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V8 Story III – Part 04

Inside the glass was a white floor, smooth and without grooves, with a central drain. Operating panels outside indicated a shower on the ceiling.

Why would anyone need such a weird space? The moment the question crossed my mind, I covered my mouth tightly.

Laughter and nausea surged simultaneously. I couldn’t help but mock myself. The worst possible purpose of this space came to me instantly.

This was a place to wash away blood and flesh. Stains would remain on the tiles.

The purpose of the saw and other vicious blades became evident.

“Haha… Hahaha… Ugh…”

This time, I actually threw up, spilling the contents of my stomach onto the tiled floor.

Tears blurred my vision. The mere existence of this place was unbearable. I wanted to scream. But there was no one to direct my anger towards. I stood up and walked away. I wanted to erase these memories from my mind, spit at the human trafficker’s corpse.

As I returned to the luxurious room, I stopped in my tracks, noticing a hidden door in a corner of the room. Thick curtains covered a wall next to the grandfather clock, revealing an iron door, not a window, through the gap. I wanted to crush my eyes. I didn’t want to see anything more than I already did.

Regretting my discovery, I approached the door anyway, and mechanically pulled it open. Feeling like I was trapped in a nightmare, I studied the last room in this dreadful house.

It was an extremely narrow space, built with concrete. Bags made of fabric were stacked in one corner.

The air was heavy with the stench of blood and decay. Depending on how the merchandise was consumed, carrying the remains could be challenging. This room was probably designed to swiftly dispose of corpses.

In front of me lay the sole exit for the children brought into this room. Presumably, it led to the garden. I stared at the ceiling in silence.

A trash chute.

I bit my lip, feeling helpless.

But I couldn’t even shed any more tears.

---

I sat leaning against the wall by the entrance, my gaze fixed on the ceiling. Smoke rose and ashes fell onto my knees as the cigarette in my mouth grew shorter.

My search for the child had come up empty, and my will to continue had nearly vanished. My head felt numb, preventing me from thinking properly. Tears spilled down my face, but I wasn’t even sure why I was crying. Whenever I tried to think about the horrors I witnessed earlier, my mind instinctively shied away.

The bleeding from my abdomen was severe, and if I dwelled on this any deeper, I might end up succumbing to the wound. But that wasn’t the reason I wanted to leave. I simply couldn’t bear to confront the unimaginable nightmare any longer.

I knew from the start that this house was unusual, but still I found myself losing hope in humanity.

“Yusuke…”

I thought back to our conversation, but my body seemed unwilling to move. Just then, I heard footsteps.

I lifted my head, and there stood a dark figure before me. Her slender waist was tied with a ribbon, and smooth legs extended from a skirt resembling a black rose. She looked as though she were attending a funeral. On her shoulder was a red parasol.

“…Mayu-san?”

“Your eyes look like you’re dying, Odagiri-kun.”

As soon as I heard her dry voice, the tension that had been building in my body eased. Laughter rose through my throat. I once again confronted the fury swelling within my chest.

“Haha. Maybe death wouldn’t be such a bad thing. I thought I had gotten used to this by now, but apparently not. This place… is too much.” My last words were tinged with tears.

Mayuzumi gave me a cold stare. Following her gaze, I picked up the cigarette that had fallen from my mouth, stubbing it out in a portable ashtray.

Mayuzumi nodded, her crimson lips loosening. “It is, isn’t it? Allow me to lighten your mental burden for a moment. The number of rooms in this house is designed to accommodate the maximum capacity of all the children in case of a clan’s purge. The likelihood of such a thing happening in the modern world is close to zero. Nonetheless, human traffickers take pride in their trade and have prepared the rooms for emergencies. In reality, the number of occupied rooms would have been less than half at any given time.”

I clenched my fist. Who cares about the number? The fact remained that children were being sold. The mere existence of this place was inexcusable.

“Pride… What’s the point of taking pride in something so despicable? Did Maihime… Did she sell Hirugao to a place like this?!”

“That’s something she admits herself. Did you change your mind? Do you want to kill her? The human trafficker is already dead. The client records are probably encrypted. Your anger will only hurt yourself. Stop tormenting yourself with pointless emotions.”

