Humanity’s Extinction Happens During Summer Vacation?!
Page 3
“What was all that, exactly? I don’t have a clue, and not even she seemed to know.”
“Apparently it’s called the Vampire Queen,” Tomomi said. “I don’t know much about it myself, but according to a yokai acquaintance of mine, she was putting out a ton of spiritual power!”
“Yokai acquaintance?” Yuichi asked. That didn’t seem like a line you could just throw out there offhandedly.
“So there are a whole lot of forces making big moves, all around Aiko! They divide into roughly two groups. One group is creatures like Aiko: vampires and yokai and stuff. They either want to support Aiko as leader, or kill her and take her place.”
“Isn’t that two groups?” Yuichi asked.
“They’re similar in the end. They act according to yokai rules, so it’s not that big a problem.”
Yuichi nodded. It was true; there didn’t seem to be anything unusual happening in Aiko’s vicinity for now. She had been calling him daily of late, worried about Yuichi’s health, but she herself sounded as cheerful as ever. Aiko wasn’t good at hiding things, so if anything was wrong, he’d probably know right away.
“The problem is the other group... and this one is a little hard to explain,” Tomomi said. “My knowledge is pretty scattered, so I don’t know for sure, but... well, as you already know, there are vampires and anthromorphs and stuff out there in the world. That’s weird, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is weird... but it means they must have been around for centuries, right?” Yuichi hadn’t thought too hard about what it meant to have superhuman beings in the world prior to this.
“Even so, it’s strange, isn’t it? Like, remember how the vampire you fought transformed? It increased its mass freely, and its clothing changed with it, right? Doesn’t that seem kind of... like, physically impossible? And from another angle, doesn’t it seem strange that something like that could have existed for so long without people knowing about it?”
“You have a point... there’s no real logical explanation for it,” Yuichi agreed.
“Yet logical or not, they clearly exist, so we just have to accept it,” Tomomi said. “Well, the real answer is that they operate under different physical laws. They exist as part of a different worldview than we do, with different rules.”
Tomomi continued to explain that there were as many worlds out there as there were people. “People” referred to beings with human-like intelligence, who each had their own worlds.
These worlds were all different, but since they had many broad points in common, they could compromise to co-exist.
“Yep, I don’t understand a bit of it!” Yuichi admitted honestly.
“This is all just what I was told, so I don’t know all the details, but the point is, every person has their own world,” Tomomi said. “And while every person has their own world, the broad outlines are predetermined, and there are central figures who are like the personification of a given worldview. Those people are called Worldview Holders.”
“And they decide the rules of the world?” Yuichi asked. It all sounded pretty absurd to Yuichi. People like that would basically be called gods.
“They aren’t necessarily doing it consciously,” Tomomi said. “But the worldviews of the people around the Holder are strongly influenced by the Holder’s own. As a result, the world around a Holder will cohere into one the Holder recognizes. Of course, there are a lot of Holders out there, which means you sometimes wind up with conflicting worldviews coming into contact. When that happens, it’s called a World Conflict, and the weaker world is integrated into the stronger one.”
“You expect me to believe that? How would you even know?” Yuichi demanded.
“Normal people don’t notice it,” she said. “But sometimes you have someone awaken some supernatural ability, or catch a glimpse of a yokai or something, and then they realize that there’s more than just one set of rules in the world. We chalk this up to ‘worldview,’ but there are other opinions on how to interpret it. Some people think something else is going on, like the world is all the dream in the mind of a clam, or that it’s all a computer simulation, or something.”
Her words set Yuichi deep into thought. It was too much for him to accept right away. But those words that Yuichi could see... Maybe he was seeing something that had to do with this “worldview” she was describing.
“You don’t have to believe in it, Sakaki,” Tomomi said. “What matters is that some people do. And now that Aiko’s awakened, there are people who believe her to be the central figure of a worldview where vampires can transform and fly.”
“And you’re saying those people will come after her?” Yuichi asked.
“Yeah. Aiko doesn’t realize it yet, and she’s not very strong. But the more she awakens, the more she may begin to draw in the worlds around her, and overwrite them as worlds where yokai run rampant. There are forces out there who are afraid of that, and who will stop at nothing to end it while they still can... that’s what I mean when I say that I think Aiko is in danger.”
“Not really much to go on, is it? I’ll try to be careful, though.” He didn’t know, concretely, what he was supposed to do, or how to go about it. But either way, he should probably keep an eye out around Aiko.
“Take special care during your training camp trip,” Tomomi said. “I won’t tell you not to go, but a Holder who leaves their home base will suffer a weakening of their worldview. Holders with sturdy worldviews rarely die, but sometimes you see a Holder take a trip away from home, and they die just like that.”
As she finished her advice, Tomomi stood up, went to the kitchen and brought back Yuichi’s fried rice lunch. Then she sat down in front of him again.
“What kind of waitress watches her customer eat?” Yuichi asked.
“I’m not done talking! Don’t you want to know how I know all this, who Nihao the China is, why your Soul Reader is such a dangerous ability...”
“Oh, no thanks,” Yuichi said lightly. “I don’t want to hear it.”
