PandoraHearts ~Caucus Race~, Vol. 2 (15 page)

Alice put her hands on her hips, as if to say,
That’s a very good question!
, and spoke haughtily:

“Because I realized that, right now, it’s what I need most!”

I really don’t get it, Alice-san
!

This explanation that explained nothing only deepened Oz’s confusion. He couldn’t even imagine making a child with Alice. He couldn’t possibly do a thing like that. It wasn’t a matter of whether he liked her or not. If asked whether he liked her or not, of course he liked her. …But.

No, but, I really can’t! I can’t, can’t, can’t, can’t, can’t! I like Alice, but—! She’s important to me, but—!

Their relationship wasn’t that kind of relationship at all, or at least he hadn’t thought it was.

…What he did understand was that Alice was “Serious!”

He understood that, no matter how little he wanted to.

He wanted to shake his head violently. However, in that case, what should he tell Alice?

He didn’t know that either.

“Let—Let me calm down and think about it for a little! I’m sorry!”

Barely managing to get those words out, Oz dashed from the room.

Alice watched him, perplexed. As Oz ran to the door and opened it, Alice’s voice followed him—“I won’t wait long. I’ve hung on as long as I can already!”—but he didn’t have the wherewithal to respond.

Alice wants a child with me. Alice wants a child with me. Alice wants a child with me—

The words spun round and round in his mind like a spell. Oz ran down corridors haphazardly, and the next thing he knew, he’d come out onto a balcony that overlooked the garden. Pandora’s garden was, as always, a splendid sight, but right now, Oz’s eyes didn’t even register the view.

There was no one else there. Just Oz.

Oz set both hands on the balcony railing, gripping it tightly. Anxiously, painfully.

“What…should I do…?!”

He looked up, as if hoping for an answer from heaven, and in that instant:

Whirr…
With a sound as if it was slicing through the wind, something came falling down and hit Oz right smack in the face.

Oz blacked out.

And— He dreamed.

He was in court.

In the center of the austere court, where gray was the main
color, Oz stood on a witness stand surrounded by a waist-high railing. He was the accused. On his right was the prosecutor’s seat, and on his left was his counsel’s seat. In front of him, on a slightly higher platform, was the judge’s bench, and behind him were rows and rows of gallery seats.

Every seat held an Oz. The seats were filled with Ozes.

“What need is there to hesitate?!”

An Oz in glasses and a suit stood up violently from the prosecutor’s seat, hounding the Oz in the witness stand.

Flinching at the force Prosecutor Oz displayed, Oz the accused said:

“B-but I…”

“The defendant considers Alice very important. That is an acknowledged fact!”

At Prosecutor Oz’s words, a low murmur went up from the Ozes in the gallery: “That’s right.” “That’s right.” “Very true.”

Spurred on by the gallery’s reaction, Prosecutor Oz continued sharply:

“You think the world of Alice, and she has asked you for a child. Why can’t you grant that request?!”

A hum of agreement rose from the gallery.

Oz had been asked for something.

If the request came from Alice— If it was something he could grant, he wanted to give her anything she asked.

Oz had thought that. He’d thought it from the bottom of his heart.

Oz the accused gulped, took one deep breath, clenched his hands into fists and spoke.

In a voice that rang through the court, he said:

“That’s right! Alice really is special to me, and I’m really grateful to her, and she’s done so much for me I could never completely pay her back… If it’s within my power, I want to make every wish Alice has come true!”

“There, you see?! In that case, you should be able to comply!”

Prosecutor Oz pressed Oz the accused triumphantly.

However, his shoulders and back trembling, his eyes tearing up a bit, Oz the accused said, “
But.

“But, but…”

“No buts, ands, or ifs!”

“
But
, I don’t think this is quite what that meaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaans!!”

It was a lament torn straight from his soul. Overwhelmed, the gallery fell silent.

However, Prosecutor Oz didn’t even flinch. “It’s
exactly
what it means!” He struck the prosecutor’s seat.

“The accused has already committed himself! Your Honor, there is no room for objection here. Pronounce the accused—”

“Objection! Wait, please.” A voice broke in from the counsel’s seat.

Counsel Oz, a slightly more grown-up version of Oz the accused, stood from his seat.

“I haven’t completed my cross-examination yet. Issuing a verdict now would be hasty.”

“What are you talking about? We already have the answer!”

Counsel Oz calmly turned aside Prosecutor Oz’s sharp words with a shake of his head. Then he left the counsel’s seat and slowly walked over to Oz the accused.

