The Test In the Forest Part 1

Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

The road to Kitamoto town was completely blocked, disturbing the daily life of people who passed through here every day. The reason was quite obvious, several patrols had blocked the entire access to the street, a criminal investigation was underway. Police were searching the surrounding road and the mountain relentlessly, looking for anything that could bring them one step closer to the person who committed the crime.

A car arrived at the scene as well, its driver presented his badge to an officer and was allowed to pass, the car continued a little further and then stopped. Three men got out of the car, three detectives, all three from Tokyo, had come to a place outside their jurisdiction because this crime seemed to be strongly related to the national fugitive Jirou Iwasaki, whose whereabouts were still unknown. The first of them was inspector Yamamoto, who was the head of the police investigation section of Tokyo, his job was normally to supervise that the detectives followed the procedures established by law, but his job today was different, he was here as an investigator because the importance of this case required it. Dojima, a man who was actually younger than his face suggested, had been working with the police for some time, his private life had been in serious trouble since his wife's death some time ago, and the loss still affected him, so much so that he used his work as an excuse to distract himself, he had been Yamamoto's pupil a long time ago so he was a man the inspector trusted. The third man was Adachi, a fairly new detective, this was only his second case, he was under the orders of Dojima, as he was responsible for the rookie to learn things and not to make mistakes, but the new detective was not a very sharp man so the calls of attention were frequent.

The three men walked a short distance into the forest, where the first victim was found: the remains of what appeared to be a man nailed with metal stakes to a tree, all his limbs cut off and nailed in no orderly, unnaturally violent fashion. The rookie began to take pictures of the victim, the other two began to read the preliminary report.

"Male"
"43 years old"
"No identification"
"Cause of death, well, becoming a human puzzle"
"Time of death 5 a.m" Dojima explained.

"A bag with various items of little value"
"His clothes are quite torn and dirty"
"Her shoes are completely worn out"
"No belongings, no identification"
"Probably a local homeless man"
"...."
"But what was he doing here?"

"Maybe he was just looking for things to pick up"
"Scrap metal, and came across something he shouldn't have"
"He got in trouble with a Yakuza business and they did this to him" Adachi said in a mocking tone, trying to hide the fact that he really was serious.

"No"
"Homeless people usually look in the new garbage"
"That would be Monday and Thursday nights normally"
"At 5:00 a.m. they are usually asleep"
"Besides the Yakuzas do not benefit anything by killing a homeless person"
"It would only get them in trouble like the police"
"Much more if they do something as violent as chopping up and nailing someone to a tree"
"Organized crime wouldn't do something as dumb as this."
"Just someone completely insane looking to send a message" Yamamoto said correcting the rookie and remembering a little of what a friend told him. 

"This is only the first one"
"There is a second victim"
"It's closer to the street"
"This one seems to be much more interesting"
"He was the one we found first" Dojima added.

The three returned to the road, where only a couple of meters from the street was the second victim, which had received a similar treatment to the previous one, the body was much more complete because only one arm was missing, in the same way, compared to the previous one, this one had much fewer metal stakes.

"Male"
"57 years old"
"Sugiyama Kenta"
"Cause of death, loss of blood due to severed arm"
"Time of death, also 5:20 am"
"A Witness was walking around and he heard the cries for help here, then he says he saw a huge figure doing something weird to a tree, he ran out and called the police right after, a couple of minutes later our officers arrived at the scene and discovered this, then they went around the perimeter and found the other one."  read Dojima again.

"Another homeless man?" asked Adachi.

"No"
"The vest is brightly colored and the sleeves have a camouflage pattern"
"Safety hunting clothing"
"...."
"The knife in his pocket has a mystical inscription"
"Maybe he is a Matagi"
"But the hunting period is over"
"Also, where's his weapon?"

"Matagi?" asked the rookie.

