5

“Something unbelievable has happened,” Atsuko told Noda when he called the following morning. She didn’t even give him a chance to state his business.

Noda felt inclined to believe the notion, however incredible, that Atsuko had brought something back from Osanai’s dream. But even he couldn’t resist the urge to check the alternatives. “Paprika,” he said with a little groan, “are you sure it wasn’t the one you had before? The DC Mini?”

“It was still on my head. Now I’ve got two of them.”

“Wow. This is serious.” Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Noda chose his words carefully. “Paprika. Is there any way you could see Osanai and confirm this? Make sure you got it from him?”

“I ought to,” Atsuko agreed. “I’ll go to the Institute today and see him there.”

She had other things to attend to at the Institute anyway. There were bound copies of papers that needed sending, as well as an unfinished paper she’d left there, not to mention her private belongings.

“The Institute? Where your enemies surround you?” Noda lowered his voice grimly. “They’ll slaughter you.”

“I’m not a child.” Atsuko laughed. “And in any case, I’ve got the upper hand now. I’ve got one of their DC Minis. They’re the ones who’ll be sweating now.”

“Be careful.”

“I’ll be all right. Thanks. Anyway, what were you calling about?”

“I’ve contacted one of the directors. I already knew Ishinaka, so I asked him to meet you and hear your side of the story. I think you should tell him everything. Toshimi thinks so too. Ishinaka was reluctant at first, but eventually agreed. I got him to contact the other two, Owada and Hotta.”

“Owada’s on our side already.”

“That’s right. He also agreed.”

“And Hotta?”

“Hotta refused, apparently. He says he wants to hear both sides of the argument first. That’s fair enough, really.”

“What’s fair about it?” Atsuko countered with some annoyance, remembering the Board Meeting just two weeks earlier. “He’s on their side.”

“Anyway, will you meet the other two? How about this afternoon? Toshimi and I will join you.”

The Chief Commissioner’s presence would surely impress the enormity of the situation on Owada and Ishinaka.

“All right. Four o’clock this afternoon. We’ll meet here.”

“And how are your patients getting on?”

“Shima’s making a good recovery. I’ll make a proper start on Tokita tonight.”

“In that case, let’s take Shima back to his own apartment. I’ll contact Toshimi and ask him to arrange protection. You can’t do anything with Shima stuck at your place.”

“All right. I’d appreciate that.”

“We should also arrange a watch on your apartment, for Tokita’s sake. I’d rather you didn’t go to the Institute until that’s been organized.”

“Agreed.”

Konakawa turned up an hour later, accompanied by Superintendent Morita, Chief Inspector Yamaji and two Inspectors. One of the Inspectors was a veteran called Saka, a dark-skinned middle-aged man who’d worked his way up through the ranks. Inspector Ube was considerably younger than Saka. He seemed possessed of an intelligence that would eventually place him among the elite ranks.

“These four,” Konakawa said, pointing to his subordinates, “are my right-hand men. You can ask them about anything.”

Atsuko spoke with the officers over coffee. It was decided that Yamaji and Saka would guard Shima while Morita and Ube would watch Atsuko’s apartment. Yamaji and Morita would occasionally return to the Department to see to their normal business. It would be a kind of rotating watch.

Once Shima had been returned to his apartment, Atsuko was to be driven to the Institute in a Met car, accompanied by Konakawa and Morita. Atsuko was concerned that arriving in a police car would cause unnecessary commotion at the Institute. Fortunately, though, the car was unmarked.

Since visiting vehicles could go no farther than the hospital’s front entrance, Atsuko was obliged to pass through the hospital reception after getting out of the car. The doctors, nurses, medical office and administrative staff who happened to be in the vicinity looked on in stunned amazement, stared wide-eyed, or stopped in their tracks when they saw Atsuko. She deliberately greeted them with a cheery smile or a glib wave of the hand as she made her way through to the Institute building and headed for her own lab.

There, she found Hashimoto in the process of taking documents from her drawers and piling them high on her desk, peeping at them whenever he thought it necessary.

