Case 00: A Person Who Is Nothing (5)

I was floating in a world of white haze.

Beneath my eyes were many people.

There were countless people on the lake pier, rescuing the sisters who had fallen into the lake.

The smaller child is safe.

That kind of voice rang out.

The older child is dead.

She has a knife in her neck.

That kind of voice also rang out.

And, I finally understood at last.

The last raucous laugh that echoed in my head, and the meaning of those words.

--Now, you’re a murderer, who killed her own sister---

At the same time as those words were spoken, I heard something being crushed.

It was a terrible sound, something I never wanted to hear again. It was the sound of a heart being crushed. It was the sound of M’s heart being crushed, and the sound of my own heart being crushed. In the end, I could do nothing. I was merely nothing.

It wasn’t about the M ‘Yoishi’ was trying to create—I myself was ‘the person who was nothing.’

No matter how much I suffered. No matter how far I ran. No matter how much I gnashed my teeth. No matter how many bitter tears I spilled. What does not move cannot be moved, and what cannot be changed cannot be changed. Not even a little girl who lived a righteous life can be saved. If that were the case, what do people exist for? Why do they suffer? Is this world a hell? Were people just dwellers in an infinite hell no matter how far you go? Was the truth of this world altogether evil? Was malice itself its true nature?

…That was just fine.

If that were the case, then there was no point in going against it.

I gave up on everything; I abandoned everything.

If being righteous meant this much pain.

If it was a world that couldn’t even accept the tears of just one young girl.

Then I had no interest in that. No regrets either. I just want to surrender myself to the permeating darkness, take all the malice in my body, and just sink like this no matter how far—

(--Giving up?)

I heard a familiar boyish voice.

(You worked quite hard, but, well, I guess you’re at that kind of point.)

(However—like I said in the beginning, this is the past. No matter how much you despair, lament, grieve and moan, you are just peeking at the data of the unchangeable past.)

(What, can’t hear me anymore…? That’s fine, well then, I’ll give you back your name--)

(Yukiko Nadare.)

The moment that name was called – an intense light poured down on me.

The name that I was supposed to abandon. That nostalgic name I had thrown away so long ago.

That’s right, I was—my name was…

Yukiko Nadare – and I currently went by the name of… ‘Karasu’.

I was a woman: beautiful, voluptuous, and made my living by fortune telling—and, huh? What did it mean?

…Oh.

That’s right—that’s right, I remembered everything. I remembered it all. I woke up this morning, had a shower, changed into a black camisole and put on a fox fur stole, I was a bit late as I left the house, so I hurriedly got into a taxi, only to get even more late because of the heavy traffic. When I arrived at the building I rented for work, I said something like ‘Keep the change’, and jumped out of the back seat, when I heard someone’s voice, “Look out!”. I didn’t know if that was the voice of the taxi driver, or that of the old man passing by, but when I turned around, I saw a young man driving a large scooter at a reckless speed weaving through traffic, and it was at the point when I turned around, when I heard the sound of my spine snap. At the same time, I flew through the air, and thought carelessly to myself – Ah, the sky is so wide, and so blue. And—why was it I wonder? I realized that someone…someone very familiar to me, flew through the skies at the same time, in a different place. As I wondered who that was, my head smashed into the concrete after two and a half rotations, and something dark red spread out before my eyes.

--Ah, that’s right.

So this was how things ended for me.

Well, I didn’t think I was going to live a long life, and it was sudden while I was still young, beautiful and in good health, so I guess you could say it's the way I wanted to die. However, wasn’t this too long for having my life flash before my eyes, and moreover, wasn’t this someone else’s life?

The light closes in on me.

My consciousness fades into white.

From somewhere, I heard a nostalgic song that I’d never heard before.

The mountains stretching out.

The noisy people on the lake shore.

It was all, someone else’s concern—That’s right, this was someone’s past.

An ambulance arrived. And for some reason, a black car arrived as well. The police officers all saluted the man who had very good posture in the dark blue suit who got out of it.

“Police superintendent Mitsurugi.”

The man with the deadpan expression on his face was called that. The man, whose looks made it hard to tell if he was young or old, did not return the salute as he continued along the pier. In his stead were unfriendly looking men of good physique.

“What happened to Tatsuya?”

“We just received a call. His body was discovered at the back of that mansion.”

“The number of confirmed victims this time is four huh?”

“Yes, Katsuhiko Hanamura, his wife: Rie Hanamura, his oldest daughter: Ako Hanamura, and head patrol officer: Haruo Tatsuya.”

“How few.” Without batting an eye, the man with the expressionless face called police superintendent Mitsurugi spoke.

He then looked a short distance away from the pier, at the young girl with a blanket over her soaking wet clothes.

“Who’s that girl?”

“Miko Hanamura—she seems to be the younger daughter. Judging from the situation it is highly likely that she is the one who stabbed the eldest daughter – but, it is believed that she is possessed by ‘that thing’.”

When he heard that, the man took out a pair of black leather gloves from his pocket, put them on, and approached the girl.

The men surrounding him moved the police officers besides the young girl away, and the man crouched down in front of the young girl. He then placed his hand on her cheek, and made her face him. He then drew so close to her to the point where he might kiss her, and gazed into the depths of her eyes.

“I can’t tell.”

“For the time being, I think we should take heavy quarantine measures.”

Suddenly, a different detective brought along a man dressed in a white robe and a black hakama. It was Sako. His face was pale and bloodless, and he was unable to offer any resistance, he was like a broken doll as he was made to stand up in front of the man.

“This man was found wandering around close to the mansion.”

“—Hmph.”

