３．Ｓａｔｕｒｄａｙ　Ｍａｒｃｈ　２３，　２０１９

Finding a bench with a table, the three sat down. Maruta and Kira sat side by side on one couch, and 〈Choice〉 sat alone on the other across the table.
Maruta placed the detergent he still had in the corner of the table. 〈Choice〉 remained hunched over in her seat, staring at a spot on the tabletop with eyes like a corpse.

"The haters of you don't come around here, do they?" Maruta looked around the park. In the plaza away from the three, children who have not been eliminated by the declining birth rate are playing with a cheap-looking plastic ball kicked around.

"I don't think they will come. Because things have settled down recently." Although the mask hid the movement of her lips, 〈Choice〉's voice was easy to hear. The way she speaks, mixing a sweet tone with her crying, seems to belittle the other person, while at the same time sounding flirtatious.

"Choice-san, you used to broadcast live on the Internet, didn't you?" Maruta searched for the safest possible topic, but could only come up with this.
"Yes." 〈Choice〉 is still slumped over. She was so depressed that if Maruta gave her a dandelion, she would pick off the petals one by one until they were all gone.
"You don't do live internet streaming anymore?" Maruta patiently asked.
"I have already quit."
"I watched the video and found it very interesting. It was poignant, or, uh, how can I say it? Well, I have only recently come to know Choice-san, though,"
"You want to ask about Gin Nakata, right?" 〈Choice〉's tone of voice was truly dismissive. Then, without waiting for Maruta's response, she added. "If you want to ask about him, why don't you just say so from the beginning?"

Maruta recalled 〈Shaggy〉's condescending attitude. He wondered if he would have to suffer unwanted venom for getting involved in a murder case so poorly, and resented his own recent fate.

"Well, that's a quick story." Again, Maruta kept his negative feelings deep inside. "Do you remember Kira-san?"
"I remember him." 〈Choice〉 said without looking at Kira. Even if a stuffed animal had sat in place of Kira, Maruta thought, the same line might have been uttered. He didn't mind and went on with his story.
"Three or more years ago, Silva-san and Kira-san visited your house. Do you remember when exactly that was? At that time, the two came to deliver your belongings."

〈Choice〉 remained silent. Maruta and Kira had no choice but to remain silent, not knowing whether she was thinking or not to answer.
Eventually, 〈Choice〉 said, "I don't remember," as if trying to squeeze the words out of her voice. When Maruta was about to speak, Kira said a moment earlier.
"I believe it was winter 2015. The day was quite cold. I remember going up to the house with Choice's stuff."

Hearing Kira says this, 〈Choice〉 nodded a few times in small increments. Kira further stated.
"So when we were leaving, you and Silva were talking, and I heard your mother's voice from the back saying, 'You know, it's 10 o'clock at night!'"
"You don't have to say all that." 〈Choice〉 smiled briefly as she fiddled with her hair with her right hand. The slightly relaxed air also relaxed Maruta's tension a little.

"I understand. Then you last met the two of them in the winter of 2015, when you were a senior in high school."
"Yeah," 〈Choice〉 shook her head as she chewed on her own words.
"I don't mean to stir up any feelings, but how did you get acquainted with Silva-san, was it still a live broadcast streaming?"
"Yeah," 〈Choice〉's voice gradually grew louder. But she still looked down and would not make eye contact. Maruta continued.

"At the latest, you were broadcasting live when you were a sophomore in high school."
"I had been doing it since ninth grade." It was as if 〈Choice〉 was saying, "The sooner you get there, the better." And at this time, she did not let Maruta continue to speak, but added further.
"I didn't initiate that."
"Initiate?" Suddenly losing the direction of the conversation, Maruta makes a dumb noise.
"You mean that Silva was the one who set up that Kenka-Totsu, right?" Kira said, to which 〈Choice〉 replied, "Yes, yes."

"In other words, you are saying that Silva-san has been causal to you on the Internet?" It did not matter to Maruta how that quarrel between them started. He wanted to open the mouth of 〈Choice〉, who tended to be withdrawn, on any topic he could think of.

"When I was doing the live streaming, that guy suddenly called me on the Internet. So I wasn't the one who started the fight."
"I could see that it was not you who started the Kenka-Totsu fighting in the first place. By the way, when was that?"
〈Choice〉 moved only her gaze from side to side. To Marta, it looked as if her eyes were following a virtual insect crawling on the tabletop.

"I think it was the winter of my sophomore year in high school." 〈Choice〉's face gradually began to look straight ahead.
"It's winter 2014."
"Yes." 〈Choice〉 spoke in her own defense again. "I wasn't really arguing with him. There were times when I was annoyed by bad words, but we basically said everything as a joke. I'm sure it was the same with him."
"I'm well aware of that too." Maruta tried to be soft-spoken.

Apparently, there is no escaping the sensation of touching her swollen heart at this time. Maruta chose his words even more carefully.
"Then, you were chosen by Silva-san."
〈Choice〉 saw Maruta's face at this point. She was glaring at him on the surface, but she was also like a stray cat that couldn't make a sweet face.
"What does that mean?"
"I wanted to say that Silva-san chose you out of all the women in the world and started a relationship with you. Is it wrong?"
Hearing Maruta's comment, 〈Choice〉 shook her head broadly. Instead of denying it, she seemed unable to decide what words to say. As Maruta straightened his residence, he made sure he had not offended her at that point.

