Mushi to Medama

It was over quickly.

The Long-Armed Demon lost surprisingly quickly against Mina; she was not even good enough to be the other woman"s opponent.

Her legs were broken, her shoulders were crushed, and her heart was filled with fear. That monstrous girl wasn"t even able to put up anything resembling resistance! No, she wasn"t allowed to.

Since Rinne couldn"t understand everything, she began thinking about what had just happened.

Long-Armed Demon likely noticed danger, and struck first against Mina who was preparing to speak to the Meat Doll; she probably planned to use those strong, invisible fists to beat Mina down.

But her movements were easily foiled.

Mina"s expressions were graceful as she turned slightly and dodged the fist and pressed the spray can in her hand -- a silver mist was released with a sound of "Shhhh".

Long-Armed Demon"s expression changed in that instant.

She showed shock and, as if putting all her effort into one single action, screamed.

But there was still no movement.

Mina leisurely walked in front of her and fiercely stomped right on her body. That was it, probably... That was it.

Her abdomen hit with a strong blow, Long-Armed Demon flipped over and fell on the b.u.mpy road where she rolled a few times. She remained like that, not moving and possibly unconscious.

Long-Armed Demon was definitely not weak. She was the Long-Armed Demon who killed ten people. She was a monstrous existence with superhuman abilities.

But she was silenced effortlessly by Mina, who didn"t so much as bat an eyelid.

"Seeing invisible things is something that I"m good at." Only Saibara Mina"s eyes were smiling as she spoke coldly. "Ah, what a bad match, Long-Armed Demon. But that isn"t important. You are no longer a threat. Actually, I wanted to leave you be for a while while I investigate a few things, but it seems I can"t do that anyway."

Mina once again turned toward the Meat Doll after she finished saying something incomprehensible.

The fragmented cl.u.s.ter of flesh with no determinable gender, which was destroyed by the Long-Armed Demon, had already completely recovered. Mina"s expression was impa.s.sive despite facing that hideous visage. She ignored Rinne, who was lying by her feet and shivering with fear, and spoke to the Meat Doll: "Alright, Meat Doll, let me hear your explanation. Why did you disregard my orders and protected Usagawa Rinne? Based on your response, I will -- no, haha, you should know even if don"t say it, right?"

Her words brought immeasurable fear to the Meat Doll. The Meat Doll startled with fright, and surprisingly responded with human speech.

"My reason was, since the Long-Armed Demon"s target also seemed to be Usagawa Rinne"s Fragment, I believed the Fragment might be taken away if I do not first eliminate Long-Armed Demon."

"Oh?" Mina showed a look of surprise. "She was after the Fragment? There are people beside us who want those things? It seems Long-Armed Demon should have a Fragment... But even if she gets more than two Fragments, she"d just destroy her sensory organs and die. Then again -- maybe she mistook the Fragments" function?"

Mina seemed to accept the Meat Doll"s words. Perhaps from habit, she once again started talking to herself.

"I thought the Meat Doll malfunctioned, but it seems I was too suspicious. Besides, that thing"s just a pile of flesh. How could it possibly have thoughts of protecting others?"

"..."

The Meat Doll was silent. Was she being too suspicious? Its features seemed rather human. There wasn"t any energy left for thinking as pain wrecked Rinne"s train of thought. She wanted to puke. This incomprehensible situation. This agonizing pain taking over her body.

And fear.

The extreme fear she held toward the woman before her made her nauseous.

"So," Mina ended her pondering and sneered at Rinne, "why h.e.l.lo. Thanks for lending me your cell phone. It was good finding you, but I couldn"t see any phones nearby. At the end, I couldn"t just watch and showed myself. However, since I ensured you can be eliminated, it was a good outcome."

"Fshuu--" The sound of breathing could be heard from Mina"s mouth every time she took a breath.

She"s like an alien species, Rinne thought. Her body, her thought processes, they were all completely different. She was an existence even stranger than the Meat Doll beside her.

Why didn"t Rinne notice this abnormality upon sight?

She was -- extremely dangerous.

More dangerous than Snake, more dangerous than Long-Armed Demon, more dangerous than just about anybody.

Saibara Mina asked Rinne with a smile. "I"ll gonna ask you something. If you answer honestly, you"ll live a bit longer."

She was definitely not lying. She should able to kill Rinne without batting an eye. Even with immortality granted from eating an Apple, Rinne would be easily disposed of.

Mina was, without doubt, that type of being.

"What is it?"

"Tell me... What happened," Mina sn.i.g.g.e.red and asked with a calm voice, "one month ago?"

Sakaki. Guriko.

The faces of these important people flashed before Rinne"s mind.

Ah. She would never see them again. She couldn"t go back.

I just had to meet her.

Aizawa Ume was a girl whose hands weren"t skilled.

When she cooked, she would scorch the bottom the pan and cut her finger. When she tried arts and crafts, she could never finish properly, making flawed products that would fall apart with a light blow.

What were these fingers doing?!

She was always miserable.

