Volume 5, Chapter 15: The Demonic Christmas

“Why did you follow me!”

“………”

Onzada had received Yuzu’s “silent mail”, and had taken action immediately.

Although he had sent back several e-mails, she didn’t reply, and even when he called, Yuzu’s mobile phone didn’t connect; either because it was out of the signal range, or it just wasn’t on.

He didn’t know what was happening. Still, Onzada ran with an uneasy feeling constricting his chest. Somehow, he could feel which direction Yuzu was.

And that black-masked person who saw what was in Onzada’s heart was running behind Onzada, following him.

“……What is it?”

Even though Onzada was irritated by the black-masked man who didn’t reply at all even when called out, he wasn’t now.

Gathering the spirit of the earth, he immediately filled his body with his ‘ki’. Due to his need, Onzada was able to bolster his weak physical ability with ki.

Nonetheless, the black-masked person was able to keep up with more to spare.

And that big sword that he used, it would seem to be as heavy as the user at that size, but the black-masked man was wielding it in one hand.

“……What’s up with that guy”

“……!?”

“…Ee!?”

They stopped their feet at the same time, and looked far towards the horizon where they were going.

“What……? Right now”

“………”

There was the sense that some horrible [Power] was spreading out. He couldn’t tell what it was coming from, but it was clearly out of the norm.

And as if he felt it as well, the black-masked person went running in that direction.

“Hey, wait. ……This”

＊＊＊

“……aHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

In the dark, abandoned school, it began abruptly.

The adults who were conversing felt something about the [Presence] of the girl who had gone silent change, and suddenly, she began to laugh out loudly.

*BishiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!*

“Hiie?!”

“Wha-!”

The window panes cracked, and not only the principal’s office, but every single piece of glass in the school was turned gray with tiny fractures.

Those who were outside the principal’s office looked about at the ominous “sound of laughter” that came from their surroundings, and those who were outside the school building felt uneasy, but hurried inside.

And…… those of them inside the principal’s office witnessed incredible things.

The whites of the adorable girl’s eyes had gone turned completely black, as if corroded by the darkness, and in those black eyes, a blood-red glow. From the white teeth that peeked out of her cherry-blossom-pink lips emerged beast-like fangs that were a brilliant, crystalline red.

Not only her appearance, but even her very [Essence]

became violent and repulsive, and everyone who was at the scene couldn’t even move because they were gripped by this very real and unknown fear.

At the “Monster” that looked like a dreamy, beautiful girl.

“hiiii”

The fact that that girl had grabbed the head of the leader, Kidou, and forcibly dislocated his back by sitting him down onto the floor caused everyone to realize that this was not a nightmare, but reality.

“……ua, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA……!”

Even though the girl had stopped laughing, that scornful laugh continued to echo inside their ears, and the creaking noise of a skull grating, as deep, crimson claws extended from those adorable little fingers and pierced into Kidou’s forehead, and he let out a scream of anguish.

“……ah,”

While Kidou’s body suddenly looked dehydrated and went dry, his hand that was stretched out towards his son looking for salvation broke like a dead twig and fell to the floor.

“……Thanks for the meal.”

“!”

As they heard the girl murmur, and saw her smiling brightly like a flower, Kenji rammed himself towards the door of the principal’s office, attempting to break it open.

“Sir, please get away quickly!”

“…o, Ah”

“tsch.”

Kyoji clicked his tongue, and kicked one of the black-clothed men that was still frozen towards the girl, but she deflected him away lightly, and as another one of the black-clothed men got involved, he struck the wall, his blood splattering brilliantly as it contrasted with the wall.

Seizing that gap, Kyoji ran out of the principal’s office with Lord Kuon.

“………”

The girl didn’t pursue, and only smiled faintly with her mouth, as she touched the crack on the window panes with her hands.

“…[Close]…”

At that point, even though he felt a dreadful chill, the sense of “danger” was still slight.

However, it gradually turned into a very real terror.

“Th-the outside doors can’t open!”

“The windows are impossible to open, too! It’s clouded over and I can’t see out!”

“Break it.”

“It-it’s also hopeless, it doesn’t break even if I strike it with a chair!”

“……O, oi, where did that come from!?”

In the dim corridor of the school, a small shadow with long hair was slowly approaching.

Beautiful black hair that shimmered gently. An elaborate, doll-like perfect beauty……

She had red pupils and bloody crimson fangs, and the young girl who had the presence of a monster, caused the men’s screams of terror to resonate throughout the dark school building.

The adults were running about screaming while they tried to escape from the school building with no exit.

Chasing after them, a small, cute little girl.

The men ran away, but were overtaken, and at their wits’ end, they were torn apart.

These men, who had lived in the underworld had scorned the weak up until now, were unable to even think of resisting. Threatening others with their fists, they would be obeyed by the general public who had frightened expressions on their faces when dealing with them.

But these men, even if they did survive this, would never be able to live in that kind of shady world again.