The man stood up nice and tall, and faced Sako. He glared head on at the young priest, who was as pale as a dead man, and asked him.

“And you are?”

“…..”

“From the way you’re dressed I figure you’re a priest from somewhere – but, did you think you could do something about ‘that’?”

“………”

He gave a cold stare to Sako who didn't answer, and eventually declared to the police officer standing behind Sako.

“See? This guy learned it was useless as well. It's not an opponent a priest can do anything about. Just identify him and let him go.”

The officer replied with ‘Yes’, and was about to drag off Sako once more, when—

“…‘That’….is…”

The man in the black hakama silently whispered.

“There’s no such thing… as ‘that’. There’s no way it exists. You run your organizations believing in something that doesn’t exist, acting as if it exists. It’s useless. It’s a complete farce.”

“That’s right, you understand it, don’t you? There’s no such thing as ‘that’.”

The man gave a thin smile, and Sako muttered.

“…The father murdered the mother, and after dismembering her, he took his own life—the elder sister became deranged after witnessing the scene, and stabbed the detective and the dog to death, when she returned to her senses, she killed herself. Will it be fine with that?”

“…Hm.”

The man nodded once before smiling and said, ‘Let’s go with that’.

“Let’s go with that as the official explanation for the media, Mr. Priest.”

“I’m—the head priest.”

“Whatever.”

The man motioned with his chin, and Sako was dragged off like that.

“What do we do about the younger daughter?”

The man stroked his pointy jaw in response to the question from the man in the black clothes behind him. He seemed to be ruminating on something, but eventually took out a cell phone and called somewhere. After a word or two with someone, his expression changed for the first time. His handsome eyebrows furrowed, and his mouth twisted as if in defiance of something -- but eventually, he nodded. He hung up the phone, and called out to a middle-aged officer with his finger who oversaw the scene of the crime. I was amazed at how powerful this man was, because the older man was called "deputy chief" or something like that.

“The entirety of this incident will be under the jurisdiction of the Public Security Intelligence Agency.”

“…Ye…yes, however.”

“After you finish sending all the documents to us, you will dispose of them. Put a gag order on all officers.”

“U—understood sir.”

Thereafter, the man took a deep sigh, and faced the young girl once more.

He coldly ordered the six-year-old girl who was still sitting there soaking wet with a vacant expression on her face.

“Throw away the name Hanamura starting from today.”

--Ah…

“Your surname is ‘Mitsurugi’ from this day forward. You will be adopted by me as per the law.”

At that moment, feelings like a sludgy magma overflowed from within me once more.

--Ah…was that what happened…? Was that….what happened to you?

Someone was crying inside me.

Just listening to that sad voice was enough to make me collapse to my knees and weep.

“Throw away your given name as well. You have ten seconds. Anything is fine, decide.”

The girl stared back at the man in a daze, her emotions and circumstances seemingly irrelevant to him.

After clicking his tongue once, the man spoke.

“If you can’t decide, then I’ll do it for you.”

In response – the young girl, muttered in a hoarse voice.

“….ishi.”

“…What?”

“My…my name is…”

The young girl slowly raised her beautiful pale face.

Behind her long black hair, wet and flattened – under her arched eyebrows.

Her dark eyes shone with a strange light.

“My name is – Yoishi Mitsurugi.”

(--Was that what happened to you…?)

(--Was that what happened to you…?)

Someone’s sobs and screams rang up to the sky, and at the time, a torrent of light engulfed me. I was convinced that I would finally return from this hellish world to a world of tranquility. It felt like the figure of that tomboy named Takamura was close by. I felt a presence taking my hand, and taking me back to somewhere I belonged.

Having regained the name that I should have discarded, I would probably not live long in the world I returned to – but it was still far better than this place. Better than this world where so many human souls had been crushed.

Thereupon, I suddenly realized.

My original reconstructed memory was stirred by those words.

"Those that meet Yoishi die seven days later."

“Yoishi isn't a living person.”

“Offline meetings Yoishi attends end in disaster.”

With the world ten years in the past in front of me about to fade as I was swallowed by the muddy stream – I cried out in desperation; I must take something back with me. I extended my hands as if to take something back with me.

I must bring back the origin of the rumor I had once heard—no, I must bring back the identity of the true enemy.

Perhaps that girl called Takamura was right. I, who was nothing more than weak radio signals in this world, could hardly bring back anything. However, if there was at least one thing – even if it were just a fragment, I wanted to take it back with me from this hellish record. If so, what would that be?

Would it be enough to say that the dark light behind the eyes of ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’ was the thing that needed to be confronted?

However—

However—

However, that wasn’t it, someone yelled. Someone inside me was shouting 'No, no, no'. And, I finally realized who that voice belonged to. The identity of the thing that had been clinging to my back all this time. I realized who the other soul was: that silly, nostalgic, and stubbornly naïve soul. With no time left, and not knowing what to take back anymore, I looked back at the very last moment, with my knees on the verge of collapse.

--Hey, you there.

--You there, who have been clinging to my back all this time.

“It’s time, to breathe again.”

…I mean, well, I’m probably a bit masculine in some ways, but using ‘onore 己’* in first person felt very much out of place. But now, I finally understood why that was. It was because you were clinging to my back. You went through a life-and-death struggle coincidentally at the same time as me and linked to my soul.

You saw everything together with me, but you still won’t be able to take any memories back to the present with you. However, if it’s you and me – if it’s the both of us, then we might be able to take a fragment of this world back with us.

I’ll—entrust that to you.

Hey, do you understand? It’s about you ya know.

You’re the one who must save that child.

Hey—'Nagito Yamada-kun’.