NOVEL WEB Chapter 40
Chapter
And it seemed that my thoughts were not wrong.
The reason I thought so was simple.
As soon as I got out of the car, my body trembled.
It wasn’t because of the cold. June nights were not cold enough to make me shiver.
After all, I was wearing a thin outer garment, so there was no reason to tremble more.
What’s more, the feeling I had was different from just being cold. It felt like a long, many-legged insect was crawling up my spine. Shivers.
Yamashita, who got out with me, didn’t seem to feel that way; he dashed right into the house without even receiving guidance from the older men who got out with us.
It was similar to what I had imagined from the past.
With a large gate and a spacious yard.
The house resembled a traditional Japanese mansion one might see in manga. In a corner of the storage shed, there was a summoning circle drawn, and I could almost imagine a blonde girl summoned from it asking, “Are you my master?”—Well, the situation is serious, so let’s put that delusion aside for now.
I hurriedly followed Yamashita’s lead.
He boldly opened the door and entered a room as if he knew where Mori’s room was.
It was a tatami-matted room. There was no bed inside; a futon was laid directly on the floor.
But it didn’t seem like a haphazard arrangement. The futon was a clean white, a premium item showing the care of the person who maintained it.
And there lay Mori.
Despite being covered by a thick futon, she was trembling like a aspen.
From a distance, she looked much thinner than the last time I saw her. It felt as if a person could turn into a half corpse in just a few days.
I cautiously entered the room. The two older men didn’t come in further.
As I slowly closed the sliding door and stepped inside, a chilling atmosphere enveloped me.
Could others feel it too? I thought as I glanced at the people in the room, but none seemed to have such cold expressions.
That sight gave me more certainty.
“…”
Yamashita, who was sitting cross-legged next to Mori, briefly looked up at me. I nodded gently and sat beside him.
“…Miho Onee…”
Yamashita had a somewhat distraught expression.
Mori was in serious condition. She couldn’t even properly listen to what the people beside her were saying, her eyes closed, grimacing as she trembled. Her jaw was shaking so much that her lips kept twitching.
“What on earth happened…?”
Yamashita asked, glaring at his father.
“This isn’t just a simple shock. A person can’t just end up like this.”
“Right. Miho is a strong girl; she wouldn’t faint just from being threatened.”
“Then why?”
Yamashita’s gaze reached me.
I quietly stared at Mori’s face again.
As I did, that chill seemed to intensify. I was trembling now as well.
…This was different.
It was clearly a different sensation from when I faced the Nue or the Agu.
Malice.
I had sensed a bit of malice from both the Agu and the Nue. The Agu sought a girl who would despair in being eaten, and the Nue tried to feed on human negative feelings.
But that was merely a ‘preference’ of a Yōkai. If you think about it in human terms, it’s like choosing how much meat to grill, whether to eat vegetables with it, or what kind of sauce to pour on it.
It would feel sufficiently malicious to the one being consumed, but for the one consuming, it was just a matter of preference.
This was not just my speculation; it was a story mentioned in the novel. Knowing it as a ‘feeling’ was another story, though.
‘Ah, so this is the kind of thing.’
I thought so.
It was like a little child playing with a frog, or more accurately, a much stronger… was this what it felt like for a human sharpening a knife while watching someone?
“That dog’s head.”
The words that came out when I opened my mouth were like that.
“Where is it?”
“…Do you know something?”
I thought you brought it along because you knew something, didn’t you?
“Did you throw it away?”
“Why? What’s going on?”
Yamashita asked me.
“…I need to find the cause.”
After all, it’s possible that some bacteria spread from the dog’s head. Since this is a house of Yakuza, it wouldn’t be strange at all if there was a grudge spirit or something. Rather than managing an accident based on a misunderstanding, it would be much better to confirm it clearly and deal with it.
“Cause? You think you can find that?”
“…”
I had no words to respond to that.
