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V13 Story III – Part 04

I checked my phone on the train. It was flooded with teasing messages and strings of abuses from Yusuke, Yukihito, and Nanami. I wished they’d either cheer me on or just leave me alone.

Shirayuki had shrunk into herself in the seat next to me, clearly embarrassed by her earlier actions. Her flushed cheeks made me feel even more self-conscious. The entire trip, we kept averting our gazes whenever our eyes met, touching fingers briefly before pulling away. When we finally reached Nago City, I took her stiff hand and led her off the train. Quite a bit of time had passed, and it was already getting dark. Her palm was clammy. I hurried her along, weaving through the station without looking back.

“Shirayuki-san, there’s somewhere I want to go,” I said. “It’s not exactly a fun place, and it might not feel like much of a date, but… will you come with me?”

She nodded, and I guided her toward the subway entrance. It wasn’t a pleasant destination, but it was one I needed to revisit.

We traveled by subway and bus, and to my relief, Shirayuki seemed captivated by the journey itself. She’d never been on the subway before and even enjoyed pressing the buttons on the ticket machine. From there, we walked through the streets at night until we arrived.

The place from my memories was still there, unchanged. Beyond the row of cherry trees stood a towering apartment building. The cherry trees lining both sides of the slope were full of buds, soon to burst open into white flowers. Come spring, it would be a breathtaking sight, one I still remembered vividly. No matter what happened, I could never forget.

Mayuzumi and I first met at the top of this hill, where she took my hand under the cherry blossoms in full bloom that distant spring day.

My vision blurred for a moment. I stood in front of the apartment building, leaning on Shirayuki. I didn’t recall seeing anyone here back then, but now people clearly lived here. The entrance was auto-locked. Residents could enter by typing in numbers on a panel. There was an intercom, but I didn’t know anyone inside who could let me in. Though the exterior looked the same, the building had been renovated.

I stepped back from the entrance. Shirayuki was gazing up at the building curiously. I shifted my gaze behind her, squinting at the dry road.

Shizuka’s body had fallen somewhere around here, only to vanish into the darkness. The current residents knew nothing of the incident, and they never would.

No one would fall from the rooftop again.

“Like I mentioned on the subway, Shirayuki-san, this is where the fox put a womb inside me.”

“…”

“This is where it all began. Actually, it started even earlier. But this place marked the turning point of everything. It was here that I had the womb implanted in me. And it was here that I met Mayu-san. Mayuzumi Azaka.”

Shirayuki nodded gravely. She scanned the area, perhaps searching for traces of the tragedy, but found nothing. Despite a death and a shattered life, nothing remained here. A man in a suit and carrying a briefcase—possibly a resident—walked by, gave us a strange look, and vanished into the entrance. It was time for us to go.

I turned back toward the slope, replaying that day in my mind.

I’d met Mayuzumi on this path lined with cherry blossoms, and she was as beautiful as a demon. This was where everything began.

I squeezed Shirayuki’s hand tightly. She probably didn’t fully understand why I’d brought her here, but she squeezed back without a second thought. Kugutsu would’ve called this date a disaster and given it zero stars. But I needed to see what came next.

There were other choices I could’ve made—ignoring the past, enjoying the time I had left, and making wonderful memories with Shirayuki. But I just couldn’t do that.

I needed to confront the twisted life of Odagiri Tsutomu one last time. And if I had to do it, I didn’t want to be alone. I wanted someone I cared about with me.

“Shirayuki-san, I want to revisit the places I’ve been. I need to make sense of my past and get my thoughts straight. Will you come with me? With you by my side, I feel like I can keep moving forward.”

Shirayuki looked up at me with her large eyes, searching my face as if trying to understand why I wanted to look back. But she didn’t say anything. A moment later, she agreed to my silly request.

“Wherever you want to go, I want to go too.”

She mouthed the words softly and squeezed my hand tighter.

We headed next to the abandoned building where the cat and fox had caused an incident.

I barely remembered where it was, but we managed to find it.

When I told the taxi driver our destination, he looked utterly bewildered. He probably suspected we were going to commit double suicide. The building was heavily secured but had broken windows. We entered through the remnants of the glass. It was deserted inside.

