The route to school hadn't changed one bit. It was almost eerie.
That was only natural. It had been two years. The convenience store and bakery were still there, and the huge screen in front of the station was broadcasting the morning news. Among the students in uniforms and office workers in suits, things that were obviously not human walked along the streets as well.
A young man with horns growing from his head. A girl with fox ears who made no attempt to hide them as she fiddled with her smartphone. In the shadow of a utility pole, a goblin the size of a palm was rummaging through a garbage bag.
"Hey."
When I called out, the goblin's shoulders jerked.
"That's not burnable trash."
"Eek!"
"Today is recycling day."
"Eek..."
Looking dejected, the goblin put the empty cans back in another bag.
"Good."
This was more like it. I didn't need an evil god bent on destroying the world or some massive conspiracy. A life where all I had to do was scold goblins for not sorting their garbage was good enough for me.
Just as the school gate came into view, I heard a familiar voice.
"Miroku!"
I turned around with a bad feeling.
A boy stood there with the morning sun at his back. His eyes were the same color as his soft, amber hair. His features were annoyingly perfect. The kind of face that all one hundred people asked would call beautiful.
Yoshitsune Kayō. The next Emperor, descended from the Dragon God, and an insufferable childhood friend who had known me since we were five.
I stared at him. Not a scratch on him. Not a drop of blood. Smiling.
"...You're alive."
Yoshitsune tilted his head.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"What do you mean, 'you're alive' first thing in the morning?"
"It's nothing."
"That's creepy."
"I don't want to hear that from you."
"You're looking at me like we haven't seen each other in forever, but we saw each other yesterday, right?"
"Did we?"
"Seriously?"
Watching him laugh in exasperation, I narrowed my eyes slightly.
Fire. Shouting. Blood.
I didn't know what had happened to Yoshitsune back then. I had died before I could find out.
"...Well, as long as you're healthy."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Don't worry about it."
I headed toward the school gate. Yoshitsune followed behind me.
"Are you free after school today?"
"I have work."
"Then take the day off."
"No."
"That was fast."
"I need the money."
"For what?"
"Running away from home."
"Huh?"
Yoshitsune stopped walking. I kept going.
"Wait. What do you mean, running away from home?"
"Exactly what it sounds like."
"Why?"
"To become an ordinary civilian."
"You? A member of the Kannagi family?"
"Yes."
"What about the ritual exorcist office?"
"I'm quitting."
"And your bondmate candidacy?"
"I'm withdrawing."
"...What about being my bodyguard?"
"Try someone else."
Yoshitsune fell silent, unusually so. When I looked back, he wore his usual gentle smile.
"Who gave you permission to do that?"
For just an instant, his amber eyes looked terribly cold.
"What's with that face?"
"Nothing."
Something felt off. In my previous life, Yoshitsune had also opposed my leaving the Kannagi family. But had he ever put it that way?
"Yoshitsune. What did you and I talk about yesterday?"
"Why are you asking all of a sudden?"
"Just answer me."
Yoshitsune replied with a puzzled look.
"We talked about the supernatural anomaly in the north building after school, remember?"
I stopped walking.
"The north building?"
"Yeah."
"A supernatural anomaly?"
"Yep."
"...What the hell is that?"
This time, Yoshitsune fell silent.
"Miroku. You said yesterday that you'd found it yourself, didn't you?"
I didn't know.
At least, no such event existed in my memories.
I didn't remember any incident involving a supernatural anomaly in the north building around this time in my first life, either.
A spring breeze blew, and somewhere in the distance, a school building window rattled.
I looked up at the top floor of the north building.
Something white stood by the window. It was shaped like a person, but it wasn't human. Where a face should have been, there was nothing—only a pitch-black hole staring straight at us.
"...Huh?"
I blinked, and it was gone.
"What is it?"
Two years ago, in the spring when I was sixteen.
At least, nothing like this existed in my memories.
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
"...I want to go home."
"We just got to school."
"I mean from life itself."
