Ch.68Chapter 10. Mirror (8)

As I stepped out into the storm, I immediately regretted not wearing a swimsuit instead. Even though I had shorts on, they clung uncomfortably to my body when soaked. Yuka Yuuki, wearing slightly shorter pants, was probably a bit better off.

Despite the typhoon, there were surprisingly many people on the streets—not as many as on a normal day at a tourist spot, but still.

That didn’t really matter.

Yokai mostly move around their “nests.” Once a human enters that nest, those outside can’t properly perceive what’s happening inside.

What people see are usually yokai that have left their nests for some reason, or ones created in this world rather than the other side.

The former was like the silkworm Yuka summoned at the school grounds, and the latter was like the Solitude I faced at the Yamashita house.

In Raiju’s case, it moved around its “nest.”

It had simply landed here looking for food, like other yokai.

So our job was just to find and deal with Raiju. We didn’t need to worry about being seen in the process.

The only problem was—

“Achoo!”

I was cold!

It was supposed to be midsummer, sticky and hot, but I was freezing!

Well, it couldn’t be helped. My body heat wasn’t being drawn away by the air temperature, but by the water soaking my clothes.

I’d heard in occupational training about hikers dying of frostbite in above-freezing temperatures in midsummer. Whether in the Arctic Ocean with floating icebergs or not, people lose body heat when submerged in water too long. The same applied when being rained on.

“Are you okay?” Yuka asked.

Honestly, I wasn’t really okay.

The cold was bearable. It was still midsummer after all, and we weren’t at an altitude where temperatures would drop below ten degrees.

But the real problem was that my skin’s sensitivity—the goosebumps that helped me sense things—had become dulled. Though called a sixth sense, what I felt wasn’t much different from the five senses. If something overwhelmed that sensation, my body would inevitably forget.

“Hey!”

To make matters worse, there were police patrolling the streets.

A police car stopped beside us, the window rolled down, and the officers inside called out to us.

“You kids! Are you alright?!”

“We’re fine!” Yuka replied.

Even she didn’t look completely fine, though. She was better off than me, but still had her arms wrapped around herself.

I should have brought a raincoat if I’d known it would be like this.

In the original story, there was just a service scene description of characters in thin, rain-soaked clothes revealing skin, but reality was much harsher.

Come to think of it, even during summer rainy seasons, my fingertips would get cold holding an umbrella.

“We’re just heading back now!”

“Is that so? We can give you a—”

Flash.

Suddenly, part of my vision turned white.

I, Yuka, and the police officers all seemed to notice it. The officers’ gazes turned toward the light.

BOOM!

The thunder followed belatedly.

In the distance, a utility pole exploded with a bang, sending sparks flying everywhere.

“…Get home quickly! We need to go check that out!”

The police said this and quickly turned their car around.

I looked at Yuka. She nodded at me.

We ran toward the explosion too.

Of course, following directly behind the police car would get us stopped, so we slipped into a side alley and followed the lightning.

Thunder rumbled continuously overhead. Lightning struck repeatedly in the distance.

Raiju was a yokai that brought lightning with it.

But conversely, it also followed electricity, the original form of lightning.

In Tokyo Slayers, Raiju uses lightning—not just to attack enemies, but also to gain energy.

That’s why it can “create” lightning by moving clouds. It’s similar to hunting for food. Since consuming energy from its own body would be meaningless, it manipulates external conditions to find food.

But then, should it be called a thunder beast? Wouldn’t “cloud beast” be more appropriate?

…I guess it doesn’t matter now.

After all, we were in “Tokyo” Slayers, but this wasn’t even Tokyo.

“There!” Yuka pointed to something in the distance.

BOOM!

Thunder struck. Beyond the continuous lightning in the distance, I could see the shadow of something long coming down. It was only visible when lightning struck from the empty sky.

After several more lightning flashes, sparks shot high into the sky.

