Baccano! - Volume 10 - Chapter 3.5

Interlude III The Alchemist, Impassive

Under Alcatraz Penitentiary Special cell

“Nooo… NOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOOOOoooOOOooOOooo!”

It was a shriek one would never expect to hear in a men’s prison.

Not only was the voice female, but the pitch of the scream made it clear that it belonged to a young child.

However, the cry was so muffled by the thick walls and ceiling it never reached the upper levels of Alcatraz.

In exchange— The exact same screams rang out all across America, from all types of different women.

“Nooo… No, nooOOOooo! Father…his eye! …Fatherrrrrrr, AAAAaaaaah…”

A man knelt on one knee in front of the wailing girl.

A deep red cavern was visible through the gap under his left eyelid, showing that the eye that should have occupied it was gone. The man was smiling faintly, but the girl didn’t even see it. To her, the simple fact that this man was wounded seemed to be shattering the world around her, and she shrieked and raved with anxiety.

“Whyyyyy?! Aaaaaaah! Wh… ?”

But in the next moment—the screams reverberating around the room abruptly vanished.

The man she’d called Father had gently hugged the shaking girl.

“It’s all right, Leeza.”

“Ah…aah…ngh…”

“Calm down, please. My field of vision’s only shrunk a little, that’s all.”

The girl kept shivering for a while longer, and until it subsided completely, the man—Huey Laforet—just smiled wordlessly.

But the smile wasn’t so much directed at his daughter…

…as a suggestion that he was enjoying the situation.

When the girl was finally calmer, Huey sat her down on the bed. He looked around the room for a little while, then mused as if the matter had nothing to do with him.

“It isn’t like simply closing one eye, is it…? Hmm. What an intriguing experience.”

“Why…? Father, your left eye… Where did it go?” Leeza, Huey’s daughter, murmured quietly. She was being careful not to look at his face.

Huey gave a troubled smile and thought about how he should answer that question.

Should he just come out and tell her that someone who was in the room at the time gouged it out?

Or should he make up an excuse of some sort and evade the question?

If she found out that a member of that group—most likely Firo—had wounded him…

…it was highly probable she would go to recover the stolen eye without a thought for the danger of her own position.

In addition, after she’d retaken it, she wouldn’t forgive the thief. She might try to slaughter everyone who’d been there at the time.

Mind you, that does sound interesting in its own right.

If Firo had been her only opponent, he was a fellow immortal, and there was almost no chance that he’d kill Leeza in retaliation.

However… If the men who’d referred to themselves as “the former Felix Walkens” and that fellow Ladd came into it, the story would change completely.

Ladd Russo would probably be able to kill even a girl like Leeza without compunction. He’d known from the information he’d acquired in advance, but actually seeing him had convinced him of the truth of what he’d learned.

The man might be insane, but rationally so.

He was being true to his convictions, perfectly conscious of what he was doing.

His brutal personality might give others the wrong idea, but Ladd was at his core very coolheaded and calculating. However, it was likely that his impulses overrode those calculations. He couldn’t yet tell whether those impulses were anger, purely sadistic desires, or something else entirely, but at any rate, the man probably wouldn’t hesitate to kill Leeza.

That would be a bit troublesome.

There are still several things about the child that I’d like to research…

And at the very least, I’ll need her to make herself useful during my escape.

As he mulled over these very unfatherly ideas, Huey stroked his daughter’s head gently.

“It’s all right. This is nothing.”

“It’s not okay… It’s not, it’s not! Father, you—you can’t get hurt! It’s not possible… It can’t happen! Father, Father… Who was it? Who did this?! I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them—it’s wrong—you just can’t get hurt, Father!”

From the way she spoke, it was hard to tell whether she was worried or not, but Huey knew that this was what Leeza was like.

Leeza Laforet.

She was Huey’s biological daughter, and yet she also had another name.

One she shared with several hundred people.

Hilton.

Like Sham, she was an entity that controlled multiple bodies using one shared mind.

