11 – Desire to stalk
Hinamizawa, 13rd October 1983
In an old car, Oishi was smoking his first cigarette of the day. He checked the time, it was very early in the morning, then he looked through the driving mirror at the back seat, where a little child had made a specific request.
"Do you know I had officially retired two months ago, don't you?"
"I know it." answered Rika "But still I need your help. I can't trust the new inspector."
"Flavia-san? And why? She seems such a trustworthy officer... Do you have some detailed information that makes you question her?"
"Not exactly. Let's call it... familiar implication."
"Oh..." Oishi had already understood the subject of the research she was asking for. He had worked in the police for more than 30 years, he knew exactly what that kind of sentence really meant. "So, what do you want, exactly?"
Rika paused momentarily, then he explained:
"I want you to discover everything you can about Flavia, Giancarlo and Alice Serco. About their family and their past. Every strange detail, everything that could be suspicious in your opinion."
Oishi looked at the sky. "It won't be easy... It will be similar to an internal inquiry, Flavia-san must not to know..." But, after all, he owed her a favor, after she helped him finding the truth behind all the deaths during the past Watanagashi. And not being on duty any more had made him bored in that period, having worked with the prefect was not enough for him, he needed some action. "Well, OK. I'll do what I can."
Rika sneered, satisfied. Hanyuu was desperately going on calling her, but she didn't answer.
...
"So? What's your opinion about it?"
Rika had not gone to school, that morning. Satoko reported that Rika had come to home very late in the night. Very probably she had spent nearly all that time trying to spy them, and, after having slept just for two or three hours, she had told her friend she didn't feel well. So, the principal asked Chie-sensei, Mion, Giancarlo and Alice to reach him in his office, to discuss about the matter.
"Staying outside with that rain... Maybe she was telling the truth." said Chie "She might even have got a bronchitis, or something similar. We can't let her that little girl alone." Giancarlo mentally agreed with her, but not because of her illness.
"You should have invited her inside." His thoughts were interrupted by Mion, and so he turned his eyes at her. She was looking at them quite seriously, like an adult who was watching younger people. It's quite ironical, we're older than you, actually. Maybe she is even blaming us... No, the truth was rather that she was feeling like having to behave much more responsibly in those moments, especially after her recent official investiture, but he couldn't imagine it. Still, she had a good point, so Alice answered to her:
"We would have done so, if we could. It would have been a good moment to clear things up with her. But, each time we opened the door and went out to call her, she escaped quickly somewhere, and we could do nothing but come back in. Once it had got late, we decided it was useless to stay awake, and we went to bed."
"Hmmm... It's not strange, from her. Hiding herself has always been one of her best gifts." Chie-sensei explained "But I really can't imagine why her behavior has so suddenly got that worse." To be fully honest, her students had already noticed that she had changed after what had happened between Satoshi and them, and that there was a high chance that such an event had had a relevant role in it. Chie's words had reminded Alice how Rika had turned pale when she was told that story, and how much silent she had been in the following days, before that sudden outburst. But they couldn't say it openly to her, Chie-sensei and the Principal were unaware of Satoshi's real situation, and after all they weren't even sure about it.
"So?" asked the Principal "What are you planning to do, now, Alice-san?"
"Well... She's the chief of the Furude family, beloved and respected by everyone here. We can't underestimate her attitude towards us, but she is still a little child. I suppose she has a foster parent by law, or someone who anyway takes responsibility of what she does. We are going and seeing him, to find a solution. I hope he'll be able to make her understand this is not an acceptable behavior."
"Hmmm... well, it's not a bad idea... but there's a problem."
"What are you referring to, Mii-chan?"
"As you've just said, she's the Maiden of the Furude Shrine... and everyone loves her. If you go and tell what's happened, all the villagers will know that she has suspects about you, that she thinks you are bad people. You should know what this means, you're country boys too."
