by Yusuke Kishi
“ヸ★＊∀§…”
The child seemed to realize something was wrong, and stopped his incantation, staring hard at Kiroumaru.
A human would have died instantly. But Kiroumaru was still standing. There was still one thing he had to do. With a shaking hand, he reached up and began unwinding the bandages around his head.
The tunnel went dead silent.
As the last of the bandages dropped away and revealed him to be a queerat, the child stood frozen on the spot.
“Ïϒガ…▼Ë…◿…”
Kiroumaru spat out these last words and crumpled to the ground. I ran toward him, although it was clear that he was already dead. A satisfied smile lingered on his face.
There was a bone-chilling scream and I looked up.
“ÏϒガØ▼Ë…◎◿…?”
The fiend…the child looked dumbfounded. Then he started trembling and beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.
I wanted to turn away, but bit my lip and forced myself to look.
Maria and Mamoru’s son fell to his knees, clutching at the left side of his chest.
Death feedback had activated the moment he realized he had killed one of his own kind.
I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood.
He couldn’t escape. This child is going to…
A sharp pain tore through my chest, and a chill ran up my entire body, making all my hairs stand on end.
It was like a bolt of thunder on a clear day. Was I going to be punished as well?
I didn’t think that my own death feedback would be activated, but as long as I intended to kill another human, it was still a possibility.
Satoru ran forward. “Saki, what’s wrong?”
I felt sick. The moment I truly realized the child was going to die, my chest had started hurting. Desperately, I kept thinking to myself, I’m not killing him. I’m not killing him, I’m not killing him…
Suddenly, I wondered why I wanted so badly to stay alive. Everyone I loved had been dying one by one; why would I want to live with that kind of burden?
The pain disappeared. Was I still alive? I looked up to see Satoru smiling at me.
“Don’t worry. …everything’s alright now.”
He hugged me so hard it hurt.
I had caused the child’s death, but hadn’t attacked him directly. That’s why death feedback hadn’t fully activated; the pain I felt was just a warning.
Once again, I looked at the child. He lay absolutely still. It was over.
Yakomaru stood stupefied to one side.
The color of the child’s hair caught my eye. It was the exact same shade as Maria’s.
The only proof that she had ever lived…I hadn’t wanted to kill him. But there was no other way.
Tears began to roll down my face.
If he had been born in the town, I had no doubt he would have been a lovable, intelligent boy.
The child was innocent…
Even now, I sometimes feel guilty about what I’ve done. And even I know it would never come true, I still can’t help wishing. At the very least, I wish he had died as a human.
The war was quickly coming to an end.
After losing his trump card, Yakomaru must have seen the inevitable conclusion of the battle. All the fight went out of him and we captured him and his troops, seized his ships, and returned to town.
Many people had made up their minds to flee the town and were in the process of setting off. However, once we announced that the “fiend” was dead, everything changed.
Tomiko, along with many of the members of the Ethics Committee, were dead. A temporary executive decision-making organization called the Law and Order Restoration Committee was formed to launch a massive counterattack against the queerats.
And despite our youth, Satoru and I were selected to be members of the committee.
Most people who had held leadership positions in the district were dead, so they didn’t have the luxury of choosing members based on seniority. Most were twenty or thirty year-olds who had distinguished themselves in the battles against the queerats.
My parents were among those who had died. Satoru lost his entire family.
I broke down crying when I found out. I thought I had run out of tears, but ended up crying for days on end.
Later, I heard from the people who had seen my parents last. They had returned to the district just as the war reached a critical phase.
By Yakomaru’s command, Shisei Kaburagi’s corpse was hung on the Holy Barrier. Those who saw it were seized with an overwhelming fear. They lost the will to fight and ran in helpless panic. Thanks to the “fiend”, the queerats easily hunted down and captured nearly a hundred people.
At that stage, Yakomaru started taking hostages instead of simply killing everyone. They were blindfolded to prevent them from using cantus and put into pens.
Those who had not yet given up the fight continued to attack the queerats, carefully avoiding the fiend, and managed to wear down some of the enemy forces.
My parents arrived during the middle of this and went around to the schools to release the impure cats.
Apparently the impure cats are far more intelligent than I had assumed. Tracking people from their scent was easy, but they could also remember faces from drawings and correctly identify their targets weeks later.
My parents released all twelve cats, who hid in the ruins of the town and waited for an opportunity to kill the “fiend”. They managed to succeed on one point.
According to people who were watching from the rooftops, the impure cats launched what looked like a coordinated maneuver upon discovering the “fiend”.
The “fiend” and his guard were traveling south when a brown cat came in from the west and a grey cat came in from the east. The brown cat was upwind, so when the queerats caught its scent, they began to shift their defenses to the west. This opened a gap for the grey cat to rush into.
Then the third and fourth cats appeared out of nowhere and pounced from the north. One of the cats, a calico, circled around to come in from the south to surround the “fiend” on three sides. It looked like the cats would win, since no matter how talented or powerful the “fiend” was, it seemed unlikely he could fight three impure cats at once.
