“It was quite an interesting show, wasn’t it? It wasn’t a game, though. Did you like it? Did you have fun?”
The cat gave a childlike smile. I shuddered at the look on her face. She was serious. She genuinely believed that I’d be happy about the show.
“Fuck you,” I snarled. “It’s all your fault for giving the flower to Shizuki!”
“Oh, right. But they were murderers anyway. All I did was pass the seed. It was their sins that ruined them. A flower spitting up body parts is no big deal. They could’ve just ignored it and lived their lives.”
The cat raised her hands. The cloth covering her chest fell. She stretched her body like an animal, exposing her thin body.
“None of these girls would have died if no one made a wish.”
They just reaped what they sowed.
I’d heard the same words before. Memories from the spirit world returned. A boy wearing a fox mask stared at me, studying me with dark eyes. I saw the same eyes in her.
The cat’s eyes were clear. There was no hint of doubt in her words.
I clenched my fists. Words swirled in my mind. I wanted to just scream. A burning sensation filled my chest, just like when I faced the fox.
Mayuzumi did not say anything. She just stared at the cat’s belly.
“You toyed around with those girls. That’s an undeniable fact. Stop making excuses. And what was that body on the first floor?!”
“Huh? Oh, that! I completely forgot.” She sounded genuinely surprised. “Call it an objet d’art.”
I didn’t get it. An objet d’art?
“That was my mother. She died a while ago. I carried her to this building and put her in a room, but I forgot all about her. Sorry for startling you. The doll in her bully must’ve been shocking.”
For the first time, Mayuzumi spoke. “The same mother you were talking about earlier?” she said, keeping her gaze on the cat’s swollen belly. “I see. So the doll in her belly was an offering of some sorts.”
“Yes. That was her wish. Sometimes guilt shackles people for the rest of their lives. Even if they’ve been looking away for the longest time. Even if you continue to ignore it, guilt will still bind and torment you.”
I bit my lip. Her words stabbed me in the chest. The cat tossed the cloth in her hand, got up, and started walking casually. Her pale, naked body glistened in the moonlight. As I turned my gaze to her bright skin, my breath seized.
Her belly was abnormally large and swollen.
“It’s gotten a bit tricky, Odagiri-kun,” Mayuzumi said. “I really don’t care about those girls. But her belly is a problem.” Her gaze was fixed on Yuri’s stomach.
It looked like there was something foreign in there. Yuri kept her gentle smile. A smile as immaculate as the Virgin Mary’s.
“After listening to what she has to say, I finally get it. Her ability is summoning a god using her belly—nothing but a weird talent of some sorts. Her family is not as familiar with the spirit world as the Mayuzumi clan. But apparently they can connect with the spirit world through their womb. They randomly draw monsters lurking in the spirit world and fuse them with the child in the womb at the embryonic stage.”
Whatever was pulled from the spirit world would lose almost all of its power once it mingled with human flesh.
It was the most heretical and nonsensical of supernatural abilities. Normally, they wouldn’t do any of this.
“It’s kind of like necromancy. They don’t even know what they’re summoning. But as long as it’s nonhuman, they don’t care. She comes from that kind of family.”
“Indeed,” Yuri said. “And the problem that the women of the Jingu family face is how to give birth to a monster. A normal child is shunned. If a woman gives birth to a human being, she can’t complain if she’s killed.”
The cat’s eyes narrowed slowly, intimidating me. I had seen those eyes somewhere before. The cat’s eyes were filled with a dark light.
Back in the spirit world, the fox had very similar eyes as hers.
“So my mother killed the child she had as a result of messing around. She and my father, fearing the wrath of the higher-ups, buried my brother. They could just say it was stillbirth. It was shocking. A little too much for the younger me. Oh, I don’t need your pity. It’s all in the past. It’s nothing for you to feel sad about, cutie.”
The cat smiled. I swallowed. I remembered the corpse I had seen earlier. A baby doll was stuffed into its pear-shaped, swollen belly, round fingertips peeking through the threads as if they were longing to get out.
“Mother apparently regretted what they did,” she continued gleefully. “She felt fatigue that she couldn’t get rid of. I called her the other day and she looked like she wanted to die. So I killed her. Then as she was dying, she said her belly was lonely, so I stuffed it a little bit. Her love for her child was so strong that it started moving. I had to sew her belly shut.” She shared the gruesome story with a smile.
She seemed to enjoy talking about herself. Her feet skipped in the moonlight, and she danced on the dusty floor. Her swollen belly shook.
Mayuzumi narrowed her eyes disapprovingly. “Like I’ve been saying for a while now, that baby is not human. It’s a genuine monster. No intentions in aborting it?”
“None. I’m going to birth him,” she disagreed. “That’s all I want right now.”
More incomprehensible words.
The cat was pregnant with the fox’s child. Now she said she would birth him.
I’d been dodging it for a while now. I abandoned the idea of even seriously considering it.
Who was him?
“The fox, obviously. Who else would I be referring to?”
Yuri patted her swollen belly. It had grown in size again. There was a sudden change. Whatever was inside was not an ordinary baby.
What did she mean to give birth to the fox?
“I did some tests to see if I could connect to the spirit world through radios, computers, and other electronic devices. I wanted to check if I could actually see it with my own eyes. My attempts were fruitless, until one day, by chance, a connection came from the other side. And I connected with him through my womb. By being closely bound with him, I was able to borrow his power and memories.”
“I listened to the girls’ wishes and took his power. First, I put the seed of the flower into the womb through the vagina to transform it. I then introduced myself to Shizuki-kun as the fox and gave her those seeds. I also sent a letter to you guys with his name to summon you. To show my gratitude, I wanted the fox to take the credit first.”
I turned my gaze to her swollen belly. It was slowly moving up and down. I imagined what was inside. The fox curled up, wet with blood, eyes closed.
The baby in my belly cried in response.
“Why would you do such a stupid thing?” I asked.
“I must give birth to a monster one day. That’s the rule. But I don’t want to have intercourse with a man. If I give birth to a mere human being, I am finished. So I decided to give birth to him, a monster. I wished to bring him back to this world.”
Yuri smiled gently. The cat imitated the fox and claimed to be a messenger.
She connected with the fox through her womb, and he acted as an intermediary to grant people’s wishes.
Inside Yuri’s belly I saw the fox—the same fox that caused another tragedy though the cat. I didn’t know how much he was actually involved in this case.
But he was there.
My fists trembled. I thought back to the person I left behind in the spirit world. Never had I regretted leaving him so much. In the depths of my mind, the fox laughed.
“The fox is a monster,” Yuri went on. “By giving birth to him, I will have fulfilled my duty.”
I studied her. She was contradicting herself. Bound by family custom, she wanted to give birth to a monster. However, she should not be able to return home after killing her own mother.
Her wish and objective were in conflict with each other. Her wish was just a twisted alteration of her imprinted fear of giving birth to a human being. I looked at the bulge in her belly. I highly doubted her body could give birth to a person that was still growing bigger.
Mayuzumi’s lips slowly parted. “I understand your desire now.” Her voice was cool. “But even if you successfully give birth, you will die. Your family’s supernatural ability is weak. I don’t think your womb can handle it.”
“I suppose. I knew all along. We’re not like you. Asking you to understand was unreasonable. You are a perfect monster.”
Yuri laughed. Her tone was both admiring and mocking.
“I will die before I give birth to this child. But this belly will survive because of him. And I’m okay with that. As long as I can bring him to this world.”
She suddenly stopped talking.
Her pale feet tapped the floor, and her slender thighs bent. She flew back. Her huge belly shook. Her pale body floated like a whale in the darkness of the night.
Carrying a heavy belly, she bounded backwards, hard.
Crash.
Glass shattered. I reached for her, but it was too late. Everything was too late. She whispered something. After what seemed like an eternity of stillness, she disappeared into the darkness.
“Birthing him into this world made me the happiest person of all.”
The cat vanished.
And then there was only a dark night.
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