Chapter 19: Angels, Devils, and Humans

"Ah, found you. A Devil..."

The moment Eigo’s mutter ended, the laughter ringing around them died away. A child’s foot stopped in midair, and grains of sand frozen in their leap hung suspended.

Even the trails of flying sparks were fixed like lines. Eigo took a step forward.

In a world where everything had stopped, only his footsteps echoed. He turned his head toward Makima.

She, too, was frozen. A faint smile rested on her face, caught at the very instant before she drew breath.

A smile that seemed natural, yet was not. She wore a mask of pretense and lies, but it was proof that the face beneath it was smiling faintly too.

He did not know her past. Even if he asked, he did not think she would answer.

It had not even been two weeks. Still, he was simply grateful that, while she was with him, even a little light had reached the deepest part of Makima—a woman who had seemed like a corpse dying, consumed by the emotion called loneliness.

He reached out, bringing his hand close to Makima’s bangs. Realizing it was an unconscious gesture, he stopped midway and did not touch her.

Eigo took the pocket watch from his pants pocket and placed it in Makima’s hand. Then he turned away.

"So then, should I call this one the [Angel Devil]?"

He slowly circled the strange human-shaped being with a glowing halo and wings above its head: an expression concealing its wariness beneath calmness, a net slung over its shoulder, its body tilted halfway to one side.

"It’s been a long time, Bareia."

Eigo stepped half a pace back from behind the Angel Devil. His gaze slid from the Angel Devil to Bareia.

Hands.

Their hands were clasped together. Normally, people clasp hands when greeting each other.

They did it to show that they carried no weapon... that they had no intent to harm the other person. Once that purpose had been served, they let go of the hand they had clasped.

But these two aren’t holding hands to greet each other. They’re still holding on. I don’t know when or where they first took each other’s hand... but they came all the way here holding hands. And besides...

Bareia wore gloves. They were thin gloves made from fish skin, thin enough to feel the warmth of the hand clasped in hers.

This Devil’s ability was likely the sort that inflicted some form of misfortune upon humans—or living creatures in general—through the direct act of skin-to-skin [contact].

Feigning indifference, Eigo moved one step beside the Angel Devil. The Angel Devil’s upper body was tilted ever so slightly toward Bareia.

An unconscious sense of direction. In a crisis, a person’s body turns first toward what they hold dear.

It was uncertain whether such a psychological behavior pattern also applied to Devils. But at least in the case of the Angel Devil, which looked human, Eigo thought it might.

The more friendly a Devil was toward humans, the more humanlike its appearance became. And this Devil was an angel, too.

And, surprisingly, Bareia accepted the Angel Devil’s unconscious behavior. She did not run, avoid it, or try to move away.

What revealed itself in a frozen instant was habit, relationship, and [truth]. The corner of Eigo’s mouth lifted slightly.

It looked like a smile, but it was not one. The meaning behind that lifted corner of his mouth was a certainty as sharp as the blade of a curved sword.

As if making one final confirmation, Eigo looked at their fingers. Their fingers were interlaced, as though each were trying to bind the other tightly to them.

There was no need to look into the past to understand their relationship. The answer was already clear.

"In this village, you’re not a Devil."

*

Silence descended without warning.

The laughter cut off, the sound of waves ceased, and the cheerful crackling of the bonfire stopped in the air. Only then did I realize it.

Time... has stopped.

I drew a breath. I blinked.

I could do both.

I moved my body. Slowly, the tips of my fingers began to move.

Something cold ran down my spine. It was not quite fear, but a sense of alienness.

The sensation that the rules of the world I knew had changed without any warning. I shifted my gaze.

People, children, grains of sand suspended in midair. All of them were fixed in place, like a photograph taken with the wrong button pressed.

Then, little by little, I became aware of an unfamiliar sensation in my hand. Cold, heavy metal.

...A pocket watch.

I turned my head. Eigo was moving.

He was walking so naturally through a world where all things had stopped. And through his permission, I was slowly entering that world.

I cautiously took a step. Sand shifted beneath my feet.

I’m in. Completely.

In this frozen world. In Eigo’s domain alone.

I looked at his back and slowly approached him.

