Mushi:Vol1 Ch4

Night 4: Loneliness ← Kodoku → Insect Poison

As the season had already changed into winter, the air in the school corridors seemed particularly cold late at night. Even the blurry scene that seemed to levitate in the darkness gave off a feeling of piercing chill. Kannonsakazaki Private High School was a plain, ordinary place, the kind of place people imagined when they talked about a school that never got any praises or criticisms from anyone. But this ordinary school was currently the location of an incongruously strange scene. The moonlight pouring in through the window made the corridor glisten with light as if it was a mirror. A few humanoid figures were wobbling along the bright corridor.

There were about ten teenagers here. They were most likely the school's students, as they were all wearing the uniforms of Kannonsakazaki High School! These boys and girls had a similar, unfocused expression on all of their faces, stumbling along as if they were the risen dead. Their visages were full of gloom, apparently having lost their conscious.

Their leader was the only person who was dressed oddly among these students in uniform. He wore a long purple robe, held a large crystal ball in his hands, and his red eyes sparkled with residue light in the darkness.

He was indeed the mysterious fortune teller who gave the Dream World Beast to Sakaki Guryū, who then tried to kill Usagawa Rinne and survived Guriko’s attack. He did not wear his hood this time. His young, expressionless face was exposed.

This macabre team, led by the fortune teller, marched forward. They soon arrived at the third floor and stopped in front of a sealed classroom, which no one usually approached. There was not a single word of conversation despite the amount of people gathered here. The surroundings were enveloped in a frightening stillness.

The fortune teller then broke the silence and said: “… I see. It is indeed something very vicious!”

No one answered his words. The fortune teller gave a look, urging a boy with a particularly thick build to step forward. The boy held a rough and large axe in his hands. The door of the sealed classroom had wooden panels nailed onto it to forbid people from entering. The boy lifted the axe and chopped downwards chaotically, destroying the door. The sound of him hacking away, as if intending to break the others’ eardrums, echoed in the silent school for a long time.

‘Clack’, the wooden panel made a mighty noise, and the door was completely smashed. Age-old thick dust filled up the air, but the fortune teller did not mind it at all. He spoke to the students behind him: “hurry, the door’s open, get inside –”

Without a word, the students, their faces filled with lifeless and blank expressions, obeyed the fortune teller’s words and walked into the empty abandoned classroom.

There was a strange rumor concerning this sealed classroom. Reputedly, all the students who broke into this abandoned classroom for fun had strangely disappeared. This rumor appeared to be confirmed by the fortune teller. 'Something evil’ was indeed within this classroom. It was an existence that should never have been born in this world, something called a monster. This was an existence similar to that of the fortune teller.

“… Come, I’m here to bring offerings. This is prepared especially for you. Please enjoy yourself. Please also forgive me for having already taken their souls - the best way to successfully control humans is to suck away the soul and make them into zombies, after all! You’re not the type to eat souls anyway, Legion Bandanna, for you are a demonic beast of blood and flesh –”

The fortune teller spoke into the darkness that formed whirlpools inside the classroom. Upon closer inspection, the students standing dazedly in the classroom were being devored by the darkness one by one, and their figures disappeared. It looked to be truly hungry. Human were cruel indeed, locking it up here and not even giving it food. In the pitch dark classroom, Legion Bandanna’s hunger and hatred were raised to the ultimate level.

With a satisfied expression on his face, the fortune teller looked almost as if he was appreciating the demonic beast that was savoring the students as it devored them.

Unknown to him, someone was standing behind him.

“… What are you doing?”

“Oh dear.”

The fortune teller turned his head. A red-haired woman, about twenty years old, was standing there.

It was a Mushi. It probably discovered that something odd was happening in the school and came to ascertain the situation.

The fortune teller waved a hand nonchalantly and spoke to the Mushi with the female appearance: “What’s wrong? Did you need to come to this school for something?”

“Don’t play dumb. I’m asking what you are doing.”

The Mushi was unmoved, and nor did the expression on its face change.

“What’s your intention in feeding the carnivorous beast? You should know the danger in this, right? If it’s just a pointless game, then you must be disciplined as a fellow Mushi –”

Just then, the expression on the Mushi’s face froze.

“You –”

Have they discovered me yet?

“Wait. Who are you? You're not a Mushi – you are not one of us.”

The fortune teller moved with a lightning quick speed that human eyes wouldn’t be able to see. It was a speed that the Mushi, whose physical abilities are not any higher than an average human's, could never have. The crystal ball immediately dropped on the ground, making a loud sound.

The Mushi opened its red eyes wide in shock.

“Wha –”

“I won't be stopped here!”

The sound came from behind the Mushi.

“– This is for my purpose.”

Then, the fortune teller bit deeply into the slender neck of the Mushi with his vicious teeth. The Mushi gave out dying shrieks, clawed the air frantically, but it was useless no matter how it struggled –

The Mushi soon disintegrated into thin air.

