There’s a story often heard when receiving psychological counseling.
Take a break from work.
Take it easy and get plenty of rest. Sleep a lot.
Easier said than done.
What’s the point of working in the first place? It’s to make a living, right? Plus, mental health counseling costs a lot if you go regularly. To afford that, people have to work.
Get some more sleep.
But it turned out to be more difficult than expected. Because someone had to be up at night and rush to where the fire was.
And if those two conditions aren’t met properly, the last one—’take it easy and get plenty of rest’—becomes impossible.
Can you really rest when there’s a volcano erupting in your chest just by lying there and closing your eyes?
“……”
I stared blankly up at the ceiling while petting Kuro, who had settled on my belly.
“Meow.”
Kuro rubbed her face against my hand and cried.
Kuro wasn’t usually the cuddly type. She didn’t mind being touched, but she never came over to snuggle on her own.
She liked to sit on top of people, but it didn’t feel like she was being affectionately cute. More like she just knew the warmest source of heat in the room was a person.
…It’s a hassle to get up.
My body felt heavy as lead. The makeshift bed on the not-so-warm floor wasn’t exactly comfortable, but just lying down made me feel like I could melt away.
I didn’t check the clock, but it was probably about time to get up and prepare.
I needed to wash Koko, feed her, and head out to meet my friends.
“……”
Just ten more minutes.
I’ll just sleep for ten more minutes.
I think a little nap won’t hurt. Anyway, I’m not the type to oversleep usually.
It’s bright and sunny outside, so I can’t have slept for hours.
As I stroked Kuro’s soft fur, I slowly drifted back to sleep.
*
“…Huh.”
I woke up with a start.
I hadn’t had a nightmare. I hadn’t dreamt at all. It felt like time had been deleted during my sleep, leaving no memory in between.
The reason I woke up was the kind that sometimes happens. You suddenly feel your limbs drop into a void.
Whenever that happens, there’s always that sensation creeping up my back, and I start thinking.
“What time is it?”
“Hmm.” A part of me that hadn’t lost its calm spoke up. “Looking at the sun, it seems I’ve woken up pretty late.”
My eyes opened wide, and my mind cleared in an instant.
I pushed myself off the floor and noticed that I was alone. Kuro and Koko were gone.
A sound came from the kitchen, a sizzling noise.
Something delicious smelling was wafting through the air.
“…Koko?”
I turned to look towards the kitchen. The kitchen door stood open. It seemed Koko had forgotten to close it.
Koko’s black hair was swaying. Normally, I’d have tied her hair up, but now the ends swayed like a brush in motion.
Her back should have looked just like mine. Of course, I wasn’t in a position to check my own back.
Then, I heard a crunching sound. Kuro was munching on dry food.
“Koto Ne!”
Upon hearing my voice, Koko turned around.
She wore the old apron often used when I cooked, which had been passed down by Yuka.
As Koko turned towards me, her body shifted slightly to the side, giving a glimpse into the kitchen.
There was something in the frying pan. No, it didn’t look weird; it seemed to be meat.
Now that I had a better sense of the smell, it seemed to be the scent of pork cooking.
“Cooking…?”
And that was my immediate reaction.
Koko is cooking?
My first thought was, Isn’t that dangerous?
Koko wasn’t fond of fire. Though, how many people really are?
She was sensitive to heat and typically kept a safe distance, only watching from afar when the gas stove was on.
Yet, here she was, cooking.
On top of that, she was dressed properly, not in her pajamas but in regular clothes meant for going out.
Had she prepared everything while I was asleep?
I slowly got up and walked over to Koko.
Koko was looking at me with a proud expression.
I reached out slowly and ran my hand through her hair.
…It was still damp. And… perhaps a bit slick.
Had she not dried it thoroughly? With hair that length, that could happen. I’d always brushed her down after washing it. Honestly, even I found hair-washing tedious at times. Given the state her hair was in, her clothes underneath might have gotten wet.
Next, I peered into the frying pan.
Bean sprouts and meat were tangled together. It looked like she had tried to follow along with the pork bean sprout stir-fry I usually made.
The color suggested the seasoning was a bit lacking.
She had given Kuro too much food. It was like a mountain of rice-level amount.
So everything Koko had done was lacking in some ways.
“…You did well.”
I couldn’t help but respond like that.
What would it have been like normally?
Normally, I’d be the one getting up first to handle this stuff. I wouldn’t let Koko move before me. I’d wash her, dry her hair thoroughly, feed Kuro, and then start cooking.
But Koko hadn’t woken me and had taken the initiative to handle everything.
…Perhaps it was because of something I’d said in front of Kuro yesterday?
Had I hurt Koko’s feelings?
“…Let’s add a little more soy sauce.”
I deliberately bent down to fetch the soy sauce, trying to hold back tears that were threatening to form.
After adjusting the seasoning, I waited for Koko to stir just a bit longer—her movements weren’t familiar yet, but she did okay—and then turned off the heat.
