"Ah, I heard the cleaning ladies who were working in the main building that night saw a young man outside, and a boy who looked about middle-school age wearing a cap? Anyway, they said they saw people like that loitering around.
It was dark, so they couldn’t see very well, but they said he didn’t seem like a patient or anything. But I guess the police never looked into it separately. It just got mentioned in passing..."
"......"
The day before Ai was discharged, Kaoru happened to run into the midwife who had handled Ai’s delivery and, while talking about Goro, managed to get a pretty useful lead.
A young man and a middle-schooler.
An oddly specific combination. A young man and a middle-schooler loitering outside at night. As Kaoru walked through the main building lobby, he slowly moved from place to place to reconstruct the scene the cleaners must have seen that day. Beside the pillar. Beside the desk. Beside the chairs. In the middle of the hallway. He stood in countless spots, looking outside and trying to piece the moment back together.
And from every angle—
'You can see the path leading to the back of the hospital.'
Kaoru’s blue eyes sharpened at the unexpected realization. Standing there motionless, he thought of the clue that might pierce through the identity of those shrouded figures.
Once he finished thinking, Kaoru immediately ran to the computer security room—but—
【 Under repair 】
"!"
Kaoru had no choice but to bite his lip and let out a frustrated sigh. The computer security room was already locked tight, the handle secured as well.
It seemed they were probably in the middle of a major overhaul after problems with CCTV management came to light.
The key clue that could reveal an important suspect was in the CCTV footage, but since he couldn’t check it—
Kaoru’s pursuit was inevitably cut short.
And so, after bringing Aqua and Ruby back to their Tokyo home at the end of a twelve-hour journey, Hikaru began preparing to return to everyday life.
"Teacher... what happened to him? They still haven’t found him, right?"
"...Yeah. I don’t think so."
"......"
"Ai. It wasn’t your fault, so you don’t need to blame yourself. No one could have stopped your teacher’s accident."
"But..."
Unfortunately, Ai had ears, too, and eventually heard the horrifying rumors surrounding Goro. She became terribly depressed and started blaming herself.
Kaoru tried to hide the truth as much as possible so Ai wouldn’t be sad, but rumors spread fast.
After comforting Ai, who worried about Goro’s whereabouts, for a while, Kaoru eventually saw his wife’s hurt feelings ease and her usual brightness return, and he finally let out a breath of relief.
Then— on the way to school from home, he experienced the absurdity of a woman who came out of the train station, ran up to him with a bright smile, and suddenly started talking to him out of nowhere.
"Haa! Ka, Kaoru-chan! G-good morning! We meet again like this? Eeeek! This is totally my day!"
"...And you are?"
"Eeeeh?! Y-you... you already forgot me? Waaaaah."
Even more flustered than Kaoru, the woman quickly wilted, then pointed at her own face and said, "You don’t remember me? About a month ago, you came to the bank! You asked me for a [transcript] and even called me Kohaku by name... I’m a huge fan of yours, Kaoru-chan..."
"!"
[transcript]!
The moment he heard those words, Kaoru’s eyes widened so much they looked ready to split apart.
A chill like lightning struck from the back of his head down through his spine and spread through his whole body.
"W-wait... what day was that? Did you come alone? What did you use for identification?!"
"Eh... eeeeh?!"
When Kaoru grabbed her arm and asked urgently, the startled woman flushed red and told him everything she remembered from that day.
When she said he had seemed even bigger than before and she’d thought he was just growing fast because he was in his growth period, Kaoru had already forgotten how to nod, frozen by a cold, seething rage.
After barely regaining his composure, thanking her, taking a photo, signing an autograph, and even giving Kohaku a fan-service hug because she said she was going to her sister’s wedding, Kaoru immediately ran toward school.
"......"
That night. In the dark, with the twins and Ai fast asleep.
Kaoru quietly stared out at the city beyond the veranda, lost in thought.
A [transcript]. A call log. And someone who looked exactly like him. One middle-school boy and one man who seemed to be an adult. Someone who already knew about his relationship with Ai. Someone inside the troupe.
'So it really was you again...'
