On the street, there was a sound like someone was hit.
At that moment, I stopped my raised hand. Looking up, the bright blue sky came into my sight. At the bottom of the ravine formed by multiple towering buildings, it was like everything was wrapped in thick darkness. In all of it, only the sky was blue.
I felt like I heard something just now.
Although it was probably my imagination.
Because there was no one else here but me.
Once again, I moved my fingers, pushing a silver-coloured coin into the vending machine. But in the next moment, it returned to the coin return slot. Sweat drenched my whole body. My throat made a cracking sound. Why was I so thirsty? I felt like I was a fish tossed onto land. Leaning over, I picked the 100 yen coin out. And at that moment, I heard a wet sound. When I turned around, I saw a reddish-black lump on the steaming hot asphalt. In that almost-monochrome coloration, vivid crimson was visible. It was like the corpse of a cat that had been smashed.
Aah——————a womb.
Looking at the blood-covered piece of flesh, that conviction suddenly came to me. The scorching road grilled the fresh meat, and a bad stench drifted through the air. Looking at that, I felt a strong urge to drink water.
I suddenly felt someone’s gaze upon me. Looking up at the sky again, I saw someone’s figure on top of an abandoned building, but the sunlight was too strong that I could not see. Suddenly, I wanted them to notice me for some reason, so I waved my hands. Though I desperately tried to convey to them that I was here, there was no response from the shadowy figure. I wanted to raise my voice, but my throat was too dry to speak, so I turned back to buy something from the vending machine.
But, the 100 yen coin, is—
***
I loved my sister. I loved her more than anybody else. That’s why I need to kill her. That is my duty. That’s why I need to kill her. Why? Haven’t I told you? If you ask why, that’s because...
I…love her.
I shook my head, trying to escape from the voice that came to the back of my mind. Sweat poured out, throat cramped dryly. I looked up at the sky, the white sun was seething. Adjusting my necktie and pulling down the collar of my shirt, I continued walking with the suit jacket hanging from one of my hands. That was when the sound of a commotion reached my ears. The buildings around here were being abandoned because their main companies were assaulted by the economic downturn, so normally there would be no people here. But now, a group of onlookers was formed. On the other side, police cars and the media’s broadcasting vans could be seen. The police in uniform were moving around inside the taped-off area.
Nevertheless, what kind of pictures were those holding up a cell phone trying to take?
It would be great if the camera exploded the moment they took a picture of even a tiny bit of that “Blood-stained Organ.”
Not saying it out loud, I cursed them in my mind and continued walking. Choosing a crime scene as a meetup place is too much of a bad taste. My irritation had reached its peak. While I staggeringly forced my feet to move, the crimson colour entered my vision.
A young girl in a Gothic-Lolita outfit was standing there holding a deep red paper umbrella. The black dress decorated with laces was dream-like and had no sense of reality. She was nibbling a bar of chocolate. Her face was so beautiful that one would think she was not of this world. Suddenly, the onlookers turned their gazes towards her.
Aah, I want to become someone unrelated.
“Did I make you wait, Mayu-san”
“Five minutes and twenty seconds late. Although this is rare for you. A chocolate bar once in a while is not bad, you know? Want some?”
Peerless beauty—Mayuzumi said, thrusting the chocolate bar towards me. The clear bite marks on the chocolate would make one wonder if this was some kind of harassment. It seemed like no one taught her not to hand half-eaten food to others. Aah, though it was doubtful whether she received compulsory education or not.
“Sorry, I don’t need it.”
“The convenience store there is selling chocolate bars. No matter if it’s cheap or expensive, the level of satisfaction won’t change, though. It’s not related to the amount of polyphenol. Aah, why are the talks all about nutrients? Maybe because chocolate is a type of narcotic, so people are just trying to consolidate themselves.”
Saying extreme things, Mayuzumi bit the chocolate once again. The brown colour crumbled between her lips.
“Looks like it’s a womb this time. Hasn’t it gotten quite interesting?”
That colour was similar to the colour of dried blood. With unpleasant thoughts crossing the back of my mind, I shook my head. Yes. For example, if we compared it to a human’s organ—
“—Placenta? Is it similar? It’s not, right?”
“.........”
“Aah, or maybe, a fetus? Menstrual blood? It’s not something like that. This is chocolate, you know?”
“...Please just eat without saying anything.”
“I’ll do just that.”
She licked the edge of her lips and asked a question that came a bit too late.
“By the way, why are you late?”
“Come on, Mayu-san. Weren't you the person who changed our meeting place without any warning? To think that because of that, I had to walk under the blazing sun for tens of minutes from the bus station, wearing the suit you ordered me to.”
“Well, the reason for your lateness is not really important. The fact is that a womb fell down here. Do you understand what that means, Odagiri-kun?"
What I understand is that you are trying to gloss over the conversation.
Of course, I did not voice those words. I was hit by the urge to smoke. However, not only was the supervisor in front of me against tobacco smoke, the present me who was nineteen would be breaking the law. I did not have enough courage to smoke in a place where the police were nearby.
“You know, Odagiri-kun. Whether there are people around or not, it would be better if you could just stop smoking altogether. Which part of the stench that came from tobacco do you even call delicious?”
“Mayu-san, please stop reading people’s minds. It really is troublesome.”
In the first place, isn’t it your fault that I became a heavy smoker?
After I swallowed those words without thinking, Mayuzumi giggled.
Her lips drew an beastial arc.
“And about what I said, Odagiri-kun. The fact that the womb fell down here means that the victim is a woman. Because it is an internal organ that a man cannot have. With this, the story has gained some authenticity.”
Hearing that, I sighed. Is that progression a good thing, or a bad thing? Mayuzumi rested the paper umbrella on her shoulder and walked forth. Watching her graceful steps, the pedestrians opened the way for some reason. And in exchange, bumping into me.
“So, how are things on you end?”
“Whatever the case, she is mentally a goner, keeps on going about wanting to kill her sister. I do not recommend accepting the request. Getting a psychiatric examination would be the first priority.”
“Hmm. You’re right. It might be as you say. However, Odagiri-kun,”
Unexpectedly, Mayuzumi pointed her paper umbrella upwards. So, I looked up without thinking. It seemed that there was someone standing on an abandoned building’s rooftop. However, the figure was hidden by rainbow-colored light and could not be seen. When I drew my gaze back, Mayuzumi was in front of a vending machine on the side of the road, fumbling around the coin return slot for some reason. When she noticed my gaze, she let out a giggle and continued the conversation as if nothing happened.
“This here is for this, Odagiri-kun.”
“Actually, the internal organs are still falling, you know?”
Internal organs of an unknown owner were dropping in the valley of abandoned buildings.
It was a mysterious phenomenon happening intermittently.
And though I had met the woman who knew the truth behind it...
It was an incomprehensible story.
***
It was one month ago that my sister committed suicide by jumping off a building.
It seems that there were troubles related to her workplace. Since I did not know anything, I could do nothing but panic....yes, my sister jumped from the rooftop of an abandoned building as if diving into a swimming pool. What would one think when they fall? While jumping into the layer of thick air as if sinking into water, would they regret? Would they fear? Only the sensation of falling straight down...
