Murder Anniversary and the Reverse Memorial

by Mizuki Mizushiro

  Copyright

  PSYCOME, Vol. 4: Murder Anniversary and the Reverse Memorial

  MIZUKI MIZUSHIRO

  Translation by Nicole Wilder

  Cover art by Namanie

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  PSYCOME

  ©2014 MIZUKI MIZUSHIRO

  All rights reserved.

  First published in Japan in 2014 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION ENTERBRAIN.

  English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION ENTERBRAIN through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.

  English translation © 2017 by Yen Press, LLC

  Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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  First Yen On Edition: June 2017

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Mizushiro, Mizuki, author. | Namanie, illustrator. | Wilder, Nicole, translator.

  Title: Psycome / Mizuki Mizushiro ; illustration by Namanie ; translation by Nicole Wilder.

  Other titles: Saikome. English

  Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen On, 2016–

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016005815 | ISBN 9780316272339 (v. 1 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316398251 (v. 2 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316398268 (v. 3 : paperback) | ISBN 9780316398305 (v. 4 : paperback)

  Subjects: LCSH: False imprisonment—Fiction. | Science fiction. | BISAC: FICTION / Science Fiction / Adventure.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.1.M636 Ps 2016 | DDC 895.63/6—dc23

  LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016005815

  ISBNs: 978-0-316-39830-5 (paperback)

  978-0-316-39831-2 (ebook)

  E3-20170503-JV-PC

  It was Monday, and less than a week remained until the end of the semester—and summer vacation.

  Since early that morning, the entryway of the old school building at Purgatorium Remedial Academy had been bustling with students. The air was filled with the stench of their sweat, born of hard manual labor.

  “…Just in the nick of time, huh?”

  Changing from sneakers to hallway slippers, Kyousuke swallowed hard. Sweat, brought on by more than just the heat and exercise, rolled down his back, following the curve of his spine.

  “It’s okay, big brother! Don’t worry!”

  “O-oh…yeah. I guess we did what we could, so it’ll be all right, right?”

  Encouraged by Ayaka—his beloved younger sister—Kyousuke steadied himself and stepped forward. He headed for the bulletin board in front of the shoe lockers, around which everyone had gathered.

  Posted to the board was a single sheet of paper, big enough to cover the entire surface. Tension was inescapably high.

  “Ah. Kyousuke, Ayaka!” Noticing the siblings, the female student in the back row turned to them, her flax-colored eyes opened wide.

  Kyousuke raised a hand in greeting to the girl, who had her hands pressed together in front of her chest, as if in prayer.

  “Morning, Maina.”

  “G-good mourning… Oh my.”

  “……?”

  Ayaka looked at Maina, who was mixing up her words for some reason.

  “What is it, Crafty Cat? Were your results no good or something?”

  “N-no! My results weren’t good or bad. Actually, they’re quite good for me. I did do my best, but—”

  Maina shut her mouth tight, as if alarmed, and looked to her neighbor on the left. Following Maina’s gaze, Kyousuke’s and Ayaka’s eyes came to a stop.

  “…Huu…hu-hu…bu-hu-hu-hu-hu…”

  Standing stock-still, staring up at the paper with a completely blank, burned-out look, was a female student. Her eyes were empty, and she let out a dry laugh. At her feet lay a backpack, dropped and forgotten.

  “Eiri, Eiri! Snap out of it, Eiriii!”

  Renko, wearing as always her black gas mask, shook the dazed schoolgirl’s shoulders. But Eiri did not react. She stayed frozen in place, laughing mindlessly. Her usual air of detachment had dissipated without a trace.

  “A-awful…” Ayaka covered her mouth with both hands.

  “Eiri…” Maina choked with emotion.

  “Waaah!” Renko cried.

  Just looking at Eiri’s miserable figure, so completely changed, gave Kyousuke a bad feeling. “Hey, hey. I don’t think it’s possible, but did she—?”

  “Ohh, why…? Why, Eiri?!” Renko wailed. “I gave you so much instruction, so how…? How did you get this resuuult?!”

  Turning away from Renko’s lamentations, Kyousuke took a deep breath and looked up at the likely source of this disaster—the bulletin board that displayed the results of the final exams they had taken the week before.

  “Oh, I did well to get sixth place! No way I could make it in the top three, though.”

  “That’s…wha—? Third place? Impooossible!!”

  They were both surprised at their results, better and worse than expected, respectively. Soon, however, the siblings with the disparate reactions found their attentions drawn to a single point.

  “First place… That’s incredible! To get a perfect one-thousand-point score, she must have something weird going on up there.”

  “Renko, you’re amaaazing! Only my big brother’s bride could do such a thing!”

  “She’s not my bride, so…”

  “Kksshh.”

  “Compared to her……”

  “”

  Meanwhile, Eiri, ignoring Ayaka’s glares, continued staring at her own score with vacant eyes.

  Rank thirty-two out of thirty-three. A sum total of 305 points in ten subjects.

  The word die, written beside the score, showed the number of failing marks.

