Ch.398IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (95)

I was glad that Kagami wasn’t nearby.

It wasn’t just because I was in danger.

This body, fundamentally, can handle rough treatment without major issues. Even if I get injured to some extent, I heal quickly.

…….

I remembered what I had seen earlier, that thing with my head.

Kagami took me and ran away. That woman is chasing me.

If this place was a trap, and if that woman was the one who spread information to the government.

I had some doubts about whether Kagami really gave birth to me. Kagami was too young when she took me and ran away. During my childhood, Kagami was almost always a teenager. Isn’t that too young to actually give birth to someone?

I can’t deny that I resemble Kagami, but if she were my much older sister, it wouldn’t be that strange.

If that woman wanted to create something, and I was her successful creation. Then those flesh lumps inside could be called failures—

Such thoughts flew away as soon as I hit the ground. I managed to land on my feet. But even so, pain is pain, and that pain made it very clear that I shouldn’t be thinking about other things right now.

The height of one floor of a low apartment building. How much impact did it have on my legs? Were my bones cracked or broken? At least I could move, and seeing that Yuka, who jumped down before me, was fine, it probably wasn’t a big problem. It would heal quickly.

I drew my knife.

Even before I cut my own hand, the scent of blood was already in the air. Several people had collapsed. They seemed to have tried their best to avoid it, and although no one appeared dead, they were bleeding. Behind cars, near buildings, they were trying to hide or get as far away as possible.

“…Who are you?”

That was Yuka’s voice.

At first glance, Yuka was pointing her sword at a woman who looked very similar to Kagami, while holding what appeared to be an ordinary Japanese sword.

My breathing quickened slightly. My back tingled. No, not just my back, but my entire body.

That woman was my trauma incarnate.

Every time she appeared, my daily life shattered. It wasn’t exactly a normal life to begin with, but whenever I found something I wanted to protect, she would appear.

I gripped my knife tightly.

“Yuka.”

“Kotone, that guy?”

“He’s inside. He seems a bit scared.”

“…I still don’t understand what’s going on, but I guess it’s related to that woman.”

Yuka paused briefly.

She must have things she wants to say. Many questions she wants to ask.

Why that woman resembles my mother.

What relationship I have with that woman.

Unfortunately, there’s almost nothing I can answer. Yuka seemed to notice this, or perhaps she just thought we needed to resolve this situation first, so she let it go for now.

“…Flesh lumps.”

There were slime-like things nearby.

I hadn’t seen them when that woman was chasing me.

At that time, something invisible—

Just then, my back tingled.

Slash.

Yuka quickly swung her sword and struck it down. Cut by the blade in mid-air, it splattered blood.

A strange cry was heard.

“Oh my.”

The woman in the distance let out a voice mixed with laughter.

“You’re quite trained? I see your years of wielding a sword since childhood have paid off.”

“You know me?”

Yuka asked. But she didn’t seem to let her guard down.

That’s natural. The “Kurosawa family” seems to be somewhat famous in these circles. Then the Yuuki family would be the same. Yuka has been slaying yokai since childhood, and her grandfather and father would have been doing the same long before that.

Yuka’s mother also died doing similar work. If the other side is an entity that controls yokai, they would know Yuka’s name.

“I do know, but that’s not important right now. I came to meet that child.”

The woman looked at me.

Yuka stepped forward.

But the woman paid little attention to her and spoke directly to me.

“Come, Kotone.”

With her arms wide open.

“Will you come to your mother?”

“…”

I frowned.

“Do you really think I’d fall for that?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

The woman said.

“What if the one who took you and ran away is the fake? What if I’m the one who gave birth to you, and that woman is the fake?”

…No.

What makes her think I would believe that?

Whether she really gave birth to me or not isn’t important. As she says, I might have been created by her hands.

But, regardless of that.

Children don’t have “memories of being born” anyway. For a child, the best parent is simply the one who feeds them well, puts them to bed properly, and dresses them warmly.

If they also pour out love, then that person is the real mother.

There are cases where people of different races, or those who learn they were adopted when they’re older, want to find their biological parents.

But that’s only when the parents are completely different people. Ironically, this woman isn’t that different from Kagami. So her claim is even less credible. It’s a claim anyone who looks similar to me could make.

“Hmph.”

Even Yuka snorted at such shallow nonsense.

