Naoko's Resolve

Wu Heng looked at the girl's mangled right leg. A pervert was hunting down a disabled person?

What a crazy place!

"Are you sure it's a perverted man, a human, and not some strange creature?"

"Yes, yes. He's a man named Toyoda Masao. I'm staying at Room 204 of Moriya Inn, and that man lives in Room 202. He even greeted me a couple of days ago, and we chatted briefly when we went downstairs yesterday."

Hearing this, Wu Heng realized he was the young man he'd seen that evening, straightening the landlord's collar in Room 202.

"Tonight, after I went out to throw away the trash and was heading back, I ran into him. When he saw me, he looked disgusted."

"Then just now, in the early hours of the morning, he came to my door with a knife and tried to pick the lock with something. I was terrified, so I climbed out the back window and hid by the trash cans."

Just now?

That had to have been before the white shadow ran into Wu Heng's room. So because of the person in Room 202, the girl had ended up fleeing downstairs with him in hot pursuit—and escaped with her life!

"That man has already been wandering around here for a while. He might come back again. Please take me to the police headquarters, sir."

The police headquarters?

Wu Heng's heart stirred at that. He'd originally planned to go tomorrow.

He wasn't sleepy anymore, and he had nowhere better to go. He might as well look through the records at Kuro-matsu Police Headquarters. As long as the girl hadn't been tainted by anything supernatural, it would be fine.

"Which way is the police headquarters? Let's go!"

Wu Heng watched the girl struggle to climb out, but she couldn't manage it. He had no idea how she'd gotten in there in the first place.

He stepped forward and reached out his right hand, covered in Spirit-Touch Power.

The girl placed her fair, slender hand in his. He gave a gentle tug, and the girl, who was under 160 centimeters tall, was lifted out.

"Thank you, sir. My name is Katayama Naoko. You can just call me Naoko," the girl said politely.

"Mm."

Her hand was quite cold, but it was probably from the chill, not anything supernatural.

So she couldn't climb out because she was too cold and had lost her strength?

Under the veil of night, the streetlamps flickered, stretching their shadows into long, thin shapes.

They hadn't gone thirty meters before a disheveled young man darted out of the bushes and blocked their way.

The muscles in the young man's face twitched. He breathed hard, occasionally letting out a faint pant. His eyes were wild and tormented as he stared fixedly at the girl's leg.

He was about to charge forward with his knife when he noticed Wu Heng beside her. He quickly bowed deeply to Wu Heng.

"Sir from Room 203, I'm terribly sorry to have disturbed you. This is a matter between me and this girl. I hope you won't interfere. I truly apologize!"

After bowing, Toyoda Masao's expression turned manic again. His tormented gaze fixed on Naoko's mangled right leg.

He muttered under his breath,

"It has to be symmetrical. It has to be. I can't stand it. I can't stand this unevenness!"

"I can't stand it!" Toyoda Masao roared. Hunched over, he raised his knife and lunged at Naoko's intact left leg.

Thud!

Wu Heng kicked the dagger out of Toyoda Masao's hand. Two of his fingers were crushed along with it, and they fell to the ground.

Wu Heng followed with another kick, sending Toyoda Masao rolling backward three times before he collapsed on the ground, barely able to move.

Blood trickled from his mouth as he screamed, "Why? Why are you stopping me?"

"Sir, can you really stand this asymmetrical imperfection?"

Wu Heng ignored Toyoda Masao and turned to Naoko. "You said you'd spoken to him a few days ago. Why didn't he bother you then?"

Naoko understood why Toyoda Masao wanted to kill her now. She bit her lip and said, frightened and self-conscious,

"Because I was wearing a prosthetic leg a few days ago. Today, it rubbed my knee raw, so I took it off to let it heal for a couple of days. I never thought Mr. Toyoda would..."

"But now he's set his sights on you. Have you thought about how to deal with this?" Wu Heng asked thoughtfully.

"I... We can turn him over to the police!"

Naoko hesitated, her voice trembling.

She truly didn't know what to do!

"Maybe there's another way. Like this."

Wu Heng pulled a handgun from his pocket and handed it to Naoko.

"Even if you turn him over to the police, he'll be out again before long. Can you be sure he won't come after you again?"

"I..."

When Naoko saw Wu Heng offering her the handgun, she fearfully took half a step back with the support of her crutch, then quickly stopped herself.

She looked at Wu Heng apologetically. He had saved her; she shouldn't have reacted like that.

Naoko bit her lip, her expression torn.

She knew her body made her different. She was afraid of being mocked and discriminated against, afraid of becoming a burden to her family.

But she also had a strong side. She had never given up on her love of life or her pursuit of a better future.

Toyoda Masao lay sprawled on the ground. He struggled to push himself up with one hand but couldn't, then noticed the fingers missing from his right hand.

"My fingers... This imperfection... No, it has to be symmetrical! It has to be!"

He stared at his fingers in horror and screamed.

Then he gave up trying to roll over. With the last of his strength, he shoved the two corresponding fingers on his left hand into his mouth and gnawed at them until they were a bloody mess, trying to bite them off.

Naoko stared in horror at Toyoda Masao's hellish behavior.

Slowly, determination surfaced in her clear eyes. She reached out, took the handgun, and aimed it at Toyoda Masao.

"Yah—!" Bang! Bang! Bang!

Naoko's shout rang out alongside three gunshots. Toyoda Masao finally collapsed to the ground!

A look of relief appeared on Naoko's face, along with a singular confidence and resilience.

Wu Heng wasn't trying to drive the girl mad. This world was already crazy, not only because of all the ghosts and monsters but also because of the people—people consumed by obsession and madness.

If she still acted timid and weak, she'd have little chance of surviving when Tomie's power erupted. If he was going to save someone, he might as well help her take a few more steps toward standing on her own.

"Sir, your gun. I... May I ask your name?"

Naoko handed the gun back to Wu Heng.

"Keep it. I have plenty of guns, and this one's nowhere near powerful enough for me. My name is Echizen Genichiro."

Wu Heng waved a hand. He had plenty of guns, and these days, he didn't consider one with this kind of firepower worth much.

"Thank you, Mr. Echizen!"

Naoko solemnly tucked the handgun away.

Wu Heng nodded, walked over to Toyoda Masao's corpse, and laid a hand on it. The body vanished, and the blood on the road quickly dried up.

Naoko watched in disbelief. Was Echizen Genichiro a god? Had a god taken human form to save her?

Wu Heng turned around and saw that the girl wasn't afraid at all. On the contrary, she was looking at him with even greater admiration.

What was wrong with the people here?

How had a perfectly ordinary girl suddenly become like this? Had he pushed her too far?

"Do you still want to go to the police headquarters? Or should we head back to the inn?"

Wu Heng asked, but he was already walking toward the inn.

After Toyoda Masao's interruption, he'd lost his desire to make the nighttime trip to the police headquarters. Who knew what other strange things he might run into along the way?

Three times was enough. He didn't want a fourth. It wasn't that he was afraid; it just creeped him out.

When Naoko saw Wu Heng heading toward the inn, she hurried after him with her crutch. When she'd climbed out the window, she'd only tossed her crutch down. She was still wearing her pajamas, and it got quite cold on Kurosawa Street at night.

When Wu Heng arrived at the inn, he started with the landlord's room and collected the corpses one by one into the Life Box. There was no point in wasting them.

This inn really did good business. Aside from Rooms 202, 203, and 204, every other room had one or two corpses.

Naoko followed behind and saw everything. From the ruined state of the room through the open door of Wu Heng's Room 203, she guessed what had happened.