Vol 4 Chapter 2.2 (1/2)
This is a continuation of PART A.
* * *
”Samples of what?”
”I don't know. I just know it said something about their collection status―you needed a special pa.s.sword to access it. The only thing I know is that this and the mayor's project...”
”Are connected.”
”I imagine they are.”
Sample. What a cold, desolate word. s.h.i.+on felt a chill.
Safu. He cast his thoughts to her, and his chill got worse.
”s.h.i.+on,” Nezumi called. The darkness s.h.i.+fted. ”That's about it. We can't get anything else out of this guy.” His words also had a cold, desolate ring. The man perceived their coldness and stiffened.
”Are you going to―k-kill me?”
”Of course.” Nezumi's boot stepped over the blood splatters, now beginning to congeal.
”I-I've told you everything I know. I talked. This isn't what we promised.”
”We didn't promise anything. Promises or agreements don't exist between people like you and I.”
”Stop, please―I don't want to die!”
”Nezumi, that's enough.” s.h.i.+on stood between him and the man. ”There's no need to scare him like that. You've done enough. We have to take him back and drop him off somewhere near the gates. Rikiga-san―”
”Yeah, I know. I gotcha. I'll bring the car around.”
”He's our enemy.” The unsheathed knife spun around in Nezumi's hand. ”Are we just gonna let him slip through our hands like that?”
”It's not necessary at this point. We don't need to kill him.”
Heh. Lending the upper-half of his body to the darkness, Nezumi gave a quiet laugh.
”And when would you say it is necessary? Do you think this guy will go back to No. 6 and keep quiet about us?”
”Yeah.”
s.h.i.+on lifted his chin, and looked straight through the darkness. He aligned his gaze with the pair of grey eyes at the other end. Have you noticed, Nezumi? No matter how dark or blindingly bright it is, I'm never led astray―my eyes always find yours.
”He won't tell anyone. If he did, he would be threatening his own life. Just think―a high official of the Central Administration Bureau, entering a prohibited area like the West Block for no apparent objective, with no official permission. What would happen if people found out? He's more than aware of the risks. There's no way he would give us away. You should know this already.”
”How the h.e.l.l should I know?” Nezumi stepped soundlessly forward. ”There's no guarantee that this guy won't slip and mention a... certain group in the West Block sniffing around about the Correctional Facility.”
”He won't talk.”
”s.h.i.+on.” Nezumi's voice lowered slightly. ”I'm gonna ask you again. Do you plan on letting him go home alive?”
”Yeah.”
An arm stretched towards him. In less than a blink of an eye, s.h.i.+on was trapped in Nezumi's embrace. Nezumi's arms were thin, and certainly didn't seem to be that strong at a glance―but it only took a single arm for him to arrest s.h.i.+on's movements completely. s.h.i.+on felt an icy sensation at his neck―the blade of a knife.
”I've had enough of your half-a.s.sed justice and fake goodwill,” Nezumi said quietly. ”It makes me sick. I've been meaning to tell you this, s.h.i.+on―you won't survive unless you tear off that self-righteous, artificial mask. I could care less if you went off to die by yourself, but don't get the rest of us involved. We don't have time to be fooling around trying to decide if it's 'necessary' to do something or not. Enemies are enemies. We kill or get killed. That's all there is to it.”
The blade slid along his neck. s.h.i.+on felt a small, sharp pain. His eyes were transfixed to Nezumi. For just a brief moment, a sweet thrill stirred in the core of his body. To take one in his arms, and slit his throat―
An embrace of death.
This was, indeed, the feat of a devil.
Nezumi withdrew. When s.h.i.+on brought a hand to his neck, and felt it pulsing with heat. His palm was smeared with blood. With his gaze still on Nezumi, s.h.i.+on clenched his fingers.
”Rikiga-san, the car.”
”Huh?”
”If you could take him home by car, please.”
”Oh―right, yeah.”
s.h.i.+on turned to the man, and gave him a smile.
”I'm sorry we've done such horrible things to you. But it was the only way we had.”
”s.h.i.+on...” The man blinked several times as he studied s.h.i.+on's face. ”I remember there was a first-degree criminal by that name. He was a fallen elite who'd gone insane. He poisoned his co-worker, then fled to the West Block―is that you?”
”Been blown out of proportion pretty badly, hasn't it?” s.h.i.+on couldn't help but give a wry smile. Karan's face rose into his mind. He thought of the hards.h.i.+ps she must be facing, living in a society where rumours of her son constantly flooded her ears―her son, the murderer. His heart ached. But no matter how much it did, there was nothing he could do. He could do nothing other than say, Mom, I'm sorry. But Nezumi had delivered his plea for forgiveness to his mother. He had pa.s.sed on his one-line note. Those scribbled words had pulled Karan a step out of the depths of her despair. It was all thanks to Nezumi. For now, he knew that Karan was not exposed to any danger. So he would suppress the pain in his heart, and forget about his mother. He would not think of her. He would think only of Safu.
Instead of scattering his heart hither and thither, he would carefully select where to put it, and discard all other thoughts. He needed the power to do it, or else he would not survive. s.h.i.+on had acquired this power long before he realized he had.
The man slowly shook his head.
”I don't believe it.” He jerked his chin at s.h.i.+on. ”Your face is totally different from the first-degree criminal I saw on the screen. It's like you two are different people.”
”Well, my hair colour's changed. And I've lost a bit of weight, I think.”
”No, that's not what I mean―ah, well, I guess you can say the shape of your face, your facial features are the same... but it's different. Your demeanour is totally different. He had really deranged eyes. He looked aggressive―even my co-worker was saying he looked like he would kill someone. And he was right. His eyes weren't so―gentle like yours. You two are totally different. Total strangers.”
”It's more than easy to modify someone's face,” Rikiga said, through a mouthful of the remainder of his gin. ”And not just his face. If the authorities wish it, they can conjure or twist around any information to their advantage. Hardly something you should be surprised about, Fura-san. Isn't it part of your job to manipulate information at the authorities' beck and call?”
”Rather rude of you, Rikiga.”
”Because it's the truth.” Rikiga shook the last droplet onto his tongue, and sighed deeply. ”And that just makes it all the more difficult to bear. Is there such a thing as real truth in No. 6?”
”I've never taken part in such lowly activities like manipulating information. I've only handled its management and release.”
”And have you ever doubted where the information was coming from?”
”What?”
”All you've been doing is receiving information from the city, and pa.s.sing it along to the media. You've never doubted the truth of that information, have you?”
”Of course not. How could I ever doubt―”
Rikiga's thick hand rested on s.h.i.+on's shoulder.
”This kid that's here in front of you, and the criminal with deranged eyes. That gap is the gap between false information and the truth.”
The man opened his trembling lips to say something, and made a guttural noise in his throat. Though the room had no heat, beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. After a silence that lasted for almost a minute, the man's lips finally stopped trembling as he called out s.h.i.+on's name.
”s.h.i.+on.”
”Yes.”
”You said you wanted information about the Correctional Facility.”
”Yes.”
”And you said it was to help a friend.”
”Yes. The Security Bureau suddenly put her under arrest, and sent her to the Correctional Facility.”
”Her name?”
”Safu. She was supposed to be on exchange abroad, as an elite candidate.”
”Do you know her citizens.h.i.+p number?”
”Citizens.h.i.+p number...”
They had eaten together the day before Safu was to fly out on her exchange. On their way to the station, they had been stopped by a law enforcement officer from the Security Bureau, and asked to display their ID cards. The number that Safu had recited was it. He closed his eyes, and shuffled through his memory. Although he was no computer, he had considerable ability to memorize and acc.u.mulate information, to sort and apply it. This skill had been developed and polished from a young age. For him, it was not difficult to instantly recall a series of letters and numbers, even if it had only been uttered once.
”It's SSC-000124GJ.”
”SSC-000124GJ,” the man repeated twice. ”I don't know any incident of a citizen by that number being apprehended by the Security Bureau.”
”The incident has happened, in secret. You just don't know about it.”
”And you all are planning to save her?”
”Yes.”
”You're going to help a criminal break out of the Correctional Facility,” the man said in disbelief. ”―You're not serious?”
”Safu isn't a criminal. She hasn't committed any crime. If anyone has, it's whoever captured her.”
