Disclaimer:
Let's just skip the giant disclaimer you can find in Chapter 1!
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FS
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x. ENCOUNTER in VENICE x.
(new version)
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Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and gray
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
("Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)", by Don McLean)
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The tall story…
(Saturday, November 3rd 20xx, from different points of view)
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The tall story that Hattori had been forced to jump overboard or had been thrown overboard by Gin doesn't make sense to Shinichi. Gin, who had always carried a handgun whenever Shinichi saw him, would simply have shot Hattori if they had met, as Hattori would have been too stubborn to give up the files but was too experienced at hand-to-hand combat to be hurled overboard so easily. And since Shinichi is sure that Ai wouldn't believe the tale either if he had tried to sell it to her, Shinichi has the sneaking suspicion that Ai knows more about Hattori's death than she's letting on.
Watching the narrow stripes of the afternoon light play on the reflective surface of Hattori's lucky charm, Shinichi tries to visualize the situation at Pandora's Box. What could have induced Hattori to act like he did although he must have known that Ai's chances of survival without him was almost zero? If Gin had appeared in a motorboat and Hattori had found enough time to place Ai into a crate, it would have been more like Hattori to hide Ai and to ambush Gin. Since Hattori was certain of his own prowess at fighting after years of serious kendo training, Shinichi doubts that Hattori would have gone down without a fight. In the alternative scenario in which Hattori and Ai had been surprised by Gin without having time to react, they both would have been shot.
Nonetheless, Shinichi can't ignore the possibility that Gin was unarmed for some reason. There was no bullet wound on Hattori's body. The bruises, which Shinichi has ascribed to the rocks Hattori had been washed against, could have been caused by a blunt object.
"How good was Gin at close combat?"
The glint in Ai's eyes and the slight tremor of her hands suggest that she knows exactly what Shinichi is thinking of.
"Very good. And there was no shinai on the ship for Hattori to use."
Perhaps Ai isn't lying to him, but Shinichi can't accept the truth about Hattori's death just as he is still struggling to digest the idea that she might really be cohabiting with her dubious ex-idol. The knowledge that his friend must have been murdered and that he could have prevented it if only he had returned to the ship in time is threatening to linger forever in the back of his clouded mind.
"I'm going to return this to Toyama!" Forcing himself to snap out of the daze, Shinichi indicates the battered lucky charm, which has been cleaned and polished not long ago. Ai must have intended to give it to him after her time in Venice was over. "You said he didn't want Toyama to know that he had given it away, but I think it will be of great consolation to her that her lucky charm has saved you." If Ai's guess was right and Hattori expected her to give his lucky charm to Shinichi, Hattori might have predicted that Shinichi would return it to Toyama after Toyama has recovered and moved on with her life.
"You can do whatever you want with it. It's yours now."
"Why didn't he want to have it?" Shinichi scrutinizes Ai with open curiosity while the low buzz of the hairdryer from the bathroom is still accompanying their conversation. Even if Seiya scorns superstitions, Shinichi can't fathom why the singer has rejected such a love declaration.
"I wanted to give it to him as a goodbye gift before we parted." Her lips curve into a mischievous smile. "But he said it was too little and demanded something else instead." Smirking at the bathroom door, she adds, "As you must have noticed by now, modesty is not his forte."
Sensing that he wouldn't like the answer if he asked her what Seiya Kou received as replacement for the lucky charm, Shinichi skips that question. Also, it has begun to irritate him that Ai always draws Seiya into their conversation as if the singer could hear every word she says.
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Despite the relentless…
(Saturday, November 3rd 20xx, from different points of view)
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Despite the relentless ostinato of the hairdryer, Shiho doesn't doubt that her boyfriend can hear every single sound from the living room. Knowing how little time his ponytail needs to dry since it only consists of the lower layers of his hair, she also suspects that Seiya has left the hairdryer on but is whiling away the waiting time with something else. It wouldn't surprise her if he were checking messages on his phone, which he has left in the bathroom after his agent's call.