I noticed there was rice boiling in the rice cooker too. I hadn’t checked it yet, so I didn’t know what state it was in.
“I… I’ll go wash up.”
“Okay! I’ll get everything ready in the meantime!”
Koko cheerfully nodded and shouted back.
I stepped into the shower, letting the water run for a while.
*
The rice… it seemed like it had a little too much water.
But it was still edible. Considering she learned just by watching, she’d done well enough.
Ironically, seeing Koko like this allowed me to relax a bit.
With just a little more teaching, Koko could definitely manage on her own.
Teaching her what she needed to do just to get by still felt like a daunting task, but at least she could live on her own.
“Koto Ne.”
“Yeah?”
“Is it good?”
Koko asked with a worried expression on her face.
Was it that different from what I normally made?
The way she tilted her head in that way, looking at me with wide eyes, felt somewhat anxious.
“…Yeah. It’s good.”
I answered.
It was tasty. Not perfect, but still good.
After hearing my response, Koko beamed a big smile.
I felt a little relief in my heart.
*
“You seem well-rested.”
Mako said, looking at my face.
“I’m glad. You looked worn out yesterday.”
There were a lot of things to be worn out from.
The kids might not know, but so much had happened.
“Of course, you’d be surprised if the cat you were raising suddenly showed up while you were traveling.”
It seemed Mako thought I was tired because of Kuro.
Well… it wasn’t entirely wrong.
I just nodded in response.
Thinking I still had some fatigue from yesterday, Fukuda, Mako, and Yamashita didn’t take me and Koko too far.
They opted to sit down and chat at a restaurant and then a dessert shop. I liked that.
…They said to take it easy and enjoy, right?
It wasn’t exactly my intention, but I figured this wouldn’t be too bad.
*
[Are you feeling alright?]
By the evening, when I received Yuka’s call, I had mentally recovered enough to answer confidently with, “Yeah.”
[Just be sure to rest well. I hope you can take it easy tomorrow too.]
“…I’ve definitely been sleeping too much already.”
At this point, I felt a bit guilty toward the boss.
Of course, it was his own suggestion. And I wasn’t the type to be all nice and grateful to my capitalist employer.
But there’s a thing about promises between people.
Money doesn’t just come for free. It always changes hands; it’s either through goods or labor, and paid for legitimately.
Be it items or labor.
The salary I got from the boss could be a lot or a little, but considering it was based on an hourly rate, taking this much time off would be too much of a loss on his part.
[…I figured that.]
In reality, Yuka probably wanted me to quit my job. I always came home late at night. Between preparing Koko’s dinner and doing other stuff, time slipped away quickly.
I wasn’t a genius who could memorize everything in a single reading of the textbook, and there were assignments from school I had to do from time to time.
By the time I finished everything, it was often quite late.
The labor intensity wasn’t overwhelmingly high or anything, but a cumulative fatigue built up, and I would end up crashing into sleep at times.
Yuka had seen that side of me already several times.
[But still, take care. If you lose your health, you lose everything.]
I couldn’t help but chuckle at those words.
Hearing that in my 30s at my age again was amusing.
It had been something my friends had said occasionally. But I had heard it years ago before I came to this place.
“I know.”
Even if my body gets damaged, I recover. Yuka didn’t say that without knowing.
So all I could do was respond that way.
…I probably wouldn’t be able to say I might leave before falling apart due to health reasons.
“It’s late. Yuka, see you Monday.”
[Okay.]
Yuka didn’t drag the conversation any further at my words. She was probably being considerate of my exhaustion.
After we exchanged farewells, I hung up.
“…Koko?”
At that moment, I noticed Koko was staring at me intently.
Was there something she wanted? I called out to her, but she just shook her head with “Uu.”
Sometimes, I really had no idea what she was thinking.
But hey, that’s how people are.
Alright.
I had already eaten dinner. I felt pleasantly tired but didn’t want to sleep just yet. It was still too early compared to when I usually went to bed.
I decided to stay up for about an hour and watch TV with Koko. That alone would still be quite early compared to my usual bedtime.
Just as I was picking up the remote thinking that—
Knock knock.
I heard someone knock on the door.
I let out a small sigh and got up from my seat.
“Should Koko go?”
“No, it’s fine.”
Seeing me stand up with such enthusiasm, Koko asked, but I waved her off.
I had a feeling I knew who it was. Given the time of day, not many people would visit or come over to show their face.
Behind the front door was Kagami.
With a rather complex expression.
*
I set a cup of water in front of Kagami and poured her some oolong tea to fill it.
Then, I poured a cup for Koko, who sat at the corner, and finally filled my cup across from Kagami.
I raised my cup and gulped it down.
“So, why?”
“……”
Kagami fiddled with her cup and seemed deep in thought.
“First, I want to apologize.”
“Apologize?”
“I said I would protect you, yet was utterly useless.”
I stared at Kagami as she bowed her head.
