On April 13, 1900, under a languid midday sun casting softly upon the streets, the town hummed with quiet activity.
At 2:25 PM, Maria was preparing lunch for everyone. Taiju was lying on the bed, and Mai was painting her nails, while they were conversing in Maria's bedroom. Manabu visited the Nosco Loc College and University (NLCU) for admissions with Kami.
Sudden a thought struck Mai. "Where's Mion? I didn't realize she's not here."
Taiju had assumed she had gone with Manabu for admissions, but Mai recalled Mion saying she had no interest in studying anymore and wished to pursue her career as a painter. "Then why would she go with Manabu?" Mai wondered. Roy had just entered the Maria's house, having returned from picking up laundry detergent to do the laundry. He had left Noor with the kids at home. For a moment, Maria thought it was Manabu, but she turned from chopping vegetables and her gaze meet Roy's, so she asked, "Why did you pick up the laundry? And where's Leon?"
"He got a letter this morning," Roy said. Maria faced him with a displeased expression. "Wasn't he just feeling better yesterday?" She was genuinely exasperated with Leon. "I'd better scold him," she thought, resuming her chopping with an irate demeanor. Roy raised both hands in an "I don't know" gesture and steered clear of the kitchen. He entered Maria's bedroom, where Taiju and Mai were talking. He greeted them and asked if he was welcome. Roy seemed amicable, so they weren't bothered.
Roy noticed that Taiju had worn the same style of glasses as him, which he considered a sign of camaraderie.
"And you are—?" Taiju said rhetorically.
Roy replied, "Oh! I'm Roy. It's my pleasure to meet you." They exchanged introductions. Suddenly, Roy offered a piece of advice about Leon arbitrarily: "Leon is fundamentally a good guy, but sometimes he does strange things. So, better stay calm around him and avoid him as much as possible."
Taiju and Mai were confused—they were already privy to Leon's erratic nature, harboring no desire to broach his name. They habitually feigned deafness whenever Leon's voice echoed nearby. "Why tell us? Did something happen?" Mai asked.
"No! It's just—Maria told me you guys probably had some bad impression of him. So I thought I could—" Then Roy glanced around expectantly looking for someone, and asked, "Where is the pink-haired girl with you?"
Neither Mai nor Taiju had any idea where she was. "Maybe she went to complete a job," they just said casually…
Leon strode along the footpath, hands in his pockets, clad in a blue shirt with heavy stripes and black formal pants. Two Binoculars were observing him. Leon was given a job to exterminate two men, which he declined to do, but it was forced on him. On the route—unseen by Leon's gaze—Mion, donned in a white long-sleeved shirt, trailed him from afar. Her once-long pink hair was now cropped to her shoulders. She carried a switch-gear in her right pocket. After a while, she watched Leon enter a seedy bar. "Bastard," Mion mumbled, and followed him inside. Leon handed cash to a man, who ushered him into a private room.
Mion lingered outside the room—blended in the crowd.
After half a minute—not more than thirty-five seconds, Leon walked out lone with no accompaniment. He wiped his hands with a handkerchief and left the seedy bar. Mion resolved to investigate the room Leon had occupied. She rose, passing through the crowd, she slipped inside the room, and discovered the corpses of two men inside. Foam oozed from their noses and mouths—they were poisoned.
Mion immediately yanked the switch-gear from her right pocket and ran after him.
Leon stood on the cobbled footpath, dialing a number through a public telephone. He informed the Binoculars, "Those men were poisoned by someone; their corpses are totally blue. What should I do?"
"Leave the matter," the tall, elderly man said. All of a sudden, from behind—Leon hadn't noticed—Mion charged with furious rage and plunged the gear into his belly, almost inside his navel.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Leon's agonized scream shattered the silence in the air. Pedestrians nearby were terrified. Hearing his piercing wail through the telephone, the Binoculars rushed panicking. Mion lunged to stab once again, but Leon twisted her wrist, hurled her, and struck her head against the telephone box, then fled. When he twisted her wrist, her grip on the switch-gear was so strong that it plunged deeper, and blood flowed out of his stomach. He pressed his palm on the wound while running. Mion scrambled up, pursuing him, as the Binoculars reached and chased her. They reached for her arms and hair and gripped them. She immediately kicked the elderly man's testicles and struck the other's wrist nerve, leaving a jagged scar, and broke free. She chased Leon, incredulous. He sprinted with unnatural speed despite a deep peritoneal wound gushing blood. "How could he run this fast?!" she thought.