"A traditional type of hunter"
"They are from the north of the country"
"During the winter they go up to the mountains to hunt bears and prevent them from attacking villages"
"The difference with normal hunters is that they follow religious traditions when hunting"
"A part of their prey is offered to the mountain and a ritual is performed before and after hunting
"Unfortunately it is a tradition that has been disappearing little by little because the new ones only want to learn with professional hunters who give more money"
"...."
"Normally the Matagi hunt with a Murata rifle, it is an old weapon from the Meiji period and a single shot"
"But it doesn't seem to be around here"

"Correct"
"Sugiyama Kenta had a hunting and gun permit"
"He does indeed have a Murata rifle in his name"
"It's in evidence right now."
"It was there, at mark number 2"
"The gun had only one cartridge, it had already been fired"
"He probably shot his pursuer but it didn't work"
"He tried to defend himself with his ceremonial knife, but it wasn't enough" Dojima added.

"Well I don't think a bear knows how to hammer so it must be a human"
"But why do it?" Once again Adachi asked.

"Well, that's our job."
"The drifter is probably from the area"
"The hunter on the other hand is a long way from where he lives"
"What was he doing here in the first place?"
"...."
"...."
"What time was the alert call made?"

"5:45 according to emergency services"
"Two minutes later patrol car stopped, no suspect found"

"And the time of death is correct?"

"According to the forensic experts, yes"
"The full autopsy is still to be done but the approximation is quite accurate"
"But the homeless man was the first to die."
"The hunter died sometime later"

"Twenty-five minutes after the time of death, but he was still alive when he found him."
"..."
"But the witness indicated that he saw someone else next to the hunter's corpse"
"Was he with him all that time?"

"The witness is Shiba Tetsuya"
"He is a Shinto priest, an Onmyōji"
"He lives in the temple near here"

"Okay, I want to talk to him about this discrepancy"

The three of them got back into the car and set off, it was not a long trip, as Dojima mentioned that he lived quite close, so they were able to walk instead. The temple today was empty, only one man was sweeping the entrance to the temple, he was a relatively young man, he seemed to be in his twenties or thirties. When he noticed the car approaching he made a sign of greeting since he already knew more or less what the discussion with his visitors was going to be about.

"I presume you are Shiba Tetsuya?"

"It is correct"

"How are you, everything all right?"
"I am Inspector Yamamoto, with me are Detective Dojima and Officer Adachi"
"Sorry to bother you, but we came to ask you a few more questions about what happened this morning"
"Do you have time available?"

"Well, I have to prepare everything for the funeral of the two men"
"It will take place tonight but I doubt it will take that long, right?"

"That's right"
"We have more or less read the report but we still had a couple of questions that we hope you can clarify"
"According to your testimony, you mentioned that you found the victim, Mr. Sugiyama Kenta, still alive when he called for help"
"However, according to the phone records, the call was made twenty-five minutes after Mr. Kenta died"
"May I know why this happened?"

"Well, the memories are a little fuzzy"
"It was a person dying in my arms, I don't have a watch to keep track of what happened at what minute"
"Maybe I just made a mistake"

"However, you don't seem nervous enough to have seen someone die this morning"

"Of course I am"
"Don't you see me cleaning? I never really do this"
"Usually one of my daughters takes care of it"
"..."
"I have nothing to hide if that's what you think I'm doing"
"I'll even tell you that I was supposed to meet with Mr. Kenta this very morning"
"But don't get me wrong, I didn't really know this man, he called me a couple of days ago mentioning that he would take care of hunting a couple of mountain vermin"
"Although foxes are beautiful and revered creatures, I have a plague of these animals, they have already caused enough damage to my house and temple"
"I pointed out my problem to the national Onmyoji association and they were the ones who sent Mr. Kenta, who was supposed to hunt them down"
"This morning he told me that he just got off the train and I went out to meet him, that's when I found him in the tree"
"..."
"If I was a suspect, do you think I would tell you all this?"

"Interesting"
"Did you also know the other guy?"

"The homeless man?"
"He is one of several in the community"
"From time to time they come to ask for food or water"
"I help them as much as I can but money is not infinite."
"I don't know all of them, but if you talk to their leader you might know more about it"

"Thank you very much for your input"
"Adachi, what do you think about it?"

"!!!"
"Me!?
"..."
"Well the leader of the homeless is probably lived somewhere near the river, so I should start looking there"

"Interesting proposal"
"Dojima?"

