Ch.89Chapter 14. Accident (4)

Now I understand why Fake Nirlas listened to me without question.

Looking at my situation, anyone would see it’s incredibly dangerous.

The chi is so small that I can’t see properly, but sitting on the toilet in a raincoat with my arms hanging down and blood dripping – anyone would think I’m just a high school girl who committed suicide. In the middle of the night, no less.

I even appear unconscious. Of course I would.

I must still be breathing, right? No matter what, I don’t think Fake Nirlas would go so far as to stop that. That would actually kill me.

“Kyu! Kyu!”

Even when I try to protest, that’s all that comes out of my mouth.

If I’m left here, someone passing by will see me, panic, and call the police.

And Yuka, who lives nearby, would probably hear about it too.

But Yuka isn’t the problem. Miura thought I was a victim of sexual assault. Come to think of it, my usual behavior and what I did today would look perfect for “suicide preparation.”

Cutting my wrists like this wouldn’t easily kill me, but even as an “attempt,” it’s already not something to laugh about.

I couldn’t feel my body, but I still got goosebumps.

Speaking of not feeling anything, I’m not sure if chi’s body naturally lacks sensory functions, or if it’s just because this is a temporarily connected body that I can’t feel properly.

I realized I don’t have lungs when I tried to breathe in, but I’m not sure if I actually breathed or not. Since I can’t feel anything, I can’t be certain.

But there is one advantage to this.

Having to slither like a snake across the already filthy bathroom floor… if I could actually feel it…

Well, fine.

No matter what I say, Fake Nirlas wouldn’t listen anyway, so I decided to head to where the fire was.

I’ll go check it out as quickly as possible… and I won’t need to come back. I can just fall into a nearby sewer and burst. That’ll be the end of it.

Good. Thinking about my final moments, I’m actually grateful I can’t feel anything.

Though I’m not sure why I should be happy about that.

I turned my body as quickly as possible and left the bathroom. Fortunately, no one was trying to use this secluded bathroom, so no one had to witness a living, bright red blood clot crawling around.

Once outside, I paused briefly to assess the situation.

Chi’s durability isn’t very good. Forget getting hit by a moving car – it would burst just from being stepped on by a passerby. With bad luck, I might even be attacked by a bird or cat that mistakes chi for an insect.

Once again, I cursed Fake Nirlas’s twisted sense of humor.

Plus, my vision now… it was like looking through an endoscope. As if someone had placed the screen right in front of my eyes, covered it with thick black cloth to prevent light from leaking in, and wrapped it all with tape.

Looking around, my field of vision wasn’t very wide. I’d probably lose my sense of direction if I wasn’t careful.

“…”

At least it’s dark around here. And the streetlights are still yellow rather than white, so even if my reddish chi body is visible, it would be hard to make out the exact color. With luck, people might just think I’m a passing earthworm.

Alright.

Now that I understand the situation, I feel a bit calmer.

I wriggled chi’s body as fast as possible toward the scene of the incident.

*

Fortunately, I didn’t encounter any cats or birds along the way. The scene wasn’t that far from where I started, so even with my limited vision, I had no trouble finding my way.

There were a few police officers standing guard, but I crawled along the wall and stayed out of their sight. Or maybe they saw me but thought I was just a worm.

Either way, I was able to enter the fire scene.

“Kyu.”

Instead of a sigh, that squeaking sound came out.

I have no idea what principle makes that sound.

…But that’s not important right now.

If I had to pick the most useful aspect of moving chi’s body, it would be how easily it sticks to things and climbs up.

It would leave blood stains, but once this is over, my body won’t have a single scratch. I can just collect the raincoat, put it back in my bag, and dispose of it separately. And there’s no way there would be CCTV inside a public bathroom.

The perfect crime… well, entering a crime scene guarded by police is a crime too, so let’s just call it that.

I checked the gas range first. If the fire started because of gas, that area would have the most damage.

The house was “completely burned” to the extent that you could call it that, but if the fire truck had arrived in time for successful fire suppression, it would be possible to deduce where the fire started. Simply put, the origin burns the most.

