If you want to hide a tree, put it in the forest.

So from this, if you wanted to hide a person, you should put them in a city.

With that thought in mind, it made sense for a cursed spirit that resembled a human to set up their secret base in the city.

But in reality, cursed spirits that existed in mountains, forests and other places fraught with dangers making it hard for humans to live in were, on the contrary, able to survive peacefully.

However, for the group of cursed spirits that planned to flip the modern world on its head, establishing a stronghold in the city allowed them to go on offense and defense easily, so there was a certain meaning to their actions. Also if they built a stronghold in the city, they could gather as much negative emotions as they could.

In any case, a group of workers belonging to a certain gang of scammers were all killed because cursed spirits wanted to build their stronghold here.

“It’s so easy to kill off targets like these. Not only do they choose a place that’s away from prying eyes and ears, but they’re also all gathered together so I can clean them up at one go.”

Jougo smiled as he forcefully stepped on some remnants that were burning.

About two minutes ago, the office still had six humans.

They were thinking of various ways to commit their massacre but in the end, decided as a group that burning was the most convenient, so Jougo quickly burnt their targets to a crisp.

“But this is a building that was used by humans before, right? If the humans managing this place are still around, wouldn’t that make matters really troublesome?”

Mahito asked as he poked at a vase placed on the cabinets which looked like it came from a person who struck gold.

Most people do not need to worry about such things and Jougo smiled, intending to reply Mahito when he was interrupted by a statement of unknown meaning.

[bcdaiyz]

“Eh, Hanami, don’t say anything! It makes my scalp crawl!”

Hanami was only able to make sounds that do not form words, however for some reason, what he intended to express would be directly transmitted into the other party’s brain. Jougo seemed to feel that this brought him discomfort, so he became extremely impatient.

Jogou felt that Mahito was looking at him with a “there they go again” expression and continued to explain, still feeling impatient.

“Hmph….all of do not need to worry about anything, I have already asked Getou why he chose this place. It seemed like for these humans who commit their evil deeds in the shadows, those who manage them seem to understand what is taboo.”

“Oh—in other words, as long as they know that all this was caused by curses, they would not come close to this place instead.”

“That’s right. Generally speaking, this was already a place that ordinary humans would not approach. If we want to set up a secret base in the city, there is no more suitable place than this.”

“Is it really that suitable?”

“What, Mahito, it feels like you’re unsatisfied. Are you worried about something? I think that this place is at a good location. It’s convenient whether you are preparing to do something big in the city or whether you are trying to flee at the last minute.”

“Hm….I mean you’re right but….”

“What? Speak quickly.”

“I think this house is too tacky.”

“What?”

“Boom” -The volcano on Jougo’s head made a small explosion. The contours of his single narrowed eye were like a gentle hill.

“It’s nowhere like the current trends. A vase with a glossy surface placed with a golden shiny lion display piece plus a utensil cabinet that looks cheap.”

“What bloody nonsense are you spouting! I don’t know what sort of things influenced you but lately, you are really noisy when it comes to things like these!”

“It’s the movies.”

“Movies? Those things that make humans look glamourous and hype them up? Are they really that interesting?”

“I can use them as a reference when I’m studying souls.”

Mahito returned a smile for no reason.

If humans could see him, they would probably feel that he had some aspirations, like am elementary schooler who had read something and was sharing the knowledge that he studied about from those books.

“Honestly, I also think that the plot of those movies aren’t that interesting but I don’t dislike the visual taste of beauty that humans have. Speaking of which, this room has far too many unnecessary colours, it’s visually disorienting.

“At any rate, this is your personal problem….isn’t it fine if you just incinerated or tossed away the eye sores?”

“Forget it, I’m going to find a place that’s suitable for me.”

“What? Ah, hey, where are you going?”

Mahito did not wait for Jougo to finish talking, he only waved lightly behind himself and then like puff a smoke, a gust of wind, he disappeared into thin air.

“Geez. Who knows if it’s because that guy was born from the fear that humans feel. From a cursed spirit’s point of view, he’s the type the just do whatever he wants. And he still talks about movies….”

At the same time Jougo was muttering and griping, he took out his pipe from his clothes and stuck it in his mouth.

However, the external appearance of the pipe was different from the pipe that humans used, it even looked like a face and it would scream when it was sucked on.

“But, that Mahito….”

Jougo used his single eye to survey his surroundings.

“After hearing him say that, even I’m starting to feel that this place is rather distasteful.”

“aiyz”

“I already told you to be quiet!”

*

He had to search on his own two feet to be able to find a secret base that was suitable for himself.

Mahito walked leisurely and aimlessly around the city. Once he hit a traffic signal, he would turn, alternating left and right or he would accompany a stray cat or when he saw a cloud in the sky with a shape that he liked, he would walk forward, in the direction of that cloud.

And like this, Mahito roamed around the city and because of that, deeply acknowledged something amusing about humans.

This was supposed to be a city belonging to humans yet out of all the people who walked around the streets, not one of them were more unrestricted than Mahito.

Every person seemed to be chained up, restricted by their connections or vanity and in this vast and wide city, they lived, constricting their vision.

The humans completely ignored the endless sky above their heads and through what they acknowledged within their hearts, they portioned out the already portioned cement constructed city and lived a narrow and petty life.

A while back, Mahito learnt some vocabulary that had to do with the concepts of the actions of humans.

Such as something they called philosophy; something they called common sense; something they called emotion.

When the soul received external stimuli, it will generate a mechanical reaction and transfigure.

The bodies of humans were controlled by these concepts and they cowered under the gazes of orders, catered to the standards of the world and were willing to abandon their freedom to live.

“—what a huge pity.”

Everyone in this world were bound by the pretentious locks that humans inflicted on themselves.

Because of this, curses need to make changes to cater to these humans. If these humans could only live a pathetic life like ants under this vast sky, then they should ask the humans to hand the world over.

Mahito was deep in thought.

He was thinking with his soul and going against the wind.

Not long after, the sun started to sink in the west and he heard the gushing sound of a river.

*

“This place looks fine.”

The secret base that Mahito found was located under a bridge that went across the river.

It was a tunnel that was as open and wide as a monastery.

There were multiple pipe like objects that went through the tunnel and there were even clear streams that went towards the river. It should be domestic sewage that have gone through purification and let out so it did not look that dirty.

The air was rather humid and there was a peculiar plant like smell that seemed to come from moss. What entered his eyes was a wide space that he could frolic around in as a cool feeling emitted from the concrete.

Cursed spirits also had seasons that they liked.

The negative emotions of humans kept accumulating between the end of winter to the entirety of spring.

When the spring rain season arrived, it was time for the negative emotions to mature and explode.

In this damp tunnel, it just happened to have the air that reminded him of spring rain. In this wide and dimly lit environment, there was a gloomy atmosphere that made it easier to cultivate fear. All these made Mahito comfortable beyond compare, like moisturiser to his skin.

“Yup, I’ve decided that this is it.”

When choosing a living quarter, it would be better to go with one’s feeling.

Even though it was the same for humans,  most likely, humans were not able to choose their living space without hesitation like Mahito did. If roaming all over the place was freedom then settling down in a place was also freedom.

Mahito happily knocked against the concrete ground that felt tough with a “thump thump thump” and slowly stepped into the tunnel.

In this comfortable space, the transfiguration of his soul was rather smooth.

However….

“Hm?”

After Mahito took a few steps, he felt the existence of “that”.

At first, he thought it was garbage that was illegally disposed of by humans. From its silhouette, it looked like a draw string burlap bag quietly resting against the wall.

At first glance, it seemed to only be a battered bag wrapped around something.

But that object actually had the shape of a soul.

–Eh, that thing is alive.

The reality was just as how Mahito had figured out, that was a human.

Torn fabric covered that person’s body and his hair and beard were completely untrimmed so his external appearance did not look to be that of a human but that was definitely one.

Just from the appearance, he could not determine that person’s age. Perhaps he was around sixty? Or more than eighty? In any case, from his appearance, it should be an elderly man.

Mahito thought, great, now it got troublesome.

He managed to find a secret place with much difficulty but someone was already living in it.

To Mahito, it would be a piece of cake to get rid of the other party but he just felt that it was unpleasurable to leave a stain on the wall of his new home under such circumstances.

In any case, if he wanted to handle it, he should be decisive.

Just as Mahito made a firm decision, he exhaled slightly and stretched his arm towards the elderly man.

Unexpectedly, the elderly man suddenly spoke.

“……If I have upset you then I must apologise.”

“Hm?”

“Even though I do not know what you came here for… I’m sure your mood must have been ruined by seeing that there’s an old man like me living here. However, I have nowhere else to go.”

Mahito was at a loss.

The elderly man was clearly speaking to Mahito. However, if this was two humans having a conversation face to face, there was nothing to be surprised about.

But Mahito was a cursed spirit.

