Volume 4 - CH 4.5

“Shut the fuck up! They’re gone! They’re not coming back! Oh, how great it would be if they could? Yeah?! That would be fucking amazing!”

Yusuke struck the humanoid in front of him. It almost toppled over, but it regained its balance and extended its arm. Long, slender fingers grazed Yusuke’s neck. He pinned its hand between his chin and shoulder to keep it in place, then slammed the bat on its abdomen.

He kept hitting the humanoids in a steady rhythm.

“They’re not coming back! I saw it. I saw their bodies dangling! I saw their skulls stop laughing when they left for good. And now they’re back? What, we live happily ever after?! You think I’m an idiot, you stupid fuck?!”

The countless blows caused the humanoid’s hand to dislodge, and it fell backwards. Numerous bodies lay all around him. Some of them were still writhing. Yusuke stomped on their chests with all his weight mercilessly. Blood sputtered from their throats and noses as they squirmed.

Yusuke looked up at the ceiling. Then, it hit me.

He was crying like a child.

“When humans die, they turn into bones,” he muttered. “You expect me to have hope? Some sort of desire? Tell me, pal. Yeah, I’m talking to you. Where can I find this hope, huh?”

He turned his head around and walked towards Tanba, his body swinging from left to right with each step.

Tanba let out a loud shriek as he backed away.

Yusuke fixed the man with a sharp glare. “Must be nice to have hope. I envy you. I already made up my mind. I told myself I would never have hope again. Tell me, pal. Do you wanna see what your own skull looks like?”

Yusuke’s lips curled up into a skeletal grin. A shiver crawled down my spine. The child in my stomach laughed, cheering for Yusuke. Tanba frantically retreated until his back hit the wall.

“Then why…” the man mumbled. “Why…”

Yusuke’s footsteps echoed as he slowly approached Tanba. The man fumbled for words. His head in utter confusion, he posed a question to Yusuke.

A genuine question from a man who believed in the fox.

“Why… are you still alive?”

How could he live without anything to hang on to? Without any hope? Desire?

Upon hearing Tanba’s question, the smile on Yusuke’s face turned even more vicious. He bared his teeth like a skull. Slowly, he raised his bat overhead.

At that moment, I was finally able to speak.

“Stop! That’s enough, Yusuke!”

He leapt high and screamed, “Because I don’t want to fucking die!”

There was a squelch, and Tanba fell to the floor with an odd smile on his face. Blood ran down between his wide-open eyes.

Stomping on the man’s broken glasses, Yusuke turned to me. His lips were curved in a vicious smile, but his eyes were weeping.

Crying like a child, he muttered, “Dying is scary, isn’t it, Odagiri-san?”

His voice was shockingly soft. Blood trickled down his bat.

There were humanoid corpses lying all around him and a human corpse right before my eyes.

I searched for words to say. I tried to yell, to say something to him, but I stopped myself. I threw aside whatever word came to me and remained silent.

Several seconds later, I gave a reply.

“It sure is. Death is terrifying.”

Yusuke nodded several times. He rubbed his face with his hand. The motion was as unaffected as a young boy’s.

“I… I should have stopped him back then,” he said.

He sounded like he was confessing his sins. He felt great remorse. Tears rolled down his open eyes.

I didn’t know what scene was on his mind.

Was it Asako being bitten by the dog on her leg? Was it her being beaten by his father?

Or the day before she hanged herself?

“All those times, I should have stopped him. I should have beaten my dad to death with a baseball bat. It feels like…”

Yusuke took a deep breath.

“It feels like I was the one who killed them, you know?” he whimpered.

His face, stained with tears and snot, scrunched up. Without even wiping his face, he went on.

“I couldn’t protect them. I’m such an idiot! Fuck me! Revenge, my ass! So what if pops killed himself?! They’re still dead! Get revenge on my dad, and then what?! It’s fucking pointless! It’s too fucking late!”

He tossed the bat aside. It hit the wall and rolled on the floor. Yusuke fell to his knees. His lips twisted in a sneer, his expression awfully distorted.

He laughed. “But I’m scared. I… I don’t want to turn into a skull!” he cried mournfully.

He thought he killed the people he cared about. His keen feelings of regret and remorse burdened him so much that he wanted to die.

But he never wanted to die.

Yusuke cast me a defiant look. I could almost feel animosity in his gaze. But his lips were still lifted in a mocking smile.

Then it dawned on me.

“…the same?”

Me and him?

My sudden question ended up ambiguous. Yusuke, however, gave a big nod. With shaky legs, he stood up.

“Yes,” he said. “Totally different, but the same. That’s why I was interested in you guys. Mayuzumi-san, who only thinks of human tragedies as entertainment, and you, who’s a lot like me. I was interested in how you two would spend your time, how you would live your life. I wanted to know what would happen to you now that Mayuzumi was gone. But I… I didn’t see this one coming.”

