Volume 7, 6: Jinnai [email protected] - Truth(5/6)
“..”
“No matter how many children you make, legitimate or otherwise, and no matter how many children you adopt, I will kill every last one of them. People often say they will curse someone to the very last generation of their family line, but I will make your generation the end of your line. ..Now, what will you do? Will I be removing your entire clan’s organs or will you wash your hands of this so your family can survive? Choose whichever path you like. Nothing in this world could be more frightening than being haunted by an Aburatori.”
“Don’t think you’ll ever get a moment’s rest, you damn Youkai.”
“I suppose you would have to threaten me here, but that establishes our contract. ..Let me reiterate: I am always watching you. If you approach Jinnai in any way, shape, or form, I will apply my punishment. It will not be you but your adorable children who die. It only takes one mistake. Keep that in mind and live on in fear.”
The Aburatori did not bother hanging up.
He threw the phone to the ground and coldly crushed it below his heel.
“Ah..ahh..”
That sequence of violence had been so vivid that I had been entranced.
It was perfect. Even after producing the perfect result, he stood still in the cold wind.
His body wobbled.
I immediately heard a bizarre noise.
It was like cracks running through a plastic board. The chorus of cracking continued without end and a definite but invisible change came over the Aburatori.
Once he recalled the flavor of blood, he could not go back.
Just as expected, the fall had come.
“Ahh..”
As he wobbled on his feet, he accidentally moved from behind the sliced van.
He entered Shinobu’s field of vision.
Shinobu did not understand what was going on. Not a single bit of it. So when he saw the Aburatori sweating profusely and trying to bear with the pain, he ran over.
“What is it? Are you okay? Do you have a stomachache!?”
Immediately, I felt like the Aburatori’s pulse reached my ears.
An unpleasant sound continued as the Aburatori’s teeth chattered. But this was not due to the fear of Shinobu possibly having seen the aftermath of his brutality. He was desperately trying to hold back.
He was holding back his functionality as the Aburatori.
He was holding back that system built to kill children.
He had recalled the flavor of blood and he was using his intellect and reason to desperately restrain the urge to devour his proper target.
But that must not have lasted long.
“..!!!!!!”
A great sound burst out.
The next thing I knew, the Aburatori was gone. Left all alone, Shinobu looked worried and the sounds of police sirens belatedly approached.
The Aburatori had finally been released.
He simply appeared, simply abducted, and simply killed.
He was the worst of the deadly Youkai who did nothing more than that.
Part 10
“Oh, Tengu. Have you heard about?”
“Just some rumors. But just hearing the name makes me feel sick. He definitely brings down the overall definition of. It’s not often you see a version that’s so specialized in killing and nothing else.”
“He’s shown up.”
“This is gonna be rough. A lot of are going to die again.”
“But it’s not like we can do anything about it. He exists as a that’s been cut free of the simple hierarchy of power.”
“The Aburatori, hm?”
Part 11
Since he was six years old, Shinobu wasn’t brought to the police station in the neighboring town. Instead, the police came to the thatch-roof house.
Meanwhile, the growing group of Youkai out front was going nuts.
An Aburatori had shown up.
Lots of children were going to die again.
If you didn’t know the circumstances, that was how it would look. The Aburatori was trying to escape that situation and had saved Shinobu even though it meant throwing away his one and only chance, but no one else knew about that.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Shinobu? You don’t hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine. I just need to drink some of the fizzy stuff.”
Shinobu waved at my mom and seemed more interested in the rumors about the Aburatori than he did in what had happened to him.
It was past evening by the time the police left, but they hadn’t been able to ask much out of concern for Shinobu.
And..
“Rumor has it Hyakki Yakou is going to act.”
“Then I guess we don’t have to worry. They scare me, but I doubt they would fail to kill the Youkai in their crosshairs. This should all settle down if they kill the Aburatori.”
“Really, we just need to make sure we aren’t caught in the crossfire.”
“That’s true. I’d rather not get killed by the punishment meant for the Aburatori.”
Shinobu gave a troubled frown.
He tugged at my grampa’s clothes and asked a question.
“Grampa, what’s the Aburatori?”
“Hm? Nothing you need to know about.”
For once, the old man bluntly cut off all conversation, so Shinbou asked my gramma instead.
“Gramma, tell me about the Aburatori.”
“That is an extremely scary Youkai. Word has it one has been seen around here recently. You need to stay away from it.”
