Chapter 90: A Bad Ending
When he repeated the same procedure on a boy named Thomas, the result was identical, and now...
Then the room descended into chaos.
With faces contorted by pain, hatred, and resentment, the children wailed as they tore the room apart, which was filled with Bengou memorabilia.
And yet, after what had happened to them, this reaction felt... right.
"H-how did you do that?!" the man shouted in shock.
He hugged the children, trying to restrain their rampage, but he was sobbing along with them.
Solitium... What is this material truly capable of, the one rumored to have originated from the Peak of Solitude itself?
"I-I just... I don’t know." And though Mr. Nobody had done it, he himself didn’t understand what had happened.
The children hadn’t regained their minds... But their response to their tormentors had become completely different.
Perhaps he had cut the threads in their minds that led them to worship those idols? Maybe he had altered some of what the drug had left on their minds? He didn’t know for sure...
But, looking into their faces, filled with unimaginable pain, he realized something.
"...Monsieur Salieri, please don’t take my next words as a new hope or something that can definitely help, but..."
"Y-you’ve understood s-something, haven’t you?! Y-years of treatment couldn’t do a single damn thing, b-but you... W-what do you want?! We don’t even have money for food right now, b-but we can mortgage this mansion..."
"Monsieur Salieri, I don’t have any real way to help, and I don’t need anything. I just have an idea."
"A-an idea?"
"Yes... A person or a being from the Path of Solitude. Perhaps they could help your children."
"A-a person from the Path of Solitude? But I’ve never met or even heard of anyone like that..."
"Neither have I... I’m not even sure they really exist." Mr. Nobody sighed heavily. "But if anyone is capable of helping your children, it’s probably one of them."
He turned the silver toothpick into a strand of hair again and attached it to his own hair.
"Solitude..." The face of the man holding back the raging children grew pensive.
"I’m sorry for this." He looked at the children with pain.
"N-no, no... You can’t even imagine how happy I am that my kids are finally..."
"Darling?" A woman’s voice sounded from behind a closed door in the distance. "What’s going on?"
"A-ah...! My dear, it’s the kids, they...!" His agitated gaze turned to Mr. Nobody. "W-what should I do? That’s my wife, she... I didn’t tell her I hired someone to kill them."
"Don’t worry, I’ll climb out the window."
"B-but how am I supposed to explain to her... this?" He gestured toward the ransacked room and hugged the crying children.
"...Just tell her that with the death of those bastards, part of the curse has been lifted from the children. In my experience, women tend to believe in things like that." He opened the window, preparing to climb out. "Goodbye, Monsieur Salieri. May God bless you."
"W-wait!"
"...?"
"W-we don’t have anything at all to thank you with, b-but, maybe... Would you like to take something from this?"
"..."
In his memory, this was one of the best rewards he had ever received.
...
To erase his tracks, he had to burn the broken mask... But that put him in a rather dangerous situation.
His face and personal file didn’t exist in the databases. To the city, he was a ghost or a nobody.
But what would happen if surveillance cameras kept catching an unidentified face? He had no desire to find out.
That’s why he had come up with Plan M.
"After the next block, turn right and climb onto the roof using the fire escape. As you walk along the edge of the roof, the cameras in this area will be below you and one to your right."
"Got it, boss... And change the song."
"Done. After a few more turns, you’ll be on the outskirts of Como."
A long time ago, together with Paymax, he had mapped out various routes that allowed him to get to his home or the Southville underground without ever getting picked up by cameras.
After grabbing a change of clothes from one of the stashes on the outskirts of Norwich, he finally felt safe... and in a surprisingly good mood.
"Hop..." He jumped down from a two-story building and immediately smelled that familiar, unpleasant odor. He was on his way home.
"Sure, the classics are great, but modern ones... It’s just on another level."
Hidden under his wide-brimmed hat were futuristic headphones with neon pink trim and cat ears. A girl named Monique had used them as a prop for one of her performances... But they were actually capable of producing insanely good sound.
"And with this... This one’s going to be fun." Another trophy hung from his belt—a small but powerful megaphone. It belonged to a boy named Thomas, who apparently loved to bother his neighbors.
But the main prize was something else...
"Paymax, do you think she’ll like it?"
"Camera at 12 o’clock, turn left immediately... If you want my opinion, cats don’t care about things like that."
"Come on, I’m sure she’ll love it. It’ll suit her perfectly."
A small black cape rested over his shoulder. It was a children’s-sized cape.
Apparently, Monique or Thomas had used it for costumes when they were very young, but Mr. Nobody...
"A black cat in a damn black cape. Nothing’s topping that."
Already seeing the outline of his house, he was practically buzzing over this prize.
...
"Déjà vu, then..." he whispered, idly nodding along to the music.
His thoughts returned to the strange feeling he’d had before the explosion in the alley.
He found it strange because the déjà vu didn’t refer to any of the events that had happened to him recently.
’Maybe it’s because of my nightmares? A feeling I experienced in a dream?’ He shook his head. ’It seems like it, but... it feels like something from long ago. Ancient, even. But not a past life...’
"..."
"..."
"..."
His house was already just a few dozen meters away. He walked, his head bowed in thought, until...
’That’s it! It was in the Pit, when I...’
"...Unsuspecting, walking straight into a predator’s jaws."
He stopped in his tracks, and the smile on his face faded completely."
’And it’s the same feeling I’m experiencing... right now.’ He raised his head and looked ahead.
"..." Leaning against the flickering lantern right in front of his house stood a tall man. He was wearing the same thing he himself was used to wearing—a wolf suit.
His heart dropped.
"...Mr. Nobody," the man called out calmly and stepped away from the lantern. "We’ve heard about you."
"..." He remained silent, cautiously glancing around.
’One or...’
*Thud...* A hand landed on his shoulder.
"You’ll have to come with us."
On either side of him, two more persons in formal suits were already there.
As if out of nowhere. As if they’d been waiting.
’They’ll find everyone, even me...’ He had always known this moment would come...
And now it had.
But he’d never expected things to turn out exactly like this.
"It’s a trap, Nobody!!! A trap!!!" His neighbor Harry’s face appeared in the twelfth-floor window.
"..." He carefully pulled his headphones down, pulling a silver strand free in the process.
"It’s a trap!!! They’ve got your cat, Nobody!!!"
"...This is going to be the worst decision of your lives, guys."