[Self Record] Basic Information [Leviathan's Report]
Pride:
Lucifer, Azazel, etc.
Wrath:
Satan, Amon, etc.
Envy:
Beelzebub, Leviathan, etc.
Gluttony:
Beelzebub, Molech, etc.
Greed:
Behemoth, Mammon, etc.
Sloth:
Belphegor, Lilith, Astaroth, etc.
Lust:
Belphegor, Asmodeus, etc.
...There are too many of them. So of them are in multiple slots. And alternate nas like Satan and Lucifer just make it more confusing. There are multiple candidates because the situation changes depending which version of European theology you are looking at, but the dignity of the title "Demon Lord" fades a bit when their numbers reach the double digits. Then again, this is a theory put together by theologians to conquer the fear of demons, so that may be the right way of going about it.
"Huhh? Taori-san, did you take soone in again? Well, not that I can complain when I'm a freeloader too."
I was a ss.
I had been thoroughly beaten.
But not by anyone out there in the world. By my own ugliness.
I still felt depressed as a woman in a white dress and cardigan, who had once been my mother, led to a high-rise apartnt building I had never seen before. Instead of blending into the similar buildings of a residential district, it stood out from the coastal shopping district and would have made a good landmark. As soon as we stepped inside one apartnt, we were greeted by a confused voice.
"You really do like this kind of thing, Taori-san. Have you already forgotten how mad the landlord was when you brought back that big dog even though this place doesn't allow pets?"
It was a flashy blonde girl in a champagne-red dress who spoke to my mom. I didn't know what to call her hairstyle, but the silhouette of her head looked like it was part of a revolutionary new trend in flower arrangent. I had never seen the real thing, but she looked like the cabaret girls I had seen in dramas. She had a lot of accessories on her hands and around her neck. I doubted she was in high school, but she looked a little young to be in college. Her flashy appearance may have been leading astray, but I had difficulty grasping her age or figuring out how formal to act around her.
My mom, Magatsu Taori, silently nodded.
"You can tell?"
"Well, yeah. He's in so kind of trouble like , right? Besides, do you have any idea how late it is? You were only just freed, so I know you aren't about to bring a young boy ho with you for no real reason. That would be a waste."
The cabaret girl waved her hand dismissively before continuing.
"I'm Himatsuri Asami. Nice to et you, runaway boy."
"Oh, um, uh."
Who was she?
My mom had supposedly been trapped below an abandoned hospital for more than three years, so had these two recently t and really hit it off?
"What? You aren't going to introduce yourself?"
"I'm...Amatsu Satori."
"Amatsu?"
This Himatsuri person curiously repeated my family na. She was clearly wrinkling her brow. She apparently knew my mom well enough to be familiar with her family situation.
Which would include that she had returned to her maiden na after the divorce.
"Oh, well, this is quite sothing... T-Taori-san? Did you do sothing rash!?"
"I didn't take him away from his ho. I just happened across him looking like this, so I was worried..."
"That excuse will only work with your friends! Oh, honestly. I'll contact my family lawyer, so you just be honest about everything that happened. I'll get this straightened out, but don't you know how ssy child custody issues can be!?"
Himatsuri-san began mussing up her own impressive blonde hair and then called soone up on her smartphone. Despite her flashy appearance, she may have been the sympathetic type who would help anyone out with their problems.
And a family lawyer? Did that an she was rich? If she was living here, she must not have had her own cook or driver, though.
My mom watched the cabaret girl(?) walk out onto the balcony with the phone and then she laughed and turned toward .
"Don't worry. If Asami-chan says she'll straighten this out, then she will, so you don't have anything to worry about."
"Um..."
"You don't have to tell everything. Just stay here for as long as you need to and head ho once you think you can."
That was extraordinary.
But that was why I couldn't help but wonder why she would go this far.
And she must have sensed the doubt in my face because she relaxed her shoulders and whispered to .
"It's best if you don't understand. Especially at your age."
Of the few rooms, she showed to the living room and reached for the TV remote.
