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V8 Story III – Part 06

Freeze: A silent moment of hesitation.

The image cut out. The world returned to darkness, and I regained myself. The silence stretched on. No matter how long I waited, there was no sound. The silence felt like it was enveloped in sorrow.

I lowered my bloody hand. The girl continued crying.

There were many things I wanted to say, but I couldn’t say them. I didn’t have the courage. Nothing I could say would change anything. What good would it do to point out what I had realized? I couldn’t see beyond that. Moreover, I genuinely didn’t want to do anything.

It was already more than enough, beyond my capacity. I couldn’t bear any more load. I wasn’t supposed to care about anything in the first place.

“This is a bit of a problem…”

I came here to kill someone. Why did I have to go through this? Why was the world full of this shit?

I stopped and turned around. The girl was still crying. I thought long and hard until I found an answer from my nonexistent brain.

“I’ll bring someone who can help you,” I said. “He likes helping people. It’s more like a bad habit, really. He’s deeply flawed, but kind and simple-minded. Yup, sounds pretty bad. But he’s perfect for you.”

A familiar face appeared in my mind. I knew it was cruel. Asking him for help after killing someone. Pathetic. I somehow recalled someone saying “You can’t ask for help from the person you hit.”

But I couldn’t help this girl. He could probably do something. After all, he was a hopeless case and unaware of it. He was beyond saving, but he was comically kind-hearted. That’s why there were things only he could do.

I can’t do it myself. I can’t do anything at all. I’m sorry.

So, I decided to give up and entrust everything to him.

“I’m sure he will show you.”

He could do something I couldn’t.

Propping my hand against the wall, I let out a sigh. I shook my head and looked around the entrance.

A moment later, I walked out of the human trafficker’s house, leaving the girl awaiting help behind.

I was sure he would save her.

I just wanted to cry my eyes out.

The feed cut off, and the taste of blood faded away from the tip of my tongue.

Before me was a red handprint. Mayuzumi was nowhere to be seen. She must have returned to the bedroom.

The memories I saw involved the death of the human trafficker and the child. I couldn’t tell if memories accompanied by strong emotions were naturally chosen, if it was because it was what I wanted to see, or if they were the parts that piqued the baby’s interest. It was probably a complex mix of factors. In any case, I saw the child.

I understood what went on in Yusuke’s mind. Part of me wanted to grab his collar and yell at him, but what concerned me most was his attitude towards the girl.

Why didn’t Yusuke take the girl outside?

I wished it didn’t.

I genuinely didn’t want to do anything.

I’m sure he will show you.

I kept trying to think about what he meant. I picked up the discarded leather gloves and tried to put them on, but I dropped them. Then, it hit me. I looked back at where the girl had been. There was no one by the pillar at the entrance.

Ah, god damn it.

If my assumption was correct, he had burdened me with a terrible task. But I couldn’t ignore it.

I clenched the leather gloves in my hand. Steeling myself, I put them back on. I took a breath and called out to the empty space.

“Could you please come out?”

There was no response. The entrance was wrapped in silence. The girl was probably cautious.

Yusuke killed the human trafficker, but she had no reason to trust me. I regretted smoking. The trafficker’s clients were probably mostly adults. From a child’s perspective, there wouldn’t be much difference between me and them.

I stopped calling out and descended the stairs by the entrance. I grabbed the doorknob. Waiting was pointless; she wouldn’t respond. I had no choice but to try letting her down.

I shook the door back and forth. The handcuffs and collar made loud noises. The girl was being cautious but blocked the exit. There was no doubt she was hoping for help. If I tried to abandon her and leave, she would react.

I kicked the door hard. “Damn it. Why won’t it op—”

A chain pierced through my left hand. Blood splattered on my face. The sharp-edged chain cut through the glove and pierced my palm.

I was stuck in place. In the distance, I heard the muffled sound of the body falling.

Thud. Bang!

The two doors opened, and chains emerged from within. Like wriggling snakes, the reddish-black mass crawled out into the entrance. An extreme response. She chose to abandon the corpse and attack me instead.

Jingle, jingle, jingle.

