The Longing of Shiina Ryo vol. 2

  Part 1

  In a sense, of course.

  What really happened is that I was all of a sudden brought back to the Festival along with Ryo, whose body just collapsed in front of me. Thankfully my reflexes were good enough to catch her.

  Actually, I was thankful for both that and having two arms to catch her with.

  After checking her pulse and discreetly running my hand down on her back to make sure the knife wound wasn’t there, I sighed deeply with sheer relief and then reached for the mobile phone in my pocket. One look at it and I was assured of what I suspected.

  Time did not move at all ever since the kiss.

  Another illusion? Seemed too complex for one, and it went on for too long, but I could not find another plausible explanation with the knowledge I had so far. My arm was here, I didn’t feel exhausted in any way other than mentally. Confusion levels rising and that alone was too much for my brain to handle at that point.

  Everything happened, but inside a layer.

  A sub universe or a ‘scenario’ if you will.

  It did, though.

  The Darkest.

  The girl is safe, you just defeated her Overdrive; to be precise, she is safe because you defeated it.

  Although my speculation is that the reason why she’s passed has probably to do with the ‘condition’ her ability imposes.

  …condition? Wait, is this ‘Overdrive’ the Shugoshin-possessed state? So there really is a difference between a host fighting commonly and that…

  You got that right.: Ayaka and Ryo had breakdowns and the Shugoshin took over.

  On the other hand the horn guy and you fought using the Shugoshin as weapons, so it wasn’t Overdrive but rather the correct usage.

  Not that it pleases me to admit I am biologically no more than a glorified wishing well of destruction.

  What about Reikoku-sensei?

  She’s not a host, has the wrong sort of mind.

  No, I meant ‘why isn’t she here now’: if you say this was real, shouldn’t Reikoku-sensei have gotten here during the fight or at least after it? How can she expect to defeat the hosts if she can’t detect or at the very least provide immediate post-attack assistance? Is her idea of ‘saving everyone from them’ waiting for them to kill people so she can trail the monsters?

  All the doubts I had earlier were resurfacing in no time and given the circumstances it was hard to pinpoint what was probable and what was paranoia. Was I wrong to have trusted that woman? Was I nothing but a puppet and bait in the hands of a self-righteous psychopath?

  Save it for later, we’ve got company.

  “She’ll be okay, Shin-tsu. You are needed somewhere else.”

  “Kouma.” I was almost annoyed by her presence at that point. “What do you mean? What are you doing here?”

  “No time for explanations, I know it’s a cliché but deal with it. What I am doing is damage control. If you cooperate, no one has to die.”

  I felt my eyes shift to match the mind state I knew was the worst of me.

  “I’m going to ask this once so answer carefully. Are you threatening me?”

  She seemed hurt and shocked to her core, even horrified; I never thought I would see her that way let alone be the perpetrator.

  “…look me in the eyes.”

  “Fine.”

  “I love you too, Shin-tsu. Would I hurt and manipulate you?”

  Didn’t take a lot of brain work for me to realize what my answer would be.

  “If you had to for what you believe is my sake, yes, I’m positive you would.”

  It didn’t offend her, or if it did, she didn’t let it show.

  “Do you trust me regardless?”

  “I do.”

  Which was true, too; Kouma Yon was literal-minded and an extremist, but she cared about Ryo and me in her own way so even if I couldn’t always agree with her when it comes to ‘execution’, I could trust the ‘concepts’ she had in mind enough to listen and help moderate her behavior. Her intentions were not harmful to me, at the very least of that I was sure.

  “Good.” She nodded. “Thus a new experiment begins.”

  “Kouma, I’m a little too tired for this.”

  “Don’t worry; I’m here to save you. This is why I moved back in time.”

  “This ought to be the worst practical joke ever, Kouma. Even by those twisted standards of yours, I might add.” My crossed arms were trembling as I still got the ‘phantom pain’ of having lost one of them inside the monster’s world. “If you’re not giving me any evidence proving that you actually can travel in time, I’d rather stop this conversation right now.”

