PUZZLE 4: THE ENDLESS FALL - ACT 3
Back at the Hell Police headquarters, I walk over to the Professor's door and knock.
"Come in!"
I enter, and see Kaisen standing with his back to me, facing the bookshelf. He's reading something.
I close the door behind me and finish bowing. "Professor, is this room bugged?"
"Not at all."
I straighten my back. "Yaeko took me to the mouth of Hell in Mount Ishizuchi."
"So I've heard."
"Is the Hell Commission aware of it?"
"Indeed."
I cross my arms as I think for a moment. "Are they also aware of The Angels?"
The Professor turns his face to me and eyes me blankly. "We're aware of everything to do with Hell."
"But the Angels can't be identified?"
"Not absolutely."
I notice there's a book on the central glass table. I walk over to it, and see that it's Dante's "The Divine Comedy". I touch the book. "But we can take a good guess."
Kaisen turns back to his book. "Go on."
"An 'Angel' would suggest someone who has ascended into heaven from the Earth. But what if someone… manufactured themselves into an angel. What if someone went into Hell, then escaped back onto the Earth? Wouldn't that constitute someone as… an Angel on the Earth?"
"Hmm… now that is an interesting thesis. I imagine it would be almost impossible to escape from down there, but those that do would have a certain… prestige about them."
"Yeah… But more importantly, they would come out of Hell living in total fear, and strive to do good no matter what."
"I wouldn't blame them for doing so."
I silently look at my research board next to me, and focus on a photograph of the dangerously steep stairs of the Jiankou section of the Great Wall in China.
"Would you like to re-read the story of Asaya climbing the stone cliff?"
"No, I'm already familiar with it," I respond. "He climbed a steep rock face to reach a rare stone at the top with no magnetic field. He could then add a stone clock face to his watches, and it wouldn't affect the watch's accuracy as it couldn't magnetise the gears." I look to Kaisen. "I want the story about the boy in the well."
"Ah, you mean this?" Kaisen turns around and is reading the book I'm after. My eyes widen in surprise, and he throws the book over to me.
I catch it, and read its title, 'Impossible Escapes in History'. I flick over to the chapter, 'The Miracle of the Boy in the Well'.
After skimming through the pages, my memory is refreshed. "Asaya came across a well on his wanders, and found a boy stuck down a well. There was no rope and bucket to pull the boy out, so Asaya pulled threads from his clothes, tied them together to make a long string, wrote a message on a large cloth and tied it to the string. He threw the message over the winch and lowered it down, so it wouldn't get scratched or wet by touching the well's inner walls. The boy read the message, and after three days of toil, the boy managed to climb out of the well. Asaya then carved a short poem on the clock face of his next watch: 'If ye despise Hell, then climb on out.' It's theorised that this is the message he gave the boy."
"It also seems to have inspired a cult," the professor comments.
I cover my mouth with my fist as I consider the puzzle. I place the book on the floor, I take out a marker pen from my pocket and draw a diagram of the puzzle on the glass table.
The Professor walks over to my side.
"Asaya probably found this hole while touring Japan," I begin. "He planted the tree here, and set up the stone cube here, as a reflection of the well where he messaged the boy."
"Hmm… It's likely that the puzzle's reward will reflect that very message, which appears above and within the hole," Kaisen comments.
"Right. I believe part of the longitude is inside the cube, and the remaining part is at the bottom of the hole, just before the mouth of hell."
"Ah, this trap possesses considerable risk."
I take a step back from my diagram and look it over. I then walk back up to it, and add new lines to it.
"I believe the solver will follow the same path as the boy. A rope is to be tied around the cube and the feet of the solver. The solver then jumps from the tree, and drops toward the mouth of Hell. A stick on the other end of the rope will then leave the cube, jam into the trees, and stop the solver from falling. All the while, the cube will spin around rapidly, revealing part of the longitude. The solver will then find the other part of the longitude somewhere at the bottom of the hole, then make the climb out of the hole to communicate what they've found. It will take around three days to make the climb."
"My, oh, my. We'd better get the length of the rope correct!"
"No problem. Jun hinted that the rope should be 165 metres. She's definitely entered Hell through that mouth before."
"So has the detective."
The professor's observation stuns me. I know what he's saying. Yaeko is an Angel, but it's not clear if she's part of their group or not. She could have knocked me out and killed Jun when we went to meet her, but she didn't. She doesn't seem to have gone rogue like Jun, either, otherwise other Angels would have gone after her.
"Can I… trust her?" I quietly ask, looking down.
"Miss Akemi, there's only one to find out."
I look up, and see the professor's gentle smile.
I smile back.
It wouldn't be kind to ask Yaeko to go near the mouth of Hell again, so I'll do it.
And she is the most qualified person to assist in my endeavor.
***
As I prepare to train in rock climbing, I feel as though I stand at a crossroads.
I love my mother dearly. Nothing will change that. But her being in Hell has greatly diminished her character, and I wonder what character I'm trying to save…
Am I rescuing an angel, or am I rescuing a demon?
The thoughts circle my mind as I train. Oddly, they motivate me greatly, and they never distract me once.
I scale the rocks above a natural pool in the forest. The waterfall nearby is small, yet its water crashing down is deafening. I can barely hear Yaeko.
"Go steady, sister!" she shouts from below. "Make sure your grip is tight before you make a move!"
I edge a little further up the rock face, following Yaeko's advice as best as I can. This is… getting a little intense. I definitely did plenty of strength training over the last few days, but I already feel all my muscles getting weak.
"Argh!"
My grip isn't tight enough on a stone above me, and before I know it, I'm falling down.
SPLASH!
As I'm under the pool, I close my eyes and consider something.
What if mother is down there even though she did nothing wrong. After all, it's possible she could be shouldering the blame for someone else!
I gasp the air as I rise from the surface. I'm panting rapidly out of exhaustion and because the water is damn freezing.
I see Yaeko standing on one of the rocks near the edge of the pool. She shakes her head disapprovingly and tuts.
"Watch and learn, sister." Yaeko jumps onto the rock face, and starts moving horizontally, brisk like she's a monkey. She makes it seem so effortless, but I know her grips have to be strong and her footings solid in order to move across a rock face so unforgiving.
Soon, she's back to where I was, and she starts moving upwards. After around ten minutes, she reaches the top of the rock, and pulls herself up onto the ledge.
"Wow, the view's great from up here!" she bellows.
My fists clench under the water. Determined, I swim over to the rock face, use all my might to grip the wet rocks, and pull myself out of the water.
My grit is short lived though, as I soon find myself slipping from the rocks and crashing back into the water.
I guess… Yaeko wasn't kidding.
She really did climb out of the depths of Hell.
***
In the next four weeks, I seriously push myself. I go all out with my cardio exercises and my strength training, with Yaeko by my side spurring me on.
When I climb the rock faces over the pool, I fall into the water multiple times. Then, as I come out of the water, I scream as loud as I can, then I try again.
And again. And again. Until I finally reach the top.
Eventually, I get so used to all the training that it becomes routine. I've skipped past the torture of getting into a healthy habit, and moved straight to the part where rock climbing becomes a way of life.
Before I know it, I'm stronger than I've ever been before, and I can scale rock faces almost as fast as Yaeko can.
Why am I working this hard?
Do I even need to be pushing myself like this?
Perhaps… I'm not really preparing myself for the puzzle. I'm actually preparing myself… for something more.
