Chapter 27: The Beginning of Hibari

〈TIPS〉The government issued statements several times calling on people to "stop making baseless slanderous accusations against former Tokyo residents," but none of them had much effect.

Among the human casualties caused by the "Invasion of Fiction," the arrival of the "Calamity God" claimed the most lives.

Hibari and her childhood friend—a girl named Victoria—had barely managed to escape the realm of death.

Miraculously, Hibari's parents were safe.

The two of them had already left for work and apparently avoided being affected by the Calamity God's miasma.

Hibari had thought that everything was gone, so when she was finally reunited with her family, she shed a few tears out of sheer relief.

Victoria watched their family reunion with an expressionless face.

Victoria's parents were officially declared dead.

They had attempted to deal with the abnormal situation in their capacity as police officers, but they inhaled too much of the miasma while guiding people to safety.

Their bodies convulsed and collapsed, and they were unable to escape the realm of death.

It was around this time that Victoria's behavior began to change.

Not only the "Special Zone" where the Calamity God had descended, but residents throughout Tokyo who had been driven from their homes were forced to live as evacuees with government assistance.

Having been driven out of the country's most populous city, they were scattered across the country and became minorities in rural communities.

The survivors from the same area as Hibari were assigned to a hotel in a hot spring resort located some distance from the capital region as their evacuation destination.

Residents who had once lived nearby ended up living in the hotel on the same floor.

They transferred to a local middle school. Hibari and Victoria were the only students there who came from the same hometown.

"Ree-chan, do you really have to hurry this much just to buy a manga?"

"What are you talking about?! Dawn's Judgment is a masterpiece known only to those in the know! If we dawdle, our fellow brethren will get there before us!"

Hibari gave a wry smile at her childhood friend's overly dramatic way of speaking as she eagerly pressed on.

"Ahaha... Ree-chan really gets so energetic whenever it's something she likes."

She had always loved stories of fantasy.

Hibari loved watching her childhood friend talk about them with sparkling eyes.

"—Oh, The Plague!"

But Victoria's radiant smile quickly clouded over.

When Hibari looked, she saw a female classmate pointing at the two of them.

"Hey, stop it. You'll catch the plague."

Another female student spoke in a deliberately serious voice, unable to completely hide the pleasure in her words.

Faced with their damp, gloomy laughter, we instinctively lowered our heads.

"Why are they even here? They should just go back to the city."

"Yeah. They don't need to come all the way out here and spread their germs around."

Their deliberately audible voices were filled with malice.

It wasn't even particularly unusual.

Former Tokyo residents carried the "plague bacteria."

That rumor became widespread around the time Tokyo residents who had been driven from their hometown were scattered throughout evacuation areas.

Some manifestations of the "Invasion of Fiction" were recreations of things that had once been feared in the past.

If that was the case, then there was no reason to think the virus that had attacked the "Special Zone" couldn't have been a virus that had once brought humanity to the brink of extinction.

Irresponsible fake news caught the public's attention, and within a week, it had spread primarily through social media as though it were fact.

There was probably already some resentment toward the Tokyo residents who had suddenly been forced into local communities.

As a result, people from the "Special Zone," like the two of them, were subjected to particularly harsh scrutiny.

"—Ree-chan, let's go."

Hibari forcibly took her childhood friend's hand and walked toward the bookstore. She didn't want to stay there any longer.

From here on, her friend was going to lose herself in the fantasy world she loved so much. There was no need to look at this ugly reality.

But even after entering the large bookstore, they couldn't relax.

Immediately after passing through the automatic doors, they couldn't help but see the books displayed on the large shelves.

The Truth Behind the Virus Scattered Throughout the City Center! Were the Monsters Actually Tokyo Residents?!

A vulgar magazine that had skillfully jumped on the current trend was proudly displayed.

The reality of relentlessly attacking whatever people had decided was acceptable to attack was nothing new.

For example, homosexuals. For example, animation. For example, people with intellectual disabilities. For example, people infected with viruses.

This time, the targets simply happened to be the Tokyo residents who had been evacuated and were disrupting the harmony of rural communities. It was merely their turn to be targeted.

But that was something beyond the understanding of two middle school girls.

"Ugh..."

As she looked down so she wouldn't have to see them, she only felt even more miserable.

