In less than half a night, Japan's largest Shinomiya financial conglomerate had thus fallen into Kaguya's hands.
To be honest, for Takumi, this whole affair did not carry much sense of reality. From beginning to end, it was Shinomiya Kaguya herself who had been directing everything. As for what he did, it amounted to bringing people along for the trip, standing to the side to watch the spectacle, and, when dealing with that nameless extra of a player, helping locate the marbles the other party had thrown.
By contrast, Maki and Chika—the two girls who had not been present—were extremely nervous. Maki kept incessantly asking Takumi about the specific situation through their mental link, while Chika had Takumi set his phone to speaker mode, then listened in on everything throughout the entire process.
In any case, no matter how one put it, this matter was now over.
If it were someone with more nerve and more ability, perhaps they would still try to do something to Kaguya afterward. But Oko did not have that kind of capability. Since he had already chosen to surrender, this matter was completely concluded and there would be no follow-up.
"Takumi-kun, thank you. If it weren't for you, I might not have had the courage to take this step."
After everything was settled, Kaguya, having left Oko's residence, bowed seriously to Takumi in thanks, her tone extremely sincere.
"No, I didn't really do anything. There's no need for this. In the end, this was a choice you made yourself. Do your best from here on."
Takumi scratched his head. He truly didn't feel he had done anything that warranted thanks, so he replied casually. Then he bid her farewell and headed in the direction of home.
Under the nighttime streets, pedestrians hurried back and forth. Tired office workers carried briefcases, young students gathered together chatting and laughing, and elderly people with relaxed expressions strolled about. Everything presented a calm, ordinary appearance.
But in Takumi's field of vision, it was not entirely like that. He could see those illusory black shadows—those twisted, ferocious aberrant things—wandering through streets and alleys, floating in midair, silent and soundless, with no one able to perceive their existence.
Whether it was Kaguya, Maki, or Chika, none of them could see these things. Even if they passed through the phantoms of these aberrations, there would be no discomfort at all.
Like a phantom reflection that did not exist in this world, only Takumi himself could glimpse the trajectories of their movement.
Would these things always remain in an illusory state?
Would there come a day when these strange phantom shadows truly condensed, becoming things that everyone could see, that everyone could be aware of—things that could interact with one another?
Takumi could not think of an answer to that question.
So he very straightforwardly gave up thinking about it, not entangling himself in such meaningless problems.
After confirming that everything was over, both Chika and Maki quieted down. It was clear that everyone was actually very concerned about Kaguya's family matters. Now that they could finally breathe a sigh of relief, the two of them probably needed some time to adjust their state of mind.
As for what Takumi was thinking at the moment…
"She really didn't come over after all. Well, that figures—her family isn't exactly easy to deal with."
Opening the front door and confirming that Chika had not come to his place, Takumi felt a slight sense of dejection.
Although he had already realized this from the beginning, knowing that Chika was unlikely to stay over at his place for two nights in a row, after truly confirming that she wasn't here, Takumi still felt a strong sense of helplessness.
Standing in the hallway, Takumi closed his eyes. What surfaced in his mind was the scene of himself holding the girl in his arms as he stepped forward.
Returning to the bedroom, looking at the bed that Chika had already tidied up, what Takumi thought of was the girl's soft murmurs from last night as she lay on the bed.
Walking into the restroom, Takumi's line of sight could not help but shift toward the bathroom door, recalling the process of bathing together with her in the bathroom that morning.
Is this what they call developing a taste for it?
In his heart, Takumi silently sighed, feeling an increasingly strong urge to do it again.
'I really want to do that kind of thing with Chika right now.'
'Yeah… I'll try to find a chance tomorrow when the two of us can be alone.'
However, the daytime was mostly reserved for Maki—this had been agreed upon beforehand. If he secretly went to look for Chika again, it really wouldn't be appropriate. Tsk, it felt like he had completely turned into a scumbag in the conventional sense, to be able to think about such things so naturally. Come to think of it, over the past month he had already been rather handsy with Maki so many times—if he were to express to her now that he wanted to "do" that kind of thing, she probably wouldn't kick him away and run off anymore, right?
Takumi's mind began to conjure up all kinds of unspeakable little scenarios.
But mere imagined scenarios were clearly not enough to satisfy Takumi, who already had real experience. Rather, after having had an actual experience, such imagined little scenarios only made the desire even stronger.
Therefore, after playing games at home for a while and killing some time, Takumi found himself feeling so bored that he simply could not divert his attention. He then left the house again, planning to find a barbecue stall or something similar to get some late-night food, using food to shift those little thoughts in his mind.
"Hmm?"
Just as he stepped out of the house, Takumi noticed a black-haired girl who was saying goodbye to her classmates and about to head home.
Yotsuya Miko.
The protagonist of the manga Mieruko-chan. A girl who, after suddenly awakening a very powerful spiritual sight one day, became able to see all the strange and aberrant beings in the world, and thus lived every day in constant fear—often bullied to the point of crying.
In this world, the girl was considered Takumi's neighbor, but there was basically no interaction between them. Takumi himself only occasionally saw her going to and from school. As for Miko, she probably had no impression at all of Takumi, this neighbor with whom she had never even spoken.
However, because of this girl's experiences in the original work, Takumi still paid her a little attention. Especially after being able to see those illusory aberrant shadows wandering everywhere every night, Takumi became even more concerned about Miko—about this girl who could "see."
Hmm… There seemed to be some faint dark circles under her eyes?
Although the girl looked like she was chatting and laughing with her classmates without any obvious abnormalities, upon closer observation it was still possible to notice that she appeared much more haggard than before, as if she had not had a good night's sleep for a long time.
Had she already begun to "see"?