The wall near the gas range was burned black, but there were some areas where color remained.

And it didn’t look like things had been thrown around in all directions as if there had been an explosion.

To properly investigate, I’d need to examine various things in detail, but I didn’t have that luxury right now.

Next, I checked the boiler…

This area was barely burned. It was blackened by smoke, but that was all.

Which means…

The police would have removed the bodies, of course, but if we assume “the fire started from the bodies”…

“Kyu kyu!”

Indeed, the living room was the most burned area. As if people sitting on the sofa suddenly combusted, everything around that area had burned and melted away without leaving a trace.

Spontaneous human combustion.

In mystery stories, they often claim that people suddenly burn due to supernatural phenomena, but usually there’s a separate real cause.

The most common is cigarettes.

Elderly people, or those with chronic illnesses, die while smoking, and the cigarette falls on or near the body. In such cases, the cause of ignition naturally appears to be from the “body.”

But such cases typically happen to people living alone. If someone else lived with them, they would have reacted somehow before the body caught fire.

They said an entire family died.

And the deceased couple was in their mid-30s. A seemingly normal family with a young child.

It’s too far-fetched to think that two people suddenly died in the same place, and a cigarette one of them was holding fell and burned their bodies.

Suicide by self-immolation? If so, there would definitely be evidence. Human bodies don’t burn easily. To burn to the point where you can’t put yourself out, the surroundings would need to be ablaze first, or you’d need to pour flammable substances on your body.

It doesn’t seem likely that someone wanting to die would pour oil on themselves from a distance, come here, and then light themselves on fire.

I searched the surroundings thoroughly again, but everything was so blackened that finding other traces was almost impossible.

Plus, there was hardly any light. Chi’s eyes were much better at seeing things at night than human eyes, but there were still limitations.

“Kyu.”

I think I’ll stop here for today.

Just confirming that the fire started from a person is progress.

…I’ll have to follow up by investigating other cases.

I left the house.

*

“Ugh.”

Sitting slumped on a closed toilet lid wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.

Plus, my left wrist was throbbing. Of course it would, after being cut deeply enough to bleed profusely.

How much time had passed?

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like too long. Checking my phone, it had been about 30 minutes.

But if it gets any later, Yuka and Koko will worry.

I quickly got up from my seat—

Thud.

I heard footsteps beyond the door.

“…”

Oh.

I quickly lowered my head. The floor was literally covered in blood. During those 30-odd minutes, I had bled quite a lot, staining the dirty tiles of the public bathroom red.

What should I do?

My heart was pounding. If I’m caught here, I’ll definitely end up at the police station. The person coming in probably isn’t a man, but—

Thud.

…Wait a minute.

There was a certain weight to those footsteps.

I’m not some martial arts master who can identify someone just by their footsteps. But I do hear children’s footsteps often.

Sasaki’s footsteps and Yuka’s footsteps are naturally different.

Thud.

And those footsteps, clearly approaching my stall, were definitely not those of a high school girl.

Yes, there are women with larger builds too.

I tried to rationalize it, but my racing heart wouldn’t calm down.

The bathroom had dim lighting, but there was still light.

The red blood would have been visible.

But strangely, there was no scream of surprise, no trembling breath from beyond the door.

No.

To be precise.

There was no sound of breathing at all.

I got goosebumps.

This wasn’t just fear from the current situation. It wasn’t goosebumps from surprise.

It was something else—

I suppressed my breathing as much as possible and moved slowly.

The sashimi knife I had been holding had fallen to my right. I picked it up and slowly bent down to look under the door.

I wasn’t completely lying down, but the old bathroom had quite a large gap under the door. I could see through to the other side fairly well.

…There was nothing outside.

Even though I clearly heard footsteps.

I gritted my teeth and slowly stood up.

I held my bag in my left hand, the one not holding the knife. I positioned the bag in front of my forearm, with the back of my hand facing outward, like a medieval knight holding a shield.

