It was the end of the year, and students would gather to celebrate or to visit their families. Most of them were usually picked up in cars and enjoyed dressing up like normal people, without wearing the characteristic uniform of the academy. Yashiro saw herself standing in a classroom, looking out the window at the parents that came and hugged their daughters. The sharp noise of the door opening made her jump in, and turning around she found Touma Kouzaburou bent over, with a satchel and a formal jacket hanging over his shoulder.
"Yashiro, you still here? Your family must be looking for you—"
Yashiro's silent gaze was revealing enough for him to soften his expression, as if he were hearing her thoughts and regretting the comment.
"Oh… I see. In that case, you can spend New Year's Eve with me. I'm not expecting anyone either."
Yashiro had found his apartment strange, since it was spotless and empty as if he never really went there. She had imagined it to be a mess, but either he had a manic obsession with cleanliness, or he simply went there to sleep and spent the rest of the day outside, like a tourist. She preferred not to ask about it, though the truth was that curiosity was eating away at her inside. However, what most caught her attention was that there was not a single painting in the entire house. There was no family memento, no trip or photo with friends from when he had graduated.
"I wasn't expecting visitors, and since every time I enter the kitchen something catches fire, I hope you don't mind that I ordered food."
Yashiro heard the echo of her own laughter, which was foreign to her, as if she were unable to recognize herself. Time seemed to accelerate and she felt an imminent dizziness, she could see herself sitting in an armchair with her feet on the armrest, eating French fries while Touma poured himself alcohol in a glass. He was sitting on the floor with his head resting on the couch and his feet stretched out, such an ecstatic teenager after a long party. The small table in between was filled with empty food trays, and silence was almost sickening.
"I don't like to stay in the same apartment too long, as you may have noticed. It brings back bad memories."
The sound of a cracking chip resounded throughout the living room, and Yashiro stopped eating to look at him intently, with a brief nod indicating that he could go on.
"When I was little, I and my sister lived in Ogishima. The castle, which was what we called our home, was also a prison, because our mother wouldn't let us leave. She was so desperate to clear her hue that she started using illegal substances, to the point that… one day she went to sleep and never woke up again," he let out a hoarse laugh, both melancholy and spiteful, as he stirred the liquid in his glass. "I remember her pale face illuminated by the moonlight, with her weak body under the sheets. I remember feeling nothing, nothing. Only… peace."
Yashiro watched him for a while, absorbed by the memory that did not affect him at all as if he had been waiting for that death for a long time, planning it in his dreams to get rid of her and be finally free, just like his sister. His words were like an echo, and she remembered her own mother when she looked at her with a fear in her eyes, every time she had a weapon in her little hands. Never before had anyone looked at her in that way, and she could not let go of it. She had to shake her head instinctively until she managed to turn to him.
"How you do it? How you get up every day enduring the same face in the mirror? Knowing that, if someone else were to see that reflection, they would fear it as much as you do. How you move on with people who look at you that way?"
Touma was immersed in himself while contemplating the dark liquid in his glass, but when he heard her, he arched an eyebrow and released a gentle laugh, one of those that were full of understanding and as warm as a hug.
"I used to wonder about stuff like that. Part of me thought the problem was me, until I realized something. People look too much, think they know you… but they really don't know anything at all. In time you'll get used to it... and it'll even seem like fun."
Yashiro blinked with a glow in her eyes, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from her soul. It was then that Touma tilted his head toward her and after a few seconds, raised the glass in her direction, to which she responded by curving her lips into a faint smile, while nodding her head. A strange heat overwhelmed all around her, and the smell of burning invaded her nostrils. Then she contemplated the way everything turned to ashes, her body was transformed and life passed in front of her eyes at an almost imperceptible speed, searching for the meaning that would take her back to the present, dragging her in flesh and blood back to reality.
All that time she had been beside the culprit, she had talked and laughed with him so many times. Past images made sense in the vague memory of the conversation she had held with him and Makishima. When she was asked her opinion about the politician's death, when she proposed different places where a murder could be displayed drawing a lot of attention. Yashiro widened her eyes, remembering that one of the options she had mentioned was a park. The second victim, the unidentified girl, had been found in the same place. She believed that it could be a coincidence, but Touma's smirk seemed to affirm the opposite.
