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V10 Story II – Part 07

“I… I just really wanted to see Shiro again,” she said in a childlike tone.

I couldn’t help but be baffled at the overly innocent tone she adopted. Emotions returned to Yuina’s face. She was smiling, a big grin that almost seemed unnatural.

Yuina raised her voice, the cheerful tones dissipating into the darkness. “I was best friends with Shiro-chan from next door. I didn’t have any other friends. I wanted to be with Shiro-chan forever, so one day I brought her home secretly, but my mom came home early from work, and I got caught.”

Yuina lowered her face dejectedly, rubbing her eyes. Dirt clung to her cheeks. But she smiled again, rapidly moving her mouth like some kind of a machine.

“I apologized and said I’d return Shiro-chan, but she said that if Grandma found out, she would get berated for not teaching me proper manners. Returning Shiro-chan to the neighbors was not an option. So, she wrapped Shiro-chan’s mouth with duct tape, and kicked her downstairs into the basement.”

Yuina abruptly paused, taking a deep breath. Her face still displayed a bright smile. Cheeks flushing, she went on.

“I went down there, and then, and then, I heard the sound of someone digging. Shiro-chan didn’t come back. My back hurt from being beaten with a broom, so I couldn’t go after her. After that, every time I tried to go down, I got beaten, so I stopped going.”

Yuina laughed gleefully, her cackles ringing high. She straightened herself, nodding multiple times, as if recalling fond memories.

“She didn’t want others to find out what she did. Mom went down multiple times to check Shiro-chan’s body, but she never brought her back or showed her to me. Always like that. I had long given up and forgotten about it.”

Her face turned blank, and she fell silent again. A moment later, her voice took in a dark tone, like she was a different person altogether.

“I see. Once your mother left, you finally decided to dig up the dog. Your subconscious desire propelled you to go down to the basement while asleep and dig through dirt. That’s the origin of the sound. But the dog is already dead. Digging up the corpse is meaningless.”

I frowned. She was speaking like Mayuzumi, but the voice belonged to Yuina. She paused and smiled. Then she went expressionless again.

“It’s better to stop doing meaningless things. I will give you back the dog. Allow me to fulfill your true wish.”

Then it hit me. She was impersonating Asato. She faithfully reproduced the words she had heard from the fox.

“But to revive the dead, there are conditions. You have to die instead,” Yuina said with a cruel smile.

Asato likely wore the same expression when he said that. I clenched my fist. If he were in front of me, I’d be punching him in the face.

The fox went on with his ruthless and unreasonable demands.

“I will give you a monster that looks exactly like the dog. If you fulfill the conditions, the flesh will remain in the shape of the dog. But if you don’t, the flesh will return to flesh. Like ashes returning to ashes. You can sleep in the basement in the place of the friend that died because of you. The revived dog will cover your corpse with dirt. You will take its place in the earth. I will give the dog to you today. Spend a day with it. The rest is up to you. After reuniting with your friend, would you be willing to give up your own life for what you cherish?”

Yuina’s smile deepened. But in the next instant, her expression crumbled, and the stoicism she wore around herself rapidly dissipated. She raised both her arms cheerfully.

“And now I’m heeere!” she declared, opening her mouth wide.

Abruptly, her arms fell to her side. She scrunched up her face, and biting her lips, she let out a groan. Large tears spilled from her eyes.

“Waaaaaahhh!”

Looking up at the sky, Yuina broke into tears, thrashing her legs. As I watched her, the realization dawned on me. She was right here. What she meant slowly made sense.

She was here, but not the dog.

“I see. You couldn’t bring yourself to die for a mere dog,” Mayuzumi said coldly. Though harsh, the words likely rang true.

She had refused to die, and as a result, the dog’s body crumbled. Yuina, overwhelmed by the peculiar chunk of flesh, had buried and concealed it in the basement. Just like what her mother did.

“That’s right. I wanted to save Shiro-chan, thought I could save her, but I killed her and buried her instead. Haha. Ridiculous, isn’t it?”

Yuina looked up at us, tears streaming down her face. She was shaking. She hugged herself, as if chilled to the bone.

“I was probably afraid of anyone finding out, just like my mom. Routinely digging up the corpse, checking, and burying it again.” She laughed. She shook her head weakly, tears sliding down her cheeks. “I’m disappointed. Very disappointed in myself. Why, goddamn it?!” she snapped.

She raised her fist and struck the framework, leaving traces of blood on the wood. Crying, she repeatedly swung her fists. Bones creaked. Flesh squashed.

