Case 00: A Person Who Is Nothing (4)

As the PHS in M’s hand began vibrating with a brrrrr, she looked my way with her large eyes.

With my vacant consciousness, I confirmed that I was in M’s hand right now. It seemed I had arrived at M’s PHS and lost consciousness. I mobilized my vague consciousness which was on the verge of disappearing and moved my body, dragging myself to take refuge inside the stuffed frog.

“…An e-mail? From Mr. Frog?”

Saying that, M took turns looking at her PHS and me – that is, the stuffed frog.

--Ah, it reached her…

Just knowing that was enough of a relief to make my body fall apart. I was even moved to tears. But, it wasn’t the time to break down and cry. (In short, that’s how it is. Run away from here! A who is possessed by ‘Yoishi’ will be here soon. Run away right now!)

I shouted out loud, but as M continued to speak, my vision went dark.

“…This email. It’s mostly gibberish.”

M smiled, as she showed me the screen of the PHS.

…Ah. Therein was a mail filled with mostly unintelligible characters like 口 or ▲, and the end was barely legible, “◆itely protect you. Frog”.

“…itely? Aah, definitely? you’ll definitely protect me? ...Thank you.”

M had a kind smile on her face that was enough to make me want to cry – but, I was merely in a state of panic.

There really was no use in hastily hacking the internet system. With this, nothing had reached her. Even though I risked my life rushing around in the electronic world, no vital information reached M at all.

(That’s not it, that’s not it, M. I wasn’t trying to cheer you up…no, I did want to cheer you up, but that wasn’t it… I just, I just wanted you to live.)

I felt so disappointed, so pitiful, and the tears continued to drop down.

(Anyway… You need to run away from here right now! M!)

I shouted with all the strength I could muster, when it happened.

Knock, knock – the sound of the window being knocked.

I feebly turned around, to see A’s face outside the car. She had an ecstatic smile on her face, as if fitting the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle after many years of hard work, but in M’s eyes they must have been merely reflected as the kind smile of her older sister.

“…Onee-chan!”

M raised her voice in happiness, and ended up unlocking the door.

“See, I told you I would come back, didn’t I?”

“But… suddenly saying you would go grab something you forgot is…”

“That’s true. I’m sorry.”

Smiling, A sat down in the back seat. Thereupon, she must have noticed the blood smeared on her elder sister’s clothes; M placed her hand over her mouth in shock.

“Onee-chan, what happened…?”

“Yeah…this is that detective’s blood.”

“Detective…? T, that old man? Why? Did the old man hurt you?”

“Listen carefully, M.”

A said that, and placed her hand on M’s cheeks. She traced her fingers on her soft cheeks as if enjoying it.

“That man was the culprit.”

“…Eh?”

“That detective – no, I don’t know if he was really a detective or not. But, that man killed papa and mama – and he blamed Leo for it, and he was going to kill us, too.”

“…But…then, what about that person? What about the priest?”

“Ah… he ran away. I don’t know why he did though.”

Saying that, A fumbled around her pockets. I was on guard as she seemed to be looking for something, but then A took her hand out of her pocket, and looked around the car here and there.

“Didn’t that man smoke? He looked like he did though.”

Saying that, she leaned forward to the front seat. She opened the dashboard around the side lever, under the steering wheel, and on the passenger seat, and found a crumpled box of cigarettes inside; she raised her voice happily, “Found it.”

“…O, onee-chan.”

She put a cigarette in her mouth, lit it with the hundred yen lighter she took out together with the box and exhaled a tobacco puff; Feeling good, she then sat back down in the rear seat.

“…*cough*…Onee-chan, you smoke cigarettes?”

“I do--. They’re so good, it’s so relaxing, but above all, they make you happier when you’re already happy. You can really savor and digest your happiness.”

The interior of the car was instantly filled with white smoke, as if it was transforming into a perverse opium den.

“By the way.”

A crossed her legs, and with the finger she held the cigarette in, pointed towards me— the stuffed frog in M’s hand.

“Are you still good friends? I mean you're always muttering to that stuffed toy when you're alone, aren't you? Do you still talk to it?”

“…Y, yeah…*cough*…just now, he sent me an email.”

“An email? From the frog?”

Saying that, she snatched the PHS from M’s hands. Fiddled on it with her fingers, and displayed the email I had sent. And then, with a sigh of relief, she let out a chuckle.

“What, it’s mostly gibberish.”

“…Y, yeah. But, it’s the first email Mr. Frog sent me.”

“Heh. He sure worked hard for it.”

A’s cold words were definitely aimed at me.

“M, you really trust that frog, don’t you?”

“…*Cough* I do.”

“You trusted papa, and mama as well.”

“……….”