✽✽✽✽✽
Mochizuki Gastrointestinal Hospital, now known as the Pink Clinic. It looked abandoned, but it wasn’t. Electricity, gas, water, and essential utilities were all in place, and the entrances and exits could be locked.
Night after night, rowdy young people went there to have a good time. They didn’t have to force their way in, either.
The owner of the building was Michio Jonouchi: president of Jonouchi Pharmaceuticals, and the father of Takashi Jonouchi. He had once used this building as a base of operations to raise his own personal militia. But that militia had been stolen from him by a vampire, and then destroyed by something else. As a result, no one came to that former hospital anymore.
Michio Jonouchi believed the place to have no further use to him, and seemed to be intent on abandoning it. But for Takashi Jonouchi, it still served a purpose.
“Honestly... how can you live in a place like this?” Yuri Konishi sneered as she entered the room.
It was true that it was in a poor state — disposable lunch trays and instant food containers scattered all around — but Takashi couldn’t see how it was any of her business how or where he lived.
“Why do you care?” he asked. “What matters is that we can talk in private here.”
It was an underground room in the hospital that only members of the Jonouchi family could access. Takashi had been living there for a while, ever since he’d lost his wolf-man powers.
It contained all the necessary appliances (even if they were cheap ones), and he wanted for nothing there. The Jonouchi family had hidden rooms like this all over the city. Takashi didn’t know what his father had had in mind in building them, but he knew it couldn’t be anything good.
“The more important question is, what do we do next? It sounded like you had a plan, after all,” he said.
Yuri had claimed that she would give Takashi the power of the anthromorph. That was why he had taken her hand. He had brought her here to hear her proposal.
From there, he gazed at her. And once again, it occurred to him that she wasn’t his type.
Yuri was a beautiful girl who did not look Japanese, with her curves, her blonde hair, and her deep-set features. But he couldn’t stand her eyes. Her gaze was the picture of haughty arrogance, lacking any trace of ladylike refinement.
“Kurokami Island,” she said. “That’s where you should go.”
Takashi, having no idea what she was talking about, prompted her to continue.
“We have two objectives,” Yuri went on. “One is to restore your anthromorph power. That island is home to the Beast God faith, and nearly everyone who lives there is some sort of anthromorph. They’ll be holding a large ritual there on the day of the full moon, so we’ll need to go there quickly in order to make it in time.”
“Wait a minute!” Takashi interrupted Yuri before she could continue. He had no idea what she was talking about.
“What is it?”
“I feel like I’m missing something here. How is undergoing the ritual on this island going to make me a werewolf again?”
“Oh, that’s right,” she said. “I had a feeling I was omitting something fundamental.”
“You barely talked to me at all on the way here.”
“Put simply, the world we live in is part of a story,” she said.
Takashi fell silent and narrowed his eyes at Yuri. Perhaps he had taken hands with the wrong person.
“Excuse me! Why are you looking at me like that?” Yuri demanded.
“Are you putting me on?” Takashi asked.
“Let me see, how to explain it...” Yuri pondered. “To say that it’s a story is more a figure of speech... Have you ever heard of the anthropic principle?”
“That’s the philosophy that the universe is capable of supporting human life because it wouldn’t be observable otherwise, right?” A girl Takashi had dated a long time ago had seen it in some anime she’d watched and described it to him. He had found it a very foolish theory.
“I’m glad you’re familiar with it. That will speed things up. So let’s begin based on that. The ‘anthro’ in ‘anthropic’ principle refers to mankind, right? Lumping all humans together. That’s a bit of a reckless way of looking at it, don’t you think? So let’s assume that universes are not designed to suit all of humanity, but to suit individuals. In other words, everyone has their own universe.”
“But... the universe doesn’t suit me at all! If the world I perceive was made for me, then it would bow to my every whim, wouldn’t it? But it doesn’t! You’ve seen what I’ve been reduced to, losing my power and wandering hopelessly through this city...”
“That’s easily explained,” she countered. “It simply means that you lost, at some point, without even realizing it. You were drawn into someone else’s world — in other words, someone else’s story. Demoted from a protagonist to a mere side character — an enemy to be vanquished. But that isn’t your fault. It is inevitable that those who fail to recognize the existence of the story unwittingly become characters in somebody else’s.”
“Who’s the protagonist, then?” he demanded. “Exactly who did this to—”
“Aiko Noro.”
Takashi stiffened. He had some unpleasant associations with the name.
“That’s right,” she said. “I’ve seen it. Aiko Noro is trying to barge her way into the center of a story about the existence of vampires and anthromorphs.”
“I’ll believe your talk about stories for now... but how does that lead to me getting my power back?” he asked.
“You need to let yourself be drawn into the story of the Beast God faith on Kurokami Island. The god of that island is the embodiment of another story — another protagonist, in other words. At the moment, it’s far more powerful than Aiko Noro. Since you’ve transformed once already, I think it’s quite possible that you could succeed.”
“...I understand,” Takashi said. Yuri seemed to have unwavering faith in what she was saying. Rather than trying to argue further, he decided to accept it and move on. “You said your first objective was to get me to transform again. What was your other objective?”
