Ch.61Chapter 10. Mirror (1)

# “What’s going on here?”

Naturally, Yuka asked me once again what on earth was going on.

The two of us had stepped outside the house for a moment. We hadn’t gone far—just sitting side by side in front of the door, having a brief conversation.

In my opinion, Koko was still a child who couldn’t properly speak Japanese. Even if she understood anything, it would probably be just fragments—about the same level of comprehension as a cat or dog.

I don’t think it’s an intelligence issue. No, more precisely, I can’t judge whether there’s an intelligence problem right now. I only just met Koko on Monday. Spending Tuesday and Wednesday with her isn’t enough for a complete assessment.

Besides, I’m not an expert.

However, Yuka seemed to think Koko shouldn’t hear our conversation. She appeared concerned that Koko might understand and get hurt.

I chose my words carefully.

“…Last time.”

As I slowly formed each word, Yuka nodded solemnly.

She seemed to think I was forcing myself to talk about something difficult.

“…I told you there was another ghost in this house.”

“Yes.”

That’s… quite a definitive answer, isn’t it?

Well, at this point, I was beyond being scared of ghosts or whatever. Still, hearing a confirmation made it somewhat frightening.

“So I did some research about the house on my own.”

“And?”

“This house…”

I looked up.

I could see the roof covering the corridor.

“This apartment belongs to my mother.”

“…”

Yuka covered her mouth with both hands.

I slowly continued speaking to her.

How far would Kagami play along? Would she explode if I made her out to be too much of a villain?

She seemed to enjoy the situation in a strange way whenever I met her, but honestly, I didn’t think she’d let this one slide so easily.

No matter how I look at it, I acted too thoughtlessly.

…

No, thinking about it again, I feel extremely wronged.

I had no idea Koko’s body would be in this house. I was just curious if a ghost might be living in the empty room. More precisely, I was curious whether it was truly empty.

If there had been a ghost, I would have either asked Yuka for help or found some exorcism method myself. Or maybe I would have just accepted it and lived with it.

But who could have expected that opening a door where snoring sounds came from would reveal an actual nose?

And not just any nose, but a huge one crawling on the wall.

But then again, it circles back to being my fault. I should have either accepted that there might be a ghost and lived with it, or emptied my bank account and found another place.

…

Well, there’s no point in arguing about it now.

“She was in one of the empty rooms.”

“Alone?”

“…Yes.”

Yuka closed her mouth and seemed to be contemplating something.

I wasn’t sure what she was thinking about, but I was certain her imagination wasn’t painting a picture of a normal childhood.

“Then what about food?”

“Huh?”

“Even if she’s alone in a room, she needs to eat.”

“…”

I thought for a moment.

“Someone… seemed to bring her food.”

“…Was it your mother?”

“…”

I kept my mouth shut.

Kagami, I didn’t say anything this time, did I?

Even if Yuka imagined it herself, I didn’t make her do so. So at least for this, I’m not at fault.

“What about clothes?”

“…”

It’s better to remain silent than to speak and reveal contradictions.

And strictly speaking, Koko didn’t have clothes. She was just a nose. The pieces of flesh in the refrigerator weren’t clothes, though they were wrapped in plastic.

“…”

Yuka covered her mouth with her hand.

Tears welled up in her eyes again.

It felt like someone was stabbing my heart with a needle. I felt like a terrible person.

No, I am a terrible person. I’m telling quite a serious lie to my friend.

Though if I didn’t lie, I’d have to tell her outright how serious the situation was, which would be troublesome in its own way.

“Like when you were first in the house?”

“…”

I nodded.

Actually, it was better than when I was alone. At least she was wrapped in plastic in the room. I didn’t even have a blanket.

…

But then again, I wasn’t dismembered and stored in a refrigerator.

Come to think of it, that would be colder.

“How could that person—”

Yuka started to speak but stopped, watching my reaction.

I considered telling her to continue, but chose to say nothing.

Kagami was probably already cursing me internally; I didn’t want to encourage Yuka to speak ill of her out loud.

Considering Kagami’s position, she certainly wasn’t on the side of good, but still… there’s a certain human decency, isn’t there?

“—Okay, I understand.”

Yuka nodded and said that.

“I’ll help you for now.”

“…Huh?”

I was a bit taken aback by Yuka’s words.

“No, it’s fine.”

As soon as I answered, Yuka’s eyebrows rose in an “I’m angry” angle.

“You have to go to work tomorrow. Will it be okay to leave Koko and that cat—”

“His name is Kuro.”

“—Kuro alone in the house?”

She should be old enough to be fine. If she was born before me, she’d be about the same age. Or maybe about ten years older.