“Hashimoto! What do you think you’re doing?” Atsuko demanded, glaring at him angrily.

“This is my lab now,” he replied with a sardonic smile, as if he’d been ordered to taunt her as much as possible.

“That’s the first I’ve heard of it,” Atsuko said, snatching her papers from Hashimoto’s hands. “What you’re doing is criminal!”

“It’s your own fault for going absent without leave. If you don’t like it, go tell the Vice President.” He started to pile Atsuko’s personal belongings together on the desk. “Here, these are yours.” He’d brought his own things in and had placed them on the chair.

“I think you’d better stop what you’re doing right now.”

“There’s no place for you here anymore. The system has changed.” Hashimoto was enjoying his moment.

“Is that right. Well, shall we call the police then?” Atsuko picked up the telephone.

Hashimoto instantly reverted to his usual chicken-livered self. “OK, OK!” he whined. “I’m leaving. OK? I’m leaving.” He grimaced and mockingly twisted his body like a girl. “Gee, you’re so scary!”

“Ha! So you’re saying the whole thing was a joke?” Atsuko laughed back. “In that case, I’m sorry!”

Atsuko picked up the heavy bundle of documents Hashimoto had brought with him, hurling it through the open door onto the floor of the corridor.

Half an hour later, while Atsuko was still clearing up her papers, Osanai walked in. Hashimoto must have told him of Atsuko’s arrival.

“Doctor Chiba.”

“Well! Doctor Osanai. So sorry about last night.”

It was a line she’d prepared in anticipation of his visit. Stunned by her pre-emptive strike, Osanai rolled his eyes in bewilderment. Now Atsuko was sure she’d taken the DC Mini from him in the dream.

“And did you know the DC Mini had such dangerous functions?” Osanai regained his composure and glared menacingly at Atsuko.

Atsuko glared back at him. She pretended to know, to maintain the momentum of her offensive. “What dangerous functions? There are so many. Do you mean the one where the DC Mini can be moved from one real location to another through a person’s dream?”

“From a dream. Not from a real location. From a dream!” Osanai screamed as if momentarily afflicted with madness.

“What? You were awake, weren’t you?”

“No! I only thought I was awake. You said so yourself. After that, I woke up properly.” His hand made an involuntary move toward his head, as if in search of the missing clump of hair. “When I woke up, the DC Mini was gone. You’d stolen it!”

So she hadn’t brought it back from reality via her dream. She’d brought it back from reality via both of their dreams. That aside, Atsuko was bothered by Osanai’s mention of danger. She wasn’t sure what he meant by it.

“Are there any other functions we don’t know about?” asked Osanai. “If there are, you’d better tell us quickly. This device is dangerous. We need to control it rigorously, under high-level isolation and in all secrecy. Please return all DC Minis in your possession to us.”

“Who’s this ‘we’ you keep going on about? Would it be you and your gay lover?” Atsuko countered with a smile. “I wonder if he’s at work yet. There’s something I want to ask him.”

Osanai blushed slightly, but seemed well prepared for the moment when his relationship with Inui would be revealed. He quickly returned to the offensive. “See? If you keep them, all you’ll do is abuse them to pry into other people’s private lives. The Vice President will not be coming in today. Anyway, please give them back to us. You don’t have the faintest perception how dangerous they could be. What if they also had a function whereby not just the DC Minis themselves but other matter could also be brought back from a dream? That would be no joke at all.”

Indeed not, thought Atsuko. In that case, even virtual constructs that only exist in dreams could be made to materialize. Atsuko said nothing. Osanai and Inui may have discovered something while at the experimental stage; he may have been testing her to see if she knew about it.

“There seems to be some mistake here. I’m the one who wants the DC Minis back,” Atsuko said icily. “They’re not playthings for gay sex games. Come on. If you’re not going to give them back, please get out. I’ve got a lot to do.”

But Osanai wasn’t going to back down that easily. He turned at the door and grinned. “The Institute’s policy has changed. You’re no longer wanted here. I reckon you’ll be getting your notice soon.”