“What’s going on? What is this!?”
Izumi, who was almost hanging onto Kaoru’s back, shouted urgently.
“Where have all the people gone!?”
Just as she said, it was true.
No matter how serious Kaoru was about the occult, she didn’t intend to ignore the words of a real expert or rush into danger.
The truth was that her intention to write about it was somewhat of an excuse. If things really got out of hand, she was ready to retreat quickly.
The problem was—
There was no one on the road they were running.
Even if many people were commuting tomorrow, the busy streets wouldn’t go quiet so easily. It was about the time the last train would be out, but there were always some who would party all night long.
However, even if it was the time for people to dwindle, it was eerily empty on the road.
The streetlights were all off, and the flashy lights of shop signs and the glow from behind windows were dimmed.
Everything was operating just as it was in their memories, yet people had vanished.
Feeling fear at the sight of such a street was, in some ways, natural.
Thud.
“Ouch!?”
Kaoru, who was just running down the deserted street, bumped into something.
At first, she was surprised thinking it was the Woman with a torn mouth, but when she turned to look after falling to the ground, there was nothing there.
“……”
Gasping for air, she slowly reached out to feel ahead.
At first glance, it seemed like there was a road continuing forward, but in reality, a transparent wall was blocking it. Even pressing with her hand, it felt as hard as a concrete wall.
“Kaoru, are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Izumi, who had just bumped into Kaoru’s back, asked, and Kaoru replied like that.
Only then did her forehead return to normal. Was she too excited?
While rubbing her forehead with one hand, she suddenly noticed that Izumi’s glasses were crooked. Of course, since Izumi was stuck to Kaoru’s back, she must have bumped her face against Kaoru.
“What the hell is going on!?”
Izumi cautiously reached out her hand to touch the ‘wall,’ just like Kaoru did.
“Are we trapped here?”
“Looks like it.”
As she stood up, feeling the wall with her hand, Kaoru turned to look back.
Should they go in the direction Koto Ne and Koko went?
In this situation, that seemed to be their only choice. After all, Kaoru already knew that Koto Ne could resist such beings.
“Oh, right. The talisman. Izumi, do you have it?”
Kaoru spoke while gripping the talisman that Koto Ne had given her. Izumi, shaking, nodded. She was holding it tightly, causing the white cloth wrapping around it to crumple even more. It was said that “it wouldn’t break unless what’s inside breaks.” But it didn’t seem likely to break that easily.
Gripping the ‘talisman’ in her hand, a faint warmth was felt within. It even wriggled slightly, as if it were alive.
Could it be something similar to solitude? She tried to recall as much knowledge from the occult books she had read in the past.
“For now—let’s go back to Koto Ne—”
She was about to say, but then—
Clack.
Footsteps were heard.
Someone was walking down the empty street. Wearing a long coat that almost reached their shins, hands shoved in pockets.
Their hair was also long. But it wasn’t the kind of disheveled hair you’d expect from a typical ‘ghost.’
At first glance, they seemed to be a person who cared quite a bit about their appearance.
Their face was hidden beneath a large mask, so it was hard to see their looks.
A gasp was heard from beside. Izumi was trembling like a aspen leaf.
Kaoru was scared. It was a different kind of unease than when watching a horror movie or reading ghost stories.
Because a seemingly ordinary-looking figure was walking in a deserted street, it felt peculiar.
Should she use the talisman?
While she hesitated, the woman came into view, close enough to lock eyes with her.
The beauty visible above the mask was striking, except for the strangely unfocused gaze.
“Hey, I want to ask you something.”
The woman opened her mouth.
It was a beautiful voice.
Clack.
The woman took a step closer.
Slowly removing her right hand from her pocket, she raised it.
Holding the mask slightly with her index and thumb, the woman said,
“Am I pretty?”
“……Eek.”
Izumi let out a sound.
“How about it? Do I look pretty?”
How should she respond? Kaoru turned her head.
The first response that came to mind was—
“Yes, you’re pretty.”
She moved her lips and tongue, managing to say that.
The woman’s eyes narrowed. Was she smiling?
“Really? Then—”
The woman said as she lowered her hand.
As her fingers gripped the mask tightly, what was visible was—
A torn mouth.
From the corners of both lips, smoothly cut all the way to her cheeks. It was too odd to call her the ‘woman with a torn mouth.’ It would be more appropriate to say she was ‘cut.’
