Chapter 5: Nightmares, a Park, and Public Safety

Darkness.

In the endlessly descending darkness, Eigo stood there once again. Hot, humid air, the metallic smell of iron, the acrid stench of gunpowder, and the reek of blood all mingled as they forced their way into his lungs.

A constant ringing filled his ears. Gunfire, screams, and explosions tangled together until not a single sound could be clearly distinguished.

When will it end...?

The ground beneath his feet was slick with mud and blood. Between collapsed earthen walls and burned-out houses, people held their breath inside crude tunnels dug into the ground—places too pitiful to even call shelters.

The hands clutching guns were trembling. Every face was frozen with fear.

|Eigo!|

At a voice from beyond the small hatch that served as a passage to the surface, Eigo looked up. He opened it and pulled his upper body outside. Through the smoke, a small silhouette was waving at him.

"You can come out now! There's nobody here!"

It was a little girl. He had called her by name before. But he could not remember what that name was, no matter how hard he tried.

"Okay!"

Eigo waved back at her. The girl had already run some distance away, bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Looks like the soldiers have finally pulled out. Everyone, let's get out of here!"

With a bright smile, Eigo relayed the news the girl had brought. At last looking relieved, the villagers climbed up to the surface one by one.

Boom—!

An ear-splitting blast. Something was falling from the sky. Eigo's vision slowed.

An artillery shell. Hadn't the military withdrawn...?

Could it be intentional? Were they bombing the village on purpose...?

"Everybody, get back!!!!!"

Panicked, the people still managed to return underground safely.

All except one....

No, not this time—

Eigo ran toward the girl, frozen in place by the shock of the bombardment. He stretched out his arm. His fingertips were almost close enough to touch her....

Light, then heat. Everything burned white.

The shockwave of the bombardment struck his body, and Eigo rolled across the ground. Dirt and shrapnel tore into his flesh.

He could hear nothing. Only the pressure that felt as though his eardrums had ruptured remained.

"...!"

No sound came from his throat.

When the smoke cleared, he forced one eye open through his mangled body and looked at the place before him.

It was no longer a place where a person could stand.

A deep crater, one small shoe scattered beside it, a scrap of cloth burned black....

Eigo crawled toward the place where the girl had been standing just moments ago. His legs would not obey him. He could not breathe.

If only I'd been a little faster....

The same sentence repeated in his head.

If only I'd been a little faster.If only I hadn't hesitated.If I—

Another thunderous explosion rang out overhead. Someone seized Eigo by the shoulder and pulled him away.

"Let go! She's still—!"

His scream was swallowed by another explosion.

The scene warped. It split apart as if being torn open, and darkness devoured the gap.

The girl's face receded through the smoke. At the very end, her lips moved.

He never heard what she said.

.

.

.

"Aaaaaaagh—!!!!"

Eigo jolted upright.

His breath came out in ragged gasps. His shirt was soaked through with sweat.

His hands still trembled as though they were holding on to something. People strolling through the park passed by, stealing glances at Eigo like they had seen something strange.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

Eigo took several deep breaths, in and out. His heart was still beating wildly.

"This is...."

He murmured under his breath as he looked around. The bench he had been using as a bed, the streetlights... It was a park where the thin dawn mist had begun to clear.

It was a dream.

His mind recognized that he had returned to reality, but his body found it much harder to accept. His fingertips were still shaking.

He clenched and unclenched his fists several times, then felt around inside his clothes. He felt something cold and hard.

When he took out his pocket watch and opened its lid, the second hand went tick, tick, faithfully tracing its circle as though nothing had happened. Eigo pressed a hand to his forehead and lowered his head.

Instead of the blasts that had been tearing apart his ears just moments ago, he could faintly hear insects chirping and the sounds of the city early in the morning.

Eigo remained seated for a long time. Leaning his elbows on the bench with his head bowed, he stayed there until his breathing completely settled.

After repeatedly taking deep breaths, his heart, which had been pounding as if it would burst, gradually returned to its normal rhythm. If he closed his eyes, he felt as though it would all immediately come back to him.

Smoke, firelight, the girl's silhouette. The sensation of not reaching her, as though it still lingered at his fingertips....

Eigo tightened his grip around the pocket watch. He squeezed until the metal bit into his palm, then slowly loosened his hand.

"I'm tired...."

With a bitter smile, he leaned back against the bench. He raised his head and looked up at the sky.

The boundary between dawn and morning. Darkness was retreating, just before blue returned to the sky.

Eigo slowly stood up. His joints gave a soft crack.

He slung the backpack that had served as his pillow all night over his shoulder again, then dusted off his dirt-covered shirt.

"I feel like having something refreshing for breakfast today."

*

The outskirts of Kasukabe City.

