Chapter Three - 8
1971, A Parking Lot, Japan
8
“You tricked me again.”
A seven-pointed star had been drawn in the parking lot of Shijo University of the Arts. It was winter, and the night air was cold. Marie lay under the stars, looking up at a perfectly round full moon. The moon was too bright to see the stars. Instead, a nightlight flickered in the corner of the parking lot.
Outside the rather sloppy star lay a lime line marker. Geoffroy had taken it from the tennis court. He had drawn the seven-pointed star without any markings, using only his senses. A few cars remained parked around the star, but they were alone. Geoffroy had locked the gate. The spacious space was isolated, cut off from the city.
Marie was bound hand and foot, unable to escape.
“It's almost time...”
Geoffroy was muttering to himself as he looked at his watch.
An hour passed, but nothing happened. Geoffroy grew more and more agitated.
“This isn't right.”
Geoffroy was waiting for someone.
Near dawn, a child entered the parking lot through a gap in the fence. Geoffroy breathed a sigh of relief.
“We're far off from the original time. The world may have been distorted after all,” Geoffroy said to himself as he beckoned the child over. “He's the one who has the dagger, not me. It's been in his family for a long time, and it's very important to him. You did bring the dagger, didn't you, boy?”
The boy had a bag slung over his shoulder. He took the dagger from it.
“I saw a star from the balcony of my apartment,” said the boy. “It's the same as the one on my knife.”
The star was also a seven-pointed star. He must have taken the dagger and slipped out of his house, intending to go on a bit of an adventure. But of course, he was always going to come here, whether he wanted to or not.
“Well, that's fine, then. Give me the dagger.”
The boy obediently tossed the dagger into the star. He was too afraid to go into the star himself. Geoffroy picked up the dagger.
“Well, Marie, if you want to die now, go ahead. I have to tell the boy how reincarnation works.”
Geoffroy told the boy everything he could remember. It didn't seem to matter how much the boy actually understood. He knew there was a reincarnation named Kimiyo in a place called the Library at the End of the World, and that she could only be killed by the dagger. The boy nodded.
“Hey, where's Raine?”
Marie's sudden question echoed.
“There is no Raine here.”
“The three of us always exist in the same time period. Why isn't Raine here now?”
Geoffroy suddenly went pale.
He stared at the boy standing outside of the star and started to tremble.
He looked at the boy and asked the question.
“...Raine? Is that you, Raine?”
The boy shook his head.
“I'm not Raine. I'm Kito.”
Kito turned and left the parking lot.
Geoffroy committed suicide to find out who he was. If he was reborn as Kito, who had just walked away, his plan would succeed. But what if he were reborn as someone else...
Marie committed suicide to meet Kirisame. As she tightly held the lapis lazuli at her chest...
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