Missing Children (6 page)

And even if we were to rely on Mary’s memory, there were too many unclear parts. What could we do?

“Um…… I have an idea.”

While I’d been pondering endlessly to myself, Konoha suddenly raised his hand a little.

“Uh, sure. What is it?”

Kido seemed slightly surprised to hear that coming from someone so unexpected.

With his usual unreadable expression, Konoha slowly began to give his opinion.

“It might not be anything important, but can’t we try going to her house?”

“Eh?”

Both Kido and I widened out eyes.

“Ah, I said, can’t we try going to her house? Ah, when I say her house, I don’t mean here, but where she used to live, umm I mean……”

“That’s it!”

As if to cut off Konoha, who had started to ramble without getting to the point, Kido and I spoke at the exact same time again.

If we thought about it, this was true.

If Mary’s mother had called themselves “Medusa,” that meant that she must have had some awareness of their abilities.

Even if we weren’t able to find any answers, we might be able to at least find some information about these abilities in Mary’s house.

“That seems like a good idea. What do you think, Shintaro?”

“I feel like this has to be the only way, actually. We might be able to find the answer to this chain of events.”

After I said this, Konoha gasped slightly, “D-does that mean it could lead to a way to save Hiyori?”

“I can’t guarantee anything, but…… We might come across some kind of hint, at least.”

Hearing this, Konoha’s face became clearly determined.

Come to think of it, he’d been told off pretty harshly by Hibiya yesterday.

Hibiya had said that he hadn’t been able to save a girl named Hiyori, but with how Konoha didn’t show it on his face, he seemed to feel strongly about it.

“If we’re going, then let’s head out. Mary, are you alright with us taking a look around your house?”

Kido said as she stood up.

“If it’s with everyone, it’s completely fine,” Mary replied with a smile.

“Alright. With that settled then, we should clean up. I feel bad that Kido did all the work, so I’ll……”

I said this and started to get up, but I had completely forgotten about the muscle pain in my legs.

I moved in a crouched position to prevent the pain from getting any worse.

Kido seemed to notice this and smirked.

“Alright then, I’ll go get ready. I’m counting on you, Shintaro,” She said, and left for her room.

Wait a minute.

We’d come to this plan impulsively, but I’d forgotten something very important.

That small worry soon turned into a very grave realization.

“H-hey, Mary. Where did you say your house was again……?”

I asked this very slowly, and Mary answered happily, “It’s in the back of a forest a little ways from here! If we walk from the station, I think it’s about two hours away?”

Hearing this, I collapsed onto the floor.

Two hours!?

Oh no, no, no, that was crazy.

On top of not having any stamina, how much was I expected to walk for so many consecutive days?

Cancel.

Yeah, we had to cancel it.

I’d tell Kido right away, and……

“Looks like we’re going out today, too! I’m counting on you, Shintaro. Ah, she’s coming too, right? I can’t wait!”

Mary said this with a wide grin.

There wasn’t anyone in the world that could say they wanted to cancel now after seeing that smile.

“Y-yeah, me too……”

I said this with a pained expression, and for the time being, sat down on the sofa.

After hearing Mary say so, I remembered that I’d been charging my cell phone.

When I removed the charger from my phone that had been placed by the sofa, I saw that it was nearly fully charged. However, I soon realized something strange.

“……Huh?”

I couldn’t see Ene anywhere on the screen.

I tried shaking the phone and calling out to her, but she still didn’t appear.

Maybe she’d gone into Momo’s phone.

When my computer had fallen onto the floor before, she hadn’t disappeared back then, so there was no way she would disappear just because of the battery running out.

I convinced myself of that, and stuffed the phone into my pocket.

Sighing, I looked at the table in front of me.

Anyway, first I had to clean this up, and then the next main thing on today’s agenda would be hiking, huh? I had a lot of worries about what was to come, but complaining about it wouldn’t do any good.

Even so, the events of these past few days were like some kind of plot to shape me into a decent human being.

No, but seriously, what if this really was all someone’s doing?

Someone that had the power to manipulate fate……

As I thought about that, I couldn’t help grinning.

If I hadn’t experienced it myself, I wouldn’t just laughed it off; there was no way such a wild story could be true.

But, I was here right now because I had a secret passion to figure out this situation.

For someone’s sake.

Maybe it was some kind of atonement.

Even so, if there was something that I could do right now, then I had to try taking that step forward.

As I thought of these things, I began to clean up the fully-eaten breakfast dishes.

SHINIGAMI RECORD PART TWO

(translated by Miss-Simplicity
)

“Did you not hear me? If you won’t let me in, then call that man.”