Seiya's jealousy at (and concern for?) Kudo is almost touching. When he was washing her hair in the bathtub, Seiya once again tried to coax her into promising that she would tell Kudo in no uncertain terms where her priorities lay. Naturally, Shiho didn't promise anything but declared that she would go out with any man she liked if she got bored watching him feign love and despair onstage. After years of insecurity because almost every woman she meets immediately go for her boyfriend, who is too flirtatious and adventurous for Shiho's liking, Shiho gets immense satisfaction from seeing their roles reversed. Her self-assured, relaxed, and perpetually happy "employer" is feeling threatened by an imagined romance between Kudo and her.
Still, Kudo's inability to accept their relationship puzzles Shiho, who has been counting her detective's many frowns, which have been flitting across his brows as he cast disapproving glances at the furniture, the decoration, the flowers, even the musical instruments in their apartment. Now that Shiho knows that Kudo believed her to be Seiya's secretary, she is horrified by the thought that she might have turned into a "kept woman" in Kudo's eyes—a misunderstanding she has tried to clear up by telling him about her job at the academy.
In truth, even with her three jobs, Shiho has never earned much—at least not enough to make a living in this city. It would have been easier if she hadn't been forced to stay low key for fear of attracting the attention of the ex-Organization members who once worked in her lab. Seiya, who doesn't care about the prosaic aspects of life, has given her all the details of his bank accounts since he is of the opinion that they should share his finances just as they share his apartment. After all, they both believe that a romantic relationship should never resemble a business transaction.
More than once Shiho has overheard Gorowitz condemn her for "taking advantage of her employer", however, which Shiho has never told her boyfriend because she didn't want him to lose his temper and confront his unhinged stalker. While Shiho knows that Seiya ignores all the petty worries about reputation and integrity, Kudo (who once said that the social aspect of living can't be underestimated) might think she is depending too much on Seiya, who had to shoulder all their expenses in the beginning of their relationship. She didn't have anything but her papers and a few sets of clothes when she came here.
"I also teach the intermediate ballet classes at Kaioh-san's academy," she tells Kudo, taking care that she sounds nonchalant instead of defensive.
He knows about her ballet classes from Sonoko, Kudo dismissively says, informing her that Mori-san's best friend has often waylaid Seiya in front of his soundproof room to no avail. Unlike the other practice rooms in the academy, Seiya's studio and windowless soundproof room belong to a small maisonette apartment and thus are connected by a flight of stairs. Seiya, who can climb like a master burglar after doing the stunts for the Red Ninja and whose senses have been sharpened by years of experience, will continue to evade Suzuki-san in the future by fleeing through the door or the window of his studio whenever his survival instincts tell him that his soundproof room has been besieged by a scary fan.
"I didn't know that you can dance, though," Kudo remarks, casting furtive glances at her neck and her arms as if he were trying to imagine her at the barre. Ever since they met last night, Shiho believes to perceive a subtle change in his attitude towards her. Kudo seems taken aback by the very thought that she has kept Seiya's interest for so long. It must seem unbelievable to Kudo, who has never been attracted to her.
"I can't dance very well," she admits, leaning back into the seat of the sofa after finishing her tea. "But I enjoyed the ballet classes at Infinity and knew all the basics, so Kaioh-san thought that we could start from there. I taught the beginners and have only begun to teach the intermediate classes this year."
"Can I watch one of your classes?" He sounds genuinely interested.
"Not if you value your life!" She is never going to let him see her in tights and a skimpy camisole.
"Has Kaioh-san ever shown signs of jealousy towards you?" Kudo changes the topic. "All the rumours about Tenoh and you must have affected her."
"Never. She has always treated me exceptionally well." Telling Kudo that Kaioh-san does appear to be apprehensive of her would seem like betrayal. "There has been no sign of jealousy whatsoever. She doesn't have a reason to feel insecure… You've seen her, Kudo."
"Has he ever been jealous of Tenoh?" Kudo asks in a low voice—a strategy which isn't likely to succeed since Seiya can hear the maggots in an apple.
"Never," she chuckles. "He has never been jealous of her because—"
"—because modesty is not his forte!"
When they were shrunk, they often had these brain-sharing moments. It amuses Shiho that this is one of the few things which haven't changed.
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More than once…
(Saturday, November 3rd 20xx, from different points of view)
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More than once Shiho has wondered why a woman like Michiru-sama would be jealous of her, and Seiya, who doesn't want his girlfriend to accuse him of being biased, has only blamed it on Haruka-san's conduct. Admittedly, Michiru-sama is the most gorgeous woman alive, whom Seiya has often caught staring at her own reflection in the mirror as if she were bewildered by her beauty, whose existence she has forgotten by the end of the day. But Shiho is infinitely more interesting in her complexity, and Seiya is sure that Michiru-sama knows it as well.
