After talking to Dr. Reichwein, the girl felt mentally rebuilt. The last time she felt so light was after visiting Dr. Gillen, with whom she could talk bluntly about her brother and the whole thing without fearing any serious consequences.
Over the next month, she succeeded to meet Johan three more times; meet him is even too much said - she was just able to observe him from a quite distance. She was always standing alone then, carefully examining his behavior, movements, and even the way he addressed other people. His behavior was just as natural as if he had never committed absolutely no crime.
As she watched him from a distance, safely hidden in various places, she imagined what it would be like to aim at him... and shoot. These very thoughts made her hands tremble and her heart beat at an accelerated pace...
****
That day, while reading the newspaper, Emiko came across an article about a new "game" among children, which ended with them falling off the roof. Despite many interviews between the young participants, no one was able to find out what it was all about.
'This isn't normal... Where do kids get such ideas from?' She shook her head as she folded the newspaper and continued on her walk - to the university library.
The girl has been in it many times, reading books from forensics and psychology departments each time; she had even read a few crime novels to try to get a little sense of what the criminals who committed the crime might have been thinking. Due to the fact that her name wasn't on the official list of students, she read a bit of all the books on the spot.
Now she was also looking for something related to the topic. Slowly wandering around the titles, she was looking for something that could be useful to her. When she finally noticed one, she reached out to take it from the shelf.
At the same moment, you could hear someone's shrill scream, followed by another, feminine.
"Help!!! Someone come here!!"
In an instant, Emiko withdrew her hand back and quickly rushed in the direction from which the noise came to her.
She didn't have to search for a long time. Only after passing a few shelves, she saw a figure lying in the shadows on the ground between the shelves, with books lying around. Without hesitating, she walked over to the lying man and immediately knelt beside him to check his basic life reflexes.
'First I need-'
The awareness that reached her at that moment made her body shiver from cold so hard that she got goose bumps. Quite unexpectedly, she realized that the person lying next to her was...
'...Jo... han!!'
Her eyes widened in shock.
'What is he doing here?!'
She looked around with a quick movement; there was no trace of the woman from whom she heard the cry for help. She gently brushed the hair off his face with one hand; he lay with his eyes closed, showing no reflexes of life, and his face was so beautiful that his features resembled a prince straight out of a fairy tale... Emiko bit her lip. If she had to make sure it was all over... closing her fingers around his throat... and ending it like that...
She shook her head violently. Shooting from a pistol is one thing, but strangling someone with your own hands...? She felt like she felt sick in an instant.
...Would she be able to face her brother after that?
No.
She would never dare to do it. Not even face herself in the mirror.
So she decided to do the only right and at the same time ridiculous thing that occurred to her at that moment.
First she checked whether the young man had a pulse; when she realized that he was still alive, she started looking for a solution in her head - it was not in vain that she had three doctor brothers...
'This isn't a fainting it because it takes too long...' She wondered as she put him on supine position while tilting his head back to clear his airways. After doing this, she began assessing his breath for ten seconds.
'Three breaths, so normal vital signs...' The girl closed her eyes. 'But if since he still hasn't woken up, it means it's loss of consciousness...' She lifted her head slightly from his body and looked around her. 'Damn, where is that woman? It could be nice having some help, for example someone to calling an ambulance... She didn't run away for good, right?!' After that she looked up at his face again. It showed no emotion whatsoever, making its owner seem as if he was already dead...
Emiko with a slight movement of her hand stroked his cheek with her thumb.
'And to think that I'm helping someone... who I'm supposed to kill with my own hands in the future...' After that, she ironically smiled to herself.
Suddenly she heard voices approaching in the distance, and after another few seconds, from behind the shelves appeared a woman in who Emiko recognized the librarian, and... Karl.
"Johan! ...Emilie?!" He finished in surprise when he saw her kneeling form beside the unconscious young man.
"Karl! Good to see you! ...You too." She turned to the woman. "Please, have one person call an ambulance and the other bring me a cloth handkerchief soaked in a cold water; I need it to give him a first aid."
"I'll call the ambulance from the office phone!" After these words, the woman ran again, and Karl began searching his pockets. Emiko got up from her knees and went to the window, opening it wide.
"I did this because he needs a supply of fresh air." She explained.
"I have one!" Brunet took a cotton handkerchief from his jacket pocket and turned towards the exit. "I'll be right back!" He added, then quickly ran towards the bathrooms, and young Tenma knelt again beside Johan, feeling incredibly strange with all this rescue operation...
****
It wasn't long before Karl was back in the library. He handed the soaked handkerchief to Emiko, also kneeling down next to his friend.
"What do you think happened to him?" Concerned, he turned to her, watching; she was washing the young man's forehead and cheeks with gentle movements.