Mayuzumi nonchalantly twirled her crimson parasol. I scratched my hair, feeling a sense of powerlessness gnawing at my chest. Aimless rage swirled within me.

Mayuzumi moved closer and extended her pale hand. A golden bundle fell from her palm, bouncing on the floor.

“Eat it. It’s a healthier vice than smoking,” she said indifferently. “It might distract you for a bit.”

I picked up the packet, tore it open, and found a round piece of chocolate inside.

“Mayu-san… What are you plotting?”

Her being nice to me, as terrible as it sounded, gave me the creeps. I couldn’t help but suspect that my death was imminent. Shrugging slightly, Mayuzumi moved away from me and sat on the steps near the entrance.

“You’ve been to the goldfish mansion. This place is similar, but much more professional, where human desires are met, and humans are processed accordingly. There’s no human dignity here. The merchandise is stripped of their rights. You don’t seem to have the resilience for this. Your losing the will to move is a problem for me. The door remains closed, after all.”

Her red parasol twirled. Her skirt fanned softly on the stairs.

Keeping her back away from me, she continued. “Get a grip, Odagiri-kun. You’re the one who dragged me into this mess. Unfortunately, this situation can only be resolved by you. Oh, naïve Odagiri-kun. There’s no point unless you realize the truth on your own and take action. Please refrain from causing unwanted trouble for me.”

Bewildered, I put the chocolate into my mouth. Sweet cream spread on my tongue. As I ruminated on her words, I noticed something off.

“Mayu-san, do you happen to know something? Where are the children?”

“I already told you. There’s no point unless you figure it out yourself. It might be easier if I told you, but I don’t want to lose the momentum. I’ll tell you one thing, though.”

Mayuzumi turned to look at me. Wearing a sinister smile, she raised a hand.

“The source of an esper’s ability often lies in their body or soul. Abilities dependent on the body include exceptional physical capabilities, turning into beasts, mutating others. Abilities dependent on the soul include escaping from the body, generating strange noises, among other things. Inherited abilities tend to be connected to flesh and blood, while spontaneously occurring abilities often reside in the soul. It’s not a straightforward classification, though. For example, Maihime’s ability is a combination of both natures. As for Asato and me, who can connect to the spirit world, we are complete exceptions.”

Her voice was full and sonorous, but it didn’t seem like the right time to talk about this.

Seeing my confusion, Mayuzumi smiled faintly. She pointed at my abdomen.

“In a broad sense, you might also be considered an esper. Your baby possesses the ability to read memories through human blood. Quite handy. Normally, people can’t see such things.”

Mayuzumi turned away from me again. I could hear the crunching of chocolate.

Then it hit me. There were bloodstains on the wall by the entrance.

“I see… I can read the trafficker’s memories.”

“You’re on the right track, but allow me to offer one correction.”

I was about to stand up, but froze. Her red parasol spun round and round.

She turned back to me. “I don’t think the blood on the wall belongs to the human trafficker. There was a lot of blood splattered on the feathers on the floor. That means he was killed after the chain pierced the sofa. He was hanged there and beaten to death. He wouldn’t have left handprints outside the room. And Yusuke-kun’s weapon is a baseball bat.”

I went over what she just said. The image of the human trafficker hanging in the dark room came to mind. Yusuke swung that bat on his head.

“The blood wouldn’t have gotten on his hand,” Mayuzumi added.

My eyes grew wide. I looked at the red handprint left on the wall.

Mayuzumi smiled sweetly. “Whose blood is it then, I wonder?”

Yusuke’s hands weren’t covered in the human trafficker’s blood. But there were red handprints on the wall. Judging from the size, it didn’t belong to a child. Did Yusuke injure his own hand himself?

I rose to my feet and bolted. The blood on the wall was nearly dry. Just touching a small amount of blood wouldn’t be effective. I removed my leather gloves and tossed them to the floor. But there were no old scars on my palms. I turned back to the blood and licked it off the wall.

The baby let out a cry.

Pa.

My stomach writhed. I felt like I was thrown into the abyss.

My vision distorted, and someone else’s sight overlapped with mine.

And then, I lost myself.