“… Ah, don’t worry about this!”

The fortune teller spoke into the pitch dark classroom with a gloomy voice.

“Keep on enjoying your food till you’re full.”

Then he laughed. It was a very evil - no, a laugh filled with pure evil.

Her life was changing. The town had always felt so old and without charisma before she met Sakaki Guryū, just like how it was starting to feel now. That was how she always felt her entire life. Was her life going back to the way it was before? Usagawa Rinne sighed, then wiped away the tears that trickled down without her noticing.

The time was 7:50pm, almost eight o’clock. Having just finished her work at the fastfood outlet, Rinne was currently riding the bicycle she hasn’t used for many years, which was creaking with weird sounds. Every method of keeping herself warm was useless in the winter city after sunset. Rinne hunched up her body, enduring the chilling air that seemed to almost erode into her skin. Apparently she still had some residue feelings of ‘pain’ concerning temperature. According to Guriko, it seems it will take a long time for those sensations to disappear.

However, the heartache won’t disappear.

“What... should I do?”

She muttered as if she were speaking about someone else.

What should I do?

She had always regarded herself as a different existence before she met Guryū. This 'difference' wasn’t in a good way, but in a bad way, as if she was a blemished work, a failure, a malfunctioning object, or a piece of crap. She only realized she was definitely not that different after meeting Guryū. There were no such thing like 'a different existence', no such things as a 'good' or 'bad' difference. Everyone breathes, eats, sleeps, and lives in the same way. It was humanity itself that used poverty, personality, social status, and thought processes to classify itself. When she was fifteen, she obeyed these whimsical distinctions humans made, thinking that she was different, thinking that she was not worthy, that she was useless, and therefore she desired death. She only understood how to enjoy an ordinary life after she met Guryū and felt that she wasn’t different, just another ordinary human.

However – she was no longer an ordinary human. How can someone who has eternal life be ordinary? She hadn’t eaten anything, but can still move and speak. Does such a creature count as human? How can it be? How can it be!

“Sensei...”

She was thinking of Sakaki, her beloved.

Humans will always part from one another. Even if they do nothing, separation will come in the form of ‘death’. Although Rinne could understand such things, she never thought about it before. They won’t be in a teacher-and-student relationship once she graduates from high school. They would become a ordinary couple, and will one day marry and be together forever. They just have some uncertain, sweet dreams. They were not thinking about the separation that will arrive one day at long last. But now she had to think of death and separation. She had to think how she, who won’t even be granted death, will part with Sakaki. One day Sakaki will die, but she could not. Therefore, she must decide on when she will bid farewell to him. Rinne’s tears fell splattering to the ground.

“No...”

No, no, no, Rinne murmured. The bicycle crossed the shopping street, galloping on the uneven ground. The moonlight shone down silently, the grass waved with a rustle, but Rinne was not in the mood to enjoy this scene.

“How can this be? How can this be...”

It was rare for Rinne to speak such pessimistic words.

She suddenly wanted to see Sakaki very much.

I used to want a teddy bear very much, Rinne had said.

What’s a teddy bear? Guriko asked without looking at Rinne. Her eyes were focused on the television in front of her, where the little Kirby avatar was jumping cutely. After yesterday’s ‘Obake no Q-Tarō’, Guriko was challenging action games again today. She was probably getting used to it, and her hands on the controller were now far more dexterous.

Rinne still couldn’t decide her future after listening to Guriko talking about the truth yesterday. There were many choices. She could stay beside Sakaki until he dies and travel with Guriko afterwards. She could also choose not go with Guriko after Sakaki's death and pass her soul to the Mushi. Or, as their relationship wasn’t very intimate yet and the separation won’t hurt too deeply, she many even leave Sakaki’s side tomorrow. However, although she can easily think up these choices, she couldn’t make a choice as she loves Sakaki very much.

He saved Rinne’s life. He was her object of admiration, her most important person in the world.

“This thing, this 'teddy bear'...”

Rinne was speaking of the past. She felt she wanted to talk about it. Although Guriko didn’t reply, it seemed she was listening attentively and would ask as soon as she has questions.

“It’s a toy, a bear toy! Because it’s made in a very abstract way, it doesn’t really look like a real bear anymore – I used to want it very much. As to why I wanted it... I can’t remember the reason anymore.”

“That’s how everyone was like when they were young!”

Guriko, clad in pajamas, controlled Kirby as she said words that made Rinne feel the weight of Guriko's age.

“A child’s world is actually very small. Even if it’s something that is boring and infinitesimal for adults, children would feel it’s an important existence that can’t be ignored, right?”

“That’s right!”

Rinne smiled and laid across the prepared futon. The heated kotatsu table had long ago been pushed to the corner of the room, and the preparations before sleep were already complete.

