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***

Now, all that's left is to move my body with determination before my motivation completely withers. To accomplish two goals: view the corpse, and then go print that notebook of dubious value.

With a "Teketeteen!"—preceded by a preparatory flourish as if her hands were forming circles—Mayu produced the lamp she'd prepared—namely, a flashlight—from her bag. It was the one kept in her private room. When she switched it on, a portion of the space before us became like midday. Watching this sequence of actions, it belatedly struck me that I wouldn't have even been able to hold a flashlight on my own. Turns out it was a good thing Mayu came along, surprisingly enough.

From here, standing on the east side as we were, we'd circle clockwise to the northwest. The north side has the main entrance, and there's a parking lot along the way, so it pays to be cautious. Mayu held the light, reluctantly moving just a hair's breadth away from me.

The rain was a no-show, so now we just had to press on against the wind, treading dirt. The natural earth felt slightly worse underfoot than the artificial corridor floor. The feel of the crutches planting was off, too.

Once we reached the south side, the hospital building acted as a windbreak. Moving away from the shadow of the building, near the property wall, there was a well-kept flowerbed. When she aimed the modest spotlight at the flowerbed, a few flowers bathed in its artificial light. However, based on my meager knowledge, the only ones I could identify were the daffodils. Planted along the edge of the bed as pest control, the daffodil flowers gave us a small bow.

"Hey, hey, if I fell asleep right now, what would you do, Mii-kun?"
*I'd make a bed of grass and leave her. Just kidding, though.*
Mayu's face, faintly illuminated by the spillover from the light she held, was featureless.
"I'd carry you back on my shoulders. After you undid the bandages on my leg, of course."
Perhaps reassured by those words, Mayu's cheeks relaxed into a good mood. *Seriously, though, please don't fall asleep.*

We covered half the straight path on the south side. Being shielded from the wind was comfortable in its own way, making me appreciate anew the role of houses we normally take for granted. My family home, and my uncle's house too, were wooden buildings, designed with weaknesses to fire and earthquakes, but strong against wind and rain. I could keenly feel how invaluable that was now.

But I could only afford such enlightened thoughts while we were on the south side. Hardship hangs right under your nose.

Heading north along the west side, we faced a headwind. In a gag manga, I'd yell "Whooosh!" and fly off into the distance; today's the kind of day even whales could fly.
"I'll be your windbreak."
I had Mayu hide behind me. That should help a bit. Now, I just had to deal with myself. The way to handle times like these is to let your mind go crazy. Act like a madman. Whether it's just an act is somewhat questionable, but anyway, the point is to intentionally break yourself. The trick is to disconnect your senses. All sensations are... something of mine, yes, phenomena indicated by the synthesis of the sixth sense, decompose, dismantle, savor, receive, transmit, synesthesia, recognizing the moment that lost double crossing overflows with the color of sound, the color of text, thereby migrating to a different world, a new frontier, Nirvana, a synthesis of the next life, gaining a fitting pride through this undeniably clear logic—following this, we passed the hot spring beside the West Ward, open to the public for a fee, and reached a corner of land perpetually undergoing some vague construction, where the old ward building stood. We'd arrived. Time to fix the parts that went crazy (Did I manage?).

The old ward building was small, nothing compared to the current hospital. It was two stories, and the front veranda gave off a strange eeriness. It had the B-grade horror vibe, like someone might look down at us from a window at any moment. But as soon as I thought that, the eeriness vanished, replaced by scenes from some old zombie movie playing in the back of my mind.
Trash bags stuffed full were scattered around the building like some disillusioned Santa's luggage. Outside, trash waiting for eventual collection; inside, illegally dumped items intended *not* to be collected. Let's keep the dark jokes to a minimum.

The entrance featured a warning sign—"Authorized Personnel Only"—showing not even a shred of creativity. We decided we counted as "authorized" since we were inpatients—no, as locals, we *had* to be involved somehow—and entered without hesitation, granting ourselves permission. *Truth is, we didn't actually think any of that.*
The front door was locked, but it opened easily after shaking it twice. No backbone.
"Last time, I waited behind here until someone came out, then went in," Mayu said.
"Mm, clever."
This time, she beamed. She returned to her usual spot to my left.

The ill-mannered lovebirds barged in with shoes still on, without even a word of "Excuse us." The entryway shoe rack held rows of the old-style dark brown slippers, as if the hospital insisted they were still in service. Of course, we didn't change, just clattered on with our outdoor shoes.