“Having a child is a wonderful thing. That said, when doing so, the feelings of both parties are important. Alice is very special to you; that much is true. However, Defendant, are your feelings for Alice romantic ones? Might they not be feelings of affection for a family member?”

“…………!”
Uh-huh! Uh-huh!
Oz the accused nodded vehemently.

“Give your answer clearly, in words, please.”

“A-Alice is special to me as family!”

“Oooooh!” The Ozes in the gallery buzzed. Then they began whispering to each other: “Well, sure.” “Yeah, I guess I knew that.” “Mm-hmm.” The mood in the court, which had been leaning toward the prosecution, had begun to shift in favor of the defense.

“Objection! He’s shifted the focus from the subject at hand!”

Prosecutor Oz roared, striking the prosecutor’s seat with a
bang.
He stood, pointing at Oz the accused.

“The question was whether or not the defendant
is able
to fulfill Alice’s request. The defendant himself testified that he wants to grant all of Alice’s wishes, provided it is within his power to do so! In that case, grant them he should! After all, she was serious enough to actually ‘request’ it!”

“Uh, y-you could be right… Alice did look pretty serious…”

Pressed hard by Prosecutor Oz’s verbal onslaught, Oz the accused came very near to agreeing with him in spite of himself. When he looked over, Judge Oz—who was seated on the dais, a splendid handlebar mustache under his nose—was nodding soberly. Disheartening comments were being bandied about the gallery: “He’s got a point.” “He hasn’t done anything really manly in front of Alice.” “She mostly ends up saving
him
, doesn’t she?”

“The verdict, Your Honor! Pronounce him guilty and order him to make that child!” In high spirits, Prosecutor Oz looked to the dais.

The court fell silent.

Even as Oz was convinced by Prosecutor Oz’s remarks, he couldn’t accept them, and the blood drained from his face.

After a long pause, Judge Oz raised his gavel.

Drawing one deep breath, he brought the gavel down on the bench with a loud
clack.

With every eye in the court on him, in a solemn voice, he said:

“It appears we have our answer. I pronounce the defendant guilty and sentence him to ‘Go make that kid with Alice!’—”

“Wait, Your Honor.” At the very last minute, Counsel Oz raised his voice.

He had interrupted Judge Oz’s sentence, and a commotion rose from the gallery. Prosecutor Oz fixed Counsel Oz with a sharp glare. The eyes that had been focused on Judge Oz turned to Counsel Oz.

Bewildered, Oz the accused also looked at Counsel Oz. Answering him with a nod, Counsel Oz quietly began to speak.

“Your Honor, it’s still too early to hand down a verdict. We’re overlooking one important thing.”

“Preposterous! As if we could have overlooked anything!”

Prosecutor Oz spoke fiercely, but Counsel Oz was unruffled. “No,” he objected.

“We must not forget that, while this is Oz’s problem, at the same time, it is also Alice’s problem. No doubt it’s true that Alice is serious. However, we don’t know how well Alice understands what it is she’s saying so seriously.”

Huh?
Oz’s eyes went wide. Counsel Oz continued.

“Much doubt still remains with regard to Alice’s powers of understanding. Here is the proof.”

He held up several photographs of Alice biting, or getting ready to bite, Oz’s and Gilbert’s cheeks. After he’d shown them around the court, Counsel Oz announced a decisive fact:

“She is under the impression that a kiss on the cheek, that simple gesture of affection, is actually a
bite
on the cheek. I can’t imagine that such a girl has a correct understanding of what it means to ‘make a child’! Because, you see, Alice is a simpleton extraordinaire—!!”

At that point, Oz came to with a gasp.

“……Huh? I…”

He sat up on the balcony, looking around curiously. He remembered something falling down and hitting him in the face, and he understood almost immediately that he’d blacked out because of it. However, there was nothing on the balcony.

It was as if nothing had fallen in the first place.

“Hmm?”

Oz was perplexed, but he soon shook his head roughly.
That’s not important!
The dream he’d seen while he was unconscious had been a weird dream—he’d been both denouncing and defending himself—but it had made him realize something important, something he hadn’t noticed in his panic.

That’s right…!

With a silent shout, he leapt to his feet, then ran from the balcony back into the building. He made a dash for his room.

Alice had keen insight, and she could be terribly quick on the uptake, but sometimes she was a simpleton extraordinaire. She might have spectacularly mistaken “making a child” for something completely different. …Not that he knew what she’d mistaken it for, or how she’d managed it.