I’m not sure how effective it would be, but still.

And I placed the knife in my right hand against my left wrist.

The blood had dried, but there was no wound above the tattoo. Evidence that the deal with Fake Nirlas was complete.

“Haa.”

And only then did I realize what Fake Nirlas had said earlier, and I exhaled.

I see.

So that’s it.

Damn.

I pressed the knife firmly against my left wrist—

—but whatever was beyond the door was faster.

I’ve heard that public bathroom doors are designed to be easy to open. The bathroom is where elderly people get injured most often at home, and public bathrooms aren’t much different.

But “easy to open” usually means making locked doors somehow easier to open.

Not breaking the door inward like this.

The bathroom door, which had a relatively smooth outer surface, splintered inward with a crack. The cross-section of the plywood making up the door was clearly visible.

The other side moved before I could cut my wrist.

An invisible opponent.

…Did Kosuzu send it?

“Ack…!”

I kicked with all my might. My foot hit something sticky and heavy, and the sound of liquid splashing was heard.

No, it actually splashed. Something transparent and sticky—or moisture on the surface of that sticky thing—was splashing toward me.

It grabbed my hands first, and my two hands were slowly spread apart. There was a bit of blood at the end of my left wrist, but it wasn’t perfect.

Waitley.

Something that followed behind Kosuzu. Something invisible but definitely present.

I could feel the blood draining from my face.

Slowly, my body rose into the air.

If seen from someone else’s perspective, it would have been an extremely bizarre sight. A high school girl in a transparent raincoat over her uniform, covered in blood, floating in the air as if crucified.

It didn’t feel like simple levitation. Clearly, someone was lifting me up.

With an enormous number of hands.

“Let go of this!”

Dangerous.

My brain was screaming that. I didn’t think about not dying before the prophecy was fulfilled, or about Fake Nirlas not leading me to death.

There was just this being in front of me, seemingly examining my left wrist.

“Kuk…!”

My left wrist was firmly pressed by something, then my arm was twisted and brought forward. Is that where its head is?

I was… how long had it been since I faced a yokai without weapons? And even the only way to summon those weapons was blocked by the opponent’s movements.

Still, still—

I won’t die, right?

For the first time, I had such a thought.

Even if I don’t die, what if I end up in a state worse than death?

What if I’m like those who can’t die even when dismembered? Even if not, they could cut off my limbs and use me for experiments.

You will die.

By the hand of the one you trust most.

—Why?

Perhaps, seeing my condition, the other person finally decided to end my suffering directly.

Perhaps I begged them to kill me. And they refused as much as they could, but finally realized it was all futile—

“Ah.”

After thinking that far, that sound came from my mouth.

“No, no, no!”

That’s not it, that’s not it!

I kicked my feet. Suspended in mid-air, I forcibly pulled up my feet and stomped on the opponent with all my might, but it didn’t budge at all.

But still, I continued to resist. I had no choice.

I don’t want that. That kind of future.

I, I— I want to live peacefully with my friends until the end. There will be days when we face yokai, we might eventually clash with the Society, we might be chased by the government.

But, in the end, still, when I die…

The opponent, without making any sound, firmly grabbed my right hand.

“Aagh!”

I screamed and dropped the knife. The falling knife drew a line in the air.

Drip.

The sound of a green liquid falling to the floor in a long line from that cut.

Crack.

And this was the sound of my right hand breaking.

I probably screamed.

It was an intensely realistic pain. Being stabbed through the heart, or being bitten by a yokai’s huge mouth. These were pains that rarely occur in reality, and during intense fights, I hardly had time to feel the sensation. At those times, my body was already on the verge of fainting, and I soon lost consciousness after receiving major injuries.

Therefore, I couldn’t help but scream at this pain.

I was already filled with fear to the top of my head.

The knife floated into the air.

And with a disturbingly smooth trajectory, it slowly rose above my left wrist.

“Kuk!”

Stab.

The knife stabbed into my left wrist. And slowly, as if checking something, it was drawn downward.

