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Episode 6: The Owner

  "You—what are you, exactly? And those white clothes… if people find out you were harboring a heretic—"

  "Are you going to call the police? Without any proof?

  He's no longer here. Not a trace of him remains.

  And even if he were… you judge heresy based solely on the color of someone's clothing.

  That’s a pretty flimsy basis. You only believe it’s foolproof because it’s tradition."

  As he said this, the owner gave Tsurubami-kun a pointed look.

  "That boy over there claims to have returned from the underground, but how much can we really trust him?

  If he’d been replaced by someone from below, would anyone even notice?"

  "I... I’m not! I’m from the surface. Please believe me."

  Tsurubami-kun’s fingers were trembling—

  those fingers that reminded me of organ keys, so elegant I always thought they could play music just by touching the air, like white musical notes.

  "Let me get this straight."

  My brother stared directly at the owner as he spoke.

  Unlike me, who always froze in moments like this, my brother never lacked the words.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "There’s a world underground, just like this one.

  People who look exactly like us live there.

  And if two of them—two versions of the same person—meet, one of them will die.

  …Why?"

  The owner gave another unsettling smile.

  "Maybe because the world doesn’t need two of the same person.

  I’ve never been to the underground, so I wouldn’t know.

  He might be more qualified to answer that."

  Tsurubami-kun clasped his trembling fingers together in a praying motion.

  "That’s right. I don’t know the reason, but I heard that if you meet your other self, you’ll end up fighting to the death.

  All those who never returned from the underground…

  I think they were all killed by themselves."

  I couldn’t think of anything except how glad I was Tsurubami-kun had made it back alive.

  But my brother stayed calm and pressed on.

  "Then we need to make this public all the more.

  We have to protect the people and start searching for that drug.

  The fact that the underground even exists is a shock in itself, but this is bigger than any of us."

  The owner let out a sigh… then returned to that unsettling grin.

  "The man in white who came to me—

  He was running away from the Health and Safety Bureau."

  "...What do you mean?

  Can I meet that man?"

  The owner paused, as if debating whether to tell us.

  "I can’t promise you’ll meet him.

  But I know where he went. Want to go?"

  "Of course. Where is it?"

  My brother answered without hesitation.

  "The botanical garden."

  Given the way this was going, I had a feeling Tsurubami-kun and I, being students, were about to get sent home.

  "Sir… can we go with you?"

  The owner smiled—genuinely, for the first time.

  "Call me the owner, will you?"

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