“There is no need to worry about me,” said the white doctor. His voice was such that everything he said seemed wrapped in that wan, calm darkness. “I am no one’s enemy, just as I am nobody’s ally. React to me no differently than you remember.”
Yakou didn’t answer, the consequence of his lingering confusion. In this case, all those who became creatures of the night bent a knee to Princess and recognized her dominion. He found it hard to accept that this doctor alone should prove the exception.
“Rashness will yield us nothing right now. Please sit.”
Yakou felt no alternative except to sit down in the chair indicated.
“On my way here, a murderous and hostile vibe passed by me. That was Kikiou, I take it?”
“Yes. This is Tomoko Kanan, Takako’s mother.” Mephisto went on to briefly describe what had just happened.
“So that box was definitely it.”
Tomoko answered with a small nod. However she might be the incarnation of the calm and dispassionate scholar, for a middle-aged woman from outside Shinjuku to retain such composure inside it, let alone witnessing the antics of what might better be called demonic beasts in the office of the director of Mephisto Hospital, required a heart and soul of a particular sort.
In any case, Yakou’s expression shifted from understanding to contemplation. “But what would happen when casting that world down the other end of the nexus connecting this world to itself—that is a question for physicists and mathematicians.”
“There is nothing in history that suggests a solution?”
Tomoko drew her brows and said in a small voice, “There is an account of something similar from the Qin Dynasty, but I do not remember the details.”
“Where do you think the box is?”
“Well—”
“You couldn’t construct a parallel route?”
“Not the kind of task normally in the purview of a medical doctor.”
“Didn’t you learn everything about that world when you were there?”
Mephisto’s expression shifted, a fleeting smile, a shadow no one saw. Yakou’s question struck a raw nerve.
A visage of demonic beauty turned quietly to Yakou. “You sin against knowledge itself,” he said. “I amassed much knowledge in that world. But it is not nearly enough. There is much more, equal to the heavens and the earth, that awaits me. I should be on my way.”
“No matter what the world?”
“No matter what the world.”
“As I am now, I must destroy it.” Yakou unconsciously raised his hands to his lips. “Will you stop me?”
“There is knowledge in that world,” Mephisto said shortly.
That was all he needed to say. Yakou focused his thoughts on a single point—whether he could defeat this doctor. He felt the doctor’s eyes on him. Were these the eyes of a man who hungered after blood and feared the sun? What in the world had those eyes seen?
The intercom buzzed. Those eyes of darkness faded into the distance. “What?” Mephisto said to the nurse’s face floating above the desk.
“Setsura Aki is here to see you.”
“Show him in.”
“He is already on his way.”
“I figured as much.”
Yakou caught in Mephisto’s voice reverberations of exactly what he’d heard before, and that raised waves of discord in his heart. The only thing in existence that aroused in the doctor ordinary human emotions. Yakou restrained these whispering sentiments breaking like foam upon his consciousness, that seemed awfully akin to jealousy.
A minute later, the door of the director’s office opened solemnly and the young man in black entered.
“What’s with the box?” he asked.
Mephisto repeated the same explanation he’d given Yakou. His features clouded and Setsura raked his hand through his hair. “Takako is in there.” He gave Mephisto a hard look. “And Princess should have returned as well. What are we going to do?”
“We have yet to come to an agreement on a way forward. But we should be on our way.”
“Are you connected with it?” With Princess’s world, he meant.
“No. We have no choice but to discover the nexus for ourselves.”
“Time’s a wasting, Mephisto,” Setsura said. “Night is falling. The people of this city will be waking from their sleep. The police are mobilizing, but the odds of beating back the entire population with peaches alone are slim. We have to destroy that world, eliminate the place they return to, and put an end to them once and for all. Otherwise, the victims will only multiply. There won’t be enough Toyama housing projects in the world to handle all of them.”
“It’s quite unlike you to talk in such immoderate terms. Has your personality taken a turn for the worse? Perhaps you have been on the receiving end of a defiling kiss?”
“Yeah,” Setsura said in a clearly pissed tone of voice. “That’s all I’ve been doing of late, making kissy-face.” He followed up Mephisto’s sigh with a loud smacking sound.
Directly in his line of sight, Yakou raised the back of his hand to his mouth and grinned. A moment later, the smile froze on his face.
“So, the entire citizenry becoming creatures of the night—?” Mephisto grumbled, averting his eyes from Yakou. “Maybe that’s just what they all want. What if we left it up to them?”
“Sure, tell that to the mayor,” Setsura said. He gazed back at Mephisto. “Everybody in this city becoming the same is the last thing anybody wants, and blood will run in the streets to keep that from happening. We need to do whatever we can to stem the tide.”
“He’s right,” Yakou agreed. “Mephisto, any stopgap measures?”
“It will take time.”
“We have no other means.”
“If you want to leave that world in one piece, we need to cooperate.”
“There are other means.”
They all looked at Yakou. “I got here first, but Tonbeau-san should be along presently. If she and the doctor got together, I’m sure they could find a way.”
“Yeah, but—”
Setsura flashed Mephisto a satisfied smile, the only human being on the planet allowed such latitude. “Can you say no to that woman? Otherwise, you won’t be much use to us as a vampire.”
He said so in as blunt a tone as he could manage. Mephisto had opened his mouth to respond when the intercom buzzed and announced that Tonbeau Nuvenberg had arrived.