Chapter 5 4

0:37 Eri Asai's room. The condition of the room remained unchanged.The figure of the man sitting on the chair is much larger than before, and we can see the figure of the man quite clearly.The radio waves are still somewhat disturbed, the image shakes from time to time, the outline is deformed, the quality becomes thinner, and the harsh noise increases accordingly.Sometimes other irrelevant images are inserted in a flash, but the mess is quickly repaired and the original image reappears. Eri Asai was still sleeping soundly on the bed.The artificial light from the TV screen created dynamic shadows on her side face, but it didn't disturb her sleep.

The man on the screen is wearing a dark brown suit.Maybe it was a well-made and imposing suit, but now it looks tired, with white and ash-like things all over the cuffs and back.He wears a pair of round-toed black leather shoes, but his face has long been disheveled.Could it be that he came to this room through a very dusty place?Orthodox white shirt, plain black woolen tie.Shirts and ties also look tired.Gray hair.No, not white hair, maybe just gray on black hair.Anyway, it seems that the hair has not been combed for a long time.Unbelievably, despite this, the person's attire did not give the impression of being sloppy or shabby, it was just that the whole suit was dusty and hadn't been changed for a long time due to some compelling reasons.

The face is invisible.At this time, what the camera can capture is only his back or other parts of his body other than his face.Whether it's the angle of the light or intentional, that part of the face is always a shadow, out of our sight. The man didn't move, and sighed occasionally, and his shoulders moved up and down slowly, that's all.It looked like a hostage who had been imprisoned in a room for a long time.There was something like an elongated helplessness floating around the man.But he was not tied up.He sat on a chair, straightened his back, breathed quietly, and fixed his eyes on a certain point in front of him.As for whether he decided not to move on his own, or was placed in a state where he was actually unable to move for some reason, we cannot tell.His hands were placed neatly on his lap.I don't know the time, or even day or night, but the room is as bright as a summer afternoon due to the lighting from the fluorescent lights lined up on the ceiling.

Soon, the camera circles to the front and pushes out the man's face from the front.However, I still can't figure out what's going on with the man, it might be more and more inexplicable.Because his whole face was covered with a translucent mask, and it was tightly attached to the face like a membrane, so that it could hardly be called a mask.Still, even as thin as it was, it served its purpose adequately as a mask—it reflected the light faintly and brilliantly, effectively keeping his face and expression behind.The only thing we can barely guess is the rough outline of his face.The mask doesn't even have holes to reveal the nose, mouth and eyes.Despite this, it seems that it does not affect breathing, seeing things, and listening to sounds. It must have extraordinary air permeability and sound permeability.As for the material and technology used to make this "anonymous" skin, it is impossible to judge just by looking at it.Masks are both magical and functional.It has been passed down from ancient times along with the darkness, and it will be delivered to people along with the light in the future.

The real frightening thing about the mask is that although it fits so tightly to the face, it is completely impossible to imagine what kind of thoughts, feelings, and intentions the person inside has (or doesn't have).It is impossible to tell whether the person's presence is beneficial or harmful, whether his thoughts are legitimate or distorted, whether his mask is to conceal him or protect him.The man puts an exquisite "anonymous" mask on his face, sits quietly on a chair, and is captured by the camera, forming a situation here.It seems that we can only reserve judgment for the time being and accept this situation as it is.We decided to call him "The Man Without Face".

The camera angle is now fixed in one place, locking the image of the Faceless Man from the front a little lower.The man in the brown suit is motionless looking at this side through the glass from the picture tube of the camera.That is to say, his posture is to peer straight into the room we are in from the other side.Of course, his eyes are hidden behind a glossy mask of mystery.However, we can really feel the presence and weight of its sight.He stared at something in front of him with unwavering will.From the perspective of her face, she seemed to be staring fixedly at Eri Asai's bed.We tracked this hypothetical sight with care.Yes, that's right, what the masked man stared at with his invisible eyes was indeed Eri who continued to sleep on this side bed, or rather he was just gazing at Eri's figure all the time.Here we finally grasp this fact.He can see this way.The TV screen functions as a viewing window facing the room on this side.

The image trembled from time to time, then returned to normal immediately.There was also occasional rise in electrical noise, which sounded like it was taking someone's brainwaves as a signal, expanding its amplitude.It keeps increasing in density, but when it reaches a certain place, it turns around and Er disappears, and then turns around to make a comeback, and it goes on and on again.However, the "Faceless Man"'s gaze did not waver, nor did his attention get distracted. A beautiful girl sleeping in bed.Straight black hair spread out into a meaningful fan on the pillow.Softly closed lips.sinking heart.Every time the TV screen trembled, the light on her side face would flicker along with it, and the shadows would turn into undecipherable symbols and jump accordingly.Sitting on a simple wooden chair, the "faceless man" silently stared at her.His shoulders rose and fell quietly with his regular breathing, like an unmanned dinghy floating on the calm sea in the morning.

Otherwise there was no movement in the room.