When Ryoji Hashida opened his eyes again, the light was so bright that it pierced his vision for a few moments, and he had to close them tightly several times until finally came back to reality and looked helplessly at his environment. He was on some kind of stretcher, but its surface was so solid and cold that it made him shiver, he could not understand there was not at least a mattress. He was unable to see his surroundings due to the extensive lighting that pointed directly at his face, but he assumed it was a hospital.
He grumbled to himself that a politician like him had to be in such a wild place. He would take it upon himself to personally criticize whoever moved him to that filthy hospital. No one deserved such a place, especially not him. It was a cold and overwhelming environment, so dark that he began to wish he could fall asleep again. Somewhere a peaceful and ominous piano sounded, similar to a lonely and endless cry.
As the melody danced in the air, his heart increased in frequency, as if it were little by little running out of air. When he proceeded to get up, was surprised that his body did not react. He tried harder again, but then noticed that he was handcuffed, or somehow tied up on the metal surface. He could not move his hands and feet, and desperation ran through his consciousness like a bucket of ice water over his body.
"Is anyone there?"
For a moment he did not even recognize his own voice, the ever-victorious and self-assured one, which was now, instead, trembling. His whole body felt numb, and he did not know whether it was because of fear or because of the alcohol he had drunk with so much desire. It was then that he pressed his lips, furious with himself for having drunk too quickly. And so he remembered that night. The bottle of alcohol. The conversation with that curious young man who could not stop snickering… the subsequent fall.
Suddenly, he came to hear a sharp knock in the distance, like a metal door closing. For a few eternal seconds he felt only the heavy beating of his heart, as if it were about to explode. An indescribable terror completely overwhelmed him and his eyes automatically narrowed, as if they refused of their own free will to observe the inevitable. Deep down, he longed for someone to greet him with open arms, a warm and gentle welcome.
Subtle, slow steps filled the air with a mysterious stealth, and he felt sweat running down his forehead, even though it was freezing to death. He groped with his hands on the stretcher—he was beginning to believe it was a simple table—looking for something that could help him get out of there, in vain, since there was nothing within his reach, he was all alone, adrift.
"Finally awake."
Touma Kouzaburou sounded so natural that he forgot everything for a moment. His footsteps rumbled throughout the room, accompanied by the melancholy piano, until he drew close enough. The young man's face came between him and the terrible beam of light, and he leaned over his body with a certain arrogance, like a raven, placing his arms on either side of his body, at shoulder height.
The brown in his eyes radiated in a supernatural and extraordinary way. He neither understood what had happened, nor knew exactly where he was, and yet the fear that had paralyzed his whole being until then, began to slowly evaporate with the simple company of Touma, that young man who was the spitting image of personal well-being and stability. His attractiveness was so visible, he was surprised that he was single.
"Any idea what happened?"
Touma smiled crookedly exposing the purest sweetness, like a little boy being caught by his parents. His brown hair was falling forward and Ryoji watched him carefully. Whenever he was around, the aura he gave off was intoxicating on a level he could not even comprehend, the same aura that affected all the other women passing by. In a way he reminded him of himself when he was younger. At that point, he did not really know whether the alcohol effect had worn off or he was still in the same mood. In fact, he was still confused as if in a gooey, lucid dream, and Touma's voice completely lulled him to sleep.
"You were drugged, but you'll be fine."
Ryoji gave a simpering smile, but words came back to his mind like knives and he slowly widened his eyes, unable to believe what he had heard. He tried to get up once more, demanding with a pleading look that his friend pull him out, but no sooner did he do so than Touma's hands threw themselves at his cheeks with a force he did not know, showing a huge shadow on his face, a rage that burned in his eyes, as if they wished to burn him at that very moment, until he forcibly rested him on the metal surface again, causing him a slight pain in the back of his head. Ryoji closed his eyes from the sudden blow and let out a muffled groan on the spot. Touma stepped away and his footsteps broke the calm of the room again.
"Where am I? Why won't you let me up?"
Touma did not answer any of his questions, and instead, seemed to go from one place to another, without saying a word. Ryoji's heart shot out violently and looked around over and over again, searching for who he thought was his friend, anyone who was nearby. All he wanted in those moments was to get out of there. He would have wished for his bodyguards to resolve the conflict instantly, but he was alone. Professor Touma continued the hard work he had been engaged in with such impetus. Ryoji struggled to look, but the light was constantly blinding him, and in truth, deep down, he was beginning to wonder if that was for the best.
The cold seeped deep into his bones, and all his body shook in the face of the unknown. He had never considered himself a patient person, and that moment was no exception, so after a few seconds, he jerked fiercely on the table like an angry animal, producing a metallic noise, in order to attract Touma's attention, the only one who could get him out of there and who, on the contrary, remained completely distant as if he no longer recognized him.
His efforts proved to be in vain, since Touma kept walking back and forth, sometimes stopping, as if he were analyzing something, and then moving again around him. Once again, he doubted whether he was actually awake, for everything seemed so strange that he longed to sleep again and forget everything; he would be able to get drunk once more, to leave that horrible, depressing place.
"I warned you."
Touma's voice was still strangely soft, even though he seemed to spit out the words instead of pronouncing them delicately, as was usual in his speaking manner. Ryoji remained speechless for a few long seconds, feeling as if he were drowning inside, and did not really know what to say about. For the first time he was beginning to worry about the young man's closeness, whose voice seemed to have been transformed into a defiant, deathly authority, that embraced the entire surrounding environment.
Ryoji stopped breathing when he saw him approaching, casting a shadow over his body. He had a withering gaze that he had never noticed before, and a chill ran down his spine as he saw the way his lips curled into a smirk full of mystery, as if hiding sordid intentions. He had to make a huge effort to open his mouth, which was shaking slightly with nerves.