Takumi honestly did not have any particularly deep impression of the original plot of Mieruko-chan. He only remembered that there was a story related to abusing cats, as well as a Lovecraftian girl who constantly clung to Miko. Even so, Takumi at least remembered that after Miko began being able to see those things, she basically had not slept well more than a few times, remaining day after day in a state of extreme nervous tension, which was why the dark circles under her eyes were especially severe.
These strange phantoms, although constantly wandering through the streets and alleys, did not at present seem to be able to interact with the real world. Then if Miko could see those things, would they be able to interact with Miko? Or would it be like when he himself tried to touch those things—where the two sides were fundamentally unable to make contact with each other, and even when passing through them there would not be the slightest sensation?
Thinking this, Takumi shifted his steps and headed in the direction where that girl was.
At the same time, Miko herself finished saying goodbye to her classmates, smiling as she watched them leave, then turned around and prepared to head home.
Her gaze lightly swept past a black phantom more than two meters tall beside her, then quickly moved away, shifting forward, toward the location of her own front door.
It's fine, it's fine…
The girl silently comforted herself in her heart.
These things were indeed terrifying, but they were only hallucinations. As long as she did not pay attention to them, there would be no problem.
Although they would appear in her room, although they would appear in her bathroom, although they would crawl out from under the covers when she was sleeping… but—but yes, as long as she did not pay attention to them, there would not be any problem at all. After all, these frightening things were nothing more than illusory phantoms. Even if she were frightened into screaming, they would not do anything to her. So as long as she acted as if she had not seen them, as long as she treated these things as nonexistent, there would be no problem.
As Miko was thinking this, she then noticed the sound of footsteps approaching her.
Raising her head, the girl realized it was a tall man, looking at her with an interested expression.
"Hello. I'm your neighbor, Takahashi Takumi."
He spoke in a calm tone as he greeted her.
"Hello, I'm Yotsuya Miko. Um, may I ask what this is about?"
Having already reached her front door, the girl blinked as she replied. It took her a moment to recall that there really was a man with the surname Takahashi living next door. If she remembered correctly, he was someone who almost never left his house and never spoke or interacted with the surrounding neighbors—a rather strange person. She had not expected him to take the initiative to greet her today.
What does this guy want?
Miko walked up to her own front door, the look she directed at Takumi carrying a hint of confusion and curiosity.
"As for the matter… well, it's just a small question. Yotsuya-san, recently, have you been able to see some strange things?"
Takumi asked slowly, a smile on his face as he looked at the girl.
In the next instant, he saw the expression on the girl's face change violently.
So she really can see them? Just a month ago she still couldn't see those things at all—did something change with this girl?
"You… um, Takumi-kun, do you know something?"
The girl widened her eyes and hurried a few steps closer, as if she had finally found a savior. Her golden eyes fixed tightly on Takumi as she asked in a rush.
"No. To be honest, I don't know that much either. Other than the fact that these things seem to be merely phantoms, and no matter what one does they won't interact with our world, so far I haven't been able to see anything particularly special about them."
Takumi shook his head. He was not deceiving the girl, nor did he intend to give her groundless hope.
"In any case, since you can see them now, it's best to pretend that you can't."
"I have some suspicions. Although these things don't seem very dangerous right now, if they continue to develop, they might end up turning into something quite serious."
"So before that happens, please hide yourself well, Yotsuya-san. Don't expose your existence in front of them."
After leaving behind a few such words, Takumi turned around and walked away, departing under the gaze of Miko behind him.
Before leaving just now, he could tell from Miko's face that helpless, confused expression. It was simply a pity that he truly had no way to help that girl. After all, even he himself had no way to make those things disappear from before his eyes—there was not the slightest effect even when using an Obsession Item.
Perhaps only after those things truly "arrived" in this world would there be a genuinely effective way to drive them away.
He wondered whether the existence of the Sacrifice Game might have some kind of connection to those things.
That aside, experiencing what it was like to be a riddler actually seemed rather nice. Although what he said could not really be considered riddles—he was merely speaking the truth.
Speaking of which, Chika had said that when the weekend came, she planned to take everyone together to a hot spring hotel for some fun. He found himself feeling a bit expectant about what things might be like then. Would there be some kind of mixed-bathing perk scene or something?
Thinking about all sorts of miscellaneous things, Takumi quickly arrived in front of a small shop that was still open at night, opened the door, and walked inside.
What he did not see was that after he left, Miko stood at the doorway of her home for quite a while longer before letting out a soft sigh and murmuring quietly to herself.
"Hide yourself, don't expose your existence? Isn't that… exactly what I've been doing all this time…"
That strange man called Takumi—she had just thought she had truly found a savior. But was there still no way to change this situation after all?
The girl, with a deep sense of powerlessness in her heart, could only sigh in the end. She took out her key, opened the door to her home, pulled it open, and stepped inside.
The next moment, what appeared before Miko's eyes was something that occupied most of the corridor: half of its head had been completely shattered, leaving only the other half, dripping with blood. It was clinging to the ceiling, craning its head upward, continuously letting out muffled, indistinct screams.
"…"
In the next instant, the girl tightened her expression. Her entire body went rigid, frozen in place without moving at all. After remaining stalled like that for several seconds, she continued to walk into the house with a blank face—closing the door, taking off her shoes, and then deliberately avoiding that Aberration as she headed deeper inside.
This kind of experience was truly terrible.
This kind of life was simply far too dark and devoid of light.
Just what did she have to do for her life to return to normal? She really did not want this kind of terrifying thing to happen anymore!
The Aberration clinging to the ceiling was still letting out its piercing cries.
And the girl roaring inwardly in her heart dragged her heavy steps forward like this, continuing on, continuing to pass each agonizing day of her life in a state utterly devoid of hope.
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