Chapter 52

Translator: Elisia

Editor/Proofreader: TempWane

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To be honest, I was someone who didn’t believe in luck.

Since I was an atheist, it was only natural to think that the world operated based on phenomena that scientists had already explained, leaving no room for words like “fate.”

Well, if you dig deeper, there were claims that there was no such thing as free will or that the world was just a sequence of causes and effects, but I didn’t delve that far.

My job didn’t require it. All I needed was knowledge about where the water would flow, how to sprinkle water effectively, and what measures were needed to make a person’s heart beat again.

But, you know.

“Ah.”

Now, I was in a state where I was almost tempted to believe in that so-called fate.

No, maybe not fate exactly, but at least it seemed certain that this Kudan creature could really see the future.

How far could it predict? I bet it anticipated us following. Judging by how timely that rock fell.

Could it have predicted that the church people would follow us too? That the two groups would clash, wasting time while I sneaked away to follow Kudan?

Did it anticipate that I’d trip over a rock and fall forward, roll down the slope, and hit a tree so hard I’d almost lose consciousness?

“…”

Come to think of it, I didn’t even have a flashlight. I should’ve taken one when I left the car.

“Ugh.”

I barely managed to lift myself. My back hurt like it was splitting apart.

But at least I wasn’t dead yet. The wound hadn’t healed though.

Normally, my wounds would heal instantly, but in this situation, connected to Nirlass, the healing was much slower. I didn’t know why. It was probably because that was what Nirlass wanted.

Panting, I rummaged through my pockets.

Luckily, my phone was still intact in my pants pocket.

My phone didn’t have a flashlight. But even in this pitch-black darkness, the dim light from the phone screen could illuminate the ground enough to see.

I lit up the ground like that.

My jeans were torn in several places, and blood was oozing out.

I touched my legs. Good. These wounds wouldn’t be a big problem for walking. Of course, if I were a normal person, I’d have to worry about infections, but once this job was done, my wounds would all disappear, so I didn’t need to worry about that.

I tapped the ground with my toes. There didn’t seem to be any issues with my sense of touch. At least my spine wasn’t broken.

Slowly, I raised my phone.

But, you know.

Now that I thought about it, I was still in a pretty bad situation.

If I didn’t find Kudan, I might get stranded and die in a mountain that’s just an hour and a half from Tokyo by car.

Damn it—

Thinking that, I looked around with my phone.

“…!”

I had to clench my teeth.

It was a person’s face.

A middle-aged man’s face.

With horns like a cow’s on his forehead, his hair wild and unkempt, the middle-aged man’s face stared at me blankly.

The goosebumps rising on my back made me momentarily forget all the pain in my body. Not that I was particularly grateful for that.

Once again, the word “fate” crossed my mind.

Thanks to Nirlass, or maybe because of Kudan’s prophetic abilities, I had simply rolled down the mountain and stopped exactly near where Kudan was hiding.

At this distance, I couldn’t clearly see the face.

Have you ever seen a man’s pale face peek through the trees in the middle of the night, in a forest so dense with branches overhead that the moon and stars are barely visible?

Even if you know what it is, it’s still terrifying. Moving just a few millimeters closer to that face made my entire body break out in goosebumps.

No, thinking about it, this wasn’t just the normal kind of fear-induced goosebumps.

But even so, this Kudan creature was truly the scariest yokai I had ever encountered. Not because of its appearance, but because of the atmosphere it gave off.

Ah, should I ask for a sword to be made?

I seriously considered it.

I didn’t have my “Chi” anymore. Perhaps I didn’t have enough blood left to summon something new.

“Uh, excuse me?”

I knew it was only recently born, but for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to speak informally. Maybe because its face looked middle-aged? Well, that was part of it…

A cow’s face is, of course, bigger than a person’s. Even that large, burly guy I knew had a smaller head than a cow’s.

So, imagine how big a human head attached to a cow’s body would be?

If it opened its mouth, I felt like my entire head could fit in there, no joke.

It’s hard to comprehend. Even if it was a calf, it should be much smaller than this.

But the Kudan in front of me was no calf.

…Could it be something else?

