YOBANASHI DECEIVE 5

The night was drawing near.

Outside the window, the sun was slowly being swallowed up by the rectangular outlines of the buildings below. In the blink of an eye, it fell below them and disappeared, leaving only a dim afterglow behind.

The homes, bathed in an orange glare, slowly began to be enveloped in blackness. Nobody could stop night from coming now.

It was true. That was the way the world worked. It wasn’t going to show me any mercy from the start.

I couldn’t turn back time, and I certainly couldn’t make it go any faster. No matter who lives or who dies, the world goes at the same speed it always does.

These incredibly obvious laws of nature seemed all the more vibrant to me as I groggily stared out the window.

Lying on my back in bed, I turned my eyes away from the window and turned my body to the side to follow them. The bookshelf that entered my sight featured a neatly arranged selection of superhero comics that I hadn’t touched in a while.

How long ago was it when I used to pretend I was a hero, fantasizing about all the exciting adventures I’d join the ones on TV in? Or when we used to run around the neighborhood, pretending that we were a group of undercover superheroes ourselves?

The more I thought back on it, the more I reflected on how much had happened over the past few years.

We tried to go to school but never quite fit in—and when it finally all fell apart, the three of us cried the whole night through in frustration.

All the notebooks, textbooks, school uniforms my mother and father bought us…It all went to waste. I felt terrible about that.

They told me to do my best, but I couldn’t keep my part of the bargain. That was the most painful thing of all.

I think it was around then that Seto tried to skip out of town, no longer able to stand the grief his powers gave him.

I thought he was just going out to let off some steam, but he still wasn’t back after dark, which made me fear the worst for some time.

The entire family went out to search for him, of course—but, really, that wasn’t as hard as trying to console my sister, sobbing loudly throughout the hunt.

When Seto returned the next day, the first words out of his mouth were “I met this cute girl.” My reaction went beyond anger and into the realm of exasperation.

Kido beat the stuffing out of him, as everyone expected. Strangely, though, Seto managed to keep his powers a lot more under control after that point.

Maybe it was thanks to that “cute girl” he supposedly met in some forest somewhere. They were still getting along well, I heard, but given how reluctant he was to let us see her, I was starting to have my suspicions.

Kido, for her part, had softened considerably from before. Her own power wasn’t causing as much trouble for her any longer, either.

She “got the knack” of it is how she boastfully described it. But being able to flick her presence on and off at will created other problems.

Back when Seto and I were joking about her to ourselves, she appeared right by our side and said, “What’s that supposed to mean?” I thought I was gonna go into cardiac arrest.

And on that topic, the conflict over excessive apologies that raged for years between Kido and Seto was finally in its closing stages.

Apparently, Kido’s hang-up over it stemmed from the habits of the people she used to live with, way back when. “I didn’t want any more friends who did that,” she explained.

Since she opened up with that, Seto made a serious effort to improve—though if anything, it made his speech even more awkward than it should have been. I had just about gotten used to it as of late, although it was kind of sad to see the old Seto become a thing of the past.

Still, they were getting along much better than before, so I couldn’t complain.

The two of them made an effort to change, and they did.

The only one who didn’t—who never even tried—might be me, lying here in the middle of the room.

This had happened before, once, me spending the whole day doing nothing, sitting in my room and thinking about assorted things.

About when my mother—the one who gave birth to me, that is—died.

I really thought, back then, that life would just go on for me. Like I was floating in space, nothing reaching out. Happiness wasn’t something I even dared to hope for.

But how did that work out?

I was blessed with new parents, new siblings, and a life that I could spend smiling and laughing all day.

It seemed like some kind of fever dream, sometimes. Like the world had seen what I went through and finally said, “Let there be happiness.”

Until a month ago—until Ayaka, the mother who brought me to this point, passed away—I seriously believed in all that crap.

“…Why did it have to wind up like this?”

I whined to myself, a habit I easily fell into. I suppose if the world had ears attached to it, I could point my grief in that direction. But it didn’t. And if it did, I’d probably try to tear them off instead.

If the world gained conscious thought overnight, I’d gouge it out from the core, smash it against the ground, and stomp it flat.

The more I thought about it, the more it made my stomach churn, like my guts were going to spew out of my mouth.

What did we ever do to anyone?

We accepted life in this world, held back our tears against injustice, gritted our teeth against unfairness, and thought we finally obtained happiness. And now look.

How did we let it get taken from us so, so easily?

