Book Girl and the Corrupted Angel Page 10

  “What about my phone number? How’d you get that?”

  “That’s a secret. But once I decide to get ahold of something, most things wind up mine. Besides people’s hearts, of course.”

  “That’s creepy.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Mito apologized offhandedly. She was so calm; she didn’t seem like someone who was missing. Tsutsumi’s voice, declaring “Yuka is a demon,” echoed in my ears.

  “Are you the one who sent me that text before, too? The one that said, ‘He’s Lucifer’?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Why would you do something like that? Who is it?”

  “He’s right beside you two. The fallen angel who was cast into Hell for the sin of pride and who became Satan. You shouldn’t get close to him.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

  “I’m saying, don’t do anything stupid.”

  Her voice turned suddenly frigid.

  “You saw Tsutsumi today, right? That’s a problem.”

  My skin prickled with terror. She knew that we’d met Tsutsumi in that hotel? Had she been watching? Where from? Or had Tsutsumi told her?

  I listened as hard as I could and tried to discern the sounds of where she was.

  The sound of a car’s engine.

  The faint honking of a horn.

  The melody of “Jingle Bells” playing…

  “Don’t interfere with me. And don’t get Nanase involved, either.”

  “If you came back, Kotobuki and I wouldn’t be looking for you. Where are you?!”

  “I’m inside a Christmas tree. That’s my home.”

  “Jingle Bells” shifted into the refrain. The voices sang brightly, joyfully of Christmas cheer.

  “…I saw your profile on that website.”

  “It’s nothing special.”

  “Even the part where you said Miu Inoue was your favorite author?”

  “That’s the truth.”

  “Kotobuki didn’t tell me you were a fan of Miu Inoue.”

  “That’s because Nanase seems to hate her for some reason. I love her. Miu Inoue…I’ve read her so many times I practically memorized it…But that doesn’t matter anymore,” Mito said coolly.

  “Kotobuki’s worried about you. She’s waiting for you to come home. You made a promise to her, didn’t you? You said that you’d keep Christmas open for her.”

  Her pretty voice, as clear as water, was tinged with a trace of sadness.

  “Yes. I did make a promise…to Nanase…and to my boyfriend. That I would spend Christmas Eve with him and Christmas with her.”

  “Then it’s not just Kotobuki who’s waiting for you. He must be, too.”

  “No!”

  Her voice grew the harshest it had been so far and became emotional. The sound of a car passing drowned out the Christmas songs.

  “Christine is with the angel. She can’t see Raoul ever again. She’s already taken her ring off.”

  Without understanding what those words meant, I shouted at her, only wanting to bring her back.

  “Your angel’s true identity is the Phantom, though! You can’t stay with a guy like that!”

  What I heard next was a frigid voice, like ice stabbing into my chest.

  “You’re the same as Raoul. You fear what you don’t understand and try to shut it away. What on earth can that idiot Raoul do? Christine passed away listening to a hymn.”

  “I haven’t understood a single thing you’ve said.”

  “There’s nothing left to talk about. Just don’t get Nanase involved. She’s the only thing you need to keep your eyes on, Inoue.”

  “Wait! Don’t hang up!”

  There was a click, and my voice broke off. The warmth drained out of my body rapidly, and shaking with the cold that crawled up my legs, I played Mito’s words over again in my head.

  “Christine passed away listening to a hymn.”

  Was Mito Christine? What did it mean that she’d passed away listening to a hymn?!

  This is a catastrophe! Raoul wasn’t in time.

  The angel cut my hand off! I was obstinate and wouldn’t let go of the ring. I clung to it, so the angel flew into a rage like a pitch-black flame, and he sawed my left hand off, then carved off each of my fingers.

  Warm blood dripped down my wrist like water, dyeing the earth, and a rank, awful smell filled the area. Then the angel picked up the blood-spattered ring and with his cold tongue licked off the blood that clung to it.