There was no such strange contraption as an automatic door. Opening the inner door, which looked ready to crumble, we approached the reception, greeted by a dance of dry smells and dust welcoming the curious onlookers. A sea of dust you'd hesitate to breathe in. My apologies, a river. *It feels presumptuous for someone from a land not properly connected to the local sea to use 'sea' as a metaphor—a thought that just occurred to me now. I'll probably forget it by tomorrow.*
Mayu's flashlight beam illuminated a long sofa stripped bare, a cobalt-green payphone near the reception desk with most of its plating peeled off, and a rabbit doll missing an ear. The half-open door behind the reception, leading to the treatment rooms, also scored surprisingly high points for creepiness. And adding to that, a silence so profound it caused ringing in the ears—no, that wasn't allowed by a regular ticking sound.
Only the wall clock above the row of waiting room sofas was working, ticking away the seconds in a place that once marked illness. The time it showed was slightly off from the present, ticking away the past, yet operating without hesitation or confusion. *Makes you wonder if they failed to market it as a haunted house?*

Glancing sideways at Mayu, she didn't show the slightest fear, playing the flashlight beam freely around the room. It wasn't that a space left behind by time was novel to her. For Mayu, this was an exploration game, evoking a past too brilliant to distinguish anything clearly; the process itself held no meaning. Well, if it leads to a good outcome for her, that's enough.

The floor didn't creak reassuringly; it felt like it was in the pre-cracking stage, emitting sharp snaps. It made me a bit nervous about using the crutches. There was a path leading deeper from the right side of reception. Before heading there, we saw an old machine left abandoned. Looked like a blood pressure monitor, but it was covered in cobwebs, and I had no desire to touch it.

"Feels like a mix between a science lab and the nurse's office, huh?"
I was impressed by Mayu's cheerful observation. *That's pretty much what a hospital is, yeah.*
"Where's the body hidden?"
"On the second floor, in the place that smells really strongly of medicine."
*Hmm. Good choice to mask the smell of decay.*
"Maa-chan, where did you start following the person carrying the body?"
"Um, I saw a weird person from my room window and kinda just followed them. Then, near here, I realized—'Oh, it's a body!'"
"Hmm... Did that suspicious person have anything else?"
"Nope, they were just carrying the body piggyback."
"...Wow, that takes 'test of courage' way too far."
"So, piggyback ride for Maa-chan too!"
*I'd rather you carried me.*

Still, why does this girl act so recklessly? Stairs are dangerous alone. There's probably no clear answer to this, like some kind of trick question. Perhaps, like committing a crime as an expression of desire, it's an attraction to malice without rational reason.


Sharp moonlight faintly painted the floor, adding a topping of mystique to the decay.
Even if the king of the night didn't make an appearance, the setting felt like one where an owl's hoot might echo from afar—that was the path we trod. Occasionally, the outside wind blew in, and looking at the windows, I saw one spot where the glass was about half broken. Exploring a decaying, abandoned hospital with just a flashlight makes you feel like you've wandered into some ruined village in Saitama. *Let's offer a quick prayer that the corpse doesn't resurrect.*

The patient rooms we passed along the corridor each contained six beds stripped of blankets. No signs of recent use. *They might as well have let Nawa Mitsuaki rest here,* I thought, ignoring the culprit's state of mind or convenience. *But if they did that, maybe other unfamiliar bodies would mysteriously appear in the beds... that could develop into some fifth-rate ghost story, which might be troublesome,* I reconsidered.

Careful not to step on the broken glass scattered on the floor with my crutches, and making Mayu walk on the room side so her unsteady feet wouldn't trip over it, I proceeded with extreme caution down the rotting wooden passage. All the while, Mayu stared straight ahead, gazing intently at where the light beam fell.

Noticing my gaze, perhaps, she slowly turned her head to the right.
My eyes had adjusted to the darkness, making Mayu's cheerful smile easier to see. A very good thing.
"Hey, Mii-kun, when are you getting out of the hospital?"
*Apparently, she'd been thinking about something rather unrelated to the current situation.*
"Let's see... Maybe around the time I only need one crutch."
*Truth is, I had no idea when that would be.*
"Maa-chan gets out in another week."
"Then maybe I'll go back to Maa-chan's house that day too."
That was the model answer. Mayu narrowed her eyes in satisfaction, agreed, "Let's do that~," and her steps became lighter. To keep up with her, I slightly changed how I moved: planting the crutches forward, then pushing off hard with my foot. That increased my speed and stride length a bit.