People were slowly gathering around the aging, brick front gate to watch the commotion.

The vulgar buzzing in the air that arose whenever people crowd together—as usual, I hated it.

Even from the windows of the stately mansion behind it, several people, who I supposed were servants, were looking down at us.

“No, but you see, young lady. With how sudden this all is, I can’t just go along with it so easily.”

The seedy-looking man in front of me, that looked to be a part of society in appearances only, was laughing lightly and clearly making a fool of me.

“Then what am I to do? Do you understand? I’ve been through Hell because of him. I was told that he knew about what I am, and therefore quietly complied, but in the end, I was handed over to some suspicious people and was treated horribly—I was even
shot
.”

What was wrong with this man?

His halfhearted behavior was irritating me.

In the first place, why was I to be treated this way after following the tracks of the carriage on foot for weeks to return here?

“Ahahah. You know, young lady… If you were really shot, then you wouldn’t be here right now, would you?”

“Hm? And what nonsense are you speaking? Can’t you see that I am presently standing right here?”

As soon as I said this, the seedy-looking man took a deep breath and roared with laughter. As if on cue, I started to hear chuckles from within the crowd, as well.

The flames of frustration had at last begun raging in my heart.

Why did so many of these creatures intend to grate on my nerves?

I considered leaving as quickly as possible, but that would mean that everything would go to waste.

Until I heard what that stout man knew about me, I would not be able to rest.

“Oi, if you’re going to continue on like this, then I’ll simply let myself in. In the first place, what are you to me? I hardly have any reason to be speaking to……”

Just when I was prepared to ignore him and force myself into the mansion, I noticed that the man in question was staring at me from the second floor window of that mansion.

He seemed to be quite afraid to see that I had returned.

The face that I saw peering from that window was colored with shades of fear.

Despite the fact that he’d noticed that I was here, that man was pretending to be distracted by the commotion; my anger had finally reached a boiling point.

“That man……!”

I lunged forward to grip the bars of the iron fence, and the seedy-looking man yelled after me, “Cut it out! If you don’t, I’ll feel sorry for making a big deal out of this!”

“……Are you honestly still not taking me seriously?”

My anger had reached its limits long ago.

At this point, I could not possibly be stopped by the words coming from his mouth.

However, the man showed not the slightest intent of stopping me himself, either.

In front of the gates, there was already a huge crowd of people, and from within it, several men armed with iron swords appeared.

“I didn’t want to do this. But since you just wouldn’t listen, this is how it’s going to be, young lady. Come now, just give…… ack……!”

I see. So this was how it was going to be. They really were rotten.

The moment I glared at the man, both of my eyes started to twinge with a pulsing heat.

His eyes, which met with mine, twitched for a few seconds before stopping completely, and immediately after that, his body quietly stopped moving as well.

I then turned towards the crowd.

All of them wore blank expressions, as if they didn’t understand what kind of situation they were in right now.

“Hey, what did you do to him?”

One of the men drew his sword, and slowly approached me.

“Sword”

Something that humans had created to kill.

When used by those who wielded it, flesh was split open, and bones were shattered.

Ever since I had come to be, I had come to learn that, most painfully.

I had too learned how this world had already become their massive habitat, and what foolish creatures they were.

“If you do not answer, then that will be taken as intent of rebellion and you will be purged!”

Ahh, this was really so tiring. Why did I continue to hold any expectations from them?

I closed my eyes, my vision filling with darkness.

When had I last used this?

Hadn’t the last time been when I had been revered as some “god” in a church somewhere? In the end, I hadn’t gained anything then, either.

No, that wasn’t it.

The only things I ever received from their creatures was always contempt and disappointment.

That being so, I was once again met with worthless disappointment.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the man brandishing his sword.

Did he intend to take my life? It was always this way with them.

“Captivate the eyes…”

The moment I whispered this, the men suddenly stopped moving.

At the same time, the chatter of the crowd behind them also ceased immediately.

Naturally, this was because everyone here right now was “meeting” my eyes.

What I saw before me were human faces that were all painted with fear. Pathetic, foolish, and beyond saving.

“What in the world is she?”

The thoughts of the man brandishing the sword flooded into my mind.

It was troublesome that “stealing” was the only one that I still could not control.

After all, the more I peered into humans’ thoughts, the more uncomfortable I felt.

If I was able to skillfully see inside the minds of all these people, it might have been something very convenient.

I would be able to easily distinguish whether one of them was lying or not.

However, their heads were filled with nothing but useless thoughts.

It was practically impossible to read only what I wanted to know.

Like searching for a tiny pebble in a vast sea of garbage.

