Ch.136Chapter 20. Request (11)

Kagami had never particularly liked her life.

But she hadn’t cursed it either. She simply thought that living this way was perfectly natural.

Yes, she had never cursed it.

Though she had resented it.

The teenage years are a sensitive time.

It was a period when one gradually awakens to sexuality, becomes conscious of being a woman, and dreams about the future.

Even so, she had never refused what needed to be done. That’s why she had faithfully followed the instructions of her older sister, who was considered the most capable among those who had carried on the Kurosawa family business until now.

There had been no act, but there had been consciousness. From then on, her belly had swollen, and Kagami gave birth to incomplete vessels. Again and again.

Drops, mirrors, and knives. Kosuzu seemed to want to deviate slightly from such traditional methods.

Blood and flesh. Motherhood, soul, and body. The ritual borrowed from some ancient Western religion wasn’t particularly successful.

With each failure, Kosuzu seemed to think it was just bad luck. At first, Kagami, who had simply followed her sister’s words, couldn’t help but question it.

Childbirth, even when not delivering an actual child, is never easy. After several years, Kagami became completely exhausted.

It was around that time that a child was born.

A child with a proper body.

She thought it was a completed vessel, but in the end, the divine did not come to that vessel.

Kosuzu seemed completely disgusted by it. Around the time the vessel reached the age when Kagami had first conceived, Kosuzu silently split from the Kurosawa family.

Only then did Kagami wonder if what she had been doing might have been meaningless.

None of the things Kosuzu had set in motion—saying she would become a cult instead of a family, that they needed greater power—were resolved. It was only natural. The person who had been pushing for it had abandoned everything and disappeared.

She had to run around trying to somehow clean up the mess. She knew there were people monitoring the Kurosawa family, and she knew there were those who were hostile. But what mattered was maintaining existing relationships.

Though she hadn’t completely ignored it, that old apartment was a place Kagami couldn’t bring herself to like.

Because it was proof that her decade of self-sacrifice had been meaningless.

…Only then did Kagami think that she was truly unlucky.

What if she had been born into a different family with no power, an ordinary household?

Wearing a school uniform, attending school, making ordinary friends, and perhaps by now, married with a family. She might even have had children.

Of course, it wouldn’t have been a grown child like Kotone Kurosawa or Koko Kurosawa. Perhaps a child just entering elementary school.

And that child would be able to speak properly and think—

As she was lamenting her life with such thoughts, one day that girl suddenly appeared before Kagami.

A child who seemed to have skipped her childhood entirely. Kotone Kurosawa.

*

Ironically, the first thought that came to Kagami’s mind when she saw Kotone burning was “beautiful.”

The sight of the girl floating in the empty air without anything looked somewhat uncomfortable. Her hair was wet and tangled, and her body seemed somewhat compressed.

Perhaps people who saw that sight would have thought it was harrowing rather than elegant.

Blood was filling the space around the girl. The blood flowing from her left wrist had already spread everywhere, nakedly revealing that the inside of that transparent space was actually the mouth of something.

The girl, who had been struggling with something invisible, soon took out a piece of paper from her bosom and tore it.

And then, everything around her burned blue.

Whether it was due to some mysterious power or just a coincidental posture in the mouth of something, to Kagami’s eyes, the girl seemed to be stably floating in the air for a moment.

For just one moment, seeing that figure floating in the air with blue flames around her body, Kagami thought:

Beautiful.

But that thought was shattered the next moment.

What she heard was a scream.

A terrible scream from a girl.

A horrific scream like someone whose body was actually on fire, different from when she had been cutting down enemies with blue flames around her body just moments before.

The blue flames soon burned everything around the girl, making something invisible, something that shouldn’t have existed there, exist in the world.

What remained was white ash floating in the air and a terrible burning smell.

There was nothing Kagami could do as she watched everything burn fiercely.

There couldn’t be.

“Kotone!”

The first to rush over after everything ended was Koko.

Following behind Koko in a hurry, entering inside the traces of the monster that had burned almost beyond recognition, what she saw was a girl collapsed on the floor.

Her skin was pale.

Only now did Kagami realize how pale that white skin was. A girl whose complexion remained sickly pale even in midsummer, even after going to the beach.

No, perhaps Kagami had never seen that girl looking healthy.

That made sense, since until recently, she hadn’t even thought of her as a person.

“…The job isn’t finished yet.”

The girl said.

Blood was still flowing from her cut wrist.

