Chapter 81: The Man's House.
A certain Ayaka was standing blankly and looking around, but her vision was very limited. As the heavy rain made vision limited like a thin fog.
Her body was soaking with rainwater, long light purple hair matted together.
"Why were there two Takeshis and two Elyssias there? Inside there was even me."
Remembering that time, I had separated from everyone after being curious and stepping out into the rain, despite Airi calling back. After that she approached a house and looked through the door crack, inside were two identical Takeshis and two Elyssias. They were arguing about some issue.
Looking around with an uncomfortable look, as her body was very heavy and wet from the clothes.
"Must find some place to shelter from the rain, large rain seeds falling on the face sting too much."
She was a bit hesitant when looking at the surrounding houses with lights out. She was not hoping to encounter a similar scene again.
Starting to walk slow steps on small rain puddles, each stomp was one time they splashed up.
Walking to a house, she was still very worried and dared not enter yet.
Glancing down below, there was also another house adjacent to the house in front of her. For some reason, she felt the house over there would not encounter the previous scene again.
She was a bit hesitant, but then also decisively walked down below. Then accelerated running straight onto the porch, she was shielded by the small roof before the door.
Stepping close to the door and peering inside, but it was quite dark.
"Probably no one inside, I'll just go in to shelter from the rain first."
Opening the door gently, the smell of alcohol stabbed straight into her nose making her slightly grimace, glancing at the messy surroundings.
"Why is it so dirty?"
A sharp and cold sound rang out. It was the man standing upstairs and looking down with fierce eyes, the sword being drawn out gradually and hand tightly gripping the hilt.
Ayaka noticed, she raised her head toward the sound with an alert look.
Both sides locked eyes. Ayaka was quite surprised, she hesitantly spoke:
"..."
But before saying anything. The man standing above decisively threw the sword toward Ayaka.
Whoosh!!!
Ayaka's eyes went wide, but she did not react in time to dodge.
Thuck!!!
The sword pierced through her chest, red blood sprayed from her mouth, her eyes were stunned, not yet understanding what happened, blood from the wound soaked her already wet shirt and mixed with rainwater on the shirt. Her body according to the piercing force arched and fell out.
…
Somewhere, there was also an Ayaka entering the man's house. But seemingly at a different time and the man was not at home.
She was standing in the middle of the room which was a bit dark and observing around. Grimacing in discomfort before the pungent smell of alcohol and the musty smell of food.
"Why is this house so dirty? What drunkard is the owner of this house? The smell is horrible."
Glancing around but there was nothing. She slowly stepped to the stairs and wanted to go upstairs.
Each footstep stepping up the stairs was one time observing around with an alert look.
Walking along the hallway, before her eyes were three doors with three different rooms.
"If this is a trial then likely there's no homeowner."
She stood before a door of a room, the door quite simple with a light brown color over time.
Gripping the doorknob and slowly pushing the door inside. Inside the room was quite dark and messy. Ayaka had to strain her eyes to see.
Books thrown everywhere, wine bottles thrown rolling across the floor. Around the walls were many bookshelves, and the corner of the room was a bed. Seems this was the man's bedroom.
Ayaka walked cautiously in the quite dark room, she tried not to step on anything on the ground. The foul smell just now kept making her uncomfortable and grimace.
"Is this a bedroom? So stinky."
She suddenly stopped at the table, seemingly a desk. On top were many books, stacked on each other in a pile, counting roughly there were nine books.
Observing around very carefully, under the desk there was a book dropped there. Ayaka bowed down and crawled under the desk and took the book.
It was quite dirty, covered in dust and cobwebs, seemingly dropped here from a long time ago.
Standing up slowly, trying not to bump her head on the table. She looked at the book once, it only had a black leather layer as a cover, not any other detail.
Her hand stroked a line on the cover and wiped away the dust.
"Will there be anything inside?"
Opening the first page of the book, right on the first page it was covered tight with words, and these words looked like handwriting not of a book printer, she was extremely surprised at the amount of words.
"So many words? I won't be able to read them all."
She frowned and tried to read each word and flipped each page after a long time of reading.
