Vol 4 Chapter 5 (2/2)
Oh, oh, oh...
Oh, oh, oh...
Nezumi lifted his chin, and s.h.i.+fted his body slightly.
A song rang out. It was a song s.h.i.+on had never heard before.
On the mountaintop far away, the snows are melting
Becoming the stream that colours green in the beech wood
The fields are now br.i.m.m.i.n.g with blossoms
And a maiden more beautiful than they
Makes a vow of love in the beech wood
O youth
Wet your feet in the green waters
And gallop to me like a deer
Before the blossoms fall, come and kiss the maiden's hair
It was a strange voice. Inukas.h.i.+ had once said that his song was like the wind, and that it stole the soul away like a wind scattering flower petals. He was right―s.h.i.+on could feel his heart being enveloped by the song, and his soul being beckoned away. In this hopeless s.p.a.ce without a ray of light, for just an instant, flowers bloomed, water babbled, and the lovers glowed.
The sobbing ceased. The people were enchanted by the song.
Here, in this h.e.l.lish place, they had heard a beautiful song. It was like they had encountered a miracle. And it meant that these things could happen. Even if we've been cast down into the pits of h.e.l.l, it doesn't mean we've been torn away whole from beautiful things.
Nezumi caught his breath, and gave a dry cough.
”That was a stretch. There's just not enough air in here. My voice won't last.”
”That's more than enough,” s.h.i.+on rea.s.sured him. ”It's amazing... I don't know how to describe it... this is my first time hearing you sing.”
”Well, the acoustics here aren't the greatest. There's no orchestra, and no spotlight. On the stage it would look a little better.”
”I'd love to hear it.”
”Then let me extend you an invitation. Box seats, the best in the house. You should bring Inukas.h.i.+ and his baby too.”
”I will. I bet even a crying baby would quiet down after hearing you sing.”
”s.h.i.+on, I was kidding,” Nezumi said flatly. ”Don't take it seriously.”
”Eve.” Someone raised his voice in the darkness. ”Sing for us, Eve. Don't stop singing.”
”Yeah, Eve. Sing for us.”
s.h.i.+on touched Nezumi's shoulder.
”Everyone wants to hear your song.”
”I'm being put through slave labour now, am I?”
”You can save people with your singing. Nezumi, you're amazing.” Even s.h.i.+on himself knew how inept his words of praise sounded. He was embarra.s.sed. But he did mean what he said.
Nezumi, you're amazing.
”s.h.i.+on, you can't save people with songs or tales,” Nezumi said coldly. ”It'll make them forget their suffering for a little while. But that's about all it can do. They can't save people in any of the real sense of the word.”
”Eve, sing us 'All the s.h.i.+mmering Things',” a woman's voice pleaded.
”Geez,” Nezumi muttered. ”If the Manager finds out I've got fans even in a place like this, he'd probably burst into tears of joy.”
Sing for us, Eve. In this moment, give us your song.
The truck slackened its speed just a little.
”We've pa.s.sed through the gates,” Nezumi muttered, in a voice low enough that only s.h.i.+on could hear. Then he began to sing softly again. This song had a loping tempo, with a touch of melancholy.
The pearls at the bottom of the sea
The stars winking in the night sky
And the love that rests in my heart
All the s.h.i.+mmering things I surrender to you
The sea grows stormy―the pearls disappear
The sky grows stormy―the stars disappear
But my love will never change
Through generations of time
Things that s.h.i.+mmer for eternity are just
The truck stopped. The song cut off abruptly, and atmosphere in the cargo container froze over again.
”s.h.i.+on, you hear me?” Nezumi whispered quietly. His voice was heavy now, completely different from when he was singing. ”No matter what happens, don't get separated from me.”
s.h.i.+on nodded. He clenched his fists.
No matter what happens, I'll never leave you.
The truck doors opened.
”Get off the truck.”
The crowd swarmed off the truck as they were told. s.h.i.+on followed the throng. Nezumi nudged him in the ribs.
”That's the Correctional Facility. The place thy breast hath ached longingly for.”
s.h.i.+on swallowed. He swallowed, and stared at the building before him. It was a building of white walls. This piece of architecture, almost devoid of any embellishments and clearly designed to prioritize efficiency, was something s.h.i.+on was used to seeing in No. 6.
Apart from the fact that it had very few windows, this building looked perfectly normal. Its height was about the same as that of the Moondrop, and four wings about two storeys high protruded from it in different directions, like arms. The protrusions were perhaps unusual, but not something that gave off an oppressive or foreboding air.
s.h.i.+on had expected something more hideous. He had believed it to be something so hideous, he would not be able to lay his eyes on it.
The Correctional Facility, which was coloured crimson in the rays of the setting sun, could easily pa.s.s as a medical building. It appeared a sterile and functional place to the eye.
It was far from what he had imagined.
This was the Correctional Facility―and this was where Safu was.
”This would be the back of the building,” Nezumi said. ”The front doesn't look much different, though. So, how is it? Looks a lot more decent than you imagined, doesn't it?”
”A lot more decent,” s.h.i.+on agreed. ”It almost looks like a normal building.”
”Yup. But maybe 'normal' is the scariest thing about it.”
