CH 1

[It made a hole in that place huh?]

After the typhoon passed, Gomi Hiroki was cleaning up his messy garden when he found a big hole in the corner of his property.

[Geez…… The real estate guy really just forced a random land on me……]

—–and involuntarily complained.

It’s been two years since Hiroki resigned from his job at a black trading company in his 30s, retired, and opened a recycling shop in his hometown.

With a mini-truck and a super cab, he went around the local area to collect and repair recyclable goods, a job that suited him well, but he hardly had any profits.

If he would even need to improve his homeground, there was no telling how much it would cost him.

Fortunately, the yard, which doubles as his storage area, is large and far from his home and office.

[For the time being, I guess I’ll just throw some of the garbage in it.]

After throwing the branches and leaves from his yard into the hole, Hiroki went back to his usual work.

The time after a typhoon is a good one for the recyclers to make some money.

Starting the engine of his mini-truck, Hiroki’s partner cheerfully responded again today.

★　★　★　★　★

[Well then, I guess it’s working again today…… Wait, arehh? Where did the branches go?]

The next morning, Hiroki checked the condition of his yard and when he saw the hole, he found something unusual.

The hole that should have been filled with garbage yesterday became an empty one again.

[This is bad…… Is this hole quite the deep one?]

Looking at that hole, Hiroki was reminded about a foreign news report he had seen about how huge holes in the ground were due to the soil flowing with the groundwater.

He also learned from it that investigating it by himself wouldn’t be safe.

[For the time being, I guess I’ll just throw some more garbage in it.]

Hiroki decided to throw away the shredded documents and unnecessary combustible garbage that had accumulated in his office.

For a not-so-profitable recycling shop, throwing away documents that are classified as business waste is quite the responsibility.

Anyhow, the situation he’s in can’t get any worse than it is now.

It’s the real estate agent’s fault for being negligent in land management.

Justifying such thoughts within his mind, Hiroki dumped 30 40L bags of office documents into the hole.

Thereupon, he simply picked up his shovel and covered the hole with soil.

★　★　★　★　★

[No, no. As expected, this is just strange……]

The next morning, Hiroki found the hole that he should have filled up was completely empty, as if nothing had happened.

[Did someone dig the contents out? Is this some sort of prank?]

With that thought in mind, Hiroki looked around for a hidden camera somewhere in the bushes in his yard.

Nowadays, the world is being plagued by pranksters who shoot their videos without thinking about the troubles they’re causing.

Hiroki could brush that matter aside if they just took those trash with them, but if they spread the office waste somewhere else, Hiroki could be held liable and compensation issues may occur.

[This is troubling…… Should I install a surveillance camera?]

These days, even cameras costing a few thousand yen can provide infrared surveillance at night.

Setting up the camera he had bought from a fellow recycler and linking it to his laptop, Hiroki then dumped the rest of the office waste into the hole and buried it.

If there really was someone pranking him, he would be caught in the camera.

★　★　★　★　★

The next day, Hiroki found that the garbage still disappeared.

The hole was also still there.

[Now then, let’s see if the camera caught the culprit’s face……]

If someone is trespassing on his property every night without permission, even if it’s just a man living alone, they’d still find the intruder’s actions really unpleasant.

[There…… Let’s see…… Hmm? Hmmm———–?]

The surveillance camera caught no one.

The hole just quietly swallowed up the garbage Hiroki threw in it.

[Is this one of those ground-shifting stuff? Or perhaps, that so-called quicksand I’ve heard about……?]

Hiroki feels that something out of the ordinary was happening, but as long as there was no culprit involved in it, he thinks that there are no particular problems with it.

Putting unnecessary thoughts aside, Hiroki decided to just go back to his recycling business.

The new dumping ground for business waste saved him money, but without sales, his small recycling business wouldn’t be able to survive.