Before leaving the house, Sota briefly ran into Fukuda.
Was it because he couldn’t accept the current situation, or did he just give up while trying to?
Fukuda was leaning against the wall, staring blankly ahead.
“…Are you going to beat Kurosawa?”
Fukuda said to Sota like that.
“No.”
Sota replied.
“I… I’m going to help Kurosawa.”
“Is that so…”
Fukuda mumbled quietly.
And then fell into thought for a moment.
“…I wanted to talk again.”
“I see.”
“Well, I mean, there’s no one left around me now except for that guy.”
Then he looked up at Sota.
“Well, you take care too. Don’t die. It feels like if we don’t do anything in this situation, we’re all going to die anyway.”
Fukuda might not have been skilled in this kind of thing, but somehow, it seemed like he sensed the atmosphere instinctively.
“…I’ll do my best.”
Fukuda nodded and got up from his seat.
He reached out his hand toward Sota. Sota took his hand and shook it lightly.
“Make sure to come back.”
“Got it.”
Sota smiled slightly at Fukuda’s words and left the house with Yuka.
*
It was creepily still.
Even though it was midnight, it was too quiet. In a modern society overflowing with light, where birds often get confused about whether it’s day or night, usually, there are always people wandering around in the big cities at midnight—whether they’re out for fun or just running to the convenience store for a quick errand.
But now, such a thing was hardly felt. It felt like everyone living in the area had just stopped.
Time didn’t seem to stop since Yuka’s grandfather’s car was functioning all too well.
Perhaps since this was Yuka’s first time witnessing such a situation, she didn’t say anything while gazing out the window.
Could that be something we can call a Yōkai? Is it possible for just one monster to pull off such a thing?
Even though various thoughts crossed Sota’s mind, he couldn’t come to a conclusion. After all, Sota didn’t fully understand the situation himself.
After moving for a while, they arrived near a place called Kurosawa.
And nearby—
“…Yuuki.”
An uncle Sota had never seen was standing there.
A thin man whose cheeks were almost nonexistent; he had a bit of a fierce expression. The glasses on his face did nothing to soften that impression.
Not just his face, his whole body was quite skinny, and around him were indeed a lot of other people.
Dressed in black combat gear, they were waiting with guns, as if they were controlling the area.
However, none of them looked particularly confident while holding their guns.
“And you must be Yuuki.”
As Yuka’s grandfather approached, the man slightly lowered his head.
“Miura.”
Yuka’s grandfather also nodded slightly and got straight to the point.
“What’s the situation inside?”
“…A lot have died.”
Looking again, there were some bloodstains on the clothes of this person called Miura. There were also parts of his hands stuck with something red.
Miura. Speaking of which, the name of that dead girl was ‘Miura Mako.’
This person seemed to be the one Yuka had asked about Kurosawa’s house.
“Since I’ve been watching this area since the incident, I guess you could move as quickly as possible. Do you think you could stop any plans?”
“I’m not really sure what kind of plans you’re referring to.”
“Any kind of plan… The truth is, I can’t know what that plan is either.”
“I see. That’s a common situation. And… no matter how many we kill, they seem to keep coming back. Even if there was a way to stop it, we’ve failed. Keeping them from coming outside was the best we could do… I don’t even know what that means.”
With that last sigh, Yuka’s grandfather asked.
“It seems you know exactly what transpired in the last few hours.”
“…People have disappeared. I don’t know what exactly happened. Unless they are people directly involved in this matter…”
“Hmm.”
“Do you have any guesses?”
“It’s possible that people didn’t disappear, but rather, we did. Even if I can’t know what’s going on over there, it shouldn’t be possible to turn all of humanity into enemies immediately.”
“So that’s why people remain here?”
“…I can’t say for sure. We wouldn’t be able to know until we hear from the other side.”
But somehow, Sota felt like he could understand a bit.
Probably, there wouldn’t be a major reason. It might be that there’s no significant existence, like the most crucial subject for executing a plan, or just a part of some phase… There was probably nothing more than that; it was just that the entity residing in Kurosawa thought, “that sounds fun.”
“…Are you going in?”
“Yes, we must. No matter what happens, we have to stop it in the end.”
Yuka’s grandfather answered that way.
Miura nodded and stepped aside, almost as if he knew what Sota was.
Sota passed by and lightly lowered his head. Miura also lightly bowed back at Sota.
“Let’s go.”
Yuka had been quiet up until that point.
She was just lost in deep thought.
“I’ll definitely protect you. If you can’t get in, nothing will happen.”
“…Yeah.”
At Yuka’s words, Sota nodded.
