章 5: Really Not Human
Jason initially didn't quite believe the strange things Jandis said about seeing ghosts. Although Jandis had some abilities, she was still just a ten-year-old girl, and it was possible for her to mistake something strange for a ghost, especially during a power outage.
Jason had seen many strange things himself, and he himself was not entirely normal in some ways. But ghosts and such still made him uneasy, especially considering he had killed quite a few people. However, even if those guys came looking for trouble, he could just kill them again.
But with a young girl, especially one obviously afraid of ghosts, he obviously couldn't say something like that. "No, you must have seen wrong."
Jason confidently walked towards the living room window as he spoke.
Jandis followed him cautiously, thinking about what she had seen, shivering involuntarily. "It's true!"
The girl seemed to have found a reassuring figure in him, holding onto a pillow with one hand and a knife with the other, while gripping the hem of his brown jacket, as if seeking safety in this small corner.
Jason comfortingly patted her head, chuckling silently to himself, reaching out to open the window. But as soon as he did, his eyes widened.
What met his eyes were numerous scratches. Judging from the spacing between each scratch, they were undoubtedly made by fingers, but human fingernails couldn't possibly be so sharp, nor could they leave so many marks on bulletproof glass.
And this was the second floor. How did that person support themselves to make such marks? And since he wasn't here, what was the purpose of that guy? Just to scare a little girl?
Jason began to ponder what kind of monster had appeared in Gotham this time.
"That guy..." Jason turned his head to ask something, but he noticed that Jandis looked a bit pale, her grip on the pillow tightening, the force seemingly enough to tear the pillow in half. The hand that was clutching his clothes was the same, clearly she had been quite scared earlier.
Jason swallowed the words he was about to say, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the girl's dependence. Nevertheless, he said, "It's not a ghost, it's a person."
"I can tell whether she's human or not." Jandis's childish voice trembled slightly.
"This time, you probably saw wrong because it was too dark." Jason said firmly.
"But..." Jandis wanted to say that she saw clearly with her phone's flashlight, and even made eye contact with that thing, but Jason, with a bit of force, patted her head, as if trying to drive away the scary images in her mind. He said, "It's fake. I'll find her and you'll see."
In Jason's confident assurance, Jandis began to doubt her own judgment. Her eyes were hesitant and uncertain, but she asked, "Really?"
Jason mentally scolded himself for deceiving the little girl, he himself wasn't sure whether that guy was human or not, but if he let the girl keep worrying like this, she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
He remained resolute on the surface and replied, "Don't you believe what I say? Adults don't lie to children. Can you go back to sleep now?"
Jandis's tense body relaxed a bit, and she let go of the hand gripping Jason's, but the knife was still not put down, nor did she let go of his clothes. Her eyes, wet and pitiful, stared at him.
She didn't feel embarrassed or shy to reveal her fear so openly. "I'm scared..."
Jason: Damn! Why is this kid different?!
Jason felt uncomfortable under her gaze, thinking that he shouldn't spoil children too much, and that he should cultivate her independence. But when the words came out, they turned into, "Alright, with me here, that guy won't appear again. Go back to your room, I'll tuck you in."
Jason sneered at his own hypocrisy, but he allowed himself to be pulled into the room by the little girl.
Jandis finally let go of Jason's hand, arranged her pillow and knife properly, climbed onto the bed, covered herself with the blanket, and lay flat on the bed, staring straight at Jason, her eyes bright and shining.
Jason raised an eyebrow, ignoring her action of placing the kitchen knife under the pillow. He figured, if she felt comfortable doing that, let her be, since it wouldn't hurt her anyway.
It was Jason's first time trying to put a child to sleep, and he had no experience. But he figured it shouldn't be too difficult. He picked up a book from the bedside table.
It was Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" from his bookshelf, but with her current vocabulary, she could only manage some simple daily conversations. Reading and understanding this all-English classic wasn't easy for her. Judging from her progress, she was still dragging along on the first ten pages.
Even if she couldn't understand it when he read aloud, Jason automatically switched to Japanese, as comforting a child to sleep naturally puts the child first.
As he read on, Janice became drowsy, and soon fell asleep. As Jason's reading grew quieter and gradually faded away, he became immersed in the story.
Realizing that Janice had fallen asleep, Jason, thinking of her extraordinary alertness, waited half an hour before leaving.
The next day, after sending Janice to her tutoring class, Jason returned home and checked the surveillance footage from the hidden camera in the living room.
He didn't want to scare the girl even more last night, so he didn't mention the incident. He promised her he would find out who that person was.
Although the power outage caused total darkness, some things were still visible, including the position of the window.
