“Urgh...”
Immediately struck with dizziness, I looked down.
Stealing glimpses of it out of the corners of my eyes, I tried to grasp the Kunekune’s shape. The lanky humanoid silhouette really did resemble a snake, like I’d thought. There were a number of rounded growths, connected by thin, string-like sections, but if I tried to focus my eyes on it, I instantly was hit with nausea.
“Th-This really is tough, huh,” Toriko said, her voice filled with revulsion. I warned her, didn’t I...?
“A-Are you okay? Should we run away after all?”
“No, no, we came here for this, so we’ve got to do it.” Digging through her tote bag, Toriko produced a lump of rock salt.
“Yoh!” With a silly shout, Toriko threw it. Her aim was precise, impressively so, and the rock salt was sucked into her target. And then...
Nothing happened.
Only the sound of the rock salt rolling across the ground. I hadn’t seen whether it bounced off or passed through.
“Toriko-san.”
“...”
“Toriko-san?”
“...Huh?”
“No, not, ‘Huh?’! It didn’t work!”
“Aww, geez. Well, if that’s how it’s gonna be...” Toriko pulled the gun from her tote bag, snapping into position.
Whuh? Whuh? While I was panicking, there was a loud gunshot.
“Eek!”
I ducked my head and Toriko kept firing. The sound of gunshots was sucked into the sky. Then, some seconds later, they came back as echoes. She didn’t hesitate to open fire. What was with her?
After a number of shots, Toriko stopped firing and cocked her head to the side.
“Huh?”
“Hold on?!”
There was no change in the Kunekune. I couldn’t even be sure she’d hit it. Toriko’s shooting form was solid, so I couldn’t imagine her missing completely, but the inscrutable smoke-like form of the thing was still doing its kunekune dance, the same as ever.
“Naw, I think its movements have gotten a little slower?”
“That’s a lie! Nothing’s changed! This isn’t working at all, is it?”
“M-Maybe if we shoot it a bit more—”
Before Toriko could finish, I was hit by an even more powerful dizziness.
“Urgh...”
I couldn’t stay standing and fell to my knees on the spot. Toriko did the same. The hand she held her gun in was pressed to the ground, and she was shutting her eyes tight with pain.
If I so much as took a glance at the Kunekune, that bizarre sensation would strike. Like I’d almost figured something out, but understanding it would ruin me. I lowered my face, calling out to Toriko.
“Can you move?”
“...No. My legs gave out. You?”
“It’s not looking like it.”
“Well, shoot. Sorry. What do you think happens now?”
“I dunno, but no matter what it is, it’s not going to be good for us.”
While we were crouched down on the ground, talking, I could sense the Kunekune getting closer.
Oh, crap. Oh, crap, oh, crap. What now?
“To-Toriko, status! We’ve got to verify the current situation!”
I only said that to suppress my own panic, but Toriko was quick to respond.
“Okay. Status, unable to stand. Unable to run. Horribly dizzy. Rock salt and gunfire ineffective. Anything else?”
Her report on the situation was surprisingly calm, and that helped me settle down a little, too. Swallowing my spit, I replied. “Also, looking at that thing messes with your head... I’m not sure I’d call this ‘okay.’”
“What do you think happens when it messes with your head?”
“There’s something... that it’d be really bad to understand, and it makes you feel like you’re about to.”
“What exactly does that mean? You’re going to have to be more concrete here.”
“Could you not be so unreasonable?! It’s something you’re not supposed to understand, so there’s no way I could concretely explain it to—”
That’s when I remembered. During my first encounter with the Kunekune, on the verge of my head getting all messed up, I’d felt like I managed to grasp something.
“...Toriko. This is just a possibility, but maybe if we don’t avert our eyes, and we keep looking, we might have a chance.”
“Do you seriously mean that?”
“We’ve already driven that thing off once. I was even more far gone that time. If we can recreate the same situation, maybe the same thing will happen.”
“Even though our heads will get messed up?”
“It’s necessary. It’s like matching wavelengths. If we’re going to hunt creatures from the Otherside, I think we’re going to need to come to terms with the rules and logic of this place.”
Toriko went quiet for a little while, then spoke with resolve.
“...Got it. I’ll do it with you.”
“No. Don’t look, Toriko. I’ll do the looking.”
“Why not?”
“If we both go crazy, we won’t be able to make it back. If I look like I’m about to go nuts... figure something out.”
This was nothing if not an unreasonable demand, but Toriko nodded without even hesitating.
“Okay. I’ll do something.”
“...Thanks. Please do.”
And so, I raised my face, and I stared straight at the Kunekune.
“Urgh... guh.”
That aberrant shadow had come closer than I’d thought, and I spotted it immediately. It was a shock like being punched hard, right in the brain. At the same time, the sense that I could almost understand was rapidly rising.
“This is bad, I’m gonna puke... Ulp.”
I groaned, I threw up, and then words I’d never intended to speak started to spill fluently out of my mouth.
“Uh, uh, according to, my brother, it was when the green had grown thick. What were all, all, all those people in pure white clothes doing in a place like that? W-W-W-With a totally unnatural bending of his joints, my brother, j-j-j-just-ust-us-ust.”
“So-Sorawo?”
“The sun rises! B-Before noon, a lukewarm wind will blow. No longer in my brother’s voice, the thing that seethed up right behind me. Scratching the tatami mats with bare feet, an incredible ocean of grays—”
I didn’t have the presence of mind left to worry about what bizarre words I was spouting. I couldn’t look away from the Kunekune. It was like it had seized my eyeballs and locked them in place. Just a little more, just a little more, and I’d understand...