“Is there a reason?”
“…There are various reasons.”
Kagami replied.
I tilted my head ever so slightly. It wasn’t an action I should take toward someone who appeared older than me. But what could I say? Saying ‘Just tell me’ would have sounded equally rude.
Kagami seemed unfazed by that and continued.
“First off, the place you went to… was Kyoto.”
“Aren’t there many people from that area?”
“There are indeed, and they are rather strong-headed.”
Strong-headed, huh.
Sure, I had heard tales of a place that hadn’t changed much over the years. The locals tend to feel a certain pride in their hometown.
In contrast, Tokyo has a population nearing ten million just counting the 23 special wards, and if you look at the entire metropolitan area, the actual number is much higher. It’s a vast metropolis, a modern-day capital of Japan, bustling with folks from all around the country.
Naturally, in such a big place where different existences mingle, it has been both a good and bad blend. This area had its fair share of cults, besides Kagami’s group.
“So we never thought it would be possible.”
Sadly, compared to those old powers that had long since established themselves in various regions in Japan, cults were weak and small-time.
It might’ve taken time for me to even realize just what I had been through.
“Have you heard of the story of a being made from a living person?”
“…I’ve heard of it. Many ghost stories involve such tales. But—”
The question arises whether one would truly believe that it’s possible.
We hear stories in history class about how Park Hyeokgeose was born from an egg. While we learn that such a person likely existed, nobody believes he truly hatched from an egg.
“There are many people who have seen youkai since ancient times, and some who have survived the encounter too.”
Some youkai resemble humans, after all.
It’s only natural that the legend of how a person might turn into a youkai gets passed down as well.
In Korea, “범” refers to both tigers and leopards. The very word tells us that it intertwines the two into one.
Of course, organizations exist in Korea that specifically hunt tigers and leopards. Those affiliated probably had experts aware that tigers and leopards were different animals.
But the average villager might have inherited tales where tigers were male, and leopards were female, having no real understanding of the two.
When survival meant fleeing from becoming a meal, there wasn’t any leisure to focus on distinguishing between them.
“For instance?”
“Maybe the famous story about Onibaba would be it. A tale where she loses her mind after accidentally killing her daughter and grandchild. Tales of her being hunted exist, you know? In the stories, they never really distinguish between ‘is this a youkai or a person?’”
All that ends up getting lumped together as legends regarding the youkai Onibaba.
“…If that’s true?”
“A flesh-eating ghoul that has eaten a person should have turned into a youkai.”
Kagami spoke that rather decisively.
Yet she seemed to harbor some lingering doubts at the same time.
“But… if I had seen such a being in person, the story would change.”
“Is there any way besides birth for that to happen?”
“…”
Kagami furrowed her brows and seemed to ponder for a moment.
“To be honest, we’d like to know too. Your sister seems adept at that sort of thing, so she might’ve succeeded, but… unless it bends logic, how could a human body turn into a youkai?”
“Bend logic?”
“…”
Kagami halted her speech.
“It’s our long-held wish. To be connected to a god and bend reality to form a paradise.”
“……”
That was a story I had never heard before.
But I wasn’t surprised. Such a narrative was too plausible for an organization like this.
“So you’re trying to seek divine power.”
“Exactly. That’s why you and… Koko over there exist.”
Kagami pronounced Koko’s name quite awkwardly, as if the very existence of her name was strange to her.
For a brief moment, I felt the urge to ask just whether Koko and I were Kagami’s true children.
But I decided to push that question aside.
If I were to hear it was true, it would shake me up too much.
“You feel guilty about not being able to protect me?”
“……”
“Well then, research related materials. And I’d like you to tell me what you discover.”
“Let us dig up whatever we can first.”
Kagami nodded readily at my words.
“And I want to know what Kosuzu was planning in Kyoto.”
“Understood. I’ll make sure to investigate how such a situation arose.”
In this particular area, it might take a little longer, but their accuracy is likely better than other organizations. After all, Kosuzu was Kdrugm’s sister, and they had split off from the same group of individuals.
That concluded that day’s conversation.
Before leaving, Kagami bowed her head to me once more.
I immediately laid down a futon to sleep.
And together with Koko, I fell asleep right away.
*
I woke up to the sound of my phone vibrating.
Looking at my phone, I felt the same chill rush through my body as yesterday, getting up abruptly.
The name on the screen read Boss.
And the time was just a little past one o’clock.
I was late.
How had my sleep gotten so long?
“I’m sorry. I’m on my way now—”
[Ah, about that.]
I hastily answered the phone, but the boss spoke in a somewhat awkward tone.
[It figured.]
“Figured…?”
[Your sister is here with me.]
“Eh?”
[And she claims to be Koto Ne.]
“……”
I glanced around hurriedly.
“Meow.”
Kuro lazily let out a sound from atop the still rumpled futon.
I couldn’t see Koko anywhere.
I held my head in my hand that wasn’t holding the phone.
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.