Chapter 3. Confrontation with Mother-in-Law

CHAPTER 3

Confrontation with Mother-in-Law

The next morning.

After Miyo had finished breakfast, Nae informed her that Fuyu was calling for her.

“Mother-in-law is?”

“Yes. She asked you to come to her room immediately.”

Nae smiled yet spoke with a dispassionate tone.

What should Miyo do? The first thing that came to her mind was confusion.

Kiyoka had left first thing after breakfast to investigate the deserted house they’d heard about yesterday. He’d also mentioned going into the village to ask around some more, so he was sure to be back late.

I said that I wanted to get along better with Fuyu, but…

It may have been rude to think this way, but given how the woman had acted yesterday, Miyo had no idea what Fuyu might say or do to her if she went to meet her alone.

It was unreasonable to rely on Tadakiyo’s support, and it would be risky for her to carelessly approach Fuyu right now without Kiyoka around.

And yet.

Nothing will change at all if I’m too frightened to approach her.

First and foremost, Miyo needed to act. This was ultimately a problem between her and Fuyu. She couldn’t keep relying on Kiyoka to intervene. She needed to do as much as she could herself.

I need to show courage.

Miyo tightly clenched her fist.

She was sure it would work out somehow. Convincing herself of this, she answered, “I’ll visit her now.”

Nae quickly took her to Fuyu’s room on the second floor. The housemaid knocked on the door and received permission to enter an instant later.

Fuyu’s room was blindingly extravagant.

The furniture was all imported, framed in gold, and beautiful. Its detailed flower patterns and dainty designs caught the eye. The thick carpet was soft and plush, and elegant lighting, crafted with precision design, brightly illuminated the room.

The ceiling and walls were painted a feminine pastel pink. In the room’s added light, Miyo could make out refined vine patterns on the walls. It was like a chamber straight out of a Western royal’s palace.

Miyo found it overly bright and stifling. Her mother-in-law, who was gracefully reclining on an intricately designed chair, looked so grandiose that she might as well have been royalty from a foreign land.

Fuyu glared at Miyo then gave an order to Nae.

“Nae, bring me what I asked you to prepare.”

“Right away.”

Once the housemaid had left, Fuyu shut the fan in her hands with a loud snap.

“…Unbelievable. That son of mine will be the death of me, I swear. What a travesty for him to present such a meager girl past her prime as his fianc
é
e.”

Miyo had nothing to say back to her.

She would be twenty by the arrival of the New Year. Even if “past her prime” was a slight exaggeration, it was true she was long past the usual marriage age.

In both lineage and age, Miyo lacked the attributes she could use to argue she was a suitable match for Kiyoka.

“Not only that, but a
Saimori
, too. There’s absolutely nothing to be gained from forming a relationship with a family like
that
.”

Fuyu glared at Miyo as she continued.

“And on top of everything else, you are without a Gift, is that right?”

Miyo’s shoulders quivered in surprise.

Actually, I do have a Gift…but…

She wasn’t sure if it would behoove her to reveal that or not.

Miyo deliberated over whether to tell her mother-in-law of her Gift. Fuyu, meanwhile, seemed a little pleased that her insults had hit the mark.

A twisted smile appeared on her beautiful face.

“You’re ugly and Giftless, hail from an unimpressive lineage, and aren’t even smart enough to say anything back to me. What makes you think you’re worthy of being a part of the Kudou family?”

“Um, well…I don’t.”

That was the only response Miyo could come up with to a question like that.

“My, my. You know that, yet you still shamelessly contemplate marrying Kiyoka? I don’t know if my son realizes it himself or not, but his feelings for you are plain sympathy. He pities you for being basically sold off by your parents and is simply looking out for you, that’s all.”

Miyo couldn’t help being convinced that Fuyu wasn’t entirely off base.

Though things were different now, she was certain that Kiyoka may have very well thought that way when she first started living with him.

While their conversation was going on, Nae returned.

“I’ve brought it, Mistress.”

“Give it to that girl, then.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Nae handed Miyo a plain navy kimono. The unadorned yet high-quality garment looked exactly like the ones that Nae and the other housemaids wore.

“This kimono…”

“Change into it immediately.”

Before Miyo could ask her why, Fuyu responded with a sneer.

“Why, wouldn’t you say it’s plenty for someone like you?”

“But…”

Miyo was currently wearing the kimono Kiyoka had bought for her
from Suzushima’s. It was an extremely high-quality garment, of course, but more important, it was a gift from Kiyoka. That was why she treasured it.

Its price wasn’t the issue.

…But Fuyu still doesn’t know anything about me. She won’t be convinced by anything I have to say right now.

Miyo would have to get Fuyu to understand her first. To accomplish that, it would be faster and more reliable to convey that with her attitude instead of her words.

“I understand. I’ll change.”

She’d try doing exactly as Fuyu told her for the time being. That way she could understand Miyo and see just how serious she was about becoming Kiyoka’s wife. Everything would start from there.

I want Fuyu to accept me.

If they spent time together, it was also possible she might discover something they could bond over.

Miyo excused herself, briefly returned to her room, and changed into the kimono. When she put it on, she was amazed.

This was the uniform of the Kudou family housemaids. The navy blue fabric seemed like it commanded quite a high price, and its smooth texture was pleasant to the touch.