Her mood had completely sunk, and she had already forgotten all about the manga she had been looking forward to.

It wasn't simply that she had lost hope in the people standing before her or in the local community.

The girl who called herself Kibogaoka Hibari had been betrayed by the baseless faith she had placed in society.

If someone was weak, people would reach out a hand to them. If someone was struggling, people would help them. And sometimes, people would encourage one another.

She had naturally assumed that was what society was.

Only after she herself was ostracized did she realize the truth.

Society would not protect her.

The ground she had always stood upon without a second thought collapsed beneath her feet, and she no longer even knew what she could believe in.

In the end, Hibari arrived at a single conclusion.

There is no meaning to this world. Therefore, there is no meaning to living.

Reports of suicides among people who had escaped Tokyo were appearing with some frequency.

Discriminatory treatment at evacuation destinations was cited as a cause.

Based on this, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare once again urged people to stop slandering former Tokyo residents, but no noticeable effect was achieved.

"Ugh..."

She scratched at a scab until the weakened skin began to bleed faintly.

She felt just a little better.

Self-harm is not simply an act intended to die; it can also serve to reduce stress.

For Hibari, it had become something almost like a reflex.

She left the bathroom and returned to her futon.

"Hi-chan, you can't sleep again?"

She didn't have the energy to respond to her childhood friend's quiet voice.

For the two girls sleeping side by side in the hotel's large shared room, there was almost no such thing as private space.

Hibari's family of three and Victoria, who lived with them, all shared the same bedroom.

"—Hi-chan, that..."

Victoria suddenly sat up and grabbed Hibari's wrist.

Hibari lowered her head after having the place she didn't want anyone to see exposed, but Victoria didn't press her any further. She merely whispered,

"...Let's go outside."

When they went outside together, the lonely moon floating in the night sky welcomed them.

There was no one around in front of the hotel in the middle of the night.

Once they were outside, Victoria's demeanor changed.

"Hehe... What a beautiful full moon. Its crystal-clear moonlight will heal my powers... The Night of Walpurgis will be upon us soon, I imagine."

Victoria deliberately put on a bright, dramatic voice, but Hibari gave no response.

After letting out a small sigh, Victoria spoke to Hibari in a serious tone.

"Hi-chan, you're going to become a Bluffer with me, right?"

Hibari silently nodded at Victoria's words.

It had only been a few days since the two of them had passed the aptitude test for becoming Bluffers.

"Then, Hi-chan will surely become everyone's hope. You'll become a Bluffer, defeat the enemies, defeat the Calamity God, and take back everyone's homeland."

"There's no way I can do that."

Hibari was a realist.

She knew that many Bluffers had been sent into Tokyo, and yet almost none of the territory had been reclaimed.

"—That's a lie."

But when Victoria heard Hibari's words, she grinned and said that.

There was something decisively different about her from the Victoria they had known until then.

From this moment on, Victoria became a liar.

"...What?"

"You're lying. Because you're a magical girl like the morning sun, the hope of everyone who is being oppressed."

I didn't understand what she meant.

Hibari tried to ask what she was getting at and looked directly into her face.

"...!"

Her eyes were sparkling and staring straight at me with such intensity that it was impossible to believe she was merely spouting nonsense.

It was as though she genuinely believed her own lie.

"Carrying everyone's hopes on your shoulders, turning their cheers into strength, you shine brilliantly. And then, in the end, you defeat evil."

Hibari finally realized.

She was talking about the protagonist of an anime they had watched together long ago.

A story about an ordinary girl who transforms into a magical girl and defeats evil.

Victoria was projecting that image onto Hibari.

"Me, doing something like that..."

"You can."

Victoria's sharp eyes pierced Hibari.

"You can. You have to believe you can. You have to do it. We fight while wrapped in lies like that. If you can't, you'll remain an outsider for the rest of your life. Right?"

That was an unreasonable demand, to say the least.

But she had to do it.

Victoria was right.

"...Yeah, you're right. I'll defeat the Calamity God. Everyone entrusted their hope to me, so of course I will."

Despite her positive words, Hibari coldly observed herself.

Ah, this is a lie.

A lie meant to hide her weakness. A desperate show of bravado.

Even while mocking herself and knowing there was no way she could do it, she said it anyway.

She was overcome by self-loathing and shame.