The eyes of normal humans should not be able to capture cursed spirits.

But if was not as though all humans could not see cursed spirits. There were plenty of humans who were born with cursed energy and could see cursed spirits.

But what bothered Mahito was that this elderly man did not have “eyes”.

More accurately, he did not physically have eyes. His two eye sockets which were supposed to contain one eyeball each had been mercilessly sealed up by burn injuries.

Even if he was a Jujutsu sorcerer, he would need to see the world through his eyes.

After acknowledging the existence of cursed spirits, they had to still use their eyes to see them. Because of this, most Jujutsu socerers would wear sunglasses to hide their line of sight. Most of the times it was so that cursed spirits would not notice where they were looking or it was to maintain the steadiness of their heart in this world that was full of curses.

However, this man was not like them.

“You can see me?

Faced with Mahito’s question, the man silently nodded his head.

“I can also feel your presence.”

“But you can’t see the world, right?”

“Of course. Not only can I not see the scene around me, but I am also unable to be sure of what you look like, your skin colour or if you are a man or a woman. Even so…… I know you are there.”

“….Are you a Jujutsu sorcerer.”

“I don’t believe I am.”

“Your replies are really vague, it’s about yourself you know.”

“From a long time ago, the thing I’m most vague about is matters about myself.”

Mahito noticed that there was something that was a bit strange.

He was able to feel the shape of a human’s soul.

Souls would sometimes carry a shape with thorns, sometimes they would shrink like they were cowering, sometimes they would sway energetically and Mahito was able to detect these reactions to the soul’s transfiguration.

But this elderly man’s soul did not transform at all.

It was like a grassy plain that did not have wind, a sea with no waves, a blue sky with no clouds.

No, a more appropriate comparison should be that of a rock.

He soul was like a rock by the roadside, untouched by erosion, simple and unadorned, unshakable, motionless. It just sat quietly, allowing moss to grow upon itself, peacefully allowing the hands of time to move forward.

This elderly man’s soul had this sort of shape.

Yet for normal people, no matter how steady their soul was, no matter how old they were, their soul would always waver.

Even as they age, their common sense would not disappear, their desires still exist and as usual, they were unable to overcome their fears.

However, the elderly man before his eyes was different.

His soul was as stable as a mountain. He had accepted from the bottom of his heart that the time he had left was counting down to zero but he did not intentionally give up on life. His existence was no different from that of mother nature.

This was the first time Mahito encountered a human such as this.

*

The tunnel became Mahito’s temporary home.

He hung up a hammock that he gotten from somewhere on the pipes in the tunnel and laid on top to read, passing his time leisurely.

Mahito watched a certain movie that depicted the life on a deserted island and seeing the human live his hardest to stay alive, that human made a hammock and managed to get back a temporary but beautiful peace in his heart. Mahito felt that sleeping on a hammock seemed pretty comfortable so he imitated the character’s actions and was extremely pleased with himself.

In the tunnel that was away from all the noise, the only background music was that of the sound of flowing water that gently caressed the ears. This was an extremely suitable environment for quietly calming the soul.

Mahito freely read books to learn knowledge and occasionally stared absentmindedly at the top of the tunnel or with the same kind of attitude, looked down at the elderly man who sat in the corner.

“It’s amazing that he’s still alive.”

In the end, Mahito did not kill the elderly man.

It was largely because the elderly man did not disturb him at all. Mahito only felt that it was the same whether he was there and it was troublesome to get rid of him.

The elderly man was quieter than a stray cat and only silently and motionlessly remained at a fixed spot.

Among the knowledge that Mahito had picked up, there was a saying that “Humans are reeds that can think”.

This phrase meant to imply that humans were as weak as weeds but they are also proud souls that are controlled by their thoughts and Mahito felt that this point was amusing so he quite liked this phrase.

The elderly man could be considered a reed that did not think.

No, he was quieter so he was more like something such as carpet grass or moss. Anyway, this elderly man just remained where he was, not uttering a word.

Sometimes, Mahito would realise that the man had left the tunnel to go someplace without him noticing and then at another unknown point of time, he returned and laid down to sleep. He could have gone to forage but there was no sign that he put on weight. If one used a scale of one to ten to rate his figure then his eating and drinking only restored him back to a ten when his body shrunk down to an eight.

The way he lived was far too natural. Rather than calling him a biological life form, he was more of a simple phenomenon.

“So, you can see me?”

Mahito suddenly brought up this question.

