Vol 8 Chapter 3.1 (1/2)

CHAPTER 3

of war's impartial contention

hold back, cease from the struggle of war's impartial contention,

-Homer, The Odyssey

Give me strength. Please. He prayed, but not to G.o.d. He prayed to the girl with the wilful gaze. Safu, give us strength. A little more, just a little strength for us...

The door opened, but not by enough. They could not escape yet. Nezumi heard laboured breathing behind him.

”s.h.i.+on...”

s.h.i.+on was getting to his feet. He silently stretched his hands out, and his fingers grasped the door. They looked at each other. Tsukiyo poked his face out of the folds of superfibre and cried once, loudly.

Cheep!

Nezumi and s.h.i.+on took that as their signal to push the door with all their might. The gap widened so that one person could slip through with some effort.

The elevator careened. His feet stumbled unsteadily.

”Hurry, get out!” Nezumi pushed s.h.i.+on out before squeezing through the gap. The elevator gave an irritating screech, which turned into a rumble. It hurtled downwards as if it had been waiting for the two to escape before setting off.

Nezumi closed his eyes for a moment. My grat.i.tude, Safu. Sweat poured down his cheeks. The wound on his leg throbbed. His heart pounded against his pectoral muscles from the inside.

He was in pain.

His mental and physical strength was whittled down, crumbling off, and barely remaining. He was in pain, yet―this pain, this throbbing, this heartbeat was nothing less than proof that he was alive. He was still alive. Still alive.

He opened his eyes and took in his surroundings.

He saw scattered gla.s.s shards and a wet corridor. Two men lying dead. The black-haired soldier and Ras.h.i.+ were unchanged from how Nezumi and s.h.i.+on had left them.

One was lying in the corridor covered in blood, and another was thrown out on the ground near the wall. The barriers were gone. The sprinklers were off. There was no human shadow or presence.

Nothing. Only Nezumi and s.h.i.+on's breathing could be heard, almost too loudly.

Whoom. Something exploded. He spun around and saw smoke coming out of a room at the end of the hall. It was the room they had fallen into after destroying the ventilation duct. Flames soon licked through the door left ajar.

It was burning.

A similar-sounding explosion rocked them from the floor below. He could hear the commotion and people screaming.

The computer systems on each floor were executing the same program of exploding and bursting into flames. Like loyal subjects, all devices within the Correctional Facility were following after the mother computer.

Were these machines following in their master's footsteps, despite the fact that they had no soul? No; they had only been programmed to do so. The mother's failure meant death for all systems within the Correctional Facility. They were configured to self-detonate as soon as they stopped receiving signals from the mother. It was nothing as lax as the information being wiped or deleted, or the device itself going out of operation. They were forcibly destroyed.

So were they following the master to her grave after all? It was forced suicide. The system ended everything along with itself. It allowed nothing to survive. Had the creator of this system directly applied the dictator's logic?

The flames had crawled into the corridor. The heat attacked them. Smoke filled the air thickly. None of the extinguis.h.i.+ng devices were operating. Neither smoke extraction devices nor air filtration devices were working. A system which had been so flawlessly tuned to eradicate unwanted objects was completely useless.

”s.h.i.+on, go down. We have to escape downwards.”

They clambered down the stairs. Hot air blew at them here as well. Personnel were screaming and rus.h.i.+ng to escape.

”Fire! It's a fire!”

”No, it was an explosion! Suddenly I couldn't control the thing anymore. Oh, look at this mess!”

”Help me! My arm, it's been blown off―a doctor―”

”Oh, I'm so scared―we have to escape, quickly!”

”What's going on? What's the matter? Nothing seems to work. The automatic doors aren't opening. What's wrong with the lights?”

”Someone, this person's covered in blood. Someone, please!”

”The smoke... it's choking me.”

”We can't use the elevator. The stairs―only the stairs are left.”

It was truly a pandemonium. A mob of lab coats stormed the stairs as each one tried to get down before the other. Some slipped and fell on top of others. Some tried to help their friends; others stepped over the fallen ones and fled; some wept; some cried out directions for the emergency route. A woman helped a bleeding man to his feet; a man shoved a staggering woman out of his way as he ran past her―each one showed his true colours in this tragic scene.

An even louder explosion shook the air.

It had evidently blown a hole somewhere, for the air began to move in a current. The smoke cleared somewhat. If even for a moment, they could catch their breath.

