1
“Miss Yuriko, those people must have a car! If they come after us, there's no way we can escape, even with Miss Katsuyo!”
I yelled to Yuriko, who was sitting behind me, holding both the reigns and myself.
“Don't worry! I stuffed konjac in their exhaust pipe!”
Stuffed... konjac? To stop the car from starting?
“You mean, if they start the car without realizing, the car will be damaged?”
“Yep! That's why I left them those letters. It's in the exhaust pipe.”
The ones I'd been forced to write back then. That far back, Yuriko had already predicted she would soon need to stop a car.
“You tricked me. If Father sees those letters, he'll recognize my handwriting. I'm an accomplice.”
After we'd gone a ways down the mountain path, Katsuyo slowed down as we came to a footpath. Once we pulled onto the side road, we wouldn't need to worry about being chased.
“Well, it doesn't matter if you're an accomplice or not. I mean, you did run away.”
It was still a long ways until dawn. Yuriko and Katsuyo completely vanished into the night, and only my calico nightgown reflected the dim light. There was no one else around, so we didn't have to worry about being seen.
“By the way, did you actually drug those caltrops? Is that alright?”
“I didn't lay any caltrops. I just said that to make them stop chasing me. I threw down garlic bulbs.”
“Oh, I see. Garlic planting season is coming soon, isn't it?”
How thoughtful of her.
After making our way east for some time, we arrived at a major street in the town of Atsugi. I wasn't one for geography, but I could recognize that we were heading towards Tokyo.
“What will we do now? Where are we going?”
“My friend's house. We might be seen returning to Mr. Harumi's place, so we'll stop by there for a while. We won't arrive until morning. Mariko, as long as we're here, let's practice.”
Yuriko hopped off Katsuyo's back and handed me the reigns.
It was the perfect time to practice my riding. I'd finally realized how important it was.
It was my first time holding the reigns somewhere outside the mansion's garden. As though she didn't feel my intentions at all, Katsuyo walked faster or slower to match Yuriko's pace next to her. And so, we made our way down the night road towards the imperial capital.
When I got tired of riding, Yuriko and I would swap places, or we'd ride together. We took several breaks, and before we knew it, the sky had begun to lighten. It was around eight in the morning when we arrived in Tokyo.
We went to a hotel in Kōjimachi owned by Mr. Harumi. We weren't going to stay the night there, just drop Katsuyo off at the stables.
“Thank you so much for your help, Miss Katsuyo.”
When I told her that as we were leaving, Katsuyo blinked at me, looking composed as ever.
Yuriko walked us to a residential area close to the hotel. There were both brand new buildings constructed after the earthquake and aged mansions that had escaped destruction.
Yuriko stopped in front of a small, white, Western-style house.
Beyond an iron gate bearing a pattern reminiscent of ivy was a house surrounded by a lawn with flower beds of amaranths and cockscombs. Even though it was already dawn, lights were on, coming from the second floor windows.
“Oh, good, she's home.”
Yuriko muttered to herself and stepped right through the gate, ringing the doorbell at the front door. Perhaps the three rings with a pause she did were some sort of signal.
Yuriko had said she was going to a friend's house, but would we really stay in this Western-style mansion? For a friend of Yuriko's, this was abnormally proper.
Heralded by a rhythmic sound of footsteps, someone paused long enough to look through the peephole, and the door opened.
The person who'd opened it was a woman who looked to be just under thirty.
“Yuriko! How sudden. Whatever could have happened? I was just about to go to bed.”
I was astonished to see the woman, and astonished by Yuriko's social life. The woman standing in the entryway was Mitsue Asama, the leading modernist theater actress who had apparently divorced her wealthy husband.
Ms. Mitsue looked as tired as a wilted flower after a long day's work, but her beauty was still as clear as it was on stage.
Without being asked for any explanation, we were invited into her reception room.
“...Yuriko, who is this girl? If you've come all the way to see me, it can't be an ordinary reason.”
The actress didn't seem at all concerned that Yuriko had come at such an odd time, bringing a girl she didn't know. If anything, she seemed amused.
Yuriko explained everything, from the treasure to how we'd escaped from Count Minoshima's mansion together.
“...And so we have to hide from Count Minoshima until we find the treasure.”
“I see.”
Ms. Mitsue nodded, satisfied. Apparently, Yuriko's story had been about what she expected. She leaned forward in her chair, hugging her elbows.
“Well then, what can I do for you?”