“It’s probably just like that. But my dad – I didn’t have a mom - he didn’t understand my thoughts, and told me off very harshly: ‘Don’t ask for such things’. Since I couldn’t understand it, I kept throwing fits. That was probably... the beginning of it all.”

It was 8:30pm. Guriko had been playing video games from when she came back from school. If she was told: “you’re gonna hurt your eyes!’, she would reply: ‘They’ll recover on their own.”, which was true for her!

“It just went all downhill after that. As I grew up, my personality also became very distorted. I became a person without interests. I always felt that the entire world refused to acknowledge me, and no one is listening to me. I became entangled in this paranoia and began to be afraid, and began to distance myself from others...”

Based on Rinne's current personality, it was very hard to imagine her acting like what she was describing. However, Rinne really did live through such a time. Back then, she hated others, hated herself, and hated the world.

She even hated the fact that she was alive.

“There was no place for me in school, and I couldn’t get any solace at home. Plus there was nothing I liked or was interested in. I just kept accumulating stress. Stress is very scary, Guriko. It’s definitely a monster. The monster named stress continued to erode and gnaw away at my heart, and then I became someone full of spite."

"Since I didn’t have the courage to be rebellious, I could only lock myself in my room and passively resist. Though it was boring to stay in my room, it wasn’t painful either, so I kept staying inside my locked room. Dad couldn’t understand me. He swore at me whenever he was angry, saying I was you piece of crap while he beat me, or he told me to go to school while kicking me.”

That was then Rinne completely snapped.

She knew that. even if she kept living, there was nothing good left in her life.

Then end it all, she thought.

“Had I not met Sakaki-sensei, I would probably be already dead. I went to the ocean during winter, when there was absolutely no one else around. I was walking on the empty wave cutters, thinking of where I would kill myself. I wanted to die. I wanted to commit suicide. Now that I think about it, it was really scary, but back then I really did snap!”

Or maybe she was mad. Rinne gave a small smile. Kirby fell into a hole and died on the television screen. Play again! But there were no such second chances in life.

“... I jumped in, trying to drown myself. I walked to the side of the wave cutters and jumped, aiming for the deep water. I didn’t hope to be saved, and I didn’t think anyone would save me. The sea water was so cold, cold enough to kill someone from the temperature alone. I remember it very vividly. But all I felt then was that it was so cold.”

“Death is not warm!” Rinne said.

“That’s obvious!” Guriko said coldly.

“But some people believe death is warm and happy. There are crazy people who think being dead would grant them more happiness than living.”

“I know.”

Guriko said evenly. Confusion emerged on Rinne’s face.

“I tried to die a few times too. I still want to die. There’s nothing important for me in life, and I don’t know what I’m living for. I long for the concept of death very much.”

The reborn Kirby was walking forward in high spirits.

Guriko smiled unconsciously.

“So I’m a bit jealous of you. You have something important to you. You're using that important existence – Sakaki Guryū - as your pillar of existence, and you managed to continue living in happiness. I’m jealous, and I miss having someone important to me. It is the beautiful feeling that I left behind a long long time ago. That’s reasonable. Right now, for me –”

Guriko suddenly had a lost expression.

“– there isn’t anything or anyone important.”

But then, why did Guriko stay alive? Rinne tried to think. The reason Guriko was alive was probably due to the fact that she ‘can’t die’, not that she ‘wanted to live’, right? This thought was just too pessimistic. This girl, in order to protect Apple-holders from the threat of Mushi and also to avenge her family, lived on simply because of duty, destiny, and hatred. But I feel she is very tough and very gentle. Guriko didn’t escape death, and she had fought alone to prevent her own misfortunes from occurring again.

“Guriko.”

“What?”

“Guriko, I –”

Rinne spoke from the depths of her heart: “– can’t I be someone important to you?”

“Hmm...”

Guriko gave Rinne a look. It was the look of a stray kitten picked up from the street, wanting to act cute but weary of humans at the same time. It was an expression that showed she wanted to rely on someone but was fearful at the same time, mixed in with some clumsiness.

“I don’t know...”

Guriko’s gaze returned to the television.

“I like you. I haven’t met anyone I like for a long time, but I have been separated from these kinds of feelings for a long while. Therefore... I don’t know if I’m able to feel that you’re ‘important’. I can no longer distinguish whether this is the normal feeling that I had a thousand years ago.”

The girl who had died a long, loong time ago stared into nothingness and said: “I’ll tell you when I’ve come to a conclusion, Rinne. Thanks for your kind words.”

Tilting her head, Guriko still smiled clumsily.

For just a brief moment, an expression showed on Rinne’s face as if she wanted to cry, but she quickly got back to the original topic.

“Back to our previous topic... Hmm... where were we?”

“You said you jumped into the ocean.”

Guriko replied as she fought the boss on the screen at the same time.

Rinne nodded.

