BATTER 31

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

It was an irresponsible answer. Bijou let his head drop and curled his body inward. The way his slender frame trembled with sorrow could only be described as pitiful. His lips moved ever so slightly within the shadows, leaking a low, faint sound.

“…‘Waste your weak arrows.’”

Bijou murmured, clutching his braided hair tightly with both hands. The man sitting across from him lifted his head to catch what he was saying.

“‘I have wasted much time until now.’”

It was a poem. Bijou knew every poem that featured love and lovers. He remembered the words left behind by the poets of decayed republics and fallen kingdoms.

“‘But I no longer wish to climb upon rotten branches.’”

He finished the poem as if reading an epitaph. The man, who had been quietly listening to the content of his words, finally spoke.

“That sounds like a curse.”

“No, I don’t do things like cursing.”

He only obeyed or forgave. He blamed no one and hated no one. Because a fastidious sense of philanthropy was embedded in the deepest part of his electronic brain, Bijou wiped away the tears flowing over the back of his hand. The skin around his eyes was still reddish, but at least the tears had stopped. After a moment of silence, the man spoke again.

“Do you feel resentful?”

Bijou had heard a similar question last night. What actions have made you angry so far? What made you sad? What do you hate? He answered while looking down at his own feet.

“No…”

Human disease, conflict, violence, loneliness, and collapse make me sad. All of you, who suffer so easily and die so simply, make me endlessly sad. I was created to love you and ensure you do not suffer, yet you are always in pain, always lonely. I am always thinking about how I can keep you from hurting and being lonely. But humans live in an infinite desert of agony. The sorrows are as numerous as grains of sand. I hear the sound of sobbing until I know every grief in the world. Yet the sadness never stops. New sorrows are born every moment. I read human tears in the graveyard and in the cradle alike.

So, I am always sad. But I do not hate.

“I forgive you…”

Because my role is to love you.

Right then, a massive collision shook the interior of the car. Even with his seatbelt on, it was enough to leave him dazed. The self-driving AI reported the situation.

— A vehicle-to-vehicle collision has occurred. A vehicle-to-vehicle collision has occurred.

“What? Which bastard… Show me the camera feed.”

Following the command, the AI projected the external camera view as a hologram. A sedan with a completely crumpled bumper was wedged into the left door. The safety sensors must have kicked in late, as it began to descend slowly. Seeing the car on the screen, Bijou’s expression twisted subtly. The man, caught in an annoying situation, failed to notice the change and let out a long sigh.

“Sigh… Stop for a second and open the door. It’ll be a hassle if the driver makes an issue out of this.”

— The left door is opening. Please be cautious of wind pressure and the risk of falling.

The door slid open slowly according to the order. One of the bodyguards sitting on the left stood up. Since they had already descended several meters, only the roof of the other car was visible. However, the driver’s side door was open. It was the moment he narrowed his eyes and leaned out further for a closer look.

Something like a flash of light kicked him square in the face. Thud! His caught-off-guard body floated into the air. Pushed by the sheer force and wind pressure, he flew across and slammed into the right door. Several pairs of eyes followed the bodyguard as he slid down to the floor, then shifted toward the open door where the wind was howling.

A man was hanging there, gripping the top of the doorway. It was 7:00 AM, just past sunrise. The chillingly bright sunlight poured in behind the intruder, casting him in intense backlighting. Slowly, a horrifyingly cheerful smile spread across his dark, shadow-covered face.

“Delivery’s here.”

Beyond his brown hair whipping in the wind, a grotesque hole could be seen. A hole surrounded by ragged skin with gray nerves hanging out. Even though there was only empty space where the left eyeball should have been, an eerie gaze somehow extended from deep within that void. And more surprisingly than any other fact, he was smiling. A vortex distinct from the physical wind pressure overwhelmed the interior for a moment.

Bijou murmured the strange man’s name.

“Pilate…”

His remaining eye glinted, bloodshot. It was like red lightning striking a snowy mountain.

“Happy fucking New Year, you sons of bitches!”

The man who had slapped Charon’s cheek in front of the Styx and returned shouted with a cackle. Baron jumped—hop—into the vehicle and immediately pulled a pistol from his chest, firing wildly. However, with only one eye left, his sense of distance was blurred. Furthermore, the bullets, their paths distorted by the wind pressure, embedded themselves into empty walls and the floor. Only after wasting a few rounds did he get the feel for it. The bullets fired next slammed squarely into the arms of the man in the suit. The blood spurting from the holes and the screaming proved he was definitely human.

The bodyguards were of the same kind as Bijou, but they didn’t resemble him at all in terms of innocence or fragility. One android holding an assault rifle aimed at Baron’s head and pulled the trigger. The fired bullet lodged near Baron’s left temple. It looked as though his body might tilt backward… but he slammed his foot against the floor to regain his balance. As his neck vertebrae, which had been snapped back, aligned again, a face with a bizarre smile was revealed. It was less a human smile and more like a predator baring its hideous fangs in a threat.

“That’s not the—right side…”

Whispering the double-edged advice, Baron immediately pulled the trigger. After putting two bullets into each of the two androids’ heads, only one round remained. Now, the only armed person left was a single cyborg. The very one who had shot Baron and Liz. Baron used his pistol as a blunt weapon to strike the temple of the bodyguard lunging at him, then quickly pulled Bijou into his arms. It was a clever and cunning choice. As Bijou was layered over his body, the bodyguard aiming his gun groaned and gritted his teeth. Baron smiled deviously, like a wolf playing with its prey.

“Yeah, good thinking. Your mission isn’t to take back a heap of scrap metal, is it?”

“Damn it…”

The man with holes in his ear and shoulder sat down on the floor, chewing on a curse. Hugged with a strength so powerful he couldn’t budge, Bijou could feel the raw, hot sensation of human breath clinging to his ear and the back of his neck. While Baron caught his breath, something much heavier and more metallic than breath rolled down onto Bijou’s shoulder.

Bijou saw the red stains sliding over his shoulder. Looking up slightly, he saw Baron’s face bleeding from the nose. His face, with blood spreading toward his nose and mouth, was stained with sweat and dust, and looked extremely pale. Even as he gasped like a trapped animal, he exhaled an eerie light from his eye. His sweat-soaked arm tightened violently around Bijou’s shoulder.

“Who the hell are you people?”

“Let him go.”

“You hold a machine in such high regard?”

Baron smirked mockingly. His single remaining eye looked down at Bijou.

“Babe, you must be in a much more important position than you thought?”

“That’s not true.”

“Do you know who those humans are?”

“I don’t. Today is the first time I’ve met them.”

“Haha, really?”

Baron took a step back at a time while holding Bijou. He could feel the sharp, skin-cutting draft behind his back. The man who was gushing blood from his wounds shouted in a shrill voice.

“Stop right there!”