Gosick

Gosick I - 3

  chapter three — the ghost ship Queen Berry  

An oppressive air settled upon the flooded lounge. Only Victorique remained coolly detached, while the other four people would drop their eyes down, then look up to glare at each other, over and over again.

Cloudy drops of water dripped down to the floor from the walls and ceiling, which were soaked with seawater. Dampness permeated the entire lounge.

"...This ship once had eleven boys and girls on board. They were the 'hares'," began Maurice, groaning and shivering, hugging his knees like a child.

The other four shared a look.

Then Julie Guile jumped out of her seat and stood in front of Maurice. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hey... What happened to them?" asked Ned Baxter in a low voice.

"...They died. They killed each other."

"Wh-why?!"

"That was part of the plan," murmured Maurice. He looked up fearfully. The same blood-soaked message from before sprawled ghoulishly across the wall of the lounge. As Maurice looked up at those words, panic and despair flickered in his eyes. He parted his bloodless lips, and said, "I can't tell you any more than that, or else I would be committing a breach of my official duties. But ... at any rate, at the end of that fateful night on this ship, the Queen Berry, we recovered the children's bodies and disposed of them into the sea. Immediately after we finished our retrieval operations and left the scene, the coast guard arrived to secure the ship, but of course it was already empty. Since there were still some traps left on board that hadn't been triggered yet, along with evidence that there had been fighting, the coast guard tried to conduct a search, but the ship was already sinking, and they were forced to evacuate. A-as for your story..."

Maurice pointed at Kazuya. "That ghost story you mentioned hearing from your classmate was based on this incident from ten years ago. When I heard you mention how the Queen Berry has been reappearing in the sea, trying to lure people on board, I was positive...." his somber voice grew strained, "...that this ship is a ghost ship!"

Ned and Julie exchanged an incredulous look, their faces stiffening anxiously. Ned grabbed a tennis ball and threw it into the air. He caught the falling ball, then threw it again. As for Julie, she got up and began to pace back and forth across the lounge.

Maurice continued, his shoulders beginning to tremble slightly. "This is a ghost ship, raised up from the bottom of the sea by the grudges of those dead children. And now, ten years later... They've brought together the adults who sent them to their deaths, in order for them to die here...." His face turned waxen. "And we too shall die...."

As his trembling spread over his entire body, and a wretched look twisted his features, he exclaimed, "You're only kidding yourself if you think we can make it to the radio room! We've been cursed by those children—by those hares!"

Someone burst out laughing.

Maurice shot Kazuya a glare. But Kazuya quickly shook his head, and turned to Victorique sitting beside him. She was looking down at the floor, her face hidden by her long blond hair, like spun golden thread.

Her thin shoulders were shaking convulsively.

"...Uh, Victorique?"

"Hoo-hoo-hoo!"

Kazuya reached out to brush away Victorique's hair, and tell her to stop making such weird noises, but then he saw tears streaming down her face ... tears of laughter.

"Bwa-ha-ha!"

"Hey! What's so funny!?"

The others stopped what they were doing—Ned playing with his tennis ball, Julie wandering around the room—and turned to stare in surprise at Victorique, who was in the middle of a laughing fit.