3 bar menu

V12 Story IV – Part 07

The spirit world changes to reflect the emotions of whoever it swallowed. Normally, I would have swiftly located Mayuzumi’s whereabouts.

But currently, there were no traces of any path that could lead me to her.

Shh… shh… shh…

“Ha… ha… ha… ha… ha…”

It felt like I had been walking for over a week. Worse, it seemed like a month or even a year had passed in this place. Time in the spirit world flowed ambiguously and unpredictably.

I couldn’t trust my senses. Perhaps only a second had passed in reality, or maybe a thousand years had gone by. Trying to measure time here against the real world was futile. Time in the spirit world stretched on eternally, and all I could do was wander aimlessly.

Like trudging alone through a desert, I continued this futile march.

Shh… shh… shh…

“Ha… ha… ha…”

Suddenly, I saw the wall of flesh wriggle in the corner of my eye. I stopped in my tracks. A headache brewed, and I squeezed my eyes shut. Here it was again—the spirit world changing, as if to mock me.

When I opened my eyes, a door had indeed materialized in the red wall. An apartment door lodged in the raw flesh. It was an utterly bizarre sight. With a sigh, I gripped the cold knob.

I knew I shouldn’t open it, but I did anyway.

Creak.

Beyond lay a kitchen with floral wallpaper. An ordinary scene in an apartment unit.

Warm, delicious-smelling steam drifted in the air. The adjoining living room revealed a large window draped in heavy curtains. I wondered where it led. There were probably only expansive walls of flesh outside.

This place was just a fragment of the spirit world—eerily realistic yet all an illusion.

I returned my gaze to the kitchen. A woman in an apron bustled by the stove.

She had short, black hair. Trying to grab an enameled pot, she recoiled from the heat, clutching her earlobe. After composing herself, she turned to my direction. She blinked several times at the sight of me.

A familiar face—Miyama Shizuka—smiled brightly.

“Welcome home. You’re early today.”

There was no madness in her face, and her voice was light. Her smile was as cheerful as the one she often wore in the stack room. Gazing at that familiar smile, I closed the door.

Click.

Shizuka’s smile vanished behind the door. And then, I turned the knob again.

Creak.

Someone was busy at work in the kitchen. It was a different woman this time.

With long black hair swaying, she turned to me. She quickly grabbed a fan and drew words on it.

“Welcome home. You’re early.”

Shirayuki smiled warmly. Taking in her lovely expression, I closed the door.

Click.

I leaned my forehead against the door and let out a heavy sigh. No matter how many times I’d seen it, this sight remained inexplicable.

Behind this door, someone always waited for me, welcoming my return. And each time I opened and closed it, the person inside would change, and they would smile at me.

This marked the ninety-ninth time I encountered this door since I began wandering the spirit world. It would appear regularly, as if testing my determination.

As I continued my journey through the spirit world, I began to realize something. Reaching Mayuzumi’s location seemed increasingly improbable, likely due to the scarlet woman’s interference. However, the spirit world, by nature, mirrored the emotions of its entrants, morphing accordingly. Whenever weariness from searching for Mayuzumi set in, this door would appear.

Perhaps this room was a manifestation of my desire to escape. Yet, the scarlet woman did not condemn my desire to flee, no matter how disgraceful or shameful it was. If I went inside, that place might become my reality.

A phrase crossed my mind. Butterfly’s dream. If I stepped through this door, I’d soon lose sight of what was real. Biting my lip hard, I pushed the door open once more.

Creak.

A short ponytail bobbed before me. Grabbing a hot pot, she made a loud fuss. She let go of her earlobe and met my gaze.

Aya blinked. The person who was supposed to be dead proudly puffed out her chest wrapped in an apron, flashing a bright smile.

“Welcome home, Odagiri! Oh my, you’re early today.”

As usual, an animal appliqué adorned her chest. A roaring lion. Aya tilted her head curiously, studying my face.

She pursed her lips. “What’s wrong, Odagiri? Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something on my face?”

“Oh, nothing. Sorry about that.”

“Come on. No need to apologize. It bothers me a bit.”

Aya pouted. Though she was merely an illusion here, she was alive. But if I were to close the door, she would go back to being dead. And then, Aya would vanish completely.

Knowing this, I gripped the knob tightly.

“I should get going now.”

Creak… Click.

And with that, I extinguished her smile on the other side of the door.

“Uh… guh…”

Tears flowed freely down my cheeks. Once again, I found myself alone.

My heart shattered into pieces. But I couldn’t afford to stand still.

I had to find Mayuzumi.

Wiping away my tears, I slapped my cheeks and resumed walking.

“Ha… ha… ha…”

No matter how far I walked, the crimson flesh walls remained unchanged. The maddening sight went on and on and on.

As I pressed forward, the blood-soaked world persisted, but suddenly, a section of the flesh wall began to stir.

Countless bubbles formed on the wall, quivering, as if it were afflicted with a disease. Each was about the size of a human head. Various scenes played inside them.

Ah, here we go again, I thought. The spirit world occasionally spat out fragments of memories left by those it swallowed.

Asato’s mother was running around frantically. A narrator in a fox mask appeared and vanished. Jingu Yuri poured tea in her dormitory, and an unknown figure was talking about something.

As I scanned the countless bubbles, my gaze stopped on a large one tinted in striking light green.

It was showing a bamboo grove. A young man was sitting under silently falling leaves. Was he a traveling merchant? He cast a guilt-ridden and confused gaze at the naked girl sleeping next to him. Having seen the scene just before this, I understood the entire sequence of events.

The man, wandering the mountains, encountered the girl, who showed him the way. After spending the night together, he tried to leave before she woke, hesitated, then took out an expensive-looking red kimono from his merchandise and draped it over her.

The merchant fled. The girl sat up and watched him leave. Despite living in the mountains, she remained remarkably beautiful. She rubbed her cheek against the red kimono.

She then dressed in red and smiled brightly.

She continued wearing the red kimono until giving birth to a stillborn child and meeting a gruesome end. I’d seen this scene many times. It no longer piqued my interest. I raised my leg high and stomped on the large bubble.

Pop!

Though I crushed only one, all the bubbles burst simultaneously, spraying sticky blood that stained the area like someone had spat it out. Then, I continued walking.

“…”

I walked and walked, but the world showed no end. Mayuzumi was nowhere to be found.

Despite my repeated denials, the unending sight before me forced me to come to a realization. I would likely never see Mayuzumi again or return to reality. The only way for this to end was through that door. Odagiri Tsutomu’s final destination was on the other side, and nowhere else.

It was almost laughable that I had no place to return to except within a nice dream.

“Haha… Hahahaha!”

You could say this was on brand for Odagiri Tsutomu. If I was going to give up anyway, I’d better decide quickly. Having somewhere to return to was better than nothing. The scarlet woman could just suddenly stop showing the door. If that happened, I might truly go mad. Yet still, I continued walking.

For some reason, I was still searching for Mayuzumi.

“Mayu-san.”

It felt as if I were being told to wait for a hundred years. Suddenly, I recalled a novel I had read long ago. I had borrowed it from Asato, and skimmed through only the first story.

“Please sit and wait by my grave for a hundred years,” the woman said. “I will come to you, I promise.”

And so the man waited a century after her death. The story was beautifully written, but foreboding at the same time. Mayuzumi should not be dead.