It looked like watching special effects explosions. The sparks from the exploding utility poles particularly resembled fireworks.

Izushiki wasn’t a densely built-up area. Normally it would be a relaxed residential neighborhood spread out widely, with occasional cafes, restaurants, and convenience stores scattered between houses—a tourist city, but not exactly a bustling downtown.

The land gradually became more mountainous away from the coast, though even those mountains weren’t particularly high.

Why would Raiju come to a neighborhood like this? Japan must have many power plants truly overflowing with electricity.

My guess is that it “couldn’t resist.”

It flew across the sky, straddling between the yokai world and the mortal realm, crossing the sea. Like a migratory bird, it probably descended briefly to rest its wings and find food and water.

In a natural situation, it would have been satisfied with generating lightning in the sky, but right below on the ground, electricity was flowing everywhere.

This neighborhood just had the bad luck of being in its path.

“Haa… haa…”

By the time we were out of breath, we finally reached our destination.

Replacing the body heat lost through my skin with heat from inside didn’t seem so bad after all. I couldn’t even tell if I was sweating or not. The rain was pouring down as if there was a hole in the sky.

Flash.

The sight of lightning was eerie. The lightning itself made no sound. Only the delayed thunder proved that something was happening up there.

“This is it,” Yuka said.

But I couldn’t see anything.

While the Aogui deliberately revealed itself to lure people, Raiju had no need to. It had no reason to eat humans.

However…

“…I think it’s dangerous to go any further.”

Yuka was right.

Electrical wires were strewn all over the ground. Sparks were still flying from parts of the broken utility poles.

A few people were poking their heads out from nearby buildings. Natural enough, since the power lines to their homes had been cut.

It wasn’t just one utility pole that had broken—it looked like something had moved along the road deliberately breaking them.

“Alright,” I exhaled.

“I’ll draw my sword then.”

“Wait!”

As I said this and pulled a box cutter from my pocket, Yuka turned pale and grabbed my wrist. My hand, which was coming out of my pocket, stopped halfway due to her grip.

“…What?”

“Is this… your method?”

“I can always draw a sword.”

“…”

Something seemed off.

Yuka’s eyes trembled. So did the corners of her mouth. She looked like she wanted to say something but couldn’t bring herself to.

“Don’t worry,” I said calmly.

“…My god would never let me do anything that would kill me.”

“…Even so.”

“There’s no other way.”

In the end, the only method was to use blood—whether mine or Sasaki’s.

Yuka bit her lip but removed her hand from mine.

I held up the box cutter.

I looked around just in case, but there was no one nearby. Even those looking outside were focused on the utility poles and paying no attention to us.

Good. Let’s finish this quickly.

“You know how to enter the nest, right?”

“…Yes.”

Yuka nodded at my question.

Good. That’s a relief.

To be honest, I don’t really know. It was described in the novel, but it was just slashing a sword through the air.

…It’s funny that I still don’t know, but anyway.

I pressed the blade against my wrist and pushed down hard.

Then I sliced sideways.

“I see you’re getting along well with your sister.”

The first thing I heard was that.

“That’s the first thing you say when you see me?”

“As one who guides young lambs, I cannot express how pleased I am.”

“…”

I was momentarily speechless at Shura’s words, then asked,

“…What exactly is she?”

“She is as you see her.”

That doesn’t help me understand.

“Don’t you already know her identity?”

Shura chuckled and said,

“Koko—what a cute name.”

“I’m the one who named her.”

“But since you gave that name to a nameless being, isn’t she ultimately ‘Koko’?”

That’s not what I was asking about.

“Is she your daughter?”

“That depends on how you conceptualize ‘daughter.’ Even if I had children, any earthly creature’s method of reproduction would differ from mine.”

“…”

I decided to just give up asking further.

“So, is that all you want? I thought you called me for something else.”

“…I need swords.”

I said.

“Two of them, if possible.”

“Given the amount of blood you usually spill, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Shura said with amusement.