Kaoru, having eliminated countless possibilities with his sharp mind and finally reached a conclusion, slowly closed his eyes as cold rage and sorrow swept through him, and let out a deep sigh from the bottom of his chest.
The most likely person who had shoved him down the stairs, reported the affair rumor, impersonated him to obtain the [transcript] and call log, dug through his movements, came all the way down to a rural general hospital in Miyazaki Prefecture... and murdered Goro.
That person.
The one closest to him by blood.
The one who shared his blood.
The one who looked exactly like him, and therefore possessed the same dazzling talent.
『Kamiki Hikaru』.
Kaoru had to choose.
It was a miserable, heartbreaking choice, but one that weighed more heavily than anything he had ever faced in either his past life or this one.
His younger brother, with his brilliant mind, might have already anticipated that Kaoru would notice. He might even have predicted it in advance.
Either gather evidence and corner Hikaru into confessing—
Or... in the way of his past life....
"......"
Cold, ruthless reason sharpened Kaoru’s consciousness.
The line had already been crossed. This was no longer something he could solve with his own hands alone.
It was clear—his brother had made Ai and his children targets.
That alone was enough for Kaoru to decide he would never forgive Hikaru.
[sincerity].
Kaoru decided he would judge Hikaru with complete [sincerity].
As he mentally organized the list of [equipment] he would need to obtain, modify, and build one by one for the process, and began forming a plan—
"...At the villa?"
- Yeah. Father bought a villa on Mt. Tanzawa. He invited me and my brother, so I was wondering if you wanted to come.
Late that night, Kaoru received a call from Hikaru and, with a faint, bloodthirsty smile, readily agreed.
After hanging up, Ai pouted because the good mood they had built up had been ruined, and the moment she heard the reason—
"He could’ve called tomorrow instead of this late at night. Hikaru-kun was weird from the very first time we met! Creepy! Gross! Rude!"
"..."
Kaoru quietly watched his wife’s adorable anger with eyes dripping honey.
One way or another, the only one who would side with her husband was his wife.
"Ah! A bug!"
"Wait!"
Suddenly, a bug flew in and stuck itself to the ceiling light. Kaoru brought out a spray insecticide and sprayed it at the bug.
The bug trembled from the insecticide, then dropped to the floor with a thud.
Ai, who applauded her husband for cleaning it up with tissue paper, tilted her head and said in a sly voice, "Why do bugs like bright places? They don’t even know what’s there... Stupid."
Kaoru heard her and gave a small smile.
"There’s a reason they’re called moths."
-
Time passed, and the day they had agreed to meet finally arrived. Kaoru greeted his father’s driver, whom he hadn’t seen in a while, and got into the car.
Hikaru greeted Kaoru warmly with a charming smile that was infuriatingly beautiful.
Remembering how he had kissed Ai the day before and told her he’d see her the day after tomorrow, Kaoru felt a surge of rage for a moment, but he forced it down with superhuman patience and gave a detached nod.
"Remember, brother? Father’s villa in Takomachi."
Hikaru kept talking on the way.
Kaoru stared coldly out the window at Hikaru’s unusually friendly chatter that day.
Even from Hikaru’s perspective, Kaoru was sure this kind of opportunity would never come again in his lifetime.
After checking the area around the villa with satellite photos on Google Earth, there were no houses within a two-kilometer radius. It was a natural fortress surrounded by high cliffs and a deep river.
"It must feel nice to go out together as brothers after so long, right? Oh, come to think of it, Hikaru-kun went there with the chairman once too, didn’t he?"
"Yes. It was only a brief stop, but it wasn’t bad."
Even the thoroughness of scouting the crime scene in advance. Kaoru quietly nodded.
Then, suddenly, bitterness closed his mouth.
The fundamental question of why his only blood-related twin brother had turned into a deranged psychopath filled his head, and a hollow feeling surged through him.
Thinking of Aqua and Ruby, who would be his lifelong companions, Kaoru could only sincerely hope that the twin siblings would live in harmony and cherish each other.
"But this time, I think of it as a [good opportunity]. I’m sure... you feel the same way, brother."
[good opportunity].
Kaoru let out a snort at the rather amusing joke.
-
After arriving at the villa in person, Kaoru couldn’t help admiring his father’s eye for buying a place like this.
No matter what happened here, there would be no CCTV and no human eyes around. It would not be easy for anyone to notice.
Kaoru picked up the bag containing his equipment and walked toward the villa.
"Give it here, brother."
When Hikaru held out his hand, Kaoru smiled naturally without the slightest sign of panic and handed over the bag.
"Thanks."
Hikaru took his own bag and set it on the sofa.
Kaoru quietly checked the kitchen area, opened his bag, took out a walkie-talkie, the tiny bug he had personally modified, and a recorder, then went upstairs.
While looking around the second floor, Kaoru found a wall cabinet with a latch, opened it, and placed the equipment inside before—
"Hoo—"
- Hoo—
"Ah—"
- Ah—
After checking that it worked properly, he came back down the stairs to the first floor and walked into the kitchen as naturally as if he had just been touring the house.
Kaoru pretended not to notice Hikaru’s intentions as he immediately started preparing a barbecue party, and shook his head at his brother’s meticulousness in even trapping the driver here to make sure he ate.
It was clearly a trick to secure an alibi and avoid suspicion in case anything happened.
The driver, unaware of any of this, smiled warmly and expressed gratitude to Hikaru.
After the barbecue was prepared, they grilled meat, chatted idly, and responded to Hikaru’s words—
Kaoru, in fact, acted as if he had absolutely no idea what Hikaru was planning.
After the barbecue ended, he pretended to watch the campfire while carefully monitoring what Hikaru was doing in the kitchen.
Hikaru slipped a hand into his pocket, then casually took it back out and poured milk into a cup.
Watching that with cold eyes, Kaoru quietly sighed and shook his head.
"Where’s the driver?"
Hikaru picked up one of the three cups of milk tea on the tray and handed it to Kaoru.
Kaoru did not take it right away—he studied Hikaru’s fingers and the cup closely.
Some white powder he hadn’t managed to brush off remained, leaving tiny stains on Hikaru’s fingernails and the outside of the cup.
Kaoru took the cup Hikaru offered, set it on the table, and said with a quiet smile, "He went to the bathroom."
"Oh, really? I made milk tea, so I guess he’ll be leaving soon? You can have it, brother."
"Thanks."
While Hikaru was setting down the tray, Kaoru switched his own cup with the driver’s.
Pretending not to notice, he watched the burning firewood while Hikaru, after putting down the tray, picked up his milk tea and took a sip.
Kaoru also let out a sigh and then lifted his cup to take a sip of milk tea.
Seeing that, Hikaru smiled and spoke to Kaoru.
Kaoru sensed a faint excitement in Hikaru’s voice that was different from usual, and answered each of his brother’s casual questions one by one.
"...If it weren’t for that affair rumor, you wouldn’t have gone this far, brother. What a shame."
Kaoru snorted at Hikaru’s words and replied as if he knew nothing. "That’s in the past. The future is what matters."
"So you think so too, brother. I think so too. The future... is more important."
Kaoru looked at his brother for a moment.
Why had things come to this?
At the bitter taste in his mouth, Kaoru set down the milk tea and said in a low voice, "Hikaru. Do you know what’s more important than the future?"
"What?"
"Present day."
"Ah... wow. That’s a very brother-like line. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life, Kaoru brother."
Kaoru quietly stared at the firewood burning emptily, as if watching a die thrown onto a board after leaving his hand.
The driver did not drink the milk tea Kaoru had switched out.
In a way... that was nothing but bad luck for Hikaru.
If only he had drunk it.
"Surprised, brother?"
"......"
He could have ended this right away without needing to trick you like this.
Kaoru forced down the words rising to his throat and, as if this place were the stage of the [Rararai Theater Troupe], glared at Hikaru while immersing himself in the role.
Hikaru, holding a large weapon of some kind he must have gotten from somewhere, looked at Kaoru with the smug face of a man whose every plan had succeeded, his eyes full of superiority.
Bound by rope, Kaoru looked back at that gaze and trembled as if furious with betrayal, breathing hard and roughly on purpose.
"You must have a lot of questions, but—yeah. I’ll tell you while we walk."
