B.A.D.

We were contacted a few days later.

I thought we would be contacted sooner, but it’s likely the other party was in distress. I didn’t really want to go, but I had no other choice since Mayuzumi forced me to go.
I prepared myself before going, at this point no matter what happens it’s unavoidable. I was expecting her to call me over to her house, but our meeting spot was instead the abandoned building.

It was another scorching hot day just like any other.
A figure was standing next to the abandoned building, gazing up into the deep blue skies.

It seems Kazue had long arrived. She stared absentmindedly at the building her sister had jumped off of.
Within the dark looming shadow of the towering building, her white dress fluttered about with the pa.s.sing wind. This spectacle made me recall the scene of her sister’s death from a few days ago.

However, the atmosphere around Kazue was completely different from that of a dead person. An immense aura of rage was exuding from her body.

“……Why?”

“What do you mean?”

“Stop playing dumb! What you two did was wrong! What you two did to my sister it was wrong!”

I could see a blood-red tongue from Kazue’s screaming mouth. A thick blood-l.u.s.t within her eyes a.s.saulted me.

I thought back to the newspaper I saw a few days ago.
The patient that disappeared from the hospital——–the one who committed suicide or rather attempted suicide. Her body had fallen down from the buildings.
Naturally, she was notified since they were related.
It’s quite possible the funeral ceremonial had even been completed already. I endured her bellowing rage and took out an envelope from my pocket. Inside it was the payment we received for taking on her case.

“You can have this back, I apologize that we weren’t able to complete your request.”

“Apologize? You apologize?! What a joke, what you just said wouldn’t even be considered a pathetic excuse! If……If I knew it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have asked people like you all in the first place!”

Kazue was screaming at the top of her lungs now. I simply lowered my head in apology.

“I really am sorry, regardless of whatever you did to your sister, we are sincerely regretful it turned out this way.  Also I have a message from my superior.”

Beads of sweat were sliding down from the back of my neck like cascading waterfalls. Just thinking about the contents of the message and how I was forced to repeat it gave me quite the headache.
A fear akin to a child who had done something bad raced through my heart, but I couldn’t run away. If I run away now, things will only become even worse.

Might as well just get it all over with now than later.

“You love your sister, you want to monopolize her, yet you also cherish her. I can understand your feelings but–…”

The sound of her taking a bite of chocolate echoed through my mind.
The melted chocolate bar really did look like blood.

“–since she wanted to “fly” so badly, you should just let her.”

Kazue was completely speechless and stared at me with wide eyes.
I lowered my head slightly in parting to the motionless doll-like her, then began walking away.

In that moment, the back of my hair stood on end, and I instinctively turned around.
A snow white figure slammed right into me.

I felt a huge impact on my abdomen, a sharp pain and boiling warm heat began to spread. I looked down shakily, there was a thick knife embedded deep within my stomach.

Kazue gave a bloodcurdling laugh.
Laughing away maniacally, she began pushing the tip of the knife deeper and deeper into my flesh.

It was painful, incredibly painful.

But compared to the pain, the fact of her stabbing me with a knife was more hard to believe.
Although I knew she was warped personality-wise, her going this far was beyond my expectations.

She even used an actual knife.
It would’ve been better if she just attacked me like she did to her sister.
Or just using a stun gun would’ve also been fine too.
But instead, she just had to stab me in the stomach.

Out of all places why did she have to go for the stomach?

Something unbeknownst to me began squirming inside my stomach.
Right in the area where I was stabbed, an intense sensation wedged about and sent rippling waves of pain throughout my body.

Kazue’s smiling expression changed and a look of fear replaced it.

Then with an audible “pop” my consciousness faded.