“Yes, I jumped into the ocean to seek death. As to why I chose the seaside, it was because it was close... also, it would trouble a lot of people if I committed suicide on the railway.”

“You thought of others even back then! That’s really like you... hohoho.”

Guriko gave a rare smile. Rinne’s eyes were looking at somewhere far away.

“Sensei saved me there.”

“Why would Sakaki be there?”

“Uh?”

Rinne’s eyes widened.

Then Rinne tilted her head as if thinking about something.

“– Hmm, huh, speaking of it, why indeed? No one swims in the sea during winter, so why would Sensei be there? Although I don’t know, I think Sensei must be there due to some sort of business. He saw me jump in and saved me.”

“Sakaki was probably there to kill himself too.”

“That’s impossible!”

Rinne burst out laughing due to Guriko’s words. It would be impossible, even if it was a joke.

“Anyways, Sensei saved me at the risk of his own life. I was hovering near death, and he resuscitated me – Ahh, Guriko, why are you getting me to say this?”

”Bam", Rinne suddenly knocked on Guriko’s head.

Shocked, Guriko looked at Rinne.

Rinne looked very embarrassed.

“… And then, Sensei told me off, saying that I shouldn’t kill myself. Then – ahaha, what do you think Sensei, drenched from head to toe, said to me? He said: ‘I fell in love with you at first sight. Please marry me.’ My brain froze, because I suddenly felt like Cinderella, with someone as handsome as Sensei suddenly... telling me...”

Rinne became red to the ears all of a sudden, while Guriko opened her eyes wide in shock. She probably didn’t know why Rinne was blushing. Perhaps even Rinne herself didn’t know the reason!

“It was – at about this time last year, or a bit later. At the end, I found the hope to keep living because I met Sakaki-sensei, and so I gave up trying to kill myself and decided to study at Kannonsakazaki High School. I didn’t know Sensei would chase after me as a teacher...”

“That guy’s activity is pretty weird in itself.”

“But I was really happy! I liked Sensei even back then. Even now, I still feel that meeting Sensei in the sea was like a dream...”

With a dreamy, euphoric expression, Rinne said softly with a hand on her chest.

It was truly miraculous. Perhaps it could be called destiny!

Meeting Sakaki Guryū, who changed Usagawa Rinne’s life.

At the same time it was also the beginning of the terrible situation that Usagawa Rinne was now facing.

As she easily went past level by level, Guriko said to Rinne with an innocent voice: “... Rinne, could it be that you ate 'it' at that time?”

“Mm, I ate the Apple.”

Rinne answered quietly. Of course, this wasn’t an 'apple' that you’d buy from the shops.

That was the forbidden fruit that would give a human immortality, the Apple growing on the tree at entrance to the next world, where only certain selected people could reach. No one knows what conditions were used to choose the humans who can reach the tree. The only thing that was certain was that those who ate the Apple would never be able to die, and would forever be targeted by the Mushi as long as they live.

“I think Usagawa Rinne died in the sea. I was resurrected due to having eaten the Apple, and then receiving hope from Sakaki-sensei. All of these things gave me a true rebirth, and that is why I am still alive today.”

“Mmm...”

Guriko listened to Rinne with a gentle expression.

Guriko had lived with her for almost a month already, Rinne thought. In this short time, this girl had become more human-like. She didn’t appear to notice it herself, but she smiled more often, and her expressions were much softer.

Would I be able to more or less heal Guriko’s heart like Sakaki did to mine? Rinne smiled inwardly. Rinne wanted to save Guriko for no particular reason. She perhaps projected her old self, an image of a girl who didn’t have anything important in the world and wanted to die, onto Guriko! However, it could be said that it had nothing to do with her own past, and Rinne simply liked Guriko’s personality. She knew that although Guriko was rude and found it hard to understand others’ emotions, she wasn’t a bad person. If that was the case, then it would be too pitiful to leave such a person to endure pain. Therefore, Rinne sincerely wanted to help her.

“... Sakaki... Guryū...?”

Guriko’s hands didn’t stop, and she said this while she kept playing the video game: “Is that guy really so charismatic?”

“Mmm. Very.”

Rinne replied immediately. Guriko still said with a serious face: “I’d think so, since he’s the person whom you like.”

Such delightful words.

“I’m beginning to want to think about getting along with that guy too, and it seems you don’t like me to argue with that guy, so I’ll back down. But that guy still seems to act cautiously towards me even now – we probably can’t be good friends!”

“Mm, that’s good, Guriko.”

Rinne was honestly glad. It would be great if Guriko and Sakaki can get along peacefully. That would just be amazing! Therefore, Rinne suggested with a smiling face: “Should the three of us go somewhere together sometime next week? It’d make us know each other better. I don’t know if Sensei would have the time, but the end-of-semester exams finish next week, and I won’t be working either.”

“I don’t mind... but it’d only make things boring if you bring me along!”

“No it won’t!”

