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Story I – Part 03

“What do you think?” she said. “Isn’t my sister beautiful? Isn’t she lovely?”

For a moment, I couldn’t grasp what she meant. I looked at the smiling face in the photos and nodded, and Kazue gave a childlike smile. It was the first time I had seen an innocent expression on her face, but I went ahead and cut her off.

“I know you’re still in a lot of pain, but we need some information to help us with our investigation. If you don’t mind, could you tell us a little more about your sister?”

Kazue tilted her head quizzically. “Like what?”

Is she for real?

“About what happened to your sister.”

“Um, I’m sorry, but what would you like to know about the incident?”

“The circumstances surrounding your sister’s suicide.”

Blinking wearily, Kazue straightened her posture. “I already told you everything. I don’t care about my sister’s attempted suicide. What matters is that she has not passed on. Her dying body disappeared and is trying to commit suicide again, although in a bizarre manner. She couldn’t move on to the afterlife, so I have to kill her. As someone who loves my sister more than anyone else, I’m the only one who can do it. I want you to find my sister before every part of her falls. Please find her body. Then I will kill it. I will not cause you any trouble.” She pursed her lips.

She’s crazy.

When you’re stressed, some kind of switch flips on in your body. I felt an irresistible urge to smoke a cigarette, but I clenched my fists, holding myself back. Calm down. Forget about the legality and focus on the validity.

Her sister, who was supposed to have committed suicide, had disappeared and was jumping to her death again, in a freakish way this time. Kazue wanted us to find her main body before every part of her fell. Since she was not a runaway, her personal relationships and motives for suicide were not necessary for the investigation.

It made perfect sense. But so what?

“May I ask you two questions?” I said.

“…Go ahead.”

“First of all, your sister committed suicide. However, her body disappeared from the hospital, and she’s jumping to her death again. Is that correct?”

“That’s right.”

“Okay. But why go through all the trouble? She was in critical condition. She would have died had she stayed at the hospital.”

A missing body jumping to its death in parts. How did such a bizarre phenomenon occur?

Kazue swallowed. Her face was completely blank. Feeling uncomfortable, I tried to continue, but her gentle smile returned.

“Who knows? It doesn’t matter to me what my sister is thinking. My only duty is to kill her.”

She spat out disturbing words without hesitation. I was convinced that this woman was actually insane.

“Moving on to my second question.”

“…Okay.”

“Your sister’s body is falling from the rooftop, bit by bit. All of her organs are currently being kept in strict custody by the police. Should her body fall, it would be empty. That thing—Excuse me, it is basically just a corpse. What’s more, her body would be on the ground. There is absolutely no point in searching for her and killing her. Once she reappears, she will be dead.”

Kazue was silent.

“I don’t see the need to look for her,” I continued. “Unless you want to make a memorial service for your sister after she left this world with regret.”

Kazue gave a sorrowful smile. The corners of her mouth lifted at a calculated angle. It was the look of a person who knew the effect their expression would have on others.

“You will never understand,” she said. Her words were exactly what I expected to hear. Tears glistened in her downcast eyes. “My sister will return and commit suicide again. I don’t want that to happen.”

She blinked, and tears trickled down her cheeks. Even actors could not pull this off. The way she clutched the hem of her dress was heartbreaking.

“My only choice is to kill her before she kills herself.”

Her smile was twisted. Deceitful. I must not be consumed by such obvious madness.

“Very well. That would be all,” I said. “I apologize for taking your time.”

As I thanked her, I shot her a glance. There were no tears in her eyes now. She was surely hiding something.

How much of what she told me were lies? Figuring that out was crucial.

I declined her offer to see me off and left the house. I took a deep breath. Fresh air filled my lungs, bringing comfort to my throat numbed by the smell of decay. It would have been nice to have a smoke now, but I had to postpone it a little bit. I pretended to walk away and then turned back. I approached a telephone pole some distance away from Kazue’s house, and without warning, extended my arm out.

I grabbed the neck of a man pretending to be a passerby. Before he could run away, I pulled back hard to make him lose his balance and put my arms around his neck, pinning him in place. A rough way to handle the man, sure, but I was pissed.

“Why are you spying on that house?” I asked.

“Huh? What are you—”

“Don’t play dumb with me. You’ve been watching that house from the moment I walked into it.”

It was a gamble of sorts, but the man’s face stiffened. Before I entered the house, I felt eyes watching, but I couldn’t see anyone. After leaving, however, I finally spotted him. I knew he’d been watching me the whole time. The man’s shirt was yellowed with sweat, and his thin, dandruff-flecked hair was wet and sticky. He was young despite his aged look.

