Ch.67Chapter 10. Mirror (7)

Despite saying he wasn’t interested in hitting women, the man took a punch to the face and hunched his upper body forward.

“Ugh!?”

Yes, that must hurt.

While Hagiwara had never committed murder, she worked hunting beings far more dangerous than humans.

If asked whether fighting a tiger or a human is more dangerous, fighting a tiger is much more dangerous unless the human is armed with a gun.

The problem was attacking someone who could skin a tiger with just a knife.

I don’t know where in that body she could generate such strength, but that’s beside the point.

The issue wasn’t that a fight had broken out.

Well, the fight breaking out was the cause, but…

“Wha?”

Koko was watching the situation with wide eyes.

The reason I’d made a good impression on Koko was because I gave her food during our first meeting. Koko used to be terrified of people, only searching for food when no one was around.

She’d finally learned to distinguish between humans who threatened her and those who didn’t.

And none of our group would harm Koko. They didn’t even realize she wasn’t human.

But now we’d gotten into an argument with some people, and it had escalated into a fight.

“Koko. Wait. It’s okay.”

I grabbed Koko’s shoulder and shook it gently.

“Okay?”

“It’s okay. No one’s going to get hurt—”

While I was speaking, I felt a pain in my head and my vision suddenly tilted upward.

For a moment I didn’t understand what happened, but someone had grabbed my hair from behind and pulled.

Whether they did it deliberately to drag me into the fight or just grabbed something while falling, I’m not sure.

But that action had only one result.

My hair was pulled backward, and naturally I didn’t have enough strength to support a man’s weight, so my head tilted back and I fell backward.

“Kotone?”

Koko was looking at me with wide eyes.

My hand fell from her shoulder—

“Koko, no!”

“Ahhh!?”

Just as I shouted, the force pulling my hair disappeared with a scream.

I collapsed onto the sandy beach. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt too much since the ground was just sand.

My back felt damp. Not just from sweat. Something more sticky—a sensation of liquid I often felt.

I quickly sat up and ran my hand through my hair.

Red liquid stuck thickly to my fingers.

Everyone was frozen, staring at me.

Meanwhile, I looked at Koko.

Koko didn’t seem to have “moved” her body.

No, that’s not right.

Koko’s body is… literally just a body. Since her form moves freely, parts of it appear as fur or “hair.”

I’m not sure how much Koko’s body can transform. But even with what she can do…

“Wh-what? What was that!?”

I looked behind me.

The man was clutching his hand.

Red blood was streaming down from it.

He had cuts all over his hand like paper cuts from turning pages too quickly. None of the wounds looked particularly large. But rather than the kind of unimaginable injuries like losing an arm or leg, these numerous small cuts somehow looked more painful.

Though they did seem to be bleeding more than typical paper cuts.

…At least nothing was severed. I was relieved about that much.

“…”

I looked toward Koko.

The hair tie that had bound the ends of her hair like mine had fallen to the ground, torn in half.

For now… for now.

Hospital.

I quickly searched through the dropped plastic bag for a ziplock bag containing my wallet and phone.

I took out my phone and dialed 119.

I could hear the man wailing in agony.

*

After the situation where blood was finally shed, we weren’t in the mood to continue enjoying ourselves.

The police did come, but they heard from witnesses that the men had started the argument, and more importantly, people were more impressed by how the man had grabbed my hair and pulled me down than by Souta throwing a punch.

When the police saw Koko’s condition, their expressions became even more serious.

“N-no… no, I didn’t know!”

…I watched somewhat emptily as the two were taken to the police station.

Of course, no razor blades or anything similar were found nearby. Blood had gotten on me, but the cause remained unknown. The police probably thought the man had stupidly scraped himself on a rock or something—

Well. No matter how much you scrape against a rock, you don’t get such clean cuts.

Except for a few larger wounds, the cuts on the man’s hand wouldn’t leave significant scars. At least that’s what I wanted to believe.

We returned to our room for now.

The ice cream had melted by the time the situation was over, and none of us felt like eating, so we just brought it back to the hotel room and left it.

No, more importantly, I needed to deal with the current situation.

Wanting to calm down a bit, I returned to our room with Koko and Yuka Yuuki.

All three of us were still in our swimsuits. We hadn’t changed clothes since entering the room.

“…Koko.”

Yuuki was the first to speak.

“Koko, is she possibly…?”

I nodded to Yuuki. She covered her mouth slightly with her hand.

From the beginning, I had introduced Koko as my twin, so Yuuki already knew she was connected to the social group like me.

Now she would also know that Koko could use suspicious abilities similar to mine.

…And that we were both treated as failures. In some ways, Koko was treated much worse than me, but I didn’t feel the need to explain that.

Whether Koko had human blood mixed in or not, I had no intention of killing or abandoning her now. I’d grown attached to her while living together. Even though it hadn’t been a full month, having two other breathing beings in my room was a much greater comfort than I’d expected.

Besides, Koko is kind. She listens to me well. She just hasn’t been properly educated yet.

However Yuuki interpreted my attitude, she sat down heavily in a chair in the room. She continued watching us both with her hands still covering her mouth.

