Asukai smiled gently.
“I can do the same thing for you. As soon as you find a partner, I can give you the 'roots' you lack. In return, I will take just a little sliver of your 'stem.' Of course, it'll cut down that strong mental power... but you'll hardly even notice. Not with the joy you'll be feeling once your flaw is healed.”
“............” Spooky E looked dazed. “I don't... understand.”
“Even you will understand soon.”
Spooky E looked up at Asukai, his eyes unfocused. “What I don't understand is how you can be enjoying this. At least I was acting on orders from the Towa Organization, but you... “
Asukai frowned, sharply.
Spooky E ignored him, dropping his gaze again. “Nah... well, that's really not important... there's only one thing left for me to look forward to.”
He held his hands up in front of his face, staring at them.
“What's that?”
“Something I've wanted to do for a long time,” he muttered. “But my hatred for them was too strong, so I never could. I couldn't do it while they were still living. But now those feelings are gone. Maybe because you took my 'thorns.' So for that, I guess I'm grateful to you...”
“What are you talking about?” Asukai asked, puzzled.
“Let me give you one warning... Imaginator! Boogiepop is after you,” he said, and then Spooky E grabbed his own face.
Sparks flew.
“-------- !”
By the time a flustered Asukai reached his side, Spooky E had already burned out all the cells in his brain with his own electricity. Blood poured out of his eyes and nose. Smoke trailed from the wound on his right ear.
He was dead.
***
“......... Ah,” Orihata Aya moaned, opening her eyes. She thought she had heard faint screaming coming from somewhere.
The world around her was still pitch black. There were no windows or lamps in the room she was imprisoned in.
She was sprawled out on the dust-- covered floor, her hands and feet handcuffed from behind. Spooky E had put her here.
She could no longer tell how long she had been sleeping. Despair seemed ready to tear her open.
“Mmph,” she twisted herself upright.
Dust flew, and she coughed.
“I have to... 1 have to get away...”
But it might already be too late. The thought made her teeth chatter violently.
“l have to go... I have to tell him...”
Tormented by anxiety and fear, she moved like an inchworm, looking for the door.
But it wasn't that simple. The door was locked, and there was no other way in or out.
“Augh... !”
She was shivering violently. It was cold, she was exhausted, and she was powerless.
But she kept on moving despite the handcuffs, frantically searching for a way out.
As her body twisted, something fell out of her jacket pocket.
-- Her cell phone.
Spooky E had forgotten to take it away from her, but regardless of how brightly the low battery light was shining... there was still hope.
(Aaah... !)
Aya quickly planted her face next to the phone. With this, she could tell him... !
She prayed there would be a signal.
(P-please...... !)
Using the tip of her tongue-- the only part of her she could move-- she tried to push the buttons.
Suddenly, there was a click from the door.
Aya's face jerked.
“……..”
It was no good. She had no time. She couldn't hide the phone in time...... !
The handle turned, and the door swung open.
Light poured into the dark room.
But the silhouette standing before her was not Spooky E.
“Wh-who are... ?” Aya thought she had seen this tall man in white clothes before.
“We've met before,” the man said, agreeing.
“You are …!” She remembered.
The man who had saved them the day she first met Masaki.
“Why are you... ?” she murmured, then her head jerked up. “P-please! Help me!”
“I'm sorry, but I can't do that,” the man said quietly.
“Eh... ?”
“I need you to be a sacrifice,” he said, sounding very lonely.
“Wh-what do you... mean?”
“I don't have much time... I didn't expect Spooky E to die. Sooner or later, another Towa Organization agent will come here. I need to be ready for them. I have at least brought ‘lightning’ to this town.”
Aya couldn't understand most of what the man said, except for one thing...
(He's dead... ?)
She was sure he'd said that.
The man who had bound her like this, was dead?
Then that means. ..that means he was...
“Um, excuse me... !” Ignoring the man's sinister promise to sacrifice her, Aya tried to ask for the one thing she cared about.
And then the phone in front of her lit up, and began to ring.
“....... !”
Aya knew instantly.
Only two people ever called her phone number, and one of them was Spooky E.
The man in white reached out, and picked up the phone.
He answered the phone, and like when the headphones are yanked out of the stereo when you're listening, it got really loud, and a boy's frantic voice filled the room.
“-- Orihata! Orihata, is that you?!”
It was Taniguchi Masaki.
(Ahhhhh...... )
Relief stole all the strength in Aya's body.
***
Asukai had heard the voice that came gushing out of the phone before.
(That boy... )
He looked back at Orihata Aya.
She looked completely and utterly relieved.
(She had been about to ask me if the boy was safe.)
He nodded. That was more important to the girl than her own safety.