"Will the scar... remain?"
Mayu rubbed the wound on her head over the bandage I'd re-wrapped. *Whose scars leave deeper marks—your own, or those inflicted by others? Come to think of it, I have a scar on my head too. Smiling warmly and saying 'Look, we match!' is a high bar even for us.*
"Even with a scar, Maa-chan is still Maa-chan."
*She definitely didn't understand the meaning of my affirmation of her existence, but she seemed pleased somehow, her face softening, so it was worth saying.*

Passing the second empty patient room, there were the stairs, just as Mayu had said. Even in an old building, it was still a hospital, so it had handrails. Good. But being old, the stairs themselves were problematic. Just stepping on them felt like the planks might snap—an ancientness far removed from 'antique,' and a source of anxiety.
While I hesitated, Mayu slipped past me, grabbed the handrail, and started climbing to the second floor. *Thinking calmly, the culprit carried a person up here and the stairs are still standing, so they must be sturdier than they look.* Holding both crutches in one hand, I used the handrail to slowly follow Mayu's backside.

Mayu quickly reached the top and shone the light clearly on my footing. On the seventh step lay the corpse of a butterfly whose wings were nearly weathered away. Signs someone had stepped on it in the last few days. Since footing was tricky here, I couldn't afford to be picky either. I crushed it underfoot and aimed for the top. Managed to reach the summit safely without tumbling down. My palms started protesting with fatigue and pain, but it was too early for a time-out. More importantly, there's a smell coming from the room on the left, like vinegar poured over raw garbage.
"That room," Mayu pointed, pinching her nose. *I felt like doing an about-face.*

Following Mayu, I entered the room. It wasn't a patient room, nor did it look like an infirmary. Perhaps due to an earthquake, overturned bookshelves spilled medical texts, and shards of beakers carpeted the floor. It was slightly smaller than a school science lab.

On the oak table near the center, empty medicine packets were scattered, completely covering it. *Might have served as a pharmacy. But the drama of this hospital holds less than a deciliter of value to me. Only its significance as a location matters.*
Mayu forged straight ahead alone and stopped in front of a door in the corner of the room. She bounced on the balls of her feet, beckoning me over. *She'd packed sweet buns in her bag too; maybe she was in a simple picnic mood. How charming,* I interpreted positively.
Following custom, I waved back with a nuance of "Hey, wait up, you!" and jogged loosely towards Mayu. *Well, that's a lie, though.*

The wooden door led to a back storage room. Inside, medical and pharmaceutical books had burst through cabinet glass, creating landslides on the floor. Mixed with the chemical smell was a scent like paper clay.

Mayu pointed, "There, there," guiding me. Next to a pile of crushed cardboard boxes was a box whose profession was being a medium-sized rectangle. Crossing past a locker near the entrance, I identified the type of box bathed in the light. It was a switched-off, medium-sized refrigerator.
"In here?"
"Yup."
*Storing meat inside. What kind of sick joke is this?*
"Teketeteen!"
*Seriously, we don't need that sound effect full of dreams and desires.* Click.

Bathed in the cheap spotlight, the girl, presumably Nawa Mitsuaki, was sitting with her knees drawn up (*taiiku zuwari*). Her neck was tilted about 130 degrees to the right, and reddish-purple lividity (*shihen*) had likely appeared on her forehead and probably her backside. Her overall skin looked like it was just starting to rot. *Good timing if she were a banana, but unfortunately, corpses don't have a 'peak season.'* Her right leg, peeking out from her pajama hem, was wrapped tightly in bandages. *Wow, even the injury location is the same, makes you feel a sense of kinship,* I thought, but refrained from saying it aloud, lest Maa-chan get jealous.

Borrowing Mayu's shoulder, I carefully crouched down. Bringing my eyes level with the corpse, I began the investigation.
"Can you get out the gloves?"
Following my instruction, Mayu took the gloves from her bag. I accepted them and neutralized the fingerprints on both hands. Pulling out the body, stiff despite not being in a freezer, I exposed it to the somewhat limited daylight.

It had been quite a while since I'd seen a corpse directly with my own eyes.
The first was my mother's body. ...... Come to think of it, tomorrow's the anniversary of her death. Gotta visit her grave.

"Don't touch her chest."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Thighs too."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Or armpits."
"Oof, heave ho!"
"Actually, don't touch anything!"
"Come on iiiin!"
*This wasn't getting anywhere, so I decided to be vague.*
First, out of curiosity, I lifted her eyelids. Her eyeballs were cloudy, pupils completely fixed. This proved several days had passed since she was employed as a corpse. I closed her eyelids again, correcting her from grotesque face back to sleeping corpse.