Rinne laughed, and Guriko also smiled as she turned her face around –

“Huh –”

Suddenly, Guriko’s face became full of loathing.

"... This...”

All of Guriko’s movements have ceased. She only stared at the ceiling of the room.

”What’s wrong, Guriko?” Rinne asked, surprised. On the screen, Kirby was already dead.

”... What is this? what is this scent? Not – a beast. What is this?”

”Guriko...”

”Could it be Mushi? No – it’s such a strong power. Rinne!”

The sharp yell startled Rinne.

With a serious face, Guriko said: "I’ll go and check out the situation outside. You stay in this room, and don’t open the door no matter who comes. Turn off the lights and try not to make a sound until I come back.”

”Guriko...”

”Wait until I’m back. I’ve got a bad feeling –”

Guriko kicked open the door and sprang into the night.

No matter what kind of a well-to-do family he was born into, how favored he was by the goddess of fortune, or how beautiful his features were, Sakaki’s heart was still unable to feel satisfied. Even though he showed his talent in all sorts of fields and was praised by the entire society, he was still eaten away by a feeling of emptiness. Sakaki thought that he would never be happy, since he can’t obtain satisfaction no matter how much glory he gathered.

Happiness is a Mobius' Ring. He can't find the end no matter how close he examined it. It is truly foolish to become encumbered by the pursuit of happiness and waste one’s life on it. If one didn’t already have a fixed idea of what would constitute as happiness, then displeasure would undoubtedly follow no matter how accomplished one becomes. In that case, then what is the point of setting a noble and lofty goal? Happiness can be found everywhere if only one could stop and appreciate it. Sakaki’s days of youth were wasted under a misconception.

It was a complete coincidence for him to meet Usagawa Rinne. He just wanted to see the ocean very much. Sakaki’s work was very busy back then. He was being pressured to publish more high-class research papers, and to create more novel art pieces. He was already beginning to loathe such a life where he was squeezed dry. Therefore, had he not found Rinne that day, he may well have jumped into the sea himself. Sakaki believed he was already pushed to the edge back then.

Rinne jumped into the icy-cold sea without hesitation right in front of Sakaki’s eyes at the winter seaside one year ago. No one was around apart from Sakaki. Even if Sakaki didn’t exist, someone else would publish that research one day, right? Even if Sakaki didn’t exist, someone else would participate in the Olympics anyways, right? Even without Sakaki, art would still progress, right? However, without Sakaki, there was absolutely no one else who would be able to save Rinne. For the first time since Sakaki was born, he found something meaningful that only he could accomplish. That was the thing he found.

Sakaki jumped into the sea after Rinne without hesitation. If the rescuer wasn’t Sakaki, then he would have sunk into the sea too, frozen by the cold. However, with a perfect posture, Sakaki enthusiastically saved Rinne and immediately dragged her back to the shore, waking her from unconsciousness.

He was simply, purely moved. Sakaki understood the meaning of happiness at that time, .

The answer was Usagawa Rinne.

And we all know what happened afterwards.

Sakaki decided to live for Usagawa Rinne, because she was the only 'happiness' for him. No matter what others said, that was the happiness he found by himself.

It was a year ago when Sakaki Guryū obtained the hope of his life from Rinne.

“Argh...”

Sakaki Guryū slowly woke up from the dream that vividly reanimated his past memories in the night shift room of the Kannonsakazaki Private High School. With a low moan, he lifted up his head and took in his surroundings. Sakaki was sitting in front of a table that was empty apart from a coffee pot under the bright – but rather fake – lighting. Looked like he accidentally fell asleep. He had been worrying over Rinne recently and was feeling rather down due to his lack of sleep. It was little wonder that he fell asleep here.

Sakaki rubbed his sleepy eyes with his fingers, smoothed his messy fringe, and got up to wash his face. Although the night shift room was small, basic furniture such as a bed and a washing stand were still present. Having washed his face and scattered away his fatigue, Sakaki wiped his face with a towel and stretched luxuriously.

“... Mmm.”

Just how long did he sleep for? He couldn’t even figure out clearly when he fell asleep. It was Sakaki’s turn to take the night shift tonight – one teacher was always needed to stay behind at the school, patrol the buildings, turn off the lights, and lock all the doors – that was why he was still at the school at such a late hour. Although he felt the students of Kannonsakazaki were all very obedient and unlikely to break into the school at night, those who do sneak in weren’t going to be just students. That was why Sakaki took this duty and considered it as a part of the job.

Looking at his watch, he noted it was already nine o’clock. Having skipped dinner, he was now very hungry. He will probably buy some food from some convenient store and then patrol the school grounds. After having decided that, Sakaki grabbed some change lying casually around and walked out of the night shift room. The soft moonlight outside the window was scattered on the quiet corridor.

Suddenly, Sakaki pricked his ears and listened carefully.

“Huh?”

