Chapter 4: GAO Magazine Special Article “Spotted! Yuuhei Hanejima and Ruri Hijiribe in a Late-Night Tryst?!”
Chapter 4: GAO Magazine Special Article “Spotted! Yuuhei Hanejima and Ruri Hijiribe in a Late-Night Tryst?!”
Roots Smile Café, Higashi-Nakano
In a bar fairly close to Higashi-Nakano Station, with walls lined with various bottles of liquor and a pleasant handmade quality to the furnishings, a number of young people bustled, the sound of their merriment a kind of BGM for the establishment.
At a table in the very back sat two men, facing each other. One of them nervously glanced around, while the other drank a virgin cocktail, his face completely expressionless.
The emotionless man drained his glass, his eyes as cold as ice. When he was done, he ordered another from the bartender, still without a hint of feeling.
He turned to the older man sitting across from him and flatly asked, “Aren’t you going to have a drink, Mr. Kanemoto?”
“I have to go back to the office and work after this,” the restless Kanemoto said politely to the younger man. His table partner had a face so smooth and delicate, he could have passed as a boy—or even a woman. His features were handsome and striking, the very manifestation of beauty in the flesh.
His hair was a combination of countless perfect silky strands, as smooth and flowing as a river, perfectly jet-black and softly feminine.
At a glance, he looked like a prince out of a girls’ manga, but there was a chilly personality emanating from him that made him far from welcoming.
Eventually, an order of pasta reached the table, and the young man said in a monotone, “Go ahead, Mr. Kanemoto.”
“N-no, you first, Mr. Yuuhei,” he said, appending a polite title to the younger man’s name. Yuuhei picked up his fork without another word.
It was pasta alla carbonara, the chewy-looking noodles topped with rich cream sauce and fragrant bacon. The young man nimbly rolled his fork until he had accumulated a wad of pasta the size of a golf ball, which he popped into his mouth.
He chewed, carefully and silently, his face a sculpted mask. When he was done, he said, “This is good carbonara.”
The other man slumped and reluctantly grabbed his own fork. “There’s no way for me to tell if you’re telling the truth or not, based on your expression… Oh, what do you know? It is good.”
In comparison to the other man’s lack of emotion, the manager began to eagerly shovel the pasta into his face. He complained, “You know this is right in front of the office, don’t you? I mean…we could have a meeting at a club or someplace else. We’ll pick up the tab. Why here?”
“Because it’s close.”
“Oh, I see… So you’re saying…you don’t have any interest in visiting a club?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never considered it. I’ll look into it if I get the chance,” the young man said.
Kanemoto sighed and continued with business. “Well, in that case…are you up on tomorrow’s schedule?”
“I have an interview at a hotel in Ikebukuro at six thirty, and then I’m going home.”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
The conversation paused again. It wasn’t that the young man refused to speak, he just didn’t show any emotion when he did so. Because of that, Kanemoto was unsure of how to proceed or if what he was saying was displeasing his conversation partner.
“…”
“It’s very good.”
“…I know. I already finished mine… At any rate, tomorrow’s interview is promotion for the movie, so keep that in mind.”
Yuuhei nodded and continued to eat his meal like an animatronic figure. His professional manager Kanemoto looked at the young man and thought, I only took on this job because Uzuki asked me to… He’s not acting this way because he hates me, is he?
“Um, well…in that case, let’s just get through the next three days, while Uzuki’s off on his honeymoon…”
“Yes, of course,” Yuuhei responded, still cold and mechanical. Kanemoto bowed again.
He had to avoid any displays of rudeness. The attractive young man sitting before him was worth millions—possibly billions—of yen. He was a bona fide money tree.
From the Internet encyclopedia Fuguruma Youki
An except from the “Yuuhei Hanejima” article
Yuuhei Hanejima—an actor and model. Born in Toshima Ward of Tokyo.
His birth date is unclear, as the president of Jack-o’-Lantern Japan, Max Sandshelt, has claimed on different occasions that he is “a cyborg born in the year 3258,” and “a vampire that’s been alive for over a millennium,” and “a warrior of light from the ancient continent of Atlantis who was never reincarnated.” Calculations from his appearance at the coming-of-age ceremonial holiday estimate that he is just around twenty-one years old.
His real name is Kasuka Heiwajima. As stated earlier, his talent agency is Jack-o’-Lantern Japan.
In addition to his parents, his family includes an older brother. He seems to respect his brother and mentions him often in interviews. No other details about his brother are known. There is a record of a bizarre incident involving a particularly persistent journalist’s car being suddenly flipped over after questioning too closely about Hanejima’s family, but the connection between the two things is not certain.
What is known is that his brother is a terrifying individual. He once beat a talent scout half to death, and Hanejima’s rescue of the scout was what led to his show business debut.
