Ch.283If Side Story. Tokyo Slayers: Final Chapter (21)

Yuka’s strange reaction came shortly after Kotone and Harumi Fukuda went to the bathroom.

Yuka, who had been sitting in her seat, suddenly raised her head and looked behind her.

Her expression was frozen stiff.

“Yuka?”

I called out to Yuka as she abruptly stood up, but she was already running with all her might toward whatever she had seen.

“Nanami, just a moment—”

“No!”

As soon as Souta opened his mouth to ask Nanami to look after Shii, Shii shouted.

“Shii, wait.”

Nanami seemed to understand the situation and placed her hand on Shii’s shoulder as she spoke.

In fact, not just Nanami, but Shii also knew what was happening. After all, she was the child who had been threatened by that man-eating yokai. Yuka had saved Shii and Souta back then.

“It could be dangerous if you go.”

“What about my brother?”

Shii responded to Nanami’s words. Receiving Shii’s gaze, which was already becoming slightly tearful, Souta momentarily lost his words.

“My brother will be in danger too.”

Since they were in a crowded place, it was impossible for Shii and Souta’s conversation not to be overheard by those nearby. The surrounding gazes turned toward them.

“Sorry, Shii.”

But even with Shii saying that, Souta had to follow Yuka.

Souta had seen Yuka get injured while fighting yokai several times. He didn’t want to just watch while his friend risked her life.

At the very least, Souta’s blood had the power to make it difficult for yokai to approach.

Above all, he believed that he had never been unhelpful to Yuka so far.

Souta quickly followed after Yuka. She was already running far ahead.

Shii’s voice calling after Souta from behind sounded pitiful.

*

Kurosawa, fortunately, stopped at Yuka’s words.

Souta wasn’t exactly sure what had almost happened.

All he could tell was that one of the men surrounding Yuka and Fukuda was bleeding.

Where Kotone and Fukuda were standing was a side path next to the park, but fortunately, it wasn’t a place they couldn’t escape from. On the other hand, once they were spotted by the men, it would be difficult to leave. If they tried to leave, the men would immediately block their path.

Yuka was embracing Kurosawa’s body.

As if trying to stop whatever Kurosawa was about to do.

There was a thin cut on her arm, and a trickle of blood was flowing as if she had been cut by a razor blade.

“Wait, wait, Kurosawa. You can’t. If you go any further.”

Yuka was saying that while gasping for breath.

Kurosawa turned her expressionless face to look at Yuka.

Yuka took a long breath and said.

“If you kill someone, it’ll be trouble.”

“What?”

One of the men made an irritated sound at those words, but Yuka continued to look at Kurosawa without even turning her gaze toward him.

“…They started it.”

“Yes, I know. They probably did. I’m sure they did.”

Yuka stepped back slightly from Kurosawa, grabbed her shoulders, and turned her body toward herself.

Then, looking straight into her eyes, she said.

“But… still. Kurosawa, you just want to live like us.”

Blink.

Kurosawa’s eyes blinked once at those words.

“You just want to go to school, not be bullied by anyone, live normally, and hang out with friends. Eat something delicious on the way home from school, go out to other places.”

Yuka smiled faintly at Kurosawa as she spoke.

“Some days we go out like today. And after the festival, we’re planning to go on a trip. If you kill someone, you’ll never be able to do any of that.”

Kurosawa stared blankly at Yuka.

“Hey, seems like you don’t understand the situation.”

One of the men stepped forward and said.

“I don’t know what kind of trick you pulled, but did you think you could get away with that kind of stunt?”

Souta stood facing the men who were approaching while saying such things.

Fortunately, the bleeding man at the back wasn’t approaching, and neither were the people next to him. Was it because they had seen Kurosawa’s face directly?

“Let’s go, Kurosawa.”

Yuka said, still not paying any attention to the others.

“We need to go see the fireworks.”

“…”

Kurosawa turned her gaze slightly.

To the side of Yuka, downward.

At the end of that gaze directed at the ground was a goldfish lying on the floor.

The plastic bag was torn apart miserably. Fortunately, the goldfish seemed to have survived the impact somewhat, but fish aren’t creatures that can live outside of water in the first place.

Unable to even flop around, the goldfish’s gills barely moved as if it was just barely clinging to life.