But when the girl walked towards the window, the video flickered as if the signal was weak, then blinked several times in a second, and finally turned into static, capturing no key information at all. He had intended to use technology to restore it, but to no avail.
Jason narrowed his eyes. This was unusual.
He checked the marks on the glass window again, almost leaning out of the window, his expression serious. Most of the scratches were from left to right, deepening as they went. So the person's posture—
Was against the right wall?
Jason looked at the wall to the right, but there was nothing that could support a person. Suddenly, he squinted and reached out to touch it.
On the wall, close to the window, there were several marks similar to scratches made by sharp nails. Following these marks— the other person might really have been clinging to the wall.
Jason went to the rooftop and inspected the part of the windowsill in his living room, but found no traces of hooks, only more marks similar to nail scratches.
Frowning, he thought, so the person didn't use any equipment to climb over?
Did Gotham really have another strange person? Climbing walls—like a spider?
Jason thought, perhaps there was something wrong with the power outage last night.
Upon investigation, it turned out that there was no accurate cause of the power outage last night, but it was definitely not due to a problem with the wiring.
...
In the evening, as usual, Janice was doing her homework at the dining table when she suddenly noticed that Jason, contrary to his usual behavior, wasn't going out for his nightly activities.
Janice held her pen, but her eyes followed Jason's movements in the kitchen, her gaze full of confusion and puzzlement. Jason couldn't ignore the strong presence of her gaze.
"What do you want to say?" he asked.
Janice then asked, "You, not going out?"
Jason hadn't expected her to be puzzled by this. He had been busy with the affairs in the East District recently, but now that they were mostly settled, he could take a break.
Thinking of last night's incident, he also realized that he had paid too little attention to the girl. If that person dared to do such a thing, he might appear again.
Jason replied, "Not busy anymore, taking a few days off."
Satisfied with the answer, Janice didn't ask further, burying her head back into her homework.
After a few seconds, Jason noticed that despite her usual quietness and few expressions, he had spent so little time with her due to their different schedules that it might not even add up to a week.
But even so, she still trusted him. Now, feeling guilty about it, Jason thought, since he had decided to take care of her, shouldn't he act like a parent?
Jason cleared his throat, trying to get Janice's attention. It didn't work; she remained focused on her homework.
He coughed a few more times in succession, and Janice calmly looked up at him and said, "Sick, see a doctor."
Jason's thoughts jolted slightly. She was doing well academically, and though her vocabulary was limited, she was precise.
Throwing out the inexplicable thought, he laughed heartily, "I'll take you out to play tomorrow."
Janice tilted her head, "Tomorrow, class."
Implicitly, it meant she wouldn't have time tomorrow.
Jason: ...
Wait a minute! Was he really being so indifferent to the girl now?!
He helplessly rubbed his forehead, feeling guilty for being so preoccupied lately, only shuttling her to and from school. But the girl didn't seem to feel neglected; seeing him silent, she continued to focus on her homework.
Sitting on the chair opposite her, one hand propped on the table supporting his chin, Jason's gaze fell on the living room window not far behind her. After today, the girl seemed to have forgotten last night's scare, which was good.
The girl was very focused on her homework, otherwise, she wouldn't have made such great progress. Jason thought he could reward her with something delicious. What kind of food did she like?
Jason recalled that the girl didn't show much change in expression towards the food she had been exposed to these days, nor did she have any preferences. She ate whatever he gave her.
For a child her age, she should like sweet things, Jason thought uncertainly.
As time passed and it approached nine o'clock, the room suddenly darkened, and there was a chorus of complaints around him. Jason turned on the flashlight, and soon he heard the crawling sounds. Janice stiffened suddenly, a kitchen knife appearing in her hand.
Jason: ???
Wait, didn't he put away her kitchen knife? When did she get it again?
Now wasn't the time to focus on that. Jason got up silently, gesturing for her to stay quiet. He took out his gun, turned off the flashlight, and the room was plunged into darkness again as he walked towards the window.
The crawling sounds stopped, and the ear-piercing scraping of glass sounded close by. Jason quickly turned on the flashlight, the gun aimed steadily at the person, but he froze for a moment. It was a pallid hand, fingers curved, sharp nails sliding on the glass, the source of the ear-piercing sound.
The person's black hair covered most of her face, revealing only a lifeless eye, a pale complexion, and dark lips. Upon noticing the light and a stranger, her movements halted, and she turned her head ninety degrees to stare at him intently.
Realizing that the person she was looking for was behind her, and with her back turned to him, she continued to scrape the glass one after another. Her lips moved slightly, as if saying something.
Jason: ... Fuck! This really isn't human!
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット