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V8 Story II – Part 07

We proceeded down a short corridor and pushed open the metal door leading to the workshop. It was sandy inside. The fireplace that once blazed now lay cold and empty, the white dust as cold as a desert at night.

Damaged sculptures poked out from the sand, animal faces and human limbs. Tools, workbenches, and boxes filled with materials cluttered one corner of the room. Ignoring the remnants of past work, my attention turned to what lay at the center.

Amidst the sea of white dust was a dark, wet spot, and upon it rested a corpse. At first, I couldn’t tell if it was human.

Hishigami Akira had committed suicide, shooting himself in the head. But the body in front of us had been meticulously opened along the spine, the flesh on the back split open like a box’s lid, revealing the ribs, internal organs, and spine itself.

Some of the organs had been pulled out through the gap in the spine and were covered in sand. Thighs were sliced open on both sides, resembling split fruit.

The precise incisions suggested a deliberate order to it all. The meticulously dissected body looked like a satirical work about human existence.

The puppet stepped forward, showing no hesitation in facing the gruesome corpse. Gently, she placed a rose in front of the body, clasping her fingers together as if in prayer. It dawned on me that she had likely been ordered to offer flowers, but something had interrupted her.

It was likely Hishigami who dissected the body. I pictured him snatching the bouquet from the puppet’s hand and slamming it onto the floor. He must have sealed the door before she could complete her task.

Afterward, for some reason, Hishigami amputated his own arm. He ordered the two puppets to attack us, but apparently left this particular puppet without retracting the original order.

I glanced at the puppet. She was praying, but her eyes remained open. Real eyeballs stirred inside her glass eyes.

She was the same puppet that was in the front garden. Hishigami’s deep attachment to her probably prevented him from ordering her to attack people.

Faced with the horrifying yet strangely peaceful sight, I was speechless. I knew Hishigami Akira when he was alive, but it wasn’t sadness that came over me—it was something different. It felt like I’d seen something I should never have. The dismembered body was a horrifying sight, exposing the repulsiveness of human insides.

The puppet ceased its prayers and returned to the corridor. Realizing we’d be trapped if we stayed, I shook my head and quickly lifted the body.

Rigor mortis was starting to subside. The decaying flesh oozed blood and fluids, soaking my back with a repugnant stench and sensation. I suppressed the urge to vomit. Kugutsu hurried to support the corpse’s legs.

Together, we carried the heavy body outside. The axe had penetrated the door to the parlor. Kugutsu and I exchanged looks. Making sure we didn’t drop the body, we sprinted away.

Bang!

The door behind us flung open. We raced through the last corridor, choosing to ignore the scattered organs on the floor.

---

We stumbled out of the mansion just in the nick of time. I fell on my knees on the grass, the weight of the body pressing down on me. As I took deep breaths, it slid off my back and lay sprawled face down on the lawn, its opened back exposed to the summer light.

Mayuzumi and Maihime, who had been having a tea party, squinted at the sight.

Mayuzumi clapped her hands softly. “Excellent. Just as expected, the door opened.”

Both of them stood up from their chairs and approached the body. Mayuzumi, with her crimson parasol on her shoulder, looked down at the corpse. Fancy frills resembling black roses swayed.

“Very meticulous,” she said. “This is why he broke down.”

Maihime crouched on the lawn and began touching the bones and organs of the corpse, examining them carefully.

I furrowed my brow. Dissecting a corpse was certainly an act of madness, but I found it hard to fathom how that could lead to his breakdown.

“When we left, he said he would seal the workshop,” Mayuzumi added. “But before doing so, he must have gone to see the body. And when he saw it, he couldn’t resist confirming the sole and absolute difference between him, a puppet, and Hishigami Akira, a human being.”

Humans and puppets had different insides. One had organs, the other metal components. Hishigami, desperate to confirm this, opened the back of the body.

“And he found that the human interior is so soft and grotesque. Seeing the insides of his supposed replica, he became confused. He hasn’t fully accepted the death of Hishigami Akira. He amputated his own arm to examine the differences, and the overwhelming disparity led to a mental breakdown.”

He must have despaired at the stark difference between that of a puppet and a human. Then, he set up a game for us. I finally understood the point of the game. As Mayuzumi had said before, a human’s organs were not visible.

Clinging to a faint hope, he attempted to compare his own body and the bodies of people other than Hishigami Akira. Moreover, he involved those who were involved in Hishigami Akira’s death and, through self-mutilation, intended to spread the fear of impending death.

“How foolish. He shouldn’t have opened up human bodies.” Mayuzumi shrugged.

I agreed with her sentiment. Still, knowing the cause of his breakdown didn’t change the fact that the door wouldn’t open.

“What’s the plan, Mayu-san? I get that Hishigami Akira’s corpse is the cause of his breakdown. But that doesn’t change the fact that we can’t get out of here.”

“Don’t worry. You may leave that to me.” An answer came from somewhere unexpected. Maihime, kneeling on the grass, looked up at me with a smile full of confidence. “He should be discombobulated after having his arm devoured by a monster. Fainting from just losing an arm indicates a weak mentality. Persuading him should be easy. Yes, in short, we will manipulate him.”

Maihime licked her lips and stood up, picking up the teapot. Without hesitation, she turned it upside down over Hishigami’s face, pouring tea on him.

“Ugh…”

Maihime slapped him on the cheek, waking him up. When Hishigami saw Maihime, his breath caught. He moved his shoulders to try to push her away. After repeating the motion a couple of times, he finally realized that his arms were gone.

“Ah, it hurts! My arms! Wh-What happened?! The game…”

“Forget about that and look here.”

Ignoring Hishigami’s howling, Maihime grabbed the head of the corpse and shook it up and down. Hishigami’s face tensed up, and he stopped screaming as if he had forgotten the pain. He shuddered and shriveled.

“Ugh… uhh…”

He growled like a wild beast, trying desperately to avoid looking at the corpse, but his gaze remained fixed on it. He was bewildered and worn out.

I tried calling his name, but Maihime addressed him gently. “You can relax; there’s no need to worry anymore. Let me make you just like this.”

“…What?”

Hishigami raised his face, dumbfounded. Maihime put a finger to his chin, wearing an angelic smile.

“I will use all the bones and usable parts of this one to reconstruct your body. I can make you more human, to the extent that you would die if your belly is torn. Then, you won’t need to worry about the differences anymore. I will make you as close to being human as possible. I promise.”

The body was beginning to rot, and it would be nearly impossible to completely mimic human organs. Hishigami stared at her as if possessed.

“I am Karakuri Maihime, a supernatural puppet master,” she declared sonorously. “I guarantee that you can become identical to Hishigami Akira. How about that?”

Hishigami’s jaw dropped. Unexpected information was forced into his disoriented mind, leaving his mind utterly numb.