Editing The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village:Bonus4 (section)

===Part 13===

I didn’t know where I was when I came to.

Based on the light entering through the stained glass and the chirping of the birds, it was morning.

The place did not have a modern design and I was not familiar with it. It was a Western church or chapel. I didn’t know the exact classification, but it was that sort of building.

“Oh, looks like he woke up.”

That comment came from…a nun? However, her clothing was quite provocative and made no attempt to hide her bodylines.

“…?”

“Eh heh heh. We haven’t introduced ourselves yet, have we? I’m Hishigami Taga. That’s Arawa-san and Shitsu-san. And over there we have Rou-san, Yuu-san, Raku-san, Arata-san, and, um, you already met Yume-san, didn’t you?”

“Wait, wait. That’s way too much at once.”

I held my dizzy head and somehow managed to stand up from the pew.

I checked out of habit and found I still had my police badge and gun. They may have thought they weren’t worth confiscating.

“Where am I? And what happened?”

“Ama-san seems to have implanted something in your body already. There’s something in your inner ear, but we can’t remove it right now. We need to neutralize Ama-san to keep her from remotely controlling it.”

“Something…in my ear?”

“It’s Youkai-related. Knowing Ama-san, it’s probably a Nue. It resonates with a distant location to vibrate your lymph fluid. It’s like a phone on silent.”

A Nue.

I was pretty sure that monster was a combination of multiple animals, much like the chimera of Greek mythology. It was a deadly Youkai that made people sick using a cry one would not expect of its body. So was the necktie slash related to that? No, it didn’t match the legends. She may have had more than one basis for her attacks.

Or maybe she was managing several paranormal powers at once using that composite Youkai as if it were a color palette or an address book.

“The Nue was punished by being shot. That’s why we were relying on Yuu-san’s sniping, but it didn’t work out very well.”

“…”

I pressed on the back of my ear.

Was this better than having a bomb in my brain or heart?

No, Hishigami Ama needed to use me to torment Enbi. In that case, a bomb that instantly killed me would have the opposite effect. This was more like a sniper shooting their target’s arm or leg to lure out the target’s allies who came to help.

When had she done this?

She had had plenty of opportunities to touch me. She had embraced me from behind after saying she was taking a shower, she had sat on my lap in the police car, and she had put me in an armlock at the very beginning.

“Oh, Onii-chan’s up!?”

My thoughts were cut off by a cheerful voice.

Yume seemed to have noticed me while she was fed fries or something by a girl with hair wrapped all around her. Was that Arawa?

“Hm? Hmm???”

“What is it, brat? Why are you getting so close?”

“You’ve got girls all around you, but your heart isn’t really pounding. But it’s those superior ethics that make you so much fun, Onii-chan. By the way, do you prefer big boobs or flat chests? Depending on your answer, I might give you a sign of my appreciation.”

“Are you completely incapable of staying on topic!?”

“Based on that reaction, I’m guessing you’re into big boobs. Ahh, ahh. Raku-chaaan! Give me the miracle bra of my dreams!!”

I looked up again and notice the other Hishigami Women approaching along with Yume. They all somewhat resembled Enbi and Mai, but they gave off a much stronger impression of a rusted blade.

“Hmm, so this is Enbi’s detonator.”

“A fairly forgettable face. I doubt he has much luck with money.”

“But the more hopeless the pupil, the more passion I put into their lessons. Ahh, the core of my body is heating up…”

But what did that mean? Whose fault was it? Wasn’t it the same as when Enbi had had a rusted blade look in her eyes? Wasn’t it just that they had yet to meet the right kind of person and no one had given them the chance?

In that case, what about Hishigami Ama and Kuji?

“Can you tell me something?”

“Tell you what?” bluntly asked Arawa, the girl with hair wrapped all around her body.

There was only one thing I wanted to know.

“Hishigami Ama holds my life in her hands and I don’t even know who she really is.”

They exchanged a glance.

The one who finally opened her mouth was Hishigami Shitsu, who was dressed like a teacher.

She placed a finger on the side of her glasses as she did.

“I enjoy private afterschool lessons more than any meal, so leave it to me. Hishigami Ama has a different origin then the rest of us normal Hishigami Women.”

“?”

“Are you aware of the project to artificially implant the traits of a Hishigami Woman into a normal person?”