Oz reached his room. He flung the door open. Inside, annoyed at being kept waiting, was Alice.

“Oz! How long are you planning to make me wai—”

“Before that, Alice, there’s something I want to ask you!”

“…Uh-huh. What?”

Possibly she’d been daunted by Oz’s ferocious determination: Alice obeyed easily, and she didn’t get mad at having been interrupted.

Gasping for breath, Oz worried over how he should ask, and even as he worried, he asked:

“Um, Alice, listen. D-do you know what ‘making a child’ means?
Really
know, I mean?”

The subject alone was enough to make Oz’s cheeks flush a bit.

With an attitude that practically said,
Don’t ask pointless things
, Alice snorted loudly.

“What a stupid question! You think I’d go to the trouble of making a request if I didn’t know?”

Even as she said it, Alice’s cheeks went slightly pink, and she fidgeted a little.

Oz’s heart flipped over.

Looking almost like an embarrassed young lady, Alice said:

“…I-I thought about it properly. I thought, if I was going to make a child, I wanted it to be with you.”

“Actually, please give me a little more time!”

With tears in his eyes, Oz ran from the room again.

“…………! …………!”

Oz dashed through the corridors. The Pandora employees he passed every so often seemed startled at the sight of Oz running, almost in tears. Of course, Oz didn’t have the emotional leeway to care about anything around him.

Although there was no rule that said he had to go there, he ended up running out onto the same balcony again. As if pointlessly retracing his actions, he gripped the railing tightly with both hands.
Calm down, calm down, calm down
, he told himself silently, over and over.

Calm down…—I
can’t
! How could I be calm about this?!

Oz felt something like vertigo.

He thought he might pass out again, but if he did, he was afraid he’d see the rest of that courtroom dream, and this time, he was sure he’d lose. Oz muttered, talking to himself.
Alice had declared that she knew what it meant to make a child.

“I really don’t think she does… But she did look as if she knew… I think. But…”

Desperately, he ordered his thoughts. Something had struck him as odd.

Even if it was true that Alice knew, where had she found out? Where had she read about it?

Or…

“Did someone…tell her—?”

At his own quiet mutter, Oz’s eyes flew open.

“That’s it,” he gasped. He wanted to tell himself off. Why hadn’t he thought of that possibility!?

Counsel Oz’s voice echoed in his mind:

“Yes, well done. I’m glad you noticed that. It’s true that Alice knows what it means to make a child, and it’s equally true that she isn’t trying to tease you. However… It’s still possible that someone planted the idea in her head and is having fun teasing you
through
her! Because, you see, she’s a good girl who’s unexpectedly obedient about believing what she’s told—!”

Oz let go of the railing and whirled around. Inside his head, he was repeating,
That’s right, that’s right, that’s right!

Fiercely, Oz dove back into the building. He pounded through the corridors.

A light of hope had been lit in his chest.

That’s right! And I only know one person who’d do a thing like that—

Once again, Oz reached his room. Silently telling himself to calm down, he opened the door.

Inside, Alice was prowling around the room, looking cross.

When she saw Oz, her face grew stern, and she yelled at him:

“What’s the matter with you!? First you come back, then you leave… Are you trying to make me mad?!”

“Never mind that, Alice!”

Oz ran up to Alice, caught her by the shoulders, and put his face very close to hers.

Oz was still panting for breath, and he looked desperate. Seeming overwhelmed, Alice leaned back slightly.

Oz thought. In the first place, he couldn’t believe that Alice had gotten the idea of “making a child” on her own. In that case, it was appropriate to assume that there was someone else involved.

Oz looked Alice straight in the eye, without blinking.

“Alice, listen. Who told you about this ‘making a child’ stuff? …It was Break, wasn’t it?”

Right. He couldn’t think of anyone else who’d pull a prank like this one.

He probably told her that if she made a child, she’d get a stronger ultimate power or something—

He had no idea what was so much fun about doing things like that, but he was sure that was what had happened.

It had to be that. If it wasn’t that, he’d have a serious problem on his hands.

……But.

“Huuuh? Why would you bring up the old clown now? He’s got nothing to do with this.”

Alice’s answer could not have been clearer.

With an even more triumphant look, she continued, proudly:

“When I was in town yesterday, I saw a family with children. It made me want one. —Heh! Oz, did you know? Children are wonderful things. Mm-hm, I want one, too. I want one, no matter what.”

In Oz’s mind, Counsel Oz had a brisk smile on his face…and a white flag in his hand.