To eliminate that misery, the wicked G.o.d had given her--

"In--the--clear--night--"

With the singing voice came a robber with an abnormal expression. Just a robber. Even if it made it into the newspaper, it would be forgotten within a week; it was a normal case the likes of which occurred all the time. The robber killed Ume"s parents, and, possibly gotten addicted to killing, he decided to slowly torture the surviving girl to death. He pushed her down and lifted his b.l.o.o.d.y kitchen knife. He cut, starting from her fingertips, and Ume lost consciousness numerous times.

She was not forgiven no matter how she cried and screamed. No one came to save her.

In quick succession, her fingers, then hands, then arms were cut off and dropped by her parents" corpses on the ground.

Her arms were cut off from the shoulder.

Ah--

She couldn"t remember what happened afterward.

When she came to, she had gained those omnipotent arms.

She ecstatically tore the robber into pieces, then fell unconscious.

Upon wakening, an unfamiliar man said: "Welcome to our world!"

At that moment, she understood beyond doubt.

She could not go back.

"Ah."

When she was fully awake, the sunlight was slanted and a crimson sunset dyed the world in bright shades. Long-Armed Demon felt pain in her legs and stomach, wondering if she was defeated yet again. As she started to get up --

"Huh?"

She couldn"t get up.

How strange. She wanted to use her arms to pull herself back up.

She felt nothing.

Completely confused, she tried again.

"Hey, hey, I need to stand up, I can"t keep lying down like this. Ooh, if I don"t get up I can"t go back."

She felt nothing.

She felt nothing.

She felt nothing.

"Hey, hmm, I need to get up and go back."

Her arms.

"Back to Zeki-kun."

Her arms were gone.

Long-Armed Demon fell silent, and then began whimpering.

"Waahh..."

Tears flooded from her eyes and dripped from her cheeks.

"My arms, my arms, my arms....."

No, I really don"t want this. Arms, I don"t have arms. If I don"t have those long and powerful arms... I won"t be Long-Armed Demon. I"ll return to being the weak and clumsy Aizawa Ume.

And then she would be abandoned by Zekiguchi.

"No! No no no!"

With desperation filling her, Long-Armed Demon started sobbing.

"No..."

Zekiguchi, who gave her a haven despite her transformation into a monster, who accepted and praised her, who said said "Let"s keep living on together". Zekiguchi Nashinori...

I wanna go back to him.

Go back and be praised by him.

Until now it had always been like this; it was Long-Armed Demon"s only and greatest joy.

However --

These arms that lost feeling quietly rejected her.

-- Arms.

"My arms are gone."

Long-Armed Demon mumbled vacantly, lying on the ground. And somewhere on the uneven road in the direction of her head...

"Thump", a footstep.

"Zeki-kun?"

Long-Armed Demon"s heart almost stopped from fear as she shut her eyes tight.

No.

No no no no.

If she were to be abandoned by Zekiguchi now... She would rather just die. Her greatest fear was for him to say, "I don"t need you."

Long-Armed Demon trembled and cried, apologizing with overwhelming, catastrophic fear.

"I"m sorry, I"m sorry, don"t abandon me, please don"t abandon me."

"This world --"

Suddenly.

Because the voice was not one she had heard before, Long-Armed Demon opened her eyes.

"Huh?"

Looking at the person, it seemed to be someone she had seen somewhere before. The man"s side fringe made his face seem like a monster"s. He took out a cell phone and began dialing.

"-- Really has too many melancholic things."

"You --"

Even though she called out to him to address him, he lazily asked her without even giving his name: "Long-Armed Demon, can you really not use your arms now?"

"Ah..."

Struck at her weak point, Long-Armed Demon gritted her teeth and pushed back tears. But she couldn"t hold them back and she started crying.

Seeing her like this, the man nodded his head as if in understanding and spoke formally into his phone. "Ah -- h.e.l.lo, sorry to trouble you. I"m Nageki, Nageki Kurukiyo. Ah, right, right, I"ll tell you the place now, so please come quickly. What? We need an ambulance for this, though it"s probably already too late."

Long-Armed Demon understood.

He seemed to be a policeman. She had never felt the slightest fear toward any policemen and never paid any attention to them. But she would definitely be arrested under the current circ.u.mstances.

So it will end like this, Long-Armed Demon thought.

Zekiguchi would never save her now that she had lost her ability.

Just as she began to lose spirit, Nageki said something as if it were natural.

"Ah, right, dead, one little girl."

"Eh?" Dead? She wasn"t dead yet, so who died?

"Right, it looks like -- her arms were snapped off, and her shoulders were crushed."

Who was --

"She was murdered by having her heart torn out."

-- That?

The night was filled with nightmares, and falling asleep was impossible.

Ever since she started living separately from Rinne, she had been plagued with nightmares. Sometimes it was the faces of those she had killed, sometimes it was the scene of countless eyeb.a.l.l.s wriggling about. Though there were no definite images, it was still so painful.

It was during a night like this, a night when sleep was impossible.

Gankyū Eguriko woke up in her dark room in the home where she lived together with the Itsuwara couple. Her bed was soft, and she used a sky-patterned quilt. She glanced at the clock with spoons as its hands; it pointed at 2:00am.

"......"

Covered in cold sweat and feeling nauseous, Guriko decided to bathe. Thinking that she shouldn"t wake Hino and Kio, she quietly walked toward the door.

Those two are seriously naive. They"re so innocent that I lowered my guard. I don"t know if I can keep considering them my parents. Now that I think about it, even now I don"t really understand what parents are.

If I ask them, they"ll just laugh and say it"s easy.

"-- These "parents", that"s us."

They were truly idiots without common sense. Since it was too ridiculous, Guriko decided to stop thinking about it and just learn, bit by bit. Living with them wouldn"t be unpleasant.

It was a night when she was prepared to accept the current situation.

She noticed them speaking softly in the living room.

The voices were filled with sorrow, completely unlike the frenzied excitement from before. They seemed to be sad.

"-- I.. can"t do it, I can"t stand it anymore."

That was Hino"s voice. Was taking care of Guriko, a child who was both human and monster, a burden for her after all? Guriko thought it over, and an empty feeling that even she could not understand a.s.saulted her heart.

"-- But...

"-- I can"t kill her."

Hino murmured, and Kio replied.

"-- Hino, that won"t do. If we refuse to kill her, we will be killed by that person."

"-- Being killed is fine; either way, Kio, you definitely can"t kill Guriko-chan either. You obviously care about her more than I do."

Hino"s voice sounded almost like she was crying.

"-- Besides, you say we"ll be killed, but for a long time we"ve already --"

Then, she woke up.

It seemed like a scene concocted in a dream. Thanks to this, she did not have a nightmare in its place. But those half-digested, nauseating thoughts kept floating in her mind and she felt terrible. Like in her dream, Guriko woke in the darkness.

Her mind was heavy.

That conversation -- that night, what did that couple"s conversation mean? Saying things like killing me, or being killed -- I don"t understand it. In short, feeling an indescribable nausea, Guriko unhappily stared at the ceiling.

She didn"t go to school and even refused to pick up the phone when Rinne called.

She merely shut herself in her room like a recluse.

Ignoring Hino or Kio"s concern, she did not leave even when called for meals.

"Ah, what"s the problem; really, I"m so weak it"s disgusting."

There was a choice before her.

That choice was between the options that the man with wolf-like eyes called Zekiguchi Nashinori outlined.

Keep on living as a human like this?

Or to live as a monster?

Rinne, Hino, Sakaki, Kio... if she wanted to protect those important to her.

"My being near them will create danger?"

I know how cruel I am. I"m no different from Long-Armed Demon who killed ten people. In fact, I am worse than her. I have a twisted heart that wants to hurt others" bodies. My true ident.i.ty is that of an eyeball-gouging monster.

There"s no way I can talk about this with people like Rinne; if they knew these things, they would despise me and fear me. The number of eyeb.a.l.l.s that I"ve gouged out is probably even greater than what they ever imagined.

Rinne.

"I am a monster."

Guriko crawled out of her bed and leaned her head against the wall. As if groaning, she murmured in a low voice, "Three hundred years ago, I grew tired of living, abandoned my human restraint and went on a wild ma.s.sacre. Rinne, there were children of your own age, infants who weren"t old enough to speak, and couples who loved each other. I gouged out that much happiness. Haha, an eyeball-gouging monster..."

A single tear flew from Guriko"s eye.

"How could I deserve any sort of happiness..."

Someone had decided to be "the person most important to me" a month ago. But I don"t deserve to be with them. I have taken so much on my journey, killed so many. I don"t even know if I will go berserk again and target Rinne"s eyeb.a.l.l.s.

"Rinne, Sakaki."

I will travel.

"I like you."

Go somewhere far away. Being here is too painful. This happy world is suffocating me. School, home, all this happiness of a normal life --It"s too painful for a monster like me.

I can"t depend on them.

Go somewhere far away.

Sakaki will definitely protect Rinne. He doesn"t need me. If I rely on them I will only bring them misfortune.

"If only I depart, it"ll be fine..."

Humans and monsters cannot live together.

She was a monster.

The same as Long-Armed Demon.

"....."

Upon that resolution, she calmed down.

At this moment, Guriko"s heart made the decision.

Therefore, Gankyū Eguriko would choose that option.

Her only necessities would be spoons. She would once again walk that old path. Wandering from place to place, looking for those with Apples, keeping them far away from Mushi --

Drunk with self-satisfaction, she would gradually cease to think.

That would be good. Only that would be acceptable, I"m already tired. I wanna become a monster again.

Opening the door, she found no one in the darkness. Perfect. Though she felt sorry toward Hino and Kio, she took this opportunity to leave. An ending like this would be a bit cold or perhaps hurt them, and she felt apologetic for it. However, the whole thing was impossible from the start.

Guriko apologized in her heart. Thinking that "I"ll at least leave a note so they won"t worry", she reached out to the notepad next to the telephone.

It was then that she finally noticed Hino collapsed on the floor.

"Hino?"

No response. Guriko approached and shook the woman in an ap.r.o.n. She was still alive, but what happened? Last time Guriko saw her she was still healthy. Speechless, Guriko gazed toward the ceiling.

