Baccano! - Volume 3 - Chapter 7

EPILOGUE

ALCHEMIST

Ah, there’s Maiza, right in front of me. The man who summoned the demon, the one who knows everything about immortality. That’s right: I came to this city to eat this guy. What a fool. I bet he thinks I’m still who I used to be. That’ll be his undoing.

All right, Maiza’s close enough now. This is it: Scream “You fool!” at him and put out your right hand.

“Maiza…”

Uh… Huh? That’s strange. No, that wasn’t what I was going to do; why did I call his name?

Stop it, Maiza. Don’t pat my head. I’m over two hundred years old already. Dammit, Maiza, I know you’re right-handed. Why are you using your left hand? Don’t be considerate when nobody asked you to, blast it.

Squeeze those words out: Scream “You fool!” and thrust your right hand out at Maiza!

“I missed you.”

No, it’s “You fool”! Dammit, pull yourself together! Just how many times do you think you’ve fooled people who looked like adults, and been fooled yourself?! Trust no one! You know Maiza’s probably planning to eat you, too; he’ll start gnawing away at you, just like that guy did! Dammit! Dammit! It’s their fault! That red monster and this weird gunman couple drove me insane! But, no Say “You fool!” He’s different I missed him Stop it I was always alone I was always lonely No, I wanted to be alone. Say “You fool!” I wanted to see him. Somebody from the past No— Put your right hand—

 I wanted to see somebody, anybody; I just wanted to see someone who knew who I was back then. To meet someone who knew me then. I just wanted to dream, to dream about that time, back on the ship, before I knew anything.

“Maiza. I missed you, Maiza!”

Tomorrow, I’m sure I’ll wake from this dream, and I’ll go back to being my spiteful, cunning self. However, I’ll probably never think about eating Maiza again. I know if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to see anything but nightmares anymore. Right now, I only want to stay in this dream, just a little longer. I want to cry, clinging to someone who knows who I used to be, just a little longer, just a little longer.

Just a little more, a little longer…

On the station platform, a young-looking immortal huddled into the chest of his old friend and cried, and cried, and cried.

On and on.