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V13 Story II – Part 06

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Asato kept moving forward without looking back.

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if we were actually making any progress. The scenery around us stayed the same, and I no longer knew where we were on the estate.

I couldn’t tell if we were walking in a straight line or just going in circles. The only thing guiding me in this crimson world was Asato’s figure. As I kept pace with him, my thoughts turned inward. I mused over Asato’s words, thinking about those who had fallen into the spirit world and those swallowed by it. I had tossed the fox into the spirit world and then brought him back. Jingu Yuri, who had turned into a cat, had helped me while I wandered through that world. She was probably still there.

I also remembered the time I helped rescue a girl who knew Yusuke. But neither she nor the others in the clock tower had any connection to the Mayuzumi clan. So, who could be the source of the curse? Had we crossed paths with them before?

At that moment, I realized something. Both Mayuzumi siblings had an annoying flair for the dramatic. Everything they said and did was over the top.

Just then, I spotted the relatively intact remains of a house in the distance. Vines with small flowers hung like curtains between the slanted roofs. It looked familiar. Asato slipped through the vines, and I followed, brushing aside the curtain that fell in front of my face. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my palm. I reflexively jerked my arm to the side, tearing the petal that was biting my hand. Blood slowly oozed from the torn skin.

Uka growled in my gut. Avoiding the now quiet flower, I wiped the blood away, pocketed my handkerchief, and lifted my head. My breath caught in my throat. The scene before me was painted in an even deeper red.

We weren’t in a stomach. It felt like we had entered a blood vessel. The ground was covered in a thin, web-like pattern, everything was damp, and the air was sticky. Uka chuckled gleefully. I rubbed my belly and continued to follow Asato. Then, a bone-chilling gaze stabbed into the back of my neck. Startled, I turned around, but there was no one there. I swallowed hard. Since passing through the curtain, the presence behind us had become glaringly active. It felt like a carnivorous beast was growling at us. I hurried to catch up.

I could handle it if I let Uka out, but I didn’t know what we were dealing with. I couldn’t risk relying on her. If it came to a fight, I wasn’t sure how much control I’d have over her. She was calm now, but I couldn’t forget.

She was growing. And she was hungry. Letting Uka consume anything else was dangerous.

We climbed a smooth hill. Beyond it, the land dipped into a deeper bowl than before. At the bottom was another part of a house. However, the floor around it was not flat. Tumor-like bubbles dotted the surface. I peeked at them just to be sure, but they showed nothing. We stepped on the bubbles as we approached the house. Then, Asato leaped off the ground and onto the veranda.

He flung open the sliding door. A stifling stench wafted out from inside. It was different from the last time. The smell of raw blood was so thick it was suffocating, as if we had entered the inside of a living body. This air was thicker, fresher, more alive than the previous scent of death.

It was just as dark inside as the last one. And just like before, numerous wicker hampers lined the tatami floor. I hooked my finger under a lid and lifted it. The lid stood vertically on the adjacent box before toppling over.

Thud.

The underside of the lid came into view.

“Wha?” I muttered dumbly.

Human organs were stuck all over the underside of the lid. I looked harder. They were twitching. Flattened masses of flesh. It was difficult to tell which organ was which, but it was definitely alive. The flesh kept writhing like some bizarre, soft-bodied creature. With every pulse of the blood vessels, red spewed into the air. The blood-soaked organs continued their random movements. Fearfully, I looked down and found intestines crudely stuffed into the box. Various organs were crammed into the gaps between them, including a flattened heart that was still beating. Gastric acid leaking from the stomach was melting much of the flesh.

Thunk.

I closed the basket, shutting out the abominable sight.

My heart pounded rapidly. What did I just see? The contents of the box were clearly from the spirit world.

I knew that, but I couldn’t shake the unease gnawing at me. The contents of the basket looked like a human body had been turned inside out and crammed inside, with any parts that didn’t fit severed and glued to the lid. I glanced around. Every basket here was probably filled with the same organs. Normally, a person only has one set of organs, so these must have been replicated by the spirit world. But there had to be an original. My gaze fell on the left leg Asato was holding.

That meant the original owner had their leg brutally severed, and their organs ripped out. And those organs were still alive.

A disturbing fact came to mind. The spirit world was, in a sense, the farthest place from death. In the spirit world, a person’s body could be twisted and altered, but it would never be destroyed.

In accordance with the laws of nature, anyone who entered the spirit world while still alive is denied even the release of death.

The cruelty of that reality silenced me. Then, Asato suddenly moved. He gently placed the left leg on the tatami mat. I was wondering what he was thinking, when he grabbed the basket and tried to lift it. But due to the blood covering it, the basket slipped from his grasp.

With a heavy thud, the basket hit the floor. Asato frowned at his now filthy hand. Carefully, he picked it up again, but when he tried to retrieve the left leg, he lost his balance and dropped the basket once more. He let out a deep sigh, then placed the leg on top of the lid before trying again.

“Wait, hold on. What are you trying to do?”

“Stop whining, Odagiri. I can’t carry both at the same time. If you’re so concerned, why don’t you take one? Which one would you like? I’d recommend the basket.”

“Wait a second. Why do we even need to carry this? What’s going on?”

“Because, Odagiri, it’s all in pieces. ‘There was a man, a very untidy man, whose fingers could nowhere be found to put in his tomb. He had rolled his head far underneath the bed. He had left his legs and arms lying all over the room.’ So, we have to gather them up.”

Asato’s explanation made little sense, but he lifted the basket anyway. He began to carry it, then suddenly spun around and thrust it toward me. A basket full of human organs was surprisingly heavy. I staggered back, instinctively catching it. Asato grabbed the left leg from the lid. Before I could complain, he nimbly jumped down from the veranda.

Snap.

With one hand, Asato opened the navy parasol. Tilting his head, he looked back at me.

“That person is dead, but they’ve forgotten that. And those that forget shamelessly remain in the place where they lived. So, we must whisper to them. Remind them and kill them. We’ll piece together their scattered body and tell them, ‘You’re already dead.’”

Asato tossed the left leg into the air. It spun before he deftly caught it by the ankle. He stared at the severed end, a faint smile on his face. A disturbing grin. Yet for some reason, his profile also showed signs of heavy fatigue. Asato idly twirled the parasol and began to walk.

“Let’s go, Odagiri. The sooner we finish this, the better.”

“Hey, why am I the one stuck carrying this?”

He didn’t respond, just kept twirling the parasol. Sighing, I followed him.

Whether it was with Mayuzumi Azaka or her stepbrother, I always seemed to end up with the heavy lifting.