And the cut that seemed to extend all the way to her earlobe was carefully painted with lipstick, made to look like lips. Bright red like blood.
Seeing the deliberately painted lips, Izumi and Kaoru opened their mouths simultaneously.
“How do I look?”
The woman asked. As she spoke, her mouth widened, and her jaws twitched. Teeth were visible inside, but only in the place where human teeth should be. Properly grown molars were visible. What was beside it looked like cross-sections of shredded muscle. It seemed like white bones were visible.
“Am I pretty?”
“……”
Neither Kaoru nor Izumi could answer immediately. The woman tilted her head to the side.
As if snapping back to reality from that motion, Izumi shouted.
“T-That’s just—okay!”
“Hmm?”
However, upon hearing the woman’s reaction, Izumi couldn’t continue her thoughts.
The woman’s gaze darted between Izumi and Kaoru.
The woman smiled, her eyes narrowing, and her torn mouth curled slightly. It looked like the parts where her original lips should be somehow perked up.
“You’re lying.”
As she said this, the woman stepped closer.
Clack.
“You’re lying. You both look scared, don’t you?”
As the woman said this, she pulled her left hand from her pocket.
What was in her hand was a long razor blade. Surprisingly, the razor was already open.
“……Eek!?”
Izumi let out an even louder sound.
Despite her mind wanting to argue, the words wouldn’t come out.
So instead of arguing, Kaoru clenched her hand.
The hand holding the talisman.
*
It didn’t take long to realize that something was wrong.
At the place she ran to with Koko, there was literally nothing. Miki was not there, nor was the woman with the torn mouth.
Had they hidden away in a nest? But there was no goosebumps on the back of her neck.
Nukekubi didn’t need to build a nest. It was probably because she didn’t need to. Yōkai create nests in the process of enticing their prey, not to hide their bodies.
Considering it was originally created as ‘this side’s spirit,’ that process probably wasn’t necessary.
So then, why had Miki disappeared? What could be the reason for what was invisible to our eyes?
The question didn’t linger long. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate.
“Gah!?”
A scream echoed.
From far away, from the direction Kaoru and Izumi had run to.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been difficult to hear such a sound. The busy streets are always noisy.
But the fact that the sound was heard without getting drowned out meant something. And that the place, already quiet, had become even quieter than yesterday.
Only then did the realization of the situation send shivers down my spine. It wasn’t the goosebumps from the Yōkai or nests.
It was the goosebumps telling me I had misjudged.
Feeling blood drain from my head, I looked at Koko.
“Koko! We need to go to Kaoru and Izumi right now!”
“Okay!”
Koko immediately rushed towards me, grabbing my arm.
The scenery before my eyes changed in an instant. It felt like we broke the laws of physics, arriving in no time.
And what appeared was a red fog covering my vision.
They had acted accordingly, based on my instructions.
Hack, cough!
……Hearing that sound meant the outcome hadn’t been particularly good, but at least I understood that Izumi was alive.
“What is this!?”
Kaoru appeared to be fine as well.
And—
“……”
In the background, two eyes gazing at me as if they wanted to kill me.
How about that, isn’t it gruesome?
Even if it wasn’t the Yōkai that came from over there, it seems that my blood felt repulsive to them.
“Why hurt people when you won’t even eat them?”
At least all the Yōkai I had seen thus far had been faithful to their instincts. Their movement differed according to their feeding, but all were driven by the need to eat.
But the Nukekubi and the woman with the torn mouth were different.
They exhibited aggression toward something. There were no signs of the woman with the torn mouth having eaten a corpse. Yōkai might bear hostility towards humans, but fundamentally they moved mainly to satiate their hunger, which made this bizarre.
It was like vengeful spirits filled with regret.
“……”
But the woman said nothing.
“Are you not going to ask me?”
In reply, the woman’s left hand moved first.
With a flash, her razor blade reflected the indelible light of the street.
Her target was my face.
I stepped back and swung my sword. Of course, my Japanese sword was longer than her razor. Moreover, their purposes were different. A razor is for shaving one’s own face, while a sword is for cutting the throat of another.
The woman quickly dodged my blade. By briefly halting the swinging motion, she easily jumped back outside the range of my sword.