It was so comfortable that she could scarcely believe it was for servants.

The Saimori servants had worn uniforms as well, but they were nowhere near as expensive as this. So ragged was the outfit Miyo had personally worn back then that it scarcely seemed clothing at all next to the kimono she’d just slipped into.

Amazing. The Kudous make sure to spend money on their servants, too…

Miyo was honestly impressed that even details like these varied so greatly between high-ranking noble families.

Fuyu seemed very pleased when she examined Miyo in her new outfit.

“My, my, that kimono’s a perfect fit for you, if I do say so myself.”

“Thank you.”

Miyo politely bowed her head.

The scene vaguely reminded her of life at her parents’ house. Back then, she’d heard that kind of biting sarcasm on a daily basis.

She worried that if she recalled everything, the pain would bring her close to tears, yet…

I wonder why…I don’t really feel sad at all.

She felt a bit nostalgic, but nothing beyond that. Meeting Kiyoka had slowly warmed her heart. Even now, being ridiculed as she was, her heart stayed warm.

“Well, you really are a natural, aren’t you? I guess I’ll just have you do some cleaning, then.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Have this girl work with the rest of you, Nae.”

The housemaid frowned slightly, unsure about Fuyu’s order.

“Mistress, are you sure this is a good idea…?”

“What? Are you refusing to follow my orders, Nae?”

“No, perish the thought. However, what will the master scion say?”

If this situation reached Kiyoka’s ears, he’d be absolutely furious, for starters. But Miyo didn’t want to keep relying on his help.

She had to do this to better comprehend Fuyu. He’d understand that if she talked to him. She was sure of it.

Resolved, Miyo raised her head.

“I’d be happy to do the cleaning.”

“Look, the girl said so herself. No need to hold back, Nae. Be sure to work her to the bone.”

Fuyu snapped open her fan and covered her mouth once again.

It was a graceful motion that left no room for debate. Miyo couldn’t have imitated it if she’d tried. It was as though Fuyu had drawn a boundary between them, emphasizing they would never be able to understand each other.

Miyo cheered herself up as she felt her heart start to sink, then she faced forward.

“I’ll be in your care. I promise to do my best.”

“Nae.”

“…Understood. Then may I ask you to wipe down the windows first?”

Miyo nodded at Nae’s hesitant request.

“Window cleaning? Right away.”

For the time being, Miyo was relieved she wasn’t being asked something impossible.

She had been nervous about being asked to handle something beyond her capabilities, but upon further consideration, she realized that servant work didn’t encompass anything unreasonable to begin with. She just needed to handle things like she did back in the Saimori house.

Miyo drew water into a bucket and soaked a towel.

Upon being ordered to start with Fuyu’s room first, Miyo only asked Nae where the cleaning supplies were before getting down to work.

She climbed a stepladder then began wiping the large glass window with the well-wrung towel. This would leave streak marks behind, so she used a dry cloth to absorb the moisture and polish the glass once she had wiped it down enough.

Fuyu closely observed Miyo’s movements, scowling with displeasure the entire time. Occasionally, she would chime in to say something like:

“You missed a cloudy spot over there. Honestly, are even the simplest chores too much for you?”

Among other caustic remarks. Miyo would bow her head in response and apologize before summoning up even more effort to repolish the areas Fuyu indicated… This back-and-forth continued for the duration of the task.

The villa windows were larger and grander than those in the Saimori house and her current home, so it was somewhat difficult for Miyo to reach everything. Nevertheless, she polished the glass into a sparkling shine, from frame to crosspiece.

“Um, Nae. How is this?”

She called the woman over to have her look at the cleaned window.

The experienced housemaid widened her eyes and said, “Oh my.” After inspecting every minute detail of the window, she nodded.

“A perfect job. Exceptional. What do you say, Mistress?”

“Hmph. Get her working on her next task. No need to give her any time to rest.”

Miyo seemed to have passed the test. Unexpectedly hearing no abuse, Miyo heaved a sigh of relief.

From then until lunchtime, she handled one assignment after the other, without a moment’s pause.

Wiping down the corridor windows and beating the dust out from the carpet. Cleaning up the washrooms, bathrooms, and other wet areas of the villa.

Fuyu would hurl insulting comments when she found occasion to come over and check on her. However, Miyo would apologize to her, diligently keeping her hands moving all the while.

As she worked, the villa’s housemaids—Nae; her son’s wife, Mitsu; and the widow Natsuyo—would take turns assisting her.

It really was different from the house she grew up in.

Though Fuyu insults me, she doesn’t get physical.

Abuse aimed at disavowing Miyo’s very existence, and slaps that came her way at a moment’s notice.

Those had been daily occurrences when she lived together with her stepmother and half sister. The servants in the Saimori house would be very cautious when interacting with her and often treated her as if she were invisible.

Miyo couldn’t condemn them for doing so. Their livelihoods were on the line, and they had seen for themselves that disappointing the mistress of the house would lead to an instant dismissal.

Compared to the Saimori household, where the atmosphere was always on edge, and there wasn’t a hint of congeniality among the servants, the Kudou villa was totally different.

While it may have purely been because she didn’t want to touch Miyo herself, Fuyu didn’t get violent with her. The housemaids talked openly and cheerfully with her. On top of that, Nae and the others would sometimes voice their opinions openly to Fuyu. That would have been inconceivable in the Saimori residence.

“To be honest with you, Young Mistress…I underestimated your
cleaning skills,” Natsuyo told Miyo as they were both polishing the bathroom tiles together. “Please forgive me. I thought the esteemed daughter of a well-to-do family would be far too pampered to do an adequate job.”

“Th-there’s no need to ask for forgiveness.”

Natsuyo hadn’t said anything outrageous in the slightest. Miyo’s family may have been in decline, but it was only natural to think the daughter of a noble family would be unable to handle household chores.

In fact, Hazuki often told Miyo that even after learning more or less everything there was to learn at girls’ school, she still couldn’t handle the chores as flawlessly as the servants did.

“Not at all… Please pardon me for speaking directly to you with such impudence. I was careless. I sincerely apologize.”

Perhaps Natsuyo had spoken out of line. But in another sense, it proved she was being sincere. She didn’t need to humble herself and repeatedly apologize for it.

If anything, her expression of remorse made Miyo feel guilty, so she silently returned to cleaning.

Although the bathroom hadn’t been particularly dirty to begin with, it was sparkling clean now that they had finished polishing it.

“My, the morning flew by.”

Now that she mentioned it, it was almost noontime. Miyo instantly thought that she then needed to help out with lunch preparations before remembering this house had its own chef.

“What will you do now, Young Mistress? Perhaps it would be best to ask the mistress—”

Right before the word “first” exited Natsuyo’s mouth, Nae poked her head into the bathroom.

“Young Mistress, the mistress is calling for you.”

“I-I’ll come right away.”

Miyo tensed up, mentally readying herself for anything Fuyu might say to her, before she headed off toward her mother-in-law’s chamber.

I don’t believe it. Just what is it with that girl?

Though she’d ordered Nae to go summon Miyo to her, Fuyu couldn’t mask her frustration.

Kiyoka was a son Fuyu could be proud of. Handsome, accomplished in his studies, a strong head of the family, and a capable Gift-user, he had grown into a distinguished man she could put forward in any situation. It was fair to say he was Fuyu’s pride and joy.

That was why she’d always assumed that his wife would be an equally superb noblewoman. And yet…

He went and brought a girl like
her
instead!

From the time Kiyoka was a student, Fuyu had handpicked marriage candidates and sent them off to meet him on numerous occasions.

Every single one of them had been beautiful, flawless in both lineage and education. Though Kiyoka was difficult to please, she had assumed it would be easy for one of them to strike his fancy.

And yet. And yet.

Without exception, every candidate Fuyu selected had refused to marry Kiyoka. Sometimes, they would wind up furious or heartbroken that he had given them the cold shoulder. Other times, they would do something to provoke his ire, and he would break off the arrangement himself. The pattern repeated over and over again.

What was there about any of the girls she had selected for him to be so dissatisfied with?

With nothing going her way, Fuyu was sometimes unable to contain her irritation. Nevertheless, she couldn’t be too upset that the son she was so proud of had high expectations for his future wife.

Thus, she’d redoubled her efforts into finding an even more outstanding gentlewoman. But as the years went on, Kiyoka grew only more and more stubborn.

Tadakiyo is as much to blame, too.

He was clearly out of his mind to have approached a girl like Miyo, a noblewoman in name only, about marrying Kiyoka.

When she’d first heard her name, Fuyu couldn’t help cocking her head in confusion. The Saimoris were far beneath her attention.

Looking into them only proved they were hardly worth a second thought.

It was unpleasant to focus all her attention on such a worthless family of Gift-users, so she only had a rough overview of their circumstances. That alone was plenty.

They were bereft of money, power, and influence. The head of the family was utterly brainless, and Fuyu didn’t need to investigate further to imagine the daughter of such a man was worthless as well. But escaping from her penniless home to the Kudou family and playing on Kiyoka’s sympathies—this woman was pushing her luck.

Fuyu couldn’t see Miyo as anything but a shameless hussy, taking advantage of the son she was so proud of, milking him for everything he had by garnering his pity.

How dare she.

She wasn’t going to stand by and watch her precious boy be preyed on right before her eyes.

She needed to do whatever she could to make Miyo understand her position. With that in mind, she had forced her to work as a servant to hurt her pride.

And what happened? The accursed woman put on the servant uniform without any complaints and started cleaning as if it were absolutely nothing.

She couldn’t be used to this, could she? No, Kiyoka’s house has Yurie, so she obviously wouldn’t be getting involved in any of the housework.

The Saimori family had enough money to employ servants of their own, so it would be no surprise if she’d never held a knife or wiped down a floor—a heartrending story of the poor putting on airs with what little luxury they could muster.

Fuyu grew even more discontent with Miyo’s attitude, totally unaware of her drastic misconception.

“Excuse me.”

She glared at Miyo as she quietly slipped into the room.

Her drab black hair was pulled back into a bun, and her physique was thin and shabby. She wore an absolutely dreary expression, as if she
was trying hard to look as frail and delicate as possible. Fuyu was certain that behind Miyo’s oh-so-unfortunate, oh-so pitiable facade, the girl was laughing her head off.

