“Yeah? That was a pretty loud sound then.”
“A big bang, yes, but also at a very low register, so there was certainly a large reverberation as well. Of the entire building.”
“Reverberation, eh?” Shizue said. “Well if that’s the sound of some terrorists storming in with an ancient piece-of-shit tank borrowed from some third-world country in a civil war, then I’m glad to hear it. Otherwise, I’m sorry, but no civilized country right now has the weapons necessary to take down a building of this magnitude. Not even a bombing run would do the trick.”
Kunugi visibly restrained himself from making pained expressions as he stood up.
“What are you doing? You’ll just exhaust yourself if you try to stand.
Why don’t you just sit down?”
“Just in case. I’m an old man with old habits.”
Boom. This time it was closer.
“That just lowered the voltage.”
“Voltage?” Shizue looked up. The purplish light started blinking.
“Something’s wrong.”
“The twenty-year-old lamp in my room does that.” Shizue’s glare was interrupted before Kunugi could finish his joke.
The lights suddenly went out. They were sitting in dark silence. The light…
“Power outage?”
“Not in a building like this. There’s a medical center in here after all. They’d have a backup generator, by law. They’d have at least a backup battery or some kind of power supply.”
The touch screen was lit up.
This wasn’t a power outage.
Random numbers ran across the screen of the touch screen, which then went blank.
“We can probably open the doors now.”
Shizue flew at the door with her eyes on the red digits left glowing on the screen, and pushed.
“Hurry. Help me!”
“I can’t see,” Kunugi said as he approached her.
Shizue felt a groove under the door.
“Here.”
She tried first to get her nails under it, and then her fingertips. It was heavy.
The door moved slightly with a groan. Just as she thought. She applied all her strength in pulling it up.
A window.
One more pane. Kunugi applied his right arm.
A low groan.
The door opened.
“Get out, now.”
Shizue pushed Kunugi through the half-open door, then followed him out.
The hall was also pitch black.
“Somewhere…”
“A hiding place?”
Two or three flashes of light coursed through the hall, lighting it up for a moment.
At almost the same time the door to the microbe room slammed shut.
“Over there.”
Shizue went toward the hall she thought would lead directly to the room Ishida was in. Kunugi followed her, dragging one bad leg.
“Hey. Don’t leave this old fart in the dust.”
“I can’t do anything with a dead old fart. Hurry.”
For some reason Kunugi stopped and sank when they reached what looked like a kitchenette.
“How did we get rescued?”
“We haven’t been rescued yet. Someone’s attacking this building though. Probably.”
“Attack? This isn’t a game.”
“No…”
The first sound was a physical explosion.
The power outage after that though…
It was a key-lock override.
All the doors in the entire building were probably unlocked now.
Why?
Was it to get in or to get out?
It couldn’t have been done from inside.
In which case…
Someone was coming in.
Shizue felt something beyond the hallway. She held up Kunugi as he tried to move, and looked around the corner.
It was Yudani and the Frenchman Arvil.
The thin man with the firearm and the large Frenchman were running down the hall in the other direction.
There was an elevator on the other side.
Neither of them passed by the microbe room and probably didn’t notice anything.
The large ornamented door was open.
“Let’s go, Kunugi. Ishida should be alone now.”
“I want to say okay, but what do you plan on doing?”
“That insane, sorry excuse for a police lieutenant has to help us save the children.”
Shizue ran out into the hall.
There was no sign of the violent guards.
The large door was still open.
No.
It was closing.
Shizue threw off her shoes and ran down the hall with all her might.
“Wait!”
Beyond the door, Ishida winced.
She would make it. She would throw her leg in.
Ishida’s face showed incredulity, and he was unable to close the door for some reason. He simply withdrew into the room. His eyebrows furrowed with fear.
“Miss Fuwa…”
“What happened? Is it terrorists?”
“Well, it really looks like it might be.”
“What did you say?”
Kunugi finally reached them. Shizue stepped into Ishida’s room. She closed the ornamented door after Kunugi.
She heard the electric lock close.
“You’re not surprised? You’re letting us in.”
“I don’t mind. The room will get slightly dirty, but there’s no way you’re getting out.” Ishida, looking ever disgusted, walked over to the desk.
“Wait. You think you’re going to call those goons?”
“Relax. There’s no need for them.” Ishida sat down at his desk and looked at the wall behind him. “Right now, no one’s looking for you. Just sit.”
“What’s the rush?”
Kunugi dragged his feet and sat down in the chair he’d started in.
“Hey, you.”
“No need for formalities or anything,” Ishida said.
One wrinkle formed on his brow.
Kunugi narrowed his bloodshot right eye and let out a hmph.
Ishida pulled up the monitor screen.
“Takasugi. Hey, Takasugi. Hmm? What’s going on?”
“Did something happen to your Takasugi?” Kunugi asked.
“That’s none of your business,” Ishida said.
“Mr. Ishida. Is everything all right?”
