Let’s make an excuse; Sota hasn’t done nothing until now.
He has trained in his own way and learned to fight in cooperation with Yuka.
Of course, the one who always takes the front is Yuka. The only one who knows how to wield the knife and handle that ‘Mumei’ is Yuka alone.
He can make Yōkai hesitate by spilling blood, sometimes preventing them from even approaching. That was the clear ability Sota possessed. The methods he learned to fight and the movements planned in advance to cooperate with Yuka were all thought up considering that ability.
But if he were to face an opponent who wouldn’t be affected by that ability—
“Sota, get down!”
Yuka shouted.
Sota quickly ducked. A knife zoomed past the spot where his face had just been.
“Um?”
A sound came from Kurosawa’s mouth, but before Sota could question it, Yuka swung her knife.
Once again, moonlight clashed with blood. The knife that Kurosawa wielded was too solid and sharp to simply be made from coagulated blood.
Shwoosh!
“……!”
Yuka’s blade cuts into Kurosawa’s body. A horizontal deep wound appears beneath the collarbone, splattering blood to the side.
“Gah!?”
However, Yuka couldn’t completely evade the knife either.
A thin wound opened on her arm, blood oozed out. Kurosawa stood there, seemingly unfazed by sustaining such harm, while Yuka staggered for a moment.
An arrow flew towards Kurosawa. With an indifferent expression, Kurosawa sliced through the arrow mid-air and effortlessly blocked the other with a hand.
Blood splattered. Kurosawa moved with a nonchalant air, as if unfazed by how his body was faring.
“Um.”
And then, as if contemplating, he tilted his head and looked down at his own hand.
“How strange.”
As if no one wielding a knife was directly in front of him, Kurosawa mumbled while shining his hand in the moonlight.
“There’s water filling the puddle that should’ve been empty, and even if I scoop it out, is there anything left?”
At those words, Sota slightly parted his lips.
Seeing Yuka getting back up with the knife in hand, Sota shouted.
“Yuka, hold on!”
“Sasaki?”
Yuka stopped, surprised at Sota’s words. Yet, there was no opening in her stance. Her movements were honed from repeated training on how to act in such situations.
“Wait, just wait a moment…”
Sota said and looked at Kurosawa.
“What was that story earlier, about what you said?”
“It was literally the story.”
Kurosawa turned and spoke to Sota.
“Even with an empty body, eventually, as time passes and it moves, it becomes a self. Otherwise, maybe it’s just that the soul might have existed at all. Like the stories about reincarnation you believe in.”
Kurosawa slowly lowered his hand and gripped the knife again.
“However.”
Before Sota could perceive what that meant, Kurosawa’s body suddenly moved fluidly again. The body that had clearly been showing its back now turned halfway with the knife held in reverse and lunged at Yuka’s neck.
Sota didn’t even have time to call out Yuka’s name.
“……Huh?”
Yuka, perhaps due to her wounds or the words from Kurosawa, couldn’t react to those words.
“……Um?”
Here we go, the third time.
Kurosawa uttered that same sound.
“S-Sota…?”
Hearing what Yuka had called Sota while stepping on a piece of glass from the broken window, this time also, Yuka called out Sota’s name in a trembling voice.
Sota bit down hard. He didn’t want to show pain in front of the real Kurosawa.
The sensation of the blade digging into his arm was something he had already experienced, but it didn’t feel pleasant at all.
No, this time it was worse. Wouldn’t something happen to his arm? If tendons or muscles were to get severed… The thoughts brewing deep inside Sota were suppressed as much as possible.
Sota was blocking the red blade that Kurosawa had swung. Trapped between Yuka and Kurosawa, he raised his right arm.
If only he had even armor or at least a thick book over it, it wouldn’t hurt this much.
No, surely that red blade could easily slice through such things as well. So, Sota’s arm not being completely severed must have stemmed from mere luck.
“……”
Kurosawa was silently gazing at Sota. His face was expressionless.
Right. It was expressionless.
