#upham

    This is the story about the Immortal called Elmer and the events that occurred between him and me.

    I don’t know what happened to the Immortal called Fermet after that. Maybe someday somebody will tell that side of the story. 

    But that shouldn’t be the role of a coward like me.

～～～

20:33         Second Class        Turner

    “Th-th-those guys… just who – who the hell do they think I am!”

    As he moved along the train, the whiskered pig spat out his anger where nobody could hear it.

    He could potentially stop where he was, but since he was worried he might be attacked, he had decided to prioritize either looking for someone who wasn’t part of the white suits or black suits, or finding a suitable hiding space.

    It was quieter than he’d expected inside the train cars, and the silence produced a vivid image of death in his mind.

    “U-ugh…”

    With cold sweat running over his entire body, the whiskered pig took a step, and then another, continuing on further into the carriage.

    Cautiously, step by step.

    Focusing every nerve in his eyes and ears, he readied himself to deal with any small anomaly that might appear.

    However, whenever he noticed anything, he remembered that he had no way to protect himself, and even more sweat poured down his back.

    Right now he was somewhere in the second-class cars, where the guys in white suits could be lurking. It would probably be best for him to find an empty compartment somewhere and hide under the bed. A considerable number of the passengers were gathered in the dining car; there were likely many vacant rooms.

    The whiskered pig considered this idea, but he also knew that there could be white suits hidden without warning behind any door he opened.

    How long had it taken him to pass through just half of a car?

    Only a few minutes, or even a matter of seconds.

    That brief span of time felt like an eternity to the whiskered pig.

    In reality, barely any time had passed at all.

        Another few seconds, another few seconds.

    As each brief moment slipped past, the whiskered pig moved forward just a little.

    And then – with a small clattering sound, one of the second-class compartment doors opened.

    “Augh!?”

    Giving an involuntary cry, he attempted to hide, but there was no space for his stout body in the narrow carriage. 

    If one of the white suits or black suits came out, then –

    Though he feared both of those groups, the person who appeared from within belonged to neither of them.

    “Ah, um… are you all right?”

    The figure that emerged from the room addressed the whiskered pig, whose face had gone stiff, in a kind voice.

    The voice was soft enough that for a moment it seemed like it might belong to a woman, but the whiskered pig judged otherwise from the clothes. Dressed in men’s traveling attire, the man was of uncertain age.

    Bangs covered the upper half of his face, and his eyes were entirely hidden.

    With his ordinary short hairstyle and his brown hair in which no trace of white was visible, he almost seemed like a boy not yet twenty, but he could also be taken for an older man in the prime of his life.

    “Wh-wh-what’s the matter with you! Don’t scare me like that!”

    As he seemingly understood that this wasn’t another of those robber or terrorist types, the whiskered pig’s pompous attitude showed through in his voice. 

    “Ah, I’m sorry… Um, what on earth is going on? There were some frightening people passing by the compartment, and…”

    “I don’t want to hear it! Damn it! I paid good money for all this, so why is this happening to me…”

    The other man showed no particular discomfort in response to the whiskered pig’s moaning and muttering, and after looking up and down the length of the hallway, he offered up a suggestion.

    “The corridor is dangerous at the moment. How about you come inside and we’ll take stock of the situation?”

        Although he had certainly been suspicious at first, the whiskered pig had lost his concern over the possibility of terrorists and robbers surrounding the carriage, and was now considering the situation inside the second-class compartment, as the other man had suggested.

    “Damn it, why – why is this happening to me…”

    Chewing his nails, the whiskered pig was grumbling complaints of that nature over and over.

    Indifferent to his uninvited guest, the other man was peering through the door at the corridor outside.

    The whiskered pig wondered how much time had passed. With his strained state of mind, every second felt like a minute, or even an hour. 

    “I-if it’s money they want, well, I have money. So then why – why am I…” he continued to mutter to himself, spit dripping from his mouth.

    Taking his wallet from his breast pocket, he took out the billfold within, and then removed the jewelled ring from his own finger, lining them up on the table. It seemed that possibly, in order to alleviate his overwhelming unease, his only stronghold was in his wealth.

    With a quick glance at the pile of bills and jewels – that would probably amount to several years’ worth of a regular bank clerk’s income – the other man in the room also murmured to himself, without any pretence of particular interest.

    “Even with all that, why is he…”

    “H-huh? Wh-what did you say? Do you know something about those terrorists?”

    “No… well, it can hardly be called knowing anything, really.”

    As he peered outside through the gap in the door, the man spoke in a dark tone.

    “…Though it was a little while before you came by… there was a pair of childen who passed through.”

    “Uh, w-well, since you mention it, it looks like Senator Beriam’s daughter may have made it out with that other kid…”

    “If that’s so, then that other boy is the problem.”

    With a fleeting expression of what appeared to be fear, the man quietly shook his head.

    “That child… no, that man who looks like a child, is really a terrorist.”

    “Wh-what?”

    At the man’s sudden, astounding words, the whiskered pig stopped fiddling with his money and turned around to stare at him.

    “A-are you saying that brat is a terrorist? Wh-what are you talking about?”

    “He’s a criminal who uses many different names to suit his purpose. He received injections of some special medicine that seems to have prevented his bones and muscles from growing to adulthood size… I’ve seen the Bureau of Investigation’s documents about it.”

    “Th-the Bureau of Investigation? You – you’re an agent of the BOI?”

    “Originally, yes. I was fired when there was some trouble with my incompetent superior officers.”

    The man abruptly revealed his identity, and the whiskered pig stared at him without even a fragment of doubt, and replied without verifying any part of the story. 

    “Th-then it’s settled! Hurry and arrest that bunch – no, shoot them! That should be the duty of you public servants!”

    “Didn’t I say I was fired? To be honest, I’m not getting paid for that job anymore, so…”

    With a tired sigh, the man produced an air like he was going to just slump down into a chair right there.

    “Tch – you’ll have a wage if I pay it!”

    Spraying saliva as he yelled, the whiskered pig reached for the money he’d lined up in front of him and slid it in the other man’s direction.

    “Here, I’ll give you money! So hurry up and do something about those guys!”

    “…If you really mean that, then…”

    Agreeing easily, the man picked up one of the bundles of money and the jewelled ring. 

    “Then I’ll take an advance payment first… I’m going to go scout around a little, so please stay hidden in this room for just a few moments.”

    “H-hey!”

    “We’ve already come to an agreement, you know. But first, I still haven’t introduced myself.”

    With his eyes still completely concealed, only the shape of the man’s self-confident smile fully showed.

    “My name is Victor.”

    “Victor Talbot.”

～～～

22:05         Second Class        Turner

    “…He’s late… d-don’t tell me that guy ran off with the money? Damn it, and I brought the most expensive ring with me, too…”

    Mumbling complaints to himself as he hid in the cramped space under the table, the whiskered pig caught the sound of footsteps drawing near to the compartment.

    Even during the few minutes he’d been here, several quick sets of footsteps had passed by the room, and each time it happened his lifespan seemed to dwindle – this time, though, the footsteps came to a halt right outside the room, and his chance of survival was cut away all the more.

    …However, when the door opened, he saw that it was the figure of the other man, returned from his scouting.

    “Y-you! Don’t scare me like that!”

    “I apologize, sir. But please be reassured. I’ve found a good place to hide up ahead…”

    “Wh-what, really?”