Did the world dislike us so much that it wouldn’t even allow a tiny sliver of happiness for us?

Who was it? Who created this putrid world, anyway…?

“What’re you moping about?”

I sat up, startled by the sudden voice, only to find Kido staring down at me in a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants.

Her hair used to be short and frizzy. Now it came down to her shoulders, making her look much more female even as her face remained cold and indifferent to the world.

“Y-you were here?”

There was no telling how long she might’ve been observing me. She was that skillful with it now.

“What? Something got you down?”

Kido remained expressionless, but it seemed like she was worried for me. Hurriedly, I stuck a “smile” on my face.

“N-no, no! I’m not moping about anything, man! Like, I’m feeling super-great right now. Uh, maybe you’re worried ’cause I was sleeping by myself? Geez, Kido, that’s awful cute of you…Ow!”

My simpering nonsense was cut short by a sudden conk on the head.

“Wh-what’d you go and do that for?!”

I held my head as I pleaded my case. Kido paused a bit before answering.

“…You’re crying, you big liar.”

I didn’t notice until then.

The “smile” I pasted on my face was gone. My deceiving powers were temporarily dissolved by the pain.

“Oof…”

The real expression I had under the smile…I couldn’t say how she gauged that one. I hid my face, not expecting its tear-soaked visage to be exposed to the world like this.

“N-no! Seriously, I’m not crying! Man, you’re such a bully…”

I can’t believe a little bop on the head was enough to cancel my power. This thing’s useless, isn’t it?

I tried my hardest to freshen up my reddened face, but it was a little too late for that now. Not to mention meaningless.

With a heavy sigh, Kido crouched down and whispered, “Idiot” into my ear.

“I-idiot…?”

I wasn’t able to chain any more words together.

“You don’t have to pretend,” Kido continued. “It’s not healthy to do that.”

She certainly had a point. I was pretty much screaming “Please! Worry about me!” to her with my act. I saw no way out.

“…I’m sorry. My bad.”

This past month had to have taken its toll on Kido, too. I saw her crying on multiple occasions myself. She really didn’t have the emotional capacity to worry about me, too, but here I was making her do it anyway. I am such an idiot.

“It’s all right. You’re such an idiot, you can’t help it.”

The venom-laden forgiveness put my mind at ease a little.

“I’ll keep on punching you, though. For your sake, okay?”

Now my mind wasn’t so at ease. I suppose I’m destined for a short life.

“Ah-ha-ha…What’re you in here for, though? Did you need something?”

“Oh, right. Big Sis said it’s time to eat. Dad and Seto are waiting for you.”

Kido pointed a finger at the door. I stood up in a rush.

“Huh? Everybody’s home already?! Agh, I’m sorry! I’ll be right out!”

“You waste so much of my time,” she gruffly replied as she left.

I couldn’t agree with her more. Even I thought so. But although she was a little rough around the edges, Kido was always kind to me when it counted.

Ahh, look at the mistake I’ve been making. I’ve still been happy this whole time, haven’t I?

It’s not like back when I was all alone. I’ve got someone kind enough to punch me now.

I have to keep on living. I need to get happy.

If I’m not happy, I start dragging down the rest of the family with me.

…Yeah. I won’t let the world just have its way with me like this. No way. I need to survive, survive, and get happy, no matter what.

“Wonder what we’re having…? Hopefully nothing like the horrors we’ve had lately.”

“I think we’re safe there. Smells kinda weird, but…”

“Aw, man, seriously? …Ah, well. Better learn how to cook before I bitch about it. Kinda wish you’d cook sometime, though, Kido. You’re a lot better at it.”

“Sure. I don’t mind. But you know how much Big Sis insists on doing it all the time. Can’t do much about that.”

We headed for the dining table as we spoke.

Dinner tasted about as iffy as I expected, but—for a nice change of pace—I was able to laugh with my family a little tonight.

A typical day in spring.

I was milling around a small park near my house. I was there because my sister told me to report over there. That she had something she wanted to ask about.

Looking over the sparse selection of playground equipment, I opted to sit down on a swing. There wasn’t much to do, so I indifferently stared at the sky.

By this point, I was used to my sister saying weird stuff to me without warning. If anything, I was thankful for the fact she gave me plenty of advance notice this time. Not long ago, she tore into our room, said, “Let’s go out and do something fun!” and then she dragged us out to go catch insects until the middle of the night.