Again, the same sound, and the faint roar of a crowd.

Nezumi turned around and confirmed that it had come from the direction of the prison wing. The trapped prisoners were causing a commotion. But if all of the prisoners' wing had been computer-monitored, then every door should be unlocked by now. Perhaps that noise was the sound of the prisoners cheering and roaring at being set free.

But if that was so...

They reached the third floor. The flames, smoke, and confusion were more subdued than the fourth. Some people had caught a breath on the stairwell, restored their reason and were attempting to escape this h.e.l.l by supporting each other.

Can we keep at it and escape? Hope flared. A ray of light pierced the darkness.

All systems had died. The Correctional Facility was being reduced to a mere building, an empty sh.e.l.l with no function. With the addition of the prisoners, the chaos was bound to get worse.

And when that happens.... Perhaps it would be easy to take advantage of this situation to escape. There was not much blocking their way.

”s.h.i.+on, let's go.” Nezumi restrained his over-eager heart, and grabbed s.h.i.+on's wrist. s.h.i.+on did not move. ”s.h.i.+on!” he said urgently. ”What is it? We have to get out of here.”

”Why did you kill her?” s.h.i.+on muttered, barely moving his lips. It sounded almost like a gasp. Nezumi let his hand go, and met s.h.i.+on's gaze. He could feel his blood turning cold. He was freezing over gradually from his extremities.

”Nezumi, answer me. Why did you kill Safu?” s.h.i.+on's voice caught in his throat, and took on an unnatural murky tone. Nezumi felt like he was listening to static-filled music through outdated speakers.

”We― I came here to save Safu. Save her... not kill her.” s.h.i.+on's whole body began to tremble, but no emotion could be read from his face. Not agitation, nor wrath, nor sadness, nor anguish.

”s.h.i.+on, we were too late. She was already―”

”Safu was alive.” s.h.i.+on's murky voice jolted him sharply. He felt like he had been slapped on the cheek. ”She was living, and standing right in front of me.”

”That was an illusion. You should have known yourself. That wasn't her. It was just an illusion.”

”No! No! No!” s.h.i.+on yelled. ”Safu was alive. She was alive, and that was why she could appear in front of me. Nezumi, I don't care what form she took. Safu was definitely alive.”

”...No matter what form, huh.”

”Yeah. Safu may have lost her body, but she was alive. She was alive and waiting for me. I needed to save her. I should have stayed here with her. Isn't that right, Nezumi?”

Safu was alive. Was she? Had she really been? Nezumi ground his teeth. She had been alive and waiting for s.h.i.+on. She had been waiting devotedly, just for him. She had been alive just to see s.h.i.+on once again. And her wish had been granted.

Safu, s.h.i.+on overcame hards.h.i.+p and danger to come to you. You were able to meet your most beloved person. But what you wished for next was to disappear from s.h.i.+on's sight. Yes, you wished for it.

You didn't want s.h.i.+on to see you.

That was why...

”s.h.i.+on, we couldn't have saved her. She and the mother were fused together. And she... she chose to die with it.”

”Is that your reason? Your reason for murdering Safu?”

”Then what should I have done?” Nezumi yelled. His blood, which was supposed to be frozen, boiled and raced through his body in a hot stream. ”Don't you understand how she felt? She summoned us because she wanted to see you. And―and couldn't you see it was because she wanted to be saved? I don't mean escaping from the Correctional Facility. She'd already known it was impossible. That was why she wanted you at least to save her from that wretched situation. You were the last person whom she wanted to see her like that. I mean, wouldn't you feel the same? You understand, right?”

Nezumi's breathing was erratic. s.h.i.+on's expression did not change. Not even a twitch of an eyebrow. The smoke stung at Nezumi's eyes.

We have to run. We can't waste any more time here. His thoughts were clear, but his feet would not move. They quaked at s.h.i.+on's eyes.

”s.h.i.+on, I can't think of it as you do. We were too late. Safu was already dead.” They were his true thoughts. ”You aren't looking at reality. It would have been impossible to separate her from the mother. She even said so herself: she had no body, but she was still trapped. She said it hurt, that she wanted you to set her free. She wished to be set free from that situation, from her humiliation.”

He was not wrong. s.h.i.+on was the one with the wrong idea. He was unable to accept the reality of losing Safu. He was trying to avert his eyes from the truth.