“..”
He looked up at the Zashiki Warashi in a red yukata.
The sexy Youkai simply shook her head with a grim look on her face.
However, this was the end of it.
The Kaeshigami plan was the only way for the Aburatori to walk down the proper path, but it had utterly failed. He was about to go on a rampage, so Hyakki Yakou’s Majina and Hishigami Shikimi would destroy him as he had asked. Nothing would remain, just as they had arranged in advance. Out of concern for Shinobu’s future, that Youkai had saved him and would vanish without ever telling anyone the truth.
..Except that couldn’t be what happened.
This was still just the trigger. I already knew the worst possible ending was coming.
When Shinobu returned to his room that day, the adults and Youkai left him alone. He had been abducted by soldiers of a large criminal organization to influence the adults, so none of them knew what was right or how to approach the situation.
However, that completely backfired.
Shinobu wasn’t the type to hole up in his room when he was in a state of shock. Of all things, he pulled a backpack from the closet and began filling it with a map, a flashlight, and other tools.
He looked like he was about to head out.
He was going to leave this safe home after everything that had happened to him.
Just like a child creating a secret base, nothing he packed seemed particularly useful.
It looked like he was packing up everything he could find, from crayons to snacks.
And one of those items was a piece of construction paper.
It was covered in scribbles from crayons and colored pencils, but it probably had great meaning to Shinobu.
There were humanoid figures drawn there. There were animal-like figures drawn there. What had long been seen as a product of a runaway imagination was drawn there. The one with black hair and red clothing may have been the Zashiki Warashi. Something was colored over with circles of black crayon, but I had no idea what it was.
The countless figures formed a circle and something was sloppily written above their heads: We’re All Friends.
That was all.
But no matter how silly and useless that was, young Shinobu may have seen it as indispensable when his life was on the line.
And my current self was no different.
I had solved quite a few Package-related incidents and I had run across some extraordinary monsters in the process. With the Aburatori and the Aoandon, they had far surpassed the realm of what humans could handle.
But even so, wasn’t this something I couldn’t afford to forget?
“I can’t stop to figure this out.”
He packed up all sorts of things that probably wouldn’t be of much use.
“I can’t sit here crying.”
He forcibly fastened the backpack’s snap.
“I have to save my Friend Youkai.”
He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand just once.
He faced forward and spoke aloud, as if to fight back against everything that was saying such cruel things.
“The Aburatori is all alone now, so it’s my turn to save him.”
“............................................................................................................................”
Why?
How could it have turned out like this? I thought.
I could take a pretty good guess what was going to happen now.
Before Hyakki Yakou could slay the rampaging Aburatori, restless Shinobu would run across that worst of the deadly Youkai. Something would happen there and the Zashiki Warashi would use her Ver. 39. That was how this was going to turn out.
But while the Aburatori had been foolish, he had done nothing wrong. While Hyakki Yakou had been cruel to let him go, that decision had been kind. While Shinobu knew nothing of what was happening, his decision was wiser than anyone else’s.
Yet like it all was being swallowed up by some great pit of doom, each act of good will or kindness was leading to the expected worst possible ending.
Who had been in the wrong?
Couldn’t it have all ended with the defeat of the large criminal organization? Couldn’t that have been the nice happy ending?
“Nn.”
Shinobu put on the overfilled backpack and snuck out of his room. A small child tiptoeing around would normally have been noticed right away, but he happened to slip past everyone’s field of vision. It was almost like fate was giving him a helping hand.
It could only follow him.
I could only watch as that awful conclusion approached.
Young Shinobu ran through the orange-dyed paddy fields. He innocently believed he could save the Aburatori. I knew everything had failed, but I still wished that miracle could actually happen.
But it wouldn’t.
That kind conclusion could never, ever happen.
After all, the ending was already decided. I was only peeking at the predetermined past. This was not the present where countless options danced before my eyes or the future where everything was an unclear mass of chaos. This was the past where everything followed just the one path.
So we reached that mountain clearing filled with underbrush. The canopy of tree branches and the dark, rotting cabin came into view.
And there, young Shinobu saw it
He saw the Aburatori whose entire body was torn to pieces and whose breathing was so shallow it seemed on the verge of stopping.
His blood was closer to black than red.
Unable to stand, he had collapsed to the ground and had his back against the cabin’s wall.
He looked like a broken doll.
Shinobu could no longer form words.