“…”

But Koko’s current state wasn’t really okay.

Yuka probably saw Koko as… a child with disabilities. That made sense. Seeing a teenage girl eating cat food would naturally make anyone think there was some mental issue.

“I’ll help tomorrow. Tonight I’m just here to sleep, so it’s fine.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

I asked worriedly.

Had Yuka ever taken care of a child? I hadn’t heard about her exact family relationships, but from what I’d seen so far, Yuka seemed to be an only child.

“Don’t worry too much! I also…”

She started to say something, but realizing she didn’t have relevant experience, Yuka vaguely concluded,

“…am confident!”

That was all she said.

…

Well, I don’t have experience either.

I’ve taken care of my younger sister, but she was smarter than me.

I nodded for now.

I couldn’t leave her with Yuka for the entire vacation, but I was grateful if she could buy me time for a day.

“Okay. Let’s go back inside.”

Yuka said that and stood up energetically.

She grabbed the doorknob, then suddenly seemed to remember something and asked me:

“By the way, did you give her the name Koko?”

“…Don’t know her name.”

Yuka smiled at my answer.

“Did you take it from your own name?”

No.

I just called her Koko because she was a “ko” (nose).

Of course, there was no need to explain to Yuka, a Japanese person, that I took the name from Korean.

Besides, Yuka’s guess made more sense. Who would name their sister after a body part?

“It’s a cute name.”

When I nodded, Yuka nodded and said that.

I could only nod with a reddened face.

When we opened the door, Koko was—

“No!”

…trying to open another pack of cat food.

Yuka and I shouted simultaneously as we entered the house.

Could it be that the problem was that the first food I gave her was cat food?

“Meow meow!”

Looking at Koko making a half-hearted cat imitation, I rubbed my face.

…Surely she won’t start imitating cat ears or tails later?

That would be creepy, even for a light novel. Damn.

*

Still, Koko didn’t act as wildly as I had feared.

Koko seemed to cause trouble mainly when she was “alone.”

When we were nearby, she usually showed interest in us. Watching her act like an ordinary, clueless animal was cute.

It was cute, but…

You shouldn’t live like an animal…

“Are you sure it’s okay?”

The next day, in the afternoon.

When I asked Yuka, she nodded.

“It’s fine. She’s much more well-behaved than I expected.”

“…”

Well, that’s true, but.

Koko wasn’t completely fearless around people. Basically, she seemed to avoid people.

I say “seemed to” because I don’t know how many humans Koko has seen.

I’m someone who gave Koko food.

And Yuka is also someone who gave Koko food.

Koko seems to definitely follow people who feed her, so she follows two people.

She probably wouldn’t follow other people, like the man next door, or people from the cult. She only raided the man’s refrigerator when he wasn’t there, and the cult people cut up her flesh and sealed it in the refrigerator.

That’s also why I don’t call Kagami. I can’t imagine how Koko would react if she saw Kagami.

What if she turned into some indescribable monster and attacked Kagami?

“Call me if there’s any problem.”

Of course, there’s not much I could do immediately even if she called.

Even if I got permission from my boss and rushed home, it would take an hour and a half to get here. I could save about 30 minutes by taking the bus, but it would still take about an hour and ten minutes.

“Okay. I’ll contact you.”

Yuka answered energetically.

She seemed to be acting that way deliberately to keep me from worrying.

But Yuka no longer showed the emotional side she had yesterday.

Yesterday, her eyes would get teary whenever Koko acted too animal-like or childish, but not anymore.

“…I’m sorry.”

“I’m the one who offered to do this. You have no reason to be sorry.”

Yuka smiled and answered my words.

…So kind!

She’s really too kind.

I often felt this while reading the novel, but seeing it in person makes it feel much stronger.

Okay, let’s accept her kindness for now. I’ll repay her somehow later.

And… I need to think of a solution while working.

Is there a kindergarten-like place that could take care of a child like Koko? Or a welfare center? Something like that?

…

This is overwhelming.

After saying goodbye to Yuka, I sighed several times while walking to the station.

Despite having bought some time, I couldn’t come up with any proper ideas by the time I reached the station.

*

And it was only after seeing Shii at work that I remembered I had forgotten an important promise.

“Senior Kurosawa?”

Seeing me clutching my head and crouching on the floor, Shii crouched down beside me in panic.

“Wh-what’s wrong? Does your head hurt? I have some medicine with me, would you like some?”

So she carries things like that.

Well, in the story, she would casually pull out bandages or ointments from her bag. This was also related to Shii’s past. It was both part of her act as the perfect little sister and because she had been in situations where she had to take care of herself when injured.