”You used her.” A low, low mutter. Nezumi did not catch it.

”What?”

”You used Safu to destroy the mother. Isn't that right?” s.h.i.+on's eyes s.h.i.+fted slowly from right to left. Tsukiyo peeked out from the superfibre, but soon ducked back inside again.

”Destroying the Correctional Facility was your purpose from the very beginning. Your object was never to save Safu, it was to destroy the Correctional Facility, and to use it as a gateway to destroy No. 6. You were waiting for that chance all along. That was why you didn't hesitate to destroy the mother. You didn't hesitate at all. You used her for your own purposes. You sacrificed her.”

Nezumi stared at s.h.i.+on. Used her? Didn't hesitate at all? Sacrificed her? s.h.i.+on, you really think so?

But is he wrong?

He heard a voice questioning him back. It was not s.h.i.+on's. It was his own voice. Did you not use her? Did you not sacrifice her? Did you not prioritize your own wishes over saving another life?

Didn't you? Didn't you? Didn't you?

Roar. Roar.

A knot of people wearing dark green s.h.i.+rts came storming down the stairs, screaming. They were prisoners. Their loud cheering hit the walls around them, bounced, and echoed clamorously.

Roar. Roar. Get out, get out.

”Stop! I said stop!” The Security Bureau official's orders were drowned out by the din. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out. A man trying to run past Nezumi careened backwards and fell onto the floor in the corridor. He had been shot through the head.

”Stop! Stop, or I will shoot!”

”Run! Get outta here!” the prisoners yelled. ”Don't stop! Escape! Hurry, hurry and get outta here!”

All the prisoners had bloodshot eyes. Some were foaming at the mouth. Every one of them roared like beasts as they ran.

To become a prisoner of the Correctional Facility meant death. Whether guilty or not, regardless of the severity of the crime, as soon as they were imprisoned, they were on death row.

We're going to get killed anyway, so why not cling to this miracle? We'll latch onto this one-in-a-million chance, and be free.

To the outside world. To the outside world. Run to the light.

Gunshots. Sprays of blood. A white-haired prisoner crumpled over the railing. Gunshots, explosions, smoke, fire.

”s.h.i.+on, it's dangerous here.” Nezumi grabbed s.h.i.+on's arm and yanked. He met no resistance. s.h.i.+on staggered and b.u.mped his shoulder on the wall. He slid to the ground, still leaning on the wall.

”Nezumi... I'm sorry.” A whimper spilled from his bloodless lips. ”I'm sorry. I―I―” s.h.i.+on covered his face with his hands, and drew several ragged breaths.

”I know,” s.h.i.+on said. ”I know we had no choice but to do it. You granted Safu's wish... I have no reason nor right to blame you. It was me... I should have been the one to do it. It was my job to set Safu free. But I couldn't. I was scared... and I couldn't do it. I leaned on you again, thrust everything onto you, and made you do the dirty work. I didn't want to acknowledge my cowardice, so I blamed you, ran you to the ground...”

Nezumi looked down at s.h.i.+on's snowy hair. Despite having been through such a h.e.l.lish ordeal, it had not lost any of its l.u.s.tre. Every single hair s.h.i.+mmered elegantly.

”I got you involved, and even dragged Rikiga-san and Inukas.h.i.+ into it... and if the result was this.... Nezumi, we didn't come here for destruction. We came here to give salvation. But look―”

”We came for destruction.”

s.h.i.+on lifted his face. It was smeared with sweat and blood.

”You're right. I had only one purpose, and it was to destroy the Correctional Facility. I never had plans to save Safu from the beginning.”

”Nezumi...”

Nezumi looked away from s.h.i.+on. He couldn't hold the other boy's gaze.

”I needed you. I knew that without your memory and judgment skills, it would be impossible to get around inside the Facility. You were my last, and my best trump card. I thought for a long time how I would use you, and... this is the answer. The thing about Safu was just an excuse. I just... used you and her to satisfy my own purposes.”

Yes, s.h.i.+on, you aren't wrong. I betrayed you. I was tricking you all along. You didn't get me involved; it was the other way around. I set the cunning trap.

”My plan was a success. Look at this confusion. The Correctional Facility is crumbling. s.h.i.+on, I―I directed things to proceed according to my intentions. Frankly, I didn't expect it to turn out so well. You served your purpose a hundred times better than I expected. You were... really useful to me.”