The person completed telling his story, strands of saliva dripping from his mouth. Mayuzumi’s sinister smile remained as her pale fingers silently dug into the woman’s illusionary eyeballs.

“So you retain stabbing the eyes you couldn’t gouge out,” Mayuzumi mentioned.

The person nodded furiously. Tears and drool flew.

I swallowed. He stored stabbing the eyes that he couldn’t gouge out.

“You didn’t see your sister’s eyes shut. That’s why the mere considered them fills you with terror. You direct the animosity you maintain on your sister’s eyes in direction of the eyes of different girls. Your sister’s eyes had turned to ashes, by no means to be gouged out once more. Alas, you possibly can’t relaxation simple till you have got gouged out her eyes.”

It was probably an uncontrolled outburst at first, a momentary spasm. However a mistake made may by no means be undone.

“After my sister’s passing, I began carving the eyes out of dolls, relentlessly gouging and gouging till I noticed one thing was improper with me,” the person mentioned, his fingers shaking. “So I stored to myself, holed up in my room. However one wet day, I stepped outdoors to take out the trash and stumbled upon a lady.”

He lowered his head, blood trickling down his wrist. He clutched his head with each fingers.

“After which I noticed her eyes beneath the umbrella…”

It was simple to think about what occurred subsequent. The person had a weapon in his hand.

It was nonetheless in his arms now, stained with blood.

“I don’t wish to gouge out anybody’s eyes anymore. I don’t wish to crush them. I… Why…”

Regretful phrases tumbled out amidst the sound of tears splashing onto the ground.

He let loose a gut-wrenching scream. “Why can’t I consider the rest however gouging out my sister’s eyes?!”

His monologue ended. The person doubled over, trembling. His voice brimmed with real regret.

I reached out to the touch his shoulder, making an attempt to say one thing.

“If that’s the case, why didn’t you go to the police?” Mayuzumi requested. “Or search assist from the suitable company?”

Silence hung closely within the air. The person’s crying ceased abruptly, and he remained face down.

From his lips escaped a low rumble. “I don’t just like the police. I don’t need anybody to take care of me or to pity me any longer. If I a lot as caught a glimpse of somebody’s eyes, I’d stab them. That’s why I don’t depart my residence.”

“I see, so that you refuse to go away your own home. However why do the variety of victims continue to grow?”

A peaceful voice interrupted the person’s phrases. My hand remained prolonged, frozen in place.

The person maintained his silence and stored his head lowered.

Carrying a smile, Mayuzumi regarded him with the gaze of somebody observing a worm. “Your ache and remorse appear real, however you must drop the tragic tone. There have to be extra to it, no? You’re hooked on gouging out eyeballs. And why is that? Why can’t you cease? Ache and pleasure are two sides of the identical coin. On the sight of an eye fixed, a tragic reminiscence erupts in your thoughts. I’ll provide you with that. However do you really hate gouging out eyeballs?”

The person mentioned nothing. He was like a special particular person from earlier. He sat in eerie silence, clutching a crimson umbrella in his arms, painted with each contemporary and dried blood.

My breath caught.

Why did he have it?

“It doesn’t rain inside. So why are you holding onto that grotesque weapon?” Mayuzumi requested calmly.

The person didn’t reply. Mayuzumi’s eyes betrayed disappointment.

“You don’t have any intention of being saved, do you?”

Immediately, the person bolted up, overlaying each of his eyes along with his palms, and erupted into uncontrollable laughter.

“Hahahaha, ahahahahaha, hahahahaha!”

His laughter echoed within the room, and his physique contorted like a fish in a storm. I shortly grabbed his shoulders to maintain him away from Mayuzumi, however he resisted me with all his would possibly, nonetheless howling.

“Please relax,” I mentioned. “What about what you simply mentioned?! It is best to go to the police or the hospital. It is best to inform somebody about your situation!”

“No! I don’t wish to go. I don’t wish to!”

“It’s pointless, Odagiri-kun. He might have regrets, however he’s a coward. Solely he can save himself. Therefore, no salvation will come to him. Shall I level out the opposite inconsistencies in his phrases?”

The crimson parasol twirled. Mayuzumi pulled her fingers from the woman’s eyes. Sitting elegantly on the mattress, she continued.

“Again within the parking zone, why was his umbrella coated in contemporary blood? You have been unconscious, however certainly you possibly can think about what was inside his minivan. And why was this home transformed with the intention of retaining folks captive? Do you suppose there’s just one physique stashed away within the underground space for storing?”

His remorse and agony have been real. However so have been his pleasure and want. One can’t exist with out the opposite.

“He yearns for regret. He merely can’t endure the identical agony he felt when he abandoned his sister.”

The person’s eyes flickered huge. He lifted his face and shot Mayuzumi a glare.

Their eyes met, and Mayuzumi smiled serenely. In her eyes was real pity.

“Your eyes. They appear identical to hers!” the person shrieked, swinging the umbrella like a madman.

I shortly turned my face away. A moist redness handed by my neck, sending shivers down my backbone.

Spitting out saliva, the person pointed the umbrella at Mayuzumi. “Your eyes appear like hers, like my sister’s! Why do you pity me?! Why?! Why am I a burden to you? What was I speculated to do? Don’t take a look at me, please. Don’t take a look at me, or else I…”

Tears streamed down the person’s cheeks. He cried like a toddler.

“I want you didn’t have these eyes! I may’ve protected you, stayed by your facet. I didn’t wish to gouge out your eyes. I shouldn’t have wished to.”

The agony in his voice contradicted what Mayuzumi had mentioned. His phrases and actions have been at odds with each other. He was caught between the pleasure and ache of his twisted want to gouge out his sister’s eyes.

However the eyes of his sister may by no means be gouged out perpetually. So he took the eyes of others, because it was just like gouging out his sister’s eyes, for eternity.