“I want you to hide us! If we go back home, the Count might find us.”
“That's certainly true. I don't believe anyone knows I am an acquaintance of Sir Harumi's.”
It turned out that one of Ms. Mitsue's classmates in school had gotten married to a painter whom Mr. Harumi was a supporter of. It was through that connection that she met Yuriko.
Yuriko was casually asking for a favor, but while Ms. Mitsue was smiling, she didn't seem particularly inclined to agree to it. I still wasn't sure what their relationship was.
“Of course, it's alright if you two stay in the house. But the maid will pose a problem. I'd have to keep you two a secret, so you couldn't stay with the maid around, of course. I'd have to send her away for a while. But then I'd need someone else to take care of the house.”
“I'll do it.”
“Yes, I know you can, Yuriko. But what about Mariko? Can you do it? You'd have to cook, clean, do laundry, and all sorts of other things.”
Ms. Mitsue looked at me with disdain.
Ms. Mitsue didn't care about my status or my circumstances. All she cared about was whether I could do the jobs she asked of me.
It was the first time in my life someone had judged me for my own value. I felt my heart clench, but I answered politely and emotionlessly.
“Yes. I'll do anything you ask.”
“That's fine, then. I'll leave the house to you. I need to go get some rest.”
Ms. Mitsue stood up as though she were suddenly sleepy. Then, as she was leaving, she spoke in answer to a question I'd only had in my heart.
“Mariko, if I ever have to hide away from the world, I'll stay at your place. If that day comes, I'll do whatever maid's work you want.”
2
Ms. Mitsue was relentless in her demands, criticizing the taste of the food and the procedures in the cleaning, and I did my best to comply with everything she asked. Ever since I was a child, I'd taken for granted that I'd always live in a household where all housework was done by maids. I thought that, no matter what happened in my life, that fact would never change. But now, every time Ms. Mitsue gave me a new order, my confidence faded. Now I was the maid.
I was too angry at the Count and my eldest sister to be upset. I decided following Ms. Mitsue's orders to the letter would be my way of getting back at them.
That, and whenever we had any free time, Yuriko and I would plan how to find the treasure.
Count Minoshima had given me two valuable pieces of information.
One, I apparently held a key to obtaining the treasure already. And two, another person who held a key was being held captive in that mansion.
That was no longer just a suspicion. I told Yuriko about the figure I'd seen in the hut in the courtyard when I was up on the roof that night.
Yuriko was convinced. She had also guessed that someone was being held in the courtyard during the few days she'd spent scoping out the mansion planning my rescue. The structure of the building in the courtyard could have only been a prison.
“But who could be so important that the Count would go to the trouble of building an entire mansion just to keep them imprisoned? It's no doubt someone important.”
“Yeah. The Count sure does like locking people up.”
There was no way we could find out the identity of the person in the courtyard, no matter how hard we thought.
“...Miss Yuriko, we have to sneak into that courtyard and meet the person there.”
“You're right.”
If we could manage to talk to the person who was imprisoned there, or even rescue them, that could lead us much closer to the treasure.
However, breaking into the courtyard seemed much more difficult than escaping the mansion.
We couldn't just force our way in. Since we didn't know who was imprisoned or why, we had to carefully sneak in, without leaving any traces.
How could we enter that courtyard without being seen?
Yuriko and I compared notes on what we'd noticed about the mansion and concluded that there were four people living there: the maid, two young men, and an elderly man who was hard of hearing.
However, that had probably changed due to my presence. It didn't take four people to keep one imprisoned. They must have added additional personnel to look after me. So the mansion's inhabitants may have changed since we left.
No doubt the situation at the mansion had changed dramatically. They would surely have noticed that I'd made my way across the roof. If they concluded that I'd seen the secret in the courtyard, they may have decided to move the prisoner to another location. If that happened, we'd lose our best lead.
If that was the case, I wanted to go back to the mansion as soon as possible. However, I also knew it was dangerous to go while the tension was still high immediately after my escape.
“Let's wait a week, then go back,” Yuriko decided.
Every time the newspaper arrived, I grew curious and gave it a careful read.
I was worried that, as the runaway daughter of a noble house, my flight may have made the news. However, thinking about it rationally, Count Minoshima would never have made the story public. If a reporter were to learn that I had been confined or that he had a mysterious figure in the courtyard, the Count would be the one in trouble. He would keep things quiet as he searched for me. Father would do the same. A daughter running away from home is a source of shame for her father.
“Even though we're being chased, I'm somewhat happy.”
“Having someone try so hard to find me makes me feel my worth as a person. But I suppose that's just the logic of a child running away from home.”
Yuriko childishly responded to my childish excitement.
“Yeah, but being chased is fun. It's like playing tag.”
Yuriko, who had escaped from the circus, knew more about escaping than anyone. She was looking more reliable than ever.
There was no need for me to argue with her about anything. It was clear what we needed to do.
Finding Viscount Kinukawa's treasure was no longer a matter of paying off Father's debts, but for my own sake. It was the only way I could counter the self-righteous beliefs of Father, the Count, and my eldest sister. I had to prove to them that I could do what they couldn't.
If I wanted to go outside again, I had to change my appearance.
In order to avoid being recognized as the daughter of the Kabatani family, I had to change both my hair and my clothes.
Ms. Mitsue and Yuriko looked me over carefully. They exchanged mischievous smiles, planning what to do with me.
“Let's cut her hair! And change that kimono for Western clothes. That way nobody would recognize her as Mariko.”
“Yes, I agree that would be effective. What sorts of clothes would you like? Perhaps some riding apparel? That would be easy to move in. And I'm sure it would look good on you.”
I'd decided that nothing other than kimonos and traditional Japanese hairstyles suited me, so I tried modestly resisting.
“I just need to change the way I tie it, don't I? And it's not like you can get new clothes on short notice.”
“Oh, but cutting your hair is so much easier. You are on the run, so it's better if your new look is easy to maintain. Don't worry, I'll find you some splendid clothes.”
Ms. Mitsue brushed off my resistance like it was nothing. I was as helpless as a rabbit being groomed by two cats. After dressing me in a Western equestrian uniform, Ms. Mitsue sat me down next to Yuriko and spoke with satisfaction.
“How cute! It's like having a summer animal and a winter animal in the same home.”
Yuriko, with her shaggy hair, and I with my carefully combed head, certainly did look like two little birds from different seasons.
At any rate, I was ready.
3
The next day, we took Katsuyo from the hotel's stable and set off for the mountains of Kanagawa, where the Count's secret mansion lay.
I was returning to a place where I'd been imprisoned. It was my first time doing something so brave. It would take a day of riding to make it back, but neither of us could drive, so riding Katsuyo, who could also function as an emergency getaway vehicle, was our best options.
We headed a few kilometers west of Atsugi, towards the mountains.
Yuriko had found us a different path than the one we'd used to escape.
Near the mansion, there were traces where a narrow stream had dried up a long time ago. We made our way through the valley the stream had left behind until we came across an old, seemingly forgotten work shed. After going a little further we came across a winding path leading upwards, which Katsuyo was able to follow.
Then, at the top of the path, we went back a short distance the way we'd originally came and arrived at the mansion. It was a bit of a walk, but there was less risk we'd be seen.
We arrived at around eight in the afternoon.
We left Katsuyo in the forest to wait for us and quietly slipped through the mansion's gate.
The lights were still on. I could hear the occasional sound of people walking through the halls, but there were no sounds of conversation.
“I think there are fewer people here than there were when I was being held captive. I don't feel many presences.”
“Probably.”
That was all we could find that day, so we went back down the valley and hid in the shed. We ended up spending the night there. There was an old hammer and saw, and a winch hanging from the ceiling.
Yuriko and I took turns keeping watch while the other slept on a straw mat. Katsuyo came with us, just in case we needed to make a quick escape. Katsuyo was a smart girl who seemed to understand that she couldn't make noise, but her large body caused problems. She stood, sat, and lay down, occasionally starting to snore.
At noon the next day, I watched the mansion from afar to check for any comings and goings, and listened carefully for any conversations.
Just as I'd thought, there were fewer people in the mansion. Only one of the young men and the hard of hearing old man had stayed. I could tell because I heard the young man yelling to be heard by the old man.
The fact that the two of them were still there meant that the person in the courtyard was still trapped there. It was fortunate for us that they hadn't been moved after all the commotion we'd caused.
That night, we were unexpectedly presented with an opportunity to break in.
It was just after 7:00 P.M., after we'd finished eating dinner. The young man walked down the mountain path.
Apparently he was going out somewhere. He had told the old man earlier that day that he would be going out tonight.
He wouldn't be back anytime soon. Perhaps not until the next morning. If that was the case, then there would be nobody in the mansion tonight except for the hard of hearing old man.
Just before nine that evening, the lights went off. The old man had gone to sleep.