What do I do? What do I do? Aahh, I can"t think straight.

"Right, call an ambulance."

When someone"s injured or sick and it"s an emergency, just call an ambulance and they"ll take the person to the hospital for free. Hino taught me that.

Guriko nodded and headed for the phone.

She punched the keys harshly, telling herself that this was the last time, that she would say goodbye after this.

The ambulance arrived a while later and she went in with Hino.

Guriko would face the worst possible truth soon in the hospital.

Sakaki had emptied his gun upon hearing this news. He destroyed the phone that delivered the news and rushed out of the school at a speed above human limits. After using his extraordinary skill to beat up the educational director who tried to stop him from leaving before his work was done, he forcibly waved over a car that was pa.s.sing by. Since his gun was empty, he used the gun itself to knock down the driver and hijacked the car before speeding to the hospital that contacted him.

Everything that happened afterward was gone from his memory.

His mind was blank. and the whole world turned white. Uncontrollable anger emanated from his entire body. If he didn"t control himself, he would have indiscriminately ran over anyone he saw. Ignoring all traffic laws, he arrived at the hospital and pushed his way to the hospital room he was directed to.

Total darkness.

It was a completely black room.

Sakaki didn"t need to think. He could understand just by looking at the scene in front of him. A wide room, a soft-looking hospital bed, an absence of medical equipment. That was to be expected -- Sakaki"s beloved, the young woman Usagawa Rinne, was lying on the bed with a deathly pallor. This was a true death.

"Sakaki."

A small voice came from behind him.

As if frozen in place, Sakaki turned around expressionlessly.

There stood a person. In the background, the full moon shone brightly through a window, concealing the person"s appearance. But he knew it was not G.o.d. Since it was not G.o.d, then that person could not save Usagawa Rinne.

"Move."

The shadow spoke curtly.

Sakaki stayed standing by the p.r.o.ne Rinne"s feet, unmoving, unable to respond.

The shadow was Guriko. Her face was at the level of Sakaki"s chest, and her head was lowered so her expression could not be seen.

"Move it."

She spoke with a coa.r.s.e voice.

With trembling shoulders and a shaking voice, she --

"I"m sorry, Sakaki, I"m sorry."

-- apologized. For some reason, tears flowed down Guriko"s expressionless face.

"Move."

She said it for the third time.

With heavy, stone-stiff legs, Sakaki moved out of the way and let her pa.s.s. In this frosty atmosphere that seemed to belong in a fantasy world, there was no sound.

"I just checked, the Apple that Rinne had has disappeared. It was definitely taken away. I"m afraid that someone might have tortured her to get her to give up the Apple."

After Guriko walked over to Rinne"s side, she held out her hand and shut her eyes.

Light. A dull light shone from Rinne"s body.

"One month ago."

Guriko spoke in a coa.r.s.e voice, so quiet that she was almost not heard. As her back was turned to Sakaki, he couldn"t tell what kind of expression she had.

"I took two Apples from Snake. One was Snake"s own Apple, and the other was the Apple he stole from Rinne. Just now, I put one of those into Rinne"s body."

Guriko"s shoulders trembled as she touched Rinne"s body, her fingertips glowing with a dull light.

"Why? Why isn"t she reviving?"

The light disappeared in an instant, but Rinne did not wake up.

Even the miraculous Apple could not save Usagawa Rinne.

"Why....."

Guriko stood idly in place, clenching her fists with seemingly enough force to draw blood.

"Why didn"t I notice it... Haha, hahaha, I was too busy anguishing over my own issues to even notice the danger Rinne was in --"

She laughed out loud, staring for a while at Rinne, who did not move at all. Then, she turned to Sakaki, showing no emotion on her face. Those deep black eyes, like gun barrels mixed with red, burned with the desire to bring ruin to everything in the world.

"Sakaki, kill me. Slash off my limbs, snap my neck, dig out my eyeb.a.l.l.s, mush my brain... If I"m still alive then grind my entire body to bits and burn it until there"s nothing left. Let nothing of this useless body remain in this world!"

Guriko was close to insanity, pointing her tightly gripped spoon at herself. The utensil, shining with a cruel l.u.s.ter, was directed straight at her eyes.

"Useless things! These eyes that can"t see anything, these eyes that couldn"t see the danger Rinne was in. I don"t want them!"

Facing the girl who seriously wanted to gouge out her own eyeb.a.l.l.s, Sakaki said in a low voice, "Stop..."

He twisted her arms and s.n.a.t.c.hed the spoon away. Her mind blank, her heart desperate, her thoughts all but collapsed, she slowly lost herself towards the idea of suicide.

Probably annoyed at the interruption, Guriko angrily started at Sakaki.

"Stop."

Seeing Sakaki"s expression, Guriko hung her head in defeat.

Silence surrounded them, covering both their spirits and their bodies, so much that the silence itself seemed deafening. Sakaki proceeded to coa.r.s.ely scream and pounded on the wall.

This wouldn"t bring redemption, nor would it allow Rinne to return from the dead.

It was even less possible for their mood to improve as a result.

But despite that --

"Let"s go look."

Sakaki declared softly.

Even though I decided to protect her. A year ago at the sea, I decided to protect the girl named Usagawa Rinne. This is just returning to the beginning. I don"t need anything at all. I just wholeheartedly want Rinne to return to the life she had been living.

With a sharp aura emanating from his eyes, Sakaki placed his hand on Guriko"s shoulder.

"Let"s go look for a way to save Rinne. There should be some way. If we give up here, it will truly be over... G.o.d, "Mushi", Apples of Eden -- this world is filled with incomprehensible things. There must be something that can save milady..."

Even though it was a faint wish less reliable than a spider"s web.

Sakaki could only rely on it. Guriko also nodded and drew close to him, staring straight into his eyes.

Already, the atmosphere of despair from before had disappeared, replaced with one br.i.m.m.i.n.g with hope.

"That"s true..." With eyes still shining with brilliance, she said something that would never have escaped her lips in the past. "Sensei, thank you -- I see a little bit of hope now."

"Don"t only call me sensei during times like this, idiot."

"I apologize. I don"t know why, but I suddenly felt like calling you sensei."

A beautiful smile appeared on Guriko"s face.

She suddenly turned her head.

"But, Sakaki, don"t come."

"Why not?"

Don"t come? Sakaki seemed about to burst. Who did she think she was talking to? No matter who or what stood in his way, if it was for Rinne, he would brave any danger; that was Sakaki Guryū.

There was no way Guriko that didn"t understand this. Even so, she firmly stared at him.

"Sakaki, please don"t make me repeat myself."

She turned around and opened the hospital room"s door.

"Don"t look. Because from now on I will return to being a monster."

This kind of treatment was excessive.

A collar was placed around her neck.

"....."

This small room reeking of tobacco was depressing. Did the owner of this room have a mountain climbing hobby? Maps and pictures of mountains were all over the place. It didn"t fit together at all. As Long-Armed Demon thought this, she curled up like an abandoned puppy and remained alert to her surroundings.

Her eye, which was covered with an eye patch to speed its recovery, had all but totally regenerated. Her sight had returned to normal.

This was the room of that detective, who looked like a hair-demon himself and captured Long-Armed Demon. It was a 4-tatami sized room with only a bathroom attached to it. The simple kitchen inside the room was stacked full of recently washed dishes. The room was extremely clean. Contrary to his appearance, it seemed that detective was actually quite meticulous.

The room"s light was on.

The room"s owner was nowhere to be found.

"Zeki-kun..."

Though she tried to break the collar on her, she couldn"t feel her arms. Long-Armed Demon sighed and tears appeared in her eyes out of restlessness. Her one and only pride -- her arms -- were gone. In her sadness, the loss of that which she depended on created a sense of hollowness.

Zekiguchi would definitely not need a Long-Armed Demon like this anymore.

She would be discarded.

When she thought that, she felt even more lonely and even more miserable as tears flooded down her cheeks.

After losing to that scary woman who was both like an angel and a demon and had her arms were somehow removed, that detective picked up the crying Long-Armed Demon and brought her here. That detective was obviously a law enforcement agent, but he didn"t throw her in jail. Instead, he brought Long-Armed Demon to his room after saying some some strange things. Then he bound her with a collar and leash.

The leash was randomly attached to a pillar. Though it was a simple restraint, the armless Long-Armed Demon had no ways to escape. But this seemed even weirder than normal restraints. Rather, it seemed as if she were being treated like a dog. Upset, Long-Armed Demon cried and moaned and cursed the detective at the same time.

What would happen from now on?

Even if she wasn"t in prison, her situation was pretty similar and possibly even worse. That policemen exuded an ominous air that even Long-Armed Demon found gloomy, and she had no idea what he would do to her. Out of fear, Long-Armed Demon faintly called for help.

"Zeki-kun..."

That sound could not have been heard by anyone. It dissipated into the air after reaching the walls.

Long-Armed Demon felt the tatami"s coldness, shuddering constantly while waiting for something to change.

She didn"t know how much time had pa.s.sed.

She finally stopped crying, though her cheeks ached from the tears poured onto them.

"Ah man, sorry for coming home so late."

The door suddenly opened and the odd detective appeared. In his hand was a bag filled with food, clothes, and underwear. Furthermore, the clothes and underwear seemed like they were for Long-Armed Demon to wear. Clearly, the detective planned to keep her in captivity for a long time.

Long-Armed Demon paled.

"Aaah, when a person looking like me go shopping for children"s clothing, people think I"m a criminal. However, while the housewives wer whispering to each other "Maybe we should call the police", I managed to buy your underwear and everything else."

This person was a pervert.

That"s right. This guy was the worst type of pervert. He would definitely do some unimaginably perverted things to her.

Long-Armed Demon"s back stiffened with fear and she whimpered like a little dog.

The perverted detective completely ignored her and laughed vulgarly, "Gigigi. Don"t be so guarded against me. No matter how cautious you are, I"m stronger than you right now. Since that"s the case, I suggest you act cute to keep me in a good mood rather than risk angering me with defiance."

