Table of Contents

Copyrights and Credits

Title Page

Table of Contents Page

Character List

Heisei Arc

Prelude: What Remained

The Warped

Bittersweet April Enrollment

Moving Forward, Hand in Hand

Itsukihime: Late Night Tales of Demonic Swords—Final Chapter

Footnotes

Newsletter

Prelude:
What Remained

AND SO, TIME FLEW ON BY.

FEBRUARY 2009.

“Miyaka-chan, wanna head out?”

“You coming over to study again?”

“If it’s okay with you.”

They were in the tail end of their junior high school days, but there was no time to bask in nostalgia, as high school entrance exams were the very next month. One would be hard-pressed to find a single third-year student goofing off around this time.

Himekawa Miyaka and Azusaya Kaoru were doing their last bit of cramming for the entrance exam of Hyogo Prefecture’s Modori River High School, which was coming up soon on March 4th. Lately, Kaoru had been going over to Miyaka’s home after classes for daily study sessions that stretched well into the evening.

The two were an unlikely pair, with Miyaka outwardly ­appearing like the aloof, standoffish sort and Kaoru being a cheerful, youthful-looking girl. They only met in junior high but had since become best friends. As they were trying to enter the same high school, Miyaka was helping Kaoru study as the ­latter’s grades meant she risked not making the cut. Miyaka wasn’t the type to admit it, but she wanted them both to get in just as badly as Kaoru and didn’t mind helping her study one bit.

“…How’d I do?” Kaoru nervously asked.

“Forty-eight out of fifty-nine. You’ve improved.”

“Wh-whew! I honestly don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t make any progress after all this studying!”

“You’re not completely out of the woods yet, but you are over the passing line.”

“Heh heh. I did it!”

With study books sprawled out on the table, the two ended their session with a practice test for Kaoru, like they did most days. She got a little over 80 percent right; not superb, but certainly worth being happy about.

Satisfied, Kaoru let herself fall flat onto her back. Miyaka would usually have scolded her for being so slovenly, but she decided to let it go today. This was the highest Kaoru had ever scored. Miyaka seemed indifferent on the surface, but on the inside she was happy her friend’s efforts had borne fruit.

“Heh heh. Looks like we can go to the same high school.”

“Yeah, but don’t get lazy just yet.”

“I knooow. I’ll do some review when I get home.”

Miyaka put on a strict air, but Kaoru knew it was only out of concern, and so she remained cheerful.

“Oh, by the way, wanna go check out the school tomorrow?” Kaoru suggested. “I was thinking we might as well since we have the day off. We can go do something afterward. I kinda wanna go eat crepes.”

Tomorrow was a Saturday. It could be a good idea to motivate themselves by taking a look at their prospective high school. Based on her grades, Miyaka had little risk of failing the entrance exam, and Kaoru had improved quite a bit, so a break couldn’t hurt.

“Hmm… Yeah, all right. I guess you’ve earned it.”

“Yay.”

“But make sure you study afterward, okay?”

“I knooow.” Kaoru grinned, making herself look younger than her age. Perhaps she knew how youthful she could look and took advantage of that to get her way. Not that Miyaka minded.

On Saturday, the two went to see Modori River High School. Right next to it was the large river it was named after. Apparently, the school was built atop a tall hill that used to serve as a gathering point when the river flooded. Perhaps because of its history, it received plenty of funding from the city and also from old, distinguished families in the area, allowing it more facilities than most schools in the prefecture even though it wasn’t known for sports or academics at all.

There were no guardrails leading up to the school gates; instead, there were ginkgo trees planted with the city’s funding. They would probably look wonderful come autumn, but that was still a way off. For now, the tree-lined path leading to the school had no color and felt melancholy.

“It’s surprisingly pretty. And big.”

The school had celebrated its thirtieth anniversary years ago, and they’d done some refurbishing at the same time. The ­dilapidated school building was repainted a cheerful, ­tidy-looking white.

“For a non-college prep school, it sure has a lot of facilities,” Miyaka commented.

“They’ve got tons of vending machines too. Look! They even have a cup ramen one! They’d never do that at our school!” It was just like Kaoru to check the school’s food situation before anything else.

They went to the office for permission and were given the green light to look around as they pleased. They roamed half aimlessly, checking out classrooms, the cafeteria, the library, the field, and even the martial arts space, getting a decent look at just about everything.

“Wow, like…high school’s on a whole ’nother level from junior high,” Kaoru said.

“Yeah. Wanna rest on that bench there for a bit?”

“Definitely. My legs are killing me.”

The two visited the rear courtyard last and rested on a bench with drinks they’d bought from a vending machine ­earlier. All their walking had left them tired. They wetted their dry throats and gazed out at the line of trees. The cherry blossom trees planted in the rear courtyard would likely provide a good spot to relax in spring when the blossoms bloomed and the sun was warm. Hopefully they would be attending as students then. Checking out the high school had proved to be a good idea—they both felt motivated to study even harder for their entrance exams.

“Hey, so, why’d you pick this school in the first place?” Kaoru asked.

“You’re asking that now? After you’ve already decided to try going here?”

“Hah hah… I don’t really care what school I go to so long as I’m with you.”

Miyaka had been the one who originally wanted to go to Modori River High School; Kaoru was just applying to follow her friend and didn’t particularly care about the school itself. Miyaka could probably have gone for a slightly more prestigious high school given her grades, but she chose this one anyway.

“…I chose this school because of an old story, I guess,” Miyaka said.

Kaoru cocked her head in confusion. Miyaka, who had expected such a reaction, smiled and looked up toward the sky.

“My family’s shrine used to be here back in the Edo days.”

“Huh? No way, really?”

“Yeah. You know how the school’s built on a hill? Since that made it safe from floods, they built a shrine here back when Kadono City was still just an iron town. My mom says the shrine and its people sometimes were even more powerful than the village chief in those days.”

To tell the truth, Miyaka didn’t really care all that much about things like her shrine’s history. She at least knew the origin ­behind the Jinta Shrine’s name, but she didn’t know why the shrine maidens were called Itsukihime or why the girls in her ­family all had to have the character for “night” in their names—both rather important traditions. But when she brought up picking a school, her mother mentioned that Modori River High School stood on a hill that was once the site of the Itsukihime’s shrine.

“Oooh. So could the land the school’s on be your family’s property or something like that?”

“No way. The village shrine belonged to everyone.”

“Darn. Why’d they move it?”

“No idea, but there’s an old folk story that says it was attacked by a demon, so they moved and renamed it the Jinta Shrine.”

Demons didn’t actually exist, of course. They were used in stories to represent disaster or calamity in the abstract, so the only thing that could be gleaned was that the shrine got moved ­because something of ill omen occurred. It was also possible that the ­prefecture simply ordered the shrine to move so they could build a school. A school would be a good place to evacuate to during an earthquake or a flood, and the hill made for a prime evacuation spot. Miyaka had a feeling that was the most likely explanation.

“So that’s why you picked this school?”

“Yeah. I got kind of curious after my mom told me about it. I don’t know, something about how my ancestors used to be here made it feel like I had a connection to the place. It didn’t hurt that it’s pretty well-funded for a school you can get into without trying too hard.”

“Without trying too hard, huh? Meanwhile, I’m here busting my butt!”

The conversation had been somewhat serious up until Kaoru’s complaint, after which the two grinned at one another.

“Wanna end our little break here and keep going?” Miyaka suggested.

“Sure. Oh! I want to check out what clubs they have.”

“Sounds good.”

The two went back to looking around the school, and the shrine that used to be there didn’t come up again. Why would it? It was a boring topic for fifteen-year-old girls. Besides, they had more important things to think about, like studying and passing their entrance exams so they could come here. Their visit to the school gave them motivation, but it also enlivened them. They imagined themselves arriving in spring and ended their day in high spirits.

The entrance exams weren’t far off. They felt some unease, but their eyes brimmed with hope.

***

Kadono Jinya put on the blazer of his still-unfamiliar student uniform and paid his own visit to the high school the day after the two girls. It had only been a few days since he moved to Kadono City, but he wanted to get an early glimpse of the school he would be attending.

Softly, he touched one of the cherry blossom trees in the rear courtyard, devoid of both leaves and petals. “This place has changed too.”

The village chief once told him, “The passage of time is cruel. After a century, I doubt there will be anyone here who knows of you. Perhaps you won’t even recognize the village itself. Our lives are terribly short compared to a demon’s.”

Jinya felt the truth of the man’s words keenly now. After nearly 170 years, he had returned to his old home and found it bore no resemblance to its former self. The area was still rather rural and retained many of its trees, unlike Tokyo, but around him were buildings of concrete and roads paved with asphalt. It all felt strange and disorienting. On this hill there once stood the shrine of the Itsukihime, where the goddess Mahiru-sama had been worshipped by generations of shrine maidens to bring prosperity to the village. Now, a school stood in its place, and not a soul but him thought it the least bit strange.

Nobody from those days was left. Not Shirayuki or Chitose; not the villagers, Kiyomasa, or the chief; and not his loathsome but beloved sister. Mankind did not live long. Jinya knew this from the start, and yet he still felt as though everyone he knew had left him behind.

“Makes me kind of sad,” he muttered. The fact that he could admit such a thing to himself proved that he wasn’t alone. The people of Koyomiza Theater and Kogetsudou had become his strength. He might have lost many things, but he had undoubtedly gained some things along the path of his hatred-led journey, and that allowed him to be truthful to himself here.

He saw what he’d come for. With no more business to be done, he left the school.

Just how many people knew the old tale of “The Princess and the Blue Demon”?

Kadono Jinya had finally returned to Kadono City in Hyogo Prefecture. It had only been a small village that thrived as an iron town when he knew it in his youth, but iron sand had long stopped being collected from its river. It was now a sleepy ­provincial town somewhat known for its kitchen knives and a few other metal products. Not a trace of the village it once was remained. Still, the fact that he had returned to the place where it all began after so many years was felt keenly.

“Just one more year…”

The advent of the Demon God, as foretold by the demon of Farsight, was only one short year away. The reencounter with Magatsume that seemed so distant when he first set off from Kadono was now almost upon him.

In the end, not even 170 years was enough time to do something about the hatred smoldering inside him, but at least he now knew what he would do at the end of his journey. All that remained was to face her. For that purpose, he had moved back to Kadono City and enrolled in Modori River High School.

The Toudou family had arranged his enrollment for him. The demon of Farsight claimed Magatsume would reappear at the shrine of the Itsukihime, where Modori River High School now stood. “Then in that case, you might as well enroll,” the Toudou family’s children and grandchildren jokingly suggested. He would’ve refused in the past, but today’s Jinya could allow himself to simply enjoy himself, so he went with their suggestion.

He left the school and began walking toward the home of an old friend. He still kept in contact with the people of Kogetsudou. Nanao, now the store’s current owner, had told him Himekawa Yayoi lived in Kadono City, so he was on his way to pay a visit.

“To think those two are married now,” Jinya mused. Takamori Keito had apparently married into Yayoi’s family, so he would be Himekawa Keito now. According to Nanao, he was still just as head over heels for his wife as ever and wasn’t afraid to show it.

Yayoi had visited Asakusa every summer break when she was young, but that became difficult as she grew older, and Keito went on to higher-level education in a different prefecture. Yayoi loved writing letters, though, so Jinya kept in touch with her that way. However, it had been almost twenty years since he’d met directly with either one. Twenty years was short for a demon, but not a human. Feeling a bit sorry that he’d taken so long to pay a visit, Jinya followed Nanao’s handwritten map.

In his mind, he was only going to see an old friend. Little did he know that Nanao had a small surprise waiting for him.

“This is the place?” he murmured with some surprise when he arrived at his destination. He had known that Yayoi’s home was a shrine and that Keito had married into the family to eventually become its chief priest, but this was his first actual visit to the place. It was plain compared to those massive shrines that doubled as tourist hotspots, but by no means was it small. There was even room for the family home on the shrine grounds so the chief priest could remain on-site.

Jinya slowly made his way up the long stone steps and reached the shrine grounds to find them lined with cherry blossom trees. The stone path ahead was clean, and the place felt spiritually comforting.

A young girl with a wooden broom was sweeping the stone path. She wore shrine maiden garb, so it was safe to assume she was with the shrine. Her long hair looked a bit brown, which was somewhat unexpected given that shrine maidens usually kept their hair black. He saw her face and smiled slightly. A trace of young Yayoi’s image could be seen in the girl—her daughter, perhaps?

“Are you the shrine maiden here? There’s something I’d like to ask you, if so,” he said.

She looked up at him with some befuddlement. He felt a bit nostalgic for a moment, but her reply took his breath away. “No, I’m not exactly a shrine maiden here but an Itsukihime.”

This was no coincidence. Yonabari had given Motoki Soushi every piece of information they had on the Demon Eater for his revenge, and Soushi had passed on that information to his children and grandchild. In all likelihood, Yunohara Aoba knew a lot more about Jinya than he imagined. That was why she’d planned this surprise. Nothing big. She simply hid the shrine’s name and what its shrine maidens were called from him, but that was all she needed to do to give him a grand shock.

“An…Itsukihime…?” He barely managed to speak.

The girl showed no surprise at his reaction, as though she had expected it. Most visitors probably didn’t know their tradition, which was why she had a follow-up explanation immediately ready. “That’s what we call the shrine maidens of this shrine. Nobody ­really knows why, but it’s been the custom for a long time.”

“Is that so…” He knew why. He couldn’t possibly forget the meaning behind the Itsukihime title.

Itsukihime meant “the pure Woman of Fire,” the pure part referring to the fact that the one who served the Goddess of Fire had to be an unmarried young girl. As time passed, that notion faded away from Kadono Village, and Itsukihime simply came to refer to the one who prayed to the Goddess of Fire…and now, not even that.

The shrine was attacked by demons and the Itsukihime Shirayuki was killed. The bloodline of the pure Woman of Fire came to an end, but sometime after Jinya left Kadono, Chitose was appointed to be the next Itsukihime of the new shrine.

“Excuse me, but could you tell me the name of this shrine?” Jinya asked with a heavy heart, nostalgic memories surfacing to his mind. He recalled the words the village chief had given him when he entrusted Yarai, the village’s treasure, to him.

“Hm, yes… I think I’ll create a shrine. That way you’ll have ­something waiting for you when you return to Kadono at the end of your journey. As for the shrine’s name…”

“Of course. This is the Jinta Shrine.”

“I see…” He closed his eyes, a lone tear streaming down his cheek. Ah, so that’s why their family name was Himekawa, he ­realized. That must have been another practical joke by the village chief. “Chief…you really left me a place to return to.”

Back then, Jinya hadn’t understood the village chief’s words about the passage of time. He hadn’t even known what awaited him the next day, much less almost two centuries later. But the village chief envisioned and prepared for Jinya’s return, creating a custom and a shrine that would pass through generations before finally reaching him. And what a wonderful thing that was.

Jinya had thought he’d been left behind by those he knew, but he was wrong. He had a place to return to and people who were waiting for him right here. Some feelings from those days remained.

“Thank you very much. I’ll be out of your way now,” he said in a sunny voice. He put a hand over his heart and felt it pulse. It beat at a different rate than mankind, but it was as warm as it had been back then.

“Huh? Um, didn’t you want to ask something?” the girl said, flummoxed. He observed her still-young self, clad in shrine maiden garb as she was, and thought she was like a flower. She was the Himekawa girl. A lone flower that bloomed from ancient snow.

“I have my answers already. You gave me the very words I was hoping to hear.” He smiled gently, then turned away.

He was reluctant to go, but he couldn’t stay forever, so he left without looking back. The gloom he had felt at the school was completely gone now, and his steps were firm.

He had originally meant to meet Yayoi and Keito, but he couldn’t very well show his face now, in tears as he was. He would save the joy of meeting them for next time. Right now, he wanted to bask in the warmth he felt in his heart for a little longer.

Feelings once held in the past became indistinct and faded like bubbles along the water’s surface. Nothing that existed was changeless, but minuscule fragments remained.

His journey had been hopelessly long, but he had finally returned to where it all began.

The Warped

1

THE WORLD WAS GOVERNED by rules. Rules of society, rules of common sense, and so on. Even if these rules were not explicitly written somewhere, they were known and followed.

But there also existed rules that were unknown by all. Rules that were often absurd and incomprehensible, and equally ­frightening and cruel. There were many stories where a person broke one of these hidden rules and met a grisly demise.

And by all accounts, it appeared Himekawa Miyaka was to become one of them.

The wind along the path leading from school grew less chilly by the day, and the trees by the road had grown leaves in eager anticipation of the blooming season that would soon arrive. Only a week remained before the end of junior high school.

Himekawa Miyaka was walking home together with Kaoru when the two felt suddenly sentimental and stopped to stare at the trees. This path to and from school had never once left any particular impression on them over the past three years, but now something about it and the orange sky above made them feel emotional.

“The graduation ceremony is coming up.”

“Yeah.”

It must have been the realization that they would soon graduate and never walk this path again that made this familiar, ordinary route feel so special now.

In Kadono, the entrance exams for public high schools were held after the junior high school graduation ceremonies. That certainly should have meant what came after graduation would be more meaningful to them, but they couldn’t help but be ­wistful about the fact they would be parting from the school and classmates they had known.

“Looking back, junior high school sure was a lot of fun. Oh, you think you’ll keep playing basketball in high school?” Kaoru asked.

“Nah, I don’t really feel like it. I want to get a part-time job and have to help out around the house. I’ll probably sign up for a non-sports club to take care of the requirements and just not show up much… I’m pretty sure we should worry about the entrance exam first, though.”

“Yeah. Man, there’s so much going on.” A distant look filled Kaoru’s eyes, and Miyaka felt she could relate. Their hearts were filled with worry about entrance exams, the excitement of soon starting high school, and a faint lingering attachment to the long but short three years they had spent in junior high. Neither knew how to put their feelings into words, so instead they looked at one another and smiled ambiguously.

“What’s with the sappy looks, girls?”

The melancholic mood was broken by a sudden voice and a hard, echoing slap against Miyaka’s back. The impact made her stumble forward a few steps, and the surprise sent her heartbeat soaring. She turned around to see a young woman chuckling to herself with a baby in her arms.

“Long time no see.”

“Shiramine-sensei!”

Shiramine Yachie was a tall, thin, short-haired woman in her late twenties. She had a cheerful personality and had been Miyaka and Kaoru’s homeroom teacher during their first year of junior high school. She was currently on maternity leave, so this was their first time meeting in a while.

“Wow, it’s been forever, Sensei! What’re you doing here? Wait, is this baby yours?!” Kaoru began firing off questions.

“One question at a time, now. This here is Shou, my honest-to-goodness son.”

“Ha ha! Why’re you talking like we’d find that so hard to believe?”

Yachie wasn’t all that feminine a woman. Not that she’d be mistaken for a man or anything like that, but she wasn’t the type to dress up and only used a little bit of makeup. Her choice of clothing was also rather masculine, and she wasn’t fussy about things. These were all traits that made her popular among male and female students alike.

“He’s so cute!” Kaoru said. “Hello, Shou-kun!”

Yachie chuckled. “Isn’t he? Though he makes a real racket at night.”

“Wow. It’s like you’ve turned into a mother, Sensei.”

“Whaddya mean? I have turned into a mother!” She looked at her child with a maternal smile, one that both did and didn’t suit her. It was a strange feeling seeing her like this, but she was undeniably a mother; just a different type of one than Yayoi, Miyaka’s own.

“It’s been a while, Shiramine-sensei,” Miyaka greeted her.

“It sure has, Himekawa. Have you been well?”

“I have, thank you.”

“Ever cool as a cucumber, huh? Now if only Azusaya could learn from you.”

“I just don’t show it when I’m flustered. And Kaoru’s probably fine the way she is. Her excitability is one of her good traits.”

“Ha ha, true enough! I see you two are still good friends.”

Yachie’s laughter was just as genuine as Miyaka ­remembered. This teacher had helped her out quite a bit back when she was a new student still getting her bearings. While Miyaka could be described as “cool as a cucumber,” she was really just poor at expressing herself, meaning she was often mistaken for ­being unfriendly. She appreciated the nonchalant way Yachie had looked after her and liked her much better than her current, rather irksome homeroom teacher. Miyaka didn’t express her affection as directly as Kaoru, but she was just as happy to see her old teacher again.

“Hey, Sensei, did you come to school for something?” Kaoru asked.

“Yeah, graduation’s coming up, ain’t it? I’m on leave, but how could I miss out on seeing you guys leave the nest?”

“So you’re coming to the graduation ceremony?”

“Sure am.”

She wasn’t slated to return to work until next year, but she still wanted to see her old students off and had been on her way home from telling the school that. Her sudden slap on the back had been a bit much, but Miyaka was happy to hear she would come to the graduation ceremony. Kaoru was thrilled as well, throwing her hands up in the air and cheering like a child.

“Really? Yaaay!”

“It’s nothing worth celebrating over,” Yachie said.

It is, though, Miyaka wanted to say, but she was too hesitant to express such direct fondness and instead said nothing at all. But when her eyes met her teacher’s, Yachie smiled broadly as though the words Miyaka had swallowed back were heard loud and clear.

“Sensei, come hang out with us if you’re free!”

“Azusaya… You realize I have a child with me, right? Also, it’s been a bit dangerous lately, so hurry along home.”

“Aww.”

“Come on, Kaoru. Don’t ask for the impossible,” Miyaka chided.

There was only a week left until the graduation ceremony. Their entrance exams still weighed on their minds, but now they could look forward to seeing their teacher again.

Their familiar path to and from school was still bathed in orange, but some of the melancholy they’d felt earlier had faded.

Azusaya Kaoru went missing that same evening.

Yachie had urged the girls to return straight home because of the street murders that had been committed in Kadono that month. There had been four victims so far. All were cut to death in an atrocious manner, and the culprit was still on the run. It was all over the news and talk shows.

The only info on the culprit was that a woman in a coat had been spotted at the scene of one of the murders. Needless to say, the investigations were going nowhere. Teachers all over town were strictly warning their students not to stay out late.

“If anyone sees Azusaya, please inform the school,” the teacher grimly said at the end of homeroom. A full day had passed since Kaoru disappeared, and the school was taking the matter ­seriously because of the street murders. However, chances were high that she was already dead. That was the message they got from the doubtful eyes of the teacher, who seemed almost annoyed at being roped into something so tiresome.

“Hey, you think…?”

“Yeah…”

“I mean, they haven’t caught that murderer on the loose, right?”

The class began whispering baseless speculation. Of course, many of them were showing genuine concern, but some just wanted to gossip. One boy even grinned.

Miyaka gritted her teeth and grimaced. She hung her head, infuriated at those around her and worried about the safety of her friend. They had talked with Yachie for a long time, then parted ways to go home, fully expecting to see one another again the next day.

Her nails dug into her palm as she clenched her fist, but her mind was such a muddled mess that she didn’t register the pain.

After school, she searched the city until the sun went down, but she couldn’t find Kaoru.

Himekawa Miyaka’s household ran a shrine that could trace its roots back to the Edo period. The home they lived in, right next to the shrine, looked from the outside like your classic ­single-floor Japanese home, but it was fully modern on the inside.

After passing Jinta Shrine on to Keito, Miyaka’s grandparents moved to a new residence not too far away to live out their ­retirement quietly. With their permission, Keito had the home by the shrine refurbished in anticipation of Miyaka’s birth, but the shrine itself remained untouched. Even someone as ­unknowledgeable as Miyaka could see it had a solemnity only age could give.

Passing under the shrine’s torii gate, one would be greeted by two komainu guardian dog statues, each missing an eye and a leg. The path ahead featured some stone lanterns and led to the main shrine. Around the shrine grounds were lines of cherry blossom trees that bloomed a light pink. A minor folk researcher once wrote in a book that on spring nights, when the lanterns were lit, the shrine looked “refined and graceful.”

But an eeriness filled the air once the sun went down, and recent happenings didn’t help matters. Miyaka felt disquieted by the empty, pitch-black shrine and shivered slightly.

She returned home and ate dinner, but she had no appetite even after walking around so much.

“Miyaka-chan, are you feeling all right?”

“I’m…okay, Mom. Thank you.”

“Keito-san’s out looking for Kaoru-chan right now. Go ahead and rest for tonight.”

“All right…”

Miyaka’s body felt heavy, but not as much as her heart. She had visited every place she thought she might find Kaoru but came away empty-handed.

Yayoi saw her daughter’s lack of appetite and looked at her worriedly. She patted her head like one might do with a young child and urged her once more to rest.

Miyaka’s father Keito was a known face in the area thanks to his work. The second he heard Kaoru was missing, he had gone out to ask people to help search for her. He knew Kaoru well, since she was his daughter’s best friend. He didn’t treat this like a mere case of a runaway but much more seriously than Miyaka had expected.

Still, even with all the people looking for Kaoru, Miyaka couldn’t help but worry. There had been murders around the city. What if Kaoru’s name appeared in the news as the fifth victim? Fear spread through her whole body, creeping along her skin like bugs.

“I know you’re worried, but it won’t help anyone if you worry yourself sick. Go take a bath, then sleep for the night. You can look for her some more tomorrow, okay?”

“…Okay.”

Her mother was a kind person who never irresponsibly offered cheap words of comfort. Grateful, Miyaka did what she was told.

She got in the bath and felt its warmth seep down to her core. She had been more tired than she realized, and it seemed as though she’d melt away into the water if she closed her eyes. She stayed in longer than usual, even more than twenty minutes, then left the tub with her head feeling warm. Her mother was waiting right outside in the changing area and offered to dry her hair.

Miyaka let her do it. After her hair was dry, she rested for a bit in the living room. Her mother brought her some hot milk with honey, probably to help her sleep.

“Thank you, Mom.”

“You’re welcome. Now, go get some sleep.”

Miyaka thought that she could never hold a candle to such a woman, and that she was so lucky to be her daughter. Of course, she was equally grateful to her father for leading the search efforts. After drinking the hot milk, she started to feel a little drowsy and dragged herself to her room.

Unlike Kaoru, Miyaka didn’t own stuffed animals or fill her room with pink trinkets. Her room was plain for a girl her age. She let herself fall flat on her bed, which took up most of the room.

Please, let her be safe, she thought as she hit the limit of her exhaustion and immediately fell asleep.

Plip. She heard what sounded like water, but that couldn’t be right. There was no water in the room.

Miyaka awoke in the middle of the night, likely because she’d fallen asleep earlier than usual. Her throat was oddly dry. She crawled out of bed and headed toward the kitchen for something to drink.

Crik. Crik. The floorboards creaked loudly, though she usually didn’t hear them creak at all. She was walking down the corridor when she noticed light coming from the living room, along with some static-like noise.

“Again?” She sighed. This had happened once before. She’d gone to get some water in the middle of the night and found her father had fallen asleep with the TV left on. Miyaka wouldn’t get on his case tonight, though, since he had worked hard to look for Kaoru. She had to pass through the living room to get to the kitchen ­anyway, so she figured she could just wake him up as she went by.

“…Huh?” The TV was on, but her father wasn’t around. Broad­casting hours were over, so the only thing on screen was the color bars the channel defaulted to. Figuring he must’ve forgotten to turn it off before leaving, she walked closer to turn the TV off. Just then, the screen suddenly changed.

She shivered. The dim screen showed what looked like the site of a garbage dump, and some eerie music was playing that flared her unease. She was frozen in place with her hand outstretched when she heard a low, muddled voice that she couldn’t identify as either a man’s or a woman’s.

“Good evening. It’s time for the NNN Special Broadcast.”

NNN SPECIAL BROADCAST

The NNN Special Broadcast is a popular urban legend from the internet about a mysterious program that plays long after public broadcasts have finished.

At 2:30 in the dead of night, I turned on the TV, but the only thing that appeared were some color bars, like I half expected. What was I thinking? Of course nothing would be playing at this time. I gave up and was about to turn the TV off when the color bars ­suddenly disappeared and a garbage dump site appeared on the screen. Some creepy classical music began to play as well. The text on-screen read “NNN Special Broadcast.”

After a few moments with nothing but the garbage dump on-screen, some more music started playing and a list of names began to appear like a credits roll. A narrator flatly read off the names, their voice cold and indifferent. After about five minutes passed, the narrator said, “These will be tomorrow’s sacrifices. Good night.”

