10:00 A.M.

10:00 A.M.

 

I, Niitoki Kei, was walking through an area with a really low ceiling, maybe 180 centimeters high. But since I was 140 centimeters tall, this didn’t exactly pose a problem. There were all sorts of bizarre things lined up around me.

Mannequins, maybe? Life-sized human sculptures, standing in lines. What made them so bizarre was that bits of them—their arms or torsos, necks and legs—were twisted and melted like a plastic doll placed in a fire. The worst of them had their faces distorted. Looking at them made my head spin.

There were no lights, but I’d found a flashlight and was using that to light my way.

When I’d first opened that door and stepped inside—it was open, though maybe only because Boogiepop had broken the lock—these things had startled me. But once I realized they were mannequins, I settled down a little.

Inspecting them more closely, each of them was labeled “Teratsuki Model AD-23”, so these must’ve been from the rich guy’s own collection. Or perhaps it was stuff he made himself in his free time.

C-creepy hobby…

I had a bad habit of trying to sort out anything I found unclear and this plastic battalion was making that part of me itch like crazy. I couldn’t imagine what whoever made these and lined them up here could possibly have been thinking. Really unpleasant. I didn’t care how important Teratsuki was; I wanted to grab him and yell, “What’s your problem?!” Except I couldn’t, because he was dead.

I was clearly in the building’s basement, or maybe some sort of attic? It wound all around and I could hear voices both above and below me.

Boogiepop may have found a way to get out where those people are…

I was starting to deflate.

In hindsight, I started to wonder what I was doing following Boogiepop in here. If the world really was in danger, what was I going to do about it? Did I think trying to help out would somehow pay him back for last time?

…I totally did.

But I was not at all sure I could actually help.

“Hmm…”

I heard a clang behind me, as if something had fallen over.

I heard a stir run through the crowds above and below me.

“Mm?”

It wasn’t a happy sound. That was fear.

What happened? Come to think of it, the music I was hearing had suddenly changed.

I listened closer.

 

Dahhdadadan, dan da-dan…

 

Seemed pretty cheerful. A friend of mine was really into Western music and she’d played this for me once. This was “Custard Pie.”

But why this song? Before I found an answer, I noticed something weird.

“Why can I hear the song so clearly?”

No sooner had I noticed this than the volume grew even louder, until my ears were ringing.

“Wh-what the…?”

It was still getting louder.

Unable to bear it, I clapped my hands over my ears.

But even with my ears covered, the sound stayed just as loud.

“What the hell…?!” I yelled, crouching down.

As I did, a voice on the song whispered in my ear…

“Niitoki-senpai, what are you hiding…?”

I jumped.

I recognized that voice.

It belonged to that pretty man… no, he was still a boy.

“Are you going to keep hiding this forever?”

“Impossible!” I screamed. “Y-you’re dead!”

I opened my eyes, and gasped.

I was somewhere else.

This wasn’t anywhere in the eaves of that Moon-whatever building.

I was at my school, in the garden of Shinyo Academy.

“………”

It was evening, a few minutes before nightfall, and I was standing there alone.

I looked at my feet.

Just like that day, there was a puddle of blood on the ground.

“I see… this is where you came,” that voice said, behind me.

I spun around.

“You left something hidden here, at that time.”

The speaker nodded. Tall. Handsome. But if you looked carefully, he was hard to get a read on. A boy a year younger than me…

“S-Saotome-kun…”

No matter how you looked at him, he was my kouhai on the discipline committee, Saotome Masami.

But…he’d… that day, I was sure he’d…

“You’re right. I am not Saotome Masami,” he nodded.

“Th-then…what…?” my voice shook.

He smiled and quietly gave his name. “I am the King of Distortion, ruler of the distortion in the hearts of man. I am everywhere, and I am nowhere.”

But his appearance, voice, even his manner was clearly that of Saotome Masami’s.

No… looking closer, there was one thing off. His eyes. There was no light in his eyes at all. Just a flat surface, like cloudy glass.

It reminded me of an insect’s compound eyes.

“Th-the King of Distortion?”

“I have taken Saotome Masami’s form because you desired it,” the King of Distortion said. “He remains in your heart, and the only way to resolve that is for you to meet him again.”

“Wh-what do you mean…?” I said, confused.

But this thing shaped like Saotome Masami just laughed.

“You already know what I mean,” he said.

I’d met someone who spoke entirely in strange declarations before.

It’s because of people like you that the world manages to remain a halfway decent place.

Yeah…

The way the King of Distortion spoke was just like Boogiepop.

“………”

When I just stared at him, he said, “Shall we walk a bit?”

He began moving across the twilight garden.

“………”

I hesitated, but in the end, I went with him.

The gravel under my feet felt so real, it was hard to believe this was all an illusion. I wasn’t even sure it was. Perhaps I’d actually traveled through space and time, back to that place, on that day…

But Kirima Nagi was here, too…and Tanaka-kun…and…

Hesitantly, I asked him, “Wh-what happened to your… your lover?”

