K - Four Seasons of K Short Story 9

August’s story with the Green clan, And with this, no more backlog for this, yay.

The original j.a.panese text is still kindly provided by

Once upon a Time on a Summer Day by Suzuki Suzu

The first to discover the phenomenon was Gojou Sukuna.

“Huh? Iwa-san, where did you put my rice bowl?”
“Huh?” Iwafune Tenkei acknowledged the grumpy voice coming from behind him and turned. The vacuum cleaner in one hand and a can of beer in the other, he restricted himself to gulping one mouthful of beer for every cleaned tatami mat. Only after taking another gulp of his beer did he knit his brows in a troubled frown. “Whatcha saying? If you’re looking for tableware, look for it in the cupboard.”
“I’m asking because I didn’t find it there. Jeez, where did you put it, seriously? I liked that bowl, you know!” Sukuna loudly and carelessly rummaged through the cupboard.

At the vandalistic sight Iwafune panicked and, switching off the cleaner’s power, hurried to grap Sukuna by the scruff of the neck and hoist him up. “Quit it! I just tidied up everything in there, and you’re making a mess again!”
“Then just tell me where you put my bowl and I won’t make mess in there.” Sukuna was Sukuna, managing to glare at Iwafune even as he was hanging in the air.

Iwafune let go of Sukuna with distaste and folded his arms. “For the love of, your smart-mouth makes you such a handful, y'know, kid… Alright, so? What kind of bowl was it?” he asked.
“You should know what, the one with a 16-bit picture of the invader.”

Iwafune knew. In fact, he himself washed it, dried it and put it away into the cupboard. Expression becoming more troubled by the second, he felt the need to reconfirm. “In that case it should be on the shelf, no two ways about it.”
“Well, and I’m telling it’s not there. It’s not like Yukari or Nagare could put anywhere either, now is it,” Sukuna stated irritatedly.

That was hard to argue with. The two other residents of this place, Mishakuji Yukari and Hisui Nagare, weren’t the type to go out of their way to clean up anything after other people. Though the more proper way to put it would be to say that the two in question simply had no interest in others’ belongings.

Just then, the sliding screen door to the four-and-a-half-mat room opened, and Yukari’s face stuck through. “Say, Iwa-san, there was a vase in my room, and now I can’t find it. Did you put it away somewhere?”
“A vase? No, I didn’t touch any vase.”
“Then was it you, Sukuna-chan? What a bad boy. No matter how beautiful the roses were, you can’t just take my things without permission.”
“It wasn’t me! Like I’d want some stupid flowers!”

s.h.i.ting his gaze back and forth between the exasperated Yukari and angry Sukuna, Iwafune, arms folded across his chest, started thinking. He didn’t find the possibility of the two lying believable. But then again, he knew for himself he didn’t take the belongings in question. Which left only one other person as the possible suspect…

“Iwa-san, did you see my tumbler? No one touched it except me, but I cannot seem to find it.”

No, there was just no way this particular guy would do something like that.

Turning the wheels of his wheelchair, the last resident of the place, the Green King, Hisui Nagare, rolled into the four and a half tatami mat room. Stopping in the doorway, he took in the irritated staredown between Sukuna and Yukari and inclined his head a little in question.

“…Did something happen?”
“They’re making a fuss about their things that’re suddenly gone missing. And it looks like you’re in the same boat here, no?”
“Hm?” Nagare narrowed his eyes. Lifting his head just the tiniest bit, he murmured, while pondering, “No one except for us knows about this place. If something disappeared from here, it is only natural to conclude that one of us hid it…”
“It wasn’t I, in any case. I’m the victim here.”
“It’s not me either! …Which means…”

The gazes of Sukuna, Yukari and Nagare all focused on Iwafune as if drawn to him by an in invisible force. Needless to say, that got Iwafune very fl.u.s.tered as he vigorously shook his head.

