23

Tokita was back in his apartment. He was completely unaware that, only a few moments earlier, Atsuko and Inui had appeared in Osanai’s apartment on the same floor. He was equally unaware that Noda had then burst in with the officers to confront Inui. Those events might just as well not have happened.

Shima was also in Tokita’s apartment, along with Matsukane from the Morning News. Matsukane had rescued Shima in his car, then driven him to the Metropolitan Police Department. Once the appearances by phantoms and hobgoblins seemed to have died down, they had returned to the apartment building together.

“I wonder what it means that they’ve died down,” Matsukane mused as he accepted a cup of coffee from Tokita’s mother.

“And can we be certain?” Tokita chipped in. Racing around for so long had made him hungry; he’d asked his mother to prepare some food, and was perfectly happy to scoff it in front of his guests.

“The Chief Superintendent said so,” added Shima, lounging on a sofa in the living room.

“What? Has there been a press conference?” Tokita put his chopsticks down in surprise.

“No, no. That’s tomorrow. He just said it to us.”

“The fact that the appearances have died down,” Tokita said, sounding relaxed again, “must mean that Inui has woken up. Either that, or he’s entered non-REM sleep and isn’t dreaming. One of those. I’ve a feeling he’s been wearing the DC Mini all along. In that case, as Atsuko says, he’ll find it harder to wake up. Yes. I reckon he’s entered non-REM sleep.”

“Non-REM sleep? But where?” Matsukane asked impatiently. “If only we could find out where he’s sleeping.”

“Well, he can travel through space at will,” Tokita said ruefully. “What if he’s in a hotel room where he used to stay when he was in Europe, for example? Some place like that from his memory? It would be hopeless. And seeing as he’s getting there through the dream world, he could even go back into the past.”

“Into the past?!” Matsukane gasped. “Traveling through space and time?!”

“It’s all too horrid,” Tokita’s mother said with a shudder. “You’re saying this man, whoever he is, can make all these terrible things happen, far worse than earthquakes or floods, and remain perfectly safe himself?!”

“Actually, these weird happenings may not all be coming from Inui’s dreams,” Shima said languidly. “Different people’s dreams seem to be merging with each other. People who’ve only used the DC Mini once. People like you or I, who’d had the dreams of schizophrenics fed into our subconscious. Those schizophrenics themselves. People who come into contact with someone wearing a DC Mini. And so on. I’m sure you’ll agree.”

“Well, that parade of dolls and the giant Buddha, for a start. Those things were obviously not from Inui’s dreams.” Tokita picked up his chopsticks to continue his meal, but stopped when he saw the grilled fish on his plate. It was his favorite. “I mean, look at this,” he said in dismay. “This is one of mine.”

The fish, tail end already stripped to the bone, opened its mouth wide and started to talk in a loud, piercing voice. “What’s the matter? What’s the matter? I’m a clever boy. A clever boy. Why did you throw me in the waste-paper basket? Next year’s conference will be held in Brussels. So be sure to eat two rice dumplings. Ah. Here’s a pun for you. Sayuri Yamaoka, the girl next door. Ahahaha.”

“It’s got mixed up with some schizophrenic’s dreams,” Tokita muttered.

Tokita’s mother had been standing next to him, watching it all with her mouth as wide open as the fish’s. She cried out in horror and fainted. Tokita caught her as she fell. He and Matsukane carried her to the living room, where they laid her on the sofa now vacated by Shima.

After returning to the table, Matsukane stared vacantly at Tokita’s plate for a while. The grilled fish was now just food again. Suddenly, Matsukane said something that seemed quite unbecoming for a serious newspaper reporter. “Maybe the DC Mini could provide links with the spirit world. Channeling, you know.” He stood up, evidently shocked by the stupidity of his own statement, and hurried toward the television to change the subject. “I know it’s late, but there must be some news on?”

“… chaos around the Metropolitan Police Department at the moment. The Department had earlier announced a press conference to explain the cause of these happenings, and measures to be taken against them. It’s now thought highly likely that the conference will be attacked, just as the earlier conference to announce the Nobel Prize …” The face of a breathless correspondent appeared in the center of the thirty-seven-inch flat TV screen. “The Department has therefore announced that it will cancel or indefinitely postpone tomorrow’s press conference. And I’ve just been told that a TV studio was suddenly attacked about twenty minutes ago, at around four minutes past one this morning. The station was airing a special program about this incident, which of course has been postponed …”

The transmission was interrupted by unfamiliar patterns and flickering. It didn’t seem like a faulty signal. The patterns and flickering gave way to reveal an aerial night view of the metropolis. The camera seemed to be on the construction site of a high-rise office building, pointing downward through its bare steel frame. A man could be heard shouting desperately.

“Help! Paprika! Paprika!!”

“Did he say Paprika?” Tokita stood up.

“Wait a minute. That’s Noda!” Shima muttered to himself.

Tokita walked to the television and stood staring at it with arms crossed, as if to demand an explanation from the TV set itself. The viewpoint of the camera seemed to have changed – the camera was now Tokita’s eye. Perched precariously on a thin steel girder high in the night sky, swaying in the wind with nothing to hold on to, was a life-size Tatsuo Noda.

“Noda!” Shima rose in alarm. “He can’t stand heights! He’ll be terrified! Something must have sparked his fear to make him go there! We’ve got to help him, or he’ll fall to his death!”

“Where is this place?” asked Tokita.

Matsukane came to stand next to him. After surveying the whole screen as if searching for something, he thrust a finger toward the bottom of the picture.

“This is the Palace Side Building. Here’s the Meteorological Agency. It must be that office building that’s going up in Takehira-cho.” He looked around the room. “Where’s the telephone? I’ll call the police right away.”

“He’s going to fall!” Shima shrieked. “They’ll never make it!”

“That’s right. They’ll never make it,” Tokita repeated calmly. “He appeared on this television, and that means he’s asking for our help. All right!” He suddenly raised his voice. “Mr. Noda! Can you hear me?”

Noda turned toward the screen, his hair ruffled by the wind. The movement made his body lurch again. From his reaction, it was clear that he’d heard Tokita’s voice but couldn’t see his face.

“No!” Shima howled as he covered both eyes with his hands.

At the same moment, Tokita thrust his arms into the television screen. The screen dissolved, and the scene inside it became a real space that was an extension of the room. The wind blowing high in the night sky started to bluster inside the apartment. Tokita gripped the arms of the life-size Tatsuo Noda. After a momentary expression of surprise, Noda clung tightly to Tokita’s stout arms. With a great heave of strength, Tokita pulled Noda’s body out of the television onto the floor of his living room.