With her face turning not just pale but blue, even paler than usual, the girl said that.

What should one think upon seeing that?

As someone who serves the great beings from beyond, should she have felt auspiciousness? Should she have looked at her with the eyes of one viewing martyred saints from long ago?

And the girl ran.

What made the girl act like that?

Kagami couldn’t understand why the girl was so desperate, always entering the most dangerous places without hesitation and fighting at the risk of her life.

…Wouldn’t an ordinary person have given up long ago?

…

No, if she had given up.

What would have happened to this world?

Perhaps that girl was actually protecting it. Instead of becoming a plaything for some malicious being that could twist the world’s principles at will, perhaps she was protecting the world.

“Ms. Kagami!”

While thinking such thoughts, Kagami found herself running.

The Yamashita family members who had barely caught up nearby shouted. Kagami didn’t look back.

She didn’t know exactly which direction those children had gone.

She just ran toward where the sound came from.

And she heard it.

“I want to live!”

The girl’s cry.

It was a scream.

The scream of a girl who was unfortunately a plaything of foreign gods, always suffering. A scream wanting to escape that pain.

The scream of a girl who sat with a relaxed expression as if her single-room apartment was the most comfortable sanctuary in the world. The scream of a girl who usually says everything is fine with an indifferent expression.

By the time Kagami got close, the screaming had stopped.

In front of the girl was the corpse of a small monkey, already dead. People around were groaning, Koko was looking at the girl with a stiff expression, and the relatively unharmed people were staring at the girl with blank expressions.

The girl, with a dejected expression and arms hanging limply, said nothing.

That expression was like a child whose secret diary had been shown to others, and Kagami couldn’t say anything.

The girl’s scream.

Just unluckily here, in such a place—

—the scream of a girl born as the daughter of a woman named Kagami.

The scream of a child who was just terribly unlucky.

The scream of a child suffering for the crime of being born as Kotone Kurosawa, daughter of Kagami Kurosawa.

*

The girl called Kotone Kurosawa was a child with many strange and suspicious points.

First, it was very suspicious that the body, which had been virtually left unmanaged and was essentially brain-dead, had started moving.

Wasn’t it a vessel in the first place? It wouldn’t be surprising if the being inside, the being Kosuzu had so desperately wanted, was moving the body.

Rather, it would have been stranger if the being inside wasn’t such a being.

And soon, Kagami came to think “even stranger” thoughts.

The child called Kotone Kurosawa who faced Kagami… while she clearly had a different atmosphere from other teenage girls her age, sensitive and talkative, she definitely didn’t have the aura of a transcendent being from beyond the universe.

That’s why she should have been suspicious until the end, but strangely, it was difficult to do so.

The more they conversed, the more human she felt.

Even when she glared at Kagami with suspicion, she absurdly felt like a person, so Kagami found herself teasing the girl a little each time they met.

Though she was terrified when the girl took out another sealed being and raised it as her sister.

…Ah, yes. Actually, there were more moments of shock after that.

When the girl would suddenly thank Kagami, or obediently listen to her.

Strange words she had never heard from anyone she had considered family before.

“…”

Therefore, Kagami was confused about what emotion she should feel now.

What thoughts should she have while looking at Kotone lying unconscious on the hospital bed? What emotions should she feel?

Finding it difficult to express the emotions she felt, Kagami just sat silently next to the lying girl.

Still, Koko was more honest than Kagami. Koko had clung to the collapsed Kotone and cried, screamed and shrieked, only quieting down after arriving at the hospital.

Did she believe the doctor’s words? She seemed to believe when she nodded after hearing that the body was safe, but seeing her still sticking close to the bed, it also seemed like she didn’t.

Last night, those who suffered the most were naturally Kotone and Koko. Especially Kotone, who fought while almost pouring out her blood. Even setting herself on fire.

But ironically, Kotone was also the one with the least injuries.

That’s why Kotone was the first patient to be kicked out of the emergency room among the patients who had rushed in together.

It meant she was lower priority than people with crushed legs, severed arms, spilling intestines, and half-shattered heads.

Kagami felt a strange emotion upon hearing that. Oddly enough, it was close to anger. Fortunately, knowing that Kotone would soon wake up fine despite her condition, she didn’t show any reaction beyond feeling the emotion.

The families of the collapsed people didn’t come to the hospital.

They probably weren’t even called. Today’s events were “classified” after all.

Even the daughter of Miura, who seemed to be in a leadership position, probably didn’t come.

