The Traducer
Chapter 3 Part 5
I looked in the rear-view mirror. Kiyama looked here through the back window, his hands tied. When I pressed on the gas pedal, the rope that connected Kiyama"s legs with the car"s b.u.mper, stretched sharply. His soles tore from the ground and he fell, after which he jumped back up in confusion. After making sure that he got up, I smoothly pressed on the gas pedal again.
The car slowly moved from its place, at a speed of approximately twenty kilometres an hour. Setting my direction, I began to maintain my speed. I calmly crossed an abandoned building site, and when I got to its edge, I simply turned back. From time to time, the car touched some of the objects around, and the box in which we were travelling began to shake. However, it was only Kiyama who was using his strength here. If he would suddenly fall, I would just slow down. As soon as he would stand back up, I would again speed up to twenty kilometres an hour, but if he wouldn"t stand back up, then a strip of his sweat, saliva, and snot would appear on the pavement. Just like a child, waiting for an interesting show on a TV, I waited until Kiyama"s legs wouldn"t be able to take it any longer, and then would crush his face with wild yelps.
Turned around. Drove in a straight line. Turned around. Drove in a straight line. Kiyama fell. Screamed through tears. Turned around. Straight line. Turned. Straight line. Took a short break. Waited until he got up. He got up. I drove in a straight line. Turned around. He fell. I drove in a straight line. Short break. Straight line.
We shaked Kiyama to such an extent that his face started to look like an eraser, which was worn out to disgrace, but wasn"t thrown out. Chased him with no end to and fro.
I downed the gas pedal, and the arrow of the speedometer jumped up sharply. I immediately hit the brakes and stopped the car. Having looked at the rear-view mirror, I saw Kiyama pressed to the back window. Repeating this action a few times, I told Hara to get out of the car,
"Go talk to Kiyama."
I leaned back on my chair, and enjoying the spectacle, looked up at the rearview mirror. In it appeared Hara, who disappeared from view for a moment. Holding a knife, which was initially taken to cut the ropes with the cans, the guy stood across from Kiyama.
Then the door was opened by Shibata. He too left the car and appeared by Hara. Without saying anything, they lowered their gazes to Kiyama"s legs. Minato put down the smartphone, with which she spent some time playing around with, and also looking back, stood on her knees on the back seat. Through the open window, she heard a howl:
"Hey, Hara-a, forgive me already… I apologize…"
"Take your clothes off."
"Huh?"
"You have to apologize naked, am I wrong?"
Silence. Shibata wanted to say something, but stopped himself.
"My hands and feet are tied, how am I supposed to undress, huh?… I apologize, I"m sorry…"
"It"s good that they are tied."
To take off his clothes, he raised both his hands – if only someone yelled "banzai". The crumpled T-shirt hung on his wrists.
"Bottom too."
"Well, isn"t this enough?"
"You"re only half naked."
"But Hara, I was stupid. Please, forgive me."
"How many times do I tell you? If you want to apologize – take off your clothes."
Kiyama whimpered. He knelt down, and I lost sight of him. But Minato probably had a wonderful view from the backseat.
"I was wrong. Forgive me. I beg you…"
Silence. Silence. A very long silence.
And after.
"Oh, well yes."
The sound of a fly getting unzipped was heard. And then – a gurgling noise.
"Ew, s-stop! I… I apologized normally!"
"I"ll just fill it in."
"A-a-ah!"
Minato turned to me and looked away. The voices of the tormentors on the other side of the gla.s.s sounded extremely naive.
"Whoa, what a reaction."
"What are you talking about?! How else?! What filth, Idzono-kun."
"You"re serious?"
"What… You don"t like it?"
"It"s somewhat straining…"
"I"m actually not that dumbfounded, don"t worry… I mean it"s not that visible from me."
She got something in mind. This can"t be it.
"Anyways, I"ve already seen you, Idzono-kun. When you slept and all that."
I sharply dropped in my seat and with all my might drove into the horn with my elbow. The beep struck my ears. Were the three behind the car alright?
"Are you serious?"
"I lied."
"Er, you heard."
"I didn"t see, I didn"t see."
"…"
It sounded incredibly suspicious, and seemed more as if she did see. But. Such a confession from her would be the same as from an icy soul. Honestly, it was like my brain was. .h.i.t by a sledgehammer. So, I decided not to press anymore.
"…"
"And… before we leave this place, I need to sit up front."
Minato swiftly left the back seat and appeared on the front pa.s.senger"s. We looked through the rearview mirror at the abandoned construction place, where in the dim lighting, Kiyama"s ma.s.sacre was happening. Having changed seats, Minato closed the window, so we didn"t know what was happening outside.
"It"s fun right?"
"Yep, it"s fun."
"Who will it be, when we"re done with him?"
"Who knows… I mean, there"s a bunch of candidates who bullied or ignored Hara."
"Right, and this is a teacher"s car."
"What a mess we made."
"A complete mess."
"I don"t even feel guilty."
From all that was said, I was amused, and began to laugh. We should have done this earlier. Whatever you say, I didn"t dream of anything and didn"t expect anything. I had nothing to lose, and because of this, I didn"t hold on to anything. I especially wasn"t afraid to face the consequences. That"s why we could smash everything to pieces.
"Let"s go home."
Rushed by Hara, Shibata settled himself in the backseat, after which Hara himself got in and closed the door. I, who was already used to the controls, took the car off the handbrake and it rolled forward. Kiyama shouted something out there, but what it was remained unknown. When Minato connected her phone to the car stereo, western techno began to play – I never heard this before.
"You… are so broken," Shibata announced, lowering his head.
"What do you mean broken?"
"I"m saying that you are overdoing it…"
"Then I will ask, what is the norm for you."
"What are you talking about?"
"You say, that we"re insane, and broken? Then, what is "normal" for you? Where does the boundary line of the normal pa.s.s?"
"What are you on about..?"
"All we did was let Hara avenge himself for all the torture and humiliations, for the times when he was forced to stand on his knees naked. What doesn"t suit you?"
Hara looked at me through the rearview mirror. And I looked at him.
"Well d.a.m.n it, there"s nothing to understand here."
"But what if." We flew through a swarm of vehicles going the opposite way, their headlights lavishly coloured our faces in different colours. Red. Blue. Green. "Minato, Hara, and I, we are normal, and the strange one here, it turns out, is you alone? You are used to your oddities, so you see us, normal people, as broken, that"s how it turns out?"
For a short time we stayed silent, and then Shibata said:
"You"re still broken."
I let this pa.s.s through my ears and continued to silently drive the car. On the way, we dropped off Hara and Shibata, and then returned the car to its original place – the underground parking lot of the love hotel.
I pulled out Katai"s doc.u.ments from the purse she left in the salon. Originally, we wanted to go to her address, but this idea seemed dubious and we rejected it. We wouldn"t want to b.u.mp into the owner there.
Scared to park backwards, I drove into the parking spot front. I m.u.f.fled the engine and pulled out the key. The clock showed forty minutes past midnight. The law, regulating night entertaining establishments, said that visitors must be kicked out from the game centers by ten in the evening, therefore I never wandered the streets this late yet. Opening the doors, Minato and I got out of the car. And we both yawned unintentionally.
"Well, Idzono-kun, what will we do now?"
"Return home on a taxi."
"What do you think of the idea of staying here?"
It was as if a hand took off my drowsiness.
Minato headed for the elevator, leading to the love hotel.
Edited by:Akshaythedon