Vengeance Is Mine (11 page)

Rentaro’s arm flung up, and he aimed his gun into the darkness. After a while, the leader Gastrea of the pack came stumbling out. Both of its saber-toothed cat fangs had been broken, and it was covered in cuts. There was a deep wound on its neck, and fresh blood dripped steadily from the wound and dyed its white fur red. The Gastrea looked with pleading eyes as its head shook left and right, and then fell to the ground with a plop. The body seemed to be at a loss for a while after losing its head, but it finally fell sideways to the ground, shaking the earth as it fell, and then stopped moving altogether.

* * *

“Papa, I think he’s the guy that was with Enju.”

“Oh my.”

There was the sound of a bell, and first, a white-gloved hand grasping the tree trunk firmly appeared from out of the pitch-black darkness. Next, a face with a white mask and silk hat was revealed, reflecting the orange light of the bonfire. In his crimson red tailcoat were the double guns, Spanking Sodomy and Psychedelic Gospel. Next to him, with short swords in both hands wearing a frilly black dress, was a young girl.

Goodness.

“Fancy meeting you here—my dear friend.”

“Kagetane…Hiruko……!”

The strongest magician whom Rentaro had ever fought in a life-or-death contest appeared.

To think that he would one day sit around a fire with this man…

Rentaro held his gun at the ready as he used his teeth and left hand to wrap a bandage around his stomach, never letting his guard down.

The bleeding at his side had stopped at least, but if he tried to do too much, it was possible that the wound would open up again, so his movements would be limited for a while.

Rentaro’s gun was trained at the people sitting on the other side of the fire facing him.

Kagetane gave a forced shrug. “I wonder if you might put that gun down soon.”

“No,” said Rentaro.

The man threw a dry branch into the fire. “Have you already forgotten who provided you with the bandages and antibiotics?”

“What about you? Have you already forgotten what you two did?” Kagetane and Kohina Hiruko. They were the terrorists who had summoned the Zodiac Scorpion, driving Tokyo Area to the brink of destruction. Rentaro had used the railgun called the Stairway to Heaven to end the matter before anything happened, but one wrong step and it could have turned into Tokyo Area’s Great Extinction.

“If I get serious, your little toy gun’s not going to work, you know.”

Rentaro was at a loss for words. He had experienced firsthand the despair-inducing defensive ability of the repulsion force field Kagetane used; the thing could repel antitank rifles. Yet after all this time, Rentaro still didn’t know what the man was after.

In their encounter earlier, while Kohina had asked enthusiastically, “Papa, can I kill him?” Kagetane had made her be quiet and threw over bandages and antibiotics himself.

Their relationship had once been one where they were after each other’s lives. There were a lot of reasons for Kagetane to hate him, and no reason for Kagetane to help him.

Rentaro’s nervousness didn’t go away as he gently put the gun down. “Why are you here in the Unexplored Territory? Are you helping old Kikunojo with more of his conspiracies and doing some secret maneuvering?”

“Oh dear, can you please not ask any leading questions? No comment,” said Kagetane.

“You were the ones who killed that civil officer pair on the street in the frontline base three days ago, weren’t you?”

“Let’s see.” Kagetane put a hand on his chin and looked at the girl. “Do you remember, Kohina?”

The Initiator beside him, Kohina Hiruko, hugged both arms around her knees and covered her face, staring at Rentaro with upturned eyes. “You must be an idiot. How can I remember every little ant that I trample?”

Rentaro was speechless. He realized again the difference between his values and those of these killers. Explaining morals to these two was likely to be more futile an endeavor than preaching to aliens.

Kohina looked next to Rentaro for a second and then at him with upturned eyes. “Where’s Enju? Is she dead?”

“She’s alive. She’s doing something else.”

“I see.” She spoke curtly, but her mouth smiled happily. “Enju…I
want to see her, I want to kill her. I want to see her, I want to kill her. I want to see her, I want to kill her.”

Just then, Rentaro noticed that there were now four short sword scabbards on Kohina’s back.

“Satomi, what about you? Why are
you
in a place like this?” Kagetane asked.

Rentaro couldn’t decide whether or not to tell the truth. Would it be safer for him to bluff and say that his friends were close by? “I’m here to defeat Pleiades.”

“Pleiades?”

“The unidentified Gastrea that can shoot mercury at long distances. Apparently, it’s in this forest.”

