CH 19

Night comes early in local cities.

Even in the early evening in Tokyo, stores and apartments close early in the countryside, the lights in buildings are turned off, and only street lights illuminate the roadways.

Further away from the city center, vacant apartments and houses with no lights are conspicuous.

It has been a long time since people started talking about the deindustrialization of local city centers, and the city where Hiroki has his company is no exception.

On the window of a dark and dusty office that has not been cleaned for a long time, a lonely sign in faded letters reads “Looking for Tenants”.

In one of the decaying vacant rooms of that apartment, “he” was there.

No, to be more precise, rather than “he”, it would be more appropriate to refer to such a being with an “it”. Such a being was curled up and crouched down like a wounded animal.

Amidst the faint burns and pain “it” feels, it was sweetly dreaming.

In the darkness, that being had seized its luck and became “it”.

By becoming “it”, it had acquired overflowing power.

By becoming “it”, it had become free.

It had become free and ran outside.

Compared to the true darkness inside the hole, the darkness it witnessed outside was as dark as the street with streetlights.

“It” ran freely outside, ran freely through the city, and bit off with its powerful fangs the abominable being that had restrained “its” freedom.

The man’s astonished expression and the sweet scent of hot blood at that moment!!!

“It” ruminated over and over about the scent memorized in its nostrils, and was immersed in a happy mood.

Suddenly feeling hungry, “it” quickly smashed a large centipede that was rustling around the room and slowly chewed it.

The crispy outer skin and soft, bitter-tasting flesh were delicious.

It wiped the food scraps from its clawed hands with the torn hat covering its head.

However, the memory of why such a convenient thing was attached to its head was fuzzy.

With its hunger a little satisfied, “it” stopped thinking difficult thoughts and slowly curled itself up in the darkness again.

★　★　★　★　★

That day, Hiroki continued to throw garbage with a shovel into the hole as usual.

As the company grew larger and gained social recognition, the amount of waste brought in increased dramatically, but Hiroki continued to handle it all with his extraordinary physical strength and showed no particular signs of fatigue.

Hiroki spent a lot of time with the hole and was satisfied with his fulfilling manual labor.

[President, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you……]

[Arehh? How unusual, seeing you here.]

[Haahh…… Well……]

Wryly smiling, Ishida scratched his head.

Ever since his experience of being hung over the hole, Ishida has had a fear of holes.

His interest in understanding the hole remains strong, but the inescapable fear he’s feeling from approaching the hole is greater.

[Errr…… President, what are you doing?]

Ishida saw Hiroki trying to throw something other than waste into the hole.

[Ahh, this? It’s a fumigant that kills cockroaches and centipedes.]

Saying this, Hiroki showed him the several cans of fumigant he had in his hand.

They were the type of fumigants that are commonly used in closed rooms to kill insects in the room.

[No, I understand that but…… you’re throwing them in the hole? May I ask why you do that?]

[Errr, didn’t we accept common waste during the previous disaster?]

[Yes.]

During the previous fire, the company had made an exception and accepted the waste brought in on light trucks by the general public who weren’t contractors.

It wasn’t a bad deal for the company, as it earned them a good reputation, but it also came with a not-so-good bonus.

[The garbage brought in at that time seemed to contain food scraps, and the number of insects and centipedes had increased…… They were a hindrance in my work.]

[I see…… Wait, did you throw those insects into the hole? You threw living creatures into the hole?]

[That’s right. So, just to be safe, I would also throw in fumigants inside. We wouldn’t want those bugs to increase in the hole, would we?]

Hearing Ishida point out this question, Hiroki said this as if it were a matter of course.

[……In the first place, would living creatures be alright after they’re thrown into that hole?]

[I don’t think they would? I mean, I’ve never seen any living creature ever come out of the hole.]

[Is that so……? Well, if that’s the case……]

If no living creatures came out of the hole, Ishida thinks that insects increasing in the hole shouldn’t be a problem, but he wasn’t sure if Hiroki could accept such a contradiction in logic now.

What is thrown into the hole never comes out.

Anything that comes in contact with the hole disappears from the surface of this world, vanishing without a sound.

That is the nature of the hole as Ishida knows it.

If that is the case, there may be no problem even if some living creatures are thrown into the hole.

As his mind went through such thoughts, Ishida felt a shiver run down his spine.

He had been dangled on top of such a hole and was almost thrown into it.

[So, what did you want to discuss with me?]

Ishida, who had been somewhat dazed after such a thought popped into his mind, quickly regained his composure and consulted with Hiroki.

It was regarding a serious matter that would determine the future of the company.

[I’ve been thinking that it’s time for us to start accepting high-grade waste. We’d like to do a preliminary test for that purpose.]

[Ahh, I see. You’re right. We can’t just keep on receiving construction waste rubble and boards after all. I guess it’s time to do something new.]

Do something new.

Hiroki wants to give the hole a new kind of waste.

Ishida wants to grow the company by accepting new kinds of waste.

Both Hiroki and Ishida agree on the general direction of the company.

[Yes. That’s right. We want to keep a recorded experiment with radioactive markers. It’s so that we’d be able to accept radioactive waste.]

[Unnn. That sounds good.]

As Ishida looked nervous, determination held within his heart, Hiroki casually gave him his permission as he plopped yet another fumigant into the hole.

It was unknown if it was because of his fear or not, but Ishida felt like the hole was blacker and larger than before.