Chapter 5

The one lead they had was that the culprit was an Unlaw. Norman was in charge of dealing with any cases involving him, which meant locating the culprit was his responsibility. “There were five suspects…or rather, five individuals present in the mansion at the estimated time of death.” They’d moved from the scene of the crime to a drawing room inside the mansion. The room was similar in size to the office earlier, with two facing sofas and a low table between them. Norman and Harrison were seated across from each other. Shizuku sat next to Norman, hugging her knees and keeping her usual distance—close but distinctly apart. “Five people.” “Yes, four servants and a guest who happened to be staying the night.” “Is five a lot or a little for a mansion this large? Are there any suspects who weren’t present?” “Yes, and they’re currently under investigation. That said, the security at the estate was quite good. The gate and all else were locked by sunset most of the time.” “Wow. So she was very safety-conscious.” “Mrs. Wallwood took those measures after her late husband was killed by a robber, which is how she inherited the mansion. She also reportedly dismissed any servants she didn’t trust.” “I see.” “…” Norman sensed Shizuku smirking beneath her hood, likely thinking something like, Look at all the good that security did her. Norman had the same thought, but he knew Harrison would get angry if he voiced it. “There were five individuals in the mansion when the incident occurred,” the tired officer repeated. “The five were the butler, the butler’s apprentice, the valet, the maid, and the doctor. None had an alibi for the time of death, which was around eleven PM.” “…They didn’t?” “The maid and doctor were either asleep or preparing to retire to their respective rooms; the butler was preparing for the next day in his room; the butler’s apprentice was cleaning the boiler room in the basement; and the valet was arranging books in the library. However, apparently, the rooms were far enough apart they couldn’t see each other.” “Right. How did they discover her murder, then?” “Sound.” “Huh…? Oh, hmm. I guess that makes sense.” “The butler was first on the scene, followed by the valet. The rest arrived afterward.” “They got to the room, found the door locked, and when they called out and received no response, they forced it open and discovered Mrs. Wallwood dead, right?” “Correct.” “That’s surprising.” “…” Then he heard someone whisper, “Think more carefully.” He glanced over at Shizuku, and she turned her face away in a huff. “…Huh? Why were you looking at me?” Norman asked. If the overworked officer had done the same thing, it probably would have just come off as repulsive. He was a good guy, though. “Um, okay then, officer. Can we speak to those suspects…er—I guess, potential suspects?” “Yeah, I’ve briefed them.” “Thanks for all your help.” “Just doing my job,” he muttered with an unhappy sigh and left the drawing room. Norman appreciated that about Harrison. It would be much more worrisome if he was a little too eager about this line of work. “Ugh, finally.” Shizuku piped up the moment Harrison was gone. “Norman.” “What?” “I’m hungry. I want some shawarma from Downey Street.” “We can go after we question the suspects.” Shizuku gave a bored shrug. “Is questioning really so important?” “Of course. It’s crucial.” Mostly because it was his job. Personally, he couldn’t have cared less. “I don’t like work, but I’ll admit it’s nice being able to just walk into a restaurant,” Shizuku murmured happily as she used chopsticks to grip a roll of shawarma. “Cartesius gives me a livelihood, sure, but the restrictions on going out are a real bummer.” “…Restricted doesn’t mean forbidden, you know.” “What are you trying to get me to say, Norman?” “You want me to spell it out for you clearly.” Norman shrugged and took a bite of his shawarma, which was a little different from the one Shizuku had. His meat and vegetables were packed in a half-moon shaped bread—perfect for eating with your hands. The mouthwatering spicy sauce was Norman’s favorite. The shawarma restaurant on Downey Street was about an hour’s walk from the Wallwood estate. Neither of them was the type to lose their appetite after seeing a crime scene so they were taking a late lunch. “Oh? Spell what out, exactly?” Shizuku teased as she took a dainty bite with her chopsticks, though shawarma was usually rolled up and wrapped in paper and eaten by hand. “You don’t go out unless it’s with me,” Norman said. “Hmm, I don’t think that’s true.” “Rude.” “It is what it is.” She laughed softly. The restaurant had a number of counter seats and four tables, but Norman and Shizuku