The enjoyment of fulfilling his want and the agony of his actions have been two sides of the identical coin, inseparable.

“Is it really your sister’s eyes that you might want to gouge out?”

A comfortable voice interrupted his frenzied screams.

Mayuzumi spoke calmly, her mild phrases halting the person’s actions.

“Huh?”

She held the person’s gaze with clear eyes. “While you look right into a mirror, you see your individual feelings mirrored again at you,” she spoke as if speaking to a toddler. “Human eyes are like mirrors. What you concern isn’t actually your sister’s gaze. What you concern is your individual ideas, that she pities you. Your blaming your self for hurting her and making her unhappy. That’s why even when your sister’s gone, eyes nonetheless hang-out you. That emotion comes from deep inside you. Individuals’s eyes are simply mirrors. As such, anybody’s eyes turn out to be your sister’s eyes. Even when you gouged out a thousand eyes, the urge won’t ever be satiated,” she declared gravely.

Tears brimmed within the man’s eyes as he regarded up at Mayuzumi, his trembling lips parting to talk, however his phrases fell on deaf ears.

Snap.

Mayuzumi closed her parasol, and the picture of the useless superimposed onto the doll slowly light away.

The darkish hollows returned.

“The hatred you’re feeling is directed to your self,” Mayuzumi mentioned. “No quantity of eyes you pluck out can ever heal that wound.” Her lips curled into a delicate smile.

She ran her fingers over the empty eye sockets of the doll.

“Thus, your agony and pleasure will know no finish.”

The person screamed, howled like a wild animal, brandishing his umbrella like a lunatic. I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him again, however he writhed wildly. The second I attempted to kick the weapon from his hand, it flew within the air, hurtling in direction of Mayuzumi with nice pressure. I acted on intuition, catching it in my hand, not considering of the results till my palm touched the blood.

My eyes have been stabbed.

The tip of the umbrella touched the floor of my eyes and dug deep. The transient jolt felt unnaturally vivid. My eyeballs ruptured as the purpose penetrated, permitting blood and fluids to pour out, the complete orbs pressed into my mind. Stabbed via the attention sockets, violated, killed. Ache flooded me, exceeding what I may bear, and screams poured out of my mouth. My tongue convulsed and stiffened. A girl’s screams tore via my ears.

Numerous shrieks overlapped.

A younger lady’s screams rose and fell, adopted by a person’s.

Earlier than I noticed it, I used to be screaming myself. My eyes shed viscous tears that felt like sizzling blood, streaming down my cheeks. I couldn’t cease screaming.

Intense ache crammed my eyes. All my muscle mass tensed up, and I collapsed onto the ground, unable to breathe from the ache. Drool and cries spilled endlessly. My mind hadn’t suffered any harm, however the slightest false impression may cease my complete physique from functioning. Arching my physique, I banged my head on the ground, touching my eyeball immediately with my finger to verify it was nonetheless intact. Tears flowed down my fingers and fingers.

Settle down, relax, relax, I advised myself. I’m okay. I’m okay.

A groan got here from my abdomen. Responding to my ache, Uka touched my abdomen from inside. I pressed down on my stomach.

“Cease… Don’t come out…”

I couldn’t bear any extra ache.

Papa?

Small, bloody fingers wriggled and brushed in opposition to my palm. I attempted to push the kid again into my abdomen, fearing that if it emerged any additional, it could imply my demise. The child would possibly even devour the person. However ache prevented my arm from transferring correctly.

“…Ugh, ah…”

The person appeared to retreat away from me. He picked up one thing from the ground, in all probability the umbrella. He stood immobile for a second, however then started to maneuver.

My eyes, which I believed to have been gouged out, have been unresponsive. I couldn’t see the person. However I knew he was headed in direction of Mayuzumi.

“Mayu-san… Run…”

I attempted to maneuver, however to no avail. Mayuzumi wasn’t making a transfer to flee.

There was a snap.

“So, are you going to kill me? I don’t thoughts. However to any extent further, you’ll should hold gouging out eyeballs. You will have acknowledged your individual deceit. Come take out my eyes. It shall be the second set off.” Her phrases gave the impression of a curse.

The person froze. Heavy silence enveloped the room, damaged solely by the sound of tough respiration.

“What’s improper? Make your selection,” Mayuzumi goaded. “Do you genuinely want to keep away from your individual destiny? Or do you wish to settle for it and reside fortunately?”

The person groaned, gnashing his enamel like an animal. Immediately, the sound stopped.

I didn’t know what the person mentioned.

“I see. You want to be saved,” Mayuzumi mentioned earnestly. “I by no means save folks. In the event you don’t thoughts that, then hear shut.” Her voice was as comfortable as a sigh.

A shiver ran down my backbone. Mayuzumi doesn’t provide salvation. Generally, nevertheless, she provides them a selection. It was as much as the particular person to decide on.

“I’ll grant your request,” Mayuzumi mentioned. “All it’s important to do is gouge out eyes another time.”

My hackles rose. I attempted to face up, however the ache was overwhelming, and my physique refused to obey me. Uka wailed in my stomach. Blood seeped from my wounds, pooling on the ground.

I raised my head. Even blind, I may see Mayuzumi carrying a severe look, the identical face she made when she grasped my hand underneath the cherry blossoms.

“Gouge out your individual eyes,” Mayuzumi whispered, sweetly and gently.

What the person feared most was self-hatred. His personal thoughts that mentioned he was being pitied. Such ideas emerged every time he noticed folks’s eyes.

By crushing his personal eyeballs, he would now not must concern anybody’s gaze.

However that’s…

“No… Cease…”

I reached out into the darkness, transferring my fingers within the pitch-black void.

After which, I heard the sound of one thing being crushed.