“Mm?”

“Th-the Manticore? She was… she was with you.”

“Hmm. Is that what you desire, President?”

That struck me right in the heart.

After everything went down, I’d done my best to put the pieces together…and failed.

What had Saotome Masami and the Manticore been doing? I couldn’t begin to imagine. I didn’t even want to.

I felt… part of me knew I’d be jealous of them and that scared me.

What was it like to have a world for just the two of them, even if it made enemies of everyone else? I couldn’t begin to guess.

“If you desired it, I would have appeared as both of them. But she would only be in your way.”

“B-but I…”

I felt like this conversation was taking a very unpleasant turn.

The King of Distortion said nothing more, just walked us all the way to the gates of the school, took his ID card out of his pocket and used it to open the gates. (Our school gate required you to run your ID card through them, like the ticket gates at the train station.)

He went out.

I hastily did the same and went after him.

The sky was red, with a brisk fall wind blowing, scattering the maple leaves. The boy and I went down the hill.

It was like—like we were a couple.

“I was never…” I muttered. “I never once thought of Saotome-kun that way.”

Yes. It was Takeda-senpai I liked, not this guy.

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m not here for wish fulfillment,” the King of Distortion said, smiling at me. “But he remains lodged in your heart. I’m just giving you a chance to do something about it.”

“What does that even mean?! What are you trying to achieve by showing me this dream?”

“I’m not trying to do anything. It’s you who are trying to achieve something, President.”

“Stop calling me that!” I snapped. “It’s not like I like being president of the discipline committee.”

“But somebody has to do it?” he laughed. “And doing it earns you some brownie points for your college applications, right?”

“I-I’m not doing it for that!”

“Everyone thinks you are. Niitoki Kei’s such a brown-noser. A goody two-shoes. A teacher’s pet.”

He sneered.

Having him say this with Saotome Masami’s face made me even angrier.

“I don’t want to hear that from you!”

“Then who do you want? If Takeda Keiji said it, what would you think?”

I gasped.

“What if that’s the reason Takeda Keiji didn’t react at all when you told him you love him?”

“S-senpai wouldn’t…!”

“But he broke your heart. Why are you defending him?”

“Erp…”

I felt dizzy and knelt down, putting my hands on the ground. My hand touched something hard.

Surprised, I looked down, and found the weapon Kirima Nagi had dropped that day. A stun gun capable of delivering millions of volts.

“…!”

Before I had a chance to wonder why it was here, I was holding it like I had that day.

“Yes…now you have a weapon once more. What will you do with it this time?” the King of Distortion said. The stun gun in my hand turned into a real gun. “Your anger gives you power. See? It’s changing again.”

The gun turned into a kind of submachine gun I’d only ever seen in movies. Then it became a shotgun with a three-centimeter barrel, the kind of gun that could blow people apart.

“…!”

I realized I was telling myself this was just an illusion, making excuses. This was a dream, so it didn’t matter what I did.

I pointed the weapon at Saotome Masami, at the King of Distortion.

But…

“Argh…”

But my hands wouldn’t do anything. I couldn’t even put my finger on the trigger.

“Argh…wh-why?”

I didn’t get it. Wasn’t I angry?

“What’s going on?”

Why did it hurt this much?

“I see… this isn’t anger. Not at all,” the King of Distortion said. “So what is it? What feelings did Saotome Masami leave you with?”

“Rrrraghh…?!”

I was shaking like a leaf.

I felt like I was teetering on the edge of a cliff.

If I took one more step, I’d go tumbling over.

“Now…what is it you’re thinking?” the King of Distortion whispered in my ear.

“I… I… I’m…” I stammered.

Then a hand grabbed my arm from behind.

“That’s enough,” a voice said. I spun around.

Standing there, just like that day, just when I thought I was a goner… a silhouette in a black hat.

“B-Boogiepop…?” I said.

“Oh…I thought you’d come,” the King of Distortion said, as if greeting an old friend.

The figure in black frowned. “You know me?” he asked.

“But I won’t allow you to get in my way. I will not allow anyone to stop my experiment, not until I’ve turned everything to gold.”

“Tell me your name.”

“I am the King of Distortion.”

As the boy with Saotome’s face but no light in his eyes spoke, I found myself back in the darkened eaves of the Moon Temple.

“…!”

I looked around and found the flashlight lying on the ground, lighting up the rows of twisted mannequins. I was back.

And not just me—Boogiepop was right beside me, still holding my arm.

“Oh…” I said, at a loss for words.

“You again, Niitoki Kei?” he said.

“Er, um…”

Not sure what to say, I settled for silence.

Boogiepop ignored my confusion, and shook his head.

“He called himself the King of Distortion. This won’t be simple. I may not be able to keep you safe this time,” he muttered.