29: Memory erasure
The scorching sunlight had long since faded from his awareness.
His brain was struggling to process the situation, unable to produce any output beyond causing his lips to tremble pathetically.
Almost everyone present was holding their breath, their mouths shut tight.
“Tanuki… what’s going on…?”
There was nothing he could say to answer Misato, who was trembling.
Was he in a nightmare?
A wintery chill ran down his spine.
Who was the driver?
Why had Enka been taken?
Was this an attempt to destroy evidence?
The questions were endless, but first he had to call the police. It was clearly a kidnapping, and some of the witnesses would have already reported it to the police.
A death, a traffic accident, and now a kidnapping.
It was as if all the bad luck of several years had been concentrated into one day.
As he was thinking this, his phone rang.
It was Koki.
“Hello?”
‘Are you okay? We’ve got things under control here. The people who were hypnotized have regained consciousness.’
“I see.”
‘But something else has happened instead.’
Ryugo snorted at the solemn tone in his voice.
“What is it? I’m not surprised by anything anymore.”
‘Haruyoshi Hebisawa’s body has disappeared.’
“Wha…?!”
This extraordinary development came right after he had convinced himself that nothing more shocking could happen.
His mind, already on the verge of boiling, was now refusing to comprehend.
“Why?”
‘No one should have touched it, but… it just vanished.’
“A dead body can’t just walk away. Someone must have taken it.”
‘I was right next to the body. I would have noticed if someone had come near it and taken it.’
“Could it have been a fake?”
‘You saw it too, right? The knife was buried up to the hilt. Do you think he could have survived that? Even if it was an incredibly well-made doll, it’s impossible for it to have disappeared in an instant.’
“Yeah…”
To Ryugo’s eyes too, it had seemed genuine.
If it was a fake, it must have been made with incredible skill. It was beyond the capabilities of a mere high school girl.
No matter how he tried to reason it out, he always came back to the conclusion that “the body had moved.”
An irrefutable fact.
“What’s going on…”
‘Anyway, come back here. We need to talk.’
“Yeah.”
Ending the call, I opened the screen to input a phone number.
I had to report the kidnapping.
One, one, zero……then make the call――
–No, wait, what was that biker’s goal to begin with?
Was it really a kidnapping?
A small doubt was suddenly born.
A strange nagging feeling was forbidding my fingers from touching the screen.
Something was wrong.
If he went so far as to run over Madoka to retrieve her, then he must have known about the hypnosis app.
Thinking back, Madoka’s escape route was clear. If she had planned to meet the biker here from the start, then it would make sense.
That accident might have been……just an accident after all. Maybe she didn’t notice his approach because she was looking away.
“Let’s go back for now……”
“Yes.”
Back at the factory, the people who had been controlled by Madoka earlier were all collapsed. They seemed to be conscious, but they were too exhausted to get up.
Aira’s private soldiers, who had been fighting them, were also worn out and were catching their breath while leaning on pillars.
“You’re back.”
Kouki stood up and shrugged.
“It seems that Madoka…got away.”
“She was taken by someone on a motorcycle.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Kidnapping or an accomplice…it was a motorcycle with a sidecar.”
“So, did you call the police?”
“Sorry. I haven’t reported it yet.”
“――Ah, you’d better not.”
Suddenly, a voice called out from behind us and we turned around.
She wore a bunny suit that I didn’t recognize, but her voice was familiar. Her beauty was otherworldly. And despite her air of blending into the background, her presence was loudly assertive.
Her face wore a haughty smile, but her eyes were devoid of emotion.
“You…Miss Bunny Suit?”
The strange girl was standing about ten meters away.
She narrowed her crimson eyes slightly……,
“Now, let’s start the experiment!!”
she suddenly heard.
In an instant, the factory scenery vanished like confetti, replaced by a whimsical and fairy-tale world.
“Huh!? What!?”
Giant flasks floated in the air, surrounded by triangles and bright red apples.
The floor was made of red and blue checkered tiles. It formed a circular stage with a bottomless void beneath it.
Trumpet-wielding rabbits surrounded us.
“Wha…huh!?”
“What’s going on…?”
Next to me, Misato looked around in fear.
Is this what Makoto was talking about?
It feels completely unreal.
“A place that transcends time and space, a pocket dimension.”
Kouki, who seemed to know about it, pushed up his glasses. It annoyed me a little.
There were only three of us there: Ryuugo, Kouki, and me. Ira and her private soldiers, as well as the hypnotized soldiers who were supposed to have been defeated, weren’t there.
Furthermore, the summer heat was nowhere to be found.
We were in a pleasant atmosphere like that of spring or autumn.
“Po-….what the heck is that?”
“There are many cases of people suddenly disappearing, such as mysterious disappearances and abductions, but this seems to be the answer. Apparently, those higher-ups have their own fixed space-time (pocket dimension) and can create them.”
“….Apparently?”
“I only heard about it before, from that Miss Bunny Suit.”
Kouki directed the question to her, and Ryuugo and Misato turned to face the bunny suit again. She was sitting at the bottom of the stairs.
“Kouki, did you know her?”
From Noble mtl dot com
Misato asked, and the bunny suit nodded slightly.
“Yes. To begin with, that guy and I were partners through a contract in this experiment. However, the ownership seems to have been transferred to Watari Ryuugo there.”
“Because I sent the app to his smartphone. But why in this space?”
“Because it was hot.”
That’s fair enough.
“Also, I wanted to minimize the number of people involved in this experiment as much as possible. Kouki, the first owner, Ryuugo, the second owner, and Misato, who knows the details. The three of you are the only ones I can talk to.”
“Then why did you show up around the raccoon dog? You’re not supposed to interfere directly with the experiment, are you?”
