The House in Which Nightmares Dwell 15.5

[touchturnfly]

5

The three Sasakura family members were thrown into the dressing room while unconscious. They put furniture against the door for weight.

Mai called out to the second floor. Midori and the others who had finally removed the shutter, came down.

Hirota sat down on the floor of the dining room. Midori applied medicine to his wounds with a small extraction she took from the top of the counter.

There were some cuts here and there, but it didn't particularly hurt either. He might have been lucky.

"I think everything is fine now."

The one who said that was Takigawa. He sat down on the floor, and accepted the teacup that Reiko offered to him.

Hirota asked: "Sekiguchi may be taken care of, but what about the five people in this house?"

"They might have been exorcised on after what went down just earlier."

"So, it's indefinite."

"Well, like I said, they'll steadily disappear."

"Apparently, they've disappeared."

It was Naru who said that. Just as he thought, he was standing in front of a mirror and leaning lightly against it.

"So, it's safe now?"

Naru nodded. He glanced at the mirror.

(-- Right?)

He directed those words to the other end of the mirror.

(It's alright. They've become extremely weak. At this rate, they'll eventually disappear with time... ...)

While it might be tragic to disappear while still carrying such grief, Naru thought the spirits were essentially remnants of emotions. So it was probably better for both the living and the dead for them to disappear.

(Speaking of which, I forgot to mention.)

Naru glanced at the mirror when he heard the voice call.

(What?)

(-- It's been a while.)

Naru smiled wryly.

(Yeah... ...)

His voice was distant. The place was starting to dissolve.

(... ...I'm very sleepy... ...)

Naru smiled faintly. He remembered how Gene had never been able to wake up when he was supposed to.

(Good night.)

(... ...Yeah... ...)

His other half's thoughts ceased with that.

"What an unbelievable sight," Takigawa whispered as he gazed at Naru standing in front of the mirror. Mai and Masako nodded while Hirota gave a bitter smile.

"Seeing him emotionally attached to a mirror like that makes him look like a genuine narcissist."

"You are indeed right."

"He's so taken with it, it's creepy... ..."

It was 6 a.m. in the morning when the residents in the neighbourhood, who were called by Ayako, rushed to the house. They immediately called a patrol car, and the residential area was in an uproar in the early morning.

The team of investigators which arrived pulled the Sasakuras in the dressing room upright. They looked stupefied and said that they had woken up from a bad dream. They were unable to give decent replies to the policemen's interrogation. It seemed like they didn't understand what had happened to them. But still, just by seeing the disastrous scene inside the house, there was very little room for excuses for the Sasakuras.

"Will they get arrested?"

Mai pulled at Hirota's shirt. The Sasakuras who were about to be taken outside, gave them frightened glances. They were pushed in the back by the officials in charge, and until they entered the car, they looked at Hirota and the others as if they were imploring them.

"Hey, will they get accused of crime?"

This time Mai pulled at the jacket of Takigawa who was beside her.

"Because they entered a person's home while carrying weapons. ... ... They'll likely get accused of attempted murder, won't they?"

"But it wasn't their fault!"

Takigawa looked at Mai who looked troubled.

"I suppose the problem is whether they'll be accepted as legally unaccountable or not."

"Will possession be accepted?"

"I don't think there a case exists where it got accepted."

'Isn't that impossible?' The one who said that was Ayako.

"Those three are currently not possessed. Even if they go through a psychiatric examination, no problems should turn up."

'No way,' Mai whispered. "That's terrible. But it wasn't their fault? Even though they didn't intend on doing such a thing. If they'll get trialed after getting arrested, their names will show up in the newspapers, and then, wouldn't everyone look at them with cold eyes? It's all because they happened to move into a strange house... ...!"

"Well, that's true, I guess... ..."

Mai looked at Takigawa who sighed, and moved her gaze to Hirota as if to implore him.

"Will they be... ... found guilty?"

Hirota looked at her eyes that were about to burst into crying any time soon, and gave a bitter smile.

"They won't."

"-- But."

"They won't be accused of a crime. I think the case against them will be dropped."

'Whoa, wait a minute!' It was Takigawa who said that in shock.

Hirota gave Takigawa a strained smile, and then turned to smile at Mai whose face was half-weeping.

"In this world there may be spirits. And there may be cases that happened due to possession, and cases that happened because of spirits. It's not possible to judge those with only common sense."

"But, will they let such a thing, pass... ...?"

Hirota smiled.

"The Zero Unit exists to take that into account and undertake those cases, Taniyama-san."

'Ah,' Mai said with a small voice.

"I'm still not confident whether spirits truly exist. Even if they do, I don't think they're as frequent as they claim to make a fuss about in women's weekly magazines or on television. However, the reality is that the current law disregards things like psychic phenomena from the outset."

"... ... Yeah."

"Do things like possession, spells and curses truly exist? Is it truly okay to overlook a criminal who cursed a victim who actually died from it? On the other hand, is it fine if people who were forced to commit crimes due to possession like Sasakura, are judged with drastic measures?"

'That's true,' Mai blinked.

"If something like psychic phenomena truly exist, then in times when a case like that happens, they have to be judged by the current law which disregards the existence of psychic phenomena."

Hirota smiled at the girl whose stupefied eyes got teary-eyed.

"But that's why we're here."

Hirota returned a nod to Mai who nodded deeply, and shifted his attention to Naru.

"I think we may want to request the handouts of your investigation's data."

Naru coldly nodded.

"- Go ahead."

"By the way, this doesn't mean I've removed my suspicions about you."

Naru cynically smiled.

"Do as you please. -- After all, I don't have any means of stopping those who desire and say they wish to become fools."

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