Sixth Customer- The Girl who Thirsted for Freedom

"This definitely isn't a coincidence. If you don't stop him, there will be more victims!" Officer Fa.s.sett spread out the recent information he had gathered onto the table.

"Officer Fa.s.sett! That's enough!" Officer Fa.s.sett's boss patted the table and interrupted Officer Fa.s.sett's words. "Everything you have just said is mere hearsay, you don't have any evidence."

"Then let me go get that evidence. As long as you approve, I can definitely find conclusive evidence!"

"Fa.s.sett, I know you're an officer with high capability." The boss looked at his subordinate who had been capable in the olden days and couldn't help but frown. "But do you really understand who you're suspecting right now?"

"A man, a very dangerous man!" Officer Fa.s.sett replied with certainty.

"He's a madman. A madman who has been imprisoned in a mental hospital! Fa.s.sett! He's basically a criminal locked in jail!" The boss forcefully picked up the files set on the table. "So now you're telling me that he's the criminal behind these seemingly unrelated events?"

"That's right! You have to believe me. I can definitely get evidence!"

"That's enough! That's really enough!" The boss who had lost his patience waved his hand. "Fa.s.sett, you've had too much pressure on you recently. You can rest up first."

"I don't need to rest, I just need to send that dangerous man into jail!" Fa.s.sett immediately retorted.

"Fa.s.sett! This is not a request."

"…yes, I got it." Fa.s.sett somewhat unresignedly tidied up his material and then left the office.

　　–

It was another extremely normal afternoon, and another customer came to Cotidia.n.u.s.

"Sir, may I ask if this place has already opened for business?" The girl politely asked after the door opened for her.

"Yes, please come in, miss." The man looked at the girl bound in ropes, strips of cloth, and chains in front of him and smiled.

"May I ask how I can help you?" The man asked as he took the girl to the reception room.

The girl didn't immediately reply to the man's question. She lowered her head to look at the things binding her and then stood up and began removing those things so that they were all over the floor.

After the man saw this, he didn't say anything and just patiently waited.

After the girl took off all the things on her, she opened her two hands and asked, "Do you think I'm free now?"

The man stared into the girl's eyes and was silent for a moment before replying, "I'm very sorry miss but I think only you would know the answer to that question."

"I like the feeling of taking them off. I feel very relaxed." The girl kicked the chains underneath her feet. "I can breathe deeply now.

"But…" The girl stopped kicking the chains. "The next moment, I can't breathe again.

"Because I want to be a normal person." The girl bent down and slowly picked up the things on the floor and then clasped her hands together.

"No one wants to be an abnormal person." The man pointed at the girl's things. "So everyone needs to put these restrictions on, more or less."

"Yes, of course." The girl relaxed her hands and dropped the things on the floor heavily. "But I don't want to wear these restrictions and live my life like this anymore."

"At the same time, you don't want to become an abnormal person", The man reminded.

"Yes." The girl nodded. "So I hope you can help me."

"Miss, you should know that this store only offers the product 'normality' and not 'death'."

"I know sir." The girl nodded. "I just hope that you can take away my desire for abnormal things."

"I have to say that this is the first time I've seen a customer with such a clear-cut goal." The man's lips curved up in a smile. "If every customer was like you, my job would be a lot easier miss."

—

Even if she lost all her emotions, the girl got the freedom she yearned for.

In other people's eyes the girl was still a normal girl because smiling never requires emotions.　

Last Customer- The Excellent Officer

"Miss Bella, even though you won't remember what I'm saying to you, I really have to thank you for everything you've done for me." The man said earnestly, when he saw the nurse who took off his bindings.

"Don't be polite sir. I'm helping you because I'm very interested in what you've accomplished."

"Yes, but even those thoughts don't belong to you." The man said, without trying to avoid a taboo subject because he knew the woman wouldn't care about his words. Perhaps the woman had already lost her own awareness.

"He's going out! Quick, stop him! Quick!! AHHH!" Fa.s.sett heard a nearby room immediately start yelling as he was getting a doctor's diagnosis.

The man pa.s.sed through the iron door that had already been opened and left the ward in which he had been staying for a long time and walked to the next door's ward.

"I must leave now sir. My next customer is waiting for me." The man took off his hat and bowed to Fa.s.sett and then put his hat on again. Then, he turned around walked towards the doors of the mental hospital.

After the man left, they forgot that a patient had previously lived in the room next to Fa.s.sett.

"So we meet again sir. I really didn't think that my next patient would be you." The man looked around him. He had left this place for almost ten years.

"Ah, you. It's you, I know." After taking medicine long-term, Fa.s.sett's verbal ability and thinking ability had been greatly damaged.

"At first when I saw your name on my list, I thought, 'How could you be my patient?'" The man took out a huge list from his handbag.

"You. Catch. Can't. You." Fa.s.sett ignored the man and continued to talk to himself.

"Later I realized, sir! You saw too much, you thought too much. You're more excellent than the average officer.

"Excellent." It seemed that Fa.s.sett had heard this word somewhere but he couldn't recall where.

"More than excellent, so much so that you're no longer considered normal, right?"

"Excellent, excellent, abnormal!" Fa.s.sett shook his head while emotionally repeating what he had said.

"Because no one could understand you, you got sent here."

"Why. No believe. Me." Fa.s.sett began to cry.

"If you could just see what a normal police officer saw, you wouldn't be here today." The man took out a gray handkerchief so that Fa.s.sett could wipe off the tears on his face and then used the handkerchief to cover his eyes. "If you can't see, wouldn't everything get better?"

That night, Fa.s.sett's mother received a call from the mental hospital.

"Madam, I have bad news and good news. I hope you will stay calm and hear me out.

"Because of an accident, your son became blind.

"But please don't be sad. After becoming blind, his performance calmed down a lot. If he can continue on like this, he will quickly be able to become a normal person and leave the hospital.

"So congratulations madam. You will be able to meet your son soon."