Boogiepop Returns VS Imaginator Part 2

by Kadono. Kouhei

  But the costume cushioned the blow, absorbing the impact.

  But it also twisted my foot...

  'Uh oh,' I thought.

  They weren't dressed up like this to mess with me. It was for protection! And just as I had with my own outfit, they were also using theirs to remain focused. They had probably found them stored somewhere in the park. The stranger you look, the easier it is to do something crazy.

  (So, the people inside these things are... normal?!)

  Who was attacking me?

  I tripped the bear, and tried to run away to give myself time to figure things out. I figured the costumes would be hard to run in.

  I figured wrong.

  My passage was blocked by a group of clowns.

  “G-gimme me a break... !”

  I understood the logic behind it, but it was still bad for my heart.

  I changed direction, and dashed off again.

  But again and again, wave after wave, people in bizarre costumes and clothing, with their faces painted purple, or yellow, or some other weird ass color, just kept coming at me.

  “Augh! Get away!”

  I scrambled to avoid them.

  “Nothing to be afraid of, Boogiepop-kun,” one of them -- too many to tell which -- said.

  “Nothing to be afraid of.”

  “Don't be scared!”

  The others joined in, like a relay race, or a game of telephone.

  “St-stay away!” I shouted, finding myself surrounded.

  “There's no reason to be frightened, Boogiepop-kun-- “ they said, the same thing, over and over.

  “You'll understand soon ---- “

  No matter how many I punched or kicked, they kept on coming. lt was as if they'd never heard of using caution.

  “St-stop this-- !” shouted, trying to punch a new guy in the face, but he just grinned at me.

  “------ !”

  The face under the makeup was that of a girl's. Young, probably high school.

  Thrown completely, I stopped moving.

  Seizing the chance, several others piled on me from behind.

  “Sh-- shit! Let go!!”

  I slammed my elbow into them, but they were the guys in costumes, and my blows had no effect.

  “Don't be afraid ----”

  “It'll be over soon ----”

  Each of my limbs was pinned down by at least three people, and I was completely unable to move.

  “D-damn it!”

  As I struggled, a male clown brought something towards me.

  A needle.

  Some sort of drug inside it.

  “......... !” I gulped.

  “Don't worry, Boogiepop-kun. When you wake up, you'll be one of us-- “ he said, as he stuck the needle in my arm.

  “N-noooo!” I screamed. But the clown's fingers pushed the end of the needle relentlessly, injecting the liquid inside into my veins.

  (O-orihata -- !!)

  Filled with rage and despair, the world grew dim before my eyes.

  There was a sudden pain in my arm.

  I swung my gaze that way, and the needle, still stuck in my arm, was broken in two.

  The clown was staring at his empty hands in surprise.

  Half the needle was still stuck in me -- but the other half was floating in the air above my chest.

  “---- Eh?”

  The needle suddenly leapt away, like something was pulling on it.

  I looked in that direction --

  And the needle fell to the ground in front of a shadowy figure.

  Before I even realized what it was, I thought, '-- Oh, I get it. He must've yanked the needle out with some sort of microfilament wire, and that's what caused it to break and go flying towards him.'

  Why was I suddenly able to make such a calm analysis? My only explanation is that my brain was in such a state of panic that it couldn't figure out what else to think about.

  Why? Because the shadowy figure ----

  Standing there, looking more like a pipe than a person, as if it had risen directly out of the dark ground, was a figure I knew all too well. Too well, in fact, as now I had no earthly idea of what was happening.

  Did I know it?

  How could I not?

  After all the time I'd spent ----

  “Wh-who are you?” the clown screamed.

  The figure in the black cloak answered quietly, “You already know who I am.”

  From the voice, it was impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman.

  He reached his hand out from under the cloak. There was a stopwatch in it. Glancing down at it, the cloaked figure said, “3, 2, l-- “ then waved his hand.

  And a horrifically loud noise rocked Paisley Park.

  It was –

  ***

  I, Suema Kazuko, was riding up the mountain road in the evening on the scooter my parents had bought for me.

  At first, they had been opposed to me even getting a license, but once I started going to cram school and coming home so late, I was able to easily convince them it was much safer at night if I was driving something. It's at moments like this that you realize just how strangely useful it is to have such a horrible thing happen to you in the past.

  Of course, my real goal was to broaden the area I could move in. I wanted to see and know all kinds of things, and this feeling was driving me onwards.

  “---- Um?” I stopped for a moment. There was a motorcycle abandoned by the side of the road.

  I put my hand on it, and felt the engine was still warm.

  It looked like it had just run out of gas and been abandoned. And the way it was lying on its side suggested that the driver had been in quite a hurry.

  “Something's definitely going on,” I said, swallowing.

  Just as I got back on my scooter to drive on, I heard music from up ahead.

  “........ ?” I listened closely.

  I'd heard the music somewhere before. I don't know a lot about music, but this music was famous enough that even I'd heard it. It had been used in some kind of commercial or something.

  “Was it Wagner... ?”

  ***

  “Die Meistersinger von Numberg?!” Asukai Jin gaped as the flamboyant music roared all around him.

  It was playing on every speaker they'd installed in the half-finished park.

  There should have been no power, but the music thundered onwards anyway.

  “What's going on?!”

  Asukai dialed his phone, trying to figure out what was going on.

  But nobody answered.

  Presumably the electricity had been left connected, the breakers shut off. But someone had clearly flipped the breakers back on again.

  There should have been watchmen posted throughout the park. Yet --------

  “-------- ?”

  Orihata Aya blinked her eyes at the bizarrely lively flood of sound.

  The composer was known for extremely long, tempestuous music, and one of his loudest and most flamboyant pieces seemed to be trying to bring this dying park back to life.

  ***

  The image in front of me wobbled.

  The needle. A quarter of the contents had entered my bloodstream. Presumably, it was an anesthetic.

  (Unh...... )

  The scenery seemed to be swaying.

  Events unfolded around me like an illusion.

  The clowns rushed at the cloaked figure ----

  Who waved a hand, and with that, all the clowns started falling over ----

  And as they fell over, they slid across the ground, moving into one big pile, freezing into place like some sort of mosh pit.

  Like magic--

  The cloaked figure started moving.

  The guy in the dinosaur costume leapt toward him.

  The cloaked figure moved his hand again, not even touching the dinosaur, but knocking him over all the same.

  -- There was a trick to it.

  He was using thread. An extremely strong, extremely thin wire.

  I
knew this, but... but he was barely moving, standing bolt upright, yet the way he was grabbing their legs, knocking them over, and tying them up despite their huge advantage in numbers could only be viewed as the work of a magician.

  No, not a magician.

  A shinigami--

  Unlike me, he wasn't bothered by the gender of his opponents. He never held back.

  And that music roared around him like madness itself.

  The people holding me down, seeing their companions being mowed down, jumped up. But they were met with the same fate.

  The cloaked figure stopped in front of me.

  “So now we meet,” he said, making a strange, asymmetrical expression. Was he smiling? Was he mocking me? “I didn't plan to come out, but if I didn't settle things quickly, a certain nosy someone was going to get herself mixed up in it.”

  “.........” I couldn't answer.

  A few more clowns and a lion attacked, but the cloaked figure dispensed with them without even swaying.

  He was moving with the melody and rhythm of the music, like a conductor.

  “Music is extremely effective in stirring people's emotions. Much like makeup. But music can create a response in a great number of people simultaneously. It rattles them, robs them of their rational judgment,” he explained quietly, like a clergyman.

  I could do nothing but stare back at him, reacting exactly as he spoke.

  The drugs kept me from standing. But even so, I was so befuddled I would have toppled over of my own accord.

  “Th-this is...” I could hear my own teeth chattering. “This is what I... pretended to be?”

  Talk about completely out of my league; talk about nerve.

  “Oh, that wasn't your fault,” the 'real' one nodded. “You'd been brainwashed.”

  He said it so easily that I couldn't grasp his meaning for a moment.

  “I'd what-- ?”

  “There should be at least one moment during your activities with Orihata Aya where your memories become indistinct. That is when Spooky E paralyzed your 'fear,’” he said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

  “……..!”

  Leaving me stunned, the 'real' one moved past me, heading back into the fray.

  A moment later everyone who had attacked him was lying on the ground, no longer moving. They were all unconscious.

  The 'real' one came back to me. Not even out of breath. He really. . .didn't seem human.

  “You should probably take that needle out. You can move that much, right?” he said.

  I noticed that half the needle was still jammed into my arm.

  But the hell with that.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Mm?”

  “Brainwashed? How?”

  The 'real' one shrugged beneath the cloak. “The usual fashion.”

  “But that’s ---”

  “You know I'm right,” he said, calmly.

  That was true.

  But--

  “But.. .then... then... I...”

  I wasn't acting of my own free will?

  My feelings were lies?

  “I... thought I was in love with Orihata... was that a lie as well... ?” I was stunned, my mind completely blank.

  The music thundered on around me.

  “What have you ever thought about?” he suddenly asked.

  I raised my head, dazed.

  He was wavering right and left, probably because of the drugs.

  “Have you ever done anything that you are totally sure was of your own free will?”

  “……..”

  “Adapting yourself to society is essentially being brainwashed to match societal requirements. The only difference from your situation is that the source of it is not clearly defined. There are no humans who have not been brainwashed.”

  “……..”

  “Now the problem: within that context -- within your brainwashed, restrained psyche -- what do you value the most? Bound tightly by the world, what do you still desire?”

  (I'm... )

  (I want... )

  The music grew even louder --

  ***

  -------- And then it stopped.

  (Wh-what was it... ?)

  Asukai Jin had a pair of binoculars out, and was scanning the park below from atop The Ladder.

  It was almost dark, so he could barely see-- but he found several people lying on the ground.