  “I know about you being KEN.”

  Something clicked inside my mind when she called me that name and then I remembered many, many things I came to this town to forget.

  “…I’m listening.”

  She seemed absolutely delighted.

  “The phone is going to ring. Pick it up. Repeat the lines I’ll whisper in your ear with exactly one second of difference and the same intonation: no mistakes allowed for now, we need to keep this timeline as close to the original as we can.”

  It did.

  As I raised the phone to my ear level all I could hear was static followed by faint background noise, clearly the result of muffling the input area of the phone. Whoever it was on the other end, the intent was to make sure that the receiver would talk first: the reason I could assume was to find out if who picked it up was me.

  After a few seconds I coughed just as Kouma did and intentionally took the bait.

  “Hello?”

  “Nyahahaha~~! Do you remember me, KEN?”

  I wouldn’t forget that stupidly flamboyant laugh, ever.

  “Death Drive.”

  Death Drive/D.D. used to be a Japanese scammer and murderer with a penchant for playing Houdini who would fake his death countless times, including on internet live streams and such. It was in one of those underground sites that I met Ryo. Not that we were into snuff or anything similar, anyway: I was there as part of my self-imposed and ultimately failed trauma-overcoming ‘routine’ and she was there to disprove him pointing out the flaws and inconsistencies of his number and method like an annoying kid at a magician’s presentation.

  Except the ‘magician’ got so angry he went after her.

  Over the phone and through the internet, I acted as a consultant and helped her survive his attacks. Together we defeated him and ended up sending the guy to jail for life as he was wanted all over three countries for many crimes that involved ‘faking deaths’ of other people, as in more than one coffin of a person related to him was found all clawed up inside because the victim desperately tried to get out and died spending the little oxygen he or she had under seven feet of mud after the bastard drugged them to put them in a ‘playing possum’ kind of state. He barely made it to prison though, as he had a heart condition and ironically almost kicked the bucket for real because he a little bit too nervous when he got caught. A temper and bad, bad heart made a lousy combination.

  That’s when the two of us, Ryo and I, bonded. Not the cutest story for many, but it was cute enough for me because that bond lasted. Even against my attitude, for I would never dare say ‘will’; all I wanted from the bottom of my heart was to be near her for the rest of my life, regardless of title or relationship. This was obvious from the beginning to me, although whether I would get that or not was a matter of chance.

  “The one and only. I just got out of prison a few months ago and thought I’d drop by and say ‘hello’ to our common friend.”

  As Kouma was telling me my next line, I could only think of how I did not have time to wonder how he got my number. This seemed specific enough to raise suspicion inside my heart.

  “How exactly, pray tell? You got life sentence, no chance of parole ever. Your own lawyer applauded when the judge said it.”

  “And for as long as I was alive, I served it. Thing is, people seem to forget details and I think they a
re the most important thing, much more relevant than facts. My files said a lot about me, but not enough for the new prison I was transferred to. They saw me as a crazy murderer and all, and were ready for that. Not for someone whose purpose in life was to fake deaths with high-end or third-world-class methods, and thus with the unfortunate demise of Mr. Daisuke Miyamoto-Chevalier set Death Drive free, more now than ever before. This is why you were not told about my grand escape by your information service, although while we’re on the topic of information providers it should be noted that word on the streets is that you have been out of touch with your family and probably wouldn’t have gotten the gossip. If it existed, anyway.”

  “So you came after Ryo?”

  A disgusting snicker too sharp for my ears pierced through them, all the way to my brains.

  “Not really. I mean, I might kill her too, what with her being a pretentious nuisance of a prey last time, but the one I’m after is you. You really annoyed me when you got involved, because it’s one thing to be against a kid and the other is to be against a living legend who is, as all of them, just a fake.”

