I Became the Final Subjugation Target of That Era’s Light Novel

“Wait, Yuka, just listen to me for a second!”

“……What do you want to talk about?”

As I wrapped my arms around my head desperately and shouted, Yuka asked back.

Yuka was still holding a knife.

There was no firmness in her expression. After all, this creature that resembled my face somehow managed to fend off Yuka’s attacks.

No, it could be that the fact that it resembled me was what made it even weirder. If it was just a sculpture that looked like my head, Yuka could have easily smashed it. But this creature was alive and moving.

Moreover, it made some strange sounds in my voice.

“Uu?”

Seeing it look up at me while nestled in my arms made me ponder several times.

When I first met it, it was just a huge nose. Not even a real nose, but one the size of my head. It was anything but a normal creature.

The flabby mass that seemed devoid of bones transformed into a human head.

At first glance, it looked like a yōkai, but—

“I didn’t feel this was a yōkai at all!”

For some reason, I was shouting while protecting this mass.

“There’s no nest, and we didn’t feel that unique sensation we usually do. So, it might not be a yōkai.”

“Did you just say that?!”

But even as Yuka said this, she didn’t seem to have any intention of charging at me to snatch it away.

Her voice just sounded somewhat tired, filled with a subtle emotion.

Perhaps Yuka could also sense something extremely strange going on.

What could be the reason the government could suddenly find this place? What is this mass inside the house? Why are such things in a place that looks like people live here?

What spilled out of the refrigerator looked like the remains of a gruesome murder. Human limbs that grew out of nowhere. Or perhaps a head. It looked like failed clones from some old alien movie that were carelessly chopped up and wrapped tightly.

And this creature accepted the mass that popped out as if embracing its own body.

I felt it was dangerous. What if it was just a creature pretending to be harmless for survival?

But at the same time, seeing its hair move made me wonder why it wasn’t attacking us. Couldn’t it whip us with its hair? If it had a skull inside, it could surely move like a whip and attack us.

If this mass doesn’t die when cut, couldn’t just part of it escape?

I looked down.

The head was looking up at me.

The emotion I should feel seeing that head looking at me would probably be ‘creepiness’. A head with nothing but a face looking up at me; it’s a scene that seems right out of a horror story.

But—

“What are you?”

“What are you?”

As I spoke to it, it answered back like that.

“……”

When it was just a nose, it seemed incapable of seeing the light we were casting. But now that it has eyes, it’s a little different. Those two eyes are gazing up at me.

Is it trying to imitate me as I look at it? Or did it somehow gain a functional side while following my actions?

At the very least, Koko’s appearance looking up at me was exceedingly innocent.

“Can you, talk?”

“Can you, talk—?”

Giggle.

The creature with my head shape mimicked my words and laughed. That smile looked completely harmless. Could this even be acting?

“Yōkai can speak too.”

“Yōkai too? Talk, can?”

Looking at Yuka holding a knife from a slight distance, it imitated Yuka’s words.

…Suddenly, a thought struck me.

The light novel I had never finished. A generic harem genre mixed with a somewhat cruel setting that was popular back in the day.

Did it only have five heroines? Were there no additional heroines supposed to be added?

Though saying this feels a bit self-serving, I, ‘Kurosawa Koto Ne,’ have enough of a setup to qualify as a heroine. Perhaps the additional heroines showed up in the latter parts of the novel I read. Kagami might be the same.

It wouldn’t be so strange for a yōkai heroine to appear in a novel about hunting yōkai.

…Though I still don’t even know if this is a yōkai.

Wrapping my arms around my head, I took a deep breath and then exhaled, turning to Yuka.

“Yuka, just for a bit, it’s okay to just hold the knife.”

“……”

Yuka didn’t respond.

But I took her silent stance as ‘not intending to attack for now’ and slowly bent down to place the head down.

“Uu?”

The head was looking up at me again.

I rolled up my raincoat and rummaged through my pockets. There was something to eat in there… just one. A few candies I brought along, thinking I might get hungry on the way.

I pulled out a candy and unwrapped it, and—

“Woo!”

The head resembling my own shouted with my voice.

Watching it bounce up and down, I felt an indescribable mix of feelings. Should I call it bizarre or cute?

As I dropped the candy, it caught it and ate it.

