Murder Anniversary and the Reverse Memorial

by Mizuki Mizushiro

“Okay, here they come!”

  Fuyou’s cheerful voice rang out over the garden filled with red flowers. Noodles, white and beautiful like raw silk, floated downstream in a gentle current.

  “Got ’emmmmmm!”

  Crimson chopsticks quickly scooped up every last noodle and dropped them into amber-colored liquid. After dunking them in the broth that was full of ground sesame, chives, and Japanese ginger, the chopsticks lifted the noodles up and out, bringing them to the girl’s mouth.

  “Kksshh…the mask is in the way! I can’t even eat them.” Once again confounded by the jet-black gas mask, Renko lowered the noodles dejectedly.

  Ayaka, who had taken up a position downstream, glared at her with chopsticks still at the ready. “…Then why did you take them?”

  Clear water flowed continuously down the tilted length of split bamboo. At the head of the trough, Fuyou stood smiling, holding a pair of long chopsticks.

  “We’ve prepared plenty of noodles, okay? Please eat a great deal.”

  The maid stood next to her, holding a wooden basin filled with noodles in ice water. Fuyou scooped noodles up from the basin and dropped them in the bamboo chute. These were called flume noodles.

  “Okay, Ayaka. Open wide…”

  “Nom! Yum, yum, yum.”

  “Delicious?”

  “Yeah, they’re cold and delicious! I feel so refreshed!”

  Renko was feeding Ayaka the noodles that she had just taken.

  Passing in front of the harmonious couple, Kyousuke scooped up his own flowing white ribbons.

  “Hey. Cheer up.”

  He dropped the noodles into Eiri’s bowl. She sat idly next to him downstream.

  Eiri looked up at him with half-closed eyes. “Hmm…th-thanks.” She slurped up the noodles without making a sound.

  It was now afternoon. Only about an hour had passed since they had left the dojo.

  Downstream from her depressed sister, Kagura snorted. “…Hmph. So you can’t even scoop up your own noodles, big sister? Stuff like this is why that womanizer makes fun of you all the time. How careless.”

  Basara was absent, probably still asleep. Ryou and Ran were sitting and eating on the veranda, too young for all the effort of the flume. Busujima was waiting on standby with a draining basket at the far end of the bamboo chute.

  Beneath the cloudless blue sky, Eiri’s expression did not clear. “Sorry I’m so careless…”

  “Don’t apologize, geez… You really are a fool, aren’t you? How far will you disgrace yourself before you’re satisfied? You’re an idiot beyond saving.”

  “……Sorry.”

  “I told you, don’t apologize. Is that the only thing you can say? Your face looks like a corpse… Was the fight with Basara enough to break you? Honestly, your mental state is just too fragile. You’re the dirty secret of House Akabane. Oh, it’s so embarrassing.”

  “Hey, Kagura—”

  “What?” Kagura glared at Kyousuke, who had tried to get between them. “Don’t you think that a complete stranger like you ought to avoid butting in on conversations between sisters? Also, please don’t speak to me so familiarly. Calling a girl you just met by her given name… For some reason you give off the same smell as big brother Basara! Are you also a womanizer?”

  “Huh? Of course not—!”

  “Then why are you the only boy here?” Kagura demanded, interrupting Kyousuke’s objection. “My big sister, Gas Mask Girl, Offal Ayaka… Other than the teacher, everyone around you is a girl, aren’t they? And leaving aside my sister, those other two are madly in love with you. I’m sure you’ve already made plans to gut and devour my big sister?”

  “……Devour?”

  “Yes. I’m talking about you ravishing her.”

  “Huh?!” Eiri squeaked.

  “Y-you idiot! No way! That’s not what I was thinking!” Kyousuke shouted.

  “‘R-ravish’… You can’t just come out and say a word like that, Kagura!” Eiri added.

  Kyousuke and Eiri both furiously objected.

  On the other hand, Kagura was calm. She deftly grabbed more noodles. “Big sister…why are you so embarrassed just hearing the word ravish? As always, the inside of your head is pastel pink, isn’t it…? You’ve never read past a kiss in your shoujo manga, but you still try way too hard and just end up looking ridiculous!” Kagura gracefully slurped up her noodles as she ridiculed her sister.