Yes, the Long-Armed Demon who killed ten people while spreading death and fear throughout Kannonsakazaki no longer existed. The person trembling on the ground was a small child without arms, someone weaker than even an average human.

Long-Armed Demon understood that, but she refused to surrender. She glared angrily at her adversary and bluffed with all her might.

"What the h.e.l.l are you? What are you trying to do to the Long-Armed Demon? D-don"t come any closer. Long-Armed Demon will never obey you. If you do anything weird to me, I"ll bite you! I"ll kick you!"

Facing Long-Armed Demon, who angrily tried to hide her fear, the detective looked through a gap in his hair with a seemingly joyful expression.

"Gigigi. Don"t worry. Though it"s really easy to misunderstand me based on my appearance, I"m actually a normal, kind person. I don"t have any supernatural abilities and when it"s time for me to die, I"d die quickly."

He suddenly seemed to remember something and finally said: "Speaking of which, I still haven"t told you my name. I am Nageki Kurukiyo and I"m a detective. However, since I"ve hid a serial murderer in my home instead of turning her in, I"m not really qualified to call myself that anymore."

Long-Armed Demon didn"t respond, but she understood this person really did not intend to take her to the police station. Then what was he after? She suspiciously glared at the horrifying detective who called himself Nageki.

"Kurukiyo, what are you planning to do?"

"Plans? Ahh, I wasn"t thinking of doing anything bad. It"s just that -- this world has too many melancholic things and I want to reduce that melancholy by a little bit, Aizawa Ume-chan."

Long-Armed Demon"s face distorted at suddenly hearing her real name.

"Why?"

"Aizawa Ume was involved in a robbery incident three years ago. It was unclear whether she survived or not and her whereabouts were unknown. She would turn eleven this year if she is still alive. Her parents died during the incident and so did the robber. However, since the sole daughter Ume-chan was nowhere to be found, the police conducted an extensive search. Despite that, no one knows what happened to her even to this day."

After that detailed statement, Nageki smiled mysteriously: "By researching that tombstone you slept by, I learned of this melancholic event. I have no proof, but it seems that I"m not wrong from your reaction, Aizawa Ume-chan."

"Don"t call me by that name!"

Trembling, Long-Armed Demon forced out those words.

Nageki cheerfully chuckled. "Hehe".

"What? You want me to call you Long-Armed Demon? Using that name for you, who has no arms, is rather laughable. You should know that."

"But," Long-Armed Demon lowered her head, tears flowing from her closed eyes, "But I"m Long-Armed Demon. I can"t not be Long-Armed Demon..."

Nageki sighed and shook his head as if her expression perhaps reminded him of something. He started putting the food he bought into the refrigerator. It seemed he cooks for himself as he only bought fresh vegetables and raw meat, without any bentos or prepared dishes. For some reason, he also bought three cardboard packages of coffee-flavored milk.

"You might need to calm down a bit."

Nageki continued reasonably: "Go take a bath. You don"t bath much with the way you"ve been living, right? Clean yourself up, wipe away your tears and the smell of blood, eat something, and go to sleep early today."

Though it was an unexpected request, Long-Armed Demon sort of agreed with it. Up until then, she could only use tap water in the cemetery to clean off the blood and sweat that made her body sticky. Occasionally she would want to soak in hot water, allowing her body to warm up.

Long-Armed Demon felt quite hungry. She had not yet lost her sense of hunger or her ability to feel. According to Zekiguchi, suffering a single fatal injury would make one quickly lose such senses. Since Long-Armed Demon almost died when Gankyū Eguriko dug out her eyeb.a.l.l.s, she should have pretty much been rid of those senses by now.

Let"s not worry about that right now, I wanna take a bath.

"You"ll let Long-Armed Demon take a bath?"

"Yeah, but this room doesn"t have a bath tub, so we have to go to a bath house. Is that okay?"

"Wha --"

Bath house - he meant a public bath. That would rather annoying. Her armless body would receive even more strange looks than usual at those sorts of places.

Maybe Long-Armed Demon"s timid face made him think of something as Nageki smiled tenderly. "Don"t worry. The owner of the nearby public bath is an old friend of mine. I stopped by on my way back and reserved the place for an hour."

"Ah, even so," as if pushing Long-Armed Demon, who had found some new hope, into the Abyss, Nageki smiled. "Yes, there"s no way you can bathe by yourself, right? I"ll wash you thoroughly from head to toe. Mmhmm, even if a suspicious detective brings a girl with him to the men"s bath, even if that girl"s wearing a collar, no one will care -- gigigi --"

Long-Armed Demon"s body instantly stiffened and she suddenly leaned back, making the bells on her collar tinkle. She trying to get away from Nageki. The perverted detective joyfully approached Long-Armed Demon and took hold of her collar.

"Ah!"

"Then let"s go, Ume-chan. Hopefully no one will see us on our way to the bath. Don"t look at me like this. Even I adhere to what they call the values of society."

"P-per..." Long-Armed Demon shouted at Nageki, who untied her leash and dragged her toward the door. Almost crying, she had an expression filled with utter despair. "Pervert -- You"re a pervert!"

"Hey, stop shouting. What would happen if a neighbor misunderstands?"