My second life was shaping up to be more trouble than I'd expected.
"...Let's just say I saw it wrong."
I reached that conclusion in the hallway on the way to class.
"That's a bit of a stretch."
"What is?"
"You've been watching the north building this whole time."
"Your imagination."
"Also, you look extremely unhappy."
"Born this way."
"I know."
This was the most irritating morning imaginable.
I ignored Yoshitsune walking beside me and opened the classroom door.
Several gazes immediately turned our way.
More precisely, not at me.
At Yoshitsune.
"Oh, it's Lord Kayō."
"Good morning!"
"Good morning."
Yoshitsune waved cheerfully.
So refreshing first thing in the morning.
Even without the title of next Emperor, Yoshitsune had always been well liked.
Beautiful looks. A warm, open manner with everyone. Good at both academics and sports.
And on top of all that, he was descended from the Dragon God.
How much did the gods intend to give one person before they were satisfied?
"You look intense this morning, Miroku."
"I was thinking about how much the gods favor you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I was thinking it's unfair."
"You're pretty heavily favored yourself, Miroku."
"How?"
"I'm sure you'll find out eventually."
Yoshitsune smiled.
What was with that loaded way of putting it?
Before I could press him, a voice called from the back of the classroom.
"Miroku."
I turned.
A girl sitting by the window waved at me.
Her black hair fell past her waist, and her bangs were cut straight in a hime style. Her eyes were a calm reddish brown.
Himeuo Ishinagi.
She was the daughter of the Ishinagi family, one of the Five Great Elder Houses serving the Emperor.
Another girl sat beside her.
"Good morning, Miroku."
The girl with long flaxen hair smiled, her dignified features composed.
Himegashi Kayano.
She, too, was from one of the Five Great Elder Houses.
Both of them were alive.
It was obvious. And yet something stirred uneasily in the depths of my chest.
"Miroku?"
Himeuo tilted her head.
I stared at the two of them for a while.
"...You're alive."
I muttered it under my breath.
"Huh?"
"That's the second time you've said that today."
Yoshitsune spoke from behind me.
"Shut up."
"Are you planning to say it to everyone except me next?"
"It's possible."
"That's scary."
Himegashi looked at me suspiciously.
"What's wrong? You look pale."
"I didn't sleep enough."
"That's unusual."
Himeuo said it lazily.
"You always sleep a ton, Miroku."
"Sleep is important."
"You were sleeping in class yesterday, too."
"Himegashi. That wasn't sleep."
"Then what was it?"
"Meditation."
"Go ahead and tell the teacher that."
It was nostalgic.
Even two years later, neither of them had changed much.
Himeuo was still as airy and carefree as ever, while Himegashi was still as reliable as ever.
After graduation, they were supposed to begin their official duties as members of the Five Great Elder Houses at their respective family homes.
I didn't know what had happened to that future.
Not even where the two of them had been on the day the Imperial Palace was attacked.
"Miroku?"
Himegashi's voice brought me back to myself.
"It's nothing."
If I didn't know, then that was fine.
At least for now, they were both here.
That was enough.
All I had to do was avoid doing the same things I'd done two years from now.
"More importantly..."
I set my bag on my desk.
"What's going on with the north building?"
The expressions on Himeuo and Himegashi's faces changed.
"...You don't remember?"
Himegashi asked.
"Remember what?"
"You were the one who said it yesterday."
"Said what?"
"That there was something strange in the north building."
Apparently, it wasn't just Yoshitsune.
"What exactly did I see?"
"You said you'd seen a white figure."
"Did it have a face?"
"You said it didn't," Himeuo answered.
It matched perfectly.
It was the same thing I'd seen moments ago.
But something was wrong.
If the me from yesterday had seen it, did that mean I simply didn't have the memory?
I had returned to the past when I woke up this morning.
Then, at least until yesterday, the sixteen-year-old me who didn't possess the memories up to age eighteen must have been living a normal life here.
That me had seen the supernatural anomaly.