    Wearing an affected attitude of courtesy, the man guided the whiskered pig out of the compartment with a cheerful smile. In the middle of that perilous situation where they could even hear the distant echoes of gunshots, that smile pasted to his lips was truly invigorated – a smile that seemed to say that he alone was a member of an uninvolved audience.

        “Here it is. As I am going first, do keep an eye out behind you…”

    “Gh…. I paid you to be my guard, s-so if the time comes, you’d take a bullet for me, right?”

    “That goes without saying.”

    Offering this absurd answer without any falter in his courteous tone, the man who had introduced himself as Victor led the whiskered pig to the back of the carriage.

    As they continued on toward the rear of the car, surrounded by no sound other than the rhythm of the train – the whiskered pig saw a fallen corpse ahead.

    “A-augh!?”

    With just one glance, he understood it was a corpse; the back of the white suit, who had fallen on his face, was stained with a huge amount of blood.

    “Wh-wha…”

    “Please remain calm. The man who killed him has already moved on to another part of the train.” Speaking in a pacifying tone, the man gave the whiskered pig a pat on the back as he  urged him forward.

    “Wh- who the hell… was it those black suits?”

    “If we’re to be exact, that still may be true, but – the culprit was… I mentioned him earlier… that young boy.”

    “Wh-what!?”

    Suddenly remembering what he’d heard – and then forgotten – about the young boy, the whiskered pig felt a shudder run up his spine.

    “H-how could that be, a little kid like that, against a strong man like this…”

    “Don’t be deceived. He only appears to be a child from the outside, but he’s actually a brutal criminal who’s over twenty years old… he uses his appearance to make his enemies drop their guard, creeps up behind them, and… well, I was thoughtlessly unready to defend myself when I came by before, so I just watched him go.”

    “U-ugh… I see. I suppose I understand how he was stabbed in the back…”

    “Yes… and therefore, on this train you must not trust even women or children. The scary part about these terrorists and killers is that they don’t let other people realize who they are… so if you see a mysterious person, I recommend that you do not hesitate, even if it’s a woman or a child. That’s my advice as a former officer.”

    “H-huh…”

    Although the whiskered pig still seemed a bit unsatisfied about something, the other man suddenly looked down at the floor beside the body. 

    “… Hm? Perfect, there’s a rifle.” He picked it up. “Now, please carry this for your protection.”

    “Uh – m-me? I-is it okay?”

    The whiskered pig had only shot guns occasionally in the past, for hunting, but he understood how to handle them. Clutching the rifle he’d been so suddenly given, he scrutinized it closely.

    Unlike the whiskered pig, the other man replied with a smile. 

    As before, he smiled only with his mouth, and the expression of his eyes was invisible, hidden as they both were by his thickly hanging bangs. 

    “Yes, do take it. As my employer, you had better have tools to protect yourself. You see, I have experience in the art of self-defence.”

    This was clearly an odd suggestion. As a self-professed former investigation officer, there was a greater chance of felling enemies if he carried the rifle instead. There were no benefits to giving it to the whiskered pig that could compare to combat experience.

    However, the whiskered pig didn’t think to question that. 

    In the dining car, lives were being stolen in the blink of an eye, and even now it was easy to recognize the noise of the guns that continued to menace the train. But now there was a gun in his hands, too.

    “I-is that so… by the way, I’m starting to feel like I paid too much in advance. I think that kind of reward should include some assurance of results…”

    Suddenly filled with confidence, the whiskered pig had plenty of room in his mind for thoughts of money, and he turned to the other man with the gun held at the ready –

    Then, he immediately froze in place.

    “H-huh?”

    The man whom he’d been talking to until just now – was not there.

    He had surely been nearby until just a few moments ago, but now neither shape nor shadow of him was visible. 

    “V-Victor! I was just joking! Where’s the good place for me to hide!? Certainly not this little supply closet!?”

    His flustered voice reached out around him, but it resounded against only emptiness.

    He then drew in breath to shout, but thought about the black suits and white suits and swallowed back his voice. 

    If someone found him in this situation, it would appear that he himself had killed the white suit and stolen the gun. 

    Confidence falling away in the sudden solitude, the whiskered pig was more than ever a prisoner of fear.

    Both his guard and the money had vanished at the same time.

    Now he only had the weapon in his hands to rely on.

    He fell pathetically into a sequence of terror and madness.

    Slowly and surely – the whiskered pig was walking the path to ruin.

    ～～～

    5:22         Freight Car        Black Suit

    A little while after the whiskered pig fell into despair…

    In the last freight car, in the cargo hold closest to the conductor’s room – one man was moaning.

    That man, clad in a black suit, was unquestionably one of the Lemures, but – at the present moment, his arms and legs were bound, and he was biting down on a gag.

    Although the young terrorist, who had been rolled into a corner of the room, was suffering a terribly trying situation, at this point he was still alive, and so belonged to a very fortunate group among the black and white suits. 

    He had come to find his comrades in the freight car with whom the black suits had lost contact, but in response to an attack from a brutal white-suit, he had fled alone towards the back of the train.

    There, he’d been captured by a man big enough to touch the train’s ceiling and a boy with a tattooed face – and after they made him tell them absolutely everything about the Lemures, he thus arrived in his present situation of being tied up.

    This is no joke. What if that white-suited demon comes this way, or… what if that red monster appears!?

    The young man, who had witnessed his comrades’ gruesome deaths just a short while ago, tried desperately to untie the ropes, but those young delinquents were apparently skilled at this kind of thing, and the knots showed no sign of coming undone.

    Ah… is there nothing else I can do but give up?

    Beginning to feel budding resignation, the young man called out the name of a secret sweetheart.

    “…Ms. Chané. I… I hope she’s still safe.”

    He was silent for a while after that, recalling what he had cried out in his heart in the brief gap of time while he fled from the white suit, before he was caught by the big man. 

    I ran away alone.

    That’s because I never had any interest in the plan itself, originally.

    Master Huey would never do something like taking hostages, and he absolutely wouldn’t consider killing children just to set an example. Miss Chané surely understands that as well, but she probably had no choice but to follow Goose’s orders to save Master Huey.

    Besides, I know. There’s definitely a difference between Miss Chané and Goose. Miss Chané is completely devoted to Master Huey, but Goose only wants the ‘gift’ Master Huey told us about. Most of those other guys probably feel the same, and even I want that gift.

    Those guys of Nader’s who were betrayed and killed yesterday didn’t know the truth about Master Huey’s body. It was inevitable that they’d betray us.

    Still… I’m no good either. I can’t keep up with Goose, let alone Master Huey.

    The plan was to dispose of Miss Chané before she became a nuisance. Miss Chané, whose loyalty to Master Huey is greater than anyone else’s. 

    Damn it, damn it, I have to escape this. I’ll open the door in the conductor’s room and jump off when we reach a big river or something.

        The young man suddenly felt ashamed of what he’d been thinking about.

    Escape? Alone? Did I really want to escape by myself?

    In any case, running away would be a betrayal. Goose would surely never tolerate him doing so.

    Then… in that case… what should I…

    Why didn’t I think of escaping together with Miss Chané?

    Even so, she probably wouldn’t have wanted to escape if he’d offered. It seemed to have been a one-sided, unrequited love from the beginning. He didn’t know whether she would have trusted him. 

    …Excuses. That’s just an excuse.

    Ultimately, he considered himself to be more important than Miss Chané. 

    That was also inevitable. There wasn’t much he could do about it. He wasn’t such a child as to gamble his life for an ambiguous cause like unrequited love.

