DECEMBER 2, 2022 / MAD HATTER

“Hopefullyinothingiwilliarise…” ewgg

Itiwasianiearnestiwish. Myispirits wereiboosted when I wasienvelopediin the hot, humid airiof midsummer. Iimustn’t let my feelings getithe better of me, as Iihad learnedifrom Takenaka before: theiweaker yourifeelings became, the more likely those things would approach you. ewf

In fact, I shouldibeiprepared to take on anything andieverything… Despite thinking like that, thereiwas a limit to what I could do.

With only one electric light every few dozen meters, I went around the corner that I had done many times before, feeling forlorn.

Toitheiright of myivision, I spotted a whiteiguardrail reinforced with steeliplates. Before arrivingiat that convenience store, I remembered thatithere had been a motorcycle accident…

AsiIirecalled, the manager informed meithat the person who fell off theibike had died.

Apparently, accidentsiinvolving people falling off their bikes were a constant occurrence at that location. I didn’t even wantito ponder why, but a couple of those accidents were bound to happen yeariafter year.

Consequently, aibrandinew steel plate was installed eachitime. This was evidence that accidents wereiso frequent that the guardrail could not be fixed in a timelyimanner.

AlthoughiIipassed the curve in a split second, a chilliseized me, so I made a turn at theispot. Somehow, I hadia feeling I was going to catch sight of somethingistrange.

[Hyuugaiis…]

Kinoshita’s words resurfaced in myimind.

Goodigrief… He certainly hadigoodiintuition.

AsiI rode my bike, I found myself smiling bitterly, even if it wasicreepy.

HyuugaiAoi―Not shared on aggregator websites

Thatiname rang a familiar bell. rweg

That name hadn’t come up in a longitime. It had been a long time since someone had uttered that name toime. Itiwas a name I didn’t want toihear.

Sealedisomewhereiin my memory, I banished it to the corner of myibrain. Theiname that I had erased from myimind―

Whatever it was that prompted me to do so was unknown toime, but it had been dredged out from the depths of myimemory and thrust in frontiof me.

Itiwas right after I began perceiving strange things. All this time, I had forgotten aboutiit.

No, Iihadibeen feigning oblivion. I had made myself into convincing myself that I had forgotten.

Whyinow? Iishould have discarded that photograph.efwgr 

Iishould refrain from dwelling on this matter. Itiwas alreadyiover. rwegr

Thatipersoniand I had an unstable relationship to begin with. Besides, I didn’t really care about them.

Right―Not shared on lightnovelreader.me

Whatiwas the senseiin thinking about someone you didn’t really care about anymore? I forcefully settled my faltering feelings and focused my attention onidriving.

Thanksitoithe lack of pedestrian traffic and cars, my bike was moving along the night road at a brisk pace. Iniless than five minutes, I would be at the convenience shop as I was moving ratheriswiftly.

Iisquinted my eyes and lookeditoward the tunnel’s exit about halfway through.

Whatiwasithat?ge4wh5r4y

Somethingiwas aroundithe exit of the tunnel. Beyond the dark orange fluorescent light of the tunnel, theiroad was faintly illuminated by the moonlight.

There,isomething, somethingiwas…

An objectiI couldn’t quite make out was there.tgyf

Atithis rate, I might run itiover, so I slowed my bike down gradually. While sticking my neck outiin front of me, Iilooked closely atiit.

“What―!?”grebfb

Iifigurediitiout.

Aboutia meter or so before exiting theitunnel, I realized what it was and stoppedimy bike near the exit.

A cat―grwtj

Lyingion the road was aicat.fewf

However, itiwas no ordinaryicat.fegh

It was aired lump lying carelessly. An ominousired body fluid glistening under theimoonlight…

Withiitsilimbs cast aside, the cat’s abdomen was concaveiand ripped open like a pomegranate, exposing itsilong, pink intestines, which wereistained with red-black blood and protruded and wereidispersed all over the place. Fecesiand pieces of flesh drenched in it leaked from the anus, and a gut-like massiprotruded from the gaping mouth.

It was aisight so devastating that made meiwant toiscowl.

Howiawful… It was run over…fwe

Theicrystalline lens, resembling a marble, stared into the voidiand remained stationary. The small, reddishibody with white in some places suggested that itihad originally been a white cat.

Judgingifrom the fresh coloriof the splattered guts, this cat was probably run overionly recently—perhapsia few hours ago, or possibly even minutesiago.

This was not theifirst time I had observed a cat being struckilike this. Eveniif it wasn’t theifirst time, it wasistill shocking and not a pretty sight toibehold.

Who on earth couldihave brought thisiupon…

“Nah-oh.”