Chapter 215 The Third Player

To talk about Rimbaud's acquaintance with "Mochizuki Kaoru", we have to go back in time to seven years ago - shortly after Rimbaud lost his memory.

At that time, Rimbaud had lost all his past memories for unknown reasons, leaving only a hat and his special abilities. He was wandering around Yokohama, and was later discovered by "Mochizuki Kaoru" who took him in temporarily. At that time, "Mochizuki Kaoru" had just returned to her hometown Yokohama from Europe to find a place to settle down.

It can be said that when they met, neither of them was very familiar with Yokohama.

The encounter between the two originated from the kindness of Mochizuki Kaoru - although Mochizuki Kaoru herself did not think so, Rimbaud always felt so in his heart.

Seeing that Rimbaud was suffering from amnesia, Kaoru Mochizuki took him in for a short period of time. In exchange, Rimbaud gave Mochizuki Kaoru the prototype of "Chitose Yuuki", the protagonist with amnesia in "Amnesia" - a ready-made amnesiac was right in front of him, so why not use him? - this was the reason Kaoru Mochizuki gave to Rimbaud at the time.

After that, after "Amnesia" was completed, Rimbaud also sorted out all the common sense of life and barely found a job to make a living, so he naturally left Mochizuki Kaoru's home, and the two gradually lost contact...until later, more than a year ago, Mochizuki Kaoru moved nearby, and the two reconnected until now.

In fact, according to common sense, a person who has lost all his past memories should have a good relationship with the first person who takes him in, especially for the person who has lost his memory - just like in psychology, there is an effect called the "chicken bird effect", in which people generally have a special liking for the first important person they meet in a completely new environment, just like a newborn bird will regard the first living thing it sees as its mother, and it seems more reasonable to have a special liking for it.

But unfortunately, neither Rimbaud nor Mochizuki Kaoru seem to have such a feeling. Especially Rimbaud - the "Little Bird Effect" seems to be non-existent in him. Even if he has lost his past memories, he still subconsciously builds a high wall in his heart against all the strangers around him, and remains vigilant and suspicious of everything.

And Mochizuki Kaoru also seemed to have no special care for the person she "picked up". His personality was also very cold. He always kept a suitable distance from him, not too far or too close, and had no intention of crossing the high wall in his heart.

So, with an unspoken understanding, after Rimbaud left, the two cut off all contact until Mochizuki Kaoru moved next door to Rimbaud - the connection that had been established seven years ago was reconnected, and the two gradually became "friends".

Even though Rimbaud is now working for the Port Mafia, it doesn't seem to match what Mochizuki Kaoru described as "daily" and "ordinary", but Mafia has become a little "ordinary" in Yokohama. At most, the Port Mafia is more frightening - but the Port Mafia is big and powerful, and Rimbaud has always been just an ordinary grassroots member in the Hong Kong underworld. What he did was also more "down-to-earth", and could barely be considered "ordinary". What's more, neighbors are not family members, and even if it is the Mafia, there is no such thing as "bad luck to neighbors".

Therefore, it was no problem for Kaoru Mochizuki to "move" to a nearby place.

Everything seems reasonable and normal.

But Rimbaud didn't seem to think so.

"Mochizuki Kaoru" is a good person, but also a very strange and mysterious person.

Rimbaud felt this way more than once.

"Good guy" is easy to understand. This is based on the fact that in a city like Yokohama, he actually took him in not long after the "Raybo Street Explosion" incident seven years ago, as well as the various things he saw when he was by his side later - Mochizuki Kaoru was obviously not an ordinary person with no skills and abilities, as he had the confidence to take in Rimbaud, but when Rimbaud was by his side, he almost never saw him kill anyone - although sometimes living can be more cruel than death, from his own perspective, Rimbaud still thinks that Mochizuki Kaoru can be said to be "kind".

"Strange" and "mysterious" are also easy to understand.

A man with quite good skills, but willing to be a stay-at-home novelist. Unless there is something necessary, such as going out to buy groceries, take out the garbage, or look for materials, he would rather stay at home alone most of the time, and has no interest in the various things happening in this city or even in this world; he obviously knows a lot of things, but always likes to call himself an ordinary novelist; he is obviously a well-known novelist who has won many awards and is very famous, but he never likes to show his face, and it is difficult for Rimbaud to see from him that he likes "writing" itself... To be honest, Rimbaud always felt that Mochizuki Kaoru put more energy and love into "raising flowers" than writing.

Of course, these characteristics are not strange for him, especially in Yokohama, a special "magic city". But what makes Rimbaud more concerned is that his intuition always tells him that Mochizuki Kaoru is dangerous, and that he may know his past, and even more... can help him regain his past memories.

For him, this is the most important thing.

Kaoru Mochizuki once wrote in Amnesia that people always crave what they have lost and what they cannot obtain, thus blinding themselves to the fact that what they have been pursuing is actually just a false mirage. Rimbaud agreed with this.

But those who have never lost their memories cannot understand the desire for memories of those who have lost their memories.

And he seemed to see hope in Mochizuki Kaoru - even if it was just his intuition or just an illusion, he didn't want to give up.

When Rimbaud first lost his memory and even his common sense, he was almost as cautious as ever against "Mochizuki Kaoru". At that time, Rimbaud once accidentally revealed the existence of the "coloring book" to Mochizuki Kaoru, but to his surprise, Mochizuki Kaoru's surprise at the "coloring book" lasted only for a moment, and her reaction was very flat.