“Yeah, apparently it is.”

That response was suspicious as hell. “Don’t tell me you guys were also in the line of battle yesterday fighting against Aldebaran?”

Kagetane laughed so hard he held down his mask, as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “Of course not. I climbed the tallest tree in the area to get a better view. Why should we have to fight? What good would it do us?”

“If we don’t fight, everyone will die.”

“So fight, and then what lies ahead of that?”

“Peace.”

“I have never desired that.” Kagetane looked at Rentaro with pity in his eyes. “I can bear an eternal hell. I can bear this body being half-carved open and dissected. But you know, if peace and joy were to continue forever, I would scream and plead for someone to kill me.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Are you saying I wasn’t until today?”

Rentaro and Kagetane glared at each other wordlessly as the bonfire sent up flames and started burning stronger. Rentaro shifted his gaze first. He couldn’t suppress his anger at everything the man did, but even if he threw himself on Kagetane now, he would most likely be swiftly murdered.

Kagetane sprinkled what looked like seasoning into the camp pot that was set over the bonfire and stirred the contents with a spoon. Finally, salted-plum rice gruel was served on a plastic tray. It wasn’t a dish that sounded very appetizing, but Kagetane had probably made
rice gruel on purpose out of consideration for the injured Rentaro, offering him something easier to eat.

Since his backpack had been washed away by the river, Rentaro had exactly zero food rations on him. And there was no chance that he would be able to get any in the future.

There’s no way he poisoned this, right?
Rentaro thought as he waited for the two of them to eat theirs, before timidly slurping a spoonful himself. It was salty, and there was some kind of soup stock in it as well, so it tasted less like gruel and more like
chazuke
, but it didn’t seem like the taste was being covered up by salt like many store-bought versions; rather, it left a curious aftertaste. Rentaro was surprised to find that it was an understatement to call it delicious.

Kagetane himself flipped up his mask and slurped the gruel with neither relish nor disgust, but the flames of the bonfire threw up intricate shadows. Unfortunately, from where Rentaro was sitting, the other man’s face was a shadow and Rentaro couldn’t see what it looked like.

Rentaro finished eating in no time and helped clean up since he had nothing better to do, continuing to stare at the man’s creepy face cover.

“Why do you wear a mask?” he asked finally.

Kagetane seemed to also be done eating and had put the mask back on. “Satomi, do you
not
wear a mask?”

There was a short pause before Rentaro replied, “What are you talking about?”

“I can see the mask you wear, you know. The
guardian mask
you wear when interacting with your Initiator, the
Tendo Civil Security Agency Employee mask
you wear when you work as an employee of that female boss of yours, and the
facing the enemy mask
you’re wearing now with me. Aren’t they all different ‘Rentaro Satomis’?”

Was this man talking about psychological personas?

“Satomi, did you see my real face just now?”

“No.”

“You were right not to try. I’m sure you’ll regret seeing my real face.”

“You saying you’re disfigured or something?”

Kagetane shook his head scornfully as he tapped on his mask. “What’s under this mask—is your face, Rentaro Satomi.”

“Stop messing around, you bastard.”

“You and I are the remnants of the New Humanity Creation Project.
Twins, so to speak. I’m sure you’ve also noticed, right? We’re human, yet we have power greater than that of other humans. Have you ever wanted to kill someone you couldn’t stand? Have you ever wanted to violate a woman by force? That artificial arm could make all of that happen easily.

“I’m sure you’ve had the thought before, when you were exposed to outrageous violence, ‘I have enough power inside me to make you all into mincemeat.’ I was able to make that a reality. That’s why you hate me. Because you’re jealous.”

“Shut up!”

“But you know, Satomi, just like the honor student hates the delinquent, the delinquent hates the honor student, too. Do you know why? It’s because each person can do what the other cannot. Just like you envy me in the bottom of your heart for being able to kill as I please, I also envy and hate you. Even though you are as inhuman as I am, you live comfortably in the world of light. I detest you so much I can’t stand it.”

Kagetane’s white mask suddenly came toward Rentaro and whispered into his ear. “Come with me, friend. We’re both survivors of the New Humanity Creation Project. We’re special beings. I’ll teach you the pleasures of killing as much as you like. Kidnap a woman, and after you rape her, pluck her arms and legs off and kill her. I’ll teach you how to use money, too. You can buy everything but poverty. You can buy love, and respect.”

