Part 33: Episode 31: Discovery (Ending No. 9)

This is the last day I have infirmary duty, as well.



The infirmary is quiet and peaceful as always. The orderly rows of medicine, the neatly-made bed--

…Huh?

Something stinks in here. It’s coming from the bed behind the curtains…
I’m scared.

!


At the foot of the bed sits a washbasin, its liquid pink, with a stack of scissors coated in blood and feathers in the bottom.
The blood on the bed is still wet…

Th-this is…

The students who disappeared after going to the infirmary. Yuuya. That mysterious smile the doctor gave when I asked him…

I… I have to get out of here… I have to tell someone…!

I need to report it. To the police? Anyway, I need to get away. I need to get out before he--

You’re early today, Miss Lourde.
!

D-doctor… this… blood…
Oh, forgive me. I just finished dismembering another student, and hadn’t cleaned up yet. Please, pay it no mind!

He didn’t even try to deny it! He… he…

……

I tried to turn the door handle so that I could escape, but…
The--
The door’s locked…!?

Going home so soon?
It won’t… open…

D-doctor, you…
You really have been… cutting people up and using them for your experiements…?
Do you really need to ask that?
After all, you’ve even helped me!
Helped you…? I… I would never…!
Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already? Just at the start of this semester you helped me destroy a little evidence.

Then… Yuuya? What did you do to Yuuya!?
Oh? I thought you’d figured that out already.
He’s in here, Miss Lourde. In here.

The doctor reaches over and lightly strokes my stomach.

The…



…huh?
It looks like… a roast chicken? Or maybe a turkey? I’m not sure what people eat on Christmas.
It’s still warm! He must have had it delievered in a hurry.



That… You can’t be… No… no…!
How did he taste? I was worried he might be a little tough… I did so regret not having a better bird to send you. It simply wouldn’t do to have you throw him out.

That… that was Yuuya…?

Aah! Aaaah… That’s a beautiful face, Miss Lourde. I have longed so dearly to see that face.

No… I just… had to come for infirmary duties…
Was that really it? You knew I planned to kill you, and yet you came anyway.
...Are you sure you didn’t… have feelings for me, perhaps?

No!
…I want to say it, but my tongue is like lead in my mouth.
Maybe it’s true. Maybe, somewhere deep inside, I love the doctor…

I am afraid that I have room for only one love in my life, and that is research--but it would be cruel to ignore your earnestness. And so I put much thought into how I might reward you.
Just cutting you up would be a terrible pity… And I think I want to keep you by my side. Forever.

He’s going to kill me. I know he’s going to kill me. So why can’t I move?

Why can’t I pull my eyes from his?

From the neck down, I shall cut you up and study you thoroughly. Don’t worry, you won’t go to waste. I will make sure to examine your insides most… intimately.

Suddenly, he has a cleaver in his left wing.

You have chased after death’s allure most diligently. I suppose you’re too afraid to speak, now…?