Ch.175Chapter 26. Mirror (12)

“Koko.”

I called out to Koko.

First, I sat her back down and examined her body.

“Kotone…”

Koko’s voice was weak. There were still holes in her chest and stomach. Just as my hands were still rough like an unfinished 3D printer result that hadn’t properly healed, Koko’s body was barely holding together.

I could feel her heartbeat slowing down.

No.

“Kotone…!?”

When I put my hand into that empty space in Koko, she was startled. She tried to push me away, stretching out her arm, but unfortunately, she had no strength.

I sacrificed my slowly healing hand.

Not just my hand. Filling the empty body properly required a lot of flesh.

Perhaps I could have filled it with Koko’s arms or legs. But… somehow I didn’t want to do that.

By the time Koko had recovered enough to move somewhat, I had almost no left arm remaining.

“Uu… Kotone…”

Koko’s eyes welled up with tears.

I looked down at my stubby left arm, then grabbed it firmly with my right hand.

The flesh from my left arm transferred to the right, becoming a “proper” right hand. My left arm was simply gone. I thought this would be better. Having both sides half-formed wouldn’t help anyway.

“…”

Yuka, who had been staring at the scene with her mouth open, finally came to her senses.

“Now what do we do?”

Screams could still be heard.

We had barely plugged the “biggest hole,” but it seemed Nirlas’s power had been almost completely absorbed by Kosuzu. The tentacles were still filled with wailing dead.

The sight of Yuka swinging her knife as if dusting off clothes, bursting the dead that were slowly rising from the ground, was… so natural it seemed even more bizarre.

Right. What should we do?

That was the situation. Like defeating a boss in phase 1 with low health, but with many phases still remaining.

And another try was impossible.

Really, if there is a god, it would be nice if they gave more proper abilities.

It seems my “Nyarlathotep power” and “Koko power” are completely separate. While I could fly or levitate objects with divine power, transforming and utilizing my body was an entirely different realm.

“…”

Wait.

Watching Koko get up and fend off the dead, I suddenly looked at my missing left arm.

If fighting by “consuming” the body is the issue—naturally, having “more” body would solve it.

There are still several refrigerators in the apartment.

And each of those refrigerators was full of those amorphous chunks of flesh.

…Why didn’t I think to bring them?

Well, I know the answer. I just… wanted to maintain my appearance. Even though I knew my body had changed and was originally amorphous.

I looked down.

There was what had once been me, having completely lost my form. Already, hands slowly emerging from below were dragging those remains into the tentacles.

“…Alright.”

“Kotone?”

Yuka turned to look at me.

I can’t let these children die. I wanted to show my appearance—but not at the cost of my friends’ lives.

That would be completely backward.

After all, the reason I want to maintain my appearance is—because I want to stay this way in front of my friends.

I’m not just talking about appearance.

I’ve been feeling it since the moment I received Koko’s body, but the something that connects us seems to be more than just “Koko” alone.

A bit deeper inside, there were things that seemed like they shouldn’t be touched, writhing around.

Right, they said one was torn into many and born.

Then, among those “many,” there might be things that aren’t “Koko.” Kagami could only guess, but I could tell.

So, if I just lump everything together, I might not be able to remain myself.

That instinctive fear.

And I was also constantly curious.

Why was Koko like that, and why am I like this? We were all “failures” anyway.

Why could Koko absorb all her flesh, and even absorb other humans nearby when she was born, yet didn’t absorb me when she attacked me in that form?

Why is Koko so devoted to me just because I helped her a little?

“…”

If “many are one,” then those many must be lumped together to be “complete.”

The reason we appeared to be failures might be because we’re separated like this.

If so.

“Yuka, Koko. Protect me for a moment.”

“Okay!”

“Alright.”

At my words, life returned a little to both their faces.

They were certain I had found a solution. That’s how much they trusted me.

Then I should live up to that trust.

I could only hope that the ability I received from that nameless, dull god would be effective.

*

Jingle.

The bell sound rang.

Yuu had come forward and was slowly ringing the bell.

It shouldn’t ring too quickly. If it did, too many monsters would gather and they wouldn’t be able to “hold them off.”

But if it rang too slowly, the monsters would devour everyone.

The area around the apartment was now in chaos with nameless yokai.

Shortly after Koko, Yuka, and Kotone left, the lights in the surrounding area began to go out.

Far away, where buildings stretched endlessly, lights began to go out one by one, and darkness quickly reached them.

And then came distant screams.

Yuu had come forward to ring the bell after discussing with the children.

The three had left to protect people. So those who remained concluded they should help in their own way.

How could they help “protect”?

After monsters began pouring in, Yuu remembered that the bell he was holding attracted monsters.

And so, this is what happened.

They placed talismans that Kagami had left all around the apartment, and like a siege, periodically rang the bell from within that barrier.

The monsters that had been sniffing around for human scent all turned their heads toward the bell sound whenever Yuu rang it.

It was a bit chilling to see monsters filling the area as far as the eye could see all turning their heads at once.

Far away, the sight of monsters following the bell sound, filling the streets from something that had risen high enough to be visible from here, reminded him of an old painting.

Where had it emerged from? Strangely, an image appeared in Yuu’s mind.

A horribly open hole that somehow resembled a human.

And cracks spreading across the ground.

Those cracks looked less like they had been split or cut, and more like they had been scattered and spilled.

…He had seen something like that before. Monsters rising from Kotone’s bloodstains.

“…”

Standing awkwardly on the apartment roof, Yuu slowly rang the bell.

He concentrated. To draw the nature of the connected monsters toward him.

Whoosh.

Monsters that carelessly approached too close burst into flames from the talismans.

Souta, bleeding, swung a stick covered in his blood. Beside him, Nanami and Shii did the same.

Monsters that burned at the barrier and came through crumbled under the sticks wielded by those three.

Ryohei was one of them, and of course Hagiwara was also running around busily. Her sword was also covered in red blood.

No one knew when the situation would end.

They were just mechanically dealing with the pouring monsters with bodies that felt like they would collapse from exhaustion.

Then—

Boom.

Yuu’s concentration while ringing the bell wavered slightly.

Something was rumbling. The ground had trembled a bit earlier too, but it hadn’t had much impact here, so they had been somewhat relieved.

“…Ah.”

Yuu thought of one possibility.

…Wouldn’t Kotone have bled inside the house too?

He thought there wouldn’t be a big problem because of the barrier, but maybe that wasn’t the case.

Yuu hurriedly ran toward the stairs leading down from the roof and shouted.

“Everyone—”

Before he could say “be careful!”

Bang!

Such a sound came from inside the apartment,

Rip, rip—

Like something tearing.

And then.

An ear-splitting scream was heard.

Bang, bang, bang.

All the doors except for the room where Kotone had stayed, the room where Kotone’s revival ritual had taken place, and the room where someone else had lived, burst open.

“Eek!?”

“Shii!”

Souta quickly pulled his sister Shii, who happened to be near one of those doors. Thanks to him, Shii’s body didn’t hit the large wooden door, but…

“Shii, are you okay!?”

“Ah, I-I’m—”

“You’re hurt.”

Nanami quickly ran over and grabbed Shii’s arm.

There was a long cut with blood flowing from it.

But it was a bit different from an injury caused by hitting a door.

A long, thin cut as if something had scratched her.

“Souta, you too.”

And Souta had a similar injury.

The blood from both of them was flowing away from the apartment building. In the direction that “thing” that had brushed past them had gone.

“What is that…?”

Ryohei muttered.

A huge mass of flesh was flying toward the sky. Screaming horribly while tinged with blue flames.

It was a much more hideous form than the monsters filling the streets, which looked like many people tangled together.

Bang!

It slammed into the ground.

It writhed, overturning everything in the street—cars, utility poles—as if wanting to put out the fire.

And it crushed the monsters beneath it, setting them on fire.

“———!”

With an otherworldly scream, it bounced up toward the sky—and simply disappeared.

“…”

For a few seconds, the group stared with their mouths open before finally coming to their senses.

Yuu began ringing the bell again.

There was no time to figure out what that was.

—More precisely, all the people who could identify it had already left.

*

“…What is that now.”

Fukuda muttered blankly.

Something was flying toward them, tracing a blue trajectory. It was moving too fast to identify exactly what it was, and in an instant, it had already crashed hard into the tentacles.

The massive thing that had been crawling toward Kagami, shaking the ground, spewed blood. Blue flames seemed to be spreading a little.

Screams were heard again.

“…”

Kagami, who had been watching this, put the mirror in his chest and began running toward it with all his might.

“Hey, Kagami-san—!”

“Go!”

Kagami’s shout was heard.

“…”

Fukuda, who had been blankly watching Kagami’s back, sighed deeply.

Then he turned the handlebars of the motorcycle he was riding.

“Kagami-san.”

Fukuda said, pulling up beside the running Kagami.

“Get on.”

“…”

Fukuda sighed deeply at Kagami’s gaze.

“If Kagami-san isn’t here, wouldn’t the world end or something?”

“…”

“I’d like my daughter to survive, if possible.”

Was it because of that word “daughter”?

Kagami finally got on the back of the motorcycle.

There was no change in his expression, but somehow his feelings seemed understandable.

“I’ll take you as far as I can. After that, I don’t know what will happen.”

Fukuda shouted as he drove the motorcycle forward.

*

“Yuka.”

“…”

“Yuka.”

I knew the situation was urgent, but I had something to tell her.

Strength was continuously draining from my body. It didn’t seem to be just because I had consumed one arm.

I had already overexerted my body to the point of exhaustion, and above all, this ability didn’t seem to come without a price.

Really, if there is a god, I wish they’d give a more godlike, overpowered ability.

“Kotone?”

Yuka was startled to see me staggering and sitting down.

I swung my arm to shake off the things trying to grab my body.

And in an almost prostrate position on the ground, I spoke with a cracked voice.

“Something is about to happen.”

Probably, from that moment on, I would no longer be myself.

Since this is a world where the author twisted the names of Cthulhu mythos gods as they pleased, I couldn’t know exactly what name it would be.

But one thing was certain.

I would truly become “chaos.”

I would become a messenger conveying the will of a god.

Even at this moment, something was enveloping my head, like water leaking from a cracked wall.

Yes, this ability indeed did not come without a price.

I tried to maintain my rationality as much as possible as I spoke.

“Protect Koko.”

“Kotone!?”

Yuka shouted urgently.

“And if—”

Gasping for breath, I tried my best to finish what I wanted to say.

“If, listen carefully, Yuka. This time you need to be certain.”

I forcibly raised my head.

What would my body look like now?

Would it be responding to what was coming… to that nameless thing that Kagami had “sealed”?

“This time, it’s my will.”

I felt my body gradually losing its form.

Lying prostrate was my own form of rebellion. In fact, I felt like I might float into the air, just like earlier.

Ha, it’s doing a good job of pulling at my ankles. Not that I intend to be dragged into the tentacles.

“So.”

Yuka’s expression was full of questions.

She seemed unable to properly comprehend what I was saying.

“Please.”

With those final words—

“———!”

A sound rang out.

Yuka and I looked up at the sky.

Blue flames were erupting there.

And a giant tentacle was being pierced and cut by another tentacle. Burning blood flew toward us.

I shook off the wrist that was holding my ankle.

The blood seeping into my socks felt unpleasant.

Slowly, my body floated up into the sky.

“Wait, wait, Kotone! What do you mean? What request!?”

“Kotone!?”

Koko shouted, looking up at me.

As if sensing something bad, she reached out toward me, but unfortunately, she lacked the strength to catch me as I rose rapidly.

“…”

Yes.

That’s right.

I’m not giving up. I will struggle to live until the very end.

As Yuka said.

But still.

I didn’t want my friends to die.

I wanted those kids to have more time.

Until the very last moment, just to be happy.

Overcoming adversity, shaking off fear, like true protagonists.

Blue rain poured from the sky.

I collapsed my body.

My arms and legs became mushy. Just like when I first saw Koko, they spread out widely as if crushed by weight.

That body blocked the rain like an umbrella.

The flames from the rain set my body on fire.

There was no pain.

It felt almost warm, as if this was exactly how it should be.

My body burned blue.

Just like that “other body” up above.

“Kotone!”

Who was calling me? The one shouting with a hoarse voice—

Without even thinking, it must be both of them.

I couldn’t see because I had no eyes.

Slowly, I felt the sounds fading.

After that, all I could feel was touch.

Even without ears, I could hear whispering.

It sounds like praying.

Tracing back through eons, the wisdom of countless beings that existed on this Earth overlaid my wisdom, and secrets as vast as mountain ranges covered my insignificant secrets.

My senses expanded.

What was once a small human, slowly, greatly.

Not just a mass of flesh, but like nature itself—

No, beyond nature, like something that is itself a “nature.”

*

How could a shapeless mass of flesh appear divine?

That form with arms and legs sprouting randomly everywhere could not be called a god even as a courtesy.

It stretched and transformed its body into a blade, stabbing at what was extending endlessly into the sky.

“———!”

The scream of something no longer of this world could be heard.

Something was breaking.

The frozen time was breaking. Something beyond space—

“Kotone! Kotone—!”

With a body on the verge of fainting, Koko frantically called Kotone’s name.

Yuka quickly ran and grabbed that body slowly floating upward. She held it tightly from behind to prevent it from escaping.

“Let go! Kotone, Kotone is!”

“Koko, please…!”

Yuka still didn’t understand the situation.

What was happening now.

What had become of Kotone.

What that blue giant up there was.

Nothing made sense.

But still, she gritted her teeth.

And protected Koko. To prevent Koko from joining there—

…At least, she had to fulfill Kotone’s request.

The dead wailed.

All those with hands were covering their ears.

Covering their eyes, covering their mouths.

As if afraid of its very presence here, they tried to hide themselves.

The things that had been trying to cross over were now struggling to go back inside the tentacles.

“…”

Yuka cried.

Not even knowing why she was crying. She just sobbed uncontrollably.

Just because it felt like she should.