The name of the program was “Tomorrow’s Sacrifices,” a show that listed the names of those who would die as sacrifices the next day and nothing else.

It goes without saying that no record of this special broadcast can be found anywhere. Whether it truly occurred or not is a ­mystery. However, there are a small number of people who claim to have seen it.

This is the story of the urban legend that announced the next day’s deaths.

The flat, emotionless voice began to indifferently read off names.

Miyaka didn’t move an inch. The names were read in order, starting from the letter “A.” The first to be read was the name “Azusaya Kaoru,” displayed on screen in broken text. A ­declaration of death.

Many other names scrolled by. Miyaka was covered in cold sweat and her breathing was erratic. What the hell is this? she thought. Her head felt like it was being churned. Then she saw the name “Himekawa Miyaka” appear, and she collapsed to her knees.

Gripped by fear, her body felt weak. But she couldn’t pull herself to look away from the TV screen and continued to stare at it like she was enchanted. Questions formed in her mind that she couldn’t voice, not that there was anyone who could answer her. The TV simply continued to indifferently show tomorrow’s sacrifices.

“Tttheese will be tommorrrrow’s saaacrificcces. And wiiith that, I biiid you all a gooood niiight.”

Then, finally, twisted laughter echoed through the living room.

“Aha ha ha ha ha ha!”

A close-up of a pale, inhuman face filled the screen. Without anyone pushing the power button, the TV flicked off on its own.

Miyaka awoke in her bed the next morning. The last thing she recalled was blacking out in front of the TV last night. She checked with her parents, but they hadn’t carried her back, so it appeared she had simply returned to her room herself. She went to school like usual, but her friend Kaoru was still absent.

“Yeah, that’s the NNN Special Broadcast. I’ve seen it online before.”

“The NNN Special Broadcast?”

“It’s one of those urban legend things. Just a dumb thing somebody made up, y’know?”

She ate lunch with some classmates and casually brought up what she saw the previous night. A girl recognized her story and told her what she knew about the NNN Special Broadcast urban legend.

She said it was a show that broadcasted the names of people who would die the next day. It was well known but entirely ­fictional. Nothing more than a collection of videos uploaded on video sharing sites for amusement. She seemed to think Miyaka had seen one of those videos on the internet herself.

Though she was told it was only fictional, Miyaka could still feel her fear from having watched it. She couldn’t simply brush ­something like that off as a dream. The date had already changed by the time the special broadcast played. If its contents were to be ­believed, then she and Kaoru would die sometime by tomorrow night.

“…I see. Thanks for filling me in.”

“No problem. So you like horror, Himekawa-san?”

“Not really. I prefer stories with happy endings.”

“Huh? Hey, wait, where are you going?!”

Miyaka didn’t stop even as her classmate shouted after her. Worried for her friend, she couldn’t remain calm and left school before she knew it.

She searched everywhere she could think of until her legs felt like lead, but she still couldn’t find her friend. The evening came and went with the sky turning indigo. Her mother once told her that spirits liked to come out during the twilight hours. She ­wondered why she was remembering such a meaningless thing now.

Modorigawa South Station, located near Modori River High School, was the biggest station in the area. Miyaka thought Kaoru might be hanging around that busy space if she had simply run away from home, but her search left her empty-handed. She did find somebody she knew, though. Her old teacher Yachie called out to her.

“Well, if it isn’t Little Miss Delinquent. What’re you doing here?”

“Shiramine-sensei…”

“I heard you snuck out of school.” Yachie’s expression was a mix of exasperation and worry. She lightly poked Miyaka’s ­forehead, then gently patted her head. Feeling herself relax all at once, Miyaka started tearing up. “I heard about Azusaya too, but it’s already eleven o’clock. I’m not against you looking for her, but at least do it when the sun’s up.”

“But Kaoru’s—”

“No excuses. Things haven’t exactly been safe lately. What’s the point of searching for her if you go missing along the way?”

Despite the gentle touch of her hand, Yachie’s words were firm. Miyaka understood she was only worried about her, but she couldn’t do what her old teacher wished. However, she also couldn’t bring herself to swat Yachie’s hand away, so she simply hung her head instead.

“Go home for tonight. I’ll keep looking for her.”

“But—”

“No buts. Or do you want to go missing and have me worried sick searching for you next?”

Miyaka had no argument against that. Meekly, she gave up and nodded.

“I can’t tell you not to worry, but I’ll be out here looking for you. So go ahead and get yourself home.”

“…Okay.” Miyaka bowed slightly, then trudged away from the station.

She’d run into Yachie by chance, likely because she was also out looking for Kaoru. She had only been her teacher for a short while, but she was still going so far for her. Miyaka was thankful to her old teacher, but her worry persisted.

She walked home as promised, scanning her surroundings as she went out of a slight hope she might find her friend.

“Where are you, Kaoru…?”

Even though she was almost in tears, she still kept looking around everywhere as she went. On her way home, she took a detour to search just a little longer. That was her mistake.

Along the route back to the Jinta Shrine was Misaki Park. It was an ordinary park. Children played there in the daytime as the neighborhood wives stood around to chat. But because Miyaka had taken a detour, she went through the park right as it passed midnight. The day she and Kaoru were supposed to die had arrived.

A wind suddenly began to blow, one so terribly cold that it felt like metal being pressed against her face. She noticed a figure standing ahead of her, and it began to walk in her direction.

She came to a stop. It would be no big deal to simply walk past this person, but she froze for some reason. The park’s lampposts illuminated the figure to reveal a woman wearing a white coat and white boots.

Miyaka’s heart began to race.

The woman came nearer by the moment. Her hair was a mess, and she wore a large mask covering her mouth. Miyaka couldn’t make out all of the woman’s features, but she was shaken nonetheless. She hadn’t met the woman before, but she ­immediately knew who she was. The woman’s coat was splotched with ­something dark red here and there, and her hand held a rusty sickle.

I have to run, Miyaka thought, but her body felt frozen solid.

The woman got closer and closer.

A woman in a coat had been spotted around the scene of the murders. Miyaka put two and two together, but her time was up. The masked woman looked squarely at her and said the very line she was known for: “Am I pretty?”

Too late, Miyaka realized she must have made some mistake. How else could she have set foot in the world of the inhuman?

2

THE SLIT-MOUTHED WOMAN

IT WAS EVENING.

A young woman wearing a big, white mask questioned a child on their way home from school. “Am I pretty?” she asked.

The woman wore a mask, but she still had a shapely, fair-skinned face, so the child answered, “Yes, you are.”

Then the woman removed her mask and asked, “Even now?”

Extending from her mouth were scars that reached ear to ear.

This is perhaps one of the most famous urban legends, first made widespread around year fifty-four of the Showa era (1979); it was even considered a societal problem for a time due to its overly frightening nature.

If one answered that the Slit-Mouthed Woman was still pretty even after she removed her mask, then she would say “I’ll make you the same as me” and cut the sides of the person’s mouth, then either kill them or follow them until they were a step away from home and then kill them. If they instead said she wasn’t pretty, then she would become enraged and hack the person to pieces on the spot.

Either answer led to death, making the Slit-Mouthed Woman one of the most lethal urban legends. But depending on the region and the generation, there could be differences in the story that sometimes allowed for methods of survival.

The overall structure was usually the same, but there were variations where one could survive if they answered in the right ways, variations where she didn’t kill at all, and other things like that. She wore either a red coat or a white one, and she wielded either a sickle, scissors, or a kitchen knife. She had a strong association with the number three and was said to be one of three sisters, appear in areas with “three” in their name, and so on.

Though she first became popular in the Showa era, the ­Slit-Mouthed Woman is an urban legend that is still talked about to this day. Her story’s extensive history has given it time to morph, giving rise to many different variations of Slit-Mouthed Women. Rumors of her even appeared in Korea in 2004, where she still kept the classic “Am I pretty?” line she was known for.

Despite the plethora of variations to her story, the fact that the Slit-Mouthed Woman always asked questions never changed. She was an urban legend that wandered the night in search of someone who would answer her.

In other words, she was an entity of questioning, not of killing.

The woman removed the mask covering her face, causing Miyaka to let out a small shriek. Extending from the sides of the woman’s mouth were gashes that spread to both ears.

“Am I pretty?”

The moment Miyaka accepted the existence of the Slit-Mouthed Woman as real, she bolted away. It was not a conscious decision. Her mind was blank with fear, and her body had simply moved on its own accord. She’d been in the basketball club for all three years of junior high school and was confident she could outrun any normal pursuer.

But in her urban legend, the Slit-Mouthed Woman could supposedly run a hundred yards in three seconds and chase down and kill those who fled without answering her questions.

Running was the worst thing Miyaka could have done. She got off to a quick start, but the Slit-Mouthed Woman was right behind her in an instant.

“Hee hee, hah hah hah!”

Miyaka shrieked when she saw the horrendous monster ­rapidly gaining on her. She then tripped and fell to the ground, tumbling over. Perhaps she stumbled because she hadn’t warmed up, or perhaps it was just the fear. Either way, her legs quivered, preventing her from getting up again.

She saw the night sky and the moon directly above her, then a sickle brandished high. Its blade was illuminated by streetlamps that revealed how dull it was. It was covered in rust, likely formed from blood that hadn’t been cleaned off. She, too, would become rust on that blade, Miyaka realized. She would be hacked to pieces and perish, meeting the same fate as those in the urban legend.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman made a warped grin. She must have been laughing at her. Miyaka didn’t need to wonder why.

“A-ah…”

The sight of Miyaka crawling away must’ve been comical to the Slit-Mouthed Woman. Her vain efforts added to the fun. The floundering of prey only served to stoke the pride of the hunter. But eventually this hunter grew tired of toying with its prey, and the Slit-Mouthed Woman’s slow approach suddenly became a lurch.

Miyaka was about to die. She was certain of it. But then, from out of nowhere, a full plastic bag struck the Slit-Mouthed Woman in the face.

“…Huh?” Miyaka was taken aback by the sudden event. Spilling out of the plastic bag were some milk candies and hair wax, like someone had just visited the drugstore. The bag must have weighed quite a bit, but the Slit-Mouthed Woman seemed unharmed.

“Miyaka-chan, are you okay?!” A familiar voice called out and ran up to Miyaka. It was the friend she’d been searching for these past few days, Azusaya Kaoru.

Miyaka was thrilled to see Kaoru safe, but at the same time she wondered why she was here. More importantly, however, she also had to tell her friend to run away. So many things rose to mind at once that she didn’t know how to respond.

Her attention was fully on Kaoru, who was running straight toward her. That was why Miyaka didn’t notice as the Slit-Mouthed Woman’s emotionless face turned to rage and the sickle was swung down at her head.

Cling. The sharp ring of metal sounded.

“…Huh?”

And the sickle never reached her.

The world was not so kind a place as to allow convenient ­coincidences to occur. Miyaka knew this full well. That was why she had tried so hard to flee. She stumbled as she was chased, but the Slit-Mouthed Woman didn’t attack immediately so she could relish in watching Miyaka crawl. Then the shopping bag was thrown and bought her a slight bit of extra time. In total, Miyaka’s life was extended three times—just long enough for this man to arrive.

“This must be some kind of fate,” he said after stopping the ­Slit-Mouthed Woman’s strike with a blade. He sighed emotionally and murmured something about being in time for once. “I suppose it is a shrine maiden guardian’s duty to protect the Itsukihime.”

It was all too sudden for Miyaka to process. A man had suddenly appeared. She vaguely remembered him as the one who had visited the shrine a while back. He’d left a strong impression because of the way he’d shed a tear.

Slowly, she began to process the situation she was in. The Slit-Mouthed Woman had tried to kill her, and this man stopped her. He looked to be only around high school age, and yet he was wielding a sword against a monster like this. Processing the situation didn’t help much at all. She was still confused by what was happening.

“Miyaka-chan, this way!”

“H-huh? Kaoru…?”

The man and the Slit-Mouthed Woman glared one another down, the blades of her sickle and his sword locked against one another. Kaoru seized the opportunity to come close and grab Miyaka’s arm, forcing her up. Her movements lacked urgency and felt somewhat childish, but that had the effect of calming Miyaka, allowing her to steady her breathing and move her legs again.

The man glanced over their way as though urging them to hurry along. Miyaka’s legs were still shaky, but she managed to make distance together with Kaoru.

There was a whir through the air. After confirming the girls were safe, the man suddenly took action. He was like a storm, firing lethal strikes one after another. The Slit-Mouthed Woman withstood his blows with her sickle.

“Agh!”

“I’ve heard you can run a hundred yards in three seconds, but it seems you can fight a bit as well.”

Unbelievably, the scales quickly shifted in the man’s favor. The Slit-Mouthed Woman was supposed to be an entity of utmost danger, one you couldn’t escape from or fight against no matter what you did. At least, that was the story in her urban legend, but the man fighting her wasn’t even winded. The monster that hunted people was now the one being hunted.

“Thank goodness. I’m so glad you’re safe, Miyaka-chan.”

“Kaoru… Was that bag earlier you?”

“Yep. I bought a bunch of things the Slit-Mouthed Woman is vulnerable to. They didn’t have those hard candies she’s supposed to like, so I just bought the most expensive ones they had. And I’m not really sure what pomade is, but I figured anything that sets hair would be fine.”

“Sounds a bit half-assed… No, wait, that’s not what’s important here.”

Kaoru, who’d been missing for days, was standing here completely unharmed. Miyaka felt a bit exasperated that her friend was just joking around like her absence hadn’t been a big deal, but she was mainly just glad to see she was all right. Relief spread through her. Now that she was calmer, she could think more clearly than before.

Kaoru had said she’d bought things the Slit-Mouthed Woman was vulnerable to. That meant she knew about the Slit-Mouthed Woman’s existence and had, to a degree, foreseen the fact that Miyaka would be attacked by her. That was all a bit odd, considering Kaoru’s usually childish character. Miyaka couldn’t stop herself from staring at her and wondering, but Kaoru didn’t pick up on her burning questions and just looked confused. “Is something up, Miyaka-chan?”

“Um, yeah. Who is that? And how’d you know what would happen?”

“Huh?”

“How’d you know the Slit-Mouthed Woman would attack me? You came to save me, right?”

It took some clarification, but Kaoru finally understood what Miyaka was asking and beamed. Even though the man was still fighting the Slit-Mouthed Woman, she was completely relaxed.

“Uhh, that’s not quite right, I guess? I don’t know how to put it. I got saved too. By Kadono-kun, that is.” She looked back at the ­intense ongoing fight. The man had had his back to them this whole time. No matter how erratically he moved, he stayed between them and the Slit-Mouthed Woman so no harm would come their way. He seemed no older than them but looked ­dependable enough that Miyaka understood how Kaoru could be so composed.

***

After parting with Miyaka and Yachie, Kaoru had encountered a woman wearing a white coat. The woman’s hair was long and unkempt, and her eyes were slanted like a cat’s. She held a sickle in her hand and had a large mask covering her mouth.

“Am I pretty?”the woman asked, breathing heavily. That question alone was enough for Kaoru to guess at her identity. Although the story of the Slit-Mouthed Woman was at its height of popularity in the Showa era, it remained a well-known urban legend that was still told to this day.

At first Kaoru wasn’t sure whether the Slit-Mouthed Woman was actually real, but she chose to play it safe anyway. She didn’t answer the woman and fled to a well-lit spot that usually had people around and had no “three” in its name. She couldn’t return home or go to school because there was a chance a family member or a friend would be hurt, and she dropped her phone while she was running, so she couldn’t contact anyone. She didn’t have time to look behind her as she ran but could still hear the woman’s ragged breathing as she chased her.

That was how she became a missing person. However, starting on the second day, her situation changed. She was walking around the shopping district at night, trying to stay away from people she knew, when a store’s TV began to play.

It was the NNN Special Broadcast, the urban legend that announced who would die on the following day. Despite its off-putting nature, nobody else so much as glanced at it, which told her immediately that it must have been a supernatural event. The broadcast announced that she and her friend Miyaka would die the next day. She figured it would probably be the ­Slit-Mouthed Woman that killed her, but that also gave her an idea: If the NNN Special Broadcast predicted she would die tomorrow, didn’t that mean she couldn’t die before then? This was just her thinking over-optimistically, but she couldn’t just sit around now that her friend Miyaka was in danger.

She took what little allowance she had saved up and rented a room at a karaoke place to spend the night. She had been more exhausted than she expected and awoke when it was already evening, then left. But she reencountered the Slit-Mouthed Woman faster than she anticipated, before she could get in touch with Miyaka or anyone else she knew.

“Am I pretty?”

Kaoru didn’t answer the Slit-Mouthed Woman’s question this time either, not intentionally but because she was too frozen with fear. If she said yes, then the Slit-Mouthed Woman would cut the sides of her mouth to make them match before killing her. If she said no, she would still be killed. But even if she didn’t answer, the end result would be the same, according to what she knew of the urban legend.

She was damned no matter what she did. The Slit-Mouthed Woman removed her mask to reveal a sickening, torn smile, then raised her sickle.

Kaoru trembled with fear. But by some luck, the ­Slit-Mouthed Woman had other things to worry about. She hadn’t approached Kaoru intentionally but by chance while on the run from something else. She only questioned Kaoru as part of her nature and bolted away the instant her pursuer came into sight. This pursuer was a man named Kadono Jinya. He chased after her with a long tachi blade in hand, took one glance at Kaoru, and did a double take.

“…Asagao?”

“Huh? What?”

“…No, never mind. I was just a little surprised because you look a lot like an old acquaintance of mine.”

The current Kaoru was still a separate person from the candied apple heavenly maiden he had known, but she took his words at face value.

She thought her savior was a little strange, but she was still thankful to him and bowed her head.

“I wasn’t trying to save you. I was simply hunting the ­Slit-Mouthed Woman,” he said. Further inquiry revealed that hunting spirits was his job. He had finally found the Slit-Mouthed Woman when she gave him the slip and escaped with her abnormal speed. He had been giving chase and wound up saving Kaoru by chance. “Asag… Er, right. I’m Kadono Jinya. Sorry, but would you mind ­telling me your name?”

“Oh, right, sorry. I’m Azusaya Kaoru. Since it looks like we’re about the same age, can I call you Kadono-kun?”

“Sure. Nice to meet you, Azusaya.”

Right after they introduced themselves to one another, Kaoru pleaded, “I know this is a lot to ask when we’ve just met, but I need you to help me save my friend!”

She was a little wary of this person who claimed to fight spirits, but her friend’s safety came first. She was even willing to grovel and beg if she had to, but to her surprise, he said, “Sure. I don’t mind,” like it was no big deal at all.

The next day came, and the Slit-Mouthed Woman appeared just like they expected. Working together, they managed to save Miyaka in the nick of time.

***

After Kaoru filled her in on everything that had happened so far, Miyaka softly sighed and asked, “Why didn’t you just go home?”

“I was still on the run from the Slit-Mouthed Woman and didn’t know if something bad might happen if I went home or to school. Same for getting in touch with anybody. Sorry!”

In old ghost stories, it was often the case that people being pursued by the supernatural could inadvertently spread harm to others by contacting them, and it certainly would have been a problem if the Slit-Mouthed Woman had reappeared at her home or school. Maybe Kaoru had made the right choices, then.

“I see…”

“I’m really sorry, though. I mean it. You must’ve been worried about me.”

“Of course I was, you dork! But I’m glad you’re safe.”

Miyaka couldn’t bring herself to get angry. She was just happy to see her friend again. Smiling awkwardly, she wrapped her arms tightly around Kaoru. Kaoru was surprised by the sudden hug but didn’t fight it, instead hugging Miyaka back to let her know she was just as happy to see her.

“Giiiiiiiii!”The Slit-Mouthed Woman’s shrill voice cut the sappy moment short. A strike from Jinya had slashed across the monster’s chest, tearing into her flesh. He didn’t reach bone, however, as she managed to partially defend herself with her sickle and retreated.

“Hey, Miyaka-chan. Maybe we should get back a little more?”

“Yeah…”

The girls distanced themselves some more. They could only watch, unable to help, as Jinya fought to keep them safe.

His strength was incredible. He wasn’t just keeping up with the Slit-Mouthed Woman using nothing but a sword—he was winning. The battle had been in his favor the entire time. Even to the girls’ untrained eyes, he was clearly just one move away from ending the fight.

But he was holding back from making that final, decisive move. Miyaka wondered why, but the question was soon ­forgotten as the Slit-Mouthed Woman’s figure started to morph.

“…Wh-what’s going on?” Kaoru said fearfully.

A sickening crunch sounded as the bones of the Slit-Mouthed Woman started transforming under her skin. She leaned forward into a hunch as her back lengthened, her legs and muscles rapidly bulged, and her skin stretched until it tore to reveal the muscle fibers underneath. More than fear, Miyaka was gripped by a sense of revulsion toward this wrong-looking being.

“It’s not…the Slit-Mouthed Woman?” she wondered out loud.

She still wielded a sickle and had a slit mouth, but her ­appearance looked more bestial than human. She was a far cry from the Slit-Mouthed Woman described in the urban legend.

“No, this is still the Slit-Mouthed Woman, or at least something that was trying to become it,” Jinya said. He observed the Slit-Mouthed Woman carefully but did not seem all too shaken by this development, as though he’d expected it.

“What do you mean?”

“It skipped some steps, tried to compensate in other ways, and ended up like this. Or maybe that was what it wanted all along. It’s actually stronger than the real thing.”

Miyaka couldn’t make sense of Jinya’s reply, and he didn’t elaborate any further. The spirit had finished her transformation and fixed a sharp gaze on him.

She was hunched forward with the sickle in hand, her face no longer resembling that of a human. The mouth with scars ­extending to the ears still remained, but now it protruded slightly. She was leaning so far forward, almost on all fours, that she somewhat resembled a hairless fox.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman was an urban legend that became popular in the later part of the Showa era, but it was actually a spirit whose roots reached much further back—as far back as 1754, according to some. In The Old Storyteller’s Cane, an Edo era collection of ghost stories, there is a tale in which a fox takes the form of a slit-mouthed woman on the outskirts of Edo.

In it, a young man is walking in the rain when he notices a woman without an umbrella. Feeling pity, he offers to share his umbrella with her, but when she turns around to look at him, her mouth is revealed to be slit all the way to her ears. The young man collapses from fear. When he comes to, he finds his mouth missing teeth like an old man and, left unable to speak out of fright, eventually breathes his last.

“Foxes oft become spirits, and upon living a hundred years, take the form of women.”

In the old world, people believed ancient foxes could take the guise of women. And because the mouths of foxes resembled long slits, the Slit-Mouthed Woman was believed to be a type of wicked fox back in the Edo period.

“She’s a blend of the Slit-Mouthed Woman and a wicked fox spirit… A counterfeit urban legend,” Jinya said.

She both was and was not the Slit-Mouthed Woman. Either way, her malice was real and palpable. Regardless of what she might have been, there was no doubt that she was something monstrous.

The fear the girls had forgotten resurfaced. They didn’t understand what Jinya meant by a “counterfeit urban legend,” but they understood that the thing before them was something beyond the realm of humanity. They began to tremble, staring in a daze.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman groaned briefly before dashing forward. It was even faster now, too fast for the girls to even see its afterimage. It had the supple muscles and nimble movements of a beast, not a person, and it closed the distance to Jinya in an instant, swinging its rusted sickle at his neck.

But the strike only hit air.

Jinya dodged the quick strike by simply retreating a half step back. The bestial entity aimed first at his skull and then at his heart, swinging wildly from close range, but he met the strikes with his sword without even the slightest shift in expression.

He was up against a monster, but he was quite monstrous himself. With only a sword, he blocked the transformed Slit-Mouthed Woman’s attacks, then moved to counterattack ­himself, taking one of her arms in an instant. He did all this while ­standing between the spirit and the girls, keeping them safe.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman lost her balance. Before she could regain it, he drew near and kicked her in the face, brutally ­crushing it.

“…This feels cruel,” he muttered, frowning slightly. But even after losing an arm, the Slit-Mouthed Woman didn’t stop. She swung up her sickle with her remaining right arm to try and attack.

“Sorry, Slit-Mouthed Woman. I pity you, but your time is up.”

Her final attack failed to reach him. He brought his sword down to his side, then pulled his left leg back as he swung ­horizontally across. Having been mid-strike herself, she couldn’t avoid his blow. She was cut in two with ease and fell to the ground.

Miyaka felt her memory of the voice that predicted her death fade from her mind.

She’d followed little of the intense fight just now. To her, the Slit-Mouthed Woman had just suddenly fallen dead. None of this made sense to her to begin with, not the Slit-Mouthed Woman, the NNN Special Broadcast, or what this man meant by counterfeit urban legends. But there was one thing she could understand: The thing that was supposed to kill her lay dead. They had triumphed over their foretold deaths.

March 2009. Graduation Day.

A soft wind blew, sending cherry blossoms fluttering down. The height of the blooming season had yet to come, but the path leading up to the school gates was still lined with plenty of light-pink flowers. The cold breeze soothed Miyaka’s flushed body.

A large crowd of students had met up in front of the gym­nasium. The gathering was a mixture of laughter and tears. Some upperclassmen reflected on their time with their classmates as tearful underclassmen saw them off, and others talked about how they would miss their old friends but held hopeful gleams in their eyes as they envisioned high school life. It was loud enough to make one want to cover their ears, but it was a heartwarming occasion, nonetheless.

Junior high school felt both long and short. Looking back on it all, going to school here had been fun, but it all came to an end today.

“Senpai, congratulations on graduating!”

“Thank you. Take care, everyone. Especially you. You’ll have your work cut out for you as club president.”

The graduation ceremony had ended, and the students were funneling out of the gymnasium to say their last goodbyes. Miyaka herself was surrounded by her juniors in the basketball club.

She hadn’t been a particularly cheerful upperclassman and was quite strict, but her juniors saw her off with moist eyes anyway. She felt a little emotional herself as she realized she was unlikely to play basketball with them ever again.

The next club president had been particularly fond of Miyaka, not because of her basketball skills but because Miyaka would make time to talk to her when she occasionally visited the Jinta Shrine for summer festivals or other things. She was a bit like Kaoru in that she showed how much she liked others without a hint of reservation. Miyaka thought she was probably weak to such characters. She waved goodbye to her juniors in return as she walked away.

She thanked her teachers, said her goodbyes to her classmates, and finally went to join her best friend.

“Do you realize how worried you made everyone?!”

“I said I was sorry!”

That best friend was still being chewed out by Shiramine Yachie, their old teacher who’d showed up even though she was on maternity leave.

“Oh, Himekawa. Congrats on graduating.”

“Thank you, Shiramine-sensei. What’s going on?”

“Just lecturing Azusaya for all the worry she’s caused us.”

The day the NNN Special Broadcast predicted they would die was long behind them, and Miyaka and Kaoru had made it to graduation day safe and sound.

But they couldn’t very well go around saying they encountered the Slit-Mouthed Woman, so they ended up claiming Kaoru’s disappearance was just a case of running away from home. Her parents both cried and the school chastised her harshly, but there really wasn’t anything else the girls could do. Kaoru might have been trying her best not to rope others into her supernatural problem, but it looked to everyone else like she had caused problems for no good reason. Yachie’s fury came from an understandable place.

“Don’t just watch, Miyaka-chan! Help me!” Kaoru cried out.

“Sensei, don’t you think you could go a little easy on her ­today?” Miyaka asked.

“Absolutely not. Not until Azusaya understands the full ­consequences of her actions.”

Miyaka understood Yachie was simply doing her duty, so she let it go. Yachie’s expression was still one of relief and joy even when she was mid-scolding, so it would probably be fine to let things continue.

“Why me…” Kaoru complained.

“You reap what you sow,” Yachie said.

“I said I was sorry, didn’t I?” Kaoru slumped her shoulders, exhausted after finally being freed. Her expression was a happy one, though. She may have been scolded, but even that wouldn’t have been possible if she hadn’t survived. She was truly lucky to have made it to graduation after all the danger she’d been in only days earlier. “But I’m glad we’re both safe.”

“Yeah. I guess we should learn our lesson and head straight home from now on, huh?” Miyaka said.

