Ch.272If Side Story. Tokyo Slayers: Final Chapter (10)

Souta thought about searching, but where should he go first?

Naturally, he didn’t think they would be bullying her again in the same place where they’d already been caught. Such places were too easy to get discovered.

Even if those kids weren’t afraid of teachers, Souta seemed to be afraid.

“Sasaki, where are you going?”

Yuka asked as she followed behind, but in truth, Souta couldn’t do much besides walking ahead with a stern expression.

Thinking about it again, Souta didn’t even know where Kotone Kurosawa lived. He only knew the general train direction, but not where to transfer or which way to go from there.

Tokyo is vast, and with trains, you can go anywhere.

Of course, he didn’t think those three would have committed any serious crimes… but considering Kurosawa hadn’t come to school today.

“First, we need to search nearby.”

That’s what Souta said.

The problem was that there were too many places to search even nearby. Minato Ward had countless buildings, and so did the surrounding wards. They couldn’t search every single place.

So, in the end, it was just Souta’s stubbornness.

Yuka looked like she had a lot to say, but then she sighed and said:

“…Alright. Let’s start with places we know.”

“Are you sure?”

“If I said I wasn’t, would you stop looking?”

Souta couldn’t answer that question.

“I know you wouldn’t. You always insist on getting involved, even when I’m fighting.”

“I’m… sorry about that.”

“…No need to apologize. It’s fine as long as things turned out well.”

Yuka replied, turning her gaze away from Souta.

“So, first—”

“Souta—!”

Before Yuka could make her suggestion, Nanami Nakahara called Souta’s name from a distance and came running. Her bright face suggested she didn’t know that Kurosawa hadn’t come to school today.

Waving one hand while running enthusiastically, Nanami noticed someone was missing and stopped.

Or perhaps she sensed something strange about the atmosphere between the two.

“Huh? Where’s Kurosawa?”

“Ah, well…”

Souta explained the situation.

After hearing the story, Nanami’s face showed indignation.

“Those kids…”

“So we’re going to look for her now.”

“I’ll come too.”

Nanami said, placing a hand on her chest.

Yuka considered how much help one more person would be, but she quickly realized that Souta wouldn’t refuse her anyway, and more importantly, Nanami would follow them regardless. She let out a small sigh.

Instead, she gripped the strap of the sword case on her shoulder more tightly.

…Probably nothing serious would happen.

No matter what abilities someone might have, they wouldn’t suddenly cause an incident. Or perhaps there weren’t any “special abilities” to begin with. Maybe Yuka could sense something simply because of Kurosawa’s connection to that family.

Yuka’s uneasiness had only one cause.

That subtle feeling she’d had every time she encountered that girl.

The feeling that she couldn’t get close to her, that she felt sorry for her but couldn’t just pity her.

Walking a little distance behind Souta and Nanami, Yuka mulled over these thoughts.

*

Of course, she wasn’t at the family restaurant.

Souta also checked the alley where Kurosawa had been bullied before, but she wasn’t there either.

To begin with, the family restaurant wasn’t a place where Kurosawa got bullied, and that alley wasn’t somewhere they went regularly—it was just one of countless narrow alleys in Tokyo where they happened to go by chance.

As time passed, he grew more anxious.

It was Souta himself who had told Kurosawa to ask for help. And Kurosawa had asked for help from someone she thought she could rely on.

That person just happened to be Souta.

And perhaps that had provoked the kids who were bullying Kurosawa.

What would those kids, who felt like kings while tormenting one pitiful girl, think after having that pleasure taken away?

He wanted to believe they wouldn’t cross the line, but as time passed, different thoughts began to surface. Such incidents did happen in the world.

And the person who stopped those thoughts was Yuka.

Noticing what kind of thoughts Souta was having from his expression, Yuka tapped his arm.

“Don’t think too deeply about it. It’s not your fault.”

“Yuka.”

“It’s the fault of the bullies, not the person who couldn’t help.”

Souta said nothing in response to Yuka’s words.

I see.

