Kagami, Koko, and I enjoyed ice cream together.
And it was an indescribably mysterious experience.
It’s not so strange. After all, we are indeed registered as blood relatives.
Kagami didn’t specifically want it to be that way. My registration may say that, but Koko’s was resolved through Yuka, not Kagami.
It raises some questions about the administrative system here, but isn’t it a common occurrence in light novels and manga? I had long decided not to care too much about that.
Rather, my instincts shouted that I should be cautious of Kagami, who was eating ice cream in front of me with a subtle smile.
The ice cream was delicious, though.
Even in the heart of winter, there were quite a few customers inside.
Under the warm heater that contained the shopkeeper’s earnest desire to sell at least a spoonful of ice cream even in winter, people were diligently eating their ice cream while draping their outerwear over the chairs.
Such a luxury would be unimaginable in my house. Then again, in normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have even thought of visiting an ice cream shop like this. At least, I wouldn’t have come because I wanted to. If it were to treat Koko, that would be another matter.
“It’s delicious here.”
“Yeah!”
When Koko nodded enthusiastically in response to Kagami’s remark, it almost led to a moment of cognitive dissonance.
Weren’t you terrified of Koko?
Even if you weren’t scared, you must have felt quite uncomfortable here.
But at that moment, I couldn’t sense such an atmosphere. Although not explicitly cordial, they weren’t glaring at me suspiciously, at least.
…….
No, perhaps that had been the situation for quite some time now. On Christmas, Kagami had shown a somewhat perplexed expression upon seeing the two of us visiting a bar, but she neither disliked it nor was horrified.
“Is the ice cream not to your taste?”
“Huh?”
Kagami asked as she alternated her gaze between the two of us.
It was only then that I noticed a bit of melted ice cream dripping down my finger.
I quickly licked that part. I could detect the faint bitterness characteristic of green tea ice cream, followed shortly by an intense sweetness that pierced through the coldness of the ice cream.
The sweetness of the ice cream was likely much more pronounced than I perceived. Coldness numbs the tongue, after all.
“……It’s delicious.”
When I said that to Kagami, who was looking at me expectantly for some reason, she gave a slight smile.
That smile—I know it’s strange to think so, but—was filled with a sense of ‘pride.’
I couldn’t quite understand why I felt that way. It wasn’t a completely logical conclusion.
“……So, what brings you here today?”
After licking the melted ice cream, I wiped my fingers with a tissue I had received earlier and asked.
“Because it’s New Year’s.”
Kagami answered my question very simply.
Hmm.
Since I’m experiencing the New Year in Japan, I’m not quite sure how many people usually go to shrines during the New Year. At least in Korea, most citizens do not go to temples to pray. It’s likely that people would prefer to stay home and rest or go out somewhere to enjoy themselves.
Even if the temples and churches are overflowing, that might be the case.
But, even so, I couldn’t bring myself to ask, “So, aren’t you going to stay home?”
…… I know almost nothing about Kagami.
In the first place, this is my first experience with the Japanese New Year. Whatever Kagami chooses to do at that time is not something I have any reason to interfere with.
If I were to push the matter, I could have asked, “Aren’t there any shrines nearby?” but, well, regardless, I didn’t want to pry too much into what someone who just treated me to food was doing.
“Right.”
So I just answered like that.
“But, you see,”
Kagami said in a small voice as if suggesting a discreet trade, leaning slightly over the table.
“Would you like to have dinner with us as well?”
“Dinner?”
“Wow?”
This time, Koko also widened her eyes in surprise while eating her ice cream.
Why on earth is this person acting like this?
I mean, I did give her a Christmas present, but even so, it wasn’t anything particularly expensive or special.
“There’s a nice meat shop nearby.”
Kagami spoke with an oddly confident demeanor.
It reminded me of the atmosphere I felt when I first met Kagami.
Back then, I thought of her as a ‘divine being’ because of her unique confidence.
Now I know that’s not the case.
“Isn’t it a popular place? Will there be any seats available even on a day like this?”
“We should be able to find a seat for us.”
Kagami said that and took a lick of her ice cream.
“The influence of our group reaches farther than you think.”
“Even at a Yakiniku restaurant?”
“To be more precise, it’s the influence of the Yamashita family.”
“…….”
“It’s not a bad influence, so don’t worry. It’s just a place run by someone who retired from the Yakuza.”
“…… Is that so?”
That makes it all the more unsettling.
But Koko, sitting next to me, was already glimmering her eyes at the mention of Yakiniku.
…… If I refuse, she’ll be terribly disappointed.
I didn’t want to see that expression on Koko’s face.
What would I tell Yuka?
“I’ll let them know. They say they are having a cozy family meal, so surely they wouldn’t want to interrupt.”
Having a cozy family meal… No matter how I think about it, that phrase seems completely inconsistent with the three of us, doesn’t it?
“Kotone?”
Koko tilted her head.
…….
Well, it’s possible that we might appear to be just scraping by on the outside.
Let’s just say that.
I sighed lightly and responded.
“…… I’ll ask Yuka.”
If she wanted us to meet on New Year’s, it likely wasn’t just for part-time work.
Could it be that earlier, when Kagami bowed to Yuka, it was to ask her about this?
After finishing our ice cream, we returned to the shrine and asked Yuka.
