Vol 5 Chapter 3.1 (1/2)

These are English translations for the novel No. 6 by Asano Atsuko.

CHAPTER 3

Those Whose Buds Bloom

Then shall I speak of the two primal Spirits of existence, of whom the Very Holy thus spoke to the Evil One: neither our choices nor words nor acts, not our inner selves nor our souls agree. [1]

The baby started crying. Lying atop a grimy blanket filled with holes, it flailed wildly, raising a voice loud enough to echo off the ceiling.

Geez, enough of you already.

Inukas.h.i.+ clicked his tongue, and put the coins he was counting back into the bag. It was his profit for the day, and it was a hefty sum.

A night had pa.s.sed since the Hunt, and the West Block was still in the throes of confusion and anguish. n.o.body knew how many had been killed, kidnapped, or had escaped, and no one had the energy or the means of finding out.

Early this morning, Inukas.h.i.+ took a dog with him to walk down the bazaar. More accurately, it was what had been the bazaar―the patch of land where it had once been until yesterday.

Most of the buildings―though it was doubtful whether those barracks even deserved such a name―had been destroyed, and were reduced to rubble. This Hunt had been particularly large and sweeping compared to the ones before. No, that was an understatement. Although they had destroyed homes before, even razed them completely for the sake of capturing people, they had never been in the habit of being bent on destruction like this. If Inukas.h.i.+ could get a bird's-eye view from the sky, he would probably have seen a strange scene―a crater in the middle of the market, with debris forming a ring around the edges.

The bazaar had once been filled with a raucous, though lively bustle, lined with store barracks of questionable nature, with prost.i.tutes, pickpockets, starving children, old beggars, c.o.c.kroaches and rats roaming about. But in mere minutes, it had all but vanished from this land.

It's mindblowing.

Inukas.h.i.+ stood atop the ruins, and sighed. It was not a sigh of despair. He was not so innocent anymore to feel anguish towards this catastrophe. Rather, he was astonished.

This is how far they're gonna go.

The people of the West Block were not enemies. They had not retaliated. They had merely gathered there, without power or weapons. What reason did they have to be crushed to this extent?

Rather than feel anguish, or wrath, he found himself simply astonished.

This destructive power, such thorough ruthlessness. It amazed him.

He bent to pick up a piece of debris at his feet. Although it was crumbled badly, it had no burn marks. So No. 6 had not used firearms in the Hunt this time around. Usually they used outdated high-calibre weapons like cannons or howitzers; sometimes they simply burned everything to the ground with flamethrowers.

Inukas.h.i.+ twitched his nose. Even with his olfactory senses, he could not smell the distinctive smoky smell of firearms. Only the overwhelming stench of dead bodies wafted over to him. An odourless weapon. It would leave nothing in the wake of its destruction.

Acoustic shockwaves?

He tried saying it out loud. He remembered hearing a little about it before from Nezumi. They had been talking about whales. He didn't remember how they got to talking about them. Inukas.h.i.+ had neither touched nor seen a whale before. He didn't even know what the ocean was like. The world that Inukas.h.i.+ knew was limited to the ruined hotel and its surroundings. For as long as he could remember, he had lived within those boundaries. He had never thought of travelling outside of the West Block. He was satisfied with his segment of the world, with the ruins, his dogs, and the market at the centre. He had no intention of going anywhere. But Nezumi was a wanderer. He was the kind to appear on a whim, and disappear on a whim. He would never settle in one place. Inukas.h.i.+ didn't trust wanderers, and he didn't want anything to do with them if he could help it. But he was attracted to the the tales of the world that were spun from his mouth. They were stories of worlds he had never seen and would probably never see. The ocean was one of these. A wide, blue expanse br.i.m.m.i.n.g with salt.w.a.ter, and the enormous animals that lived within it―Inukas.h.i.+'s heart quickened with excitement just hearing about them. Although he had no intention of going anywhere, his heart was drawn to the unknown world that Nezumi told of. It was probably because of his skilful storytelling, and his beautiful voice―though ”beautiful” was far from adequate in describing it, ”beautiful” was often the only word he seemed to be able to come up with. And out of desire to hear his voice and singing, the residents of the West Block would sc.r.a.pe their meagre wages together, and would flock to the shabby playhouse.

Everyone falls into his trap so easily. But I'm not like that. Sure, I listened to his stories as if I were in a trance, but I wasn't tricked. I noticed. I still had enough wits to.

Inukas.h.i.+ threw his chest out, although there was no one to boast to on this pile of rubble.

But he had not missed it.

Inukas.h.i.+ had noticed Nezumi's tone of voice change slightly during his story about whales. It had grown flat, losing all of his softness that usually stroked the listener gently as if with a feather. It was just when Inukas.h.i.+ had picked a flea from one of his dog's furry collars and tossed it into his mouth.

