3 bar menu

V10 Story III – Part 04

I thought back to the person wrapped in a sack. As it flailed from side to side, bloodstains spread like paint on canvass. It brought to mind a wriggling caterpillar, the image far removed from reality.

“Oh, are you talking about what happened earlier today?” Kotori said, confirming that it actually did happen. “A staff fell from the rooftop while hanging laundry. Another staff rushed her to the hospital at the foot of the mountain. I wonder what the next step is. The hospital might suggest contacting the police; people are hopelessly slow to respond here. Such is the fate of things left in trust, I suppose. There are too many parties that require communication. Tangled up in restraints, amid the commotion, who knows what’s going to happen? Quite a spectacle, wouldn’t you say? I don’t know if you’d find it enjoyable, though.”

Crossing her legs, Kotori chuckled darkly, casting a wicked smile. She tossed James Barrie’s Peter Pan’s to the floor. Her cloak flared as she resettled herself.

I swallowed hard. She looked like an actual witch. Foreboding words echoed in my mind.

“As the witch wills!”

“Do you have something to do with the fall?” I asked.

Kotori chuckled. “Oh, so that’s where you’re going with this, cutie. What if I was? Are you going to tell me next that a woman, having cut off her own finger and sewn another person’s finger onto hers, will tumble down the stairs? Hmm?” Kotori said provocatively.

As I watched her, my head throbbed. The figure I saw in the depths of the spirit world blurred with Kotori’s form, but they never merged.

“You have nothing to cry about.”

“Meow.”

I recalled the touch of her thin lips, the pungent smell of blood and animal fresh in my mouth.

After she kissed me, the haughty cat lost its human form, unable to revert back to normal.

From the moment she witnessed her brother’s murder, she lived as a cat and died as a cat.

“Could you stop that?”

“Stop what, cutie?” Kotori said curiously.

Her mannerisms only caused more unease. Kotori and the cat might share similarities, but they were very different.

“That’s her words. Not yours. You don’t need to play the cat. Jingu Yuri is dead. She can never return to being human. But you’re human, not even a witch.”

Kotori froze, her disdainful gaze piercing through me. Plucking a red flower, she tore the petals like flesh.

“She’s the only cat I know.”

And humans should live as humans.

A heavy silence ensued. Kotori glared at me. Then, her lips suddenly curled.

“Hahahahahahahaha!”

Maniacal laughter filled the air. She was definitely laughing, but the voice was devoid of any genuine amusement.

Kotori threw her head back. The cabriole-legged chair wobbled precariously. Then, she stopped. She lifted one knee and hugged her pale leg.

“My apologies, cutie. Unfortunately, I can’t oblige. Why should I listen to what you say anyway? Besides, in this place, I am undoubtedly a witch.”

Kotori sprang to her feet and gave an elegant curtsy, cloak flaring. Her eyes flickered alluringly. She certainly fit the title of a witch.

“This place originally served as a supporting facility back when Reisen Girls’ Academy still had a grade school division,” Kotori explained. “Kind of like those private rooms on the fifth floor, or maybe a bit more intense. Because of its history, this place takes care of special guests’ children who do not fit into regular facilities.”

Straightening up, she placed her index finger in front of her face, then pressed it against her lips, as if sharing a secret.

“This place is currently the kingdom of abandoned children. And I currently live here as a witch. Not the evil kind, though. You won’t find any white witches down south.”

Kotori chuckled softly, and a pale silhouette reappeared behind her. He gazed up at me with empty eyes. Kotori turned around and reached for the blurred figure. Her milky fingertips brushed empty air, comforting the departed child.

I thought about what she just said. This place was the kingdom of abandoned children. Why did its resident die?

I tried to speak, but no words came out. Something churned in my chest.

A cold, viscous sensation swirled in my stomach. Like a slug crawling out, something welled up in my throat. A large amount of water gushed out from my mouth. Cold, crystal-clear water poured out of my body.

My eyes widened. Kotori didn’t turn around.

“The kingdom’s order lies in the hands of the king,” she continued indifferently. “I’m just a hired witch, a convenient tool for predicting weather and fortune. I don’t mind playing the role of a witch.”