The two had done nothing wrong to end up finding their own names in the NNN Special Broadcast; they could only blame their bad luck there.

But the Slit-Mouthed Woman was a different story. Miyaka had eventually learned that Kaoru had gone to the bookstore to read manga, then went shopping and ate in town after they split up on the day she went missing. She had stayed out late of her own accord, then passed through a neighborhood park on her way home, where she encountered the Slit-Mouthed Woman. That almost certainly wouldn’t have happened if she had gone straight home like she should’ve.

“Nah, stuff like that can’t be too common,” Kaoru said.

“You can’t be serious… Just go home and study. Our entrance exam is right around the corner.”

“Ugh. Don’t remind me.”

“Don’t be like that. Come on, you gotta make up for all that studying you missed.”

It paled in comparison to life-and-death survival, but ­losing study time right as the tests were coming up was still a real ­problem—especially for someone with Kaoru’s dicey grades.

“You two are such good friends,” Yachie murmured thoughtfully. For Miyaka and Kaoru, this was their one and only junior high school graduation, but this was a yearly event for Yachie. She must’ve been used to seeing her students off by now. Even so, she still cared for each and every one of them. It hurt to think they were parting from such a kind teacher. “You have tests ­coming up, and there’ll probably be troubles at high school even after you get in. But I’m sure you both will be just fine. Go kick some butt, girls.”

The two were setting out on a new journey, and this was no time to make things sappy. They fought back their sadness and said their farewells with bright smiles.

“We will.”

“Thank you for everything, Shiramine-sensei.”

They could’ve been killed if things had gone differently that night, and that made today feel so much more special. Grad­uations weren’t an occasion for tears but for joy.

“Goodbye, Sensei!”

“Can we come visit once the school year starts?”

“See you around, Azusaya. And of course, come whenever you’d like.”

And so, the girls graduated junior high school and took their first step forward. Even the cherry blossoms scattering in the breeze brought on strong emotions.

“Hey, Miyaka-chan. Let’s go hang out in the shopping district for a while.”

“Have you seriously not learned a single thing?”

“Come on, don’t you want to celebrate? I’d say we’ve earned it after three years of junior high.”

The sky above them was blue and clear. On this lovely spring day, Miyaka and Kaoru both drew one step closer to adulthood.

Hyogo Prefecture, Modori River High School.

Today was the April entrance ceremony to welcome the fresh batch of first-years to the school. Wearing brand-new school uniforms, the first-years walked nervously along the ginkgo-tree-lined path leading to the high school.

Among them were Himekawa Miyaka and Azusaya Kaoru.

“Things went by so fast, huh?” Kaoru said.

“Yeah. There was a whole lot going on.”

“But starting today, we’re high schoolers. That makes us sound a bit more mature, don’t you think?” Perhaps happy about her new uniform, Kaoru skipped forward and did a twirl.

Their studying had paid off, as they’d passed the entrance exam and successfully became high schoolers. It was a hectic string of days, with graduation, exams, and then the new school year so close together, but they could now breathe a sigh of relief knowing they were in.

That being said, they couldn’t rest on their laurels yet, since they had their new high school lives to get to. They felt both excited and worried. Would they keep up with their studies? Would they fit in with their new classmates? They had more new worries than they could count. But they had at least one thing to reassure them: They were placed in the same class. Miyaka, being a little shy, was especially thankful for that.

After the entrance ceremony finished, they walked down an unfamiliar school building to reach their classroom.

“Right here, look! Class 1-C,” Kaoru said.

Miyaka still felt a bit nervous. All her classmates were in the same grade as she was, but they all looked so much more mature than her junior high school contemporaries. And unlike her move from elementary to junior high school, there would be many more unfamiliar faces here.

“I hope we can make friends with everyone quickly.”

“Yeah.”

Miyaka was honestly amazed that Kaoru didn’t seem the slightest bit intimidated at times like this. Worried about whether she’d fit in, Miyaka looked around the room. Her gaze came to a sudden stop on one unexpected face.

“What’s up, Miyaka-chan? Wait, what?!” Forgetting she was in the classroom, Kaoru let out a loud exclamation at the sight of a male student. He looked to be nearly six feet tall. His shoulders were broad and solid, his physique by far the best in the class. He had a stern, sharp look and seemed a bit hard to approach.

It wasn’t his appearance that made him stand out, though—they had met him before. He was the strange man who’d ­masterfully wielded a sword to defeat the Slit-Mouthed Woman. Miyaka faintly recalled that his name was Kadono Jinya. For some reason, he was wearing their uniform and sitting in class like it was a completely normal thing.

Miyaka was too surprised to even react. Looking at them from the side without getting up, he nonchalantly said, “Oh. Asa… Azusaya. And the Himekawa girl.”

“What’re you doing here…?” Miyaka said.

“The same as you. I’m starting school here. Have you two been in good health?”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks for your help that time. Looking forward to a good year with you, Kadono-kun!” Kaoru quickly recovered from her surprise and shook Jinya’s hand.

Miyaka couldn’t follow her lead. It felt indescribably weird for him, someone she saw as a part of that supernatural world, to be here in her class right now.

“Same to you. This’ll be my first time attending school, so I’ll probably trouble you for help every now and then.” The corners of his lips curled slightly. That probably wasn’t a face a first-year in high school made…

Starting high school brought many hopes and anxieties with it, but now Miyaka found herself anxious for a completely different reason.

Bittersweet April Enrollment

1

TOUDOU NATSUKI STARTED SCHOOL at Modori River High School this spring.

He and his parents had moved to Hyogo, but he originally grew up in Shibuya, Tokyo. His family there ran Koyomiza Theater, a theater whose history ran as far back as the Taisho era. His grandfather was Toudou Jingo’s younger brother, and he was the great-grandchild of Yoshihiko and Kimiko. As a consequence, he lived under the same roof as demons like Izuchi and Ryuuna. But his father worked as a normal company employee and had to move for work reasons. His mother was against the family being separated, so the whole family moved to Kadono.

Perhaps because he’d been raised around spirits, Natsuki had a tendency to find himself thrust into encounters with the supernatural. He did not hail from a line of spirit hunters or know any techniques to fend off these wicked beings, but he’d still managed to come away largely unscathed so far.

His family said that was because he had a knack for knowing when to throw in the towel, a skill he’d developed from seeing so many spirits. He had to agree they had a point. His intuition was rather sharp when it came to these matters; he would sometimes just get a feeling when to stay away from something.

Of course, it should be mentioned that he’d also had close ties to urban legends for a long time now.

“Good morning, Brother.”

On the morning of his first day of school, Rika, his younger sister by two years, woke him up. Though the two weren’t related by blood, she was rather unreserved with him and would often cling against his back. That childish habit of hers stuck around even after she began junior high school. Today as well, she held on to his back as he walked to the living room.

“I’m right behind you now,” she said eerily.

“Isn’t it about time for you to give this a break?”

“No way. This is my thing!” she teased. Needless to say, his ties to her heavily involved an urban legend.

His mother had breakfast ready when he reached the living room: salted mackerel, miso soup, boiled spinach, and two slices of rolled egg. She had made his favorites today, probably to fire him up for his first day of high school.

“Something up, Rika? You seem peppier than usual.”

“Do I?”

His younger sister was eating breakfast with more energy than usual, and she even glanced at him with a knowing smile every now and then.

Her behavior confused him, but he had to get going. He steadily worked through his breakfast, savoring it as he went, then downed his tea and got up. “Well, whatever. I’ll be heading out.”

“Take care. Enjoy your first day of high school,” his mother said.

He felt a gaze follow him from behind, but he didn’t want to keep his friend waiting too long.

Wearing brand-new uniforms, students walked nervously along the unfamiliar path leading to the high school. Starting high school brought with it excitement and worry, putting cheerful but tense expressions on the students’ faces. Natsuki was no exception.

“You and I have really been together forever now,” he said.

“Right? Now we just need to land the same class again so we can keep our streak going.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice.”

“Look at you, being honest for once?”

Walking by his side was Nekune Kumiko, his longtime friend. She was the first friend he made after he moved to Kadono. Despite being opposite genders, the two were close enough to call each other by nicknames, “Miko” and “Nakki.” They’d been placed in the same classes every year throughout elementary and junior high school and were now starting the same high school.

The fact that they’d managed to remain friends this whole time was partially luck, but also because of the effort they’d put in to make things work. Natsuki first met Kumiko when he was an elementary schooler. The day after he had moved to Kadono, he went out to explore and play around town, but he was later found unconscious on the side of the road.

“I SⱯW SOMETHING STRANGƎ.” After he was taken to the hospital, he repeated those words deliriously, but he abruptly ­recovered a week later. Though his parents were happy, he himself felt disturbed that he couldn’t recall a single detail of what ­happened. He learned after the fact that the one who found him was Kumiko. And so, the two became friends.

His memory from the time had mostly faded, but he could recall one thing: Whatever made him so delirious was brought on by his encounter with Nekune Kumiko. But he pretended not to know that and became friends with her anyway.

With autumn still far off, the ginkgo trees lining the path to school were not much to look at. Still, something seemed special about them anyway, probably because spirits and nerves were high from the first day at a new school.

Kumiko skipped forward as though she were dancing, then spun around to look back at Natsuki. Her soft, airy hair was neatly cut to end around her shoulders. He once complimented her, saying her semi-long hairstyle looked good on her, but she corrected him with a laugh and said it was a natural mid-length, not a semi-long. He didn’t know the difference, but it apparently mattered enough to her.

“Something wrong, Nakki?”

“Nah, it’s nothing. Just nerves, I guess.”

“Well, we are starting a new school. Oh, I met Rika-chan the other day. She said she’ll be going to the same high school as you no matter what.”

“What can I say? She’s serious about clinging to my back wherever I go.” He wasn’t sure if that was something Rika did by choice or by instinct, but he allowed it anyway, telling himself it was just a younger sibling’s antics.

“Why’s Rika-chan so obsessed with you anyway? Didn’t she have a bit of a mean streak back when you were in junior high?”

“Who knows? Maybe she just felt like going back to the way things were. A lot’s happened.”

“…A lot’s happened, huh?” Kumiko happily hummed as she walked along. A lot had happened between her and Natsuki as well, but she didn’t seem to particularly care. She mumbled, “You can find people like us anywhere, I guess.”

He pretended not to hear her.

Natsuki knew the reason behind what happened to him in his youth: He had encountered the Kunekune.

The Kunekune was an urban legend that cropped up on the internet around 2003. Unlike most urban legends, this one had a clear origin point: a fictional ghost story posted online on a message board.

The Kunekune was a mysterious white (or sometimes black) entity that wriggled in an inhuman manner. One could look at it from a distance and still be safe, but if someone observed the Kunekune well enough and began to understand what it truly was, their mind would begin to collapse. Many people ­considered it to be among the deadliest urban legends, one that could ­mentally break you just by being observed.

There were many theories as to what the Kunekune might ­actually be. Some thought it was actually a field scarecrow flapping in the wind; some said it’s a snake god, following common folk beliefs found in farming villages; others called it some kind of yokai spirit. There were also theories that it was a ­doppelganger, a hallucination, a natural phenomenon ­mistaken for the super­natural, and many more. There was even a theory that the Kunekune was actually the viewer. These were all ­nothing more than theories, of course.

But it was a fact that something had affected Natsuki’s mind in his youth and sent him to the hospital. It was also a fact that he mysteriously recovered to find Nekune Kumiko suddenly near him. Putting two and two together, he could easily guess her true identity, but he didn’t fear her, and not because any part of his mind was still broken. He simply enjoyed the time he spent with her. So he decided to pretend he hadn’t realized what she was. He had a feeling she’d disappear if she ever knew, just like the crane in that old folk tale.

At some point in time, Kadono had become a place where urban legends turned into reality. And as someone who grew up around spirits and tended to find himself involved with the ­supernatural, Natsuki kept stumbling into these real urban legends.

“Oh yeah. Your Jii-chan’s starting school here too, right?” Kumiko suddenly asked.

“Yeah.”

Natsuki’s great-grandmother, whom he fondly called his “great obaa-chan,” was once a noble back in the Taisho era. She’d likely been the quiet, demure sort of well-to-do lady in her youth, and some of that could still be seen in her old age. Her caretaker from when she was young, Jinya, was supposed to start school at Modori River High School this spring as well.

Jinya was starting high school here for many reasons, but a big one was that Natsuki himself had requested it. Natsuki’s strong intuition told him something felt very off about Kadono, but because he himself was powerless to do anything about it, he requested help from the Koyomiza Theater. Jinya then hurried over to start attending Modori River High School, the very place that felt most concerning to Natsuki.

After the entrance ceremony, they learned what classes they would be in. By some luck (or maybe it was to be expected), Natsuki and Kumiko were assigned to the same classroom. Happy to spend another year together, they entered the room for class 1-C, but Natsuki was caught off guard by what awaited him there.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kadono Jinya. I look forward to a good year with you.”

The first person he met in his class was Jinya, introducing himself as though this were their first meeting. Natsuki didn’t know how to react to this joke of his, coming after so many years.

“Oh, yeah, nice to meet you. I’m Nekune Kumiko… Uh, Nakki? What’s with the face?” Kumiko cheerfully returned Jinya’s greeting, but Natsuki’s eyes were as wide as saucers.

“Jii-chan? What in the world are you doing here?” he asked.

“What do you mean? Didn’t I tell you I was coming in advance? And seeing as we’ll be classmates for the year, I figured I might as well go through the pleasantries.”

“Er, right. I knew you were coming. I just didn’t think we’d be in the same class.”

“I’m surprised as well.”

Natsuki was flustered but also relieved. The moment he met Jinya, his nagging feeling went away. This proved that there was something in this school—something that was wary of a battle-hardened demon like Jinya.

“I visited your place yesterday, but only Rika was around,” Jinya said. “I thought I told her to let you know I arrived, though…”

“She didn’t say a thing. Ah… I get it now. She was in a good mood this morning because she met you.”

Rika was fond of Jinya, who treated her like part of the ­family even though she wasn’t blood-related to the Toudous, and Natsuki was quite close to Jinya himself. Having lived in Tokyo until he was seven, Natsuki was often looked after by the peculiar, hundred-something-year-old man. When he visited Tokyo over long ­vacations, he would still try to spend time with Jinya and hear his stories. He knew Jinya was a demon but was just as fond of him as if he were his own grandfather. But that only made seeing him here, wearing a high school uniform and in the same class as him, feel all the stranger.

“Jinjin, do you know Nakki?” Kumiko asked.

“…‘Jinjin’?” Jinya paused, then answered her question. “I do. He’s something like a relative of mine. We lived together back in Tokyo. I even changed his diapers.”

“Please, tell me more.”

Jinya knew many other embarrassing secrets that Natsuki would rather his friend not learn—like the fact that he wet the bed until he was six or the fact that he threw a big fit because he didn’t want to leave Tokyo.

“Um, Jii-chan, I don’t think we need to—”

“I’m sure you have many things to share. Let’s go sit down over there.”

Natsuki tried to call it off, but Kumiko ignored him and pushed Jinya from behind toward some desks. Jinya, a man strong enough to fight all kinds of monsters, was too weak to the wishes of the young to say no.

“Don’t worry. I won’t share anything that’d make any real trouble for you,” he whispered to Natsuki. Natsuki was relieved, but that immediately faded as Jinya’s gaze turned serious. “Is she one of those?”

There was no hiding it. Jinya understood right away that Kumiko was an urban legend.

“…Yeah. But she’s safe.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Apparently agreeing she posed little danger, Jinya showed no hostility himself.

“But this city’s been weird lately. Lots of places give off a bad vibe.”

Not all urban legends were dangerous entities like the ­Slit-Mouthed Woman. There were those like Kumiko who lived among humans, as well as those that were harmless if simply left alone. But recently there had been many places Natsuki was too scared to go near.

“…Indeed.” Perhaps Jinya felt it too. His gaze was far too imposing for a classroom.

***

Ten days quickly passed after graduation. Orientation had finished, and students were getting familiar enough with the flow of class to start paying more attention to their surroundings.

Himekawa Miyaka took a look around her class. She could see familiar faces from her junior high school here and there, as well as some opponents she’d played against when she was in basketball club. But over half of the students were complete strangers to her. There were even quite a few of the kind she never mingled with much back in junior high. Thankfully, she had Kaoru and a few acquaintances from her basketball club, so she wasn’t alone in class.

She sat and ate lunch together with Kaoru, who saw her gawking around and asked, “Whatcha looking at?”

“Nothing, just…still getting used to things.”

Kaoru, not being the shy type to begin with, had adjusted to high school life quickly and couldn’t relate. “Oh, okay. There’s just all kinds in high school, huh?”

Miyaka’s gaze had landed on a group of girls best described as flashy. They wore their skirts short, used natural-looking makeup, decorated their nails, and wore their uniforms loosely and covered them in accessories. Modori River High School had more facilities than other high schools in the area, but it wasn’t known for sports or academics at all. That was why the school rules were lenient enough to allow such flashiness. It might even have been why the girls chose this school.

“Omigosh. Aki, is that the new nail polish?”

“Can you tell? It’s the new spring color. Looks good, right?”

The one who stood out the most in the group was its leader, a girl called Aki. Her hair was dyed a cheerful brown and tied up with a ribbon into a side ponytail, and her makeup wasn’t too flashy. She looked like your quintessential stylish high school girl. The flip phone in her hand was bejeweled and had a bunch of character straps with animals like dogs and cats hanging from it, making it look awfully heavy. Her skirt was, unsurprisingly, worn short, and her blouse had a few buttons undone.

“Momoe Moe-san’s pretty, huh?” Kaoru said.

Momoe Moe was the flamboyant girl’s real name; Aki was just her nickname. She’d asked everyone to call her Aki when she introduced herself to the class on the first day. She seemed to take issue with how overly cutesy her real name was (Moe being another word for “cute”), even going as far as to declare she’d punch anyone who called her Moe-chan.

“I kind of relate to her whole being embarrassed by her name thing,” Miyaka mused out loud.

“Really? But your name’s super pretty, Miyaka-chan.”

“Thanks, but that’s kind of why.”

Miyaka’s name consisted of three kanji, specifically the ones for “beautiful,” “night,” and “fragrance.” It was a flashy name on par with Momoe Moe, and that was before one even ­considered that her family name Himekawa contained the kanji for “princess.”

Miyaka didn’t hold anything against her parents for giving her such a flashy name, but she did feel like she failed to live up to the standard it set for her.

She swept her gaze to the side and saw some boy-girl pairs who were close already even though they were only ten days into the school year.

The first was Toudou Natsuki and Nekune Kumiko. A girl that went to their junior high school had told Miyaka that the two of them were childhood friends who had been close since elementary school. Apparently, they were nothing more than that, as in they weren’t dating, but they seemed rather close. They also seemed to know Kadono Jinya well; Miyaka often saw him chatting with them.

She was staring blankly at them when there was a loud sound in the classroom.

“Whoa. You okay, Mai?”

“Y-yeah. Sorry, Yanagi-kun.”

“It’s fine, I’m used to it.”

A girl had stumbled on a chair leg and almost fallen over, but she was caught by a boy. The boy was Tomishima Yanagi, and the girl was Yoshioka Mai. The two of them were fairly close as well.

“Jeez. You need to watch your step more.”

“S-sorry.”

“I’m not mad or anything, but just be careful.”

Tomishima gently bonked Yoshioka’s head with a fist, looking more like an older brother than a boyfriend or anything. Miyaka was used to seeing such exchanges between the two by now—the shy and somewhat slow Yoshioka would mess up somehow, and Tomishima would encourage her afterward.

“C’mon, chin up. Oh, I know. Why don’t we stop by somewhere on the way home?”

“But don’t you have soccer?”

“I told you, I’m not gonna stick with that in high school.”

Yoshioka Mai was a petite, prim-looking, bespectacled girl. She wore the designated uniform exactly as it was meant to be worn and didn’t dye her hair, wear accessories, or anything along those lines. She didn’t wear makeup either—not even lip balm. Her shortish black hair seemed meticulously groomed, so she at least cared about her presentation; she just wasn’t the type to dress up. She was timid and often stared at her feet, being the typical sort of quiet kid.

In contrast, Tomishima Yanagi was a boy who stood out. Based on what Miyaka heard from one of her new classmates, he had apparently been the star of his soccer team back in junior high school. He was tall and good-looking, as well as friendly and considerate, so he was popular among girls.

But for some reason, he didn’t join the soccer team in high school and instead joined the broadcasting club without trialing anything else. The people who knew him in junior high school were all surprised, but he didn’t care in the slightest. He was intent on taking it easy through high school and planned to go somewhere with Yoshioka after school yet again today.

“Those two are always so close, huh?” Kaoru said.

“Yeah.” Miyaka agreed. The pair made for a heartwarming sight, but some of the girls in the class teased them, saying they were a mismatch for each other. The mood in class felt a bit more hostile than in junior high.

Miyaka had many different interesting classmates, but the one who held her attention the most was none other than him.

“Jii-chan, some girl’s staring at you.”

“You know her?”

“Yeah. We met a couple times before the year started.”

The mystery swordsman who had slain the Slit-Mouthed Woman right before Miyaka’s eyes was now in her class, eating lunch with three other boys. He looked like a completely ordinary student, but that only clashed with the striking impression he had left that night.

“Do you have some business with me?” he asked.

Though she’d been the one staring up until then, Miyaka got flustered. Her circle of friends had been small in junior high school; she wasn’t awkward around boys, but she didn’t exactly know how to talk to them either.

“Well…” She thought about just saying “No,” but she reconsidered. It had been ten days since school started, but they hadn’t had a single proper conversation. She was curious about who he was, since he’d slain the Slit-Mouthed Woman and all, but she also was wary of this man who fought monstrous urban legends with nothing but a sword. She couldn’t just let her burning ­questions sit forever, though, so she replied, “…Yeah. There’s a few things I want to ask you, Kadono-kun.”

He’d saved her and Kaoru’s lives, so he probably wasn’t a bad person…or so she told herself.

“I’m sure you do. Do you have time after school?” he asked.

She felt a bit relieved that he was arranging things for her. She nodded a few times, too tense to speak.

“Then let’s talk. Bring your friend, Asaga…Azusaya.”

Miyaka met his gaze and nodded again, more firmly this time.

2

“HE SAID TO MEET HERE, right, Miyaka-chan?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

After school, Miyaka and Kaoru went to the rooftop as Jinya had asked them to. They climbed up the stairs to the fourth floor, then up once more to the roof. The door leading outside had “No Trespassing” written on it, but when they turned the doorknob, they found it was left unlocked. Miyaka hesitated for a moment, then opened the door nervously.

The metal hinges creaked as sunlight blinded them. It was almost five o’clock now. The rooftop was bathed in an evening red. Blocking the sun with her hand, Miyaka looked around the rooftop but didn’t see Jinya. She and Kaoru exchanged a glance, wondering if they’d gotten the meeting location wrong. They looked around once more but found no one, their long shadows growing darker in the evening light.

“Oh, you beat me here.”

After around ten minutes, Jinya finally arrived. He held no sword in his hand. That felt like such an odd thing after the strong impression he had left that night, but it certainly would’ve been strange for him to bring an actual sword to school. Miyaka took a deep breath to calm her nerves, then stared squarely at him.

“Sorry for making you wait, especially since I’m the one who called you up here,” he said.

“It’s fine. We’re the ones who asked to talk anyway,” she replied. Her words were curt, but she wasn’t angry or anything. There was a lot she wanted to ask, and she didn’t mind waiting a bit in the process. “But is it really okay for us to be up here? The door says ‘No Trespassing’ on it.”

“It’s not a problem. I got permission from the teachers since my ‘work’ is often stuff that can’t be discussed openly.”

Miyaka hesitated to just dive into the questions, since ­curiosity killed the cat and all. But Kaoru held no such reservations herself. “Really? How?”

“Let’s just say a good number of the teachers owe me for things connected to what I do.”

Miyaka sized Jinya up again. He was a bit under six feet tall, putting him among the tallest in class. His shoulders were broad, and his body was well-built. He had fierce eyes and a stern visage, making him kind of scary-looking—less in a delinquent sort of way and more like one of those hard-liner cheer squad team boys who lined up and shouted chants at sports meets for the school. But he didn’t seem to mind Kaoru’s lack of restraint with her questions, which indicated he was softer than he looked.

“I’d hate to keep you late, so let’s begin,” he said. “I’ll answer your questions as best as I can.”

Miyaka wondered whether “as best as he could” meant he had secrets he couldn’t share. She couldn’t fault him there, she supposed. Someone who fought monsters like the Slit-Mouthed Woman likely had troubling circumstances of his own. From the start, she had no intention of forcing answers out of him. As someone who’d been attacked by an urban legend, she just wanted to know the bare minimum of what was going on.

She hemmed and hawed, not sure where to start, when Kaoru beat her to the punch. “Who’s Asagao-san?”

“Wha—Kaoru!”

“Hah hah, sorry. But he said I looked like an acquaintance of his when we first met, so I was just curious what kind of person she was.”

“…I can’t believe you.” Miyaka was exasperated. It was like her friend felt no tension at all.

Jinya didn’t seem to mind answering. “Asagao is…a girl who stayed at my home for about a week some time ago. You really took me by surprise when we met. You look just like her.”

“Really? What kind of person is she?”

“She’s… To put it simply, she was a heavenly maiden.”

His answer was unexpected. She looked blankly at him, her mouth open.

He continued, “She arrived suddenly and departed magnificently, leaving only a small promise behind. Just like a heavenly maiden.”

“Uhhh, and you’re saying I look like her?”

“You’re her spitting image. Truly.”

Was he trying to say Kaoru was as beautiful as a heavenly maiden? Miyaka personally felt Kaoru was more cute than ­beautiful, with her small build, youthful face, and the ribbon in her hair, but maybe the phrase “heavenly maiden” meant something different to him.

Kaoru looked like she didn’t know what to say; being praised had made her too bashful.

“Could you not hit on my friend?” Miyaka said.

“But I was simply stating the tru—”

“No, really. Stop.” The conversation was getting nowhere, and Miyaka felt bad that Kaoru was getting so flustered.

“…Sorry.” Jinya apologized.

After waiting a moment for the awkward mood to pass, Miyaka got to the heart of the matter. “You’re free to answer this however you want, but…just what are you, Kadono-kun?”

She purposefully asked an open-ended question that could be interpreted in many ways. She did not think hounding him would make him spill his secrets, but it would be a problem if he answered with lies. So instead, she indirectly told him they didn’t need the whole truth, just enough to satisfy them.

“I was thinking your inquiry would be more aggressive, but it seems you’ve got some good sense,” he said.

“You overestimate me. I’m just a coward.” She wasn’t being modest, just honest. She wasn’t the sociable sort to begin with and had a habit of keeping people at arm’s length because she was afraid to trouble others. Some might call that prudence, but really it was just cowardice. Her overthinking often cost her socially. But in this situation, she felt she’d made the right call. She and Kaoru were nothing more than nuisances to him. They had to be careful not to overstep, or else he might feel the need to do something about them.

“I’d disagree, but arguing back and forth on this would be pointless, so let me just answer your question,” he said. “What am I? Well, if there are things that lurk in our world, then it follows that there must be those who hunt such things. That’s where I fall.”

He said it like it was plain and simple. Monsters like the one they saw that night must have been normal to him. He hadn’t cowered in the slightest against the Slit-Mouthed Woman, so he must have had a lot of experience in fighting urban legends.

“So you’re some kind of hero, then?” Kaoru nonchalantly asked.

He looked at her with these oddly gentle eyes and said, “As you two have seen, my current objective is to hunt urban legends. But I wouldn’t call myself a hero for that, because my reasons are completely personal. I even sometimes accept money to do it, so you could call it a job.”

“Uhh, meaning…?”

“I’m like a detective. Sometimes I’ll stick my neck into something on my own, and sometimes I’ll do it for compensation.”

“Oooh, I see!” Kaoru bobbed her head in understanding.

He was like a detective, only he dealt with the supernatural instead of mysteries. Unlike the police, who upheld their duties to keep the peace and stop crime, he worked solely for personal gain. Hence, slaying urban legends wasn’t an act of heroism but, as he put it, a job.

