August 30, 2026. 7:48 AM. Shinjuku Washington Hotel, Room 1203.
I woke up. It seems I had been sleeping for a long time. I felt like a slight trace of last night’s alcohol still lingered in my system.
My head was fuzzy. I felt like I had been having a long dream, but I couldn’t remember the contents at all.
I had the feeling I was talking with someone in a pure white space. But as to who it was or what we were talking about, I had no idea.
Glancing at the clock in the room, it was already past 7:50 AM. Oh no. I was completely late. To be late on my third day of assignment… I didn’t want to think about what the Director would say. Though there weren’t exactly fixed working hours and it didn’t technically matter when I came in, saying “I overslept” without a valid reason was undeniably bad. Especially since everyone knew I had dinner with Tetsuya last night. I didn’t want to give them the wrong idea.
I ran my fingers through my hair…
At that moment, I felt something off. Something felt wrong about the sensation…
“What is this…?”
The words slipped out of my mouth… On the middle finger of my right hand, it was firmly attached.
A ring set with a red-black jewel… The band had bizarre engravings on it, and it was a bit large for a woman’s ring. Is this a ruby? But it felt a bit too black for a ruby…
And it seemed to emit a very eerie light… It felt extremely ominous. That was the impression I got.
“There’s an urban legend about a ‘Dreaming Witch’ who can grant any wish. She appears in women’s dreams and bestows a magical accessory that grants wishes. It is said that if you make a wish within 14 days, anything will come true… However, there is one thing you must be careful of…”
Hojo-san’s words echoed in my mind.
- The victims are always completely skeletonized on the rooftops of buildings with a clear view.
- All the victims are female.
- Their ages are restricted to 15 and up, up to their twenties.
I fit the criteria… I haven’t been skeletonized yet, but I’m a woman. And my age…
Why…? A magical accessory that grants wishes… Why me…?
“Tetsuya… Kamikura’s blank one year. I want to know what happened. Unless I find that out, I feel like he can’t be saved. …Please, lend me your strength.”
…Could it be that those words… summoned it?
It won’t come off. No matter how hard I pull or twist the ring, it doesn’t feel like it’s going to budge… It’s biting firmly into my skin, almost as if eroding a part of my body…
This ring was undeniably too conspicuous. What would happen to me if I told them the truth about it?
From an objective standpoint, I had been contacted by AW at this point. In other words, I held the potential for a massive breakthrough in solving this case.
However, that was only speaking from a common-sense perspective…
“It’s said that if you make a wish that is beyond your standing, your soul will be taken away as the price…”
The people who were skeletonized were killed because they made wishes beyond their standing… If that’s the case, making a wish suited to one’s standing means their life would be spared.
What happened in Kamikura’s past… If the answer to that is a wish suited to my standing… then I won’t have to drag Tetsuya into this any further.
But… what if that wish is beyond my standing…?
I don’t know… What should I do? If I don’t make a wish for two weeks, will the ring disappear and free me?
“Goddess of Light, Alsard. Purify and banish evil, and guide her to the righteous path. Purify and banish evil, and guide her to the righteous path. Let there be light upon this one. Let there be light upon this one. Guide her to the righteous path.”
“It is a purification prayer passed down in the St. Alsard Church. If you felt some kind of warm change, I believe that is a good thing.”
Hojo-san’s words flashed through my mind one after another… Could it be that she sensed AW was approaching me? And that’s why she cast that purification charm?
I thought hard… A chill ran down my spine… What is the right course of action for me to take now…?
For now… I have no choice but to tell the truth. That’s what I thought, but…
To begin with, is this ring even visible to others?
Let’s carefully examine the information we have so far. The Dreaming Witch bestows a magical accessory that grants wishes. But the words “necklace,” “earrings,” or “ring” have never been explicitly mentioned.
…Judging from this, there’s a high probability it’s invisible to others. That they can’t perceive it.
Time was ticking by moment by moment. I hurriedly departed for Ground Base.
August 30, 2026. 9:34 AM. UCIA Japan Branch Investigation Base, Ground Base. Operation Room.
“You’re late, Himemiya.”
