Chapter 6.2

Hasegawa flipped the switch, the electric lamp light fading out. Closing time already, said Yuuki as he dug in his pocket for his wallet. He must have seen him doing that, as Hirosawa assured him: "At your leisure," as he changed the CR to Rhythm and Blues, poured a glass of whisky and water and taking a seat at the counter. "Now the night begins. For me, at least."

Seeing Hasegawa with his glass in hand, his wife Chiyomi laughed.

"I'm going back early. Hirosawa-san, please don't let him get ahead of himself, all right?" Chiyomi said to Hirosawa, giving a smile to Yuuki and the others as she took off her apron. She hanged it back up in the small closet by the kitchen, waving her hand and leaving the shop. Hasegawa's home was on the other side of the shore in Mizuguchi.

Left in the shop were Hirosawa and Yuuki, and Tashiro Bookstore's Tashiro Masaki. Since coming here to

creole

after Gotouda Shuuji's service, he'd found himself walking in often, and through that came to know quite a few faces. The regular customers that made

creole

their stronghold had between them their own community tone. Yuuki found that to be indubitably cozy.

How much time had lapsed since Hasegawa had settled at the counter, when Chiyomi returned?

"What's wrong? Forget something?"

At Hasegawa's voice, Chiyomi shook her head. "Is there anyone who might have seen Shimizu-san's daughter Megumi-chan?"

Hasegawa said no, looking at Yuuki and the others. Tashiro and Hirosawa shook their heads. Yuuki didn't know who Shimizu Megumi was to start with. Yuuki looked at Chiyomi.

"Shimizu---do you mean, the Shimizu-san who comes here? From JA."

"Yes. Megumi-chan is Shimizu-san's daughter. She's in tenth grade. ---Ah, I wonder if she might be a classmate of Yuuki-san's household's son?"

She is, Hirosawa nodded. "They go to the same high school. That would make them classmates, wouldn't it? ---And, what has happened to that Megumi-chan? You don't mean...?"

Chiyomi nodded. "They say she hasn't come home. Shimizu-san and his wife are at the police box, people are gathering."

[TL/N: Shimizu-san and his wife are at the police box, people are gathering.

In Japan there are police boxes called koban that are not stations with call centers or dispatchers, but where police are always stationed, either to respond to a nearby situation, to take lost and found items, to give directions, or to generally keep the peace. Sotoba has no station, but Takami does have a police box, which is like his personal station. They're considerably more spacious than the old European ones which are standing room only. They tend to have tea and such for anemics who have fainted, etc.Though, out in the country where space isn't at such a premium]

"Searching the mountains?" Tashiro asked gravely.

"It looks like it. After all, look at the hour. There was a person who'd last seen her going up the western mountain, so they're saying she may have been stranded up there."

Yuuki looked towards Hirosawa and the others. "Is it that dangerous, being up in the mountains around here?"

"No--it is not the mountains themselves which are dangerous. However it would be difficult if you lost your way in the mountains north of Yamairi.

Or perhaps in the back yard of the Shrine. It would be dangerous to fall into the Hell Hole, but..."

"Hell Hole?

Hirosawa pointed to the east. "Across the river, there is the Shrine, correct? If one were to scale the cliff behind it, there's a cave called the Hell Hole."

"Heh..."

"I'm not certain whether to call it a cliff or a crag but, in a gap there is a narrow fissure. I wonder how deep it goes? There's a hokora erected at the entrance, so I don't know if one could enter it but it has many branch roads, and it seems to be quite long. It looks like it goes down to the base of the earth itself, which is likely why it was named the Hell Hole."

"She couldn't get in there, yes?"

"Yes. But, there's what's above that hole. The Hell Hole crosses from behind the shrine diagonally along the eastern mountain but, in more shallow places there are times when it caves in and the hole opens. That area is the shrine forest, so nobody entered the area to cut trees. From the start, people never went in there, so if the hole opened, it wouldn't be known."

"But that's unrelated. The last she was seen, she was climbing the western mountains--the Kanemasa hill, they said."

"Then, it shouldn't be that she got lost, at least. A forest path runs along the westen mountain ranges, and as long as you don't go off the path you won't go over the ridges, you'd still be in the village." Tashiro said, as Hasegawa tilted his head.

"Couldn't she have mistakenly gone off of the forest path and ended up crossing over the ridge?"

Hirosawa shook his head. "The forest path follows the steel towers and the high voltage wires. Even if she had lost her sense of direction, she would know quickly if she had stepped off the mountain path. She is a villager, so I don't think that she would make such a mistake. She may he injured or stranded someplace. Lately, there has been talk of wild dogs coming out too, yes?"

"Takami-san and the others had said that. So they're calling together members of the fire brigade, they say."

"Well, Shimizu-san must feel like his heart's in his mouth," said Hasegawa rising to a stand. "This is no time for drinking. Let's head out and help."

"I too will be going," said Hirosawa as Yuuki and Tashiro rose. He was familiar with Shimizu. And moreover, hearing that it was his son's classmate, he couldn't take it as somebody else's problem.