Chapter Forty-Seven: The Prelude About to Unfold

The blood, utterly devoid of any metallic scent, exuded a fragrance as rich and pure as gardenias. Droplets of fresh blood pooled into a basin, its surface gleaming with crystalline clarity like a flawless mirror.

Above this mirrored blood, Mana Mizuhara seemed utterly entranced, as if reality itself had twisted into a tapestry of resplendent strings before her eyes, each one vibrating with the strange voice of Mio Ito.

"Merge with me, become one with me, leave all pain behind...

"Only by becoming inseparable can all obstacles be erased...

"Listen closely—this is the voice that belongs to us both; your heart is my heart..."

"Mio...senpai..." Mana Mizuhara listened, her mind adrift. The voices resounded in her head like absolute truths, echoing from the depths of her being, impossible to resist or deny, enchanting her completely.

Her eyes remained wide open but unfocused, gazing absently at the girl before her.

"Mio...senpai... Have you and Maya... truly been saved?"

"Yes, Mana." Mio Ito gazed at her tenderly, slowly leaning down to cradle Mana's face in her hands.

With this gentle gesture, the blood pool responded—a current of blood rose, becoming scarlet ribbons that spiraled around Mana Mizuhara, unraveling every rope that once bound her and embedding themselves, strand by strand, into her flesh.

In an instant, Mio Ito's hair turned golden, her features shifting seamlessly into those of Maya Mineyama.

"Mana, you are such a gentle child, thinking to save both me and Mio Ito at once. Even if it was beyond your power... Though you couldn't dispel the shadow in my heart, I have now found redemption. At this moment, my heart is filled only with happiness."

The next second, the girl became Mio Ito once more.

"Mana, you should live in a better world."

And then, in another heartbeat, she changed back to Maya Mineyama.

"Come, Mana. Join us... Let nothing stand between us—let us become one in heart and soul."

At the same time, Mio Ito's visage flickered across the girl's face.

"Mana..."

The faces of Mio Ito and Maya Mineyama flashed back and forth, their voices intertwining in a harmonious duet. The interwoven melodies and shifting faces drew Mana Mizuhara deeper into a haze, her mind growing ever more enraptured:

"Is it truly possible... to join you, senpai...

"...to enter that beautiful world—"

Without realizing it, Mana Mizuhara reached out, as if to embrace the girl before her.

But just as her hands extended—

A sudden tightness gripped her chest, a surge of heat rushing through her veins.

For reasons unknown, her blood began to boil.

Almost simultaneously, the fog in her mind lifted, and the strange scene before her revealed itself with stark clarity to her returning consciousness—

Mio Ito and Maya Mineyama's faces alternating; the harmonious voices of the girl; the bloody ribbons spiraling around her; and beneath her, the crystal-clear mirror of blood...

"Ah!" Mana Mizuhara's eyes flew wide with panic as she stumbled backward, but recalling the blood staining the ground, she hastily twisted her arms behind her and braced herself with her hands.

"Ugh—" Clumsily, the girl scrambled to her feet, instinctively brushing at her clothes, only to realize—whether her hands or her outfit—there was not a single trace of blood to be found.

"—??"

Trembling, Mana Mizuhara looked down.

The blood mirror that had been as still as a shallow pool now writhed like a living thing, withdrawing into Mio Ito's body.

Yet, as she watched Mana regain her senses, Mio Ito's nearly perfect face showed no surprise—she simply smiled faintly.

"That feeling... So you, too, have been chosen, Mana..."

"Chosen? What does that mean? Senpai, why..." Mana Mizuhara's doubts and unease surged uncontrollably. The power Mio Ito had just revealed felt as if the occult and supernatural legends she had always yearned for had become reality.

Yet, now that she was faced with it, what she felt was not excitement, but fear and confusion.

"Mana, surely you can guess—by now, you must sense the pendant's mysterious nature."

Mio Ito gazed at her with a gentle smile.

So it was that, then?

Mana Mizuhara grasped the pendant hanging at her chest, recalling the young man's face, and the words she had spoken to him that day.

"Whenever I think about the occult and all things supernatural, I feel, 'Ah, this world isn't just monotonous repetition—how wonderful that is!'"

What kind of innocent heart had she spoken from, back then?

And in response, that being, truly belonging to the realm of the occult—when he, or perhaps it, heard her words, what must he have thought?

Mana Mizuhara found it hard to breathe.

"How did it come to this..." She could no longer suppress her emotions.

"Was it the shopkeeper who led you to this...?"

Was it because she had brought Mio Ito to that bookstore that Mio had become this kind of monster?

"Don't blame yourself, Mana... In truth, this is what I've always dreamed of—true happiness. You have helped me from the very beginning, and yet I've never given you anything in return. I wanted you to know true happiness, but even that was stopped by Him... Perhaps He has other plans. How regrettable."

"Mio...senpai..."

Before Mana Mizuhara's tear-filled eyes, Mio Ito slowly turned away.

"Mana, farewell."

Even before the final echo of her words faded from the air, Mio Ito herself had vanished, her figure disappearing beyond the abandoned factory.

Mana Mizuhara stared at her fading silhouette in confusion, unable to utter a word, an inexpressible tangle of emotions churning within her heart.

It was not until a few solitary, miserable screams drifted in from outside the factory that she regained her senses.

"What is that—!!"

"...Guh!"

"Ahh..."

The screams, both male and female, brought Mio Ito instantly to Mana's mind. She immediately understood and rushed toward the factory doors.

Yet, by the time she reached the entrance, the screams had already ceased.

But what met her gaze was a blood-red expanse covering the ground outside the factory.

A crimson sea!

Blood had flooded the entire open yard and even swept into the neighboring woods—a hell of flesh and blood, yet also a womb of creation.

Above the blood-soaked ground, a single, writhing scarlet sphere hovered.

With every pulse, the sphere shrank, and within it, a shadowy figure would vanish, each time accompanied by a voice—male or female—sighing in bliss and release.

"So this is it..."

"It's truly wonderful..."

"At last, I've been redeemed..."

The blood sphere continued to contract, the figures within it fading one by one, until all was gathered into a single being—

Mio Ito.

The sea of blood surged upward, absorbed once more into Mio Ito's body. To Mana Mizuhara, left speechless and shaken by what she had witnessed, Mio Ito offered only a strange smile.

In the next instant, Mio Ito's figure erupted with indescribable speed, sending shockwaves billowing outwards as she shot off into the distance.

Though her mind could barely function, Mana Mizuhara could still discern the direction Mio Ito had gone—

Toward the heart of Tokyo.

"Senpai... What are you going to do..."

A cold wind swept past, making Mana Mizuhara shiver, finally bringing her back to herself.

She glanced around outside the factory—the area was in complete disarray. A van, sliced in half, lay on its side, and cigarette butts littered the ground. In an instant, Mana realized the source of those earlier voices:

"They were... the thugs Maya-senpai called, and her usual followers..."

Had it not been for Mio Ito, Mana might have found herself in grave danger at their hands tonight, but thinking of their fate now, she felt no hatred—only a bleak, overwhelming sorrow.

Mana Mizuhara took a deep breath.

She gazed in the direction Mio Ito had gone, then turned and walked the other way.

—With the power Mio Ito had just displayed, there was nothing Mana could do to stop her.

—But the root of everything lay with that shopkeeper. If only she could find him, perhaps everything could be resolved.