The chase spilled onto the main road, where hundreds of people were busy in their thoughts and work. Their chase frightened everyone. Children on the footpath were rushed into alleys. Leon vaulted over cars; Mion pursued. The Binoculars barely managed to catch up with them.
Local policemen, immediately after seeing the occurrence, chased to restrain them. Then suddenly, a local tram—carrying dozens of people in its seats—was on its track. Leon didn't notice and ran onto the track. The tram hit him with bone-crunching force. His femur dislocated, his eyes bulged as he rolled and dropped on the other side of the track. Blood poured from his nose and mouth.
The front of the tram was fractured. The tram pilot pulled the brake—passengers walked out…
Mion stood contorted. The local policemen grabbed Mion by the neck, slammed her head onto the bonnet of a four-tire automobile, and restrained her while she stared at Leon's dead body. "Is he dead?" she thought. The tram pilot reached the telephone beside the cobbled footpath and called an ambulance. Just as they assumed the worst—everyone witnessed it—including Mion.
Leon rose—on his foot. His eyes were mere pupils, his face and head bathed in blood. Both his nose and lips were wet with blood. He then glanced at his surroundings, and just as he saw Mion, he ran to escape, like a fish gasping on land, defiant against death. Mion, panting on the bonnet, glared as Leon vanished into the distance. She was bundled into the police car and driven to the station…
Leon staggered to Maria's house, frantically ringing the doorbell as his strength waned. Blood dripped from his peritoneal wound and fractured arm, his breaths ragged. Maria swung the door open angrily. At the sight of Leon's blood-soaked form, she stood aghast, her heart lurching. "Leon!" she cried, her voice fracturing with horror, clutching him as her eyes brimmed with anguish. "No! No, no, Leon! Someone—Roy!" she screamed.
Hearing her cries, Taiju, Roy, and Mai rushed over, finding her cradling Leon's blood-drenched body. Roy knelt, checking his pulse. "He's not dead yet," he said, and beckoned Taiju to help carry Leon to Maria's bedroom while he was conscious. Maria wept her eyes red. "I told you—Leon—I—I told you, but you wouldn't listen. Roy, Roy, please do something…" she said incoherently, her words stumbling. Roy grabbed a first-aid kit and sutures from the medicine cabinet to stitch his belly and prevent further blood loss. Leon shed his shirt and lay on the four-poster bed. While Maria kept repeating. "I told you, Leon—I—I told you. You're always so reckless,"
Roy told Leon to brace himself as he cleaned the wound with a clean tissue and began stitching. Leon bit his finger in pain as the needle pierced his flesh. Maria, frantic, seized his hand. "No, no, no, don't bite—don't bite your finger… Roy! Roy! He's in pain!"
"Can someone, for God's sake, take her out of the room! She can't tolerate blood!" Roy yelled. Mai restrained Maria and soothed her, they emerged to the dining room.
Taiju stood with apprehension. The stab wound was severe, and Leon's body throbbed from the accident. The switch-gear hadn't pierced his intestines, but the wound was grave. Leon screamed in pain. Roy finished stitching but noticed a serious contusion on Leon's right side. Taiju had called an ambulance. Just then, Manabu and Kami arrived—with Mion. Kami learned about the collision from the Binoculars. They drove to the station. Inside a cell, Mion sat on the concrete ground, her face bruised, clothes soiled, hands stained with blood. They bailed her out—as Mion anticipated. On the way home, Mion remained quiet.
They arrived, ringing the doorbell. Roy, seeing her blood-stained hands, realized yet said nothing. They entered Maria's room. Maria was on the bed beside Leon, wiping his wounds with a cloth dipped in cold water. Seeing Mion, Maria asked, "Mion, why did you do this?! What did he ever do to you?!"
"Didn't he tell you? What he did to me and my family?" Mion said. Leon glared at her, and said. "Mion, I thought I'd already—cleared myself…" he couldn't breath properly while he was speaking.
"It doesn't matter—you still deserve worse." Mion said. "Daima killed Naomi not for you, but because of you. Everything—every disaster—happened because of you… You used me to kill an innocent man. I will have no mercy on you, I swore!"
