Baccano! - Volume 5 - Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

JOY ANGER SORROW FUN

Czeslaw Meyer

On a road that ran through the forest…

“What do you think, Maiza?”

Sylvie was the first to respond to Czes’s uneasy question.

“It’s fine. Maiza doesn’t mind at all that you ran away right off the bat.”

“N-not that! I was asking what he thought of those girls!”

“Let’s see… Personally, I think the one in the middle would be perfect for you.”

“No! Sylvie, quit teasing me! I know you know what I mean!”

“Ahhh, you really are adorable, Czes.”

The boy’s face had gone bright red, and once again, Sylvie wrapped her arms around his neck from behind.

As he watched them and laughed, Maiza answered Czes’s question.

“It should be fine, I think. From what they said, it sounds as though Elmer is up ahead.”

After the trouble at the village entrance, Maiza’s group had decided to follow the girls in red. If the villagers’ reactions were any indication, the “monster” they’d mentioned was definitely Elmer. They didn’t know how this situation had come about, but, figuring they’d find out once they met him, the four of them had agreed to go after the horses.

Nile was lying down behind the rear seat again. He’d pulled a thick blanket over his head and gone to sleep.

“Listen, though, I’m not sure how to put it, but… Don’t those girls seem a little odd? They don’t talk much, and compared to the villagers… I mean, the color of their hair is the same and everything, but it’s like they’re from a different country.”

“Well… If you put it that way, that village is quite odd itself.”

Maiza outlined the situation of a few moments ago, putting the facts in order.

“I mentioned ‘traveling’ at first, to see how they reacted. They didn’t seem to know this was private land, either.”

“Now that you mention it, you’re right.”

“If they’d known, they could have settled the matter simply by telling us, ‘You’re on private land. Get out.’ We are trespassing, so we would have had no excuse. Besides…although they were speaking the official language, their intonation and some of the words they used were subtly different from normal. I suppose it seemed…rather archaic.”

“The village isn’t on any maps, after all. They’re probably a cult or something like that, don’t you think?”

Czes suggested it bluntly. Maiza considered the words shortly, then shook his head.

“They didn’t seem like it. If it was just a religious sect, they wouldn’t call the monster—well, probably Elmer—both ‘demon’ and ‘monster.’ Their terms weren’t unified.”

“In other words… It’s an ordinary village?”

“I don’t think that’s the case, either. That headman… I felt something strange about him as well. The other villagers seemed merely frightened, but…he was a bit peculiar. The way he immediately called us ‘outsiders,’ for example. Though I suppose of everyone in the village, he did seem to be the one who knew the most about the village itself.”

Remembering the man’s hate-filled eyes, Maiza cut the steering wheel with a bemused expression.

Sounding bored, Czes offered a simple answer. “He is the head of the village, after all. That’s only natural, isn’t it?”

“No, that isn’t what I meant. It was something more fundamental than… Ah. That seems to be our destination.”

Maiza, frowning, had been about to say something when he spotted “it” through the gaps in the trees ahead of them and commented with some surprise.

At Maiza’s words, Czes turned to look. Sylvie leaned out from the backseat, too, bringing her face even with Czes’s, and peered ahead. What they saw was—

An old castle.

It was a fortress protected by stone walls, the kind appearing in children’s stories and fantasy novels, or in the popular video games of a few years ago.

That said, it wasn’t all that big. Its size made it seem less like a royal bastion and more like a fort for bandits or pirates.

There wasn’t much ornamentation, and its overall impression was undeniably rough. However, the haphazard arrangement of its few windows suggested that the design of the interior might be rather complex. Despite its relatively old appearance, its exterior didn’t seem to have crumbled badly anywhere.

“It’s in the same style as the castles of Luxembourg…or maybe Belgium, isn’t it? It has particular similarities to Luxembourg’s Vianden Castle. Granted, this one is much smaller.”

After Maiza stated his impressions matter-of-factly, Czes provided his own with a tense expression.

“It isn’t like the Northern European school of architecture. Besides…it doesn’t look that old, somehow. I doubt it’s been here a hundred years.”

Except for its entrance, the castle was surrounded by thick woods, and even on foot, the way would probably be rough going.

In front of the castle was a gate like the ones of old mansions. The three horses ahead of them ran through the open gate—then disappeared within the grounds.

“…I wonder if it’s all right to take the car in.”

After some slight hesitation, Maiza drove through the entry and stopped near the center of the courtyard.

Getting out of the car and taking a closer look at the castle, he murmured with mild disbelief:

“This is…”

“…Well, that settles it. It’s definitely Elmer in there.”

Her eyes wide with similar amazement, Sylvie spoke with absolute confidence.

What had prompted Maiza’s involuntary sigh was the assorted Christmas decorations adorning the castle door and every single window.

They weren’t the sort that were sold commercially. They were handmade, using only materials that could be found in the forest and the village. No two windows had the same type of decoration, and all the designs were fanciful and complicated.

“True, Elmer was the only one on that ship who’d do anything this elaborate.”

Czes didn’t seem particularly impressed, but Sylvie was examining each of the ornaments in turn with great interest. An uninformed observer might have thought someone had switched their minds.

“You’re right,” Sylvie replied with awe. “Elmer’s about the only one who’d be fine with using decorations this mismatched… Out of the immortals who were on the ship, anyway.”

“…In any case, let’s go in. I don’t believe the young ladies from earlier are coming back. Sylvie, wake Nile, please.”

“All right.”

While Sylvie was opening the back of the car, Maiza and Czes stood at the castle’s entrance.

It was a huge door with proper hinges, and it struck an odd contrast with the stone exterior. The castle really must have been built comparatively recently.

They knocked several times, but there was no response from inside. Since they were already trespassing on private land, Maiza and Czes decided to open the door.

“Excuse us.”

It wasn’t locked. A decoration shaped like Santa Claus with reindeer swayed a little, and the hinges of the heavy door creaked loudly. After a moment’s hesitation, the pair stepped through the door into the atrium.

Inside, walls and a floor made of the same stone as the exterior spread out before them, and there was no particular ornamentation to speak of. However, the staircase near the back of the entryway wasn’t stone. From the look of the door in the corner of the room, too, it really wasn’t an old building. All in all, it seemed like a nineteenth-century mansion.

“It’s unbalanced. It’s almost as if it was built to look old from the outside, on purpose.”

“You’re right. It’s like some sort of museum, or—”

Creee eeeeeeee ee eeeeak…

Just as Maiza was about to chime in with his thoughts, the hinges groaned behind them, and the door slammed shut.

At the same time, the window shutters rattled closed, and the entrance was plunged into gloomy darkness.

“?!”

There was no one behind them. Czes hastily put a hand on the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

As if they had stumbled into a horror movie, solemn laughter echoed from above their heads.

“Keh-keh-keh-keh-keh…”

The creepy laugh reverberated in the entryway, making it hard to pinpoint its origin.

“Pitiful little lambs… Welcome to the accursed castle of the accursed forest. I suppose you let the decorations outside lull you into a false sense of security, but it was foolish of you. You will serve as fuel for my power—”

The theatrical lines bore down on Maiza and Czes, but after sharing a glance, they spoke in unison:

“…Elmer?”

“Oho, so you know my name, do you? You must have heard it from the villagers. I applaud your courage in calling the name of a known demon so boldly! However, know that resistance is—”

“No, I mean, it’s you, Elmer. Isn’t it?” Czes asked.

