“We’ll show him his organization can take care of itself if he wants to take a long break now and then.”
Central Park
“Wow, this is even crazier than I thought it would be.”
Walking past fleeing people, his eyes shining, Christopher reached his destination in a corner of Central Park. “I wonder how much longer we’ve got until the cops show up? Or maybe somebody’s made sure they won’t be able to make it… Either way, I doubt the first few officers on the scene will be able to do anything about this.”
The only word for what Christopher was seeing was melee.
Ladd Russo and Graham Specter were fighting a no-holds-barred battle against the members of Larva, while a set of twins he didn’t recognize were riding motorcycles in circles around the brawl.
A gigantic bear stood just outside the fight, with Isaac and Miria on its back. A pale woman and Graham’s friend Shaft were standing beside a car that was parked nearby.
A bespectacled man in ragged clothes lay behind that car, but he was just getting to his feet.
Technically, the composition of the fight was simple—Graham and Ladd against the members of Larva—so melee might not have been an appropriate word. However, to Christopher, the reckless violence looked like the indiscriminate rampaging of small, humanoid disasters.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Ha-haaah! You’re a hell of a good time! What are you people, street performers?!”
As the members of Larva attacked using a huge variety of methods, Ladd swung his arms around with delight. He caught Sickle’s kick with his right hand, knocked away Chi’s iron claws with his steel left arm, then kicked someone else flying.
“Dammit… A pal of the guy in the blue coveralls, huh? He’s pretty inhuman himself,” Sickle said, ignoring her own status as a homunculus.
As a matter of fact, it wasn’t just her. Even to Salomé the researcher, Ladd’s physical abilities seemed abnormal.
Maybe it was all the murders he’d committed, or maybe there had been some other cause. It seemed as though he’d overloaded some sort of mental limiter that usually kept him from destroying his body, and he was working his body to its limit. He had to be damaging his bones and shredding his muscle fibers as he fought, but maybe the very pain was a thrill to him.
Meanwhile, the other man was plenty abnormal as well.
“Let me tell you a sad, sad story. Me and the sister in green had a whole episode together a while back, but I’m pretty sure we ended up making peace sort of by accident there in that restaurant. Look at us now, though! Ladd got all excited for no reason, and now, we’re enemies again… If this is fate, I’m not going to restaurants ever again! Get me?!”
“What the hell are you on about?! You could have just stopped that psychopath! Besides, I haven’t forgotten how you dislocated my leg!” Sickle yelled angrily.
“I see…,” Graham replied, still twirling his wrench. “In that case, your anger is justified! Meaning it wasn’t the restaurant’s fault! This is terrific. Calcium’s good for making your bones stronger… I hear big-shot scientists experimented on rats in 1921 to prove it. What about dislocation, then?! Does calcium work on the stuff that links your bones together, too?! Crap, I won’t even be able to sleep at night now! Could you prevent dislocations by taking a good balance of nutrients in addition to calcium? In that case, restaurants are actually an ally of mankind. So when you’re done taking revenge on me, why don’t we all go to a restaurant?! Peace will come, flowers will bloom, butterflies will sing… Wait, do butterflies sing?!”
“Hell if I know!” Temples twitching, Sickle launched herself off the ground. “What is it with you and the Poet?! If you’re a man, talk with your body instead of your words for a change!”
“Talk with my body…? You mean like flag semaphore?”
“No! Are you mocking me?!” A sharp kick flew at the back of his head, where it would hit his medulla oblongata.
As Graham dodged it, another member of Larva took a shot at him with a chain weight.
Graham trapped it with his wrench, then leaped at yet another opponent, using the chain that was now tangled around his wrench as part of his own weapon.
✦ ✦ ✦
The scene was utter chaos, but someone was watching it with calm eyes.
It wasn’t Christopher, who’d just arrived.
It was the cause of the ruckus, the one who’d been watching the situation unfold from the very beginning.
What’s going on?
✦ ✦ ✦
I came because I thought someone was calling me, but none of my friends are here.
✦ ✦ ✦
There’s a crowd of people. They’re all being noisy. Someone’s on my back.
✦ ✦ ✦
They’re loud, but they look like they’re having fun. Warm memories.
✦ ✦ ✦
I remember. I remember it. That’s right: This is a circus.
✦ ✦ ✦
I wonder where the ringmaster is. Where’s Parrot?
✦ ✦ ✦
Sparkly Dou isn’t here, either. I can smell something similar, though.
✦ ✦ ✦
Where are Claire and Cazze? They were here yesterday. Where are they?
✦ ✦ ✦
If I shout for them, will they come?
✦ ✦ ✦
The enormous grizzly’s roar echoed through Central Park.
✦ ✦ ✦
There was no hostility or malice in it, but almost everyone froze for a moment.
Thanks to their animal instincts, they were frightened by the roar of a creature stronger than they were.
While Ladd, Graham, and Christopher weren’t afraid of the sound, per se, every cell in their bodies urged them to be cautious.
Every eye was focused on that huge bear.
As a result, Salomé, Sickle, and the others still hadn’t noticed that Christopher was right next to them.
Meanwhile, Cookie looked around restlessly, as if he was searching for someone, but then his eyes stopped on a certain point. He’d spotted a black shadow coming his way…not either of the people Cookie was waiting for.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hmm…?”
Ladd had noticed the bear’s eyes come to rest on something, and as he followed its gaze—a silver flash bore down on him.
“Whoops!”
At the last second, he blocked with his prosthetic left arm, and a loud metallic clang rang out.
The face that had materialized in front of Ladd was one he recognized.
“…Hey there.”
“……”
“So you survived, huh?” Ladd grinned ferociously.
The black figure leaped back, putting distance between them.
At that point, everyone else saw Chané Laforet wearing a black dress and holding a knife in each hand.
“……”
Silently, she glared at Ladd.
The sharp light in her eyes was a blend of hostility, determination to kill, and nothing else.
“Oh, hey! If it ain’t Chané! I see… So karma’s finally pulling you and my brother Ladd together again, huh?! Let me tell you a sad, sad story! I don’t hate you one little bit, Chané, and I can’t sell Ladd out, either. Does that mean I can’t take sides here?! No! I’ll just have to take both your sides! Meaning I was born in order to keep anyone from getting in the way of the historic moment when your grudge is resolved once and for all. Am I overreacting? Nah, no way! After all, people go through thousands upon thousands of meanings over the course of their lives!”