“No, no, hold it, hold it, fellas! Why are you a.s.suming I went and hid your things?!”
“How about because we don’t clean up after ourselves and you’d finally had it with us?”
“That’s only you, Sukuna! Yukari had his possession disappear from his room, remember? And I ain’t so kind as to clean other people’s private rooms.”
“Well, that’s true. He’s a not a child to be delighted over taking others’ belongings and hiding them… Mn? A child…?”
“Dontcha look at me! It wasn’t me, dammit, I told you!”
“Everyone please calm down.”

Nagare’s wheelchair made an electronic noise, and a few holographic displays appeared in the air. Manipulating them with his thought only, Nagare said calmly, “This matter cannot be settled with speculations alone. For starters, let’s check the footage from the surveillance cameras.”

In time with his statement, one of the displays came to life, showing the entranceway to the four-and-a-half-mat room.

“My tumbler was in this room until 13:23 today. With this time as the starting point, we will screen all the persons who entered and exited this room after that.”

On the fast forwarded footage, people came in and out with great speed. Watching that got Sukuna bored fast, and he said impatiently, “Is there even any point in doing this? There’s no way anyone except for the four of us could possibly get ins—” Suddenly, he stopped midword.

The camera footage displayed a freeze frame shot, and on it, there was an existence other than the four of them.

“It seems this is our suspect.”

No one replied to Nagare’s statement. Yukari, Sukuna and Iwafune simply stared at the picture, lost for words.

The door to the four-and-a-half-mat room opened, and the one to slip inside was…

“That’s… a cleaning robot, right?”

“Found it. The official model name is ‘Tsuk.u.mo 88’. The old type cleaning robot 3 generations prior to the type currently in operation, 'Tsuk.u.mo 99’.”

One of the displays was showing the 3d projection of the cleaning robot in question.

“It was released 15 years ago, and 3 years ago its production was discontinued. I a.s.sume it was the due time for it to hand over the baton to the next generation of robots.”
“Why are we still using such a robot? Why not just use the latest model?”

Hisui slowly shook his head to Sukuna’s question. “I did not bring any cleaning robots to this secret base in the first place. That is, Tsuk.u.mo 88 in question is not ours.”
“Huh? Then how did it…?” Sukuna started forming a question but fell silent before finishing it.

That thing didn’t belong to Jungle. Which meant it was someone else’s.

Jungle’s ultimate goal was stealing the Dresden Slate from the Gold clan, Timeless Palace, releasing its true power and making all mankind awaken as super ability holders. In particular, it went without saying that under no circ.u.mstances the guardians of the present order, Scepter 4 and Timeless Palace, would turn a blind eye to a scheme like that, that’s why until the time to put the plan in action was ripe, the Green clan had to hide in here. That was the reason why this place was their 'secret base’ to begin with. If someone other than them infiltrated this hideout, then the situation was grave indeed.

Both Yukari and Iwafune let the heavy silence continue, probably realizing that much. In the worst case scenario, there was a possibility that this place and its location would be leaked to Scepter 4 and Timeless Palace. In which case, they needed to think about relocating their secret base…

“First, let’s capture that Tsuk.u.mo 88,” ordered Nagare, clearing away the dark clouds hanging in the room. “I have already started pursuit of it, engaging every camera we have in the pa.s.sageways. Having collected my tumbler and Sukuna’s rice bowl, it acquired the vase from Yukari’s room and is currently on the move through pa.s.sage 23 in Block D. It is necessary to apprehend it before it moves out of rage of the surveillance cameras.”

Nagare directed his gaze at Sukuna. Guessing his intentions, Sukuna stood up.

“Sukuna. I issue a mission. 'Capture Tsuk.u.mo 88’. I designate it as exclusive for J rankers only and a.s.sign it maximum priority.”
“Roger that,” Sukuna acknowledged curtly and left the room.