    That’s an excuse, too.

    Falling more and more into self-hatred, the young black suit started struggling against the ropes once again.

    At any rate – the way things were, even if he didn’t get killed, the police would catch him and that would be the end of it.

    In that case, he knew he should at least untie the restraints and give himself a few more options to choose from concerning his next actions.

    First of all, if I want to know that Miss Chané is safe, I have to undo the rope…

        However, the rope remained heartless.

    As a result of his violent, clumsy movements, his bound wrists and ankles were dripping blood where the rope had gnawed into them.

    How had Nader felt when he was in a situation similar to this, before they boarded the train? He had been killed with explosives – but for the young man here, in the place of explosives stood either a white monster or a red one.

    Either way, his confidence in his survival was absolutely nothing.

    With his impatience to be freed only growing, the danger to his life once again seemed to overshadow the young black suit’s thoughts of Chané, but –

    At that moment, a clattering sound echoed from the aisle side wall, and the door to the cargo compartment slowly opened.

    Agh!!

    His heart stopped.

    Sure enough, it was emerging from the corridor, white or red –

    Just as tears of dread began to flow from his eyes, the person who appeared there addressed him in a calm voice.

    “Hey.”

    The person in the doorway was… a lone young man who looked to be in his early twenties.

    He couldn’t be called either particularly handsome or ugly, and his face had an intensely ordinary shape.

    However, he had one notable characteristic.

    That young man – was smiling.

    A soft smile spread over his whole face, and he approached the young black suit, looking entirely defenceless.

    “What happened? All tied up in a place like this…”

    What is this guy?

    Far from being even slightly wary toward the black suit, the smiling man showed absolutely no sense of tension about the train’s situation, like he didn’t understand even a shred of what was currently going on.

    It was as if the guy had only boarded the train a few minutes ago – but of course, that was impossible. Since the terrorists had set their plan in motion, the train hadn’t made a single stop. In that case, it was just barely possible that he’d been asleep in one of the passenger cars up until now.

    For that matter, he didn’t seem even remotely flustered by the sight of a young man tied up in the cargo compartment.

    S-surely he can’t be one of the white suits? N-no, his clothes aren’t white… 

    Then is he with that tattooed kid…?

    With supreme indifference toward the black suit, in whose head various possibilities were revolving, the smiling man drew nearer without a moment’s hesitation.

    “Um, is your big brother one of them? One of the terrorists?”

    “N-no, that’s…”

    What’s with this weirdo? How should I answer?

    The black suit wondered if he should pretend to be an ordinary civilian and convince this man to untie his ropes. Still, in his current attire, it might be difficult to pull off that deception.

    I mean, he’s already noticed there are terrorists around, right? 

    That being said, the guy’s smile was anything but normal, no matter how you looked at it. Perhaps he was with the white suits after all.

    Still showing no particular caution around the young black suit, the smiling man quickly walked closer – and then crouched in front of the black suit and began to untie the ropes around his ankles.

    “Uh…”

    “Jeez – I don’t know who did this, but binding it as tightly as this is pretty mean, really.”

    Wearing a reproving smile, the intruder unwound the knots.

    The black suit was now freed – albeit only his ankles – and while still clearly suspicious of the other man, slowly pulled himself up to sit cross-legged in the compartment’s corner. He wasn’t sure whether he should just stand up, but for the moment, he decided to try asking his grinning liberator to do one more task.

    “Sorry, but… can you please untie my hands as well?”

    “Ah, sure.”

    Agreeing readily, the man hummed vaguely as he finished untying the black suit’s restraints.

    …What. What is this guy, really?

    “A-ah… thanks.”

    Mind filled with doubt, the freed black suit crouched as if to fix his shoe – 

    – Drew out a knife tucked into the shoe’s heel, and launched up from the floor with great force. He leapt at the still-smiling man and pressed the knife to his throat.

    “Whoa –“

    The smiling man was startled by such a sudden attack, and yet his smile didn’t falter in the slightest.

    In contrast, the black suit fought with feelings of guilt as he lowered his voice and threatened his captive.

    “You simple idiot… if you knew I was a terrorist, didn’t you expect something like this?”

    Holding the trembling knife to the other man’s throat, the black suit prepared to interrogate him about his true identity, but –

    “Ah – sorry. That won’t do you any good.”

    “…What?”

    “See, this kind of thing is meaningless to me.”

    “You little… what are you saying…?”

    The black suit’s words stopped there.

    The smiling man’s actions in that instant were simple.

    He gripped the black suit’s hand without hesitation and pulled that hand toward his own neck.

    “Wha–“

    Next moment, a sensation of thrust passed through the black suit’s hand, and red liquid gushed out before his eyes.

    “What are you doing!? Are you crazy!?”

    Reflexively shaking off the other man, the black suit toppled backwards and fell. 

    The moment his hand had been grasped – he’d assumed that his opponent was trying to take the knife from him.

    However, the smiling man had pulled it to himself and cut his own throat, as if he were committing suicide.

    “Ah – a-aaah – it wasn’t – it wasn’t my fault – it wasn’t…”

    From the beginning the black suit had never intended to kill the other man, and he found his entire body dominated by an intense feeling of guilt –

    After a few seconds, that feeling was completely repainted into terror.

    “Huh…?”

    Blood was overflowing from the man’s torn throat – but before long, that blood began to wriggle drop by drop, like a living thing with a mind of its own.

    The flecks of blood flowed to the man’s feet, merging with their fellow droplets until they formed unified streams. The streams drew near each other and joined to create a greater river, and continued to flow as one, back to the source.

    It was minuscule as rivers go, just a small volume of liquid trickling over human skin – but to the black suit, its impact rivalled that of the Amazon river. After all, things that simply could not exist in this world were happening before his very eyes.

    “A-ah…aahhh…?”

    Unable to find words or thoughts, the young black suit sat with his mouth hanging open.

    Before the eyes of the pitiful attacker, the victim – as if to liberate them both from those antagonistic roles – displayed his throat. All of the blood spilt from the wound had returned, and the gash was closed as if nothing had happened.

    However, it didn’t appear as if the man had repaired the wound through his own will – it was instead solely a phenomenon that had truly turned back time.

    “Aah – y-y-you… what – what the hell are you!?” the black suit gasped, still sitting on the floor wearing a look of sheer panic.

    “Huh? Me? Well, I’m a tourist who just happened to be passing through.”

    “…”

    “So, are you a terrorist?”

    The man whose injury had undone itself shot back a question of his own, wearing a childlike smile.

    On the other hand, the black suit could of course not give an honest answer. That being said, he wasn’t skilled enough to invent a lie quickly.

    “…”

    “Ah, it’s okay. You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to… though I can’t really understand why you’d do something as strange as taking hostages on a train at a time like this.”

    As if it were completely inconsequential that he had cut his own throat and been attacked by the man he had just rescued, the other man laughed brightly, and spoke a single name.

    “Huey Laforet.”

    “…!?”

    “Ah, judging from your face, I’d say I hit the bullseye? Yeah, I did! Woohoo! Awesome… I just went by intuition. But really, thank you! I wish I would get a prize or something, you know? Though I’d be happy if you would just give me a smile.”

    How could I smile at a time like this!? cried the black suit internally, but as for the name of Huey Laforet, so shockingly produced by the smiling man – instead, that calmed the black suit’s heart.

    “You… do you possibly… have the same kind of body as Master Huey?”

