Baccano! - Volume 10 - Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

BOMBS ILLUMINATE THE BLUE SKY

Elleson Hill The suburbs

A brilliant flash.

Even in broad daylight, the flash from it was blinding.

Elleson Hill.

It was the name of a small town next to Chicago.

Even on a detailed map, the only thing there was its name, all alone. Maps on a broader scale didn’t even note its existence.

But although this area was hidden in the shadow of a big city, its name was rather well-known throughout the country for certain reasons.

However, the reason for this lack of cartographical attention was due to the town’s unique nature.

The landscape of this rather rural town consisted of a vast plain studded with a variety of buildings, large and small, and wide roads running every which way among them.

At a glance, it seemed like a quiet patch of farming villages, but in fact, there was almost no farmland to be seen on that plain. What little agriculture was there was surrounded by formidable fences, and in many cases, it wasn’t possible to see beyond them.

Buildings that looked like ordinary residences were densely concentrated in one area of the town, but they were the exception. Most of the other structures were built at a distance from one another.

In some cases, two or three buildings stood together, and they were generally inside the same enclosure. It felt as if the town was dotted with several—or several dozen—schools.

All of these facilities had one thing in common.

Somewhere on every truck that entered and left the buildings, as well as on the buildings themselves, there was a certain logo.

The Nebula Corporation.

The logo represented an enormous group whose name was known all across America.

The omnipresent design was unique, said to have been based on a work by the German artist Carnald Strassburg.

In this city, Nebula’s research facilities and warehouses stood in ranks, and most of its residents were involved with a single corporate group.

Related facilities stood in clusters according to the research they were conducting, and each cluster was distanced from the others because they were all connected to completely different businesses within the conglomerate. Among the children, rumor had it that the facilities were conducting sketchy experiments, and the distance was because there was no telling when they might explode.

One day, in this town…

…that rumor became reality in the most twisted way possible.

A radiant red light rose over everything, chasing back even the sunlight above.

The light should have flashed and been gone in an instant, but instead it faded slowly, burning a brilliant afterimage in the eyes of those who’d seen it.

Before anyone could process the afterimage (bleh), an earth-shattering roar rumbled through the sky.

Weightily, heavily, the rumbling mass of sound felt as if it was slowly tearing down the heavens.

And after that came a wall of heat sweeping over them.

Sound, light, and heat were rising all through the town.

The figures atop the nearby hill could see and feel all of it.

The small shape at the front of the group looked out over the town and blandly commented, “Oh, man. There it goes.”

As he relished the sound of the explosions that rumbled through him, and the hot wind that buffeted him…

…the boy with the hard-to-miss suture scars on his face and arms murmured again:

“There’s no going back now.”

He’d been talking to himself, but a clear response came from behind him.

“I’m not entirely certain of that, Rail.”

“…I wasn’t asking you, Sham.”

A crowd of figures stood at his back. It was a group of men of all different ages, including a few young children.

One of them shook his head lightly at the boy he’d called Rail.

“It’s perfectly possible to go back. All you need to do is stop.”

“Get a load of you. It’s not like you got in my way.”

“Well, it isn’t as though your actions will obstruct Master Huey’s experiment. On the contrary, it’s no exaggeration to say that destroying Nebula’s facilities will move it along.”

“…”

Rail fell silent. Behind him, the group of featureless figures continued to gaze at him, quietly.

Then, as if he’d thought of something, he broke that silence again.

“Oh, does that rub you the wrong way? Do you feel like a puppet forced to dance in the palm of Master Huey’s hand?”

“…”

“Don’t worry. Master Huey currently has troubles of his own that prevent him from getting involved. He doesn’t seem to have a palm to spare for us.”

Ignoring the hint of irony in Sham’s reply, Rail gazed at the gradually spreading red light, which had followed the earlier flare: the flames rising all over town.

Unable to name the emotion passing through him, he quietly reflected on what he’d done.

Just half a day earlier…

…Frank, his precious friend, had been snatched right in front of him.

Actually, wounded was more accurate than snatched. Although he didn’t want to think it, depending on the current circumstances, they might have killed him.

As he remembered that moment, Rail gritted his teeth at the thought of that loathsome, terrifying group in lab coats—and at himself, for having been unable to do a thing.

That was precisely why he was standing here now, gazing at the flames of his revenge.

He’d tracked down the Shams he’d been able to contact in Chicago and asked for all the help he could get. He’d been planning to act independently, help or no help, but they had agreed with a readiness he hadn’t expected— And as a result, Elleson Hill was now in flames.

Rail had ended up going through nearly half the explosives he’d brought into Chicago, but the actual amount he’d used hadn’t been that large.

He didn’t know who had made them, but these explosives were terribly powerful and efficient. They were Rail’s own weapon, but the first time he’d seen them in action, he couldn’t stop himself from gasping in awe.

Then he’d ventured to use that power.

As if to declare his fear itself was his strength, he had used that fear to do away with his hesitation.

So that he would go insane. So he could reach that place the boy he’d been before hadn’t been able to.

For that reason alone, a reason that couldn’t really be called simple or wholehearted—

—bright light enveloped the town.

However, even as he looked at the results of the explosions he’d inflicted on the city, Rail’s heart didn’t undergo any great change.

It’s not enough.

All that was building inside him was a new unease and a dark anger.

Something like this, something on this level— I can’t get over it yet, not yet.

The flames were gradually dying down. They hadn’t spread. The facilities probably had comprehensive disaster prevention systems. Surveying the damage, Rail gritted his teeth.

“Hey, was Frank in any of the facilities we blew up today?”

“Not that I saw, no.”

“Hmm… Oh.”

“However, had he been, he might have died in one of the fires.”

Rail’s jaw clenched tighter at Sham’s insensitive remark, but he didn’t argue.

As he’d said, this had been a dangerous move, and he could have ended up hurting Frank in the process. Rail had been aware of that. Not that he could have come up with anything else.

The one behind him was clever and casual, but his words hung heavy on his heart.

“Well, ordinarily, I would say gathering information and targeting only the relevant facilities would be the best move, but I think this method is valid. If you set off that many explosions at once, I honestly doubt our opponent will have any time to spare for Frank.”

He had almost found meaning of a sort in the senseless rampage—though he could have stopped the destruction himself if he’d been so inclined—as he took a step forward with an inscrutable smile.

“You don’t really know what you should do yourself, correct?”

“…Man, just shut up,” Rail muttered, irritated, but Sham kept right on talking.

“If you’d like, shall I ask for Master Huey’s opinion? I think he could manage that much.”

“Shut up!”

Rail had yelled in spite of himself, but he immediately took a few calm breaths and tried again with the only person he could currently ask for advice.

“Hey, is going crazy a way out?”

“If you’re capable of recognizing your own insanity, I don’t think you can actually call it insanity—well, that’s my conclusion based on the vast quantity of information I’ve accumulated, at least. No doubt Master Huey or Hilton would give a different answer.”

Sham just kept bringing up Huey’s name. Annoyed, Rail quietly asked him another question:

“What do you think Chris would say?”

“He went insane long ago. I expect he’d grin and tell you to try and keep up.”

“Ha-ha. You don’t understand him at all, Sham,” Rail muttered, smiling with chagrin.

“Or…”

Sham’s next comment made his chest tighten.

“If he values you, Rail, he might say something along these lines: ‘I can’t make you normal again. If you want to come over and be crazy with us, I can guide you, but I think you’re teetering on the edge, so there’s nothing I can do. Think about it for yourself and make up your own mind. After you’ve gone mad, will you spot a way out, or will you be able to see the future more clearly?’ …Or thereabouts?”

“…”

Rail fell silent as Sham mimicked Christopher’s vocal mannerisms.

They weren’t Christopher’s exact words, but Rail clearly remembered being told something very similar.

It was that night when he’d sobbed with despair and powerlessness. Well, “that night” being half a day ago.

But what Christopher had said to him back then sounded a lot like the speech he’d just heard.

He was mildly startled, and also a bit irritated by the fact this mere watchdog, this gofer in front of him, had a deeper understanding of Christopher than he did. Rail glared sullenly at the group behind him.

However, in the end, he couldn’t argue. As Rail was wondering what he should do to them, he noticed something odd.

To be accurate, he’d noticed it quite a bit earlier, but his emotions had been so stirred up he hadn’t been paying attention: Every member of the group behind him was male.

“? Say, Sham, are you the only one here? Where’s Hilton?”

“She says her hands are full at the moment. She’s got some trouble of her own to deal with. It’s the matter involving Master Huey I mentioned earlier.”

“What happened?”

“It sounds as though Master Huey was attacked, and one of his eyes was gouged out and stolen.”

“Whoa…”

Huey Laforet.

He was the individual who’d brought him into existence as a perverse, artificial being, and Rail felt nothing for him but hatred. Still, he was more startled than anything when he heard about the eye-gouging. His second thought was Serves him right, but his first was Someone managed to do that?

To Rail, Huey always seemed so perfect in everything, like a natural-born ruler who always put himself in a position to manipulate others, and this had doubled his hatred and fear of him.

Rail’s expression turned complicated, and the messenger smiled quietly.

“Are you glad that Master Huey has been hurt?”

“Not especially. I don’t feel any better than before, and I’m not interested in the details. I don’t care who did it or why. It’s got nothin’ to do with me.”

Muttering masochistically, he finally looked back at Sham.

“But Sham, you look sort of happy today… Or am I seeing things?”

“Do I? I expect it’s only your imagination. After all, while I am delighted to be able to help you in your work, I am also dealing with the fact that Master Huey has been injured. Besides, I am merely a messenger and errand boy. My options are limited.”

“Oh yeah?” Then, Rail looked down slightly, took a pocket watch from his coat pocket, and opened its lid. “Kinda jealous you have any options at all.”

“…”

Rail’s attitude had returned to normal, as far as Sham could hear from that reply.

However, he had noticed something.

True, Rail hadn’t gone insane yet, but—

—he was in the process of breaking, little by little.

As Rail gazed at the hands of the watch, ticking ever forward, he shouted into the blue sky for no one’s benefit but his own.

“I mean, all I can do is blow everything to hell now!”

Then…yet another dazzling flash illuminated the town.

Turning his back on the bright, flickering flames and smoke, Rail spoke to the Shams quietly.

“So I’ll go as far as I can. And if that’s to Crazy Town, so be it.”

The emotion had vanished from Rail’s voice, and his stone-cold words disappeared into the sky along with the smoke.

“If it means I can go somewhere…I’ll go insane with a smile on my face.”