“Yes. It’s under control,” sounded his voice. His face was on the screen. “The results of the experiment were quite satisfactory. I think you’ll like what you see.”
“Understood. But tell me, what’s the situation with the earlier accident?”
“It hasn’t reached here,” Ishida said.
“Just the main entrance, then. Anything happen after that?”
“We’re not sure ourselves,” he replied.
There were what appeared to be area patrols in the background of the screen.
The image kept blurring.
The voices were also jarred.
It was noisy.
“What’s going on? I can’t hear you very well. Perhaps you can send it to me in writing.”
The power lines was the last thing they heard clearly.
“Have you confirmed the identity of the intruder? Is there indeed an intruder?”
“Unconfirmed,” the zig-zagging image said in a broken voice.
“Understood,” Ishida said. He tried paging Takasugi again but closed the call when Takasugi didn’t answer.
Then Ishida looked over his shoulder again.
“Why are you so anxious? Is there something important in the wall behind you?”
“W-what did you say? You’re not…It’s nothing.”
For the first time Ishida appeared worried.
“What? It’s all right. Tell us about it,” Kunugi said. “I’m getting a life sentence, remember? I’m never going to find work in society again. This little lady, Miss Fuw
a—I’m going to kill her, right? So you can tell us what you’re doing. Why you’re killing so many people every year. Oh wait, that’s right. You’re not killing anybody. I don’t know what I’m talking about. But I’d like to know why you’re not doing any of this. How about it, Ishida?
“You’re farming organs from children, aren’t you? Say it. What are you doing?”
Ishida glared hard at Kunugi, then spoke.
“I did it all for my great-grandfather.”
“Great-grandfather? Yutaro Suzuki you mean? Don’t tell me you’re offering sacrifices to his statue. I know his believers have practically formed a religion, but—”
“I’m not a believer, but I won’t forgive any mockery of my greatgrandfather.”
“Worshipping the dead isn’t a religion? Have times changed? When I was young…well, I was pretty oblivious to religion growing up. Still, isn’t ancestor-worship a religious thing?” Kunugi asked.
“Honoring one’s ancestors is not technically religious,” Shizue answered. “Obviously it’s a tenet of many religions, and depending on the region there will be many indigenous informal spiritual tendencies, but that’s a little different from so-called religions that own a complete dogma.”
“Is that right?” Kunugi feigned ignorance.
Ishida hysterically slammed his fist on his desk.
“You’re talking like idiots and we’re in a state of emergency. Shut up now!”
“I can’t. I don’t know about you but this is in no way a state of emergency for me. I mean, unless you count the fact that little girls are being killed for some dead old fuck that was born over a hundred years ago. Then yeah, emergency.”
“What did you just say?” Ishida became excited. “Dead? Who’s dead?”
“Who’s…are you completely off your meds?”
“I’d like to ask you the same.” Ishida stood up.
“My great-grandfather, Yutaro Suzuki, still lives.”
“What?”
“You didn’t know? Tomorrow is his 115th birthday.”
“You mean birthday anniversary. I don’t care how crazy you are, you shouldn’t say stupid things like that. Yutaro Suzuki died over twenty years ago.”
“He lives!” Ishida yelled. “Don’t you know why this building was built?”
“You said it had something to do with changing the name of the corporation and honoring your dead old grandpa. Am I wrong?”
“Listen. This building was erected only for my great-grandfather. To collect and exhibit all of his achievements, his goals, his ideology, his collections, his history, all of it. Of course, at the very top floor is Yutaro Suzuki himself. We need him to continue on, here, with us.”
“Continue on…”
“Yutaro Suzuki shall never die.”
“Y-you crazy idiot.” Kunugi’s swollen eyes widened. “You’re saying some crazy things. You’ve gone completely out of your mind.”
“But I haven’t,” Ishida said as he got up from the desk. “This country needs my great-grandfather. He’s a necessary man. Do you understand or don’t you?” Ishida asked over and over, stepping toward Kunugi. “Listen, Kunugi. It won’t matter if a little piece of shit like you lives or dies, but if he dies, the world as you know it will simply turn inside out. His influence is greater than you could possibly fathom. If this volatile world can maintain happiness and order it’s because he’s alive.”
Ishida placed his hands on the back of Kunugi’s chair and looked into his eyes.
“Now do you understand?”
“Of course I don’t.”
“That man is order. He is order itself. And he’s morality. Keeping him alive is the only way to protect the balance of this country, which has lost its way—no, which has completely gone to rot. Yutaro Suzuki is the last stronghold of preservation of this world. That’s why it’s of utmost importance to keep him alive. At all costs.”
He must have gone insane.
This was not a perversion. That kind of language was derogatory.
However, he’d clearly lost his way. This man, Ishida, was no longer a resident of this reality.
Shizue started shivering.
“So, so, so…” Ishida said.
