I Found a Hole in my Yard. It Might Be a Dungeon, but That’s Now my Garbage Dump

Takemura Ayano is a housewife living in a quiet suburban residential area.

She currently lives with her husband and daughter.

What she currently desires is to have at least one more child.

This morning, after sending her husband off to work as usual, Ayano noticed that her daughter was not in the living room.

[Again? She really never gets bored……]

Her 5-year-old daughter, Rino, has a special talent for disappearing before she knows it when she takes her eyes off her for even a moment.

Even when they don’t have much time, she would still play hide-and-seek.

She seems to enjoy it when her mother frantically searches for her.

[Now then, I wonder where did Rino hide?]

The daycare bus will be picking her up soon, so where could she be hiding again……

Lightly sighing, Ayano was about to look for today’s hiding place when her daughter came trudging down the stairs from the second floor.

[Ara? You’re quite admirable today. Now, now, let’s get you ready for preschool.]

First, she would wash her face, feed her, dress her and check if she had all her things in her bag……

[Hey, Mama, did someone move in next door?]

Ayano was busily rearranging her schedule for this morning when her thoughts were interrupted by her daughter’s comment.

[Ara. The house next door should be empty. Did you see a moving truck there?]

The house next to the Takemura family has been vacant for several years.

Ayano had always felt that it would be nice if someone suitable would move in since things have been disturbing as of late, so this seemed like good news.

[No. Someone went into the second floor of the house next door. I wonder if they live there?]

[Eh?]

[The neighbor went woosh to the window. It’s amazing.]

[No! Rino, stay right here! Lock the windows…… and then…… and then…… Yes, the police……!]

Looking up at her mother, who suddenly turned strict and pulled out her phone, the young girl puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

Even though she would have liked to tell her how easily the neighbor had jumped to the window, how easily the neighbor had opened the locked window with his long arms, and how they were wearing a beanie……

★　★　★　★　★

When they received a report that “the suspect in the serial murder case had been spotted holed up in a residential area in the suburbs”, Detective Manda and Nagai rushed to the scene.

[That b*stard was hiding in a suburban residential area. After all those incidents, he’s got a lot of guts not to run away.]

[However, is the guy here really that culprit? Is there any possibility that it’s just a homeless person? A prowler, perhaps?]

[I wonder about that. If that were the case, he’d have been arrested by now, and they wouldn’t be needing any backup.]

[……Ahh. Manda-san, it seems like there’s nothing to worry about then.]

[That’s a lot of backup. It seems like the Commissioner is quite enthusiastic about this……]

When the two detectives finally arrived at the scene, they found it filled with police officers and vehicles from the surrounding area, which resembled a large exhibition hall of police uniforms and patrol cars.

Lines were set up to keep residents and the media away, and the surrounding residents were being asked to leave their houses.

When the scale of the crime becomes this large, there isn’t much work that Manda and Nagai, who are just detectives, can get involved in.

Finding a policeman he’s acquainted with, Manda spoke to him to gather information.

[That’s quite the number you’ve gathered here. Isn’t it possible that this isn’t the right target?]

[A kid in the neighborhood saw the culprit’s appearance and hat. She said the guy had very long arms and was wearing a beanie, so there’s a good chance this guy’s that criminal.]

[What about the house? Is anyone living there?]

[No, it’s uninhabited. It seems that the resident separated from their family some years ago and skipped out by night, and the house has been empty ever since.]

[I see…… Then, just go in and arrest him. Why are you all still surrounding the area?]

Based on the testimony of his physique, he seems to be the serial murderer of the business owners and their family.

If that’s the case, it would be better to go in and drag him out.

There should be no reason for them to keep their distance with the place surrounded.

[……Don’t tell me, he had hostages?]

[No…… That’s not it. The Prefectural Police District did send a raid team about an hour ago…… but they failed.]

[What?]

The Prefectural Police District’s raid team is an elite group of police officers with superior physique and arresting skills.

No matter how narrow the interior of an ordinary house may be, they have trained to the point where no ordinary criminals can match them.

If even they had failed, the next step would be to neutralize the criminal with small-sized firearms.

[The scene is indoors, dark, and he seems to have a troublesome sharp tool…… Their people are injured. The higher-ups are in a panic right now, scouting and rearranging the plan.]

[Oh my God……]

Looking at the surrounding vehicles again, Manda saw several ambulances parked among the police cars.

[So, what are you going to do next? What are you thinking of doing next? Are you going to continue with the siege?]

It turned out that even the most well-trained police officers wouldn’t have a chance against an inhuman criminal with a sharp tool in a room.

One option would be to surround the suspect, buy time and wait for when the criminal becomes tired.

[Rumor has it that the police are going to call in the SAT from Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.]

[SAT huh……]

SAT stands for Special Assault Team. They’re a special unit belonging to the Metropolitan Police Department’s Security Division.

Manda has only found rumors about them, but it’s said that they are equipped with special firearms such as submachine guns, special equipment such as flashbangs, and bulletproof equipment, and they are trained in german-style raids.

An organization similar to this is the SIT, the Special Investigation Team, with special equipment and training for the purpose of apprehending criminals.

The detectives on the spot weren’t familiar with any of those organizations.

[They’re dispatching the SAT means the higher-ups decided that this criminal is to be shoot-to-kill!?]

Manda chided Nagai for his outburst.

[After all those murders, it seems like the criminal still got the murder weapon on his body. It can’t be helped.]

The murderer of the families of business owners killed a total of 25 people. The murderer had brutally killed a wide range of people, from the elderly as old as a 78-year-old to a child as young as a 4-year-old.

The shock to the public was so great that even if this case were brought to a trial, he would receive no other sentence other than the death penalty.

Although media control had been imposed in that place, news helicopters have begun to fly in the sky.

[……I hope we can get this over with by nightfall.]

As he looked up at the sky, which had begun to cloud over, Manda muttered to himself.