Ch.75Chapter 11. Understanding (4)

When I returned home, it was nearly midnight.

Koko was walking with large, bouncy steps as if she had enjoyed the entire day.

Is she really that happy?

Well, considering her mental age, it makes sense she’d be delighted after receiving a free cute doll.

With each step Koko took, the tail of the Kuro doll in her arms swung up and down. The doll’s four legs looked so sturdy that the two front paws draped over Koko’s arm almost seemed like it was deliberately cuddling her.

“Did you have fun?”

“Yes!”

Koko nodded happily in response to my question.

I see. She had fun.

That’s good enough.

Her friends were only a bit confused at first, but they quickly accepted Koko, so everything should be fine.

Especially Kaoru, who seemed to really enjoy herself.

As we walked, the plastic bag in my hand rustled. It contained several pieces of bread.

They were for a quick breakfast tomorrow morning. Somehow, I wasn’t in the mood to cook meals at home throughout summer vacation as if I were living alone.

Just the rustling sound and our footsteps. I could hear cars in the distance, but not enough to be bothersome.

Quite a few houses seemed to be managing without air conditioning, as TV sounds drifted through open windows.

Today… I think I’ll be able to sleep well. I was in just the right state—not too tired, but not overly energetic either.

I’ll go in, take a shower, dry my hair, lay out the futon, and go to sleep.

While thinking this as I walked through the still-warm summer night…

“…Huh?”

Suddenly, I noticed something strange.

The neighborhood where I lived couldn’t exactly be called remote. It wasn’t Tokyo, but Saitama is right next to Tokyo. Just a subway ride away, and you could be in the middle of Tokyo—Minato Ward—within an hour.

Of course, we weren’t as well-off as that neighborhood, but except for my apartment, most houses were well-maintained, giving the area an overall clean impression.

True to that impression, it wasn’t usually a noisy place. While there were plenty of people living in all those houses, it was rare for everyone to be out and about at once.

Yet, strangely enough, people were gathering.

And right in front of the apartment building we were heading to.

However, even at a glance, I could tell these weren’t ordinary residents coming out to watch something.

“…”

I slowly approached them. I had no choice since they were blocking the way to our home.

They weren’t blocking us specifically, but rather standing guard, watching something at the apartment.

“Hmm?”

One of the men turned around after hearing our footsteps.

He had very short hair. His forehead was relatively wide, though not enough to call him balding. Looking at him, I figured he must deliberately keep his hair that way.

There were no scars or tattoos on his face, but he had an incredibly intimidating appearance.

“…From the Yamashita household?”

“Ah.”

The man nodded after hearing me speak.

“Miss… Kurosawa?”

Adding the “Miss” part extremely awkwardly, the man looked back and forth between me and Koko.

“…Is something happening at home?”

I didn’t know who this man was, but since he knew me, there shouldn’t be a major problem. The Yamashita family wouldn’t harm me anyway.

“Ah, well… you see?”

The man seemed confused about whether to use formal speech or not.

Am I considered someone important?

I didn’t tell him he could speak casually.

I couldn’t arbitrarily tell him how to address me when I didn’t know the rules of their household. If I told him to speak casually and he got beaten by his senior later, that would be troublesome.

Especially since they’re real yakuza who even cut off fingers when someone makes a mistake.

Without waiting for his answer, I looked up toward the apartment.

“…Kagami?”

On the second floor, there was someone standing in front of our door.

From behind… it looked like Kagami. The white dress and black hair flowing down her back immediately made me think of Kagami.

However.

Something was slightly different.

I’m not sure how to explain this. It’s just a “feeling,” you know? Perhaps it was her posture, or maybe her build was subtly different, and I instinctively noticed.

Or maybe I sensed it because of how these people were on guard. If it had really been Kagami, the Yamashita family members would have just let her through without all this vigilance. Kagami would often visit me whenever she wanted, talk, and then leave.

“…So that’s why everyone’s gathered here?”

Are they always nearby? Come to think of it, Kagami probably strengthened security after the last incident, and I just hadn’t noticed.

Actually, looking again, many of the gathered people were dressed normally. There were casually dressed young men in their twenties, ordinary-looking men in suits. In fact, on second glance, most people were dressed in ways that wouldn’t seem out of place around me. It was just that the ones dressed obviously like yakuza stood out more.

“We tried to stop her, but somehow she got up there without us knowing.”

The man finally decided how to address me and spoke quite respectfully.

“We had people stationed all around.”

“…Did you call Kagami?”

“Yes. She should arrive soon.”

Hmm.

After silently staring at him for a moment,

“…Do you have a knife?”

I asked.

The man nodded and pulled out a sashimi knife from inside his suit.

Wait, do you always carry that around? Don’t casually pull out a sashimi knife like it’s nothing. At least say “Hey, does anyone have a knife?!” and then have a subordinate reluctantly find a box cutter in a toolbox or something. Honestly, it’s a bit scary.