“Uuu…”

Koko, who hadn’t slept and was keeping watch beside Kotone, made such a sound.

What should she say to her?

Kagami didn’t know.

Originally… there was always someone else in such situations. Not Kagami—

“Kotone!?”

—Yes, someone like that.

There are two types of people in the world.

Those who can know secrets and those who cannot, whether they’re affiliated with the government or not.

While none of the families of patients who were hospitalized or undergoing surgery for similar reasons could visit, ironically, only one girl with not a drop of shared blood could.

…And that girl’s family too.

“Yuka!”

Koko exclaimed, jumping up from her seat.

For about ten seconds after that, Kagami felt as if she was alone in this place.

The daughter of the Yuuki family rushing to Koko, holding her hands tightly and seriously asking what had happened. And that family checking on Koko’s well-being first.

…It was a reaction that Kagami, who actually shared blood, had never even thought of.

As she was about to feel that strange feeling again, those ten seconds ended.

And a very awkward atmosphere settled.

If it was the daughter of the Yuuki family, Kagami expected her to confront her immediately. To angrily demand how Kotone ended up like this, whether she had been used.

But the daughter of the Yuuki family, after momentarily showing an angry expression, instantly erased it.

No, should one say it was erased?

Seeing the face blankly staring at Kagami, Kagami didn’t know what to say either.

Kagami silently stood up from her seat.

And went outside as if escaping from there.

*

Most annoyingly, the daughter of the Yuuki family followed Kagami out.

“…What… happened?”

As if not knowing what to say, hesitantly putting words together, Kagami turned to look at that child.

They were outside. How did she follow?

No, the answer is simple. She probably followed right behind Kagami from the moment she went outside.

“…”

Because the change in attitude of the Yuuki family’s daughter was so different from when they last met, Kagami observed her for a while with examining eyes.

The daughter of the Yuuki family patiently waited for an answer.

“…Because of Satori.”

“…”

That one phrase seemed to be quite a significant answer.

The expression of the Yuuki family’s daughter—Yuka Yuuki—twisted slightly.

“Didn’t you ask her too?”

“…I did. But I didn’t force her.”

“That’s the same for me. I never forced her.”

“…You must have said something she couldn’t refuse.”

How could she be so certain?

It was true, though.

“So, did you succeed?”

“We failed. You must have heard?”

Yes, it was a failure.

According to the survivors, Kosuzu seemed to have looked into Miura’s mind. Through Satori.

Satori reacts very sensitively to others’ malice. So sensitively that she falls into panic and forgets how to restrain herself, blurting out anything.

And, probably, that opponent was Miura.

“…If you have people attached to Kosuzu’s side, it would be best to pull them out as quickly as possible. It might already be too late.”

Yuka Yuuki said nothing for a while in response to Kagami’s answer.

“…And.”

“And?”

Kagami turned to look at Yuka Yuuki again, who was asking as if there was still something to say. This time she put a little annoyance in her eyes, but this impudent girl didn’t care about that expression at all.

“Kotone must have said something.”

Finding that statement a bit absurd, Kagami unconsciously snorted. Yuka Yuuki didn’t seem to like that.

“Something this major has happened, and you’re more curious about what that child said.”

There was another girl who came first after Kotone collapsed. A senior from the same school, Hana Hagiwara.

Kagami thought she was a troublesome opponent in many ways. She wondered if Hagiwara was going to come to the hospital to threaten to kill her or something, but Hagiwara approached Kotone after asking Kagami’s permission, held her hand, and knelt down.

And then she acted as if praying to her god. Just the action. Since she didn’t speak, Kagami had no way of knowing what prayer it was.

Judging by how all those people left right after, it seemed that girl had taken them away.

That image somewhat overlapped with Yuka Yuuki standing in front of her now. According to their god’s logic, people on this side should all be thrown into the hellfire.

“Of course I’m more curious.”

Yuka Yuuki said boldly.

“Because she’s my friend.”

“…”

“And, aren’t you the same?”

“What do you mean, the same?”

“…She’s your daughter.”

“…”

Kagami tried to snort.

But this time, it didn’t work well.

“It seems you can say such things even after seeing my attitude so far.”

“It’s because of your attitude, you know.”

As if her patience was reaching its limit, Yuka Yuuki glared at Kagami and said.

“Because of Kotone’s attitude.”

“What attitude did my ‘daughter’ show?”