Compared to that, a little chat in the park was child’s play. Assuming it really was nothing more than a chat. I had my doubts, considering she was luring me out to the park for this. Something a little awkward to bring up at home, maybe?

Now that I thought about it, my sister had been acting a bit depressed lately.

Usually, she was super-upbeat all the time. The “super” adjective was needed in order to fully encompass how much energy she had. Contrast that with how she was acting now, and it seemed fair to assume that the topic she wanted to discuss had something to do with her recent funk.

She was in high school now, for one, and she mentioned that the classes were getting a lot harder for her. Maybe it’s that…but then again, why’d she want to talk to me about that? That’s more of a Dad topic.

So some kind of nonschool issue, then. For example…

“…Love, or something?”

Saying it out loud to myself instantly filled me with shame.

No way. Not my sister, of all people. She was a walking encyclopedia of boys’ comics and superhero TV series. She didn’t have time for any of that romance-type stuff. It was crazy to even consider the thought. Totally crazy…

“Yeah. Crazy!”

I jumped off the swings, the chains clanging in agreement with me.

This was my sister’s business, of course. She had every right to do what she wanted with her own life. I knew that.

But what if she’s really fallen in love with somebody?

What if it’s just some random chump off the street? What then?

…It’d be a bloodbath.

The entire family would probably strip the poor guy’s bones clean in a second. Once Dad found out, in particular, it’d be hell on earth for the dude. He’d wipe the guy completely out of existence, as if he’d never been born. And I’d help, of course.

But. One big but. If that actually happened to my sister, and she wanted to talk about it with somebody, who would she turn to? Seto would be too embarrassed to help out at all, and Kido would provide even less of a useful contribution. Assuming Dad was out of the question, there was only one family member left.

“Me…? Ugh…Pressure’s on.”

It was all guesswork on my part, but it seemed ominously plausible.

The way I heard it, once you’re high-school age, it’s perfectly normal to have at least one or two boyfriends.

…Wait, “one or two”? Over my dead body, she will!

But there was nothing I could do to deny the possibility. It wouldn’t be strange at all to have her bound up to me and say, “Ooh, I think I found someone!”

And she did mention that she “made a really good friend” earlier. They went to last year’s school festival together, she reported, and they played some kind of wacky target-shooting game. They were even in the same homeroom together.

So, connect the dots, and…

“…Him?”

It was all guesses and imaginings, but my eyes were honed like a hunter’s gun sight against my virtual enemy. I dare him to lay a hand on my sister. Because if he ever does…

“Heyyyy, sorry I’m late!”

My sister bellowed her presence as she ran into the park, wearing her usual winter school uniform topped with a scarf around her neck. I’m not sure when the transition took place, but she couldn’t have looked more like a teenage girl in her prime if she tried. I tucked my theories into a drawer in my mind.

“Hey, Sis, what’s up? You didn’t have to be in that big of a hurry.”

“Oh, no, I didn’t want to keep you waiting, so…”

She giggled, a little shyly. That innocence of hers was unchanged from the past, but once she reached high school, she started maturing at breathtaking speed. Maybe I was a little biased, but I didn’t think there were many girls out there as nice as she was.

“But, hey, sorry to make you come out here outta nowhere!”

“Oh, it’s fine. Not like you’ve ever given me a lot of notice before now. So, what’s up?”

“Well, um…”

Ayano seemed to have trouble getting started. I silently waited for her to continue, but she doggedly refused to open her mouth until I caved.

“What is it?”

“No, I mean, it’s kind of hard to say, you know? Like, I don’t know where to begin.”

She tried her best to cover her emotions. But I could tell she was reluctant to even be here with me. The presumptions I made in my mind earlier began bubbling back to the surface.

“Well…What? Is it that serious, or…?”

Was it really about a guy after all? Just when it began to seriously disturb me, my sister, finally summoning up enough resolve, parted her lips.

“…No, uh…You know. It’s about why Mom died.”

“Bwuhh?”

I failed to provide a coherent reply. This was a totally different direction than what I was prepared for.

Ayano turned her eyes downward.

“I mean, they said Mom died in landslide, right?”

Ayaka—my new mother—worked as an archaeologist, mostly conducting her research in the field of folklore.

Thanks to the demands of this unusual career, she was never at home all that much, usually flying off to this or that field site.

On that fateful day, too, she was out on location with my father. Or so they told us.

“Yeah. I heard about that, too. They were doing some kind of field research, right?”