With the uncomfortably large sashimi knife in my right hand, I walked slowly.

I wasn’t planning to stab the person. If necessary, I thought I might slash my wrist to buy some time.

No, thinking about cutting my wrist just to buy time—even I realize I might be a bit crazy. Even if I won’t die from cutting like this, accepting self-harm as normal is definitely not a healthy mental state.

I understand why Yuka worries.

…If only Nirlas’s tastes weren’t such bad perversions.

I sighed deeply and walked forward.

Not quite behind me… but the people also moved toward the apartment as if closing in with me.

Who could that be?

…Actually, I had a pretty good guess.

“…Wait.”

When I spoke, everyone who had been moving stopped.

“…”

Feeling the questioning gazes upon me, I took a deep breath.

“Wait, Koko.”

I grabbed Koko, who was about to dash forward.

“Kotone?”

Seeing her turn to me while holding the cat doll, I realized Koko must have sensed it too.

Was she planning to go first before the other person could attack me?

“…It might be human.”

“Woo?”

I wasn’t certain.

But.

…The sensation doesn’t feel that strong.

The reason I stopped walking was because chills ran down my spine, similar to when encountering a yokai.

Considering how she had slipped through the surveillance of so many people to reach our door, I could only assume she was using some kind of method.

However, it didn’t give me the same full-body chills I get when meeting a real yokai.

It was more like a tingling sensation, as if someone was deliberately brushing their fingertips across my back, playing a trick that was hard for me to notice.

I extended my hand in front of Koko to move her behind me and said:

“…You.”

I didn’t raise my voice particularly, so at first I thought she hadn’t heard me.

The woman with long black hair flowing down her back, who had been staring blankly at my door, only slightly turned her head toward me after a few seconds, as if just realizing I was calling her.

The profile visible through her hair was Kagami’s face.

A slender, oval face.

Flawless, clean skin.

Narrow eyes that from a distance I couldn’t tell if they were open or closed.

Slowly and languidly, as she turned her head and body toward me—

“…Ms. Kagami?”

Someone among the men muttered, showing how similar her appearance was to Kagami’s.

“No, it’s not.”

But someone else immediately contradicted that statement.

“…”

The woman slowly looked down at me, leaning slightly against the corridor railing.

After staring at me silently for a while, she finally spoke in a languid voice that matched her appearance.

“How can you… stand there… like that?”

“…”

It was Kagami’s voice.

But her manner of speaking was distinctly different. Kagami doesn’t use such a drowsy tone. Of course, sometimes she deliberately draws out her words or takes her time when speaking, but never with a voice that sounds like she might yawn at any moment.

“Why are you here?”

Kagami’s older sister.

The person who had tried for 15 years before giving up and leaving.

And also the mother of Yuu Yamashita.

…And the one who had gifted loneliness to Ms. Mori.

From what Kagami had told me and from her actions, I’d expected someone with extreme jealousy and a quick temper.

“I couldn’t understand, so I came.”

“…”

“Why now? Why?”

She tilted her head, only saying what she wanted to say.

“What are you?”

“…”

“You should have been an idiot who knew nothing. Someone who couldn’t even eat without being fed. That’s what you were until last year, weren’t you?”

Well, what can I say.

I don’t really know.

I’d have to have been here last year to know.

Besides, the novel [Tokyo Slayers] starts from this year. Any stories from last year would only appear as flashbacks.

And since I hadn’t read all the parts where the character Kotone Kurosawa appears, I don’t know what she was like in the original work.

She must have existed, though. Looking at how I’m here now.

“…So, I’ve been thinking about a few things.”

The fake Kagami continued speaking slowly while looking at me.

“Kagami must have carefully implanted various knowledge into your idiotic self. One by one, meticulously. Honestly, I don’t think Kagami would go that far, but who knows? The result—you—is standing right in front of me.”

“…”

“Am I right?”

I thought for a moment. How should I answer?

Then I realized I didn’t necessarily need to tell her the truth.

Kagami has helped me quite a lot. All I’ve given her in return is misunderstanding after misunderstanding and even more garbage misunderstandings, but Kagami always acts as if it doesn’t bother her, for whatever reason.

“…And if you are?”

“Hmm?”

At my question, the fake Kagami tilted her head thoughtfully.

“It still seems strange~ Kagami wouldn’t do that~ Did she perhaps change her mind? Decide to be a good mother?”

“You speak as if you were a good mother.”

“I was a good mother.”

The fake Kagami said.

“Look how beautifully I raised Yuu. Doesn’t Yuu still miss me?”

She does miss you.

Damn, I couldn’t refute that fact at least.

“If it weren’t for that… strange girl, that position would surely have remained vacant, reminding him of me just by looking at it.”

Hearing her speak as if genuinely sad and regretful, I reconsidered my thoughts.

…Well, I don’t think Ms. Mori is completely normal either. No matter how you look at it, who would fall in love with and propose to someone old enough to be their father… especially someone who had been in a father-like position?