“It’s me, it’s me!” Maiza shouted.

“…entirely futile— Hmm? Uh…huh? That’s weird.”

The speaker seemed to have noticed something. The hoarse voice that had echoed through the darkness made an abrupt, drastic shift into a young man’s clear voice.

“It really is you, then! What has it been, about two hundred ninety years?”

Maiza called with more energy than usual, unable to hide his joy. Czes didn’t look as delighted as his companion, but, smiling wryly, he murmured into the void:

“You haven’t changed a bit. I can tell even without seeing you.”

A brief silence flowed through the gloom. Just as the echoes of their voices died completely, a startled shout burst through the darkness. “Hang on! Don’t tell me… Is that—could that possibly be—Czes, and…Maiza?!”

All at once, the shouting voice dropped down from above them.

A thump sounded in front of Maiza and Czes, and a human shape abruptly appeared in the shadows.

“Heeeeey! The windows! Open all the shutters, would you?!”

No sooner had the figure shouted than the closed shutters began to rattle open. As if it were some trick of the wind, all the windows let in the light at once, although no one was near them.

“Neat, isn’t it? I made it so you can work ’em by pulling a single rope at a distance!”

As the figure proudly told them about the shutter mechanism, the light from outside revealed his full shape.

“Good lord, it really has been ages! Let me see your fa—”

Maiza’s words and emotions abruptly froze at the sight of the now-illuminated figure.

The young man was dressed just as strangely as Nile.

He wore pitch-black from head to toe, and he had a rough sack over his head, with holes cut out for the eyes. In Japanese terms, it was a clumsy imitation of a kuroko, the traditional, black-clad stagehand.

“……What are you wearing?”

“Hmm? Ah! Wow, sorry about that! I figured if I did this, it would look like there was a coal-black shadow writhing in the gloom, and it would be easier to scare my guests! Ha-ha-ha.”

Laughing lightly, the man pulled the bag off his head. He’d been thorough: Even the gloves he wore were dyed black.

“Aah, it was hard to breathe in that. Geez, guys, c’mon… I haven’t had guests in forever, and I went all out, you know.”

The one that had appeared from under the sack was blond, blue-eyed, slightly sweaty, and smiling.

He wasn’t a particularly handsome young guy, but he wasn’t ugly either. His features were perfectly ordinary, and the childlike smile suited them.

On seeing this, Maiza finally relaxed. Setting his hands on Elmer’s shoulders, he put his elation at their reunion into words. His childlike eyes seemed ready to spill over with tears of joy at the slightest provocation.

“Oh, you really—you really haven’t changed, have you!”

“Ha-ha! Hey, it’s Maiza! It’s actually Maiza! What’ll I do, huh, Czes? What’ll I—? Wait, whoa, if it isn’t Czes! Geez, it’s actually Czes! What do I do, Maiza?! I doubt my whole body could express this joy with anything less than an explosion, but unfortunately, I’m not equipped with a fuse or a powder train, and I bet it’d hurt anyway, so I’ll pass! But really, whoa, what’ll I do, seriously, what should I do, what do I do?”

“First, I think calming down would be best.”

After they had cooled each other’s excitement, Maiza remembered what had happened a moment ago and laughed in amazement. “Honestly… What’s this ‘keh-keh-keh’ business, at your age? I was embarrassed just listening to you.”

“Huh? Was there something weird about that?”

“You didn’t notice?”

Elmer seemed genuinely mystified, and Czes, who’d left a little distance between himself and the pair as they celebrated their reunion, responded to his question with another question.

“If you were trying to scare us, you failed miserably. In fact, you just made us laugh.”

He’d been blunt, but upon hearing those words, Elmer grinned and burst out with laughter of his own.

“Is that right! That’s a huge success! Not everybody can go in for a scare and get a smile instead! That’s at least eighty percent more fantastic!”

“Are you familiar with the phrase wry smile?”

“Ahhh-ha-ha-ha! Well, hey, it’s fine! Nah, c’mon, seriously, you surprised me! What a shock, I was really startled! What are you two doing here? Did you know I was here when you came?”

Hugging Maiza lightly, the young man grinned and thumped him on the back.

“Huh?”

Those words left Czes and Maiza confused. Hadn’t this man, Elmer C. Albatross, known they’d come to the village? They’d assumed that was why he’d gone out of his way to send someone over to pick them up.

“Didn’t you know we were here, Elmer?”

“Oh, nonono, all I heard was that outsiders had come to the village. They’re clannish, see, plus their nerves are all on edge thanks to me, so I thought I’d hide you here before anything ugly happened to you!”

It was quite a long way from here to the village. Who in the world had told him? And in any case, why was he living in this castle while the villagers called him a demon?

There were all sorts of things they wanted to ask him about, but for the moment, Maiza and Czes opted to bask in the delight of their reunion.

Just then, a knock echoed in the entryway. Apparently Sylvie and Nile were stranded outside the door.

“Huh? What’s this? Is somebody here besides you guys, Maiza?”

“Yes, two others—also old friends.”

As Maiza informed him happily, Czes mischievously broke in.

“Who do you think they are?”

“Huh? I wonder… In terms of people who’d probably be friends with you guys, I’d guess Begg or somebody like that… Well, never mind, yesyesyesyes, coming! I’ll get it open right away.”

His curiosity mounting like a small child’s, Elmer unlocked the door, heart beating faster. It was rigged up the same way as the windows: The door could be closed from a distance with a rope or something similar, at which point it would lock automatically.

Smiling, he opened the door to reveal…

“Elmer! Is that really you, Elmer?!”

“Hey.”

…A bewitching, fey beauty, and a man who wore a mask over his well-bandaged face.

Creeeeee eeee ee eeaaak.

Slam.

Elmer slowly shut the door and turned to Maiza.

“…Who is it?”

“An excellent question.”

Unusually for him, Maiza was wearing a rather impish smile. Beside him, Czes was desperately biting back a grin of his own.

Cre-e-e-e-e-e-eaaak.

The door was forced open from the outside, and two people Elmer didn’t recognize entered.

“Aaaaaaaaugh, strangers! People I don’t know are just walking right in!”

“Come on, Elmer, that’s mean! Don’t shut us out without even saying hello!” Although Sylvie’s tone was angry, she couldn’t quite hide a thin smile.

“You cur. Must you jest even during our reunion?” In contrast to her, Nile was actually cross.

“Wh-who are you?! Argh, not only do you march into my castle, you stomp your way into my heart—! Who the heck are you?!”

Seeing that Elmer was genuinely confused, Nile came to remember the state of his own head. “Hmm, I see… I did not wear a mask like this before. I suppose your confusion is only reasonable. However, let me just say this: Know me by my voice.”

With that haughty command, Elmer finally recognized the man behind the mask.

“…Nile? Is that Nile?!”

“So you finally caught on.”

Elmer took a good, hard look at Nile, who was nodding in satisfaction. Then he turned to Sylvie.

“Then you’re— Of course!”

“Surprised? It’s no wonder: I’m completely different.”

“Huey, right?! You’re Huey Laforet! Why are you wearing women’s clothes?!”

“Wrong!”

At the off-the-mark answer, Sylvie slumped, and Maiza and the others laughed out loud.

“Huh? You’re kidding. You’re not? Huey was the only person this gorgeous on that ship…”

“She’s Sylvie. Sylvie Lumiere.”

Laughing, Maiza revealed the secret.