Mochizuki Kaoru is a very honest person. He told Rimbaud that the coloring book was his special ability without hiding anything, and told him that it would be best not to expose it to others... Then, his "surprise" disappeared, as if for him, Rimbaud's special ability was just an ordinary little thing and he didn't need to care about it.

Rambo also asked Kaoru Mochizuki if she had the same special ability as him. At that time, Kaoru Mochizuki replied, "No, no one has the same special ability... No, I remembered it wrongly. There is, but you and I don't have it. I am just an ordinary novelist."

At that time, Rimbaud was ignorant of the outside world and naturally could not see the strangeness of Mochizuki Kaoru. He just subconsciously kept this little thing in mind.

It was not until later when he gradually built up his understanding of the world and recalled this incident that he realized something was wrong.

Mochizuki Kaoru never really told him directly whether he had special abilities or what they were.

Rimbaud once asked Mochizuki Kaoru whether he had known him in the past and whether he knew about his past.

Mochizuki Kaoru just smiled and told him frankly and helplessly: "No. I was in Europe before, but I never saw you."

Strangely, Rimbaud knew that he was telling the absolute truth, but he also intuitively felt that - no, he knew his past.

The feeling was so contradictory that even Rimbaud was unsure whether his intuition was still trustworthy.

In the past few years, he and Mochizuki Kaoru have tried to test each other several times, but the answer he got each time was the same. Rambo thought that maybe he was just an "ordinary person" who was very skilled and knew about people with special abilities but did not have special abilities. He even gave up the idea of ​​continuing to test him.

Until today, he found someone around who seemed to be monitoring or testing something...so he couldn't help but connect it with Mochizuki Kaoru.

Although the result of the test seemed to be the same as in the past, there were also some differences from the past - in a flash, Rimbaud suddenly thought that maybe he should not continue to look for it in Mochizuki Kaoru, but should try looking for it in the person who escaped from him today.

Rimbaud lowered his eyes and traced a passage on the page with his finger.

"Just as he was dozing off, Chitose Yuuki suddenly sat up from the sofa. The others stopped arguing and looked at him in astonishment, but he just stared at the Miyazaki siblings sitting opposite him, with cold sweat dripping from his pale forehead. He remembered where the déjà vu just now came from - the words spoken by Miyazaki Hinata and the words he heard in his dream the day before suddenly overlapped, and the originally vague dream in his mind suddenly became clear. Chitose Yuuki even began to feel that not only that sentence, but even his movements and expressions began to overlap with his dream, as if they were exactly the same."

——He remembered why he suddenly connected the person today with Mochizuki Kaoru again——Seven years ago, when he was still staying at Mochizuki Kaoru's house, he had encountered a feeling around him that was very similar to today.

The same harmless glance, the same elusiveness.

So this time it was not an accident, that person... came for Mochizuki Kaoru. He must know Mochizuki Kaoru, or have some connection with him.

Maybe...will this be a breakthrough?

Rimbaud's fingers ran across the spine and cover of the book.

The protagonist of "Amnesia", Chitose Yuuki, is a very pathetic guy. After committing murder, in order to escape the prison, he conspired with his best friend Hinata Miyazaki and deliberately created his own amnesia. Chitose Yuuki, who has lost his memory, struggles to pursue his memory with the Miyazaki siblings. Everything is like a net that traps him, but all of this is in his own plan before he lost his memory... He thought that everything was calculated by his lover, the sister of his best friend Hinata Miyazaki, and the ignorant Miyazaki Mie, but it was not until he killed the Miyazaki siblings and truly recovered his memory that he found that it was all caused by him, and began to regret his behavior and regret his amnesia.

In the end, he was not sent to prison, but he drove himself insane and was admitted to a mental hospital, where he once again suffered from amnesia.

When he first read the book, Rimbaud only thought the story was creepy and thought-provoking, but as time went on, he could always see himself in Chitose Yuuki.

Although Chitose Yuuki's experience is completely different from his, he can always find similarities between himself and Chitose Yuuki in terms of personality, thinking, and style of doing things.

——It’s not the him who just lost his memory and had a blank mind, but the him who has established his own understanding of the things around him after leaving Mochizuki Kaoru for a long time, and has a complete personality and a perfect self.

Even the best friend and lover of "Yuuki Chitose" in the book gave Rimbaud a sense of déjà vu - as if he really had a best friend like "Yuuki Chitose" in the past.

Just like what Chitose Yuuki felt in the novel - the sense of déjà vu was too strong.

This is also one of the reasons why Rimbaud always felt that Mochizuki Kaoru was related to his memory.

In "Amnesia", Chitose Yuuki's amnesia is the result of a conspiracy between him and his best friend Miyazaki Hinata. The ending of the novel is that both Miyazaki Hinata, who conspired with him, and Miyazaki Mie, who knew nothing about it, were killed by Chitose Yuuki, and Chitose Yuuki was driven crazy by herself and admitted to a mental hospital.

Rimbaud turned to the ending of the last page of the novel and turned back to the message on the title page.

There is a sentence on it: "Given to my friend Rimbaud, thank him for adding bones and blood to this book."

He is the prototype of Yuuki Chitose, so is there any metaphor related to him in this book? Is his past related to Yuuki Chitose's past? Does Yuuki Chitose's ending hint at something for him? Is Mochizuki Kaoru really related to his past?

Rimbaud longed to know the answer.