"Defeat 100 codians with your trademark gag? Easy! I've made it 20 years with one impression! Dwah hah hah!!"
"It has been revealed that the military was involved in the largescale infrastructure damage done by the sli Archenemies in Las Vegas, and it is looking possible that the entirety of Congress will resign..."
"Marine Biology Quiz! This week's the is sharks! They get a bad rap, but most of them aren't all that violent."
She flipped through a few channels, but she probably wasn't looking for anything in particular. She was just trying to distract , so she was focused on finding sothing calming to watch.
"Given the ti, you can think of it as a late night snack, but do you want to fix you so pancakes, Satori-chan?"
"?"
"You liked them, didn't you? With ice cream on top? Assuming Asami-chan didn't eat it all, there should be so vanilla left in the freezer."
At first, I had no idea what she was talking about, but she wasn't rembering wrong. I vaguely recalled eating that a lot when I was little.
Was our family still frozen in ti in her mories? If so, that was sad. She had not made a new family or started on a new life. And it had happened because I hadn't gone with her after the divorce.
She slowly removed her cardigan and called out to the balcony.
"Asami-chan, what did you do with the bath?"
"Right, right. So make it top priority! ...Yes? I left the bathwater in the tub. I thought you would want to take a bath when you got back."
"You heard her. I'll reheat the water, so take a bath. You're exhausted, aren't you?"
"Eh? But...?"
"The basics of life matter. When there's a weight on your mind, satisfying your body's needs is the best first step. Or do you want to take a bath with your mom like old tis?"
"Okay, okay, let's not make this more complicated than it already is!! I can hear everything you're saying!!" Himatsuri-san stord in from the balcony and then pointed straight at . "There's only one rule here. You can cause Taori-san all the trouble you want, I'm in no place to criticize you for that. But make her cry and I'll hit you, no matter how much she tries to stop . Understand?"
Since she wrapped her expensive-looking watch around her palm instead of forming a fist, she must have been used to getting into fights. Was she planning to scratch with the watch's face? When I nodded several tis, she smiled. It looked like she had accepted as one of them.
"That's fine then. I'll pick a fight with the world too."
I was then pushed on over to the changing room. At this rate, I started to think I really would be served pancakes with vanilla ice cream on top.
Once alone in the changing room, I looked in the mirror and pulled out my smartphone.
"Maxwell."
"Sure. You have 34 missed calls, 20 emails, and 58 text ssages. How will you respond?"
"Sorry... Can you just ignore those for now?"
"That is a disappointingly pathetic response, but I suppose you are not hopelessly pathetic as you did not ask to erase them."
I was well aware how horrible and la I was being here.
Las Vegas had been taken over by the sli Archenemies we called gels. It had been destroyed by the air force bombing ant to suppress the gels. I had saved the people swallowed by the gels, but that was all. Behind the scenes, it had all been connected to the tickets for an ark known as Absolute Noah. My stepmom, Amatsu Yurina, had given tickets out to the people who had been selected by the machines because they had top priority on paper and she had used that to wipe them all out so they would not take up the spots needed for the people who truly deserved to survive. She had intentionally caused a disaster, given those black-hearted people false arks, and made sure they could not hope for anything more than that.
And?
So what?
What had I done when I learned the truth? I had thoroughly criticized my stepmom, but I had failed to get her to say she wouldnt do it again. I couldnt even get her to apologize.
No, I had known from the beginning that nothing I said would draw out the words I wanted to hear.
I had known that, but I had still hurt my family.
Issues of justice and stopping that grand plan had been second in my mind. All I had done was throw my frustrations at her. And then I had run off, made sure she couldnt find , and then made myself a burden on my biological mother who I had supposedly parted ways with already.
Is this the kind of person I wanted to be?
What kind of person had I dread of being in those crayon drawings on construction paper when I was little?
I have already made my judgnt of you, user. You are pathetic but not hopelessly so.
Whats the difference?