'I will plot the navigation route for you to model 88’s current location,’ came Nagare’s voice from the PDA’s in Sukuna’s breast pocket. 'If there is danger, I will send Yukari in as your backup.’
“Huh? I don’t need him. There’s no way in blue h.e.l.l a coward who sent a thing like that to snoop around people’s places could ever beat me.” Sukuna flashed a savage smirk, leaning the long stick against his shoulder. “Once I find them, I’ll beat the c.r.a.p outta them whoever they are.”

“Hey. Is this really the right place?” Sukuna asked with doubt, holding his PDA up.

Currently, he was moving along route D5 - a looped pa.s.sage at the edge of Block D. It was a pa.s.sage weaving its way around the huge underground s.p.a.ce of the secret base as if encircling it, but usually, it wasn’t used at all because there were no exits to the surface anywhere along it. The wavering light from emergency lamps illuminated the slightly dirty pa.s.sage. If not for his PDA light, it would be impossible for Sukuna to see even 10 meters ahead.

'There is no mistake,’ Nagare’s voice confirmed through the PDA. 'Turn left at the next corner.“’
"Left? But that way…” Sukuna frowned at the sight that he encountered. “… is a deadend though?”

Like he said, there only was found a wall that way and some construction material in messy heaps. No sign of a door or a pa.s.sage anywhere.

As Sukuna just stood there in confusion, Nagare’s voice sounded again, 'The data confirm 88 turned left there. Please examine every nook and cranny.’
“Every nook and cranny. eh. Roooger.”

Sukuna spun the long staff in his hand. The same instance, a blade made purely out of energy materialized on its tip. The electromagnetic luminescence, resembling a green crescent moon, eclipsed the light coming from the emergency lighting and the PDA, revealing the layout of the surroundings more clearly. With one wide swing, Sukuna blew away the garbage and debris in front of him. Rocks, pieces of cardboard and squared timber got chopped to bits in an instance. As those bits. .h.i.t the ground around him, Sukuna’s eyes opened wide.

“…Nagare, can you see it?”
“I can. I’m confirming the footage from your PDA. The air duct is open, isn’t it.”

The air duct, installed in the corner of the wall, was left wide open. When Sukuna peeked inside, air carrying cold moist stench a.s.saulted his nostrils, making him grimace.

“Do I really have to get in there…?”
“Yes, please, Sukuna.”
“d.a.m.n! I’ll make someone pay for this dearly!” Mouthing a curse directed at he himself didn’t know whom, Sukuna crawled into the air duct.

At the same time, Yukari’s voice, peppered with teasing notes, came, 'I’m so glad it was you who went there, Sukuna-chan. None of us would fit in a narrow pa.s.sage like that.’
'Still, this solves at least one mystery.’
'What do you mean by mystery, Iwa-san?’
'Well, it’s just something I wondered about. This place’s supposed to be totally secret, y'know, so how the heck that thing even managed to infiltrate it?’

That was true. No one knew about this place - no one was supposed to know. It had to stay hidden, and Jungle expended every effort to ensure it stayed that way. And if there was someone out there who could break past that, the fact alone warranted the state of high alert on Jungle’s part.

'But this explains it, at least. We weren’t exactly on guard where the airduct system is concerned since no person, at least adults, can get in that way. Sending a small cleaning robot through there though - yeah, I’d say whoever had that idea sure got one up on us.’
'And they specifically used the old type because it’s smaller than the newer models? It looks like we’re up against a shrewd fellow, huh.’

Sukuna snorted at that as he crawled inside the duct. “It’s some creep who’d stoop to using a robot to spy for them just because they can’t get in themselves. Such a person can’t be anything special, I’m telling you.”
’…No, Sukuna, that is wrong,’ Nagare suddenly declared. His clansmen fell silent. 'I’m of the same opinion as Iwa-san. If there is someone who has successfully accomplished infiltration into this secret base, even if it is by means of using a machine, then I can only admit it was an overlook on my part and a breach in our defenses. It is my defeat. However…’ Nagare took a small pause before asking a good question. 'Why did model 88 take out personal things?’

