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V7 Story IV – Part 12

On the floor of the mansion lay scattered remnants of motionless puppets. The presence of splattered blood created an illusion of a gruesome massacre.

The puppets had missing parts all over their bodies, arms and legs removed and coating peeled off. Some even lacked eyes. Just as Mayuzumi deduced, scrapped puppets were used in the attack.

Scrambling over the broken remains, I headed towards the fox’s cage.

Hirugao had found her way to him and disappeared. Yusuke was searching elsewhere. Though it was highly likely that Hirugao was no longer here, he still clung to the possibility that she was still in the mansion.

Nevertheless, I raced towards the fox. I wouldn’t be satisfied until I saw the empty cage.

Had he been taken away? Was he really gone?

Worried about Hirugao and Yusuke, I sprinted in search of the fox. I felt nauseous, and I wanted to slap myself in the face. But I couldn’t stop my feet. There was still a chance that Hirugao was here—which might not even be true. Soon, I reached the end of the corridor. The spirit world trap had been disarmed. Descending the spiral staircase, I pressed forward to the prison cell, opening the unlocked door.

“Asato!” I shouted.

“What is it? What’s with all the ruckus?”

I received a response. My eyes widened.

There sat the fox, undisturbed and unperturbed, as if nothing had occurred. Perched on a chair, engrossed in a book, his posture remained unchanged.

I thought I was dreaming. Maybe I became so disoriented about the fox being gone that I was beginning to hallucinate. Hirugao was supposed to have taken him with her. But the fox was there, quiet within the confines of the cell.

He cast a bored gaze on me.

“A-Asato. Did someone come here?” I hurriedly asked. “A gray-haired girl came to pick you up, didn’t she?”

“She did. What of it?” he replied matter-of-factly.

Ignoring me, he flipped through his book, creasing the brown, faded paper under his fingertips. I swallowed my words. Relief, joy, and absolute fear filled my chest.

He was here. But Hirugao was nowhere to be found.

“Asato… Why didn’t you leave?”

“I’ve told you before, haven’t I? I have no desire to leave just because someone tells me to. That girl told me who wanted me and why. Ridiculous. I’m not a toy for girls. I wish they would just leave me alone,” he snarled. A thin smile appeared on his lips. “Fortunately, she didn’t have much desire to abduct me. Instead, she asked me something else.”

What was it?

The foreboding clouds grew darker. I tried to swallow, but my dry tongue only twitched, and no saliva came out. The fox regarded me with delight.

Steadying my breath, I asked, “What did she ask you?”

“What’s wrong, Odagiri? Isn’t there something else you really want to ask? ”

He uttered mocking words instead of giving me an answer. He was right. There was something else I wanted to ask. Indirect questions were just a way of avoiding the issue. I knew what a human would ask the fox. And I knew what Hirugao said to him.

“What wish did she ask you to grant?”

People told their wishes to the fox, and the fox in turn granted them.

The fox smiled, flipping through his book. “There you go. You see, she asked me if I could really grant people’s wishes,” he began fondly. “She wanted to confirm the information she received from her sister. When I said yes, she made a wish.”

The fox paused deliberately, teasing. A moment later, he continued in a grim tone.

“She wanted to regain her lost memories.”

I recalled Hirugao’s words written in her diary. I could hear the grief in her voice.

But what if I could remember everything I’ve forgotten? What if I could understand why I became the person I am today? Would it be possible for me to become someone else?

She had missing memories. She didn’t know the process of being “trained to obey commands.” If she had those memories, she believed she could change her current self.

That’s why she wished to regain her memories.

It’s impossible, I know. Because I can’t recall those lost memories. But what if I could? What if I could become the person I wanted to be?

“I told her that analyzing the elements that make up oneself is rarely beneficial to the person,” the fox went on. “I tried to dissuade her, but she begged me for it. She had a firm desire for something beyond her wish… and she was determined to obtain it with her own hands.”

Then maybe this time, I could become the sweet Yusuke’s Hirugao.

“So I granted her wish.” What he said next rent my heart. “But she couldn’t come to grips with it.”

I understood what it meant, but my mind refused to accept it.

She forgot because she couldn’t bear it. Her mind couldn’t endure the experience of being destroyed, so she sealed away her memories. What happened to her after she accepted all the components that created the current broken Hirugao?

“Asato,” I growled.

“I knew what would happen,” the fox said.

I lunged at the cell. I wanted to wipe that cold expression on his face. With each wish he granted, tears cascaded, minds shattered, while the fox remained the same. I stuck my arm through the gaps in the bars, but he was out of reach. No matter how much I stretched, it was in vain.

He was staring at me with his emotionless, fox-like face.

“Asatooo!”

“I knew you would put the blame on me,” the fox said, closing the book. He rose to his feet and looked me in the eye.

My fingertips brushed against his cheek. Though my nails left marks, he wouldn’t move. He took a step back.

“Odagiri,” he said coldly. “Should you really be here yelling at me?”

I swallowed my words. Yusuke’s face flashed in my mind.

We still hadn’t found Hirugao.

“Listen close,” Asato said. “The Mayuzumi household has several impure places that clan members avoid. The place where my mother died. The storehouse in a corner of the garden, where a servant committed suicide. The guest room where my uncle had his head bitten off. She should be in one of those places. Yusuke’s here, isn’t he?” His gaze was abhorrent. In a soft, bloodcurdling voice, he added, “Are you sure you want him to find her?”

Instantly I bolted out of the cell. Breathless, I ran up the stairs and sprinted down the corridor. First I headed to the garden where the storehouse was located, when I realized that I hadn’t asked for the exact location. But there was no time to go back.

Where did Yusuke go? I surveyed the garden, until I noticed a storehouse at the eastern edge. I dashed towards it, and as I got closer, I couldn’t hear anything. Was Yusuke not there? I checked just to be sure, and saw that the door was already open.

The puppet lying beside me must have pried open the door. I stared at its outstretched, lifeless arm, my body freezing in place. Curios and the like were stored inside. Musty air filled my chest.

Amidst the winter’s chill was a faint scent of death. The stench of excrement, flesh, and blood.

A pair of pale legs were swaying in the air. Rich gray hair hung down, and at her feet lay a fallen stepladder. Her constricted neck was broken. Blood spilled from her lips, her head swollen like a fruit. Dirty feet dangled from her slack figure. Her eyes bulged, hardly resembling her former self. I was reminded of a similar scene amidst a snowy landscape.

My belly split open. Dull pain ravaged my body, and warm blood trickled down. I couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. I didn’t want to. Yet at the same time, my mind, accustomed to the gruesome and macabre, analyzed the situation objectively.

Hirugao had eluded the Mayuzumi clan’s pursuit and came to this place in search of a place to die. She chose to perish the same way as the girls of the Butterfly Mansion using the tools available. I hated that she chose this. Grieving her death, I just wanted to scream out.

Why this? Why, of all the ways to die, did she choose to hang herself?

“Yu… suke?” I squeezed the voice out, but there was no answer.

He was standing motionless, looking at Hirugao without a single scream escaping his lips.

A diary lay discarded at his feet. He must have dropped it. On the right page was an image of the fox and the Mayuzumi clan. And on the left, a few brief words.

Goodbye, Yusuke. I loved you.

Yusuke remained frozen. He didn’t so much as quiver.

He didn’t shed a tear, merely held onto the bat with a firm grip. He was staring at the corpse. Looking at the motionless Hirugao.

A moment later, he bared his teeth like a skull and let out a short whimper.

At this moment, Saga Yusuke shattered.

B.A.D. 7: Mayuzumi Pays No Mind to a Puppet’s Grief