Alexander’s premonition was spot on.
Just as Alexander was warily wondering what her father was about to bring up with Elaine, the words that came out of his mouth were utterly staggering.
‘I was unable to solve your mother’s case. I took this job on to make amends for that. Therefore, no payment is required.’
It was a line that their mother, struggling with their dire household finances, could never be allowed to hear.
However, the woman named Elaine was evidently a person of great integrity. When Alexander checked the Colt Detective Agency’s bank account a few days later, the requested fee, plus a handsome tip, had been transferred under the name Elaine Varlozzi.
She had not yet told her father about the money, but she had shown the bank book to her mother that very day. Naturally, upon seeing the amount deposited, her mother had jumped for joy.
‘Alexander, you truly are a goddess of good fortune!’
Elaine’s husband was a high-earning researcher. She herself was a violinist, and her father was the great genius, Pellmond Varlozzi. In short, she was a very wealthy woman.
The tip was also exceedingly generous. The tip alone was enough to live on for four months, provided one was not extravagant.
“Alexander, you came again. And…?”
On this day, Alexander was visiting Yuni’s hospital room. She had come to see Yun, but—but today, she had a troublesome companion. Alexander pointed at her companion and said to Yun, “Oh, him? He’s a bloody idiot, don’t mind him. I’ll kick him out later.”
“Neil Archer. Nice to meet ya.”
It was Neil who had followed Alexander, carrying a fruit basket. He introduced himself briefly to Yun, who responded with a hesitant, awkward smile. Then she said,“Oh, right. Nice to meet you too…”
At that, Neil strode into the room, bypassing Alexander, and sat himself down on a folding chair without being invited. He then took an apple from the fruit basket he had brought, and with a fruit knife that had been tucked inside, he began to peel it skilfully.
Alexander, entering the room after him, stood by the bed and looked around the room. Whilst she was doing so, Neil, ignoring her, struck up a conversation with Yun in an overly familiar manner.
“Ah, right, I forgot to ask. Can you eat apples? What about grapes, pears, and other fruits? Any doctor’s orders against them or anything…?”
“It’s fine. It’s been years since I’ve had fruit. I haven’t had anyone bring me anything for years, so I’m really happy.”
The reason Alexander had been looking around the room was because it was a peculiar space.
The room had no window. There were traces of where a window frame might have been, but it was now filled in with concrete. Consequently, there was no sunlight in the room, and the ventilation was poor. The air felt stagnant. —Alexander was lost for words at the sight of this sealed space.
Though they had been admitted to the same hospital, this was a world away from the large ward she had been in.
“Oh! Yuni was saying, you know. Turns out Lenny’s dad wasn’t the culprit after all. He was just the person Lenny always believed he was.”
Yun spoke to Alexander, who had been spacing out. Snapping back to reality, Alexander gave a noncommittal response.
“...Hmm? Oh, r-really?”
“You were the one who brought that video, weren’t you? Didn’t you know?”
“Ah, yeah. My old man said not to look at what’s meant for a client, so I had no idea what was on the video. Huh, so that’s how it was…”
“According to Yuni, Lenny’s dad was trying to stop the Abaddoselenium from going out of control right to the end. So the textbooks were wrong. Lenny’s dad wasn’t a terrorist.”
“...Huh...”
“But Elaine says they can’t make it public. Yuni said they had another fight about it last night. I wonder if they’ll ever get along, those two…”
As she spoke, Yun stretched her arms with a grunt. The atmosphere having grown somewhat awkward, Alexander looked down. Just then, Neil, who had been peeling the apple, began to speak.
“Are her parents not on good terms?”
“Elaine and Lenny aren’t her parents. Her real mother was Lenny’s older sister, but she’s dead now, and we don’t even know who our father is.”
“Huh, so you’re adopted… But still, why can’t they make it public?”
“Um, well, it would make the government of the United States of North American ang—”
“Hey, you bastard!”
Alexander shot to her feet, snatched the fruit knife from Neil, and slapped him hard across the head. She then wrapped an arm around his neck and squeezed lightly. Neil flailed his arms in resistance, and Yun let out a short scream.
“...Please, let go of me...!”