He was not trying to have a conversation with the elderly man, it was just that the tone he used to talk to himself sounded like he was looking for someone to talk to.

However, even with that conversation that was meant for Mahito himself, the elderly man’s soul did not budge. After Mahito noticed this, he finally decided to have a chat with the elderly man.

“How long have you been here?”

“Let me think, I remember that I spent quite a number of winter days here—But I do not recall the exact duration.”

The elderly man replied slowly as though he was mumbling to himself.

Mahito felt that since there were actually two souls present here and they could get to know each other, it was more natural to just have a bit of a chat.

“Don’t you feel bored?”

He engaged in small talk lightly and the elderly man also replied lightly.

“I already forgotten what it feels like to be bored.”

“What do you usually do here?”

“I don’t do anything, I just listen to sounds.”

“What sort of sounds?”

“The sound of flowing water.”

“…is listening to such a thing interesting?”

“Not at all. However, I have forgotten what needs to be done to make things interesting so I do not get bothered by such issues.”

I see. Mahito nodded his head.

This elderly man’s soul has been worn down so much that he did not feel like he was in pain even though he was bored.

Rather than saying his soul was worn down, it was more like it was polished.

Humans on the streets suffer because they feel inadequate, they toil to overcome their difficulties but once they were satisfied, they desired more. Because of this, humans keep accumulating negative emotions like cellulite, making their soul fattier.

However, when Mahito observed the elderly man’s soul from this point of view, he realised that though the elderly man was skinny, he could be considered slender.

The swollen and bloated souls of humans start to generate fear from the worry of losing their beautiful reality and this fear eventually becomes curses.

“You—it’s so troublesome addressing you as that, what’s your name?”

After Mahito asked that, the elderly man seemed to hang for a moment.

“I already discarded such a thing. You may call me whatever you wish.”

“Is there such a thing as humans with no name in this world? Even curses have names….”

“You only need a name when you are interacting with others.”

“Isn’t it bothersome to not have a name?”

“At what occasions?”

“When you enter your grave.”

“I will not enter a grave that requires names, I think I will be buried in those nameless mass graves or decompose and return to earth without anyone noticing.

“Can’t you tell that I’m just joking?”

“….Was that a joke?”

The elderly man did not laugh, neither did Mahito.

However, Mahito felt a sense of childish innocence within the elderly man, contrary to his appearance. Perhaps this elderly man had a simple personality where he did not obsess over anything and this allowed his soul to look younger than his appearance.

An interest towards the elderly man welled up within Mahito.

This was the first time he encountered such a human and the first time he felt this kind of soul. To Mahito, this elderly man was a valuable reference sample.

What kind of life did one have to lead to create such a human.

How should he manipulate this kind of human soul to amuse himself? What kind of foul deed can he do by making use of such a human?

More importantly—what kind of curse will be born from such a human.

Following his interest, Mahito started to chat with the elderly man.

“Why are you living here?”

“…………….Why?”

The elderly man raised his head to look at the ceiling through his bangs that have not been trimmed in ages.

His eye sockets have already been sealed and he definitely could not see a thing, but when humans were thinking about something, they will always look towards a place where there was nothing. This satisfied one of Mahito’s curiosities.

“I mean, it’s not possible that you were born and raised in this tunnel, right? You are a human so you should have been staying in that noisy city outside before.”

“Yes, you’re right. Last time, I was considered to have lived a rather busy life, after inheriting my family’s business, I worked hard to earn money, to raise my family.”

“So you used to be a person who had a position in society, huh.”

“I suppose you could say so, at least in the human society. But now that I think back, such things are meaningless.”

“Then why did you start living in this kind of hole like some kind of rat?”

“Because I lost everything – the position I had before, my money and the roof above my head are all gone.”

“All gone?”

“I was tricked by someone. At that time, my eyes were burnt so I also lost my sight.”

Mahito suddenly recalled that company that was attacked by Jougo.

“So you got scammed, guess you’re a nice guy.”

“I got scammed willingly so it doesn’t make a difference.”

“You’re a weird gramps. You got tricked by someone yet you feel happy about it?”

“When someone wants to trick me, it means that I am someone who deserves to be tricked. The culprits were an old friend of mine and my wife. They fabricated an accident and burnt my eyes then took away my rights under the pretense that they were taking care of me and when I realised it, they took away everything from me.”

“You fell into a huge scam, didn’t you? Why are you talking like you’re talking about someone else?”

“To me, getting tricked is only secondary. More importantly, this entire scam made me understand that the two of them loved each other and only I’m the one who is not loved by anyone.”