But it was better than shrinking away and trembling under the contempt of others.

At least, that's what she thought.

But in the end, it didn't work.

Kibogaoka Hibari, who had boldly claimed that she carried everyone's hopes on her shoulders, was doing nothing more than curling up in the back seat of a car.

"Sorry, I ended up talking for so long. Let's go now, Shota-kun. We don't have much time, do we?"

She released my hand and stood up. She opened the rear door and stepped outside.

I hurried after her.

"Hibari, you're still a little unsteady. Don't push yourself."

"Ahaha, of course I'm going to push myself. Everyone entrusted their hope to me, after all."

A dangerous light flickered in her eyes.

Seeing her like that, I decided that this was the moment I had to face her.

I steeled myself and spoke the decisive words.

"—Because I was holding your hand until just now, I could somehow understand your emotions."

At my words, Hibari spun around.

Her eyes opened wide as she stared at me expressionlessly.

Apparently, when Hibari was truly angry, all expression disappeared from her face.

"What do you mean, you understood? How much? What? In what way? Can you really call that understanding?"

I met her frantic barrage of questions with a steady gaze and said,

"You're afraid. You're afraid of fighting the Calamity God. And you're afraid of failing and disappointing everyone."

"Ugh... Don't talk like you know me!"

Hibari's face twisted as she shouted.

It was the first expression I had ever seen from her that was unlike either her cheerful face or her empty expression.

"Do you think you've figured me out just from that? I told you before, didn't I? That part of you is arrogant, Shota-kun! What good does it do to think you know me and then barge into my life without permission? Even if you know, you can't do anything about it, so just leave me alone!"

She raised her voice as she spoke.

Seeing her like this, I became certain once again.

What she truly feared, beneath all the bravado she wore, wasn't failure.

It was having the truth inside her seen through.

Even knowing that, I stepped forward.

"I told you before, didn't I? I want you to talk to me about things like that. Tell me what you're afraid of, what hurts you, and what you've regretted."

"Ugh, there's no way I can—"

"—I'll listen to everything! I won't laugh at you! I won't reject you as an outsider! I don't care what kind of person you really are, Hibari!"

What Hibari had lacked was someone who understood her.

After hearing about her past, I thought about it.

She had been persecuted by the people around her, while everyone from her hometown was too overwhelmed by their own circumstances to have the luxury of relying on one another.

And Victoria had abandoned her role as someone who understood Hibari and become a liar in order to help her stand back up.

So I would take that position.

I wanted to.

I wanted to help her.

It wasn't some arrogant desire to "save" her.

I simply wanted to help her in whatever small way an ordinary person like me could.

"...Why would you go this far? Why would you do this much for me?"

"Raika told me to. She told me to help you, Hibari."

I lied a little.

Imitating the way she smoked cigarettes, I put on a cynical grin.

Hibari stared at my face with her eyes wide for a while, and then suddenly burst out laughing.

"...Ahahahaha! You're telling a lie like that at the very end? Hehe, ahahahahahahahahaha!"

She looked like the bright, cheerful girl she usually was. But there was no sense that she was putting on a brave face.

Transparent droplets spilled from her laughing eyes.

It was as if a dam that had been waiting desperately to break had finally collapsed. The droplets streamed down her cheeks one after another, eventually turning into a torrent of tears.

"U, ah... Ha, ahahahaha! U, uuuuuuuuuuu..."

In the deserted ruins, the laughter-like sobs of a single girl echoed through the silence.

Eventually, apparently exhausted from laughing, Hibari wiped the tears from her cheeks and spoke.

"Seriously, Shota-kun, every time you open your mouth, it's always about Raika-chan. ...Honestly."

"I-I don't think that's true..."

Caught off guard by the unexpected counterattack, I stammered, making Hibari laugh cheerfully.

"Your lies are really easy to see through, Shota-kun. ...Well, I guess that also makes it easy to tell when you're being sincere."

With that, she gave me a radiant, captivating smile.

"Then, when we get back like you promised, would you listen to me talk? A lot?"

"Of course."

I nodded without hesitation at her bright smile.

"Then first, let's defeat that pathetic little warm-up act called the Calamity God!"

Having finally spoken the name of the Calamity God she had feared all this time, Hibari gave a fearless grin.