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V7 Story IV – Part 01

Yusuke called me a good girl.

But that wasn’t true.

Yusuke would probably realize it soon.

And I’m sure he would be very disappointed.

After he learns the truth, I hope Yusuke will still continue to like me.

It’s probably impossible, probably hopeless. I know. I’m not even the person that Yusuke thinks I am. I’m different from the young, innocent, always happy me.

But the times we spent were fun, with no hardships or unpleasant things.

And I, who was supposed to be useless, found it.

So, it’s over. I am what I am.

I can’t become anyone else. I can’t change my current self.

No matter how much I wished for it, in the end, I couldn’t become your Hirugao.

---

The desk was lined with dismembered arms and legs.

One of the arms, belonging to a woman, had been severed at the wrist, while a slender ankle was lying next to it. The cuts were clean and precise, without any splintered bones or swelling flesh. Jet-black skin emitted a sweet smell. Delicate tongue licked the crimson fingertips.

I heaved a deep sigh. “This is even more gross than usual.”

“People being disgusted by its shape alone makes it interesting,” Mayuzumi said. “It’s no different from regular chocolate. Do you want to try it? It’s caramel-flavored.”

I raised my hands in refusal. Mayuzumi snapped the index finger and put it in her mouth, savoring the taste. She looked like she was eating a human turned into a confectionery. I silently continued cleaning.

Ever since the god incident, Mayuzumi stopped saying anything about my cleaning the floor thoroughly.

I opened the curtains and looked outside. The clear blue sky held a faint winter gloom. It was like looking through frosted glass. December was coming soon, and we needed to buy Hirugao’s coat before the full-blown winter arrived.

I had promised to meet Yusuke and Hirugao this afternoon.

I grabbed the damp rag and stood up. “Mayu-san, as I’ve informed you last time, I’m heading out today. We’re buying clothes and a coat for Hirugao. Then I’m heading straight back home, so just call me if there’s anything.”

“What are you saying, Odagiri-kun? We’re meeting a client today.”

My skin crawled at the sinister string of words. She said it so casually that I couldn’t quite grasp what she meant immediately. I frowned. Mayuzumi took the chocolate wrist and kissed its fingertips. Red tongue slithered over the woman’s fingers, and her lips curled up.

“Didn’t I tell you? I received a case late last night. Sorry, but you have to cancel your prior appointment. It should be fine. It’s too early for snow anyway.”

“H-Hold on a sec. I already got your approval! And what kind of case was it? Please explain it to me.”

I tried to argue back, knowing it was useless. Cases marked the beginning of gruesome incidents. But even as I demanded an explanation, my restlessness gradually dissipated.

The fox not leaving its cage felt like a guarantee that nothing too tragic would happen. Despite knowing that I was being careless, I listened to what Mayuzumi had to say.

“You look very calm, Odagiri-kun. Well, it’s better than panicking like a child every single time. The current case is from an artist. I don’t know the details. I just got a call asking me to meet them. It doesn’t seem interesting. I didn’t really want to go.”

The words “It doesn’t seem interesting” made me feel relieved in the true sense of the word. Frowning, Mayuzumi took the woman’s hand gently, biting and crushing her fingers. If candies had pain receptors, it would be close to torture.

“The client is acquainted with a high-ranking member of the branch family, having been commissioned to create a monument for an event with a tight deadline,” Mayuzumi recounted, her hand returning to the desk. The beautiful fingers were gone, leaving behind only cruel bite marks. “They even had the gall to give their opinion on Maihime. I silenced them. Sick of these so-called advice from my loyal subjects.”

She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, swinging her legs wrapped in high-quality black.

“So there you have it. Let’s go, Odagiri-kun. It’s best to take care of trouble as soon as possible.”

“Not like I can say no anyway. I understand. But please wait a little longer. Hirugao and Yusuke—”

Just then, the door opened at a perfect time.

“Odagiri!” called a bright voice. “We’re here! Yusuke and I are here!”

“So cold. It’s getting real chilly. We’re coming in, Odagiri-san!”

They both entered the apartment with loud footsteps. Hirugao rushed over and embraced me tightly, the scent of winter clinging to her gray hair. I stroked her back and turned to Yusuke.

“Sorry, Yusuke. Something came up. I’ll make it up to you some other time. You two can go shopping for now. Sorry, Hirugao. I’ll go with you next time.”

“What is it? What’s going on?” Hirugao asked.

