Chapter 57

Translator: Elisia

Editor/Proofreader: TempWane

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Alright. First, let’s organize the positive points.

I think I understand why there are so many ghosts. With so many corpses around, it makes sense that all sorts of ghosts would gather.

This world is filled with ghosts. Like the ghost that appeared in front of Izumi last time, if there’s a presence that feels similar emotions to them, they will gather nearby.

…….

Could it be that everything in that refrigerator is still alive?

I shuddered.

If the body I’m currently inhabiting, Kurosawa Kotone’s body, follows the same principle…

From the fact that this body recovers from anemia after receiving a human blood transfusion, it’s likely this body is ‘human’ to some extent. At least, there’s definitely human blood mixed in it. Even if it’s only half, isn’t it still human?

Aside from Shura-Nirlass, thinking about Shub-Niggurath from the original story—

There’s a rather famous story by Lovecraft called [The Dunwich Horror]. While I don’t remember the exact names of the characters, I know how the story unfolds.

To describe it very simply, a family in the village of Dunwich had their daughter mate with Shub-Niggurath, and she bore a child. The resulting creature was a monstrous being, and university professors ultimately dealt with it.

If the author of [Tokyo Slayers] used that novel as the framework for the setting, it would make sense. After all, even in that story, the experiment was described as a failure.

The first son, who initially appeared as a villain, started off looking human, but as time passed, his body grew grotesquely large, slowly deviating from humanity. In the end, he was killed by a dog while trying to steal the Necronomicon from Miskatonic University Library.

It’s absurd that a creature with the blood of an Outer God died from a mere dog bite, but considering his body was already twisted and weakened, it’s not entirely unreasonable.

There was a description that the corpse liquefied and vanished. Again, it’s been too long since I read it, so I’m not entirely sure, but I remember there being a mention of a foul stench as well.

…….

Wait a minute.

On second thought, does that mean the ones in the refrigerator… aren’t dead?

If they liquefy and rapidly shrink as soon as they die, then those corpses shouldn’t have remained in this world.

“……”

I shuddered again.

I’ve brought friends over here before. Yuuki has slept over, and Yamashita stayed for a short time too.

And all the while, except for two rooms, there were entities, who might have been my siblings, trapped in the refrigerator in a state where they couldn’t die or live.

What should I do about that?

If those entities are ‘failures,’ why didn’t Kagami get rid of them?

Couldn’t she have buried them, or burned them? Would throwing them into the sea cause something to happen?

The problem is that they’re the offspring of an Outer God or something similar, and I don’t know how to deal with them.

“……Hah.”

…Actually, it’s not that I don’t know. I just don’t want to know.

If it’s my destiny to die by being stabbed by Yuuki’s sword, those things could probably be dealt with in a similar way.

But whether a sword made from my blood would work on them, I don’t know. If they are similar to me, then what flows inside them would also be similar.

I sat down in my room, knees drawn to my chest, wrapping my arms around my head as I sank into deep thought—

Suddenly, I heard the sound of someone snoring.

“…….”

I lifted my head.

I saw the man leave earlier. This time, I was certain. The snoring wasn’t coming from him.

I checked the time. It was still only half past nine in the morning. When I saw the man off earlier, it was early in the morning, and checking the rooms didn’t take as long as I thought.

How long will it take for the man to finish his interview and come back?

I got up from my seat.

There was no need to make a new key. The man hadn’t locked the door when he left. He said he hadn’t called the locksmith yet.

It was probably because of the time, but more likely, it was to save money. Didn’t he say he worked at a research lab? Depending on the lab, the story could change, but if he needed another job, he probably didn’t make that much money.

A research lab… Honestly, that sounds extremely suspicious.

The man acted like it was a coincidence that he was staying here… but would Kagami really let an ordinary person live in this house?

I moved very slowly, making sure my own noise was drowned out by the sniffling sounds from the other room.

I didn’t want them to hear my movements.

I grabbed the doorknob, slowly turned it, and stepped out, taking nearly a full minute.

Then I stood in front of the man’s door.

I pressed my ear to the door and listened.

…I could still hear the sound of snoring. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t just snoring; it sounded like sniffling as if someone was smelling something.

Was it really a person? Or was it something else entirely? At least, it didn’t feel like a yokai.

But I couldn’t let my guard down completely.

For all I knew, opening the door could reveal a half-decayed ghost waiting to greet me.

Or maybe the man wasn’t living alone after all.

I took a deep breath, then swung the door open with all my strength.

This apartment’s entrance and kitchen were in the same space, and beyond the door dividing the kitchen from the entrance was the room. If that door was closed, you wouldn’t be able to see the room just by opening the front door.

The man had left that door open.

I don’t think it was intentional. It was probably just more convenient to leave it open. I also leave mine open when I’m not sleeping.

The man’s room was cleaner than I expected. It was neatly organized—in fact, it had even fewer items than my own room.

