Chapter 50
If you push the broken door, you’ll find the answer.
But after just two steps closer, Alice gave up on opening the door.
Inside the dark space, a few objects glinted in the light from the infirmary. At first, Alice thought they were glass, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, their true nature was revealed one by one.
A bone saw, a retractor stained with flesh, a drill bit. That alone was enough to make her uneasy, but even more bizarrely, all of them were either broken or twisted. As if they had been trampled by an enraged monster.
Was this the price of anger that refused to look back? On the floor, red footprints made of blood were scattered here and there.
‘Did someone who came back to life take revenge?’
Feeling as if she had seen something she shouldn’t, Alice only checked that there was no one inside and then stepped back.
‘The door wasn’t broken by accident, either.’
Up close, the hinges showed clear marks of having been struck repeatedly by something until they gave way.
The observation was over quickly.
“Alice?”
“I’ll be right there!”
Alice hugged the bucket and left the infirmary.
About ten meters away from the infirmary was a large room. She saw Fiore leaning against a long bench. The strange discomfort she’d felt in his voice earlier seemed to have disappeared.
“I brought water. Wash up.”
He tilted his head as if confused.
“Thank you, but I said earlier I didn’t plan to wash. I’ll have to go into the water a few more times anyway.”
“Well, at least wash your hands.”
“My hands? Ah.”
Fiore deliberately looked at his own hands. Alice’s face flushed again.
“True. I’ll have to carry you around with these hands, and if you throw up again… ”
“That won’t happen! Just wash, please!”
Alice grabbed Fiore’s hand and dunked it into the bucket. Fiore chuckled.
In the salty water, Fiore didn’t wash his hands right away. His hand swam in the bucket like a flexible albino tropical fish. In other words, he was playing in the water.
She thought about scolding him, but it seemed like this was Fiore’s way of taking a break, so Alice held her tongue and focused on what she could do.
‘Is he hurt?’
She quietly looked at the back of his hand. Under the waxy skin, she saw a slightly swollen area. The joint. It looked like he’d broken through an outer wall. If so, his hand couldn’t be unscathed.
Alice carefully reached her hand over Fiore’s in the water.
“…?”
The moment their skin touched underwater, Fiore’s gaze turned to her with interest. Alice quickly explained.
“It’s not anything weird! Earlier, when I was with the wraiths, you broke the wall, right?”
“Yes.”
“I just wanted to check if you got hurt… ”
Before she could finish, Fiore’s hand slipped out of her grasp.
“It’s fine. You don’t need to examine me.”
“I’m not examining, I’m checking… ”
“I’m fine.”
Fiore gripped the edge of the bucket. It was a very light movement. But when he let go, the rim of the bucket was crumpled like a cigar.
“Fiore…”
“So, Doctor, you should use your precious time on other patients.”
Suddenly, a memory from one night flashed in Alice’s mind.
The night she asked if doctors were treated as criminals in Reki, Fiore had answered like this.
Hadn’t you ever used your identity as a doctor to decide someone’s fate?
…The voice of someone who might have been dissected by a doctor.
Alice had never heard what had happened to him. She hadn’t pressed further.
Today, she decided, should be the same.
While Alice was silent, Fiore stood up and spoke casually.
“We should get moving. Want me to carry you?”
“Carry what?”
“You. Like before, just pick you up.”
“No, thanks!”
“It’ll be hard to walk when you’re soaking wet, you know? If you collapse from showing off, hmm, if you don’t want me to carry you, I’ll just have to hold you in my arms.”
“That’s not necessary! I won’t collapse, ever!”
Fiore shrugged and walked ahead. Alice followed him.
Collapsed walls, seawater, and holes made a confusing maze inside the ship. Sometimes, even when the cries of sailors rang out nearby, Fiore didn’t stop walking.
He was always right to do so. The voices of the cursed only passed beyond dead ends.
A quiet, slow path.
Seawater, broken glass, and ten-year-old Sternpool goods created a bizarre kaleidoscope. What kept those things from threatening reality was Fiore’s silent escort.
Whenever she almost stepped on glass, Fiore’s foot was suddenly under hers. When she stood before a puddle too wide to cross alone, he lifted her over in an instant. None of his movements were delayed.
It was like walking through a peaceful nightmare.
Alice felt like she might lose her grip on reality if this kept up, so she spoke.
It wasn’t small talk.
She let out all the theories she’d built, the ones that had been destroyed, and the things she’d only learned today.
“Fiore. Are the residents of Reki… the taxidermied animals that were on the cargo ship Lumière, which ran aground off Reki ten years ago?”
Just as she hadn’t been surprised to find herself at the beach, she expected he wouldn’t be surprised by this question either… and she was right.
Fiore answered as if she’d asked about the weather.
“You figured it out quickly. There were plenty of guests who couldn’t accept reality even after the walking corpses explained everything.”
“I’ve seen animal traits in the residents. Miss Cherry is a moth, Mr. Gon is some kind of deer, Miss Doki is a dog… Even after all that, I couldn’t believe it, but the sailors’ stories proved it.”
“That’s just like you, Doctor.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Smart and boring.”
“Then should I tell a more interesting story?”
“You sound confident for once. You’re not good at telling interesting stories.”
Fiore’s lips had been curling up for a while now, but Alice didn’t notice and hesitated before speaking.
“People’s own stories are usually the most interesting. …Fiore. Are you a shark?”
Fiore didn’t stop walking. But his shoulder definitely trembled for a moment.
“Why do you think that?”
“At first, I thought you were a cat-like carnivore because of your teeth and the spots on your back. Like a cheetah. But cats hate water, so that can’t be right for someone who travels the sea.”
“Hm.”
“But I couldn’t let go of the idea you were a land animal… Until today, when you broke into the ship. Few land predators would attack in water.”
“Shouldn’t have saved you, then?”
Fiore’s voice was light as hydrogen, as if he was enjoying a guessing game.
“You have more evidence, right?”
“Yes. Once I changed my perspective, it was easy. Teeth different from other carnivores, the habit of always moving forward, sensitivity to the smell and sound of blood. All of it pointed to one thing.”
Don’t block the path of someone who moves straight ahead. Don’t go into the sea injured.
Those rules must have been made to protect the residents from Fiore.
“But, you know.”
Suddenly, Alice realized Fiore had slowed down and was now beside her.
Splash, splash. The sound of wet footsteps was light, almost like dancing.
“Do you know the beast called a ‘tiger’?”
“A cat-like carnivore. I think I heard it’s a lion with black stripes.”
“I hear it’s much more beautiful than a lion. Anyway, according to Gon, that cat friend usually lives in the mountains but swims after prey when needed.”
“It swims? How big is it?”
“At least two meters, I think?”
“That’s huge…”
The realistic size made it even scarier. A giant predator you can’t escape from on land or in water.
But since prey like Gon described it as ‘beautiful,’ Alice was a bit curious. If it’s a cat-like beast, does it have spots?
“…Ah.”
Alice looked at Fiore with a realization. More precisely, she looked back and forth between his face and the spots on his waist, visible through his wet shirt.
“Are you a tiger, Fiore?”
“Haha, wrong.”
“…”
She didn’t even have the energy to be annoyed. When Alice just pressed her forehead, Fiore quickly added,
“Ah, it’s not completely off. The folks here called me a tiger shark.”
“…Wait. Then my deduction was right! A shark!”
“I never said you were wrong. But it’s better to know exactly, right? Like how cookies and cakes are different foods.”
Fiore chuckled. Alice sighed.
He seemed more excited than usual.
‘If it were me, I wouldn’t be happy about having my identity revealed…’
“That’s nice.”
“Sorry?”
“It means you were watching me, too. I thought you only cared about other people’s wounds and how to escape the village.”
“…”
Fiore looked to the side. He bent his knees a lot, so his excited smile was now quite close.
“You must have hurt your neck watching me all the time. Next time you want to pay attention to me, just tell me to bend my knees… cup.”
“Stop it!”
Without thinking, Alice reached out and put her hand on his face.
Even Fiore seemed flustered and said nothing. But the silence didn’t last. His eyes narrowed, and soon his laughter-tinged breath tickled Alice’s palm.
The ticklish feeling slowly spread. From her palm, to her wrist, up her arm, over her chest, and finally to the corners of Alice’s lips…
‘No.’
He saw her expression.
Fiore’s hand gently wrapped around Alice’s wrist. Not to remove her hand. Instead, he pulled it closer to his face.
He traced her hand over his eyebrows, around his eyes, along his nose, and then he opened his mouth…
She wanted to see what would happen next. She wanted to wait. But she had to run. She had to pull away.
A kind of weighing began in her head, something she’d never felt before. The weights weren’t all reason.
While she was confused,
Alice suddenly saw something that snapped her back to her senses.
“…Fiore!”
Alice shouted, almost like a scream.
Between Fiore’s callused fingers, he playfully peeked out at her.
“Yes?”
“Why did you come to save me? No, more precisely, did you really come to save me?”
“…What do you mean?”
“You said you’ve seen many visitors come to the wreck. So you must know what the wraiths say to them.”
The wraiths don’t just whisper the village’s secrets.
What they most carefully convey is the suggestion to band together and wipe out the villagers.
‘Fiore, did you come to deal with me before I could hurt the villagers?’
What bothered her most was the whereabouts of Arno, who was supposed to keep Fiore in check.
Please, let the faint crimson stain on Fiore’s sleeve not be what she feared.