“I’m so stupid. I supported mom because I felt sorry for her. But I thought I’d be different. Turns out, I’m just like her!” Sobs filtered into her voice.

She howled. She despised herself with every fiber of her being. Profound disappointment surged from the depths of her heart.

“She said she loved me, but called me a nuisance so casually. How am I any different from her?! I cherished Shiro-chan… I loved her… I thought even an idiot like me had something important in the past.”

She raised her arm again, her fist stopping in the air. Then, she clenched it tighter, and with a roar, brought it back down.

“I… I never thought I couldn’t care about anything like Mom does! What’s the point of living, then?!”

Thack!

Her small fist slammed on my palm. I grabbed her hand, her tear-filled eyes glaring at me. She took a deep breath.

Before she could say anything, I spoke. “I think you did care about your friend.” I meant what I said.

Yuina’s face contorted intensely. She shook off my arm, sniffling. “How can you say that? How can you be so sure?! I know I’m a horrible person. What makes you say I’m not?!”

I looked into her eyes. Her gaze was so sharp that I could almost feel it stabbing at me. I took a deep breath and looked at the blood on my palm. Her overwhelming emotions had prevented me from stopping her earlier.

But I couldn’t back down now. “I’m sure of it,” I asserted softly, staring into her eyes. Before she could say anything, I went on. “Listen, Yuina-san. You’ve been repeatedly digging up and burying the dog. You seem to believe that you were just like your mother, checking to make sure that no one had found out what you did.”

I paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, then asked the obvious question.

“But before you even started burying, you were already digging up something. How do you explain that? Remember, you heard the sounds of digging even before meeting the fox.”

“…Ah.”

Yuina’s mouth hung open in bewilderment. If her reason for digging was what she claimed, the explanation for the previous sounds just didn’t add up. I thought back to what she said about the fox.

“The fox said that ‘Digging up the corpse is meaningless’. He grants people’s wishes in a twisted way. In reality, your wish has never been granted.”

The fox gave her a creature resembling the dog, but he was disregarding her true desire. That’s why she continued to dig, night after night.

“Are you not still searching for the real dog’s remains?”

“…What?”

Yuina furrowed her brow, shooting me a contemptuous look. I turned to Yusuke beside me, who nodded silently. Returning the nod, I continued.

“You’re looking for the dog’s corpse just like before. Each night, you end up digging the same spot due to memories of burying a similar figure. But when you see the white chunk of flesh, you realize it’s different and bury it again.”

I recalled Yuina’s actions from earlier. She promptly hid the white chunk of flesh. To me, it seemed like she was burying something she knew was wrong.

“No matter how many times you dig, bury, and repeat, it doesn’t end.”

I grabbed her hand again, the bandage heavily stained with blood. Her fingers, caked with dirt and blood, were slim. The shovel must be heavy in her arms.

Yes, her arms were too thin. Opening the sealed door, fearing the discovery of an unseen corpse, digging the ground—it was all too much.

“In truth, you just want to dig up your friend, don’t you?”

So, every night, she continued to dig.

Yuina’s eyes widened, cheeks trembling subtly. Clutching her chest, she let her gaze drift. Then, she shook off my hand, hugged her knees, and buried her face, shutting out the world.

She rocked back and forth. “There’s no way that’s true,” she muttered, as if to herself. “I can only think about myself. I’m just like my mom… It’s fine. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Her face was still hidden. It was unclear whether she was crying or laughing.

“The truth is: I don’t care about Shiro-chan.”

“Do you ever stop whining?” A cold voice interrupted. “You seem to be really bothered for someone who doesn’t care. Can’t even decide what kind of person you are?”

Her sharp tone made Yuina lift her face. Mayuzumi was scowling down at her. Yuina’s breath seized in her throat, and her whole body stiffened.

Mayuzumi’s icy gaze told me one thing: there was absolutely nothing about the current situation that appealed to her. She was utterly bored, and she wanted to end this quickly.

“Are you done talking? There’s something here. Do you want to see it?”

Snap!

Mayuzumi unfurled her red parasol. The striking color cut through the darkness. As the parasol drew a circle, the tarp melted from the edges, as if burned, turning into droplets that flowed away.

“Huh? What?”

Yuina looked around in astonishment. She recoiled as if gripped by fear. The atmosphere in the underground storage room had changed. The floor lay exposed, revealing the frame and the earth beneath.

And on the ground stood a silhouette.