After modeling for a number of magazines, his first acting role was Carmilla Saizou, the lead character of the direct-to-video movie Vampire Ninja Carmilla Saizou. He earned cult attention for his good looks and frighteningly polished acting, and his name spread in certain circles on the Internet.
The next year, Daioh TV’s flagship program Money Gamer ran a segment titled “How Much Can You Make in One Month with a Million Yen?” in which Yuuhei used various connections and means to reach a total of 1.2 billion yen, an incident that led to nationwide news before it even aired.
Because the rules of the segment stated that any profit from the experiment went back to the contestant, he was soon known to the public as the extraordinarily lucky boy who won himself a cool 1,199 million yen.
Yuuhei’s reputation as a nouveau riche took the backseat when he exhibited his acting skill in a series of television dramas. His versatility in a variety of roles, combined with his appearance, launched him to stardom.
He is skilled at singing and athletics as well, not just acting. On top of that, his repertoire covers roles from singers to assassins, from cross-dressing to passionate bed scenes. He is known as an actor’s actor.
However, outside of acting, he eliminates virtually all emotion, carrying out conversations like a flat-voiced robot. This makes him an ill fit for talk shows, but many of his fans find this to be cool, and he is therefore known as naturally expressionless. In his words, “I used to cry and laugh as a kid, but I learned by the example of my brother, who had extreme emotional swings, and that’s why I act like this. But I still deeply respect him.”
In one nonfaked hidden-camera prank segment, Yuuhei was accosted by “yakuza” actors, who threatened to cut off his pinkie finger, but he showed no fear and did not resist. Right as they were about to sever his finger with a knife, the program staff had to intervene and cancel the segment.
In another incident, a stalker gave him a silent cold call on a day off, and he stayed on the line for twenty hours, until the stalker gave up. (This is only known because the silent pressure was too much to bear, disintegrating the stalker’s will and causing her to turn herself in to the police.)
This mechanical personality does not endear him to others, and he has virtually no close friends in show business. For this reason, his private life is shrouded in mystery, and the interior of his home has never been filmed.
He owns a number of cars, most notably some foreign sports cars and luxury models like Mitsuoka’s Le-Seyde and Galue, and he recently expressed a desire to own the Mitsuoka Orochi in a TV interview.
Because he chooses his purchases on taste with no thought for price, it is not uncommon for him to wear a cheap accessory from a one hundred–yen shop and an ultrafine million-yen accessory at the same time. He does not seem to find this odd at all. [citation needed]
Due to his ability to seemingly do anything perfectly, he has the Internet nickname “Secret-Shame Curator.” This is because he is considered “a character so perfect, he’s the kind of secret shame that you create in middle school and try to forget about when you grow up.”
When the agency president heard about this, he said, “Then we need to make him even more perfect” and whipped up a poster with angel wings, devil horns, and nonmatching color contacts. He managed to get this image on the cover of a niche magazine, but it looked so good on him that it only made him more popular. Inexplicably, the poster also went viral overseas.
Yuuhei kept a blank expression throughout the photo shoot, but afraid of the rumors that he was “only pretending to be blank to hide his incredible rage,” Max Sandshelt supposedly went back to America for two weeks for his own safety—an anecdote that aptly describes the eeriness of his icy expression.
After he had achieved both fame and fortune, Yuuhei stunned the showbiz world when he accepted an offer to film a sequel to Vampire Ninja Carmilla Saizou, a work that everyone assumed was his own secret shame.
When a celebrity magazine ranked him third on their list of “Actors Who Never Say No,” he responded with, “Carmilla Saizou is a very respectable character. He’s a wonderful ninja who knows the true meaning of love,” in his usual deadpan, leaving everyone else unsure of whether he meant it or not.
He was tabbed by Hollywood director John Drox to play the lead in his pet project Cruiserfield, which films in Japan this spring, leading to increased interest abroad.
And this soon-to-be Hollywood star was causing Kanemoto to come down with ulcers.
A man named Uzuki had been Yuuhei’s manager since his debut, but for these three days, Kanemoto was tabbed to take over as a substitute manager while Uzuki was on his honeymoon.
I didn’t think he really acted like a robot all the time.
Kanemoto had always assumed that Yuuhei’s iron mask was just another act he put on for the TV cameras. Anyone who saw his effortless swing of emotions when he was in character would naturally assume that this blank-faced automaton was the true act.
But this young man was anything but natural.
“Well, I’ll be going, then,” Yuuhei said in front of the Jack-o’-Lantern Japan building after their meal, as he got into his car.
Today he was driving a Ferrari. Kanemoto didn’t know much about the specific model, but he could recognize that it was a Ferrari from the red color, distinct body, and horse logo.
In the passenger seat was a plastic bag from a convenience store carrying a beef bowl inside it, probably for a late-night meal.