“…No, I’m fine.”

I answered like that and thought for a moment.

Shii had already invited me to go to the beach.

And I had accepted on the condition that I could bring a friend. Naturally, the person I would bring was Yuka.

The reason I wanted to go was because I thought Yuka should follow the main story.

And I wanted to see firsthand if anything changed.

But now I had acquired something like a family member.

Holding my throbbing head, I finally stood up.

“Are you really okay? Should I tell the manager?”

The manager is sitting right there. He was even looking this way when I was crouching down holding my head. There’s probably no need to tell him separately.

“…Shii.”

“Yes.”

“…About going to the beach together.”

“Ah… yes.”

Shii’s expression became a bit worried.

Was she afraid I might refuse? That I might say I couldn’t go anymore.

Well… that would make sense to some extent. A major problem had arisen.

However—

“Would it be okay if I brought one more person from my side?”

Shii, who had been looking at me with a very worried expression, blinked once.

My heart pounded as I watched Shii staring at me silently for a while.

Is this too much to ask? Originally, Shii was going to go with her brother, and I somehow ended up joining them. She probably invited me to somehow keep in check the other heroines going with Sasaki, but now the problem had grown.

But my worry seemed unfounded.

Shii placed her hand on her chest and let out a sigh of relief, as if thinking that this would reduce the time her brother spent with those two girls.

“That might be okay. But I think I should know who this person is that wants to come along…”

“Well…”

I thought for a moment and then said.

“My sister.”

Blink.

Shii’s eyes blinked once.

“Your sister?”

“Yes.”

“You have a sister?”

I considered again.

How should I answer this?

But thinking about it, I don’t think I ever told Shii about my siblings.

“Yes.”

So I decided to brazenly push forward.

“My younger sister.”

“Oh…”

The reaction is quite subtle.

“I’m sorry. I just assumed you were an only child…”

“No, that’s understandable.”

I started moving my feet. Shii followed me into the changing room. There was still no one inside.

“…She looks just like me.”

“Is that so?”

Shii tilted her head.

Maybe I should have taken a picture?

“But she’s… a bit childish in some ways.”

I spoke somewhat vaguely.

Sorry, Shii.

No matter what, leaving Koko alone at home while going on a trip doesn’t seem right.

And if I don’t go, Yuka would lose her reason to join the trip.

“If she resembles you, she must be a wonderful person!”

She was fairly wonderful, except for the part where she liked cat food and made my heart drop to the mantle when she tilted her head while watching Kuro use the cat toilet.

She listens well.

It’s just that she can’t remember things.

I wanted to rub my face, but doing so in front of Shii seemed inappropriate.

So instead, I took off my top.

The feeling of the fabric brushing against my face gave me somewhat of a face-rubbing sensation.

Though in the opposite direction.

*

If I had a family, would this be how I felt returning home?

Hmm.

No, it definitely wouldn’t be like this. There would be no overlap in emotions except for “urgency.”

After finishing dinner with Shii, I hurried to the station, anxiously waited for the train, and finally made it home.

Today I took the bus instead of walking. I’m glad I researched it beforehand. Thanks to that, I could get home quickly without having to walk 30 minutes.

As soon as I got off the bus, I walked as fast as I could back home, ran up the stairs, and flung the door open.

And I felt something strange.

What was strange? Ah, the door being open was strange.

Even though someone was inside, and even though it was daytime, isn’t it strange to leave the door open? I don’t just mean it was unlocked. The door was literally slightly ajar.

And the house was strangely quiet.

Feeling my heart pounding, I rushed into the house without even thinking about taking off my shoes.

And.

“…Oh my.”

I ran into the person who would currently rank at the top of my “people I don’t want to meet” list.

Kagami, who was standing at the entrance and almost collided with me, alternately looked at me who had just entered, Yuka who was standing in front of her as if blocking her way, and Koko who was behind Yuka.

Then.

“…Huh?”

Oh.

This is bad.

Kagami is tilting her head with an expression that says “I really don’t understand anything.”

Of course, Kagami was good at acting, so this could also be an act… but we hadn’t discussed anything beforehand!

With one hand on her cheek, looking alternately at me and Koko with a helpless expression—it was completely different from how Kagami “acted” in front of others.

“Now you’ve seen it, right?”

I don’t know what conversation they were having, but Yuka spoke to Kagami with a very fierce expression.

“Are you still going to deny it?”

“…”

Kagami stared at me.

“…”

I stared back at Kagami.

What should I do about this?

Holding the doorknob, I seriously considered turning around and running away.