Chapter 129 - 4.1

Chapter 129: Chapter 4.1

May 3 Kimihiko Kimizuka

When I opened my eyes that morning, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

...Which isn't to say I'd collapsed at some point and ended up in the hospital. "Oh, right. I spent the night here."

This was Sun House, the children's home that looked like a church. Jekyll, the old man in a wheelchair who was in charge of the place, had arranged for me to stay the night.

I'd been given a private room. When I got out of bed, my head felt sort of hazy. I was pretty sure I'd gotten enough sleep, but I still felt tired.

It was probably because of the dream I'd been having—about a house on fire.

Inside, a child was wailing.

The fire truck wasn't there yet. I'd just happened to be passing by, and like the other onlookers, I stood there helplessly.

"Okay, well, I'll be right back."

Only one person in that crowd chose to take action. Just that man. He dumped a bucket of water over his head, then headed into the blazing house.

"Ha-ha. Can't keep that kid waiting, can I?"

I'd probably tried to stop him, but I didn't really remember. It was all a dream, after all.

But Danny had definitely smiled. He'd started toward the fiery vortex, all alone.

I'd reached for him as he walked away, but it was too late. "Just a nightmare."

Right as I finished reviewing that painful dream, the phone rang. I checked the name on the display, drew a deep breath, then pressed the TALK button.

"Good morning. Did you manage to sleep without me there?" said a voice I didn't recognize.

The name displayed hadn't been wrong, though.

"Yeah, I was fine. I was just thinking I missed your snores, Gekka."

"I don't snore, all right? ...I don't think," she muttered. She sounded cross, but not quite sure of herself. "I swear. And here I was worried about you."

It seems I'd been on her mind because of what had happened yesterday.

After our visit, Gekka had said she had work to do and went back to the hotel by herself. So I was the only one who'd stayed at Sun House last night, and apparently, she'd been worried enough to call me. Read latest chapters at novelhall.com Only

"That's very kind of you," I said diplomatically.

"Well, I am an adult," she responded, sounding like a kid. She might not actually be that much older than me after all. "What?"

"Nothing."

Still, what made Gekka want to change up her appearance every time? She seemed to be using a voice changer again today; her voice had been different yesterday. She must have wanted to conceal her identity at all costs.

Was that her work style, or was it the policy of the organization that sent her on missions? Either way, she was probably still hiding a lot from me.

At this point, though, I wasn't planning to get to the bottom of it. Assuming it wasn't related to Danny's death, anyway.

"Well, Gekka-the-adult? What are you cosplaying as today?" Switching gears, I started joking around with her.

"I just got out of the shower, so I'm naked. Stark naked." "Put on some clothes before you use the phone."

That's no good. Even if she was actually an adult, she was a hopeless one. "Kid, what sort of cosplays do you like?"

It's way too early in the day for this sort of conversation.

"If we don't discuss what I'll be wearing, you won't recognize me the next time we meet, remember?"

Ah, I see. So we were making arrangements for next time. ...Meaning there was going to be a next time? I didn't know what business she was being called out on, but I thought about it carefully before I answered. "A nurse, or a cheerleader."

"Huh! So that's what you're int—"

"Only a layman would answer with either of those." "A layman...," Gekka echoed, sounding mystified. "For an expert..."

When I opened the door and walked in, the old man welcomed me from his wheelchair. The room was set up like an office, and Jekyll was in front of a bookshelf that stood against the wall. He was holding a book. "I asked you to come because I needed help to move this shelf."

Yeesh. Apparently, I'd been called in as a handyman. Hadn't he had something important to discuss with me? ...I did owe him for my room and board, though. Sighing inwardly, I headed toward the bookshelf. "Which way do you want me to move it? Left or right?"

I switched places with Jekyll in front of the shelf. There were several hundred books on it. Would I have to empty it first? Just as I'd started to wonder about that...

"Could you push it back?" Jekyll asked. He wanted me to push the shelf, not left or right, but back.

The big shelf was set right up against the wall. Pushing it back seemed pretty pointless. However—

"...Is this a ninja house?"

Just to see, I did as Jekyll had instructed, and what had looked like a bookshelf swung back like a door and beckoned me into unknown territory.