She had several misconceptions, but she didn’t seem particularly concerned about Koko injuring someone’s body.

Well, blood was spilled, but the responders said it wasn’t a serious injury.

“…”

After collecting my thoughts a bit, I sat facing Koko and stared at her.

Koko had been watching me for some time, so she’d learned to read my expressions to some extent. That’s why Koko’s expression now was very tense.

“…Koko.”

“Kotone.”

“You shouldn’t do that to people.”

“Why?”

That’s right. Why?

I thought for a moment.

The reason itself is simple. Because it’s agreed upon as wrong. Even if the other person started the argument, killing them is problematic.

Once you cross one line, it becomes easier to cross lines drawn even lower next time. After repeating this several times, your moral framework eventually collapses.

When that happens to ordinary people, they eventually face retribution from someone—whether an individual or the state system. It might not apply equally to everyone, but we weren’t in a position to be exceptions.

And even Koko might be in danger.

This country had people like Miura’s father, and such people formed organizations.

At least Yuuki didn’t seem to treat Koko as non-human right now, but who knows what would happen if the same thing repeated several times.

“…It makes me sad.”

Summarizing all that, I told Koko:

“Today that was… dangerous.”

“Dangerous?”

“If you’d made a mistake, his hand could have been cut off.”

Fortunately, I shouted quickly and Koko was startled into controlling her strength, but otherwise that hand would have been sliced into pieces like McDonald’s french fries. If that had happened, the police couldn’t have concluded it was just “scraped on a rock.”

“Then, people might… try to take you away.”

I took Koko’s hand.

“So, next time, don’t do that. I can protect you, but hurting other people…”

Koko stared at me silently.

Did she understand?

“Yes.”

“Do you understand?”

“Yes!”

Seeing Koko answer like that, I exhaled.

Was it too hasty to bring her out already?

No, but this was something we would have had to face eventually. Maybe it’s better to experience it this way now.

If they were the group I saw in that light novel, they were actually hunting with that purpose in mind.

In the novel, they left after being beaten by the girls and Souta, but their dialogue was much more explicit. If our conversation had continued, we probably would have heard much rougher and more direct language.

“…You must. Keep your promise?”

Watching Koko nodding her head up and down, I somewhat awkwardly opened my arms and hugged her.

“Wha!”

Koko shouted happily.

Indeed, I can understand why Yuuki was touching Koko’s cheeks like that. They’re warm and soft.

“…Sniff.”

Hearing a sniffling sound behind me, I turned to see Yuuki looking at me with tears welling in her eyes.

…

Well…

I don’t know what to say to her.

I sighed softly and scratched my head.

*

The morning ended up passing like that.

We all gathered in the room, silently watching TV and eating leftover snacks from yesterday.

Hagiwara looked like she had tons of questions but couldn’t quite bring herself to ask them.

Even after our conversation yesterday, I still seemed to make her uncomfortable.

Shii, Sasaki, and Nakahara were… almost like ordinary people. Among the three, Sasaki’s blood was like a special remedy for catching yokai, but in this world, I was the only one who knew that fact.

The three didn’t understand exactly what had happened. They probably thought the same as the police. Something seemed strange, but since they couldn’t logically explain the strange parts, they just relied on reality to make sense of it.

It couldn’t be helped. How many people in the world truly believe in the existence of yokai?

…Still, after a few hours like this, the atmosphere stabilized enough that we felt like going out again—

“…There are a lot of clouds in the sky.”

About an hour before lunchtime, clouds rapidly began covering the sky.

The sky had been clearly blue this morning, and I hadn’t expected clouds to cover it like this.

“I wonder if it’s going to rain?”

Nakahara said with a worried expression.

“…”

I silently looked up at the sky.

Soon there would probably be breaking news on TV. About a typhoon coming.

Though it was said to be a small typhoon.

…But thinking about it now, it’s funny.

That Raiju creature is called a “thunder beast,” so why does it bring typhoons? Isn’t a typhoon more related to wind or water?

Lightning can fall even without rain, can’t it?

…Anyway.

So, this is the beginning.

Yuuki hadn’t brought her sword here either. She was a girl with a clear distinction between work and personal life, so she probably thought she should rest properly when resting.

That’s why here, she would borrow Hagiwara’s weapon.

Of course, in this world’s setting, yokai can only be cut with Yuuki’s sword “Muname.” When people from the cathedral face yokai, their method is closer to exorcism than cutting with a sword.

So, Yuuki borrows Sasaki’s blood.

She slightly cuts the tip of his finger with the sword, coating just the edge of the blade with blood from end to end, and cuts down the yokai with just one perfectly timed attack.

I’ve thought about that too.

Couldn’t I just make two swords with my blood and lend one to Yuuki to solve the problem?

“Don’t worry.”

As I was blankly staring at the sky, Yuuki smiled and said:

“It will probably stop soon.”

Yes, it will stop soon.

That’s how it was in the original work. After dealing with the Raiju, the protagonist and heroine had fun together.

…I wonder if I can finish this without going to the hospital this time.

