Now he was inside an abandoned amusement park. Everything around him felt wrong.

Just moments ago the rides were still operating and people were inside playing, but in the blink of an eye weeds grew everywhere, the rides covered in rust.

Looking around, he spotted an old man walking nearby.

"Sir, can I ask you something?" Rinji quickly called out.

"Oh? Sure, young man, ask away." The old man smiled kindly.

"Why did this amusement park suddenly close?"

"…Huh?"

The old man looked at Rinji with obvious confusion.

"This park shut down fifteen years ago. Now it's just abandoned here. Sometimes people come by to take a walk, and at night some bored youngsters sneak in to explore."

An abandoned amusement park, a perfect horror element. Young people interested in the supernatural treated this as a courage-testing spot.

"Fifteen years… abandoned?"

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"No, thank you very much."

"You're welcome."

The old man smiled, watching Rinji walk away, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"He really looks alike…"

---

"An illusion…?"

Rinji rubbed his head, frowning deeply.

He was certain he'd seen the two girls earlier, and he'd caught one in his arms. The touch was too real to be a hallucination.

Thinking while walking toward the park's exit, he noticed the sky was no longer gloomy but bright and clear.

Recalling the scene, the two nearly identical girls wore plain clothes. The only notable detail was that both wore eyepatches covering one eye.

But he'd heard of that before—some chuunibyou girls liked dressing that way.

The eyepatch wasn't the issue. Their plain clothing was.

He remembered clearly that their clothes were far too thin for ordinary people.

"It's winter break, December, freezing weather, yet they weren't even wearing coats… was it really an illusion I saw?"

When he reached the park's exit, everything matched what he'd expected.

The signboard was broken, the ticket booth outside covered in dust and shards of glass, clearly unused for years.

Bzzz—

"Hm?"

Feeling the vibration in his pocket, Rinji pulled out his phone. It was a call from Sousuke.

"Hello?"

"Hey Rinji, what happened over there? Suddenly we lost your signal."

"I was wondering the same. My phone should be connected to the organization's satellite, right? The signal just cut out. Shouldn't the satellite be checked?"

"IW's satellite has no problems. It's not like back when it was first built."

"What, there were problems back then?"

"No, hackers tried to infiltrate."

"Huh?"

"But that was ages ago. Now the satellite's tech is secure. Nobody could possibly attack it."

"Then why did I lose signal?"

"Probably your phone malfunctioned."

"That's nonsense. The research department just repaired it."

As he spoke, Rinji suddenly remembered the two girls.

"Uncle Sagara, can I use headquarters' intelligence department?"

"Hm? Sure, you want to investigate something?"

"I want to check on two girls I encountered at Yomiyama," Rinji said.

To confirm whether what he saw was real or not, it was best to investigate if those eyepatch girls actually existed.

"Alright, I'll contact intel for you. What are their names?"

"Their names are…"

Rinji suddenly froze.

He never asked their names. How could he possibly know them?

"Hello? Rinji? What are their names?"

"They…"

"Hmm?"

"They're…Sean Combs and Adolf Hitler."

"Huh?"

"Alright, actually I don't know their names. I just happened to run into them, found it strange, so I wanted to investigate."

"I see… In that case I can only arrange people to look into it once you get their names. But if it's in Yomiyama City, the search range will be narrower. Just give me their physical description and such."

"Got it."

After giving Sousuke the information about the two mysterious girls, Rinji hung up the phone and continued wandering around Yomiyama City.

The strange events he encountered today just kept piling up.

But at least now he somewhat understood why his old man had wanted him to come here. Maybe by investigating these bizarre occurrences, he really could uncover some answers.

…

Time passed second by second, and the sky gradually darkened.

Rinji hadn't eaten lunch or dinner today. He was so focused on finding answers to these strange incidents that he didn't even have the mind to think about food, but so far he still had no leads.

Aside from sending a LINE message to Hayasaka back in Tokyo to let her know he was safe, he had spent the rest of his time aimlessly wandering through Yomiyama City like a headless fly.

Until he found himself standing in front of a hospital.

Though it was called a hospital, in reality it was an abandoned one. Broken glass and moss made the place look especially eerie under the night sky.

Rinji stared at the hospital, when suddenly a hand patted his shoulder.

"Young Man, it's so late, why aren't you going home?"

"You're… that old gentleman from before?" Rinji turned and saw the kind-looking old man he had met earlier at the abandoned amusement park.

"Just call me Chibiki."

The old man smiled, looking at the eerie abandoned hospital.

"This used to be the only municipal hospital in Yomiyama, but because of frequent accidents, it was demolished. Everyone thought there was something unclean about this land, so the hospital was moved to the southern part of the city."

"I see…"

"By the way, there's something I wanted to ask you, young man."

"Please, go ahead, Mr. Chibiki."

"Young man… your surname is Takamine, isn't it?"

"Huh? How did you kno—"

Just as Rinji turned to ask, he realized the old man called Chibiki had vanished without a trace.

Even stranger, a light shone across Rinji's face.

The hospital that should have been abandoned was suddenly ablaze with lights. Through the windows he could even see doctors and nurses walking in the hallways.

"…What the hell."