After barely managing to say something sarcastic, Yuka Yuuki glared at Kagami for a moment and then said.

“…She said she had reconciled with you.”

“…”

And those words were enough to silence Kagami.

“Little by little, she said she was reconciling with you.”

“…That child.”

“Yes, that child. Directly. She told me.”

Yuka Yuuki said.

“So, I need to hear from you. If you were also reconciling little by little, you must have feelings for Kotone. Just like Kotone… did.”

Kagami almost opened her mouth, but then clenched her jaw.

If she had opened her mouth here, she would have been staring blankly without saying anything for a while.

“What happened with Satori? To the extent that Koko couldn’t explain properly while crying.”

“…”

“You can tell me, can’t you? At least you have better communication skills than that poor child.”

After staring at Yuka Yuuki for a while, Kagami said,

“…She said she wanted to live.”

“When she touched Satori, who was bleeding, trying to save her, that’s what she said. That she wanted to live. That she didn’t want to suffer. That someone please help her.”

It was Satori who cried out.

But it was Kotone’s voice. It must have sounded like that because it was the voice from Kotone’s heart.

“…Kotone.”

Kagami had hoped, just a little, that Yuka Yuuki would suffer. To be honest, she was a somewhat annoying opponent. She didn’t particularly like the hostile expressions she made every time something like this happened.

But Yuka Yuuki didn’t do that.

After frowning and being lost in thought for a while, Yuka took a deep breath and exhaled with a “hoo.”

“That kid, really.”

And she said that.

“If that’s what she was thinking, it would have been better if she had told us earlier.”

She still had a regretful expression.

But at the same time, it was also somewhat refreshed.

“Alright. So that’s what she said. Then it means she’s been hiding something.”

Yuka Yuuki looked at Kagami with open eyes and said.

“Then, we just need to help her.”

“Yes, good luck with that.”

Kagami answered like that.

“No.”

But quite absurdly, Yuka Yuuki denied her words like that.

“…What do you mean, no?”

“That’s not what you’re supposed to say at times like this. Is it because you believe in a strange religion? You don’t know how to deal with people.”

Rather than feeling angry at what seemed like a direct provocation, Kagami felt absurd.

“At times like this, you know, you ‘ask’ for help. Ask someone to do it for you. To be honest, you think you can’t do it yourself, right?”

“…On what basis?”

But it was Kagami who sounded desperate. She could feel it right after speaking.

Most annoyingly, Yuka Yuuki looked up at Kagami’s face boldly and said.

“You know what? I don’t want to admit it either, but. You resemble your daughter.”

Kagami just blinked.

She had no choice. She had never learned how to respond to such words.

“And I’ve been watching Kotone’s subtle changes in expression up close for quite a while. So, I think I know.”

Yuka Yuuki took a step forward.

Kagami took a step back.

“It’s painful, isn’t it? You don’t like seeing Kotone like that. Above all, your expression is severely bad, probably because you heard those words.”

Yuka Yuuki declared boldly.

“So, fine. It didn’t sound much like a request, but I’ll grant that request of yours.”

“…”

“So, don’t think about running away either. Just as Kotone didn’t run away from you. …I’m not saying you’re a good mother, but we can’t let Kotone’s efforts go to waste, can we?”

Without knowing anything.

That thought came to mind.

Yuka Yuuki doesn’t know that it was all an act. In Yuka Yuuki’s eyes, the relationship between Kagami and Kotone was that of an abusive mother and an abused daughter—

—No, perhaps that’s precisely an accurate grasp of the essence.

A girl left alone in an empty house.

A girl who had to go to school on her own and somehow adapt to society without being taught what to do.

A girl who almost experienced—no, did experience—terrible things, and whose blood-related family never visited her during her multiple hospitalizations.

And a girl who tried her best to be with that girl as much as possible and help her as best she could.

…Between Kagami and Yuka Yuuki, who truly doesn’t know Kotone Kurosawa?

“Your past can’t be erased. To be honest, I still don’t trust you. I’d prefer to keep you far away if possible. But.”

Yuka Yuuki said.

“…If Kotone has decided to forgive you, I don’t have the right to stop that. I can only try to be supportive as a friend. So, if you have even a slight awareness of being a ‘mother,’ at least act like it. Otherwise, it’s too pitiful for Kotone.”

And turning her body,

“I’m going back to the hospital room. Whether you follow or not, that’s your choice.”

Saying that, she went on her way.

Kagami stared blankly at the back of that girl for a long time.