Ch.173Chapter 25. Bell (6)

I twisted my body in midair, avoiding the incoming tentacles.

I had no idea by what principle I was floating in the air, or how I could move so freely.

Was it thanks to Koko’s body? Or because I had realized my true identity?

“……”

Kosuzu remained silent.

She had even dropped the polite speech she used when addressing me before, which showed just how desperate she was.

She supposedly had many followers, but none were visible now.

I didn’t think it was because she had fallen so miserably. With Kosuzu, it seemed more plausible that she had sweet-talked people into becoming sacrifices.

No, more likely she had used them to transform her body, whether they wanted it or not.

Kosuzu… was slowly growing larger.

While barely maintaining the form of a human body, she was simultaneously devouring everything around her one by one. Just watching this filled me with a sense of impending crisis.

She was still in the middle of an empty lot, but if she grew any larger, she would surely threaten people. People who couldn’t escape.

Crack!

Electricity began to discharge from Kosuzu’s center. The streetlights shattered and went dark. Just like in movies when they depict an EMP going off, the city’s power was shutting down one by one.

I twisted several strands of my hair together to form a spear.

There was an instinctive sense I gained from using Koko’s body.

It felt like my senses had extended to the very tip of each strand of hair.

The movement of air against my skin felt like being in a water-filled swimming pool.

I turned my body, directing my head toward Kosuzu.

Kosuzu stood below, while I stood in the sky. In that state, our eyes met as we looked at each other.

I stomped on the air.

The energy of my body falling according to Earth’s massive gravitational pull combined with the energy of my forceful forward push, and I shot forward like a bullet.

Kosuzu didn’t remain idle either.

From the moment our eyes met, she had already aimed her tentacles at me.

The tip of each tentacle was as sharp as the spear I had created.

As if forming a net to skewer me midway, Kosuzu thrust those spears toward me, overlapping them haphazardly.

I twisted my body again.

I recalled the sensation from when I was running earlier. The path here hadn’t been without obstacles. Japan’s urban alleys were often narrow and winding, and Koko and I had been running through them effortlessly.

It was in the realm of instinct, something I knew without having to learn.

I dodged the spears extending from all directions as I fell downward. When I was about to lose control from twisting my body too much, I stepped on a tentacle that was approaching me to regain momentum.

“Kuk…!”

Kosuzu clearly had no intention of letting me have my way.

She dodged the tentacle I was trying to step on and created either a bed of sharp thorns or something like a guillotine blade where I had intended to step.

I curled my body into a ball with my back facing downward, then straightened out into a diving position.

“Ah…!”

In front of me was a real “net.”

I didn’t think it was simply meant to catch someone falling from above. This was Kosuzu, who had been taking sharp forms wherever I touched just moments ago. If I got caught there, I’d either be riddled with holes or turned into cubed steak—one of the two.

I probably wouldn’t die.

However.

I remembered how Koko had tried not to lose her form.

…That was probably to preserve the humanity she had developed while living with me. Because I liked that form, and because all the other people Koko liked also preferred that form.

It was the same for me.

Even though I had moved to a different body, I didn’t want to destroy the form that my friends called “Kotone Kurosawa.”

Spin. I turned my body again.

With my feet pointing downward, I split my hair into two parts.

Each bundle of hair became a massive blade.

Shwip. The two massive blades spread apart.

Slash!

“Urgh!”

The blades could cut through the net, but my hair didn’t escape unscathed. I felt a sharp pain, and blood burst from my back.

The spear I had initially created became useless. My hair had been torn.

I moved my body again. I was still falling.

“Kyaak!?”

And then, a scream was heard from below.

It wasn’t from my attack.

Looking down, I could see my hair falling strand by strand. Whether influenced by my floating in the air, the falling hair also seemed unnaturally slow.

Was it because they were parts that had detached from my body? Strangely, each of those thin strands caught my eye.

I didn’t know why the scream had occurred, but I thought I could use this.

When Koko was creating her body, she could easily control flesh that was separated from her body. Then I should be able to do the same.

The floating strands of hair all suddenly stiffened.

Their sharp ends pointed downward, and they all began to fall simultaneously.

My hair pierced the other tentacles that were being swung at me. The tentacles with hair embedded in them momentarily flinched and convulsed. Their aim at me was already disrupted.

I twisted my body sideways to avoid other tentacles and continued falling downward, downward.

The screams kept coming. They were intense enough to make my body tremble. Was it Kosuzu screaming?

…Thinking about it again, it was similar to the scream I had heard in the apartment.

There was no change in Kosuzu’s face.

So, that—

That was probably the sound coming from Kotone’s corpse.

*

“Koko!”

“Yes!”

No matter how physically capable Yuka might be, a human is still human.

She couldn’t have a body as sturdy as Kotone’s or Koko’s. And if her heart stopped, she would die—there was nothing else she could do.

So, the person who should least get hurt here was Yuka.

And the “Nameless” that Yuka carried was a weapon only she could use.

It wasn’t simply because the blood flowing through Koko and Kotone wasn’t human. This sword had been perfected by Yuka’s ancestors as they passed it down, down through generations.

If held by someone else, it would be just an ordinary sword.