  “It’s not my fault if you got worried thinking you were clashing against a genius detective or something. That is the kind of thing that only happens in movies. You should be thankful it was just another kid instead.”

  “Cause that’s exactly what you are, right? You lying demon. You fooled me into thinking that once already but I’ll get you this time, and in the only way it could hurt you: I’ll kill them all, and only because of you. You don’t get the hero’s death you crave for. You will be the only one who survives as everything burns to the ground. Mark my words, KEN: I’ll make your purgatory life hell.”

  “Still obsessed with imagery, I see. I know you like playing games. Tell me the target and we’ll race over who gets to it first while trying to catch each other.”

  “Tired of that. Let’s do something else.”

  “Like what?”

  “You try and find me hiding within school grounds before your teacher bleeds to death.”

  I knew what my next line was before Kouma Yon whispered it in my ear.

  “No.”

  “…”

  “I refuse. Do you understand that? I won’t become a sitting duck for you and I won’t waste my time over this. If you’re going to kill her, just do it. Let’s see what else you can do.”

  “For starters I can kill more students!”

  Getting more people involved was not the most pleasant of scenarios for several reasons, but I didn’t need to think about it because I was still getting all the answers ready-made.

  “People I care even less about? What are you, twelve? If you’re going to negotiate on terms I should bet my life on, you ought to be able to make a better proposition than ‘run around with no idea whatsoever of where I am while I watch you from afar’. The stakes aren’t high on your end, thus this bet means nothing to me. I don’t care about catching you in particular; I just want you out of my way. You on the other hand, want my head. See how we’re different?”

  “…”

  “For me, it’s easy to achieve what I want. Kill her right now, I’ll just spread the word that an armed lunatic is within school grounds and Japanese police will be here in moments, having all those issues with guns and what not. They might be no good with conceiving ways to prevent you from escaping but you know damn well I am. In my case, the ‘no casualties’ condition is a bonus, not a goal. For you, it’s now a very important thing that the only person who knows you are out of prison and can put you back there for good, if not aim for a ‘special case’ informal death sentence using connections with other inmates or wardens. You don’t know my limitations, but I know yours.”

  “I know one. You can never kill again, KEN.”

  So he did get information from Lang Shou. That explained it all.

  “Imprecise, therefore incorrect; if that’s all you know about that story, you’re in for a surprise. So, are you going to kill her? I thought you wanted to play with me.”

  “What are your terms?”

  “Oh, now we’re talking.” I sighed just like Kouma Yon did. “I need an hour to work on my side before the game starts. I’ll try to gather spies from the people here, students and parents alike, and brief them just enough information so they can be useful but not enough for them to get in my way as I have full intention of reaching you myself. Keep in mind that while you can take them down if they approach you consider that I’ll find you easier if they are my spies because I’ll know who went on which route and then... well, it’s up to you. I won’t give any more tips, already did my part in making this game more interesting. Are you with me so far?”

  “You have twenty minutes. I’ll call again when it’s time.”

  “You are in no condition of negoti-”

  Call disconnected.

  “Shin-tsu.” Kouma sounded like she was trying to be careful with her words. “You know why he did that, right?”

  “She’s already wounded, so he doesn’t have the time.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Guess we don’t have the time to waste either. By the way, you could tell I was bluffing, right?”

  “I know you were, but only because you approached me during those twenty minutes in the previous timeline looking pretty desperate, or at least as desperate as you get when you’re into something. I also know you could easily have been serious about it.” Matter-of-factly she just implied I’d allow murder to happen, just like that. If she thought that way, arguing was useless. “He held quite a grudge towards you.”

  “Not personal: I think he is on bad terms with everyone he ever crossed his path but I happen to be one of the few who are still alive.”

  “And he’d go out of the way to his freedom just to take ‘one of them’ out? You’re special to him. Whether you lied about your past or not is irrelevant at this point because you clearly did something at some point.” Kouma was serious and I couldn’t really blame her for being worried. “Koukishin Shinzou, if that is your real name, who are you?”

