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“Now the airplane should have full control again! Dazai, call the pilot!”
“Already on it!”
We rush toward the outside, but at the same time, I can hear a low rumbling coming from somewhere. It’s getting closer.
This sound—
It gradually grows louder until it becomes a deafening roar.
“Captain! Can you hear me?! We stopped the interference device! You should be able to control the plane now. Hurry! Pull up the nose and gain some altitude!”
“I’m trying! But we’ve already lost too much altitude! Damn it! Come on!”
The roaring that we’re hearing is the passenger aircraft flying right above us!
Dazai and I race out of the building. A colossal shadow sweeps the ground as the heavens thunder overhead. I gaze into the sky.
It’s getting closer! The airplane flies over us, gradually being sucked in by the land up ahead.
Heading toward the city… And down toward the earth…
Don’t fall. You absolutely must not fall.
Don’t fall. Fly to the sky! Fly!
“FLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!” I bellow.
The passenger aircraft’s shadow grazes the ground before the nose pulls up. A surging gust storms across the land as the aircraft regains altitude, and the plane flies toward the evening sun.
—It’s flying.
They made it.
Together, Dazai and I watch the airplane slowly melt into the deep-crimson sky.
CHAPTER IV
13th
I am writing this after returning home for the first time in a long while.
The simplest path in life is being satisfied with each day for what it is.
With the help of others, we saved those who were to die. Yet those who were not saved cannot be revived.
The truth. Problems stem from the truth. Deviating from the truth causes problems in the realm of men. The truth does not move people because living and dying are constants, regardless of any such truths.
Nobody knows these truths, for we cannot see them.
And with that, the case came to a close.
Since then, the agency and myself have been busy dealing with the aftermath of the events. Interviews with the police, insurance claims, dealing with news agencies: There are many clerical tasks that need my care, despite my job title as a private investigator. I’m so swamped with work that I lack even a moment to spare for sentimentality.
Perhaps realizing there was going to be a lot of office work needing to be done, Dazai said he had “something to look into” and immediately vanished into the ether. I’m going to throttle that man when I find him.
Many people witnessed the airplane almost crash. The news reported that it was the work of a foreign underground syndicate, and they added that our detective agency had a hand in the leader’s arrest. While the Armed Detective Agency was praised for preventing an unprecedented disaster, there were also many who blamed us for the series of atrocious events because of our involvement. We will continue to receive backlash for the abandoned hospital incident in particular for some time.
One day, as I finish seeing to my usual piles of routine tasks and reports, the president summons me to his office.
