A gentle warm wind brushed against my face. The streets were empty since it was still early morning. And the discrepancy between the red paper umbrella and sunny weather was quite large. Why did Mayuzumi choose to go out so early in the morning?
Even more confusing she wanted to go the area where the organs were falling.
Mayuzumi and I arrived at the office buildings we were at a few days ago. The police tape had been removed. This location where the uterus had dropped down had become an infamous supernatural spot, but luckily there were no people around now.
Newspaper articles also treated the incident like an interesting story to report. So it ended up becoming nothing more than a public gathering spot. Hopefully the next organ that drops here will land on one of the onlookers. If an organ were to smash onto someone"s head people would definitely think twice before coming here.
I turned around and saw Mayuzumi crouching down in front of the same vending machine again. She had her hand underneath the vending machine searching for something. Obviously not caring whether or not she would get her expensive dress dirty. Just what was she looking for? Also for some reason I felt like smoking. I wasn"t even stressed yet I still wanted to smoke, this isn"t a good sign, I have a bad feeling.
I didn"t know what was about to happen but I suddenly felt homesick, I couldn"t remember when was the last time I even went back to my nice and cozy apartment.
"I found it."
Mayuzumi stood up and she was holding a 100-yen coin in her hand.
"What a relief, I thought I might not find it, it"s quite satisfying to have your predictions come true. Technically speaking, these sort of small things are actually harder to find."
She held it out for me to see. It looked like any other 100-yen coin, but then I realized the back of the coin was coated with dried blood.
"Mayuzumi-sama, please hold it more still so I can properly see."
I should probably start paying more attention to details, if I keep this up I might end up missing something important.
But Mayuzumi suddenly flicked the coin away with her fingers. The 100-yen coin was sent flying and rolled back under the vending machine. I thought she had purposely done that but then Mayuzumi angrily whispered under her breath.
"I failed."
"What?"
"My mistake, Odagiri-kun, that was my fault. Since I apologized, could you retrieve it for me?"
I don"t really know how that would be considered an apology.
Just as she said it"s her fault so I don"t really understand why I have to do this. But I crouched down and began searching. In the end, I finally found it after getting down on all fours to search. I gave it back to Mayuzumi and she nodded.
"I appreciate it, the effort you put into your work is truly valuable to me, even the police wouldn"t have investigated this vending machine."
Mayuzumi then inserted the bloodstained coin into the vending machine. What are you doing? That took a lot of effort to find! Just as I was about to voice this, I heard a noise and the coin was returned.
"So it really was returned."
"What?"
"I was saying how this useless coin ended up being returned.
Is it a defective coin or something? Occasionally there are coins were machines can"t recognize and end up returning, so it seems this is one of them."
"So? What about it?"
"So it seems she wasn"t able to buy a drink. You know? One of the drinks from the vending machine? But if it were me I would actually buy hot chocolate, now then what would she buy next?"
Mayuzumi became lost in thought. The vending machine gave off an artificial glow while her eyes flashed like a cat"s eye.
"Humans are driven by simple reasons, yet they are also killed because of simple reasons."
"What?"
Mayuzumi seems to have figured out something, but I could only repeat the same question like some sort of parrot. She smiled shortly afterwards. As I glanced at the dangerous smile upon her face, I began to regret even asking but it was too late.
"Anyways, it seems that was the reason she was here."
Mayuzumi quickly opened her red paper umbrella. A sharp "pop" sounded and her umbrella unfolded like a blooming safflower. And just like a scenery change during a play, the scene before my eyes suddenly changed. A woman with long hair appeared in front of the vending machine. Although I had seen her face before, it was different since she was moving while before she was just a photo.
She bent down, took the coin from the coin return and inserted it back into the vending machine. But the coin was returned yet again. She bent down again, and repeated the same movements……over and over again.
"What is this thing……?"
"Calling her a "thing" is rather rude, she"s Yamas.h.i.ta Yukiko. Or rather a "ghost" of her. She was also here when we first came here. But it seems like you didn"t notice. Well then, Odagiri-kun, do you understand now? The reason she was here was as a matter of fact due to a rather simple reason."
I finally understood what Mayuzumi meant earlier.
Humans are driven by simple reasons.
Since she couldn"t buy a drink from the vending machine she couldn"t leave it.
It does make sense logically. She was standing right in front of the vending machine yet she couldn"t accomplish her objective. Thus she couldn"t leave.
But even so, this being the reason is simply absurd.
"Wait a minute……for a reason like that. No wait, if previously Yamas.h.i.ta Yukiko was actually here, then what"s up with those organs? She"s here so who do those organs belong to then?"
"Those were also Yamas.h.i.ta Yukiko"s."
Mayuzumi gave an instant reply. She nodded towards the Yamas.h.i.ta Yukiko in front of us.
Those were her physical self, this is her soul."
Yukiko once again bent down to retrieve the coin. At that moment, Mayuzumi suddenly closed her umbrella and swung it towards her. The blur of red came into contact with the back of her head. But the umbrella pa.s.sed through her and instead smashed heavily into the vending machine.
"She had been attacked like that and ended up dropping the 100-yen coin. At that moment she entered a state between life and death; and her soul emerged. Her soul was then left here and her body dragged to the top of the building and thrown down. As a result, her physical body was left in a near-death state and her soul remained here."
She pointed her red umbrella up towards the building. I also looked up and realized that a shadow had appeared for a split-second on top the building roof. Someone was looking down, but the figure immediately became blurry and disappeared.
Was that "shadow" perhaps Yukiko"s actually body we were commissioned to find?
"Yes, correct. Her body is stuck between this realm and somewhere that isn"t here, wondering aimlessly about. Her body which had lost its soul ended up disappearing from the hospital in order to return to its soul. But it was unsuccessful. Thus Yukiko"s body was only able to return "bit by bit". The body which disappeared from the hospital returned bit by bit. All in order to reunite with its soul, bit by bit."
"How is that kind of thing even possible?"
"Normal humans cannot do it. Since a body would cease to function without a soul, and the soul will only remain here. Nonetheless, someone helped her. That person had helped moved her body in accordance to her desire."
For a moment, I could clearly feel an ice-cold touch upon my back. In compliance with a human"s desires and bringing forth an impossible situation. And I knew who "that" person was.