Ch.147Chapter 23. Blood (1)

I ate ice cream with Kagami and Koko.

And it was an indescribable, strange experience.

It’s not that it was weird. We were legally related by family registry after all.

It wasn’t like Kagami particularly wanted it that way. My registry is one thing, but Koko’s registry was resolved through Yuka, not Kagami.

The fact that it could be resolved that way raises some questions about this country’s administrative system, but isn’t this common in light novels and manga? I decided long ago not to worry too much about that.

Rather, my instincts were screaming that I should be careful of Kagami, who was sitting across from me eating ice cream with a subtle smile.

The ice cream was delicious though.

Despite it being midwinter, there were quite a few customers inside.

Under the warm heater that reflected the owner’s desperate wish to sell even a spoonful of ice cream in the dead of winter, people had hung their coats on chairs and were enthusiastically eating ice cream.

This was a luxury unimaginable in our home. Well, normally I wouldn’t have thought to come to an ice cream shop like this. At least not because I wanted to eat it myself. Maybe to treat Koko, but that’s it.

“This is delicious.”

“Yeah!”

When Koko nodded vigorously in agreement with Kagami’s comment, I almost experienced cognitive dissonance.

Weren’t you afraid of Koko?

Even if not afraid, I thought you were quite uncomfortable around her.

I didn’t sense that atmosphere now. She might not be overtly friendly, but at least she wasn’t openly wary with glaring eyes.

…

No, maybe it had been that way for a while. At Christmas, when Kagami saw the two of us visiting the bar, she looked somewhat perplexed but not disgusted or shocked.

“Don’t you like the ice cream?”

“Huh?”

As I was looking back and forth between them, Kagami asked.

Only then did I notice that my ice cream had melted slightly and was dripping down my finger.

I quickly licked that part. I tasted the slightly bitter flavor characteristic of green tea ice cream, followed by an intense sweetness that pressed against my tongue through the coldness.

The ice cream itself was probably much sweeter than I perceived. The cold numbs the tongue.

“…It’s delicious.”

When I said that to Kagami, who was looking at me with somewhat expectant eyes, she smiled slightly.

That smile—though I think it’s really strange to think this—seemed to contain an emotion like… well… ‘satisfaction.’

I don’t know why I felt that way. It wasn’t based on any logical reasoning.

“…Why did you come here today?”

I asked after licking the dripping ice cream and wiping my fingers with a napkin I’d taken earlier.

“It’s the New Year.”

Kagami answered my question very simply.

Hmm.

I’m not sure how many people in Japan actually go to shrines for New Year’s. At least in Korea, most citizens don’t go to temples to pray. They’re probably more likely to just rest at home or go somewhere for fun.

Though temples and churches would still be packed, I guess.

Maybe Japan is similar.

But I couldn’t bring myself to follow up with “Why not just stay home?”

…I hardly know anything about Kagami.

This is my first Japanese New Year anyway. Whatever Kagami does, I have no reason to interfere.

If I were to ask anything, I could have asked “Isn’t there a shrine nearby?” but, well, I didn’t want to interrogate someone who had bought me food.

“I see.”

So I just answered like that.

“So I was wondering…”

Kagami leaned slightly over the table and spoke in a small voice, as if proposing a secret deal.

“Would you like to have dinner together too?”

“Dinner?”

“Wow?”

This time Koko, who had been eating ice cream, opened her eyes wide.

Why is this person acting like this?

I mean, I did give her a Christmas present, but it wasn’t anything particularly expensive or nice.

“There’s a good meat restaurant nearby.”

Kagami spoke with a somewhat confident attitude.

It was the same atmosphere I felt when I first met Kagami.

Back then, I thought of Kagami as a “divine being” because of that distinctive confident aura.

I know now that’s not the case, but still.

“Will there be seats available on a day like this? Isn’t it a famous place?”

“I can arrange seats for us.”

Kagami said that and licked her ice cream once.

“The church’s influence extends further than you might think.”

“Even to yakiniku restaurants?”

“More precisely, it could be called the Yamashita family’s influence.”

“…”

“Don’t worry, it’s not influence gained through wrongdoing. It’s just a place owned by a retired yakuza.”

“…Is that so?”

That makes me even more uncomfortable.

But Koko in the seat next to me was already sparkling at the mention of yakiniku.

…She would be terribly disappointed if I refused.

I didn’t want to see that expression on Koko’s face.

What should I tell Yuka?

“I’ll explain to them. They wouldn’t interfere with a family having a cozy meal together.”

A cozy family meal… no matter how I think about it, that doesn’t match the three of us at all, does it?

“Kotone?”

Koko tilted her head.

…

Well, I suppose on the surface we might barely look that way.

Let’s just go with it.

I exhaled softly and answered.

“…I’ll ask Yuka.”

Since she called us out on New Year’s, it probably wasn’t just to make us work.

Could it be that when Kagami bowed to Yuka earlier, it was to ask about this?