were sitting in the very back in a somewhat secluded spot, out of view from the outside and the counter. Away from the eyes of others, Shizuku’s demeanor changed considerably. “The only things I really go out for are food and other necessities, so it’s not a problem.” “Do you really think that?” “Yep. I don’t desire anything more than that,” she said calmly, keeping on her leather gloves as she ate. Shizuku was about the only weirdo he’d seen using foreign utensils in the city, but she needed them. She couldn’t remove her gloves, but eating with them on would be unhygienic, so she used chopsticks. Of course, depending on the dish, she’d also pick up a knife, fork, or spoon. Even for the side of fries, she refused to use her hands. “…Want some?” Norman offered. “Oh? Hee-hee, are you trying to butter me up?” Norman held up a fry between his fingers, and Shizuku happily grabbed it with her mouth. He watched her as she nibbled on the fry bit by bit. “…About the case. From what I’ve heard, all five suspects had a decent, if not good, relationship with Mrs. Wallwood. Ordinarily, they would have had no reason to kill her.” “What do you mean by ‘ordinarily’?” “Who knows?” One thing was clear—the culprit wasn’t ordinary. They were something that surpassed common sense. Hence, an Unlaw. Shizuku stuck out her tongue and licked. “That’s my finger you’re licking. Is that tasty, too?” “Isn’t there a theory that the salt on fries tastes better than the fries themselves?” Shizuku posited. “I guess I could buy that.” “That’s pretty lackluster.” “No, they’re not, they’re a dazzling golden-yellow,” Norman joked. “Not your best work.” “Tough crowd.” “Neither of us can afford to slack off on this case, Norman.” “Well, sure. I may not particularly care about the case, but a job’s a job. What do you think, Ms. Ace Detective?” “Let’s see…” Shizuku popped some of the shawarma roll into her mouth and paused to think. She swallowed, then said the first thing that came to mind. “The nightgown she had on when she died was super sexy.” “That’s noteworthy?” “Yes. Does that sort of thing appeal to you?” Norman took a moment to seriously consider the question. “…I don’t hate it, but I’m not sure it’s your style.” “If you’re being purposefully vague to avoid talking about my bust size, consider me offended.” “I’m happy when you wear clothes that feel right for you.” “Heh. Good, then.” “Ready to get to work?” “Hmm, I think I want a little more.” She raised her gloved index finger and shrugged. “What stood out to me was she was intimate enough with the culprit to meet them in a nightgown like that.” “Oh, I see where you’re coming from now…” Norman tilted his head and recalled the standing of the five suspects. “With four of the five being servants, it wouldn’t be strange for them to see their mistress in her nightwear. The fifth is a doctor, so that wouldn’t be too strange, either.” “Try looking at it from a woman’s point of view.” Shizuku finished the rest of the fries with a wry smile and continued. “It’s important. You would only wear that for someone special.” “Really?” “Yes. At least, that’s what I think.” Norman found that incredibly interesting, but he wasn’t sure what exactly she meant. Was that her line of reasoning for the case, or would Shizuku also only wear something like that for someone special? For a girl who always wore her hood, kept her gloves on even during meals, and never showed any skin, it was an especially intriguing idea. “As for the locked room… Well, that doesn’t really matter.” “The issue of the locked room isn’t anything we have to worry about.” If it was anyone’s job, it was Officer Harrison’s. Whenever an Unlaw case caused a stir, it was his job to sweep things under the rug. He might have been a far more fitting protagonist for a detective novel. “Our job is to deal with the culprit.” “You’re so serious.” Norman wished she’d take things a bit more seriously, too. “That reminds me… Your piece must be close to done by now, huh?” Shizuku froze for a moment, chopsticks poised to grab the fries. “…How unusual for you to bring that up, Norman.” “You’ve been learning how to compose for a while now. I’ve been watching from the sidelines because it’s not my area of expertise, but I don’t know… Lately, it feels like you’re almost ready to put on the finishing touches.” Norman knew what it meant to her. “When you do complete it, I’d like to be the first one to hear it.” “I suppose that could be arranged.” Shizuku looked straight at Norman with those yellow eyes of hers. A new light was present in her eyes, a dark shade of yellow. “Let’s hurry and finish so we can have some alone time.” The words seemed heavy, but their moods