Ch.69Chapter 10. Mirror (9)

“…..”

Sasaki felt extremely awkward.

He couldn’t help but feel awkward.

The childhood friend Nanami and senior Hagiwara in the room were at least quite close to Sasaki. Though he had only reconnected with Nanami this year, they could still converse comfortably like before, and after coincidentally meeting and becoming friends with Hagiwara, they had maintained regular contact.

…Though he wasn’t sure if they were close enough to go to the beach together.

Actually, he had initially planned to go with just Shii.

He had mentioned it to his friends before the break, and for some reason, Nanami from another class heard about it. He had no idea how the news spread, but even Hagiwara found out.

And for whatever reason, both of them had somehow assumed they were naturally included in the trip.

“Hmm~”

Let’s put that aside, Sasaki thought.

Shii had said she was inviting her friend too, either as revenge or because she didn’t want to feel awkward herself.

But even Sasaki hadn’t known that these two would be from the same school.

She had said they were her “friends”…

It wasn’t that he disliked it.

Yuka usually kept to herself, staring out the window absentmindedly, and didn’t engage in lengthy conversations with others. She would disappear somewhere during lunch breaks, but she was quite popular in class due to her appearance.

When Yuka wasn’t around, classmates would gossip about her.

The same went for Kurosawa. Despite various rumors, she was still quite popular because of her looks.

So, going on a trip with these two was something that made an ordinary high school boy like Sasaki let his imagination run wild—

“Wah?”

Sasaki had just learned about Kurosawa’s younger sister, Koko, whose thoughts were difficult to read.

…I’m not sure if this is the right way to put it, but Koko was somewhat…

Yes, let’s say innocent.

She had an innocent side to her. That’s what Sasaki thought. Of course, he had other thoughts too, but this expression felt more comfortable.

When he heard another person would be joining, he had half-resigned himself. But since they had booked two rooms for the girls anyway, it wasn’t a big problem—

“…They’re not coming back~”

Nanami muttered.

She seemed a bit uncomfortable too.

More precisely, she looked like she didn’t know how to interact with Koko.

It was Kurosawa who had asked them to call her by her first name, Koko, since she was used to being called by her first name, but honestly… calling someone you just met by their first name felt awkward.

Even the reason for that was “uncomfortable” in a way.

Koko seemed like a nice girl, but interacting with her required caution.

The fact that she had a childlike personality despite being the same age made it feel even more awkward.

“…I’ll go check on them.”

Hagiwara said as she stood up.

Was it just his imagination, or did her voice sound a bit stiff?

After Hagiwara left the room briskly, the atmosphere among the three remaining people became even more uncomfortable.

“Ugh.”

Watching Koko play by herself, making various shapes with the blanket she had pulled over herself, the three of them remained silent for a while.

After observing Koko playing alone for a few minutes…

“….”

“…They’re not coming back.”

Strangely, Hagiwara hadn’t returned either.

“…What’s going on? I’m starting to get a little scared.”

“I-I’ll contact Kurosawa.”

At Nanami’s words, Shii quickly took out her phone.

Instead of sending a message, Shii called directly.

“….”

In the quiet room, the call could be heard even without speaker mode.

“…She’s not answering.”

“What the heck? What’s going on! Why does everyone disappear after leaving the room!?”

Plus, they had just been sharing scary stories, and outside it was pouring rain with thunder and lightning.

It was a perfect setup for an eerie atmosphere.

“M-maybe she went to the bathroom? Right?”

Nanami suggested, but no one answered.

“…Should I go check?”

“C-come with me!”

As Sasaki got up, Nanami rose simultaneously.

“Ah, wait!”

Seeing Nanami stand up, Shii also jumped up from her seat and exclaimed.

“….”

“….”

A moment of silence passed between the two.

“Both of you can’t leave. After all, Koko is….”

“Ah.”

Shii fidgeted anxiously, looking back and forth between Sasaki and Nanami, then shifted her gaze to Koko.

“?”

Koko looked at the two with a question mark floating above her head.