I had wanted to wait and observe the household for a few more days, but we couldn't pass up this opportunity. We decided to go ahead with the plan.
We broke in the same way I'd previously escaped. We propped up some bamboo poles and used them to climb up to the roof. We chose the side diagonally opposite the old man's room to minimize the risk that the vibrations would reach him, and once we were on the roof, we brought up the bamboo poles and lowered them into the courtyard.
Yuriko silently descended to the courtyard first. She caught me as I descended after her.
The courtyard was unkempt, with weeds growing up to our knees. Roofing tiles, sheets of tin, and old, worn ropes lay scattered here and there. In the middle of the courtyard was the stone hut.
We hadn't had any trouble getting there. The problem was the person inside.
We approached the hut quietly without turning on any lights. We couldn't surprise whoever was inside.
A faint orange light leaked from between the iron bars. The person wasn't sleeping.
Yuriko gently poked her head in the window and whispered inside.
“Hello there. Who are you?”
The person inside appeared to be a man. He sat in a rickety old chair, holding an oil lamp in one hand as he read a book. He didn't say anything to us, frozen for a moment in shock.
We lit a light and shone it on our faces. When he saw we were just a pair of young girls, he cautiously approached the window, lamp in hand.
He didn't look like an old man. But his hair was unkempt, his beard was untrimmed, and his skin was worn, making it difficult to tell.
“Who are you? What's going on here?”
“I'm Yuriko. This is Mariko Kabatani.”
“Kabatani?”
The man seemed to recognize my name.
“Are you the daughter of Viscount Kabatani?”
“Yes. I am Mariko, the Viscount's third daughter.”
“I see. Why have you come here? How did you know about this place?”
“Mariko was locked up in here a little bit ago. She escaped last week. With me!”
“Oh! So you were the one crawling across the roof the night all that commotion happened?”
So the commotion had reached him.
That aside, he still seemed to recognize me. I had no recollection of him, but...
“Well then, it's no wonder you came back. I understand everything now. Now it's my turn to explain myself to you. I am Yoshihisa Kinukawa. The second son of Yoshinori Kinukawa.”
That was how he introduced himself.
Every member of the Kinukawa family had died in the earthquake two years ago.
That was what I had heard, and it was what the world at large believed as well. That was why the race for the treasure had begun.
And yet, unbeknownst to anyone else, the second son of the Kinukawa family was here, being held against his will.
What did this mean? It could completely upset all our plans.
“Do you recognize my name? Did you believe me to be dead?”
“Yes, that was what I'd heard, but...”
As I stood there, too stunned to finish my words, he began to tell his story in a whispery voice.
“I was in Kamakura when the earthquake struck. I had been planning to do a bit of painting. My family had stayed behind in Tokyo; I'd gone alone. Kamakura shook violently, and every building I could see collapsed. Many people died. I was concerned for my family, so I walked all the way back to Tokyo.”
“It must have been the night of September 2nd when I arrived. The mansion had been completely destroyed. When I searched for survivors, I was captured by Count Minoshima's... servant? Someone connected to the Minoshima family, at any rate.”
“Why would they do that? Was it...?”
“Yes. It was to obtain my family's treasure. He probably thought he needed me to decipher the code my father had left behind. My father had designed the code to only be solvable to a member of the Kinukawa family.”
“But Count Minoshima didn't have the code. That's why he imprisoned me, keeping me in storage until he had use for me. So that when he did obtain the code, he could force me to solve it for him.”
I gasped.
Count Minoshima didn't have the code, but he did have another important clue.
“This place must be built on land that the Count acquired in the chaos following the earthquake. He went to the trouble of building this entire mansion just to keep me hidden. I was stuffed into a wooden chest and carried here.”
“This was once an old lumberjack's hut. Immediately after the earthquake, the Count locked me in here. He then reinforced the outside with stone and placed iron bars over the window. He built the mansion around the hut. A mansion for prison guards. Doing it this way, he was able to easily take care of me, without any risk of discovery.”
“Many buildings were destroyed in the aftermath of the earthquake, and it would have been difficult to keep me hidden in Tokyo. Here, no matter how loud I scream, no one can hear me. I can be locked away here for as long as the Count pleases.”
A wooden hut had been converted into a prison. A private prison run by Count Minoshima.
Mr. Yoshihisa asked us something.
“Do you know? What happened to my family? Count Minoshima says they're all dead, but is that really true?”