Ah, I’m sorry. Anyway, my sister committed suicide a month ago. Although she was still alive when she was taken to the hospital, it was hopeless. However, I don’t care about that.
The problem is the fact that my sister disappeared. No one had visited her at the hospital, yet my sister who was on her deathbed disappeared. Even though she shouldn’t be able to move, she disappeared. And a while after her disappearance, internal organs began falling from the same abandoned building my sister jumped off. Yes, the one where internal organs with still signs of life fell down, that incident. I understood immediately. They were my sister’s internal organs. My sister’s body was, piece by piece, trying to commit suicide one more time. My sister’s body escaped from the hospital and is falling down little by little. I loved my sister. Loved her more than anyone. That’s why I have to kill her. As to why, have I not told you? If you ask why, that is because...
I…love her.
I stopped the tape and rewound it. Being inside the air-conditioned room of the mansion, compared to outside, was as comfortable as being in heaven. Mayuzumi was sitting on the sofa and, for some reason, was wearing a lab coat on top of her Gothic-Lolita outfit. There was a nameplate on her chest.
Mayuzumi Azaka.
“What do you think, Mayu-san? By the way, shouldn’t we properly buy an IC recorder or something? No one is using a tape recorder nowadays. Also, using my personal budget to buy a tape is a bit...”
“Isn’t it quite good? The voice, the story, truly morbid.”
Ignoring the latter half, huh? Noticing my squinting expression or not, Mayuzumi took a cup into her hand, drinking hot chocolate inside in one breath, and poured a second cup from the pot. A thickly sweet scent drifted through the air.
“...Mayu-san, can you please stop that? Besides, should we really be calling this a request? I think there are some delusions mixed into her story.”
“Delusions, huh? Hm, calling it delusions is also fine. However, it is possibly a bit different from delusions. Because the wickedness lies in the way of thinking,” said Mayuzumi.
She drained the second cup and poured a third cup. The sweet scent continued scattering.
“The person’s tastes and preferences that are most likely to cause a confrontation are food preferences, right? Odagiri-kun. A difference in senses of values for food can easily put a crack in human relationships. So, I understand the reasoning that, because you don’t like sweets, you want me to stop; you know? However, if I don’t drink chocolate, I will die. As for that, you giving in would be a saint.”
Unfortunately, I am a believer of cynicism.
Yes, I wanted to brag, but I swallowed my words as expected. Instead, I did a banzai and asked.
“Understood. Then, the problematic part in the ‘way of thinking’ is?”
“There are some. But since I will not tell you yet, wait a bit longer.”
“Understood. I expected that. Anyway, we are proceeding by accepting the request, right?”
“Yep, do that for me. You’re brilliant, Odagiri-kun. It really helps that you always do as I expected. But, not understanding the merit of discomfort is a problem.”
I don’t want to understand something like that. I let out a sigh and stood up. Mayuzumi pressed the playback button on the tape recorder, and the sweet feminine voice flowed out.
Because I love her. That’s why…I have to kill her.
Listening to the unsettling voice, Mayuzumi sneered.
“Retro is a good thing, you know? Inconvenience never makes you bored.”
It was an awfully distorted smile.
“I wonder what’s worse between discomfort and boredom.”
At this point, Mayuzumi wasn’t looking at me anymore. Wearing that white lab coat, she laid down. Facing that back, I whispered.
“I prefer boredom, though.”
I left the room in that state. The second I stepped through the doorway, the silence without a trace of people came to my ears alongside the summer glow.
Nago, Aichi prefecture. This mansion was in one corner of the city that crossed the population count of 2 million. Even though it stood in the high-class residential area, there were no other occupants aside from this one room on the fifth floor. And this only room that was being used was decorated by a weird nameplate.
“Mayuzumi Psychic Detective Agency.”
It was a nameplate that, if I myself was not an employee here, I would have pointed and exploded in laughter.
***
Mayuzumi Azaka. A 14 years old girl, a detective, and my supervisor. However, a request fit for a detective never reached her place. Normally, things like that should be coming. But taking the nameplate that was put up into account, it was a matter of course that no such request came. Mayuzumi was officially not a detective. She never presented detective-related documents. Naturally, there were no requests coming. It would be weirder if they came.
However, requests periodically came. All of them were as bizarre as this one, the request to “search for the dying sister in order to kill her.”
I cursed my own self who had gotten stuck working at Mayuzumi’s place once again. I leaned on the cushion sheet in the train and let out a sigh. Long ago, I lived in a place unrelated to her. If nothing had happened, I would have entered a university. At that moment, I could feel a hallucination like my whole vision went dark. Suppressing the urge to vomit, I pressed my hand on my mouth. It seemed like I still could not think about it. Shaking my head, I changed my train of thoughts. Reminiscing about unchanging reality, of course this would happen.
Enduring the cramp in my stomach, I shut my eyes. In order to get to my destination, I changed to another underground line. Using a taxi would be faster, but I had to pay on my own. Since my salary was low, I had to make luxury my enemy. And after wasting some time, I finally arrived at the designated house. A foul stench filled the street for some reason. In the middle of it all, a long-haired woman in a one piece was waving her hand.
A pure white one piece.
It was the appearance that could only be seen in a movie or a drawing.
When I approached, the woman smiled innocently. Though her almost-see-through pale skin was beautiful, the impression of insanity could be felt somewhere. I returned a nod to her and strengthened my caution. Just like my supervisor Mayuzumi, a woman who appeared to be straight out of a play could not be trusted. I had no choice but to learn that lesson.
“I apologise. The conversation with my supervisor dragged on... Did I make you wait?”
“Oh, no. You’re right on time. More than that, I thank you for accepting my request. If you didn’t accept, I…wouldn’t know what to do.”
As she teared up, I recalled her profile in my mind.
Yamashita Kazue. 25 years old. Her parents died in a car accident 5 year prior. Living together with her sister. At present, she was taking care of the flower shop left behind by her parents. Although her sister had been working in a big insurance company, she committed suicide by jumping down from a building a month ago. However, before her death could be confirmed, she disappeared from the hospital. And it seemed that the internal organs from the Falling Organs incident happening recently were the sister’s. The content of the request was to find her dying sister in order to kill her.
When I informed her of the intent to accept the request through the phone, she joyfully came out and invited me to her house, saying that she wanted to show me the pictures.
Peeking at Kazue’s back, I instinctively swallowed my breath. A large amount of garbage bags piled up on the entrance. Had they been pecked by crows? Their half-liquefied content was spilling out. The garbage continued their decomposition process under heavy influence of the summer sun. It seemed like this was the origin of the foul stench. Looking to the side, the garden, too, was full of weed that had grown waist-high. This place could not be seen as a place where people lived at all. It seemed as if she had completely abandoned her daily life.
Her sister committed suicide. Or was it the emotional shock from the fact that she tried to suicide by jumping down from a building?
Is there somewhere in her heart that was causing the bad condition?
When I asked with my eyes, Kazue smiled. One could not see even a fragment of instability on that expression.
That perfect expression. This is just too warped.
“Here. Please take a step inside.”
“Ah...Aah, yes. Excuse me.”
Without feeling any shame for the deserted house, Kazue stepped forth. Her thin legs kicked and scattered the garbage. Awful stains got onto her sandals, but she ignored it all and pulled the door open.
