Kara no Kyoukai:Chapter05 011

/11 (Spiral Paradox, 6)

While I waited for Shiki who never returned, the streets had already greeted the morning.

A depressingly cloudy sky sets the tone of the weather.

Holding an unexplainable uneasiness within my heart I headed towards work. The time was a little past 8. Touko-san was sitting at her desk but there wasn't even a shadow of anyone else, so even my last hope that Shiki would be here was pitifully betrayed.

Saying hello as usual I sit down at my desk, getting on with the work from yesterday. ... No matter how gloomy the apprehension that had come over me was, my body was functioning fine. It may have been because it was a job I had repeated over and over again, but regardless of how shadowed the mind of Kokuto Mikiya himself was, the power of normal routine was such that it made me live out a normal day.

"Kokuto, about yesterday."

From the boss's desk in front of the window Touko-san's voice can be heard.

I replied stupidly with a "yes?".

"It's about the residents of the mansion in question. You were annoyed that you were only able to investigate thirty three of the fifty residents, but that was the extent of the investigation. It wasn't that you weren't able to dig anything up, those records didn't exist in the first place.

Those other twenty residents who you were only able to obtain the names and family structures of were fake families. I looked into it afterwards, but I got the same result for the first four cases so I gave up. They had taken the family register and personal history of people who had been dead for years to fabricate residents who weren't even there."

Once again I half-heartedly replied, yes.

"All the bogus families were residents in the East building. What is going on with ---."

In the middle of the sentence Touko-san frowns.

She made a displeased expression as if there was a line of ants crawling over her body, then mumbled, "A trespasser".

Getting a ring made of grass out from inside her desk she tosses it this way.

"Take that and stand by the window. Don't put it on your finger. A guest will be coming soon so thoroughly ignore him. Don't even make a sound. If you do that the guest will leave without noticing you."

Touko-san speaks with a very displeased expression. An acute tension underlies her words, saying 'don't ask anything else', so I decided to just do as she said.

Holding tight to the haphazardly made grass ring, I stand next to the wall behind the sofa that Shiki is always using.

Then, I immediately heard someone's footsteps.

The sound of someone's boots, theatrically ringing off the concrete floor of this building that was neglected before construction finished, where the steel reinforcing rods are exposed.

Without stopping once, that noise came straight over to this room where the office was.

A red shadow appears in the doorless entrance of the office.

Blue eyes under a dark gold scalp, a sharp face and overly refined behaviour. A German who looked to be in his early 20's.

This handsome red-coated man who looked as he had been painted by some artist, raised his hand cheerfully as soon as he came into the office.

"Oi, Aozaki! Long time no see. How are you?"

He lets show a smile filled with friendliness. But to me it only looked like the malicious face of a snake.

The red-coated young man stops in front of Touko-san's desk.

Touko-san remains seated in her chair, and is giving him a cold glare which is frankly unwelcoming.

"Cornelius Alba. What brings the present director of the Suponheim monastery to this remote region?"

"Haha, that's obvious! It's all to meet you. Since I owed you so much from London, I came to give you a warning as an old colleague. By any chance is my kindness a nuisance to you?"

Spreading his arms out wide, the young man lets loose a smile full of goodwill. With an impression more like that of some French prince than a German, he was the exact opposite of Touko-san.

Touko-san's cold expression doesn't change a bit. Even confronted with that glare, the young man is smiling broadly.

"On top of that Japan is such an excellent country. You say it's a backwater, but because of that the Association's surveillance is poor. A dictatorial mage family exists in this country, so the relationship between here and our organisation is like fire and water. It was a Yin-Yang teaching derived from the continent or something. I can really differentiate between that and Shinto, but well it isn't really a problem.

Their good point is that they don't act first unless you encroach upon their sovereignty. Unlike the Association they are reclusive, so apparently they don't act before something happens but after the fact. They are masters of cleaning up the mess. It turns out all Japanese are like that. Ah, I'm not saying that in a bad way. Instead this is a good thing for me. Since not having any disturbances occur during a plan is something which is unthinkable in my country. For those mages who leave the Association this country is perfect."

Of course that does not have anything to do with me since I'm a member of the Association, after adding something like that on the young man laughs.

He only sees Touko-san. It really seems like he doesn't see me, or even notice me.