But the guards managed to avoid the attack just in time. The guards were mutants with sharp quills all over their backs that proved tricky even for the cats. In the time that it took for the cats to knock the guards off their feet and cut open their soft bellies, the “fiend” had more than enough time to kill all three cats.
In the end, the impure cats were unable to take down the “fiend”, but they were able to slow him down, which allowed more townspeople to escape.
As the impure cats tried to stop the “fiend”, my parents went to the library and destroyed all the books that might prove dangerous in enemy hands. But the smoke from the fires attracted the enemy’s attention, and when my parents left the library, they ran into the “fiend” outside…
Like all the others who had sacrificed themselves, I believe my parents did not die in vain. But it gradually became clear who had the upper hand. Our chances of defeating the “fiend” were close to none.
But all of a sudden, the “fiend” began acting strangely, as if distracted. Thanks to that, a good deal of lives were saved, but it was unclear what was causing the change. Perhaps the prayers to exorcise the “fiend” were taking effect.
Yakomaru tortured this information out of the captives and quickly led his elite troops to deal with the situation. A number of his troops left the town and went to burn down the Temple of Purity. Head Priest Mushin, Gyousha, and almost all the monks met the same fate. There was no one left to stop the fiend.
Then Yakomaru came after us, presumably using information he had obtained at the temple.
Let’s return to the present. News of the “fiend’s” death spread like wildfire, burning away the fear in everyone’s hearts, and replacing it with a rage and monstrous desire
for revenge.
Around that time, reinforcements from Tainai 84 in Hokuriku and Koumi 95 in Chuubu arrived.
The tide of the battle turned.
The queerats lost both their brawn, the “fiend”, and their brains, Yakomaru, in one fell swoop. All the other mutants they could have used, like the powder-blowing monster, were gone as well. They had nowhere to run and the Wildlife Protection squad from the other districts quickly surrounded and dispatched them.
Yakomaru’s second in command, Squeaker, returned all the stolen infants and sent a messenger to negotiate a truce. But the committee sent the messenger back mounted and stuffed with a polite letter of refusal in its mouth. He sent another messenger with a letter of surrender in return for the lives of his soldiers, and this time the committee sent back the messenger in the form of a mutant clump of cancerous cells.
Seeing that there was no way out of the situation, Squeaker led the rest of his troops into battle on a suicide mission.
But the people, still raring for revenge, weren’t about to let the queerats die so easily, and took their time slowly torturing every soldier to death.
Satoru and I also participated in annihilating the queerats, but it’s not something I want to talk about in detail.
There are two things I will never forget. The first is the sight of a field dyed completely red and full of the stink of blood. The second is the shrieks of a thousand queerats, which to me sounded just like human screams.
Seeing Yakomaru a week later, he looked shrunken, as if his very spirit had been drained.
He sat chained on the stone floor and looked up at us.
“Yakomaru, do you remember us?”
There was only a vague response.
“I’m Saki Watanabe from the Exospecies Division of the Department of Health. This is Satoru Asahina from Lotus Farms.”
“…I remember,” came the hoarse reply after a pause. “You’re the ones who killed our messiah and captured me in the tunnels under Tokyo.”
“What are you talking about? We didn’t kill him!” Satoru snapped. “You devised that wretched plan to kill Maria and Mamoru, didn’t you? Then their orphaned child killed hundreds of people because of you! All of that is on you.”
Yakomaru didn’t reply.
“You’ll be put on trial soon. Before that, there’s something I want to ask you,” I said quietly.
Ordinarily, letting an exospecies stand trial was unheard of, but the committee decided to hold a special hearing. They consulted records of animal trials in Europe a thousand or so years ago to establish the first trial in which a non-human was the accused. But Yakomaru might not be given much opportunity to speak, and even if he was, I wondered if he would tell the truth.
“Why did you do all that?”
“All that…?” Yakomaru smiled faintly.
“There are more charges against you than you can count. I want to know why you ruthlessly murdered all those people.”
Yakomaru had to twist his head in an awkward position to look up at me.
“It was simply part of the strategy. Once hostilities commenced, we had to do everything we could to win. If we lost…well, I would be in the exact position that I am now.”
“Why did you revolt against mankind, then?”
“Because we are not your slaves.”
“What do you mean? Granted, we did ask you to pay tribute and to work for us, but we’ve always acknowledged your complete autonomy, haven’t we?” Satoru said sharply.
“Only when you are in good humor, my masters. However, should we invoke your wrath for the tiniest of reasons, our colony would be instantly eradicated. Perhaps we are even less than slaves.”
I remembered Kiroumaru had said basically the same thing.
“The elimination of a colony is the highest penalty. It’s reserved for only the worst offenses. If you hadn’t killed human beings, or revolted against us…”
I thought back on the past punishments the Exospecies Division had dealt out.
“Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Either way, our lives are as uncertain as bubbles on the surface of a pond. Is it not natural to wish to escape that fate?” Yakomaru said, baring his teeth with his head held high. “We are highly intelligent beings. We are not inferior to you in any way. The only difference is you possess the wicked power called cantus, and we do not.”