There was no way I could say something like, ‘I’m somewhat akin to the daughter of the god worshiped by a cult; oh, but thinking about it again, since that god really exists, I can’t call it a cult…’
That would sound like a joke to anyone hearing it for the first time.
It would be useless to say anything in front of the worried people.
“Follow me.”
Yamashita stood up and opened the door.
“Kurosawa?”
Seeing me follow, Yamashita also got up.
“Wait here for a moment. I’ll be back soon.”
Whether the cause was bacteria or a genuine curse, it was dangerous for anyone to approach the person beside the dog’s head.
The sensation I felt now was similar to when I was near a ‘nest’. It would be troublesome if Yamashita got dragged into it.
…It might already be too late, though.
Only now did I think I should have just come alone. Maybe Yamashita didn’t call for me for that reason.
But, since Mori’s condition had worsened so much, it might also have been to prevent regret.
“I…!”
“Yuu. Wait here.”
But before I could express my refusal again, Yamashita spoke first.
His voice was calm but, given the depth of it, it echoed a bit frighteningly in the room. Yamashita’s shoulders flinched for a moment.
“I’m going too.”
Right, Yamashita Yu was Yamashita’s daughter. She seemed to have inherited a bit of that spirit. I wondered if the silence between them was also something inherited.
“Sit down.”
Yamashita warned again.
“Who do you think you are…!”
“…”
When Yamashita raised her voice, Yamashita’s father glared at her with wide-open eyes.
He didn’t shout or anything. But that gaze had strength. Yamashita slightly retreated under the weight of that stare.
Her shoulders were hunched up, and her body shook slightly.
…For some reason, I had a feeling I had seen something I shouldn’t. I had intruded on a very sensitive part of someone else’s family matter.
“…Hoo.”
Yamashita’s father let out a long breath and rubbed his eyes with his fingers.
…Mori was probably someone precious to Yamashita. More than just being a future wife or something, she was a person whom he had raised for quite some time like his own daughter. She was also his benefactor’s daughter.
And as a result of accepting that, his daughter is slandered for cheating, and that counterpart becomes afflicted with an unknown illness. It would be understandable for nerves to be frazzled.
“Stay put.”
Yamashita glared at his father, but he stood firm in the doorway, looking back at his father and ultimately relaxing and slumping into his seat.
“Sorry for showing such a poor appearance.”
“…No, it’s okay.”
Yamashita’s father offered a small apology, and I answered with a somewhat subdued voice.
He hesitated a bit before turning to leave the room. I followed behind him into the hallway.
Before the sliding door closed, I turned back slightly and met the gaze of Yamashita, who was looking up at me.
As if confused about why it was alright for me, but not for her, Yamashita stared at me intently.
Thud.
The sound of something metallic dropping came from outside.
When I looked back, Yamashita’s father was looking down at me.
When I nodded, he turned around and began to walk.
I followed behind him.
*
Could this also be something that happened in the main story?
I speculated it would be so.
As long as Kurosawa Kotone and Kurosawa Kagami existed in this world, they would surely also exist in the novel’s universe.
Miura was the same.
…If Miura had been killed in the main story, I wondered how things would have played out.
Cults exist. The attempt for Kurosawa Kotone’s body to descend was likely a failure. Since humans were safe from the starting point of the main story, it was almost certain.
However, the existence of Kurosawa Kotone would have attended school. Suzuki-sensei was aware of my presence. Since it was institutionalized, surely throughout the unfolding of the main story, Kurosawa Kotone would have been sitting in the classroom next to the protagonist.
The person who would take care of Miura had disappeared. Should I call her Yamashita’s… sister? Perhaps Mori Miho had also died.
Fukuda and Yamashita were quite popular in class, but if we were to be strict, neither of them had a wide reach.
Miura, who became class president in a popularity vote, was probably the most popular girl in their class.
She acted as the glue that held together Fukuda and Yamashita.
“…”
It felt a bit strange to have bad thoughts about two people whom I had already come to know, but hadn’t Kurosawa Kotone been isolated in her class?