  I had to be honest albeit not necessarily specific.

  “It is my ‘real’ name, just not my birth name; I’m adopted. I was taken by the most normal couple in the world who just happened to be the odd ones out in this absurdly unusual family. This should be as far as my connection would go to the weird circumstances, but I’ve gotten into some messed up stuff of my own and ended up making a name for myself as an individual rather than a son of the household. Because of that, people know my nicknames but most of them don’t know me. I know people.”

  She seemed satisfied with that vague answer of mine.

  “I like you better now.”

  “Figured.”

  “You would, wouldn’t you? Before I tell you about the plan, tell me, so-called ‘hunter of monsters’: what good are you against a human?”

  Yes, that alone proved her time travel allegation even further. As if I needed any more proof despite the scripted lines and all.

  It could have all been a ruse; the lines could have been arranged on the other side too. She could be working with Death Drive too, they all could.

  Let’s not go there; spiraling into paranoia is just what I don’t need right now.

  “Good enough when it comes to deception.”

  “I’ll take your word on that.” An ironic reply considering what I just told her, but her voice had no sarcasm in it. Then again, I did tell her she’s not human to me. “Here is the plan: Ryo, dressed as you, will walk around school and act the same way you did in the first timeline following the script. Akane will keep your mobile phone and play the audio clips you will record with Megumi’s loop pedal and one of the microphones you used for the live performance. Whenever the phone with Ayaka gets a call, Ryo in disguise picks up too: synchrony is everything.”

  Let me suspend disbelief for a moment and assume that she got all of my movements down in exact words on paper, let alone in a way it couldn’t be misun
derstood by a reader such as Ryo. Or that we can get high-school girls to help us pull a swindle or an operation such as that, just because they’re friends. Let’s point out a simple flaw first, save the awful implications for later.

  “Hold on. What about ambience?”

  “What?”

  “Lack or different ambient noise on our end will make the recording stand out in places where he can both watch me and see what’s going on too. The recording won’t match the environments even when there’s no noise because of the room natural reverb too. D.D. might be an oddball but it will be hard to keep the act for long. Can we just redirect calls easily?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t know… it is your phone after all.”

  “Never tried, bought this new model right before coming to Japan and just had my number transferred.” Decided to omit the detail my previous one was eaten by a harpy from Kouma, who was just too much of a skeptic to take it even as a joke, which it was not, but would be a better reaction than hers anyway. I messed with it for a while. “Yes, this phone can.”

  “Alright, hand it to me. I’ll just set our speed dials’ first position to be each other.”

  “Good.” I was so focused I didn’t even want to make a joke about that. “I’ll wake Ryo up and brief her in. Can you get Megumi and Akane?”

  “No Rin?”

  “Her father is probably suspicious of me already, no need to add salt to the wound; what if we involve her and he follows us, only to be hurt or ruin the scheme? We know Akane’s mom isn’t like that.”

  “I see.”

  “We just have to hope they’ll cooperate with us, but if you say it’s for me Megumi might agree and Akane will come along.”

  “Shin-tsu, I’m absolutely certain I can get Akane to cooperate: it’s Megumi we will have to hope will come along, actually.”

  That made me confused.

  “How can you be so sure you can mobilize them just like that? Did you talk to them about this before?”

  “Oh, not really. It is because of Ryo’s conspiracy.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Somehow, she guessed this whole ‘I want to protect you so I will get away from you but in a way it seems like we just grew apart because maybe we weren’t so close after all’ thing was your game early on and let, in her own words, the plot build up for a most cathartic finale. I aided her keeping track of your behavior with the café therapy sessions, but before you ask I actually am working on my thesis. When you told me about Megumi and Akane, I knew who we had to ally with to make sure you would be alone at some point during the festival. Then Akane gave us the information about the band ending plans and Ryo made sure you would not be told about it before the actual day so you’d be absolutely ready for some clashing morals and romantic angst when she confronted you, other than no place for you to just run away to. This is why we got Rin’s father to wait by the backstage and, although entirely unaware of our gambit, he was useful when it came to intercepting her and making you leave alone. What Akane doesn’t know is that her mother also indirectly helped the plan because she talked to Rin’s father a couple times before, what with being the only dedicated flower shop owner and all. I happened to overhear them talking while you played and while he was a little shocked that his beloved daughter hid something like that from him for so long, the hippie knocked some sense in him with a ‘boys will be boys’ kind of speech that reminded him of his youth days. In the end, we relied on luck a little but her sting worked.”