Hikaru helped his brother up and stepped outside.
Kaoru walked where Hikaru wanted him to go.
As expected, it was the cliff behind the villa.
Feeling the cold air and damp mist brush his face, Kaoru walked where Hikaru pushed him from behind.
As if suffering the side effects of sleeping pills, he deliberately staggered and walked weakly, and the careless Hikaru, growing even more smug, laughed from behind with a self-satisfied voice.
"I was truly happy that you’d finally be able to show your talent to the fullest, brother."
"......"
"You had talent greater than mine. As your younger brother, I was proud of your brilliant talent."
"......"
"Nothing to say? Ahh— you already knew, didn’t you, Kaoru brother. Go on. Tell me what breadcrumb trail led you all the way here."
"...Did you kill Ai’s doctor too?"
"Heh—"
At Kaoru’s question, Hikaru burst out laughing, clutching his stomach.
"That’s all you’re curious about?"
"I’m not going to be your toy."
"Ah. That’s just like you, Kaoru. I thought the you I know would still stand there boldly even after learning the truth. Looks like I was right."
Hikaru spoke as if he were the only protagonist on a stage, whether Kaoru listened or not.
"Someone like Kaoru, who could only pretend to be a bookworm, dared to outshine me with more brilliant talent and interfere with my [plan], so he had to be removed. Honestly, when I pushed you down the stairs, I didn’t think you’d survive."
"......You’re killing me for a reason that stupid?"
"Don’t dismiss it as stupid. You and I are twins who share blood. Isn’t it natural that we’d understand each other’s minds? Just like how, once you woke up, you saw through me from the very first day. I saw through you too."
So that was it. Kaoru snorted and remembered the day he woke up in the hospital four years ago.
Just as Kaoru had seen through Hikaru’s lies, Hikaru had seen through Kaoru’s mind.
The two twin brothers were never meant to walk the same path from the start.
Like parallel lines that could never touch.
"You’re the same as me, Kaoru. For the sake of what’s most precious to you—and the ideals you most want to achieve—you’re willing to ruthlessly clear away whatever obstacle stands in front of you. That’s why you cut off your own wings for the sake of 『Ai Hoshino』 and chose to live as a worthless human being, isn’t it?"
"......"
"I know. I know your talent. And I know that girl’s talent too. Isn’t it fantastic? Hm? If you hadn’t approached that girl that day, I would have taken her for myself. Until that overwhelming, brilliant talent fully bloomed. I would have watched over it from the side as my own possession."
"......"
"I wanted to test you. So I leaked the affair rumor. You probably noticed. But you overcame it beautifully. Like the heroes in an ancient Greek epic—yes, like the mythic heroes in 『The Odyssey』. You sacrificed yourself to protect that girl. It was thrilling. Amazing. That’s my brother for you! I’m proud we share blood!"
"So killing the doctor too... was because of me? You didn’t need to kill the doctor."
"My goal from the beginning was only you. If the doctor in charge of 『Ai Hoshino』 disappeared dead, then the doctor who would deliver the baby would be gone too.
That alone would be a huge pain and trial for you, wouldn’t it? I wanted to see you cry out right before the brightest moment of your life.
But contrary to my expectations, that doctor was pretty thorough too. Chasing him into the woods and dealing with him was a bit of a hassle.
That girl managed to give birth after all, huh? As expected... a mother is strong."
Kaoru’s teeth ground audibly in his mouth.
Ai had nearly been in serious trouble because there was no doctor. Goro, who had nodded to Kaoru, determined to protect Ai no matter what.
That devoted, kind doctor was killed for... something like that...
"It was a little unexpected that things didn’t go as planned, but it doesn’t matter. If they’re your and my children, then without a doubt. If they’re twins who inherited 『Ai Hoshino』’s brilliant talent, they must have been born with perfect talent. Talent more brilliant than diamonds, never before seen in this world."
"Shut your mouth. Don’t you dare talk about my children."
Kaoru, enraged, growled the words out like he was chewing and spitting them, but Hikaru only looked back as if asking what he was talking about.
"We’re twins. Did you forget? You and I are naturally the same.