"He lost consciousness. This is a more serious condition than fainting..." She replied without eye contact, repeating her movements with one hand, and gently supporting the blonde's head with the other.
"How do you know that?" The girl thought for a moment.
"One person close to me is a doctor... he taught me the basics. That's why I know how to provide first aid..."
"I understand... How lucky you were here!"
"Yeah..." She lowered her eyes slightly and looked around. "Where's the librarian? She should already-"
"The ambulance is on its way!" As if finishing her thought, the woman burst in, breathing hard. "They should be here in a few minutes! How is he feeling?" Emiko looked at the face of the unconscious man again.
"I did as much as I could. The rest will be seen." She replied without even a trace of a smile.
****
When the ambulance arrived, their relation was heard, and then the blonde-haired young man was taken to the hospital. The librarian and Karl followed Johan to the ambulance, leaving Emiko alone among the shelves. She looked around at the books scattered on the floor, noticing that the one on which the young man had been lying earlier was open.
'He must have read it before he fell...' She bent down and picked it up from the floor. It was a colorful picture book; the girl turned the pages to the front. 'Emile Scherbe - Obluda...' She opened her eyes a little wider to this information. 'It's a little funny... It's the masculine equivalent of my name...' After that thought she wanted to read this mysterious story... but something prevented her from doing so.
The book was written in Czech.
'Oh no... Gods... Why?! I can understand Japanese, Russian, German and English; there is no foreign language version somewhere...?'
There wasn't. The girl leaned her back against the bookcase, still looking at the cover of the book she was holding. The whole situation with Johan seemed quite unusual to her, so she wanted to know what the book was about... So she decided with the help of a dictionary from the language section, to find out the truth soon. The next few days it was obvious that she will spend time in this building...
****
About a week later, when Emiko was walking past the bulletin board at the university, she noticed that some important information had appeared on it.
Mr. Hans Georg Schuwald will give a
speech at the ceremony for the library.
September 4, 1997 at 18:30
'Hmhm, the closed party...' She scratched her head, slowly walking the other way and looking up at the sky. 'Knowing the life, only great personalities will be present, so nothing there for me... Better I go to finish the translation of Obluda, since remains only its ending...' But she was not given the opportunity to go to the library right away.
"Oh, there she is! Emilie!!" She heard someone's familiar call from the distance, causing her to turn her head slightly, suddenly freezing in place - Karl was walking towards her... with Johan at his side. The girl felt as if her heart suddenly stopped in her throat.
'Right... only HE was missing here!!'
After a while, two young men stood by her.
"Unbelievable, you know that we've been looking for you for four days already?!" The brunet said, laughing a little at the same time. "Where did you camouflage yourself so well that we couldn't find you?" Emiko smiled slightly.
"The size of this college is enough for full camouflage. Why were you looking for me, something happened?" She looked innocently in their direction; at the same time intertwined her hands behind her back.
"I would like to thank you for your help." The blonde-haired young man spoke softly, moving a little closer to her. "I heard from Karl that you helped me in the library..." The girl swallowed silently.
"No big deal... I did what everyone should." Johan looked into her eyes penetratingly and even though his blue eyes showed a big ocean... she felt that she was getting hot. She decided to turn it into warmth and then put it to good use; in an instant, a radiant smile lit up her entire face from ear to ear. "Seriously, you don't have to thank me..."
'...because you don't even know what I'm going to do with you later.' She finished in her thoughts.
"I think quite the opposite." Emiko realized with horror that this sentence was also spoken by the blonde, so in one moment she felt her heart pounding with nerves.
"Really, you don't have t-"
"Emiiilieee~!!" Lotte emerged from behind the nearest door of the building, a some leaflet in her hand, walking quickly towards her; after a while she stood right next to them. "Oh, Karl, Johan..." She added as soon as she noticed them nearby.
"What happened, Lotte?" Young Tenma asked, feeling a little relieved thanks to the appearance of the girl.
"This cafe I told you about recently added two new desserts to the menu!" She answered her with an energetic smile. "How about if we go there today for a scouting?"
'...I have to finish this translation today...'
"I'm sorry, Lotte, but today I can't. How about if we go tomorrow?" The brown-haired student assumed a slightly sad expression on her face.
"I cannot do it tomorrow. We do a project in groups..."
"Ah... Don't worry!" Emiko replied reassuringly, patting her shoulder in a friendly manner. "We can go in a few days."
"Then maybe Johan will go with you? As a thank you?" The girl in one movement turned her head towards an innocently smiling brunet who tried to smooth the situation... and he screwed up it completely.