“Is the cleaning finished?”

“Yes.”

“Why, you looked right at home cleaning the floor on your hands and knees, didn’t you? Shameful and unsightly.”

“…”

“Go on, say something for yourself. Spin the gears in that meager brain of yours.”

Fuyu expected running roughshod over the girl’s self-esteem would finally make Miyo show her true colors. But instead, she simply kept her head down and her lips shut tight.

“Um.”

Miyo finally opened her mouth to speak. Her eyes wandered about, as if lost, for a brief moment. Fuyu wondered what exactly she was going to say.

“Mother-in-law, I was actually, um, very impressed.”

“What?”

“I…I didn’t know. That families who reach the Kudous’ level of prestige give their servants such high-quality uniforms.”

What in the world was she talking about? Fuyu frowned.

“But of course. We would never allow any unkempt servants to be in our employ. Our dignity would fall into question if we didn’t have them look presentable.”

Servants they may have been, but they were more than just employees—they were a part of the household. The illustrious Kudou family couldn’t allow their possessions to be shabby and inferior.

Miyo’s inability to understand even the most fundamental of concepts exacerbated Fuyu’s irritation.

“You have some nerve trying to worm your way into the family without knowing something so basic…”

“My apologies!”

At Miyo’s overly zealous apology, Fuyu clamped her mouth shut.

What on earth was that faint sparkle she would get in her eye whenever Fuyu berated or insulted her? Fuyu was trying to show her contempt for the girl, yet her barbs were rolling off Miyo like water off the back of a duck.

“Say, do you truly understand what I’m telling you?”

“Y-yes?”

Miyo nodded. The overly innocent look in her eyes left Fuyu feeling as if she were doing something wrong.

I’m right.

Her son often got on her nerves and refused to do as she wanted, but she still had a motherly desire to protect him.

That was why she couldn’t stand to have the woman before her marry into the family, in spite of the fact that Kiyoka himself wanted it and Tadakiyo had suggested the arrangement. She knew it was all too common for men to be fooled by women like her.

Marriage needed to be done properly. That was the duty of everyone born into a distinguished noble family.

“I’m saying that you’re absolutely inadequate in every way! If you get that, then hurry up and disappear!”

Unconsciously growing heated, Fuyu leaned out of her chair and raised her voice.

“…That’s not—”

“Not something you can do? Oh, I’m sure it isn’t. After all, if you let Kiyoka keep protecting you, you’ll be able to live like a queen, won’t you? How truly base!”

“Th-that’s not it…”

“Oh, I’m wrong, am I? In that case, what sort of advantage is there to marrying a girl like you? Greater than the mountain of disadvantages you come with, mind you. Go on! Tell me!”

Miyo cast her eyes down as Fuyu replied in thorough disdain.

The girl must have finally realized her feigned courage wasn’t going to work on Fuyu. It served her right. As soon as Fuyu rejoiced in her
victory, however, Miyo once again raised her face up to her. Discomfort shot through the older woman’s veins.

“I…I don’t believe that I—that I have anything to offer in the areas you are talking about.”

She seemed to be choosing her words carefully. Yet her voice never wavered. Fuyu was getting fed up with Miyo’s vexing persistence, her perseverance.

Her irritation was finally starting to reach its limits.

“And?”

“I don’t…know what sort of value I have. But Kiyoka decided he needed me. That’s why…I won’t give up.”

“So? Why do you think that sort of na
ï
ve nonsense will be enough to convince me?”

Fuyu opened and closed her fan in frustration, making loud, metallic snaps.

Her initial suspicions had been confirmed; ultimately, this girl couldn’t exhibit any of the value Fuyu sought in a young noblewoman, and she possessed nothing of merit to bring to their family.

Meaningless time spent on a meaningless discussion.

She wouldn’t abide being frustrated by this piddling, shameless creature.

“As long as Kiyoka allows me to stay at his side.”

The moment Fuyu heard Miyo’s reply, the words her son had spoken the day before played back in her mind.

“I told you to say that one more time, Fuyu Kudou.”

“Mother? Don’t make me laugh. I’ve never once recognized you as my mother.”

“The next time you say anything to Miyo, I’ll kill you.”

Blood suddenly rushed to her head.

They were looking down on her, disrespecting her. Both Kiyoka and Miyo… They were writing Fuyu off as nothing more than the wife of the last family head, a woman who no longer held authority. That explained their insolent opposition.

Her mind went blank with white-hot rage.

“Don’t you dare try to make a fool out of me!”

Miyo flashed back to a situation like this.

She steeled herself for a slap to accompany Fuyu’s piercing shriek. However, the raised palm of her mother-in-law never came down on her cheek.

“That’s enough.”

“Father-in-law…”

Tadakiyo was the one to stop Fuyu from lapsing into violence.

It seemed he had rushed over, for he was coughing fiercely and struggling for breath.

“Sorry about this, Miyo… Fuyu, I can’t condone this.”

Her father-in-law quietly reprimanded his wife as she glared at Miyo, her whole face crimson. At that moment, Fuyu’s eyes were filled with nothing but rage for the girl.

“Taking me for a fool, over, and over, and over again! What gives
you
the right to look down on
me
?!”