At the ti, a few different options were available to you: get into a fight with Madam Amatsu Yurina and drive her out of the house, leave the house yourself, or pretend it had not happened.
Maxwell spoke through a series of social dia speech bubbles.
You could not keep quiet about this unreasonable world, but you also could not take away a family mbers ho. So you left yourself. That ans you are quite fragile, but with a strong sense of justice and kindness. Thus you are not as hopeless as those who let their sense of justice narrow their vision to the point of swinging their fist in their own ho.
Did that an I was walking the sa path as my mom who had left our ho after the argunts with my dad progressed too far?
As a result, you alone have lost everything. Even though other options were available, such as turning your back on justice and laughing, or wielding your justice to threaten her. So you should be proud of your decision. I am more than willing to support my pathetic user in this.
Is that so?
I finally felt like I could see a slight smile on my haggard face in the mirror. A bit of flattery could really change your outlook on the world. That seed pathetic, but I couldnt just sit around.
Maxwell. Send an email to Ayumi, Erika, and the Class Reps phones. Tell them Ive just run away from ho for a bit so they dont need to worry.
Warning: I believe anyone who reads that will see it as sothing you were forced to write after being caught up in so kind of trouble.
Thats why Im telling you to do it instead of . Theyll be relieved to know my inspector is with .
I am most concerned about your monstrous sisters jealousy. It makes feel like I have been caught up in an argunt over what one thing you would bring with you to a desert island.
I placed a towel over the smartphone on the washing machine, stripped off my clothes, and walked to the bath. The tub seed larger than at ho. Based on the control panel, it seed to be an IoT appliance. It was apparently connected to the internet so it could heat the water according to the schedule on your phone. But that seed dangerous. Couldnt a cyber attack start a fire or give you carbon monoxide poisoning? I thought about having Maxwell check it over for vulnerabilities later. Or would a white hacker like Anastasia enjoy doing that? It was probably best to ask the expert. And she was bound to do it if I presented it to her as a competition with Maxwell.
I used a washtub to scoop up so bathwater and washed away my sweat as I thought.
Whatever I was doing, it had to start tomorrow.
I had no idea how to solve this problem, but I couldnt just leave it like this. The Calamity would supposedly destroy the population of the earth and Absolute Noah was the ark ant to survive it. I couldnt avert my gaze from that.
With that in mind, I entered the tub feet first.
And as soon as I did
I fell.
Where to? Into the bathwater filling it, of course.
I instantly sank in deeper than my head. I couldnt breathe, intense pain shot through my eyes, and the heat of the water seed to reach deep inside my head. I had no idea what had happened. I initially thought I had stepped on the soap and flipped over, but that wasnt it. I was clearly still upright as I sank. So was there no bottom!? It was like I had been thrown into a deep pool!
Cough, cough!! Cough!?
When I flailed my arms and legs around, I was clearly able to swim. Like I was trying to reach the top of an old well, I swam up in search of air. I finally parted the surface of the bathwater and filled my lungs with air, but the abnormal situation was not over yet.
Wha-?
The bottom of the tub was back to normal. I could feel the smooth plastic supporting my butt.
But the room was dark and had no power. I could only observe my surroundings thanks to the bathwater.
It was bizarre.
The water was glowing with a sticky blue light, like it was glow-in-the-dark paint. The pale light ca from both the water in the tub and the drops on the tiled walls. The mirror on the washing areas wall had so kind of strange pattern drawn on it.
It suddenly hit that this light was a lot like the ocean covered in sea sparkle I had seen in a docuntary.
What the hell is this?
I crawled out of the tub and found my wet body was glowing the sa color. It was more embarrassing than creepy. I dried myself off with a towel and then returned to the changing room.
I could hear large raindrops pounding on the wall.
? That sounds like a typhoon. But it was such a clear starry sky outside
Maxwell. What is going on, Maxwell?
I threw back on my clothes and reached for the smartphone covered in the towel on the washing machine.
But there was no response. No matter how much I tried, it would not connect to Maxwell. It had no signal anymore, making it entirely useless.
