Not a detective

Page 119

Asakawa Riku, greatly surprised, lowered his guard and was inadvertently noticed by a classmate who was looking over. They pointed in Asakawa Riku's direction and quickly approached.

"Haoji!"

Seeing familiar faces, he stopped trying to hide himself and greeted them excitedly.

At least they were found to be alive and seemingly doing well, which is good news in itself.

"……Who are you?"

But to everyone's surprise, his friend Hirata Kokichi looked suspicious, stopped in his tracks, and stared at Asakawa Riku: "How do you know my name, stranger?"

This guy was speaking Japanese, that's right, I could understand him, but those words gave Asakawa Riku a deep sense of alienation.

What are you saying...?

Asakawa Riku was clearly taken aback for a moment, then pointed at himself: "Me? You don't recognize me? I just soaked in seawater, I'm not disfigured, am I?"

While checking his wound on the beach, he also glanced at his reflection in the water. He looked a bit disheveled, but at most his hair was a mess. After washing away the sand and dirt, he wasn't unrecognizable. He didn't understand why Haoji looked at him with such a strange, even hostile, expression.

"I do not know what you're talking about."

Haoji said coldly, extending his hand: "Don't come any closer. Explain your purpose."

"Not bad acting... What happened? What's wrong with our ship?"

Asakawa Riku punched his shoulder, telling him to stop fooling around; this was no time for jokes.

However, this action only provoked the other person's resistance. Haoji took two steps back, screaming in terror, and directed the two classmates beside him:

"You guys, hurry up and grab him! Grab this suspicious outsider!"

Summer of the Red Stingray: Chapter Ten - Villagers

Asakawa Riku resolved the crisis in just one second.

A second before he was attacked, he circled behind the other party and, with incredible speed, restrained the arms of the two men.

However, he did not exert his full strength. Instead, he twisted slightly and released the pressure. The appropriate amount of pain was enough to keep the other person in a daze without injuring them.

As expected, not only Haoji, but all three of them showed expressions of horror when they saw his ghostly movements, which they couldn't even see clearly.

"What...what did you do?!"

"Don't do anything, I don't want to hurt you."

Asakawa Riku's expression also turned serious. He finally realized that the current situation was very strange and did not seem like the other party was joking or acting.

He looked at Hirata Hirokichi and two other male classmates, who were also in his class. One was named Osaki Ryohei, and the other was Yasukawa Mine.

Although they weren't particularly close, they had been classmates for a year and had some interaction, but now their faces were completely unfamiliar—

"Your name is Osaki Ryohei, and your name is Yasukawa Mine, right?"

"Alas!"

"How...how do you know our names!"

It really is the same person, isn't it?

But they don't look like the same person at all. Including Hirata Kokichi, they are all wearing clothes made of palm leaves and coarse cloth, instead of wearing his original clothes like he does.

He looked no different from any other "villager," yet these three people didn't recognize him at all, as if they had lost their memories.

This isn't something that can be simply dismissed as "acting." Their performance was so realistic. If their acting skills were that good, they might as well skip studying and become actors.

Asakawa Riku fell silent. He looked around and saw no reflections from camera lenses or the presence of any crew members, indicating that this was not a large-scale reality show.

"Don't you remember? We're classmates, from XX Middle School, in our second year of high school. We're both in Class B, and we've been studying together for over a year."

He was trying to awaken their memories.

But it was all in vain. The three of them looked at each other, none of them could understand what Asakawa Riku was saying. Instead, they looked very scared and timid.

It seems that what happened just now scared them a bit.

Asakawa Riku could only change tactics: "Then it's your turn to tell me... what do you remember?"

"...I, I am Haoji, that's right."

Finally, Haoji stepped forward and said, forcing himself to speak, "But the three of us grew up on this island. We've never been outside and don't know you, an outsider. We've never even heard of your classmates, middle school, or school."

The other two nodded as well.

How could this be... Asakawa Riku felt a wave of dizziness. He didn't know how to explain the current situation; it was simply unbelievable.

Could it be that these people are not his classmates, but the natives of this island?

That's nonsense. How could you find a yellow-skinned person on a deserted island in the Pacific who speaks such fluent Japanese?

Moreover, they also happen to have the same face and the same name as their classmates?

"Come here." He beckoned to Osaki Ryohei.

"Ok?"

As soon as Osaki Ryohei approached, his wrist was grabbed: "Ah... what are you doing!"

Asakawa Riku was too lazy to explain. He forcibly flipped the other person's wrist to show his palm, which was clean and free of any signs of labor except for the calluses from holding a pen.

Surviving on this deserted island, even young children, as villagers, could not possibly maintain such delicate skin.

Hirata Hirokichi was a member of the baseball team, so he was naturally tanned, and there were probably marks from holding a bat, making it difficult to judge. Therefore, Asakawa Riku checked the other two.

Sure enough, Yasukawa Mine was the same; with such clean skin, he was clearly a city kid who hadn't experienced any physical labor.

On this tropical island, constantly exposed to the sun and living a primitive life, one must have long since become dark-skinned and rough.

"Okay."

Asakawa Riku released their hands.

But they clearly dared not run away and were forced to stay with this capricious and eccentric outsider.

Asakawa Riku is now certain of one thing:

These three people were not local natives, but his classmates who, for some reason, had confused memories and believed that they had lived on the island since childhood and had forgotten him.

Don't even mention school trips or things like Hawaii Island; talking to them about those things would probably be pointless.

But why did this happen?

If a shipwreck caused a head injury, resulting in a concussion and symptoms of amnesia and memory confusion, it would be understandable. But it's one thing if such a rare event happened to one person... But now there are three people like this, and their delusions are actually linked together. They are treating each other as villagers, as if their brain circuits have been connected.

