What they absorbed was more of the frenzied blood within themselves. It was so they could reflect it back at the ghouls like a mirror, turning them into so-called Mutants—and teach themselves to wait for a stimulus instead of seeking one out.

Just thinking about that overwhelming hatred made Juxi start to tremble.

He’d never encountered hatred and bloodlust this intense—not even in the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang, though the ghouls were infamous for both.

That was better, he thought as he walked. He crept along carefully, so the shock would hit them all the harder and they’d take longer to recover from it.

That gave him a little more time to finish what he had to do next.

But now he was starting to doubt whether he had the strength to fight again.

The potion’s effects were wearing off, and the night was still long.

Besides, he absolutely couldn’t be found before dawn, or all his efforts tonight would be wasted.

Juxi pulled a third small vial from his clothes and quickly drank the potion inside. It was a special concoction—and the vial might already have been empty.

Then he entered the forest. Just as he’d expected, there wasn’t even a single squirrel left. Every animal had vanished in an instant.

Juxi didn’t close his eyes until he heard the Mutant roar again.

He lay beside a long-weathered corpse. Only after sprinkling corpse-repelling powder around himself did he dare lay the silver gun across his chest. He sprinkled some beside the gun, too, then folded his hands over it.

“I hope I can make it. Just living is hard enough already. If I don’t even get to see tomorrow’s sun—no, this isn’t the time to despair. As long as I’m still breathing!”

He could no longer hear the Mutant’s roars echoing through the woods. Maybe that was a good sign.

The weakness brought on by the potion began to set in again. Gradually, he couldn’t hear anything at all.

……

“I can’t believe those terrifying Mutants actually exist!!!”

“Of course they do. Though it’s also possible the old man wrote all that in a fit of dementia near the end of his life…”

“Sis Yukari, how can you blaspheme against our ancestors like that?!” I said, deeply displeased with what she’d said.

I still didn’t know why Dad was so attached to the collection left in this little attic, but these things really were ancient.

“I miss little Juxi… Running around the house in diapers and all that… You were so cute!”

“…Uh, Sis… can we not talk about when I was little?” I was a little exasperated—and a faint blush had appeared on Sis Yukari’s cheeks.

This felt like a bad omen. I hoped there wasn’t some plot brewing behind the scenes.

“…All right, if we’re talking about little Juxi, I guess that makes sense. But you’re in high school now, so you should be acting more mature… Right, Juxi?”

“Huh?” Why was she suddenly asking me?

“You must like things with a more adult flair, right, little brother?”

“Uh… I still think diapers are cute, okay? They suit me better, right?”

She was always throwing these impossible questions at me, so I had no choice but to admit what she’d asked earlier.

“Huh? Is that really what you mean?”

“Yeah… yeah. What else did you think I meant?!”

Sis Yukari came closer with a big smile, a hint of scorn in her eyes.

I awkwardly scratched my head. “Then… what do you think I meant?”

“Hmph! Don’t think I don’t know!”

“Know what?”

“Well, I know Xi often… takes care of himself at night because he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Ahem. Just pretend I didn’t say anything.”

“……”

She said she hadn’t said anything, but my face was already burning. What she’d said was more than enough!

Even with her staring me down, I decided to keep my mouth shut. In awkward moments like this, you had to calm down first, then figure out how to make peace.

“Little Xi, you’re so cold today. Usually, by now, you’re asking to take a bath with your big sister. What’s gotten into you?!”

“A bath…? Uh, when have I ever done that?!”

This was what I hated most about Sis Yukari: she made things up out of nowhere. That had never happened, okay?!

“Little brother, are you really going to deny that you’ve been doing that all along?!”

“Come on, I told you I haven’t!!!”

“The suspect has denied the accusation. Now, let’s bring in the victim.”

“Uh, who’s the suspect?! And you’re saying that to your little brother?!”

“Hehehe. Cheer up… Smile! Come on, smile!” Sis Yukari apologized gently.

She was always like this, startling me one moment and calming me the next. I could only hope—

“What I said just now wasn’t really what I meant. It’s an old habit I’ve had for years… Anyway, I guess I’m just a problem child, right?”

“A problem child?!”

“Yeah, a problem child… Like…”

Sis Yukari kept her eyes lowered and began to explain what she really meant.

