Loups-Garous (55 page)

“I said I don't like producing useless corpses. Those children would die for a great cause. Ayumi Kono is…”

Ishida put his hand on a touch-screen on his desk.

A digital screen appeared, upon which information on the child they were discussing popped up. The display furiously scrolled through reams of characters and images for Ayumi's data, and then eventually an image of her face appeared on the screen.

“Interesting. She's a triple A. And Makino…”

What was he saying?

“Hmph, she's an A-minus.”

“That won't be a problem,” said the man in white.

“Her base strength is inferior, but her organs are disease-free, and she is fed on D&S-produced food products prepared by a domestic with a premium contract, so there won't be any problems with her nutritional balance. As long as it's nothing like the last time, I think it might even be better.”

“I'm looking forward to it,” Ishida said, and he started another search.

Mio Tsuzuki's image appeared.

“She's a B.”

“Ooh, we
must
get her,” said the man in white.

Get?

“Hinako Sakura is, well, she looks like she's unhealthy but she's a double A. Wow, Miss Fuwa. All your children are so healthy!”

They were looking at the data from the childrens' medical exams.

These men…

“What are you doing?” Shizue was overpowered by an indescribable rage.

“W-what on earth are you doing?”

Ishida didn't answer, but simply laughed.

“What's so funny? What are you doing?”

“Miss Fuwa. You're not in a position to be asking questions. I was the one asking you questions. Now, Kunugi, what are you going to do?”

“I'm sorry, but I'm stupid, like you said. I'm so stupid I don't understand the position you're putting me in. What was it again? I'm supposed to choose between being a convicted murderer or pervert?”

“Yes. That's an astute way of putting it,” Ishida said with a smirk. “So what's it going to be?”

“Don't kid yourself.”

Kunugi looked at Shizue.

“Call me whatever you want. A pervert, an aberrant. But don't think I'm going to be part of any scheme that requires killing children,” Kunugi said.

He leapt at Ishida.

However.

He was quickly stopped from behind by the large tattooed man and slammed into the desk, where he was immobilized. Shizue was toppled over in the process, chair and all.

As she started to stand up the laser was once again directed at her forehead.

Kunugi's arms were pulled up behind him, his face pressed onto the surface of the desk. He hollered, “You assholes! How dare you act so cavalier about killing children!”

“Kunugi!” Ishida looked down at Kunugi's squirming face as if it were filthy, his look full of disgust. “Yes, yes. We've seen your data, Kunugi. You were friends with a convicted killer. That bizarre murder of the perpetrator's entire family. That took place a long time ago, in Area 119 even. I seem to recall reading somewhere that you defended him. It's in the domestic violence archives.”

“I have never protected a criminal. All murder is criminal. A great crime.”

“However, I do remember saying something about how we shouldn't hold a murderer in contempt at some point in the past. You're recorded as having defended the killer.”

“A crime is a crime. A human life is a human life,” Kunugi said. “I never said that murder was excusable, much less the murders of one child after another.”

“But, Kunugi, I never kill anyone without a good reason.”

“W-what did you say?”

The muscles on the arms of the large man bulged.

Kunugi howled.

“That hold looks painful,” Ishida said scornfully. “You just can't mind your manners, can you? You deserve to rot with those senseless perverts. The ones that murder without reason.”

Kunugi struggled. “You saying it's okay to kill people if you have a motive?”

“What on earth is he saying?” Ishida said, incredulously. “And you call yourself a cop.
Motives?
What is a motive? Are you talking about an overwhelming urge? A loss of sanity? Baseless excuses? I can't forgive anyone who would take a human life in such meaningless circumstances.”

“Then what noble cause can you come up with for justifying murder?”

“I don't have a noble cause. That's just more antiquated talk.”

“I'm old. I was born in the twentieth century, just like you.”

“Choose your words more carefully, Boss,” Takasugi said.

Kunugi started to yell at Takasugi but it turned into a shriek halfway through as his arms were twisted even further behind his back.