*
The phrase “a lot have died” was literally true.
There were blood traces everywhere. However, there weren’t any corpses. It was as if their whole bodies were made of blood, just melting away and scattering all around; only traces of bloodshed were abundant.
Questions were quickly answered.
From far away, ‘red’ Yōkai were slowly crawling out.
And there were people facing them.
“…Hagiwara-senpai.”
Among people in nun attire and others wearing similar clothes, one person was swinging a sword.
Thud!
Hagiwara pierced the neck of one of the red Yōkai, exhaling heavily.
And while wiping the sweat from her forehead, she locked eyes with Sota.
“Sota?”
And that gaze widened as she looked at Sota’s condition.
She ran towards Sota as if she saw a ghost, and shakenly touched his body.
“What on earth happened to you?”
Then her gaze shifted to Yuka, and she was left speechless.
“…Sota, are you trying to go inside?”
Sota nodded.
Hagiwara-senpai’s face turned pale. She already looked extremely exhausted and as if she was about to collapse, but upon hearing Sota’s answer, it worsened further.
“But…”
“We have to go; we need to stop this madness.”
“…Do you really think you can stop that?”
“Yes. I’ve… confirmed the possibility.”
If only the possibility.
Hagiwara-senpai is a believer. Sota has never truly believed in any religion, but he knows there are some people who occasionally risk their lives for their beliefs.
And Hagiwara-senpai was one of those people.
“I see.”
As Sota thought, Hagiwara-senpai nodded.
“In that case… um, I can only assist you.”
“…That’s all I need.”
“It’s an emergency, so I’m helping. After you go in and come back, I’d like you to tell me how various affairs unfolded.”
“Yeah, I understand, Senpai.”
Sota turned to Yuka.
Yuka nodded.
“Oh, Senpai. Wait a moment.”
Sota said that and took Hagiwara-senpai’s hand.
“Ah.”
Before Hagiwara-senpai could even respond, he raised the hand and lightly touched the tip of her finger with the blade.
On that day, Sota’s blood flowed. It was as if he was adding a layer of crimson.
“I hope this can be of great help.”
“…Thank you.”
As Sota smiled, Hagiwara-senpai responded with what could only be described as an indescribable expression.
Yuka’s expression was simply dark.
*
The sound of a knife cutting flesh and breaking bones is never pleasant.
Honestly, Sota didn’t much like Yuka continuing to do such things.
It wasn’t just a matter of thinking, “A girl shouldn’t wield a knife.” If she’s of this age, isn’t it an issue to live like this?
True, Sota is also of that age.
However, even so…
The only one who can move here is Yuka.
“Cough…!”
The farther they got towards the center, the more Yōkai emerged. Hagiwara-senpai and those following behind gave it their all to somehow open a path, but there was indeed a limit.
A long cut appeared on Hagiwara-senpai’s arm. They barely managed to take down the Yōkai, but Hagiwara-senpai had already received many other injuries and couldn’t move easily.
“Go!”
Hagiwara-senpai shouted.
“We’ll hold them off!”
Gunshots were audible from afar.
Yuka grabbed Sota’s hand.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
The two dashed forward.
There wasn’t even time to thank the people who had kept an eye on them until now. Things were moving too quickly for Sota to even figure out what he should be thinking.
But—
Up ahead, hair was flying.
Yuka was running. Just like every time since they met, she was in front of Sota, now too.
To protect Sota.
The bloody boy and a girl barely made it to— a Shinto shrine.
Built in the Japanese style, it looked no less than Yuuki’s shrine— if anything, it even looked more splendid.
Sota expected someone would be guarding the front, but no one was there.
Yuka and Sota stood side by side, pushing open the heavy doors.
Struggling to move their trembling legs, they managed to climb the stairs, barely passing through the torii gate.
And then.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Kurosawa was standing there from a distance.
“…Kurosawa.”
Yuka and Sota cautiously approached.
“You came all the way here without incident.”
Behind Kurosawa, someone who resembled Kurosawa’s mother spoke.
“My name is Kurosawa Kosuzu. It seems this one wanted to wait for you, so we prepared this place.”
While the smiling face seemed relaxed, it carried a strange sense of discomfort. Her gaze flickered between Kurosawa, Sota, and Yuka.
“Oh, and it’s pointless to try to cut this person with a sword.”
As Kurosawa Kosuzu said that, it was as if water had spilled around, and some liquid flowed, surrounding Sota and Yuka.
No, it wasn’t liquid. It was something that appeared to be liquid.
