Ch.14Chapter 2. Bread and the Heroine (8)

There was a musty smell that you often encounter in damp places.

The house seemed to have been left unorganized for quite some time.

Looking at the furniture inside, most of it was fairly ordinary.

There was a computer, a CRT TV, a futon laid out on the floor, and a chest of drawers and wardrobe. At the very least, it looked more like a place where people lived than where I was staying.

But there was more garbage. Except for the futon spread out in the middle, loosely tied convenience store bags were piled up everywhere, leaving no room to step. It reminded me of a hikikomori’s room I once saw in a documentary.

Mixed with the musty odor was a faint, unpleasant smell that was difficult to describe. Somewhat sweet, but somehow nauseating.

And right in the middle of that dim room was one very suspicious cooler.

“……”

The corpse was found without its head, they said.

There were marks where it had been “eaten” all over, and it seemed the body had been dismembered in an attempt to hide it.

And only after coming all this way did I consider that this case might have nothing to do with yokai.

Perhaps in that cooler—

“Kurosawa.”

Yuka Yuuki grabbed my shoulder from behind.

“This isn’t it.”

I heard Yuuki’s voice.

Right.

Why did I think this way?

It was just an article written by some newspaper reporter. Though there were similarities to the case, there were already contradictions in what I had read.

To begin with, yokai don’t bother hiding human corpses. They have no need to.

So this is—

“…Who are you?”

A sound came from behind us.

Yuuki and I turned around simultaneously.

A man was staring at us with his mouth hanging open.

Thick-rimmed glasses that had slid down to the tip of his nose. An old suit that made him look like a salaryman suffering from daily overtime.

In his right hand was a plastic bag, the kind they give you at convenience stores.

“Who are you?”

Yuuki’s eyes sharpened. She didn’t seem interested in explaining why we were here. Though she wasn’t holding a knife, I wondered if she made this expression when facing yokai she needed to cut down.

I turned around.

Feeling something dripping from my left wrist, I looked down to see blood soaking through the bandage, having exceeded the sanitary pad’s capacity.

“You don’t have much time.”

I heard such a voice.

I lunged toward the man.

“Eek…!”

The man pathetically fell on his backside. His face turned pale.

“What! What is this!”

He was shouting, clearly not understanding the situation.

It was understandable. If he were police, he might have handled it more calmly. But what stood before him now was some crazy woman holding a long knife.

Ironically, the only one in this room who had ever killed someone was this man. Despite standing before a cooler likely containing human remains, Yuuki remained calm, while I charged at someone with a long knife. Amusingly, both of us, so far removed from normal life, had no such experience.

“Wait! Kurosawa!”

Yuuki quickly jumped between the man and me.

My vision was gradually narrowing.

“No. This person… no. This is a human.”

“Haa… haa…”

As I gripped the knife handle with both hands, raising it up, Yuuki tried to persuade me.

“We… are not people who cut down humans.”

“He’s going to kill again.”

“No, that’s not true. We found him. If we hand him over to the police—”

Rustle.

There was a sound from behind Yuuki.

Yuuki, who had been speaking to me, immediately closed her mouth and reacted.

As she turned, she kicked the man’s temple with her heel. The man collapsed sideways and went limp.

After staring at him for a few seconds, Yuuki turned back.

“Kurosawa—”

But before she could continue, my legs gave out first.

“Kurosawa!?”

Yuuki caught me. She slowly lowered me to the floor as I nearly fell backward. She leaned my back against the wall and said:

“Breathe.”

I replied while panting. My vision was narrowing, and my head was buzzing. I’d seen people who had lost a lot of blood before, but this was the first time I’d lost so much myself. Ah, so this is what it feels like.

Yet my consciousness hadn’t shut down completely. People with excessive bleeding usually can’t respond this coherently.

“Breathe?”

“Need to… offer… breath.”

At this point, there was nothing I could do alone. I had acted rashly, but I never expected things to unfold this way.

But it was also true.

Perhaps I would die from blood loss if I didn’t offer that man’s life.

Yuuki thought for a moment.

She probably understood what I meant. Yuuki had grown up in a shrine and did this kind of work. She would know how important promises to the gods are.

After bowing her head briefly, Yuuki suddenly looked up.

“I understand. You need ‘breath,’ right?”

Saying that, Yuuki stood up.

And went to the man.

Ah.

Wait.

I tried to get up, but my legs wouldn’t move.

Yuuki, surely not?

Yuuki picked up the convenience store bag the man had dropped. She turned it upside down, scattering its contents on the floor. Canned goods and cup noodles tumbled out.

And then, that bag—

She held it in front of the man’s mouth.

Even unconscious people breathe, of course. Because they’re alive.

