Chapter 5: Evil God
Pashan.
Pashan, pashan.
Pashan.
The sound of water hitting something continued incessantly.
It had an atmosphere akin to a child playing by the water’s edge.
However, what lay behind them was a murky swamp dotted with algae—hardly a place for children to play.
Houzuki slowly turned around, feeling a compelling sense of duty to do so.
“Hiih!”
A sharp squeal escaped her lips.
In the center of the dark green swamp, dotted with algae, a stark white arm reached out.
It was scooping up water and throwing it, creating the sounds they heard.
“Hmm, this is not good.”
Murmured Yuiru, tightening his grip on the silver knife held in reverse.
Looking between the hand stretching out from the swamp and the hands reaching out from the shadows of the trees, he commented, “Are we being surrounded?”
Following his words, something stirred at the edge of their vision.
Nuuー……
Someone cloaked in stark white fabric slowly crawled out from the center of the swamp.
Emerging silently from the dark green swamp dotted with algae.
The fabric covered from the hairstyle down, completely obscuring the head, and draped down, the face hidden due to being bowed. Floating about three centimeters above the water surface, it was neither distinctly male nor female, reaching out with arms as thin as dead branches.
“……….”
Houzuki gasped.
The movement of the hand seemed like an invitation, beckoning “come here.”
Ah, this way one would be dragged into the swamp!
“The real trouble seems to be on this side.”
Something silver flashed past her.
Leaping above the dark green swamp, Yuiru brandished the silver knife.
As he plunged the knife into the neck of the stark white figure that had been beckoning Houzuki, Yuiru forcefully decapitated it.
Thump.
The surface of the swamp rippled greatly as the head fell.
The head, surprisingly heavy, did not resurface.
Yuiru, originally intending to eat his meal, pursed his lips in displeasure as it fell into the water, but a more pressing issue soon arose.
“Hmm?”
Despite the head having fallen, a white, branch-like arm entwined itself around Yuiru’s arm, clinging as if refusing to let go.
“Ah, you come to be eaten of your own accord? What an admirable attitude.”
Re-gripping the silver knife, he thrust its point into the withered, branch-like arm of his assailant. Black mist spurted out as the arm thrashed wildly.
Without hesitation, Yuiru seized the mist-spewing arm and sliced it off from the white figure with his silver knife. The volume of black mist increased further.
Chewing on the branch-like arm from the fingertips up, Yuiru returned and took Houzuki’s hand.
“Let’s run, Houzuki. It’s true what they say about malevolent deities; we’re outmatched here.”
“Okay, got it.”
Yuiru pulled her along, and they decided to flee deeper into the Tsukinashi Forest.
They ran along a rough animal trail, careful not to trip on the uneven ground.
They could tell something was chasing them from behind. The sound of footsteps was closing in fast.
Karikari, kari.
Gasagasagasa.
Kari, karikari.
Gasagasagasa.
Occasionally, they heard sounds like something scratching at trees.
The myriad arms that had extended from the shadows of the trees were likely chasing after the fleeing Yuiru and Houzuki. A terrifying presence could be felt creeping up from behind.
If caught, it would be the end, for dealing with a malevolent deity was unpredictable. Houzuki gripped Yuiru’s hand tightly, determined not to be left behind.
“Hmm?”
Yuiru slowed his pace.
Suddenly, the sounds had stopped. There was no longer any sign of pursuit. When they looked back, the withered, branch-like arms had stopped, as if blocked by something. They even appeared to be hitting an invisible wall.
“Ah.”
Houzuki exclaimed as she realized the nature of this invisible barrier.
It was a stone torii gate. (TN: those gates that look like π)
Moss-covered and blending in with the surrounding trees, they hadn’t noticed it at first. It might be part of a shrine.
If this torii was protecting them, perhaps the deity enshrined here was on their side. Houzuki harbored a faint hope, but then,
“No, that’s not it,”
Yuiru clenched his silver knife and called out.
“Hey brat. You there?”
“I’m here. Also, I told you that I’m not a brat.”
“Oh, you managed to follow without getting lost. Good job, good job.”
“Stop mocking me!”
It seemed that Towako had been clinging to Houzuki’s waist, for she suddenly jumped down to the ground and headbutted Yuiru at his waist.
In the dimly lit forest, Yuiru’s foolish cry, “Guhah!?” echoed around them.
As Towako headbutted him, the silver-haired, red-eyed high school student lost his balance, and in that moment, Houzuki understood why Yuiru had said “that’s not it.”
There it was.
A white shadow.
“H, hh……” (TN: This is the “h” from “here”)
A white shadow stood silently in the dim forest.
It looked up at a shrine that seemed on the verge of collapse and then turned around, noticing Houzuki and the others.
Covered entirely in a stark white cloth, with lusterless white hair, the head that had been bowed slowly lifted, revealing the face beneath.
“Ah…”
Houzuki inadvertently let out a voice.
There was nothing.
Nothing above the neck.
“……Oshira-sama? This?”
The evil god that dwells in Tsukinashi Forest, the monster living in the deep green swamp.
Was this white figure, standing at an abandoned, untouched shrine, really Oshira-sama?
The white figure tilted its head awkwardly and said in a raspy voice, uttering an incomprehensible word:
“You’re, here.”
