Mushi:Vol2 Open
This… She was an interesting girl. Should we say that she caused an assortment of feelings? * She was about ten years old, or perhaps a bit older, and looked as if she was in elementary school.
She seemed innocent and spoke in a clear voice, how should one describe it—it was as though her entire self radiated a joyful light, like any other grade-schooler.
That’s right, she was a grade-schooler.
A grade-schooler missing her arms.
It was not fate or anything like that.
“Long time no see.”
It was simply a coincidence, albeit an ill-fortuned one.
“It’s been two years! Do you remember me, Rinne?”
They were at the small intersection of the merry market street in a small town.
Kannonsakazaki High School’s Usagawa Rinne was called by a girl as she left school.
The girl had perfectly straight long black hair and eyes that shone with determination. Thick, round eyebrows stood above her eyes.
She wore Kannonsakazaki’s uniform.
“I’m Katou Katsumi, don’t you remember… you should remember right?”
Her faint smile showed loneliness as the neon light shone on her skin.
It was in the evening, and the sun was setting. Rinne had finished the cleaning she was assigned after everyone else left due to losing a bet, and hurried home since it was late.
A piercing wind came as a result of the early winter’s cold.
The girl who called herself Katsumi moved over, her beautiful hair and body seemingly flowing in the darkness.
“Katsumi?”
That was a familiar name with a deep sense of gratitude attached to it.
Since the person in front of her was so much more beautiful than Rinne remembered, she didn’t recognize her at first. However, she did not forget; how could she forget!
“Do you remember?”
“Eh…”
She was Rinne’s friend in middle school, and the only friend willing to stay by her side.
Of course, that may have simply been Rinne’s wishful thinking, but whenever she thought of her painful time in middle school, she recalled the endless support Katsumi had provided to her.
But Rinne didn’t have the courage to go see her.
Middle school—that was when she was fed up with absolutely everything, even breathing. She constantly shut herself in her room, believing that she didn’t have a place in her house or at school. It was when she attempted suicide.
At that time, Rinne repeatedly pushed Katsumi away when she tried to approach her. “Katsumi, we go to the same school?” “Mmm, it seems so.”
Katsumi replied, smiling all the while.
“Though, you’re really famous in this school. I’ve known that you went here for a pretty long time, but before I didn’t have an opportunity to talk to you.”
Rinne’s expression showed a slight uncertainty as she bowed her head.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? For what? You didn’t exactly do anything wrong in middle school. Everyone wants to avoid other people from time to time, actually…”
Saying this, Katsumi pointed at a coffee shop on the side of the road.
“Then, wanna sit down and talk for a while? Are you free?”
“Eh? Ah, OK!”
Rinne showed her thoughts with a nod, and followed Katsumi in.
The coffee shop’s pretty hostess greeted customers with a formal smile.
Soft, sweet music flowed through the coffee shop. Whether it was due to the late hour, or it was always this way, the store had zero customers.
Katsumi probably came here often, as she already ordered two cups of coffee smoothly while sitting down.
Then she smiled slightly as she said to Rinne, who was standing unsure of what to do, “You can sit. This part of you never changes…”
“Huh?”
“The fact that you hold back too much at a lot of things, most of all in your own happiness.”
Saying these words that prompt fake understanding, Katsumi beckoned at Rinne. No change, she didn’t change at all.
In eighth grade, Rinne avoided having friends, and even she eventually gave up. The year after, when they bumped into each other in the hallway, she pretended to not notice.
“Rinne, I~wanted to apologize to you all this time.”
Katsumi still showed that lonely smile.
Rinne sat on the chair and widened her eyes in surprise.
“Eh?”
“I promised to always be good friends with you, but we drifted apart. I’ve felt so regretful over that, and I wanted to apologize.”
Katsumi remorsefully bowed her head as she apologized.
Rinne didn’t know what to do, and only waved her arms denying it with embarrassment.
“No way. The one who should apologize… is me, Katsumi. It was me who ~ hated everything, rejecting and drifting apart from everyone else and shutting myself in my room. You tried to get close to me, even so…”
“Not taking it all the way to the end is meaningless. But, thanks.”
“Clack”, the hostess silently set down the coffee. Katsumi picked one up and raised it to Rinne.
“Then, let’s be friends again. Let’s share the blame. I was wrong, and you were wrong. We both said sorry, and we forgave each other, so let’s call it even.”
Rinne felt as though the scar in her heart gradually started to disappear.