“What you just said was more than enough to earn you the death penalty,” Satoru said, looking coldly down at Yakomaru.
“My fate would not change either way.” Yakomaru shrugged.
“You say you acted for the good of the colony, but Kiroumaru thought otherwise. Even if you wanted to unite the colonies, how do you justify dethroning the queen and the way you treated them like animals afterward?”
“Kiroumaru is a formidable general, but he is a relic who clung to the old ways of thinking and could not see the nature of the problem. As long as the queens hold power, reform is impossible. I did not try start a revolution for the sake of my own colony.”
“Then why? Was it to satiate your lust for power?”
“It was for more than just the collection of individuals we call a colony. It was for the sake of my kind.”
“Your kind? That’s rich. You sent your soldiers to die and didn’t even bat an eyelid.”
“Like I said before, it was all part of the strategy. It’s pointless unless we win. Once we won, all the sacrifices would have been worth it.”
Satoru clicked his tongue. “You talk big. But unfortunately, you lost. You said it’s meaningless unless you win, but you still lost.”
“Yes, that is why I deserve to die a hundred times over. I held the all-powerful trump card, the messiah, but succumbed to a simple trick and lost everything.” Yakomaru’s head dropped. “We could have changed history… we could have achieved the greatest dream, freedom for our kind. An opportunity like this may never come again.”
“Let’s go, Saki. It’s a waste of time to talk any further.”
“Wait.” I held Satoru back.
“Yakomaru–”
“My name is Squealer.”
“Squealer, then. There’s something I want to ask of you. I want you to apologize from the bottom of your heart to all the people you killed.”
“Absolutely,” Yakomaru…Squealer said sarcastically. “Only if you apologize first. Apologize to all of my kind that you crushed mercilessly like worms beneath your feet.”
The trial was, in a word, farcical.
As Yakomaru’s crimes were listed one by one, the audience (basically everyone in the district who wasn’t sick or injured) raised their voice angrily.
When the prosecutor, Kimoto (who used to be Tomiko’s assistant), saw that the audience was sufficiently agitated, she turned to face Yakomaru who was chained to the defendant’s seat.
“Now then, Yakomaru. This is your chance to explain yourself.”
“My name is Squealer!” he shouted.
The audience booed loudly.
“You insolently reject the name graciously bestowed upon you by the towns, beast?”
“We are not beasts or slaves!”
The crowd’s anger was at its peak. The leaked cantus was so high that the courtroom was filled with a headache-inducing tension. Even though he knew that death was inevitable, Yakomaru was prepared and didn’t falter at all.
“If you aren’t beasts, then what are you?”
Squealer looked slowly around the court. My heart skipped a beat as we made eye contact for a split second.
“We are humans!”
The audience went silent. Then exploded in laughter. As the laughter continued, even Kimoto couldn’t hide her smile. As the crowd finally settled down, Squealer spoke before Kimoto could open her mouth.
“Laugh all you want. No evil goes unpunished forever! Even if I die, one day someone else will carry on my cause. And that day shall be the end of your tyranny!”
The court dissolved into chaos. Many called for Squealer t
o be torn limb from limb, shouting until the veins stood out on their foreheads.
“Wait. Everyone, wait…” Kimoto struggled to make herself heard over the crowd. “Listen! Listen! Simply killing him would be too kind, don’t you think? Think about all the evil deeds he’s done. We’d only be granting him peace. I propose the sentence of eternal hell on this vermin!”
The crowd roared with approval.
I quietly slipped out of the courtroom with Satoru close behind.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you think he got what he deserved?”
“You think so?”
“What are you saying? Your parents, my family, and countless people in the district were all killed because of him.”
“Yes, but is there a point to such cruel revenge? Just kill him and be done with it.”
“They won’t be able to accept that. Listen to them.”
Their frenzied shouts of the audience was probably audible for miles. The shouts soon became a steady chant of “Eternal!” and “Hell!”
“I don’t know what’s right anymore…” I whispered.
After half a day of proceedings, Squealer was sentenced to eternal hell. That involved sending signals of extreme pain from every nerve cell in his body, while constantly regenerating all the damage sustained using cantus, denying him the salvation of death or insanity. It was the ultimate punishment.
In that state, Squealer could still live for a hundred years.
Tomiko’s words suddenly came back to me. I vow to subject him to agony no living being has suffered before as he dies a slow, protracted death.
Those words had become reality.
And all that was left in my heart was an endless void.
Chapter 6
I walked back and forth gathering vegetable and plant scraps and tossing them in a bowl. It wasn’t enough food for the voracious naked mole rats, but food was scarce even for humans nowadays, so there was nothing I could do.
I walked through the Department of Health, which still bore the damage from before, and entered the wrecked nursery. The roof of the building was entirely gone, exposing everything to the elements, but at least most of the walls were intact. Part of the network of glass tubes that had been their nest were broken, making them too dangerous to use, so the 35 naked mole rats were now living underground like they would in the wild. The walls extended deep underground so there was no risk of them escaping.
