Now that she mentioned it, I did. It was last year, on Christmas Eve. We entered the gate in Kozakura’s yard, and traveled to the gate at DS Research.
“That time all the kudans showed up...”
“Yeah! We were driving in the dark, and there was something like this lying on the road.”
Oh, right. Back then, a glass sculpture of a woman with the head of a cow had suddenly appeared.
“What did we do about it?” I asked. “We didn’t smash it or anything, right?”
“We did nothing. But later, one that wasn’t glass, but more like...I dunno, a dead body...showed up...”
“Oh, yeah... That’s right.”
My memories of all this were a bit hazy. Maybe it was because I’d felt psychologically cornered at the time, or because the kiss that came after that at the love hotel and Toriko’s Christmas present had overwritten them.
Toriko looked at what remained of her impostor with a mix of curiosity and revulsion. It felt awkward to watch, so I spoke up. “You shouldn’t stare. It’s not visible now, but its face was super creepy.”
“Why’s it naked? I don’t think I like that.”
“I didn’t like it either.”
“Huh? Why not?”
“‘Why not?’ Some freak that had turned into you came at me naked. How could that not be unpleasant?”
“Did you wish it was the real me instead?”
“I didn’t have time to think about that!”
My irritation must have amused Toriko, because she burst out laughing. She crouched down and picked up the blanket, then threw it over the statue, hiding it.
“The mujina attacked, and you ran away...but how’d you get back to the surface?” Toriko moved away from the bed, and approached the window where I was standing.
“I dunno. Before I knew it, I was at DS Research.”
I kept looking out the window to keep her from reading my expression. Even if she tore my mouth open, I would never admit to having woken up in Runa Urumi’s room, with my head resting in her lap as she petted it. But if Toriko saw my face now, she’d know for sure I was hiding something. It was incredibly difficult to keep my thoughts hidden when she was around.
Toriko hugged me from behind. I felt her lips on the back of my head.
“I’m glad you were safe.”
“That tickles,” I grumbled as I kept looking outside. Below was the gravel-covered area where a car could pull up to the front of the Western-style part of the Mayoiga. That night, a large, black car had arrived, and... No, or was it a large, black bull?
“Where could Todate-san and Hana have gone?” Toriko wondered, as her lips, still against the back of my head, made my skin vibrate.
“One thing’s for sure: they aren’t in this house.”
“I thought they might be dead, but...”
“If they are, I think there’ll be some trace. If the Mayoiga didn’t automatically clean it up.”
“If anything, the place has only gotten more dirty.”
“Hey, have you started nibbling on my hair?” I said before breaking free of her, unable to take how much it tickled. “If they did go somewhere, I have an idea where it might be...”
“Where?” asked Toriko.
“The bottom of that hill.”
On the other side of the Mayoiga, there was a downward slope where it was too dark to see what was at the bottom of it. I couldn’t place my finger on precisely why, but I’d felt a strange fear when we’d approached the hill road. I had since had repeated dreams of something horrifying—a dark beast, an ox-drawn cart, a portable shrine, it was different every time—climbing that hill. I think that the black car that appeared last time I was here must have come up that hill too. I’d thought it was the master of the Mayoiga, and that had terrified me.
“Down there, huh...” Toriko’s expression darkened.
“I get how you feel. The place is kinda...scary, right?”
After I said this, Toriko immediately shook her head.
“But we’ve gotta go. I’m worried about the two of them.”
“I thought you’d say that.”
We left the bedroom, then moved down the hall and came out into the entrance hall which had a two-story ceiling. Taking the curved staircase there, we descended to the first floor. The double doors that led outside were wide open, and leaves and branches that had been blown in by the wind lay scattered across the floor.
Toriko stopped, then crouched. “Look, Sorawo. There’s footsteps.”
“You’re right.”
There were small, muddy footprints dotted around the floor of the hall. They weren’t human. They looked like they were made by hooves, with two sharp points—a deer’s, maybe? It had come in the door, tread on the faded burgundy carpet, wandered around near the wall, and then...
The prints continued through a half open door. It led into the room with the fireplace, where we had been treated to kusa mochi. I peered through the door, then doubled back in surprise.
“Ah!”
“What?” Toriko asked.
“The deer. It’s in there.”
The room, which had once been like a stylish café, was now in a state of disarray. Tables and chairs had been upended, and only ashes remained in the fireplace. Even the light that shone in through the windows felt gloomy. In the middle of it all stood a single deer.
The deer held its head high, not stirring as it stared into space. No, that wasn’t it. Those bulges of flesh near its eyes were obstructing its sight. It probably couldn’t see anything, but it remained still despite our arrival. It couldn’t see us, but surely it could hear us.
“Is it...alive?” Toriko asked, seemingly mystified.
I didn’t get it either. Unlike the glass sculpture from earlier, it looked alive, but also showed no sign of breathing. I entered the room, hesitantly approaching it. No response. Its antlers, pointed up towards the chandelier on the ceiling, were full of cobwebs.
“Maybe not. Hold on, is it stuffed...?”
No sooner had the words left my mouth than, like ice suddenly melting, the deer burst into motion.
Ignoring me as I cried out in surprise, the deer jumped around at random, kicking away the remains of tables. The way it had gone from standing stock-still to this half-crazed frenzy, it was like it was trying to shake off an invisible swarm of insects, or dodge a hail of bullets.
As we stood there, too shocked to act, the deer ran into all sorts of things, and then it bolted out the door. We heard its hooves on the entrance hall floor, and then the gravel outside, receding into the distance.
“Th-That surprised me...”
I let Toriko throw her arms around me. I patted her on the back, thinking, She never did this kind of stuff before. Seeing Toriko act “like a girl” always shook me up a bit. I understood it was a show of our closeness, and she did it as a way of having me indulge her, but every time she did something like this, it just made me take a step back and think, I guess humans do this kind of stuff, huh. I didn’t hate it. It just surprised me.
“I guess it wasn’t stuffed, huh?” I remarked.
“You think it was looking for food?”
“Could’ve been. It wouldn’t have come in here while Todate-san and Hana were around, but now that they’re not anymore, it came in to explore. I’ll bet that’s it.”
“We must’ve scared it. I feel kind of bad.”
When Toriko pulled away from me, there was a worried look on her face. “Todate-san said there were bears too, didn’t she?” she asked.
“She did. That’s been worrying me too.”
It felt like there was a good chance the two of them could have been assaulted by a bear. Even veteran hunters could still be caught unaware, and on top of that, this was the Otherside. We didn’t even know how bears lived here.
“Let’s go,” I said. Toriko silently nodded.
I recalled Todate mentioning that Hana’s previous owner had been taken out by a bear too. Had they encountered a bear, or the master of the Mayoiga? In either event, I was practically certain all we would find was their remains.