This was... unexpected. But she was not wrong. Scandalmongers inside these little villages can be much more dangerous than anything else. If everyone in Hinamizawa had started looking at them distrustfully, they'd have suffered a sort of spiritual isolation, and being seen as foreigners might just make things worse. Nobody would have wanted them to stay there any more, just like the Houjous some year before. And what if... what if Rika decided to publicly declare her distrust, for example while they were at the market, or during a religious rite? They would have been considered like pariahs by the whole community. Of course, they weren't the Houjous, they could move from Hinamizawa without any problem, and that was just an extreme case, but Alice understood they couldn't take the situation easily, even if Rika was just a little girl.
"Ah, the importance of your role... if I were in Serco I could slap her on her face until she had changed her mind, but you're right, we're guests here and we have to follow your rules. So, what's your proposal?"
"I'd like to talk with her about this story. I wasn't in the classroom when that case had happened, and when I've arrived all of you had already left, so I want to listen to her point of view too, before making a definitive judgment. But it seems she's not at school today, so..."
Giancarlo, as usual, was just observing them, while the Principal was making a long speech about relationships in school. And he was thinking. I don't understand if she wants to help us or she wants just to protect Rika by a poor figure... A sort of invisible help between the Great Families? And moreover... just ten minutes ago she was kidding joyfully with Kei-chan, as a normal teenager... or a tomboy, at least, she was even betting on who had the longer penis between the two of them! So, could this kind gentleness, this carefulness and courtesy... be just a mask? She seems much more interesting in playing into the club... This must be their way to be a chief, a ruler, then. Yes, this is the truth. During the first day of school, I had hoped to have seen a human and delicate side of her, but in the end she's only an insensitive hoyden...
He was surprised by noticing himself thinking Well, she has just chosen who she has to take care of. This is a much better way to find happiness. Don't you agree? He looked down, depressed. This... this is the path I've chosen. I don't have to regret it. If this can make Alice and the others happy, I'll go through it proudly. In that moment the phone rang, and the Principal stop speaking to answer. After some second he gave the receiver to Mion.
"It's your mother, Sonozaki-san. She has something important to tell you, something about Furude-san, she said."
She talked on the phone for a couple of minutes, then she hung up, disquiet.
"Rika-chan has just been at my house. She was asking my mother... for a research. A sort of inquiry." They all turned serious, now. Saying the subject of that research was useless. "Rika-chan wanted my family to use all our private channels and contacts to discover... Well, you know." She was saying those words sorrowfully, she nearly looked to feel guilty of her friend's behavior, now. Being wrong now is painful, don't you know it? "Fortunately, my mother, instead of listening to her, has immediately asked her why she wasn't at school, and she hasn't wanted to answer, so she has asked Kasai to drive her here: I suppose he has done so by force, I don't think she wanted to come here."
Alice was still worried: "I'm beginning to think that she shouldn't live alone just with Satoko-chan. I don't want to be mean, or cruel. I'd just say she needs an adult, someone who guide her and who reproaches her when she's wrong. I don't know her full story, but having a real parental figure would be very precious for her."
"We've taken care of them for many years, and they had never shown such a resentment towards someone before. This has been a casual event, I wouldn't say that what you're proposing might have given better results."
"Talking about this... maybe it's my fault." Behind the door, Satoko had listened to the dialog. And the whole club was there, too. They all were worried about their little friend, and they wanted to make sure about what was happening, they couldn't stay in the classroom and ignore it. The blond-haired girl came then forward, and she told about their discussion about the incident with the water guns. Giancarlo touched his watch, and Alice looked at her dejected.
"Oh, my, I couldn't imagine that an exploding gun could cause so much trouble. Things like this continuously happen, what was she thinking about, a conspiracy?"
Satoko agreed with Alice, nodding. "I know it... and I've told her that everyone has something he doesn't want to talk about. But... she..." a tear came out of her eye "She seems so obsessed, even yesterday she was so strange, so nervous. I can't recognize her, she is so different from the Rika I've always known..." Shion hugged her, to support her.