“I apologise that it’s a mess here.”
Thick foul stench assaulted the nose. Looking down, I saw countless pairs of shoes burying the entrance. As someone who had to arrange all the shoes Mayuzumi always threw around, I wanted to put them all in places. I swallowed that urge and took a step forward.
I suddenly felt a gaze from behind.Though I turned around, there was no one there. After examining the situation for a moment, I was hastened by Kazue and stepped up the entryway. I noticed one fact.
There were two pairs for all of the shoes.
It was as if two people had one of the exact same things.
“This way.”
I followed the back that was getting further away like a phantom.
I was brought to a room that, when compared to the disastrous state of the kitchen on the way, was a whole lot better. Kazue was probably using this room as the place for her daily life. That was also why I felt the chill as if countless bugs were crawling on my whole body.
Pictures of a smiling woman covered every wall in the room without leaving any gap.
A woman who looked similar to Kazue was smiling. Compared to sickly pale Kazue, the woman’s smile was bright, and her skin also had a healthy sunburn. The face that looked alike but actually different was probably her sister’s. Even the floor was covered by the pictures. I felt as if I was in a kaleidoscope illusion made of the pictures of a person’s face.
“Here. Please take a seat.”
In the direction she pointed, there were two sitting cushions prepared. Sitting on that would mean sitting on her sister’s face.
Is it really okay to go ahead and sit?
“Is something wrong?”
“...No, please excuse me.”
I lowered my waist thinking that there was no other way. Kazue followed soon after, folding her white legs and sitting in a seiza.
“For undertaking my request on this occasion, Thank you.”
“No, we too are thankful for your request on this occasion. Although we are not sure if we could be of any use, we’ll do our best.”
Kazue put on a perfect smile once again. Her speech and conduct were all disconnecting from reality.
There seemed to be things hidden away under that thin paper-like skin.
This is unpleasant.
“How is it? Beautiful, right? Wonderful, right? My sister.”
For a moment, I did not understand the meaning. After I glanced at the faces in the pictures and nodded, Kuzue laughed. Though it was the first genuinely innocent expression I saw, I got down to business, interrupting it.
“It might still be painful, but information is necessary for our search. If at all possible, could you tell me a little more about your sister in detail?”
Haa, Kazue sighed silently and tilted her head.
“...What, would it be?”
What, it’s obvious.
“About the case of your sister.”
“Um...please forgive me...What would you like to ask about the case?”
“I’d like to ask about the situation surrounding the time that your sister committed suicide.”
Kazue listlessly blinked and fixed her posture.
“What I said previously is everything. I don’t care that my sister tried to jump off from a building. The problem is the fact that she is not dead. The fact that the body of my still-alive sister in a distorted form is intending to jump off a building one more time. My sister who failed her journey to the world of the dead, I have to kill her. That is something only I, who love her, love her more than anyone, can do. What I want to request from you is to look for ‘her main body’ before all of it falls down completely. So please search for my disappeared sister. After that, I’ll kill it.
Nothing other than that, she said and pursed her lips.
She is losing her mind.
Getting stressed turns some kind of switch inside my body. I really wanted to smoke, but I clenched my hands and suppressed the urge. Anyway, let’s calm down. Let’s forget the reasonableness in the content and let’s think about its validity.
Her sister who should have committed suicide disappeared, and was now trying to jump off a building once again in a distorted form. Before all of it fell down, she wanted us to find her sister’s main body. Since the target of the search was not as simple as someone who ran away from home, the person’s relationships and suicide motive were not necessary for the investigation.
It was a sound argument, it made sense.
But, what of it?
“Two questions. Would it be fine for me to ask?”
“...Please, go on.”
“Then, firstly your sister committed suicide. However, your sister’s body disappeared from the hospital, and is now trying to commit suicide by jumping off a building one more time. Is that correct?”
“It is as you say.”
“Understood. Still, why would your sister go out of her way to do that? Because even if she stayed at the hospital, she would still die from her fetal wounds.”
The disappeared body was, piece by piece, committing suicide by jumping off a building.
Why do such twisted things?
When asked, Kazue swallowed her breath, her face turning completely expressionless. I could sense discomfort. But right before I could ask, Kazue put on a serene smile once again.
“Well, What my sister is thinking doesn’t have anything to do with me. Because my intention is only to kill my sister who failed to die.”
She smoothly spat out such dangerous words. I was more confident now that this woman was seriously twisted.
“Then, the second question.”
“...Yes.”
“I’ll ask, but the body of your sister has been falling, piece by piece, from the rooftop of a building. The fallen internal organs are all under heavy police jurisdiction as of now. If that’s the case, the body that will be the last to fall down will surely be ‘empty inside.’ That thing—excuse me, she will be no different from a corpse. Also, the body that will fall will surely fall to the ground. There is not even a single fragment of necessity for you to go out of your way to find and kill her. Because she, with the method used to come back, will fall and die one more time.”
“......”
“That, I do not understand the necessity for the search. Although if you said that you want to hold a memorial service for your sister who was left with some regrets, it would be a different story.”
Hearing that, Kazue smiled sadly, bringing up the corner of her mouth to a calculated angle. That was an expression of a human who knew the effects that one’s own expression had on the other party.
“...It seems that I can’t get you to understand.”
That was the exact phrase I predicted. Tears were glimmering in her downcast eyes.
“My sister might come back and suicide again. That is what I can’t bear.”
Alongside the moment she blinked, the tears that flowed out slid down her cheeks and fell. Even an actress might not be able to cry this well. The form of a girl clutching the hem of her one piece was really touching.
“If that’s the case, then there would be no other way but to kill her before she can commit suicide, right?”
That smile is distorted. I can’t trust it.
I can’t be swallowed by an easy to understand madness.
“Understood. That was all the questions. I apologise for taking so long.”
Apologising, I took a peek at Kazue. Already, the tears were gone from those eyes. Surely, she is hiding something.
How many lies were mixed into the information I received?
It would probably be important to ascertain that.
Refusing her offer to send me off, I left Kazue’s house. When I took a deep breath, fresh air flowed into my lungs. It was comforting for my throat that had been numb to the rotten stench. It would be good if I could have a cigarette here, but that had to be saved for later. I pretended to walk away just like that, before turning back. I approached a telephone pole in a place a bit away from Kazue’s house. Then, without any warning, I extended my arm out.
“Eh? Uwa!?”
I caught the collar of a man who was trying to pretend to be a passerby. Before he could escape, I strongly pulled him backwards, destroying his balance, getting my hand around his neck, and locked him up. Although it was a forceful method, since I was also irritated, he would have to put up with it.
“Why are you watching that house?”
“Y-you, what are—”
“Can you not act like you’re confused? Since the time I went inside that house, haven’t you been watching until now?”
This was kind of a bet, but the man stiffened his expression. Right before I had entered the house, I could feel someone’s gaze, I could not confirm anyone there; but when I left the house, this time I found a man who was hiding. As expected, it seemed like he was always watching. The man’s shirt was tainted to a yellow hue by sweat, and his thin hair full of dandruff was wet. Contrary to the ageing appearance, it seemed that he was still young in his years.
“How about it? Why are you watching that house?”
“Y-you’re, hihi, her man? fuhi, what do you want?”
