--- Chapter 10: X [Unknown] ---

When in the face of disaster, a human's first reaction is not to move, but to stay absolutely still. When something unbelievable happens, a human's first reaction is to say nothing until the facts can seep into their brains. It is not that hard to believe; this reaction is akin to playing dead. The predator or attacker may lose interest in its pray when it believes that it's no longer alive. That is the first reaction, the second is not so. But for now, they were in the first stage. The onlookers of the trial stayed stuck in their seats, waiting for the disaster to come, and hopefully, overlook them. They 'played dead' and said nothing.

Except one. "Just what do you think you're saying?"

Neuro looked to his right at the row behind where he was standing. He was slightly surprised to see who the speaker was. "It is completely impossible," the speaker continued, "That face is definitely that of Sasazuka Eishi's, there's no way that X could be disguised that well."

"Ah, but Mr. Usui," Neuro replied, "You can't have forgotten the fact that no one has ever spotted X in the years that…it has been active. Perhaps you don't know of any normal methods in which a person could copy another's face this well, but I assure you, X has methods that aren't normal," his eyes slid back to 'Sasazuka', "Well then?"

"Well then what?" 'Sasazuka' said cheerfully, a childish smile upon his face. He seemed completely at ease, maybe even having fun.

Infuriating. "What the hell is with that expression?!" Usui shouted. He leaned forward and grabbed 'Sasazuka' by the collar, shaking him, "I don't know what you're playing at, but snap out of it! I've had enough of listening to all this drivel. Come on, tell the truth and stop acting already!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," whoever it was said, "Losing your cool, Usui? How unlike you."

Usui stared. Seeing as he wasn't about to speak, 'Sasazuka' continued, "You never did notice, did you? I bet you always assumed that 'I' changed because the family was slaughtered. Not even once did you guess that I might not really be 'me'. Not a good idea, Usui. You should always doubt, after all, there's always something to be question."

"You…"

Neuro grabbed Usui's arm and pulled it off of its hold on 'Sasazuka's' collar. Usui continued to stare at 'Sasazuka' as he sank back into his seat. That face, it was Sasazuka's alright. "But that expression…" A smile was gracing itself on Sasazuka's face, one of a pleased child's. A twisted child. There was malice hidden behind the cheerful look; or did the smile exist because of the malice?

"Stop fooling around," Neuro drawled, becoming bored.

The Unknown laughed as though there was a private joke between the two of them. Could it even be called a laugh? It was a noise that came from joy and excitement, but there was nothing funny about it. It sent a chill down Usui's and just about everyone else's spine. For the first time in months, Usui felt fear, and it paraded its hideous face right in front of him; dancing its jubilant dance, spreading red and black everywhere.

"Why don't you show us your true form already?"

"Alright, alright," he held up his hands in mock surrender. Even as he did that, 'Sasazuka' was fading away. It was like watching a wax figure melt in the sun before someone came along and reformed it. His face dissolved away, blending back in with his skin until it rippled and began to reshape itself into another appearance. The rest of its body became smaller, shrinking, all the while bubbling. It took only a few seconds before another identity stood before the court. Sasazuka finally stopped existing.

It was a young boy, or at least what looked like one. Everything about him was pale, from his silvery white hair, to his nearly translucent skin. He was thin, and shorter than Sasazuka, so his clothes hung loosely, so loosely that they nearly slipped off his body. There was still a childish smile on his face, identical to the one that had been on Sasazuka's. In his eyes, malice twinkled merrily. The 'boy' waved.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully.

Nearly everyone stayed in their shock induced stupor and stared, as if still not comprehending that the boy had not been there a few moments ago.

The smile left the boy's face and was replaced by a humorously disappointed face. His mouth was drawn in a small pout, but the eyes were as jolly as ever. "Geeze, and here I was expecting some noise. Just plain silence for me, eh? How boring," his expression changed again, back to a smile, but one darker and more menacing than before, taunting, "Or maybe all of you are just too scared to say anything, to scream? It's alright, it's alright. There's absolutely no need to be afraid." But how clearly he wanted them to fear him.

"Where's Mr. Sasazuka?" Yako asked quietly.

"Huh? What was that?" The boy turned to Yako and looked at her curiously. At least someone was talking to him.

"I said," Yako replied, more forcefully now, "Where's Mr. Sasazuka?!"

"You mean my disguise? Oh, he's been dead for a good 10 or so years…or at least I think so. When was it that I killed the Sasazuka family?"

"It was 10 years ago," Neuro answered calmly.