Sylvie looked tired. “Oh, honestly… I was the only woman on that boat, you know.”

“Sylvie?”

Elmer stared at the woman in front of him. Then he spun to face Maiza and shouted, “It’s a lie! Sylvie wasn’t a transcendent beauty like this! She was a snub-nosed kid who looked like she’d just come up from the country!”

“Should I be happy about this or upset?”

Sylvie wore a complicated expression. After another good look at her face, Elmer muttered:

“Well, no, but… Even if she switched her glasses for contacts, Sylvie wasn’t this tall, and her figure was pretty short on curves, and, I mean, she was seventeen then! No matter how you look at this lady, she’s over twenty! Czes hasn’t grown, so there’s no way Sylvie would—”

“She didn’t drink it then. The elixir of immortality.”

Elmer’s doubts were natural for someone who’d known her before, but Maiza interrupted and briefly explained. Picking up where he’d left off, Sylvie began to tell the story, sounding somehow entertained.

“I became an alchemist because I wanted eternal beauty. I got the liquor that would bring me eternal life on that ship, but unfortunately, I was only seventeen, and I wasn’t fully grown yet. So I stealthily poured the liquor into a little bottle, spent several years polishing myself, and then I drank it.”

At that explanation, Elmer dubiously looked her up and down.

“…In other words, you’re the ‘twenty-something Sylvie’ version?”

“What do you mean, ‘version’? Well, I suppose it’s a bit like that.”

After thinking a little, Elmer set a hand on Sylvie’s shoulder and spoke. His eyes were filled with pity.

“Sylvie. Before we rejoice over our reunion, tell me one thing, and be honest.”

“What is it?”

Under Elmer’s suddenly serious gaze, Sylvie’s pulse quickened slightly.

“Don’t worry. No matter what the answer is, I won’t abandon you. We’ve got eternity, and you can atone for your sins little by little.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just give it to me straight. Exactly how much blood, from how many little kids, did you bathe in to get so beautiful?!”

“I really hope you know you how incredibly rude that was.”

Sylvie raised her arm, preparing to slap Elmer’s cheek. Evading it by a hair, he turned back to Maiza and the others.

“Well, all joking aside…”

“Tell me exactly where the joking started and ended. Please.”

“I actually knew you were Sylvie the moment I saw you. Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.”

Sighing wordlessly, Sylvie raised her right hand high in the air again.

“Whoops… Huh?”

As Elmer tried to back up to avoid it, his body was abruptly pinned in place.

Maiza had hold of his right arm, while Nile’s hand gripped his left.

“Elmer, Elmer… That was really unkind.”

“Let me just say this: A slap for that is inevitable.”

Firmly trapped between them, his legs rose slightly into the air.

“Huh? Wait, uh, seriously?”

As Elmer turned pale, Sylvie’s palm bore down on him in an elegant arc, and—

With the sharp, pleasant slap echoing in his ears, Czes stood a little apart from the others, gazing up into space.

“Elmer and Sylvie haven’t changed a bit.”

Czes murmured sadly so the others couldn’t hear, seeming oddly grown-up.

“—So I’m the only one who has…?”

They’re smiling. Master Elmer and the people from elsewhere who came to the castle.

They’re smiling as if they’re enjoying themselves, really having fun.

Master Elmer hasn’t changed at all. It’s the same smile he always gives me.

But I can’t smile.

If I could, like that…

Like those people, the ones Master Elmer invited over…

If I could smile that way, how I’d—

But I can’t. I can’t smile from the bottom of my heart.

Even though Master Elmer smiles at me from the bottom of his.

Even though he’s trying to teach me how.

Despite everything, all I can remember is sadness.

The sadness should be what keeps me from smiling, but…

What I’m saddest about now is the fact that I can’t smile.

“Well, anyway! The place isn’t much, but make yourselves at home!”

“It isn’t even your house…”

“Czes, please stop pointlessly needling my sore spots like that… And down we go.”

With a red handprint on his cheek, Elmer sat down heavily on the sofa beside the fireplace.

After the incident, they’d moved from the entryway into a drawing room, and Maiza and the others had decided to hear his story there.

“So you’re the only ones who came here today? Are any of the others still all right?”

Elmer was the first to speak, after he’d finished feeding the fire. It was an extremely important question, and Maiza’s group looked at one another for a moment.

After some slight hesitation, Maiza spoke for the four of them.

“…Of the thirty who were on that ship, there are only nine survivors now, including us.”

When he heard that, Elmer was silent for a short while. A hush hung over the five of them, and Elmer bowed his head, his face lit red by the glow from the fireplace.

A few seconds later, when he raised his head to look at Maiza’s group…he was smiling.

“I see. That’s sad, but I’m happy.”

“Huh?”

Looking as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Elmer leaned far back in his seat and began to explain.

“You see, frankly, it was possible that I’d spend eternity without ever seeing any of my old friends again. However, today, all of you came. That means the worst-case scenario improved to ‘everyone besides the five of us is dead.’ But now you’re telling me that there are other survivors… Yeah, it’s okay to smile. I think in this situation, it’s fine to smile.”

“You’re quite the optimist.”

“No, it isn’t that. Smiling’s the only way I can mourn everyone’s deaths, that’s all. To be honest, I’m no good at being sad. I’m bad at it. You could even say I hate it. Oh, just so you know, I have absolutely no intention of forgetting the people who died. To help me keep that resolution, Maiza, would you tell me something? Tell me who else is still alive.”

Giving a long-winded excuse for why he wasn’t grieving, Elmer prompted Maiza to continue. At Elmer’s reaction, Maiza gave a smile that was both mildly appalled and relieved.

“You really haven’t changed a bit. Yes, the other survivors are Begg, Huey, Victor, and—”

“Oh, Huey’s still all right, too? Victor slipped into the FBI and caught Huey, didn’t he? I read about it in the papers, ages back.”

Elmer smiled faintly, basking in some nostalgic memory.

“What’s Huey up to now? I heard rumors that they’d jailed him, but his term must be over by now, right?”

“We don’t know, either. I haven’t heard that he was eaten, so by now he may be continuing his experiments somewhere.”

“He’s a dyed-in-the-wool experiment junkie, that guy. In a way, he was more of an alchemist than any of the rest of us… Oops, sorry, I interrupted you.”

Seeing Maiza’s complicated expression, Elmer hastily encouraged him to continue.

“No, no, I don’t mind. And then, we still don’t know where the last one is, but—it’s Denkurou, Tougou Denkurou. You remember him, don’t you? He was the only Asian there.”

“Yeah, ‘Ninja.’”

“Ninja?”

“That’s the nickname I gave him… Wait, what? Maiza, you guys haven’t seen him yet?”

At that, the four turned to Elmer, eyes wide.

“You have?!”

Maiza’s shout held a complicated stew of emotion.

The young man shrugged, seeming a bit troubled. “We just ran into each other by chance, about ten years back. It was at this Edo Wonderland something-or-other place in Japan, and he was dressed like a ninja. I haven’t seen him since, so I don’t know if he’s still okay.”

“You’re kidding… We searched Japan first thing. Even when we were on the ship, he kept saying he wanted to go back to Japan, so we looked in and around his hometown—”

“When was this?”

“About twenty years ago, I think.”

On hearing that, Elmer flapped his hands and grinned.