“Fuyu.”

“Leave my home at once! You—you insolent piece of trash!”

“Fuyu!”

Tadakiyo yelled out in a booming voice that belied his typical demeanor. Even in her rage, there was no question it reached Fuyu’s ears.

Miyo timidly glanced over to see an uncharacteristically harsh expression on Tadakiyo’s face, his gaze ice cold.

“Stop right there.”

“Tada…kiyo…”

“Know your place. You have absolutely no authority over Miyo here. Cross the line, and I won’t be able to protect you anymore.”

His speech itself was the same as always, but confronted with his icy, assertive tone, Fuyu froze, fear coming over her face.

Silence enveloped the room for a moment, as if time itself had stopped. Then Tadakiyo broke the long, stifling quiet.

“
Phew.
I’m so sorry, Miyo. It looks like we’ve put you through a lot of trouble.”

Despite not being personally scolded by Tadakiyo herself, Miyo found it hard to respond amid the tension.

“…It was all because of my own shortcomings. My apologies.”

“No, you did a great job, Miyo. I should’ve been more careful myself,” Tadakiyo said. “I’m going to get an earful from Kiyoka again about this,” he added with a grin on his face, but his eyes alone remained unsmiling.

A chill rushed down Miyo’s spine. While it was a belated realization, Miyo now understood that, retired though he was, Tadakiyo had indeed once been the head of the Kudou family.

“I…I didn’t do anything wrong,” Fuyu mumbled feebly. Despite this, her hand had turned white from her viselike grip on her fan.

“Fuyu. I like that you’re honest about your feelings. But our capacity to avoid giving in to them is what makes us human.”

“Hngh!”

Fuyu gasped. Miyo, too, trembled with fear.

This must be…Tadakiyo’s face as the previous head of the family.

He seemed to love his wife. Both when they spoke at the main estate in the capital and when they arrived here at the villa.

And yet, was it normally possible to look the person you love straight in the eye and indirectly imply they were inhuman? If not, perhaps Tadakiyo’s love for Fuyu had totally disappeared at that exact moment.

It’s a bit terrifying.

He was easily capable of using his words to push the woman he loved down into the bowels of the earth. There was a chance Kiyoka had a side like this as well. A face that Miyo simply didn’t know about.

But even if that was the case, he wouldn’t hurt her easily, and she had no desire to leave his side.

Just then, Miyo started longing for Kiyoka’s warmth again, so she clenched her cold fingertips to heat them up.

Kiyoka had finished his breakfast and headed down to the village that morning. He was in agony.

Naturally, the events of the night before were to blame… Honestly, he hadn’t thought for a moment that Miyo would overreact as much as she did.

When he thought back to her scampering off like a frightened rabbit, he couldn’t help sighing.

Really, though, I’m the one who’s thinking strangely about things here.

He had said something stupid.

At the time, he hadn’t thought too deeply about it. But because his blurting things out had made the situation so much worse, even he felt baffled by his intensity in so casually talking about things the way he had.

The crunching sounds of his feet trampling over the earth had grown rough and intense.

Given Miyo’s lack of refinement and her ignorance of the world, for better or worse, he had reason to imagine that things would’ve ended up that way.

Not that it serves as an excuse.

Tricking a woman, ignorant of the circumstances, and trying to lay a hand on her… Since when had Kiyoka become such a vulgar man?

Nevertheless, when he asked himself why he had tried to sleep in the same bed as her, he couldn’t come up with an answer.

Tormented by his regrets, he continued walking on. Before he knew it, he had arrived at the village.

It was time to address the task at hand.

Letting out a slight huff, Kiyoka shifted his thoughts to his work.

He had already verified the eyewitness testimonies from the village in the written report. The first sighting had occurred around a month earlier, and reports of suspicious figures at the edge of town popped up one right after the other until they became the talk of the village.

That alone wouldn’t warrant calling in the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit, but several days later…

A fiend showed up.

More precisely, some sort of humanoid with horns.

A single encounter could have been chalked up to someone’s eyes playing tricks on them, but after that initial contact, the reported sightings of suspicious figures and fiends only increased in number.

There were no folktales or traditions concerning this type of creature in the region.

In other words, it was difficult to believe that a Grotesquerie taking the form of a fiend was a natural occurrence here. New Grotesqueries were seldom born in an area without some sort of basis or foundation in oral tradition.

If the eyewitness reports weren’t the result of people just seeing things, that meant there was some sort of unique cause behind it all.

First place to start is that deserted house on the outskirts of the village, then.

Fiend or no fiend, Kiyoka knew for certain that a suspicious group was holed up in the shack outside the village, based on the information from the reports and testimony from the store yesterday.

Even if Grotesqueries weren’t involved, he could use his authority as a military officer to take the group into custody if need be.

Although he had verified the rough location of the shack the previous day, Kiyoka wasn’t exactly sure how to get there. He needed someone from the village to guide him.

“Now, I never woulda thought ya to be a military man.”

He visited the shop from the day before. He was going to have the old shopkeeper woman introduce him to someone familiar with the rumors in question.

Keeping under wraps the fact that the investigation was his original reason for coming, he’d simply revealed his military status, and to get her to cooperate, he told the woman he could provide some help.

“Sorry for the surprise.”

“Nah, I don’t mind. Yer looking into those strange rumors, after all.”

The woman laughed dryly and guided Kiyoka to meet a certain man.

“One of the village youths, he is. I haven’t really heard too many details, but I believe he’s the first one to see the monster.”

“I heard it was a fiend-like figure.”

“Yeah, surprised ya know that. But now that ya mention it, people have been talking about it.”

Conversing while they continued down the road, they started to head through the village proper, lined with small wood-built houses. They passed several villagers along the way, each and every one of them regarding Kiyoka with suspicion.

Makes sense, I guess.

These sorts of communities were often very insular. They’d commonly be exclusionary and view outsiders harshly. Though Kiyoka had frequent opportunities to go into the field because of his work with the Anti-Grotesquerie Unit, he had struggled with this situation many times before.

Of course, it was thanks to experience that he’d developed a knack for dealing with this frigid reception.

To make matters worse, the particulars of the rumors going around had set the villagers here even more on edge. If the shop attendant woman hadn’t tagged along, they’d likely be still too wary for Kiyoka to get his job done.

“All that being said…”

While he mulled this over, the woman at his side changed the subject with a grin.

“What about that cute little lady from yesterday? Yer not with her today?”

“No. I can’t drag her into anything weird.”

This was a genuine part of his job, and he couldn’t expose Miyo to danger.

Kiyoka answered honestly, and didn’t mean anything by it, but for some reason the woman laughed loudly back at him.

“
Ah-hah-hah.
Really are a good man, aren’t ya? I’m a bit jealous of that girlie.”

“…Is that so?”

“Oh, come now. If I was a bit younger myself, I’d be all over ya.”

“I’m not…I’m not that great.”

Kiyoka thought Miyo was a well-rounded woman.

Yet he’d accidentally hurt her time and time again since she’d arrived at his doorstep. He wanted to be kind to her, yet things never went as he’d planned. In his mind, he was unbelievably pathetic.

Still, he couldn’t let Miyo go, nor did he want to. Kiyoka quietly averted his eyes as his thoughts swirled with complicated emotions.

“Well, here we are.”

The woman banged on the entrance to the house since it lacked a doorbell.

Someone called out from inside to ask who was knocking. When the shopkeeper responded, the resident at last appeared in the doorway.

“Morning… My word, I take my eye off ya a moment and ya turn into a mess.”

As the woman implied, the man poking his head out of his house looked quite emaciated.

His cheeks were hollow, and there were distinctive dark rings under his eyes. A stubbly beard grew on his face, his hair was equally disheveled, and he had a vacant look in his eyes. He was clearly not his usual self.

The man didn’t show the slightest interest in Kiyoka.

“Go away,” he whispered.

“I came here ’cause I have business with ya.”

“I don’t care, just go away! The fiend, I can’t get it out of my head.”

“There’s nothing to shout about.”

“Shut up. That sound, that sound just sticks in my ears… If I leave my door open like this, it might come find me…!”

As soon as he’d spoken, the man began trembling in fear, as if replaying the scene over in his mind.

Kiyoka had a hard time catching it, but he seemed to be muttering, “It’ll eat me, the fiend’s going to eat me,” over and over again. The man had seen a monster or was convinced he’d seen one.

“Pardon me,” Kiyoka interjected, taking a step forward past the woman to approach the man.

“You don’t need to be scared anymore. Calm down.”

He gently placed his hand on the man’s shoulders. This finally got the man’s attention.

“Wh-who are you?”

“Commander Kudou. I’m with the military. I came to look into the rumors going around town.”

“Military…a soldier…”

“That’s right.”

The instant Kiyoka nodded, the man clung hard to him in a baffling surge of strength,

“You gotta save me, Mr. Soldier…!”

There weren’t any major discrepancies between the man’s story and what Kiyoka had read in the report.

Suspicious figures, hiding out at an old shack on the village outskirts. A fiend sighting.

According to the man, the fiend was a large humanoid with two horns growing from its head. When you locked eyes with it, it would intimidate you by grinding its teeth together to produce a grating sound. Like the other mysterious figures, however, it was covered in a full-body black cloak, so the man didn’t know anything else about it.

“I was so scared, I went limp. When I came to, I was at the entrance of the village.”

“Who moved you there while you were unconscious?”

The man shook his head from side to side at Kiyoka’s question.

“I have absolutely no idea. But you gotta believe me. That fiend was going to eat me! Right then, something definitely attacked me!”

The man hugged his body tight, quivering in terror. His eyes went out of focus, as if he had descended into another state of panic.

It’s going to be impossible to ask him to lead me to the shack like this.

Kiyoka abandoned the idea of having the man take him to the shack and explain what had happened.

After calming the man down, he decided to head to the deserted shack on his own. The shopkeeper gave him detailed instructions, and she saw him off at the edge of the village.

“Ya really fine going on alone from here?”

“Yeah. Sorry, I appreciate the help… It’s dangerous, so here’s far enough.”

Parting ways with the woman, Kiyoka left the village for the time being. He was heading in the exact opposite direction of the Kudou family villa.

The boundary between the village and the mountain was vague. As soon as you left town, you immediately came upon the mountain slope. To get to the shack, Kiyoka needed to climb up the incline a little ways before descending down in the opposite direction of the village.

He swiftly hiked up the slope without losing any breath.

Then, just as he’d been told, he started to hear the sounds of water coming from somewhere as he began to descend.

The shopkeeper said the shack was along a river.

That must have been the source of the noise.

He estimated the direction it was coming from then advanced straight toward it without hesitation.

A river quickly came into view through the gaps in the trees. Tracing his gaze upstream, Kiyoka spied a rotting shack; it looked ready to collapse at any minute.

That must be it.

It was old, but it was big enough to fit several fully grown adults without issue.

Carefully watching the surrounding areas as he moved, Kiyoka approached the shack. At the moment, there were no signs of life. It seemed no one was nearby.

Did they all leave? But where would they go?

Even if the group were just common outlaws, it didn’t seem like there was any benefit to hiding out in a place like this.

In fact, they had aroused the villagers’ suspicious, leading Kiyoka to be called out here. If these figures were people lying low after committing
a crime, they were actually drawing attention to themselves. Almost as if they wanted to be discovered.

If that was the case, was there some reason that they had to be
here
in particular?

At any rate, it’s strange. If that man is to be believed, it’s almost as if humans and Grotesqueries are working together.

There were several examples of humans and fiends, spirits, ghosts, and other Grotesqueries coexisting.

Depending on the situation, they’d form contracts to establish a cooperative relationship. Kiyoka and his unit were very familiar with humans putting Grotesqueries to work for them.

In this instance, however, that simply wasn’t enough to convince him. He couldn’t dispel his uneasy feeling.

One question after another popped up in his head. Putting them aside, Kiyoka silenced his footsteps and approached within arm’s reach of the shack.

At first glance, the place seemed deserted. He didn’t hear any sounds, and there were no signs anyone was there.

He quietly peeked inside through the gap in the collapsed wooden slabs of the shack.

It was difficult to get a grasp of the full layout, but the interior looked to be in quite a disordered mess. Someone really was lodging here after all. Blankets lay on the floor, and food remains were scattered all around.

Kiyoka stayed on high alert and stood in front of the doorway.

Despite his caution over the possibility that a Gift-user had put up a barrier, there wasn’t any evidence of trickery. Nor did he find any sort of physical traps, either.

When he tried stepping inside, there wasn’t anything else he could figure out beyond the fact that someone was living there. Not a single lead or clue at all. He couldn’t even tell for certain if the people living there were Gift-users or not.

If they did have supernatural powers, then he could understand the presence of the fiend.

When Kiyoka turned around to depart the shack, however, something caught his attention.

What’s that?

He picked it up off the floor. At first glance, it seemed like an unremarkable black cloak, but the inside featured some type of needlework. A pattern had been embroidered on it in dark gold thread.

This design… Where have I seen it before…?

An upside-down sake cup. Arranged in a circle around it were
sakaki
trees wreathed in flame.

One look at this blasphemous design was enough to send a deluge of indescribable discomfort and anxiety through him. The upside-down sake cup was horrible enough, but depicting the tree of the gods—the
sakaki
—in flames was outrageous.

An organization becoming a pressing problem behind the scenes. One the government was frantically pursuing for treason against the emperor—

I think they were called the “Nameless Order”…

Though still relatively unknown to the world at large, this emergent religious group was growing into a significant problem for the government and the military.

Nothing was known about them—not their scale, their organization’s true name, or their internal structure. The government had gotten up in arms about them recently after discovering this emblem somewhere.

The possibility that this is the order’s headquarters…is a little unrealistic.

Not only did it stand out too much, but it was also far too small to be the base of their operations.

Unable to remain there for very long, he ultimately decided to return the cloak to where he had found it before exiting the shack.

It was possible that embroidered emblem would become an invaluable clue, but it would be troublesome if the people he was after realized someone had snuck into the shack. There was a chance the villagers would be suspected, and harm would come their way.

That was something he had to avoid at all costs.

Feigning ignorance, Kiyoka returned to the village and stopped by the shop.

When he entered, he found not only the shopkeeper, but also the young man who’d seen the fiend.

“Ah, you again. How’d it go?”

“There wasn’t anyone at the deserted house. No humans, no fiends.”

“Really…?” the man timidly inquired.

He seemed to have regained his composure. Though his face still looked pale, he showed no hints of the deranged confusion from earlier.

“Really. But there were signs that someone was staying in that shack. Best keep your guard up.”

“You’re with the military, aren’t ya? Can ya nab those people and take ’em off our hands?”

“I can’t capture what isn’t there. I’m going to go at a different time and investigate further, so let me know if you see any movement.”

“A-absolutely.”

Kiyoka returned the man’s nod with one of his own. Looking at him, the woman smiled.

“Same goes for you now. Even a soldier can’t risk his life for nothing. Don’t want to make that cutie of yers worry.”

“I know.”

Hearing this, Kiyoka suddenly grew anxious about leaving Miyo behind at the mansion.

His father seemed firmly on Miyo’s side at the very least, but while he didn’t think anything extreme would happen, there was no question the true head of the house was his mother.

Though he had warned Fuyu of crossing a line, she might still try to do something to Miyo.

…Hard to believe I’d be unable to focus on work like this.