But I wasn’t alone. Koko moved in behind me—
The sound of metal clashing rang out. Koko’s hair collided with the woman’s blade.
As expected, that blade is no ordinary razor.
Well, it wouldn’t be surprising if it were a part of a Yōkai’s body. I would believe if someone said that wasn’t an actual razor.
“……Oh.”
Koko let out such a groan.
It didn’t mean she was losing in the fight against the woman. However, the ends of Koko’s hair were slightly split. Blood was also trickling down.
“Hmm?”
The woman tilted her head to the side. The oddly torn mouth twisted sideways with the motion. Though unintentional, her facial muscles slightly distorted, giving her a smirk.
“Not human?”
“……”
There was nothing to retort to that.
Neither I nor Koko could claim to be ordinary beings.
“Hmm.”
The woman said, then—
Her mouth opened wide.
“Eek.”
At such a sound, I turned my gaze away to find Izumi, covering her eyes with both hands while staring at the woman.
From the torn mouth, a snake-like tongue flickered. It was a long tongue that split like a snake’s tongue, moving left and right.
And the end of that forked tongue shimmered, reflecting the light.
Whoosh.
“……Ah!”
I leapt forward, swinging my sword toward the side where the tongue moved.
Clang!
The blades met, producing such a sound.
“Heh.”
From the woman’s wide-open mouth came that laughter.
The woman changed targets and dashed toward Kaoru and Izumi, as if realizing they were our ‘weakness.’
“Koko—”
Even before I could call her name, Koko was already moving.
Thwunk.
The tongue stabbed into Koko’s hair. Blood splattered from her hair once more.
But Koko, with a grimace, refused to back down.
……If only she could take another form, would she be able to fight better?
But watching Kaoru and Izumi stare in a daze at her back made me hesitate to suggest that.
Koko seemed content living a normal life. She probably wouldn’t want to do anything that would disrupt that.
Then I had to do my best.
I turned around towards the woman.
The woman’s left arm twisted at a strange angle, deflecting my sword.
“Ugh!”
I blocked the woman’s razor-like attack with my sword. Thanks to having waved the sword around, I had grasped enough of its movement; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to block it, and my neck could have been cut off.
N-No, perhaps I would have gotten my mouth cut off.
Trying to delve a bit deeper was not easy.
I rolled up my left sleeve with my mouth and forcefully tore off my sanitary pad.
Blood streamed down from my wrist. Initially, it flowed like a liquid, but soon enough, it thickened into clots. So much blood poured out, twisting like a worm.
I heard breathing, but I ignored it.
How should I defend against the woman’s razor-like attacks? Unfortunately, I couldn’t create a shield as solid as a sword in real-time. Such a thing is possible only if one has the blessing of ‘Nirlas.’
After all, it was a wish for me to suffer, so such an ‘easy way out’ wouldn’t be granted.
I stomped my foot down hard.
Squish!
Blood splattered everywhere, once again coloring the fog that obscured the surroundings.
“Run!”
As I shouted, there was a sound of Kaoru coughing but soon rising to her feet. Almost immediately, there were footsteps, and the woman they had barely seen faded away.
“Where do you think you’re going!?”
As I shouted while swinging my sword, I finally felt something properly connecting with the blade.
Gah!
A moan escaped the woman’s lips.
And then followed more coughing sounds—
—Was I too hyped up on that sensation?
Thunk.
“Ah.”
Though my vision was limited, I hadn’t paid attention to how long and fluid the woman’s tongue was.
My throat had been sliced open.
“Koto Ne!?”
I heard Koko’s scream. How she must have seen it in such limited sight.
No, perhaps she felt the danger directly, just as she always did whenever I was in danger.
Thunk.
Blood splattered onto my face. Koko’s hair tangled with the woman’s body.
“Gah.”
But the sound escaping the woman’s lips was laughter.
Something swung once more, and I heard the sound of something falling to the ground. Koko had likely severed the woman’s tongue.
“Koto Ne!”
Koko dashed towards my direction in a hurry. With a thrust, the woman’s body was sent flying back, rolling on the ground. Thud, thud. The face of the woman with a badly torn mouth fell apart.
After rolling a few times, the woman’s body collapsed lifelessly.
“……”
I tried my best to swallow the blood creeping up in my throat, but it didn’t work out well. Trying to swallow something with a hole in my throat was a lost cause.