The plastic bag expanded and contracted with the man’s breathing.

Yuuki removed the bag from the man’s mouth just as it inflated.

Then, holding the opening tightly closed, she came to me.

“Here.”

“Huh…?”

As I stared blankly at the empty bag she offered me, Yuuki said:

“I brought breath. What do I do now?”

“Breath…”

Ah, I see.

Yuuki had… acted literally.

“You have a clever friend.”

I heard an amused chuckling in my ear.

“Very good. It was my fault for not being specific, so let’s end this matter here.”

After staring at Yuuki through my eyes with apparent satisfaction, the voice said:

“Please call on me again if you need help.”

With that, it chuckled softly and disappeared.

The strength left my body.

“Kurosawa? Kurosawa!”

The pain in my left arm vanished instantly. I felt something viscous flowing down the back of my neck. The knife I had been holding in my right hand became slippery, then made a splashing sound as it turned into a lump of blood.

Ah, so that’s how it happened.

I think I understand why the sword wasn’t found back then.

“What is this…?”

Yuuki looked somewhat shocked at the sight, but quickly turned her attention back to me.

“It’s over now.”

I said quietly.

“It’s all over.”

“What do you mean ‘it’s over’?”

Yuuki said, putting my right arm over her shoulder.

“Let’s get to somewhere better. Don’t worry about this place. I know someone who can handle it.”

“That’s… good.”

I suppose that makes sense, since they seem to have some agreement with the government.

It’s probably better than having my blood tied to me at a crime scene.

Maintaining my consciousness that seemed about to break at any moment, I walked almost hanging onto Yuuki.

*

What am I doing during Golden Week?

Well, not that talk of holidays and such meant much to me anyway. I was originally someone who worked throughout the weekdays.

I often worked night shifts too. At least students get vacations, right?

With a much clearer vision than before, I stared at an unfamiliar ceiling.

As far as I could remember, I hadn’t lost consciousness. Or perhaps I had fainted without realizing it. Is that the same thing?

Unlike with Miura, there were many people moving around me.

There were many beds next to mine and beyond. Some were empty, some had curtains drawn.

Seeing people shouting and groaning, this must be an emergency room.

As I sat up,

“Just lie down.”

Yuuki said.

But she didn’t force me back down.

Yuuki got up briefly and drew the curtain around the bed.

“They say it’s anemia. The doctor, I mean.”

She said, sitting down in the folding chair next to the bed.

With her legs crossed and arms folded, Yuuki stared at me intently. Whether she was deliberately hiding her emotions or not, no feelings were visible on her face.

“They were very suspicious about how you had blood all over your body but not a single wound. They thought you might have been vomiting blood and wanted to examine you, but you kept your mouth shut tight. Remember?”

Was that so?

I didn’t remember at all.

“That.”

Yuuki pointed above my bed.

There hung something I’d often seen while working.

A blood pack.

“They say it was dangerous.”

“……”

I lowered my gaze again.

“And you might have to stay in the hospital throughout the holiday. Did you know you’re malnourished?”

…….

I thought that would be fine since I was an avatar created by foreign media.

Yuuki ran her hand over her face.

“…You said you live with your mother, right?”

I had nothing to say to that question either. Those documents were probably just “created” for show. That way, officials wouldn’t bother a minor living alone in the middle of Tokyo.

After thinking briefly, I nodded.

“That man… was arrested by the police. He won’t hurt anyone anymore. We won’t know the details until later, but they only found one body so far.”

And even that would be small enough to fit in a cooler.

“I have many questions,”

Yuuki said.

“But it doesn’t seem right to keep interrogating someone who’s sick, does it?”

I looked up at the blood pack again. Thinking about the red liquid inside being blood made it somewhat unsettling. Maybe because this was my first time receiving a transfusion.

“Do you belong to any organization?”

Yuuki asked, looking at me.

I shook my head.

Probably… not. Unless there’s some cult group here that worships me.

“Good, then.”

Yuuki unfolded her arms, placed her hands on her knees, took a deep breath, and exhaled with a “whoo” before saying:

“How about making an official contract with us?”

“…I.”

Originally, this was an offer meant for the protagonist.

Of course, they didn’t call the protagonist as a combatant. Rather, they called her as a blood donor. Apparently, talismans written in blood are more effective. Plus, the protagonist’s blood is harmful to yokai.

So the right thing would have been to refuse this offer.

“20,000 yen per case.”

“……”

Originally, that is.

“Meals provided when needed.”

“I’ll do it.”

There was no reason to refuse if they were offering food.

“You really are weak for food, aren’t you?”

Yuuki said incredulously.

“Well, given your physical condition, I guess you couldn’t help it.”