Yashiro emitted a dull groan, feeling the sweat running down her forehead. She was incapable of pulling the trigger. Touma had a confident, proud look on his face, as if he had anticipated her lack of action from the very beginning. Still, they were interrupted by the scream of Touko, who was calling her with a thin voice not knowing how she was. Yashiro exchanged one last glance with Touma and put the gun down, surprised by the enormous effort she had to make in order to leave that burning apartment, with Touma inside it. The door had been obstructed by fire, but the cracking of glass caught her attention and she guided her gaze to one of the adjacent windows, which was open.
When Yashiro jumped out, Sasayama grabbed her by the wrist preventing her from wobbling, and together they ran to where Touko was, echoing over the puddles of dirty water. An explosion rumbled in their ears and they turned to the beat of its music, contemplating the way the apartment creaked, such a lonely crying, as the smoke rose tinging the sky of a dominant darkness. Yashiro leaned on her knees when a harsh cough invaded her, and for a moment her eyes watered. The smoke had affected her so much that she did not stop until Touko managed to meet them again, and she stood up with some difficulty.
"You got me worried! Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" the youngest started to ask.
Touko put her arms around her without giving her time to react, and Yashiro tilted her head down to look at her, not corresponding to that gesture. Her mind was still caught up in the touch of the trigger next to her fingers. For a few seconds they remained together, but then Touko gently parted as if regretting the welcome. Instead, she continued to study her like a mother who cares for her daughter, searching for every possible trace of struggle without finding anything at all, except her absent and certainly empty countenance.
The somewhat rebellious figure of Sasayama stood in front of Yashiro, and when the latter connected with him, she saw the way his eyebrows joined, demanding the truth. He did not transmit anything to her anyway, since her entire body seemed not to belong to her, as if her last reserves of energy had been exhausted and the only thing she wanted to do, at that moment, was to sit on the floor. In spite of the overwhelming heat from the fire, Yashiro could not help but feel a chill all over her body, like a current that made her alert.
"What happened in there?" Sasayama questioned abruptly.
Yashiro passed by them without giving any explanation and walked to nowhere in particular, convincing herself that she had a reason for it. Sasayama took half a step forward and was about to say something, when Touko touched his arm shaking her head, and everything fell into the most ominous silence as they watched Yashiro walk away. She stopped only two meters away, as if the proximity of someone else burned her. It was all over. Touma Kouzaburou was dead and society would forget him as fast as he had emerged from the net. He would be remembered only as one of the many annoying buzzes that had been silenced.
Standing on the ledge, all that waited for Yashiro in her mind was an empty space. Part of her persisted in turning back, changing the course of his flight or perhaps depriving him of his wings, and thus avoiding the fall. Even though she knew it was too late, she kept thinking about it. Her nails were stuck in the palm of her hands, yet the pressure that was tearing her chest was much stronger and she could hardly feel it. She hated herself for not being able to let him go, to simply forget him. Her eyes felt warm, but she blinked to wipe them away in a fleeting moment, without breaking down in front of them.
For some strange reason, all those around her ended up disappearing, melting into the darkness, and a part of herself died along with them. Yashiro turned to concentrate on the flames that consumed what had once been an apartment. It was then that, in the mirrors of her mind, she could see Touma as a flickering, blurry memory that was gradually fading away, until at one point it completely vanished, showing her that of a young, straight black-haired woman she knew.
The image gave her renewed strength, and after exhaling air in a choppy manner, Yashiro went slowly to where they were, feeling as if the same gravity was putting pressure on her body and mind. Touko welcomed her with a hopeful smile on her face, as if it had been a long time since they had seen each other. Sasayama, on the other hand, remained cautiously observing the newcomer, such a stranger whose trust he had to earn.
"It seems like it's all over," stated Yashiro.
"You're wrong… this has just begun," Sasayama refuted, frowning and looking at the minor with complicity. "Right, Kirino-san?"
Yashiro looked at each one fiercely, frowning in exaggerated fashion. Touko was smiling full of complacency, yet as soon as Yashiro tilted her head toward her, the vitality in her face withered and was replaced by guilt.
"What is he talking about?" Yashiro demanded to know.
"Touma didn't do this alone," the enforcer explained in soft denial. "To begin with, where did he get the resin? He must have had a supplier… and a consultant."
Yashiro arched an eyebrow and only then turned her head in his direction, as if she had finally noticed his presence and his mere voice exasperated her.
