The Runorata villa
Melvi had stopped by the Runorata villa in the suburbs of New York when Carlotta, the family’s former main dealer, called to him. “You’ll be attending to the party tonight, won’t you? I’m told you left things to random dealers and wandered off yesterday.”
“Yes, because that was just the day when everyone was sizing up the situation. I didn’t want to tip my hand if I didn’t have to.”
“Tip it to whom?”
“Anyone. Everyone. Including you. Unless Mr. Bartolo ordered it,” Melvi said casually, attempting to throw her off-balance.
Carlotta fixed him with a cold gaze. “I don’t know what you’re really after, and I don’t care, but if you plan to use the Runoratas, I wish you’d compensate us. I don’t have the authority to force you, so it’s just a request.”
“Don’t worry; I’ll be there in person tonight. I have to prepare for tomorrow anyway… I do intend to turn a profit for the family.”
“…I see.”
Carlotta gazed at Melvi Dormentaire through narrowed eyes for a few seconds. Then she exhaled heavily. “I can’t imagine the boss selected you because he wanted the casino to be profitable, so I have no expectations to speak of there.”
“My, my. Are you implying that you could have generated greater profit?”
“Yes, there’s no question about that.”
“…All I’m hearing is sour grapes, Carlotta.” Melvi smirked, and Carlotta’s face went blank.
“Let me repeat my warning, just one more time.”
“……”
“Own your own greed. An arbitrator who has none isn’t fit to be either a dealer or a made man.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The former head dealer left without another word. Once he’d watched her go, Melvi gave a scornful snort. “What greed? Ridiculous.”
Well… It’s true that I’m not suited to be an arbitrator or a mafioso.
I’m destined for the heights of Szilard Quates himself.
Yes, in that sense, I do have desires.
✦ ✦ ✦
What I want is to take the people who block my path—to take Firo Prochainezo—and make him taste despair.
Melvi reaffirmed the dark, stagnant hatred in his depths.
He seemed to be telling himself that the hatred was his desire.
✦ ✦ ✦
Ennis—who had been kidnapped by Melvi Dormentaire’s henchmen and was currently being held prisoner—had decided to review her situation as closely as possible.
She’d been blindfolded while they transported her from the warehouse in New York, but she understood her situation to some extent. Although the room seemed like a hotel guest room, the slow rocking motion she felt every so often told her that she was probably out on the ocean, on a midsize vessel.
During his one-sided chat with her, Melvi had said he was going to end everything at the casino party. If he was going to settle things with Firo, he wouldn’t be anywhere near here when he did it.
He’d told her the person who’d been kidnapped with her would die if she tried to run, but was that true? If so, wouldn’t it have been better to keep her on land, where he’d hear right away if she did escape?
She was suspicious, but she couldn’t do anything risky without being sure.
✦ ✦ ✦
But…, Ennis thought.
Was it all right to just stay here?
Could she let herself be a captive doll?
Was it okay to keep causing trouble for Firo, Czes, and the Martillos?
Back when she’d worked for Szilard, that thought probably wouldn’t even have occurred to her. She would have just considered herself useless. She would have known Szilard would abandon her.
Things were different now, though.
Firo Prochainezo belonged to a criminal organization, and yet…he was a very kind person.
Ennis hadn’t noticed that that kindness was focused on her with particular intensity. What she did know was that Firo had given her a place to belong when she’d had nowhere to go. That gesture had touched her heart and been a support to her.
Why was Firo so kind? Because he was strong.
He wasn’t the only one. The Martillos, and Isaac and Miria, had all accepted a being like her. That tolerance was strength, plain and simple. To Ennis, this was clear.
The people around her were magnanimous. They didn’t just accept the other by yielding to it. They made sure their own selfish requests were heard—and even then drew the other into their circle. They had that sort of strength.
She couldn’t tarnish that strength with her own spinelessness. She couldn’t let their smiles be clouded.
That was why Ennis made up her mind. Her resolution was extremely simple: She would do everything she could. She’d mobilize all the “knowledge” she’d been avoiding.
The knowledge she’d been given by Szilard Quates, accumulated at the expense of others’ lives.
Somewhere in New YorkThe Runorata villa
Huey Laforet, who’d broken out of jail, was currently a guest at the Runorata Family’s villa.