Inukas.h.i.+ yawned widely.
”Hey, you know, this is great and all, but would anyone mind if I excused myself and went to bed? I gotta get up early tomorrow morning to take care of the dogs.”
”You're right,” Rikiga agreed. ”If we keep him too late, even Mr. Big-Shot's ID card wouldn't be enough to get him back through the gates. Shall we go, Fura-sama?”
The man ignored Rikiga, and remained stiff and unmoving. A bead of sweat rolled down his face, mingled with blood, and dripped from the tip of his chin. Just as the droplet hit the back of his hand, the man whispered faintly.
”I have the latest.”
”Huh?”
”I have the latest. But the portion where the new facility has been built is still blank.”
s.h.i.+on widened his eyes in disbelief, and knelt on both knees in front of the man. His voice was hoa.r.s.e from excitement.
”You're going to tell us about the inside of the Correctional Facility?”
The man remained silent. He wiped his streaming sweat, and nodded. Inukas.h.i.+ slipped forth. He fished out a white mouse-shaped robot, and held its small head firmly. The robot split open at its back, and a beam of reddish-yellow light fanned out upwards. An image appeared in it. The man's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed.
”A hologram, huh.”
”That's what they call it. I don't know much myself. The red circles are where the security devices are, according to what I've gathered. So, how is it? No mistakes, are there, old man?”
Inukas.h.i.+ peered into the man's face, twitching the tip of his nose. The man continued staring at the floorplan of the Correctional Facility as if glued to it.
”Electronic pen?” Nezumi offered a silver pen to him.
”No. I'll use my own.” The extracted a pen from his inner coat pocket, and inserted the tip of it into the light. The gauze on the back of his hand was beginning to bleed through; the expression on his face was tense, and his fingertips were shaking―but nevertheless, the pen swept smoothly through the air, drawing countless complicated lines onto the diagram.
”Whoa―awesome,” Inukas.h.i.+ raised his voice amazement. Rikiga was looking down at the man with a pitying gaze.
The pen slipped from the man's hand and fell onto the floor.
”This... is about all I know.”
The number of security devices had grown to three times more than what Inukas.h.i.+ had originally put down. In contrast, the number of cells housing prisoners had shrunk to two-thirds. Automatic barriers were placed in the hallways at intervals, perhaps to prevent prisoners from escaping, or intruders from entering the premises. Once activated, they would come down and trap any runaway or intruder. Or rather, they would dispose of them.
s.h.i.+on swallowed hard. Judging by the layout of the electrical circuits, it looked like the barriers were made to release high-voltage current. Once the walls blocked the intruder and cut him off from any means of escape, the chamber would instantly become an electric chair. The hallway would become an execution ground.
”It's like a citadel.” s.h.i.+on exhaled.
”It's a place of holocaust.” Nezumi picked the pen up, and put it back in the man's pocket. ”Eventually it'll become a brilliant monument of genocide.”
”Genocide―” s.h.i.+on repeated. ”How many people have been killed here?”
Nezumi slowly shook his head.
”s.h.i.+on, it's not 'have been'. It's not a thing of the past yet. People are still being killed right now. The cells have decreased, but it's not because there are less prisoners. There are just less of them that are being put into the cells. You understand what I'm saying, right?”
”Yeah.”
They would dispose of prisoners before they even got to their cells. They would simply be discarded, like garbage.
Rikiga gave a short groan, and put a hand to his mouth. Sweat glistened on his pale face.
”Stop that,” he said. ”It's making me feel ill.”
”You must be kidding me,” Inukas.h.i.+ said indignantly. ”Don't even think about throwing up in my room.” He swung his thin arms around wildly.
”I have a question.” Nezumi, still on one knee, pointed at the hologram. ”Why do you know so much? How can you remember the inside of the Correctional Facility in such detail?”
”I had a look at it just recently―there was a section in the top-secret files about the Correctional Facility. I skimmed through the ones about the interior layout.”
”And what exactly are these top-secret files about the Correctional Facility?”
”Well―”
”It can't be the mayor's project. It has to be top-secret information that's still accessible to high officials of your rank―what is it?”
The man gritted his teeth. The cut inside his mouth seemed to bother him, and he gave a scowl.