“It was fairly an fascinating present, wasn’t it? It wasn’t a sport, although. Did you prefer it? Did you’ve gotten enjoyable?”

The cat gave a childlike smile. I shuddered on the look on her face. She was critical. She genuinely believed that I’d be completely satisfied in regards to the present.

“Fuck you,” I snarled. “It’s all of your fault for giving the flower to Shizuki!”

“Oh, proper. However they had been murderers anyway. All I did was cross the seed. It was their sins that ruined them. A flower spitting up physique components isn’t any huge deal. They may’ve simply ignored it and lived their lives.”

The cat raised her arms. The material masking her chest fell. She stretched her physique like an animal, exposing her skinny physique.

“None of those women would have died if nobody made a want.”

They simply reaped what they sowed.

I’d heard the identical phrases earlier than. Recollections from the spirit world returned. A boy sporting a fox masks stared at me, learning me with darkish eyes. I noticed the identical eyes in her.

The cat’s eyes had been clear. There was no trace of doubt in her phrases.

I clenched my fists. Phrases swirled in my thoughts. I needed to only scream. A burning sensation crammed my chest, similar to after I confronted the fox.

Mayuzumi didn’t say something. She simply stared on the cat’s stomach.

“You toyed round with these women. That’s an indisputable fact. Cease making excuses. And what was that physique on the primary flooring?!”

“Huh? Oh, that! I utterly forgot.” She sounded genuinely shocked. “Name it an objet d’artwork.”

I didn’t get it. An objet d’artwork?

“That was my mom. She died some time in the past. I carried her to this constructing and put her in a room, however I forgot all about her. Sorry for startling you. The doll in her bully should’ve been stunning.”

For the primary time, Mayuzumi spoke. “The identical mom you had been speaking about earlier?” she mentioned, conserving her gaze on the cat’s swollen stomach. “I see. So the doll in her stomach was an providing of some kinds.”

“Sure. That was her want. Typically guilt shackles folks for the remainder of their lives. Even when they’ve been trying away for the longest time. Even if you happen to proceed to disregard it, guilt will nonetheless bind and torment you.”

I bit my lip. Her phrases stabbed me within the chest. The cat tossed the fabric in her hand, acquired up, and began strolling casually. Her pale, bare physique glistened within the moonlight. As I turned my gaze to her brilliant pores and skin, my breath seized.

Her stomach was abnormally massive and swollen.

“It’s gotten a bit tough, Odagiri-kun,” Mayuzumi mentioned. “I actually don’t care about these women. However her stomach is an issue.” Her gaze was mounted on Yuri’s abdomen.

It appeared like there was one thing overseas in there. Yuri saved her mild smile. A smile as immaculate because the Virgin Mary’s.

“After listening to what she has to say, I lastly get it. Her skill is summoning a god utilizing her stomach—nothing however a bizarre expertise of some kinds. Her household isn’t as aware of the spirit world because the Mayuzumi clan. However apparently they will join with the spirit world by their womb. They randomly draw monsters lurking within the spirit world and fuse them with the kid within the womb on the embryonic stage.”

No matter was pulled from the spirit world would lose nearly all of its energy as soon as it mingled with human flesh.

It was probably the most heretical and nonsensical of supernatural talents. Usually, they wouldn’t do any of this.

“It’s sort of like necromancy. They don’t even know what they’re summoning. However so long as it’s nonhuman, they don’t care. She comes from that sort of household.”

“Certainly,” Yuri mentioned. “And the issue that the ladies of the Jingu household face is how you can give start to a monster. A standard little one is shunned. If a girl provides start to a human being, she will’t complain if she’s killed.”

The cat’s eyes narrowed slowly, intimidating me. I had seen these eyes someplace earlier than. The cat’s eyes had been crammed with a darkish mild.

Again within the spirit world, the fox had very related eyes as hers.

“So my mom killed the kid she had on account of messing round. She and my father, fearing the wrath of the higher-ups, buried my brother. They may simply say it was stillbirth. It was stunning. Just a little an excessive amount of for the youthful me. Oh, I don’t want your pity. It’s all prior to now. It’s nothing so that you can really feel unhappy about, cutie.”

The cat smiled. I swallowed. I remembered the corpse I had seen earlier. A child doll was stuffed into its pear-shaped, swollen stomach, spherical fingertips peeking by the threads as in the event that they had been longing to get out.