On the book it wrote:
Day 1:
Today… I have completed the ritual. That monster is imprisoned, its roar still echoes in my head. It is so strong that I had to use my own blood to bind it.
I think… just like that, the village will be peaceful. I bear this burden for everyone. I am not afraid.
I also partly find it quite interesting to face it, it is very strong, the feeling that I must exhaust my whole life to gamble with it.
....
Day 24:
Still stable. The monster is silent, only occasionally I feel my heart beating unevenly. Maybe due to the connection cord. But I still remain in control.
I drink a little wine to sleep easily… last night in a dream I saw its eyes wide open, looking straight at me, as if wanting to pull me down into the abyss.
…
Day 78:
It whispers in my head. I know that's not my voice. It laughs mockingly: "You've locked yourself with me." I try to write it out to keep my sanity. Write to remember that I am a human, not it. Write to remember that I still exist.
…
Day 142:
Nosebleed… blood from ears… lately frequent.
The seal drains my strength. But I cannot let go, if I let go… it will escape. I drink more, to forget the pain. But wine only makes me dream more, and in dreams I see myself… hands full of blood… don't know if it's its blood or my blood.
…
Day 201:
The monster weakens. I feel it.
It… no longer screams, only silent. But that silence is scarier than the roar.
I think… it is sleeping. Or is it waiting?
…
Day 289:
I have heard footsteps in the house. No one. Only me. But I see the shadow of a child. It doesn't scream, doesn't bite, only looks at me. When I chase, it immediately runs away. I know it is it. But why so small? Looks like a dream.
…
Day 300 (The handwriting starts to gradually turn bad and scribbled into other lines).
I… I'm not sure anymore. Did I kill it already? But I still hear the whispers in my head.
I often have insomnia, and if I can sleep I often dream of strange things. Therefore I often go down to the basement and guard the seal. I feel it won't hold much longer.
I am trembling. Its power is too great, it is trying to erode the seal to escape outside, but I also feel it gradually weakening, seems the seal is also eroding it.
…
Day 341 (The handwriting increasingly bad).
Damn it, I am very tired. That monster is already very weak, but the seal is also weak. It can escape the seal for a time, but it is still bound by the seal and turns into a brat, it runs around my house…
Am I crazy? But I know it is weak. And if it appears outside, I will kill it to end everything.
…
Day 400…? (Ink blurred, handwriting scribbled extremely hard to see. Making it very hard for Ayaka to read.)
Wine… blood… laughter… No longer remember who I am. The sealer or the sealed? It is weak… but I am also weak. If I die, will it disappear? Or will it be reborn? Ha… Ha ha… No one knows… No one knows at all.
Day… don't remember
It echoes in my head: "I'm tired." I am also tired. But I cannot die. If I die… the seal breaks… or everything vanishes? I write… to remember. But hands tremble too much. Words are no longer words. I feel I am soon no longer myself…
Reading to the end of the page, there were only scribbles no longer having the shape of words.
Ayaka closed the book, she was extremely bewildered and understood nothing.
"What the hell? What on earth is it mentioning? Monster? Me? Could this be the homeowner's diary?"
"Sounds so horrific? One year struggling with that monster? Each day gradually tiring out?"
She suddenly remembered the book mentioned the basement.
"Right, could the seal be down there?"
"So where is the homeowner? Don't tell me he's dead? If so does the seal also disappear or get released?"
Placing the book on the table and stepping outside. She cast her eyes and glanced around, wanting to find the basement.
Stepping down the stairs, she looked down at the floor thinking there would be a door or path below.
Standing in the middle of the room and glancing once more at the floor. Eyes a bit disappointed when seeing nothing.
Suddenly stopping her eyes at the door at the staircase, Ayaka was a bit surprised and stepped close to examine.
"This door? Leading down to the basement?"
Stepping close to the crude door. She gripped the door and prepared to open it.
Whoosh!!!
A sword lunged from afar flying toward.
Thuck!!!
The sword stabbed straight into Ayaka's neck and pinned her slamming into the wall.
…
Ayaka stepped outside the room, hand still holding the book, eyes glancing around wanting to find the basement.
