Antique Shop『BEAR』 - Chapter 10
Chapter 10 – Whispering Earrings
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Alarmed by the sound, Rei turned around only to stumble upon her father standing there, gripping a plastic cord.
“… No!”
Rei screeched, dashing for the front door.
“Hold on! Don’t let her escape!”
The sound of her mother’s exasperated voice resonated. This was no more the family home. Here was the site of a murder. The realization hit her inexorably, yet it was far too late. Without even putting on her shoes, she attempted to storm out, but was unable to swing the door opened.
W-Why…?
“Hmph. Because I locked the door from outside.” Her mother stomped over to her. “I installed a lock on the exterior of the door, so it won’t work from the inside.”
She stared at her with slitted eyes and swept her hair around as she made her way over. Behind her stood her father, holding a plastic cord. Fluster and fear flashed across his face.
“What brings you here today?”
Rei’s eyes flickered over to the bathroom.
“You showed up at the house yesterday, didn’t you? Why didn’t you alert the police? I knew you saw the corpse from the surveillance camera.”
“Surveillance camera…?”
“You thought I didn’t install them?”
She gestured to the top of the mirror stand in the bathroom. Right there was a small black surveillance camera flashing in red.
“Why did you wander into my house without reporting it to the police after finding the corpse?”
“… Father, why? How come you are here?”
“I was… requested by your mother. She said that if I want to marry Hiyama, I would need to pay all the rest of the loan to get the divorce. Then she said to come over and have a talk and see what we have in mind, so we misunderstood and arrived here. While I was taking my eyes off her… she already killed her…”
“Then! Why didn’t you dial the police immediately!”
“It is… me who drove your mother into a corner and transformed her into a monster, isn’t it?”
Her mother tapped her father on the shoulder.
“Sure enough. I resented him, resented him, and resented him to the core. I really wished to murder them both and dump them in the freezer, but since putting them together would be infuriating and letting him live would be hell for him, I allowed him to go. Now your father too has experienced the loss of a precious thing.”
In the following moment, he noticed the earrings that Rei was sporting and dropped the plastic cord. Pointing at Rei, he released a voice that resembled a squeal.
“That… that… where did you get it!”
“Ah… at the antique shop.”
“Ah. I was the one who went there to sell it. How unbelievable that you would have bought it in such a place.”
“You, did you do that on purpose? Selling it at the nearest station to my house?”
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A sound arose in her ears.
Right…. I can hear it through the earrings!
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Staggering, he picked up the plastic cord.
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The instant Rei made an attempt to flee, her mother seized her arm and strangled her with her bare hand. Rei clawed at her and fought to disengage from her hands.
“You’re hurting me!”
Her wrath escalated, and she shoved Rei down, slamming her against the concrete of the front door. Her back was struck violently, sending a numbing and intense pain through her. The back of her head impacted the door, leaving her in a chokehold, and she almost fell into unconsciousness.
“Ooh!”
The voice of her father could be heard. At the moment Rei thought it was beyond all limits, her father wrapped the plastic cord around her mother’s neck. The cord strangled her thick neck.
“Argh!”
It was too late for her to register that she was being strangled, and with a crimson complexion, she withdrew her grip, straining to free herself from the plastic cord. Even though her father was taller and slimmer than her, and seemed to be more vulnerable compared to her, he still refused to let go of the plastic cord. Rei struggled to rise to her feet with all her power, but the agonizing pain in her lower back reverberated through her body, while her throat was filled with a coughing fit from barely being able to inhale oxygen.
“Stop fooling around!”
Hearing the furious tone of her mother’s voice, she turned to face her and found her father and mother engaged in a struggle. Rei crawled down the hallway leading to the living room and grabbed her bag, when a piercing sound like a watermelon being smashed exploded in the background. Reflexively, she turned around and was met by the scene of her father being slammed against the front door. There were a difference in level between their distance, thus preventing a clear view of the devastation, but blood splatter was stained on the door.
“Hi… Hi.”
Rei sprang to her feet and bolted for the living room window.
“Wait!”
She could hear her mother’s voice but was unable to focus on what she was saying. The moment the lock was removed and the window opened, a searing impact of pain flared through her head and her vision faded to obscurity momentarily.
“From now on, I am going to live happily ever after. It’s my life, and you guys don’t have to exist.”
Her tears threatened to leak out.
Even me… even though my life is just starting to be happier.
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A sound can be perceived as though it were whispering in her ear.
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At the instance of her mother’s outcry, Rei reflexively shifted her position. A hammer was swung down right next to her, causing the tatami to dent.
That was close!
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The deafening sound never ended. Rei leaped out the window and rushed out at full speed. Her mother was shouting something, but she couldn’t catch it.
The grass tangled around her feet as she kicked up the dirt. Running on the ground in socks was something she hadn’t done in a long time, giving her feet a chance to falter. Goosebumps rose upon her as she sensed her mother approaching from behind. She was yelling and screaming in aggression. Nothing could cross her thoughts and she even forgot to breathe. She stormed out onto the road and turned around only to be confronted by her mother screaming at her with a hammer raised like a demon. She wanted to shout for help, but could not find her voice. Right as she started to drive around the curve, there was the blaring of a horn. By the time she realized what was transpiring, she was flung onto the road and rendered unconscious.
T/N:
Hi… Hi – This is not hi as in hello by the way. It could be interpreted as her father calling out Hiyama’s name or onomatopoeia for calling out in pain
Support Fan’s Translations
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