  “What... ?!”

  That 'Boogiepop' could not be this good, surely?

  Then... he was coming here.

  “What's happening?” Orihata Aya asked. She was tied to a pillar in the center of the roof.

  “We can't waste any more time,” Asukai said, his back to her. “I have to deal with you right away.”

  Even now, Aya's expression failed to change.

  “Oh... then get it over with,” she said, peacefully.

  “Okay-- “ and Asukai turned to head over to her. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. “-------- !”

  He was too late.

  There was a shadow standing directly behind Orihata Aya.

  But... something was strange.

  The shadow was shorter than Taniguchi Masaki.

  “Who are you... ?!” Asukai cried.

  Aya turned to look behind her.

  Her face stiffened. “N-no...... !”

  The shadow looked like it had risen directly out of the darkness. Its mouth opened. “Don't be so surprised, Camille-kun. You've been looking for me, haven't you?”

  “……..”

  “Wh-what?” Asukai looked at Ay a, and realized that this figure was hardly her ally. “Th-then who are you?”

  “You already know who I am,” the shadow said quietly.

  Asukai's head was spinning.

  What in the name of god was going on? He couldn't get a grip on anything.

  But... after all he'd done, he wasn't about to let anyone stop him.

  “---- Right!” Asukai whipped out the gun he had hidden in his pocket, the one he'd stolen from Kinukawa Kotoe.

  He fired without hesitation.

  The shadowy figure dodged it with ease.

  But by this time, Asukai had raced to Aya's side. “St-stay still, and I won't have to kill you!” Asukai said, one hand around Aya, the other aimed at the shadow.

  “Quite the philanthropist, Imaginator” the shadow said.

  Asukai frowned. “If you know that name-- |”

  “Then what? You won't let me live?”

  “……..”

  “That's unimportant. Go ahead, do what you're going to do,” the shadow said unexpectedly.

  “What?”

  “I mean it. Do whatever you like, see if I care.”

  “……..”

  “If you even can,” the shadow said, with a trace of derision.

  Asukai glanced sideways at Aya.

  Her face was white with fear. She clearly viewed the shadow as an enemy.

  (What the hell is he... ?!)

  He'd never seen anyone like this -- even worse:

  (Th-there's no 'vision' at his chest... !)

  This being was beyond the scope of Asukai's power.

  (I've never seen him... I've never seen him before... so why? Why do I feel like I already know him?)

  It was like he'd met something similar before... but how could he?

  “What? Why hesitate now?” The shadow nagged. “Go on, get a move on.”

  It was as if he was looking forward to some great joke... but underneath, fundamentally not laughing at all.

  “Argh...” Asukai turned his gaze to Aya.

  She shook off her fear, and looked back at him.

  Then closed her eyes. “Eep!”

  Asukai reached for the flower on her chest.

  But his hand passed right through it.

  “--------”

  He tried again, not believing his eyes.

  But again, his hand passed right through the vision, unable to grab hold of anything.
/>
  “Wh-what? Why?” Asukai panicked.

  He had done this so many times, so easily, but he couldn’t do it with hers... !

  “Why can't I touch it?!” he exclaimed.

  Aya opened her eyes.

  Her expression was tinged with loneliness.

  “... I thought this might happen,” she said, softly.

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “You wanted to do something to humans, right? That's why you needed me -- but that won't work.”

  “Why not?!”

  “Because I'm not human,” she said, her voice filled with deep resignation.

  “.......... !” Asukai's face twitched.

  The shadow spoke. “See? Either way, you had already lost.” It moved towards him.

  “Ah...” Asukai staggered back, away from Aya. “H-- how can... that be?”

  “The moment you first met this girl, your loss was already decided. I may not be Sun Tzu, but clearly, 'Everything is already decided before the battle even begins."'

  “B-- but this is...”

  “You and this girl -- whatever brought you together whatever inexplicable, ironic twist of fate that was, I do not know, but you had already lost to it,” the shadow delcared, his voice as cold as ice.

  Asukai tried to remember when and how he had met Orihata Aya -- but he couldn't.

  “Th-that's just...”

  He reeled backwards.

  The shadow followed. It passed in front of Orihata Aya, chasing the retreating Asukai.

  “If you only look to the future, things like this happen... Imaginator! If you believe yourself to be the only possibility, then some other possibility will arise when you least expect it, and sweep your feet out from under you.”

  But the shadow's eyes were not looking at Asukai Jin, but at something behind him.

  “Aaaaah... !” Scrambling backwards, Asukai felt his back come up against something hard.

  Seven canisters with a sinister gleam.

  “...... !” Asukai's eyes widened.

  He reached a hand towards the valve. “In that case...” he screamed, and tried to release the vial of death contained within...

  But his hand would not do it.

  “Ah!”

  It was shaking like a leaf.

  He couldn't do it.

  “It's impossible, Imaginator,” the shadow said, quietly. “Completely impossible. He can never break through.”