"What you're talking about?"
Touma tilted his head gently, in a sign of disapproval and weariness, and frowned as if he were surprised or pretending to be. Ryoji no longer really knew who he was addressing, the person in front of him could not be the professor he had met, he did not want to believe it. Time passed by slowly, but he was still imprisoned there, and he had the feeling that Touma did not intend to help him. He leaned back a few inches forward toward his face again, not taking his eyes from Ryoji's. He did not look in the least like the man he had known until then, he was now a completely different being, as if he had exchanged his body and mind with the will of someone else.
"Money can't buy everything. You see then, how useful it is when you're about to die."
Ryoji's eyes were opened in astonishment, but it lasted a few moments, for then he slowly closed them, sighing in a deep way. The words took hold of his mind with such eagerness, that the face of the person he most loved in the world regained importance. His fists were clenched on the table and although he tried to hide his emotions, he could not help but snort, in an almost imperceptible gesture, but which did not go unnoticed by Touma, who did not stop studying him very carefully.
"My wife… is she alright?"
Ryoji swallowed when silence fell, and the only thing he heard was the characteristic sound of saliva coming down his throat. Touma's face stood impassive at his slow sinking, as well as the moon in the high sky, silent on her own journey. For half a minute, both analyzed each other like two beasts about to fight. Ryoji was breathless, and his appearance, at that moment, resembled that of a sparrow being caught by the curious hands of a child. His eyes were open with surprise, and his whole body remained immovable in the intimidating presence and attitude of Touma, as if he had become a mere corpse under his spell.
"Which part do you mean?" the professor asked, biting his lip. Absolute silence. "It was a joke! Cheer up a little. Your wife is fine. She didn't make it home. I wonder what more important business she would have. What a shame, I'd have loved to share a drink with her," Touma's face suddenly darkened with a certain melancholy. "Your daughter was very beautiful, have you been told?"
Ryoji's round face looked at him with a burning fury, like a lion longing to tear him apart at that very moment, without caring about his own life. Touma let out a smile at his reaction, as if he had expected it and was rejoicing in it. When the politician began to utter different types of insults, completely giving up his life, his entire existence, aware that he no longer had anything or anyone, Touma stepped aside and turned around with abysmal solemnity. Ryoji followed him with his gaze until the beam of light struck him again on the table, producing a slight burning in his eyes. He shook himself again like a leech with violence on the surface, trying to free himself, but ended up concluding that his efforts were in vain and inhaled air deeply, shattered.
"Get me out of here!"
His cries were in vain. Ryoji was frozen when he heard a deafening metallic sound, followed by the footsteps of the young man around. The piano persisted in its smooth and impetuous march, but at that moment it only managed to make him desperate. Suddenly and in response, Touma's figure let itself be glimpsed again, as he lifted his arms to put on white latex gloves and brought a small metal table, which contained different types of surgical instruments on a tray. He felt sweat running all over his skin.
"You politicians are all the same. Living at the expense of others, you don't know how to live for yourselves," Touma spat.
The teacher smiled as he licked his lips furtively. The terror eating away at Ryoji's mind was so great that he could hardly interpret what was happening, he refused completely to believe what his eyes were witnessing. When Touma skillfully brought the tools to his head, he looked as imperturbable as a living corpse, and the situation seemed so unreal to him that for a moment he thought he was dead. Ryoji's body twisted like an animal, and his gaze went from the young man's dark eyes to his scalpel-carrying hands.
In spite of pleading with his eyes and shaking like a lab rat, the man continued his work with expert hands, not altered in the least by his deplorable state. Ryoji had never in his life felt such an intense desire to kill someone, as he was feeling at the time. He longed to have him in his own hands, even though he had always considered himself a coward. In the end, it was true that a man who has nothing to lose, is braver than an army.
Touma, for his part, moved his head gently to accompany the melody that sounded in the air. When he placed the sharp instrument on Ryoji's skull, just above his short dark hair, the latter shuddered at the touch, and for a few moments, he was unable to breathe or even move his fingers. Time had stopped, but the impact of the object seemed to him like torture and his scream was so atrocious that it reverberated throughout the room.
His eyes automatically closed and he felt the tears running down his cheeks, as the young man continued. He had never longed for death as much as he did at that time, and among his fluctuating thoughts he seemed to see the face of his daughter. Blood was dripping on his head and when the young man stopped for some moments, he no longer cared to open his eyes to look at him. He felt that he would faint from the pain at any moment, and he found it most gratifying.
The dance continued voraciously and flamingly for a long time, immersed in a solitary and nocturnal ecstasy that was accompanied by music. When it was finally over, Touma took off his latex gloves, leaving them on the adjacent table. Sighing slowly and softly, he kept his eyes closed for a few seconds, in a slight dancing position, imprisoned in admiration for the melody that brightened up the atmosphere.
When he returned to reality, he pulled back his hair and took a long look at the body lying on the center table, covered with a dark and intense red like a Chinese rose on his skull. He decided to get some fresh air, and left the cold room full of memories, at least, until someone caught his attention and made him frown, confident so far of human absence.
"Have you read Othello?"
Touma suddenly stopped his impetuous march due to such a delicate voice, and it took him a few seconds to put his thoughts aside and return to the question posed. He tilted his head to the right, and there he stood leaning against the wall, with a book in his hands, Professor Makishima. He closed the volume with an implacable sweetness, turning his head and giving him a grinning face, overflowing with mockery and irony.
"Cassio said… it has pleased the devil drunkenness to give place to the devil wrath."