“Leo too – and you trusted that man who said he was a detective, didn’t you? Then, what about me?”

Without knowing what her elder sister was trying to say, M was simply bewildered as A pointed to herself.

“Of course – of course I do, I love you so much.”

“Ahaha. That’s your foundation, isn’t it? The precious foundation on which the heart depends. But you know what?”

“It’s all, completely, wrong.”

“Papa and mama you see, didn’t actually want to give birth to you. Didn't you ever think it was strange that you and I are nine years apart in age? Did you never think it was strange that we don't look alike at all?”

--Hey…hold on a moment…

“After all, it’s because—”

“You were a child born from rape.”

I didn’t know… if the meaning of that got through to M, who was still only in her first year of elementary school. However, she must have understood that she was being told something truly repulsive. The blood had now drained from M's complexion.

“It seems to have happened on an overseas business trip to America. When papa was away from home, mama was assaulted by men. By white brats who seemed to have a thing for Asians. That’s when mama got pregnant. In short, half of the blood inside you is white. That's why you look so pale, like your veins are visible.”

With those words—

I recalled the voice of who-knows-what that echoed in my head last night.

『…hat’s why, I was against it…you’re saying that now…?』

『…hat’s why, you should have aborted it…I didn't want to get pregnant either…』

Were those… Were those the deepest screams of the mother and father’s hearts who had lost their bodies…?

“It seems they were quite troubled about whether or not to give birth to you.”

A dropped the elongated cigarette ash in place, and sneered.

“Papa was against it. Mama was troubled as well. Mama’s family were Protestant Christians you see. They were against abortion. The days and months quickly went by while they were troubled, and it became too late to get an abortion. Eventually, papa and mama were determined to raise the child as their own, but even then, it wasn't a positive birth. Somewhere along the way, papa and mama hoped for the possibility of a miscarriage. Because they didn't know if they could love you after you were born. Because you were the product of an incident they wanted to forget, one that would haunt them for the rest of their lives. However -- you were born safe and sound. You let out an innocent cry, not knowing anything. But as you grew up, that blood stood out. Your face looked awfully less and less like an Asian after all.”

“………”

“I wonder how complicated papa and mama must have felt whenever they praised you telling you what a cute child you were. It wasn't just them, I was in elementary school at the time, but I somehow knew what had happened. Papa continued to blame himself for why he wasn't home at that time, and mama continued to curse herself for opening the door back then. Around the time I entered middle school, I understood all of it. Ohh, I realized that this child was my sister, but not my proper sister. That's why, you're my younger sister, but not my real younger sister. You're not even my family.”

…Stop it… just, stop already…

“Right – you know what you are? You are merely a crystallization of malice, merely living together in a conflict between worldliness, hypocrisy and egotism.”

In that moment—

I heard the noise of something breaking.

Before I realized, I stood in the way to protect M with enough force to blow away the exterior of the stuffed frog. I stood directly in front of A, and at the same time, I put everything in my fist as I punched her square in the face. I thought it was obvious that my fist wouldn’t touch anything physically, and not reach A, no, ‘Yoishi’s’ face – but…

Did it appear as if because my fist sunk into the target’s face, A’s face looked strangely distorted.

“…Hssp.”

A groaned.

“Did you get mad? Ah? Did I make you mad?”

Yes, it was the moment A sneered at me.

“--You’re not onee-chan.”

In the world shrouded in white smoke, a voice like a ringing bell echoed.

“Who are you? No, I already know. You are – the thing that was inside Kii-chan. And, the one who destroyed papa, mama, Leo—and the old detective.”

M was quiet as she firmly declared to the thing that had taken the form of her older sister.

“And, right now – you’re using a mixture of truth and lies to try and break me.”

(--That’s right. That’s right, M! Don’t believe any of it, it’s all bullshit!)

I affirmed her thoughts as I jumped up and down. With dazzling thoughts, I looked at the girl I had always wanted to protect. Right now, M’s pale cheeks were slightly flushed, her well-shaped lips were pursed together, and her large eyes were moist with tears, but even so, she was mustering all her courage in order to confront the thing that loomed before her, the thing that had taken the form of her sister.

(Hang in there, M!)

Call me a sycophant if you want. Call me an idiot if you want. Even so, right now, in the depth of M’s eyes, I felt I could see the true strength of a person who had been beaten up in every which way.

However—

A suddenly diverted her gaze. And I realized that it was concentrated in M's hands.

What lay there was the PHS – and the stuffed frog. My second self, no longer a stranger, was being gripped by M’s small pale hand to the point where the shape had changed. And, I saw her fingers… slightly trembling.

“…Hmph.”

She must have realized it at the same time, A let out a strange sigh from the corner of her lips.