Genetically, we’re 100 percent identical. If you think the talent we share was inherited by that child, isn’t that just too interesting?
You can’t help but look forward to the countless amazing things that will happen in the future.
Ah!
So what are the babies’ names? Who took them? Ahh... Ichigo Saito must have taken them. Since he’s a minor."
"......"
Even with Hikaru’s eerily flat voice, as if muttering while choosing items at a supermarket, Kaoru said nothing and kept walking toward the cliff ahead.
Had he left about five steps to the edge?
Hikaru grabbed the rope binding Kaoru and stopped him.
Turning Kaoru around, Hikaru pointed the knife at him and smiled faintly.
Kaoru swallowed hard, staring at the black starlight rippling in those blue eyes, and said in a trembling voice, "You’re planning to drop me like this?"
At Kaoru’s question, Hikaru chuckled and shook his head. "I’d like to, but unfortunately, if I want to account for the possibility of finding your body later, I need to untie the rope."
"...How cold."
"Wouldn’t you do the same? You were able to come this far because you suspected your own brother, of all people."
Hikaru smiled with chilling coldness and gestured for Kaoru to hold out his hand so he could cut the rope binding his wrist.
Kaoru held out his trembling hand and watched Hikaru cut the rope.
The tightly wound rope was sliced by the knife, and Hikaru shrugged with a faint, vicious smirk. "Once the rest of the rope wrapped around you comes loose... you’ll fall like a [meteor].
Ah. Don’t worry.
Just wait a little longer, and I’ll let you meet the person you love soon enough.
As for the twins... that’ll probably take some time."
"!"
The moment Kaoru heard Hikaru’s words, his trembling hand stopped.
The fear that had been on his face only a moment ago was gone without a trace.
Hikaru tilted his head, staring at Kaoru’s blue eyes, now calm and emotionless—then Kaoru said, "Hikaru."
"What?"
"You just made two mistakes."
Hikaru, knife in hand as he cut the rope around Kaoru’s body, stared at him as if asking what he meant.
For the first time since facing Hikaru, Kaoru gave him a bloodthirsty smile and said, "First, you’re too close to me.
Second—
you still don’t know anything about me."
......?
"Wh-—"
Thwack! Thwack! Thud!
Bang—
"?"
The instant stars flashed before his eyes, Hikaru himself was suddenly face-down on the wet, cold dirt in front of Kaoru.
Unable to process the shocking turn of events that had unfolded in an instant, cracks seemed to split across Hikaru’s face.
What? Just now— his hands had moved so fast—
He twisted the wrist, snatched the knife, struck the jaw, and then... kicked the leg out from under him—
Swish—swish—
Snap!
He even freed himself from the rope all on his own.
Hikaru truly—
At that very moment, his mind seemed to glitch, making it impossible to think or judge how the situation had unfolded.
His jaw throbbed from the brutal blow, and the left side of his face, slammed into the dirt, hurt from the grit, sand, and tiny pebbles embedded there, enough to make a groan escape on its own.
Having been hit with something so absurd in less than a second, Hikaru froze like a patient who had been given anesthesia, gasping for breath.
"Hikaru. There’s something I wanted to point out. A [meteor] is just a small lump of rock, after all.
You know that 『stars』 never fall, don’t you?"
Kaoru, having freed himself from the rope, shook out his arms and spoke in a quiet voice, then stood with Hikaru between his legs and bent one knee.
"Kkh?! Ghh— ngh!"
As he bent his leg and pressed his knee hard against Hikaru’s throat, Hikaru thrashed desperately, groaning in agony as if he could barely breathe under the crushing pressure and pain.
Like a turtle straining to flip itself over, Hikaru writhed in a pathetic, ugly way. The blue eyes bulging with bloodshot veins shook violently from the lack of air.
Kaoru reached into the back of Hikaru’s shirt, where he was struggling to breathe, and pulled out the tiny clip-on bug he had personally modified, showing it kindly to Hikaru’s face.
"Horsion SQH-2210. Of course someone your age would be seeing one for the first time."
"Ghk— kkh!!"
With an indifferent expression, Kaoru quietly turned off the bug and put it in his pocket, then took the phone from Hikaru’s coat and put it in his other pocket.