Alexander pressed the tip of the fruit knife she had just taken to Neil’s throat. Just then, Yun shouted.
“Alexander, that’s not fair on Neil!”
“…”
“Alexander!!”
“Alright, alright, jeez. …You should thank Yun, you rotten scumbag.”
Alexander released her hold on Neil, shoving him away. Pushed, Neil stumbled and hit the wall. Alexander gave him a cold look, while Yun watched her with fear in her eyes.
“...Hah, so I’m still not forgiven, eh?”
Neil muttered as he staggered to his feet. Alexander said nothing and did not offer him a hand.
“…”
In the first place, Alexander had had no intention of bringing Neil with her on this visit.
She had not told her parents she was going to visit Yun. She had planned to go alone. And for most of the journey, she had been alone.
But when she arrived at the bus stop in front of the hospital, Neil had appeared before her, holding a fruit basket.
‘I figured you wouldn’t have brought anything. Can’t go visiting someone empty-handed, can ya?’
Alexander had ignored him and entered the hospital, but Neil had followed her inside. And now, here they were, in the same room. She had no idea what Yun thought of Neil, but for Alexander, it was the worst possible situation.
“...Listen up, Neil. I don’t know what ‘that person’ has been telling you, but I won’t stand for you trying to dig up dirt on anyone other than me.”
The “Neil Archer” in Alexander’s eyes now was nothing more than a traitor. The friend he once was no longer existed for her.
Before her now stood a spy. An untrustworthy presence, after something.
“Alex. I’m not asking for your permission, and I’m not digging for anything.”
“Will you get it if I put it another way?”
“...Alex.”
“I’m telling you to keep your hands off my mates. Now piss off.”
The awkward atmosphere that Yun had created earlier was now replaced by one of uncomfortable tension, crafted by Alexander. Her already sharp gaze grew even sharper as she glared at Neil.
“I’m your friend, aren’t I?”
“That was a long time ago. Not anymore.”
Alexander stated it plainly. Neil looked at her with disbelief, as if trying to gauge how serious she was.
A moment of silence followed. It was broken by the sound of the hospital room door opening.
“...So you are looking into us, just as I thought.”
Peeking through the open door was Yuni, her already pale face now even whiter.
“It’s a misunderstanding. Alex, she just—”
Neil tried to explain, but Yuni cut him off with a glare.
A crackling tension filled the air, and Alexander clenched her fists, squeezing them tight. At the same moment, Yuni grabbed both Alexander’s and Neil’s shoulders. And with all her strength, she pulled them back.
“Both of you, get out.”
Yuni shoved Alexander and Neil out into the corridor. …And in that instant, a high-pitched scream, loud enough to shatter eardrums, erupted.
“Yun...?!”
The source of the scream was the girl huddled on the pristine white bed, hugging her knees. Tearing at her white hair with pale hands, she was screaming and crying.
She seemed to be shouting words, but her pronunciation was garbled and unintelligible. Her voice sounded like a meaningless roar. It resembled the tantrum of a child, but—to Alexander’s eyes, she looked like a maddened beast.
“...Is that… her illness…?”
The mumbled words escaped from a stunned and motionless Neil. Yuni answered him sharply. Yes, that’s her illness.
“This was the one place I never wanted you to come. I never wanted anyone to see her like that again. …So why? Why did you come here?!”
This time it was Yuni who shouted. In response, the girl on the bed screamed again and sobbed.
Yuni’s expression hardened with irritation, and she clutched her head. Letting out a heavy sigh, she spat out her words.
“Please, just go home. And never get involved with us again. Especially you, Neil!”
“...I’m sorry, I really am. So, if you just let me—”
“Just don’t get involved anymore. We’re already being followed by strangers all the time as it is, and now to be snooped around by a classmate… I can’t take it…!”
Yuni turned her back on Neil, took out her phone, and started making a call. Neil’s shoulders slumped, and he finally fell silent. —But beside him, Alexander had been listening to Yun’s voice.
“Hmm, I see. So she’s a girl on the run, looking for someone…”
Wait, Mezun, don’t leave me. —From these fragmented words she had managed to catch, Alexander formed a hypothesis. She then approached the frantic Yun.
“...Hey, hang on, Alexander! Stop, don’t do anything stupid!!”