were as light as a single fry. The culprit had stayed in the mansion that night because the police had told them to. Four out of the five witnesses lived there to begin with, and the lone outsider could hardly refuse a police order. In the few days since Mary Wallwood’s murder, none of the five had been able to leave the mansion. A mansion that was now the scene of a murder—it was just unthinkable. In a way, they had been mourning. All five had adored Mary Wallwood. At midnight, the culprit set foot into the foyer—but no one had told them to. There was an unpleasant feeling deep in their ears, a crawling, scratching sensation. An anxiety and discomfort that couldn’t be put into words. It felt as if someone was calling their name. It felt like the voice of the woman they killed was calling out to them. Before they knew it, they couldn’t sit still, and the voice had drawn them to Mary’s room. “…Ah, there you are.” In the center of the room stood a girl wearing a hood. She was fully covered, even her hands were wrapped in leather gloves, and there was a violin case slung over her shoulder. Her monochrome, silver hair spilled from her hood, drawing one’s attention to it. Her half-lidded dark yellow eyes were uncaring, as though she’d given up on the world around her. She stood there like a flower in the dark room, lit only by moonlight streaming through the window. Like a bud quietly still in the depths of a dark cave, she stood in the center of the bisected desk. She was one half of the mysterious pair who had appeared that afternoon and questioned the culprit and the other four. The questioning itself had been strange. Any routine interview would involve asking about their whereabouts at the time of the crime and their relationship with the victim. But they—the boy, to be precise—asked only about the culprit’s relationship with Mary and what kind of life they’d led beforehand. His indifference toward alibis was striking—perhaps even irresponsible. The girl had remained silent by his side then. “…” It’s her. The unpleasant sound echoed deep in the culprit’s ears. Instinct, or perhaps intuition, told them that girl was the one who had called them here. She cast a bored look their way. “Eeep!” Her glance alone struck fear into their heart. They didn’t know why. She looked like an ordinary girl the first time they saw her. This time, though, was different. The girl emitted an air that stirred something within them. Their throat tightened, their body trembled, and they took a step backward without thinking. “Oh, you’re not going anywhere.” “…!” The boy now blocked the exit. His gray hair was in a ponytail at the back of his neck, and he wore a thick coat and a black felt hat that oddly suited him. His face was well-proportioned, but his droopy eyes and dopey expression kept him from being handsome. He resembled a small animal with no claws or fangs, and he seemed like someone who would be a hit with older women as opposed to girls his own age. He appeared without a sound and passed by them with light steps to stand by the girl. Holding his hat down with one hand, the boy pointed his index finger at the culprit. “It was you.” Alfred Curtis, the butler’s apprentice, jolted. His face contorted. His eyes widened, his light blond hair bristled, and his face turned pale. “H-how…?!” He wheezed. “…” Norman looked at him, puzzled. Shizuku shrugged and sighed. “Hit the nail on the head first try, Norman.” She had remained silent during the questioning, just standing next to Norman. Her voice was clear but listless and uninterested. “Yep. I’m glad we saved some time. Honestly, the way things were looking, I don’t know what we would have done if it turned out the culprit wasn’t one of these five.” “It all worked out in the end. What was his name again?” “Alfred Curtis.” “Right, right.” “Wha…? What are you two even saying?!” Alfred screamed out. Norman and Shizuku lacked any sense of tension, almost as if… “Y-you tricked me?! You didn’t even know if I’m the culprit!” “Who cares who the culprit is, Alfred?” Norman said flatly. “Wh-what the hell are you saying? You’re detectives, aren’t you?!” “We’re not detectives. People call us that sometimes, though. Maybe ‘who cares’ was a little much, but the culprit’s identity isn’t our priority here.” “Then what—?” “The priority is figuring out what sort of monster you are.” “…” Alfred’s expression cracked. It was nothing like his overreaction when he was accused of being the culprit—this time he went from pale to completely white. Up until that point, he’d only had frustration and doubt, but now there was open fear. “You must have some idea, right? Monsters like you are called Unlaw,” Norman