Ch.71Chapter 10. Mirror (11)

A dream.

Come to think of it, I feel like I’ve hardly dreamed since coming to this world.

Maybe I did dream but forgot.

There’s been so much to think about and worry about these days.

Though I’ve made friends and my situation has improved considerably compared to the beginning, I still don’t know that much about this world.

I walk for over an hour each day between going to and coming from school, and I work part-time after classes. Even on weekends, I work without rest.

On top of that, I’ve been eating minimally to save money, yet I’ve kept my adult habit of sleeping late and waking early.

Naturally, falling asleep was always more like passing out.

To the point where every morning when I opened my eyes, I’d wonder if I had actually been asleep.

So, this time should have been the same.

I lost a tremendous amount of blood and was incredibly exhausted. Honestly, at the end, “passed out” would be a more accurate description than “fell asleep.”

But.

It’s noisy around me.

Car horns are blaring continuously.

It doesn’t seem like someone is deliberately honking. Something is just pressing down hard on them.

I’m wearing firefighter gear. When I raise my hand, I see thick gloves, making me unsure if this body is my current one or the one from my previous life.

Fire is rising from several cars.

People are running around. Some wearing firefighter gear like me, some in orange short-sleeved shirts carrying stretchers, and ordinary people supporting the injured.

Ah.

I only have bad memories related to fire.

I thought this as I looked at the burning cars.

And this situation is even worse.

I know what’s happening here.

That’s how I know it’s a dream. I couldn’t possibly experience this twice.

A dream I’ve had over and over again.

Among the seven collided cars, the most crushed one was in the middle. Unfortunately, it was squeezed between three cars in front and three behind, making it barely recognizable.

Even if the airbags deployed properly, when a truck pushes from behind and there’s a large van in front, they’re useless.

And if the car catches fire too.

The white compact sedan was flattened from front and back, and the front seats were on fire.

Water was poured on it. Strong water sprayed from a fire hose pulled from the fire truck, extinguishing the fire on the car.

But it was already too late. The people trapped behind the burning airbags in the driver’s and passenger’s seats were burned beyond recognition.

The back seat of the car, with water dripping. Between the crushed driver’s seat and the back seat sat a person.

Face, chest, knees, legs.

In a space too small for a person to possibly sit, with arms hanging down, one person.

On the left wrist, a small watch I recognized, ticking.

Blood dripping down.

Despite all the water poured on it, not all the blood had drained out.

As I approached the car in a daze, a colleague grabbed my shoulder.

When I turned around, my colleague’s face was pale blue.

They knew whose car it was. And who the girl in the back seat was. They were close enough to know who was in the front seats too.

The three of them had gone on a trip together and were on their way back today.

There was probably a gift for me in the car.

My sister, who always acted annoyed whenever she saw me, seemed a bit disappointed that I couldn’t join her college acceptance celebration trip.

But what could I do? That was my job.

My little sister now had a face that could no longer act annoyed with me.

No, could what remained even be called a face—

*

“……”

When I opened my eyes, it was already dark.

Still not fully out of the dream, I could only breathe properly after realizing I was in a hospital.

This is the worst. Of all the dreams to have after so long.

…No, that’s not right.

To be precise, the dreams I had were very likely to be like that.

That’s why I would take over whenever someone had to stay on duty, and why I would walk around the neighborhood several times before going home, exhausting my body.

When you’re extremely tired, you don’t dream when you fall asleep. Or even if you do, you don’t remember.

Was it because I saw such a scene today?

That must be it.

…Koko.

Koko is— Ah.

I heard soft, gentle breathing.

On the not-so-wide single hospital bed, half-draped over my body and curled up tightly, was a child.

A child who looked exactly like me now.

A child created by projecting my image onto an amorphous form was here.

“Phew.”

I exhaled deeply.

Yes. She’s safe.

…

What about the others?

I forced my still-heavy body to sit up slightly and looked around.

Yuka was safe. She had brought a chair next to my bed and was sleeping with her upper body sprawled on the bed.

Hagiwara, Nakahara, Sasaki, and Shii were nowhere to be seen.

The four of them…

But I didn’t have the courage to wake them up. Neither Yuka nor Koko.

Yuka would probably ask me all sorts of questions as soon as she saw me. About everything I’d been hiding until now, and explaining it all wouldn’t be easy.

But I didn’t want to go back to sleep either.

I might continue that dream.

…I don’t want that.

I stared at the hospital ceiling with my eyes wide open.

Even in a hospital this far away, I’m in a private room.

I’ve ended up indebted to Yuka again.

“……”

Whether my eyes are open or closed, I only have negative thoughts.

What should I do?

Really, what should I do?

In the end, I spent nearly hours just thinking “what should I do.”

*

“…Are you okay?”

But contrary to my worries, that was the first thing Yuka asked.

Ah, of course, she didn’t say it right away.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up, made eye contact with me watching her, opened her mouth slightly, shook her head vigorously as if to clear her mind, cleared her throat several times, and after about 10 seconds of mentally choosing her words, she asked me that.