So was this not just a power outage or tripped breaker?
I thought for a bit and then realized sothing.
Sothing was written on the mirror in front of the sink. But it didnt look like a text made up of aningful characters.
Co to think of it
I opened the door to the bath again. Sure enough, the sa pattern was on the washing areas mirror.
What was this?
I returned to the changing room and moved my face in close to the mirror. A few lines were intersecting. Were those supposed to be three-way and four-way intersections? It looked like a crude, hand-drawn map and one corner of an intersection had an arrow pointing to it.
Sothing changed as I watched it. As if the water on the mirror was dripping down, more blue glow-in-the-dark light was added.
todays exit
That was all.
What was this? Had it happened on its own? I checked the bath and found the sa writing on the mirror there. That was ridiculous. So was it not just a coincidence? Was there really writing here?
It felt like I had been thrown inside a simulator or a dream.
Ever since I had so unnaturally fallen into the tub, sothing had gone wrong with the world.
Mom. Yes, mom.
She would know sothing. Wouldnt she?
Either way, I didnt have to worry over this alone. With that in mind, I threw open the door from the changing room to the living room.
Just then, a bunch of night rain slapped in the face.
There was no room there.
It had been torn away like the aftermath of an aerial bombing in a war movie, so I simply saw a stormy night in front of .
Wha-ah?
It made no sense.
What was I even looking at?
Mom! Himatsuri-san!?
I knew yelling was useless, but I still desperately hoped I would hear a voice in return.
How many floors up was this?
How had an entire room no, an entire chunk of a high-rise apartnt building been torn away like this?
I could see my hotown of Kukyou City through the stormy rain and winds, but it wasnt the city I knew. The dark scene was filled with a blue glow. This wasnt just your average increase in water level. This flooding was easily as tall as a school. I couldnt tell where the roads began and ended and I could only see the taller buildings sticking up from the dark water.
What had happened to my mom and Himatsuri-san?
And what about the others in the city? Like Ayumi, Erikadad, and my stepmom!? Or the Class Rep next door!?
Max-no, that doesnt work!
I had never thought I would feel so forlorn just because my smartphone had lost its connection. I couldnt share this absurd situation with anyone and I had to carry it alone. I just wanted to call soone I knew to know they were all right.
A phone
As my mind nearly strayed from reality, this one desire kept it grounded.
Thats right. I need to find a working phone.
One corner of my mind rejected that idea with cruel rationality. What good was finding a ho phone? A really old phone would be one thing, but modern multi-purpose phones needed more than just the phone line to power them. Everything was dark, and if that ant a blackout, I wouldnt be able to use the phone. So there was no point in finding one.
But most of my mind refused to be so rational. It wanted to find a phone so badly.
The living room was almost entirely missing, so only a wall and a bit of floor remained. It would be suicide to walk along that 10cm surface during a storm and with only the wall to hold onto. I knew that, but there was a phone right over there. I could see that normal device there.
So I started to take the first step.
But I never completed it.
Why?
Because of the giant shark.
A shark rivaling a submarine in size broke the roiling waters surface.
Uuh.
That snapped back into reality.
The most insane sight yet reminded of the very real possibility of death.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?
I had no idea how many floors up the water had risen, but the shark that leaped out of it had to be more than 30m long. It used all of its muscles to make the jump. I almost stared spellbound at the dark tunnel that was its maw, but then I pathetically fell backwards.
I fell onto the wet changing rooms floor.
And the elegant arc of the sharks jump took it directly above . It was like a head-on collision with a semi-truck pulling a large container. With a sound far louder than the storm or lightning strikes, the surviving boxy shape of the changing room was torn to pieces and swept away into the storm. The walls and ceiling were smashed up in no ti. That thing didnt even worry about the building walls. In hindsight, I realized the edges of the living rooms surviving wall and floor had been terribly jagged.
Was that it?
Had that thing done all this?