“Oh, no, no, that’s no good. He only made it back to Japan about a decade ago. See, apparently Ninja tried to walk back to Japan from America. He got into some sort of trouble up at the North Pole and spent two hundred fifty years as a Popsicle.”

“……”

“A Soviet nuclear sub found him, and while he was running around with the KGB on his tail, he tried to cut across Germany and got shot at the wall. It sounded pretty rough. Then someone in East Germany hid him, and after the wall came down, he finally made it back to Japan, or that’s what I heard. And apparently, he was terribly shocked at how his country had changed. His family had died out long before the war—about the time the country was opened to the rest of the world. Since then, it sounds like he’s been wandering all around Japan.”

“A grand adventure.”

Nile’s comment wrapped up the subject of Tougou for the present. After a moment’s silence, with no hesitation, Elmer breezily cut to the heart of the matter.

“I didn’t hear Szilard’s name in there.”

At the mention of that man, with the exception of Maiza, they all looked away. Each seemed to feel something different.

Szilard Quates. The oldest of the alchemists who’d gained immortality had been the one to take advantage of the curse allowing them to prey on one another and had attempted to devour all their knowledge.

After a pause, Maiza curtly described the current situation:

“Szilard is dead.”

When Elmer heard the unembellished bottom line, his expression became complicated. He seemed deeply relieved, but also faintly desolate.

“…I see. Then, counting Denkurou, that’s nine of us exactly.”

Maiza hesitated for a moment, then nodded firmly.

“That’s about the size of it.”

“Say, were you looking for me just to tell me that?”

In answer to Elmer’s question, Maiza nodded, smiling faintly.

“I see… Wow, sorry about that. Thanks. Those feelings alone are enough to make me smile. Actually, I could roar with laughter over that. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ah-haaah-bleargh! Gkh! Ga-ga-ah! Ha! Ga! Ha! —! —! —! —! —! —! —! —! —! —! —! Ah! Ghauha!”

Elmer suddenly collapsed to the floor, then began coughing violently, flopping and struggling like a cicada on its back.

“Are you all right?”

“Wh-when I tried faking a laugh! Gastric juices! C-came back up! Went into my w-w-w-windpipe! I’m dying! Dying!”

Every time he tried to inhale, he coughed reflexively, and he couldn’t breathe properly. Elmer felt as if he were drowning in air, and three hundred years of life began to flash before his eyes.

“Well, if you wouldn’t force yourself to laugh…,” Sylvie muttered.

“Let me just say this: You half-wit… Regardless, wasn’t such uproarious laughter tremendously rude to Maiza?”

As if to say, It’s not like he’ll die or anything, Sylvie and Nile didn’t budge from their chairs. Maiza got up and rubbed his back, while Czes peered into Elmer’s face with worry.

“Are you okay?”

Czes reached out his right hand and patted Elmer’s cheek. Then, gradually, he shifted his palm toward his head—but Elmer did nothing in particular.

“Yeah, I’m okay now. Thanks, Czes.”

Czes took his hand away and returned to his chair without responding. Vague displeasure colored his young face.

“Mm?” Elmer didn’t understand what his expression meant, and he tried to ask about it, but—

“All right, Elmer. Now it’s your turn to tell us a few things.”

—Maiza’s voice caught his attention, and the question evaporated from his mind.

“What are you planning to ask me about? I know a few state secrets, but I can’t tell you—”

“We don’t care about those.”

“Are you sure? I actually do know state secrets from the Republic of Nauru.”

“I’m being serious.”

Elmer attempted to turn him aside with banter, but Maiza was completely serious. “What on earth is this village? Why do they call you a demon and fear you? Are you really exploiting the villagers somehow? And what in the world are those girls—”

“Don’t say it all at once! You’re making my head spin! Spin-in-in-n-n-n-n-n-n-n—”

Clutching his head in both hands, Elmer began to tremble violently, right on the spot.

Brrrr-brrrr-brrrr-brrrr-brrrr-brrrr-brrrr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr.

The vibration gradually accelerated, and just when his head was moving fast enough to leave afterimages—

It fell off.

“AH?!”

Everyone in the room stopped breathing. The head rolled partway down the black clothes and disappeared into the cloth, and ferocious smoke billowed out of the place where the head had been.

In the blink of an eye, the smoke had filled the room, temporarily making it very hard to see.

When they inhaled it, they felt a slight pressure in their lungs, but the gas didn’t seem to be poisonous. Determination made, Maiza and the others crouched down and checked on Elmer.

The smoke cleared rapidly, and in the midst of a faint haze, they saw…Elmer’s black clothes lying in the middle of the room, along with a small tube that seemed to be the source of the smoke. And that was all.

“He’s as clever as always…”

Maiza watched the currents in the smoke that still hung in the room, but none seemed to be moving. He’d probably slipped out, somehow, during that brief moment.

“They often do that in stage magic, don’t they? Escape from their own clothes.”

Examining the workings of the fabric, Czes murmured a dull comment.

Just then—

“A game! Let’s play a game!”

Elmer’s clear voice abruptly sounded in the drawing room.

The announcement rebounded around the space with great enthusiasm, striking strange echoes across the stone walls.

“It would be a great help if you stopped playing around.”

“Starting now, I’ll run away from all of you for a while and continue my work at the same time! If you manage to catch me, as a reward, I’ll answer those questions!”

“Elmer.”

“It’s no good, Maiza. You know nothing works once Elmer gets like this.”

Czes spoke from beside him, and Maiza nodded as though he’d already given up.

“There’s really no help for it, is there…”

“Okay! Wonderful! That’s just like you to be so reasonable, Maiza. All right: Once again, let me greet you! Welcome to this village, a place left behind by both history and society, a place that has always been a world apart! In other words, this is another dimension, a fantasy! I sincerely hope you’ll throw yourselves into your roles!”

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! A laugh echoed around the room, gradually fading.

Taking a seat, Maiza heaved a big, resigned sigh, as if to say Good grief. “Well, I was very used to this sort of thing in New York.”

“Unlike Elmer, though, Isaac and Miria were more spur-of-the-moment about it.”

“Who are they?” Unfamiliar with the names, Nile lobbed a question at Czes and Maiza, but…

Just as Elmer’s laugh disappeared completely, a knock sounded.

In the midst of the surrounding stone walls, the wooden door seemed odd and wrong. Through it, they could faintly hear a voice that seemed to belong to a girl.

“Um…I’ve made some tea.”

“Oh, thank you. Come in.”

The room’s rightful master had vanished, so for the moment, Maiza answered in his place.

“Excuse me.”

The individual who entered was a girl in red clothes, as they’d expected, but she wasn’t one of the girls on the horses a short while ago. Although she looked very similar, her haircut and facial features were subtly different.

Elmer’s absence seemed to bewilder the girl. She looked restlessly around the room with troubled eyes.

“Hmm. Elmer’s words aside, I dare say we could ask this girl, could we not?”

Nile’s proposal wasn’t anything that had required “daring” to say, and Czes trotted up to her with a childlike gait to pose the question.

“Say, miss? How do you and the other girls know Mr. Elmer?”

He’d asked directly, using his privilege as a child, and the girl’s answer was frank as well.

“I am…a sacrifice.”

Just how long had the village been here? There was no way for the ordinary people who lived in it to answer that. The elderly among them had sometimes acted as if they knew, but they had already passed on of old age.

For the generation of villagers who currently occupied the settlement, this place and everything in it had been their world for as long as they could remember, and the dense forest around it had been like the basin of the waterfall at the end of the world.

Those who had doubts had ventured into the forest, one after another, and their shallow curiosity had been shattered, along with its faint glimmer of hope.

They didn’t even notice that the density of the trees in the forest was abnormal. They didn’t know what normal was.

The unusually thick woods extended too far to get through on foot. Several people had given up and turned back, and many people had never returned again. The forest confused their sense of direction, and it was rumored that it made them walk the same path, over and over. There was a long tunnel on the single road through the woods, but its entrance was closed up tightly—and recently, apparently, the whole hill had collapsed.

There was only one other road. It led into the distant depths of the forest, and from time to time, the traders arrived from it.

However, there was something called a “checkpoint” there, and nothing could get through it except the iron truck the traders rode in, a vehicle that moved of its own accord. Once, several people had hidden in that truck and headed outside…but in the end, not one of them had come back.

In the end, those who had learned the dangers of the outside world warned their children.

“Outside” was dangerous. There was nothing out there. This village was all there was.

The children knew these were lies. However, the mood in the village made them afraid to say so out loud… And on top of that, they had acquired a definite fear of anything outside the village.

From time to time, silver birds flew over, very high in the sky. The enormous creatures made strange sounds, and they frightened people as much as demonic messengers might have.

However, except for that, the village wasn’t a difficult place to live. They were self-sufficient with regard to the majority of their crops, and the traders brought in oil and fuel. The traders themselves were proof positive of an outside world, but the people stubbornly pretended not to notice this. The traders said nothing about “outside,” never got out of their truck, and only rarely even opened the windows.

There was a tacit understanding that they were not to investigate the merchants, and the previous village headman had banned attempts to go outside.

Everyone in the village was satisfied with this, and everything had gone well.

There had been problems of a sort. Although they could never go beyond the woods, no matter how badly they wanted to, sometimes there were visitors who claimed to have come from there. They’d all wandered in by accident, some of them unable to speak the language. However…most of the villagers couldn’t understand the concept of “outsiders.” After all, “outside” wasn’t supposed to exist in the first place. These people were only demons sent to lead them astray.

As a matter of fact, several young people had been deceived by the first outsider who’d come to this place. The villagers had tried to stop them, but the youngsters had shaken off the cries of their elders and departed with the stranger for “outside.” They’d believed in the outside world that the visitor had told them about.

And they, too, had never returned to the village.

A demon had seduced them. That was what everyone said.

Ever since then, when outsiders came, the denizens of the village made it as though they’d never been.

It only happened once in ten-odd years, but either they were chased out of the settlement immediately—or quite literally erased from the world.

They were afraid of the outside—or possibly of denying their current way of life—and they’d stayed shut away in this forest voluntarily.

There was the issue of population decline to worry about, but everyone had been able to live in relative happiness, spending their days in peace and quiet.

Or they had until the demon named Elmer had arrived, five years ago.

And now, in the present…

On the night Maiza’s group came to the village, the old-timers had assembled in the meeting hall at the village’s center and were crowded around a large desk. They all looked grave, and several of them appeared frightened.

This wasn’t a tame village meeting. A weighty tension dominated the large wooden room, as if a forest fire were bearing down on the village.

“What are you going to do, Dez?”

“I didn’t see it myself. Are the rumors in the village true?!”

“They say there are more demons now! Is that right?!”

“What’s to become of our village?! Have they already asked for something?”

At the villagers’ grief-stricken cries, the headman, Dez Nibiru, only maintained his dour expression.

“Do something! There are four more of them now?! Are they all demons?!”

Instead of the village chief, a young man dressed as a hunter answered that question. He was the one who’d put a bullet into Maiza’s leg that afternoon. “Yeah. I saw it. It was just like him. I dunno about the other three, but the one with glasses is a demon for sure!”

“Besides, the man who wore that terrible mask was speaking a strange language. Those must have been words only they understand. A cursed tongue!”

“B-but wait, is that beautiful girl a demon, too?”

“Well, uh…p-probably. Or, no, I guess she might not be, but…”

The individuals hesitantly talking about Sylvie were the ones who’d been bewitched earlier in the day.

“And then, he hid right away, but…there was a kid, too, wasn’t there?”

“Yeah. Including him, there are four of ’em. Anyhow, Elmer sent for them, and they headed for that castle. B-but that thing they were riding in… Could they be related to the traders somehow?”

“The traders have nothing to do with this. The question is, what do we do next?! Isn’t that right, Headman?!”

At that point, the villagers all fell silent, waiting for Dez to contribute.

Dez heaved a great sigh, then said as if speaking to himself: “I wanted to catch them before they made contact with him, but… From the way he sent that welcoming committee, we should assume he knew they’d arrived. In that case, the problem is, what’s he going to do to us for turning guns on them?”

“We know that! That’s why we’re asking what we should do!”

“We have no choice! We’ll have to wait for their demands! Any discussion will take place after that!” the headman said angrily, but the villagers refused to back down.

“That’s easy enough to say! What if they come to take their revenge once night falls?!”

“Besides, if he asks for more than he already takes, whether it’s food or something else…we’ll have to dip into the village’s stores.”

“Are you telling us to starve to death?!”

“That’s irresponsible! You’re the headman! Do something!”

“Silence!”

Dez slammed his fist down on the desk in front of him and yelled, veins bulging.

“What do you want me to do?! Use your heads before you howl at me! Do you have a plan? Or can you kill those demons or drive them off?! The only difference between you and me is that I’m the headman and you’re not! That’s all! Should I surrender this post to one of you, right now? I’m sure you’ll come up with a fine plan to counter them and lead the village!”

His angry roar left the villagers unable to respond. In the end, aside from waiting for an opportunity, none of them had a plan for getting out of the situation.

Just as they thought the silence would remain unbroken, they heard a young voice from behind Dez.

“You don’t have to say it like that, Father.”

“Feldt, huh? It’s none of your business.”

A boy of about fifteen or sixteen stood in the doorway. There was still something childlike about his features, but his eyes shone with courage.

“The villagers are anxious. I am, too, for that matter… That’s why everyone’s counting on you, Father.”

“……”

“This is no time for fighting. At times like this, we need to band together to protect the village.”

The ingenuous speech of the chief’s son could have been taken as immature, but at his words, the villagers gradually began to calm down.

“For now, as my father says, I think we should watch them. The child and the woman may simply be captives—and we may get a chance to figure out what their weakness is. Let’s pretend to listen to their orders for the moment and make them careless.”

At the boy’s suggestion, the villagers exchanged glances.

Before long, somebody mumbled, “Well…we could.” The murmur spread, and it was decided that the status quo should be maintained.

“Father, you’re all right with that, too, aren’t you?”

“Do whatever you want.”

Maybe he was irritated that his son had upstaged him. Dez stood, looking disgruntled.

One of the villagers spoke to his back with visible unease.

“But, Headman, the real problem is going to come when they ask for more sacrifices than they already have.”

“I know that. We’ve only got one left. When the sacrifices are gone, we’ll have to actually give him a village girl…”

As I make my way back to the shed where I sleep, a bellow echoes from the village meeting hall. It’s Master Dez.

Have I made another mistake without being aware of it?

My heart feels heavy. Even so, I have to check.

The floor of the meeting hall is raised off the ground. As I climb the low stairway, I sense many people inside. They are probably discussing Master Elmer. In that case, perhaps the yell didn’t have anything to do with me after all.