“And.”

“And?”

“…I want to use my blood differently.”

“Perhaps you could elaborate.”

“…Like Koko, can it be transformed differently? Not just into solid objects.”

“I wonder if you wish to escape your human form.”

“No.”

I said firmly.

“Just… wondering if there’s a way it could help in fighting.”

“…”

Shura was silent for a moment.

But from the atmosphere, it didn’t seem like he was at a loss for words, worried about me, or upset.

More likely, he was thinking “this is interesting.”

“Very well. There’s no reason why not.”

Shura said with a hint of laughter in his voice.

“However, I would prefer if you didn’t overuse it. I don’t wish for you to die.”

I’m sure.

It would be troublesome if this toy broke.

Surely Shura doesn’t just want me to suffer. He must desire something much more… complex.

“What do you want in return?”

“As always, the breath of your opponent.”

Shura answered my question.

“And I hope you’ll continue to show me such entertaining sights. The future promises to be even more amusing.”

“…”

“Until next time, then.”

Shura said.

And—

“…”

I heard Yuka inhale sharply.

My left hand seemed to be holding something up, creating two swords in midair. It still looked like 3D printing with blood.

But when the two objects hit the ground, they made the sound of falling metal.

Yuka stood dazed for a moment looking at where the metal had fallen, but quickly came to her senses.

Then, instead of picking up the swords, she looked at me.

“First, let me stop the bleeding—”

“No.”

I had anticipated this reaction from Yuka, so I shook my head as I had planned.

“This is necessary.”

“…”

She looked like she wanted to ask what it was necessary for, but held back her question.

My blood dripped onto the ground. The sight of bright red blood falling into the flowing rainwater was eerie.

Yuka bent down and picked up the swords.

Then she handed one to me.

“Let’s finish this as quickly as possible.”

Yuka said that and—

She slashed her sword through the air.

Psshk.

There was a sound like air escaping, and the space split open.

…So that’s how it works.

That’s…

Much simpler than I expected.

I still don’t really understand just by watching. I’ll have to ask for the exact method later.

Yuka quickly threw herself toward the gap. I followed right behind her, rushing into the opening.

And once again, a chill ran through my body.

It wasn’t raining inside the nest. But that didn’t mean the ground wasn’t wet.

Crunch, crunch.

I heard a sound like something mineral being chewed. Along with it was a screech like metal scraping against something hard.

Zap.

Blue sparks flew from the ground. It was electricity.

Such sparks were flying from wet spots all over the ground.

“Be careful.”

I nodded at Yuka’s warning.

Generally, yokai create nests and rarely leave them. To yokai, this world is an “other world.”

Many yokai in the story were like that.

They can come out of their nests but can’t endure for very long. Just as humans are restricted in water, yokai face various power limitations outside their nests.

That’s why in the story, if they encountered a yokai deemed too powerful, they would choose to lure it outside instead.

The silkworm would probably have been much stronger inside its nest too.

“…Kurosawa, can you manage?”

Yuka’s question pulled me from my thoughts.

Her gaze was directed at the sparks flying from the ground.

Can you avoid them? That was her question.

In the novel, Yuka and Hagiwara solved this by jumping around.

At this point in the story, Sasaki could only provide very minimal help to Yuka. Initially just coating her sword, and later splashing blood on the yokai to draw aggro and help Yuka escape danger.

I couldn’t move like Yuka, with her manga-like agility.

But.

I raised my hand again.

And—

Something worm-like and writhing emerged from my wrist like a snake.

But this time it didn’t just fall to the ground. Instead, it emerged from my open wrist, dangled for a moment, then attached itself firmly to my arm.

These things appeared so quickly and in such numbers that counting them became meaningless, covering my entire left arm.

By this point, I couldn’t properly gauge how much more was coming out, but since Shura wouldn’t stop the blood flow from my wrist, it was reasonable to assume it was still growing.

“…Let’s go.”

Alright.

Let’s see “how” these things move.

Yuka nodded with a very complicated expression.

Splash.

As we stepped into the puddle on the ground, the head of Raiju, which had been gnawing on something, jerked upward.

It slowly turned to look at us…

It resembled a very distorted weasel.

An angry weasel.

Blue sparks continuously shot from its eyes, and its fur stood on end in all directions as if charged with static electricity.

To be honest, it looked a bit funny.

“Kyao!”

With a sharp cry that perfectly matched its appearance, Raiju shouted, causing the surrounding liquid to spark and explode.

The surroundings, which closely resembled our world, began exploding everywhere.

Fortunately, we weren’t electrocuted despite standing in water.

“…That electricity is in the same place as the fallen utility poles outside.”

I nodded at Yuka’s observation.

That seemed right. It was the same in the original work.

Well, that’s not important. All we can see are sparks anyway. We can’t possibly remember the exact pattern of fallen utility poles, so from now on we just need to avoid what we see.

So our task was to avoid the floor hazards.

I could only hope my left hand would help.

Raiju moved before we did.

Making a weasel-like cry, it charged at us with visible electricity surging around it.

It looked like a sped-up version of sparks around a Tesla coil.

Yuka tried to grab my arm to jump backward, but—

I thrust my left hand forward.

…Surely he wouldn’t give me an ability that would get me electrocuted in a place like this.

As I extended my left hand forward, those red, elongated things wrapped around my arm stretched out.

Like an umbrella with an incredible number of ribs—no, like an umbrella made with countless ribs densely packed instead of fabric—those red mollusks spread out in all directions from my hand.

Some also wrapped around my hand.

And,

Ssssss!

With a sound that suggested instant death to anyone who touched it, the sparks bent in all directions. The puddles around us exploded again, but we suffered no major damage.

Bang, bang.

“Kyao!”

Some of the mollusks covering my hand burst, unable to fully absorb the impact. Raiju, now covered in my blood—which yokai extremely despise—quickly backed away while screaming.

“…”

Yuka pressed her lips together as she watched the scene.

“…Let’s go!”

When I spoke, Yuka released my arm she had been holding.

Then she dashed forward.

The sparks in front of us had disappeared with the recent explosion. They would probably reappear soon, but now was the perfect time to strike while the yokai was stunned.

I ran forward too.

“Kuooo!”

Raiju shouted. With a fizzling sound, small sparks flew wildly from its back, which was charged with static electricity.

Without me having to say anything, Yuka immediately recognized the danger signal and threw herself to the ground.

She rolled sideways several times to avoid the flying sparks and got up impressively.

Raiju’s long tail aimed at me.

I didn’t jump. My jumping ability was no different from an ordinary person’s.

Instead, I used something ordinary people couldn’t imitate.

As I extended my left arm forward, the chi attached to my arm stretched out and braced against the ground.

Then, as if it had become a pole, it lifted me up high.

Zap!

Although sparks flying from Raiju’s tail destroyed the part holding me up, I was already airborne above Raiju’s head.

I wasn’t a science student, but I knew electricity flows through metal. I wasn’t sure if the sword I was holding was “metal,” but there was no need to risk my life to experiment.

I threw the sword directly at Raiju.

Clang!

There was a sound of metal hitting metal. No impact? I thought so for a moment because of the sound despite hitting fur, but I could see a bit of blood splatter—it had hit, just not embedded deeply.

Thud.

I landed on the ground. My ankle hurt a little. My landing probably wasn’t perfect.

I dove for the sword that had fallen to the ground.

Hitting the concrete floor directly was quite painful, but not enough to immobilize me.

“Kyao!”

Raiju’s priority seemed to shift to me, as its grotesquely distorted weasel face turned toward me.

Yuka didn’t miss this opportunity.

She quickly ran up and stabbed her sword into the gap in Raiju’s neck, but this caused sparks to fly again.

“Ugh…!”

Yuka quickly backed away. She didn’t seem injured.

But that didn’t mean she could easily attack again.

I transferred the sword to my left hand.

More precisely, I let the tentacles covering my left hand grasp it.

And opposite to before, this time I made the tentacles extend toward my hand.

I’m not sure how this works either. It’s a completely different sensation from moving my fingers. It didn’t even feel like my body.

Holding the sword at the end of the tentacles extending from my hand, I moved forcefully toward Raiju.

“Kyaooo!”

Raiju hastily moved its body backward. Having swung my arm intending to stab Raiju, I stumbled forward. My arm felt heavy. Moreover, this “physical blood,” though still blood, seemed to be continuously draining my energy.

Yuka didn’t miss the opportunity as Raiju backed away and threw her sword at it. It was just like in the original work when Sasaki threw a sword coated with his blood.

But this time, it wasn’t just “a little” blood.

Thunk.

Raiju, which had briefly been airborne before landing, was hit by the sword before it could turn around.

Whether it was bad luck or Yuka was that skilled…

The sword grazed Raiju’s left eye.

“…!”

Raiju couldn’t even make a sound for a moment and covered its eye with its front paw.

Wham!

I didn’t miss this opportunity and moved my arm again.

A straight downward slash.

Raiju moved quickly but couldn’t completely avoid my hand, resulting in a wound on one of its front legs.

But even that was enough to enrage Raiju completely.

“Kyaooo!”

Raiju cried out once more, then leaped high into the air.

I quickly moved beside Yuka and created that umbrella.

But Raiju didn’t dive toward us.

About three seconds? Seeing no attack coming, I lowered my arm slightly—

Flash!

I was thrown backward by a bang-like impact.

My vision instantly turned red.

“Eek!?”

I heard Yuka’s scream.

After quickly wiping the blood splattered on my face, I assessed the situation and saw the mass of tentacles flowing from my left wrist hanging limply downward as if dead.

…It destroyed them all at once.

I looked up at the sky.

A giant weasel was flying through the air.

It was a bizarre sight, but with its long body and tail, there was something graceful about it, like it was swimming.

However, the attack that followed was anything but graceful.

“Kurosawa, dodge!”

Yuka, who grasped the situation before me, threw herself at me.

Lightning struck exactly where we had been standing.

Ah, so that beast had neutralized my defense mechanism in one blow with a direct lightning strike from the sky.

And it had even taken to the air.

Yuka’s sword had fallen quite far from here.

“Yuka.”

I passed my sword to her.

“You—”

“I’ll be the decoy.”

I said as I got up.

We each should do what we’re best at.

“You kill that thing.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“Dangerous or not, we have to do it. If we leave it alone, it’ll become much more dangerous.”

Yuka pressed her lips together at my words.

There was no time to think and respond.

I pushed Yuka. She didn’t fall but staggered back several steps.

Just as I lunged, another lightning bolt struck.

It was terrifying. The crater in the ground wasn’t very large, but if we had been there, we both would have died.

Sticking together means dying together.

“…”

I clenched my left fist.

Slowly, the limp tentacles began to twitch and regain strength.

More tentacles flowed out.

Of course, the more they emerged, the more I felt my body being emptied, but dying one way or another…

No, I probably won’t die anyway. Shura is watching, right?

Now what?

If that thing in the sky drops lightning—

“…”

I see.

I twisted off one of the tentacles.

The tentacle moved according to my will. When I twisted it off with my hand, it simply fell off without bursting.

Then I shaped that tentacle into something like an icicle. How? Well, I just thought about it and it happened.

How long can I keep this up? I’m not sure.

Well, I’ll just have to try.

I raised that “lightning rod” above my head.

“It’s more efficient to go after the easier target first, right?”

I said, somewhat tauntingly toward Raiju.

Raiju’s eyes turned to me.

Yes. Look at me. Don’t get distracted.

I started running.