A guy with eight luxury cars, buying a cheapo mini-mart beef bowl, Kanemoto marveled as he watched the younger man drive off. He felt like he was watching a hermit in person.
Yuuhei Hanejima was the agency’s diamond, a jewel that shone brighter the more it was polished. As such, Kanemoto was filled to his core by a desire not to see him damaged. Yuuhei himself might be indifferent to his own worth, but his sheer talent in every regard helped him fend for himself.
Kanemoto understood this, but he couldn’t deny the overwhelming pressure not to have that diamond tarnished while it was briefly in his care. He was sick with envy at his newly married coworker in more ways than one.
But to his great misfortune, that very jewel would be dragged into Ikebukuro’s holiday the very next day.
In the darkness
Everything in one’s life could be compared to a story, such as a movie, or a TV show, or a novel, or a fairy tale.
In the blind darkness, she wondered what kind of B movie her life was.
When did it start?
Time itself seemed to twist and stretch. It was all she could do to keep her wits intact as she swam through a sea of vague memory.
Oh, that’s right. It was in my childhood. What I always looked up to as a child.
Giant beasts on the television screen, running and flailing about as they toppled high-rise buildings and the Tokyo Tower.
They weren’t exactly “animals,” more like a cross between people, insects, and something that did not exist in our world. Monsters designed to inspire fear and disgust that rampaged at will, without humility or excuses.
She felt a kind of adoration of these movie monsters, the kaiju.
At the time, she was too young to be able to describe what drew her to those creatures with words. But now, she could.
In her innocent youth, she understood that she could never be like them.
Obviously, no one could be a giant monster that stood hundreds of feet tall. It wasn’t in that sense.
She wanted to be something that was unfettered by anything, doing as it pleased, without regard for anyone else’s opinion. Even if the result of that was destruction.
Unconsciously, she came to a realization—that she could never live outside of the law, and even on the straight and narrow path, she could not expose who she really was.
Her family was one of the richest in an already-wealthy neighborhood.
It was a “distinguished line,” whatever that meant. All it amounted to was that she had to wear the mask of family and continue the act of her bloodline. Her parents, extended family, and others never explicitly said this to her, but the expectation and the atmosphere that existed before she was even born placed a powerful pressure on her instincts.
They weren’t the kind of distinguished line that had political or financial connections or the ability to bend society to their will. They were just a family that happened to have earned a bunch of money at some point a few generations in the past.
It was probably this tenuous connection to dignity that caused them to be so dedicated to the pursuit of “distinguished” behavior—it was the only way they could maintain that dignity.
And now, the estate was gone.
Her grandfather’s business failed, and her father got burned in the futures market trying to make up for that loss. They went bankrupt.
Her mother left the family, and her current whereabouts were unknown.
The house burned for some reason.
Several relatives with hefty debts hung themselves.
Some relatives without hefty debts hung themselves, too.
With hindsight, she could see that it wasn’t the debt that was crushing to them; it was the loss of that pride and honor, the only thing they could rely upon. A true distinguished family would maintain their dignity even if they lost everything, but the nouveau riche couldn’t protect or discard their pride, and the only thing left in between was despair.
As one of the few survivors, she mourned the loss of her family.
But she also gained freedom at last.
After many twists and turns being raised by distant relatives, she finally found what she wanted to do. It involved those movie kaiju that she admired so much as a child.
It wasn’t just her respect of kaiju, but of horror movie killers like Jason and Freddy, emotionless creatures like the Xenomorph, and all other bringers of destruction and murder that transcended both the flesh and society of humanity that led her to enroll as an apprentice makeup artist as soon as she graduated middle school.
Now she could create the monsters she had admired so much with her own hands.
And they’ll do what I couldn’t…
It was at this point in her reflection on her past that she finally realized what she was doing.
Oh. This is my life, flashing before my eyes.
The serial killer Hollywood, her body flying through the air after it was pummeled by a park bench, could sense her own life’s imminent end.
In the midst of that extremely compressed period of time, she shut her eyes.
How had she turned into a killer?
The flashback of her life didn’t need that part.
It was a part of her past she didn’t want to remember.
Still, I’m satisfied.
At the end, at the very end…I finally met a real monster.
Not a fake like me, but a true, true “monster” with monster strength.
And with the second great impact of the last few seconds, her flashback vanished, sending what remained of her wits into darkness.
At that moment
Kasuka Heiwajima, better known as Yuuhei Hanejima, was passing by, out of either coincidence or fate.
On the way home from his interview in Ikebukuro, he nimbly drove his beloved Le-Seyde through the night streets, right under the speed limit. The interview had contained several questions about his brother, so he decided to stop by and say hello, cruising the streets looking for the familiar bartender uniform that he had given Shizuo as a gift.
When this predictably didn’t work, he began to wonder if he should call, or send a text, or if it was even necessary to see him at all—when his car lights caught sight of something odd down a narrow alley.
“…”
It was the twisted sight of a human figure falling from the sky, an eyeball popped out of its socket.
The thing crashed to the asphalt and twitched once, then lay still and inert. Only the silhouette could be described as “human”; in the headlights, the skin was green and covered in crawling insects, the very figure of a zombie from a movie or video game.
Most human beings would scream at this point. But Yuuhei calmly pulled the car over to the shoulder and got out to check if the figure was living or just a mannequin.
The green skin gleamed wet and sticky in the light. There was no blood, but the figure was deadly still, clearly suffering serious medical effects.
Yuuhei considered that it could be a lifelike figure rather than a human being, but the momentary twitching earlier seemed to rule that out. It was an abnormal situation to say the least, but Yuuhei did not show a single sign of panic.
People falling out of the sky was a normal sight to Yuuhei. Usually because his brother had punched them there.
As he got out his phone to call an ambulance, Yuuhei considered another possibility.
The serial killer Hollywood.
Recalling the stories of the murderous maniac who appeared in the form of various monsters, Yuuhei began to wonder if the half-dead, half-living thing on the ground was this very person.
That didn’t change his course of action, however. He took a bold step forward, then noticed that the zombie’s face seemed to be peeling off.
“…”
The effect was so lifelike, it looked like nothing other than rotting skin. But beneath it, Yuuhei noticed a different color—not the red of muscle or blood, but pale, ordinary skin.
An ordinary person would likely have been too panicked by the sight to calmly notice such a detail, but this young man was not ordinary. He silently reached out for the mask.
When he saw the face that emerged from beneath it, Yuuhei stopped to think.
It was only for a few seconds, during which the young man’s handsome face showed no emotion, only an eerie mechanical interest, like a cleaning robot that found a piece of dirt.
Eventually, Yuuhei lifted the mysterious zombie-costumed person into his arms and toward the passenger-side door of his car. He carefully opened the door and sat the monster into the seat.
He then returned to the driver’s seat, called someone on his phone, and when he was done, quietly resumed driving away.
In the darkness
Oddly, I could tell that I was dreaming.
How had it begun?
Why did I become a murderer?
I should never have possibly become a monster, so how did it happen?
It’s what I always wanted, so why do I feel so sick?
I wanted to vomit.
I always wanted to vomit after I killed them.
But I knew that what was truly sickening was myself for being a killer.
Even as I committed the deeds, I asked myself what I was doing.
What a disgusting person I am, feeling sick at my own actions out of regret and guilt.
And even as I did it, I couldn’t stop the feeling of nausea from creeping up on my backbone.
No, no, it’s not right.
A monster doesn’t regret.
A monster doesn’t feel sick.
A monster isn’t plagued by guilt.
Some monsters in the movies were like that.
But they aren’t the real monsters.
They are lovable human beings. Or not human—but humanlike.
If they could share sentiments with human beings, then somewhere, somewhere, they were meant to be loved. No matter how they look.
But I am not.
I can’t be like that.
I can’t be loved by anyone.
I will be a monster.
A monster that no one can fathom.
And only then can I get back at them…
No, wrong.
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!
There’s one left! Just one! And yet…
One, one, one, him, he is coming
It’s him It’s him kill kill must kill him kill him
kill him them no him kill
kill kill no must kill or be killed vomit he’s coming don’t come
stay away stay away stay away stay away no no no don’t don’t do n’t
don’t touch me don’t touch me don’t touch me don’t touch me don’t don’t don’t
“This is a surprise. She heals almost as fast as Celty and your brother.”
No then who ggh hyaaaaa! going to , die ah
different voice no monster
“Amazing. Maybe Celty’s pulling her closer. What do you think?”
Not him whose voice here where is he is he
must kill someone I’ll die yeeek! aaaah!
“At first the syringe wouldn’t even pierce the skin. Then again, Shizuo broke my scalpel. I mean, that’s incredible. There’s no blade more solid and flexible than a scalpel. And he broke it… It felt like I was scraping against a metal washing board or something.”
Who answer who
where he where
Just one more to go can’t end yet hyaa!
“In fact, this isn’t far off… It’s kind of hard to believe it’d be a girl like this. Such a beauty in the prime of her youth.”
Answer answer answer
Can’t end here no no I don’t want
Help Mother where are you
Help me
Help
And then, her eyes opened.
“Oh, she’s awake. Not only is there no danger to her life, she may be able to walk again in minutes.”
“Hey, I can’t turn down a request from Shizuo’s little brother. I don’t want him coming to blast me all the way to Mars.”
Her wits still weren’t in focus. Her hazy vision was able to process a milky-white ceiling.
There was some kind of conversation happening around her, but it all felt like it was happening in some distant country. But she’d have to be watching the TV to see something from a far-off land, so it gave her the illusion of receiving telepathic signals instead. Eventually, the information began to get clearer.
One of the voices was devoid of emotion, while the other was cynical and playful.
“Sorry about my brother…”
“Ha-ha, actually, I should thank you, since he’s been a big help to Celty somehow. But I don’t want her falling in love with Shizuo, so could you tell him not to act too cool if he can help it? He’ll punch me if I say so. Oh, and I’m a bit thirsty, so can I have a glass of water?”
“I’ll bring you one.”
“Oh, thanks. And one for her…if she can drink. Well, get one anyway.”
The closer man’s face loomed toward her. He was a smart-looking young man with glasses. Based on his white lab coat, he appeared to be a doctor.
But the background surrounding him did not look like a hospital. Bookshelves lined the wall, and there were decorative plants of the kind found at an upscale, ultramodern restaurant.
The room was certainly stylish, but that sleek look was ruined by the hangers of drying clothes hanging in the entrance doorway. There was also a tropical fish tank, its air pump bubbling away, yet she also heard a cat meowing somewhere else in the room. The whole place had an odd combination of luxury and homey comfort.
Where am I?
She blinked her cloudy eyes, trying to bring the scene into focus.
The next moment, she noticed the dull pain coming from every inch of her body.
…!
It wasn’t enough to make her scream, but she did wonder how it had taken her this long to notice such pain. She clenched her eyes against it, which the doctor-like man noticed.
“Oh, I wouldn’t move around yet if I were you. I gave you a painkiller, and you seem to heal fast—but you took injuries that would normally have you passed out from the pain,” he said flippantly.
She quietly tried to keep her breathing under control. If this was a hospital, there was something very important she’d need to face—but with the circumstances so uncertain, she needed to understand her situation first.
“…”
“Are you all right? Aside from the dull impact, do you have any sharp, stabbing pains?”
“…”
She shook her head. The man in the coat smiled with relief. At the very least, the doctor here did not seem to intend her any harm. She swallowed and managed to emit a voice that was weak and pained, yet driven by strong will.
“Um…where…am I…?”
It was a delicate and beautiful voice for a girl who had been wearing a horrifying zombie mask just minutes earlier, but Shinra Kishitani, the man in white, simply shook his head in ecstatic wonder.
“Ahhh, it’s just like your voice on TV.”
“Umm…”
“Oh, pardon me. But hang on a second. Before I answer your question…please just let me enjoy the bliss of meeting someone I’ve always wanted to meet. Not in a romantic way. Just a few seconds, if you don’t mind.”
“Uh, okay…,” the girl on the bed said, keeping her voice low so as not to set off the throbbing in her head.
Shinra looked relieved and theatrically thrust his arms wide before his injured patient, his voice positively brimming with bliss.
“It’s a cold, cruel world out there, but I’m glad to be alive! This is true enchantment! Oh, once you’re able to move again, may I have your autograph? Two, if possible! I know I’m a shameless fanboy, but my roommate is also a huge fan of yours!”
It was hardly the most gentlemanly thing in the world, devolving into fawning excitement in the presence of an injured patient, but the black-market doctor couldn’t help but bow to his personal hero.
But this wasn’t limited to just him; many men would do the same in this situation. Others might be so nervous that they could barely speak.
“Who would have ever thought that I could have this job skulking in the darkness…”
Shinra spread his arms even wider and identified his patient.
“…and eventually get the chance to treat everyone’s favorite idol singer, Ruri Hijiribe!”
From the Internet encyclopedia Fuguruma Youki
An excerpt from the “Ruri Hijiribe” article
A Japanese actress, celebrity, and model. Affiliated with the Yodogiri Shining Corporation talent agency.
Her birth name is the same as her stage name.
Date of birth August 8, year unknown.
She was originally an apprentice of the special-effects makeup artist Tenjin Zakuroya, then made her modeling debut after she was scouted by Yodogiri Shining Corporation.
Before her debut, she handled special-effects makeup for several domestic films, with her work on Vampire Ninja Carmilla Saizou being especially lauded. The World Film Village Federation listed her along with her master in their list of “100 Juiciest SFX Makeup Artists.”
After that, she made her magazine debut as a model and appeared in her first minor role in a TV drama six months later, winning passionate fans with her unique nature.
Her acting is not expert level; her fans are drawn to her nature underneath. Her pale skin and delicate, melancholy features give her an unearthly beauty, which has landed her a number of roles playing gloomy, weak-willed characters.
She is rumored to be the rare “straight beauty” without the need of cosmetics, but the truth of this is unknown. It’s also said that she maintains the same quiet, graceful nature when the cameras aren’t rolling. In interviews, she has claimed that she’s poor at interacting and has no friends or boyfriend.
Although she is supposedly sold on her looks alone, her rare qualities among celebrities means that she has no competitive rival. Her ghostly nature makes her popular with men and women alike.