Sakaki felt a nervous presence, and a serious expression surfaced on his face. There were sounds of breathing; a rapid breathing like a beast’s. He didn’t know where it came from. Was I thinking too much? But –

Closing the door of the night shift room, Sakaki walked towards the direction of the suspicious sound. It may be that a madman had slipped in, or a stray dog – this town was, after all, a rural place, and such things do happen once in a while. If that was the case, then he would have to chase them away. That was his job as the person taking the night shift.

Sakaki, with his strong sense of duty, made up his mind and casually turned around a bend in the corridor.

“--- Rrrrrrrr.”

“--- Rrrrraaaaarrrrr---“

He heard that.

That ominous scream and moan was truly unlike anything made by creatures of this world. The angry roar smacked its way here as if it was an impact wave that shook the air, and robbed away Sakaki’s ability to think in the blink of an eye. He froze immediately, standing dead still. ‘That thing’ then obviously thought Sakaki, standing still, was a wonderful target to attack.

Claws.

“Um – uh?”

Sakaki suddenly reacted, lowering his body to dodge that blow. Instead of Sakaki, the air was cleaved apart. Claws - those were claws of animals. These claws swept past the top of Sakaki’s head, and knocked into the wall unhindered and vigorously. The terrifying destructive power crushed the concrete wall into smithereens.

“Wha – “

– What?!

Sakaki couldn’t even figure out the appearance of the perpetrator, and could only rely on his instincts to dodge swiftly from the danger and move away. With all the strength in his legs, Sakaki jumped backwards and landed safely on the ground. However, cold sweat seeped out from his skin and his heartbeat increased rapidly. The air around him seethed with a thick smell of blood.

That scent should have been there beforehand, but he didn’t notice it. Now that he paid attention to it, he could tell it was a very heavy odor. It was blood, and a large amount of it too. Why would such a smell be in the school during such a quiet night? Sakaki kept on thinking, trying to comprehend the situation.

The words emerging from his brain were ‘Guriko’, and ‘Mushi’.

It has got to do with those guys, right? But Sakaki didn’t have the extra energy to keep thinking, because he knew he was in the middle of a dangerous, changing whirlpool.

“Raaaaaaaaar!”

That 'thing' screamed. It was a scream of a beast that had lost its reason a long time ago. Sakaki took out the pistol that he carried with him from his pocket. He had thought that both Guriko and Mushi were very quiet recently and there would be no need to use this, but he never would have thought such a terrifying monster existed in the school.

It was something that Sakaki had never seen before.

Its tall figure almost touched the ceiling. The reason that such a vast body wasn't moving slowly was due to its strange shape. Its midsection looked to be the torso. Like a spider, numerous long and thin legs stretched out from the torso, and one long protruding part was on top of the torso. A single giant, ferocious eyeball grew on that promontory. The monster’s shape really wasn’t pretty at all! It was hairless, had a wet and slimy body, and it stank a lot. This creature was evidently not a normal being of this earth. However, it didn’t feel incongruous in the school at night.

The monster’s angry, large eyeball was facing Sakaki. It had many legs, with a sharp claw on the end of each one. The monster seemed to want to use those claws to tear apart and devor Sakaki.

“... Damn, it hurts. What this is thing?”

Sakaki muttered: “Just how much do you want to destroy our daily life? Mushi, Guriko...”

So Sakaki decided to strike first. He fired with his pistol, shooting three times in succession. Gunshots rang through the silence. A monster had appeared in the school. Reality had collapsed.

The empty cartridges fell on the corridor floor with a small sound.

Suddenly.

“ --- Roaaaaaaar!”

The monster’s figure disappeared.

“Whoa –”

Sakaki widened his eyes and stopped firing. With the disappearance of the target, the bullets went embedded into the wall and the floor.

Then, the monster that had originally disappeared as if it had melted immediately reformed, as if it had just solidified.

“— Roaaaaaaar!”

As if nothing had happened, it roared loudly and galloped towards Sakaki.

Looking at the monster that loomed towards him, Sakaki even forgot to aim with his gun and just stood there dazedly.

Claws. Two claws lashed out. Sakaki skidded on the floor and dodged the ferocious attack that intended to kill him. The monster seemed to be unskilled when it came to delicate movements. Furious, it smashed face-forward into the wall, and only stopped when it broke all the window panes. With a pale face, Sakaki brushed off the scattering fragments of glass around him.

“... Please, can you not do actions that defy the laws of physics... ”

It disappeared. The monster had disappeared. It dodged hisbullets, and charged straight towards Sakaki with a destructive power that was more than enough to flatten a human body. It was almost a ridiculous existence that lived to fight. In the end, Sakaki couldn’t even understand why he was attacked. A small voice in his head whispered that there might be no reasons whatsoever.

However –

He couldn’t give up. He couldn’t be killed.

As long as Usagawa Rinne was alive, Sakaki – wouldn’t allow himself to die.

