2:46 P.M.

2:46 P.M.

 

“Seems like Zoragi went away,” whispered the King of Distortion. He was seated at the bar in the sky lounge, wearing Teratsuki Kyoichiro’s face. “Well done, Boogiepop. Quite a feather in your cap.”

“Zoragi? How do you know about Zoragi?” Hashizaka Shizuka said, surprised. She was seated next to him. “Zoragi’s that monster Makoto made up, right? How…?”

She’d been sitting with him this whole time. When she’d met Teratsuki Kyoichiro here, they’d long since retired to the bedroom, but this time…they just talked.

“Did you know? Zoragi is how Makoto-kun perceives his father.”

The King of Distortion rattled the ice cubes in his tumbler, grinning as if sharing a secret.

“What does that mean?”

“You may think you’ve told your son nothing about his father, but you’re mistaken. Your attitude, the things you don’t say, the look in your eye, the emotions you can’t help feeling… everything tells Makoto-kun things about his father.”

“………”

Shizuka looked taken aback.

The King of Distortion laughed, softly. “And the result is a monster. Honestly, no kidding… one that nearly destroyed the world.”

“How so?”

As she asked, Shizuka realized that Makoto had never once asked her about his father.

“I’d say his absence scares you. A lot. If you had spared a little more thought to what that fear creates, I wouldn’t be forced to do all of this.”

“I was…afraid? Of you? You say I’m scared of you?”

Shizuka wasn’t sure why, but she felt this should be making her angry.

The King of Distortion didn’t answer.

“Well, not just fear. That’s the tricky part. To a child, a giant monster is equally a target of fear and fantasy. And if that gets distorted? To straighten them out…well, that’s easier said than done. I wonder if Boogiepop understands that…”