  That was a ritual to link the angel and I deeply together.

  I can never go back, neither to Nanase nor to my boyfriend. Dragged into the shadows of this night, imprisoned, I’ve become a phantom who cannot be allowed to bare her face and walk in the sunlight.

  The angel destroyed me! He seduced me with a pure voice, spoke kind words, and stroked my hair to lower my guard, to make me trust him, to trick me! He sullied my body, my voice, my heart; remade me as a terrifying monster; turned me into his companion!

  The angel was a disfigured phantom wearing a mask!

  Why did I do such a thing as believe a terrifying abomination with that sullied name? Why did I open my heart to him, going to see him each night, mingling our voices beneath the moon and singing?

  That was a cowardly trap!

  The Phantom cut my wrist and stole the precious ring that was the proof of my love for my boyfriend. And he separated me from my normal life.

  If I hadn’t met the Phantom, I might have been able to go back to the warm, gentle place where Nanase and my boyfriend were.

  I might have been able to start over as a normal girl there.

  What I got in exchange for my false prosperity was only a fearful destruction, a cold mask, and a pitch-dark castle like a mausoleum that the Phantom made.

  Christine passed away!

  Christine passed away!

  Christine passed away!

  The final hymn melted away like dew into the shadows. In my despair, I heard the sound of my heart come to a stop.

  There is nothing left here now but the Phantom who crawls pathetically through the grass and who, with glinting eyes, grants revenge against the people of the daylight world.

  How sad would Nanase be if she found out about this? How much would it hurt her? When I look at my phone, I’ve got a message from Nanase and a voice mail. She’s probably waiting for a reply and worrying.

  I have to send Nanase a message. She’s the only one I want to protect. I need Nanase to be smiling.

  But what’s this?! Christine’s skeleton is in the depths of the earth, and I’ve been transformed into a corrupted phantom—

  At the start of the week, during a break on Monday, I went to the teacher’s office and found out that Mr. Mariya had quit the school. I was left gaping.

  “No way! But the second term’s not over yet! How come?!”

  The teacher who told me about it frowned and answered, “I heard that there was some tragedy in his family, but I don’t really know,” and he reminded me not to tell the other students yet.

  A leaden anxiety sank into the depths of my heart.

  While thinking over what Mito had said to me on the phone that weekend, I recalled the musician who had slashed his wrists while listening to hymns, which Mr. Mariya had told me about.

  I was starting to wonder if there was a connection to Mito saying that Christine had passed away listening to a hymn and had intended to ask Mr. Mariya for more details, but now he had left the school!

  Unable to accept this news, I went to Maki’s class during lunch. But Maki hadn’t been there all that morning, either.

  What now…?

  At a loss, I walked toward the music room. Because that was just about the only place I could think of that had a connection to Mr. Mariya.

  Mr. Mariya had disappeared, too, not just Mito. The last time we’d talked, Mr. Mariya had raised his paper cup of cold chai in one hand and said with a faint smile.

  “You know, Inoue, s
uccess is a fleeting thing for an artist. Personally, I choose to have this cup of chai instead.”

  I couldn’t believe Mr. Mariya, who had loved the peace of everyday life more than anything, would throw it all away so easily. Not Mr. Mariya who had told me that he was here now so that he could like himself…

  In the short time Kotobuki, Mr. Mariya, and I had spent together, he had given me important advice.

  And when I’d told him I was going to help her, he had smiled and said, “I’ll be here.” But now he’d suddenly disappeared without a word to us. It was a huge shock. I felt as if a giant chasm was yawning open in my chest.

  I got to the door of the music room and was just about to put my hand on the doorknob when I abruptly stopped and perked up my ears.

  I heard a low voice inside.

  Peeking in from a crack in the door, I saw a girl in a school uniform crumpled up on the floor, crying.

  In front of her I saw finely shredded pieces of red paper scattered around. I gasped and pushed the door wide open.

  She jumped in surprise and looked up at me, her eyes wet with tears, a petite girl with childlike features.

  I had seen her somewhere before.

  Of course! It was the girl who’d been in here kissing Mr. Mariya before!

  “Did you hear about Mr. Mariya quitting, too?” I asked. The girl nodded, and tears started pouring down her face again.

  I walked over to stand in front of the girl and comforted her, saying, “Don’t worry,” waiting for her to calm down.

  Her name was Sugino, and she was a first-year. She hadn’t been dating Mr. Mariya; rather, it had been unrequited love.

  As I listened to her story, my eyes ran casually over the red paper scattered everywhere. Just as I’d suspected, it had been an envelope.

  “A red envelope with a ticket to the recital inside came from the name Camellia…”

  I remembered Tsutsumi’s story and felt a chill.

  “Did you tear this up? How come?”

  “Snff…’Cos ever since that letter came, Marmar’s been acting weird…He started organizing these files all of a sudden, and even though I offered to help, he told me I couldn’t. He always treated me like a kid and not like an equal, but then out of nowhere, he invited me to a hotel…But even then, he just left without doing anything.”

  She said Mr. Mariya had acted strangely even after they went into the hotel. He walked cautiously around the room, as if he was looking for something, and then when Sugino had showered and come back, he was fixated on the bedside table with a grim expression she had never seen before, and he’d been whispering.

  “What was he saying?”

  “I…I couldn’t really hear him, but…‘I’m too late’ and ‘The angel took her…’”

  The angel!

  “Then he just walked out of the room.”

  The kiss I’d witnessed in the music room had happened the next day. Apparently it had been his apology to Sugino, who had been indignant at being abandoned in the hotel.

  Just hearing about how Mr. Mariya had acted, it sounded unnatural. And then he’d said, “angel.”

  “Since Marmar always looked really pained when he was looking at the envelope, I started wondering what was inside it…I snuck it out of Marmar’s desk. But there was only an opera ticket in it—no letter.”

  After that, she revealed in a quiet voice, she’d been unable to find the right moment to return it, and she’d held on to the envelope all that time.

  “Did you see who sent it?”

  “Yeah. It said Camellia.”

  A shock ran through my skull.

  It was identical to the envelope Tsutsumi had gotten. What did this mean?!

  Did Mr. Mariya know Camellia?! Was he involved in Mito’s disappearance?!

  Anxiety threatened to send me reeling, and my breathing grew labored. But Mr. Mariya had said he wasn’t that close to Mito…

  Sugino kept crying, but I managed to calm her down and returned to class right before lunch ended.

  I nearly collided with Kotobuki at the door.

  We were both surprised and backed up.

  “…S-sorry!”

  “N-no problem.”

  Kotobuki bit down on her lip and looked at me meekly. It looked like there was something she wanted to say.

  I looked back at her as I struggled over whether or not I should tell her that I’d gotten a call from Mito or about Mr. Mariya.

  At that moment, a shrill ring emanated from Kotobuki’s skirt.

  Kotobuki went completely white and pulled her phone out of her pocket to look at it, spinning so her back was toward me and then rushing off. Who in the world could be calling her? What was it about?

  I was bursting with a desire to run after her and ask. But the teacher was coming, so I went back to my seat.

  Kotobuki was staring at her cell phone, hidden under her desk, with a tense expression.

  When classes were over, Mori and the others surrounded Kotobuki, and they left together. They were going to a crepe shop apparently. Kotobuki’s friends were probably worried about her because she was so down.

  Akutagawa went to his team practice, and I left the room feeling antsy.

  I could feel the normalcy that surrounded us fracturing and threatening to break apart so intensely that it pressed down on my chest, and I had no idea how to react to it.

  Why had Mr. Mariya invited Sugino to a hotel? Why had he acted the way he did?