I had a few methods in mind that I wanted to experiment with.

*

Whoosh—

Rain was pouring outside.

Of course, we couldn’t go out to play.

Instead, we all gathered in the room, huddled under blankets.

“Argh, no, no, we came all this way to have fun, we can’t just waste this time!”

Following Nakahara’s insistence, we all gathered in one room with the air conditioning turned up high.

Since it was summer, Nakahara suggested we share scary stories.

However, I couldn’t focus on scary stories. I was concentrating on the thunder sounds coming from outside.

The main plot involved somehow catching that Raiju creature, talking with the cathedral people, and establishing a subtle peace agreement between Yuuki and Hagiwara.

That agreement wasn’t just about not fighting crazily over Sasaki.

It was about temporarily stopping the power struggle between Yuuki’s shrine and the cathedral.

Although Hagiwara believed in Catholicism, she was also Japanese. No matter what, she wouldn’t hate the country where she was born and raised. And after realizing the signs of Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of a Hundred Demons) appearing with Raiju, she felt the need to cooperate.

The Hyakki Yagyō will happen next year. At least that issue doesn’t need attention until then. It was the most important event in the parts I read, so I remembered it relatively clearly.

“So… the man was never able to return, that’s the story. What do you think?”

“…It’s not very scary.”

Hagiwara objected to Nakahara’s story.

I felt the same way.

Though I liked ghost stories, I wasn’t fond of tales about ghosts with grudges.

If something is going to be scary, I think the identity of the opponent should remain unknown. You know, those malicious stories that start and end abruptly? I liked those kinds of ghost stories.

In that sense, yokai as the protagonists of ghost stories are the worst.

They already give only the impression of “just monsters,” and now I’m in the position of hunting those monsters.

Besides, the Raiju—

Flash.

As I was recalling the characteristics of Raiju, light flashed outside the window.

And after that, I felt goosebumps all over my back.

I jumped to my feet.

And at the same time, there were others who also stood up.

One was Yuuki. This was natural. Yuuki was also in the position of hunting yokai.

The other was Koko.

She stood up with a startled expression, looking like Kuro.

“…What’s wrong?”

Hagiwara asked us in a somewhat wary voice.

It was natural for Hagiwara to react that way, since “coincidentally” three very suspicious people had jumped to their feet.

But Hagiwara didn’t seem to have felt anything in particular.

And—

I turned my gaze to Sasaki.

Sasaki was trembling slightly.

“…Excuse me, I need to go to my room for a moment.”

That’s what I said.

“Your room? Suddenly?”

Hagiwara asked me.

Shii and Nakahara also looked at me with slightly puzzled expressions.

“I just remembered something I need to check.”

“Uh…”

Sasaki made a slightly dazed sound, but soon smiled slightly at us.

“Sure, go ahead.”

I nodded and looked toward Yuuki. Yuuki didn’t show any particular reaction to me.

“I’ll go with you for a moment.”

That’s all she said.

“Koko, wait here.”

“Wait?”

Koko blinked and asked me.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“…”

Was it because of the sensation I felt earlier? Koko asked me with a somewhat wary expression.

Although Koko was somewhat willful, learning what she wanted to learn first, I didn’t think she was particularly unintelligent. She just preferred following animal instincts over human reason.

For Koko, this seemed like a time to be cautious.

But I couldn’t say things like “it’s dangerous” in front of others.

I thought for a moment.

“It would be better… if Koko waited.”

That’s what I said.

Koko thought for a moment, then slowly sat back down.

“Okay.”

I exhaled softly.

“…Then, we’ll be back.”

“Oh, okay…”

“See you soon~”

Sasaki and Nakahara sent us off without much thought. There was no reason to stop us anyway.

“You’re really just going to your room, right?”

“…That’s right.”

Hagiwara asked with narrowed eyes, and Yuuki answered her curtly. She didn’t seem particularly convinced.

“H-have a safe trip…?”

Shii seemed a bit tense.

Ah, that’s right.

Shii had invited me here because she was a bit afraid of Nakahara and Hagiwara getting too close to Sasaki.

She had called me to be on her side, so she was probably flustered that I was leaving.

“I’ll be back soon. Koko, could you stay with Shii for a bit?”

“Okay.”

Koko got up again and went to the bed where Shii was sitting. I could see a black hair tie at the end of her hair. It was one of my spares that I had brought.

The red hair tie had broken earlier. For reference, it wasn’t made of Koko’s flesh. Actually, it was a gift from Yuuki. Yuuki had suggested the idea on the train here, so she probably tied it then.

Taking my eyes off that hair tie, I said:

“Well, we’ll be back.”

Once again, I waved to the group as they said their goodbyes, and I left the room with Yuuki.

“…You felt it too, right?”

As soon as we left the room, Yuuki asked quietly.

“Yes.”

“…Really, what is this, coming all the way on vacation.”

Yuuki lamented, then scratched her head.

“For now… let’s find a way to resolve this quickly.”

I seemed to be seen as a perfect collaborator now.

That’s a good sign.

I nodded and quickly walked alongside Yuuki.