I stood there, staring at her silently.
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After a long pause of nothingness, she asked, “How did you know?”
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This was hard to explain, but I had to say something before she would answer.
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“Um, how can I put this. . .humans tend to follow certain patterns. I don’t mean stuff like, ‘that girl’s pretty, so she’s stuck-up,’
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or anything like that. No, I mean everyone has a good and a bad side, get me? They’re sensitive to some things and totally clueless about others. We all have a certain balance.”
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I found this out when I was almost killed. The person that was going to kill me was just an ordinary guy, with an ordinary job-maybe too ordinary. I’d thought a lot about why he had tried to kill me, but I could only come up With one explanation.
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He was too ordinary.
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That was it. There was no other reason.
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I believe that was his balance.
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“So your balance, or whatever you want to call it, didn’t match up with the way you changed. If you changed, you would change in a different way. Sure, I might be wrong, but...”
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But every time I started talking like this, I would start to wonder if it wasn’t me that was the strange one.
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Despite what I was saying, I didn’t believe for a second that because Kotoe was a nice girl she wouldn’t do anything strange.
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But if she ever did do something strange, it would have been something else. That’s all.
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"..............."
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Kotoe’s eyes were still wide open. Guess she hadn’t followed my drift. I’m not entirely sure I had myself, so that was probably only natural.
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“Putting it a little more bluntly, you’re a bit dense and haven’t really realized what it means to be pretty and rich, like you are.
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I’d be surprised if you actually could take that in so quickly."
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Even I thought this was a little harsh.
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"...!" Kotoe gasped.
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“Sony, it’s just. . .that’s what I thought,” I said, apologetically.
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Kotoe hung her head, but said nothing.
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I couldn’t think of anything else.
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After a long pause, Kotoe at last said, “But...”
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“Mm?”
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“But I. . .I don’t. . .remember very well.”
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“Starting when?”
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“You called me once, right? I know I was normal then. A little after that. . .I don’t really know what I was doing anymore,” she said slowly, but surely.
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I was again impressed by her strength.
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I’d been so critical of her, and she had just sat there and took it. It’s amazing.
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“Right after I called?”
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“No. . .awhile later. You told me not to see Jin-niisan, and I remember being shocked by that...”
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“S-sorry. That was...”
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“No, forget it. I......right, I went where I always go when I’m depressed, and I remember staring at the sky. . .wondering silly things like, is it going to snow? That’s the last thing I remember. After that, everything’s just a strange blur.” She looked very sad.
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“Where is that?”
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“Paisley Park. The amusement park they never finished.
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There’s a tower there, called The Ladder. You know it?”
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“Yeah, I do. Your father was part of that?”
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“Right. I had a key. . .I didn’t go there because I was rich or anything.” There was a note of sadness in her voice.
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“S-sorry. Please forget I said that.”
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“No, I don’t mean that...I just thought, I’m so stupid. So childish...” she said. Her head was down. She was trembling. “I can barely remember. . .but Jin-niisan said goodbye to me.”
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"............"
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“We won’t meet again. I knew that, but. . .I’m so childish, so stupid...”
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Her shoulders quivered with a tiny, shriveled, lonely shiver.
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“Kinukawa-san...are you still in love with Asukai Jin?” I asked.
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She shook her head. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. . .not anymore...but...but...” Her grip tightened on her sheet. Tears began dropping on her fists. “But I want to see him again. I want him to laugh at me, and make fun of me with his, ‘Kotoe-chan, you’re so shallow.’ And then, I want to fight about it. . .I want him to laugh at me for getting angry...”
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After that, she couldn’t manage any words.
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I came over to her, and gave her a hug.
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1 brushed her hair quietly.
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“Don’t worry. I’ll do something. I promised, didn’t I? I’ll do something.”
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I felt like her loneliness was being transmitted directly to me with each tremble.
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“So? How was she?”
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“Touka. . .sorry, but can you go home ahead of me?” I said so harshly it must have sounded rude.
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“Why?” she asked, surprised, peering at my face. I didn’t have the leeway to worry about her feelings.
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“There’s somewhere I have to go,” I snapped.
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“Wh-where?”
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“To look for The Ladder.”
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I couldn’t wait here. I had to go there now. I knew that much.
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I was furious.
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I’d only met the man once, but I could have killed him.
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I wanted to tie a rope around Asukai Jin’s neck and drag him back down here to apologize to Kinukawa Kotoe...!
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“Suema, w-wait...!” Touka’s flustered voice called after me as I burst out of the hospital and into the sunset outside.
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"......Just a little longer,” the girl standing behind Asukai Jin said.
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Her body was transparent, and few people could actually see her. Even Asukai, who had originally been able to see her quite well, could almost never make her out these days.
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“......Just a little longer.”
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The girl’s feet were floating just above the ground.
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No matter where she was, wherever people could stand, her feet would be a few centimeters up in the air.
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But she had almost reached touchdown.
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“I can almost get through.”
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No one could hear her voice.
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Or perhaps she never intended it to be heard.
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“......Mm?”
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As Asukai Jin took Orihata Aya up the stairs of The Ladder, he thought he could almost hear a voice he had not heard for awhile.
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He stopped and turned his head, but there was nothing there.
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".........?"
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Her hands still handcuffed, Orihata Aya looked up at him, confused. “Are you going to kill me here...?” As always, her manner of speaking was extremely distant.
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“N-no. . .not yet,” Asukai shook his head, and began pushing her ahead of him again.
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He was already beginning to think that the spectral girl had been nothing but an illusion. His own unconscious had produced a delusional ‘counselor’ to help him make full use of his ability.
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The moment he had begun moving of his own accord, he had almost entirely ceased to see her.
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In retrospect, the key phrase, “Snow Falls in April,” was one he’d heard from students before. Some common fragment of the female students’ unconsciousness had been giving him remarkably similar dreams, and he had allowed them to influence him.
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So he had no one to help him with what he was about to do.
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He had to find his own resolve, and become the Imaginator.
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He nodded to himself. He already had.
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“Technically, I’m not going to kill you,” he said, in a low voice. “I’m just going to tear away your heart. You will no longer be yourself, but rather something not even worth calling human.”
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"............" This sinister declaration failed to have any effect on Aya’s expression. “Human...” she said under her breath.
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“Mm?” Asukai didn’t hear her. “What did you say?”
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"........." She didn’t answer.
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Asukai grunted in irritation, but didn’t ask again.
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What Aya had almost said was, ‘Human? I was never...’
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“We have a little more time. It’s still early in the evening.
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People are out and about. This may cause quite a panic, so we’ll wait until most people have settled down. Till the middle of the night,” Asukai explained. “I should have some time before the Towa Organization notices that Spooky E has failed to report in, and sends someone to take care of the other systems they have placed throughout the area.”
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"........." Aya wondered if she even factored into those plans.
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“The seed I’ll make from your heart will only be strong enough to influence the people in this town. But that’s enough. As long we can tell them from whatever the Towa Organization sends. As for the next seed, well, I’m sure a suitable candidate will emerge from the people I’ve planted yours on.”
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“How strong. . .an influence?” Aya asked quietly.
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“Not that much. None of them would even notice. Their pain will just abruptly vanish.”
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“Oh...”
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That was fine.
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Then Masaki would be able to forget her.
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They reached the roof of The Ladder.
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The place Spooky E had chosen as the perfect spot to disperse his ‘disinfectant’ commanded a panoramic view of the city and of the people’s lives within it.
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The sky was darkening rapidly.
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When that light had completely vanished, Aya thought, looking up at the sky, she would no longer have a meaningful existence.
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“Man, it’s a beautiful night!”
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She thought she heard Masaki’s voice echoing in her ear.