“No one uses the term ‘noble cause' anymore, Mr. Kunugi. The country is no more than an extension of the individual. Our generation knows that better than anyone. The foolish masses chose nationalism as a noble cause because it was easiest to understand. But it's ineffective. Ideals and morals and laws are no longer a function of national unity and protection. Their function is only to give the illusion of safety to a society.”

“S-so what? Explain that in small words to this stupid old man.”

Ishida disdained Kunugi's appearance—the squirming in the grip of the large man, the strained face.

“Poverty, stupidity…crimes wrought by lack of attention should be eradicated. Of course we can say that eradicating poverty and stupidity isn't just for the benefit of the country but for the overall good of humanity. People pillage because they're not of means, they don't have enough space so they invade other people's places, they have different beliefs so they start wars, they fight because they've been defeated for so long in the past. They steal because they're poor, they kill because they fight, they take revenge because they hold a grudge. It's all the same. In the past, some of the most unforgivable crimes were allowed under the auspices of nationalism. This ideological sophistry perpetuated by the masses is precisely what we used to call a noble cause. This kind of thing no longer exists.”

“And so what?”

“Killing people is never right. That's why countries fight wars. The death penalty was outlawed. No one objects to that. And now it's illegal to kill animals. At least in this country. Right?”

“This was also one of Suzuki Senior's achievements,” Takasugi said.

“Yes, Kunugi, I'm not killing people. Those girls are going to die anyway. There's nothing we can do about it.”

“What do you mean there's nothing you can do about it?” Kunugi tried hard to face Ishida while twisting in the grip of the large man. “Like you said, most motives for murder are meaningless. But that doesn't mean the poor or uneducated are more likely to kill. I actually understand that people kill for no reason. Of course, it's unforgivable. It's absolutely unforgivable. Still, I understand. Pathological murder is just some phrase someone made up. It's unrelated.”

“Hmm,” Ishida said like an idiot. “And?”

“And I don't get you. I don't get even a molecule of a hair on your nose. I don't understand what kind of person uses stature and resources to create an organization, a safe place, to commit serial murder for who knows what purpose. And I don't want to know.”

“Organization?”

“What else would you call it?” Kunugi yelled.

“Unfortunately, though in my position I do handle data accumulation in a specific industry, I don't have my own organization. I
am
a member of the police organization, but—”

“You've created your own organization. Don't pretend you haven't.”

“Well, well, well. I do in fact collect data and maneuver the police force and other organizations. I help the courts make judgments, sure, but these are just things I do to maintain civil order. I'm not trying to make the police organization my own.”

“You're puppeteering them. What about him? I'm talking about you, Takasugi.”

The large man twisted Kunugi's arm even harder. Kunugi made an awful yelping sound.

“He is my underling and confidant. I didn't force him to cooperate with me.”

“I'm a believer, sir,” Takasugi said with a serious face.

Kunugi kicked his legs ineffectually.

“I can't look at this anymore. Arvil. Could you remove that disgusting face from my desk now? I don't want my floor dirtied either, but…Mr. Yudani, would you mind so much disinfecting that area?” Ishida said without so much as looking at Kunugi. The large man threw Kunugi to the floor and planted a foot on his chest. The man in white clothes wiped the desk with some moist towelettes.

“Oh by the way, this is Mr. Yudani. He's been responsible for the Suzuki household kitchen for over thirty years and is a special chef at our home. The one with his foot on your back right now is Arvil. He's French. He works only for me. I pay him quite well, so you can imagine how loyally he obeys my orders. The one holding that unsettling object is Lao, and he's an undocumented resident from China. He's got an interesting collection of guns. I made this family. These people are not the kind of people you think they are.”

“It's nothing like in the old fictions, Boss. No low-class criminal gang. Gangs don't exist anymore, do they? It was a different time,” Takasugi said to Kunugi. Then he approached Shizue, offering a hand. “Here, Miss Fuwa.”

