The girl was very small.
She was probably only three or four years old.
She was younger than I am now.
I thought she was cute.
I only know Aya-chan and Rin-chan who are my age, so I can’t tell the difference between children’s faces…..but even I thought she was cute.
But almost half of the girl’s body was a peculiar shade of color that could not be described as blue or purple.
It was obvious that she was in a bad situation.
But I couldn’t do anything about it, so I called my father.
“Papa! We have a problem!”
“Itsuki, you did well to exorcise it.”
He patted me on the head and immediately looked down at the girl.
“Let me see.”
“Yes!”
After switching with my father, he looked at the girl and said something.
“This is bad. She’s in a generative state.”
“Generative state? What is that?”
“It means that a person is in the process of becoming a monster.”
“Huh? People become monsters?”
“When you are a child, your outline is vague. If you spend a long time with monsters at that time, your body will gradually become a monster. This is called generation.”
“Wh-What does that mean for this child?”
When I involuntarily asked that question, my father turned and calmly said.
“In less than an hour, she will become a monster. If that happens, we will have to exorcise her.”
……How is that possible?
I was speechless at the sheer unreasonableness of it all.
She’s is still a child of about three years old.
She was born in a normal house and was supposed to grow up in a normal way.
And then, forcibly, a monster took that away from her.
Not only were her parents killed, but she was forced to quit her life as a human and be exorcised.
“Hey, papa! Can’t you do something about it? I feel so sorry for her!”
“Of course, there is a way to deal with it. The generation can be stopped if it is treated immediately.”
“Then …….”
But after saying that much, my father shook his head.
“I can’t deal with it. The only way to stop the “generation” is to define the outline of a human being. But I’m obviously too far removed from her in age and even gender. And I’m not an expert in dealing with this kind of situation. If I try fixing this child, I will fix her in an awkward way that’ll she’ll become a ticking time bomb, not knowing when she’ll become a monster.”
“But…”
“I’ve seen a lot of people who were halfway through their lives when they were born. But they all died. Why do you think they died? Suicide. People who are broken can only save themselves by doing so….!”
I couldn’t say anything to my father’s suppressed voice.
I thought he could say that because he has seen so many different people.
He has been fighting for years as an exorcist and has probably seen this kind of situation many times in the process.
So he knows that afterwards she will not be saved.
Rather, he thinks that killing them as monsters here is the best way to save them.
…… That is surely the common sense of an exorcist.
I clenched my fists tightly.
But it’s wrong for such a child to die.
I think so.
I tried to be strong because I didn’t want to die. That thought hasn’t changed. Life is important. Once you die, it’s usually the end. No one should die. Especially if you are a child.
So I said, without thinking.
“I’ll do it.”
“What!?”
“I’ll save this girl. Show me how.”
“No, but ……”
My father was visibly confused.
But I repeated what he had said earlier to reassure him.
“Because you said so yourself, papa. You can’t do it because you’re too far apart in age and gender. But I’m a different gender, but we’re probably about the same age. So I’ll do it.”
“…………”
It was the first time I saw my father’s face torn between decisions.
He is thinking about whether or not I should take care of the girl.
But that thought was soon over.
Because my father nodded deeply.
“I understand. I’ll let you handle it.
“What should I do?”
“You must place a thread of Silvate over the heart and make it resonate with magic energy.”
“Resonate?”
I’ve never heard of this word before and I tilted my head.
“No need to think about it too much. You’re close to her age, so the resonance will start on its own. Once you are in a state of resonance, you will feel your consciousness being pulled toward her.”
“I understand. If that happens, what should I do?”
“You must exorcise the evil that lurks inside her…….!”
“……!”
What’s with all the gory details at the end….?
That’s what I thought, but when I saw that 60 or 70% of the girl was purple, I quickly dropped my Guiding Thread Silvate.
Maybe my father can’t get this resonance right.
I thought of that, and that was the moment my guiding thread silvate touched the girl’s heart.
Zu..! I felt my consciousness being forcibly dragged into the girl.
Is this what my father was talking about earlier……!
At the same time I perceived it.
Thump! I felt as if I were falling into water, and my consciousness entered into the girl.
The next moment, I felt the flooring on my feet.
I looked around and saw that I was in the same room as before.
“…… what? 』
I thought I had failed, but when I looked around, I didn’t see my father.
And it was night outside the window. It was daytime just a few minutes ago.
So I’m inside the girl’s consciousness.
“If I exorcise the evil, she will be saved.”
I repeat what my father told me earlier, and look inside the room.
But where is the evil?
As I was thinking about that, I heard
Dot-tsu-tsu-tsu!
I heard a tremendous sound coming from the first floor!
“…!?”
I was so startled that I shook myself and was about to go toward the direction I heard the sound, when the door of the room opened and only the girl came in. No, she was thrown in.
The girl who came in couldn’t be mistaken…..
It was a girl who had been transformed.
The girl who was thrown into the room got up immediately and clung to the door with tears streaming down her face.
“Mama! Mama!”
As I stepped forward to protect the crying girl, the door to the room opened on its own.
There he was, a shadowy man in a trench coat.
At his feet lies the dead body of the woman in front of the closet.
Then I understood this mental picture.
This is child trauma.
The scene that happened before her has been reproduced in her mind.
“It’s going to be alright. I’ll protect you.”
Unexpectedly, these words came out of my mouth.
And at the same time, I captured the monster in the trenchcoat with my guild thread silvate.
I turned to reassure her, and with those words, the girl turned her eyes to me, as if she had noticed my presence for the first time.
“Who are you… onii-chan?”
“I’m an exorcist.”
I said that and at the same time chopped the monster into pieces and killed it.
At that moment, wham! And as my consciousness was lifted and the scenery around me became fuzzy…
“Itsuki! Well done, you did it!”
I found myself in my father’s arms.
“Did it work….?”
“It worked! It’s a great success! Thanks to you, this child is saved!”
I moved my gaze and there was a girl sleeping there, so blood-colored that I could have mistaken it for a dream that she had turned purple.
