3 bar menu

V11 Story III – Part 03

When Aya crumbled previously, she suffered memory loss. This time, the issue seemed to extend into her subconscious. Like someone forgetting how to ride a bicycle after an accident, Aya forgot how to maintain her human form. She feared her forgetfulness would only worsen if she remained as a mass of flesh.

So, at her insistence, I brought Aya along. Though Asato found her annoying, he didn’t refuse to help. His true intentions remained unclear; perhaps it was just too troublesome to refuse.

He once said, irritably, “Are you telling me I should have rejected the hand she was extending so desperately? Even when she would have never backed down?”

Maintaining the status quo wasn’t the answer. We shouldn’t continue to impose others’ desires on Asato. But we still didn’t know how to fix Aya. I looked up at him. As a non-esper, I couldn’t come up with anything.

“Is there any other way to stabilize Aya’s body? If you have any ideas, please share.”

“You really think it’s that easy? Even if I fixed her body, she would only crumble again. She herself doesn’t know what’s broken. If you can’t tell me your wish, I can’t grant it. It’s all because of her ambiguous existence. We have no way of knowing how that thing maintains its body. If she could explain her subconscious actions, it might be different. But that seems unlikely.”

I turned my attention to Aya. She shook her head, her ponytail swaying. She bit her lip.

Asato turned away from Aya and faced me. “By the way, Odagiri, I’ll ask again. Why are you pretending like this isn’t your problem?”

I didn’t know what he meant by that. I was deeply involved in this matter, and unwillingly, I was Mayuzumi’s employee. There was no way I could detach myself from this situation. According to the prophecy, I should have a connection to Mayuzumi’s fate.

“Thanks for helping Aya, but I’m not indifferent to what’s happening.”

“You didn’t answer my sister’s question earlier, did you? About whether to kill Mayuzumi Azaka or not.”

His words left me stunned. That question was directed at the clan members, not me.

As if sensing my silent conclusion, the fox smirked thinly, his voice carrying a sinister undertone.

“For now, Kotori seems to be toying with us. But the balance has been temporarily disrupted. Those red flowers flooding the streets? That was her doing. Leveraging the power of the scarlet woman, she’ll sow chaos and destruction. Remember the grim scene. If left to her own devices, there will be more victims. So, Odagiri Tsutomu. Are you not going to kill Mayuzumi Azaka?”

The fox’s words dripped with a strange sort of compassion. I stared at him in disbelief. I would never do that.

Even as I rejected the idea internally, I understood the logic behind the fox’s suggestion. The scarlet woman could not be allowed in the mortal realm. She was fundamentally different from humans. Stopping her appearance was straightforward: cut off the cause at the root. Killing Mayuzumi Azaka would achieve that.

“What are you suggesting?”

But that’s how I chose to respond. I shouldn’t entertain Asato’s thoughts.

No way in hell. That was my stance. Besides, I wasn’t capable of ending someone’s life for ambiguous reasons. I glanced up at Asato, and at that moment, Aya interjected.

“O-Odagiri…”

“Hmm?”

“Odagiri won’t… won’t kill anyone. He will never kill Mayuzumi-san.”

Aya stared hard at Asato, her fingers tightly gripping the fabric of my shirt.

Asato tilted his head, puzzled. After a brief silence, he burst into maniacal laughter.

“Of all the things you could say. Did you actually forget what you did?”

Uncharacteristically, he clutched his stomach in amusement and slapped his knee. I understood what he found amusing. I wasn’t feigning ignorance. Worst of all, I was fully aware of it.

“Didn’t he kill your friend?”

She wouldn’t have died if I hadn’t let go of her hand.

Aya’s eyes widened, and she released her hold on my shirt. Trembling, she reached up to touch her own cheek, her voice laced with confusion.

“Ah…”

“You’ve accused him of that before. Stop forgetting the awful things. It’s ridiculous to only believe in those you think are good people. Cherry-picking what you want to see, huh? That’s such a human trait,” Asato scoffed, then turned and left.

It was my fault. Stop blaming Aya’s lapses in memory. Before I could say anything, he paused briefly.

Without glancing back, Asato said, “Oh yes, the First, a perfect replica of the current Mayuzumi Azaka, was slain by her own retainer. I think history will repeat itself. The scarlet woman covets the girl bearing her likeness. Perhaps you’re the one destined to end her life, Odagiri.”

With a foreboding prophecy, he walked away, his footsteps echoing as he retreated.

In the dining room, only Aya and I remained, exchanging a silent glance.

Then, with a bewildered expression, Aya put on a hollow smile.

---

We chose a random guest room and pushed open the door.

Yellow wallpaper greeted us. The room was different from the one that resembled an abandoned hospital’s ward, or the corner room painted a faded green. The walls and ceiling were adorned with twisted sunflower patterns.

Every single seed looked like an eyeball. The room was unsettling, to say the least. I dragged out a chair from the writing desk and flopped down onto it. Aya, afraid of being alone, followed closely and closed the door behind her. Slowly she settled on the floor, hugging her knees.

I got up and crouched before her. She kept her face down.

I addressed her as gently as possible. “You should rest for today. You can have the bed. You need to sleep to rest your mind.”

“Hey, Odagiri. What am I, really?”

Aya’s voice was feeble, causing me to pause mid-sentence. She kept her gaze lowered, rocking back and forth like a child, burying her face even more. Her words trickled out in fragments.

“My body… is created by my subconscious. I don’t even know… if my organs are arranged correctly, or if they’re there at all. I don’t know anything. I want to be human, and you and Nanami-san said that if that’s what I wanted, then I am human. You told me not to worry about it, so I didn’t. To think I can’t even maintain a human form. Just reduced to a messy blob.”

Aya clutched her knees tighter, burying her face against her trembling legs.

“What part of me is human? No matter how you look at it, I’m not human!” she cried. “So what am I? What am I, if not a monstrosity? Maybe it would be better if I reverted back to a blob.”

She lapsed into silence. Aya’s heartfelt cries echoed in my ears. I couldn’t say anything to her. I just thought of something I wanted to give her. Silently, I rose and rummaged through our luggage, retrieving the item I sought. Returning to Aya, I gently draped it over her head.

Her short ponytail disappeared beneath the fabric. Aya looked up, puzzled, and grabbed the soft material.

“Wh-What’s this for?”

“Take a closer look. It’s yours.”

Hesitantly, Aya removed the fabric covering her head. She studied it with teary eyes.

“Oh…”

It was Aya’s apron, with an applique of a fierce lion in the center. It smelled warm, perhaps some lingering scent from the fabric, contrasting with the chilly atmosphere of the mansion.

It was a gift from Nanami. Aya held the apron, speechless.

I stroked her head gently, her ponytail swaying with each caress.

“Let’s go back, yeah? I know you want to return to Nanami-san. There’s nothing out there that says you’re not allowed to want to be human.”

Aya had left Nanami’s side so she could hold hands with the fox periodically. I remembered Nanami’s demeanor as we parted ways. She stood in front of the apartment, fists clenched, watching us leave with arms akimbo.

She would be upset if we didn’t return. She was furious at the absurdity of it all.

Aya’s face contorted, tears glistening in her large eyes as she spoke softly. “I… I want to go back. I want to see Nanami-san.”

I continued to stroke her hair as she sobbed. Then, she looked up at the ceiling and let the tears flow freely, tears that shimmered in the light.

Nothing changed, for humans or otherwise.