He'd had no chance to find out for himself. For the nearly two years since his imprisonment, he had been all alone.
I thought it would be better for me to tell him than Yuriko. I looked at Mr. Yoshihisa's face and confirmed he wanted to hear, and spoke softly.
“It's true. I've heard that everyone from the Kinukawa family died in that disaster.”
“I see. So they are dead after all.”
He said that with a sigh. He looked as though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
No one had come looking for him because his entire family was dead. Everything was as Count Minoshima had said.
Mr. Yoshihisa asked me
“What about your family? Were they all saved?”
“No. My sister, Ayako, passed away.”
“...I see. How unfortunate.”
He lowered his face and mumbled to himself.
“I'm glad you've come here, but why? Why take the risk to sneak in?”
I need your family's treasure to pay off my debts. I hesitated to say that, since he was the son of the treasure's rightful owner, but as usual, Yuriko had no tact and told him everything.
“...Debt, is it? I see. You've suffered your own misfortunes, then.”
As another persona Count Minoshima had kidnapped for the treasure, he wasn't very surprised. But talk of the treasure seemed to leave him exhausted.
Yuriko asked “Don't you know where Mr. Viscount hid the treasure?”
“No, I don't. It was in 1911, wasn't it? When my father hid all the treasure on his own? I was only 12 years old then. I didn't know much about the family's affairs. The Count has asked me so many times if I know where the treasure is. I've tried guessing, but every time I've been wrong.”
“So you don't have the code?”
“I don't. My father must have written it down, but he didn't give it to me. His secretary and my brother must have been given copies.”
“I have seen it, though. It was an ordinary code. On a piece of Western paper, there was written a series of hiragana characters I didn't understand. But I can't remember any more than that. I just wish I could remember more.”
“Ah, that's right. The code is designed so that only someone from the Kinukawa family can decipher it, right? What does that mean? Why can only a Kinukawa understand it?”
“I don't know that, either. My father never told me how to decipher the code. Of course, if he was going to tell people how to decipher it, that would defeat the point of making a code. He could have just told them where it was hidden. At any rate, I can't do anything more until I see the code.”
The Minoshima and Hasebe families each had a clue to the code. The Hasebe had the code itself, and the Minoshima had someone from the Kinukawa family who could decipher it.
Count Minoshima knew that the Hasebe family had the code, but the Hasebe family didn't know that the Count had the still living second son of the Kinukawa family. Thinking about it like that, the Count may have had the advantage.
“Then did you know this? At the end of the Meiji era, the treasure disappeared like magic.”
Yuriko told Mr. Yoshihisa what she'd heard from the ex-thief, without revealing Kashida's name.
Mr. Yoshihisa was completely surprised by the story of the disappearing treasure.
“Did that actually happen? I do recall that when I was a child, there was some commotion because the guard at our villa was killed, but I didn't know anything about all that. Are you sure that's true? Can you believe in that thief's story?”
“Yes. We believe him.”
“I see. Well, it would certainly be strange to make up a story like that. The guard was killed by someone from the Orihara family... But how could the treasure have disappeared? My father must have worked alone. He had full authority over the handling of the treasure, and he never confided in the rest of us.”
Even the Viscount's own son couldn't explain that mystery.
Yuriko kept asking questions.
“...Hey, Count Minoshima said he needed Mariko to get the treasure. That's why he kidnapped her and locked her up. Why is that? Do you know?”
“Oh? He said that?”
Mr. Yoshihisa carefully scrutinized my face.
“I don't know. What does he mean, he needs you? Did you have any connection with my father?”
“No, I didn't know him. I have no idea how I could be of any use.”
“That is strange... Something to do with the code? But I don't see how he could know he needs you for it when he hasn't ever seen the code itself...”
“But there is so much about the Count I still don't know. He asks me questions, but he never tells me anything in return. Maybe he has some purpose in mind I know nothing about.”
We'd have to set that question aside for later.
Yuriko poked at the bars with her index finger.
“Has the Count told you how you can get out of here?”
“Obviously, it's the treasure. That's what he wants. Once he has it, he says, I can go free...”
“I see. Not sure I believe him, though.”
That was reasonable. Even if he were to successfully obtain the treasure, releasing Mr. Yoshihisa would only threaten Count Minoshima.
First of all, he was the person with the legal claim to Viscount Kinukawa's fortune. His existence would place the finder's rights to the treasure at risk.
