28 28

◎Gabriel's Original Sin◎

28

Kawakami Wakana had to admit that, upon hearing Francis's words, her heart seemed to stop for a second. Fortunately, she quickly calmed down.

While Yokohama's safety is questionable, it's not exactly a lawless place. She's in a conspicuous public place like a coffee shop; Francis probably won't do anything to her on the spot.

We must not panic at this time!

So, Ruoyi took a deep breath and asked, "Francis, do you have a daughter?"

“…?” Francis froze in his tracks.

"Her name was Scottie-chan, and she might be gone, right—" For some reason, her mind was working very fast at times like this.

She remembered that the last time she met Francis at the Whirlpool Cafe, the white-haired old man Herman had mentioned that "Scottie used to like braids too." Coupled with Francis's expression when he heard the song "Soap Bubbles" and his words, "I won't let the wind blow it away," she considered this possibility.

Kawakami Wakana admitted that there was an element of gambling involved, but judging from Francis's expression, she probably won the gamble.

Francis did indeed have a lovely and lively daughter who contracted a difficult-to-treat illness. He was wealthy enough to afford the most advanced medical care and the best doctors in the world for his daughter, but sometimes, money really isn't everything.

Scottie left anyway.

His wife, after that, also began to suffer from mental instability.

That's when he had this idea—

If his daughter comes back, will his wife return to normal, and will his family be able to go back to normal?

“As long as we find the ‘book’…” Francis said, “as long as we find the ‘book’, Scotty can come back.”

"Therefore, I will not let anyone stop me."

"..."

Kawakami Wakana's throat tightened involuntarily.

At this moment, perhaps no amount of words will be of any use.

After all, this is a chance to bring Scottie back.

It's impossible to accept something simply because someone says, "Death is not the end."

So--

What could one possibly say to Francis at this point...?

"...!"

For some reason, Ruoyi suddenly remembered the novel she had promised Fei Jia.

Maybe it's worth a try.

and--

As for this subject matter, Feda might like it.

“Mr. Francis,” she composed herself, “I don’t think anything I say can stop you.”

"In that case, I wonder if you could take a look at the novel I've written?"

Francis: "...?"

Is this a problem with the novel?

If she keeps causing trouble, he might just kill her!

But the girl just smiled.

"The day after tomorrow afternoon, at the same place."

"Anyway, even if they let me go, Francis's abilities would be more than enough to find out where I am, right?"

"..."

Francis had no idea what the young girl was up to, but what she said was indeed true. Since his plan wasn't going to be implemented the day after tomorrow, observing the situation wouldn't hurt. So, he suppressed his murderous expression and returned to his seat.

Kawakami Wakana also breathed a sigh of relief.

She thought she had to finish writing that novel right away.

…………

Two days later.

Fyodor received a document from Wakami Kawakami.

Novel.pdf

Speaking of which... that little cat did say she wanted him to read her novel.

He didn't take it seriously at first. After all, writing a novel isn't something anyone can do; perhaps Kawakami Wakana couldn't write it herself and gave up. He never expected that she would actually send the document.

Logically speaking, the "group" is about to activate "White Whale," so now is not the time for him to leisurely read a novel, but Francis still subconsciously clicked on the document.

He suddenly became interested—

What kind of Virgo masterpiece will this cat, who claims he will definitely write a work that satisfies him, actually produce?

After reading it through, the writing style was indeed somewhat immature, clearly the work of someone writing a novel for the first time. However, the content of the novel made Fyodor frown.

The novel is titled *Gabriel's Original Sin*. The general plot is as follows—

Gabriel, who has lost his daughter, rescues a dying black cat one day. The cat suddenly speaks, revealing itself to be a deity who can grant Gabriel one wish. Remembering his memories with his daughter, Gabriel decides to let the cat fulfill his wish to bring her back to life.

The black cat gave her two methods—

Method 1: Let the daughter's soul be reborn in the body of a peer with whom she has a good relationship.

Method 2: Make a doll and let your daughter's soul possess the doll.

Gabrielle hoped her daughter would remain a living, breathing human being, truly alive. After much internal struggle, she still managed to lure her daughter's best friend over. Just as the black cat had promised, the friend's appearance transformed into her daughter's, and she even called her "Mom." However, that very night, to return her body to her classmate, she willingly offered her own blood to the black cat.

But neither of the girls came back. The daughter's playmate was dead, and on her body was a photo of her and her daughter.

Gabriel hysterically begged the black cat to think of another way, and the black cat said that they could only try the second method.

This time, her daughter was very obedient, and apart from not being human, she seemed no different from someone who had truly returned to her side. Gabriel also enjoyed a period of time living as if her daughter had really come back.

However, as time went on, strange things began to happen.