To Mahito, the vocabulary used by the elderly man when he was explaining his circumstances was far too difficult.

Love. Was this word really that important?

It seems like in this world, there were curses born from self-love and there were extremely strong ones among them. However, Mahito did not understand how this mechanism known as love between humans was any different from a cat pining for a blanket.

But from the knowledge that he picked up, humans were unable to distance themselves from love.

“You don’t hate the people who tricked you?”

“There’s nothing to hate.”

“There’s nothing to hate? Usually, if humans encountered a situation such as yours, they would be furious and full of hate and because of this, their soul would take on a negative form.”

“It’s as you say. For me, it’s just that I don’t have to energy to think about revenge or to let them have a taste of suffering.”

“……I see.”

Mahito nodded, understanding the elderly man’s situation.

Temporarily putting aside whether Mahito was capable of imagine humans’ emotional fluctuations, he thought back to the movies, novels, poetry and the humans he messed around with till now and compiling them all as his references, he thought and finally analysed the meaning of what the elderly man said.

“In other words, at that time you were in despair and it’s so much despair that your soul was on the verge of dissipating. So you just skipped over the stage of generating loathing and curses and became how you are now.”

The elderly man slowly shook his head.

“I might have been disappointed before but you seem to have assumed that what I encountered was a situation where I was in extreme disappear.”

“Isn’t disappointment and despair the same?”

“They’re not the same but only those who had these experiences would know.”

The elderly man raised his head like he was recalling something.

“That time, my heart did not burn with rage nor was there overflowing grief. I just felt….really tired. Work, reputation, social standing, responsibilities, socializing, wealth, prestige, I was probably……so tired about all these things, so tired, so tired to the point that both my body and mind were exhausted.”

“So even though you were tricked, you did not get angry all the way till the end?”

“I was released. The so-called disappointment was my soul becoming light.”

The elderly man’s voice was extremely calm.

His voice was like muddy water that had been purified, it was that clear and refreshing.

“My vision, my wealth and my love, after I lost everything….as I was walking, I suddenly felt that all this matters don’t matter anymore. In the end, even the scenery of the city which I had been gazing at became vastly different.”

“I thought you’re blind?”

“Yes. When I could not see anything, I could only experience the sounds and wind that spread across large distances. I could not even see the walls that separated streets in front of me, as though it was a starless sky, it was just dark. That was the first time I understood, so the world was this vast and at the same time I felt….Ah, I’m free now.”

Mahito blinked forcefully.

The elderly man’s mentality could not be compared with any of the cases of humans that he had collected till now. Even though he had finished listening to the elderly man’s past, Mahito was still unable to understand the elderly man’s mind.

However, in his eyes, this elderly man was indeed free.

Even though the elderly man stayed in a tunnel, he was still able to understand that the sky outside was endlessly vast.

Perhaps this elderly man understood even more than any of those humans who were walking freely in the society, regardless of their social standing, just how boundless the sky was, just how gentle the wind was and how melodious the sound of flowing water was.

His appearance only looked like that of an old man who was a failure, having lost his wealth and position and even cut off the ties he had with other humans…..however, he understood “freedom”, something that was difficult to comprehend, and just possibly achieved freedom which he could call his own.

The elderly man had no worldly attachments, no fear—no hate. He only existed on the world, lived on this world.”

“In other words, not all who wander are lost?”

“You actually quoted one of Tolkien’s famous lines, isn’t that too heavy?”

Mahito heard the elderly man immediately understand a phrase that he used that he got from a book that he happened to read earlier and smiled.

“Did you use to love reading?”

“I read in order to cram their contents into my brain and increase my knowledge.”

“Being knowledgeable is a good thing.”

If humans generated curses because of fear, then can the elderly man before him be considered a human.

Right now, it was very hard to classify Mahito’s expression with the usual emotions.

But he felt very much at peace.

Since the time he started encountering humans, this was the first time he felt inner peace.

“if the humans of the world are like you—perhaps I would not come to this world.”

Mahito’s eyes returned back to the book that was in his hands.

The old mans stared into space just like he always did and went back to silence.

Curses were born from humans but yet they killed humans. The two could not co-exist.

Even so, there was a curse and a human co-existing in this tunnel.

Even though this defied logic, a peaceful time still slowly passed in this place.

*

It was extremely justifiable for humans to hate and fear other humans.

Because humans could not see souls, they would imagine what the inner world of other people was like.

In the end, they were taken for a ride by their own emotions.