Asking that, the man laughed. Did he have a bad stomach? The smell of a rotten egg came from between his teeth.
“I-if that’s the case, then my condolences. Fuhihi, that girl is abnormal. fufuhhi, fufu, hi, a murderer! Murderer! hihihihihihihih.”
Slapping my shoulder in an overly familiar manner, the man suddenly exploded in a fit of laughter. Though the condition of someone twisting their body while laughing could not be taken as sane, passing that word off as a joke would be too dangerous.
Murderer.
“Murderer?”
“Hihi, you don’t know? fuhi, hihihi. It’s Yukiko, Yukiko. That bitch killed Yukikoooo......”
The end of his voice was muddied by the crying and powerlessly died down.
Though Yukiko was a name I had never heard of before, I could easily imagine who it was. It was probably the name of Kazue’s sister.
If you said that she had killed a person, there could only be one target.
But surely, her sister had decided to fall from the rooftop on her own.
“Wasn’t it, a suicide?”
“Hihi, buhi, Yukiko, there is no way Yukiko would, commit suicide. Yukiko wouldn’t do such a thing. It’s Kazue, she was killed by Kazue. Yukiko had said so many times. That her eyes are scary. That she felt so fed up whenever she remembered that she had to take care of that woman. Because Kazue was always clinging to her, she couldn’t help but feel depressed. She said so multiple times.”
The man kept mumbling on, and suddenly opened his eyes wide. He spread both his arms and yelled out.
“That’s right! Kazue, Kazue killed her! Yukiko was…by Kazue!”
Killed. Killed. The man screamed as if he was singing. But suddenly, it was cut short by a composed voice.
“What’s going on, Odagiri-san?”
When I turned around, Kazue was standing there. It looked like the man’s scream had reached inside the house. I clicked my tongue silently in my heart. With this, asking the man any more questions had become impossible. Kazue tilted her head.
“Ah, good to see you again. Sugita-san, what kind of business do you have, coming to this place?”
“Kazue, you...!”
Killing intent rose up Sugita’s whole body. Confused, I put more power into my hand around his neck.
“Oi! Calm down!”
“Kuzueeee! Because of, because of you, Yukiko is!”
“Could you please cut it out, Sugita-san? Jeez, isn’t that subject already settled?”
Kazue replied gently. Sugita screamed, his saliva flying out.
“You listen! You. Just one day, I will definitely-”
“Look here, please don’t forget that I am the one overlooking this for you. If you keep being a bother, I will call the police on you again, you know?”
At that moment, Sugita’s shoulders shivered. He removed the strength from his whole body and violently shook away from my arm. It seemed like his sanity was not so worn out to the point he could resort to unreasonable violence. As he kept on cursing, he disappeared far away. I peeked at the figure of Kazue from the side. She was smiling as always. Though she did not look upset, she had surely heard the conversation just now.
“Please forgive me, Odagiri-san. You must have been startled.”
“No, I’m alright. Pardon me but, who was that? Though that was quite a strange situation, I think that if he has been a bother, it will be better to call the police.”
“Yes, thank you for your concern. However, no worries. That person does not have that kind of courage.”
Kazue glanced at the direction that Sugita had gone. Silence fell. It seemed like she had arrived at my wordless complaint. She let out a small sigh, and began talking.
“That person was Sugita Tomoyuki. My sister’s ex-boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend, you say?”
“Yes, an ex-boyfriend, though.”
Well, that made sense. It was impossible to be a boyfriend of a presently dead person. No, because Yukiko disappeared while she was alive, it might not be impossible. But either way, it was pointless nonsense. What I wanted to ask was something else.
“Though it seems like he is being possessed by a delusion.”
“A delusion?”
“That’s right......Please forgive me for saying it, but...”
Though she could guess my next words, Kazue kept her face as still as the surface of a lake. Just what was being hidden under that expression?
If it’s something you can answer, then answer it.
“A delusion that you killed your sister.”
Kazue showed a perfect smile on her face once again.
“Whatever he said, it doesn’t matter. Because...”
Then, she said unexpected words.
“That person broke up with my sister before she committed suicide.”
“They…broke up?”
Sugita’s condition floated up the back of my mind. Didn’t he just irrationally feel the death of his lover and started watching Kazue? What would the fact that they had already broken up mean?
“Yes, just a week before she attempted suicide, my sister was the one who broke up with him. I, too, was surprised when I heard it from the workplace. He was acting like a stalker up until barely before my sister committed suicide. That’s why I did not tell him even about the fact that my sister went missing before she would die. I has lied to him that my sister committed suicide, dying just like that, and the funeral, too, was done in private. He is just a stranger, after all.”
She crossed her fingers and looked in the direction that Sugita had gone. From that sad expression, the feeling of sympathy toward the pitiful man was flowing out. But to me, a completely different expression was burned onto my eyes. That was what she showed in one instant right before changing her expression.
Baring her teeth, a twisted sneer.
The smile that was mocking Sugita, that was, without doubt, her true nature.
***
“...Or so it seems. That is all I’ve discovered.”
“Hm, thank you. Hasn’t it gotten more and more interesting? And with that, Odagiri-kun, could you just open your mouth for me?”
She beckoned me the same way she would a dog. Knitting my eyebrows, I did as she said,and Mayuzumi threw some kind of pill into my mouth. I bit without thinking. The sugar coating broke off, and its content spread on my tongue.
—Sweet.
“This chocolate. Even though it melts in your mouth, it does not melt on your hand. Quite interesting, right? Though the part about being wrapped in sugar coating is a merchandise aimed at children, the idea deserves praise. And I hate things that only adults can enjoy anyway. Alcohol is one of them, but cigarettes are especially bad. On top of being unhealthy, it smells bad.”
Saying that, Mayuzumi glared at me. When I violently bit into the chocolate, the lingering smell of nicotine was replaced by the sweet scent. It had been considerably long after I smoke. It shouldn't be noticeable from the outside, and yet. As expected from a sensitive person.
“...You really noticed, huh.”
“Though I think it would be more strange to not notice. If you really want to smoke no matter what, then there’s no other way. But, since there are things that people can and can’t tolerate, may I implore you to at least be considerate?”
It was surprising that Mayuzumi had a word like ‘considerate’ in her dictionary.
Mayuzumi drank hot chocolate as she said that. The legs that were peeking through the white lab coat were wrapped in knee socks. Her clothing today was awfully short.
“That appearance is quite rare.”
“Hm? Well, the clerk at the usual store recommended this to me. Listening to that rambling was a bother, so I just bought them.”
Not only did she put the cart before the horse, she did not seem to mind the fact that the clothes seemed quite expensive. She pulled out a white box and started nibbling on a chocolate truffle that costed over 400 yen a piece. She treated it no differently from the ones cheaply bought from a convenient store. To her, money was probably something like water. At the same time, why was my salary so bad? That might just be harassment.
“Now, what could we make of your story? Let's try examining it. I went outside too, you know? Though it was for a short time, enough to finish eating only five bars of chocolate.”
Mayuzumi going outside by herself was quite rare. Thinking about it, I had heard that her parent’s house had some influence over the insurance company Yukiko was working for. Forming her lips into a smile, she continued from where we had left off.