”Walk forward.”
The mob lurched forward. The line fell slightly out of array few metres ahead of s.h.i.+on. Someone had collapsed. A soldier approached, and dragged the person away from the line. It was an old woman wrapped in a tattered shawl. She was thrown out onto the ground like a rag doll.
”Nezumi, what's gonna happen to her?”
”Don't worry yourself with other people's problems. Even if you knew what would happen, it's not like you'd be able to do anything.”
Another person fell. It was a young woman. Her clothes were torn, and she buckled to her knees, with her arms covering her bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s. One of the soldiers out of the evenly-s.p.a.ced line dragged her out promptly. The same thing was occurring both behind and in front of s.h.i.+on.
Are they sorting us?
Saliva welled up inside his mouth.
They put us in a confined s.p.a.ce, so crowded we couldn't breathe; put us through confusion, despair, terror... but even after that brutal experience, now they're selecting those who can still manage to walk in a straight line?
”Yeah,” Nezumi nodded. ”They're sorting us. They're disposing of the ones who've gotten weak or died during the transport.”
”What's the sorting for?”
”I don't know. I still don't know what they're planning to use us for.”
”Funny you wouldn't know, huh, even though you seem to know everything I'm thinking about.”
”Heavens,” Nezumi exclaimed in mock surprise. ”To think you can still be sarcastic in these conditions! That's quite something. Worthy of praise, my boy.”
”I was trained by you―I've toughened up.”
”But the real sorting is only starting.”
”Just starting, huh...”
They trudged in the bl.u.s.tering wind. In that time, several people collapsed, and were removed from the line.
Among them were those who lay still, those who shook in the cold, and those groaning in pain. Without exception, they were all dragged out and herded into one spot.
What's going to happen to them? What's going to happen, what's going to happen? I don't know. Even if I did, there would be nothing I could do to help it.
His emotions began to grow numb, starting from the extremities. He was getting used to atrocity. He was becoming unperceptive to brutal murder. His thoughts slowed and became sluggish. The death of others no longer fazed him.
s.h.i.+on reached out and grabbed Nezumi's arm. He made sure he could feel the body of flesh at his fingertips.
Nezumi, keep me as the human I am.
”There's a chance―” Nezumi dropped his gaze. ”―that you might change.”
”Huh?”
”Here―in this Correctional Facility, you might change.”
”What're you talking about?”
”Maybe the time will come when I'll finally realize―I never knew a thing about you.”
”Nezumi, what are you saying?”
Nezumi clamped his mouth shut, and fell silent.
The people were ordered to stop in front of a set of black doors.
”Begin entering, starting with the ones at the front. Do not make any noise.”
The line was divided into three groups, and the first group disappeared beyond the other side of the door. There was not a sound. A few minutes later, the door opened again.
”Next.”
It was s.h.i.+on and his group's turn.
We're going in there?
Into the interior of the Correctional Facility.
He had steeled himself. He had already made the decision. But he could not help shrinking back a little. His heart was expanding so much, he felt like it would burst through his pectoral muscles.
”This was the only way,” Nezumi said softly, his gaze staring steadily ahead. ”This was the only way we had, s.h.i.+on.”
”Nezumi...”
”Let's go.”
”Yeah.”
A gust of wind blew past them. The doors swung open on each side.
”Eve,” someone yelled suddenly from somewhere behind. ”A song for us. A song―”
A soldier wordlessly fired his gun. There was the heavy thud of a body crumpling on the ground. The voice was cut off mid-scream, and the roar of the wind grew stronger.
d.a.m.nit.
Nezumi's lips moved to form the words.
d.a.m.nit. Someday, someday surely I'll―
”Move forward.”
Beyond the door was a world of darkness.
It was too dark to decipher how large the s.p.a.ce was. Like the cargo container, they were squeezed in well past the capacity of people it could hold.
The doors closed.
Lurch. The whole room began to shake. And it began to move. They were moving down at a considerable speed.
”An elevator, huh.” The floorplan of the Correctional Facility emerged in s.h.i.+on's mind. The blank s.p.a.ce underground. This is it. We're moving down into that place.
They were descending. Descending. It was like they were falling into the abyss.
Nezumi's arm slid around his waist.
”Hold onto me. No matter what happens, never let go.”
”Nezumi, what―”
”We're going to h.e.l.l together.”
The arm around his waist grew tighter.
”But we're coming back alive. Don't forget that, s.h.i.+on.”
”Of course.”
The elevator stopped. The darkness wavered.
”We're gonna fall.”
Nezumi's voice echoed into a world cloaked in darkness.
-- END OF CHAPTER --
Read Volume 5 Chapter 1.
Notes
Translated from the j.a.panese, as I could not find a published English translation. If anyone knows the original Chinese and can do a translation, please let me know! For reference, here is the j.a.panese (it may have borrowed the Chinese characters directly): (back)
天空には黒雲がたちこめ、
大地には狂風が吹きすさび、
七月七夜黒雲がおおい、
九月九夜暴風が吹き荒れた。
江水は天辺にみなぎり、
河水は地角に蔓延した。 Font credit to Ingo Zimmermann for Biro Script (s.h.i.+on).
<script>