It must be her daughter's doll. It started mechanically singing her daughter's favorite songs from when she was sick, mechanically performing actions like taking medicine and cooperating with the nurses to give her IV drips, and even crying out her daughter's words before she died: "Mom, I don't want to take medicine anymore. It's okay if I can't get better. I want to go home!"

Gabriel himself also began to have nightmares.

Sometimes it's the daughter crying and questioning why she hurt her friend; other times it's the daughter exchanging blood for a black cat, and the spirit of the little girl who never returned says that her parents were also heartbroken.

Even her arms began to develop unexplained ulcers.

However, what truly broke Gabriel was when her doll daughter suddenly started talking about things she herself didn't quite remember, such as the time of her birth.

Feeling a chill run down his spine, Gabriel couldn't help but ask, "Are you really my child?"

Suddenly, a black cat appeared behind her.

But this time it was no longer an ordinary black cat; wings had sprouted from its back. Half of it was an angel, but the other half was Satan.

"But its memories, personality, and way of speaking are all those of your daughter, aren't they?"

"When a person dies, all that's left are fragments of memories pieced together. What I'm doing is simply covering those fragments onto a doll."

“What about my real child?” Gabriel asked in a low voice.

“I don’t know,” the black cat said. “But she probably won’t be able to go to heaven. After all, you’ve turned her into a new kind of loan shark—lending money with other people’s lives.”

"You said you wanted to bring your daughter back to life, but she doesn't even want to come back herself."

The story doesn't clarify what choice Gabriel made in the end. The novel ends when she faces the black cat and asks, "Do you want your daughter, or yourself as a mother?" Tears are left on the doll's face.

"..." Upon seeing this, Fyodor's brows furrowed even more deeply.

This novel does indeed seem to have been written for him.

But it also seems like it wasn't just written for him alone.

It was at this time—

His phone buzzed. The message was from Francis.

[Kind sir, I think you may genuinely want to help me. But I think perhaps letting go is truly for Scotty's own good.]

After all, sometimes love hurts more than hate.

"..."

“I see…” Fedor murmured as he looked at the message on his phone.

What exactly was Kawakami Wakai's identity in approaching him?

…………

Whirlpool Cafe.

“You know what?” Francis said softly, stroking the phone screen which was stuck on a document page, “Before Scotty passed away, she said she didn’t want to take any more medicine, get any more injections, or have any more painful tests. She said she wanted to go home, even if her illness couldn’t be cured. But I refused her when she cried and begged.”

“I told her that if she listened to me, she could go home when she got better and go to school to play with her friends.”

"At that time, I was thinking that my daughter should also have a future, even if she had to go through some hardships. I didn't even notice that after I rejected her suggestions countless times, her eyes dimmed."

"But perhaps back then, I should have looked more at Scotty 'now,' cherished our last moments together, and walked with her on..."

He thought that perhaps, like Gabriel in the story, what he truly loved wasn't the child, but himself as a father. And his desire to find Scotty was simply because he didn't know how to face his wife like this.

Since that's the case, he can't continue down the wrong path.

"..."

Kawakami Wakana didn't say anything, but rummaged in her pocket and found a bottle of soapy water.

"Mr. Francis, let's go to the park and blow soap bubbles again."

"Um."

The two got up and went to the park. Sitting on a bench, watching the soap bubbles dancing in the air, Kawakami Wakana softly hummed the lyrics.

The wind blows and the wind blows, and the wind blows and the jade flies...

As soon as she parted ways with Francis in the park, she immediately picked up her phone and opened her chat with Fedia.

Her articles...

Fedia must have seen it.

Sure enough, the document has been accepted.

However, Fei Jia did not reply after reading the message.

Kawakami Ruoyi: "..."

Is he still watching?

Or is it... that you simply don't want to comment on her novel?

[Author's Note]

Um... I don't know if you guys want to read the full text of Ruoyi's novel in this article.

If you'd like to read it, I'll write it as a short story after this is finished, or when I have time. qwq

Today's Mini-Theater

I've been playing the Cupid board in Werewolf a lot lately, and this suddenly came to mind.

Fyodor, the wolf king who discovered he was chained to Wakami Kawakami, chose to kill himself to reduce the likelihood of being seen as part of the chain by his wolf teammates.

And the witch in the chain, Kawakami Wakana: I guess I stopped saving people on day one of being the witch in the chain? I only realized it before I closed my eyes—

Wait! The location you just told me about...

It was my chain that got stabbed!

The next day, Atsushi Nakajima, holding the Cupid card, had a mental breakdown.

(Note: In the Werewolf game, if the chain consists of a good person and a werewolf, forming a third party, the couple must survive and kill all players except Cupid to win. The same applies to Cupid, but he does not need to survive.)