Despite her insecurity, Michiru-sama has always been a real lady and only betrayed her jealousy in the possessive way in which she clung to Haruka-san's arm whenever Shiho was present. After moving to Venice, Seiya has often told Haruka-san that she should ask Michiru-sama to join her whenever she went out with Shiho during his rehearsals so that Michiru-sama didn't get the impression that her girlfriend was pursuing another woman. Amused by his worries, Haruka-san only laughed and remarked that she found a jealous Michiru cute and he was only warning her because he had an axe to grind. Since Seiya loves to tease Shiho as well and Michiru-sama is only fascinating when she allows herself to shed her sterile angelic veil, Seiya acknowledged that it wasn't his job to criticize Haruka-san's thoughtless behaviour.
"When we were in Paris… Did you know that Monsieur Jean Black was Tenoh's father?" Kudo Shinichi still sounds wounded—Seiya would have been hurt, too, if he were convinced that the woman he loved had run away without leaving a letter.
"I met him once when we were still at Infinity, during one of his vain attempts to talk her into returning to Paris with him."
"Why didn't she go back?" A rhetoric question, which meant: "Did she tell you about her reasons?"
"Because he didn't accept her relationship with Kaioh-san and because she loved racing. She lacked any incentive to go back while she had all the reasons to stay."
"To take revenge on the seven crows, for instance?" Kudo's voice could cut through the Venetian stone walls although it's not louder than a whisper.
"Maybe…" Shiho's voice, tinged with trepidation, has become just as quiet, and Seiya can tell that she is feeling uncomfortable because she knows he can hear them. To put her and himself at ease, Seiya sets the hairdryer on the shelf to "high", puts his phone away, covers his ears, and proceeds to sing all the songs of The Phantom of the Opera in his head. Despite his genuine effort to ignore their conversation, however, his ears can still pick up any word they say.
"M Jean Black committed suicide after the downfall of the Organization. Did Tenoh tell you anything about it?"
"Suicide?" Shiho sounds shocked although she instantly regains her composure. "No, she didn't, but it makes sense to me. The sole purpose of his life was to bring down the Organization and avenge his wife's death, so he told me in Paris. He must have lost the motivation to live after reaching his goal."
One of the agents motards—not Alan, who no longer works with the French national motorcycle police—has informed Taiki about Jean Black's death and the investigation James Black secretly led. No sooner had he heard the news than Seiya offered Haruka-san his condolences although their friendship had suffered a setback following the Pandora's Box affair. In response, she only regarded him with a long cool look and said that her father had finally been able to leave this corrupt world behind—a luxury she couldn't afford because she still had a family to live for.
"Do you know what's strange about the aftermath?" Kudo muses. "So many codename members have committed suicide—but none of the codename members has talked. The members without a code name know next to nothing about the Organization, and there is even one who claims that the seven crows are still alive and controlling the members from afar. The surviving codename members are all either extremely loyal or much more afraid of the Organization than of the law."
What was the Organization—Kudo wonders. A syndicate which extorted money in style while trying to find the elixir of life to revive the dead? "It sounds rather fantastic, doesn't it?"
"My task was only to create the so-called 'elixir of life', Kudo." This time, Shiho lies so convincingly that Seiya would fall for it if he were the detective. "I don't know anything about their hare-brained plans and didn't care as long as they paid me well."
"How much does he know about the Organization?" Kudo asks in alarm. Shiho must have betrayed her anxiety by gazing in Seiya's direction or freeze like she always does whenever she is reminded of Seiya's parents, as the mistrust in Kudo's voice is palpable.
"I've already told you that he knows everything I know. One can say he knows as much about the Organization as you…"
Since he can't help but overhear every single word, he might as well leave his self-imposed exile now, Seiya decides, rearranges his locks, and readjusts his frilly white shirt, which he has put on again because his cardigan is still drying on the heater. Shiho must believe that he has abandoned her during this interrogation while he only wanted to give Kudo sufficient time to get accustomed to the knowledge that she is taken.