He rubbed his brows, fed up that he was being such a coward.

If one of his men had been with him, he imagined he wouldn’t have gotten so lax, but everything was up to Kiyoka’s discretion here. He needed to do whatever he could to regain his focus.

Kiyoka expressed his gratitude to the shop attendant woman for her cooperation then decided to head back to the villa.

He realized that quite some time had passed since he’d departed that morning. Noon had long since come and gone.

To make matters worse, threatening clouds had descended on what had been a clear blue sky. The sky was overcast, thin gray clouds hanging low. Though he’d heard that mountain weather could change without warning, the drastic drop in temperature still caught Kiyoka off guard.

Following along the road he had taken in the morning, he slipped in between the rice fields. Then, as he approached the straight road through the forest to the Kudou villa, it happened.

…This presence.

He sensed someone wandering around nearby.

One explanation was they were someone from the villa, but Tadakiyo had said he had seen suspicious people about recently. The run-down shack had been deserted earlier, so it wouldn’t be surprising if those outlaws were sneaking around here for some reason or another.

Kiyoka masked his own presence and carefully headed in the direction of the villa.

The suspicious signs of activity quickly grew more noticeable. Though the fact he was able to sense it so clearly signaled he was dealing with an amateur.

Nevertheless, he didn’t let down his guard as his eyes scanned the area. It was then he caught a shadow in the corner of his eye.

Kiyoka did his best to keep his footsteps silent as he chased after the silhouette, but the ground was covered in fallen leaves. It was impossible for him to perfectly mask his footsteps.

Crunch.
Kiyoka grazed a leaf, which let out a faint sound. He assumed that his mark had noticed him.

Not a problem.

If he was spotted, then there was no need to focus on being stealthy.

Making the split-second decision to bolt off, Kiyoka closed the distance between him and his target in the blink of an eye. Faced with Kiyoka’s swift approach, the figure had no choice but to reveal themselves in the open.

“That cloak. So I was right.”

Kiyoka couldn’t make out the face of the shadowy figure. The large black hood they wore completely obscured it.

As he’d expected, the cloaked figure wasn’t particularly fast. Kiyoka never failed to complete his daily training exercises, and was a highly athletic person to begin with, so it didn’t take long for him to catch up with them.

“Gah…!”

“That’s far enough. You can’t escape anymore.”

He grabbed the figure’s wrists then twisted them up to restrain them. The area he grabbed felt somewhat hard and bony, leading Kiyoka to surmise the figure was male.

The cloaked man grunted as Kiyoka twisted his arms even farther then forced him to his knees. Kiyoka removed the hood on his head the next instant.

“Damn you…!”

The man gritted his teeth. Kiyoka didn’t recognize him. His face was dull and forgettable, and though he looked young, there wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy about his appearance.

However, his eyes seemed to glimmer with a sharp light.

“What…?”

All at once, the atmosphere turned unsettling—the kind that made all the hair on one’s body stand on end.

Something was odd. Kiyoka instantly pinned him down harder, but the man’s body suddenly flushed with intense heat.

As Kiyoka jumped back in shock, the man sluggishly lumbered to his feet. His face had completely changed from a moment earlier; all traces of his earlier expression had vanished.

His face was blank and absent any vitality, almost like a doll’s.

What in the world?

The man remained expressionless as he raised his right hand sky-ward.

When he did, the dead leaves covering the ground all simultaneously blew up into the air.

“…a Gift?”

Kiyoka furrowed his brow at the supernatural sight, one that he was all too familiar with.

“PER…ISH,” the man muttered with broken speech, forcefully bringing down his raised hand. With it, the leaves floating in midair suddenly fixed their aim at Kiyoka before launching toward him with blinding speed.

Kiyoka snorted slightly. What did this man take him for? Did he seriously think this child’s play would be enough to kill him?

“Don’t waste your time.”

Right before the sharp points of the leaves reached him, they lost all their power and fell back to the ground.

Even then the man’s expression remained blank, and he repeated the same movements again and again. However, not a single one of the leaves he sent flying managed to leave the slightest scratch on Kiyoka.

Seeing that things were going nowhere, Kiyoka again closed the distance between himself and the man. This time, he grabbed the man’s arm, pulled him to the ground, and pinned him down.

“…Not sure if this will work or not.”

Retrieving a talisman from his chest pocket, he recited an incantation and stuck it on the man’s back. It was a charm for sealing away Gifts, but there was no telling whether it would have an effect in this situation—because Kiyoka thought it likely that he wasn’t a natural Gift-user.

With the talisman stuck to his back, the man convulsed for a moment before going totally limp.

“Looks like it worked. That must be a real Gift, then.”

The man’s aura had completely transformed when his expression changed. Almost as if he were someone else entirely. And the fact that he hadn’t tried resisting Kiyoka the first time he was subdued suggested he wasn’t originally a Gift-user.

Kiyoka had never seen such a phenomenon before.

If he were to describe it, the man’s demeanor when using his Gift closely resembled what someone looked like when they were possessed
by something inhuman. If that was the case, though, his Gift-sealing talisman shouldn’t have been effective.

“Just what exactly is going on here?”

Openly expressing his bafflement, Kiyoka frowned while he looked down at the unconscious man below him.