A Home Of Sorts

#1

Noriko once read in a mystery novel that the culprit would always return to the scene of the crime.

Maybe this was the reason she had gone to the city.

((Norike Nakagawa continued from It's a game of two halves, Brian))

Some time ago, there had been an announcement that didn't seem to come from Sakamochi, but Noriko had been too far away to properly understand it. Maybe it hadn't even come from the town but the southern beach instead. Maybe it had been a warning not to go there. Maybe a call to arms against the game. Maybe she was standing close to the house where she killed Megumi. Maybe she wasn't. Her first visit to this place had been in the middle of the night, making it seem like a different world comared to the current late afternoon.

The island was so full of maybes that Noriko gave up on thinking about the answers.

Absentmindedly she walked along a smaller street, framed by living houses. In an attempt to divert her attention away from the pain in her shoulder, Noriko wondered how the people who lived here were doing. Sakamochi had said that they "had to leave for a while", which probably meant they had been deported to the mainland. Hopefully they were taken care of and would be reimbursed for any property damage. This Program already had enough sorrow for the students, and the inhabitants of this island were innocent. They were normal people with normal nameplates: Kitagawa. Hironaka. Seki...

Nakagawa?

Seeing her own family name made Noriko almost stumble and fall to the ground. It was not the most imossible thing in the world. After all, even her own class had another Nakagawa completely unrelated to her. But still, what were the odds?

It would be fine to take a look inside, right? A short rest wouldn't hurt, and it was not as if she was on a hard timeline, right?

For maybe two minutes, Noriko awkwardly stalked around the building. There was nothing distinguishing this house from the other houses in the road. Nothing except for the nameplate.

When she tried the front door, Noriko found it open. Had the evacuation been so hasty that the family had simply forgotten to lock it? Where other houses unlocked as well? Had the house Megumi died in been open and inviting for her, too?

Not wanting to know the answer to the last question, Noriko entered.

About half an hour later, she knew more.

The evacuation had indeed been hasty. Both bedrooms had their wardrobes open and the bedsheets in disarrays, implying a fast packing of everything necessary for an unplanned vacation of unknown end date.

The Nakagawas were a family of three. A father who seemed to have a job related to the shrine judging by the equipment in a smaller sideroom. A mother who seemed to take good care of the house to the point of having an easy-to-find first aid kit in the kitchen. And a teenage daughter who was smiling in every picture. Noriko made sure to take a look at every single one before throwing them against the nearest wall, the sound of shattering glass not even nearly as satisfying as she had hoped.

Eventually Noriko rested on the daughter's bed. If she wanted she could have looked for some means of identification to find out the name of the girl, but she didn't.

Her clothes, torn up from running through the forest and still recking of Keita's blood, were strewn across the room. Noriko had no plans of picking them up.

How would the family react if they returned and found out what the intruder did?

Surely they would be angry about the pictures, their precious memories destroyed. Annoyed someone had stolen food and the first aid kit. And disgusted that a creep had slept in her daughter's bed and made a mess out of the room, leaving bloody clothes everywhere.

In other words, Noriko's existence on this island would have changed something. Meant something. The stars in the sky remain the same without her, but this family would remember her, even if just as a nuisance.

But was that really what Noriko wanted?

Some time later, Noriko woke up without remembering that she went to sleep.

The light from outside had changed, so a few hours must have passed. A few hours in which anyone could have entered the room and shot her in the head. But the image of that happening looked weird and implausible.

She felt like it was time to stand up and do something. Like replacing her bloody uniform.

The wardrobe had already been open and in disarray, so no one would notice if some pieces went missing, right?

They probably would, but that was an issue Noriko didn't want to waste energy on at the moment. Or anytime.

The daughter of the house seemed to have little sense or care for fashion, as most clothes looked like hand-me-downs from her mother. Maybe this was normal on an island where all clothes would need to be shipped. Noriko didn't know enough about islands to say for sure. But what she knew was that she was now wearing ragged jeans with slightly too short legs as well as a black hoodie with a shirt underneath. The hoodie was too big, allowing her to completeley hide her hair in its hood.

The clothes felt alien on her body, almost making her instantly undress again. But she persisted.

Her shoulder had started to feel worse again, so Noriko gulped down some painkillers she had found in the bathroom. She considered changing bandages, but decided against it. After all, she herself had trouble reaching her back and Tatsumichi wasn't around.

"Alright, alright. Good evening, everyone. Once again, this is your teacher, Sakamochi, speaking."

As the second announcement came, Noriko sat in the living-room, already prepared to write down the new Forbidden Zones.

She tried to hear away when Sakamochi read the names of the fallen. The attempt was futile. However, she still managed to collect herself enough to note down all of the new zones, even managing the times when the zones would activate.

That was a good thing, right?

Dear Nakagawas,

my name Noriko Nakagawa, but I don't think we are related.

I am the one who went trespassed into your home where I took stole food, medical equipment and some other stuff I believe will be useful for me. I also accidentally destroyed several pictures, most of them invovling your daughter. Finally, I slept in your daughter's bed and borrowed stole some of her clothes, leaving my own bloody clothes behind. The blood is mostly from a boy I killed. I would like to apologize for any inconveniences my actions brought you.

I did all of this because I don't want to want shoot didn't had was a participant of the Program. My entire class has been forced to kill each other on this island until only one of us remains.

If you are reading this, I will already most likely have passed away, so I can't pay you back what I owe you. I am sorry about that. But I still have my purse, so I will leave all money I have on my person on the kitchen table.

Signed, Noriko Nakagawa

In the end, Noriko threw the note in a trashcan.

But she still left the money where she had claimed she would.

She had to leave this place. If she didn't, she would become more agitated about leaving. And then she would decide to wait a little bit longer. And an even bigger bit after that. And eventually Sakamochi would drive her out anyway, and nothing was gained.

However, there was still one thing she could gain in these house.

The room were the man of the house stored his shrine-related equipment was tidy and sorted, allowing her to find something good very quickly.

A blue hannya.

Noriko Nakagawa didn't want to kill her classmates, at least that was what she wanted to believe.

So in order to make it off this island, she had to stop being Noriko Nakagawa for a bit.

At least for everyone else.

Noriko herself would always know. That much she couldn't deny.

After donning the mask and reassuring herself with a mirror that her only recognizable features were her general frame and shoes, Noriko set out once more.

((Noriko Nakagawa continued in Promise not to go watch me beyond the corner))