The House in Which Nightmares Dwell 8.4

[touchturnfly]

4

"-- Do you feel inclined to talk about what happened?"

Hirota had been absentmindedly looking at the handkerchief and abruptly came to his senses after he was called.

Turning around, Hirota found Naru standing in the entrance leading to the hallway of the dining room while watching him.

"-- About what?"

Hirota hurriedly thrust the handkerchief in the pocket. Naru entered the dining room and leaned against the counter beside Hirota. On the other side of the door he could see Takigawa, Mai and Masako in the hallway.

"What happened in the bathroom?"

"... ... Nothing much."

"Nothing at all, judging from shamefully exposing yourself in like that?"

The word 'shameful' hit a nerve and Hirota glared at Naru. Naru softly lifted an eyebrow.

"You were barely able to stand, though? It looked like you were shivering?"

Hirota swallowed his angry words. -- Good grief, he didn't know any other person  who was good at rubbing people's nerves the wrong way to this extent.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You saw something in the bathroom. -- Am I wrong?"

Hirota laughed out loud.

"There was a cockroach. I hate them."

Chuckling, Naru revealed a smile that seemed to ridicule him.

"It definitely wasn't like that. You saw something that wasn't realistic. If it wasn't like that, you wouldn't be hiding it."

Hirota barely managed to keep eye contact.

"I didn't see anything."

"I see," Naru whispered with a voice that was clearly sarcastic.

"Is that the way you do it?"

"-- What?"

"You were suspicious of me and came here. For the sake of confirming your suspicion and otherwise for the sake of observation. -- That's the way Hirota-san does things. It's fine if you do as you want."

"Of course, I will."

"However, I came here at Midori-san's request."

Naru's eye color was deep. A dangerous color could be seen.

"I came here in order to investigate what is happening here. If you see something, it will be a clue to this investigation. It means you're trying to conceal it from me."

"I --"

"You blame others using speculation, for the sake of investigation you're also prepared to utilize people who are at a loss. You're prejudiced, conceal clues at our inconvenience. -- That's because your investigations and work are done in this manner."

Hirota fixed his glare at Naru's face exposing disdain.

"What did you say?"

"Isn't this the truth?"

"Tch," Hirota was at a loss for words.

"If you don't use a method in order to investigate, that's fine. Japan's law enforcement seems to be capable of it. At any rate, it's said that the arrest rate of criminals is the best in the world. Even if you trick someone, if one wants to protect their label of capability, it probably is fine to do it the way you want it. Looking down on your own character is what is called just your way of doing things."

His clenched fist involuntarily shook. Hirota carried pride in his own work.

"-- Are you mocking Japan's law enforcement?"

"If you carry pride to take offense at being insulted, I would like to do even something more suitable though."

"What is --"

"Thanks to the excellent law enforcement of Japan, I had to come all the way to this country and search for my older brother."

"Those things are," Hirota began to say, but his words were knocked down by an unparalleled cruel voice.

"I filled a request for a police search. How about that? It took practically over a year for him to be found. Furthermore, if I didn't come and search for him, it would have been doubtful whether he could be found."

"That is --"

"After going through all that trouble to find his body, not only couldn't you tell his features apart, he was so badly decomposed that he was practically a waxy mummy. The cause of death couldn't be determined and neither could it be used for special examination. To make matters worse, an autopsy was impossible."

Hirota grit his teeth.

"Wasn't Japan's law enforcement the best in the world? If the request for a police search was accepted and his body immediately discovered, at least an autopsy could have been done!"

"Now, now," Takigawa cut in between them. "Even if you tell him that it can't be helped now, right? If you had an autopsy done and investigated the cause of death, then what? It's not enough to lead you to criminal... ..."

"It's not about that!

Takigawa swallowed the words he was about to say when he was met with a murderous glare.

"Uh, .... ...Okay."

"Gene was a genuine psychic. What part of Gene saw spirits? What part of him heard their voices? If a thorough autopsy were done, it might have been possible to find a clue about it. That sole opportunity was destroyed by these guys!"

Everyone in that room could only think that this was what it meant to be struck speechless.

"Um... ..." Takigawa scratched his head. He awkwardly looked towards the doorway. "... ...I guess I'll check up on Lin and see how he's doing... ..."

He was fully aware that he sounded very unnatural, but it couldn't be helped since he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Back to work, back to work... ..."  Mai said, following after Takigawa towards the door with a polite smile on her face. Masako followed after her.

"Yeah, you're right... ..."

"I will go as well."

The three left the room in a haste and went towards the base through the hallway as though to escape.

"... ...What did you think of that?"

Mai softly asked the other two and was met by an amazed voice.

"They call something like that -- A mad scientist."

"... ... From the bottom of my heart, I am very glad that I'm not part of Naru's family."

"I think so too... ..."

"Me too."

Any way one looked at, it wasn't very pleasant to think of having a family member watch vigilantly for a chance to dissect them

Coming all the way to Japan from afar to search for his older brother who had disappeared. Opening an office under the pretext of working, finding his remains after 1.5 years of searching various places throughout Japan. They greatly admired that he felt so strongly about his sibling to go to that extent.

"-- Say? If there's a situation in which we were to collapse and die during an investigation, what do you think he would do?"

"He'd do it, wouldn't he?"

"He would probably do it... ..."

"I'm of the same mind... ..."

The three of them collectively sighed.

"The one place I wouldn't want to die is right in front of Naru."

"I agree."

"... ...Me too."

---

Back to Chapter 8.3 | Forward to Chapter 8.5