Vol 1 Chapter 6 (1/2)

Pygmalion Is Planting Seeds V1, Chapter 6

On the night I met Erisa, I was roaming around town.

After I had spent a long night lost in thought, I was finally able to conclude that ‘continuing to deceive myself’ was no longer possible.

As I wished from the very beginning, I wanted to revive Misaki to her perfect shape, and in order to make this happen, cutting up a corpse and extracting its flesh was necessary. I left the idea of offering her my fingers as a plan B.

However, having no idea about a way to accomplish such an unachievable mission, I just kept wandering around without any actual plan.

In the first place, a human corpse is not something you conveniently find rolling on the road, nor is it something that is sold in public. There’s no way a miracle, like some sort of serial murderer visiting my house and offering me a corpse as a present, would occur either.

Even if I was lucky enough to witness a murder or an accident while pa.s.sing by, I would not even been able to take the body away before the police or an ambulance arrived, much less without anyone seeing me.

A person’s death was usually concealed in the end though. Not really something you publicize.

I chose to circle silent alleyways and abandoned buildings with less traffic, but far from finding a corpse, I didn’t even notice a single finger lying around. [Ad: Seriously? =.=]

I tried moving according to Erisa’s advice and followed the railway, checking if anything unexpected could be found, but again, it was all in vain.

I recalled the talk about the ‘Dangle’ s.h.i.+rt man picking up a suicide victim near an abandoned  building in the outskirts and went excitedly went, to give it a try too, however, all that I found was a large patch of land, full of overgrown gra.s.s with not even a single rat roaming around.

“As I thought, there’s no way I could find a dead body just lying around.”

Losing all hope, I went to a lonely public park located between two buildings, and sat on its swing.

The park’s dazzling lamp lights illuminated this worn out place. A bit further away from this light circle, I noticed a group of crude residences, made from pipes and blue sheeting. It’s probably the community of homeless people, separated from the town area. And this park as well, is nothing but a single part of this community.

A loose sigh pa.s.sed my lips.

I wonder how I ended up here. Searching for a dead body with no strategy or knowledge is like I’m searching for a sunken s.h.i.+p in the middle of a desert.

My fruitless effort resulted in a languid feeling hanging on my back.

Whenever I got the urge to throw away everything and give up, I remembered Misaki inside my closet. [Pr: Totally not creepy.] [Ad: Lol.]

If I give up, Misaki will stay in this shape forever.

She doesn’t have the ability to revive herself alone after being given a chance to come back to this world.

It is my duty to accomplish this mission.  I’m the only person who could grab her hand and pull her up from the darkness and allow her to continue clinging onto that the small chance at life.

However, what am I supposed to do to achieve this?

My five senses which were driven by irrationality, had suddenly sharpened

I felt something inside the copse, near the park.

It is kind of difficult to describe this feeling. Maybe something like a sixth sense would be appropriate to say. [Pr: A spider sense?] [Ad: It’s tingling!]

The only thing I had was a premonition, telling me that I will reach my goal if I went there.

And as if I was reeling in an invisible thread, I slowly drew closer to where that feeling stemmed from.

Far away from the light emanating from the roadway, I advanced inside the darkly lit forest, always being careful not to trip on tree roots jutting out from the earth.

After my eyes gradually became accustomed to the darkness, I noticed someone’s shadowy figure a few meters away.

The figure’s outline was quite strange.

It was floating in the air and not moving at all.

By taking a closer look, the obscured figure became apparent.

A head, hung up, a rope tied at the neck. The body dangled from a branch.

A hung man.

My mind fractured. Instinct pushed me to turn back, but reason seized me.

I wasn’t going to achieve anything if I ran away. “Just recall what you were doing just now,” I told myself. “I was roaming around town at night, searching for a corpse, right? I couldn’t find anything and was about to give up, right? And when I decided to enter this forest on a whim, I discovered an unexpected corpse hanging in front of my eyes! Divine grace, a once in a lifetime chance has descended upon me. There’s no way I would let it go. All right, let’s draw out some courage! Right?”

Forcing myself to look at it, it was then that I saw several other figures nearby.

There were five of them at most, all short in height and strewn in tattered clothes. But as for seeing anymore detail, I couldn’t from where I was..

No, actually they were six of them. The last one climbed the tree like some monkey, and was cutting the dangling rope.

All of them were standing still under the dangling body, seemingly wary of my movements.

I could hear the sound of the knife as it cut into the rope.

Tw.a.n.g!

The body fell.

The figures below caught it five other figures instantly caught it.

One of them took out a bag from his pocket and they quickly put it inside.

And just like that, they left. Gone from sight.

All that was left, were the dense trees and thick overgrown gra.s.s, blending into the night, with me who was showing a stupefied expression, standing alone, the sound of a pa.s.sing breeze rustling the branches.

I turned and ran, hoping to leave as fast as possible.

I was enraptured, feeling as though those people were pursuing me, and I ran through the abandoned buildings, left behind the homeless community and chose a road with the most traffic and people.

Leaving aside me feeling victimized by having the corpse s.n.a.t.c.hed from me, all I thought about was my good luck in not attracting their attention.

When I finally regained my reason, I had already gotten on a train cramped with the people, warm bodies and the sound of breathing all around.

By the time I got down at the nearest station, my fear had considerably reduced. However, I couldn’t help but feel downhearted. For the first time, the obscene scenery of the flower district felt kind and gentle as if it was welcoming my cowardly self back.

I went back home, directly entered the living room and layed down on the sofa.

Recalling the earlier event which I was no longer capable of distinguis.h.i.+ng from a dream, my heart started to break up.

I had no idea about who those people were, nor what were they wanted to do with that corpse, but there was one thing on my mind for sure, and that was the fervent wish to never meet them again. [Ad: With how many people vanish a year, it makes you wonder.] [Pr: CONSPIRACY?!]

A sigh pa.s.sed my lips. I was a coward.