Chapter 8: What Do You Mean?

“Hey! What was that village about? It wasn’t fun at all!”

The one who fired off the complaint in an angry voice was Sayuri.
She had come to see the supernatural being boy because she wouldn’t feel satisfied unless she complained.

“Huh? I said they were ‘slightly unusual humans,’ didn’t I? They were definitely unusual, right?”

The boy was still grinning, just as he always was.

“…That’s way more than just ‘a bit’…”
Sayuri replied with a sigh mixed into her voice.

The boy continued happily.
“You see, that village—long ago, a certain supernatural being played a little prank.
They threw stones at the villagers’ ‘backs’ as they walked away, or hit them with sticks.
Of course, it was done lightly, so no one would get hurt.”

“Huh?”
Sayuri frowned, her brows knitting together in disbelief.“
Of course they’d get angry. Why would anyone do something like that?”

“When they got scolded, that supernatural being apparently said this:
‘If you don’t watch what’s behind you, it’s dangerous. This time I kept it light, but what would you have done if it had been a boar or a bear instead?’”

“I get that it’s dangerous, but that’s not something you can justify, is it?”

Even at Sayuri’s point, the boy just shrugged lightly and laughed.

“Yeah, it has nothing to do with it at all. But somehow, the villagers back then ended up agreeing with it.
They were like, ‘That’s true. We should tell other people too,’ and apparently they got oddly excited about it.”

“Uh…”

“And before you knew it, it turned into the village it is now. Back when they were saying things like, ‘Showing your back is bad manners,’ it was still peaceful, right? Now they just attack on instinct.”The boy let out an amused laugh.

Sayuri, unable to understand what was so funny, looked at him with cold eyes and asked,
“Surely there were people who thought that was strange, right?”

“I guess there were. But—probably, most of them were killed. There was no need to go that far.”

“…”

“After all, the ones still alive now are just the descendants of the ‘side that wasn’t killed,’ right?”

“…If you wanted to warn them, you could’ve just called out to them. Why did you need to attack them?”

“Yeah, right? I think so too.
And you can’t live your life without ever showing your back—it’s impossible.
And yet, they made rules like ringing bells to drive people away, and even came up with clothes and movements that make it impossible to tell front from back.
Really, it’s just too funny.
Humans really do go too far over the smallest things.”

Sayuri turned her face away with a huff and let out a long sigh.

“…I’ve had enough. See you.”

She tossed the words over her shoulder in a voice that was neither quite anger nor quite exasperation, and flew away.

Watching her back as she left, the boy muttered quietly.

“…That supernatural being was me, though.”

The boy gave a small snicker and went on speaking,
as if addressing someone unseen.

“But you know—the ones who are really scary are humans who can go out of control from just the very first remark, right?
…Be careful. There might be someone like that right next to you.”