It's a shame that things have turned out like this! Seiya has been wooing Kudo like an attentive lover, has shown himself from his best side and studiously ignored Kudo's provocations because he has promised Shiho to behave himself and because Shiho insisted that Kudo wasn't in love with her. Kudo would most probably come with his girlfriend and her best friend and maybe even her best friend's boyfriend—Shiho predicted. Mori Ran, who could be very jealous, would never let Kudo visit a female friend alone, and Mori-san's socialite friend was curious and obnoxious enough to tail Mori-san. That's why Seiya had to buy six portions of tiramisu, Shiho has said. I'm going to pluck every single hair off your body if you buy too little and embarrass me!
"Was Tenoh Seiya's friend or rival? Why did she dislike him so much?" Kudo, who must have realized that Seiya can hear them, doesn't make an effort to lower his voice anymore.
"He is a happy male version of her. If you're certain that you're the best thing which could have happened to this world, it's annoying to see another person who resembles you so much but is happier than you."
Considering what his parents had done to her mother, Haruka-san should have hated him more than she did, Seiya concedes. Back then, he almost admired Haruka-san for her neutral behaviour towards Kakyuu, Yaten, and Taiki. Haruka-san once told Seiya that she despised him because he could have changed the world for the better but threw away the chance in order to pursue his selfish passions. You sound just like my mother, Seiya had only quipped, whereupon she—insulted by the comparison—instantly assaulted him and they fought on the street until the police came.
Ironically, Seiya was mesmerized by Haruka-san when they first met during that Christmas concert. While all the other boys were flocking to the stage, where Kaioh Michiru was standing, Seiya was the only boy who approached the pianist behind the curtain, who was surrounded by three admiring girls in Infinity's green and brown school uniforms. Your nickname suits you, Seiya had said when he shook "his" warm, slender hand, alluding to the wind, which could range from a warm gentle breeze to a ferocious storm. Startled by the intensity of the conflicting emotions he could see in Tenoh Haruka's eyes, Seiya added with his most dazzling smile, I have the feeling we two have a lot in common.
Seiya knew that he didn't have a way with words—he shot himself in both feet whenever he was being emotional, which was why he usually kept his mouth shut in the hope that his wit would return after the feelings had died down. But his awkward attempt to befriend the "boy", whom he believed to be a soulmate, couldn't be the cause of the violent hatred in "the other boy's" eyes. Tenoh Haruka's fine nose twitched as if it had detected an extremely offensive, foul odour—and "he" seemed to fight an incredible urge to hurt and to destroy before "he" turned away and walked in the direction of the dressing rooms.
Kinmokusei, isn't it? Tenoh-san threw Seiya an icy look over "his" shoulder. His voice, androgynous and pleasantly husky, was so oddly attractive that Seiya began to comprehend why some people claim that sexuality was fluid. Kinmokusei and orange blossoms! I could never forget such a warm, nostalgic fragrance… "His" eyes lit up with a knowing glint. Where did you buy it—or is it a custom-made perfume?
Sometimes Seiya has wondered what would have been if Haruka-san hadn't been gay or if Seiya hadn't been so straight that her lack of femininity made a romance between them impossible. He was intrigued by her before he fell in love with Odango, who resembled Kakyuu so much that it hurt. If she had been more feminine and if he had failed his parents' cockroach test, Haruka-san might have treated him like she treated Taiki or Yaten—and they would have become the best of friends with time or even slipped into a brief, doomed teenage relationship until they clubbed each other to death over some petty quarrel.
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The cockroach invasion was nightmarish, almost traumatizing. Unexpectedly, the repulsive, stinking pest crawled out of the bathroom and invaded the kitchen and was suddenly everywhere! Armies of cockroaches scuttled across the corridors, climbed on the walls, fluttered across the halls… Kakyuu, who was hiding under a blanket, had trembled and prayed and wept while Yaten—who was only five at that time—had unleashed a torrent of obscenities, fought off the cockroaches on the bed where Kakyuu and he sat, and screamed for the bodyguards, who didn't appear.
Taiki and Seiya discovered that the cockroaches were lining the walls of the cellar like a living shell, which was peculiar since the cellar was perfectly clean a few day ago. When Taiki ran to their parents to ask for help, they only argued that Taiki should learn to deal with the pest if it bothered him.