“What’s the matter, Odagiri-san? I feel like a kid who had their day-off plans canceled on the last minute.” Yusuke said. “This is new… Oh.” Upon seeing Mayuzumi’s smile, he understood. He picked up Hirugao. “You have a case.”

“Yeah. Don’t tag along now,” I warned. “You might put Hirugao in danger.”

“I know that.” Yusuke gave up easily. “Be careful out there. Don’t die.”

The previous Saga Yusuke would’ve come with us no matter what. He had a lot of time in his hands. I found the current change delightful.

Hirugao stared at me intently, her large eyes flickering. Her gaze went to the clock and back at me again. Her eyes moistened, and her cheeks, turning red as apples, contorted.

“You’re going, aren’t you?” she said.

She broke free from Yusuke’s arm to cling to me once more, holding tight to my suit. She was on the verge of tears. Yusuke rubbed her back.

“Odagiri,” Hirugao said. “I feel sad.”

“Let him go, Hirugao,” Yusuke said. “I’ll go shopping with you, okay? You want an orange coat, right? I’ll buy you one. And then we’re gonna eat ice cream.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to eat ice cream on such a cold day,” I said.

Hirugao slowly pulled herself away from me. She clenched her fists and shoved them into her pockets. Averting her gaze, she tottered away and crouched down.

Yusuke shrugged. “Oh, dear. She’s upset. All right, then. See you some other time.”

“Yeah. Apologize to Hirugao for me.”

Yusuke rushed over to Hirugao, and I turned my gaze to Mayuzumi. She was nibbling on the rest of the chocolate. The cut wrist looked as if the flesh had been torn off, melting away.

“Are you done? Shall we go?” Mayuzumi said with a smile.

I readied myself. There was nothing in my chest, no restlessness, no fear, not even a sense of danger.

Yes, I may as well have been a clown.

Because I completely let my guard down.

---

Mayuzumi’s hair swayed in the biting winter wind. Her breath came out in white puffs before vanishing. Clad in a sleek black coat, she looked like a predatory creature with glossy fur.

I inhaled the thick winter air and looked up at the sky, feeling my lungs grow cold and numb.

The client’s atelier was located in Karuizawa in the Nagano Prefecture, where the temperature was much lower.

A car from the Mayuzumi clan’s branch family had brought us here. The building, surrounded by trees, looked like a museum from the outside, with dark gray walls curving like unfurling flower petals. A distorted human figure was on display beside the door, half-animal and half-human, its rusty skin wrapped in vines.

“This place is over-the-top,” I said, putting my hand on the high fence surrounding the property. It’s more like a museum than a house.”

“Since he announced his retirement, he hasn’t released any works. This atelier should be packed with his unpublished pieces. Calling it a museum is not entirely wrong. Whether the pieces he created for fun should be called works of art or not, though, I don’t know. The boundary between toys, junk, and artwork is sometimes clear and always ambiguous. Praising something without thought could be seen as contempt.”

Our driver stepped forward and pressed the intercom to announce our arrival to the client. Part of the fence opened, and the driver waited beside it. Tasked by the branch family of bringing us here, he did not have the right to enter.

“Thanks for driving us,” Mayuzumi said. “Sorry for leaving you out here. I’m counting on you to drive us back.”

Once we finished, we would contact him ourselves. Mayuzumi and I proceeded along the path made with bricks of alternating colors. Halfway down the path, the door at the end opened automatically. As we stepped inside, we halted, blinded by the light as bright as the summer sun.

Before us was a garden composed entirely of green and white. Large vines adorned the large marble fountain standing amidst the soft grass. Several sculptures dotted the area. A rock with oddly gorgeous curves lay beside a deer with plump muscles.

In the center of the garden were a table and chairs. Designed like a spider web, it looked like it could crumble with the slightest touch. Two of the four-legged chairs were already occupied.

I saw a figure dressed in pure white, her glossy hair cascading down her back like a bride’s veil.

In front of her was another person, also dressed in a different kind of white. Layers of semi-transparent fabric and pale skin brought to mind a wilting plant. The two were similar in appearance, but the impressions they gave were clearly different—one a symbol of life and the other of death, like the difference between a wedding dress and burial clothes.

The woman resembling a bride turned around and smiled broadly in delight.

“Ah, you’re here. I’m so glad,” Karakuri Maihime said.

The unexpected reunion left me in shock. And then I noticed something.

The woman in front of her, carrying the image of death, was completely still.

It was an undying puppet.