Baccano! - Volume 18 - Chapter Pr1

Digression The Prologue Doesn’t Exist

A certain month in 2003 In a corner somewhere

Rosetta, hmm?

I’m not sure whether I should rejoice at our reunion or introduce myself for the first time.

Perhaps any greeting would be meaningless.

Well, never mind.

It doesn’t matter whether this encounter is a coincidence or an inevitability that you wished for.

However, if you’d like to make small talk, I will keep you company.

The 1935 incident?

Yes. Of course I remember it.

It was a difficult affair to forget… Although, it seems you weren’t able to be a part of the fray yourself. Perhaps you should consider yourself fortunate.

But this is why I expect you’ve seen only a part of it.

There’s regret in your expression.

No matter what you think now, we made our choice.

In order to leave the bottle, we had to sacrifice perfection.

I chose the world, and you chose the future.

That said, those imperfections allow us to enjoy this world well enough. Don’t they?

Well, never mind.

If you’re bored, you may enjoy events in places beyond the scope of your power, on television or in the papers.

Personally, I entertain myself with unpredictable futures and others’ creations.

After all, even if you read the creator’s mind, there’s no guarantee the finished work will reflect it.

Yes, that’s right. I remember every detail of that incident back in 1935.

No doubt a bygone world you never knew will seem like fiction to you, Rosetta.

What? How did that incident begin in the first place? …Now, that’s an interesting question.

It had no clear “beginning.” Therefore, if that incident were a story, one could say there would be no prologue.

If one did exist, it would be the events that had occurred earlier…

The commotion surrounding the liquor of immortality, for example, during which Firo and his family became immortal. Perhaps the incident on the Flying Pussyfoot, or the uproar at Mist Wall. The events in Alcatraz and Chicago would qualify as well.

We could go still further back, when Maiza and the others encountered me onboard the ship…

Back to when you and I were born…

Taken to extremes, perhaps one could say the prologue was the beginning of the world itself.

That wasn’t a joke.

As a matter of fact, the 1935 incident occurred because a variety of pasts became entangled with one another.

Do you understand now that this incident has nothing resembling a beginning? However, if I had to say… Hmm. Let’s assume that, as a columnist for a gossip paper, I wrote a column about that incident. In that case, I should begin by relating the disaster that befell Firo.

Why Firo, you ask?

Hmm. True, misfortunes and incidents happened to others during the same period.

An extraordinary number of people were involved in that incident, after all—many of whom were at the center of one event but in the dark regarding others.

I’m beginning with Firo simply because the story is easier to tell that way.

There was a little reporter named Carol—well, I suppose now, she’s a renowned journalist whose name has gone down in history, but in any case—back when she was a rookie, she once described him to Gustav as “main character-ish.” What a fascinating perspective she has. No wonder she’s carved out success for herself.

I imagine she meant that he possessed a sort of charisma. She’s right; he does have something splendid that draws people to him. It’s different from what Isaac and Miria possess.

Hmm? …Do you know those two, Rosetta? If you don’t, I’ll explain later.

Ah. You don’t know much about Firo to begin with, do you? This is becoming quite a chore.

…Oh. Yes, I’m probably partial to him because he’s part of my circle, but…as the Martillo Family secretary, I think highly of Firo.

This is true even from my position as a so-called demon.

Don’t look at me like that. Although I do understand why you’d doubt me.

I taught him his knife-fighting, after all.

If I show him a little favoritism, just indulge me.