“…I’ll… stay here.”

“Thanks.”

Sasaki felt somewhat relieved at Shii’s words.

He didn’t feel comfortable leaving Koko alone.

“But! Both of you must come back right away!? Just check what’s happening and come straight back!?”

“Okay, okay.”

Sasaki said as he patted Shii’s head.

“Hmph.”

For some reason, Nanami looked displeased at this.

Sasaki took a deep breath, feeling tense, and opened the door.

…The outside looked no different from the morning.

Nothing seemed out of place. There were even a few people walking in the corridor. They all looked a bit bored, probably frustrated about the rain pouring down while they were at the beach.

“…Hey, Nanami?”

“Hmm?”

“Are you… that scared?”

Sasaki asked Nanami, who was clinging to his arm with her upper body pressed against him.

“Hmm….”

Nanami blushed but didn’t let go.

“Ha… haha….”

Sasaki laughed awkwardly and headed toward the room where the others were staying.

There was no need to hesitate. He had been in their room yesterday. He already knew it was well-organized inside.

But—

“…No one’s here.”

Nanami said.

That’s right. There was no one there.

No Kurosawa or Yuka.

Not even Hagiwara who had just left.

Just in case, Nanami checked the bathroom, but no one was there either. The room was just neatly organized.

Wondering if the mischievous Hagiwara might have gone to Sasaki’s room, they headed there too.

As expected, no one was there.

“Where did everyone go?”

By now, they were starting to feel anxious.

As they were tilting their heads in confusion and heading back to their room—

“Koko!?”

They heard a shout from inside the room.

From the room where they had left Shii and Koko alone.

Sasaki and Nanami exchanged glances and rushed toward it.

Before they could open the door, it flung open.

“Shii!”

“Big brother!”

Shii shouted toward Sasaki, so startled that she forgot her usual form of address.

“Koko, Koko…!”

Shii trembled as she shouted.

“Koko has disappeared…!”

Sasaki and Nanami’s mouths fell open simultaneously.

*

How should one properly use a lightning rod?

It would be disastrous if I got struck by lightning while holding it.

Lightning appears to strike from above, but in reality, it “travels down.” First, a path for the current is created, and as the current flows along that path, it becomes “lightning”… or so I understand. I’m not entirely accurate.

Though I might not be precise, one thing was certain.

Before lightning strikes, I feel something happening around me. Like my hair standing on end.

Actually, this might not be me sensing an actual lightning strike, but rather a warning I feel when a yokai uses its ability on me.

Well, what does it matter either way? The important thing is that I can sense it.

I stuck the needle-shaped lightning rod made of blood into the ground.

The floor, which at a glance resembled the concrete of our world, gave way easily as if the needle was piercing into flesh.

“Kyao!”

Crack. Raiju howled as cracks formed around the insertion point.

Was it upset that its nest was being damaged?

I quickly threw myself aside. Rolling once on the ground to get away from the lightning rod, a thunderbolt struck and shattered it. Watching it turn back into blood and scatter, I was convinced.

This would work.

I quickly glanced toward Yuka and saw she was already circling behind Raiju.

I created another lightning rod and stuck it into the ground.

Again, again, again.

“Haa… haa…”

It was getting exhausting. Not just physically, but I had lost too much blood. Besides the needles, I was also maintaining tentacles wrapped around my left arm to defend against potential attacks.

Being able to fully utilize flowing blood was good, but each time it burst, it took more blood to regenerate.

Just looking at my arm, it had turned as pale as a corpse. I wondered how my face looked.

…Ah, I still wanted to finish this quickly and enjoy the rest of the vacation.

It seems like I’m only creating bad memories for Sasaki and Shii. And Yuka too.

What would Koko think if she saw me injured?

“Kyaoo!”

Seeing that the aim wasn’t accurate, Raiju made an irritated cry and spun once in the air.

Then it leaped straight at me from that height—

Clang!

But just before the weasel’s claws could pierce me, a red blade swiftly intervened.