Was it some other yokai living in this forest?

There was no option to run away. Even if I turned around and sprinted, all that awaited behind me was the steep slope I had just rolled down.

And if it was a yokai, it probably wouldn’t try to eat me. Usually, they spit me out after a bite.

“…Kudan?”

Would it even recognize the name it’s been given?

Apparently, I didn’t show any hostility, so that pale, massive face just stared at me with its dark pupils.

“…”

Finally, I succeeded in getting close enough.

I slowly shone the light past the face.

There—was the body of a spotted cow.

…So, this really was the breed.

I should’ve known when they mentioned the ranch.

What now?

If it had just been a regular cow, or if its face had been cow-shaped, I might have tried to pet it.

But… well, you know… it’s just…

The face was that of a flat-faced man.

Petting it would feel a bit… awkward, wouldn’t it?

“…Can you understand what I’m saying?”

I awkwardly asked in a polite tone.

Kudan simply looked at me, then turned its head sharply.

And walked away.

It wasn’t running, so I quickly followed behind.

Was it guiding me? Or was it just fleeing in its own way?

Kudan’s hair had a slight grayish tint as it moved ahead.

Zzzz.

My phone, which I had been holding, buzzed.

Apparently, even though I was in the mountains, being so close to Tokyo meant the cell towers were still functional.

I answered the call.

[Kurosawa!? Where are you now? Are you okay?]

Yuuki’s voice screamed through the phone, not sounding okay at all.

I held the phone a little away from my ear and spoke.

“I’m fine. Just… lost my way a bit.”

[Where are you now?]

I looked toward Kudan.

Kudan had stopped ahead and was looking back at me.

It was a bizarre sight—standing in the middle of the forest with no real path, a cow with a man’s head staring back at me. It would’ve been eerie enough if its head had been a cow’s.

…Was its hair actually getting grayer?

Was I imagining it?

After a brief hesitation, I spoke.

“I found it.”

[What?]

Yuuki was shocked. There was some commotion on the other end. I could hear her grandfather’s muffled voice, and it seemed like a few other people were there too.

Could they have made a deal with the church people? No matter how good Yuuki and her grandfather were, I didn’t think they could win a fight based on numbers alone. Especially if neither side was aiming to kill.

“For now, I’m just following. I’ll let you know when I figure out where we are.”

I’d think about how to inform them when the time came.

[Wait, Kurosawa! Kurosawa!]

“See you later.”

I answered and then hung up.

…A prophecy, all by itself.

…Could that being have already known everything?

It seemed as if Kudan had been waiting for me to finish the call, because as soon as I did, it turned its head again and continued moving forward.

I hurried to follow behind it.

* * *

Just a few minutes before Kurosawa Kotone rolled down the cliff—

“Kurosawa!”

Yuuki had been rushing toward the man standing in front of Kotone.

She didn’t intend to fight. She just wanted to break the deadlock somehow and protect Kotone.

But before Yuuki could even reach him, Kotone had already been stabbed by the man’s knife.

The 20-centimeter blade had probably pierced near Kotone’s neck.

“What—”

The man muttered.

Behind him, a girl from the same school, a year above… whose name didn’t really matter, was shouting something. Probably condemning the man for stabbing Kotone.

But before any of that registered, Yuuki had already tackled the man.

“Yuka! No!”

Her grandfather’s shout brought her back to her senses, and she quickly twisted her body, knocking the knife out of the man’s grasp.

But she didn’t slow down.

The man, struck by her shoulder tackle, collapsed forward.

And that was just the beginning.

Smack!

Yuuki dodged a flying punch and slammed the hilt of her sword into the man’s abdomen.

“Ugh!”

The man staggered, groaning, but he didn’t fall.

“…”

There was a gasp from behind Yuuki.

The man dropped the bloodied knife to the ground. The blade was stained with a vivid red.

Seeing it made Yuuki’s heart pound fiercely.

It’s my fault.

That’s what she thought.

Kotone had been tormented all semester. It wasn’t just yokai; she had been caught up in all sorts of trouble.

Her grandfather believed that Kotone had dealt with the cannibal yokai that had suddenly disappeared before Yuuki arrived.

It wasn’t a strange conclusion. Yuuki had already seen her pick up her wrist-cutting blade and head out to destroy that creature the moment she read the news article.

A good kid, silently helping people in the only way she knew how, despite the horrible circumstances.

And that way only made her own awful situation even worse.

The sound of something cutting through the air was followed by the clash of metal against metal.

It wasn’t a sword clashing with another sword. Yuuki’s grandfather had shot an arrow, knocking the man’s sword out of his hand. Yuuki took the opportunity to leap back, creating some distance.

She looked in the direction Kotone had run. Kotone was already out of sight.

I have to go.

That kid didn’t even have a flashlight. If she got lost in the mountains under these conditions…

But as Yuuki tried to run forward, she was blocked by several people.

“Get out of my way!”

Yuuki shouted, pointing her sword at them.

“Everyone, stop!”

At that command, the men froze.

Yuuki glanced back.

The upperclassman had rushed over to where the man’s sword had fallen.

She bent down and picked up the blade.

Blood, thick and sticky, dripped down the blade.

Her face was also smeared with so much blood that, had a passerby seen her, they would’ve definitely called the police.

“…”

Yuuki glared at the woman.

What on earth had happened?

Had Kotone spilled that blood? Or had the woman…?

“Why did you do that?”

The woman asked.

“I stabbed her—”

“You pointed a knife at her.”

At Yuuki’s words, the woman looked at her.

“You were holding one too.”

“I wasn’t planning to stab anyone. And I didn’t stab anyone. I just blocked whatever balloon… or whatever it was that she threw at me.”

She spoke coldly to Yuuki.

“More importantly, did you hurt her like that? Why? Was it some kind of ritual? Is that prophecy so important? Important enough to make… a kid cut her own wrist?”

“…”

Yuuki felt like she had been struck over the head again.

“That kid was bleeding out. She would’ve collapsed soon in that condition. We need to find her. There’s no time to fight.”

The woman spoke calmly.

“But the Kudan—”

“…”

At those words, the woman stared directly at the man.

He fell silent.

Yeah. That’s right.

It was Yuuki herself who had called Kotone.

It was Yuuki who had made her cut her wrist. She even had a first aid kit and a bucket ready in the car.

When Kotone got in the car, she carefully placed the shopping bag she had brought on the edge of the seat, as if she didn’t want it to get stained with blood.

And she had even mentioned that she had plans on Thursday.

…She already knew. She knew she’d bleed and possibly end up hospitalized.

She knew everything, but still followed Yuuki’s lead without complaint.

Why had she thought that way? Why, as soon as she heard about the “calamity,” had Kotone been the first person she thought of?

Had Yuuki been willing to sacrifice Kotone if it meant stopping that immense disaster?

…

No, that wasn’t it. Rather—

It was as if she had just thought of it as something natural, something inevitable.

Like when facing a yokai, Yuuki felt chills run down her spine.

Who exactly was the real monster here?

“Yuka.”

Her grandfather’s voice finally brought Yuuki back to reality.

“Let’s try contacting her first.”

At her grandfather’s words, Yuuki quickly pulled out her phone from her pocket.

She immediately found Kotone’s name and called her.

“Kurosawa!? Where are you now? Are you okay?”

Kotone said she was fine.

She even said she had found Kudan.

But she didn’t mention where she was, and then the call ended.

The men, who had looked a bit unsure at the mention of Kudan, now had changed expressions.

But by then, Kudan had already faded from Yuuki’s mind.

Yuuki started running. She could hear the sounds of people rushing after her.

Things had gotten completely messed up. Maybe the church would kill Kudan before even hearing the prophecy, and Miura’s side would react.

But—

None of that mattered anymore.

What weighed far more heavily on her was the thought that she had driven her friend into this situation with her own hands.

But when she reached the spot where the trail of blood had led—

There was a steep, dangerous slope leading down, so sharp that anyone unprepared shouldn’t attempt to descend.

And near the slope’s edge, there were signs that someone had slid down.

All the way down.

* * *

It was about time to acquire a new ability.