Also, kidnapping the last surviving member of the Kinukawa family and imprisoning him for two years would be a massive scandal. If it were to become known, the Count wouldn't be able to escape punishment. The Count would spend the rest of his life in fear of being exposed. No matter how much hush money he payed, given that the money would be coming from Mr. Yoshihisa's own fortune, there was no way he'd be satisfied.
After finding the treasure, what would the Count do with Mr. Yoshihisa? He could break his promise and refuse to release him, but that would be too much trouble.
There was an easier way. Just kill him
After all, everyone already believed him to have died in the earthquake. He had no family. If they just buried the body, there wouldn't be any cause for concern.
Mr. Yoshihisa was in an extremely delicate position. The only way he could be freed was to help his captor find the treasure. However, if it were found, he would only be placed in greater danger.
“Ever since you escaped, there's been much commotion within the mansion. They don't know how much you've learned. I'm asked over and over again if you saw me when you were fleeing across the roof.”
“I told them you were too distracted with your escape to pay any attention to the courtyard. I said you didn't know about their secret. I don't know what they would have done if I'd told them you had seen me. At least this way, it seems like nothing has changed.”
“I see. If things had gone a bit differently, I may have caused you great suffering.”
It probably wasn't easy to find a place you could reliably confine someone. The Count believed he was still safe here for the time being.
However, if we weren't careful, he could be taken away somewhere else.
“Miss Yuriko, what should we do? Can we take him with us and escape?”
“I dunno. This hut is really solid.”
As she said, even though the hut was wood, stone blocks were piled around it, the window was barred, and the door was solid iron. The roof was also iron. The hut had been thoroughly reinforced to prevent any escape.
The iron door was bolted shut with a large, rusty bolt. It looked like it hadn't been moved in ages.
When I tried to check it, Mr. Yoshihisa flew into a panic.
“Don't touch it! It's connected to a bell inside the house. It's set up so an alarm will go off if the door is opened without permission.”
“But the only person inside the mansion right now is that deaf old man, right?”
“He is? Well, you can't go underestimating him. No matter how deaf he is, that bell is enough to wake the dead. And he'll come running out with his hunting rifle. He's a good shot.”
We couldn't afford any mistakes, then.
“Also, take another look at the bolt. Isn't the metal part of the lock pinned beneath the bolt?”
Indeed, the bolt was attached a bit beneath the handle. The spot where the keyhole should have been was hidden behind the bolt.
We couldn't tell what sort of lock the door had without removing the bolt. That would make it difficult to pick the lock.
“And that's not all. I understand there's a combination lock under the bolt as well.”
It was the same type of door as the one to the treasure room of Viscount Kinukawa's villa. It was incredibly secure. I thought we might need to give up on getting it open.
“What about the iron bars? They won't be easy, either.”
They weren't like the hastily made ones in the room I was locked in. They were firmly set into the blocks and secured by heavy nails. Even when we pulled with all our strength, it wouldn't budge. The iron bars themselves were too solid to ever file down.
Yuriko looked under the floor of the shed through a gap in the blocks. There was a gap, but not enough room to do anything.
Yuriko then looked for the bathroom's drain and opened it. Aside from the door and the window, that hole was the only connection between the inside and the outside of the hut. However, it was a small hole that nobody would ever imagine a person passing through.
“It doesn't look like escaping from the hut will be easy. In that case... Does anyone from the mansion ever let you out? Could we take that opportunity to escape? We'll help you.”
“I wish I could, but I haven't left this hut once since I was brought here.”
“I've asked so many times just for a bath, but they always refuse. As you can see.”
He weakly held up his arms, showing us his disgraceful appearance. The hut was filled with a body odor that permeated his clothes and his scruffy hair. He hadn't left that room in nearly two years.
“What about food? How do you eat?”
“Three times a day, they hang a cloth package from the bars, containing food, water, and lamp oil. We barely talk or even look at each other.”
When I looked into the hut, I saw a flattened futon, a blanket, some magazines and newspapers, a worn-out old novel, a towel, an empty bottle, a spare oil lamp, and a shabby linen bag that probably contained a change of clothes. Just looking at them told me all I wanted to know about how miserable his existence was.
“We're lucky that the people here aren't very enthusiastic about the work the Count has assigned them. And with all the manpower they've put into searching for you, it will be difficult for them to assign more guards here.”
“Is that so? You're right, that is lucky.”
Today, the younger man had left for the night. It was thanks to that we were able to sneak inside.