The original research had been performed by Szilard Quates, but a certain alchemist had stolen Szilard’s research, completed it, and created a practical technique from it—at which point, Huey had acquired it. Most of his organization seemed to be under the impression that Huey had stolen it, but another alchemist had been the original thief.

If you made a human drink a certain liquid, the will of a certain something inhabiting that liquid would initiate a struggle with the human’s mind, each trying to take over the other. Then, if the liquid won that fight, it would claim all of the human’s knowledge and experience as its own, able to use them as easily as its new hands and feet. Conversely, if the human won control, they would gain only the other’s memories, and would then be free to live their life as they chose.

It wasn’t like poison or a truth serum. It was a pure battle of wills.

What did this involve, exactly? Huey hadn’t experienced it directly, but as far as he was concerned, having his entire mind stolen from him would be the same as being eaten.

Come to think of it… Wonder if anyone ever ended up eating him?

The man had paid several visits to Rhythm, Huey’s research team, providing them with techniques to use in creating Sham and Hilton, along with various information and rumors. However, a little while back, he’d completely dropped out of touch.

When Szilard Quates had been eaten by Firo, had his memories been among those Firo had inherited well? Or had he fallen prey to someone else’s hand—? Or was he hiding from Huey?

Well, I suppose he doesn’t matter right now.

Smirking at himself for getting sidetracked, Huey spoke to the girl in front of him.

“Right now, the question of who took it is trivial. We can take our time retrieving it. Right now, the New York project and leaving this island are more important.”

“No… But they…! I mean…but…”

The man who was most affected was telling her not to worry about it, but Leeza shook her head, unconvinced.

Of course, this was probably a normal reaction for someone with an injured family member.

But Huey knew—Leeza’s reaction was something closer to religious devotion than familial love.

He also knew he was the one who’d raised her to be that way.

Just after his daughter was born, he’d fed her a liquid that hadn’t yet acquired any knowledge or experience, and had then carefully, meticulously raised her.

As far as she was concerned, Huey was at the center of everything, and although she was all over the world as the information collector Hilton and the on-site commander Leeza, it was safe to say that her world revolved around Huey Laforet, her father and the God of her universe.

She had more knowledge and experience and a greater field of vision than an ordinary human, but even so, to her, Huey’s values were absolute.

Huey guessed what Leeza was probably thinking now.

God had been wounded.

Her world had been insulted.

And the one responsible was someone who wasn’t her father—an insect who shouldn’t have been important enough for a second glance!

I don’t think of them as insects, particularly, but Leeza has always had that tendency. It’s a bit of a problem.

Neatly ignoring his own proclivity to think of the whole world as material for his experiments, Huey calmly continued to deduce his daughter’s thoughts.

Leeza was Hilton’s first individual body, the progenitor of all the rest, and strangely, Hilton seemed to feel it was special.

Sham had rapidly used up and discarded his first body. Unlike him, she treated the body linked to his by blood as a specially selected entity, even though all of Hilton’s countless hands and feet shared the same mind.

Was it more similar to an ordinary person deciding their right pinkie finger was the most well-shaped, or was it closer to the way he himself considered his heart or his brain to be an important organ?

He couldn’t read her so thoroughly, but this was the only body that spoke in Leeza’s natural, childish cadences, and she seemed to use her other bodies quite carelessly.

“Father…I…I can’t let them get away with it… Who was it? That Ladd guy?! Or was it the one named Firo?! I’ll go after them right now! I’ll cut that thief to pieces!”

It was obviously the scream of a petulant child, but what she was saying wasn’t childlike at all.

Putting a hand to Leeza’s cheek, Huey closed his left eyelid, hiding the wound.

“Leeza, there’s no need for you to put yourself in more danger. I don’t know how long I was unconscious, but if my eye was what they were after, then that correctional officer is bound to have taken it off the island already.”

“Correctional officer… One of the guards did it?!”

“It’s a long story.”

From Leeza’s vehement reply, she seemed ready to declare a massacre of all the guards on the island. As he stroked her head, out of the corner of his eye, Huey shot a glance at the guard—Sham—who lay near the entrance. Then, very quietly, he began to tell her about what had happened here.

“I’ll walk you through what happened, so do calm down, Leeza.”

The look in his eye was different from what it had been a moment earlier. He’d noticed the faint suggestion of a desire welling up in his heart.

If this body were to be lost…how would that affect Hilton as a whole?

Huey entertained the idea for just a moment. Then, very faintly, he chuckled.

Once again, he was reminded that even his own daughter was nothing more than a research subject to him.

If there is an afterlife…

…I suppose I would fall into one of Dante’s nine circles of hell.

Huey stroked his daughter’s hair one more time, then thought about the girl’s eyes, so similar to his own, and about his current self.

Which of them was more out of step with the rest of the world? What did await such beings like the two of them after death—existence or oblivion? Would they even be able to die in the same way humans did?

I am looking forward to finding out, but…

“Leeza, I have no intention of spending the long years that lie ahead of me without my left eye. It’s only that I may need you to serve as its replacement in order to retake it. It will mean robbing you of your freedom, but…”

“That’s completely fine! Even if you said I could do whatever I want, I’d wanna be your eye for you, Father!”

His daughter nodded firmly. Even then, as he watched her, Huey only smiled faintly.

For now, this world still holds a mountain of things I must learn.

Then, slowly, Huey began to speak.

Doing his best not to add fuel to Leeza’s anger…

…yet making sure to leave ill will toward Firo in her heart.

As he slowly, slowly chose his words…

…the solitary man resumed his lonely, endless experiment.

Several dozen minutes later…

The girl’s tear-swollen eyelids were closed, and she was breathing softly, fast asleep.

Laying a blanket over his daughter, Huey quietly sat down in the chair in the center of the room.

“Well, well. Leeza’s asleep, Master Huey?”

“Yes, I finally managed to put her to bed.”

“…What happened to your left eye?”

“It isn’t important. Don’t worry about it.”

The room’s electric bulb had already been extinguished. Light came in from the corridor, accompanied by a voice, and Huey responded without seeming particularly surprised.

“So you finally woke up, did you? I was wondering what I’d do if you’d died.”

“If I had, another me would simply have come to collect the body.”

“It doesn’t bother you when your bodies die, Sham?”

“No. It’s probably similar to the feeling of losing a hand or a foot.”

The figure that slowly got to its feet in the doorway belonged to the guard that Ladd had knocked out for the second time a few moments ago.

Okay.

As he watched Huey, Sham quietly thought about the future.

Huey couldn’t have noticed the betrayal yet.

From this point on, I’ll need to take each step with utmost caution.

…Particularly in front of Master Huey.

Even though he’d sold him out, Sham still called Huey “Master” in his mind.

Shutting his true intentions away deep inside himself, he spoke indifferently.

“Reporting in: The members of Lamia fought the Russo Family in Chicago. During the battle, Renee Parmedes Branvillier arrived, and Nebula personnel shot Frank and took him away. It is unclear whether he is alive or dead, but I’ll go find out immediately, using the me inside Nebula.”

Phrasing himself oddly, Sham quietly waited for Huey to speak.

“…”

Huey was silent for a little while. At long last, he replied, “Are you all right?”

“Sir?”

“The injuries they inflicted on you, I mean. You appear to have been struck from behind… In addition, your position shifted slightly from what it was before I lost consciousness. Did you wake once before?”

“…”

The question came out of nowhere. Perhaps unprepared for such a question, Sham shook his head as steadily as he could as he replied.

“No… I imagine someone gave me a good kick on their way out of the room.”

“I see. I only thought you might have awakened and heard their conversation.”

“Oh…” Sham responded automatically, but inside, he was far from calm. After all, he was dealing with Huey Laforet. It was possible that he’d seen through the whole of his betrayal and was just teasing him now.

However, if he acted flustered, the other man would suspect him, even if he didn’t already.

Trying to behave as naturally as possible, he continued his report in his usual tone.

“And now… Rail is asking me to help him save Frank.”

“Oho. Rail, asking for help. That’s unusual.”

Huey’s thoughts were more occupied by Rail’s actions than by the battle with the Russos or with Frank’s capture.

Even if he was more than half betraying him, this man was Sham’s master and an anomaly himself, and this newly reinforced awareness of the fact made him shiver. He felt the disquiet prickling on the back of his neck, but he still carried on the conversation.

“What should I do?”

“Go ahead and cooperate with him, if you would.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

He’s not even going to ask what I’m helping him with?

As if he’d read Sham’s shocked mind, Huey gave a light, self-deprecating smile.

“I’m not omnipotent myself, you know. Granted, I would like to be someone like Ronny Schiatto and avoid the inconvenience of times like this, but in any case… The experiment in Chicago will continue until further notice, but I don’t think I’ll be able to give specific instructions for a little while.”

“I see…”

“I am worried about Frank as well. It’s just too much work to let it show in my expression.”

“How much of that was a joke, sir?”

“The part about being worried about Frank was serious, while the second half was a joke. I am genuinely concerned about Frank, but… You are aware that I’m a villain incapable of sorrow for another’s sake, I suppose? If Salomé heard that a test subject had been shot, he might foam at the mouth and keel over, but…”

After alluding to the chief of the research team working directly under him, Huey fell silent for a short while.

Then, pondering something from the brief report he’d received a moment ago, before he asked for details, he made a single short remark.

“Renee Parmedes Branvillier…”

“Yes. There’s no doubt that she was involved. I’ve confirmed it myself.”

“I had anticipated as much, but now it’s finally happening…”

“Yes. Both the senator and the Bureau of Investigation were focused on New York, but in her case, there were a number of coincidences, in addition to her connection to the Russo Family.”

Sham continued dispassionately reporting the details, and as he listened, Huey narrowed his eyes quietly.

After they’d discussed the future for a little while, Huey slowly got up from his chair and issued an order to the Sham in front of him.

“In that case, be wary of Firo Prochainezo and the other prisoners who were in this room earlier. The guard who was here… I can’t determine his name simply from looking at him, but Ladd Russo punched him in the face, so you should be able to identify him by the wound. Check into him as well.”

“Understood, sir.” He bowed deeply, then turned to go.

Behind him, Huey spoke quietly. “At some point tomorrow, I’ll be leaving. Once that happens, I will issue orders directly, on-site.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Sham closed the door soundlessly so as not to wake Leeza. As he walked down the dark corridor, he exhaled deeply.

I hope he hasn’t caught on to me, but…

He knew how sharp Huey was, and the words relaxation and carelessness might as well not exist for him at this point.

However, drawing in another deep breath, he set his guard’s cap back on his head with a sort of determination.

Even if he has…

…I’ll stick to my guns to the very end.

While Sham was mustering his resolve amid uncertain circumstances, Huey was wearing a smile whose motivations were equally unclear.

“Renee Parmedes Branvillier…”

Murmuring the name that had come up in the report a few moments ago, Huey gazed up at the ceiling in fond remembrance.

It’s still a tongue twister.

I can see why Elmer called her by a different nickname every day.

The smile he wore just then wasn’t calculating, nor was it a cold smile for the benefit of those around him. It held a natural warmth, like any other person’s.

In memory, he traveled back to a time before he was immortal…

…recalling the time in his long, long life when he’d enjoyed himself the most.

Just calling her Renee would’ve been the easiest option if we could’ve gotten away with it, but…

He remembered how she’d looked when he was still young. Considering the difference in their ages at the time, he’d inevitably hesitated to initiate a first-name basis.

I know we’re enemies right now…but if we do ever see each other again, I guess I should call her the same way I always did?

Thinking this, Huey quietly spoke the name.

“…Maestra Parmedes.”

Then he fell into a reverie.

Into his fond memories of better days.

Before he’d been locked in this prison.

Before Leeza and Chané had been born.

Before he’d become immortal.

Even before he’d met Maiza and the rest…

The good old days when he and Elmer had taken those curious classes that weren’t quite alchemy and weren’t quite magic.

In his dream, their alchemy teacher was knocking over experimental equipment and nearly bursting into tears over it—as she still did to this very day, looking exactly the same.

A young woman with dowdy glasses and a model’s figure.