    “Hm? Ah, yeah. I’m immortal. Oh, but because it’ll make a lot of fuss, can we keep that a secret for now? Well, you can talk about it if you want, but I don’t think anyone would believe you, ya know?”

    Despite the cheerfully smiling man’s lighthearted tone, the black suit continued to stare – but, ignoring that air of bewilderment, the smiling man continued to speak without a care. 

    “Well, even so, I hadn’t realized Huey had so many guys working for him now. Oh, but this isn’t under his instructions, is it? He promised me and Monica that he absolutely wouldn’t mess with ordinary people outside of his experiments, and this kind of thing would be a little out there for him to begin with.”

    “… Do… do you know each other?”

    Unthinkingly, the black suit let a question slip, and the other man snapped his fingers in sudden realization.

    Shaking his head as if he remembered something he had completely forgotten, the man – still sporting a brilliant smile that didn’t suit the situation in the slightest – finally offered his own name.

    “Wow, this was pretty rude of me! I haven’t told you my name yet! Sorry, sorry. My name is Elmer. Elmer C. Albatross. Or you could call me Elmie or El or something for short.”

    ～～～

    5:22         Freight Car        Creeping Shadow

    At the same time…

    A shadow was creeping through the train.

    It was not one of the black-suited terrorists,

    It was not one of the white-suited killers,

    It was not one of the tattered delinquents,

    It was not one of the pitiable passengers who had been dragged into the disaster,

    It was not one of the young children,

    It was not the brawny chef,

    It was not the grey magician,

    It was not the fare-jumping stowaway,

    It was not the whiskered pig,

    It was not the red monster,

    It was not even human –

    It was simply the embodiment of pure desire.

    The shadow quietly yet swiftly moved forward.

    Within that train where black suits and white suits passed to and fro, it moved swiftly, fleetly, quickly –

    The way it moved couldn’t precisely be called inhuman. However, it passed through the train with no wasted movement.

    It concealed its body, and yet still seemed to be looking for something.

    The shadow stopped once on the way to the freight car, and as it scanned its surroundings, it murmured to itself.

    “…That’s strange… where did he go? Could he have jumped off the train?”

    Indeed, it spoke as if it was searching for someone – and as it continued, its mouth warped obscenely.

    “Or… could someone have thrown him off?”

    Laughing as it started to walk again, the shadow quietly continued to search the train.

    “Ah, after making all these preparations… it should be an interesting night no matter who Czes encounters!”

    Slowly, surely, it moved toward the conductor’s room at the end of the train.

    “Still, that fat whiskered pig would be nice. To be shot by such a pathetic man – Czes, I wonder what kind of face you’ll make! I can’t wait!”

    Mouth twisted into an expression of ecstasy, the shadow continued deeper into the heart of the train.

    It didn’t know that what awaited it ahead was not the person it sought, but someone else entirely –

    ～～～

    5:26         Freight Car        Upham

    In the end, I think I was confused.

    It was definitely my fault that I attacked the man who’d so kindly freed me from the ropes. However, I’d never meant to hurt him. He was just so incredibly suspicious, I only intended to threaten him into submission.

     Even so, there was clearly something wrong with a guy who could just cut his own throat like that.

    I couldn’t forget the feeling of the knife stabbing into his neck.

    The man standing before me possessed an immortal body, just like Master Huey. 

    Besides, he said that he and Master Huey used to be close – but I couldn’t see anything in common between the two of them.

        “Huh, so you’re Upham. Well, nice to meet you, Upham.”

    “Ah… you… said your name was Elmer?”

    I’d decided to stay with the man after all.

    I wanted to get off the train at the soonest possible moment, but the train hadn’t yet reached a point with a river where I could safely jump down. The man with me was also pretty unsettling, but I didn’t think he intended to hurt me.

    If that were so, then it would be better for me to stick with him for the time being. He wasn’t going to eat me. …probably.

    With a refreshing smile, the man nodded in response to my question.

    “Yep, Elmer. Ah – hey, didn’t Huey ever complain about me to you or anything?”

    “N-no… I’m… because I’m in the lower ranks, I’ve practically never met Master Huey…”

    Pacified by the man’s completely tension-free words, I answered honestly without thinking.

    “Ah, is that so. Well, that’s because he’s essentially cold to other people. But I’m glad – even he has some people who’ll idolize him like this, and I completely couldn’t have imagined that in the old days.”

    As he spoke, the man who’d introduced himself as Elmer stepped outside of the freight compartment. He suggested we should go observe the situation in the conductor’s room, but I wasn’t particularly inclined to join him. 

    One of my comrades was in the conductor’s room, supposedly dealing with the other conductor who was there.

    However, I’d heard that apparently communication from that room had been interrupted, and if the white suits hadn’t attacked, we were supposed to go check on it in any case. 

    Still – after seeing the terrible scene in that other freight car – it was hard to imagine that the conductors were alive.

    “What’s wrong? You’re making such a dark face. That’s no good, you know. It’s better if you smile when you don’t know what to do. In the Orient they say ‘fortune comes to those who smile’, so it seems like smiling brings good luck.”

    “You say that, but there’s no basis for that sort of thing…”

    “No, don’t you understand? Happiness is kind of like money, you see. The rich use their money in order to make more money, right? So if you have just a little happiness at first, maybe using it will bring you more and more happiness, right?”

    “…”

    “That’s why that first bit of happiness can be any small thing! Then, in any hopeless situation, I can smile at my luck that kept me safe until just a moment before. Even just something like that is fine. As long as you can believe in your own smile.”

    He told me this easily.

    I shook my head with astonishment, but Elmer murmured a few more words to himself, with a slightly lonesome smile.

    “For me that’s impossible, though…”

    “Eh?”

    Just as I was about to ask what he meant, Elmer opened the door to the conductor’s room.

    Then, what was revealed within the room was – a sight all too easily predicted.

    Sweat poured down my back.

    The joints of my jaw creaked with tension, and I gasped a trembling breath.

    “D… damn it, hell… I was expecting this, but…”

    Two corpses were lying in the room.

    One of them could more accurately be called a lump of meat than a corpse.

    I recognized the other man, who appeared to have been shot in the head. He was the impostor conductor who was one of our comrades.

    Then perhaps the other was the young conductor, killed by the impostor.

    …Hm.

    …?

    Wait… what does this mean?

    Why was my comrade shot in the head…

    If… if this was the young conductor that he was planning to kill…

    Why… just like the guys in the freight room… why did the young conductor die in such a way…

    Did the ‘monster’ arrive before our comrade could kill the young conductor? But if so,  then why was our comrade, the elderly conductor, shot through the head?

    Did the monster also use a gun?

    I don’t understand.

    I was confused and afraid, but within the nauseating, dizzying smell of iron that filled the entire room – Elmer serenely continued to search around, as if entirely unaffected.

    The room was wider than I’d expected, but most of the floor was dyed red with blood.

    The rear door of the room was open, and a powerful wind blew through. Despite this, the redolence of blood had not faded in the slightest, which made apparent just how much of the room was filled with it.

    “Mm, I wonder what happened? One guy shot dead, one guy… well, he looks like he’s been eaten by a dragon. It’s like he was bitten in half with one gulp. There were some corpses like this in a freight room on the way here, but – really, what is this?”

    “…Th… I want to know, too.”

    In a situation like this, how was it possible that he was so calm? 

    That being said, it could have been because of his immortal body. If he had a body that could never die, then perhaps such concepts as fear were completely foreign to him.

    I held onto the door frame with my left hand, and covered my mouth and nose with my right as I peered at the mess inside. By no means could I bring myself to step into the room like Elmer had.

    “I wonder if they have families, too. What would be the best way to tell those families about something like this… so that they could recover from the deaths sooner, you know.” Elmer muttered to himself.

    It was bad of me, but I didn’t care much about that. In the first place, it would be understandable to worry about ourselves or the other passengers in this situation, but it seemed a little absurd to worry about the family members of these corpses we had never seen or met in life.

    I considered that having an immortal body meant he could afford the space in his heart to be more thoughtful.

    …Master Huey didn’t like to involve civilians too much either, though maybe it was just that his ventures didn’t require it.

    I just remembered.

    Speaking of spacious hearts, is Miss Chane still all right?

    Even if the plan to get her out of the way had been cut short by the white suit’s attack, she could still have been sniped by that Spike guy.

    Is she still up on the roof…?

    At the very moment I thought this, a voice rang out from behind me.

    It was one simple word.

    Without malice or goodwill, just a simple word.

        “Move.”

        Then – I looked back over my shoulder, and there stood a man –

    In the act of swinging a knife at me.

    “Ah!?”

    A flash of dull silver glinted in my eyes.

    I twisted my body in panic – but the sharp blade bit into my shoulder – and was immediately drawn down along my arm.

    “Gaaah!”

    A sharp pain ran from my shoulder through my whole body, and my consciousness  scattered.

    It hurts. It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts.

    What is this, what is this!

    I’m going to die. I’m going to die.

    I don’t know who this is. This someone, no, something in front of me is going to kill me, he’s going to stab me, I’m going to die, it hurts it hurts it hurts!

    Making a judgment in that instant, I forced myself to endure the pain thrumming through my entire body, and from my waist I drew out the knife that had cut Elmer’s throat just a short while ago.

    “Huh?”

    From behind my back I heard Elmer’s shocked voice.

    “…What?”

    The man who’d stabbed me was staring over my shoulder at Elmer, and also let out a cry of something like surprise.

    It was possible he hadn’t realized before that there were two people in the room. But that didn’t matter.

    I couldn’t miss that chance – I immediately thrust the blade of my knife into the other man’s body.

    My weapon plunged deeply into the man’s abdomen. 

    Kill him. Kill him before he kills me.

    Before I even confirmed his identity, I stabbed the man’s body again and again – and as I made sure that his body collapsed, my face and palms finally gushed with cold sweat.

    As I breathed heavily, my entire body trembled.

    Who the hell was that guy?

    Pressing a hand to the blood that pulsed in my shoulder, I tried to kick my opponent over from where he’d fallen on his front, in order to check his face, but –

    My foot stopped just before it connected.

    With fear… it stopped because of my fear.

    Red blood flowed from the fallen man’s body, and mixed in with the oxidized, blackened blood that had spilled from the train’s conductors, but – that warped, marbled pattern separated like it was being unwound – and was turning to go back to the body of the man I had stabbed.

    Ah… aaaaah.

    I’ve seen this, I’ve seen this sight before.

    Just – just a few moments ago.

    It was the same sight that I had witnessed when Elmer – who still stood behind me – had had his throat cut.

    What… what is this…

    This guy… what the hell is he!?

    I was about to scream out of bewilderment.

    Grabbing my arm, Elmer pulled me behind him.

    “You had better move back.”

    “Ah- aahh…”

    “That’s not a life-threatening injury, so don’t worry. You should press down on the wound, and keep that shoulder up.”

    Saying nothing more than that, Elmer walked slowly closer to the attacker, fallen face-down on the floor.

    “You okay? That must have hurt just now.”

    He spoke in a completely unconcerned tone.

    Then –

    “Hmhm… hahaha…”

    A laughing voice spilled out.

    “Hahahahahahahahahaha, ahahahahahahahahaha…”

    Laughing

    “Hehe… hahahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

    Laughing

    “Ahahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

    Laughing, laughing

    “Uhuhuhuhuhuhehehehehehehehehehehahahahahahahahahahahahahyahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha… hahahahahahahahahahahahahahh hahahah hahahahahahahh hahah hyahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

    Laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing laughing, as if to mock my pain, as if to intensify my fear, as if to crush my heart, pouring on and on.

    It wasn’t simply laughter. It was the kind of laughter that seemed like the result of true, heartfelt enjoyment – and yet there was something… something wrong, something that struck unease into the hearts of those who heard it. 

    Then – while still laughing, the man slowly stood up.

    What… what is this guy…

    What kind of eyes does he have – is this laugh sane or insane? 

    In the hopes of judging this much at least, I considered studying the man’s eyes, but that hope would go unfulfilled. The man’s eyes were hidden by his thickly hanging bangs, and from where I stood I couldn’t determine even their colour or position. If those bangs moved, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see three eyes underneath – such was the ominous atmosphere that enveloped the upper half of the man’s face.

    Standing before such a menacing figure, Elmer laughed with relief – 

    “Ah, good, you must be fine if you can laugh like that!” 

    His words were utterly irredeemable.

    In answer, as the mysterious man gradually suppressed his laughter, his mouth twisted, resembling the grin of a snake that had just sighted its prey.

    “Hehe… haha… hahh… absolutely! This absolutely makes me laugh! Truly… you truly appear when you’re least expected! Elmer… Elmer C. Albatross!”

    “You too! I’m glad you’re doing well.”

    “Why… why are you here!? You couldn’t have been searching for me?”

    “Nah, this is really a coincidence… though I guess this isn’t the time for that.”

    Just as he spoke, Elmer turned to me. 

    “Are you okay? I’ll bind that wound now, so you’d better take off your coat.”

    I understood what he wanted without further explanation. Forcing back the pain of movement, I took off my coat, and resumed putting pressure on the wound through the red-stained white shirt beneath it.

    Taking the coat, Elmer skilfully bound up my shoulder with the thin black fabric.

    “There, you should be all right with this for a while.”

    “Ah… thank you. I… I feel like I might pass out, but I want to ask one thing first.”

    “What is it?”

    “That guy… what is he?”

    Producing a troubled smile in answer to my question, Elmer turned his gaze toward the man standing in the doorway of the conductor’s room. 

    “Mm… I’ll introduce you. This is Fermet. Lebreau Fermet Viralesque.”

    He smiled as he spoke – and he kept smiling, even as his next words carried a serious tone. 

    “I’m not going to tell him your name, and you shouldn’t either.”

    “…?”

    What is he talking about?

    Forgetting the pain in my shoulder, I waited for Elmer to continue.

    “If you get too close to him, you probably won’t be happy… so it’s better if you stay away from him, got it? I won’t stop you if you really want to, but I won’t recommend it.”

    It wasn’t the kind of thing one said while smiling, but somehow I understood that his words were true.

    When I had been stabbed, it had truly seemed that the man had done so without any bloodlust or anything – he had attacked me just because I was in the way. And to be honest, even at this point, my fear was greater than my anger at being stabbed.

    That feeling of looming oppression was much like how I felt about that white monster.

    …Ah, I’m scared now. 

    What’s… what’s with him… no, what’s with them?

    Elmer obviously wasn’t hostile toward me, and in ordinary circumstances it would be easy to call him a perfectly nice guy. However, in this situation… I couldn’t imagine it was normal that his smile wouldn’t falter even as he stood in the blood of the dead conductors.