“But that doesn't mean there's a chance I can escape. I'm just happy to know somebody's concerned for me. I hope that I am able to escape somehow. But whatever you do, be concerned for yourselves first.”
“Please, don't tell anyone I'm here. If the Count and his allies hear, I don't know what they'll do.”
There was nothing more we could do.
We slipped out of the courtyard before the young man returned. We decided not to risk lingering around the mansion any longer, so we got on Katsuyo and were back in Kōjimachi by dawn.
4
We spread all the dishes in the house out on the living room table. Ms. Mitsue's orders. As we carefully polished them, Yuriko and I discussed things in bits and pieces.
“But it sure is a relief.”
“What's a relief?”
“We found a way to punish Count Minoshima. Even if we find the treasure, it won't be enough to give us peace of mind. The Count might come after us for revenge. And he'd probably go after your dad because he doesn't want him to talk about how he locked you up.”
“Yes, I suppose you're right.”
Father had already been given one favor from the Count, the help with his debts. Even if the treasure was found by someone else, he wouldn't give up that easily. There was every possibility he'd come after us.
“That's why I want to punish that Count so he can't do that. Then you'd be able to return home safely, Mariko.”
“So I've been thinking about what to do, but as long as we know the secret of the courtyard, we can punish him easily. If word of that gets out, the Count won't be able to get away with it.”
In order to steal one million yen in valuables, he'd taken advantage of the chaos following the earthquake to kidnap Mr. Yoshihisa, the last survivor of the Kinukawa family... If we revealed that, the Count would certainly no longer be able to interfere with our lives. That much was sure.
“But on the other hand, it isn't enough for us to just find the treasure. We must also rescue Mr. Yoshihisa. Not only that, we also have to secure evidence of his wrongdoing that not even a Count's influence can make disappear, correct?”
Even if we did find the treasure first, when the Count found out, he may have gotten rid of Mr. Yoshihisa to destroy the evidence. Therefore, even if we obtained the treasure, we couldn't admit so, or settle Father's debts, until we were certain he was safe.
There was also the risk that the Count might stumble upon the treasure in one of Mr. Yoshihisa's blind guess locations. The safest course of action would be to rescue him before finding the treasure. Besides which, we would need Mr. Yoshihisa to decipher the code.
“Miss Yuriko, don't you have any ideas? Perhaps we should ask Kashida, the thief, for help. But then there's still the alarm on the lock. Isn't there any way to remove it?”
“I saw the wire. It goes from the wall to the ground and into the mansion. If we touch it carelessly, the bell could go off.”
“Didn't you say you had a friend who was once a thief? Can't you ask them for help?”
“Can't. Too busy. Pretty sure they aren't even in the country right now.”
“I see. Then what else is there?”
I thought for a while.
“Perhaps we can remove the iron bars? How about this, Miss Yuriko? We tie a long, strong rope to the bars. Stretch it to its limit, and connect it to the winch in the shed down in the valley. If we use it to pull the bars, will they come off?”
“If we leave the rope as is, it will hit the roof of the house, so... There's a large cedar tree on the cliff above the work shed, right? It's grown a bit over the cliff's edge. We tie one end of the rope to your body, and have you climb the tree. Then you pass the rope over a sturdy branch and hang it down to the shed, using the tree as a pulley.”
“You could tie the rope to your body and climb that tree, right, Miss Yuriko?”
“Yeah, I could,” she answered nonchalantly.
“Well? What do you think? My only concern is that I fear the winch in the shed might not be strong enough.”
“Those were thick, five inch nails. If they were rusted, it might work. But I don't think the nails will come out the way they are now.”
“Then could we sprinkle salt on the nails to rust them? Or some other chemical? But if we do that and it doesn't work, it would leave irremovable traces...”
If we left any evidence of an escape attempt, Mr. Yoshihisa would be left in danger. At minimum, he would be transferred elsewhere.
We had to find a plan we could be absolutely certain of.
“The only other thing I can think of is to dig a hole under the floor of the hut, like in The Count of Monte Cristo. But that would probably take the two of us a year.”
“Miss Yuriko, have you thought about approaching Viscount Hasebe? If Sir Hasebe learns about all this, I think he'd want to make a deal.”
Ryujiro Hasebe, who we'd met at the villa in Ōme, had told us he'd like to make a deal for any information we had. The fact that Mr. Yoshihisa Kinukawa, who should have been dead, was being held hostage by Count Minoshima would surely please the Hasebe family.
“You mean you want Mr. Hasebe's help?”