"Oh, right! Thanks! Anyways, I had just been using him for awhile as a cover. It worked really well; apparently he had some connections in the police force and was set to become an investigator himself. Sure was useful," the boy said thoughtfully.

"Where's Mr. Sasazuka?" Yako repeated.

"Huh?" the boy rubbed the back of his head, "Weren't you listening? I said I killed him," he turned to Neuro, "I think you should get her head checked, her brain doesn't seem to be working so well."

"Yes…I might have banged it around a bit too much."

"Where is he!?" Yako shouted, looking directly at the boy, "He was here just a little while ago."

The boy sighed. "I told you. I. Killed. Him," he said slowly, emphasizing each word, "My memory's a bit fuzzy, but based on what this Neuro guy's been saying, I think I can remember most of it." He smiled his strangely pleased smile, "I wondered what a reporter's insides would look like, because they seem to be people who really see other's insides. Whether that person likes it or not, a reporter will nose into discover the 'insides' of both the circumstance as well as that person's. So, I went one night to kill this reporter I had found to be extremely like that," the boy shrugged, "I think he would've been murdered regardless, if not by me. He found out some stuff that was pretty important. Anyways, I killed him, ripped and ground his body until it was almost a liquid and poured it into my box to observe his insides."

"Oh, right," he turned to face the rest of the court with his head raised high; "I should take this opportunity to inform all of you that you're wrong about my boxes. I only make them to help me see people's insides. The boxes are not works of art, nor are they some cruel deed done to strike fear. I mean, I even return them when I can (or remember to) 'cause I figured that the families would want the body back."

A secondary reaction, of course, is to panic.

All at once, furor rose in the court. People were struggling to escape. They shoved each other, climbed over each other, just to get away. They realized playing dead wouldn't work, because this 'boy' would be more interested in them if they were dead. The camera-man was knocked over and nearly trampled, but his companion pulled him up. The hysterical mob had no thoughts, only actions made on a spur of the moment. Maguri, who reached the door first, could not calm himself enough to open it. The mob kept pushing forward, crushing the people near the door until finally, someone managed to push it open. It was a wave, rushing forward to go anywhere but where they were now.

The boy clapped and jumped up and down. "Now that's more like it!" he said, "A much better reaction, if I do say myself. I was starting to wonder if you people were dead or something."

Few people stayed put in their seats, the exception being Usui, not even the jury. Every single one of them was trying to head for the door as well. In a flash, Neuro was somehow there, blocking their way. "And where do you think you're going?"

"Out! Move!" one of them shouted, trying to push Neuro out of the way.

"The trial isn't over yet," Neuro said coolly, "Now go back to your seats and sit down."

"Are you crazy?!"

"Sit down."

The jury froze. There was more than just one source of fear now.

"Oh yes!" the boy piped in, "Sit! Sit! It's not like I have any particular interest in you peoples' insides."

"This is crazy."

The last of the mob trickled out, leaving only a handful of people in the courtroom. The jury had returned to their seats, each one of them stared at the both the boy and Neuro.

"Now then, your honor, you are still here I believe?"

Andrew gulped but got up from the ground where he had fallen. "I don't think there's any need to continue. Katsuragi Yako is innocent; you all agree?" The jury nodded fervently.

"No, not quite. There's still the matter of Sasazuka's death, that hasn't been finished yet. I believe we owe the dead man at least that much." The door opened, and Tsukushi walked back to his seat, his eyes fixed on the boy all the while.

"C-continue," Usui said shakily, "Please, do."

---x----x---x---x---x---

It's a strange feeling when you know that something is happening to you, but your brain just doesn't register it. The whole time, you keep thinking that it's happening to somebody else. You feel like you can watch on indifferently; knowing that it doesn't affect you, maybe even crack a laugh. Honestly, that monster said some pretty laughable stuff.

I want to laugh. I really want to, but I can't.

My life is…was something that was ordinary. Before my mother's death, very ordinary. Sometimes you may wish for something out of the ordinary in your life, but the problem with 'ordinary' is, once something out of it appears, that something will chase 'ordinary' away, and 'ordinary' will refuse to come back. A sense of it comes back after a good length of time, but it's not the same. 'Out of ordinary' has scared 'ordinary' a good deal, and 'ordinary' has changed. Now when you wish for the ordinary, everyday thing back, it won't. It's so much simpler to wish for something that is out of the ordinary to happen.

I could make ordinary come back. Reality is only in my head. If I change what I think, then reality will change for me too. Then ordinary would come back, right? I don't have to believe what I'm seeing; yes, this isn't reality.

So, now I'm watching some strange law show with a wacko in a blue suit for a lawyer and some random serial killer who can change his cells. Man, what studios will do for higher ratings these days, eh? At least it's interesting.