Shizue took that hand and stood up.

She couldn't believe how normally she was behaving.

She tasted blood.

In the midst of falling over along with her chair she must have cut her mouth. She felt the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand.

It was that taste of humanity that she hated so.

It smelled so human.

Shizue stood right in front of Ishida, her feet wide apart.

“Why, you look so brave, Miss Fuwa. Not like your friend here, cringing and wincing. Your kind of people are a necessity, working with kids and all, I suppose. It's too bad. It's really too bad.”

Takasugi approached her. She gave him a look filled with contempt.

“This Kunugi character. He embodies what you hate most in a man— filth. As you've just heard yourself, he's denying my wonderful offer. Actually, you will meet an unnecessary death in three days as well if you find my offer disagreeable. So, what do you think? Can't you convince your friend here?”

“U-unfortunately, no. I am in complete agreement with the filthy man pinned to the ground,” Shizue said.

“Well. That's a surprise,” Ishida said. “Here I'd let myself believe that you and I were made of the same cloth.”

“If you think you can compare yourself to me, I'd be better off committing double suicide with this filthy middle-aged man.”

Shizue swept her hair back. She didn't usually ever touch her hair.

She thought she saw Kunugi smile from the floor.

“We've changed tastes, have we? Still, can't say it isn't a change for the worse. But aren't you happy, Kunugi?” Ishida said, looking down at him. “It's been what, fifteen years since someone of the opposite sex liked you?”

Takasugi laughed, satisfied.

“Mr. Ishida.” Calling out his name disgusted her. “Y-you. You all are crazy.”

“Is that so? There's no data to support that. At least not technically.”

Takasugi, while laughing, extended his hand to Shizue.

Shizue recoiled. She didn't want to be touched by any of them. It was worse than germs. “If you're going to kill me, please do it now. Please shoot me now with that gun.”

“We can't do that. Listen, the data is all going to be rewritten. If there is a dead body, that's physical evidence. We can file an investigative report, but we can't really write it with a dead body around, and an autopsy would be unavoidable. It's all just such a hassle. We'd prefer you died exactly the way we say you're going to.”

“Besides, Kunugi's not holding the gun yet,” Ishida added with a laugh. “You know, they were still handing out guns to cops when Kunugi joined the force. But I'm sure he never fired the one they gave him. Your body can be tidied up completely without equipment, but it's impossible to make all traces of a human being completely disappear. It won't add up.”

Ishida stood up and made clicking sounds with his shoes, walking toward Shizue.

“If he's going to do it, he's going to strangle her.”

“Strangle…”

“Just like your mother.”

“Stop it.”

Her mother's throat. The marks left by the fingers.

The broken pieces of a human image on a screen.

Shizue screamed at the top of her lungs.

Mother.

Mother, you.

Mother, you idiot!

“Don't worry, we won't kill you right now. In three days.”

No, no, no, no.

Shizue shook her head violently, sending her hair thrashing about her face. It was the same color as her mother's hair.

“It's hard for me to watch you acting so deranged. I was wrong about you, Miss Fuwa. Takasugi.”

Takasugi grabbed her by the shoulders.

Just then.

The image on the screen on the desk suddenly changed.

“Hmm? What's this?”

“There seems to be an intruder,” Yudani said.

“Intruder? From where?”

“From the rear gate. We're getting an image shortly.”

“Ooh,” Ishida raised his voice, almost chirpily. “Look here. Could it be? This girl. It's Hazuki Makino.”

“Makino…”

Hazuki.

Shizue fell apart.

She was bisected. Into one self that wanted badly to escape this room, and the other self still a counselor.

“Hazuki Makino…”

Why?

“That was lucky, wasn't it?” Takasugi said.

“If Ms. Makino was being harbored by undocumented residents through the help of Mao, she probably realized she would get in real trouble. Yuko Yabe was the same way. They're coming forward on their own. It all works out so well.”