“It seems that Yamashita Yukiko who committed suicide had multiple problems at the workplace. On top of wrecking the mood of an important patron, she had been making multiple mistakes one after another, maybe because she was the type to pull too hard. A gaping hole in profit opened by her mistakes was so huge that, even though she was in a situation where she had no choice but to resign, it wouldn’t end at that... Her co-workers all told me the same thing, you know? That ‘it’s a state where one would want to die.’”
“Was that the reason why the police determined it as a suicide at the time of the incident?”
“But that was not the only thing. Regularly, she also let out her desire to commit suicide. At first, it seemed to be only something non-serious like saying ‘Maybe I should die today~’ or something along the line, though. However, the week before her suicide, she broke up with the boyfriend with whom she promised to marry. It seemed like she also finished all personal matters, and an unsent mail, which could be taken as a suicide note, was left in her cell phone. It isn’t like there was no basis for it to be determined as a suicide. Or rather, it was the circumstances that could only be concluded as 100% suicide. She wanted to die, and she died. That was it. Happily ever after, right?”
Mayuzumi said as if narrating the end of a tale. Her thin fingers grabbed a chocolate truffle.
“The co-workers seemed relieved when she died, you know? Since I was peeking at their true thoughts——Well, thought in actuality, she disappeared from the hospital room right before she would die, everyone thinks that she was already dead since long ago.”
The chocolate truffle was crushed with a splash. Her wet lips etched into a smile.
“One would want to die. Didn’t you want to die? If you died, it couldn’t be helped. If I were you, I wouldn’t want to live anymore...Now then. Back when Yukiko was alive and well, the chain of phrases like those came crashing down on her. What would be the hidden meaning behind them?”
That was an extremely simple question. While I felt slightly disappointed in myself who knew the answer immediately, I answered.
“Perhaps : Just die already. Is that right?”
“Exactly. Being able to come to that, you are indeed a sane person. I am relieved, I really am.”
Is that sarcasm? Though it seemed that Mayuzumi had no ill intent. Apart from that, when I thought about the environment that Yukiko was placed in, I saw a heart-wrenching illusion. An illusion that the hatred of the people around her transformed into an invisible hand that pushed on her back.
Then, from the rooftop, she plunged down.
Even then, everybody still called it a suicide.
“Understood. Setting aside the thoughts I have toward the reality, knowing that it was really a suicide takes a load off my chest. Yamashita Yukiko couldn’t handle the expectations around her and her own stress, so she attempted suicide. With that, the suspicion towards our client has been cleared, right? Since I don’t want to accept a request from a murderer.”
Picturing the image of Kazue on the back of my mind, I felt relieved. I picked up my personal-use mug. The coffee, which had been prepared before I reported my findings, had cooled off. And at the moment I took it to my mouth, Mayuzumi flatly said these words.
“No, Yamashita Yukiko was murdered. There is no mistaking it.”
The bitterness of the coffee increased. When I turned my gaze to her, Mayuzumi was laughing like a cat. She picked a piece of chocolate, and hurled it into my coffee. The sweet smell sunk down alongside the light sound of splashing. Stroking the droplet that flew to the tip of my nose with her white fingertip, she put it against her lips and licked it.
“Let us move out tomorrow morning. Caffeine is essential for keeping your brain awake, though. For me, instead of coffee, chocolate is more preferable. It is unhealthy without the intake of the sugar content. And also, Odagiri-kun...”
Reciting such lengthy excess information, she lastly added,
“Accepting the request of a murderer, what is the problem with that?”
***
The lukewarm wind rubbed against my cheeks. There was not a single person on the streets in the early morning. Refreshing sky and a crimson paper umbrella, no matter how incompatible, there should be a limit to it. Why did I have to go out with Mayuzumi on this kind of morning? Especially, to the crime scene where internal organs had fallen down.
I and Mayuzumi were visiting the downtown area we came to the other day. The no-entry tape had already been removed. Fortunately, though the place the womb fell down had now become one of the famous ghost spots, there was no one around. The weekly magazines were covering this incident in a funny way. My irritation towards this merrymaking got stronger. I wanted to dump freshly harvested lungs onto the sightseers’ head. No matter what kind of person, if an internal organ fell on their head, they would surely repent.
When I turned around, Mayuzumi was squinting in front of the same vending machine from the afternoon of that day. She inserted her hand into the gap between the vending machine and the road, searching for something. The expensive-looking dress got dirty, but she didn’t bat an eye. Just what…was she so immersed in? I unconsciously wanted to smoke despite not feeling that much stress. This was a bad sign. I had a bad premonition. I didn’t know what would happen from now on, but when will I be able to return to my beloved cheap apartment?
“Found it.”
Mayuzumi stood up, a hundred yen coin was held in her hand.
“Oh, thank god. Well, I have thought that it would be here. But as expected, it’s delightful when things go as expected. Even if the theory said so, this kind of thing is unexpectedly hard to lose.”
Behold, she thrust it out as if saying so. With one look, it was a normal hundred yen coin. However, I suddenly noticed the dried blood stuck on one portion of the coin.
“Mayu-san, please hold it so it’s easier to see.”
“Observing eyes are something that must be trained, you know? It’ll get dull if you don’t use it.”
She flicked it with her finger, and the coin that flew in the wrong direction returned to its original place under the vending machine. When I looked at her to ask if she didn’t need it anymore, she began mumbling.
“I messed up.”
“Yes?”
“That's bad, Odagiri-kun. This is my mistake. I earnestly apologize, so could you pick that up for me?”
Which part of that is earnest?
If she could do that, it would be no trouble at all. As a result, I began getting down on the ground and somehow managed to take it out while almost dislocating my shoulder joint. Mayuzumi nodded after I passed it onto her hand.
“Oh, thank you. Your labour is really precious to me, you know? This vending machine, it seems like the police still haven’t searched it.”
Mayuzumi pressed the coin into the vending machine’s insertion slot. I went through the trouble of taking it out, just what are you doing? Just when I was going to say that, the coin made some sounds and returned to the coin return slot.
“And it comes back out, right.”
“Yes?”
“It comes back out, this useless hundred yen coin.”
There was probably some kind of defects from the manufacturing process. Sometimes, there were coins that came back out without being recognized by the machine. That was probably one of them.
But, what of it?
“So, she could not buy canned juice. Not even one of those juices lined up in rows. If it was me, I would choose cocoa, though. Anyway, what was she trying to buy~?”
With a ‘hm,’ Mayuzumi began thinking. Reflecting the lights from the vending machine, her eyes glowed like those of a cat.
“People are bound by simple reasons, don’t you agree. And thus, killed for simple reasons.”
“Yes?”
Like a parrot, I replied back to Mayuzumi who was agreeing with herself. Then, Mayuzumi chuckled. Though, one I saw that beastly atrocious smile, I regretted replying at all. But it was too late.
“As I said, that is, the reason why she is here.”
Mayuzumi brandished the folded paper umbrella. And alongside the sharp ‘Pah’ sound, the crimson-colored flower bloomed. As if the stage had switched, the spectacle in front of my eyes changed. A woman with long, black hair appeared in front of the vending machine. I had seen that face before, but different from the pictures, the outline of her whole body was weakly swaying. She bent down, took the hundred yen coin from the coin return slot into her hand, and inserted it into the vending machine. However, the hundred yen coin came back out. She bent down her body, and did the same thing all over again...all over again.