Oz looked down. His shoulders and back quivered. Oz’s bangs hid his expression, and Alice couldn’t see it.

Trying to peek at Oz’s face, Alice moved hers up closer to his…

And then…

“Uu, uu…… Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Oz, pushed to the limit by confusion, bewilderment and an incomprehensible sense of defeat, went to dash from the room yet again. As Oz ran off, Alice threw up her hands in a huff and yelled:

“Oz, would you quit?! You’re just a lowly
Oz
! How dare you run from me over and over like that?!”

Of course Oz didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

As he opened the door and dived through it, he collided with somebody. When he looked up, he saw his valet, Gilbert Nightray.

Gilbert was tall, and Oz’s head only came up to his chest.

Gilbert had only just reached the room when his master abruptly came flying into his arms, and he was thoroughly flustered right off the bat. “Wh-what’s the matter, Oz?!” he asked, his voice unsteady.

But Oz couldn’t answer.

He just barely managed to repeat, “Alice is… Alice is…!” in a choked voice.

Then, leaving only an unfinished “Aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice—” behind him, he pushed Gilbert away and ran off. He was sprinting hell-bent for leather. Astonished and left in the dust, Gilbert soon came back to himself with a gasp.

“Oz! Wait!”

Hastily, he rushed after him.

Gilbert wasn’t the only one to set off in pursuit of Oz.

In Oz’s room:

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Alice raked up her glossy black hair with both hands. Her irritation was on the verge of boiling over.

“What was that?! What’s wrong with that jerk?! He better not mess with me!”

To begin with, Alice hated being made to wait for people, and although fond of issuing orders, she loathed taking them. She wasn’t about to wait for Oz in his room any longer. Oz had said he wanted time to think, and she’d given it to him, but waiting this long had pushed her past her limit.

Cloaked in an aura of wrath, Alice stomped noisily out of the room.

She kicked the door open with enough force to break it down and went out into the corridor. …But Oz wasn’t there. Alice looked right, then left. Snuffling audibly, she sniffed the scents in the air.

Her eyes glinted like those of a starving carnivore.
Got him!

“Heh-heh-heh!” A disturbing laugh slipped from between Alice’s pretty lips.

“If that’s how it’s going to be, Oz, I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll catch you right away, and I’ll make that child if I have to force you!”

Alice set off at a ferocious pace.

She looked just like a wild animal that had been loosed from its cage.

A few minutes later.

“Seaweed head?!”

“Stupid rabbit?!”

The two of them had been chasing Oz separately. Strangely enough, when Alice and Gilbert ran into each other, it was on the very balcony Oz had fled to twice. Both were a bit startled to encounter someone other than the person they’d been chasing, and then, in unison, they yelled:

“Where’s Oz?!”

Their words came out in perfect sync, and they gave low, simultaneous growls: “…Mrgh!” Their expressions held a mixture of impatience and irritation. Gilbert felt that losing sight of his master when he’d run off in tears made him a failure as a valet, while Alice had thought she’d been successfully tracking Oz, and she’d been completely wrong.

For a short while, they exchanged prickly glances, but then—

“Hmph.” Alice turned away first.

“I don’t have time to deal with you right now. I’m off.”

As she spoke, she made to leave the balcony and go back into the building. Gilbert grabbed her shoulder from behind, stopping her: “…Hold it.” Alice turned back, as if he was a royal nuisance. Gilbert’s face was serious. “I’m worried about Oz, too, but…” he muttered quietly.

“Oz said, ‘Alice is…’ What did you do to Oz, stupid rabbit?”

He interrogated Alice with a force that wouldn’t allow any evasions. With a snort, Alice looked back at Gilbert with eyes that were just as dangerous as his. She shook off Gilbert’s hand, planted her own hands on her hips, and answered grandly, saying she wouldn’t run or hide.

“I didn’t do anything to him. I just told him.”

“‘Told him’? Told him what? As if anything you said could upset Oz—”

Gilbert had probably been about to say
like that
.

However, without waiting for him to finish, Alice spoke with a ferocious smile.

“I only told him ‘Make a child with me.’”

“……………………………………………Huh?”

Oddly enough, Gilbert’s reaction was exactly the same as Oz’s had been the first time he’d heard this request from Alice.

Gilbert’s face was blank. He looked as though the inside of his head was pure white. Moving his hand with a stiff, stuttering motion, like a broken machine, Gilbert pointed at Alice, and—again, exactly like Oz—asked, “……What did you just say?”

Having now had two people respond as if they hadn’t been listening to her properly, Alice puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction.