2 Kazumiya Mitsuo - Baby Talk

2
Kazumiya Mitsuo - Baby Talk

 

Kazumiya Mitsuo was the one member of the six who was still going to a normal high school—a private school, the kind with guaranteed acceptance to an affiliated college. He wasn’t a troublemaker and had thoroughly average grades. His parents were ordinary middle-class people and both held steady jobs. He was not a particularly deep thinker. Not even when it came to the ‘talent’ he’d had since he was little, which gave him an idea of what was going to happen in the future. When he told his family that his uncle was about to die, they all just got angry with him, so he’d stopped telling people what he knew. His uncle had been very sick anyway, so nobody realized his words had been prophetic.

His Baby Talk might well have provided the most complete vision of the future out of the six ‘talents’ the group had, but since he didn’t think too much about what he saw, his prophecies were always extremely vague. He could never find the words to explain what it showed him, and always ended up using nearly meaningless descriptions, like “Kinda creaky,” or, “Oughta be fluffy.”

In fact, his ability was the reason the six of them had formed a gang in the first place, six months ago. That and a significant amount of carelessness…

 

***

 

“Mmm?”

Mitsuo was enjoying his favorite fruit parfait at the sidewalk café by the station when a couple sat down at the table next to him.

A tall woman and a boy only slightly taller than her. They looked good together, he thought.

He knew both faces from somewhere, but couldn’t remember where from, so he casually asked, “Oh, what’s up?”

They turned and looked at him, suspicion registering on their faces.

“Who the hell are you?” the boy demanded.

He’d looked nice a moment before, but there was a sudden glint of steel in his eyes.

“Huh? Look, don’t you remember when the six of us—” Mitsuo started, not really thinking it through.

“What do you mean?” the girl interrupted. “We only met a moment ago.”

“Huh? That doesn’t make sense. The six of us…” Mitsuo said, and then it finally dawned on him.

Six of who?

Even he had no idea where that number came from.

Shit—he was remembering the future.

This happened to him, sometimes. He didn’t realize he was making a prediction, and got the past and the future mixed up.

“What?” the boy scowled. “Did he just say…”

“The future,” the girl said, giving Mitsuo an appraising look. “Kasumi-kun, he smells just like you. He’s gonna meet the same fate in the very near future.”

“Both of us are in his eyes, along with three others. We look like friends.”

Mitsuo couldn’t make much sense of what they were muttering at each other.

He blinked at them for a minute, but in a rare moment of insight, he suddenly got it.

“Then… you, too?” he said, a broad smile breaking out on his face.

The couple—Mikage Kasumi and Nanane Kyoko—both nodded.

“Looks like.”

“Yeah, guess so.”

 

When he explained his powers, Nanane Kyoko laughed.

“What the…? You don’t even know what it means? That’s about as informative as a baby babbling to itself!”

And from then on, they’d called Mitsuo’s talent ‘Baby Talk.’

 

***

 

“Hot, but cold,” Mitsuo muttered, looking at a vision of ‘the world’ girl.

They’d already blown past the three-hour reservation for the karaoke room and were on their second extension. The table was covered with snacks, burgers, and leftover fries they’d brought in, and a number of empty drink bottles. They weren’t allowed to bring in outside food or drink, so if they got caught, they’d get kicked out and fined.

“As non-specific as ever,” Koumoto snorted.

“Yeah… But that’s all I got. It got super-hot for a moment, and then like, hisss… a lot colder.”

“What? Was there a fire?” Nanane asked, but Mitsuo shook his head.

“Didn’t feel like that… It’s clear, but also really not?”

“Always a riddle with you,” Kasumi said, shrugging.

For some reason he turned to Tenjiki Yuu, who’d said nothing. Their eyes met.

He frowned, and said, “Hey, Yuu. Don’t move.”

“Huh…?”

“Something weird in your eyes.”

Tsuji Nozomi quietly picked up her sketchbook.

“Go ahead.”

“Not sure if it’s a man or a woman. Feels like I’ve seen ‘em before, but can’t remember where. Pale face, dark circles under his or her eyes, black lipstick. Wearing a coat? Neck and chin buried in a black collar. Wearing a crazy tall hat like a stovepipe pulled down over the eyes. Not sure if they’re smiling or not… like they’re playing dumb? Left eye narrowed, right side of the mouth turned up, and the eyes are…”

As he described this, Tenjiki Yuu started looking nervous.

“What?” he said.

“It’s gone.”

“C’mon, Mikage-kun. Are you for real? Or are you just pulling our legs?” Nozomi said, staring dubiously at the finished drawing.

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“‘Cause… I mean… You just described Boogiepop.”

“Boogiepop?” Mitsuo asked.

“The heck is that?” Koumoto added.

“You don’t know? Right… I guess they said only to tell other girls… You’ve heard of him, Kyoko?”

“Huh?” Nanane said, looking lost. “N-no…”

“I thought every girl around here has heard the stories.”

“Er, well… Every girl with friends.”

“Tenjiki-kun, how about you?”

“Huh?”

“You looked awfully surprised.”

“Y-yeah… I’ve heard of him. From a girl.”

“Guess this playboy here gets all the news,” Mitsuo chuckled.

Tsuji filled the group in on Boogiepop.

An assassin, or shinigami, who wore a black cape and black hat.

Said to kill people instantly, with no pain, at the peak of their beauty.

His—or her—true nature unknown, Boogiepop appeared out of nowhere and was gone just as soon.

The rumors were all kinds of crazy, but she explained everything just as she’d heard it.

“He’s supposed to be a really beautiful boy, but… well, it’s just an urban legend, really.”

As she explained, each member of the group passed around the sketch.

“So Tenjiki’s gonna meet someone dressed like that, then?” Koumoto said. He was the only one really taking this seriously.

“Some sort of cosplay?”

“I dunno, maybe he really exists. You never know when you might meet a shinigami lurking in the dark around a corner.”

“Argh, don’t! That stuff really scares me, you know!”

“Oh? Didn’t think you were the type.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

As the others chattered, Tenjiki Yuu alone stayed silent.

He sat in the corner, his fingers locked together, his head down.

“Boogiepop…” he muttered.

“What’s up, Tenjiki? Something got you down?” Mitsuo said, sitting down next to him.

“Mm… no… It’s nothing.”

“You worried about this Boogiepop?”

“……….”

“Worst thing about our predictions is, we never know when this shit’ll happen. And what we don’t know, we ain’t ever gonna know. Could be tomorrow, could be two weeks, could be six months away. You think this little girl and Boogiepop are connected?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yeah, we don’t know much of anything.” Mitsuo nodded. “I dunno what you make of him, but I’m a bit creeped out by this Boogiepop story.”

“Huh?” Yuu looked up.

Mitsuo nodded again. “Baseless rumors? Stories of sinister monsters? When you think about it, that ain’t much different from us.”

The room remained silent. Mitsuo continued, “You feel me? If anyone else saw what we’re doing, they’d think it was super weird. Not much different from these stories about Boogiepop, really.”

“Hey, that’s crossing a line!” Koumoto said, indignant. “We’re not killers!”

“I didn’t mean it that way. Just… we ain’t normal. We’re pretty far from what’s ordinary,” Mitsuo said, grinning.

“True enough,” Kasumi agreed. “Koumoto, you gotta give him that, at least.”

“Sure. But there’re things we can do because of that,” Koumoto said, doggedly.

“That’s all you ever say, Kouji.” Nozomi snorted, grabbing a handful of potato chips. “You could learn a thing or two from Kazumiya-kun’s thoughtlessness.”

Mitsuo laughed out loud. “Learn what?!”

“C’mon, Nozomi,” Koumoto sighed.

“She’s got a point,” Nanane chimed in. “Kasumi-kun, you oughta take some pointers, too. Stop lookin’ so gloomy all the time.”

“This again?”

“Bwahaha! From today on, you’re all my students!” Mitsuo threw his hands out, welcoming them all.

Koumoto put his head down, groaning, but looked up again a moment later. “Fine. We’re not normal. We’re freaks. But like Mitsuo said, that’s not something to worry about, Tenjiki.”

Tenjiki Yuu was quietly laughing at everyone.

“Y-yeah, thanks… You’re all a big comfort,” he said.

He clearly meant it.

 

***

 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a ship was floating in a harbor.

At a glance, it was an ordinary fishing vessel, but the people on deck lacked a fisherman’s tan and had a dangerous gleam in their eyes. And they didn’t look like they were from the country nearby.

“The Towa Organization’s onto us? You’re sure?”

“We’ve lost contact with the rear guard. Can’t reach the ‘facility’ inland. Looks like the lines are down. We should assume they’ve been wiped out.”

“Jesus…”

Whatever language they were swearing in was not Japanese.

“What now? If we stay put, they’ll find us for sure. This location’s probably already blown…”

“Shit, and we finally had a success… God damn the Towa Organization!”

The men ran through the ship to a room at the back and slammed the door open.

Inside this narrow, cell-like room was a little girl, sitting quietly. She was a very pretty girl, with a face like a doll. She looked to be around ten.

She’d been running a comb through her long black hair. With no trace of surprise, she silently stared back at the angry men.

“What do you think? If we ditch her, maybe the Towa Organization won’t hunt us down.”

“Don’t be stupid! Remember how much it cost us to get this one stable! We’ve got to get her to a buyer somehow!”

“But…”

They spoke as if the girl wasn’t there, or as if she were a thing.

Her mouth tightly closed, she glared up at the men.

“Either way, this ship’s no good. They’re onto it for sure. They’ll find us no matter where we go. We’ve got to abandon it.”

The speaker wore a black patch over one eye. He spoke in level tones, looking at each of his men in turn. He was clearly their leader.

“Yeah… let’s get moving.”

One of the men grabbed the girl roughly.

“Yo, Kit! Come on!”

She did not resist, but she wasn’t exactly obedient, either. The men dragged her forcefully down the hall. As they reached the end, she suddenly wriggled out of their grasp and ran back into the room.

“Wh-what the hell?”

They ran after her and found her holding a gold hairband that had been left behind on the bed. It was clearly precious to her.

“Forgot this,” she said, softly. There was quiet strength in her tone, as if she wasn’t afraid of whatever fate had in store for her.

 

***

 

Mitsuo, Kasumi, and their group of six ultimately spent eight hours in the karaoke room without locking down any concrete details. Eventually, they gave up.

“Oh well.”

“It happens!”

They gathered up their trash, shoved it in a bag Koumoto bought and hid it in his backpack, so the staff wouldn’t realize they’d brought anything in.

Out in the hall, they ran into a couple from another room. A young couple, probably in high school.

“Hey, Akiko, what’s up?”

Another couple was still in the room, and they were waiting in the hall for them.

“Yo, Saotome, mind if we go on ahead?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right after,” the boy inside called. He turned to the girl. “You okay?” he asked.

As Mitsuo and the others walked by the door, the boy inside was helping the girl up. She must have been partying hard, because she looked exhausted. Nobody thought anything of it; they walked right on past.

It was already quite dark outside.

The six said good-bye and scattered.

Koumoto had once suggested they were better off not knowing each other’s addresses, so none of them knew where the others were going.

But it just so happened that today, Mitsuo and Kasumi set off in the same direction.

“You know…” Mitsuo said.

“Mm? What?”

“Do we really need to keep this shit secret?”

“Maybe. I mean, we don’t have to worry about anyone ratting us out, right?”

Kasumi shrugged.

Mitsuo frowned. “But they wouldn’t want to be ratted out, either.”

“Sure,” Kasumi said. “Unless one of us is pretending to have powers.”

“Huh?” Mitsuo stopped in his tracks, stunned.

Kasumi didn’t wait for him, so he hastily caught up.

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Happens all the time on TV or whatever. The government’s secret divisions keeping tabs on anyone with powers.”

Kasumi didn’t sound alarmed at all, but the idea had clearly never occurred to Mitsuo before.

“S-seriously?”

“I’m kidding,” Kasumi said, exasperated.

“Y-you are? Man, you really got me.” Mitsuo wiped cold sweat from his brow.

“But if I wasn’t… you’re the most suspicious, Mitsuo. Your powers are so non-specific. You could be faking it.”

“D-don’t talk like that.”

“Well, ‘talents’ as crappy as ours, why bother keeping tabs on ‘em?”

Kasumi sounded a little bitter.

“Crappy?”

“You might have room to grow. But I feel like Into Eyes is all it’ll ever be.”

Mitsuo stared at his feet for a minute, then asked, “Mikage, does it ever bother you?”

“Does what?”

“That we might, like…be overlooking something really important?”

“Yeah… well, today sort of felt like that.”

“I ain’t Koumoto. But even I think if we figure something out, that means there’s something we can do. Something only we can do.”

“This isn’t like you. You got a feeling about it or something?”

Mitsuo said nothing for a moment, then shook his head. “I dunno.”

“‘Hot then cold,’ was it?”

“No… Um, any idea what the Towa Organization is?”

“The what?”

“I dunno, that word just came to me.”

“What’re the kanji?”

“Would be easier if I knew that,” Mitsuo grumbled.

Kasumi stared at him for a moment and then laughed. “You sure get dark when you’re with me. You’re so upbeat when the whole group’s together.”

“Yeah?”

“You matching my style?”

“Not intentionally…”

“Nah, I mean… deep down you’re just a good dude, I think.”

“I-I am?” Mitsuo took it as a compliment and blushed.

Kasumi laughed out loud.

Mitsuo gaped at him. “What’s so funny?”

But Kasumi just kept laughing.

“Seriously, what?” Mitsuo asked, but before long he was laughing, too.

 

***

 

“Right, we’d better split up here,” Kasumi said, waving.

“S-sure.” Mitsuo hesitated, then made up his mind. “Hey, Mikage…”

“Mm?”

“Are you really going out with Nanane?”

“No,” Kasumi said, making a face.

“Th-then if you did get yourself a girlfriend, would you tell her about your ‘talent’?” Mitsuo made the question sound urgent.

Kasumi raised an eyebrow, but answered immediately. “Never.”

“Thought not.” Mitsuo sighed, staring at his feet.

When he looked up, Kasumi was already walking away.

Mitsuo stared after him, thinking, Am I the only one who thinks that’s a lonely way to live?

He was sure if he asked any of the others, they’d just wonder why he was bringing it up after all this, but he was a simple-minded man. He couldn’t dismiss his feelings that easily.

And that would decide his fate.