  “Oh man… Wh-wwwwh-what could have happened, Eiri…?” Maina, who had taken a rank right in the middle, spoke uneasily.

  Before the exams had started, their homeroom teacher had told them:

  “Don’t think that your answer sheets will be the only things soaked in red!”

  …But it was probably fine.

  Purgatorium Remedial Academy was an unconventional school where all the students were murderers.

  If the teachers said that they would do something, they would do it no matter what, and if they said they would kill someone—it was almost certain that Eiri, who had scored so dismally, was headed for a bloodbath.

  Kyousuke couldn’t stand it any longer. “E-Eiri—”

  “Sorry.” Eiri cut him off, finally snapping out of her trance. She turned to look at Kyousuke and the others. “I’m sorry… It seems like it’s all over for me now. Thanks for everything you’v
e done for me. Not even four months have passed since we started school, but it’s been pretty fun. I’m glad I spent it with you all. Really, thank you. And good-bye… Live on for me and graduate safely! I’ll cheer you on from six feet under.”

  “…………”

  Her smiling face was too pitiful. No one could respond.

  “—Well, then.” Gently unwrapping herself from Renko’s firm embrace, Eiri picked up her schoolbag. Her lively tone sounded terribly forced.

  “Standing around like this won’t change anything, so why don’t we hurry up and get to class? We have to make the most of what little time I have left! Before summer vacation starts, I want to make some happy memories… I imagine once the supplementary lessons begin, there won’t be anything but pain, enough to make me want to die! Ah-ha…ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

  A surge of crazy laughter forced its way past Eiri’s lips. Her rust-colored eyes showed no signs of burning light.

  Kyousuke turned away, unable to bear the sight of her so completely changed. “…We promised that we wouldn’t let even one person be a victim, didn’t we?!”

  “Eiri was destroyed…” Ayaka shuddered.

  “E-Eiri…” Maina reopened the floodgates.

  Renko sank silently to the floor.

  “Lah, lah, laaaaaah. ” Leaving Kyousuke and the others behind, Eiri headed for the classroom alone, skipping and humming a wordless tune. As her back grew distant, no one could find the right thing to call to her.

  After school, Kyousuke sat with the others, mourning Eiri in the near-deserted classroom. “I wonder if she’ll come back okay…,” he mumbled, looking at a sky divided into strips by iron bars.

  Despite the earlier scene, Eiri had remained cheerful as their tests were returned. With the exception of ethics, she received failing marks on all of them. Their homeroom teacher, Kurumiya, showered her with abusive language like stupid, idiot, fool, scum, shame of Class A, tiny tits, boobs and brains of an elementary schooler, AAA boobs but F grades, and die, bitch!, but Eiri, who got the worst scores next to Mohawk, just grinned.

  That strange reaction cooled Kurumiya’s tongue, and by the time the midmorning class had finished, she stopped saying much of anything.

  Of course, there was no way she would overlook it just like that…

  “—Eiri Akabane. Come here!”

  At the end of fifth period, Kurumiya had taken Eiri by the scruff of the neck and dragged her off to the staff room.

  About an hour had passed since then, but they had yet to return.

  So now, Kyousuke was tying himself into knots over Eiri’s safety.

  “Kksshh…” Renko let out a sigh as Kyousuke continued wandering restlessly around the classroom. “Now, now… Calm down, Kyousuke.”

  “She’s right. Calm down, big brother.”

  Ayaka had turned her chair around and was running her pen over her notebook. Renko was seated behind her. The two of them, speaking in unison, were in the middle of an enthusiastic discussion.

  “Shopping, karaoke, the amusement park, the aquarium, the zoo, the game center, the maid café, a barbeque, the movie theater, the art museum, the summer festival, swimming in the ocean, the fanzine exhibition and sale, the gas mask exhibit… Is there anywhere else you want to go, Renko?”

  “I wonder, hmm… Oh, I want to go to the summer festival! Summer Panic! This year, the mysterious artist known only as ‘And More’ is supposed to play. Finally, after appearing on so many lineups—and canceling at the last minute every time—And More will reveal themselves and take the stage!”

  “Wow, is that really true?! But aren’t the tickets already sold out?”

  “Don’t worry, Ayaka baby! I’ve got connections.”

  “Connections?! Don’t tell me you’re…”

  “Kksshh. That’s right. To tell the truth, I’m GMK48’s—”

  “Scalper?!”

  “No!”

  “……What are you two even talking about?”

  “Our summer vacation schedule, big brother.”

  “We’re planning our dates.”

  “Dates?!” His voice cracked into a falsetto.

  “Ehhh?!” Maina also exclaimed and fell out of her chair.

  “Yep. Miss Renko and I were ranked in the top three of our year, so we were approved for release on parole! So since we worked so hard to get it, we started talking about where we should go out together—”

  “We’re deciding on our destinations. We have about a week of vacation time, so we can get a lot of action in. We can go to all kinds of places—no limits!”

  “Yep, yep! It’s too bad you won’t be there, big brother…but it seems like going on dates with Miss Renko will be fun, too. Tee-hee-hee! I’m looking forward to summer vacatioooooon!”