“Yeah. And I know that’s true, but…Hey, you wanna sit down somewhere? These shoes are still pinching me a little.”

Ayano tapped the edge of one of her loafers against the ground. I followed her to a nearby bench.

“But I got this…”

Once we were both seated, she took a notebook out of her schoolbag. It wasn’t old, but heavy use had left it tattered around the edges. The front cover was neatly labeled with the title MONSTER INVESTIGATION RECORDS.

“‘Monster’? What’s that about? …Is this Mom’s? Where’d you find something like…?”

I reached out to take it. My sister kept it away from me.

“Whoa! What’re you…What, I’m not allowed to read it?”

“W-wait a minute! I’m sorry, but…”

She held the notebook against her body. Taking a more careful look, I noticed she was shaking, tears just beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. This was absolutely not normal behavior for her.

“Look, what’s wrong with you?! Are you feeling okay…?”

“Nnh, sorry,” she weakly bubbled as I rubbed her back. “It’s not that. It’s just…I’m kinda scared.”

All these unnerving things she was saying began to throw my mind into chaos. What kind of horrifying things could be written in there, anyway? If it was about a “monster,” it had to be something pretty freaky.

My sister took two or three deep breaths to compose herself.

“I’m sorry. I’m probably freaking you out right now. I wanted you to read this, Shuuya, but…before you do, can we talk a little bit?”

She stared right into my eyes as she asked. From them I could feel an intensity, a sense of resolve, that was never there usually.

“Well, sure. Anything you want, just let me know.”

“Thanks,” she said, her face a little saddened. “Shuuya, do you remember when we used to pretend we were a bunch of superheroes with secret identities?”

“Sure. We’d put on hoodies and pretend to fly around and stuff. We called ourselves…”

“… The Mekakushi-dan.”

Ayano came up with it before I did. The name brought back memories. Whenever we were together, that’s what we did—team up, form the Mekakushi-dan in our imaginations, and save the town from evil.

“These ‘eye powers’…That was a secret shared just between the four of us. We had to hide them away from the world…so we were the Mekakushi-dan.”

She paused, rolling her eyes a little.

“…Kind of a silly name, looking back on it, huh?”

Probably, yeah. I could come up with something a lot cooler sounding now.

Still, I liked that name. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but in a way, that was my sister taking our eyes—these things that people feared, treating them as taboos to be shunned—and hiding them from the public for me. That was what the group was for. She declared herself the leader, got us all hoodies to make it easier to hide our “eyes,” and kept us smiling the whole time through. That was our sister.

But why’s she bringing that up now? I still had trouble sensing where this conversation was going.

“Why’re you talking about that again? Does that have something to do with what you wanted to ask me?”

“…Yeah.”

Ayano took another deep breath, then slowly began to speak again.

“Mom, you know…I think she knew about all of those ‘eye powers’ from the very start. She knew how much grief they caused everyone, too.”

“What?! No way! I know I hid mine, at least! I had to do whatever it took to keep from getting kicked out of here…!”

“I know. I know, Shuuya. But I had no idea…No idea that Mom was trying to save you all…from those ‘snake powers’…”

My sister began crying. Small droplets formed on the dry ground. She didn’t try to wipe them off, clutching the notebook tightly against her chest as she let out a sob.

“This is getting really bad…I don’t know what to do…but I think it might kill all of us…!”

I was powerless.

Unable to do anything for my sister as she broke down into uncontrollable sobbing.

Unable even to understand the reality that was suddenly thrust before me.

In fact, I really knew nothing.

Nothing about the sad creatures this notebook called “monsters.” Nothing about the “curse” we carried within us. And nothing about my father, either…

* * *

What little shred of “happiness” we had remaining by that point was already rotted to pieces, beyond all repair.

“…So I think the ‘Snake of Clearing Eyes’ that possessed Dad is trying to make his wish come true for him.”

“His wish…?”

“Yeah. He wants to see Mom again, one more time.”

“Can…can he do that?”

“Supposedly, he can, if he can create a monster in this world. That way, he can meet up with people swallowed into the other world…”

“…Well, great, then! Can we help him out at—?”

“No!!”

“Huh…?”

“…If you want to create a monster, you have to gather up a bunch of snakes to substitute for your own life. You have to form them all into one…so…”

“You mean…our…?”

“I want to see Mom again, too…but if everyone has to die to make that happen, then…No. Just no…!”

“Sis…”

“Mom worried so much about us, right up to the end. We can’t let anything like this happen…Never…!”