"It doesn"t matter if there"s a misunderstanding. Someone please notice us and help me!"

Despite Long-Armed Demon"s cries, no one came to be her hero during the five-minute walk to the bathhouse.

The following half hour was endless torture for Long-Armed Demon. Resistance was useless. She was brought to the bathhouse. Its owner was apparently blind, as he did not react at all to the odd pair in front of him. The Long-Armed Demon was forcefully dragged into the men"s bath.

She was stripped, rubbed, and placed in the hot water.

Long-Armed Demon"s entire body shook with humiliation.

Wh-when I get my arms back, I"ll make sure to kill Nageki first. I"ll peel off his skin, tear off his limbs, dig out his heart, I"ll mercilessly toss him around until he dies.

She was seen. Everything was seen. She was even scrubbed. Even Zekiguchi had never seen this much. She"d never be able to marry now... She started getting dizzy and couldn"t form complete thoughts. She only felt humiliation, frustration, and she wanted to disappear. With a red face, Long-Armed Demon was submerged up to her neck in the steaming water.

"Flavor of Soup" - this was a cla.s.sical bathing place with a name sounding like a condiment. In this era of theme-park-styled super bath houses, this kind of normal bath was not very popular. Or, perhaps, it would be more accurate to say that the facility was insufficient. The place wasn"t anything special. There only the bath itself, which was not particularly large, as well as a sauna to help with aches.

Only the unbelievably high ceiling was different from usual, as one could see steam spiraling upward and upward. The sight was exquisite. As a result, Long-Armed Demon silently watched as if trying to forget her shame.

Nageki, looking as if he did not care, washed himself while shamelessly humming a Beatles song. He was obviously a perverted and melancholic detective; he should be singing the GeGeGe no Kitaro song!

As she thought this, Long-Armed Demon watched Nageki.

-- He was good looking.

His tall, st.u.r.dy form was physically excellent, without excess muscle. He was truly handsome. As Long-Armed Demon thought this, she suddenly realized where her thoughts ended up and turned red while hiding under the water.

So warm. The hot water permeated her entire body and it felt like she was being reborn.

She thought about Zekiguchi, and then about that woman who took everything away from her and seemed both like an angel and a demon.

Just thinking about that woman"s honey-sweet voice and those eyes that seemed kind while hiding apathetic coldness made the hairs on her back stand up. Such a scary person. As if that person had attacked the public bath, Long-Armed Demon raised her head and gritted her teeth while sighing.

"But, why?"

She seemed similar to Zekiguchi.

Zekiguchi, who had saved her.

The woman who had thrown her into despair.

They were obviously completely different, so why did she feel they were the same type of being?

"Ume-chan, having water up to your neck is bad for your health!"

"Swoosh--" Nageki nonchalantly dropped into the water next to Long-Armed Demon. "Shhh", Long-Armed Demon rapidly shuffled away and shouted, "W-Waah, Kurikiyo! It"s way too much if you get any closer to Long-Armed Demon!"

"It"s only us here. I can hear you just fine even if you don"t scream! Gigi, do you hate me? It always seems like my intimate behavior rubs some people the wrong way. There must be something wrong with their mental structure. This world has far too many melancholic things."

An infuriating smile appeared on Nageki Kurukiyo"s face.

Long-Armed Demon saw that face and couldn"t help but be surprised.

"Um -- Kurikiyo?"

"Mm? That"s me. What is it?"

His face --

His hair, which always hid his expression, was now tied to the back. The face that was now visible was beautiful enough that Long-Armed Demon was momentarily enchanted.

"No, who are you?" Long-Armed Demon couldn"t resist asking.

Nageki, with bewilderment on his face, suddenly thought of something. Sweeping aside the water, he moved closer. "Are you nearsighted? Can you see me?"

"Waah, didn"t I tell you to not come closer?!"

Long-Armed Demon beat back the perverted detective by smartly ramming her head against his, though she also took enough pain to moan. She didn"t think Nageki, who tied back his hair, was this good-looking. Since she realized she like his appearance, she felt a sense of defeat.

After staying underwater for a bit, Nageki lazily sat back up and complained.

"Man, that hurt... I hate violence. I"ve always thought humans are animals that can solve issues by talking them over. Isn"t that right?"

"If you want to talk, then try thinking about how I feel a little, idiot! I"ll be embarra.s.sed!"

Long-Armed Demon screamed. She felt dizzy and was having difficulty breathing, then took a deep breath.

"Aah, d.a.m.n. How did it end up like this?"

She truly wanted to go back to Zekiguchi. Even though Zekiguchi had never gotten this close to her and rarely chatted with her.

Has it been years since she last talked so unguarded with someone else? Not as the Long-Armed Demon, but as a human. She thought to herself -- and then shook her head, reminding herself that she still could not trust this man. The only people she could trust in this world were Zekiguchi and herself. No one else.

Everyone else was scary. They would bare their fangs at her at the most unexpected times, just like that robber who cut off her arms.

Just as Long-Armed Demon thought this, Nageki unbelievably voiced her thoughts.

"Ah -- It"s been so long since I could relax and simply chat with someone. But you still seem to be on guard against me."