In other words, he’d saved them from the Slit-Mouthed Woman by coincidence—he just so happened to already be pursuing her. They had nothing but their own lucky stars to thank.

“But, wow. I can’t believe the Slit-Mouthed Woman is actually real,” Kaoru blurted out in awe.

Miyaka agreed. She had spent most of her life thinking of urban legends as nothing more than fiction, but after being ­attacked by one she had no choice but to accept their existence. Just remembering the event made her shudder with fear. “Neither can I. I thought urban legends were all just made-up stories.”

“Ah. Actually, most of them probably are just made-up stories,” Jinya said.

After almost being killed by one, there was no doubt in Miyaka’s mind that urban legends really existed. Yet the very one who fought them for work was now claiming otherwise. Confused, the girls both cocked their heads.

“Urban legends are a relatively recent thing—a new kind of spirit.”

Back when Tokyo was still known as Edo, threats like demons, tengu, and mountain hags freely paraded about the human world, but the passing of eras brought much change.

In the Meiji and Taisho eras, Japan adopted foreign technologies and took great strides forward thanks to a focused ­modernization effort, leading the spirits of the old world to disappear. The beings that lurked in the unmapped forests and haunted the dark side streets had no place in the illuminated cities of modern man. But starting in the Showa era, a new kind of spirit found its way into the cracks of modern society.

“And those were urban legends?”

“Exactly. They may have started as simple made-up stories, but if enough people believe in something, then they gain a very real power.”

Spirits could come to life in many ways. In the case of ­demons, they could be born as a result of two demons coming together, through a demon assaulting a human, or, apparently, from nothingness.

“In fact, I’d say most spirits are birthed from negative ­human emotion gathering and joining together. Urban legends are no different. Rumors spread and are believed by many people, ­generating fear of the unknown. It isn’t so outlandish to think that fear could then give shape to something.”

Urban legends may have started as works of fiction, but if enough people feared their existence, they would become real spirits.

“So all of those made-up stories can become real?”

“If they’re convincing enough to make people believe they are, then yes.”

Hasshaku-sama, the Kunekune, Mary-san’s Phone Calls, Kaijin Answer—there were many urban legends famous enough to be discussed on message boards. The thought they might be real was just as frightening as it was hard to believe.

“Sooo the NNN Special Broadcast and the Slit-Mouthed Woman are all some kind of new-age monsters born because people believe in them?” Kaoru asked.

Jinya furrowed his brow. Miyaka got a bit worried, wondering if they had asked something they shouldn’t have, but luckily that wasn’t the case.

“Sorry, but what’s this…ennu ennu ennu special broadcast you’re talking about?” Jinya said a bit shamefully.

“Huh? You don’t know?” Kaoru seemed taken aback. She wasn’t good at explaining things, so Miyaka cut in and clarified that it was an urban legend that had been an internet sensation for a while.

“Ah… The internet,” he awkwardly replied. His hesitation said a thousand words.

Miyaka asked, “Are you not good with computers?”

“The grandson of a family I know once showed me how to play the game with the red plumber who goes into pipes and picks up the coins,” he replied. That sounded a lot like he was playing on a Nintendo. He cleared his throat, seeming embarrassed by his ignorance. “This NNN Special Broadcast you mentioned is likely a story that turned real after being believed by many people, like I’ve explained. But the Slit-Mouthed Woman we met was a little different.” The look in his eyes changed. “She was a ­counterfeit ­urban legend. Not something that formed naturally but a ­monster that was intentionally designed.”

The evening glow creeped closer to night, and the wind dropped a shade cooler. Miyaka couldn’t immediately process his words. The thought of somebody wanting to create something as frightening as the Slit-Mouthed Woman sounded ridiculous, but the intensity he exuded told her he wasn’t joking.

“Right now, I’m trying to chase down the one who made her.”

A shiver ran down Miyaka’s spine. The existence of these horrific urban legends was terrifying enough, but she was even more scared to think that somebody was knowingly making these monsters—somebody who was in her town.

Modori River High School stood on a hill. From its roof, she could see Kadono in its entirety. It sparkled brilliantly within the evening light, but it felt so suddenly foreign to her.

“I think that should about cover it. I’m a hunter of spirits. Someone is creating urban legend monsters, and taking them down is my current objective. Those are the main things to know.” Jinya started to wrap things up.

Miyaka returned to her senses and saw how unenthusiastic he was. It was as though he had a low opinion of this figure creating real urban legends behind the scenes. She felt her anxiety fade a little.

With the conversation at an end, a silence fell over them. Gingerly, she spoke up. “Um… Thanks, Jinya-kun.”

He had no need to go into such depth but had made time for the girls anyway, so she thanked him. Kaoru followed her example and bowed with a quick “Thank you.”

“You needn’t thank me. I took up your earlier consideration and hid plenty of the full truth from you two. Being thanked puts me in an awkward spot, if anything.”

“But you told us more than I thought you would,” Miyaka said. Even if he was hiding things, she felt he had been truthful with what he did share. He remained someone to be wary of, but his sincerity had shone through. That was why she had thanked him from the heart.

“Wait, Kadono-kun, you lied to us?” Kaoru asked.

“I haven’t lied; I’m just withholding things. So you can spare me your gratitude. I had to have this conversation with you two sooner or later anyway, for my own sake.”

Miyaka wondered what he meant, but she soon got her answer.

“Imagine the surprise I felt when I was investigating some murders and, would you believe it, I came across some children who went out for a night stroll without a hint of caution. I could just as well keep them in the dark about the dangers of the night, but it’d be much more effective to frighten them a little so they stay in line themselves.”

Come to think of it, Kaoru had encountered the ­Slit-Mouthed Woman because she was out late after playing around town. She had known about the recent murders too. He must have opened up in hopes she would be less reckless from now on.

Kaoru prodded Miyaka’s side with her elbow. “I think he’s talking about you, Miyaka-chan.”

“He clearly means you, Kaoru.”

“Actually, I was referring to both of you.” Each of them tried to pin the fault on the other, but he felt they were equally guilty. “Azusaya, I understand you’re young and want to stay out late. And you, Himekawa girl, it’d be wrong of me to fault you for caring about your friend. But things have not been too safe lately. You’d both be doing me a favor if you stayed home at night.”

“We’re sorry. We won’t do it again,” the two said in chorus. In the end, the reason he divulged so much was apparently because he had been worried about them.

“Thank you. While you’re at it, try to stay away from any places you hear strange rumors about, and pass those rumors along to me. Do that and we’ll call ourselves even.”

Urban legends weren’t just stories anymore. If left alone, they could cause harm. It made sense, then, that the girls should go to Jinya if they learned of one. Maybe this was the real reason he had been so honest with them—to turn them into convenient sources of information.

“So you want us to tell you if we hear any important rumors among the girls?” Kaoru asked for confirmation.

“Exactly. Word spreads fast among girls. I have high hopes for you two. Just don’t try to go looking into things yourselves.”

“No need to worry there,” Miyaka said. She wasn’t keen on getting attacked by a monster for a second time. Some things were better left for the experts.

With their discussion over, they departed through the school gates together. The sun had completely sunk below the horizon.

“I kept you two late. Let me walk you both home.”

“Once again, thank you,” Miyaka said. She didn’t want to walk alone, especially after their unsettling conversation. His protection was reassuring.

“We might as well stop by somewhere, then! We’re all in the same class for the year, so let’s get to know one another!” Kaoru said. Even after getting such a strong warning, she wanted to go play this late. Miyaka was about to chide her, but, surprisingly, Jinya agreed.

“That much should be fine. If you’re all right with it, that is,” he said, looking at Miyaka.

He seemed a little soft on Kaoru, perhaps because she looked like his old friend. Miyaka was a bit reluctant to play along, but she always wound up folding to Kaoru’s wishes.

In the end, the three stopped for a while to hang out in the shopping area near the station before heading home.

Demons could not lie, and so Jinya remained nothing but truthful throughout his explanation. But he did hide several things.

The first was Magatsume’s existence.

Being the Itsukihime, Himekawa Miyaka wasn’t a complete outsider to the conflict between Jinya and Magatsume. There might come a time when he would need to tell her about what was going on, but that time was not now. He had no pressing need to say anything yet, since Magatsume and the counterfeit urban legends were completely unrelated to one another. Magatsume had also yet to make a move, and if what Nanao told him back in the Showa era was true, she wouldn’t do anything until next year. For the time being, Jinya was content to leave Miyaka out of his conflict.

But there was one more thing he’d hidden from her. He was indeed pursuing whoever was creating these counterfeit urban legends, but he intentionally avoided mentioning the fact that he already had an idea who it might be. These spirits were being created from negative emotion that had been gathered together. Jinya knew only one person whose ability allowed them to control emotion and use it to manifest something physical.

“You’re as deplorable as ever…” he murmured. The girls had walked ahead of him and didn’t hear, nor did they notice the sharpness of his gaze.

***

Kaoru entered the class full of energy the next morning, perhaps because of the sweets they’d gotten on their way home. Unlike Miyaka, Kaoru was a social animal and had already gotten to know her classmates, even the completely new faces. Miyaka secretly admired her friend’s outgoing nature.

“Morning, Miyaka-chan.”

“Morning, Kaoru.”

Miyaka had arrived first and was chatting with one of the few new friends she had made, a girl named Nekune Kumiko who didn’t seem to mind her curtness.

“Whatchu guys talkin’ about?” Kaoru asked as she joined the two, enlivening the conversation.

“I was telling Hime-chan that I saw her with a boy from our class!” Kumiko excitedly said. Unfortunately, the truth was nothing worth gossiping about. After they had gone home from the station last night, they saw Kaoru home, then Jinya walked Miyaka home. Kumiko had just so happened to spot the two then.

“It’s nothing like what you’re thinking. We just walked home together,” Miyaka said.

“Really? Aw, and here I thought you knew Jinjin well.” Kumiko puffed her cheeks out sulkily. Her phrasing was a bit strange.

“Why? You wish I did?”

“Yeah. He scares me. I was thinking maybe you could tell me what kind of person he is.”

Jinya did have a scary face, but it didn’t sound like that was what she was getting at. Also, wasn’t she on good terms with Jinya through Toudou Natsuki?

“Well, since we’re talking about boys, I’ve noticed you’re close to Toudou-kun. Are you two dating?” Miyaka changed the subject to something she’d been curious about for a while.

“No way. Nakki’s just a childhood friend of mine.”

The two looked closer than most couples, but they apparently didn’t have anything like that going on. Miyaka wondered what about Jinya had made Kumiko scared of him, but she didn’t want to sour the mood by asking. Talking about boys and dating wasn’t really her thing either, though.

“That’s that, then,” she said, ending the topic a bit forcibly.

“Yeah. Let’s talk about something else. Like…” Kumiko understood Miyaka’s intentions and began to think of a new topic.

The days leading up to the start of school had been hectic, but Miyaka was happy she’d made a new friend she could talk normally with. She waited calmly for Kumiko’s next words.

“Oh! Have you heard? There’s apparently been some sightings of the Red Cloak lately.”

But that calm all went away when yet another urban legend was mentioned. Miyaka’s face stiffened into a frown.

“Er, something wrong?” Kumiko asked with some surprise, but Miyaka was too worked up to reply. She shook her head stiffly like a rusty machine, then turned to look grimly at Kaoru who bore a similar look.

“…Miyaka-chan, is Kadono-kun here yet?”

“I haven’t seen him.”

“Then maybe later…”

“Yeah.”

Like the Slit-Mouthed Woman, the Red Cloak was a famous urban legend about a dangerous entity that murdered people. And, apparently, there had been sightings of it lately. The previously fun mood vanished as the two girls hung their heads.

THE RED CLOAK

Once widespread in the early Showa years, the Red Cloak was an urban legend about a mysterious man who wore a red cloak. The man was said to kidnap children on their way home from school and kill them. Fear surrounding this urban legend once rose to a point where the police were compelled to act.

The legend was based on a very real case known as the Blue Blanket Butcher murders.

One snowy night, a man cloaked in a blue blanket entered a store and said, “Your aunt has collapsed. Come with me quickly.”

The store’s manager, the first victim, followed him away.

The man in the blue blanket visited the manager’s home next. He used clever deception to lure the man’s mother out, then came back an hour later to lead the wife away.

Lastly, he went to the neighbors, who were looking after the manager’s daughter. The man gave many excuses to insist they hand her over, but the neighbors refused, and so the man reluctantly left. They watched as he went, wondering to themselves what was going on.

The corpses of the three who followed the man were discovered one by one the next morning. In the end, the culprit was never found, and the case remained forever unsolved. But the truly eerie part came afterward.

The murderer became known as the Blue Blanket Butcher, and the case received widespread recognition when the firsthand accounts of an attorney general were published in a book called A Look at Crime a couple of years after the war. The author certainly must have reviewed the information the police had at the time, but by some error, the book stated the man’s blanket had been red rather than blue.

The strange incident was later made into a novel, where the blanket was changed into a cloak for dramatization purposes. The culprit was also written not as an ordinary killer, but a homicidal maniac and kidnapper, among other things. Other real-world incidents, including the attempted coup d’état of February 26th—where the officers attempting the coup wore red mantle cloaks—were believed to have helped give rise to the story of the Red Cloak.

The Red Cloak of the urban legend was a dangerous individual who abducted children, usually girls, and killed them. Though theories varied, some said the Red Cloak might be a vampire.

Incidentally, the version of the Red Cloak that appeared in school restrooms and asked “Do you like red cloaks or blue cloaks more?” was a completely different story. That urban ­legend was called “Red Cloak Blue Cloak” and was thought to be merely derived from the Red Cloak urban legend. But the act of ­choosing between red and blue was present in the original story, in which the Red Cloak stabbed you until you’re bloody if you chose red and sucked your blood until you’re blue in the face if you picked blue.

The Red Cloak urban legend had been around for such a long time that there were many more spin-offs of the tale, such as “Red Paper Blue Paper” and “Red Vest.” Ghost stories set in schools often have a theme of choosing between red or blue.

But at the end of the day, whether the story depicted a ­vampire, a murderer, or something entirely different, the Red Cloak remained an urban legend known for terrorizing young girls.

3

A YOUNG GIRL WAS MAKING her way back home alone just as the evening began to take on the colors of night. Her black hair was tied in a long braid, and her glasses were plain and unfashionable, giving her a diligent look that was ­uncommon for junior high schoolers these days.

She was heading home late because she’d been delayed by her student council work, and her surroundings were already dark. She hurried along, thinking her mother must be worried about her.

Her footsteps echoed until she came to a sudden stop. Ahead of her was a silhouette illuminated by a streetlamp. He stood with the darkness behind him as his eerily red cloak fluttered. His face was hidden behind a mask, and he was right in her path.

The Mysterious Red Cloak. Just the mention of that title used to frighten children, but this young girl had no fear of him. The tale of the Red Cloak reached its height of fame in the early Showa era, and she was born much later. What’s more, such a straitlaced girl didn’t take interest in things like ghost stories, so she did not recognize the Red Cloak of urban legend.

But even if she had, it would have been too late for her anyway. The distance between them was too close at this point. In the blink of an eye, the Red Cloak dashed forward, revealed the face hidden behind his mask, and…

She couldn’t even scream. She lost consciousness, and the two of them both vanished into the darkness.

Thus, the Red Cloak kidnapped a girl on her way home from school, and what was once a mere urban legend became something real.

***

Along the path to Modori River High School, about fifteen minutes away from the school itself, there was a convenience store called Aye-Aye Mart. There weren’t many residences in the area, but it still got great business thanks to the students and teachers who walked by before and after school. It was particularly busy in the morning when people flooded in ­looking for that day’s lunch.

Like so many of his fellow students, Jinya stopped by the convenience store to buy his lunch. He knew how to cook, but he couldn’t be bothered to do it just for himself. It simply wasn’t worth the effort. He usually brought the bread, rice balls, and cup soba he stocked for lunches from the supermarket, since they did the job well enough.

However, he decided to change things up today and paid the convenience store a visit. He picked an adequate boxed lunch, then brought it over to the register. But he grimaced as soon as he saw who was working it.

“Welcome.”

“…What the hell are you doing here?”

“Manning the register, sir.”

Working the register this morning was the Aye-Aye Mart’s manager. This was Jinya’s first time here, but he thought he ­recognized him. The manager appeared to be in his early thirties. He was about five foot five, his shoulders weren’t particularly broad, and his physique wasn’t impressive. But his neck was unusually sinewy, and that alone spoke of how much training he must have done.

The manager’s name was Okada Kiichi, a murderer from a past era who’d lived since Edo times as a demon. He was the greatest swordsman Jinya knew, and yet here he was manning the register as the manager of a convenience store.

“Keh, keh keh.” He let out an eerie, wispy laugh. “You once gave mention that you had resided in Kadono. My curiosity was piqued, so I paid a visit and, after some trouble, was fortuitous enough to find work here. Managing a convenience store has been surprisingly enjoyable. I began this work for the money but have remained longer than I anticipated.”

His smile had an air of bloodlust. Even though the man was in uniform and was simply working normally, Jinya tensed and put himself on guard. Kiichi was somebody he was just that wary of.

But Jinya didn’t hold any ill feelings against the man, despite the fact that he was a murderer. To live by the blade was Okada Kiichi’s whole purpose. He entrusted his entire being to fulfilling that wish and devoted himself to nothing else. Jinya had once wished he could be like him, someone who could leave ­everything behind to pursue his one true purpose.

“That’ll be 598 yen. Would you like your food warmed, sir?”

“No, that’s fine.”

Now, there was a convenience store where a killer would greet you with a smile any hour of the day. Jinya was not amused by that fact. It was no longer an era where one could make a living through murder. Even a man like Kiichi had to find an ordinary job to make ends meet.

His purchase was put into a plastic bag with a practiced hand. Jinya accepted it and left. He had met an old acquaintance after a long time, and yet the exchange had left him feeling exhausted.

His weariness made him continue the trek to school more slowly than usual.

“What took you so long, Kadono-kun?!”

The second he stepped into class, Azusaya Kaoru rushed over to him. She was joined by a rather flustered-looking Himekawa Miyaka. He had walked them both home after they stopped around the station area. They had chatted a bit, but he wasn’t particularly close to them. There was only one reason they would possibly be waiting for him.

“Has something happened?” he asked. The two nodded their heads. “Just perfect,” he murmured. He wasn’t being sarcastic; he meant it. He’d much rather deal with a violent urban legend than see Okada Kiichi running a convenience store. What’s more, if this was another counterfeit urban legend, then it might give him a clue that’d lead him to the one behind all this. “So, what is it?”

“Well… There’s a rumor that the Red Cloak has been seen.”

“…That’s quite an old favorite. Thankfully, the Red Cloak isn’t one that’ll make a move right this instant. Tell me more after morning homeroom.”

The story of the Red Cloak was mostly told in the early Showa era. The Toudou couple’s grandchildren had been quite scared by it back then. Jinya reflexively grinned, thinking he had hit the mark with this one.

“…And that’s everything.”

After homeroom, the three gathered for another discussion on the roof. Of course, this meant they had to skip first period, but that couldn’t be helped.

They discussed the Red Cloak rumor. Miyaka passed along what she had learned from Nekune Kumiko without missing a word.

Firstly, the appearance of the Red Cloak had recently become a rumor among junior high school girls.

Secondly, two girls had already gone missing on their way home from school.

Thirdly, on the day the girls went missing, an unknown person in a red cloak was seen running.

Fourthly, witnesses saw the Red Cloak fleeing by leaping across trees—a largely inhuman movement.

“The place where the Red Cloak was seen is near our old junior high school. There were no rumors like that back when we were there, so this all must’ve started sometime this past week.”

Kumiko had heard about the rumor from another girl who’d gone to the same school as Miyaka and Kaoru. This girl had further heard about it from her little sister, which proved this was a real rumor going around.

At first, the school didn’t put much weight on the rumor, thinking it was just some oddball people were noticing. But when two girls disappeared one after another with an eerie figure in a red cloak being seen that same day, the rumors began to gain credibility. The missing girls still hadn’t been found. There was no knowing why they were gone just yet, but it was easy to imagine something supernatural at play.

“Inhuman movement, huh…” Jinya murmured to himself.

Among urban legends, the Red Cloak was one of the more directly violent ones. He killed people and kidnapped with the intent to harm. His murder weapon of choice was a knife or a bat. While he was a supernatural entity, he did not operate with curses or other such roundabout means like so many other urban legends.

He wore a red cloak, kidnapped girls, and stabbed them to death. In that sense, he wasn’t all that different from a normal murderer. That alone would make one hesitate to believe these rumors. But if their movements were inhuman, then the odds that the Red Cloak was a spirit shot up. Either way, of course, the fact that there were already victims meant Jinya couldn’t just bide his time.

“What do you think?”

“It’s hard to be certain, but I think there’s a good chance these rumors are real. The bit about the Red Cloak leaping from tree to tree is odd, though…” That part nagged at him. The Red Cloak wasn’t known for doing anything like that.

Seeing Jinya go silent, Miyaka hesitantly tried to read his expression. The silence seemed to unnerve her.

“At any rate, the Red Cloak is a dangerous spirit. Whether it’s a counterfeit urban legend like I’m after or not, I can’t just leave it alone if students have been abducted.”

“You mean…?”

“I’ll take care of it. I’m not waiting until after classes, though. Can you tell me where this junior high school is?”

This spirit was said to attack children on their way home from school. It would be too late if he waited until he was finished with his own classes. He needed to do a rough investigation himself beforehand.

“Wait.” Miyaka called out to him as he started to leave the rooftop.

Looking nervous, she and Kaoru shared a glance before nodding. As if that gave them the courage they needed, the two looked back at him and asked, “Can we come with you?”

“I don’t mind. Go get your things.”

The two girls gave him surprised looks in response. They’d assumed he would say no and were prepared to plead their case. They were a little flustered that he had folded so easily.

“It’s your old school. It’ll be less strange if you two are around when I’m asking questions,” he explained. “Can I count on you to come?”

“Oh! That makes sense. Yeah, you can count on us!” Kaoru rushed back to class to get her things. She was even more cheerful and straightforward than the Asagao he’d met back in the Meiji era. He watched warmly as she left.

Miyaka didn’t seem to buy his explanation, though. She looked at him with a suspicious expression.

“Is something strange?” he asked.

Flustered by his question, she guiltily looked at her feet, like she had been caught returning his kindness with rudeness. “…Yeah, it’s strange. Very strange. Why are you bringing us along?”

“Because you asked to?”

“No, I get that. It’s just that we’d only get in your way, so I figured you’d say no.”

Just looking at the pros and cons, he had no reason to bring them. Maybe they could ask questions for him, but that was all they could help with. Their presence would only hold him back, or at least that was what Miyaka believed. The fact that he ­allowed it made her suspect there was more to his decision.

“I figured you two would try to do something even if I didn’t bring you along. It’s not like you’re without precedent,” he said. Miyaka could say nothing to refute that. She had indeed searched for her friend late into the night and been attacked by the ­Slit-Mouthed Woman because of it. “But even if that weren’t the case, I’d still bring you two along. Since it’s your old school, you two must know many of the people there. It hurts when you can’t do anything for those you know. I know the feeling well myself.”

He was plain grateful for their help, but he’d also accepted their offer to keep them from acting on their own. However, those reasons were only secondary at best. The main reason he accepted the girls’ offer to help was because he saw himself in Miyaka. Back when he was still young, his foster father Motoharu had protected him, but he could do nothing for the man in return. He saw the frustration he’d felt back then reflected in Miyaka now, and he didn’t want to just brush her off, even if she would be a burden.

“I was in the girls’ basketball club back in junior high. I was strict with my juniors, but they looked up to me anyway, especially the one who became captain. It makes me restless to think they might be in danger. I know there isn’t much I can do, but still…”

“I can use your help, but depending on the situation, I might not be able to protect you. Do you still want to go through with this?”

“…Yeah, it’s fine. Please, take me with you.”

Jinya accepted her request.

It was a little strange to think the Itsukihime that had once been kept hidden in her shrine was now openly out and about. But perhaps things should’ve always been more like this, Jinya thought nostalgically.

***

“Huh? Senpai? Shouldn’t you be in high school?”

“The Red Cloak? Yeah, I’ve heard. One of the missing girls is from my class.”

“I know the person who claims to have seen them.”

Miyaka, Kaoru, and Jinya skipped classes to go to the junior high school and ask around while the students were between classes. They managed to confirm that rumors of the Red Cloak were spreading, but nothing beyond that.

“Huh? What’re you two doing here?”

Their last stop was the faculty room. Inside was their old teacher Shiramine Yachie, who had returned to teaching this spring. She seemed to have no afternoon classes.

“It’s been a while, Shiramine-sensei.”

“Yeah. Well, only a month, anyway… I have a feeling you’re here for something serious?” She seemed to sense how tense her old pupils were. On her suggestion, they all moved from the faculty room to an empty classroom. The bell rang to announce the start of sixth period, and the din of students moving between classes faded. With this, they didn’t have to worry about being overheard.

Yachie sat herself down on a random desk and looked at the three—mostly at Jinya, who stood behind the two girls. As their former teacher, she knew Miyaka and Kaoru, but not him. She didn’t go so far as to regard him warily, but she did wonder who he was.

“So, what brings you here? Don’t tell me you came by just to introduce your new high school boyfriend or something?”

“My apologies. I’m Kadono Jinya, a classmate of these two,” Jinya said with a polite bow.

“Ah. Well, I’m relieved to hear you two have already made a friend. Oh, where are my manners? I’m Shiramine Yachie, their old teacher.”

The mood noticeably relaxed. Given his face, she’d probably been afraid he was some kind of delinquent.

“So, what’re you all here for, then?” She could very well have scolded the three for skipping classes to rudely barge into the school, but she chose not to.

Miyaka appreciated her old teacher’s broad-mindedness. She shared a look and a nod with Kaoru, then cut to the chase. “We’ve heard the rumor about the Red Cloak appearing.”

“Can you tell us what you know about it?” Kaoru asked.

“Hm, right. That thing. I could tell you about it, but what’ll you do if I do?” She narrowed her eyes when she heard their ­request, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop slightly. Her expression flustered them for a moment.

Why do you want to know? So you can stick your neck into trouble again? Her cold gaze came from a place of worry for the children.

“Please, Shiramine-sensei. Any little thing is fine.” Miyaka could only bow her head and awkwardly beg. There was too much they couldn’t explain.

Yachie wasn’t too pleased. She cared about her students, and two girls had already gone missing. She could tell the three weren’t just snooping around for the fun of it, but that didn’t mean she could give them information that might put them in harm’s way.

But Miyaka didn’t budge an inch either; she kept pleading earnestly. Yachie thought for a bit, then probingly asked, “You’re serious?”

“We are. I know you’re worried about us, but we still want you to tell us whatever you can about the Red Cloak. Before it’s too late.”

It wouldn’t have been strange if Yachie told them children had no business messing with something like this, but she didn’t. Instead, she looked at Jinya, who was waiting patiently behind the girls. “I’m guessing you came here to learn about the Red Cloak too? You seem a bit passive, though”

“I have my own role to play and have left this to these two.”

After their short exchange, Yachie went back into deep thought. She roughly scratched her head, then sighed in resignation. “Promise me you won’t do anything stupid. Only then will I tell you the little I know.”

She seemed reluctant but made a small concession.

“O-of course!”

“We promise!”

Miyaka and Kaoru looked happily at one another, as though celebrating, but that had the opposite effect. Yachie frowned worriedly.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on them,” Jinya reassured her.

“…You better.” She hung her head, not fully convinced. But she’d already promised to tell them what she knew about the Red Cloak, so she did. “The first incident was in early April. Three days after the entrance ceremony, I think. A girl disappeared on her way home. There had already been sightings of the Red Cloak by then, but nobody gave it much weight yet because it was just a rumor.” Her lips curled into a frown. “The second girl was abducted soon after. Again, the rumor was that a strange man in a red cloak had been seen fleeing at a seemingly inhuman speed, jumping off streetlamps, running across roofs, and leaping through trees like a monkey.” Her words were full of frustration. “The families and the school have been keeping quiet. They don’t want any weird speculation going around, especially because the kids are girls. That’s why nothing official has come out yet. It’s mainly the school trying to keep things on the down-low, though. Bastards…”

The reason word about the urban legend remained just a ­rumor was because the school wanted to save face. That fact galled the girls, but it was also a blessing in disguise. Less commotion over the issue worked out better for them.

