Кэйго Хигасино - A Midsummer’s Equation

“It’s time, so we’d like to get things started. We’re still missing one participant, but he should be here any moment—”

The side door opened with a slam, and a man came dashing in, carrying his suit jacket over his arm.

Narumi noted with surprise that it was the man she’d seen at the station, the one talking to Kyohei. Sweat glistened at his temples. He must have given up on the taxi. It was a short distance from the station by bicycle, but quite a journey on foot.

The man sat down behind the nameplate that read “Manabu Yukawa, Assistant Professor of Physics, Imperial University.”

“Well, now that we’re all here,” the emcee resumed, “I’d like to begin this informational hearing concerning the development of undersea resources in the Hari Cove area. My name’s Mr. Kuwano. I’m in the Deep Sea Metals National Corporation’s public outreach office, and I thank you for your interest in our project. We’ll start with an overview from our technology division.”

A man whose nameplate announced him as a manager in DESMEC’s technology division stood as the lights in the room darkened. The words “Developing Undersea Resources” appeared on the screen in giant, bold letters.

Narumi straightened in her chair, not wanting to miss a word. She knew that protecting the ocean was her job. No one would do it for her. And if she failed, the natural jewel that was Hari Cove would be torn apart in the name of economic progress.

It had all started with a report from the committee of natural energy resources at METI — the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry — that had shocked Hari Cove and the surrounding towns. The report stated that the region of the sea beginning a few dozen kilometers to the south had been selected as a top candidate for testing the commercial viability of developing hydrothermal polymetallic ore.

This ore was found in lumps of rock that formed in the sediment around hydrothermal vents on the seabed. They contained copper, lead, zinc, gold, and silver, as well as rich deposits of the rare metals germanium and gallium. Were it possible to recover these rare metals, then Japan would go from resource-poor to resource-rich overnight. The government was putting a lot into the development of the necessary technologies, with DESMEC leading the charge.

This latest finding had generated such excitement because it was at the relatively shallow depth of eight hundred meters. The shallower the water, the easier and cheaper recovery would be. That it was only a few dozen kilometers from land also improved the viability of the site.

When the report made the rounds, Hari Cove and the towns nearby had erupted — not with anger over the coming destruction of the natural habitat, but with excitement at the prospect of a new industry and the jobs it would bring.

I don’t remember this hill being this long, Kyohei thought with a sigh, stopping to look around. The best swimming in the area was down by the station, so he’d been up and down this road a hundred times in a car, but this was his first time walking it.

The scenery hadn’t changed much in two years. A large building — a former hotel — squatted at the bottom of the hill. The roof and walls were a sooty gray, and all the paint had flaked off the large sign out front. His father liked to call it “the ruins of Hari Cove.”

“Why isn’t anyone living there anymore?” Kyohei had asked once as they were driving by.

“It used to be a fancy hotel,” his father had told him. “But people stopped coming, and they couldn’t keep it open.”

“Why’d they stop coming?”

His father shrugged. “Probably because there were better places to go.”

“What kind of better places?”

“You know, fun places. Like Disneyland, or Hawaii.”

Kyohei had never been to Hawaii, but he was a fan of Disneyland. People got jealous when you told them you were going to Disneyland. No one got jealous when you were going to Hari Cove.

Kyohei resumed his climb. He started to wonder why anyone had ever built such a big hotel in a little town like this. He wondered if it had ever really been as popular as his dad claimed.

Finally, he spotted the inn. It was only about a quarter the size of the ruins below, but it wasn’t any newer. Kyohei’s uncle, Shigehiro, had taken it over from his father fifteen years ago, but he hadn’t done any renovations in all that time. “I got a renovation idea,” Kyohei’s father had joked. “Tear the place down. No one ever comes here anyway.”

Kyohei slid open the front door and stepped inside. The air-conditioning was running full blast, and it felt good. He shouted, “Hello?”

The curtain behind the counter moved, and his aunt, Setsuko, emerged with a big smile. “Kyohei, you made it! My, but you’ve gotten so big!” she said, echoing Narumi’s greeting. Maybe they think that makes kids happy, Kyohei thought.

“Thanks for putting me up,” Kyohei said, remembering his manners.

His aunt chuckled. “Now, now, none of that. You’re family. Come right on in.”

Kyohei took off his shoes and put on a pair of the guest slippers they had lined up at the entrance. The inn may have been small, but there was a lobby, complete with a wicker bench.

“It must’ve been hot out there! I’ll get you something cool to drink. Juice? Tea? I think we have some cola...”

“Cola!”

“Thought so,” Setsuko said, giving him another smile and disappearing behind the counter.

Kyohei dropped his backpack and sat down on the bench. His eyes started to wander around the room. There was a framed painting of the sea from what looked like the nearby coast. Next to it was a map with little illustrations showing local spots of interest, except the map was faded so badly he could barely make anything out. An old clock on the wall showed the time was two o’clock.

“Hello there, Kyohei,” came a gravelly voice, and his uncle Shigehiro appeared. “Good to see ya!”

His uncle hadn’t changed much in the last two years either. He was still plump as a Buddha, but his hair was thinner now, making him look even more like a Buddha. The only real difference was that now he was sporting a cane. “Because he got too fat for his knees to hold him up,” Kyohei’s father had said.

Kyohei stood and said hello.

“Sit down, sit down. I’ve got a mind to sit down right there with you,” Shigehiro said, sitting down across from Kyohei and chuckling. He had a big grin on his face. A happy Buddha, Kyohei thought. “So, how’re your parents?”

“Busy, like always,” Kyohei said.

“Busy’s good.”

Setsuko came out with a tray carrying a teapot and three glasses, one already filled with cola.

“Hey, no cola for me?” Shigehiro asked with a frown.

Setsuko shook her head. “It’s barley tea for you, mister. You have to watch your sugar,” she said, pouring him a glass.

Kyohei drank his cola, grateful for the cool sweetness after the long climb.

Setsuko was Kyohei’s father’s older half-sister. Setsuko’s mother had died in a car accident when she was still little. Her father later remarried and had Kyohei’s father, hence the nine-year difference in their ages.

“I saw Narumi at the station,” Kyohei said. “She said she was going someplace?”

“Eh? Where’s Narumi off to now?” Shigehiro asked his wife.

“Oh, you know,” she said, “that thing about the cove. They’re talking about digging up gold and silver and the like out there.”

“Oh, right, that,” Shigehiro said, utterly uninterested. “Sounds like a bunch of hogwash to me. Digging up gold from the ocean.”

“I wouldn’t know about these things,” Kyohei’s aunt said with a shrug. “Narumi was pretty worried that if they started working out there, the sea would get all dirty, you know.”