Ch.114Chapter 18. Repayment (5)

I couldn’t determine if I was pretty, so I decided to push those thoughts aside.

Maybe it was just a thought that came to mind when seeing that person. Since it had nothing to do with yokai or such things, it probably wasn’t a big issue. The manager wasn’t related to yokai anyway.

More importantly, this was about Kagami’s “request.”

“Do you normally investigate such things?”

“No. We basically don’t care much about anything that isn’t our business.”

That seemed about right.

Evening again, after my part-time job finished. Koko and I went to Kagami’s place first.

Since it was a bar, they seemed to operate until late at night, so there was no problem with us going there.

There seemed to be more people than when we came yesterday. Maybe because the weekend was approaching?

Today, Mr. Fukuda wasn’t there either, and since we were the only ones sitting near the bar, Kagami spoke to me in her usual manner.

“It hasn’t been long since my sister split off, and it hasn’t been long since we got involved with yokai-related matters. We… you know, right?”

They were secretly working to summon a foreign god, not a yokai, into this world.

Perhaps they started gathering followers in this “cult” form because they were wary of Kosuzu. It seemed even more suspicious considering they were quite an old family but hadn’t properly named their cult, and they were openly using the word “cult.”

“…”

The problem was that I couldn’t fully trust Kagami’s words.

I’m not talking about trust between people. This is about “experienced” versus “newcomer.”

It means they don’t have a solid, historical background like the Yuuki family or Mr. Miura. If I had to put it differently, their areas of expertise were different.

Of course, to outsiders, it would all look the same.

Noticing my subtle gaze, Kagami smiled somewhat awkwardly.

“We’ve put in quite a bit of effort too, you know?”

Is that so?

“So… the slit-mouthed woman?”

I know the story of the slit-mouthed woman well. It was a popular urban legend in the world I originally lived in too. Though it’s more of a ghost story that elementary school kids would like.

In Korea, it’s known as the “Red Mask.”

Why did the mask turn red when crossing the border? Colored masks didn’t become popular until much later. Even then, they were black, not red, and I heard they weren’t commonly worn outside of Korea.

Above all, the point of the urban legend was surely the grotesque appearance of a mouth split to the ears. Isn’t the scary part that an ordinary-looking person you might see in daily life could actually be a monster? A red mask is too conspicuous. Of course, you wouldn’t think they’re crazy just by looking at them.

And because people instinctively exaggerate when they hear such stories, it eventually becomes like a childish power balance game, with claims like running at 200 km/h, being a Japanese ghost who learned Korean, being able to hold their breath for hours, lifting hundred-kilogram dumbbells with one hand…

It was probably added in response to questions like “Can’t we beat someone like that?” but it actually made the story less scary over time.

“Are you skeptical because it’s such a famous urban legend?”

“…”

Well, sitting right next to me is a being who could give that slit-mouthed woman a couple more mouths if needed, drinking milk, so it’s not completely unbelievable.

However,

“If such a famous entity actually existed, it wouldn’t have gone uncaught until now.”

“I’ve thought about that too.”

Kagami stared at me intently as she spoke.

“But let’s think about it differently. Traditional old families and government agencies tend to be conservative by nature. They become skilled at certain tasks by doing the same thing day after day, but conversely, they react negatively when told there might be more efficient ways to handle those tasks.”

“…”

She’s not talking about themselves, right?

Since Kosuzu was the one who came up with that “new method.”

“For hundreds of years, yokai hunters have hunted yokai in their own way. If a yokai isn’t found using their methods, they naturally assume it’s not a yokai.”

“…Ah.”

“You seem to have realized something?”

“…Yes.”

When I found the cannibalistic murderer in my own way, Yuka blocked me before I could cut him down.

And she told me it wasn’t a yokai but a human.

Yuka’s certainty upon seeing that person wasn’t based on appearance. Both she and I have ways to detect nearby yokai.

It was because the entity didn’t trigger those methods that she judged it to be human.

“Now that we’ve just learned that ‘there could be different types of yokai,’ we can’t just act recklessly, can we?”

We can’t go around asking everyone if they’re a yokai.

“So you’re saying we should act recklessly?”

When I asked, Kagami pulled something out from under the bar and pushed it toward me, as if she’d been waiting for that question.

It was a file.

I glanced at Kagami suspiciously while flipping through the unnamed file.

“…A murder case?”

It looked like police documents.

It listed the gender, name, occupation, and age of the deceased victim, along with an inventory of all the evidence found at the scene.

With great reluctance, I closed the file and pushed it back toward Kagami.

“Well? Do you find it a bit more believable now?”

“…”

A victim with a slit mouth.

“There was only one victim so far. But in the current situation, we don’t want to wait for the next victim, do we?”

Kagami stared at me intently as she spoke.

“It seems worth checking out.”

I carefully studied Kagami’s face to gauge her thoughts, but she was just smiling pleasantly as usual.