''Oh, yeah.

''Hishigami Kyou of the Hishigami Men had some of those as bodyguards, didn’t he?

“You mean like Zei and Akane?”

“Then I will not need to explain that. Hishigami Ama is a hybrid. No, maybe I should compare her to a multi-stage rocket. She was already a Hishigami Woman, but she also had the traits artificially written on top of that.”

“Of course, no one could control her after that, so she escaped,” added Yume.

Hishigami Shitsu nodded in agreement.

“The Hishigami Women are normally killed the instant they are born. We are the ones who escaped that fate by some kind of mistake, coincidence, or miracle. That is just how unpleasant people find us.”

“…”

“But Ama alone is different. They hoped to increase her power. In other words, she is the only Hishigami Woman who was blessed and welcomed. After all, you might refer to a flying hunk of metal as a bullet, but once it escapes the atmosphere, it becomes a spaceship instead, right? Or perhaps you would call it a mass driver.”

Once she entered teacher mode, she would not stop.

She continued talking on and on.

“She would be a useful Hishigami Woman, like a spider or a silkworm. She would be a Hishigami Woman who destroyed nothing. Someone like that would indeed tear down the standard assumptions. Or perhaps everyone’s dependence on her would have begun a much kinder and gentler sort of destruction. But regardless, Ama never managed to reach outer space and never surpassed the level of a bullet.”

What was this?

Ama who Destroys Hope.

I had essentially been reaching inside a box in a dark room to figure out what was inside. I had thought I would never understand her.

But I had been wrong.

There was something understandable there after all.

That was what she meant by destroying hope. She had shaken hands with someone and done her very best, but she had not lived up to the Hishigami Men’s ridiculous demands. Afterwards, they had irresponsibly branded her hopeless and acted like they had known that from the beginning. Then she had been all alone.

They had said Hishigami Ama had escaped.

But was that really what had happened? When whatever it was had happened, hadn’t the Hishigami Men run off and left her behind? Hadn’t she lost her chance to return and been stuck out there?

More importantly, she was still out there on her own. None of the Hishigami Men had stuck with her to the end. They had given up once she was gone. After she lost her chance to return, none of them had been there to tell her to come on back and that they would bow down with her. Ama had been with them for so long, yet they had not known anything about her. They had not known what she wanted or where she would hide, so they had been unable to pursue her.

Was she really an incomprehensible monster?

Why could no one understand her?

Which side had really failed to make an effort?

How…?

How was that any different from Enbi when she had had those rusty blade-like eyes?

“Hey.”

The next thing I knew, I was speaking.

The problem wasn’t just Enbi and Ama. Nor was it confined to the Hishigami Women gathered here. Yes. I had finally found what I needed to do.

What I needed to do as a police officer had been right in front of my eyes the entire time.

It was an incredibly simple, yet incredibly difficult decision.

But I had to say it.

''Now is the time to show you’re a man, Uchimaku Hayabusa.

“I don’t want to give up on Hishigami Ama.”

“…”

“I’m not saying I’m on her side. I don’t want to create opposing sides in the first place. I’m not going to abandon the Hishigami Women I met here and I don’t want to create any Hishigami Women that I can just turn my back on because I don’t know them.”

So…

I didn’t need anything complicated. I just had to obediently work toward the first thing that had come to mind when I had heard that the Hishigami Women brought calamity.

What else could I do?

There was something wrong with a life of curling up in the darkness and not seeking any help just because you were supposedly born that way.

What else could I do?

There was definitely something wrong with a life of justifying all forms of violence and feeling no guilt just because you were supposedly born that way.

Someone had to tell them it was wrong.

Someone had to tell them they were being far too clumsy.

Someone had to tell them there was a painless path over here.

It could be anyone, but someone had to take their battered hand and bring them out into the light. Someone had to teach them how warm the world could be. And you didn’t have to wait around for that person to show up. You just had to become that person yourself. And once you realized that, you didn’t need to hold back. Once you named yourself, everything would be headed toward a solution. Even if it only happened one awkward step at a time, you would be headed in the right direction.

In other words…

“I want to save all of the Hishigami Women. I don’t want to give up on any of you and I don’t want to leave any of you out. …Sorry. Dammit, how can I call myself a police officer when it took me this long to say something so simple!?”