Yuka, who had slid in impressively, made a crescent-shaped cut with the tip of her sword and sliced the weasel’s front paw.

For a moment, a red crescent seemed to form around Yuka.

And—

“Kak!?”

Raiju’s cry wasn’t just from the pain of being cut by the sword.

While it was raining in the real world, here in this dimension between the real world and the yokai’s realm, in this nest, no such rain fell. The weather couldn’t be called dry, but—

—it wasn’t humid enough for all the thinly dispersed liquid in the air to settle.

It was my blood.

The blood I had used as lightning rods shattered and dispersed like spray when struck by Raiju’s lightning, and some probably vaporized due to the high temperature.

The blood that rose like this didn’t settle immediately. After all, I had created quite a few lightning rods.

It was just a momentary gap, but for Yuka, that moment was enough.

The difference between hunter and prey was whether one could spot that gap.

Thud.

“Kek…!?”

The sword made of my blood that Yuka held pierced Raiju’s neck.

And smoothly, it sliced through the flesh.

Slash.

“Yuka…!”

“Yes!”

As soon as Yuka heard me, she rushed over, grabbed me by the collar, and jumped backward.

Couldn’t she have… at least grabbed my arm?

But seeing sparks explode around Raiju, I abandoned that thought.

As if unable to control its power—no, more like having a final convulsion—lightning struck Raiju several times.

“Kyaoo!”

“Kurosawa!?”

As I staggered to my feet watching the howling Raiju, Yuka tried to stop me, but I took the sword from her hand.

Yuka didn’t resist much.

And I used the tentacle on my left arm to hold the sword.

Hmm…

How far had the story of On● Pi●ce progressed at this time?

It would be way before the 20-year later mark.

Well, it doesn’t matter. What I’m about to do isn’t really related to that story anyway.

‘Gomu Gomu no Pistol’ should do, right?

I don’t plan to shout the technique. I’m not that childish.

I’m just imitating a bit.

“…!”

Yuka’s eyes followed my hand.

More precisely, they were fixed on the sword at the end of the extending tentacle.

The tentacle was a bit short, but the sword tip was accurate enough considering how much blood I had lost.

Thud.

The sword precisely pierced the forehead of Raiju, which seemed about to go berserk one last time.

“….”

Raiju stared at us with its mouth wide open, then turned its eyes toward the sky.

Thump.

And it collapsed sideways.

“…Kurosawa…”

As I staggered, Yuka quickly grabbed my shoulder to support me.

Plop. Plop. The tentacles on my arm fell to the ground as if they had died. A pool of blood formed beneath me.

I’ll have to discard these clothes again.

I should have brought a raincoat or swimsuit after all.

As the wound on my wrist began to heal, the environment around us slowly changed. The somewhat desaturated colors gradually returned, and water fell from the sky. The sound of pouring rain could be heard.

And what entered my vision was—

—not a village in disarray with fallen utility poles, police controlling the area, and citizens with umbrellas coming to watch—

but the expression of a girl kneeling on the ground, staring blankly.

Sasaki was sitting beside her.

The two were staring blankly at us, who had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

…

Huh?

*

Sasaki, Shii, and Nanami immediately searched the hotel, but Koko was nowhere to be found. They tried to check other rooms, but it wasn’t easy. Naturally, people who opened their doors in response to knocks looked at the three strangely. Some offered sympathetic words, but it wasn’t helpful.

“What should we do? What do we do… It’s all my fault…”

Shii said she had only taken her eyes off Koko for a moment. She was just rummaging through her bag, and during that time, she hadn’t heard the door open or any sounds of distress.

Sasaki believed her. Nanami seemed to believe her too.

Shii was almost in a state of terror.

“No, Shii. It’s okay. We’ll find her.”

“That’s right. We’ve called the police—”

As Nanami said, the police arrived quickly at the hotel.

Shii spoke, and Sasaki added explanations beside her. Since the frightened Shii was barely coherent, the police couldn’t easily understand from just her words.