The Director’s first words the moment I entered the operation room. It was true, it was almost 10:00 AM. I really needed to reflect on my actions this time.
“I apologize. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
I sat in my chair and clasped my hands on the table. If this ominous ring was visible, there would definitely be some kind of reaction here.
“Now then, let’s begin the meeting—”
The Director began discussing the findings of our investigation so far. The Director, Kamikura, Hayama, and Chris were all acting completely normal. Meaning, they couldn’t see this ring. I could definitively say that.
“Himemiya, you should have received data from Totoki. Can you bring it up?”
“I’ll pull it up right now.”
The data entrusted to me by Tetsuya. When I checked my bag before leaving the hotel this morning, there was a USB flash drive inside along with a note. I handed the flash drive to Chris with my right hand so she could pull up the data. If she could see the ring, she would definitely notice it right here. But there was no sign of that whatsoever.
“Oho. So these are the six girls in question.”
Starting with Hojo-san, who we had interviewed, and Yuika Kirimine, whom Tetsuya had mentioned, the other four all appeared to be students at the Girls’ Academy. The face of that female student playing the flute was among them as well.
“Ayana Matsuyuki, Chisato Kurokawa, Chizuru Kurokawa, and Aoi Tachibana. So these four are the Academy group. Matsuyuki is a first-year, the Kurokawas are twins in their third year. And Tachibana is a fourth-year…”
Kamikura stared at the data with interest.
“We bumped into Aoi Tachibana by chance on our way back from asking around. She was a quiet girl who was very good at playing the flute.”
“What does it mean that Tachibana is an ‘ASSP recipient’?”
That notation was on Tachibana’s data. It caught my attention as well.
“It stands for Alsard Special Support Program. It’s a program applied only to incoming students born into poor families with Gender Identity Disorder (Gender Dysphoria/Gender Incongruence) who meet their unique diagnostic criteria. The ASSP diagnostic criteria are famous for being incredibly strict, but if accepted, they can undergo gender reassignment surgery free of charge, and receive high-quality mental and physical support from the Church afterward. By the way, this is a system exclusively for MTF (Male To Female) transitioning.”
“…I didn’t sense anything off about her at all. Just from the way she carried herself.”
“Well, the number of people accepted into ASSP is extremely small, but once accepted, they handle everything from vocal cord and skeletal adjustments to facial feminization surgery. In a way, there’s a high chance they’ll end up more beautiful than a regular girl, so apparently the jealousy from those around them can be pretty severe once it’s found out they’re an ASSP recipient. It seems it’s easy to get found out because ASSP recipients are obligated to intern at the Church…”
Looking back on it, the reason her tone somehow felt tinged with sorrow might have been an expression of her various struggles…
“Ayana Matsuyuki… Her grades are always near the top in the High School Division. She excels at sports, and her club activity is Church Swordsmanship…? Such a thing exists? Sounds pretty dangerous.”
Hayama said.
“I’ve heard rumors about it at least. Alsard Church Swordsmanship apparently consists of three disciplines: longsword techniques using longer blades, dagger techniques focusing on short blades, and holy staff techniques. It’s supposedly meant to cultivate a sound mind and strong spirit through martial arts.”
“She looks like a beautiful young lady, but she might be surprisingly scary.”
Hayama said with a laugh.
“Well, let’s leave it at that for each of them— Among them is Yuika Kirimine, the daughter of Kirimine Heavy Industries. Given she’s the daughter of the globally famous Kirimine Heavy Industries, it’s safe to say the possibility of sexual exploitation is virtually zero. These six are some kind of elites selected from the Alsard Girls’ Academy and its High School Division. I believe these six bear important responsibilities within the Church.”
“I agree.”
The Director and Kamikura seemed to have reached that conclusion. Hayama and Chris also nodded.
“By the way, regarding Hojo-san, as well as the Kurokawa sisters and Tachibana-san… compared to the other two, their physical abilities don’t seem to be very high. As for Hojo-san, she’s at the lowest rank, E-minus… If we assume these six were selected based on a certain ability, that would be…”
My intuition was telling me. These six… Taking a breath, I spoke.
“Spiritual sensitivity… perhaps?”