Taiki, the brain of the group, guessed that a flame thrower would solve the problem but was afraid of the consequences. Seiya, meanwhile, had ruthlessly killed all the cockroaches that crossed his path, asked Taiki to accompany Kakyuu (who was chanting to herself that even cockroaches wanted to live and therefore deserved mercy) into the garden, and talked Yaten into helping him steal a flame thrower and a portable fire extinguisher from the tool shed for the cellar. While his siblings weren't around, Seiya switched off the light and killed the rest of the cockroaches in the house. After he had got rid of all the cockroaches he found with all the means he had, Seiya used food as bait and waited in the dark for the surviving rest of the cockroach army, which he eliminated as well. When the threat was over at last and Seiya took a rest while his tender-hearted siblings cleaned the house, he could see a victorious smile stretch over his mothers' face. She patted his head, nudged his father, and glowed with the look she always wore whenever she had won a bet. I told you so, the look said.
Ever since that day, Seiya was allowed more freedom than the rest. Even after Kakyuu returned from her private all-girls school and they got a rigid, grueling schedule, which caused Seiya to skip lessons regularly, his parents were surprisingly indulgent. On the one hand he received more work than his two brothers as punishment for skipping class, on the other hand they let him get away with murder, so to speak. Naive as Seiya was, he had absolutely no inkling of what was going on until he was fifteen.
People fall in love with you, Seiya—for no reason at all. And the ability to kindle love in others—when he closes his eyes, Seiya can still feel his mother's long, gentle fingers in his hair—is an immensely powerful weapon.
With a few minor exceptions, children—raised with love and constant challenges like you four—are always kind and adorable. But as they grow up and adapt to this corrupt, cruel world, the child in them dies, and they gradually lose all goodness in them. Humankind is too young and weak. Prometheus made a grave mistake when he brought humankind fire—because independence is only a blessing when you're intelligent and mature enough to use it.
After so many centuries, humans are still miserable. There is so much pain and injustice in this world that people depend on the illusion of security their community, culture, and religion give them. But all these things are useless when the real problem lies in the humans themselves.
Can you remember the legend of Pandora's Box? The Gods—enraged by Prometheus' betrayal and fearful of the growing human population—punished Prometheus and sent Prometheus' brother Epimetheus Pandora: the elegant, beautiful, and talented woman the Gods had created from earth. Pandora was then given the impossible task of guarding a jar she wasn't allowed to open. Succumbing to her curiosity, Pandora opened the jar and released Death and all the other evils of humanity over humankind.
Hope, the last gift, which lay at the bottom of "Pandora's Box", was kept in the jar when Pandora—horrified by the consequences of her action—closed the lid. In another version of the story, Pandora succumbed to Hope's alluring, sweet voice, and eventually set it free so that it could fly out into the world, where it stayed forever. In all versions of the story, Hope was the only blessing of the Gods, which saved humankind from extinction—although some skeptics argue that beautiful, persuasive, glittering, sincere, wild Hope was the last thing which escaped from the jar of evils because it's the greatest evil of all.
But without hope, how could we go on living when darkness approaches? Many birds leave the country when the season changes. Crows, on the other hand, are strong, smart, loyal birds that learn fast, mate for life, survive in winter, and use all the tools they can find to achieve what they want.
We're going to create the Silver Bullet—the only effective weapon against the Werewolf in Man! Playing both God and the Devil, we're going to raise the Dead and reverse the Stream of Time because all the evils of humanity would dissolve and this world would be a much better place if most people were children!
Do you know why we've given you more freedom than your siblings? Kakyuu is too kind, Yaten is too self-contained, and Taiki is too indecisive. But, as impulsive as you are, you're the only one who can do whatever the situation requires because you can keep your cool under stress and don't let yourself be hampered by morals, feelings, or intellect. Everyone loves you and follows you voluntarily while you never go along with the crowd and remain independent.
Fireball, Night Sky, The Great Radiance of the Atmosphere, and The Light of Hope on the Starry, Starry Night… You four are my beautiful shooting stars in the night, who will make my wish come true. She chuckled, and Seiya knew that she must be drunk although her voice was still low and clear. Since you're the only one who has the qualities of a leader, Seiya, I pin all my hopes on you.
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A/N: Two chapters in a row since I'm having a few free days.