“Hello... ? Hello! Orihata?! Say something, please?!',
Asukai listened wordlessly, and at last held the phone out... to Aya's ear.
“…?”
She looked surprised. Whoever this man was, he didn’t seem like he planned to forgive her. So why was he giving her the phone?
Asukai gazed down at her coldly. No trace of pity or pride.
“Orihata?! Orihata?!!” the boy's voice continued, nearly shrieking.
Asukai Jin and Orihata Aya looked at each other as the voice between them rang out--
VI
Just as no truth is certain, there is no
such thing as a perfect lie.
-- Kirima Seiichi (VS Imaginator)
Because I’m a complete idiot it took me half the day to sort things out.
I just sat in Orihata's empty apartment, flat on my ass, trying to work out what was bugging me.
(What is it? There's gotta be something... )
When I got hungry I ate some Calorie Mate I had left in my pocket. I pondered as I ate. But as I thought, I guess I must have dozed off. When my eyes snapped open again, several hours had passed.
“Sh-shit... !”
I looked at my watch, panicking. It was broken. I must have smashed it on something during the fight, or maybe the stun gun my sister hit me with took it out. I had only just noticed.
(When I got to the bus stop, the bus had come right away, so I never even glanced at my watch... )
I looked around the room.
Nope, there were no clocks. No TV or stereo either.
What now? I couldn't just sit here. I had no clues, but just as I stood up to go out and look for her anyway, it finally hit me.
“Oh...”
I was standing in the middle of an empty room.
There was nothing in it.
Nothing at all...
I looked along the walls towards the corners, and that's when I found it.
The phone jack had the lid down. There w
as nothing hooked up to it.
There was no phone in her apartment...
But I had called her here many, many times. Which means...
“I wasn't actually calling her home phone at all!”
I'm such an idiot.
I bolted out of the apartment and onto the road, looking around frantically.
Nothing.
“Shit!”
I ran and ran, and at last, five hundred meters down the road, I found a pay phone in front of a convenience store.
I grabbed the receiver like how an infant grabs his mother's knee, jammed my phone card into it, and stabbed the phone number I had seared into my memory.
“Come on, pick up... pick up... !”
Orihata's phone was a cell phone.
She might still have it with her. Wherever she was, I could call her!
It rang, and rang, and rang.
“Damn it! Pick up... !” I shouted, fretting.
I'm sure it was less than twenty seconds, but it felt more like twenty minutes 1o me.
At last, there was a click as someone answered.
“Orihata! Orihata, is that you?!” I cried.
There was no response.
“Hello... ? Hello!” I could feel my voice rising, getting worked up.
I kept on calling her name.
After what seemed like an eternity of silence, at last I heard a faint voice on the line go, “Ah...” And I knew instantly. It was Orihata's voice. I almost burst into tears. She was safe.
“Hello? Orihata, it's me, Taniguchi Masaki!”
“... Yes, I know,” she said, sounding very distant.
“Are you safe, Orihata?”
“Y-yes... n-no. Why do you ask?” she said, awkwardly. It sounded like she had nodded, then corrected herself.
“Kinukawa was arrested by the police... did you hear?”
“Really... ?”
“What about you? Are you in any danger?”
“Not really.”
“Kinukawa-san was brainwashed apparently, so...”
“-- Yes. Please, don't blame her...”
“Is someone there with you? Are they... making you do anything?” I didn't know how to ask this.
“……..”
“I might be out of line saying this, but I want to help you. I want to save you.”
Sort of a corny line, but I genuinely meant it.
“……..”
“Orihata, you... I mean, maybe you're just fed up with me by now, but I really don't mind being used. So, just go ahead and use me anytime you want to. I really did like being with you, and that was enough for me... so anything more than that, I... your...”
As I babbled, I could feel my sentences making less and less sense.
I felt like nothing I said was getting through.
No matter what I said, no matter how much I meant it... it was never enough.
“Masaki...” she said, quietly.
“Y-yes?”
“That's enough. I don't need you anymore,” she said, bluntly.
I felt a sharp pain in my chest.
“You should find yourself a better. . .normal girl. You shouldn't see me anymore.”
'N-no, that's not... I don't...”
“No. We're finished.”
“Uh, Orihata-- “
“You know by now? What I've done?”
“I--I…”
“No matter what they told you, it's all true. It never occurred to you that I was like that, did it?”
“Well-- “
“I'm sorry. That's what I am. I don't know what you expected from me, but that's all there is.”
“But-- “
“l lied to you. I betrayed you. Wake up and look around you, Masaki. You're an idiot!”
“But... I'm in love with you!” I shouted, forgetting everything but that truth.
***
“....... !”
The voice echoing out of the phone momentarily robbed Aya of words.