Stepping down and observing, the door at the foot of the stairs caught her eye. Frowning slightly as she noticed and stepped close.
She opened the door and looked down below. Seeing stairs leading down, Ayaka felt certain this was the basement.
She reached for the stick with the glowing stone and shone it down. Below was a staircase.
"Basement is here, let's see if there's anything below."
Slam!!!
The house door was immediately opened with extreme force, it vibrated as if wanting to come off.
Ayaka was startled and turned her body.
It was the man, in his hand was the sharp sword, glinting in the dim light of the room. Eyes carrying deadly killing intent.
Ayaka saw the man, she immediately associated him with the person who wrote the diary. Her voice stuttering, wanting to explain:
"I-I... just came to shelter from the rain, I am not a thief."
He didn't let a single word enter his ears, fierce eyes looking straight at her as if target locked. Right hand gripped the sword and raised it, shoulders wide and gaining momentum.
Ayaka felt no negotiation was possible.
"He wants to throw the sword."
The sword in the man's hand was immediately launched from his hand at very high speed and lunged wanting to kill Ayaka.
Boom!
But Ayaka had run down to the basement, the sword stabbed straight into the wall very deep, dust falling from the wall.
He immediately ran over, looking down into the dark tunnel. Turning to the sword pinned on the wall, he gripped it and pulled very hard. Then jumped on the spot and grabbed the stick with the glowing stone being fixed on the stairs.
Immediately ran down.
On Ayaka's side, she was standing in the basement, very surprised before the child's brown head placed on the large stone block with strange characters.
But now was not the time to find out about it, she was being pursued by the man.
Seeing a small crevice at the crates. She immediately ran close and peered in. Fortunately, inside was an old wooden door.
Immediately opened the door and ran inside.
The man followed right after and had seen her run inside. He also ran in immediately without the slightest hesitation.
Gasping breaths rang in the tunnel, mixing with Ayaka's hurried footsteps... she urgently ran up the stairs.
Light from the stick with the glowing stone shone ahead and the old door appeared.
She ran to it, not a redundant movement and flung the door open. Urgently running out of the crevice, she did not stop but continued running.
Running, she heard a sound and turned to her left and looked up.
It was the group of four, Takeshi, Airi, Ayaka, and Elyssia standing there, they opened their eyes wide with surprise as another Ayaka ran past.
But she did not stop or panic, her mind only focused on running.
Running past the table, she flung the door open. Running outside into the heavy rain without the slightest hesitation.
…
After a while running in the torrential rain, she stopped, two hands propped on knees. Right hand still holding the book, while the glowing stick seemed she had thrown away while running.
She breathed continuously, her ears at this time seemed to push aside the rain sound and only heard her own breathing.
"E-Escaped... finished."
She slowly straightened her body and turned back looking at the road just run. Although it had transformed, she knew she had just run that path.
"Tired to death."
Left hand raised and stroked her chest as if to soothe the uncomfortable tightness in the chest when running at full strength.
She silently looked at the book in her hand with some thought.
"So that man sealed the monster, but it was too strong and he gradually forgot and then went crazy."
"That is the reason he is very fierce and just meeting people wants to kill at all costs."
She remembered the scene of herself and the remaining three sitting on the ceiling looking down, a boy ran in and a moment later was him.
"So that boy is not a human, it is the monster transformed. Currently it is weakening so it cannot do anything other than run away and try to find a way."
"Truly strange, inside it wrote to protect villagers, in here there are no villagers at all. Could it be just a trial arranged like that?... Well anyway it's not important."
"The important thing is he is too fierce, just meeting anyone he draws his sword wanting to kill, not a single word of negotiation. Like that if wanting to do anything one must continuously avoid him, while his sword throwing speed is very fast and not pre-reading the movement means losing life to him instantly."
"One more thing: Why are the two houses connected by a tunnel? Or are the two houses originally his, and the trial placed us in his house too. And he went crazy so he doesn't remember the existence of the other side of the house. That's the reason he knocked on the door when entering our house before."
The feeling of rainwater wetting her body was making her quite uncomfortable as she looked back at her body once.
