12th Incident: Revelation Part 2 黙示録パート2 

 "This is Tetsu-san! He is our editor." Bigla kong nasabi kay Investigator Yamamura. Nagkatinginan na naman si Ayako at si Oliver.

            "I know." Sagot ni Investigator Yamamura sa akin. "That's why I am here."

            "I-Is he really dead?"

            Tinanong ko ulit ito dahil ayokong magulat na naman kung sakaling buhay pa siya. Pero impossibleng mabuhay pa siya. Kitang-kita ng mga mata ko nang masagasaan siya ng train.

            And Investigator Yamamura confirmed it. Wala na nga talaga si Tetsu-san.

            "Peculiar Magazine's publishers and the police were behind all these."

            I am trying to understand everything but still... this has been a puzzle.

            "If both of you were in the curse. Then did you happen to enter between the post and wall?"

  "Yes we did."

            "Could it be that the post and wall is the main source?" at tinanong ko na naman ulit ito.

            "Enough of that post and wall!" Singit ni Oliver sa usapan. "Sinabi ko na noon na bumalik kami doon before but nothing happened!"

            Pikon na si Oliver. Pero bakit ba? Bakit napipikon siya? Gusto ko na siyang patulan sa totoo lang pero kailangan kong magpakahinahon sa oras na ito dahil kumukuha ako ng information. Besides, how should I know if he's telling the truth.

            "Then this means... Tetsu-san know the 23:57 curse long before we submitted the article to him?" sinubukan kong ibahin ang usapan para mas lalo akong makakuha ng information na kinakailangan ko. Nandito na ako, kailangan kong makuha ang kinakailangan ko ngayon.

            "Indeed. Actually, he contacted me before about it when you guys wanted to submit the article. He needed somebody like you guys who are brave enough to write something like 23:57."

            "But why didn't he just write it?" tanong ni Daisy.

            "He can't. He can't afford to put his name as the publishers will hunt him."

            "So we were just baits?!" Ayako asked.

            "I am afraid that I have to say yes." Investigator Yamamura replied.

            "I don't know if I should feel surprised or upset about this." Asar kong sagot sa lahat.

            I mean seriously? Ayoko namang magalit sa patay na pero yung tipong gamitin kami para maging front name para sa article, sobrang nakakaasar lang.

            "Do you know why you were always in a meeting room whenever you visit Peculiar Magazine? He wanted to talk to you about it privately and push the publication of the article." Dagdag pa ni Investigator Yamamura.

            "You know about that as well?" tanong ko.

            "Yes, not exactly. During that time, Tetsu-san just told me about you guys over the phone but he never told me the details about you. I had no name then."

  So, that's it! That's why Tetsu-san called me to confirm me if I know about the 23:57 incident when he asked me about the photo of the digital clock with Ayako in it.

            Wait! I need to ask about that as well!

            "Did Tetsu-san told you about Ayako's photo at the digital clock?"

            "What photo?" Investigator Yamamura got puzzled. It's the first time that I saw him unsure abot something.

            "This." Pinakita ko sa kanya ang photo mula sa phone ko. Nakitingin rin sina Oliver at Daisy. Ayako remained kung nasaan siya. Nakatayo lang. She never wanted to see the photo since then, I believe.

            Nagulat si Investigator Yamamura sa nakita niya. Doon ko lang rin first time na nakita kong natakot siya. But he immediately composed himself back.       

            "Probably because he found out that your were in the curse already." Investigator Yamamura said with his unsure face again.

            With this, may napagdikit akong mga information. The first meeting with Tetsu-san and Shibata-san to talk about the photo of the digital clock with Ayako in it must be the main reason why he was so interested for us to pursue the article. It also means that the main reason why he is pursuing the publication of the 23:57 is to make it public to everyone. In which, the article being public to everyone exposes it to the group of unkonown people who are trying to hinder this to happen.

  With this info I have now, nabuhayan ako.

            "One more thing, making the article public, makes it accessible to the people who are in the curse as well..." dagdag ni investigator sa amin.

            Wait a minute!

            "Is it possible that it's not just us?" tanong ko habang napalunok ako sa isa na namang realization.

            "Absolutely." Seryosong sagot ni investigator sa amin. Ang mukha niya ay nakakatakot na nang bigla siyang naging seryoso.

            Nakakatakot ito para sa akin dahil kung totoo ang sinasabi niya, ibig sabihin kalat na ang sumpa. Maaaring kalat na ito sa buong Shibuya. Or worse, sa buong Tokyo.

            "Why is this happening to us?" Daisy asked with a hopeless tone.

            "That's the only question I cannot fully answer yet. My speculations are still unclear but I have an idea. Because I know the story of the 23:57's origin."

  Then... Tell us...

  Sobrang nanabik ako. Nang marinig ko ang huling parte ng sinabi ni Investigator Yamamura sa amin. Muling nagbalik ang mga sinabi nila Tetsu-san at Yamamura-san sa akin noon sa phone.

  Sabi Investigator Yamamura na 13 people ang involved.

            Nangyari ang lahat sa Shibuya Station.

            Sabi naman ni Tetsu-san na nagsimula ang lahat 4 years ago.

            Kung may malalaman pa ako, mapagdidikit-dikit ko ang lahat.

            At malalaman ko na kung ano ba ang kwento sa likod ng lahat ng ito.

            "Tell us the origin of 23:57." Seryosong sabi ko. Hindi na ito request sa totoo lang. Kailangan kong malaman kung ano talaga ang nangyari four years ago involving thirteen people. "Tell us! What do you know about 23:57 origin?"