    As I endured the pain in my shoulder and took several deep breaths –

    The man who was called Fermet stifled a laugh as he shook his head. The marks where I had stabbed him over and over were already gone, and only the holes in his clothing showed that the gory scene from just a moment ago had ever occurred.

    “My word… that’s a terrible way to introduce someone, you know. Do you have some kind of grudge against me, Elmer?”

    As if that single word he’d spoken to me earlier was just an illusion, he turned to Elmer with a gentle voice and manner. The set of his lips was genteel, but it was still impossible to get any look at his eyes.

    Without anger or speechlessness, Elmer responded to the suddenly changed Fermet with the tone of someone making an ordinary suggestion.

    “You already showed your true nature, so why not speak plainly? Doesn’t acting like that get tiring?”

    And then – Fermet’s expression slowly changed. 

    No longer the elegant smile it had been until that moment, it was replaced with that snake’s grin that had darted across his face for an instant before.

    Then – unlike when I had been stabbed – he spat out his words with common, ordinary malice.

    “…As ever, you’re such a detestable guy! Always, always smiling, smiling, smiling like an idiot… I thought that something would have changed in two hundred years, but it seems that your brain certainly hasn’t changed in the slightest. I suppose since it was rotten from the start, it couldn’t really change anyways, huh?”

    “If it’s rotten, then maybe it could ferment? But then what would it be for… ah, if we could use rotten things for some purpose, maybe the would would become a bit more peaceful. That’s it, once we get to New York we should spend a night talking it over!”

    Glaring at Elmer, whose eyes shone as if that was completely an excellent idea, Fermet scorned him as if he were looking at something he despised with his whole heart.

    “Of course, you’re still the same. To make it clear, you sicken me! You’re repulsive! Just die! Aah, I couldn’t even stand to devour you. Just one glance into your brain would cause who knows how much damage and corrosion in mine!”

    “You think so? I think people would generally look at your brain as being pretty rotten too, but I don’t mind myself.”

    “Shut up, you gay bastard! Even if you were the absolute most beautiful woman in the world, I’d definitely, definitely, absolutely reject you. I’d reject you. Shall I say it again? I reject you! I’d never even manage to hold your hand, let alone a kiss! If you miss human contact so much, why don’t you go join Huey in prison? Weren’t you two all lovey-dovey? Disgusting!”

    …Did he say Master Huey’s name just now?

    Is this guy also acquainted with Master Huey… then, he must also have an immortal body.

    Under Fermet’s fluent onslaught of insults and abuse, Elmer replied with his smile unruffled. 

    “Every person has their own form of happiness, so I have nothing to say against homosexuality, but I think you shouldn’t be so quick to assume that male friends are together, you know? Huey and I both had steady girlfriends, for one. Besides, when it comes to that kind of thing, weren’t you all over Czes yourself?”

    “Ah, is that it? I love Czes from the bottom of my heart! I don’t consider Czes as a boy or a girl, simply as a living being called Czeslaw! 

    Who is this Czes person?

    I didn’t quite understand, but I figured that this Fermet guy was probably a pervert.

    At that point Fermet shook his head like he became suddenly aware of this thought, and addressed Elmer as if in confirmation.

    “But don’t misunderstand me, I’m not gay. Whether male or female, I just lvoe things that are pure and cute and beautiful.”

    Speaking quickly and firmly, Fermet clarified his words as his expression became somehow ecstatic.

    “The moment when a beautiful thing is distorted and ruined and degraded and twisted and decayed, I just love it so intolerably much. I suppose it would be considered slightly different from romantic love.”

    “Where’s the boundary between lust and love, anyways?”

    “All human emotions and instincts are on the same side – like a Mobius ring. As for seeking that boundary, it’s as impossible as the task of defining national borders that can be agreed upon by all humanity!”

    “That wouldn’t be a fun task. But regardless of the borders, it would be wonderful if all of humanity could agree. …I knew you were a genius, Fermet.”

    “Shut up. Even hearing you praise me just makes the bones of my ears ache. Never mind that – just disappear. That’s my recommendation – or how about a duty you have to obey – so I think it’s your destiny, all right?”

    “If I did that, I wouldn’t be able to see your happy smile, and then I’d be in a bind.”

    What.

    What’s with these guys’ conversation? It’s so weird.

    All this… what is it?

    I couldn’t say what was weird about it, but… thinking rationally, it was definitely weird.

    With those gloomy corpses so nearby, they were having a conversation in the middle of a pool of blood that covered the whole floor.

    While I was being attacked by pain and nausea – Elmer completely passed over the other man’s harsh words and clapped his hands together.

    “Oh, yeah! I thought of something. In order to make both you and those around you happy, how about you find someone in the world who’s happy to be warped and distorted, and make them immortal so you could live together with them forever!”

    What the heck is he saying?

    “…Still… you’re still saying things like that? Trying to make everybody in the world happy?”

    “Yep!”

    “Even me?”

    “Of course!”

    “Seriously?”

    “Seriously!”

    In contrast to Elmer, who answered with total confidence, Fermet had goosebumps over his whole body as he took a step back, disgust on his face.

    “Aah, you’re revolting! What makes you so disgusting is the fact that you’re completely incomprehensible! What are you? Really, what are you? I’ve never been able to understand you! And not understanding terrifies me! You’re terrifying!”

    “Is that so…”

    “First off, you’d better take a look at reality, Elmer C. Albatross! What’s in this room, huh? Those two corpses are… oh, wow, this is the first time I gave them a proper look, what the hell happened? But whatever. Look at those fresh, gruesome corpses there. How about it? Are those two happy? With a brutal death like this, they sure didn’t die with smiles on their faces. You talk big, but you couldn’t even make these two happy, could you?”

    “That’s true… it’s really too bad.”

    Elmer’s voice became unusually solemn – 

    But his face lifted immediately, and he spoke with the same bright tone as before.

    “Well, anyways, if you go all around the world and find someone who can make you happy, then…”

    “Hang on! Listen to me! You never listen when people talk! Do guys who are already dead not count? Hah! You’re just a huge hypocrite, aren’t you!”

    Fermet mocked him cruelly. Even from my point of view, it was certainly a sound argument.

    However – despite that, Elmer spoke with the same ever unchanging smile as before. 

    “Some stranger’s unhappy death is no reason why all the people living now shouldn’t be happy.”

    “…”

    “For example, just because these two died unhappily, because someone in the world starved to death today, because children are burdened with injustice even as soon as they’re born… that kind of situation may all be true and real, but I don’t think those are any reason for me to stop hoping for people’s smiles.”

    “…”

    “This is what I do for the sake of my own satisfaction, after all.”

    “…Hh… hehe… ahahahahahaha! Hehahahahahahahahaha! Ah, I see now. You’re nothing but a smile junkie. You’re completely immersed in your own little world. Although you only think about yourself, your behaviour makes you seem selfless as a result, right? You make me sick. You’re a total disgrace!”

    Shouting his words with agitation, Fermet eventually clicked his tongue with heartfelt frustration and began to complain bitterly.

    “Good grief. Even after I took the risk of boarding this train without buying a ticket, why do you have to be here? Did you write your real name properly on the train’s passenger list?”

    “Ah, about that. I was thinking about what I should do, and then just before departure this elderly couple suddenly decided not to take the train, and they couldn’t get a refund at that point, so they sold their tickets to me for cheap. Oh, what about this? If you’re fare-jumping, I got two tickets from that couple, so how about I give you one? Although if they inspect us when we get off, one of us will have to dress as a woman.”

