Ch.266If Side Story. Tokyo Slayers: Final Chapter (4)

It seemed that Yuka had no intention of leaving that girl alone.

Whether it was out of sympathy or one of Yuka’s occasional “preventive measures,” she brought the girl along.

Though she didn’t explicitly tell Souta to follow, he trailed behind them. Nanami naturally followed Souta, and Yuka didn’t stop her either.

By now, they had been involved in several incidents. They had seen yokai directly and been chased by people with strange religious beliefs. When they cooperated with Hagiwara, they had even been helpful to Yuka.

Perhaps because of that, Yuka wasn’t completely cold to Nanami anymore.

Not that she was particularly warm either.

It was only when Yuka was leading the girl out that Souta could see her eyes again.

And suddenly he realized. Those eyes visible between her hair were a dark reddish color.

Why hadn’t he noticed yesterday? Perhaps it was because of the situation.

Red eyes aren’t—it’s a bit awkward to say this—a common eye color. So Souta couldn’t understand how he and Yuka, who were in the neighboring class, could have been unaware of this girl’s existence, or why there hadn’t been any rumors about her until now.

If she had been in the neighboring class last year too, wouldn’t they have run into her in the hallway?

“Souta, Souta.”

Nanami, walking beside him, gently grabbed his arm.

“Who is she?”

“You don’t know either?”

“Well… I guess saying ‘because she’s in a different class’ sounds a bit strange?”

Nanami was a girl with many friends in other classes. If that girl were an ordinary student, rumors would certainly have reached her ears.

Had the bullies been hiding her? In the classroom earlier, there hadn’t been any other bullies besides those three, but it was hard to know the full situation.

Then again, rumors sometimes don’t reach completely different social circles. Even within the same class, you might only hear by chance that someone is dating someone else months after it started.

“So, who is she?”

“…Actually, we don’t know each other’s names yet.”

“You were staring at her without even knowing her name?”

Nanami’s gaze sharpened. Indeed, watching a girl through a window probably looked strange in many ways.

“There’s a story behind it.”

Could he tell that story?

Souta thought seriously about it, then shook his head.

He didn’t think a bullied girl would want others to know about her being bullied.

Though he hadn’t properly spoken with her yet.

Seeing Souta’s expression, Nanami didn’t press further, but she still maintained a somewhat wary look.

*

The place Yuka took the girl was a family restaurant.

She deliberately chose a secluded corner where there were hardly any people.

After hesitating briefly, Souta decided to join their table. Yuka didn’t explicitly tell him whether he could or couldn’t, but she rarely got angry when Souta acted on his own initiative.

“Rarely” meant it had happened before, but at least not this time.

When Nanami sat down across from Souta, Yuka gave her an incredulous look, but again, she didn’t say anything to her either.

“……”

The girl Yuka had forced to sit down just sat there with a blank expression. Her gaze was directed at Yuka sitting across from her, but her eyes didn’t seem to be looking at anything.

Yuka quietly observed her for a while.

During that time, a waiter came over with menus. Either not noticing the subtle atmosphere or not caring about it, the waiter’s expression didn’t change much.

Yuka ordered some french fries and four drinks, then went back to quietly looking at the girl in front of her.

“What’s your name?”

Yuka asked again.

Nanami, sitting next to the girl, also looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression.

No matter what, they had come all this way together, so there should have been some response, but it was strange that she hadn’t said a word so far.

“……”

Seeing that the girl wasn’t saying anything, Souta leaned forward slightly.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. We just want to talk with you.”

Souta hadn’t actually planned to bring her this far, but since they were already here, there was no choice but to speak like this.

Right now, Yuka was almost glaring at the girl, and Nanami’s face was full of suspicion.

So he thought maybe she was too scared to respond.

Since she was being bullied. Whether she would respond to a gentle voice or not was uncertain.

Those red eyes turned toward Souta. And her head tilted slightly to the side.

Was that a questioning tilt?

“…Kurosawa.”

“Kurosawa?”

Hearing the girl’s words, Yuka murmured the name as if tasting it. Then she tilted her head.

Souta already trusted Yuka quite a bit. Naturally, when you owe someone your life several times, such trust develops.

So he thought there must be meaning in her reaction… but Kurosawa wasn’t such a strange or rare surname. There were even several famous people with that name. Like film directors.

Yuka also seemed unsure based on just that information.

“Your first name?”

Souta asked again gently. Nanami’s gaze moved back and forth between Souta and the girl.

“……”

The girl stared at Souta quietly again, then answered softly.

“Kotone.”

Kotone Kurosawa.

Neither her surname nor her first name was particularly special. Both were fairly common names. Like the other three people here.

Souta looked at Yuka sitting beside him.

Yuka was lost in thought for a while, then picked up a french fry from the plate that the waiter had brought in the meantime and put it in her mouth. Then, pushing the tray slightly toward the girl, she asked:

“Where do you live? Around here?”

Yuka asked.

Had she started to lower her guard since looking at Souta? Or did she realize there was no malice in the gesture of offering food? The girl looked at Yuka again.

“Around…?”

Her tone suggested she was asking what the word meant, but Souta didn’t think that was the case.

Maybe she wasn’t sure if she lived nearby or not?

Depending on the person, “nearby” could mean “within walking distance.” If it’s within a 30-minute walk, you could just walk to school.

On the other hand, some people might consider “15 minutes by subway” as nearby. But in that case, walking would take quite a long time. If that’s what she was thinking about, specific questions would be needed for specific answers.

Yuka seemed to have made the same judgment, as she furrowed her brow.

If the other person could speak more normally, Yuka wouldn’t need to ask questions like this game of twenty questions, but she couldn’t be too aggressive with a girl who was being bullied at school.

“What are you two doing?”

Nanami asked incredulously.

“Why are you asking such things to a girl you just met? Are you planning to follow her home or something?”

“If necessary.”

Yuka said, sitting with her arms crossed.

Kotone Kurosawa’s gaze dropped.

This time, she stared down at the french fries as if seeing them for the first time. Even though she had just seen Yuka eating them, she seemed unable to grasp that they were food.

…I wonder how she spends her lunch breaks? If she went to the school store or cafeteria, Souta might have noticed her. Though he didn’t know every student’s name, he would likely remember faces he saw at the same time every day.

Though he didn’t go to the school cafeteria every day.

“Why exactly? Is it because of that feeling again?”

“……”

Yuka’s gaze shifted to Nanami.

“Okay, I can understand in other cases. Like when you deliberately go into some strange alley and encounter weird people, or when you suddenly enter somewhere and find bodies strewn about. But bringing along a completely different person like this seems a bit much, don’t you think?”

Yuka’s brow furrowed.

“And each time, you saw that there was danger lurking. I resolved it.”

“So you’re trying to ‘resolve’ this girl too? ‘If necessary?'”

At those words, Souta looked at Yuka in surprise.

When Yuka talks about “resolving,” it usually means exorcism.

And that exorcism was done with a blade.

“…I’m not saying she’s like that.”

Yuka said, somewhat defensively. Perhaps she had noticed Souta’s gaze.

“I just want to check something.”