“The two girls were from different grades, and from what I’ve heard, they weren’t particularly close. I guess the only common point between them is that they were the diligent sort. They both wore glasses, kept their hair in a braid, and were on the quiet side.” After telling them what she knew, Yachie bit her lip with displeasure. Though she had been outwardly strict, she was still on the side of the students. She was the same teacher Miyaka knew and loved.

“Thank you so very much, Shiramine-sensei.”

“Satisfied? Now just stay out of trouble like you promised.”

“We will! You can trust us, Sensei!” Kaoru reassured her.

“I sure hope so,” Yachie teased Kaoru. Then she looked behind them at Jinya, who met her gaze and returned a nod. Somewhat reassured now, she let slip a slight smile. “I take it that’s everything? You three better go to school like you should tomorrow, ya hear?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Thank you so much, Sensei!”

She left the classroom, waving goodbye all the while.

Now left alone in the empty classroom, the three talked over their strategy. They were sure the Red Cloak existed by this point, and it was most likely too late for the abducted girls.

“So the Red Cloak is real? Just like the Slit-Mouthed Woman?” Kaoru asked.

“I guess so…” Miyaka said in half disbelief.

It wouldn’t be strange for a third victim to appear at this rate. School was ending soon, and after that it would be time for the Red Cloak to strike again according to the urban legend.

Miyaka’s expression stiffened. Even if she knew of its existence, there was nothing she could do against such a being—but there was someone here who could.

“Thank you both. I’ve managed to get a rough idea of what we’re up against.”

“What’ll you do now, Kadono-kun?” Miyaka asked.

“I’ll lure him out and kill him,” he answered concisely, his voice indifferent as though he were making ordinary small talk. It wasn’t that he was taking this too lightly; he simply saw ­nothing to be serious about. The Red Cloak was no particular threat to him. He was just that confident in his own ability. “I intend to do it right away. Thankfully, we know what the two victims so far had in common.”

“Right! Both of the abducted girls had glasses and braids,” Kaoru said, clapping her hands together in appreciation of his idea.

Miyaka agreed that luring the Red Cloak in seemed like the best idea. She was relieved he was acting quickly too, so there would be no further victims. Even if his actions were based in self-interest, he at least had good sense at his core. A smile appeared on her face as she was touched by his good nature. “Knowing the Red Cloak’s preference will make things easier. So, do you want me or Kaoru to be the bait?”

“Neither. I appreciate your help, but I can’t let you put yourselves in danger. Go home for today. I’ll take care of the rest myself.”

Miyaka had been sure he would ask her or Kaoru to be the bait, but he apparently had something else planned.

“I can prepare the bait myself: a girl with glasses and a braid. With such clear traits, it’ll be simple enough.”

“You mean you’re going to…cross-dress?” Kaoru made a ­perplexed face.

“Of course not.” He shot the idea down. “I can’t be sure if my plan will work, but it’ll be safer than bringing you two along.”

It sounded like he actually had something planned. Perhaps it would be okay to really leave things to him, but Miyaka didn’t want to step back just yet. “…Kadono-kun, can you let me be the bait?”

She may not have known how to fight evil, but she had one clear advantage over him here—being a girl made her a better decoy no matter how one cut it.

“Himekawa girl… I’m sorry, but no. The Red Cloak is too much to entrust to a young girl. Even if everything goes well, the experience would probably leave you scarred.”

“That’s fine. Please. Let me do it for myself. I want to be of some help to my juniors, and to you.”

Seeing how serious she was, Jinya thought for a moment. He had agreed to let the girls come, even knowing they would likely hold him back, because he respected how much they cared about their juniors. But that had only been on the assumption they wouldn’t be around when he fought the Red Cloak.

“I’m sure you have something planned, but it’ll probably be more efficient if you use us. Am I wrong?” Miyaka was only guessing, but she was right. His silence was proof of that. Now that she understood how he had been trying to shoulder everything himself, she wouldn’t back down.

Jinya’s voice dropped low. “It’ll be dangerous. I can’t guarantee I can protect you.”

“I understand. I’m ready for whatever may happen.”

He showed some exasperation at her unexpected stubbornness, but he relented and accepted her request to help. “All right. Can I count on you?”

“…Yeah.” She smiled broadly, something unusual for her.

She was trying something dangerous, but she didn’t feel worried in the slightest. She had been helpless against the Slit-Mouthed Woman, but now she could be of some use, and that made her happy.

Just like that, the time for students to walk home came.

Though the world might change, twilight would never stop belonging to the spirits.

It had been her own request to be the bait to lure out the Red Cloak. She didn’t know Jinya well, but she had seen his skill firsthand when he fought the Slit-Mouthed Woman. That didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid, though. She looked down the dim street and wondered if the Red Cloak might suddenly appear around the bend and attack. The thought made her tremble.

Miyaka wore her junior high school uniform. Her hair came down to her back in a braid, and she wore glasses. She was the very image of a diligent and studious schoolgirl. Her natural hair was not especially dark and looked brown in the light, but it was nighttime now, so that was unlikely to be an issue.

Wearing the same outfit as the girls kidnapped by the Red Cloak, she walked the path away from school. Jinya spoke to her suddenly, but she could not see him.

“That look suits you.”

“Thanks, not that I’m too happy about that.”

“I wasn’t being sarcastic.”

“I’m sure, but not many high schoolers would be happy to hear their junior high school uniforms still look good on them.”

“Young girls are a mystery,” he murmured. Personally, she thought the fact he was a disembodied voice to be a greater mystery.

“I really can’t see you. What’s up with that?”

“Just something I picked up from a friend.”

After their conversation with Yachie, Kaoru returned home to be safe, and Miyaka prepared to be bait. Jinya was the one who braided her hair. He was good at it too, prompting her to ask where he learned it from. Jokingly, he replied that he used to do it for his daughter. The fact that he’d lie about such a thing showed he still saw them as little more than strangers.

With their preparations done, they left the school around the same time of day the Red Cloak had been spotted. She didn’t understand how, but Jinya was following beside her unseen. He’d suddenly vanished after whispering “Invisibility.” She was shocked at first, but she eventually calmed down enough to talk to him normally.

He told her he had certain abilities, one of which let him move around unseen. He claimed to even have an ability that created illusions, allowing him to disguise himself as someone else. It was bewildering information, but perhaps this much was normal for someone who regularly fought these monsters?

“But even if I can disguise myself, I can’t change who I actually am. It might not be enough to deceive the Red Cloak.”

“Hopefully it’ll work with me.” Miyaka was relieved to hear her insistence hadn’t been meaningless. She couldn’t tell where Jinya was, so she faced forward as she spoke. “It’s reassuring to have you nearby, even if I can’t see you.”

“Thanks, but don’t expect too much from me.”

“You don’t need to be so modest.”

The dark path was lit by streetlamps. It looked the same as it always did, but knowing that beings like the Slit-Mouthed Woman and the Red Cloak roamed freely through town made Miyaka feel like she had wandered into the realm of the inhuman. Of course, such spirits had always been in her town; she just hadn’t noticed them. The thought made her shudder.

“You think he’ll come? The Red Cloak, I mean.”

“I think with you as bait he will, but it’s a matter of his preferences.”

“His preferences?” she repeated, confused by the phrasing.

He hemmed and hawed for a bit, unsure whether he should elaborate or not. He decided to tell her in the end, probably because he’d been the one who brought the topic up in the first place. “The Red Cloak urban legend is based on several different things, some of the more famous being the Blue Blanket Butcher, the Abe Sada incident, and older kamishibai stories of the Red Cloak.”

Miyaka herself knew of the Red Cloak from a ghost story she read as a child in which a murderer called the Red Cloak asked people “Do you like red or blue more?” and killed their victims differently depending on their answer. But according to Jinya, the Red Cloak was an urban legend partially sourced from various real events.

“The Red Cloak of urban legend abducts children on their way home from school, particularly girls, and kills them. The version where Red Cloak makes you choose a color comes from a derivative story called ‘Red Cloak Blue Cloak.’”

“Young girls… Is that why you didn’t want me to be the bait?”

“More or less. I mainly didn’t want to have to describe the disturbing events behind the urban legend to a young girl like yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

He clammed up again, but her interest was already piqued. She looked in the direction of his voice, making him relent and continue.

“The story of the Blue Blanket Butcher involved kidnapping and murder. The Abe Sada incident is strongly associated with a bloody red and fear. The kamishibai stories gave the Red Cloak an elusive nature. All of these combined to form the basis for the Red Cloak urban legend, but none of them account for the part where girls, specifically, are abducted. That instead comes from another incident that happened around the same time the others were well known—the Yanaka Incident.”

One popular theory behind the origins of the Red Cloak urban legend was that it mixed the Red Cloak kamishibai stories with a real crime that took place. The idea wasn’t widespread until the kamishibai story author Kata Kouji released A History of Showa Kamishibai and mentioned the possibility himself. However, his purpose was to complain, as the police had ­forcibly seized his Red Cloak kamishibai story under the belief it had caused the Red Cloak rumors that had the country in an uproar. Around the same time, a girl was sexually assaulted and murdered at Yanaka Graveyard, located in Tokyo near Nippori Station, so that naturally came to be believed to have influenced the urban legend.

Also of note, three housewives out shopping were ­serially murdered during the early Showa years in the Ogu area of Arakawa City, Tokyo—the same area where the Abe Sada incident took place. This gave rise to a rumor that women who went to Ogu would be killed.

To sum it all up, it was believed that the Red Cloak in the ­urban legend received his fixation on girls from incidents of sexual violence and murders perpetuated against them.

“The Yanaka Incident was a case where a girl was assaulted and killed in Tokyo near Nippori Station. The story even made the newspapers. It didn’t help that the area had a graveyard already known as a place where delinquents were molesting girls walking home from school.”

“I have a feeling I won’t like where this is going…” Miyaka said.

“I’d imagine. The Red Cloak kidnaps girls to sexually assault them, meaning the glasses and the braids are his sexual preferences.” Jinya reappeared, stepped in front of Miyaka, and drew his blade.

Her heart suddenly skipped a beat. With perfect timing, a figure had appeared before them, one that felt inhuman. His ­appearance was a mystery, his face concealed behind a mask and his body covered by a red cloak. In his hands was a knife. It was the Red Cloak spoken of in the urban legend.

Jinya stood protectively in front of Miyaka as though to block her from the Red Cloak’s sight. In a poor attempt at comfort, he said, “Well… On the bright side, this means he thinks you look good?”

“Still not happy to hear it.”

He had been hesitant to use her as bait, but not out of fear for her safety so much as something else entirely. The Red Cloak was an enemy of womankind everywhere. It was dangerous, yes, but it was appalling for a far greater reason.

Miyaka felt some fear toward the Red Cloak, but knowing his vulgar nature made much of it fade. In its place was a strong sense of revulsion.

“At any rate, we’ve managed to lure him out. I’ll be ending this quickly, Red Cloak.” The air around Jinya began to change, and he pointed the tip of his blade at the Red Cloak. As if responding in kind, the mysterious being of urban legend attacked, his cloak fluttering as he rushed forward.

4

THE CLOAK WAS SECONDARY to the Red Cloak’s identity. His tale began with a murderer wearing a blue blanket, a detail that was later changed to be a red blanket before the blanket was finally changed for a cloak. In other words, the cloak was the last element of the being’s identity, coming after the fact that he was red, the color of bloodshed.

That was why so many of the Red Cloak’s derivative stories focused on choosing between colors more than cloaks. Blood and murder constituted the core of the urban legend. His purpose was to dye himself red with other people’s blood. As if to prove that, he attacked now.

His cloak fluttered like wings, his movements light and swift. Each of his hands held a large knife, one of which cut through the air as he slashed at Jinya’s throat.¢

Metal clashed against metal. Jinya blocked the first strike with Yarai, but the Red Cloak didn’t stop. He swung wide with his other knife without stopping his momentum.

Jinya’s long tachi blade could not move as deftly as a knife. He had blocked the first strike, but the second was fast ­approaching. He did not fret, however, and reacted calmly as the attack came. He inched his right foot back and slid his sword. It was the slightest of movements, but it was all he needed to do to strike his adversary’s exposed wrist with the bottom of his sword handle.

There was a loud impact, but the Red Cloak managed to hold on to his knives. However, he lost his balance. Jinya took the opportunity to drop low and slam his left shoulder full force into the Red Cloak’s solar plexus.

“Giii?!” The Red Cloak let out a cry as distance opened ­between them. Jinya thought he had sent him flying for a ­moment, but the Red Cloak had dexterously leaped back in time. He’d already sent his next strike into the air, a number of knives raining down on Jinya.

More knives than Jinya could bother to count were about to pelt him. There were too many to dodge, but he had no reason to avoid them in the first place. He stood his ground and met them head-on. Not a single blade pierced him, instead making shrill sounds as they collided with his body and fell to the cold asphalt below.

Jinya was unscathed, but he did not boast about it. He stared emotionlessly at the Red Cloak.

He had used Indomitable, an ability that hardened his whole body, manifested from a wish to be unbreakable. There was no way the likes of this spirit could pierce through the feelings of the clumsy but purehearted man who once held this ability.

Jinya didn’t know if the Red Cloak had emotions, but he seemed to falter at his gaze, and Jinya didn’t let the opportunity slip. He stepped in at once and swung his blade. The Red Cloak reacted to the sudden attack as best as he could but couldn’t fully evade it. Without reaching bone, the strike cut flesh and sent forth a gush of blood. The mysterious killer who dyed ­himself red with the blood of others was now dyed by his own blood.

Jinya watched the Red Cloak as he continued to exchange blows in close melee. Like the Slit-Mouthed Woman, the Red Cloak had strength that lived up to his urban legend, but no more than that. That being the case, Jinya would be able to dispatch it without issue. All that remained was to see if the Red Cloak might be a counterfeit urban legend and show himself as capable of more.

The Red Cloak used his two knives deftly but could not evade Jinya’s hefty blade or strike through his Indomitable. He slowly lost ground, and his notorious red cloak was gradually cut to shreds. Covered in wounds and clinging to life, he leapt back, narrowly avoiding an overhead strike from Jinya but having his mask sliced apart in the process.

“Ga, gii…” The Red Cloak uttered in a strange voice as the two halves of his mask clattered against the ground. Miyaka saw the mysterious being’s face and let out a small shriek.

The face was not that of a human. It was bestial, complete with fangs. Though he stood on two legs and wielded knives, the Red Cloak’s face resembled that of a hairless, wrinkly bat.

“A nobusuma… I see. So that’s why he would leap from tree to tree,” Jinya murmured.

“What do you mean? He isn’t the Red Cloak?”

“No, he is. Just not completely. This is another counterfeit urban legend.”

From what Natsuki had told him, this town had many urban legends. But this one, like the Slit-Mouthed Woman before, was not a naturally occurring one.

“The Slit-Mouthed Woman was supposed to be nothing more than a humanoid spirit, and the Red Cloak an ordinary murderer. But they were both different. Something unnecessary was added while they were being created.”

True urban legends were no different from the spirits of old. There were those that brought harm to man and those that were harmless if they were left alone. But this urban legend didn’t kill because it was in its nature as an urban legend; it killed because it was created to.

Something dark stirred within Jinya.

“What do you mean?” Miyaka asked.

“Do you remember what I told you about how spirits form?”

“Sure. You said spirits can be born from nothingness. Negative emotion gathers together to create urban legends and so on.”

“That’s right. The one I’m after right now can make these urban legends. They have the power to control negative emotion and manifest something physical from it. It’s a specialty of theirs…but they must have thought just making them normally wasn’t enough.”

Jinya hadn’t slowly discovered who the creator of these ­urban legends was as he encountered them. It was the opposite. He ­already knew who they were and had been pursuing them when he started to encounter these counterfeit urban legends.

His own fate and the fate of the urban legends’ creator were intertwined, much to his displeasure. They were someone who had remained a thorn in his side ever since the Taisho era.

“They took the fear and anxiety countless people felt about these urban legend rumors and created something real from it. But in the process, they added their own little touches. The ­Slit-Mouthed Woman had a wicked fox spirit added to it, and this Red Cloak contains traces of a nobusuma. By combining urban legends with old spirits to which they have high affinity, they managed to create an even stronger spirit. They became something entirely different from what was spoken of in ­rumors—counterfeit urban legends.”

Nobusuma were a kind of spirit talked about around the outskirts of Edo. It was depicted in various collections of ghost stories, often drawn as a flying beast, and was said to eat fire and suck the blood of live humans and animals. Its true identity was a bat that had lived so long it had become a spirit. It was a good fit for the Red Cloak, who was thought by some to be a vampire and, in some variations of his story, rumored to suck you dry of blood depending on how you answered his question.

Kii, kii. The Red Cloak let out a strange cry. Though he was still human-shaped, his movements were anything but. He jumped from lampposts and fences, off walls and buildings, leaping this way and that around Jinya to try and find an opening. Without coming too close, it repeatedly attacked from the periphery of Jinya’s vision, not committing fully to a killing blow but just trying to provoke an opening.

Jinya deftly avoided the slashes of the knives as he bit into the palm of his own right hand. The look of the Red Cloak’s face changed ever so slightly.

In the Edo era collection 100 Illustrated Ghost Stories, the nobusuma was described as a bat that had lived long enough to become a spirit, but it was also another name used for flying squirrels. Considering this, it wasn’t strange that the Red Cloak was nimble enough to essentially glide through the air, nor was it peculiar that it desired to suck blood.

A trickle of blood spilled from Jinya’s palm. As it did so, the Red Cloak stopped leaping around and charged straight at Jinya, unleashing a powerful attack. Jinya met the attack head-on but got pushed back. The strength of the blow genuinely overwhelmed him.

Jinya was forced slightly off-balance. The Red Cloak’s eyes shone with fiendish glee as it finally saw an opening.

Then the Red Cloak made his move. Despite being an ­amalgamation with a nobusuma, he was an urban legend first. He had the added traits of the classic spirit, but his nature was that of the Red Cloak of urban legend, and it was the Red Cloak’s nature to target girls. Therefore, no follow-up came as Jinya lost his balance. Instead, the Red Cloak set his sights on Miyaka.

“Huh?” Miyaka froze, caught in a daze. She could only cry out in blank surprise.

The Red Cloak, his bestial face twisted further with exhilaration, approached rapidly with two knives in hand. There was nothing an ordinary girl like her could do.

“Oh.” By the time she understood what was happening, it was already too late. Her legs gave out, and she fell to the ground as the Red Cloak brought one of his knives up.

He was close. All that remained was for him to easily stab a knife into her. Escape was impossible. She would die here. She wouldn’t be able to do a thing as her skull was split open and its contents spilled out.

Envisioning her last moments, Miyaka shut her eyes in fear. However, Jinya had expected all this. “If it’s blood you want, you can have mine. But you might not like it.”

Something knocked the knife out of the Red Cloak’s hand and sent it flying. Before he could turn around, a number of red blades suddenly pierced his body. This was why Jinya had bitten his hand.

He had used Blood Blade, the power to make swords with blood as a catalyst, an ability that manifested from the desire of a man who wanted to remain a samurai until the very last drop of blood in him.

“Gah, giiii?!”

Jinya took one last long blade of blood and threw it, ­piercing the Red Cloak’s body from behind. He had known from the start that the Red Cloak would aim for Miyaka, so he had been ­prepared. As he approached the Red Cloak, he took off his uniform jacket and threw it onto Miyaka. She was bewildered by his action, but there was a reason for it. He meant to end this in the few moments her vision was obscured, sparing her the bloody sight.

The Red Cloak spun around to meet him as he stepped in, but it was all too late. He tried to swing his knife at Jinya’s vitals and struck with precision, but the attack was too easy to read. Jinya simply brought his left hand up to the Red Cloak’s extended arm and brushed the strike aside without needing to block or dodge. At the same time, he changed his grip on his sword to hold it in reverse. The Red Cloak’s last desperate strike had missed, and it was left fatally defenseless.

Jinya brought his blade up to the Red Cloak’s lowered chin and sliced through in one clean cut, leaving no time even for death throes. The Red Cloak’s head was instantly separated from its torso. To make doubly sure he was dead, Jinya gripped his sword with both hands and swung down, bisecting the body through. He kicked the corpse away, distancing it from Miyaka.

“Huh? Wh-what?” Miyaka hurriedly took off Jinya’s jacket and gawked at her surroundings, but it was already over.

Jinya stood in front of her, remaining alert as he eyed the Red Cloak’s corpse. Without looking back, he quietly said, “Sorry for tossing my jacket onto you. I couldn’t think of anything better in the moment.”

“N-no, it’s fine. Um, where’s the Red Cloak?” She seemed relatively unshaken, since she hadn’t seen the Red Cloak’s last moments.

“Dealt with. It’s gotten late, so let me walk you home. We can stop by somewhere if you want.” His joke led her to make a slight face. She seemed to find this ending a bit anticlimactic.

He swung the blood off his blade and sheathed it. Turning around, he offered his hand out to her.

With the Red Cloak slain, the night was quiet once more, but anxious thoughts still stirred within him.

After seeing Miyaka home, he walked to his own alone.

“You’re as deplorable as ever…” he spat. “You were right, I don’t have a monopoly on getting stronger. But your new strength is rather sickening…Yonabari.”

***

Weaver was an ability that gathered emotions and changed their shape. It was used to manifest prayers, give shape to the shapeless, turn devotion into something real. It was a power truly befitting of a shrine maiden, a power one might see in ancient tales. However, it could only grant wishes in dark ways.

Remorse and regret, spite and malice, jealousy and hatred. The ability functioned by taking these emotions of the user, or the ones absorbed from those who died cruel deaths, and manipulating them. Yonabari had seen Nagumo Eizen use the ability to create his many demon underlings, and perhaps it was only a matter of time before they started using it themselves to create the horrible creatures of urban legends.

“The Slit-Mouthed Woman and the Red Cloak, a Resort Job and Tony’s Invisible Murder. I’ve made lots so far. Maybe some of them will surprise you, Jinta-kun?”

Yonabari had spent a long time thinking over why they lost. They had been stronger than Jinya physically, but they lacked his experience. Yonabari had a more powerful and flexible ability than any of Jinya’s own, but Jinya knew how to utilize his abilities in cunning ways. His victory was no stroke of luck. Jinya knew where his strengths lay and had taken a rightfully deserved victory.

In order to beat Jinya, Yonabari needed something that could surpass him. But what? They had no means of dramatically increasing their physical abilities any further, and aiming to gain combat experience would be fruitless because Jinya would only do the same over the years. Their demon ability was already set as well. Yonabari’s answer was to broaden the scope of Weaver. After decades of training with it, they could now create their own counterfeit urban legends.

It was all done to rid themselves of the humiliation they had received. Their defeat had pushed them to a greater height.

“But it’s still not enough…”

The many urban legends Yonabari had made so far were only test trials, but they’d enjoyed the process. It certainly didn’t hurt that this was the Demon Eater’s hometown. The diverse ­collection of spirits they’d let loose had caused plenty of panic and death, and that knowledge brought solace to them.

But it wasn’t enough. Their experimenting had a purpose. It had to give them something that could rival the man who shamed them, or else all this effort and pushing Weaver to its limits would be worthless.

In the past they had only been half motivated, simply acting to lash out against the Taisho world around them, but things were different now. Yonabari wanted one thing and one thing only: to see Jinya groveling in agony before them.

“All right. Back to the grindstone.”

But that goal was still far off. They would need to create many more monsters before finding the right one.

With impure eyes, lips humming a tune, and a broad smile full of unmistakable malice adorning their face, they strolled into the night.

***

Once again, Miyaka found herself looking around the classroom and thinking high school was nothing like junior high.

The school was well equipped with facilities, the classes were harder, and the clubs were livelier. There were flashy girls, boys and girls who were close with each other, and even a swordsman who slew spirits. Everyone left such striking impressions.

The school had let them off easy even though they’d skipped classes only a month into the school year, and Miyaka suspected that wasn’t just because it was a public school. Not that she was complaining.

“I heard you skipped yesterday? That’s, like, so wild.”

The morning after they encountered the Red Cloak, the class’s flashiest girl, Momoe Moe, came up to Miyaka. She, Kaoru, and Jinya had left school early to investigate the Red Cloak, but it probably looked like they were playing hooky.

“We did, but it’s not what you think, Momoe-san.”

“Call me ‘Aki,’ m’kay? Tell me whatcha did later. I wanna hear.” The flamboyant girl smiled, then left with a wave.

“Um, sure…”

Moe dressed a bit gaudily for Miyaka’s tastes, but she didn’t seem like a bad person. Her smile felt genuine, at least. There were lots of bad rumors going around about her, like that she had a sugar daddy and that kind of stuff, but they probably weren’t true.

Miyaka had a hard time in class that day, likely because yesterday had left her so tired. Eventually the long-awaited lunch period came, and she invited Jinya to eat with her so they could talk about last night.

“Sorry that I made trouble for you yesterday,” Jinya said.

“You’re fine. We’re the ones who insisted on coming along in the first place,” Miyaka replied.

“Your presence was a help. I’ll be counting on you two to pass along any other urban legend rumors you hear.”

Jinya had brought a classic boxed lunch that he bought at the convenience store consisting of rice, fish, and veggie side dishes. Miyaka had a boxed lunch made by her mom. Kaoru wanted to try out the breads from the school store, so she would be meeting them a bit later.

Jinya went and borrowed the key to the off-limits rooftop. The view made it the perfect place to eat lunch, a guilty pleasure only they and no other students could trespass onto and enjoy. Their topic of conversation was a bit unnerving for a regular lunch, but that fact was amusing in its own right.

“Hopefully these urban legends don’t crop up too frequently,” Miyaka said.

“I feel the same way. I’d rather spend my days in peace if I can. It’d be nice to be able to deal with all these urban legends quickly.”

It sounded like he had a lot on his plate. Perhaps society was only at peace thanks to people like him working in the shadows to fight spirits.

Feeling suddenly grateful, Miyaka grabbed a piece of chicken from her lunch and held it out. She felt she owed him for yesterday, anyway. “Uhh, good luck fighting, I guess? Here, have one of these. As thanks.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Want a piece of my egg too?” Without waiting for him to answer, she moved one of her rolled omelets over.

The mood unexpectedly turned peaceful. The sky above was blue, and the wind was soothing. Yesterday’s problem was dealt with, and she was getting used to high school life. Things were good.

At least, they were good until Kaoru appeared, running up and shouting, “We’ve got a problem! One of the boys from the neighboring class says he saw Toilet Ghost Hanako-san!”

“What…?” Miyaka said, stunned. Toilet Ghost Hanako-san, or just Hanako-san, was the mostfamous of all school ghost stories. And she just so happened to be at their school?! Looking to Jinya, she asked, “Is that…true?”

Between bites, he indifferently replied, “I haven’t seen anything myself, but someone I know says he’s felt something bad lurking around the school.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding…”

“There are probably a few urban legends hiding here and there. The only question is whether they’re counterfeit urban legends or naturally occurring ones.”

That meant an inhuman monster like the one she saw ­yesterday could appear before her right here in school. Not even the restrooms were safe—there were several urban legends, like Hanako-san, that killed their victims by dragging them into the toilets. Many rivaled the Red Cloak in terms of danger.

“And here I was hoping they wouldn’t crop up too frequently.”

“Spirits haunting toilets is basically guaranteed. Just about every school has one,” the expert on the matter said.

“You’re not helping…” Miyaka groaned. She was beginning to regret her choice of school.

Moving Forward, Hand in Hand

1

YOSHIOKA MAI APPLIED to Modori River High School on the suggestion of her close friend Tomishima Yanagi. They became friends in their second year of junior high, though they never once shared a class. It all started when he ­suddenly chatted her up while she was reading on her own. They were in different classes, were different genders, and shared no hobbies or interests, but they somehow got along anyway. Their friendship that started from one simple conversation had lasted far longer than she thought it would.