After finishing our ice cream, we returned to the shrine and asked Yuka.

Yuka nodded very simply, even with a bright smile.

She even said, “Enjoy your meal!”

Caught between Kagami who seemed strangely pleased and Koko who was openly happy, I headed to the meat restaurant with my complicated thoughts still unresolved.

“Wow!”

The meat was delicious enough to make Koko exclaim like that.

“Isn’t it good?”

When Kagami asked that, I couldn’t help but nod.

The meat really was delicious.

If I had eaten this when I first arrived here, I might have shed tears.

“…”

Though right now I couldn’t fully enjoy the delicious meat because I was lost in thought.

Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.

If Kagami has decided to change her character, I’ll just help. After all, being disliked by others isn’t easy.

Even if you think you’re just acting, it naturally hurts when others genuinely hate you.

Having roughly sorted out my thoughts, I awkwardly met Kagami’s still-smiling gaze and ate about three more servings of meat.

It really is delicious.

Let’s try not to think about the owner being a former yakuza.

*

Thanks to winter break, my body was rested.

But my mind wasn’t so at ease.

It might seem strange. There are so many people around me who care about me, so feeling uneasy doesn’t make much sense.

“Kotone?”

“Yes?”

As I was sprawled under the kotatsu watching TV, Koko called me with a tilted head.

“What are you thinking about?”

Maybe I’m showing my worries too much.

“Tonight’s dinner.”

“Woo?”

Koko has developed a habit of being perceptive now.

Fortunately, she doesn’t seem uncomfortable being around me, but it’s a bit scary how she sometimes approaches me like this when I’m silently lost in thought.

“Is there something you want to eat?”

“I like anything Kotone eats.”

I shrugged at Koko’s words.

Well, Koko eats anything well.

Though that doesn’t mean I plan to feed her just anything.

Even after hearing my answer, Koko kept tilting her head, still concerned about my expression.

…What I was worried about was Hyakki Yagyō.

Doesn’t even the name sound terrifying? Fighting just one would leave me bloody, but they’re talking about a hundred.

Moreover, this “hundred” doesn’t literally mean the number “100.” It just means “a whole lot.”

The exact number isn’t specified in the original work, but it was enough to terrify all of Tokyo, so I’m guessing there were a ton of them.

And so, I was afraid.

Normally when someone gets transported into a work like this, they collect all sorts of fate connections and cheat items, become a perfect overpowered character, and prevent situations in advance.

They find the villains early and cut them down, or destroy any triggers before they can become incidents.

But I couldn’t do anything.

I don’t know anything.

I only know that such an event will happen, but I have no evidence or information.

I’ve thought about it several times. Should I tell Yuka or others?

Actually, I did tell them. Especially to Kagami, I spoke quite clearly. That Kosuzu might be making a move. That it’s suspicious how quiet she’s been. I contacted Kagami the day after New Year’s and said that, and,

“We’re doing our best to find them too.”

That was Kagami’s answer.

“However, all the informants inside have…”

After the previous Satori incident, all the informants inside disappeared. They were probably killed.

The first to disappear were the government people, she said.

And among the factions infiltrating that place, the government people were the ones holding the most “information.”

It probably wasn’t difficult to extract information from ordinary people. While they desperately tried to hide information about each other, Kosuzu already knew all that information, and most of the other information leaked during their resistance was probably about Kagami’s people… or so they speculate.

The reason it’s “speculation” is that since no internal information is coming to this side, there’s no way for this side to confirm.

The church people seem to be in the same situation.

I tried to contact Mr. Miura through Kagami, but Mr. Miura had serious problems of his own.

Though his body had recovered quite a bit and he was discharged, he had lost the government’s trust. …After all, he was the one who revealed the information.

Kosuzu and her group disappeared like that. Like dust scattered by the wind heading to a sandy beach.

“…”

And the thought that it was because I didn’t act first kept creeping up. The lessons from my previous job weren’t very useful.

Unavoidably losing one person and being a bit late in action resulting in countless deaths are completely different things.

Moreover, we don’t know Kosuzu’s location, but Kosuzu knows ours.

Kosuzu’s forces did suffer quite a blow. After all, they lost “Waitley,” who was probably their greatest asset.

That’s about the only advantage we have compared to the original work.

I felt my powerlessness so acutely, knowing the original work yet only being able to do this much.

Moreover—

“Hehehe.”

When I cut my wrist today to ask, Nirlas just laughed without saying anything. That was decisive.

Nirlas laughing means that a moment of great suffering for me is approaching.

I don’t know why I feel that way. It’s not based on any logical reasoning.

Just until two days ago, I was quite excited and felt some hope, but that one laugh completely deflated my spirits.

Of course, the first person to clearly sense this was Koko, who lives with me.

“Kotone.”

“Yes.”

“…I’ll make dinner tonight.”

“…”

I turned to look at Koko after that statement, and she was looking at me with such a determined expression.

It seemed like she would forcibly stop me even if I got up and said I would do it.