A restricted area had been cordoned off at the boundary between the city and nature. Outside the line stood numerous residents, curious about the extraordinary intruding upon what should have been their ordinary lives.

Inside, Public Safety personnel in black suits and police officers stood at their posts without expression.

Weaving through the residents, a woman stepped beyond the cordon. As she lowered her gaze to the ground, she saw cleanly severed bone fragments and pieces of landmines scattered everywhere.

"The Skull Devil and the Landmine Devil...."

The hem of her coat fluttered softly in the wind, much like her voice. She surveyed the scene, tilting her head as if checking whether everything had been properly put in order.

"I heard the case was transferred to Public Safety after they claimed dozens of civilian Devil Hunters...."

A particularly unpleasant-looking Public Safety officer held out a document.

"That's correct. The casualties continued even after that, so we had to call you in, Makima."

Makima did not take the document. Instead, she crouched before the marks left on the ground.

With one finger, she lightly pressed against the cross-section of a severed bone.

"But they've already been exterminated."

Makima withdrew her hand and slowly rose. Brushing the dirt from her fingers, she swept her gaze around the area once more.

"A civilian came to the Kasukabe branch yesterday, didn't he? Carrying the heads of two Devils...."

"Yes. He said the bodies were too large to bring in. He told us they were here, so Public Safety could deal with them.... After examining the heads he handed over, we confirmed the characteristics of the Skull Devil and Landmine Devil. The finance department has already paid the extermination reward. It's impossible to believe a civilian dealt with Devils that had killed so many Devil Hunters... but it is true that he brought in the two Devils' heads...."

Makima briefly closed her eyes, then opened them. A breeze passed through, lightly stirring her red hair.

"There's one unusual detail the finance department relayed. Other than the fifty thousand yen he accepted, saying he would use it for a month's living expenses, he refused every bit of the reward. He said he wanted it donated to various facilities through Public Safety."

Makima nodded. Her expression contained neither approval nor disapproval.

"Anything else?"

"Ah, there is one thing. He was interrogated by Kasukabe Public Safety two days ago."

"Interrogated...?"

Makima tilted her head ever so slightly. It was a sign that her interest had been piqued.

"For what reason?"

"It was due to the incident three days ago, when the Okama Devil appeared at the Kasukabe Museum. He was working there part-time as a security guard, yet he was unharmed even though a Devil appeared... He stated that he had been asleep in the break room when the incident occurred."

"Any injuries?"

"None. We thought he was just an extraordinarily lucky bastard, but...."

Makima fell silent for a moment, as if deep in thought. Then she lightly rolled a landmine fragment scattered on the ground with the tip of her shoe.

"Then what is this person's background information?"

"Eigo. Apparently, he has no surname. Occupation unknown, residence unknown. No steady income, either.... Since a friend of mine works in the civilian sector, I obtained and checked the civilian Devil Hunter roster as well... but there was no one named Eigo. He is a completely ordinary civilian young man."

"...."

Makima smiled quietly.

"What an interesting person. And the result of the interrogation?"

"He was released with no charges. We considered the possibility that he was a Devil disguised as a human, but there was no clear evidence, and he showed no aggression toward the human Public Safety officers. If anything... he was extremely cooperative."

"And yet he exterminated the Skull Devil and Landmine Devil alone."

Makima's gaze returned to the scene. Judging by the clean cuts, the crushing marks, and the fact that almost no traces of the explosion remained, he was clearly highly skilled.

"That seems to be the case."

Makima was silent for a moment before turning toward the Public Safety officer.

"Where is he now?"

"He was last seen at dawn today. We've confirmed that he was sleeping rough in a park on the outskirts of Kasukabe. His movements since then—"

"That's enough for now."

Makima gently cut him off.

"For now, let's focus on recovering the bodies."

The wind blew again. The hem of her coat stirred, and sunlight slipped through her red hair.

Makima gave the scene one final look, then quietly started walking.

"Eigo...."

She rolled the name around in her mouth once, then murmured to herself as if it were nothing.

"He reminds me of a certain hero who suddenly vanished from Hell one day."

An object of terror who wore his protruding intestines around his neck like a scarf, who, whenever someone asked him for help, indiscriminately slaughtered both the Devil who made the request and its enemy. A Devil feared by Devils, killed countless times by countless Devils, yet revived again and again to the sound of an engine.

"Of course, I can't conclude they're the same person. Considering what he did in Hell, it's not something one could even imagine. But...."

Makima lightly kicked a small stone at the scene with the tip of her shoe. The stone bounced and skipped like a grasshopper, making faint little sounds.

"...."

Makima's voice trembled slightly, like that of a girl thinking about the idol she admired.

"You said his name was Eigo...? I'd like to meet him sometime."

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