I was half asleep, so I didn't even hear the phone ringing nearby.

After a while, I finally realized the phone was ringing... and a ringing phone means there's some kind of an emergency.

It's two in the morning.

Who would even call me at this time of the night?

"......Hello, this is Irie."

"I'm sorry to bother you, Dr. Irie."

It's Takano-san.

She's never called me for a personal reason.

At the Institute, she's ranked just below me, so she's basically responsible for running it.

......So for her to call me this late at night, it must be an emergency.

"......Sorry it took me so long.

Is it true that we have another terminal patient?"

"Yes.

I was hoping to find a living specimen, so this is perfect.

Hee hee hee."

I initially thought that she'd abducted someone.

The man had already been moved to the research area in the clinic's basement.

Having been tied down to the examination table, he's struggling against his restraints, but more as though he's deranged than actually resisting.

I can't even understand what he's saying. He sounds angry, sorrowful, and like a child throwing a tantrum all at once.

......It's obvious that he's not in the right state of mind.

"...Anyway, let's put him under anesthesia.

He might kill himself otherwise."

"I wanted to observe him a little longer, but I guess I have no other choice."

One of the staff with a white gown got the anesthesia ready.

Even a normal person would struggle to escape a restraining table in this suspicious room.

But this man's behavior is at an abnormal level...

I'm sure Okonogi-san and his friends from the Mountain Dogs are the ones who captured him. Capturing a man in this state of mind couldn't have been an easy task.

According to Takano, she ran into this patient on her way home from the clinic by accident.

She brought him back here, tested him, and the result came back positive.

...Of course, I have no intention of just believing what she's telling me.

But there is no question that this man is at the terminal stage, and a live specimen is exactly what we need to research the syndrome.

"Who is this man anyway?"

"Hee hee.

He had something wrapped in newspaper.

What do you think was in it?"

"......Ugh... what is this?"

There's something wrapped in a bloody newspaper on a tray nearby.

Looking at the blood-drenched paper, I can only imagine there is something gruesome inside of it.

Yet Takano-san looked like she wanted to surprise me with something interesting.

"Oh...... god, this is awful..."

It's...

a bloody right arm.

The man on the table still has his.

...This right arm doesn't belong to him...

...So who does it belong to?

I am used to looking at things like this, as a doctor.

......But the horrible cross section makes me want to look away.

...It wasn't done according to a medically acceptable method, that's for sure.

...It was obviously done out of cruelty.

"Judging by the situation, we can assume this man cut off this arm.

Hee hee hee."

"...So he's the culprit behind the body dumping that's been occurring in the neighborhood?"

At that point, there was no way of knowing who the right arm belonged to.

But the next morning, the dismemberment murder of the damn construction site director was reported,

and they mentioned that his right arm was still missing, so we learned who the arm belonged to...

"This man has a criminal record and he's on probation.

Yet he committed another crime.

I bet he dismantled the body in order to hide it."

"I'm sure it depends on the circumstances, but he'll get more than just a few years in prison."

"Hee hee.

So you won't hesitate to dissect a scumbag like him, right?"

"......Who knows. Maybe he was a scumbag before and became violent due to the syndrome,

or maybe he had gone straight, but became violent again due to the syndrome.

The former is one thing, but if it's the latter case, it's not his fault."

That's why Hinamizawa Syndrome is so terrifying.

...We can't tell if the syndrome is the cause of the crime, or if it's simply a problem of a human nature.

......But what causes a defect of human nature in the first place?

That was precisely Irie's area of research.

Hate the crime, not the criminal.

...Can criminals only be corrected by punishing them with imprisonment?

If a person commits a crime because of a mental disorder, but then gets treatment, he is corrected.

In other words, there are no crimes in this world, only patients awaiting treatment without anyone else being able to understand them.

In medieval times, patients with mental disorders were said to be possessed by demons and they were either confined or killed.

Centuries after, they were finally acknowledged as mentally ill people who needed treatment...

...Perception can change with time.

Even if they are called criminals now, maybe after several centuries, those criminals will be acknowledged as patients who were entitled to appropriate treatment.

Explaining crimes through illness instead of malice.

That's my life's work.

Hinamizawa Syndrome is a strange disease that can support my theory.

Solving its mysteries is extremely important to me.

To solve those mysteries...

I need a medical sacrifice.

It's an extremely sinful thing to do... but there's no way to unravel this without it.

...The Irie Institute was authorized to take such drastic measures if necessary.

That's why I was asked about it so many times when I accepted the position of director.

And finally the opportunity is here.

...This will be the first step of our research on this strange disease...

But even now...... I am a little hesitant.

I've opened up human bodies in many surgeries.

What I'll be doing on this man is something very similar......

But there's also something that's very different.

What I did before was part of treatment.

I did it to save the patients' lives.

I did it so the patients could have a better future.

But what I'm trying to do here isn't treatment.

...He will die at the end of it.

His death will be far from humane.

...I'm going to violate nature and force him to stay alive ...while I open up his living brain.

"Director Irie?

Are you listening?"

"Eh,

ahh,

sorry.

Could you repeat that?"

"I believe it best that we submit the dissection proposal to Tokyo and request their assistance.

He's not only alive, he's also in the terminal stage, so he's an extremely important specimen.

We must conduct the dissection very carefully."

"...That's true.

You're right.

Let's do as you say."

"I think we'll have a few days before the dissection.

So I want to run some reaction tests once he's off the anesthetic."

"...Do you think that's safe?

Even if he's restrained, we don't know what will happen."

"We finally have the opportunity to test a live specimen.

We can't only look into his brain.

Hee hee hee hee..."

Takano-san's unusual cheerfulness made me feel odd.

...Maybe her reaction is normal. Maybe I am the one who's not reacting normally in this situation.

I'm here only for the research.

So I should be excited to have the opportunity to perform our first live dissection.

But I'm still hesitant.

How can I call myself a researcher?

Researchers of the past were brave enough to cross the line, and that's how they accomplished many things.

I've seen many brains. I've operated on them.

I've lost some patients, too.

But I never thought anything of it, because I knew I did the right thing.

......Even when my hard work was denied afterwards.

If it pained me to think of that, then I just needed to advance the field of medicine to ensure their deaths weren't wasted.

...That's the true form of those advancing the field of medicine.

Yet... why was my heart tormented so much just by changing the name from "treatment" to "dissection"?

...Does it mean I'm not man enough to emulate those great men of the past who opened the doors to new medicine? ...That I don't have the power to develop new advances myself?

"...Hey,

what's the matter, Director?

Are you feeling okay?"

Takano is pretending to be concerned about me.

But...... she knows.

She knows I'm still hesitating.

And she's telling me that I should be ashamed, as a researcher, for feeling that way.

............I shook my head to clear it of sleepiness.

Remember the resolve that brought me here to this day.

I already have blood on my hands.

But if I stop now, their lives will be wasted.

...Those who shed their blood can only rest in peace once they've become the cornerstones of great research.

I shook my head once more and reminded myself that I'm a researcher.

"No,

I was just thinking.

Takano-san, please make some arrangement with Tokyo,

and let me know when it's done."

"Okay, understood.

...Hee hee hee!

This is really exciting."

The least I can do is my best, so his life won't be wasted.

If he bleeds, I can't waste even a drop of his blood.

After scolding my staff for their indiscretion of discussing the dissection with such excitement, I returned to my office.