Since his escape hadn’t been publicly disclosed, Victor’s men couldn’t charge in to get him. The only interference from the machinery of the state came in the form of observers stationed around the villa at a distance.
✦ ✦ ✦
In Huey’s guest room, Salomé Carpenter—the leader of Rhythm, a group in charge of developing technology—was speaking enthusiastically.
“That’s right! Knowledge certainly is important. However, I am against complete dependence on the knowledge the immortals possess—your own first and foremost, Master Huey.”
“And why is that?” Huey asked mildly.
Flushing, Salomé went on. “Knowledge is necessary for progress, but the older the knowledge, the more mistakes it has. Even if it is accurate, it is more likely to include inefficient methods. From time to time, it may become a shackle that hinders new discoveries.”
“Just the answer I’d expect from someone who prefers experiments over theory.”
“What are you saying? Master Huey, it is you who places so much stock in experiments, isn’t it? That’s precisely why I’m curious about the outcome of your current plan! In its service, I’ll freely exhaust those dear, precious children Rhythm developed for Larva!”
“If you treat your guinea pigs as personal property, they’ll betray you one of these days.” Chuckling, Huey raised a cup of tea to his lips.
“Ha-ha-ha! Now there’s something I never thought I’d hear from you. You treat the entire world as a subject for your experiments.”
“In my case, it happened in reverse.”
“?”
“…Once, I was betrayed by the world I saw and my clumsy ideals. That may be why I treat my own life as a grand laboratory and put everything I see into it.”
Huey was gazing into the distance. He was still smiling, but Salomé couldn’t fathom what sort of emotions lay behind that expression. Still, he decided that probing any further would be going too far and turned the conversation away from Huey’s past. “By the way, I hear you met with that Firo Prochainezo fellow yesterday. What did you discuss?”
“We simply made small talk… Although we did reminisce about Alcatraz as well.”
“They told me he was the one who gouged out your eye. I’m impressed your talk ended peacefully.”
“Well, I don’t hold it against him.”
Salomé sighed a little. “I meant Miss Leeza. I thought she might fly into a rage and force a flock of birds to assist in her revenge.”
“There’s no need to worry about that. Leeza isn’t angry, either.”
“What?”
“It seems she’s fallen in love for the first time. It happened much earlier than it did for her sister.” Huey began murmuring to himself. “Is it the result of so many other minds fusing with her consciousness? Or perhaps…”
Salomé’s eyes widened in astonishment. “No… Wait just a minute! Miss Leeza, in love?! With Firo Prochainezo, of all people?!”
“Ha-ha. If someone hears you yelling about it, Salomé, that will make Leeza angry.”
“Oh, erm, excuse me. I thought her only desire was to be acknowledged by you, and now… I was startled by the news that Miss Chané had found a lover as well, but in her case, seeing the man in question left me more convinced than I expected.”
As they were chatting, there was a knock at the door, and the man they’d just been gossiping about appeared.
Claire Stanfield was a hitman who’d inherited the name of “Handyman” Felix Walken, a moniker that many others had owned before him.
“Hello and good morning, Dad.”
“Ha-ha. Isn’t it a little soon for you to be calling me that? Melvi should make his move in earnest tomorrow night; I’m counting on you to keep him safe.”
“Yes, of course. He’s not here yet, though. Mind if I go out for a bit?”
“Do you have something to take care of elsewhere?”
For someone who’d been hired as a bodyguard, Claire was pushing it with his request, but Huey didn’t reproach him. He was asking out of genuine interest.
“Well, Cookie… Uh, Charkie the bear’s run away, so I’m gonna help look for him.”
Salomé, not Huey, was the one who reacted to that. “Oho… Do you mean that enormous bear?”
“Hmm? Yeah, but he’s not even twelve feet tall. I dunno if you’d call that ‘enormous.’”
There was no record of a twelve-foot bear on Earth in modern times, but Cookie was the only grizzly Claire knew. Although the bear was nearly ten feet tall, one of the largest specimens around, the redhead assumed he was average.
Without correcting this assumption, Salomé turned back to Huey. “Master Huey. Allow me to take part in the bear hunt as well.”
“It’s not a hunt. It’s a rescue,” Claire corrected.
“Ah, I beg your pardon.”
Giving the bodyguard a light apology, Salomé repeated his request.