'KARL, NO.' Despite all her sympathy for the boy, she wanted to hit him right on the head. 'THINK UP SOMETHING BETTER... OR DON'T SAY ANYTHING MORE!'
"Exactly!" Lotte cocked her head slightly to the side. "You wanted to thank her anyway, didn't you? If anything, I can give you the address, how about that, Emilie?" Lotte winked at her, and, together with Karl, began to stare at her, waiting for an answer, which made Emiko feel like a helpless little deer caught in the snares of poachers.
For a moment there was silence between the four of them, which was broken after some time by the ringing of bells in the nearby cathedral. Young Tenma quickly looked at her wrist watch, eyes wide.
"Oh Jesus, four o'clock! A little more and I won't make it..."
"Ah yes, you said you still have something to do today?" Karl spoke slightly apologetically.
"Yes... I'm sorry, but I have to go!" After these words, she quickly began to walk towards her destination, but after a while she turned back to them and smiled slightly. "As I said, you don't have to thank me, so I'd rather go there with Lotte! Until next time!" After these words, she waved her hand at them and walked away, quickly disappearing around the next corner.
Lotte and Karl stared silently at the place where she had disappeared, slightly stunned, while Johan was watching everything carefully...
****
Even though she had gone far enough, Emiko couldn't bring her heartbeat back to the normal rhythm, as she would have liked. Did they just try to... set her up with...
Instead of Karl, she hit her own head.
Fortunately, the blow was strong enough, as it finally restored her so longed-for peace and sanity. She carefully put her hair in order, then went to the library to solve the rest of the great mystery.
When she finally reached the bookshelf with books for children, she started looking for it on the shelf.
'Where did they put it again... Ah! There is.' The girl opened the dictionary brought from the language department and began to slowly translate the continuation. Even if she had just started, her eyes flashed open in astonishment.
(...) Look at me! ...Look at me! The monster inside of me is about to explode! (...)
In one moment the volume fell from her hand.
'Wha-...!!' She looked at the floor, eyes wide, where the book had fallen. 'It's... the same as one of Johan's messages!' She quickly knelt down and picked up the book, then continued reading with her heart beating.
(...) The boy devoured the king and all his servants. Munch-munch, chomp-chomp, gobble-gobble, gulp. Everyone was gone, so the boy went on a journey. He walked for days and days. One day, the boy came upon the monster who had gone west.
"I have a name. It's a wonderful name." Said the boy. The monster who went west replied.
"I don't need a name. I'm perfectly happy without one, after all, that's what we are--nameless monsters." The boy ate up the monster who went west.
At last he had found a name, but there was no longer anyone around to call him by it. Such a shame, because Johan was such a wonderful name.
For a few minutes the girl stared at the last lines of the text with wide eyes... then she fell to the floor and rested her back against the bookcase with the last of her strength.
'Now... I feel SUPER weird... What... is... going on?!' There was a complete emptiness in her mind. She expected to read some ordinary children's story, but, she was swallowed up by a dark fairy tale about a nameless monster...
'Johan... was such a wonderful name...'
She started staring at the shelves standing in front of her.
'If it has anything to do with him... He passed out because of it... But... Then who is Johan...? What does this book have to do with him...? Or maybe... how much does it not have to do with him...?'
She sat looking at the empty space for a long time, but after some time she heard that somebody's steps were approaching her in the near distance. Pretty nimbly, she got up off the floor and walked to the edge of the bookcase, then carefully peeked out from behind it... and froze.
A black-haired neurosurgeon stood just a few meters away, carefully watching the view in front of him, beyond the columns below.
'What is my brother doing here?!' She covered her mouth with her hand like a flash of lightning to stop herself from making any sound. 'Why is he watching the place where Schuwald will be doing his speech at the ceremony of handing over his book collection...?' In an instant, a cold sweat poured over her body, because with hidden terror... she began to realize something. 'No... He cannot...'
"This is the place." Kenzo, with a serious expression on his face, softly uttered the next words, which began to fill her with more and more terror. "This place... is good."
'No...'
She already knew it would be related to the ceremony. And with the fact that Kenzo wants to finish what started a few years ago. Johan is Schuwald's secretary, so he will definitely be at the ceremony... close to him... When he will be giving a speech to several hundred people...
'No...'
She's the one to end this... Not him. Not her brother. As silently as she could, Emiko hid behind the bookcase again and grabbed her chest. Her heart was beating in an irregular rhythm; each successive strike of it signaled the passage of time, bringing her relentlessly closer to the goal she had been pursuing for so long...
In an instant, she realized that although she didn't know how yet, she had to sneak into the ceremony unnoticed at all costs... to stop her brother from the most horrible and terrifying thing... and...
To finally defeat the Monster.