Chapter Fifteen: Boarding the Ship at Midnight

The few scattered streetlamps still cast their cold glow. Now and then, only two or three cars would streak past on the road, and a taxi, its headlights blazing, sped swiftly through the streets.

It was rare for the driver to have a fare at night, and with no vehicles or pedestrians in sight, he obeyed the passenger’s urging and kept increasing his speed, flashing through the empty avenues.

Rieko lifted her wrist to glance at her watch. The minute hand pointed to twenty past eleven, and her anxiety deepened. She might not make it in time.

“Please, hurry. The ship is almost here!”

Through the rearview mirror in the cabin, the driver saw her impatient expression. Though he had no idea what she was hurrying for, he wisely did not ask. He simply nodded and pressed the accelerator a little harder.

The buildings along both sides of the street rushed backward in a blur; the neon lights flashed by so quickly that they seemed to smear into one another. At last, the car stopped near a park.

The driver exhaled. It had been a long time since he had driven at such a breakneck speed. Yet before he could say a word, Rieko was already reaching out, flinging down her money in haste and scrambling out of the car.

“Miss... your things...”

He had barely spoken when he saw her already running off in one direction. On the back seat, her coat and shoulder bag had been left behind.

Thud, thud, thud...

Rapid footsteps sounded as Rieko hurried to the agreed place. There, a crowd was already waiting. They were of different ages, different genders, and different professions: security guards, office workers, and all manner of people impossible to define at a glance.

What they had in common was their despair toward this stifling world. They had decided to leave, though no one knew what they would find aboard the ship, or what kind of ending awaited them.

Still, for even the faintest sliver of hope, they were willing to try.

Panting, Rieko raised her head and looked up at the night sky, still black as pitch, trying to search for the ship’s traces. But there was nothing unusual in the heavens.

“This should be the place...”

Just as doubt began to rise in her, Rieko suddenly froze.

A golden radiance, as though descending from the edge of the heavens, spilled down from above, and with it came a warmth that seemed to wash over her. In that instant, it was as if she had seen her homeland, as if she had glimpsed the utopia of her dreams.

Her panicked heart gradually settled into peace. A beautiful smile appeared on her face, and the ice within her seemed to melt at that very moment. The golden light was like the sun itself, tender and warm, as though it were...

The feeling of being held in her mother’s arms...

Warm and tranquil, affectionate and comforting.

The golden brilliance grew ever stronger. She could not help looking up, and in that mass of radiance she seemed to see the shore beneath the evening sun. The light was soft and warm; the sea breeze carried a faint salty tang, yet it was wonderfully soothing.

It was a warmth she had never felt in this world. The smile on her lips blossomed all the more. It had been so long, so very long, since she had truly smiled that she had almost forgotten how.

Perhaps... the ship really can carry us to utopia.

Silently, when the light faded, the shore returned once more to its cold darkness. The wind stirred, rising with a mournful howl. On the deserted waterfront, only the streetlights continued their lonely vigil...

In this freezing night, a group of people who longed with all their hearts for utopia had already left this cold, repressive world, unbearable as it was.

In the black-and-white photograph, there seemed to be light pouring down from above. A crowd stood waiting for something: some standing, some crouching, some looking upward, others bowed in thought. Among them were middle-aged office workers, young students, police officers in uniform, and full-time homemakers. Their faces were frozen in that single instant.

“On Saturday the thirteenth, at three in the morning, an unidentified flying-object abduction incident, akin to the one in Quadruple Mutilation, occurred in the night!”

“Twenty-two victims. Agent Jin, begin the mission with Agent K!”

At dawn, on the very shore where Rieko had departed aboard the ship, Jin, dressed in a black trench coat, slowly lifted his head and stopped looking at the data images displayed on the smart computer.

Among the many photographs, he had found the figure of that woman.

She wore glasses and still looked intelligent and refined. Her beautiful face was tipped slightly upward as she gazed at the sky, her eyes full of anticipation and gentleness, her face carrying a warm smile, as though she had finally awaited the return of a companion who had been away for a very long time.

As though she had finally waited for the ship that would carry her away from this world and into the legendary utopia...

Jin knew he should say something. A faint guilt stirred in him, and in his ears there still lingered the echo of her voice.

“Do you believe it? That this world is not the true world?”

“I believe it... but I don’t really dare make such a choice all by myself.”

Back then, Jin had answered with words of encouragement.

“I can’t make the decision for you either. But if you have made up your mind, then by all means, go and do it yourself.”

He had not expected that she would truly do it.

Jin could not judge her actions. No one knew where that ship would take her. No one knew what kind of fate awaited her. And yet, he could not help admiring her courage.

It was hard to imagine that such a seemingly fragile woman would be willing to take a risk, to board the unknown ship, all for a utopia that might not even exist.

Jin did not know whether he himself would have such courage. Perhaps it was because he understood nothing, because he did not even know who he was. Since he lived amid a fog, he found these uncertain choices and journeys all the more frightening and difficult to embrace.

If... if that were truly the ship to utopia...

Then I would be willing to go as well, to leave this world shrouded in mist, to search for my true self, and to be reborn.

“Quadruple Mutilation was a remarkable incident in the United States in the 1960s, when a great many livestock were slaughtered overnight by dead aliens,” K said, his arms folded across his chest as he explained the outline of the event. He wore a white trench coat.

“But as time has gone on, these aliens have grown more and more reckless.”

He paused, then continued as he strolled along the shore.

“This is already the third abduction incident...”

“The first was in the eastern region, the second involved thirteen people in the inland sea reclamation zone. Without exception, all of them happened in the dead of night.”

K stopped in front of Jin and looked out over the coast. The cold wind made him shiver, and he tightened his coat around himself.

“There was a gap of several months between the first and the second abductions. But the interval between the second and the third was only one week.”

“Honestly... these extraterrestrials are becoming more and more brazen!”