Ch.169Chapter 25. Bell (2)

As I opened my eyes, my body trembled violently.

It was incredibly cold.

Even though in my previous life I had lived in a region much further north than Tokyo, and had made a career of going in and out of fires—which made me think cold was better than heat—this was unbearably frigid.

For a brief moment, I wondered if I was inside a freezer or something similar.

It’s not implausible, right? With a hole in my heart, I’d been lying with my eyes closed for quite some time, so being treated as a corpse and placed in a morgue refrigerator wouldn’t be strange.

Even if it wasn’t a morgue… a body that had grown cold after death would probably take a long time to return to its normal temperature.

But looking around after opening my eyes, this didn’t seem to be a morgue.

At least there was space for me to sit up.

It didn’t seem like my body had been taken outside either. If this were a morgue, there should have been lights on, or at least lights in the corridor outside, but the atmosphere here was completely different.

Rather, it felt like—

…a sewer?

There was a pungent odor. Not terribly strong. Just that faint stench that occasionally rises from sewers when walking down an alley on a humid, hot day.

…Wait, was I abandoned?

Is this for real?

No, no. Calm down.

Maybe they just hid my body somewhere. Whether I revived in my original body or awakened in a new one, it would be problematic if others saw me. I could easily imagine government officials wanting my corpse for whatever reason.

While I was briefly pondering how my corpse ended up in a sewer—

Clunk.

With that sound, the top of the sewer opened.

“…Ah.”

And then, a voice of relief.

Surprisingly, the first person whose gaze I met after opening my eyes again was none other than Kagami.

…Or maybe it’s not surprising.

I heard about it from Kuro.

But you know what?

If Yuka or the others had tried to revive me, I would have understood immediately. I probably… would have made a similar choice. Just imagining Yuka or Koko dying makes my heart ache.

But Kagami…?

As I stared blankly up at Kagami, other people began to poke their heads through the hole one by one.

Yamashita, and then Koko.

After a bit more time, Yuka.

“…”

And then, I belatedly realized something and quickly looked down at my body.

I moved my hands to cover myself as best I could.

I mean, couldn’t they have at least left some cloth to cover with—

“…Hic.”

Hearing that sound, I looked up in slight confusion.

…Kagami was crying.

“…”

I’m not sure how to process this situation. To be honest, everything is too sudden for me as well.

Time flows leisurely in the dream world. Kuro and I spent about three weeks there together. According to Kuro, we could have stayed longer ‘if necessary,’ but in the end, I was kicked out like this.

And during those three weeks, Kuro kept secrets from me. Even while I was calming the beasts of the moon.

Without knowing anything, without any mental preparation, I returned to this world.

“Kotone!”

Koko, who had just been peeking her head out, disappeared and then immediately appeared right in front of me.

And hugged me tightly.

So tightly that my neck, where Koko had wrapped her arms, hurt a little.

“…”

It’s warm.

Usually, people become alert from cold sensations, but for me right now, it was the opposite.

My mind, which hadn’t been functioning properly in the freezing cold, started working again after feeling Koko’s body heat.

“Uuu…”

I heard Koko’s crying near my ear.

I remained stiff for a while, unable to say anything, then slowly wrapped my arms around Koko’s back.

Koko was, as always, Koko.

“…”

We stayed like that for a long time.

Until I suddenly remembered again that I wasn’t wearing any clothes.

*

“Kotone, Kotone.”

“Hmm?”

“Do you want to eat this?”

What Koko offered me was chocolate.

Did she save it for me? The chocolate, roughly wrapped in its packaging, was a bit mushy, as if it had been handled many times.

I appreciate that she held onto it, resisting the temptation to eat it herself, but… I’m in the middle of eating a meal right now.

For reference, I wasn’t able to go outside the building.

After giving me just enough time to regain my senses, Kagami quickly brought me inside a room.

“Other people might know about this space itself.”

Certainly, when we used this passage last time, the government was on our trail, so it made sense, but… if they had known, wouldn’t they have stationed people at the passage during that chaos?

Actually, I never properly heard how they tracked us then.

Perhaps they only started tracking us from the moment we emerged from the passage. Assuming they could use satellites and such, they might have been monitoring aerial photographs of the entire area.

Koko was hiding in the mountains, so she would have been much harder to find, and her movements were so fast that intermediate stages wouldn’t even be captured, allowing her to remain hidden until the end.

The time I was dead wasn’t very long, but so much happened during that period that too much information was dumped on me all at once after entering the room.

“I thought I’d never see you again. I’m so glad we can meet again. After our last conversation—”

Yuka spoke disjointedly, rolling her eyes around. Judging by the dark circles under her eyes, Yuka must not have slept much either.

I tried to think of what to say to ease Yuka’s burden, but words didn’t come easily.

Besides, before I could respond, someone else spoke to me.

“Senior, I knew you would come back—”

Shii, with tears welling up in her eyes, had one cheek that was bright red. It wasn’t just from the cold; it was clearly a bruise. Before I could ask who had done that to her—

“…You’re my relative.”

I froze at Yamashita’s words.

Actually, I wasn’t the only one who froze; almost everyone in the room did.

“…Uh, well.”

I had no idea how to respond.

I mean, sure, cousins are cousins. Kosuzu is Yamashita’s mother, and the person designated as my mother here is Kagami.

But the reason I was confused about how to respond was that I had no idea what kind of distance the word “cousin” implied here in Japan.

I had kept my distance from my cousins. We weren’t strangers who never saw each other’s faces, but we usually only met during holidays or family events.

It was always awkward when we met, so we didn’t talk much.

After what happened to my family, we barely kept in touch.

So I had no confidence in whether I should respond warmly to Yamashita or treat him the same as usual.

“Now, now.”

My awkwardness was resolved thanks to Kagami, who seized the opportunity.

“Let’s eat first.”

“…Eat?”

“Yes, we have leftovers from dinner.”

Did they perhaps prepare my portion during dinner and set it aside?

Somehow, I feel like Kagami would have thought of that.

“I—”

“I’m not sure if you’re hungry or not. That body is ‘new,’ after all. But at least I know that Koko loses strength if she doesn’t eat, so I assume it’s the same for you, Kotone.”

“…Oh.”

Has Kagami called me by my original name before?

But before I could ponder that question further,

“Then, I’ll set the table.”

Kagami said that and immediately started moving.

—And so, here we are now.

“Want some?”

Koko was waving the chocolate in front of me.

For some reason, Yuka, who was occupying the same table as me despite not eating, was fidgeting in the corner of my vision.

…Well, it wasn’t just Yuka.

Everyone was watching me eat curry rice with extremely serious expressions.

“…Yes. I’ll enjoy it.”

I accepted the mushy chocolate and carefully placed it on the table.

Some Japanese curry recipes include chocolate, but that doesn’t mean you eat “curry with chocolate.”

“Woah!”

Koko made that sound with an extremely satisfied expression.

Yuka also seemed somewhat relieved.

…I really don’t understand what’s going on.

Even when I kept asking, Kagami just told me to eat first.

She was even wearing an apron over her shrine maiden outfit. Why? Was that her character all along? I don’t think so.

“…”

Well, anyway.

So I ate.

It was delicious.

…Ah, I guess I was hungry after all.

*

Now that I’ve eaten, let’s sort out the situation.

“First of all… thank you.”

Regardless of what Kuro told me, I can’t ignore the sincerity of the people who tried to save me.

From what I’ve heard, it seems there was a huge incident.

Apparently, even this building is currently under government surveillance. At least no one has entered this room, and the curtains are thick enough that there’s no worry about being seen from outside.

As Kuro said in the dream, Kagami responded by preparing another body.

There were two advantages to this.

One was that I could somewhat escape from Nirlas’s constraints.

No one knows yet ‘how much’ I can escape. Theoretically, this body was also obtained through Nirlas.

But at least, Koko hasn’t been directly controlled by Nirlas yet. Among us, I was the only one who had directly conversed with Nirlas.

However, it’s always good to keep the worst possibilities in mind.

The other advantage—

“…You gave that to the government people?”

“I never gave it to them.”

Kagami said with a smile. Her eyes narrowed like the usual Kagami.

In the past, seeing that expression, I would have thought I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

But now I think I understand.

Kagami seemed to be feeling a slight thrill.

“No, wait.”

I pressed my forehead with my hand as I spoke.

“So, that’s… like a nuclear bomb?”

“When I was crying, they just took it on their own.”

I looked down at the floor.

There were stark bloodstains on the floor.

Traces of the fake flesh that Kagami had prepared. There was plenty of meat in the refrigerator. Enough to be in rooms other than this one.

The fact that I could eat a meal after seeing that shows my stomach has become quite strong.

“So, whatever happens to those people, one could say they chose it themselves.”

“…”

What should I say to Kagami?

I thought I should rush there immediately, but somehow felt I shouldn’t say such things here.

Kagami had a slightly different atmosphere than usual.

She always gave a somewhat dangerous impression, but now it was in a completely different sense… though I’m not exactly sure what that “sense” is.

I looked around at the people in the room.

Kagami, Koko, Yuka, Yamashita, Shii.

And apparently, everyone else is outside. For some reason, Mr. Yamashita and Mr. Fukuda also came, and they all seem to have become investigation targets as well.

…Hagiwara, Nakahara, and Sasaki are also here, they say.

Honestly, it’s a bit scary.

Kagami doesn’t seem to have any intention of leaving the room.