And this morning, the consciousness—or perhaps the memories—of the me who had died at eighteen had returned.
"...I see."
A possibility occurred to me.
I hadn't returned two years into the past with my body.
Perhaps only the memories of living to eighteen—or just my soul essence—had returned to the me from two years ago.
If so, there was nothing unnatural about me not having the memories from yesterday, right before my return.
"Did I say anything else yesterday?"
"You said you were going to investigate it seriously for once."
"I did?"
"Yep."
"Of my own accord?"
"Yep."
"A supernatural anomaly?"
"That's right."
I furrowed my brow.
"Are you sure it wasn't an impostor?"
"You have way too little faith in yourself."
Yoshitsune sounded exasperated.
"But it was me."
"I know."
"Do you really think I'd go looking for trouble on my own?"
"No, I don't."
"See?"
"You're accepting that?"
Himegashi looked exasperated.
But this was actually a fairly important question.
I had hated trouble since I was little.
Even if I found a supernatural anomaly, I rarely investigated it myself unless I was already dragged into it.
Especially at school.
I would have reported it to the ritual exorcists who specialized in investigating and subduing supernatural anomalies, then called it a day.
"Maybe there was a reason," Himeuo said.
"A reason?"
"Yeah. You were acting a little strange yesterday, Miroku."
I looked up.
"How strange?"
"Hmm..."
Himeuo touched a finger to her cheek.
"Were you scared?"
"Me?"
"Probably."
"Of the supernatural anomaly?"
"No."
Himeuo slowly shook her head.
"I don't know. But ever since you saw the white person, you kept looking behind you."
A faint chill ran down my spine.
"...Behind me?"
"Like someone was watching you."
I turned around without thinking.
The back of the classroom.
Naturally, there was nothing there but my classmates.
No one was looking at me.
No.
There was one person.
At the very back of the classroom, beyond an empty desk, reflected in the window glass.
A white shadow.
I spun around.
There was nothing there.
"Miroku?"
Yoshitsune's voice.
"Just now..."
I looked at the window again.
Nothing.
A trick of the eye.
I wanted to tell myself that.
But I'd seen inhuman beings more times than I cared to count since I was a child.
Their presence. Their scent. The spiritual pollution they left behind.
I didn't think I'd mistaken what I'd seen.
"...This is the worst."
"Was it there?"
Yoshitsune's tone changed.
All traces of his earlier lightness vanished.
"For a second."
"Where?"
"The window."
Yoshitsune turned his gaze toward the window.
A faint golden light appeared deep in his eyes.
The Dragon Eye.
The eye passed down through the Kayō family, descendants of the Dragon God, which could see through every form of spiritual pollution and spiritual entity.
After a moment, Yoshitsune narrowed his eyes.
"There's nothing there."
"I figured."
"But..."
Yoshitsune walked to the window and touched the glass with his fingertips.
"There is a trace."
"What kind?"
"It's not exactly spiritual pollution."
Himegashi stood as well.
"Did you report it to the school?"
"Miroku did yesterday."
"Yesterday's you worked fast."
"You should learn from your current self."
"We're different people."
"You mean yesterday's self?"
As they continued talking, the bell announcing the start of class rang.
"All right, take your seats."
The teacher came in.
The conversation ended there.
I sat at my desk and propped my cheek on my hand.
Words filled the blackboard one after another.
Not a single one made it into my head.
Yesterday's self.
The north building.
The white supernatural anomaly.
The feeling of being watched.
And then there were the memories from yesterday that didn't exist within the me who had lived to eighteen.
I had nothing but a bad feeling.
A very bad feeling.
I didn't want to get involved.
But if leaving it alone led to my death two years from now, I wanted that even less.
Protect your life.
For that, I could put up with a little trouble.
"...I'll take a look after school."
I muttered it quietly.
"Kannagi exorcist."
The teacher's voice flew at me.
"Yes?"
"What was I just explaining?"
"The harsh realities of life."
"Stand in the hall."
