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V7 Story IV – Part 05

Agonizing minutes ticked by.

The dog, ordered to stay put, didn’t move.

What was several minutes felt like an eternity. Kugutsu was starting to feel more cornered than Hishigami. He gritted his teeth, as if searching for something to sink them into. Hishigami, on the other hand, was losing his spirit. Humans can’t sustain strong emotions. He was beginning to tire.

“Kugutsu,” I said. “If you really want to, why not go after Maihime-san?”

Hishigami raised his head. Before he could point the gun at me, I spoke to him. He should be calm enough to listen.

“Hishigami-san, please think about this rationally again. None of us are the culprit. First of all, we have no motive to kill your puppet. We also didn’t have time to hide the weapon. And I’m certain that based on our actions, none of us could have committed the murder.”

I didn’t know what Kugutsu and Maihime were doing, but they would testify for each other. Hishigami lifted his weary eyes. For a moment, calmness glinted in them.

But then he shook his head. “Who killed her, then?”

Who killed Cock Robin?

In the end, everything returned to that question.

None of us killed the puppet. Of course, Hishigami didn’t either. So there was only one answer.

There was a stranger here. Perhaps someone who was here all along.

But the puppets locked the only door. They served as keys that only the master could use. Some intruder in the past was highly unlikely. The girls only obeyed the master’s orders and no one else’s.

But was that really the case?

“There’s also something I want to ask Maihime-san,” I said.

“How can you be so calm?” Kugutsu growled.

He was staring at me with a fiery gaze loaded with disapproval. He seemed like he would bare his fangs at any moment. I felt both baffled and terrified at his reaction.

I swallowed. “Wh-What do you mean by that?”

“There is no culprit among us. Then it has to be someone else. In which case… Excuse my choice of words, but please think about it. Who is alone at the moment?”

My breath seized in my throat. I finally learned the cause of Kugutsu’s concern.

A puppet was killed. But were the victims limited only to puppets? One decapitated head meant there could be a second. And no one guaranteed that the second head would belong to a puppet alone.

A knot formed in my gut. Maihime was alone. We had to go get her.

I sprang to my feet, and so did Kugutsu. Before Hishigami could react, he bent down like a beast and pounced forward, closing the distance in an instant and crashing into Hishigami’s stomach. A hole appeared in the ceiling as a gunshot rang out. Hishigami fell backwards and stopped moving. He must have hit his head and fell unconscious.

Kugutsu picked up the gun. He then removed the bullets, opened the teapot, and submerged them in the tea.

Holding an empty gun, he cracked his neck.

I snapped back to my senses. “Kugutsu, that’s too far!”

“You can’t blame me for this, sir. This should be favorable for you too. I can only protect the Princess. I know you’re a good person. He pointed a gun at my master and people I owe a debt of gratitude to. I will settle with this. I think it’s a great idea.”

Hishigami was exhausted; I could get through to him. Before I could speak any further, a shrill cry came from the distance. A series of short sobs.

It was Maihime.

“Princess!”

“Wait! I’m coming too!”

Kugutsu didn’t listen and broke into a run.

I quickly followed him.

Amidst the bright summer light, a voice rang high and buoyant, bursting like the froth of a fine champagne.

Maihime was laughing. She was twisting in her chair as if in pain, her white hair glittering with each movement.

“Oh, how comical.” Wiping away tears, she looked up at us. “Ah, Kugutsu, you came after me, even though I told you not to. Why do you worry so much?”

“I’m sorry, Princess. I was simply concerned about your well-being. I am prepared to accept any punishment.” Kugutsu kneeled before her.

Maihime blinked, then slowly smiled. “Oh, it’s all right. You worry about me, and I like that about you. While I am annoyed, I’m not angry. There will be punishment.”

She stroked Kugutsu’s head, ruffling his neatly combed hair. Kugutsu closed his eyes, savoring her touch. I pulled my gaze away from the two. The puppet from before was in front of her, half asleep and motionless.

“Ah, I see now.”

Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind me. I looked up and saw Mayuzumi, waving her closed parasol and gesturing towards something under the table. I followed her gaze and understood why the puppet had not joined us.

She had no legs. She had no toes to follow the order.

“But Princess… May I ask what’s so amusing?” Kugutsu asked, perplexed.

Maihime coughed violently, then answered with a smile. “Well, you see, I thought it was strange that only this one didn’t show up, so I wondered if there was something wrong with its mobility. Haha! I forgot that it was in the middle of being repaired.”

Could this even be dismissed as a careless mistake? Kugutsu made an unusual expression of astonishment.

Hesitantly, he expressed his thoughts. “Princess, with all due respect, that seems like a serious problem.”

Maihime chuckled. “It really is… Ah, so funny. It’s been a while since I laughed this much.”

Her smile vanished instantly. She got off the chair and knelt on the grass. She placed a basket from a nearby chair on the ground. Inside were a pale pair of human feet, packed in like some kind of lunch.

Maihime picked them up with a blank expression and attached them to the puppet’s legs. With a metallic click, the pieces meshed together. Maihime grabbed the puppet’s ankle and turned it to check the condition. The heel, so smooth that it made me feel uneasy, turned in a circle.

“It should be able to stand now. Try it,” Maihime said.

The puppet moved, and its pair of bare, plaster-like feet stood on the grass.

Maihime nodded with satisfaction. “Puppets that undergo maintenance like this are fortunate,” she said with an entranced gaze. “To be forgotten is a painful thing. This applies not only to puppets. It’s good when you’re being used. It means you have purpose.”

“You’ve been saying the same thing for some time now,” I said. “It sounds to me like you’re accusing Hishigami-san of treating his puppets badly. Does that have anything to do with this situation?” Her words had been bothering me for a while.

Maihime turned her moist eyes to me. While her whole body was wrapped in white, her eyes alone held a different kind of brilliance.

“He denied it,” she said. “Maybe he’s right. However, what I’m most concerned about is the memory loss. It can affect one’s entire life, even if the person themselves forgets.”

Memory loss.

I repeated the words in my head. Maihime was implying that Hishigami had forgotten something.

“Maihime-san, if you know something, please tell me. Kugutsu took the gun, but Hishigami-san’s mental state is currently unstable. Kugutsu might go berserk as well if you get hurt. What is he forgetting?”

Maihime giggled. “That’s a secret.”

“…What?”

She covered her mouth like a mischievous girl. Her lips trembled as genuine laughter slowly rose. She hid behind Kugutsu, her dress fluttering.

“Figure it out yourself. My duty of confidentiality prevents me from speaking. A personal protocol. I cannot divulge anything myself.”

In other words, it had something to do with the puppets. Maihime peeked from behind Kugutsu like a kid hiding behind her mother. Her measuring gaze was in contrast with her childlike actions.

“There’s an isolated workshop deep inside the atelier,” she went on. “The heart of the place, where no blood flows. After his cousin’s death, he created works in a frenzy for a while, but stopped after designing the puppets. That’s when he threw away his heart. Evil spirits must be dwelling there now.”

Out of nowhere, she told a dark fairy tale befitting the heavy scent of death that hung in the atelier. The workshop stopped being used after his cousin’s death, and the heart of the atelier ceased functioning.

And now evil spirits dwelled there.