He released a scream that only amounted to sound and ran straight toward the Aburatori.
“Oops.”
I heard Hishigami Shikimi’s voice from the trees and looked up to see the giant flower of her white hair.
She was no longer empty-handed. Her hands were stuck into her kimono’s pockets and she was clearly holding something.
“What should we do, Majina!? My specialty is war, so I can’t aim quite so accurately!!”
“My, my. This isn’t good. Hold off for the time being, Shikimi-san.”
I saw a black whirlwind and then Hyakki Yakou’s leader was standing in the center of the underbrush. Like a pet-lover, he held Ohatsu the (female) Sunekosuri in his arms. The small canine Youkai had a scarf around her neck and a ribbon on her right ear.
What?
Did that black whirlwind just gather together!? Did it turn into that (female) Sunekosuri!?
“Now, let me pass that question right along. ..Aburatori, what do you intend to do?”
It was unclear just how much life that Youkai had remaining, but he seemed to hesitate for just a moment.
“I made up my mind from the beginning. I told you to take care of this, Hyakki Yakou!!”
“You can’t!!”
Shinobu’s shout interrupted, but it was not directed at the Aburatori. He turned his back on that worst of the deadly Youkai and spread his arms to protect his friend from Majina and Hishigami Shikimi.
“Don’t be mean to the Aburatori!! If you’re going to hurt him, then you have to get through me first!!”
An obvious click of the tongue came from the trees.
Monocled Majina spoke bitterly while holding the (female) Sunekosuri.
But he spoke to the Youkai behind Shinobu, not to the young boy himself.
“Let me ask again: what do you wish to do?”
“!?”
“The optimal answer is not always the best answer. I don’t mind if you ask for something other than death despite knowing that would be wrong.”
“How could I possibly ask for that?” spat out the Youkai while exhaling weakly below his large hat. “Even now, I am taking aim to tear into this boy’s back!! How can I let this continue!? How can I let this evil remain!? Kill me, Hyakki Yakou. Kill meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!”
Most likely, they had all been living on the very edge.
They had all been worried about someone else, put themselves second, and tried to protect something.
And in this extreme situation, Hyakki Yakou’s leader accepted someone’s wishes.
“..What are you going to do?”
“Fine, then. If that is what he truly wishes, then I will take on the thankless role.”
He may have wanted to hear a different answer.
As wrong as it would have been, he may have wanted to hear the Youkai say he wanted to live and to be happy.
But that opportunity had been lost.
So Majina gently placed his index finger on Ohatsu’s forehead. That was all it took for the small canine Youkai to turn into deep darkness. With a deafening noise, the man’s body began to vanish into the scenery once more.
But just before he did, another great noise reached my ears.
It was the sound of a Zashiki Warashi in a red yukata kicking Majina’s torso with all her might.
The blow may have been on the level of a full-speed collision from a car.
After the shockwave-like noise, the young man’s body flew into the forest. He broke through two or three fairly thick trees and the line of destruction finally came to a stop at a large tree trunk further in.
But that was not the end of the motion.
I heard a rustling sound.
The darkness vanished, the small dog reappeared, and Majina stood at the center of the destruction as if nothing had happened.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“I’m not here for you,” spat out the Zashiki Warashi.
She paid no heed to the Hyakki Yakou leader who was walking toward her.
She was focused on a single point with a branch cutter resting on her shoulder, perhaps to take the place of a machete.
“What do you want to do, Shinobu?”
“Nn.”
“What the adults want doesn’t matter. You don’t have to think about the rules between humans and Youkai. What do you want to do right here and now?”
There may not have been a “right” answer.
It may have been that no one could come up with anything like that.
But Shinobu answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“I’ll save my friend.”
“I see.”
With a thin smile, the Zashiki Warashi spun around the branch cutter resting on her shoulder.
She forcefully struck the ground with the bottom to threaten everyone around her.
“If you know that, then go do it. ..You’re a boy, aren’t you?”
“Okay! Let’s go, Aburatori!! Come with me!!”
Shinobu grabbed the hand of the Aburatori who looked on the verge of collapse. The two of them ran off into the woods.
Finally, the Zashiki Warashi faced Majina.
She held out the blade to form a barrier against anyone who would pursue those two.
“Now, now. To be honest, I’m thankful,” said Hyakki Yakou Leader Majina in a somehow sad tone. “After all, this conclusion is far too empty. It may be the optimal answer based on pre-established harmony, but there isn’t any salvation to it. It might be inappropriate to say this turn of events excites me, but that’s honestly how I feel.”
