15 Days
Leaving the room, I headed for the kitchen.
The kitchen was outside — a space shared by both the men and the women. Without an umbrella or raincoat, I stepped out into the wind and rain and went in. I looked around the spacious kitchen, then opened the refrigerator to find it packed with canned beer. While I was at it, I cracked one open and gulped it down as I searched for the storage shed.
The storage building was outside as well. Once again I pushed through the wind and rain toward it. Fortunately, the door wasn't locked.
Cleaning tools, rope, farming implements, wooden planks — pretty much everything was there. Estimating the size of the windows, I grabbed a toolbox and some wooden boards and stepped back out of the shed.
I sensed a presence.
I whipped my head around toward the forest. Whoosh. Trees and grass swayed in the storm. No one was visible.
Just my imagination?
The eerie atmosphere must have put me on edge without my realizing it. Passing the kitchen, I headed back to the lodging. Before going inside, I glanced at the women's quarters. Lights were on. They must have noticed the wind was getting serious and were making various preparations.
THUD!
Something heavy toppled over with a massive crash. I thought a tree had fallen, but it was the van parked beside the lodging that had been blown onto its side.
I pretended not to notice and went inside. Wada Kyoshiro was still blocking the windows with blankets.
"You're back! I heard a huge noise earlier. Is everything okay outside?"
"The van tipped over."
"The one we came in?"
"Yeah. Figured I couldn't right it by myself, so I left it."
"Good call. Moving around carelessly in weather like this is a bad idea. Especially when it's this dark with no streetlights."
I reinforced the windows by nailing wooden boards over them from behind.
"The landlord's going to have something to say about this."
"No. The landlord will thank us. If we left it alone, the whole room would be a disaster."
Wada Kyoshiro checked the boards and nodded. He left the wet blankets outside and pulled fresh ones from the closet.
"Thanks for the hard work, Seong-san."
"You too."
I went back to sleep.
I'd meant to wake up before four in the morning, but when I opened my eyes it was already morning. My plans for a first-night yobai had gone out the window.
Morning came, but the weather hadn't improved at all.
Mori Masahiro dragged me and the other male students out to right the van. We moved it beside the storage shed, which at least offered some shelter from the wind and rain. The problem was that the engine was shot, so we had to push the van into place.
Once the work was done, we gathered in the spacious living room on the first floor of the lodging to decide what to do next.
"Mori-senpai! The car's broken down. We're supposed to leave tomorrow, but now we can't! What are we going to do?!"
A tall, skinny man spoke up. Fudo Jun. He wore glasses, and his cheeks were sunken. His hair was long enough that his bangs looked ready to poke him in the eyes.
"Calm down, Fudo."
Mori Masahiro said. Even in this situation, he remained composed.
"Calm down? Senpai. We're stranded in this village. We might as well be shipwrecked!"
"Shipwrecked is a bit much. We're in a village, Fudo. Watch your tone. You'll rattle the underclassmen."
"A bit much? I'm raising legitimate concerns. We can't even leave tomorrow anymore."
"The car can be fixed. If not, we can borrow a vehicle from one of the residents and drive out. I saw a few trucks around. Once we reach a major city nearby, getting home won't be hard."
"That's a relief. Can we leave tomorrow as planned, then?"
Fudo Jun held out his smartphone. Everyone who checked it let out a collective sigh.
An evacuation order had been issued across all of Japan. The message instructed people to move to the nearest shelter and stay there. Fudo Jun tapped his phone and showed a news article.
"An earthquake?!"
Wada Kyoshiro cried out in shock.
A magnitude 8.0 earthquake had briefly struck the Kanto and Tohoku regions. Confirmed casualties already exceeded a thousand, and with the typhoon on top of it, the situation was pure chaos. Fear flickered across everyone's faces.
Kanto.
In Korean terms, that was Gwandong — the Kanto region.
The Great Kanto Earthquake. A word that triggered trauma for the Japanese.
"Mori-senpai. The situation is more serious than you think. Can we really make it to the city tomorrow?"
"Calm down, Fudo. I know you're on edge because of the concours in three weeks. You want to practice for it. But fretting won't get you anything. Come with me and let's walk the village ourselves — see whether we can leave or not."
Fudo still glared at Mori Masahiro with a dissatisfied expression, then reluctantly nodded.
"...Yes. Understood."
We had a simple breakfast and the group split up. Tanaka Hiroshi and his two delinquent buddies lounged around in a second-floor room snickering among themselves, while Wada Kyoshiro and I handled the dishes. Mori Masahiro and Fudo Jun put on raincoats bought from the general store and went out to survey the village.
THUD!
A tremendous crash rang out. Wada Kyoshiro and I rushed outside. A small tree had toppled into a nearby field.
"I never thought a tree would go down that easily. Tonight's summer festival... that's not happening, is it?"
Wada Kyoshiro shook his head as he looked at the fallen tree.
"Holding a festival during a typhoon is insane. Common sense says they'll postpone it until the weather calms down."
The wind was one thing, but the rain kept pouring.
Looking at the fields... most of them are shallowly flooded. This year's farming is pretty much done for.
The roads wouldn't flood. We were high up in the mountains. Water would keep flowing downhill.
Landslides were more of a concern than flooding.
I was about to head back inside when a middle-aged man in a raincoat approached from a distance. A face I hadn't seen before.
"Hello. I'm Honda Taichi. I work at Ookaruma Shrine."
A middle-aged man of ordinary build with copper-toned skin. Square jaw, a calm-looking face.
"I'm Wada Kyoshiro, first-year at Naio University."
"Seong Yujin."
Honda Taichi stared at my face for a few seconds.
A right-winger?
Plenty of middle-aged Japanese men held a grudge against Korea.
I kept my mouth shut and stayed quiet beside Wada Kyoshiro.
"Please, come inside."
"Thank you."
We sat facing each other in the living room. Wada Kyoshiro brought out green tea as a matter of course. Honda Taichi took a sip and spoke.
"The festival has been postponed."
Bad news.
The Japan Festival Study Circle needed results to avoid being disbanded. It was too late now to go looking for another village's festival.
"...How many days has it been postponed?"
"No exact schedule has been set. Once the typhoon passes and the village is cleaned up, the festival will begin."
"So it won't be canceled?"
"It may be late, but that will never happen."
"Thank you for letting us know, Honda-san. Is there an evacuation shelter in Ookaruma Village?"
"There is no shelter in the village."
"There's a shrine, though."
"The shrine is not a shelter."
Honda Taichi said firmly, his expression hardening. Wada Kyoshiro's face stiffened for a moment. Honda Taichi's stern look was quite intimidating.
"Ahem. The shrine is a sacred place. And Ookaruma Village is not affected by the typhoon. Unlike other places, the terrain makes it safe. There's no need to evacuate."
"...Well, that's fortunate. I take it Ookaruma Village hasn't suffered any flood damage?"
"That's not quite right. The fields flood and we take various losses. But nothing serious."
"I see. What about the roads? We may need to leave the village tomorrow."
Honda Taichi looked troubled as he answered.
"Leaving the village right now is impossible."
"What?"
"The road below the village has collapsed. Cars can't get out."
"R-Really?"
"What reason would I have to lie? And even if the road were fine, getting to the city would be difficult. A friend of mine in the city said it's flooding there right now. Japan is currently in a state of disaster."
"......"
Wada Kyoshiro's head drooped. Being stranded in the village must have left him devastated. On top of that, with a disaster striking all of Japan, hoping for outside help wasn't easy either.
"Don't be too discouraged. The village has stockpiled food for emergencies, so we can easily last a month. Just wait until things settle outside."
"...It's a relief we don't have to worry about food, at least."
The atmosphere remained heavy.
Honda Taichi finished his green tea and opened his mouth again.
"Everyone. Have any of you seen Jiro-san?"
"Jiro-san?"
"An elderly man who works the potato fields. He normally gets up early and works late, but today it's already past noon and no one in the village has seen him."
"The potato field next to the general store?"
"Yes. You know it."
"We interviewed him last night. After that... I'm not sure."
I calmly sipped my green tea. I'd already figured out that the person Honda Taichi was talking about was the old man I'd killed yesterday.
With my Acting trait, just looking at my face won't tip him off that anything's wrong.
Honda Taichi looked back and forth between me and Wada Kyoshiro, then stood up.
"Understood. I'll be going now. If you learn anything about Jiro-san, please come find me at the building next to the shrine. And if anything is inconvenient or you need something, don't hesitate to come. We'll help as much as we can."
Honda Taichi left.
"Haa."
Wada Kyoshiro just let out a long sigh.
An hour later, Mori Masahiro and Fudo Jun returned. Their expressions were grim. They must have discovered that the road below the village had collapsed.
"We've checked the road conditions. Crossing by car is impossible. Hiking down the mountain on foot is far too dangerous in this weather. The villagers say there are a lot of wild boars, and bears show up occasionally too."
Mori Masahiro explained. Behind him, Fudo Jun staggered up to the second floor.
"Mori-senpai. Fudo-senpai is..."
"Wada. Leave Fudo alone. The concours was canceled because of the earthquake in Kanto and Tohoku."
"Ah."
"Wada. Are Tanaka and the others inside?"
"Yes. They're on the second floor."
"I see. Seong. Sorry, but could you go get the women? Since we can't leave the village right away, I need to explain."
"Yes. I'll bring them. But Mori-senpai — the old man we interviewed last was reported missing. Does anything about that ring a bell?"
"Missing... you say?"
Mori Masahiro's eyes went wide. He looked thoroughly shocked.
"The questions you asked the old man yesterday... they wouldn't have anything to do with the disappearance, would they?"
I asked, playing dumb. There was something in this village.
"...I'll explain once everyone is gathered. Given how things have turned out... we'll need to call Fudo as well."