“Why, why, whyyy!!”
As Mitsuko continued to screech in a voice that could shatter glass, the lightning arcing from the Raiju’s body struck the grandfather clocks, and tongues of flame began to leap from the wooden casings. Staying here any longer would be suicide.
Akari gazed down sadly at Mitsuko, who was crouched on the floor clutching at her head like a madwoman.
“Tomohito, can that yokai be stopped?”
Tomohito looked back at her, hesitation in his ruby-red eyes.
“It’s been badly warped. It should disintegrate on its own before much longer.”
“Hey, I managed to fix you when you were about to disintegrate, didn’t I? I can’t just leave the poor thing. No more than I could have left you to turn to dust.”
Akari raised an eyebrow at Tomohito, whose eyes sparkled.
“Then shall we kill the girl? If we cut off the source of the power, that will be the easiest solution.”
“No. Don’t ever suggest such a thing again. Or it’ll be ‘Mr. Yagyou’ for eternity.”
“Don’t even joke, Mistress…”
Tomohito pouted. But what a thing to suggest…
Was his moral compass still that of a demon? Akari hoped not. She’d narrated him anew, but a hint of his old wickedness was still with him. Perhaps that was his true nature, though.
Still, she’d decided to accept him for all that he was. Now, she looked up at him slyly.
“Or perhaps…you’re simply incapable of stopping the Raiju?”
“…Incorrect. I could crush that girl in a second. And I could slay that yokai with ease. So stopping them would be easy…”
The demon Tomohito Yagyou grinned, sharp fangs poking between his lips. Then, he leaped.
“No, nothing could be easier!”
He sprang toward the Raiju, lighter on his feet than in his previous form.
The air was beginning to grow wavy from the heat of the flames. As he closed in on the yokai, the demon Tomohito was grumbling to himself.
“The history written in my Kotogatari may be incomplete, but I have been placed in a Kotogami category that few belong to! A simple thing like this is…well within…my capabilities!”
Grunting with effort, Tomohito reached out and grabbed hold of the lightning streaks emanating from the yokai.
His golden hair floated in the air behind him.
“Lightning isn’t reserved just for Raiju, you know!”
Ripping the sparking lightning bolts to one side, Tomohito bared his fangs and grappled with the Raiju.
With one eye on him, Akari ran over to Mitsuko, who was still slumped on the floor.
“Mitsuko!”
Akari called out her name, and the woman looked up at her blearily, still mumbling to herself. Her eyes narrowed in hatred. She raised her hand high to strike, but Akari tripped on a shard of broken wood and went flying.
Mitsuko’s swing went wide as Akari fell on top of her, pushing the other woman flat.
Her hand was stinging. She must have gotten it caught on a wood splinter.
But no matter. She’d managed to keep Tomohito’s Kotogatari open—that was the important thing.
“Are you…all right…?”
Akari was genuinely concerned that she’d hurt Mitsuko, but Mitsuko responded by grabbing her hard around the back the neck.
Then, with a grunt of effort, Mitsuko flung Akari to the floor and climbed on top of her.
Pressed flat against the ground, Akari tried to fight her off. The other woman was crying, hot tears falling and splashing on Akari’s cheeks.
“Why can’t I do the same things you can do?! Why, when I’m trying my absolute best…”
So it was all Akari’s fault—that was what she was saying, right? Akari shook her head.
“Because you’re not me, Mitsuko.”
Mitsuko stopped snarling and looked down at Akari with surprise, panting like an animal that had been wounded in an unexpected counterattack.
Akari’s eyes were burning as she looked back up at her former friend. She felt on the verge of tears too.
“Listen, Mitsuko…I’m the one who was jealous of you. You’ve got a normal family, and you’re good at your job. But I can’t be like you. I can only be me.”
It was true. Akari thought of Mayoi breaking her back to perform feats that were beyond her ability. She thought of the poor Raiju, warped into a form that was not its own. No matter the regrets we may have, no matter how much we wish things were different, we can’t become what we were never meant to be.
Mitsuko frowned, not understanding.
“But I don’t want to be like me.”
“It’s up to you what kind of person you are. We can make the most of the lives we have. You have to live in the best way for you, Miss Maruyama.”
“I don’t get what you mean. You’re not making any sense. I don’t know what I want to be. There’s nothing to me. I’m an empty husk.”
Mitsuko’s eyes were blank, her heart closed. Akari found she had no more words of comfort to give.
Akari was always the pragmatic type, just getting by the best way she knew how.
But there was one more thing she could say.
“Fine, then stop focusing on your own life. Delve into the world of stories. You can learn about so many different points of view. If you want to be like me, then that’s my advice. It was a story that made me the way I am, after all.”
Just like how there were different interpretations of Kansuke Mishima. Like how there were different sides to the demon Tomohito Yagyou.
No human soul or Kotogami was ever truly good or bad, black or white.
And for all her talk of hating stories, Akari had been supported along the way by characters from books.
She knew, almost certainly, that this wasn’t the answer Mitsuko wanted.
The other woman gazed into Akari’s eyes, her pretty face still twisted.
“You really are something else, Akari. If only we could have talked like this about so many things before…”
Mitsuko’s eyes were still unfocused, and she seemed to be babbling, but there was a hint of the old Mitsuko there. She let go of Akari’s neck. Akari started to slowly sit up, but Mitsuko suddenly shoved her back down again.
Head clunking against the hard floor, Akari winced. Just then the debris beside them began to move.
It was a pile of broken grandfather clocks that had been reduced to wood scraps from the earlier blast. It shifted and toppled onto the two women, Mitsuko’s body bearing the brunt of the impact.
“Mitsuko?!”
Mitsuko crumpled like a broken doll, even as Akari tried her best to hold her up. Then she felt something nudging her hand. Mitsuko was trying to give her the gray book.
As Akari grabbed hold of the cover, Mitsuko’s eyes rolled back in her head.
“Mistress Akari!”
“Never mind me! You just focus on capturing the Raiju!” Akari yelled back across the room at the demon Tomohito, who was looking at her in panic.
Mitsuko had given her the book. She couldn’t waste this chance.
Akari ran her fingertips over the book’s plain gray cover. She had taken possession. But far from standing down, the Raiju only continued its rampage.