Chapter 86: The Rain
"Y-yes..." replied the dark-haired girl sitting on the right, and she followed the uniformed officer out.
They’d called only her, and Mr. Nobody had a pretty good idea why.
"...And she didn’t even realize it was me."
"W-why did you spare her? Of all people, her..." Liliana whispered through clenched teeth.
"Aren’t you a little too quick to catch on? Her name wasn’t mentioned in my contract... That’s all."
"That’s all? I fucking don’t believe that."
"Well, the situation also turned out in such a way that..."
"..."
"Fine. You want a specific reason?" He sighed heavily. "She felt different from the rest of them. Maybe if she’d been given a chance, she could have..."
"What the fuck are you talking about?!"
At that moment, the doctor returned, and Liliana realized she had to stop her emotional outburst.
The doctor handed Mr. Nobody a large pill that covered his entire tongue and warned him not to take another one like that this month.
"D-do you even know what she did...?" she whispered viciously, grabbing his collar.
"I know enough. She was complicit in what the Bengou were doing, and that’s enough for the death penalty."
"Then what the hell?! Why did you give her a chance, and not someone else?!"
Mr. Nobody sighed and popped the pill into his mouth. After sucking on it a bit and savoring the mild flavor, he replied:
"I wish I could have given others a chance too... But they wouldn’t have taken it. The risk was too great, and a single decision could have cost hundreds more innocent people their lives."
"Would you have been willing to spare even them? H-how? They’re the fucking worst monsters on the face of the earth."
"...It’s just that I’m the last person who gets to judge anyone," he replied with a sad smile.
Liliana lowered her head and let go of his collar.
"...But you spared her of all people. You have no idea what she did to me."
"Is she the reason you’re so crazy?"
"Yeah, fuck yeah!!!"
Mr. Nobody asked with a smile, but tears welled up in the girl’s eyes, and her body trembled.
He couldn’t even imagine that these two might have had such a heavy history between them.
"...My apologies, I didn’t know." He patted her on the shoulder. "I’m sorry."
"And I’m fucking too... Never mind."
"Anyway... Maybe this is a chance for you to learn that there are better solutions than killing people and blowing their heads off. And for her—a chance to get back on the right path and try to fix things."
"Hah..." In response, the girl just gave a dry smile.
They sat in silence for a while, their feet catching raindrops, and then...
"By the way, that song you were singing..."
"What’s your name?"
They spoke in unison.
...
"Sir, we found another body. In an alley, three hundred meters from the club."
"Identified?"
"Being identified. The killer snatched Neodeck away."
"Hmm, show me a projection of the crime scene. We need to understand the killer’s modus operandi..."
"You don’t need anything anymore. We’ll handle this case," a cold, methodical voice rang out.
A tall, gaunt figure of a man approached the two police officers in raincoats. He wore a long coat and a hat.
More interestingly, a chain with two thick blades at the end hung from his shoulders.
"Y-you’ll be handling this?"
"I will." The man opened his coat slightly, revealing the insignia on his jacket.
There were two red stars on his chest.
"I-I’m sorry, I’ll send you all the case files immediately. My people and I are entirely at your disposal."
"Glad to hear it. Let me take you up on your offer right away and ask..." He turned and pointed to the man with the broken arm in the distance. Notably, that man was also looking at him. "Who is that?"
...
Every creature has instincts.
Herbivores have natural enemies—predators.
They can recognize them instantly, even if they’ve never encountered them before. Even just by catching a glimpse of them on the horizon.
That’s exactly what happened to Mr. Nobody right now.
His heart dropped, and fear and a primal urge to survive welled up inside him.
’The Second Step of Concord, no less...’
He had encountered his natural predator.
"...Fuck. I’m so fucked."
"Huh? What are you..."
"Liliana." He grabbed her by the shoulder. "I need something from you. Right now."
"Y-yes?" she replied, blushing.
"You need to go back to the club, to the Artists’ Room. There’s a black bracelet hanging above the door; bring it to me."
"B-but it must already be cordoned off and..."
"Liliana." He called.
"..." Looking into his eyes, the girl saw something she hadn’t expected at all—fear. Absolute.
"Fucking run. Now." he mouthed.
"B-but what..." The girl began looking around in fear. "W-what could happen?"
"To me. To you. To everyone... If he finds out, it’s the end of everything and everyone. It’ll be a total fucking disaster," he mouthed again.
With a hollowed-out look, the girl nodded and stood up.
She took the first step... and then ran as fast as she could.
...
The tall figure of a man with a chain was slowly approaching.
His thoughts fired off like a machine gun.
’If I can’t stop him—the constellations’ glowing is my only option. There are several hundred ordinary people here; what will happen if I use this while they’re nearby? I don’t have a mask; if I have to run, my face will be broadcast on every channel in a couple of seconds. Cameras will spot me before I even make it home. They’ll find me.’
"Lovely weather, isn’t it?"
’Southville? If I manage to hide in the underground, they’ll turn the whole neighborhood upside down and even come down here. How many thousands of people will suffer? He mustn’t find out.’
"You seem to be thinking about something quite intently."
"...Sorry, did you say something? Ever since I got buried under the rubble, my head and body just won’t listen to me," he replied with an awkward smile to the man standing before him.
"I was saying that I think the weather is lovely. I love the rain. It washes away the dirt from everywhere. From the roads, from the buildings, from people’s hair... Rain is the time when our city becomes cleaner."
"That’s quite an interesting point of view. I’ve never thought of it that way."
"...Really? Then how did you think of it? Or do you see rain as the perfect time for vengeance?"
"..."