Case File No.042: The Moongazing Dew

Opening

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An August night. You are drinking cold barley tea in the apartment building's common area when you hear footsteps coming up the stairs. You look up, and there is Kirishima in a gray hoodie, giving a lazy wave as he walks over. @Kirishima: "You're still up? That's rare." He drops down next to you, and the Japanese-patterned charm hanging from his neck swings. He flashes his phone screen at you. @Kirishima: "Ever heard of the 'Moongazing Dew'? Water that shows up in a park on full-moon nights. Drink it and you stop aging, supposedly. It's getting some buzz online." His tone is as blunt as ever, but there is something serious in his eyes. @Kirishima: "I'm planning to head out to Aomigaoka Park tomorrow night to check it out. If you've got nothing better to do, come with me."

Story flow

1. 1.

   Where the Rumor Starts

   It begins with the two of them going back over the rumor of the "Moongazing Dew." Tracing online posts, roundup articles, and firsthand accounts, they see that the rumor's source is surprisingly old, and that several people lost contact around the same time. Not yet at the site; the stage of comparing notes in a room or a family restaurant.

2. 2.

   Full Moon Night, Aomigaoka Park

   Late at night under the full moon, they walk the park searching for the rumored water. Eventually, deep in a stand of trees, in a hollow in the ground, they find a surface of water reflecting the full moon. It is clear enough to look silver, and there is a faint metallic smell in the air. Here the clues open in two directions. One is the supernatural line (the moon reflected in the water is out of step with the real moon, Kirishima's charm is strangely cold, old-era artifacts lie nearby). The other is the real-world line (discolored ground, old piping in a corner of the park, the factory on the far bank visible through the fence). Which one the two weigh more heavily decides the color of this case.

   →The supernatural path · 3. [Occult] Writings on the Moongazers→The real-world path · 5. [Real] Behind the Mercury Theft
3. 3.

   [Occult] Writings on the Moongazers

   Tracing the missing people's movements reveals that every one of them went to the park chasing the rumor. In the library's local history and old manuscripts they find accounts of the "Moongazers." According to these, whoever swallows the dew gains agelessness and great strength, but is burned by sunlight, can no longer take ordinary food, and comes to feed on mercury. In parallel, they come across records of an incident at the factory on the far bank in which mercury went missing. Kirishima's charm grows colder the closer he gets to the park, and he gets irritated at not being able to explain it himself.

4. 4.

   [Resolution: Occult] Silver Water

   Under the full moon they reach the answer. The dew is made of the very people who once drank it. When a Moongazer is burned by sunlight, the body liquefies into a nearly silver water. What pooled in the hollow was all that remained of those who vanished before. Then someone who manages this phenomenon shows themselves. Showing no hostility, with an attitude almost amused that the two got this far, they say only not to chase it further and withdraw into the night. Revealing neither name nor purpose, hinting that they will meet again.

5. 5.

   [Real] Behind the Mercury Theft

   They analyze the park's soil and water and dig into the factory on the far bank. Something is off in the articles about the past mercury theft. The reported figures don't match the inventory, and the amount written off as stolen actually leaked out beyond the grounds. The ground beneath the park is contaminated with old waste, and when the water table rises with the full-moon spring tide, contaminated water wells up into the hollow. Anyone who drinks it enters a temporary state of excitement from poisoning and has the illusion that their physical abilities have increased. That was the truth behind the rumor.

6. 6.

   [Resolution: Real] The Crackdown

   They bring the gathered materials to the proper authorities. A few days later the factory is inspected, and years of illegal dumping and cover-ups come to light. Part of the park is closed off, and the rumor quickly fades. The two watch the news in a room and think back on the silver surface of the water they saw that night. There was no haunting. Even so, what remains is this: there really were people who drank that water and disappeared.