For a moment, silence fell over the room.
“…There’s no doubt about it. The only other thing they have in common is high academic performance, but there are others even higher if we’re just talking about academics. Honestly, even I was surprised by Hojo’s bizarrely holy atmosphere. I think Himemiya’s deduction is correct.”
Kamikura said this. His expression seemed grimmer than usual.
“So, what do we do in the end? We probably won’t be able to get any information out of these six, and our interview requests won’t go through. Public Security still hasn’t grasped any information on victims within the Church either, right?”
As Hayama said, we couldn’t find a breakthrough at the moment. Our only possibility was Chris, but—
“What about the information offensive? Did you get authorization?”
“I’m negotiating with the higher-ups, but it’ll be difficult to get it immediately…”
The Director shook her head. As expected, it wouldn’t be that easy.
In that case, what do I do…? Should I speak up about this ominous ring on my right hand?
What would happen if I actually made a wish? If it was a wish beyond my standing…
Would I be blown away to the rooftop of some building…?
Considering past examples, it’s better to assume I would be transported to the top of some building. In all cases, they were places ordinary women or students couldn’t easily enter. They were locked, and physically breaking in should have been impossible.
If that happens, I would be isolated all alone…
There are absolutely no eyewitness accounts of the crime scenes… Assuming that’s the case, it’s possible that the rooftop temporarily becomes a different dimension… If we discard common sense, it’s the most logical explanation…
“Himemiya.”
Kamikura looked at me and called my name. Oh no. I had completely lost myself in thought…
“…Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing. Sorry, maybe yesterday’s alcohol hasn’t left my system yet…”
I glossed over it with a strained smile. This is bad, Kamikura might have sensed that something is wrong with me…
Just then, a beep sounded in the room.
<Suspicious individual detected via electronic investigation. Repeating. Suspicious individual detected via electronic investigation. Displaying the relevant data.>
“As expected of VARIS! Great job!”
Chris instantly got into high spirits.
“I had VARIS run an electronic investigation on the security camera data around the crime scene!”
Chris quickly operated her terminal, and an image from what looked like a security camera embedded in a streetlight was displayed on the large monitor.
“Who is this… this woman?”
Captured in the footage was the figure of a woman standing completely still amidst the crowd, staring in a certain direction.
“There’s video data too.”
Chris played the data. The moment she abruptly stopped in the middle of the crowd, she stared somewhere with a disturbing expression. It lasted for about 8 seconds.
“And, the destination of her gaze that VARIS calculated is here.”
A map was displayed on the large monitor, showing the point where the woman’s gaze was directed.
“Shinagawa Area B-13A2. It’s highly probable that this woman was staring at the rooftop of this building.”
“As expected of Chris! You’re a lifesaver in times of need!”
Chris and Hayama began to excitedly celebrate.
“Both of you, calm down. It’s not like we’ve caught the culprit. Can we identify this woman?”
“Since Totoki-san granted us access to the National Police Agency’s database, identifying people will be easy from now on, and we can also cross-reference security camera footage from all over Japan.”
<Identity confirmed. Mayu Asagiri. Age 25, female. Employed part-time at the antique shop “Princess Maker”. No criminal record.>
“Thanks, VARIS! Uh-huh, looks like the system has started running smoothly.”
Chris was operating the terminal with a beaming smile.
“With the data link to the National Police Agency now possible, VARIS’s investigative support functions are finally usable. It’s also linked with Japan’s N-System (Automated License Plate Recognition system). From now on, she’ll even spontaneously offer suggestions for our investigations!”
“Ohh, this should speed up our investigations significantly. You’re amazing, Chris.”
Hayama praised her.
“Thank you, Chris. This is a huge help.”
“Not at all! It’s all thanks to Totoki-san being head over heels for Asami! The access authorization only came through this morning, you know.”
Chris said that with a wink. Nothing in particular had happened… but they probably wouldn’t believe me…
“For now, Kamikura and Himemiya, please go interview Asagiri. I have a feeling she knows something important. However, the other party is a civilian, so don’t do anything rough.”
And so, Kamikura and I headed to the antique shop where Asagiri worked.