Come to think of it, the sword I “made” with my blood—maybe it didn’t have to be a sword.

Perhaps it could take another form.

For example, a gun.

I mean, it’s a solid material, right? If I think of it like carrying around a portable 3D printer, it’s plausible.

…No, but I immediately dismissed that idea. A gun has too many components. Besides, there’s no way our great and noble foreign god, Nirlass, would allow such a cheat ability.

Nirlass is a being with an extremely twisted sense of humor. Even if I tried to summon it by splashing blood on my wrist, it would probably just chew me up.

In the old days, the Aztecs offered live human sacrifices.

I don’t think the gods the Aztecs believed in actually existed, but they still insisted on sticking to that method. They didn’t even consider preparing the sacrifices in advance. Probably because they wanted to “please the gods.”

And Nirlass is also a foreign deity. If I don’t do things exactly the way it wants, it won’t respond, or it’ll demand a huge penalty.

Then how about a bow?

If I could shoot a bow, it would be really helpful for the Raiju incident.

There might be some way to make use of all the blood I’ve been shedding.

…Though the fact that I didn’t really belong in that harem meeting was a bigger issue.

“…Ah.”

Kudan stopped walking, and so did I.

“Where is this?”

It was a cliff.

Much higher than the one I had rolled down earlier. If I made one wrong step and fell, it would take forever to recover the body.

It was night, so I couldn’t see the view well. But it seemed like it would be a spectacular sight during the day.

There were no fences or barriers nearby, so it probably wasn’t developed as a tourist spot.

And most of all—

“The sea.”

I could see the ocean.

The sea at night was beautiful.

The moon hung in the sky above the water, and there was another moon reflected in the water.

The horizon stretched far into the distance, surprisingly visible even in the darkness.

“Did we come here just to see this view…?”

Kudan, already crouched near the cliff’s edge, turned to look at me.

And when I saw its face, I was startled again.

Kudan’s face had aged completely. During the time we had been walking, it had turned into an old man. The graying hair I had noticed earlier wasn’t just my imagination.

“….”

Without a word, I sat down next to Kudan.

Perhaps, from the beginning, this was what it had wanted.

It didn’t need to get rid of me. It hadn’t tried to capture me and force me to hear its prophecy, nor had it tried to kill me before that.

What it wanted was simply to speak a few final words before it passed.

A peaceful death, without being locked up or interrupted by anyone.

It had known all along that it would die today.

We sat in silence for a long time.

There wasn’t any need for me to say what I wanted. If I had known things would turn out like this.

Before I knew it, the goosebumps that had risen on my back had started to subside.

Thud.

Kudan’s head fell weakly to the ground. It lay there, legs completely limp, resting its chin on the ground, gazing blankly out at the distant sea.

It would’ve been nice if we could last long enough to see the sunrise.

“…It’s over now.”

Kudan spoke.

It was the voice of an old man.

“Yeah.”

“I wanted to see the future that only appeared in my mind with my own eyes.”

“…”

“Now that I’ve spoken, I must give a prophecy. I must speak and die. Otherwise, I’ll be killed by those who are following.”

“…I’m listening.”

“It’s fine if you don’t listen. As long as you move far away.”

“But it will happen. And I made a promise. I have to listen.”

“…”

Kudan hesitated for a moment before opening its mouth.

“You will die.”

Death comes to everyone.

After all, the final destination of all life is death.

Strangely enough, no living being is ever born just to die.

“At the hands of the one you trust most.”

Yeah, I figured as much.

“I heard it. Thank you.”

“Mm.”

Kudan responded.

And after that, there was no more sound.

The goosebumps on my back had completely vanished.

Even then, I continued to sit there, hugging my knees, thinking.

Normally, Kudan’s prophecy wasn’t directed at individuals.

The way to avoid the prophecy was to hear the one born alongside the female Kudan.

…If I combined those two facts.

Was it that my death would bring calamity to the world?

Or was it, instead, telling those who would try to save me to think again?

Slowly, the pain in my left wrist began to fade.

I sat there, holding my knees to my chest, long into the night, until I finally fell asleep.