”Acoustic shockwaves?” Inukas.h.i.+ licked his fingers, and echoed Nezumi. ”What's that?”

”A sound beam. They turn sound waves into shockwaves to numb the prey and capture it.”

”Those... spleen whales, or whatever?”

”Sperm whales.”

”Hah,” Inukas.h.i.+ ejected. ”Catching food with sound waves, huh. That's pretty impressive. If there was a sperm whale in front of me right now, I think I'd want an autograph.”

”Humans might do it too.”

”Uh?”

”I'm saying humans might start using it too.”

”Those acoustic shock-whatcha-ma-callits?”

”Yeah.”

”To catch food?”

”For destruction.”

To destroy with sound waves? Inukas.h.i.+ didn't understand. But then again, more than half of what Nezumi usually said was incomprehensible to him. Nor did he want to understand. But it was also true that many of those words he could not understand left a mark in his mind.

For destruction.

”Did he...”

Inukas.h.i.+ clenched a piece of debris in his hand.

Was he predicting that this would occur? Did he know that this destruction, this catastrophe was coming?

The wind was blowing. As if to mock what had happened, today was a bright, sunny day, and a beautiful blue sky spread out over his head. How alluring the colour was. It stung at his eyes.

Inukas.h.i.+ took a deep breath. His body trembled at the joy that he was alive, right this moment, and breathing. Many had died. Nezumi and s.h.i.+on were missing. They were either buried under this rubble, or had succeeded in sneaking into the Correctional Facility―either way, they would never meet again. He was sure they wouldn't.

Everyone's dead. Everyone's disappeared. But I'm still here, and I've survived. He licked his bottom lip. He was smiling, though at no one in particular.

I'm alive.

A triumphant glory raced through his body and made him want to let out a cry; it shook his body and soul with an even greater force. Loss? Listlessness? He had no time to be feeling those. Those who live are the winners. I lived. I win. Aren't I right, Nezumi?

A dog barked. It dug at the rubble with its front paws, nudged at it with its nose, and scrabbled at it again.

”Find anything?”

The dog, which had a grey coat and drooping ears, gave a proud bark, and trotted over to Inukas.h.i.+ to drop the contents of its mouth onto his palm. It was a silver coin.

”Good boy.” He patted the dog on the head. ”Now dig some more. We gotta find more cash.”

The dog's tail wagged furiously at being complimented by its master.

”Listen. This is where the meat shop used to be. Dig, and you'll find meat. That'll be your dinner tonight. Meat and money. Make sure you find both.”

This time, a small white dog gave a bark. In its mouth was a cloth pouch.

”Whoa, nice!”

There were no gold coins, but there were several silvers and plenty of loose change. Inukas.h.i.+ felt like jumping up and down. Frankly, he had not expected to find this much booty this easily.

I'm lucky today. Might be the best luck I've had yet.

He encouraged his dogs to dig more, find more.

He had already heard that the owner of the meat shop had a fat sum of money stored away. He had just confirmed that owner of the meat shop was lying lifeless underneath the rubble. A familiar hairy arm had been poking out from a gap in a crumbled wall. It was the same arm that used to throw twigs and stones at kids loitering in front of the store, or at beggars. Inukas.h.i.+ himself had nearly been punched by that arm once. The man had worn large golden rings on his thumb and index finger, and every time he swung his arm up for a blow, they used to glitter. Inukas.h.i.+ made away with the ring on his index finger. It didn't go as well for his thumb, for it had been blown off entirely.

He was a stingy, greedy b.a.s.t.a.r.d. But too bad. Once you're a corpse, you can't spend your money, much less save it.

After the meat shop, Inukas.h.i.+ planned to dig up the used-clothing stall next door. If he did it well, maybe he could get his hands on two, three wearable pieces of clothing. He wanted a thick jacket preferably, but he would take even a single s.h.i.+rt, a single cape. After that was the food stall. If he could find the large soup pot that they used to stir leftovers in over the fire, it would come in handy.

Inukas.h.i.+ felt a presence. His eyes darted around, and he clicked his tongue quietly. Quite a number of people had appeared out of nowhere, and were beginning to dig up the piles of rubble as well. Some unearthed something and raised a cry, like Inukas.h.i.+ had just done. A gaggle of dirty children were fighting over a piece of cloth, presumably a blanket. For the time being here in the West Block, physical items would probably be more cherished than money. Money was useless in a destroyed place like this. But within a month, this place would turn back into a market again, unchanged from before. It would be lined with the same haphazard shops, people would come and go, and the place would fill with bellows, cheers, laughs, and smells of every kind. Prost.i.tutes would stand in the dim alleyways, and beggars would wander about. Gold and silver would speak, and speak loudly.