They could hear the breath of a creature. A massive nose, mouth, arms, eyes, and legs all haphazardly affixed onto a shapeless being.
A being it would be cautious to call a Yōkai.
“Once you try to attack, you all will become part of that thing.”
Yuka didn’t lower her sword.
“Sota.”
Yuka spoke in a voice filled with urgency. If the surroundings hadn’t been so quiet, she probably wouldn’t have been heard.
“If I move, you also move. That’s fine. I will surely protect you until the end.”
“…Yeah.”
Sota decided to trust Yuka.
He chose to believe.
“Please.”
Kurosawa Kosuzu reached out as if to guide Kurosawa.
In one hand, holding a red sword, Kurosawa was walking towards Sota and Yuka with a look as if she might hum a tune.
“Looks like you finally came. I was worried you wouldn’t come.”
“…Why? What are you thinking by doing this? What’s the goal over there?”
Yuka asked.
“A goal.”
Kurosawa regarded Yuka quietly as he answered.
“A goal? It’s nothing particular. It’s just to break down the border between this world and the next. In fact, it wouldn’t be strange to think it has already somewhat been achieved. I presume you’ve seen it as you came this far.”
An empty street. Not even a car, so wide open.
“Even if a body crosses into the next world, as long as you don’t die, there are ways to return on time. So there’s no need to worry too much. Moreover, the time over there flows differently from the time here, so if you resolve it quickly from your end…”
Seeing Kurosawa chuckle, Kurosawa Kosuzu’s expression crumbled.
“Nirlas?”
“Hmm?”
Kurosawa turned to Kosuzu.
“You are certainly saying that the reason that existence is here is for mere momentary pleasure. If so, it’s only reasonable to think there must also be conditions for that enjoyment to come true, don’t you think?”
“…”
However, not understanding that comment, Kurosawa Kosuzu turned her eyes towards Sota and Yuka.
“If so, Nirlas, I will prepare to enjoy that amusement even more.”
With that said, Kurosawa Kosuzu flipped over what she had been holding in her hand, which looked like a mirror.
And reflected from that surface—
“Hmm.”
Kurosawa said as if incredulous.
“You truly have an impatient personality. But, it shouldn’t matter. A condition is a condition.”
Bubbling, the nearby flesh started to boil.
“Sota!”
Yuka shouted.
Without a moment to respond, Sota jumped toward Yuka.
Yuka charged at Kurosawa. The swords clashed—
And Sota’s blood splattered.
*
If Sota had come alone, he would have been sliced into pieces before he could even say anything.
And perhaps Yuka would have been in a similar predicament. Sota’s body was able to block the sword wielded by Kurosawa— no, by Nirlas within her.
And oddly enough, the ‘surrounding chunks of flesh’ also moved similarly.
As if a part of Kurosawa’s soul resided within Nirlas.
Sota’s arm that was slashed pulled back. It seemed like it was trying to avoid getting bloodied.
Yuka was overwhelmed just by blocking Nirlas’s sword, and even with that mirror, something resembling a Yōkai continued to emerge endlessly from within.
At this rate, the odds were nonexistent.
Having lost too much blood, Sota’s vision became somewhat blurry, and he could barely see ahead.
Once again, a transformed lump of flesh flew to take a bite out of Yuka and Sota. Yuka reacted quickly and struck it down, but because of that, she couldn’t see the blade coming from the front.
Sota’s arm blocked it. His wrist was cut sideways, taking away flesh dangerously.
Yuka’s eyes widened. How much of the blood splattered on Yuka’s body was actually Sota’s? Sota noticed Yuka’s face already streaked with tears.
At that wound of Sota’s, the lump of flesh burrowed in.
Terrible pain surged, and in an instant, his consciousness cut off. When he came to, he heard Yuka desperately calling out his name.
Even in that despairing voice calling Sota’s name. In the sounds carved by knives around him. In the sounds of someone laughing. In the screams of Yuka.
Before even feeling the grief there, Sota’s consciousness was already sinking downward.
*
When he opened his eyes, he was in an empty place.
It was a place that could be called ‘void.’
Sota instinctively judged that it was the space where he had felt when he had previously come into contact with Kurosawa.
Over there, a child huddled down, crying.
“Kurosawa.”
Sota called out the name of that damaged child.
The Kurosawa that Sota knew, Koto Ne, was a child who didn’t know how to cry. So seeing her cry so pitifully was all the more heart-wrenching.
Once again, memories of Shii’s childhood resurfaced.
Did I die?
That thought brought a wave of fear. It was strange. Until now, he had jumped into various situations thinking he would help others.