The melancholic detective smiled and looked at Long-Armed Demon.

Those eyes that were always covered by overly long hair, tranquil yet forceful, always seemed a bit frightening.

"Okay, then let"s chat like humans. Me? I don"t just do this kind of thing out of curiosity. If someone finds out that I"m hiding the Long-Armed Demon, who killed ten people, then don"t even talk about getting fired. It wouldn"t be odd if I were tossed into prison."

That was true. Long-Armed Demon lowered her face, as now was the not the time to be embarra.s.sed about being naked. Why did that man approach her? If this wasn"t cleared up, then she wouldn"t be able to be at ease.

Long-Armed Demon looked at Nageki, who nodded lightly.

"This world -- has too many melancholic things."

Perhaps it was his catchphrase? He uttered this profound sentence for the who-knows-how-many-th time.

"It"s just... should I say it is reminiscing, or is it more like opening up old wounds? Ume-chan, my girlfriend was also inconvenienced by her disabled body."

Nageki looked at her. Unhappy at being seen naked, Long-Armed Demon lowered herself up to her neck into the murky hot water. Due the Apple"s power, her skin had regenerated right over the rough wounds where her arms were cut off. Supposedly,it would normally be possible to regenerate her arms with an Apple, but Long-Armed Demon"s Apple for some reason refused to restore those two arms.

Instead, she received a pair of invisible arms stronger than just about anyone else"s.

She finally realized now, after losing that ability, that only with arms could she live life like a normal person. Lacking a body part was incredibly restricting. If one was to measure the utility of hands, it would be about a hundred for skillful people, and even the most clumsy person would score about fifty. But for someone without arms at all, of course it could not be anything but zero. Overcoming such an obstacle would be incredibly difficult.

Looking at her, Nageki showed a sorrowful expression.

"Do you know about that incident of a gigantic monster wreaked havoc near the town about a month ago?"

A gigantic monster.

That must have the "Dream World Beast" Zekiguchi had been talking about. Having taken interest in the event, Zekiguchi investigated and learned of Usagawa Rinne"s name. Under the pretense of ama.s.sing Apples, he ordered Long-Armed Demon to take away her Apple.

In the end, she was defeated.

"My girlfriend was stepped on and killed by that monster."

"..."

Because she didn"t understand what he said, Long-Armed Demon simply looked at Nageki.

"What?"

Nageki, with hollow and vacant eyes, gazed at the steam spiraling up toward the ceiling. "No one could have foreseen something like that, right? Obviously, I couldn"t do anything. My girlfriend was flattened by that oversized monster. By the time I noticed and went over, only her crushed, b.l.o.o.d.y upper body, her paralyzed feet, and her wheelchair were left."

Nageki softly spoke.

"I can"t let it go."

Long-Armed Demon couldn"t respond. Up until now, she had repeatedly committed acts no different from those of the Dream World Beast. People like Nageki, who had their important others taken away from them without reason, must also harbor regret in their hearts and despise Long-Armed Demon.

With a face full of grief, Nageki ever-so-slightly smiled. "So that others would not hold the same kinds of regret I do, I want to eliminate unreasonable melancholy -- monsters. That"s all. Even though I"m just a weak human, a mouse will bite a cat when forced into a corner. I want to show the strength of us weak humans to the monsters out there."

How scary. The melancholic detective"s terrible gaze looked straight at her.

"I"ll get to the point. What are you?"

That"s something even I don"t know.

Long-Armed Demon looked downward and said softly, "If you go too deeply into this, Kurukiyo, you"ll die!"

"Gigigi. I know, but I can"t stop now. Aside from what happened with my girlfriend, my subordinate was killed by you. He told me that his most important person was also killed by a monster. I must do his part for him in opposing monsters."

"Subordinate?"

It was that incident?

"You"re talking about -- a policeman?"

"Yeah. He didn"t work directly under me, but in terms of rank he was below me. He was my friend and helped me look for Long-Armed Demon during the night. However, his entire body was annihilated, with only his wrists remaining... I believe that you did this, right?

Annihilated.

What does that mean? Long-Armed Demon didn"t have an ability like that, and she didn"t remember fighting with a policeman. Therefore, from what she knew, the policeman was killed by a monster that wasn"t Long-Armed Demon.

A face appeared in her mind.

"Kurukiyo."

Long-Armed Demon quietly voiced a warning. "Long-Armed Demon didn"t do that. It was someone even stranger. It was probably -- that terrifying woman who made Long-Armed Demon"s ability disappear..."

Though she didn"t remember what her name was, she could remember her overwhelming aura that was like both an angel and a demon.

"That strangeness... she probably wasn"t human or monster. She was something even more abnormal, living in an even stranger plane than the world we monsters stay in..."

She was not worried about Kurukiyo.

She was just accurately saying what she believed.

"Therefore, Kurukiyo, you can"t go near that thing. That thing is not a normal being. It"s something more alien, something higher. No matter if it"s a monster or a human, as long she wishes for it they"ll be immediately killed. It"s like being mechanically eliminated as flaws -- like, being sterilized and disinfected..."