More and more people flocked to the debris. They seemed to spring up out of the destroyed buildings themselves. If Inukas.h.i.+ dawdled any longer, all the valuable items would be carried off. He had countless compet.i.tors.

What pain-in-the-a.s.ses.

Inukas.h.i.+ clicked his tongue again before laughing voicelessly. He lifted his face, and threw a glance at the dim outline of No. 6's fortress walls in the distance, the walls of special alloy.

No. 6, this is who we are. No matter how many times you step on us, we'll raise our heads again. We'll never be destroyed. We'll crawl across the ground, we'll set our roots down, and we'll live. We're a lot tougher than you think.

He narrowed his eyes. The special alloy caught the streams of light coming from the sky, and glittered. Inukas.h.i.+ had always averted his eyes from that light. It had been too blinding for his eyes. But not today. The glittering wall looked as cheap and flimsy as the rings on the meat shop owner's hand.

”Maybe you're the one that's fragile.” He startled himself. He glanced around, wondering if someone else had muttered it, but there was no one else around, other than his dogs, within hearing distance. Inukas.h.i.+ was the only one who spoke a human language.

He pressed a hand to his mouth, and scowled.

He wasn't supposed to think about No. 6. He wasn't supposed to have anything to do with it. The Holy City had always reigned over their heads. It was a tyrant. It possessed absolute strength, and crushed the West Block beneath its feet. But on the other hand, it was also true that people and merchandise trickled out of the city into the West Block through smuggling routes. It was also true that Inukas.h.i.+ himself gained a share of the profits that came from it.

He would latch onto No. 6 like a flea or tick, and live on. After all, their existence was nothing more than fleas and ticks to No. 6―though city residents had probably never seen a flea or tick before.

That was what he had thought all along.

The Holy City reigns; as for us, we're as good as insects.

Thinking like that did him no harm. He had long discarded any pride or shame. Once he did away with useless things, and told himself that was just how things were, he could live anywhere.

This was Inukas.h.i.+'s philosophy, which he had built up during his life. He had lived by it, with his dogs, and done decently more or less.

But these days, he felt a little strange. The axis of his philosophy was beginning to wobble. The fortress walls of the Holy City, which were supposed to be absolute, sometimes looked to him like a cheap toy. Here he was, mumbling things like, 'maybe you're the one that's fragile'. There was something wrong with this. It was clearly odd.

He thought maybe―what if―but shook his head.

It was an absurd story. Absurd, indeed. A tick was a tick. As long as he minded not to get squished and could manage to suck a little blood in the process, it was good. It was wise not to even think about whether he could tear through the other's vulnerable spot.

Inukas.h.i.+ told himself so, and grimaced again. His mind was frantic, urging him to dig out things of worth instead of leaving it all to his dogs, but his hands remained still.

With his hands dangling, Inukas.h.i.+ furrowed his brow, and turned his scowling face to the city walls.

The Holy City reigns.

As for us, we're as good as insects.

But too late, the thought had occurred to him: he could shake the foundations of that relations.h.i.+p. He could tear through that artificial wall, and lay No. 6 exposed and naked. It was their fault. Those two―s.h.i.+on and Nezumi―poisoned my mind.

Suddenly, s.h.i.+on's face flashed in his memory. It was so sudden, Inukas.h.i.+ arched his back and stumbled over, almost touching the ground behind him with his hand.

s.h.i.+on. The boy whom Nezumi had brought with him. He was a resident of No. 6, hopelessly dense, and―hard to believe―a first-rate criminal.

It was utterly unbelievable. Speaking of fleas and ticks, could he even bring himself to kill any? And that hair. Despite being young, his hair was pure white. It was too weird. Well, maybe his hair wasn't so bad. It was s.h.i.+ny, and not the kind of hair you'd see anywhere. If Inukas.h.i.+ could somehow manage to peel his scalp off, perhaps it would sell for a good price―but never mind, his appearance wasn't the only weird thing about him; in fact, he was weirder than his appearance.

”Yeah.” s.h.i.+on's clear answer reverberated in his ears. Are the people of No. 6 the same humans as us? Inukas.h.i.+ had asked. s.h.i.+on had given a clear answer.

”Yeah.”

Inukas.h.i.+ had scoffed at him, but the instant he had heard those words, his chest had thumped loudly.

The same humans. So the people who lived on this side and that side of the wall were the same?

Yeah.

Inukas.h.i.+ could tell more than easily that s.h.i.+on wasn't just saying this for the sake of saying it; he honestly believed it. According to s.h.i.+on, it didn't matter where you lived, what colour skin or hair you had; any person fell into the category of ”human”. It was weirder than anything he could believe. I should've asked him where he learned that.