  “…Shiina Ryo out-conned me?” I laughed honestly from my heart. “Dear God, I’m going to marry her.”

  This was kind of intricate for a beginner so it made me wonder if the reason why they don’t seem to get along with other girls in school went beyond anti-social behavior. Another part of the explanation brought forth an even more unsettling question.

  If it was all just part of the con she pulled on me, why did her Shugoshin go Overdrive? The plan would have ended there with the kiss; she should be happy but instead broke down. Sure that wasn’t what I expected from our first kiss either but it was because of the whole world fading to white and whatnot, not because it was such a bad kiss. Perhaps I’m mistaking the ‘cause’ here: let’s say it even wasn’t because of the kiss per se, but rather the strong emotion she felt triggering others in chain reaction after a period of bottling up, including the real cause. But what could that be? The emotional overload of a hundred of small problems or something else much bigger? If I were around, I probably would know.

  “I’m sure she’d like that.”

  A certain fashionista I knew had an ennui face and I realized that, under the circumstances, it looked like I just spaced out imagining a married life with Ryo.

  “Kouma, it was a joke.”

  “I know. Me being jealous is a constant rather than a common variable, so you just have to watch out for how much and not if I am or not; that is a sure thing.”

  “Talking about jealousy, it might be a little too rude to ask but do you think Megumi knows Akane likes her that way?”

  “Who’s to tell? One way to look at it is that she doesn’t have a clue; other implies she does and doesn’t want to reject the friend who gave her a home when she was in need. My personal guess, and I will take it as fact until proven otherwise, is that she knows and regardless of seeing her as a possible romantic pair or not will not move a finger until Akane takes the courage to go after her and confess properly. Which would be brilliant in a simple and effortless way, if you ask me: works if she just wants her friend to grow up or if she needs a more reliable and sure-of-herself lover.”

  How specific.

  “Is that what you wanted the dynamic between Ryo and you to be? Good grief, Kouma, you’re such a maiden at heart.”

  “…”

  “Liking me or not, you wouldn’t have a problem if I got offended by being played that way and didn’t want to be involved with you guys anymore one way or another. Not only had you enabled her behavior, which could end up really bad, you also told me the whole scheme so that I could react the way I wanted. It was a matter of free will to you, and you were sure that one way or another I’d use mine to walk away if I had the chance. ” I sighed deeply. “So your personal conspiracy failed, in a myriad of ways.”

  I kind of wanted her to get mad but she just stared at me.

  “It was an experiment. Experiments never actually fail, you know. They provide results one way or the other, even if the results are that you can’t achieve the ones you want by using that method; that outcome that could come across as bad narrows down the search and brings us closer to what can be called Science.”

  “So did you find out the answer to your question?”

  “It’s ‘yes’.”

  “And did you find the question to your answer?”

  “It was ‘whether I loved you because you were like her or because you are you’.”

  “...in a conditional question, marked by ‘or’, you replied ‘yes’ and that’s it?”

  “Exactly.”

  “OK then.” If that was good enough for her, it was for me too. “Enough talk; let’s pull a con on a convict.”

  A yawn was heard behind me but I had the impression she had been awake for a while.

  “Shin-tsu.” Ryo said, half of the mouth still covered by her hand. “You’ve been waiting to say that for your whole life, weren’t you?”

  I didn’t bother denying it.