…Even having reached this far, since I didn’t watch until the end, there’s no meaning in pondering it now.
As for why I didn’t watch until the end, the answer is simple.
I just forgot.
For the first few years, I bought every new release, but at some point, I started reading other manga and light novels, buying those new releases instead… Wasn’t it always a struggle for pocket money when we were students? As one kept switching to new things, the novels being released at some point eventually went out of print.
…I should have read until the end properly.
Then at least I would have been able to understand somewhat the situation I am currently in.
“Here.”
Yamashita said.
The ground was damp, suggesting that a little rain had fallen before we arrived. It wasn’t as pretty as a garden since it was the back of the house.
Just a hard sand patch.
At the end of it was a fairly large storage shed. It was a size suitable for someone to set up living space, like a one-room apartment.
Indeed.
To put it bluntly, it seemed similar in size to the house I lived in.
Was it really a wealthy house, then?
“Should we go in together?”
“No, I’ll go in alone to take a look.”
I didn’t want to unnecessarily increase the number of victims.
At the very least, my body wouldn’t get hurt from an attack by a Yōkai.
No, to be precise, it’s not that I wouldn’t get hurt.
In other words, I likely wouldn’t die right away.
I could probably withstand a curse sprinkled by a Yōkai. Maybe.
Yamashita nodded, then took out a cigarette from his suit pocket.
This time, he lit it without caring that I was watching and took a deep drag.
Huu, seeing the white smoke puff out of him, I turned back.
I walked across the damp sandy ground and made my way to the storage shed.
There was no one guarding it or locking the door.
I pulled the door open.
Creeeak, the un-oiled hinges made a chilling sound.
A typical summer damp smell wafted out from inside. And a scent that seemed to be rotting too.
…It was a smell I hadn’t smelled in a while. At least, it wasn’t the worst I had ever experienced.
Leaving the door ajar, I entered and fumbled along the wall to find the switch.
Searching for the protruding switch that moves up and down, I clicked it upwards.
The lightbulb dangling from the ceiling by a wire flickered to life.
…It was a somewhat shabby storage shed.
On one wall, all kinds of tools were hung. On the opposite wall, there was a broom leaning against the wall, and a cleaning supply cupboard that looked like it might hold mops.
The floor was unnaturally clean without a speck of dust.
There were a few folding chairs leaning against the wall, and for some reason, they looked ominously unsettling.
And on a table in the corner of the room, there was a box with an open top.
The bottom was moist with liquid, making it soggy. There were traces of a muddy substance on the box’s exterior, as if it had rolled around after falling.
I approached the box slowly.
While wrinkling my nose, I leaned in to peek inside it.
I met the dog’s eyes.
What was so wronged about it, the dog was dead with its eyes open. Had its head been cut off while still in that state?
It looked like it had barked vigorously right until the end, as the flesh on its forehead was all crumpled, and squirming things were crawling around the severed neck and mouth. Bugs had also gotten stuck to its outstretched tongue.
It was merely a head. If I hadn’t known anything, I might have thought it was a dog’s head placed in a box after a traffic accident.
However, while I continued to look at that head, I could hear nothing.
Only a beeep—a severe ringing resounded in my ears. The sound of the wind blowing through the shed, the sound of the trees planted within the mansion rattling in the breeze could not be heard at all.
The ambient light slowly dimmed. It felt as if only I and the dog’s head were being illuminated, and my peripheral vision was narrowing down.
The dog continued looking up at me—
“Gah.”
I realized I hadn’t been breathing and forced myself to take a breath.
I hurriedly turned around and dashed out of the storage shed.
“Ugh.”
Then I bent forward and dry heaved. Thankfully, I didn’t actually vomit.
……It wasn’t just about having panicked after seeing a dog’s corpse. I had seen things much more terrifying than that.
It was just—
A chill.