Staring intently out of one eye at the young man who was chattering on like a machine gun, Touko-san finally opens her mouth.

"If you came to spout gibberish please leave. You entered another's work area without invitation, so it's not like you can complain if you leave feet first."

"What, you came uninvited into my work area too. It seemed like you had some company so I left off greeting you, but it's you that I could pour insults on for being unmannered and still not be satisfied."

"Ho, that mansion was your work area? If that useless ward is your work I'll have to revise my opinions of you."

Kik kik, she sniggers spitefully.

The young man frowned slightly.

"At this time our working areas are twisted dimensions by just existing within this era.

The mob ignores those irregularities that exist outside it, but they try to root out any irregularities that exist within it as if it were some kind of disease. In order to avoid that happening a mage sets out a ward that hide him within the mob. By doing that the mage is twisting his twisted dimension even further. However if you strengthen the ward that isolates the twisted dimension, the Association detects it. --- In the end you can't make a ward in human society that can avoid being detected by anyone.

The ultimate ward would be a ward that can't be detected by civilisation or the Association. That mansion is just that. Should we call it a complete unison of purpose and action, it's the opposite of a thaumaturgical experiment, and it holds a mechanism to prevent the abnormality from getting out. That's a conclusion that mages that couldn't become mages could never reach. In my knowledge I thought there was only one person who could achieve something like this. Hmm, is it like that, you finally decided to follow him. Congratulations, Cornelius Alba."

"Don't regard me so cheaply Aozaki. Someone like Araya isn't even within my consideration. The skill of preparing the bodies of dolls, and preserving the brain is something that belongs only to me. That twisted dimension is one that couldn't be realised without me."

The youthfulness that was in his voice until now has disappeared, and the young man's voice gets rough like some ominous old man's.

"Dear me. Fine, what did you come here for Alba? Surely it wasn't in order to praise yourself?

I might have understood back in our student years, but at this stage we are both people who have stepped out of the Association. If it's your experiment results just hand it down to those disciples that you could leave to rot since you have so many."

"Hmph. You haven't changed, I understand. Let's chat next time. Before long we will be talking within my world. As expected I can't relax in your home grounds. Pleasant conversation is for pleasant locations. --- Aozaki, I will be taking care of the Taeguk."

Upon hearing his laid-back words, Touko-san's eyes flashed a little.

"--- Trapping a Taeguk inside a Taeguk? I truly understand your desire to get closer to the origin, but Opposing Power will come into play. The world or mankind, I don't know which one will move. But in the past there hasn't been even one mage who has been able to defeat it. Are you planning to destroy yourself Alba?"

Touko-san looks sharply at the young man in the red coat.

However he just smirked as if saying that everything would go along according to his plans.

"Opposing Power? Ahhh, that meddler won't be moving. Since we aren't making a road of our own, but instead treading a path that was open in the first place. There's no reason for a reaction to occur. Nevertheless we plan to move carefully. The sample called Ryougi, I will be sure to handle it respectfully."

--- Ryou, gi?

"What the hell have you done with Shiki?"

Before I knew it, I was suddenly shouting.

As one the two of them turn their attention this way.

Touko-san who is scowling as if to say, you idiot, and the young man who is staring blankly at me.

Oops, I berated myself, but the bus had already left.

The red-coated young man found me, then --- smiled broadly as if he didn't know what to do because he was so happy.

"It's the young man from yesterday. Oh, is it like that, I had heard you didn't accept apprentices, but here's one standing in front of me. How delightful, one more thing to be happy about, Aozaki." He says while turning back to look at Touko-san.

Talking with his arms spread out like some opera singer, I couldn't think of him as someone in their right mind.

"He's not an apprentice or anything. ... Although it would be pointless to explain."

Touko-san sighs while rubbing her temples with her fingers as if to suppress a headache.

"Is that all? I'm grateful that you came here on purpose to give me the information, but did you think that I wouldn't tell the Association?"

"Hmph, you wouldn't do something like that. Even if you did by some off chance it would take at least a few days for them to get here. Some negotiations need to take place with the organisation here for a group from the Association to step foot in Japan so two more days from there. See, for a god from some book that time is more than enough to create a world!

Ahahahaha, the young man bends down and laughs.

After laughing for an age he seemed contented, and with a smooth motion the young man had begun to leave when he turned around again.