In that moment, they heard the noise of a car. Kasai and Rika had arrived. The others didn't say anything, and they all looked at the door of the office. After a minute, Kasai appeared. She was holding Rika in his arms, since the girl didn't want to come in, and she was continuously kicking the air. She had no scratches on her neck, or on her wrists. To try to give an explanation to her behavior, some of the members of the club even imagined she might have suffered from the effects of the Syndrome... but Irie, and Rika herself had clearly told them her role as Queen Carrier. She couldn't contract that disease, she was immune.
Finally Kasai left her, and she eyed the others, searching spasmodically for the one she feared the most. So, Mion approached her, and she asked her what the reason of that behavior was, but Rika didn't answer, looking elsewhere. Then, the pony-tailed girl again asked her to answer, reminding her that both of them represented one of the Three Great Families, and that this was a formal request, which she was to reply to.
"Oh, since you're so important and you have such a big power, why don't you order Keiichi to fuck you, then?"
A peremptory smack was Mion's answer to Rika's offense. She was really angry now... Rika had jeered at her role, both of class leader and of chief of the Sonozaki family, but also at her feelings. She wasn't used to be that violent, she even didn't avail of her knowledge of martial arts that often, excluding training and the past war against Yamainu. But this time she couldn't avoid it. She raised her eyes, towards Rika, still nervous. And she got even more furious. That little girl was crying because of the pain, but the anger in her eyes clearly showed she wouldn't have surrendered even after such a strike. Mion said:
"Rika-chan... I trusted you... and I still trust. But until now I thought that there could be something strange you had noticed, that you had acted so for a reason..." I knew it... They care her much more than us "Now, instead, how can I even imagine you are right? Do you really think we are just useless featherbrains? Look around you, we've always helped each others, don't you think we may be here because we're worried of you?"
"You've always helped each others? Are you really sure of it?" Rika neither listened to her appeal. Evilly sneering, she added, smiling like a devil: "Don't make me laugh! But look at yourself in the mirror! You're just a pathetic young girl who thinks to be wise and strong like a god just after she has given a nice colored bell! Do you think this makes you a better person? You are too stupid not to be a poor weak child, having too big dreams for her! Building a joyful Hinamizawa, as if it is as easy as drawing a panorama? Seeing your descendants living happily? Do you really think to achieve that, if you keep on being so simple-minded? Ah, haven't I already seen it? Oh, sure I've seen it! You are alone now, you'll be always alone, you'll die alone!"
Here it is, now Mion will lose her temper and come to blows with Rika. It will be funny to see how she's going to smash her face, after having defended her... However I'd better not to say a word now, my participation would only make things worse...
Giancarlo was wrong. He got stunned, when he realized Mion couldn't even find the strength to react. She wasn't able to understand why a so dear friend had become so cynical towards her, they had known each other since Rika was a baby... And so, exactly like what her sister some had done some week before, she started crying, asking Rika Why? Why?... Shion and Rena tried to comfort her, while Satoko was still shocked, after having heard what her little friend had said, and Alice looked at her brother, sorry to be, indirectly, the cause of that harsh quarrel. Everyone had the feeling that some strange word were sounding weakly in the air, some word similar to "I'm sorry"...
Keiichi decided to react. He angrily approached Rika, and he asked the meaning of that behavior, but Rika didn't care answering. The noise inside the office was increasing, most of the presents were now shouting, or talking aloud.
"Why aren't you saying anything, Rika-chan? Answer me, at least!"
"Should I, Keiichi-kun?" Rika's glance now was sending a will of defiance.
"Sure, you should! Have you forgotten what have you done for us?"
"Hmpf, I was sure you would have said something about what YOU have done for me, not the contrary."
"You've said it, so you're recognizing it. And still you are hurting all of us that way? What have we done to deserve it?"
She is still a young girl, even after that rite she has her own feelings... but if I didn't think she was so sensitive. I have misunderstood her... I was mean, really. I owe her a favor.
"Rika-chan has been so cruel with Mii-chan!" exclaimed Rena, next to her crying friend. "And she just wanted to do anything was good for you!"
"Are you sure it's better for me? What if I'll be killed again?"
"Killed again? Who wants to kill you again?"
"What's this story of being killed?"
"HAHAHA! You know nothing, and you still think to help me?"
"ENOUGH! You are overstepping all the possible limit!"
"If I don't know, I can't be sure..."
"So you don't know? It's a fantasy of..."
This is something happened because of me, we could say. I can't just stay here quiet. We must settle it as soon as possible.
"Fantasy, are you saying? Ha, I thought you trusted me before..."
"I still trust you, but you can't start attacking everyone now!"
"If you say this, you can't claim you trust me, then!"
"But Rika, please!"
"And so what? I have my conscience, I'm still free to say that you're wrong."
"It's very interesting. So, explain to me why I am wrong, now."
"Please stop now, Rika-chan, you can't say this!"
"Do you want so? Very well, just consid..."
"Rika." a calm voice broke that atmosphere. No honorifics used, she was not called Rika-chan... just Rika. That word hasn't been said aloud, how could I hear it so clearly in that chaos? Even the others had stopped speaking, after having seen the expression on her face. With that doubt in her head, the blue-haired girl turned her eyes at who spoke it.
Giancarlo had sat on one of the chairs by the desk, and he was observing her. His nearly closed eyes, his elbows on the desk, allowing his chin to be leaned on his hands. His calmness was unnatural, especially in that situation. Rika wasn't sure, but she got the impression that his hazelnut colored eyes had slightly darkened. But, most of all, she clearly was aware of the fact the air inside the office had suddenly become heavier, she was breathing with great effort. She was excited, strangely happy... Yes, this is what I expected... I knew it, I knew it. I was sure of it. I'll defeat him, and I'll change my fate another time...
"Rika" he repeated "since this is a matter between you and me, you shouldn't involve the others that way, your relationships with them may be irreversibly damaged. We should talk alone about this story, here and now. Don't you agree?" His icy glance was as an incitement to her, they both wanted to arrange that situation right now, alone. His sister looked on the ground, seemingly resigned, as if things couldn't end differently.
Rika thought about his words, and then she laughed, excited, accepting his challenge: "Very well, then. Let's bring these annoyers out of here, and we'll see..." He didn't reply, but he stood up and he asked the others to go out.
"Are you sure?" asked the Principal, who was still the owner of the office "I hope you don't want to..."
"You shouldn't worry. I won't go to jail because of her. Please go now." His face had nearly no expression, and he had closed his eyes completely, as if he was waiting for everyone to go out of there. He stood so for twenty or thirty seconds. But a soft noise was disturbing his concentration. He opened them again, and looked at Mion, who was still sobbing, accompanied out of the room by her sister. She doesn't need my encouragement, she has so many friends...
But immediately after that he remembered what he had thought some second before, when he was sure she would have never cried... I was wrong, before... Well, if I had been wrong before... probably mine will be just a bad figure, but... He called her, and her sister and she stopped. He approached them, without saying a thing, and he punched Mion's head gently, similar to the endearing hit she had given him in the basement of the Clinic, some week ago. "Well, if after this you still pretend to be a hoyden, feel free to do so. But you should learn not to cry that way." He smiled "Otherwise, I will have to consider you as something else..."
She looked on the ground, without answering immediately. Then: "Gi-chan?"
"Yes?"
"YOU HURT ME, YOU IDIOT!" Her precise and powerful right made him see stars, while the others couldn't believe in what they had seen, before laughing, relieved. Of course Rika didn't even smile... but... the heavy air she had been breathing before... had disappeared.
"That's... not... fair!" It was his turn to weep, now. "This is the last time I'm listening to my conscience!"
"You've been the one who started punching, you can't deny it! Now this old lady is tired of taking care of you fools, so now deal with it alone!" Then while he was reviving, the others went out, leaving them alone. Rika looked at him... But she was still feeling uneasily. She was expecting a fight against a fierce enemy... not a chat with someone still sat on the floor.