“What, is this thing?”
“Calling her ‘this thing’ is rude. This is Miss Yamashita Yukiko. She’s a type of land-bound spirit. She was there the first time we came here. But it looks like you didn’t notice. Now, Odagiri-kun. Do you understand? The reason why she is here is really simple and easy to understand.”
I finally understood the meaning of the words Mayuzumi was saying.
Because she couldn’t buy a can of juice, she could not leave from the front of the vending machine.
It was logical. It was because, although she stood in front of the vending machine to buy a can of juice, she could not reach her objective. That was why she could not leave.
However, that is just too foolish.
“Please wait a second. With that kind of reason....no, before that, if the real Yamashita Yukiko is here, then what are those organs? She is here. If that’s the case, then whose organs are those?”
“Those too are Yamashita Yukiko’s”
Mayuzumi answered flatly and continued pointing at Yukiko in front of our eyes with her chin.
“Those are her inside, and This is her soul.”
Yukiko bent down to the coin return slot once again. At that moment, Mayuzumi suddenly folded her paper umbrella and swung it down. Its trajectory struck the back of Yukiko’s head. However, the paper umbrella passed through her body and hit the vending machine instead.
“In the past, she was hit like this and dropped a hundred yen coin. During that time, she fell into a temporary state of death, and her soul left her body. And just like that, her body was brought up to the rooftop of the building and thrown down. As a result, her flesh body received near-dead wounds, and her soul was abandoned here.”
The point of the crimson paper umbrella pointed to the sky once again. I lifted my face, following it up. Just for a moment, I felt like I saw back hair. Someone was peeking down. But the image blurred immediately and could not be seen.
Could it possibly be her body we were requested to search for?
“Yes, it’s as you say. Her body is lost in between this world and somewhere else. To get back to where its soul is, the soulless body has disappeared from the hospital. But it didn’t go well. As a result, her body has been returning ‘little by little’.”
The body that had disappeared from the hospital was, little by little, returning.
In order to return to the place of its soul, it was, little by little, falling down.
“Is there really something like that?”
“If she was a normal human, she wouldn’t be able to do something like this. The body, separated from the soul, would have stopped working, and the soul would have been abandoned here forever. Someone has been lending it their power. That person intended to have her body moved according to its craving.”
That moment, a distinct chill ran down my spine. Using one’s desire as a basis and causing an impossible phenomenon. I had an idea of who that was. But before I could ask, Mayuzumi continued.
“However, in actuality, because she forcibly twisted the ‘impossible,’ the body couldn’t effectively return. That’s why, it has been returning piece by piece. That’s why it has become this fuss even though it should have ended with that one suicide. Now, Odagiri-kun. Just what did the body, back when it was still together with its soul, intend to do?”
Take a guess, or so I was innocently prompted. However, there was no way I would know. After I raised both my hands to convey my surrender, Mayuzumi smirked.
“Yamashita Yukiko intended to commit suicide.”
“A, anh?”
Just then it’s murder, and now we’re back to suicide.
She wanted to kill herself, that’s the reason?
“In the first place, that is probably the motive behind the reason why our client wants to kill her one more time. She had probably realised that she was being shunned by her sister. She was sensitive, like a human parasite sucking off someone, fearing the moment that the host would run away. And during all that, her sister made mistakes at her workplace. Of course, the sister’s notoriety reached her ears. Then, she understood it. Understood that she could kill her and make it look like a suicide. That it was the only perfect chance.”
The image of Kazue floated up the back of my mind. She was hiding something on the other side of that oozing innocence. Baring her teeth, mocking others, that ferociousness.
“Our client, who had followed Yamashita Yukiko, struck her head the moment she leaned down to take the hundred yen coin out from the vending machine. Throwing her down from the rooftop of the abandoned building, she faked her suicide. It went better than her expectations. You could even say that it went too well.”
Yes, actually speaking, it shouldn’t have gone this well.
If the conditions hadn’t been in order, it wouldn’t have been deemed as a suicide.
“Settling her personal matters. Breaking up with her lover. Unsent suicide note. And lastly—this is a decisive one—why did Yamashita Yukiko bother to walk to such an ‘unpopular abandoned building’ here?”
Why did she even walk to this kind of place even though had no business here?
“It’s because she intended to commit a suicide at an abandoned building by herself.”
Clink, the coin fell and made that sound. Yukiko, with her empty eyes, leaned in once again.
“That, the younger sister just hastened it. However, she couldn’t die completely. Because death couldn’t be confirmed, this distorted phenomenon happened. The body of Yamashita Yukiko temporarily has disappeared from the hospital, intending to return here. But the soul, on the other hand, has not realised yet that it has separated, the flesh body can’t effectively return to the soul. In other words, it’s a failure.”
Mayuzumi shook her head as if lamenting, then said strangely.
“That aside...this is probably ‘his’ doing. Since he is a creature that when he thinks a person’s desire is interesting, he will fulfil it...Well, checking for his trace is already impossible, though. It’s the same with that time of yours. Go on, can you remember?”
Being asked, I swallowed my breath. My stomach suddenly started aching, I held the urge to vomit and crouched down. My heart began ringing an alarm bell. The sound of rain resuscitated in my ears. Even if I punched my gut and told it to calm down, the auditory hallucination wouldn’t disappear. In my shivering field of vision, Mayuzumi spoke.
“No, it’s nothing. Because there is no way you would forget about it.”
To this girl, I don’t want to show my weakness to her.
“I want to ask some questions, though?”
“Go on, go on. I won’t mind how many questions you ask, since questions are important. No matter how insignificant they seem, I would not call them meaningless.”
“Just why didn’t she completely die? Even if she was killed unexpectedly, I could not, by all mean, think that a human who was thinking of suicide would have this much persistence.”
Both being thrown down by another person and jumping down by herself would result in her life coming to an end all the same. However, Mayuzumi put a smile on her face as if to deny that.
“Then, let me ask, Odagiri-kun. Do you, yourself, think you would want to die with your throat still left dry?”
I would want to die with chocolate in my mouth, though.
Or so she asked. I couldn’t help but to contemplate. What would I do if it were me? It was not pleasant, but I would like to die in my peaceful, cheap apartment after I had my cigarette to my heart’s content. Nothing like chocolate. More than that, with that crimson paper umbrella reflected even on the edge of my vision, I would not die even if I did.
Although, don’t tell me...
The streets in summer. In the afternoon with the highest temperature record. Pressed by her parched throat, she stood in front of the vending machine. Firstly inserting the twelve yen in, and then the hundred yen, but the coin came back out. At that moment when she got irritated by the fact that she could not purchase drinking water, her consciousness faded out.
“Yes. It’s because she hasn’t had her last water yet.”
With just...that reason...
Going around, the paper umbrella spun. Mayuzumi took a chocolate bar from her pochette, and tore out the wrapping paper with her teeth. She spoke as she held the sweet candy in her mouth.
“Though she herself intended to die, it was cruelly taken from her. Furthermore, with such bad timing. With all that, no way she would die.”
With that easily said, there was no way she would just die like this.