Humans don’t even know where their own souls were, naturally they would not know whatever they did was just a reflex on external stimuli on their souls and it was just a soul’s metabolism.

Mahito used the elderly man as his reference.

He realised that because of his lack of sight from blindness and losing the connection he had with humans, the amount of stimuli his soul received decreased.

And exactly because there were no unnecessary matters tugging on his thoughts, the number of chances he had to face his own inner mind increased.

“He’s basically similar to monks undergoing training. A strong introversion would increase the time of himself facing his own soul.”

Mahito walked on the road as he quickly flipped through a worn and tattered Heart Sutra.

Buddhist scriptures were textbooks to controlling the soul. Ancient humans seemed to have done their research on ways to cut the soul from external matter.

Who knew that the life led by this elderly man had already reached the realm of what is mentioned in Buddhist scriptures.

As such, so he learnt how to feel souls in the dark—Mahito’s final conclusion was this was why the elderly man was able to come into contact with curses.

“He should have a knack for this in the first place….In general, introverted humans have an easier time training such a skill.”

If he could look into the elderly man further, perhaps he would be able to figure out the many ways Jujutsu sorcerers trained and made use of their curse energy.

This way, he should be able to, with his own ability, “cultivate” people with the innate ability to Jujutsu sorcerers or curse users.

And then let the curse users who had curses prepared take on Jujutsu sorcerers.

This seemed to be a rather interesting test. After all, if the opponent was a human, it was easier to shake the soul of a Jujutsu sorcerer compared to the times they exorcised a spirit. Sukuna’s vessel should be of no exception.

Even so.

–There did not seem to be a rush to do this.

That’s right, Mahito thought leisurely.

Right now, he was a free spirit. He would move when he felt like moving and he would rest when he felt like resting, so he was not in the mood to enthusiastically carry out the plan in his mind.

Right now he would rather accumulate knowledge and meditate to his heart’s content.

He also managed to get some new books and wanted to read his fantasy novels in the quiet tunnel while enjoying the comfortable environment.

Mahito’s pace became light, he followed the crowd of people as he went and even started to hum a little song.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of arguing from a space between buildings.

“—That pisses me off so much.”

When he moved his gaze towards the source of the voices, he discovered two young men. One had long hair and looked scrawny while the other had a crew cut and a burly body.

The long-haired man before his eyes laughed as he heard the crew cut man ranting in a furious mood.

“But seriously, they’re such party poopers. Everyone there is just there trying to look tough, but in the end, after giving a bunch of excuses, the only thing that’s amazing about them is their mouth. I really want to kill them all off.”

“Even if you say that, if you really get so mad that you want to kill someone, can you really do it?”

“It’s just killing someone, what’s so difficult about it?”

“Are you serious?”

Mahito squinted and listened to this conversation, wanting to inject.

He could be considered the type to admire those who stay true to their word without trying to hide their heart’s desires but he knew that the kind of people in front of him could only be “just talking about it.”

“Ah—anyone would do, I really want to slaughter someone.”

Why do you have to say you want to kill someone, just do it.

He might as well demonstrate a “killing method” on this person—Mahito wanted to do that but the hand he wanted to reach out felt the weight of his books and made him dismiss that idea.

Rather than sacrificing his free time to intervene, he much rather return to his comfortable tunnel to read.  

“I will definitely find someone to kill.”

The crew cut man’s mumbling did sound like he was reciting a curse.

However, his words did not carry any thoughts or power. Seems like at the very most, this person would only hide in the space between buildings and talk to himself.

This kind of person was better off being locked up in a cramped alleyway and continue to mistake that he was singing praises of this massive world.

Mahito turned his gaze away and continued his way back.

*

“Why would Gregor become a bug?”

(T/N: The Metamophosis by Franz Kafka)

Mahito suddenly asked the elderly man as he read his novel.

He was reading a famous work by Franz Kafka.

The content of the story was about someone suddenly transforming into a poisonous bug.

“Most people believe that that bug is a kind of metaphor.”

“Metaphor?”

“The character in that book had gone so low that he was hated and bullied by society, just like becoming an insect in the eyes of humans. Just like this old man in front of you who suddenly got scammed and even had his eyes burnt.”

“So that guy is a joke?”

“Not exactly.”

The conversation between the two were calm without any emotional fluctuations however when Mahito asked, the elderly man would reply. To Mahito, speaking with the elderly man was like talking to a dictionary.

The elderly man was knowledgeable.