"Are you thinking that it's a pity that that sort of dark aura has disappeared, am I right?" Giancarlo read in her mind, while looking at the ceiling "I can understand it, and I agree with you. I'd have preferred an epic duel, honestly, and this is what I was expecting – you've seen how I had got ready, on that chair. But I don't know why Mii-chan has decided to play down everything that way... Well, maybe she's right, we're not mortal enemies, at least we weren't so until now. So, could I know what has happened to you?"
Rika didn't answer, hesitating. So Giancarlo spoke again, and he exclaimed: "I think you and I are quite similar, after all."
"Do you think so?" Rika was trying to be on her guard, but she couldn't make out whether he was serious or not.
"Yes... And that's the reason of this hatred of ours, I fear. We are both quite pessimist, and you think that what you don't know about me can become a danger. But what about your mysteries? You do seem to have some of them."
"Once I've told you to ask for everything you want."
"You're right, but how could I ask you about the Yamainu, or about the Syndrome, for example? These facts sound so strange and unreal that even thinking they've really happened is nearly impossible, in the beginning. To ask for them I've had to be attacked by a guy with a white coat in the abandoned basement of a sort of hospital..."
Rika nodded. He couldn't even suspect about all the worlds I've lived in. He, and the others too... They will never be completely aware of them, even if they sometimes remember a detail, or have a dream. Then she said: "I am just... protecting my world... protecting my heaven." She felt disappointed, somehow. She was realizing she had not an enemy in front of her, those presages were surely not his fautl.
"Your heaven?"
"Yes... after what had happened to Satoshi-kun... I feared that Shii-chan, or Satoko... could be driven crazy..."
"And why should they?... Ah, sure, the Syndrome... Well, Satoshi-kun's awakening should be a positive event, not a source of stress."
"How can you be that sure... Human minds are so... unpredictable, sometimes. It's something I learned some time ago, Keiichi-kun showed it to me a lot of times. Maybe Shii-chan could have become jealous of Satoko, and so..."
Giancarlo didn't answer immediately. Then: "I can't know what will exactly happen, I am not God. But can I ask you something else?" Rika nodded. "Were you really thinking that a world where Satoshi-kun was still suffering from the Syndrome, and where he had to stay far from her sister and her girlfriend... A world where Shii-chan and Satoko-chan were sad because of his absence... Were you thinking that that world... was your heaven?"
Rika opened her eyes wide. He's right... I... I pretended to take care of Satoko and Shii-chan, but... I wanted things not to change, forever... and so I was afraid of their greatest wish, and in my heart I hoped it would have never happened...
"Well... I'd say it was the best world I could wish, but you're right... I'm sorry." Those last words were usually Hanyuu's line, but she wouldn't have protested for having lent it to her. Her ancestor's spirit was behind her, accompanying her as during all those days, and she was now visibly relieved. Visibly from Rika's point of view, of course. So the little girl went on: "OK, I give up trying to discover everything about your past, present and future life, I just hope your dreams and/or fears aren't making you planning to destroy and/or conquer this village, that would be frustrating, after all this chaos."
"Naaah... this is a too little place." he answered ironically "If I really wanted to do something similar, I'd aim at a bigger city, and/or directly at a major Country, don't you agree?"
"Hmph, this guy dares kidding me, and underestimating Hinamizawa, now..." Then she added "Can I tell you a thing? I'll never trust you wholly, I'll always prefer Keiichi-kun..."
He eyed her annoyed, but he wasn't angry. She was smiling, now.
"Well, I think that a truce is the most I can obtain, am I wrong?"
Author's note: Well, what's the sense of these last 3 chapters? Let's call it a trial. Rika has known the others for so much time... so I think it's normal for her to have doubts about the newbies, and this story will have some consequence even later on. After all, I had to wait for Irie to finish his research, he'll show its result in the following chapters, after a short TIP.