Water soaked my coat, pants, shoes, spreading across the floor. Glistening under the light, the water moved like a living entity, endlessly flowing from my mouth. I tried desperately to tell her about the situation, but the only sound was the bubbling of water.

Crouched down, Kotori remained focused on the ghost, continuing to stroke its head.

“But I think this has gone a bit too far. Perhaps it’s about time,” Kotori murmured softly.

The water showed no signs of stopping. I looked up at the ceiling to try to interrupt the torrent, but more water spurted out.

It felt like a human fountain. Cold water entered my ears, rushing loudly. I lost my hearing, and my vision darkened.

Translucent membranes covered my eyes. I couldn’t see anything else. Coldness enveloped my nose.

The room seemed to be filled with water, with no openings for it to escape. The water churning inside me threatened to crush my lungs. I couldn’t breathe. I reached out in agony.

Splash.

My fingertips breaking the water surface clutched onto something cold. I pulled myself up from the depths, wiped off the water on my face, and pushed back my hair.

“…Huh?” My eyes grew wide.

Rose-colored tiles surrounded me. Before me was a nightmarish scene.

I found myself lying in a bathtub.

Cold water showered from above. I stared quizzically at the splashes landing on my feet. I was sitting in the bathtub, still in my suit. My clothes clung uncomfortably to my skin. Strangely, my leather gloves were gone. Staring at my exposed left hand, I felt a sudden headache.

My fingers did not seem mine, but my vision soon corrected itself. There was nothing abnormal; my fingers were uniform in size. However, my sight occasionally blurred.

Everything was odd. Nothing made sense.

“What in the world is happening?”

I rose from the bathtub, avoiding the cold water as I stepped out. Abruptly, I slipped, and my knees crashed onto the tiles, causing excruciating pain to surge through me. Water trickled from my entire body. To an outside observer, my figure might have resembled a moving lifeless corpse.

Glancing back at the bathtub, I noted its depth, enough for even an adult to drown.

“Oh, you’re here as well,” said a cool voice.

Looking up, I saw Mayuzumi standing in front of me, her gaze cold. Clad in a gothic lolita outfit, she seemed more bewitching than the witch from earlier. A red parasol rested on her shoulder, casting a round shadow on the tiles.

“You disappeared right after dinner. I thought maybe you went to see Kotori-kun. Or have you already talked to her? If so, I’d like to hear what the self-proclaimed witch had to say. What did she tell you?”

Water continued to rain down from the shower, until it overflowed from the tub and onto the tiles, swirling. The shower never stopped, its noise resembling rainfall.

“She said this place was a kingdom for abandoned children,” I said, then told her everything that Kotori shared.

Mayuzumi nodded in boredom. Her leather shoes had gotten wet. The water from the tub was starting to pool.

“A hired witch, huh. I suppose that’s fitting. She is nothing more or less than that.”

Mayuzumi took a step forward, and water fell on her tilted parasol, round droplets sliding on the red surface like mercury. She twirled the parasol, faster and faster, spraying water in all directions.

Suddenly, someone’s hand grabbed the edge of the bathtub.

Bam!

A small child’s hand clung to the ceramic, trembling.

Someone was trying to lift themselves from the inside of the bathtub, but their hand lacked strength. Fingers slipped repeatedly. No matter their effort, their small body couldn’t seem to rise. Eventually, the pale fingertips lost their strength, and the child’s hand disappeared into the water.

Plop.

I stood up and peered into the bathtub. The boy’s body sank in the water. His hair swayed like seaweed, and small bubbles leaked from his mouth. Viewed through the water’s surface, the look of anguish on his face seemed frozen in gelatin.

Then there was laughter. A giggle tickled my ears. Before I knew it, small figures were standing next to me. Several children peered into the bathtub, all laughing in unison as they watched the boy’s demise.

This was a kingdom. The words made me shudder.

Throughout history, executions have sometimes become spectacles. The smile of the girl in the middle was particularly bright. She was genuinely enjoying this.

Snap.

The parasol closed, and the body in the bathtub and the laughing children vanished into thin air. It was an image from the past. The shower, too, had stopped. There was not a single drop of water in the dry tub.