Ha. Ha.

---x---x---x---x---x---

The boy sat in the witness box swaying back and forth childishly. "This is so fun, I don't think I've ever been in trial before…or at least I don't remember. Same difference."

"Alright," Neuro said, "Let's start off with an introduction."

"Who? Me?"

"Yes," he replied, slightly peeved.

"Well then, we have a problem," the boy said sadly, "You see, I don't know who I am either. That's why I make red boxes, so that I can compare those insides to mine and get closer to my true self. For now, I find that I'm anybody and nobody, everywhere and nowhere, so that's basically all I can introduce myself as. The police are calling me 'X' or something, though, so I guess that'll have to do."

"Good enough. Now, why don't you continue that story of yours?"

"I would, if I knew where I was."

"You killed his family."

"Right! Umm…" X stopped, his face twisted in concentration, "Let's see. Reporter…killed…saw his insides…oh! Sorry about that, memory slipped again for a moment. Anyways, there were two other people that I killed. I hadn't originally planned to kill them; they were just too loud, you know? Someone might unexpectedly walk in and see me, and it's not like I can turn into a plant or something. Well, maybe I can, but that's beside the point. So, I made two more glass boxes, since that would've been a waste of perfectly good bodies, but they weren't that interesting. Nope, not at all. Very average. I was in the process of grinding up the second body (can't remember who it was) when this guy walked in. He just stared for a while, and then started screaming his head off. So of course, I have to make be quiet, and I did. After I dealt with him, I continued making my box and then once finished, I went back to start grinding his insides. Part of the way through, I heard someone start knocking on the door. By that time, I had already started to notice that all the people in this neighborhood had pretty normal, boring insides. So, I didn't particularly want to see whoever it was. Instead, I poured the insides of that guy I just killed into the fireplace and took the candle-lighter the family used to light up the birthday cake to start a fire. The timing was good, the insides were pretty mashed up, and it burned well. I changed into that Sasazuka guy afterwards as the lady came in. Ayumi, you said her name was?"

Yako giggled from where she stood.

X casted her confused look, but continued, "She believed that I was Sasazuka. So did the police who came later. I changed back and continued doing what I needed to, and 'Sasazuka' disappeared for awhile, although I did occasionally use his form for certain things. Usually for some blackmailing, or stuff like that. I forgot why I did, but I just kept using him, and eventually he became the face that certain of my connections recognized. I came back to this city a few years ago using his face and I was kinda surprised to find that people in the police force recognized him. Apparently, he had gone to a prestigious college which produced some topnotch investigators. He almost graduated too. So I thought, 'Why not join the police?' It was easy enough, the guy was already almost done with his courses, plus, he had buddies in the police force. Like you, Usui!" he nodded towards him, "I sure am glad that you were there to smooth the bumpy path a bit for me. 'Cause you know, joining the police was pretty smart. I could go back to the crime scenes where I had done some things with a legitimate reason, and then make sure I didn't leave any stupid clues behind that might've revealed me, " X scratched the back of his head, "I guess I really messed up this time, huh?" his smile crept back onto his face, "Or maybe you're just that good?"

Neuro ignored his comment. "I still have yet to hear your reason for killing Katsuragi Seichii, could you please get to it? It's important or whatnot."

"That? Oh, well I had run into him a few weeks after joining the police. I didn't know him, but he kept saying things that told me who he was and my acquaintance with him. I decided to keep up the friend image with him; I didn't want my disguise to appear as too solitary a person. I was never too sure what Sasazuka was like, so I just kept him kinda…blank. Luckily, everyone assumed that I had changed from witnessing my 'family's' murder and didn't say anything about it. They also blamed my poor memory on me being too preoccupied by X. Nice how things fall into place. Anyways, I played friend to him and visited on occasion. About a…few months ago, I think, I had gone into his work room for the first time. I saw the vase by Eshiya Tougo. Mind you, he always did say something about me getting him a vase and how thankful he was, but I never really knew he was talking about. I had really wanted that vase for awhile along with the statue of 'My Final Self', but when I went to the last shop it was sold in, the owner told me it had already been sold to a college kid. Apparently, it had been 'me'. Mr. Katsuragi seemed enthusiastic about it and maybe even felt the same as I did about that vase. It's pretty amazing, ya know, to predict your own death. And to know that it would be by your own family? That work recaptured the hateful emotions that had been present in his earlier works. It was kind of different, since other stuff got thrown in the mix, but it was okay. There was still that draw to it that made me feel like I could relate—"

"Get to the point."