“So we built this place specifically for the purpose of keeping him alive. We spent fortunes upon fortunes building a state-of-the-art technological facility with the best minds and medical labs. I will do anything and everything to protect the life of my great-grandfather. So…”
“You need the organs of dead girls. That doesn’t sound very ‘state-of-the-art’ to me,” Kunugi said. “Wasn’t cloning technology the cornerstone of your company’s bioengineering reputation? Why do you need to harvest the organs of murdered innocents? Are you transplanting them? Or are you saying there are healing properties in the human body? You could search the entire world and never find anyone who would believe your old make-believe story.”
Ishida suddenly went expressionless and moved away from Kunugi.
“You really are stupid.”
“What did you call me?”
“Transplants? Healing properties? There’s no such thing as a cure. And if there were, there wouldn’t be a need to get it from humans.”
“Then why?” Kunugi looked up.
“Why it’s their taste, of course. Their taste,” Ishida said.
CHAPTER 027
“WHAT THE HELL!” Rey Mao kicked the door. “Why’d she do that?”
It sounded like she was crying.
Hazuki just stood there wringing her hands.
Tears streamed down her face.
Her emotions ran amok and couldn’t be controlled.
Yet she couldn’t utter a sound nor move an inch.
And it wasn’t as if anything had happened yet.
No.
It wasn’t like anything had physically changed in Hazuki.
Whatever Ayumi had done in the past, whatever she might do in the future, whatever the outcome, Hazuki didn’t have to have anything to do with it. It wasn’t as though Hazuki were in pain, suffering, dying.
Still.
What was this trembling?
This disturbance she could do nothing about, the feeling she knew she wasn’t going to be able to control. When it wasn’t her life.
“That bitch,” Rey Mao said and kicked the door again. And it was at that moment.
Boom. A low reverberation shook the whole room.
“W-what was that?”
Rey Mao lost her balance for a moment and braced herself against a wall.
“What was that? You think that was Ayumi?”
What did Ayumi do? No, it was backwards.
Rey Mao apparently thought the same thing. She narrowed her eyes and furrowed her brow and said, “She must have been caught.”
That face went dark for a second. She thought maybe it was the tears, but it was different. The lights started to blink out.
Rey Mao looked up. Hazuki wiped her tears.
It was probably the window outside, facing the ventilation system.
The lights in the entrance hall were blinking too.
The lights went out.
“Power outage?”
“Huh?”
A power outage.
The card reader on the door emitted a thin red light. The point of light slowly drifted downward.
“Open.”
“What?”
“The door will open now,” Hazuki said. She ran toward the door.
It opened without any difficulty.
Hazuki jolted Rey Mao to action.
This.
“The door’s probably going to close in thirty seconds, so hurry.”
“What’s going on?” Rey Mao said as she left the room.
The door closed.
They heard it lock.
This was Mio’s magic. Mio. She was alive.
Just as she started to utter the thought, Hazuki stepped into something soft.
She slipped on whatever it was and fell str
aight on her back. She put her hands on the ground to push herself up.
“What is this?”
She looked at her hands. They were coated in something red and viscous. It was warm.
That smell.
She looked down.
“Aahhh! Aaahhhhhhh!”
With her bottom still on the floor Hazuki lifted her knees and let her legs extend in the darkness. Her feet slipped again and kicked the soft thing over and over.
The soft thing.
Its eyes were open and looking straight at Hazuki.
No, his face was all wrong. It was not looking at anything.
Hazuki was splayed on the floor covered in blood.
At the end of her feet was Takasugi, on his side, eyes wide open.
“Aghhhhhh aghhhh!”
“Hazuki! Hazuki!” Rey Mao called at her. “Get it together, Hazuki.
Come on!”
Rey Mao pulled Hazuki away from the corpse and stood her up. She managed to stand, but her legs were shaking, on top of which her breath was stopped, and she couldn’t move. Her line of sight kept landing on Takasugi, whose pupils couldn’t have been looking at her anymore.
Hazuki kept screaming like a toddler.
Rey Mao firmly grasped Hazuki’s shoulders.
“It’s all right. It’s just a corpse.”
“J-just?”
“Is this your first time seeing a dead body?” Rey Mao asked. Hazuki thought she was nodding, but she was shaking so violently she didn’t know if she was communicating. Rey Mao hugged Hazuki as hard as she could.
“Hey! That should not scare you. It’s not a bad thing. That’s what dead people look like. It’s just a thing now. So calm down.”
Calm down.
Rey Mao’s straight hair fell across Hazuki’s shoulders.
These murders…this is real.
This was what it looked like. This wasn’t a fabrication. When you killed someone, they died.
“A-Ayumi…”
“She really did this. What are we going to do, Hazuki?” Rey Mao asked. She let go of Hazuki and placed her hands on Hazuki’s shoulders. “She told me to protect you, and I’m going to. Now. What are we going to do?” Rey Mao asked again.
“Do we find somewhere to hide? Do we try to escape? Or…”
Loups-Garous Page 46