“Mom apparently regretted what they did,” she continued gleefully. “She felt fatigue that she couldn’t eliminate. I referred to as her the opposite day and he or she appeared like she needed to die. So I killed her. Then as she was dying, she mentioned her stomach was lonely, so I stuffed it just a little bit. Her love for her little one was so sturdy that it began shifting. I needed to sew her stomach shut.” She shared the ugly story with a smile.

She appeared to get pleasure from speaking about herself. Her toes skipped within the moonlight, and he or she danced on the dusty flooring. Her swollen stomach shook.

Mayuzumi narrowed her eyes disapprovingly. “Like I’ve been saying for some time now, that child isn’t human. It’s a real monster. No intentions in aborting it?”

“None. I’m going to start him,” she disagreed. “That’s all I need proper now.”

Extra incomprehensible phrases.

The cat was pregnant with the fox’s little one. Now she mentioned she would start him.

I’d been dodging it for some time now. I deserted the concept of even significantly contemplating it.

Who was him?

“The fox, clearly. Who else would I be referring to?”

Yuri patted her swollen stomach. It had grown in dimension once more. There was a sudden change. No matter was inside was not an bizarre child.

What did she imply to offer start to the fox?

“I did some checks to see if I might hook up with the spirit world by radios, computer systems, and different digital units. I needed to examine if I might truly see it with my very own eyes. My makes an attempt had been fruitless, till in the future, by likelihood, a connection got here from the opposite facet. And I related with him by my womb. By being carefully certain with him, I used to be in a position to borrow his energy and recollections.”

“I listened to the ladies’ needs and took his energy. First, I put the seed of the flower into the womb by the vagina to rework it. I then launched myself to Shizuki-kun because the fox and gave her these seeds. I additionally despatched a letter to you guys along with his identify to summon you. To point out my gratitude, I needed the fox to take the credit score first.”

I turned my gaze to her swollen stomach. It was slowly shifting up and down. I imagined what was inside. The fox curled up, moist with blood, eyes closed.

The infant in my stomach cried in response.

“Why would you do such a silly factor?” I requested.

“I have to give start to a monster in the future. That’s the rule. However I don’t need to have intercourse with a person. If I give start to a mere human being, I’m completed. So I made a decision to offer start to him, a monster. I wanted to deliver him again to this world.”

Yuri smiled gently. The cat imitated the fox and claimed to be a messenger.

She related with the fox by her womb, and he acted as an middleman to grant folks’s needs.

Inside Yuri’s stomach I noticed the fox—the identical fox that brought about one other tragedy although the cat. I didn’t know the way a lot he was truly concerned on this case.

However he was there.

My fists trembled. I assumed again to the individual I left behind within the spirit world. By no means had I regretted leaving him a lot. Within the depths of my thoughts, the fox laughed.

“The fox is a monster,” Yuri went on. “By giving start to him, I’ll have fulfilled my responsibility.”

I studied her. She was contradicting herself. Sure by household customized, she needed to offer start to a monster. Nevertheless, she shouldn’t be in a position to return house after killing her personal mom.

Her want and goal had been in battle with one another. Her want was only a twisted alteration of her imprinted concern of giving start to a human being. I appeared on the bulge in her stomach. I extremely doubted her physique might give start to an individual that was nonetheless rising greater.

Mayuzumi’s lips slowly parted. “I perceive your want now.” Her voice was cool. “However even if you happen to efficiently give start, you’ll die. Your loved ones’s supernatural skill is weak. I don’t assume your womb can deal with it.”

“I suppose. I knew all alongside. We’re not such as you. Asking you to grasp was unreasonable. You’re a excellent monster.”

Yuri laughed. Her tone was each admiring and mocking.

“I’ll die earlier than I give start to this little one. However this stomach will survive due to him. And I’m okay with that. So long as I can deliver him to this world.”

She all of the sudden stopped speaking.

Her pale toes tapped the ground, and her slender thighs bent. She flew again. Her big stomach shook. Her pale physique floated like a whale within the darkness of the evening.

Carrying a heavy stomach, she bounded backwards, exhausting.

Crash.

Glass shattered. I reached for her, but it surely was too late. The whole lot was too late. She whispered one thing. After what appeared like an eternity of stillness, she disappeared into the darkness.

“Birthing him into this world made me the happiest individual of all.”

The cat vanished.

After which there was solely a darkish evening.