Just as I reach the door to the building, it flies open toward me.

Impact.

The door crashes into me and knocks me to the floor.

There is an intense tingling in my nose. When I touch it, lots of blood is coming out.

“Dammit, this door’s hung real bad. Hunh?”

Above me, I hear Master Dez’s voice. Then sharp pain runs through me, again and again.

“Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!”

Master Dez is glaring right at me and opening the door into me, over and over.

I twist to get away from the pain and somehow escape the direct hits from the door.

However, as I start to stand, I lose my balance again—and this time I fall between the open door and the entrance. Then a shock runs through my legs, as if they are being crushed between.

“Argh, now the door won’t shut right!”

The ferocious pain strikes again and again. The pain the pain the pain the pain the pain the pain the pain the pain the pain the pain the pain the pain the pain hurts hurts hurts hurts hurts ow ow ow ow ow 

I can no longer register my pain in words, and involuntarily, my body curls up into a little ball and stops moving.

The blows stop, and Master Dez’s irritated voice sounds above me.

“Look at that. You got blood all over the entry, you complete dunce! Wash all that off before night falls.”

Master Dez leaves, irritated. Behind him, several of the villagers step over me as they follow him.

“Disgusting…”

“Was she eavesdropping?”

“Lousy little…”

The villagers step over me as if they are avoiding a dead dog. They frown as though they are looking at something unclean, and they mutter contemptuous words.

This always happens. This is no different from normal… Then why is it that today, every little thing like this bothers me? Is it because of Master Elmer’s guests?

After the villagers have gone, I manage to get to my feet… And there is Master Feldt, right in front of me. He’s the only one still there.

“It doesn’t look as if you’re hurt that badly. Are you all right?”

Master Feldt gazes at me with pity. Then he goes away with one last comment.

“…Next time they demand a sacrifice, it’s your turn for sure. For the sake of the village, I want you to go… I’m sorry.”

Master Feldt doesn’t hit me or look down on me.

On the other hand, he doesn’t help me, either.

I know that. This is no different from before.

It is my place here, and that is all. There is no need to think about anything.

Nothing is different. There is no problem. Every day is just the same as it’s always been. This will go on every day, and that’s all.

Even so, oh, even so…

Why are all the people who come to the village from “outside” kind to me?

They don’t hit me. They don’t kick me. Even if I sleep in a bed, they don’t get mad.

I used to think, Maybe it’s only Master Elmer; maybe he’s special, and put up with everything, but…

I’ve learned.

I know about a possibility that a different world lies outside this village, outside this forest.

If that’s true, why do things like this have to happen to me?

Master Elmer once told me, “Some places are better than this, but some are dozens of times worse, too.” However, if there’s even the slightest possibility, I want to cling to it.

I want to leave this village. It wouldn’t matter where I went; if I could get by without being hit, if I could live without being hurt, if I could go without feeling lonely, then anywhere, anywhere—

But that’s a dream I mustn’t have.

A wish that will never come true.

For me, leaving here means dying.

If I already know it’s an impossible dream, I shouldn’t have it, shouldn’t have it, shouldn’t—

I’m sad. I very nearly resented Master Elmer, the person trying to teach me happiness, to teach me how to smile.

I remember. I remember vividly.

This emotion is hate.

I was about to hate Master Elmer, before I hated the villagers.

That’s sadder than anything.

I feel as though I’m a creature that shouldn’t be allowed to exist…

December 23 Night The old castle

Night had fallen over the area.

The air of the already-cold forest climate shivered in the freezing, transparent darkness.

The old castle stood deep in those woods. Most of its roof was flat, and it was possible to walk across it normally. However, in just one place—on top of the watchtower jutting out on the south side—it was conical and impossible to reach in the usual way.

One man was leaning back against the slope of that rooftop cone, gazing at the stars.

“Elmer.”

Hearing the call, the man quietly turned in the direction of the voice.

“Ah!”

His eyes landed on the upper half of a small boy. The edge of the roof hid the boy’s lower section as he struggled to crawl up onto the tower.

After a brief pause, Czes managed to pull himself up.

The boy huffed out a tired breath, and Elmer praised him quite candidly.

“Good job finding the handholds by the window. Did you come on your own?”

Without answering the question, Czes looked around and murmured, “This castle really is strange. On the whole, its design is closer to what you’d see in Luxembourg, but this conical roof is common in the castles of Denmark… It’s like they cobbled it together from an assortment of castles from different regions.”

“You know a lot about this. That’s a surprise… Actually, I hadn’t noticed any of that myself.”

“I took about half of it from Maiza.”

“Ha-ha! Should we add some traditional Japanese roof tiles and protective carp statues while we’re at it?”

Grinning at the joke, Czes carefully began to walk across the sloped roof.

Timing it to his initial move, Elmer leaped to his feet in an exaggerated motion. One false step and he would have toppled to the ground headfirst, but there was no anxiety in his face.

“Heh-heh-heh! You may think you’ve got me cornered, but think again! They call me Godfoot; can you beat me if I take to my heels?”

“Where would you run up here?” Czes pointed out calmly.

Elmer looked up for a little while and pondered.

“…Huh?”

He didn’t see any roofs around that he could leap to. Even if he went for the shortest drop to the roof, if he was unlucky, broken bones would be the least of his worries.

He might have been immortal, but pain hurt. Breaking out in a cold sweat, Elmer stayed where he was with some consternation.

“Well, you know, if you come over here, I’ll head over to the other side of the cone.”

“Are you planning to go around in circles forever?”

“Want to join me in an experiment to see how many circles we have to make before we turn into butter and overturn science on a fundamental level?”

“No, I do not.”

Czes gazed at him with mild disgust. Under the moonlight, Elmer cocked his head.

“I think the first person who hit on the idea of making tigers into butter was a genius, don’t you?”

“You don’t have to duck the issue like that. I didn’t come here to catch you. I just want to ask you about something.”

With that, Czes sat down right where he was, resting his small frame on the sloping roof.

“Ask me? I told you, unless you catch me, I won’t…”

“Not that. It’s something personal.”

“Hmm?” Czes’s attitude seemed to have caught Elmer’s attention, and he moved just a little closer to the boy.

“Still—you haven’t changed. You always did climb up to high places when it got dark. When we were on the ship, you scaled the mast every evening and watched the stars, didn’t you?”

“Ohhh, right, right, I see. That’s why you thought I’d be here, then? I didn’t think you’d find me on the first day, so I was startled.”

“Were you planning to hide for days on end…?”

Without answering, Elmer set a hand on the roof’s slope to stand straight up. From that position, he faced Czes and asked him a question in return.

“What sort of something?”

So he guessed it’s not easy to talk about.

Elmer was beaming. Registering his intentions, Czes sighed a bit uncomfortably.

Then, as if he’d made up his mind, he turned to Elmer and gave a superficial smile. However, just as he was about to begin speaking, Elmer talked over him, casually. He was laughing.

“Quit faking smiles. It doesn’t look good on you.”

“ !”

Instantly, Czes’s face went blank.

The next moment, an expression that looked slightly too mature covered the boy’s face. Czes glared up at the man in front of him, and the atmosphere around him was completely different from what it had been earlier.

“You’re as spiteful as ever, too,” Czes growled.

“Hmm? What? Why do you sound all grown-up all of a sudden?”

“…Huh?” The boy was confused. He’d thought Elmer had seen through to his true nature, and had said what he’d said to reproach him. “Didn’t you notice I was acting?”