To feel fear about dying only after it might happen was peculiar. Of course, it wasn’t certain that he was dead…
Thinking it was absurd for himself, Sota moved forward.
As he walked, he felt something. It was somewhat strange to talk like this in such an empty place, but his ‘heart was racing.’
As if the blood flowing through his body was doing something.
Perhaps in this empty void, it maintained the existence of ‘Sasaki Sota.’
That flesh seemed as though it would melt anything it touched, making it part of itself.
As he thought this, Sota knelt before Kurosawa Koto Ne, meeting her gaze.
“Kurosawa… No.”
Sota paused for a moment before opening his mouth.
“…Koto Ne.”
At that, Koto Ne raised her head.
A youthful face.
“Koto Ne, right?”
“…”
Koto Ne stared at Sota intently.
“You’ve been stuck here, haven’t you?”
Only then did he understand Nirlas’s words.
She had said she had moved to another place.
Oh, I see.
Kurosawa’s mother also said that that flesh was her ‘daughter.’
He didn’t know what horrible events had taken place, but Kurosawa’s mother was the one who bore Koto Ne and that flesh too.
He still didn’t know what happened to that person.
“Koto Ne.”
Sota reached out his hand.
And took Koto Ne’s hand.
“Let’s go.”
Saying that, he stood up from his spot.
“…Where to?”
Koto Ne asked.
“Outside. I brought another friend. She’ll help find you.”
“…Yuki Yuka.”
Koto Ne said, rummaging through her memory for the name.
“That’s right.”
“…Why?”
Koto Ne asked.
Her eyes seemed to tremble as she looked up at Sota.
“Why?”
She asked again.
Asking why he came all the way here.
Perhaps asking why he risked his life to find her.
Hmm.
To save the world… might sound too grand. Yuka’s grandfather and Yuka had said similar things. That unless they did, they might all die.
But the truth is, Sota didn’t come here for such a monumental reason.
It was simply because, as always, there were people he wanted to protect.
Though he had barely known the child, he didn’t want to give up on her. He didn’t want to give up on those children within reach.
The same went for Shii, the same went for Yuka.
If the world is going to fall apart and they will die, isn’t it only natural to reach out a hand in such a place?
“Let’s go.”
“…Where to?”
As Koto Ne asked that, light appeared.
Far away, it looked like someone had put a light in the sky.
As if it were breaking apart, the hole slowly widened, and the light grew brighter.
“Shall we head there?”
Sota said and walked with Koto Ne.
Sota somehow felt that hole would be the path Yuka created for him.
*
“Get away from Sota!”
In a situation where blood seemed to flow from every part of her body, Yuka swung her sword. She did not care even if her back was slashed.
What Sota could see from within that lump of flesh was barely the tips of his hair anymore.
In fact, he might not have even been all right with that. Inside, his body was surely melting—
Yuka shook off those thoughts, swinging her sword to forcefully open the lump of flesh.
Flesh wrapped around her legs. If she wasn’t careful, Yuka might end up just like Sota—
But she couldn’t give up.
“There’s still so much I want to say! In a place like this, like this…!”
Before she knew it, the momentum of the incoming blade had stopped.
Was she enjoying the sight of Yuka in despair?
This was surely not meant to bring Sota here.
To just die alone would be better.
What kind of nonsense was it to save the world?
Even if the world could be saved, what’s the point if the people I like are gone?
As she kept striking with her sword, she saw Sota’s face from beyond the flesh.
Yuka dropped her sword and reached her hand inside.
With her bloody, entangled hands, she pulled Sota’s face out— stained by both their blood.
Sota opened his eyes.
“Sota?”
“…Yuka.”
As Sota made eye contact with Yuka, he slightly smiled.
In such a situation…!
But that anger left him in an instant.
Sota was still alive.
So—
“I’ll pull you out…!”
“Yuka.”
“No, don’t say such a thing. You’re alive. It’s not over yet. So—”
“Yuka. It’s okay.”
“Okay, what…!”
Yet before Yuka could finish that sentence, the flesh moved.
Slowly, it pulled away from Sota’s body.
“Huh…?”
As Yuka moved back slightly, the flesh gradually took shape.
That form was like a gigantic sword.
No, it was too simplistically described. There were jagged edges everywhere, more complicated than simply being a ‘sword.’
It was clinging to Sota’s left arm.
“…I’ll explain everything after it ends.”
Sota said.
His face was covered in blood. One eye was so swollen he could barely open it.
But Sota stood up firmly, unlike a while ago.
“It’s okay.”
Sota repeated once more.
“I believe I can save the world.”
And then Sota moved.
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