Scum

"When he has any doubts, may words of encouragement find their way to him."

*****

Tanaka

Only scum would hit a woman.

I thought about that, but I wasn't to blame in this scenario. First of all, the lady I hit wasn't even a real girl. If anything, she may have been a flower. No, we both knew all too well that she was neither. She was someone one who put this world in danger. Some may call such a being a god, but how could a god have lost to my creator all those years ago?

During those many years under Dad, humanity has thrived because my king had defeated this woman back then. My king had defeated the very incarnation of nature. Thus, humanity beat the world surrounding them, and now this world belonged to us. As such, there was nothing wrong with protecting humanity from this dangerous lady..

When I saw her jump in to defend her friend, I was surprised. 

I lied; I knew that this would happen. She's too kind for her own good, after all.

Still, the fact I got to kick her for doing something so stupid felt all the more satisfying. I felt all of my pent-up jealousy fly together with her through the tip of my foot.

Now, you could argue that only scum would hit the one they claim to love. I thought about that too, but how can you call it "love" when this feeling wasn't even mine to begin with?

This sensation that made my chest feel tight came from my own creator, who had sculpted me after himself, forgetting that some feelings weren't of any use for my purpose.

Whatever happened between him and her all those years ago, it wasn't for me to pry into. Maybe they were once a happy family, or maybe our poor king suffered from one-sided affection. It mattered little. What I wished was for this feeling to stop interfering with my thoughts.

Every second next to her, I could feel my sanity slip away. I hated it, but I couldn't let her go. My best choice was to finish her off quick and then take out my sorrow and anger on the wannabe assassin she had gotten so close to.

I jumped after her; he followed. I smartly planned out a follow-up attack; he blocked it. Now, he was spouting nonsense about keeping Nature safe when he was barely holding on himself.

It annoyed me to no end, so I decided to shut him up first.

"My dear brothers, you were scum while walking this earth, but I forgive you!" I said.

"For you're going to find your purpose through me!"

I spread my arms and let the hot Tokyo sun warm my skin. Then, I pointed at Shino and marked him as my enemy.

"Evil."

He was in my way, so I decided to ignore him. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Since he was evil, he became invisible to me. I couldn't hear him, and I couldn't speak to him either. Of course, it wasn't that I had given myself a handicap. Through this, Shino also became unable to interact with me.

It was now me against her.

"Shino! Are you okay?"

"Who are you talking to?" I asked Chigira. What an ugly name Chigira was.

"It's just me and you. Focus on me! And let me get this over with!"

My fingers twitched, and I noticed that I had a creepy grin on my face. It mattered little, though. After all, even this face was only borrowed.

With the trash out of the way, I licked my lips and looked Chigira in the eyes. The next moment, I was right before her. My heart skipped a beat when I felt her breath on my skin, and like a shy and panicked high schooler, I pushed her away, all the way through the wall of a nearby building.

When she came out, she made sure to patch up the apartment she'd flown through with a wooden wall, and then longed towards me as fast as she could.

"Ah! If I could only save this picture into my mind!"

It turns out that I shouldn't have taken the time to speak. I never thought she would be so quick, but I was lucky that the sezaru curse would sometimes move my body on its own. I found myself with a dull blade held between my palms, and Chigira was pushing on it as she tried to cut me. Why she would carry around a blunt sword was beyond me, but...

"Hm? Is it vibrating?"

"And that's not all! Vibrations make things so much easier to cut!" Chigira added, and I felt her sword slip from between my palms. I looked behind without actually turning my head, and I teleported myself back on the ground. That was a close one, but my kind Mizaru was there in spirit to save me.

I looked at my palms. They were all bloody from that troublesome sword.

"Tsk, even now he finds a way to bother me!"

It didn't matter. I had many more ways to deal with that girl. My next trick was a pretty special one. I pointed a finger gun at her and whispered.

"Bang!"

No sound came out, but my aim was true. From a beautiful combination of curses, I shot an invisible yet deadly bullet at the woman flying above me, and as expected, it reached her with ease.

*****

Shino

The embarrassment I felt when declaring that I would protect Chigira was hard to ignore, but what was even more embarrassing was how I had failed to do so.

When Tanaka called me evil, I thought I was done for—that I would become a mono the next moment. Even my breathing spiraled out of control for a second.

My guess was wrong, fortunately. My ability to wield curses, my body, and my mind were untouched. Instead, I had become unable to touch him in return.

I could see and hear Tanaka clearly, and I was a witness to everything that was going on. Yet, whenever I tried to attack him, a mono spawned out of nowhere, taking the brunt of the hit and disappearing. I was convinced that nobody else was seeing them. They were only there to keep him safe.

Not only that, but shortly after Chigira checked on me, I let go of her, and she hasn't responded ever since. Tanaka wasn't the only one I had been cut off from, I was also gone for her.

Now, powerless to warn Chigira, I watched her get shot in the shoulder by a trick I myself had learned long ago.

"Ah, but this doesn't sit right with me..." the madman said all of a sudden, ignoring his chance to finish Chigira off.

"Even if I can't feel him, I know that nuisance is around. I have to give him a little something to play with~"

Right when he said that, I saw a white head pop out from atop a building. It was a semono, then another one, and another one. It was safe to assume that those mannequins were the only type of mono left now.

Regardless, their numbers didn't matter, for they were soon too many to count, and all of them had their attention fixed on Chigira.

"That's low..." I sighed, knowing nobody would hear me regardless.

He wasn't only trying to kill me with his minions, but he was also forcing me to attack them myself. Otherwise, they would hurt her.

"It seems our battlefields are decided," I said, watching as the monsters piled one atop of another to reach Chigira.

With a jump and a swift move, I cut through them and killed a couple, and the whole mountain of bodies crumbled when the first ones turned to dust.

That was my sign I was still around, and that sign brought a smile to her face.

"Shino! Keep it up! Keep me safe, okay?" she said jokingly, but I always took my missions seriously.

I wiped my knife from the dust and readied myself. It was about time for me to test this power to do no evil. Especially since that dumbass had been too arrogant to take it from me.