“Well? Why are you watching that house?”

“O-Oh… hehe… A-Are you that woman’s boyfriend or something?” Suddenly, he started giggling. His mouth smelled like rotten eggs, like there was something wrong with his stomach. “I-I feel sorry for you, then. Hehehe. That woman’s nuts. She’s a murderer. A murderer, I tell you.”

He tapped my shoulder gently, and burst into laughter. The way he writhed around cackling made him look like a deranged man, but his words were too disturbing to dismiss as mere nonsense.

Murderer.

“What do you mean by murderer?”

“Y-You don’t know? Hehe. Hahaha. She… She killed Yukikooooo!” He wailed, then went silent.

I’d never heard the name Yukiko before, but I could easily guess who it was. Kazue’s sister. If Kazue killed someone, it could only be one person. But her sister jumped off a building of her own will.

“It wasn’t suicide?”

“Th-There’s no way Yukiko would commit suicide. She would never kill herself. Kazue killed her. Yukiko said countless times that Kazue scared her. She said she was sick of having to take care of her. Kazue stuck to her like glue, and she hated it.” Suddenly, his eyes widened. He spread his hands wide and started screaming. “Yes. It was Kazue! Kazue killed her! Kazue killed Yukiko!” He screamed as if singing.

“What’s the matter, Odagiri-san?” A cool voice cut him off.

I whirled around to see Kazue standing there. Apparently, the man’s screams reached her house. I clicked my tongue inwardly. Her appearance made it impossible to ask the man any more questions.

Kazue cocked her head. “Ah, it’s been a while, Sugita-san. What are you doing here?”

“Kazue…” Sugita’s whole body was seething.

I quickly put more power in my arm. “Calm down.”

“Kazue… It’s all your fault!”

“Can you please drop that already?” Kazue said. “We’ve already talked about this.”

Sugita spat. “I swear… I swear I’ll…”

“Please keep in mind that I’m the one overlooking your actions. If you keep on bothering me, I’ll call the police.”

Sugita’s shoulders quivered. His entire body relaxed, and he shook off my arm. Apparently, he wasn’t too far gone to resort to violence. Muttering curses, he walked away. Eventually his slightly-dirty hunched back disappeared in the distance.

I cast a sidelong glance at Kazue. She was still smiling, as always. She didn’t look offended, but she must have heard our conversation.

“I’m sorry, Odagiri-san. You must’ve been shocked.”

“It’s quite all right. May I ask who that person was? He was acting unusual. If he’s too persistent, I think you should call the police.”

“I appreciate the concern. But don’t worry. That man doesn’t have the guts to do anything.”

Kazue stared in the direction Sugita had disappeared to. Silence descended. She seemed to have sensed my unspoken question. She let out a small sigh and began to speak.

“His name is Sugita Tomoyuki. He’s my sister’s ex-boyfriend.”

“Her boyfriend, you say?”

“Ex-boyfriend.”

Of course. Being in a relationship with a dead person was impossible. No, it might be possible, since Yukiko disappeared while still alive. But either way, it was irrelevant rubbish. There were other things I wanted to ask.

“He seemed delusional,” I said.

“Delusional?”

“Yes. I don’t know how to say this.”

She could probably guess what I was going to say next, but her face was as still as the surface of a calm lake. What was hidden underneath that surface?

If you can answer my question, go ahead.

“He said you killed your sister.”

Once more, Kazue smiled a perfect smile. “Whatever he says is irrelevant.” What she said next, I did not expect. “He and my sister broke up before she committed suicide.”

“They broke up?”

I recalled Sugita’s behavior. Wasn’t he watching Kazue because he sensed some foul play with his lover’s death? But they had already broken up. What does this mean?

“Yes, my sister apparently broke up with him a week before she committed suicide. I was also surprised when I learned about it from her coworkers. It seems that he was stalking my sister until right before she killed herself. That’s why I didn’t tell him about my sister’s disappearance. Only that she killed herself and passed away. I also lied about her funeral. I told him we held a private one. He’s a stranger now anyway.”

Fingers interlaced, she stared at the direction Sugita had left. Her somber face was full of sympathy for the poor man. However, a completely different expression was burned into my eyes—the look she displayed a split-second before she changed her expression.

A twisted sneer.

That mocking smile she directed at Sugita must be her true nature.