He had placed a low table against the wall, using it like a desk. On the part of the table pressed against the wall, there were file boxes lined up like a bookshelf, and next to them were thick books, most of which were related to folklore. Some of them were old books with difficult kanji.

It looked like there was a TV on the opposite side of where I placed mine. I say ‘looked like’ because I couldn’t actually see the TV from here.

Maybe he didn’t have a TV at all. Since the man seemed to use the house mainly just to sleep, it wouldn’t be strange if he didn’t own one. Considering I could hear him snoring but not a TV, it made sense that he probably didn’t have one.

Anyway, that wasn’t the important thing.

From where I stood, there wasn’t much I could see. Unless I actually entered the room, I couldn’t confirm what was inside.

The snoring stopped the moment I opened the door.

Still, I couldn’t shake off a feeling of unease. It wasn’t the sensation of encountering a yokai, but…

Clatter.

At that sound, I immediately stepped inside the room.

The noise seemed to have come from the direction of the refrigerator.

When I looked over, I froze.

And so did the thing in the room.

At first, I thought it was a giant snail. Or a slug. In any case, something legless, sticky-looking, and vaguely fleshy.

But after my initial shock settled, I could see it more clearly.

Blink.

I blinked.

Even though I was looking right at it, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

I mean, I’ve seen plenty of strange creatures before—monsters with monkey heads, creatures shaped like humans but bloated like balloons, or monsters that looked like some bizarre fusion of a human and a dog…

Even just today, I saw the remains of something in another room that looked human but clearly wasn’t.

But this…

What was attached to the wall was… a ‘nose.’

I’m not joking or using a metaphor. It was literally a nose.

At first, I thought it was a really grotesque decoration, but then I remembered that the sound I had heard was snoring.

As if staying still would make me think it wasn’t there, the nose, stuck to the wall, was about the length of my forearm, from fingertip to elbow. It looked like a human nose, but it was far too large to belong to any person.

There was even some skin attached around the nose. It looked as if it had been forcibly removed—or maybe ‘sliced off.’

……Those pieces of flesh.

Once again, the story of [The Dunwich Horror] came to mind.

The son, who was said to be the child of Shub-Niggurath, had a sibling. And that sibling resembled Shub-Niggurath, their father—or another mother—much more than the brother did.

It was described as having several thick legs, like tree trunks, and on top of its body—

—was a gigantic human head, the size of a house.

“……Ah.”

I let out a sound.

Whether it understood what I meant by that noise, the nose stuck to the wall suddenly moved.

It swiftly slithered towards the ceiling, sliding into the corner of the kitchen ceiling, and wriggled into a crack.

In an instant, it disappeared into the gap.

“……”

For a while,

I stood there with my mouth agape, staring blankly at the spot where it had vanished.

Then I quickly rushed out of the room, shut the door, grabbed my phone, wallet, and student handbook, locked the door, and ran out of the apartment.

—

So, those things in the refrigerator were part of ‘one’ entity.

That was my guess.

It wasn’t that they had cut up ‘several’ entities, but that they had divided up ‘one’ entity and stored its parts in the refrigerator, which made sense.

When it was first born, it probably wasn’t as large as it was described in [The Dunwich Horror]. That’s why they were able to handle it inside.

But there still wasn’t enough space, so they had to distribute its pieces across several places.

“Senpai?”

“Huh?”

Shii called out to me as I stood there, lost in thought, and I responded a bit louder than I intended.

“Is something wrong?”

Shii asked with a concerned expression.

Ah, right.

Today is a busy day.

There are always a lot of customers on weekends, but now it’s also summer vacation.

In Japan, many schools still hold classes on Saturdays. Even at Hanagawa High School, where I attend, it’s the same.

Students sleep in on Saturday mornings, wake up leisurely, then meet up with friends to hang out in various busy areas. That’s why today, there were many high school students in the café.

There weren’t many couples; most of the customers were same-gender friends hanging out. Surprisingly, there weren’t many boys. Perhaps that’s because this isn’t a full-on maid café but rather a fairly ordinary place.

“……No, it’s nothing.”

I quickly said and went back to work, but Shii kept giving me concerned glances for a while.

Yeah, I need to focus.

I can’t make her worry. Especially since Shii is just a middle schooler.

But throughout the entire shift, the sight I had witnessed stayed in my mind.

Maybe they lost track of one piece while cutting the body into several parts. It’s understandable if they missed one part while chopping and wrapping something that big.

If the corpse had been a human one, it would have been easier to make sure the pieces were all there. You could just count the hands, feet, legs… and make sure they all matched.

But when the thing you’re dealing with doesn’t have any set shape, when it’s all jumbled together…

“……”

Nirlass told me not to run away.

But to what extent does that apply?

Well…

Does staying away from home for just a day count as running away?

—

Thankfully, as the day grew busier, my nerves gradually calmed.