"It's like playing doctor," Mayu, the lighting technician, offered her impression without looking at the corpse.
*Playing detective seems more appropriate,* I thought, but said, "Brings back memories, huh?"

"Mii-kun often played the patient, didn't he?"
*So he* did *do that. And what's more, Sugawara's tastes are incompatible with mine.*
Next, what stood out was the huge bruise on her temple. Like the filling showing through manjuu skin, it formed a vivid blue-black mark. From its center, dried blood powder clung to her cheek and jaw. Even if this wasn't the cause of death, it's harder *not* to infer from the situation that it was a vicious blow from the culprit's hand. *So this was the second incident of a woman being assaulted on hospital grounds, after Mayu. Is there a 'Bruise Demon' following the 'Dismemberment Fiend' stalking this town? And specializing only in women and girls, adding a disturbing restriction. ...... Nah, probably not.*
"Light, point it at the body, I need to examine it."
I instructed my assistant, who immediately pouted, showing her disapproval.
"I'm not touching her because I like it, you know. I promise you that."
*I couldn't just give up and leave now either.*
"For my sake, and for Maa-chan's, I need permission to touch this girl."
"...Mmmph."
While Mayu agonized, I decided to examine her hands. Clutched in her fists wasn't the victim's lingering resentment grasping the culprit's only clue. Her hands were open anyway. Looking over the backs and palms, I found no scrapes or welts. Meaning, no signs of resistance on her hands. There was an intact blister, though.
(Crutches, huh.)
Setting that aside, seeing the lack of anguish on her face also suggested a high probability she died while unconscious. Perhaps she didn't even have time to grasp resentment.
*I'm an irreverent guy. I don't pay respect to the dead, and I judge things with a twisted sensibility. But.* I offered a moment of silent prayer. *I was about to view a girl's naked body without her permission, after all.*

I looked up, felt a gaze other than the corpse's, and met it.
Mayu slowly nodded her head vertically, like someone dozing off on a boat.
"Mm, okay, fine."
She reluctantly agreed to my request.
"Thanks. Maa-chan is kind."
"I'm tolerant," she declared.
*Right. Tolerant (kanyou). You know, 'Maa-chan' herself feels like an idiom (kanyouku) to me.*
"I am~, buuut..."
*Here it comes.*
"Buuut, there's more?"
"Yup, just one thing."
"What?"
"Say you ×× me."
The moment I heard it, the blood drained spectacularly from my face. A headache started, and I even felt dizzy. If possible, I wanted to collapse right there onto the corpse and claw at my whole body. Planting my numb fingertips on the floor, I struggled to keep my panic to a minimum.
"Do that, and I'll overlook it just this once."
"...Seriously?"
"Obviously," Mayu puffed out her chest.
"Because Mii-kun, you never say it."
"Well, uh, yeah... you know..."
"Don't you ×× me?"
*No, I do, I do! So please express it with different words! If you push too hard, it'll be the end of me. Besides, I* did *say it! On the department store roof!*
Hey, don't cling to my chest— "Can't you say it? Even though you're Mii-kun?"
She wasn't looking up with teary eyes appealingly. Mayu's palm pressed against my chest, covering my heart, like a prelude to crushing it.
"You promised."
Her second reminder had already crossed into threat territory, a simple prelude to danger. Her dilated pupils swallowed me effortlessly. What did her right hand searching near her shoe mean?
...... Dammit. No escape, front or back. Sometimes she tells me to laugh, other times to extract something from 'Love thy neighbor...' and say it. Why are Maa-chan's demands always so damn difficult?

