Interlude
The next day—
“Hello? You jumped the gun, Misao. It’s only been twenty hours.”
“Yeah, uh, I’m sorry, Hiroko. I got a little worried.”
“What’s wrong? Homesick?”
“No… Uh, is anything strange happening over there?”
“Hmm? No, nothing’s happening. I slept very well, thank you.”
“I—I see… That’s good.”
“What’s the matter? You sound exhausted.”
“Well, uh… I don’t know how to put it… It’s, um, it’s just weird.”
“What’s weird?”
“The people on the ship I’m on are, like… I can’t exactly put my finger on why, but I feel like there are a lot of odd ones.”
“Like the masked character you were talking about yesterday?”
“Oh, no, not the guy in the mask… The other ones, the ordinary passengers. They’re strange.”
“How do you mean?”
“Like I said, it’s just a vague feeling. Sometimes I hear weird singing or praying, and a lot of their faces look sort of lifeless…”
“Are they all foreign?”
“Uh, yeah, foreign passengers, and I think a lot of the staff, too?”
“They just seem that way to you because you don’t see many foreigners, dear. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”
“I hope you’re right, but… If anything happens over there, call me right away. Please.”
“Honestly. You always have been a worrywart.”
“Thanks. I feel a little better. Oh, but there is one other thing I thought was weird.”
“What now?”
“Well… There’s a whole bunch of ’em all wearing the same thing, these black-and-red coats.”
“I wonder if they’re Boy Scouts or something. It is odd that they’d be on a luxury cruise ship, though.”
“You think so, too?”
“Maybe they’re holding some sort of event? It sounds as though they’ll be using our entire ship for a movie promotion. Come to think of it, that may have started already.”
“You’re not going to go watch?”
“You know I hate crowds.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s ri ”
“Hello? Hello? Misao? Misao?”
“…Huh. Out of range? That’s odd. This is supposed to be a satellite connection.”
“Oh, honestly. A chill? …Maybe I’ve caught Misao’s nerves.”
“…Did I just hear…?”
“That can’t actually have been a gunshot, can it?”
Let’s rewind the clock slightly.
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