Hikari-san had been completely relieved of her duties by Iria-san. "Instead, go help Kunagisa-san and the other guy," she had been told. It was a soft way of saying, "No way in hell am I going to entrust any of the housework to the prime suspect," or at least that was partially what she meant.
And thus, the three of us remained together even after finishing lunch.
"Would you two go on ahead of me?" I said to the two girls on the way to Kunagisa's room. "I want to stop by Iria-san's room for a bit. Kunagisa, hold on to this."
I pulled a small knife out of my pocket and handed it to her.
"You've been walking around with something that dangerous?" Hikari-san said in surprise.
"A young man always carries a knife in his heart."
"And a young woman carries a pistol," Kunagisa joked as she took the knife. "Well, let's go, Hikari-chan."
"But…"
"It's okay, it's okay. Let's leave it to Ii-chan," Kunagisa said, half dragging Hikari-san along. As long as they were together, Kunagisa wouldn't have any trouble going upstairs. That was one of the reasons we were on a team of three.
"Well, I guess we're going then."
I did an about-face and began walking toward Iria-san's room.
Time to request another "audience." I gave myself some mental prep. Then I took in a deep breath.
I knocked on the thick door, waited for an answer, and then entered. Inside the room, I found Iria-san and Rei-san, as well as Akari-san and Teruko-san, which I guess I probably should've expected since they were a team. All of them were sitting on the sofa, elegantly sipping black tea.
Akari-san awkwardly avoided eye contact with me, as if trying to escape. She must have been regretting going bananas on me that morning in Kunagisa's room. That was only natural, but it was I who was at a loss for what to do with her speaking so openly to me.
Iria-san's mouth slowly curled into a smile.
"Is something the matter, Mr.… Um… What was it? You're the one who proposed that we operate in teams, and now you're here alone? That's a bit of a problem, now, isn't it? Hikari is on your team, you know—"
"Iria-san," I interrupted. "Um, you still don't plan on contacting the police, do you?"
"Not a chance."
A snappy answer.
An utterly cold, curt response.
She was just amazing.
You're really wonderful, Akagami Iria-san.
"I don't think that's a good thing, to be honest," I said.
"Would you also care for some black tea?" It was Rei-san. She stood up without waiting for my reply and walked over to the pot. Iria-san shot her a look that seemed to have some hidden meaning, but then looked back toward me.
"If the police came now, you'd be in a sticky situation yourself, don't you think? Akane-san was killed because of your suggestion, after all."
"It doesn't matter if it would put me in a 'sticky situation' anymore. I live to be given the run-around. More importantly, what about you, Iria-san? Akagami Iria-san. You might be killed, too, you know. What do you think of that situation?"
With Rei-san's invitation, I took a seat on the empty part of the couch next to Teruko-san. Teruko-san made no attempt to even look at me. Her vacant eyes stared off into space from behind her black glasses. It was like her focus was out of alignment or something. Or no, it wasn't out of alignment. It just wasn't in tune with mine.
The black tea was good.
Iria-san took a long pause before answering me as if trying to intimidate me.
"What do I think of it? Of this situation? It's terrible. It's a terrible event. Of course, that's not all I think, but what if I ask you the same question? What do you think?"
"It's a dangerous situation. I have no interest in sticking around with a murderer in our midst."
And I had no interest in sticking Kunagisa in such a situation, either. I didn't know how she felt about things though. I had no idea. But as for me…
"Hmph. Do you think murder is a terrible thing?"
"Yes, I do," I answered promptly. "I do think that. Without question. No matter what reasons they might have, murderers, are the most despicable type of human."
"Hmm. So what would you do if you were going to be killed? I mean, if it was kill or be killed, what would you do? Just sit there and wait to die?"
"I'd probably kill. I'm not a saint. But at that moment, I would consider myself the most despicable type of human. No matter what kind… What kind of person he or she was."
"You look like you're speaking from experience." Iria-san gave me an unsavory smile. It was a wicked smile, perfectly befitting a woman of such absolute power, with such an overwhelming upper hand.
I thought she reminded me of someone.
Ah yes, Kanami-san. It was that same sort of "Didn't you know that?" kind of smile. But why would a non-genius like Iria-san have a similar smile to Ibuki Kanami-san?
"You think murder must be punished? But imagine you set some food in front of a mouse, and every time the mouse tries to eat it, it gets an electric shock. What do you think the mouse does?"
"Mice are capable of learning, so it would probably stop trying to eat."
"Wrong. Mice are capable of learning, so it would eat the parts of the food that aren't electrified."
"Humans aren't mice."
"And mice aren't humans." She clapped both her hands together. "Gee, as long as we're discussing this, maybe you'll answer this for me. Why is it wrong to kill people?"
It was the kind of question you might ask a junior high school student.
She didn't seem to be joking.
"Because it's against the law;, because it's easier to function in society if you believe that because I don't want to be killed myself."
"All of the above lack persuasive power."
"I agree. So this is my answer: there is no reason. You need a reason to kill someone. Like maybe you were pissed off, or you just wanted to kill the person or whatever, but nobody kills without some reason. But it's not something you choose, right? To kill or not to kill? That's not something you choose. That's just drivel that people with a Hamlet complex spout. The instant you embrace such doubts, you cease to be human."
Am I, who suffers, a noble?
What a joke.
"Killing is wrong," I said. "That's an absolute. You don't need a reason."
"Hmm, is that right?" She nodded with blatant insincerity. "I suppose I can understand where you're coming from. But if we knew who the killer was, this case would be closed. Once Aikawa gets here, we'll find out who that is."
"I don't know this Aikawa-san."
"But I do. Isn't that enough? Akari, tell him when Aikawa-san's coming."
"In three days," Akari-san answered, still without making eye contact with me. "We asked Aikawa-san to come earlier than planned. So…"
"There you have it. If we knew who the killer was, of course, you could just leave. You're here on this island because you're a suspect. That's the only reason a talentless, mediocre boy such as yourself is here. Speaking of which, you didn't have an alibi when Ibuki-san was killed or when Sonoyama-san was killed, did you?"
Thunk.
I placed my still-more-than-half-full cup of tea back in its saucer, let out a deliberate sigh, and slowly rose to my feet.
"Please excuse me. I think we're speaking completely different languages here."
"Indeed," she sneered. "There's your exit."
"Teruko, see him back to his room," Rei-san said to Teruko-san sitting next to me. "So that he's not all alone. You shouldn't have a problem with that, right?"
With a quick nod, Teruko-san got up from the sofa. I didn't fully understand what Rei-san had meant by that nor how to react to it, but nevertheless, Teruko advanced out of the room on her own. I scrambled after her, leaving Iria-san's room behind as well.
By the time I got out to the hallway, Teruko-san was already quite a ways ahead of me. What kind of an escort sped out the door ahead of the guest? As usual, I couldn't read her mind at all. And it wasn't just a matter of her doing things at her own pace. I accelerated to catch up with her.
But more importantly…
My conversation with Iria-san really hadn't gone anywhere at all. I had more or less expected that, but still I was surprised at how quickly it had died. It seemed Iria-san really trusted this Aikawa-san. But did such amazing detectives really exist in this world?
I hoped so.
I sincerely hoped so.
No, I was wishing for it.
Praying.
"Maybe that's all nonsense, too."
I let out another sigh. I would just have to try again. It didn't seem likely that I would be able to progress very far without the cooperation of the owner of this mansion. It was nothing to brag about, but I could be surprisingly determined. And I was a sore loser. The worst of the worst sore losers. There was no way I would give up that easily.
Huh?
Did somebody say something just now? I could have sworn I had heard someone's voice. I looked around the hall, but nobody was around besides Teruko-san and me. It must have been my imagination. My ears were playing tricks on me. Maybe I was losing it.
Hmm…
No.
It was the sound of a voice.
Which meant…
There was just one other, highly, highly unlikely possibility. I knew that it was nearly impossible, logically speaking, but could it have been? Was it possible?
"Teruko-san, did you say something?"
By any chance?
She stopped upon hearing my question.
"I said it would be better for you to just die."
I was speechless.
It was the first time she had ever spoken in front of me, and I never would have guessed it would be a line such as "it would be better for you to just die." That was just too much. Was she for real?
And then she turned to me and stared from behind those dark glasses, perfectly still.
It was an accusing gaze, and I couldn't help but wince. We stood like that for a while, her staring me down, but realizing I didn't have the perseverance to beat her, I decided to just ignore her and keep on walking. As I tried to pass, she grabbed me by the arm and tightly clenched it.
Squeeze.
It felt like an electric shock had run through my elbow.
Without releasing my arm, she pulled me into a nearby room and shut the door behind her. She forced me onto the sofa. From there, she sat down so that we were face-to-face, and removed her black glasses.
"Those are just for show?"
"They're so we can be told apart."
She raised her face.
Her voice was exactly the same as Akari-san and Hikari-san's.
That clear, beautiful voice.
"Is that right?"
"No, I'm lying. I just don't want to look at your face. No, I'm lying. I just wanted to see you make that face."
"Can I help you with something?"
Unable to figure out her intentions, I knew that it would be bad to get swallowed up in this bizarre situation, so I tried my best to seize the initiative by asking questions. But she just sat there looking around the room without giving any response.
"I'll give you a word of advice," she suddenly said, continuing to ignore my question. It was as if she were talking to a ghost behind me. "You'd be best to live on your own. When you're around other people, you cause trouble for them."
The worst part was, without her glasses, she was completely indistinguishable from Akari-san and Hikari-san. Being told this kind of stuff by not only Maki-san but now her, too, was, to be honest, unpleasant.
I felt like I'd been betrayed.
"A person who does nothing but bother other people should just stop being a person altogether. If you can't do that, then you've got to go on living alone. That's what I think."
"Why are you saying this?"
"Because I'm the same way."
A clear answer.
Her expression showed no change.
Not even a flicker.
"But you're here with other people and—"
"We've stopped being people."
We.
Exactly who did that include?
"This morning, Akari was rude to you. I apologize." She changed the subject without any segue. And her pale expression and her tone of voice remained unchanged.
"Why are you apologizing?"
"That was me."
"Huh?"
She continued, oblivious to my confusion.
"It wasn't really me per se, but it was my body. The three of us all share these three bodies. All three of us have three personalities each, and each of us has the same personalities and memories. So although the one screaming at you this morning was Akari, it was really my body."
"You're lying."
"Yes."
She kept a completely straight face. What was up with this girl? She kept throwing me crazy curveballs. I didn't know where she was going with this at all.
"Now then, enough with the chitchat."
And she thought this was just chitchat.
"Let me get to the point. I don't think it's very wise to be yakking on and on about the police around my mistress. She can be quite patient, but everyone has a breaking point."
"Why is Iria-san being so stubborn about it anyway? She says it's to keep the peace here, but I can't help but think there's more to it than that."
And hadn't the peace already been broken? She didn't seem to be interested in peace, in the slightest.
"You really want to know?"
"I do."
Teruko-san stood up.
She came over beside me. She leaned up against me. She was stuck to me. Her body was all the way up on me.
"It's because… No criminal likes the police," she said, her voice completely devoid of tone or cadence. "That's why."
I was at a loss for words for a moment, not quite clear what she meant.
"Surely you've wondered why my mistress is on this island. Why do you think she's here?"
"Well, with that personality of hers—"
"She messed up."
She was being a little sparse on the details, so I had no idea where the conversation was headed. How could triplets raised in the exact same environment have such completely different personalities? It really was like multiple personality disorder.
"Huh? What do you mean by 'messed up'?"
"Kunagisa-san can't handle extreme vertical motion. That's why you're here, yes?"
"Yeah, that's right." I guess she wasn't much for flattery. "Is something wrong with that?"
"My mistress is the opposite of that," she said eloquently.
It was almost like she was reading it right out of a script.
And a fairly dry reading at that.
"That's why she's on this completely deserted island."
She immediately continued.
"Have you ever seen my mistress's left arm? If you saw the scars all over her wrist, you would understand, too."
The scars… On her wrist?
As dry and monotone as her voice were, it was deadly serious as well.
"They called it the abuse syndrome. I'm sure even you've heard of it?"
Abuse syndrome. She must have meant DLLR syndrome. Indeed, I had heard of it. A form of autism in which the person can't exist without harming himself - or herself as well as others. To be more specific, it was at the high end of the autism spectrum. At any rate, it was an exceptionally bad, impossibly unsavory, extraordinarily atrocious type of mental disorder.
In my time at the program, I had read some literature about it, but I had never actually witnessed a case of it in real life, though I knew someone who had. As he had put it, "a person capable of killing without bearing any sense of guilt is truly a scary thing."
Truly scary indeed.
Was she implying that that's what Iria-san had?
But DLLR syndrome was such a rare condition that its very existence was the subject of great suspicion. It was a fairly compulsive condition, so it was supposedly extremely rare. There hadn't been a single case of it in Japan, and even in the States, there had only been a small, countable sample. But I guess that's the Law of Great Numbers at work again.
"Teruko-san, that's—"
"Just as we are triplets, my mistress also has a twin, Mistress Odette."
Iliad and Odyssey.
That explained that.
"Is that right? So what's her sister doing now?"
"She's dead."
"You mean it, right?"
"I mean it," she said. "And the one who killed Mistress Odette was none other than Mistress Iria. Do you understand? Do you understand what that means? Have you grasped the logic here? It means that you've just insulted my mistress with your filthy mouth. 'Murder is despicable, no matter what the reason,' huh?"
"I didn't really mean to—"
"Your intentions are irrelevant in this case. At any rate, I presume you understand why she won't call the police now? If you understand, please go back to your room. And please stop making waves."
Without another moment's hesitation, she got up from the couch. I could tell from her disposition that this conversation was over.
But oh, oh Teruko-san…
"Don't make waves"?
That was my line.
"Teruko-san!" I blurted spontaneously after her.
Contrary to my every expectation, she stopped in her tracks by the door.
"What?"
"Like…"
Like…
Liiiike…
"Like… Say there was a kid who spent the first ten years of his life locked in the basement without communicating with a single person, including his own kin. Can you imagine what that kid would grow up to be like?"
She didn't answer.
Naturally, I wasn't hoping for an actual answer.
I just thought I'd try asking.
This girl here. This quiet, sallow-faced girl, living her life in silence. To me, she was probably…
"You and I are totally different," she said in a fairly harsh tone.
It was like she could read my mind.
She spoke without even looking back.
"Don't you dare make me out to be related to you in some way! It's disgusting and it makes me nauseous and it's an incredible nuisance."
"Sorry to hear that."
"You have nothing to belong to in this whole world. Not just here, the whole world. If you'd like me to put it simply: you're a popped cork," she said.
"That's actually more than I wanted to hear, especially from you."
"It had to be me who said it, because nobody else will." She didn't look back. She continued all the same. "It seems you still think you don't understand why Himena-san picks on you so much, but the reason is obvious. It's because she can see what's in your mind. Nobody likes filthy things."
"..."
"I'm saying you're filthy."
"No need to repeat that… I'm fully aware of it."
"Oh, you're aware of it? And yet you manage to go on living. Well, that's the spirit. That must take a lot of willpower. That's worthy of respect. Or could it be that you think there's someone out there who will like you even after you've revealed yourself to them? Do you actually believe someone out there will choose you? Then you really are a popped cork."
There was nothing to say. Her words echoed. They were too heavy for me. I was going to collapse. Fall to pieces.
"How dare you barge into other people's lives when you're harboring such a monster inside yourself? You're lower than an insect. You're shameless. The world isn't that forgiving. How grossly conceited you are. And that's why—"
She opened the door. Then, for a moment, she looked back at me.
It was…
The expression of a woman staring at the object of her truest heartfelt loathing. It was an ice-cold look.
"You should just die."
Ka-thunk.
The sound of inorganic matter.
The door closed.
The power drained from my body. It was like the feeling you have when your shackles are removed, but without the sense of liberation.
"Jesus."
What a circus. I felt as if I were going to be crushed. Completely pulverized.
"This is the nonsense to end all nonsense, seriously."
Left all alone, I sat and thought.
Now, what was it? I tried to recall everything she had said. Unlike Akane-san's conversation the previous night, there was no theorizing this time. There was no reasoning, no explaining, just the naked truth thrust in my face.
"Oh man, that did me some damage for real." I shook my head.
Don't think about it. There are other things to be thinking about now.
I got up from the sofa and left the room. Looking around the hallway, not even Teruko-san's shadow remained. She was pretty light on her feet. Maybe that was another way in which she resembled me.
Anyway, all that mattered now was the information Teruko-san had left me with. The scars on Iria-san's wrist. Her "background." The fact that she had killed her sister… And in so doing had been exiled to this island. Her abuse syndrome. Autism.
Thinking of that, surely it was clear why she wouldn't call the police.
"Wait a minute. Hold it."
A revelation. I had seen Iria-san changing clothes right before my eyes yesterday. The first time she had granted me an audience. But there was not a scratch on her wrist. Not that I was staring at just her limbs the whole time, but surely I would have noticed such an imposing scar if it had really been there.
"Wait wait wait…" I stopped in my tracks, scratching my head. "What the hell is this?"
Essentially, Teruko-san was a big fat liar.
Just like me.