwelling on the missing-cat case. Surely whether this was a corpse rising from the dead or some terrifying phone call, both matters were far more important than finding a cat.

Strangely, when he heard Makoto’s description, a flicker of panic and fear passed through Kazuya’s eyes. His expression became unnatural as he shook his head and stopped responding.

“At a time like this, why are you still hung up on that cat?” Saki leaned over like an inquisitive child. She felt that she understood this Officer Ito less and less.

“When a case offers no clues at all, it can help to return to the beginning and start from the source. We may find something unexpected. The starting point of every case we’ve encountered is that missing cat.” Makoto explained his reasoning to Saki, though from her expression, she did not seem to understand any of it.

As they spoke, the proprietress of the late-night diner brought over the two steaming bowls of braised meat. Besides the meat, there was also a plate of edamame, a grilled saury, and a serving of thick rolled omelet. The woman’s cooking was excellent. She had transformed several simple dishes into food that was pleasing to the eye, fragrant, and delicious enough to make anyone’s mouth water.

Makoto, however, had completely lost his appetite. The feeling this diner gave him was becoming increasingly wrong.

“Come to think of it, I’m actually a little hungry. This braised meat smells wonderful. It should taste good too.” Saki’s appetite was awakened, and she picked up a piece of meat and put it into her mouth.

At that very moment, Makoto suddenly saw a black shadow flash past the diner’s entrance.

A completely black cat stood outside, a crescent-shaped scar visible on its forehead.

Its blue eyes gleamed eerily in the darkness of the night. Makoto shuddered all over, as though he had seen a silent River Styx reflected in those feline eyes.

Meow~

A sharp cry rang out, and the scene before Makoto and Saki shattered like glass.

A thick stench of blood rushed into their faces. The food on the table instantly transformed into plates of nauseating snakes, insects, and rats, while the bowl of braised meat in Saki’s hands held a bloody chunk of flesh covered in white fur.

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