"Umm," 〈Choice〉 rolled the words around like food that could not be swallowed. "I was chosen, or rather, I chose him."
While 〈Choice〉 made a face trying to solve a difficult problem, Maruta shifted this argument little by little.
"I assume that Silva-san asked for your relationship. That's what I personally think after considering the position of the two of you."
"Well, yes."
"And then," Maruta increased his speaking speed a little. "For a change, the two of you have become closer. I am not going to ask here how you came to meet in person. It's not very chic, and you don't want to be dredging up that kind of past."
"After our Kenka-Totsu, he always calls me and says, 'I'm sorry about before.'"
"Okay, that's okay." Maruta was about to interrupt 〈Choice〉 to talk about 'how they got together', but quickly reconsidered to listen for a moment. It was something like what he had heard somewhere else: After several fights on the Internet, Silva invited her to take a walk in Tokyo.

Maruta, agreeing with 〈Choice〉, checked the screen of his smartphone without being noticed. The time was about to turn 15:00.
〈Choice〉 then mentioned the 'outside broadcast live' that she and 〈Silva〉 did together.
"How long did your 'outside broadcast live' take place?" asked Maruta. "You were a senior in high school, right?"
"The live outside," 〈Choice〉 stopped talking there. Her momentum, which had been on the verge of rising, visibly waned. A feeling that the story was about to start getting darker descended on everyone's heart. Maruta summoned up the rest of his energy, hoping to connect a few more stories.

"You had to think about what you would do after graduation, Choice-san. So I selfishly think that you must have been quite naïve. There also was a time when I was a senior in high school. Whatever happened back then, there is no way that you were responsible for everything."
"It doesn't matter that graduation was near." 〈Choice〉 spoke with her head down again. Maruta did not know if she was being strong behind her words.

"In the winter of that year, Silva-san came to your house with Kira-san, didn't he?"
To Maruta's point, 〈Choice〉 simply replied, "Yes." Even after waiting for a while, 〈Choice〉 did not seem to speak. So Maruta spoke again.
"Your relationship with him ended in the winter of 2015."
〈Choice〉 did not speak, but gave a small nod with her head only. Maruta continued.

"Did Silva-san bring that up?"
Maruta gently swallowed his spit and waited for a response. Then, contrary to his expectations, 〈Choice〉 responded clearly, albeit intermittently.
"I got dumped by him. In December of my senior year of high school. Gin said he wants to shoot video. Not because of that, but he wanted our relationship to end."

There was not a shred of logic to the story, but Maruta did not pursue it further. In general, it is strange that love affair should involve logic. Instead, he chose a topic that she would be comfortable answering.
"Silva-san was always kind, we are told. No matter who we ask, they all answer that way. He would have been a very considerate man to you as well."
She nodded silently. Maruta looked at 〈Choice〉 and Kira in turn. Kira was giving her a look that he would give a harmless fawn, still small.

There was no supplemental information from 〈Choice〉. Maruta waited for her to speak, wanting to tilt his head back. But still her mouth behind the mask was not opened.
"Choice-san," Maruta was about to mention the video in which 〈Choice〉 appears half-naked. But the words suddenly choked just before his throat. He was unable to take a step forward in the face of her perpetually depressed appearance.
"Did you know about Silva's case?" The words fell flat on their butts, like when a child with no vocabulary says something unintended.
"Yes." 〈Choice〉's voice is lifeless.
"When did you know?"
"About two or three months ago."
"You were surprised, weren't you?"

The air between the three stopped there. The conversation suddenly went off in an unexpected direction and disappeared somewhere. Maruta tried to find a bright topic that would break the somber mood beautifully.
He wondered how much more intimacy he needed to have with her in order to comfortably ask, "Hey, Choice! Oh, by the way, that video of you half naked spewing curse words was on there, what the hell was that?"
When he was about to start closing out the day, thinking it was still too early because he had only met her twice at most, she said.
"Why did you come to me today?"

It was clear that Maruta was the only one with an answer. When 〈Choice〉 looked up, her gaze pierced Maruta's eyes mercilessly. The woman's eyes, determined to do something, were sharper than any blade. He managed to answer, but his mouth didn't move as far as it should have.

"Probably," 〈Choice〉 ranted with a force that tore off her mask. "You came here anyway after watching the video of me wearing only underwear and spitting out something like a grudge. Is that wrong? You think I'm a stupid, crazy woman. You think I'm a pathetic woman who went crazy after being dumped by Gin. It's not like that. Do you think I would be like that just because I was dumped by a guy?"
"Calm down, please." Maruta's words could never have reached 〈Choice〉 at this time. The woman screamed like an alarm clock that no one could control, without regard to the public eye.

"Son of a bitch just did what he was going to do with me and ran away! It's not Gin! It's a guy who has nothing to do with you! That's what you wanted to hear. Are you satisfied with this? In March of my senior year of high school, a boy in my grade that I dated hit it and quit it! That lousy guy probably thought it didn't matter because he would never see me again after graduation! How stupid can men be? Can you tell me about it?"

Standing up, 〈Choice〉 grabbed the detergent Maruta had bought with one hand. Then, she slammed it into the ground with all her might. Children playing in the distance turned their attention at once to the woman's swashbuckling.
"You stupid kids! Don't eat free food every day when you're not even struggling!"

"Please have a seat." Maruta restrained the rampaging woman and placed her in the chair again. Later, 〈Choice〉, who was crying, called out repeatedly, "I want to die!"
Maruta and Kira just stood upright, unable to do anything behind the woman. The children, who approached despite the abuse, returned the discarded detergent container to the tabletop. Seeing this, Kira and Maruta said "Thank you" and "Sorry," respectively.