‘A sword soaked in blood finally realized itself’

That’s how some described it.

Koko extended her hair to block the tentacles flying toward Yuka. Some were skewered and hung limply downward, while others disappeared without a trace.

After helping Yuka cross over a hole dug by the tentacles, Koko let go of her hand and ran quickly, dealing with the tentacles around Kosuzu.

“……”

Even though she had seen it before, Yuka couldn’t help but be impressed by the sight.

Yuka also ran forward. Following the path Koko had secured, she cut through obstacles with her sword when they approached.

The sensation of a thin piece of metal cutting through flesh wasn’t particularly pleasant. She would rather avoid it if possible.

But Yuka was relieved to see her arm moving.

For now, she was okay.

She wasn’t completely fine yet, but still.

At least she could help Kotone.

She was still a bit afraid to hold the sword, but she couldn’t just stand still here.

Kotone had trusted her and come along.

She dodged an incoming tentacle by lowering her body.

But she kept the sword firmly gripped with both hands, the blade pointing upward.

Warm, unpleasant liquid splashed onto Yuka’s body. She could feel her clothes getting wet, but she didn’t pay attention to it.

Thud!

Whether the tentacle had fallen, Yuka felt the ground beneath her vibrate.

She immediately turned around and sliced a tentacle that was sweeping toward her along the ground. The tentacle, which already had a large wound on its lower part, received another long cut along its side from Yuka’s movement.

She ran quickly, escaping the tentacle’s range.

This also meant she was getting closer to Kosuzu’s embrace.

The sight of tentacles that seemed more fitting for a cephalopod writhing from all directions wasn’t particularly pleasant.

Slash!

Koko fell from above, cutting through the tentacle in front of Yuka, and turned to face her.

Yuka naturally took Koko’s outstretched hand.

In the blink of an eye, Yuka was flying through the sky.

She looked down.

“Koko, let go of my hand!”

“Okay!”

At Yuka’s words, Koko released her hand.

As Yuka fell, Koko’s hair rained down. Though much thinner than the tentacles flying toward Yuka, her hair precisely cut away only the tips of the tentacles—the parts that could harm Yuka—as precisely as a surgeon’s scalpel.

Thud!

“Koko!”

Perhaps judging Koko to be more troublesome than Yuka, a tentacle was swung toward Koko.

Koko hardened her hair to block the attack, but for a moment, she lost the opportunity to protect Yuka.

“Kuk!”

Yuka swung her sword to cut down the incoming tentacle.

But she couldn’t block everything completely.

She felt a hot sensation on her right thigh, side, and shoulder. The tentacle had created numerous hooks like a leaf-cleaning tool and swung them at Yuka, making it impossible to block everything.

But it was still okay. Her body could still move.

Yuka decided not to pay attention to what had cut her and just looked down.

What she needed to cut. What she needed to stab.

The most important among them.

Was there a limit to the number of tentacles?

What Yuka saw was “Kotone.”

Not the Kotone who had flown into the sky moments ago, but the already dead Kotone. The one that might have another god sleeping inside.

“……”

Yuka gritted her teeth.

While bracing for impact, she adjusted her grip on the sword. She somehow maneuvered her body in the air, positioning her legs downward.

Kosuzu seemed to notice Yuka’s movement and hurriedly covered Kotone’s body with a thick tentacle. Like covering one’s private parts with a finger.

But there was no opportunity to aim elsewhere.

The flail-like tentacle was swung at Yuka again, but its hooks were cut off.

A hand touched Yuka’s shoulder.

“Yuka!”

Koko’s voice.

Instead of answering, Yuka gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the sword. Koko’s body blocked the incoming tentacles. Blood splattered everywhere. Yuka had no time to worry whether the liquid drenching her was Koko’s blood or blood from Kosuzu’s tentacles.

“Uaaah!”

With all her might, with all the strength she could muster in midair, Yuka thrust her sword downward.

Thunk.

At first, the sensation in her hand was no different from cutting other tentacles. But beneath that, something harder was caught.

Something like a bone, which would be difficult to exist inside a tentacle modeled after a mollusk.

Without knowing what it was, Yuka thrust her sword in. Koko also gripped the surroundings tightly to add her strength. The pressure on Yuka’s shoulder was increasing.

But this time, she had no intention of letting go of the sword.

As if Yuka and the sword had become one, she could feel exactly what the nameless sword felt.

Like the tip of the sword had become her fingertip, touching something—

“————!”

That’s when the ear-splitting scream was heard.

*

That sensation of time freezing became much more intense.

I felt it expanding from human to non-human. The flow of air against my face gradually dulled and simultaneously grew colder.

The ground’s vibrations that had been pounding also gradually diminished.

As if the movement of sound had stopped, the otherworldly scream was abruptly cut off.

But Kosuzu was still looking at me.

I transformed my hair. I bundled it together to create a massive sword.

As I fell, I rolled my body sideways and slashed with my hair, causing blood and pieces of tentacle flesh to spray in all directions.

Kosuzu and I grew closer.

When we were close enough for her expression to be clearly visible, Kosuzu smiled.

In her outstretched hand was a small bell.