continued. “Bardium is home to loads of them. Investigating Unlaw isn’t quite our jobs… And it’s not like I’m an Unlaw myself.” “We’re cut from the same cloth, you and I.” Shizuku Teardrop laughed. She was a flower that refused to blossom, a bud in the darkness shying away from the light—and now she was smiling at a man who had crawled out of the same dark pit. “…You too?” For a moment, Alfred’s expression turned strange. He was still shaken, face pale with surprise, but there was also a hint of joy. They were comrades. The same kind of monster. “Tell me why you killed Mrs. Wallwood, Alfred.” “I…I…” The joy faded, and his face twisted as the memory of what Mary Wallwood said to him came flooding back. “She…she said it herself!” Alfred screamed. “Lady Mary said it herself! She knew I was hiding something, but she said she’d accept me anyway! So I…I—!” “So you showed her your ability.” “Exactly! Then… And then…!” “She rejected you, and you killed her.” “Urrrgh…!” Alfred groaned, clutching his head with both hands. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. “And? What exactly is that ability?” Norman asked. “…Huh?” “You have an ability, don’t you? Well, what is it?” “…” “Tell me, Alfred. I’m not like Mary. I’m familiar with Unlaw. Some are even my friends. Shizuku here is one. I won’t reject you for being different.” “…” Alfred seemed like he could start laughing or crying at any moment—like someone hanging off the edge of a cliff, thinking it was the end, when a hand suddenly reached out to save them. “…Haaah.” Shizuku sighed next to Norman, but Alfred was in no state of mind to notice. “I…I can change the size of my body.” “Wow.” Norman nodded. “By how…much exactly?” “I can shrink myself to the size of a mouse…or make my arms about three times bigger.” “Oh, I see. Hence, the locked room. You shrank down and fled through the vent. And your giant arm was responsible for killing Mrs. Wallwood.” “That’s right.” “Hmm. Wouldn’t your clothes rip if you grew that much?” “…I-I’d taken off my jacket. I thought that when we were done talking, we were going to…you know…” “Oh, so you were having an important chat before the deed. Pretty bold for a room with no bed.” It was all so simple. The doors and windows were locked. If you could shrink your body, a vent could serve as an entrance and an exit. A vent that was ordinarily much too small for a human. Ordinarily, yes. But Alfred Curtis was anything but ordinary. He was a monster. A locked room for a normal person was anything but for a monster. Knowing the secret of his power removed the mystery—there was nothing to deduce. It wouldn’t even pass as a mystery novel. “So you can grow and shrink?” “Yes…that’s right! I’m not some pint-sized brat from the slums anymore. I studied and worked hard. I got bigger! Lady Mary should have understood that, but she…rejected me—” “That’s enough, Norman. Good grief,” Shizuku interrupted, looking like she might crack up. She laughed at her fellow monster. “You don’t need to bother questioning a Category One Shapeshifter.” “Hmm, I’d like to question him some more. I do have to write a report later.” “Basically, you grew up in the slums, and the memory of being exploited became a deep-rooted insecurity. You worked hard to educate yourself, but that childhood insecurity turned into trauma. Deep down, you still saw yourself as that same little slum kid and manifested the power to shrink. Then you wanted to seem bigger, but you could only change your arms—something like that?” “…” “Now, there’s a shock. Since when were you able to understand people’s feelings?” “I don’t understand people’s feelings,” the girl—the monster in the form of a girl—said. “But I understand the feelings of monsters. Category Ones are easy to crack.” “…Category…One…?” “Category One. That’s what we call newly awakened Unlaw like you. Your abilities are undeveloped, and you’re mentally unstable. That makes you prone to causing incidents like this. You lose the ability to make rational decisions. As for your ability… Well, that’s enough for now.” Speaking of rational decisions, Alfred clearly wasn’t making any. Several days had passed since the incident, and he could have escaped. With his ability to change his size, evading the police would have been a simple matter. There would have been nothing Norman and Shizuku could have done if he’d fled and gone into hiding. Or, since he could do things that were impossible for most, he could have frustrated the investigation by contaminating the crime scene or made things even more confusing by committing a similar crime outside the estate. When he thought about it, there was a plethora of options he could have picked