“To kill Aiko Noro,” Yuri said.
“Does this have something to do with her being a protagonist?” he asked.
“Yes,” Yuri said. “With the Noro family currently weakened, this is our chance to strike. With Aiko Noro gone, this vampire-centric world will burst at the seams... and in that moment, I can create a dark world of anthromorphs centered around me!”
Takashi frankly found Yuri’s explanation dubious and hard to swallow. But he had nowhere to go, and not even the faintest clue as to what he should do from here on out. Thus, if it offered him even the slightest possibility of restoring the power he sought, he had no choice but to go along with this slightly nutty girl.
He steeled himself for what lay ahead.
Chapter 2: What’s So Fun About Going to the Beach?
Their destination was on the far western coast of Japan’s main island, Honshu.
Between the bullet train and transfers between local buses, it had taken Yuichi’s group half a day to get there from Seishin.
It was, as the travel time might imply, a remote country town.
The Noros had summer houses in far more accessible locations, and indeed, Aiko’s father had acted unhappy about their choice. But the final decision had lain with Mutsuko, and once she had made up her mind, no one could change it.
It wasn’t large enough to be called a peninsula. It was just a plot of land that jutted out from the archipelago of Japan like a blister. It was known as Madono Island, for though it was connected by land, it was surrounded by the ocean.
The only way to get there was an isthmus several hundred meters across. Of course, it could also be accessed by boat, but there were no regular ferries there.
Fishing and farming were the main forms of livelihood for the residents there. Of the two, fishing was slightly more common. The part of the island that faced the Sea of Japan was known as a natural fishing harbor, and the town’s major export was fish cake made from the copious seafood that was caught there.
It also did healthy business as a tourist retreat, thanks to its breathtaking views. Though not well known to the general public, it was famous among the upper classes for its summer houses.
The population had been decreasing recently, and currently stood at 1,018. That wasn’t really a problem for the locals, but...
“A terrible doom will soon visit them!!!” Mutsuko cried.
“No it won’t!” Yuichi yelled back at Mutsuko. Then he looked around quickly. Everyone on the bus, aside from their group, was elderly couples. They were all likely residents of the town, and he had wondered if they might have been offended by Mutsuko’s comment. Fortunately, it seemed the comment had gone unheard. They were all snoozing away.
“Aww! It seems like a pretty dangerous place to be if something were to happen, though!” Mutsuko announced.
It was just past noon, and the bus was now crossing the land bridge to Madono Island. To the left was a sheer precipice to the ocean, and to the right, a towering, rocky cliff. In other words, if this road were to be blocked off, there would be no way of getting back to the mainland.
“If that cliff ever caved in, it’d become an isolated island!” Mutsuko added. “Then... what if! What if someone was killed there? The police couldn’t get there right away! We’d have to solve the murder ourselves! It’d be a closed circle mystery! Without the police, there’d be no forensic analysis, and the murderer would surely be among us!”
“If that happened, we could just leave it to the great detective we met along the way,” Yuichi said.
“You really think we’d just run into a great detective?” Aiko asked. She was squeezed up against him, which was making Yuichi feel a little awkward. He couldn’t stop thinking of how smooth her arm felt against his.
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Aiko Noro. A petite girl with a short bob haircut. She was Yuichi’s classmate and fellow member of the survival club. Above her head hung the label “Love Interest.” It had previously been “Vampire,” but she didn’t do much that was vampiric, so he didn’t even think about it most of the time.
They were sitting in the five-passenger seat that made up the back of the bus. From the left, it was Natsuki, Kanako, Yoriko, Yuichi, Aiko, and Mutsuko. Six of them. They had managed to fit, but it was very cramped.
There were quite a few open seats elsewhere, and it might have been easier to spread out more, but Mutsuko wouldn’t hear of it.
They were also all in their school uniforms. It was a formality that probably didn’t matter much, but since it was a club activity, they’d decided to go with it.
“If there just happens to be a rockslide, and there just happens to be a murder, what’s wrong with assuming there just happens to be a great detective?” Yuichi asked.
“I just think it’s kind of unfair of you to want to push it all on him just because you can’t be bothered...” Aiko said.
“How are we supposed to solve a murder, exactly?” Yuichi retorted. “It’s a bit over the heads of ordinary high school students, don’t you think?”
“If you were the detective... you could probably give the suspects hell,” Aiko offered.
Yuichi grimaced openly at the words. She was right. If a murder occurred, there’d be a limited number of suspects. The quickest way to solve it might be through torture. He had confidence in his ability to make people talk.
“Aw, no! That isn’t fair! You’ve gotta solve the case with logic and deduction!” Mutsuko protested. Mutsuko loved stories about torture and violence, but clearly, she drew a line between that and her love of mysteries.
“A whodunnit where everything is solved with violence... that sounds like a good light novel,” a quiet girl with a soft hair style spoke up in a tranquil voice. It was Kanako Orihara, survival club vice president and “Isekai Fanatic,” a lover of stories about ordinary people transported to other worlds and time periods.