“That’s trust and a promise. Seriously – I fell in love with a problematic girl. Mushi, Guriko, monsters - they keep appearing one after the other and try to deter the path of our love. However, no matter what the obstacles may be, nothing can stop me. Hey, monster, who do you think I am –”

Sakaki said to the slow-moving monster that was looking towards him: “– I am the most powerful daddy-long-legs in the world!”

Sakaki hurried to open fire, not even giving the monster the time to disappear, and sprinted off at the same time that he fired. In the split second that the monster was shot by the bullet and screamed with shock, Sakaki had already escaped from the corridor like a rabbit. How could he fight such a monster? This was a question of priorities. It wasn't like a video game. Defeating that monster wouldn't increase experience nor would it give him any loot. In that case, there was no reason to fight. It would be better to run away and get the police or the army to fight!

The pragmatist Sakaki Guryū was twenty years old this year - no longer an age to dream of fighting monsters to maintain world peace. Although there was the possibility that others might be attacked while he ran away, the result would be the same since he wouldn’t win even if he faced the beast in battle. Therefore, he had to get those who actually could defeat the monster more quickly. It should work with just one infantry division, right? No matter how strong he was, Sakaki was still human at the end. He wasn't Superman. He had no duty to fight the monster.

But the monster was not kind enough to let Sakaki go.

“– Raaaaaaaar!”

The monster arrived behind Sakaki, and only one of its feet disappeared. And in the next moment –

“– Whoosh.”

“Uoah?”

The monster’s feet pierced through space and ‘grew’ out of the darkness. Sakaki hurried to twist his body. Although he dodged the monster’s frontal attack, he couldn’t completely avoid it. His clothing and skin were both sliced up by the claw. It hurt. This feeling probably meant the wound went all the way to the bone. Sakaki moaned with pain and fell on the ground.

With a clank, his pistol dropped on the corridor floor.

“– Roaaaaar!”

The monster roared with a strange sound. A closer look showed that one of the monster’s feet was sucked into the darkness in thin air. Although he didn’t understand the mechanism, it appeared that the feet passed through space and grew out again in front of Sakaki. Though the feet immediately retreated, the monster’s body loomed closer to Sakaki.

“Tch... that’s cheating!”

As Sakaki complained, he endured the pain and reached out a hand to pick up the gun. However, the monster’s foot appeared out of thin air and kicked away the gun. That foot also gave Sakaki’s jaw a heavy blow. Sakaki’s body flew and smacked into the wall. His spare cartridge dropped from his pocket, making a crisp clattering sound.

– It was all over!

“Uuu... ”

But he had to hold on until the end. Ever since the day when Rinne was killed by Guriko, Sakaki had decided he could only die after he had ensured Rinne’s safety. That was Sakaki’s reason to keep living. So how could he be killed here – under such unreasonable conditions?

Drawing on will alone, Sakaki stood up and stared down the monster.

“... Stop trying to push yourself. You’ll die!”

In the middle of his field of sight...

...a silvery, shining object pierced the monster. The monster, which didn’t even recoil from a gunshot, staggered with the force of this blow and wailed in rage as purple body fluids gushed forth. The cruel weapon that stabbed into the monster’s tough body and inflicted such pain was a spoon. A girl dressed in black stood there as if protecting Sakaki.

The wind blew in from the broken window and blew at her very unique wolf-like haircut. Dry leaves fell on the corridor, and the girl’s white fingertips held a brand new spoon.

“Rinne would be very sad if you died. That’s not what I want to see.”

Guriko!

This girl, with a name as cruel and savage as Gankyū Eguriko, turned her head and looked at Sakaki over her shoulder.

“So I’m going to save you. After all –”

The spoon reflected moonlight, letting out an alluring shine.

“– I bought a lot of spoons with Rinne’s money.”

“Buy them with your own money! Milady Usarin is very poor!”

Sakaki couldn’t help but start to scold. Guriko, surprised, narrowed her eyes.

“So noisy. You're almost dead. Just be good and stay there. A useless guy needs to behave like a useless guy and stay at a corner with some sense of self-preservation. That thing’s opponent is me.”

Frankly, he didn’t think that this person’s appearance would make him so reassured. Sakaki didn’t trust Guriko. He felt restless whenever he thought she may show her true colors one day and attack Rinne again. That was because Sakaki did not consider Guriko human, just like that monster twisting and roaring in pain.

But she didn’t kill Rinne, and recently she was smiling more too. Although she didn’t open her heart completely to Sakaki, she was already appearing to be more like a human. Moreover, she came to save him.

”Guriko…”

Sakaki muttered. He couldn’t endure the pain of the wound any longer and collapsed to one knee.

“I told you to stop trying to be tough. Listen to what others say! Students are supposed to disobey to the teacher, but when the teacher doesn’t listen to the students it’s a social problem. Your job is to stay alive, and just leave the business of battle to me!”