'If the one behind it wanted to find this place itself, then the moment model 88 infiltrated it, their goal had been accomplished. There was no need whatsoever to steal our belongings. All it did was drastically increase the risk of being discovered by us. I simply cannot imagine the people who wish to outwit me committing that sort of grave mistake.’
'You’re not supposed to notice being noticed, eh.’
'Exactly. In which case, there are two possibilities I can think of. Whoever behind this wanted our possessions so much that they were willing to take the risk. Or, alternatively, there is no one behind this at all.’

Sukuna lifted his head. Beyond the darkness, illuminated by his PDA, he was beginning to see the end of the air duct. Continuing to crawl towards it, Sukuna asked in a tight voice, “What do you mean by that?”
'The cleaning robots of Tsuk.u.mo series are operated by an autonomous AI. They can avoid obstacles, pick up garbage and come back to recharge when the battery is getting low. So theoritically, they are capable of semipermanently continuing their cleaning services even without a direct command from anyone.’
'You mean to say model 88 didn’t get in here because someone sent it but simply because it happened to slip in here by chance?’
'That is a possibility, yes. But in any case, I cannot determine the appropriate range of my guesswork until it captured…’
“…I’m almost out of the duct. Rather than racking our brains and coming up with theories, it’s faster to just check for yourself. Hup!”

Sukuna gripped the edges of the duct and dragged his body out in one quick motion. Pulling the long stick smoothly out of the duct as well, he stayed on high alert, sweeping his surroundings with a sharp gaze.

There was nothing there. The outermost carca.s.s of the underground s.p.a.ce, the outer wall that supported the soil above, just stretched on endlessly, with nothing else to catch the eye…

No. There was something. Part of the outer wall crumbled. It was crushed by soil and stones, like an eggsh.e.l.l, probably due to a cave-in. The yellow tape reading 'Keep Out’ decomposed over many years and fell off, scattered on the ground near the site. And on it there was what they were looking for: the rice bowl with the 16 bit invader, the tumbler with black letters framed in green, the vase with roses still in it. Those things were lined up very orderly at regular intervals, and the sight of it reminded of…

“…Offerings?” When he actually voiced it, Sukuna’s skin turned gooseflesh. Gripping the long handle of his scythe tighter, he called in a hoa.r.s.e voice towards his PDA, “You’re seeing this, right? What the h.e.l.l might that be?”
'The site of a cave-in, I suppose.’
“I can see that! I mean, why the h.e.l.l are our things lined up here like that?!” He raised his voice without realizing. The smooth cold wall stretching on endlessly absorbed his shout, turning it lifeless.
'Sukuna. Do you know for what purpose this place was built originally?’ Nagare’s voice was aggravatingly calm.
Aware that his hands that were clutching the long stick like a lifeline were now sweaty, Sukuna replied, “If I remember right, it was supposed to be a water storage reservoir. Only it’s not in use anymore…”
'That is correct. And the reason why it was abandoned is right there, you are looking at it.’

The outer wall, smashed by soil and stones like it couldn’t bear its weight anymore. A look above revealed the concrete sh.e.l.l with iron reinforcing bars exposed here and there drawing an arc.

'As far as I can tell, the start of it was a cave-in accident. Unfortunately, the workers that worked on the outer wall got caught up in the accident and lost their lives. An attempt to retrieve the bodies ignited fears of another cave-in, so a reinvestigation was conducted that established that soil along the perimeter was brittle and unstable. To ensure the safety of the workers, the facility was designated off-limits.’
’…Hold on. If it was, are we going to be OK here?’
'It was deemed that its usage as a water storage facility was dangerous, but there is no problem with simply secretly living here.’
“Hey, wait a sec there. What did you just say?” The bit about how unfortunate workers working on the outer wall got caught up in the accident, specifically— “Only an attempt to retrieve the bodies, you say?”
'That is correct. The danger of a secondary disaster was perceived should the soil and stones be removed, so the idea was abandoned, according to the records.’
“Hold it, hold it, hold it. That means…” Sukuna’s voice miserably quivered. Cold sweat rolled down his temples. “That means those bodies are still here?”
'Yes, indeed.’