"Well, that's all for now. You will need to prepare as well, but I'll be hoping to see you again as soon as possible."

Speaking in a bright tone till the last he left behind a farewell, and then the young man left, the red coat flaring out behind him like a cape.

"Touko-san, what's going on?"

"Mmm, he's saying that Shiki has been kidnapped and locked up."

Once the red-coated young man left, I had hurried over to the boss's desk and Touko-san had given me this smooth answer. Even though I was perplexed by that overly calm attitude, I ask a question that I know the answer to.

"Locked up? Where?"

"Ogawa mansion. Probably on the uppermost floor. Since there wasn't a deck there. In that case it would be the 10th floor of some building. Would it be the West building since Shiki has a Yin nature?"

No matter how you looked at her Touko-san was calm. She's even composed enough to light up a cigarette and take a puff while she stares up at the ceiling.

I wasn't optimistic enough to go along with her. The fact that Shiki had been captured was something I couldn't quite believe, but even if that was a lie I had to run out to confirm it.

And so, at the moment I was about to run out, Touko san told me to stop.

"--- What is it? Your policy will be that you won't be involved, isn't it boss?"

When I annoyedly said as such, Touko-san nodded with a stiff expression upon her face.

"You are fundamentally correct. But this time it isn't someone else's business. For some reason I think it has something to do with me as well. Although I predicted things would go like this from the moment I handed the matter over to Shiki."

Really, what did I do to deserve this, Touko-san repeats the she let out once before.

"On top of that Kokuto. Going to a mage's home ground means that you are going to battle. Whether it’s this work area of mine, or Alba's mansion --- to a mage a castle isn't something which is for defence. Rather it's for attacking with. It's something with which to wipe out any invaders. I don't know about myself, but if Kokuto goes, you may get turned into duck roast at the front door."

When I heard that, I finally realised that the red-coated young man was the same kind of person as Touko-san.

... Although, I had been thinking that something hadn't been normal about that eccentric appearance of his.

"But didn't nothing happen yesterday?"

"That's because you looked like a civilian. I told you before. A mage doesn't use magecraft except against another mage. If they rashly take action and cause trouble all their efforts until then become pointless. The fact that mansion is weird isn't something Alba wants known widely."

She says that, but a mage should be able to take care of someone like me easily. Hypnosis can make someone's memory hazy. If you have something which is called magic I think it would be able to go even further then that.

When I expressed such a question, Touko-san nods and then goes no, giving me a paradoxical answer.

"Let's see now, if it's just someone's memories you can do almost anything. In rune there's even a specific carving called oblivion just for that.

But the time when that worked is past. In the old days it didn't matter if there was one or two people who lost their memories. They just said, 'Oh, they've been possessed by ghosts' and passed the matter over. But it's different now right? If there's something wrong with a person's memory they do a thorough investigation. The one they investigate isn't the person who has had their memory erased, but rather the people around them. Their friends and family, there's a chance the senior detective will be doubtful and not do it, but it's impossible to erase someone's memories so thoroughly.

It's the same as a ward. If you manipulate someone's memories in order to conceal an abnormality. Then the abnormality of the memory being manipulated gets revealed. The possibility that they will seek the source from there and get to the mansion isn't zero. Then there's also the fact that you can't rule out the possibility of the person whose memory has been erased regaining his memory."

Touko-san speaks while bitterly puffing on a cigarette.

... Indeed, now that it’s spelled out for me I understand. There are a few cases where it's just someone's excessive worrying, but in the modern world even the smallest mysteries aren't ignored and are tracked down. No, now that everything has an explanation, things that don't have an explanation are being made to stand out.

In that case, instead of memory, how about deleting the people themselves? Either by destroying their mind and turning them into vegetables, or by destroying their life and turning them into the dead. The dead can't talk, so there wouldn't be any way for the secret to get out.

... Ah. That's right. Either way the end result is the same.

The people around would definitely notice that hole. In the present day where the flow of information threatens to swamp us, following the footsteps of one person who has disappeared isn't so hard. As a result you would end up at that mansion.

That's why --- normal people who visit that mansion don't notice anything strange. The weird layout of that building is set up to get rid of such outside intrusions while giving the appearance that nothing was going on.