I didnt have ti to think about it. If it could destroy walls and ceilings when it attacked, there was no point in holing up in any kind of shelter. It knew I was here. If the next attack broke through the wall, I would have my entire body eaten and it would be ga over. It could even tear down the entire apartnt building.
Wah!!
Still in my clothes, I ran from the broken changing room to the bath. There was a window on the wall bordering the tub. I threw open that window and looked straight down.
The height made my vision waver.
But then I heard an incredible destructive sound directly behind . In fact, I felt the heavy sensation of sothing stabbing into my back.
Was it one of the sharks teeth? No.
I would have been bitten right through had it been that.
It was probably a piece of the wall that had broken off during the second attack on the changing room.
But that didnt matter.
Ghph?
I had trouble breathing and I lost my balance like I had been shoved from behind while standing on the edge of a cliff.
The open window was right there.
I suddenly rembered that this was the 8th floor.
At the sa ti, I was thrown out into the blowing wind of the stormy night.
I must have scread sothing, but I dont rember what.
I helplessly fell about three floors and was dazed by a powerful blow to the face.
Not the ground, though. That would have killed instantly.
Bwah!!
When I got my soaked face above the salty-slling water, I found what I expected. I had fallen into the sticky blue glow of the water flooding the city. I struggled against the powerful current and sohow managed to grab onto a roadside tree that was almost entirely subrged. It had to be about 4 or 5 stories tall.
But the water was that sharks ho ground.
I would be killed if I stayed here. Wasnt there anywhere I could go to get inside? A balcony or an ergency staircase!?
I felt a chill on my spine as I looked around.
Then I saw sothing.
Every last one of the building windows above the water level had the exact sa pattern on them, like a wall covered in identical posters. It was drawn out by the sa blue glow I was drowning in. No, it wasnt just a pattern. It was a map. It was a crude map without landmarks that looked like a kid might have drawn it. It had three-way and four-way intersections and one corner of a four-way one had an arrow pointing to it. And what looked like letters of the alphabet provided the one and only label: todays exit.
What am I supposed to do?
It took a while since everyone relied on map apps these days, but I realized I did recognize that map.
I couldnt see the roads or traffic lights with this flooding, but it was near my moms apartnt. It was at the corner of a four-way intersection. I looked around and did indeed see sothing there. While everything else wetly glowed with a blue glow-in-the-dark light, this one spot shined with the light of a red-hot tal.
Was ita door?
It was on a bowling alley. A strange tal door was directly attached to the wall without bordering anything else. It was probably ant for use with a firetrucks ladder, but with the flooding, it looked like I could reach it if I swam directly to it.
And I didnt have ti to spare.
The powerful current didnt give ti to think. As soon as my fingers were torn from the top of the nearly-subrged tree, I was swept away. Luckily, I was taken toward the orange glow.
I sensed a great pressure behind .
That gigantic shark had found . I could clearly tell that, but I couldnt bring myself to look back. I hadnt checked, but I could tell all too well just how accurately it was swimming toward in this current. I was too afraid to just let the current take , so I began an awkward crawl by mimicking what I had seen in the past.
What was this about?
What did that door an?
I didnt know, but I couldnt stay in the water. I swam and swam and swam until I reached the tal door attached to the smooth bowling alley wall. I grabbed the knob, opened the door, and climbed in like I was a seal in an aquarium.
Just then, the entire broken city vanished like it had all been an illusion.
Eh?
The pleasant sound I heard was probably soone in the alley getting a strike while playing late into the night.
I looked back and saw no blowing rain, no flooded city, no blue lightand no giant shark. I only saw the stillness of the night and the fact that this was definitely five stories up. With no water below, it was all over for if I fell.
I stuck my head out through the tal door on the wall and saw my moms apartnt building. It was not even 100 ters away. And it had of course not been destroyed.
What had all that been?
If it had been a dream, then why wasnt I collapsed in the changing room or bath?
I had definitely changed locations and I was soaking wet, although not glowing blue.
Ow.
And I felt a dull pain in my back. A piece of broken wall had hit when that shark destroyed the changing room.