And Nezumi. He was no good, either. He was mysterious, much more dangerous than s.h.i.+on. Some day, he was planning to utterly destroy No. 6. He was planning to slash No. 6 and tear it apart, like he would slit open a person's belly and drag out their organs with his skilful knife.

Inukas.h.i.+ rubbed his arms. He had gooseb.u.mps. It wasn't because of the cool air. Every time he thought of Nezumi, he got these. He was afraid. He would've rather died than admit it, but Inukas.h.i.+ felt a horror towards Nezumi. From the first time they'd met, he had been afraid of him. Those grey eyes, that soul-s.n.a.t.c.hing voice, his way with the knife: it wasn't normal. It was impossible to get a big picture of him. He couldn't place a finger on him. For some reason, it was horrifying. But what was strange was that Nezumi was afraid of s.h.i.+on. Inukas.h.i.+ wasn't completely sure, but he could feel it. Inukas.h.i.+ trusted his instincts.

Nezumi was afraid of s.h.i.+on. The reason was beyond him, but this was no mistake. Both of them were weirdos. Odd. But I―I let myself get poisoned by those two. And I believed them―that we could one day shatter those walls, and bring them down.

A dog barked. It had apparently found some meat. Drool was dripping from the sides of its mouth. It looked up at Inukas.h.i.+ in a pleading way.

”Eat.” Inukas.h.i.+ jerked his chin. The three dogs pounced on the hunk of meat. A hollow-cheeked boy was was staring at them intently. Inukas.h.i.+ sniffed loud enough for him to hear.

Too bad, kid. Here, you gotta find your own food. No one's gonna give you a handout.

The boy left. The dogs latched onto the meat, and sunk their teeth into it. The sky was blue, and there was not a single cloud in the sky.

s.h.i.+on, Nezumi.

He looked up at the heavens.

Have you really gone away? Will we really never see each other again? Have you guys really left? Am I the only one here?

The glory that had raced through his body only moments before showed no sign of bubbling up again.

How am I supposed to face that wall here in this West Block, without you guys here?

Awooo.

A dog whined. It wasn't any of the dogs he had brought with him. Inukas.h.i.+ could distinguish each of his dogs by their bark.

This voice was―

Inukas.h.i.+ leapt off the wreckage, and gave a short whistle. A large, tan dog came bounding out of the shadows of what remained of the meat shop from yesterday. It pounced on Inukas.h.i.+.

”You made it alive, huh.”

If the Hunt was close, it would be dangerous to roam the bazaar. But if he shut himself up in the ruins, he wouldn't be able to do business. So Inukas.h.i.+ had ordered this dog to scout the bazaar out. Since it had not come home last night, he had given up, a.s.suming that the dog had been rounded up in the Hunt. Inukas.h.i.+ hadn't expected it to be alive.

”Good job, you pulled through it. But why didn't you come straight home? Hm? You hurt or somethin'?”

Inukas.h.i.+ ran his hands quickly over the dog's body. No blood came off on his hands. It didn't seem to be in pain. It was dirty, but not hurt.

”Well then, what were you up to?” he said sternly. ”If you were alive, you should've come straight―” he stopped mid-sentence. He could hear crying. It wasn't the dog. It was― a human? And it sounded like a baby. The dog clamped its jaws on Inukas.h.i.+'s sleeve, and yanked.

”What?”

The dog was telling him to follow. Inukas.h.i.+ had a bad feeling. He never had good feelings about anything, and if he did they often weren't right, but he always had bad feelings. And they often turned out to be right.

Oh come on, don't tell me....

The dog led its master between the ruins of the meat shop and clothing store. It turned back, and flicked its ears proudly. Inukas.h.i.+ stood still, and stared at the thing that was nestled in the crack between a crumbled wall and the ground. His gaze wandered for an instant once, then he blinked, and scrutinized the s.p.a.ce between the wall and the ground.

It was a baby. No matter how he looked at it, it was a human baby. Wrapped in a dark cloth, it was wailing. It was a clamorous, energetic voice, almost unsuited for this place.

”Were you here with this kid the whole night? Warming him up so he wouldn't freeze?”

You bet, the dog's impressive brown tail seemed to say, as it wagged side to side.

”Idiot,” Inukas.h.i.+ snapped at him. ”What are you gonna do, picking up a human baby? What good is he, if you can't even sell or eat him? What were you thinking?”

Although probably not due to Inukas.h.i.+'s bellow, the baby's wailing escalated to a shrill scream. It was a voice loud enough to make Inukas.h.i.+ wonder for a second if the wall would collapse from its sheer volume. He hastily turned his back to it.