Even if that Alba guy was a mage, and even if he was planning something bad (was that even a question, what he had said earlier could only be taken that way), he can only watch silently. Whether it be the ridiculous coincidence of the thief who broke in to rob an empty house, or the woman who had fled there after being molested, although he knew that they would bring the police he hadn't touched them. Because by manipulating their memories, or killing them, he would actually be bringing more attention to those events.

That's right --- in order to remain a normal mansion, he could only accept the events those unlucky people had caused.

I remember the paradox Azaka brought up the other day in this office.

The phenomenon caused in order to erase a phenomenon, in the end it becomes an action to drive yourself into a corner. But nevertheless if you leave the first phenomenon as it is the fact that you are driven into a corner does not change. No matter how you struggle the thing called a 'phenomenon' doesn't disappear ---.

The question itself drives the question into a corner.

A phenomenon that has already occurred can only be hidden by slapping another meaning upon it. Since the phenomenon itself can never return to nothingness.

"It's like that. There were no flaws in that ward. If not for those two incidents, if Shiki had disappeared all of a sudden, we couldn't have picked that place out for special attention. The lesson to be learned from this Kokuto, is that a meddler will get involved in everything, so there can't be anything that is perfect."

Touko-san says something which gets to the heart of the matter.

... The unpredictable meddler from the outside that visits even if the self is perfect. If you were to name the meddler that had visited that mansion, you would be talking about the two events that had overlapped by chance.

"Uhm, is that Opposing Power that person talked about before referring to that?"

As expected, when I recalled that conversation and asked such a thing, Touko-san nods with a bitter expression on her face.

"--- You may be right.

You see, that Opposing Power refers to the 'Restorer of Direction' which is at once our greatest ally, and our greatest enemy.

We don't want to kill humans. We want to live in peace.

This planet that we live on doesn't want to die either, it wants to live for a long time.

The Opposing Power is like that. The collective unconsciousness of all those who belong to the whole of the dominant species, their desire to see that the world continues to exist. It is the fundamental wish of the human species that has gathered and taken form, the Counter Guardian that we call the Opposing Power.

Okay, let's take an example and say an extraordinary person A has conquered the world. He is a just person, and his rule has been exemplary. Within the limits of human morals that is. But in the case that you don't look from one person's point of view, and person A's actions are taken as evil by the whole of the dominant species, in short a cause for extinction, the Opposing Power will be realised.

This is the collective body of the unconscious desire of all members of the dominant species including A to keep the world as it is in existence. To protect the race this existence that composes the species appears without anyone realising, and without anyone noticing, destroys the existence called A. The representative created by the maelstrom of humanity's unconscious mind is also a part of that unconsciousness and is not picked up.

Even so, it's not to say that a formless consciousness becomes a curse and kills A. The Opposing Power generally hides within a human who can become a link, then drives out A who is the enemy. The person who has become the link has enough power to topple A, but no more, in order that they cannot replace A.

Receivers who can accept the Opposing Power comprised of the whole of the dominant race's will, humans with special channels like that are few and far between. History calls them heroes and praises them.

But in modern times that title isn't being used. Civilisations progressed to the point where it has become quite simple for humanity to destroy itself. If some company's chairman invested all his money into expanding the amount of logging in the Amazon rainforest, the world could end in a year. See, the Earth is in danger wherever and whenever. There are countless numbers of people who are being incited by the Opposing Power that save the planet without anyone knowing it. There is one hero per age. Such a thing as saving the world is no longer enough to get you called a hero.

Also, in the case that A is too powerful to topple with a human's power, the Opposing Power becomes a natural force and destroys the area including A. Long, long ago, the sinking of that continent was due to this bastard too.

If you talk about it like this it seems like some guardian of humanity, but this thing has no human emotions. There are times when it blocks acts that would make everyone happier. The aggravating thing is that in the end this nuisance is the representation of humanity itself. Although we can't comprehend it the Opposing Power is the ultimate form of the dominant race. Time and time again in the past, this thing appeared in front of mages who attempted a particular experiment, and the mages were all massacred."

... Touko-san's story, it's really long.

But I remember hearing something similar during a class in high school. What topic was it, in what subject. It was something along the lines that all humans are different, but connected in some way.