Even after starting high school, Mai spent every free moment she had reading in the library, just like she did in junior high. After school was over, the library filled with orange light, and the atmosphere turned tranquil. Time seemed to stop here and here alone. The field could be made out clearly from the second floor where the library was located. Looking out the window, she could see students hard at work on their sports club activities. Some of them were probably in her class.

“What’re you reading there?”

“Um, an old collection of tales. Ghost stories and the like.”

“You really read it all, huh?”

Sitting next to her, Yanagi read a history manga from the ­library. He wasn’t the type who enjoyed sitting still, nor did he like difficult books. Despite that, he would take the time to read with her like this every now and then. He’d done so these past few days because of the recent murders of a few junior high school girls that had been on the news. Mai had a habit of getting too ­engrossed in her reading and forgetting the time, so he stuck around after school for her. Happy about that, she blushed. She hid her red cheeks with her book, but he probably didn’t notice.

She could hear the pages brush one another as she turned them, and the sound soothed something deep inside her as time slowly trickled on by.

She’d been born with a weak constitution. She couldn’t exercise, and playing had been difficult as a child. That was why she had few friends. The only thing she could recall when she thought back on her childhood memories was books. She was always alone, so she spent her free time reading. Stories had been the one friend that brushed away the loneliness.

She closed her book and let out a sigh. Finished with it, she closed her eyes and basked in the afterglow of its stories.

Today she’d read Spirit Tales of Ancient Japan, a book ­published in the late Edo period. It was an anthology of ghost stories, both famous and obscure, from back when Tokyo was still known as Edo.

The last story was “The Princess and the Blue Demon.” She enjoyed thinking about the kind of worlds that had given rise to the tales she read. It was as if she were glimpsing the past. Perhaps that was a bland way of enjoying stories, but it was what she liked. “The Princess and the Blue Demon” had been different, however. There was nothing special about it. It was an ordinary tale about man and demon. It lacked originality, and yet it ­interested her anyway, perhaps because it took place here where she had been born.

“You done reading? We should start heading home soon.”

“Sorry I made you wait, Yanagi-kun.”

“It’s fine. I’d rather not have you walking home alone right now.”

Yanagi always treated Mai like a child. She wanted to protest, but it was hard when she knew he was just looking out for her.

The orange sky had turned indigo at some point, and it would be time for the library to close soon. Nobody but the two of them and the library aide were left. They gathered their things, said some quick pleasantries to the library aide, and left.

Mai stopped at the door and glanced back into the silent library, feeling some sentimental evening blues.

She had read a story of a young man who became a demon. He failed to protect the one he loved and turned his back on his former family. Lamenting his failures, he left his village as the Blue Demon and embarked on a journey to who knew where.

***

May 2009.

For lunch, Kadono Jinya ate the school’s croquette lunch set. Slathered in sauce, of course. Someone dear to him had taught him that croquettes were best like this because it made them pair extra well with rice.

Modori River High School was well equipped compared to other schools in the prefecture. There were three school ­buildings—A, B, and C—as well as a special fourth building. Building A had the cafeteria, and a large one at that. It was mostly white with large windows that allowed lots of sunlight, giving it a very clean impression. Students funneled in when lunchtime rolled around, making it quite lively.

“The school’s got good food.”

“Right? There’s tons of stuff on the menu too. High school’s on a whole ’nother level.”

Jinya sat at a four-person table by the windows. With him was his classmate Azusaya Kaoru, who had ordered a meat-sauce spaghetti, which must have tasted quite good judging from the satisfied smile on her face. Himekawa Miyaka usually joined them as well, but she had business with a teacher, so it was just the two of them today. Kaoru didn’t seem to care that she was eating with an urban-legend-fighting boy of mysterious character and just blithely enjoyed her meal.

“Himekawa had business in the faculty room?”

“Yep. She wanted to talk to our teacher about something. Nothing to do with our urban legend biz; just schoolwork stuff.”

“She’s surprisingly hardworking.”

“Right? People say she seems mean, but she’s actually just shy. She’s super kind and takes school real seriously too.”

Miyaka’s hair color was not very dark, making it seem brown in the light. That, combined with her bluntness, made many teachers think she was your typical delinquent who dyed their hair, among other rebellious things. As Miyaka’s friend since junior high, Kaoru didn’t like it when people judged her without really knowing her.

“By the way, aren’t you in any clubs, Kadono-kun? You seem like you’d be good at sports.”

“I’m not too interested in any. I’d rather not stand out either.”

“What a waste of all that talent!”

“What about you, then, Asa…Azusaya. Are you in any clubs?”

“Nah, I suck at sports and want to mess around after school. And don’t you think you should remember my name by now?”

“I do remember your name. It’s just that whenever I look at you, I can’t help but recall that heavenly maiden I saw.”

“Not this again.”

They chatted cheerfully as they ate. They talked about how strict this and that teacher were, what hobbies they had, what place they wanted to check out after school, clubs, and so on. It was mostly Kaoru talking with Jinya doing the listening, but it was a nice conversation, nonetheless. The mood was good.

Jinya had met Azusaya Kaoru as Asagao in the Meiji era. She didn’t seem to recognize him from that time yet, but he couldn’t help but feel nostalgic whenever she smiled her carefree smile.

“And then, like…”

“I had a feeling. Those poor girls…”

“You know, that was actually my old junior high school…”

A few girls passed by, and Kaoru suddenly stopped ­talking when she overheard them. Her cheerfulness disappeared, suddenly replaced by sadness and a look of shame. She looked down, hanging her head.

“Thinking about what happened?”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah.” She tried to smile, but it was stiff. The girls’ topic of discussion was weighing on her mind. It had been all over the news these past few days: Two Missing Junior High School Girls Found Brutally Murdered. The culprit was still at large. The police were working tirelessly to investigate the case. “I know there’s no point thinking about it, but still…”

“I understand. There’s nothing left to be done, but that doesn’t mean everything’s been resolved cleanly.”

“Yeah…”

The culprit in the case, the Red Cloak, had been slain about a month ago by Jinya. The matter was settled, but that didn’t mean things would go back to normal for everyone. The two victims of the Red Cloak had been discovered recently. With the world ­unaware of the urban legend’s existence, the case was being handled as an ordinary serial killing. The police were stuck pursuing a culprit who was already dead, meaning the case would forever remain unsolved.

“All I can do is slay spirits. Sadly, I cannot revert what they’ve done.”

“I know it’s not your fault, Kadono-kun. You saved me from the Slit-Mouthed Woman and let us come along when we insisted on helping with the Red Cloak thing. But still, it’s a lot to take in…”

Even with the Red Cloak defeated, nothing could be done for the two girls who’d been killed. Kaoru had known that, but she’d only recently registered its full meaning. She felt exasperated over how slow she could be.

“I was all excited at first, you know. To find out the world was full of the supernatural and to experience it myself. It was like I was on an adventure… But this isn’t some manga, is it? People really die because of these things.”

The Slit-Mouthed Woman and the Red Cloak were dealt with fairly soon after their discovery by Jinya, so Kaoru never had to truly consider the possibility of death. She’d thought encountering these urban legends was a mysterious and thrilling experience that would all end cleanly once the urban legend was slain, but that was far from the truth. In reality, if any little thing had gone differently, the two girls on the news might’ve been her and Miyaka instead.

“Now I get why you told us what you knew. I thought it was because you didn’t want us getting in your way, but it’s really ­because you don’t want us going off and getting hurt.”

“That’s right. I can protect you two when I’m around, but I can’t always come running when you’re in danger. In fact, I’m often late to arrive when I’m most needed.”

That was why he had opened up about urban legends to the two and strictly warned them not to stick their noses in where they didn’t belong. But Kaoru had ignored his words, and she felt terribly ashamed of herself.

Jinya took his hand and flicked her in the forehead with it.

“Ow.”

“There’s no need to be so depressed. It’s enough that you now know about the dangers around you.”

“O-okay…”

“I won’t ask you to completely trust me, but I’d be happy if you relied on me when you need help. I may not be able to save you from everything, but I’m more used to these kinds of matters than you two.”

It was already near the end of their lunch period. Seeing Jinya start eating again, Kaoru did the same, a little more rushed than him. The sides of her mouth got messy with the meat sauce in her haste, so he held out a napkin.

“Here. Wipe your mouth.”

“Oh, thanks. I feel like I’m being treated like a child, though…” She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. He definitely treated her rather oddly for a classmate, but he couldn’t help himself. The past was still very much with him. When he saw Kaoru, he thought of those days he had been with Nomari.

“You’ll have to forgive me. I’m well over a hundred years old, so you are all like grandchildren to me.”

“Huh? Wait, what?”

“We should be going. Don’t want to be late for class.”

“Whoa, whoa, you can’t just say that and leave!”

Jinya got up from his seat, leaving Kaoru with her mouth ­hanging open. After returning his tray, he waited for her at the entrance.

“Sorry, I’m ready now,” she said.

“Let’s be off, then.”

She didn’t treat him any differently even after hearing he was past a hundred. Understandably, she probably took it as a joke. With neither thinking much of it, they left the cafeteria and returned to the classroom, hurrying slightly to avoid being late. The cafeteria was in building A, and Class 1-C was on the fourth floor of building B. It was nice that the cafeteria was clean and had tasty food, but the distance was a big downside.

They continued their conversation from before as they walked down the corridor, but then Kaoru came to a sudden stop.

“Is something wrong?”

“Um…”

He followed her gaze to see a group of three girls down the corridor. They were probably from a different class, because none of them looked familiar. They were looking at a girl he recognized as Yoshioka Mai, a classmate he knew by name but hadn’t really spoken with before.

She was out on the field picking something up while the three girls pointed and laughed with cruelty in their smiles. No matter how you looked at it, something malicious was going on.

Kaoru scowled and stared at the three. They saw her and returned glares of their own, but then they noticed that Jinya was there and sheepishly averted their gazes. The young-looking Kaoru was one thing, but they didn’t want to pick a fight with someone so muscular and intimidating. They left with their tails between their legs, grumbling complaints all the while.

“People like that really suck, huh?” Kaoru huffed. She then started trotting out toward the field. “Oh, give me a second!”

She was the honest, straightforward type. She acted impulsively and didn’t look before she leapt at all, but Jinya didn’t think that was necessarily a bad thing.

He followed her out onto the field and saw an exhausted-looking Yoshioka hunched over picking up scattered textbooks and stationery. Her bag and its contents looked like they’d been tossed outside and were covered in the field’s sand.

“You okay?” Kaoru asked.

“Eek! A-ah, um…” Yoshioka reacted rather severely, cowering back.

But Kaoru didn’t wait for a reply, immediately helping her pick up the scattered things. Jinya lent a hand as well. After they’d ­collected everything, Kaoru handed them over and put on a cheerful smile as though to try and relax Yoshioka’s nerves. “Here.”

“O-oh…” Yoshioka still seemed a bit timid, though. She stood there frozen, not saying a word and looking close to tears.

Kaoru didn’t seem to know what to do either. The moment continued for a while until a voice suddenly broke the awkward silence.

“Mai! Are you all right?!” It was a loud, booming shout—almost a scream. Then Tomishima Yanagi came running along and positioned himself between Kaoru and Yoshioka, standing protectively before the latter.

He took a quick glance around and frowned. He seemed to think that Kaoru was the one who had been messing with Yoshioka. His gaze was fierce, far fiercer than one should show a young girl. Feeling the full brunt of his anger, Kaoru trembled.

“Azusaya was just helping pick up Yoshioka-san’s things. I think we can do without the animosity,” Jinya said firmly. It was a little sad that Kaoru’s kindness was being repaid like this.

Tomishima looked at Yoshioka for confirmation. Seeing her nod, he looked doubtfully between Jinya and Kaoru before finally relenting and letting himself relax. He asked, “Is…that true?”

“Y-yeah,” Kaoru replied.

“I see… It looks like I overreacted.” He sighed and transformed back into his usual kind self. “I’m sorry, Azusaya-san. I scared you, didn’t I?”

“It’s all right. I can see how you’d misunderstand what was going on.”

“Still, it’s my fault here. I need to apologize to you too, Kadono. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

Jinya just waved his hand as though to say “Don’t worry about it.”

With things settled, Yoshioka anxiously tugged at Tomishima’s sleeves.

“Ah, sorry. We’ll be heading back first. Thanks for picking up her stuff,” Tomishima said.

“Thank Kaoru. I just helped out a bit,” Jinya said.

“Fair enough. Thank you, Azusaya-san. Come on, tell her thanks too, Mai.”

In a small voice, Yoshioka thanked Kaoru, but that seemed to be all she could manage; she just hung her head afterward. Tomishima apologized for her, then led her away by the hand.

Krik. Krik.

As they left, Jinya heard a hard, cold sound. What was it? The two were gone before he could ask, as was the sound. Kaoru showed no sign that she heard it, but Jinya had heard it too clearly to believe it was just his imagination.

“Sorry for making you tag along, Jinya-kun.”

Jinya was still thinking when Kaoru’s voice brought his mind to a halt. Yoshioka had hardly managed a thanks before leaving, but Kaoru didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. She spun around to look at Jinya, appearing more frustrated than anything.

“I don’t mind at all.”

“Can you believe it, though? We’re in high school already, and yet there are still such childish people around. Really gets on my nerves.” Her ribbon shook as her whole body shivered with anger.

Someone had obviously thrown Yoshioka’s bag out onto the field from the school. Judging from her timidness around Kaoru, this was probably something that happened often. Belatedly, Jinya realized this was that “bullying” thing he had heard about. Arguments were inevitable when people were brought together, but he could never bring himself to accept such malicious, ­backhanded harassment.

“Urban legends can be scary, but so can people,” Kaoru said.

“Yeah.”

Unlike urban legends, problems between people weren’t easily solved through violence. The side doing the bullying had to reflect on what they did wrong, and it was too big of a request to expect the ones being bullied to stand up for themselves. Jinya was good for nothing but killing. There wasn’t much he could see himself doing to help Yoshioka.

“How about we go back?”

“Yeah…”

They didn’t say much as they returned to the classroom. The good mood from their lunch was gone, replaced by a bitter ­aftertaste. However, that sound Jinya had heard also lingered with him. He felt he had heard that krik, krik clicking noise before. He remembered what it was after some more thinking, partially because he’d used one recently himself.

“A box cutter knife…” he murmured.

Box cutters were often used in school. The unique krik, krik of its blade extending echoed in his mind and refused to leave him.

2

IT ALL STARTED BACK WHEN Yoshioka Mai was in her third year of junior high.

She didn’t remember what started it anymore. Maybe it was because she was gloomy or because she wasn’t pretty. Maybe it was because she was so terribly shy or because the teachers liked her diligence and good grades. Maybe it was her voice. They’d always tell her how annoying it was.

She could come up with many reasons why, but she didn’t remember just what had started it all.

“That girl’s always so gloomy and sensitive. Isn’t she kinda annoying?”

“Right? She’s so manipulative too, always using that fake voice to try and get boys to fawn over her.”

“Talk about gross.”

“So I was thinking…”

“Hey, yeah.”

“Let’s get everyone else in on this, then.”

She hadn’t done anything particularly wrong, but before she knew it, she had no place in the classroom.

“Oh? Didn’t anybody tell you our next class got moved to a ­different room today?”

“She was probably off playing with some guy.”

A teacher scolded her, and she was turned into the laughingstock of the class. Her school shoes and textbooks got thrown away more times than she could count. Her gym clothes were torn up, and she was tripped and sent tumbling. Buckets of dirty water were poured on her head, and filthy rags were rubbed on her face.

“You’re dirty. Here, let me wipe you off!”

“Ew, look at her!”

“Ha ha ha! She stinks!”

I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.

The more she cried and apologized, the more enjoyment the girls seemed to get out of it. Even her classmates laughed. She tried her best to go to school anyway, but every morning she would feel nauseated to the point of throwing up.

She became afraid of school, afraid of her classmates, afraid of their voices, their gazes. She would go to bed fearing the coming morning and eventually became too scared to go to school at all.

She holed up in her room, closed the curtains so nobody could see her, turned off the lights, and simply waited for time to go by. She trembled whenever her house’s intercom rang, and she would hear laughter echoing in her room even when no one was there. Their gazes, relishing in her misery, followed her wherever she was.

“Stop it… No more…”

What had she done to deserve this?

Krik, krik. Krik, krik. The dull sound was soon followed by spreading pain. Alone in her dark room, she thought her aching heart grated like rusted iron.

Her truancy continued for a long while, and she spent each day weeping. But there was one good thing to be found during that time.

“Heeey, Mai. I got some taiyaki. You want any?”

Tomishima Yanagi. A boy from another class she’d befriended in her second year of junior high. Their classes were far apart, so he didn’t know much about the bullying that was going on. Or maybe he did but pretended not to for her sake. He treated her no differently than before and came to meet her several times after she became a shut-in.

The bullying hadn’t started yet back in their second year. She remembered being startled back when he suddenly spoke to her in the library.

“…Is that any fun?”

And that was how their friendship began. He wasn’t shy or timid like her, so he would always talk to her when they met in the library.

They weren’t placed in the same class during their last year of junior high, but she would read in the library until his ­soccer ­practice was over and meet him afterward so they could walk home together, usually stopping somewhere first. They would even hang out on their days off. He was popular with girls, so she was just another one of his close female friends. But he was ­probably her closest male friend. Maybe even her best friend, period.

But the sound of anybody’s voice had come to terrify her, which was why she never once tried to meet with him when he visited. She thought he would soon grow fed up and forget about her, but he visited almost every day to talk to himself in front of her room.

“This’ll be our last soccer tournament, so I’m working hard. I won’t tell you to come watch us, but I’d be happy if you cheered me on.”

She listened but never replied. She felt as though he would hate her if he heard her voice.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t been to the library lately. You know any books a dumb guy like me could read?”

She couldn’t bring herself to like books anymore, even though she had loved them so much before.

“We got second at championships. Everyone keeps saying I did good, but if I just hadn’t missed that one shot…”

His voice sounded so dejected that day, but she felt like any consoling words would turn meaningless if they came from her mouth.

“I’m thinking of applying to Modori River High School. It’d be kind of nice to go there with you… Just putting it out there.”

No matter how much he talked, she never said a word back. But he would keep coming anyway, rain or shine. He never told her to come out of her room. He never even told her he was ­worried about her. He just chatted about meaningless things, like one would do with a friend.

There was nothing special about what he did, and yet her tears overflowed.

Perhaps it wasn’t all bad. Even though she’d become afraid of everything, there was still someone who would reach out their hand to her.

Time passed quickly from there. Mai finally left her room. She didn’t have the courage to return to school, though, so she started attending an alternative school while studying for her high school entrance exams. Yanagi supported her, of course, and the two promised one another they’d go to the same school. In the end, they both successfully passed their entrance exams. With his help, she had moved past her trauma.

…But the two of them weren’t the only ones who got into Modori River High School. An unthinkable encounter awaited Mai on the day of the entrance ceremony.

“Hey, is that…?”

“You’re kidding.”

“Look who it is…”

The three girls who had spearheaded the bullying were ­starting school here as well. Graduating junior high wasn’t the end. Though the location had changed, she still remained in hell.

***

“Hey, Miyaka-chan. Do you think there are people who live to be over a hundred?” During the break between classes, Kaoru asked that question with an oddly serious look on her face.

“On TV, there was that pair of twin grannies who lived past a hundred.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that.”

“Where’s this coming from, anyway?”

Kaoru’s gaze was on a group of boys who had gathered to chat. Their conversation sounded lively, and she could hear their laughter even from where she and Miyaka sat. Among the boys was Jinya, someone to whom the girls had recently formed a strange connection.

“Jinya-kun said he was over a hundred when we ate lunch in the cafeteria yesterday.”

“I’m pretty sure he was just teasing you.” He looked nowhere close to a hundred. There were many fantastical things about him, but he certainly must’ve just been poking fun at Kaoru.

“You think so? I don’t really feel like he’s the type to joke around.” Kaoru seemed unconvinced.

Miyaka agreed about that, but there was simply no way Jinya was serious about being over a hundred. She couldn’t understand what Kaoru was so hung up about. Had Jinya really sounded that convincing, or was she just naive? Kaoru’s easily trusting nature was one of her strong points, but it certainly wasn’t doing her any favors here.

“Oh, by the way, want a piece?” Kaoru asked. “I bought some candy at the convenience store. Gorgeous Milk Candy. 680 yen a bag.”

“Sure. Kind of expensive for some candy, don’t you think?”

“I totally thought so too! But it’s good, so whatever. Here.”

Miyaka accepted a piece and tossed it into her mouth. It tasted like rich fresh cream. Kaoru was right, it was good.

Kaoru stuffed her cheeks with a piece as well. Then she seemed to get an idea and quickly jumped out of her seat. She walked over to a classmate reading quietly, Yoshioka Mai.

“Yoshioka-san, want a piece?”

“Huh…?”

“Try it. They’re good!”

Mai was flustered by the sudden offer. Kaoru’s outgoing personality was another one of her strong points, but she could be a bit much. Miyaka came up behind her and tried to smooth things over.

“Kaoru, you can’t just walk up to somebody and offer them candy out of the blue like this. I’m sorry about her, Yoshioka-san.”

“N-no, it’s fine…”

“Feel free to take it, though. It’s no big deal. She gave me one too, see?” Speaking softly, Miyaka pointed at her own cheek.

Stiffly, Mai answered the two with a smile. “Then I will. Thank you.”

“No problem!” Kaoru said, beaming.

Miyaka hadn’t spoken with Mai much before, but she didn’t seem that bad of a girl. This was the first time she’d properly heard her voice too. It was a bit unique, very clear and pleasant to the ear.

“Um, Azusaya-san. I’m sorry about yesterday. Even though you helped me, I…I…”

“It’s fine! I’m sorry too. I think I spooked you a bit?”

The three girls spent the rest of the break talking. Miyaka thought that it was nice to mix things up and talk to new people from time to time.

***

Jinya watched the three girls out of the corner of his eyes as he chatted with the boys, and so did Tomishima Yanagi. Yanagi often watched Mai like this. He seemed wary when Kaoru first ­approached but relaxed when they all started eating candy together, his gaze becoming soft.

“Relieved?” Jinya asked.

Yanagi seemed to be taken off guard. Perhaps he thought he had been discreet somehow. Sheepishly, he scratched his cheek and said, “Was it that obvious?”

“A bit. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s normal to worry about people who are dear to you.”

“Wh-what?” Yanagi blushed. “Okay, saying stuff like that is something you should be at least a little embarrassed about.”

“Jii-chan, how about cutting us younger folk some slack?” Natsuki chided Jinya for his overly blunt words. He seemed to sympathize with his same-aged friend Yanagi.

Yanagi appreciated the gesture and relaxed, but his expression soon turned grim. “Mai got bullied by some girls in her class back in junior high. That’s why I can’t help but be worried about her. Maybe a bit too much.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if you spent more time with her, then?” Natsuki suggested, but Yanagi shook his head.

“If I made it that obvious I was worried about her, she’d feel bad.” That was why he only tried to spend as much time as a normal close friend would spend with her. His face twisted with rage, probably because he was thinking about the bullying Mai had received before.

Natsuki sympathized with him. Then he got an idea and put a hand on Jinya’s shoulder. “Why don’t we do what we can to look after her too, Jii-chan? If something happens, we can let Tomishima know.”

“Good idea. I’m no stranger when it comes to matters of conflict. I’ll lend a hand whenever,” Jinya replied.

“Er, I’m not sure what you’re imagining, but I don’t think we’ll need that kind of help against some bullies. I’m begging you here, don’t do anything crazy.”

“I won’t. Do you really trust me that little?”

“No, I trust you. It’s just… What would you do if it was me being bullied?”

“I see… Perhaps your concerns are warranted.”

If someone bullied Natsuki, Jinya would certainly show them no mercy. He wouldn’t kill them, but he wouldn’t go easy on them either.

Yanagi smiled in deep relief, seeming put at ease by the two’s banter. “Sorry for the trouble, you two. I’ll be counting on you both. I wanna see Mai happy.”

“No problem. Miko’s already asked me to do basically the same thing anyway. But Tomishima and Yoshioka, huh? Talk about straight out of a movie. Maybe you two were meant for each other.”

“Ha ha, what’re you talking about?”

Jinya watched Natsuki with a smile. Yoshihiko and Kimiko’s great-grandson had turned out well. Being able to see other people grow like this was one of the joys of getting older.

***

Many people thought Tomishima Yanagi was odd, even within his class. But he didn’t do or say anything particularly strange. He was reasonably handsome, had excellent grades, and was athletic. He played soccer in junior high, became a regular player in his first year, and brought his team to second place at the championships as the star player. He had a good personality, was polite to his seniors, and treated anyone his age as an equal. He even got into mischief with the other boys from time to time, being rather lively himself.

But others still considered him odd. It all began at the start of the year when everyone was picking clubs. Since he’d been the star of his junior high school soccer team, everyone assumed he would play soccer again in high school. He received quite passionate invitations from the school’s soccer team, and many teachers said they had high hopes for him. But instead, he surprised everyone by joining the broadcasting club, which only had one member at the time.

Why is an athlete of your level not continuing with sports?It’s still not too late. You should reconsider. A few upperclassmen who had gone to the same junior high as him visited to try to talk him into joining the soccer team, but he didn’t care at all about the expectations of others, content that he could broadcast whatever music he liked during lunch period. But in PE, he would still show off even greater skill than the boys who joined the soccer team. As someone who so willingly wasted his rare talent, he was an enigma to everyone, even his classmates.

Of course, there was one other part of him that was beyond the understanding of others, mainly girls.

“Hey, Mai. Where you off to?”

“Oh, Yanagi-kun. Just the library.”

“You really like it there, huh? Wait a second for me, I’ll come with. Let me carry your stuff for you.”

“I can do that much myself…”

Being so gifted and affable, Yanagi was popular among girls. Lots of them tried to get close to him, but they were all given the cold shoulder because he was infatuated with Yoshioka Mai, a rather plain-looking girl. Mai was not particularly cute; she was no more than one of the quiet kids you could find in the corner of every class. Many girls gossiped about how clingy she was with Yanagi, but the truth was the direct opposite. He was the one who followed wherever she went.

“I still just don’t get it.”

Miyaka ate in the classroom during lunch period. Instead of joining Jinya and Kaoru, she was sitting across from her classmate Momoe Moe today. Moe ate a melonpan bun as she watched Yanagi wolf down his lunch to follow Mai to the library. From her gaze, she obviously thought their bond was odd as well.

“What do you think, Himekawa? Tomishima could totally go for a better girl, right?”

“I don’t see what’s wrong. Yoshioka-san seems nice, and I don’t think Tomishima-kun is the type to care about who he could get or whatever.” Recently, Miyaka had found herself defending Mai whenever people talked about her. Mai was a quiet, timid girl, but she was nice and polite. Miyaka could kind of see why Yanagi was so drawn to her. If anything, the real mystery was why Miyaka was eating lunch with Moe of all people.

Like last week, she had to visit the faculty room for something again. Meeting up with Kaoru and Jinya afterward would’ve been too much of a hassle, so they’d agreed to eat separately that day. Miyaka was thinking about where to go when Moe offered to eat with her.

Miyaka didn’t particularly dislike Moe, so she agreed and ate lunch with her. But the two weren’t particularly close either. Why Moe had made her offer was beyond her.

“So it’s an ‘I want you, not the other prettier, bubblier girls!’ kinda deal? What a total stud. Oh, don’t tell me you have a thing for him?”

“He seems like a good guy, but I haven’t really talked to him much before, so no.”

“Huh. Color me surprised.” Moe seemed to find Miyaka’s reply genuinely unexpected. Perhaps she saw her slightly brown hair and thought she was a girl who liked to fool around.

“What about you, Momoe-san?”

“Like I’ve said, call me Aki. But, nah. Sure, he’s handsome, but I’ve got my eyes on somebody else right now, and I’m not the type to chase two guys at once.”

“Color me surprised.”

“Oh? Going tit for tat?”

Miyaka’s true thoughts had slipped out, but Moe magnanimously smiled in response. Maybe she was just biased, but Miyaka had completely thought Moe was your stereotypical gyaru. But perhaps she simply liked to dress flashily and didn’t fool around herself.