“I’m not going to change how I use my power.”

A fat piece of firewood broke apart in the flames and fell, sending a shower of sparks into the sky and making Rentaro’s and Kagetane’s profiles dazzle for a second.

Kagetane wore his silk hat low over his eyes and hid his gaze. “Let me make a prediction, Satomi. You will definitely come over to my side. Without a doubt.”

“Give it up. There’s no way that’d happen.”

Next to them, Kohina didn’t seem the least bit concerned about their conversation and silently got another helping of the rice gruel, polishing off most of it by herself.

They ran out of things to say to each other, and when the firewood burned out, they used that as a sign to retire for the night.

Rentaro’s body had already reached its limit with exhaustion, and his whole body felt heavy and slow. Even now, his eyelids felt like they were about to close. But there was no way he would fall asleep before the other two. Rentaro pretended to sleep and didn’t let his guard down until he saw that Kagetane and Kohina had truly fallen asleep.

The bonfire smelled like burnt embers.

His body clock told him that about an hour had passed, and when he heard Kohina’s regular breathing that meant she was asleep, his eyes popped open, he grabbed his XD gun, and snuck over to where Kagetane and Kohina were sleeping, crouching. They seemed carefree, sleeping on their sides while holding each other and sharing a blanket.

Rentaro silently aimed his gun at Kagetane’s head.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Kagetane asked without moving a muscle.

“You were awake?” said Rentaro.

“What a fine way to treat us.”

“You don’t seem worried, Kagetane. Is your barrier one that you can pull up faster than I can pull a point-blank trigger?”

Kagetane didn’t say anything.

Rentaro glared at Kagetane with hatred. “Did you think that if you were nice to me, that I would cry with joy and be your friend? Did you think to bury the hatchet by putting me in your debt? Too bad. You’re dangerous. As long as you’re alive, you’ll definitely cause another disaster. I have a duty to kill you to maintain public order as a civil security officer.”

“Will you kill my daughter, as well?”

Rentaro took a fleeting glance at the soundly sleeping Kohina. “Is she really your daughter?”

“Of course. Satomi, do you know about the jar of poison? A large number of insects and snakes are put in a large jar and made to eat each other until the last one left is said to be the strongest, the one with the most cursing power. Long ago, when I was still young, I kidnapped five women and artificially inseminated them. At the same time, I also gave the embryos a large dose of the Gastrea virus.”

Rentaro was at a loss for words. In other words, Kagetane had created artificial Cursed Children.

“Then, I locked my five daughters into separate underground rooms
for six years, training them to kill and brainwashing them. And then one day, I had them meet for the first time and try to kill each other. The one who survived was Kohina.”

“Why did you do such a thing…?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding.” “That must be a joke.”
—To be able to reject Kagetane’s madness with empty words like that, to preserve his own peace of mind, was something that could have been done only by the Rentaro that existed before he had known what kind of person Kagetane Hiruko really was. Now, Rentaro imagined that Kagetane probably really did conduct that devil’s experiment.

Kagetane continued. “I wanted to know everything about this world. I wanted to rule over everything and discover the truth. I wanted to know what those girls who were the future of the humans species really were.”

“You demon. What do you think a human life is?”

“I didn’t know. That’s why I tried conducting the experiment.”

“Children are innocent beings! They can be raised to be angels or devils. It’s your fault, Kagetane! It’s your fault that this girl turned into a devil.”

“Aye, I wanted to try making a devil. But I failed. What was born was an angel that just got in the way.” Kagetane softly stroked the sleeping Kohina’s hair and quietly lifted her chin. “Look at this. This adorable sleeping face. My unsightly, repulsive, sweet little monstress. These girls are strong as a biological species, but they also have an unfixable weakness.”

Just then, Kohina stirred and made a small sound in her sleep, and then whispered something that seemed completely out of place. “I love you, Papa.”

The muzzle of the XD shook with a start, and Rentaro was astonished.
Why? Why?
He wanted to shake Kohina’s shoulder to wake her up and then scream at her, “You’re being tricked! Your dad is brainwashing you!”

Kagetane looked sideways at Rentaro’s reaction and sneered inside the depths of his mask. “Satomi, what is the happiness of a human? I made this child live for six years confined like a frog at the bottom of a well. But she just kept looking up at the blue sky from the bottom of that well.”