Crunch.

Seeing it chew on the candy with a joyful expression felt strange once again.

I silently looked up at Yuka.

Yuka was also looking down at my head with a weird expression.

“Woo!”

Seemingly done with the candy, the head bounced back up towards me again.

In the end, I gave it another candy I had saved for Yuka.

*

“……So, what are we going to do now?”

Yuka asked.

Yuka ultimately still couldn’t bring herself to bite into it.

If it looked like a human head, but resembled a dog… No, that’s still incredibly unsettling. It’s better to have something so openly awkward instead.

It did look like my head, but it didn’t seem devoid of intelligence. Watching it learn what we say and gradually mimic a few words while laughing proves that point even more.

Even though I never showed it a single smile, it often emitted joyful giggles.

It was just like a puppy left alone for a long time that finally saw its owner.

Has it learned from the fact I once held it? It kept trying to climb back onto my lap, making me feel strange again.

“……For now, should we try unwrapping that one over there?”

I pointed toward the refrigerator.

After all, having just a head is too much. While it seemed like its hair grew when it absorbed that mass a while ago, seeing it follow my face made me think my body might follow suit.

I can’t just show a head alone to outsiders, can I?

Or perhaps I could wrap it up with the leftover plastic from earlier and take it with me…

Why am I even considering taking it outside anyway?

“Woo?”

Looking at the face staring up at me, I once again felt something strange. Is it like the feeling of seeing a lost puppy?

“Kya! Kya!”

As I pointed at the refrigerator, it tried to bounce energetically toward it, and I had to catch it to stop it. Though I said that, to be honest, it feels a little weird right now.

Besides, was there any reason that it couldn’t open the refrigerator while moving its hair?

“……”

I looked down at the ground and felt like I understood something.

The floor had a red magic circle drawn on it that looked like some sort of spell. The entire room seemed to be wrapped in plastic, almost like it was being protected, but part of it was destroyed when we fell from the ceiling.

Perhaps the appearance of that nose also came from some mass that just grew out from somewhere. Whoever sealed that here had lost a part of their body.

“That seems troubling.”

Yuka, who was sitting next to me, said.

“If it grows bigger, who knows what will happen.”

“Grows—bigger—?”

“……Yeah, if it grows.”

Yuka seemed to unknowingly answer herself, then sighed as if she didn’t understand why she answered in the first place.

“Uu?”

We fell into silence for a moment.

“……Alright.”

After a moment of contemplation, Yuka stood up and said.

“For now—”

Bang!

But before Yuka could propose anything to me, a loud and suspicious noise echoed from outside.

“!Kya!”

Seemingly startled, the head screamed.

We quickly got up. Yuka flung the door open and rushed outside—

“Ugh!”

She hurriedly ducked down.

Craack!

Something invisible flew and hit the spot where Yuka’s head had been just moments ago. Part of the door frame broke, wood splintering, and a deep gash appeared in the side wall.

“Ah…!”

I had seen that before.

“Yuka!”

Before I could stop her, Yuka had already jumped down from the second-floor balcony. Bang, bang, bang, the sounds of gunfire rang out again.

I felt a chill creeping up my spine.

Nest? Yōkai? Not sure—

But for some reason, it felt like something from a long-ago memory was about to resurface.

Back then, I was too busy running away to sense anything or recall the faded memories.

“……This feeling.”

Yes. The sensation I feel each time I encounter a yōkai is similar to that felt back when the woman chasing us made us run alongside Kagami.

So that was it.

“Uu… Uu…”

Inside my arms, the head was trembling.

“……Are you scared of that person too?”

“Scared?”

That must be it emulating my words. There probably wasn’t any deeper meaning behind it.

But that attitude—indeed, I felt like I understood.

Somehow, this creature is related to that woman.

…Maybe it’s something that’s simply broken like me and Kagami.

“Wait a moment.”

“Wait?”

“……I can’t leave Yuka alone.”

Sounds of fighting could be heard outside.

……Yuka has gotten tangled up in my affairs.

The people outside are too.

“Uu! Uu!”

The head bounced up.

Is it trying to stop me? I can’t tell. But there’s no time for understanding its meaning.

I burst through the door and slammed it shut.

Then I lunged forward with all my might.

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