"Everything you’ve said so far has been recorded.
Even a juvenile offender who gets a relatively lenient sentence... will never get away with the charge of murdering a doctor. It’s over. Turn yourself in."
When Kaoru eased the pressure from his knee just enough to let Hikaru breathe—
"Kah— cough! Hah! Hah! Kaoru— you bastard—!!!"
Hikaru bared his true colors, hurling curses with bloodshot, ferocious eyes.
But Kaoru only smiled faintly, as if he were watching some brat whining and squirming.
"You probably thought the world was a joke, like it belonged to you. Kids your age are supposed to grow up that way. But you crossed the line."
"Kkh!?"
Kaoru put his weight back into his knee and grabbed Hikaru’s trembling face tightly.
What if—
What if, instead of Goro or himself, Hikaru had targeted Ai first?
What if he had been one day too late in realizing Hikaru’s plan?
What if his children, Aqua and Ruby, had also been targeted?
The despair, self-reproach, and grief Kaoru had felt when 『Marie』 died stirred deep in the core of his mind.
The pain and despair of losing someone precious.
And once that thought reached him—that the same thing could have happened again—
At last—
Red [starlight] blazed like hellfire in Kaoru’s blue eyes.
"You’re paying the [price] for that. You should never have laid a hand on my people."
"!"
Hikaru lost the ability to speak, instinctively feeling fear at Kaoru’s emotionless killing intent.
Kaoru grabbed Hikaru by the back of the neck, forced him upright, and glared into his eyes.
"You had an accomplice, didn’t you?"
"......"
"You said you saw another adult-sized person besides yourself. Who was it?!"
"......!"
Rolling his eyes, Hikaru seized the chance to whip out a small folding knife from his pants pocket and slash at him.
"Shut up!"
"!"
Kaoru should have checked whether there was another weapon, but his emotions were too heated for him to do it.
Kaoru quickly stepped back, quietly picked up the rope that had fallen to the ground, shook his head, and said to Hikaru, "Put the knife down."
"Shut up! Don’t think you’ve won!"
Hikaru, having lost all reason, clenched his teeth and swung the weapon.
Seeing that, Kaoru grabbed both ends of the rope.
He brought the taut rope around Hikaru’s diagonally swinging arm, wrapping it—
"!?"
Crack—!
With a single pull, Kaoru trapped Hikaru’s arm between both hands and twisted it, forcing him to drop the weapon.
Hikaru couldn’t even scream from the horrifying sound of the arm bone breaking and the terrible pain—
Whip—
Boom—!!!
He was thrown in a shoulder throw and rolled miserably toward the edge of the cliff.
"......"
Even after swinging a weapon, Hikaru was subdued in an instant. Trembling from the pain, he grabbed his limp arm and tried to get back up, then charged at Kaoru again.
But—
"?!"
The dirt underfoot was soaked with thick mist.
As Hikaru hurriedly got up, his body balance collapsed and the sole of his shoe slipped on the wrong patch of dirt—
"Ah—"
He slid backward, landed on his ass, and fell off the cliff below.
Kaoru’s eyes widened in shock. He rushed to the cliff and reached out to grab Hikaru, but—
"Aaaaaaagh!"
Thud— thud—!
Thwack—!
Falling helplessly down the deep cliff, he struck the rocks again and again, rolling as he went, and then—
"......"
He disappeared beneath the deep river.
An accident that happened in an instant.
Kaoru, who had seen every moment of that horrific scene, slowly closed his eyes and clenched his teeth against the complex aftershocks surging through him.
But... when he opened his eyes again, there was not even the slightest trace of pity or sympathy in Kaoru’s blue gaze.
"Atone.... That’s the only thing you can do."
Quietly bidding farewell to his brother, who had met such a futile and horrifying death, Kaoru stood up and drew in a rough breath.
The thick mist began to thin as it caught the sunlight.
Seeing that sight, a strange sense of relief and tingling lightness filled his heart.
Looking at the brilliant sunlight beyond the clouds, Kaoru took his phone from his pocket and dialed 119.
"...Yes, 119? My... younger brother..."
At last, Kaoru put a period at the end of the long, long story.
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