Vol 1 Chapter 2.2 (2/2)

Panic had begun to arise within the military police, and at that very moment, a young member had coincidentally made a discovery while inspecting the name lists of those who had been to the supervised locations.

A man had appeared in each of the posts during the first ten days of supervision.

That man was the British Consul General, Ernest Graham, who had been a.s.signed to Yokohama.

Only his name had appeared on every name list at the same time.

The military police had been glowing with satisfaction when the suspects had been found, and had immediately sought out approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to interrogate Graham, however—

The General Staff Headquarters that had been informed of this incident had called it to a halt just in time.

Should the j.a.panese military police question the British Consul General without concrete evidence…even it were a mere misunderstanding, the effects it would have on the already moderately tense Anglo-j.a.panese relations would be unthinkable. The matter was also closely related to the future operations of the military.

The General Staff Headquarters had suppressed the actions of the military police while secretly employing the help of the D-Agency to investigate…

“’Confirm whether the British Consul General, Ernest Graham, has anything to do with this bomb terror plot.’ These are the orders consigned.”

Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki brought out doc.u.ments containing details of the investigations carried out by the military police, and said coldly, “However, the investigation must be completed within two weeks. The people at General Staff Headquarters said that ‘Due to special circ.u.mstances, we are unable to continue suppressing the military police.’…Can you do it?”

“Hasn’t it been already decided that the mission is to be carried out?”

He took the papers, shrugging after he had had a quick look.

The Lieutenant Colonel had determined that he would be able to complete the mission at the moment he was summoned.

—Can you do it?

That question was nothing more than a rhetoric of the answer that had been understood long ago.

After he had read and returned the doc.u.ments, Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki looked at him with unmoving, l.u.s.terless eyes, and said, “What do you plan on doing?”

“Since time is limited, we cannot approach it in the usual manner as we would in an undercover mission, carefully planning the offensive. We must boldly dive right into the lion’s den.”

The Lieutenant Colonel had seemed as though he had expected him to answer in such a way, and wordlessly extracted a thick stack of doc.u.ments from his drawer, sliding it across the desk towards him.

“Gamou Jirou”

That name had been printed on the cover of the papers.

“He’s an employee at a tailor’s who frequently comes and goes from the estate of the British Consul. There isn’t much time, you have to completely replicate this within three days.”

“Two shall be suffice.”

He lifted his head and smiled.

The so-called replication is to perfectly imitate someone else’s appearance as a spy, to the extent of their experiences, interpersonal relations.h.i.+ps, actions, mantras, hobbies, preferences in food and all sorts of information.

According to the doc.u.ments received from Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki, the real Gamou Jirou seemed to have worked at Tailor Teras.h.i.+ma for several years, and lives in the shop.

He had spent two days replicating Gamou, and switched ident.i.ties with the latter.

The real Gamou is to be kept under the heavy protection of the military police during his mission, staying in a location invisible to others.

Only the owner of the shop Tailor Teras.h.i.+ma, whom had employed Gamou, knows of this information. Due to fact that the matter involved the confidential battle plans of the military, a sealing order has been issued to the owner. Despite knowing of the inside information, even the owner had constant trouble determining whether the man in front of his eyes were the real Gamou Jirou, which was sufficient proof of his meticulous imitation.

When Gamou had delivered the suit to the estate as an employee of Tailor Teras.h.i.+ma, the Consul General, Ernest Graham had invited him to a game of chess.

Everything seemed to be a coincident, but in truth, Graham was a “chess enthusiast”, and his opponent had recently returned to Britain, therefore the severely bored condition in which the Consul General had been in had already gone through thorough investigation before the mission. With Gamou delivering a suit at a time like this, Graham had disclosed his love for chess as though nothing had happened.

Graham inviting Gamou to a game of chess had not been a coincidence, it was the intended result of Gamou’s plan.

After winning the first round, Gamou had deliberately begun losing.

As expected, Graham had invited Gamou to his estate day after day to play chess.

Perhaps Graham had thought that “I took the initiative to invite Gamou for a game of chess”, and later thought “I forced him into entertaining me”.

Manipulating the opponent’s thoughts, letting them believe that their actions are similar to a magician’s choice was a common technique. [2] To those who hold a considerable amount of information (excellent spies for example), it is not a difficult task.

Over the course of a week, Gamou had served as Graham’s chess opponent for days on end, calmly a.n.a.lyzing his personality at the same time.

“He’s probably innocent.”

This was Gamou’s final impression.

However, according to further investigations carried out by the military police, the messages found at the supervised locations had been written on the particular type of paper used by the British Consulate General.

From the evidence at hand, the suspicion of Graham’s involvement had instead grown.

“Innocent” and “Guilty”.

The white of innocence and black of guilt, no matter how much is to be added to these contradictory possibilities, it would still remain as grey in the end. How the military would deal with the British Consul General, Ernest Graham would remain unresolved.

Since the mission a.s.signed to Gamou was to confirm the involvement of Graham in the matter, should it continue to drag on as such, the mission would be seen as a failure.

There were still five days left before the deadline.

No, considering the fact that the military police had already begun to appear around the target, it means that time is running out. The General Staff Headquarter can only suppress the Yokohama military police for a maximum of three more days. Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki has probably already realized it.

—What should I do?

Gamou asked himself.

Only one solution remained.

—Might as well try my luck…

Just then, he suddenly felt the Lieutenant Colonel get up from behind him.

He turned to look, and saw that the fountain had finished sprinkling, and the children that had been running about were starting to gather around the bench where the Lieutenant Colonel had been sitting.

Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki did not think it would be suitable to continue risking the exchange.

The elderly man who held a cane slowly weaved between the trees, pa.s.sing in front of Gamou’s bench, and headed for the exit of the park.

As he pa.s.sed by Gamou, the old man had paused for a while. He had switched his cane to his other hand, and a low mutter followed.

—No matter the investigation, it is impossible to see through everything. Do not forget about this.

Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki had delivered his message, and slowly left the park.

Annotations:

[1] Kōki, the j.a.panese Imperial year: The j.a.panese imperial year (皇紀) or “national calendar year” is a unique calendar system in j.a.pan. It is based on the legendary foundation of j.a.pan by Emperor Jimmu in 660 BC. Kōki emphasizes the long history of j.a.pan and the Imperial dynasty.

[2] The magician’s choice: Equivocation (or the magician’s choice) is a verbal technique by which a magician gives an audience member an apparently free choice, but frames the next stage of the trick in such a way that each choice has the same end result.

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