  “Uh…” Eiri looked embarrassed.

  “Listen here, big sister. Men are beasts. Just a moment ago, this man said, ‘No way, that’s not what I was thinking,’ but you and I both know that was a lie. It was just lip service. The truth is, whether he’s asleep or awake, that boy is thinking of nothing but erotic thoughts twenty-four seven. Leering at your beautiful legs and your slim waist and your delicate collarbone and the sensual nape of your neck… He’s a lewd beast whose carnal desires grow ever stronger.”

  “Lewd beast?”

  …Where did she learn words like that? Isn’t she only thirteen?

  Ignoring Kyousuke’s astounded interjection, Kagura continued.

  “Of course, it doesn’t matter whether you plan to let a beast like that savor your body or allow him to foul your maidenly virtue… I don’t care. Just please don’t disgrace the Akabane bloodline.”

  “…I-I know that.”

  “Do you? Please see to it that you consistently use contraception.”

  “Contraception?!”

  “Yes. You mustn’t do it raw.”

  “Raw?”

  “And make sure you don’t finish inside, okay?”

  “…Oh come on.”

  Don’t be so graphic…! Although she is already a full-fledged assassin, come of age in the criminal underworld. I guess it makes sense that she’s already mature when it comes to certain subjects.

  As Kyousuke was thinking to himself, Eiri spoke up. “H-hmm…you certainly have turned into a knowledgeable young woman in the half year I’ve been gone, haven’t you? I wonder if you learned everything you told us from that little book?”

  “—Huh?”

  Kagura’s face immediately changed color.

  Eiri scooped up more noodles flowing down the trough. “This morning,” she continued, sounding as if it pained her to do so, “I peeked into your room before I went to visit his grave, and…when I did, I accidentally discovered… Oh, what should I call it? That…slightly abnormal comic. The contents were…well… When I saw the cover and title, I quickly put it back where I had found it… S-sorry?”

  “Wha—?!” The chopsticks fell from Kagura’s hand, and she spilled her sauce. “Y-you…! What were you doing hunting through a room…through my room, without permission—?”

  “…Sorry.”

  Kagura pressed in on Eiri, who stared downward, averting her eyes.

  “What was the title you saw?”

  “I-I can’t say… I don’t remember.”

  “What was the picture on the cover?”

  “W-well…”

  “Confess!”

  She gripped Eiri’s shoulders as Eiri’s eyes darted around. But Eiri did not answer. She just squirmed, looking ashamed.

  Kagura hung her head, wearing a slight smile. “…I see. So you’re going to continue to feign ignorance to the end?”

  Her rust-red bangs hung down, casting a dark shadow over her eyes. Slowly, she stretched her left hand toward her waist sash.

  “In that case, there’s nothing to be done. Exactly which comic did you see…did you accidentally see? I’ll make you tell me with brute force, big sister!!”

  That instant, Kagura drew her iron-ribbed fan. Eiri tried to jump out of the way, but Kagura followed, swinging wildly with her specialized weapon.

  “Just a… I told you, I don’t remember! I-I don’t remember anything—”

  “That’s a lie! If so, then why do you look so self-conscious?!”

  “N-no reason—”

  “There certainly is a reason!”

  Eir
i stooped to avoid a blow, and behind her, one of the slender garden trees was sliced to pieces.

  “…………”

  Kyousuke, who had been entirely forgotten, stood watching, jaw hanging open, as the two sisters fought. The Akabane family can’t even eat a meal normally…

  Eiri retreated, and Kagura pursued. Renko and Ayaka moved closer, hoping to get a better view of the scene, which from a distance did not appear to be at all playful.

  “Kksshh. Eiri’s looking fired up, huh? Great, great.”

  “Ah-ah. And after I went to the trouble to get her alone with big brother…a stupid obstacle got in the way, huh…? Crappy Kagura sticks to Eiri one way or another!”

  They each took up a position next to Kyousuke, Ayaka slurping up noodles and Renko drinking the sauce through her straw tube.

  On the veranda, Ryou and Ran chatted pleasantly while feeding each other noodles.

  “How nice, big sister Kagura. I want to play with big sister Eiri, too!”

  “How nice, big sister Eiri. I want to play with big sister Kagura, too!”