"Ah, right. Went off on a rant there, didn't I? So, I wanted to see his insides. He felt the same draw towards Eshiya's artwork as I did. Who would've guessed? That normal family guy, I still wonder why. I figured, 'hey, maybe there are more similarities.' So, I started planning how to kill him. The plans were a bit fuzzy, and most of my ideas got vetoed by Ai, but eventually, it was worked out that I would kill him on a rainy day so that I could use the ventilation. I was basing the date on whenever the weather report said that it would rain. But then of course, I saw Yako going back for a stay, and I had to make slight modifications to my plans so that it was quieter when I killed him. Like my plan to stab him to death. Yeah, it was one of those hit or miss things where if I killed him instantaneously, there would be no sound, but if not, there'd be a fuss. Didn't want to take chances. That night, I had to go guard some rich guy, and decided to swipe a few knives from the kitchen. I actually had no idea that whose knives those were; I just grabbed them out of convenience. When I left that house, it was raining, so I headed straight to the Katsuragi residence to take advantage of it. I did everything just like you said, even the poison. I had originally planned to forcibly apply it to him, but as I was crawling in the vents, I saw the teacups and thought that it would be a better idea to poison the tea instead. After that, I just waited in the vent opening above his workroom. I have to say, it took him forever to drink it. Got too absorbed in his work or something. Once he did drink it, he made these gagging sounds and thrashed everywhere. Things started to go downhill once I noticed that he was breaking some stuff that made really loud noises when they crashed; like the pottery in the room. So I went into the room and stabbed him a few times. He didn't make a noise after that. I had started to cut him apart, but the noise attracted Yako and her neighbor. I was thinking about continuing, but then the neighbor said, 'Let's go check through the windows.' That wasn't good, 'cause the windows weren't locked. Besides, the rain had stopped, so the window was my escape plan. I didn't wanna drag the body with me and leave blood everywhere because then it wouldn't be a 'closed room case'. In the end, I decided to just leave the body, take the vase, and leave through the window leaving a make-shift lock behind to cover up the fact that it wasn't a closed room."

"The rest. Well, it went pretty bad. Shirota saw some me. I was pretty sure of that since I had caught a glimpse of him when I was going into the alley between the houses. I handed the vase off to Ai and then decided to keep an eye on him. He went over to the apartment, so I had to go after him too. I was lucky that he didn't say anything yet when I had questioned him. To keep him quiet, I blackmailed him. You're right, there were drugs. I just chose not to say anything at the time. It's one of those ways to gain some connections. Came in handy at that time. But then he just started falling apart, and when I heard what he said on that phone, he had to be killed."

X stopped. "I don't need to explain any more, right?"

"No, unless there's anything you want to add."

"Oh, just one thing," he turned to Yako, "I kind of want you to know that I had never planned to frame you. I was going to leave a red box behind to show that I did it, but then it didn't work out as I had planned. You're pretty unlucky."

Yako stood silently with a dreamy expression on her face.

"Umm, hello?" X waved his hand, "You could at least answer. It's pretty...rude..." His gaze shifted to the door and he made a somewhat surprised expression. "Thirty-six, I think."

The door banged open. Dozens of officers rushed in, each one with their gun pointed straight at X.

"Oh? What's this?"

Usui stood up. "Kaitou X, you're under arrest for charges I'm sure you don't need me to repeat," he said, in complete control of himself. "Don't try to run, or else they will shoot."

X glanced amusedly around the room and at the shiny sticks being pointed at him. He raised his hands above his head, "Alright, alright. Geeze, right when I was having fun."

Several officers walked towards him, one with handcuffs in hand. X swayed his head back and forth as they secured him. "I'd like to talk to you again sometime," he called back to Neuro as he was taken out of the court room, "There are still lots of stuff I haven't had a chance to say yet."

"Tsukushi, let's go," Usui said, nodding to the man before turning to Neuro, "And, thank you, I suppose."

"Oh no! I couldn't possibly take any credit whatsoever for this case," Neuro said, quickly resuming his 'nice guy' act again.

"Hm," Usui looked at Yako briefly before walking towards the door, "You should be happy."

Neuro faced the judge. "Well?"

"Huh?" the judge straightened his posture, "Right. Has the jury reached a decision?"

The speaker for the jury continued to stare into space until the woman sitting above gave him a shake. "N-not guilty. Now, I think all of us just really want to go home."

The judge lifted his gavel. "The court is a—"

Bang!

Every head turned simultaneously to the door. Outside, a gun had been fired.