Manabu intended to intervene, but she pointed at him and said, "Naomi was your closest friend, you said. You and Taiju—both of you said you'd kill the one who murdered them. Now what? What did you do except accept her death as misfortune?" She turned to Taiju and Mai. "What did you do? Nothing… You moved on like it was nothing. They may mean nothing to you, but they were my family." She then smirked at Leon. "You can't do anything to me, can you? You're all powerless. You can't do anything about any of it." Her voice crescendoed. "Manabu has his family, Mai has hers, Taiju has his mom and dad. Why only me? Why am I the only one left with no one? Tell me, Leon, you never answered it—they were all I had, and they were taken from me. Why?" Her eyes brimmed with tears. "I won't forgive you. I will kill you, Leon. I promise."
Leon's eyes were blurring, his head burning as he spoke. "I've explained as much as I could. Indeed, I am powerless—powerless to justify myself properly." He began tearing up. "I've wronged you—I admit, what I have done… but—you can't. You can't kill me. There is something I must do before I meet my end." He said that while reminiscing about his family. "I won't let you…" Mion gritted her teeth. Before things worsened, Kami grabbed Mion by the wrist and took her upstairs. Manabu, Mai, and Taiju followed.
Leon had trouble breathing. He leaned on Maria's chest and asked, "When will the ambulance arrive?" His nose started bleeding again. As Maria used her cloth to wipe his nose, Leon said, "Mion isn't a bad person; she's kind. She's just deeply wounded. I did horrific things to her—to them. I will face—the consequences—I must repent." He held her hands. "Promise me—you won't hate her…"
The ambulance arrived. Roy led them in. Leon raised his arms at Roy and said, "Give me a hand, will you? I think—my right arm's fractured." Roy wrapped a shirt around Leon for support, wincing as Leon moved his fractured arm. He limped to the ambulance…
Upstairs, Kami sat Mion on the couch and demanded an explanation, as he was unaware and Manabu had never mentioned it. "Out of fear?" Without hesitation, Mion told him everything. She revealed how Leon had deceived the investigation department. "Leon made me kill Hojo; he forced your son to shoot Daima." Kami understood her anguish and why she was desperate to kill Leon. A profound misery. "Leon was supposed to bring Manabu under my orders, but what has he wrought? If I had ever known… Now I understand why you were afraid and doubtful of me from the very first day. But, Mion—you can't kill him now. You should let the authority handle it."
"I get it," Mion said, standing to walk out. "The department is sick. They'll just make him kill more people, just like today. And I don't need your advice about what I should do or not."
Manabu grabbed her wrist. "Mion, killing isn't the only way to come to a resolve. He might have a family. If you kill him, you'd be no different than him."
Mion glanced around—at everyone—and said, "So you all want me to let go of him, right?" She turned to Manabu. "You don't know how it is—but someday, you'll know. When you face the fear of losing someone precious to you. I tell you—you'll even kill innocent children. Remember that!" Mion jerked her hand free. Kami advised her to steer clear of him. Mion was blinded by rage and needed restraint. "The anger bursting inside you is because of Leon—formed by Leon. Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are in control of your actions. How can one willingly control an emotion that has been developed because of someone else? The anger inside you isn't even from your own free will. You killed an innocent man out of anger—was that also your own free will? Or did he persuade you to do so?"
Kami stepped closer and gently placed his hand atop Mion's head, smoothing her hair. "Your anger is justified—revenge is a must, but only when you know what you're doing and what you're after. He knows his purpose; you must know yours." Kami hugged her with fatherly warmth. Her heart began softening. "Mion, bide your time. One must face his consequences; it's a pathway to redemption. You are not as bad as you think you are. We humans are the greatest creation of the Almighty," he whispered. "Leon is important for the country's future. We need him. Once we achieve our ambitions, I give you my word—you can testify in court, detailing his crimes, legally sentencing him to death, or you may rightfully end him yourself. Or perhaps—when you see it all yourself—you can also forgive him."
Mion whimpered silently, pressing her face to his chest. Kami kissed her forehead, wiped her tears, and went downstairs just before Leon left. He ordered Leon, "From now on, you won't visit this house again."
Leon nodded. "Understood."
THE END OF VOLUME ONE.