“Mr. Frog, Mr. Frog, is it? The one who gives you courage is that stuffed frog, is it?”

‘That’s just fine’, said A as she took a deep seat back, then took one last puff of the cigarette that was at its end, and smothered it on the back of the seat in front of her.

“I had a feeling somehow. I knew you had a propensity for noticing the unseen. You must have felt something inside that stuff frog, didn't you? You believe it's always protecting you, right? Do you know what is inside that thing?”

--Wa…wait a minute…

“Didn't you find it strange? Who was it that gave you that stuffed frog?”

--Agh… as expected, I knew that was what it was all about.

And at long last, I confirmed what ‘Yoishi’ truly wanted.

It was, M. M’s body. ‘Yoishi’ intended to become human. An innocent girl, still young, beautiful, with the ability to recognize the unseen, and if ‘Yoishi’s’ words were to be believed – an unwanted child, born from pure malice. It would crush the heart that dwelled inside, and create a person who was nothing. And to incarnate itself in her body was the wish of malice that had been simmering for years.

And, right now—

Sako’s words finally melted into meaning in my head.

『It means we can’t stay here anymore.』

『It means that we are all just pawns.』

『Because us staying here itself might be its trap.』

That meant that in short…

It was stealing away, one by one, the people surrounded by M who she had sincere trust in. It stole her best friend, Kii-chan, it stole her mother, her father, Leo, the detective who believed what she said—

And, it would steal the precious words she gave to me-- 『Friend』.

Everyone was used as pawns in order to crush M’s heart. The strange ‘sense of unease’ that had been added to the incidents surrounding M would sway her sensitive heart. It was to remove the pillars of the foundation, one by one, and it would make M, who eventually emptied out, into its own flesh. That’s why Sako disappeared. He removed himself from the role before he could gain M’s trust.

The incarnation of malice.

The formation of a vessel, devoted to itself.

…But…if that were the case--- then, she was just like…

Wasn’t M just like… a present day ‘Tamamo-no-Mae’?

“Thanks--”

Right now, the something that had taken the form of her elder sister…

No—the mass of malice that was called ‘devil’, ’witch’ and ‘nine-tails’, happily declared:

“…for looking after me all this time.”

However,

“You’re lying.”

“…That’s a lie.”

M spoke in a trembling voice.

Tears had swelled up in her eyes, as she declared to the thing that had taken the form of her older sister.

“The things you said, they might have been the truth. What you said about mama, papa, the detective, and about my birth – but, but...”

Unable to bear it any longer, large teardrops spilled over and fell.

“But, Mr. Frog was… the thing Mr. Frog was always thinking about… was that he had to die in my place…that’s all he was thinking about. That’s why I trusted him.”

…Ah….

“No matter how much I tell him he's wrong, all Mr. Frog was thinking about was that he wanted to die in my place…That’s why, I…I thought I had to keep it together… there was no one who thought that for me. That’s why, it’s not you. The person inside Mr. Frog… is definitely not you.”

In an instant…

The sound of something snapping reverberated. It sounded as if something had been torn somewhere.

I looked to see A’s long fingers pressing down on her face. She was writhing in pain, pushing down on her brows with her fingers and holding her hairline, as if she was trying to stop something from breaking through her forehead and coming out.

She was making such a strange voice, like a beast – like a machine about to break, but that sound was slowly growing louder. No, it was a mixture of high and low voices.

“…O, onee-chan?”

“…Gigigigii…”

“…Onee-chan, onee-chan? Come back…!”

“Ruuuu….M… Run awayyy.”

“Onee-chan, no! Leave Onee-chan! Yoishi, get out of her!”

M yelled, as she grabbed A’s clothes with all her strength, even as A writhed in pain.

However, in the next moment—

A snapped away her small hand, suddenly opened the back seat door and ran out.

She staggered, as she started to run off somewhere with a terrifying look on her face.

“Onee-chan, wait!”

I ran as well, chasing after M who tumbled and ran out of the car.

“Don’t…come! Run…. Run away run away run away run away run away…!”

A shouted in the end as she clasped her face, and ran into the thick grove of trees.

Without faltering, M, too, jumped into the thicket of trees. I, of course, ran after her.

--Just… a little more. Was it just a little more? Could it be that, if we did something a little more…we could rip off ‘Yoishi’ from A’s body?

If so, the tragedy would stop here, it could be stopped.

However—what was it, this strange feeling?

The sun was shining in through a gap in the thick clouds, but only a thick haze lingered in the air.

As I desperately chased after M’s small back, I thought to myself once more.

Was ‘Yoishi’ really on the verge of being removed? What if it wasn’t, and this too was a part of its plan? What if this was all part of its elaborately thought-out plan?

