Chapter Sixty-Five: The Wild Name, Tokyo, A Meeting of Two

This was Arnamei Mountain.

A sudden clarity welled up in her heart.

Manami Mizuhara put away her phone, her body somewhat stiff as she began to walk, step by step, up the dark mountain path.

Arnamei Mountain was not high, yet beneath the dim moonlight, its contours stretched endlessly, evoking an illusion of boundlessness.

The moment she set foot into the forest, the dense trees closed in around her like a looming tide, drawing her entirely into this endless dusk.

An ordinary person would likely lose their way here in no time—just like the legendary domains of demons.

Even with Manami Mizuhara’s keen eyesight, walking through the woods left her a little disoriented, as though a subtle veil of shadow had fallen across her vision.

Yet, she did not feel lost.

For there was a strange sensation within her.

It was as if something was guiding her.

Although, out of fear and unease, she had left her wooden pendant at home days ago, at this moment, a familiar sense of guidance rose once more from deep within her.

Beyond the layers of forest shadow, it was just ahead.

As Manami Mizuhara walked up Arnamei Mountain, her pace grew steadily quicker.

The trees standing guard at her sides seemed to bow before her, opening a path as she ascended.

The path widened.

Her steps grew lighter and lighter.

Until, at last—

Suddenly, light bloomed before her.

The distant moon poured its light down unobstructed.

And in the place drenched in moonlight, an ancient stone stele stood silently in the courtyard.

The inscription, “The Revered Deity of Suyuan Shrine,” leapt instantly into Manami Mizuhara’s eyes, along with the massive trunk of the sacred tree behind it, rising like a cloud that touched the sky.

But most important of all was the young man standing beside the stele.

He looked at her and smiled gently.

“Manami, you’ve finally come.”

...

“Hoo…”

She could not say what she felt.

Manami Mizuhara only knew her breath had grown tight, weighed down, as if a burning coal had lodged in her throat, making it hard to breathe.

“Manager… sir.”

It had been only a few days since she’d last seen Shitani.

Yet, thinking back, it felt like a lifetime ago.

She stepped forward, one step at a time, until she stood before him. The young man’s face was just as she remembered—a faint smile, pale and serene, as though nothing in the world could disturb his calm composure.

But now, Manami Mizuhara’s heart was a tangled knot.

She did not draw as close to Shitani as she once would have. Instead, she halted about five meters away.

She steadied her trembling breath, forcing the torrent of emotion within her chest to settle.

What should she say…

Mustering her courage, Manami Mizuhara looked straight at Shitani, and at the sacred tree behind him.

She asked her first question:

“The deity enshrined within that sacred tree… ‘The Revered Deity of Suyuan Shrine’—is that the source of your power, Manager?”

Shitani smiled faintly, neither affirming nor denying it, and replied casually:

“It and I—we are like manifestation and true form. Two sides of the same existence.”

“I see…”

A glimmer of understanding dawned in Manami Mizuhara’s eyes. Shitani had not lied, but she chose to interpret his words from another angle.

“So, you are the embodiment of the sacred tree… Like those beings in mythology whose true form is vast, and who appear in the world only in human guise.”

Shitani did not correct her perception; instead, he simply asked,

“Did you come all this way just to ask me that?”

Manami Mizuhara fell silent for a while.

Shitani did not press her, waiting quietly.

Only the wind in the night whispered in their ears.

At last, Manami Mizuhara voiced the question that had haunted her heart these past days.

“Manager Shitani… all these things—were they your doing?”

He looked at her, his gaze clear and unclouded.

He only smiled.

“What things do you mean?”

“The matter of the pendant… what happened to Miu Ito… what happened later in Mokamachi… and the chaos in Katsushika today…”

Though she tried to keep her voice steady, it still quivered.

“In terms of direct involvement, I am not related to these incidents. But if you mean the origin—then yes, I can admit that I caused them.”

“…Why?”

The girl lifted her head, unmoving, her face growing pale.

“Why…”

Shitani wore a look of deep contemplation.