---x---x---x---x---x---

It was having a good day. It hadn't felt this excited in a long time. Who knew that someone would actually catch it? It definitely didn't know. That person wasn't a normal one; no, he had to be a fellow 'it'. How fun! Ever since it had started, it had always had to play guessing games to decide who might be a fellow it. Guessing wasn't always too accurate. It had thought once that maybe a lecher could have some insides that were an 'it's; but that was not so. The lecher was a 'he'. Oh well, this time, it was sure that he had seen a fellow it, and it was going to do whatever it took to see the it's insides.

It looked around. Now it was just a matter of those annoying he's and she's in the way. It had surrendered itself since it wondered what it would be like to be a good it. Apparently, it was a very hard thing to do. It resigned itself. Ai would take care of it, Ai always did.

Ai was Ai. Ai was not a 'she' nor a 'he', but not quite an 'it' either. It couldn't decide. Ai had let go of stuff like that. Ai was 'dead'. Not in the physical sense, of course, but in every other way, Ai was gone. Ai had no identity. Ai had let that go too. Once Ai had realized the goal of knowing who it was, Ai would be gone in the physical sense as well. It had often asked Ai to let it see Ai's insides. Of course, that would mean a physically dead Ai before it knew it's identity, and that wouldn't do.

A shot rang in the air. The he that had been leading it towards the police car fell forward. It smiled and moved to avoid the falling body. There was Ai, doing the work that was needed. Large parts of the crowd of he's and she's flowed away, but a few actually gathered closer to it and drew out their guns. More shots sounded. Most of the bullets met their marks. The remaining he's and she's looked around wildly, trying to find their unseen enemy.

Useless. Ai always faded into the background, only there to watch out for it. 'I' was for invisible, after all.

Besides, did all those he's and she's think that it was just going to stand there and do nothing? Squish went their skulls. Screams everywhere. The handful of the gather-round he's and she's moved towards it. It jumped forward, over all the crowds, so that it too, could join Ai in the background.

---x---x---x---x---x---

"My, what a miss for the police," Neuro said as he looked onward at the disgruntled police force. They were gathering the injured into an ambulance with its sirens screeching. Usui was particularly shocked and kept mumbling, "So close, so close," to himself.

"Weird," Yako murmured to herself, "What's with this wet stuff?" She stared at the tears dropping onto her open palms, seemingly not noticing that it was from her eyes.

"I believe those are called 'tears', cockroach."

"Where's it coming from?"

"Are you so imbecilic that you cannot even realize that you're crying?" Neuro said, rolling his eyes.

"Who, me? I'm not crying. Why would I be crying?" She leaned back onto the wall, "I have no reason to cry. I'm very happy."

"You humans have such strange ways in dealing with loss."

Yako moved her hands over her ears, "Who, who did I lose?" she said quietly, "I didn't lose anybody."

Neuro ignored and continued, "After all, it's useless to deny death. It inevitably comes to every living thing. So what if something dies? Isn't there always something else there which death hasn't touched yet? You humans always pride yourselves in building 'relationships' or whatnot. Are there not people you still have 'relationships' with?"

Slowly, Yako uncovered her ears and turned to Neuro. She looked steadily at him before sliding down onto the sidewalk, a faint smile on her face. "Other people?" she gave a short laugh, "Yeah, there are. But I guess humans are just stupid like this. We gather those important to us so closely that when their ripped away, they take pieces of us with them. Nobody likes to acknowledge that a hole exists." Yako buried her face in her arms, "But, I guess you're right. There are still more people out there. There's still more…" Her shoulders quivered.

"I'll never understand all these sentimental things."

The remaining crowds slowly dissipated, and the sirens faded into the distance. The streetlights were flickering on, one by one. Yako lifted her head and took a deep breath. "That's better. And…I should probably say than—" She had turned to face Neuro, but he was already gone.

---x---x---x---x---x---

Yako flicked on the switch to her living room. No one out of the ordinary sitting on the couch...or was it 'ordinary' now? It had become rather hard to tell within the past few days. She shut the lights off again and walked into the hallway. She didn't know where she was going; her feet moved automatically. Before she knew it, Yako stood in front of her father's work room. Mechanically, her hand reached for the doorknob. She expected to hear the little voice in her head, but it was silent. The door was pushed open.

There was still a pang in her chest as she looked around, but, it wasn't as bad as before. It was duller, but still making itself known, as it always would. Yako backed out, this time leaving the door open, and went into her room. Without even changing into her sleeping clothes, Yako laid on her bed and closed her eyes.

Yako couldn't remember the last time she had slept as well as she had that night.

It was alright now. She wasn't floating anymore.

---x---x---x---x---x---

A/N: Arg, that took too long. Sorry. Next chapter is the last chapter.