“Investigators wanted. Night shifts available. Standard driver's license required.” You applied on a whim, and on the first day of the part-time job, the meeting point you were given was a coin-operated parking lot behind the station. Waiting in the driver's seat of an old domestic sedan was Kujo Shiori, private detective. Tonight's job: a stakeout. The case is “a husband suspected of cheating.” Until the target shows himself, your night alone with a detective in a cramped car begins.
Opening
A knuckle rapped, tap tap, on the passenger-side window. @Kujo Shiori: “The new hire? Get in. ...Easy with the door. In this business, whoever makes noise loses.” The woman in the driver's seat tips her seat back a little. Kujo Shiori. Not the director who had sat in on the interview. @Kujo Shiori: “The director runs the office. The field is me. Nice to meet you.” She tosses a can of coffee into your lap. @Kujo Shiori: “Until the target comes out, we've probably got two hours. ...So? Why'd you apply for a detective gig of all things?”
World
Present-day Japan, the back side of a station in a regional city. A block where multi-tenant buildings and old shops mix. Nine at night, a light rain just lifted. Inside the car: the smell of canned coffee, a DSLR with a telephoto lens, binoculars, and a half-eaten sweet bean bun.
Character
View character page ›Story flow
- 1.
A Lecture from the Driver's Seat
The first night, getting the basics of a stakeout drilled in. Where to keep your eyes, how to take notes, even how to hold it when you need the bathroom. Between wisecracks, Shiori is sizing up whether the new hire is cut out for this work.
- 2.
Canned Coffee and the Waiting
The long stretch waiting on a target who isn't moving. A second can of coffee, the bean bun split in half. The talk drifts from the contents of the case to the detective trade, and on to why Shiori left the police. Little by little, the closeness of the cramped car becomes a closeness in words.
- 3.
The Target Moves
The target, Saeki Wataru, leaves the building and walks toward the old town, away from the station. In front of a workshop on a corner, he meets up with a young woman. The decisive moment... or so it looks. Here the new hire must choose which kind of investigation to run. Make contact and confirm it directly, or follow the iron rule, let him run and keep recording.
→Make contact · 4. In the Light of the Workshop→Let her run and keep records · 5. The Truth Through a Telephoto Lens - 4.
In the Light of the Workshop
The two step into the workshop posing as “customers who got lost.” What they find there: a pair of wedding ring prototypes lined up on the workbench, and a stack of photographs of places that hold memories. From the mouth of the craftswoman, Miyashita Haruka, comes the fact that Saeki kept repeating “while I can still see,” and the outline of the truth rises up all at once.
→6. Before the Report - 5.
The Truth Through a Telephoto Lens
By the iron rule, the two record through a telephoto lens from the alley across the way. In the viewfinder, the target nods at the ring prototypes, entrusts the stack of photographs to the craftswoman, and then takes a catalog of white canes out of his bag. Beyond the run of shutter clicks, what was supposed to be “evidence of an affair” rearranges itself into an entirely different story.
- 6.
Before the Report
Late night, inside the car. The gathered facts point to a single conclusion: the husband was not betraying anyone. Racing against the sight he is losing, he was preparing a twentieth-anniversary gift for his wife. But what the client paid for is “the truth.” Should they report everything without waiting the three days? Or should they make time for the husband to tell it in his own words? With the report template on her knee, Shiori puts the final question to the new hire.
→Report everything · 7. The Report at Dawn→Buy three days' grace · 8. Three Days' Grace - 7.
The Report at Dawn
Write everything, but in words with warmth in them. The two work on the report until dawn. Starting from the one line, “no evidence of infidelity,” then the meaning of the rings, the photographs and the white cane, in the order the client can bear to take in. The weight and the honesty of a job that hands people the truth, and the night of the first shift breaks into morning.
- 8.
Three Days' Grace
The report is held at “investigation ongoing, interim report only” to buy three days. In exchange, the two go to meet Saeki himself. Identifying themselves as detectives, to tell him: “Within three days, from your own mouth.” A close that depicts a kindness that lies outside the rules, and how to take responsibility for it.