“Well, if you thought that way, you couldn’t have escaped like that back then. Putting something sharp against your own neck and telling someone to run away, how pitiful and fragile.”

“…”

I stared at the woman.

“You can’t do that now?”

“I can’t.”

Yuka glanced at me in surprise, but the woman stated firmly.

“Now, you have too much to lose, don’t you? Isn’t your life too precious to throw away?”

“…So you were just waiting for me to become happy?”

“Let me make a proposal.”

The woman spoke again.

“If you become my daughter, I won’t touch the rest of your daily life. The only one who disappears will be you. Kagami might find new love and start a family, and your friends might just live happily.”

“…”

“You won’t be completely unhappy either. You’ll just be continuing the Kurosawa family legacy. Though it’s not my place to say as the head of the family, the Kurosawa family is by no means a poor existence. Many would want to follow you. Ah, yes.”

The woman put her hand to her mouth and smiled.

“Rather, in such a position, you might be able to protect Kagami, whom you consider your mother, with your own hands?”

“Are you joking right now?”

“It’s not a joke—”

“If that were possible, why would Kagami have taken me and run away?”

If the Kurosawa family had been a normal family, if I had been born normally, if Kagami hadn’t been abused within it.

Kagami would never have taken me and run away.

She wouldn’t have struggled so much. She wouldn’t have tried to protect me while giving up her own life.

This isn’t just some common speculation. It’s something I know from the image of Kagami I’ve seen over all those years.

Something that couldn’t be an act, something I could know because we’ve shared our entire lives together.

“…”

The woman closed her mouth at my words.

Then, with her hand on her chin, she pondered for a moment before smiling brightly.

“Well, I suppose you’re right.”

Is she trying to provoke me?

I seriously considered it.

“But, well, that’s enough.”

“What do you mean—”

“I figured you wouldn’t listen anyway. I don’t know if my sister has the ability to brainwash you, but you love Kagami enough to throw away your life, don’t you?”

“Sister?”

“If I was stalling for time to make necessary preparations, what couldn’t I prepare?”

“…!”

Yuka reacted first.

“Kotone, duck!”

At Yuka’s words, I quickly lowered my head. Swoosh. I heard something passing over me. Yuka swung her sword, and blood splattered. Splat. This time I clearly heard the sound of a lump of flesh falling to the ground.

Ah, right.

Damn flesh lumps.

The ones that were all over that house— Well, they certainly looked less than human.

“Besides, there’s a reason I called you here specifically.”

The woman who claimed to be Kagami’s older sister spoke in a sing-song voice as she approached us.

“I wonder if you’ve seen the flesh inside.”

“You—”

“Have you greeted them? The beings that could be called your older sisters. Or should I say older ‘sisters’?”

“…”

I had been thinking about it.

But hearing it directly.

Yuka turned to me with a somewhat bewildered expression—

I grabbed Yuka’s arm and quickly pulled her down.

Stab.

A burning pain shot through my arm.

“Honestly, they’re monsters without any intelligence, aren’t they? They were useless. I told them to bear the child of a god, but they only produced garbage that even I could make. But still, they have a use in places like this. Right? If you need some extra hands without worrying about prying eyes—”

But those words were cut off midway.

The smile faded slightly from the woman’s face.

Stab.

There was a sound like something being pierced.

Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I instinctively turned to look.

There— oh.

Several slimes were hanging on the second-floor railing like laundry. Of course, there were also laundry clip-like things holding them in place.

No, should I call them laundry “pins”? Or laundry “spears”?

Whatever they were, they were skewered on something black and pointed.

And at the end of that black, pointed thing— was my face.

Below the face, there was a school uniform that seemed to be trying to imitate my body, melting sloppily, and over it was something like a raincoat. Like an AI awkwardly imitating a human, it had a strangely realistic texture yet was attached in a completely unrealistic way, which was very unsettling.

But, separate from how unsettling it looked.

“Woah?”

The sound uttered by the “head” that had draped that flesh-made uniform over the railing was somewhat cute.

…I see. You already knew your flesh was in the refrigerator. There was also hair to use instead of hands.

And the barrier-like thing that was drawn, Yuka and I had broken it.

My head looked down at the woman.

Perhaps because its body had definitely grown larger than before.

That head didn’t look scared at all.