She is poor at physical activity and has never appeared on televised athletic segments, such as swimming races. However, because her dark characteristics make her easy to play off of during variety programs, she is often featured on talk shows. Because she speaks so seldomly, most of her character is constructed via comments and jokes from the hosts and other comedian guests. She has mentioned her lack of physical coordination on such shows.
However, due to reports that she placed highly in track-and-field events in elementary school, it’s possible that her weak and nonathletic character might be a ruse. [citation needed]
Thanks to her eerie qualities and exaggerated characteristics, she is commonly voted one of the top celebrities whom manga and anime fans would like to see wear cosplay.
It was none other than the famous idol actress Ruri Hijiribe in the room with Shinra.
She was an unearthly presence there and not just for the reason that she had been wearing bizarre zombie makeup.
Naturally, her face had no cosmetics on it. Yet her skin was as smooth as silk, and her features were as beautiful as a portrait.
You know, if Yuuhei came right out of a girls’ manga, she must be an angel from a classic painting by one of the Western masters, Shinra thought, then regretted the fact that he hadn’t brought an autograph board for her to sign. It was too sudden, I guess.
Normally, Shinra would be cleaning the apartment while waiting for Celty to come home. Instead, his phone rang with a familiar number on the display.
The brother of an old classmate claimed he had a patient he couldn’t bring to a normal doctor, so he paid that acquaintance a visit. As a result, Shinra was grateful that he made the choice to be a black-market doctor.
As Ruri Hijiribe watched the man in the white coat frolic, she wondered, Who is this man, anyway? And this looks…just like a normal room…but it’s so big.
Based on the furnishings, it looked more like an apartment than a house. The problem was, it was much too big for that to be the case.
Oh, right. What happened to me…? That man in the bartender’s outfit hit me with a bench…and then…
Her memory ended there. After that, someone brought her to this place and had this doctor-looking man care for her—at least, based on what she could tell from the way the man was excitedly blathering on.
“…”
Ruri kept her silence, putting her circumstances together in her head.
I wonder if he knows…who I am.
Clearly, he knew that she was Ruri Hijiribe. But more importantly, did he know that she was the serial killer Hollywood?
First of all, it made no sense that she wasn’t taken to a hospital in an ambulance. True, it would have been a bad thing for her to be taken to a hospital and identified, but she was already in a life-or-death situation when she was found.
As her body throbbed in pain, a cat suddenly climbed up onto her stomach.
“Urgh…”
The pressure of the cat’s paws made the pain much worse. Ruri tried to push it off of the blanket resting on her stomach, but when she got a good look at it, she couldn’t do it.
The cat was an adorable Scottish fold with tiny flopped ears and still not fully grown. It was like a ball of fluff that was given life. The creature looked at Ruri curiously and mewed.
It was so cute that the serial killer nearly forgot her pain and all her troubles for an instant.
But another man, who had entered the room in the meantime, reached out from beside the doctor and picked up the cat.
“Stop that, Dokusonmaru. You shouldn’t climb on an injured person.”
“Dokusonmaru?” the man in the white coat asked.
The younger man said flatly, “His full name is Yuigadokusonmaru. It means ‘Mr. Egocentric.’ Isn’t he cute?”
The man held out the cat, but the doctor pulled back awkwardly. “Please, smile when you do that next time. It’s scary.”
“But I am smiling.”
“If Dad saw you, he’d try to dissect you,” the black-market doctor said in resignation as he tried to read the expression of the utterly expressionless man.
Listening to the two men talk, Ruri suddenly realized that the man with the discount T-shirt and the expensive name-brand belt was a very familiar face.
“Are you…Yuuhei…Hanejima?” she mumbled. Yuuhei turned to her without a reaction and set the cat down on the floor.
“Oh, good. You’re doing better than I thought,” he said without moving a single muscle aside from his lips, which made it difficult to tell if he was actually relieved at all. But given that the man shared her line of work, she knew that he was simply the type of person who never displayed his true emotions.
They had actually met on a number of occasions, but they were not friends.
In fact, when Yuuhei was shooting his debut film, Vampire Ninja Carmilla Saizou, it was none other than Ruri who did his prosthetic makeup.
After she began acting, they appeared together just once in a two-hour TV drama. It was a serialized police procedural, with Yuuhei playing the lead detective role, while Ruri was a simple guest as the victim’s daughter. That was the closest connection they shared.
Why?
She was initially more confused than surprised by their reunion.
Why was there a coworker of sorts here in the room?
He couldn’t have been sent…by him…
But she dismissed the thought.
He doesn’t have any connection to Yuuhei Hanejima.
So why? The question floated over the actress’s pretty face as Yuuhei quietly asked, “Can you drink some water?” He held out a cup, his face like a robot’s.