"You said you grew up on this island, which means you grew up in this village?"

Asakawa Riku pointed to the stilted houses on the slope; this was only the edge of the village, and there was more than one such house.

Its architectural style is very primitive, simply built with wood and thatch, without any trace of modern cement and steel reinforcement. If this is also a set, then it is truly dedicated.

“Yes,” Haoji replied. “We’ve never left Red Ray Village.”

"Wait... what village?"

"Red Stingray, Red Stingray Village."

As if afraid he wouldn't recognize it, Haoji even squatted down and used a twig to draw Chinese characters on the mud.

Asakawa Riku remained silent.

Really? Is it really such a coincidence?

He had just realized that this experience was very similar to the book "Summer of the Red Stingray," and it turned out that the village's name was exactly the same as the one in the book.

He increasingly suspected that his dreams were influenced by the contents of the book, yet he was absolutely certain that they were not dreams or hallucinations, but undeniable reality.

Could it be that he traveled into the world of the book? If so... isn't the author "Asuka-i Shi" quite suspicious?

Is this her superpower, or whose superpower is it?

Moreover, this is somewhat similar to the plot in the book, but not exactly the same. The male protagonist in the book encounters unfamiliar indigenous people, while he encounters classmates with confused memories. The villagers in the book cannot communicate with each other and can only communicate with gestures at first, while the "villagers" he is now encountering can not only speak Japanese, but can even write.

As for what other differences or similarities there are, we'll probably have to discover them gradually.

"Red Ray Village, right? I understand."

Asakawa Riku helped Hiroki up and said to him, "Then, you wouldn't mind taking me on a tour, would you?"

Looking at his harmless smile, it seemed impossible to find a reason to refuse, or rather, the courage to refuse.

At this moment, Asakawa Riku was only thinking about—

If someone brainwashed them into believing they were villagers, then if such a culprit exists, they must be within the village!

Summer of the Red Stingray: Chapter Eleven - The Strange Village

As Asakawa Riku walked into the village, he could hardly contain his surprise.

Perhaps seeing that a stranger had come to the village, many villagers gathered around him, hiding behind their houses and whispering, staring at him.

Conversely, Asakawa Riku was also observing them, which unfortunately confirmed one of his wildest suspicions—

That is: without exception, all of these so-called "villagers" were his classmates!

Not only his classmates, but also boys and girls from the same grade, whether he knew them or not... They all had innocent faces and were very young.

Judging from their expressions, they seemed to be experiencing the same symptoms of memory confusion, just like Haoji and the others, believing themselves to be natives born on this island.

"Excuse me."

"Do you know me?"

Do you remember things from school?

Asakawa Riku broke away from the group and struck up conversations with some familiar faces, but they all seemed confused and puzzled, and some even resisted.

"Don't...don't come near me."

"Who exactly are you, stranger?"

"What are you talking about? I don't understand at all."

It seems there must be a powerful force at play behind this, otherwise it would be impossible to brainwash so many people at the same time.

As he walked, Riku Asakawa observed the details of the village.

The village covers an area of ​​about one hectare. It is a small village with narrow gaps between houses. The people live together. There are farmlands outside the village to ensure basic crops. In addition, each household has fishing nets, fishing rods, harpoons or small wooden boats. It seems that the people living by the sea mostly make a living by fishing. There is a well in the center to supply water for the whole village.

Apart from that, there were no wires or lights in sight, and of course, no electronic devices or products.

The villagers and students were all dressed in simple clothes made of leaves and coarse cloth, similar to Haoji and his friends. There were no cell phones or similar items in sight, suggesting that they had also lost their personal belongings.

He glanced around and realized that almost all the high school students he had seen before setting off were here—more than 180 people in about 200 rooms.

Doesn't it seem strange that everyone lives separately in a village?

Of course, Asakawa Riku doesn't have the terrifying memory ability of Shinonome Suetsuki; he can't possibly remember the appearance of every classmate, so he's unsure if he's missed anyone.

If we look at it optimistically, the fact that no one died in that shipwreck is good news.

Even if they are currently suffering from memory loss and trapped on this isolated island, there is still a way to save them. But if someone dies, they are dead, and Asakawa Riku is powerless to help.

—At least it's not too late now.

Asakawa Riku followed them for a while and finally arrived at their destination.

The visit to the village was not aimless. He told the three men, "Take me to the village chief," and so they finally reached the highest point in the village, to the largest and most luxurious house.

He observed the room; the door was wide open, seemingly without any intention to guard against outsiders, while the inside was pitch black.

I wonder if the village chief in the story is the original "priest" from the book, or the "male protagonist" from outside the story?

But no matter who it is, Asakawa Riku has already decided that as soon as he sees the village chief, he will rush up to him and use force to threaten him to break the brainwashing effect.

...

Based on the current situation, he had a reasonable guess: the owner of the island, that is, the village chief, should be the culprit.

The prisoner caused the ship to sink and used his brainwashing abilities to capture the students, turning them into obedient slaves who believed they were villagers. Naturally, they wouldn't think of asking for help or escaping, thus achieving his ulterior motives, which he might later use for shady schemes, such as selling them to politicians and the wealthy.

The criminals' plan seemed flawless. As long as these brainwashed people were isolated on a desert island and everyone corroborated each other's statements, the lies would never be exposed.

Even if the mainland authorities become aware of the students' mass disappearance, it will likely be treated as a routine maritime disaster. The investigation will likely conclude with the ship sinking, officials offering apologies, and then the matter will be dropped. No one will know the students have been kidnapped. The Pacific Ocean is vast, with so many scattered islands; without coordinates, they can't even find their way here.

The criminal's plan seemed flawless, but he overlooked one crucial detail: the presence of Asakawa Riku on that ship.