It hurt terribly. It went much deeper than I usually cut. It cut through the skin beneath, the muscles, making a creaking sound as it carved something into the wrist bone.

Blood gushed out. Did it cut an artery?

But despite being soaked in blood, Fake Nirlas didn’t answer.

Again, again, lines were drawn on my wrist several times.

“…”

The opponent tilted its head—

“…Ah?”

Yes. That’s how it looked.

It wasn’t completely visible in the blood like the Loneliness I had encountered before. But still, in my blood, I could briefly see the opponent’s form.

The figure of a man much larger than me. A gaunt man.

With several tentacle-like things protruding from his back.

“…”

Ah, I see.

I understand now.

“…If you want an answer.”

At my voice, the man’s face—probably the man called Waitley—turned toward me.

“…You have to match the other’s mood. Whether the great one answers or not isn’t dependent on mere conditions.”

I breathed roughly.

Whew. Alright.

Right now, I was only holding up my left arm. After breaking my right arm, did it decide there was no need to hold it anymore?

“Is that what you claim?”

A leisurely voice was heard.

Tilt.

As if having practiced a cute gesture, a woman tilted her head into the bathroom stall where I was hanging.

It was Kosuzu.

“That the will of the great ones depends on the mood of those who answer.”

“Yes.”

I said that while trying to move my right hand.

It seems my arm isn’t “completely” broken. Plus, thinking about it again, my body easily recovers from any injury. My arm is broken, but if I endure for a little while, it will be completely fine.

My index and middle fingers can still twitch. My elbow was fine too. Good.

I have no intention of suffering like that yet.

“Are you saying that what I’ve done is insignificant compared to what you’ve done?”

That human-like tone, full of pride and self-consciousness.

“Yes. That’s right. I guess I look much prettier to them.”

I deliberately spoke in a provocative way.

The sashimi knife was still in the monster’s hand. Trying to maintain my increasingly blurry vision, I looked past the monster at Kosuzu and spoke.

“Don’t you see? I woke up not long after you tried hard and gave up. They must have disliked you. Clearly.”

Kosuzu was looking at me expressionlessly.

Honestly, it was terrifying.

I had only one chance. If I failed here, I would really be dragged away alive and subjected to all kinds of madness.

Where are the people who are supposed to be protecting me? Kosuzu must have found a way to come here too.

Whew.

Alright.

Not really alright, but let’s pretend it is.

“Beings as great as they are wouldn’t easily respond to calls from insignificant creatures like us, right? Of course you need to attract that much attention.”

Kosuzu stared at me intently.

“Actually, aren’t you thinking about this wrong? If you place yourself at the center of the world, of course those beings would just sneer at you.”

“…”

Is she angry? I hope she is.

Yes. Just keep staring at my face like that.

I moved my right arm with all my might.

Fortunately, before the opponent could react, I managed to dig my fingernail into the wound.

A sharp pain shot through both my still-healing right wrist and my still-bleeding left wrist. But I spoke through gritted teeth.

“…Like this, try to do something that would impress them.”

And I pulled out the fingernail I had dug in.

My right hand was covered in blood, with flesh stuck under my nail.

And.

“An excellent answer. But I can’t say it’s perfect.”

Fake Nirlas’s voice was heard.

“I have no intention of answering just because you imitate exactly what you did.”

In a moment of frozen time, Fake Nirlas spoke into my ear.

“What do you want?”

“…Save me.”

I just spoke honestly.

Hmm, a laugh was heard.

“Good. I think a bit more begging would be fine.”

I paused for a moment, then opened my mouth again.

“Please, save me…”

“I want to hear the reason.”

“I still… have people I want to see, things I want to do.”

“Then, it would have been better if you had been so honest from the beginning. I like those who struggle to the end.”

…And you probably want to see those who can’t escape from pain too.

“I will give you what you want.”

Fake Nirlas said.

“I would like to hear that wonderful singing voice of yours.”

Perhaps that is Fake Nirlas’s true purpose in giving me power.