And he was relatively intelligent as well. He knew how to use simplified terms to bring relevant knowledge into the conversation.

This showed the finer changes between humans’ culture and their spirits.

For Mahito who was planning to analyse the souls of humans through novels and movies, speaking with the elderly man provided some assistance.

When would humans get angry and why would they feel sad?

What must one do to make humans trust others and how do they get betrayed?

For Mahito who was observing humans from a philosophical point of view, there were too many parts of them that were too difficult to understand but the elderly man would give additional explanation to help him understand.

As for this elderly man who was not too much like a human and had experienced living among humans, he stirred up a deep interest within Mahito.

“In the end, Gregor who had become a bug did not take heed of the warnings to hide and still showed himself in front of others and ended up dead….Gramps, why do you think Gregor did that?”

“You cannot find peace by avoiding life.”

“Are you quoting Virginia Woolf?”

When Mahito said the source of the quote without missing a beat, the elderly man raised his brow slightly.

“Seems like you like to read books too. It’s nice being able to chat leisurely like this.”

“Don’t tell me you want to return to where the people are?”

“If I no longer harbour feelings to the human world, then there is no need to run nor is there any need to face them.”

“I see.”

Mahito responded but his gaze stayed on his book.

Even though the elderly man was blind, he still had a peaceful soul and it still gave off light in the dark. Mahito treated the light emitted by his soul as a candle in the dark room and buried himself in the world of books.

The silent days passed in the darkness.

The air of summer outside the tunnel had quietly came to an end.

*

The time to say goodbye came out of the blue.

One day, after Mahito roamed around the city at the whim and picked up a collection of poetry discarded by someone and returned to the tunnel, he felt some kind of disturbance that should not present.

There were three wavering souls.

One of them was a familiar shape but it was extremely frail now, just like a flickering flame in the wind that was close to being extinguished.

Mahito entered the tunnel with his usual pace.

The elderly man was still at his familiar spot after all.

However what differed from the normal was that he was collapsed on the ground in a strange position.

There were also two young men who pincered the elderly man, looking at the elderly man with their heads down.

“Hey—we’re screwed, he seems to be really dead.”

The long-haired skinny man said in a tone that could not be considered anxious.

“Didn’t I tell you earlier, it’s just killing someone, how difficult could it be?”

The burly crew cut man replied with a flippant tone.

“Even so, you only did it at the heat of the moment, right?”

“This old man can’t even walk steadily and he’s still arrogant enough to ask us to scram, he was looking down on us. Of course I can’t help but kick him.”

The crew cut man probably did some sort of exercises as his legs were as thick as logs. To him, kicking an elderly man to death might be easier than flattening an empty can.

The two men seem to treat the elderly man’s life, the elderly man’s soul in a dismissive manner.

There was no grudge or clear motive or intention to kill.

The probably just came to this tunnel while they were leisurely wandering around and then acted violently against another person in the heat of the moment, beating the other because they felt like it.

For humans, these actions can also be considered freedom.

Mahito squatted on the ground and looked at the elderly man’s face closely.

That face that already had its eyes burnt to the point of blindness was beaten till it was badly swollen. However, even though he was on the brink of death, the elderly man still had a peaceful expression.

“Are you going to die?”

Mahito asked lightly as though he was talking to himself.

“……………I should, be…………”

The elderly man replied in a raspy voice. He probably did not even have the strength left to force his voice out, so the two men who were talking loudly did not seem to hear what he said.

Mahito stared at the elderly man, observing his soul.

His soul already had no more movement, no wavering, no anger or sadness, it was just quietly preparing to welcome the end of life.

Mahito was very moved.

Because the elderly man before him was a real free person, he had already escaped from all the links he had with this world and even before his death, there was still no change.

Mahito was extremely relieved that he was able to witness such a moment with his own eyes. He stared at the dying elderly man like he was watching the moment a plant withered.

However—

“Gramps?”

He had a premonition.

It was like turning the page of a book and seeing that the content of the text developed in a direction that was not expected. It was the same as knowing the contents of a box before opening it.

This unease spread out within Mahito.

The alarm bells should be ringing, telling his to stop watching. But just as Mahito was hesitating, everything about the elderly came to an end.

“…….I thought I was going to die alone.”

The elderly man’s soul trembled a bit.

A smile appeared on his swollen face.

“……There’s actually someone who would see off……an old thing like me.”

Perhaps the shaking this time was so miniscule that it was no different from a small bead of water falling on onto the surface of water.

Even so, it was at the moment the elderly man died.