Suppose ‘Yoishi’s’ goal is to obtain M’s body – suppose it wants to crush M’s heart and only needs the vessel of her flesh. It would now see that attempt as having failed at the very last moment. For better or for worse, M was able to escape from it after correctly recognizing that it was me inside the stuffed frog. Then – If I were ‘Yoishi’, what would I do next? The words ‘giving up’ were a thing distant and foreign to it. As long as M was alive, it would never take its eyes off her. If so, what would it do?

I cut through the trees, and the landscape opened up at once.

The lake reflecting the sunlight spread out before my eyes, and I suddenly remembered.

Lake -- water, pool.

…The last experiment ‘Yoishi’ carried out using Kii-chan at the pool late at night.

(--M, wait!)

I shouted out to her, but as expected, I couldn’t reach her.

M's small back was crying and chasing after A, who was running further ahead.

A ran towards the pier where several duck pedal boats were moored, and when she reached the edge, she looked back and shouted, “Don’t come here”. She had a strange expression on her face, as if she were looking at two different things, with her right eye and left eye being different in color.

“Don’t come here, M.”

A said it, once more.

At the sound of her voice, M stopped, out of breath. The distance between them was only a few meters.

“Onee-chan….please…stop…”

“Nhihi…. I’m I’m I’m….mm… so sorry so sorry…”

With her face convulsing as if collapsing, A grabbed her hair with her right hand, and pulled it with enough strength that the sound reached all the way to my ears. All the while her beastly bellowing continued, without an idea of where it was coming from.

However—I saw it. Her left hand slowly struggled through the air, and groped through her pocket. And when I saw her take out a small foldable pocket knife – I ran to M and placed my hand on her back.

“Onee-chan…”

“M….I’ll…hold it… I’ll hold it, so… I’ll take it with me…. To the grave and fi-fiinish it, so…”

The tears were now streaming from A's left eye, and her right eye was glaring at us as if it would pop out at any moment. It was a look that conveyed how much of a fight was taking place inside A.

“I… strung papa up... and…. chopped mama… into pieces… and Leo…I stabbed…Le-le-leo as well…and the old detective…I saw…all of it.”

“O…onee…chan.”

“I’ll definitely…get the death penalty… I have no right to live….”

“No…no!! It wasn’t you… who did those things.”

“…No one…will believe me…!”

--No one will believe me.

Ah, that was what I felt about myself for a long time. No one would believe in my existence. No one would perceive me. I was branded as a useless thing in society, but if only that was the case, then it would be better, I was being weeded out as a harmful existence.

“...I…don’t…want that. That’s why…at least… I…want…to…be useful…somehow.”

The knife in A’s left hand clicked, and the blade glittered.

“Good…bye…M.”

“Oh…”

In the next moment—A thrust the knife into the base of her neck.

I don’t know if ‘Yoishi’ was inside A or not. However, right now, her eyes were moist with gentleness. Every time she tried to say something, fresh blood overflowed from her mouth. Her lips and neck were soon stained bright red, and as she cackled and coughed, she desperately forced a smile – and spoke:

“…I’ve…always, always…been so happy… to h-have a sist…”

Saying that much—

A’s body slowly dropped to the surface of the lake behind her.

“Onee-chan!”

M started to run; I followed her as fast as I could.

(--Stop!)

I tried stopping her, but my hands slipped through, and M jumped into the lake with her clothes still on.

(--Stop, stop, don’t do it!!)

I yelled.

(--Someone help! Please, it’s a child, someone help us! A child fell into the lake. Please, get her out!)

I yelled without thinking and leapt into the lake myself. In the next moment, countless bubbles spread in my vision, and I found myself dissolving into the dark blue world.

(--M!)

In desperation, I grabbed the white blouse in front of me. However, my hands slipped through. M’s long black hair danced about in the water. I confirmed her white profile, and realized what her eyes were staring at: A was at the end of M’s hands. She was smiling, even as the blood fluttered from her throat like a red string.

(--M, let her go! You’ll drown with her….!)

In that moment, I saw A's mouth move.

(Kill me.)

Her words reached M and I at the same time.

(Kill me, please.)

…Onee-chan….

(….Stop it…M…)

I desperately tried to grab M’s body, but found that M’s feelings were rapidly cooling.

I understood that she was ready to carry with her the heavy, heavy cross that her sister had come to bear, a weight heavy enough to plant a hole in the ground with her foot.

(…St….op…)

“I’m sorry…Mr. Frog….”

At the same time as that voice echoed within me, M accepted the knife from A’s left hand with her small hand.

“….I’ve…already…”

“Forgotten what it means to be afraid….”

She muttered, took the silver-colored blade, and gently thrust it into the bottom of her sister’s neck.