Undercover Correspondent
Last fall, when the maple trees of western Canada began to wither and the snow crown on the Lions began to stretch day by day, a man—an “undercover correspondent” might sound exaggerated an expression—without any disguise, wearing a deerstalker hat low on his face, was sitting by the train window. Avoiding the chilly wind blowing into the Burrard Inlet with the collar of his jacket, the man on the train left from CPR platform. The one who just sent the man off is one of our writers H.* In past years H traveled all over the interior, even returning pale with fever one time. He knows in detail about the change in the situation of the interior caves over the three years through frequent correspondence and communication with his contacts, and a name can trigger in him all kinds of associated information. As such, he was in the best possible position to complete the given assignment and goals. H gave the man instructions with twenty or so items and notes:
“You must complete your mission successfully,”
“Everything will be all right. I’ll do my best.”
“Take care of yourself. It’s cold out there.”
Goodbye, be well—As the eastbound train slowly sped up and left the platform, H hastily hopped into the nearest bar.
The student soon started to receive reports from the man on the train about his everyday activities and updates, including information such as where he arrived first and which hotel he stayed at. The amount of information was mountainous, to use an overdramatic expression, but it was plenty anyway. We do not need to write where he got off the train or where he stayed, but we must note that the information revealed that many underground leaders in the interior from old days in fact backed away and left for Japan, a number that was greater than what we expected.
From Nelson, Kawamoto, Shiraishi, and Inada have left. From Calgary, it has been long since Yamada left, but in addition, Iida, Hashimoto, Chiba, Tsurumi, Kigawa, and Higashi have left. Among them there are some who once returned to Japan and left the country again or more wild ones who have voyaged again via Europe. They are astonishingly vindictive.