"Consultant?"
This time it was Kirino Touko who stepped forward, at first with some shyness. Her black hair fell wavy forward, and she realized that in the night it shone as if it were enchanted, "Touma didn't know anything about chemistry."
Yashiro closed her eyes for a moment, and slowly nodded.
"By this, you mean there were accomplices. Don't you think for the time being that these are just assumptions?"
"Well… we'll have to check it out," asserted Sasayama.
Yashiro squinted as she held his gaze, as if it were enough to make him disappear right there. A current boiled through her body and she raised her head while half opening her lips, stirring in her place without knowing how to really contain herself.
"I won't let you drag her down with you. You walk a steep path and want to hold on to her, because you know you are alone and no one will come to help you," Yashiro grumbled as she pointed to him with one of her hands, the same one holding Touma's revolver. "We've already gone too far."
The enforcer's eyes narrowed and his fists twitched fleetingly and shakily, masters of a truth they had not wanted to admit before. His cheeks had turned red with anger and Yashiro felt an ecstasy in every inch of her body. She had enjoyed each word from the depths of her being and her eyes slowly opened, with a strange glow in them. Touko was the only one who followed her companion's movements with her eyes, absorbed by the weapon in her power.
"I remind you that it was you who took her to that zoo and showed her the corpse of her father. You dragged her down with you from the very beginning, and if anything happens to her you are as guilty as I am."
Yashiro closed her eyes and inhaled air deeply, as if that way she could rejuvenate her soul. Then she observed Kirino Touko from her position, who conveyed to her an indescribable discomfort. They had gone too far. Yashiro was aware that she had endangered Touko's life from the moment she took her to the zoo, to see the truth about the death of her father. But at the same time, she understood that she herself had made the decision to move on.
"Stop it!" Touko shook the ground, drawing the attention of both. "For a member of the Public Safety Bureau you are too immature, Sasayama-san. And you, Takahashi-san… since when do you speak for me? You're not my mother, so stop taking responsibility for the decisions I make. If I'm here it's because I wanted to help Sasayama-san to find the culprits."
The enforcer and Yashiro exchanged a look of disgust again, until at last they gave in to the words of the minor and stirred in the place, as if closeness revived in them an innate desire to tear themselves apart. Then, Touko sighed and showed them a mobile device she had saved, raising it in the air. Her eyes were fixed on Sasayama's.
"It's from Touma. I took it out when he opened the door to the room where I was being held. The phone records it contains could serve as evidence…"
Touko handed him the object with a soft smile on her face and their gaze melted for a fleeting moment, being the owner of a growing sympathy. It was then that Yashiro could see that there was nothing she could do to separate them. She could not protect Touko from the rocky road she had taken, only accompany her. She herself was aware of the danger and was willing to face the consequences, no matter how hard they were. As she watched them Yashiro could not help but smile, a gesture she managed to hide by raising her head to the smoke that covered the entire sky.
The act is about to conclude, Touma… and I give you the honor of being the one who closes the curtain. But there is still one piece missing… and we shall see its potential soon enough.
Yashiro recognized the voice as an ornithologist upon hearing the song of a goldfinch, and she could imagine him sitting with one leg over the other and a book in his hands, letting himself be carried away by the meaning of its letters. He sounded calmer than usual and managed to convey the same peace, though not to others. When she turned around, she discovered a shadow completely obscuring the face of the enforcer and a glimmer of concern in the eyes of Touko.
"Makishima," stated Sasayama in a whisper.
He kept staring at the screen of the cell phone, whose voice audio seemed to be recording in his head as a message to be deciphered. The enforcer proceeded to read the messages until he found an address and it was then that he raised his head, only fixing his eyes on Touko's, who remained silent and waiting. Yashiro gulped and put her hands in her pockets instinctively, clenching her fists tightly.
"What does it mean?" Touko asked with raised eyebrows.
Sasayama, who was still petrified with his eyes wide open in a hunting frenzy, seemed to catch his breath and tilted his head toward her, with a wild and uncontrollable look on his face. Then he raised one of his fists and clenched it tightly in the air, making a grimace that showed all his teeth.
"It means that there is still one victim left," replied the enforcer, whose hands were slightly shaking and his pupils contained an almost frantic glow. "That son of a… everything is a game to him, and the others are like simple chess pieces."