An eerie sound reverberated in the air. The rings of chains glimmered like scales.

“Liar, liar, liar, liar!” cried a high-pitched voice. “He said you’d help me, but you’re a liar! Why, why, why, why?! How can you be so cruel?! You will pay!”

I could see the girl through the gap in the chains. She stood surrounded by the chains, glaring at me with her golden snake eyes.

“Calm down,” I said. “I came here to—”

“Liar! Liar! Liar!”

She refused to listen. Her tone reminded me somewhat of Hirugao. I extended my uninjured arm.

This should work.

Enduring the intense pain, I extended my fingers further. Chains coiled around my arms, legs, neck.

My flesh was squeezed, and bones creaked. Still, I forced myself to move forward. The human trafficker’s death flashed in my mind, but I ignored it. Though the hole in my palm widened, I stifled the urge to scream and pressed on.

There was only one thing I could do. Just telling her what I had learned was meaningless. I had to reassure her that everything would be all right. I had to make her believe in me.

I staggered forward, stretching my right hand to the limit.

And then, I embraced the girl, chains and all.

“…Huh?”

The chains fell to the floor, and her eyes widened.

“It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere,” I said, my voice hoarse from the pain. “I came here to help you.”

With the chains gone, my left hand was free. I pulled the chain that pierced my arm closer.

I held the girl in my arms and continued talking to calm her down. “It’s okay. There’s no need to be scared. I came to help you.”

“R-Really? Did you… Did you really come to help me?”

“Yeah. J-Just like Yusuke said.”

Nodding repeatedly, I clenched my teeth. As I embraced her, I became certain that my assumption was correct. Tears rolled down my cheeks. Just as Yusuke had warned, I couldn’t help but cry.

I felt the sensation of the chains surrounding the girl, but I couldn’t feel her body itself.

“You’re safe now… No more pain or sadness.”

She nodded. For the first time, a faint smile appeared on her face. I didn’t want to destroy that smile. Still, I took a breath, exhaled, and went on.

“So, let’s go outside, yeah? Will you show me the way?”

She was trapped in this house. She couldn’t leave like this. To take her outside, I had to destroy her nightmare.

“Huh? What… Where to?”

She looked bewildered, but I could sense fear on her face, as if she had an inkling.

Yusuke couldn’t tell her that. I didn’t want to say it myself, either. But if no one else would, I had to be the one to tell her. I came to realize my own cruelty.

Still, I couldn’t leave her inside this house.

“You’re… already dead.”

So I told her the ruthless truth.

She gaped at me. I recalled Mayuzumi’s hint. She was alluding to the girl’s death.

The human trafficker probably found value in her snake eyes. However, her soul was marked with an ability to move objects. After her death, she awakened to a new power and killed the human trafficker.

Her vengeful soul remained in the world of the living in a perceivable form. She had even forgotten that she was dead.

The girl looked around, her face displaying various emotions. She was about to cry, but stopped. She seemed about to get angry, but restrained herself. Finally, a tired smile appeared on her face.

“Yeah… I remember now.”

In the next instant, the chains swirled around like a storm, and I was engulfed in the reddish-black torrent.

Suddenly, I found myself inside a sphere-shaped mass of chains. The chain embedded through my palm was pulled out. Covered in pouring blood, I was carried further back. I glimpsed the gate of hell in the gaps of the ring. The door opened automatically. The chains bounced on the carpet, broke a desk, and entered a hidden room.

In the next moment, I was thrown onto a hard floor. I groaned at the severe pain.

In front of me was a garbage chute. My nose caught a putrid stench. The only fabric bag in this house emitted a graphic smell.

Cautiously, I touched the bag. The inside was warm; putrefaction had started.

I loosened the cloth’s opening. When I put my hand inside, hair tangled around it. Skin peeled off.

Golden eyes looked up at me, but it was merely an illusion. The girl’s eyes had already melted away. Still, she was here, her image superimposed with the corpse, looking at me.

“You were here… all along.”

If I took her outside, she might crumble. I embraced her body, along with the bag.

“You must have been scared all this time.”

There was no response. But still…

I had a feeling she silently nodded.