My body trembled like an aspen, like I was facing something that wanted to ‘kill’ me. The dog’s eyes definitely looked up at me.
Footsteps approached. Straightening up, I saw Yamashita’s father coming. His expression was calm. Or was it a look that suggested he expected this?
…Well, I looked just like a high school girl on the outside.
“Can you resolve this?”
“…”
To be honestly, I wasn’t sure with the knowledge I held.
However.
“Knife.”
“Pardon?”
“I need a knife.”
“What kind of knife would work?”
I hadn’t thought there would be such a question coming back, so I stared somewhat blankly at Yamashita’s father.
Ah, right. This is a Yakuza mansion.
“…Something that can cut flesh and draw blood.”
“Got it.”
Yamashita’s father replied to me like that, then dropped the cigarette he had in his mouth to the floor and stomped it out.
“Oi!”
“Yes!”
As Yamashita’s father yelled, one of the men who was standing a little further away hurried over.
“Get a knife. Just stand by.”
“Yes.”
The man said that and opened his black suit jacket.
Then he pulled out a knife from within it.
…..
Is this for real?
The knife… was an ordinary kitchen knife. However, perhaps to fit it into his suit, he had rolled up the blade part with newspaper to make a makeshift sheath.
No matter how I looked at it, it was incredibly unsettling.
Yamashita’s father took it and handed it to me.
With a dazed feeling, I took the knife from him and pulled it out from the makeshift sheath.
It was just a knife used for cooking, but why did it look so dangerously menacing? It couldn’t be compared to the cutter knife I normally used.
Chik.
Yamashita’s father took out his second cigarette.
And while smoking that, he stood a little distance away, quietly watching me.
“…”
I looked around. No one seemed to be inclined to move.
Could I show this?
“Yamashita-san.”
When I called out, he nodded. That seemed to mean he was listening.
“Of those people here, how many know ‘the truth’?”
Yamashita looked over his shoulder. After checking each of his followers’ faces carefully, he turned back toward me and said,
“Those over there are all ‘believers’.”
“…”
Is that what it is?
At that moment, I nearly dropped the knife.
“So they say a person who does such a thing is a trustworthy religion, huh?”
I had no desire to hear such an explanation.
“Yamashita… what about Yu?”
I almost called him ‘Yamashita,’ but then recalled that the person in front of me also had the same last name and asked like that.
“That child knows nothing.”
“…Then please make sure she doesn’t come out until it’s all over.”
Yamashita nodded, waving his hand back.
“Yes!”
Two people shouted and rushed away. They would probably head in the direction of Mori’s room.
“Phew.”
I let out a slight breath as I rolled up my left arm.
As I pulled off the hair tie I had been holding in my hand, there was a small magic circle engraved on my wrist.
I lightly bit the hair tie, held the tip of the knife to my wrist.
As I pressed the blade against my wrist, I felt the sharp distinctive sting, and with that, I plunged the tip inside. Then I dragged it to the side.
Truly a kitchen knife, it made it much easier to make a cut on my wrist than using a cutter knife.
And—
“You thought I had forgotten you.”
A tickling voice echoed in my ear.
“…It hasn’t even been a month since I last called you.”
I answered.
There were no sounds of shock from around me. It was only natural. Nothing had moved. Even I could barely roll my eyes.
Swish swish, the sound of something crossing the sandy ground echoed. But even as I strained my eyes in the direction of the sound, nothing was visible.
“The surrounding light slowly dimmed. It felt as though only my wrist and the dog’s head were highlighted, and my vision narrowed.
The dog continued to look up at me—
“Gah.”
Realizing that I hadn’t been breathing, I forced myself to take a breath.
I hurriedly turned around and dashed out of the storage shed.
“Ugh.”
Then I bent forward and dry heaved. Thankfully, I didn’t actually vomit.
……It wasn’t just about having panicked after seeing a dog’s corpse. I had seen things much more terrifying than that.
It was just—
A chill.
