The Logmaster - Chapter 32
It was forced upon him by a single word from Inspector Kuroishi, which could only be seen as harassment.
— “Survey of problem-solving websites”
Although he had heard about the plan from Kakuta beforehand, Tadashi Misumi was not interested at all.
If you ask for advice on your problems online, your problems will be solved. If you write that you want to die, you will die.
It’s a very absurd and unrealistic story.
(I wonder if we can break up…)
With a bored look on his face, Mikaku reluctantly began to look through the stack of initial research materials piled up in front of him.
There is a miracle site that can solve any problem.
When you open the site’s URL, what appears is a surprisingly simple page.
What appears to be the administrator’s name is the infinity symbol “♾️” along with a creepy greeting.
A simple input form where you can write your name, age, gender, and concerns.
And the send button.
That’s all, it’s just an ordinary site.
If you write down your worries there and send them, your worries will be solved.
It’s the kind of convenient nonsense that kids love.
The fact that my worries were resolved was probably just a coincidence or a placebo effect.
(What a waste of time…)
I took my smartphone out of my pocket and searched for “problem-solving site.”
Advice for problems, self-improvement, spiritual counseling…
Sankaku had no idea which one was the rumored “real one.”
(…This kind of thing is tough for an old man like me…)
Mikata quickly gave up on researching the documents and left the consultation room.
The quickest way to find out was to talk directly to the students who were the source of the rumors, so he went to a nearby high school.
— Just around the time when students were going home from school.
Students in uniform stream out of the school gates.
Mikata chose a pair of male students from the group and called out to them.
“Excuse me for a second? I’m from the police. Do you know anything about these ‘advice sites’ that have been going around lately?”
When I asked him this while showing him my notebook, the two of them looked at each other for a moment and looked a little serious.
“Oh, yes, I know, but…”
It’s a perfectly normal reaction.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I just couldn’t find the site. I was wondering if you could tell me.”
Mikaku said with a wry smile, pretending to be a little embarrassed.
“Oh, then this is it.”
One of the students operated his smartphone with practiced hands and showed me a page. There, just as in the materials, was the simple submission form.
“Oh, this is it! Thank you. Can I make a note of this URL?”
Mikaku took out his usual worn-out notepad and accurately copied down the URL from the screen of the smartphone the student showed him.
Have you tried this site?
“Yes, I do. Just for fun.”
“But nothing happened.”
They both said with a wry smile.
“You’re right. It’s just an urban legend. Thank you, that helped.”
Mikata nodded in agreement and was about to send the two of them home when that happened.
I noticed that one of the students’ faces suddenly stiffened.
“…Yes, I’d like to think so…but…”
“Oi! Stop it!”
Another student, in a panic, grabbed his arm and stopped him.
“We’re in a hurry, so please excuse us!”
The student who had stopped him pushed his other friend hard on the back, as if trying to hide something, and quickly tried to leave the scene.
“Oh, wait a minute.”
Mikaku took out one of his business cards from his card holder and, almost forcibly, placed it in the hand of the student who looked like he wanted to say something.
“If you remember anything, feel free to contact me here.”
The two quickly disappeared into the crowd.
(…I wonder what that was just now…)
Even after that, Mikata continued to persistently question the other students.
A surprisingly large number of students knew the URL of the rumored site.
However, there are no stories of people writing that they wanted to die and then actually dying.
We found out that there had been a suicide at that high school several months prior, but there was no evidence directly linking it to the site.
If the police higher-ups (Kuroishi) thought that this case would develop into a major incident, they would never have left it entirely to someone from the “advice room” like Sankaku.
It was clear that Sankaku was chosen because they thought an investigation would be a waste of time and that he should be removed.
Sankaku himself was painfully aware of this.
However, all he could do was continue to steadily gather information as per the duties given to him.
–Then, one day after school.
As he was leaving after finishing his usual interview near the school gate, a student called out to him. It was the student he had given his business card to the other day, who looked like he wanted to say something.
“Um, well…thanks for the other day…”
The students bowed their heads with nervous looks on their faces.
“Oh, it’s you. What’s up? I remember you.”
The student looked around anxiously, and when he confirmed that there was no one else there, he began to speak in a low but clear voice.
“Um… the other day, I was trying to talk to my friend, but he stopped me… it was about another friend of mine.”
Mikata listened in silence to what his student had to say.
“The friend I was with the other day, me and… and there was another person, an old childhood friend of ours…”
“…One of the three of us was bullied at school. He was treated badly every day.”
The student was at a loss for words and looked down.
“Then, one day, the ringleader of the bullies told us, ‘Go write on a counseling site that you want to die.'”
“As I told you the other day, my friend who was with me that day and I also posted on the site saying we wanted to die. But nothing happened to us…”
“But after that day, he stopped coming to school. A few days later, when I saw him again, he seemed completely different.”
“…And then, right before our eyes, he climbed onto the roof of the school building and jumped off…”
The students’ voices began to tremble with sobs.
“…That must be tough… What do you mean, something’s different?”
Mikata asked, choosing his words carefully.
“How can I put it… I really can’t put it into words… It’s as if someone is controlling me. Like I’m not doing it of my own will…”
It felt like I was being manipulated…
Those words awakened an image that had been sleeping in the back of his mind.
Homeless man, Sato Yukio, dies in an accident.
Sato, who usually stands still, was caught on security camera footage of his unnatural movements as he headed straight for the accident scene, as if being guided by something.
And then, Tomaru Shizuka jumped out of the window of a high-rise building.
According to her colleagues, she too left the office shortly before her death, as if under some kind of control.
(…coincidence? No, the signs are too similar to be a coincidence…)
“…But…” the student continued, wiping away tears.
“The school would never acknowledge that there was bullying… I was afraid that I might be the next target… so I just kept quiet…”
Mikaku nodded deeply and gently placed his hand on his student’s shoulder.
“…I’m glad you told me. It must have been hard for you. Thank you so much.”
Perhaps out of relief at having finally let out what he had been keeping inside for so long, the student bowed his head several times and left the room, his step feeling a little lighter.
Left alone, Mikata took out his notebook and wrote down what had just been said, his thoughts running wild. The boy who committed suicide. It seemed like he had been manipulated. And Sato and Tomaru.
(… Something doesn’t seem right…)
Mikata decided to change the direction of his investigation.
Rather than investigating the backgrounds of the individual suicide victims, we decided to gather information on students who had accessed the “advice site” and posted something on it.
And surprisingly, a lot of information came out.
The students remained tight-lipped about the sensitive topic of suicide.
(Probably the school has been told not to tell anyone.)
When asked, “Have you ever posted on that site?” it was as if a dam had burst, as many students began talking about their own experiences.
My grades aren’t improving at all…
I want to become a regular in my club activities.
I want to confess my feelings to the person I like…
Even if people have the same problem, the seriousness of the problem can vary greatly from person to person, but if you just look at the results, it’s clear that the rate of resolution is unnaturally high for people who are in a desperate situation or truly worried.
Various stories of “miracle” experiences that are hard to believe.
Some students even said that “♾️” was a god.
— A childish tale
That’s what I thought at first, but the numerous testimonies that were collected strongly suggested the possibility that this site possessed some kind of “power” that could not be explained by mere coincidence or the placebo effect.
(…If the boy who committed suicide wanted to die and wrote about it on the site, it’s a sad story…)
As he thought about this, for some reason the image of Ayumaru Omiichi’s creepy, emotionless face kept appearing and disappearing from his mind.
Sankaku’s detective instincts began to pull in the invisible thread once again.