Yuni tried to stop her, but Alexander was quicker, speaking to the screaming Yun.
“Hey there. What’s wrong, crying your eyes out like this? Did you get separated from your parents?”
Alexander asked in a gentle voice. Yun looked into her eyes and nodded silently.
“…”
At that moment, Yun’s screaming stopped. Yuni, her twin sister, was astonished by this. To the stunned Yuni, Alexander, who had managed to calm Yun, said,
“...Yuni. Go and get her doctor. And it would be a good idea to ask for a psychiatrist to come as well.”
Twenty minutes after Yun’s screaming had subsided, Alexander was summoned to another room. There, she found herself explaining the situation to two doctors—Yun’s physician, Aristide Pevalossam, and a male psychiatrist.
“Mezun, eh? …I had assumed it was meaningless screaming, but to think she was calling out the name of a fictional person. I never would have imagined.”
The psychiatrist hummed thoughtfully, then looked at Alexander as if assessing her. Then he spoke.
“I like you, girl. You’ve got a good eye for observation.”
What Yun was experiencing was a condition commonly known as multiple personality disorder, a form of dissociative identity disorder.
That being said, dissociation is a phenomenon that can occur in any person. To put it simply, it could be described as having a ‘different side’ to oneself.
A male boss who is strict with his subordinates at work becomes a doting father at home. A female teacher who warmly embraces her students in the classroom becomes a cold mother to her own child at home. A student who acts like a delinquent at school becomes a responsible older brother who looks after his younger siblings at home. A politician who constantly looks down on others secretly enjoys being tormented by a sadistic queen at an S&M club…—.
If the symptoms of dissociation are as mild as in these examples, they would likely be dismissed as mere gaps between one’s public and private personas. But when it becomes severe, the dissociation transforms from a person’s ‘different side’ into a ‘different person’.
When subjected to intense stress, humans split their personalities in order to escape the pressure, thus creating multiple ‘selves’.
“Well, anyway. Alexander. It was a good call to bring in a psychiatrist. Something this blockhead Pevalossam would never have managed. —That’s why I told you, Pevalossam. I wanted to see her just once. I am certain I could be of assistance in her recovery.”
The psychiatrist lightly poked the shoulder of Yun’s physician, who, in turn, looked thoroughly fed up.
And so, thanks to the psychiatrist who had rushed to the scene, several facts came to light. Yun had created multiple personalities: a regressed, childlike version of herself; a version that impersonated her twin sister, Yuni; and a completely separate personality named ‘Yuin’.
Among them, ‘Yuin’ was said to be a particularly troublesome presence. It was always when this personality was dominant that she engaged in self-harm, and on one occasion, she had even attempted suicide by jumping from the roof.
If there was a personality trying to kill her, it was undoubtedly ‘Yuin’. And now, the physician, Dr. Pevalossam, and the suspicious psychiatrist were in the midst of devising a strategy to deal with ‘Yuin’.
As for Yun herself, she was currently sleeping like a powered-down robot, the psychiatrist having just administered a sedative.
“Well, be that as it may. Pevalossam, I believe she should be moved to the psychiatric ward. They have the staff there equipped to handle patients even if they become violent. To prevent any more harm from coming to her body—”
The psychiatrist proposed to Dr. Pevalossam. However, Dr. Pevalossam rejected the suggestion.
“No, that place is not an option. She would be too isolated. She is fine as she is. Besides, Mrs. Elaine Varlozzi has made a substantial donation to this hospital…”
“But—”
“On this, I will not yield.”
“However—”
“No, I will not yield.”
“You’re so stubborn, Pevalossam.”
“Her illness falls under the jurisdiction of neurosurgery. It is not a field for a psychiatrist to meddle in.”
“So that’s your angle…”
“Besides, what can counselling possibly change? It is all an illusion created by brain chemistry. It should be controlled with medication. Treatment centred on counselling is nothing but—”
“How will we know unless we try? I feel that medication, which needlessly confuses the neural pathways, is the more harmful option.”
The battle between the doctors, the neurosurgeon and the psychiatrist, continued for some time. While they were engrossed in their pointless debate, Alexander quietly slipped away from the scene.
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