That didn’t mean I was completely fine, though.

In fact, the more my mind settled, the more clearly I could understand the state of the room I was living in.

And the conclusion I reached was that it was ‘dangerous.’

Of course, I have no intention of running away. I’m already in too deep to back out now. If I had wanted to run, I should have bolted from the apartment early on and never looked back.

Not that it would’ve made the situation any better. In fact, things could have gotten worse. I could’ve ended up being chased by a cult, and the story might have spiraled out of control, entangling the lives of the people around me.

Anyway, since I made a deal with Nirlass, running away isn’t an option.

That was the conclusion I came to as I sat next to Shii, eating ramen and organizing my thoughts.

But.

“Well then, Senpai, see you tomorrow.”

After Shii politely said goodbye and waved, I pulled out my phone from my pocket.

I stared at the screen for a moment, then made a call.

[Hello? Kurosawa?]

It was Yuuki who answered.

Right. But—

“……Can I come over today?”

—How can I stay in a house with a gigantic crawling nose?

I just need to take refuge until I can come up with a proper idea.

[Oh… Huh!? At this hour!?]

“……Yeah.”

[I mean, sure! Are you coming right now?]

“……Yeah, thanks.”

I’m not running away.

This is a strategic retreat.

This is even mentioned in the *Kojiki*.

…At least it’s in *The Art of War*. Probably.

—

Yuuki seemed… quite excited.

I felt a bit embarrassed because all I wanted was to take refuge, but Yuuki greeted me with great enthusiasm.

Since it would have taken too long to go to my house in Saitama to pack, I just bought a shirt and underwear at a nearby mart. There was no need to buy pants since I already had comfortable ones to wear.

Even though I arrived after dinner time, Yuuki welcomed me with a smile.

“So, what’s up?”

It was only after letting me into her room that Yuuki asked.

Uh…

Should I tell her everything?

But I shook my head internally. No, if Yuuki found out, she’d try to fix the situation.

The fact that Miura-san didn’t come to the apartment to investigate was likely because he didn’t know what was happening there.

Sending someone to investigate could also lead to legal complications.

…The apartment is in the middle of a residential area. If there’s some sort of religious booby trap inside, and it affects the civilians nearby, it would be a huge problem.

“…I read a scary story. Last night.”

Yuuki, who had been sitting cross-legged on her bed, froze.

Did I say something weird?

While I was mulling over it, Yuuki suddenly let out a few stifled laughs, “Kkh, kkh.”

“The one who bravely charges at yokai and swings a sword at them is scared of ghost stories?”

“……I’m still scared of ghosts.”

I grumbled softly.

It’s true.

If this were my past life, I wouldn’t have been scared at all. I didn’t believe in ghosts back then.

When walking through the mountains at night, if a friend said something like, ‘It feels like something will pop out,’ I would’ve just laughed it off. I’ve never been afraid of walking the streets alone at night.

Well, except for the rare times when I wondered if a person or a wild animal might jump out. But that’s a different story.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Yuuki said, looking up at the ceiling as if lost in thought.

“When I talked about something similar before, you were scared too. Do you remember when I told you about your apartment?”

“…….”

“Oh, sorry, sorry.”

Yuuki waved her hands with a smile as I stared at her.

For the record, I was sitting in a chair in Yuuki’s room. Since I was shorter than her, my toes barely touched the ground, while my heels hung in the air.

“…Did I talk too much?”

Yuuki said, laughing somewhat awkwardly.

I shook my head.

It’s better when there’s more conversation. Talking helps distract me from other thoughts.

I’m sure I’ll eventually adapt to the situation in that apartment, but until then, I need time to think things through.

Once again, to be clear, I have no intention of running away. I’m just trying to figure out a solution.

“…You know, I actually don’t have many friends. There are some I keep in touch with, but not very often. I don’t really have friends that I’ve known for years.”

Yuuki said, scratching her cheek a little awkwardly.

“…Same here.”

That was true for me too.

Though, my situation was different from Yuuki’s. I was the one who built walls around myself as I grew older.

When you talk to people, you inevitably end up sharing stories about those around you. Eventually, family comes up, and the older people always pried into my background.

I… didn’t like talking about my family. I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me after hearing my story.

In a way, being in this world, where no one knew about my past, was a bit of a relief.

“……”

Yuuki gave me a small smile, then cleared her throat with a light cough.

“You said you work on Sundays, right? But you can sleep in a little, can’t you?”

“Yeah. I can sleep in a bit.”

Leaving from here would get me to work earlier than if I left from Saitama.

“Then… do you want to play a game?”

It was a choice typical of Yuuki, who had given me a Super Famicom as a gift.

I nodded.

And for the first time in a long while, after meeting Yuuki, I spent time in a very ordinary way with her.

It was definitely the right decision.

Spending time with a friend is a great way to get rid of nagging worries.