(Sezaki Kawakami's perspective)
Influenced by tokusatsu shows for kids, I'd dreamed of becoming a hero of justice for as long as I could remember.
It wasn't until I grew older that I realized the world wasn't so black and white. It was a delicate shade of gray, full of contradictions and complexity.
My childhood dream gradually changed. I wanted to stop tragedies from happening. There was far too much killing in this world. Even the entire island nation had once fallen into that kind of madness.
"That's why we lost the war..."
Smoke curled through the air as Sezaki Kawakami sat in ordinary clothes on a bench in the park outside a hospital.
It was my break after work. I would've loved to spend it relaxing at home and catching some sleep, but for some reason, this case was weighing on my mind.
"Sezaki, take these documents and shred them."
"Yes, Section Chief."
They looked like ordinary documents, but Sezaki glanced through them before feeding them into the shredder.
[Infant Center Whistleblower Case]
[Missing Infants at XX Gynecology Hospital]
They were reports on these two cases. Why would anyone want to cover up something so heinous...?
Sezaki Kawakami could think of only one possibility: someone wanted to bury these incidents. That meant the old men at the top were probably applying pressure! Otherwise, there was no reason to hide such vile crimes.
He began investigating the Infant Center.
He couldn't find any record of who had invested in and established the childcare facility. A caregiver had reported that the facility was illegally selling infants.
By the time Sezaki tracked down the caregiver's address, she had already been missing for three days. Son Seina, twenty-three, was a young and beautiful woman.
To avoid tipping anyone off, he pretended to be a relative of Son Seina and questioned the nearby residents.
The most common lead he got was that "over the past few days, men in suits or acting suspiciously have occasionally appeared outside Son Seina's apartment."
The residents had remembered them so clearly because the presence of those men in the apartment building had made everyone uneasy.
"Was it the yakuza...?"
If this case involved the yakuza, things would get tricky. The difficulty of the investigation would skyrocket.
In that case, he'd have to consider using some special methods.
In the dead of night,
Sezaki Kawakami picked the lock on Son Seina's door.
Inside, he found a complete mess. Clothes, appliances, and household items were scattered all over the floor.
Someone had beaten him to it. Damn it.
He switched on a small flashlight and began searching carefully.
Inside a compartment of a cabinet lying on its side, he found a notebook. It looked like a diary.
Sezaki Kawakami began reading it.
[Today, I finally found a job. It wasn't easy! I'll be taking care of children. Do your best, Seina!]
[I'm so tired... Even with the training, looking after children is such a hassle. One is enough to give me a headache, let alone a whole group. It suddenly hit me how amazing my mother is... I wonder if she's doing well back in the countryside... I miss her so much.]
The rest was mostly complaints about her superiors. Sezaki skimmed through it quickly, until he reached the main part...
[A van came by today. The administrator told me not to overthink things and just do my job. Don't ask about what you don't know.]
[Five children had physical checkups at the facility. They were only in my care for a week before their parents came to take them home, but I've never even seen their parents. It's strange... Oh, and I saw that van again this morning.]
[...]
[...]
[Those children weren't taken home by their parents at all! They were sent somewhere else! I overheard Administrator on the phone that night! Those children were abandoned babies, left by their parents. Have I ended up at some illegal facility? I'm so scared... What's going to happen to those children? I have to call the police! That's right.]
[I lost my job. They seem to have found out I reported them. Lately, I haven't been sleeping well. There's knocking on my door in the middle of the night. When I go out, I feel like I'm being followed. Can someone please come save me...]
[I can't take it anymore. I'm so scared. Why did this have to happen to me? Did I do something wrong? My teacher always said good people get rewarded. I have to go to the police...]
That was where the diary ended. Damn it. She'd been missing for three days already. She was probably in grave danger.
"Bastards."
Sezaki Kawakami clenched his fists. Those bastards wouldn't even spare a defenseless young woman.
He needed to keep an eye on the administrator, Kuku O...
After staking him out for a few days, he learned Kuku O's work hours and route home. He resorted to a little violence and got some leads out of him.
[1. The facility had made deals with mothers who didn't want their children.]
[2. The children were sent together to one place.]
[3. Even Kuku O didn't know where.]
[4. Apparently, various corporations, financial conglomerates, political forces, and the yakuza were backing it.]
[5. Kuku O had no idea Son Seina was missing. He had no idea what had happened to her.]
And just like that, the trail went cold.
The only new lead was the "deals."
Somehow, powerful forces had gotten involved too. All that was missing was an evil monster organization.
Where had those children been taken...? It was as if they'd vanished into thin air.
Sezaki Kawakami pulled down his baseball cap and left the alley.
He saw the car belonging to the hospital's head of obstetrics and gynecology pulling out of the underground parking lot. Sezaki Kawakami sat astride his motorcycle.
All this time, Sezaki Kawakami had been searching for Son Seina while also investigating the forces behind it all.
Sezaki Kawakami had even gone to her hometown. Unfortunately, he hadn't found a single clue. This shitty world couldn't even let one young woman live.
He forced the man's car to stop at an intersection.
The man got out, furious, and immediately started hurling abuse at him.
"You stupid, broke bastard! Are you trying to get yourself killed? Think you're filming a movie? Dressing like that really makes you think you're Kamen Rider? A broke bastard like you deserves nothing better than a motorcycle."
He smelled of alcohol. Was he drunk driving? Sezaki Kawakami frowned and took a baton from the trunk...
After a thorough mental correction,
"Stop hitting me! I'm sorry!"
Crack—one of his fingers snapped.
"Argh!"
"Tell me where you took the abandoned children."
"Gah! How did you know?!"
Crack—
"Talk!"
"I know... I know... I'll tell you! The children were taken to Saitama. I don't know exactly where."
"Then why did you do it?!"
"Because there was money in it... I got a commission for every newborn I successfully signed up."
"How many years has this been going on?"
"Th-three years!"
"You piece of trash."
Crack—
Moaning, sobbing, pain. Sezaki Kawakami looked down coldly at the man, covered in sin...