    “Just thinking about being married to you would drive me insane. And to begin with, we can’t use false names, so that would be out as soon as they asked your name.”

    “Oh, right…”

    …? What the hell are they even talking about? 

    Were there also some kind of restrictions on these people who had immortal bodies? 

    Master Huey and Goose and everyone had never mentioned anything like that, but…

    Doubts like that could wait – the man called Fermet suddenly turned a glare on me.

    “At any rate, the only people here are you and that black suit.”

    His tone somehow childish, Fermet affixed that snake’s grin back to his face. 

    “Now, you over there.”

    “Uh…”

    “Die.”

    In that instant – Fermet, still smiling, kicked off from the floor and rushed in my direction.

    …Son of a bitch.

    The conductor’s room was wider than I had expected it to be, but now it seemed to grow narrow. 

    With several steps the man was right before me, and with my own knife, which he had snatched up at some point, stabbed in my direction –

    And Elmer, who had cut in between us, took the blade in the abdomen.

    …!

    “…Hng! Owowowww…” 

    Elmer’s yelp sounded as if he’d merely stubbed his little toe on a wall.

    Scowling, Fermet shook his head at Elmer.

    “You’re doing tiresome things again.”

    “As for you, Fermet, you shouldn’t try to kill people so easily.”

    “I need him to die here. He knows my true nature.”

    As he spoke, he twisted the knife in the wound.

    “Do you understand, Elmer? I couldn’t stand the anxiety if he lived. So for the sake of my happiness, let me kill him… okay?”

    Another twist of the knife.

    Blood trickled down from Elmer’s stomach, and immediately crawled back up from his feet. 

    I was staring at the sight as if I was removed from it. It may have been more accurate to say that my understanding wasn’t keeping up.

    As he continuously bled and regenerated, Elmer still didn’t lose his smile –

    “Nope… that wouldn’t make him happy. So it’s better if you can put in the effort to overcome that anxiety and grow as a person, and then you can both have a happy ending.”

    “Don’t say that with a knife sticking out of your stomach! Haha, it’s ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous! You’re willing to go through this while that man isn’t even trying to help you? He’s probably afraid of you instead – just standing there staring at you like that?”

    I understood he was making a fool of me.

    I also understood – that I was just a pretext to provoke Elmer.

    Even so, there was nothing I could do.

    Though it struck a mark at the bottom of my heart, I couldn’t even flare up and deny it.

    Aah, I’m definitely scared.

    It wasn’t the violence before me.

    It was these… the existence of these monsters called Elmer and Fermet.

    I hated how calmly I could analyze such things. What – what kind of person was I? Even though Elmer had saved me more than once, I was afraid of him. I thought he was unnatural. I didn’t want to get involved with him. 

    Then – although my silence was essentially confirmation of Fermet’s words, Elmer continued to speak.

    “Afraid of me, huh…”

    “Ah, that’s right! So –”

    Fermet started to say something – but Elmer spoke directly over him. 

    “Anyways, what’s the problem with that?”

    The next moment, disregarding the knife still piercing his abdomen, Elmer grabbed both of Fermet’s arms and pulled him in. 

    “Ugh, gross! What are you…”

    Ignoring Fermet’s reluctance, Elmer began to slowly head backwards.

    Toward the open door beside me, through which the wind was whistling – a hole that led directly to the outside of the train.

    “…Are you joking?”

    Fermet laughed stiffly, but his body was dragged along little by little. Tone growing slightly frustrated, he pulled out the knife and tried to stab again. However, it couldn’t work as he wanted with his arms held back. 

    Gradually the two approached the door, and as I glimpsed the scenery outside pouring by at a ferocious speed, my spine chilled anew. 

    “Let go… let go, Elmer!”

    “It’s a good thing you’re still as weak as ever, Fermet.”

    Still smiling brightly, Elmer spoke with a tone that held no resentment.

    “Now, I want you off this train. …Probably because having you on this train means that some people will certainly be unhappy.”

    “Damn you…”

    “But once you’ve cooled down and relaxed, like I said before, I’ll help you look for the perfect girlfriend or pal for you.”

    Without any trace of irony, he spoke with complete sincerity.

    “…I won’t fall alone, Elmer.”

     Though flustered, Fermet caught hold of Elmer’s collar with the hand not holding the knife. However, Elmer didn’t seem to care –

    “Ah, I’m not worried. I’m sure you know already, but we won’t die. It’ll just hurt. It’ll hurt, and hurt… for a long, long time.”

    “What are you saying?”

    “So let’s smile, Fermet.”

    “Stop… stop! Damn it, this is why… this is why I hate you! I can’t read what you’re planning at all… ugh!”

    “That’s why we at least – we at least need to smile.”

    In that moment – Elmer leapt forcefully back, and pulled Fermet out the door.

    Was it just my imagination, that the smile he gave as he spoke those last words was just a little lonely?

        …

    ……

    ………

    Ow.

    That hurts.

    Without the slightest decrease of the pain in my shoulder, my strength sapped away.

    As I continued to endure that pain without a word, a casual voice addressed me.

    “Thanks for grabbing my hand.”

    In response to Elmer, who was standing beside me, I gave a small sigh.

    In the moment that Elmer and Fermet were falling from the conductor’s room – without thinking, I’d reached out a hand and caught Elmer’s arm.

    For a few seconds Fermet resisted, clinging to Elmer’s clothes, but eventually his mouth had twisted into a grin –

    “Someday… I’ll make you pay.”

    Leaving us with that murmur alone, he gave a crazed laugh as he fell from the back of the train.

    At the moment he fell, his bangs seemed to be parted by the wind, but from my position I was unable to get a look at his eyes in the end.

    Elmer may have been able to see something, but he didn’t show any reaction in particular. 

    However, supporting the weight of two people with my arms, even for a moment, was not a pleasant thing. My back also hurt, but there was nothing for it.

    Whether or not he realized my situation, Elmer spoke in a carefree voice.

    “You really saved me. I was sure I’d have to fall with him.”

    I took a deep breath before I responded to Elmer’s persistently light tone.

    “…There’s just one thing I want to ask.”

    “What is it?”

    “Earlier… why – knowing that I’m a terrorist, why did you untie my ropes?”

    I intended the question to feel comparatively serious – but Elmer replied without concern, like it was a conversation between children.

    “Well, that was… see, you looked like you were about to cry.”

    “…Huh?”

    “I just wanted to make you smile a little. …But it’s not so easy, after all. All this time you’ve had such a surly face. Hey, try to smile a little.”

    “…”

    Rather than smiling, I could only crease my brows.

    “…Is that all? You got stabbed with a knife just for that?”

    “No, no! You can’t settle for calling it ‘just that’. A smile is the most important thing in the world to me, see.”

    “…”

    This time, I lost all words.

    It would be accurate to say I was spent.

    I collapsed into a chair in the conductor’s room, still lost as to what to say to the man before me.

    The only thing I could understand was – just as that man Fermet had said, this man named Elmer had notions that were just too different from ordinary people. He had helped me, but to be honest, I found him even more hopelessly eerie than that Fermet guy.

    And yet, I’d grabbed his hand and pulled him back onto the train. I couldn’t explain this contradiction in behaviour, and I was completely unable to put my feelings into words…

    Elmer suddenly turned, looking toward the entrance to the conductor’s room, the doorway into the corridor, and my gaze was also drawn there. 

