“Is your sister really that important to you?” Tabuki asked, almost kindly.
“Obviously!”
“I see. Well then, I guess I’ll you’ll all be punished, then. The children will pay for the sins of the father.”
Ringo gripped the elevator door as though she was about to crumble, listening to Shoma’s violent panting as he ran. By what means did Tabuki mean to exact this “punishment”?
With a look of regret, Kanba lowered his eyes, and waited patiently for Tabuki’s next words.
A short time later, Kanba was standing by the crane, reaching out to the thick wire attached to the gondola. It looked to be twisted from countless thin metal strands. Attached to the crane itself were two large, slightly rusted pulleys, lit by the light of the moon.
“Kan-chan, stop it,” Himari softly begged, tears in her eyes.
The punishment Tabuki proposed was an incredibly simple, yet devilish one. Tabuki would cut the final wire. The gondola would drop instantaneously, Himari and all. Kanba would have to keep the gondola aloft with his own two hands. From the edge of the pulley, he would need to grip the wire and pull.
“Himari, hold on tight.” Kanba looked down at Himari, putting on a brave face. Then he gripped the wire and held it tight with both hands.
“Kanba-kun!”
“It’s over now.” With a blank expression, Tabuki pushed the button to cut the final wire.
With the fearsome sound of countless metal strands twisting and snapping, the pulley spun forcefully, and the gondola fell.
Kanba let out a roar and flung himself upward in the blink of an eye, still gripping the wire. Penguin No. 1 flew up with him, clinging to Kanba’s back. The rope that was coiled up on the ground began slipping through his hands.
“Kan-chan!” Himari screamed as Kanba was hoisted upward, swaying unsteadily. In the now-diagonal gondola, No. 3 burrowed into Himari’s body as she huddled in the corner.
The pulley continued to spin, utterly unconcerned with Kanba’s weight. His body continued whipping upward, arms still attached to the wire. At this rate, his arms were going to end up wrapped around the upper pulley.
As he clung to the rope, Kanba pulled his lower body up, wrapping his legs around the crane and digging in his feet. The rapidly slipping gondola gave a heaving groan and stopped moving. The blood dripping from Kanba’s hands ran down his arms, splashing onto his cheeks. It was clear that even if he utilized every last tendon in his body, he was soon going to lose out to the weight of the gondola and the strength of the rope.
“Hurts, doesn’t it? I know that pain well. That’s the pain of love,” Tabuki said, shrinking back as he looked up at the groaning Kanba.
Kanba couldn’t say a word. No matter how hard he tried to endure it, the pain was growing more and more intense. If he couldn’t force even more strength into his hands and legs, he was going to lose his grip on the rope.
“So, what are you going to do? At this rate you’re going to ruin your own hands.”
“I don’t care!” Kanba shouted in a pained scream, closing his eyes tight.
“You don’t feel obligated to her in the name of family, do you? Come on, let her go now, and be free. Cast aside your little sister. Just like my mother cast me aside.”
“No! I’m never letting go!” I’m not like your mother, Kanba thought. He would never cast Himari away.
Seeing Kanba’s stubborn resistance, Tabuki momentarily recalled a scene from the distant past: Momoka, who never let go of his hand, no matter what.
“Tabuki-san, stop this already! You don’t need revenge!”
Tabuki turned around at the sound of Ringo’s shout. Her voice was so much like Momoka’s. He was smiling, face twisted as though in tears. “I bet I’m hideous right now, aren’t I?” he asked.
Ringo felt a deep sorrow as she looked at his expression.
“Momoka worked so hard to rescue me back then,” he continued, “and here I am now, wretched to the bone. When I lost Momoka, I lost my reason to live. The man standing here before you is not the boy Momoka loved. I’m a monster, hollowed out from the inside.”
His arms drooped down, and the remote control fell to the ground.
In Ringo’s eyes, Tabuki was a horrid, pitiful monster. What would Momoka have done, in her place? If Ringo had the diary with her right now, surely there would be some hint written inside. However, Ringo was not Momoka. She couldn’t save Kanba or Himari. She could not even save Tabuki, nor could she heal those hollow parts of him.
Kanba screamed in pain.
“Kan-chan!” Himari shouted, still gripping the grate of the gondola.
“Don’t…worry about me!” Bit by bit, the wire was slipping from Kanba’s strong hands.
“Please, that’s enough already! Let go!” she pleaded with him.
“Who would ever let go?!” Kanba yelled, not noticing the cold glare Tabuki shot him.
Suddenly, Himari’s voice grew stronger. “That’s enough,” she said firmly. “It’s okay, Kan-chan. Don’t hurt yourself for me anymore. You’ve done enough.”
“Himari.” Below Kanba, Himari’s face was so firm, and mature. She smiled faintly, as pale and beautiful as ever.
“I…I know. My illness is never going to be cured, is it? I know I don’t have very long to live.”
“What are you saying? You will be cured. I’ll cure you!”
Himari lightly shook her head. “Listen, it’s okay. Just know that I was happy.” She steeled herself and looked at No. 3. “Sorry,” she whispered, knowing she was about to plunge from this gondola alone.
“Himari! Don’t!” Kanba screamed.