from. For example, if he truly regretted it, he could have turned himself in. Whether he would have been treated fairly was another question, but it was an option. Instead, Alfred was paralyzed. He’d stopped thinking. He was terrified at the guilt he felt and petrified by the possibility his identity might be exposed. Even now, he was only thinking one thing. “H-help me!” “Huh?” “Please help me! Wh-what should I do?! I killed Lady Mary! I can’t stay here! Y-you said you accept Unlaw, right? There must be something I can do, like her over there—” “No way in hell.” “…Huh?” Norman’s gaze was cold. He no longer appeared like an innocent, small animal. His gaze, instead, was distant, like he was looking from this world into the next. “Wh-why not?! You said you accept Unlaw—” “There’s no way I’d accept someone who kills people for rejecting them. If I accepted you, then what? Who wants to be killed over some petty disagreement. Even supposing I did take you in, you could just as easily kill someone else for the same reason down the line. You brought this on yourself.” “Wh-what…? Why are you suddenly talking like a normal—?” “Even if you changed alongside the others…” Norman glanced at Shizuku, who stood beside him. They were separated by the distance of a fist; the slightest movement would bring them closer together. Shizuku shifted over. “Hmph.” She leaned on him. To be close to him. To support him. To rely on him. He couldn’t fathom the meaning of her smile. “Even if you changed alongside the others, we live in a society. There’s no city just for Unlaw. The city walls surround more than just them.” Bardium Walled City hid many monsters, and though Unlaw were different from the rest, they still lived with everyone else—lurking, transforming, deviating, and distorting. Even if they broke the rules of nature, they still had to abide by the laws and ethics of humanity. That much was obvious. “Not understanding something so obvious makes you nothing more than a monster.” Norman might have seemed like he was forcing his logic onto Alfred, but his tone wasn’t sanctimonious—it felt less like he was stating how things were and more like he was convincing himself how they ought to be. “I’m not going to help a monster. You killed Mrs. Wallwood for selfish reasons. Being an Unlaw isn’t a crime, but murder is. Didn’t you ever learn that?” “He probably killed the person who taught him to know better,” Shizuku chimed in. “I can’t… I can’t… It’s too—!” It was too late now. Alfred Curtis had killed Mary Wallwood because she didn’t accept him and because things didn’t go as he had expected. “Urgh… Ungh…!” He grasped at his head, trembling and groaning. But Norman and Shizuku heard a different sound from him. Creak, creak. The sound of a thread about to snap. “Shizuku.” “Right.” She smiled when he called her name. Alfred’s contorted face appeared in agony, and in contrast, Shizuku’s smile was radiant. Norman took her hand, and she stepped forward with a light step. She glanced at the violin case on her shoulder for a moment but looked quickly away. Her hood slipped off due to the motion, letting her silver hair to spill free, fine and soft, glimmering under the moonlight. Her hair had always been concealed by her hood, but now it spilled down to her waist. Just then… “Wraaagh!” …the thread snapped. The thread of reason. The thread of instinct. The thread of patience. Perhaps they all snapped at once. Alfred Curtis’s right arm grew massive. His fist alone could crush someone’s chest with ease. Now three times its original size, his enlarged limb tore his clothes. “Ha-ha!” Shizuku laughed again at the sight. She’d been laughing the whole time. Alfred couldn’t understand why. Shizuku raised her right hand and gestured at the monster with the giant arm. “…Guh!” Alfred instinctively covered his ears with both hands. Oddly clever was the way his right ear was covered only by a giant finger pad. Based on the way he had been summoned to the room, he concluded that Shizuku’s ability was related to sound. “Hmph!” But Shizuku didn’t care. Her left hand still holding Norman’s, she snapped her fingers elegantly, as if plucking a violin string. Snap. “Echo Howling.” A vision played before Alfred Curtis’s eyes. Dressed in her nightgown, Mary Wallwood was slumped against the front of her desk. She was terrified of him. She trembled, her expression rigid. There was fear in her eyes. Doubt, amazement, rejection—all those feelings were directed at him. “Monster!” Mary screamed. You’re different. Then he crushed her. Her chest caved in as the sturdy desk gave way. Even in death, her expression remained frozen in terror and despair. It was a quick and trite