Crossed Wires, Part 3
“Well, I pronounce this phone clean. You’ve got good operational discipline, Hisao - there’s no evidence of any Conspiracy infiltration.” Kenji hands me my phone back. “You’ve got a wealth of intelligence here; keep it safe.”
I give Kenji a flat look as I tuck the phone back in my pocket. “What’s that when it’s at home? And you didn’t read my texts, did you?”
Kenji shakes his head, oblivious to my look of disapproval.. “No, I didn’t violate operational secrecy. But the handset’s clean; no viruses or backdoors or anything.”
I’m silent for a moment as I digest that. “How do you know so much about phones anyway? Don’t you, like, not believe in phones or something?”
Kenji attempts to tap his nose, ends up adjusting his glasses with a finger. “Just because I don’t use the Enemy’s tools, doesn’t mean I don’t know how the Enemy’s tools work.” Still tapping vaguely in the direction of his face, Kenji heads back into his room, and I hear the sound of several locks snapping shut. Sighing, I head back into my own room, setting the offending phone on my desk, and glare at it a little. Yet another dead end.
Whoever had sent the messages certainly hadn’t come forward and come clean about the prank, and calling the phone company had been completely useless; all they’d been able to confirm was that we received the text, but ‘due to privacy concerns’ weren’t able to identify who sent them. And Kenji just confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the phone, yet somehow it was sent from Hanako’s phone yet not sent from Hanako’s phone. The whole issue is bewildering and infuriating.
Irritably, I push my phone to one side, and pull out my homework. I’ve got more important things to worry about, after all.
-----
Exams come and go, and with their departure comes a break from classes. By way of rewarding ourselves for not completely bombing our English exams, Emi and I decide to take a trip to Tokyo for a few days. It takes a little convincing to talk my mother around to the idea, but in the end, there’s nothing she can really do to stop us, and I think that she recognizes that. Surprisingly, Meiko seems to have no problems with the idea.
As seems to be our usual habit, Emi and I get on the train far too early in the morning and snooze through the trip. As a result, I don’t notice that I’ve got a notification until we’ve already checked into the hotel. Expecting it to be from my mother, making sure that we’ve arrived safely, I have to doublecheck who sent it once I actually read the text. Sure enough, it’s from the mystery caller.
‘
I’m sorry, Hisao. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble with Emi. 
’
Eyes wide, I nudge Emi, who’s unpacking her suitcase, to get her attention. “I got another one.” I turn my phone towards her, and her eyebrows shoot up under her bangs.
After a few moments, she looks up at me, expression unreadable. “What are you planning on doing?”
I take a few moments to think about that, then start typing, tilting my phone so that Emi can read over my shoulder.
‘
its ok we worked it out. who r you?’
It’s a little surprising when the message doesn’t come back undeliverable again. Whatever seems to be going on with this contact, they seem to only exist when they’re messaging me. I look over at Emi, asking, “Anything you want me to add for you?”
This gets a little bit of a smile out of her, but it’s quickly replaced with a serious face. “No, I just want to get to the bottom of this as badly as you do.” Thankfully, whoever it is replies quickly to keep the suspense from getting to us, but just end up replacing it with another source of mystery.
‘
I’m not allowed to tell you. You’ll find out eventually. I’m sorry for that, and… I’m just sorry. You two have fun in Tokyo.’
Try as we might, we never do get another response from the mysterious texter.