After the incident with the fox and the cat, the building had been left empty once more. The security guards were gone, and the driver mentioned it was slated for demolition in April, to be replaced by a new structure. During the cat incident, negotiations between the Mayuzumi clan and the relatives of the female believer who owned the building had been tense and difficult, but with the branch family now in control, the terms had likely changed. Now, the building was just an empty shell, waiting for its end.

There were no furnishings. No desks, no chairs. No trace of the things the fox brought in. Even the fire doors had been removed. The floor was littered with empty cans and cigarette butts. It seemed someone had broken in, as often happens with abandoned places. None of them could have guessed that this place had once been filled with living dolls, or that a portion had transformed into the spirit world, surrounded by flowers and corpses. We wandered through the empty rooms and climbed to the upper floors.

I stopped at the staircase where Shizuki had fallen, holding Shirayuki’s hand. The sensation of Shizuki’s fingers being severed resurfaced in my palm. Urging Shirayuki to go ahead, I looked down the stairs. I wondered how Shizuki was faring now. I thought back to the tragic event involving the girls, how their twisted attachments led to their ruin.

Even Kotori, who had survived with Shizuki, eventually discarded her humanity. She cried out for everyone’s death at the very end. The sweet voice of the cat and the mocking laugh of the fox echoed in my memory.

Now, there was nothing left here.

“Let’s go, Shirayuki-san.”

We couldn’t reach the floor where the cat had ended her life since the stairs to the upper floors had been meticulously destroyed. The sixth and seventh floors that the fox and the cat used were sealed off by the Mayuzumi clan.

I took Shirayuki outside. There were other places I wanted to visit. I remembered Higasa’s and Akari’s house, but we needed a car to get there. I wondered if the house still stood quietly. Even if no one ever returned, would it remain as brightly decorated as before?

I shook my head and closed my eyes. After a moment, a certain place came to mind. My palm began to sweat, but I resolved to press on.

Despite feeling like we’d never make it, we arrived effortlessly and naturally.

I stepped out of the taxi and stared in disbelief at the scene before me.

All around was a completely ordinary, desolate residential area.

Even just telling the driver the address had set my body trembling, and the shivering hadn’t stopped. Shirayuki held my hand to comfort me. I tried to focus on the sight before my eyes. I stared intently at the red-tiled house, as if trying to etch it into my memory. It seemed smaller than I remembered, but I still knew it well.

Behind the fence was a small garden, and beyond it, poorly fitted glass windows.

The entrance was narrow, the hallway old, and the kitchen grimy. Life there as a family was neither particularly good nor bad.

On the second floor, there was a typical child’s room, cluttered with comic books and clothes hung wherever. The only son who had used that room had eloped with a high school junior, cutting off all contact and never returning home. His parents must have been furious, especially the father, who probably disowned him, unable to face society. I remembered his exhausted figure. My mother must have cried for me. I wondered if my father sighed deeply from time to time. They probably considered my absence a normal part of their lives now.

I couldn’t casually return to this place. There was a chance they would get killed.

After having a demon implanted in my belly, I severed my ties to the past. Since then, I had deliberately avoided recalling this place. As a result, I could barely remember the faces of old acquaintances or friends. This place, too, had felt like a distant dream. But now, seeing it in person, the house was unchanged and real. My trembling hand shook even more. My throat burned.

I bit my lip hard to stifle the groans threatening to escape.

“This is my house,” I muttered softly.

Shirayuki gasped. She gently placed her hand on my arm, looking up at me as if asking what to do. Her gaze shifted to the warmly lit entrance. I shook my head. I had no intention of going inside. I couldn’t possibly explain to them the life I had lived. Besides, I could never return anyway. It was better if they forgot about me.

For me, this house was no longer a place to return to.

And so to the place I used to live in, to the people I held dear, I said, “Goodbye. Take care of yourself, and stay well always.”

I shook my head, took Shirayuki’s hand, and started walking.

The night sky stretched overhead. Gazing at the white moon, I wiped away my tears.

Then, I decided to head to a new destination.