"Your eye…"
"This is a prosthetic."
Mei touched her left green eye.
It was beautiful, but carried no sign of life.
"When I was four, I lost my left eye to a malignant tumor. All that was left was an empty socket. I tried many prosthetics, but my mother thought they were ugly, so she had this one specially made."
"Your mother's craftsmanship is impressive… but since it was custom, why not make it red? At least symmetrical. Or did she like heterochromia?"
"I don't know."
Mei said this as she put the eyepatch back on.
"I see. You wear it because that eye can't see. But then…"
"No, it's not entirely blind."
"Huh?"
"It's a 'doll's eye.' I hide it because it sees things that shouldn't be seen," Mei said.
"…"
So, chuunibyou after all?
"The things it sees… you mean…"
"The color of death."
"…Can you explain?"
"When someone is about to die or already dead, this eye can see the color of death on them," Mei said. "I once saw it on Misaki, which meant she was close to death."
"But she's alive and recovering now."
"Yes. The next day at the hospital, her 'color' was gone." Mei looked at Rinji. "Instead, that color briefly appeared on you."
Hearing this, Rinji chuckled.
"Don't tell me you think I'm a dying man."
"You saved Misaki, who was supposed to die. The death should have been transferred to you. But on you, the color only appeared briefly, then vanished. I've never seen that before."
"Probably because I'm hard to kill," Rinji said with a laugh.
Though truthfully, since arriving here, he had nearly died once—when he faced his younger father.
He hadn't revealed his identity, and Isaac only saw him as a hacker infiltrating the organization's satellite. If neither of them had held back, Rinji might really have died there.
"My question is done. Mei, if you want to ask me something, go ahead. I'll answer depending on the situation."
"That 'depending' makes you sound sly."
Still, Mei didn't mind. After a pause, she asked her question.
"Rinji, you're not a 'dead one,' are you?"
"Do you think I've died once?"
"Not exactly. You give me a very strange feeling." Mei said, touching the artificial eye under her eyepatch. "There's a color on you, but it isn't the color of death… I don't know what this color represents, but to me it feels like you're someone who shouldn't exist."
"Is that different from the dead?"
Mei shook her head.
"It's different. The dead are people who lived once and then died. But with you, it feels like you never had the concept of life at all, as if you were never supposed to exist in this world."
"…"
Hearing Mei's words, Rinji fell silent. She was completely right. In this era he was never born, and without life there is no death. The very concept of death does not apply to him.
"Do you want to know the answer? If you want, I'll tell you."
"I was only asking out of curiosity."
"I see. Then I won't say it. It's not that important anyway." Rinji smiled. "What I can tell you is that I chose to be the one in class who doesn't exist because I myself am someone who doesn't exist."
"So you don't want to answer."
"You don't even care yourself."
Rinji just smiled, stood up from the rooftop floor, and brushed off the dust from his clothes. He looked at Mei and said slowly, "Since you can see the color of death, you should know who the dead one is, right?"
"I do know, but even if I know, it's useless. The calamity has already come." Mei spoke, then her cold face showed a faint smile. "Do you want me to tell you the answer?"
"No need. I don't care who the dead one is. What I care about is the root of this curse that has lasted twenty-six years, and…"
Rinji looked up at the dark sky.
"The road back home."
---
That day, Rinji spent his time at school like a transparent person. Other than Mei, no one spoke to him, and no one noticed him. Rinji cooperated perfectly, deliberately playing his role and fading his presence from the crowd. After school, he walked alone out the school gate, heading toward the inn.
Bang.
"Dad, I'm back."
"Yeah."
As soon as Rinji returned to the inn, he saw Isaac sitting on the sofa talking on the phone. When Isaac saw him, he only nodded and put a finger to his lips, signaling him to be quiet. Then he continued his call.
"Ok, go on."
"Yes, boss."
The voice on the phone came clearly. "You asked me to investigate every teacher and student in Yomiyama North Middle School's Class 3, and after comparing the records, we didn't find anything unusual."
"No cases where someone was dead but still listed?"
"None."
Rinji realized then that Isaac had indeed arranged an investigation after hearing what he said yesterday. Isaac's brows furrowed.
"Strange… could it be that all twenty-four people are really alive and real?"
"Boss, maybe you miscounted?"
As Isaac thought, the voice on the other end spoke again. "Boss, the list you sent me had only twenty-three people."