“The older students you know…Those guys?”

“Yeah. You met ’em at school, right, Shuuya? Takane and Haruka…That snake’s trying to possess both of them with the remaining snakes on the other side. I think it’s gonna try to swallow them into the other world.”

“You mean it’s gonna kill ’em?! …But he can’t go that far! The police aren’t just gonna let that happen!”

“I looked into it myself! While you were going to school for me, Shuuya! That snake’s already done all kinds of horrible things in Dad’s body…He’s got a ton of money. He’s got hospitals, he’s got schools, he’s got the police…And other bad guys way high up, too. They’re all helping that snake out…”

“N-no way…”

“So listen, Shuuya. I’m thinking about trying to make contact with that snake. I think that’s the only option we’ve got left…”

“Huh?! We can’t! This guy who kills people on a whim like that?! What makes you think it’ll bother listening to us…?!”

“You don’t think so? Well, I’m so stupid, maybe that’ll throw it off enough to start talking, y’know?”

“Don’t be so dumb, Sis! If I have to lose you, too, I’d…”

“Oh, what’re you talking about? I’m not planning on going anywhere. I’m staying right here. With all you guys. So don’t cry, all right?”

“No…You can’t do that…I can’t live in a world without you, Sis…!”

“It’ll be fine, okay? Look, you didn’t forget, did you, Shuuya? I’m the leader of the Mekakushi-dan! I could whip one or two of those guys, no sweat! So listen…Don’t start hating the world on me again, okay?

“’Cause it’s gonna be a happy one for all of us pretty soon.”

“Sis! No!!”

* * *

I flung the door open and flew outside.

My sister’s hair whirled in the howling night gusts as she stood at the edge of the roof.

Her body, completely bathed in orange, seemed fleeting to me, ready to be sucked into the sky at any moment.

“Shuuya…!”

She called my name, terror clear upon her face.

“Don’t do anything like that! You said we’d be together…That you’d always be there for me!”

The words made Ayano grimace in anguish. But she didn’t waver.

“…If we know the plan’s not going to work, there’s no point going on with it! This way, those two students don’t have to die for good. Or our family.”

Then she turned toward the wide-open night sky. Another step, and there would be no more resistance between her body and the ground.

“Stop! Sis, stop!!”

I screamed as loud as I could. But my sister neither pulled back nor turned to see me again.

“This way, I’m taking the dead in with me.”

As she spoke, a dark sort of haze shimmered around her for just a moment. I had seen that before. The saddest existence there was in this world.

I thought I was going to go insane.

From the bottom of my heart, I prayed that the next instant would never arrive. I pleaded to this world, the one I hated so much, to just stop everything.

I don’t care who it is. Just help me. Save me…and save my sister.

She spoke through the sobs.

“I’m sorry, Shuuya. It’s not very cool of me as a big sister, I guess, but…I’m kind of scared.”

Even if I ran at full speed, I wouldn’t be in time.

Powerless, I felt something snap and tear itself apart in my mind as my sister left her body to the wind, disappearing from sight.

“Ugh…I never thought it’d wind up like this. I’m so exasperated with these guys, I don’t know what to say.”

“…I’m gonna kill you.”

“Whoa, whoa, get ahold of yourself. You know full well I’m the one who let your father live, don’t you? There’s no need to go around making threats like that…Although she certainly did a great job ruining our plans. Now that we can’t gather up all the snakes, we can’t bring him his wife back. How wonderful…”

“Just do nothing, then. Just…give me my father back, at least…!”

“What are you, stupid? If we failed once, we’ll just try it again. From the top…Hey, I know. Why don’t you pretend to be her corpse for us? You’re good at that sort of thing, right? That way, once they find you, the other guys I have control over will just chalk it up to suicide. Having her disappear without a trace, you know…That would present a lot of lingering problems.”

* * *

“What the hell are you—?!”

“Hey, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m the one allowing both you and your family to stay alive. Or would you prefer to see them dismembered before your eyes? Probably not, am I right?”

“Ngh…hhh…”

“Your power’s pretty useful to me, all right? Just do what I tell you to do, and I’ll make sure nothing bad happens, got it? …Got it? You know nothing’s gonna change your destiny. No matter what you try. So unless you want an early grave for you and your family, you better watch your step.”

“Damn it…Damn it…!”

“All you bastards are being kept alive on the palm of my hand. Don’t forget that, you little brat.”