    Then – I think my heart stopped for real that time.

    Because at the end of the conductor car’s aisle – a bright red human-shaped shadow was looming.

    “Augh!?”

    Though I cried out without thought, Elmer merely gazed at the red monster with a puzzled face.

    …What is this red creature?

    It was clearly abnormal. Elmer and Fermet were also plenty abnormal, but this thing, whose entire body was deep red, was past the point of being described as merely ‘abnormal’. 

    Its eyes, though clear, floated in a face that seemed to have been bathed in blood, and they gave off a tremendously intimidating air. No matter what, it wasn’t just an ordinary person who happened to be covered in blood.

    Maybe… maybe this thing is… this is the one who got hold of our comrades…

    That conjecture finally caught up with my fear, and just before I was about to scream –

    The red shadow tilted its head as if worried by something, turned in our direction, and spoke some completely unexpected words.

        “Ah… I’m afraid passengers aren’t allowed in the conductor’s room.”

        !?

    Though I was at a loss for words, Elmer quickly dipped his head.

    “Ah, sorry – we’ll leave right away!”

    No, this is weird. This is way too weird!

    “By the way, what on earth happened to you two…? Only, it seems that you’re injured…”

    Avoiding the corpses splayed across the floor, the red monster – that was for some reason speaking like a conductor – took a step in our direction.

    If… if this is the one who killed my comrades, then…

    At the moment I was wearing a bloodstained white shirt, but if the monster noticed that the black cloth binding my shoulder was my jacket, I’d be exposed as one of the black suits.

    I instinctively had a bad feeling about that. 

    Stay away, don’t come any closer.

    I have to escape… even if I have to jump off the train, I have to escape or I’ll be killed.

    With that thought, I prepared to stand, and at that moment –

    A strange miracle appeared to help me.

        Shunk

    A sound rang out, something like the sound of chopping vegetables on a cutting board with a kitchen knife – and exactly in line with the red phantom’s ear, the blade of a huge knife appeared through the wall of the conductor’s room.

    “…”

    The red phantom stared at the blade with apparent surprise – but the blade soon retreated back outside the train, and a new blade pierced through in a slightly higher place.

    Shunk shunk shunk shuk shuk chk chk 

    As the speed of the stabbing gradually increased, there was enough power in it to make one think that someone was walking vertically up the outside of the wlal with knife blades on the soles of their shoes.

    However, seeing those knifelike blades, I had only one thought.

    The knives that Miss Chané carried certainly resembled something like the knives now piercing through.

    In the face of Elmer’s and my blank amazement, the red phantom was silent for a time, – but eventually walked silently forwards to the operations panel in the conductor’s room, and flicked a switch. 

    As it did so, a lamp outside the train shone brightly. It was the signal to the engineers that there was nothing out of the ordinary, something that had been explained to me before we undertook the attack on the train.

    Why is the red monster using that lamp?

    There was no time to voice my doubts – the red phantom walked quickly over to the door from which Fermet had fallen, and –

    “…Excuse me.”

    With only that, it immediately leapt out of the conductor’s room.

    “Ah!?”

    I rushed to look outside, to look at the track behind the train – but in the gloomy morning mist, it was impossible to tell what had happened to the red phantom.

    …? ? ???   

    ……

    Am I… hallucinating? 

    No, I’d rather be having a hallucination than this.

    As if to deny that wish of mine, Elmer tilted his head to the side as he murmured. 

    “I wonder who was that red guy just now.”

    “…I want to know that too.”

        After that, the silence continued for a few seconds – but Elmer, who seemed to have given up on considering what the red phantom was, broke the hush with a smile.

    “Well, I’m gonna head back toward the dining car and have a look around. Upham, what are you going to do?”

    “Uh, I, I’ll… go back to the freight car.”

    Without thinking, I gave an answer that made no sense. What would I do if I went back to the freight car again?

    However… to be honest, it was also true that I didn’t want to interact with Elmer anymore. If this went on, I felt as though the world I believed in would be destroyed and leave nothing behind, and I was caught up in that anxiety.

    “Ah, right… well, I’m going. See you again, maybe.”

    “Um…”

    Elmer was about to leave, so I tried to address him one last time. 

    However, I didn’t know what to say.

    I was lost for a moment, but finally remembered the words I had failed to voice until that point. 

    “…Ah… that is… thank you.”

    “Eh? What for?”

    “No… it’s nothing.”

    Finally, after all this time, I was thanking the person who had protected me, but Elmer had already completely forgotten saving my life. I supposed we were both equally bad.

    It was all so absurd – I just muttered ‘Bye, then’ and afterwards watched in silence as that anomaly left me.

                Watching Elmer’s retreating figure as he departed with an unchanging smile, I had only one sure thought.

    It seems that I’m… still a coward.

    When I saw the two immortals in the conductor’s room, I had the thought.

    I can’t keep up.

    I can’t keep up with those guys.

    I didn’t know if they had become like that when they received immortal bodies, or if they were already like that, but… those guys… especially Elmer… their way of thinking was fundamentally different from the rest of us.

    I’d longed to get an immortal body just like Master Huey’s but it seemed that I felt I lacked the capacity… or rather, I wasn’t sure if I could stay sane having to live forever with those people. 

    If I was going to lose myself anyways, I’d rather stay sane to the last, and die a human.

    …At the moment I thought this, my impression of the men I had just met changed.

    When I had believed that they were humans in the same world as myself, they seemed to be men with limitlessly bizarre ideologies, but if I saw them as residents of a different world that had no limits, I could feel a thrill in their convictions that pierced through the eerieness. 

    I thought of the face of the delightful man who’d been called a ‘smile junkie’, and a smile came naturally to my own lips.

    Thinking back on it, he was a funny guy. I also thought that he was an idiot in the real sense.

    However, the real shame of it was –

    In the end, I couldn’t show this smile I wore now to that man.

    If I ran to the next car right now I could probably catch up to him, but honestly, if I faced him again and had to recognize that we lived in the same world, the smile would probably disappear.

        As I held my injured shoulder, I decided to leave the conductor car behind, head through the quiet halls of the train, return to the freight room where I’d been tied up and sit there.

    Well, what should I do now?

    I could jump off at the river and escape, or just stay where I was and meekly go with the police, or try for a big turn-about and scrape together my surviving comrades…

    The choices may have been infinite, but possibly none of them were available anymore.

    Even so, I – who was just a human – wanted something to hold with my own hands.

        Miss Chané’s face came to my mind for a moment, but –

    She surely also existed on the same plane as Elmer and Fermet.

    As cowardly as I was, I surely didn’t have the courage to stand with her on that side. 

    That Elmer guy, the white-suited monster, or even that red phantom –

    I hoped that someone on ‘that side’ would protect Miss Chané forever.

    Miserable that I couldn’t do anything about it myself but hope, I cried a little even as I smiled with self-loathing.

    If I were regretful enough to cry about it, I should have been going to help Miss Chané right away, so these tears were surely due to the pain in my shoulder instead.

    As I made excuses of that caliber, the light that leaked through the gap in the freight room’s door shone gently on me.

    Ah, the train will reach New York soon.

        I wiped away my tears and stood up – and to start, I decided to take one step forward.

    Whether I kept moving forward or ran away, first I had to arrive at the crossroads.

    And perhaps, as for that smile junkie who would continue searching for that choice forever…

    I pitied him just a little, and envied him about the same amount.

    And then, I decided to –––

        End