After listening to the three, the police officers looked at each other.

“Black hair tied with a black hair tie? Is she about this tall, and looks about a year younger than you?”

The police asked Sasaki.

“Have you seen her!?”

“Yes, we saw her. She was heading that way earlier, and we told her to go back—but she hasn’t returned yet.”

The expression of the middle-aged police officer hardened. Sasaki thought he might have a daughter around the same age.

Perhaps because of this, the police officers nodded to each other.

“You kids stay here. We’ll go back and check.”

“There’s a fallen utility pole that’s dangerous, I don’t know why she went that way… The other missing kid also went that way—”

“What!?”

Shii almost screamed.

“Anyway, wait here for now. The typhoon is severe outside. It could be dangerous if you’re not careful.”

Shii’s body trembled at the word “dangerous.”

Even after the police left, Shii sat in the hotel lobby, shivering, then suddenly stood up.

“…I’m going to look for her.”

“Shii.”

Sasaki spoke, but Shii shook her head.

“It’s all my fault that Kurosawa came here, and that Koko followed. I was the one who suggested coming here first…”

“No, Shii.”

Nanami grabbed Shii’s arm and said.

“You couldn’t have predicted this. Besides, we still don’t know where the others went. If we go out too and something happens—”

“But still…!”

“….”

Sasaki looked at Shii and pondered.

After biting his lip for a while, Sasaki stood up abruptly.

“…Alright, I understand.”

“Souta!?”

Nanami exclaimed in surprise at Sasaki’s words.

“Are you crazy!?”

“But we can’t just sit here. We have to do something. …And, Shii.”

“….”

Seeing the restless Shii, Nanami placed her hand on her forehead and let out a big sigh.

After sitting quietly with her head bowed for a while—

“Fine, let’s go.”

As Nanami said this and stood up, Sasaki stopped her.

“No, we’ll just check nearby quickly—”

“…Don’t I know your personality? We may not have seen each other for a while, but you haven’t changed at all.”

Nanami tossed those words at Sasaki and headed toward the hotel room.

“Let’s at least buy raincoats before going out. They should have them at the hotel convenience store. If we go out as we are, we’ll get soaked.”

Sasaki and Shii had to agree with that.

“…Sorry.”

As Sasaki followed her, apologizing quietly, Nanami walked down the corridor without even glancing at him.

“…Really, you’re exactly the same as back then. That’s why—”

The rest of her words were too quiet for even Sasaki, who was right beside her, to hear.

*

The three discovered Koko almost by chance.

Following the direction the police had pointed, they came across the fallen utility pole.

Thinking it might be dangerous, the three circled far around the pole and headed toward the area.

While examining the path between houses—

“…Ah, Koko!”

Shii shouted.

Indeed, Koko was standing between houses.

She was wearing the same clothes as before, just completely soaked by the rain.

Koko was looking at the empty air, tilting her head.

The three didn’t find it suspicious.

Because Koko was…

“Hey, Koko!”

Nanami called out in a slightly angry voice as she stepped forward.

Koko turned toward Nanami.

“How could you leave without saying anything! We were worried—”

Just as Nanami was saying this while grabbing Koko’s hand—

Screech!

Suddenly, a large black van skidded to a stop behind Koko.

Slam.

The door opened.

From inside, two burly men grabbed Koko’s shoulders.

“…Ah!”

Nanami shouted as if trying to hold onto Koko and pulled back—

But the van simply grabbed Nanami too, pulled her inside, and drove off.

“Wait…!”

Sasaki ran after it, but it was useless. The van just sped away as if Sasaki was of no concern.

What happened next is hard to remember.

He must have urgently called the police. The police came quickly.

They drew lines with chalk over the skid marks on the ground.

They talked with Shii, who couldn’t get up from the ground, people came out to see what was happening—

And somehow, Kurosawa and Yuka were suddenly among them.

Both were completely soaked, even under their clothes, from whatever they had been doing.

“….”

“….”

The two groups stood for a while, just blinking at each other, not knowing why the other was there.