Yusuke reached for a nearby humanoid with a trembling hand. Asako’s head was cracked open like a pomegranate, her eyes wide open. He raised her head up.

“Motherfuckers,” he spat. His face was twisted in grim hatred.

Yusuke embraced Asako’s body tight. Closing his eyes as if in prayer, he buried his face in her neck.

Then suddenly he let go.

Asako’s head slammed on the floor. With an oddly fluid motion, Yusuke rose to his feet. There was no expression in his eyes. The tears on his cheeks had dried as if they had never been.

Then, he put on a bright smile.

“Now, then. Things have gotten more serious, so you’ll have to excuse me,” he said.

He picked up the bat he had thrown aside. Rolling his shoulders, he stomped on the pile of humanoid corpses.

“Stop,” I said. “Where are you going?”

“I think there’s still a lot of those things in this building,” he answered without turning around. “I’m gonna destroy them all.”

He was planning to kill all the humanoids.

The acid in his voice said not to stop him. But I ran over to him and grabbed his bat.

Was killing a humanoid murder?

I had no idea.

“Look, there may still be people inside the building who fell victim to the fox’s trickery. Don’t kill them. Even if they fight back. There’s no bringing back the dead once they’re gone.”

You mustn’t destroy something that would never return.

Yusuke shot me a glare. But I didn’t look away. Sweat trickled down my spine. He could beat me to death right here, right now.

But Yusuke nodded slowly. “Fine. Though it’s a little too late for that. I’ll try my best. So can you please let go of the bat?”

Looking into his eyes, I let go. Yusuke swung the bat back to himself, then leapt out of the open door and into the corridor.

Upon landing, he whirled around and looked at me.

“You should get moving too,” he said. “I’m sure despite all this happening, the fox is still waiting. Whatever the end result, this has to end now. Am I right?”

I gave a nod. The fox would be waiting. I was sure of that.

I was a toy that Mayuzumi stole from him. That probably had exceptional significance to the fox.

He made me drink his own blood to keep me alive. I’d even go as far as to say that the fox was afraid of me dying in a way that was not a part of his plan. Mayuzumi stealing things from him had left him traumatized. He wanted to manipulate me using his own schemes, and then kill me.

I’d come this far, disregarding all the sideshows that he had prepared. I had to save Shirayuki and ruin his play. I couldn’t stay in the audience forever. Staying in my seat until the actors killed me was ridiculous.

Mayuzumi Azaka was killed.

I had a right to be on stage.

“Yeah. I’m going, all right,” I replied. “Right away.”

Yusuke walked away without another word. His figure disappeared from sight. I heard a muffled blow; he must’ve found a humanoid.

I climbed over the pile of carcasses. The bodies felt soft under my feet. I leapt through the door and into the corridor. Losing my balance, I slammed my hand against the wall.

It felt like my fingers had buried themselves into a wound.

Upon examination, I found that my fingers had sunk into the wall. The walls were turning flesh-red. The real world and spirit world were blending together. A closer look revealed the entire corridor painted red. It was like the inside of an intestine. I turned around and studied the countless corpses.

Those humanoids were not supposed to be of this world.

Similar to the Minase case, the scales were tipping. The building itself was slipping into the spirit world. While I was feeling suffocated, the child in my belly was laughing in delight.

The demon was happy. In other words, this place was located outside the realm of reality.

Laughter rose in my throat. Things had gone batshit crazy.

“Haha… Hahahahaha!”

I couldn’t believe I came here alone, without Mayuzumi.

It was so hilarious that I almost burst to tears.

“…Haha.”

I stopped laughing and wiped the tears from my cheeks. Clenching my wet fists, I started walking down the corridor. On the way, I heard sounds of a humanoid being beaten to death through an open door. I ignored it and headed straight to the deepest part of the building.

The elevator arrived from the seventh floor, and the door opened.

Then, a portly, middle-aged man jumped out, screaming at the top of his lungs as he scrambled away. He didn’t even look at me. There was blood on the shoulder of his suit. He dashed outside, passing by me.

It looked like he was missing an ear.

“…What?”

What in the world was happening?

I stood there, stunned. But I had to move on. I approached the open elevator.

At that moment, footsteps sounded behind me. Bare feet touching the floor.

Soft white flesh drummed down the corridor.

Several humanoids passed by me silently, not one of them sparing me a glance. My stomach churned violently. But they seemed to mean no harm. Like puppets, they mechanically continued on their way. Three, four, five—their number was gradually increasing.

They lined up on both sides of the corridor, as though welcoming me.

Then, they bowed, slowly. Skin as pale as wax gleamed.

They looked like rows of armor decorating a Western-style mansion. I continued on quietly and entered the elevator.

Just before the door gently closed, the humanoids all crumpled to the floor, as if their strings had been cut.