"That's unfair."
"Go. Now."
Laughter broke out across the classroom.
Reluctantly, I stood up.
It was lunch break.
The north building was barely used anymore.
Because of its age, classrooms had been moved to the new building one after another since the previous school year.
It wasn't completely off-limits, but few students went out of their way to visit.
I stopped in front of the covered walkway.
Then I turned around.
"Where are you going?"
Someone grabbed the collar of my uniform from behind.
"The cafeteria."
"Weren't you going to check out the north building?"
"I changed my mind."
"You were planning to go a second ago."
"The human heart is fickle."
"Convenient phrase."
It was Yoshitsune.
"Let go."
"You'll run away."
"I won't."
"Really?"
"A strategic retreat."
"So you are running away."
I clicked my tongue and shook Yoshitsune's hand off.
"I was going to do it after school."
"I was curious, so I came."
"You have too much free time."
"You're saying that to the next Emperor?"
"If you weren't free, you wouldn't be here during lunch."
"But you're here too."
"I was dragged into this."
"Even though you found it yourself yesterday?"
"Take it up with yesterday's me."
With that, I stepped onto the covered walkway.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
I stopped.
"What is it?"
"It's too quiet."
I should have been able to hear the sports clubs shouting outside.
Students should have been spending their lunch break out in the schoolyard.
And yet.
I couldn't hear a thing.
Not even the wind.
"A barrier?"
"No."
I looked around.
"It's sloppier than that."
A barrier would have a boundary.
There would be a ritual array.
Someone would have intentionally divided the inside from the outside.
This wasn't that.
"The space itself is thin."
"Thin?"
"This place is closer to the other side."
Yoshitsune's expression tightened slightly.
"Want to go back?"
I wanted to.
Very much.
But...
"We'll just look."
"Okay."
"We are really only looking."
"I know."
"If there's anything there, we're running."
"I said I know."
"We're not fighting."
"Yeah, yeah."
"You're taking this too lightly."
The two of us entered the north building.
The air changed.
It was cold.
Too cold for spring.
No one was in the hallway.
Signs indicating that the classrooms had been relocated hung on the doors, and almost all the desks and chairs had been removed.
I stopped.
"...Upstairs."
"You can tell?"
"It's there."
Something was.
On the top floor.
We climbed the stairs.
First floor.
Second floor.
Third floor.
The air grew heavier with every step.
It happened as we reached the landing leading to the fourth floor.
Clack.
A sound came from above.
We both stopped.
Clack.
Again.
Someone was walking.
"Yoshitsune."
"Yeah."
"You go first."
"No way."
"You're the next Emperor, aren't you?"
"Because I'm the next Emperor, you shouldn't send me into dangerous places."
"Useless."
"That's not something a bondmate candidate should say, is it?"
Even as we argued, the sound drew closer.
Clack.
Clack.
A figure appeared.
A white foot.
Barefoot.
It descended one step at a time from the top of the stairs.
Next came the hem of a white kimono.
Thin arms.
Long black hair.
And then...
No face.
It was the thing I'd seen through the window that morning.
Yoshitsune and I silently looked up at it.
The white woman stopped too.
Her faceless head slowly tilted toward me.
"—mi..."
"Hm?"
A voice.
I couldn't make it out.
"—ro..."
I furrowed my brow.
The woman descended another step.
"Mi...ro..."
Another step.
"Miroku."
This time, I heard it clearly.
Yoshitsune looked at me.
I looked back at him.
"Do you know her?"
"If I did, that would be horrifying."
The white woman moved.
Crack.
Her neck bent at an unnatural angle.
The black hole where her face should have been split open wide.
"Found you."
A chill ran down my spine.
"At last."
One step.
"Found you."
Another step.
"Give it back."
"...Give what back?"
The instant I asked, the white woman's figure vanished.
"Miroku!"
Yoshitsune grabbed my arm.
Right after that...
At my ear...
"—My body."
A voice whispered.
I turned around.
A black hole was right in front of me.