As expected, Katsumi was still Katsumi, the Katsumi that Rinne liked, this girl who promised to “always be good friends” with her during middle school. Even though she wasn’t particularly special and didn’t attract people immediately, her heart was gentler than anyone else.
Rinne’s eyes failed to keep their tears in, and she lowered her head to hide this.
“Ah.”
“Then, cheers! Saying this is pretty weird, but whatever.”
“Clack”, the two lightly tapped their cups together, then seemed to fill up the gap between the past and present. They chatted about all sorts of topics, all of which would be considered trivial. To talk like this with Katsumi. Already, the joy was like when Rinne was in middle school. She was abandoned by her mother, beaten by her father, and still dragging her tired heart to school to be picked on by other students over her family situation.
And yet, Katsumi was still wiling to be with her.
She was a friend more important than basically anyone else.
“Katsumi” And in words containing all of her heart’s feelings, “Thanks you.”
Unsure of what to do, Katsumi tilted her head and said, “Ugg, I’m paying for the coffee!” This head action didn’t match her words.
“It’s been so long since we’ve been like this!”
Katsumi continued to talk on her own, ignoring Rinne as she blurted, “I’m also paying! I can’t let you pay by yourself!”
What to say now, from long ago she felt that this personality led to loss.
But Katsumi still happily nodded.
“…Then, let’s go home together.”
Outside, it was already dark. The cloudy sky obscuring the moon and stars created a feeling of unease.
A few random lights shone feebly through the cold. “Ugh. But, I’m so happy.”
Rinne smiled, and earnestly said, “Let’s ignore that for now, I still need to pay.”
Ah, she’s become a bit hard to deal with. Before, she would easily obey others, but it seems Rinne grew a little.
Katsumi thought this with a bitter smile as she walked forward, arms swaying.
“Then, how about you treat me next time?”
“Eh?”
“We have to meet up again!”
Katsumi didn’t look at Rinne, who was walking behind her.
What kind of expression did Rinne—the girl she betrayed before—have at the moment? Actually, in 9th grade, she had wanted to start a conversation with Rinne. Every time they bumped into each other in the hallway, she wanted to apologize.
Katsumi’s eye’s filled with tears.
“I’m sorry. Though I’m not worthy, can we still be friends forever?”
“……”
After a short silence, Katsumi’s hand felt the grip of Rinne’s warm hand.
“Alright.”
Even though she still couldn’t look Rinne in the eyes.
“Then, see ya later.”
“Mmm, see ya.”
Katsumi pledged in her heart to meet with her again.
And so, Katou Katsumi and Usagawa Rinne parted ways, as their paths home cruelly differed, without a chance of intersection—
After passing through the market street and crossing the road, all signs of people disappeared.
Behind Katsumi who couldn’t hold back her tears, a sinister shadow who couldn’t possibly understand their feelings approached her.
“What do we have here?” **
Rudely and without cause, a shiver went down Katsumi’s back.
Katsumi reflexively turned around.
That was the turning point.
For Katou Katsumi, unfortunately, the one that cheerfully called her was not a resident of the world humans could understand.
It was something not meant to be met during a lifetime, only something that one might pass by.
The girl who deviated from the peaceful world could meet such a being. How would one put this? It would be considered bad luck, misfortune, a tragic fate, or the like. Even I can only think of one word to say to her: Please accept your fate. That girl. “In—the—clear—night—”
That girl was extremely innocent and naive, and straightforward to the point where people might question her sanity, but that only makes her scarier. Though her voice was clearly that of a girl’s, and her appearance was normal, she felt a lacking in human features. She gave off an impression similar to that of a carnivorous beast.
“The—moon—is—so—beautiful—”
As she sang, she danced an odd dance around Katsumi.
Seeming as if she would fall, she teetered to the right and tottered to the left, casting doubt as to whether she was dancing or simply drunk.
Katsumi simply stood there, silently and rigidly, watching that girl.
“Humans—are—so—annoying—to—see—”
The girl seemed like a grade-schooler. One couldn’t even be sure if she reached up to Katsumi’s chest.
In this cold weather, she only wore a colorful shirt, and even the legs showing under her skirt seemed cold.
Her hair was tied into two rather short pigtails, and because her overly bright smile revealing a row of white teeth, her eyes shone incomprehensibly.
This person suddenly stopped singing and dancing. “Boom”, she jumped in front of Katsumi.
“Good evening.”
Her voice still overflowed with friendliness, without the tiniest amount of malice.
But.
Katsumi suddenly felt strange as she noticed this grade-school girl’s—peculiarity.
Where, oh where did this suspicious feeling come from? Katsumi watched her, and quickly noticed something unbelievable, and screeched.
“My name is Tenaga Oni, what’s yours? Hey, I’m pretty forgetful!”
The little girl didn’t have arms.
From her shoulders, her entire arms were missing. Only space remained where one should have seen her arms.
The arms were actually gone, rather than being hidden somewhere.
This was her only difference from normal people.
But, Katsumi felt differently. From the girl’s body constitution to her expression, she was completely different from a human…
She appeared completely like a monster; no, more like… a ghost?
That’s right, she said she was a ghost.
“…”
What was going on? This was too ridiculous, causing her mind to malfunction.
“Aquea?”
There was no way for Katsumi to understand, and she could only fearfully step back slightly.
But behind her was the wall, leaving her with no way to escape. Escape? From such a tiny little girl? But she could sense the danger. Her instinct told her to hurriedly leave this girl called Aquea.
As she trembled, Katsumi acted on her fear, pushing past the little girl into a run.
“Eh, hey!”
For some reason, she felt unbelievably scared. She wasn’t afraid due to the girl’s appearance, she just felt that she… shouldn’t exist.
Katou Katsumi tried to lose the girl as she ran as fast as she could on the empty streets lit by neon lights.
Run, escape, flee from that girl.
Otherwise…
“That’s right—since I’m a ghost with a long hand, I’m called Tenaga Oni.”
The innocent voice rang in Katsumi’s mind.
Then, Katsumi’s body couldn’t move. Screaming “Ah” and not understanding her situation, she opened her eyes wide.
Tenaga Oni had not moved from her spot, but her body stopped listening to her brain’s commands. She could not move at all.
What was going on? This was some supernatural event! Impossible! As her mind spun in a frenzy close to its breaking point, she thought of screaming, “Help—”
She thought, “Help me, I’m about to be killed!”
This was the attitude of a human meeting a carnivorous beast.
The innocent little girl sweetly smiled.
“How is it? My arms are so long, right?”
An immense force grabbed her shoulders.
It felt like some bodybuilder crushing one’s shoulders, yet still allowing clear feeling in the fingers.
The only logical assumption would have been that invisible arms reached over and grabbed her shoulders, holding her in place.
But how could there be such a thing?
Ghosts, monsters, superpowers; those things were all fictional, fantasy, and should only have existed in cartoons or T.V.
But Katsumi’s fear of death made her entire body shudder, with her entire world in a hopeless, senseless madness. Like in T.V., her life was now filled with supposedly impossible events. The sole difference was that for her, there would be no rescue.
“You can’t run away. If I let you get away, I’ll be punished by Zeki-kun.”
--The girl’s innocent voice.
Zeki-kun? Katsumi only shuddered without pause.
--Behind her stood the girl who was still pure with a bright face.
She was too far away to reach, yet in this darkness, Tenaga Oni managed to completely ruin Katsumi’s everyday life and throw her into one of terror.
She pouted, “But still, what exactly is your name? You have an apple right? I looked forward to this since I didn’t know how strong you were, but this is boring. [Blank]’s a liar, this isn’t fun at all!”
Like a child disappointed with a toy recently bought, “Whatever, I don’t want something this boring.”
Tenaga Oni innocently yet cruelly threw Katsumi at the wall.
Katsumi heard a “Clack”, understanding that it was the sound of her bones being crushed. The pain was too great to allow her to even scream.
The invisible arms grabbing her shoulders inflicted blind destruction upon Katou Katsumi’s body.
She was slammed onto the wall, smashed into it, beaten up, suddenly thrown onto the ground before being picked up again with bones shattered and blood splattering everywhere. She was being constantly thrown around.
“Crash----Clang!”
That signaled the start of the night of pain.
The New Year’s prayer for demons and ghosts to be exterminated was completely defied; instead, the normal life that Katou Katsumi both found boring and loved was ended in the night when demons rampaged. ***
Her blood splattered, bones long since crushed beyond recognition, and her body mashed together from the pieces of flesh—
When Katsumi was smashed against the wall for the last time, Tenaga Oni laughed, “Hee hee”.
“In—the—clear—night—”
She started singing, releasing her formless arms, allowing the pile that used to be Katsumi to fall to the ground.
“The—moon—is—so—beautiful—”
Tenaga Oni’s face did not reveal the slightest guilt at committing murder, only showing that same bright expression as she walked by looking at the corpse on the ground.
“Humans—are—so—Eh?”