Yuka, with a refreshingly bright smile, nodded very easily.
“Enjoy your meal!”
She even encouraged us with that.
With Kagami, who looked strangely pleased, and Koko, who was openly excited, I headed toward the meat shop, unable to fully untangle the complex thoughts in my mind.
“Wow!”
The meat was indeed delicious enough to elicit such an exclamation from Koko.
“Delicious, right?”
When Kagami asked that, I couldn’t help but nod.
The meat was truly delicious.
If I had eaten it shortly after arriving here, I might have cried tears of joy.
“…….”
In truth, I couldn’t fully enjoy the delicious meat right now since I was lost in other thoughts.
But then again, does it matter?
If Kagami decided to change her character style, I would just help her with it. It’s not like being disliked by others is a usual occurrence.
Even if she thought she was acting, it’s only natural to be hurt if someone genuinely dislikes you, right?
Having sorted through my thoughts somewhat, I awkwardly accepted Kagami’s gaze while eating about three more servings of meat.
It’s delicious, really delicious.
Let’s not overthink that the shopkeeper was an ex-Yakuza.
*
Thanks to winter vacation, my body felt comfortable.
But my mind was not as at ease.
This might be an oddly strange behavior. There are so many people around me who care about me, yet I felt uncomfortable in such a situation.
“Kotone?”
“Yeah?”
While lounging on the kotatsu and watching TV, Koko tilted her head and called out to me.
“What are you thinking about?”
Had I been too obvious in my dilemma?
“About dinner tonight.”
“Uh-huh?”
Koko has developed a habit of picking up on my feelings.
Still, it didn’t seem like she found it uncomfortable to be out in the open. But sometimes, when I go quiet and deep in thought, she tends to initiate conversations like this, which can be a bit frightening.
“Is there something you want to eat?”
“Anything you make is good.”
I shrugged at Koko’s words.
Well, Koko eats just about anything.
But that doesn’t mean I would feed her just anything.
Even after hearing my response, Koko still seemed concerned about my expression as she kept tilting her head.
……What I was worried about was Hyakki Yagyō.
Isn’t the name itself terrifying? Having just one of them would leave me bloody after a fierce battle, and now it’s supposedly a hundred of them.
Moreover, this ‘hundred’ doesn’t literally mean the number; it signifies ‘just a lot.’
The exact number isn’t stated in the work, but since it terrorized all of Tokyo, it could probably be quite a significant number.
And because of that, I was scared.
Typically, when someone is reincarnated into a work like this, they come equipped with luck, special items, and easily avoid disasters by becoming an invincible munchkin.
Villains are easily sliced before they even notice, and if there’s a triggering incident, it gets obliterated before anything happens.
But I couldn’t do anything.
I knew nothing at all.
I only knew vaguely that such incidents would happen, without any concrete evidence or information.
I contemplated a few times whether to mention it to Yuka or the others.
In fact, I did mention it. I had been a bit more explicit, especially with Kagami, saying that Kosuzu would likely be taking action. It’d been quite odd that she had stayed quiet so far. On the day after New Year’s, I contacted Kagami to say that, and she responded,
“We are doing our best to find out too.”
That was Kagami’s answer.
“However… all the informants inside have disappeared.”
After the previous Satori incident, it turned out all the informants inside had vanished. They were likely dead.
The first to disappear were the government faction members.
And among those infiltrated in the government, they possessed the most “information.”
Extracting information from common people wouldn’t have been that hard, since they would desperately try to hide information from each other. But Kosuzu already had access to that data, and it was also presumed that most of the other information gleaned during the ordeal had come from Kagami’s side.
The reason it was a ‘presumption’ is that there’s been no way to verify anything from our end since the internal information hadn’t reached us.
It seems the same could be said for the Church side.
I also tried to reach Mr. Miura through Kagami, but Mr. Miura had his own serious problems to deal with.
He had recovered and was discharged, but he had lost trust in the government… Ultimately, he was the one who had shared the information.
Kosuzu and her group had vanished like dust scattered by the wind.
“…….”
And the thought that it was because I hadn’t moved first kept crawling into my mind. The lessons I acquired at my previous job proved to be of no use.
It’s a completely different matter when you can’t help but lose one person, and when countless people die because you acted a bit late.
Moreover, we don’t know the location of Kosuzu, but Kosuzu knows our location.
Although Kosuzu’s group has taken a significant hit, since they lost their greatest asset, ‘Waitley.’
That’s the only thing we have going for us compared to the original work.
The fact that I, despite knowing the original story, could do no more than this, stung painfully.
And besides—
“Hehe.”
When I made a small cut on my wrist yesterday, Nirlas merely chuckled silently. That was the decisive moment.
Nirlas laughing was proof that my moment of suffering was near.
Just two days ago, I had been elated and felt a glimmer of hope, but that laugh drained all my energy.
Naturally, the first person to feel it was Koko, who lived with me.
“Kotone.”
“Yeah.”
“……I’ll do dinner tonight.”
“…….”
When I turned to look at Koko, she was watching me with an unusually determined expression.
If I were to stand up and say I would do it, I felt like Koko would insist stubbornly that I wouldn’t.
I hesitated for just a moment, about to say nothing, then finally said,
“……Thanks.”
Koko’s face lit up with a bright smile upon hearing that.
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