It was the perfect setup for her to be poisoned, but Ruri took it and imbibed the water without question. A dull pain ran through her body when she sat up, but it wasn’t enough to prevent her from drinking.
The doctor noted, “Her muscles were torn to shreds, but it looks like her internal organs are fine. Just in case, once she’s on her feet again, she should get X-rays or an MRI. Some kinds of brain hemorrhage don’t show up until later. If only I had access to Nebula’s research center, I could have done those for you. Sorry.”
“No, you came out in the middle of the night with no notice. Thank you so much.”
“Actually, I came out way ahead in the deal—I got to look at an idol way up close. Oh, and don’t tell Celty I said any of this. She’s a big fan of this girl, too, so she’ll be jealous, just not in the usual way,” the doctor said, chuckling to himself.
Suddenly, the buzzing of a cell phone emanated from his pocket, and he snuck off to the corner of the room to quietly take the call.
The two actors didn’t have much to say, so the room was suddenly plunged into silence. Eventually, Ruri couldn’t stand it any longer and broke the quiet by softly asking, “Why am I here?”
“I was on my way home when you fell in front of my car. I know you didn’t ask for it, but I took you home and called a doctor I know to come look at you.”
“Why here, instead of a hospital?”
“Well, there are a number of reasons…”
He paused briefly and took a breath before continuing, “I thought…you might not want a hospital.”
“…”
“I apologize if my decision wasn’t the correct one. I can even take you to a hospital now, if you want.”
“…No, it’s fine.”
Yuuhei was still totally flat in his affect, while Ruri remained suspicious. Their conversation was distant and polite, but it gave way to more silence.
At that point, the doctor returned, shaking his head.
“Sorry, got another emergency patient! Two in one night—who would have thought? Damn, just when I had a chance to get to know Ruri Hijiribe,” he complained. As he prepared to leave, he leaned over to Yuuhei’s ear to whisper, “Think you could get me an autograph from her? One for Celty, too. Much appreciated!”
“I’ll ask.”
“Thanks! As a sign of my appreciation, today’s visit is free of charge!”
“No, I can’t…”
“I insist! I’ll just charge my next patient out the wazoo for the crime of cutting my time here short! Say hi to Shizuo for me!”
Still smiling, the man in the white doctor’s coat left the room.
The cat followed the other man out of the room, as if seeing him to the door, leaving only two megastars behind.
But here there were no adoring fans, only silence and the fruitless passage of time.
This time, it was Yuuhei, sitting in the chair at the side of the bed, who broke the silence.
“May I ask something?”
“…What is it?” Ruri replied, turning to him from her sitting position. Her eyes bulged.
In his hand was the zombie skin that she had been wearing until just minutes ago. She tensed up nervously, and Yuuhei said what she was afraid of hearing.
“Ruri, are you the serial killer Hollywood?”
His words were fairly certain, so she cast around for some kind of denial, but—
“That doctor informed me that your body is abnormal.”
So…he does know.
Denying it or playing coy would not get her anywhere. Ruri looked down to avoid the iron mask of his face, and neither confirmed nor denied it.
“If that’s what you thought…why didn’t you hand me over to the police?”
“Did you want me to? If that’s the case, I recommend turning yourself in.”
“…No, that’s not what I mean…”
“Then why are you upset about it?” Yuuhei said in his usual monotone, getting to his feet. Whatever conclusion about Hollywood he took from Ruri’s question, he silently reached out to take the empty water cup from her hand.
Her arm instantly shot out and grabbed Yuuhei by the neck. She threw him onto the bed, ignoring the scream of all her body’s muscles, and spun so that she was sitting on top of him.
With an extended finger pointed right at Yuuhei’s throat, she asked, in a quiet voice thick with pressure, “Then…you couldn’t have foreseen this possibility?”
“…”
Yuuhei remained expressionless. Ruri’s voice grew more irritated.
“I’m going to be honest with you, Yuuhei. I know that this attitude you display is not just another act…but it’s abnormal.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes. You must be crazy, letting a mass murderer into your own home.”
He looked at her curiously as she sat on top of him. Ruri quietly raised her hand to strike and asked a question.
“Did you never even think it was remotely possible…that you would be killed?”
Two hours later, Sunshine, Sixtieth Floor Street, Ikebukuro
“Good grief. This is what you get for being too good at your job. Two cases in one night!” Shinra lamented as he walked through Ikebukuro at night, the money he earned safely stashed in his doctor’s briefcase. It was a line that a real doctor would rightfully punch him for saying.
“I’ve still got time, so maybe I should stop back in at Yuuhei’s place and get those autographs,” he decided, strolling through the commercial district that was markedly quieter after hours.
“Hey, is that him?”
“Yeah, it is!”
“No doubt about it!”
“Cameraman!”
Shinra noticed a sudden swell of conversation approaching and looked up to see a sudden blinding camera flash.
“Aaah!!”
“Um, excuse me! You just left an apartment owned by Yuuhei Hanejima about two hours ago, didn’t you?”
“…?!”
It wasn’t until the fifth camera flash that Shinra realized these men were what the world called “paparazzi.”
“Do you have a moment? We understand that Yuuhei Hanejima owns all of the apartments in that building. Are you an acquaintance of his?!”
Gwuh?! No way! He’s that rich?!
Shinra knew the story of how he made nearly 1.2 billion yen for his nest egg, but it was almost impossible to believe that he had enough money to buy an entire building full of the already-expensive luxury apartments that he and Celty lived in. But there was no time to dwell on that.
“About an hour ago, Hanejima and the actress Ruri Hijiribe were seen kissing out in front of the building. What do you know about their relationship?”
“What sort of medical needs were you attending to in the middle of the night?”
“What is your area of medical expertise?”
“Are you an obstetrician?!”
Reporters for a number of different sources deluged him in a waterfall of voices, voices, voices.
“H-hey! Hey, wait!”
What?! What? What happened between those two?! A kiss, just like that?
What about our autographs?!
A number of suspicions arose in Shinra’s panicked mind, but he could tell that the onslaught of questions and camera flashes was robbing him of his ability to think straight.
“All right… In that case, I’ll be answering all of your questions after these quick messages from our sponsors…via airmail!” Shinra said and raced off in a full sprint.
“Hey, he’s getting away!”
“Wait, please!”
And as he glanced back at the pursuing reporters and cameramen over his shoulder, Shinra Kishitani experienced his first serious physical exertion in several years.
Without realizing that on the very same night, Celty was also being hounded by TV cameras.
Twelve hours later, near Kawagoe Highway, apartment building
“Even thinking about it now, yesterday gives me the willies.”
Shinra was still swaddled in black thread, wriggling around on the floor as he waited for Celty to return home.
“Honestly, I wonder what happened there… Once I get free of this, I’m going to watch the news. I was shouting about how I’d sue them for violating my likeness rights, so I doubt they used any photos of me,” he muttered, a giant black silkworm flopping around on the floor seeking the TV remote before the variety shows began.
But just as he had found the remote, the doorbell rang.
Oh, damn. I can’t answer the door. Wait…maybe this thread can be removed with the strength of two people?
He began to wonder what sort of story he could tell this visitor to convince them to help. But before he could call out that he was there, he heard the sound of the door unlocking.
“Oh, is that Celty?! Thank goodness! Your little abandonment fetish thing was quite exciting for a while, but I think it’s finally—” he started, a look of bliss on his face as he greeted…
A number of menacing-looking men led by a gaunt-faced fellow.
It was clear from a glance that they were not in an upstanding line of work, but the thin man at the center of the group, at least, seemed like any other person in his manner.
He strode right into Shinra’s home and coldly noted, “I really don’t get that abandonment kink shit.”
“…Oh, Mr. Shiki. What brings me the pleasure today?”
The man named Shiki looked at Shinra with a combination of caution, relief, and amusement. The group was from the Awakusu-kai yakuza, and Shiki was a chief lieutenant in the organization despite his relative youth.
“I’m guessing you don’t have a sudden patient for me,” Shinra said. As a matter of fact, he had given Shiki a spare keycard for that very purpose.
A black-market doctor’s most reliable and frequent clients came from their particular line of work, so Shiki’s spare key allowed him to ferry patients inside in an emergency, even if Shinra was sleeping.
But none of the people present appeared to be suffering from gunshot wounds. It was rather curious.
Shiki’s face got serious, and he tossed a newspaper on the ground in front of the human caterpillar. It was the day’s tabloid paper with the front headline reading “Hanejima & Hijiribe’s Late-Night Secret Pregnancy Date?!”
The article contained text that clearly referenced Shinra. It claimed that an obstetrician was witnessed leaving their apartment shortly before the two actors were sighted sharing a kiss.
Shinra read the article closely, relieved that at least they hadn’t published a photo of his face. But…
“You do realize…that there are no other guys who wander around this neighborhood wearing white doctor’s coats all the time,” one of the yakuza muttered. Shiki squatted down to Shinra’s eye level.
“We only have one question for you, Doctor.”
“What is it?”
“Did you happen to examine Ruri Hijiribe?”
“Well, yes,” Shinra admitted.
Shiki’s face was a blank, emotionless mask, but in a different way than Yuuhei’s. “I’ll be direct with you—what is she?” he asked, his voice calm, powerful, and demanding.
Unaffected, Shinra remained light and aloof. “Before I answer that…I have a request.”
His face got pale and deadly serious. He had business of the utmost importance to conduct.
“Can you help me get free of these black ropes?”
“I’ve been holding it in for hours, and I really need to go…”