death, the type he’d seen many times in the slums. And despite his struggle to escape them his whole life, he was now the cause of one of those deaths. His world spun and turned upside down. “Monster!” she screamed. Rejection. Conflict. We can’t be together because you’re different. “Monster!” she screamed. Don’t come near me. Stay away from me. Leave me alone. This was the woman he had held above all else, and now echoes of her were howling at him nonstop. The moment she rejected him and he killed her was replaying over and over again. “Ah! Aaah! Aaaaah!” Something within Albert Curtis cracked—his heart. Every time he was forced to revisit that moment, his heart creaked and groaned as the fissures in it grew and grew. Echo Howling—an ability that manipulated the mind. Visions of the past or future of whatever Shizuku had touched. Though she had some control over the visions, unintentional glimpses still occurred, forcing her to limit contact as much as possible. The current iteration was the best she could manage after fine-tuning and moderating it with Norman’s help. The pasts people didn’t want to remember. The futures they didn’t want to imagine. Her ability touched those raw spots deep within the minds of others and amplified painful memories many times over. If it activated without contact, the ability slipped from her control and would continue to howl indefinitely. Her target would be forced to relive their trauma, triggering panic attacks that left them hyperventilating or even cause them to go into cardiac arrest from the shock. Her parents had nearly died because of it—her neighbors, too. Even people in her neighborhood, whom she barely knew, had their emotional scars reopened. She was still the same Shizuku, even as an Unlaw, and her mere presence was enough to others. “Ah… Haaah… Lady…Mary…” “Well well…you’re more stubborn than I thought. Or perhaps I should say shameless.” Echo Howling: Vision was an ability that gave visions of the past or future of whatever Shizuku touched. Though she had some control over the visions, unintentional glimpses still occurred, forcing her to cover herself up to avoid touching things as much as possible. With Norman’s help, she had finally reached a point where she could exercise a modicum of control over the ability. Echo Howling was infinitely worse. It was simply the reliving of trauma. The howling repeated practically infinite times when triggered without touch—though now she could at least choose who it would affect. Of course, practically infinite was a far cry from truly infinite. All memories eventually faded. These echoes, too, eventually came to an end. Alfred was now a hollow shell of himself, just barely standing on his own two feet. “I guess there’s that slum-kid toughness. What do we do? One more push, and he’s done for.” “I can see that.” Shizuku faintly raised her eyebrows at the sight of Alfred standing there like a zombie. After a moment’s consideration… “Norman?” “Yeah? Wha—?” …she yanked him by the hand and pressed her lips to his. “Mmph…?! Hey—” “Lick.” When she didn’t hesitate to slip her tongue into his mouth, Norman was surprised but let her do as she wished. “Huh?” Alfred was already on the verge of total collapse and seeing them kiss only confused him. He simply didn’t understand what was going on. But two things surprised him. The first was Norman letting the kiss happen—though it seemed more out of resignation than enjoyment. Like an adult indulging a child’s whims with a weary smile, he accepted Shizuku’s eccentricities without complaint. He even had the composure to adjust his slipping hat and gently hold her by the waist. The other surprise was… As they kissed, Shizuku cast a sidelong glance at Alfred and smiled. Her dark yellow eyes pierced Alfred, her cheeks flushed and curled up in a sneer. Yet another fissure opened in him with a crack. Shizuku noticed, her smile growing even wider. “…” She was rubbing it in his face. You and I are the same kind of monster, but no one accepted you. You were rejected. But I have someone who accepts me. Someone who won’t reject me. You and I, we’re not the same. We’re similar but different. You’re unloved. I’m not. She was flaunting it, and nothing more. That was why she had been smiling all along. She had something he didn’t, and that gave her a sense of superiority. Of course, there was also a part of her that simply wanted to kiss Norman. “…” It echoed throughout Alfred’s mind. A single teardrop fell. The fissure in his heart opened wider and wider until he couldn’t bear it any longer. “…How?” As his heart crumbled to pieces, he posed a question—Shizuku and Alfred were different, but why? “Ha-ha.”