            Tumayo si Investigator Yamamura at may kinuha sa loob ng black leather handbag niya. Nasa kamay niya ang newspaper na lumang-luma na at may punit na parte. Ibinigay niya sa akin ito. Lumapit sa akin sina Ayako at Oliver para makita rin nila ang newspaper. Originally, nakasulat sa Japanese. May isang article na nakita ako na nakasulat malapit sa Headline. Ang tungkol sa matagal ko nang gustong malaman...

The Shibuya Today Newspaper. January 28, 2011.

The 23:57 Incident.

            SHIBUYA TOKYO. Thirteen people committed suicide at exactly 23:57 yesterday, January 27, 2011. The same time for the last train of the station of the Hanzomon Line. The thirteen people were seen standing side by side and jumped all at the same time as the last train was approaching to the Shibuya Station. These people were last seen suddenly laughing together while wearing their surgical masks before committing a group suicide. The were wearing surgical masks with a drawing of a smiling mouth drawn in red ink. It was later revealed that these people were in a religious group and decided to commit a group suicide to end their suffering altogether. However there is one thing that was discovered during the—

Putol ang article dahil punit ito.

Pucha! I'm almost there!

Hindi ko alam kung punit ang newspaper dahil sa kalumaan nito or talaga lang may pumunit nito.

"What's this?! The article is incomplete!" agad kong reklamo kay Investigator Yamamura. Gusto kong ibato ang newspaper pero pinipigilan ko lang ang sarili ko dahil maari itong maging useful sa future.

"I know. But you learned something important about the 23:57 origin right?" agad na kinuha ni Investigator Yamamura ang newspaper sa akin.

"So we're stuck at the dead end again?" I told everyone. This time, kung may pikon na sa kwartong ito, ako yun.

"Not really—" Sagot ni Investogator Yamamura sa akin. Pero hindi pa niya natatapos ang sinasabi niya ay agad na sumingit si Oliver.

"Not really because we can still go to the Shibuya Public Library and search for the scanned data of the newspaper which was dated four years ago. If this was published, there is a huge probability that a digital copy of this issue is still at the public library. That's the good thing about Tokyo, all published works were kept digitally at the public library for archiving purposes." Paliwanag ni Oliver sa amin.

"Right, Investigator?" paghingi ng confirmation ni Oliver.

"That was clever." Sagot ni Investigator Yamamura. "But I hate to destroy your hopes but I went to Shibuya Public Library already."

"And the thing is, the copy of this part of the newspaper was a first edition limited print out. There is actually a second edition. The second edition was the one scanned digitally and kept in the public library." Paliwanag ni investigator sa aming lahat na parang unti-unting sinisira ang pag-asang ibinigay niya sa amin.

"And there's more... The second edition has no article about the 23:57 Incident. It was removed. So the first edition holds the real information about the incident."

Agad na ibinalik ni Investigator Yamamura ang lumang newspaper sa loob ng handbag niya.

"So there is really somebody out there who wanted to stop publishing the article." Daisy finally speaks her mind.

Actually it's not just somebody. It's more like a group of powerful people were behind the blocking of the publication of information involving the 23:57incident.

"Perhaps we can go to Shibuya Today's office!" I suggested. Well, because we were working in a publishing field as well kaya alam ko na pwedeng maging alternative ang puntahan ang opisina kung saan ito nai-publish.

"Shibuya Today is no longer publishing. They officially got closed right after the publication of the second edition. The second edition was also their last issue."

And just like that, we're at the dead end again.  

            With all of the information that I got. Involuntarily, mabilis na gumalaw ang pupils ko.  Nangyayari lang ito kapag napapaisip ako. At ngayon, alam ko na ang partial ng 23:57 origin.

            4 years ago, 13 people from a religious group committed a mass suicide while laughing and wearing their surgical masks with red ink smiling mouths.

 "So it all started with a group suicide of the thirteen people..." Daisy once again voiced her realization. I think this realization is sinking in to her already.

"Why did they committed suicide?" Oliver asked. Gusto ko ring itanong ito.

"These people may have a common reason— to end their suffering. You know, that's Japan. It's their only way to redeem themselves. However, the exact reason of their reason is still unclear. I mean, each of them has their own unique circumstances. I am still investigating on it." Paliwanag ni Investigator Yamamura sa akin.

"So who are these thirteen people who committed suicide?" agad kong tinanong it okay Investigator Yamamura.

"I have no idea." Sagot sa akin ni investigator pero agad niya itong dinugtungan ng isang pahabol na nakakuha ng attention ko. "Tetsu called me before his death and telling me that he found the identity of the thirteen people. Unfortunately, he..."

So it all boils down to the missing file case!

Agad akong nanlamig nang maalala ko nang ibigay sa akin ni Tetsu-san ang file case bago siya masagasaan ng train.

            "Tetsu-san actually gave me a file case! He said, everything about 23:57 was in there!" I told Investigator Yamamura.

            "Then, we need the filecase! Where is it?!" Nagulat si Investigator sa narinig niya at mahigpit niyang hinawakan ang balikat ko.

            "I don't know. Bigla na lang nawala ang file case ng mawala na ako ng malay."

            "Damn!" mas lalong naging mahigpit ang paghawak ni investigator sa braso ko. He became mad. He was really mad, a desperate kind of mad. And again, ngayon ko lang siya nakitang ganun. Usually calm lang siya. Ngayon ko lang siya nakitang ganito.

            Natakot rin sa kanya sina Daisy at Ayako. Pinakalma naman siya ni Oliver.

  Pero bakit kaya sa akin ibinigay ni Tetsu-san ang filecase at hindi kay Investigator Yamamura?

"What else do you know investigator?" Oliver asked.

            Investigator answered with wide blank eyes.

  "When the 23:57 incident happened, I found out one important thing. Among the thirteen people, one person survived the suicide..."