"I guess not going home yesterday was the right move." Although I didn't know what was waiting for me there yet.

Jekyll was wearing a small smile. I made eye contact with him, then we both passed through the door. As we continued down a chilly corridor, Jekyll wheeling his chair by himself, he began to explain.

"This facility, and particularly this space, was originally a safe house for Danny Bryant. The man really was quite reckless, so he had many enemies."

Most of that wasn't news to me. Danny had spent a lot of time away from the apartment where we lived; during some of those trips, he must have been lying low here. It would have been partly in order to get away from his enemies, but he'd probably also wanted to shower the kids here with affection.

"I only know bits and pieces about the sort of work he did, and how he came to create this facility. He almost seemed to be trying to erase any traces that he'd lived at all. But..." Jekyll stopped in front of a wall.

No, what I'd thought was a wall was actually an enormous safe.

"Inside this safe is classified information about a certain job, something Danny kept hidden until his death. He gave me this message: 'Someday, children capable of opening this Pandora's box will appear.'"

Jekyll looked up at me from his wheelchair.

His gaze seemed different from the gentle one I'd seen before.

"Last year, soon after his disappearance, a sealed letter arrived at Sun House. It held strings of numbers that appeared to be a code; once we'd decoded it, we were left with a number that we believed was the key to this safe."

"...You decoded it? It was that easy to figure out?" What was the point of a cipher anyone could break?

"Yes, a quantum computer could have broken it easily, given a few years." You wouldn't think it by looking at him, but apparently, this old man cracked jokes. "However, there's a child at this facility who's rather clever with numbers. Thanks to him, we solved the riddle in a matter of days."

"...I guess AI and robots aren't quite ready to outshine humans."

Jekyll was probably talking about a gifted kid like Grete, someone with extraordinary skills. Danny must have had some sort of reason for housing those kids here.

"However, simply turning the dial didn't open the safe. You see, this enormous black box has one other small lock." Narrowing his eyes, Jekyll gazed at a little keyhole near the dial. Without that key, it wouldn't open. "I imagine you understand what I'm getting at?" he asked, without even glancing at me.

"...This is bizarre." I couldn't even manage a self-deprecating smile. I sighed. "I wasn't his family. There's no way he'd leave something that important with me."

Who, or what, had Danny been protecting this safe from? He hadn't even told me that. Of course I didn't have the key.

"Using your emotions to determine anything is a very difficult task," Jekyll said, with his mild voice. I turned around. He was watching me with kind eyes. "People often say that life is a series of choices, but I believe that basing those choices on your own emotions is a risky endeavor. Joy, anger, and sadness can flare up inside us, but we can't sustain the intensity of the moment when they do. However, when pressed to make a significant decision, we invariably rely on those intense, fluctuating feelings. Even I still do it, at my age," he said ruefully. "In the midst of that chaotic torrent of emotions, we're subject to the passion that holds the most color in that moment. We yield to it, even though we'll already be a different person by tomorrow's first light."

What was Jekyll trying to say? What was he telling me? I didn't even have to ask. But then what should I do? If he was saying not to rely on my feelings, what should I rely on?

"—Memories, huh?"

The things that had happened to me. Objective facts that I'd actually experienced.

That's right. That's what I'd told Grete yesterday.

When your heart wavers, when you hesitate over a decision, you can rely on the memories that have been etched into you.

What had I heard from Danny, over those two years? What had he shown me?

What had he entrusted to me? What on earth had he—

"I take it you've thought of something?" When Jekyll spoke, I turned to look at him, startled. He was smiling again. "I won't ask for that answer now. Just keep it deep within you, and do what you need to do."

Jekyll was encouraging me. He'd left this in my hands—the key to open this enormous Pandora's box, and the right to do it.

"Uncovering the secrets hidden at the end of a grand adventure is a mission that's always given to young people. Old soldiers can only watch over you." Jekyll sounded self-deprecating, but he blinked in a slow, satisfied way.

Then he went on: "This may sound melodramatic to you now, but that's all right. Someday, old as I am, I would like you to tell me a tale in which you turn the world upside down, forging even intense emotions into a weapon."