I asked the motionless man, “Should I call all of you monsters?” However, I received no reply.

Silence.

In the end, it was always this silence.

Freezing cold, like from back then. Even now, I hated this silence.

Turning to the mansion, I saw that the man who had been looking out of the window had disappeared.

Had he escaped somewhere?

If I hurried to catch up to him, I might be able to have a word or two, but I was no longer in the mood for that.

How long was I to continue doing this?

It was like silently advancing through an endless darkness, knowing that light does not exist.

Yes, I knew this. I knew this, and yet still, I kept on going.

“There is no one in this world who knows me.”

Every time I thought of this, tears would spill from my eyes.

“I hate this.”

Word without reason, such as those, would fill my head.

That was why I had no choice but to move forward.

If not, I would be crushed by my thoughts, and feel as if I would disappear.

However, I could not.

I had experienced death many times, but could never disappear completely.

The motionless man before me was no longer thinking of anything.

He was silently and simply, there.

It would be so much easier to be like him.

Without thinking, an existence that was simply 
there
.

Before I knew, tears were falling from my eyes.

Unable to stop them, it soon became difficult to even breath.

“Uu……Aah, ah……!”

If there exists such a being that gave birth to me, hurry and show yourself already.

And please, just end me.

As I prayed for this, I continued to cry until it became dark.

*

The summer breeze made the trees sway, and the singing of small birds echoed in the fresh greenery.

Due to the rainfall last night, it was very difficult to travel by the roads.

My feet sunk into the dirt road with every step, and I was unable to advance as I had thought.

Although the overgrown trees softened the strong sunlight greatly, interestingly enough, it was the heat that enveloped my body sapped me of my strength.

I had acquired my own body, and though I had realized so by coming across various other creatures, I was overwhelming lacking in physical strength.

I would start sweating after walking only a short distance, and the joints of my body would cry out when I tried to walk uphill.

Even now, I was sweating, and my legs felt like they were on the verge of collapse.

Because I had already come this far, tears had started to form in my ears due to how hard it was to keep moving my legs.

Although it was true that it was hard, I would also cry because of the pain, so it was an inevitable thing.

“It should be only a little further……”

The fact that I had been using “captivation” since a while ago may also be one reason that my strength was leaving so quickly.

However, because this was my way of marking the way, I had to continue using it.

At the very least, it seemed like I was making progress, and in every moment, I attracted the attention of the surrounding creatures.

“Captivation” was a convenient power.

I was able to clearly discern where anyone was focusing their attention, and I could also force their attention to be directed towards me.

In other words, by using this power, I could actually figure out the place that drew the least attention from others. I found it rather clever to use this power in such a way.

Yes. After I had been betrayed by humans for the last time on that day, I had decided to spend the rest of my life in a place where none would find me.

At first, I had considered living in a cave, but frankly, I was tired of the darkness.

I had searched for other suitable places, but I was extremely outraged to find that most quiet places were in dark places.

I had had enough of the dark. Living in it was the last thing I wanted.

However, I knew that in this world trampled upon by humans, it was near impossible to live completely alone in bright places.

After considering several other possibilities, I had settled on this.

Though “focusing,” I had found the most unnoticed place in this world.

And surprisingly, it was in this rather bright forest.

Frankly, I had been skeptical become coming here, but as I headed towards that place, I noticed that the signs of other creatures were slowly diminishing.

It was strange, almost as if a gaping hole had opened in that place alone, and no one could focus their attention to it.

I had still yet to arrive there, but I was already feeling rather elated merely because of this proven fact.

To be frank, I had boarded a ship to cross the ocean, but on the way, a quarrel had arisen, leading me to leave the boat and swimming the rest of the way while crying.

I lost track of how many times I drowned. If this place had been swarmed with humans after enduring so much suffering, I’m certain that I could have reduced this forest to burnt ruins.

As I continued onwards, just as the road finally vanished, and I could no longer hear even the singing of birds, I sighted a somewhat open spot up ahead.

What kind of place was it? I wondered.

I picked up my pace, and the ambience of the space I stepped into took my breath away.

It was as if this space had continued to exist long after everyone in this world had forgotten about it.

Creatures that were still aware avoided it; a place that no one noticed.

“It’s perfect……!”

For the first time in a while, I felt my heart beat faster. It was much quieter, brighter, and much more comfortable than I had imagined.

From the looks of it, there was just enough room for one house. I was starting to like the cozy feel of this place increasingly more.

Pushing apart the short but thickly-grown grass, I tried standing in the center of the place. It was completely different from cold silence, but a comfortable tranquility that soothed my ears.