The pretense she'd barely managed to maintain was crumbling beneath her. Her face flushed, her throat trembled. She couldn't talk.
Her hands were still handcuffed behind her, and someone else was holding the phone for her. She was speaking into the receiver that Asukai Jin was silently holding out for her. Her hands were empty, but covered in sweat. She balled them up, trying to stop them from shaking.
“H-how can you say...” she managed, stifling the quaver in her voice.
She had to.
She couldn't rely on Masaki here.
She couldn't drag him any further into this. She couldn't bear it any longer.
She could never tell him how she felt.
“Where are you, Orihata?”
“N-none of your business!”
She wanted to see him.
One more time, with her own eyes.
But those feelings were her enemy now.
She could only protect Masaki if he hated her. That was the only way.
She remembered what Suema Kazuko had said, on the roof of the school.
“It's impossible to live without someone hating you.”
“You're missing the concept of that 'struggle."'
“And you really need to get that.”
Now was that moment.
She had to fight her enemy, had to struggle with her own emotions.
“F-forget about me -- leave me alone... !”
But she couldn't say it forcefully.
“Orihata... !” Masaki's voice didn't falter.
Aya couldn't talk anymore. “G-- goodbye...” she managed. Tears made her voice sound funny.
“……..”
Asukai Jin watched Aya's suffering with mechanical detachment.
When it became obvious that Aya was not going to speak anymore, he held the phone to his own ear.
“... Is someone else there?” the boy's voice asked, with surprising perception.
Asukai did not reply.
“I know you're listening. I don't know who you are, but you're standing right next to her, aren't you?”
“I don't give a shit who you are. You do anything to Orihata, and I guarantee you that I'll be your enemy. And l will fight you for her!”
“........” Asukai looked down at Aya.
She had not heard this last speech. Her head was down, her body quivering -- she was crying.
He looked at her, but this did not change Asukai's expression.
“Hey! Are you lis-- “ and Asukai hung up, cutting the boy off.
A second later, he heard the distinctive roar of an airplane passing through the sky over the Paisley Park construction site.
The noise grew in strength, and was soon easily identifiable.
(Did he hear that... ? No, it was still too faint. He won't have recognized it... )
The phone rang again, but Asukai shut the phone off.
He spoke to Aya. “Satisfied?”
“……..”
“You were happy to hear his voice.”
She looked up at him.
And, surprisingly -- she nodded. “Yes.”
She wasn't forcing herself. She honestly meant it.
“Okay. Then your life was not in vain. In that respect, you have the advantage on me,” Asukai said, smiling faintly.
***
“......... !”
I looked up.
Nothing. I couldn't see any sign of it.
(No! It's gotta be there! It's gotta be somewhere close!)
With a feeling bordering on faith, I searched the sky. If anyone had seen me, I must have looked like I was searching for UFOs.
At last, I found it.
A black shadow, high up in the air. The sky was gradually darkening, and I could just make out the flashing lights on the tips of the wings.
I took the direction it was flying and thought.
(It's heading this way, so... it must have been over there... which means... )
The more I thought, the uneasier I grew.
I thought I had heard an airplane -- I think. I was hardly certain.
And you can hear airplanes over an absurdly large area. Was I going to search it all?
(Like I have any choice... )
The lights of the airplane were getting closer, and now I could pick up the sound.
“------ !”
“Oh ------ !”
Even when you can see the airplane, you can't necessarily hear it yet. Light travels faster than sound. There's a gap between the moment you see it, and the time the sound actually reaches your ears.
(So that means... it was further away than it was when I found it... )
My imagination sprang into action, making a mental map of the air.
(That means... it came from outside of the city?)
There was nothing but mountains there. Nobody lived out there. It was completely deserted.
(Or wait... I did hear something about an abandoned construction site... )
I felt myself getting excited.
That was it. It had to be!
“That's where she is!”
I started running.
I burst out onto a nearby street, saw that it was deserted, found a motorcycle parked by the side of the road, and crouched down to look at the lock.
The key wasn't in the ignition or anything, but I knew how to get the engine started. You tend to pick up a few tricks when you spend your time living abroad.
Sure, I didn't have a license or anything, but I'd driven one before.
“Sorry. Next time, use a chain!” I muttered to the absent owner, and opened the throttle.
***
“... I was so worried about you. Oh well. At least you're safe. . .” Kinukawa Kotoe's mother said, happily arranging flowers in Kotoe's private hospital room.
Kotoe stared absently at the ceiling.
It was white, but the slanting rays of the sun gave it a reddish color.
She was still under the supervision of the police. Once she was released, she would have a lot of questions to answer, but her father was in a prominent position in the city, and she was being treated well. It was very easy for people to get permission to visit her like this.
Boogiepop Returns VS Imaginator Part 2 Page 9