Saying that, Yuuki rummaged through a shopping bag beside the bed. Actually, I hadn’t even noticed it was there until Yuuki bent down to look through it.

What Yuuki pulled out was a box wrapped in a cloth.

“Then, consider this your first employee benefit.”

Saying that, she placed it on my lap.

I silently unwrapped the cloth. It was tied in a way that made it easy to untie.

Inside was a wooden box.

There was nothing written on it.

“Open it.”

At Yuuki’s urging, I carefully opened the box.

Inside was— rice.

Snow-white rice with several meat side dishes. All seemed to be grilled meat. In one compartment of the divided wooden box was Japanese miso soup.

“Hungry?”

“……”

After admiring the contents of the lunchbox for a moment, I picked up the wooden chopsticks that were also in the wrapping cloth.

“…Thank you for the meal.”

Yuuki nodded.

The lunchbox was… truly delicious.

The shrine’s employee benefits were excellent.

*

The good thing about being hospitalized was, first of all, that the bed was quite nice.

Well, objectively speaking, a hospital bed probably isn’t that expensive, but it was at least better than just laying a futon on the bare floor.

I even used my blanket to wrap my sword, and then discarded it in front of that apartment.

The thought of going home and sleeping without a blanket already made me feel a bit gloomy.

Secondly, in the hospital, meals were served three times a day without fail.

Moreover, for some reason, Japanese hospital food was incredibly delicious. I’m not just saying that—they regularly served grilled fish and meat. It felt more like home cooking than hospital food.

Of course, the seasoning was much milder than restaurant food, but that was fine.

For a moment, I thought I’d like to just live in the hospital.

Yuuki’s family also came to visit. In a way, this was natural. They had hired me as an employee and agreed to cover my hospital expenses.

Ah, what kind people.

“Yokai hunting doesn’t happen that often.”

Yuuki’s grandfather said.

“So you can do other part-time jobs in your spare time.”

“…Thank you.”

That was good news too.

While 20,000 yen per case was a lot of money, those jobs wouldn’t come regularly. There might be many weeks without any. In the novel, after the main story volume, each subsequent volume was a collection of short stories covering events that happened over two or three months.

So if the story follows the original, yokai hunting would happen about seven times a year.

Excluding major incidents like the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons in the latter part of the story, there wouldn’t be that many money-making opportunities.

It seemed I didn’t need to stay at the shrine, so I decided to continue living in my current home.

“…By the way, isn’t your mother… coming to visit?”

After the grandfather, Yuuki’s father also visited once.

Yuuki was there too, but since we didn’t have much to talk about between us, Yuuki’s father probably chose that question, but—

Well, to create my “mother,” I’d have to cut my wrist again.

And the wound would remain open as long as she maintained her form.

It would be better for my health to just say I was abandoned.

I couldn’t afford to lose more blood just when my nutritional state was improving.

“I’m sorry.”

When I didn’t say anything, Yuuki’s father slightly bowed his head.

Anyway, I didn’t spend the entire Golden Week in the hospital.

After receiving blood transfusions and eating regular meals, my complexion improved greatly, and the doctor said I could be discharged.

It was natural since I didn’t have a single wound on my body.

Yuuki came to the hospital on the day of my discharge too.

“Will you be okay on your own?”

After taking me all the way to my home in Saitama, Yuuki asked that.

“I’ll be fine now.”

“…From now on, call me first when you’re going to work on something. Then we’ll discuss it and go together. Your… tracking ability is amazing, but going alone could have gotten you into serious trouble.”

Not to mention not being able to distinguish between yokai and humans.

This was a problem because I had asked the questioner too hastily and skipped over details.

“Well… see you after the holiday.”

Yuuki said, waving her hand.

“…Yeah. Take care.”

At my response, Yuuki nodded and turned around.

Her ponytail swayed gently as she walked away without any hesitation.

I watched her back for a long time.

…The last time I saw her, she pretended to leave but then followed me again.

Sighing deeply, I went back into my home—

—and was hit by the smell of rot.

The blood I had spilled… seemed to have caused some unpleasant effects.

It was on the floor, the futon, even on textbooks, and also on the bathroom tiles and entrance floor.

“…I want to go back to the hospital.”

I muttered, staring blankly at the ceiling.

*

“Kurosawa!”

I waved to Miura, who greeted me with a smile.

Seeing Miura’s face made me feel relieved. It was really over now. Nothing would happen to Miura for a while.

At least, regarding yokai.

If we could just get through the large-scale incident that breaks out in the latter part, that is.

Seeing me, Miura rummaged through her bag and pulled something out.

“Here!”

What Miura handed me was a palm-sized box. On the box was written “Haginotsuki (萩の月).”

“It’s a specialty from Sendai. I just thought of you. It’s a cream bun with custard wrapped in thin castella cake.”

Goodness, a cream bun. And a cream bun wrapped in castella cake at that!

“…I’ll enjoy it.”

When I said that with a somewhat solemn expression, Miura nodded with a broad smile.

She really is a good kid.

Someone who can share food with others can’t be a bad person.

I put the box in my bag without opening it.

I’ll eat it at lunch.

*

“Oh? A different bread today.”

Today I went straight to the rooftop without stopping by the school store. I didn’t need to buy bread.

Oh, by the way, I had sent Yuuki an email in advance.

It wasn’t like we had specifically arranged to meet, but since we went to the school store together every day before coming up here.

Somehow I felt she would wait if I didn’t say anything first.

“Here, eat this too.”

Saying that, Yuuki passed me a bread.

A melon bread!

“I went to the school store early today. Despite how I look, I have good stamina.”

She seems to have bought the same bread for herself.

Sitting next to me, Yuuki opened her package.

“By the way, what’s that?”

“A gift from a friend. Haginotsuki. A Sendai specialty, she said.”

I opened the box and took out the bread.

The bread, wrapped once more in a plastic bag inside… was beautiful. Though it probably only looked beautiful to my eyes. Objectively, it looked like a steamed bun-shaped castella.

I tore open the bag, took out the bread, and split it in two.

It was filled to the brim with custard cream.

Ah, it looks really delicious.

After hesitating briefly, I offered half to Yuuki.

“Hm? For me?”

“…Yeah.”

“Your hand is trembling.”

So take it quickly. Before I change my mind.

But Yuuki waved her hand.

“It’s okay. It’s a gift you received, right? You should eat it all.”

Ah, is that so?

Thinking about it that way, it did seem right.

Without hesitation, I pulled that piece back and took a bite.

“…Delicious.”

“I bet. I should look for it if I ever go to Sendai.”

Yuuki said, biting into her melon bread.

*

Usually in these kinds of novels, characters living this kind of life often don’t understand normal people’s feelings, but Yuuki wasn’t like that.

Except for the work she did, Yuuki’s sensibilities weren’t much different from those of a high school girl.

So she had enough common sense not to bring up the topic of a cannibalistic murderer during a meal.

“…He testified that he ‘loved’ them.”

“Yes. He said he ate them out of love. To be together forever. Apparently, he claims he ate someone who was already dead. No one believes him, of course. He tried to hide the body to destroy evidence, right? That human couldn’t even do that properly.”

“…Stupid.”

“Stupid?”

Yuuki looked at me with a slightly surprised expression at my assessment.

That’s right. It’s stupid.

“When you eat something, it gets digested.”

“……”

Yuuki was momentarily speechless, but I was serious.

Sometimes in novels, there are guys who act like romantics saying they “ate someone they loved too much to be with them forever,” but that’s clearly nonsense.

Did they sleep through elementary school science class?

Organic matter that enters the human body is broken down into energy and consumed, so it doesn’t permanently remain in the body.

And what remains after being used becomes feces.

Do they want to turn their loved ones into poop?

Taxidermy is the same. They remove all the contents and just roughly make the outer appearance look similar to when the person was alive, so it’s no different from a figurine.

Cremating someone and carrying their ashes around is the same. Isn’t it ridiculous to think a person’s soul resides in bone fragments? The most important part that forms a person’s personality is concentrated in the brain.

“What about the parts that become part of your body? Isn’t that being together to some extent?”

“…Cells eventually die. They get replaced with new ones.”

Each cell has its own lifespan. Cells that don’t follow this rule become cancer cells. If we’re being precise, brain cells do last a lifetime, but that’s only meaningful when brain cells are still growing; after they’re fully developed, it doesn’t matter much.

Elementary school students don’t eat someone because they love them too much, do they?

Over time, the cells that make up the body are replaced with new cells, and dead cells are discharged as waste. Don’t they teach this in science class?

As I was getting irritated at the thought of being in that situation because of such a person, Yuuki suddenly asked:

“Then how should one keep a loved one by their side forever?”

“…Huh?”

“I mean, if someone wants to keep a loved one by their side forever, what should they do?”

She didn’t seem to be defending the criminal. Perhaps Yuuki had lost someone she loved? Come to think of it, there was no mother in that house.

“…There’s no such way.”

I answered.

“No way?”

“No.”

I said again.

“…If they’ve gone first, you just have to accept it and let them go. Because there’s no way.”

It was a terribly difficult thing to do. I had experienced it myself.

But what can you do?

“…I suppose so.”

Yuuki replied to my words.