“Actually, don’t you already have a guy?” she said.

“Huh?”

“C’mon, don’t play dumb with me. You’re always skipping classes with Kadono.”

“Ah…”

This again? Miyaka thought with a sigh. She had skipped quite a few classes with Jinya to investigate urban legends like the Red Cloak and Hanako-san. Moe seemed to think something was going on between the two and often asked what their relationship was, but there really wasn’t anything going on.

“Like I’ve said, there’s nothing between us.”

“Come on, you can tell me a little. You’re as tight-lipped as Toudou!”

Their classmate Toudou Natsuki called Jinya “Jii-chan” for some reason and was apparently close to him. Moe seemed to be trying to figure out more there but was coming up dry.

“Speaking of Toudou, he said the names ‘Tomishima’ and ‘Yoshioka’ were somehow made for each other. Do you know what he meant?”

“Not a clue.”

“Gotcha. I tried asking him about Kadono, but he just changed the subject and started talking about those two instead. Said it all emotionally too.”

“Their names were made for each other…? I don’t get it.”

“Yeaaah. I don’t know, maybe he’s secretly the sappy type and thinks they’re fated to be or something like that.”

Toudou Natsuki seemed to sense something special about the two, but Miyaka couldn’t quite understand what. But regardless, since they were done talking about it, she stood up from her seat. “Sorry, I gotta go moisten my hands.”

“‘Moisten your hands’? What are you, an old lady? Hardly anybody would know you’re talking about going to the bathroom.”

Miyaka was a little surprised that Moe knew the phrase herself but didn’t stop, quickly leaving the classroom as if she was fleeing. She mused that she saw Moe in a different light after their conversation as she made her way to the bathroom. She hadn’t lied to slip away, but she did hurry a bit because she was embarrassed by what Moe had said about her and Jinya being an item.

She moved down the corridor just slowly enough to avoid making the teachers mad, then entered the bathroom, passing three girls inside. As she did, she overheard a worrying conversation.

“That Yoshioka really gets on my nerves.”

“Can’t she tell she’s bothering Tomishima-kun?”

“Hey, I got an idea…”

The three girls were talking about her classmates. Miyaka ­understood that female friends of popular boys often drew ­jealousy, but it wasn’t nice to hear people talking behind someone else’s back. Especially not when she’d been getting closer to Mai herself lately.

***

Yoshioka Mai’s life at Modori River High School was fairly calm.

“Morning, Mai.”

“Good morning, Yanagi-kun.”

By some luck, she was put in the same class as Tomishima Yanagi. The two of them were still good friends; he would help her clumsy self when she stumbled and sometimes read books in the library with her.

“Man, I’m really not a book guy, huh? I always get sleepy when I try to read.”

“Jeez, Yanagi-kun.”

Though he went to the library with her, he wasn’t much of a reader himself. He would lean flat on the table, wearing a lazy look on his face that he typically never showed others. She liked seeing this face. It proved he let his guard down around her.

“This cafeteria’s got good food.”

“It does. Oh…”

“You don’t like tomatoes, right? Mind if I take them?”

“Th-thank you… I’m sorry.”

“It’s cool; I like tomatoes. Here, you can have my orange in exchange.”

They ate together a lot. He would always end up giving more of his food than he took, something she felt bad about, but he was the one who insisted.

“Yoshioka-san, we’re changing classrooms for the next class.”

“We’re going to the science room. Wanna go together?”

She opened up a little with two of the girls in her class, Azusaya Kaoru and Himekawa Miyaka. It seemed Azusaya was trying to be nice to her because of something that had happened earlier. Her classmates in junior high all either bullied her or turned a blind eye, but thanks to these girls, she could enjoy her time in the classroom.

“Is this the one?”

“Ah, yes… Th-thank you very much.”

A boy in her class, Kadono Jinya, often tried to look after her. He was a tall boy with an imposing face. He looked a little scary, but one time he grabbed a book she couldn’t reach for her in the library. He seemed close to Himekawa and Azusaya as well. They’d only talked a little bit, but he was kinder than he looked.

Things were completely different than her third year of junior high. She wasn’t afraid to go to school anymore. In fact, she had come to look forward to it.

“Ah…”

That was why she’d be all right. Even if her textbooks were thrown away or if her indoor shoes went missing or if thumbtacks were placed on her chair, she’d be fine. She knew it wasn’t her classmates doing it.

The ones doing it were probably the usual three who had led the bullying in junior high. Thankfully they were in different classes, even for PE, but the bullying persisted.

Just when would it stop? What was she supposed to do? She had obtained some peace, but that only made the painful moments feel all that more pronounced.

“But I’ll be okay…” she murmured. She often told herself things would be fine. She was able to go to school now. Things were different. She couldn’t run away and make Yanagi pull her out of her dark room again.

Discreetly, she took the thumbtacks off her seat and cheered herself up.

Sometime later, on an ordinary day during lunch period, she was reading a book in the library when a girl from her class came up to her. “Yoshioka-san. Tomishima-kun’s waiting for you behind the gym.”

Yanagi had told Mai to wait for him in the library because he had to do something in his clubroom. They were supposed to go eat after that, but it seemed the plan had changed.

She thanked the girl who had gone out of her way to inform her, then went to the place she’d mentioned.

“There you are, Yoshioka-san.”

“You come running right away when a boy calls for you, huh?”

“Ha ha ha, so dumb.”

Mai’s relatively peaceful high school life had made her careless. It wasn’t Tomishima Yanagi waiting for her behind the gym—it was the three who bullied her, joined by a pair of guys.

***

During lunch period, Jinya ate with Miyaka and Kaoru. The three were chatting when Miyaka suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, Kadono-kun, there was something I wanted to ask you.”

“Yes?”

“It’s about something Toudou-kun apparently said. It involved the names ‘Tomishima’ and ‘Yoshioka’ being made for each other. Do you know what he meant?”

“Natsuki said that? Ah, I see. He’s got a point.” Jinya, who’d known Natsuki for a long time, seemed to understand right away. “Natsuki grew up in an old theater in Tokyo. He’s watched classic films since he was a kid, and there’s one particular romance film with a main character named Tomishima and a heroine called Yoshioka.”

“Oh?”

Maybe Natsuki thought the pair were like those characters, then. It certainly would be interesting to see the good friends grow closer to one another and make something more out of what they had together, like in a romance film.

“Thanks, that makes sense. Have you seen that film yourself?” Miyaka asked.

“I have. It was based on a novel, but the film was made shortly after the war so GHQ censorship cut out a lot of the good scenes. The final product was honestly a bit lackluster.”

“You don’t say. Old films had to worry about censorship, huh?” Miyaka had no idea that Jinya had actually seen the film when it originally came out, but her interest was still piqued. “What’s the film’s name?”

“Rickshaw Man. It’s a story about a man called Tomishima Matsugorou falling in love with a widow named Yoshioka Yoshiko. Tomishima is a hikiko while Yoshioka was married to an army captain. Their social classes are vastly different, but he falls in love with her anyway.”

“I like stories like that. I kind of want to watch it myself now.” Stories about love between different social classes were popular in any era. Miyaka seemed interested and was enjoying herself more than usual. “By the way, what’s a ‘hikiko’?”

“It’s what the people who pull rickshaws are called. I guess it’s slang from back then. Hikiko literally means ‘someone who pulls.’”

“Oh, I see. You know, I rode a rickshaw once on a trip to Kyoto.”

“Is that so? But going back to what we were talking about, I’ll bet Natsuki connected Tomishima and Rickshaw Man together because of his first name: Yanagi. Among hikiko, the word ‘yanagi’ referred to someone who pulled their cart quietly and discreetly.”

“Tomishima-kun’s really shaping up to be some kind of hero, then. Not that Mai’s a widow.” Miyaka chuckled. She seemed oddly into the topic. They talked about their other favorite films for a while.

But Kaoru didn’t join in much, because she was caught up on something else. “Hikiko… Where have I heard that before?”

They finished eating and left the cafeteria, then ran into Yanagi at the entrance.

“That’s odd…” He didn’t enter, however, instead scanning the room inside with a quizzical expression. He noticed the others approach and teased Jinya. “Oh, Kadono. Eating lunch with a flower in each arm?”

“More like a spring flower and a heavenly maiden.” The full meaning of Jinya’s words didn’t get across, but Yanagi didn’t react. He seemed restless despite his teasing, looking around the whole time he spoke as if he were searching for something.

“Hey, have you seen Mai anywhere? She was supposed to meet me in the library, but I couldn’t find her there.”

“I’m pretty sure she left class, and I don’t see her around here in the cafeteria,” Jinya answered.

“I see. Where could she have gone…?”

He told them how he and Mai had plans to eat lunch ­together after he took care of some business in the broadcasting club’s room. She was supposed to be waiting for him in the library, but he couldn’t find her there. He’d sent messages to her phone but had received no replies.

He’d already checked the classroom. Thinking she might’ve gone ahead to the cafeteria, he walked over while sending his fourth message in a row. Still, he couldn’t find Mai. That was when he ran into Jinya and the rest.

“We haven’t seen her either,” Miyaka said. Yanagi seemed to get even more worried.

Just then, a girl from their class who was walking by called out. “Oh, Tomishima-kun. Did you manage to find Yoshioka-san?”

“No? Wait, what do you mean?”

“Some girl from another class wanted me to tell Yoshioka-san you were waiting for her behind the gym. Did you find her all right?”

“This is the first I’m hearing of this…”

“Huh?”

Yanagi quickly realized something was up. It sounded like someone had used his name to lure Mai behind the gym. A real friend of hers wouldn’t have had to go through such roundabout means.

“Sorry, I’m heading over!”

“Want me to come along?” Jinya asked.

“No, I’ll be all right alone! But call a teacher over for me, just in case.” Yanagi bolted off. He was quick, being an ex-member of the soccer team. He weaved through the people in the hall without bumping into anyone and was soon out of sight.

Jinya was about to call after him but stopped. He heard that peculiar krik, krik sound again.

“…Huh? Did you guys hear anything weird just now?” Kaoru asked.

Jinya answered, “It sounded to me like the noise of a box cutter being slowly extended. I heard it once before after talking to Tomishima.”

“Oh, that’s it. But why?” This time it wasn’t just Jinya, but Kaoru who heard it. She looked perplexed, wondering why they’d heard such a sound.

“Did you hear anything?” Jinya asked Miyaka.

“No, nothing in particular.” She might’ve just missed it, since they were still close to the noise of the cafeteria, but something felt off.

“Kadono-kun, you think maybe…?” Kaoru quickly forgot about the noise, however. She was more worried about Yanagi and Mai.

“Yeah. It’s probably the usual culprits bullying Yoshioka.”

“You think they’ll be okay?”

“I’m sure Tomishima can stop them, but I’ll head over just to be safe. Can you guys get a teacher?”

Kaoru answered him with a firm nod.

From what Yanagi said, it sounded like the ones spearheading Mai’s bullying were the girls from her junior high school. Yanagi could probably handle them himself just fine, but there was a chance they might have brought some conspirators along.

“Good grief. Dealing with bullying is more exhausting than urban legends,” Jinya grumbled. He didn’t particularly mean anything, but Kaoru went wide-eyed.

“Huh? Kadono-kun, what did you just say…?”

He didn’t understand what had gotten her so flustered, but her face paled by the second. “What’s wrong, Azusaya?”

“Oh no… Kadono-kun, I think I know what the box cutter sound was. It probably came from Tomishima-kun’s body.”

Jinya was confused by the non sequitur, but Kaoru spoke confidently. She’d figured something out.

“We need to follow him quickly, or else! Tomishima-kun is Hikiko-san!”

“Hikiko-san? Is this about the film stuff?”

“No, it’s an urban legend about bullying!”

HIKIKO-SAN

Hikiko-san was a ghost story that dealt with modern social issues like bullying and hikikomori social reclusion. Unlike ­stories that spread through word of mouth like the Slit-Mouthed Woman and the Red Cloak, Hikiko-san was a modern urban legend disseminated over the internet.

I saw a figure through the rain and heard something dragging alongside the sound of droplets.

The figure, a woman, wore a threadbare white kimono and dragged something that looked like a doll. Looking at her face, I saw her eyes curved upward, and the corners of her mouth were slit all the way to her ears. The thing she dragged was horrific, making me want to turn my eyes away. It was not a doll but a person. She was dragging a child around elementary school age behind her.

The woman’s name was Hikiko-san. Children who saw her were caught and dragged around until they became un­recognizable flesh, then were brought to a specific place and left to die. She was one of the cruelest and most violent urban legends.

Hikiko-san’s real name was Mori Hikiko, a tall girl who excelled in school, was kind and pretty, and was well liked by her teachers. But she became bullied by the other students out of jealousy and stopped going to school, becoming a ­hikikomori social recluse. The bullying she received destroyed her mind and made her change into a monster in her dark room. Her ­resentment toward bullies turned her into something that grabbed children and dragged them around until they were a bloody mess. The sides of her mouth, slit like the Slit-Mouthed Woman, were self-inflicted by a box cutter.

She was created out of a distaste and fear of bullying, while also being a manifestation of the negative image evoked by ­hikikomori social recluses. Some believed she was made to ­punish the bullies who often went unpunished in the real world, making her a dark hero of sorts. Despite her frightening and cruel nature, she never targeted those who had been bullied themselves and was said to appear before bullies on rainy days.

Hikiko-san was an urban legend created from contemporary social issues, emulating other stories shaped from real-world phenomena. Incidentally, while Hikiko-san was considered a dangerous urban legend, she was not a difficult one to deal with, as she ran away at the simple sight of a mirror.

“And this ‘Hikiko-san’ is an urban legend?” asked Jinya uncertainly.

“Yes! That’s why we need to hurry! Before someone gets hurt!” Kaoru said impatiently. She was the only one who seemed to feel any danger. Jinya was unfamiliar with Hikiko-san, just as he’d been with the NNN Special Broadcast.

The reason was simple. Though urban legends were often lumped together in a single group, the way they spread, their structure, and how they were remembered greatly differed by generation.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman and the Red Cloak were ­widespread in the Showa era. They were reported in TV and newspapers, but most of all they were passed along by word of mouth. However, ­urban legends like the NNN Special Broadcast and Hikiko-san were different. These urban legends got their start on occult ­message boards online and were ­generally only discussed within that same space or on social media. Therefore, the stories’ ­popularity online didn’t necessarily mean they were well known in the real world.

Jinya, being a demon from the old world, had only used a computer a few times in his life and knew very little about urban legends that spread through the internet such as Kaijin Answer, Hasshaku-sama, the NNN Special Broadcast, and, of course, Hikiko-san.

“I’m not too sure what’s going on, but I take it there might be danger?” asked Jinya.

Now a bit calmer, Kaoru started to explain.

They had seen Mai being bullied firsthand and learned through hearsay that she had stopped going to school for a while. Yanagi himself wasn’t a victim of bullying, but he had reason to begrudge people who bullied as well as a connection to the name “Hikiko.” While it was a slight stretch, those could be factors that would let him become Hikiko-san. That alone wouldn’t be enough, of course, but the sound of a box cutter being drawn was hard to overlook. Kaoru insisted Yanagi might very possibly kill someone at this rate.

Her hypothesis didn’t seem all that outlandish to Jinya. Humans could be enslaved by their hatred and become spirits. That was a fact he knew very well.

“I’ll follow him, all right?”

“Th-thank you. But please hurry!”

Jinya ran off without waiting to reply. Miyaka was caught in a daze trying to process what was happening, but he had no time to pay her any mind.

***

Behind the gym was a small thicket of trees that blocked the line of sight. No class was using the gym for fifth period that day, meaning there wouldn’t be anybody coming who might notice what was about to happen.

“I’m telling you we’re fed up with your ass!”

One of the girls shoved Mai to the ground, making her let out a small shriek. The others scoffed as though to scorn her very reaction.

“Look at her go ‘Eek!’ Ugh. Gross!”

“You’re not pretty enough to be putting on the cutesy act.”

The girls hurled abuse at her. The two boys with them seemed a bit put off by their intensity, but Mai wasn’t exactly reassured to see them either. The boys were notorious delinquents, and they wouldn’t be here if they meant her well.

“You’re so annoying. I feel bad for Tomishima-kun, always having to put up with you clinging to him.”

“Right? He’s too nice to shoo you away, but that doesn’t mean he actually likes you.”

“You know he wants to be rid of your fugly ass. Can’t you even tell that much?”

Mai was still afraid, but she felt some anger stirring inside her. She could handle being ridiculed herself. She was used to being hit. But what they were saying now was too much for her. She knew just how kind Yanagi was and how much he did for her. She couldn’t put up with them pretending to know what he was like. “…You’re wrong.”

“What’s that?”

“Y-Yanagi-kun isn’t that kind of person. You don’t know him one bit.”

To her bullies, Mai had always been just a toy that didn’t resist. Her talking back like this was a surprise. But their shock quickly turned to anger as their faces contorted with rage. Their eyes were mostly full of jealousy. Maybe that was the real reason they ­bullied her.

“Go to hell!” The leader of the girls kicked Mai in the ­stomach while she was still on the ground, then spat on her while she heaved in pain. Then she turned her back and said, “Ah, screw it. We’re done with her. Go do your thing. Make it so she can never show her face here again.”

“Oh, is it finally our turn?”

“I made sure to bring a camera.”

Mai saw the boys’ smiles and shivered. They’d come to have their way with her. She wanted to run from them, but the pain was too intense.

“Come on, Mai-chan. Let’s go right over there. Don’t worry, we’ll be gentle.”

“Tomishima’s popular, right? He’s probably been with lots of girls, so you might as well see what it’s like yourself.”

In junior high school, she’d been bullied. Her indoor shoes had been stolen, her gym clothes had been cut. She’d even had dirty rags wiped on her face, among many other things. But this was a first. She felt a fear like nothing else as the boys closed in on her. She couldn’t scream, but even if she could, it wouldn’t make a difference. Nobody ever tried to help her.

Nobody but Tomishima Yanagi.

“Mai…”An icy voice called out and froze everyone stiff. Moments before the boys could lay a finger on Mai, Yanagi appeared. He was beyond anger, his face completely devoid of emotion.

The three girls quickly started to stammer, having been caught in the act.

“T-Tomishima-kun?”

“Th-this isn’t what it looks like!”

Yanagi examined the situation, then hung his head.

The girls went on making excuses. You’re misunderstanding. It’s all Yoshioka’s fault. If anything, we’re the victims here.

He didn’t react in the slightest. He must have been seething, but he didn’t say a word or even glare. He didn’t move a step, just trembled slightly all over. The air around him was strange. Even the boys who’d been about to lay hands on Mai had frozen in their tracks, bewildered by what was going on.

Mai was confused as well. She understood Yanagi had come to save her, but something was different about him. Worried, she was about to say something, but he lifted his face before she could.

“Ah… Aaaaah!”

When she saw his change, she finally understood. He had ­arrived too late. Not to save her but to save himself. His face twisted with hatred as he turned into something inhuman and hideous.

***

Yanagi felt dark emotions overwhelm him, but he couldn’t resist.

“I’m sorry, Yanagi-kun. I’m scared.”

He still remembered hearing her tearful voice through the door. He thought of her as a friend, yet he failed to help her in her time of need. He had been busy with soccer, with preparing for their last tournament—but what excuse was that? Who else could have helped her but him?

Regretting what he had done, he chose not to join the soccer team in high school. Soccer only ever got in his way. He cared about Mai living a normal life more than he cared about receiving the praise of others. He made sure not to repeat his past mistakes, and he’d thought things were going well. Their new class felt okay, and Mai had made some female friends. He was sure he could protect her this time.

But he’d failed.

Krik, krik. His heart grated like rusted iron. Every time the dull sound came from within, an unbearable pain coursed through him.

Mai was a dear friend to him. Maybe he had even felt something more than friendship for her. He was happy if she was happy, and he was sad if she was sad. Her pain was his, and so was her bullying.

It stood to reason that the opposite should also be true. If her joys, her sadness, and her pain were all his, then all the emotions he felt should have been hers as well. His anger must have been her anger. Through such logic, the one who bore the name of a “hikiko” became a victim of bullying who harbored a strong ­resentment toward those who tormented others. By ­sympathizing with Mai, Yanagi fulfilled the necessary conditions, although in an irregular way. And so, a spirit was born.

Hatred for those who tormented him welled up inside, changing Yanagi into something inhuman. This was not a counterfeit urban legend but a genuine spirit made from what dwelled in the heart of man. In this moment, the Hikiko-san urban legend that had only been a work of fiction became reality.

3

TOMISHIMA YANAGI HAD ALWAYS been better at most things than other people. He couldn’t remember ever ­struggling with sports or academics, but he had nothing he could call his specialty either. He was always among the best on tests and school races, but he only placed first a handful of times. Thinking it was because he wasn’t trying hard enough, he worked frantically when he was a child in elementary school, but it didn’t lead to the results he wanted.

He could do anything well but didn’t have the talent to outdo those who actually excelled in their field. Perhaps he wasn’t ­talented, just good at floating by. That was how he judged himself, at least. He was a jack-of-all-trades but could never ­become a master of any.

It had been that way for him ever since he was a kid. He got good grades without trying, but even if he tried, he never ­finished first. What was the point of trying, then? He never became ­passionate about anything and only gave the minimum effort. He lived without serious problems and was still praised by others thanks to his bright and social personality.

“Tomishima-kun is so cool! He’s cheerful, kind, and makes studying and sports look easy!” He was popular with girls in junior high, partly thanks to his good looks. He was even confessed to many times, but he never dated anyone. Why would he? The girls praised him for being good at everything even though he could never be number one. They complimented the very part of him he was self-conscious about. Though he was happy to have their affection, he could return none of it to them. He turned them down gently so there would be no hard feelings, but that only had the opposite effect of making him seem sweeter than most boys, leading him to be even more popular.

He was never ashamed of his complex, because he knew ­everybody had something to offer. He still had a cheerful ­personality and many friends, so every day was fun for him. He could be found smiling at any moment. But if he had one misgiving, it was that he found the adoration and praise others lauded him with to be tiresome.

He joined the soccer team in junior high school. A close friend had invited him. That friend ended up quitting because he couldn’t keep up with practices, but Yanagi stuck with it purely out of enjoyment for the game. He never truly gave his all to it, but he improved through practice and contributed to the team’s victories. He enjoyed the feeling that gave him.

Being a jack-of-all-trades, he quickly made a name for ­himself and became the team’s star player around the start of his second year. He felt as though his efforts had borne fruit and came to love soccer even more, but that only served to heighten the ­disappointment he would come to feel.

He enjoyed striving together with his team and grew obsessed with soccer, slowly putting more effort into practice. His skill rose rapidly, but he still lacked the ability to stand at the top.

Though lauded as the best on his team, there were still people across the country better than him. In his second year, he saw them at nationals and was aghast. He played against them and understood that they were different from him, a mere jack-of-all-trades. They had the talent he lacked. He was sure the difference between him and them would only grow starker when they moved on to high school. They were the real deal.

He felt frustrated. This was the first time he had put his all into something, and so it was his first real defeat. The soccer he loved had brought him nowhere. Overwhelmed by the sight of people with actual talent, he grew sulky for a while.

That was around the time he met Yoshioka Mai. His class’s assigned library aide was sick one day, so he volunteered to take over. Not out of the kindness of his heart or anything, but as an excuse for him to skip practice and distance himself from soccer for a while.

He was putting books back onto the unfamiliar shelves of the library when a girl reading quietly by the windows caught his attention. Every now and then the wind would blow in and make her bangs sway. She was not particularly pretty, but she caught his eye anyway, perhaps because of the expression she made. She was reading a difficult-looking book with ease, and her composure irritated him because he felt so frayed himself.

“…Is that any fun?” he inadvertently called out to her, the words slipping out of his mouth before he realized it.

She was close enough to hear and looked up. He came to his senses then and was immediately racked with regret. Since she was here, reading a book after school, she was obviously skipping her club activities. His question meant Do you enjoy hiding here to avoid your problems and just waste time away? Is living like that any fun? It was a mocking question, one he asked only to lash out and rid himself of his own pent-up bitterness. It was a horrible thing to say to this shy-looking girl he didn’t know.

“Er, no, sorry. I just… Forget I said anything.”

“…Yes. It is.” She answered with something he hesitated to call a smile. It was a sad expression, one that held no joy. Something terribly weak and fleeting.

He hadn’t meant to do it, but he knew his words had hurt her. It was written all over her face.

“Are you interested?”

“Huh? I-Interested?”

“You can find the author’s other books on that bookshelf.”

“O-oh. In the book… Right, thanks. I’ll check ’em out.”

He must’ve been quite flustered, because he stopped what he was doing and walked over to the bookshelf she’d pointed out. He took a book and flipped through it. It was fairly high-level stuff, and he couldn’t work up any real interest.

Just looking at the difficult sentences made his head hurt. He sighed, then glanced toward the windows but found the girl was gone. “Ah…”

For some reason, he felt disappointed.

The next day came. Curious about the “smile” she had shown him, Yanagi called out to her.

“Hey. We meet again.”

“Oh. You’re that boy from yesterday…”

Guilt was probably one reason why he talked to her. He had hurt her, and he wanted to make up for that a little.

From there began a friendship that continued for a long, long time. Because their classes were far apart, they didn’t pass each other in the hallway very often. During lunch period and after school, he would go to the library and always find her reading. Talking to her there became part of his daily routine.

He enjoyed the time he spent with Mai. She probably wasn’t that interested in him. Unlike the other girls, she didn’t shower him with unwanted praise for being the soccer team’s star or for getting good test scores. They just read together and sometimes chatted. When he mentioned he wasn’t good with difficult books, she recommended some history manga. He found this inherently meaningless time he spent with her to be soothing.

Before he knew it, the two had become close friends, and he slowly learned more about her. She was the quiet type, so he had assumed she was your typical honor roll student, but that wasn’t really the case. To his surprise, she was unathletic to the point of tripping over her own feet, and she once got lost in a department store they went to, something not even grade school children did in this day and age.

He thought it was because she was a little slow at first, but he realized that wasn’t true when he learned about her past. She was born with a weak constitution. Her airways had problems, ­giving her asthma. She couldn’t exercise, and going out to play was ­difficult. She needed medicine all the time and had few friends in elementary school. Because she didn’t often move around or go outside to play, such things remained unfamiliar to her.

Her one solace during his younger years was reading. Her health improved with time, but she was still as unathletic as before. She was interested in clubs but lacked the stamina to join one. Reading after school became the most she could manage. But in the past, she hadn’t even had the energy to read for long, so she was just happy she could read all she wanted now, or so she told him with a smile.

Yanagi was appalled with himself for having mocked her without knowing her circumstances, but he finally understood the meaning behind that fleeting smile she had shown him. She hadn’t been hurt by his words. Just as he lamented that his efforts never bore fruit no matter how much he tried, she lamented that she couldn’t try at all. She knew she was powerless and unable to change, and she accepted that.

She managed to find some small solace through reading, but he had mocked that fact, thinking she was simply avoiding her problems and wasting time. He felt disgusted with himself for ever being so foolish to think like that.

“Don’t worry about it, Yanagi-kun. I’m enjoying myself.”

“But…”

“I’m able to read the books I like together with a friend. I’m happy.”

She treasured such a small thing as if it were a rare jewel.

Others said she was too plain and a poor match for him, but he disagreed. She was stronger than him. He was someone who sulked just because his efforts didn’t bear fruit, while she was someone who still sought and found small joys even though she couldn’t try the things she wanted to do. She was the only one who cared about him, not because he was the soccer team’s star or because of his grades, but because she treasured the time she spent with him.

He could still vividly recall the time they spent in that library after school. He could hear the turn of the pages, their sound resonating deep within him as time crawled by. Orange light would spill in as the two of them, friends by chance, read until the sun dipped into the horizon. His eyes moistened at the memory. This was something he, too, treasured.

And that was why he could not forgive the ones who had trampled over their memory.

He decided to give soccer practice his best effort again. After getting to know her, he was ashamed to sulk like he’d been doing when he could still try at all. He practiced until he was dead tired every day, then went to the library to meet her, the two of them teasing one another as they made their way home.