“No, erm…huh? All I noticed was the fake smile and your—huh? What? That was acting?”

“Apparently I was the fool here, then…”

Seeing Czes slump tiredly, Elmer finally got a handle on the situation.

“Oh, ohhh! I see, I see, of course; I get it. Okay. I’ve got this. I see. Come to think of it, of course you’re right. You’re already about three hundred or so. I should have thought it was weird that you were still acting like a kid. Right. Sorry, though. I didn’t notice a thing.”

At Elmer’s thoughtlessness, Czes sighed up at the starry sky. Quietly, as the moonlight illuminated his white breath, the immortal with the body of a little boy began to speak.

“It’s strange, but Maiza hasn’t said anything these past seventy years. Sylvie and Nile don’t seem to care, either.”

His eyes, still those of a child, seemed to hold some unease.

“What I want to ask is… What do you think of us?”

“Companions.”

There wasn’t the slightest fraction of a pause. Elmer spoke firmly, with no hesitation or bewilderment, the moment Czes finished his sentence.

As Czes’s eyes went round at his response, Elmer suddenly changed his mind and began muttering, groping around for the answer.

“Nononono, wait, wait, wait, wait, it sounds kinda immature to say companions there, and actually, it sounds like a fib coming from me. With you, Czes, friends might be okay, but you’re really grown-up now, and after all, you are three hundred… In that case, tea-drinking buddy could work. No, wait, compatriots, comrades…fellows would be all right, too. The gang… Or I could go Latin-style and use amigo…a duo…a battery…teammates…et cetera, et cetera.”

He’s actually saying “et cetera” out loud…

Naturally, Czes’s internal comeback didn’t reach Elmer, and after a bit more muttering, the man clapped his hands and said:

“Let’s look to Asia this time and go with villains of the same stripe—”

“No thanks. What’s that sketchy conclusion supposed to be?”

As if getting his revenge for a short while before, Czes responded before Elmer had even finished speaking.

“It’s something Denkurou said to me a while back. ‘You and Huey are no doubt villains of the same stripe,’ he said.”

“You know he can’t have meant anything good by it… Agh, I was a fool for even trying to ask you about it seriously.”

“Quit talking like Maiza, all right? Act a little more like a kid.”

At Elmer’s insensitive comment, Czes irritably spat, “Knock it off. I told you. Inside, I’m not a little brat.”

“I see. Come to think of it, you’re right. But, you know, it’s honestly creepy when you talk that way. You’re an eternal child, in a so-called Neverland, so you’d do better to smile like a kid. When other people see kids smiling like they mean it, it makes them happy, too… Although I guess I can’t speak for people who hate kids, keh-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.”

“So you’d ignore my own circumstances, then?”

“Not at all! On the contrary, this is for your sake! When you look grown-up, it’s embarrassing and tough to smile right out in the open like a child, but you can totally do it. You see? That’s an amazing privilege all by itself. On top of that, you can get into movies for cheap, get candy on Halloween, and all sorts of other great benefits. Plus, you can also act mature when it’s convenient for you—and only then—the way you are now… Besides… Listen, Czes. I said so before, but if you smile, you’ll make all the people around you feel positively euphoric. Then they’ll smile. That’ll make you smile more, too. See? That’s all you need to do, and you’ll be surrounded by happiness! Dammit, I’m so jealous!”

Czes couldn’t understand what he was saying. He quirked an eyebrow and gazed back at Elmer.

“…What’s that supposed to mean? I don’t understand you at all. I’ve thought so for ages now, but I can’t see why you’re so hung up on smiles. The idea of smiles bringing happiness is abysmally simplistic.”

“What are you saying?! Smiles are the highest of all human emotions! Don’t you know the Eastern proverb ‘Good fortune and happiness visit the homes of those who smile’?!”

“Proverbs are just proverbs. And what’s this business about emotions being ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ in the first place? What’s your standard?”

“My personal preference.”

Elmer answered immediately, and the boy sighed, thoroughly disgusted.

“Agh, how did someone as illogical as you end up an alchemist?”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! As if guys who tried to make gold out of base metals would be logical!”

“Aaaaaaaah, you can’t say that, you’re practically denying your own existence…”

Czes held his head, and Elmer sat down right where he was, cackling.

“To begin with, thinking of copper and iron as ‘base metals’ is pretty arrogant, isn’t it? How could you possibly take metals that have been heated, stretched, and processed every which way, metals that have let us do absolutely anything we want to them without a single complaint, and call them ‘base’?”

Then Elmer rose to his feet and began to spin, as if to provoke Czes. It was obvious at a glance that there was no meaning to the action, but the man himself seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it.

“Starting around the fifteenth century, alchemists were roughly split into two camps. One was dedicated to research, and it would become the basis for science. The others were mystics who attempted to adhere to the ideals of alchemy. I guess we’d be the second type. If not, I doubt we would’ve agreed when Maiza suggested summoning a demon. Well, Huey and Szilard could’ve been both types. In other words, we’re immortal through the power of a demon, and it’s too late for us to try to bring logical thought into the picture at this point. It’s fine, just live true to your feelings—which is to say, go on and smile, Czes.”

“What I truly feel at the moment is that I’m about to explode with irritation because of you, you know.”

When Czes looked up at him with heavy-lidded eyes, Elmer immediately stopped spinning and, in contrast to the boy, opened his eyes until they were wide and round.

“Huh? Why?! Getting upset under a beautiful night sky like this isn’t good for you. You won’t get to live a long life, you know? …Okay, understood, roger that, stop. Stop looking like you’re watching a dog spin around in circles trying to sniff itself. I get it, I’ll listen seriously. I just got a little carried away out here under the stars.”

“You’ve always been less than serious, Elmer… That’s not the only reason I’m upset. What I wanted to ask about, and what’s irritating me, is that boundless thoughtlessness of yours.”

“Heh-heh. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“I’m not complimenting you! I am in no way complimenting you! You always immediately try to throw people off like that… But answer this one thing seriously.”

Overawed by the intensity of the boy’s eyes, Elmer gave a troubled smile, then sat down where he was.

“What I want you to tell me is… Why didn’t you ask who ate Szilard?”

“……”

Faster than Elmer could speak, the immortal who looked like a boy rapidly fired more questions at him.

“Why were you able to accept us at face value like that? We might have come here to attack you, you know! Besides, even when I touched your face—when I put my right hand on your head! You didn’t even try to get away from it! You didn’t look scared, or even suspicious! Why, why do you feel so little danger?! Do you think you’ll never be eaten or something? Do you think we haven’t changed a bit in all this time?!”

Czes’s tone grew more and more forceful. Elmer simply continued to meet his questions with silence.

Then, after Czes had finished and taken a few breaths, Elmer looked straight into the boy’s eyes and spoke quietly, with a shamefaced half smile.

“I forgot.”

“…Huh?”

“Well, no, right, I see; that was the rule, come to think of it. If old Szilard is dead, then that was what happened. I completely forgot.”

“Answer me seriously!”

Without thinking, Czes yelled at him, but Elmer’s smile didn’t falter.

“No, this isn’t a joke, nothing like it. I actually did forget. I’m not lying.”

On hearing that, Czes was well and truly dumbfounded. Elmer had always been a guy who lied and cracked pointless jokes, but when he said he wasn’t lying, he really and truly wasn’t.

If his nature hadn’t changed one bit… Then Elmer really had forgotten the rule about devouring each other. Czes couldn’t believe that. He was even deluded into thinking that his life up until now had been denied.

“…You’re lying.”

“No, it’s true.”

“You’re lying! You…you were scared of being eaten, and that’s why you kept running, right? That’s why you’re living quietly in this remote place, isn’t it?!”

He shouted as if desperately trying to cling to something. Even as he listened, Elmer shook his head mercilessly.

“I wasn’t wandering around the world to get away from Szilard and the other guys. Besides, even if I hadn’t forgotten that rule, I would have accepted you four the same way.”

“That’s a lie.”

“I told you, it’s not a lie. And anyway, I know you four aren’t the type. Even if one of you did eat Szilard, I won’t reject you.”

“How am I supposed to believe something like that—?!”

Just as Czes stood, attempting to glare down at Elmer… Elmer grabbed Czes’s thin right wrist firmly, then set the boy’s palm flat against his own head. In that position, if Czes thought I want to eat even slightly, Elmer’s body and memories would instantly be absorbed into his right hand.

However, Czes was the one who was terrified. He tore away the hands gripping his own and yanked his sweaty palm from Elmer’s head in a panic.

Czes’s pulse was beating double time, and his breathing had roughened in the blink of an eye. Elmer smiled soothingly at him, his eyes gentle.

“Believe me now?”

His expression didn’t hold a trace of unease or resolve. On seeing it, Czes stood stock-still for a little while, looking dazed. As he gradually calmed down, he ground his teeth and muttered as if cursing him. That said, since his voice had never changed, only about half the resentment he actually wanted to convey came through.

“…Why…? Why are you able to do that?”

Elmer was still sitting down, and Czes asked his question insistently with a mixture of frustration and sadness.

“Why can you do things like that…? Not just you, Elmer. Maiza, and Begg, and Sylvie… When we first met again, they accepted me with absolutely no question. Things got a little interesting with Nile, but now he’s let his guard down around me, too. And not only me. They’ve all let their guard down around each other. They all believe we’ll never eat each other!” Czes yelled.

He looked down and quietly shook his head. Then, weakly and with some resignation, he continued.

“People change. I’m well aware of that. I know human nature is evil, too! …Well, that was what I thought, but at some point, I started to doubt it. Several decades ago, I went to New York on my own. I meant to reunite with Maiza, and to eat him. But I encountered different immortals on the way, and not only there. After I arrived in New York, there was a bunch of immortals besides our companions from the ship! Can you believe it? Still, by then, that didn’t matter. What truly scared me…was the fact that they were all incredibly good people!”

There are other immortals besides us.

This was a startling revelation for Elmer as well, but he decided not to pursue that particular issue. It was possible that Czes hadn’t gotten his own feelings under control yet; he didn’t seem to have noticed that he’d just revealed an important fact.

“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“It’s not the slightest bit good! …Remember what I said? I know better than anyone that human nature is brimming with evil.”

Czes hesitated a little over the words that came next, but soon, as if he’d made up his mind, he spoke.

“…I ate Fermet.”

Fermet. At that name, Elmer fell silent for a while. He hadn’t spoken with him much, but if his memory served him right, the man had been Czes’s guardian, one of the fellow alchemists who’d journeyed with them on the ship.

“Fermet inflicted pain and suffering on me in all sorts of ways, calling them ‘experiments.’ Still, I trusted him. But the pain he caused me just kept growing worse!”

The sudden confession left Elmer silent. Czes had been like a little brother or a son to the Fermet he remembered, and he hadn’t thought of him as the sort of man who could do that.

“Don’t you understand? The man I’d believed in all that time, the man I’d trusted even when he treated me that way… One day, out of the blue, he tried to kill me! I fought desperately, and the next thing I knew, I’d put my right hand on Fermet’s head, and— Do you know the hell that came after that? Do you have any idea how it feels to know that the person I trusted had been full of warped malice, and how much it hurts to live carrying all of that inside me?! …It made me hate the world. I decided to assume that everything, both the world and myself, was just evil incarnate. But if so…if so, why were they all good people?! It…it felt like I was the one vile person in the whole world—and you, and Maiza, and Isaac and Miria and Firo and Ennis, why are you so…all of you, all of you…all of you…”

He didn’t seem able to get any more words out. He lowered his head completely and fell silent.

Elmer stayed quiet for a little while, too, but then he looked up at the stars and murmured:

“I’m jealous.”

At that, Czes slowly raised his head.

“Yeah, jealous. Listen, Czes. Whether human nature is evil or good, just think of it like this: There are about six billion people on the planet, and of those, ninety-nine point nine percent are bad. However, ever since you boarded that train, you kept right on meeting that remaining point one percent of the good people! Those are insane odds! It’s such a huge win, it’s like if the same lottery number came up twice in a row, and you’d bought both those tickets yourself! An asteroid’s going to hit the Earth and chimpanzees will write the works of Shakespeare, y’know?”

As Elmer fired his lighthearted comments like a machine gun, Czes began to feel like an idiot for having spoken seriously. It hurt even worse because he knew that Elmer actually meant what he said, and that it wasn’t just empty consolation.

“…I’m jealous of your optimism, Elmer.”

“Optimism? I’m just stating the facts. While I’m at it, you’re a pretty good guy yourself, Czes, so relax and just live.”

“Don’t try to comfort me. I’m frustrated, that’s all. Nobody else has changed one bit, but I got nastier and nastier… Just me. I’m the only one who changed. I can’t stand it.”

As if to say he had nothing more to discuss, Czes began to walk toward the ladderlike handholds he’d used to climb up. Elmer spoke to his back, mystified.

“You’re a strange one. If you’re going to get all worked up over not being good—why not just be good?”

“Don’t act like it’s easy.”

“You didn’t change. You just grew, Czes. You learned how to see what’s good and bad about the world. You should be happy about that. If you still say you changed, then—just change back. Water might freeze, but it’ll melt again someday. People can change, too.”

Then, scratching his head awkwardly, Elmer smiled.

“If you want to melt again, just let yourself feel the warmth of your environment. Even if you don’t lean on the kindness of the people around you, you should probably at least accept it.”

“I’m impressed you can say things like that without blushing… What’s in it for you if I change?”

“I already told you: Smiling like a kid suits you better. It isn’t just you. Most of the people in the world are designed to look good with a smile. Anyway, if it’ll make you smile, I’ll do anything to help. Oh, but if you could manage it, steer clear of telling me to kill people or die myself.”

At those words, Czes stopped, then turned around. His face was expressionless.

“In that case, if I told you to jump down from here, would you do it? You won’t die, you know.”

“……”

“Don’t say you’ll ‘do anything’ so easily—”

Czes didn’t finish his sentence.

“Okay, roger that. Hiyaaah!”

“Huh?”

With an incredibly goofy-sounding yell, Elmer’s body left Czes’s field of vision.

Splorch.

Just as Czes understood what had happened, a dull sound echoed up from the ground.

Then—right after that, he heard cries from Maiza and the others.

“Elmer?! Elmer, stay with me!”

“What? What’s he doing falling to his death here?!”

“Hmm. Excellent. Let us bind him before he revives.”

With the voices below in his ears, Czes quietly looked up at the starry sky.

Wearing a strange, unreadable expression in the moonlight, the boy murmured:

“I’m sorry, Elmer… Thanks for the thought, but I can’t smile at all…”