It was the woman who had debated with Yomiuri at that café. I recalled Yomiuri calling her Professor Kudou.
Come to think of it, Yomiuri had said she was going out with people from her college after work. Maybe her professor had shown up a little early.
“You there. Have we met before?” she asked.
“Oh, um, no. Sorry for staring.”
“No problem. I won’t blame you. Every learning experience begins by staring, after all.”
“S-sure…”
“You saw that couple’s courting behavior, didn’t you? What did you think?”
She was asking what I thought. The question was unexpected, but I came up with an answer right away.
“I thought it was embarrassing.”
“Ah.”
“Or that’s how I felt instinctually.”
“I see. So you imagined yourself doing the same thing and being stared at by strangers.”
“I—I mean, I didn’t…”
“Sure, you did. A suspicious-looking person like me asked, and you provided an answer right away. That means you already had an opinion and that it’s your honest impression. You might have found them annoying or unimportant, but you said they were embarrassing. That’s called empathic shame. Shame spreads to the observer because they can imagine themselves in the same situation.”
I couldn’t breathe. She had seen right through me.
She had outtalked Yomiuri. There was no chance that I could debate her.
“When we look at statistics on the percentage of people comfortable kissing in public, the results vary depending on age, gender, and marriage status, but it’s usually around eight percent. But if you ask people if they have actually kissed in public, just under twenty percent reply that they have.”
“Um, and?”
“Despite the fact that most people are uncomfortable kissing in public, a good number of couples have done it. So when and where do such people decide to partake in activities they don’t endorse? Not many studies have investigated this topic, and I’m currently looking for the conditions under which people’s ethics are likely to break down.”
“…I see.”
What she was saying was interesting. But scary, too.
With her every word and sound, this woman was drawing me in. And before I knew it, I was caught up in her rhythm.
Because she was dressed as a devil, I began to picture her as Mephisto enchanting me.
“You’re aware that Halloween in Shibuya is famous for young people going wild every year, right?” she asked.
“Well, yes.”
“By ‘going wild,’ I mean engaging in behavior that deviates from social norms. I hypothesize that it may have a similar effect on relationships between men and women.”
“So you’re doing fieldwork. You’re very passionate about your research, but I suppose I should expect as much from a college professor.”
“Oh? You seem to know who I am after all.”
Oops. I slipped up.
I knew about her, but only because I’d eavesdropped on a discussion she’d been having with her students, and I didn’t want to tell her that.
I was pondering what to do when the devil looked me over from head to toe.
“Oh, you’re a clerk at this bookstore. That makes you Yomiuri’s colleague.”
“Yes, um, I guess you’re right.”
“Are you Asamura by any chance?”
“What?! You even know my name?”
“Yes, but I didn’t know what you looked like until just now.”
What a nasty way to answer.
“My name is Eiha Kudou. I’m an associate professor at Tsukinomiya Women’s University, where Yomiuri is studying. I’ve also met your sister.”
“She told me a little about that.”
Ayase said she’d gone to the college’s open campus and got tangled up with a difficult teacher.
After only a few minutes of conversation, I could see what she meant. I could only guess at the emotional strain this woman had put Ayase through.
“It isn’t good for me to interrupt you at work. I think it’s time I left.”
“That’s…surprising.”
“What is?”
“I was sure you’d keep right on talking.”
“Ha-ha-ha. I’m not interested in interrupting other people’s activities or interfering needlessly in matters outside my realm of interest.”
That’s rich after what I just saw. I kept this comment to myself, however.
The frightening thing was that Professor Kudou seemed to be speaking from the heart. She didn’t doubt her own words for a second.
“Well, then,” she said, and turned away.
Relieved, I was about to go back to mopping the floor when she stopped and turned around. “Oh yeah. Since I have this opportunity, I’m going to act like a proper devil and put a curse on you before I go.”
“A curse? That sounds dangerous.”
“Why do kids who don’t normally flirt in public do so today? I believe the key is a temporary drop in their intelligence quotient.”
“You’re saying…that the Halloween atmosphere has turned them all into idiots?”
“Yes. And the dumber we become, the more we succumb to our primal needs…to seek sexual contact with our partners.”
“That’s a really blunt way of putting it.”
“It’s the truth. But…it isn’t all bad to be a fool.”
“I can’t imagine anything good about it.”
“It can make you happy, for one.”
“Now you’re turning spiritual on me?” Wasn’t she speaking logically just a moment ago?
“Humans have always existed side by side with spirituality. It’s an integral part of our society,” Kudou said as she pointed to the side.
I glanced in that direction and saw a parade of people in costume filling the Shibuya Scramble Crossing. It reminded me of the night I walked through the city with Fujinami.
Then, too, it had been full of people finding excuses to debase themselves. Back then, they’d been using alcohol. And today, it was Halloween helping them put aside their higher faculties.
“The two of you are too smart, so let me put a curse on you to make you into fools—Happy Halloween.”
“Fools…? Please stop joking.”
Was she suggesting that Ayase or I would do something so idiotic? Not a chance.
Exasperated, I looked back at Professor Kudou, but now that she’d said her piece, the devil had vanished.
“She isn’t really the devil, is she…?”
No. Of course not. Ha-ha-ha.
Reflecting on this strange experience, I finished cleaning and returned to the store.
A little later, my shift ended. As I entered the back office from the cash register, I saw the manager handing out big gift-wrapped bags to the clerks who had finished their shifts.
“Here you go, Asamura. Thanks for coming in on such a busy day.”
The bag appeared to contain an assortment of sweets, and I gratefully accepted it.
“Here, Ayase. Thanks for your hard work.”
“Thank you.”
Ayase finished up a little late, and I overheard her exchange with our manager.
Yomiuri was behind her. For once, she was leaving work at the same time as Ayase and me. According to her, she was meeting up with college friends for a costume party after this.
I told her I’d seen someone I thought was her professor when I went outside earlier.
“Are you okay?” she asked, concerned. “She didn’t do anything weird to you, right?!”
When I said I was fine, but that the professor had cast a spell on me, Yomiuri was stunned.
After that, I got changed and reemerged just as Ayase and Yomiuri finished as well. Ayase was back in her regular clothes, but Yomiuri was now wearing a costume. She had on a wide-brimmed witch’s hat and a black dress, and it suited her so well that I almost forgot how she usually looked.
This wasn’t a sexy, fashionable witch showing a lot of skin, either, but the mellow sort you might find deep in the woods. I thought it suited her. When Yomiuri did something, she went all out. The stone on the brooch at her chest was engraved with a runic symbol, and in place of a broom, she held a small cane-like magic wand, which she’d apparently picked up at an amusement park.
“Hee-hee-hee! What do you think?” Yomiuri made a smug face as she fluttered the hem of her dress.
“Oh, um, yeah. You look really good, like the real deal.” I truly meant what I said. I could tell she was ready to have a great time at her event.
“I bet you’d rather see Saki in costume,” she said.