"Come on old man, I've been working for a while now"
"It makes no sense for you to keep asking me questions"

"I just want to make sure the alcohol hasn't erased your memory"

"I don't drink as much as you think, old man"

"Because your salary is not bigger"

"Okay, okay, okay"
"Then Mr. Shiba Tetsuya, I need you to cooperate and come with us to the station" Dojima said as he put the handcuffs on the priest.

"Arrested?"
"Me?"
"Excuse me but there is a big mistake!"
"I am the witness! I warned the police, I didn't commit any crime!"
"I didn't even go near the scene of the crime!"

"Excuse me boss but can I also know why we are doing it?"

"Adachi, if only you had spared yourself that question I wouldn't have to lower your grade in your ranking"
"Now the old man is going to scold me too"

"Adachi, you have to learn to think for yourself and quickly"
"If Mr. Tetsuya didn't approach the crime scene, how did he know there was a second victim?"
"One that was discovered long after the hunter?"
"How did he know it was a homeless man?"

"Sorry, it slipped my mind"

"!!!"
"You are making a mistake!"
"I didn't do anything! I am not to blame!"
"I'm just another victim" Said the priest as he was handcuffed by Adachi and taken to a patrol car.

"You know he is not the killer"
"What's there to gain by doing this, old man?" Dojima asked.

"That man has never been in trouble before"
"Being in a cell will scare him so much that he'll be happy to answer all our questions later"
"We'll let him go for the afternoon."
"..."
"However, it's also a fact that he was at the crime scene."
"Tell forensics to look for signs of altered evidence and send someone to check the temple and the priest's house"

"All right, what do we focus on in the meantime?"
"What do we focus on in the meantime?"

"I want to talk to the local homeless people"
"We still need to identify the other victim"
"For now I think the hobo is the original victim, the hunter was on the mountain hunting foxes and saw what was happening"
"He tried to escape but was hunted down and ended up near the street"
"..."
"Mr. Kenta is a professional hunter, so you can assume he was a good aim...."
"It is likely that he managed to fire his rifle and hit his pursuer"
"I want you to search the hospitals as well, the suspect will probably require medical assistance due to the wound"

"Someone managed to dismember a person, nail him to a tree, get shot by a rifle, be able to catch up with a professional hunter, tear off his arm and nail him to a tree and then quickly leave the place without any evidence"
"We are still looking for a person, right?" Dojima thought about the bizarre nature of the case.

"What I wonder is how all this is still linked to Jirou Iwasaki."
"The man has been living in the mountains for months but we haven't been able to find him"
"Besides, didn't a gang leader die this way too?"
"Maybe it's just a continuation" Adichi added his opinion as well.

"....."
"I doubt very much that this is Jirou Iwasaki"
"...."
"If he knew he was wanted the last thing anyone would do would be to continue to draw attention to himself"
"...."
"An admirer maybe"
"Or someone who wants us to think it's Jirou Iwasaki's doing to cover his tracks"

Inspector Yamamoto said as he remembered who was the person or rather monster that was capable of doing such a thing. But he also knew that she was not, as she was under the care of Adelis, her friend, and he knew that if she had been responsible the police would never have found the bodies in the first place.

"Jirou Iwasaki seemed to be just a loser man"
"How is it possible that we seem to be looking for Rambo?"
"The deaths, in this case, are too violent."
"Five victims in these two weeks is too much, people are nervous." Dojima added again, nervously remembering his daughter.

"And that's why we're not going to stop until we find the person responsible this time"
"This time the suspect made a mistake, he was spotted!"
"Before that, we only found the bodies the next day"
"Right now he is prone to make mistakes that he wants to cover up"
"Like the priest for example"
"When he sees him leaving in a patrol car he will see that he is in police custody, which will make him much more nervous and he will make a fatal mistake"
"And we are on his heels so that when he falls, we can bring him to justice and give peace to the people"
"We have to work quickly, we have to find someone who can quickly identify the first victim"
"Dojima you drive, I'm afraid that Adachi will end up running someone over"

The three detectives returned to the car, now with a clear objective in mind and an unwavering motivation: they would try to bring justice to the victims and uncover the truth. But this was only the beginning of a long day for them.