Chapter 2 The Doppelganger in the Mirror (2) Before even receiving the commission...
Before the client's request could even officially begin, the Armed Detective Agency received another call from Hiroki Sakamoto in the evening, when everyone was preparing to leave work.
"Hello? This is the Armed Detective Agency."
After the call connected, there was a deathly silence on the other end, broken only by faint, irregular breathing, as if afraid of disturbing something.
A few seconds later, Kunikida Doppo was about to ask a question when he heard a muffled voice on the phone, as if it were pressed against the receiver: "It...it's starting to move! I saw it! It appeared in real life! It's disguised as me! I saw it! I saw it!" His voice began to sound agitated.
Kunikida Doppo immediately became serious, after all, he had to ensure the safety of his client.
Where is it?
"At...at the hotel." The other person swallowed hard.
Kunikida Doppo kept calming the other person's fear, promising that they would arrive as soon as possible. Sakamoto Hiroki breathed a sigh of relief and kept urging them to hurry up on the phone.
After Kunikida Doppo asked for the detailed address and hung up the phone, he turned to the Armed Detective Agency members with a serious expression and said, "The suspect has appeared."
"A hotel near the city's central square."
Soon, Kunikida Doppo and Nakajima Atsushi arrived near the hotel.
After getting out of the car, he saw Hiroki Sakamoto rushing over, followed by a group of tall, burly bodyguards in black. He suddenly stopped, realizing that he had lost his composure, and said, "Thank you for taking the time to come, Mr. Kunikida."
Sakamoto Hiroki stood in front of Kunikida Doppo, who was immediately surrounded by bodyguards. Looking at the tall, burly bodyguards with menacing expressions, Kunikida Doppo's lips twitched. With such a large group of bodyguards, Kunikida wondered if the other party really needed his protection.
With so many people coming to deal with the superhumans, it would be quite a challenge even for ordinary superhumans.
Moreover, the bodyguards were clearly very skilled.
Sensing Kunikida Doppo's gaze directed at the bodyguards, Sakamoto Hiroki rubbed his hands awkwardly and said, "These people are all hired by me."
Hiroki Sakamoto reached out his hand, and before Kunikida Doppo could respond, the other man excitedly grasped his hand, his tone full of sincerity: "To be honest, these bodyguards are far inferior to your company's people. I have long heard of your company's capabilities and reputation—! I have also admired you for a long time, so I am asking for your help."
"You have to help me. I don't want to live in fear every day. I can't take it anymore!" As he said this, Hiroki Sakamoto's eyes unconsciously darted around, filled with unease and fear.
“Those bodyguards were all show and no substance, they couldn’t even catch a glimpse of [it]. I don’t know if hiring them was the right choice.” He looked at Kunikida Doppo, his eyes filled with hope: “Your company is different…”
Kunikida Doppo laboriously withdrew his hand, feeling uncomfortable with his neurotic behavior.
"Now that we've accepted the commission, we'll definitely help you. Could you tell us the specifics, such as how [it] came to be?"
Hiroki Sakamoto bit his thumbnail, the friction between his teeth and nail making a crunching sound. "How did this happen? How did this happen? Ah, yes! I was just about to tell you about this."
He then gave a forced smile: "Let's go inside first, it's terribly hot outside."
Upon arriving at the hotel's living room, Hiroki Sakamoto and Doppo Kunikida sat on the sofa.
"After leaving your company today, I was planning to take a car home, but I didn't expect to see it in my car mirror."
"It was trying to get out of the mirror, or rather, it had already gotten out. I was terrified when I saw it, but the bodyguard couldn't see it. I even pointed out its location."
"It seems that only I can see it."
"I had no choice but to cover the car mirror with a cloth. I was worried that the other person was following me and what if they hid in an inconspicuous corner of my house when I got home."
"I figured it wouldn't be so rampant in crowded places, so I'm planning to hide in the hotel until you arrive before we discuss things further."
Hiroki Sakamoto suddenly thought of something terrifying. He covered his face in despair, took deep breaths, and after calming himself down for a while, he raised his head, revealing bloodshot eyes: "I never thought I would run into it in a hotel."
"When I arrived at the hotel, the staff told me that I had already checked in and had just taken the elevator."
"But—I've only just arrived at the hotel."
“I was terrified and refused to admit it, so I argued with the hotel staff and ended up having the hotel’s surveillance footage checked.”
“That was definitely my face, both the voice and the expression. I could hardly tell who I was anymore. It must be [it], [it] has been plotting to replace me… I was terrified. I called my bodyguards, went up the elevator, and found my room.” Hiroki Sakamoto trembled, his head bowed, tearing at his hair. He continued, “We opened the door, and [it] grinned, pressed against my face, but neither the bodyguards nor the hotel staff could see it. In their eyes, I was screaming like a madman!! The hotel staff all thought I was sick. But I'm not sick! I'm not sick!”
Hiroki Sakamoto slammed his fist on the table in excitement, his eyes bloodshot and a strange smile spreading across his face.
He then stood up, waving his hands wildly in the air and shouting incoherently.
"Look—it's there!"
"There it is!"
"There it is!!"
Hiroki Sakamoto pointed wildly everywhere, sometimes at the ceiling, sometimes near the potted plants, sometimes at the living room door. Kunikida Doppo and Nakajima Atsushi looked in the direction the other was pointing, but there was nothing there.
"Can't you see? Can't you see?!" Hiroki Sakamoto kept questioning the two of them. Atsushi Nakajima looked at their frantic appearance and a bead of sweat involuntarily rolled down his forehead.
