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V10 Story IV – Part 03

It was scorching hot in the darkness. Sweat trickled down my face, and my throat tightened from thirst. Unable to endure the heat, I opened my eyes.

I looked up at the sky to see a fiery sun. I pulled at my tie to loosen the collar of my shirt. Carrying my suit jacket in one hand, I continued on. Soon, my ears caught the sounds of commotion.

An economic downturn had turned the buildings in the area into abandoned structures. The place was usually deserted, but right now there was a crowd of onlookers. I spotted police vehicles and broadcasting vans right on the other side. Inside the police tape, uniformed officers bustled about.

People were holding up their phones, taking pictures. I silently hoped their cameras would explode the moment they took a photo of the bloody organ.

Cursing under my breath, I kept walking. Who would want to meet up at a crime scene? It was nothing short of disturbing. My irritation was at an all-time high. As I forced my wobbly legs forward, I spotted the color red.

A girl in a gothic Lolita outfit was standing under a red parasol. Her laced, black dress looked surreal. She took a bite of chocolate. She had lovely features that seemed out of this world, drawing gazes from the onlookers.

I let out a deep sigh. From the bottom of my heart, I wished I didn’t know her.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Mayu-san,” I said.

“You’re 1,436.067667 minutes late,” Mayuzumi replied. “Unusual for you. A piece of chocolate is good sometimes. Would you like some?”

She offered me something wet. It was bright red, with visible bite marks. Did no one teach her not to give half-eaten food to others?

“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” I replied.

“There’s a convenience store over there that sells chocolate bars. I learned that cheap or expensive, they provide almost the same level of satisfaction. The same goes for the amount of polyphenol. I don’t know why people fuss about these nutrients. Maybe it’s because chocolate is a drug.”

Mayuzumi took another bite of the red clump. The smooth surface crumbled between her lips.

“It’s a uterus this time, apparently,” she said. “It’s getting really interesting.”

It looked like the color of dried blood. Unpleasant thoughts flashed through my mind, and I shook my head. If I had to compare it to a human’s internal organs…

“Placenta?” she said. “Does it look like one? Or no?”

“…”

“Or perhaps a fetus? Or maybe menstrual blood? Of course not. This is a uterus.”

“I didn’t say anything. Please, just eat.”

“I will. Anyway, take a look, Odagiri-kun.”

Mayuzumi pointed the tip of her parasol upward, and I followed it with my gaze.

I spotted a small black dot in the sky. I squinted, but the intense light stung my retinas, blurring my vision. The mass drew nearer and nearer, until it fell nearby with a squelch.

Squelch. Squelch. Squelch.

I looked around in bewilderment. Reddish-black clumps were falling on the hot road. A revolting stench filled the air as blood-soaked flesh burned.

“Moreover, Odagiri-kun…”

When she noticed my gaze, she grinned and continued talking as if nothing happened.

“The fact is, organs keep falling.”

The onlookers had disappeared. Only Mayuzumi and I remained under the boundless blue sky. It was weird, as if we were the only humans left on Earth.

The sky peeking through the gaps between buildings seemed too distant and blinding. Blood stained the road red. Soon, a thin smoke rose. I averted my gaze from the gruesome and absurd scene.

I didn’t want to see anymore. My weary eyeballs ached. I’d had enough of vibrant colors. I didn’t want to see any more black, or red, or blue.

Quietly, I closed my eyes.

A groan, out of nowhere. My eyes widened as I heard her voice for the first time.

Shirayuki opened her mouth, threw her head back, and screamed. She was trying to say something, but only incoherent sounds poured out of her throat. She kept crying out on the skywalk.

Her emotions flooded into me. Clear words emerged from her maniacal screams.

“Come out, you coward. I do not care about your summoning a god. Fight me one-on-one.”

It was the roar of her soul. A cry so heartfelt that the child in my belly picked it up.

“Why… Why…”

Yes. I knew. I understood all along. And so did he.

Shirayuki will never forgive me.

“Why did you leave me, brother?!”

She stopped screaming. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Amid the strange silence, Shirayuki lifted her head. Relief and terrible fury flickered in her eyes.

I pulled my eyes away from her. The dragon was rearing its head, completely still. On the other side stood a man, one of medium height and medium build, wrapped in a monk’s working clothes. A familiar sight. A blood-soaked bandage was peeking out from his neck. He suffered grave injuries, but he showed no signs of pain or fatigue. On his face was a newly-carved wooden mask. There was no anger or sadness on it, only a blank expression, as though half-finished.

Silence descended. Shirayuki was quiet. The man said nothing. Tears streaming down her face, Shirayuki held up a finger and snapped it.