  I had no leads left besides Omi. He apparently hated Mr. Mariya, and he’d warned me not to get close to him. Maybe he would know about this teacher that Kotobuki and I didn’t recognize. And about the angel, and Mito…

  I was afraid to talk to him even now and didn’t know if he would give me a complete answer even if I did ask, but there was nothing I could do but throw myself into it. I would just go to the library, and if he wasn’t there, I would ask one of the staff where his homeroom was…

  Just then, in the hall that led to the library, I saw a boy wearing glasses standing at the window, and I quailed.

  Omi—

  The instant I felt his frigid gaze turn on me, I felt as if claws were digging into my heart and I flinched.

  Omi muttered in a low, threatening voice, “Stop lurking. You’re going to get hurt. And not just you. Nanase Kotobuki will, too.”

  As soon as I heard that, heat flared at my temples.

  “What are you going to do to Kotobuki?! You’re not sending her any weird messages, are you?”

  He gave me a thin smile.

  “And if I were?”

  Something burst inside my head, and I grabbed hold of him.

  It was an act I never would have imagined myself capable of, but it wasn’t simply because I remembered how pale Kotobuki’s face had been as she looked at the message; I was probably also driving back my terror, which was a trembling I could feel in my core.

  I gripped his collar in both hands and shook him, shouting, “What did you do to Kotobuki?! What do you know?!” Omi clucked his tongue, and the confrontation turned into a minor scuffle.

  Just then a silver chain spilled out from beneath his collar.

  At the end of it, I saw a thin silver ring, and a shudder ran up my spine.

  “She’s already taken her ring off.”

  The ring glinting on his chest was an accessory anyone could buy in a shop. It wasn’t so strange for a high school boy to wear jewelry nowadays.

  But not something like that…

  Omi grabbed the ring that had fallen out in one hand and fixed his glinting eyes on me in a glare.

  “Stop howling. There’s nothing you can do anyway. You’re just like that idiot Raoul.”

  Then as I stood rooted and gaping, he said in a cold voice filled with hatred, “Aren’t you, Miu?”

  A shock pierced my heart, and I felt as if the familiar sights around me were warping crazily in that moment.

  Confusion and terror assaulted me like black waves, as if I had been shut
up in a different dimension that someone else controlled.

  How did he know about Miu?!

  And how did he know that I was Miu Inoue?!

  There was no way he could have. But he’d definitely said it just now!

  That accursed name that I’d kept hidden, the name of Miu Inoue—!

  He’d said it to me!

  The boy who stood before me seemed an unsettling, enigmatic creature, and a chill coursed through my body. My legs were trembling.

  In my confusion and fear, he loosed his final blow on me with a cold stare.

  “You’ve never held anything heavier than a pen, have you, Miu?”

  I took a staggering step back, then turned my back on him and started running.

  “Stop lurking. You’re going to get hurt.”

  “And not just you. Nanase Kotobuki will, too.”

  “Aren’t you, Miu?”

  His words—his voice—echoed in my mind.

  “Miu, Miu, Miu, Miu, Miu—”

  Quick, quick—I had to get somewhere his voice wouldn’t reach me.

  I’d been bitten by an angel with his fangs bared!

  Even when I got home and closed the door to my room, I couldn’t get my shock under control.

  My mind was in turmoil, and I couldn’t get it organized. Why had Omi said that to me? I’d never even told my friends in middle school that I was Miu Inoue. I was sure that the only people who knew Miu Inoue’s true identity were my family, my publisher, and Miu.

  Even now it seemed that I could hear his voice. I put my headphones on in a daze, started some music, and turned up the volume. I lay in bed like that, cradling my head in my arms and closing my eyes.

  What was he? Did that ring belong to Mito?

  Was Mito with him? What about Mr. Mariya—Kotobuki—?

  I desperately thought about other things, trying to forget the name Miu; about what had happened; about the Phantom of the Opera, which I’d been reading at night—but my thoughts tumbled back to the same place again and again and kept replaying the same scene.