It’s just my guess, but Kagami seems to make this expression when she wants to hide certain emotions from me.

“…Where did you get this document? Can it be trusted?”

“When running a religion, the most important thing is deciding which side to recruit from. Or planting our own people.”

…Like in broadcasting stations, hospitals—or even the government.

It might sound like fantasy at first, but it’s not unheard of. Even in the 2020s where I lived, there were several documentaries about such things.

Cases of medical professionals with certain religious beliefs trying to prevent patients from receiving blood transfusions were already well-known.

If this was obtained by such a person…

…It makes me more uneasy, but that’s why it’s believable. I did trust that Kagami wouldn’t lie to me about such things.

“But if the police investigated, shouldn’t other parties know about it too?”

“Wouldn’t it be more irrational to assume every discovered corpse is the work of a yokai?”

Hmm.

“Most police don’t even know such beings exist. Unless it seems absolutely impossible for a human to have done it, such information isn’t easily passed along. And gruesome murder cases are usually subject to media control at first. It would be problematic if people fell into unnecessary fear.”

…That made sense.

As I nodded in understanding,

Thunk.

Kagami placed another glass of orange juice on the bar.

In a tall, pretty transparent glass, with a straw kindly inserted.

Somewhere between Koko and me.

Since she placed drinks meant for me directly in front of me, this was clearly an intentional placement.

I pushed it toward Koko.

“Whoa?”

Koko made a slightly questioning sound at the drink but then quietly accepted it and drank. It seemed her desire for food was not easily abandoned.

If she wanted to give it to her, she could have just given it directly.

…Or is that not it? Is she just giving it based on my reaction?

I looked at Kagami while drinking the orange juice placed in front of me—

“Alright.”

That was my answer.

Well, there’s no harm in checking it out.

If it’s real, we confirm it; if not, that’s good too.

*

“Oh, it’s those cute kids from the other day~”

On our way out of the store, we encountered that woman we saw yesterday.

She looked a few years older than me, but that might be because of the heavy makeup on her face.

…Even Kagami wouldn’t employ minors here, would she? Setting aside moral considerations, doing something that could get you caught in a crackdown is nonsensical.

Isn’t this a secretly operating cult? People like the Yuuki family or Mr. Miura might already have a general understanding, but the reason they don’t openly overthrow it is probably because they don’t have concrete evidence.

“…Hello.”

Having made that judgment, I bowed politely to the person. Koko followed suit.

She still seemed harmless. Well, if she appeared harmful, it would be difficult for her to work here. This is a place that sells smiles and alcohol as a set.

…Or is that not it? If you have the body and looks, does it not matter if you seem a bit harmful? Anyway.

“I heard~ You’re Kurosawa’s daughters~ Twins are so interesting~ First time seeing them~”

With a wave at the end of each sentence, her speech pattern was distinctive in many ways.

It’s the kind of voice that would make you sleepy if you listened to it while basking in the sun on a nice day.

“Woo?”

Koko tilted her head. I wonder if Koko was feeling the same inexplicable uneasiness as me.

“See you next time~”

The person waved her hand at us and walked away leisurely. After staring at her back as she descended the stairs, I looked at Koko.

“Does anything come to mind?”

“Woo?”

But Koko just tilted her head at my question.

I shrugged.

Well…

I hope we’re not late today.

That thought just came to me.

I’m not sure why.

*

This isn’t Saitama, and obviously, we can’t walk all the way to Saitama.

Since we weren’t yet completely dependent on Kagami for living expenses or receiving allowances, Koko and I didn’t have much time.

At the very least, we needed to get to the nearby train station before the last train ended.

Kagami provided various information besides the fact that there was a victim.

The slit-mouthed woman urban legend seems to have emerged around the 1970s and has continued until now.

It’s not constantly popular; it usually becomes very popular, then fades, then becomes popular again, and so on.

I think I heard the story in Korea in the early to mid-2000s. I’m not sure how it was in Japan.

Additionally, the slit-mouthed woman asks, “Am I pretty?” and if you say she’s pretty, she’ll say she’ll make you the same and kill you by slitting your mouth; if you say she’s ugly, she’ll also kill you by slitting your mouth.

The difference from Korea’s Red Mask is that the slit-mouthed woman will let you go if you answer, “You’re just okay.”

With the Red Mask, once caught, there seemed to be no way to survive. Ah, I think there was also a joke about reciting some kind of cult-like incantation to survive.

Oh, right. As a joke, they also said that since she’s Japanese and can’t understand Korean, you could just ignore her and walk past. …Though that seems like it would offend her more than giving any answer.

Anyway.

Judging by how casually Kagami talked about it, it seems to be treated as just an urban legend here too.

Or perhaps it’s treated more as a “person” rather than a ghost or monster. If you remove the stories about running speed and superhuman strength, it could just be an ordinarily scary person. Having your mouth slit doesn’t necessarily mean death.

“…Hmm.”

“Kotone?”

We arrived at the place where the victim was supposedly found, but there was nothing left.

The location was about a 20-minute walk from Kagami’s bar. It was near a bustling area, but slightly off the edge, making it a place with few people.

Such places existed in Korea too. If you walk from one end of a bustling area to the other, at some point the number of streetlights decreases, and stores with lights on at night gradually disappear. Then rows of 4 to 5-story villas appear, and from there, it becomes incredibly quiet. So quiet that you might wonder if people actually live there.

There was a bit of that atmosphere here. There were no Korean-style villas, of course, but most of the not-so-tall buildings lined up on both sides had their lights off.

I didn’t feel the chill that usually comes when encountering yokai. Well, if the slit-mouthed entity is the kind of yokai I’m thinking of, it’s natural not to feel anything.

The crime scene seems to have been cleaned up already. The incident occurred about two weeks ago, and there have been no follow-up incidents yet.

For reference, the slit-mouthed woman urban legend first appeared in Gifu Prefecture. Just think of it as quite far from Tokyo.

But the fact that it appeared in a place like this… well.

“Koko. Let’s be careful. It might not be a yokai.”

If the entity isn’t the slit-mouthed woman, it could be either a man or a woman. If someone attacked an adult woman, overpowered her, and slit her mouth with a knife, they could easily subdue at least one woman.

“Yes!”

Koko nodded.

We started walking slowly again toward the deserted street.

Step, step. The student shoes didn’t have high or hard heels, but walking on an almost deserted street made an eerie sound.

Hmm…

I scratched my head.

This is tough.

I wonder if Yuka felt this lost when she first transferred? I’ve always just been caught up in incidents; actively trying to find one is proving quite difficult without any clues.

I took out my phone to check the time. It was almost 11 o’clock. The last train was around midnight. It was time to head back soon.

“Koko, shall we go back?”

“Woo?”

The distance between streetlights was quite far, making Koko’s face appear somewhat dim.

“What about finding it?”

“I don’t think we’ll easily find anything just by wandering around like this. It might be better to wait a bit longer and spend time finding a method—”

As I was speaking so confidently.

“…Oh, it’s just people.”

A small voice was heard.

Koko and I looked in that direction simultaneously.

We were between streetlights, and the other person was also between streetlights.

Or more precisely, they were standing at a corner where the street bent, as if hiding.

“…”

It seemed to be a person.

And it was a woman’s voice. It sounded young, like someone in their teens or twenties.

Koko and I looked at each other.

Even though it seemed like nothing, the words directed at us were somewhat unsettling.

Is the other person also looking for ghosts or yokai?

If they came here after investigating an unpublicized murder case, they’re probably not ordinary people.

As I started walking toward them, Koko followed behind me.

I was quite confident. Unless the other person was police, no one would mistake us for murderers—

Oh, but our current hairstyles.

“Eek!?”

Seeing twin Sadakos suddenly appear from around the corner, one of the women crouching at the corner screamed.

“Back off! Back off!”

“Ah, wait, senior!”

Salt flew forcefully and hit my face.

The other person seems to think we’re ghosts.

…Wait, did she say “senior”?

I couldn’t help but shout that when I saw the other person.

“…Kotone?”

After roughly brushing off the salt from my face and hair, I looked at the other person.

Despite the dim light, I’m not so night-blind that I wouldn’t recognize Kaoru and Izumi.

“…Senior?”

Seeing Kaoru holding L-rods in both hands and Izumi holding a salt container behind her, I momentarily forgot what to say.

…Why are they here?

“…Why are you seniors here?”

“Huh? Obviously looking for story material?”

And when such a nonchalant answer came back, I momentarily lost my words again.

“Don’t you remember? We need to submit writing for the cultural festival.”

Kaoru said, probably wondering what I was thinking.

…Story material?

Oh, right. The cultural festival.

The top floor of the old building we occupy is filled with clubs known for being boring, so the atmosphere isn’t felt much, but Hanakawa High School’s cultural festival is quite famous in the surrounding area. Especially popular among nearby high school students.

All clubs need to promote their achievements at the cultural festival. It’s not just about finding new members; it’s also about future club activity funds.

The projects submitted during the cultural festival are judged by teachers.

Since we were the Literature Club, we needed to publish some kind of anthology.

“I was planning to write a story about the slit-mouthed woman.”

“No, I told you it’s just a rumor! Are you believing what’s written in occult magazines?”

Izumi said that to Kaoru, but judging by the fact that she came along, she seems to have been influenced by those words too.

“…Magazine?”

“Yes.”

At my words, Kaoru gave me the latest issue of the magazine she always reads in the club room.

It had a large headline: [The Slit-Mouthed Woman, Was It Actually True!?]

Below the title was an article collecting numerous murder cases from across the country where the victim’s face was mutilated. They even drew circles on a map of Japan by region, quite meticulously.

“…”

And one of those places was here.

Wait, I thought it wasn’t supposed to be reported yet?