The dragon dove into the wall. It separated itself into a mass of black and red, crawled up Shirayuki’s clothes, and dyed her two sleeves.

“…What?”

The dragon disappeared. The creature, conjured using the overwhelmingly powerful blood of Mayuzumi, a living god, vanished.

Before I could ask why she did that, Mayuzumi raised her hand. “Stay out of this, Odagiri-kun. Not a step closer, Yusuke-kun. You too, Yukihito-kun. I understand how you feel, but no. If you butt in, you’re dead.”

There was no signal or anything, but they both raised their hands at the same time. Milky hands moved. Brushes touched the ground at the exact same speed, and they painted letters with the exact same motion.

Tiger.

The beasts made of ink simultaneously leaped, spreading their jaws wide open. The two tigers, bearing similar forms as though they were siblings, proceeded to kill each other. Shirayuki and the man watched in silence.

The beasts’ howling shook the air. But to my eyes, it seemed a bizarrely quiet battle. Blood and ink spattered. The skywalk shook every time the beasts rolled across the floor, biting each other’s throats. Yet the scene never lost its tranquility.

The scene seemed like a painting. But even a battle that feels never-ending will come to an end.

One tiger pushed the other down, pinning its shoulder with its foot, and gnawed its windpipe. Gurgling blood, the tiger slowly reverted back to ink. Then, the surviving tiger charged forward. It leaped toward the creator of its foe—Shirayuki, who was standing still. She raised her head and saw death coming straight at her.

But she only gave a gentle smile. As though resigning herself to her fate.

Damn it! I knew it!

I moved. I grabbed Shirayuki by the shoulders and pulled her down. The tiger’s fiery eyes fell on me. I messed up. I should have dropped on the floor with her. I had no time to think.

Splat!

The tiger’s powerful jaws crushed my head. My neck was severed, and my head rolled into its mouth. My body was sent flying sideways, down the skywalk, and landed on the hood of a car like garbage, denting it.

I didn’t even have time to say anything. The tiger spat out my head and trampled on my rolling eyeball.

And then, everything went dark.

I couldn’t see anything anymore. I couldn’t move my legs.

Flames engulfed the hallway. My throat burned, and I coughed violently. I wanted to cry out loud. Falling on my knees, I curled up.

The words Higasa said rang in my head. Deep inside me, I kept screaming.

No, you’re wrong.

No matter what I said, I couldn’t deny anything. I should just close my eyes. Then I’d feel better. This would be the end. For real, this time.

As I slowly closed my eyes, someone whispered, “Wake up.”

A small silhouette was looking down at me, thin arms drawing nearer.

In my hazy mental state, they pulled me to my feet and dragged me along. I tottered after them. Long hair fluttered in front of me. Upon reaching the end of the hallway, she grabbed the doorknob and flung the door open.

A cold breeze brushed my cheeks. Outside was a pale blue sky. Tears spilled from my blurry eyes. Bathed in the light, she turned around.

She was smiling serenely.

My breath seized. “Akari-san…”

She yanked my feet and dragged me outside. My body collided with the stairs in the backyard. But Akari’s shadow didn’t stop pulling me mercilessly.

I grabbed onto the railing of the stairs. The wound on my palm opened as my body lifted in the air. Akari was smiling. I tried to tell her something, but no words came out of my burned throat.

Her bandage-wrapped feet bounced. And she ran with a spring in her steps.

“Bye bye.”

She gave a small wave of her hand. Her cherry-colored dress fluttered as she returned to the hallway and threw herself into the red, burning mansion.

Higasa appeared from the hallway, and she put her arms around his neck in a tight embrace. Higasa’s eyes widened, and his face slowly scrunched up. The gun fell from his trembling fingers. His deformed left hand moved hesitantly, and with both arms, he held Akari tight.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked.

Akari stared into his face, and nodded with a big smile.

The next instant, their bodies melted, losing their human shape and reduced to a pile of white flesh on the floor. It was too cruel a change. In an instant, what had been human beings reverted to dead flesh.

The pair was nowhere to be found.

A scream tore through my lungs. Then, something grabbed me by the collar and dragged me back inside the house. My vision turned red, and heat enveloped me. I landed on the burning mansion floor.

Two charred masses of dead flesh lay before me. Bathed in flames, they resembled bread in an oven, roasting in the intense heat. They were beginning to smell good.

The heartbreaking image from earlier had vanished, leaving only a laughable and tragic scene.

I stared at the bodies blankly. Behind me, the door slammed shut.

My skin charred. Flesh swelled, blistered, burned. Then, I noticed something lying in front of me. Higasa’s gun. I picked it up and pressed it to my forehead.

I immediately pulled the trigger. With a jolt, my consciousness faded.

The sensation of the gun never left my hands.