... Separate from that, in this story just now I imagined the Saint of Orleans. The old story of how a common farmer's daughter received the command of God to fight. They say that in reality all that happened was that she used tactics that the knights of that time didn't use out of contempt and honour, but wouldn't that also be because she was instigated by something.

Someone who acts like they have suddenly become a different person. Someone who only turns different for that moment to fight with some evildoer. That this was the guardian of the human race that they called the Opposing Power.

"... Thanks for telling me all this. So does that experiment you mentioned have something to do with Shiki?"

After spending so much time with Touko-san, I can read the flow of this person's conversations. This person doesn't say anything that has no meaning. Even something she says in a joking fashion has something relevant within it that is revealed later. So --- I realised that that experiment or something was the reason Shiki had been caught.

Touko-san rubbed out the cigarette flame then, apparently happy, looked this way.

"--- I don't know what Alba plans to do with Shiki.

Only that the bastard's objective is to reach the Maelstrom of Origins. In that case he would open up Shiki's body, but thankfully that rat doesn’t have the guts for something like that. He will probably think it over until time runs out. He was always like that. It was fine for him to be happy about capturing a Redcap alive, but he didn't know how to dissect it properly so it eventually rotted. Well, even the person himself said as much, but Shiki's body will probably be fine for another 7 days, of course this is in the case that she was captured safely."

Touko-san says something very disturbing.

"--- Shiki's fine. That guy, he said he was keeping her. That phrase includes the meaning that she's alive."

Me who is rebutting her words, without realising it I was glaring at Touko-san.

Because, while my mouth was saying this --- I had imagined Shiki getting murdered.

"--- And so, if we don't rescue her quickly."

I mutter. But how? At times like this, I don't have any options. The only thing I can do is call the Police and investigate that mansion.

But something like that won’t have any effect.

The enemy is someone who made such a diabolic contraption. If the Police fully mobilises it's certain that they will disappear without any regrets.

To save Shiki there are only two or so options.

Either get rid of the red-coated man, or secretly extract Shiki.

--- If there's one that I can do it's the latter.

... Mmm, let's look over the blueprints of that mansion again. Somewhere, there might be a way in that even the ones who built the place don't know about.

I was deep in those private thoughts, but Touko-san butted in as if the whole thing was preposterous.

"Wait a second, wait a second. If it's anything to do with Shiki you lost your mind. I told you at the hospital too didn't I. For Kokuto to stay put because it's dangerous. This time it's not your turn to step out.

... Since a mage's opponent should be a mage."

And, saying that, she stood up.

On top of the business clothes she wears everyday as her casual outfit she throws on a long coat. Brown, thick, and heavy, the leather coat looked like it wouldn't be cut with something as simple as a knife.

"--- Alba said all those things, but there's no reason to spend 2 or 3 days preparing to challenge his castle. If he wants I'll go right now.

Kokuto, in the wardrobe in my room there's a bag so can you bring it here for me? The orange one."

There's no emotion in Touko-san's words.

Obeying her mage-like words I move to the room next door and open the wardrobe. ... Inside there are bags instead of clothes. An orange bag that looks like a bulked up briefcase and a large bag that looks like you could just lift it as it was and go for a trip.

As ordered I lift the orange bag. It's unexpectedly heavy. The bag has an elegant design, and on the outside there are sticker-like things stuck on.

When I returned to the office and handed the bag over, Touko-san took out a packet of cigarettes from her chest pocket and handed them to me.

"Keep those for me. They are some awful cigarettes from Taiwan but I only have those now. Of course there isn't any company that made them, it's a famous item that some eccentric master made only one box of. Yeah, out of all my possessions that is the second most valuable thing I have."

Leaving behind some strange words, she turned around and walked out.

... Perhaps her most valuable possession is herself, that kind of thought popped into my mind so I asked her, but she only turned back her head and answered.

"That's rather rude. I know it's me but even I don't treat people like possessions."

Like herself when she has her glasses on, she pouts as if she's sulking.

And then, returning to her usual cool expression Touko-san continued talking.

"Kokuto. Those people called mages, with an apprentice or other people they are close to they feel like parents. Since they are something like their offspring, they often fight desperately to protect them as well. ... Well, it's like that so relax and wait here. I'll bring Shiki back tonight."

Thock thock, the sound of her walking away.

Unable to say anything to her back, I let the brown-coated magician go.