They were in different classes again in their third year, but their fun days together continued. Hoping to show her his good side, he practiced aggressively to prepare for their final soccer tournament. They met less because of that until she stopped coming to school one day. Unbeknownst to him, she had been bullied in her class.

He had failed her.

That was why he decided to stop playing soccer after junior high. He wanted to spend as much time with her as possible, to let her live her days in peace and to regain those moments with her he treasured so much.

But he failed her again.

He was furious at the girls who had bullied her and the boys who were trying to lay hands on her, but the one he truly couldn’t forgive was himself, for being foolish enough to repeat his mistakes.

His heart filled with hatred, and no matter the era, one thing remained true: The body was but a vessel for the heart. If the heart became dyed with hatred, then the body would assume the appropriate form. His change was inevitable. That was how Tomishima Yanagi became Hikiko-san.

His clothes became dirty rags. His hair grew long, unruly, and black, and he took on a striking visage warped with rage. He had become the monster infamous for dragging bullies until they were unrecognizable flesh. The ones before him had hurt Mai, which was no different than hurting him, so he would judge them as the story of his urban legend dictated.

“A-a monster?!”

“What the hell’s going on?!”

The two boys returned to their senses, cowering back at the sight of the hideous being in front of them. They were irritatingly pathetic, especially when they had acted so vulgar moments earlier. Overwhelmed with fear, they turned their backs to Hikiko-san and ran, leaving the girls behind.

“Wait…”But Yanagi, or rather, Hikiko-san grabbed their shoulders from behind.

In supernatural stories, it was a common theme for spirits to be inescapable once they were encountered. The boys had been fairly far away, but Hikiko-san was able to catch them in just a few strides. He had become something truly inhuman.

He pulled the boys down through strength alone, tearing their skin in the process.

“Eeghaaagh!” They let out shameful screams. The parts of their shoulders touched by Hikiko-san were surrounded by many clear gashes as though they’d been ripped into by a knife.

Their clothes tore, and blood spilled. Hikiko-san felt nothing as he watched them hit the ground. Perhaps his anger was so strong it drowned all feeling away. Or perhaps he was too inhuman for emotions. The boys sobbed from the pain, but he felt no different than he might feel if he were watching ants drown in a puddle.

“A-ah… H-help…”

The girls collapsed to the ground, their legs giving out, able only to watch as the horror unfolded. The way they begged for help bothered him.

“Help?”

None of them could escape him, so he might as well start with the girl who had kicked Mai.

“You…you want help?”asked Hikiko-san.

Ruled by fear, the girl thought she might have a chance. I’m sorry. Spare me. I’ll do anything. She pleaded to him, tears and snot dripping unbecomingly down her face.

The sight of her flared his anger further. “Did…did you not think Mai wanted somebody to help her? She must have begged just like you. But…but did any of you listen? No… So how would it be fair if I showed mercy now?”

“B-but…” Unable to argue against his words, the girls trembled.

For a brief moment, his gaze softened. “But you know, I think…I think I might still be able to forgive you all.”

“…Huh?”

“I said…I’ll forgive you all.”

“R-really?”

“Oh, yes…”Hope filled the eyes of the frightened girls. They thought perhaps they might be let go, but Hikiko-san’s mouth, slit from ear to ear, twisted into a hideous, malicious smile. “Once your bodies are reduced to a pulp, I’m sure I’ll find it in myself to forgive you.”

All hope had been ripped away from them. The girls paled.

Aaah, yes, he thought. Those are the faces I wanted to see. This is your punishment. What’s the point if your last moments aren’t spent in despair?

Krik, krik. The odd sound of something being drawn could be heard. Rusty, bloodstained blades appeared from his outreached hand. The blades of box cutters and razors tore through the skin of his palm one after another. The girls froze in fear at the disgusting, skin-crawling sight. He laughed madly, imagining the moment the blades would dig their way into their skin.

Many urban legend monsters were closely tied to bladed items. Hikiko-san was one of them, but for different reasons than most. The Slit-Mouthed Woman used a sickle, the Red Cloak a knife, and Hikiko-san was known to use the blades of razors and box cutters. The slits across the sides of Hikiko-san’s face were said to be self-inflicted by a box cutter in a fit of madness. Since Hikiko-san was an urban legend created from issues like bullying and social reclusion, the sharp but brittle blades often used for wrist cutting could be considered associated with her. But in fact, it wasn’t so much the blades that were tied to Hikiko-san; it was the wounds caused by them.

It was similar to how the cloak was a secondary aspect of the Red Cloak’s identity. Being an urban legend created from a real murder case, the image of the entity being dyed red in the blood of others took precedence because the Red Cloak was an urban legend about murder first and foremost. Hikiko-san was an urban legend that killed people, but she wasn’t an urban legend about murder. She sprang from issues like bullying and ­hikikomori social reclusion, cut her own face with a box cutter, and was said to kill those who bullied her in the same way she was bullied.

That was why she fled at the sight of a mirror. She feared mirrors because she was afraid of what she had become, someone who did the exact same things her bullies had. By hurting her tormentors, she became a tormenter herself, and mirrors reminded her of that fact. To hurt another was to hurt oneself. To seek revenge was to become no better than that which one sought revenge against. Therein lay the true nature of her urban legend. Hikiko-san was an urban legend about self-harm.

“N-no… Yanagi-kun, you can’t…” Mai was still on the ground, the pain from being kicked in the stomach too much for her to stand, but she forced herself to speak anyway.

He knew she would try to stop him. Such a kind person wouldn’t stand for someone being killed, not even her tormentors. He’d known that from the start.

Yanagi slowly but surely approached the girls anyway. ­Hikiko-san was an urban legend about self-harm, and the blades that appeared by cutting through his own skin were a manifestation of that. This was no different. He would not stop his revenge, even if he knew it would hurt.

His revenge would hurt sweet, sweet Mai, but he still only wanted one thing: to peel off the skin of her bullies and see blood trickle down their bare flesh. Then, he would make sure they were ground into a bloody pulp. Only then would his heart be satisfied. He was so close to having his wish. But something appeared in his way.

“So this is what Asagao was afraid of.” His voice was fearless, like unyielding iron. A vaguely familiar face now stood next to the girls who had bullied Mai. “Tomishima… Is this a new look you’re trying out?”

Yanagi thought he might’ve been a classmate. His mind was too hazy to remember his name, but if he was standing at their side, then he must have been an enemy.

…But no. That couldn’t be. Hadn’t this classmate of his promised to do what he could to help Mai as well?

***

“Don’t…don’t get in my way,”Yanagi said in a faltering groan.

Jinya quickly assessed the situation. Yoshioka was on the ground holding her stomach, two boys were on the ground covered in blood, and three girls’ legs had given out from fear. The boys had shed a decent amount of blood, but their wounds seemed light. Their injuries were likely only skin deep rather than lethal. Given the vomit on the ground, Yoshioka looked like she had been punched in the stomach or something along those lines; her injuries were light as well. The three girls, on the other hand, were unharmed but being targeted by Yanagi now. Which meant they were the ones behind the bullying, and the boys were only accessories.

“How deplorable. There’s nothing I can say in defense of these girls.”

“Then leave… Leave, please, so I can…”Yanagi didn’t finish his words.

“…Right.”

Yanagi begged Jinya to let him kill the girls. Jinya understood how he felt; this was something he had experienced before himself. Yanagi had lost himself to hatred and become a demon, his mind starting to slip. The moment he finished speaking and ­expressed what he wanted, it would all be too late. The fate of those who let hatred take hold of their whole being was clear. Jinya saw two paths for Yanagi: He could either keep hold of himself and ­stabilize, becoming a spirit similar to Jinya, or become a monster that only brought harm to those around him.

Either way, his time as a human had already come to an end.

“I take it you have no mercy to show these girls?”

“Of course…not.”

“Does any part of you have second thoughts at all about killing them?”

“Not…in the…slightest!”

Jinya couldn’t stabilize Yanagi using the same method he had with Ryuuna. He’d been able to use Furutsubaki on her only because Nagumo Eizen had made her susceptible to control. Her case had been a lucky break.

Because Yanagi had become a spirit solely through his own emotions rather than any outside influence, Furutsubaki and Spirit would both be useless. If he was to be saved, it would have to be through the strength of his own heart alone. But there wasn’t much time remaining before his mind left him completely.

Yanagi could no longer be called Yanagi anymore. He was Hikiko-san now, a being driven by hatred that murdered bullies and dragged whomever he encountered to a bloody death.

“Move… They must be punished…for what they did to Mai…”

“Personally, that’d be fine with me. I have no obligation to protect any of these girls.”

The girls shrieked for Jinya to help them, but he ignored them completely. Still, he did not step out of Hikiko-san’s way.

Jinya had no duty to save these lowlifes, and he did not care to play the hero. As a demon who lived for revenge himself, he had no intention of telling another to abandon their own. If anything, it might be a small mercy to let his classmate fulfill his revenge while a part of himself still remained, so he could at least move on to the next world knowing he had fulfilled his purpose. Jinya would choose that option if he could.

“Y-you can’t. Yanagi-kun, don’t do it…” Mai fought to stand with her thin body. She was far from the robust type. Being hit had left her barely able to move. She tried to stand on her feet but quickly fell. Even so, she didn’t give up and again ­attempted to stand as she deliriously muttered over and over for her dear friend to stop. She was a powerless girl, but she fought ­desperately to prevent someone important to her from dirtying their hands, pushing what little willpower she had as far as it would go.

“…Sadly, it seems I’m left with no choice.”

“What’re you…doing?”

“Let me be clear. Your time as a human is already over. If you think you have nothing left, then force yourself past me, kill these girls, and go on your way to completely becoming a spirit.”

He was to become a spirit no matter whether he killed the girls. Thinking he would need to be killed anyway, Jinya would have preferred to let him at least fulfill his revenge first. But Mai hadn’t given up on him yet.

Her voice might reach him. But even if it did, his fate wouldn’t change, and he might not have anything worth living for outside of revenge. However, Jinya saw something to be respected in her determination.

“But know that there is someone who hasn’t given up on you just yet. Out of respect for her will, I’ll be staying right here in your way.”

Jinya planned to protect the three girls and buy time for Mai to talk to him. If her voice reached him and he became a spirit that was in control of himself, then that would be that. But if he still ended up turning into a being that could cause nothing but harm, then Jinya would do what he had to.

He took a deep sigh, then calmly focused on Hikiko-san in front of him. Not a trace of his kindhearted classmate could be seen.

What a shame it was that things had turned out this way. He had only wanted to protect the girl dear to him, but as he was now, he could only hurt her. But spirits were always like that, no matter what the era.

Jinya planned to withstand Hikiko-san’s attacks with the long red blade in his hands. Because he couldn’t bring Yarai onto school grounds, Blood Blade was Jinya’s weapon of choice.

Hikiko-san let out a cry as he charged forward. The rags ­covering his body flapped in the wind and sounded like they were slicing through the air. Jinya blocked his charge with his sword, a metallic ring echoing from where they met.

Those were no ordinary rags. The cloth was actually made of small blades, like the loose, spare ones from face razors and box cutters, all stacked on top of one another. The more violently Hikiko-san himself moved, the more his clothes cut into him and spilled his own blood.

He swung his arm, causing even more blades to appear. Box cutter blades ripped through his palm and flew toward Jinya.

Whenever Hikiko-san attacked, moved, or even blocked, he inflicted wounds on himself. But his movements didn’t dull in the slightest as he kept Jinya on the defensive.

“…That’s not good,” murmured Jinya. He wasn’t being overwhelmed and could even counterattack if he wanted, but Hikiko-san’s mad rush still bewildered him. This was faster than he’d expected… Not Hikiko-san’s movements but Tomishima Yanagi’s destruction.

“Heh. Ha. Aha ha, hee hee hee hee.”Hikiko-san laughed madly as he continued to wound himself with each attack. He didn’t even look Mai’s way no matter how much she called his name, and he shed blood as he swung his sharp, brittle blades.

“Yanagi-kun, please stop… I’m okay now. Don’t hurt yourself any more.” She still seemed to see him as the Yanagi she knew, even after his transformation. She begged him over and over to stop hurting himself, but no matter how much she cried or pleaded, her voice didn’t reach him. Hikiko-san was hell-bent on seeing through his revenge.

“Aha, hee hee. Aha ha. I can’t…forgive. I hurt…Mai. I…Mai. You hurt… I have to protect her… I…I have to protect I. Your pain, my pain, so, my sadness…her joy. Yes… Aha, ha, yes! Hee hee, ahi, aha ha ha!”

He probably didn’t even know what he was fighting for ­anymore. He was simply attacking on impulse now.

Jinya wanted to give Yanagi time to say goodbye if possible. That was partially why he’d entertained this vain struggle for so long. But this was as far as he would go. If Mai’s voice couldn’t reach him, then there was nothing left to be done.

“Yoshioka… I’m sorry, but this is it,” Jinya said.

“N-no, wait! Just a little longer. Yanagi-kun wouldn’t give in so easily like this…” Mai still believed her voice could reach Yanagi if she kept trying, but he was the spirit known as ­Hikiko-san now. It was unlikely that a trace of Yanagi’s heart even remained.

“…What is going on?” Belatedly, Azusaya Kaoru arrived behind the gym. She’d probably expected to arrive at the scene of some bullying, but not this. She was stuck in a daze for a few moments, then immediately started fishing through her pockets. “O-oh, right! A mirror! Kadono-kun, hang in there a little longer! I know how we can deal with Hikiko-san!”

Jinya stopped his attack. He didn’t have an opportunity to reply, but he bought time as safely as he could. Meanwhile, Kaoru ran over to the three bullies.

“Gimme a mirror! You guys got any mirrors on you?!”

“Wh-what? Um, wh-who—”

“Hikiko-san’s weakness is mirrors, just like how the Slit-Mouthed Woman can get beaten by pomade! We just have to show Hikiko-san a mirror, and he’ll run away! Or at least, that’s how it’s supposed to go!”

“Huh?! B-but I left my bag in the classroom…”

None of the girls had a mirror on them. Filled with anxiety by the rampaging Hikiko-san, Kaoru entrusted her last hopes to Mai. “Yoshioka-san, do you have a mirror?! It’s Hikiko-san’s weakness! We just need to show it to him!”

“Azu…saya-san… A mirror?” From the ground, Mai fought to look over at Kaoru. She repeated the word “mirror” over and over before she seemed to realize something and looked straight at Yanagi. She bit her lip hard as if to steel her nerves. “…We have one. A mirror.”

But before Mai could do anything, Jinya’s situation changed. As Hikiko-san grew closer to full spirithood, his strength increased. It was growing progressively harder for Jinya to stay on the defensive. Hikiko-san’s attacks became more precise, his blades targeting Jinya’s vitals.

This looked as far as things could go.

“Jishibari.” On Jinya’s call, several chains snaked forth, ­grabbing Hikiko-san’s limbs and completely stopping his movements. This power, which Jinya had taken from a daughter of Magatsume, had degraded as it became his, but the chains were still solid enough that they would hold. Hikiko-san’s brittle blades were useless against the metal. Hikiko-san writhed to shake the chains off, but Jinya just tightened them.

“Ah, hee. I…I hurt Mai… So I have to pro…protect her… So we can go back…to how things were… But I failed… Then this time for sure… This time for sure…”

It was a real shame. Yanagi hadn’t wanted any of this to happen. His regrets had turned him into a spirit through no fault of his own. In the end, Mai’s voice couldn’t reach him. He could not be saved.

“I’ll grant you the mercy of ending you here, so you can die without committing senseless murder.” Jinya adjusted his grip on his long red blade and lowered his stance. He would end things in a single strike, leaving no time for suffering.

He was about to take a step forward and slash, but someone else approached Hikiko-san before he could.

“Yanagi-kun…”

Everyone froze in shock. Even Hikiko-san, probably.

With unsteady, faltering steps, Mai made her way to Yanagi. Once she stood before him, she reached out and softly touched him.

***

His consciousness was left murky after he became a monster, but he still recognized Mai. She reached out and touched his ragged clothes made of blades. Her finger was cut, and a trickle of blood dripped down.

“If it’s a mirror you need, you have one right here…” She didn’t seem to feel any pain, however; instead she was smiling serenely. “Yanagi-kun. It took a while, but I managed to leave my room.”

He vaguely recognized the expression on her face. ­Hikiko-san…no, Tomishima Yanagi searched the recesses of his mind for the memory, his dim consciousness fighting to remember.

“I passed my entrance exams and started going to school ­regularly. I can eat lunch and go home with you. I’ve started talking to some of the girls in my class. A boy recently grabbed a book I couldn’t reach for me, and I didn’t run away.” Such things would hardly be worth sharing for most people, but Mai told them to Yanagi with pride.

“Ma…i…”

“There’s still some bullying, but…I’m hanging in there. I know things will only go back to the way they were if I run away, so I’m trying my best. I even managed to talk back to my bullies a little bit.”

Not content with stopping at just a light touch, she wrapped her arms around him. Even though the slightest movement would cut her, she didn’t let him go.

“But I could only come this far because you took the first step for me, Yanagi-kun. You’re the one who brought me out of my room when I was scared of the world. That’s why I’ll be your mirror.”

Mai, who had always been so afraid of everything ever since the bullying began, was speaking to him so boldly now. The ­realization that she’d summoned this courage for his sake made his mind slowly become clearer.

“The person I am now is proof of all you’ve done. What do you see when you look at me?”

“A-ah…”

“I’m smiling, aren’t I? I’ll be your mirror, Yanagi-kun. If you ever feel like you’re forgetting what kind of person you are, you can look at me and remember. I’ll always be there to reflect everything you’ve done for me.”

He had stayed with her in her darkest hour, so she did the same for him now.

It was said that other people were mirrors that reflected oneself. As though to prove to Yanagi that his actions up until then hadn’t been wrong, Mai smiled as hard as she could. Even as she bled, she bore the pain and kept her gaze firmly meeting his.

“Thank you for all you’ve done, but you don’t need to hurt yourself for me anymore. It’s my turn to do my best…so I can show you that you weren’t wrong.”

“Mai…”

“But I need you to come back to me first so you can support me like you always do. I’ll try my best, but you know how I always trip and fall. I still need you around to catch me when I do.”

“Ah… Ha. That’s…true…”

Finally, he remembered where he had seen that expression before. How could he have forgotten? Back in junior high, she always wore that serene smile when she was in the library. But it vanished somewhere once the bullying began, just like those brief, peaceful moments after school with her that he so ­treasured. That was why he had been so frantic to regain what they used to have.

But perhaps it hadn’t been lost. Perhaps her smile had already returned, and he was just too protective of her to really see.

“I’m sorry for not noticing… For not looking at you properly.”

“No, you’ve always been looking after me, Yanagi-kun. You just stopped looking at yourself. That’s all.”

The urban legend of Hikiko-san was a story about a girl who was bullied, locked herself in her dark room, went insane, and became a monster. In that form, she wandered the city on rainy nights, grabbed children she encountered by their ankles, and dragged them until they were a bloody mess. She was a lethal urban legend, but defeating her was simple: Just show her a mirror and she would flee.

In other words, this ending followed the story to a T. ­Hikiko-san saw their own deeds reflected and fled. Nothing special had ­occurred. Things had merely played out as the story dictated.

“Ha ha, you’re right. But that’s because you always trip the second I look away.”

“That’s not true! Jeez, Yanagi-kun.”

The two embraced one another. He was no longer a monster. The long hair and rags were nowhere to be seen. Hikiko-san had fled, leaving only Tomishima Yanagi and Yoshioka Mai behind.

***

The one most surprised by this turn of events was Jinya. He’d fought a myriad of demons and urban legends over his years and had seen almost all of them meet bitter ends. That was why he assumed he had been too late here.

“To think he could return from such a state…”

The young sometimes outdid the expectations of the old. The current Yanagi was neither demon nor urban legend. He had been corrupted into a spirit but managed to return to humanity once more. Of course, he had help. But even so, this result was something that outdid what Jinya thought was possible.

“Uh, so… What’s going on, Kadono-kun?” Hikiko-san had turned back into Yanagi and was now locked in an embrace with Mai, the two of them both covered in blood. The battle was over, but Kaoru seemed confused by what had happened and came over to Jinya for clarification.

Jinya thought about how to answer for a moment, eventually remembering what Natsuki had said. “I suppose it’s a ­romantic ending befitting their names. Their feelings reached one ­another, allowing them to find a conclusion where they could be happy ­together. A bit clichéd, perhaps, but it’s a good ending nonetheless.”

That would work well enough as a summary. Explaining what had happened in full detail here would be boorish. Right now, the only thing that mattered was that these two were happy together.

***

“What the hell was that…that monster?!”

“You’re asking me?!”

“There’s something wrong with both of those two!”

The next day, the three girls who had barely escaped with their lives were loudly discussing the frightening events that had happened on one of the school staircases’ landings.

The boy they admired had turned into a monster, and the girl they bullied had stopped him.

The girls couldn’t make sense of any of it. They wished ­nothing more than to believe it had been a dream, but the boys they’d brought along to shame Yoshioka were actually in the hospital. That monster had been real. Such an evil thing had been hiding among them at their school, in the same grade even.

“What do we do?”

“Is there anything we can do…?”

“Well, we can’t just do nothing! That thing’s, like, at our school!”

“Maybe we should tell somebody, then?”

“Okay, but who?”

“A teacher…? No, maybe the police?”

Worried about their own safety, they considered making a report. That would be a bit of an issue, though…

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Jinya cut in at that point, having eavesdropped on their conversation.

The three girls jumped in fear and slowly turned to look at him. But once they saw who it was, they breathed sighs of relief.

“You’re that boy…”

“Wh-what do you mean we shouldn’t?”

Jinya could see fear of the supernatural in them, but not an ounce of shame for bullying Mai. They looked at him with eyes that expected help, but naughty children had to be punished.

“Trying to tell others about what happened will only get you three hurt,” he said.

“What? Why?”

“That kind of spirit is one who seeks revenge on those who try to harm it. The safest option is to pretend nothing happened at all, or else… Oh dear. Look, it’s already coming.” With his chin, he gestured toward his shadow. The girls were confused at first, but their eyes soon spread wide with shock.

“Aha, hee hee, aha ha ha ha ha!”

An arm reached out of the shadow, soon followed by an atrocious face that was draped with long black hair. Its mouth was slit to its ears, and it wore threadbare rags. It was Hikiko-san, the urban legend that had tried to kill the girls.

“Eeek!”

The girls shrieked and ran away without looking back. One of them tripped and quickly stood back up, fleeing down the hallway as fast as she could. They drew the mystified gazes of other students as they went.

Kaoru appeared as they left. It was lunch period right now, so she’d probably come by to invite him for lunch. “Did you finish your business, Kadono-kun? C’mon, let’s eat together. Everyone’s already met up.”

“Sounds good.”

“By the way, what was with the bullies just now? Did something happen?”

“Who can say? Maybe they were tricked by an Amanojaku?”

Of course, the Hikiko-san just then wasn’t real, but an illusion made with Falsehood, the ability the Amanojaku had given him. He could have wiped their memories instead, but it would be a problem if they returned to bullying Mai.

He figured threatening them the same way a few more times would do the trick. The idea of them getting away from this ­completely scot-free didn’t quite sit right with him, so for the time being, Hikiko-san would continue haunting them from time to time and make them repent for their actions.

And with that, the events involving Hikiko-san came to an end.

The two boys who had been left bloody by the spirit were taken to the hospital by Jinya and were set to recover without complications. When asked where their injuries came from, they both answered they didn’t know.

Jinya had made sure to wipe their memories. There would be no issues for Yanagi or Mai.

The three girls who had bullied Mai had kept to themselves since then. Jinya’s illusions seemed to have done the trick, because they hadn’t told a soul about what happened and the bullying stopped completely. Now, whenever they ran into Yanagi or Mai in the hallways, they scurried away in the opposite direction.

The bullying was finally over. Yanagi had become human again and spent every day together with Mai, and Mai was her usual self, often seen tripping over nothing and being caught by Yanagi.

Things were peaceful again, but not everything was the same as before.

Five people sat by the windows in the cafeteria, chatting over lunch. The group consisted of the usual three—Jinya, Miyaka, and Kaoru—joined by Yanagi and Mai.

There were many people around them, but they were all ­engrossed in their own conversations and paid their group no mind. Still, Yanagi checked his surroundings to make sure nobody was listening in. After making sure the coast was clear, he said, “Hey, Kadono… Ever since all that stuff happened, I’ve been able to do this.”

From the palm of his hand appeared a razor blade. Just like when he was Hikiko-san, he could make sharp box cutter and razor blades appear, as well as the rags woven out of blades. And though it was only for a very short time, he could display ­inhuman movements, durability, and regeneration. He had ­awakened inhuman powers.

“Do you think maybe…?”

“No, you’re human as you are now. I guarantee it… But becoming a spirit temporarily seems to have left you some of Hikiko-san’s powers.”

“Weird…”

“This is the first time I’ve seen something like this myself. However, it isn’t so rare for humans to have strange abilities.”

“Is that so?”

The others seemed interested as well, so Jinya gave a few examples.

There were the Akitsu who controlled artifact spirits, the Nagumo who wielded demonic swords, the Kukami who made Magatama from the souls of demons and embedded them in their flesh to use their power, an antique store called Kogetsudou whose owners specialized in handling old objects that had become spirits, and more, many of them spirit hunters. All of them were human but used otherworldly powers.

Yanagi nodded deeply, full of admiration. “So spirit hunters are real, huh? Wait, I guess I already knew that since you’re one.”

“I am. But at any rate, you’re a human who has awakened to ­inhuman powers. Perhaps we should call you an urban legend user?” said Jinya. He had to admit his suggestion lacked flair, but the ­important thing was for Yanagi to understand he was still human.

Kaoru tugged on Jinya’s sleeve. “Kadono-kun?”

“Yes, Azusaya?”

“‘Urban legender’ would sound way cooler than ‘urban legend user’!” She clenched her fists in front of her with a serious look on her face as she put her own suggestion out there.

The others gave her exasperated looks, especially Miyaka, who knew just how silly her longtime friend could be.

But Jinya was always soft on his candied apple heavenly maiden. He didn’t particularly care what they picked, so after some brief thinking, he went with her suggestion. “Ah… Let’s go with urban legender, then.”

“Kadono? You can’t be serious.”

“Shouldn’t we think about this a little more?”

Yanagi and Miyaka both made faces while Kaoru puffed her chest with pride over having her suggestion approved.

Jinya forcibly brought the topic to an end before it could drag on. “At any rate, you have nothing to worry about. Just think of yourself as being a little faster, sturdier, and so on than most people.”

Yanagi seemed visibly relieved. “…All right. Thanks. Sorry for the weird question. I’ve been nothing but in your debt these past few days, huh?”

“You owe me nothing. The ones you should really thank are Yoshioka and Azusaya. I just bought time.” Jinya wasn’t ­being modest. He’d fully planned on killing Yanagi if Mai hadn’t brought him back to his senses. He hadn’t done much of ­anything to help, so being thanked made him feel a little awkward. It didn’t help that Mai was even more needlessly thankful.

She bowed her head several times and said, “Th-that’s not true. None of this would have been possible if you hadn’t stopped to let me try bringing him back. Thank you, Kadono-kun.”

“What she said. Mai could only have done what she did thanks to you. I appreciate it, Kadono.”

The two of them thanked him wholeheartedly. Perhaps it was because of his age, but Jinya was a little soft when it came to kids like them.

“All right, I’ll accept your gratitude. But leave it at that.” He couldn’t be stubborn forever, so he accepted their thanks, much to their delight.

They went back to eating their lunch. Though she was still a little awkward, Mai did her best to talk to the girls while Yanagi watched her with a pleased smile. Jinya found himself smiling a little as well, his heart warmed by the sight.

After they finished eating, Mai checked the time and looked at Yanagi.

He got up from his seat and said, “Sorry, we’ve got some business to take care of. We’ll be heading out first.”

Mai followed him but slipped in her haste. She tripped over nothing, falling forward face first.

“Like I keep saying, you gotta be more careful, Mai.” Yanagi caught her just in time as though he’d seen this coming. This was a familiar sight for his classmates.