  “I can’t wait! Hurry up and get here, summer vacation!”

  Bam!

  Kyousuke’s hand slammed down on top of the desk between them. “Now wait just a minute. I don’t remember signing off on any of that!”

  “Eh?”

  Ayaka and Renko looked up at him.

  “Why do we have to get special permission?”

  “She’s right. Approval comes from the school, right? Not from you.”

  “Eh…?” Kyousuke faltered in the face of the unexpected counterattack.

  Ayaka and Renko quickly pressed their advantage.

  “You want me to learn to get along without you, right, big brother? If that’s true, then first you have to learn to get along without me!”

  “I know you have a sister complex, but don’t you think you’re meddling too much? Such behavior is narrowing Ayaka’s world!”

  “No, that’s—”

  “It’s certainly not that you can’t trust Miss Renko, right, big brother? Or that you’re worried about us being alone together? Are you really saying that now, after all we’ve been through?”

  “Kksshh. No way, Ayaka baby… Kyousuke wants you to ‘make friends with everyone,’ so he would never say something that selfish, would he?”

  “Uh—” His weak points exposed, Kyousuke lost his composure. “B-but…look here!” he answered, vexed. “It’s shameless for the two of you to be celebrating when Eiri is having such a hard time. Aren’t you worried about her?”

  “I am, but there’s nothing we can do. Eiri’s the one who got failing marks, after all.”

  “Uh-huh. You reap what you sow! Plus, I don’t think they’ll kill her just because she got failing marks. You and Maina both worry too much. Eiri’s got a lot on her plate; we just have to give her some space. Anyway, Renko, where else should we go?”

  “…This is hopeless.”

  It looked like Renko and Ayaka both had their heads full thinking about parole dates.

  Although he trusted her, Renko was a hard-core mass murderer. Of course Kyousuke was against such a person spending a week alone with his little sister, away from his watchful eyes. Their release on parole was supposed to be conditional on probation, so he didn’t think it would be a serious problem, but…even putting his concern for Eiri aside, Kyousuke’s troubles were growing. He already felt worn down.

  “Ah?!”

  Just then, Maina stood up with a clatter.

  The door at the front of the classroom had opened, and a single student had entered.

  “Eiri, are you okay?!”

  “Eiriiiiii! Are you hurt—whoooaaa!!”

  “Gyah?!”

  Eiri dodged Maina, who, rushing over, tripped and nearly tackled her.

  Crash! From the hallway came the loud sound of impact.

  “Y-yeah…I’m okay. Maina, are you all right?”

  “Oh dear. S-sowwy…”

  Eiri looked at Maina, who was holding her head where she had crash-landed, and cringed. Her earlier artificial cheer was gone. She looked the same as she always did, in perfect health and showing no sign of Kurumiya’s discipline.

  Kyousuke looked concerned as he approached her. “Hey, Eiri. That b
itch Kurumiya, did she…did she do anything to you?”

  “Not really. Just—”

  Eiri averted her eyes from Kyousuke and the others.

  “I’ve been exempted from the supplementary lessons and supplementary exams.”

  “……Huh?”

  Everyone’s voices overlapped in surprise at Eiri’s nonchalant answer. Even Renko and Ayaka stopped their conversation to look at her.

  Kyousuke studied her strangely sullen face. “You were exempted…? Really?”

  “Yeah. She said I don’t have to take the supplementary lessons and exams during summer vacation…though it looks like she’s giving me a lot of homework instead.”

  “Wow, that’s great. You avoided the worst of it!”

  “Oh my! Th-that’s a relief… Congratulations, Eiri!” agreed Maina.

  “Weeell, I’m happy, but…it’s weird, isn’t it? Miss Kurumiya doesn’t usually let people off easy.”

  “Maybe it was too painful, and she felt sorry for you? Or maybe you offered up your body in exchange?”

  Eiri glowered at Renko. “…Huh? Of course not.” Glaring at Kyousuke and the others, she brushed her hair back.

  “I was summoned back home.”

  She spit out the words in annoyance.

  “Wha?!”

  Kyousuke, Maina, and Renko reacted in unison.

  “When you say ‘home’…you mean your former home? Weren’t you disinherited?” Kyousuke asked.

  “I thought so. But according to Kurumiya, it seems that even now they occasionally ask for me… This is the worst! I’d prefer the supplementary lessons.”

  “Oh no!” Maina added. “If you’ve been summoned back, they must have some business with you, right?”

  “Yeah. Apparently they ‘want to see my face,’ but I wonder… It’s suspicious. Why would they go out of their way to call me back after forcing me into the academy in the first place?”

  “…Miss Eiri, is your house a dangerous place? Like a yakuza house or something?” Ayaka, the only one among them who didn’t know about Eiri’s situation, tilted her head.

  “Not quite.” Eiri smiled bitterly. “Generation after generation, my family has worked as killers—we’re a family of assassins. Yakuza wouldn’t be so bad, but—my relatives are all killers. Their hands are filthy with murder.”