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V7 Story I – Part 03

The girl was holding a human bone as if it were a stuffed toy.

She flashed an innocent smile and sat like a little child.

Pressing my forehead, I studied the girl. I had no idea what was going on.

The missing girl being in this office was too much of a coincidence. She seemed to be here without any apparent reason.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” I demanded.

“Hmm… I don’t know, I don’t know. Ehehe.”

No matter how many times I asked her, she just kept repeating the same answer.

I found myself staring at Mayuzumi, my confusion mounting. She was nonchalantly munching on a piece of chocolate, a bored expression on her face. Mayuzumi Azaka was unchanged, even in the face of such a strange and sudden visitor.

I let out a deep sigh, regretting the fact that I did not obtain the woman’s contact information. But even if I had, it was doubtful that I could have reached her easily.

The girl was holding a skull in her arms, the identity of its owner unknown, and I could not fathom why she was carrying it around with her. She could be in grave danger.

Suddenly, Mayuzumi’s words from earlier echoed in my mind.

“Did someone die?”

What in the world had happened?

As I was struggling to make sense of it all, I felt a tug at my sleeve. I turned to find the young girl looking up at me, her big, shining eyes trying to tell me something. It didn’t feel like she was hiding in the bedroom this whole time.

“Excuse me,” she said innocently, still holding the skull. “I’m hungry. I want to eat. Eat a lot!”

“R-Right. Hmm, what to do.”

I didn’t know what her deal was, but I couldn’t just ignore her when she was hungry. Her emaciated appearance was also worrisome. But all there was to eat in the apartment was chocolate. Seeing my hesitation, the girl puffed out her cheeks in frustration.

Mayuzumi stopped her fingers from picking up a chocolate truffle and looked at me, tilting her head. “What is it, Odagiri-kun? You can give her a little bit. Though it doesn’t seem right to fill a starving child’s stomach with sweets. She’s underdeveloped as it is.”

I froze, taken aback that Mayuzumi could be sensible. She extended her arm, holding out a chocolate truffle to the girl. Like a baby bird, the girl opened her mouth, and Mayuzumi tossed the candy into it with a thin smile.

“I’m not a monster,” she said. “If she’s hungry, you can feed her. But I will charge you for it.”

I shuddered. Mayuzumi might not care about the price of chocolate, but the sweets on the table were expensive. I panicked, but there was no other food in sight. The girl opened her mouth again with a smile. I didn’t know how much she could eat, but I prepared myself for bankruptcy due to chocolate.

Suddenly, something blocked the girl’s mouth. A round and shiny meat bun.

“…Meat bun?”

“Meat buns taste amazing when you’re hungry. If I had to describe the taste, it’s like feeling nostalgic about something, then thinking it might just be your imagination.”

A familiar voice came from beside me. I turned my head slowly and saw blond hair. There he was, Yusuke Saga, sitting with a paper bag containing a pile of the delectable buns. He was watching the girl.

“Yusuke, what are you trespassing here for?” I chided.

“Well, the door wasn’t locked. And also because I bought some meat buns on impulse, but there were too many and I had to give up. Convenience store hoarding is too tough. Oh, look at her go. Puts a smile on your face, huh?”

The girl devoured the meat bun at a rapid pace, finishing one in no time.

“More, more! This is yummy! So yummy!” she exclaimed with a smile that resembled that of a hungry hamster.

Yusuke handed her a second bun and bit into one himself. I could smell the meat stuffing. He finished his in a few bites.

“So what’s she doing with this thing? Yusuke asked in a sudden, low voice.

He was looking at the skull tucked between the girl’s thighs. He rubbed its head. The girl was too focused on eating her meat bun.

But then she quickly swallowed and lifted her head. “No! Don’t! Don’t take it! You can’t!” She pulled Yusuke’s hair.

“Ouch, ouch. I got it. Message received. I won’t touch it.”