“Since the owner has changed, I thought I’d at least say hello. However, Enka was always nearby, so I couldn’t make contact. Even at night, she had civilians hypnotized to keep watch around Ryuugo’s house. But still, why did she find out that I was here? I was perfectly blended in…”
I don’t think she blended in; I think nobody wanted to get involved with her.
When Ryuugo replied, “If you dress like that, you’ll stand out no matter what…” the bunny widened her already big eyes in surprise.
“W-What are you talking about…? I was taught that this is a very popular outfit among humans!? That every girl wears it!”
“It’s popular, yeah… but not everyone wears it.”
“What the…? Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else dressed like this besides me…”
Whoever told her that must have been really mean, but she’s also a bit of an airhead.
Realizing the truth, the bunny gritted her teeth and growled, “I’ll n-never forgive that guy…!”
“So, why did you go into the mall…?”
“Because it was hot. And I was bored.”
“O…kay.”
The reason was surprisingly boring.
She must be a real heat wimp.
Kouki crossed his arms and glared at me.
“Well, let’s put the stupid rabbit aside… Raccoon dog, what do you want to know?”
“Well… what do you mean Misato knows about this?”
“Alright. Let’s start with something close to home.”
As he said that, Kouki started to operate his smartphone.
…Is he going to show us some pictures to explain?
I was a little scared, but I was also annoyed at being forced to fight without knowing anything. Let’s hear everything from the beginning.
“That was the day we entered high school.”
I read through the message displayed on my phone screen—speechless.
There, Ryūgo, Kōki… and Misato were photographed in a friendly manner. All three of them had carefree smiles on their faces and their shoulders were close together.
There was not a single cloud in the sky.
They were enjoying their youth as if they couldn’t be happier to be together.
It’s a scene I don’t remember.
“The three of us have been close friends since elementary school. We did everything together, and our parents were also close. We often went out to play.”
“W… wh… wait… wait a minute…”
“But, you’ve forgotten all about Misato.”
“Huh?”
No matter how much I try to remember the past, I can only see Kōki.
My head hurts.
A sharp pain runs through the depths of my brain, as if a nail had been driven into it. My Bl00d vessels are hot, burning my skull like fire.
She shouldn’t be there.
When I was home, the only person I played games with was Kōki.
There are three cups on the table… three controllers, three cushions.
But one person is missing.
“Ugh…!!”
Groaning in pain, I walk through the corridors of memory.
The photos projected on the wall show familiar scenes.
However, the person in the picture with Ryūgo and Kōki is blacked out.
“What the heck… is this…”
“It seems that your memories have been tampered with by Enka’s ‘order’. As the owner of Experiments, you are now resistant to hypnosis, but your erased memories will not fully return. Only a slight reaction will occur.”
“What the hell…”
“Tanuki, didn’t you feel something strange when you were with Enka?”
The answer to that question came to mind immediately.
The day I first got the app.
In the infirmary, when Enka called me her “friend”, I felt a sense of discomfort. I didn’t think we were that close.
“Was that the ‘attitude: friend’ hypnosis…?”
“You’ve been manipulated by Enka all along.”
I don’t want to believe it, but it would explain everything.
“But why would Enka do such a thing…”
No one could answer that question.
Suddenly, I noticed Misato’s expression clouding over and her head hanging down.
Sensing something faint in that, I tried to ask her, but at that moment,
“Now then, Mayama Misato. Confess your sins.”
The bunny suit said in a loud voice, and Misato’s eyes widened in confusion.
“Huh… what?”
“A grave sin that cannot be overlooked. Put it into words and repent.”
Misato has sinned?
Speaking of which, why was Misato hostile?
Even if her memories were erased, she could have become friends again or explained the situation.
If she didn’t, there must have been a reason.
“Hold it,
Ryugo stepped forward as if to protect her.
“It’s the same story I heard from Makoto. This bunny suit intends to judge you on its own. It’s a monster that acts like God.”
To that, the bunny suit replied.
“I won’t punish you if you just talk. Hate the sin, not the sinner. Besides, my judgment is always just right. Without fail.”
What an unreliable way of speaking.
I gestured to Misato behind me to “keep quiet”, but
“W-well, I…”
Misato glanced at Ryugo and uttered in a strangled voice.
“That day…the day after Kouki transferred and Tanuki lost his memory…Enka helped manipulate the classroom…”
“So?”
“The story about Aira falling down the stairs. I was the one who did it, under Enka’s orders. I hit her repeatedly with a bat…”
Misato grew paler and paler, but she still didn’t show any sadness on her face. Despite the pain distorting her features, she bit back her tears and endured it.
She must have a strong sense of being a perpetrator.
I can understand not wanting to be pitied.
“Tanuki, do you remember the person who was hit by a car?”
“Hey, are you serious…”
Ryugo immediately realized what was being talked about, and clutched his head and looked up at the sky.
Misato continued paying without any attention.
“Enka did that too. I followed you guys and reported everything to her. Then she used the app to manipulate the cyclist to get hit.”
“Why?”
“She said that people like that are better off dead.”
So she was serious about killing people that time too.
Enka is acting like God now.
That young cyclist certainly wasn’t well-behaved, but he wasn’t evil enough to deserve to die.
Haruyoshi probably didn’t do anything that deserved death either. I don’t know everything about him, so maybe there’s some surprising truth, but there’s a 90% chance that it’s “excessive”.
Is she a person who doesn’t hesitate to kill?
It’s terrifying just to think about.
But I’m the only one who can stand up to her. I have to stop her.
Kouki, who had been listening to the conversation, raised his index finger.
“Now, that’s enough. You should explain to Tanuki what happened in the past. That said, I only know up until I transferred. From there…let Misato tell you.”