Before the other party could calm down, Atsushi Nakajima leaned close to Doppo Kunikida and whispered, "What should we do next, Mr. Kunikida?"
Kunikida Doppo adjusted his glasses. It was obvious that the other person had been stimulated and was hallucinating. He had to calm him down first, otherwise there might be some dangerous behavior.
"Of course we saw it."
Hiroki Sakamoto paused, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Doppo Kunikida and Atsushi Nakajima.
"Don't worry, we're here to protect you from harm," Kunikida Doppo said gently.
Hiroki Sakamoto gave a smile that looked more like a grimace.
After the two of them learned the details from Hiroki Sakamoto, it was already 8:30 p.m. Kunikida Doppo and Nakajima Atsushi went to the monitoring room and retrieved the time period that Hiroki Sakamoto had mentioned.
The hotel's surveillance footage was very clear, just as Hiroki Sakamoto described. Around dusk, a person who looked exactly like the other person came to the hotel front desk to check in.
His tone of voice, appearance, height, and figure showed absolutely no flaws.
"Is someone impersonating me?" Atsushi Nakajima asked, looking at the surveillance footage.
“It’s very likely that he’s an ability user who can disguise himself as someone else, but,” Kunikida Doppo frowned, “it’s impossible for an ability user to simultaneously enter someone else’s dream, manipulate their mind, and disguise himself as someone else.”
"The existence of superpowered individuals is inherently secretive and rare. Even if a client offends someone, it's impossible for them to offend several superpowered individuals at the same time, and they wouldn't expend so much effort just to intimidate."
"Another possibility is that they offended an organization with superpowered individuals. If that's the case, it's even more impossible for them to have survived until now."
As he spoke, Kunikida Doppo saved the surveillance video and sent the recorded information and the video footage to Dazai Osamu and the others.
There are too many suspicious points; Kunikida Doppo and Nakajima Atsushi simply cannot find any useful clues.
Those people with superpowers might show up tonight.
To be on the safe side, Kunikida Doppo called Dazai to ask if he had any detailed plans or other clues.
"Moshi moshi~ Kunikida-kun." An offbeat voice came from the phone. Hearing Dazai Osamu's voice, Kunikida Doppo's chaotic thoughts seemed to be supported. Although he disliked Dazai in daily life, he could not deny that he needed to rely on the other's brain in many situations.
"Dazai, have you gathered any clues?"
"Mr. Ranpo must have figured out your plan at a glance, right?"
There was silence on the other end of the phone from Osamu Dazai. Just when Kunikida thought the phone was broken, Dazai spoke.
"Kunikida-kun, do you remember when these things first happened to the client?"
Kunikida Doppo, lost in thought, replied, "The anniversary of the other party's wife's death."
"Is this related to the anniversary of his wife's death?"
Dazai Osamu slowly began to speak: "Three months ago, the client, Sakamoto Hiroki's wife, died in an accident on a rainy night due to brake failure. Several years ago, she had purchased a high-value accident insurance policy, and the beneficiary of the policy was Sakamoto Hiroki."
"You mean that the accident three months ago was deliberate?" Kunikida Doppo rubbed his forehead. "Or did someone suspect that the accident was deliberate, and that's why they retaliated against her husband, who was the most likely suspect as the insurance beneficiary?"
"Answer—Wrong!" Dazai Osamu, on the other end of the phone, turned on the surveillance video and said casually, "Did Kunikida-kun notice the reflection on the hotel tiles?"
"What reflection?" Kunikida Doppo suddenly heard Nakajima Atsushi exclaim. He turned his head and glanced at the surveillance camera, discovering a detail he hadn't noticed before.
From the moment [Hiroki Sakamoto] walked from the hotel entrance to the front desk, no shadow of the other person appeared on the tiles. However, everyone who passed by [his] had a reflection on the tiles, except for [Hiroki Sakamoto].
In an instant, cold sweat broke out on Kunikida Doppo's back, his lips trembled uncontrollably, and his once calm face drained of color.
His back was already soaked with cold sweat. Kunikida Doppo subconsciously took a half step back, his eyes fixed on the reflections of everyone in the monitor. He knew that this could not be caused by the lighting.
Kunikida Doppo's breathing became rapid. Dazai Osamu, who could sense the other's emotions over the phone, waited until the other's breathing calmed down before dropping a bombshell: "This request might really be a supernatural event!"
"……What did you say."
"Mr. Ranpo also believes this is a supernatural event." Kunikida Doppo, who thought it was a prank by Dazai Osamu, felt his heart sink when he heard this, and his whole body turned ashen.
If it were Dazai Osamu who said it, he could still cling to a sliver of hope, but since it was Ranpo who insisted that it was true, he could no longer find excuses to deceive himself.
Don't worry too much!
"Given the current situation, it won't do anything to you; at least for now, it's not interested in you."
"Moshi moshi, Kunikida-kun, are you listening?"
Kunikida Doppo held his phone motionless, cold sweat trickling down his temples.
He felt his legs were a little weak.
Atsushi Nakajima quickly helped the unsteady Kunikida Doppo, asking with concern, "Mr. Kunikida, are you alright?"
Kunikida Doppo took a deep breath, nodded to Nakajima Atsushi to indicate that everything was alright, and continued asking into the phone, "So, what about us..."
"Professionals will come to handle this tomorrow. You only need to be responsible for the client's safety. And—while you are protecting the client, you must always verify that the other party is indeed the person in question," Dazai Osamu emphasized.
A note from the author:
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