She was not only young in appearance, but also in mind. Hugging the skull in her arms, she growled warily.

Yusuke scratched his head, his gaze fixed on the skull. “Hmm, how do I put this… I really feel for her.”

I recalled the two laughing skulls he cherished. Eventually they lost their voice and returned to mere bones. I wondered if he still kept them in his house. To him, they were the remains of people he loved.

“Hey, squirt. Why do you have this?” Yusuke asked in a gentle voice. “Is it something important? Does it belong to someone important?” There was a glimmer of sympathy in his eyes.

The girl bared her teeth and snarled. Eventually she relaxed her guard, gazing at Yusuke with clear eyes. She shook her head wildly.

“Fly, fly, flutter, flutter.” The girl’s mouth flapped open and shut as she muttered incomprehensible words. “Poor thing.”

Yusuke, face grim, furrowed his brow, mirroring my own confusion. The girl’s face was oddly emotionless, her dark eyes wide open.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Poor, poor thing,” the girl repeated.

She looked scared.

We exchanged glances. The girl lifted up the skull and stared at it with cold, vacant eyes. Hers was not the gaze of someone looking at something important.

“Where did you come from?” Yusuke asked gently.

The girl narrowed her eyes, wearing a searching look.

There was something off about the expression on her face. The glint in her eyes contrasted with the infantile mannerisms she had been exhibiting.

Her gaze darted from Yusuke to Mayuzumi. She closed her eyes and opened them, then smiled.

“I don’t know,” she answered.

The phone rang.

The girl scurried away and slipped into Mayuzumi’s bedroom, closing the door tightly, leaving us utterly confused. She seemed afraid of something.

I dashed to the phone and picked up the receiver.

“Is this the Mayuzumi Psychic Detective Agency?” asked a muffled voice.

It was the woman from earlier. Her tone was feeble, and I couldn’t blame her. She was probably scared. The thing the girl was carrying could cause a deadly commotion if people were to find out about it.

Steadying my breath, I racked my brains hard. I needed to know more about the situation before I could tell her about the girl being here.

I decided to talk before handing the phone to Mayuzumi. “Ah, is this the client from earlier? Did you change your mind?”

“My name is Misaki. Do I really need to explain the situation before you take the case? I need to find the girl as soon as possible. But the thing she has with her…”

The woman mentioned only her name, which could just be an alias. There was still hesitation in her voice. Picturing the girl, I decided that I couldn’t leave things as they were. I had to play the first move.

“I have a question, Misaki-san. Is this thing she took with her a human skull?”

Silence descended, broken only by a hoarse sigh.

A moment later, she asked in a low voice, “How do you know that?”

“I apologize. We conducted our own investigation. But we have no intention of releasing it to the public. The girl you’re looking for has human bones with her. That’s all that matters. Who does it belong to? Why are you looking for her?”

It was impossible to launch an investigation in the limited time we had since Misaki’s visit. Nevertheless, she didn’t question me, perhaps out of confusion. I listened intently; her answer would determine how I judged the situation.

Should we tell her where the girl was? Or keep hiding her?

“It’s my brother’s skull,” she said after a long silence, her voice heavy with anguish. “The girl may have killed him and taken the skull with her,” she went on in a matter-of-fact tone. “I don’t hate her for it. My brother was a man who deserved to die.” Her voice turned fervent. “I just want to know the truth. I want to know what happened. To do that, I need to see the girl. I want to hear her story.”

Misaki said the girl was her brother’s girlfriend. The girl killed her brother and took his skull.

I wasn’t particularly shocked to hear the story, having witnessed my share of death. Instead, I was filled with questions. The girl’s mind was younger than what her appearance suggested. I didn’t think she could kill someone bigger than her. Besides, I doubted she would tell me the truth if I asked.

I was also unsure of Misaki’s true intentions. Was there any other way to bring them together?

If she was telling the truth, she deserved to know what happened.