Sukuna backed off before he even realized it. He kept retreating, wishing to put every inch of distance he could between this place - these people - and himself…

Suddenly his heel touched something, and a voice that wasn’t his own resounded, “Much obliged.”
“!!!”

What happened next could be written off as reflexes. Sukuna jumped, span and, while putting some distance between himself and his opponent, swung his scythe in a sideways slash. The green blade drew an arc and descending on the opponent from above sent them flying. Said opponent - namely the old type cleaning robot Tsuk.u.mo 88 got cut in half, both halves tumbling on the ground.

“…Oops,” Sukuna left out a long breath after landing. Unease started spreading in his chest, slowly but surely, like when he had done something that he shouldn’t have but it was already too late to take it back. Still in a daze, he willed the blade to disappear, as Nagare’s voice flowed through his PDA, issuing further instructions.
'I hoped we could capture model 88 without destroying it, but what is done is done. Please at least bring me what is left of it.’
“…G-Got it.” Squeezing out this reply in a hoa.r.s.e voice was the best Sukuna could manage at the moment.

In the end, they couldn’t a.n.a.lyze the data.

“All its memory circuits were cut up. Salvaging anything from something this broken is impossible even for me.” Although Nagare’s words were dispa.s.sionate, they sort of sounded accusingly, condemning Sukuna’s shortcomings.

Sukuna hung his head and whispered barely audibly. “…Sorry.”

“Mnn, well, if you ask me, it couldn’t be helped in the circ.u.mstances like those.”
“Yes, I agree. There was no telling what could be lurking there, so it was only natural self-defense.”

Iwafune and Yukari spoke up unanimously, defending Sukuna. Only, for some reason, to Sukuna their expressions looked gloomy. Almost as if they wanted to forget what they saw via Sukuna’s PDA as soon as possible.

“Hm.” Only Nagare’s expression was every bit the same as usual as he looked down on the halved remains of model 88. After a while of staring and being lost in deep thought, he suddenly uttered, “The s.p.a.ce that Sukuna reached is a deadend, not connected to anywhere else except for that air duct. The possibility of someone from the outside infiltrating us from the is the same as zero. Just in case, I will make sure to beef up our security, but the possibility of model 88 being used for investigating us has now fallen to a level where it is negligible.”
“So no more investigating, case closed, right?” Sukuna inquired in a tone that made no secret of his honest and immense relief. Truth be told, he didn’t want to have to set foot there ever again if he could help it. Their things were still there, left behind in that place, but frankly, Sukuna didn’t feel like he’d be able to bring himself to eat out of that bowl ever again anyway.
“Yes. Mission accomplished. Sukuna, thank you very much.”

“…Yeah,” Sukuna slurred a little. Staring at what remained of model 88 that he destroyed with his own hands, he ventured a question. “But why was this thing doing something like that? Stealing our things, lining them up… I doubt it has that sort of program installed.”

Nagare sent a quick glance Sukuna’s way. His face was the same as always, but somehow his eyes almost looked like they smiled.

“According to the records, all the workers who got caught in the cave-in and lost their lives were garbage collectors, it seems. In particular, the main duty of those of them with decent engineering skills was maintenance of the Tsuk.u.mo series that was used here at the time. This may be the reason why.”
“…What are you trying to say?”
“Sukuna, recall what day today is.”

Sukuna frowned and searched his memory regarding today’s date. And then, turned pale.

Today was the 15th of August.

“On Obon you’re supposed to visit the graves of those who took care of you. So maybe model 88 did exactly that, and nothing more, what do you think?” Nagare said in a tone that left one wondering if he was serious or joking.