“So, my question didn’t have any deeper meaning. Don’t take it too seriously, Antique Juxi!”

“What kind of nickname is that?!”

“It’s what you call a man who’s gotten old. Anyway, don’t take it to heart.”

“Ugh, now it’s impossible not to wonder what you really mean!”

Looks like I really couldn’t take Sis Yukari’s sharp tongue lightly. Then again, I wasn’t a prime minister; my stomach only had room for food…

“Little brother, what’s so great about this stinking old man who’s been dead for who knows how long? Don’t tell me you’re a necro—beep~?” Sis Yukari asked, her eyes brimming with pity.

“I… sigh. I don’t really know what you’re thinking. Anyway, it’s nothing complicated.”

No matter what Sis Yukari said, I kept working and didn’t stop.

“So, Juxi, it’s actually pretty simple, isn’t it?” Sis Yukari said, handing me a cup of coffee. “What little brother wants is for everything to come to light—all the things that happened…”

“Shut up!!!”

I couldn’t help shouting. My outburst startled Sis Yukari.

Yeah. That was what it felt like to be scared stiff.

It was the story of how I escaped my dreams—or maybe the story of one loop followed by another.

I was a shameless bastard. For the sake of one absurd thing Dad had said, for the sake of our ancestors’ ancient legends, I’d somehow become part of all of it!

And yet, even someone like me had a girl he couldn’t let go of—a fated bond between brother and sister, in this life and the next.

I guess the story should start with Sis Yukari.

It was late June, when the boys and girls were about to switch to short sleeves and shorts.

Because of Dad’s work, Mom and Dad often couldn’t come home. So I took care of all the housework: cooking, cleaning, and laundry. Of course, feeding the fat cat was part of the job, too.

A lot of people would consider that a tough job. It certainly was, before I got used to it.

But by now, housework had become one of my hobbies.

Cooking especially. It showed the results of my hard work right away, and it was a useful skill for everyday life.

It was five-thirty in the evening. I tossed the washed clothes into the spin dryer, then got ready to go buy ingredients for dinner.

Of course, just as I was putting the vegetables I’d prepped on the cutting board, Yu Nai’s voice came from downstairs.

“Hey, what are you cooking this time?”

“Hang on…”

I quickly chopped the vegetables, then put the rinsed rice in the rice cooker and set it to cook.

I knew Yu Nai would get mad if I didn’t go downstairs soon!

The yard at our house was pretty spacious. The six drying racks and a flowerbed with a pond took up about thirty percent of it. It was more than thirty paces from the east end to the neighbor’s wall.

Across the flowerbed that separated our houses, I called out to her. “Yu Nai, what is it this time?”

Yu Nai kept practicing karate. At last, she split the four bricks in front of her with a single palm strike. When she stood up again, the sweat flying from her body sparkled in the blazing sunlight.

“Heyyy, Juxi! What’s for dinner tonight? I could smell the food from outside my house!”

Honestly, all she ever thought about was food. But then again…

“Quit teasing me. I haven’t even started cooking. How could you smell anything?”

“Hehe, what’s the harm?”

“……”

Based on my reasoning, Yu Nai might end up just like her father: a shameless politician.

“But hadn’t you already given up?” I asked, confused. “You decided to put those ambitions aside for your family, didn’t you?”

“I guess it’s time to give up… The younger generation has tried to talk me out of it many times, but in the end, it looks like I just can’t.”

That’s right. Everyone has a story of their own, just like my esteemed ancestor. He might not have been a great man, but he was undoubtedly a remarkable hero!

“A treasure isn’t worth a mere thirty thousand gold coins. I’ll keep searching for the immense treasure hidden somewhere in this world. They say it could buy a vast city and the lands around it—or you could use your wits to hire an entire army and found a country!”

Its value couldn’t be measured in thirty thousand gold coins. It was worth far, far more!

When Juxi opened his eyes, the corpse-repelling powder around him had run out. That meant he’d slept far longer than he’d planned.

There was so much to remember today. For some reason, writing in his diary before bed had become second nature to Juxi.

He wrote in his notebook:

Today, I still can’t believe that ghouls like these exist in the world. They’re not like the ordinary ghouls I’ve seen. I don’t know if this is a sign of something ominous, but I’m sure of one thing: we once shared memories and thoughts.

But now… all of it will be destroyed in this calamity.