I forced my hand against the gaping wound, coughing out blood as I barely sat down.
……Is this the end?
“Koto Ne!”
I pat Koko’s arm with my hand. I’m fine. Still, I’m glad Koko came over before I completely fell over. I almost collapsed on the ground, but thanks to Koko, I could lean on her.
I accepted Koko’s gentle support as she carefully laid me flat.
Koko looked like she was about to cry.
It’s alright.
After all, I’ll recover.
A wound like this isn’t that significant. Compared to the injuries I had suffered before, I would probably heal in a few minutes.
As long as I keep the bleeding in check—
“Hey.”
While leaning against Koko’s knee, someone called out to us.
As soon as I heard that voice, I looked up to see.
Before me stood a woman with a mask dyed red.
Just like the one we had seen earlier.
Blood was flowing from her mouth. There were holes all over her clothes.
Yet the woman herself appeared unscathed.
With her left hand still inside her coat, the woman smiled with her torn mouth and said.
“Am I pretty?”
“You……!”
Koko screamed, flinging her hair like a rope.
Thwack.
The woman’s body was pierced, yet the woman continued to smile.
Rather, approaching us with a step, she plunged a knife into the bundle of hair.
“Gah!?”
Koko screamed. The razor cut through Koko’s hair with alarming ease.
“Imitating? Of all things to imitate, imitating hair? In front of a razor?”
The woman laughed as she spoke.
Snip, snip.
Strands of hair fell one by one, and blood soaked into the ground. Koko grimaced but continued to attempt tearing apart the woman, but already too much had been cut off.
“If you weren’t so fixated on that, you’d be much stronger. But you’re stubborn.”
“……”
I glanced at Koko. Ah, I see.
Yōkai tend to have an obsession with one thing.
For example, taste. The taste of what they eat.
For example, emotion. The emotions they collect by hunting.
While it’s generally described as primarily those two significant aspects, there’s nothing strange about it being appearance.
As I opened my mouth, blood gushed out. It hadn’t stopped yet.
“The reason has to be because of that girl over there? Since your faces look so alike, is that what you’re obsessed with?”
The woman laughed at me.
“Well then, I’ll make you just as pretty. How about it?”
The woman leaned closer to my face. Whoosh, whoosh. New holes were forming everywhere, yet she seemed unconcerned.
“Ick!”
Koko’s hair trembled.
“Yeah, why not show your true self. You want to kill me right? Why not try liberating yourself?”
Then, she continued to bring her face closer to mine—
“Get away from my junior!”
Clang!
Before I could utter a word, something like a can flew and hit the woman’s head.
A greasy smell wafted into the air.
……Pomade?
“……”
The woman’s face elevated again.
And she looked very displeased at Kaoru.
……
No, it seemed that it just made her mood worse.
Come to think of it, she had mentioned hating the smell of pomade.
It hadn’t even occurred to me that it would drive her away.
“Y-Yeah! This monster!”
Izumi also threw what she had been holding.
Thump.
Whack.
It was a talisman.
From the crushed talisman on the floor, a blood fog burst out.
Already surrounded by blood,
“……”
The woman’s expression appeared to grow even darker.
Koko still seemed to be struggling, and I started to feel faint.
“……”
The woman moved her body towards Kaoru and Izumi.
“Monster, you say.”
It seemed that particular word irritated her greatly.
“That’s strange. That couldn’t be the case.”
The woman spoke.
“Take another good look. How do I look?”
Walking leisurely, the woman faced Kaoru and Izumi, whose fears had peaked—
“Am I pretty?”
She asked.
“Well….”
And a voice answered that question.
“Why don’t you look in a mirror and judge for yourself?”
I, Koko, Kaoru, Izumi, and even the woman all looked at the direction from where that voice came.
There stood a woman holding a metal plate.
“……K-Kagami……?”
As I muttered somehow, Kagami looked at me and smiled brightly.
The plate in her hand, about the size of a hand mirror.
No, as I looked at what was reflected, it seemingly acted like a mirror. The decorated metal plate was polished to shine, giving off a sheen sufficient to reflect.
In the mirror…… from this angle, it was hard to see, but it appeared the woman was facing directly at it.
“Now, how about it? Take a better look at your face and judge it objectively.”
For some reason, she stepped closer, halting the woman in her movements.
“What kind of being were you?”
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