Black Bullet - Volume 3 - Chapter 2.6

6

Rentaro followed along as he was taken through the gloomy building with moldy black concrete and was made to wait in front of the door. He lifted his eyes to read the words on the sign over and over and tried to reconnect with the reality that he had lost, but he couldn’t focus, and his thoughts were disordered and fragmented.

Finally, the door opened, and a police officer in his late thirties appeared wearing white nitrile rubber gloves, and he beckoned Rentaro listlessly. It would have been nice if it had been Inspector Tadashima, whose face he knew, but it appeared to be a different jurisdiction. Rentaro made a silent bow and went inside.

It was a concrete room with an area of about six tatami mats. The lighting was dim, and it smelled of incense. The inside was full of stretchers covered with white cloths, and because it was summer, a sour smell was mixed in. There were a total of nine inside. There were apparently more in the room next door.

Rentaro shook his head. He just wanted to yell at them to stop messing around. There was no way this was reality. Just let me wake up from this ridiculous dream right now. He was overcome with the desire to yell that out. However, no matter how long he waited, the nightmare would not end.

The inspector with the tired eyes spread his arms perfunctorily. “Well, it’s great that you can confirm these. It’s kind of soon but take a look.” Saying that, he roughly flipped back the first white sheet.

As he did so, the cloying smell of blood spread, and Rentaro gagged and covered his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut. The body in front of Rentaro forced him to confront the reality that he had been half avoiding. He would be having nightmares every night for a while and did his best to swallow his nausea.

After he calmed his heaving stomach, the first thing he heard was the sound of the air conditioner running. Rentaro shook his head desperately with his hand still covering his mouth. “This is terrible… I can’t believe something like this happened…”

“In order to increase its destructive power, a large amount of Varanium fragments were stuffed inside. It was terrible. The victims were Children who didn’t belong to any family registers, much less have IDs. You’ll have to verify their identities.”

“What about Mr. Matsuzaki?”

“Oh, that old man? He’s fine, but he’s laid up in bed from the shock.”

Rentaro turned his head and, looking over the depressing number of stretchers around him, took a pair of rubber gloves selflessly.

Had all of these been his students? There was no way. Yet his instincts told him that if he didn’t do something, the despair would swallow him up whole, and freeze his feet to the floor. However, that feeling was soon overwritten by hellish despair. Every time Rentaro lifted a sheet, his eyes encountered a new hell.

He girded his breaking heart and carefully told the names of the girls one by one to the inspector next to him, who was taking notes with a binder in one hand. It was surprisingly similar to the morning roll call.

He wondered how the perpetrators felt right now. Were they holding their stomachs and laughing because they were successful? Were they satisfied? Or did they feel the slightest bit of remorse?

When the long hand on the clock made about one circle, the hellish torture finally ended. He was so completely exhausted that he could barely stand.

Signing the documents and turning his back on the voice that said, “Good work,” he went outside, dragging his feet until he came to sit in the waiting room. He wanted to fall asleep then and there.

Just then, a “Let go!” ripped through the hall. In front of him, he saw Enju struggling desperately as she was held down by two police officers. Shaken for a moment, Rentaro took a deep breath to calm his heart and walked briskly over to the girl, a stern expression on his face. “Why did you come here? I told you to go home!”

“I want to see Micchan! I promised Sasana I’d show her Tenchu Girls next time!” Enju yelled.

“Enju, you understand, right? They’re already—”

“It’s a lie! They’re all lies!”

Enju, you… Rentaro closed his eyes and rebuked his half-flinching heart. He knew what he had to do. Rentaro looked quietly at the police officer near him. “Throw her out.”

Enju looked at him like he had betrayed her. “Rentaro? Rentaro? Rentaro…!”

Listening to her wails grow farther away as she was pinned down on both sides and dragged away, Rentaro’s fist shook and he gritted his teeth. Just as she was out of Rentaro’s field of vision, suddenly, the officers on either side of her were knocked down, and Enju rushed back toward him.

Her eyes were red. She had released her power.

“Hey, idiot. Stop—” Before he could finish his sentence, he was blown back by a strong force, and the next thing he knew, his hands were on the ground. Looking back reflexively, he realized that she had gone into the morgue behind him.

What had just—? The air trembled for a moment, but it could also have been Enju’s sob. But the next instant, a shriek echoed inside the police station. It was a scream the regular Enju would never have screamed that could crush the hearts of those who heard it.

Rentaro closed his eyes hard and held his ears as hard as he could. He wanted to avert his eyes for just an instant from the harsh reality of it all.