Even with a child who calls her “big sister.”

But listen to this.

She’s saying that if the position had remained vacant, Yamashita would have remembered her and felt sad. That’s not a normal way of thinking by any measure.

“Why did you come here?”

“Obviously, I wanted to see you.”

The fake Kagami said.

“…May I ask you something?”

Then she asked me.

“…”

As if she didn’t care whether I accepted her question or not, Kagami continued:

“You’re not a god, are you?”

“…”

Wait, you’ve been calling me “you” from the beginning. Even Kagami addresses me as “you” in a more respectful way.

I’m not saying you have to use honorifics, but deliberately using such grating language is a bit annoying.

…That’s what I said only in my mind.

Because I didn’t know what this woman might do.

“Judging by your reaction, I seem to be right.”

“What would you do if I were a god?”

“I would be dead. And I wouldn’t have felt too wronged about it. If I had used disrespectful language toward a god, it wouldn’t be strange if the deity became angry and took my life, would it?”

“…But death would be the end of it.”

“Death is just the beginning. At least my death would prove that a god exists on this earth. If what I’m doing now became meaningless, what would be the point of continuing to live?”

“…”

That’s…

Isn’t that thinking too extreme?

Kagami is extreme too, but this one is even more extreme.

Well, considering she loaded monsters onto a truck and crashed it, I guess it makes sense. Even with her own people inside.

It was clearly an incident where people died, but it was just treated as a traffic accident?

The government in this world is scary too. It’s even more terrifying to think such things might be happening all over the world.

“So, you’ve seen me? What’s next?”

“Now that I know I don’t need to die, I’ll just continue doing what I need to do while alive.”

The fake Kagami’s eyes turned toward my knife.

“…”

“Oh my, I’m afraid I can’t stay here any longer—I might get killed. I’ll be going now.”

The woman, who seemed somewhat revitalized after talking with me, said that and then raised one hand into the air.

Then, while stroking the chin of “something” invisible in that empty space, she said:

“Let’s go, Mr. Waitley.”

“…”

Waitley?

I looked at the empty space, but there was nothing there.

…Could she have created something like Loneliness again to accompany her?

Even giving it a name.

Watching the fake Kagami slowly come down the stairs after turning around in the corridor, I deliberately moved far away from the staircase. The distance was already considerable, but I didn’t want to make physical contact with the descending woman.

And I definitely didn’t want to bump into that invisible something either.

“Woo…”

Koko behind me made that sound as if warning me.

Her hair fluttered past me.

The fake Kagami completely ignored Koko’s presence. Was she that confident?

As the woman was about to leave, there was a screeching sound.

A car that had rushed over hurriedly stopped in a nearby alley.

The people who got out were, as expected, men dressed like yakuza.

And Kagami.

“…”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

What must the local residents be thinking? It wouldn’t be strange if they reported this place as a yakuza hideout.

Fortunately, no police sirens could be heard yet.

“…”

Kagami, who had been getting out of the car, stopped in her tracks as if rooted to the spot.

Then she glared at the fake Kagami—no, her older sister. Her usually narrowed eyes widened slightly, but like a needle becoming a razor blade with increased surface area, they looked even sharper than usual.

But Kagami’s sister didn’t bother to stop walking.

Haughtily, as if she didn’t need to deal with anything here, she simply pushed through the crowd.

No one tried to block her way. They must have sensed something from that woman.

And I thought that was very wise. If they had blocked her, they probably would have disappeared without a trace.

The woman walked quite far before slightly turning her body toward us.

It was a considerable distance, and like Kagami, she had her eyes narrowed, so I couldn’t see exactly where her gaze landed—

But still, I was certain she had looked at me.

“…Are you hurt anywhere?”

Kagami approached me and asked.

“No.”

I answered while extending the knife sideways. The man who had lent me the knife carefully took it back, and I turned to face Kagami.

“…That woman just now, she’s your sister?”

Kagami nodded with a stiff expression.

“Have you heard of Waitley?”

“Waitley?”

Kagami tilted her head.

I could tell she hadn’t heard of it. It could be an act, but if it was, there was no way for me to find out. It’s not like I was going to torture Kagami.

“She was talking to thin air like that earlier. …I think she might have created something new besides that flesh thing.”

“…”

Kagami fell silent for a moment, lost in thought.

“…So, that person is Yamashita’s mother?”

Thinking about it again, Yamashita did have a similar vibe. Of course, she was much more girlish, much more normal, and even kind.

What kind of person was she in front of Yamashita that makes Yamashita still think of her as her mother and miss her?

“Can we talk for a moment?”

“Haaak!”

Hearing Kagami’s request, Koko behind me imitated Kuro’s sound.

“…Since she came this far, you should know the precautions.”

At Kagami’s words, I had no choice but to nod.

Of course, Koko didn’t look pleased about it until the end.