Tenaga Oni stopped singing and used her invisible fingers to prod Katsumi’s body.
Then she showed confusion—this was the first time Tenaga Oni revealed a perplexed expression—as she incessantly felt Katsumi’s body, her face turning white.
“Eh, eh eh? Eh eh eh?” That was the expression of the child after a grave error, “N-n-no apple? Why? How, How? But… but she died? She died but didn’t have an apple? Eh, eh eh?”
Then, she noticed.
Beside the lump of flesh that used to be Katou Katsumi, there was a book.
It was Kannonsakazaki High School’s student identification documents, but Tenaga Oni didn’t know that, and only flipped through the blood-stained pages.
On the first page, there was a picture of her face, her address, her birthday, her name—
“Oh?”
That name was clearly different from the one Tenaga Oni had been ordered to kill.
She had waited for Katsumi to leave that coffee shop she just wouldn’t leave… but when she got off the roof where she waited, she accidentally wasted some time. By the time she finally got back on her trail, aside from this girl called Katsumi, there was another person.
Since she disappeared into the darkness, Tenaga Oni didn’t see her clearly and thought she was a random bystander.
Could that person have been..?
Saying that, that person seemed to be around Katsumi’s age.
Tenaga Oni’s face turned white.
“Hey, hey hey hey. Tenaga Oni made a little mistake!” Then she realized it was a bad time to laugh. She focused on thought: “Wh-what do I do now. I-i-it’s so troublesome. Zeki-kun will scold me, I’ll be, I’ll be, I’ll be punished. Waah, this sucks, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do.”
Tenaga Oni felt flustered as she worried. Suddenly, she thought of a wonderful plan and jumped up, “That’s right.” She laughed, “Tee hee”, and used her bright voice to critically mumble to herself, “That’s right, it’s alright if I can find that girl from before, she’ll definitely have the right name. What was that name again? And then, and then, I just need to get that person’s apple before Zeki-kun gets here and I’ll be fine. I'm so smart!”
Then with a presumptuous expression, “But I don’t really know what she looks like. Oh… ah, that’s right, killing all the girls that look like the one in this picture should be fine! As long as I kill them it’ll be alright, the one who doesn’t die would have the apple! Yeah!”
With this thought, she believed she succeeded.
And so, Tenaga Oni did not even look at Katou Katsumi’s corpse as she faded into the darkness.
How many girls looking like Katsumi did she think there were in this town? But her method was both graceful and full of promise.
“In—the—clear—night—”
The thin, small figure disappeared into the dark and hazy night.
“The—moon—is—so—beautiful—”
Only the song never ceased, pouring into the girl’s miserable corpse.
“Humans—are—so—annoying—to—see—”
More than that was the girl’s modus operandi that I could see.
Haha, what? Her expression was impenetrable. Ah, do you not know why I told you this? This… interesting point, is a gift from the underworld. If you didn’t know one or two interesting things, wouldn’t the trip to Hell be too boring?
Moreover, I want to reflect on this event involving Tenaga Oni. For that, unloading the facts onto someone else is an effective tool.
Perhaps, for you who are about to be killed, this isn’t something interesting—how do you feel about it? I wish to hear from you normal people, who are on the other side like me.
Ah, you think this was nonsense? I guess I can’t blame you for that. Maybe these things are leaning on the edge of your daily life.
But, this was absolutely true, these nightmares that planned to attack Kannonsakazaki city. That’s right, you people without your priorities straight, tomorrow [Blank] will attack you.
Ah, my expression changed. Eyes flaming with determination are so beautiful, and I like that. But that’s not----allowed----because you must die here. My apologies, but that has already been decided.
Ah, haha, you don’t show any signs of giving up.
Are you annoyed that you can’t protect a certain person? Hahaha, not bad, I wanted to see expressions like that.
You can go regret, grieve, suffer, and hate yourself to your death. Otherwise, one aspect of killing will become meaningless.
But, don’t worry, you’re not bad people.
Nor are you germs or poison. You’re extraordinary people who can genuinely be angry for the sake of others.
So I will kill you with full sincerity rather than indiscriminately slaughter you. I will recognize you as a person as I kill you.
I talk too much. Then, please die.
What? My name? Hahaha, how can I tell people about to die and might curse me? You’re foolish.
But, if it’s my name over here, there’s no harm in telling you. It’s your choice whether or not to believe that it’s my true name. Whether or not you curse me is also your choice.
Since this is to avoid a curse, I’ll give a shining name.
My name is Sakkin Shoudoku. I simply dissolve organs——
