Short Story: The Great Purple Emperor

◉ Wind-blown Literature Club [Name] Entry

The Great Purple Emperor, Japan's national butterfly.
Suddenly, I was asked by my boss over the phone to secure that Great Purple Emperor.
Until this age, I didn't even know that a national butterfly existed, nor did I know about the Great Purple Emperor butterfly.
When I was a child, some kids used insect collection kits for their summer vacation independent research projects, but since both my parents worked, we never went out to the mountains or the sea just because it was summer vacation.
Besides, I was the type who would stay cooped up in my room, playing video games in an air-conditioned space.
Some classmates kept rhinoceros beetles or stag beetles, but I had absolutely no interest, and until this age, I had zero opportunities to interact with insects.
Even so, I decided to treat this as a belated childhood experience and put my heart into catching the Great Purple Emperor.

My boss specified that I should wear work clothes, so I was currently out buying them. I wondered why work clothes were necessary, but I figured it made sense if I was going to be walking around in nature.
They are durable, allow me to move without worrying about sweat or dirt, and in this season of continuous extreme heat, heatstroke prevention is also essential.

When I explained the situation, the clerk nodded as if used to it.
“In that case, I recommend contact-cooling innerwear that is stretchy and dries sweat quickly, along with a fan-equipped air-conditioned jacket. The innerwear should be skin-tight, and the jacket should be a bit loose. Safety shoes for your feet, and thin work gloves would also be convenient.”
I followed their advice and got the whole set. Looking at myself in the fitting room mirror, I looked like a field worker no matter how I saw it, but for someone like me who usually only wears suits, it was a fresh experience.

—And so, I set off on my first-ever “serious insect collecting” mission.

The day of. I left the house early in the morning while the sky was just beginning to turn white. According to the information I gathered myself, the place with many sightings was a coppice forest near the prefectural border. It was an area with plenty of nature left, largely untouched by human hands.
The humidity was high due to yesterday's evening shower, and it was sweltering from the morning, but when I turned on the air-conditioned jacket, the breeze blowing from my back to my face felt comfortable.
I stepped on the muddy soil in my safety shoes, pushed through branches, and wiped away sweat as I moved forward. If I think of this as work, it's nothing—well, it is grueling, though...

However, I knew almost nothing about how the Great Purple Emperor butterfly moves or where it hides. Relying only on the image of the photo I saw on my smartphone, I stared intently.
The morning was a bust. The only results were the amount of sweat and the number of insect bites.
Before noon, around a large hackberry tree, a purplish shadow flickered in the corner of my vision.
“Ah!...”
The next moment, I held my breath and pressed my back against the tree trunk.
“There it is!”
It was definitely that color I saw in the photo. A deep purple bordering on black, with wings that looked blue depending on the angle. I was captivated by its beauty.
But this is work. I have to catch it. I carefully closed the distance and readied the net I had brought.
The moment the wings fluttered—I aimed for that instant.

“Gotcha!”

I felt the impact. A shadow flapping inside the net. To ensure it wouldn't escape, I gently trapped it in the net. My heart was pounding.
“I did it!”
It's not that big of a deal, but I had won against the Great Purple Emperor. I never thought I'd feel such a sense of accomplishment from bug catching. I carefully transferred it to a special case and returned to the car feeling proud.

The joint investigation meeting between the First and Second Divisions began. The progress of the investigation into the elderly couple murder case in Setagaya was shared.
A suspect had emerged, but there was a lack of decisive evidence, so it was decided to thoroughly investigate the man's surroundings before bringing him in for voluntary questioning.
While investigating the suspect's girlfriend, it was discovered that she was involved in a separate fraud case, so an arrest warrant was requested. It was decided that the Second Division would handle her.
However, the Second Division currently has the majority of its investigators tied up in a corruption scandal involving a high-ranking politician. Therefore, several investigators were dispatched from the First Division. I was one of them.
The woman's whereabouts are still unknown. Even after the meeting ended, the section chief and the superintendent in charge had bitter expressions.

“Hey, Aratani!”
The section chief's voice calling my name echoed in the conference room.
“Yes!”
As I stood up with my reply, the section chief asked.
“How about you? Any progress?”
I answered with my chest puffed out.
“Yes. As for the Great Purple Emperor, I have secured it.”
For a moment, the conference room went silent. The section chief slowly frowned.
“...What? I haven't received any report! Why didn't you say so sooner!”
“No, I intended to report it after the meeting ended.”
“Where was it!”
“Eh? Oh, the hackberry forest at the prefectural border. It was a quite large and magnificent specimen. Look at this. I caught it while properly wearing work clothes.”
When I took the case containing the beautiful national butterfly out of my backpack and placed it on the table, the conference room erupted in a buzz.
The section chief, with a vein popping on his forehead, slammed the table.
“Aratani... I said—‘Find Saki Omura and secure her in work clothes’!”
“Yes. Is there something wrong with that?”
The section chief took out his notebook and scribbled something in it.
Everything slowly connected as it was written in text. This is what it said.

“Find Saki Omura and secure her on suspicion of fraud.”