Not the ‘calm expression’ that had been visible just a moment ago.
The expressionless child Sota had seen during the first semester and had met during the break.
At a glance, it seemed like he was looking down on people, but in reality, he simply didn’t know how to express himself. Just because he was quiet, people misunderstood him—he was just a child who wanted to blend in with others.
… Just a child who didn’t know what enjoyment was.
“Kurosawa.”
Sota said.
He felt the blood dripping from his arm soaking into his clothes. Even though the blade was red, the blood flowing over it stood out vividly.
“Are you there?”
Sota asked.
He had no idea how dangerous this knife was. As far as he knew, it hadn’t broken or been deflected by the knife that Yuka had used to cut down several Yōkai till now.
But a blade made of blood that wasn’t human couldn’t be weak to that extent. It could have easily struck Sota’s neck.
So, Sota thought.
Perhaps deep down, in that Kurosawa’s body, Kurosawa might still be inside.
Sota took a step closer to Kurosawa.
“Kurosawa—”
As Sota approached, Kurosawa’s eyes blinked once.
And then, his mouth twisted into a grin that looked unnatural.
“Sota, it’s dangerous!”
In that instant, Yuka sensed the danger and struck away the knife that was stuck to Sota’s body.
The red line pulled away from Sota, then curved at an unusual angle and flew back toward Sota’s neck again. This wasn’t a movement of someone merely adept at swordsmanship that danced gracefully with the blade. This was a force that forcibly twisted the trajectory of the blade and swung to cut freely.
Although Yuka managed to block the knife a few times, she couldn’t stop every deadly stroke. Sota was simply too exposed.
Though Yuka would have wanted to step in front of Sota, he didn’t give way.
“Why can’t you cut me?”
Sota asked.
The smile on Kurosawa’s face slightly faded. Although he still had that grin, Sota thought he saw impatience in that expression.
“You mentioned a vessel. You said you scooped something out.”
Sota said.
“You haven’t scooped it all out, have you? Kurosawa, you are still there.”
Wounds opened on his shoulders and legs, and his hands had injuries as well. Each one wasn’t fatal but some were deep enough for an ordinary person to writhe in pain.
Nevertheless, Sota had no intention of backing down.
“There are still beings inside that don’t wish to cut me.”
Sota took a step forward.
Thud.
The knife sunk into Sota’s flesh. It dug in as if it were chopping wood, piercing his shoulder once again—
“……You.”
A voice leaked from Kurosawa’s mouth. He wasn’t sure if that was the real Kurosawa’s voice.
Yuka had a habit of trying to fix things when she was with Sota. She had tried her best to instill ‘common sense’ into Sota.
He mustn’t jump into dangerous situations.
Sticking your face where a dump truck was rushing at 100 km/h was akin to asking to die.
Jumping in front of a Yōkai was the same…
But Sota couldn’t shake off that habit.
He didn’t want to hurt the person right in front of him.
What was it? What caused him to feel this way? Sota wasn’t sure. Perhaps it was because of seeing his parents that he had thought that? Watching his parents, who fought while putting their own thoughts forward since childhood, and watching Shii, who cowered behind him gripping onto his clothes.
He didn’t want Yuka to be hurt. So if Sota could stop it, he would.
That was all.
“Kurosawa.”
Sota grasped the blade and pushed it aside. He felt the sharpness of the blade cutting into his fingers. The knife trembled as if in a test of strength, but ultimately, it was pushed aside.
As if it was determined not to kill Sota.
“Were you in a rush? I don’t know where you came from.”
Sota said while stepping forward, mimicking Yuka’s taunts when provoking Yōkai.
The expression on Kurosawa’s face slowly evaporated.
It seemed as if his face was hardening,
Or perhaps like Kurosawa was returning.
Sota clutched Kurosawa’s shoulder with trembling hands.
To the area that Yuka had cut moments ago—
Kurosawa’s eyes widened. The expressionless face crumbled rapidly.
In the next moment, Sota’s body was being thrown back as if it had been lifted.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.