“…Yeah.”

“……”

Looking at me with an expression that said she knew I wasn’t okay, Yuka’s face hardened.

She looked at Koko sleeping on the bed for a moment, then turned her face back to me.

“…Kurosawa.”

“Yes.”

“Perhaps, Koko…”

“……”

I was silent for a moment.

What kind of being is Koko?

For now, it would be right to think she’s a being similar to me.

That flesh from yesterday was probably created in a similar way to us. In some ways, it particularly resembled Koko.

But there was a crucial difference.

The chill I felt when looking at it.

The chill I only felt when seeing yokai wasn’t present with Koko. If I were going to feel that, I should have felt it from the first day. After all, I could hear snoring from the next room then.

Probably, yokai weren’t used as materials to create Koko’s and my bodies.

Between humans and outer gods. That’s probably the right assumption about our birth.

“Probably, she’s a being like me.”

“…A being like you?”

“……”

I hesitated for a moment, then uttered a single word.

“…A failure.”

“……”

Yuka didn’t say anything.

She just looked at me, deathly pale.

She must have felt a lot from this word.

Before, she might have just thought of a runaway girl who left home, but now she might be imagining something further from human.

“…I…”

“It’s okay.”

When I opened my mouth, Yuka shook her head.

Her two hands overlapped on my right hand.

“You don’t need to say more.”

Yuka looked at me with wet eyes and said.

“I don’t feel anything from you.”

“……”

“So, no. Not you. Not Koko either. Understand?”

“……”

I nodded.

Yuka couldn’t be called humanity’s representative. Though she worked in that field, her position was somewhat ambiguous to be called a representative.

But still.

Hearing those words from Yuka, one of the “protagonists,” made me feel like I had been granted permission to exist in this world.

I pressed my lips together and held back tears.

*

After waiting a bit longer, Koko woke up.

In the meantime, I heard from Yuka about the other children.

From what she heard about Koko and Nakahara, Koko had physically shielded Nakahara from the men. Nakahara didn’t have a single injury. That means Koko must have fought hard inside the car.

“Why didn’t you escape?”

Apparently, Hagiwara had asked Koko that.

“With your abilities… you could have gotten out of the car. Even if I hadn’t stopped it.”

“Kotone told me not to.”

And Koko had answered like that.

Because I told her not to kill.

Because I told her not to hurt people.

Koko knew too. She thought that if the car flipped or something in that situation, everyone might get hurt.

The men, and Nakahara too. They wouldn’t have been safe.

Because I told her not to.

The thought broke my heart.

“…Koko.”

“Kotone?”

When I called out to Koko who had woken up, for some reason she was sitting in a bread loaf position on the empty space of the bed, tilting her head and calling my name.

What should I say to her?

I thought for a moment, then slowly opened my mouth.

“…You did well.”

“Wha?”

At my words, Koko blinked, then her face brightened.

“But from now on… if it seems really dangerous… you can hit them, just not too hard to seriously injure them.”

“Is that okay?”

“Because you’re more important.”

Koko’s eyes widened.

She really is like a cat. When normal people widen their eyes, it looks scary.

…In other words, it also meant that I looked that harmless. Since she looks exactly like me.

Yes. Like looking at myself in a mirror.

But that’s not all.

Koko… is a mirror reflecting me.

A mirror that follows my actions no matter how I behave.

Having met me without knowing anything, without learning anything from anyone, Koko was following my thoughts, words, and actions one by one.

I’m not sure how that’s possible.

Kagami’s text asking if I knew what Koko was.

Koko, torn to pieces and sealed tightly as if to prevent her from using her power.

…Combining these facts, several conclusions emerge.

That they sealed her because they thought her power was dangerous.

And that Koko, such a dangerous being, is somehow following my words.

“Kotone!”

“Gah.”

“Wait, Koko!?”

Koko suddenly jumped on top of me, causing Yuka to scream.

*

“…Sigh.”

Hagiwara frowned and scratched her head.

“So, you’re saying it’s related to that ‘religion’ you believe in? You don’t know the details?”

“…Kagami treats me like a failure.”

Hagiwara frowned at my words.

I didn’t tell the detailed story. I just said that we were being used by some religion, and as a result, we ended up like this.

Strictly speaking, it’s not a lie.

Though the condition “since birth” does apply.

Whether Hagiwara noticed this or not, she just stared at me.

Then she looked at Yuka.

Yuka maintained a perfectly expressionless face.

After looking at Koko who was sitting on my bed eating snacks, Hagiwara sighed deeply.

“You know what? Thanks to you dragging him in, Souta has become incredibly interested in this. Ah, he’s already meddlesome enough, and now he wants to interfere with you too.”

…While you like that he’s so meddlesome.

“If Souta gets seriously hurt because of you, I won’t let it slide.”

“Then I won’t stand by either.”

Yuka responded to Hagiwara’s words. Hagiwara snorted as if she wasn’t intimidated at all.