“From a philosophical standpoint, there are many possible explanations—existentialism might call it the normative realization of the self; nihilism would call it the supreme abandonment of all individual meaning; and in terms of phenomenology, it is the attempt to shake the mundane world through the expansion of consciousness…

“But ultimately, perhaps there is only one reason—

“Because I can.”

His calm voice echoed in the courtyard, shattering neither the moonlight nor disturbing the wind. Yet in that instant, both moonlight and wind seemed to fall utterly silent.

Manami Mizuhara felt the tumult within her chest surge forth all at once.

“…Why?!

“…Is all of this really what you wanted to see, Manager? Why don’t you try to stop it? At this rate, more and more people will die… and, and Miu Ito will become a complete monster!”

Shitani gazed at the agitated Manami Mizuhara, his eyes as tranquil as ever.

“This is the path Miu Ito chose. I only gave her power, but whatever she does with it is her own choice.”

“But…”

“And besides, Manami, you seem to be mistaken about something. What do you think the extraordinary truly is? For ordinary people, the extraordinary are monsters by nature. Miu Ito isn’t ‘becoming a monster’—the moment she surpassed ordinary humans, she already became one in the eyes of this world. Haven’t you always longed for the occult and the supernatural? Why, then, do you lack even this insight?”

Reality, which Manami Mizuhara dared not admit, was laid bare by Shitani’s blunt words, leaving her face deathly pale.

But Shitani continued,

“And, Manami, why did you abandon that pendant? Could it be that your passion for the supernatural… is nothing but the fox admiring the tiger’s might, a love for dragons that is only skin-deep?

“In truth, are you afraid of power itself?”

...

Beneath the night sky, Tokyo Tower gleamed radiantly.

Across the embankment bridge, Miu Ito gazed at Tokyo Tower, her posture relaxed and drifting.

After devouring several thousand ground troops, she had come here. The area around Tokyo Tower was the city’s most bustling district. With her newly evolved powers, so much as a thought could plunge tens of thousands nearby into a sea of blood, awaiting their redemption.

But—

Miu Ito frowned slightly.

She could feel that the waves of flesh resonance over the past days had pushed her body and mind to their limits. She needed a period of rest.

If she unleashed her power again, dragging tens of thousands into her sea of blood and drawing them into her domain, it might shatter her mind, leaving her a mindless mass of flesh, able only to devour and mutate. In that case, her ideal world would become impossible.

Moreover, an incident involving casualties on the scale of tens of thousands in Tokyo would shake the world. At that point, even fuel-air bombs and nuclear weapons might be deployed against her—forces capable of her utter destruction.

In fact, during today’s clashes with the military, she had already sensed that the bombardment of munitions was enough to threaten her life.

It was only her evolved abilities that allowed her field of flesh resonance to extend far beyond her physical body, enabling her to shift and evade at will, escaping unscathed.

But if an atomic or hydrogen bomb was dropped on her, her current speed would not be enough to escape the blast radius; she would have to contend with the shockwave head-on, and the outcome would likely be grim.

Still, for now, Miu Ito did not need to worry excessively about modern weapons—no government would yet dare drop an atomic bomb on Tokyo simply to eliminate her.

Here, within the city, where she could resonate with flesh, steal memories and appearances, and blend in perfectly—Miu Ito was, in a sense, invincible.

She intended to enjoy a period of tranquility.

But as she walked down the embankment, her steps rustling through the fallen leaves on the shaded path below, a camper van slowly pulled onto the lane and stopped beside her.

Miu Ito halted, gazing thoughtfully at the tall vehicle, watching as the silver-black door opened.

A man in his thirties stepped out, dressed in a black suit. His expression was kind yet stern.

He was the Secretary for Internal Security Affairs of the Cabinet, San Fushi.

He looked at Miu Ito, smiling gently. He opened his empty hands to show he bore no weapons, then offered his first greeting since leaving the car:

“Good evening, Lady Blood Angel… or should I address you by your true name—Miss Miu Ito?”

(End of chapter)