With no budding resolve, I acted. Swallowing hard, I placed a hand on Mayu's shoulder. Lightly covering one ear, I recalled the one who named me—my mother—and forced my trembling tongue into heavy labor.
"I ×× you."
*Gari gari.* Something scraped inside my ears.
"Maa-chan has such ×-charm (aikyou), and a good ×-disposition (aisou), she's the very symbol of the phrase 'to have × for ×' (ai ni ai motsu). So ×-able (kawairashii/airashii) and truly ×-like (airashii). That smile that stirs such ×-fondness (koukoushin) is unbearable. I finally understand the true meaning of love-× (ren'ai). × gives without reservation, × takes without reservation—it's absolutely true."
*Gari gari gari gari garigarigari.*
With all my might, all my might, all my might, I kept telling Mayu.
"Me too, you know, I ×× Mii-kun more than anyone."
On top of Maa-chan's utterly content smile, a roaring tinnitus piled up.
That was my limit.
Bringing the hand that was near my ear to my mouth, I choked back the rising vomit. And forced it back down into my stomach. Gulp, gulp, swallowing down the horrific concoction—a blend of urine therapy and green juice health fads—I made my throat work to settle it in my stomach.
"What's wrong, Mii-kun?"
I coughed, the remnants of stomach acid scattering on the floor. The lingering scent of stomach acid clinging to my throat was disgusting.
"I was overcome with emotion," I said. "With my feelings for Maa-chan."
*Truth is, I guess those forced words just caused some serious heartburn.*
Straightening my slumped posture, I took several deep breaths and shook my head side to side.
Okay, let's move on.

I unbuttoned all the buttons on the pajamas, which showed no fraying or damage. Saying "Excuse me," I undressed her, exposing the naked body to the winter night. The only complaints came from Mayu; the victim herself didn't object, which I guess was a stroke of luck amidst the misfortune. Mayu really had her eyes closed. *Was she being respectful, or did she misunderstand the meaning?*
Nothing remarkable on the front of her upper body. *No, I don't mean to insult her development in the slightest, but if I were to examine the chest area too closely, it would clearly reignite the anger of my neighbor [Mayu] whom I'd pacified at great cost. Her eyes are slightly open, anyway.*
Finishing a round of observation, I optimistically assumed checking her back would be less scrutinized and turned her over. "Huh..." A soft sigh of observation escaped me.

Perhaps venting the culprit's fetishes, bruises marred her back—not as large as the one on her temple, but visible nonetheless. Below her neck, on her waist, and also her calf. No other particular wounds were visible.
Turned her over again. Quickly scanned her upper body all over. Touched her face too, checking.
...Nothing, huh.
Hmm.
"Okay, done."
As I declared it, Mayu's eyelids opened back to normal. She rubbed her eyes once.

I put Nawa Mitsuaki's clothes back on and returned her to the bed she likely never wished for, either in life or death. Paying some attention to the angle, I pushed her in and closed it. *"Hope you make it to a grave someday,"* I prayed, as if it were someone else's problem.

"...Well then, shall we go to the convenience store?"
I stood up awkwardly, my crutches creaking on the floor. Mayu put a hand to her chin, "Hmm," looking unsatisfied.
"We didn't get to explore much."
"We'll save that for next time, okay?" I soothed her, knowing full well there wouldn't be one.
Took off the gloves, returned them to her bag.
Then, before leaving the storage room, Mayu called me over by the window, "Hey, hey."

Mayu presented the tri-color bun she'd brought, wrapped in plastic, pairing it with a smile. "Let's eat bread! It's not sliced bread, though."
*Hmm, sounds like she used to snack on leftover school lunches back then.*
I glanced back at the refrigerator behind us. *If its inhabitant's digestive organs were still working, we could have split it three ways amicably,* I imagined, but concluded Mayu would probably object harshly.
"Okay. Which part do you want, Maa-chan?"
Chocolate, cream, and matcha—clearly one of these is not like the others. Damn you, West.
"Um, Mii-kun, you get the matcha, right?"
*So I was designated the bullied kid. Seems Sugawara and I are incompatible to the bone.*
"Alright, then Maa-chan gets the rest."
Mayu smiled at this arrangement, sensing a match with the past. As I took the oriental-colored bread, Mayu's fingertips brushed mine; a different kind of softness than the corpse's. As expected of the beautiful Maa-chan.

We leaned side-by-side against the wall by the window for support. Letting go of the crutches, we stuffed our faces with bread in the same room as Nawa Mitsuaki, flaunting the privilege of the living to the dead. It tasted like a mixture of skin, grime, flies, and maggots—the taste of Nawa Mitsuaki. ...... *Well, that's a lie, but the bread's texture and dryness weren't far off from the corpse's skin.*
As I kept chewing, a subtle flavor occupied my mouth. Besides not being fond of matcha, the remnants of my homemade seasoning—stomach acid—hindered any appetite from stirring. It amplified the folly of eating in the same room as a corpse, an act defying the peaceful trends of modern Japan.

I looked enviously at Mayu, munching away (*mofu mofu*) on *my* favorite parts. But her actions were simply adorable, and I found myself thinking it didn't matter if I could appreciate that sight. Beauty has its advantages.