[Part 2/4]
As I was contemplating that, I heard the sound of a sliding shoji door from behind. I slowly turn around, accompanied by a strong sense of unease.
A tall man holding a creepy chainsaw and a Nanban clown with white makeup and red hair and nose were standing there. Well, they clearly looked like Jason and Pennywise.
(Oh, co to think of it, the author of this room was a fan of foreign horror.)
I rember such a thing with a sense of escaping from reality. A pursuit of humans rather than dogs. The space of those who drive people. This room, which seed to play around with the the, was surprisingly dangerous.
'Vroom Vrooom!!'
'Ahahahaaha!'
The big man revs the chainsaw while shouting. The clown, with a wide grin, lets out peculiar laughter. And I shout at the kids.
"Alright... Run!!"
And now, the chase of humans has resud.
* * *
"Cough, cough... Haah... Haah... Damn it, I can't take it anymore! Absolutely!!"
Shishimai Asami, carried by the waves on the sandy beach, continued to curse as much as she could while coughing. And there was Tamaki, in a form being carried on her back. Both of them were drenched to a pitiful extent.
After escaping from a swarm of bats by smashing through the ceiling of a cave, the price they had to pay was being subrged in the cold sea.
Shishimai swam through an underground lake while assisting Tamaki, who was struggling with an injured leg. And they arrived at this shore. How did they go from an underground lake to the shore? Such reasoning didn't hold much aning in this place. Inside the monster's (Mayoiga) belly, everything was beyond the boundaries of common sense and reason.
"Cough! Cough!? Are you okay? Are you alive?... Ah, d*mn it! She's unconscious!"
Shishimai noticed that Tamaki was suffocating and losing consciousness, so she dropped her onto the sand. She hugged her from behind to administer first aid, patting her back. She forcefully opened her mouth to secure her airway and pounded her chest. She did it over and over again.
"Geho!? Ugh!! Blegrh!!?"
After a while, Tamaki suddenly began coughing. She spat out water from her mouth. She continued coughing and gasping for breath, taking in shallow breaths.
"Alright! You're alive, right? Do you know your na?"
Kneeling down, Shishimai asked Tamaki, lightly tapping her cheek to help her regain awareness. It was said that even after resuscitation from suffocation, there could be lasting effects. If it was mild, there would be no problem, but if it was severe... unfortunately, at that ti, there was no choice but to abandon the girl before her eyes. Surviving in the belly of this monster with a burden was not easy.
"...H-Hotoya. Hotoya Tamaki...?"
"Good. Your affiliation? Your occupation? Do you know where this is?"
"Affiliation...? Cough, exorcists. My... cough, family's... Uh, the Onitsuki family's mber! And... and... is this...? Have we made it outside!?"
Tamaki scread as if finally returning to reality. She looked around at the surroundings and asked Shishimai. However, Shishimai shook her head in response to Tamaki's question.
"Unfortunately, no."
Saying that, Shishimai stood up and suddenly began taking off her outfit. Tamaki, montarily startled by the act of suddenly exposing her bare skin, quickly understood its aning.
The clothes of the two, who were in the water until recently, were soaked and clinging to their bodies. Even as they stood there, water droplets continued to drip down like rain.
"This guy did well. To have a fake sky."
While removing her undergarnts, Shishimai spewed her words with genuine loathing. The vibrant sky, compared to the impression one gets from seeing it, wasn't that great.
"This... is a fake?"
Tamaki gazed at the sky in disbelief, muttering as if unable to believe it. The sky she looked up at seed so vivid.
"No matter how elaborate it is, it's still a fake, an imitation. It's detestable, isn't it?"
Wringing out her soaked clothes like a rag, Shishimai scoffed and spat out her words with a mocking tone. Water cascaded down from the clothes that were squeezed by the semi-youkai's strength. When it ford puddles, it seeped into the sand and disappeared...
"You should hurry up and wring out your clothes too. It's heavy and uncomfortable when they're soaked, you know?... Fortunately, there are no youkai around here."
Following Shishimai's instructions, Tamaki hastily followed her instruction and removed her clothes to wring them out. Her gaze turned to the surroundings, not out of caution but more out of embarrassnt. Even though there were no harmful beings in the vicinity, Tamaki still felt embarrassed about being completely naked with no coverings. At the sa ti, she couldn't help but admire Shishimai's boldness. Was it the sa for half-youkai like the wolf who was her friend? Did they have no sense of resistance or embarrassnt about undressing?
"This place... Well, let's go. If we stay here any longer, we'll dry up."
Wearing the clothes that had been drained as much as possible, Shishimai declared. She clicked her tongue at the unnecessarily strong sunlight and climbed the sandy beach's hill.
"..."
Ignoring Shishimai's words, Tamaki, also dressed in her outfit, looked up at the sky. She sighed. The cold sea breeze brushed against her cheeks. It cald her heart. And then... she suddenly rembered the mory from a while ago.
"What was that...?"
In the darkness of the cave, while drowning, a fleeting scene flashed through her mind, causing Tamaki's expression to darken. Was it a delusion? A hallucination? Or... she didn't know. It was too ambiguous, too blurry. Was that scene sothing she had created, a mory from her childhood, or sothing completely different? She didn't know. She couldn't tell.
"Hey, what are you just standing there for!? Co on, let's go already!!"
"Huh!? W-Wait!"
Called out loudly once again, Tamaki snapped back to her senses. She started running along the sandy beach to catch up with Shishimai, leaving the hill behind. But as soon as she reached the top, she stopped in her tracks, captivated by the sight before her.
"This is..."
Before Tamaki's eyes stretched a vast land of sand, an expanse of desert...
* * *
"Alright, it worked!!... Ouch, that hurts!?"
'('∀ ') We have arrived!! (. >д
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