“Why did the little sister-san make a request for us to look for her sister. And why she thought that her sister was trying to commit suicide once again when she saw her becoming organs falling down, too. With this, you’ll understand. When she knew that her sister’s body had disappeared and was coming back in pieces, she probably thought that her sister was trying to escape from her hands. She wanted to kill her sister before the main part of her body would fall down, completing the suicide.”
Her sister would redo her fail suicide. That, she was afraid of.
“You said she hardly told you anything regarding her sister’s suicide, right? She hates telling people that her sister committed suicide. Since that was like saying her sister died on her own. The truth is different. I killed her myself. My sister belongs to me. Or so she knows, but she can’t bear the fact that others don’t see it that way. Also, if things keep on like this, her sister will really escape from her grasp. For her, she has the absolute necessity to kill her sister.”
I want to kill my sister.
If you ask why, that’s because I love her.
Thinking about it, it was strange. The fact that those two lines were connected together by an ‘=’ sign itself. Normally, it was impossible. It couldn’t be.
“It’s not that she will kill her again. But it’s : she will kill her, for sure this time.”
That’s why she has to kill her before that happens.
“That, for her, is the greatest betrayal. The worst betrayal.”
Extremely...insane thought.
I sighed deeply. I felt hard to breathe like my neck was being strangled. It was a childish way of thinking. Getting so attached to others to the point of mistaking them as something yours.
But killing them would not put them in your hand.
That was not different from smashing and breaking a doll on the floor.
Why couldn’t she understand that?
“Her not understanding that is fortunate, you know, Odagiri-kun. Just like indulging in chocolate, the drugs in the brain allow you to see the dream.”
Maybe that was, for Kazue, fortunate. But for her, it was unmistakably unfortunate. I gazed at Yukiko who was dimly picking up the hundred yen coin. I asked, half-depressed.
“......What are we going to do about her?”
Are you going to tell her? Or so I implied wordlessly as I asked. Mayuzumi gave an unexpectedly clear answer.
“It’s a matter of course. We do this.”
She stepped out without hesitation and stood next to Yukoko. But Yukiko did not seem to see the figure of Mayuzumi. The muddied eyes were looking right through her intense clothing. Suddenly, Yukiko thrust her hand out. Mayuzumi then took something from that dimly lit hand.
It was the blood-smeared hundred yen coin.
A beat late, Yukiko’s face moved. Those eyes slowly focused on Mayuzumi. The hollow mouth opened.
“—Ah”
——Click
Mayuzumi flicked the hundred yen coin away with the tip of her fingers. The coin spun and disappeared into the darkness. As if performing magic, she flicked her fingers once again and made a new hundred yen coin appear. Then she thrust it out towards Yukiko.
“Here, you can use this.”
No way...that’s reckless...
After Mayuzumi said that, Yukiko listlessly tilted her head. At the end of the fallen silence, she took the brand new coin and inserted it into the vending machine. The indicated number on the surface changed from 12 to 112. The crimson lamp buttons lit up at once. In a state of ‘whatever’s fine,’ she chose a diet coke. I almost asked if she was really okay with that, but I stopped. Whatever she chose, it would probably still not be worth the time she spent until now. Thud, the can fell down to the output slot, making the sound. She leaned forward and picked it up. Alongside the light sound of the can opening, soda gave rise to bubbles and burst forth.
Then, Yukiko tilted the can.
The carbonated drink poured into the dry throat.
At that moment, she opened her eyes——and faded into thin air.
“—Eh?”
Not startled by the sudden disappearance, Mayuzumi lifted her face up. She was facing the building. Drawn by that, I also looked upwards. I had...seen it. Tearing through the blue sky, something was falling straight to the ground. The arms were spread out as if demanding a hug. The hems of white one piece receiving the wind pressure and fluttering was like a bird. Right before she crashes onto the ground, for a single moment, she raises her face.
I felt like our eyes met.
The sound of bone and flesh crumbling into pieces echoed. Something with color similar to thick oil spread out, reaching around her legs.
In front of my eyes, The suicide corpse of Yamashita Yukiko was lying there.
***
It was many days after that that I was called out. I thought she would probably contact us sooner, but maybe she was also in a state of confusion. Though I didn’t want to go, Mayuzumi gave me a strict order to go if she called for it. There was no other way, so I braced myself and decided to go. I had thought that I would be called to the front of the house like the other day, but the meeting place was designated as that abandoned building. Without ever changing, the hot days continued. From the bottom of the valley of buildings, the blue sky cut off faraway could be seen.
Kazue was already waiting there. She was looking up to the building her sister jumped off in a daze.
Her white one piece was fluttering on the street that was sinking into the shadow of the buildings. Seeing that, I remembered the scene from the other day. However, Kazue’s form was quite unlike the deceased. From that whole body, anger was flowing out without any intention to hide it.
“What does...this mean?”
“As in...?”
“Please don’t act like you’re clueless. You guys did it, right!? You guys did something to my sister, right!?”
Her red tongue poke out from Kazue’s mouth, shouting in anger. The gaze that was filled with thick killing intent pierced my skin. In the back of my mind, a newspaper page floated up. A suicide victim—a failed suicide patient, to be precise—was found as a corpse. It was a matter of course that the places with her relatives would be contacted. It was also possible that the funeral service had already been completed. I, though overwhelmed by her anger, took out an envelope from my chest pocket. It was the fees we had received in advance payment.
“We will return this. We could not accomplish your request. We are sincerely sorry.”
“Sincerely sorry? Sincerely, you said!? Please don’t joke around, you can’t just say that. If this...If I had known that this would be the result, I wouldn’t have relied on your agency.”
Kazue piled up her anger and shouted. I quietly hung my head.
“Truly, we sincerely apologise. Not concerning what you did to your sister, we give our condolences. However, I have a message from my supervisor.”
Sweat poured down my nape. Thinking of the message, I wondered if I really had to tell her this as I felt dizzy. Though I felt the childish fear hitting my chest, I had no means to escape. Even if I could run away, things would only get worse.
If you eat the poison, you'll end up with the dish.
“ ‘You loved your sister. You desired your sister. Your sister was precious to you. I understand your feelings. However...’ ”
That sound of crushed chocolate echoed in the back of my mind.
The melting chocolate looked similar to internal organs freshly thrown out from the gut.
“ ‘If a person wants to fly, we should let them fly.’ ”
Kazue, without saying anything, widened her eyes. I bowed to her doll-like still body, and stepped out. At that moment, goosebumps ran down my spine, I instinctively turned back. The pure white figure leaped into my arms. An impact ran through my stomach, intense pain and heat pierced through. Drops of blood fell down onto the burning street and started evaporating. When I fearfully lowered my gaze, I saw a bulky knife sinking into my stomach. Kazue was letting out a high-pitched laughter. The moment she pressed onto the knife, the blade twisted into my flesh, making a disturbing sound.
Painful, really painful.
However, more importantly, I could not believe the situation where a knife was sticking into my stomach. I had thought I understood her ferociousness, but for it to be this much was unexpected. And to think that she would use a knife of all things. She could have struck my head the same way when she killed her sister. She could have womanly used a stun gun. But, choosing to stab my stomach of all things.
Just why...do you gouge it out?