Then, Guriko launched spoons into the air with the speed of rapid-fire bullets. Spoons pierced the monster’s entire body, thudding into its flesh one after the other, as purple body fluids hemorrhaged from the wounds.

Guriko rapidly drew forth new spoons.

“... Mmm. Since it’s so big, long-range attacks would take too long.”

”Guriko... that thing... What is that thing?”

Sakaki felt that Guriko should know the truth concerning that monster.

“It’s a monster.”

“Even I can tell that.”

“Then why did you ask?!”

Looks like Guriko didn’t want to explain one single bit.

Sakaki felt anger rising up in him. Guriko noticed that he was angry, and reluctantly explained.

“It’s a dark monster that people wouldn’t sense in their daily lives. That’s the kind of creature it is. There are actually many dangers that humans don’t know about. Although I haven’t seen a monster like this – it was probably originally sealed in this school and woke up due to some sort of opportunity!”

“What opportunity?”

After thinking for a while, Guriko answered matter-of-factly: “It was probably Mushi, but it’s just too unfortunate if it happens to be a coincidence. Abnormal existences like Mushi and me can easily find such monsters. Although I don’t know the goal of Mushi, but awakening such a monster – after all, it’s too dangerous to let it roam free. It should have the power to easily kill off a human.”

“I felt that first-hand.”

“Hmm. Your life is rather tough, Sakaki.”

He felt that Guriko smiled. But since she wasn’t facing Sakaki, Sakaki didn’t know what her real expression was. The monster was already staring at her angrily with an eye that has changed its color.

“Guriko. That thing does strange tricks. Be careful!”

Before he knew it, Sakaki was already giving Guriko advice.

“Don’t worry. You just stay low now.”

Guriko wasn’t listening at all.

Why won't she be cute!? But she was reliable.

Sakaki realized that he had reduced his caution towards her. I’ll also believe in this girl that Rinne believes in, Sakaki Guryū thought at this instant. Guriko had undoubtedly saved Sakaki, and Usagawa Rinne also trusted both of them very much. The three of them, who started off as perpetrator and victims, had somehow already developed some kind of a bond.

… Little did they know that this was going according to the plot the ‘enemy’ had written.

In pajamas, Guriko rapidly dodged the attacks speeding towards her, and approached the monster by running in the corridor with spoons in one hand. The situation had been completely reversed. The monster was no longer the perpetrator but the victim. The giant and grotesque monster had been overwhelmed by the delicate girl.

With all her strength, Guriko lunged towards the protrusion on the violently resisting monster.

“You mad monster that's screaming nonsense, just watch me gouge out your eyeballs!”

“Pluck.”

“Pzzt, pzzt.”

With a strange sound, the spoon sank into the monster’s eye socket and eye liquid spurted out. The enormous lament the monster made at the moment of its death echoed in the nightly school. The expression on Guriko’s face didn’t change. The monster ended its duty as a pitiful sacrifice and returned to the darkness. Like the Mushi, the monster dissipated into air without leaving a bone behind as soon as it died.

All that was left in the corridor was purple body liquid. The monster was completely destroyed.

Pulling his hood low, the young fortune teller looked at this scene at a distance with a smile on his face. His red eyes sparkled with an ominous light. In his hand, he held the gun Sakaki dropped on the ground and the spare cartridge. He had ordered the monster to transport those across space. As long as he obtained this weapon, his plan would reached its final stage. He only needed to endure this a little longer before he can stop pretending to be those disgusting Mushi.

“... Thank you, my dear Legion Bandanna. You really did act as I thought... had I been lucky, I was hoping that Sakaki Guryū would be almost dead by now. What a surprise. As a human, he counts as a very strong master athlete. What a pity that he got away.”

Smiling, ‘he’ muttered to himself with ‘his’ original voice: “'Pleasures should be savored till the last moment'. Now that should count as God’s command. God, hehehe, what a convenient existence. He even created a fate that suits me so well.”

Outside of Guriko and Sakaki’s sight, ‘he’ looked at the sky nonchalantly.

“Or was it that – such a person doesn’t even exist?”

That wasn’t an impossible thought.

Because if God truly exists, then an existence such as the fortune teller would definitely have long ago been punished!

“If He doesn’t exist – then I offer you my condolences, Mushi.”

With a brisk swish of his robes, ‘he’ leisurely left the nightly school.

“The Dream World Beast should have hatched by now...”

Then all that was left would be the finale.

“The day that my wish is fulfilled won’t be far away, either...”

At the end – ‘he’ lifted his head to look at the pair of humans.

“Before then, you can just have as many happy and sweet dreams as possible –”

In the distant past, there was an existence that goaded the primeval humans into stealing the forbidden fruit.

The name of that creature, the most cunning and ugly among all creatures, was –

Return to Night 3: The Girl who died a Thousand years ago

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