Majina pressed his finger against the forehead of the small canine Youkai he held in his arm.
I had a feeling I understood this.
The Sunekosuri was a Youkai that rubbed its cheek against travelers’ legs. That alone sounded harmless and adorable, but it was based on the fear something hiding in the underbrush when walking at night.
Majina had said his name was spelled with the character for “curse” and that was highly appropriate.
A Youkai was a physical manifestation of certain thoughts or feelings, but he could break them down into their original phenomena and mysteries and use them like that.
This went far beyond a Package that took dozens or hundreds of people to take advantage of just a portion of a Youkai’s traits. He alone was breaking down, analyzing, reconstructing, and reusing the entire blueprint or diagram of a Youkai..and he was doing it all perfectly.
Even the most harmless and adorable Youkai had its base ideology extracted, weaponized, and remade into a tool of war.
This was the man who ruled at the top of Hyakki Yakou.
Even if he acted like nothing special, I should have known that wouldn’t be the case!
“But there is more to this than that. I am not so irresponsible that I would leave the conclusion in someone else’s hands. I am the leader of Japan’s greatest occult organization. Or will you twist the destiny of our confrontation with the power of the Ver. 39?”
“Sorry, but neither of us is the star here. As side characters, how about we keep our dance to the corner of the stage so we don’t get in the way?”
“I have to ask. Shinobu-kun is one thing, but why are you personally so intent on saving the Aburatori? You know what will happen in a direct confrontation here, don’t you?”
“To be honest, that doesn’t matter.”
The branch cutter whistled through the wind like a spear.
“But Shinobu decided to walk with even the worst of the deadly Youkai, so I’ll believe in him. I’ll believe in the boy who immediately made the decision you could only dream of making.”
I was confronted with two different choices.
The first was of course pursuing Shinobu and the Aburatori. That was the heart of this incident and leaving them alone together was far too dangerous. Even if he didn’t want to, the Aburatori might kill Shinobu.
The second was to stay here and watch the Zashiki Warashi and Hyakki Yakou’s fight to the death. Shinobu and the Aburatori were a problem, but the Zashiki Warashi’s strange Ver. 39 power was another crucial point. Resolving this before she used it and thus saving it for use against the Aoandon’s group in the “present” was the most important part of this.
“Which one..”
I looked all around.
I had only one point of view and I couldn’t rewind.
“Which one am I supposed to choose!?”
Part 12
I ran with all my might through the eerily rustling forest.
I had ultimately chosen Shinobu and the Aburatori.
The conclusion was approaching fast. I no longer thought there was some further truth or malice hidden here. I knew that, but I still felt uneasy. If I made a single mistake and overlooked the decisive moment, this would all be for nothing.
I found them right away.
“This way! This way! I don’t really know why, but this way!!”
“Wait.. Please wait!”
As Shinobu ran through the underbrush, the Aburatori gently pulled his hand from the boy’s grasp and forced out the words as if coughing up blood.
Without noticing the danger, Shinobu ran over to him.
“What is it? Do your injuries hurt!? D-don’t worry. I brought some bandaids for this!!”
“No, not that..”
The Aburatori continued speaking while his teeth chattered.
He looked disturbingly close to stabbing his prey with the skewers and pulling out the boy’s organs.
“You need to run away.. You need to leave this place at once!!”
“No! I can’t leave you, Aburatori. You’re coming with me!!”
“That is not what I am talking about!!”
Shinobu’s small shoulders shook when the Youkai shouted back at him.
The Aburatori trembled at the fact that he had hurt the boy, but he could not afford to be kind anymore. He sent more filthy words out toward Shinobu.
“I..I’m saying that..I will end up killing you! Why can’t you understand something so simple!? I am not your friend. You are nothing but a convenient prey to me!! I will derive perverse pleasure from pulling out your organs, skewering them, cooking them, and removing the oil!! That is the kind of repulsive monster I am!!”
“No, you aren’t.”
“That’s why I’m telling you to run. Run from this worst of the deadly Youkai!! I simply appear, simply abduct, and simply kill! That is all I can do!!”
“That isn’t who you are! The policemen told me I was taken away by bad guys and someone saved me! So I know you aren’t a bad guy!!”
“Hurry..hurry..run away..”