"Too much rain, I need to find shelter from the rain."
"At the current time, probably I will stay outside the house and shelter temporarily. If meeting the others it's quite not okay, I don't know what to say either."
She remembered the stunned looks of the people in the house who had looked at her when she ran past them.
She ran to a house and stood under the roof and looked back at the pitch-black sky.
Inside the house, there was a very loud sound of something making Ayaka standing outside have to pay attention.
A boy's voice rang out, seemingly quite panicked, and that was Takeshi's voice in the house:
"Where is Ayaka?"
Airi's voice a bit panicked, but gradually decreasing, seemingly she was wanting to be calm:
"How do I know? She went outside, then vanished."
Elyssia: "Maybe we go out into the rain and find her."
Takeshi: "I think so too, if she stays in the rain long she might catch a cold."
Airi: "Earlier we peered out and saw it was empty with no one. I think she entered a house to avoid the rain."
Elyssia: "Also reasonable."
Ayaka was outside and peering in through a hole on the door.
"This house is lacking me? I wonder if I enter will it be okay?"
Elyssia walked near the door, Ayaka outside saw that and immediately turned away, trying to act.
When the door opened, Elyssia opened her eyes wide with surprise when seeing Ayaka standing silently outside and raising her head looking at the black cloud sky.
Elyssia's voice trembling, a bit worried:
"A-Ayaka?"
Ayaka turned back and smiled.
"Huh? Is something the matter?"
Airi and Takeshi in the room were also very surprised, immediately ran over.
Elyssia worriedly asked:
"Where did you go?"
Ayaka smiled.
"Enter the house. Then I will tell."
Airi and Takeshi were also quite surprised.
They turned and went inside…
They sat at the table, Ayaka placed the book down on the table making the three of them simultaneously direct their attention to the book with some rainwater.
Airi: "Your body is all wet Ayaka."
Ayaka nodded.
"It's okay."
Takeshi was a bit joyful but also worried.
"So where did you go that you suddenly vanished?"
Ayaka smiled shyly, appearing apologetic.
"Ah, I ran out into the rain and played with the rainwater, but ran quite far. And the heavy rain made vision so hard, so I almost got lost. Fortunately still found it."
Pointing her finger at the book still holding a few drops of rain on the leather.
"I found it when going out there, playing, suddenly saw it on the ground. Strange like someone just placed it out, and it's also only wet a little bit here."
Airi felt a bit relieved.
"Made me worry."
Ayaka laughed brightly.
"Sorry."
"Seems they don't suspect anything, surely none of them have gone outside and have little information."
Elyssia pointed her finger at the book placed on the table.
"Did you read it yet?"
Ayaka nodded slightly.
"Read it, but inside it wrote something, I didn't quite understand either."
Takeshi: "Still as before, anything new is certainly a clue given by the trial."
Ayaka: "Seems so."
Elyssia reached for the book closer to her, Airi immediately went to Elyssia's chair and sat together to read easily. Takeshi stood up and came close also wanting to see.
Ayaka: "You guys try seeing, see if you can find any clues."
"Temporarily just stay here, to avoid rain too."
"Also this is many houses but inside there are many me and everyone, as if they are copies. Like that I can approach the other two rooms to see what's there, the first room had quite a few clues, likely the other two rooms probably don't have any, but still need to check and see, who knows what's in there?"
…
After a while, the three were quite surprised with the information in the book. Elyssia lightly folded the book and placed it neatly in front. Airi and Takeshi returned to the places they sat before so they could easily discuss.
The three were very calm and pondered the information in it. Ayaka was silent and observed, not saying a word.
Elyssia spoke first, breaking the atmosphere of human silence, many rain sounds:
"In here is information about approximately one year of someone who sealed the monster and throughout that time tried to struggle with it."
Airi frowned, she felt quite confused.
"Quite hard, right? This information is quite foreign, I also find it hard to think of anything."
"So if this book is the journey of sealing and that monster is gradually escaping. Could it be that our mission in this trial is to seal that monster?"
Takeshi nodded, he felt Airi spoke quite to his point.
"I find this reasonable, but where is that seal?"