Yuka must have always had to think that way. Even as she traveled around Tokyo looking for clues and exorcising yokai that harmed people, she couldn’t have saved everyone.

There had been a case at Hanakawa High School too. That girl who died when Souta was in his first year.

He’d heard she was a popular girl, enough that the school had been quite gloomy for a while.

And Shii had almost ended up the same way.

In such situations, there was only one way to protect oneself.

Let go of regrets.

That must be what Yuka wanted to say.

“That’s right, Souta. Nothing that serious probably happened.”

Nanami added her own words.

Souta nodded at both of their comments.

“…Just a little, let’s look a little more.”

Even at Souta’s words, Nanami and Yuka nodded without any objection.

*

And after searching for about another hour, the three of them heard something.

“Wait.”

At Yuka’s word, Souta and Nanami stopped walking.

Yuka’s face had hardened. Souta felt that her expression was similar to when she encountered traces of yokai.

But if that were really the case, Yuka would have told Souta to stand back. She would have immediately removed the cloth covering her sword and drawn it.

Yuka didn’t do that.

Instead, she turned and started running.

Souta and Nanami looked at each other, then quickly followed.

When Yuka made up her mind, she could run very fast. That level of training was probably necessary to fight non-human entities.

Fortunately, the streets weren’t too crowded, and Souta and Nanami were barely able to keep up with Yuka as she weaved through pedestrians.

The place Yuka headed to was an alley.

No, it was a narrow path that could barely be called an alley. Just a space between buildings, a dead end with a wall at the far end.

And a little belatedly, Souta could understand why Yuka had started running.

Thud.

Thud.

That kind of sound could be heard.

Though he’d rarely heard it before, it was probably the sound of flesh hitting flesh.

The sound made when someone clenches their fist tightly and hits someone hard.

Goosebumps rose on Souta’s back.

No way.

No way, between them—

“Stop!”

Yuka, running ahead, shouted.

Souta thought he glimpsed a figure beyond Yuka’s shoulder. Someone in a sailor uniform, holding something like cloth. Black cloth, the same color as what she was wearing.

The face beyond was hidden by Yuka’s body.

“Wait, wait, stop.”

Souta found Yuka’s words somewhat puzzling.

If Kurosawa was being beaten, could Yuka have asked so calmly?

Yuka was someone who cared about people around her.

Even if she didn’t particularly like Kurosawa, she wasn’t the type who could think so coldly about someone she’d shared snacks with several times.

Which meant…

Souta managed to stop just in time to avoid colliding with Yuka’s back, but Nanami couldn’t adjust her distance and ended up bumping her face into Souta’s back.

After steadying Nanami, who was staggering backward, he looked ahead again.

There—

Five female students wearing black sailor uniforms, the kind only worn at Hanakawa High School in this area.

Two were lying down. They were bleeding from their faces. Not just from their noses or mouths, but as if their foreheads had been cut open, blood streaming down their faces.

One was being held by the standing girl. Judging by her limp arms, she seemed to have either fainted or given up resisting.

Several thick-bladed box cutters were scattered on the ground.

The girl holding the other by the collar was staring at Yuka with wide eyes. Rather than surprised, she looked like she was glaring.

Her hair seemed to have been dyed blonde, but the color had faded considerably, making it look like an untidy two-tone of black and yellow.

Her skin was a healthy tan as if sunburned, but parts of her face were swollen, giving her a somewhat fierce appearance.

“…Who are you?”

The yellow-haired girl said.

“Are you with them?”

“No.”

Yuka replied immediately.

“We… came because of her.”

The place Yuka pointed to was beyond the two still standing.

Kotone Kurosawa was there.

Standing expressionlessly with her head slightly bowed, quietly observing the two fallen girls.

In that bizarre atmosphere, Souta didn’t know what to say.

“…Ah.”

The girl said that and let go.

Thud.

The girl who had been at the forefront of bullying Kurosawa collapsed to the ground.

“I thought…”

Thud.

And then the yellow-haired girl also sat down on the ground as if collapsing.

She didn’t seem to have… fainted.