Because this world, there was someone who looked so [Weak], was actually a hidden [Monster] who was crushing them like insects.

“It’s coming, it’s comiiiing AHHHHHHHHHH!”

*pan*, *pan*, one of the black-clothed men had discharged his gun towards her, but the girl wasn’t even hit.

As he had shot his last bullet, the girl had poked her finger in space as if there she was poking a forehead, and as if he had been shot by a gun, his head exploded.

“D-d-d-DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

As the hoodlum thrust out his dagger wildly at the little girl, she grabbed the blade gently with her fingers, and flung the blade and its owner towards the men who were trying to escape through the other end of the corridor.

Seeing his companions who had run with him being toyed with and flung about like the pieces of some plastic toy, the man ran into the restrooms.

*katsun*…*katsun*… the sound of those tiny loafers pattered down the corridor.

The man hiding inside the bathroom held his breath as he waited for her to pass by, but the sound of the footsteps never got fainter, and with a *knockknock*, she began to knock on the doors of the toilet cubicles one by one.

*knock………*

“……ii”

The door he was hiding behind was knocked on, but the man clamped a hand over his mouth and held down his scream.

And then the door next to his cubicle was rapped on, and the man who had lost all of his strength from the tension sagged and leaned on the thin partition……

*DON!*

“HiyaaaaaaAAAAAAAAA!?”

Again, the cubicle door he was in was hit, and the man shrieked out instinctively.

*DONDONDONDONDONDONDONDONDONDONDONDONDON!*

“UAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

The door was hammered repeatedly with a terrifying power, and the hinges flew off, the door smashed, and a hole was opened in the panel boards.

Seeing that girl’s face from that hole smiling with her fangs bared, a scream that echoed throughout the school leaked out of the man’s mouth.

“Hiiiieee!?”

Hearing that scream of someone in their death throes, the fake taxi driver, Shinohara, yelled out and tried to draw attention.

“That brat, that brat, that brat, that brat aaAAAAAHHHHHH”

Curling up in the corner of the science classroom where he had barricaded himself, Shinohara waited for the fear to pass.

That damned, brazen child who had stabbed him with a pencil. He had planned to ask Kyoji to let him torture that girl to death with his own hands when the time came to get rid of her.

Shinohara had already crossed beyond the boundary of understanding into a world where a child was killing him.

“What is that……”

Shinohara was shaking while holding his head, unaware that he couldn’t hear any sound from the surroundings.

Had someone been killed? Had she killed everyone and gone away somewhere else……?

“………”

Shinohara chewed his nails and asked himself while trembling.

She might still be there. She might not even exist. Shinohara stooped over, hoping to not be seen as he hid under the science classroom table.

A little bit more…… surely, if there was nothing up to the door, that monster should have gone away somewhere else.

And just then, when he had relaxed and let his heart hope again,

“………”

His eyes met those of the girl, who was crouching under the table.

“HIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?”

Screaming like his throat was being torn out, Shinohara backpedaled on all fours and ran all the way.

“Yaiaaaaaa!”

A small hand was holding his ankle.

“……Hiyahhh…”

Shinohara leaked out a strange voice as his eyes rolled back into his head, and after one last quiver, his heart stopped.

＊＊＊

“The ghost story of the school……”

Excuse me, it seems I overdid it for a moment……

Hey, it’s that thing. It’s one of those test-of-courage things that people get strangely enthusiastic over… or something like that?

But it’s different from a test of courage from that if you get found, you die instantly.

Well, since their soul was being collected, isn’t it nice……?

Yes…… I am a [Demon].

I don’t think I did anything wrong when I laughed out explosively when I realized it.

My memory was still kind of jumbled, but I finally understood that I was not a [Human].

That was what that [Black Cat] wanted to tell me.

It told me what I really was……

Surely that [Black Cat] that knew of the [Truth] behind my clouded memory, and is the key to me recovering my memories.

Surely, I am “someone” that that black cat knows.

When I recalled the black cat, something clawed up from the depths of my heart, but it didn’t come out completely.

“……I will see you again.”

That’s what I thought. And there were things to do now.

A Demon feeds on the “souls” of humans.

I got excited by the malicious intent of others, because I subconsciously wanted that delicious soul.

I don’t want pure and innocent souls. I wanted a rich soul that had been steeped in malice and hatred.

I recovered the souls of the hoodlums and the black-clothed men, but their taste was monotonous and hollow like eating candy floss.

The soul of that uncle, Kidou, had a reasonably good taste. Still, although it had been aged, it wasn’t delicious enough, and it just stimulated the appetite after eating a soul for the first time in so long.

… I… seem to really have quit being a [Human Being].

“……Just two people left.”

Well, shall we proceed with the main dish of the day?

Author’s Notes:

The Demon appears.

Yuzu is a playfully mischievous girl.

Next time, what will she do with those two? Only a few chapters left in this volume.

The update will be scheduled tomorrow.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep