二重箱の底で
In the Fathoms of the Bottom Trunk
Kei: ......pphagh!
I thrust my face through the water's surface, and begin to breathe.
When I lift myself to the ground with a *gibun!*, my body isn't wet at all.
Kei: Uuu... Wherre am aaye---
Obviously, this has got to be a dream.
My feet are already standing on a solid surface, and the waterside I should have been underneath just before has up and disappeared somewhere.
This half-baked geography would only be found in a dream.
No doubt, if I said something like "let there be light," then a light would just pop out of nowhere.
Two lights, like handheld hoozuki lanterns, flare to life. Bobbing up and down, the scarlet brilliance approaches.
In the place of festival drums, there is the cool ring of a bell------
Nozomi: Why in the world would you be here?
Kei: Ah, I thought it was you.
Nozomi: You... for someone who was breaking down in sobs just a moment ago, you're looking quite exuberant.
Kei: Yeah, somehow I understand you now, Nozomi-chan.
Nozomi: Will you not keep your understanding where it belongs?
Kei: Mmm--- but really, you aren't that scary, you know.
Nozomi: ............
Now she thinks I've fallen flat out of my mind.
Although, to be honest, even I'm thinking my attitude right now might be a bit extreme, but------
After taking a grasp of many different circumstances, and realizing that most things can be worked out if you just talk, I'm no longer afraid as I was before.
They say a person's fear of the dark is actually a fear of the unknown, unable to see what happens there beyond the veil.
They say a person's fear of death is actually a fear of the unknown, as it is unclear what will befall them beyond the veil.
My fear of ghosts, too, must be because I'd branded them an utterly foreign thing, whose words and reasoning couldn't possibly mesh with mine. That must be it.
That's why I don't feel nearly so afraid of Nozomi-chan, as I had before.
Kei: So, where in the world is this place?
Nozomi: This is------
A dark room, with nothing in it.
It is displaced from a hallway with a thick wood lattice.
Nozomi: This was my first place of dwelling.
The place that kept Nozomi-chan captive for a measure beyond ten years, until it burnt to the ground.
Is it me, who's being held captive here------
---or could it be that Nozomi-chan is the prisoner...?
Nozomi: Well? So why is it that you're in here, now? I've never once let even Mikage set foot inside this place.
Because the Nie no Chi becomes power, permeating to every inch of my body------
Kei: ---my soul must've gone inside you too, Nozomi-chan. I'll bet that's it.
Nozomi: The very thought of that... it's absurd!
Kei: But you told me... that "chi" defines the nature of godhood......
If blood houses spiritual energy, then it must house the soul as well. If it didn't, then ghosts comprised only of spirit wouldn't have their own soul.
Kei: Also, if you're putting it that way, Nozomi-chan, I think your own existence is pretty absurd, to begin with.
Kei: How is it that a human being can possess a mirror, anyway?
Nozomi: Uu......
Once you acknowledge the existence of gods, or whatever else, it basically amounts to acknowledging everything else, so I think it's only natural to find some absurdities.
Back to the matter at hand.
I decelerate my thoughts as they threaten to derail, redirecting them to the heading I was planning to take.
Kei: By the way, exactly what is Mikage-chan, anyway?
Nozomi: What is she? That girl is my younger sister! A pitiful child, tossed aside by our honored father------
Kei: About that... doesn't that seem... a little strange?
Nozomi: Just what is strange about it!?
Kei: Why would your little sister have to be tossed aside by your father, anyway?
Kei: I know how you were shut away, Nozomi-chan, but when you left that place, it was by your own will. Your father had nothing to do with it, right?
As far as her mindset goes------ I'm not so sure about that, but let's set that aside for now.
Kei: Also, exactly when did Mikage-chan get made into an oni?
Kei: The first time Mikage-chan appeared before you, Nozomi-chan, was after Nushi had been sealed, remember?
Nozomi: What about that... do you find so strange?
Kei: The reason you ceased being human and became an oni was because you had Nushi make you that way, right?
Nozomi: Yes, that's right------
Kei: Then, what about Mikage-chan?
Nozomi: ------Eh?
Kei: Who did Mikage-chan get to make her into an oni?
Nozomi: That was------
Kei: Was who?
Nozomi: ---------
Kei: Not to mention, Mikage-chan came after you, so it's strange for her to know so much, you know. Like how to break the seal, and lots of things you don't seem to know, Nozomi-chan.
That's what I find strangest of all.
With her upbringing as a princess, I can't imagine Nozomi-chan's sister having a wealth of knowledge about things like sorcery.
The one who'd have that knowledge is------
Kei: You know, Nozomi-chan, it kinda seems to me like Mikage-chan is manipulating you.
Nozomi: That's not true at all!
Kei: So you mean, as the elder sister, your position is higher than hers?
Nozomi: It IS higher! Mikage will obey anything I command, whatever it may be!
The reason she's getting angry like this, with no words to ridicule me, must mean that she's been tugged at the root.
That would mean that even she is conscious of it.
In which case------
もうこだわらない
I won't pay it heed anymore.
試させてもらう
I'll make Nozomi-chan test her.