I just moved my lips for a moment without saying anything, then,

“…I’ll leave it to you.”

That’s what I ended up saying.

Only after hearing that did Koko smile brightly.

January 5, 2005, Wednesday.

That was the situation on the day just before it happened.

*

Happy New Year.

Even someone with terrible personality should have enough decency to give such a greeting if they want to be employed.

I knew how to do that much. Even when my entire family died and I cut off almost all relationships, maintaining only the minimum, I still greeted my workplace colleagues with those words when I first met them in the new year.

In this life too, it would have been the same.

Thursday is a workday. That doesn’t change even during school breaks.

Even though it’s something I do regularly, when you try to do it after a dozen months, it feels awkward and embarrassing.

Right. I can’t show such an expression in front of others.

Actually, I didn’t particularly want to show it to Koko either. It was more like she inevitably saw it because we live together.

After finishing my shower, I looked at the mirror for a moment to psych myself up, then came out.

After getting dressed, Koko was standing there.

“Koko?”

“I want to go with you today.”

“…To where I work?”

“Just until there.”

Koko, who had come to understand human society reasonably well in just a few months, didn’t say she would stay at my workplace.

Though I think the boss wouldn’t mind even if Koko just sat there without ordering anything.

“…And when I come back?”

“There’s something I want to buy.”

I was a little surprised by Koko’s words.

Come to think of it, Kagami gave New Year’s money to Koko too.

It was another startling moment following the ice cream.

Needless to say, I didn’t take it from Koko. I didn’t offer to keep it for her either.

It wasn’t unreasonable for Koko to want to buy something with that money.

I nodded.

“Okay.”

“Yes!”

“Meow.”

Kuro, who was lying on a black cat doll much larger than himself but strangely resembling him, meowed as if greeting us.

I waved to Kuro, and together with Koko, we were about to leave the house—

Knock knock.

—but couldn’t.

At the sudden knock, Koko and I looked at each other.

Who could it be?

Maybe Kagami? That seemed possible. Or perhaps other friends.

I composed my face as much as possible. At least to not show the kind of expression that would make Koko offer to go with me, and slightly opened the door.

The person beyond was—

“…Mr. Miura.”

It was Mr. Miura, who still looked unwell.

“I need to talk to you for a moment.”

He said that, standing slightly askew with a cane in one hand.

“…”

I turned and made way for him.

Mr. Miura limped into the house.

After neatly removing his shoes and coming inside, he slowly raised his gaze and looked around the room.

It was a slightly different atmosphere from Yamashita, who had looked shocked as if seeing such a place for the first time. In some ways, he looked troubled, and in other ways, it was as if he had expected this.

“Please sit down.”

When I said that, Mr. Miura slowly sat down.

“I don’t need tea. I have to leave soon.”

Since Mr. Miura said that, I just took out water from the refrigerator and served it.

“When you leave, do we need to go with you?”

When I asked as I sat across from him, Mr. Miura nodded with a heavy expression.

What showed on his face, was it guilt?

“I know… how you fight.”

Mr. Miura opened his mouth.

“I felt it deeply last time.”

There must be a big difference between just reading about it and seeing it directly.

“But now, I think we need your strength.”

“Koko.”

As Koko’s expression became somewhat fierce, I gently grabbed her arm. But Koko’s mood didn’t ease easily.

“Kotone is—”

“It’s okay.”

I told Koko.

“It’s okay, Koko. If it’s something I need to do.”

“Kotone.”

At my words, Koko made an expression like she didn’t know what to say.

Though Koko usually approved of anything I did, now, the atmosphere was quite different.

“First, let me hear what this is about.”

Mr. Miura nodded and said,

“It’s a murder case.”

“A murder case?”

“Yes. Seventeen murders occurred simultaneously across Tokyo. That’s just what we’ve found; there might be more.”

“…”

I was listening carefully.

Even if they’re murder cases, they might just be coincidental. Tokyo is a big city. There must be hundreds of murders each year.

“They were all killed in the same way. The left wrist was cut. And there…”

His gaze moved to my left wrist.

“That pattern was engraved.”

“…”

“I don’t think they were trying to perform some ritual. That’s… something only you could do anyway.”

“…”

“Not all the victims might be innocent civilians. So you don’t need to make that expression yet.”

“Kotone…”

Koko murmured my name worriedly.

“…So, what do you want me to do?”

“We’ll track these murder cases. And most likely, they’re connected to Kosuzu Kurosawa.”

“…”

This is an incident I’ve never seen in the original work.

But listening to the story, I could feel it.

This incident is definitely closely related to Hyakki Yagyō.

Then why is he trying to call me out? What is Kosuzu trying to gain by doing this?

“…It might seem strange to say this after telling you all this.”

Mr. Miura said.

“Will you come with me?”

“…”

I was silent for a moment, then answered.

“Yes, I’ll go.”

“Kotone…”

Koko called my name with a distressed voice.