New Hanbagura ~Fourth Night~
"Remote Viewing" Yoshida, the cameraman, aimed the television camera at the subject with practiced hands. "Alright, rolling." The shooting location was a coffee shop somewhere in Tokyo, just as dusk was approaching. The person in the lens was a woman whose face was covered in a black veil. She was supposed to be a fortune-teller, but where on earth did they find connections like this? The program's concept was as follows: A famous guest celebrity would be placed in Room 1120 of the luxury downtown hotel "Shinjuku Grand," and a self-proclaimed psychic, given no prior information, would be forced to remotely view them. It was a grandiose setup. Moreover, four cameras were deployed to have four people simultaneously perform remote viewing from different locations in a live broadcast. "So, I understand your main profession is fortune-telling, but you're also skilled at clairvoyance. We'd like you to fortune-tell—excuse me, use clairvoyance right away." The male celebrity host flashed a friendly smile. "Room 1120 at the Shinjuku Grand, correct?" The veiled woman answered quietly.
She remained completely unfazed by the sudden demand. Yoshida had expected her to panic a bit more. Through the lens, Yoshida watched the woman's cool, composed lips. There was no prior coordination whatsoever for this program. No information had been passed down to the staff, let alone the psychic. Yoshida wasn't even told who the guest waiting in Room 1120 was. It was likely a top-secret matter known only to the chief director and producer. One might wonder if it's okay to run a live broadcast like that, but originally, this project—while not quite going as far as exposing fake psychics—was designed to set up malicious conditions and enjoy watching them squirm. Therefore, from a television standpoint, it wasn't interesting if the woman right in front of them remained this cool, but... "Understood." The woman, who had been holding her hands over a large crystal ball, raised her head.
"Eh, really?" With exaggerated acting, the talent pointed his microphone. The camera immediately zoomed in on her face. "No one is there." "Hah?" The talent let out a strange voice. He immediately coughed and asked back. "You're saying there's no one in Room 1120 at the Shinjuku Grand?" "That's right." A stir spread among the staff as well. "Well—that's an unexpected answer. I wonder what the situation is in the other locations. We'll return to the studio for now." Yoshida was also surprised, but it immediately clicked. I see. Given this time slot on our network, it was easy to guess the project would be similar to that occult-debunking show that aired recently. A punchline where someone is made to peer into a room only to find nobody there is entirely plausible.
The psychics would probably just list ambiguous character traits that could be interpreted any which way, casting a wide net to give themselves an excuse later on, so this twist was an idea that turned the tables on them. They would laugh the psychics out of the room with no room for argument, and roll the ending credits. Yoshida imagined the schedule on his own. Oh right, this female fortune-teller had turned the tables right back on them to keep them in check. And by saying "no one is there," even if a guest actually was present, she had set up a neat excuse that some interference prevented her from seeing them. As he looked admiringly at the female fortune-teller in the black veil, he felt her lips curve into a faint smile.
"Saying there's actually nobody there—sounds like something Producer Kamiya would pull." "Nah, not after spending this much money." The cameras went off air, and casual chatter broke out among the staff here and there. Yoshida entered the relay vehicle to watch the broadcast on screen. The program had finished gathering all the remote viewing results and was finally moving to the live broadcast of the Shinjuku Grand. The camera that had been fixed on the door of "1120" since the beginning of the show moved, and the main male announcer stood in front of the room. The door wasn't opened yet. Commercial break. When the commercials ended, they reviewed the remote viewing results. As expected, the other three psychics had only said abstract things that could mean anything. There was even a Russian girl who drew a clumsy picture. You couldn't even tell if it was a man or a woman from that. Finally, the VTR segment of the female fortune-teller came up.
"Nobody is there." "Hah?" "You're saying there's no one in Room 1120 at the Shinjuku Grand?" "That's right, not right now." And just as the recap of the events so far wrapped up, the music swelled, and the camera closed in on the door. For a split second, Yoshida felt a sense of incongruity with the VTR they had just watched. Finally, the door was opened by the announcer's hand. And an empty room was broadcast live nationwide. "Ah, nobody's there! Nobody, nobody is here!" The announcer's shocked voice echoed. Someone watching the relay next to Yoshida muttered, "Well, this ain't rigged." Immediately, standby orders came down to Yoshida's team. It meant only the female fortune-teller had guessed the result correctly. In the broadcast, our resident star producer stood in front of the camera that had entered the room and began explaining the purpose of the shoot. "Alright, last job of the day!" At the staff's voices, Yoshida stood up.
Finally, an interview with the female fortune-teller was conducted, and the program ended in a sort of success. They had managed to make a laughingstock of fake psychics, while also producing someone who hit the mark so accurately it made you wonder if she was the real deal. Both the skeptics and the believers must have been entertained. "Good work today—" It wasn't a very enthusiastic way to end a shoot, but it couldn't be helped since it was an operating hotel. Ignoring the program staff as they applauded, Producer Kamiya spoke to Chief Director Oda. "Good work. I'm glad it was a moderate success." "Good work. But man, I really didn't think anyone would nail the 'no guest' thing." "Whose connection was that fortune-teller again? I don't know if she's the real deal, but she might be useful." "Yeah, we need to start thinking about the next special program right away."
Kamiya sat down on the bed in Room 1120, where filming had just ended. The rest of the staff had all gone outside the room. "Still, to think of something as bold as having no guest." Oda sat down next to him with a relieved look on his face. "Hm? Well, yeah..." Kamiya felt a sense of incongruity, as if he had forgotten something, and instinctively patted his chest. No cigarettes. Oh, that's what it was. "Oda-kun, got a smoke?" Called out to, Oda looked as if he had been lost in thought, and stuttered, "Oh, sure," as he offered a pack of Lark. Kamiya took a deep drag of the smoke. He still felt like he was forgetting something. Just as he reached for the ashtray, he jumped. Inside the brand-new ashtray was a single cigarette burned down to the filter. A faint wisp of purple smoke was rising from it. "Oda-kun. There really weren't any guests today, right?" "Yeah, there aren't. There... shouldn't have been." The two of them looked at each other and forced stiff, awkward smiles.
Continued in "Taking Shelter from the Rain"