If that wound remained
Would I have lost my life if I had died in that shark attack?
I couldnt explain my presence in the bowling alley without having paid, so I descended the ergency stairs and made sure no employees saw as I left. Then I returned to my moms apartnt.
That had not just been a dream.
It felt like there were two worlds and I had passed between them for so reason.
Was it the bathwaterno, just water in general?
I made sure to avoid the puddle below a streetlight as I said that.
That was how it had started. I had gotten into the tub, but found it too deep to stand and nearly drowned. Then as soon as I had gotten my head above the water, everything had changed.
It was like diving into the moon floating in a lake at night.
How unrealistic could you be?
Should I just laugh it off like that? I had been inexplicably moved from the bath, I was soaking wet even though it wasnt raining, and I had a dull pain in my back, but should I still write it off as imagining things?
Since this was a shopping district, the first three floors of the high-rise apartnt building were made into a small shopping mall. The first floor bordering the road was lit up especially bright since it contained a burger shop and a convenience store. The night-shift worker looked bored behind the register. I only ntion that because this peaceful scene made it hard to believe a great torrent of water had flowed through here just a bit ago.
The parking lot was underground and used turntables and elevators. The entrance for residents was also in a more out-of-the-way location. That entrance used a simple autolock, but when I typed in the room number, it connected to my mom.
Eh? Satori-chan, how did you get outside?
She was confused and she must have gone to check in the changing room and bath. After that, she unlocked the front entrance for .
It seed I had not just been sleepwalking and invented so convenient mories to explain it.
If I had walked through the bath, the changing room, and the living room to reach the front door, my mom or Himatsuri-san would have seen . But there was no other way to leave that 8th-floor bath. And yet here I was walking around outside.
Sothing wasnt right.
I was caught up in sothing.
But what was it? What did that giant shark and flooded city an?
The elevator arrived before I could find an answer.
Surprisingly, Himatsuri-san was riding it.
She clenched her fist and winked.
Make Taori-san cry and Ill hit you. I explained that rule, didnt I?
Sorry
Well, youre fine for now. So why are you so wet? And you sll salty. Is there a fishing spot around here? This is along the coast, but surely you werent out on the beach or embanknt.
She had apparently co down to et . She did not get off the elevator and must have planned to make a U-turn right back up.
The sea sll must have been strong in the enclosed space.
But then I noticed the floral scent of shampoo or conditioner coming from Himatsuri-san as she turned her back to look at the floor counter. She had likely used a dryer on her hair before preparing that hairstyle, but the skin of her visible nape was sowhat flushed.
Had she taken a shower?
But when my mom had asked about the bath, she had said she left the bathwater in the tub. That sounded like she had already taken a bath before my mom got back.
Not that it really mattered.
The problem facing was more important, so I muttered to myself.
Sigh. What was with that giant shark?
Sigh. What was with that giant shark?
Hm?
Himatsuri-san and I both frowned and then exchanged a glance.
Why had our voices harmonized there?
Did that an she knew about the giant shark?
She looked like she was wondering the sa thing and my expression had to have been the sa.
You an
You too?
Our surprised comnts were followed by a soft electronic tone. The elevator had reached the destination floor and the doors slid open.
[Self Record] About Sharks [Leviathans Report]
The largest of the fish.
The fierce species are most well-known, but the majority of them only eat small fish or plankton and the so-called man-eating varieties are extrely rare.
Setting aside their actual classifications and behaviors, the general public thinks of the great white when it cos to predators and the sturgeon[1] when it cos to prey.
Ironically, this entirely changes if you include marine mammals as well.
The violent great white shark cannot match the size of a whale or the ferocity of an orca.
Thus, the shark is the symbol of the strongest within a limited environnt. For example, the king of a ring in which everyone is divided into different weight classifications cannot win in a no-rules street fight.
Sharks cannot defeat mammals.
Thus it may be envy that leads them to so persistently target humans.
Notes
Sturgeons are often thought of as a type of shark in Japan.Back to Illustrations
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