  “…Should we join in, Ran?”

  “Yes. Let’s join in, Ryou!”

  “Yaaaaaayyy!”

  The twins stood up, scissors in hand, and ran headlong toward Eiri and Kagura, still barefoot.

  “Don’t get in the way! First I’ve got to put her down!!”

  “H-how bothersome… I just want to eat noodles—”

  “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

  In a flash, the sisters’ game of tag had turned into a melee.

  Fuyou smiled bitterly as she watched her children running through the garden, brandishing blades, and trying to strike each other down. “My, my, and we were just sitting down to a meal, too…” She continued pouring the noodles. “These children can get so very restless. Pay attention not to bother our guests!”

  Busujima grabbed some pink noodles out of the chute. “The sounds of swordplay make the most elegant wind chimes… Oh, it’s plum flavored!” He leisurely savored the cold dish.

  It was an entirely chaotic scene, and yet it seemed as though everybody was calm, each enjoying the time in their own way—except for Kyousuke.

  Am I the only one who’s normal here…? He missed his former classmates terribly. They had had ordinary sensibilities like him. Here he was alone in a crazy situation.

  He thought of Maina holding down the fort at the academy and looked up at the summer sky filled with soaring cumulonimbus clouds.

  “……I’m completely exhausted, body and mind,” Eiri mumbled weakly, throwing herself down on the veranda. She wasn’t wounded, but after avoiding the twins’ attacks and Kagura’s insistent cross-examination, Eiri was haggard. She lay on her back, covered in sweat, and Renko fanned her briskly.

  “You must be tired, Eiri. Do you want some watermelon juice?”

  “…No thanks. I’ll eat it like a normal person.”

  Pushing away the glass full of red liquid, Eiri sat up. Opposite Renko—sitting next to her on the right—Ayaka and Kyousuke were biting into the crescent-shaped pieces of fruit.

  “Wow, so sweet! It’s chilly and delicious, isn’t it, big brother?”

  “Yeah. Summer in Japan definitely means watermelon.”

  “Right, right, that it does! It means watermelon, yeaaahhh! Speaking of which… Kyousuke, after you enjoy this juicy watermelon, how about you—?”

  “Play watermelon splitting?”

  “Kksshh?! Watch where you’re looking when you say that, Eiri! My watermelons are soft and delicate, so I’d appreciate it if you’d treat them tenderly!!”

  “…Sure thing.”

  Finished with Renko, Eiri reached and took one of the eight uniform slices of watermelon from atop the tray that had been placed on the veranda. She began removing the small seeds with a fingernail.

  “Wh-whoa…that’s a girly way of eating, Eiri. You can’t get them all out, anyway, so it’s best to just dig in.”

  “Be quiet, you. It’s nobody’s business but mine how I choose to eat.”

  “Sure, to each their own. Incidentally, your way looks to be the same as Busujima’s.”

  In the direction that Renko was pointing, a little ways away from them on the veranda, Busujima was grappling with his watermelon. Picking out the seeds with a spoon in one hand, he was feeding them to the poisonous creatures that swarmed at his feet.

  Eiri froze for a second.

  “…Time to eat.”

  She stopped picking at the seeds and bit into her watermelon whole. Acting like their teacher was utterly unthinkable.

  From Kyousuke’s point of view, however, it was hard not to pity Busujima for his lack of popularity among the female students. Unlike Kurumiya, the man didn’t actively interfere with them, so Kyousuke couldn’t find him all that disagreeable…

  With the sympathetic young man sitting among them, the three girls chatted away amiably as they looked out upon the garden. It showed traces here and there of the fierce “play” from earlier.

  “I’m guessing a hot temper runs in your family, right? Have you slashed at one another with swords like that ever since you were born?”

  “…Basically. Everyone in the Akabane family starts holding a blade around age three, then around age five we start slashing at people. After that, we swing a blade at every opportunity… The first time that we’re sent to the scene of a killing is age ten. At age twelve, we begin activities as full-fledged assassins.”

  “Wow, that’s really incredible… How old did you say Crappy Kagura is?”

  “She’s the same age as you. She’ll turn fourteen this year, so she has almost three years’ experience as an assassin.”

  “And the twins?”