At the final of final moments, his soul “metabolised”.

“…………………Thank, you………………”

And like this—

The elderly man’s life ended with a smile on his face.

“…………………..”

Mahito’s eyes widened and he froze on the spot for a while.

He had thought that the elderly man was different from other humans, a human who was truly free.

He had thought the elderly man’s philosophical take on things was a special situation, allowing him to break out of all his bonds.

Even so—all this came to naught when the elderly man was close to death.

He escaped from the reality of dying alone and depended on someone just when he was about to die.

The elderly man was a human after all.

After being satisfied, he died normally like a normal human being.

“………………”

Mahito was speechless.

There was only a chill in his chest, as though a gust of cold dry air blew past him.

He did not know the term that humans had for this kind of feeling. He was just aware that what felt like a tangled bunch of wool started to move around randomly and then snapped at one go.

His whole body was stuck in a place that felt like the barren wild.

“Say something….”

The crew cut man’s voice came from nearby.

“The police won’t investigate seriously. This is just some old dude who came from who knows where.”

“If I think about it….it’s just as you say.”

The long-haired man said lightly.

“I mean seriously, the one who picked the fight first was that old guy.”

“You could say he deserves it. He should see who he’s going up against.”

“I’m more bothered that my pants got dirty when I kicked him.”

“That’s funny. You’re actually concerned about something so trivial after killing someone.”

“This thing can’t even be considered a human. Also, you know that I like cleanliness? Eh, I don’t know if I can get the blood stains off, I don’t think water would do.”

“It probably won’t work. But don’t you feel that you’ll get hungry once you’re relieved? Let’s go get some grub at the supermarket.”

“I wonder if the supermarket sells good detergent.”

“How would I know, let’s just get some bento first and search for that later.”

Mahito suddenly stood up as though he gave up browsing through items at a store.

The feeling of burnout had spread throughout his body.

It was frustrating to hear this conversation that had no head or tail, that was full of excuses, escaping reality and the volume was so loud that it rang throughout the tunnel, covering the sound of flowing water.

Mahito felt weary from the bottom of his heart and walked as though he was going to pick up trash that fell on the ground and went straight for the crew cut man.

Idle transfiguration. In an instant, his skill surged.

After that, he clapped his hand against the crew cut man’s back and the man’s external form was no longer that of a human.

“Yi——–“

If he killed them directly, their bodies would be very much in the way so he “folded” the human, while still alive, to the size of his palm and would then discard them some other time.

Then with a wave of his hand, the other person was also folded.

“Argh———”

The quiet had returned.

After Mahito picked up the two people who have shrunk to the size of chess pieces, he lowered his head to look at the elderly man’s corpse that was the only object left in the tunnel.

This elderly man was now nothing more than bones contained in a bag made from human flesh, it no longer had a soul he could manipulate with idle transfiguration.

Mahito was troubled for a while, thinking that humans’ bodies were the hardest to handle.

In the end, only the sound of water was left in the tunnel.

*

–On a clear day.

Clouds peeked through the gaps between buildings and passed by comfortably under the blowing of the wind.

Mahito was leisurely strolling around the city.

“It’s been a while since I watched a movie, I shall go watch one.”

He chose a cinema that looked old fashioned and slipped inside.

Lately Mahito was feeling quite enthusiastic, all the fatigue on his soul had flaked off so he was feeling lighthearted and the frequency of him manipulating humans’ souls also increased.

He thought that if he could fold up a human to a small size, he should be able to expand them so he experimented on this all night long. He was quite happy with the process but he knew that he was a bit too engrossed in it and also felt that it would be harmful to himself if he worked too hard.

So it was nice to have a change of pace once in a while.

Mahito did not check what kind of movie was showing at the moment. Basically, it should be some plain and boring B-rated film, but if he did not have any expectations, perhaps he would be able to unexpectedly enjoy an interesting story.

What was unexpected was that he had this kind of feeling.

While on the way to the movie theatre, Mahito felt the inside of his shirt and his hand touched some of those “tiny humans” that have gotten larger.

–Speaking of which, he had already felt that these things had become an eyesore earlier.

He grabbed a few at random and tossed them onto the pavement in front of the cinema.

Then he opened the door and went into the screening hall.

Perhaps because it was a weekday, there were only a few members in the audience seats. The figures of people who appear to be students were seated in small groups around.

Mahito stood at the corner of the screening hall and waited for the image to appear on the screen.

Not long after, the screening hall became dark, taking over the announcement on the screen that the movie was about to start.