Age:
Post High School
Reading Level: 3.9
Chapter One
“I want to disappear.”
Since the establishment of the secret agency in Japan, there have been zero suicides. It's a new record.
Nor has Japan been chosen as the happiest country in the world. Suicidal people still exist.
But there is not a single suicide anymore. That’s what I’m talking about.
To be precise, they are eliminating all suicides. That’s what I mean.
Now, let’s talk about Himari Sato.
She wrote “I want to disappear” on social media.
We, the lifeguards, determined that she was suicidal.
We, as lifeguards, are tasked in pairs to save the life of one suicidal person.
Chapter Two
She wrote “I want to disappear” from the computer at the place where she worked. It made it easy to locate her.
We waited for her at both the front and back entrances of the building. The building was a three-minute walk from the Shibuya scramble crossing in Shibuya, Tokyo.
The office where she worked was on the seventh floor of a long, narrow, 13-story building.
The building was old, and the concrete walls had large cracks in many places.
While we were waiting, she wrote again that she wanted to disappear.
The AIs put the probability that she would commit suicide at 50 percent. But we had predicted a higher probability than that: 70 percent.
At 5:10 p.m., Himari emerged from the elevator.
She wore a gray short-sleeved blouse, a tight baby blue skirt, and black pumps.
Fortunately, no one else was in the elevator. We took her into protective custody.
The method of protective custody is also simple. All we need to do is get the target to inhale hypnotic gas. Then we transport them in an ambulance to headquarters.
Chapter Three
The hypnotic gas works for about one hour. The work needs to be done quickly to finish in that hour.
When the ambulance carrying her arrived at the headquarters, we carried her to a private room. The whole room—ceiling, walls, and floor—was made of glass.
Currently, there are 200 rooms at the headquarters. Each private room is distinguished by a number.
Some people can return home in a day; others stay for several months or more.
The technology in the room creates the illusion that the room is floating in space. A starry sky is reflected onto the walls and floor.
The furniture in the room is all transparent. The sofa, coffee table, and bed are all made of glass.
Furniture is fixed to the floor and cannot be moved.
Sofa cushions, bed mattresses, pillows, and comforters are also transparent. They are made of vinyl and inflated with air.
When you enter that room, you feel as if you, too, have become invisible.
I know that, because I once spent twenty-four hours in that room.
After spending some time in a room without color, a person feels like their mind is being cleansed. I wonder why.
It is almost like swimming in a swimming pool.
It seems that an object as transparent as water has the power to purify the human mind.
At least, that’s how I felt.