My body trembled like an aspen, like I was facing something that wanted to ‘kill’ me. The dog’s eyes definitely looked up at me.
Footsteps approached. Straightening up, I saw Yamashita’s father coming. His expression was calm. Or was it a look that suggested he expected this?
…Well, I looked just like a high school girl on the outside.
“Can you resolve this?”
“…”
To be honestly, I wasn’t sure with the knowledge I held.
However.
“Knife.”
“Pardon?”
“I need a knife.”
“What kind of knife would work?”
I hadn’t thought there would be such a question coming back, so I stared somewhat blankly at Yamashita’s father.
Ah, right. This is a Yakuza mansion.
“…Something that can cut flesh and draw blood.”
“Got it.”
Yamashita’s father replied to me like that, then dropped the cigarette he had in his mouth to the floor and stomped it out.
“Oi!”
“Yes!”
As Yamashita’s father yelled, one of the men who was standing a little further away hurried over.
“Get a knife. Just stand by.”
“Yes.”
The man said that and opened his black suit jacket.
Then he pulled out a knife from within it.
…..
Is this for real?
The knife… was an ordinary kitchen knife. However, perhaps to fit it into his suit, he had rolled up the blade part with newspaper to make a makeshift sheath.
No matter how I looked at it, it was incredibly unsettling.
Yamashita’s father took it and handed it to me.
With a dazed feeling, I took the knife from him and pulled it out from the makeshift sheath.
It was just a knife used for cooking, but why did it look so dangerously menacing? It couldn’t be compared to the cutter knife I normally used.
Chik.
Yamashita’s father took out his second cigarette.
And while smoking that, he stood a little distance away, quietly watching me.
“…”
I looked around. No one seemed to be inclined to move.
Could I show this?
“Yamashita-san.”
When I called out, he nodded. That seemed to mean he was listening.
“Of those people here, how many know ‘the truth’?”
Yamashita looked over his shoulder. After checking each of his followers’ faces carefully, he turned back toward me and said,
“Those over there are all ‘believers’.”
“…”
Is that what it is?
At that moment, I nearly dropped the knife.
“So they say a person who does such a thing is a trustworthy religion, huh?”
I had no desire to hear such an explanation.
“Yamashita… what about Yu?”
I almost called him ‘Yamashita,’ but then recalled that the person in front of me also had the same last name and asked like that.
“That child knows nothing.”
“…Then please make sure she doesn’t come out until it’s all over.”
Yamashita nodded, waving his hand back.
“Yes!”
Two people shouted and rushed away. They would probably head in the direction of Mori’s room.
“Phew.”
I let out a slight breath as I rolled up my left arm.
As I pulled off the hair tie I had been holding in my hand, there was a small magic circle engraved on my wrist.
I lightly bit the hair tie, held the tip of the knife to my wrist.
As I pressed the blade against my wrist, I felt the sharp distinctive sting, and with that, I plunged the tip inside. Then I dragged it to the side.
Truly a kitchen knife, it made it much easier to make a cut on my wrist than using a cutter knife.
And—
“You thought I had forgotten you.”
A tickling voice echoed in my ear.
“…It hasn’t even been a month since I last called you.”
I answered.
There were no sounds of shock from around me. It was only natural. Nothing had moved. Even I could barely roll my eyes.
Swish swish, the sound of something crossing the sandy ground echoed. But even as I strained my eyes in the direction of the sound, nothing was visible.
“The surrounding light slowly dimmed. It felt as though only my wrist and the dog’s head were being highlighted, and my vision narrowed.
The dog continued to look up at me—
“Gah.”
Realizing that I hadn’t been breathing, I forced myself to take a breath.
I hurriedly turned around and dashed out of the storage shed.
“Ugh.”
Then I bent forward and dry heaved. Thankfully, I didn’t actually vomit.
……It wasn’t just about having panicked after seeing a dog’s corpse. I had seen things much more terrifying than that.
It was just—
A chill.