“I don’t care what anyone says. I don’t care what you say.”
“Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!!”
“You’re my friend!! That will never change!!!!!”
He couldn’t resist any longer.
I heard the sound of the Aburatori’s back teeth cracking in his mouth and then countless metal skewers appeared in his hands.
Once they were released, Shinobu would be completely helpless.
But that never happened.
A white shadow suddenly dropped down from above.
Hishigami Shikimi used the three-pronged vajra she held to knock down the skewers like a bolt of lightning.
How exactly had she done it?
I was watching the entire time, but my understanding couldn’t keep up. A three-pronged vajra was a weapon used by Buddhist monks..or was it called a Buddhist instrument? Basically, it had sharp spikes on either end and you held it in your fist at the center. The only usable portions stuck out from the ends by her thumb and little finger, so how had she knocked down dozens of metal skewers with just that?
She let down her long white hair, let the kimono fall from her shoulders, and revealed the undershirt below. The scent of incense filled the area.
Shikimi sounded exasperated with her own actions.
“Honestly, you’re really making me act out of character here. To think a Hishigami woman would act to protect someone!!”
“Hishigami..Shikimi!?” said the Aburatori.
“Yes. Just to be clear, I’m not here to kill you. I’m well, well aware this isn’t something a battle-obsessed war specialist should be saying, but I too am sick of that sort of thing!!”
As the threat of tension vanished, the Aburatori launched dozens if not over a hundred skewers.
However, Hishigami Shikimi used (what looked like) a single swing of her arm to deflect them all on her three-pronged vajra. Not a single one made it to Shinobu behind her.
“This is no time to be holding back, Hishigami! Kill me!!”
“I can’t help it. If I went all out, I could easily destroy this entire village..not to mention this kid.” She grinned. “More importantly, I too am only a side character. I may not be used to fighting a defensive battle, but I only have to buy some time for her to arrive and persuade her foolish master.”
“What..?”
“She’s coming. Prepare yourself.”
As soon as the white-haired girl said that, a single figure ran between the countless trees and out from a thicket.
The Zashiki Warashi in a red yukata charged toward the Aburatori with the branch cutter at the ready.
The Aburatori already had his hands full with Hishigami Shikimi, so this completely surpassed the limits of his processing power.
He was unable to deal with the Zashiki Warashi as she charged in from the side, so she easily collided with him. They rolled along the ground together, moving away from Shinobu. They slid down the mountain slope.
“Why must you all ignore my wishes!?”
“I don’t like it, but there is one way of saving you! I just have to join forces with them!!” shouted the Zashiki Warashi at close range. “You are a Youkai that kills children and you were born into this world because the humans wanted you to do that and only that. No stabilizing method, restraints, or paranormal technique can stop you from killing children! No matter what!”
“That!! That is why I am telling you to kill me!! Before I lay a hand on that boy!!”
“But have you forgotten? Just as you’re a symbol of the perpetrator, I’m a symbol of the victim!”
They shouted at each other from point black range.
“The Zashiki Warashi is a collection of the children killed during famines. You could say I’m a concentrated symbol of the deaths of children. We are the perpetrator and victim. If the two of us are paranormally linked much like a Package, you can artificially and symbolically feel the deaths of children without end. Just like inflating a medical balloon in the stomach can make one forget their hunger, you will never feel the urge to kill!!”
“..!!”
With that single hope in mind, the Aburatori’s head seemed to be reeling on the ground.
But..
“How exactly will you create that link? And do you have time!? Even if it is just a Package, you have no idea how long it will take to assemble from the ground up!!”
“Normally, yes. But have you forgotten about the extreme exception to that rule?”
“You don’t mean..”
“Majina, leader of Hyakki Yakou. He can instantly break down any Youkai to their base phenomena and mysteries. He should be able to assemble a simple Package in a matter of seconds.”
Once she said that, the Aburatori came to a complete stop.
That worst of the deadly Youkai spoke as if slowly exhaling.
“You mean..I don’t need to be killed?”
“Yes.”
“I can rid myself of that deadly trait without being killed?”
“Technically, you won’t lose the trait. It will be caught in a harmless infinite loop.”
“..”
“You don’t need to kill anyone and no one needs to kill you,” said the Zashiki Warashi while gently loosening her grip as she pinned to the ground. “You can remain Shinobu’s friend. Just like all the other Youkai.”
The Aburatori remained sil-->>