“…Ah!”

Before I could say anything, Kosuzu’s hand moved first.

Jingle.

A clear bell sound that I wouldn’t have expected to hear in this situation.

But I knew that sound couldn’t possibly be positive.

I knew it. As if I had always known.

“Kuk!”

A sudden pain pierced my head.

This isn’t good.

Whatever reason Kosuzu had for using that—

“————!”

The scream was heard again.

“Yuka! Koko!”

And I realized where the sound was coming from.

When I looked in that direction—

The place where Yuka and Koko had been standing was exploding.

Like a special effect from a B-grade movie, the tentacle part where the two had been burst with a bang, sending both of them flying backward.

Fortunately, Koko caught Yuka, and Yuka rolled once before jumping up and readjusting her grip on the sword. Though it pained me to see her bleeding from various parts of her body, I was somewhat relieved to see she was still mentally sound.

Jingle.

The bell sound was heard again. In this extremely quiet world, only that sound echoed.

I fell directly toward Kosuzu, but—

“Keeek!”

I collided with something large that flew rapidly toward me and was sent flying sideways.

After rolling on the ground several times and getting up—

“Haah.”

I sighed deeply.

The being in front of me was a yokai with a monkey’s head.

“…No matter how many times I see it, it doesn’t get old, does it?”

This one wasn’t red as if made of blood.

It was the one Yuka and I had seen in the schoolyard.

Well, it would be a different individual.

…The power to break the boundary between the afterlife and this world.

Well, for a being that’s a god, such an ability wouldn’t be strange.

After all, it’s a being that came from “beyond.”

The monkey let out a strange cry and lunged at me.

But I had no intention of letting it have its way like before.

As I reached toward my hair, it quickly took shape in the air as if weaving embroidery.

What was created was a sword in the same form as the one in my memory.

But its color was pitch black.

When I cut the hair with my fingernail, blood flowed from the end that had been connected to my hair.

The blood that flowed along the black blade dyed the tip red.

Slash.

The front legs of the silkworm that was lunging at me were cut off. The unique cry of an angry monkey tore through my ears, and blood spurted out.

I didn’t pay attention to it.

Though it wasn’t particularly pleasant, I recalled the sensation when Nirlas used my body.

The movement that split the opponent’s head as if dancing.

I couldn’t replicate it exactly, but the sensation itself remained as if engraved in my memory. Was it because it was the movement of the body I had used then?

After that, more yokai poured out.

There were silkworms. There were fire carts, and beings like hungry ghosts.

And there were many other beings with names I didn’t know.

Strangely, they didn’t spread outward. All of them stared at me with bloodshot eyes.

Jingle.

Ah, I see.

It’s because of the bell.

That… is probably the sound that summons yokai from the other world.

The dead and yokai.

Those who have already died, twisted grotesquely for some reason.

“The boundary…”

It was breaking down.

Just as Kosuzu wanted.

I closed my eyes.

And then, I leaped forward with all my might, just like when I was coming here.

Kosuzu swung her tentacles as if she had been watching my movement.

No, they could hardly be called tentacles anymore.

After the tentacle had burst earlier, the part connected to it had slowly begun to mutate.

Beings that seemed to be trying to come out from inside the tentacles, with both hands stretched forward.

It was easy to imagine what place the inside was connected to.

Grotesquely distorted human faces appeared on the surface of the tentacles, and those faces were arranged strangely to form what looked like a larger face.

All those eyes were looking at me.

Were they resentful?

I ran with all my might.

I swung the sword.

Black blood splattered, and screams were heard. My hearing felt like it would be numbed at any moment.

I cut, cut, and cut again.

It’s my fault.

Because I didn’t do things properly, people who shouldn’t have to suffer are suffering.

If that’s the case, I should send them back to the afterlife as quickly as possible.

As I was running with all my might—

“Kotone!”

I heard someone calling me.

It wasn’t heard through my numbed ears, but from much deeper inside, as if shouting directly in my head.

“Koko!”

“Over here!”

My heart beat rapidly at Koko’s shout. As if resonating with Koko’s emotions.

I could sense a faint fear in those emotions.

I seemed to understand why Koko was looking for me.

“———!”

When I jumped toward the sky, numerous human hands burst out from the tentacle I had stepped on and grabbed my legs.

Splash!

I fell forward and my body slammed into the tentacle.

It bit my arm. The “face” part of the tentacle gnawed on my fingers. As if trying to bite them off.

I spread my hair and stabbed all the eyes on that head. Then I twisted—crushing what might or might not be the brain part.

A louder scream was heard. It was loud enough to make my clothes flutter.

When I forcefully stepped down, something burst beneath me.

As I ran toward where Yuka and Koko were, in the direction Koko had mentally indicated—I was struck from above by a tentacle that moved as fast as I did.

“Kuk…!”

My body slammed into the ground, my lungs compressed, and breath was forcibly expelled.

Only after bouncing like a ball and rolling several times on the ground could I get up.

“Kotone!”

I heard Yuka’s terrified shout.

Opening my eyes, I saw Yuka helping me up.

…Well, at least I made it to where I wanted to go.

I thought as I staggered to my feet.