  “Nine years old. They’ll make their debut soon, I think.”

  “Hmm…”

  Ayaka bit into her watermelon. Renko slurped up her watermelon juice. Eiri hung her head and looked down at her toes.

  “…And yet at sixteen…”

  Eventually, Eiri let those words slip. Her voice was dry and cracking, and she sounded as if she might crumble at any moment.

  There was no need to ask what she meant. Eiri was sixteen, and she faced another birthday this summer. It was the age of someone who should already be in her sixth year as an assassin.

  However, Eiri was—

  “…Sigh. In the end, I’ll be overtaken by those kids, too. By the time I’m able to kill my first person, I’ll be bested by children who have only just gripped their blades…ha-ha. You really have to laugh. When you’re this pathetic, you have to laugh.”

  “Eiri…”

  “—It’s been six years! It’s already been six years since I started trying, and failing, to kill. And in all that time, I haven’t made even a tiny bit of progress…and in the meantime, I’ve been consigned to that incomprehensible facility, and hung out with you all, and sat around eating watermelon… What the hell am I doing? If I stay like this, I’ll probably spend my whole life as Rusty Nail.”

  “…………”

  She beat herself up in a cheerful tone of voice, her words mingled with laughter.

  With her in such a state, they couldn’t find the right words to say.

  Not Renko, who, despite being in similar circumstances, could just as soon kill a person as breathe.

  Not Ayaka, whose circumstances were completely different, but who thought absolutely nothing of total strangers’ lives.

  Not Kyousuke, who felt repulsed by the thought of murder but had been born and raised completely differently from Eiri.

  Each of them was different in subtle ways. Who could possibly understand Eiri’s distress at wanting to kill and yet being unable to do so?

  The pain that Eiri had been holding on to these past six years…

  ……Hm? Suddenly, something tugged at Kyousuke’s heart. Six years. That was the number of years that Eiri had spent trying and failing to kill. Six years ago, Eiri would have only just turned ten years old
. That was the age that Eiri was forced to commit her first murder—

  “Gah?! The noodle flume is already put away, is it?!”

  A hysterical masculine voice cut Kyousuke’s musings short.

  Behind the veranda where they all sat, directly behind Eiri, stood a young man in crimson hakama, his shoulders drooping in disappointment.

  “Aww, too bad… If I’d known you were doing flume noodles, I would have pushed through without sleep. Isn’t it terrible of Kagura to wait until after the fact to tell me? She must have some kind of grudge against me, that witch!! She’s going to get a spanking later as punishment!”

  “Big brother—”

  “Hey. Morning, Eiri. Was it fun, eating flume noodles?”

  “…Not really.”

  “That’s not possible, surely. And here she sits eating watermelon, the liar.”

  “Just a… S-stop it!”

  Eiri brushed away Basara’s arm in irritation as he tousled her hair.

  “Ha-ha,” Basara laughed and picked up a piece of watermelon from the tray. “May I be allowed to impose myself by your side, Miss Enormous Boobs?” He sat down cross-legged next to Renko.

  Instantly, Ayaka stood up and snapped at him. “Hang on! Where do you get off taking the seat next to Miss Renko?! That’s not a place where garbage like you is allowed to sit. Please move!”

  “Garbage?! Why are you suddenly snapping at me…?”

  “Because you shamelessly sat down next to Miss Renko! Also, because you teased Eiri and made fun of her. And me too—”

  “Ah! Are you sulking because I called you a little girl and said I didn’t desire you and so on when we first met? Sorry, sorry… I certainly think you’re cute! It’s just that you’re too young—it can’t be helped! And unlike Kagura, you look like a kid, appropriate for your age.”

  Ayaka’s eyes went dark. “…Do you want to have your head crushed like a watermelon?”

  “Now, now.” Renko pacified her, trying to prevent a rampage. “There’s nothing to be done about him sitting next to me. So don’t get so angry about it. Okay?”

  “……Hmph. If you say so, Renko.”

  Puffing out her cheeks, Ayaka sat back down.

  “Okay!” Basara was delighted and grinned at Renko. “Thanks, Miss Enormous—no, Miss Renko! I’m happy you stuck up for me. I’m always surrounded by strong women, you see. Kindness makes a deep impression…”