Kurosawa walked past Yuka, past Fukuda who was standing clutching her stomach, and approached the goldfish.

Slowly crouching down, she carefully picked up the plastic bag. There wasn’t much water left in the bag, so it looked quite dangerous in that state.

Kurosawa looked up at Yuka.

“I see.”

Yuka nodded as if she understood Kurosawa’s gesture.

“The fireworks are across the stream. If we get there, that little one might survive.”

“Hey, are you ignoring me when I’m talking to you?”

The man who had been watching the situation with disbelief until then spoke up.

Yuka turned toward the man and said with a disinterested expression.

“If you don’t want to die, you’d better move aside. People’s emotions aren’t something you can control.”

At Yuka’s words, the men looked at each other. The girls standing next to them—ah, these were the ones who had been bullying Kurosawa. Souta finally understood roughly what was happening.

At the sound of laughter that followed, Souta clenched his fist tightly.

“Hey, what are they say—”

The man’s words didn’t finish.

While the man was looking at his companion, Souta had already planted his fist firmly in the man’s face.

He had been training to be of help to Yuka all this time. Although it was just practicing alone in his spare time at home, it was enough to properly land a punch on the face of a man who was off guard.

Looking to the side, Yuka was already planting her fist in another man’s face. As expected, Yuka was strong even without a knife.

His hand hurt terribly, but Souta didn’t stop there. When the others momentarily froze after seeing two men fall to the side in an instant, Souta shouted with all his might.

“Kurosawa, Fukuda! Run!”

Fukuda grabbed one of Kurosawa’s arms and ran as soon as she heard those words. Even in the midst of all this, Kurosawa kept her hands tightly cupped together. The goldfish was in there, after all.

As Fukuda passed by a man who was trying to regain his balance and stand up, she stomped on his foot with all her might. When the man screamed and fell to the side, the rest of his companions finally came to their senses.

The other men, except for the bleeding one, chased after them, shouting.

Fukuda ran very well despite looking like she had been hit somewhere. Kurosawa still had a blank expression as if she didn’t quite understand the situation, but she followed Fukuda well.

At some point, the shouting from behind ceased.

When Souta’s group entered a crowded area, it seemed the pursuers had given up.

But for some reason, the four of them kept running.

No, there was a reason. Kurosawa had a goldfish in her hands. Having been on the ground for quite a while, it was probably in real danger now.

For a brief moment, Souta wondered if it was even okay to release a goldfish into a stream—but somehow, that didn’t seem important to the four of them.

“Brother!?”

When they reached a good spot to watch the fireworks, Shii recognized Souta immediately and ran over.

“Shii!”

“Brother, are you okay!?”

Even while running hard to keep up with Souta, Shii managed to ask.

“Souta, what’s going on? There’s only water over there!”

Nanami caught up a little later and said.

“I know! We need water right now!”

As they pushed through the crowd, there were disgruntled voices from around them. Did it look like Souta’s group was running to get the best spot to watch the fireworks?

“Hey, you kids!”

Someone who looked like a security guard shouted, but by then the children had already rushed past him and approached the riverside.

Pushing through people and moving forward, they reached the railing right next to the river.

“Kurosawa.”

Yuka said, breathing heavily. Kurosawa looked at Yuka, then looked up at Souta.

Souta nodded.

“You want to save it, right?”

Fukuda also spoke. She was still holding her hand near her stomach and had one eye closed, but even while catching her breath, she said that.

Nanami and Shii quickly grabbed the railing and stood there.

“…Yes.”

“Then do what you want.”

At Fukuda’s words, Kurosawa looked at her hands.

The torn plastic bag, the almost non-existent water, and in the middle, a small goldfish lying pitifully, barely breathing.

Kurosawa stared at the goldfish for a while, then gently dropped it toward the river.

Splash.

With a very small sound and a tiny splash, the goldfish sank into the water.

For a brief moment, everyone held their breath and stared at that spot.

After a few seconds, the goldfish’s distinctive red color rose to near the surface.

The goldfish circled around there for a moment, then swam away.

Everyone stood in silence for a while, staring blankly at the retreating figure of the goldfish.

“…It’ll be okay.”

Yuka said to Kurosawa.

“…Yes.”

Kurosawa remained silent for a while as if contemplating her answer, then briefly responded just like that.