“Yes. We could borrow his wisdom, get hired help, and use methods we otherwise couldn't.”
“Really?”
Yuriko tore her face away from the tea cup she'd been polishing to look at me.
“I haven't come up with any good ideas yet, and I don't know anything about Mr. Hasebe, but I think we can get the guy out of the courtyard and find the treasure on our own.”
She was strangely confident.
Although there was no basis or proof, I thought Yuriko must have relied on that confidence to survive.
“...Yes. I'm sure you're right, Miss Yuriko.”
It wasn't clear how much the Hasebe family would actually care about Yoshihisa Kinukawa. They might have done something unreasonable and driven the Count to kill him, destroying vital evidence in an instant. We had no choice but to keep our promise not to tell anyone about him.
Besides, we didn't know what the Hasebe's side of the deal would be. If it was anything less than the code itself, it wouldn't be worth much.
5
After we finished cleaning the dishes, we had some free time. Yuriko sneaked off to Ms. Mitsue's room to listen to her radio. At the time, regular radio broadcasts were still new.
I also wanted a distraction. I was a bit tempted by the radio, but instead I chose to borrow a Jun'ichirō Tanizaki6 novel from Ms. Mitsue's bookshelf, something I wasn't allowed to read back at home, and brought it with me to the living room. Perhaps I was just exhausted from the treasure hunt, but the story, about a tattoo artist from ancient times who tried to engrave his very soul onto the skin of a beautiful woman7 , seemed to me incredibly vivid, as though it were about someone close to me.
The doorbell rang.
It was Ms. Mitsue, having returned from rehearsal. I was surprised; she was home earlier than I'd anticipated, and she'd come straight into the living room.
As soon as she saw the novel I'd left face down on the table, she spoke to me.
“Oh my, you're reading something positively obscene.”
“I'm so sorry. I borrowed it without permission.”
“Oh, it's fine. I'll let you read it. But can you make me some tea, first?”
I was embarrassed, but I told myself it wasn't really embarrassing unless I acted as though it was.
When I returned to the living room, teapot and teacup at the ready, Ms. Mitsue was flipping through the copy of The Tattooer I'd brought. Suddenly, I thought to myself that Ms. Mitsue seemed like a character from a Tanizaki novel, and a shiver went down my spine.
She'd just returned, so the scent of powder around her was fragrant. It wasn't that different from the powder I used, so why was the smell so sensual? I felt strange.
“I've brought the tea.”
“Thank you.”
Ms. Mitsue closed the book and picked up the teacup.
“You want to be a novelist, don't you? What sorts of things are you planning on writing?”
Ms. Mitsue asked it casually, but I felt as though I were being tested. In a way, she was one of the great artists I had admired for so long.
What did I want to write? Until now, all I'd written were dry literary novels about ordinary people, quietly expressing my grudges against the world.
But since I'd run away from Count Minoshima, my ambitions had changed.
“I want to write a work nobody would ever suspect was written by me. A work full of malice that is totally separate from my life, where no matter how hard you search, you'll never be able to find any of the conscience, courtesy, or manners I was taught. If I can write a work that nobody believed I could write, then at least in writing, I'll have defeated my father, my sister, and Count Minoshima.”
“My, how cruel. And so duplicitous!”
“Is my dream wrong?”
When I asked her that sulkily, Ms. Mitsue suddenly let out an innocent laugh.
“Oh, it isn't wrong at all. If you want to create art, you simply must have at least that level of malice. Besides, it's rare to find someone who's led a life as blessed as yours and still come out so bitter. That's the mark of a true artist.”
“But I must say, while defeating them in writing is fine, wouldn't it be more satisfying to defeat them in real life? Wouldn't it be better if you found the treasure?”
Of course, that's what I wanted, too. But that was still a long way away.
“We'd have to somehow get a hold of the code held by Viscount Hasebe. I don't know how to do that.”
“I see. Well, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. You've got Yuriko on your side. She'll come up with something soon enough.”
6. Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886-1965) is considered one of the most prominent authors of modern Japanese literature. Known for his ability to seamlessly move from Ranpo Edogawa-esque depictions of shocking sexual horror to delicate portrayals of family life and for his themes of struggle for cultural identity in a world where ancient traditions and the modern West were at odds, he is the namesake of the annual Tanizaki prize and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964.
7. The story Mariko is reading is 刺青 (The Tattooer), one of Tanizaki's earliest works and the one for which he achieved his initial fame. It has been translated into English multiple times.