She opened her mouth as if to retort, but after looking at me again, she closed it.

Then she looked at me with a complicated expression.

“…I won’t dig deeper for now. If I do something to you, Souta will definitely try to interfere.”

“……”

“But someday. If you ever stand on the opposite side from us, I’ll be merciless. It won’t matter if Souta is beside you.”

I see.

Hagiwara…

Well, since half-human half-yokai beings never appeared in the novel, I couldn’t know how Hagiwara would act in such a situation.

Whether she would mercilessly cut my throat or ultimately lower her sword, both were plausible.

Hagiwara looked at Koko innocently eating snacks and sighed deeply.

“You’re not going to tell the church?”

“I’m on vacation, you know? According to the original plan, by now I should have gone all the way with Souta, hmm?”

But you’re a nun.

“What does it matter that I’m a nun?”

“……”

“Hey, it’s written all over your face.”

Hagiwara brushed up her bangs as if in disbelief.

“It says ‘be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.’ I’m just trying to follow that doctrine thoroughly. Any complaints?”

That’s quite a light novel-like character interpretation.

“Besides, I… no, never mind.”

About to say something, Hagiwara closed her mouth.

I wish she would finish what she was going to say.

“Well, that’s all I have to say. …For now, I’m reserving judgment. My actions will be determined by how you two behave from now on, that’s about it? I don’t want to cut down a school junior.”

“……”

“More importantly, shouldn’t you think about how to explain this to the other three?”

Hagiwara said this while looking toward the hospital room door.

The door was slightly open, and the faces of the children were barely visible beyond it.

“……”

I let out a small sigh.

*

“…Um, well.”

The first child to speak was Nakahara.

Approaching Koko hesitantly, Nakahara carefully examined her and said.

“Are you okay?”

“Hmm?”

As if not understanding what that meant, Koko tilted her head.

“You were stabbed with a knife, and you bled. And then in the car too…”

But when Koko tilted her head again, Nakahara looked at me as if asking for help.

“…Koko will be fine.”

“……”

But still not quite convinced, Nakahara thought for a moment, then suddenly hugged Koko.

“Koko, thank you. Really.”

“Wha?”

Suddenly embraced, Koko blinked for a moment, then snuggled into Nakahara’s arms. Seeing her giggle, she must have been happy.

…Nakahara has more volume than I thought.

“Excuse me~”

While everyone was watching that heartwarming scene, Hagiwara, standing near the window, raised one hand.

“I’m the one who climbed on the car and made a hole, you know? I’m the one who chased the car at full speed and clung to it~”

What the…

Excuse me, but are you actually human?

Well, in this kind of world, humans do perform such feats.

Even in movies like 007 or Mission Impossible, people fly around like that.

“……”

“Huh? Ignored!?”

Hagiwara exclaimed as Nakahara hugged Koko even tighter after hearing those words.

…

Still, I’m glad she’s not completely broken.

But she’ll definitely need care. No one can be completely fine mentally after experiencing something like that. It will surely remain as trauma.

This was… my mistake.

I should have been more careful.

But as if knowing my expression, Yuka tapped my hand.

When I looked at Yuka, she shook her head as if to say not to worry too much.

…Right, my worrying won’t solve anything. Yuka probably had some thoughts on this.

I’ll just do my best from now on.

“Sasaki, Shii.”

I called the two of them.

“…I heard from Yuka.”

Sasaki spoke calmly.

“That my blood has the power to cut those… ‘yokai.'”

“That’s right.”

“…How did you know?”

I thought for a moment. How should I say I knew?

“Just because I felt something similar to myself.”

“Then our family—”

“—That’s probably not it.”

I said firmly.

Sasaki’s father was quite a successful businessman, but that was it. In the story, he was portrayed as thoroughly ordinary.

No, looking at how he treats his children, he’s not that ordinary, but at least in “that aspect,” he’s ordinary. Later, during incidents involving yokai, he’s helplessly victimized.

The same goes for the Sasaki siblings’ mother.

Either they inherited such blood from a very long time ago but forgot the source after generations of distant relatives, or it’s a coincidence.

Or there might be a third reason.

We can find out slowly over time.

“…I’ll cooperate too.”

“……”

I guess since he’s already involved this far, I can’t push him away even if I tried. That’s the kind of person Sasaki is.

“Someday, if you need help.”

“I-I’ll help too! If my brother has such power, then I…”

“……”

Just like a protagonist’s little sister.

But Shii also desperately needs mental care like Nakahara. She’s a child who had already been driven to dangerous places before.

And because of that, I can’t casually refuse her here either. Shii has an obsessive fear of becoming useless.

I just nodded without answering.

“You’re already being a great help.”

Shii smiled happily at my words.

“……”

Yuka just silently watched that scene.

…That’s how the vacation ended.

Everyone seemed “relatively” okay, but they didn’t have the mental strength to laugh and play around in this situation.

But still.

Everyone was without major injuries.

At least for that one fact, I was grateful, I thought.