The Mayoiga was dead.
Toriko and I stood before the ruins of the mansion, shocked, for quite some time.
The building, a compromise between Eastern and Western aesthetics, was falling apart, as though it had been decades since anybody lived there. The roof and supporting columns were still just barely intact, but the windows were broken, the doors had collapsed, and even from out here we could see the wind and rain had eaten away at the interior. In every nook and cranny, there was no trace of how it had once been well-kept.
“Do you think the two of them are in there...?” I tried asking, but Toriko shook her head.
“Even if they are in there...”
She let the rest of that statement go unsaid. I knew well enough what she meant without her finishing it.
Even if they are in there, in all likelihood, they’re no longer alive...
So thoroughly had life vanished from the structure in front of us that the thought came naturally.
The house where Todate—the hunter—and her partner Hana—the hunting dog—had lived had felt like one of the few safe places on the Otherside. Even though it was a strange building which maintained itself even when no one was around, it possessed a relaxed atmosphere that had made it feel that way.
The ruins of the Mayoiga made plain that that had been no more than an illusion.
“Anyway, we’ve got to check,” Toriko said, trying to change gears.
She was right. Even if Todate and Hana were no longer living, we had to see that for ourselves. We’d come here to see if they were safe.
As we checked the safeties on our rifles, I recalled how Todate had praised the way we used our firearms.
“You good to go?” I asked. Toriko nodded.
With that, we stepped into the Mayoiga, which had ceased to be a place of safety.