Things I don’t want to be aware of wriggled inside my stomach. Sharp pain drew a line, and dull physical pain spread out. Kazue’s smile distorted, and turned into a dreadful expression.
Right then and there, my consciousness faded.
***
Ping.
Along with the light sound, I opened my eyes. Pure white ceiling spread out in my field of view. In the air filled with the smell of medicine, there was the fragrance of chocolate mixed inside.
It seemed that, even if I escaped to the edge of hell, I still wouldn’t be able to outrun this smell.
“Yamashita Kazue is dead.”
I heard that voice, turned my head, and saw Mayuzumi sitting there. She was clad in black morning dress, munching on chocolate. Contrary to her appearance, her tone of voice was indifferent, as if she was talking about yesterday’s weather.
“Dead...what do you mean by that?”
“It means exactly as you heard. She died. Right after you came back to the office on your own, called an ambulance and fainted. Yamashita Kazue who had lost both her arms, though didn’t die from blood loss, she was pushed off from the hospital’s rooftop in her unconscious state by someone, and died. The way her sister did. Want to see the newspaper?”
I looked at the newspaper that was thrust out alongside those words. On it was the picture of the face of the man who intruded into the hospital and murdered the patient. The face far younger than I saw last time stared back at me.
Sugita Tomoyuki.
“If you curse someone, dig two graves. Killing someone while sleeping is the reason things turned out this way. How completely merciless.”
Mayuzumi lightly said as she munched on the chocolate. I crushed the newspaper page in my hand, and asked.
“...Did you instigate this?”
“Hm?”
The figure of Sugita I saw that day formed in the back of my mind. Even if he was persistently doing stalking activity, he had no courage to cross the line. If he had crossed that line, it meant...
Just who...had pushed him to do it?
“Did you...inform him about her situation?”
Crack.
Along with that light sound, the chocolate broke. Biting that chilled chocolate, Mayuzumi then said.
“If asked, I’ll answer. That is, no matter how nonsensical that question was.”
Chilled chocolate was still chocolate. The fact that I saw it as blood-soaked placenta, was as if a lie. But the reality that I felt like puking didn’t change.
“I did not instigate anything. Killing or not killing, everything is up the reason of the person in question.”
Whether to jump down from the rooftop too, it’s the same.
I slowly rose up. The pain was already gone. When I lifted my clothes up, I could see a strangely small wound considering I was stabbed with a knife.
“You can get up already? That’s good.”
“...Mayu-san, can I ask you another question?”
“Of course, of course. There are things so annoying that they have to be repeated over and over again, though. But I won't get angry by the questions or think of them as bothersome.”
I bit my lips once. I hesitated whether I should really ask. But in the end, I let it out.
“You said that it was fine to accept a request from a murderer. And yet, why did you have it turn out this way? It might be unjust, but it should have been fine if we do as things as requested. And yet...”
“Don’t you understand~? The request itself didn’t matter, you know?”
Mayuzumi answered flatly. Without a pang of conscience, she continued.
“If it’s interesting, I’ll accept even a request from a murderer. But, this time is special. I don’t care about her request. My interest was drawn, and I gave Yamashita Yukiko the hundred yen coin.”
That itself wasn't a good intent to rescue Yamashita Yukiko at all.
It also wasn’t kindness toward that pitiful woman.
It was just childishly innocent curiosity.
“It was because I wanted to see the jumping suicide in front of my own eyes.”
The scene repeated itself. The suicide corpse came down in front of my eyes and the sound of a human body being mercilessly crushed echoed. In the past, I had also heard that sound. My field of view changed to the rooftop under the blue sky. Someone was standing there. With one piece fluttering, that person began running as if being ordered to. Stopping mid-air for one moment before being dragged down by gravity, and crashing into the surface of earth.
I heard the sound...of someone falling.
At that moment, I drove away that image. Remembering it wouldn’t do. It wouldn’t do to recall it. My stomach ached and cold sweat gushed forth. I would leave the unpleasant memories at that.
If I didn’t do that, my stomach might just open again.
“Mayu-san, then just one more thing.”
“Hm?”
Enduring the dull pain in my stomach, I asked. Mayuzumi smiled calmly and urged me to continue.
The answer was obvious. I didn’t have to ask, but did anyway.
“Were you expecting me to be attacked?”
“Yes, I was. I mean, I had been looking forward to see that one for a while too. Still healthy or not, wouldn’t you want to know?”
The moment I heard that answer, my vision boiled red. I wanted to beat the girl in front of me down. But, even if I did something like that, it wouldn’t have any meaning. Because Mayuzumi—even if you broke her cheekbone—would surely still be munching on chocolate as if nothing happened. I strongly clenched both my hands.
“Oh, and one last thing.”
Whether or not she noticed my internal conflict, she added.
“As for you, ‘the thing contained inside your bell’ is safe, you know?”
This time, I reached my limit. I drove a fist into Mayuzumi’s face. But, using the almost non-existent reasoning I had left, I switched over and hit the wall instead. Alongside the powerful sound, my finger bones creaked. I felt a sharp pain, maybe the fingers broke, but at least it helped calm down my almost boiling head. Mayuzumi was still eating chocolate with a composed face. I forcefully squeeze out my voice through my clenched teeth.
“Mayu-san.”
“What is it?”
“Please die once.”
I’ll do just that when the time comes.
Or so she answered, before thrusting her chocolate out to me and asked, Want to eat?
“I don’t need it.”
I immediately replied and averted my gaze. The sky outside the window was still blue and clear as always. That was the same as on that day, the day that I looked up from the valley of buildings.
I intensely felt like smoking.
***
...Eh?
The next moment I realised, a new hundred yen coin was in my hand.
This was not mine. Just who...gave this to me?
On the tip of my fingers was a coin without a single scratch on it. Though I didn’t know who gave it to me, would it be fine if I used it? The dryness of my throat was getting worse, I couldn’t bear it anymore. I inserted the coin into the vending machine. The coin fell inside, making a light sound and the lamps indicating the products still in stock lit up at once.
It was the appropriate response.
Even so, it was somehow strangely emotional.
After feeling troubled, I chose diet coke. Though I didn’t have to care about calories anymore, I like that it had less sweetness compared to normal cola. When I brought it to my lips, the coolness and the mild sweetness pierced my tongue. Tilting it up in one go, the pleasant stimulus went down my throat. During that, the sky entered my vision.
With the whole blue sky as a backdrop, someone was standing there.
That figure that had regularly looked up here multiple times now, that figure that had been nothing more than a vague shadow, it suddenly got clearer. That someone was wearing white one piece similar to my little sister. The hem that was playing with the wind looked as if it was a cloud. White was my favourite colour. I had felt unpleasant that my little sister kept imitating it. By seeing it like this, as expected, it suited me better.
——Ah, that someone...was me.
The moment I realised that, Heaven and Earth switched places. Strong wind rubbed against my cheeks. I had been looking down at the vending machine. No one was standing there anymore. But a pool of cola that had been dropped by someone was spreading there. The place that I looked up from the bottom of the building was really, really vast. The place I longed for was blue, pure and had no limits. Eternal and infinite, I stared at the blue sky I had longed for, and took a step forth.
I have been waiting for this, the sensation of falling.
With this, for the first time since I was born, I died.
[END]