I want to talk to others separately, but it seems impossible, which is a bit frustrating. There’s so much I need to discuss individually, not with everyone at once.

Like Yuka, who hasn’t taken her eyes off me since first seeing me awake, or Koko, who refuses to move more than 50 centimeters away from me.

I also had things to discuss with Shii, and with Yamashita as well.

“…Can’t we go outside…?”

“No. Government agents would probably approach as soon as we leave. For now, their attention is focused on that ‘corpse,’ but that doesn’t mean we’re not under surveillance here.”

“…”

“Don’t worry too much.”

As I closed my mouth and sank into thought, Kagami spoke to me again.

With a smiling face.

“When the necessary moment comes, we can escape. I’ve made plans for that. This time, we won’t need to face everyone at once.”

“Escape…?”

“We just talked about it.”

Kagami looked straight at me as she spoke.

“Since you’ve moved to a different body, surely the entity that would occupy that body…”

Seeing everyone’s gaze turn to her, Kagami closed her mouth.

Rather than stopping because she might be caught if she said more, it was more like she deliberately gathered attention and then closed her mouth.

“You…”

I said to Kagami, with a slightly cracked voice.

“You saved me even knowing that?”

“…”

Kagami didn’t give any answer.

She just kept looking at me with that still-puzzling smile.

*

Though there were too many people in the room for very personal conversations, when we talked again, I almost cried.

No, to be honest, I did cry a little.

As soon as Koko saw me, she ran over and hugged me tightly, and afterward, she sat right next to me, smiling and watching me.

I didn’t find it burdensome. In fact, Koko sometimes did this normally. Usually when she wanted something from me.

But now, it doesn’t seem like she’s doing this because she wants something.

Rather… she’s so happy but afraid I might disappear.

The reason was so heartbreaking that I decided to let her be until she got tired of it.

Yuka kept some distance even after seeing me.

When I approached her suddenly, Yuka flinched in surprise.

“Yuka.”

After calling her name, I briefly pondered how to comfort her even a little.

“I…”

But once I started speaking, the rest wouldn’t come out properly, and I fumbled for a while.

To be honest, the shock I received was nothing compared to what Yuka experienced.

I knew I was going to die. Though I didn’t want to die, I wasn’t completely unprepared.

The moment came suddenly, but that was all; in that situation, I could only think that what was coming had come.

It was the same afterward.

I didn’t really have the feeling of… having died?

I had moved to a different world out of nowhere. It was almost similar to when I came to this world.

Plus, I had plenty of time.

Of course, if it wasn’t me who died but my friend, three weeks wouldn’t have been enough to completely heal my mind.

“…”

So I knew that whatever I said wouldn’t be comforting.

“…I’m sorry.”

In the end, that was all I could say.

“…Sorry for what?”

That was the response.

“No, well.”

“Back then, in that situation.”

Yuka looked at me blankly and said,

“I was the one who stabbed you.”

“I…”

I paused for a moment, then,

“Because I didn’t tell you about the prophecy…”

“Who would tell others about such a prophecy about themselves?”

Yuka said.

“…You didn’t do anything wrong. I was the one who stabbed you.”

“Yuka.”

“It was my fault.”

No, it wasn’t.

No matter how I thought about it, it wasn’t Yuka’s fault.

But still.

“…So, let’s stop talking about that.”

“Yuka.”

“…”

Yuka looked at me quietly.

“I…”

This time, Yuka opened her mouth.

For a while, Yuka had an expression like she didn’t know what to say, just as I did when I first spoke.

After moving her lips without words, instead of speaking—

She hugged me tightly.

“…”

Yuka’s arms wrapped firmly around my body.

What should I say to Yuka?

Such concerns just flew away with that embrace.

Yes.

No matter what happened, whether it was anyone’s fault or not.

It’s meaningless to argue about it now.

Because I’m back here.

I just need to focus on how to handle what happens next.

“Sniff.”

I thought it was Yuka sniffling, but thinking again, the direction of the sound was completely different from where Yuka was.

Turning my head, I saw Shii crying.

Trying hard to hold back her sobs.

“…”

Yuka released me.

The area around Yuka’s eyes was red. Perhaps not wanting to show her face to others, she quickly covered it with her hands.

I turned toward Shii.

“Senior.”

Shii said that and then finally wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

Without saying anything, I placed my hand on Shii’s head.

Then Koko approached me with sparkling eyes.

I’m glad Koko is still Koko. Without her, the already heavy atmosphere would have been even heavier.

I patted Koko’s head too.

My vision blurred slightly. It was because of the thin tears forming in my eyes.

I wanted to keep them from flowing, but in the end, I couldn’t hold back.

“…”

And Kagami silently watched me like this.

In the room where the talismans placed when I was unconscious still hadn’t been removed from the floor, we cried like that for a long time.