Yokohama's Disappearance 55 minutes ago.
Atsushi Nakajima was on the ocean.
A speed boat frantically crashed through the white waves, scattering them into white splashes.
Atsushi stood on the bow of the high-speed craft with the wind spraying droplets of water that bathed his entirety.
"Oi, ,Atsushi! You know you will stumble into the ocean the way you're standing!"
Atsushi looked back to the cabin where the voice was calling from.
"Kunikida-san! This is my very first time riding a fast ferry! The weather feels nice at this speed!"
The youth with glasses called Kunikida frowned from the cabin's door.
"I realize and know (the weather and the speed)," Kunikida said as he took out his notebook from his bosom.
"For today's weather, there is a 0% chance of precipitation. The south and southeastern wind speeds have a wave height between 1 to 1.5 meters, and so-"
"The same as ever with your journal, you write everything in there..."
"My diary includes a schedule for the entire universe. It's good to keep track of everything with a notebook. There was even a time when I was a part of Japan's Meteorological Agency when the forecast was off."
Atsushi watched him close the notebook, and with his back turned away, Kunikida said in a vicious voice, "Anyway, get in the cabin, and don't move so quickly on the boat. We have a job to discuss about."
"Ah, alright. I understand."
Atsushi obediently jumped away from the ship's bow.
Above, in the sky, a seagull flew following the ship while it sang.
Watching Kunikida's back, he followed him into the cabin where cool air hit his face.
Inside the cabin was a lounge. On the walls there were maps, life jackets, and a group photo of crew members. In the middle of the room there was a long desk used for meetings that was surrounded by milky white chairs.
"Look, all the detective agency members have gathered already and have been waiting for you." Kunikida pointed (indoors).
"They were waiting...here?" Atsushi looked around at the members.
There were 4 people sitting in the lounge.
Atsushi wondered what could they be waiting for.
"Nnn, ugh... I feel awful.... Isn't the boat swaying a bit too much, Naomi....? Aaa, the world is swaying....just like my digestive track.... I'm feeling worse...ughhhhh."
"Ahhhh, oniisama, my pitiful onii sama. You can let it all out because Naomi will take care of you. So, go ahead and vomit, ufufufu."
Tanizaki, who is stretching all over the innermost part of his seat, is one of the detectives closest in age to Atsushi, and he is also one of his seniors. His face is blue, and is thrust into a metal basin where he is muttering something.
His sister Naomi is carefully nursing him while she bears a face of ecstatic joy for some reason.
For all Atsushi knew, his sister, Naomi, enjoyed seeing her older brother in trouble, and he did not know the reason why.
Next to them -.
"This picture isn't very good. The lacerations on the mandible isn't displayed clearly. What 'good' quality. The shot bulges out of the small intestine, the pancreas, and the spleen, and the sacrum is blown off completely. And then, this was magnified and pasted onto the Detective Agency's wall."
The Detective Agency's exclusive female doctor, Yosano, was carefully sorting the photographs side by side on a desk.
Positioned in the photos was a terrible murder scene of a body left behind.
The body was shredded, with the neck severed, and its bones protruding. There were ten pictures of the scene that she was bringing closely to her face, and from time to time she would sigh happily at them.
Next to her...
"Mumble...mumble... Mouko, you're such a wonderful cow. You're eating healthy, right?...Mumble..."
The smiling boy who is sleeping peacefully is named Kenji, and he is the youngest member of the group. Before he worked in the agency, he raised cattle and lived in the countryside where there was no electricity. He came to Yokohama after he was discovered by the President. He has a good-natured personality, and is not suspicious and does not doubt anyone he meets. Despite his personality, he is still able to work well and get good results for the agency. He is also very vicious when woken up - enough to send people from the underground running, so no one in the Detective Agency forces Kenji to wake up.
Atsushi looked at all the detective agency members from one end of the room to the other. Afterwards, he looked at the opposite side of the room and stared at the seating order.
Then he stared at Kunikida.
"Waiting....?"
"Yeah...." Kunikida's face squinted. "That's it...that's what we're waiting for: other people."
"Dazai-san doesn't seem to be the type to wait even if you asked..." Atsushi looked around. "Where is Dazai-san?"
"That idiot," Kunikida rubbed his temples. "He jumped into the ocean and said 'I'm going to swim!!!' to the harbor where we're supposed to meet." It was too troublesome for him help out, so he left to swim to the harbor. Around this time, sharks would be looking for meals.
The man called Dazai is also from the detective agency, and he was the person who had invited Atsushi to join it. No one can read his thoughts (on what he will do next), and his behavior is strange. He is the type of person that claims his hobby is "suicide," and Kunikida struggles to keep Dazai in line, but in Atsushi's point of view, there will never be a day when he is not doing his duty.
They were the armed detective agency.
The armed detective agency is an independent group of ability users situated in Yokohama. It responds to requests and also helps with dangerous cases that cannot be left to the police. The members are called "ability users," and most of them have unusual powers. The citizens of Yokohama and its government places a huge trust on them, however....
"Let's begin the meeting. Attention, everyone!" Kunikida shouted, but no one reacted to him. Tanizaki was still in pain, Yosano was still crazily selecting photos, Kenji was still sleeping, and Naomi was paying full attention to her brother.
"The same as ever," Atsushi thought.
The Detective Agency members all have strong personalities, so it is very difficult to control them. In a unit of two individuals they work well together, however, in a group situation it is usually Kunikida who is burdened with leading them.
"Attention, everyone!" Kunikida's voice was once again absorbed by the cabin's walls in vain.
Atsushi fidgeted as he watched Kunikida. Kunikida could still not gather everyone's attention, and no one responded.
"S...So, Kunikida-san, what was the discussion about?" Atsushi asked bashfully.
"Ugh, it can't be helped. Atsushi, since you're the only one who wants to listen, I'll tell you." Kunikida cleared his throat, and their eyes met. "I don't know the details about the request, but there is a client on an island where this ship is heading to. The request was that we capture some thieves on it."
"Thieves?"
"Yes," Kunikida nodded. "We're exterminating thieves, and with our lineup, we shouldn't make our arrests extravagant."
Kunikida and Atsushi stared at the people inside. Each member of the agency continued to spend their time individually.
Atsushi thinks. For this request, if anything the thieves are to pity. Strangers could not imagine this, but the people here now are the best members of the armed detective agency. Each member of the agency had powerful abilities that could destroy, not only the thieves, but one entire tiny city. He wonders if Kunikida will be right about having a non- 'extravagant' arrest with them.
It seems that the client's request intends to have all employees mobilize at once. The client must be incredibly prudent and have an incredibly large wallet.
"Mumble mumble.... Mouko... If people and cows talked to one another with all their hearts, they could truly understand one another....If you can't, hit them with a bucket....Mumble..."
Kenji murmurs in his sleep.
"Ugh....I feel awful....Naomi.... Can you give me a glass of cold water?"
"Of course, let me help you drink! Here, let's do it mouth-to-mouth!"
"No, normally...."
The Tanizaki siblings are not nursing each other.
"Mmm, when you look at the body and flesh in this way, it makes me want to unite all the femurs and decorate them. Ne, Atsushi...give me your femur!"
"I will not!"
"Milk will cure you."
"It will not!"
Explaining how great these people are will probably be too difficult.
"Ah, actually, Kunikida-san..." Atsushi asked suddenly thinking of something. "About the request on the 'Thieves Extermination'.... Why did the client choose to rely on the Detective Agency and not the Police?"
"You mean to say you came not knowing about that "island?"" Kunikida questioned. "The reason is simple: Strictly speaking, the police have no investigation rights on that island because that island has no "today."
No today?
"You'll witness it at it's earliest," Kunikida said and pointed at their line of sight outside of the ship. "Around this time you should see it soon." They looked at the sea outside the ferry's window.
"That's....!?"
The first impression Atsushi gets when he sees it is - an "island of machines."
Rather than an island, it was like a huge plate floating above the ocean. From a distance, he could see a sturdy building made up of stone with about three floors. The structure is supported on a metal plate and not the earth. The walls are supported by countless golden pillars, and the pillars are submerged in the sea. At the back of the pillars there seems to be a large turbine propeller rotating.
There's no nature there, only a tremendous machine floating on the sea.
"The large floating island is called 'standard island,'"Kunikida said as he flipped through his notebook. "The voyaging island was jointly designed by three countries: Germany, England, and France, and is also co-governed by the three countries. The island is self-sufficient without relying on earth, and independently steers itself with a combination of operations using ocean thermal energy conversion, wave power, solar power, and wind power generators, etc.
It drifts in the Pacific Ocean, searching for a climate that is suitable for its power generator, so that is why it near Yokohama. It's more like a ship than an island, though."
"A ship...." Atsushi stared at the exterior of the island in awe. That entire floating island that the city was on is not the size of a ship. "It does seem kind of funny to be an island."
"No, that island is a joke in itself," Kunikida shook his head. "Prepare yourself. Once you step foot on that island, anything might happen."