"You made it, my friend."

How could those few words strike my heart so deeply...? I was the only other person he had invited into his own world.

In a world where he could stand above everyone else and reign supreme, I was the only being he had allowed to be his [equal]. The fact that it was me made my heart race madly.

"So, Maki. Do you know what this Devil is called?"

Every word and every sentence he spoke spread by my ears like a sweet performance that would never play again. Even the casual question he tossed out sent ripples through me.

Even in this frozen world... no, all the more clearly because it was frozen.

This Devil’s name...

I slowly turned my gaze back toward that being with the halo, wings, and human form.

"It’s the Angel Devil."

"Just like its name looks, then!"

"Yes."

I stepped forward. Eigo’s eyes turned to me.

I could feel against my skin that he was focusing on my words. It sent a thrill through me. An intoxicating pleasure I could not name ran from my spine through my entire body.

"Its ability... is to consume life through contact and bring death. And in exchange for the life force it consumes, it can create powerful weapons. To humans suffering in pain, it is a blessing. To those who are not, it is a curse."

I took Eigo’s hand.

"That’s why this child is an angel, and at the same time... a Devil."

I looked at the woman’s hand clasped with the Angel Devil’s. Then I withdrew my gaze and turned it toward Eigo, slowly moving my lips.

"Eigo..."

"What is it?"

"I don’t think there’s any reason to [eliminate] this child right now."

Even as I spoke, I did not know what I was saying.

"This child’s ability is certainly dangerous. But it is being properly controlled. More than anything, he is restraining it of his own will."

Eigo did not interrupt me.

"The villagers probably know, too. What this child’s ability is like."

I glanced toward the bonfire.

"And yet, they accepted him."

One way or another, this child’s ability would be of help to the nation. That was why the Japanese government had gone so far as to stage such a pathetic little farce and dispatch me here.

But my heart wished that this child would not be [eliminated] from this village. Perhaps it was because, through the hand clasped with the woman’s, I saw something of myself.

But I did not know the exact reason. I did not even know what I was thinking right now.

I only... did not want him to leave this village. I did not want this Devil and the woman whose hand he held to be separated.

"Maki."

"Yes."

"You know that isn’t something a Devil Hunter directly under the Chief Cabinet Secretary should be saying, right?"

I nodded.

"It’s just... my personal opinion. This child is living here. He holds someone’s hand, and there is someone waiting for him to come back..."

I looked at the Angel Devil again.

"...I know I’m being strange, too. Until now, it was always easy to distinguish between targets that had to be eliminated and those that did not. Whether they were needed or not. Whether they were dangerous or controllable. I weighed those things, and it was never difficult to decide whether a Devil that appeared on-site should be [eliminated] or [exterminated]."

I clenched my hand tightly, then released it.

"And I often made rather heartless decisions, too... Ones I can say for certain would make you hate me if I told you about them..."

Eigo said nothing. He looked down at me for a moment, then very slowly wrapped his arms around my waist.

I liked the warmth of his embrace, so I burrowed deeper into it. His voice, like a warm spring breeze whispering gently, entered through my ears and made my heart tremble.

"Then... should we just go back?"

"I’d like that. I don’t really understand what’s what, but... if possible, I just want to go back.... But... this is an order from the state.... One way or another... we have to... eliminate that child from this village..."

Eigo stroked my head. He smoothed down my hair, then ran his fingers over my ear for a long time, as though trying to memorize its shape.

"We’re the only ones here anyway. If we just keep quiet, no one will know. Any fact can be made into whatever you say it is."

Whatever you say it is.

At those words, it felt as though I had emerged from a narrow alley into a vast meadow, and my vision opened wide. With my forehead against his chest, I said nothing for a while.

I closed my eyes. This was a world where time had stopped... a world untouched by anyone’s eyes or ears.

I thought with complete honesty. With complete selfishness.

I want this village to stay just as it is.

I want those two not to let go of each other’s hands.

And...

I wanted this person to remain by my side.

"...Then."

I raised my head. Eigo was still holding me, stroking me with warm hands, looking at me with gentle eyes.

Drawing courage from the sight of him, I spoke.

"Let’s just go back."

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